Weekly News Update on the Americas
Issue #1041, July 25, 2010
1. Mexico: Electrical Workers End Hunger Strike
2. Puerto Rico: Marchers Protest Repression
3. Links to alternative sources on: CELAC, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras, Mexico, Haiti
ISSN#: 1084 922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com . It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/
*1. Mexico: Electrical Workers End Hunger Strike
After 90 days, a mass hunger strike by laid-off electrical workers in the center of Mexico City came to an end on July 23 following a preliminary agreement between federal governance secretary José Francisco Blake Mora and the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME) the night before. Although dozens of workers and supporters had taken part in the strike at various times, only 11 men and three women remained at the end. Most were taken to the Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, a hospital run by the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), but Cayetano Cabrera Esteva, the only striker to last out the full 90 days, refused to accept care from a government facility and was being treated by a private medical service.
The IMSS reported that the 13 strikers at the hospital were in stable condition and might be released on July 24, except for Miguel Ángel Ibarra, who had endured 85 days of the liquids-only fast. As of July 24 there was no report on Cabrera’s health. On July 22 governance under secretary Roberto Gil Zuarth had noted the danger that in the cases of Ibarra and Cabrera the hunger strike might have a “fatal dénouement.”
The action, held at an encampment in the Mexican capital’s huge Zócalo plaza, began on Apr. 25 to protest President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa’s sudden liquidation of the government-owned Central Light and Power Company (LFC) in October 2009 and the government’s denial of recognition to the union’s leadership. More than 17,000 of the 44,000 laid-off LFC workers rejected the government’s offer of a severance package, choosing to fight the layoffs with lawsuits and protests. The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) ruled on July 5 that Calderón’s closing of the LFC was constitutional, but the justices also upheld the SME’s right to represent retired and laid-off workers [see Updates #1034, 1040].
The agreement came late on July 22 after six hours of negotiations between Governance Secretary Blake and SME leaders, including General Secretary Martín Esparza Flores. In exchange for ending the hunger strike, the union regained recognition from the government and won a verbal agreement to resume talks starting July 26 on a solution to the conflict. (La Jornada (Mexico) 7/24/10, ___, ___; La Opinión (Los Angeles) 7/23/10 from EFE; La Crónica de Hoy (Mexico City) 7/24/10)
The union is seeking jobs for the workers who didn’t accept the severance offer. SME leaders told the media they have given various proposals to Blake, including one for a new company to provide fiber-optic telecommunication services to the Mexico City area. Labor Secretary Javier Lozano Alarcón, however, has indicated that he wouldn’t consider plans for alternative companies. On July 24 Esparza expressed his confidence in the “climate” with Blake despite Lozano’s comments.
Congress members from both the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) suggested that the labor secretary—like President Calderón, a hardliner from the center-right National Action Party (PAN)—was trying to sabotage the agreement. (LJ 7/25/10, ___ )
Calderón named Blake governance secretary on July 15, replacing Fernando Gómez Mont, who took over in November 2008 after the previous secretary, Juan Camilo Mouriño, died in a plane crash. In addition to handling domestic security—including the current “war on drugs”--the governance secretary manages political negotiations. (Businessweek 7/15/10 from Bloomberg)
*2. Puerto Rico: Marchers Protest Repression
Thousands of people marched in front of the Puerto Rican police headquarters on Franklin D. Roosevelt Avenue in San Juan’s Hato Rey neighborhood on July 18 to demand the removal of police chief José Figueroa Sancha and his second-in-command, José Rosa Carrasquillo, and the disbanding of the Tactical Operations Unit. The marchers started at three different points in the city, including a campus of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR); students from the UPR’s 11 campuses defeated a proposed austerity plan with a two-month strike this spring. Some organizers said more than 5,000 people participated in the march, while police sources put the number at 3,000.
Groups from different sectors of society, including the Puerto Rican Bar Association, organized the march--under the slogan "Stop the repression and the violation of human rights”--as a response to police violence at the Capitol building on June 30 against hundreds of students and their supporters trying to enter a session of the Legislature that was to vote on unpopular budget cuts and a measure to end student assemblies [see Update #1039]. Two people were arrested and a number were injured in the June 30 incident. (El Nuevo Día (San Juan) blog 7/18/10; EFE 7/18/10 via terra.com; Primera Hora (Guaynabo) 7/18/10)
*3. Links to alternative sources on: CELAC, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras, Mexico, Haiti
Latin America Pushes Forward with Regional Body to Rival the OAS
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2604-latin-america-pushes-forward-with-regional-body-to-rival-the-oas
Dubious Progress in Bolivia-U.S. Reconciliation
https://nacla.org/node/6668
Bolivia and Ecuador: The State against the Indigenous People
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/2810
Peru Tries to Expel Critic of Development Policy
https://nacla.org/node/6674
Colombian campesinos crash Bogotá bicentennial bash
http://ww4report.com/node/8862
Against the New McCarthyism: A NACLA Statement on Hollman Morris (Colombia)
https://nacla.org/node/6670
Venezuela Cuts Ties With Colombia; Orders Diplomats to Leave the Country
http://latindispatch.com/2010/07/23/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia-orders-diplomats-to-leave-the-country/
International and Local Support as Venezuela Severes Diplomatic Relations with Colombia
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/5520
Indigenous Yukpa Protest Outside Venezuelan Supreme Court
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/5517
Ortega: Colombia grants oil contracts in Nicaraguan waters
http://ww4report.com/node/8863
How Honduras’s Military Coup Gave Birth to Feminist Resistance
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/2815
Honduras, Iran, and the Propaganda Model
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2600-honduras-iran-and-the-propaganda-model
Merida Initiative funds mired in red tape: GAO report
http://ww4report.com/node/8858
Mexican Elections: Oaxaca and Territory in Play
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/2822
The Soon-to-be Life and Death Story of the Mexican Electricians' Union’s Fight for Survival
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/2598-the-soon-to-be-life-and-death-story-of-the-mexican-electricians-unions-fight-for-survival
Canadian Mining Crimes in Mexico
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/2602-canadian-mining-crimes-in-mexico
"We've Lost the Battle, but We Haven't Lost the War:" Haiti Six Months After the Earthquake
http://www.truth-out.org/weve-lost-battle-we-havent-lost-war-haiti-six-months-after-earthquake61321
A guide for American journalists: How to report on Haiti when you visit again six months from now
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/crossover-dreams/a-guide-for-american-jour_b_656689.html
IMF Cancels Haiti’s $268 Million Debt
http://latindispatch.com/2010/07/22/imf-cancels-haitis-268-million-debt/
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and alternative sources:
http://americas.irc-online.org/
http://nacla.org/articles
http://upsidedownworld.org/
http://ww4report.com/node/
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
Your support is appreciated. Back issues and source materials are available on request. Our weekly Immigration News Briefs has ended publication; for news, information and announcements in support of action for immigrant rights in the United States, subscribe to Immigrant Action at:
https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/immigrantaction
You can also visit the Immigrant Action blog at:
http://immigrantaction.blogspot.com/
Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, from Monthly Review Press, by Update editors Jane Guskin and David Wilson:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.com/
Monday, July 26, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
WNU #1040: Storm Hits “Safe” Haitian Camp
Weekly News Update on the Americas
Issue #1040, July 18, 2010
1. Haiti: Storm Hits “Safe” Camp for Quake Survivors
2. Argentina: Senate Passes Marriage Equality Law
3. Mexico: Courts Rule for Miners, Against Electrical Workers
4. Honduras: Sweatshop Campaign Presses Nike
5. Links to alternative sources on: Argentina, Chile, Amazon, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Jamaica, Haiti
ISSN#: 1084 922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com . It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/
1. Haiti: Storm Hits “Safe” Camp for Quake Survivors
On July 12, exactly six months after an earthquake devastated much of southern Haiti, a storm caused serious damage in a camp authorities had set up for quake survivors in Corail-Cesselesse, a deserted area about 24 km north of Port-au-Prince. Some 1,700 of the camp’s 7,000 residents were left without shelter when the storm ripped up or otherwise damaged 344 ShelterBox tents, which are supposedly designed for resistance to storms. About six people were injured by debris, and a woman and her baby were hit by lightning; the woman was badly burned, and local radio reported that the baby died.
Critics said the camp in Corail—which the government and international agencies set up in April for some of the more than one million people left homeless by the earthquake—was poorly planned and built in haste. There are no trees, and it is exposed to flooding from a nearby mountain range. “Nature came and said Corail is not a good place for tents,” a resident told the New York Times. (Montreal Journal Métro 7/13/10 from AP; NYT 7/14/10 from correspondent)
The first people moved to Corail had been living since the earthquake in an improvised settlement at a golf course in the upscale southeastern suburb of Pétionvillle; the government claimed they would be unsafe at the golf course when the rainy season came. People being moved to Corail complained that the area was isolated and far from their jobs or schools [see Update #1029] The labor organizing group Batay Ouvriye (“Workers’ Struggle”) charged that there were plans to build low-wage assembly plants at remote places like Corail where there would be few jobs except at the plants [see Update #1034].
On July 11, the day before the storm, Jonathan Katz of the Associated Press wire service reported that the person the government initially appointed to head relocation efforts was Gérard-Emile "Aby" Brun, president of Nabatec Development, “a consortium owned by some of Haiti's most powerful families.” The Corail camp is on land owned by Nabatec, which “now stands to gain part of $7 million the government will spend compensating landowners,” according to Katz. “Nabatec is also a lead negotiator with South Korean garment firms to build factories that Haitian officials say will likely go into Corail-Cesselesse, and the camp [Brun] set up is a potential source of workers for those factories, which can take advantage of generous US import laws for Haitian-assembled textiles.”
Government planner and envoy to the United Nations Leslie Voltaire--a US-trained economist who has worked for several Haitian administrations since 1994--said Corail-Cesselesse will eventually become the key industrial city of the Caribbean, with some 300,000 inhabitants. (Austin (Texas) American-Statesman 7/11/10 from AP)
Demonstrations against the government of President René Préval resumed on July 13, after a month-long break during the World Cup finals in South Africa. Several thousand people joined a march in Port-au-Prince, including Rosny Smarth, a prime minister in Préval’s 1996-2001 administration, and supporters of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide (1991-1996 and 2001-2004); other protesters reportedly carried pictures of former dictator Jean Claude (“Baby Doc”) Duvalier (1971-1986). There were also demonstrations in Petit-Goâve, Miragoâne and Jacmel. Senator Edmonde Supplice Beauzile of the Fusion party and Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP) leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste headed up a demonstration in Hinche, capital of the Central Department. (Radio Kiskeya (Haiti) 7/13/10; Agence Haïtienne de Presse 7/13/10)
2. Argentina: Senate Passes Marriage Equality Law
After a heated 14-hour session, Argentina’s Senate voted 33-27 with three abstentions in the early morning of July 15 to approve a bill extending the right to marry and to adopt to same-sex couples. The Senate vote completed the approval process for the measure, which the Chamber of Deputies had passed on May 5 [see Update #1039]. Argentina is now the first country in Latin America to extend full marriage equality to same-sex couples.
Hundreds of activists held a vigil in the Plaza de los Dos Congresos during the session despite a winter cold wave. They applauded, hugged and cried when they heard the result; the celebration continued until dawn. “To start the day like this is really delightful for our couples,” said César Cigliutti, president of the Argentina Homosexual Community (CHA), noting that the Catholic hierarchy’s fierce opposition to the measure had turned out to be a “bad strategy.” (Clarín (Buenos Aires) 7/15/10, ___ )
3. Mexico: Courts Rule for Miners, Against Electrical Workers
In a full session on July 5, Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) ruled against a suit by the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME) challenging President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa’s sudden liquidation of the state-owned Central Light and Power Company (LFC) last October [see Update #1037]. The union had argued that the liquidation, which resulted in the layoffs of 44,000 electrical workers, was unconstitutional and violated Convention 87 of the International Labor Organization (ILO). However, the SCJN ruled in favor of the union’s representation claim: the SME will continue to represent the LFC’s retirees and laid-off workers and can act in their name in the courts and the labor boards. (La Jornada (Mexico) 7/6/10; Mexico Labor News and Analysis July 2010, Vol. 15, #5)
On July 9 a panel of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Federal District (DF, Mexico City) threw out corruption charges against Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, general secretary of the National Union of Mine and Metal Workers and the Like of the Mexican Republic (SNTMMSRM), and cancelled a warrant for his arrest. The DF was the fourth major Mexican entity to drop charges against Gómez Urrutia since the federal government tried to remove him as union head in 2006; the other three are the states of Sonora, Nuevo León and San Luis Potosí. Leo Gerard, president of the North American-based United Steelworkers (USW), hailed the decision on July 16. The Mexican government “continues to use every device it can to persecute the leadership of an independent and autonomous trade union that stands up for Mexican workers,” he said. (LJ 7/12/10; MLNA July 2010, Vol. 15, #5) The USW signed an agreement with the SNTMMSRM on June 21 to explore the possibility of a merger. (MRZine.org 6/28/10)
On July 13 the México state Attorney General’s Office announced that a state court had cancelled the arrest warrant for campesino activist América del Valle, who had taken refuge in the Venezuelan embassy in Mexico City. The SCJN ordered the release of Del Valle’s father, Ignacio del Valle, and 11 other members of the Front of the Peoples in Defense of the Land (FPDT) two weeks earlier, overturning long prison sentences stemming from a confrontation with police in San Salvador Atenco in May 2006 [see Update #1039]. América del Valle’s arrest warrant was based on the same charges. (Latin American Herald Tribune 7/13/10 from EFE)
4. Honduras: Sweatshop Campaign Presses Nike
As of July 15 a campaign started by students at various North American campuses in the fall of 2009 around the labor practices of Oregon-based Nike, Inc in Honduras seemed to be on its way to winning several new victories. In an internal June 28 letter, Cornell University president David Skorton announced that the institution would let its sports apparel licensing agreement with the giant sportswear firm lapse on Dec. 31 “unless significant progress is made” in resolving severance pay issues from the January 2009 closing of two Honduran plants, Vision Tex and Hugger de Honduras. Two weeks later, on July 14, Pennsylvania State University spokesperson Geoff Rushton said in an email that the university was urging Nike "to play a positive role in assisting" the laid-off workers and was “continuing to monitor the issue.”
Nike is also facing pressure at the University of Washington, where the advisory committee for trademarks and licensing has recommended letting the Nike agreement lapse when it expires in December. A student group, the Student Labor Action Project, is calling for faster action.
The campaign’s first victory came on Apr. 9, when the University of Wisconsin in Madison announced it was cancelling its Nike contract because of the company’s failure to provide legally mandated back pay and severance packages worth some $2.1 million to more than 1,600 workers for two Nike contractors in Honduras [see Update #1030]. According to the internet news site Inside Higher Ed, “past campaigns…have shown that once a few universities take a stand, others often follow.” (Inside Higher Ed 7/2/10; State College.com 7/15/10; Seattle PI blog 7/16/10)
Plant closings became a major labor issue in Honduras in 2009 because of the world economic crisis and a deterioration in labor rights after a June 28 military coup ousted then-president José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, who had good relations with the country’s labor movement [see Update #1016].
*5. Links to alternative sources on: Argentina, Chile, Amazon, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Jamaica, Haiti
Argentina Allows Gay Marriage
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2593-argentina-allows-gay-marriage
Chile: Mapuche political prisoners on hunger strike
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8842
Amazon leaders visit BP-devastated Gulf Coast
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8805#comment-321033
Peru: logging threat to uncontacted tribes
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8838
Peruvian Government Draft Report Buries the Truth about Bagua, Resurrects Racist Stereotypes
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/peru-archives-76/2588-peruvian-government-draft-report-buries-the-truth-about-bagua-resurrects-racist-stereotypes-
Alleged Spy Vicky Pelaez Plans To Leave Russia To Return To Her Native Peru
http://latindispatch.com/2010/07/14/alleged-spy-vicky-pelaez-plans-to-leave-russia-to-return-to-her-native-peru/
A New Wave of Criminalization Against Social Movements in Ecuador
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/ecuador-archives-49/2590-a-new-wave-of-criminalization-against-social-movements-in-ecuador-
Indigenous Liberation and Class Struggle in Ecuador: A Conversation with Luis Macas
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/ecuador-archives-49/2594-indigenous-liberation-and-class-struggle-in-ecuador-a-conversation-with-luis-macas
Colombia: Ingrid Betancourt's request for millions in damages sparks controversy
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8837
Colombian Peasants Continue To Suffer Displacement Due To War
http://latindispatch.com/2010/06/14/colombian-peasants-continue-to-suffer-displacement-due-to-war/
Colombia Support Network (CSN) Representatives detained at Miami airport
http://colombiasupport.blogspot.com/2010/07/description-or-our-ordeal-in-miami.html
Colombia demands OAS action on supposed Venezuelan guerilla threat
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8848
Venezuela turns Colombian traffickers over to US
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8843
Two More Trade Unionists Murdered in Venezuela; National Union of Workers Demands Justice http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/5493
Buying Venezuela’s Press With U.S. Tax Dollars
https://nacla.org/node/6663
Documents reveal multimillion-dollar funding to journalists and media in Venezuela
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5495
Venezuela Should Follow Argentina's Example on Gay Rights
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5498
Panama: general strike claims success
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8841
US Marines to Costa Rica
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8836
Fear, Suspicion as US Military En Route to Costa Rica
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/2591-fear-suspicion-as-us-military-en-route-to-costa-rica
Oaxaca Votes Out Ruling Party as the Siege in San Juan Copala Continues
https://nacla.org/node/6658
The CIA, the Cold War, and Cocaine: The Connections of Christopher “Dudus” Coke (Jamaica)
https://nacla.org/node/6661
Land Ownership at the Crux of Haiti's Stalled Reconstruction
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2589-land-ownership-at-the-crux-of-haitis-stalled-reconstruction
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and alternative sources:
http://americas.irc-online.org/
http://nacla.org/articles
http://upsidedownworld.org/
http://ww4report.com/node/
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
Your support is appreciated. Back issues and source materials are available on request. Our weekly Immigration News Briefs has ended publication; for news, information and announcements in support of action for immigrant rights in the United States, subscribe to Immigrant Action at:
https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/immigrantaction
You can also visit the Immigrant Action blog at:
http://immigrantaction.blogspot.com/
Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, from Monthly Review Press, by Update editors Jane Guskin and David Wilson:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.com/
Issue #1040, July 18, 2010
1. Haiti: Storm Hits “Safe” Camp for Quake Survivors
2. Argentina: Senate Passes Marriage Equality Law
3. Mexico: Courts Rule for Miners, Against Electrical Workers
4. Honduras: Sweatshop Campaign Presses Nike
5. Links to alternative sources on: Argentina, Chile, Amazon, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Jamaica, Haiti
ISSN#: 1084 922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com . It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/
1. Haiti: Storm Hits “Safe” Camp for Quake Survivors
On July 12, exactly six months after an earthquake devastated much of southern Haiti, a storm caused serious damage in a camp authorities had set up for quake survivors in Corail-Cesselesse, a deserted area about 24 km north of Port-au-Prince. Some 1,700 of the camp’s 7,000 residents were left without shelter when the storm ripped up or otherwise damaged 344 ShelterBox tents, which are supposedly designed for resistance to storms. About six people were injured by debris, and a woman and her baby were hit by lightning; the woman was badly burned, and local radio reported that the baby died.
Critics said the camp in Corail—which the government and international agencies set up in April for some of the more than one million people left homeless by the earthquake—was poorly planned and built in haste. There are no trees, and it is exposed to flooding from a nearby mountain range. “Nature came and said Corail is not a good place for tents,” a resident told the New York Times. (Montreal Journal Métro 7/13/10 from AP; NYT 7/14/10 from correspondent)
The first people moved to Corail had been living since the earthquake in an improvised settlement at a golf course in the upscale southeastern suburb of Pétionvillle; the government claimed they would be unsafe at the golf course when the rainy season came. People being moved to Corail complained that the area was isolated and far from their jobs or schools [see Update #1029] The labor organizing group Batay Ouvriye (“Workers’ Struggle”) charged that there were plans to build low-wage assembly plants at remote places like Corail where there would be few jobs except at the plants [see Update #1034].
On July 11, the day before the storm, Jonathan Katz of the Associated Press wire service reported that the person the government initially appointed to head relocation efforts was Gérard-Emile "Aby" Brun, president of Nabatec Development, “a consortium owned by some of Haiti's most powerful families.” The Corail camp is on land owned by Nabatec, which “now stands to gain part of $7 million the government will spend compensating landowners,” according to Katz. “Nabatec is also a lead negotiator with South Korean garment firms to build factories that Haitian officials say will likely go into Corail-Cesselesse, and the camp [Brun] set up is a potential source of workers for those factories, which can take advantage of generous US import laws for Haitian-assembled textiles.”
Government planner and envoy to the United Nations Leslie Voltaire--a US-trained economist who has worked for several Haitian administrations since 1994--said Corail-Cesselesse will eventually become the key industrial city of the Caribbean, with some 300,000 inhabitants. (Austin (Texas) American-Statesman 7/11/10 from AP)
Demonstrations against the government of President René Préval resumed on July 13, after a month-long break during the World Cup finals in South Africa. Several thousand people joined a march in Port-au-Prince, including Rosny Smarth, a prime minister in Préval’s 1996-2001 administration, and supporters of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide (1991-1996 and 2001-2004); other protesters reportedly carried pictures of former dictator Jean Claude (“Baby Doc”) Duvalier (1971-1986). There were also demonstrations in Petit-Goâve, Miragoâne and Jacmel. Senator Edmonde Supplice Beauzile of the Fusion party and Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP) leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste headed up a demonstration in Hinche, capital of the Central Department. (Radio Kiskeya (Haiti) 7/13/10; Agence Haïtienne de Presse 7/13/10)
2. Argentina: Senate Passes Marriage Equality Law
After a heated 14-hour session, Argentina’s Senate voted 33-27 with three abstentions in the early morning of July 15 to approve a bill extending the right to marry and to adopt to same-sex couples. The Senate vote completed the approval process for the measure, which the Chamber of Deputies had passed on May 5 [see Update #1039]. Argentina is now the first country in Latin America to extend full marriage equality to same-sex couples.
Hundreds of activists held a vigil in the Plaza de los Dos Congresos during the session despite a winter cold wave. They applauded, hugged and cried when they heard the result; the celebration continued until dawn. “To start the day like this is really delightful for our couples,” said César Cigliutti, president of the Argentina Homosexual Community (CHA), noting that the Catholic hierarchy’s fierce opposition to the measure had turned out to be a “bad strategy.” (Clarín (Buenos Aires) 7/15/10, ___ )
3. Mexico: Courts Rule for Miners, Against Electrical Workers
In a full session on July 5, Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) ruled against a suit by the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME) challenging President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa’s sudden liquidation of the state-owned Central Light and Power Company (LFC) last October [see Update #1037]. The union had argued that the liquidation, which resulted in the layoffs of 44,000 electrical workers, was unconstitutional and violated Convention 87 of the International Labor Organization (ILO). However, the SCJN ruled in favor of the union’s representation claim: the SME will continue to represent the LFC’s retirees and laid-off workers and can act in their name in the courts and the labor boards. (La Jornada (Mexico) 7/6/10; Mexico Labor News and Analysis July 2010, Vol. 15, #5)
On July 9 a panel of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Federal District (DF, Mexico City) threw out corruption charges against Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, general secretary of the National Union of Mine and Metal Workers and the Like of the Mexican Republic (SNTMMSRM), and cancelled a warrant for his arrest. The DF was the fourth major Mexican entity to drop charges against Gómez Urrutia since the federal government tried to remove him as union head in 2006; the other three are the states of Sonora, Nuevo León and San Luis Potosí. Leo Gerard, president of the North American-based United Steelworkers (USW), hailed the decision on July 16. The Mexican government “continues to use every device it can to persecute the leadership of an independent and autonomous trade union that stands up for Mexican workers,” he said. (LJ 7/12/10; MLNA July 2010, Vol. 15, #5) The USW signed an agreement with the SNTMMSRM on June 21 to explore the possibility of a merger. (MRZine.org 6/28/10)
On July 13 the México state Attorney General’s Office announced that a state court had cancelled the arrest warrant for campesino activist América del Valle, who had taken refuge in the Venezuelan embassy in Mexico City. The SCJN ordered the release of Del Valle’s father, Ignacio del Valle, and 11 other members of the Front of the Peoples in Defense of the Land (FPDT) two weeks earlier, overturning long prison sentences stemming from a confrontation with police in San Salvador Atenco in May 2006 [see Update #1039]. América del Valle’s arrest warrant was based on the same charges. (Latin American Herald Tribune 7/13/10 from EFE)
4. Honduras: Sweatshop Campaign Presses Nike
As of July 15 a campaign started by students at various North American campuses in the fall of 2009 around the labor practices of Oregon-based Nike, Inc in Honduras seemed to be on its way to winning several new victories. In an internal June 28 letter, Cornell University president David Skorton announced that the institution would let its sports apparel licensing agreement with the giant sportswear firm lapse on Dec. 31 “unless significant progress is made” in resolving severance pay issues from the January 2009 closing of two Honduran plants, Vision Tex and Hugger de Honduras. Two weeks later, on July 14, Pennsylvania State University spokesperson Geoff Rushton said in an email that the university was urging Nike "to play a positive role in assisting" the laid-off workers and was “continuing to monitor the issue.”
Nike is also facing pressure at the University of Washington, where the advisory committee for trademarks and licensing has recommended letting the Nike agreement lapse when it expires in December. A student group, the Student Labor Action Project, is calling for faster action.
The campaign’s first victory came on Apr. 9, when the University of Wisconsin in Madison announced it was cancelling its Nike contract because of the company’s failure to provide legally mandated back pay and severance packages worth some $2.1 million to more than 1,600 workers for two Nike contractors in Honduras [see Update #1030]. According to the internet news site Inside Higher Ed, “past campaigns…have shown that once a few universities take a stand, others often follow.” (Inside Higher Ed 7/2/10; State College.com 7/15/10; Seattle PI blog 7/16/10)
Plant closings became a major labor issue in Honduras in 2009 because of the world economic crisis and a deterioration in labor rights after a June 28 military coup ousted then-president José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, who had good relations with the country’s labor movement [see Update #1016].
*5. Links to alternative sources on: Argentina, Chile, Amazon, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Jamaica, Haiti
Argentina Allows Gay Marriage
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2593-argentina-allows-gay-marriage
Chile: Mapuche political prisoners on hunger strike
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8842
Amazon leaders visit BP-devastated Gulf Coast
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8805#comment-321033
Peru: logging threat to uncontacted tribes
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8838
Peruvian Government Draft Report Buries the Truth about Bagua, Resurrects Racist Stereotypes
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/peru-archives-76/2588-peruvian-government-draft-report-buries-the-truth-about-bagua-resurrects-racist-stereotypes-
Alleged Spy Vicky Pelaez Plans To Leave Russia To Return To Her Native Peru
http://latindispatch.com/2010/07/14/alleged-spy-vicky-pelaez-plans-to-leave-russia-to-return-to-her-native-peru/
A New Wave of Criminalization Against Social Movements in Ecuador
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/ecuador-archives-49/2590-a-new-wave-of-criminalization-against-social-movements-in-ecuador-
Indigenous Liberation and Class Struggle in Ecuador: A Conversation with Luis Macas
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/ecuador-archives-49/2594-indigenous-liberation-and-class-struggle-in-ecuador-a-conversation-with-luis-macas
Colombia: Ingrid Betancourt's request for millions in damages sparks controversy
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8837
Colombian Peasants Continue To Suffer Displacement Due To War
http://latindispatch.com/2010/06/14/colombian-peasants-continue-to-suffer-displacement-due-to-war/
Colombia Support Network (CSN) Representatives detained at Miami airport
http://colombiasupport.blogspot.com/2010/07/description-or-our-ordeal-in-miami.html
Colombia demands OAS action on supposed Venezuelan guerilla threat
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8848
Venezuela turns Colombian traffickers over to US
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8843
Two More Trade Unionists Murdered in Venezuela; National Union of Workers Demands Justice http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/5493
Buying Venezuela’s Press With U.S. Tax Dollars
https://nacla.org/node/6663
Documents reveal multimillion-dollar funding to journalists and media in Venezuela
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5495
Venezuela Should Follow Argentina's Example on Gay Rights
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5498
Panama: general strike claims success
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8841
US Marines to Costa Rica
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8836
Fear, Suspicion as US Military En Route to Costa Rica
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/2591-fear-suspicion-as-us-military-en-route-to-costa-rica
Oaxaca Votes Out Ruling Party as the Siege in San Juan Copala Continues
https://nacla.org/node/6658
The CIA, the Cold War, and Cocaine: The Connections of Christopher “Dudus” Coke (Jamaica)
https://nacla.org/node/6661
Land Ownership at the Crux of Haiti's Stalled Reconstruction
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2589-land-ownership-at-the-crux-of-haitis-stalled-reconstruction
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and alternative sources:
http://americas.irc-online.org/
http://nacla.org/articles
http://upsidedownworld.org/
http://ww4report.com/node/
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
Your support is appreciated. Back issues and source materials are available on request. Our weekly Immigration News Briefs has ended publication; for news, information and announcements in support of action for immigrant rights in the United States, subscribe to Immigrant Action at:
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http://thepoliticsofimmigration.com/
Sunday, July 18, 2010
7/24, Albany, NY: WNU co-editor speaks at national antiwar conference
David L. Wilson, Weekly News Update co-editor, will be speaking at two workshops at:
National Conference to Bring the Troops Home Now!
July 23–25, 2010
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Albany, New York
1. The Truth of US Occupation of Haiti
SATURDAY, JULY 24, 10:15 AM
Nellie Bailey - Harlem Tenants Council, just returned from Haiti
Marty Goodman - active in Haiti solidarity for 20 years
Ray Laforest - Haitian American labor leader (AFSCME) and Haitian community organizer, elected member of Pacifica National Board
Tony Savino - Award-winning photographer will present an eye-opening and critical slideshow on earthquake relief
David Wilson - US-based immigrant rights activist who was in Haiti during the earthquake
2. Immigration Reform & the Militarization of the US/Mexico Border
SATURDAY, JULY 24, 4:30 PM
Lynda Cruz - Derechos Humanos, Tucson, AZ
Teresa Gutierrez - Co-director, May 1 Coalition NYC
Monami Maulik - Executive Director, DRUM- Desis Rising Up & Moving
Rafael Sananez -Vamos Unidos, NYC
David Wilson - co-author of The Politics of Immigration, co-editor of Weekly News Update on the Americas, published by Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York
Registration/information: http://nationalpeaceconference.org/Home_Page.html
National Conference to Bring the Troops Home Now!
July 23–25, 2010
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Albany, New York
1. The Truth of US Occupation of Haiti
SATURDAY, JULY 24, 10:15 AM
Nellie Bailey - Harlem Tenants Council, just returned from Haiti
Marty Goodman - active in Haiti solidarity for 20 years
Ray Laforest - Haitian American labor leader (AFSCME) and Haitian community organizer, elected member of Pacifica National Board
Tony Savino - Award-winning photographer will present an eye-opening and critical slideshow on earthquake relief
David Wilson - US-based immigrant rights activist who was in Haiti during the earthquake
2. Immigration Reform & the Militarization of the US/Mexico Border
SATURDAY, JULY 24, 4:30 PM
Lynda Cruz - Derechos Humanos, Tucson, AZ
Teresa Gutierrez - Co-director, May 1 Coalition NYC
Monami Maulik - Executive Director, DRUM- Desis Rising Up & Moving
Rafael Sananez -Vamos Unidos, NYC
David Wilson - co-author of The Politics of Immigration, co-editor of Weekly News Update on the Americas, published by Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York
Registration/information: http://nationalpeaceconference.org/Home_Page.html
Monday, July 12, 2010
Links but No Update for July 11, 2010
[There is no Update this week because co-editor David L. Wilson was at the World Fellowship Center July 9-11 in Conway, New Hampshire, for workshops on Haiti. We'll be back next week. Below are links to stories from other sources.]
"Latin America Faces an Environmental Emergency"
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2584-qlatin-america-faces-an-environmental-emergencyq
United Nations: Time to Value Women's Unpaid Work in Latin America
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2587-united-nations-time-to-value-womens-unpaid-work-in-latin-america
Argentina: ex-dictator goes on trial
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8582#comment-320996
Was Bolivian missile mishap really attempted coup d'etat?
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8830
Reflections From Bolivia: Water Wars, Climate Wars and Change From Below
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/bolivia-archives-31/2583-reflections-from-bolivia-water-wars-climate-wars-and-change-from-below
Oil Spill Devastates Amazon Region in Peru
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/peru-archives-76/2582-oil-spill-devastates-amazon-region-in-peru
Ecuador’s Economy Under Rafael Correa: Twenty-First Century Socialism or the New-Extractivism? – An Inteview with Alberto Acosta
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/ecuador-archives-49/2586-ecuadors-economy-under-rafael-correa-twenty-first-century-socialism-or-the-new-extractivism--an-inteview-with-alberto-acosta
Ingrid Betancourt’s Request For Millions In Damages Sparks Controversy In Colombia
http://latindispatch.com/2010/07/12/ingrid-betancourts-request-for-millions-in-damages-sparks-controversy-in-colombia/
Communal Power in Caracas - An Interview with Wilder Marcano
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5479
Posada Carriles Associate Confesses Was Paid to Destabilise Venezuela
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/5483
Posada Carriles cohort captured in Caracas, confesses to conspiracy (Venezuela)
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8827
Public Security Challenges for El Salvador’s First Leftist Government
https://nacla.org/node/6650
Looking Ahead to 2012 Presidential Race in Mexico
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2585-looking-ahead-to-2012-presidential-race-in-mexico
Mexico: violence-marred elections do not upset balance of power
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8828
PRI Defeated in July 4 Election in Oaxaca
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/2579-pri-defeated-in-july-4-election-in-oaxaca
Mexico thwarts Hezbollah bid to set up South American network?
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8829
Cuban Dissident Guillermo Fariñas Ends Hunger Strike After 130 Days
http://latindispatch.com/2010/07/09/cuban-dissident-guillermo-farinas-ends-hunger-strike-after-130-days/
Cuban Government To Release Up To 52 Political Prisoners, Catholic Church Official Says
http://latindispatch.com/2010/07/08/cuban-government-to-release-up-to-52-political-prisoners-catholic-church-official-says/
We Bend, but We Don’t Break’: Fighting for a Just Reconstruction in Haiti
https://nacla.org/node/6652
Explosive Political Situation in Puerto Rico
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2580-explosive-political-situation-in-puerto-rico
"Latin America Faces an Environmental Emergency"
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2584-qlatin-america-faces-an-environmental-emergencyq
United Nations: Time to Value Women's Unpaid Work in Latin America
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2587-united-nations-time-to-value-womens-unpaid-work-in-latin-america
Argentina: ex-dictator goes on trial
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8582#comment-320996
Was Bolivian missile mishap really attempted coup d'etat?
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8830
Reflections From Bolivia: Water Wars, Climate Wars and Change From Below
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/bolivia-archives-31/2583-reflections-from-bolivia-water-wars-climate-wars-and-change-from-below
Oil Spill Devastates Amazon Region in Peru
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/peru-archives-76/2582-oil-spill-devastates-amazon-region-in-peru
Ecuador’s Economy Under Rafael Correa: Twenty-First Century Socialism or the New-Extractivism? – An Inteview with Alberto Acosta
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/ecuador-archives-49/2586-ecuadors-economy-under-rafael-correa-twenty-first-century-socialism-or-the-new-extractivism--an-inteview-with-alberto-acosta
Ingrid Betancourt’s Request For Millions In Damages Sparks Controversy In Colombia
http://latindispatch.com/2010/07/12/ingrid-betancourts-request-for-millions-in-damages-sparks-controversy-in-colombia/
Communal Power in Caracas - An Interview with Wilder Marcano
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5479
Posada Carriles Associate Confesses Was Paid to Destabilise Venezuela
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/5483
Posada Carriles cohort captured in Caracas, confesses to conspiracy (Venezuela)
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8827
Public Security Challenges for El Salvador’s First Leftist Government
https://nacla.org/node/6650
Looking Ahead to 2012 Presidential Race in Mexico
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2585-looking-ahead-to-2012-presidential-race-in-mexico
Mexico: violence-marred elections do not upset balance of power
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8828
PRI Defeated in July 4 Election in Oaxaca
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/2579-pri-defeated-in-july-4-election-in-oaxaca
Mexico thwarts Hezbollah bid to set up South American network?
http://www.ww4report.com/node/8829
Cuban Dissident Guillermo Fariñas Ends Hunger Strike After 130 Days
http://latindispatch.com/2010/07/09/cuban-dissident-guillermo-farinas-ends-hunger-strike-after-130-days/
Cuban Government To Release Up To 52 Political Prisoners, Catholic Church Official Says
http://latindispatch.com/2010/07/08/cuban-government-to-release-up-to-52-political-prisoners-catholic-church-official-says/
We Bend, but We Don’t Break’: Fighting for a Just Reconstruction in Haiti
https://nacla.org/node/6652
Explosive Political Situation in Puerto Rico
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2580-explosive-political-situation-in-puerto-rico
Monday, July 5, 2010
WNU #1039: Pride Marches Mark Gains, Demand More
Weekly News Update on the Americas
Issue #1039, July 4, 2010
1. Southern Cone: Marchers Call for Marriage Equality
2. Andes Region: Demos Celebrate LGBT Gains
3. Caribbean Basin: Pride Marchers Praise Funes, Monsivais
4. Mexico: Court Frees Atenco Prisoners
5. Puerto Rico: Cops Attack Students at Capitol
6. Haiti: Elections Set, Disputes Continue
7. Links to alternative sources on: Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Honduras, Mexico, Cuba, US
ISSN#: 1084 922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com . It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/
Note: There will be links but no Update on July 11. Co-editor David L. Wilson will be at the World Fellowship Center July 9-11 in Conway, New Hampshire, where he will facilitate workshops on Haiti along with Dahoud André of Lakou New York radio and Joanne Veillard and Bastien Jean-Baptiste of Seeds for Haiti. The three days of events will be dedicated to the memory of New York-based Haitian poet, author and activist Daniel Simidor, who died in New York on Jan. 10, two days before a massive earthquake devastated southern Haiti. For more information, got to: http://www.worldfellowship.org and http://www.worldfellowship.org/prog2010.shtml#9-Jul
*1. Southern Cone: Marchers Call for Marriage Equality
This year Pride celebrations, held on the last weekend in June in much of the world, coincided with a debate in Argentina over proposed legislation that would make the country the first in Latin America to authorize same-sex marriages. On June 28, hundreds of supporters of the legislation marched in front of the Congress building in Buenos Aires in a demonstration organized by the Argentine LGBT Federation and supported by about a dozen social groups and cultural figures, including singers Fito Páez and Vicentico, who were to hold a recital at the end of the march.
The Chamber of Deputies approved the marriage equality law on May 5 by a 126-109 vote with five abstentions; organizers hope to have the support of 38 of the 72 senators when the measure goes before the Senate on July 14. Supporters of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner back the law; the Catholic Church is strongly opposed and is pushing for a referendum on the issue. Seven same-sex couples have been married in Argentina since December because of rulings by individual judges. (La República (Peru) 6/28/10 from AP; AFP 6/29/10 via Prensa Gráfica (El Salvador) )
LGBT organizers in Chile have been focusing on developing Pride events in regional capitals. This year in addition to a march in Santiago on June 26, there were Pride marches in Puerto Montt and Valdivia in the south and Calama and La Serena in the north. The largest of the regional events was the July 1 march in La Serena, which drew some 7,000 participants, 2,000 more than the year before. (Movimiento Chileno de Minorias Sexuales (Chile) 7/2/10; Opus Gay (Chile) 7/2/10) [In 2008 the Santiago Pride march drew an estimated 6,000 participants; see Update #953.]
Many think the largest Pride event in the world is the annual parade in São Paulo, Brazil. Organizers said 3.2 million attended this year’s event, held on June 6. During the week before the parade, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva issued a decree declaring May 17 the National Day to Combat Homophobia. The decree, which became official when it was published in the government gazette on June 7, met one of the demands made by Brazilian LGBT organizations. Presidential elections are scheduled for Oct. 3, and the decree is expected to win LGBT votes for Dilma Vana Rousseff, the candidate of Lula’s leftist Workers Party (PT). May 17 marks the day in 1990 when the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of diseases. (W Radio (Mexico) 6/7/10 from unidentified wire services; EFE 6/7/10 via Terra.com (Chile))
*2. Andes Region: Demos Celebrate LGBT Gains
LGBT organizations in Cochabamba, Bolivia, held their fourth annual Pride event on June 26, marching from Las Banderas plaza to Colón square. Two days later, on June 28, Bolivian LGBT activists celebrated the first official Day of People With Diverse Sexual Orientation, which the government of President Evo Morales created on July 1, 2009 with Supreme Decree 0189. “We want to give an acknowledgment to all those who have been supporting us continually in everything that’s a process of making human rights issues visible,” said Luis Ayllón Martínez, general director of the organization Equity. (Los Tiempos (Cochabamba) 6/27/10; SentidoG (Buenos Aires) 6/28/10)
Residents of Bogotá, Colombia held their 14th annual Pride event on June 27, marching from the National Park to the Plaza de Bolívar with the slogan: “Neither sick nor antisocial, proudly LGBT.” Cali and Medellín have been celebrating Pride for several years, but the country’s fourth largest city, Barranquilla, still doesn’t have a Pride event, although it holds an LGBT march during the Carnaval (Mardi Gras) celebration. (Ensentidocontrario.com 7/3/10)
*3. Caribbean Basin: Pride Marchers Praise Funes, Monsivais
On June 27 about 200 Costa Ricans joined a Pride march along Paseo Colón to the central park in San José. “Being gay isn’t a sickness, it’s a sexual preference,” said one of the participants in the march, which was initiated by a group of female impersonators who perform in local discotheques. Abelardo Araya, a spokesperson for the Diversity Movement, said his group didn’t support the march, which he said “reaffirms myths and prejudices.” The Diversity Movement is leading opposition to a referendum scheduled for Dec. 5 on the right to same-sex marriage; LGBT activists fear that conservative Catholics voters will defeat efforts for marriage equality.
On June 25 the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court suspended preparations for the vote while it considers a challenge from civil servant Esteban Quirós, who said that Costa Rica voters couldn’t approve a measure that would violate international human rights conventions that the country has signed on to. “It would be impossible to put a human rights issue to a vote,” he said. (SentidoG 6/28/10 from La Nación (Costa Rica); Inside Costa Rica 6/28/10; Tico Times 6/25/10)
El Salvador’s Pride march was held on June 28, starting at the Paseo General Escalón, west of San Salvador. In contrast to last year’s march, which was dedicated to victims of homophobic violence, this year the marchers celebrated efforts by leftist president Mauricio Funes to fight discrimination. “We have things to celebrate and things to mourn,” Willian Hernández, of the organization Between Friends, told the Spanish wire service EFE, “but what links us in this moment is the political steps forward that have been taken in this country.” He said that although two members of the community have been reported murdered so far this year, the number for all of 2009 was 23. (SentidoG 6/28/10 from EFE)
The 32nd annual Pride march in the Mexican capital, held on June 26, began with a moment of silence for journalist and activist Carlos Monsivais, who died on June 19 at the age of 72. Speakers noted Mexico’s many famous LGBT writers and artists, including Salvador Novo and Frida Kahlo. “This march isn’t about partying, it’s about struggle and protest” was the slogan of the contingent that started the march from the Angel of Independence down the Paseo de la Reforma. Many marchers were calling for the right to same-sex marriage, established in Mexico City on Dec. 21 [see Update #1024], to be extended to the rest of the country. Contingents from outside Mexico City included The Two Mommies organization from the northeastern state of Nuevo León and Catholics for the Right to Decide, based in the states of Querétaro, Oaxaca and Guerrero, which calls for education to prevent discrimination. (Milenio (Mexico) 6/27/10)
Hundreds of Puerto Ricans marched on June 6 in the island’s 20th Pride event, held in San Juan’s beachfront El Condado neighborhood. Olga Orraca, coordinator of the Rainbow Pride Coalition, which organized the march, said that that this year’s event was intended not only to reaffirm the community’s visibility but also to denounce hate crimes against LGBT people [see Update #1017]. Orraca and Human and Constitucional Rights Commission president Osvaldo Burgos criticized the inaction of the police in dealing with hate crimes eight years after a hate crimes law went into effect. (SentidoG 6/6/10 from El Nuevo Día (Puerto Rico))
*4. Mexico: Court Frees Atenco Prisoners
On June 30 a five-member panel of Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) announced that it had decided by a four-to-one vote to release campesino activist Ignacio del Valle Medina and 11 other members of the Front of the Peoples in Defense of the Land (FPDT) who had been imprisoned since a confrontation in May 2006 between México state police and residents of San Salvador Atenco municipality northeast of Mexico City [see Update #1038]. The justices ruled that the state’s charges against the activists—for kidnapping state officials—were based on “false and feeble premises” and used “impermissible evidence.”
Accompanied by 1997 Nobel peace prize winner Jody Williams, FPDT director Trinidad Ramírez, who is Ignacio del Valle’s wife, addressed supporters on the courthouse steps in Mexico City after the announcement. “Organize,” she said. “The message is that the government and the state aren’t invincible. Can you beat the government? Sure you can! Is it possible to do it? Sure it is!” (La Jornada (Mexico) 7/1/10, ___)
On July 3 Ramírez and Del Valle initiated a legal action to dismiss charges against their daughter, América del Valle. Since she hadn’t been tried, the SCJN ruling doesn’t automatically affect her case. América del Valle had applied for political asylum at the Venezuelan embassy on June 23, a week before the SCJN ruling. (LJ 7/4/10)
*5. Puerto Rico: Cops Attack Students at Capitol
Dozens of demonstrators were injured at Puerto Rico’s Capitol building the afternoon of June 30 when riot police used batons and tear gas to keep hundreds of students and their supporters from entering a session of the Legislature that was to vote on unpopular budget cuts and a measure to end student assemblies. Senate president Thomas Rivera Schatz had apparently closed the public galleries before the vote, and the next day a police agent reportedly testified that the police violence had been planned in advance.
After the protesters were cleared out, the Legislature passed a law which would eliminate student assemblies and replace them with a remote electronic voting system. Opponents say this violates the US Bill of Rights, which covers Puerto Rico, and a provision in the 1952 Puerto Rican Constitution: “No law shall be made abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” The move follows a two-month strike by students at the public University of Puerto Rico (UPR) this spring that defeated efforts by the conservative government of Gov. Luis Fortuño to cut back the university budget and raise tuition fees [see Update #1037]. (Argenpress (Argentina) 7/1/10 from correspondent, English translation at Dissident Voice 7/3/10; Prensa Latina 7/1/10)
After repeated questions in an interview with the Guaynabo daily Primera Hora on July 2, Gov. Fortuño finally said he condemned “the excessive violence that there may have been on the part of the police” in the June 30 incident. (Primera Hora 7/3/10) In Washington, DC, a US Congress member of Puerto Rican origin, Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), called on July 2 for an investigation of the violence, while Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL), also of Puerto Rican origin, called the police action “a abuse that is intolerable in a democracy.” The “person immediately responsible” was Police Superintendant José Figueroa Sancha, Gutiérrez said. (El Nuevo Día (Puerto Rico) 7/2/10)
*6. Haiti: Elections Set, Disputes Continue
On June 30 Haitian president René Préval rejected changes US senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), the leading minority member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, proposed for presidential and legislative elections that are now scheduled for Nov. 28. In a report earlier in the month, Lugar called for international “partners” to help restructure the eight-member Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) and for candidates from the Lavalas Family (FL) party of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide (1991-1996 and 2001-2004) to be allowed to run. The legislative elections were scheduled for Feb. 28 but had to be postponed because of a massive earthquake on Jan. 12. The elections are expected to cost $29.6 million, with the Haitian government providing $7 million and international donors supplying the rest.
Préval blamed FL’s exclusion on the failure of two rival factions to agree on a list of candidates. The party presented two different lists of candidates for senatorial elections in April 2009, but Maryse Narcisse’s faction has since won the support of the exiled Aristide, who officially heads the party, for the current elections [see Update #1014]. The local station Radio Métropole reports that the legislative candidates from the two factions are now in fact running for other parties, including Ansanm Nou Fò (“Together We Are Strong”), Veye Yo (“Watch Them”) and Organization for the Future (OLA). (Reuters 6/30/10; Radio Métropole 7/1/10)
*7. Links to alternative sources on: Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Honduras, Mexico, Cuba, US
Peru: oil spill fouls rainforest communities
http://ww4report.com/node/8804
Peru : students deny Sendero link, march against police intervention
http://ww4report.com/node/8803
Colombia's President Rails Against Justice, Clinton Stands By
http://ww4report.com/node/8799
Workers’ Control and the Contradictions of the Bolivarian Process: An Interview with Gustavo Martínez (Venezuela)
http://www.zcommunications.org/workers-control-and-the-contradictions-of-the-bolivarian-process-an-interview-with-gustavo-mart-nez-by-gustavo-martinez
Building a Future in the Barrio of Chapellín: An Interview with Rosa María González
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/venezuela-archives-35/2564-building-a-future-in-the-barrio-of-chapellin-an-interview-with-rosa-maria-gonzalez-
Crisis of Legitimacy in Honduras?
http://www.thenation.com/article/36888/crisis-legitimacy-honduras
Honduras Commemorates Tense Anniversary of Unresolved Military Coup
https://nacla.org/node/6626
The Military Still Has Veto Power in Honduras
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2572-the-military-still-has-veto-power-in-honduras
Honduras Failing to Tackle Coup Rights Abuses
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2568-usaid-the-bone-of-contention-in-us-bolivia-relations
Honduras One Year Later
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/2562-honduras-one-year-later-
The Coup Is Not Over: Marking a Year of Resistance in Honduras
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/2565-the-coup-is-not-over-marking-a-year-of-resistance-in-honduras
National and International Clergy Assail the Arrest of Father Martin Octavio García Ortiz in Oaxaca (Mexico)
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2573-national-and-international-clergy-assail-the-arrest-of-father-martin-octavio-garcia-ortiz-in-oaxaca
Unions Representing Workers in Canada, Mexico, and U.S. Explore Merger
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/labotz280610.html
Strategic Dialogue: The Cuban Embargo
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/2703
Tuesday Hearing: Feierstein Nomination Raises Questions about USAID’s Role in Latin America
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2570-tuesday-hearing-feierstein-nomination-raises-questions-about-usaids-role-in-latin-america
The Media Empire Strikes Back: Reviewing Reviews of South of the Border
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/2563-the-media-empire-strikes-back-reviewing-reviews-of-south-of-the-border
U.S. Social Forum a Mechanism for Change
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/2571-us-social-forum-a-mechanism-for-change
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and alternative sources:
http://americas.irc-online.org/
http://nacla.org/articles
http://upsidedownworld.org/
http://ww4report.com/node/
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
Your support is appreciated. Back issues and source materials are available on request. Our weekly Immigration News Briefs has ended publication; for news, information and announcements in support of action for immigrant rights in the United States, subscribe to Immigrant Action at:
https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/immigrantaction
You can also visit the Immigrant Action blog at:
http://immigrantaction.blogspot.com/
Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, from Monthly Review Press, by Update editors Jane Guskin and David Wilson:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.com/
Issue #1039, July 4, 2010
1. Southern Cone: Marchers Call for Marriage Equality
2. Andes Region: Demos Celebrate LGBT Gains
3. Caribbean Basin: Pride Marchers Praise Funes, Monsivais
4. Mexico: Court Frees Atenco Prisoners
5. Puerto Rico: Cops Attack Students at Capitol
6. Haiti: Elections Set, Disputes Continue
7. Links to alternative sources on: Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Honduras, Mexico, Cuba, US
ISSN#: 1084 922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com . It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/
Note: There will be links but no Update on July 11. Co-editor David L. Wilson will be at the World Fellowship Center July 9-11 in Conway, New Hampshire, where he will facilitate workshops on Haiti along with Dahoud André of Lakou New York radio and Joanne Veillard and Bastien Jean-Baptiste of Seeds for Haiti. The three days of events will be dedicated to the memory of New York-based Haitian poet, author and activist Daniel Simidor, who died in New York on Jan. 10, two days before a massive earthquake devastated southern Haiti. For more information, got to: http://www.worldfellowship.org and http://www.worldfellowship.org/prog2010.shtml#9-Jul
*1. Southern Cone: Marchers Call for Marriage Equality
This year Pride celebrations, held on the last weekend in June in much of the world, coincided with a debate in Argentina over proposed legislation that would make the country the first in Latin America to authorize same-sex marriages. On June 28, hundreds of supporters of the legislation marched in front of the Congress building in Buenos Aires in a demonstration organized by the Argentine LGBT Federation and supported by about a dozen social groups and cultural figures, including singers Fito Páez and Vicentico, who were to hold a recital at the end of the march.
The Chamber of Deputies approved the marriage equality law on May 5 by a 126-109 vote with five abstentions; organizers hope to have the support of 38 of the 72 senators when the measure goes before the Senate on July 14. Supporters of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner back the law; the Catholic Church is strongly opposed and is pushing for a referendum on the issue. Seven same-sex couples have been married in Argentina since December because of rulings by individual judges. (La República (Peru) 6/28/10 from AP; AFP 6/29/10 via Prensa Gráfica (El Salvador) )
LGBT organizers in Chile have been focusing on developing Pride events in regional capitals. This year in addition to a march in Santiago on June 26, there were Pride marches in Puerto Montt and Valdivia in the south and Calama and La Serena in the north. The largest of the regional events was the July 1 march in La Serena, which drew some 7,000 participants, 2,000 more than the year before. (Movimiento Chileno de Minorias Sexuales (Chile) 7/2/10; Opus Gay (Chile) 7/2/10) [In 2008 the Santiago Pride march drew an estimated 6,000 participants; see Update #953.]
Many think the largest Pride event in the world is the annual parade in São Paulo, Brazil. Organizers said 3.2 million attended this year’s event, held on June 6. During the week before the parade, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva issued a decree declaring May 17 the National Day to Combat Homophobia. The decree, which became official when it was published in the government gazette on June 7, met one of the demands made by Brazilian LGBT organizations. Presidential elections are scheduled for Oct. 3, and the decree is expected to win LGBT votes for Dilma Vana Rousseff, the candidate of Lula’s leftist Workers Party (PT). May 17 marks the day in 1990 when the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of diseases. (W Radio (Mexico) 6/7/10 from unidentified wire services; EFE 6/7/10 via Terra.com (Chile))
*2. Andes Region: Demos Celebrate LGBT Gains
LGBT organizations in Cochabamba, Bolivia, held their fourth annual Pride event on June 26, marching from Las Banderas plaza to Colón square. Two days later, on June 28, Bolivian LGBT activists celebrated the first official Day of People With Diverse Sexual Orientation, which the government of President Evo Morales created on July 1, 2009 with Supreme Decree 0189. “We want to give an acknowledgment to all those who have been supporting us continually in everything that’s a process of making human rights issues visible,” said Luis Ayllón Martínez, general director of the organization Equity. (Los Tiempos (Cochabamba) 6/27/10; SentidoG (Buenos Aires) 6/28/10)
Residents of Bogotá, Colombia held their 14th annual Pride event on June 27, marching from the National Park to the Plaza de Bolívar with the slogan: “Neither sick nor antisocial, proudly LGBT.” Cali and Medellín have been celebrating Pride for several years, but the country’s fourth largest city, Barranquilla, still doesn’t have a Pride event, although it holds an LGBT march during the Carnaval (Mardi Gras) celebration. (Ensentidocontrario.com 7/3/10)
*3. Caribbean Basin: Pride Marchers Praise Funes, Monsivais
On June 27 about 200 Costa Ricans joined a Pride march along Paseo Colón to the central park in San José. “Being gay isn’t a sickness, it’s a sexual preference,” said one of the participants in the march, which was initiated by a group of female impersonators who perform in local discotheques. Abelardo Araya, a spokesperson for the Diversity Movement, said his group didn’t support the march, which he said “reaffirms myths and prejudices.” The Diversity Movement is leading opposition to a referendum scheduled for Dec. 5 on the right to same-sex marriage; LGBT activists fear that conservative Catholics voters will defeat efforts for marriage equality.
On June 25 the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court suspended preparations for the vote while it considers a challenge from civil servant Esteban Quirós, who said that Costa Rica voters couldn’t approve a measure that would violate international human rights conventions that the country has signed on to. “It would be impossible to put a human rights issue to a vote,” he said. (SentidoG 6/28/10 from La Nación (Costa Rica); Inside Costa Rica 6/28/10; Tico Times 6/25/10)
El Salvador’s Pride march was held on June 28, starting at the Paseo General Escalón, west of San Salvador. In contrast to last year’s march, which was dedicated to victims of homophobic violence, this year the marchers celebrated efforts by leftist president Mauricio Funes to fight discrimination. “We have things to celebrate and things to mourn,” Willian Hernández, of the organization Between Friends, told the Spanish wire service EFE, “but what links us in this moment is the political steps forward that have been taken in this country.” He said that although two members of the community have been reported murdered so far this year, the number for all of 2009 was 23. (SentidoG 6/28/10 from EFE)
The 32nd annual Pride march in the Mexican capital, held on June 26, began with a moment of silence for journalist and activist Carlos Monsivais, who died on June 19 at the age of 72. Speakers noted Mexico’s many famous LGBT writers and artists, including Salvador Novo and Frida Kahlo. “This march isn’t about partying, it’s about struggle and protest” was the slogan of the contingent that started the march from the Angel of Independence down the Paseo de la Reforma. Many marchers were calling for the right to same-sex marriage, established in Mexico City on Dec. 21 [see Update #1024], to be extended to the rest of the country. Contingents from outside Mexico City included The Two Mommies organization from the northeastern state of Nuevo León and Catholics for the Right to Decide, based in the states of Querétaro, Oaxaca and Guerrero, which calls for education to prevent discrimination. (Milenio (Mexico) 6/27/10)
Hundreds of Puerto Ricans marched on June 6 in the island’s 20th Pride event, held in San Juan’s beachfront El Condado neighborhood. Olga Orraca, coordinator of the Rainbow Pride Coalition, which organized the march, said that that this year’s event was intended not only to reaffirm the community’s visibility but also to denounce hate crimes against LGBT people [see Update #1017]. Orraca and Human and Constitucional Rights Commission president Osvaldo Burgos criticized the inaction of the police in dealing with hate crimes eight years after a hate crimes law went into effect. (SentidoG 6/6/10 from El Nuevo Día (Puerto Rico))
*4. Mexico: Court Frees Atenco Prisoners
On June 30 a five-member panel of Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) announced that it had decided by a four-to-one vote to release campesino activist Ignacio del Valle Medina and 11 other members of the Front of the Peoples in Defense of the Land (FPDT) who had been imprisoned since a confrontation in May 2006 between México state police and residents of San Salvador Atenco municipality northeast of Mexico City [see Update #1038]. The justices ruled that the state’s charges against the activists—for kidnapping state officials—were based on “false and feeble premises” and used “impermissible evidence.”
Accompanied by 1997 Nobel peace prize winner Jody Williams, FPDT director Trinidad Ramírez, who is Ignacio del Valle’s wife, addressed supporters on the courthouse steps in Mexico City after the announcement. “Organize,” she said. “The message is that the government and the state aren’t invincible. Can you beat the government? Sure you can! Is it possible to do it? Sure it is!” (La Jornada (Mexico) 7/1/10, ___)
On July 3 Ramírez and Del Valle initiated a legal action to dismiss charges against their daughter, América del Valle. Since she hadn’t been tried, the SCJN ruling doesn’t automatically affect her case. América del Valle had applied for political asylum at the Venezuelan embassy on June 23, a week before the SCJN ruling. (LJ 7/4/10)
*5. Puerto Rico: Cops Attack Students at Capitol
Dozens of demonstrators were injured at Puerto Rico’s Capitol building the afternoon of June 30 when riot police used batons and tear gas to keep hundreds of students and their supporters from entering a session of the Legislature that was to vote on unpopular budget cuts and a measure to end student assemblies. Senate president Thomas Rivera Schatz had apparently closed the public galleries before the vote, and the next day a police agent reportedly testified that the police violence had been planned in advance.
After the protesters were cleared out, the Legislature passed a law which would eliminate student assemblies and replace them with a remote electronic voting system. Opponents say this violates the US Bill of Rights, which covers Puerto Rico, and a provision in the 1952 Puerto Rican Constitution: “No law shall be made abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” The move follows a two-month strike by students at the public University of Puerto Rico (UPR) this spring that defeated efforts by the conservative government of Gov. Luis Fortuño to cut back the university budget and raise tuition fees [see Update #1037]. (Argenpress (Argentina) 7/1/10 from correspondent, English translation at Dissident Voice 7/3/10; Prensa Latina 7/1/10)
After repeated questions in an interview with the Guaynabo daily Primera Hora on July 2, Gov. Fortuño finally said he condemned “the excessive violence that there may have been on the part of the police” in the June 30 incident. (Primera Hora 7/3/10) In Washington, DC, a US Congress member of Puerto Rican origin, Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), called on July 2 for an investigation of the violence, while Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL), also of Puerto Rican origin, called the police action “a abuse that is intolerable in a democracy.” The “person immediately responsible” was Police Superintendant José Figueroa Sancha, Gutiérrez said. (El Nuevo Día (Puerto Rico) 7/2/10)
*6. Haiti: Elections Set, Disputes Continue
On June 30 Haitian president René Préval rejected changes US senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), the leading minority member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, proposed for presidential and legislative elections that are now scheduled for Nov. 28. In a report earlier in the month, Lugar called for international “partners” to help restructure the eight-member Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) and for candidates from the Lavalas Family (FL) party of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide (1991-1996 and 2001-2004) to be allowed to run. The legislative elections were scheduled for Feb. 28 but had to be postponed because of a massive earthquake on Jan. 12. The elections are expected to cost $29.6 million, with the Haitian government providing $7 million and international donors supplying the rest.
Préval blamed FL’s exclusion on the failure of two rival factions to agree on a list of candidates. The party presented two different lists of candidates for senatorial elections in April 2009, but Maryse Narcisse’s faction has since won the support of the exiled Aristide, who officially heads the party, for the current elections [see Update #1014]. The local station Radio Métropole reports that the legislative candidates from the two factions are now in fact running for other parties, including Ansanm Nou Fò (“Together We Are Strong”), Veye Yo (“Watch Them”) and Organization for the Future (OLA). (Reuters 6/30/10; Radio Métropole 7/1/10)
*7. Links to alternative sources on: Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Honduras, Mexico, Cuba, US
Peru: oil spill fouls rainforest communities
http://ww4report.com/node/8804
Peru : students deny Sendero link, march against police intervention
http://ww4report.com/node/8803
Colombia's President Rails Against Justice, Clinton Stands By
http://ww4report.com/node/8799
Workers’ Control and the Contradictions of the Bolivarian Process: An Interview with Gustavo Martínez (Venezuela)
http://www.zcommunications.org/workers-control-and-the-contradictions-of-the-bolivarian-process-an-interview-with-gustavo-mart-nez-by-gustavo-martinez
Building a Future in the Barrio of Chapellín: An Interview with Rosa María González
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/venezuela-archives-35/2564-building-a-future-in-the-barrio-of-chapellin-an-interview-with-rosa-maria-gonzalez-
Crisis of Legitimacy in Honduras?
http://www.thenation.com/article/36888/crisis-legitimacy-honduras
Honduras Commemorates Tense Anniversary of Unresolved Military Coup
https://nacla.org/node/6626
The Military Still Has Veto Power in Honduras
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2572-the-military-still-has-veto-power-in-honduras
Honduras Failing to Tackle Coup Rights Abuses
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2568-usaid-the-bone-of-contention-in-us-bolivia-relations
Honduras One Year Later
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/2562-honduras-one-year-later-
The Coup Is Not Over: Marking a Year of Resistance in Honduras
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/2565-the-coup-is-not-over-marking-a-year-of-resistance-in-honduras
National and International Clergy Assail the Arrest of Father Martin Octavio García Ortiz in Oaxaca (Mexico)
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2573-national-and-international-clergy-assail-the-arrest-of-father-martin-octavio-garcia-ortiz-in-oaxaca
Unions Representing Workers in Canada, Mexico, and U.S. Explore Merger
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/labotz280610.html
Strategic Dialogue: The Cuban Embargo
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/2703
Tuesday Hearing: Feierstein Nomination Raises Questions about USAID’s Role in Latin America
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2570-tuesday-hearing-feierstein-nomination-raises-questions-about-usaids-role-in-latin-america
The Media Empire Strikes Back: Reviewing Reviews of South of the Border
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/2563-the-media-empire-strikes-back-reviewing-reviews-of-south-of-the-border
U.S. Social Forum a Mechanism for Change
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/2571-us-social-forum-a-mechanism-for-change
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and alternative sources:
http://americas.irc-online.org/
http://nacla.org/articles
http://upsidedownworld.org/
http://ww4report.com/node/
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
Your support is appreciated. Back issues and source materials are available on request. Our weekly Immigration News Briefs has ended publication; for news, information and announcements in support of action for immigrant rights in the United States, subscribe to Immigrant Action at:
https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/immigrantaction
You can also visit the Immigrant Action blog at:
http://immigrantaction.blogspot.com/
Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, from Monthly Review Press, by Update editors Jane Guskin and David Wilson:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.com/
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