Issue #1210, February 23, 2014
1. Honduras: Candidate’s Brother Killed in Electoral Dispute
2. Brazil: 230 Arrested in World Cup Protest
3. Haiti: Court Rules Duvalier Case Can Proceed
4. Links to alternative sources on: Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Haiti, US/immigration
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. It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/WeeklyNewsUpdat.
*1. Honduras: Candidate’s Brother Killed in Electoral Dispute
Indigenous Honduran campesino Justiniano Vásquez was found dead on Feb. 21 in San Francisco de Opalaca municipality in the western department of Intibucá, where the victim’s brother Entimo Vásquez is challenging the results of a Nov. 24 mayoral election. Justiniano Vásquez’s body had deep wounds, and there were signs that his hands had been bound. Community members charged that the killing was carried out by Juan Rodríguez, a supporter of former mayor Socorro Sánchez, who the electoral authorities said defeated Entimo Vásquez in the November vote. Rodríguez had reportedly threatened Entimo Vásaquez in the past. San Francisco de Opalaca residents captured Rodríguez and turned him over to the police. The Civic Council of Grassroots and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), which reported Vásquez’s death, demanded punishment for the perpetrators and called on the authorities “to carry out their work objectively [and] effectively.”
Entimo Vásquez ran for mayor as a candidate of the new center-left Freedom and Refoundation Party (LIBRE) in the November presidential, legislative and local elections; Socorro Sánchez was the candidate of the rightwing National Party (PN). Vásquez formally challenged the results, but the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) backed Sánchez. Community residents, who are mostly members of the Lenca indigenous group, charged that the vote was fraudulent and also accused Sánchez of irregularities during his previous term as mayor. Vásquez’s supporters have occupied the town hall since late January, preventing Sánchez from taking office. (La Tribuna (Tegucigalpa) 2/13/14; COPINH 2/21/14; La Prensa (Nicaragua) 2/22/14 from AFP)
In related news, on Feb. 10 a court in the western department of Santa Bárbara issued a definitive dismissal of weapons possession charges against COPINH general coordinator Berta Cáceres. A group of soldiers arrested Cáceres and another COPINH official on May 24 last year, claiming they had found an illegal firearm in the activists’ car [see Update #1178]. Cáceres was in Santa Bárbara at the time to support protests by indigenous Lenca communities against the construction of the Agua Zarca dam on and near their territory. In an interview with the Uruguay-based Radio Mundo Real on Feb. 13 Cáceres said national and international solidarity had been fundamental for winning dismissal of the charges. (Radio Mundo Real 2/13/14)
*2. Brazil: 230 Arrested in World Cup Protest
In the latest protest against what activists say is the Brazilian government’s diversion of funds from social services to sports events, more than 1,000 people marched in downtown São Paulo from the Praça da República to the Anhangabaú subway station on the evening of Feb. 22. The protest ended with some 1,000 agents of the militarized police using stun grenades and tear gas to disperse the marchers and making a total of 230 arrests. Among those arrested were five journalists, two photographers and three reporters; the reporters were from the newspapers O Globo and Folha de São Paulo and from the news website G1. Bruno Santos, a photographer for the Terra Brasil website, received an injury in his leg. Protesters charged that the arrests were arbitrary and that the police contingent, which included plainclothes infiltrators and a special unarmed unit trained in martial arts, attacked the march without provocation. A video by the Unified Socialist Workers Party (PSTU), shows agents surrounding a large group of demonstrators and apparently starting to arrest them. The police blamed the confrontation on masked members of the Black Bloc, who reportedly vandalized stores and a branch of the Itaú Unibanco bank. All of the 230 people detained were released by the next day.
As in much larger demonstrations in June 2013 [see Update #1181], the Feb. 22 marchers protested national and local governments’ underfunding of education, transportation and health services while pouring billions into preparations for this year’s World Cup soccer championship and the 2016 Olympics. The action was organized through the Facebook page of a group called Against the 2014 Cup. Brazil is expected to spend some $11 billion on the series of World Cup games from June 12 to July 13, the largest amount spent in the history of the events. “The government is trying to make us believe that Brazil is just happiness and Carnaval, but it isn’t that way,” protester Lucas Souza told the Argentine wire service InfoBAE. “It’s a very unequal country.” (Jornal do Brasil (Rio de Janeiro) 2/22/14; PSTU 2/22/14; InfoBAE 2/22/14; Prensa Latina 2/23/14)
The national government is stepping up efforts to contain protests during this summer’s games. “The federal police, the national public security force, the highway police--all these organs are ready and positioned to act within their areas of competence,” President Dilma Rousseff said in a radio interview on Feb. 19. “If it’s necessary, we will also mobilize the armed forces.” (Agence France Presse 2/19/14) The federal Senate is considering two bills directed against protests. One of them, written by a congressional committee, would treat as “terrorism” the act of “provoking or instilling terror or widespread panic through an attack or an intention of attack against a person’s life, physical well-being [or] health or the deprivation of a person’s freedom.” The bill would also increase penalties for vandalism. Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, of the leftist Freedom and Socialism Party (PSOL), called “[t]his generic classification of terrorism…an instrument against any free demonstration, against any organized civilian mobilization.” He compared it to a measure in force during the 1964-1985 military dictatorship. On Feb. 12 Rio de Janeiro state public safety secretary José Mariano Beltrame proposed a separate bill making it a crime to create disorder in a public space. (AFP via Terra Chile 2/12/14)
The media have promoted these measures with widespread coverage of the death of Santiago Andrade, a TV camera operator who succumbed to injuries he received while covering a Feb. 6 protest in Rio de Janeiro [see Update #1209]. Two young protesters, Caio Silva de Souza and Fabio Raposo, allegedly caused Andrade’s death with a firework that they intended to throw at police; they were arrested, jailed and charged with criminal homicide. The media expressed outrage over the incident; in contrast, Arlita Andrade, the victim’s widow, said: “I feel great pain for these two kids.” Attorney Marcos Fuchs, director of the Pro Bono Institute and associate director of the nonprofit Conectas Human Rights organization, noted another contrast--between the expedited police action against the protesters and the usual pace of criminal investigations in Brazil. “All the homicide cases should be solved with this same speed,” he told the Brazilian edition of the Spanish newspaper El País, which reported that less than 8% of Brazilian homicide cases are ever solved.
On Feb. 12, as the media focused on the Andrade case, another criminal homicide case was suspended. Thor Batista--the son of Brazilian mining, oil and gas magnate Eike Batista, who was one of the world’s richest individuals before his companies’ stocks plummeted in 2013—is charged in the 2012 death of a cyclist he hit while allegedly driving his Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren at 100-115 km per hour. In this case the suspect hasn’t spent a single day in prison. (Terra Chile 2/12/14)
*3. Haiti: Court Rules Duvalier Case Can Proceed
After a nine-month delay, a three-member Port-au-Prince appeals court panel held a new hearing on Feb. 20 to consider human rights complaints filed against former “president for life” Jean-Claude (“Baby Doc”) Duvalier (1971-1986) [see Update #1205]. To the surprise of many observers, the judges ruled that the case could go forward, overturning a January 2012 decision by investigative judge Carvès Jean that the statute of limitations had run out on rights violations that occurred under Duvalier’s dictatorship. “Serious indications relative to indirect participation and criminal responsibility of the accused, Jean-Claude Duvalier, are obvious,” Judge Jean Joseph Lubrun said, citing Duvalier’s apparent failure “to take the necessary and reasonable measures in order to prevent the commission of the crimes and to take the reasonable measures to punish the authors.”
The panel appointed appeals court judge Durin Duret Junior as the new investigative judge in the case. He is to take testimony from additional witnesses and to determine the standing of people who filed complaints based on alleged crimes against their deceased spouses. This process is expected to take months, with no guarantee that Duvalier will actually go on trial. But complainants and human rights advocates were happy with the court’s decision. “This ruling today is a total victory not only for the victims of Jean-Claude Duvalier but also the Haitian legal system,” said Nicole Phillips, a human rights lawyer with the Boston-based Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH). “This is a very, very important ruling.” Robert Duval, one of the complainants, called it “a great step forward, since they’re going to call all of Jean-Claude Duvalier’s associates, who can be brought before the justice system.” (AlterPresse (Haiti) 2/20/14; Miami Herald 2/20/14 from correspondent)
Despite the ruling in the Duvalier case, the human rights situation remains problematic in Haiti, according to rights advocates, who are still shocked by the Feb. 8 murder of Haitian Platform of Human Rights Organizations (POHDH) coordinator Daniel Dorsinvil and his wife, pediatric nurse Girdly Larêche [see Update #1208]. The police arrested a suspect on Feb. 16 but failed to identify him, leading the couple’s friends and colleagues to question the arrest. “We don’t want the police to go ahead with arrests of innocent individuals, but [with arrests] of real suspects,” said POHDH executive secretary Antonal Mortimé. (AlterPresse 2/19/14)
In another prominent case, human rights attorney Patrice Florvilus has now fled to Canada with his family. Flovilus represented homeless people living in the Acra displaced persons camp in the Delmas section of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. He and his organization, the Defenders of the Oppressed (DOP), reported receiving death threats [see Update #1190], and on Nov. 27 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR, or CIDH in Spanish), an agency of the Organization of American States (OAS), ordered the Haitian government to take measures to ensure the lawyer’s physical well-being. However, Lawyers Without Borders Canada (ASFC) reported that concerns for safety led him and his family to move to Montreal on Dec. 3. (ASFC 12/12/13; NACLA “The Other Side of Paradise” blog 2/21/14)
Meanwhile, efforts to win the rehiring of six unionists fired from the One World Apparel S.A. garment assembly plant on Jan. 8 continued to be stalled [see Update #1207]. A Feb. 17 meeting at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MAST) was cancelled, supposedly because no MAST inspectors were available. The workers contend that they were fired as a reprisal for their role in organizing walkouts in December for a higher minimum wage. They are represented by attorney Kevenot Dorvil of the Bureau of International Lawyers (BAI), an IJDH affiliate; he warned that this could be a long struggle. (AlterPresse 2/17/14)
*4. Links to alternative sources on: Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Haiti, US/immigration
Argentina: clash with police in Chaco water protest
http://ww4report.com/node/13034
Landless Movement again raises the question of Agrarian Reform (Brazil)
http://alainet.org/active/71409
Democracy and World Cup 2014: Brazil’s State of Emergency
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/brazil-archives-63/4706-democracy-and-world-cup-2014-brazils-state-of-emergency
Peru escalates cannabis crackdown
http://ww4report.com/node/13035
Air Force Bombings Endanger and Kill Civilians in Colombia
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/colombia-archives-61/4711-air-force-bombings-endanger-and-kil-civilians-in-colombia
Death Toll in Venezuela Clashes Rises to Ten
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10382
Venezuelan Government Reiterates Calls For Dialogue With Opposition
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10379
Violent Protests in Venezuela Fit a Pattern
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/the-americas-blog/violent-protests-in-venezuela-fit-a-pattern
What the Wikileaks Cables Say about Leopoldo López (Venezuela)
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/the-americas-blog/what-the-wikileaks-cables-say-about-leopoldo-lopez
U.S. Support for Regime Change in Venezuela is a Mistake
http://nacla.org/news/2014/2/18/us-support-regime-change-venezuela-mistake
Venezuela: The Real Significance of the Student Protests
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/venezuela-archives-35/4709-venezuela-the-real-significance-of-the-student-protests
Towards Another Coup in Venezuela?
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4707-towards-another-coup-in-venezuela
Protest Coverage in Haiti and Venezuela Reveals U.S. Media Hypocrisy
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/2/21/protest-coverage-haiti-and-venezuela-reveals-us-media-hypocrisy
Why Venezuela Matters to the Indigenous Movement
http://intercontinentalcry.org/why-venezuela-matters-to-the-indigenous-movement-22362/
'Fascism' and the Venezuela protests
http://ww4report.com/node/13032
Groups Appeal to UN to Halt Imminent Forced Evictions of Indigenous Ngöbe COMMUNITY (Panama)
http://intercontinentalcry.org/groups-appeal-un-halt-imminent-forced-evictions-indigenous-ngobe-community/
Salvador terror: gang warfare or new death-squads?
http://ww4report.com/node/13028
Environmentalist and Communicator from the Siria Valley, Honduras Denounces Threats
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4704-environmentalist-and-communicator-from-the-siria-valley-honduras-denounces-threats
Guatemala: Pressure to Construct Xalalá Hydroelectric Dam; Local Opposition Remains Strong
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4708-guatemala-pressure-to-construct-xalala-hydroelectric-dam-local-opposition-remains-strong-
Chiapas: Zapatisa base communities under attack (Mexico)
http://ww4report.com/node/13030
Mexico busts Jalisco cartel kingpin
http://ww4report.com/node/13029
Mexican feds: 'Got Shorty!' El Chapo busted —at last
http://ww4report.com/node/13036
Autodefensas Gain Legitimacy Where the Mexican State Has None
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/2/20/autodefensas-gain-legitimacy-where-mexican-state-has-none
Indigenous group defends water, land against dam threat (Mexico)
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/11450
Abducted in Oaxaca: A Journalist's Encounter With Police Repression (Mexico)
http://nacla.org/news/2014/2/17/abducted-oaxaca-journalists-encounter-police-repression
New Forms of Revolution (Part 2): The Oaxaca Commune (Mexico)
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/4703-new-forms-of-revolution-part-2-the-oaxaca-commune
Americas Program: What to Expect at the North American Summit (Mexico)
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/11477
The Deportee Chronicles: Life After Diesel Therapy (US/immigration)
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/the-deportee-chronicles-life-after-diesel-therapy/
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and alternative sources:
http://www.cipamericas.org/
http://org.salsalabs.com/o/967/blastContent.jsp
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/
http://intercontinentalcry.org/
http://www.ueinternational.org/MLNA/index.php
http://nacla.org/
http://upsidedownworld.org/
http://venezuelanalysis.com/
http://wagingnonviolence.org/
http://ww4report.com/node/
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
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Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, from Monthly Review Press, by Update editors Jane Guskin and David Wilson:
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Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Monday, February 17, 2014
WNU #1209: Will the US Normalize Relations With Cuba?
Issue #1209, February 16, 2014
1. Cuba: Will the US Normalize Relations?
2. Brazil: Police Repress Landless Protest
3. Honduras: Aguán Campesino Convicted of Murder
4. Mexico: US Planned Bailout Before NAFTA Vote
5. Links to alternative sources on: Chile, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Haiti, US/immigration
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. It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/WeeklyNewsUpdat.
*1. Cuba: Will the US Normalize Relations?
Some 56% of US adults support normalizing relations with Cuba or engaging more directly with the island’s Communist government, according to an opinion poll released on Feb. 10 by the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, DC. Support for normalization was at 63% among Florida residents, significantly higher than in the country as a whole, while 62% of Latinos backed normalization. Even among Republicans the majority, 52%, wanted to improve relations; the number was 60% for Democrats. The poll, which claimed a 3.1% margin of error, was conducted in January among 1,024 US adults; the pollsters were Paul Maslin, who has polled for Democratic candidates, and Glen Bolger, a three-time winner of the “Republican Pollster of the Year Award.”
The polling results contradict the conventional wisdom that US policies like the 52-year-old economic embargo against Cuba are dictated by US politicians’ need to placate the Miami-based Cuban American right in order to win votes in Florida. According to José Pertierra--a DC-based attorney who has represented the Venezuelan government and is active in work for the release of the “Cuban Five,” five men sentenced to long prison terms in the US for alleged espionage [see Update #1160]—US Cuban policy has in fact always originated with the US government, which has simply employed the Cuban American right to support this policy. But the US position is shifting, Pertierra told the Mexican daily La Jornada. “[W]e have already turned the page of the Cold War, except for individuals in Miami, where support for the blockade is an industry,” he said. But Pertierra warned that “the White House doesn’t necessarily want to lift the blockade but instead to relax, to normalize some things.” (Huffington Post 2/11/14; LJ 2/11/14 from correspondent, 2/12/14 from correspondent)
The release of the Atlantic Council’s poll coincides with other signs that US forces are interested in improving relations with Cuba. On Feb. 2 the Washington Post revealed that Cuban American sugar magnate Alfonso “Alfy” Fanjul has visited Cuba twice recently and has met with Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodríguez; the industrialist is now “open to investing in Cuba under the right circumstances,” the newspaper wrote. Meanwhile, former Republican governor of Florida Charlie Crist, who now running for governor as a Democrat, has noted that the embargo has failed to change Cuba’s government and suggested that it should be dropped.
It seems likely that US business interests see opportunities in the new economic policies promoted by the Cuban government, which is drastically cutting back the public sector [see Update #1128]. There is also concern that US firms are losing opportunities in Cuba while other countries are taking advantage of the absence of US competition. On Feb. 10 the European Union (EU) agreed to new negotiations with Cuba over increases in trade and investment; according to the Reuters wire service, the EU “is Cuba's biggest foreign investor and second biggest trading partner after Venezuela.” Brazil is also investing in Cuba; it financed an upgrade of the Mariel harbor, near Havana, which was inaugurated in January.
Any improvement in Cuba-US relations would still face strong opposition from much of the Cuban American establishment and from influential politicians in the two major parties. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, remains an embargo supporter, as does Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). Another sticking point is the continuing detention of US Agency for International Development (USAID) contractor Alan Gross in Cuba and of four of the Cuban Five in the US--although one of the prisoners, Fernando González, is scheduled to be released this month. (Reuters 2/6/14; New York Times 2/10/14 from Reuters; LJ 2/11/14 from correspondent)
There are also questions on the left. Michael Bustamante, a blogger for the progressive North American Council on Latin America (NACLA), notes that Alfonso Fanjul’s family business, the Fanjul Corp., has holdings in the US and the Dominican Republic that include Florida Crystals, the La Romana International Airport and the Casa de Campo resort. “In the Dominican Republic, the Fanjuls have been subject to repeated allegations of labor exploitation, particularly of undocumented Haitian migrant workers,” Bustamante wrote. “The US Department of Labor includes sugar from the Dominican Republic—much of which comes from Fanjul-owned plantations or is imported to Fanjul-owned refineries—on its annual ‘List of Goods Produced by Child or Forced Labor.’” The Fanjuls also acquired Domino Foods, Inc., in 2001, shortly after the previous owners broke a notoriously bitter 20-month strike in Brooklyn. “So why is a government in Havana that still deems itself socialist flirting with such an alleged abuser of workers' rights?” Bustamante asked. (NACLA 2/6/14)
*2. Brazil: Police Repress Landless Protest
More than 15,000 Brazilian campesinos marched some 9 km from a meeting at the Nilson Nelson Gymnasium stadium in Brasilia to the Plaza of the Three Powers on Feb. 12 to protest the slow pace at which the center-left government of President Dilma Rousseff is implementing agrarian reform. The protesters had been attending the Sixth Congress of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST), the largest of the Brazilian groups organizing landless campesinos. Kelli Marfort, from the MST’s Gender sector, called the government’s policy an “embarrassment.” “Last year 7,000 families were settled,” she charged, saying that the MST alone has 90,000 families living in encampments and waiting for land. “A total of 150,000 families are in encampments in Brazil, many of them for more than 10 years. We’re here to announce that we’re not satisfied, and we’re asking for a people’s agrarian reform.”
The march’s first stop was at the US embassy, where protesters attached signs calling for the release of the remaining four alleged Cuban agents still imprisoned in the US. “Terror’s flag is here, sowing hatred in the entire world,” MST director Enio Bonenberg said. “They’re the real terrorists.” The marchers proceeded to the Federal Supreme Court (TSF), where they protested the failure of the court system to prosecute murders and other crimes in the countryside in a timely manner, and especially the attitude of TSF president Joaquim Barbosa. Agents of the military police met the crowd with tear gas and pepper spray. “This sort of attitude is typical of the TSF’s behavior,” said Fabio Tomas from the São Paulo. “Twenty police agents act with brutality in the midst of 15,000 people to create a political fact and legitimize the violence against us.”
Some of the demonstrators remained at the TSF while others crossed the Plaza of the Three Powers toward the Planalto Palace, which houses the presidential offices. The MST set up an encampment outside the building, along with banners calling on President Rousseff to cut her ties with agribusiness and asking: “Dilma, where is the Agrarian Reform?” Police used pepper spray on the protesters as they advanced on the palace, and about 15 agents beat and fired rubber bullets at a group of demonstrators who were getting out props for a street theater performance. A total of 12 protesters were injured during the day’s events, according to the MST, while the police claimed that 30 agents were injured. João Paulo Rodrigues, a national MST leader, blamed the military police for the confrontation: “We have a police force that’s unprepared [for protests]--or very well prepared for generating a conflict.”
The president met with MST leaders on Feb. 13. Alexandre Conçeicão, the group’s national coordinator, told reporters after the meeting that the activists had complained to Rousseff about the concentration of land in big estates and the heavy use of pesticides and had pushed for land grants for 100,000 families. “This is going to be a great year of struggles and mobilizations to settle all those families,” he said. According to Agrarian Development Minister Pepe Vargas, the government may distribute land to 30,000 families this year and will see about speeding up the process for the future.
The MST action was the latest in a series of demonstrations over the past year protesting what is seen as the Rousseff government’s failure to meet basic needs while spending massively on preparations for this summer’s World Cup soccer championship and the 2016 Olympics. “While Dilma doesn’t pay attention to the landless,” the MST’s Marfort said on Feb. 12, “she gives money with full hands to agribusiness and the FIFA”—the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA). (Adital (Brazil) 2/13/14 from the MST; AFP 2/13/14 via 7 News (Australia))
Santiago Andrade, a TV camera operator injured during a transit protest in Rio de Janeiro on Feb. 6 [see Update #1208], died from his injuries on Feb. 10. Police agents arrested protester Fabio Raposo Barbosa, who admitted on Feb. 8 that he had carried the fireworks bomb that hit Andrade, although he said someone else threw it. The police said they were seeking the second person. (Latin American Herald Tribune 2/10/14 from EFE)
*3. Honduras: Aguán Campesino Convicted of Murder
In a retrial held on Feb. 7, a court in La Ceiba, in the northern Honduran department of Colón, convicted campesino José Isabel Morales (“Chavelo” or “Chabelo”) [see Update #1167] on one count of homicide; the judges are expected to sentence him to 20 years in prison. Morales, a resident of Guadalupe Carney community in Trujillo municipality, Colón, belongs to the Campesino Movement of the Aguán (MCA), one of several grassroots organizations in the Lower Aguán River Valley demanding land that campesinos say wealthy landowners acquired illegally. He was first arrested on Oct. 17, 2008, in connection with an incident in which 10 people were killed, including Carlos Manrique Osorto Castillo, a member of a landowning family and the nephew of a local police agent, Henry Osorto. Prosecutors charged Morales on 14 counts, 10 of them for homicide. Morales was acquitted of 13 counts in the first trial, but the court convicted him of Manrique Osorto’s death.
Campesino organizations and human rights defenders challenged the conviction, saying that there was no credible evidence against Morales and that the court relied on suspect testimony from Henry Osorto. Morales’ lawyers appealed and his supporters organized protests and a phone-in and petition campaign, with responses coming from as far away as Australia and Taiwan. Morales won a partial victory on Nov. 5, 2013, when the Supreme Court of Justice threw out the conviction and sent the case to the La Ceiba court for a retrial. Morales’ supporters plan to appeal the new conviction. (Upside Down World 11/18/13; Adital (Brazil) 2/12/14)
*4. Mexico: US Planned Bailout Before NAFTA Vote
According to a Feb. 8 article in the online magazine Salon, officials of the Federal Reserve, the de facto central bank of the US, were planning to arrange for a bailout of the Mexican peso in November 1993 to ensure that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would be ratified by the House of Representatives. While the US media and government officials—including Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Jon LaWare—were assuring Congress and the public of Mexico’s financial stability, top Reserve officials were concerned that the peso might be facing a devaluation. In a Nov. 9 conference call that one official described as “of a sensitive international nature,” Fed leaders discussed arranging a US-sponsored bailout if the currency failed.
Participants in the conference call were explicit about their concern that instability in the peso could affect the upcoming vote NAFTA. Fed official Richard Syron said he was normally “skeptical” about bailouts. “But it seems to me that if one were to look for a case that falls out of the traditional norm… this would be the one. It is one where in some sense the United States is in the process of entering into this treaty and a lot of confusion has been created about it. It is an extraordinarily political issue.” He added that “[t]here are a lot of things going on here that are not fundamental economics.” The officials didn’t actually set up a bailout mechanism, but they discussed the possibility with Mexican officials, and the next day the peso stabilized. The House approved NAFTA on Nov. 17, and the peso maintained its value for a little more than a year. It finally collapsed starting on Dec. 20, 1994, and Mexico required a US-sponsored bailout of about $40 billion in January 1995 [see Updates #256, 259].
US president Barack Obama is currently seeking fast-track authority to get congressional approval for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a new trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations, including Mexico and Chile, which opponents describe as “NAFTA on steroids.” However, the New York Times reported on Feb. 15 that the administration now feels it won’t be able to win fast-track authority for another unpopular trade pact at least until after the November elections. (Salon 2/8/14; NYT 2/15/14)
*5. Links to alternative sources on: Chile, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Haiti, US/immigration
Chile-Peru border dispute: back on
http://ww4report.com/node/13018
“Just another gang?” Rio’s Favelas and the Pacification Police (Brazil)
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4699-just-another-gang-rios-favelas-and-the-pacification-police
Police Repression Legalized as Mining Protests Grow in Peru
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/2/13/police-repression-legalized-mining-protests-grow-peru
Peru: mine engineer held by indigenous protesters
http://ww4report.com/node/13006
Military Recruitment Breeds Inequality for Colombia's Teenage Boys
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/2/11/military-recruitment-breeds-inequality-colombias-teenage-boys
The Peace Dividend and Post-Conflict Criminalization in Colombia
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/2/12/peace-dividend-and-post-conflict-criminalization-colombia
Colombia: cops seize ton of para cocaine
http://ww4report.com/node/13007
Colombia: military, CIA spying on peace talks
http://ww4report.com/node/13005
Colombia: FARC transcripts leaked by military
http://ww4report.com/node/13020
Sabaneta to Miraflores: Afterlives of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/venezuela-archives-35/4694-sabaneta-to-miraflores-afterlives-of-hugo-chavez-in-venezuela
Opposition Violence Continues in Some Venezuelan Cities, Attacks on Journalists
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4698-opposition-violence-continues-in-some-venezuelan-cities-attacks-on-journalists
Venezuela: Right-wing Provokes Violence in Time-worn Practice
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4697-venezuela-right-wing-provokes-violence-in-time-worn-practice
Third Day of Protests in Venezuela Sees Lower Turnout, Calls for Peace
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10354
Costa Rica to sue Nicaragua over offshore oil blocs
http://ww4report.com/node/13022
FMLN Likely to Retain Salvadoran Presidency
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4695-fmln-likely-to-retain-salvadoran-presidency
Confronting the Narrative: Gladys Tzul on Indigenous Governance and State Authority in Guatemala
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/guatemala-archives-33/4692-confronting-the-narrative-gladys-tzul-on-indigenous-governance-and-state-authority-in-guatemala
Mexico Medical Tourism Thrives
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/mexico-medical-tourism-thrives/
Zapatista Support Bases Under Attack: Call for a Week of National and International Solidarity (Mexico)
http://intercontinentalcry.org/zapatista-support-bases-attack-22222/
Communities in Veracruz, Mexico Resist Plans to Build 112 Dams
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4696-communities-in-veracruz-mexico-resist-plans-to-build-112-dams-
Mexico: paramilitarization of 'community police'?
http://ww4report.com/node/13012
Blood avocados: Michoacán cartels co-opt ag-biz (Mexico)
http://ww4report.com/node/13011
Mexican feds race vigilantes to crush cartels (Mexico)
http://ww4report.com/node/13010
Michoacán: army clashes with 'community police (Mexico)
http://ww4report.com/node/13009
'
Michoacán: 'community police' open war on narcos (Mexico)
http://ww4report.com/node/13008
Human Rights Leader Killed in Haiti
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/relief-and-reconstruction-watch/human-rights-leader-killed-in-haiti
The Deportee Chronicles: The Girl from Guajajalmiton (US/immigration)
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/the-deportee-chronicles-the-girl-from-guajajalmiton/
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and alternative sources:
http://www.cipamericas.org/
http://latindispatch.com/
http://org.salsalabs.com/o/967/blastContent.jsp
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/
http://intercontinentalcry.org/
http://www.ueinternational.org/MLNA/index.php
http://nacla.org/
http://upsidedownworld.org/
http://venezuelanalysis.com/
http://wagingnonviolence.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. Feel free to reproduce these updates, or reprint or re-post any information from them, but please credit us as “Weekly News Update on the Americas” and include a link.
Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, from Monthly Review Press, by Update editors Jane Guskin and David Wilson:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.org/
1. Cuba: Will the US Normalize Relations?
2. Brazil: Police Repress Landless Protest
3. Honduras: Aguán Campesino Convicted of Murder
4. Mexico: US Planned Bailout Before NAFTA Vote
5. Links to alternative sources on: Chile, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Haiti, US/immigration
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. It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/WeeklyNewsUpdat.
*1. Cuba: Will the US Normalize Relations?
Some 56% of US adults support normalizing relations with Cuba or engaging more directly with the island’s Communist government, according to an opinion poll released on Feb. 10 by the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, DC. Support for normalization was at 63% among Florida residents, significantly higher than in the country as a whole, while 62% of Latinos backed normalization. Even among Republicans the majority, 52%, wanted to improve relations; the number was 60% for Democrats. The poll, which claimed a 3.1% margin of error, was conducted in January among 1,024 US adults; the pollsters were Paul Maslin, who has polled for Democratic candidates, and Glen Bolger, a three-time winner of the “Republican Pollster of the Year Award.”
The polling results contradict the conventional wisdom that US policies like the 52-year-old economic embargo against Cuba are dictated by US politicians’ need to placate the Miami-based Cuban American right in order to win votes in Florida. According to José Pertierra--a DC-based attorney who has represented the Venezuelan government and is active in work for the release of the “Cuban Five,” five men sentenced to long prison terms in the US for alleged espionage [see Update #1160]—US Cuban policy has in fact always originated with the US government, which has simply employed the Cuban American right to support this policy. But the US position is shifting, Pertierra told the Mexican daily La Jornada. “[W]e have already turned the page of the Cold War, except for individuals in Miami, where support for the blockade is an industry,” he said. But Pertierra warned that “the White House doesn’t necessarily want to lift the blockade but instead to relax, to normalize some things.” (Huffington Post 2/11/14; LJ 2/11/14 from correspondent, 2/12/14 from correspondent)
The release of the Atlantic Council’s poll coincides with other signs that US forces are interested in improving relations with Cuba. On Feb. 2 the Washington Post revealed that Cuban American sugar magnate Alfonso “Alfy” Fanjul has visited Cuba twice recently and has met with Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodríguez; the industrialist is now “open to investing in Cuba under the right circumstances,” the newspaper wrote. Meanwhile, former Republican governor of Florida Charlie Crist, who now running for governor as a Democrat, has noted that the embargo has failed to change Cuba’s government and suggested that it should be dropped.
It seems likely that US business interests see opportunities in the new economic policies promoted by the Cuban government, which is drastically cutting back the public sector [see Update #1128]. There is also concern that US firms are losing opportunities in Cuba while other countries are taking advantage of the absence of US competition. On Feb. 10 the European Union (EU) agreed to new negotiations with Cuba over increases in trade and investment; according to the Reuters wire service, the EU “is Cuba's biggest foreign investor and second biggest trading partner after Venezuela.” Brazil is also investing in Cuba; it financed an upgrade of the Mariel harbor, near Havana, which was inaugurated in January.
Any improvement in Cuba-US relations would still face strong opposition from much of the Cuban American establishment and from influential politicians in the two major parties. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, remains an embargo supporter, as does Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). Another sticking point is the continuing detention of US Agency for International Development (USAID) contractor Alan Gross in Cuba and of four of the Cuban Five in the US--although one of the prisoners, Fernando González, is scheduled to be released this month. (Reuters 2/6/14; New York Times 2/10/14 from Reuters; LJ 2/11/14 from correspondent)
There are also questions on the left. Michael Bustamante, a blogger for the progressive North American Council on Latin America (NACLA), notes that Alfonso Fanjul’s family business, the Fanjul Corp., has holdings in the US and the Dominican Republic that include Florida Crystals, the La Romana International Airport and the Casa de Campo resort. “In the Dominican Republic, the Fanjuls have been subject to repeated allegations of labor exploitation, particularly of undocumented Haitian migrant workers,” Bustamante wrote. “The US Department of Labor includes sugar from the Dominican Republic—much of which comes from Fanjul-owned plantations or is imported to Fanjul-owned refineries—on its annual ‘List of Goods Produced by Child or Forced Labor.’” The Fanjuls also acquired Domino Foods, Inc., in 2001, shortly after the previous owners broke a notoriously bitter 20-month strike in Brooklyn. “So why is a government in Havana that still deems itself socialist flirting with such an alleged abuser of workers' rights?” Bustamante asked. (NACLA 2/6/14)
*2. Brazil: Police Repress Landless Protest
More than 15,000 Brazilian campesinos marched some 9 km from a meeting at the Nilson Nelson Gymnasium stadium in Brasilia to the Plaza of the Three Powers on Feb. 12 to protest the slow pace at which the center-left government of President Dilma Rousseff is implementing agrarian reform. The protesters had been attending the Sixth Congress of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST), the largest of the Brazilian groups organizing landless campesinos. Kelli Marfort, from the MST’s Gender sector, called the government’s policy an “embarrassment.” “Last year 7,000 families were settled,” she charged, saying that the MST alone has 90,000 families living in encampments and waiting for land. “A total of 150,000 families are in encampments in Brazil, many of them for more than 10 years. We’re here to announce that we’re not satisfied, and we’re asking for a people’s agrarian reform.”
The march’s first stop was at the US embassy, where protesters attached signs calling for the release of the remaining four alleged Cuban agents still imprisoned in the US. “Terror’s flag is here, sowing hatred in the entire world,” MST director Enio Bonenberg said. “They’re the real terrorists.” The marchers proceeded to the Federal Supreme Court (TSF), where they protested the failure of the court system to prosecute murders and other crimes in the countryside in a timely manner, and especially the attitude of TSF president Joaquim Barbosa. Agents of the military police met the crowd with tear gas and pepper spray. “This sort of attitude is typical of the TSF’s behavior,” said Fabio Tomas from the São Paulo. “Twenty police agents act with brutality in the midst of 15,000 people to create a political fact and legitimize the violence against us.”
Some of the demonstrators remained at the TSF while others crossed the Plaza of the Three Powers toward the Planalto Palace, which houses the presidential offices. The MST set up an encampment outside the building, along with banners calling on President Rousseff to cut her ties with agribusiness and asking: “Dilma, where is the Agrarian Reform?” Police used pepper spray on the protesters as they advanced on the palace, and about 15 agents beat and fired rubber bullets at a group of demonstrators who were getting out props for a street theater performance. A total of 12 protesters were injured during the day’s events, according to the MST, while the police claimed that 30 agents were injured. João Paulo Rodrigues, a national MST leader, blamed the military police for the confrontation: “We have a police force that’s unprepared [for protests]--or very well prepared for generating a conflict.”
The president met with MST leaders on Feb. 13. Alexandre Conçeicão, the group’s national coordinator, told reporters after the meeting that the activists had complained to Rousseff about the concentration of land in big estates and the heavy use of pesticides and had pushed for land grants for 100,000 families. “This is going to be a great year of struggles and mobilizations to settle all those families,” he said. According to Agrarian Development Minister Pepe Vargas, the government may distribute land to 30,000 families this year and will see about speeding up the process for the future.
The MST action was the latest in a series of demonstrations over the past year protesting what is seen as the Rousseff government’s failure to meet basic needs while spending massively on preparations for this summer’s World Cup soccer championship and the 2016 Olympics. “While Dilma doesn’t pay attention to the landless,” the MST’s Marfort said on Feb. 12, “she gives money with full hands to agribusiness and the FIFA”—the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA). (Adital (Brazil) 2/13/14 from the MST; AFP 2/13/14 via 7 News (Australia))
Santiago Andrade, a TV camera operator injured during a transit protest in Rio de Janeiro on Feb. 6 [see Update #1208], died from his injuries on Feb. 10. Police agents arrested protester Fabio Raposo Barbosa, who admitted on Feb. 8 that he had carried the fireworks bomb that hit Andrade, although he said someone else threw it. The police said they were seeking the second person. (Latin American Herald Tribune 2/10/14 from EFE)
*3. Honduras: Aguán Campesino Convicted of Murder
In a retrial held on Feb. 7, a court in La Ceiba, in the northern Honduran department of Colón, convicted campesino José Isabel Morales (“Chavelo” or “Chabelo”) [see Update #1167] on one count of homicide; the judges are expected to sentence him to 20 years in prison. Morales, a resident of Guadalupe Carney community in Trujillo municipality, Colón, belongs to the Campesino Movement of the Aguán (MCA), one of several grassroots organizations in the Lower Aguán River Valley demanding land that campesinos say wealthy landowners acquired illegally. He was first arrested on Oct. 17, 2008, in connection with an incident in which 10 people were killed, including Carlos Manrique Osorto Castillo, a member of a landowning family and the nephew of a local police agent, Henry Osorto. Prosecutors charged Morales on 14 counts, 10 of them for homicide. Morales was acquitted of 13 counts in the first trial, but the court convicted him of Manrique Osorto’s death.
Campesino organizations and human rights defenders challenged the conviction, saying that there was no credible evidence against Morales and that the court relied on suspect testimony from Henry Osorto. Morales’ lawyers appealed and his supporters organized protests and a phone-in and petition campaign, with responses coming from as far away as Australia and Taiwan. Morales won a partial victory on Nov. 5, 2013, when the Supreme Court of Justice threw out the conviction and sent the case to the La Ceiba court for a retrial. Morales’ supporters plan to appeal the new conviction. (Upside Down World 11/18/13; Adital (Brazil) 2/12/14)
*4. Mexico: US Planned Bailout Before NAFTA Vote
According to a Feb. 8 article in the online magazine Salon, officials of the Federal Reserve, the de facto central bank of the US, were planning to arrange for a bailout of the Mexican peso in November 1993 to ensure that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would be ratified by the House of Representatives. While the US media and government officials—including Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Jon LaWare—were assuring Congress and the public of Mexico’s financial stability, top Reserve officials were concerned that the peso might be facing a devaluation. In a Nov. 9 conference call that one official described as “of a sensitive international nature,” Fed leaders discussed arranging a US-sponsored bailout if the currency failed.
Participants in the conference call were explicit about their concern that instability in the peso could affect the upcoming vote NAFTA. Fed official Richard Syron said he was normally “skeptical” about bailouts. “But it seems to me that if one were to look for a case that falls out of the traditional norm… this would be the one. It is one where in some sense the United States is in the process of entering into this treaty and a lot of confusion has been created about it. It is an extraordinarily political issue.” He added that “[t]here are a lot of things going on here that are not fundamental economics.” The officials didn’t actually set up a bailout mechanism, but they discussed the possibility with Mexican officials, and the next day the peso stabilized. The House approved NAFTA on Nov. 17, and the peso maintained its value for a little more than a year. It finally collapsed starting on Dec. 20, 1994, and Mexico required a US-sponsored bailout of about $40 billion in January 1995 [see Updates #256, 259].
US president Barack Obama is currently seeking fast-track authority to get congressional approval for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a new trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations, including Mexico and Chile, which opponents describe as “NAFTA on steroids.” However, the New York Times reported on Feb. 15 that the administration now feels it won’t be able to win fast-track authority for another unpopular trade pact at least until after the November elections. (Salon 2/8/14; NYT 2/15/14)
*5. Links to alternative sources on: Chile, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Haiti, US/immigration
Chile-Peru border dispute: back on
http://ww4report.com/node/13018
“Just another gang?” Rio’s Favelas and the Pacification Police (Brazil)
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4699-just-another-gang-rios-favelas-and-the-pacification-police
Police Repression Legalized as Mining Protests Grow in Peru
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/2/13/police-repression-legalized-mining-protests-grow-peru
Peru: mine engineer held by indigenous protesters
http://ww4report.com/node/13006
Military Recruitment Breeds Inequality for Colombia's Teenage Boys
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/2/11/military-recruitment-breeds-inequality-colombias-teenage-boys
The Peace Dividend and Post-Conflict Criminalization in Colombia
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/2/12/peace-dividend-and-post-conflict-criminalization-colombia
Colombia: cops seize ton of para cocaine
http://ww4report.com/node/13007
Colombia: military, CIA spying on peace talks
http://ww4report.com/node/13005
Colombia: FARC transcripts leaked by military
http://ww4report.com/node/13020
Sabaneta to Miraflores: Afterlives of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/venezuela-archives-35/4694-sabaneta-to-miraflores-afterlives-of-hugo-chavez-in-venezuela
Opposition Violence Continues in Some Venezuelan Cities, Attacks on Journalists
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4698-opposition-violence-continues-in-some-venezuelan-cities-attacks-on-journalists
Venezuela: Right-wing Provokes Violence in Time-worn Practice
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4697-venezuela-right-wing-provokes-violence-in-time-worn-practice
Third Day of Protests in Venezuela Sees Lower Turnout, Calls for Peace
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10354
Costa Rica to sue Nicaragua over offshore oil blocs
http://ww4report.com/node/13022
FMLN Likely to Retain Salvadoran Presidency
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4695-fmln-likely-to-retain-salvadoran-presidency
Confronting the Narrative: Gladys Tzul on Indigenous Governance and State Authority in Guatemala
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/guatemala-archives-33/4692-confronting-the-narrative-gladys-tzul-on-indigenous-governance-and-state-authority-in-guatemala
Mexico Medical Tourism Thrives
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/mexico-medical-tourism-thrives/
Zapatista Support Bases Under Attack: Call for a Week of National and International Solidarity (Mexico)
http://intercontinentalcry.org/zapatista-support-bases-attack-22222/
Communities in Veracruz, Mexico Resist Plans to Build 112 Dams
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4696-communities-in-veracruz-mexico-resist-plans-to-build-112-dams-
Mexico: paramilitarization of 'community police'?
http://ww4report.com/node/13012
Blood avocados: Michoacán cartels co-opt ag-biz (Mexico)
http://ww4report.com/node/13011
Mexican feds race vigilantes to crush cartels (Mexico)
http://ww4report.com/node/13010
Michoacán: army clashes with 'community police (Mexico)
http://ww4report.com/node/13009
'
Michoacán: 'community police' open war on narcos (Mexico)
http://ww4report.com/node/13008
Human Rights Leader Killed in Haiti
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/relief-and-reconstruction-watch/human-rights-leader-killed-in-haiti
The Deportee Chronicles: The Girl from Guajajalmiton (US/immigration)
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/the-deportee-chronicles-the-girl-from-guajajalmiton/
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and alternative sources:
http://www.cipamericas.org/
http://latindispatch.com/
http://org.salsalabs.com/o/967/blastContent.jsp
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/
http://intercontinentalcry.org/
http://www.ueinternational.org/MLNA/index.php
http://nacla.org/
http://upsidedownworld.org/
http://venezuelanalysis.com/
http://wagingnonviolence.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. Feel free to reproduce these updates, or reprint or re-post any information from them, but please credit us as “Weekly News Update on the Americas” and include a link.
Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, from Monthly Review Press, by Update editors Jane Guskin and David Wilson:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.org/
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
WNU #1208: Haitian Rights Activist Gunned Down
Issue #1208, February 9, 2014
1. Haiti: Human Rights Activist Gunned Down
2. Brazil: Fare Protesters Open Turnstiles in Rio
3. Dominican Republic: New Plan Announced for “Foreigners”
4. Puerto Rico: Bonds Are Junked Despite “Reforms”
5. Links to alternative sources on: Latin America, Chile, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, US/immigration
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. It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/WeeklyNewsUpdat.
*1. Haiti: Human Rights Activist Gunned Down
An unknown assailant shot Haitian human rights activist Daniel Dorsinvil (or Dorsainvil) dead in Port-au-Prince’s Canapé Vert neighborhood the afternoon of Feb. 8; Dorsinvil’s wife, Girdly (or Gerly) Larêche, was also killed. Dorsinvil was the coordinator of the Haitian Platform of Human Rights Organizations (POHDH) and a founder of the recently formed Patriotic Democratic Popular Movement (MPDP), a coalition of 30 groups [see Update #1207]; Larêche’s brother Ronald Larêche is a legislative deputy from Northeast department for the Unity party of former president René Préval (1996-2001 and 2006-2011).
Official sources suggested that robbery was the motive; according to the police, the couple had been in a bank, and the killer reportedly took Larêche’s handbag. POHDH executive secretary Antonal Mortimé questioned the official explanation and demanded a full investigation. “For us this was an execution,” he told reporters. “This is a harsh blow for the human rights sector in Haiti.” Human rights attorneys Newton St-Juste and André Michel called the killing “a political crime meant to intimidate the human rights sector, which is considered embarrassing for the powers that be.” (AlterPresse (Haiti) 2/9/14; Haiti Press Network 2/9/14)
The double murder came shortly after Haitian president Michel Martelly (“Sweet Micky”) ended a Feb. 4-7 visit to Washington, DC, receiving what the Miami Herald called “rave reviews” from US officials. At his first meeting with the Haitian president, US president Barack Obama indicated that he was pleased with Martelly’s commitment to holding the long-delayed senatorial and municipal elections this year, saying that this will “help resolve some of the political roadblocks that stalled some progress.” Obama is facing criticism for failing to disburse all the funds designated for helping Haiti recover from a devastating January 2010 earthquake, while South Florida immigration activists and 100 Congress members have called for him to approve a Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program that would let 110,000 Haitians join their families in the US. The president admitted that “we have a lot more work to do.” Martelly thanked the US “for always standing by the Haitian people.” (MH 2/6/14)
*2. Brazil: Fare Protesters Open Turnstiles in Rio
As many as 2,000 Brazilians demonstrated in Rio de Janeiro during evening rush hour on Feb. 6 to protest an increase in local bus fares from 2.75 reais (about US$1.15) to 3.00 reais (about US$1.26); the fare hike, imposed by Rio mayor Eduardo Paes, took effect on Feb. 8. The protesters marched about a mile from the Candelária area without incident, but as the demonstration approached the Estacião Central do Brasil, the city’s main transit hub, dozens of youths reportedly from the Black Bloc charged into the station, jumping over turnstiles and inviting commuters to join them. Some protesters vandalized ticket booths, while others set fires in garbage cans outside the station, blocking cars and tying up traffic. The militarized police attacked the youths with tear gas and concussion grenades, creating panic among the crowds of commuters, and protesters responded with rocks and clubs. SuperVia Trens Urbanos, the company that runs the city’s trains, decided to let passengers ride for free while the chaos continued. Police agents escorted thousands of commuters, some choking on tear gas, to the trains.
According to the police, 28 people were arrested at the protest. There was one serious injury: Santiago Andrade, a camera operator for TV Band, was hospitalized with head injuries and remained in a coma after four hours of surgery. One colleague said Andrade was hit by a police grenade, while other witnesses said he was hit by a flare, which could have been thrown by either side. Apparently he was shooting footage from a tree, and the injuries may have been caused by his fall when the object hit him.
The protest was organized by the Rio de Janeiro Free Pass Movement (MPL), with support from the Revolutionary Popular Student Movement (MEPR); some protesters carried the banners of the Unified Socialist Workers Party (PSTU), a Trotskyist group, and the Freedom and Socialism Party (PSOL), an electoral coalition. Anger over high transportation costs in Brazil, which was one of the triggers that set off massive demonstrations throughout the country in June [see Update #1181], remains strong. The new increase in Rio means that a daily commuter there will be paying some 120 reais a month (about US$50), nearly a sixth of the minimum wage of 724 reais (about US$304) a month—more if the commuter needs to take more than one bus. Adding to popular resentment, the four companies that operate most of the buses are controlled by several of the city’s oldest and wealthiest families. “I totally support this protest," a health worker named Fabiana Aragon told a correspondent for the British daily The Guardian. She was spending almost a third of her 1,000 reais (about US$416) monthly income on transportation, she said, adding: “The situation now is absurd.” (The Guardian 2/5/14 from correspondent, 2/7/14 from correspondent; Terra (Brazil) 2/6/14; Página 12 (Argentina) 2/8/14)
*3. Dominican Republic: New Plan Announced for “Foreigners”
On Feb. 5 the Dominican government presented the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva with its National Regularization of Foreigners Plan, a program for determining the status of the tens of thousand Dominican residents who were stripped of their citizenship last September by a Constitutional Tribunal (TC) ruling [see Update #1201]. The court’s Decision 168-13 declared that no one born to undocumented immigrants since 1929 was a citizen. Human rights groups estimate that this affects some 200,000 people, mainly Dominicans of Haitian descent.
Apparently the regularization plan is the same as Decree 327-13, which President Danilo Medina signed on Nov. 29. The decree suspends deportations for 18 months and calls on undocumented immigrants and Dominican nationals affected by Decision 168-13 to apply to the government by providing personal identity documents, which will be entered into a “registry of evaluation.” According to the decree, officials will consider applications based on such factors as ties with Dominican society (including knowledge of Spanish) and labor and socioeconomic conditions. Some applicants would qualify to be naturalized, while others would be given an immigration status. Those who don’t qualify would be deported at the end of the 18 months. Deputy Foreign Minister Alejandra Liriano told reporters that the “government has set up, in record time, the most ambitious and comprehensive plan in the country’s history in this area.” She insisted that the government has a “strong stance” that “no person having Dominican nationality will be stripped of it.” (Caribbean Journal (Miami) 2/5/14)
It isn’t clear that President Medina’s regularization plan will be enough to counter the international condemnations that followed the TC’s September ruling. The 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) reacted on Nov. 27 by suspending the process of admitting the Dominican Republic to the group. On Dec. 5 the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) urged the Dominican government “to rapidly take steps to restore the nationality of individuals affected” by Decision 168-13. Dismissing the government’s plan for naturalizing former citizens, the UNHCR asserted that “[i]nternational legal standards require that the government automatically restores the nationality of all individuals affected by the ruling.” (UNHCR press release 12/5/13) One day later, on Dec. 6, a delegation from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR, or CIDH in Spanish), an agency of the Organization of American States (OAS), said the TC ruling implied “arbitrary deprivation of nationality and lack of recognition of these individuals’ legal personhood,” which in turn “leads to a situation of extreme vulnerability in which violations of many other human rights arise.” (IACHR press release 12/6/13) The decision has also created tensions with the Haitian government, and the two countries have been holding “binational dialogues” on the situation; the most recent was held on Feb. 3 in the Dominican city of Jimaní, near the Haitian border in the western province of Independencia. (Adital (Brazil) 2/5/14)
The TC’s decision has also led to bitter quarrels within the Dominican Republic. On Feb. 7 Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez, the archbishop of Santo Domingo and the leading Catholic figure in the country, called Mario Serrano, a Dominican Jesuit, “shameless” because of his advocacy for the nationals deprived of their citizenship. The next day the president of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), Manuel María Mercedes, said during a radio interview that the cardinal should be held responsible if Serrano suffers physical harm. Mercedes also revealed that he had written to the Vatican two months earlier asking for the cardinal’s removal on the grounds that he’d passed the Church’s mandatory retirement age of 75. “If there’s anyone who has to leave his post in the Catholic Church to give way to a new generation, it’s the cardinal,” he said. (Hoy Digital (Dominican Republic) 2/8/14)
*4. Puerto Rico: Bonds Are Junked Despite “Reforms”
The US financial services company Standard & Poor's Ratings (S&P) announced on Feb. 4 that it was reducing the Puerto Rican government’s bonds to junk status; another US ratings agency, Moody’s Corporation, made a similar move on Feb. 7. Gov. Alejandro García Padilla responded on Feb. 4 that Puerto Rico would be able to overcome the financial crisis by implementing budget cuts; for the fiscal year 2014-2015 the island would have its first balanced budget since the 1970s, he said. The government faces a tremendous $70 billion debt, fueled in past years by its ability to offer tax-free municipal bonds to US investors. For comparison, last July the US city Detroit declared bankruptcy because it faced a debt of $28 billion; with a much larger debt, Puerto Rico is ineligible for Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy protection. The administration of US president Barack Obama has indicated that it isn’t considering a bailout for the island. (Prensa Latina 2/5/14; Reuters 2/7/14)
In his remarks after S&P lowered the bonds’ rating, Gov. García Padilla complained that his government had done everything the bondholders had asked. Writing in the Puerto Rican weekly Claridad, University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Hispanic studies professor Félix Córdova Iturregui agreed that the government had shown “total docility…before the financial interests that hold the economy captive. The government is a hostage of the bond rating agencies.” Successive Puerto Rican governments have in fact routinely followed Wall Street’s recommendations for austerity and privatization; the latest example was the reduction of teachers’ pensions in December, setting off a two-day teachers’ strike in mid-January [see Update #1205]. These policies “have failed spectacularly,” Prof. Córdova wrote, calling for “the country’s democratic forces to restructure our economy,” possibly starting with a debt moratorium. (Claridad 2/4/14)
*5. Links to alternative sources on: Latin America, Chile, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, US/immigration
The Hypocrisy of Human Rights Watch (Latin America)
http://nacla.org/news/2014/2/4/hypocrisy-human-rights-watch
Aymara Culture Protects Their Children from Psychological Distress (Chile)
http://intercontinentalcry.org/aymara-culture-protects-children-psychological-distress/
Munduruku People Kick Miners Off Indigenous Territory, Seize Equipment (Brazil)
http://intercontinentalcry.org/munduruku-people-kick-miners-indigenous-territory-seize-equipment/
Rival Factions in Bolivia's CONAMAQ: Internal Conflict or Government Manipulation?
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/2/3/rival-factions-bolivias-conamaq-internal-conflict-or-government-manipulation
Prosecution of Forced Sterilizations in Peru Still Possible
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/peru-archives-76/4688-prosecution-of-forced-sterilizations-in-peru-still-possible
Peru: US court action over Cajamarca repression
http://ww4report.com/node/12993
Canadian and Chinese- Owned Mining Concessions Illegal in Ecuador, Argues Report
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4684-canadian-and-chinese-owned-mining-concessions-illegal-in-ecuador-argues-report-
A New Wiretapping Scandal Casts Doubt on the Colombian Military's Support for Peace Talks
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4687-a-new-wiretapping-scandal-casts-doubt-on-the-colombian-militarys-support-for-peace-talks
Colombia: war has claimed 6 million victims
http://ww4report.com/node/12992
FARC proposal to protect coca, cannabis growers (Colombia)
http://ww4report.com/node/12973
The Pros and Cons of Venezuela's Currency Controls
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10317
Costa Rican National Elections: Immediate Results, Longstanding Challenges
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/4689-costa-rican-national-elections-immediate-results-longstanding-challenges
Prying Native People from Native Lands: Narco Business in Honduras
http://nacla.org/news/2014/2/4/prying-native-people-native-lands-narco-business-honduras
Violence continues in Guatemala
http://intercontinentalcry.org/violence-continues-guatemala/
Mexico Chucks Test Bonuses, National Exam
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/mexico-chucks-test-bonuses-national-exam/
After The Plantones: Looking Back On An Autumn Of Struggle In Mexico City
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/4683-after-the-plantones-looking-back-on-an-autumn-of-struggle-in-mexico-city
Self-defense Groups and Community Police Forces in Mexico: Differences as Seen from the Villages
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/4691-self-defense-groups-and-community-police-forces-in-mexico-differences-as-seen-from-the-villages
How NAFTA Unleashed the Violence in Mexico
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/11427
The New Free Trade Fever (Mexico)
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/the-new-free-trade-fever/
Jim O’Neill’s MINT Theory Advances a "Perfect Storm"—for Whom? (Mexico)
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/2/3/jim-o%E2%80%99neill%E2%80%99s-mint-theory-advances-perfect-storm%E2%80%94-whom
"Alfy" Fanjul Eyes Cuban Sugar Despite Labor Allegations
http://nacla.org/news/2014/2/6/alfy-fanjul-eyes-cuban-sugar-despite-labor-allegations
Martelly to Meet with Obama in Washington Today, Elections Top Agenda (Haiti)
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/relief-and-reconstruction-watch/martelly-to-meet-with-obama-in-washington-today-elections-top-agenda
How arts and organizing helped defeat Alabama’s anti-immigration law (US/immigration)
http://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/arts-organizing-helped-defeat-alabamas-anti-immigration-law/
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and alternative sources:
http://www.cipamericas.org/
http://latindispatch.com/
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/967/blastContent.jsp
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/
http://intercontinentalcry.org/
http://www.ueinternational.org/MLNA/index.php
http://nacla.org/
http://upsidedownworld.org/
http://venezuelanalysis.com/
http://wagingnonviolence.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. Feel free to reproduce these updates, or reprint or re-post any information from them, but please credit us as “Weekly News Update on the Americas” and include a link.
Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, from Monthly Review Press, by Update editors Jane Guskin and David Wilson:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.org/
1. Haiti: Human Rights Activist Gunned Down
2. Brazil: Fare Protesters Open Turnstiles in Rio
3. Dominican Republic: New Plan Announced for “Foreigners”
4. Puerto Rico: Bonds Are Junked Despite “Reforms”
5. Links to alternative sources on: Latin America, Chile, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, US/immigration
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. It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/WeeklyNewsUpdat.
*1. Haiti: Human Rights Activist Gunned Down
An unknown assailant shot Haitian human rights activist Daniel Dorsinvil (or Dorsainvil) dead in Port-au-Prince’s Canapé Vert neighborhood the afternoon of Feb. 8; Dorsinvil’s wife, Girdly (or Gerly) Larêche, was also killed. Dorsinvil was the coordinator of the Haitian Platform of Human Rights Organizations (POHDH) and a founder of the recently formed Patriotic Democratic Popular Movement (MPDP), a coalition of 30 groups [see Update #1207]; Larêche’s brother Ronald Larêche is a legislative deputy from Northeast department for the Unity party of former president René Préval (1996-2001 and 2006-2011).
Official sources suggested that robbery was the motive; according to the police, the couple had been in a bank, and the killer reportedly took Larêche’s handbag. POHDH executive secretary Antonal Mortimé questioned the official explanation and demanded a full investigation. “For us this was an execution,” he told reporters. “This is a harsh blow for the human rights sector in Haiti.” Human rights attorneys Newton St-Juste and André Michel called the killing “a political crime meant to intimidate the human rights sector, which is considered embarrassing for the powers that be.” (AlterPresse (Haiti) 2/9/14; Haiti Press Network 2/9/14)
The double murder came shortly after Haitian president Michel Martelly (“Sweet Micky”) ended a Feb. 4-7 visit to Washington, DC, receiving what the Miami Herald called “rave reviews” from US officials. At his first meeting with the Haitian president, US president Barack Obama indicated that he was pleased with Martelly’s commitment to holding the long-delayed senatorial and municipal elections this year, saying that this will “help resolve some of the political roadblocks that stalled some progress.” Obama is facing criticism for failing to disburse all the funds designated for helping Haiti recover from a devastating January 2010 earthquake, while South Florida immigration activists and 100 Congress members have called for him to approve a Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program that would let 110,000 Haitians join their families in the US. The president admitted that “we have a lot more work to do.” Martelly thanked the US “for always standing by the Haitian people.” (MH 2/6/14)
*2. Brazil: Fare Protesters Open Turnstiles in Rio
As many as 2,000 Brazilians demonstrated in Rio de Janeiro during evening rush hour on Feb. 6 to protest an increase in local bus fares from 2.75 reais (about US$1.15) to 3.00 reais (about US$1.26); the fare hike, imposed by Rio mayor Eduardo Paes, took effect on Feb. 8. The protesters marched about a mile from the Candelária area without incident, but as the demonstration approached the Estacião Central do Brasil, the city’s main transit hub, dozens of youths reportedly from the Black Bloc charged into the station, jumping over turnstiles and inviting commuters to join them. Some protesters vandalized ticket booths, while others set fires in garbage cans outside the station, blocking cars and tying up traffic. The militarized police attacked the youths with tear gas and concussion grenades, creating panic among the crowds of commuters, and protesters responded with rocks and clubs. SuperVia Trens Urbanos, the company that runs the city’s trains, decided to let passengers ride for free while the chaos continued. Police agents escorted thousands of commuters, some choking on tear gas, to the trains.
According to the police, 28 people were arrested at the protest. There was one serious injury: Santiago Andrade, a camera operator for TV Band, was hospitalized with head injuries and remained in a coma after four hours of surgery. One colleague said Andrade was hit by a police grenade, while other witnesses said he was hit by a flare, which could have been thrown by either side. Apparently he was shooting footage from a tree, and the injuries may have been caused by his fall when the object hit him.
The protest was organized by the Rio de Janeiro Free Pass Movement (MPL), with support from the Revolutionary Popular Student Movement (MEPR); some protesters carried the banners of the Unified Socialist Workers Party (PSTU), a Trotskyist group, and the Freedom and Socialism Party (PSOL), an electoral coalition. Anger over high transportation costs in Brazil, which was one of the triggers that set off massive demonstrations throughout the country in June [see Update #1181], remains strong. The new increase in Rio means that a daily commuter there will be paying some 120 reais a month (about US$50), nearly a sixth of the minimum wage of 724 reais (about US$304) a month—more if the commuter needs to take more than one bus. Adding to popular resentment, the four companies that operate most of the buses are controlled by several of the city’s oldest and wealthiest families. “I totally support this protest," a health worker named Fabiana Aragon told a correspondent for the British daily The Guardian. She was spending almost a third of her 1,000 reais (about US$416) monthly income on transportation, she said, adding: “The situation now is absurd.” (The Guardian 2/5/14 from correspondent, 2/7/14 from correspondent; Terra (Brazil) 2/6/14; Página 12 (Argentina) 2/8/14)
*3. Dominican Republic: New Plan Announced for “Foreigners”
On Feb. 5 the Dominican government presented the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva with its National Regularization of Foreigners Plan, a program for determining the status of the tens of thousand Dominican residents who were stripped of their citizenship last September by a Constitutional Tribunal (TC) ruling [see Update #1201]. The court’s Decision 168-13 declared that no one born to undocumented immigrants since 1929 was a citizen. Human rights groups estimate that this affects some 200,000 people, mainly Dominicans of Haitian descent.
Apparently the regularization plan is the same as Decree 327-13, which President Danilo Medina signed on Nov. 29. The decree suspends deportations for 18 months and calls on undocumented immigrants and Dominican nationals affected by Decision 168-13 to apply to the government by providing personal identity documents, which will be entered into a “registry of evaluation.” According to the decree, officials will consider applications based on such factors as ties with Dominican society (including knowledge of Spanish) and labor and socioeconomic conditions. Some applicants would qualify to be naturalized, while others would be given an immigration status. Those who don’t qualify would be deported at the end of the 18 months. Deputy Foreign Minister Alejandra Liriano told reporters that the “government has set up, in record time, the most ambitious and comprehensive plan in the country’s history in this area.” She insisted that the government has a “strong stance” that “no person having Dominican nationality will be stripped of it.” (Caribbean Journal (Miami) 2/5/14)
It isn’t clear that President Medina’s regularization plan will be enough to counter the international condemnations that followed the TC’s September ruling. The 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) reacted on Nov. 27 by suspending the process of admitting the Dominican Republic to the group. On Dec. 5 the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) urged the Dominican government “to rapidly take steps to restore the nationality of individuals affected” by Decision 168-13. Dismissing the government’s plan for naturalizing former citizens, the UNHCR asserted that “[i]nternational legal standards require that the government automatically restores the nationality of all individuals affected by the ruling.” (UNHCR press release 12/5/13) One day later, on Dec. 6, a delegation from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR, or CIDH in Spanish), an agency of the Organization of American States (OAS), said the TC ruling implied “arbitrary deprivation of nationality and lack of recognition of these individuals’ legal personhood,” which in turn “leads to a situation of extreme vulnerability in which violations of many other human rights arise.” (IACHR press release 12/6/13) The decision has also created tensions with the Haitian government, and the two countries have been holding “binational dialogues” on the situation; the most recent was held on Feb. 3 in the Dominican city of Jimaní, near the Haitian border in the western province of Independencia. (Adital (Brazil) 2/5/14)
The TC’s decision has also led to bitter quarrels within the Dominican Republic. On Feb. 7 Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez, the archbishop of Santo Domingo and the leading Catholic figure in the country, called Mario Serrano, a Dominican Jesuit, “shameless” because of his advocacy for the nationals deprived of their citizenship. The next day the president of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), Manuel María Mercedes, said during a radio interview that the cardinal should be held responsible if Serrano suffers physical harm. Mercedes also revealed that he had written to the Vatican two months earlier asking for the cardinal’s removal on the grounds that he’d passed the Church’s mandatory retirement age of 75. “If there’s anyone who has to leave his post in the Catholic Church to give way to a new generation, it’s the cardinal,” he said. (Hoy Digital (Dominican Republic) 2/8/14)
*4. Puerto Rico: Bonds Are Junked Despite “Reforms”
The US financial services company Standard & Poor's Ratings (S&P) announced on Feb. 4 that it was reducing the Puerto Rican government’s bonds to junk status; another US ratings agency, Moody’s Corporation, made a similar move on Feb. 7. Gov. Alejandro García Padilla responded on Feb. 4 that Puerto Rico would be able to overcome the financial crisis by implementing budget cuts; for the fiscal year 2014-2015 the island would have its first balanced budget since the 1970s, he said. The government faces a tremendous $70 billion debt, fueled in past years by its ability to offer tax-free municipal bonds to US investors. For comparison, last July the US city Detroit declared bankruptcy because it faced a debt of $28 billion; with a much larger debt, Puerto Rico is ineligible for Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy protection. The administration of US president Barack Obama has indicated that it isn’t considering a bailout for the island. (Prensa Latina 2/5/14; Reuters 2/7/14)
In his remarks after S&P lowered the bonds’ rating, Gov. García Padilla complained that his government had done everything the bondholders had asked. Writing in the Puerto Rican weekly Claridad, University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Hispanic studies professor Félix Córdova Iturregui agreed that the government had shown “total docility…before the financial interests that hold the economy captive. The government is a hostage of the bond rating agencies.” Successive Puerto Rican governments have in fact routinely followed Wall Street’s recommendations for austerity and privatization; the latest example was the reduction of teachers’ pensions in December, setting off a two-day teachers’ strike in mid-January [see Update #1205]. These policies “have failed spectacularly,” Prof. Córdova wrote, calling for “the country’s democratic forces to restructure our economy,” possibly starting with a debt moratorium. (Claridad 2/4/14)
*5. Links to alternative sources on: Latin America, Chile, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, US/immigration
The Hypocrisy of Human Rights Watch (Latin America)
http://nacla.org/news/2014/2/4/hypocrisy-human-rights-watch
Aymara Culture Protects Their Children from Psychological Distress (Chile)
http://intercontinentalcry.org/aymara-culture-protects-children-psychological-distress/
Munduruku People Kick Miners Off Indigenous Territory, Seize Equipment (Brazil)
http://intercontinentalcry.org/munduruku-people-kick-miners-indigenous-territory-seize-equipment/
Rival Factions in Bolivia's CONAMAQ: Internal Conflict or Government Manipulation?
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/2/3/rival-factions-bolivias-conamaq-internal-conflict-or-government-manipulation
Prosecution of Forced Sterilizations in Peru Still Possible
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/peru-archives-76/4688-prosecution-of-forced-sterilizations-in-peru-still-possible
Peru: US court action over Cajamarca repression
http://ww4report.com/node/12993
Canadian and Chinese- Owned Mining Concessions Illegal in Ecuador, Argues Report
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4684-canadian-and-chinese-owned-mining-concessions-illegal-in-ecuador-argues-report-
A New Wiretapping Scandal Casts Doubt on the Colombian Military's Support for Peace Talks
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4687-a-new-wiretapping-scandal-casts-doubt-on-the-colombian-militarys-support-for-peace-talks
Colombia: war has claimed 6 million victims
http://ww4report.com/node/12992
FARC proposal to protect coca, cannabis growers (Colombia)
http://ww4report.com/node/12973
The Pros and Cons of Venezuela's Currency Controls
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10317
Costa Rican National Elections: Immediate Results, Longstanding Challenges
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/4689-costa-rican-national-elections-immediate-results-longstanding-challenges
Prying Native People from Native Lands: Narco Business in Honduras
http://nacla.org/news/2014/2/4/prying-native-people-native-lands-narco-business-honduras
Violence continues in Guatemala
http://intercontinentalcry.org/violence-continues-guatemala/
Mexico Chucks Test Bonuses, National Exam
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/mexico-chucks-test-bonuses-national-exam/
After The Plantones: Looking Back On An Autumn Of Struggle In Mexico City
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/4683-after-the-plantones-looking-back-on-an-autumn-of-struggle-in-mexico-city
Self-defense Groups and Community Police Forces in Mexico: Differences as Seen from the Villages
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/4691-self-defense-groups-and-community-police-forces-in-mexico-differences-as-seen-from-the-villages
How NAFTA Unleashed the Violence in Mexico
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/11427
The New Free Trade Fever (Mexico)
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/the-new-free-trade-fever/
Jim O’Neill’s MINT Theory Advances a "Perfect Storm"—for Whom? (Mexico)
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/2/3/jim-o%E2%80%99neill%E2%80%99s-mint-theory-advances-perfect-storm%E2%80%94-whom
"Alfy" Fanjul Eyes Cuban Sugar Despite Labor Allegations
http://nacla.org/news/2014/2/6/alfy-fanjul-eyes-cuban-sugar-despite-labor-allegations
Martelly to Meet with Obama in Washington Today, Elections Top Agenda (Haiti)
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/relief-and-reconstruction-watch/martelly-to-meet-with-obama-in-washington-today-elections-top-agenda
How arts and organizing helped defeat Alabama’s anti-immigration law (US/immigration)
http://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/arts-organizing-helped-defeat-alabamas-anti-immigration-law/
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and alternative sources:
http://www.cipamericas.org/
http://latindispatch.com/
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/967/blastContent.jsp
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/
http://intercontinentalcry.org/
http://www.ueinternational.org/MLNA/index.php
http://nacla.org/
http://upsidedownworld.org/
http://venezuelanalysis.com/
http://wagingnonviolence.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. Feel free to reproduce these updates, or reprint or re-post any information from them, but please credit us as “Weekly News Update on the Americas” and include a link.
Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, from Monthly Review Press, by Update editors Jane Guskin and David Wilson:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.org/
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
WNU #1207: Chilean Farmer Wins Monsanto Seed Case
Issue #1207, February 2, 2014
1. Chile: Farmer Wins Monsanto Seed Case
2. Haiti: Teachers Strike as Labor Unrest Grows
3. Nicaragua: Assembly Approves Constitution Changes
4. Guatemala: Tahoe Opens Troubled Silver Mine
5. Links to alternative sources on: Latin America, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Haiti, US/immigration
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. It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/WeeklyNewsUpdat.
*1. Chile: Farmer Wins Monsanto Seed Case
Chilean farmer José Pizarro Montoya received 37 million pesos (about US$66,582) in December from Agrícola Nacional S.A.C. (ANASAC), a Chilean distributor of agricultural products, to settle a suit he brought over the use of genetically modified (GM) corn seed from the Missouri-based Monsanto Company. Pizarro charged that ANASAC violated its contract with him by giving instructions for planting the Monsanto corn that resulted in business losses and eventually ruined him. The Santiago Chamber of Commerce found in Pizarro’s favor, and the Santiago Court of Appeals confirmed the decision in September. Pizarro is thought to be the first farmer in Chile—possibly the first in Latin America--to win a suit over the use of Monsanto’s GM seeds.
According to Pizarro, a vegetable farmer in Melipilla province in the Greater Santiago Region, ANASAC approached him in 2008 about growing GM corn. He signed a contract and leased 33 hectares for the planting. Everything was free the first year, Pizarro says, but later ANASAC began charging; the company also required him to use their own expensive machinery for planting. Later they gave him planting instructions which left him unable to sell his crop with a profit. Pizarro also charged that the government’s Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) sided with the company against him. Under the terms of ANASAC’s contracts, farmers are barred from suing the company through regular courts, so Pizarro had to follow the expensive procedure of filing with the Chamber of Commerce. Despite winning the case, Pizarro says he ended up with a significant losses and still owes 90 million pesos (about US$161,955) to the Spanish-owned bank Banco Santander. In an interview in January Pizarro advised consumers: “Don’t eat things with transgenics; look for organics.” (Periodismo Sanador 1/22/14, English translation at Sustainable Pulse 1/23/14; Radio Cooperativa (Chile) 1/30/14)
Asked to comment by Chile’s Radio Cooperativa, José Ignacio Salazar, general manager of Monsanto’s Chilean subsidiary, answered in a brief note: “We wish to clarify that Monsanto was not a party in the suit concerning a farmer in the Melipilla and ANASAC, and so this decision has no relation with our operations in Chile.” ANASAC is Monsanto’s distributor in Chile and Peru; in January 2010 it announced the sale of its seed plant to Monsanto for $19 million. (Veoverde 1/31/14) Monsanto has been the subject of repeated protests in Latin America and the Caribbean [see Updates #1036, 1195, 1204].
*2. Haiti: Teachers Strike as Labor Unrest Grows
Haitian public school teachers started an open-ended strike on Jan. 22 around demands for higher salaries, payment of back pay, access to public credit programs and a regularization of job categories. After Jan. 22-23 talks with the national education minister, Vanneur Pierre, and others, a coalition of teachers’ unions—including the National Confederation of Educators of Haiti (CNEH) and the National Federation of Education and Culture Workers (FENATEC)—agreed to suspend the strike and resume classes on Jan. 27 in exchange for raises ranging from 29% to 57%, depending on the job category, to go into effect in April. Negotiations will continue on other issues.
One union, the National Union of Haitian Teachers (UNNOH), rejected the agreement, which UNNOH coordinator Josué Mérilien denounced as a “plot.” The union is calling for a base pay of 50,000 gourdes (about US$ 1,210) a month. Some teachers stayed off the job in Port-au-Prince on Jan. 27 and 28, and students from the capital’s Toussaint Louverture and Daniel Fignolé high schools took to the streets. In Carrefour, on the southwest outskirts of Port-au-Prince, students from the Henri Christophe high school began a march on Jan. 27 to the National Education and Professional Training Ministry (MENFP) in the center of Port-au-Prince. Hundreds of students and teachers joined the march; one Toussaint Louverture student, Jean Wisler Joseph, was arrested on a vandalism charge. Demonstrations continued on Jan. 28, with unidentified people hurling rocks at school buildings; some car windshields were smashed. There were also demonstrations in Petit-Goâve (West department) and Gonaïves (Artibonite department), where police responded with tear gas to rock-throwing students on Jan. 29. (Haïti Libre 1/25/14; AlterPresse 1/27/14, 1/28/14, 1/29/14)
Acting Port-au-Prince government commissioner Kherson Darius Charles, the chief prosecutor for the capital, brought charges against UNNOH coordindator Mérilien on Jan. 29 for “disturbances of public security, rock throwing and association with wrongdoers.” A hearing was set for Jan. 30 but ended abruptly because of a dispute between Charles and the union leader’s legal team. Mérilien left the courtroom and headed to the nearby Superior Teachers’ College (ENS), part of the State University of Haiti (UEH). Teachers and students joined Mérilien as he walked, turning the event into a solidarity demonstration. (AlterPresse 1/30/14)
In related news, tensions over the minimum wage for the country’s 30,000 garment assembly workers continue. On Jan. 20 managers from the One World Apparel S.A. garment assembly plant in the north of Port-au-Prince failed to attend a scheduled meeting at the local office of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MAST) to discuss the firing of six workers on Jan. 8 [see Update #1204]. The fired workers are all on the executive committee of the Textile and Garment Workers Union (SOTA), a member union in the Collective of Textile Union Organizations (KOSIT), the labor alliance that led militant protests by apparel workers on Dec. 10 and 11 to demand a daily minimum wage of 500 gourdes (about US$12.10). Management claims the six unionists were responsible for acts of vandalism at the plant on Dec. 11.
MAST officials rescheduled the meeting for Jan. 29, apparently without taking any action against the One World Apparel managers for their failure to appear. Jude Pierre, one of the fired workers, said MAST officials seemed to be in complicity with the owners, while the Patriotic Democratic Popular Movement (MPDP), a coalition of 30 groups, called on the ministry to stop being “an instrument of the bosses.” (MPDP statement 1/20/14; AlterPresse 1/27/14)
The capital’s garment assembly companies have now fired at least 35 workers for their participation in the protests, KOSIT spokespeople said at a Jan. 28 press conference. The plant owners say they have a video showing vandalism by the protesters, but the unionists dismissed this as a “set-up” to justify repression of union activities. Meanwhile, there have been no negotiations on the minimum wage for piece-rate workers—the majority of employees in the assembly sector—and the government has yet to act on the recommendation of the tripartite Higher Council on Wages (CSS) that the minimum wage be set at 225 gourdes (about US$5.47) a day. KOSIT is demanding that the CSS renegotiate the recommendation. KOSIT spokespeople also announced that the Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers (CATH) has been expelled from the alliance because of what the unionists called the “treason” of CATH spokesperson Fignolé St. Cyr, who is one of the three labor representatives on the CSS. He reportedly backed the council’s 225 gourde recommendation. (KOSIT press release 1/28/14)
*3. Nicaragua: Assembly Approves Constitution Changes
On Jan. 28 Nicaragua’s unicameral National Assembly voted 64-25 with no abstentions to approve a reform package changing 46 of the 202 articles in the country’s 1987 Constitution; only three of the Assembly’s 92 legislative deputies were absent. The 63 deputies from the governing center-left Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) all voted for the changes. They were joined by Wilfredo Navarro of the rightwing Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC); the other opposition deputies all voted against the reform, and many walked out afterwards in protest. The amendments were initially approved on Dec. 10 but required a second vote to become official.
The constitutional reform removes restrictions limiting presidents to a total of two terms and preventing a president from holding office for two consecutive terms. The deputies also eliminated the requirement that the winner of a presidential election have 35% or more of the popular vote; now the presidency will go to whichever candidate has the highest number of votes, and there will be no possibility of a second round. Another major change concerns the role of the military: the army will now have responsibility for regulating the radio and telecommunication spectrum, and officers will be able to hold government posts without having to retire from the military. Opponents noted that the reform package strengthens the position of President Daniel Ortega Saavedra, who was in office from 1985 to 1990 and from 2007 to 2012; he is now serving a third term which is also his second consecutive term. With the reform in place, there will be no legal limitations to his seeking further terms. (Nicaragua News Bulletin 12/10/13; La Prensa (Nicaragua) 1/28/14 from AP; BBC News 1/29/14)
Some 54% of Nicaraguans of voting age approve the reform “somewhat” or “very much,” according to a survey of 1,200 citizens carried out by the CID-Gallup polling company Jan. 10-16; 39% were opposed, according to the poll, and 7% didn’t know or didn’t answer. President Ortega’s approval rating was 48%, up from 42% in September, while 52% expressed a preference for the FSLN; 40% of those surveyed said they didn’t favor any of the political parties. Despite the support for Ortega and the FSLN, only a little more than a third of the respondents believed that the president would leave the country better off than he found it, while 40% thought he wouldn’t bring about a major advance. (El Nuevo Diario (Nicaragua) 2/2/14)
*4. Guatemala: Tahoe Opens Troubled Silver Mine
In mid-January the Canadian-US mining company Tahoe Resources Inc. announced that its El Escobal silver mine, located in San Rafael las Flores municipality in the southeastern Guatemalan department of Santa Rosa, is now in commercial production. “Our Guatemalan team has done a terrific job in delivering this world-scale silver mine within four years of the company’s initial public offering,” a Tahoe vice president, Ira Gostin, told Mining Weekly Online. Tahoe Resources is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Reno, Nevada; the Goldcorp Inc. mining company, also based in Vancouver, owns 40% of the mine. Tahoe, whose stock has risen 12% in the past year, is now considering several other exploration prospects in Guatemala and in the rest of Latin America, according to Gostin. (Mining Weekly Online 1/20/14)
The controversial El Escobal mine has faced strong opposition from the local Xinka indigenous community over the past four years [see Update #1186]. Two security guards and two community members have been killed in the dispute, and in July 2013 a court order delayed completion of the mine for several months. On Jan. 22, shortly after Tahoe announced the mine was in production, Alberto Rotondo, the mine’s former security chief, was declared in contempt of court for failing to attend a hearing in connection with violence at the mine in April 2013. A warrant was issued for his arrest, but on Jan. 23 he called in sick and was allowed to remain in the hospital. The Canadian nonprofit MiningWatch noted the difference in the government’s treatment of Rotondo and its treatment of five community members arrested around the same April incidents. While Rotondo has been under house arrest, the community members were imprisoned; two were released on bail after two months, and three spent six months in jail. Eventually they were all released due to a lack of evidence.
MiningWatch is urging North Americans to sign on to a letter started by the Network in Solidarity With the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) calling on Tahoe to abandon the El Escobal mine. The letter can be accessed at http://org2.salsalabs.com/o/6497/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=15609. (Rabble.ca 1/27/14)
*5. Links to alternative sources on: Latin America, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Haiti, US/immigration
Has the DNI Come around to Recognizing that Latin America Poses Few Threats to the U.S.?
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/the-americas-blog/has-the-dni-come-around-to-recognizing-that-latin-america-poses-few-threats-to-the-us
Argentine Activists Win First Round Against Monsanto Plant
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/argentina-archives-32/4669-argentine-activists-win-first-round-against-monsanto-plant
Western Coverage Victimizes Argentina's Media Monopoly
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/1/28/western-coverage-victimizes-argentinas-media-monopoly
Destitute Chilean Farmer Defeats Monsanto in Landmark Legal Victory
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4676-destitute-chilean-farmer-defeats-monsanto-in-landmark-legal-victory
The Criminalization of Poverty in Brazil, a Global Power
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/11352
Washington and São Paulo: Spying and a Fading Friendship
http://nacla.org/news/2014/1/30/washington-and-s%C3%A3o-paulo-spying-and-fading-friendship
Facing the New Conquistador: Indigenous Rights and Repression in Rafael Correa’s Ecuador
http://intercontinentalcry.org/facing-new-conquistador-indigenous-rights-repression-rafael-correas-ecuador-21831/
Lessons From a Peace Community and the Political Economy of Conflict (Colombia)
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/1/28/lessons-peace-community-and-political-economy-conflict
Coal Spill Puts Spotlight on Colombia’s Labor and Environmental Struggles
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4670-coal-spill-puts-spotlight-on-colombias-labor-and-environmental-struggles
Venezuelan LGBT Movement Submits Proposal for Same Sex Marriage
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10319
Leftist Costa Rica outsider leads election, run-off expected
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4679--leftist-costa-rica-outsider-leads-election-run-off-expected
El Salvador: FMLN wins first round of presidential elections
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4680-el-salvador-fmln-wins-first-round-of-presidential-elections
El Salvador Election Offers a Choice between a Neoliberal Past and a FMLN Future
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/el-salvador-archives-74/4677-el-salvador-election-offers-a-choice-between-a-neoliberal-past-and-a-fmln-future
NACLA Radio—The International Vote: Salvadoran FMLN Candidate Sánchez Cerén Visits D.C.
http://nacla.org/news/2014/1/30/nacla-radio%E2%80%94-international-vote-salvadoran-fmln-candidate-s%C3%A1nchez-cer%C3%A9n-visits-dc
Iran-Contra Official Uses Washington Post to Smear Salvadoran Candidate
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/2/1/iran-contra-official-uses-washington-post-smear-salvadoran-candidate
World Bank Forced To Admit Failings On Controversial Human Rights Scandal (Honduras)
http://intercontinentalcry.org/world-bank-forced-admit-failings-controversial-human-rights-scandal/
Congress’ Last Stand: Privatizations among New Laws in Honduras
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/4668-congress-last-stand-privatizations-among-new-laws-in-honduras
Power, Violence and Mining in Guatemala: Non-Violent Resistance to Canada’s Northern Shadow
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4672-power-violence-and-mining-in-guatemala-non-violent-resistance-to-canadas-northern-shadow-
Mexico’s late-breaking sunshine rules open new era of toxics reporting
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/11387
Mexico’s Armed Self-Defense Forces Surge
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/mexicos-armed-self-defense-forces-surge/
In the Fog: The Struggle for Power, Territory, and Justice in the Mexican State of Michoacán
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/4666-in-the-fog-the-struggle-for-power-territory-and-justice-in-the-mexican-state-of-michoacan
A Break in a Dutch Tourist’s Murder (Mexico)
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/a-break-in-a-dutch-tourists-murder/
US, rights groups condemn Cuba detentions
http://ww4report.com/node/12966
What the New DNI Threat Assessment Says about Haiti
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/relief-and-reconstruction-watch/what-the-new-dni-threat-assessment-says-about-haiti
The U.S.-Central American Border (US/immigration)
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/1/31/us-central-american-border
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and alternative sources:
http://www.cipamericas.org/
http://latindispatch.com/
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/967/blastContent.jsp
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/
http://intercontinentalcry.org/
http://www.ueinternational.org/MLNA/index.php
http://nacla.org/
http://upsidedownworld.org/
http://venezuelanalysis.com/
http://wagingnonviolence.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. Feel free to reproduce these updates, or reprint or re-post any information from them, but please credit us as “Weekly News Update on the Americas” and include a link.
Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, from Monthly Review Press, by Update editors Jane Guskin and David Wilson:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.org/
1. Chile: Farmer Wins Monsanto Seed Case
2. Haiti: Teachers Strike as Labor Unrest Grows
3. Nicaragua: Assembly Approves Constitution Changes
4. Guatemala: Tahoe Opens Troubled Silver Mine
5. Links to alternative sources on: Latin America, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Haiti, US/immigration
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. It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/WeeklyNewsUpdat.
*1. Chile: Farmer Wins Monsanto Seed Case
Chilean farmer José Pizarro Montoya received 37 million pesos (about US$66,582) in December from Agrícola Nacional S.A.C. (ANASAC), a Chilean distributor of agricultural products, to settle a suit he brought over the use of genetically modified (GM) corn seed from the Missouri-based Monsanto Company. Pizarro charged that ANASAC violated its contract with him by giving instructions for planting the Monsanto corn that resulted in business losses and eventually ruined him. The Santiago Chamber of Commerce found in Pizarro’s favor, and the Santiago Court of Appeals confirmed the decision in September. Pizarro is thought to be the first farmer in Chile—possibly the first in Latin America--to win a suit over the use of Monsanto’s GM seeds.
According to Pizarro, a vegetable farmer in Melipilla province in the Greater Santiago Region, ANASAC approached him in 2008 about growing GM corn. He signed a contract and leased 33 hectares for the planting. Everything was free the first year, Pizarro says, but later ANASAC began charging; the company also required him to use their own expensive machinery for planting. Later they gave him planting instructions which left him unable to sell his crop with a profit. Pizarro also charged that the government’s Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) sided with the company against him. Under the terms of ANASAC’s contracts, farmers are barred from suing the company through regular courts, so Pizarro had to follow the expensive procedure of filing with the Chamber of Commerce. Despite winning the case, Pizarro says he ended up with a significant losses and still owes 90 million pesos (about US$161,955) to the Spanish-owned bank Banco Santander. In an interview in January Pizarro advised consumers: “Don’t eat things with transgenics; look for organics.” (Periodismo Sanador 1/22/14, English translation at Sustainable Pulse 1/23/14; Radio Cooperativa (Chile) 1/30/14)
Asked to comment by Chile’s Radio Cooperativa, José Ignacio Salazar, general manager of Monsanto’s Chilean subsidiary, answered in a brief note: “We wish to clarify that Monsanto was not a party in the suit concerning a farmer in the Melipilla and ANASAC, and so this decision has no relation with our operations in Chile.” ANASAC is Monsanto’s distributor in Chile and Peru; in January 2010 it announced the sale of its seed plant to Monsanto for $19 million. (Veoverde 1/31/14) Monsanto has been the subject of repeated protests in Latin America and the Caribbean [see Updates #1036, 1195, 1204].
*2. Haiti: Teachers Strike as Labor Unrest Grows
Haitian public school teachers started an open-ended strike on Jan. 22 around demands for higher salaries, payment of back pay, access to public credit programs and a regularization of job categories. After Jan. 22-23 talks with the national education minister, Vanneur Pierre, and others, a coalition of teachers’ unions—including the National Confederation of Educators of Haiti (CNEH) and the National Federation of Education and Culture Workers (FENATEC)—agreed to suspend the strike and resume classes on Jan. 27 in exchange for raises ranging from 29% to 57%, depending on the job category, to go into effect in April. Negotiations will continue on other issues.
One union, the National Union of Haitian Teachers (UNNOH), rejected the agreement, which UNNOH coordinator Josué Mérilien denounced as a “plot.” The union is calling for a base pay of 50,000 gourdes (about US$ 1,210) a month. Some teachers stayed off the job in Port-au-Prince on Jan. 27 and 28, and students from the capital’s Toussaint Louverture and Daniel Fignolé high schools took to the streets. In Carrefour, on the southwest outskirts of Port-au-Prince, students from the Henri Christophe high school began a march on Jan. 27 to the National Education and Professional Training Ministry (MENFP) in the center of Port-au-Prince. Hundreds of students and teachers joined the march; one Toussaint Louverture student, Jean Wisler Joseph, was arrested on a vandalism charge. Demonstrations continued on Jan. 28, with unidentified people hurling rocks at school buildings; some car windshields were smashed. There were also demonstrations in Petit-Goâve (West department) and Gonaïves (Artibonite department), where police responded with tear gas to rock-throwing students on Jan. 29. (Haïti Libre 1/25/14; AlterPresse 1/27/14, 1/28/14, 1/29/14)
Acting Port-au-Prince government commissioner Kherson Darius Charles, the chief prosecutor for the capital, brought charges against UNNOH coordindator Mérilien on Jan. 29 for “disturbances of public security, rock throwing and association with wrongdoers.” A hearing was set for Jan. 30 but ended abruptly because of a dispute between Charles and the union leader’s legal team. Mérilien left the courtroom and headed to the nearby Superior Teachers’ College (ENS), part of the State University of Haiti (UEH). Teachers and students joined Mérilien as he walked, turning the event into a solidarity demonstration. (AlterPresse 1/30/14)
In related news, tensions over the minimum wage for the country’s 30,000 garment assembly workers continue. On Jan. 20 managers from the One World Apparel S.A. garment assembly plant in the north of Port-au-Prince failed to attend a scheduled meeting at the local office of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MAST) to discuss the firing of six workers on Jan. 8 [see Update #1204]. The fired workers are all on the executive committee of the Textile and Garment Workers Union (SOTA), a member union in the Collective of Textile Union Organizations (KOSIT), the labor alliance that led militant protests by apparel workers on Dec. 10 and 11 to demand a daily minimum wage of 500 gourdes (about US$12.10). Management claims the six unionists were responsible for acts of vandalism at the plant on Dec. 11.
MAST officials rescheduled the meeting for Jan. 29, apparently without taking any action against the One World Apparel managers for their failure to appear. Jude Pierre, one of the fired workers, said MAST officials seemed to be in complicity with the owners, while the Patriotic Democratic Popular Movement (MPDP), a coalition of 30 groups, called on the ministry to stop being “an instrument of the bosses.” (MPDP statement 1/20/14; AlterPresse 1/27/14)
The capital’s garment assembly companies have now fired at least 35 workers for their participation in the protests, KOSIT spokespeople said at a Jan. 28 press conference. The plant owners say they have a video showing vandalism by the protesters, but the unionists dismissed this as a “set-up” to justify repression of union activities. Meanwhile, there have been no negotiations on the minimum wage for piece-rate workers—the majority of employees in the assembly sector—and the government has yet to act on the recommendation of the tripartite Higher Council on Wages (CSS) that the minimum wage be set at 225 gourdes (about US$5.47) a day. KOSIT is demanding that the CSS renegotiate the recommendation. KOSIT spokespeople also announced that the Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers (CATH) has been expelled from the alliance because of what the unionists called the “treason” of CATH spokesperson Fignolé St. Cyr, who is one of the three labor representatives on the CSS. He reportedly backed the council’s 225 gourde recommendation. (KOSIT press release 1/28/14)
*3. Nicaragua: Assembly Approves Constitution Changes
On Jan. 28 Nicaragua’s unicameral National Assembly voted 64-25 with no abstentions to approve a reform package changing 46 of the 202 articles in the country’s 1987 Constitution; only three of the Assembly’s 92 legislative deputies were absent. The 63 deputies from the governing center-left Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) all voted for the changes. They were joined by Wilfredo Navarro of the rightwing Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC); the other opposition deputies all voted against the reform, and many walked out afterwards in protest. The amendments were initially approved on Dec. 10 but required a second vote to become official.
The constitutional reform removes restrictions limiting presidents to a total of two terms and preventing a president from holding office for two consecutive terms. The deputies also eliminated the requirement that the winner of a presidential election have 35% or more of the popular vote; now the presidency will go to whichever candidate has the highest number of votes, and there will be no possibility of a second round. Another major change concerns the role of the military: the army will now have responsibility for regulating the radio and telecommunication spectrum, and officers will be able to hold government posts without having to retire from the military. Opponents noted that the reform package strengthens the position of President Daniel Ortega Saavedra, who was in office from 1985 to 1990 and from 2007 to 2012; he is now serving a third term which is also his second consecutive term. With the reform in place, there will be no legal limitations to his seeking further terms. (Nicaragua News Bulletin 12/10/13; La Prensa (Nicaragua) 1/28/14 from AP; BBC News 1/29/14)
Some 54% of Nicaraguans of voting age approve the reform “somewhat” or “very much,” according to a survey of 1,200 citizens carried out by the CID-Gallup polling company Jan. 10-16; 39% were opposed, according to the poll, and 7% didn’t know or didn’t answer. President Ortega’s approval rating was 48%, up from 42% in September, while 52% expressed a preference for the FSLN; 40% of those surveyed said they didn’t favor any of the political parties. Despite the support for Ortega and the FSLN, only a little more than a third of the respondents believed that the president would leave the country better off than he found it, while 40% thought he wouldn’t bring about a major advance. (El Nuevo Diario (Nicaragua) 2/2/14)
*4. Guatemala: Tahoe Opens Troubled Silver Mine
In mid-January the Canadian-US mining company Tahoe Resources Inc. announced that its El Escobal silver mine, located in San Rafael las Flores municipality in the southeastern Guatemalan department of Santa Rosa, is now in commercial production. “Our Guatemalan team has done a terrific job in delivering this world-scale silver mine within four years of the company’s initial public offering,” a Tahoe vice president, Ira Gostin, told Mining Weekly Online. Tahoe Resources is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Reno, Nevada; the Goldcorp Inc. mining company, also based in Vancouver, owns 40% of the mine. Tahoe, whose stock has risen 12% in the past year, is now considering several other exploration prospects in Guatemala and in the rest of Latin America, according to Gostin. (Mining Weekly Online 1/20/14)
The controversial El Escobal mine has faced strong opposition from the local Xinka indigenous community over the past four years [see Update #1186]. Two security guards and two community members have been killed in the dispute, and in July 2013 a court order delayed completion of the mine for several months. On Jan. 22, shortly after Tahoe announced the mine was in production, Alberto Rotondo, the mine’s former security chief, was declared in contempt of court for failing to attend a hearing in connection with violence at the mine in April 2013. A warrant was issued for his arrest, but on Jan. 23 he called in sick and was allowed to remain in the hospital. The Canadian nonprofit MiningWatch noted the difference in the government’s treatment of Rotondo and its treatment of five community members arrested around the same April incidents. While Rotondo has been under house arrest, the community members were imprisoned; two were released on bail after two months, and three spent six months in jail. Eventually they were all released due to a lack of evidence.
MiningWatch is urging North Americans to sign on to a letter started by the Network in Solidarity With the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) calling on Tahoe to abandon the El Escobal mine. The letter can be accessed at http://org2.salsalabs.com/o/6497/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=15609. (Rabble.ca 1/27/14)
*5. Links to alternative sources on: Latin America, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Haiti, US/immigration
Has the DNI Come around to Recognizing that Latin America Poses Few Threats to the U.S.?
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/the-americas-blog/has-the-dni-come-around-to-recognizing-that-latin-america-poses-few-threats-to-the-us
Argentine Activists Win First Round Against Monsanto Plant
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/argentina-archives-32/4669-argentine-activists-win-first-round-against-monsanto-plant
Western Coverage Victimizes Argentina's Media Monopoly
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/1/28/western-coverage-victimizes-argentinas-media-monopoly
Destitute Chilean Farmer Defeats Monsanto in Landmark Legal Victory
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4676-destitute-chilean-farmer-defeats-monsanto-in-landmark-legal-victory
The Criminalization of Poverty in Brazil, a Global Power
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/11352
Washington and São Paulo: Spying and a Fading Friendship
http://nacla.org/news/2014/1/30/washington-and-s%C3%A3o-paulo-spying-and-fading-friendship
Facing the New Conquistador: Indigenous Rights and Repression in Rafael Correa’s Ecuador
http://intercontinentalcry.org/facing-new-conquistador-indigenous-rights-repression-rafael-correas-ecuador-21831/
Lessons From a Peace Community and the Political Economy of Conflict (Colombia)
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/1/28/lessons-peace-community-and-political-economy-conflict
Coal Spill Puts Spotlight on Colombia’s Labor and Environmental Struggles
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4670-coal-spill-puts-spotlight-on-colombias-labor-and-environmental-struggles
Venezuelan LGBT Movement Submits Proposal for Same Sex Marriage
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10319
Leftist Costa Rica outsider leads election, run-off expected
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4679--leftist-costa-rica-outsider-leads-election-run-off-expected
El Salvador: FMLN wins first round of presidential elections
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4680-el-salvador-fmln-wins-first-round-of-presidential-elections
El Salvador Election Offers a Choice between a Neoliberal Past and a FMLN Future
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/el-salvador-archives-74/4677-el-salvador-election-offers-a-choice-between-a-neoliberal-past-and-a-fmln-future
NACLA Radio—The International Vote: Salvadoran FMLN Candidate Sánchez Cerén Visits D.C.
http://nacla.org/news/2014/1/30/nacla-radio%E2%80%94-international-vote-salvadoran-fmln-candidate-s%C3%A1nchez-cer%C3%A9n-visits-dc
Iran-Contra Official Uses Washington Post to Smear Salvadoran Candidate
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/2/1/iran-contra-official-uses-washington-post-smear-salvadoran-candidate
World Bank Forced To Admit Failings On Controversial Human Rights Scandal (Honduras)
http://intercontinentalcry.org/world-bank-forced-admit-failings-controversial-human-rights-scandal/
Congress’ Last Stand: Privatizations among New Laws in Honduras
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/4668-congress-last-stand-privatizations-among-new-laws-in-honduras
Power, Violence and Mining in Guatemala: Non-Violent Resistance to Canada’s Northern Shadow
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4672-power-violence-and-mining-in-guatemala-non-violent-resistance-to-canadas-northern-shadow-
Mexico’s late-breaking sunshine rules open new era of toxics reporting
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/11387
Mexico’s Armed Self-Defense Forces Surge
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/mexicos-armed-self-defense-forces-surge/
In the Fog: The Struggle for Power, Territory, and Justice in the Mexican State of Michoacán
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/4666-in-the-fog-the-struggle-for-power-territory-and-justice-in-the-mexican-state-of-michoacan
A Break in a Dutch Tourist’s Murder (Mexico)
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/a-break-in-a-dutch-tourists-murder/
US, rights groups condemn Cuba detentions
http://ww4report.com/node/12966
What the New DNI Threat Assessment Says about Haiti
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/relief-and-reconstruction-watch/what-the-new-dni-threat-assessment-says-about-haiti
The U.S.-Central American Border (US/immigration)
http://nacla.org/blog/2014/1/31/us-central-american-border
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and alternative sources:
http://www.cipamericas.org/
http://latindispatch.com/
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/967/blastContent.jsp
http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/
http://intercontinentalcry.org/
http://www.ueinternational.org/MLNA/index.php
http://nacla.org/
http://upsidedownworld.org/
http://venezuelanalysis.com/
http://wagingnonviolence.org/
http://ww4report.com/node/
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
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Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, from Monthly Review Press, by Update editors Jane Guskin and David Wilson:
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