The geopolitics of plunder  Colombia has the largest coal reserves in the continent http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/entrev-reportajes/index.php?ckl=469

Domestic producers and the rural economy brokendown , the people suffer the ruin and hunger,making it a fertile breeding ground for all kinds of violence. This environment is justified as a policy of "democratic security" ending in the handing of the country to multinational coal corporations under the banner of "investor confidence". One of the consensual acts of the regime is the predatory relationship with  Drummond in Cesar.(Drummond Corporation and Colombia's Death Squads  http://www.colombiaactionnetwork.org/node/139 )But so are BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Xstrata's the main shareholders at Cerrejon in Guajira the largest exporters with 32 million tons, 5.3 billion dollars in sales, almost 50% of the country's total output in the 2008 was 70 million tons. 

"Of the 7.062 million tons of proven coal reserves within the country, the 89.9% is located in the Colombian Caribbean region, concentrated between La Guajira, Cesar and Cordoba, in that order. Similarly, 89.5% of the annual production, of which 94% is destined for export, is extracted from there. In addition, deposits of this region have their location in their favor since they are in the corner of the Caribbean ocean, very close to the ports . And, most importantly, its high calorific value and low sulfur and ash coal makes our resources  truly appealing to international markets. " ( "The store energy." Acosta M. D. For Amylkar in Rev. Week, dic.6 2009. P. 54-55). 

The policy of "investor confidence" comes just at a time emphasizing the global energy crisis, where multinationals are being required greater enviromental safeguards over extraction, in a world hungry for energy resources,where a new force of countries  are resisting the predation of such monopolies,while  asserting their sovereignty. By contrast, the Uribe regime hands it all over : "He explains the large investment boom in the sector: in the first eight months of 2009, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) fell by 10%. But only investments in the mining sector, particularly coal mining, had a marked upturn in wich they grabbed 66% of 4.897 million dollars, which until then had reached the country ... not far removed from reality, the goal of exporting in around five years, more than 112 million tonnes, ...". 

Clearly, as demonstrated over and over again thru coal unions and as denounced by Senator Robledo, that this policy of "investor confidence" is to "benefit the multinationals and a few Creole companies" (For direct royalties, the department Cesar will receive $ 354,653 million pesos in the period 2010-2011, according to National Planning), creating thus a relationship of "mules and riders 'and never thru exchanges of respect and mutual benefit. The results are pathetic: a workforce with depressed wages and working conditions that are similar to  the time of the banana plantations in 1928. Meanwhile people like thsoe in Jagua de Ibirico,  there is no water, inhabitants suffering massive poisoning, through the emporium of Drummond.

The country "specializes in mining!thru foreigners! As was under the Spanish colony, whose independence is supposed to start the celebrations," exclaimed Senator Robledo, by calling for a "project of national unity that has as its ultimate purpose progress of the whole nation and not just the few that managed to separate their personal fate from those of their countrymen, so that they do well while the rest of the country is doing badly. "

comment-also see...U.S. Multinationals in Colombia: Profits and Plundering http://www.witnessforpeace.org/article.php?id=408

Murder in Colombia and a US multinational http://www.bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=16003

The US War of Terror in Colombia http://dissidentvoice.org/Articles/Stokes_Colombia.htm

Human Rights Record  Watchdog groups have ranked Occidental poorly on human rights after the company pursued a protested oil exploration project in Colombia's cloud forest, home to 5,000 members of the U'wa tribe. In 2000, three children were killed after Occidental called on the military to break up a nonviolent U'wa blockade of the road to the drill site. After years of public pressure protesting Occidental's exploration on ancestral lands, the company announced in May 2002 that it was canceling the project. The company blamed its withdrawal on technical and economic factors, but many believe Occidental caved to negative publicity.  Occidental's stand on human rights in Colombia was also tainted after a 1998 air raid of the village of Santo Domingo near the Caño Limón Pipeline. That year, three American pilots of AirScan (a Florida-based security firm that Occidental uses to protect its oil interests from rebel attacks) marked hostile targets for the Colombian military in an antiguerilla operation. The pilots' assistance mistakenly led to the killing of 18 civilians, including nine children. Survivors from the village said the aircraft (U.S.-donated) attacked them as they ran out of their homes to a nearby road with their hands in the air. The Colombian government is still investigating.

Colombia: Fatally Flawed Industrial Safety at U.S. Multinational Drummond http://www.laborrights.org/end-violence-against-trade-unions/colombia/news/11852

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Chavez: Creation of new organization will allow Rio to stop U.S. colonialism in the continent http://tiny.cc/ZMvds

The president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez said Sunday that the creation of an Organization of American States and Caribbean during the upcoming Rio Summit, is the chance to "finally rid ourselves of the colonial United States imposition on this continent." The president said during a ceremony in Caracas, that this "follows the winds of change blowing in Latin America" and that next Monday and Tuesday during the Rio Group Summit in Mexico, Venezuela will propose the creation of an Organization of American and Caribbean States (OAS), without the U.S. and Canada 

"That will be the center line of our proposal and we are sure that many other governments on the continent agree with us on that old proposal to permanently rid ourselves of the colonial United States imposition over this continent. This century is the century of our liberation and of the Latin American liberation of the Caribbean ". He noted that Venezuela will always play a leading role  in the process of unification and liberation of the peoples of our continent. 

"Our land is free because we were born for freedom, for greatness, as  Simón Bolívar said in his oath on the sacred mountain, 'the unknown mystery of man will be free and spread thruout the new world." Here is the new world, "Chavez said. On the eve of same nigth the president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, during a press conference referred to the proposal and argued that " a new political movement of heads of State  proposed new presidents of Latin American governments as a new OAS without the north, without U.S. or Canada. " 

It is "an excellent proposal that we want to consolidate, it would be an instrument of great liberation of Latin America,against U.S. imperialism," he added. In the same fashion, the Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, has stated in various international arenas the need to create such a body for the purpose of unification, but without the presence of Canada and the United States. Correa argues that the organisms that include both nationshas been inefficient in its interventions as is the case of the OAS in resolving conflicts such as relation to the coup in Honduras, carried out on June 28 against the constitutional president of the Central American country, Manuel Zelaya. 

In December 2008, was made the first summit of Latin America on Integration and Development in the Brazilian town of Costa de Sauipe, prevailed in aiming towards the integration and development of the region without the intervention of North American powers. Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said at the time that "the challenge to unite minds and build bridges between nations in the region, despite the diversity, ensure the successful outcome of this workshop.  The meeting culminated with the inclusion of Cuba as a full member of the Rio Group, which also make up Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Venezuela, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala , Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti and Belize. 

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Chile Inaugurates Museum of Memory and Human Rights http://languages.oberlin.edu/hist293/blog/2010/02/20/chile-inaugurates-museum-of-memory-and-human-rights/

From memorials peppering the city, to the always-present flowers on folksinger and folk hero Victor Jara’s grave, to the fact that one of the main streets is called September 11th, the date on which the golpe militar, or military coup, started in 1973.Augusto Pinochet held power for 17 years during a period of Chilean history many Chileans would prefer to put behind them, and many choose never to talk about. As a foreigner, I often feel it’s not my place to say a word with respect to the dictatorship.

There are demonstrations every September 11th, and March 29th (for Day of the Young Combatant, which remembers two brothers active in the leftist resistance movement who were shot and killed by the police during a demonstration) but the rest of the year there is a whole lot of silence.You might ask someone where they picked up such flawless French, or ask how their family in Sweden is doing, but never ask the underlying questions: Were you in exile, too? Were you one of the 30,000 people imprisoned or tortured? Is one of your family among the 3,197 people killed or disappeared?

comment-shouldn't the US Government be held responsible for overthrowing allende?putting pinochet in power?

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EU initiative: Recognition of Palestinian state by next year http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1151219.html

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and his Spanish counterpart Miguel Moratinos are promoting an initiative by which the European Union would recognize a Palestinian state in 18 months, even before negotiations for a permanent settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are concluded. 

According to senior European diplomats and senior Israeli officials, Israel has relayed its opposition to the initiative - warning that it would undermine any chance of a successful peace process. A senior European diplomat noted that Israel was informed about the initiative several weeks ago, a fact confirmed by a senior Israeli official

comment-dont be fooled,the real aim behind this is to formulate a smaller palestinian state without jerusalem as its capital,and second ,ruled under administration of  FATAH(israel and us).Another ploy to keep abbas and fatah in power.