Coca-Cola Moves into Mezcal http://www.narconews.com/Issue64/article4045.html

Agro-Industry Absorbs Oaxaca Land and Water for Private Profit, Stainless Steel Vats Replace Artisanship.We have denounced the case of Coca Cola… which established a series of agreements…to exploit the hydraulic resources and which received several objections, for example the case of the neighbors of Viguera, when they were blocking the well located near the Juarez Monument.

They informed us that the State Institute for Water and the National Water Commission had contracted with the Coca Cola company to drill wells in this zone of Viguera and in other places like Huitzo, Telixtlahuaca, and Etla, which have below-ground aquifers. And while the neighborhoods and districts have solicited drilling for the benefit of the communities they have not been given permission; Coca Cola has several wells drilled in this zone that have been granted by agreement with the government of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.”

comment-also see...CorpWatch : Tell Coke to Stop Stealing Water! http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=2733

IRC- Coca-Cola -- Campaign to Hold Coca-Cola Accountable http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/

The South Asian: Ten Reasons to Boycott Coca-Cola http://www.thesouthasian.org/archives/2005/ten_reasons_to_boycott_cocacol.html

Stop Killer Coke! Death squads have assassinated eight trade union leaders http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Transnational_corps/Stop_Killer_Coke_Colombia.html

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Unceded, British Columbia http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/2981

The Olympic Games is "an energy grab, it's a land grab, and it disrespects inherent Aboriginal rights and title to the land and water," Mel Bazil of the Wet'suwet'en and Gitxsan nations told The Dominion. “We're raising the issue of colonialism and lack of legal jurisdiction by the government in addition to the issue of land and exploitation of Indigenous culture,” Gord Hill of the Kwakwakwak'w nation told The Dominion. 

Hill pointed to 2010 Olympics sponsor Hudson's Bay Company's recent decision to refuse a bid from the Quw'utsun' First Nation, a Coast Salish people on lower Vancouver Island, who founded and made the famous Cowichan sweaters for over a century. Instead the Olympic sweater will be made in China.

The Quw'utsun' are upset over the loss of jobs and an allegedly mock sweater. Quw'utsun' Chief Lydia Hwitsum said the Cowichan sweater is a registered trademark. HBC in a press release claims its sweater design is an original. “It is the reality of strong opposition to the Olympic Games by Native peoples that has forced VANOC to desperately try and create the perception of Native support for the Olympics by throwing a lot of money to a few select people," according to No 2010 Resistance.

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The Economic Elite Have Engineered an Extraordinary Coup, Threatening the Very Existence of the Middle Class http://coto2.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/the-economic-elite-have-engineered-an-extraordinary-coup-threatening-the-very-existence-of-the-middle-class/

The economic elite have robbed us all. The amount of suffering in the United States of America is literally a crime against humanity.“The American oligarchy spares no pains in promoting the belief that it does not exist, but the success of its disappearing act depends on equally strenuous efforts on the part of an American public anxious to believe in egalitarian fictions and unwilling to see what is hidden in plain sight.”

It has now become evident to a critical mass that the Republican and Democratic parties, along with all three branches of our government, have been bought off by a well-organized Economic Elite who are tactically destroying our way of life. The harsh truth is that 99 percent of the U.S. population no longer has political representation. The U.S. economy, government and tax system is now blatantly rigged against us.

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Slaughterhouse Sweatshop: Filmmaker exposes US dirty secrets http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/02/slaughterhouse-sweatshop-filmmaker.html

TUCSON -- Americans want to go to the supermarket and find their meat neatly packaged. They don't want to hear about the 14-year-old girl from Guatemala who worked 12 hours a day, or the woman who was raped by her supervisor at the meat packing plant. They don't want to hear about the mothers who have "kill" water thrown on them or hear a young girl crying from the pain in her hands from operating power meat cutting shears.Americans don't want to hear about Postville, Iowa, or how the US spent $5.2 million on a raid that revealed the underbelly of not just the meat packing industry, but of the abuse of migrant workers by US companies and the sinister justice delivered by the US Justice Department.

Guatemalan filmmaker Luis Argueta is telling this story. On Monday night at the University of Arizona, Argueta previewed thirty minutes of his work in progress of the feature documentary film, "abUSed: The Postville Raid." It is just a portion of the 350 hours of testimonies and interviews he has conducted in Postville and Guatemala over the past 20 months.Argueta's film is a story of stories, revealing aspects ranging from the violation of US child labor laws, to malnutrition in Guatemala and the fear that followed 9/11. That fear offers US authorities an excuse to carry out widespread violations of human rights.

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Honduras: new government, same terror http://www.ww4report.com/node/8338

Despite the supposed normalization of Honduras since the transfer of power to President Porfirio Lobo last month, grave human rights abuses targeting opponents of last year's coup d'etat continue unabated. On Feb. 15, Julio Funes Benítez, a member of the water and sewage workers union SITRASANAA and a local leader of the anti-coup National Resistance Front, was shot dead in the city Comayagüela by four unknown men in a taxi.

On Feb. 12, Hermes Reyes, a cultural worker with the Broad Movement for Dignity and Justice (MADJ), was abducted by three presumed paramilitary gunmen on the streets of Siguatepeque, forced into a car, and beaten and tortured before he was released hours later, suffering serious damage to an eye.Also Feb. 12, Porfirio Ponce, vice president of the beverage workers union STYBIS and a leader of the National Resistance Front, had his home broken into in Tegucigalpa. Family members and neighbors were threatened, as the assailants ransacked his home and absconded with his computer.

On Feb. 9 in San Pedro Sula, Edgar Martínez, Carol Rivera, Melissa Rivera and Johan Martínez—four friends who were all active members of the civil resistance—were kidnapped and taken to a location outside the city where they were beaten and the two women were raped. When they were released three days later, the captors reportedly said the assault was "un saludo de Pepe"—a greeting from Pepe, nickname of President Lobo

comment-also see...Honduras: Obama's new puppets on display; Massive demonstration as Lobo takes power http://links.org.au/node/1480

ISS - Key leaders of Honduras military coup trained in U.S http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/06/key-leaders-of-honduras-military-coup-trained-in-us.html

Washington behind the Honduras coup: Here is the evidence http://links.org.au/node/1147

Honduran Coup: The U.S. Connection http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/6329

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Mexico: Celebrating Indigenous Culture, Zapotec Autonomy and Uncontaminated Corn http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/2364-mexico-celebrating-indigenous-culture-zapotec-autonomy-and-uncontaminated-corn-

 The 4th annual Zapotec Feria of the Cornfield - Globalization and the Natural Resources - was held in Santa Gertrudis, Sierra Juarez on February 7-8. Organized by the Union of Social Organizations of the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca (UNOSJO), this year´s event was attended by representatives of UNOSJO´s 24 affiliated communities, participants from all over Mexico, along with a large international presence of activists from Uruguay to Wales, Turkey to the United States, as well as a 15-strong delegation of German Organic farmers.

This year´s theme was focused on the dangers of contamination from Genetically Modified (GM) Corn, with a showcase of indigenous corn based culture and food sovereignty. “We plant corn for the well-being of the communities,” said community leader, Rodrigo Santiago Hernandez during the opening plenary, emphasizing the importance of the culture of corn for the Zapotecs.“If we don’t cultivate corn, we have no life. It is central to our existence. We are the people of corn.”Beyond the contamination of native corn, other pressing issues facing rural farmers in Oaxaca were outlined by the Zapotec representatives during the first day of the meeting. 

The resumption of heavy mining in the Ocotlan region by Canadian multinational Fortuna Silver was heavily criticized by a representative from the front-line community of Cuilapam:“We don’t want the mine. We don’t want our water source polluted and our environment destroyed. We, the local inhabitants were never consulted but now we are making our presence known.” Communities surrounding the mining region have being carrying out direct action against the mining company, mobilizing the population to block access on the roads, and stopping trucks and heavy machinery."

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World-wide demonstration to denounce the UN Security Council's illegal and unjust resolution against Eritrea http://tlaxcala.es/pp.asp?lg=en&reference=9995

Who Demonizes Eritrea and Why? The UN Security Council has voted for sanctions against Eritrea. This decision is based on a false campaign that accuses the country of militarily supporting Somali rebels. The sanctions aim in effect to strengthen the strategic interests of some superpowers in the Horn of Africa. As it pays unfairly the price of its independence, demonstrations in support of Eritrea are planned worldwide.  

The Horn of Africa is indeed a strategic area for Washington, which tries to make it a military basis. The objective? To control the Middle East and the African access to the Indian Ocean. Ethiopia and Djibouti are already submitted to the American interests. In Somalia, there has been no government for twenty years and the country is in chaos. When the Islamic Courts achieved to bring peace in 2006, the Ethiopian army, supported by Washington, invaded Mogadishu. Since that, the situation has been deteriorating. Eritrea remains, resisting to the imperialist forces by leading an independent policy.

comment-also see...US African Command: AFRICOM's $6 billion fiasco in Djibouti http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13661

US Threatens to Invade Eritrea http://news.antiwar.com/2009/04/17/us-threatens-to-invade-eritrea/

US and Ethiopian Initiative: another injustice against the people of Eritrea http://www.shaebia.org/artman/publish/article_6041.shtml

Ethiopia's US-Backed Illegal Invasion of Somalia http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/18663

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People, profits and the uses of Colombia http://www.peoplesworld.org/people-profits-and-the-uses-of-colombia/

With military cooperation treaties dating back to 1952, Colombia now serves as a prime tool for U.S. regional control. Analyst Narciso Isa Conde notes that with new U.S. bases, Colombia becomes "a factor of regional aggression," part of a "fatal triangulation involving Colombia, Honduras, and now Haiti."

Colombia's assigned role is to provoke Venezuela, claims a recent Bolivarian News Agency report. "The center of gravity of the strategy is the Bolivarian revolution and the leftist ALBA alliance," it indicates. Colombia has been "converted into a gigantic air, naval and land forces base to attack Latin America." Its own military "is being converted into a rapid reaction force."

comment-also see...Neoliberalism Needs Death Squads in Colombia http://upsidedownworld.org/main/colombia-archives-61/2091-neoliberalism-needs-death-squads-in-colombia

US Troops Accused of Arming Colombian Death Squads http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0505-01.htm

Colombia's new death squads exposed; Army's Print This ShareThis  Mass Grave Found in Macerena http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_58397.shtml

La Macarena, the site of the grave, has been a very important site of U.S.-aided military operations since the mid-2000s. In this area, the U.S. government supported and advised the Colombian Army’s 2004-2006 “Plan Patriota” military offensive, and since 2007 has supported the “Plan for the Integral Consolidation of La Macarena” or PCIM, part of the new “Integrated Action” framework that is now guiding much U.S. assistance.

Colombian extraditions aimed at covering up Uribe's death squad ties http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/may2008/colo-m15.shtml

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EU biofuels target could starve millions of people http://www.euractiv.com/en/cap/biofuels-fuel-hunger-ngo-warns

Millions of people could starve if member states deliver on the EU’s target of sourcing 10% of its transport fuel from biofuels as a way of tackling climate change, argues a new report from ActionAid, an NGO."The huge expansion in industrial biofuels use must be stopped," said ActionAid's biofuels expert Tim Rice, calling for EU governments to refrain from increasing their use further while drafting national action plans for renewable energy for the next 10 years.

"For every 1% rise in the price of food, 16 million more poor people are made hungry," it estimates.According to ActionAid's evaluation, EU biofuel consumption will "jump nearly fourfold" by 2020, and two thirds of these biofuels will be imported mainly from the developing world, diverting food away from millions more people who need it most.Industrial biofuels are also having "disastrous local impacts" on land rights in many of the communities where they are grown, notes the report.

"The scale of the current land grab is astonishing," ActionAid argues. The survey shows that in five African countries, areas the size of Belgium (1.1 million hectares) have been given over to industrial biofuel cultivation, all of which is destined for export.According to the survey, EU companies have acquired or requested areas of land greater than the size of Denmark (over five million hectares) for cultivating industrial biofuels in developing countries.

comment-also see... Raw materials: Heading for a global resource crunch? http://www.euractiv.com/en/sustainability/raw-materials-heading-global-resource-crunch

FoEE pointed to "fundamental contradictions" in the EU’s proposed strategy which, on the one hand, reiterates the need for increased resource efficiency and recycling of raw materials and on the other, spells out "aggressive plans to grab other countries' resources". Environmentalists said they are "particularly concerned that the proposals challenge other countries' rights to restrict trade on environmental grounds and their ability to process raw materials themselves".

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No Democracy For the Oppressed http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/71615

"...occupation runs contrary to democracy as does oppression and racism....This is why Israelis, Americans and anyone else for that matter can no longer use the excuse of "not knowing" to justify their support for Israel's occupation of Palestinians. Israel cannot be called a free democratic country as long as it continues to subjugate Palestinians to its military control. In the face of global calls for democratization, let this one truth be heard: there is nothing democratic about oppression."

This is why Israelis, Americans and anyone else for that matter can no longer use the excuse of "not knowing" to justify their support for Israel's occupation of Palestinians. Israel cannot be called a free democratic country as long as it continues to subjugate Palestinians to its military control. In the face of global calls for democratization, let this one truth be heard: there is nothing democratic about oppression.

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Royal Dutch Shell: Massive Data Leak http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/security/cybercrime/news/index.cfm?newsid=18825

The security measures at Royal Dutch Shell are under close scrutiny after the details of 176,000 employees and contractors were emailed to campaigners. Shell has been the target of extensive campaigning, particularly over its operations in Nigeria. Last year it reached a $15 million out of court settlement, over its alleged involvement in the death of Nigerian activists including the poet Ken Saro-Wiwa. Shell said the payment did not mean it accepted responsibility.

Shell’s IT security systems and procedures apparently failed to prevent an email being sent by disaffected staff to campaigners, with an attachment of the contact details of its employees. Details included home telephone numbers of some staff who worked remotely.The data is approximately six months old, which could suggest it was taken by a former employee, the Financial Times speculated.

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Graphic History of the Honduran Coup http://www.soaw.org/presente/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=272&Itemid=74

 Despite the media's portrayal of a democratic transition to Porfirio Lobo's inauguration as president, the de facto government's use of violence and threats against resistance members should stand as an ominous augury, especially given its clear links to Lobo and his cabinet.

Most troubling of all is the United States' involvement under the banner of promoting 'democracy,' a term that is being increasingly used as a pretext for supporting a regime whose sympathies correspond to the American agenda (be it CAFTA or alarmist left-wing conspiracies), regardless of popular feeling or their worrying record of human rights abuses.

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STOP THE FORCED DISPLACEMENT OF MORE THAN 5,000 FARMING, INDIGENOUS, AND AFROCOLOMBIAN COMMUNITY MEMBERS IN PUTUMAYO, COLOMBIA! http://www.clrlabor.org/wordpress/

Campaign for Labor Rights has received several alarming reports from La Tramacua’s Women Political Prisoners about conditions there, including lack of access to drinkable water or sanitary toilets, overcrowding, excessive punishment and high temperatures. In September, 2009, an inmate of the Ninth Tower, where women prisoners are held, committed suicide over conditions. When warned about this inmate’s threats to kill herself, the Director of Colombia’s prison system, Dr. Teresa Moya Suta responded, “Let her kill herself–I will assume responsibility.”

It is of special concern to us in the US to know that Colombia’s maximum security prisons, including La Tramacua, are run with the advice and consultation of the US Bureau of Prisons. Colombia’s political prisoners are largely workers and farmers, union members, students, and members of the political opposition. It is a shame that these conditions exist at all, and that they are used as a way to stifle dissent and punish workers and others who speak out for a just peace in Colombia. And it is a shame that this happens in our names, with the approval and oversight of a US government agency.

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Ex-DAS: We threatened journalists and trade unions http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/8233-ex-das-we-threatened-journalists-and-trade-unions.html

The former intelligence director of DAS, Jorge Lagos, told the Colombian Supreme Court on Monday that under the management of Jorge Noguera the government security agency had sent letters designed to intimidate journalists and trade unionists, reported Colombia media.

Lagos admitted to courts that the DAS had sent threatening letters but did not recall the identity of the exact recipients, saying that the confidential reports containing this information were sent directly to Noguera's successor Andres Penate.The ex-intelligence official also revealed that in this period the DAS had illegally manipulated and leaked information concerning drug-trafficking, crime and immigration.

During the trial Lagos claimed to be able to name at least 1,500 DAS personnel who had connections with members of paramilitary groups, after performing some 6,000 polygraph tests on the agency's staff, and that the organization had counted more than 500 cases of possible infiltration by illegal groups.Jorge Lagos' claims were made in front of the Supreme Court as part of the ongoing case involving DAS's alleged links with paramilitary groups and performance of illegal surveillance activities.

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Extradited paras 'impunity' for human rights abuse: Berkeley University http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/8238-berkeley-law-school-to-present-report-on-paras-to-us-congressmen.html

A new study finds that Colombian paramilitary bosses extradited to the U.S. are not encouraged to testify about their human rights abuses, hindering Colombia's Justice and Peace process. The study urges the U.S. to establish better procedures and "break the cycle of impunity."Berkeley's International Human Rights Law Clinic (IHRLC) reportedly recommends in its as yet unpublished "Truth behind bars" report that "efficient and effective" procedures to encourage the paramilitary leaders to reveal details of their crimes and accomplices be established. The study will be presented to members of U.S. Congress and officials from the State Justice Department next week.

According to the report, Colombia's Justice and Peace process began because Colombia and the U.S. lacked a written agreement outlining bilateral judicial cooperation, so paramilitaries were extradited to the U.S. solely on drug trafficking charges. As a result, only five of the fifteen paramilitary chiefs extradited in May 2008 have continued to publicly give their versions of the truth. The Berkeley investigators criticize the fact that 21 months after extradition, none of the paramilitary bosses have been sentenced and ask the U.S. government to support Colombian investigations into their crimes.

"The current investigations... offer the U.S. a unique opportunity to break the cycle of impunity... The ex paramilitary commanders are capable of providing information critical to cases of human rights violations... The U.S. is losing an exceptional opportunity to dismantle the drug cartels that the paramilitaries have dominated for decades," the report finds.One obstacle has been that North American prosecutors have not prioritized the attempts of victims of paramilitary organizations to oblige the former "para" bosses to reveal information of their crimes, the report finds. Colombian authorities have sent various requests to the U.S. Embassy seeking judicial cooperation but U.S. officials have failed to adequately respond, resulting in the para chiefs accounts going unheard, according to the report.

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Colombian Voters Threatened with Loss of Government Aid http://laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=352388&CategoryId=12393

The mission, put together by non-governmental organizations from the United States, Mexico and a half-dozen other countries, held a press conference in Bogota to present its findings.“Aspirants to the (lower) house and the Senate have attended meetings with beneficiaries, in which they have said that if they don’t vote for them and for the presidential candidate of the Party of the U (President Alvaro Uribe’s party), the subsidies they receive from the president will end,” the report says, without mentioning any candidates by name.

“(A)s many people live from those subsidies, it is a threat that is unfair and which has a lot of impact,” Laura Carlsen, director of the Americas Program at the International Relations Center, told reporters in the Colombian capital.The observer mission, led by U.S.-based NGO Global Exchange, visited the northern provinces of Cordoba, Antioquia and Santander and the southern region of Valle del Cauca.Besides the threats about the loss of government assistance, the observers cited assassinations and persecution of community leaders during the run-up to the elections.

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The Man Who Conned the Missionaries Goes Missing http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-02-15/the-man-who-conned-the-missionaries/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsC3

Jorge Puello offered law services free of charge to the Idaho missionaries accused of kidnapping in Haiti. Except it turns out he’s a con man, not an attorney—and now he’s gone missing.

The case of the Idaho missionaries accused of trying to smuggle children out of Haiti took an unexpected turn this weekend, when it was revealed that their attorney might be a child trafficker wanted in El Salvador. Jorge Puello, a.k.a. Jorge Torres Orellana and Jorge Anibal Torres Puello, is a con man with an extensive rap sheet and arrest warrants in several countries.

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The Lobbying-Media Complex http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100301/jones

While lobbyists and PR flacks have long tried to spin the press, the launch of Fox News and MSNBC in 1996 and the Clinton impeachment saga that followed helped create the caldron of twenty-four-hour political analysis that so many influence peddlers call home.

Since then, guests with serious conflicts of interest have popped up with alarming regularity on every network. Just examine their presence in coverage of the economic crash and the healthcare reform debate, two recent issues that have engendered massive cable coverage.

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Obama administration trying to cover up Bush incompetence, misbehavior or lawbreaking http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/15/opinion/15mon1.html?ref=global-home

Mr. Obama has refused to support any real investigation of Mr. Bush’s lawless detention policies. His lawyers have tried to shut down court cases filed by victims of those policies, with the same extravagant claims of state secrets and executive power that Mr. Bush made.

The full Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is weighing the Justice Department’s attempt to shut down a civil lawsuit brought by Mr. Mohamed and four others — on a flimsy national security claim that has been rendered even flimsier by the British court.

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Collapse of the euro is inevitable http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1250433/Greece-debt-bailout-EU-leaders-split-euro-crisis.html

French bank Société Générale says the euro is facing 'inevitable break-up'. Strategists said that any bailout of the stricken Greek economy would only provide 'sticking plasters' to cover the eurozone’s deep-seated flaws. The euro slipped further on the currency markets and dire growth figures raised the prospect of a 'double-dip' recession in the embattled zone

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Campaign Committees Not Rushing To Return Tainted Stanford Money http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/02/campaign_committees_not_rushing_to_return_tainted.php

Neither the Democratic nor the Republican campaign committees that together raked in close to $2 million from accused Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford, say they plan to return the cash. Court-appointed receiver Ralph Janvey said $1.8 million out of a total of $1.9 million in political contributions has yet to be returned.

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More Homeless Americans Living in Cars and Campers http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100213/us_time/08599196345400

Time magazine says for people who cannot afford rent, a car is the last rung of dignity and sanity above the despair of the streets. Joel John Roberts, CEO of PATH (People Assisting the Homeless), the largest provider of services for the homeless in Los Angeles County, says: "Cars are the new homeless shelters." People who fall into homelessness say it feels like a spiral.

A layoff, a medical emergency or a domestic quarrel sets off a chain reaction of bad luck. Susan Price, director of homeless services in Long Beach, says some of the floating economic refugees, especially those from the middle and working classes, "do not think of themselves as homeless. They think, ‘I’m just living in my car.' " Mike, a lighting specialist in the entertainment industry who has been out of work for a year, said: “Did you know that 50% of people who are homeless and living in their cars have jobs?