Canada accuses Venezuela of stifling democracy while Parliament remains prorogued http://www.handsoffvenezuela.org/canada_accuses_venezuela_of_stifling_democracy.htm

While passing through Venezuela Kent said, “Canada is concerned over the Venezuelan government's recent suspension of broadcasting of [three] television stations and the death of two students in protests related to this action. These events are further evidence of a shrinking democratic space in Venezuela.”

Kent’s concerns could be laughable if it were not for the real threat that countries like the US and Canada pose to Venezuela. Many will remember that it was the same Peter Kent that was the most vocal supporter of the military coup d’etat that overthrew democratically-elected Mel Zelaya in Honduras this past June. The dictatorship that was installed in Honduras has killed scores of people. However, the Canadian government did not even cut off military aid to the Honduran dictatorship!

In terms of the media, where has the Tories’ indignation been in the selective barring of certain channels in Canada? The Canadian government has played a proactive role in preventing Al-Jazeera from gaining a license to broadcast in Canada. The current government is known for rarely giving open press conferences and for pre-selecting what questions can be asked by reporters.

comment- also see ...Canada's Budget 2008: Taxes and the Forward March of Neoliberalism http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8235

Frightening Canadian Free-Speech Suppression  http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2008/01/21/frightening-canadian-free-speech-suppression-ignored-us-old-media

Anti-Olympic signs could mean jail: rights group http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/10/09/bc-anti-olympic-sign-law-bccla.html

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US Support For Lobo Undermines Latin American Democracy http://www.insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2010/february/07/centam-10020703.htm

John Green [Senior Research Fellow, Council on Hemispheric Affairs]: "When Honduran President Porfirio Lobo predictably chose several days ago to pardon the military leaders involved in the June 28, 2009 coup against his predecessor, President Manuel Zelaya, he was staying true to traditional Central American form. Lobo, who supported the coup, was "elected" under conditions that seem to take the region back to the heady Cold War days of the 1980s, Ronald Reagan, Contras, and Honduras' very own death squad, the Battalion 3-16. The majority of Hondurans boycotted the elections, as did reputable international observers. 

Many candidates for other offices withdrew, and despite State Department insistence that the process was perfectly transparent, the UN declared that conditions for a fair election were not present. And just to further dramatize the scene, there were various political assassinations before and after the contest. It is also likely that the Lobo administration, along with its backers, is intent on reversing the direction of the Zelaya years. 

No more talk of social justice, or new terms for debt, or pesky ideas about how to protect the public sector from more IMF sanctioned privatization, or serious proposals to reform a horrific Judiciary.Despite the hundreds of thousands of protesters in a number of marches, the country seems back on track to the past. There are even growing paramilitary protest squads back in place to deal with the dissenters. Meet the new Honduras, the quintessential "Banana Republic."

While the Obama administration originally stood with the rest of the international community in condemning the coup and called for a restoration of democracy, it has seemingly begun to challenge the spirits of its forerunners. It has been pushing other presidents in the hemisphere to recognize the Lobo government, while Secretary of State Clinton cited questionable figures from the illegally-appointed Honduran Supreme Electoral Tribunal to justify the election.

By breaking ranks with the bulk of Latin America's democratically-elected governments on confronting the Honduran crisis with democratic substance and not just form, Barrack Obama's administration had squandered whatever hope was left for a progressive turn in US-Latin American relations. The White House seems to be telling the world that nothing new on this score will be coming out of Washington D.C."

comment-also see...Foreign Policy in Focus | Honduran Coup: The U.S. Connection http://www.fpif.org/articles/honduran_coup_the_us_connection

The Honduran coup: another US destabilization operation http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14171

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

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

London, Brussels and Istanbul: A Week of Western War Councils  http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/71333

"Permanent Security Council members Russia and China may occasionally - all too occasionally - block hostile Western actions against defenseless third parties in the United Nations, but Washington always walks away with a mandate and the final say in the selection of viceroys to complement U.S. and NATO military forces on the ground in subjugated nations."

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Moody's gives Medellin top financial rating  http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/economy/8083-moodys-gives-medellin-top-financial-rating.html

Ratings agency Moody's gave Medellin an outstanding grade for its financial performance and investment levels in a report released Monday.The investors service, which provides financial research and risk analysis, gave Medellin issuer ratings of Baa3 (Global Scale, local currency and foreign currency).Moody's praised the city's low level of debt and high level of liquidity.

"Between 2004 and 2008, Medellin generated cash financing surpluses equivalent to roughly 14.0%, on average, of total revenues," while "net direct and indirect debt amounted to 7.1% of total revenues in 2008, a low level." Medellin's high rating is thanks to its prudent fiscal management, broad revenue base, and long-term financial planning, according to the agency

comment-it always boils my noodle whenever i hear or see an economic publication or some investment mag  praise or give great rates to countries wich are being looted,plundered,and gutted by foreign investors,as is the case with Colombia.One ,because it always leaves out the part,why there is such high returns for foreign investors in such a country.

It ommits the fact that thousands of union trade leaders are killed off by rigthwing paramilitaries who work and have ties with the fascist gov leaders,and its friends in the business class and corporate structure,it also doenst mention,the destructive role of such neoliberal policies that have bankrupt the government  coffers ,privatized everything from utilities to industries not making it more efficient but rather skyrocketting the costs  and creating a bigger divide between rich and poor and exacerbating the dividion  between the haves and have nots

.It also leaves out the millions who are forcefully removed from their lands in order to allow these foreign investors and their corporations to extract resources and cause ecological disasters affecting everyone in region...this rating agency moodys is nothing but a pro corporate corporation representing corporate interests...lets take a look at moodys,shall we? Moody's Corporation http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Moody's

Moody's was one of the ratings agencies that gave the highest 'aaa' ratings to "toxic" instruments such as collatoralized debt obligations (CDOs) that later turned out to be very low quality debt instruments. The high rating enticed institutions to purchase these instruments, leading to defaults that spread throughout the financial system http://www.docstoc.com/docs/4647166/Sold-Out---How-Wall-Street-and-Washington-Betrayed-America

Moody's spent $820,000 for lobbying in 2006, all of it going to the lobbying firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/clientsum.asp?year=2006&txtname=Moody%27s+Corp  Moody's Corp lobbying expenses, Open Secrets, accessed December 2007

who is akin,gump,strauss,haur & feld?see...Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP is an Washington DC-based law and lobbying firm http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Akin,_Gump,_Strauss,_Hauer_%26_Feld

James C. Langdon Jr., Senior Executive Partner at Akin Gump, is a Bush Pioneer having raised at least $100,000 for Bush in the 2004 presidential election. Bill Paxon, Senior Advisor, is another Bush PioneerThe Akin Gump firm gave $335,765 to federal candidates in the 2006 election through its political action committee - 47% to Democrats, 51% to Republicans, and 2% to other parties http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/030107/mehlman.html

Klaus Marre, "Mehlman to rejoin Akin Gump," The Hill, March 1, 2007  

Clients The U.S. Embassy of the government of Colombia: According to its 2001 FARA return the "registrant contacted congressional and executive branch officials to discuss U.S. policy towards Colombia." [5]. It was paid "$86,129.04 for the six month period ending June 24,2001," the return states.http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fara/Fara1st01/COUNTRY/COLOMBIA.HTM

also see below more on COLOMBIA for more examples...

Arsenal of Hypocrisy: The Space Program and the Military Industrial Complex http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4835966027154828456

The glory days of NASA are over! Today the Military Industrial Complex is marching towards world dominance through Space technology on behalf of global corporate interest. To understand how and why the space program will be used to fight all future wars on earth from space, it’s important to understand how the public has been misled about the origins and true purpose of the Space Program

U.S. soldier 'waterboarded his own daughter, 4, because she couldn't recite alphabet' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1249191/Soldier-father-accused-waterboarding-daughter-4-recite-alphabet.html

A U.S. soldier has been accused of 'waterboarding' his four-year-old daughter because she couldn't recite the alphabet.Joshua Tabor admitted to police that he used the CIA torture technique because he was so angry.

As his daughter 'squirmed' to get away, Tabor said he submerged her face - upwards - three or four times until the water was lapping around her forehead and jawline.Tabor, 27, admitted to investigators that his daughter was terrified of water and he had deliberately chosen the punishment.

Hitchens attacks Gore Vidal for being a 9/11 conspiracy 'crackpot' http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/hitchens-attacks-gore-vidal-for-being-a-crackpot-1891753.html

The latest salvo is in this month's Vanity Fair where, in an article headlined "Vidal Loco", Hitchens launches a stinging attack on Vidal, claiming that the events of 9/11 "accentuated a crackpot strain" in the author.

"He openly says that the Bush administration was 'probably' in on the 9/11 attacks, a criminal complicity that would 'certainly fit them to a T."

Comment: Of course, Hitchens has no explanation for the distortions and omissions of the 'official story' of the 9/11 attacks. Wonder why.

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Xstrata Advances Most in Two Months in London After Earnings http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-08/xstrata-advances-most-in-two-months-in-london-after-earnings.html

Xstrata Plc, the largest exporter of coal used for power, rose the most in more than two months in London trading as earnings exceeded analyst estimates .Coal was the largest contributor to Xstrata’s operating earnings last year, followed by copper. Coal output rose 11 percent to 95.2 million tons, with the Colombian Prodeco mines contributing 10.5 million tons. Glencore has the option to buy back the assets from Xstrata.

comment-human rigths issues around Xstrata Plc/Colombias Prodeco mines...New Donkin Mine Owner Linked to Human Rights Abuses in Colombia http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=3220

In order to understand Xstrata's connection to human rights abuses in Colombia, we first need to comprehend the incestuous structures so commonly found in multinational companies-and behind which they so often hide. Swiss-based multinational Glencore controls 40 percent of Xstrata-it owns 16 percent of Xstrata outright and voting rights for another 24 percent stake held by Credit Suisse.

Glencore owned a one-third share of the Cerrejón Mine in Colombia, the world's largest open-pit coalmine, when the mine forcibly displaced the Afro-Colombian village of Tabaco in early 2002 to allow for the mine's expansion. In September 1999, union leader Henry Ayala Gualdron was detained by the Colombian National Police and imprisoned for 15 days without any charges being filed.

Another labour leader from Prodeco's mine was abducted, beaten and questioned about his union activities by right-wing paramilitaries engaged in a dirty war against those sectors of civil society struggling for social justice. In 1999, 188 of Prodeco's workers belonged to the union. According to the union, the company's tactics had reduced the number of unionized employees to 25 by 2004 from 188 five years earlier.

Given Glencore-Xstrata's history of violating the human rights of people living in mining regions and anti-union activities, Nova Scotians should be concerned with the province's decision to award the Donkin Mine to Xstrata. Not only has this decision further linked Nova Scotia to human rights abuses in Colombia, it has also placed mine workers and communities in Cape Breton on a collision course with a mining company that has proven itself to be ruthless in its pursuit of profit.

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Chevron hires twelve public relations firms to discredit indigenous Indians in Ecuador  http://www.naturalnews.com/028108_Chevron_Ecuador.html

In response to an environmental lawsuit filed against the oil giant, Chevron has fortified its defenses with at least twelve different public relations firms whose purpose is to debunk the claims made against the company by indigenous people living in the Amazon forests of Ecuador. According to them, Chevron dumped billions of gallons of toxic waste in the Amazon between 1964 and 1990, causing damages assessed at more than $27 billion.

also see..Court in Sucumbíos Manipulated by Chevron Once Again Shows Evidence of Company's Abuse of the Law http://www.amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=1997

Iran detains 7 ’spies’ tied to US-funded radio station http://rawstory.com/2010/02/iran-detains-7-spies-tied-usfunded-radio-station/

Iran has arrested seven people linked to a Farsi-language radio station funded in part by the United States, accusing them of fomenting unrest.According to the Associated Press, the Official Iranian News Agency and state radio both cited a statement by the Iranian Intelligence Ministry which claimed the seven individuals were trained outside of Iran in sabotage, spreading rumors and overthrowing a government by soft means.

Western powers have been accused of fueling the rage directed at the country's clerical regime, purportedly to bring about regime change without military action.The US-sponsored Radio Farda, or "Radio Tomorrow" is the Farsi-language service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, based in Prague, Czech Republic and Washington, DC.Created in 1994, the Broadcast Board of Governors oversees all of the US government's non-military international broadcasting outlets, including Radio Free Europe, Alhurra TV, Radio Sawa, Radio Free Asia, TV Marti and Voice of America.

comment-lets take a look at BBG...Broadcasting Board of Governors http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Broadcasting_Board_of_Governors

Board members Joaquin F. Blaya Blanquita Walsh Cullum D. Jeffrey Hirschberg Edward E. Kaufman Steven J. Simmons Condoleezza Rice

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Consolidating the Coup in Honduras? http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=GOR20100206&articleId=17456

Payday for Foreign Capital Thanks to the American and Canadian governments it’ll be business as usual for foreign capital, much of it dominated by North American corporations. Honduras is an important destination for sweatshop manufacturing and (increasingly) tourism capital, while foreign mining companies, dominated by Canadians, are salivating at the prospect of the opening up of new mining concessions under the new regime.

Anti-mining activist, Carlos Danilo Amador, notes that the Mining Association of Honduras and the Honduran National Business Council, of which Canadian miners are members (indeed, leading players in the former) were important supporters of the coup. He also points out that all of the current exploration concessions in the country are owned by Canadians. “This is the new Canadian colonization of Honduras,” Amador points out, “replacing the Spanish and the Americans” in the mining sector.

Honduras names "Truth Commission" —as rights abuses continue http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2010/02/04/designan-a-guatemalteco-stein-coordinador-comision-de-la-verdaden-honduras

Former Guatemalan vice president Eduardo Stein was named by new Honduran President Porfirio Lobo last week to head a "Truth Commission" to examine the June 2009 coup d'etat that ousted President Manuel Zelaya and the circumstances leading up to it. Formation of the Commission was a condition of the Tegucigalpa-San José Accord brokered by Costa Rica last year to end the Honduran crisis. (DPA, Feb. 4)

The Popular Resistance Front of Honduras, which mobilized to oppose the coup, issued a statement rejecting the Truth Commission. Front coordinator Juan Barahona called it an attempt to "whitewash" (limpiarse) the coup, and re-establish diplomatic recognition and aid from the international community.http://www.abn.info.ve/noticia.php?articulo=219322&lee=16

comment-some backround on eduardo stein...Eduardo Stein Barillas He is one of the 15-member International Commission on Threats to Democracy chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Eduardo_Stein_Barillas

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Colombian Mines Corporate Update-Anori, Rio Negro and Yarumalito Projects http://www.marketwatch.com/story/colombian-mines-corporate-update-anori-rio-negro-and-yarumalito-projects-2010-02-04-143210?reflink=MW_news_stmp

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Feb 04, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Colombian Mines Corporation (CA:CMJ 0.91, +0.06, +7.06%) ("Colombian  Mines" or "the Company") is pleased to provide the following update on the Company's Colombian operations. Anori Property The Company is pleased to report it has been formally awarded 2,535 hectares (approximately 6,264 acres) in the prolific Anori - Amalfi Mining Districts north of Medellin, Colombia.

This exploration property surrounds Mina Solferino, a small operating gold mine recently optioned by Yamana Gold Corporation. Yamana has planned 5,000 meters of drilling, as part of a $1 million dollar 2010 budget, that targets a structurally controlled 20 meter wide high-grade gold zone (see 1/7/2010 Yamana news release) that projects on to the Company's licenses. Colombian Mines personnel are currently assessing the mineral potential of the Anori property.

The Company plans to conduct additional outcrop channel sampling, geological mapping, MMI soil geochemistry, and geophysical surveys. This next phase of exploration will specifically target poorly exposed areas on the property.  Yarumalito Property Colombian Mines has received permission from the department of Antioquia to commence its 2010 core drilling program. The Company has prepared drill sites and expects drilling to start next week

Conferences The Company invites you to visit us February 4 and 5 at the Cambridge Phoenix Investment Conference and Silver Summit at the Renaissance Glendale Hotel and Spa in Glendale, Arizona in booth 115. Information for the conference can be found at www.cambridgehouse.com

comment-also see..Opposition to Canada-Colombia Free Trade Continues http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/3064

Four Injured in Air Force Bombing in Northern Colombia http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2349-four-injured-in-air-force-bombing-in-northern-colombia An Indigenous group in Northern Colombia that suffered a bomb attack on Sunday is claiming that the bombing is linked to the interests of a US mining company. In a communiqué,http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/sites/mediacoop.ca/files2/mc/caso%20bombas%20de%20jiguamiando.pdf

also see...Report: Vigil in Toronto for the murder of three opposition to mining http://www.solidarityresponse.net/reporte-vigilia-en-toronto-por-el-asesinato-de-tres-opositores-a-la-mineria/

According to a representative of the Toronto Community Response Solidarity, the reason to protest the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) is that: "No human rights requirements are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, if reporting requirements reporting, but the current rules on human rights do not exist. The TSX is being sued itself as one of those involved in illegal activities related to exploration at a mine in Ecuador, where the security guards fired on peaceful demonstrators, including women and children. "

PROFITING FROM REPRESSION:Canadian Firms in Colombia Protected by Military Death Squads http://www.asadismi.ws/colombia.html

Deadly dealings surround Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement http://this.org/magazine/2009/08/24/canada-colombia-free-trade-agreement/

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Stormtroopers and Jedis http://casa-del-duderino.blogspot.com/

US Westpoint cadets left, Bolivian indigenous cadets right

Obama in December at Westpoint anouncing 30,000 troop "surge" in Afghanistan: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/full-transcript-president-obamas-speech-afghanistan-delivered-west/story?id=9220661&page=1

America -- we are passing through a time of great trial. And the message that we send in the midst of these storms must be clear:that our cause is just, our resolve unwavering. We will go forward with the confidence that right makes might, and with the commitment to forge an America that is safer, a world that is more secure, and a future that represents not the deepest of fears but the highest of hopes.

Evo Morales in February at the Bolivian military academy announcing the decolonization of military instruction and practices: http://abi.bo/nabi/nucleo/noticias.php?i=2&j=20100203141045lx 

Nations in the path of development are in danger because "the empire raises its arms of war against the peoples [of the world] to irrationally exploit natural resources", warned president Evo Morales Wednesday.

"The installation of military bases by the United States in Latin America is capitalist aggression", he said referring to the presence of thousands of soldiers in Colombia with the argument of "cooperation" in the war on drugs and terrorism.