Colombia : Uribe's Murderous Secret Police http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/colombia-uribes-murderous-secret-police.html Álvaro Uribe’s first DAS Director (2002-2005) was Jorge Noguera, who directed Uribe’s 2002 campaign in the state of Magdalena. In early 2006, Noguera was revealed to have collaborated closely with some of Colombia’s most notorious narcotraffickers and right-wing paramilitaries. He allegedly facilitated drug shipments and gave the paracos lists of human rights defenders and labor leaders to assassinate.
In late 2008, the DAS was found to have ordered illegal surveillance of opposition Senator Gustavo Petro, a revelation that forced the resignation of then-DAS Director Maria de Pilar Hurtado. (Four appointees and one interim director have led the DAS during Uribe’s seven-plus years in office.)Spying on human rights defenders International human rights workers were targeted by DAS as well as politicians. E-mails from Human Rights Watch ended up in DAS files, and the G-3 recommended carrying out “offensive intelligence” against the organization’s Americas director, José Miguel Vivanco. The OAS Inter-American Human Rights Commission protested when it was revealed that the DAS had spied on a June, 2005, visit of UN Special Rapporteur for Women’s Rights Susana Villarán.
Links with paramilitaries According to Rafael Garcia, the agency’s former chief of information systems who has made a series of explosive allegations, “Jorge Noguera conspired against the governments of neighboring countries, did away with leftist leaders, participated in narcotrafficking operations, maintained relations with paramilitary groups," etc. etc.
Garcia contends that Noguera maintained a close relationship with Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, “Jorge 40,” the leader of the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC; United Self-Defense Groups of Colombia) paramilitaries’ powerful Northern Bloc, who controlled (and probably still control), much narcotics transshipment from the eastern half of Colombia’s Caribbean coast along with Hernán Giraldo’s Tayrona Resistance Front. Garcia says that Noguera met several times with “Jorge 40” to talk about local politics, including candidates in the 2003 municipal and gubernatorial elections. “On various occasions Jorge Noguera told me that 'Jorge 40' was very grateful for the collaboration that he had offered him,” said Garcia
In an interview with Semana, a Colombian news magazine, José Miguel Narvaez, who as sub-director was Noguera’s second-in-command at the DAS, said he told Colombian government investigators that Noguera’s relationships with paramilitaries went beyond “Jorge 40." Other paracos who got help from the DAS included Luis Eduardo Cifuentes (“El Aguila”), AUC's chief in Cundinamarca (the department around Bogotá); Carlos Mario Jimenez (“Macaco”) of the powerful Central Bolivar Bloc; and Miguel Arroyave, who headed the Centauros Bloc in Bogotá and in the southern llanos (the savannahs of Meta, Casanare, Guaviare and Vichada provinces) until his own men killed him in September, 2004. Narvaez said that Enrique Ariza, whom Noguera recruited to be the DAS chief of intelligence, ran a telephone wiretapping operation at the request of “Macaco."
Semana reported that DAS agents protected “Salomón," the right-hand man for a Cundinamarca paramilitary leader known as “El Pájar," whenever “Salomón” visited Bogotá. Also, in both April and June 2004, senior DAS officials foiled operations against “El Aguila," tipping him off that police and DEA agents knew his whereabouts and planned to capture him.
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Ex-DAS head: Uribe was aware of wiretapping http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/7993-ex-das-head-uribe-was-aware-of-das-wiretapping.html
Ex-director of Colombian security agency DAS, Jorge Noguera, told the Supreme Court that President Uribe had received periodic reports on trade union activities throughout the country, reported Colombian media.
Noguera claimed the trade union surveillance was no different to any other activity undertaken by the organization to maintain public order, and that all intelligence collected by the agency went directly to his immediate superior, President Uribe.
The security agency's former director, who is currently standing trial for crimes committed while heading DAS, told the court that the country's president had been aware of the agency's surveillance of suspected anti-governmental activity, whereas the Colombian government has denied knowledge of the DAS's specific operations.The trial over crimes committed by DAS continues.
comment-also see... DAS illegal wiretapping http://www.colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/2981-das-continues-illegal-wiretapping.htmlderailing investigations on the DAS scandal http://www.semana.com/noticias-nacion/tapen-tapen/131043.aspx
Liberal party, doctors say no to health reforms http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/7991-liberal-party-doctors-say-no-go-to-health-reforms.html
Colombia's medical and scientific associations, and the opposition Liberal Party, both reiterated their opposition to the government's proposed health reforms Tuesday.Social security minister Diego Palacio sat down Monday with Colombia's leading medical and scientific associations, the first in a series of meetings this week about the government's proposed health reforms.
However, the fact the groups are meeting doesn't mean they have yet come to a consensus about the "social emergency" decrees intended to overhaul healthcare, said Jorge Patiño, former president of the national medical academy."The only solution is to repeal these social emergency decrees," he told El Tiempo, adding that, "we're a long way from a solution."
Following Monday's meeting, the government said that doctors would not face financial penalties for prescribing treatment that is not covered by the national health care plan, POS. Such a measure would have been instituted by decree 131, one of the most controversial of the fifteen decrees issued by the Uribe administration.
The Liberal Party has also presented a plan in Congress intended to repeal the decrees. Senator Juan Manuel Galan, who is leading the project, argues that the executive orders should not pass because they are in violation of patients' rights. Congress also plans to examine the legitimacy of the proposed emergency reforms.
comment-URIBE gov is detrimental to the colombian natio...only people benefitting are the land-owning elite and the multinationals...hes a war criminal and besides deviously selling out the country to the U.S. and multinational companies ,hes a traitor to colombian people.some claim he has support and is liked because of fraudulent polls yet they are blatantly ignoring the vastly negative effects that Uribe’s presidency has brought to Colombia is no more than applauding the misery caused to millions.
United Nations recognizes Venezuela's democratic characteristic http://www.abn.info.ve/go_news5.php?articulo=218383&lee=17
“The fact Venezuela is presiding over one of the United Nations Conferences is a prove that the democratic characteristic of our country is widely recognized by all the countries in the world.” The statements were made this Tuesday by the Deputy of the National Assembly Calixto Ortega during the talk-show “Desperto Venezuela,” broadcast by the state-run Venezolana de Television, in reference to the appointment of Venezuela to preside over the International Conference on New or Restored Democracies of the United Nations. “It would be impossible that a country without an exemplary democracy received such an honor. This appointment is a recognition to the President Hugo Chavez and Venezuelan people,” Ortega said.
Venezuela received the Chair past Monday from Qatar, during a ceremony that took place at the headquarter of the United Nations in New York, United States. The Assistant Foreign Minister for Follow Up Affairs of Qatar Mohamed Bin Abdullah Al Rumalhi gave the Chair to the Venezuelan Ambassador to the United Nations Jorge Valero. As president of the movement for the period 2010-2012, Venezuela has to organize the Seventh International Conference of Democracies' Movement, which will take place this year.
The Democracies' Movement has become the world's most important organization regarding the promotion and consolidation of democracies. This Movement promotes cooperation among democracies to resist threats against democracy, such coups against democratically elected governments, and reassures the principles of sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs, as established in the UN Charter.
comment-also see...The future of the International Conference on New or Restored Democracies http://www.idea.int/un/future_of_the_conference.cfmMany countries welcomed the candidacy of Venezuela, supported by the Latin America and the Caribbean regional group at the UN, as the next chair of the ICNRD.The UN General Assembly will deliberate on this matter in November.Venezuela is now chairing IDEA at UN...
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Chavez without political rival after 11 years http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=158879&Itemid=1
At 11 years of his rise to power, President Hugo Chávez survives today as the most popular politician in Venezuela to the point of challenging the opposition in for a recall referendum. After defeating the right's electoral machinery, Chavez became President of the Republic on 2 February 1999 to the front of a popular movement whose leadership is earned as an alternative to almost half a century of corrupt governments. In a country that despite its huge oil wealth in 1998 ,accounted for 48.1 percent of its population in poverty and 17.1 percent in exreme misery, Chavez proposed a new distribution model that won the majority support of the nation. The fact that 11 years later he remains a politician without an opponent that comes close to his height, most people perceived his acomplishments positively fulfilling their commitments to the implementation of social policies.
Extreme poverty in 2009 closed at six percent with a reduction 11 percentage points in 10 years, while poverty rose to 24.2 percent, which means that over four million out of poverty and over two million of the misery. In addition, an estimated 15 million of the 28 million Venezuelans benefit from free health care program Mission Barrio Adentro and as many millions of MERCAL subsidized food plan.
Social programs funded by oil covering care for single mothers, street children, job preparation, financing of cooperatives and free education from primary to university level, among others. Chavez's popularity is undeniable even today by opposition sectors seeking to recover some lost ground in parliamentary elections next September, from difficulties related to the global crisis. The problems caused by falling oil prices as a result of the crisis was compounded by a long drought as a result of El Nino climate phenomenon in a country that produces over 70 percent of its electricity from hydropower. However, the refusal to try to shorten the term of a recall referendum on Chavez as the Constitution allows, indicates a recognition of popular support enjoyed by the president.
Given recent violent incidents caused by the opposition, the president challenged those areas to try their constitutional exit routes such as recall, offer received with deaf ears by the rightist parties. At 11 years of his arrival to the presidency and despite some difficult moments through the international crisis, Chavez remains today a politician without a contender category that is preparing for a new battle with the parliamentary elections.
No doubt the figure of the president, strengthened by his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) will be a major force in elections in which to elect the 165 members of the next National Assembly. His projection is to obtain two-thirds of parliament, as a guarantee for deepening the process of change to move from a draft better distribution of wealth in a socialist system he calls Socialism of the XXI Century. To achieve this goal and continue with the proposal for the country, not enough with the support of Chavez since normally in these elections have a strong influence of regional factors and each candidate has its specific weight.
However, it is undeniable the influence of his leadership in the elections, scheduled for next September 26. Accustomed to the challenges and optimistic in difficult times, Chavez warned his supporters that there will be no easy path, which is necessary to strengthen the mobilization and unity to ensure the continuity of the process initiated on 2 February 1999.
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After 11-year rule Chavez proposes further changes http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/contexto/1685/a-11-anos-de-gobierno-chavez-propone-profundizar-cambios/
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, today completed its first 11 years of rule, in which poverty in Venezuela has fallen by half, including significant improvements in quality of life indices. The prospect is to deepen the process of establishing a socialist system, which considers the only way to end evils like poverty and unemployment and advancing the process of economic development.
Among the main achievements, the mission Ribas, created in 2003 succeeded in the first phase of literacy more than one million 500 thousand adults turned Venezuela into a territory almost free of illiteracy. The program, whose name refers to the pseudonym of Simon Rodriguez, a teacher of the Liberator, was subsequently extended to efforts to reach the sixth grade and pave the way for programs Ribas (high school) and Sucre (university).
Mission Robinson II has graduated from sixth grade, more than half a million Venezuelans, including more than 80 thousand Indians, the Mission Ribas another half million graduates and the Mission Sucre, about 40 thousand professionals. The Barrio Adentro modules install six thousand 700 primary care schools, about 500 comprehensive diagnostic centers, 550 rehabilitation rooms and 30 high-tech centers.
Barrio Adentro has saved more than 400 thousand lives and made about 400 million free consultations as part of a health program that includes the Infant Jesus Mission to serve pregnant women and children under 5 years. More than four million 100 thousand children and adolescents are now receiving food in schools and colleges (there were only 300 thousand in 1998), part of a program that includes distribution of over seven million tons of food at subsidized prices.
Despite setbacks attributable specifically to the global crisis, Chavez is now proposing to continue this process, but with structural changes to ensure continuity which requires a qualified majority in parliament. The prospect caused alarm in the opposition, prepared to regain seats in the National Assembly, following the strategic mistake of the previous elections, when it withdrew its candidates in an attempt to discredit that body.
Before the election challenge, one of the biggest it will face this year, the president called on his followers unity and organization, along with popular support and the strength of his party, created in order to advance socialism in the South American country.
The Venezuelan government signed a cooperation agreement with China to boost infrastructure projects in the South American nation for oil. http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/66235-NN/venezuela-celebra-once-anos-de-revolucion-bolivariana/
The Venezuelan government signed a cooperation agreement with China to boost infrastructure projects in the South American nation for oil. Ramirez will meet with several Chinese oil companies to promote the extraction of crude in the Orinoco Belt.Venezuela and China signed a bilateral fund worth eight billion dollars for the construction of infrastructure projects in Venezuela in exchange for oil, in addition to encouraging the growth of trade relations between the two nations.
Ramirez arrived Tuesday in the Chinese capital from Moscow where he signed an agreement of mutual cooperation with the Russian government to establish a joint venture to pursue the extraction of oil in the Junin Block 6 located in the Orinoco Oil Belt.During his stay in Beijing, the Venezuelan minister will meet with executives of the National Oil Corporation of China (English CNOOC), the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC in English) and China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec in English).
These meetings will be framed in the development of cooperation projects already agreed and Chinese investments in Venezuelan extra-heavy oil holdings located in the Orinoco Oil Belt, which is the largest reserve in the world and considered by the Geological Survey of States United States (USGS, for its acronym in English) there are 513 billion barrels, in an area of 55 thousand 314 kilometers square. In the case of Sinopec and CNPC, the two companies are studying the construction of oil refining plants in Venezuela and other building project in southern China to process oil from Venezuela he is brought to this country from Asia.
The president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, has promoted various plans for cooperation in oil exploitation in the huge reserves of Gaza, especially with China, which has sought to further diversify its oil sales to the United States is not only the benefit but to all nations. The Venezuelan government's goal is to provide China a million barrels a day. According to official Chinese figures, China imported giant in 2009 half of 105 thousand barrels per day of Venezuelan crude.
Among the other achievements of cooperation is the so-called Joint Heavy Fund 12 billion dollars to finance joint projects to benefit the Chinese and Venezuelan people, priority for both governments. Venezuela to contribute to the multipolar development and unity among the different nations of the world, sent 400 thousand barrels of crude to China, allowing diversify its export market, stated the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry statement. The trade balance between China and Venezuela, as of November 2008 achieved a surplus of five billion dollars from a total of 10 thousand 096 million, an increase of 72 percent over 2007.
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Venezuelan Celebration of 11 years of management under President Chavez http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/66219-NN/celebran-venezolanos-11-anos-de-gestion-del-presidente-chavez/
Most Venezuelans celebrated Tuesday the social achievements in education, health, poverty reduction and citizen participation made by President Hugo Chávez during his 11 years in power.
The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) organizes activities throughout the country to highlight the progress made since 2 February 1999, when Chávez took office after winning the presidential election with 56.2 per cent of the valid votes.
According to the coordinator of Mobilization and Events PSUV, Dario Vivas, the main event will be held in the presence of head of state at Havana's Teatro Teresa Carreño, where they hope to take stock of the main findings and ratify the immediate future projections.
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Bitter Sweet or Toxic? Indigenous people, diabetes and the burden of pollution http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/3129
The Mohawk community of Akwesasne has its own conflict with diabetes and exposure to POPs. Located across the New York-Ontario-Quebec borders along the St. Lawrence River, three aluminum foundries upriver from the reserve dumped PCBs into the river for decades, contaminating the water, soil, and vegetation.
For many years, Dr. Carpenter has been involved in the study of Adult Mohawks at Akwesasne. Most recently, in 2007, he took part in a study to examine the diabetes/pollution link in the community. “Our study of adult Mohawks showed a striking elevation in rates of diabetes in relation to blood levels of three persistent organic pollutants, DDE, the metabolite of DDT, hexachlorobenzene and PCBs,” Dr. Carpenter explains. “Our results are quite compatible with those of Lee et al.”
Mass Non-Compliance as a Means to Ending Tyranny http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV9KV7JFhy0
this is a short documentary about how to fight the new world order and other fascist entities using the technique of non-violent non-compliance
carlos_the_mackaral: Zionists consider anti-Semitism excusable if matched by support for Israeli war crimes. .... http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=167227
"While one may agree or disagree with Mr. Limbaugh's views on many subjects, his outspoken support for Israel has been eloquent, informed and undeniable. Moreover, in commentary on the Jewish people, he has been nothing short of a philo-Semite. We are grateful for his strong and singular voice on these issues," concluded the statement.
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BIODIVERSITY: Northern "Biopirates" Gobbling up Resources http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50180
Rich countries are like biopirates, looting far-away lands for food, raw materials and cheap labour. They're plundering other richer ecosystems because they've largely destroyed their own. And they're blocking global efforts to create an independent scientific assessment panel that is likely point the finger at the real reason species are going extinct at 1,000 times their natural pace, experts say.
Most of Europe's natural systems that provide essential services like food, clean air and water, climate regulation and so on have been in decline for years. But no one in Europe really notices. That's because the rich are "geosphere people" who help themselves to nature's ecological services anywhere in the world, said Ashok Khosla, an eminent Indian environmentalist and founder of the Delhi-based Development Alternatives Group, who was representing the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
comment-though we agree that this is in fact taking place,one must not be fooled,this group (International Union for Conservation of Nature) is itself the front group for those doing the biopiracy...the reason for their claims,is very simple...as international pressure mounts against these multinational corporation plundering resources and enviroments,these front groups are coming up to denounce the problems and then offering a solution,to a problem their financiers have actually created.
what this does is allow the groups to come up with solutions under guise of protecting the resources and enviroments,and gain concesions by the governments of thrid world,to secure it,while managing it.heres some backround on iucn group...see...The 1001 Club - Bankers, Intelligence Agents, and Raw Materials http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/sociopol_1001club01.htm
PERU: Mining Co's Making a Mint, Tax Free http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50184
Experts and activists in Peru complain that while mining corporations are cashing in on soaring metals prices, they continue to enjoy exemption from royalties and corporate taxes, if they reinvest their profits
MIDEAST: Pro-Israel Lobbies Work on Europe http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50190
Defenders of Israel’s aggressive stance have for many years been recognised as a powerful force shaping United States foreign policy. A less well-known fact is that the pro-Israel lobby has been making a concerted effort to strengthen its presence in Europe.
The lobby’s determination to make an impression on European Union policy-makers was exemplified by a new booklet published on Jan. 28. Titled ‘Squaring the Circle?: EU-Israel Relations and the Peace Process in the Middle East’, the booklet advocates that EU should "rebalance its priorities" and pursue closer relations with Israel regardless of whether progress is made in resolving the conflict with the Palestinians
"The AJC is the foreign policy wing of the Israel lobby," says Muhammad Idrees Ahmad, a researcher in Scotland’s University of Strathclyde, who monitors the activities of hawkish pro-Israel groups for the website neoconeurope.eu "The two places that it has decided to focus on most are Latin America and Europe. This is because it has a sense that American power might be in decline."
The AJC has been successful in convincing the EU that many criticisms of Israel can be considered as a general slur on Jews. In 2005, the EU’s Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (which has been subsequently renamed the Fundamental Rights Agency) published a working definition on anti-Semitism, admitting that it had been drawn up in consultation with the AJC and the like-minded Anti-Defamation League.
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MIDEAST: Corrupt Arab Regimes - Who is to Blame? http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50189
The Mideast continues to be plagued by autocratic Arab regimes where human rights, democracy and freedom of speech are a pipe dream for the average citizen. But who is to blame and what can be done to amend this situation?The West accuses Arab regimes of being responsible for the lack of transparency and accountability. The regimes in turn, supported to a significant degree by their public, point finger at the West’s military, political and economic support of Mideast dictatorships.
Further highlighted is the punitive action taken against democratically elected but Islamic-leaning governments which do not accommodate the immediate geopolitical needs of the U.S. or Europe."The West knows fully well that the Arab regimes it supports are undemocratic and comes at the expense of human rights," argues Samir Awad from Birzeit University near Ramallah.
"Western governments are not interested in the long-term strategy of resolving problems relating to democratisation of the Mideast’’. "Their short-term strategy of paper shuffling and containing the problem takes preference as they know their respective tenures in office are short and the problems can be left to the next government," Awad told IPS. Additionally, having pliable Arab regimes in power which can be manipulated also suits Western geopolitical interests, especially in regard to the region’s rich oil and gas resources. Added to this is their genuine fear of Islamic fundamentalists taking power and in turn quashing all civil liberties.
"The Arab governments themselves do not have the political will to change. They enjoy the power, prestige and economic entitlement that come courtesy of Western patronage," comments Awad. The economical and political interests of the Arab elite, who underpin these regimes, are also served by Western financial and military aid, therefore, they continue in turn to lend their political support to these dictatorships.
comment-i would like to state that these highlights i have posted are self obvious,however there are some parts of article with wich this blog does not agree with,some examples,would be the claim that hamas was elected free and fairly into power...according to a fellow poster here on blog carlos,who is in palestine,the elections were a farce.there are a few more examples,with wich i disagree with in article,so i state and reiterate,these parts i posted and highlighted are only parts with wich i agree...
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Global Concern Mounts Over Brazilian Government's
Brasilia, Brazil – A coalition of environmentalists, indigenous people, and social movements in Brazil condemned the news that an environmental license was issued yesterday by the Brazilian environmental agency (IBAMA) for the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Dam. Belo Monte, slated to be the world's third largest hydroelectric project, has been mired in controversy. The massive project would divert the flow of the Xingu River and devastate an extensive area of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, threatening the survival of indigenous peoples.
"When one considers the high cost estimates for building the dams and then factors in the engineering uncertainties, the high environmental and social costs, and the project's carbon and methane emissions, Belo Monte makes no economic sense," said Christian Poirier, Brazil Program Coordinator at Amazon Watch. "The question remains why is BNDES, a publicly funded bank, willing to invest such significant portion of its liquidity in Belo Monte? "
The dam is likely to be offered to private investors at an auction in April and construction is expected to start in late 2010. This adds Belo Monte to a list of more than 100 large dams being planned in the Brazilian Amazon, most of which would threaten indigenous and riverine communities and protected areas.
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Ecuador's Neo-Liberal Model http://ecuador-rising.blogspot.com/2010/02/ecuadors-neo-liberal-model.html
Early on he enacted a series of social spending programs that have in part tapped the country's oil revenues to assist the poorest and convened a constituent assembly that drafted a pluri-national constitution providing for ample public participation in the country's social and economic institutions. Reelected president under the new constitution, he declared in his inaugural address last August 10 that the Citizens Revolution "adheres to the socialist revolution of the twenty-first century."
The central struggle between Correa and the social movements is over control of the country's economy, particularly its extractive resources, petroleum and the rich mining deposits that have recently been uncovered. The conflict intensified a year ago when the legislative commission of the National Assembly approved a new mining law.
According to Accion Ecologica, a highly respected Ecuadorian organization with over a decade and a half of experience, the law was "written in the neoliberal model," favoring foreign investment over social and environmental concerns, putting the extraction of minerals over the rights of communities, as well as allowing for open pit mining and the destruction of biodiversity, including the unlimited tapping of water resources in the process of mining operations. (1) The law also "criminalized protest and the right to exercise resistance."
comment-this is two edged sword,in one hand he has enacted social programs funded by the new extractivism policies,on the other,he has also allowed foreign investment,thats plundering enviroment...question is this....if he boots foreign investment corporations and nationalizes the mining industries and uses all proceeds for his own people,then the northern nations and their corporate media will call him a communist demon..but if allows foreign investment,wich has that history of causing ecological disasters(CorpWatch : US: Chevron Faces More Scrutiny in Ecuador over Pollution http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14423)
then hes a good capitalist according to northern gov's corporate media...question is this?wich should be adopted?This is what i think should b don,all foreign corporations exploiting enviroment wich have been goven licenses,should immediatly b reviewed then revoked,and nationalized,period.The corporate media would recat and demonize the move,but you know what?fuck the multinational corporations and their subservient media...power to the ''PEOPLE'' ''DOWN WITH NEOLIBERALISM''
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El Salvador: Activists Link Mining Company to Recent Murders http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2343-el-salvador-activists-link-mining-company-to-recent-murders
(IPS) - Environmental activists in El Salvador allege that managers of a gold mine owned by a Canadian corporation are implicated in the murders of three anti-mining activists.The killings took place between June and December 2009 in the central department (province) of Cabañas, where the Pacific Rim El Salvador company, a subsidiary of the Vancouver-based Pacific Rim Mining Corp, has been exploring for gold and silver since 2002. In 2008 authorities in El Salvador refused to issue the company a mining permit for the El Dorado mine, 65 km northeast of the capital, after an intense anti-mining campaign by civil society organisations, local authorities and residents, and Catholic Church leaders.
Through a U.S. subsidiary, Pacific Rim is suing the Salvadoran state for 700 million dollars in compensation for lost investment, under provisions in the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the U.S.Héctor Berríos, a lawyer belonging to the Mesa Nacional Frente la Minería Metálica (National Working Group against Mining), said the motive for the murders was clearly linked to the victims' activism against mining in general and Pacific Rim in particular. "The question here is who benefits from this terror campaign" against anti-mine activists, Berríos told IPS.
Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan interviewed on Euronews http://www.euronews.net/2010/01/30/erdogan-deflects-reform-criticism-questions-eu-honesty/
Euronews Nial O’Reilly: In recent days the Israeli foreign ministry has accused you of being a cause of the rising tension between your two countries. In fact, it has accused you of anti-semitism. When you review how you handled this incident, do you feel YOU could have handled it more diplomatically?
Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: I am telling the truth…And I will keep telling the truth. Turkey has an age-old history as a state. When you talk to such a state you must be careful. When innocent civilians are ruthlessly killed, struck by phosphorus bombs, infrastructure is demolished in bombing and people are forced to live in an open-air prison… we can not see this as compatible with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, simply human rights, and we can not close our eyes to all this happening. 1-30-10
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Don't Call It a "Defense" Budget http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/71127
Oratory can be nice, but budget numbers tell us where an administration is headed. In 2010, this one is marching up a steep military escalator, under the banner of “defense.” This isn’t “defense.” The new budget from the White House will push U.S. military spending well above $2 billion a day. Foreclosing the future of our country should not be confused with defending it.
It isn’t defense to preclude new domestic initiatives for a country that desperately needs them: for healthcare, jobs, green technologies, carbon reduction, housing, education, nutrition, mass transit . . . “When a nation becomes obsessed with the guns of war, social programs must inevitably suffer,” Martin Luther King Jr. pointed out. “We can talk about guns and butter all we want to, but when the guns are there with all of its emphasis you don’t even get good oleo. These are facts of life.”
Of course the corporate profits for military contractors are humongous. The executive director of the National Priorities Project, Jo Comerford, offers this context: “The Obama administration has handed us the largest Pentagon budget since World War II, not including the $160 billion in war funding for Iraq and Afghanistan.” The word “defense” is inherently self-justifying. But it begs the question: Just what is being defended? For the United States, an epitaph on the horizon says: “We had to destroy our country in order to defend it.”
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Berlusconi 'dreams' of Israel becoming an EU member http://euobserver.com/9/29387
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi began a three-day tour of Israel on Monday by saying he wants the Jewish state to join the EU."This shows that we consider Israel one of the European countries, and you, Benjamin, you know - because I told you years ago and reiterated in our meeting in Cernobbio near Lake Como -
that as long as I am one of the shapers of politics, my greatest dream is to include Israel among the European Union countries," Mr Berlusconi said at a welcoming ceremony with his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu.Mr Berlusconi compared Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Hitler, while Mr Netanyahu called Iran a "bloodthirsty regime."
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Jim Cramer: Illuminati Not That Bad http://cryptogon.com/?p=13432
It’s the usual nonsense for the first couple of minutes, but then, “And you know what, the Bavarian Illuminati, the Trilateral Commission, Goldman Sachs and the Queen of England are not all bad.”
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The Fed as Giant Counterfeiter http://mises.org/daily/4029
San Jose State economics professor Jeffrey Rogers Hummel tells all his students that the easiest way to understand the Federal Reserve is to think of it as a giant, legalized counterfeiter. I had always known that the Fed and other central banks were like counterfeiters, but I still thought that the actual mechanics of open-market operations and so forth actually provided some important distinctions.
In large part because of my frequent email exchanges with Hummel, I now realize that I was being naïve. Once you understand the details of modern central banking, you are able to step back and see that it truly is a way for the government to use the printing press to pay its bills. All of the complicated process of targeting interest rates through buying Treasuries simply hides this essential point — and perhaps deliberately so.
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U.S. Institutions that Trained Personnel from Colombia, All Programs, 2006-2011 (Max. 20 Shown) Institution 2006/ 2007/ 2008 Total
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation 214/ 422 /636
comment-this is the infamous institute, formerly known as school of americas... http://justf.org/Country?country=Colombia also see this...Human Rights in Colombia : School of the Americas and Plan Patriota http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/human-rights-in-colombia-school-of.html
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Ex-army commander arrested for 'false positive' killings http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/7973-ex-army-commander-arrested-for-false-positive-killings.html
A former commander of an army anti-kidnapping squad was arrested for his alleged role in the extra-judicial killing of two Colombian citizens in the northern department of Cordoba.The prosecutor general arrested Antonio Rozo Balbuena for the murder on March 12, 2007 of Fabio Enrique Taborda Avila and another unidentified Colombian.The prosecution claims to have evidence that the deaths were not the result of a clash between the armed forces and a criminal organization, as the army previously stated.
According to investigators the deaths were premeditated and the aforementioned confrontation was staged, El Espectador reports.The prosecutor general revealed that Rozo Balbuena is being investigated for seven other extra-judicial killings.This alleged incidence of "false positives" - where the army presents civilians as criminals killed in combat, to inflate their crime-fighting statistics - is the latest in a series of similar cases.http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/7756-seven-more-soacha-suspects-freed.html
January homicide rates skyrocket in Colombia's major cities http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/7970-homicide-rates-skyrocket-in-colombias-major-cities.html
A Colombian NGO warns that the number of homicides in the country's major cities has skyrocketed in January, led by Medellin with more than 200 murders, radio Caracol reported on Monday..
"There has been a significant increase in homicides with a firearm in the seven cities in the country where an increase in incidences of violence has been reported, and Medellin has been found to head the group. In cities such as Popayan and Cali emerging gangs have planted the seed of terror," said the director of the Centre for Human Rights and the Displaced (CODHES), Jorge Rojas.
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Honduran Coup d’état, a ‘win’ for the U.S.? http://alainet.org/active/35865
In Latin America, the coup in Honduras is widely understood to be a test case for U.S. policy towards Latin America. By attacking the weakest and most vulnerable of the ALBA countries, the U.S. hoped to strike a blow to this alternative economic block which the U.S. counts as enemy. However, in the wake of the coup, the U.S. found itself in a historically unprecedented position at the OAS.
Viewed by Latin American governments from both the right and the left as a potential direct threat to each of them, the OAS took a unanimous position denouncing the coup and ejecting Honduras from the OAS. The U.S. was forced to accept this decision. Most countries in Latin America continue to refuse to recognize the results of the coup regime sponsored “elections” on November 29th despite heavy pressure and arm twisting on the part of the Unites States to do so.
The repression continues in the context of a people who are empowered, determined and who are not afraid. The resistance movement has declared that it will not recognize Porfirio Lobo as President, but rather consider him to be the continuation of the dictatorship imposed though the June 28th military coup. Their non-violent struggle for deep structural change via a constituent assembly will continue. What has happened in Honduras serves as a marker for change in Latin America. It signals that attempts by the United States to rule the hemisphere through coercion and force will be met with new and unexpected challenges and forms of resistance.
comment-also see..FLASHBACK-Honduran "Electoral Observers" Launch Verbal Attack on Americas Program Director http://americasmexico.blogspot.com/2009/11/honduran-electoral-observers-launch.html
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National Assembly of Environmentally Affected Groups Warns of an "Environmental Disaster" in Mexico http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6675
It was created as a response to a collection of worries around the country, to organize ourselves against the environmental destruction that is alive in all the communities and cities in Mexico, reflected in serious consequences for human health, our surroundings, and our conditions of life.
It was also created due to the impunity with which large private and state-owned corporations act, destroying our conditions of life or dispossessing us of them; due to the complicity of our federal, state, and municipal authorities with the companies that destroy our ecosystems and our lives, because our culture is destroyed when our traditional ways of life are deformed; due to the destruction of our processes of agricultural production;
due to the silence on the subject by the majority of the media and most researchers, universities, and research institutions; but also because they not only silence this devastation, they guarantee it and fan its flames.If we continue in silence we are going to die. If we continue struggling separately, each person on their own, not only will they defeat us, but they will also blame us for not having had the courage to protest. We don't want to be slaves to the American, Spanish, and Mexican monopolies that are destroying this country.
Chavez: $1 billion for electricity projects ... Brazil to send Itaipu technicians http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=88056
During his Sunday radio address from Miraflores Palace, President Chavez allocated an initial $1 billion to boost work being done on improving Venezuela's failing electricity system.
A new national electrical fund, the President stated, will kick off with $1 billion, which will be transferred immediately to the Ministry of Electrical Energy to avoid any delays. The fund will go towards financing 59 electricity generating and distribution projects and 50 projects dealing with maintenance and operational activities.
The government's plan to lower levels of energy use has not been working and Electrical Energy Minister, Ali Rodriguez Araque has confirmed that so far only 4% of electricity has been saved under the plan.The opposition has not been collaborating with the energy saving plans launching flippant slogans that people have the right to switch on electricity because they have paid for the service.
FLASHBACK-State VTV meets opposition students but not so peaceful in other protest points http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=87916
Student protests continued yesterday, as expected with senior opposition figures playing low key preferring students take the brunt of the protests.One of the highlights of the day in Caracas was a convergence of opposition student groups in front of the State VTV channel building.According to a report in Las Ultimas Noticias, the students managed to evade a police cordon blocking access and reached the VTV HQ where they shouted slogans supporting Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) International.
In a surprise gesture, a group of the protesters was met outside the front entrance by State channel, legal adviser, Maria Alejandra Diaz, accompanied by the police. University Student Federation leader, Roderick Navarro said students wanted to see some balance in the state channel's reporting of events in Venezuela.Diaz, for her part, defended the government's handling of the RCTV in compliance with the social responsibility media law.VTV president, Yuri Pimentel then allowed a group of students to enter the building and listened to their complaints.
Things were not so peaceful in other parts of the city where students attempted to barricade and burn garbage on the Francisco Fajardo highway, only to be repelled by the police using tear gas.One opposition student leader said several infiltrators that wanted to create disturbances during the marches were spotted and handed over to the authorities.There were also disturbances at the Santa Maria private University in Puerto la Cruz (Anzoategui)..
Anzoategui State Governor, William Tarek Saab reported that several police officers were injured when Molotov cocktails were thrown at them from inside the university gates.More protests are expected today again, along with more Twitter, Facebook and Internet broadcasting.RCTV has already started broadcasting on its web page using its star presenter and figurehead, Miguel Angel Rodriguez to open play and tongue-lash President Chavez and the government in YouTube mode.
COMMENT-ALSO SEE...Coup Co-Conspirators as Free-Speech Martyrs http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3107Venezuela pulls plug on pro-coup TV http://www.iacenter.org/venezuela/venez_rctv060607/Venezuelan counter-revolutionaries, with the full support of the U.S. and other imperialist governments, have been attempting to use the non-renewal of Radio Caracas Television's (RCTV) broadcasting license to destabilize the popular progressive government of President Hugo Chevez.
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Haiti PM: US Baptists knew removing kids was wrong http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CB_HAITI_EARTHQUAKE?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME
Haiti's prime minister said Monday that 10 Americans who tried to take a busload of undocumented Haitian children out of the country knew that "what they were doing was wrong," and could be prosecuted in the United States.
Prime Minister Max Bellerive told The Associated Press that his country is open to having the Americans face U.S. justice, since most government buildings - including Haiti's courts - were crippled by the monster earthquake.
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Pagans get worship space at academy http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/01/airforce_pagans_012910w/
The Air Force Academy will add a worship area for followers of “earth-centered religion” — pagans — with a dedication ceremony scheduled for March 10.
The chief of the academy has made religious tolerance a priority after 2004 a survey of cadets found instances of harassment. Longcrier said earth-centered spirituality includes traditions such as Wicca and Druidism. Wicca is the largest religious group in the Air Force after Christianity.
Illinois is in deep trouble; the United States of America is in deep trouble http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=88054
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The US Game in Latin America http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jan/29/us-latin-america-haiti-honduras
In Honduras last summer and autumn, the US government did everything it could to prevent the rest of the hemisphere from mounting an effective political opposition to the coup government in Honduras. For example, they blocked the Organization of American States from taking the position that it would not recognize elections that took place under the dictatorship. At the same time, the Obama administration publicly pretended that it was against the coup.
This was only partly successful, from a public relations point of view. Most of the US public thinks that the Obama administration was against the Honduran coup, although by November of last year there were numerous press reports and even editorial criticisms that Obama had caved to Republican pressure and not done enough.
But this was a misreading of what actually happened: the Republican pressure in support of the Honduran coup changed the administration's public relations strategy, but not its political strategy. Those who followed events closely from the beginning could see that the political strategy was to blunt and delay any efforts to restore the elected president, while pretending that a return to democracy was actually the goal.
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AFGHANISTAN: US Night Raids and Secret Prisons Anger Civilians http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50159
An investigative report by Anand Gopal, published on TomDispatch.com about U.S. forces' operations in Afghanistan, paints a gruesome picture of surprise night raids, indiscriminate killing, random detention of civilians and torture of Afghan detainees. The story, to be published in the Nation magazine, cites gross human rights violations as officials from 70 nations meet in London for a conference on Afghanistan. The report shows the violations continued well after Barack Obama took office, despite U.S. and NATO emphasis on winning the hearts and minds of local Afghans.
Chief U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, had promised to wage a cleaner war with fewer home raids and civilian casualties. Gopal cited a number of instances where U.S. troops randomly and frenziedly shot civilians in their homes during night raids on villages, generating outrage and indignation among terrified locals. The village raids were based on intelligence which often turned out to be false.
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SPINWATCH-U.S.-Colombian humanitarian mission helped 3,300 so far: General http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/7947-us-colombian-humanitarian-mission-helped-3300-so-far-general.html
A joint humanitarian mission by the Colombian and U.S. military in the south of Colombia has been able to provide treatment to over 3,300 people in its first week, a Colombian general taking part in the mission told Colombia Reports.
The medical mission, a joint operation by the Colombian authorities, the U.S. military and private doctors, flew first to the Caqueta department last Monday, staying for four days in the capital San Vicente de Caguan, previously a stronghold of leftist FARC guerrillas. After attending to 2,200 patients there, they moved to La Macarena, Meta, where the soldiers and doctors set up camp for the second leg of their mission, which ends on Wednesday.
According to General Javier Florez, the mission is part of the Colombian government's Consolidation Plan which seeks to re-establish the presence of the state in areas which have been held by guerrillas."The U.S. government and the U.S. military group continue to support the Colombian military and our government's efforts to provide the population of remote or previously denied areas with humanitarian assistance, in this case, basic medical assistance to as many as humanly possible," Florez said.
Florez stresses that humanitarian missions like this are "part of U.S.-Colombia bilateral cooperation agreements on U.S. assistance in Colombia. The governments of Colombia and the United States, as well as their militaries, will continue to plan for future humanitarian assistance activities to reach other areas in Colombia and bring much needed medical attention to the population."
comment-First of all,this is a public relations stunt,it is an attempt between washington and colombias fascist rigthwing government,to maintain relations and keep millitary and financial aid pouring in,amidst the large and overwhelming opposition from hundreds of human rigth org,ngo's who are demanding washington cut the relationship because of evidence that uribes army and even us military are behind genocide,war crimes,displacements and grotest human rigth violations against the colombian people.this claim they are helping people is a sham as you will see below...interestingly enough when ever colombia reports site puts out propaganda,its usually thru this so called journalist...Monday, 01 February 2010 10:48
Adriaan Alsema... and who is adriaan alsema?he is a heavy metal singer from some dutch band,who now resides in colombia...heres his music http://sexybunnylove.com/Adriaan Alsema (IJmuiden, September 14 1975) is a Dutch journalist, musician and leader of the Good-Looking Intellectuals.
now ,heres some interesting info on history of us troops in colombia,as you will see its far from humanitarian...
U.S. military aid increased paramilitary violence: researchers http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/7156-research-suggests-us-military-aid-increased-paramilitary-violence-in-colombia-.html
The ill-advised United States certification of Colombia on Human Rights http://www.coha.org/the-ill-advised-us-certification-of-colombia-on-human-rights/
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. http://www.cipcol.org/?p=1242
Human Rights in Colombia : School of the Americas and Plan Patriota http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/human-rights-in-colombia-school-of.html
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Government extradited paramilitary bosses to silence them: HRW http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/7959-government-extradited-paramilitary-bosses-to-silence-them-hrw.html
The extradition of key paramilitary leaders to the U.S. was "a fatal blow to investigations into parapolitics" and was done in order hide the truth, according to Americas Human Rights Watch (HRW) director Jose Manuel Vivanco. Vivanco said in an interview with El Espectador that he believed that extradited leaders such as Salvatore Mancuso and Don Berna were prepared to cooperate with justice and that their extradition was unnecessary.
Their extradition "gives the impression that the idea was precisely to silence them," Vivanco said. "To silence them is the only explanation that I can come up with [as to why they were extradited] "The worst thing is that up until this point there is no mechanism that ensures the effective and trustworthy collaboration of those responsible for the worst atrocities in Colombian history," he added.
Vivanco also expressed HRW's concern that the potential second re-election of President Alvaro Uribe would threaten democratic institutions because of the constitutional changes that would have to occur to make him eligible to run again.HRW is due to release a report on the state of human rights in Colombia. Among the themes it will cover are paramilitarism and the rise of new paramilitary groups, the false positives cases, the increase in violence in cities such as Medellin, and the DAS wire-tapping scandal.
comment-also see...U.S. military aid increased paramilitary violence: researchers http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/7156-research-suggests-us-military-aid-increased-paramilitary-violence-in-colombia-.html
The ill-advised United States certification of Colombia on Human Rights http://www.coha.org/the-ill-advised-us-certification-of-colombia-on-human-rights/
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. http://www.cipcol.org/?p=1242
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Jorge 40' accuses Colombian VP of parapolitics http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/7964-jorge-40-accuses-colombian-vp-of-parapolitics.html
In his soon to be released book, extradited paramilitary leader "Jorge 40" backs up accusations by other paramilitary leaders that Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos had ties to paramilitaries, Noticias Uno reported Monday. "Jorge 40" is the third former paramilitary leader, along with "El Aleman" and Salvatore Mancuso, to claim that Santos was involved with paramilitary groups.
Mancuso alleges that demobilized paramilitary organization the AUC and Santos had a plan to form a paramilitary group in the capital Bogota.Santos maintains that the accusations are part of a conspiracy to discredit him, and says that the word of a criminal can not be trusted.
comment-also see..“They extradited the truth with me” http://www.cipcol.org/?p=898
Documents Implicate Colombian Government http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB217/index.htm
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