More Northern BC Schools Set to Close as Olympic Budget Balloons http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/3241

As British Columbia begins to contemplate the effects of a $6 billion Olympic spending spree, 14 schools have been slated to close this year in the Prince George School District, situated in the central interior of the province. In January, hundreds of residents gathered to hear the board of education announce the planned closures, as well as increased class sizes, which trustees say will be necessary to close a gaping $7 million budget deficit in the district.

The blow comes as local communities are already reeling from 15 school closures since 2002. Residents of BC's central interior continue to grapple with serious economic problems, including an unemployment rate of nearly 13 per cent in the city of Prince George.The BC government has responded to the criticism of the planned school closures by denying its own culpability and faulting declines in student enrolment.Officials have suggested that the government, despite its funding responsibilities, cannot be held responsible for school closures. “I would urge people to present their concerns to the locally elected school board,” government MLA Pat Bell told the Prince George Free Press, "because that’s where school closure decisions are made.”

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VIDEO- An Interview with Max Igan, Part 7 http://coto2.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/coto-report-goes-down-under-an-interview-with-max-igan-part-7/

On behalf of COTO Report, I am pleased to present the seventh part of the interview with documentary filmmaker, musician and non-violent non-compliance expert, Max Igan.

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INDONESIA: U.S. Seeks to Resume Training of Controversial Military Unit http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50551

The administration of President Barack Obama hopes to resume U.S. training of an elite Indonesian military unit whose members have been convicted of gross human rights abuses in East Timor and elsewhere in the sprawling archipelago.The leadership of Indonesia's controversial special forces division - the Komando Pasukan Khusus, or Kopassus - has been in Washington to discuss the proposal this week. Its meetings here come ahead of President Barack Obama's state visit to Indonesia later this month. The trip will launch "The U.S.-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership" - a bilateral strategy to enhance security and economic cooperation between the two countries. 

"In the next few months, the U.S. State Department will conduct a review of the ban [indicating] that military-to-military relations will be restored ... to allow Kopassus officers to be trained in the United States," former Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono told the Jakarta Post on Wednesday. Under the so-called Leahy law, first approved in 1997, Washington is banned from providing training or other kinds of assistance to any foreign military unit if there is "credible evidence" that it has committed "gross violations of human rights." The ban can be waived if the secretary of state certifies that the relevant foreign government is "taking effective measures" to bring to justice responsible members of the unit. 

The Kopassus have been notorious for employing brutal tactics since the 1970s, particularly in East Timor, Aceh, Papua and Java.  Critics argue that Kopassus continues to commit serious abuses with impunity and that restoring a cooperative relationship could actually prove counter-productive. "U.S. military assistance harms reform and sets back human rights accountability in Indonesia," said John M. Miller, national coordinator of the East Timor Action Network (ETAN).

comment-also see...US Military Training: Exporting Democracy? http://www.peaceworkmagazine.org/pwork/1100/112k08.htm

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UN Rapporteur: Pine Ridge Housing Worst in US http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/03/un-rapporteur-pine-ridge-housing-worst.html

US spent $1 trillion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, while ignoring abysmal housing on Pine Ridge and widespread homelessness in US.Overcrowding in housing on Pine Ridge Indian land in South Dakota was described as the worst viewed by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing Raquel Rolnik, during a tour of US housing. The lack of fresh food and the lack of public transportation was also included in the report on Pine Ridge.

"During the mission, the Special Rapporteur observed many families living in subsidized housing units in conditions of severe overcrowding. This was particularly the case amongst immigrant families in Los Angeles, and most strikingly on Pine Ridge Native American Reservation, where it was described as commonplace to have three to four families living in a three-bedroom house. The conditions in the houses on the Reservation were the worst seen by the Special Rapporteur during her mission, evidence of the urgent and severe need for additional subsidized housing units there," states the report.

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Ambassador Chaderton denounces "rotten action of the Spanish PP" http://english.eluniversal.com/2010/03/04/en_pol_esp_ambassador-chaderton_04A3529971.shtml

Venezuela's Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) Roy Chaderton regretted the attempts at linking his government with Basque terrorist group ETA."It is a rotten action triggered by Spain's People's Party, the party which took part, together with the government of (ex US President) George W. Bush in an effort to oust President (Hugo) Chavez," he said.

Chaderton explained that the stance taken by his government in criticizing the OAS daily reveals "all the miseries of the OAS, of the Inter-American system and of those who have been benefitted thus far from an imperial instrument such as the OAS."With regard to events on Wednesday, when he was the object of criticism after complaining about "silence" of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in the events of "Caracazo," he commented: "we are used to such toughness and in those tough discussions we will take part whenever necessary in advocacy of our democracy and Bolivarian process."

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Who owns the Falklands? http://21stcenturysocialism.com/article/who_owns_the_falklands_01968.html

More than 300 Falklands veterans have committed suicide since the end of the war. One of them, Charles "Nish" Bruce, an SAS veteran and freefall expert who served in the conflict, plunged 5,000ft from a plane without a parachute in 2002.

A small minority in Britain opposed the war, arguing that the UK establishment wanted to hang on to the Malvinas/Falklands at least partly for strategic and economic reasons including the possibility of future oil extraction, and that Margaret Thatcher was keen for a military conflict to enhance her Conservative government's electoral prospects.

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Canada has long supported USA's efforts to destabilize Venezuela http://yvesengler.com/2010/02/25/canada-has-long-supported-effots-to-destablize-venezuela/

Munk, among Embassy magazine's "Top 50 People Influencing Canadian Foreign Policy," sees Venezuela's reforms as a threat to his profit-making possibilities and as an example that might be replicated elsewhere. It is a view likely held by most of Canada's foreign focused business community, especially in the resource sector. Over the past two decades there has been an explosion in Canadian miners in the region. Canadian companies now control some 1,300 concessions in Latin America.

These corporations have benefited from the privatization of state-run mining companies, opening the sector to foreign investment and reductions in royalty rates. Growing calls for increased state control over extractive industries are a major threat to Canadian miners. And these are almost always among the first reforms pushed by those resisting neo-liberalism.

Put simply, Canadian miners profit-making in the region is closely tied to maintaining and expanding 'free' market capitalism.Home to the majority of the world's mining companies, as well as many oil and gas firms, Canadian capital is highly dependent on an extreme version of 'free' market capitalism.In light of this reality, is it a surprise that Ottawa -- Liberal and Conservative governments alike -- has worked to undermine the government in the region most actively resisting neo-liberalism?

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Canadian Company Seeking to Assure Exploitation in El Salvador http://www.narconews.com/Issue64/article4074.html

Violence in Central American Nation’s Cabañas Region Escalates as Corporate Mining Interests are Threatened.Pacific Rim argues that the Salvadoran government has breached international trade laws by not issuing the company the permits needed to begin exploiting gold deposits at the El Dorado gold mining site, located in the Cabañas region some 40 miles east of the capital city, San Salvador.Since June 2009, three Salvadoran anti-mining activists from the Cabañas region have been murdered: Dora “Alicia” Recinos Sorto (who was eight-months pregnant at the time of her death), Ramiro Rivera Gomez, and Marcelo Rivera.

Violence, kidnappings and threats of violence have also increased in the area, according to Emily Carpenter, National Coordinator of the U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities Network.“The region of Cabañas had one of the lowest crime rates in the country before Pacific Rim arrived, “ Carpenter wrote in an e-mail to Narco News. “Now, as early as 2006, we’ve seen threats against local journalists and community leaders; we’ve seen community leader Marcelo Rivera disappeared, tortured, and murdered; we’ve seen a kidnapping attempt against a Catholic priest; we’ve seen murders where the political aspects of these murders, the existence of ‘intellectual authors,’ has gone un-investigated. We’ve seen a general atmosphere of impunity. ”

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WOLA Supports International Pre-Electoral Observation Mission in Colombia http://www.wola.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=viewp&id=1069&Itemid=8

In certain regions like Barrancabermeja and Buenaventura, the mission was informed that despite an increase in police and military personnel on the ground, that citizen confidence in the authorities has not been achieved and that despite their presence homicides continue to take place. In the case of youth, indigenous and afro-descendants this is explained by the stigmatization that such groups receive from multiple sides and their being branded as "undesirables." This stigmatization leads to a climate where in some cases steps are not taken to clarify crimes committed against such persons. 

In various regions of the country, civil society organizations insist that the groups that demobilized continue to act against the civilian population. They note that an open strategy exists on the part of these groups to persecute leaders of Afro-Colombians, indigenous, rural farmers, trade unionists and human rights defenders and their organizations. Persons interviewed denounced cases of selective assassinations, extrajudicial executions and forced disappearances among the leaders of these groups. 

The analysis made by civilians regarding criminal groups in process of consolidation, is shared by some officials who work on these issues who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of possible reprisal for reporting this point of view.According to community leaders and beneficiaries of the social programs run by the Colombian Agency for Social Action (Acción Social) candidates for the House and Senate have participated in meetings with beneficiaries where beneficiaries were informed that if they do not vote for them or the parties that support the national government that the subsidies they receive from the President's office will be terminated. The mission finds it highly problematic reports of a lack of distance between the President's office and the programs that are designated to help internally displaced and vulnerable populations in the country.

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Eva Golinger-Venezuela begins civilian reserve core http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRM5IPrYItE

It started as some disputes over land but led to the killing of hundreds of peasant leaders and activists in Venezuela. Now, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says it is time to protect poor farmers and peasants from wealthy ranchers and landowners. He has announced the formation of a new civilian reserve core to help them.

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Isolated Indigenous Peoples In Rondonia, Brazil - Genocide Alert: Public Statement  http://tiny.cc/fw6eS

Dear Mr. Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, President of the Federative Republic of Brazil  Excellency Mr. Tarso Genro, Minister of Justice of Brazil  Dear Legal Prosecutors for the Federal Attorney-General’s Office – 6th Board of Review Coordination Chamber/ Indigenous and Minorities and FAG of the State of Rondônia

It is intolerable to society and the Brazilian State to condone or be absent in face of blatant neglect, oppression and genocide in the XXI century being perpetrated against the last free native peoples in national territory. Such peoples, regardless of their demographic fragility – the result of centuries of silent extermination in the country – are a crucial part of the cultural, social and human matrix of Brazilian nation. They are survivors worthy of our native resistance, and constitute a human, biological, cultural, historical and spiritual heritage of the Brazilian people and of humanity. They have had their most basic rights, especially to life, reviled and ignored throughout an allegedly civilizatory history of brutality during the territorial occupation of Brazil. 

We demand for the last native people in Brazil the right to LIVE IN PEACE, under the EFECTIVE PROTECTION OF THE STATE and according to their human perspective as to a DIGNIFIED WAY TO CONTINUE LIVING. It is unacceptable that although legally protected by the State, indigenous peoples in isolation in Brazil remain ignored by developmentist investments, pressured and implemented by overexploitation of the last preserved niches of their forests and victimized, again, by the most vile extermination methods, which are encouraged by impunity.

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New investigation into Montoya's paramilitary ties http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/8529-court-wants-investigation-into-montoyas-para-ties.html

Colombia's Supreme Court Wednesday asked the prosecutor general to open an investigation into the latest allegations that former army general Mario Montoya had ties to paramilitary forces.Demobilized paramilitary leader Libardo Duarte, alias "Ban Ban," alleged before the Justice and Peace tribunal in February that Montoya received bribes from now-demobilized paramilitary organization AUC, along with Colonel Quintero and General Pedraza.Former paramilitary leader and drug trafficker "Don Mario" has also testified before the Justice and Peace tribunal that he gave over $250,000 to Montoya, to be used to combat a different paramilitary bloc, based in Casanare and lead by Martin Llanos.

Montoya's name has been mentioned three times in Justice and Peace proceedings. He was implicated in the San Apartado massacre of 1997. Montoya, now Colombian Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, denies collaboration with paramilitary groups.Montoya is celebrated as the coordinator of "Operation Jaque," the operation that liberated Ingrid Betancourt, three U.S. hostages and eleven soldiers.He resigned from the army in October 2008 amid the growing "false positives" scandal, in which military officials murdered civilians to make the war against illegal armed groups look more effective.Shortly after his resignation the government appointed Montoya ambassador to the Dominican Republic.

comment-also see...Killings of civilians by uniformed Colombian military and police totaled 329 in 2007 (Los Angeles Times, 8/21/08), and the country’s unfolding “para-political” scandals have revealed “links between rightist death squads and dozens of officials loyal to President Álvaro Uribe” (Boston Globe, 12/14/06). Everyone from senators to cabinet members to judges have been implicated—even Colombia’s top general, Mario Montoya, whom the Washington Post (9/17/08) described as “a trusted caretaker of the sizable aid package Washington provides Colombia’s army.” http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3699

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Nobel Prize-Winning Economist: Federal Reserve System is Corrupt and Undermines Democracy http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/03/nobel-prize-winning-economist-federal.html

Joseph Stiglitz - former head economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a nobel-prize winner - said yesterday that the very structure of the Federal Reserve system is so fraught with conflicts that it is "corrupt" and undermines democracy.

Stiglitz stressed that the Fed banks have clear conflicts of interest, since the banks are largely governed by a board of directors that includes officers of the very banks they're supposed to be overseeing:

comment-no shit sherlock...