Weekly News Update on the Americas
Issue #984, April 5, 2009
1. Haiti: UN Head Pushes More FTZs
2. Guatemala: Attorney Kidnapped, Journalist Killed
3. Honduras: Chortí Occupy Mayan Site
4. Links to alternative sources on: Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, El Salvador, Mexico, Guadeloupe
ISSN#: 1084‑922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com . It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/
*1. Haiti: UN Head Pushes More FTZs
In an op-ed in the Mar. 31 New York Times, United Nations (UN) secretary general Ban Ki-moon announced economic development plans for Haiti based on the expansion of “free-trade zones” (FTZs), industrial parks for tax-exempt assembly plants producing for export (maquiladoras). Ban said this will enable Haiti to take advantage of 2008 US legislation known as HOPE II, which gives Haiti duty-free, quota-free access to US markets for nine years. At an international donors conference in Washington, DC in mid-April, Ban will seek aid for “creating the sort of industrial ‘clusters’ that have come to dominate global trade...dramatically expanding the country’s export zones, so that a new generation of textile firms can invest and do business in one place.” This export strategy was worked out by Ban’s special adviser, Oxford University development economist Paul Collier, along with the government of President René Préval, according to the op-ed. Ban and former US president Bill Clinton (1993-2001) visited Haiti on Mar. 9 in preparation for the donors conference [see Update #983]. (NYT 3/31/09)
Charles Arthur of the Haiti Support Group (HSG), a British solidarity organization, said his group was “appalled” by the plan. He noted that international lending institutions have pushed an export strategy for decades with no positive results for Haiti. In the early 1980s the Haitian garment assembly sector employed some 60,000 workers, but the number has declined as foreign contractors moved production to other countries. Prospects for the sector seem even worse now that the global economic crisis is driving down demand for imports. Arthur called Ban’s plan "a slap in the face" for President Préval and Prime Minister Michèle Pierre-Louis. Since the outbreak of food riots in April 2008 and widespread destruction by four tropical storms in August and September, the president has stressed the importance of expanding national production, especially in agriculture, Arthur said [see Update #943]. (No Sweat website 3/31/09)
Meanwhile, Haitian business groups have been lobbying against legislation which would raise the minimum wage to 200 gourdes a day (about $4.96) from the current rate of 70 gourdes. The Chamber of Deputies passed the raise earlier this year, but the measure has been stalled in the Senate. On Mar. 24 the Senate’s Social Affairs Committee held a two-hour closed door meeting with business leaders. Participants wouldn’t say what the results were, but Haiti Chamber of Commerce and Industry president (CCIH) Reginald Boulos warned afterwards that while wages need to be increased, a 200 gourde minimum wage might provoke inflation and lead to massive layoffs and could hurt the government’s job-creation program—apparently a reference to the plan for FTZ expansion. (Haiti Press Network 3/25/09; Radio Métropole 3/25/09, 3/28/09)
*2. Guatemala: Attorney Kidnapped, Journalist Killed
Three masked men kidnapped Guatemalan attorney and university professor Gladys Monterroso on Mar. 25 as she was eating breakfast in a restaurant in Guatemala City and held her for 13 hours before leaving her on a street in the Atlántida neighborhood. She said the men burned her with cigarettes, beat her and subjected her to sexual and psychological abuse; at one point they put a pistol in her mouth and said they would kill her. They didn’t demand a ransom.
Monterroso’s husband, Sergio Morales, is the government’s human rights prosecutor (ombudsperson). On Mar. 24, the day before the kidnapping, he released a report, “The Right to Know,” documenting evidence in recently discovered government archives linking officials to human rights violations during the 1960-1996 civil war. “I think there could be something fundamental about the National Police archives or the army archives that is in the process of being declassified,” Guatemalan president Alvaro Colom said in an interview with the South American television network TeleSUR, “and there are people with a commitment to the past who could be worried about the release of these archives.” Secret documents on the structure and functioning of the National Police from 1975 to 1985 were discovered in July 2005.
The New York-based organization Human Rights First has posted a sample letter to its website demanding an investigation of Monterrosa’s kidnapping; go to http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/campaign/Gladys . (Human Rights First alert 4/3/09; Siglo 21 (Guatemala) 3/31/09; Prensa Libre (Guatemala) 4/1/09, 4/2/09)
On Apr. 1 two gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed Rolando Santis, a reporter for Telecentro Trece television, and seriously wounded Juan Antonio de León Villatoro, a camera operator. Santis is the fourth Guatemalan journalist killed in the past year; the others were Jorge Mérida, Rubén Bazarreyes and Abel Girón. During the same year 13 journalists were assaulted and 10 received death threats. (Adital 4/2/09; Univision 4/3/09 from AFP)
*3. Honduras: Chortí Occupy Mayan Site
From Apr. 2 to Apr. 3 hundreds of indigenous Chortí blocked access to Copán archeological park, probably Honduras’ most important ancient Mayan site, to press demands for land. Tourism minister Ricardo Martínez said the protesters agreed to leave after the government offered to start negotiations on Apr. 15. An estimated 400 European and US tourists visit Copán a day, each paying a $15 entrance fee.
The Chortí are demanding that the government grant them 14,700 hectares for cultivation in Copán and Ocotepeque departments, bordering Guatemala in western Honduras. In the past 12 years they have received about one third of the territory they are asking for. Maya Chortí National Council spokesperson Cristóbal Pineda said the Chortí were tired of waiting and were ready “to act…so that [the government] won’t go on deceiving us.” The government has signed a number of accords with the Chortí since 1995; the most recent, in May 2008, promised $1 million for land that year, of which only $800,000 has been paid out. The Chortí have carried out similar occupations five times since 1997.
There are seven indigenous peoples in Honduras, with a total of about 400,000 members living in 100 communities. The Chortí account for 52 of these communities. (El Universal (Mexico) 4/5/09 from AP)
*4. Links to alternative sources on: Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, El Salvador, Mexico, Guadeloupe
UN human rights report blasts Bolivian opposition
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1785/68/
Peru: oil rush accelerates, government weighs new reserves for uncontacted
tribes
http://ww4report.com/node/7125
Colombia: Fighting Development Banks for the Human Right to Water
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1786/1/
Venezuela: Coca-Cola plant replaced with "socialist commune"
http://ww4report.com/node/7127
Chávez disses G20, opens joint bank with Iran
http://ww4report.com/node/7126
Hugo Chávez offers to accept Gitmo detainees
http://ww4report.com/node/7123
What's Next for Venezuela's Opposition?
http://nacla.org/node/5663
Crime in Venezuela: Opposition Weapon or Serious Problem?
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1792/68/
Venezuela Expropriates Cargill Rice Plant that Evaded Price Controls
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1791/68/
Photo Essay: El Salvador's Historic Election
http://nacla.org/node/5654
El Salvador Elections: The Ghosts of Izalco
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1795/68/
Mexico: authorities crack down on "Santa Muerte" narco-cult
http://ww4report.com/node/7149
Narco wars leave trail of bodies across Mexico's southwest
http://ww4report.com/node/7148
Mexico, US pledge new era of cooperation against cartels
http://ww4report.com/node/7147
Mexican senate approves pre-conviction property seizures in narco cases
http://ww4report.com/node/7146
U.S. Military Funded Mapping Project in Oaxaca: University Geographers Used to Gather Intelligence?
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1794/1/
Guadeloupe on Strike: A New Political Chapter in the French Antilles
http://nacla.org/node/5668
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream andalternative sources:
http://nacla.org/articles
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
Your support is appreciated. Back issues and source materials are available on request. Update subscribers also receive, as a supplement, our own weekly Immigration News Briefs.
Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, from Monthly Review Press, by Update editors Jane Guskin and David Wilson:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.com/
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Links but no Update for March 29, 2009
[We are having problems with the transition to a different computer system. As a result, we are unable to send out an Update this week. We'll be back as soon as we can. Below are links to stories from other sources.]
Paraguay: Tractor Blockades from the Right
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1781/68/
An Exception to Lula's Rule
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1780/68/
UN human rights report blasts Bolivian opposition
http://ww4report.com/node/7089
Rock Bottom Mining: Unemployment and Crisis in Peru
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1778/68/
Ecuador: Mining and the Right of Way
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1777/68/
UN launches "unprecedented" program for Colombian refugees
http://ww4report.com/node/7088
Historical Archives Lead to Arrest of Police Officers in Guatemalan Disappearance http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1776/1/
Mexico: US backpedals on "failed state" claim
http://ww4report.com/node/7087
Agent Orange strategy for Mexican border?
http://ww4report.com/node/7069
Clean Energy Plays Dirty in Oaxaca
http://nacla.org/node/5638
Mexican Corn Contaminated by Genetically Modified Materials, Government Invites More http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1775/68/
Mexico's Unspent Revolutionary Legacies: An Interview With Historian Alan Knight
http://nacla.org/node/5647
No Contrition From Canadian Press Over Haiti
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1783/68/
Paraguay: Tractor Blockades from the Right
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1781/68/
An Exception to Lula's Rule
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1780/68/
UN human rights report blasts Bolivian opposition
http://ww4report.com/node/7089
Rock Bottom Mining: Unemployment and Crisis in Peru
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1778/68/
Ecuador: Mining and the Right of Way
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1777/68/
UN launches "unprecedented" program for Colombian refugees
http://ww4report.com/node/7088
Historical Archives Lead to Arrest of Police Officers in Guatemalan Disappearance http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1776/1/
Mexico: US backpedals on "failed state" claim
http://ww4report.com/node/7087
Agent Orange strategy for Mexican border?
http://ww4report.com/node/7069
Clean Energy Plays Dirty in Oaxaca
http://nacla.org/node/5638
Mexican Corn Contaminated by Genetically Modified Materials, Government Invites More http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1775/68/
Mexico's Unspent Revolutionary Legacies: An Interview With Historian Alan Knight
http://nacla.org/node/5647
No Contrition From Canadian Press Over Haiti
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1783/68/
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
WNU #983: Martinique Accord Signed, Strike Suspended
Weekly News Update on the Americas
Issue #983, March 22, 2009
1. Martinique: Accord Signed, Strike Suspended
2. Mexico: Does the US Own Banamex?
3. Mexico: Indigenous Protests in Oaxaca
4. Haiti: Lavalas Marches, Students Protest
5. Guatemala: US Knew About 1980s Abuses
6. Links to alternative sources on: Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico
ISSN#: 1084‑922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com . It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/
*1. Martinique: Accord Signed, Strike Suspended
On Mar. 14 the French government and the government of the French Caribbean department of Martinique signed an accord with the Feb. 5 Collective ending a general strike that had paralyzed the department since Feb. 5. The accord, which the parties had agreed to on Mar. 11, meets a principal demand of the strikers: a raise of 200 euros a month (about $253) for low-wage workers, with smaller raises for other workers. Major business owners had agreed earlier to bring down prices on some 400 basic items by 20% one month after stores reopen. Negotiations are to continue until Mar. 27 on 87 additional points, including pensions and water and agricultural issues. The Feb. 5 Collective, a coalition of unions and grassroots organizations that led the strike, agreed to a “suspension of the conflict” but “reserves the right to start the movement up again,” said the collective’s president, Michel Monrose. The accord was called an “exit from the crisis” rather than an “end to the conflict.”
Some 20,000 people marched on Mar. 14 in the departmental capital, Fort-de-France, and other parts of Martinique to celebrate the accord, chanting: “We are marching towards victory.” The settlement is similar to the accord won on Mar. 4 by a 44-day general strike in the nearby overseas department of Guadeloupe, which helped trigger the strike in Martinique and similar protests in the overseas department of La Réunion in the Indian Ocean [see Update #982].
Unions and left parties in European France said they were in part inspired by the example of the overseas departments as they planned a massive one-day general strike on Mar. 19 to protest the French government’s pro-business response to the world economic crisis. “The victory of the women and men of Guadeloupe calls for more victories” was the title of the call for the Mar. 19 mobilization by major left and social democratic parties, including the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA), the French Communist Party (PCF) and the Socialist Party (PS). (Le Monde (France) 3/16/09 from correspondent; Nouvel Observateur (France) 3/17/09 from Reuters; Life on the Left blog on 3/18/09 via MRzine; “Appel unitaire pour le 19 mars : la victoire des Guadeloupéennes et des Guadeloupéens en appelle d’autres,” on the NPA website, undated).
*2. Mexico: Does the US Own Banamex?
On Mar. 19 Mexico’s Finance and Public Credit Secretariat (SHCP) ruled that due to the current economic crisis, exceptions could be made to a law banning foreign governments from owning Mexican banks. The SHCP indicated that the 20-year- old article 13 of the Law of Credit Institutions should be revised. Although the ruling didn’t mention any banks by name, the question arose because of the US government’s continuing efforts—at a cost of $45 billion since October—to prop up the mammoth US-based Citigroup banking group, which owns Banamex, Mexico’s second largest bank. In a partial nationalization, the US bought preferred shares in Citigroup last fall. In February US officials said they would convert up to $25 billion of the preferred shares to common stock, which would give the US government a stake of as much as 36% in the banking group and therefore in its subsidiaries.
Banamex itself was nationalized by the Mexican government in 1982, along with the rest of the banking system, in response to a major debt crisis. The government reprivatized the system in the early1990s, but the banks were bailed out again through the Fund for Bank Savings Protection (FOBAPROA) after an economic collapse at the end of 1994, the year the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect [see Update #547]. Most of Mexico’s banks are now foreign-owned. Citigroup bought Banamex in May 2001 for $12.5 billion [see Update #590]. (Reuters 3/19/09; La Jornada (Mexico) 3/20/09)
Economy Secretary Gerardo Ruiz Mateos announced on Mar. 16 that Mexico was raising tariffs on the importation of 90 industrial and agricultural products from the US. The move was in retaliation for the US government’s suspension of a NAFTA-mandated program allowing Mexican truckers to carry out some operations inside the US. The 90 products accounted for $2.40 billion in 2007, representing 1.7% of Mexico’s imports. Almost 70% of the products traded between Mexico and the US are shipped by truck. (LJ 3/17/09)
*3. Mexico: Indigenous Protests in Oaxaca
About 25,000 members of the indigenous Movement of Triqui Unification and Struggle (MULT) marched in Oaxaca city in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca on Mar. 18 to demand that the state government start talks on incidents of violence against the Triqui and others over the past two years. The protesters tied up traffic as they marched from the Monumento a La Madre along the Cerro del Fortín highway to the city’s main plaza.
The incidents the protesters cited included the disappearance on July 5, 2007 of Triqui sisters Virginia and Daniela Ortiz Ramírez; 46 murders in the part of the state where the Triqui live; the disappearances of Edmundo Reyes Amaya and Gabriel Cruz Sánchez, members of the rebel Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), in May 2007, and of Lauro Juárez, an indigenous Chatino who supported the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) , in December 2007; and the continued imprisonment of eight residents of San Agustín Loxicha by the federal government on charges of belonging to the EPR [see Updates #547, 907, 919]. State officials met with MULT leaders to discuss the cases. (La Jornada 3/19/98)
On Mar. 20 about 150 residents of San José El Progreso and Magdalena Ocotlán in Oaxaca used rocks and cables to block the entrance to the Cuzcatlán mine, owned by the Canadian company Fortuna Silver Mines. The Coordinating Committee in Defense of the Natural Resources and Our Mother Earth of Ocotlán Valley organized the protest to demand that the federal Environment and Natural Resources Secretariat cancel the permit for the mine, which is not yet in operation. According to Agustín Ríos Cruz, a spokesperson for the group, local residents have suffered from the contamination of local rivers by metals like mercury and copper or chemicals like cyanide and arsenic; residents report that 20 farm animals have died. The company denies the charges. (LJ 3/21/09)
*4. Haiti: Lavalas Marches, Students Protest
Former US president Bill Clinton (1993-2001) and United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Haiti on Mar. 9 along with a large group of private investors for a 24-hour visit they said was aimed at increasing international aid for the country; Haiti was hit by two hurricanes and two major tropical storms last summer [see Updates #962 ]. Supporters of the Lavalas Family (FL) party of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide (1991-1996 and 2001-2004) held demonstrations to call for Clinton’s help in arranging for Aristide, who has lived in South Africa since being removed from office in February 2004, to return to Haiti. The demonstrators were at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in the north of Port-au-Prince when Clinton and Ban arrived; FL supporters also gathered in front of the presidential palace in the center of the capital as the visitors met with President René Préval. Tens of thousands of people took part in the actions, according to the pro-FL Agence Haïtienne de Presse (AHP) press agency.
LF supporters said they wanted to show their appreciation to Clinton for restoring Aristide to power after he was overthrown in a 1991 coup by army officers linked to the US; Clinton ordered a US military intervention in 1994 and returned Aristide to office. Clinton, whose wife Hillary Clinton is now US secretary of state, told the demonstrators: “Your future can be better than your past.” René Civil, one of the organizers of the demonstrations, took this to mean that “Aristide’s return is the future,” but he admitted that Clinton hadn’t responded directly. (AlterPresse 3/9/09; Radio Métropole (Haiti) 3/11/09; AHP 3/9/09, 3/10/09)
A final date for Aristide’s return to Haiti has not yet been determined, South African foreign affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told South Africa’s National Assembly on Mar. 13. "The South African government continues to provide accommodation and services to former president Jean Bertrand Aristide equivalent to those provided to a South African cabinet minister until conditions in Haiti permit the return of the former president and his family," she said. "The monthly costs related to his accommodation, transport, office support staff and security are similar to the cost associated to a South African cabinet minister." Aristide has been made an honorary research fellow at the University of South Africa, and in 2007 he received a doctorate in African languages. (The Times (New Zealand) 3/13/09 from South African Press Association SAPA)
In February students at the Superior Teachers College (ENS) in Port-au-Prince, the country’s only teachers college, started protesting curriculum changes; protesters said administrators had eliminated math and science classes to focus on school management. On Feb. 26 about 100 students from the ENS occupied the offices of the rector of the State University of Haiti (UEH) to push their demands for restoring basic science to the curriculum. Professors were also reportedly involved in the occupation. On Mar. 4 a confrontation broke out between police and protesters, with students hurling rocks at police vehicles and smashing windshields. The local tax office, the Carrefour branch of the General Directorate of Taxes (DIG), was unable to operate because its computer network is connected to the rector’s office. (Haiti Support Group News Briefs 2/17/09 from AP; AlterPresse 3/4/09; Radio Métropole (Haiti) 3/5/09)
*5. Guatemala: US Knew About 1980s Abuses
The National Security Archive (NSA), a Washington, DC-based nonprofit institute, posted declassified US government documents on its website on Mar. 18 that it says show the US government knew US-backed Guatemalan officials were behind the disappearance of thousands of people during Guatemala’s 1960-1996 civil war. "Government security services have employed assassination to eliminate persons suspected of involvement with the guerrillas or who are otherwise leftwing in orientation," a 1984 State Department report said. "The government is obviously rounding up people connected with the extreme leftwing labor movement for interrogation," then-US ambassador Frederic Chapin wrote in a 1984 cable.
The NSA obtained the documents from the U.S. State Department under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). State Department spokesperson Fred Lash told the Associated Press that he was unaware of the declassified documents and could not immediately comment. More than 200,000 people, mostly Mayan civilians, died in the 36-year conflict. (Miami Herald 3/19/09 from AP)
*6. Links to alternative sources on: Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico
Brazil: Supreme Court rules Raposa-Serra do Sol indigenous territory
http://ww4report.com/node/7052
Bolivia: Morales initiates land reform; ranchers pledge resistance
http://ww4report.com/node/7041
Bolivia seeks State Department approval for Czech aircraft sale
http://ww4report.com/node/7043
Bolivia: Total gas operation illegal
http://ww4report.com/node/7042
Bolivia’s Rocky Road to Decolonization: Corruption, Expropriation and Justice
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1764/1/
Peru: Few Benefits from Boom for Poorest Mining Districts
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1773/68/
Peru: Spying on Social Movements
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1768/68/
Ecuador: The Logic of Development Clashes with Movements
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1772/1/
An Open Letter to Rafael Correa
http://nacla.org/node/5617
Colombia: DEA claims blow against FARC "narco-terrorist" network
http://ww4report.com/node/7054
Colombia: Supreme Court approves new probe of para-linked general
http://ww4report.com/node/7053
Lands cleansed by paramilitaries returned to Afro-Colombians
http://ww4report.com/node/7061
Peru: Colombian state oil company set to enter uncontacted tribal lands
http://ww4report.com/node/7062
Venezuela: Chávez sends army to seize airports, seaports
http://ww4report.com/node/7060
Sixth Circuit upholds judgment against Salvadoran ex-military commander
http://ww4report.com/node/7039
FMLN Wins Presidency
http://nacla.org/node/5619
El Salvador: Crisis, Poverty Huge Challenges for Leftist President
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1770/68/
El Salvador: Voting in Rebel Territory
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1771/1/
FMLN Victory El Salvador - Funes: "We Have Signed a New Accord on Peace and Reconciliation"
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1769/1/
VIDEO: Historic Power Shift in El Salvador
http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=3425&updaterx=2009-03-19+10%3A24%3A51
Narco-imbroglio mires NAFTA trade
http://ww4report.com/node/7056
Mexico claims blows against Gulf, Sinaloa cartels
http://ww4report.com/node/7055
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and
alternative sources:
http://nacla.org/articles
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
Your support is appreciated. Back issues and source materials are available on request. Update subscribers also receive, as a supplement, our own weekly Immigration News Briefs.
Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, from Monthly Review Press, by Update editors Jane Guskin and David Wilson:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.com/
Issue #983, March 22, 2009
1. Martinique: Accord Signed, Strike Suspended
2. Mexico: Does the US Own Banamex?
3. Mexico: Indigenous Protests in Oaxaca
4. Haiti: Lavalas Marches, Students Protest
5. Guatemala: US Knew About 1980s Abuses
6. Links to alternative sources on: Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico
ISSN#: 1084‑922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com . It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/
*1. Martinique: Accord Signed, Strike Suspended
On Mar. 14 the French government and the government of the French Caribbean department of Martinique signed an accord with the Feb. 5 Collective ending a general strike that had paralyzed the department since Feb. 5. The accord, which the parties had agreed to on Mar. 11, meets a principal demand of the strikers: a raise of 200 euros a month (about $253) for low-wage workers, with smaller raises for other workers. Major business owners had agreed earlier to bring down prices on some 400 basic items by 20% one month after stores reopen. Negotiations are to continue until Mar. 27 on 87 additional points, including pensions and water and agricultural issues. The Feb. 5 Collective, a coalition of unions and grassroots organizations that led the strike, agreed to a “suspension of the conflict” but “reserves the right to start the movement up again,” said the collective’s president, Michel Monrose. The accord was called an “exit from the crisis” rather than an “end to the conflict.”
Some 20,000 people marched on Mar. 14 in the departmental capital, Fort-de-France, and other parts of Martinique to celebrate the accord, chanting: “We are marching towards victory.” The settlement is similar to the accord won on Mar. 4 by a 44-day general strike in the nearby overseas department of Guadeloupe, which helped trigger the strike in Martinique and similar protests in the overseas department of La Réunion in the Indian Ocean [see Update #982].
Unions and left parties in European France said they were in part inspired by the example of the overseas departments as they planned a massive one-day general strike on Mar. 19 to protest the French government’s pro-business response to the world economic crisis. “The victory of the women and men of Guadeloupe calls for more victories” was the title of the call for the Mar. 19 mobilization by major left and social democratic parties, including the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA), the French Communist Party (PCF) and the Socialist Party (PS). (Le Monde (France) 3/16/09 from correspondent; Nouvel Observateur (France) 3/17/09 from Reuters; Life on the Left blog on 3/18/09 via MRzine; “Appel unitaire pour le 19 mars : la victoire des Guadeloupéennes et des Guadeloupéens en appelle d’autres,” on the NPA website, undated).
*2. Mexico: Does the US Own Banamex?
On Mar. 19 Mexico’s Finance and Public Credit Secretariat (SHCP) ruled that due to the current economic crisis, exceptions could be made to a law banning foreign governments from owning Mexican banks. The SHCP indicated that the 20-year- old article 13 of the Law of Credit Institutions should be revised. Although the ruling didn’t mention any banks by name, the question arose because of the US government’s continuing efforts—at a cost of $45 billion since October—to prop up the mammoth US-based Citigroup banking group, which owns Banamex, Mexico’s second largest bank. In a partial nationalization, the US bought preferred shares in Citigroup last fall. In February US officials said they would convert up to $25 billion of the preferred shares to common stock, which would give the US government a stake of as much as 36% in the banking group and therefore in its subsidiaries.
Banamex itself was nationalized by the Mexican government in 1982, along with the rest of the banking system, in response to a major debt crisis. The government reprivatized the system in the early1990s, but the banks were bailed out again through the Fund for Bank Savings Protection (FOBAPROA) after an economic collapse at the end of 1994, the year the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect [see Update #547]. Most of Mexico’s banks are now foreign-owned. Citigroup bought Banamex in May 2001 for $12.5 billion [see Update #590]. (Reuters 3/19/09; La Jornada (Mexico) 3/20/09)
Economy Secretary Gerardo Ruiz Mateos announced on Mar. 16 that Mexico was raising tariffs on the importation of 90 industrial and agricultural products from the US. The move was in retaliation for the US government’s suspension of a NAFTA-mandated program allowing Mexican truckers to carry out some operations inside the US. The 90 products accounted for $2.40 billion in 2007, representing 1.7% of Mexico’s imports. Almost 70% of the products traded between Mexico and the US are shipped by truck. (LJ 3/17/09)
*3. Mexico: Indigenous Protests in Oaxaca
About 25,000 members of the indigenous Movement of Triqui Unification and Struggle (MULT) marched in Oaxaca city in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca on Mar. 18 to demand that the state government start talks on incidents of violence against the Triqui and others over the past two years. The protesters tied up traffic as they marched from the Monumento a La Madre along the Cerro del Fortín highway to the city’s main plaza.
The incidents the protesters cited included the disappearance on July 5, 2007 of Triqui sisters Virginia and Daniela Ortiz Ramírez; 46 murders in the part of the state where the Triqui live; the disappearances of Edmundo Reyes Amaya and Gabriel Cruz Sánchez, members of the rebel Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), in May 2007, and of Lauro Juárez, an indigenous Chatino who supported the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) , in December 2007; and the continued imprisonment of eight residents of San Agustín Loxicha by the federal government on charges of belonging to the EPR [see Updates #547, 907, 919]. State officials met with MULT leaders to discuss the cases. (La Jornada 3/19/98)
On Mar. 20 about 150 residents of San José El Progreso and Magdalena Ocotlán in Oaxaca used rocks and cables to block the entrance to the Cuzcatlán mine, owned by the Canadian company Fortuna Silver Mines. The Coordinating Committee in Defense of the Natural Resources and Our Mother Earth of Ocotlán Valley organized the protest to demand that the federal Environment and Natural Resources Secretariat cancel the permit for the mine, which is not yet in operation. According to Agustín Ríos Cruz, a spokesperson for the group, local residents have suffered from the contamination of local rivers by metals like mercury and copper or chemicals like cyanide and arsenic; residents report that 20 farm animals have died. The company denies the charges. (LJ 3/21/09)
*4. Haiti: Lavalas Marches, Students Protest
Former US president Bill Clinton (1993-2001) and United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Haiti on Mar. 9 along with a large group of private investors for a 24-hour visit they said was aimed at increasing international aid for the country; Haiti was hit by two hurricanes and two major tropical storms last summer [see Updates #962 ]. Supporters of the Lavalas Family (FL) party of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide (1991-1996 and 2001-2004) held demonstrations to call for Clinton’s help in arranging for Aristide, who has lived in South Africa since being removed from office in February 2004, to return to Haiti. The demonstrators were at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in the north of Port-au-Prince when Clinton and Ban arrived; FL supporters also gathered in front of the presidential palace in the center of the capital as the visitors met with President René Préval. Tens of thousands of people took part in the actions, according to the pro-FL Agence Haïtienne de Presse (AHP) press agency.
LF supporters said they wanted to show their appreciation to Clinton for restoring Aristide to power after he was overthrown in a 1991 coup by army officers linked to the US; Clinton ordered a US military intervention in 1994 and returned Aristide to office. Clinton, whose wife Hillary Clinton is now US secretary of state, told the demonstrators: “Your future can be better than your past.” René Civil, one of the organizers of the demonstrations, took this to mean that “Aristide’s return is the future,” but he admitted that Clinton hadn’t responded directly. (AlterPresse 3/9/09; Radio Métropole (Haiti) 3/11/09; AHP 3/9/09, 3/10/09)
A final date for Aristide’s return to Haiti has not yet been determined, South African foreign affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told South Africa’s National Assembly on Mar. 13. "The South African government continues to provide accommodation and services to former president Jean Bertrand Aristide equivalent to those provided to a South African cabinet minister until conditions in Haiti permit the return of the former president and his family," she said. "The monthly costs related to his accommodation, transport, office support staff and security are similar to the cost associated to a South African cabinet minister." Aristide has been made an honorary research fellow at the University of South Africa, and in 2007 he received a doctorate in African languages. (The Times (New Zealand) 3/13/09 from South African Press Association SAPA)
In February students at the Superior Teachers College (ENS) in Port-au-Prince, the country’s only teachers college, started protesting curriculum changes; protesters said administrators had eliminated math and science classes to focus on school management. On Feb. 26 about 100 students from the ENS occupied the offices of the rector of the State University of Haiti (UEH) to push their demands for restoring basic science to the curriculum. Professors were also reportedly involved in the occupation. On Mar. 4 a confrontation broke out between police and protesters, with students hurling rocks at police vehicles and smashing windshields. The local tax office, the Carrefour branch of the General Directorate of Taxes (DIG), was unable to operate because its computer network is connected to the rector’s office. (Haiti Support Group News Briefs 2/17/09 from AP; AlterPresse 3/4/09; Radio Métropole (Haiti) 3/5/09)
*5. Guatemala: US Knew About 1980s Abuses
The National Security Archive (NSA), a Washington, DC-based nonprofit institute, posted declassified US government documents on its website on Mar. 18 that it says show the US government knew US-backed Guatemalan officials were behind the disappearance of thousands of people during Guatemala’s 1960-1996 civil war. "Government security services have employed assassination to eliminate persons suspected of involvement with the guerrillas or who are otherwise leftwing in orientation," a 1984 State Department report said. "The government is obviously rounding up people connected with the extreme leftwing labor movement for interrogation," then-US ambassador Frederic Chapin wrote in a 1984 cable.
The NSA obtained the documents from the U.S. State Department under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). State Department spokesperson Fred Lash told the Associated Press that he was unaware of the declassified documents and could not immediately comment. More than 200,000 people, mostly Mayan civilians, died in the 36-year conflict. (Miami Herald 3/19/09 from AP)
*6. Links to alternative sources on: Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico
Brazil: Supreme Court rules Raposa-Serra do Sol indigenous territory
http://ww4report.com/node/7052
Bolivia: Morales initiates land reform; ranchers pledge resistance
http://ww4report.com/node/7041
Bolivia seeks State Department approval for Czech aircraft sale
http://ww4report.com/node/7043
Bolivia: Total gas operation illegal
http://ww4report.com/node/7042
Bolivia’s Rocky Road to Decolonization: Corruption, Expropriation and Justice
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1764/1/
Peru: Few Benefits from Boom for Poorest Mining Districts
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1773/68/
Peru: Spying on Social Movements
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1768/68/
Ecuador: The Logic of Development Clashes with Movements
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1772/1/
An Open Letter to Rafael Correa
http://nacla.org/node/5617
Colombia: DEA claims blow against FARC "narco-terrorist" network
http://ww4report.com/node/7054
Colombia: Supreme Court approves new probe of para-linked general
http://ww4report.com/node/7053
Lands cleansed by paramilitaries returned to Afro-Colombians
http://ww4report.com/node/7061
Peru: Colombian state oil company set to enter uncontacted tribal lands
http://ww4report.com/node/7062
Venezuela: Chávez sends army to seize airports, seaports
http://ww4report.com/node/7060
Sixth Circuit upholds judgment against Salvadoran ex-military commander
http://ww4report.com/node/7039
FMLN Wins Presidency
http://nacla.org/node/5619
El Salvador: Crisis, Poverty Huge Challenges for Leftist President
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1770/68/
El Salvador: Voting in Rebel Territory
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1771/1/
FMLN Victory El Salvador - Funes: "We Have Signed a New Accord on Peace and Reconciliation"
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1769/1/
VIDEO: Historic Power Shift in El Salvador
http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=3425&updaterx=2009-03-19+10%3A24%3A51
Narco-imbroglio mires NAFTA trade
http://ww4report.com/node/7056
Mexico claims blows against Gulf, Sinaloa cartels
http://ww4report.com/node/7055
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and
alternative sources:
http://nacla.org/articles
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
Your support is appreciated. Back issues and source materials are available on request. Update subscribers also receive, as a supplement, our own weekly Immigration News Briefs.
Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, from Monthly Review Press, by Update editors Jane Guskin and David Wilson:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.com/
Monday, 16 March 2009
Links but no Update for March 15, 2009
[Due to other commitments, we are unable to send out an Update. We'll be back next week. Below are links to stories from other sources.]
Argentina: Judicial Law Ends Insider Trials, Decriminalizes Homosexuality in Military
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1751/68/
Paraguay: ranchers threaten uncontacted peoples
http://ww4report.com/node/7017
Brazil: rural women protest pulp plantation
http://ww4report.com/node/7010
Landless Women Launch Protests Across Brazil
http://nacla.org/node/5611
Integration and the Environment on the Rio Madeira
http://nacla.org/node/5595
Evo Morales chews coca at UN drug summit
http://ww4report.com/node/7016
Bolivia: another US diplomat expelled; CIA design on hydrocarbons seen
http://ww4report.com/node/7008
Peru: mass grave uncovered
http://ww4report.com/node/7009
Ecuador's Ecological Action group ordered closed
http://ww4report.com/node/6997
Ecuador oil spill affects 47 indigenous communities
http://ww4report.com/node/6996
Ecuador freezes oil income from firm slated for massive Peru contract
http://ww4report.com/node/6995
The Ecuador Solidarity Network stands with Acción Ecológica!http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1758/68/
Colombia's Magic Laptops and the War Against Social Movements
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1754/68/
Is the US Giving Colombian "Drug Lords" A Free Pass on Worse Crimes? http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1756/1/
Chávez pledges to repel Colombian military incursion
http://ww4report.com/node/6994
Indigenous Panamanians Defend Nature Against Speculators' Violent Onslaughts
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5924
Take Action: U.S. Congressmen Interfere in El Salvador Election
http://nacla.org/node/5613
Experts Urge State Dept. to Denounce Dirty Campaign in El Salvador
http://nacla.org/node/5598
US pledges to respect neutrality in Salvador elections —despite GOP bluster
http://ww4report.com/node/7026
Salvadoran Election Climate: Evidence that “Washington’s Policies Have Been Buried on Wall Street?” http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1760/1/
Salvadorans march against free trade deal with Europe
http://ww4report.com/node/7027
FMLN takes Salvadoran elections, pledges "peace and reconciliation"
http://ww4report.com/node/7033
Democracy Promotion in El Salvador: Elections 2009
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1755/68/
Groundbreaking Arrest Made in Guatemalan Disappearance Case
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1750/68/
Mapping Controversy in Oaxaca: Interview with Aldo Gonzalez, Director of UNOSJO http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1759/1/
Mullen mulls Mexico intervention
http://ww4report.com/node/7011
Mexico tops agenda for new Drug Czar
http://ww4report.com/node/7018
Drug War Doublespeak
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5935
Trading our Way Out of the Financial Crisis: The Need for WTO Reform
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5920
Argentina: Judicial Law Ends Insider Trials, Decriminalizes Homosexuality in Military
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1751/68/
Paraguay: ranchers threaten uncontacted peoples
http://ww4report.com/node/7017
Brazil: rural women protest pulp plantation
http://ww4report.com/node/7010
Landless Women Launch Protests Across Brazil
http://nacla.org/node/5611
Integration and the Environment on the Rio Madeira
http://nacla.org/node/5595
Evo Morales chews coca at UN drug summit
http://ww4report.com/node/7016
Bolivia: another US diplomat expelled; CIA design on hydrocarbons seen
http://ww4report.com/node/7008
Peru: mass grave uncovered
http://ww4report.com/node/7009
Ecuador's Ecological Action group ordered closed
http://ww4report.com/node/6997
Ecuador oil spill affects 47 indigenous communities
http://ww4report.com/node/6996
Ecuador freezes oil income from firm slated for massive Peru contract
http://ww4report.com/node/6995
The Ecuador Solidarity Network stands with Acción Ecológica!http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1758/68/
Colombia's Magic Laptops and the War Against Social Movements
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1754/68/
Is the US Giving Colombian "Drug Lords" A Free Pass on Worse Crimes? http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1756/1/
Chávez pledges to repel Colombian military incursion
http://ww4report.com/node/6994
Indigenous Panamanians Defend Nature Against Speculators' Violent Onslaughts
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5924
Take Action: U.S. Congressmen Interfere in El Salvador Election
http://nacla.org/node/5613
Experts Urge State Dept. to Denounce Dirty Campaign in El Salvador
http://nacla.org/node/5598
US pledges to respect neutrality in Salvador elections —despite GOP bluster
http://ww4report.com/node/7026
Salvadoran Election Climate: Evidence that “Washington’s Policies Have Been Buried on Wall Street?” http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1760/1/
Salvadorans march against free trade deal with Europe
http://ww4report.com/node/7027
FMLN takes Salvadoran elections, pledges "peace and reconciliation"
http://ww4report.com/node/7033
Democracy Promotion in El Salvador: Elections 2009
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1755/68/
Groundbreaking Arrest Made in Guatemalan Disappearance Case
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1750/68/
Mapping Controversy in Oaxaca: Interview with Aldo Gonzalez, Director of UNOSJO http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1759/1/
Mullen mulls Mexico intervention
http://ww4report.com/node/7011
Mexico tops agenda for new Drug Czar
http://ww4report.com/node/7018
Drug War Doublespeak
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5935
Trading our Way Out of the Financial Crisis: The Need for WTO Reform
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5920
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
WNU #982: Guadeloupe Strike Wins--Repression Next?
Weekly News Update on the Americas
Issue #982, March 8, 2009
1. Guadeloupe: Strike Wins--Repression Next?
2. Links to alternative sources on: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, El Salvador, Mexico, Cuba, US Policy
ISSN#: 1084‑922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com
*1. Guadeloupe: Strike Wins--Repression Next?
A 44-day general strike in the French Caribbean department of Guadeloupe ended with an agreement signed on Mar. 4 by representatives of the French government and the Collective Against Extreme Exploitation (LKP), which led the strike [see Update #981]. In the Jacques Binot Accord--named for a union leader killed the night of Feb. 17 [see Update #980]--the LKP won its basic demand for a raise of 200 euros a month (now about $253) for low-wage workers. The agreement's 165 articles also cover a wide range of economic demands: reductions in charges for school meals, in bank rates, in the price of water, in the price of auto fuel; lower real estate taxes; a 20% reduction in bus fares between towns; a rent freeze; and a freeze on the price of a loaf of bread.
The MEDEF--the Movement of Businesses of France, the most powerful French business association--refused to sign the accord. It is not clear how many workers local MEDEF members employ; estimates range as high as 30,000-40,000. But most Guadeloupeans seemed to consider the agreement a big win. Thousands of strike supporters celebrated with a demonstration in Pointe-à-Pitre, the departmental capital, on Mar. 7; several hundred supporters also demonstrated in Paris. "The economy is on its knees," an activist said in Pointe-à-Pitre when the accord was signed on Mar. 4, "but Guadeloupe will never be the way it was before."
On Mar. 7 the local government announced it was starting an investigation of LKP spokesperson Elie Domota, secretary general of the General Union of Guadeloupe Workers (UGTG), for "provocation to discrimination, hate and violence against persons or categories of persons because of their origin." The investigation refers to two remarks Domota made during a television appearance on Télé Guadeloupe on Mar. 5: "Either [the employers] will apply the accord, or they'll leave Guadeloupe" and "We won't let a band of békés reestablish slavery." Béké is a Creole term for the descendants of white slave owners.
A general strike which began on Feb. 5 in the nearby overseas department of Martinique was still in progress on Mar. 8. Strikers, employers and the government had agreed on a framework for settling the strike on Mar. 3; as in Guadeloupe, this would include a 200 euro raise for low-wage workers. But some unions refused to sign on, although talks continued. Nine people were arrested on Mar. 6 after confrontations with the police, who said three agents had been shot and "slightly wounded." The night of Mar. 6-7 fire fighters put out numerous blazes set in rubbish and bus shelters. On Mar. 7 some 4,000-5,000 people marched peacefully to support the Feb. 5 Collective, which has led the strike.
In an action clearly inspired by the strikes in Guadeloupe and Martinique, some 10,000-15,000 people demonstrated on Mar. 5 in La Réunion, a French overseas department in the Indian Ocean. (Nouvel Observateur (France) 3/6/09 from AP; Ouest-France 3/6/09; Le Monde (France) 3/7/09, some from AFP; AFP 3/8/09)
Activists in Guadeloupe and Martinique stressed effect their actions could have on continental France. Asked in an internet chat on Feb. 27 why the government and employers resisted the 200 euro wage increase for so long, Guadeloupe union leader Domota answered: "Most certainly to prevent the idea from catching on in France." Martinique's pro-independence National Council of Grassroots Committees stressed the French government's fear "of the extension of the mobilizations into France itself" as the world economic crisis accelerates. (MRzine 3/1/09, translated from Le Monde 2/27/09; AlterPresse (Haiti) 5/5/09)
*2. Links to alternative sources on: Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, El Salvador, Mexico, Cuba, US Policy
From Colombia to Guatemala: Carnival Takes Back the Streets
http://nacla.org/node/5580
Argentina blasts CIA warning on instability
http://ww4report.com/node/6968
New Declarations Against Impunity in Uruguay
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1745/1/
Resource Wars in Ecuador
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1744/68/
Lawsuit: Canadian Mining Firm Financed Violence in Ecuador
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1742/68/
Colombia extradites another para commander --over protests from rights groups http://ww4report.com/node/6981
Colombia: UN relief chief meets with ethnicities affected by floods, displacement
http://ww4report.com/node/6982
Venezuela: Chávez sends army to seize rice processors
http://ww4report.com/node/6967
"Anti-imperialism of fools" in Venezuela?
http://ww4report.com/node/6872#comment‑316398
Indigenous Panamanians Defend Nature Against Speculators' Violent Onslaughts http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1744/68/
Will the Winds of Change Reach El Salvador?
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1746/68/
El Salvador Left Poised for Election Victory: FMLN Party Promises a People-Centered Government http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1740/1/
Mexico: more army troops to Juárez in wake of prison massacre http://ww4report.com/node/6983
Cuba: For the Love of Libros - A Book Fair and a Fortress
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1747/1/
Pre-Electoral Political Tension and Antagonism High in El Salvador http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1741/1/
Solidarity: A Middle Ground for a New Era
http://nacla.org/node/5583
Beyond the Four Freedoms: Obama and Sovereignty
http://nacla.org/node/5568
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and
alternative sources:
http://nacla.org/articles
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
Your support is appreciated. Back issues and source materials are available on request. Update subscribers also receive, as a supplement, our own weekly Immigration News Briefs.
Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, from Monthly Review Press, by Update editors Jane Guskin and David Wilson:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.com/
Issue #982, March 8, 2009
1. Guadeloupe: Strike Wins--Repression Next?
2. Links to alternative sources on: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, El Salvador, Mexico, Cuba, US Policy
ISSN#: 1084‑922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com
*1. Guadeloupe: Strike Wins--Repression Next?
A 44-day general strike in the French Caribbean department of Guadeloupe ended with an agreement signed on Mar. 4 by representatives of the French government and the Collective Against Extreme Exploitation (LKP), which led the strike [see Update #981]. In the Jacques Binot Accord--named for a union leader killed the night of Feb. 17 [see Update #980]--the LKP won its basic demand for a raise of 200 euros a month (now about $253) for low-wage workers. The agreement's 165 articles also cover a wide range of economic demands: reductions in charges for school meals, in bank rates, in the price of water, in the price of auto fuel; lower real estate taxes; a 20% reduction in bus fares between towns; a rent freeze; and a freeze on the price of a loaf of bread.
The MEDEF--the Movement of Businesses of France, the most powerful French business association--refused to sign the accord. It is not clear how many workers local MEDEF members employ; estimates range as high as 30,000-40,000. But most Guadeloupeans seemed to consider the agreement a big win. Thousands of strike supporters celebrated with a demonstration in Pointe-à-Pitre, the departmental capital, on Mar. 7; several hundred supporters also demonstrated in Paris. "The economy is on its knees," an activist said in Pointe-à-Pitre when the accord was signed on Mar. 4, "but Guadeloupe will never be the way it was before."
On Mar. 7 the local government announced it was starting an investigation of LKP spokesperson Elie Domota, secretary general of the General Union of Guadeloupe Workers (UGTG), for "provocation to discrimination, hate and violence against persons or categories of persons because of their origin." The investigation refers to two remarks Domota made during a television appearance on Télé Guadeloupe on Mar. 5: "Either [the employers] will apply the accord, or they'll leave Guadeloupe" and "We won't let a band of békés reestablish slavery." Béké is a Creole term for the descendants of white slave owners.
A general strike which began on Feb. 5 in the nearby overseas department of Martinique was still in progress on Mar. 8. Strikers, employers and the government had agreed on a framework for settling the strike on Mar. 3; as in Guadeloupe, this would include a 200 euro raise for low-wage workers. But some unions refused to sign on, although talks continued. Nine people were arrested on Mar. 6 after confrontations with the police, who said three agents had been shot and "slightly wounded." The night of Mar. 6-7 fire fighters put out numerous blazes set in rubbish and bus shelters. On Mar. 7 some 4,000-5,000 people marched peacefully to support the Feb. 5 Collective, which has led the strike.
In an action clearly inspired by the strikes in Guadeloupe and Martinique, some 10,000-15,000 people demonstrated on Mar. 5 in La Réunion, a French overseas department in the Indian Ocean. (Nouvel Observateur (France) 3/6/09 from AP; Ouest-France 3/6/09; Le Monde (France) 3/7/09, some from AFP; AFP 3/8/09)
Activists in Guadeloupe and Martinique stressed effect their actions could have on continental France. Asked in an internet chat on Feb. 27 why the government and employers resisted the 200 euro wage increase for so long, Guadeloupe union leader Domota answered: "Most certainly to prevent the idea from catching on in France." Martinique's pro-independence National Council of Grassroots Committees stressed the French government's fear "of the extension of the mobilizations into France itself" as the world economic crisis accelerates. (MRzine 3/1/09, translated from Le Monde 2/27/09; AlterPresse (Haiti) 5/5/09)
*2. Links to alternative sources on: Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, El Salvador, Mexico, Cuba, US Policy
From Colombia to Guatemala: Carnival Takes Back the Streets
http://nacla.org/node/5580
Argentina blasts CIA warning on instability
http://ww4report.com/node/6968
New Declarations Against Impunity in Uruguay
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1745/1/
Resource Wars in Ecuador
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1744/68/
Lawsuit: Canadian Mining Firm Financed Violence in Ecuador
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1742/68/
Colombia extradites another para commander --over protests from rights groups http://ww4report.com/node/6981
Colombia: UN relief chief meets with ethnicities affected by floods, displacement
http://ww4report.com/node/6982
Venezuela: Chávez sends army to seize rice processors
http://ww4report.com/node/6967
"Anti-imperialism of fools" in Venezuela?
http://ww4report.com/node/6872#comment‑316398
Indigenous Panamanians Defend Nature Against Speculators' Violent Onslaughts http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1744/68/
Will the Winds of Change Reach El Salvador?
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1746/68/
El Salvador Left Poised for Election Victory: FMLN Party Promises a People-Centered Government http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1740/1/
Mexico: more army troops to Juárez in wake of prison massacre http://ww4report.com/node/6983
Cuba: For the Love of Libros - A Book Fair and a Fortress
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1747/1/
Pre-Electoral Political Tension and Antagonism High in El Salvador http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1741/1/
Solidarity: A Middle Ground for a New Era
http://nacla.org/node/5583
Beyond the Four Freedoms: Obama and Sovereignty
http://nacla.org/node/5568
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and
alternative sources:
http://nacla.org/articles
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
Your support is appreciated. Back issues and source materials are available on request. Update subscribers also receive, as a supplement, our own weekly Immigration News Briefs.
Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, from Monthly Review Press, by Update editors Jane Guskin and David Wilson:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.com/
Monday, 2 March 2009
WNU #981: Hondurans Protest to Protect Forests
Weekly News Update on the Americas
Issue #981, March 1, 2009
1. Honduras: Protests to Protect Forests
2. Guadeloupe: General Strike Continues
3. Links to alternative sources on: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, El Salvador, Mexico
ISSN#: 1084-922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com
*1. Honduras: Protests to Protect Forests
On Feb. 16 indigenous Hondurans closed off roads in Intibucá department at the beginning of a 12-day mobilization organized by the Civic Council of Grassroots and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) against what they called the destruction of forests in the territories of the indigenous Lenca. COPINH said the protesters succeeded in maintaining "three strategic takeovers...completely paralyzing the exploitation of timber," and that the mobilization also resulted in the temporary suspension of authorizations for cutting trees in San Marcos de Sierra municipality and in Wise community in Intibucá municipality.
The mobilization continued on Feb. 22 with hundreds of people gathering in the city of Esperanza to participate in a Grassroots Assembly for the Defense of the Life of Woods and Water Sources. On Feb. 25 COPINH held a march attended by hundreds of youths and supporters from Esperanza and communities throughout Intibucá department. Concluding the mobilization on Feb. 27, COPINH announced that it was preparing "new and more overwhelming actions."
COPINH is demanding that the forests be exploited for the benefit of the Lenca communities, that the timber be used for local consumption or be exported in finished products, and that the forests be managed in a sustainable manner. Other demands are for decisions on timber and mining concessions to be made with community approval, and for guarantees that water sources will be protected. COPINH rejects US plans to install a military base in Lenca territory in the San Antonio plains, and demands the release of campesino activists Carlos Maradiaga and Isabel Morales. (Adital 2/19/09; COPINH communiqué 2/27/09)
*2. Guadeloupe: General Strike Continues
As of the morning of Mar. 2 a general strike in the French Caribbean department of Guadeloupe continued despite a preliminary agreement; Guadeloupe prefect Nicolas Desforges told the strikers that "you have to know to end a strike." The action, which began Jan. 20 [see Update #980], is the longest general strike France has experienced in more than 20 years.
The preliminary agreement meets the strikers' demand for a wage increase of 200 euros ($259) a month for the lowest-paid workers, to be financed with 50 euros from the companies, 50 euros from the local government and 100 euros from the national government. Some employers signed on to the accord, but the local branch of the MEDEF--the Movement of Businesses of France, the most powerful French business association--refused. The Collective Against Extreme Exploitation (LKP), which has led the strike, insisted that MEDEF members need to sign the accord before Guadeloupeans can return to work. LKP spokesperson Elie Domota, secretary general of the General Union of Guadeloupe Workers (UGTG), said the strikers would go "from company to company" with protests to get the accord signed.
Talks were scheduled to resume on Mar. 2 in the nearby department of Martinique, which has been on strike since Feb. 5. Michel Monrose, president of the Feb. 5 Collective, the coalition leading the strike, said that a settlement would require a reduction in prices in addition to a wage increase. With a population of about 400,000, Martinique has an official unemployment rate of 21.2%. As in Guadeloupe, the strike has been generally peaceful, but confrontations between youths and the police broke out on the nights of Feb. 24 and 25. (Le Monde (France) 3/2/09 from Reuters; AFP 3/2/09; Alterpresse (Haiti) 2/27/09 from Ase Plere An nou Lite)
*3. Links to alternative sources on: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, El Salvador, Mexico
That Other World
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5900
Help the Poor or Learn From Them
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5899
Autonomy or New Forms of Domination? The Complex Relationship Between Governments and Movements
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1731/1/
Chile: Gov't Unleashes Anti-Terror Law on Mapuche Activist http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1733/68/
Colombia: surveillance scandal shakes secret police
http://ww4report.com/node/6894
Colombian president restricts wiretapping following scandal
http://ww4report.com/node/6931
Colombia: Uribe disses top prosecutor over drug recrim
http://ww4report.com/node/6907
Colombia: Why They Kill the Awa
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1730/1/
Arms kingpin Monzer al-Kassar sentenced in DEA pseudo-deal with FARC
http://ww4report.com/node/6912
Radio: Colombia-Walking the Word of the People
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1736/68/
Colombia: Why They Kill the Awa
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1730/1/
State Department blasts Venezuela on human rights, drugs
http://ww4report.com/node/6933
Venezuela: another attack on Caracas Jewish center
http://ww4report.com/node/6932
Venezuela: "The People Won the Vote, Now The People Must Become the Government"
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1738/68/
Analysis of the Venezuelan Referendum: Time for Economic Strategy
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1735/1/
Call on Congress to reject manipulation of U.S. foreign policy, defend fair elections in El Salvador
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1734/68/
Mexico: bomb threats shut Ciudad Juárez airport
http://ww4report.com/node/6916
Mexico extradites legendary kingpin Miguel Caro Quintero
http://ww4report.com/node/6915
US claims major hit against Sinaloa Cartel's stateside networks
http://ww4report.com/node/6914
Mexico: attack on Chihuahua governor's motorcade
http://ww4report.com/node/6897
The Crisis Slams Mexico
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5894
Mexico Unconquered: Reviewing a People's History of Power and Revolt
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1732/1/
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and
alternative sources:
http://nacla.org/articles
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
Your support is appreciated. Back issues and source materials are available on request. Update subscribers also receive, as a supplement, our own weekly Immigration News Briefs.
Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, from Monthly Review Press, by Update editors Jane Guskin and David Wilson:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.com/
Issue #981, March 1, 2009
1. Honduras: Protests to Protect Forests
2. Guadeloupe: General Strike Continues
3. Links to alternative sources on: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, El Salvador, Mexico
ISSN#: 1084-922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com
*1. Honduras: Protests to Protect Forests
On Feb. 16 indigenous Hondurans closed off roads in Intibucá department at the beginning of a 12-day mobilization organized by the Civic Council of Grassroots and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) against what they called the destruction of forests in the territories of the indigenous Lenca. COPINH said the protesters succeeded in maintaining "three strategic takeovers...completely paralyzing the exploitation of timber," and that the mobilization also resulted in the temporary suspension of authorizations for cutting trees in San Marcos de Sierra municipality and in Wise community in Intibucá municipality.
The mobilization continued on Feb. 22 with hundreds of people gathering in the city of Esperanza to participate in a Grassroots Assembly for the Defense of the Life of Woods and Water Sources. On Feb. 25 COPINH held a march attended by hundreds of youths and supporters from Esperanza and communities throughout Intibucá department. Concluding the mobilization on Feb. 27, COPINH announced that it was preparing "new and more overwhelming actions."
COPINH is demanding that the forests be exploited for the benefit of the Lenca communities, that the timber be used for local consumption or be exported in finished products, and that the forests be managed in a sustainable manner. Other demands are for decisions on timber and mining concessions to be made with community approval, and for guarantees that water sources will be protected. COPINH rejects US plans to install a military base in Lenca territory in the San Antonio plains, and demands the release of campesino activists Carlos Maradiaga and Isabel Morales. (Adital 2/19/09; COPINH communiqué 2/27/09)
*2. Guadeloupe: General Strike Continues
As of the morning of Mar. 2 a general strike in the French Caribbean department of Guadeloupe continued despite a preliminary agreement; Guadeloupe prefect Nicolas Desforges told the strikers that "you have to know to end a strike." The action, which began Jan. 20 [see Update #980], is the longest general strike France has experienced in more than 20 years.
The preliminary agreement meets the strikers' demand for a wage increase of 200 euros ($259) a month for the lowest-paid workers, to be financed with 50 euros from the companies, 50 euros from the local government and 100 euros from the national government. Some employers signed on to the accord, but the local branch of the MEDEF--the Movement of Businesses of France, the most powerful French business association--refused. The Collective Against Extreme Exploitation (LKP), which has led the strike, insisted that MEDEF members need to sign the accord before Guadeloupeans can return to work. LKP spokesperson Elie Domota, secretary general of the General Union of Guadeloupe Workers (UGTG), said the strikers would go "from company to company" with protests to get the accord signed.
Talks were scheduled to resume on Mar. 2 in the nearby department of Martinique, which has been on strike since Feb. 5. Michel Monrose, president of the Feb. 5 Collective, the coalition leading the strike, said that a settlement would require a reduction in prices in addition to a wage increase. With a population of about 400,000, Martinique has an official unemployment rate of 21.2%. As in Guadeloupe, the strike has been generally peaceful, but confrontations between youths and the police broke out on the nights of Feb. 24 and 25. (Le Monde (France) 3/2/09 from Reuters; AFP 3/2/09; Alterpresse (Haiti) 2/27/09 from Ase Plere An nou Lite)
*3. Links to alternative sources on: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, El Salvador, Mexico
That Other World
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5900
Help the Poor or Learn From Them
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5899
Autonomy or New Forms of Domination? The Complex Relationship Between Governments and Movements
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1731/1/
Chile: Gov't Unleashes Anti-Terror Law on Mapuche Activist http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1733/68/
Colombia: surveillance scandal shakes secret police
http://ww4report.com/node/6894
Colombian president restricts wiretapping following scandal
http://ww4report.com/node/6931
Colombia: Uribe disses top prosecutor over drug recrim
http://ww4report.com/node/6907
Colombia: Why They Kill the Awa
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1730/1/
Arms kingpin Monzer al-Kassar sentenced in DEA pseudo-deal with FARC
http://ww4report.com/node/6912
Radio: Colombia-Walking the Word of the People
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1736/68/
Colombia: Why They Kill the Awa
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1730/1/
State Department blasts Venezuela on human rights, drugs
http://ww4report.com/node/6933
Venezuela: another attack on Caracas Jewish center
http://ww4report.com/node/6932
Venezuela: "The People Won the Vote, Now The People Must Become the Government"
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1738/68/
Analysis of the Venezuelan Referendum: Time for Economic Strategy
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1735/1/
Call on Congress to reject manipulation of U.S. foreign policy, defend fair elections in El Salvador
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1734/68/
Mexico: bomb threats shut Ciudad Juárez airport
http://ww4report.com/node/6916
Mexico extradites legendary kingpin Miguel Caro Quintero
http://ww4report.com/node/6915
US claims major hit against Sinaloa Cartel's stateside networks
http://ww4report.com/node/6914
Mexico: attack on Chihuahua governor's motorcade
http://ww4report.com/node/6897
The Crisis Slams Mexico
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5894
Mexico Unconquered: Reviewing a People's History of Power and Revolt
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1732/1/
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and
alternative sources:
http://nacla.org/articles
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
Your support is appreciated. Back issues and source materials are available on request. Update subscribers also receive, as a supplement, our own weekly Immigration News Briefs.
Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, from Monthly Review Press, by Update editors Jane Guskin and David Wilson:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.com/
Monday, 23 February 2009
WNU #980: Transport Strike in Mexico, New Talks in Guadeloupe
Weekly News Update on the Americas
Issue #980, February 22, 2009
1. Mexico: Transport Strike in 17 States
2. Mexico: Cerezo Brothers Released
3. Guadeloupe: Talks Resume After Violence
4. Colombia: FARC Admits 8 Killings
5. Panama: Colombian Refugee Killed
6. Haiti: US Announces Deportations
7. Links to alternative sources on: Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, US Policy
ISSN#: 1084-922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com
*1. Mexico: Transport Strike in 17 States
Some 500,000 Mexican bus and truck drivers and owners held a one-day strike on Feb. 16, slowing freight deliveries and forcing many passengers to find alternative transportation in 17 of the country's 32 entities (31 states and the Federal District). The strike was called by the Alliance of Multimodal Transport, recently formed by about 200 transport associations. The alliance is demanding that the federal government freeze diesel fuel prices at 6.31 pesos (about $0.43) a liter; the fuel is distributed by the state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) oil company.
The strike was uneven. It was reportedly imperceptible in Quintana Roo in the southeast, while in México state, near Mexico City, the México-Pachuca and México-Querétaro highways were blocked by some 200 heavy trucks. Authorities in the eastern coastal state of Veracruz said about 4 million passengers were affected by the strike, which took 11,000 buses out of circulation; truckers also blocked the toll booths on the Jalapa highway for five hours. About 400,000 passengers were affected in Saltillo and Monclova in the northern state of Coahuila, while service was normal in Piedras Negras, Acuña and Torreón. In Chihuahua, also in the north, transport workers parked trucks and buses along the sides of the Pan American highway. At least 150,000 passengers were stranded in the central state of Aguascalientes. About 13,000 buses and trucks blocked avenues and intersections in the main cities of the southern state of Oaxaca, while only 345 of the 1,793 buses in Mérida, capital of Yucatán in the southeast, were out of service.
Carlos Demuner Pitol, a strike leader, said some authorities in Chihuahua and other states had offered to raise fares and freight rates if the alliance called off the strike, but the strikers rejected the offer, saying citizens would set their trucks and buses on fire if the rates went up. Another strike leader, Edmundo Delgado, said that if the government rejected their demand, the alliance would bring 300,000 vehicles to the Zócalo plaza in Mexico City. (La Jornada (Mexico) 2/17/09)
*2. Mexico: Cerezo Brothers Released
On Feb. 16 some 150 people greeted the brothers Antonio and Héctor Cerezo Contreras as they left a medium security prison in Morelos state, close to Mexico City. The Cerezos were arrested in 2001 along with their brother Alejandro after three small bombs exploded at Mexico City banks. Many people believe the arrests were connected to reports that their parents, Francisco Cerezo Quiroz and Emilia Contreras, are leaders in the rebel Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR). The brothers were never charged in the bombing but were convicted of possession of weapons and explosives. Alejandro was released in February 2005 after a court overturned his conviction [see Updates #774, 775, 778, 788].
"We will seek reparations of some kind," another brother, Francisco Cerezo Contreras, said when Antonio and Héctor were released. "This is not the end of the matter, although I must say that we no longer have the funds to keep going." The brothers deny having any contact with their parents, who have been underground since the early 1990s. In an open letter dated Feb. 1, Antonio Cerezo told his parents: "We love you very much, and you will always be present in our lives. A big hug to you both. Prisoners today, free forever!" (Inter Press Service 2/17/09)
*3. Guadeloupe: Talks Resume After Violence
On the evening of Feb. 19 French president Nicholas Sarkozy met in Paris with elected officials from the French overseas department of Guadeloupe and promised to work to restore calm to the Caribbean island, which has been paralyzed by a general strike since Jan. 20 [see Updates #978, 979]. He also announced 580 million euros ($737 million) in aid for France's overseas departments, with emphasis on the Active Solidarity Revenue (RSA), a social welfare program.
Hours later the Collective Against Extreme Exploitation (LKP), the coalition leading the strike, agreed to restart negotiations that the strikers had broken off on Feb. 12. The new talks began on Feb. 20 but quickly adjourned for the weekend; they were to resume on Feb. 23. The General Union of Guadeloupe Workers (UGTG), the leading force in the LKP, said its negotiators remained "extremely prudent and circumspect" about the government's offers. The strikers are demanding a wage increase of 200 euros ($259) a month. (Libération (France) 2/20/09; UGTG press release 2/20/09)
The new talks followed an escalation of the strike and several outbreaks of violence. On Feb. 16 strikers began blocking roads with dozens of barricades. Shooting began the night of Feb. 17, and a union leader, Jacques Bino, was shot dead. The government blamed "delinquents"; UGTG secretary general Elie Domota has called for an independent investigation. There was more shooting the night of Feb. 18; stores were looted, some dozen fires were set, the Sainte-Rose town hall was sacked, and about 40 people were arrested. The French government announced it was sending four squadrons of mobile armed national police (about 280 agents), in addition to the 1,000 armed national police and 993 regular police already on the island. (There are also 850 armed national police and 1,000 regular police in the nearby overseas department of Martinique, which has been on strike since Feb. 5.)
The situation grew less tense on Feb. 19 as strike leaders for the first time issued explicit appeals for calm to the island's youths. (Libération 2/20/09; AFP 2/21/09; La Jornada (Mexico) 2/19/09 from AFP, DPA)
Sarkozy has had trouble responding to the situation because "he's afraid the dispute may overtake France," Elie Domota told reporters on Feb. 21, alluding to the effects of global recession on Europe. Left-of-center French activists and politicians have started visiting Guadeloupe. Ségolène Royal, the Socialist Party (PS) candidate against Sarkozy in 2007, arrived on Feb. 21 to attend Jacques Bino's funeral, scheduled for Feb. 22. French peasant leader José Bové arrived on Feb. 19, as did Olivier Besancenot, spokesperson for the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA). Cheers greeted Bové as he stood in front of the LKP's headquarters at the Palais de la Mutualité to denounce the "neocolonial order that reigns in Guadeloupe" and to call for "food sovereignty." (L'Express (France) 2/22/09; Libération 2/20/09)
Thousands of people marched in France on Feb. 21 to support the Guadeloupean strikers. The largest demonstration, in Paris, drew 10,000 people, according to the police; organizers put the number at 30,000. There were smaller demonstrations in Nantes (700 people), Marseilles, Toulouse (500-600 people), Lyons, Lille, Rennes, Limoges and Strasbourg. Most demonstrators were from the Caribbean, but many national unions and parties supported the marches, including the PS, the NPA, the Greens, Workers Struggle (LO), the French Communist Party (PCF) and the General Workers Confederation (CGT). Slogans included: "Life is expensive under the coconut trees," "Liberty, equality, fraternity, for whom?" and "200 euros here too, yes we can"--with the last three words in English, an allusion to the 2008 campaign slogan of US president Barack Obama. (AFP 2/21/09; Nouvel Observateur (France) 2/21/09)
*4. Colombia: FARC Admits 8 Killings
On Feb. 17 the Agencia de Noticias Nueva Colombia (ANNCOL) published a Feb. 11 communiqué from the Antonio José de Sucre column of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) taking responsibility for the killing of eight people on Feb. 6 at Río Bravo, Barbacoas municipality in the southwestern department of Nariño. The communiqué charges that the eight victims had collaborated with the military and that due to "their responsibility in the death of numerous guerrilleros and their undeniable active participation which involves them in the conflict, they were executed." The FARC didn't specify the ethnicity of the victims but insisted that the "action was not against indigenous people." The communiqué didn't comment on any other recent killings of indigenous people attributed to the FARC in the same area. (ANNCOL 2/17/09)
The Awá indigenous group has reported that the FARC killed a total of 27 Awá in two incidents in Nariño this month and detained at least three minors. As a result, Awá authorities say, some 400 indigenous people have fled their homes for the Nariño towns of Samaniego, Buenavista and Ricaurte. Indigenous groups say they follow a policy of not collaborating with any armed groups, including the military and the rebels. There are about 30,000 Awá living in Colombia and Ecuador.
Rightwing Colombian president Alvaro Uribe Vélez condemned the FARC's actions, and leftist opposition senator Piedad Córdoba, who has helped arrange the release of prisoners held by the FARC [see Updates #972, 974, 977], deplored the killings. (AFP 2/17/09; La Jornada 2/18/09) On Feb. 13 the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca (ACIN) wrote that the FARC, "by having carried out these atrocious acts, confirm a terrible truth: they have become one more element of terror against the peoples." The ACIN also denounced the government, the media and many political parties, charging that they were trying to use the situation to convince indigenous people to "collaborate with the authorities, with the security forces." (Servicio Informativo "alai-amlatino" 2/13/09)
*5. Panama: Colombian Refugee Killed
A Colombian refugee living in Panama was killed on Feb. 18 near the town of Boca de Cupé in Darién province, a jungle region bordering Colombia that has experienced incursions in the past by Colombian armed groups. Government and Justice Minister Dilio Arcia said the victim was killed when he went outside with his son to work on his property. Local media reported that the victim was named Aureliano Graciano Sepúlveda ("Bolaños" and "Mono Bolaños"); he was granted asylum in 1996, they said, and the three armed men who killed him were probably from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). (Telemetro Reporta (Panama) 2/18/09; Univision 2/18/09 from AP; Crítica en Línea (Panama) 2/19/09)
*6. Haiti: US Announces Deportations
A US federal judge has placed 30,299 Haitians under final deportation orders, the US government announced the week of Feb. 16. The government suspended deportations of Haitians living in the US in September, after four tropical storm ravaged Haiti in one month, devastating crops and killing at least 800 people; the US resumed deportations in December [see Update #970]. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE) bureau was only holding about 600 of the deportable Haitians as of Feb. 9; 243 others were being monitored with electronic ankle bracelets. The government says it expects the other Haitians with deportation orders to leave voluntarily. Otherwise, they will be sought by "fugitive alien teams," according to ICE spokesperson Barbara Gonzalez.
Some immigrant advocates who worked for the election of US president Barack Obama "are dismayed by growing reports of Haitians being deported to the hurricane-wrecked island," according to the St. Petersburg Times. Meanwhile, the government of Haitian president René Préval has been blocking the deportations by telling consular officials in the US not to provide travel documents. As a result deportations have dropped by 89% from about 156 a month before the storms to about 17 a month now. But this means that more Haitians are forced either to await deportation in detention centers or to arrange their own travel documents. (The Journal News (Lower Hudson Valley, NY) 2/21/09; Palm Beach (Florida) Post 2/16/09 from Florida Sun-Sentinel; St. Petersburg (Florida) Times 2/21/09)
In other news, on Feb. 16 Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) published its definitive list of candidates for the Apr. 19 elections, which will fill 12 posts in the Senate. The lists did not include the candidates of the Lavalas Family (FL). The CEP had insisted that it needed official confirmation from the party's leader, former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, now living in South Africa, in order to confirm the FL's candidates [see Updates #978, 979]. According to Maryse Narcisse, the leader of one of the party's rival factions, Aristide refused to sign documents before consuls appointed by people who forced him from power in 2004. (Haiti Support Group News Briefs 2/17/09 from Reuters; AlterPresse 2/17/09)
*7. Links to alternative sources on: Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, US Policy
Autonomy or New Forms of Domination?
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5877
The Minga of Resistance: Policy Making From Below
http://nacla.org/node/5517
Argentina: Environmental and Human Rights Group Spreads Message With Anti-Soy Video for Kids http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1727/68/
Underground Changes: Argentine Subway Workers Fight for a New Union http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1729/1/
Argentina expels Holocaust denier "traditionalist" bishop
http://www.ww4report.com/node/6881
Is Brazil Creating Its Own "Backyard" in Latin America?
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1720/1/
Migration and Mechanization in Brazil's Biofuel Cane Fields
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5851
Ecuador expels US diplomats
http://www.ww4report.com/node/6880
Colombia: indigenous leaders issue "ultimatum" to FARC
http://www.ww4report.com/node/6882
An Important but Risky Victory for Venezuela and for Socialism
http://nacla.org/node/5526
Venezuela's Referendum: Media's Double Standards
http://nacla.org/node/5522
Venezuelans Vote to Eliminate Two-Term Limit on All Elected Office 54.4% to 45.6% http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1719/68/
Venezuelans Vote Peacefully Over whether to Amend Constitution http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1718/68/
Venezuelan Jewish leader accuses Chávez of fomenting anti-Semitism
http://www.ww4report.com/node/6872
Victory in Venezuela: Chavez, Progress and Media Coverage
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1721/1/
A New Attitude in the White House? State Department Calls Bolivian, Venezuelan Referendums "Democratic" http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5879
Night of the Golden Iguana: Land Conflicts Riddle Mexican Tourism Development
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5837
Mexico: Juárez police chief steps down, citing threats
http://www.ww4report.com/node/6879
Mexico: Gulf Cartel behind border protests?
http://www.ww4report.com/node/6871
Chiapas Under Siege by Global Industries
http://nacla.org/node/5520
Obama: Improve Relations with Latin America
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1722/68/
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and
alternative sources:
http://nacla.org/articles
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
Your support is appreciated. Back issues and source materials are available on request. Update subscribers also receive, as a supplement, our own weekly Immigration News Briefs.
Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, from Monthly Review Press, by Update editors Jane Guskin and David Wilson:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.com/
Issue #980, February 22, 2009
1. Mexico: Transport Strike in 17 States
2. Mexico: Cerezo Brothers Released
3. Guadeloupe: Talks Resume After Violence
4. Colombia: FARC Admits 8 Killings
5. Panama: Colombian Refugee Killed
6. Haiti: US Announces Deportations
7. Links to alternative sources on: Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, US Policy
ISSN#: 1084-922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com
*1. Mexico: Transport Strike in 17 States
Some 500,000 Mexican bus and truck drivers and owners held a one-day strike on Feb. 16, slowing freight deliveries and forcing many passengers to find alternative transportation in 17 of the country's 32 entities (31 states and the Federal District). The strike was called by the Alliance of Multimodal Transport, recently formed by about 200 transport associations. The alliance is demanding that the federal government freeze diesel fuel prices at 6.31 pesos (about $0.43) a liter; the fuel is distributed by the state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) oil company.
The strike was uneven. It was reportedly imperceptible in Quintana Roo in the southeast, while in México state, near Mexico City, the México-Pachuca and México-Querétaro highways were blocked by some 200 heavy trucks. Authorities in the eastern coastal state of Veracruz said about 4 million passengers were affected by the strike, which took 11,000 buses out of circulation; truckers also blocked the toll booths on the Jalapa highway for five hours. About 400,000 passengers were affected in Saltillo and Monclova in the northern state of Coahuila, while service was normal in Piedras Negras, Acuña and Torreón. In Chihuahua, also in the north, transport workers parked trucks and buses along the sides of the Pan American highway. At least 150,000 passengers were stranded in the central state of Aguascalientes. About 13,000 buses and trucks blocked avenues and intersections in the main cities of the southern state of Oaxaca, while only 345 of the 1,793 buses in Mérida, capital of Yucatán in the southeast, were out of service.
Carlos Demuner Pitol, a strike leader, said some authorities in Chihuahua and other states had offered to raise fares and freight rates if the alliance called off the strike, but the strikers rejected the offer, saying citizens would set their trucks and buses on fire if the rates went up. Another strike leader, Edmundo Delgado, said that if the government rejected their demand, the alliance would bring 300,000 vehicles to the Zócalo plaza in Mexico City. (La Jornada (Mexico) 2/17/09)
*2. Mexico: Cerezo Brothers Released
On Feb. 16 some 150 people greeted the brothers Antonio and Héctor Cerezo Contreras as they left a medium security prison in Morelos state, close to Mexico City. The Cerezos were arrested in 2001 along with their brother Alejandro after three small bombs exploded at Mexico City banks. Many people believe the arrests were connected to reports that their parents, Francisco Cerezo Quiroz and Emilia Contreras, are leaders in the rebel Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR). The brothers were never charged in the bombing but were convicted of possession of weapons and explosives. Alejandro was released in February 2005 after a court overturned his conviction [see Updates #774, 775, 778, 788].
"We will seek reparations of some kind," another brother, Francisco Cerezo Contreras, said when Antonio and Héctor were released. "This is not the end of the matter, although I must say that we no longer have the funds to keep going." The brothers deny having any contact with their parents, who have been underground since the early 1990s. In an open letter dated Feb. 1, Antonio Cerezo told his parents: "We love you very much, and you will always be present in our lives. A big hug to you both. Prisoners today, free forever!" (Inter Press Service 2/17/09)
*3. Guadeloupe: Talks Resume After Violence
On the evening of Feb. 19 French president Nicholas Sarkozy met in Paris with elected officials from the French overseas department of Guadeloupe and promised to work to restore calm to the Caribbean island, which has been paralyzed by a general strike since Jan. 20 [see Updates #978, 979]. He also announced 580 million euros ($737 million) in aid for France's overseas departments, with emphasis on the Active Solidarity Revenue (RSA), a social welfare program.
Hours later the Collective Against Extreme Exploitation (LKP), the coalition leading the strike, agreed to restart negotiations that the strikers had broken off on Feb. 12. The new talks began on Feb. 20 but quickly adjourned for the weekend; they were to resume on Feb. 23. The General Union of Guadeloupe Workers (UGTG), the leading force in the LKP, said its negotiators remained "extremely prudent and circumspect" about the government's offers. The strikers are demanding a wage increase of 200 euros ($259) a month. (Libération (France) 2/20/09; UGTG press release 2/20/09)
The new talks followed an escalation of the strike and several outbreaks of violence. On Feb. 16 strikers began blocking roads with dozens of barricades. Shooting began the night of Feb. 17, and a union leader, Jacques Bino, was shot dead. The government blamed "delinquents"; UGTG secretary general Elie Domota has called for an independent investigation. There was more shooting the night of Feb. 18; stores were looted, some dozen fires were set, the Sainte-Rose town hall was sacked, and about 40 people were arrested. The French government announced it was sending four squadrons of mobile armed national police (about 280 agents), in addition to the 1,000 armed national police and 993 regular police already on the island. (There are also 850 armed national police and 1,000 regular police in the nearby overseas department of Martinique, which has been on strike since Feb. 5.)
The situation grew less tense on Feb. 19 as strike leaders for the first time issued explicit appeals for calm to the island's youths. (Libération 2/20/09; AFP 2/21/09; La Jornada (Mexico) 2/19/09 from AFP, DPA)
Sarkozy has had trouble responding to the situation because "he's afraid the dispute may overtake France," Elie Domota told reporters on Feb. 21, alluding to the effects of global recession on Europe. Left-of-center French activists and politicians have started visiting Guadeloupe. Ségolène Royal, the Socialist Party (PS) candidate against Sarkozy in 2007, arrived on Feb. 21 to attend Jacques Bino's funeral, scheduled for Feb. 22. French peasant leader José Bové arrived on Feb. 19, as did Olivier Besancenot, spokesperson for the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA). Cheers greeted Bové as he stood in front of the LKP's headquarters at the Palais de la Mutualité to denounce the "neocolonial order that reigns in Guadeloupe" and to call for "food sovereignty." (L'Express (France) 2/22/09; Libération 2/20/09)
Thousands of people marched in France on Feb. 21 to support the Guadeloupean strikers. The largest demonstration, in Paris, drew 10,000 people, according to the police; organizers put the number at 30,000. There were smaller demonstrations in Nantes (700 people), Marseilles, Toulouse (500-600 people), Lyons, Lille, Rennes, Limoges and Strasbourg. Most demonstrators were from the Caribbean, but many national unions and parties supported the marches, including the PS, the NPA, the Greens, Workers Struggle (LO), the French Communist Party (PCF) and the General Workers Confederation (CGT). Slogans included: "Life is expensive under the coconut trees," "Liberty, equality, fraternity, for whom?" and "200 euros here too, yes we can"--with the last three words in English, an allusion to the 2008 campaign slogan of US president Barack Obama. (AFP 2/21/09; Nouvel Observateur (France) 2/21/09)
*4. Colombia: FARC Admits 8 Killings
On Feb. 17 the Agencia de Noticias Nueva Colombia (ANNCOL) published a Feb. 11 communiqué from the Antonio José de Sucre column of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) taking responsibility for the killing of eight people on Feb. 6 at Río Bravo, Barbacoas municipality in the southwestern department of Nariño. The communiqué charges that the eight victims had collaborated with the military and that due to "their responsibility in the death of numerous guerrilleros and their undeniable active participation which involves them in the conflict, they were executed." The FARC didn't specify the ethnicity of the victims but insisted that the "action was not against indigenous people." The communiqué didn't comment on any other recent killings of indigenous people attributed to the FARC in the same area. (ANNCOL 2/17/09)
The Awá indigenous group has reported that the FARC killed a total of 27 Awá in two incidents in Nariño this month and detained at least three minors. As a result, Awá authorities say, some 400 indigenous people have fled their homes for the Nariño towns of Samaniego, Buenavista and Ricaurte. Indigenous groups say they follow a policy of not collaborating with any armed groups, including the military and the rebels. There are about 30,000 Awá living in Colombia and Ecuador.
Rightwing Colombian president Alvaro Uribe Vélez condemned the FARC's actions, and leftist opposition senator Piedad Córdoba, who has helped arrange the release of prisoners held by the FARC [see Updates #972, 974, 977], deplored the killings. (AFP 2/17/09; La Jornada 2/18/09) On Feb. 13 the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca (ACIN) wrote that the FARC, "by having carried out these atrocious acts, confirm a terrible truth: they have become one more element of terror against the peoples." The ACIN also denounced the government, the media and many political parties, charging that they were trying to use the situation to convince indigenous people to "collaborate with the authorities, with the security forces." (Servicio Informativo "alai-amlatino" 2/13/09)
*5. Panama: Colombian Refugee Killed
A Colombian refugee living in Panama was killed on Feb. 18 near the town of Boca de Cupé in Darién province, a jungle region bordering Colombia that has experienced incursions in the past by Colombian armed groups. Government and Justice Minister Dilio Arcia said the victim was killed when he went outside with his son to work on his property. Local media reported that the victim was named Aureliano Graciano Sepúlveda ("Bolaños" and "Mono Bolaños"); he was granted asylum in 1996, they said, and the three armed men who killed him were probably from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). (Telemetro Reporta (Panama) 2/18/09; Univision 2/18/09 from AP; Crítica en Línea (Panama) 2/19/09)
*6. Haiti: US Announces Deportations
A US federal judge has placed 30,299 Haitians under final deportation orders, the US government announced the week of Feb. 16. The government suspended deportations of Haitians living in the US in September, after four tropical storm ravaged Haiti in one month, devastating crops and killing at least 800 people; the US resumed deportations in December [see Update #970]. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE) bureau was only holding about 600 of the deportable Haitians as of Feb. 9; 243 others were being monitored with electronic ankle bracelets. The government says it expects the other Haitians with deportation orders to leave voluntarily. Otherwise, they will be sought by "fugitive alien teams," according to ICE spokesperson Barbara Gonzalez.
Some immigrant advocates who worked for the election of US president Barack Obama "are dismayed by growing reports of Haitians being deported to the hurricane-wrecked island," according to the St. Petersburg Times. Meanwhile, the government of Haitian president René Préval has been blocking the deportations by telling consular officials in the US not to provide travel documents. As a result deportations have dropped by 89% from about 156 a month before the storms to about 17 a month now. But this means that more Haitians are forced either to await deportation in detention centers or to arrange their own travel documents. (The Journal News (Lower Hudson Valley, NY) 2/21/09; Palm Beach (Florida) Post 2/16/09 from Florida Sun-Sentinel; St. Petersburg (Florida) Times 2/21/09)
In other news, on Feb. 16 Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) published its definitive list of candidates for the Apr. 19 elections, which will fill 12 posts in the Senate. The lists did not include the candidates of the Lavalas Family (FL). The CEP had insisted that it needed official confirmation from the party's leader, former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, now living in South Africa, in order to confirm the FL's candidates [see Updates #978, 979]. According to Maryse Narcisse, the leader of one of the party's rival factions, Aristide refused to sign documents before consuls appointed by people who forced him from power in 2004. (Haiti Support Group News Briefs 2/17/09 from Reuters; AlterPresse 2/17/09)
*7. Links to alternative sources on: Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, US Policy
Autonomy or New Forms of Domination?
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5877
The Minga of Resistance: Policy Making From Below
http://nacla.org/node/5517
Argentina: Environmental and Human Rights Group Spreads Message With Anti-Soy Video for Kids http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1727/68/
Underground Changes: Argentine Subway Workers Fight for a New Union http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1729/1/
Argentina expels Holocaust denier "traditionalist" bishop
http://www.ww4report.com/node/6881
Is Brazil Creating Its Own "Backyard" in Latin America?
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1720/1/
Migration and Mechanization in Brazil's Biofuel Cane Fields
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5851
Ecuador expels US diplomats
http://www.ww4report.com/node/6880
Colombia: indigenous leaders issue "ultimatum" to FARC
http://www.ww4report.com/node/6882
An Important but Risky Victory for Venezuela and for Socialism
http://nacla.org/node/5526
Venezuela's Referendum: Media's Double Standards
http://nacla.org/node/5522
Venezuelans Vote to Eliminate Two-Term Limit on All Elected Office 54.4% to 45.6% http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1719/68/
Venezuelans Vote Peacefully Over whether to Amend Constitution http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1718/68/
Venezuelan Jewish leader accuses Chávez of fomenting anti-Semitism
http://www.ww4report.com/node/6872
Victory in Venezuela: Chavez, Progress and Media Coverage
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1721/1/
A New Attitude in the White House? State Department Calls Bolivian, Venezuelan Referendums "Democratic" http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5879
Night of the Golden Iguana: Land Conflicts Riddle Mexican Tourism Development
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5837
Mexico: Juárez police chief steps down, citing threats
http://www.ww4report.com/node/6879
Mexico: Gulf Cartel behind border protests?
http://www.ww4report.com/node/6871
Chiapas Under Siege by Global Industries
http://nacla.org/node/5520
Obama: Improve Relations with Latin America
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1722/68/
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and
alternative sources:
http://nacla.org/articles
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/
END
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