lo-de-alla.org

[Translation of a blog from Carta Maior of São Paulo, Brazil, for June 15, 2013. See original here.]

By Emir Sader

Mexico was in the vanguard of neoliberalism in Latin America. Among the first on the continent to apply that model, it linked it with the first regional adhesion to a Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, signed in 1994 with the US and Canada.

It thought it was going to profit immensely from its border with the greatest economy in the world, distancing itself from a Latin America with a poor showing in the 1990s, and definitively joining North America. Since then, more than 90 % of its foreign trade is with the US; it has practically no trade with China or India and very small exchanges with South America — the most dynamic axes of the world economy. Read the rest of this entry »

((Proceso photo by Miguel Dimayuga))

Contrary to Felipe Calderón’s claim

[Translation of an article from the weekly magazine Proceso of Mexico City for June 12, 2013. See original here and the INEGI report here.]

By Juan Carlos Cruz Vargas

Mexico City – Despite the growth of the middle class in the period between 2000 and 2010, Mexico cannot be described as a “middle-class” country but as a poor one, according to the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI – National Institute for Statistics and Geography, an autonomous government agency).

In a study entitled “Clases Medias en México,” the agency, headed by Eduardo Sojo, reports that 55.08% of homes, representing 59.13% of Mexicans, live in economically precarious conditions. This can grow worse in the event of any catastrophic event in the home, like the sudden loss of the main provider, or a sickness or serious accident. Read the rest of this entry »

[Translation of an article from El Nuevo Diario of Santo Domingo for June 14, 2013. See original here and related articles here and here.]

By Jenny Ramírez

Haina – The group of Haitian workers who spent more than 40 days on the walkway in front of the ministry of labor to demand that the Empacadora Real coconut company pay them the money they had earned were awarded more than five million pesos [about US$120,000] when their case was settled on Friday in a district court in the province of San Cristóbal.

The Haitian nationals accepted the money from lawyers Lucas Manuel and Carlos Manuel Sánchez Diaz, who were responsible for taking the case to court and winning the ruling in favor of the foreigners.

The lawyers stated that the coconut merchant, Emilio Luna, alias “Billo,” reached an agreement with the plaintiffs in the labor court of the judicial district of San Cristóbal.

According to the defense, a fair distribution of the money to the workers was carried out, based on the time each had spent with the coconut company, it being decided that those who had worked the longest would receive the most money.

Spokesmen for the group of Haitians, Francisco Ojilú and Ratilú Odani, thanked all those who became involved in their effort, especially lawyers Lucas and Carlos Sánchez Diaz…

The lawyers stated that the ruling sets a precedent in labor rights for the national judicial system since no similar case is known.

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((David Flórez))

Spokesman for Colombian political movement suggests Brazilian government may be backing Santos’ policy

[Translation of an interview from Opera Mundi of São Paulo for June 3, 2013.  See original here and related articles here, here, here, here and here.]

The Colombian political movement Marcha Patriótica is hoping for a more “pro-active” position from the Brazilian government on the historical conflict between the Colombian government and the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) and the ELN (Ejército de Liberación Nacional) guerrillas.  David Flórez, spokesman for the movement, declared in an interview with Opera Mundi, “It is not very clear if (the Brazilian government) is for peace or if it backs Santos’ policies.”

Flórez and other members of the political and social coalition, of which former Senator Piedad Córdoba is a member, were in Porto Alegre on May 24, 25 and 26 as guests of the Fórum Pela Paz na Colômbia [Forum for Peace in Colombia], held in the gaúcho state’s legislative assembly. The event included social activist groups from Argentina and Uruguay, who endured  nearly 24 hours on a bus to arrive at the capital of Rio Grande do Sul.  Brazilian participation was less challenging in comparison. Read the rest of this entry »

[Translation of an article from ContraPunto of San Salvador for June 4, 2013. See original here and related articles here, here,  here and here.]

San Salvador – For more than two months, the feminist movement of El Salvador has conducted an intense campaign in favor of therapeutic abortion as a human right, specifically in the case of “Beatriz,” and a right in the women’s healthcare system.

The case of Beatriz is symbolic of what happens to hundreds of women in El Salvador. If there were a law that allowed at least therapeutic abortion, injustices and assaults against the lives of many women would end.

According to the Agrupación Ciudadana, there are more than 30 women in El Salvador sentenced to 30 years in prison for the crime of aggravated homicide when what they have experienced are spontaneous abortions. Read the rest of this entry »

[Translation of an opinion piece from La Jornada of Mexico City for May 25, 2013. See original here. Jorge Mansilla Torres is a Bolivian writer]

By Jorge Mansilla Torres

In May, 1995, the Bolivian judicial system sentenced former dictator Luis García Meza to 30 years in prison for his crimes against the people and the state. At the beginning of this century, Peru tried and convicted former dictator Fujimori, as Argentina did with its own bloodthirsty military plunderers.

General Videla was sentenced twice to life in prison and died in the solitude of his cell a few days ago. Now former Guatemalan president Ríos Montt tries sleight of hand against the 80-year sentence handed him for his horrendous crimes of exterminating the Indians. These examples of dignity occur when there is historical memory and when the people take it upon themselves to give up their rancor in exchange for justice being done.

García Meza will be locked away in the high-security prison in Chonchocoro, at an altitude of 3,800 meters in the altiplano of La Paz, until he is 93 years old. With him, in the adjoining cell, is Colonel Luis Arce Gómez, his former minister of the interior, both of them convicted of the assassination of some 500 citizens, of torture and persecution of another 4,000, of at least 90 forced disappearances, of attacks on fiscal resources and of cocaine trafficking from the very presidency of the republic. Read the rest of this entry »

[Translation of an article from Semana of Bogotá for May 27, 2013. See original here and related articles here, here and here.]

By Álvaro Sierra Restrepo

The peace process between the government and the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) got a powerful boost on Sunday. After six months of talks, the parties announced they had reached agreement on the question of rural development, the first of the five items on the agenda, and that they will move on to the second, that of participation in electoral politics, in the next round of talks, beginning on June 11.

The announcement, which both sides clearly wanted especially to stress, as they charged Norway and Cuba, the host countries, with reading their joint communiqué to the press for the first time, has both a deep meaning and a powerful impact. Read the rest of this entry »

((Ricardo Castrorrivas looks at a photo of his daughter Carminda — La Jornada photo by Edgardo Ayala))

Recently found army document lists names of leftists to be pursued or assassinated

[Translation of an article from La Jornada of Mexico City for May 24, 2013. See original here.]

San Salvador, May 23 — A confidential Salvadoran army document from the 1980s could be the missing link confirming involvement of the armed forces in activities of the death squads during the civil war, including torture and forced disappearances.

The Yellow Book, as it is titled on the cover, is a report apparently written by the Estado Mayor Conjunto de las Fuerzas Armadas (EMCFA – Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces), the army’s elite operations unit, whose initials can be clearly seen printed on each of the 270 pages of the document, confirming its official nature. Read the rest of this entry »

[Translation of an article from Página/12 of Buenos Aires for May 21, 2013. See original here.]

The automobile company executives were indicted by San Martín federal judge Alicia Vence on charges of “having arranged the means necessary to identify and point out” union representatives and employees who were then kidnapped. They are further charged with “having allowed a detention center to be set up inside the factory building.”

Those charged, who are not being held in preventive detention, are Pedro Müller, former production manager, Guillermo Galárraga, former labor relations manager, and Héctor Sibilla, former head of security. The three were summoned for an inquiry in late March but refused to testify. The judge explained that the president of Ford in Argentina, Nicolás Enrique Julián Courard, would also have been cited for indictment but the court received notice of his death in 1989 in Chile. Read the rest of this entry »

[Translation of an article from Haïti-Liberté for May 18, 2013. See original here.]

By Isabelle L. Papillon

May 14, 2013, is the second anniversary of the inauguration of President Michel Joseph Martelly as head of the country. This second anniversary is marked by catastrophe on political, economic and social levels. The situation of degradation moves inhabitants of poor neighborhoods to demonstrate in the streets of the capital to denounce the drift of tètkale-kaletèt Martelly-Lamothe rule.

Hundreds of people took to the streets at the call of the Mouvement de Liberté, d’Égalité et de la Fraternité des Haïtiens, the Parlement Populaire Haïtien and the Union Nationale des Normaliens d’Haïti to protest against the  tètkale regime, which has done nothing but increase the misery of the masses, the hunger, the unemployment. The demonstrators criticized the so-called priorities of the tètkale authorities, which rest on the “4-Es”: education, the rule of law (l’état de droit) employment and energy. According to the protesters, these priorities are so far nothing but words. Each of the organizations gave press conferences on Monday, May 13, to make an assessment of the government. The government’s tally is completely negative, according to the organizers. Read the rest of this entry »

[Translation of an article from El Colombiano of Medellín for May 16, 2013. See original here and related articles here and here.]

By Daniel Rivera Marín

Sunday, April 19, marks six months since the government and FARC sat down in Havana, Cuba, to negotiate peace and the first item on the agenda has not been exhausted, although both sides expect that by the end of this cycle, which is the ninth, a first agreement can be announced.

And if not, analysts agree, a signal that is not very favorable will shape public opinion, considering that President Juan Manuel Santos has spoken of a short peace process, with negotiations beginning in November, 2012, and ending, supposedly, in November, 2013, while FARC has said repeatedly that no exact period can be set.

On this topic, Sergio Jaramillo, high commissioner of peace [in the Santos administration], said, “The government is not interested in talking with FARC in Havana forever; the government does not want to talk with FARC beyond this year. The government wants to arrive at the signing of a final accord that allows us to begin the phase of a transition to peace.” Read the rest of this entry »

Campesinos claim soldiers and police favor the landowners

[Translation of an Agence France Presse article as published in Diario Tiempo of San Pedro Sula for May 13, 2013. See original here an related articles here, here and here.]

A campesino leader was assassinated by armed men in the troubled valley of Aguán, 600 kilometers northeast of the Honduran capital, bringing to 99 the number killed in the region, the scene of a conflict between farmers and landowners, a leader of the agrarian movement reported on Sunday.

“Three heavily armed men assassinated José Omar Pérez, 37, president of the Los Laureles operation, in the La Concepción settlement, which belongs to the Movimiento Unificado Campesino del Aguán (MUCA), around 9:30pm Saturday night,” the spokesman for the organization, Vitalino Álvarez, told AFP.

The attack occurred 100 meters from Pérez’s home as he and his wife were returning from his mother-in-law’s house in the city of Tocoa.

“The assassination of comrade Pérez makes 99 campesinos killed by the deadly bullets of the landowners’ security guards and the paramilitary groups who operate in the region,” stated a MUCA communiqué.

The conflict began in the Aguán in January, 2010, a month after more than 5,000 campesinos occupied 7,000 hectares of land claimed by the landowners.

The campesinos hold that these lands have belonged to them since they were granted to them as part of an agrarian reform in the 1980s.

In 1992, a law allowed the parcels of land to be sold and some leaders of the farmers, behind the backs of their base, sold them to the landowners at low cost.

In August, the government ordered a military deployment, reinforced by the police, to carry out a “general disarmament” but deaths continue and the campesinos hold that the soldiers and the police are backing the landowners.

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