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After almost nine years in the country, MINUSTAH prolongs conditions of poverty and repression, securing the political and economic interests of the United States

[Translation of an interview from Brasil de Fato of São Paulo for May 9, 2013.  See original here and related articles here, here, here and here.]

By Márcio Zonta

The United Nations Mission for the Stabilization of Haiti (MINUSTAH) will be nine years old in June.  Created in 2004 by the UN Security Council, it brought the activities of foreign troops into the country after the coup against then President Bertrand Aristide.  He was kidnapped and deposed by United States forces, being forced into exile in Africa. (more…)

[Translation of an article from El Expreso of Guayaquil, based on a dispatch by the Spanish news agency Efe, from April 5. See original article here and diplomatic cable in question here.]

Ecuador has declared the US ambassador in Quito, Heather Hodges, persona non grata and has asked her to leave the country in response to a cable signed by her and released by Wikileaks concerning corruption in the Ecuadorian police force.

“We have asked her to leave the country as soon as possible,” Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño said today in a press conference. (more…)

[Translation of an article from Página/12 of Buenos Aires for February 13. See original article here and related article here.]

By Horacio Verbitsky

The federal government has blocked the entry of secret “sensitive cargo” that arrived at the Ezeiza international airport aboard a United States air force flight with no satisfactory explanation of what it would be used for.

The expression “sensitive cargo” was used last Monday by [United States] embassy management counselor Dorothy Sarro when she requested authorization to have a truck with an attached trailer enter the operations area. The enormous C17, a Boeing Globemaster III cargo plane, larger than the well known Hercules, arrived on Thursday afternoon with an arsenal of powerful weapons aboard for a course on management of crisis and hostage taking offered by the United States government to the federal police Grupo de Operaciones Especiales Federal (GEOF – Federal Special Operations Group), which was to be held through the entire months of February and March. The government estimates that the total cost for transportation and for conducting the course approaches two million dollars. The course was authorized by the Argentine govnernment, but when personnel checked the content of the cargo against a list submitted beforehand, machine gun and rifle barrels and a strange suitcase were discovered which had not been included on the manifest. (more…)

Timerman faults Macri for accepting US anti-terrorism training for city police without federal approval

[Translation of an article from Diario Hoy of La Plata, Argentina, for February 6. See original here.]

Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman today accused Mauricio Macri [head of government of the autonomous city of Buenos Aires] of turning into “a feudal lord” within the city and repeated his criticism of Buenos Aires management for accepting financing from the United States for training of city police without notifying the federal government.

“I am a firm opponent of having the security forces trained by other countries,” declared the Kirchner administration’s head of diplomacy, who also said of recent statements by national and provincial authorities concerning the conflict, “The only thing they do is verify that my criticism was correct.”

In the same vein, he pointed out that he had always rejected that “the United States finance courses for Argentine security forces because that is a violation of national sovereignty.” (more…)

US diplomat says president opposes country’s permanent membership and will avoid topic during March visit

[Translation of an article from Estadão of São Paulo for February 6. See original here and related articles here and here.]

By Denise Chrispim Marin

United States President Barack Obama is not likely to bring up support for Brazil’s membership in the UN Security Council during his visit to the country in March. The White House and US diplomats are working to skirt inevitable embarassing questions [on the topic] from the press in order to avoid damage to their project of relaunching bilateral relations…

According to a State Department source, any change in Washington’s position is a remote possibility. It would be a “miracle.” As far as the US government is concerned, Brazil committed a “mortal sin” in June when it voted against a Security Council resolution on new sanctions against Iran.

The Brazilian action was more serious than its insistent attempts to reach a nuclear accord with Iran because “it compromised the very credibility of the system” and revealed signs of interference by former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and former Chancellor Celso Amorim in the most sensitve foreign policy decisions. “It was a blunder,” the source said.

It is still not clear to the State Department whether the administration of Dilma Rousseff, as a continuation of the Lula administration, will continue on the same path in foreign affairs.

The doubt will be resolved on the 23rd when Foreign Minister Antônio Patriota will make his first visit to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington.

This will be the first opportunity for dialogue between the US and Brazil on restructuring the Security Council, which is still pending in the UN.

Commission meeting in Geneva proposes decriminalizing drug use

[Translation of an article from La Jornada of Mexico City for January 26, based on Notimex and Agence France Presse dispatches. See original here.]

Geneva, January 25 – The former presidents of Colombia and Brazil, César Gaviria and Fernando Henrique Cardoso, agreed today that the United States should curb its great demand for drugs in order to end the escalating violence it produces.

Within the framework of the Global Commision on Drug Policy, in which former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo also participated, Gaviria and Cardoso said separately that it is essential to ask the United States to demonstrate that it is reducing its consumption and that it is struggling to curtail the dimensions of the trade.
(more…)

[Translation of an article from La Jornada of Mexico City for December 26. See original here.]

By Sanjuana Martínez

San Antonio, Texas, December 26 – The phenomenon of de luxe migrants or the so-called golden migration to Texas cities is leaving in its wake abandoned houses, financial crises and an exodus of students from Mexico, particularly from the north of the country, and in turn benefits the United States economically.

“It is a selective migration of moneyed people from Mexico. If our neighboring country could choose, it would select this golden migration, which turns out fantastic. These are people who are creating businesses, enterprises; people who invest, consume, buy and rent houses,” says Séverine Durin, director of the Northeastern Program of the Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social (CIESAS – Center for Research and Higher Studies in Social Anthropology). (more…)

[Translation of an article from Haïti Liberté for July 28.]

By Hervé Jean Michel

July 28, 1915 to July 28, 2010 — 95 years have passed since the military forces of the United States of America first landed in Haiti. They trampled and crushed this land and its sovereignty, won at the high cost of suffering, struggles and death on the battlefields of Ravine-à-Couleuvre, Crête-à-Pierrot, Vertière, etc.

United States capitalists, who saw in the attainment of Haitian independence nothing but a bad example for the millions of Blacks, their countrymen (historically, Haitian independence was recognized by the United States government during the second decade of the second half of the nineteenth century), wanted to apply the brakes to that rising up of the former slaves by means of their Monroe Doctrine, which opened up for them prospects of the pillage of the continent. They swore to reduce the sovereignty of that country to nothing. (more…)

But demands respect for its dignity and sovereignty

[Translation of an article from Agencia Boliviana de Información, the government news agency, for June 1.]

La Paz, June 1 – Bolivia does not intend to sever diplomatic ties with the United States but demands that the White House respect its national dignity and sovereignty, President Evo Morales Ayma declared on Tuesday.

In a press conference held in the capitol, the president pointed out that since the process of change began in 2006, Bolivia has always worked clearly and transparently in its relations with all the countries of the world, including the United States.

“Previously, the United States changed our ministers and intervened in the internal affairs of Bolivia, but now a relation of respect for the country should be framed in order to move forward with diplomatic relations and economic cooperation,” he said. (more…)

[Translation of an essay from Haïti-Progrès.]

The great powers like the United States and France have been engaged in a diplomatic  fencing match ever since the eathquake of January 12, which left at least 300,000 dead, as many injured and crippled, thousands displaced and at least two million homeless, and more than 250,000 homes destroyed. (more…)