Bloglink=
http://aztlannet-news-blog.blogspot.com/2007/01/sabbath-1-13-2006-aztlannetnews-report.html
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_5005541
Article Launched: 01/13/2007 12:00:00 AM MST
Federal inspector charged with rape of 12-year-old
By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
Email= lgilot@elpasotimes.com & 546-6131.
A U.S. officer in charge of the security of federal buildings in El Paso was arrested Wednesday in the rape of a 12-year-old girl two years ago.
Gary Nolan, 53, was charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child, a crime punishable by up to life in prison. Nolan is free on a $20,000 bond.
Nolan is an inspector with the Federal Protective Service, which falls under Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
His job did not necessarily lead him to interact with the public, and ICE officials said the rape is alleged to have happened outside of his work hours.
"He is a physical security specialist. He conducts building threat assessment of any (General Services Administration)-leased or owned buildings," said ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa.
The complaint affidavit states that the victim was 12 at the time of the rape and is now 14.
Police said the sexual assault took place in the Pebble Hills area.
ICE officials said Nolan took vacation time after the arrest and has not returned to work.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070113/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/bolivia_protests_1
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
Sat Jan 13, 2006 @12:31 AM ET
Bolivian president proposes recall bill
By DAN KEANE, Associated Press Writer
COCHABAMBA, Bolivia - President Evo Morales proposed on Friday a new law to allow recall votes against elected officials, a move that would give protesters demanding the resignation of an opposition-aligned state governor a way to remove him from office.
But the bill would face a tough passage in Bolivia's conservative-controlled Senate, where lawmakers will likely see the leftist president's proposal as a threat to opposition state governors who have become his most prominent critics.
The proposal came at the end of a week of clashes in the city of Cochabamba, 125 miles southeast of the capital La Paz, where protesters are calling for state governor Manfred Reyes Villa to resign.
The clashes between supporters and opponents of Reyes left two dead and more than 130 wounded on Thursday. But Friday was relatively quiet in the valley city.
Morales introduced his proposal with only passing mention of the situation in Cochabamba, saying the law would allow for the recall of officials from mayors up through the presidency for corruption, human rights violations, or simply failing to fulfill campaign promises.
But he made it clear the bill's goal would be to avoid violence such as the clashes in Cochabamba in the future.
"If the people knew that they could remove an official with their vote, we would avoid this type of confrontation," Morales said. "We will improve the way we solve the confrontation between (an elected official's) legitimacy and legality. We will look for ways to, for example, end the mandate of corrupt mayors, governors who abuse their power or presidents who massacre their own people."
Morales was referring to former president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who fled Bolivia after his 2003 crackdown on protesters left some 60 people dead. Sanchez de Lozada's successor, Carlos Mesa, also was driven from office by protests in 2005.
In a series of marches over the last month, both city dwellers and coca farmers from the surrounding countryside have marched on Cochabamba to denounce Reyes' support for greater state autonomy from Morales' government.
Reyes says he will not resign and blamed Morales for not reacting more forcefully to protests earlier in the week.
Morales' efforts to expand his executive power have incensed the opposition governors who head six of nine Bolivian states, many of which have long sought greater autonomy from the central government.
The president recently proposed a bill allowing Congress to remove state governors from office for improperly handling government funds — with his own office holding the final judgment.
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DER SPIEGEL 35/2006 - August 28, 2006
URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,434272,00.html
SPIEGEL INTERVIEW WITH BOLIVIA'S EVO MORALES
"Capitalism Has Only Hurt Latin America"
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070114/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_chavez_1
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Chavez says he voiced hope for U.S. thaw
By NATALIE OBIKO PEARSON, Associated Press Writer
CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Saturday he had personally expressed hope to a high-ranking U.S. official for better relations between their two countries, just before meeting with Iran's hard-line, anti-American president.
Chavez, a frequent critic of the Bush administration, said he spoke with Thomas Shannon, head of the U.S. State Department's Western Hemisphere affairs bureau, on the sidelines of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's inauguration earlier this week.
"We shook hands and I told him: 'I hope that everything improves,'" Chavez said Saturday in his state of the nation address to government officials and legislators.
"I'm not anyone's enemy," he added.
Chavez met later Saturday with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was beginning a regional tour of leftist governments that seek to reduce Washington's role in Latin America. The leaders have become increasingly united by their antagonism to Washington, and Chavez often cites the alliance as an example of the "multi-polar" world he seeks to counter U.S. dominance.
Venezuela and Iran, which already plan to jointly produce everything from bricks to bicycles, signed a series of accords Saturday to explore further opportunities for cooperation in areas like tourism, education and mining.
Chavez called for the U.S. government to accept "the new realities of Latin America," as he brushed aside restrictions that limit presidents to two consecutive terms. He vowed to stay in office beyond 2013, when his term expires, saying he would revise the constitution to get rid of presidential term limits.
He also said he would immediately submit a request to congress for a new law to allow him to enact legislation by decree.
U.S. officials have accused Chavez of authoritarian tendencies, and National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said this past week in an annual review of global threats that Venezuela's democracy was at risk under Chavez.
Chavez prompted a crash in Venezuelan share prices this past week when he announced he would seek special powers from the legislature to push through "revolutionary" reforms, including a string of nationalizations and unspecified changes to business laws and the commerce code.
Critics fear the announcement signaled a radical twist of Chavez's socialist movement toward the communist system of Cuba's Fidel Castro, Chavez's ally and mentor.
"The Cubanization of the country, my friend, has turned on its engines," Miguel Sanmartin, a columnist for the El Universal newspaper, wrote in article published Saturday. He said Chavez was moving toward a "fascist dictatorship" with his nationalization drive and plans to prevent an opposition-aligned TV station from broadcasting on open airwaves.
Chavez rejected those concerns Saturday and said that after his sweeping re-election in December there was "no turning back" for his leftist movement.
"We've received, without a doubt, the people's mandate to step on the accelerator to advance without rest on this path toward a socialist Venezuela," he said.
Chavez announced plans earlier this week for the state to take control of the country's largest telecommunications company, its electricity and natural gas sectors and four heavy crude upgrading projects now controlled by some of the world's top oil companies.
He said Saturday, however, that private companies will be allowed to own minority stakes in the lucrative Orinoco River basin oil projects.
Chavez's government has already taken majority ownership of all other oil-producing operations in the country through joint ventures controlled by the state oil company. Most companies have shown a willingness to continue investing despite the tightening terms, which have also included tax and royalty increases.
Chavez also plans to strip the central bank of its autonomy and said Saturday that about $8.4 billion of the bank's foreign reserves would be transferred into a state development fund to finance social projects.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0113phxmlkawards0113.html
Jan. 13, 2007 12:00 AM
7 civil rights leaders honored at ceremony
Beth Duckett / The Arizona Republic
DOWNTOWN PHOENIX - Seven civil rights leaders were honored Friday morning in a breakfast and ceremony dedicated to the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
A melting pot of races converged at the Phoenix Convention Center at 7 a.m. to toast the local leaders who committed their lives to following King's footsteps.
They pioneered new rights and equality for the city's voiceless and powerless. They spearheaded programs that have created more opportunities and a better life for minorities, said Carole Coles Henry, director of the city's Equal Opportunities Department. advertisement
"When you put all these people together, each one of them in their own way is continuing to build his legacy," she said.
A "passing of the torch" ritual marked the beginning of the ceremony, in which a group of youngsters carried a flame through city streets to mark the birth of a new generation.
Organizers then presented the Rev. Henry Barnwell with the Calvin C. Goode Lifetime Achievement Award for his successful struggle to make King's birthday a state holiday.
Barnwell piloted the efforts with protest marches, candlelight services and meetings, following King's non-violent approach the entire time.
"I received a lot of letters of threats, but we trusted the Lord and kept pressuring," said the retired bishop, 72. "The principle of Dr. King stuck with me. I was determined."
Residents Helen Drake, Rory Gilbert, Tony Lopez, Andrew Miller, Hubert A. Ross Sr. and Raul Yzaguirre received King's Living the Dream awards. Miller, a local leader and director of African-American outreach for the state's Democratic party, spoke of his past as a civil rights follower.
At 13, Miller began his involvement with local rights programs at his school in Selma, Ala. He later joined the five-day, 54-mile freedom march from Selma to Montgomery.
"We slipped out of the house to go to mass meetings and marches," he said. "You set yourself up to a certain standard. You say, 'King did all this, and I can, too.' "
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0113Immigrationdeputies.html
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
Jan. 13, 2007 12:00 AM
Deputies may start arresting migrants
Daniel González / The Arizona Republic
Specially trained Maricopa County sheriff's deputies soon could begin arresting undocumented immigrants and turning them over to federal authorities for deportation under an agreement being hammered out by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and the Department of Homeland Security.
The accord, which could be finalized within days, would give deputies broad powers to combat illegal immigration in Maricopa County, usually the job of the federal government. It comes after Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio began arresting undocumented immigrants last March under a controversial interpretation of the state's anti-human-smuggling law.
Although the details are still being worked out, Arpaio did not rule out the possibility that deputies could use their expanded authority to question people about their immigration status during traffic stops and infractions as minor as "spitting on the sidewalk." advertisement
"Any time we come across an enforcement action and we find there are illegals present, then we will put our federal authority hat on and we will arrest them," Arpaio said. "I will do anything I can to fight this illegal-immigration problem, and this is one more step."
A federal official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, though, said the intent of the program is not to use the deputies for routine traffic stops, as Arpaio plans.
A new enforcement way
Arpaio is among a growing number of law enforcement officials nationwide interested in partnering with federal authorities to enforce immigration laws under a little-known program. The program is gaining popularity as local communities struggle with ways to address illegal immigration. But the trend has fueled concerns that local officers doubling as immigration agents could undermine public safety by making immigrants reluctant to report crimes. Some fear it also could lead to racial profiling and abuse.
The program was created in 1996 to help federal immigration officials identify and deport foreign nationals who pose a threat to national security or public safety.But the program didn't catch on with local law enforcement agencies until after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and then only slowly.
Until this year, only nine agencies nationwide had signed agreements with ICE to allow designated officers to enforce immigration laws. Typically, they are used only as part of special task forces that investigate gangs, smuggling networks and other criminal activity, or to help expedite the deportation of undocumented inmates from jails and prisons.
But in recent months, the program has gained favor in several communities experiencing increases in illegal immigration. At least 37 agencies in states are negotiating agreements or have asked to participate, according to ICE officials.
What Arpaio wants
Arpaio has asked for up to 160 officers to receive the training. That would give him nearly three times as many immigration-enforcement personnel than any other local agency in the country. The federal government would pay for the training and cost of detaining migrants.
Arpaio is the first law enforcement official in Arizona to seek immigration-enforcement training for patrol officers, in addition to jail staff. His office employs 870 deputies, and 1,800 jail officers. Jail officers would help expedite the deportation of undocumented criminals, while deputies would be used as part of an aggressive campaign to combat illegal immigration by arresting undocumented immigrants who commit crimes, Arpaio said.
He emphasized that deputies would not engage in racial profiling as part of their expanded authority.
"I am not going to be going on a street corner and rounding up people just because they look Mexican," Arpaio said.
Alonzo Peña, special agent in charge of ICE investigations in Arizona, confirmed that federal authorities are negotiating an agreement with Arpaio. But he seemed surprised that Arpaio plans to use deputies designated as immigration officers in such a broad scope, including possibly routine traffic stops.
"That's not the purpose of this agreement to use it in that manner," Peña said. "It's to go after gang members, smugglers, people who have committed crimes."
The training would include sections on civil rights laws and avoiding racial profiling, he added. Deputies authorized to enforce immigration laws work under the supervision of ICE agents.
Community reaction
Authorizing sheriff deputies to double as immigration agents is drawing cheers from those who support cracking down on undocumented immigrants and concern from immigrant advocates and some police. Randy Pullen, chairman of Protect Our City, pushed a ballot measure to force Phoenix police to enter a similar partnership.
Arpaio is "doing the right thing," Pullen said.
Daniel Ortega, a Phoenix lawyer who fought to keep the measure off the ballot, said he fears deputies doubling as immigration agents may sow distrust toward police in immigrant communities throughout the Valley, not just in areas covered by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. "People don't make a distinction. The police are the police," he said.
Jake Jacobsen, president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, the labor union representing 2,600 officers, said police are already too busy to take on the additional responsibility of enforcing federal immigration laws.
Some immigrant advocates are concerned that under the program, undocumented immigrants who committed crimes would be deported without being prosecuted and then re-enter the U.S., where they could commit more crimes.
"That's counterproductive," said John Trasviño, president and chief counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund.
To get what he wants, Arpaio needs approval from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, which meets Wednesday. Fulton Brock, the board's chairman, said he hasn't seen the agreement, but he supports the plan.
Some sheriffs personnel could begin their five-week training in February and be ready to begin enforcing immigration laws in March,Arpaio said. "I would think once people see our cars, they will be very scared, especially if they are illegal," he said.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0113warrants0113.html
Jan. 13, 2007 12:00 AM
Arpaio's Web site names 70,000 being sought on arrest warrants
Judi Villa / The Arizona Republic
Are you wanted by the law?
Are you sure?
You may want to check the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Web site to be sure, Sheriff Joe Arpaio says. The site lists 70,000 people with warrants for their arrest.
To see the list of wanted people, go to http://www.mcso.org/ and click on Techno-Cops.
"There are many, many people in this county who have warrants for them, and they don't know they have warrants," Arpaio said.
The online database was unveiled a year ago with the names of 30,000 fugitives wanted for various crimes, including homicide, sexual assault, DUI and drug offenses. About 500 warrants have been cleared since then, Arpaio said.
Friday, the database was increased to include all of the 70,000 open warrants in the county. Misdemeanor warrants also are included.
The database can be searched by name or ZIP code, so people can turn in their friends and neighbors.
Some warrants date to the 1970s. About 37 percent are for drug offenses. Ten percent are for moving violations.
Arpaio said he will send out his posse and deputies to track down fugitives who don't turn themselves in.
"You violate the law, you should go through the criminal justice system and pay your debt to society," he said.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070113/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/nicaragua_ortega_s_return_1
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
Fri Jan 12, 2006 @11:29 PM ET
Aleman considering alliance with Ortega
By FILADELFO ALEMAN, Associated Press Writer
MANAGUA, Nicaragua - A former ally of President Daniel Ortega said Friday that he was willing to look at forming a legislative alliance with the new leader, a move that would give the new government the majority it needs to pass laws.
In comments to reporters, former President Arnoldo Aleman left open the possibility that his Liberal Constitutionalist Party's 18 lawmakers would join with Ortega's Sandinista party, but said his party wanted to serve as a "constructive opposition."
The Sandinistas have 37 lawmakers in Congress, short of the majority needed in the 92-member house.
Also Friday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez left Nicaragua after promising a slew of aid and investment, including cash, oil under preferential terms, a refinery and factories.
Since his inauguration late Wednesday, Ortega has spent most of his two days in office shuttling Chavez around the capital and signing trade and aid packages with the Venezuelan leader. Government offices have been mostly empty, awaiting members of the new government.
Before taking office, Ortega assured officials from the U.S., once his most bitter enemy, that he would maintain ties and remain part of the regional Central American Free Trade Agreement. But none of those promises have been evident so far.
Ortega led Nicaragua throughout the 1980s after his Sandinista rebel movement pushed out dictator Anastasio Somoza. His decade in power was marred by a U.S.-led insurgency that eventually contributed to his 1990 electoral loss to Violeta Chamorro.
Since losing power, he ran for president three consecutive times, losing twice before finally claiming victory in November.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070113/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_media_1
Fri Jan 12, 2006 @9:40 PM ET
Press freedom group criticizes Chavez
CARACAS, Venezuela - The Committee to Protect Journalists criticized on Friday President Hugo Chavez's decision not to renew the broadcast license of a private TV station critical of his government.
In a joint statement, the New York-based press freedom group and the Press and Society Institute of Peru said the Chavez government lacked concrete evidence that Venezuela's RCTV channel had, as alleged, violated media responsibility laws and engaged in subversive activities.
A joint delegation of the two groups said the government had ambiguous standards for renewing licenses and had failed to give RCTV a chance to contest the charges.
RCTV President Marcel Granier has said the government's decision was meant to intimidate critical media. The station, which has more than 2,000 employees, began broadcasting in 1953, making it one of the country's oldest channels. RCTV's current license expires in May.
Members of the delegation, who met with Venezuelan officials during a week-long investigation, said they had widely varying political perspectives and their findings were not an attack on Chavez's leftist government.
Delegation members emphasized that they were not necessarily saying the government had no right to revoke broadcast licenses.
"It is not censorship not to renew a channel's concession," said Victor Navasky, a member of the Committee to Protect Journalists board and former editor of The Nation magazine.
But he said that in the absence of transparency and due process, such a move "can have a chilling effect" on other media. "The consequences are very serious," he said.
The license applies only to over-the-air broadcasting. RCTV would not be prevented from sending its signal over cable or satellite, although its president has rejected that option.
Communications Minister Willian Lara on Thursday called the Inter American Press Association an organization of "oligarchs," calling it the "Inter American Association of Exploiters."
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070113/ap_on_re_ca/canada_border_security
Fri Jan 12, 2006 @10:11 PM ET
Canada unveils border security plan
By BETH DUFF-BROWN, Associated Press Writer
WINDSOR, Ontario - Canada unveiled a major border security and prosperity initiative Friday, saying it would spend more than $368 million over the next five years to protect its border from terrorist, economic and environmental threats.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day made the announcement at the Canada-U.S. border crossing between Windsor and Detroit, where one-third of the $1.6 billion in daily trade between the North American neighbors passes.
"I even sometimes surprise my American friends when I remind them that the trade that comes across the Ambassador Bridge in total is greater than all of the trade that exists between the United States and Japan," Day told a news conference.
Security experts have long criticized the lack of security measures along Canada's side of the 4,000-mile border with the United States, particularly since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged when he was elected nearly a year ago to strengthen the frontier between the world's largest trading partners, including these new security measures and eventually arming Canada's border guards.
The bulk of the money, $337 million, is for the electronic-Manifest program, which allows for computer-automated risk assessments of cargo shipments before they reach Canada.
The 18,000 trucks that cross the U.S.-Canada border each day, as well as all railroad, air and marine cargo carriers, will eventually be required to file electronic manifests before their shipments arrive. This will allow border service agents to determine in advance whether the cargo, or those who deliver it, should be further screened.
The eManifest program will ensure that background checks on crew and risk assessments of cargo are in the hands of the Canada Border Services Agency 24 hours in advance of the arrival of shipments by sea; and several hours ahead of railroad, highway and air cargo.
The program was developed in cooperation with U.S. Department of Homeland Security and is part of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, launched in 2005 by then- Prime Minister Paul Martin, President Bush and then-Mexican President Vicente Fox.
Day would not give a precise date of when the electronic manifests would become mandatory at the 119 border crossings.
"There's still going to be that human element at the border, to look at material and talk to the driver, but the amount of time that's going to be saved is going to be significant," he said of the requirement to file electronic manifests in advance of cargo shipments.
Another $20 million has been earmarked for business leaders and emergency responders to plan for the immediate resumption of trade across the border in the event of a terrorist attack, medical pandemic or natural disaster.
Perrin Beatty, president of the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, said his and other associations would work with governments and emergency response teams on both sides of the border to stage exercises and develop protocols that would get trade moving within hours of an emergency.
"If al-Qaida can damage us, either physically or economically, they win," Beatty told the news conference, referring to Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization. "It would be foolish for us to assume that there will not be any further incidents along the border."
Another $10 million will expand the existing Partners in Protection program, a voluntary scheme in which businesses and their employees help border agents detect and prevent contraband smuggling of drugs and weapons.
_____
On the Net:
Canada Border Services Agency: http://www.cbsa.gc.ca
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.narconews.com/Issue44/article2480.html
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
January 12, 2007
Thousands Rebel Against Neoliberalism in Chiapas
Almost 13 Years After the Armed Uprising, Achievements of the Autonomous Governments Are Illustrated
By Hermann Bellinghausen / La Jornada
Oventic, Chiapas, MX. December 30, 2006: One day before the 13th anniversary of its armed uprising, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) welcomed followers from 30 countries, all adherents to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, which Lt. Colonel Moisés, in name of the “Zezta Internazional,” called “an encounter of resistances and rebellions against global capitalism and neoliberalism, which has prepared for and planned the death and destruction of humanity and the natural environment.” Or, how to prepare ourselves and continue organizing to resist and combat the “common enemy” of humanity.
“This meeting is necessary and urgent,” he added before more than 1,000 international visitors, and at least as many supporters coming from all the Zapatista autonomous regions, as well as the five good government juntas (JBG) and another 200 authorities from the autonomous municipalities in Chiapas.
With the Peoples of the World
The search for the path to “construct a better world, where all worlds fit” unites them. After declaring the commencement of this meeting of the Zapatista people with the people of the world this afternoon in the esplanade of the caracol of Oventic, Lt. Colonel Moisés added that its purpose is “to get to know each other and share the experiences of how we are organizing and pushing forward the struggles of each group, each movement, each sector and each person.” A place where the struggle of one person, and those of many, will be one struggle.
The JBG of the highland region, “the central heart of the Zapatistas before the world,” in its role as host, welcomed the participants “to our territory, which is also your home.” Today “we begin to listen to each other, about our forms of resistance against the bad governors, and thus construct alternatives for the world where those who rule, rule while obeying.”
The principal focus of the encounter, which [lasted] until January 2nd, is the detailed exposition of the governing experiences of the Zapatista communities. As such, the inaugural table gave the floor to the five JBGs, who during two hours described what it means to govern autonomously, and how the Zapatistas understand this practice.
With the spacious auditorium of the caracol completely full, the voices of indigenous men and women who govern in the Zapatista way, and who learn while teaching, were heard. “Some of us do not know how to read or write, but we know how to think,” they said. Beneath their “pasamontañas” masks, the young age of the majority was evident, those who belong to a new generation of Zapatistas; in fact, some are already products of the rebels’ autonomous education. And on this afternoon some acute and very alternative definitions of presumably established concepts were heard, concepts such as government, politics, autonomy and democratic participation.
In a markedly indigenous Spanish, Miguel, member of the JBG of Roberto Barrios, explained: “We are not paid to govern, because we are poor.” Here the ancient axiom of professor Carlos Hank González trembles, that which says “a poor politician is a bad politician,” which was taken to its grossest extreme by Salinism and Foxism. To govern the people, Miguel said, one must be like the people, “because there is no difference.” He considered that the way that power “mocks” the execution of public responsibilities, that “it doesn’t respect us.”
The Tojolobal Commander Brus Li, who coordinated the exposition of the JBGs, gave this definition: “Autonomy is a form for us to take account of ourselves,” because here “the government is other.” “We do not depend on politicians. We decide how we want our communities to work.” And this “does not exist in the neoliberal capitalist system where the government rules and the people obey.” He admitted: “when we rose up in arms we did not have this experience. There is no manual that tells how one creates government,” but the Zapatistas insisted in making sure that it “governs while proposing, not imposing.”
With growing interest and enthusiasm, the extremely varied audience continued listening to the testimonies and definitions which, despite coming from the well known Zapatista ideology based in the famous “govern while obeying,” showed a revealing vitality. “We want to be different than the bad governors, who make decisions for their own benefit,” expressed Jesús, of the JBG of Realidad. Like some of his compañeros, he admitted that it is not easy, but “the people support us and take care of our families when we leave to work” the three years that the positions last. “We’ve had successes, and also obstacles and mistakes. Weakness enters into the picture, as we are human beings, but the people have to see this and they push us to overcome it. We are proud of being autonomous.”
Roel admitted that “one of the most important challenges is the participation of women in autonomy.” The first JBG of La Realidad only had one woman. Three years later, the new junta is now composed of seven men and six women. Ofelia, from the caracol of Morelia, described the construction “of the fabric of the system of education, health care, production and appropriate technology,” and Beto, also from the JBG “rainbow of hope,” said that this type of autonomy is not listed in dictionaries, nor the constitution. “We live it in our homes, in our communities, and from there through the whole society.” As many of the Zapatistas who participate in indigenous self-government, he offered some examples of how agrarian conflicts, or cases of crime and rape that occur in autonomous territories, are resolved, contrasting them with the systematic impunity or abuse of the official justice system. “We seek dialog and agreement between the parties, and we do not confuse dialog with negotiation. The challenges “are many,” he said. “Although we can’t change the world, we struggle so that the world does not change us.”
Josefina, a Chol from the autonomous municipality of Akabalná and member of the JBG of Roberto Barrios, remembered that the elections for the first autonomous councils were held on November 19, 1994, and that with time “we have learned what we did not know; we have new struggles, new ideas.” She clearly described the hostility of paramilitaries in the northern zone and the role of the cacique bosses, in contrast to the “other government” which thousands of indigenous communities in Chiapas are putting into practice, despite the successive “betrayals” of the governments of Ernesto Zedillo and Vicente Fox. Or the case of the breaching of the San Andrés accords, signed in 1996 by a presumably drunk Secretary of the Interior, or the “15 minutes” (in which Fox said he would bring peace to Chiapas) and the pathetic indigenous law that Fox and his manic presidency will take to the tomb.
Elías, a Tzeltal of the JBG of La Garrucha, in an economic example of national sovereignty declared: “We have the right to be autonomous within this state and this country. We have the right to our own thoughts, that being indigenous makes us different from other Mexicans.” And he made clear: “We are not against the sovereignty of México, as the enemies of the people falsely declare.”
At the conclusion of the inaugural table, the New Horizon Cooperative of Guatemala, which has its origins in the guerrilla war of the 1980s in that country, shared its own experiences of government in an announcement which in the next few days will be heard here, under the auspices of those, according to Miguel from Roberto Barrios, consider that “the work of the government is to energize the people,” not the other way around, as happens on the national level.
Originally posted in Spanish January 5
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.narconews.com/Issue44/article2503.html
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
January 11, 2007
A Tranquil Day In Oaxaca
The APPO on the March Again
By Nancy Davies
“A Personal View”
So first I had to do errands. I walked past Santo Domingo. Surprise, surprise, all access is blocked with police and iron barricades. I spoke innocently with one policewoman (not helmeted, but wearing a bulletproof vest) and asked her why the barricade? For the march. No entry to the Santo Domingo area, despite church permission for the marchers. The policewoman asked me if I wanted to enter the street, and I replied, “No, thanks. It’s supposed to be intimidating to have so many police, and it is – it’s me they’re intimidating.” She replied, if you see many police, that means security. I responded, if I see many police, that means a high crime area. (I didn’t say police crime.) But isn’t it ugly?
And to that, she agreed. The whole city is uglified by the police presence. She said she’s pueblo too, and thinks Ulises Ruiz is very stupid and dangerous. I nodded, offering the traditional farewell, “May you go well,” and she returned the phrase as I headed off down the street.
What a fucking mess.
Then I entered the artisan fair nearby, where a women’s cooperative is selling handmade crafts for the tourist business. I was the only shopper. I bought two blouses, because what else can I do? Paying for them, I chatted with the woman who accepted my money, and she whispered (whispered!!) – “People listen to everything and report it!...bad people! What can we do? Nobody is here buying. Ulises is very bad,” and more of the same. I asked how Oaxaca will survive the next four years and she said simply, “I don’t know.” She put my blouses into a plastic bag, and I left. Truly, there’s nothing to say. I sometimes wonder why I don’t get into conversations with the people who love Ulises, or at least support him, but I never do. Maybe they don’t exist.
At home I shuffled through Noticias, the daily newspaper – very interesting! The headline reports that the Supreme Court of Mexico decided that it’s unconstitutional and illegal for the state representatives to vote themselves a year’s extension in office! It was also unconstitutional to vote, as their new law decreed, for a two year interim governor appointed by aforesaid legislature in 2010, when Ulises’ term ends, in order to bring the state elections into line with the federal calendar. No, no, the court said, you can’t vote yourselves the power to elect a governor, even for two years.
Also on the front page, I read about the Ulises appointment of former municipal president (mayor) of Oaxaca, Jesús Angel Díaz Ortega, as director of the Administrative Committee of the Program for the Construction of Schools. Díaz Ortega is on leave from his position as municipal president of Oaxaca city; truly I don’t know when he was last seen here. Anyway, that was on the front page and I guess the word was out some days ago, because on several pages there are advertisements congratulating Ortega. Usually they say something like “the Guzmán family deeply mourns the passing of José Bernal Garcia and sends sympathy to his family,” inside the paper. Today on pages two, three and four here are these: In a quarter page ad the first says, “Gasolinera Camaisa congratulates Jesús Angel Díaz Ortega, on being named director of the Administrative Committee of the Program for the Construction of Schools, wishing him the best of success.” Also wishing him success are Romasa (quarter page), which sells materials for construction, and the Capetillo Group (quarter page), which sells industrial construction materials.
Reading right along, I found another article on page 16A of Noticias, about the price of corn for tortillas. It seems it’s gone up. Why? According to the article, because the USA had a bad harvest year, dropping from 300 million tons in 2005 to 282 million tons in 2006, so that the price of corn to Mexico went up $3.20 per bushel. I put down the paper and went to lie down for a while.
At 4:00 PM the march for the release of the political prisoners (for which the police were on guard) was scheduled to start from the fountain at Siete Regiones, and end at the Plaza de la Danza. The sounds of the marchers shouting could be heard from on top of Fortin Hill, I was later told. I’m guess at that moment the marchers were passing at a safe distance around the Santo Domingo area. I had gone down to see the march enter the Plaza, and it was not very boisterous but still lively as dark descended, about 7:00 PM. I myself guessed that about 4,000 (and Noticias the following day, Thursday, printed 10,000) protesters and family members marched along Morelos Street, with banners demanding the release by name of the twenty prisoners still held. The march also included the spray paint boys, who managed to undo much of what Ulises has just paid for in the way of re-painting center-city buildings which in the past six months were adorned with “Ulises Fuera”, “Asesino”, “Rata”, and other such less than affectionate phrases.
I’m surprised nobody in the paint business has yet taken out a quarter page ad offering “Felicidades” to Ulises.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.narconews.com/Issue44/article2502.html
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
January 11, 2007
Health Care Organized from Below: The Zapatista Experience
Resources and Education Are Still the Main Struggles for Better Health in Zapatista Communities
By Ginna Villarreal
Special to The Narco News Bulletin
In his December 24 communiqué, Comandante Moises of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN in its Spanish acronym) invited the people of the world to the first “Encuentro de los Pueblos Zapatistas con los Pueblos del Mundo” (Meeting of the Zapatista Peoples with the Peoples of the World). He said: “We are only trying to show what we are building, with many difficulties, but also with many desires constructing another world, one in which those that command, command obeying.”
Foto: D.R. 2006 Jesús Domínguez
These meetings – held in Oventic, Chiapas December 30 to January 2 – marked the first formal sharing of experience between the five councils of good government from Zapatista communities and visitors from around the world. More than 2000 people from 48 different countries attended, according to the official registration count. The Zapatistas hosted six coordinated sessions to discuss autonomy and self-government, women’s issues, education, land and territory, art and alternative communication, as well as health.
Health care in the indigenous communities of Chiapas has long been neglected by the Mexican government.. A shortage of medical supplies and transportation, the loss of traditional medical knowledge, barriers to sexual education and the hazards of dependence on foreign aid were some of the issues raised by the five participating councils of Good Government (“Juntas de Buen Gobierno”) and visiting delegates at the December 31 session on health. The Zapatista communities have thus organized their own health care network, and called in help and resources from other organizations in solidarity throughout Mexico and the world.
Celia, a coordinator of health from the northern zone of Oventic, noted how resources from abroad have boosted autonomous health projects. Built in 1991 by local Zapatista communities with aid from foreign donors, the hospital of Guadalupe in Oventic is the pride of the local communities. Functioning without any government support, this hospital provides service to those suffering discrimination in state-run institutions. Karina, a member of the Junta de Buen Gobierno and representative in the area of health from the Caracol 1 at La Realidad, also acknowledged international investment in the health system.
Toward Ongoing Solidarity
Foto: D.R. 2006 Jesús Domínguez
The Zapatista health care system has been widely recognized nationally and internationally as having brought treatment and medicine to more rural indigenous men, women, children and elders than the government and private sector ever did. By training local “health promoters” from the ranks of the communities the effort has also excelled in preventative medicine, health education and preservation of herbal and other traditional forms of medicine. International solidarity has allowed the communities to construct clinics and purchase equipment and ambulances. But the lack of follow-up by some solidarity organizations has also stalled or suspended important projects after they were begun.
For example, during a recent visit by your correspondent to a Zapatista community in the canyons region, a local health promoter warned against developing a dependence on foreign assistance. Speaking with The Other Journalism, the health care promoter noted that modern facilities require continual investment in order to operate. The issue goes beyond one-time infusions of funds. This is the case with one small clinic in the Cañadas de Ocosingo. A plaque commemorating aid donors hangs on a wall of the one room clinic with fading paint; the pharmacy sits empty. This community, along with others in this canyon, cannot fully exploit such clinics without electricity to run refrigeration for volatile vaccinations. This is a problem that foreign aid organizations by themselves cannot solve.
The three ambulances sitting next to the Guadalupe clinic are a reminder of the disparity within Zapatista communities. Though the ambulances line up at Oventic, often they are unable to reach outlying areas. This problem was graphically illustrated during my stay at the above mentioned community. Late at night a woman seven-months pregnant arrived at the community to await transportation to the autonomous hospital at the Caracol of La Garucha to receive medical attention related to abdominal pains she was experiencing. However, the soul ambulance for the four municipalities situated 5 hours away at La Garucha never arrived. In this case, it was finally the healing knowledge of the local promoter of health, employing a natural painkiller that allowed the patient to return home the next day. Karina reminds the audience of the critical lack of medical transportation in many of the municipalities. “We had to carry our sick for days, they could not receive medical attention. This is why many of our grandparents died, trying to reach a doctor in the cities far from our communities. This experience taught us to teach ourselves and to organize for ourselves.”
Foto: D.R. 2006 Jesús Domínguez
It is exactly that traditional knowledge that is so important to the communities. In his address to the people of the world gathered at the four-day gathering at Oventic, Roel from the Caracol (municipal seat) situated in La Realidad, promotes traditional medical knowledge as a means for indigenous communities to recover control of their health care. He reminded that great wisdom is not learnt in schools or in books but “is the inheritance that has been left to us by our grandfathers and grandmothers…” The recovery of such knowledge is a central aspect of the Other Health’s emerging agenda. The use of traditional plants and practices avoids developing a culture of dependence on state or private clinics that discriminate and marginalize indigenous poor communities.
In a moment of solidarity with indigenous peoples of Chiapas, Kamahus, a speaker from the First Nations of Canada, recounted her own story of struggling to maintain traditional methods of healing and specifically her experience with ancient practices of childbirth. In her words, “the genocide of the conquest of America of the north tells a similar story of the loss of our grandmother’s knowledge in the area of midwifery. Generations of the absences of traditional midwives left her alone without someone who could accompany her as she delivered her own children by a clean stream in the mountains.” The story she told resonated with the experience of the indigenous women of Chiapas.
Dialogue and Participation Essential to Health
Representatives from the five Zapatista regions noted the importance of maintaining a continuing and open discourse on complex and sensitive subjects of sexual health. Health education, particularly sexual health, was a topic of particular interest among many of the national and international participants present. The discussions that took place, between Ingenious and non-indigenous participants, demonstrate that ideas (and not just funding and technology) flow in and out of Zapatista territory, and have influence on such issues as sexual education and women’s rights to control their own bodies.
Foto: D.R. 2006 Jesús Domínguez
One of the first questions dealt with was abortion. The response from the panel of Zapatista speakers was clearly guarded. According to a Zapatista representative on the panel, the practice of abortion is neither endorsed nor condemned in Zapatista territory, but arises in situations that are best avoided by preventative measures and education. “Women don’t practice [abortion], nor do they search it out. Moreover, it is more a matter due to the circumstances that result in spontaneous abortions.” Such a statement seems to leave the official Zapatista policy of abortion unclear. (The Zapatista Women’s Law, made public in 1994, states: “Women have the right to decide the number of children they have and care for,” but does not explicitly mention right to abortion.) Perhaps the response was somewhat due to a misinterpretation of the question, or perhaps the response was a diplomatic effort to avoid disturbing a gendered power relation. The sentiments expressed throughout the panel lays out a progressive health platform, however it is clear that some of the main hurtles to women’s health remain set by a system of patriarchy left as inheritance by a Spanish conquest. Many conferees agreed that the education and participation of women in this matter are essential to the overall health of the community.
From inside his cell at the penal de Santiaguito, Dr. Guillermo Selvas Pineda, arrested last May in the central Mexican town of Atenco as he sought an ambulance for wounded student Alexis Benhumea (1984-2006), sent a hand-written message of goodwill to the growing interest in health. As one of the first doctors to work with the insurgents in the mountains, he knows the suffering that has been experienced by Zapatista communities. He invited other doctors to join the growing number of people from outside and inside the region who are working to build an autonomous health service, one of the key political goals of the Zapatistas movement.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.hispanicprwire.com/news.php?l=in&id=7843&cha=10
January 11, 2007--
Jacquelyn Puente Joins Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute
Washington, DC--(HISPANIC PR WIRE)-- The Congressional Hispanic Leadership (CHLI) is pleased to announce Jacquelyn Puente as CHLI’s new Director of Development and Corporate Relations. In this new position, Jacquelyn will oversee CHLI’s fundraising initiatives as well the development and implementation of its corporate relations strategy. She will work with corporations around the nation interested in partnering with CHLI on public policy initiatives and research projects.
“We recognize that CHLI continues to grow and strengthen as a public policy organization. Jacquelyn’s leadership and experience will help CHLI to expand and create more opportunities that will help Hispanic communities within the United States.” said Octavio Hinojosa, CHLI Executive Director, “We look forward to working with her.”
We recognize that CHLI continues to grow and strengthen as a public policy organization. Jacquelyn’s leadership and experience will help CHLI to expand and create more opportunities that will help Hispanic communities within the United States
"I am enthusiastic about pursuing the many new avenues of support for CHLI.” said Jacquelyn Puente, “With increasing demand for strong leadership in the U.S. Hispanic and Portuguese communities, I am committed to building lasting partnerships and programs that will increase participation in the charitable and educational work, which CHLI has already established."
Prior to joining CHLI, Ms. Puente was the Manager of the National Blood Foundation, where she managed individual and institutional fundraising programs, a scientific research grants program, and multiple endowments, working extensively with the National Institutes of Health as well as pharmaceutical and biomedical corporations, blood services, hospitals and research institutions. In 2005, she was nominated for a Presidential appointment at the Treasury Department in the Office of Economic Policy, where she covered energy, trade, social insurance and healthcare. Jacquelyn graduated from American University in 2005 with a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in International Economic Policy and Russian language and Area Studies.
Established in 2003, CHLI works to promote new and alternative approaches to challenges faced by the 40 million Hispanic and Portuguese Americans living in the United States today. Through educational partnerships, leadership programs, academic seminars and other events, CHLI provides opportunities for discussion and exploration of strategic solutions for community challenges that in turn, benefit the nation as a whole. For more information on CHLI’s programs and upcoming events, please visit the website at: http://www.chli.org
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011000468.html
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Thursday, January 11, 2007; A21
Chavez Would Abolish Presidential Term Limit
'We Are Going to Deepen This Revolution,' Venezuelans Told at Swearing-In Ceremony
By Juan Forero / Washington Post Foreign Service
BOGOTA, Colombia, Jan. 10 -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, sworn in to another six-year term on Wednesday, said he would seek a constitutional amendment that could extend his tenure as he hastens his country's transformation into what he calls "21st-century socialism."
In a three-hour discourse in the National Assembly that received widespread news coverage across Latin America, Chavez promised that "we are going to radicalize this process of ours, we are going to deepen this revolution."
Invoking the mantra once issued by his mentor and ally, Fidel Castro of Cuba, Chavez said the choice for Venezuela was clear: "Fatherland, socialism or death." The ceremony was full of symbolism. Chavez wore the tricolored presidential sash on his left side, switching it from his right, a nod to his leftist leanings. And he frequently alluded to Simón Bolívar, the 19th-century independence hero he reveres, God and Jesus Christ, whom Chavez called "the greatest socialist of the people."
"I will not rest," Chavez said, his right hand raised. "I would give my life for the construction of Venezuelan socialism, for the construction of a new political, social and economic system."
The swearing-in came during an enthralling day for leftists in Latin America, where Chavez has been among several populist leaders to win election in recent years. In Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, the former guerrilla who formed an alliance with Cuba during the 1980s, returned to the presidency in a ceremony just hours after Chavez was sworn in.
All week in Caracas, Chavez has shaken markets and angered the Bush administration by promising to nationalize utilities, seek broader constitutional powers and increase the state's control of the economy. He has also frequently referred to the new, more radical phase in what he calls his revolution -- drawing comparisons with Castro's famous declaration on Dec. 2, 1961: "I am a Marxist-Leninist and will be one until the day I die."
If the theatrics are similar, however, the apparent goal is not. Chavez stresses that Venezuela will remain a democracy, and analysts do not believe his government will embark on a wholesale expropriation of companies, as Castro's government set out to do soon after taking power in 1959.
"There have been some echoes, and it's not surprising," said Wayne Smith, who was a diplomat in Cuba and now is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington. "He's a declared admirer of Castro, and while times have changed and he can talk about moving in a certain direction, let's see what he actually does. I think conditions have changed. This is not 1959."
In Wednesday's speech, Chavez said the constitution should be changed to allow the government to take control of the natural gas industry from foreign companies, which now have wide rights in the sector. Earlier this week, he said he would increase state control over four key oil production projects. Those projects, in the Orinoco Belt of northeast Venezuela, are operated by U.S. firms such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron as well as foreign multinationals Total of France and BP.
Investors are still unclear about what his nationalization plan entails. But Ricardo Sanguino, head of the finance commission in the National Assembly, told reporters Wednesday that the government would negotiate settlements with companies it plans to nationalize.
"We're not going to do anything illegal," he said. "There will always be compensation."
Chavez said the plunge in the Caracas stock exchange this week was an exaggeration and instead lauded the country's booming economy, which expanded 10 percent last year. Shares of the CANTV telephone company, which is expected to be nationalized, rebounded after Sanguino's assurances to investors. Meanwhile, the oil markets and energy companies took a wait-and-see attitude, noted David Mares, a political science professor at the University of California at San Diego who has studied the Venezuelan oil industry.
"He's announcing that he's going to do what the markets already expected him to do -- take more control of the profits of the Venezuelan production," Mares said by telephone. "He has not said that nationalization in the Orinoco means 100 percent Venezuelan ownership."
Still, the tone and substance of Chavez's recent declarations have worried many Venezuelans, opposition leaders in Caracas and rights groups. The president reiterated Wednesday that he will advance a proposal to allow him to run for reelection in 2012.
"I've proposed, and we're writing the proposal for the indefinite reelection of the president of the republic," Chavez said to applause. With all 167 members of the National Assembly in his camp, thanks to an opposition boycott of congressional elections in 2005, the measure and others proposed by Chavez are expected to pass easily.
"With the indefinite reelection and the new model he's talking about, what has been announced today is part of an era that is much harder," Ernesto Alvarenga, a founder of Chavez's movement and now an opponent, said by phone from Caracas. "I think we're definitively in a phase of Chavista hegemony," he said, using the name given to the president's followers.
After winning office in December 1998, in an election that obliterated Venezuela's two long-ruling parties, Chavez set about purging elites from office and holding referendums that led to a redrafting of the constitution and a shift in control in the National Assembly. The new constitution lengthened presidential terms and permitted reelection, and in 2000 Chavez won his first six-year term.
He has installed military officers in all levels of government and packed the Supreme Court, and now says he will end the autonomy of the Central Bank.
Chavez has also become wildly popular among the poor, who have benefited from billions of dollars in oil revenue that Chavez has spent on education, nutrition and medical programs. But critics say he plays on the most base instincts of his countrymen, benefiting from conflicts with business sectors, opposition groups and the news media. On Wednesday, he reiterated his criticism of the Roman Catholic Church, which has questioned his plan not to renew a television station license.
Chavez said that one archbishop, Roberto Luckert, is "going to hell," and he told Cardinal Jorge Urosa that the church had gone too far by meddling in state affairs. "Mr. Cardinal," Chavez said, "the state respects the church. The church should respect the state."
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/08/AR2007010801668.html
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
Tuesday, January 9, 2007; A10
Chavez Sets Plans for Nationalization
Venezuela 'Heading Toward Socialism,' President Says; More Powers Sought
By Juan Forero / Washington Post Foreign Service
BOGOTA, Colombia, Jan. 8 -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez on Monday announced plans to nationalize the country's electrical and telecommunications companies, take control of the once-independent Central Bank and seek special constitutional powers permitting him to pass economic laws by decree.
"We're heading toward socialism, and nothing and no one can prevent it," Chávez, who won a third term in a landslide election in December, said in a speech in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.
The announcements were made as the president swore in a 27-member cabinet that includes ministers who analysts say will likely be more closely allied with the president's far-reaching goals.
Those appointments, combined with the new economic measures, are sure to escalate tension with the Bush administration, which regards the Venezuelan leader as a threat to democratic institutions. Chávez's administration, in turn, has accused the United States of meddling in its affairs.
"The people of the world, little by little, are increasingly expressing that idea: no more imperialism," Jorge Rodr?guez, the new vice president and a former electoral board official, said at the ceremony Monday. "We are obligated and committed because the people have given us a clear message once and again, and that message is, we must rise up to construct a socialist country and move the Bolivarian revolution forward."
In the ceremony, marked with revolutionary fervor at the Teresa Carre?o theater, the government also announced two new ministries, for telecommunications and indigenous peoples. Since Chávez's presidency began in 1999, the number of ministries has risen from 13 and the number of public sector workers has doubled to nearly 2 million.
Political analysts said they were not surprised by the measures and the tone of Chávez's speech, because he had previously pledged to take what he describes as his "revolution" into overdrive.
Last week, Chávez decided to not renew the broadcast license of RCTV, a Caracas television station long critical of his administration. That move prompted swift condemnation from press freedom groups.
"In effect, we're living a process of radicalization," said Luis Vicente Le?n, who directs the Datanalisis polling firm. "He had announced that there would be a new stage in the production of the revolution, and here it is."
In his bid to accelerate economic reforms, Chávez said he would seek to have the National Assembly give him special powers that would permit him to approve economic laws by decree. The plan would have little or no opposition in the 167-member body, which has not had an opposition politician in its ranks since the president's foes boycotted elections in 2005.
"I move forward with my request for a revolutionary enabling law," he said. "We already have the document prepared. We are making the final revisions, and we solicit special powers."
The president also spoke about the need for Venezuela's most important oil fields, those in the Orinoco belt in the northeast, to be brought under state control. The projects in that region, which the government says contains more oil than any other patch in the world, were developed in the late 1990s by foreign multinational firms such as Exxon Mobil, BP, Chevron and Total of France.
The government has already increased taxes and royalties, but the companies continue to mine and refine. Chávez provided little detail about his plans in his speech, but he railed against the privatizations that preceded his administration -- including those in the country's huge oil sector, which exports most of its crude to the United States.
If Chávez moves forward with nationalization -- which could mean anything from outright expropriation to higher taxes or more state intervention -- it would likely affect CANTV, the dominant provider of fixed-line telephone service in Venezuela and the country's largest publicly traded company, as well as the utility Electricidad de Caracas.
Arlington, Va.-based AES Corp. has an 86 percent equity in Electricidad de Caracas, the largest private utility in Venezuela. The Venezuela operation -- five power plants serving more than 1 million customers -- is a major investment for AES. In 2005, the firm had revenue of $613 million from its Venezuela business. In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it listed the value of its plants and equipment in Venezuela at $1.85 billion.
Chávez also said Monday that the government would soon exert more control over the Central Bank, one of the few Venezuelan institutions that has shown itself to be independent of the Chávez administration. Two of the seven directors of the bank's board, including Domingo Maza Zavala, who often criticized government economic policy, are on their way out.
"The Central Bank must not be autonomous," Chávez said. "That is a neoliberal idea."
Last week, the government replaced one of Chávez's most loyal aides, José Vicente Rangel, the vice president. In an ambitious cabinet shake-up, Chávez also replaced the heads of such key ministries as interior, justice, finance and education. He appointed his brother, Adan, to run education.
"He's gotten rid of a couple of people who have their own separate identity, particularly Rangel, who has contacts in Venezuelan society and internationally," said Mark L. Schneider, a senior vice president of the International Crisis Group in Washington, a policy group that regularly compiles reports on Venezuela's political situation. "Rangel is not a yes man, I suspect, and my guess is that he may not be in tune with the way Chávez likes to run things."
+++++++++++++++++++
Staff writer Steven Mufson in Washington contributed to this report.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzapata
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
Full HTML version of stories may include photos, graphics, and related links
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
Key Aztlan News Links=
* http://www.aztlanelectronicnews.net/
* http://www.centralamericanews.com/
* http://www.eco.utexas.edu/%7Ehmcleave/chiapas95.html
* http://granmai.cubaweb.com/ingles/
* http://hispanictips.com/index.php
* http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/
* http://www.treatycouncil.org/
* http://www.mexicodaily.com/
* http://www.mylatinonews.com/
* http://www.southamericadaily.com/
* http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/
* http://www.vidaenelvalle.com/front/v-english/
* http://vivirlatino.com/
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
Liberation Now!!
+Peta-de-Aztlan+
Email= sacranative@yahoo.com
Sacramento, California, Aztlan
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
http://picasaweb.google.com/peta.aztlan/Aztlannet_News_ALBUM
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<><>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>+<>
JOIN UP! Aztlannet_News Yahoo Group
COMMENT!
Aztlannet_News Blog
CLICK!
Aztlannet Website
No comments:
Post a Comment
Be for real! Love La Raza Cosmca! Venceremos!