Kamla and the Caricom serpent, Brady fights back, OCG, red mud

BY FRANKLIN JOHNSTON





Caricom does not want Jamaicans to move freely in the islands.They don't want our homophobia, idle, lewd and violent conduct. We do not like it, why should they? The EU Directive on free movement to the UK landed in 2004 and by 2006 EU citizens were flocking to London. Trinis, Lucians, Bajans, etc, will move freely in Caricom - not us. As a group we are feared! Even the big US and UK can't cope with our offal, and to our chagrin they deport us daily! Caricom works well as friend, coordinator - CCJ, negotiations and "fluffy" things - not growth.

Caricom is becoming a beggar brand - lots of chat, jobs for old boys, no help for our economy or poverty. The core market is small, distant, and as we have half its people and debt we can sink it! Do the maths. We are a big market for them, they are a small market for us. Will the advocates say how CSME will help us? Can we entrust CSME with our economic future? No! We know little of CSME. Will chairman Bruce publish the accounts now? Caricom is not transparent - there's no freedom of information and CSME is flawed. What works in Europe may not work here. Caricom needs a "root and branch" review of all operations, structures, governance and the 1962 and 1973 premises which underpin it. We need to see figures before we cough up more money. We invested 38 years and billions. Where has the money gone?

What's with Minister Tufton and the JMA? Why lobby PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar to make Trinis pay 10 times what they now pay for energy so JMA can export there? What if Kamla asked Bruce to put up the water bill so she can sell us some? The iniquitous light bills we hate, we want Kamla to lay on Trinis! This would raise energy and all other prices for Trinis! A wicked, grudgeful, badminded and stupid act; she must raise prices for her people so we can make a profit! The real politics of poverty - we won't rise to the challenge, so we try to bring Trinis down to suffer with us - voila, we are equal! Is this unity? Friendship? No! We must stop whingeing. Get productivity up, costs down, or lobby Bruce to forgo the same revenue that Kamla forgoes to give her people a break. They see our true colours! Screw Trinis so we can get ahead - I weep for CSME! Scotland gets benefits from its North Sea gas. No UK or EU member protests. It's their gas. Scottish patriots even want to cut ties so they can get the full benefit for their people. Will T&T leave CSME? With friends like us they need no enemies! Tufton and the JMA must lobby the US and UK to raise energy prices for their citizens; tell China to pay workers a living wage so we can compete with them? "Duppy know who to frighten!" Kamla, as a UWI graduate, educator and lawyer, please "run dem bwoy" and let them know "Jancro chrisen 'im pickney firs'!" Selah!

The Maastricht treaty in 1992 took the EU to its present state. CSME will introduce EU-type controls by stealth, but it does not have the frisson of contiguous states, unity in war or wealth to make it work. EU law is superior to its members' laws via the issue of Regulations - binding and applicable with no variation; Directives - the local law must be changed in a given time and its Court of Justice - rulings are binding on individuals and countries. We had the CCJ, now the Council of Ambassadors; we are getting there.

Last week saw Directives to the UK that all EU citizens must have equal rights to housing, health care, employment and benefits in the UK as UK citizens. This will cost UK taxpayers a bomb and new Directives arrive every day. France is told not to deport Roma (gypsies) despite their disruptive behaviour! Can you imagine CSME ordering us not to deport Haitians or to give them free housing and other benefits? Or direct T&T to raise fuel prices to its citizens so Jamaicans can profit? Riot and revolution! CSME is taking supra national control by stealth and we must stop them. CSME is good politics but bad economics. The EU Directive on caged birds in the UK means farmers must buy new "enriched cages" by 2012 to give hens more space - a multi-million pound sterling investment. English eggs will cost more and they can do nothing. CSME must not be allowed to restrict, impair, pre-empt, limit, dictate or control any aspect of our economy. It is a power trip and a trough of foreign loans and grants. What is our share of Caricom debt? Will Governor Wynter tell us? More anon. My Caricom whistleblower is fearful. CSME's agenda is control, not growth. Does it have top business brains as Gordon Shirley's? No! We must vet the new secretary general; if a businessman, we have hope; an international or local civil servant and its politics! Our economic future still lies with our Greater Antilles neighbours whose markets are close and 10 times larger than Caricom's.

OCG: The "politics plot" to erode the OCG's credibility is being played out slowly but relentlessly. I admire the DPP, yet she gave comfort to the plotters by being triumphalist rather than demure and professional. Tufton and his PS know better. The wrongheaded media think it's a contest. Their duties are different. OCG proposes and the DPP decides if the three "horse-taring man dem" with big lawyers should be jailed! Can you tell your bank you made a "genuine mistake" when you get papers, discuss them and sign them under oath with a JP? Wow! Boys, put on your "dunce cap" and sit in the corner!

BRADY: The Brady letter says who met Bruce, when, where, the brief, the money part and who told whom to hide the role of government. Brady is a heavyweight and can win but he will settle and save their skins! At least we know the truth.

RED MUD. I hope ODPEM is in Hungary to help and learn from the spill of bauxite offal. This toxic soup destroyed villages, killed people, spread its poison and they are now detoxing all tributaries into the Danube. The CEO of Mal Zrt, the bauxite firm, was also arrested. What a "prekeh"! Are there lessons for us? Stay conscious!

Dr Franklin Johnston is an international project manager with Teape-Johnston Consultants currently on assignment in the UK. franklinjohnston@hotmail.com

October 15, 2010

jamaicaobserver

Bahamas Blog International

My annual Columbus Day tribute

By Anthony L Hall


In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. When he landed he must’ve thought, phew. But where he landed, he hardly knew….

Of course, he thought he had landed in “the Indies”; so, in typical European (imperial) fashion, he named the (Caribbean) natives he met (er, I’m sorry, “discovered”) ashore “Indians”. The rest, as we say, is HIStory.

“They would make fine servants … With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” (Medieval Sourcebook)

This entry from Columbus’s own journal shows what he intended to do from the outset with the hospitable and unsuspecting Tainos who greeted him upon his arrival. It’s only one of the many reasons why eminent historians are finally beginning to cast a critical, if not accusatory, eye at the hagiography his voyages have enjoyed throughout history.

Here, for example, is how Howard Zinn frames this corrected version of history in A People’s History of the United States 1492-Present:

“To emphasize the heroism of Columbus and his successors as navigators and discoverers, and to de-emphasize their genocide, is not a technical necessity but an ideological choice. It serves -- unwittingly -- to justify what was done… The easy acceptance of atrocities as a deplorable but necessary price to pay for progress (Hiroshima and Vietnam, to save Western civilization; Kronstadt and Hungary, to save socialism; nuclear proliferation, to save us all) -- that is still with us.”

All the same, Americans have been celebrating Columbus Day for centuries. Yet it wasn’t until 1971 that the US Congress declared the second Monday in October a federal holiday in honor of this sea-faring Italian.

Many other countries throughout the Americas, most notably here in the Caribbean, mark a similar holiday in his name. But a few of us just consider him a glorified pirate -- with apologies to Blackbeard … and to Captain Jack Sparrow.

October 15, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

The vulnerability of small states in the Commonwealth Caribbean

By Ian Francis



The vulnerability of small Caribbean states was first raised at the 1979 Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference in Lusaka, Zambia, by former prime minister of Grenada, Maurice Bishop. This matter had received overwhelming support from countries such as Australia, Canada, Guyana, Jamaica and a host of other Commonwealth nations at the conference.

So impressed by Grenada’s vision on this issue, then President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia was in the process of planning a state visit to the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and immediately made the decision to include Grenada on his list for a state visit.

President Kaunda’s visit to Grenada came approximately six months after the March 13th revolution and, with the assistance of the protocol machinery from the Guyana Ministry of Foreign Affairs, President Kaunda visited Grenada and was deeply touched by the welcome he received. Though late, both former Prime Minister Forbes Burnham and Foreign Affairs Minister Rashleigh Jackson must be recognized for the role played by these two outstanding regionalists.

The recent government of Grenada saga with Taiwan’s Sewang, One World affair could have been avoided if the nation’s elected and appointed representatives were fully conversant with Taiwanese foreign policy tactics and desire in the Caribbean Commonwealth. It is not a hidden fact that Taiwan’s pursuit to secure a diplomatic beachhead in the region is waning, with mainland China forging ahead on its diplomatic, cultural and economic ties. This being the case, Taiwan will leave no stone unturned in order to compete with the mainland in the region.

It is quite evident that the state of Grenada had an established relationship with the Sewang Group dating back to 1993.During this period, Grenada and Taiwan had very strong diplomatic relations and Grenada was always seen as a regional Taiwanese base from which the Taiwanese conducted their diplomatic and other tactics to undermine mainland China.

Therefore, it was not surprising to see the signature of former Deputy Prime Minister Gregory Bowen on correspondence between Sewang and the government of Grenada that addressed potential private sector investments.

The recent contact by representatives of this pariah group with appointed and elected officials of the current government and the signing of a memorandum of understanding attest to the ongoing saga that has now erupted into close scrutiny and the attention of the Grenada public.

The memoranda of understanding (MOU) signed between the Taiwanese pariahs and the government of Grenada seems to be merely a document that expresses a convergence of will between two parties and outlines a plan of action for the future. It is abundantly clear that the MOU(s) currently being referred to are not a binding contractual agreement(s), although there are clear indications that the current government of Tillman Thomas was under the impression that things can happen “in the future”.

As a senior foreign service officer lamented, “It is shameful and embarrassing because officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were not consulted. The MOF could have told Finance to tread cautiously due to our diplomatic relations with mainland China.”

With all of the above, these past and current situations stem from the ongoing vulnerability of small states like Grenada. Like many other small states in the global community, they are stricken with national debts; there is growing pressure and expectation of the population for the state to deal the socio-economic factors of its population and one of the key platforms for national development in these states is Foreign Investment.

Investment players are fully aware of these pressures and, given their deceitful and dishonest skills, they prey and pounce on small states, especially within the Caribbean Commonwealth, knowing full well of their vulnerability and the existing lack of appropriate tools that can be applied to weed out these global pariahs.

Dating back to 1967, shortly after statehood was granted by the United Kingdom and the election of the Grenada United Labour Party under Eric Gairy, many global pariahs arrived and offered all forms of goodies, which were never delivered. Similar occurrences took place during the ill-fated People’s Revolutionary Government of 1979-83. Unfortunately, many of the duped stories were not publicized due to the control of the media at the time.

The saga continued under the various coalition governments led by Blaize, Braithwaite and Brizan. While many of the foreign investor fallacies under these leaders were not published or exposed, sources that were close to these administrations have indicated that global pariahs were active but nothing materialized.

It is quite obvious that under the NNP-led administration, the situation became more atrophic, during which time the global pariahs extracted government guarantees at some local financial institutions and acquisition of prime properties. These situations occurred all under the desire of national development through foreign investment to address local socio-economic ills.

The recently elected Tillman Thomas administration continues to face such a dilemma and might have gone a little further to demonstrate to the population that they can get things better done than their predecessors. Hence, the Sewang One World affair has returned to haunt the current administration.

In my opinion, the Sewang World affair should be a further lesson to Caribbean Commonwealth nations. The advent of new technology tools which are being applied throughout the global community gives rise to additional schemes to which our vulnerable nations and people can become victims.

There are many across the global environment whose desire and exploration to prey on vulnerable small states are evident, they are quite skillful in locating and identifying local people with close political connections as their representatives.

Government officials must become more aware and develop the necessary transparent tools to circumvent and expose those who seek to exploit the situation.

Ian Francis resides in Toronto and writes frequently on Caribbean affairs. He was a former Assistant Secretary in the Grenada Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

October 13, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Nuclear terrorism in Venezuela - a new security threat for Latin and the Caribbean

By Rebecca Theodore



If the notion of terrorist organizations using nuclear weapons, especially suitcase nukes, is a threat to American rhetoric and culture, then it is evident that Chávez’s anti-US rhetoric and support for Iran's nuclear program heighten concerns about Venezuela's pursuit of nuclear power in Latin and South America and seepage into the Caribbean as well.

While it may be true that the Treaty of Tlatelolco prohibits the possession of nuclear weapons in the Caribbean and Latin and South America, and any move taken by Venezuela to pursue nuclear weapons would go against existing international law, it must be remembered that the doctrine of ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’ still prevails in the promiscuous bedchambers of politics. The birth of a nuclear-armed revolutionary troublemaker in the United States’ own backyard thus empowers Iran’s strategic interests in its quest for nuclear supremacy.

In response to critics who claim that it was nuclear weapons that changed the course of conventional warfare since the advent of World War II, that radiation sources treat disease in humans and medical products such as syringes, intravenous tubings and catheters are all composed of radiation materials, on the other side of the dubious coin, the risk of nuclear reactors far outweigh the consequences, as terrorism radioactive materials could make terrorists inclined to attack nuclear reactors, disrupt critical inputs, i.e. water supply for the safe running of a nuclear reactor.

Combined with theft of nuclear waste, the acquisition and fabrication of fissile material for nuclear bomb and complete takeover of nuclear-armed submarines, planes or bases, the presence of nuclear terrorism in Venezuela becomes a serious security problem for Latin and South American and Caribbean nations.

Associated Press reports lend credibility to the idea that Venezuela is interested specifically in nuclear weapons and not just civilian nuclear. The recent seizure of containers by Turkish authorities going to Venezuela from Iran labeled “tractor parts” which, according to one Turkish official, "was enough to set up an explosives lab” is evidence enough to indicate that Chavez is indeed seeking nuclear offensive weapons.

While there is no reason to doubt the sincerity of Chavez’s political and economic reform pledges to give the poor a greater share of the country's oil wealth, the idea of developing his own indigenous nuclear infrastructure should also be closely monitored, as not only is there compelling evidence that Venezuela’s government and banks, with the help of the Ahmadinejad government and Iranian shell companies, are providing Iran with uranium mined in southeastern Venezuela; but Moscow’s assistance in training nuclear scientists and helping Caracas with the construction of several nuclear power plants should hasten security concerns for Latin and South America and Caribbean states.

In this light, Chavez’s fanaticism should not only be looked at as the pursuit of an aggressive foreign policy in Venezuela, or the attraction and attention for international recognition as a major regional (global) player but as a grave part of a campaign of military offensive power.

Although Chávez' reform program was aimed at redistributing the benefits of Venezuela's oil wealth to the lower socio-economic groups by using it to fund programs such as health care and education, it is clear that it has taken a different turn with its development of neighborhood militias, modeled after Cuba's Communist apparatus, garnering support of more South American countries for the cause of liberation from American imperialism and imploring Iran’s help for ballistic missiles in exchange for oil -- a blatant violation of United Nations Security Council's economic sanctions and a total insult to international law.

While European and American leaders can use the tool of crippling sanctions to stall and reverse Iran's pursuit of nuclear activity, this is not the case for Venezuela because in Venezuela there is no lack of oil resources. The country has sufficient reserves based on current production estimates, to last more than a century. Therefore, Venezuela is not using this tactic to attain economic and trade benefits as Chavez’s vitriolic diatribes about nuclear weapons are aimed at increasing his own narcissistic and egoistical ambitions and counterbalancing US influence in the Caribbean and Latin and South America.

It follows that, if the first step in the mitigation of nuclear terrorism is the serious and rapid effort to build intelligence capabilities, then regular monitoring of ports in Venezuela must be intensified since Caribbean ports are absorbent and, geographically speaking, Caribbean islands such as Trinidad and Tobago, Curacao, Aruba and the leeward Antilles lie near the Venezuelan coast, thereby making Venezuela as much a Caribbean country as it is a South American one.

Evidence suggests that South America is now a hideout and breeding ground for the world’s most dangerous terrorist organizations, including al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas. Pockets of South America, including areas in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, hostile to US ideologies, are rapidly becoming launching pads from which the world’s most lethal anti-American entities could strike immense havoc to Latin and South American and Caribbean states.

Added charges that Iran-backed Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon setting up cells in Latin America and Venezuela issuing permits that allow Iranian residents to travel freely in South America and the rest of the Caribbean should arouse concern to intelligence officials in the US and the Caribbean basin as a direct security threat is now in effect.

It is also worth noting that the nature and motivations of terrorism has changed since the fatal morn of 911. The growing numbers of nuclear smugglers, Soviet bloc military and intelligence personnel in Latin America peddling their trade, and the constant disappearance of enriched uranium from sites where they were produced and stored should cause security alarms because the availability of fissile material in the hands of lunatics, even at the high prices that it is offered today can transform the desire for nuclear weapons into a short order notice, propelling our imaginations back to Khrushchev’s long range missiles in Cuba or Pyongyang’s link in the daisy chain.

The Obama administration’s utopian ideals for a world of peace and security without nuclear weapons lag in the distance if Venezuela’s nuclear ambitions are not taken into account. The presence of nuclear terrorism in Venezuela opens the floodgates for the need for real security arrangements to ensure the security and stability of Latin and South American and Caribbean states.

October 11, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Consensus, not conflict, is the key for Rafael Correa

By David Roberts




Following last week's attempted "coup" in Ecuador (we use the speech marks because it is far from clear if the protest over bonuses by some disgruntled sections of the military and police ever seriously threatened, or was even intended to bring down the government, and President Rafael Correa's claim that he was "kidnapped" in a hospital and threatened with death seems dubious to say the least) some fear the left-leaning leader may be inclined to clamp down on the opposition and impose a more radical and/or authoritarian form of government similar to what Hugo Chavez did in Venezuela after the coup attempt there in 2002.



The initial signs are not so positive, with Ecuador's foreign minister Ricardo Patiño saying "what we can expect after an episode like this is the radicalization, the strengthening of the revolution." If Correa does take that path, using the coup attempt as a pretext, it would be a big mistake. Although considered a close ally of Chavez, along with Evo Morales in Bolivia and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, the Ecuadorian president has to date governed in a much less confrontational manner than the Venezuelan leader. What Latin America needs less of is the kind of polarization of society seen in Venezuela, and one thing the region needs more of is stronger democratic institutions, the need for which is evidenced by the eroding of certain democratic freedoms in Venezuela (for example the closure of opposition TV channels), and events like last year's coup in Honduras and last week's unrest in Ecuador.



Leaders such as Chavez, Morales, Ortega and to a certain extent Correa - who has actually overseen a fair degree of stability in what is a notoriously volatile country - need to realize that once in office, a government has to be the government of all the people, and not just those who voted that government into power, or the factions who support it. Consensus, not confrontation, is the key to good government. As Brazil's outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told Morales last year in explaining his own success:



"Evo, the political lesson and the lesson for life here is important. I don't govern only for the poor or the workers. They're my priority, but I govern for all the people."



But given the history of political instability in Ecuador, and realizing how fragile his own situation is, hopefully Correa will be wise enough to tread carefully and avoid excessive confrontation, despite his own inclinations. Since the protests, his government has announced pay rises for the police and military, albeit claiming the move was not related to last week's incidents.



Which brings us conveniently to Brazil, where Dilma Rousseff looks set to continue along a similar road to that taken by Lula in his two terms in office, assuming she wins the presidential run-off vote at the end of October. Whether she will enjoy the success that Lula has had, both in terms of the domestic economy and positioning Brazil on the world stage, obviously remains to be seen. The odds, however, must weigh heavily in Rousseff's favor given the solid base that Lula - once considered a leftist hothead himself - has laid and the positive forecasts for Brazil's economy, buoyed further by the healthy majority she is expected to enjoy in congress.



But Rousseff's Brazil will, of course, face massive challenges, such as in the areas of infrastructure (especially with the World Cup and Olympics coming up), in tackling corruption, in reducing further the unacceptably high poverty rate and in improving wealth distribution.

bnamericas

Bahamas Blog Internaional

Piedad Córdoba and her battle for peace

Reflections of Fidel

(Taken from CubaDebate)

THREE days ago the news was made public that the Attorney General of Colombia, Alejandro Ordóñez Maldonado, had removed the eminent Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba from her post and barred her from political office for 18 years, because of her alleged promotion of and collaboration with the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). Faced with such an unusual and drastic measure against the holder of an elected post in the highest institution of the state, she has no alternative other than to have recourse to the very attorney general who engendered the measure.

It was logical that such an arbitrary act would provoke strong condemnation, expressed by the most diverse political figures, among them, ex-prisoners of the FARC and relatives of those liberated on account of the senator’s efforts, former presidential candidates, people who held that high office, and others who were, or are, senators or members of the legislative power.

Piedad Córdoba is an intelligent and courageous person, a brilliant speaker, whose thinking is well articulated. A few weeks ago she visited us in the company of other outstanding figures, among them a Jesuit priest of notable honesty. They came inspired by a profound desire to seek peace for their country and asked for the cooperation of Cuba, recalling that, for years, and at the request of the Colombian government itself, we offered our territory and our cooperation for meetings between representatives of the Colombian government and the ELN that took place in the capital of our country.

However, the decision taken by the attorney general, which obeys the official policy of that country virtually occupied by yanki troops, does not surprise me.

I do not like to beat around the bush, and I will say what I think. Just one week ago, the general debates of the 65th Session of the United Nations General Assembly were about to begin. For three days, the painful objectives of the Millennium Development Goals had been discussed, and on Thursday, September 23, the General Assembly session opened, with the participation of heads of state or high-ranking representatives from each member country. The first to speak, as customary, would be the UN Secretary General and, immediately after, the president of the United States, the host country of the organization and apparent master of the world. The session began at 9:00 a.m. Logically, I was interested in what the illustrious Barack Obama, Nobel Peace Prize winner, would have to say, as soon as Ban Ki-moon had concluded. I ingenuously imagined that CNN en español or in English would broadcast Obama’s generally brief speech. It was in that way that I heard the debates among aspirants to that office two years ago in Las Vegas.

The hour arrived, the minutes passed and CNN was presenting apparently spectacular news of the death of a Colombian guerrilla chief. This was important, but not of special significance. I remained interested to find out what Obama was saying about the extremely grave problems that the world is confronting.

Is the situation of the planet one that both of them are taking us for fools and making the Assembly wait? I asked for CNN in English to be put on the other television and, not a word about the Assembly. So, what was CNN talking about? A news roundup was on and I waited until what it was broadcasting about Colombia was over. But 10, 20, 30 minutes went by and it continued with the same thing. It reported incidents of a colossal battle being waged, or that had been waged, in Colombia, the future of the continent was going to depend on it, according to what one could deduce from the words and style of the newscaster’s story. Full-color footage of the death of Víctor Julio Suárez Rojas, alias Jorge Briceño Suárez o "Mono Jojoy." It is the fiercest blow received by the FARC, the speaker confirmed, exceeding the death of Manuel Marulanda and of Raúl Reyes put together. A devastating action, he affirmed. What could be deduced was that a spectacular battle had taken place involving 30 fighter planes, 27 helicopters, and complete battalions of select troops engaged in fierce fighting.

Really, something more than the battles of Carabobo, Pichincha and Ayacucho rolled together. With my old experience in these kinds of combat, I could not imagine such a battle in a forested and remote region of Colombia. The out-of-the-ordinary action was spiced up with images of all kinds, old and new, of the rebel comandante. For the CNN newscaster, Alfonso Cano, who replaced Marulanda, was a university intellectual who did not enjoy the support of the combatants; the real chief had died. The FARC would have to surrender.

Let’s speak clearly. The news referring to the famous battle that resulted in the death of the comandante of the FARC – a Colombian revolutionary movement that emerged more than 50 years ago after the death of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, assassinated by the oligarchy – and the removal from office of Piedad Córdoba, are very far from bringing peace to Colombia; on the contrary, they could accelerate revolutionary changes in that country.

I imagine that more than a few Colombian soldiers are embarrassed about the grotesque versions of the alleged battle in which Comandante Jorge Briceño Suárez died. In the first place, there was no fighting whatsoever. It was a crude and disgraceful assassination. Admiral Edgar Cely, perhaps embarrassed at the war report with which the official authority announced the news and other obscure versions, stated: "Jorge Briceño, alias ‘Mono Jojoy’, died from being crushed when… the building in which he was hidden in the selva fell in on him." "’What we know is that he died from being crushed, his bunker fell in on him,’ […] ‘it is not true that he was shot in the head.’" That is what he informed the Caracol Radio station, according to the U.S. AP news agency.

The operation was given the biblical name "Sodom," one of the two cities castigated because of its sinners, a deluge of fire and sulfur rained down on it.

The most serious part is what has not been told, and which everyone already knows, because the yankis themselves have made it public.

The government of the United States supplied its ally with more than 30 smart bombs. A GPS was installed in the boots that they gave the guerrilla chief. Guided by that instrument, the programmed bombs exploded in the camp where Jorge Briceño was located.

Why not explain the truth to the world? Why did they suggest a battle that never took place?

I have observed other shameful events via television. The president of the United States gave Uribe an effusive welcome in Washington, and supported him by offering classes on "democracy" in a U.S. university.

Uribe was one of the principal creators of the paramilitary structure, whose members are responsible for the increase in drug trafficking and the death of tens of thousands of people. It was with Barack Obama that Uribe signed the handover of seven military bases and, virtually, in any part of Colombian territory, for the installation of the men and equipment of the yanki armed forces. The country is full of clandestine cemeteries. Through Ban Ki-Moon, Obama granted Uribe immunity by appointing him no less than vice president of the commission investigating the attack on the flotilla transporting aid to the blockaded Palestinians in Gaza.

In the final days of his presidency, the operation utilizing the GPS in the new boots that the Colombian guerrilla needed was already prepared.

When the new president of Colombia traveled to the United States to speak in the General Assembly, he knew that the operation was underway, and when Obama heard of the news of the guerrilla’s assassination, he effusively embraced Santos.

I ask myself if, on that occasion, something was said about the implementation of the decision by the Colombian Senate to declare illegal Uribe’s authorization for establishing yanki military bases there. The gross assassination was supported by them.

I have criticized the FARC. In a Reflection I publicly stated my disagreement with the holding of prisoners of war and the sacrifice for them implied by the harsh conditions of life in the selva. I explained the reasons and the experience acquired in our struggle.

I was critical of the strategic concepts of the Colombian guerrilla movement. But I never refuted the revolutionary nature of the FARC.

I considered and consider that Marulanda was one of the most outstanding Colombian and Latin American guerrillas. When the names of many mediocre politicians have been forgotten, the name of Marulanda will be acknowledged as one of the most dignified and worthy fighters for the wellbeing of the campesinos, the workers and the poor of Latin America.

The prestige and moral authority of Piedad Córdoba has multiplied.



Fidel Castro Ruz

September 30, 2010

11:36 a.m.

granma.cu

Bahamas Blog International

Behind the Coup in Ecuador: The Attack on ALBA

The latest coup attempt against one of the countries in the Bolivarian Alliance For The People of Our America (ALBA) is an attempt to impede Latin American integration and the advance of revolutionary democratic processes. The rightwing is on the attack in Latin America. Its success in 2009 in Honduras against the government of Manuel Zelaya energized it and gave it the strength and confidence to strike again against the people and revolutionary governments in Latin America.

The elections of Sunday, September 26th in Venezuela, while victorious for the Venezuelan United Socialist Party (PSUV), also ceded space to the most reactionary and dangerous destabilizing forces at the service of imperial interests. The United States managed to situate key elements in the Venezuelan National Assembly, giving them a platform to move forward with their conspiratorial schemes to undermine Venezuelan democracy.

The day after the elections in Venezuela, the main advocate for peace in Colombia, Piedad Córdoba, was dismissed as a Senator in the Republic of Colombia, by Colombia’s Inspector General, on the basis of falsified evidence and accusations. But the attack against Senator Córdoba is a symbol of the attack against progressive forces in Colombia who seek true and peaceful solutions to the war in which they have been living for more than 60 years.

And now, Thursday, September 30th, was the dawn of a coup d’etat in Ecuador. Insubordinate police took over a number of facilities in the capital of Quito, creating chaos and panic in the country. Supposedly, they were protesting against a new law approved by the National Assembly on Wednesday, which according to them reduced labor benefits.

In an attempt to resolve the situation, President Rafael Correa went to meet with the rebellious police but was attacked with heavy objects and teargas, causing a wound on his leg and teargas asphyxiation. He was taken to a military hospital in Quito, where he was later kidnapped and held against his will, prevented from leaving.

Meanwhile, popular movements took to the streets of Quito, demanding the liberation of their President, democratically re-elected the previous year by a huge majority. Thousands of Ecuadorans raised their voices in support of President Correa, trying to rescue their democracy from the hands of coup-plotters who were looking to provoke the forced resignation of the national government.

In a dramatic development, President Correa was rescued in an operation by Special Forces from the Ecuadoran military in the late evening hours. Correa denounced his kidnapping by the coup-plotting police and laid responsibility for the coup d’etat directly upon former President, Lucio Gutiérrez. Gutiérrez was a presidential candidate in 2009 against President Correa, and lost in a landslide when more than 55% voted for Correa.

During today’s events, Lucio Gutiérrez declared in an interview, “The end of Correa’s tyranny is at hand,” also asking for the “dissolution of Parliament and a call for early presidential elections.”

But beyond the key role played by Gutiérrez, there are external factors involved in this attempted coup d’etat that are moving their pieces once again.

Infiltration of the Police

According to journalist Jean-Guy Allard, an official report from Ecuador’s Defense Minister, Javier Ponce, distributed in October of 2008 revealed “how US diplomats dedicated themselves to corrupting the police and the Armed Forces.”

The report confirmed that police units “maintain an informal economic dependence on the United States, for the payment of informants, training, equipment and operations.”

In response to the report, US Ambassador in Ecuador, Heather Hodges, justified the collaboration, saying “We work with the government of Ecuador, with the military and with the police, on objectives that are very important for security.” According to Hodges, the work with Ecuador’s security forces is related to the “fight against drug trafficking.”

The Ambassador

Ambassador Hodges was sent to Ecuador in 2008 by then President George W. Bush. Previously she successfully headed up the embassy in Moldova, a socialist country formerly part of the Soviet Union. She left Moldova sowing the seeds for a “colored revolution” that took place, unsuccessfully, in April of 2009 against the majority communist party elected to parliament.

Hodges headed the Office of Cuban Affairs within the US State Department in 1991, as its Deputy Director. The department was dedicated to the promotion of destabilization in Cuba. Two years later she was sent to Nicaragua in order to consolidate the administration of Violeta Chamorro, the president selected by the United States following the dirty war against the Sandinista government, which led to its exit from power in 1989.

When Bush sent her to Ecuador, it was with the intention of sowing destabilization against Correa, in case the Ecuadoran president refused to subordinate himself to Washington’s agenda. Hodges managed to increase the budget for USAID and the NED [National Endowment for Democracy] directed toward social organizations and political groups that promote US interests, including within the indigenous sector.

In the face of President Correa’s re-election in 2009, based on a new constitution approved in 2008 by a resounding majority of men and women in Ecuador, the Ambassador began to foment destabilization.

USAID

Certain progressive social groups have expressed their discontent with the policies of the Correa government. There is no doubt that legitimate complaints and grievances against his government exist. Not all groups and organizations in opposition to Correa’s policies are imperial agents. But a sector among them does exist which receives financing and guidelines in order to provoke destabilizing situations in the country that go beyond the natural expressions of criticism and opposition to a government.

In 2010, the State Department increased USAID’s budget in Ecuador to more than $38 million dollars. In the most recent years, a total of $5,640,000 in funds were invested in the work of “decentralization” in the country. One of the main executors of USAID’s programs in Ecuador is the same enterprise that operates with the rightwing in Bolivia: Chemonics, Inc. At the same time, NED issued a grant of $125,806 to the Center for Private Enterprise (CIPE) to promote free trade treaties, globalization, and regional autonomy through Ecuadoran radio, television and newspapers, along with the Ecuadoran Institute of Economic Policy.

Organizations in Ecuador such as Participación Ciudadana and Pro-justicia [Citizen Participation and Pro-Justice], as well as members and sectors of CODEMPE, Pachakutik, CONAIE, the Corporación Empresarial Indígena del Ecuador [Indigenous Enterprise Corporation of Ecuador] and Fundación Qellkaj [Qellkaj Foundation] have had USAID and NED funds at their disposal.

During the events of September 30 in Ecuador, one of the groups receiving USAID and NED financing, Pachakutik, sent out a press release backing the coup-plotting police and demanding the resignation of President Correa, holding him responsible for what was taking place. The group even went so far as to accuse him of a “dictatorial attitude.” Pachakutik entered into a political alliance with Lucio Gutiérrez in 2002 and its links with the former president are well known:

“PACHAKUTIK ASKS PRESIDENT CORREA TO RESIGN AND CALLS FOR THE FORMING OF A SINGLE NATIONAL FRONT

Press Release 141

In the face of the serious political turmoil and internal crisis generated by the dictatorial attitude of President Rafael Correa, who has violated the rights of public servants as well as society, the head of the Pachakutik Movement, Cléver Jiménez, called on the indigenous movement, social movements and democratic political organizations to form a single national front to demand the exit of President Correa, under the guidelines established by Article 130, Number 2 of the Constitution, which says: “The National Assembly will dismiss the President of the Republic in the following cases: 2) For serious political crisis and domestic turmoil.”

Jiménez backed the struggle of the country’s public servants, including the police troops who have mobilized against the regime’s authoritarian policies which are an attempt to eliminate acquired labor rights. The situation of the police and members of the Armed Forces should be understood as a just action by public servants, whose rights have been made vulnerable.

This afternoon, Pachakutik is calling on all organizations within the indigenous movement, workers, democratic men and women to build unity and prepare new actions to reject Correa’s authoritarianism, in defense of the rights and guarantees of all Ecuadorans.

Press Secretary

PACHAKUTIK BLOQUE”

The script used in Venezuela and Honduras repeats itself. They try to hold the President and the government responsible for the “coup,” later forcing their exit from power. The coup against Ecuador is the next phase in the permanent aggression against ALBA and revolutionary movements in the region.

The Ecuadoran people remain mobilized in their rejection of the coup attempt, while progressive forces in the region have come together to express their solidarity and support of President Correa and his government.

Source: Chavez Code

October 6th 2010

venezuelanalysis

Bahamas Blog International