107 replies to this topic

[caltrek]

^^^While Nicaragua is generally perceived (by myself at least) as being a very progressive minded country, any sort of government repression is rightfully worthy of condemnation. 

 

Meanwhile, over in Ecuador:

 

Top Ecuador Court Upholds $9 Billion Ruling Against Chevron

 

Entire article:

 

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador’s highest court has upheld a $9.5 billion judgment against oil giant Chevron for decades of rainforest damage that harmed indigenous people.

 

Plaintiffs celebrated the constitutional court’s decision announced Tuesday night by saying it leaves no doubt about their right to receive compensation for oil spills that contaminated groundwater in indigenous communities in the Amazon.

 

But the ruling is largely symbolic as Chevron no longer operates in the South American country. That means Ecuador’s government will have to pursue assets owned by the San Ramon, California-based company in foreign courts, where it so far has had little luck.

 

Chevron had long argued that a 1998 agreement Texaco signed with Ecuador after a $40 million cleanup absolves it of liability. Chevron bought Texaco in 2001.

[caltrek]

Ivan Duque sworn in as Colombia's next president

 

https://www.aljazeer...7152715594.html

 

Introduction:

 

(Al Jazeera) Colombia's president-elect Ivan Duque has been sworn in as the country's 60th president, amid concern over the influence he will have on the country's peace process.

More than 12,000 police were deployed in the historic centre of the capital Bogota for Duque's inauguration on Tuesday, according to local reports.

 

The heads of state of Argentina, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and the Dominican Republic are expected to attend ceremony at Bolivar Square, where Congress will gather for an open air session.

 

UN ambassador Nikki Haley is also expected to lead a US delegation to Duque's swearing-in.

The mayor of the US city of Miami, Francis Suarez, as well as the leader of Spain's Popular Party, Pablo Casado, are also attending the event.

 

 

The remainder of the article contains discussion that is also highly relevant to the recent alleged drone attack at a public event attended by Venezuela's president Nicolas Madura.

[caltrek]

Argentine Senate Rejects Legalizing Elective Abortion

 

https://www.courthou...ctive-abortion/

 

Introduction:

 

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s Senate on Thursday rejected a bill to legalize elective abortion, a defeat for a grassroots movement that came closer than ever to achieving the decriminalization of the procedure in the homeland of Pope Francis.

 

Lawmakers debated for more than 15 hours and voted 38-31 against the measure that would have legalized abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. The decision could echo across Latin America, where anti-abortion forces remains strong even if the Roman Catholic Church has lost influence and moral authority due to secularization, an out-of-touch clerical caste and an avalanche of sex abuse scandals.

 

For long hours, thousands of supporters wearing green handkerchiefs that represent the effort to legalize abortion and opponents of the measure wearing light blue braved the heavy rain and cold temperatures in Argentina’s winter to watch the debate on large screens set up outside Congress.

 

The demonstrations were largely peaceful, but after the vote, small groups of protesters clashed with police, throwing firebombs and setting up flaming barricades. Police officers responded with tear gas.

 

Pushed by a wave of demonstrations by women’s groups, the lower house had already passed the measure and conservative President Mauricio Macri had said that he would sign it, even though he is anti-abortion.

Pro-abortion activists gather around a bonfire to keep warm as celebratory fireworks go off in the distance from a gathering of anti-abortion activists, as they all wait outside Congress for lawmakers to vote on an abortion bill in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Aug. 9, 2018. 

(AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

[caltrek]

Political upheaval in Nicaragua leaves scientists under siege

 

https://www.nature.c...586-018-07837-5

 

Introduction:

(Nature) Ongoing protests against the Nicaraguan government have led to violent clashes, and the crackdown by security forces has engulfed the country’s scientists, causing some to flee their homes in fear for their lives.

 

The student-led protests started in April in response to a decree from President Daniel Ortega that increased social-security taxes and reduced pensions. Ortega’s increasingly authoritarian administration tried to quell the protests with deadly force, which sparked demonstrations across Nicaragua. Since then, fierce confrontations between protesters, police and activists supporting the government have resulted in more than 300 deaths.

[caltrek]

Colombia creates its first science ministry

 

https://www.nature.c...586-019-00087-z

 

Introduction:

(Nature) Colombian scientists are cautiously optimistic after the country’s Senate voted to create the nation’s first Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

 

Researchers hope that the ministry, announced in mid-December, is a signal that the government will start to address years of declining budgets and poorly coordinated science priorities. The move elevates Colombia’s existing science agency, giving research an advocate and agenda in President Iván Duque’s cabinet meetings, and placing it on equal footing with other ministries such as defence or foreign affairs.

 

But others say that for the research environment in Colombia to truly improve, there needs to be a cultural shift in how the country educates and employs scientists.

 

The new ministry will struggle without a system of meritocracy, the competent execution of state policy or adequate resources, says immunologist Gabriela Delgado, at the National University of Colombia in Bogota. “This can’t work the same as other ministries,” she says, referencing the corruption scandals that have plagued other parts of the government.

 

“We have the people, we have the knowledge, we have the biological resources — we are just missing the funding,” says Paul Chavarriaga, a plant biotechnologist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Cali, Colombia.

[caltrek]

Nicaragua - An Alternative Perspective

 

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/01/11/nicaragua-the-irony-of-the-nica-act-being-signed-into-law-by-trump/

 

Extract:

(Counterpunch) As a steadfast defender of the impoverished and working class through democratic socialist programs and progressive non-aligned geopolitical and economic relations, Washington’s ruling elite is no fan, to say the least, of President Daniel Ortega. So the fact that he won over 72% of the vote in 2016 remains hotly contested by their lackeys located in Nicaragua and Miami, as President Ortega directly thwarts the progress of their oppressive worldwide neoliberal agenda.

 

Similarly irksome to its ruling elite is the fact that Washington’s own IMF and World Bank sang President Ortega’s praises as recent as 2018 and noted his successful world-class renewable energy accomplishments. Equally troubling to Washington’s ruling elite is the fact that under President Ortega’s stewardship the people of Nicaragua enjoy: the lowest murder rate in Central America; unprecedented public healthcare and education, and a national police force it can trust and rely upon – since it is founded on the admirable principles of community policing. To the frustration of Washington’s ruling elite, President Ortega’s success in fighting the drug cartels and keeping them out of Nicaragua is also exemplary in a region otherwise plagued by narcotics, weapons, human trafficking and inexplicable violence.

 

So when all the money in Washington could not ruin President Ortega’s electoral victory…Washington then paid, armed and trained foreign drug cartel thugs and local criminals to impersonate student protestors. If Washington’s mercenaries weren’t deadly violent, the contrast between the news media’s photos of them and its captions about them would be comical – as Rambo type men with forearms the size of tree trunks, shown shooting weapons in trained fighting stances, frequently accompanied headlines that read: “Peaceful Student Protestors.”

 

…Washington didn’t anticipate the peasant’s participation…What Washington and its ruling elite never understand is that it is really difficult to install a coup in a country where the sitting President remains popular and every slanderous remark is ultimately revealed as a blatant lie. Washington’s strategy is to blame President Ortega for victims of its own mercenaries, and to defend its murderous thugs as “political prisoners” through its financially captive human rights and regional organizations.

[caltrek]

I realized that I was coming across conflicting stories from sources that I more or less trust concerning Nicaragua. So I did some further digging in hope that I could construct a narrative that would help explain the situation and reconcile the conflicting reports. Here is what I came up with.

 

Prior to 2018, the economic performance of Nicaragua was strongly positive. Real GDP increased about 4.9 percent in 2017, supported by buoyant agricultural exports, tourism and remittances. The external current account (CA) deficit declined sharply to 6.1 percent of GDP (8.6 percent of GDP in 2016) and gross international reserves (GIR) rose by US$297 million to US$2.59 billion, reaching a coverage of about 4.2 months of imports. According to the 2016 Standard of Living Survey by the National Development Information Institute, general poverty in Nicaragua dropped from 29.6 to 24.9 percent between 2014 and 2016; while in the same period extreme poverty fell from 8.3 to 6.9 percent. 

 

Politically, Daniel Ortega had won re-election by what is on first glance an improbable 71% of the vote.  This lop-sided margin is explained by the opposition boycott of the election.  Instead of finding viable opposition candidates to support, opponents of the regimes simply did not vote.  So those that did vote were more prone to support Ortega. Despite the boycott, some  65 % turned out in the election.  Unless one believes charges that the election was rigged, clearly Ortega retained massive support.

 

 

So, what happened in 2018 that caused many to wonder if the country was on the verge of social collapse?

 

Nicaragua’s social security system, INSS, faced a budget shortfall. The IMF called for urgent reforms. The shortfall is actually running at about $75 million a year, or about 0.5 percentage points of GDP.

 

In response to this situation, President Ortega presented proposed reforms that would raise employer and employee contributions to the INSS system over a few years by 3.5 percentage points and 0.75 percentage points, respectively, and a 5 percent cut to pensions. Yes, benefits would be cut, but by far lower amounts than what the IMF and COSEP (the country’s main business organization) had been proposing.

 

Reaction to these proposals followed.  A wave of protests broke out on April 19, 2018.  By July, other protestors took to the streets in support of the regime. The initial protests against the government were followed by repressive measure by the state to quell the protests. If there is any criticism to be made, it is in the nature of that response. Apparently, many protestors were killed, an appalling development.  Condemnations followed from organizations such as Amnesty International¹ and Human Rights Watch.

 

Counterpunch (see article linked in preceding post) claims that these protests were the work of American supported mercenaries.  While I could find no corroboration of that claim, it is clear that the U.S. government did provide significant support to opponents of the regime.  This aid came in the form of aid through the National Endowment for Democracy – a NGO created by the U.S Congress in 1983.  Even if such meddling contributed to the crisis, this is no excuse for the repression undertaken.   

 

Many pundits are predicting grave trouble for Ortega, while others call for his ouster.  Clearly, the protests and the government response to those protests has not helped Ortega’s cause.  Still, the military and significant segments of the population appear to continue to support Ortega.  One hopes that political differences will be settled through relatively peaceful democratic processes.  Perhaps then, Nicaragua can get back upon the path to continue economic improvement that it was on prior to 2018.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. https://www.amnesty....a-manifesterse/

[caltrek]

Argentine leader Mauricio Macri trounced in primary vote

 

https://www.bbc.com/...merica-49317750

 

 

(BBC) The primary, in which presidential candidates from all parties take part, was won by his left-wing rival, Alberto Fernández.

 

Mr Macri, whose austerity measures have turned many voters against him, is hoping to win a second term in office in the presidential poll on 27 October.

 

…Voting in the primaries is compulsory and is not restricted to party members but open to all those eligible to cast their ballot in the presidential polls. Whoever wins is therefore seen as a favourite for the presidential polls on 27 October.

 

…With more than 95% of votes counted, the coalition backing Mr Fernández had 47.7% of the votes and that supporting President Macri had 32.1%.

 

 

 

Thanks for the heads up, Yuli.

 

https://www.bloomber...n-past-70-years

 

 

(Bloomberg) The surprise outcome in Argentina’s primary vote roiled the nation’s financial markets, sending the S&P Merval Index plunging 48% in dollar terms.

 

That marked the second-biggest one-day rout on any of the 94 stock exchanges tracked by Bloomberg going back to 1950. Sri Lanka’s bourse tumbled more than 60% in June 1989 as the nation was engulfed in a civil war.

[caltrek]

Ex-Peruvian President to Remain Jailed Pending Extradition in Bribery Case

 

https://www.courthou...n-bribery-case/

 

Introduction:

 

SAN FRANCISCO (Courthouse News) – A former Peruvian president will remain in jail pending resolution of his extradition case, a federal judge ruled Thursday, despite a psychiatrist’s warning that his mental state is deteriorating as he stays locked in solitary confinement.

 

“You will be morally responsible for his death,” former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo Manrique’s wife, Eliane Karp, shouted after the judge announced his decision. She was forcibly removed from the courtroom.

 

U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson had asked federal prosecutors to offer alternatives to solitary confinement for the former head of state, who is wanted in Peru on charges of taking $20 million in bribes from a Brazilian construction company.

 

U.S. Justice Department lawyer Elise LaPunzina said the federal government has no control over the conditions of confinement because only officials at Alameda County’s Santa Rita Jail, contracted to detain federal defendants, can make that decision.

 

The government maintains Toledo is “partly responsible” for his solitary confinement because he asked to be placed in protective custody, a claim Toledo’s lawyer disputes. The judge refused to entertain debate on that issue, insisting that no reasonable jail would house such a high-profile defendant with the general population.

[caltrek]

Ex-Peruvian President Ordered Released Unless Solitary Ends

 

https://www.courthou...-solitary-ends/

 

Introduction:

 

SAN FRANCISCO (Courthouse News) – A former head of state facing extradition to Peru on corruption charges will be released from jail on house arrest by the end of October unless the U.S. government stops holding him in solitary confinement, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

 

Finding that ex-Peru president Alejandro Toledo Manrique’s extradition case could take years to resolve, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria deemed it unacceptable to keep detaining him for that long in conditions human rights activists have likened to torture.

 

“The combination of the anticipated length of the proceedings and the conditions of Toledo’s confinement creates a special circumstance that qualifies Toledo for release,” Chhabria wrote in a 4-page order.

 

However, Chhabria stayed his ruling until Oct. 22 to give U.S. prosecutors a chance to appeal his ruling or file a motion for reconsideration if they find an alternative to solitary confinement. If an appeal or reconsideration motion are filed by Oct. 22, Chhabria said he would extend the stay through Oct. 29.

 

“Absent the filing of a motion with the court of appeals or with this court seeking relief from this ruling, Toledo must be released on Oct. 22, subject to the restrictions recommended by the pretrial services office,” Chhabria wrote.

 

 

 

 

Alejandro Toledo, then the president of Peru, speaks during the session “The Challenge for Latin America” at the 2003 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

(World Economic Forum / Daniel Ammann)

[Yuli Ban]

The events in Ecuador and the continued support for the Maduro regime (as well as the economic collapse in Argentina) tell me that the talk of an eventual "pink wave" through South America may not be exaggerated. It's really up to Brazil to determine what happens next— if they crack down too hard on indigenous farmers & the underclass and cause too much of a pushback against them, they could trigger their neighbors to swing to the left, perhaps even the far left. 

[caltrek]

I'm not sure that the "pink wave" Yuli refers to has not already crested and therefore what that implies about the future. Yes, Maduro is still hanging in there, but for how much longer?

 

At the very least, he is clearly weaker than his predecessor Hugo Chavez.

 

Brazil has flipped from control by what could have been described as the center-left to what is at least center right, if not far right.

 

A crucial test is coming up in Bolivia:

 

 

https://www.aljazeer...6172205404.html

 

Introduction:

 

(Al Jazeera)) Bolivians will head to the polls on Sunday to vote on whether to give a controversial fourth term to President Evo Morales, the country's first indigenous and longest-serving leader.

 

Morales, a left-wing union leader and former coca farmer who is widely credited with boosting the economy and slashing poverty in South America's poorest country, coasted to victories in previous elections. 

 

But polls this time show a tight race, amid widespread discontent over Morales's reluctance to leave power, corruption scandals and allegations that he has not done enough to protect the environment. 

 

"For the first time since 2005, when Morales was first elected president, he could lose," journalist and political analyst Raul Penaranda told Al Jazeera. 

 

While opinion polls show Morales leading, they also indicate he may not be able to secure the 40 percent minimum needed to win in the first round. Candidates also need to have a 10 percent lead over their second-place rival to avoid a runoff vote in December. The winner will take office in January.

 

 

Even if Morales wins, he seems to be in a weaker position now than earlier in his presidency.

 

Of course, it could be that these things are cyclical, and the left could easily bounce back. I hope that is the case and that those that succeed will do so while respecting human and civil rights of their opponents.  A courtesy that historically the right has not always extended to the general population, much less to the left.

[caltrek]

Well, so far the results in Bolivia are anything but conclusive:

 

Protests, Uncertainty Over Possible Morales Win in Bolivia

 

https://www.latinorebels.com/2019/10/23/moralesbolivia/
 

Introduction:

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — International election monitors expressed concern over Bolivia’s presidential election process Tuesday after an oddly delayed official quick count showed President Evo Morales near an outright first-round victory, even as a more formal tally tended to show him heading for a risky runoff.

 

The European Union and Organization of American States both expressed alarm after Morales suddenly shot upward in the quick count Monday following a day-long pause in results.

 

Morales’ opponents burned election offices and ballots in several cities and called for a strike Wednesday, accusing the leftist leader of trying to avoid a December runoff in which he would confront a united opposition.

 

Michael G. Kozak, acting assistant secretary at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, took to Twitter to accuse the electoral tribunal of attempting “to subvert Bolivia’s democracy by delaying the vote count.”

 

But a more formal preliminary official account showed Morales well short of the votes needed to win outright.

 

[caltrek]

Suddenly, South America Seethes With Unrest

 

https://www.courthou...es-with-unrest/

 

Introduction:

 

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (Courthouse News) — With political unrest in Chile, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia, virtually the entire continent of South America is in the throes of drama unseen for a generation.

 

Latin America has always been a collection of countries with vastly different political situations. Sometimes the right is ascendant, sometimes the left and sometimes the centrists, often at the same time in different places.

 

But the recent insurrection in Ecuador was perhaps the most shocking in this month’s continent-wide unrest — until the even more shocking rebellion in Chile, one of the most prosperous nations in South America.

 

 

Conclusion:

 

…In El Salvador, a mass movement drove the traditional parties from power in elections in February. New President Nayib Bukele is wildly popular for sending in the army to clear cities of violent gangs, regaining control of the prisons from the drug lords and gangsters who ran them, and firing dozens of corrupt officeholders from the country’s major parties, the right-wing Arena party and the nominally leftist, but equally corrupt FMLN.

 

As the entire continent, and more, seethes with unrest, it’s unexpected indeed that the region’s smallest nation, and once the most violent, El Salvador, is providing a rare beacon of hope.

[caltrek]

A Fearless 19-Year-Old Abortion Advocate Just Became the Youngest Lawmaker in Latin America

 

https://www.motherjo...a-19-years-old/

 

Introduction:

 

(Mother Jones) Ofelia Fernández, an uncompromising student leader, has captured the imagination of people beyond her native Argentina. On Monday, she won her campaign for the Buenos Aires legislature, becoming the youngest lawmaker in the city’s history.

 

“Is the political system ready for us to enter?” the Washington Post quoted 19-year-old Fernández as asking hordes of young supporters at a campaign event several weeks ago. “The answer is, ‘I don’t care because we will force our way in.’”

 

Fernández, already a high school student body president and a courageous leader of Argentina’s movement to legalize abortion, became an internet phenomenon last year with a detailed, authoritative rebuke of a pundit who tried to dismiss her as a chiquita (little girl) on TV.

 

Fernández, with more than 338,000 Instagram followers, says she represents thousands of young women who took to the streets to legalize women’s right to choose. The effort failed in Argentina’s Senate.

 

Earlier this month, Fernández told a gathering of 200,000 women in the Argentine city of La Plata that women candidates, if elected, would change the country. “With sensitivity, sisterhood, and gathering together, we’re going to knock it all down,” Foreign Policy quoted her as saying.

[caltrek]

Unfortunately, moe evidence that the pink wave may have crested. The usual culprits - too much reliance on the charisma of a single leader, and a government in D.C. that wants to see a return of military dictatorships. 

 

Global Condemnation of 'Appalling' Coup in Bolivia as Military Forces Socialist President Evo Morales to Resign

 

https://www.commondr...t-president-evo

 

Introduction:

 

Bolivia's socialist President Evo Morales was forced to resign Sunday under threat from the nation's military, police forces, and violent right-wing protestors who have burned and ransacked the homes of members of Morales' party, assaulted supporters of the president, and kidnapped a Bolivian mayor.

 

Political leaders and activists around the world immediately denounced Morales' ouster as a military coup that leaves Bolivia without a constitutionally elected government. Williams Kaliman, the chief commander of the Bolivian armed forces, pressured Morales to resign earlier Sunday.

 

 

"The coup mongers are destroying the rule of law," Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, tweeted hours after announcing his resignation in a televised address.

 

 

Morales said he and his vice president, Álvaro García Linera, resigned because they "don't want to see any more families attacked" under orders from right-wing former president Carlos Mesa and opposition leader Luis Fernando Camacho.

 

 

"This is not a betrayal to social movements," Morales added. "The fight continues. We are the people, and thanks to this political union, we have freed Bolivia. We leave this homeland freed."

 

[caltrek]

Starspawn0 found a Wikipedia article on the internet concerning Bolivia, so I will post it here:

 

https://en.wikipedia...ent_resignation

[caltrek]

Here is a book review Starspawn0 found interesting:

 

 

https://en.m.wikiped...conomic_Hit_Man

[caltrek]

Was Bolivian President Forced Out by a Coup?

 

https://www.latinore.../11/usabolivia/

 

Extract:

 

(AP) U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and self-described democratic socialist, also expressed worries about a possible coup.

 

“I am very concerned about what appears to be a coup in Bolivia, where the military, after weeks of political unrest, intervened to remove President Evo Morales,” Sanders tweeted Monday.

 

The Organization of American States has called an emergency meeting Tuesday afternoon to discuss the situation in Bolivia.

 

Luis Almagro, OAS secretary general, called on Monday for Bolivian members of Congress to hold a session as soon as possible in order to designate new authorities.

 

Morales’ vice president also resigned, as did the Senate president, who was next in line. The only other official listed by the constitution as a successor, the head of the lower house, had resigned earlier.

[caltrek]

Here is a book review Starspawn0 found interesting:

 

 

https://en.m.wikiped...conomic_Hit_Man

 

 

From the cited review:

 

 

 

Economic historian Niall Ferguson writes in his book The Ascent of Money that Perkins's contention that the leaders of Ecuador (President Jaime Roldós Aguilera) and Panama (General Omar Torrijos) were assassinated by US agents for opposing the interests of the owners of their countries' foreign debt "seems a little odd" in light of the fact that in the 1970s the amount of money that the US had lent to Ecuador and Panama accounted for less than 0.4% of the total US grants and loans, while in 1990 the exports from the US to those countries accounted for approximately 0.4% of the total US exports (approximately $8 billion). According to Ferguson, those "do not seem like figures worth killing for".[

 

This is really a strange line of argument.  The "U.S. had lent Ecuador and Panama less than .4% of the total U.S. grants and loans."

 

Those "do not seem like figures worth killing for..."

 

Oh really?

 

Perhaps Mr. Ferguson would like to gift me an amount equal to today's ".4% of total exports (approximately $8 billion)"  - as adjusted for inflation since 1990 -  since he thinks it is such a trivial amount.  

 

I didn't think so.