Future Timeline

Firebrand left-wing teacher Pedro Castillo announced late on Tuesday he had won a run-off vote against Keiko Fujimori and would become the next president of Peru. Speaking before counting had officially ended, Castillo told supporters massed in front of his Perú Libre party’s headquarters that “the people have spoken,” before removing his hat and opening his arms to the wild cheers and euphoric celebrations of the assembled group.

(AP) The partial map of votes showed a country split in two. Castillo overwhelmingly dominated the impoverished rural areas of the Andes and much of the Amazon. Fujimori was the candidate of the business elite, dominating the capital and other cities on the Pacific coast.

The cities hardest hit by the Shining Path rebel group during Peru’s internal conflict between 1980 and 2000, which left almost 70,000 people dead, voted for Castillo. It was an adverse result for Fujimori, who during the campaign accused the professor without evidence of ties to terrorism.
The areas where international mining companies are seeking to expand extractive projects also voted almost entirely for Castillo. In the country’s poorest district, Uchuraccay, the teacher captured 87% of the votes, while in the richest district, San Isidro, Fujimori prevailed with 88%.
...
Keiko Fujimori herself has been imprisoned as part of a graft investigation though she was later released. Her father, Alberto Fujimori, governed between 1990 and 2000 and is serving a 25-year sentence for corruption and the killings of 25 people. She has promised to free him should she win.

Castillo until recently was a rural schoolteacher in the country’s third-poorest district, deep in the Andes. The son of illiterate peasants entered politics by leading a teachers’ strike. While his stance on nationalizing key sectors of the economy has softened, he remains committed to rewriting the constitution that was approved under the regime of Fujimori’s father.

(Common Dreams) In Cali, a city in southwestern Colombia, protesters put up barricades across the city. A front line — la primera línea — sometimes guards these barricades with masks and helmets and shields.

Cali is the epicenter of the unrest that has convulsed Colombia for more than a month. A tax reform bill proposed by right-wing President Ivan Duque sparked protests in late April, with thousands responding to a call from national labor unions to push against the measure.

The government defended the proposed tax increase as a much-needed measure to repair the economy after fallout from the coronavirus. Those who opposed the legislation saw it as putting another burden on middle-class and poorer families who are already in a precarious position, also because of the coronavirus.

Anger over the tax bill also became an outlet for pent-up grievances against Colombia’s economic structures and its political elite. “It only takes a spark where there’s a lot of discontent,” Muni Jensen, senior adviser with the Albright Stonebridge Group and a former Colombian diplomat, said.

Demonstrators, many of them young or from marginalized communities, are speaking out about structural inequality, poverty, land reform, health care, and lack of education and opportunity. Many of these pressures have existed in Colombia for years, but they deepened dramatically during the pandemic.

(Counterpunch) Jhoe Sauca, of the Traditional Authority of the Kokonuco People and the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca, explains that the tax reform was unacceptable to the Colombian people and became the aggravating factor that finally mobilized millions. “We can’t take it anymore,” he says. “With the pandemic we have been enduring hunger, and our businesses have gone bankrupt, while the government supports the banks and large companies.” He says that the peoples of Colombia have been fighting for 50 years under the principle of unity, and that the reform “has tipped the balance in favor of the message that we have been transmitting to Colombian society — that we must fight for rights.”

He adds, “I think that within this framework, we can raise out organizing capacity at the level of an indigenous movement but also at the society level.” He notes that in 2017 the Social and Community Minga (see definition below) in Defense of Life, Territory, Democracy, Justice and Peace was organized. As it mobilized in their territories, the Minga has brought large contingents to the protests, especially in Cali.

In the same discussion, Vilma Almendra Quiguanás, of the Nasa-Misak people and member of Pueblos en Camino, points out the historic nature of the unity that has been achieved: “Many people from the rural territories are in the movement. According to Indepaz data, of the 1,123 municipalities in the country, 800 have mobilized. We are 15 million in an unprecedented movement. ” She sees the protest as the culmination of 529 years of colonization and resistance, of millennia of patriarchy, and of the false promises and expectations that arose from the Peace Agreement.”

She goes on, “Almost five years after the signing of the Peace Agreement, well yes, development in the ‘inhospitable areas’ has been guaranteed. But what is ‘development?’ It’s mining concessions, oil concessions, expansion of the agricultural boundary, monocultures, water concessions — death projects that are dispossessing, killing and criminalizing the peasantry and popular movements. They deceived us that there would be peace. They deceived us that there would be money. There is neither peace nor money.”

minga [1]

minga [2] sf (LAm)
1 (=trabajo) voluntary communal labour o (EEUU) labor, cooperative work
2 (=equipo) crew o gang of cooperative workers

26-06-2021

Caretaker Venezuelan leader Juan Guaidó, elected by the National Assembly, presents the need for a plan of national salvation – an agreement concluding in free and fair elections while defending human rights.

In a feature-length interview, the opposition leader explains Argentina’s potential role in the negotiations while marking out the shades of difference between the positions of Alberto Fernández and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

He warns that democracies must look out for the “alarm bells” announcing the imminence of authoritarianism.

Unrest in Nicaragua and Colombia is generating concern from Latino members of Congress who worry about violent crackdowns to curb continuing protests.

Why it matters: After 20 years of focus on the Middle East, Latino lawmakers are reaching across the aisle and helping shift some of the nation's foreign policy spotlight to Latin America, which continues to battle COVID-19 and pockets of political turmoil.

Driving the news: At least 24 people have been killed in Colombia since protests began in April against a tax reform proposal that has since been withdrawn. Demonstrators also want a universal basic income and an end to police violence, among other demands.

(AP Via NBC) LIMA, Peru — A teacher in one of the poorest communities in the Andes who had never held office is now Peru’s president-elect after officials in the South American country declared him the winner of a runoff election held last month.

Leftist Pedro Castillo catapulted from unknown to president-elect with the support of the country’s poor and rural citizens, many of whom identify with the struggles the teacher has faced. Castillo was officially declared winner Monday after the country’s electoral count became the longest in 40 years as his opponents fought the results.

Castillo received 44,000 more votes than right-wing politician Keiko Fujimori in the June 6 runoff. This is the third presidential election defeat for the daughter of imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori.

Fujimori, who ran with the support of the business elites, said Monday that she will accept Castillo’s victory, after accusing him for a month of electoral fraud without offering any evidence. The accusation delayed his appointment as president-elect as she asked electoral authorities to annul thousands of votes, many in Indigenous and poor communities in the Andes.

The United States, European Union and 14 electoral missions determined that the voting was fair. The U.S. called the election a “model of democracy” for the region.

(Latino Rebels) VENEZUELA: Representatives of the Venezuelan opposition and government have started talks to resolve the crisis facing the country. On Friday, the two sides met in Mexico City and signed an agreement to begin negotiations, which will be mediated by Norway. The government is represented by close allies of President Nicolás Maduro, while the other side is represented by leaders from four opposition parties. The talks ran into trouble when the government said they will not negotiate with opposition representatives who hold positions in the government-in-exile of self-declared acting President Juan Guaidó. One opposition envoy, Tomás Guanipa, resigned as Guaidó’s ambassador to Colombia to participate in the talks, but another, Carlos Vecchio, continues to hold a position as Guaidó’s ambassador to the United States. Meanwhile, Venezuela released opposition leader Freddy Guevara from jail on Sunday. Guevara was arrested on July 12 for treason and terrorism.

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia’s recent interim government persecuted opponents with “systematic torture” and “summary executions” by security forces in the tumultuous aftermath of Evo Morales’ resignation in 2019, according to a new report by independent human rights experts.

The scathing, 471-page report is the most comprehensive yet to examine the events surrounding the disputed 2019 presidential vote, when Morales’ narrow election to an unprecedented fourth term triggered widespread protests spurred by strong international allegations of voting fraud—claims later questioned by foreign electoral experts.

The report, presented Tuesday in La Paz in an event attended by new President Luis Arce, was commissioned by the Organization of American States chief human rights watchdog under an agreement with the former interim government led by Jeanine Áñez.

The five-member panel’s findings of widespread abuses by security forces acting under the conservative interim government’s direction is likely to embolden leftist supporters of Morales and Arce, who have long maintained Áñez took power through a coup tacitly backed by the Trump administration. It’s also likely to undercut criticism by the Biden administration and others suggesting that the jailing of Áñez on sedition and terrorism charges tied to the unrest was politically motivated.

“This thoroughly documented report sets the record straight,” said Kathryn Ledebur, who leads the nonprofit Andean Information Network in Bolivia and has been a sharp critic of Áñez.

(Latin America News Dispatch) CELAC: The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) convened its VI Summit of Heads of State and Government in Mexico City on Saturday. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico reiterated ambitions for CELAC to replace the Organization of American States (OAS) as the region’s primary forum of cooperation and advocated for greater economic integration in the vein of the European Union (EU). The creation of a fund for natural disaster response was also announced.

The unexpected presence of Nicolás Maduro sparked tensions along ideological lines. Right-wing Presidents Abdo Benítez of Paraguay and Uruguay’s Lacalle Pou asserted that their participation in the summit did not signify a recognition of Maduro’s government. In response, the Venezuelan leader called for an end to the divisiveness in Latin America and defended fellow socialist governments in Cuba and Nicaragua against accusations of human rights abuses leveled by Lacalle Pou.

This year’s summit was the first since 2017. In 2020, Mexico and Argentina (under the leadership of President Alberto Fernández) led efforts to revitalize the organization. Created in 2010 with the aim of countering U.S. influence in the OAS, CELAC brings together 32 independent states of Latin America and the Caribbean. President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil withdrew from the organization last year.

(Reuters via NBC) SANTIAGO — Chilean opposition lawmakers launched impeachment proceedings against President Sebastián Piñera on Wednesday over possible irregularities in the sale of a mining company, after new details emerged about the deal in the Pandora Papers leak.

The move comes after Chile’s public prosecutor said this month it would open an investigation into possible bribery-related corruption charges as well as tax violations related to the sale.

The Pandora Papers are a cache of leaked documents that The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists says reveal offshore transactions involving global political and business figures.

Among them are documents that appear to outline a deal involving the 2010 sale of the Dominga mine, a sprawling copper and iron project in Chile. At the time, Piñera, a billionaire businessman, was in his first year of his first term in office.

The leak stirred controversy in Chile because it suggested the deal, which involved a firm linked to Piñera’s family, was contingent on a favorable regulatory environment. The sale had previously been examined and dismissed by courts in 2017.

The Argentine government aims to extend a price control program to 1,247 household goods in its latest attempt to recover ground with the voter base ahead of a midterm election next month.

The government later confirmed that the price control agreement, which includes the items under Precios Cuidados, involves holding prices at their values on Oct. 1 and will apply until Jan. 7. In a statement, Feletti said the government is concerned that the basic food basket accounts for 11% of of expenses for average salaries, up from 9% in Dec. 2019.

"We need to hit pause to prevent food price hikes from eroding salaries,” he said.

Price controls are a perennial policy used by governments from Argentina’s Peronist political movement as one of several unorthodox tools to try to cool inflation running at about 50% annually, hurting consumers’ income. President Alberto Fernandez’s coalition is looking to recover support after a primary vote held in September indicated it will likely lose congress seats in midterm elections on Nov. 14.

(Common Dreams) In a bid to halt what one Indigenous leader called a "policy of death," communities from Ecuador's Amazon region on Monday sued the country's right-wing president, who is planning a major expansion of fossil fuel extraction and mining that threatens millions of acres of pristine rainforest and the survival of native peoples.

In the first of a series of lawsuits against President Guillermo Lasso, Indigenous nations, groups, and advocates allege that Executive Decree 95—which aims to double the country's oil production to one million barrels per day by deregulating the fossil fuel industry—violates their internationally recognized right to free, prior, and informed consultation and consent.

Lasso, a former banker who defeated progressive economist Andrés Arauz in a second-round runoff election in April, has also said he wants to make mining one of Ecuador's leading income sources.

Monday's lawsuit will be followed by a second suit against Executive Decree 151, which loosens environmental controls to expedite foreign mining companies' entry into the Amazon region against the wishes of Indigenous peoples. The plaintiffs are demanding Ecuador's Constitutional Court strike down both decrees.

"The Ecuadorean government sees in our territory only resource interests," Waorani of Pastaza (CONCONAWEP) President Nemonte Nenquimo said outside the Quito court, according to Reuters. "Our territory is our decision and we'll never allow oil or mining companies to enter and destroy our home and kill our culture."

(Latin America News Dispatch via Latino Rebels) ECUADOR: Thousands of demonstrators marched in Ecuador on Tuesday and Wednesday to protest the increase in fuel prices and President Guillermo Lasso’s economic policies. The largely peaceful protests were organized by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities. At least 37 demonstrators were arrested and eight police officers injured in demonstrations that blocked roads and highways in five of Ecuador’s 24 provinces.

The protests were sparked by a 12 percent increase in fuel prices announced by Lasso on October 22. The price increases form part of an incremental reduction in fuel subsidies —initially implemented by former President Rafael Correa— that would allow the government to reduce spending and qualify for loans from the International Monetary Fund.

Demonstrators claimed the price increase would heavily impact families already struggling as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Close to half of the Ecuadorian population —47 percent— currently face poverty.

President Lasso declared a 60-day state of emergency on October 19 after 240 prison inmates were killed in gang-related clashes. Lasso also faces an investigation related to offshore assets he holds cited in the Pandora Papers leak earlier this month.

(NBC) LONDON — Almost 400 years after the first English ship arrived on its golden shores, the former British colony of Barbados woke up Tuesday as a republic.

The tiny Caribbean nation removed Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state in a spectacular ceremony that began late Monday, breaking its ties with the British royal family — and with it, one of the island’s last remaining imperial bonds to the United Kingdom.

The event was held 55 years to the day since Barbados gained full independence but kept the monarch in the ceremonial role.

At the strike of midnight local time, the new republic was born to the cheers of local crowds. The moment was marked by a 21-gun salute and the playing of the Barbadian national anthem.

A dazzling display of fireworks, dance and music was followed by Prime Minister Mia Mottley declaring the singer Rihanna — a Barbadian native, as well as a global star — a national hero.

(Today.in-24) With 76 votes against, 46 in favor, and 4 abstentions, the Peruvian Congress ruled out opening a vacancy process against the current president Pedro Castillo. The motion was promoted by right and far right political forces. The trigger: the irregular meetings of the president outside the Government Palace.

This Tuesday, December 7, the Congress of Peru refused to open an impeachment process against President Pedro Castillo. This, for not having the necessary 52 votes. Of the 130 legislators, 76 voted against, 46 in favor and 4 abstained.

In this way, the motion that sought to declare the president as “permanently moral incapable”, one of the extraordinary scenarios in which the post of President of the Republic can be declared vacant, came within six votes of achieving it. Something that had already been anticipated this morning by María del Carmen Alva, the president of the Congress.

The votes in favor of the vacancy were signed by 43 congressmen who are part of the three right-wing political forces that promoted the initiative: the Fujimori Popular Force, the far-right Renovación Popular and the neoliberal Avanza País.

The other three votes in favor were cast by congressmen from the Podemos Peru party and the center-right Alianza Para el Progreso (APP), who voted overwhelmingly against the motion.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Courthouse News) — Argentina will preside over the United Nations Human Rights Council after a unanimous vote last week by all 47 member states of the council.

Ambassador Federico Villegas, permanent representative of Argentina to the U.N. office at Geneva, will serve as president for a one-year term beginning on Jan. 1, 2022, taking over for the council's current president Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji.

The vote took place in a symbolic week for Argentina, as Dec. 10 marked the 38th anniversary of the nation's return to democracy.

Argentina has never led the U.N, body before, and the council's vote comes as a nod to Argentina's maturing democratically since emerging from a brutal military dictatorship in 1983.

“Argentina arrives at the presidency of the world’s most important body in the field of human rights precisely after a long history of work since restoring democracy,” said Lucio Lopez, a human rights lawyer based in the capital of Buenos Aires.

Kast has been described as a far-right politician, which he denies, and is a supporter of former dictator Augusto Pinochet. He has called for a "firm hand" to govern Chile, and has been accused of supporting authoritarianism and xenophobia. Kast is a conservative, and supports law and order and free market economy policies, saying the 2021 election was a choice "between freedom and communism – between democracy and communism". Kast has expressed right-wing populist positions, and he opposes illegal immigration, abortion, and same-sex marriage in Chile, supporting social benefits only for women who are married. Concerning heritage and culture, Kast "claims to defend Chile’s European heritage and national unity against the left’s espousal of indigenous groups and multiculturalism." Kast rejects the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change, downplaying its dangers and denying mankind's contribution to it. His public speaking mannerisms and conservatism have been compared to Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. Kast's support for a ditch along the Chile-Bolivia border to reduce illegal immigration has been compared to former U.S president Donald Trump's support for a wall along the US-Mexico border.