Sábado, 17 de Julio de 2010

Escrito por Coalición no bases

[Text in English below]

Los abajo firmantes manifestamos nuestro contundente rechazo a la decisión del gobierno de Laura Chinchilla de permitir entre el 1 de julio y hasta el 31 de diciembre de 2010 el ingreso de 7000 marines y 46 buques de guerra a Costa Rica bajo el argumento de combatir el narcotráfico. Esta decisión es una violación de la soberanía territorial y política del pueblo costarricense y una afrenta a la democracia latinoamericana.

Raul Fernandez

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The President of the United States has announced a push to sign “free trade” treaties, South Korea being first in line. Two things to note about the announcement: first, that Obama put it in the context of doubling American exports in the next five years; second, that he described it as the United States coming to the defense of South Korea from military threats from North Korea.

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Who: The Continental Campaign US Working Group represents and coordinates the efforts of diverse US-based organizations supportive of Latin American social movements; the maintenance and promotion of peace in all countries in the hemisphere; the defense of sovereignty; abolition of foreign military bases and enclaves and demilitarization of U.S. policy; the strengthening of democracy; the improvement of labor and living conditions; and better relations between the United States and Latin America. Our organizations embrace the pursuit of political change through nonviolent means.

In the debate about what constitutes fact I am struck that comments by the Colombian Minister of Trade are so easily accepted as fact. The Minister claims that trade unionism is on the rise in Colombia. But the Colombian Trade Minister's claim that union rates have increased by 76% is simply not correct. Credible sources from the Colombian labour movement assert that union labour market share has decreased by 4.7%.

Fuente: NÚMERO: http://www.revistanumero.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&i...

RCN Radio: rcnradio.com

14 de abril de 2010.

Confieso que no terminó de salir de mi perplejidad y de mi asombro con cada nueva revelación que se hace de la investigación, ahora en manos de la Fiscalía General sobre el tema que el pueblo colombiano conoce de las chuzadas como el tema de las chuzadas telefónicas del DAS y que en realidad no es más que un acto de espionaje y de violación a la intimidad de la vida de las personas.

Statement by Senator Jorge Enrique Robledo

Bogotá, Colombia. April 28 2010

I express my strong opposition to the measure that legalizes the persecution of immigrants residing in the U.S. state of Arizona and allows undocumented immigrants to be imprisoned for up to six months, fined up to $2,000 and even deported from the United States. Under this law, those persecuted will be people who in the vast majority of cases have been forced to leave their countries of origin because of poverty. Even though in the United States there are more than 10 million undocumented immigrants, no administration has tried to resolve the situation seriously and democratically. They have not done so because illegal immigration allows employers to pay miserable wages and make great profits off the labor of millions of Hispanics, Asians, and Africans who must endure long work days and all kinds of persecution to earn less than the minimum wage.

Entrevista de Semana.com al doctor Carlos Gaviria Díaz, 22 de abril de 2010

Luego de varias semanas en su ‘cuartel de invierno’ tras la derrota en la consulta popular de su partido, el ex presidente del Polo Democrático Carlos Gaviria Díaz volvió a la arena política. El 13 de abril pasado, en el ‘Encuentro de Unidad’ organizado por esa colectividad, se estrechó en un abrazo con el candidato de la organización, Gustavo Petro, y saldó su distanciamiento con la campaña.

Jorge Enrique Robledo, Bogotá, 11 de abril de 2010.

Además de las valiosas razones éticas, hay que repudiar por contrarias a la democracia todas las formas de corrupción y coacción a los electores, entre ellas el clientelismo. Y deben rechazarse también los mecanismos extorsivos y corruptos con los que se conforman las mayorías parlamentarias, porque esos métodos también violan la moral y el carácter democrático de las decisiones políticas. Que esto se refiera a la forma de hacer política a la hora de votar y gobernar no le quita su importancia decisiva, porque la democracia trata, en primera instancia, sobre la manera de tomar las decisiones. Lo ocurrido en los pasados comicios, ganados en mucho por la corrupción y el delito, nos avergüenza ante el mundo y confirma cómo es de poco democrática la llamada “democracia” colombiana.

By Noam Chomsky

Source: Orinoco International, March 24, 2010

The United States was founded as an "infant empire," in George Washington's words. The conquest of the national territory was a grand imperial venture, much like the vast expansion of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. From the earliest days, control over the Western Hemisphere was a critical goal. Ambitions expanded during World War II, as the US displaced Britain and lesser imperial powers. High-level planners concluded that the US should "hold unquestioned power" in a world system including not only the Western Hemisphere, but also the former British Empire and the Far East, and later, as much of Eurasia as possible. A primary goal of NATO was to block moves towards European independence, along Gaullist lines. That became still more clear when the USSR collapsed, and with it the Russian threat that was the formal justification of NATO. NATO was not disbanded, but rather expanded, in violation of promises to Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not even fully extend to East Germany, let alone beyond, and that "NATO would be transforming itself into a more political organization." By now it is virtually an international intervention force under US command, its self-defined jurisdiction reaching to control energy sources, pipelines, and sea lanes. And Europe is a well-disciplined junior partner.

By Benjamin Dangl

Source: The Progressive, March 2010 issue

On the shores of the Magdalena River, in a lush green valley dotted with cattle ranches and farms, sits the Palanquero military base, an outpost equipped with Colombia’s longest runway, housing for 2,000 troops, a theater, a supermarket, and a casino.