compiled by the El Reportero’s staff
After gobbling up half the rental housing stock of East Palo Alto and aggressively raising rents, Page Mill Properties has invoked the controversial Ellis Act to evict tenants in the small city of East Palo Alto, according to news release. Page Mill has targeted buildings with outspoken local activists, prompting accusations that the evictions are retaliatory.
Those familiar with the Ellis Act were not surprised to see it used in this way. “This is how the Ellis Act is used — it’s a horrible law that needs to be repealed,” said Ted Gullicksen, director of the San Francisco Tenants Union. Originally justified as a way for small landlords to get out of the rental business, the Ellis Act has become a favorite tool of real estate speculators to turn a quick profi t by buying rent controlled housing, evicting all tenants and reselling the units.
Page Mill’s activities in East Palo Alto received signifi cant fi nancing, to the tune of $100 million, from CalPERS, California’s public employee pension fund. Tenant and labor advocates have criticized CalPERS’ involvement, noting that the pension fund’s members are effectively funding a scheme to displace CalPERS’ members from their affordable homes. SEIU Local 521 passed a resolution condemning.
Enríquez Ominami seeks to break Chile’s political duopoly
Marco Enríquez-Ominami offi cially left Chile’s Partido Socialista (PS) on 12 June, his 36th birthday, in order to launch his candidacy as an independent in December’s presidential elections.
In the space of just a few months Enríquez-Ominami has evolved from being just another dissident sniping at the presidential candidate for the ruling Concertación, Eduardo Frei, to posing a genuine threat to Chile’s establishment, forcing fi rst Frei and now the candidate for the right-of-centre Coalición por el Cambio, Sebastián Piñera, on to the back foot.
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa will likely keep from nationalizing oil and mining industries even as he promises to get tough on investors and his leftist allies in the Andes step up takeovers.
Correa believes nationalizations are ineffi cient for a government struggling to run its own companies, like state oil firm Petroecuador, aides and analysts say. Paying for takeovers would also be difficult as the global crisis trims the OPEC member’s oil revenues.
Nationalizations were never part of Correa’s government plan when he was first elected in 2006, backed by a broad leftist alliance that ranged from old-school communists to well-off businessmen.
Correa’s “21st century socialism” aims to bolster state control and squeeze more benefit from companies extracting natural resources that are already owned by the state under the constitution, officials say.
Caribbean Festival in Santiago Cuba
The Cuban eastern city of Santiago de Cuba is ready to receive one of the most popular cultural events in the region, the Caribbean Festival, dedicated this time to a Central American country: Honduras.
Orlando Verges, director of the Caribbean House, which convokes the event, said it will take place withrepresentations of different countries.
He recalled that during the visit of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, Cuban Culture Minister Abel Prieto proposed dedicating a festival to Honduras, and the Caribbean House took on the project.
President Zelaya announced his presence, leading a large delegation representing the multicultural universe of Honduras and the Garifuna culture.
Verges said the 29th Caribbean festival will be held July 3-9 with delegations from 18 countries, 120 local artist units and 46 from abroad.
Activities will include literary presentations, music, dancing, religious ceremonies, exchanges with groups, fairs, feasts and conferences.
(The Guardian.uk and Latin Briefs, and Prensa Latina contributed to this report).
