by wire services
A certain tension prevails here today following two consecutive days of police repression against two student demonstrations, one carried out by prospective teachers and the other by university students.
Prospective teachers were removed by force on Tuesday as they blocked a busy Guatemala City thoroughfare to protest changes proposed by the Ministry of Education in teacher training.
The students point out that the new plan, which will increase the teacher training period from two to five years, will affect their economy and career advancement.
Given the traffic blockage in the thoroughfare and the authorities’ inability to force the students to abandon their stance, riot forces broke up the demonstration with tear gas and pepper spray.
The students’ parents issued a formal complaint to the District Attorney’s Office for Human Rights, denouncing the police aggression and demanding a solution to the problem.
However, authorities are reluctant to allow the holding of demonstrations that impede the free movement of citizens, and promised to continue to respond forcefully if dialogue is unsuccessful.
Peru helicopter with foreign tourists missing
A helicopter with foreign tourists on board has gone missing in southern Peru. Police said on Thursday that 12 South Koreans and two Austrians may be on board, together with two Peruvian pilots. The helicopter reportedly left the Amazon region of Madre de Dios on Wednesday evening bound for Cusco. Media reports say the flight may have been hampered by cloudy weather.
Also in Perú:
There is more money in illegal gold mining than in cocaine
Cocaine is not the number one illegal profitable industry any- more in Perú anymore.
According a May 24, Latin News report, informal gold mining in Peru is not only being targeted as a threat to the environment and a source of fiscal evasion but also as a major illegal industry that generates more revenues than cocaine.
At a recent symposium in Lima a proposal, reports Latin News, was floated to create a special body, similar to the anti-drugs commission Devida, to coordinate the efforts to ‘formalize’ that activity, currently dispersed among several government agencies.
“Moreover, if domestic consumption of gold is taken into account, countrywide one out of every five ounces is illegal, and in the south eastern region of Madre de Dios, one out of every three. Exports of illegally mined gold, Cuba calculates, reach $1.8bn, more than the estimated $1.2bn generated by cocaine exports. He reckons that the profits from illegal gold mining amount to $1bn, which means that the public purse is deprived of some $305m,” the report added.
Bolivian Maritime Issue is of Hemispheric Interest, Says Morales
President Evo Morales reaffirmed today tha his country’s maritime claim to Chile is an issue of continental interest, though he made clear that the dialogue to solve it is bilateral.
“The maritime issue has always been of hemispheric interest; otherwise, the Foreign ministers would not be involved. I understand that nine or 10 Foreign ministries took part in the meeting of Lima, backing and seeking a solution to the maritime issue, and in this meeting more than 50 percent of the Foreign ministers have taken part, demanding a solution,” he said.
The dialogue will be bilateral, but taking into account that some 20 Foreign ministers are taking part, it becomes of hemispheric interest, Morales told local journalists in Cochabamba.
In the 42nd Assembly of the Organization of American States, held recently in Tiquipaya municipality, in Cochabamba, 19 nations urged to solve the maritime dispute between Bolivia and Chile through fruitful dialogue and with prompt, concrete, useful, feasible solutions. (Latin Briefs and Prensa Latina contributed to this report).
