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Mexico election: Andrés Manuel López Obrador wins in historic landslide victory

Exit polls show baseball-loving nationalist who counts Jeremy Corbyn as a friend is now the new president elect

by Tom Phillips and David Agren in Mexico City

A baseball-loving left-wing nationalist who has vowed to crack down on corruption, rein in Mexico’s war on drugs and rule for the poor has been elected president of Latin America’s second-largest economy, exit polls suggested on Sunday night.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a silver-haired 64-year-old who is best known as Amlo and counts Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn among his friends, was set to be elected with 49 percent of the vote, according to a poll conducted by the El Financiero newspaper.

López Obrador’s closest rival, Ricardo Anaya from the National Action party (PAN), received 27 percent, the poll said, while José Antonio Meade, a career civil servant running for the Institutional Revolutionary party, or PRI, which ruled Mexico for most of last century, came in third with 18 percent.

A second exit poll, by the Mexican polling group Consulta Mitofsky, gave López Obrador between 43 percent and 49 percent, Anaya between 23 percent and 27 percent and Meade between 22 percent and 26 percent.

Immediately after those polls were released Meade conceded defeat. “We have to recognise that according to [voting] trends … Andrés Manuel López Obrador … will have the responsibility of leading the executive power and for the good of Mexico I wish him the very best of luck.”

“I will take a few days to reflect and ponder my future but you can be sure I’ll keep working for a better Mexico,” Meade added.

Soon after, Anaya also accepted Amlo’s victory. “As I said to him a few minutes ago on the phone I recognise his triumph, express my congratulations and wish him the best of luck for the good of Mexico,” he said. “The citizens wanted a change and they opted in their majority for the alternative that he represents.”

Official results were due to be announced later on Sunday night with Amlo supporters expected to flood Mexico City’s main plaza, the Zócalo, to celebrate his anticipated victory.

Exit polls also suggested the party Amlo founded in 2014 – the Movement for National Regeneration or Morena – had won at least five of nine gubernatorial races, with the winners including Mexico City’s first elected female mayor, Claudia Sheinbaum. “We won! We’ll rescue the City of Hope,” she wrote on Twitter.

Earlier in the day, Amlo, who has for months towered over his opponents in the polls, flashed a victory sign to reporters as he arrived to vote at a Mexico City polling station.

“This is a historic day,” he said, calling the vote “a plebiscite in which people will choose between more of the same or genuine change”.

As an estimated 89 million voters descended on polling stations on Sunday it became clear that Mexicans – fed up with political sleaze, soaring violence and poverty – had overwhelmingly voted for change and to reject the only two parties to hold the presidency since the end of one-party rule in 2000.

“This country is in a deep hole and he’s the only one that can pull us out of it,” Manuel Molina, a 34-year-old advertising worker, said as he voted Amlo in Mexico City’s Tacubaya neighbourhood.

Civil servant Evelyn Correa said she was backing Amlo because she was tired of corrupt and shameless politicians: “He won’t resolve everything like he promises … But we’ve tried the [other parties]. Hopefully he’s different.”

Delfina Gómez, a close Amlo ally who is running for a seat in Mexico’s senate, told the Guardian she believed corruption-weary voters were backing Amlo and Morena because they wanted “a radical transformation in the way politics is done, and in politicians themselves”.

Gómez called Amlo a thrifty, upstanding man who would lead “a government of austerity and honesty”: “He finds it shameful that someone might be flaunting their wealth whilst others are dying of hunger.”

Amlo has repeatedly pledged to make eradicating corruption the main focus of his presidency, once he is sworn in on 1 December this year. “We will get rid of … this cancer, that is destroying this country,” he vowed at his final campaign rally.

Analysts also expect him to pursue a less aggressive and less militarized approach to Mexico’s 11-old ‘war on drugs’ which has claimed an estimated 200,000 lives and is widely viewed as a calamity. During the campaign, Amlo has argued “you cannot fight violence with more violence, you cannot fight fire with fire” and proposed an amnesty designed to help low-level outlaws turn away from a life-of-crime.

Eric Olson, a Mexico and Latin America specialist from Washington’s Woodrow Wilson Centre, said he saw Mexico stepping back from regional affairs under its new leader. “Amlo is not an internationalist … we can expect him to play less of an active role in the region on Venezuela, on Nicaragua and other trouble spots.”

Olson also expected tense moments with US president Donald Trump whose family separation policy Amlo recently denounced as arrogant, racist and inhuman. “But it’s impossible for the US to walk away from Mexico or for Mexico to walk away from the US. They are joined at the hip and need to work together even if their presidents don’t like each other and don’t get along.”

Carlos Bravo, a politics expert from Mexico City’s Centre for Economic Research and Teaching, predicted President Amlo would make fighting poverty a flagship policy, just as former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva did after his historic 2002 election with projects such as Bolsa Família and Zero Hunger. Under Amlo he foresaw “massive investment in social policy” which Mexico’s new president could use to show he was attacking not just poverty and inequality but also the social roots of crime and violence.

However, Bravo said the “motley coalition” behind Amlo’s election triumph was so diverse – featuring former communists, ultra-conservatives and everything in-between – that trying to guess how he might rule was a fool’s errand. “Quite frankly, right now there is a lot of uncertainty regarding what the López Obrador government will do.”

“There will be a lot of infighting [between now and his inauguration] … and the result of that infighting will be crucial in deciding how the López Obrador government is going to look and what it’s priorities are going to be,” Bravo added.

Leading members of Latin America’s left voiced hope Amlo’s election might revive the region’s rapidly ebbing ‘pink tide’. “It will signal the return of progressive winds to Latin America!” Gleisi Hoffmann, the president of Brazil’s embattled Worker’s party, predicted.

Brazil’s impeached former president Dilma Rousseff said an Amlo win would “not just be a victory for Mexico but for all of Latin America”.

Argentina’s former president, Cristina Kirchner, tweeted: “Andrés Manuel López Obrador represents hope, not just for Mexico but for the entire region.” (The Guardian).

Eating fish once a week cuts risk of sudden cardiac death by half

by RJ Jhonson

Heart disease remains among the world’s top killers, causing one in every four deaths in the U.S. alone. A paper suggests that to reduce your risk of succumbing to the disease, one of the best things you can do is eat fish.

The study examined the risk of sudden death caused by a heart attack among male U.S. doctors. The research defined “sudden death” as death or collapse that occurred within an hour after the onset of symptoms, a witnessed cardiac arrest, or both.

About 12 months into the study, 20,551 subjects (aged 40 to 84 years old in 1982) filled out a questionnaire that inquired into what fish they ate. They also had to inform the researchers how often they ate fish.

By the end of 1995, 133 deaths had occurred. After taking different related factors into account, the researchers determined that those who ate fish at least once a week had 52 percent lower risk of dying a sudden death compared to those who ate fish less than monthly.

The researchers did not find any significant benefit from eating a specific type of fish or from consuming more than one portion per week. They also clarified that eating fish did not reduce the frequency of heart attacks, but it improved the odds of surviving such an incident.

The study was part of the U.S. Physicians Health Study.

Fish helps stabilize your heart’s rhythm

Researchers in the aforementioned study attributed the results to the anti-arrhythmic properties of fish. Fatty fish like tuna and salmon are particularly high in omega-3 fatty acids which have been proven in several studies to help regulate cardiovascular function and suppress dangerous heart rhythms.

Arrhythmia refers to a condition where your heart beats irregularly. It could beat too fast (tachycardia) or too slow (bradycardia), or it could skip a beat every now and then. The problem is caused by a number of factors, ranging from mildly harmful (stress and bad habits) to downright life-threatening (heart attack).

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are the secrets behind the anti-arrhythmic effects of eating fish. These omega-3 fatty acids help relax the heart muscles and reduce the risk of potentially deadly myocardial irritation.

Scientists first suspected the cardiovascular benefits of consuming fish and omega-3 after observing how coronary heart disease occurred infrequently among Greenland Eskimos despite their high-fat diet. This was also true among the Japanese. Research pointed to a diet that includes fish as the reason behind the low incidence of heart disease in the two groups.

Omega-3 has other benefits

Omega-3 fatty acids are crucial not just for boosting cardiovascular function, but also for improving general health.

• They help you see properly – This is especially the case for DHA, which is a structural component in the retina of the eye. Eating a diet rich in omega-3 is linked to a lower risk of macular degeneration which, along with cataracts, is one of the leading causes of blindness today.

• They help against inflammation – Omega-3 has been linked to reductions in inflammatory chemicals, such as eicosanoids and cytokines. Too much inflammation can lead to cancer, heart disease, and other serious conditions.

• They improve brain development and function – DHA is a vital component of the brain, so consuming omega-3 helps ensure proper brain development in infants. These fatty acids can also help in managing mental disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorder. Finally, they have also been linked to a reduced risk of age-related mental decline and Alzheimer’s disease.

• They support bones and joints – Consuming omega-3 has been linked to reduced joint pain among people with arthritis. These fatty acids also improve the absorption of calcium, leading to increased bone density and lower risks of osteoporosis.

Desperate for reason to exist, NATO installs itself in Latin America

The US military colony of Colombia is now a “global partner” of NATO, spooking Bolivia and Venezuela

by Elliott Gabriel

Colombia’s formal partnership with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) marks the first time that a Latin American country has joined the European group, and signals a new shift toward the Global South by the Cold War-era alliance.

Colombia’s entry into NATO as a “global partner” signals that the U.S. military top brass are likely to call the shots for the South American country both in terms of its security policies and its geopolitical orientation, which becomes all the more crucial as the North Atlantic alliance increasingly strives to become a power in the South Pacific amid rising friction between the U.S. and China.

NATO began its partnership agreement with the South American nation in May 2017, immediately following the peace deal between Bogota and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP), yet the country still continues to be plagued by right-wing paramilitary activity, security forces who act with impunity, and the dire inequality that originally birthed groups such as FARC-EP.

So-called “global partners” of NATO are largely those countries that lie firmly in the Anglo-American imperialist sphere of influence or were directly occupied by the U.S., including Afghanistan, Australia, Iraq, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand and Pakistan.

The 29-nation alliance was formed in 1949 at the dawn of the Cold War for the purpose of consolidating a strategic bulwark against the spread of communism and Soviet hegemony in the Euro-Atlantic region.

Speaking in a televised address, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and outgoing Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos addressed his country’s membership in the military alliance:

Colombia benefits a lot from being an active part of the international community, many of the problems we face are increasingly global and need the support and collaboration of other countries for their solution.”

According to NATO, the new partnership will focus on cybersecurity, maritime security, and anti-terror and organized crime operations. The partnership will also include programs relating to the standardization of military practices, joint training and military exercises, and the modernization of the Colombian Armed Forces along NATO lines.

While the news came as a surprise to some, Colombia and the North Atlantic alliance have long collaborated in these fields. The process is the culmination of right-wing President Alvaro Uribe’s opening-up of the country to the United States during the bloody “Plan Colombia” campaign versus FARC-EP, which saw the U.S. provide military aid to the country. By 2009, Uribe fast-tracked an agreement granting the U.S. military the use of two maritime bases, three air force bases, and two army bases in the country.

Under Uribe’s successor, Santos, the Colombian Ministry of Defense signed the first security and cooperation agreement with NATO in 2013, provoking an outcry from progressive governments in the region including Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Brazil and Ecuador.

Bolivian President Evo Morales denounced the move as a “provocation” and conspiracy against the “anti-imperialist Bolivarian countries” in the hemisphere, noting that the agreement came shortly after Santos had met with Venezuelan coup-supporter Henrique Capriles.

Morales noted:

How is it possible that Colombia wants to be a member of NATO? What for? To have NATO commit aggression against Latin America, so they can invade us, as they have done in Europe, Africa and Asia?”

On Thursday, RT aired an interview by former Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa of Santos, where the ex-president asked why Santos, a Nobel laureate, would ever want to join NATO.

The Colombian president noted that bringing NATO operations to Latin America was out of the question, and the “global partner” status was largely one of assimilating “best practices” in terms of military purchases and training, while even participating in military “peace missions elsewhere in the world” without obligating Colombia to take part in military operations it chooses not to join.

The North Atlantic Alliance Goes to the South Pacific?

While past moves signaling Colombia’s integration into the U.S.-dominated Atlantic security architecture were greeted by a storm of denunciations from Latin American leaders, this time only Venezuela’s Ministry of Foreign affairs slammed the “the intention of the Colombian authorities … to introduce a foreign military alliance with nuclear capability to Latin America and the Caribbean, which clearly constitutes a serious threat to regional peace and stability.”

Bolivia, in the meantime, finds itself diplomatically helpless as it struggles to regain leadership over the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), which increasingly finds itself to be a relic of the bygone so-called “pink tide” era, especially after the pro-U.S. governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Paraguay quit the group in protest of Bolivia’s assumption of its pro-tempore presidency.

Yet Santos himself has stated that he is against any military intervention by the U.S. against Venezuela, noting:

That is not the solution – a Marine invasion of Venezuela would be catastrophic and would also spawn sequels effecting several generations. A U.S. military intervention would be a catastrophe for Venezuela and for Latin America’s relations with the United States.”

Yet some analysts fear that Bogota will adopt a more confrontational stance against Caracas if former president Uribe’s right-wing protégé, Ivan Duque, wins the upcoming Colombian elections.

While NATO was conceived to protect Europe from alleged “Soviet expansionism” following World War II, the post-Soviet era entailed Russia’s near-complete encirclement of Russia by U.S./NATO military infrastructure and forward operating bases in Europe.

Faced with questions about the continued relevance of the North Atlantic alliance, NATO has sought justification for its existence from Central Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa and has even floated the idea of indirect intervention in the South China Sea dispute.

However, China’s presence extends from the Eurasian landmass to the Southern Cone, raising the importance of the Pacific Ocean in the strategic calculations of U.S. imperialism and its junior partners from Europe to the Andes.

By expanding its “global partners” list to encompass Colombia, Washington is clearly moving to regain hegemony over South America with the consent of elected governments across the continent, ranging from Santos in Colombia to Mauricio Macri in Argentina, Michel Temer in Brazil, and even Lenin Moreno of Ecuador. (Russian Today).

Soccer team asks fans to resist ‘puto’ chant as FIFA investigates

Soccer association has announced disciplinary action after chant heard at World Cup match

by Mexico News Daily

Mexico’s national soccer team is asking fans to drop the popular “Eh, puto!” chant after FIFA, international soccer’s governing body, announced disciplinary procedures on Monday following its use during Sunday’s World Cup match between Mexico and Germany.

The team issued the plea today on social media, asking fans not to cry puto in the soccer stadiums. “You do not support us with this shout.” One of the team’s stars did the same.

Striker Javier “Chicharito” Hernández posted a message on Instagram today asking fans to stop the practice. “To all Mexican fans in the stadiums, don’t shout puto,” Hernández wrote. “Let’s not risk another fine.”

It’s not the first time that players on the team have appealed to fans to stop the chants, but to little avail.

The practice, which has become traditional at Mexican soccer games, is used by fans to taunt the opposing team’s goalie as he kicks the ball into play. Puto means faggot or male prostitute.

The chant gained international notice during the 2014 World Cup but FIFA took no action at the time.

However, it sanctioned the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) 12 times for fans’ homophobic chanting during the recent World Cup qualifying rounds with two warnings for the first two offences and fines for another 10.

And in Russia the organization is employing three observers at each match to report discriminatory behavior by spectators.

There are thousands of Mexicans in Russia for the big tournament, which is held every four years. At Sunday’s game, Mexico pulled a surprise 1-0 upset over defending champion Germany.

Mexico’s next match is against South Korea on Saturday, June 23, at 10 am CDT.

Source: Reuters (en), El Financiero (sp)

Japan issues travel warning for Mexico elections
Pre-election violence, threats and intimidation cited

The government of Japan has issued a travel advisory for Mexico, warning its citizens about ongoing violence during the current electoral season.

The advisory was published by the embassy of Japan in Mexico 11 days before the July 1 general election.

The document explains that in past elections, “Confusion was noted in some areas, such as arson in polling stations and attacks against candidates.”

The embassy suggested that Japanese travelers in Mexico gather information and act with caution, as protests could take place while the election date draws near.
Without specifying sources, the document quoted two reports claiming that to date 114 politicians and government officials have been murdered during the electoral season, and that other politicians and their families have been subjected to threats and intimidation.

In case Japanese citizens should be involved in an incident, the document lists the embassy’s address, its phone and fax numbers and its email address.
In May, the German government issued a similar advisory warning about the increasing violence against politicians in Mexico.

“Political demonstrations can develop into violent clashes, and thus should be avoided. Such situations can lead to roadblocks in major thoroughfares by demonstrators throughout the country, and can sometimes turn violent,” said the May 29 document.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Shipment of German pork belly arrives in Mexico
Mexico’s market diversification policy kicks in

A shipment of German pork arrived in Mexico this week through efforts to diversify foreign trade.

It was the first shipment to arrive since tariffs were imposed on United States pork imports, the federal Agricultural Secretariat (Sagarpa) said yesterday.
The department said in a statement that 25.5 tons of frozen pork belly had arrived at the port of Veracruz, a result of its “market diversification policy” that aims to “guarantee the supply of a range of products at accessible prices.”

Mexico introduced a range of retaliatory measures against the United States’ metal tariffs on June 5, including 20 percent duties on U.S. pork, apples and potatoes.

The Sagarpa statement said the agriculture sanitation authority Senasica has already established sanitation protocols with other countries that allow them to supply agricultural products to the Mexican market.

Pork imports from Canada, Denmark, Spain, France, Chile, Italy, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand and Germany comply with the established sanitation rules.

The German pork was packed in 1,394 individual boxes and came from a Senasica-certified plant in Wiedenbrück, Sagarpa said, adding that it was the result of action taken by Senasica chief Enrique Sánchez Cruz during a meeting with Germany’s agriculture minister in Berlin.

Mexicans consume 2.11 million tonnes of pork annually and produces 1.45 million tonnes, of which 105,000 tonnes are exported. Imports account for the 754,000-tonne shortfall.

One-third of all pork consumed in Mexico comes from the United States and between 2010 and 2017 it supplied almost 90 percent of all imports. Government data shows that U.S. pork exports to Mexico were worth more than US $1 billion last year.

Jim Heimerl, president of the U.S. National Pork Producers Council, said earlier this month that Mexico’s 20 percent tariff on tariff on pork legs and shoulders eliminates his country’s ability to compete in the Mexican market.

With regard to apples, also subject to a new tariff, Sagarpa said importers of the fruit could look to countries including Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, Portugal and South Africa in order to maintain accessible costs for consumers.

Even before the United States imposed its 25 percent and 10 percent tariffs on Mexican steel and aluminum imports, Mexico was seeking to diversify its export markets due to uncertainty about the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Mexico and the European Union (EU) reached an updated trade agreement in April while Mexico and 10 other Pacific Rim countries formally entered into a revised Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact in March.

Last week officials told the news agency Reuters that Mexico is also considering imposing tariffs on United States corn and soybean imports in case trade tensions with its northern neighbor should increase.

Source: El Economista (sp)

Great Mall and California’s Great America team up to host “Summertime Fun With The Peanuts Gang”

Compiled by the El Reportero’s staff

Great Mall Kicks Off Summer Event Series With An Afternoon of Family Fun

Good grief – summer’s here and it’s time for some fun! Grab the whole family and head to Great Mall for a day of Summertime Fun With The Peanuts Gang.

Join Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the gang* for photo opportunities, Peanuts themed arts and crafts, face painting and much more. Guests will have the chance to win exclusive prizes, courtesy of California’s Great America.

The event is free to attend, and marks the first of several summer activities hosted by Great Mall, one of Northern California’s premiere shopping and entertainment destinations. Next up, the circus is coming to town! Circo Caballero will be performing from June 21 – July 3 in the parking lot at Great Mall, between Marshalls and Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5th. Tickets are available for purchase here.

With diverse events for the entire community year-round, Great Mall serves as the hub of downtown Milpitas.

Saturday, June 23, 2018, from 1 – 3 p.m.

Great Mall (near Entrance 2), 447 Great Mall Dr., Milpitas.

County seeks new Poet Laureate

San Mateo County is seeking a new Poet Laureate for the 2019-2020 term. The mission of the Poet Laureate is to elevate poetry and celebrate the literary arts within the County by making poetry more accessible to people in their everyday lives. The appointed applicant will serve as the County’s third Poet Laureate, and their term will commence January 2019. Applications from published San Mateo County residents are being accepted now through Aug. 6, 2018.

“Our County is so fortunate to have many fine poets living here. We look forward to finding our next Poet Laureate amongst them. This person will continue to be an ambassador for the literary arts in our County and bring more of our local poets to the forefront,” said Supervisor Warren Slocum. “We look forward to celebrating the diversity of our County through the spoken word and literary arts.”

San Mateo County Board of Supervisors created the honorary post of Poet Laureate in 2013. During their two-year term, the Poet Laureate will receive a $5000 yearly stipend, and will serve as a representative and advocate for poetry, literature and the arts by participating in public readings and civic events. They will also be responsible for proposing and leading their own community project.

The current Poet Laureate, Lisa Rosenberg, will complete her term in December 2018. During her tenure, Rosenberg created the Spoken Art project to increase recognition for the County’s poets and visual artists. The current community-wide project showcases both visual and language arts by providing a platform for local poets to respond to the work of local artists.

The 2019-2020 San Mateo County Poet Laureate will be announced in October 2018. For more information, visit http://www.sanmateocountypoet.org/www.sanmateocountypoet.org.

Thee Latin Allstars from So Cal

If you want to hear it all in the key of Latin Rock, you need to catch Thee Latin Allstars, led by former El Chicano guitarist Ray Carrion, bringing you the sounds of Old School Latin & Soul Mu
sic. He has brought together a rather eclectic mix of musicians and singers from El Chicano, Tierra, WAR, and many others to put on a show like no other.

Also joining the group will be Fresno Native from Redbone, Pat Vegas who will be treated to an awesome homecoming. Be sure to join us on Sat July 7 to the multi level sounds of Thee Latin Allstars. Sat July 7 at Fulton 55.

http://www.latinrockinc.net/events/2018-07-07-thee-latin-allstars-and-heavy-weather.aspx
Go to www.fulton55.comor by calling 415-285-7719 for tickets with no service charge.

Mexico City market mural project enters second stage

It will make the Central de Abasto the largest open-air art gallery in Latin America

by the El Reportero’s news service

The second stage of an ambitious mural project that will turn the walls of Mexico City’s largest wholesale market into Latin America’s largest open-air art gallery is under way in earnest.

When the Central de Muros project is completed, 9,000 square meters of walls at the Central de Abasto (Supply Center) will be covered with colorful urban art.

Itze González, director of the We Do Things collective — which is coordinating the project — said that a total of 50 Mexican and international artists will complete 39 murals as part of the second phase.

The paintings will be between 20 and 26 meters wide and six meters high and are expected to be completed by the beginning of August.

The United Nations (UN) is also participating in the project and each of the murals will in some way integrate the organization’s 17 sustainable development goals in order to raise awareness of them.

Experienced Mexican artist Gabriel Macotela has been designated goal 16 — Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions — while other themes that will be featured include life below water, climate action, gender equality, clean water and and end to hunger.

“The aim of these global goals is to eradicate poverty, protect the planet and ensure the prosperity of everyone as part of a new agenda of sustainable development,” said Giancarlo Summa of the UN Mexico Information Center.

The first stage of the project started last September and involved the painting of 24 murals that celebrated the 35th anniversary of the market.

The head of the Central de Abasto Trust, Sergio Palacios Trejo, said the impact of the project had been positive because people have stopped throwing trash against the painted walls and none of the murals had been vandalized. It has also made the market more colorful and welcoming.

González said the murals have also made the market safer and that because members of the community participated in their creation, they have also helped to protect them from vandalism.

As part of the project’s second stage, two art workshops will be held including one in which children will have the opportunity to learn about and try their hand at creating urban art.

Artists that will paint new murals at the market, which is located in the eastern borough of Iztapalapa, include Hows, BeoHake, UNEG, Chula Records, Los Calladitos and Japanese artist Kenta Torii.

Source: Milenio (sp), El Universal (sp).

Broadway will produce musical about Michael Jackson’s life

Broadway will produce a musical based on Michael Jackson”s life, adapted by the award-winning American playwright Lynn Nottage, according to several media.
The work, still untitled, will have as a theme the King of Pop’s music and is expected to be premiered in 2020 thanks to the support of the artist’s heritage management in June 2009.

The text of the work will have the credits of Nottage, a professor at the theater department of Columbia University and twice winner of the Pullitzer Prize in the Drama category, the only woman to achieve it.

The choreography of the staging will be in charge of the British Christopher Wheeldon, recognized for his creations for important companies such as the Royal Ballet of London, the New York City Ballet and the Bolshoi Ballet.

Michael Jackson is one of the most important figures of contemporary popular culture and a pop icon who starred in an impressive career as a singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer and actor.

Gilberto Santa Rosa will perform in Cuban capital

The Puerto Rican salsa singer Gilberto Santa Rosa will give a free concert in Havana on July 16 along with prestigious international performers, the event’s organizers confirmed.

The open-air performance in the Cuban city will take place on that Monday night in the Havana boardwalk areas to present La Piragua with a luxury show with the Cuban musician Adalberto Álvarez, who will perform for the first time in real time.

“Once Gay” Christians defend their right to counseling, but legislators remain unmoved

by Greg Burt

Hundreds of Christians from throughout the state gathered at the California state capitol last week to defend the liberty of “once gay” citizens to receive counseling and resources to help them live lives in accordance with their faith.

AB 2943, introduced and sponsored by the LGBT legislative caucus, threatens anyone, even churches, with lawsuits for “advertising, offering to engage in, or engaging in for sale, or selling services constituting sexual orientation change efforts.”

This includes any resources, books, conferences, programs, college classes, or counseling that seek to change same-sex desires, behaviors, or gender expressions.
Despite having more than 20 former homosexual and transgender individuals, and over 350 citizens testify against AB 2943 in the Senate Judiciary Committee, legislators approved the bill anyways, with a vote of 5 to 2.

Before the Tuesday, June 12, afternoon hearing, the California Family Council, in partnership with the Equipped to Love, Capitol Resource Institute, and Faith and Public Policy hosted a “Day of Action” rally on the west steps of the state capitol. Starting at 9 a.m. “once gay” men and women with Equipped to Love told testimony after testimony, for over two hours, of how God had led them out of homosexuality and how they were helped by the biblical resources and counseling AB 2943 seeks to ban. The day prior, these same individuals visited every senator’s office and presented them with a book of their testimonies titled, “Changed.” Personnel invitations to the rally were also given out all 120 legislative offices, along with encouragement to visit oncegay.com, a website offering proof that change is real.

Williams went on to say legislators claim they are trying to be inclusive, but he feels excluded. “I have dealt a lot with mockery and rejection for being effeminate growing up, but I have never been discriminated against,”Williams said. “For the first time in my life, I feel discriminated against…and it was because of AB 2943.”

After the morning testimonials, Senior Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, President of William Jessup University John Jackson, Pastor Jim Domen of Church United, President of California Family Council Jonathan Keller, President of the National Center for Law and Policy Dean Broyles, and the Executive Director of Capitol Resource Institute Karen England addressed the crowd.

At the conclusion of the rally, hundreds entered the capitol and lined the hallways for an opportunity to voice their opposition to the bill. Bill author Assemblyman Evan Low and co-author Senator Scott Wiener stood first to speak. “Conversion therapy is psychological torture,” Wiener said. “It assumes that being LGBT… is a illness or a problem to be fixed, as opposed to who someone is.” Low told committee members the intent of the bill was to declare the sale of sexual orientation efforts a “fraudulent business practice.” Low went on to say that he amended the bill to apply only to services and not goods, such the sale of Bibles.

But according to several legal experts, the bill still applies to goods, such as books, even with the amendments. Pacific Justice Institute Attorney Kevin Snider explains that the recent amendments did not take out the word ‘good’ from the bill. “This amended bill tosses a frigid damp blanket on the bright fires of free expression,” Snider wrote in an opposition letter. “In the event of passage, California sits poised as the only state to subject a bookseller to civil liability because of government disagreement over the idea contained in the literature.”

Domen and the other co-founder of Equipped to Love, Elizabeth Woning, testified of their sexual orientation change and their hope that legislators would not take away the rights of LGBT people to question their sexuality, and get resources to help make their own decisions about their sexual identification. Then for the next hour over 350 people, including many of those who experienced sexual orientation change themselves, stood up at the hearing microphone and gave short statements of opposition against the AB 2943. (Watch the hearing below.)

After the testimony concluded Republican Senators John Moorlach and Joel Anderson, who opposed the bill, asked some additional clarifying questions. The Democratic Senators affirmed their believe in religious liberty, but said they believed the bill would not affect religious practice in a way that would justify opposition.

For example, Senator Robert Hertzberg supported the bill even though he acknowledge reading “Changed”, holding the book up for all to see. Since the bill still lets churches preach its beliefs, give out resources, go to counseling, and hold conferences as long no money is exchanged, Herbert said religious rights are not being violated. “When you go to church… there is no cost to that,” Hertzberg said. But the 1st Amendment isn’t just for those who give away their services or goods for free. Churches charge for conferences, counseling, and books to cover their costs, and that has always been their right under freedom of speech and freedom of religion protections.

In the end, five Senator (Hannah-Beth Jackson, Robert Hertzbert, Bob Wieckowski, Bill Monning, and Henry Stern) voted yes and two Senator (John M. W. Moorlach, Joel Anderson) voted no. The bill now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee Monday, June 25, and then to the Senate floor for a full vote of the Senate. If the Senate approves the bill, the full Assembly will also have to vote on this amended bill again before the Governor makes his decision. All of this could happen before the summer legislative break, which begins on July 5.

How a journalist’s death live on air became a symbol of Nicaragua’s crisis

Ángel Gahona was live-streaming a protest against President Daniel Ortega when he was shot dead. His family believe the aim was to silence him

Carl David Goette-Luciak in Bluefields

Two weeks before broadcasting his own death on Facebook, Ángel Gahona admitted fearing his days were numbered.

“If I turn up dead one day, don’t be surprised,” his father recalled him saying as the pair stared out at Bluefields Bay one blustery afternoon.

It was not the first time Gahona – a crusading Nicaraguan journalist known for his investigative reports on police abuse and drug trafficking – had made such remarks. “I can’t remember how many times he told me they were going to kill him,” said his father, also called Ángel.

But on 21 April – day four of a continuing popular revolt against Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega – the journalist’s grim prediction finally came true.

As Gahona used his smartphone to stream the aftermath of clashes between police and protesters just down the street from his home in the Caribbean coastal city of Bluefields, a shot rang out and his body slammed on to the concrete.

“I’m thinking he fell, or he’s joking,” recalled Neyda Dixon, a fellow journalist who was also covering the protest. “[But] when I see him bleeding out, I start to scream.”

Gahona, a 42-year-old father of two who ran the local news website El Meridiano, is one of scores of people to have been killed since protests began to sweep Central America’s largest country on 18 April.

At first, the upheaval was fueled by opposition to unpopular pension reforms that Ortega’s government had proposed. But when pro-government forces violently cracked down on demonstrators – in many cases with live ammunition – the focus of the uprising shifted to the septuagenarian Sandinista himself, who now faces the greatest political crisis of his 11-year rule.

Since the one-time revolutionary returned to power in 2007, social programs, such as his “Zero Hunger” initiative, have benefited many. But protesters also accuse Ortega of turning Nicaragua into an authoritarian one-party state, run in cahoots with his widely loathed first lady and vice-president, Rosario Murillo.

A month after the unrest began, violence returned on Monday when riot police confronted protesters and students demanding Ortega’s resignation seized a university in Managua, the capital.

Government supporters quickly gathered to end the takeover, but anti-government protesters rallied to support the students.

“We’re not here to hold a dialogue. We’re here to negotiate your departure,” the student leader Lester Alemán told his president at the start of talks last week to defuse the escalating crisis.

If the students want to see the back of Ortega, the priority for Gahona’s family is finding out who killed him – and why.

On 8 May, 17 days after his death, two young men were detained on suspicion of shooting the journalist with a homemade gun. They were paraded before the media by masked police officers and transferred to El Chipote, a notorious Managua jail.

But Gahona’s family and friends are unconvinced by that narrative and instead point the finger at police, who they suspect took advantage of the chaos on the streets to dispose of a journalist they considered an irritant.

“We believe the police killed Ángel to send us a message. To tell all the journalists here to shut up, to stop supporting or covering the protests,” said Hayzel Zamora, 27, a fellow journalist who witnessed Gahona’s death.

Attempts to contact police in Bluefields were unsuccessful. Managua police officials said they had no information to share on the case and nothing to say.
Gahona’s mother, Amanda, said her son’s childhood in 1970s Nicaragua – during the brutal dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza – had instilled in him a deep-rooted fear of the police.
But after becoming a professional journalist, he never shied away from covering their activities. He became known in Bluefields for covering thorny stories such as police corruption and drug trafficking that other journalists preferred to ignore.

“He wasn’t afraid of anything,” said Suyen Sánchez, a journalist and friend.

Colleagues say it was that fearlessness that took Gahona out on to the streets on the afternoon of 21 April as anti-Ortega protests swept Bluefields.

Sánchez, who works for a local station called Radio Unica, remembers arriving on the scene at dusk to find a group of protesters setting fire to a billboard featuring the image of Ortega and his wife.

Gahona, always first on the scene, was already there.

According to Sánchez, the shooting started shortly after, as police opened fire on demonstrators, hitting an 18-year-old – one of the same men later detained for Gahona’s killing.

“I ran upstairs to tell his brother,” remembered the journalist’s wife, Migueliuth, who had been following his livestream from their home, just a few blocks away. “I only thought that he had been hurt.”

In 1978, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, an outspoken critic of the Somoza dictatorship, was assassinated. His murder stirred public outrage and the following year a popular revolution, which Ortega helped lead, toppled the regime.

When Ortega kicked off the peace talks in Managua last week, he was interrupted just seconds into his speech, by cries of: “Justice for Ángel Gahona!”
One month after his death, however, relatives say there is little, if any, sign of justice.

Determined that Gahona’s name will not be forgotten, his mother has joined protests in Managua, marching alongside dozens of other mothers carrying photos of their slain children.

“We as a family don’t hate anyone,” she insisted. “We forgive Ángel’s killers. But we want the truth, I don’t care if they only spend a day in jail.”

Gahona’s case may still be unsolved, but if his shooting was an attempt to snuff out dissent, his father is convinced that it has failed.

“They wanted to silence Ángel’s voice,” he said. “But they only made it spread.” (the Guardian).

The link between potassium deficiency and cancer

by Dr. Veronique Desaulniers

You may have heard of natural medicine maverick Max Gerson, MD, and his pioneering work around cancer and metabolism in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. If so, you may also know that one of the conditions Gerson focused on in preventing and healing cancer was potassium deficiency. Gerson discovered that balanced potassium levels are vital for prevention. Here’s why.

The importance of the electrolytes

“Electrolytes” are minerals that have an electrical charge; they will separate into negatively and positively charged ions when dissolved in water. The major electrolytes in your body include calcium, magnesium, sodium and, of course, potassium. They exist in bodily fluids like blood, sweat, and urine but are not produced in the body. They must be obtained through what you eat and drink.

Electrolytes are especially important for nerve function. Nerves communicate with each other through electrical and chemical exchange. Electrolytes also help with blood clotting, bone building, maintaining a steady heart rhythm and muscle contraction. Studies such as a published in the Journal of Hypertension have also found that daily potassium intake and maintaining potassium-sodium balance can help keep blood pressure stable.

The cancer-potassium deficiency connection

Gerson noticed that a large percentage of his cancer patients were . This led him and others to inquire about in the body and what this has to do with cancer progression. The answer can be found in how electrolyte imbalance and low potassium levels effect cellular processes.

Research beginning in the 1970’s discovered that when cells are stressed through exposure to toxicity, three things happen. First, the cell loses potassium. Second, the cell accepts more sodium. Third, the cell swells with too much water. This is called . The result of this is that normal cells lose the ability to generate energy (ATP) in a healthy way. They become vulnerable to mutation—and cancer.

Normal function is turned upside down when cells turn cancerous. Cancer cells do not generate ATP, i.e. energy, in the normal (through balanced mineral input and oxygenation). Instead, they generate their version of energy through consuming glucose in an anaerobic environment.

Signs of potassium imbalance

According to (USDA), normal potassium intake is 4,700 mg/day for adults and 3,000 mg/day for children. Anything below that could result in a deficiency. Some signs that you may be low in potassium include:

-fatigue and weakness
-constipation
-muscle cramps
-irregular heartbeat

In addition, individuals with cancer commonly suffer from two other potassium-related conditions. is when high levels of calcium are found in the blood. It is most often seen in individuals with as well as lung cancer and multiple myeloma. sometimes happens after chemotherapy. This is when cancer cells spill their intracellular contents upon destruction, which can cause severe electrolyte imbalance. Both conditions can be dangerous and even deadly if left untreated since they can affect the kidneys and result in a seizure.

Almost everyone is potassium deficient

According to the , the daily average intake of potassium for most Americans is about half the USDA recommendation. This means that more than likely you are low in potassium!

If you have any of the symptoms mentioned above or if you are being treated conventionally for breast cancer, you may consider getting an electrolyte balance test. Including potassium-rich foods such as nuts, squash, lima beans, broccoli and salmon in your diet is also a great idea.

Minerals play such a huge role in the body and potassium is a vital one. Take measures to get enough potassium from healthy sources every day. Staying in electrolyte balance is crucial for those on a healthy breast journey as well as anyone who wishes to stay vital at any age. (Natural News).

Immigrant children were drugged at US center, lawsuit says

by the El Reportero’s wire services

WASHINGTON – Undocumented children detained near the US city of Houston were forced by the authorities to take a variety of psychotropic drugs, according to a lawsuit filed in April, which local media reported today.

According to the legal action filed by the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, based in Los Angeles, California, and made public this Wednesday, the events occurred at the Shiloh Treatment Center in Texas, and would also affect minors separated from their parents.

The infants who are in that place, specialized in services for young people with behavioral and emotional problems, will almost certainly receive the drugs, regardless of their condition, and without the consent of their parents, the lawsuit claimed.

If a child is placed in Shiloh after being separated from one of the parents, then it is almost certain that he is taking psychotropic drugs, said Carlos Holguín, a lawyer for the organization that filed the legal appeal, cited Thursday by Newsweek magazine.

The document brought to the court alleges that the minors who refused to take the drugs were retained and received injections.

He also noted that some workers tricked them into believing that the drugs were vitamins.

‘The staff told me that some of the pills were vitamins because I need to gain weight. Vitamins changed about twice, and each time I felt different,’ said one child mentioned in the lawsuit.

The action alleges that the infants detained at the Shiloh Treatment Center, a government contractor housing immigrant children, were told they would not be released or see their parents unless they took medication.

Both adults and the infants themselves told the lawyers that drugs prevented them from walking, they were afraid of people and they wanted to sleep constantly, according to the affidavits filed on April 23 in the United States District Court in California.

Two more candidates for mayor assassinated in Michoacán
They were shot and killed by armed civilians in Aguililla and Ocampo

The violence against political candidates continued yesterday and today with the murder of two candidates for mayor in the state of Michoacán.

Omar Gómez Lucatero, who was running as an independent in Aguililla, was killed yesterday when armed civilians opened fire on him as he left his home in this Tierra Caliente municipality of about 16,000 people.

Gómez had run for office before with the Institutional Revolutionary Party but this time round he was running as an independent.

A security operation involving municipal and state police was implemented following the murder, but no arrests have been reported.

The second murder took place this morning in Ocampo when three armed men entered the home of Ángeles Juárez and shot and killed him.

Juárez was the Democratic Revolution Party candidate for mayor of Ocampo, a municipality of about 50,000 in the eastern part of the state.

The two murders come just a week after another Michoacán candidate was gunned down. Alejandro Chávez Zavala was killed last Thursday in Taretan.

He too was running for mayor.

There have now been 47 candidates assassinated during the election process that began last September.

Meanwhile, a 10-million-peso ransom (US $491,000) has been posted for information leading to the arrest of two brothers believed to have been behind the assassination of a candidate for federal deputy in Coahuila.

Governor Miguel Riquelme announced the ransom yesterday for information that would lead to locating and apprehending Erik and Ignacio Arámbula Viveros.

They have been identified as the authors of the assassination June 8 of Fernando Purón, the Institutional Revolutionary Party candidate for federal Congress.

Source: El País (sp)

Salvadoreans March Against Water Privatization

The Salvadoran people are staging a march today to the headquarters of the right-wing ARENA party in rejection of the maneuver to privatize the administration of the human right to water.

The organizations drawing together the Trade Union Front in El Salvador will march from the Cuscatlán Park to the ARENA general headquarters, in another protest against a measure that the oligarchic organization tries to mask.