Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Home Blog Page 342

Seven members of Cuban National Ballet defect during international tour

by the El Reportero’s staff

Members of the Cuban National Ballet (PHOTO BY REUTERS)Members of the Cuban National Ballet. (PHOTO BY REUTERS)

Seven members of the Cuban National Ballet defected during a recent tour in Mexico and all but one have crossed the border into the United States, a Miami-based news Web site reported.

Six of the defectors crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into Texas and have been in Miami since last Friday after petitioning for political asylum, the Cafe Fuerte Web site said.

“It’s the toughest decision I’ve ever made, but we’re not thinking about the past, just the future. We decided to seek out a better artistic life and economic wellbeing for our families,” Annie Ruiz Diaz, a 24-year-old dancer, told Cafe Fuerte.

In addition to Ruiz, Ariadnni Martin, 20; Randy Crespo, 22; Luis Victor Santana, 23; Edward Gonzalez, 23; and Jose Justiz, 20, also have arrived in Miami.

A seventh member of the group, Alejandro Mendez, 20, is still in Mexico, Cafe Fuerte said.

The members of the Cuban National Ballet traveled to Mexico on March 17 at the outset of the company’s 2013 international tour.

New album for Latin Grammy-winning Bajofondo

Latin Grammy-winning band, Bajofondo have released their new album ‘Presente’, March 5, via Sony Masterworks. Presente is an epic 21-track high-energy tour de force that blends a multitude of traditionally dichotomous genres seamlessly. Gustavo Santaolalla, winner of a Golden Globe, 2 Oscars, 2 Grammys, and 12 Latin Grammys, describes the album as “a trip that takes you from the most magical to the most epic urban moments.”

The North American tour has offered crowds a chance to see one of the most acclaimed live acts in the world that recently drew hundreds of thousands at an outdoor performance in Buenos Aires.

Juanes’ autobiography will include “a Tour of Obscure Memories”

Touching stories about his beginnings, what influenced his music, the burden of fame, his relations with God and even the death of his father – Juanes’ first book is an intimate door to his life.

“I gave myself the job of writing and this was what came out – a tour of obscure memories” from 40 years in the life of this Colombian artist and compiled in Chasing the Sun (Persiguiendo el Sol), which hits bookstores on Tuesday in both English and Spanish.

In an interview with Efe, Juanes explains what it meant for him to sit down and write an autobiography, a task that took him around six months and which actually began as a book of photos for which he intended to write some explanatory captions and comments.

“It was a very special way to travel back to the beginning,” said Juanes, who, with the help of those photos, many of them never published, recalled “everything that affected me in a positive way.”

Writing this book “was an exercise that allowed me to tell a little about who I was and who I am today,” said Juan Esteban Aristizabal Vásquez, who has sold more than 16 million discs and who admits that his mind went blank the first time he sat down in front of his computer.

Six months later the book has been published, though he has no ambitions to be considered a writer. “This was a first-time exercise, I had never written so much altogether,” the winner of 19 Latin Grammy Awards and two Grammys said.

He speaks openly about how he felt at the death of his father, and even about the importance of religion in his life.

“I have a very personal interpretation of God,” he said, “and for me it’s essential to have faith. It’s very hard not to have it. Every time I have wandered away from that core belief, my life hasn’t worked and I learned that we don’t have to question everything.”

The ruthless State of the Union: the current crime boss speaks

by Jon Rappoport
www.nomorefakenews.com

Perhaps it’s presidents running down the whole laundry list of issues, but it seems to me the last dozen or so State of the Union speeches by presidents could put a galaxy of insomniacs to sleep.

Originally, the State of the Union was the president talking to Congress. Now we all know no one from the Senate or the House is going to move a new inch by anything the president says in his speech.

It’s just a dog and pony show. It’s also a chance for the president to talk to the television audience. That’s the real event. The president’s on TV.

It’s a stage play and it closes the night it opens. The script is always too long. It should have been cut by nine-tenths in rehearsals.

The droning of the laundry list is, of course, a reflection of the fact that big government has its paws and nose in every facet of our lives. I was waiting for Obama to talk about an adequate supply of toilet paper and paper towels in public-park restrooms, and the danger of pictures of guns brought to school.

And how about those unsightly vegetable gardens growing on front lawns? Would he bring in the FBI and the ATF and DHS to solve that problem?

Would he push for free sex-change operations for all college students? Radioactive body scanners in coffee shops? I think the system for assigning names to hurricanes and blizzards should be subjected to a task-force study.

When tonight Obama said the only way to make progress was for us all to work together, he didn’t just mean the Congress. He meant the American people, aka the television audience. But I’ve never understood that idea. What are we all working together to accomplish? What’s the program? Giving away more of our income to the federal government? Agreeing to more surveillance of our movements? Supporting the invasion of more countries? Refraining from photographing the police making arrests? Restricting our Facebook posts to happy faces and rainbows?

Are we all working together to surrender our guns in exchange for movie tickets and candy? Are we pretending to be overjoyed that the federal government wants to force everyone to get vaccinated and eat GMO food, and take SSRI antidepressants that demonstrably cause people to go crazy and kill others? Is that it?

Are we somehow working together to print endless amounts of money? Are we working together to push the percentage of Americans collecting free government money from 40 percent to 60 percent? Is that the glorious goal?

Are we working together to give money to alternative-energy companies so they can go broke and declare bankruptcy? Are we working together to protect and defend the World Trade Organization, so ravenous mega-corporations can export jobs to China and roam the global landscape, raping and pillaging resources and labor?

Are we working together to accept Obamacare, which will steadily eliminate natural-health alternatives and enroll more people in a medical system that kills 225,000 people (actually a lot more) every year like clockwork? Is that the goal?

Are we working together to pretend we have two very different major political parties in the country, instead of one party with two heads?

Are we working to assure that no bankster is ever sent to prison for scamming the American people out of trillions of dollars?

Are we working together to take guns away from people who would only use them to defend themselves and their families against criminals, while at the same we work to ignore gang violence stemming in part from the fact that Mexican drug cartels use these gangs as subcontractors, under the protection of the federal government?

Are we working together to imagine that our troops are really fighting wars to protect and defend the nation?

Are we working together to hide the fact that, although interest rates are artificially low, we’re spending more and more money every month to buy what we need to survive?

Are we working together to hamstring every small business in America with red tape and taxes?

Are we working together to ignore the absurd insanity called climate-change science, so the government can install carbon taxes and penalties and lop the top off of American industry?

Are we all working together to frame attractive free incentive packages for unlimited numbers of immigrants who come to America, while untold numbers of Americans are going hungry every night, and people can’t find jobs anywhere? Is that the objective? Destabilization of society, under the cynical guise of humane gift-giving?

Are we working to dream that when the president says he’s going to focus on jobs in his second term, this means he’s actually going to do more than squint at the sun?

Are we working to find more foreign enemies we can invade, as our military advance teams pave the way for imperial corporations and continue to launch some sort of ridiculous surround Russia” operation?

Are we all working together to drown the Third World in “free” medical drugs and vaccines that destroy immune systems, rather than cleaning up contaminated water supplies and installing simple sanitation systems (at a millionth of the cost of the drugs)?

Are we all working together just “to work together” and continue the fine tradition of destroying the nation from the inside?

That’s what I thought. Yes, that’s what I thought.

Hell of a speech, Mr. President. You and GW and Bill and Bush the Elder and Ronnie and Jimmy and Gerry and Nixon really know your laundry lists. You talk, and the government gets bigger. It’s magic.

There’s always more to do and the government has to make it happen. Otherwise, what are you there for?

I ask myself that question all the time. I’m still looking for an answer, other than, “We’re all in this together.”

Who is this WE you keep taking about? And what is this TOGETHER? You mean we who are watching on television and you who are talking on television? You mean you who are slicing the Constitution into little pieces while ridiculing it as a Neanderthal document? You mean you who are covert agents of Globalism? You mean you who have been vetted to make sure you’re on board with the op to take American down into a planetary management system that will bring a thousand years of peace to people made over into androids?

That’s what I thought.

You talk and the government gets bigger. You bankroll education and students are brainwashed into “uplifting social themes,” and become more dumb.

You talk and the statecorporate media strain themselves into hernias to praise your erudition or passion. You talk and thousands of lobbyists who have the inside track on your souls parse your words and plan their new strategies. You talk and the American people desperately try to imagine you’re making a grain of sense.

You talk and the winds blow and the snow falls and Somebody Actually Important, at a much higher level of the Mob, pats you on your shoulder and folds you up like a puppet and drops you in his pocket and walks upstairs to the Residence and puts you to sleep.

Asleep, you dream of a strange and alien thing: the freedom and power and independence of the individual.

For you, it’s a nightmare.

Americans – like Nazi Germans – don’t notice that all of our rights are slipping away -Part 1

by Marvin J. Ramirez

Marvin J. RamirezMarvin J. Ramirez

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: At a time when most people are noticing the government increase of domination over the people, contrary to what should be: the people domination over the government, El Reportero is glad to publish the following article authored by Washingtonblog.com. I believe that it is my duty to inform the people of some aspects of our current government that are becoming detrimental to our liberties. Perhaps this article will wake some people up, perhaps not. Due to its length and our limited space, we will publish it in several parts. This is the first part of a series.

Americans • like Nazi Germans • don’t notice that all of our rights are slipping away • Part 1 The US is the world’s largest prison state

by washingtonsblog.com

In the classic history of Nazi Germany, They Thought They Were Free, Milton Mayer writes:

“What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it.

“This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter.

The German citizens were boiling frogs … the water heating up so gradually that they didn’t realize they had to jump out of the pot to safety.

Because the exact same thing is happening to Americans (fear of terror makes people stupid no matter what country they live in), let’s remember exactly what we’ve lost in recent years …

First Amendment

The 1st Amendment protects speech, religion, assembly and the press:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

However, the government is arresting those speaking out … and violently crushing peaceful assemblies which attempt to petition the government for redress.

A federal judge found that the law allowing indefinite detention of Americans without due process has a “chilling effect” on free speech.

There are also enacted laws allowing the secret service to arrest anyone protesting near the president or other designated folks.

The threat of being labeled a terrorist for exercising our First Amendment rights certainly violates the First Amendment. The government is using laws to crush dissent , and it’s gotten so bad that even U.S. Supreme Court justices are saying that we are descending into tyranny.

For example, the following actions may get an American citizen living on U.S. soil labeled as a “suspected terrorist” today:

• Being young (if you live near a battle zone, you are fair game ; and see this ).

• Using social media.

• Reporting or doing journalism.

• Speaking out against government policies.

• Protesting anything (such as participating in the “Occupy” movement ).

• Questioning war (even though war reduces our national security ; and see this ).

• Criticizing the government’s targeting of innocent civilians with drones (although killing innocent civilians with drones is one of the main things which increases terrorism. And see this ).

• Asking questions about pollution (even at a public Congressional hearing ?).

• Paying cash at an Internet cafe.

• Asking questions about Wall Street shenanigans.

• Holding gold.

• Creating alternative currencies.

• Stocking up on more than 7 days of food (even though all Mormons are taught to stockpile food, and most Hawaiians store up on extra food ).

• Having bumper stickers saying things like “Know Your Rights Or Lose Them”.

• Investigating factory farming.

• Infringing a copyright.

• Taking pictures or videos.

• Talking to police officers.

• Wearing a hoodie.

• Driving a van.

• Writing on a piece of paper.

• (Not having a Facebook account may soon be added).

And holding the following beliefs may also be considered grounds for suspected terrorism:

• Being frustrated with “mainstream ideologies”.

• Valuing online privacy.

• Supporting Ron Paul or being a libertarian.

• Liking the Founding Fathers.

• Being a Christian.

• Being anti-tax, anti-regulation or for the gold standard.

• Being “reverent of individual liberty”.

• Being “anti-nuclear”.

• “Believe in conspiracy theories”.

• “A belief that one’s personal and/or national “way of life” is under attack”.

• “Impose strict religious tenets or laws on society (fundamentalists)”.

• “Insert religion into the political sphere”.

• “Those who seek to to politicize religion”.

• “Supported political movements for autonomy”.

• Being “anti-abortion”.

• Being “anti-Catholic”.

• Being “anti-global”.

• “Suspicious of centralized federal authority”.

• “Fiercely nationalistic (as opposed to universal and international in orientation)”.

• “A belief in the need to be prepared for an attack either by participating in … survivalism”.

• Opposing genetically engineered food.

Opposing surveillance

Of course, Muslims are more or less subject to a separate system of justice in America, according to the UK’s The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/12/hsbc-prosecution-fine-money-laundering.

“The US is the world’s largest prison state, imprisoning more of its citizens than any nation on earth, both in absolute numbers and proportionally. It imprisons people for longer periods of time, more mercilessly, and for more trivial transgressions than any nation in the west. This sprawling penal state has been constructed over decades, by both political parties, and it punishes the poor and racial minorities at overwhelmingly disproportionate rates.

IT WILL CONTINUE ON NEXT WEEK EDITION

Beat gallstones naturally

by Dr. David Jockers

Gallstones are crystalline formations of cholesterol and calcium formed within the gallbladder and biliary tracts. These stones can vary widely in size from as small as a grain of salt to nearly the size of a golf ball. Gallstones are a sign of incomplete liver detoxification and pose a significant threat to the body. Beat gallstones naturally with an anti-inflammatory diet and cleansing cycle.

The gallbladder serves as a reservoir for the bile that is produced by the liver. Bile is necessary to digest and metabolize fatty acids. The extra bile storage allows the body to effectively metabolize fat-rich foods such as steak and eggs. When the liver and gallbladder get congested with toxins they are not able to secrete bile effectively. This can cause bile material imbalances that lead to gallstone formation.

Gallstones are typically a combination of cholesterol and calcium. Most individuals do not experience any outward signs or symptoms.

As the stones get larger they hamper digestion and can cause mild to severe pain in the upper right abdomen area. These painful episodes usually occur at night after eating a fatty meal. Other symptoms include abdominal bloating, belching, gas, fatty stools, low energy after eating and diarrhea.

GallBladder infections Gallstones can also lodge infectious organisms such as E Coli and Bacteroids and cause further inflammatory stress to the liver and gallbladder. These infections can create life threatening issues and must be addressed. Fermented foods and probiotics work to both inhibit these infectious bacteria and reduce the severity of any infection.

An anti-inflammatory diet and lifestyle is necessary to inhibit gallstone formation.

This diet consists of phytonutrient rich organic fruits & vegetables, grassfed animal products and healthy fat sources such as avocados, coconut & olive oil. Raw cheese from grassfed cows and goats is an important food due to its rich content of omega 3 fatty acids, vitamin K2 & D3. The synergy between vitamin K2 & D3 helps regulate calcium metabolism to inhibit the formation of gallstones.

Foods that are rich in organic acids and natural enzymes are especially important for the entire digestive system including the liver and gall bladder.

These foods include apple cider vinegar (ACV), fresh squeezed lemon/lime, kombucha, kimchi and red cabbage sauerkraut. Probiotic enriched, raw dairy products such fermented whey, kefir & amasai are extremely beneficial.

Liver health is dependent upon a regular fasting cycle to effectively cleanse and detoxify. A 12-hour fast between dinner and breakfast is a great daily habit. If one were to finish their final solid food meal at 8 p.m. they should not attempt another solid food meal until at least 8 a.m. This gives the body four hours to digest and metabolize the food and then 8 hours for the liver to cleanse.

Once you incorporate this 12-hour daily detox cycle into your lifestyle you can choose to increase this period of time.

Two to three 16-hour liquid fasts each week and/or a 24 hour liquid fast will keep the liver well flushed.

These fasting periods are much easier than most people believe. Many individuals will drink fresh vegetable juices, functional beverages made with fermented whey, kombucha and water with lemon. The fluid and nutrients supply the body with very clean energy that enhances the liver’s ability to purge toxins and facilitate bowel movements.

Anyone with pronounced and symptomatic gallstones should go on a liquid diet with lots of water & lemon, ACV, fermented whey, coconut kefir and fresh organic vegetable juices. Try to limit solid food to one meal per day with very moderate portions of anti-inflammatory foods.

Venezuela violence is key campaign issue

by Latin News and Prensa Latina

Néstor ReverolNéstor Reverol

Report by Latin News – Venezuela’s interior and justice minister, Néstor Reverol, admitted this week that homicides increased by 14 pecent in 2012 to 16,072 compared with a year earlier. The murder rate has increased from 48 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2011, Reverol said, to 54.

This is more than twice the murder rate in Peru where the government, under heavy public and media pressure, this week announced the creation of an elite police intelligence team to crack down on criminal gangs to try and combat.

Venezuela’s acting president, Nicolás Maduro, said that ending violence in the country required “an integral and Socialist vision”, and appealed to artists and sportsmen to assist in developing a plan to tackle it.

Creator of free software Richard Stallman in Bolivia

Richard Stallman, the creator of computer free software, assured that his visit to La Paz, capital of Bolivia, has the intention to supervise the implementation of this technology in the South American country.

According to a note from the Bolivian Free Software Community in La Paz, Stallman will supervise the Bolivian government in adopting this kind of computer system, a year after the promulgation of the Law of Telecommunications, which includes a specific Stock Exchange, sometimes known as the “Big Board”, that is located at 11 Wall Street, Lower Manhattan, New York City.

In 1985, Stallman created the Free Software Foundation with the objective to defend the fundamental rights of the free software users.

Now, this institution extends on a world wide net to promote and spread the technology. Some South American countries such as Brazil and Ecuador have already adopted this technology.

Free software is a different way to adopt the computer system technology, thanks to a base of licenses to share creations, and information in general.

Anti-hunger campaign begins in Mexico

The National Anti-Hunger Campaign, which includes the 400 poorest Mexican municipalities in this first year, is beginning here today.

This is a comprehensive program that will target 7,400,000 people, with federal, state, and municipal entities taking part through agricultural, health, and educational projects, among others.

According to reports, a total of 11,000 people died in Mexico in 2011 due to malnutrition related problems.

The current Mexican government which took power last December, has set among its priorities the fight against hunger, extreme poverty, and social inequality.

Honduras debts are around six thousand 500 million dollars

The external and internal debts of Honduras are around six thousand 500 million dollars, which represents 38 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) of the Central American nation, officials said.

Currently debt is estimated in approximately $3.7 million dollars and $2,800 (internal) million, said the head of the Ministry of Finance Wilfredo Cerrato, quoted by the newspaper La Tribuna.

Despite the Honduran debit said Cerrato, the fiscal deficit will remain at 4.5 percent of GDP as planned in the Budget of Revenues and Expenditures 2013.

Regarding inflation, expected to close this year at 5.5 to six percent of GDP, due mainly to foreign exchange outflow by rising oil prices in the international market.

He noted that the reserves increased by almost 20 percent by dollar inflows from sovereign bonds, which have been used to pay for government vendors.

In February Honduran administration managed to sell $500 million in sovereign bonds in foreign markets, to 7.5 by the way of interest and payable within 11 years.

Poll: Almost one third of Americans believe the New World Order exists

by Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com

Almost one third of Americans believe that a secretive power elite is conspiring to rule the world via an authoritarian global government, according to a new national poll.

A survey conducted by Public Policy Polling, labeled by many as a pro-Obama outfit, seems to be aimed at ascribing belief in “crazy conspiracy theories” to Republicans by mixing in real cover-ups and conspiracies with outlandish ideas.

However, despite the constant media drumbeat about the clear move towards centralization of power being a baseless conspiracy theory, the poll reveals that 28 per cent of Americans believe that “a secretive power elite with a globalist agenda is conspiring to eventually rule the world through an authoritarian world government, or New World Order.”

46 per cent of respondents do not believe this notion, while 25 per cent are not sure.

The poll asks a number of obviously far out questions that only people with fringe beliefs would ascribe to, such as, “Do you believe that shape-shifting reptilian people control our world by taking on human form and gaining political power to manipulate our societies, or not?” and, “Do you believe Paul McCartney actually died in a car crash in 1966 and was secretly replaced by a lookalike so The Beatles could continue, or not?”

Serious issues that should not even be considered “conspiracy theories” and have largely come to be accepted as fact are then mixed in such as, “Do you believe the Bush administration intentionally misled the public about the possibility of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to promote the Iraq War, or not?”

Shockingly, a majority of 45 percent to 44 percent do not believe that the Bush administration intentionally lied about WMD, despite the fact that the Downing Street memo revealed that Bush was intent on invading Iraq and that “the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.”

Another widely documented fact, that the CIA was instrumental in distributing crack cocaine into America’s inner cities in the 80s to help finance CIA-backed Contras in Nicaragua, is also only accepted by 14 per cent of Americans.

Polls taken in the years after 9/11 which showed that a huge majority of Americans had questions about the 9/11 attacks now appear to be contradicted by the PPP poll, which asks, “Do you believe the United States government knowingly allowed the attacks on September 11th, 2001, to happen, or not?,” to which just 11 per cent of respondents said they did believe this notion, with 78 per cent disbelieving it.

Despite the vastness of the universe, a clear majority of Americans (47 percent to 29 percent) also do not believe that alien life exists.

A majority of 51 per cent believe that there was a wider conspiracy involved in the assassination of JFK, while 25 percent believe that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.

A jaw-dropping 28 per cent of Americans still believe that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11, despite this idea being overwhelmingly debunked and even admitted to be nonsense by Dick Cheney, one of the first individuals to circulate the idea.

A small minority, 5 per cent 9 per cent respectively, believe that chemtrails are being sprayed in the skies and that sodium fluoride is being added to drinking water for sinister purposes.

If anything, this poll merely underscores the fact that a majority of Americans are not well read and have little grasp of recent history.

The agency responsible for the survey, Public Policy Polling, has close links to the Democratic Party establishment and its neutrality has been questioned on numerous occasions in the past.
Indeed, when Infowars agreed a deal with PPP to conduct a poll on the Transportation Security Administration, the agency backed out at the last minute, citing how it was “uncomfortable with a lot of the content that appears on Infowars.com,” which clearly suggests that the organization allows political bias to skew its work.

The poll was subsequently accepted and conduct by Harris Interactive, which is widely renowned as one of the top polling agencies.

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and PrisonPlanet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.

In other related news:

Poll: Majority of young Americans against banning ‘assault weapons’

by Celia Bigelow

You know President Obama and his allies are losing the gun argument when his greatest supporters are against him: Reason/Rupe released a scientific poll which found the majority of Americans–particularly young Americans–support the right of people to own so-called “assault weapons.”

Of the 1,000 adults surveyed, 51 percent of respondents support the private ownership of “assault weapons,” while 44 percent were opposed. It may come as a shock to the public that the strongest advocates for private ownership are young Americans, the same age demographic that overwhelmingly supported the President in his reelection.

The poll found that 70 percent of young Americans ages 18-24 agree that Americans “should be allowed” to own “assault weapons,” while only 27 percent believe they should be prohibited. A recent study conducted by American University also showed that 60 percent of young Americans either already plan to or are considering purchasing a firearm for their home in the future.

The Reason/Rupe poll showed that the majority of respondents under the age of 54 believe that Americans should be able to own “assault weapons,” while older Americans believe they should be prohibited (58-36 percent).

The results of this poll were significantly different from those reported by the mainstream media; Reason/Rupe attributes the divergent results to the wording of the question in each poll.
Reason/Rupe asked a straightforward question, “Do you think people should be prohibited from owning assault weapons, or should people be allowed to own them?”; other outlets, however, muddled the issue with misleading information, such as a CNN poll that used an AK-47 as an example of a “semi-automatic” weapon and an AP poll that asked if “military-style, rapid-fire guns” should be banned.

El Quimbo hydroelectric project in Colombia will cause a human tragedy

Farm workers march against hydroelectric project.

by Orsetta Bellani

Moises Sanchez is a farmer in the Huila Department in Southern Colombia. On January 13, 2013, the Esmad (anti-riot police) dragged him out of his house, and broke it down before his eyes. “They told me they did for my safety, because my farm will be flooded by the reservoir,” he says. “For more than a year now, Emgesa has promised me a land as compensation, but I have received nothing. The police still have my things; I didn’t claim them because I don’t know where to take them.”
Moises Sanchez is one of thousands affected by the El Quimbo hydroelectric project, which Emgesa (a Colombian company that is actually controlled by the Italian-Spanish Endesa-Enel) is building on the Magdalena River.
Because of the dam, six municipalities of the Department of Huila will be flooded. “Asoquimbo (Association of People Affected by the El Quimbo Hydroelectric) was born in 2009 to defend the rights of the people living within the area of influence of the project,” says Jennifer Chavarro, student and member of Asoquimbo.

The story of El Quimbo is full of contradictions. In 1997, the Ministry of Environment decided not to grant the environmental impact license to the project, considering that it was not feasible because of the damage it would create to “the best lands with agricultural potential of the region.” In 2007, Emgesa requested the license again to the Ministry of Environment. The document was approved on May 15, 2009 based on a concept of the Ministry of Agriculture which overturned the previous verdict: without specifying which conditions had changed, the ministry stated that El Quimbo wouldn’t jeopardize the food security of the region. In addition, the environmental permit has been approved without the Environmental Assessment of Alternatives, a test to assess the options for development of a project, and without taking into account the decision of the Attorney General’s Office, which six days before the granting of the license, requested the Ministry of Environment to refrain from doing it. “The environmental permit in 2009 has been amended three times to support the interests of Emgesa”, complains Miller Dussán Calderon, Surcolombiana University professor and member of Asoquimbo.

Eight months before the approval of the environmental license, the Ministry of Mines and Energy ratified Resolution 321, declaring the 8586 acres needed to build the Quimbo of public utility and social interest. “The disappearance of an area of 8586 hectares cannot be considered a low-impact entity, as the company claims,” writes the Ministry of Environment in the Environmental License.

The damages caused by El Quimbo have been investigated by the Comptroller General of the Republic, which estimates a potential financial loss of 350.644 million pesos (about 200 million dollars). The preliminary investigation led to a referral to the Attorney General’s Office and the application for the initiation of a process of fiscal responsibility against the ANLA (National Environmental Licensing Authority).

In addition, the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History (ICANH) found that Emgesa affected archaeological heritage and would have to pay between 200 and 300 million pesos (between 110 and 170 thousand dollars).

“According to the license, Emgesa would need to compensate smallholders restoring the properties, so they can settle elsewhere,” says Jesus Elias Benavides, a farmer in La Honda community. However, until today they did not buy even one inch of land and the only compensation that some families received was in cash.

In Colombia, there is a legal vacuum on the displacement caused by the megaprojects, which multinationals can easily exploit. “Eighty percent of foreign direct investment in Colombia is represented by energy-mining projects. This generates a humanitarian tragedy in a country where there already are millions of people displaced by the conflict,” complains Daniel Bookshelves from the National University of Colombia. “The state would have to provide standards for these investments, there is no minimum profile matrix displaced by dams and so each company is doing a review on a whim”.

Emgesa has characterized the people affected by the project of El Quimbo as “direct,” which are those who will lose their homes and their lands, and “indirect”, a definition that includes all the people whose work will be affected, such as day laborers and fishermen. In fact, the local fishermen saw 7.95 tons of fish affected in the period 2009-2011 alone, according to a research by Incoder (Colombian Institute for Rural Development).

However, Emgesa censed a minimal portion of the actual affected people. “Asoquimbo legally should not do the census, but we made a hit record and found that 1,400 people were surveyed,” says Professor Miller Dussán Calderón. We deliver our research to the Comptroller General of the Republic, who proved that effectively Emgesa census methodology was seriously flawed. Then another phenomenon happened, due to the fact that when you stop the production of a land, it affects all the production chains. So traders also wanted to be counted, and now our record gives 9111 people and more are waiting to be registered.

“On January 28, 2013, the Comptroller General’s Office summoned us to a meeting where we deliver the signatures of these people who call themselves affected, requesting a decision on the case.” However, the ANLA announced it has no intention of reopening the census.

 

Corporate education reform hits SF Community College

A protest against the privatization and closure of City College of SF. (PHOTO BY DAVID BACON)

by David Bacon
Truthout Report

On March 14, the day before the Trustees at San Francisco Community College District handed in the report that may decide the life or death of California’s largest community college, student and faculty marchers headed downtown to City Hall. Hundreds of chanting, banner-waving people stopped traffic on Mission Street. Their mood combined desperation at the prospect of the closure of the school, and anger and defiance at the kinds of changes that authorities are demanding to keep it open.
Shanell Williams, urban studies major and president of the Associated Students at SFCC, said that the required changes are part of a larger effort to turn students into commodities, and move towards the privatization of education. “Next year students will be affected by the Student Success Act,” she warned. “Every student will have to have an education plan, there will be repeat limits, and a 90-credit cap on the Board of Governors fee waiver [that allows poor and working class students to petition to waive tuition fees]”.

Over the past three years of the state’s fiscal crisis San Francisco has endured a $53 million loss in revenue. Despite it, teachers and previous chancellors worked to maintain an adequate class level, and avoided layoffs through temporary cuts and concessions. But commissioners found there had not been enough cuts or cancelled classes, that too much (92 percent) of the budget was spent on personnel, and that too few administrators were on staff.

Many faculty and students believe that California’s economic crisis is being used to enforce a series of changes intended to move the community college system towards privatization, and to attack unions. Alisa Messer, president of the faculty union at SFCC, Local 2121 of the American Federation of Teachers, says that education reformers “See community colleges as a means to turn out hirable people, or students for four-year institutions. We see them as institutions serving the broader community.”

The Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) told the district that subsidies for some education programs needed by students should be cut and that one important goal was to “reduce the number of full-time faculty.” For teachers, it suggested negotiating contract provisions that provide benefits and compensation “that may not be sustainable in the current economic environment.”

The district responded that it would demand “rolling back pay schedules, reducing the cost of health benefits, reducing the cost per hour for part time faculty, and/or reducing or eliminating the cost of part-time faculty health benefits.”

For the janitors, instructional aides, food service workers and other non-teachers, FCMAT told SFCC to eliminate contract provisions, including wellness payments, substantial paid time off, a 37.5 hour workweek, and high levels of vacation and compensatory time.

Last July Local 2121 and the district agreed to emergency measures to meet the fiscal crisis caused by the loss of state funding, including a 2.85 percent wage cut for the 2012-2013 school year. Afterwards faculty and students hit the road to campaign for state Proposition 30, to prevent further funding cuts, and citywide Proposition A, intended to plug the hole in the district budget.

The political leaders who placed the measure on the ballot, including district trustee Anne Grier, said in their ballot argument that funds from Proposition A would be used to maintain core academic courses; provide workforce training; provide an education that prepares students for four-year universities; keep City College libraries and student support services open; keep technology and instructional support up to date, and offset State budget cuts.

In November voters passed Prop. 30 and Prop. A. In December, however, district negotiators announced that the administration would impose a 4.4 percent “annualized” wage cut on faculty, retroactive to July. Together they would effectively cut salaries by 8.8 percent through next July. The district refused to bargain, and when union negotiators persisted in demanding explanations, a new budget projection was produced.

After further prodding, the district announced that all Proposition A money would be used to increase the district’s reserves, and better fund pension liabilities. The administration claimed this was a mandate from the ACCJC, and what voters thought they were voting for was irrelevant.

Student enrollment has been falling as a result of the economic crisis, but began falling much faster when class cuts and a possible closure made them extremely insecure. That in turn caused the district’s income to fall as well.

In an effort to show its willingness to obey the accreditation commission and FCMAT dictates, in October the board hired a “special trustee” with the power to veto decisions he feels jeopardize the school’s response, much as appointed “special managers” in Michigan today overrule decisions made by elected city councils. The board chose Bob Agrella, past president of Santa Rosa City College, who promptly blamed the union for opposing the cuts and concessions. Its objections were keeping the college from meeting ACCJC recommendations, he claimed, and accused it and students of trying to protect the system’s nine campuses from closure.

When students and teachers marched through the city on March 14, they were protesting the way the fear of closure has been used to force through the ACCJC and FCMAT demands. Shanell Williams angrily denounced the tactic saying, “We need to have confidence that the administration will do what it takes to keep the college open, without squeezing out the most at-risk students or forcing extreme cuts on the faculty.”

Sanctioning community colleges is growing beyond San Francisco, however – 27 districts in California are currently on the list. Two have “Show Cause” orders that threaten closure, in addition to SFCC. The accreditation commission is not a public agency, but a self-perpetuating private one, overseen by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, funded by educational institutions.

What gives its recommendations power is the U.S. Department of Education, which will only fund financial aid at accredited institutions. Particularly for community colleges, whose student body is drawn overwhelmingly from working class communities, accreditation therefore becomes a life or death issue.

DHS excuses for buying so much ammo don’t add up

by J. D. Heyes
Natural News

Just move along, folks. There’s nothing to see here.

That’s the attitude of the Department of Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano when it comes to scrutiny of her agency’s massive purchase requests for billions – that’s right, billions – of rounds of ammunition, along with 7,000 “personal defense weapons” (they would be called assault weapons if owned by private citizens), and 2,700 mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) armored vehicles of the type used to protect troops in Iraq and Afghanistan from improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

These concerns are “unfounded,” according to low-level DHS officials – the only ones addressing the questions, since DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano thinks she is above doing so. All part of the department’s normal logistical needs. This kind of purchase is normal and should be viewed as such. Calm down.

From The Associated Press, which is merely regurgitating DHS’ talking points:

“Federal solicitations to buy the bullets are known as “strategic sourcing contracts,” which help the government get a low price for a big purchase, says Peggy Dixon, spokeswoman for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Ga . The training center and others like it run by the Homeland Security Department use as many as 15 million rounds every year, mostly on shooting ranges and in training exercises.”

The purchases are to be spread out over five years, the government says. Counting the most recent solicitation, which is viewable on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website, DHS, in sum, is now looking to purchase nearly two billion rounds of ammunition. Even spread out over five years that is a staggering amount: 400 million rounds per year. The Defense Department doesn’t even use that much.

Okay, the math just doesn’t add up

If you take Dixon’s estimate of 15 million rounds used by various federal agents per year and then even double it for additional training and uses, it becomes obvious the federal government is stockpiling ammunition, pure and simple. The question is, why?

Talk show host Mark Levin, a lawyer who served in several posts during the Reagan administration and who is no conspiracy theorist, had this to say about DHS’ extraordinary purchases:

“To provide some perspective, experts estimate that at the peak of the Iraq war American troops were firing around 5.5 million rounds per month. At that rate, the [Department of Homeland Security] is armed now for a 24-year Iraq war. … I’m going to tell you what I think is going on. I don’t think domestic insurrection. Law enforcement and national security agencies, they play out multiple scenarios. … I’ll tell you what I think they’re simulating: the collapse of our financial system, the collapse of our society and the potential for widespread violence, looting, killing in the streets, because that’s what happens when an economy collapses. I suspect that just in case our fiscal situation, our monetary situation, collapses, and following it the civil society collapses, that is the rule of law, they want to be prepared. I know why the government’s arming up: It’s not because there’s going to be an insurrection; it’s because our society is unraveling.”

Jeff Knox, director of The Firearms Coalition, notes that there are currently between 135,000 and 145,000 armed federal law enforcement officers. If you divide up the ammunition DHS is purchasing among all of them, that comes to nearly 14,000 rounds each.

Are you getting an idea now how implausible the department’s explanations are regarding plans for massive ammunition purchases in the coming years? And what about the assault rifles and MRAPs?

DHS has no history of purchasing this much ammunition – ever

For now, let’s just focus on the ammo issue. The excuses given by DHS officials for such a large purchase are 1) fed training facilities burn through a lot of ammo every year so the government needs these rounds; and 2) the government is merely taking advantage of bulk purchase pricing, like you and I would if we shopped at Sam’s Club or a similar bulk-savings retailer.

A Natural News examination of the FBO website; however, found that the government’s bulk ammo purchases are fairly recent, dating back to this solicitation to purchase 1,000 rounds of .40 cal. “frangible” ammo in 2008. Frangible bullets are designed to break apart when they strike a hard object, like a wall.

Government ammunition solicitations began to increase dramatically with this request for 50-75 million rounds in December 2010, eventually culminating in the billions of rounds now solicited, on order or set for delivery.

Ironically, the pace with which the government began purchasing so much ammunition, weapons and other military gear coincide with events here and abroad that do not bode well for the long-term economic health of our nation. So does that mean Levin, a seasoned political observer and former federal government insider who was once chief of staff to Attorney General Edwin Meese, completely off the mark? Remember, this is a man who doesn’t subscribe to conspiracy theories.

Some questions that need to be answered

We have additional questions too, that no one in the mainstream media is asking:

– Why does the Department of Homeland Security need more ammunition than the Pentagon, which is actively fighting wars?

– If the department has ever purchased this much ammunition before, during what period of time did these purchases occur? Were these purchases requested over a similarly short period of time (a couple of fiscal years)? What calibers were purchased and in what amounts?

– Given that hollow points are not generally used for target practice because they are much more expensive, what is the purpose of ordering so many of this type of round?

– If such quantities of ammunition have been purchased by government law enforcement entities in the past, are those agencies ready to make public those purchase documents, along with sworn affidavits from the companies from which said ammunition was purchased?

– Why, in a time of budget austerity (the government is closing airport control towers and the White House to tours, for Pete’s sake), is DHS spending so much on dubious equipment?

– How does Napolitano explain the disparity between ammunition that is admittedly used every year with the actual amount ordered or requested? And why does every federal agent need nearly 14,000 rounds of ammunition?

– What does any department within DHS need MRAPs? What is their intended use?

Like an increasing number of lawmakers, we are also waiting for answers.

Study finds that turmeric prevents diabetes

by David Gutiérrez

Turmeric has a long history of use in a variety of traditional Asian medical systems for treating a wide variety of ailments. Now, Western scientists are increasingly finding that this culinary root and its active ingredients may be potent weapons in the fight against diabetes. Indeed, it has been shown to be effective at nearly every stage of diabetes and pre-diabetes.

Biochemical activity

One of the earlier studies on turmeric’s effectiveness in diabetes prevention was conducted by researchers from the National Centre for Cell Science in India and published in the European Journal of Pharmacology in 2007. Researchers exposed pancreatic cells from mice to a stressor after first incubating some of them in a solution of curcumin for 24 hours.

Curcumin is the active ingredient that gives turmeric its orange-yellow color. Along with related chemicals, it comprises the family of curcuminoids.

The researchers found that curcumin-treated cells were significantly less damaged by free radicals and suffered significantly less damage than untreated cells. This has implications for diabetes because damage to the pancreas can interfere with its ability to produce healthy levels of insulin.

“We show here for the first time, that prophylactic use of curcumin may effectively rescue islets from damage without affecting the normal function of these cellular structures,” the researchers wrote.

Another study, published in the journal Nutrition in 2011, found that when people ate a meal high in turmeric and other spices, their blood levels of triglycerides and insulin decreased significantly, even when that meal was high in fat. Antioxidant activity in the body was also increased.

Diabetes prevention and treatment

It’s not just in the short-term that turmeric provides protection against diabetes. A study published in the journal Diabetes Care in July 2012 found that it may actually prevent prediabetes from developing into diabetes.

The researchers assigned prediabetic participants to take either a 250 mg curcuminoid supplement or a placebo every day for nine months. By the end of the study, not a single person in the curcuminoid group had developed diabetes, compared with 16.4 percent of the participants in the placebo group.

But even if you have already been diagnosed with diabetes, it’s not too late for turmeric to provide real benefits. A 2012 study from Harbin Medical University and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that people with Type II diabetes who were given 300 mg of curcuminoids each day for three months dramatically lowered their glucose levels and insulin resistance, as well as their levels of hemoglobin A1c and free fatty acids.

“This is the first study to show that curcuminoids may have an anti-diabetic effect by decreasing serum fatty acid possibly through the promotion of fatty acid oxidation and utilization,” the researchers wrote.

Turmeric has also been linked to a number of other health benefits, including reducing the inflammation and oxidation damage that can produce chronic diseases including diabetes, heart disease and cancer; promoting healthy fat loss; promoting liver health; and reducing the risk of heart disease. Turmeric is also one of the most effective cancer-fighting foods.

Vaccine victory: Widespread resistance from parents to HPV jab for daughters shows truth is spreading far and wide Parents with young daughters are increasingly wising up to the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine scam, according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics. Based on the latest figures, more than 16 percent of parents in 2010 rejected popular HPV vaccines like Gardasil and Cervarix for their daughters citing major safety concerns, this compared to just 4.5 percent of parents in 2008.

The study, which was put together by a team of researchers from major institutions across the U.S., evaluates current vaccination trends with regards to the various reasons why some parents do not vaccinate their children. After carefully evaluating data compiled as part of the 2010 National Immunization Survey of Teens, the research team learned that parents are increasingly rejecting the HPV vaccine, and specifically for reasons of safety more than anything else.

“Despite doctors increasingly recommending adolescent vaccines, parents increasingly intend not to vaccinate female teens with HPV,” explains the study’s conclusion. “The concern about safety of HPV grew with each year.”

In years past, many parents who objected to HPV vaccines for their daughters cited various other reasons  such as a lack of need due to their daughters not being sexually active, or just a lack of need for no particular reason at all. But over the course of just two years, the number of parents who objected due to safety concerns jumped by nearly 400 percent, illustrating that parents are catching on to the truth about this deadly vaccine. (by Natural News)

1...341342343...599Page 342 of 599

SELECTIONS

POPULAR TICKETS

POPULAR CATEGORY

ABOUT US

Welcome to our Marvin J. Ramirez website! We are an innovative newspaper located in the heart of San Francisco. With a relentless passion for telling powerful stories, we inform our community with truthful news, insightful analysis, and compelling reporting.

Contacto: lreportero@aol.com

FOLLOW US

© Copyright 2023. Agenciadigital.pw. All rights reserved.