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Presidencial nominations to start in Venezuela

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­by the El Reportero’s news services

Tania D’AmelioTania D’Amelio

Venezuela will hold next June 1 to 11 the presidential nominations process for the elections of October 7, said senior director of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Tania D Amelio.

This process, established in the schedule of the CNE, has no extension and the terms must be respected, the CNE director said in statements to Venezolana de Television.

D Amelio said that although the procedure is automated, there will be staff and equipment necessary for candidates wishing to run in council facilities.

The official also explained that last month it was carried out a first internal simulation of the voting process, for which a first station was placed where voters checked if they vote at the polling place or otherwise, they would be informed about the polling center where they belong.

“We are working to improve the process on the issue of accessibility of citizens to the polls,” concluded the director of the CNE.

Teachers general strike in Honduras

Honduran teacher union leaders confirmed that thousands of educators around the country are participating in the general strike called today to force the government to meet outstanding payments for the sector.

The administration of Porfirio Lobo promised to make payment of pending wages on May 20, but it has not fulfill that yet, according the newspaper La Prensa.

­The existing ministerial authorities wielded political interests behind the work stoppage and said that there will be no deductions for teachers, but extension of the school year.

The big problem we have in the education sector is a mix between unionism and politics, I would not say it, but I think this is the reality of what is happening right now, said the minister, Marlon Escoto.

The Honduran Association of Parents of Honduras asked the Minister of Education the results of research on teachers who allegedly collected their wages illegally.

Cuban Private Sector at World Tourism Forum

The 2nd International Tourism Studies Conference CietCuba-2012 will have the participation of the Cuban private sector this time, said the president of the Organizing committee Ramon Martin.

According to Martin, the initiative aims to boost the contribution of the self-employed workers to the development of tourism in the Caribbean country.

In a statement to local press, Martin said that it is a project in tune with the guidelines of the 6th Congress of the Communist Party, related to the update of the Cuban economic model.

The participation of the self-employed workers in the country’s economy has increased in the last few months, who total about 380,000 in almost 180 activities, chiefly in selling food, transporting passengers, and renting houses and rooms.

Martin said that the agenda of the meeting scheduled for June 18-22 at Havana’s Conference Center will include debates on topics of tourism and its relation with the environment, the new technologies, the crisis, among others.

About 240 delegates from Argentina, Spain, and México, among others, are expected to attend the forum.

House to vote on Ron Paul bill to audit the Federal Reserve

by Alex Newman
New American

GOP leadership in the House of Representatives announced that legislation to thoroughly audit the se2cretive Federal Reserve, a wildly popular measure pushed by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) for decades, will come up for a floor vote in July. Honest-money advocates and pro-transparency activists celebrated the news as a historic opportunity to rein in the central bank, which has come under heavy fire — especially in recent years — for debasing the U.S. dollar, manipulating markets, and showering big banks with trillions in bailouts.

The legislation, H.R. 459, already has over 225 co-sponsors in the House including an impressive roster of senior Democrats and Republicans, some of whom chair important committees.

In the Senate, however, a similar bill has only about 20 co-sponsors so far, forcing Audit-the-Fed activists to wage a massive campaign aimed at exposing Senators who refuse to support transparency at the shadowy central bank.

Polls in recent years revealed that four out of five Americans support auditing the Fed.

“The Fed has proven it cannot be trusted and must be audited. While the banksters’ dangerous schemes have been going on for years, the bailouts exposed the trillions being stolen from the American people,” noted Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY.), a sponsor of the Senate legislation and the son of Congressman Ron Paul. “It is time to Audit the Fed. Time to shine a bright spotlight on the largest theft in American history.”

But victory in what Sen. Paul called this “vital effort to rein in the Federal Reserve” will not be easy, he noted. The establishment is already fighting back hard against the plan in an effort to shield the controversial institution from public scrutiny. And as the battle heats up, the Fed and its supporters will not give up easily.

“As we enter this critical time, we have an unprecedented chance to finish this fight and finally hold the Fed accountable for all it has done to wreck our economy and endanger our nation,” Sen. Paul concluded.

“Don’t let this opportunity slip away.”

Experts and economic analysts have long said that if citizens understood what was really going on behind closed doors at the privately owned central bank, a tsunami of outrage would almost certainly force politicians to shut down the Fed and restore honest money once and for all. Even a watered-down audit, passed as part of the broader Dodd-Frank financial-reform bill, exposed blatant conflicts of interest among top Fed officials as well as some $16 trillion in Fed bailouts to big banks around the world.

Public outrage was unprecedented. Millions of Americans who had never even seriously contemplated the institution or its functions demanded reform. And lawmakers, political candidates, and grassroots organizations — realizing that there was no way the cat was going back in the bag — eventually jumped on the bandwagon, too.

“This historic moment is only possible thanks to your relentless pressure. Now we must turn up the heat to secure victory — first in the House and then in Harry Reid’s U.S. Senate,” wrote Vice-President Matt Hawes of the freedom-promoting Campaign for Liberty, one of the organizations leading the public battle for an audit that is planning a huge operation to make sure the legislation becomes law.

­“Now, we just need to show Congress the American people demand action on the Audit the Fed bill.”

With the looming vote, officials will soon have the chance to demonstrate whether their loyalty lies with the American people or with the mega-banks that literally own and control the Fed system. “You see, with the piling up of trillions of dollars in reckless bailouts of Wall Street and international bankers, even many politicians in Washington, D.C. want to show you they’re ‘being responsible,’ ” Hawes explained.

“What better way for Congress to do this than by auditing the Federal Reserve to account for the trillions stolen from the U.S. taxpayers?”

The Fed, of course, has fiendishly resisted an audit — going so far as to hire a lobbyist to defend its interests on Capitol Hill while producing pro-central bank propaganda aimed at children — all under the guise of maintaining its supposed “independence.” But activists and monetary-policy experts suspect something far more sinister is going on.

“They know coming clean with Congress and the American people on what they’ve done to our money would result in an anti-Fed firestorm,” noted Hawes, echoing comments made by a vast array of experts and policy makers who support sound money. “So can you imagine the impact of a full-scale audit?” According to Hawes, the Campaign for Liberty, and numerous economists, auditing the Fed would expose the destructive economic consequences of centrally planning interest rates and manipulating the supply of currency. It would also show that the central banking system leads to the destruction of the middle class, the destruction of the currency, and eventually, chaos.

“You and I have seen the damage the out-of-control Fed can cause, especially during a time of crisis. As you know, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department, and their cronies on Wall Street have for nearly four years been engaged in the worst plundering of a country’s wealth in the history of civilization,” Hawes explained in a letter to supporters soliciting help for the battle ahead.

Martial Law, War World I and the Great Depression

Marvin J. RamirezMarvin J. Ramirez

FROM THE EDITOR: I keep running through interesting, historical articles while surfing the internet. This one, written by Gary Hunt in May 24, 1994, is an example of how much information is out there that most of us – purposely – were never thought to us in school. El Reportero takes pride in sharing this very informative article with our readers, and hope your learn from it and enjoy it very much. Due to its length, it will be published in several partes.

by Gary Hunt
Part 1

It seems that we have all heard that “martial law” had been declared and that we have been living under it for most, if not all, of our lives. I, like many others, looked at the circumstances and assumed that this could be true. I have not, however, been able to find the documentation of this matter and, therefore, have been reluctant to claim such.

Thanks to a very close fiend from Dallas, Texas, that I have never met (he was my “alarm clock” during the siege in Waco — by virtue of calling me every morning, to wake me up), I now have most of the paperwork that supports this contention. This paperwork comes from a Citizens for Legal Reform meeting, January 18, 1994, “Abolition of the United States Constitution Under the War Powers Act”, by Dr. Gene Schroder.

It is important, since we now know this to be true, to understand exactly how it was that we came under “Martial Law.” It is one thing to assume that it is true, another to know that is true and quite another to KNOW why it is true. I will give quotes and refer to the documents from which they are taken.

WORLD WAR I

World War I, the War to end all wars, allowed the Congress to pass the “Trading with the enemy Act.” [SIXTY-FIFTH CONGRESS, Session I, Chapter 106, “An Act To define, regulate, and punish trading with the enemy, and for other purposes.”] The Act was passed on October 6, 1917. Portions of said Act are presented below:

Section 2(c) contains the definition of “enemy”, to include, “Such other individuals or body or class of individuals as may be natives, citizens, or subjects of any nation with which the United States is at war, other than citizens of the United States, . . . may, by Proclamation, include within the tern “enemy” (emphasis mine).

Section 5(a) gives the President the authority to suspend the Act with regard to any ally of the enemy as he shall determine to be appropriate. An interesting assumption that the President may allow continuation of trade with an enemy, indirectly, based upon his determination!

Section 5(b), however, allows the President to “. . . regulate, or prohibit, . . . any transactions in foreign exchange, export or earmarkings of gold or silver coin or bullion or currency, . . . . by any person within the United States; and he may require any such person engaged in any s such transaction to furnish, under oath, complete information relative thereto, including the production of any books of account, contracts, letters or other papers, in connection therewith in the custody or control of such person, . . .”

Interesting that he has also made testimony compulsory. This appears to be a direct violation of that portion of Article V, Bill of Rights, which states, “nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness ­against himself,” and is the beginning of the decimation of our Rights protected thereunder.

Section 6 provides for “officials to he known as “alien pi property custodians”, who will be empowered to receive all money or property owned by, or owed to, any enemy or ally of enemy.” Has this become the IRS?

Interesting that the authority granted the President allowed such a broad degree of discretion, and that the “gold and silver” mandated by the Constitution would be an object of this Act. My recollection was that Habeas Corpus may be suspended only, “when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the Public Safety , may require it.”

The Writ of Habeas Corpus provision provides that no one may be arrested by the government, unless the arrest is made pursuant to the Constitution. Article 5 of the Bill of Rights, says, “No person .shall he held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces; or in the Militia when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person he subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall he compelled in any criminal erase to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” Perhaps the intended meaning of this provision has been lost. Does it mean, among other things, that the government may not arrest anyone unless the determination that an arrest is to be made is made by a group of peers? That government, of and by itself, has not the authority to arrest anyone? Except, of course, in those times where a national emergency is declared?

So, perhaps the meanings given to the words by the Founding Fathers has been lost. Law enforcement officers make arrests, without indictments by the Grand Jury, and property is “seized”, under property forfeiture laws, daily. Perhaps we have found why these sacred protections have slowly eroded into what we have been led to believe is good “crime control.” Perhaps we have been LIED to by the very people chosen to represent us.

So much for this, however, because the War ended and all returned to normal — except the fact that Congress had allowed this Act, which was a step in denial of Constitutional protection, to continue to exist.

Did these Acts of Congress continue to affect our daily lives? Or, were they discontinued at the end of hostilities? Go to your local law library and read 12 USC §95(b).

‘The sleeping giant’ died half a century ago – bury it

by José de la Isla
Hispanic Link News Service

HOUSTON – The sleeping giant myth, a metaphor to represent Hispanic political potential, has been dead since 1960.

An inquest beginning in 1972 should have been the end of the matter. But it wasn’t. That was the year when long-term Latino voting trends started getting documented.

Some commentators have, however, stirred up a virtual cult following that the Sleeping Giant is alive.

Actually, the sleeping giant image has been used inappropriately since the John Kennedy and Richard Nixon 1960 campaign. Latinos — mostly Southwestern Mexican Americans and New York Puerto Ricans—became known as a swing group that could sway future presidential elections.

Ever since, the Sleeping Giant idea has been applied to suggest Latino potential, even though there is a contradiction here. Sleeping Giant was meant to imply something that hasn’t happened yet by the expectation of waking up. But the fact is that it happened ALREADY, at the beginning.

After all, John Kennedy might not have become president had it not been for Texas Latinos. Ever since that time, Latino voting has increased nationally and grown more important, as documented itsince 1972 by the U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute.

Yet, the imagery of a Sleeping Giant was been increasingly used in municipal, dog catcher, and off-year elections as perpetual disappointment about voting turnouts, elections which traditionally have low turnouts and public interest. The vamping on Latino voting looks suspiciously like fault-finding of general public laziness.

Recently, Henrik Temp in The American Enterprise’s blog did the same thing. He says Hispanics have been the sleeping giant of American politics for decades. Already he is wrong by decades.

Then he says Latinos heavily under-represent themselves. That’s a revealing declaration. It does not take into account a long history of registration and voting impediments to this public. And all that was overcome during one of the U.S.’s great civil rights sagas, led by Willie Velásquez and the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project.

It seems Temp doesn’t know his civil rights history and how inhibiting potential voters has been an ongoing struggle to overcome.

Today, for example, 15 states attempt to retard certain voter segments with new requirements. That is worthy of deep analysis, instead using an old, tired, dead myth to hit on.

But never mind that, Temp, using Resurgent Republic data, claims Latino population growth is not reaching its potential; therefore, his expectation, ergo the Sleeping Giant.

Resurgent Republic is a group run by Ed Gillespie, the GOP’s former chairman, and pollster Whit Ayres. Their think tank aim is to shape up Republican Party leaders. But they don’t yet seem ready to promote faster citizenship, voter registration, outreach, immigration reform, reversal in 15 states of voting retardation, and other similar measures. Why is that?

Since 1968, the Republican Party’s has been cherry-picking the Latino upper middle class and middle-middle segments, the ones with the highest voting rate potentials.

The Sleeping Giant myth is kept around because it is a nuanced way to shame- blame political leaders who champion the cause of the disenfranchised, while taking unearned pride for doing little and getting credit for a constituency.

When Republican leaders don’t champion everybody voting and become vote deniers, they still cannot deny what matters. Latinos vote in real numbers in presidential elections. The proportions used for shame-blame can make it seem otherwise. But the historical data tell another story.

­In each successive presidential election since 1972, Latino voting has been larger and in growing proportions.

Speaking of death notices, Ed Gillespie has told the Capital Hill bible Politico, “The Republican Party has been declared dead at least three times already in my lifetime — in 1964 after Goldwater lost in a landslide, in 1974 after Watergate and in 1992 after Clinton won with a Democratic House and Senate.”

We know the myth about the Sleeping Giant is dead. Now maybe the moderate, responsible, balanced, non-denying part of the Republican Party is coming to an end too. That’s a shame.

As for the Sleeping Giant myth, RIP.

[José de la Isla, a nationally syndicated columnist for Hispanic Link and Scripps Howard news services].

U.S. soon to submit her sovereignty to the United Nations

­­U.S. reverses stance on treaty to regulate arms trade

From the wires

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States reversed policy on Wednesday and said it would back launching talks on a treaty to regulate arms sales as long as the talks operated by consensus, a stance critics said gave every nation a veto.

The decision, announced in a statement released by the U.S. State Department, overturns the position of former President George W. Bush’s administration, which had opposed such a treaty on the grounds that national controls were better.

On Wednesday Obama Took the First Major Step in a Plan to Ban All Firearms in the United States. The Obama administration intends to force gun control and a complete ban on all weapons for U.S. citizens through the signing of international treaties with foreign nations. By signing international treaties on gun control, the Obama administration can use the U.S. State Department to bypass the normal legislative process in Congress. Once the U.S. Government signs these international treaties, all U.S. citizens will be subject to those gun laws created by foreign governments. These are laws that have been developed and promoted by organizations such as the United Nations and individuals such as George Soros and Michael Bloomberg. The laws are designed and intended to lead to the complete ban and confiscation of all firearms.

The Obama administration is attempting to use tactics and methods of gun control that will inflict major damage to our 2nd Amendment before US citizens even understand what has happened. Obama can appear before the public and tell them that he does not intend to pursue any legislation (in the United States) that will lead to new gun control laws, while cloaked in secrecy, his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is committing the US to international treaties and foreign gun control laws.

Does that mean Obama is telling the truth? What it means is that there will be no publicized gun control debates in the media or votes in Congress. We will wake up one morning and find that the United States has signed a treaty that prohibits firearm and ammunition manufacturers from selling to the public. We will wake up another morning and find that the U.S. has signed a treaty that prohibits any transfer of firearm ownership. And then, we will wake up yet another morning and find that the U.S. has signed a treaty that requires US citizens to deliver any firearm they own to the local government collection and destruction center or face imprisonment.

This is not a joke nor a false warning. As sure as government health care will be forced on us by the Obama administration through whatever means necessary, so will gun control.

Please forward this message to others who may be concerned about the direction in which our country is headed.

We are being led like a lamb to the slaughter (Socialism/Dictatorship).(Reuters contributed to this report).

Hispanic will overtake whites by 2013

Hispanics likely will overtake whites as the largest ethnic group in California next year, a Register analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data shows.

The change is coming earlier than the state’s top demographer expected, the result of decades of rapid population growth among Hispanics and decline among non-Hispanic whites or “Anglos.”

Great night Pre-Carnaval with Afro-Caribbean rhythms, Latin jazz and bolero

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by the El Reportero’s staff

John SantosJohn Santos

Cuban singer-songwriter Pavel Urkiza joins world renowned Bay Area percussionist John Santos in a one-night-only Pre-Carnaval concert featuring a unique blend of afro-caribbean rhythms, Latin jazz, bolero. Opening by Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Fernandito Ferrer.

Friday, May 25, at the Brava Theater, 2781 24th St. San Francisco, at 8 p.m. To purchase advance tickets visit ­www.brava.org.

Book launch & panel discussion

Art and Social Movements: Cultural Politics in Mexico and Aztlán.

Join us as we celebrate the release of “Art and Social Movements: Cultural Politics in Mexico and Aztlán” by San Francisco State professor Edward J. McCaughan.

This event will feature a roundtable discussion with: Tomas Almaguer, Professor of Latino/a Studies at SF State; Maris Bustamante, feminist performance artist from Mexico City; Lynn Stephen, Professor of Latin American and Latino S tudies at University of Oregon; and Patricia Rodríguez, Chicana artist/co-founder of Mujeres Muralistas. A light reception to follow with music provided by Peter Baird. Copies of “Art and Social Movements” will be for sale.

On Saturday, May 26, 2 p.m. at Galería de la Raza, 2857 24th St., San Francisco. Free & open to the public.

Inmigración, tráfico de drogas y periodismo: El Centro Cultural La Peña presenta la 3ra Versión Anual del Fesival de Cine Fist Up

In Mexico, investigative journalism can be a life-threatening profession. In Reportero, a veteran reporter and his colleagues at an independent newsweekly defy powerful drug cartels and corrupt officials to continue reporting the news. Q & A with Mr. Ruiz after the screening. Thursday May 31, 2012, 7:30 p.m. 31, 2012. En el Centro Cultural La Peña, 3106 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley. $6-$10 sliding scale.

Rufino Tamayo exhibition

The Consulate General of Mexico in San Francisco and Bray/Herrman Fine Art are proud to present, The Magic Surrealists of Oaxaca, Mexico. Rufino Tamayo’s Legacy:Contemporary Zapotec Artists.

One of the greatest Mexican artists, created modern art that celebrated his Pre-Hispanic roots. He also left a legacy of indigenous artists influenced by him.

The exhibition hosts Rufino Tamayo’s art work juxtapox to the next generation of artists of Oaxaca. Opening May 31, at 6 pm.

June 1 – August 9, 2012, at the Consulate General of Mexico, 532 Folsom St., San Francisco.

Summer Fest 2012 Preview Party For San Jose Jazz Friends & Partners

Be among the first to hear about our incredible line-up for Summer Fest 2012! Join us for some tasty food, cold drinks, lively conversation and great music. See you there!

Friday, June 1, 2012 5:30 p.m. – 7 p.m., at Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, 33 East San Fernando St., San Jose.

RSVP: Joyce Evans at joycee@sanjosejazz.org or 408-288-7557 x2335.

After the party, please join San Jose Jazz at San Pedro Square Market for our Music at the Market series with Andre Thierry & Zydeco Magic from 7pm – 9pm. Complimentary appetizers & beverages. By invitation only.

And be sure to save the weekend of August 10-12 for this year’s Summer Fest!

Jessica Sánchez makes Top Two on ‘American Idol’ – Can she win?

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­by the El reportero’s news services

Jessica SánchezJessica Sánchez

On Thursday night’s elimination show, Jessica Sánchez was revealed as one of the final two contestants on Fox’s American Idol.

Week after week, the 16-year-old from Chula Vista, California has impressed both the viewers and judges alike with her big voice.

Throughout the 11th season of American Idol the half-Filipino half-Mexican songstress has belted out covers of some of the most powerful singers’ songs. Sánchez has showed her stuff singing songs by the late Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson, as well as Jennifer Holiday, AI alum Jennifer Hudson, and Luther Vandross.

­Next week, Sánchez will go up against fellow finalist Phillip Phillips of Leesburg, Georgia and find out if she is the next American Idol.

Pitbull named one of the top songwriters of the year

Cuban-American rapper Pitbull was named as one of three pop songwriters of the year at the BMI Pop Music Awards, handed out each year by U.S. performing rights organization Broadcast Music Inc.

Pitbull shared the honor with American songwriter and producer Benny Blanco and American singer-songwriter Ester Dean, while “Firework” (co-written by Dean and Sandy Vee) was designated the pop song of the year, that institution said in a press release Wednesday.

The 60th edition of the BMI Pop Awards took place Tuesday night at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

Pitbull was recognized for five songs on the most-performed list: “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love,” “Give Me Everything,” “Hey Baby (Drop It to the Floor),” “I Like It” and “On the Floor.”

On March 30, Pitbull was awarded the coveted BMI President’s Award for his influence in the world of entertainment.

In that same awards ceremony, he was named co-winner of the BMI Latin Songwriter of the Year prize along with Puerto Rican reggaeton duo Wisin & Yandel.

Cameron Díaz May Join Fassbender, Pitt on Ridley Scott’s ‘The Counselor’–Based on McCarthy Novel

Cameron Díaz is reportedly in talks to join the cast of Ridley Scott’s The Counselor.

Award winning author, Cormac McCarthy’s The Counselor is hitting the big screen and blonde bombshell Díaz is said to be discussing coming on board. Should she come to an agreement, she would be joining Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, and Penelope Cruz.

The film’s screenplay was written by McCarthy himself and marks his first script.

The Counselor tells the story of a lawyer (Fassbender) who makes the mistake of getting involved in the world of drug trafficking with help from his friends (Bardem and to solve his money problems.

Díaz is in talks to play Malkina, a role that was previously offered to Angelina Jolie.

Bardem wil play the film’s friend-turned-villain, Reiner, while Cruz is set to play Fassbender’s fiancé.

McCarthy is the Pulitzer winning behind All the Pretty Horses, and Bardem in particular has familiar with McCarthy’s work, as he played the sociopath antagonist in the film adaptation of McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men, Anton Chigurh. The 2005 novel’s 2007 film by the same name won four Academy Awards including Best Picture.

Boxing

May 25 At the Horseshoe Casino, Hammond, Ind.,

Fres Oquendo vs. Joey Abell, 10, for the WBA Fedelatin heavyweight title.

At Ameristar Casino Resort Spa, St. Charles, Mo. (ESPN2),

Ji-Hoon Kim vs. Alisher R­ahimov, 10, lightweights;

Efrain Esquivias vs. Roberto Castaneda, 10, super bantamweights.

At the Warner Center Marriott, Woodland Hills, Calif.,

Cleotis Pendarvis vs. Robert Frankel, 12, for the vacant USBA light welterweight title and Frankel’s WBC USNBC light welterweight title.

May 26 At Nottinghamshire, England

Lucian Bute vs. Carl Froch, 12, for Bute’s IBF super middleweight title.

At The Grand Oasis Cancun, Cancun, Mexico,

Pablo Cesar Cano vs. Fidel Monterrosa, 10, lightweights;

Sergio Thompson vs. Juan Ramon Solis, 12, for the vacant WBC International silver lightweight title.

June 1 At Sands Casino Resort, Bethlehem, Pa. (NBCSN),

Gabriel Rosado vs. Sechew Powell, 12, junior middleweights;

Prenice Brewer vs. Ronald Cruz, 12, for the vacant WBC Continental Americas welterweight title.

June 2 At Home Depot Center, Carson, Calif. (SHO),

Antonio Tarver vs. Lateef Kayode, 12, for Tarver’s WBO cruiserweight title;

Austin Trout vs. Delvin Rodriguez, 12, for Trout’s WBA World light middleweight title;

Vusi Malinga vs. Leo Santa Cruz, 12, for the vacant IBF bantamweight title;

Ronald Wright vs. Peter Quillin, 10, middleweights;

Winky Wright vs. Peter Quillin, 10, middleweights.

Central Americans take “The Beast” in Chiapas with an unclear fate

by Emma Volonté

Exclusive for El Repotero

Immigrantes mayormente centroamericanos se suben al tren (aka La Bestia) en Chiapas con rumbo al norte y posiblemente hacia: la muerte. (PHOTO BY EMMA VOLONTÉ)Immigrants mainly Central Americans board the train (aka The Beast) bound north and possibly to their death.  (PHOTO BY EMMA VOLONTÉ)

Arriaga is a necessary stage for undocumented Central Americans who migrate to the United States. They cross the Suchiate river, which separates Guatemala from Mexico, and they arrive to Tapachula. From there they are only 260 km from Arriaga, the city in Chiapas from where “La Bestia” (The Beast) departs, the freight train they take to travel North.

María says she walked for ten days to arrive to Arriaga from the border. Most of Center Americans, however, take the bus, and they get off before arriving to the migration post in the highway. They advance into the hill and walk for several kilometers in order to reach again the highway and catch a new bus. “The drivers charge us three times more to take us,” says Rolando, who comes from Guatemala.

Local gangs hide in the bits of the road that the migrants take in order to avoid the border control police. They rob and kidnap them and rape women and kill whoever refuses to cooperate. The authorities don’t protect them: Chiapas is the Mexican state where the police commit the most abuses against Center Americans.

A number of migrants pay a pollero to take them to the border with the US. According to Carlos Bartolo Solis, regional coordinator for the Promigrante association in Arriaga, “You are never going to see the true pollero: he hires someone else to take people and who is in charge to pay the bribes to Migration. To travel from here to the Northern border we are charged 90,000 pesos (more than $6,500 dollars).”

Once in Arriaga, the undocumented migrants can stay at the Home Hogar de la Misericordia, established in 2004 by the Father Heyman Vázquez.

“Here we offer them clothes, a bed, medical attention and moral support. We also give them a risks map, a guide that locates the risks that can be found on the road,” tells Father Heyman.

Not all the migrants stay in his shelter: those who have more money sleep in the hostels in the center, others sleep among the tombs in the municipal pantheon or in the railways.

I found Franklin, a 26 year-old Honduran, while he was walking between the coaches of the train with his crutches. The accidents during the trip are very common: a lot of people get hurt when they try to climb to the Bestia’s roof, others during the trip itself, as the only way to secure a coach is by tying your waist to a grill. Further, by mid-April  the flow of migrants on the train increased significantly, and with that, the danger of the trip: the normal number of 600 travelers increased up to 1,500 people.

Flanklin got hurt while travelling on the train: he put his foot on the steel piece that secures the coaches, and when these got closer together, it destroyed his heel. He was bleeding for twelve hours before the train stopped. Flanklin had already been in Arriaga once before.

“I was here with a girl from Chiapas, who got pregnant. I went North to look for a job and during the trip I had the accident. Now I’m back and I’ve been forbidden to see my daughter, it really hurts not to be able to hold her. I’m going to Mexico City to look for a job, so at least I can send her money.” Asked about how he thinks to work with the leg in that condition, he answers: “God is just wonderful.”

Everybody speaks of God, of the United States and the mara violence. Ana is 26, she has a 4 year-old son, and she is from Salvador.

“It is very difficult over there, the mara doesn’t allow you to work, it is always asking you for money. If they want you to become a gang member and you refuse, you get killed. Not so long ago three kids were killed for going to a school in a different neighborhood from where they lived. I don’t know where I’m going, but I want my son to study because I couldn’t.”

Pedro also comes from El Salvador and he left the country because of the gang violence: he is gay and they tried to rape him. He managed to avoid it, but he had to escape. He has lived in Mexico City for one year and he descended to Tapachula to get his refugee papers. The papers however, were not ready and now he has to return to Mexico City: he ­needs to take another ride on La Bestia.

It was a difficult situation: “It is very hard to be a migrant, and it is harder to be gay and a migrant. We are target for rapists, thieves, kidnappers. Often criminals get mixed with us. A guy from Guatemala tried to steal my watch, I resisted and filed a suit, but the authorities didn’t do anything about it. When I told them that he wanted to rape me, the police officers laughed.”

The organized crime also robs migrants, particularly the Zetas cartel. It often kidnaps undocumented migrants and forces them to work for them, or either they demand a ransom to their families. In the last four years, 80,000 migrants have been kidnapped.

“What can be done to face this situation?”, Bartolo Solís was asked. “The visa for Center Americans should be eliminated and they should be allowed a free flow through Mexican soil. This way the migrants will travel in dignity, by bus instead of by train and wouldn’t become easy target for extortion and kidnapping.”

Drug war hypocrisy: drug trafficking’s big money benefits Big Brother and corrupt banksters

by PF Louis
Natural News

The hypocrisy of the war on drugs is outrageous when compared to the amount of drug trafficking that benefits the CIA and international banking system. The son of a convicted notorious mobster, John Gotti Jr, when asked in court if the family still dealt drugs cracked, “No, we can’t compete with the government.”

Today in Afghanistan, American troops have been seen guarding poppy fields used to make heroin. Those fields were all but wiped out by 2001 when the Taliban destroyed them and forbade that agricultural pursuit. Now they’re flourishing again after the American occupation.

This doesn’t make sense despite all the mainstream reports that American troops are protecting the poppy farmers from the bad guys. Internet sites such as Prison Planet, Info Wars, The Political Coffeehouse and others report otherwise. They connect the CIA and US military to restarting the poppy fields in Afghanistan in 2002, increasing poppy growth by over 650 percent. Who’s telling it like it is?

One way the CIA keeps their drug trafficking hidden from public view

The CIA’s secret operations to influence journalism started in the 1950s by infiltrating the media and bribing journalists to be operatives and assets for the CIA. By 1976, then CIA director William Colby reportedly bragged that the CIA owned the press. Supposedly, this too secret to name operation was coined “Operation Mockingbird” by Deborah Davis in her book Katherine the Great.

Operation Mockingbird worked well against prize winning journalist Gary Webb when his newspaper, the San Jose Mercury News, ran his in depth series on CIA drug trafficking that flooded the USA to help finance the CIA backed Nicaraguan Contras during the 1980s. Journalists all over the USA jumped on the series, claiming Webb’s journalism was shoddy. The newspaper had to recant and fire him, and Gary Webb was black listed from mainstream journalism completely.

Webb retaliated by having his book Dark Alliance published and making the NY Times best seller list, forcing some of his critics to privately eat crow after the fact.

Despite the CIA’s control of the press, a few Mexico and Central America cocaine busts of plane cargoes and discoveries of large cocaine stashes on crashed planes with CIA hired pilots flying them for front companies did hit the mainstream news, albeit briefly.

Remember the movie “Air America?” It was based on an actual CIA owned front company transporting tons of heroin from Southeast Asia’s “Golden Triangle” poppy fields during and after the Vietnam conflicts.

Now Afghanistan and the “Golden Crescent” are the featured opium/heroin conduit sources.

­Government and big business using drug traffic profits is nothing new

When the U.S. government made deals with the Cosa Nostra mafia to help police ports and harbors during WW II, they breathed life into the heroin trade. Eventually, Marseilles, France was set up by the Corsican mafia to become the “French Connection” for heroin traffic.

But opium trade history goes back further, to colonial times and early America. That’s when American shipping magnates used their fast Clipper Ships to compete with England’s monarch sanctioned dope running East India Company for transporting opium to China. A few key players created family fortunes from the China opium trade that exist today within some northeast America’s “old money” families.

Among the familiar family names, according to Wikipedia (source below) is Forbes. Another source mentions Astor, a prominently wealthy philanthropic family around New York today (Wiki source below). In those days, trafficking dope was a legitimate business endeavor, immoral but not illegal. Now it is illegal as well.

Ironically, this allows the biggest illicit drug providers to financially benefit the CIA and international banking. In other related news:

Frying potatoes to make chips or French fries produces a potent chemical carcinogen called acrylamide

by David Gutiérrez

Natural News

It’s not just the high fat content that makes potato chips and French fries bad for you; the very process used to cook them produces potent carcinogens inside the potatoes themselves.

Baking, roasting or frying any starchy food at high temperatures causes the sugars found in these foods to combine with an amino acid to produce high levels of a potent carcinogen known as acrylamide. (http://www.naturalnews.com/acrylamides.html).

Because all potato chips must be cooked at high heat, and because restaurants tend to cook French fries at high temperatures to bring them to the table more quickly, a healthy diet should contain only minimal quantities of these foods.

For people willing to go to a little extra effort to make French fries at home, there are ways to minimize acrylamide content. Potatoes should be stored outside the refrigerator in a cool, dark place. Before frying, they should be sliced, soaked in water for 15-30 minutes, then patted dry. They should be fried at lower temperatures for less time, until they are golden yellow — not brown.

Commercial food producers sometimes use the same frying oil for weeks at a time, saturating the oils with extremely high acrylamide levels. Importantly, even though it’s found in the food, acrylamide does not have to be listed on any food labels.

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