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by the El Reportero’s news services

Hugo Chávez

According to Latin News, when a crossword writer is hauled in by the intelligence service for allegedly concealing details of an assassination plot to destabilize the government, it gives a strong indication of that country’s prevailing political climate.

“This is the Venezuela of today; with President Hugo Chávez absent for long periods in Cuba undergoing life-or-death medical treatment and elections looming on the horizon, political tension and uncertainty has penetrated to the heart of the Bolivarian Revolution and threats seem to ­lurk in every corner,” reported Latin Briefs.

Caracas takes helm of new regional bloc

Venezuelan Electricity Minister Ali Rodríguez takes the helm of UNASUR (Union of South American Nations), which was formed in 2008 to act as a counterpoint to regional organizations dominated by the United States.

The UNASUR headquarters, envisioned as an architectural wonder, will be built in Ecuador during his one-year term. An arms race looms as a barrier to the rapid integration that the bloc expects as a benefit of the relative homogeneity of the continent’s culture, religion and language. UNASUR has taken Argentina’s side in its dispute with Great Britain over the Falkland Islands (Las Malvinas).

Rodríguez takes over from UNASUR Secretary-General Maria Emma Mejia, a former Colombian foreign minister, whose term began in Apr 2011.

The UNASUR members are Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay and Venezuela.

UNASUR envisages a regional military integration scheme, the gradual reduction of national borders, the elimination of passport and visa requirements between member states and even a common currency.

Mercopress pointed out in March that there are obstacles to overcome, but that the political, economic and military integration of Latin America is bound to be eased by the fact that South America is the only multinational continent to be united by a common language (with the exception of Brazil), a common culture and a common religion.

South Korean Foreign Affairs Minister will tour Latin America

South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, will tour four Latin American countries during the next week, when he will promote economic cooperation as a priority in his agenda. From next Tuesday until May 28, Kim will visit Colombia, Peru, Chile and Brazil, according to information of his ministry.

This will be the first trip by a South Korean Foreign Minister to Bogota.

In the case of Chile and Brazil, will also be the first official visit in 17 years.

It is expected that this tour strengthens practical cooperation with those nations, rich in natural resources, said the spokesman Cho Byung-jae quoted by media.

The ties between Seoul and Latin America have among their antecedents a recent visit to South Korea of Peruvian President, Ollanta Humala, in which both sides agreed to raise bilateral relations to an integral strategic partnership.

by Griselda Nevárez

George Washington University should rescind its invitation to the world’s richest man, who is scheduled to receive an 2012honorary degree at that institution’s May 20 commencement, a coalition of Latino leaders said May 8.

Latino advocates from across the nation launched the coalition, that they say exposes how Mexico-native Carlos Slim, who controls most of Mexico’s telecommunications, has become the world’s richest person through alleged monopolistic practices at significant cost to the Mexican people.

But at least one economist who specializes in Mexico said Slim is but one manifestation of a much larger cultural problem in that country that encourages cartels in all sectors of its economy.

During a May 8 press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., members of the Two Countries One Voice coalition accused Slim of exploiting and stealing money from Mexico’s most needy.

“Much of the wealth that he has amassed has been at the direct expense of the rural communities of Mexico and those who have no options,” said Juan José Gutiérrez, one of the coalition leaders. “That, in return, has resulted in Mexico’s economic development being delayed.”

For three straight years, Forbes magazine has named Slim the world’s richest man. The magazine reports the 72-year-old’s net worth at $69 billion, most of which comes from his telecommunications company América Móvil.

The company controls 80% of Mexico’s landlines and more than 70% of the country’s mobile phone market.

América Móvil spreads to 18 other Latin American countries. With 242 million wireless subscribers and 58 million fixed-line subscriptions, including phone, cable TV and Internet, it is Latin America’s top mobile carrier and the world’s third largest operator .

Over the years, Slim has made major investments in several U.S. companies, including Saks Fifth Avenue and Sears. He even owns 8 percent of The New York Times Company.

U.S. INVESTMENTS CITED

Worried over Slim’s increasing investment in the United States, members of Two Countries One Voice told reporters they will host actions against U.S. institutions and companies that have strong ties with the billionaire.

On May 8, it announced its first action, calling on George Washington University to break its relationship with Slim.

In a letter requesting to meet with the university’s president, Steven Knapp, the group asked that GWU dis-invite Slim to its May 20 graduation ceremony, where he is to receive an honorary degree. In 2009, the university awarded Slim the President’s Medal for his philanthropic work.

Andrés Ramírez, also a member of the coalition, described Slim as “a modern day robber baron” and said granting him the honorary degree sends the wrong message.

“It gives people the wrong impression that this guy is okay, that it’s okay for people to interact with him and that it’s okay for people to take contributions from him after he’s stolen money from the people of Mexico,” Ramírez said.

Candace Smith, the executive director for the university’s media relations, didn’t indicate whether Knapp plans to meet with the group. In an email, Smith said George Washington University “is looking forward to Mr. Slim’s participation in commencement.”

CUSTOMERS ‘OVERCHARGED’

She added that Slim was invited to receive the honorary degree “in recognition of his contributions to business and community development in Mexico and Latin America, and his extensive philanthropic work, which has led to improvements and investments in education, health care, employment and the fine arts, among others.”

Two Countries One Voice was formed in January, following the release of a study that revealed Slim’s América Móvil overcharged customers $13.4 billion a year from 2005 to 2009. The study, which was conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, also found that a lack of competition in Mexico’s telecommunications industry has led to low infrastructure development and ineffective telecommunications markets that have cost Mexico’s economy $129 billion.

The study came a year after Mexico’s competition regulator found that Slim’s company had been carrying out monopolistic practices by charging its customers higher fees for making calls to phones operated by other networks.

After a one-year battle, the Federal Competition Commission said May 4 it will drop the nearly $1 billion fine only after Slim cuts the extra

charges on its competitors.

‘­SLIM IS NOT TO BLAME ’

Jorge González, a former economics professor who studies Mexico’s economy, said Slim’s América Móvil is not a monopoly, but rather an example of a sector in Mexico that is highly concentrated by one company. He asserts that instead of going after one particular person, the blame should be placed on barriers that prevent others from being able to compete in that same sector.

“The message should focus on developing policies that enhance the number of competitors in the marketplace because, ultimately, more competition will lead to better services and lower prices for consumers,” said González, who is Vice President of Academic Affairs at Occidental College in Los Angeles. He added that though América Móvil has been highly criticized for having major control over Mexico’s telecommunications, the company is credited for increasing a stronger telecommunications link among Mexicans over the last 25 years.

“Despite all the problems and despite the high prices, more Mexicans now have access to landlines, cellular telephones and internet than ever before,” he said. “More competition, however, would likely to lead to even better services.”

by Dominique de Kevelioc de Bailleul

Before It’s News

Riot police in San Diego, California advances to crash a protest.

In a riveting interview on TruNews Radio, Wednesday, private investigator Doug Hagmann said high-level, reliable sources told him the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is preparing for “massive civil war” in America.

“We have problems­ . . . The federal government is preparing for civil uprising,” he added, “so every time you hear about troop movements, every time you hear about movements of military equipment, the militarization of the police, the buying of the ammunition, all of this is . . . they (DHS) are preparing for a massive uprising.”

­Hagmann goes on to say that his sources tell him the concerns of the DHS stem from a collapse of the U.S. dollar and the hyperinflation a collapse in the value of the world’s primary reserve currency implies to a nation of 311 million Americans, who, for the significant portion of the population, is armed.

Uprisings in Greece is, indeed, a problem, but an uprising of armed Americans becomes a matter of serious national security, a point addressed in a recent report by the Pentagon and highlighted as a vulnerability and threat to the U.S. during war-game exercises at the Department of Defense last year, according to one of the DoD’s wargame participants, Jim Rickards, author of Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis.

Through his sources, Hagmann confirmed Rickards’ ongoing thesis of a fear of a U.S. dollar collapse at the hands of the Chinese (U.S. treasury bond holders of approximately $1 trillion) and, possibly, the Russians (threatening to launch a gold-backed ruble as an attractive alternative to the U.S. dollar) in retaliation for aggressive U.S. foreign policy initiatives against China’s and Russia’s strategic allies Iran and Syria. “The one source that we have I’ve known since 1979,” Hagmann continued.

“He started out as a patrol officer and currently he is now working for a federal agency under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security; he’s in a position to know what policies are being initiated, what policies are being planned at this point, and he’s telling us right now—look, what you’re seeing is just the tip of the iceberg. We are preparing, we, meaning the government, we are preparing for a massive civil war in this country.”

“There’s no hyperbole here,” he added, echoing Trends Research Institute’s Founder Gerald Celente’s forecast of last year. Celente expects a collapse of the U.S. dollar and riots in America some time this year. Since Celente’s ‘Civil War’ prediction of last year, executive orders NDAA and National Defense Resources Preparedness were signed into law by President Obama, which are both politically damaging actions taken by a sitting president.

And most recently, requests made by the DHS for the procurement of 450 million rounds of hollow-point ammunition only fuels speculation of an upcoming tragic event expected on American soil. These major events, as shocking to the American people as they are, have taken place during an election year.

Escalating preparatory activities by the executive branch and DHS       throughout the last decade—from the Patriot Act, to countless executive orders drafted to suspend (or strip) American civil liberties “are just the beginning” of the nightmare to come, Hagmann said.

­He added, “It’s going to get so much worse toward the election, and I’m not even sure we’re going to have an election in this country. It’s going to be that bad, and this, as well, is coming from my sources. But one source in particular said, ‘look, you don’t understand how bad it is.’ This stuff is real; these people, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), they are ready to fight the American people.”

TruNews‘ Wiles asked Hagmann: who does the DHS expect to fight, in particular? Another North versus South, the Yankees against the Confederates? Hagmann stated the situation is far worse than a struggle between any two factions within the U.S.; it’s an anticipated nationwide emergency event centered on the nation’s currency.

“What they [DHS] are expecting, and again, this is according to my sources, what they’re expecting is the un-sustainability of the American dollar,” Hagmann said. “And we know for a fact that we can no longer service our debt. There’s going to be a period of hyperinflation . . . the dollar will be worthless . . . The economic collapse will be so severe, people won’t be ready for this.”

­

Irradiated women’s eggs

por Mike Adams
Natural News
Parte 2 of 3

CORRECTION: Last week we mistakenly said it was a two-part serie, actually it is three parts.

Because women are born with all the eggs they will ever have, any radiation they receive from medical imaging scans or medical treatments will obviously expose those eggs to radiation.

A single CT scan can expose a women to as much as 600 times the radiation of a full chest X-ray. Radiation treatments for cancer are even worse: They can expose a woman’s eggs to levels of radiation that can be thousands of times the exposure of a chest X-ray.

This radiation, not surprisingly, causes genetic mutations in a woman’s eggs, making them ticking genetic time bombs should they ever meet with a sperm cell and initiate conception.

So men who are seeking children and who know about this will increasingly want to choose female partners who have not been exposed to medical imaging scans or cancer radiotherapy treatments. Women who undergo a lot of medical imaging, it turns out, may not be such good reproductive partners from a purely genetic point of view. (Obviously there’s a lot more to being good parents than just the integrity of your genetic code, but no one can argue that genetic integrity isn’t important for the health of your children.) The ethics of genetics Now, I realize this whole discussion is extremely uncomfortable for many people.

It isn’t politically correct to talk about women’s eggs as being “damaged goods” even if they technically are. And it’s not polite to talk about how the sperm count of most men today is lower than that of a rat. Yet these are the stubborn scientific truths we must now begin to consider as a race that seeks to survive through multiple generations.

The future of human life on earth will, quite obviously, be inherited by those who can protect their genetic code. And that is going to be accomplished only by a relatively small number of couples who combine healthy sperm with healthy eggs while avoiding radiation and toxic chemicals. Essentially, the future of human life on our planet is going to belong to people who avoid pharmaceuticals and medical imaging, who avoid toxic chemicals in foods and who follow a largely organic lifestyle.

Families that expose themselves to medical imaging scans and toxic chemicals in foods and pharmaceuticals are committing genetic suicide that will play out over subsequent generations. In other ­words, these people aren’t dropping dead right now, but the DNA damage they pass on from one generation to the next will accumulate to the point where infertility ends the family line. So much for the Joneses. It turns out they killed off their family line by corrupting their own DNA so badly that their daughters can no longer conceive. So  what to do about that? Go get more medical imaging scans to find out what’s wrong, of course! (You can see how this gets worse…)

It’s worth pointing out that in this article, I’m not saying that women with damaged eggs or men with damaged sperm are bad people. This is not a statement about their morality or their fitness to be good parents. Rather, it’s solely about their genetic integrity and how the lack of healthy DNA has very real consequences in the real world. All this means that vegan men should be heading to the sperm banks to fill up the cryo canisters there. It is the sperm of our healthiest eaters that may hold the key to the future of the human race.

There might even be a science fiction novel to be found in this storyline, come to think of it: The year is 2065, the human race is dying out, nobody can reproduce, and a scientist sends soldiers through a time machine to 1984 so they can harvest someone’s sperm. It’s not exactly “Terminator.” More like “Sperminator,” but you get the point.

I find it fascinating that the human race is right now saving plant seeds in case of a global apocalypse, but nobody (that I know of, at least) is saving human sperm and eggs for long term disaster storage. Shouldn’t we be doing that? Shouldn’t we find the healthiest men and women who lead holistic, chemical-free lives and see if they’ll donate some of their own seeds for the future of humankind?

This is important because by the time mainstream scientists realize how corrupted human DNA has become, it may be far too late to do anything about it. If the chemical industry has anything to do with it, any evidence revealing such a trend would be buried under a mountain of denials anyway. Heck, the FDA still approved of aspartame in the food supply! CONTINUES NEXT WEEK: C H O O S I N G M AT E S .

by the El Reportero’s news service

Mexico City, May 7 The inability of the European Union to formulate policies for common economic growth may currently lead to a new global economic crisis, personalities of the political, academic and business world agreed on Monday in this capital.

Grouped in the so-called 21st Century Council, the experts assessed this weekend that, in addition to a possible crisis scenario, there is a lack of regulations to provide financial certainty to the Eurozone bloc of nations.

En route to the Group of 20 (G20) Summit, scheduled for June 18-19 in Los Cabos, South Baja California, the Council recommended a six-item document released on Sunday, which precisely makes emphasis on a coordinated global financial regulation.

­Europe faces a choice: disintegration and a weaker bond, or moves towards a fiscal and economic union, said such an organization, which includes former Presidents Felipe Gonzalez of Spain and Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, among others.

The Council met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, with whom it discussed issues related to trade protectionism, green growth support and the country’s leadership in works that will provide continuity to the results of the G-20 in coming years.

Bolivia calls for mass rally in support of Evo Morales

After hundreds of Indigenous Bolivians set off on a months-long March from Trinidad city to the president’s palance in La Paz to protest highway project in an Amazon reserve. http://www.newslook.com/world.

The Departmental Coordinator Agency for Change of Cochabamba today called for a massive rally on May 9 to express popular support for President Evo Morales and the process of change in the country.

The president of the coordinator agency, Leonilda Zurita, said that this activity will also aim to support the consultation in the communities of Indian Territory and Isiboro Secure National Park, which will decide whether or not to build a interdepartmental road trough the vast Amazon region.

Bolivian President Evo Morales’ plans to build a highway through the Amazon forest unleashed fierce anti-government protests in the country’s capital, La Paz, last September.

The controversial road was supposed to run through the indigenous territory, leveling an ancestral homeland inhabited by 50,000 native people from three different native groups. A police crackdown left 74 people injured, while 24 indigenous leaders are now under investigation for assault and kidnapping.

In Ecuador, projects to build open pit mines that would rip into the forest-covered hills of the lands of the Shuar Indians have spawned a protest movement as well. Some 194 indigenous leaders have been charged with terrorism and sabotage in recent years. The most recent round of protests was prompted by an agreement between Ecuador and China for industrial copper mining in the Amazon’s Ecuacorriente Zamora-Chinchipe region. (PL and wire services contributed to this report).