by Emma Volonté

Exclusive for El Repotero

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.”

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.

­

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.”