by the El Reportero’s news services

Alvaro Colom

President Alvaro Colom summoned the army on Sept. 4 to take charge of the presidential palace after spying devices were discoveredin his offices and home. Colom’s decision to call in the military, albeit in a temporary manner, is curious and hugely symbolic given Guatemala’s history of civil war.

It is also a complete reversal of his earlier assurances that the army would cease to play a role in civilian security matters. The move also puts Colom’s announcement that he plans to expand the army in a new light.

Lula acts against Brazil’s intelligence agency as bugging scandal deepens President

Lula da Silva was forced to order the leadership of Brazil’s intelligence agency, Abin, to step down temporarily, after the local press published a transcript of a telephone conversation between the supreme court’s president and an opposition senator, which had been illegally tapped.

The affair put Lula under pressure from the supreme court and opposition parties, which even threatened to initiate impeachment proceedings against him, since the Abin is directly answerable to the presidency.

The new-look Informe

As usual the high season for Mexican politics opened, on 1 September, with the traditional annual Informe (State of the Nation) address. The Informe signals the start of the main congressional session of the year. What was unusual about this year’s was that the president did not attempt to deliver it: the interior minister Juan Camilo Mouriño traveled to congress to deliver the speech.

‘New Cold War’ talk amid stories of Russian bombers & warships bound for the Caribbean

Cuba and Venezuela have suddenly become pawns in Russia’s game of geopolitical chicken with the US. Vladimir Putin has started talking about ‘re-establishing positions with Cuba, and there have been Russian media reports about plans to use the island as a refuelling stop for longrange Russian bombers.

Hugo Chávez has announced that Russia intends to send a fl eet to visit the Caribbean, and that he would welcome this. Inevitably, this has dovetailed with events in Georgia and provoked a wave of warnings about the prospect of a ‘new Cold War’. For now, though, this has remained limited to posturing.

Iran and the left in Latin America

Bolivian President Evo Morales is in Tehran this week, ushering in a new chapter in his country’s economic and strategic cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has promised a hefty investment in Bolivia’s energy sector and other joint ventures, some involving other Latin and Central American countries, such as Venezuela and Nicaragua, not to overlook Cuba.

In a joint communique, Morales and President Mahmud Ahmadinejad have signed off on the need for “concrete political steps against every type of imperialism”, while also condemning the intervention of the United Nations Security Council in Iran’s nuclear program as “lacking any legal or technical justification”.

Bolivia may be a poor country, but it is strategically located and represents an important ally for Iran that can act as a catalyst in enhancing Iran’s growing cooperation with other Latin nations, especially those considered leftist or populist.

(Asia Times and Latin News contributed to this report)

by Joe Torres

One of the highlights of the fourth annual UNITY: Journalists of Color convention this summer in Chicago armyshould have been the appearance of Sen. Barack Obama at perhaps the largest gathering of journalists in U.S. history.

The chance to see—and question—the Democratic nominee (his opponent didn’t make it to the Windy City) was e highlight of the event.

Watching someone who could be the nation’s first black president had to be inspiring for a room filled with journalists who spent their careers overcoming tough barriers—a reminder it’s possible to tear down the most improbable of walls.

But even Obama’s appearance couldn’t remove the shadow hanging over this gathering. I spoke with dozens of veteran and young journalists in Chicago and was surprised by the level of despair about the journalism profession, and their own job status. They saw little hope of overcoming the obstacles placed before them.

This, despite the fact that most media companies, including newspapers, still make plenty of money. But Wall Street has placed unreasonable demands on companies. To increase their profit margins, news organizations have targeted the newsroom, cutting budgets, closing bureaus, and laying off thousands of journalists in just the pest few years.

Journalists of color have been hit particularly ha rd. The American Society of Newspaper Editors reported in April that, for only the second time in 20 years, journalists leaving the daily newspaper profession lest year outnumbered those landing their first jobs.

The journalists I spoke with did not know how to fight back against this current onslaught; neither did they understand how the battles in Washington over media policy have impacted their profession.

Many journalists are unaware that their bosses have gone to Washington claiming, despite all evidence to the contrary, claiming greater media consolidation will save newsroom jobs and improve their operations.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin cited this argument when the commission voted to lift the longstanding newspaper broadcast cross-ownership rule last December. It had kept one company from owning a paper and TV station in the same market.

‘CLEAR-CUT’’ NEWSROOMS

Runaway media consolidation is the story behind the attack on quality journalism and the clear-cutting of our newsrooms. But you rarely read ­and then, only inside the business pages about media policymaking in the newspaper or hear about it on TV. You might read about jousting among competing media moguls. Maybe there’s a small story about layoffs.Very rarely does anyone connect the two.

In recent years, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists despite receiving financial support from corporate media companies have made the connection and spoken out against consolidation (as has the Newspaper Guild). They must continue to keep up this fight and expand their efforts. But other journalist groups, like the Society of Professional Journalists, have not taken a stand.

Journalists must add their voices to the media ownership debate, just as they have spoken out strongly in favor of free speech issues and a shield law. Both issues impact the practice of journalism. If journalists do not speak out, their corporate bosses will be more than happy to fill that void.

PUBLIC EXCLUDED

It’s critical that journalists inform the public about the fight going on in Washington over media ownership rules. The public is too often excluded from participating in this debate even though they are the major stakeholder. Where would journalists of color be if it weren’t for the people of color who took to the streets to fight for racial equality during the civil rights movement?

If the public knew more about why the media are struggling, why they’re not represented equally, why the serious news they need is disappearing, perhaps it would demand that Congress and the FCC pass policies that support journalism institutions and independent news voices instead of weakening them.

The current crisis in the media industry is not a new one. Throughout our nation’s history, the emergence of new technology has always disrupted the traditional media system and the marketplace that supports journalism. It happened with the telegraph, radio, TV, cable and now with the Internet.

CORPORATE BIAS

During previous battles, the government adopted policies that favored corporate interests over the public interest.

It doesn’t have to be that way this time. I f we join in the debate, we can build a media system that supports good journalism.

Good journalism holding our corporate and government leaders accountable is what we need to nurture our democracy.

Journalists and journalism groups have to start fighting back if they want to feel hopeful about the future of their profession. This is not the time for them to hang their heads or flee the profession. It’s time to fight back.

(Free Press government relations manager Joe Torres works closely with its policy and research staff to create a legislative agenda and build national coalitions that broaden the base of the media reform movement. A journalist for many years, he had served as deputy director of media policy at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and as editor of Hispanic Link Weekly Report).

by Juliana Birnbaum Fox

Apache activist Enrique Madrid meets with Berkeley City Council about indigenous rights on the U.S. – Mexico border. (photo by Juliana Birnbaum Fox)

Berkeley City Councilmember Kriss Worthington and Vice Mayor Max Anderson hosted a special reception with three indigenous leaders from the U.S. Ð Mexico border last week, where they discussed ongoing militarization and its impacts. Margo Tamez, Lipan Apache of southeast Texas, Enrique Madrid, Jumano Apache of southwest Texas and Michael Paul Hill, Chiricahua Apache of Arizona shared personal experiences about the construction of a border wall, and disruptions to family, community, religious, cultural and economic structures.

Earlier this year, the Berkeley City Council passed a resolution condemning the federal decision to commit over $1.2 billion toward construction of a border wall.

“The border wall will have devastating consequences on the environment, economy and on human lives, not just around the border area, but across the country,” noted Councilmember Worthington.

Since the passage of this resolution, opponents of the border wall have gained support from various other cities and counties.

Vice Mayor Max Anderson introduced the visitors, commenting that Berkeley was proud to oppose the wall, which “is not just bricks, mortar and surveillance cameras, but a symbolic effort to divide people targeting those with the smallest capacity to resist.”

Berkeley’s stance is spreading to other cities and towns,” said Enrique Madrid, indigenous community member, land owner in Redford, Texas and archaeological steward for the state’s Historical Commission. “State laws can be passed that would create a legal obstacle to federal military interventions.”

It was in Redford that a U.S. Marine shot and killed 18-year-old Esequiel Hernandez, herding his sheep near his home in 1997.

“We had hoped he would be the last United States citizen and the last Native American to be killed by troops,” Madrid said.

Margo Tamez, an activist, poet and scholar, pointed out that the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, passed this year, now guarantees the right of native people to their traditional territories. “We are not a people of walls. It is ­against our culture to have walls. The Earth and the River go together. We must be with the river. We must be with this land. We were born for this land.”

Tamez’ mother, Dr. Eloisa Garcia Tamez, was told that she would be taken to court and her lands seized by eminent domain if she didn’t allow surveys for the US/Mexico border-wall onto her property.

The proposed wall will have devastating consequences on the local environment sand will result in landowners and farmers losing their land and access to river water for irrigation,” Worthington wrote in his recommendation to the City Council. “It will also negatively affect the relationship between the US and Mexico as well as to indigenous nations.”

by the El Reportero’s news services

Fernando Lugo

The decision by the new President of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, to appoint Joseph Stiglitz as his chief economic adviser is another signal that most of South America is moving onto a new economic track.

The obvious parallel was Bolivia’s decision in the late 1980s and early 1990s to rely on Jeffrey Sachs, then a fashionable development economist, to deregulate its economy.

Sachs was a keen proponent of the so-called Washington Consensus, which favored deregulation on a large scale and recommended only minimal state participation in the economy.

Bolivia’s Morales sets date for constitutional vote

President Evo Morales passed a supreme decree on August 28 establishing 7 December as the date for a national referendum on the new constitution.

The announcement represents a major breakthrough in Morales’s two-and-a-half year struggle to get a new constitution approved.

It shows that the government feels sufficiently buoyed by the results of the 10 August recall referendum – in which Morales received an overwhelming 67 percent of the vote, winning in 95 of the country’s 112 provinces – to abandon attempts at dialogue with the opposition prefects who have emerged as the main obstacle to Morales’ reform efforts.

Prefects defy Morales in Bolivia

Evo Morales

Five opposition prefects from Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando, Tarija and Chuquisaca announced on August 27 that they would not permit a referendum on the constitution to take place in their departments.

The declaration by the prefects is likely to undermine their position further in their ongoing battle with the government of President Evo Morales.

The decision was announced at a meeting of the opposition prefects’ bloc, Consejo Nacional Democrático, held in Villa Montes, Tarija and followed an ultimatum issued by Morales the previous day that if the prefects continued to defy attempts at dialogue, he would call the referendum on the draft constitution by supreme decree to speed up the process.

Uribe squares up to Supreme Court and Liberals as parapolitical scandal deepens

Relations between Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe and the supreme court took a sharp turn for the worse this week after revelations emerged in the press that two senior presidential advisers had received two emissaries from the top paramilitary leader, Don Berna, in the presidential palace. Uribe defended his advisers on the grounds that the supreme court was “trafficking in false witnesses.” He also took a pot shot at the leader of the opposition Partido Liberal (PL), César Gaviria. Mutual mudslinging ensued. The upshot is that the opposition is refusing to discuss political and judicial reforms which Uribe sent to Congress late on August 26.

Honduras opts for Alba

Traditionally one of the US’ most steadfast allies in Central America, Honduras would appear to be shifting its allegiances after President Manuel Zelaya announced plans to join the Venezuelan-led trade and integration initiative, Alternativa Bolivariana de las Américas (Alba).

Honduras signed up to Petrocaribe, Venezuela’s oil-supply pact in February [RC-08-03]. Zelaya has also upped his anti-US rhetoric, in a manner reminiscent of US bête noire, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. The president’s proposal to join Alba has yet to be ratifi ed by Congress and has proved divisive within the country. (Latin News contributed to this report).