by the El Reportero’s news services

Dora María Tellez

Exguerrilla woman protests to Ortega with hunger strike

After several days of having begun a hunger strike, the legendary Nicaraguan guerrilla woman, Dora Maria Téllez, starts feeling the first effects of food absence.

Téllez who was Minister of Health in the previous government of President Daniel Ortega, took this decision in protest against the threat from the Nicaraguan Electoral Power of cancelling their Movement Renovator Sandinista (MRS) political party’s right to participate in the next municipal elections.

Constantly risk to the life of the exguerrilla, might be putting in check the stubbornness with which the government of President Ortega has tried to ignore this protest.

This topic is causing high political fuss between diverse sectors within the Nicaraguan population that have shown their solidarity with the exguerrilla member.

In the international area, the General Secretary of the Organization of American States (OEA) Miguel Insulza, said that they are evaluating this political situation.

Latin America closes ranks at food summit

On 5 June delegates representing Argentina, Venezuela, Cuba, and three other Latin American countries expressed their dissatisfaction with the final document drawn up at the end of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)’s global food crisis summit in Rome.

Argentina refused to sign the declaration, which was nonetheless ratified by the 42 other heads of state attending.

The FAO food summit – which ran from 3 to 5 June and was attended by over five thousand different delegates from 183 countries including, embarrassingly, the president of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe – was characterized by a lack of consensus and heated debate over the main causes of the current crisis.

The protests of Argentina, Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Bolivia – together with Brazilian President Lula da Silva’s angry defence of biofuels on 3 June – signalled a growing sense of unity on the world stage among a number of Latin American countries.

Chávez revamps Venezuelan secret intelligence service

The government is poised to carry out a sweeping reform of the secret intelligence service to counter “U.S. intervention in the country’s domestic affairs”. The secret police (Disip) and military intelligence (DIM) will be superseded by a four-pronged service consisting of military and police intelligence and counter-intelligence services, the former answerable to the defence ministry and the latter to the interior ministry. The interior minister, Ramón Rodríguez Chacín, did not set an exact timeframe for the changes to be implemented but he implied that it could take a year.

Brazil acts against perceived risk of conflict in Amazonia

The government of President Lula da Silva has decided to station troops within indigenous reservations, disarm Indians in the border state of Roraima, impose controls on the presence of foreigners and foreign-controlled organisations in Amazonia, and introduce legislation regulating the activities of NGOs. The move, which comes in the wake of a media-inflated row over military criticism of the government’s indigenous policies, has been months in the brewing. It reflects the widespread conviction that the Amazonian region is under threat from a variety of foreign interests.

Is it different this time?

Usually, when the US tips into a recession, Latin America slows down. This does not seem to be happening in 2008. The region, by and large, is expecting a bumper year thanks to high commodity prices and a near-decade of solid economic policymaking.

Over the past decade, Latin America has shifted its debt burden from foreign markets to domestic ones and, with the notable exception of Argentina, governments have learnt to live within their means. The other significant change in the region’s economic policymaking is (again with the exception of Argentina and also Venezuela) that countries have adopted floating exchange rates.

by Alex Meneses Miyashita

Robert Menéndez

Congressional leaders, civil rights and religious advocates are building up pressure to ensure that immigrant detainees receive basic and critical medical care that they claim is often not provided to them at federal detention centers.

They maintain that several immigrants held under custody at Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities have died as a result of inadequate or lack of medical treatment since the agency was created in 2003.

The American Civil Liberties Union cites long treatment delays, denied medications and refusal of referrals as part of the “gross medical neglect” of detainee care, as documented in the facility of Otay Mesa, near San Diego. The facility now faces a lawsuit from the organization.

Members of both chambers of Congress are trying to move through a bill that would address this issue. The Detainee Basic Medical Care Act of 2008 would require compliance with basic medical care standards and create some oversight of ICE. Sen. Robert Menéndez (D-N.J.), sponsor of the bill in the upper chamber, said he would seek existing ‘vehicles” to attach the bill in order to ensure it gets a vote before the end of this Congress.

In addition, Menéndez said he would meet with the heads of the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to discuss an issue the senator said could be dealt with administratively to a large degree.

“A detention should never amount to a death sentence,” he said, adding that such “neglectful treatment” of immigrants, regardless of their legal status, should not be tolerated.

Menéndez called the medical treatment found in immigrant detention centers “atrocious.”

One of the most showcased stories is that of Salvadoran immigrant Francisco Castaneda, who received such inadequate medical care for penile lesions while detained in 2006 that it led to terminal penile cancer his attorneys claimed could have been prevented.

Care delays and refusals by federal authorities sealed Castañeda’s fate. While detained for 11  months, biopsies ordered by on-site medical personnel were denied by off-site officials. After 11 months he was released, but his cancer was so advanced, his penis had to be amputated. But the cancer had already spread elsewhere. He died at age 36.

The Washington Post estimates that 83 immigrant detainees have died since the agency’s opening in March 2003 to March 2008. ICE is currently not required to report or keep track of these deaths. The bill would impose the requirement upon the agency.

ICE spokesperson Richard Rocha said that “while every death is an unfortunate occurrence,” the agency “goes to great measures to ensure that our detainees are provided adequate health care.”

Rocha pointed out ICE has held nearly 1.5 million individuals since 2003, and stated that the proportion of deaths is “dramatically lower” for ICE detainees than for the U.S. prison population.

The agency spends nearly $100 million annually on detainee health care and has spent tens of thousands of dollars to pay for necessary medical procedures, such as a coronary bypass, he added Rocha said all detainees are medically screened once they are in ICE custody, and added the agency has about 700 trained medical personnel throughout its facilities. The agency will work with outside medical professionals if necessary.

The ACLU maintains there are “serious systemic problems” with the medical care policies and procedures of ICE, such as requiring on-site medical personnel to obtain off-site authorization to perform specialty services such as a biopsy—the same bureaucratic procedure that cost Castaneda his life. Hispanic Link.­

by Margine Quintanilla R.

Carnaval leaves joy in SF (photos by Marvin J. Ramirez)

Grand deployment of coloring, art, rhythm and beauty was the Carnival of San Francisco, one of the biggest annual celebrations of California, which emphasizes its multicultural diversity summed up i­n the motto of this year: “Many cultures, one spirit.”

The people of San Francisco occupied from very early the sidewalks of the streets, where the Carnival would pass by, to see the passing of the floats.

Some watched the floats from the balconies of their homes or bars that opened their doors to the public to enjoy the event.

The parade began at 9:00 a.m. and many foreign foreign-born spectators were able to revive their love for their home country, while the applauses to the floats came out from everywhere in the crowd on the sidewalks, showing the special emotion their countrymen were feeling.

Many deep breathed watching the beauty of the ballerinas who moved their bodies at different beats.

The children also had ­a great time, and were able to watch closely pirate ships and have their pictures taken in the company of some bogeys that lived in the ship.

There were also enchanting bicycles, angels, fairies, Aztec warriors, Indian chiefs covered with feathers, African warriors who touched the pavement with the knife edges of their machetes.

­

by the El Reportero news services

Fernando Lugo

On 21 May Paraguayan peasants fired shots on a Brazilian-run farm. Land reform was one of President elect Fernando Lugo’s main campaign promises. Commercial farmers have issued blunt warnings that they will not cede their land to landless peasants without a fight. Héctor Cristaldo, the head of a local soya growers group, claimed that Lugo was encouraging the landless to march into working farms and said that he should do more to “put out the fire”, before taking office on 15 August.

Néstor Núñez, the president of the ranchers’ association, the Asociación Rural del Paraguay (ARP), was even more outspoken. He said that the law entitled his members to defend themselves and their land without fear of subsequent prosecution.

Diplomatic tension simmers during EU-Latin America summit

The official agenda of the Fifth European Union-Latin America and the Caribbean (EU-LAC) Summit in Lima on 16 and 17 May was trade, food and climate change. The unofficial agenda was the political and diplomatic tension between Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela in the wake of the release by Interpol of its verdict on the authenticity of the computer files purportedly produced by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC). For once the official agenda prevailed and the diplomatic differences did not spill over into the summit. There was no shortage of developments, however, on the sidelines of the summit.

Fernández wins in first round

Leonel Fernández will be president of the Dominican Republic for another four years: these were the results of the country’s presidential elections of 16 May, announced the following day by the Central Electoral Commission (JCE). The 53-year-old will enter his third (and second consecutive) term as president in August this year with 53.83 percent of the popular vote, but he is likely to face a tougher time in office with the downturn in the US economy.

Peru lawmaker accused of shooting dog

A lawmaker is under fire in Peru after he allegedly gunned down his neighbor’s schnauzer for harassing his ducks.

Nina Ventura de Cardenas, the neighbor, says opposition lawmaker Miro Ruiz shot and killed her 18-month-old dog when it ventured onto his property. Ventura filed a formal complaint with Congress on Monday.

Ruiz denied the allegation, saying he has several small animals and “loves them a lot.” But animal rights activists and fellow politicians called for sanctions.

Cabinet chief Jorge del Castillo said the alleged killing of the pet demonstrates “psychological weakness” and “hurts the country.”

The congressional ethics committee will review the complaint. (Associated Press contributed to this report).

by Alex Meneses Miyashita

Nancy Pelosi

Hispanic business leaders announced an alliance May 7 to press Congress to pass the U.S. free tradeviolentagreement with Colombia.

They urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to bring the agreement to the floor for a vote as soon as possible and promised to continue pushing Congress until it is approved.

Nearly 100 organizations, among them the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, have joined the coalition, named the Hispanic Trade and Business Alliance, in an effort to keep the trade deal alive after the Democratic majority in Congress put an indefinite hold on it last month.

The alliance effort was announced following a meeting of members of organizations in support of the FTA with a half dozen Republican senators and Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez.

Leading the initiative to coalesce these groups is an organization called the Hispanic Alliance for Prosperity Institute.

The agreement, which was signed in November 2006 by the United States and Colombia, was sent to Congress by President Bush last April, giving lawmakers 90 days to vote on it through the fast-track rule. But the House of Representatives passed a resolution that waived the fast-track requirement.

Alliance members plan to launch grassroots efforts nationwide to promote the trade agreement and urge constituents to pressure their members in Congress to act on it.

Supporters of the agreement are calling on Democrats to stop using the trade agreement as a “bargaining chip” for political benefit.

“It is very im­portant that we approach this not as a partisan issue,” said Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.).

Pelosi declared through an e-mail from her office that given the state of the economy, “now is not the time to be discussing free trade agreements with other countries.”

She added, “Democrats in Congress are focused on providing much-needed relief to hard-working Hispanic families here at home.”

Secretary Gutiérrez said that from a commercial, geopolitical and national security point of view, the decision to delay a vote on the agreement was an error.

If the FTA is not passed, ­he added, U.S. exporters going into Colombia will continue paying tariffs while Colombian exporters coming to the United States won’t because of a deal agreed to by Congress.

“We need to level the playing field,- he said.

The FTA with Colombia is a “Hispanic American issue,” he declared.

“It is a Latin American country. We want these countries to be prosperous. We resent the idea that we’re going to use a Latin American ally as some kind of bargaining chip to get a better deal on something else.”

Nonetheless, Democrats and several Latino leaders and labor unions have expressed concern that the agreement will cost U.S. workers.

“The only impact that free trade agreements have had is more and more job losses,” said Gabriela Lemus, executive director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement.

She added that over the past ten years, ‘we have seen 40,000 small and mid-size manufacturing businesses shut down in the United States, and that has a lot to do with globalization.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) maintained that the approval of the trade agreement would be beneficial to the country’s economy and create markets for U.S. exporters, manufacturers and farmers.

Cornyn said that Colombia President Álvaro Uribe “has been one of our best friends. He has joined us in the fight against narco-traffickers,” adding it is important “that we have friendly, democratic governments in Latin America.”

Lemus said Colombia still faces a serious human rights crisis.

“It is not that Uribe has not done anything, but the problem is still grave, and to prize them with a free trade agreement seems to me nefarious,” she said. Hispanic Link.