Cuba sends 91 more doctors to fight Ebola

Cuba sends 91 more doctors to fight Ebola
By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN, Associated Press | October 21, 2014 | Updated: October 21, 2014 4:14pm

HAVANA (AP) — Every few years Dr. Leonardo Fernandez flies to a nation shaken by natural disaster, political turmoil or disease, leaving his hospital in eastern Cuba for countries that have included Pakistan, Nicaragua and East Timor.

On Tuesday, the intensive care specialist was headed to the epicenter of the Ebola epidemic along with 90 other Cuban medical workers as part of a half-century-old strategy that puts doctors on the front lines of the country's foreign policy.

The 91 nurses and doctors going to Guinea and Liberia join 165 already in Sierra Leone — making this island of 11 million people one of the largest global contributors of medical workers to the fight against Ebola.

The commitment has drawn rare praise from the U.S. and focused worldwide attention on Cuba's unique program of medical diplomacy, which deploys armies of doctors to win friends abroad and earn more than $6 billion a year in desperately needed foreign exchange.

More:
http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Cuba-sends-91-more-doctors-to-fight-Ebola-5838006.php#photo-7030580

Bolivians Demand Justice for 2003 Gas War Massacre

October 21, 2014

Thousands March in El Alto

Bolivians Demand Justice for 2003 Gas War Massacre

by BENJAMIN DANGL

Thousands of people marched in El Alto, Bolivia on Friday, October 17th to demand justice for the 2003 massacre of over 60 people during the country’s Gas War under the Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (Goni) administration. Sanchez de Lozada is currently living freely in the US, and marchers demanded he and others in his government be brought to Bolivia to be tried for ordering the violence. October marks the anniversary of that assault on the city, and people mobilized on Friday to remember and to demand justice.

“Today we’re marching to remember on the 11th anniversary of the Gas War, which was aimed at getting rid of the neoliberal government of Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada,” El Alto neighborhood council member Daniel Cama said while marching down the streets of the city. “We demand justice, and we demand the extradition of Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and (former Defense Minister) Carlos Sanchez de Berzain, because they were the ones that led the massacre against the people of El Alto. This violence left many widows, orphans and injured people that are still demanding justice. Today we are marching to celebrate and remember the dead who fought for our natural resources.”

Bolivia’s Gas War is largely credited for ushering in a period of progressive change marked by policies led by President Evo Morales, who was re-elected on October 12th for a third term in office. The “Martyrs of the Gas War” are often recalled as the protagonists that led to the nationalization of sectors of Bolivia’s gas industry, a move which has generated funding for many popular social programs the Morales’ administration has developed to alleviate poverty. (For more information, see this article on the ten year anniversary of the Gas War and this article on the case against Goni.)

On Friday, thousands of El Alto residents marched from different points in the city, converging for a rally in the city center, where social movement leaders and victims of the Gas War spoke to a large crowd. Cheers regularly broke out, including the angry cry, “We Want Goni’s Head!” Many activists in the Gas War itself were present, such as the prominent participation by the city’s Fejuve neighborhood organizations. In a march meant to remember those days of repression and struggle, many veterans of the conflict marched down the same streets, and under the same bridges, where the army led their attack.

More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/21/bolivians-demand-justice-for-2003-gas-war-massacre/

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Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and _{George W. Bush.}[/center]

El Salvador’s fight against gold mine will be decided in D.C.

El Salvador’s fight against gold mine will be decided in D.C.
By Tim Johnson
McClatchy Foreign Staff
October 21, 2014

SAN ISIDRO, El Salvador — Somewhere trapped in the earth below Francisco Pineda’s feet are an estimated 1.4 million ounces of gold, and he wants the ore to remain there. He doesn’t want an Australian mining company to extract the metal.

“What will happen with the water? To separate the gold and silver, they’ll use cyanide. This will either filter into the water table or go into the river,” said Pineda, a stocky agronomist and environmental activist.
Those who share Pineda’s views don’t care if El Salvador remains the proverbial beggar seated on a bench of gold. They say their densely populated nation cannot absorb environmental distress from mining. Yet the choice is not theirs.

The fate of the El Dorado gold mine won’t be resolved anywhere near this tiny Central American country. Rather, it’s being weighed by a three-judge tribunal on the fourth floor of the World Bank headquarters in Washington.

Last month, the obscure court heard eight days of arguments over whether an Australian firm, OceanaGold Corp., will get a green light for the El Dorado project, or in its lieu receive $301 million in compensation. Sometime early in 2015, the tribunal, known formally as the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, will issue its ruling.

The unusual jurisdiction is a sign of how international investment laws are empowering corporations to act against foreign governments that curtail their future profits, sometimes through policy flip-flops. Critics say it’s giving trade tribunals leverage over sovereign nations and elected leaders who presumably reflect the will of their people.

More:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/10/21/244144_el-salvadors-fight-against-gold.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

BBC News: Calling time on America's blockade of Cuba

19 October 2014 Last updated at 01:09 ET
Calling time on America's blockade of Cuba
By Will Grant

BBC News, Havana

On 19 October 1960, less than two years after Fidel Castro swept into Havana, the United States announced its economic embargo of Cuba. It has been in place ever since but now it is under scrutiny again.

In a recent editorial, the New York Times called for the embargo to be lifted. The newspaper outlined a host of ways in which it says the measure had been counter-productive to US interests and those of the long-suffering Cuban people.

"Over the decades, it became clear to many American policy makers that the embargo was an utter failure," the editorial said.

Among the legislation through which the measure is enforced is the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917 as well as the inclusion of Cuba on a US state department list of state sponsors of terrorism, alongside Syria, Iran and Sudan.

Although the embargo cannot be ended without the backing of Congress, the newspaper argued there was much President Barack Obama could do unilaterally - from removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism to lifting caps on remittances.

"Mr Obama should seize this opportunity to end a long era of enmity and help a population that has suffered enormously since Washington ended diplomatic relations in 1961," it said.

More:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-29672857

Chile ex-mayor arrested for Pinochet-era human rights crimes

Chile ex-mayor arrested for Pinochet-era human rights crimes
Mon Oct 20, 2014 3:07pm EDT

By Anthony Esposito

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - The ex-mayor of an upscale Santiago neighborhood was arrested on Monday in connection with an investigation into human rights crimes committed during General Augusto Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship of Chile.

Cristian Labbe, a retired colonel who later served as mayor of the capital's Providencia district, is a subject of the probe into human rights violations, government spokesman Alvaro Elizalde said to reporters on Monday.

"We hope this can be cleared up and it's the courts that have to determine any responsibilities (in the case)," he said.

Elizalde did not give details but a source close to the matter, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said Judge Marianela Cifuentes is prosecuting 10 former military members, adding that Labbe is being prosecuted for unlawful association as a member of Pinochet's notorious DINA secret police.

"Cifuentes determined that the DINA had become an unlawful organization for committing crimes against humanity, and as such has prosecuted Labbe as a member of that unlawful organization," the source said.

More:
http://ca.reuters.com/article/idCAKCN0I923S20141020?rpc=401

Peruvian radio host's wife killed in attack on station

Peruvian radio host's wife killed in attack on station
October 20, 2014 3:40 PM ET.


Bogotá, Colombia, October 20, 2014--Peruvian authorities must conduct an efficient and thorough investigation into Friday's attack on a radio station in which assailants killed the wife of a journalist, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.


On the pretext of purchasing ads, a man entered Radio Rumba, in the town of Pichanaki in central Junín department, at about 5:30 am on Friday. He was followed into the station by a second man who was armed with a pistol, according to news reports.

When the men entered, Gerson Fabián Cuba was hosting his morning radio program, according to reports. The gunman began insulting and beating him with their gun. When the journalist's son protested, Fabián Cuba's wife, Gloria Limas Calle, tried to drive the men away with a broomstick. The assailants shot Limas Calle in the chest and fled the premises. Limas Calle died before reaching a Pichanaki hospital, according to news reports.

Limas Calle wrote ad copy for Fabián Cuba and often cleaned the radio station's studio.

"We condemn the attack on Gerson Fabían Cuba that killed his wife, and we call on Peruvian authorities to work quickly to ensure that local journalists and their families and associates do not have to fear violent reprisal for their reporting," said Carlos Lauría, CPJ's senior program coordinator for the Americas, from New York. "Only finding those responsible and bringing them to justice will prevent further attacks on, and harassment of, the local media."

More:
https://cpj.org/2014/10/peruvian-radio-hosts-wife-killed-in-attack-on-stat.php

AP PHOTOS: New gloss on Cuba's classic cars

AP PHOTOS: New gloss on Cuba's classic cars
| October 19, 2014 | Updated: October 19, 2014 11:21pm


[font size=1]
Photo By Franklin Reyes/AP

In this Oct. 15, 2014 photo, a man drives a classic American car on The Malecon in Havana, Cuba. This
classic still running on the streets of Havana is part of a fleet of classic cars that have become an icon of
tourism in the socialist nation.
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[font size=1]
In this Oct. 15, 2014 photo, tourists ride in a classic American car on the Malecon in Havana, Cuba. Officials in
recent years have eased state control over the economy by allowing limited self-employment. So those lucky
enough to have a pre-revolutionary car can earn money legally by ferrying tourists _ or Cubans celebrating
weddings _ along Havana’s waterfront Malecon boulevard. Photo: Franklin Reyes, AP / AP
[/font]
HAVANA (AP) — When Martin Viera's Chevrolet rolled out of the dealer's lot, Harry Truman was president of the United States, gasoline cost 27 cents a gallon and a 24-year-old lefty named Tommy Lasorda was pitching for Almendares in the Cuban winter baseball league.

That world is long gone, but the Chevy's still running on the streets of Havana — part of a fleet of classic cars that have become an icon of tourism in the socialist nation.

For decades, the cars slowly decayed. But officials in recent years have eased state control over the economy by allowing limited self-employment. So those lucky enough to have a pre-revolutionary car can earn money legally by ferrying tourists — or Cubans celebrating weddings — along Havana's waterfront Malecon boulevard.

That's allowed many to paint and polish their aging vehicles.

Viera's 1951 Chevrolet and Osmani Rodriguez's 1954 Ford are now part of Havana's tourist draw.

Rodriguez, who has three daughters, said the opening to self-employment "was a great benefit for me. I bought an apartment to live in and really it improved my standard of living a lot."

More:
http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/AP-PHOTOS-New-gloss-on-Cuba-s-classic-cars-5833840.php#photo-7023123

My Last Talk with Gary Webb

Weekend Edition October 17-19, 2014

"I Knew It Was the Truth and That's What Kept Me Going"

My Last Talk with Gary Webb

by RICHARD THIEME


I was heartsick. Just knowing that Webb was alive was enough to keep me going through difficult nights.

The Mercury News says that “Webb, an award-winning journalist, was … perhaps best known for sparking a national controversy with a 1996 story that contended supporters of a CIA-backed guerrilla army in Nicaragua helped trigger America’s crack-cocaine epidemic in the 1980s. The ‘Dark Alliance’ series in the Mercury News came under fire by other news organizations, and the paper’s own investigation concluded the series did not meet its standards. Mr. Webb resigned a year and a half after the series appeared in the paper. He then published his book, `Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.’

Of course the newspaper did not report that he resigned only after months of commuting to a dead-end assignment 150 miles from his family and home to which he had been exiled. Forced to work so far from his family, Webb grew depressed and made a sane choice.

So he was not a stranger to depression. Conspiracy stories are already suggesting that his suicide was something else, but I know he would want more than anything for solid investigative work to stitch together all of the pieces, that we not impose a pattern prematurely. That’s what he did for his stories and it’s the least we can do for him.

Besides, why kill him now? As I said in my blog-piece three days ago:

Voices of clarity and conscience are effectively controlled and spun into irrelevance rather than silenced. Marginalization is more effective than assassination it leaves no dead heroes as leaders, after all – and there’s no blood.

Colombia police arrest ‘Torturer of Cordoba’ after 26 years on the run

Colombia police arrest ‘Torturer of Cordoba’ after 26 years on the run
Oct 17, 2014 posted by Joel Gillin

Colombian authorities on Friday detained the “Torturer of Cordoba,” a man wanted for 26 years over his participation in killings in northern Colombia ordered by infamous paramilitary leader Fidel Castaño.

Mario Alberto Alvarez, a.k.a. “Macario,” has been sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in the 1988 murder of an ex-senator and ex-secretary to the presidency.

Macario is the perpetrator of a massacre in the Cordoba state, which earned him his fearsome nickname.

During the 1990 Pueblo Bello massacre, 43 farmers were brutally killed. The number of farmers corresponded to the number of cattle the Castaño brothers, who founded the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) paramilitary group, claimed to have lost and for which they held the village responsible.

More:
http://colombiareports.co/torturer-cordoba-captured-26-years-run/

Colombia hackers carrying out cyber attacks against Ecuador: Correa

Colombia hackers carrying out cyber attacks against Ecuador: Correa
Oct 17, 2014 posted by Joel Gillin

President Rafael Correa of Ecuador said Thursday that his government had detected cyber attacks against his administration and the armed forces originating from Colombian territory, according to local media.

The Ecuadorean leader said that the country had already adopted security measures against the alleged hacks, which he described as being of a “systematic nature” from “organized networks,” according to the Colombian weekly Semana. He gave no more details about the identity of those responsible.

“We have traced these attacks many times, which have attempted to get information from the database of the Presidency, the hard drive of the president, the Armed Forces, Joint Command, and some of these attacks had their origin in Colombia,” Correa said at a press conference.

Cyber attacks against his government had happened “many times” before, the president said, but they were not announced over supposed worries that the press would manipulate the information to criticize his government.

More:
http://colombiareports.co/cyber-attacks-govt-originated-colombia-ecuadors-president/