Judi Lynn
Judi Lynn's JournalAbuse of power in Colombia on the rise since Duque took office: report
Abuse of power in Colombia on the rise since Duque took office: report
by Adriaan Alsema May 6, 2019
Abuse of power by Colombia’s security forces has increased since President Ivan Duque took office last year, according to local media.
Political website La Silla Vacia talked to 57 sources in conflict areas and found there has been a significant increase in complaints about human rights abuses ever since Duque took power.
. . .
According to the news website, it was able to verify grave abuses of power, including soldiers opening fire on civilians, intimidation, arbitrary detentions, illegal searches and false claims civilians would be guerrillas.
The website did not include complaints of police brutality during indigenous protests during which at least nine protesters were killed.
More:
https://colombiareports.com/abuse-of-power-on-the-rise-in-colombia-since-duque-took-office-report/
Government systematically ignoring alert system put in place to prevent killing of social leaders
by Jake Kincaid May 6, 2019
Carlos Guevara
A top Ombudsman official said Monday that the government is systematically ignoring early warnings that could save social leaders’ and fails to allocate funds that could improve security.
The Ombudsman’s early alerts analyst Carlos Guevara, said at an event supported by the European Union in Bogota that the government does not effectively respond to warnings from the Ombudsman’s office.
. . .
Guevara added that the protection of social leaders requires a significant investment of resources that are not in the National Development Plan. For example, the National Protection Unit (UNP) that protects threatened individuals, needs at least an extra $300,000 to cover the expanding threats that is not in Duque’s spending plans.
The critical situation for social leaders became painfully visible in southwest Colombia on Saturday when a group of armed men tried to assassinate Francia Marquez, an environmental and black rights activist who won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Award last year.
More:
https://colombiareports.com/government-systematically-ignoring-alert-system-put-in-place-to-prevent-killing-of-social-leaders/
Venezuela: The Trump Coup And Our Next Oil War
Venezuela: The Trump Coup And Our Next Oil War
Aggressive Progressive Jimmy Dore interviews Palast
MARCH 6, 2019
Greg Palast
People don’t know the Kochs have these giant refineries, some of the biggest in the world, on the Gulf Coast of Texas, in the middle of oilfields. They can’t use Texas oil because it’s not heavy and filthy enough, so they have to take almost all their oil from Venezuela, one of the only places where you get this super heavy oil. Normally it’s discounted. But because they know the Kochs have to use their oil, Chavez, who was really bright man, was squeezing the Kochs by the cojones and charging them a premium for his oil. The Kochs have been going crazy – they were losing money at their refinery because of the price.
. . .
So they had two choices. Buy Tar Sands gunk from Canada, via the XL Pipeline, but it’s taking too long. First they had to get Trump to come in as president and overcome all of the environmental objections to get the XL Pipeline approved. But it still ain’t there. So what do you do? You better overthrow the government of Venezuela with some guy named Juan Guaido who said, and I quote, “I will open up the Venezuela oil fields to American companies. You have to understand, Exxon was basically thrown out of Venezuela. They’ve had lawsuits going against Venezuela. Guaido says he’ll pay off Exxon and he will let Exxon take control again of the Venezuelan oil fields. That’s what this game is about, it’s about the oil.
. . .
And who is this guy Juan Guaido that Trump has said he’s recognized as president? He’s not someone who said, “Oh, the election was stolen from me.” He literally never ran for president. He’s just a 35-year old white guy – and that’s really at the heart of it. That’s something that Trump likes. He speaks good English, he hung out with the Right Wing think tanks in Washington, went to George Washington University. He’s a rich, white guy. That’s really, really important. And in a Mestizo nation, which is made up of about 70% Mestizos, that is people, as Chavez told me, who are a combination of “Negro e Indio,” as he said, black and indigenous, that’s the majority of the people in Venezuela, but they’re finding a white guy to run it.
https://www.gregpalast.com/venezuela-the-trump-coup-and-our-next-oil-war/
Allow no U.S. intervention in Venezuela
Allow no U.S. intervention in Venezuela
By Jovanni Reyes, For the Express-News Published 12:00 am CDT, Sunday, May 5, 2019
As a Texan, it is concerning to see the White House’s obsessive and almost sadistic attacks on Venezuela.
These unprovoked acts of violence against the Venezuelan economy, currency, infrastructure and citizens are unwarranted. This is a nation that has not posed any sort of threat to the United States, and our continued interventions could destabilize the entire region with disastrous results for generations.
I urge Texas members of Congress to co-sponsor HR 1004 and Texas senators to sign on to S.J. Res. 11 as a first step in de-escalating aggression against Venezuela. Both bills prohibit the unauthorized use of the military against Venezuela.
Furthermore, I ask that Congress urge the White House to lift all sanctions and economic blockade against the besieged South American nation, which former U.N. Special Rapporteur Alfred de Zayas said are killing Venezuelans and may amount to a crime against humanity.
More:
https://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/commentary/article/Allow-no-U-S-intervention-in-Venezuela-13818150.php
Editorials and other articles:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016231513
Call for students to film 'biased' teachers brings Brazil's culture wars to classroom
President Bolsonaro has accused schoolteachers of indoctrination but educators say his aim is to stifle critical thinking
Anna Jean Kaiser in São Paulo
@annajkaiser
Fri 3 May 2019 05.00 EDT
Jair Bolsonaro has encouraged school students to film teachers during class if they suspect them of pushing leftist ideas, reigniting a battle in one of the most contested arenas of Brazil’s raging culture wars.
“Teachers need to teach and not indoctrinate,” Bolsonaro tweeted this week as he shared a video shot in class by a student who accused her teacher of criticizing the far-right president.
Bolsonaro’s son Carlos also retweeted a student-made video with the comment: “Filming/recording in schools is an act of legitimate defense against ideological predators who are disguised as teachers.”
The call to film teachers originated with a movement called Schools without Party (known by its Portuguese acronym ESP) – a fringe rightwing movement founded in 2004 which gained influence as Bolsonaro rose to power.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/03/brazil-schools-teachers-indoctrination-jair-bolsonaro
The plot that failed: how Venezuela's 'uprising' fizzled
When the coup was hurriedly launched a day early, defections from the regime failed to materialise, Maduro remained in power and the US government looked like it had badly miscalculated
by Patricia Torres in Caracas, Julian Borger in Washington, Joe Parkin Daniels in Bogotá and Tom Phillips in Mexico City
Fri 3 May 2019 14.47 EDT
The video that appeared on Tuesday morning had the appearance of history in the making. In the purple light of dawn, it showed a group of armed men and a military vehicle on a road leading to La Carlota airbase in eastern Caracas.
In the foreground, stood Juan Guaidó – the head of the national assembly recognised by most western countries as the rightful leader of Venezuela – declaring the “final phase of Operation Freedom” with oratory seemingly destined for legend.
“Today, brave soldiers, brave patriots, brave men loyal to the constitution have heard our call. We have finally met on the streets of Venezuela,” Guaidó said.
Behind him, was the country’s most prominent political prisoner, Leopoldo López who had been under house arrest since 2017. The fact that he was free as the uprising was being declared seemed proof that something significant was afoot.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/03/venezuela-protests-news-latest-maduro-uprising-that-fizzled-
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https://www.democraticunderground.com/index.php
Rio de Janeiro: killings by police hit a record high in Brazilian state
Rise comes under Governor Wilson Witzel, a Bolsonaro ally who has promised a zero-tolerance policy against criminals
Staff and agencies in Rio de Janeiro
Fri 3 May 2019 17.39 EDT
Police killings in the state of Rio de Janeiro have hit a record high, rising by 18% in the first three months of this year.
Official data reviewed by the Associated Press on Friday show police forces in Rio killed 434 people during clashes in those months, compared with 368 people in same period last year.
The number is the highest since record keeping began in 1998. The data was released on 17 April.
The rise comes under the watch of the Governor Wilson Witzel, a former marine and political ally of Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro. Witzel has promised a zero-tolerance policy against criminals, calling drug traffickers “narco-terrorists” and vowing to ease gun possession laws.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/03/rio-de-janeiro-police-killings-rise-brazil
We Will Go The Limit of Itamarty, Says Bolsonaro on Venezuela
President declares, in exclusive conversation, that that crack at bottom ranks of Venezuelan armed forces could move to top
May.3.2019 1:43PM
Mônica Bergamo
SÃO PAULO
President Jair Bolsonaro declared, in an exclusive conversation, that Brazil will go to the “limits of Itamaraty” to help what he considered as the reestablishment of democracy in Venezuela. In other words, Brazil will influence Venezuela’s transition through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He gave the interview by telephone when he was preparing to leave for Camboriú (SC) with federal deputy Marco Feliciano (Pode-SP). The two will participate in an evangelical festival in the city.
For the president, “this crack that exists at bottom of the military will spread to higher levels in the [armed forces]
Bolsonaro also said that “Maduro does not control himself. Who controls him are the generals, the Cubans, and a good part the Russians. He is watched all of the time.”
More:
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/world/2019/05/we-will-go-the-limit-of-itamarty-says-bolsonaro-on-venezuela.shtml
Trump's new ambassador to Colombia was once expelled from Bolivia
Philip Goldberg was accused of fomenting dissent in 2008
Conservative will oversee vast military aid budget/
Joe Parkin Daniels in Bogotá
@joeparkdan
Thu 2 May 2019 12.15 EDT
Donald Trump has nominated a controversial career diplomat who was once expelled from Bolivia as the new US ambassador to Colombia, in a move that is likely to raise eyebrows across Latin America.
. . .
Goldberg had provoked the Bolivian president’s fury by meeting with members of the rightwing opposition; the US denied Morales’s accusations and expelled Bolivia’s envoy to Washington in response.
Unlike Bolivia, which has been governed by Morales since 2006, Colombia has long been a staunch ally of the US, which views it as a bulwark against leftwing governments across the region.
. . .
Beginning in 2000, the US provided Colombia with nearly $10bn in aid – dubbed Plan Colombia – 71% of which went to Colombian security forces. Watchdogs say that rather than help Colombia win on the battlefield, Plan Colombia intensified a wave of paramilitary violence that victimized more than 6 million people.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/02/trump-philip-goldberg-colombia-ambassador-bolivia
Also posted in Editorials and other articles:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016231384
Carnival Corp. is the first U.S. company sued for using 'stolen' property in Cuba
Source: Kansas City Star
BY DAVID SMILEY AND NORA GAMEZ TORRES
MAY 02, 2019 11:11 AM, UPDATED 5 HOURS 13 MINUTES AGO
Carnival Cruise Lines was hit Thursday with unprecedented lawsuits filed by businessmen who for decades have sought justice after their families’ properties were seized by Fidel Castro nearly 60 years ago.
The Miami-based cruising conglomerate was sued in federal court by Mickael Behn and Javier Garcia-Bengochea, both of whom hold claims certified by the federal government for assets confiscated shortly after the Cuban Revolution. The lawsuits — made possible by a historic change in policy under the Trump administration — seek millions in compensation for the use of buildings and docks where Carnival’s cruise liners have anchored following Barack Obama’s efforts to normalize relations with the Castro regime.
. . .
Trump, like every president before him over the last 23 years, had previously declined to allow the pursuit of Helms-Burton claims in the name of furthering diplomatic relations with the Cuban government. But he pivoted last month amid a toughening stance on leftism in Latin America.
Now, Behn and Garcia-Bengochea are demanding millions that, according to the U.S., has been owed them for nearly 50 years. Both men hold claims certified by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Foreign Claims Settlement Commission in the early 1970s.
Read more: https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/national/article229919294.html
Compare what was happening between Cuba and the US only three years ago:
DECEMBER 7, 2015 / 5:57 PM / 3 YEARS AGO
U.S., Cuba to negotiate billions in claims against each other
Daniel Trotta
3 MIN READ
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban and U.S. officials on Tuesday will begin to untangle one of the most complex obstacles to normalization of relations between the two countries: the claims of Americans whose property was nationalized after the 1959 revolution and Cuban counterclaims for damages caused by the U.S. trade embargo.
The talks in Havana are the latest in a series of bilateral meetings since the two former Cold War adversaries restored diplomatic ties in July this year.
. . .
“The meeting is the first step in what we expect to be a long and complex process, but the United States views the resolution of outstanding claims as a top priority for normalization,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement on Monday.
Cuba nationalized all foreign businesses and reached settlements with owners from other countries. The government recognizes the U.S. claims but it cut off negotiations in response to the decision by former President Dwight Eisenhower to suspend Cuba’s sugar quota in 1960.
More:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-usa/u-s-cuba-to-negotiate-billions-in-claims-against-each-other-idUSKBN0TQ2W020151207
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