Judi Lynn
Judi Lynn's JournalGuatemala Is Not a "Safe Third Country." Decades of US Policy Made It That Way.
BY
Michael Bakal, Truthout
PUBLISHED
August 10, 2019
On July 26, President Trump and Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales officially announced their safe third-country agreement. Media coverage was explosive, and rightly so: The agreement would require immigrants from Honduras, El Salvador and possibly other countries to process their asylum claims in Guatemala. If not blocked by legal challenges, there is little doubt that this agreement would result in a humanitarian crisis far worse than what experts are already calling a mass atrocity along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The announced agreement came amid a period of violence in Guatemala: Just the day before, two Indigenous community leaders were killed. The first was 77-year-old Jorge Juc Cucul, who was hacked to death with a machete outside his home while tending to his corn fields with his daughter.
Cucul was a leader with the community organization known by its Spanish acronym, CODECA, the Committee for Community Development. Founded in 1992 to advocate for Indigenous land rights and related issues, CODECA has been the target of a brutal campaign of targeted killings in recent years. Fourteen of its leaders have been assassinated since the start of 2018.
The second was Daniel Coc Maquín, who was found dead after being hit by what was allegedly a mining company vehicle as he travelled home with his 12-year-old son, who was also injured.
Earlier that day, hundreds of Maya-Q’eqchi protesters had gathered outside the entrance to the constitutional court building in Guatemala City (I was at the scene as a human rights observer) to demand that the court revoke the mining license of the Guatemala Nickel Company, which has wreaked humanitarian and environmental havoc in their home community. It remains unclear whether Maquín’s death was an act of retaliation against the community for its mobilization.
More:
https://truthout.org/articles/guatemala-is-not-a-safe-third-country-decades-of-us-policy-made-it-that-way/
Brazil prosecutors seek to bar Bolsonaro's son as envoy to U.S
AUGUST 12, 2019 / 8:53 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian federal prosecutors filed a court injunction on Monday seeking to bar the appointment of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo as ambassador to the United States due to his lack of experience as a diplomat.
The public prosecutor’s office asked a Brasilia court to rule on the need for non-diplomats to have relevant international experience and served the nation abroad for at least three years.
Opposition lawmakers have also sought to block Eduardo Bolsonaro becoming Brazil’s envoy in Washington by introducing a bill against nepotism in the public administration.
Bolsonaro, who has developed close ties with U.S. President Donald Trump since taking office in January, has defended the appointment of his son, saying he is a friend of Trump’s family which would help improve relations between the two nations.
More:
https://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKCN1V21BJ?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FAFRICAWorldNews+%28News+%2F+AFRICA+%2F+World+News%29&&rpc=401
Wow!
NEARLY ALL OF MEXICO'S GUN VIOLENCE IS COMMITTED WITH ILLEGAL FIREARMS COMING FROM U.S., OFFICIALS S
NEARLY ALL OF MEXICO'S GUN VIOLENCE IS COMMITTED WITH ILLEGAL FIREARMS COMING FROM U.S., OFFICIALS SAY
BY JASON LEMON ON 8/11/19 AT 4:23 PM EDT
American and Mexican law enforcement officials say nearly all of the gun violence in Mexico is fueled by the illicit import and sale of U.S. firearms.
The underground trade of weapons to Mexico is worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually—with American guns used to kill tens of thousands of Mexicans each year.
In addition to weapons from the States working better, Mexico cartels view firearms as status symbols, retired DEA agent Jack Riley told The San Diego Union-Tribune: "It is really important to these criminal organizations, who stay in business by the threat of violence and through the use of violence; and the tools that they prefer to do that with are American-made guns."
Tijuana's Director of Public Safety, Marco Antonio Sotomayor, says most of the guns flowing into his city come from north of the border.
More:
https://www.newsweek.com/nearly-all-mexico-violence-fueled-illegal-us-guns-1453694?piano_t=1
Colombia's Supreme Court shields Uribe investigation from controversial magistrate
by Adriaan Alsema August 11, 2019
Colombia’s State Council upheld a Supreme Court decision to shield all criminal investigations against former President Alvaro Uribe from a controversial magistrate.
The magistrate, former Army Major Cristina Lombana, was taken off the cases in May after press revealed she had failed to tell the court she used to work with Uribe’s defense attorney.
Opposition Senator Ivan Cepeda additionally filed a motion to recuse Lombana because she was Uribe’s subordinate when the far-right politician was president between 2002 and 2010.
Lombana appealed the decision, claiming that “the Special Pre-Trial Chamber questions my impartiality, independence, good judgment, commitment to justice, decorum, ethics, rigor and honesty. In short, it questions my credibility.”
. . .
The president’s most recent investigation is about his alleged tampering of witnesses who have testified he formed paramilitary death squad when he was governor of the Antioquia province.
Other investigations include the former president’s alleged ties to paramilitary organization AUC, two massacres and the assassinations of multiple human rights defenders.
More:
https://colombiareports.com/colombias-supreme-court-shields-uribe-investigation-from-controversial-magistrate/
Jair Bolsonaro: 'Poop every other day' to protect the environment
10 August 2019
His comment came in answer to a journalist who asked him how to combine agricultural development and protecting the environment.
Mr Bolsonaro recently came under fire after official data showed an increase in deforestation in the Amazon.
He then sacked the head of the agency that reported the increase, accusing it of lying about the problem's scale.
Mr Bolsonaro's comment came after the journalist quoted reports saying deforestation and agriculture were responsible for a quarter of the planet's greenhouse effect.
"It's enough to eat a little less. You talk about environmental pollution. It's enough to poop every other day. That will be better for the whole world," he said.
Scientists say the Amazon has suffered losses at an accelerated rate since Mr Bolsonaro took office in January, with policies that favour development over conservation.
Brazil's space agency data showed an 88% increase in deforestation in June compared with the same month a year ago.
More:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49304358
(Now why would people in Brazil call this tool the "Trump of the Tropics?)
Chagabi Etacore: The leader killed by contact with the outside world
By Rosie Blunt
BBC News
11 August 2019
GERALD HENZINGER/SURVIVAL
Image caption
Chagabi Etacore: A "resolute and determined" yet "reserved" leader
Chagabi Etacore was a young child in 1986 when he heard a helicopter hovering over his home in Paraguay's Chaco forest.
A member of the Ayoreo Totobiegosode tribe, Chagabi had never before seen the outside world. His family lived nomadically, sleeping around a hearth and growing melons in the forest's sandy ground. The arrival of the helicopter marked the end of Chagabi's life as he knew it.
Trucks arrived, and a group of indigenous people ran into the clearing where Chagabi's tribe had set up camp. The indigenous people, who had been co-opted by missionaries, attempted to capture the whole tribe.
A battle ensued, but the Ayoreo Totobiegosode eventually submitted and were forced into the trucks. They were driven to a base set up by a group of American fundamentalist Christians known as the New Tribes Mission.
The missionaries had sent indigenous people that they had already evangelised on a "manhunt" to capture Chagabi's tribe. At the mission, Chagabi and his tribe lived for years in unpaid servitude and were exposed to diseases to which they had no immunity. Many died. Chagabi contracted a chronic lung infection from which he suffered for the rest of his life - and which eventually caused his death this week.
More:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49264245
"New Tribes Mission"?
Doesn't take long to figure out their agenda, does it?
Wikipedia:
Ethnos360[3], formerly known as New Tribes Mission (NTM), is an international, theologically evangelical Christian mission organization based in Sanford, Florida, United States. NTM has approximately 3,300 missionaries in more than 20 nations.
The organization sends missionaries from local churches around the world to Latin America, West Africa, Southeast Asia and the Arctic. Countries include Brazil, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Greenland, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mexico, Mozambique, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Senegal, Tanzania, Thailand and formerly Venezuela.[4] New Tribes Mission is also a member of the Forum of Bible Agencies International.
Focus and beliefs
The mission's focus is on groups where no translation of the Bible exists.[5] When such a group is identified, Ethnos360 first attempts to make contact and establish a relationship. Then, missionaries are sent to learn the language and the culture of the native people, while further developing relationships and providing humanitarian aid.[citation needed] The missionaries translate biblical literature into the indigenous language, as well as teach natives how to read and write in their own language. The professed goal, however, is to establish fully functioning churches that operate independently of missionaries, which "in turn reach out to their own people and to neighboring tribes."[6]
The core belief of Ethnos360 is "Sola Scriptura," accompanied by a historical-grammatical hermeneutic in interpreting the scriptures. This emphasis on "word by word inspiration" leads to literal belief "in the fall of man resulting in his complete and universal separation from God and his need of salvation." Those who die unsaved go to "unending punishment" (hence the mandate to evangelize those without access to the gospel). Additionally, Etnos360 is a dispensational organization, subscribing to the "imminent...pretribulation and pre-millennial return" of Jesus Christ to earth.[7]
More:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnos360
Follow this URL to google images to see photos of the Chaco Forest in Paraguay to scan to see what the hell has happened to what was once a vast forest where these people lived before exploiters seized control of land which did NOT belong to them:
https://tinyurl.com/yydn5c8r
Native Colombians declare humanitarian emergency citing genocide
by Adriaan Alsema August 10, 2019
Colombia’s national indigenous organization ONIC declared a humanitarian emergency on Friday over an escalation in ethnic violence against native Colombians. Two more were assassinated the day after.
The ONIC said Friday that 158 indigenous leaders have been assassinated since peace was signed between the government and left-wing guerrilla group FARC in December 2016.
Ninety-four of the victims were murdered after President Ivan Duque took office a year ago and the ethnic violence escalated even further, the native Colombian organization said.
The humanitarian situation and the strategy of dispossessing territory in which our indigenous peoples in Colombia live is relentless. We are facing a physical and cultural genocide. Since the signing of the agreements between the National Government and the FARC-EP there have been 37,533 victimizing acts towards indigenous peoples and 18,888 acts during the government of Ivan Duque.
Less than 24 hours after the ONIC declared the emergency, two indigenous guards were assassinated and armed men opened fire on their community as they gathered where the men were attacked with guns and explosives, according to regional indigenous organizations.
More:
https://colombiareports.com/native-colombians-declare-humanitarian-emergency-citing-genocide/
Guess who said it: Tucker Carlson or a far-right shooter
Nathan Robinson
The Fox New host’s nightly diatribes are making the US an ever more terrifying place for immigrants and people of color
Sat 10 Aug 2019 01.00 EDT Last modified on Sat 10 Aug 2019 01.01 EDT
It’s not surprising Tucker Carlson doesn’t think white supremacy is a threat to the United States. It’s easy not to notice a problem when the problem is you. Speaking on his show, Carlson called widespread racism a “hoax” and said: “Just like the Russia hoax, it’s a conspiracy theory used to divide the country and keep a hold on power.” Carlson encouraged viewers not to think about racism, saying that “every minute you’re angry about race is a minute you’re not thinking about class, which is of course the real divide in this country”.
If I were Tucker Carlson, I wouldn’t want people to think about racism either. If they did, they might start to notice that Carlson’s rhetoric about non-white people has long been virtually identical to that of white supremacist terrorists in New Zealand and El Paso. Here, for example, is a passage from Carlson’s most recent book, on the topic of why “diversity” makes us weaker:
And here is an excerpt from the manifesto issued by the man who killed 51 people in a New Zealand mosque:
Why is diversity said to be our greatest strength? Does anyone even ask why? It is spoken like a mantra and repeated ad infinitum … But no one ever seems to give a reason why. What gives a nation strength? And how does diversity increase that strength? What part of diversity causes this increase in strength? No one can give an answer.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/10/tucker-carlson-fox-news-united-states-race
Bolsonaro Once Again Calls Military Dictatorship Torturer "A National Hero"
Widow of Ustra Planalto the same day Bolsonaro compares commission to prostitutes
Aug.9.2019 1:48PM
President Jair Bolsonaro (PSL) once again called Colonel Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, one of the main symbols of repression during the military dictatorship, a "national hero."
This Thursday (8) president welcomed at the Planalto Palace the widow of the military, Maria Joseita Silva Brilliant Ustra, who he referred to someone with "huge heart."
Ustra was convicted of torture and kidnapping during the military regime (1964-1985).
Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra. (Foto: Sérgio Lima/Folhapress) - Folhapress
When asked why he met with Maria Joseita, Bolsonaro said she was the editor of Ustra's book and had plenty of stories to tell about women imprisoned in the dictatorship.
More:
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2019/08/bolsonaro-once-again-calls-military-dictatorship-torturer-a-national-hero.shtml
Congress Finally Challenges the Cuba Travel Ban
This Cold War relic is an outrageous violation of citizens’ rights.
By Peter Kornbluh Twitter AUGUST 1, 2019
A group of US tourists in Havana, Cuba, in June, 2019. (Reuters / Alexandre Meneghini)
“The bipartisan bill I will introduce on Monday is about the right of Americans, not Cubans, to travel,” Senator Patrick Leahy stated, as he prepared to introduce the “Freedom for Americans to Travel to Cuba Act of 2019” this week. “Every member of Congress,” he declared, “especially those who have been to Cuba, should oppose restrictions on American citizens that have no place in the law books of a free society.”
In the House, Congressmen James McGovern and Tom Emmer introduced identical legislation last week, setting the stage for Congress to debate President Trump’s ongoing efforts to restrict travel in order to score electoral points in Florida. Although congressional proponents of free travel to Cuba have tried, and failed, to lift existing restrictions in the past, Trump’s recent flagrant assault on freedom to travel, along with the natural constituency of millions of citizens who have flocked to Cuba over the past few years, may combine to give this latest legislative initiative a better chance of success.
Few people are aware that Cuba is the only nation in the world to which a congressional statute prohibits US citizens from traveling for a simple vacation. From the end of the Eisenhower administration to the mid-1990s, restrictions on travel, like the trade embargo itself, fell under executive authority; the restrictions were imposed by the president and could be rescinded by the president. That changed in 1996, when President Clinton signed the punitive Helms-Burton Act, which codified the embargo into law, along with restrictions on travel. After Clinton moved to create exemptions that would allow travel to Cuba for specific, non-touristic, purposes—journalism, education, religious activities, business transactions, professional meetings, etc.—Congress amended the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 to read: “the Secretary of the Treasury may not authorize travel-related transactions for travel to, from, or within Cuba for tourist activities.”
That language was used first by President George W. Bush as the legal basis for restricting the constitutionally supported right of US citizens to travel to the island and see its complex realities for themselves. Now it is being used by Donald Trump.
More:
https://www.thenation.com/article/cuba-travel-ban-congress-trump-leahy/
Profile Information
Member since: 2002Number of posts: 160,516
