South America

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Tue Jun 28, 2022 2:38 pm

Ecuador: Indigenous Organizations Meet With State Powers

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Ecuador's indigenous organizations hold dialogue with government authorities. Jun. 27, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@CONAIE_Ecuador

Published 27 June 2022 (11 hours 54 minutes ago)

Amid an indefinite national strike against Guillermo Lasso's policies, indigenous organizations led by CONAIE agreed to engage in a dialogue with all branches of government.

In Ecuador, the five branches of government are the Executive, the Legislative, the Judicial, the Electoral and the Transparency and Social Control branches.

The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) said via Twitter that the structures of CONAIE, FEINE and FENOCIN collectively decided to accept the invitation made for the meeting with the five branches of the State in which "we will push for results on the 10-point agenda," CONAIE said.

While the meeting is taking place at the Basilica of the Voto Nacional in Quito, without the presence of Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso, indigenous peoples and social organizations remain on vigil awaiting the results of the 10 points on the agenda.

In addition to CONAIE, the Council of Evangelical Indigenous Peoples and Organizations of Ecuador (FEINE), the National Confederation of Peasant, Indigenous and Black Organizations (Fenocin), the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (Confeniae), the Confederation of Peoples of the Kichwa Nationality of Ecuador (Ecuarunari) are also present.


At this time, the meeting of the @CONAIE_Ecuador, @confeniae1, @ecuachaskiecua, @FEINE_EC and @fenocinecuador
with representatives of the 5 powers of the State is taking place in Quito. Representing the Executive is the Minister of Government, Francisco Jiménez.


CONAIE's ten demands include freezing fuel prices, adopting an agricultural subsidy and not signing free trade agreements that destroy national production.

Last June 26, Lasso announced a reduction of 10 cents of a dollar in the price of extra gasoline and EcoPaís gallon, as well as diesel, used for transportation.

CONAIE said that this reduction in fuel prices is "insensitive and insufficient", arguing that it is not commensurate with the situation of poverty faced by millions of families in the country.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ecu ... -0020.html

Ecuador’s Second Debate on Lasso’s Impeachment Was Inconclusive

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The second debate of the Ecuadorian Parliament on Lasso's impeachment remained inconclusive on Sunday. Jun. 27, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@LuisaGonzalezEc

Published 27 June 2022

Sunday's debate on the Ecuadorian President's impeachment was inconclusive.

On Sunday, the Ecuadorian Parliament held the second debate on President Guillermo Lasso's impeachment request in light of the over 15-day social demonstrations.

The over seven-hour session virtually remained inconclusive after the 71 legislators from all parties addressed the national situation on the 14th day of the strike in Ecuador.

According to reports, during the meeting, which began on Saturday, many of the MPs considered that President Lasso should take action to respond to the ten economic and social topics raised by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (CONAIE).

The participants highlighted the people's right to carry out a peaceful demonstration when they voted for the welfare and peace of the country, as Ecuadorian police forces and the army responded with repression to the protests during the first 12 days.


Ecuador: the debate on the impeachment of Guillermo Lasso continues.
The opposition accuses the president of generating a "serious political crisis and internal commotion" in the country.

The vandalism resulting from the demonstration was also condemned, citing the protests and the shortage of food and other goods.

After the session finished, Virgilio Saquicela, President of Parliament, called on the MPs to continue the meeting Tuesday, despite Monday's address of the Ecuadorian Minister of Interior, Patricio Carrillo, and Minister of National Defense, Luis Lara, assessing the response by the police and the armed forces in the strike.

Based on article 51 of the Organic Act of the Legislative Function and article 130, numeral 2 of the Constitution, the impeachment of Ecuadorian President Lasso was processed by legislators of the alliance Unión por la Esperanza (Union for Hope, UNES).

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ecu ... -0018.html

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Unions in Peru protest in front of Congress in national strike

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The Peruvian unions demand the closure of Congress and the convening of a Constituent Assembly. | Photo: @NuevoPeruMov
Published June 28, 2022

Among the demands of the mobilized unions is to stop the rise in fuel prices, which has risen by up to 80% in recent months.

Different unions and trade union organizations in Peru held a repudiation mobilization this Monday in front of the Congress of the Republic as part of the strike that they carry out in different parts of the country against the rise in fuel prices, food and the growing inflation that the country is experiencing. .

The demonstrators demanded the convening of a constituent assembly and demanded the closure of the Parliament, considering it neoliberal, destabilizing and coup-mongering; protest that in the context of the National Civic Strike found other expressions such as roadblocks, suspension of cargo and public transport, and other actions of the agrarian and peasant sector.

In this sense, vice president of the National Assembly of Peoples (ANP), Marino Flores, highlighted the national support for the mobilizations, with agrarian strikes, and intermittent roadblocks in practically all regions of the country.


For his part, Martín Ojeda, general manager of the Interprovincial Bus Transport Association, avoided that the stoppage will be indefinite, joining the protest of heavy cargo carriers. "This government has consolidated and promoted a high level of illegality (in transportation) that has harmed us," he said.

To which is added the fact that Ricardo Pareja, president of the Chamber of Urban Transport (CTU), remarked that, if the demands are not heard by the Government, they will be forced to raise the price of the ticket. “We, in recent months, have suffered an 80 percent increase in fuel, the main input to be able to operate is fuel, if fuel has risen, the logical thing, what would correspond is also to be able to raise the price of the ticket. .


Meanwhile, the efforts of the Executive to curb the strike and reach an agreement with the heavy cargo carriers have not borne fruit, despite offering them an exceptional two-month subsidy of around 40 percent for the payment of tolls.

For her part, Rosalía Clemente, president of the CNA, expressed her indignation considering that there has been no progress since the protests carried out last April, when the peasant union mobilized due to the rise in prices of agricultural inputs and the high cost of life.

The ANP, made up of the General Confederation of Workers (CGTP), the General Confederation of Workers (CGTP), the National Agrarian (CNA) and Peasant Confederations of Peru (CCP), the New Peru Movement (NP) and the Peruvian Communist Parties (PCP). ) and Comunista Patria Roja (PC-PR), among other social and political organizations, seek to unify criteria and draw the attention of the Government so that it curbs the existing difficult situation.

Meanwhile, the mobilized unions stated that this Tuesday they will continue their National Civic Strike.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/gremios- ... -0006.html

Cargo carriers begin indefinite strike in Peru

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Despite the fact that the Association of Interprovincial Transport Companies reached an agreement with the Government, cargo carriers assure that the strike continues. | Photo: EFE
Published June 27, 2022

In addition to the drop in fuel prices, the union asks that freight transport be made public again.

Peru's cargo carriers will enter an indefinite strike this Monday to demand that the rise in fuel prices cease, after the failure of negotiations with the government of President Pedro Castillo this Sunday.

“We have not reached an agreement with the cargo transport unions, we regret the intention to continue with the stoppage announced for this 27th,” said the Minister of Economy and Finance, Oscar Graham, at a press conference.

In addition, in an interview for local media, he assured that in terms of the demands of the sector, the Government is proposing more focused measures such as those related to the Fuel Price Stabilization Fund (FEPC) and the refund of the Selective Consumption Tax ( ISC) to formal companies.


In addition to the reduction in fuel prices, the protesters demand the restitution of freight transport as a public service, the solution to the unfair competition that they consider to exist on the part of their Bolivian and Ecuadorian counterparts, and the regulation of tolls after the revision of contracts with concessionaires, among others.

"We call on cargo carriers who continue with the intention of implementing the force measure to continue the dialogue," said Graham, who was together with the Ministers of Transport and Health, in the three days of negotiations at the headquarters , the Council of Ministers.

Despite the decision of the cargo carriers, the Council of Ministers announced that the Executive reached agreements with interprovincial transport unions. Therefore, after signing the minutes by the leaders of the Association of Interprovincial Transport Companies, this sector of some 100,000 drivers will not join the strike.


"In any case, we are going to strike," declared, for his part, the leader of the Heavy Cargo Carriers and Drivers union, Marlon Milla, to a local television medium.

Milla, leader of a union sector of 400,000 truckers in 14 of the 25 Peruvian regions, asks that the elimination of a tax on fuel be extended, among other technical measures that would relax the disagreements of carriers.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Defense, José Luis Gavidia, indicated that he will declare the national road network an emergency starting at 12:00 a.m. (7:00 p.m. GMT) local time, this Monday, to send the armed forces to support the police to monitor the roads and prevent blockades.

In this sense, the Minister of the Interior, Dimitri Senmache, expressed that the unions have the right to protest, but "they have no right, no union is to keep the country in anxiety, to block the roads and much less to threaten to burn vehicles ", said.

This is the second strike by the heavy-duty drivers union that takes place within the framework of the Pedro Castillo government, less than a year in power.

Last April, the Union of Multimodal Transport Unions began violent protests and blocked routes. Likewise, the curfew of April 5 had to be suspended due to massive disobedience to the measure.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/transpor ... -0009.html

Indigenous Ecuadorians will continue dialogue under National Strike

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The vice president of Conaie, Zenaida Yasakama, stated that the dialogue "must be public and the public must know." | Photo: EFE
Published June 28, 2022

The Conaie indicated that the passage of health, emergency and food vehicles will be allowed in the humanitarian corridors.

The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie) concluded this Monday without progress the first meeting with government representatives, with the commitment to resume the dialogue this Tuesday, although the National Strike continues.

The first dialogue between Conaie and delegates from the five Ecuadorian powers (Executive, Legislative, Electoral, Judicial and Citizen) ended at 10:00 p.m. local time (03:00 GMT on Tuesday) and will continue this Tuesday from 09:00 a.m. 00 local hours (14:00 GMT).

“At 22:00 the substantial issues are not resolved. We await the criteria so that we, as leaders, can reach an agreement," said Conaie president Leonidas Iza.


The indigenous leader explained that the National Strike, on its 16th day, continues. "De facto measures are maintained, yes (it will be allowed) the passage of health, emergency, food vehicles in humanitarian corridors," he said.

The president of the National Assembly, Virgilio Saquicela, confirmed that this Tuesday the parties will meet again starting at 09:00 local time.



The vice president of Conaie, Zenaida Yasakama, stated for her part that the dialogue “must be public and citizens must know. We don't want to do anything behind the back of our people."

Within the framework of the first day of talks, Iza requested the removal and change of the Minister of the Interior, Patricio Carrillo.

The Minister of Government, Francisco Jiménez, who came to the table on behalf of the Ecuadorian President, Guillermo Lasso, proposed some reforms, but said that they will not give in to extremes or pressure. “We are giving them results. This is not a dialogue in vain. The dialogue has not been inofficious. I wouldn't want us to get bogged down," he added.

The Conaie has already held two weeks of protests demanding a list of 10 points related to the reduction of the price of fuel, economic relief, employment, education, labor rights, protection of the territories against large mining and elimination of the privatization of companies state, among other collective needs.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/ecuador- ... -0005.html

Google Translator

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Ecuador: Popular Uprising Continues in the Streets of Quito as Parliament Discusses Lasso’s Removal
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JUNE 27, 2022
Resumen Latinoamericano

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A massive and full Assembly was held at the CCE on the 13th day of the #paronacionalecuador2022, the bases were informed of the permanence of the 10-point national agenda and the call for the unity of more sectors of the country until results are achieved.


The situation in Ecuador at this moment is very fluid as the large militant protests remain in the streets erecting barricades and skirmishing with the police. Parliament has just re convened to continue the discussion on the impeachment of President Lasso. If this were to happen it would be another major blow against US foreign policy in the region. Here is the latest report coming from Resumen Latinoamericano’s bureau in Buenos Aires. – editor

Determined popular uprising against the repressive neo liberal government of President Guillermo Lasso continue in the streets with protestors constructing barricades to defend themselves against the army’s tanks. According to the Alianza de Organizaciones por los Derechos Humanos, since the general strike began on June 13 at least 6 demonstrators have been confirmed killed and over 300 injured in the wave of repression by the police and army in response to the mobilization. The police are not releasing figures on how many people have been arrested but it is well over 100.

Yesterday Lasso lifted the state of exception that was in force in six provinces of the country in the framework of the mobilizations called by indigenous organizations due to the lack of response of the Government to their social demands.

The state of exception had been decreed by the president since last Saturday, June 18, initially in the provinces of Imbabura, Pichincha and Cotopaxi and then extended on June 21 to the provinces of Tungurahua, Chimborazo and Pastaza. CONAIE accused Lasso of using the state of exception to quell the popular uprising.

The General Secretariat of Communication of the Presidency indicated that with the lifting of the measure, which had been a virtual lock down, the Government guarantees the generation of spaces for the majority of the population to resume their activities.

The repeal of the decree by which the state of emergency was declared was one of the requests of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) to open a new process of dialogue with the Lasso government. However, Conaie has indicated that no dialogue or rapprochement with government representatives has taken place, so the indigenous strike and mobilizations will continue in Ecuador.

Meanwhile, Ecuador’s National Assembly has returned to the debate and vote to impeach Lasso that was presented by a group of opposition assembly members. Once the debate is concluded, legislators will have 72 hours to vote on whether or not to proceed with the measure against President Guillermo Lasso.

For more than eight hours on Saturday, around 30 congressmen spoke in favor and against President Lasso in the first day of the debate on the impeachment request presented by the Union for Hope (UNES) bench, accusing the president of a serious political crisis and internal commotion that has shaken the country since the beginning of the mobilizations called by CONAIE.

The petition presented against President Lasso by UNES deputies had the support of the 47 signatures necessary to request the removal of Guillermo Lasso from power a little more than a year after being elected president. But to be approved it requires at least 92 of the 137 possible supports in Congress. If approved, power would be assumed by Vice-President Alfredo Borrero and presidential and legislative elections would be called for the remainder of the term.

In a new development the International Solidarity and Human Rights Mission has arrived in Ecuador to observe what is happening in the national strike. These special rapporteurs on the rights of indigenous peoples and the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association of the United Nations Organization have expressed their concern about the situation in Ecuador including the irregular detentions in the context of social protests, of more than 80 people, including the president of CONAIE, Leonidas Iza and the excessive use of force and acts of violence by police and military forces.

The group has asked the State to inform how it is guaranteeing due process in the deprivations of liberty carried out in the context of the national strike that began on June 13, 2022. They have also asked to explain the legal basis that regulates the use of force by the Police and Armed Forces, and to justify its application in Indigenous Peoples’ territories.

María Elena Navarro, member of the International Mission of Solidarity and Human Rights, pointed out that among the serious facts they identified, is the one restricting the right to social protest. She also indicated that the Casa de la Cultura was used as a barracks.The International Mission confirmed the murder of five people, missing children and hundreds of detainees, “victims of State policy” which, instead of contributing to dialogue, is showing a repressive policy towards “defenseless citizens”.

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The International Mission confirmed the murder of five people, missing children and hundreds of detainees, “victims of State policy” which, instead of contributing to dialogue, is showing a repressive policy towards “defenseless citizens”.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/06/ ... s-removal/

Ecuador: “Stop the Massacre”
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JUNE 27, 2022
Carlos Crespo

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“Stop the massacre” was the cry that ran through tears, pain and indignation on the twelfth day of the #ParoNacional2022.

“We have had a very difficult day”; “it has been a very strong day”. “We denounce to the world… the wounded, the dead, the imprisoned. Let them know about these inhuman actions. We call for peace, for harmony, we cannot generate civil war between brothers”. These were the words of the leaders of the #ParoNacional2022 around midnight, in their press conference to the country: Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), National Federation of Peasant, Indigenous and Black Organisations of Ecuador (FENOCIN) and Organisation of Evangelical Indigenous People in Ecuador (FEINE).


The events

From midday:

Numerous families and delegations of Peoples, Nationalities and social organisations joyfully and confidently fill the Ágora of the Casa de las Culturas, recovered, after the police occupation. They arrive in a “massive and powerful” way to participate in the Assembly of the Peoples, which is installed on the 12th day of #National strike Conaie Communication – Home | Facebook: “we recognize our FORCE, we recognize that we are going hungry, but we will not lose the horizon, justice, peace”, is heard in this large and symbolic space, after the opening ancestral spiritual ceremony. Indignant voices point to other possible models of democracy and participation, based on the sustainability of life.

“The peoples and nationalities and their organisations are waiting for responses to the social and environmental injustices generated by the neoliberal model established by multilateral organisations and applied as a formula by the governments in power in Ecuador, making life more expensive and precarious, the absence of fair prices for products grown in rural areas, the absence of state regulation of the high interest rates on loans from cooperatives and banks, leading to the abandonment of the countryside and massive migration out of the country”, (Statement by the Anthropology Network of Ecuador).

“The background is undoubtedly the desperation of the impoverished majorities of the country. This government, made up of businessmen and white-mestizo elites living in exclusive neighbourhoods and basically socialising among privileged groups, has not reacted to the popular frustration after two years of economic and social catastrophe caused by the pandemic” (Pablo Ospina. Latinoaméroca21, Published in Pressenza 24.06.22).

Mid-afternoon

On national radio and television, President Lasso takes the stage, abandoning the conciliatory gesture; he lashes out at the President of CONAIE, accusing him of “deceiving his base and of wanting to usurp the legally constituted government”, and declares that “The National Police and the Armed Forces will act with the necessary means to defend, through the progressive use of force, public order and democracy”. https://www.primicias.ec/noticias/polit ... a-ecuador/ .

The government has declared war, underpinned by a narrative of “them and us”, making it clear who it governs for; us “the citizens”, them the “vandals and criminals”. It has opted for a new step in its military strategy as the only way out: the use of force to “repress” the population, according to an immediate announcement by the Minister of Government.

The Government of the “Encuentro”, as its slogan says, has lost the capacity to listen and dialogue; CONAIE has been asking for dialogue for a year, since last June, “twice we have attended the dialogue…but you have not responded” (President of FENOCIN). The government lies with manipulative coldness when it says that the indigenous organisations have not wanted to dialogue.

The manipulation is carried out by the mainstream media, with their support they exploit “the most elementary needs and the most irrational fears to the point of creating misleading expectations within a system of no choice”[1]. The hidden violence explodes in the opinionators and journalists of the mainstream media, feeding racism, revanchism, patriotism and awakening the colonial-rooted psychosocial substratum, in the “citizens”, “trapped in information”, in the digital prison[2].

Immediately after the national broad

Police lash out with tear gas bombs against the people in assembly, women, children, babies, old men and women. The government set a trap for them. Community and alternative media report: “Repression around the Casa de la Cultura and El Arbolito park. Asphyxiated and injured by tear gas inside the Ágora”.

[1] Silo (1996). Dictionary of New Humanism.

[2] Byun-Chul Han (2022). Infocracy. La digitalización y la crisis de la democracia. Bogotá: Taurus.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/06/ ... -massacre/
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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Wed Jun 29, 2022 2:01 pm

In Solidarity with the Ecuadorian People, for the Re-establishment of Democracy in Ecuador
JUNE 27, 2022

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Drawing of indigenous woman with her mouth strapped with an Ecuadorian flag. File photo.

By Network of Intellectuals and Artists in Defense of Humanity – Jun 24, 2022

Declaration of the Network of Intellectuals and Artists in Defense of Humanity

The Ecuadorian people, with the Indigenous and peasant movement at the forefront, have taken to the streets to express their resistance to the adverse impacts of the extreme neoliberal policies implemented by the government of banker Guillermo Lasso. The peaceful nationwide mobilization is demanding a response from the government to critical issues that affect the people in their daily lives, such as the lack of employment and labor rights, a moratorium and renegotiation of personal and family debts, fair prices for peasant production, control of basic prices and an end to speculation, control of fuel prices, respect for collective rights, no privatization of strategic sectors and public patrimony, funds for healthcare, limits to mining and oil extraction, education for all, and effective security and protection policies.

The government has responded with an aggressive intervention by the police and the army, and with the declaration of a state of emergency in several provinces, which has resulted in five people dead, more than a hundred injured, and other violations of human and constitutional rights. Moreover, in the face of the perseverance of the popular mobilization, Lasso has threatened even greater repression and the use of lethal ammunition. This, in the context of a state of emergency, threatens the most basic Constitutional rights, such as the right to assembly, association, free transit, and even freedom of expression.

The Network of Intellectuals and Artists in Defense of Humanity expresses its support for the Ecuadorian people, their basic demands, and their Constitutional right to resistance. At the same time, it urges the government of the president, Guillermo Lasso, to:

• Repeal the state of exception, demilitarize the country and re-establish democratic institutionality.
• Respect the human and political rights of citizens, and end intimidating, racist, and discriminatory actions contrary to the Ecuadorian Constitution.
• Analyze and provide a prompt response to the 10-point agenda presented by the Indigenous, peasants, women, students and other organizations, which includes essential aspects for the life of the citizenry, which are framed along the lines of basic human rights.

Lasso and his government should base their actions on the Constitutional framework and respect the initiatives that are expressed in the other functions of the state, as is the case of the National Assembly, where proposals are being put forward to find a way out of the serious internal disturbance that the country is experiencing, including ways to resolve the situation with votes and not with bullets.

The Network of Intellectuals and Artists in Defense of Humanity reiterates its solidarity with the Ecuadorian people, with the Indigenous peoples and nationalities, with the popular, peasant, youth, and women’s movements, in the hope of overcoming soon all forms of authoritarianism and retaking, through Constitutional means, the management of their own destiny.

Our America, June 24, 2022

https://orinocotribune.com/in-solidarit ... n-ecuador/

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Ecuador’s Uprising Escalates Despite Violent Government Repression
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JUNE 28, 2022

The Grayzone spoke with leaders of Ecuador’s indigenous movements, now engaged in ferocious street protests against the privatization policies of President Guillermo Lasso, a billionaire banker. The activists addressed their demands and the repression they have witnessed, including arrests and alleged assassination attempts.



In part two of our series on Ecuador’s indigenous-led revolt against the neoliberal policies of billionaire banker and President Guillermo Lasso, The Grayzone interviews leaders of the revolt, documenting how Lasso’s security forces have escalated violent repression against demonstrators, treating them as enemy combatants as protest ranks fill with society’s most desperate members.



Video reporting by Oscar Leon.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/06/ ... epression/

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Police Violence Increases After Dialogue Breakdown in Ecuador

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Riot police surround a group of women and children, Ecuador, June 28, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @TelenocheUy

Published 29 June 2022

"Lasso's 'triumph' is a country where the elites see the poor as objects created at their service, objects that can be suffocated, tortured, and killed," said Pedro Granja, a constitutional lawyer.

After President Guillermo Lasso broke off dialogue with the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAEI) on Tuesday, riot police intensified their attempt to control the massive protests, which continue to escalate across the country.

On Tuesday night, the police forcefully repressed residents of San Miguel del Comun, a poor neighborhood located in Quito. Scenes of violence were also recorded at the University of Cuenca, where the police attacked citizens with tear gas.

"This is what San Miguel del Comun looks like right now. Police repress protesters and residents," is heard in a video that community outlet La Calle uploaded to social networks on the 16th day of the national strike.

“There are suffocated children and several wounded,” community outlet Wambra reported from San Miguel del Comun as the National Assembly was meeting to vote on a motion for the dismissal of Lasso.

“There are hundreds of people and the police are launching tear gas canisters. We demand that the repression stops!,” the Alliance of Organizations for Human Rights said regarding what was happening at the University of Cuenca in the south of the country.


"Lasso's 'triumph' is a country where the elites see the poor as objects created at their service, objects that can be suffocated, tortured and killed. What happened yesterday in San Miguel del Comun is the x-ray of a criminal government," denounced Pedro Granja, a constitutional lawyer.

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) denounced that the military and riot police fired tear gas and pellets at Indigenous demonstrators, among whom were children and adolescents. The CRC issued a statement in response “to the large number of Indigenous children and adolescents subjected to violent repression”.

“According to several reliable sources, potentially lethal forms of ammunition, such as buckshot, have been authorized to suppress protests. We have also received reports of children being exposed to serious side effects caused by the indiscriminate and disproportionate use of tear gas,” the UN Committee stated.

"As a consequence of the repressive actions of the State, many boys and girls wander alone through the country's capital, without protection and without contact with their adult relatives."

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Pol ... -0003.html

ALBA-TCP Warns of Threats in Digital Scene

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ALBA Digital Meeting among the efforts of the region to build digital and technological sovereignty. Jun. 28, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@Daz1Gomez

Published 28 June 2022 (12 hours 52 minutes ago)

The Executive Secretary of ALBA-TCP, Sacha Llorenti, warned of the threats to regional integration arising from the current digital context.

During the ALBA Digital Meeting, held at the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry headquarters, Llorenti said that a dispute between a project of integration and unity versus one of disintegration seeking to promote U.S. hegemonic interests is currently taking its toll in the region.

"We see threats against our peoples. That colonizing project has permanently tried to undermine the processes that bet on life and integration," Llorenti said, highlighting that the digital scenario is among the main fronts used to attack emancipation projects.

According to the Executive Secretary, these attacks are carried out through the application of economic warfare and unilateral coercive measures, coups d'état, mercenary incursions and destabilizing plans.

On this occasion, LLorenti also said that in the current context, it is essential to continuously discuss ways to handle these threats, as the communication technologies world evolves constantly.


At the installation of the First Digital ALBA Meeting, Venezuelan authorities and other members highlighted the importance of adapting to digital transformation to create defense mechanisms in countries that make up the alliance against the great centers of power.

The First ALBA Digital Meeting, attended by delegations from Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Venezuela, is a space for exchanging experiences and strengthening alliances among Latin American and Caribbean nations in the communications field.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/ALB ... -0018.html
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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Thu Jun 30, 2022 3:23 pm

Government of Ecuador Accepts Mediation To Resume Dialogue

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Indigenous people protest in the streets of Quito (Ecuador) | Photo: EFE / José Jácome

The Government of Ecuador confirmed that it would resume the dialogue with the indigenous movement but with the mediation of the local Episcopal Conference in search of a solution to the crisis that the country had been experiencing for 17 days when the protests led by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (Conaie) began.

"We have decided to accept the mediation process that is now going to be promoted by the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference," said the Minister of Government, Francisco Jimenez, in a press conference.

The Episcopal Conference is the highest body of the Catholic Church, the majority religion in the Andean country.

Jiménez said that the Conaie, the Council of Indigenous Evangelical Peoples and Organizations (Feine) and the National Confederation of Peasant, Indigenous and Black Organizations (Fenocin) addressed a communication to the Episcopal Conference. As a result, the government decided to return to the dialogue with the mediation of the Catholic Church.

According to the Minister, the Episcopal Conference will determine the methodology for the dialogue, who will be the actors and the topics to find a definitive solution to the crisis.

"We reiterate that the will of the National Government is first to guarantee the peace of the Ecuadorians and that based on that criterion, we will not fail to take the actions that allow, through the law and the constitution to that peace," highlighted Jimenez.

He added that on Thursday, he would contact the Episcopal Conference so that the issues to be dealt with in search of a solution can be implemented quickly.

Jiménez said that he hopes there will be no more acts of violence during the night and early morning so as not to complicate the progress of the mediation process.

The government had opposed dialogue with Conaie president Leonidas Iza, accusing him of wanting to overthrow President Guillermo Lasso.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Gov ... -0017.html

Ecuador: State of Emergency in 4 Provinces To Confront Protests

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Demonstrators march peacefully today, during the third week of protests in Quito (Ecuador) | Photo: EFE / Santiago Fernandez

Published 29 June 2022 (15 hours 47 minutes ago)

Ecuadorian president Guillermo Lasso decreed a state of emergency on Wednesday afternoon in 4 provinces to face the protests held by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie) for 17 days.

"To declare a state of exception due to serious internal commotion in the provinces of Azuay (south), Imbabura (north), Sucumbios (east) and Orellana (east), "says the decree signed by Lasso.

The measure contemplates a daily strike from 21:00 local time until 5:00 (from 2:00 to 10:00 GMT) in the province of Azuay, while in Sucumbios and Orellana, it will be in force from 19:00 until 5:00 (00:00 to 10:00 GMT).

According to the document, the decision is aimed at guaranteeing the integrity of citizens.

In addition, it seeks to recover public order, control situations of manifest violence, protect reserved areas, and ensure the provision of medicines, medical gases, oxygen for hospitals and clinics, fuel and food.

Ecuador had already had a state of exception this month, but on June 25, Lasso repealed the decree that established it in six provinces to face the indigenous protests against his government; currently, of those six, only Imbabura has the measure again as of Wednesday's new disposition.

Wednesday's decree established as a security zone all the areas of influence included in the territories where the oil fields and their installations are located, as well as the hydrocarbon complexes in the Amazonian provinces of Orellana and Sucumbios.

Hours earlier, the mayor of Quito, Santiago Guarderas, asked Lasso to decree a new state of emergency for the Ecuadorian capital.

However, the Executive did not include the Metropolitan District of Quito or the province of Pichincha in the state of exception.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ecu ... -0015.html

Ecuador: MICC Prepares Mobilization to Quito for Thursday

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The MICC announced a new mobilization to Quito for Thursday and the opening of a humanitarian corridor. Jun. 29, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@confeniae

Published 29 June 2022

This Wednesday, June 29, was the 17th day of the national strike.

The Indigenous and Peasant Movement of Cotopaxi (MICC) and its Governing Council indicated that in the Assembly held on Tuesday; they will organize a massive and forceful mobilization to Quito for Thursday.

The MICC said their mobilization to Quito is scheduled for Thursday, from 7:30 am, with all organizations, unions, carriers, and workers. "To demand the national government respond to the 10 points raised by CONAIE."

Lourdes Tibán, leader of the indigenous movement in Cotopaxi, said that they would advance on foot to the capital. "Our peace zone is Panzaleo. From there, we will begin, in coordination with the indigenous movement of Cotopaxi, the walk to the city of Quito."

The MICC emphasized that they do not want more repression by the public forces or any kind of disorder. "The peoples, nationalities and social sectors we are people and peoples who build peace," they said.


The Indigenous and Peasant Movement of Cotopaxi (MICC) today announced the call for a mass march to the capital of Ecuador tomorrow in support of social demands to the Government.

During the Assembly, they decided to enable the humanitarian corridor. This will allow that perishable and non-perishable products of primary necessity, such as food, medicines, fuel, or LPG gas, will be supplied until noon this Wednesday.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ecu ... -0011.html
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Fri Jul 01, 2022 1:34 pm

WHERE CAN THE SOCIAL COMMOTION LEAD IN ECUADOR?
Jun 30, 2022 , 9:23 am .

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With almost three weeks of unemployment in Ecuador, the crisis takes the form of a loop (Photo: Rodrigo Buendía / AFP)

The new political crisis in Ecuador finds a new dead end. By just 12 votes, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso escaped being impeached , while social protests continue with a new ingredient of collective frustration.

The opposition legislators failed to add the 92 votes necessary to remove the conservative leader from power, whom they accuse of the serious commotion that is shaking the country.

Some 80 of the 137 deputies that make up the unicameral legislature voted in favor of dismissing the president, while 48 voted against and nine abstained.

Lasso responded to the measure by calling "political mafias" those who protest his mandate and those who resorted to the constitutional mechanism in parliament to settle the crisis.

"We defended democracy and now we must restore peace. Despite the coup attempts, today the country's institutions prevailed. It is clear who works for the political mafias. Meanwhile, we continue to work for Ecuador," the president published in his Twitter account , after knowing the decision.

FIRST THE INDIGENOUS, NOW THE CORREÍSMO

During the last weeks, the indigenous movement represented in the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie) has been the protagonist of the social commotion, uniting forces inside and outside this instance.

These events are a clear reminder of the outbreak of 2019 and that it was institutionally rigged and negotiated by then President Lenín Moreno. Ecuador has seen the accumulated erosion of elementary conditions for life among the most dispossessed sectors and this situation has been accentuated since the emergence of the economic and social crisis generated by the pandemic and now in the new international economic crisis marked by inflation due to blockade against Russia.

In purely dialectical terms, the underlying problem persists in the adverse social accumulation for large majorities in clear contradiction with the sensationalist neoliberal governments, seriously delegitimized in power, of Lenín Moreno and Guillermo Lasso.

A large part of Moreno's promises were not fulfilled during his mandate, circumventing the agreements with the indigenous people, and the situation has become more complicated since the assumption of the Lasso government.

On the one hand, demands on fuel prices, mining borders, citizen security, intercultural educational rights, among others, which are among the requests of the indigenous and other peasant and social sectors. While the Ecuadorian government has only offered the budget mess and concessions to the upper economic class.

The government's actions against the indigenous leadership, the delay in negotiations and their failed format, deepened the commotion picture. Lasso had a 71% rejection rate among Ecuadorians in May according to Click Report and many Quito citizens also reject the protests.

The advent of protest and violence, both by protesters, police and some elements allegedly infiltrated to delegitimize the protest, has chaoticed the cities of Ecuador, reaching a parliamentary inflection, for now, resolved in favor of Lasso.

In this item, "correismo" has burst in, leading the vote against the president and proposing the constitutional path of impeachment through parliament. This act was classified by Lasso as a "coup d'état", while former President Rafael Correa has harangued about the crisis from abroad, unable to visit his country due to being prosecuted.

Despite the important electoral dispute between Andrés Arauz and Lasso, "correismo" has been stigmatized and prosecuted in Ecuadorian politics.

This second moment of the crisis in parliament put this political force at the forefront of the constitutional possibility, but various right-wing parties and other currents of the social-democratic left considered "divisive" broke the chances of a majority to remove the president.


WHATS NEXT?

The seriousness of the crisis in Ecuador is that the regular roads that could de-escalate the crisis are running out. Neither dialogue nor a constitutional solution to the crisis find a foothold. 17 days of intense protests accumulate and some six deaths in unclarified conditions begin to pile up.

The scenarios on the outcome of these events are very narrow.

The first of these consists of the indigenous giving in and raising their protests, through another uneventful negotiation with the government. Although the Lasso government has already made offers to the demands of the indigenous people, they lack credibility given the accumulated treason (such as those of 2019), are considered insufficient and raise doubts due to the government's erratic and sinuous negotiation style, the which has interrupted them at critical moments.

This scenario for now seems to blur. The country "cannot dialogue with those who hold it hostage," Lasso said. "Only when there are legitimate representatives of all the peoples and ethnic groups of Ecuador, who seek real solutions and are open to a real and frank dialogue, will we return to the negotiating table," said the head of state, who added that he would not negotiate with the leader of the Conaie, Leonidas Iza.

The second scenario is expected to be extremely painful, based on the extension of the strike, the social response and violence, to then produce exhaustion and wear.

This scenario already has catalytic factors, such as the failure of the talks and the impossibility of removing Lasso through parliamentary channels. Social indignation, rejection of certain political parties and indignation at the institutional victory of the government intensify. But at the same time, the exhaustion of part of the indigenous people, city dwellers and commercial actors, who see their daily lives affected, is worsening.

It is very likely that the Lasso government will bet on the attrition strategy to undermine social support for the indigenous people. In fact, the Lasso government is clearly acting in the direction of ignoring Iza, interrupting the dialogues and attributing the political authorship of the events to Correismo. For Lasso, the indigenous people and the political and institutional forces of Correismo are "mafias."

The government is entrenched, now buoyed by the result in parliament. Hence, it is very likely that he prefers the extension of the crisis and its wear and tear, perhaps to force a negotiation.

The third scenario is that of institutional breakdown. Defense Minister Luis Lara recently appeared flanked by the chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force, alleging that "Ecuador's democracy is at serious risk due to the concerted action of exalted individuals who prevent the free movement of majority of Ecuadorians.

"The Armed Forces will not allow attempts to break the constitutional order or any action against democracy and the laws of the Republic," said Lara, who also spoke on behalf of the three forces.

Although the official's statements are clearly aligned with his government, the military institutions have also been permeated by corruption and a highly worrying intrinsic crisis that may be accentuated by the active role that the armed forces are taking in this crisis.

The government's use of states of emergency and the imposition of martial law is an accelerating ingredient of the crisis itself, both because of the disastrous events of this in 2019 and because of Lasso's tenure in negotiating or withdrawing from power. In other words, the string continues to tighten.

The new scenario proposed as a constitutional escape route is that of advancing the elections, understanding the time remaining for Lasso in office, three years, as extremely prolonged in the midst of a political crisis of governance and social tension.

https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/ad ... en-ecuador

Google Translator

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Ecuador: Indigenous Movement and Government Sign Agreement

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The minutes were signed by representatives of Conaie, Feine and Fenocin, as well as the Ecuadorian government. | Photo: EFE
t
Published 30 June 2022 (18 hours 5 minutes ago)

A 90-day dialogue table will be established to advance in the resolution of other pending issues.

Representatives of Ecuador's indigenous movement signed Thursday a peace agreement with the government of Guillermo Lasso, after 18 days of a national strike, after reaching several agreements on priority issues to advance the dialogue process.

As reported at a press conference held at the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference in Quito, the parties have reached the following agreements:

-. All governors must intensify control operations to prevent and eradicate price speculation.

-. The national government declares the health system in an emergency.

-. Compensatory public policies will be promulgated for the rural and urban sectors.

-. The price of gasoline is reduced by US$15 cents per gallon. As a result of this decision, the price of gasoline will be US$2.40 and the price of diesel will be US$1.75.

-. The Lasso administration is committed to repealing Decree 95, which reduced the State's participation in oil activities and promoted international bidding processes for oil fields.


-. Authorities will reform Decree 151, which is related to mining activity in protected environmental areas, intangible zones, archaeological zones, and water sources. The reform is expected to include provisions to ensure that communities are consulted before mining projects are implemented in those territories.

-. The Lasso administration is committed to repealing the "State of Emergency" as the situation in the territories involved begins to return to normal.

-. Issues pending resolution will be dealt with in a dialogue process in the next 90 days.

The minutes were signed by the president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), Leonidas Iza; of the Council of Evangelical Indigenous Peoples and Organizations of Ecuador (Feine), Eustaquio Tuala; and of the National Confederation of Peasant, Indigenous and Black Organizations (Fenocin), Gary Espinoza; as well as the Minister of Government, Francisco Jiménez.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ecu ... -0009.html

President Castillo Resigns From Peru Libre Party

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Archive photograph dated July 30, 2021 showing the President of Peru, Pedro Castillo | Photo: EFE/ Paolo Aguilar

Published 30 June 2022 (10 hours 25 minutes ago)

The President's decision was announced following a request made by the Peru Libre party.

The president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, informed this Thursday about his resignation from the Perú Libre party, the political group he belonged to when he won his electoral victory in 2021.

"Today, I have presented to the National Jury of Elections (JNE) my irrevocable resignation to the political party Peru Libre. Such a decision obeys to my responsibility as president of 33 million Peruvians," the president assured through his account on the social network Twitter.

In another message, the Executive reaffirmed his commitment "to continue working and promoting the great changes of the Bicentennial in a democratic country and together with all Peruvians."

The head of state's decision comes after the leader of Peru Libre, Vladimir Cerron, released a statement in which they asked Castillo to abandon his militancy.

According to the party's communiqué, among the reasons for requesting Castillo's resignation is the alleged implementation, by his government, of the "neoliberal losing program."

The Peruvian president thanked the support of this party at the time of reaching the Presidency and has called on other organizations to continue working for the country.

"The political events that take place are part of the country's destiny; I thank Peru Libre for welcoming us in the contest that led us to victory in the campaign (...) I understand that Peru is above all, from here I call on the police forces to agree to work for democracy to work for the most important issues that the country has", he declared.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Pre ... -0017.html

Damn, and I'd thought this guy 'all right'. To be kind, inexperience and a desire not to be 'another Morales'. We'll see...

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Chilean president launches plan against violence and insecurity

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"We are going to persecute the organized crime gangs and hit them where it hurts the most," said the Chilean president when launching the security plan. | Photo: @gabrielboric

Published July 1, 2022 (5 hours 14 minutes ago)

President Gabriel Boric pointed out that the security plan consists of 33 measures to deal with the increase in violence and insecurity.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric launched a security plan on Thursday to deal with the high rates of insecurity and violence in the South American country.

From the city of Arica, bordering Peru, the Chilean president pointed out that the security plan consists of 33 measures, among which are the creation of the Ministry of Security, progress in a Police Reform, strengthening the role of the municipalities in security, promoting a Private Security Law and creating a new National Public Security Policy for the next 10 years.

“We are not going to allow crime to continue to grow and gain space. We are going to persecute the organized crime gangs and hit them where it hurts the most. We are going to hit them on the money route, in their organization and we are going to improve investigative techniques,” said Gabriel Boric.


The announcement by the Chilean head of state was made within the framework of the National Public Security Committee, in which the Minister of the Interior, Izkia Siches, and senior officials from the Carabineros, the Investigative Police (PDI), the National Prosecutor's Office, the National Defender's Office and the Children's Defender's Office, among other agencies.

Violence has been on the rise in Chile for a decade, and although its rates are still below others in the region, in the last two years insecurity has become the main concern of Chileans.


According to the latest study by the Ipsos pollster, for 52 percent of Chileans the main concern is crime, in addition to the presence of organized mafias and drug trafficking.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/presiden ... -0002.html

Google Translator

And how long until these measures are applied to Boric's former 'left' allies and against the indigenous population?

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National strike in Ecuador completes 15 days, struggle continues

Ecuadorian peasant, Indigenous and Afro-descendant organizations have vowed to continue fighting against poverty and deep inequalities in the country, despite persecution, criminalization and repression by the state

June 29, 2022 by Tanya Wadhwa

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Hundreds of thousands of Ecuadorians held a massive march in capital Quito to mark 15 days of the national strike On June 27. (Photo: CONAIE/Twitter)

Monday, June 27 marked 15 days since the beginning of the national strike in Ecuador against the right-wing government of President Guillermo Lasso and his neoliberal economic policies. Since June 13, hundreds of thousands of people have been organizing protests and roadblocks across the country with a set of 10 demands that support the working class in the face of rising inflation and cost of living.

On Monday, under the banner of “There are 10 demands, not 10 cents”, members of various peasant, Indigenous and Afro-descendant organizations held a massive march in capital Quito to mark 15 days of the national strike and reinforce their social demands. The demands include: reduction and freeze of fuel prices; employment opportunities and labor guarantees; an end to privatization of public companies; price control policies for essential products; greater budget for public education and health sectors; protection for people from banking and finance sectors; fair prices for their farm products; an end to drug trafficking, kidnappings and violence; ban on mining and oil exploitation activities in Indigenous territories and near water resources; and respect for the collective rights of Indigenous peoples and nationalities.


Social and political pressure yields some results

Two weeks of anti-government demonstrations and discussions on a no-confidence motion in the opposition-controlled National Assembly compelled President Lasso to increase monthly payment to poor families by 10% to USD 55, subsidize fertilizers, forgive debts of small farmers, and double the education budget for schools teaching in Indigenous languages, among other measures.

This weekend, he was forced to reduce fuel prices, although not by as much as the protesters had demanded. On Sunday, June 26, he announced that cut petrol and diesel prices would be cut by 10 cents a gallon. Extra gasoline dropped from USD 2.55 to USD 2.45 per gallon while diesel went down from USD 1.90 to USD 1.80 per gallon. The movements had demanded that the price of gasoline be reduced and fixed at USD 2.10 per gallon and diesel at USD 1.50 per gallon.

As expected, in the early hours of Monday, the main organizers of the national strike – Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), National Confederation of Peasant, Indigenous and Afro-descendant Organizations (FENOCIN), and Council of Indigenous Evangelical Peoples and Organizations of Ecuador (FEINE) – rejected the announcement made by Lasso with respect to the reduction of fuel prices. The organizations in a statement said that the measure was “insufficient and insensitive” and “did not sympathize with the situation of poverty faced by millions of families.”

The organizations however emphasized that the President’s “announcement shows that the struggle of the Indigenous movement, other organized social sectors and of the citizens in favor of all sectors of the country is bearing fruits.” They pointed out that with the help of the popular struggle, half of the demands have already been achieved in addition to the lifting of the abusive state of emergency and recovery of the Benjamin Carrion Cultural Center.

The organizations affirmed that “despite persecution, criminalization and the repressive response of the State, which was ratified by the president in his announcement, they have remained firm and will continue to show the legitimacy of their fight.” They vowed to continue fighting against poverty and deep inequalities that exist in the country, and called on the people to remain on the streets. “Our struggle does not stop, neither does the right to resistance and the protest remains in force, despite the threats to criminalize and persecute us, we remain firm in our conviction that in Ecuador a dignified life is not the privilege of a few,” they said.


Negotiation process

Following the organizations’ announcement and increasing social and political pressure, the government authorities finally agreed to negotiate with the protesters and invited the representatives of the Indigenous organizations to attend a meeting with the representatives of the executive, legislative, electoral, judiciary, and citizen branches of the state to discuss their demands on June 27.

During the meeting, the organizations clarified that they wanted the government to accept the two most substantial of the 10 demands: further reduction in fuel prices and repeal of decrees 95 and 151 which are related to the government’s hydrocarbon policy and were issued by Lasso in 2021. After hours of discussion, an attempt to sabotage the negotiation process, and delay in resuming the process after a recess by Government Minister Francisco Jiménez and other government officials, the organizations achieved another victory. They succeeded in convincing the government to repeal decree 95 and ban extractive activities in protected areas.

On the morning of June 28, the nationwide mobilization resumed. The representatives of the various Indigenous organizations reached the Basilica of the National Vow for the second round of dialogue, hoping to discuss the demands pending from the previous day. However, the government officials didn’t show up.

CONAIE condemned the government for abandoning the negotiation process. “The government breaks dialogue confirming its authoritarianism, lack of will and incapacity. We hold Guillermo Lasso responsible for the consequences of his warmongering policy. We demand respect for our highest representative. Lasso didn’t break the dialogue with Leonidas Iza (CONAIE’s president), he broke it with the people,” tweeted CONAIE.

Hours later, President Lasso in a broadcast on national television stated that his government had suspended talks following the death of a soldier in the Shushufindi canton in the early hours of June 28, who was killed in an attack allegedly carried out by the demonstrators.

Through a press conference, the representatives of the Indigenous organizations rejected the accusations and condemned the government for continuing the brutal police and military repression against peaceful protesters.

Brutal repression

Citing videos circulating on social media platforms as evidence, the organizations reported that officials of the security forces fired live bullets at demonstrators who had been maintaining a roadblock in the November 18 community in Shushufindi canton.


The day before, during the negotiation meeting, the organizations criticized Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo for promoting hatred, racism and violence against Indigenous demonstrators and demanded his dismissal.

CONAIE President Iza said that “Mr. Patricio Carrillo is not a guarantor of democracy, we have really felt the hatred and racism with which he acts. He guarantees that the military and police celebrate after shooting down the protesters, so we suggest that they change the minister.” He also pointed out that members of the police had infiltrated the protests to provoke acts of violence and vandalism in order to later justify repression.

According to data from the Alliance for Human Rights Organization, between June 13 and 27, state security forces committed 74 types of human rights violations against citizens participating in the national strike, killed 5 protesters, detained 147, and injured 313 people.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/06/29/ ... continues/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Tue Jul 05, 2022 1:46 pm

The Two Waves of Latin American Progressive Governments

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Lula da Silva (C) during a political meeting in Bahia, July 2, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @LulaOficial

Published 4 July 2022 (22 hours 19 minutes ago)

The new progressive governments do not claim to confront the capitalist system but rather the effects of the impoverishment and marginalization it produces.

The recent consecutive electoral victories of progressive parties in Latin America evoke memories of the leftist’s hegemony in the region at the beginning of the century. If the disastrous liberal policies of the 1990s led the spread of the first progressive wave, the same structural causes of hunger, inequality, and marginalization are at the bottom of the ongoing second one.

However, both waves have differences that are important to pinpoint to ensure a better understanding of the current political process Latin America is experiencing. Thus, it is critical to look at the forerunners of the countries involved in each of these waves. Whereas in the first one the leaders considered to be at the front-line were Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Luz Ignacio Lula da Silva in Brazil, Nestor Kirchner in Argentina, Rafael Correa in Ecuador, and Evo Morales in Bolivia.

The second wave has been dominated by countries that never fell under the influence of the first, such as Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico, Gabriel Boric in Chile, Jose Pedro Castillo in Peru, and Gustavo Petro in Colombia.

It is also worth mentioning that the first wave had its climax when the ex-bishop, Fernando Lugo, won the elections in Paraguay in 2008. However, the following year after a coup d'état ousted Manuel Zelaya from the Presidency in Honduras, the decline of the first wave started. This wave could be considered to have brought to a definite end after Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment in Brazil in the year 2016.

On the other hand, the second wave is an ongoing process that will actually be boosted if Lula da Silva regains Brazil’s Presidency, as all the opinion polls forecast in the coming elections of October 2022.


The main similarity of both waves of progressive governments is their aim to curb poverty and inequality through the intervention of a strong State in charge of redistributing the wealth which, historically, has been gathered in very a few very greedy hands. Furthermore, all the progressive governments applied inclusive policies and pleaded for a fair multi-ethnic society based on the support of the outcast majorities.

Additionally, both these governments’ waves have a common opposition to the U.S. intervention in their internal affairs, identifying the Monroe Doctrine, “America for the Americans”, as a new form of imperialism. Having said that, the actions taken by certain countries so far were actually firmer during the first wave. In fact, back then, Correa in Ecuador closed down the U.S. military base in the city of Manta while Venezuela and Bolivia ousted the DEA from their countries.

Nonetheless, the awareness of the importance of deepening the integration within the countries of the region varies in both waves. During the first wave numerous leaders envisioned projects to bypass the U.S.-controlled Organization of the American States and attempted to consolidate alternative integration organizations such as the Union of the South, the Bank of the South, or the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America.

After the decline of the first wave these projects stagnated or even disappeared. Notwithstanding this, the alternative regional integration organizations are not in yet on the list of priorities of the leaders of the second wave, who are mainly focused on their domestic agenda. Greater political instability and less economic resources could explain the lack of international ambitions and coordination among the countries of the region.


Lula da Silva's tweet reads, "The world I want for Brazil is a world of abundance, peace, and hope, because nobody chooses poverty. Goodnight."

Concerning the political discourse and specific actions, there has been a significant shift in the second wave as well. The new progressive governments do not claim to confront the capitalist system but rather the effects of the impoverishment and marginalization it produces.

Whereas the governments of the first wave put the emphasis on changing the free-market economy into a socialist system, somehow the new leftist governments have moved towards the centre regarding the political spectrum, in what could be explained as a consequence of the global drift to the right followed in the Western democracies.

Hence, the new progressive governments’ moderation has enabled them to avoid direct confrontation with mass media and the establishment, or at least to a lesser extent than the governments of the first wave experienced it.

There is still a long way to go before the second wave of progressivism in Latin America can be accurately assessed, until then we can only wait and see if things develop in the right direction, because otherwise the future to come will be riddled with violence and misery.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/The ... -0008.html

Ecuador Delays Trial of Indigenous Leader Leonidas Iza

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Trial hearing suspended against Leonidas Iza in Ecuador, accused of "paralyzing a public service" during demonstrations. July. 4, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@PortalDiarioAR

Published 4 July 2022

The proceeding was conducted in a reserved manner since the charge is a crime against the State. It is scheduled to be reinstated on August 9, at 11:00 am.

On Monday morning, the trial hearing began against Leonidas Iza, president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), accused of the alleged crime of paralyzing a public service during the protests of last June.

The procedure was held in the Palace of Justice of Latacunga, Cotopaxi, with a strong police contingent. The judge in charge, Paola Bedón, said that the hearing was reserved because it is a crime against the State. That is to say, only the parties to the proceedings may be present.

The indigenous leader was arrested in the early morning of June 14, 2022, the day after the beginning of the national strike. During the in flagrante delicto hearing, the Prosecutor's Office accused Iza of paralyzing the normal circulation of transportation through violent acts. Leonidas Iza rejected the judicial process against him and ratified that he would take action at the international level.

"Such a lie cannot be accepted in an attempt to blame a citizen. No matter how much justice they say, I cannot accept that they have not read me my rights. I was kidnapped with six trucks of military and police in Cotopaxi. My rights were read to me in Pichincha and not where I was detained," he said during an interview with Sonorama.


Ecuador court postpones the trial of Leonidas Iza, leader of the last strike against the government.

United Nations Rapporteur for Judicial Independence, Diego García, last June 30, commented on his concern for the circumstances of Leonidas Iza's detention and for a condemnatory sentence that could be dictated this same day, being a direct procedure.

At the moment, the judge ordered a recess after the parties said that there are elements of evidence that have not been evacuated, near to 80 percent of the requests that have not been sent.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ecu ... -0025.html

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President of Ecuador will announce changes in his Cabinet

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The changes respond to civil demands during the recent national strike that ended on June 30. | Photo: @Presidencia_Ec
Published July 5, 2022 (2 hours 7 minutes ago)

The ministers of health and economy are expected to resign after receiving serious accusations during the national strike.

The president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, will announce this Tuesday ministerial and institutional transformations in his Cabinet as a result of the requests of protesters in the recent national strike.

The Secretary of Public Administration, Iván Correa, previously declared that “there are some necessary changes that go beyond what happened in the strike. To be able to advance in things that have remained in the pipeline”.

It is presumed that the Minister of Economy and Finance, Simón Cueva, and the Minister of Public Health, Ximena Garzón, are among the outgoing headlines.


Both ministries were criticized during the recent 18-day national strike that multiple protesters staged to demand government restructuring from the government.

In terms of health, the population demanded the supply of medicines and the release of a larger budget for the health sector, which was greatly affected by the pandemic.

At an economic level, moratoriums were requested on the debts of some four million families that suffered the impact of Covid-19 on the family economy.

Other demands dealt with the international logistics crisis, inflation and the granting of credits for fuel, as well as the reduction of its prices.


As part of the agreements that ended the national strike in the country, it was agreed to reduce 15 cents per gallon of Extra and Ecopaís gasoline and diesel and 50 percent of the price of urea in agriculture.

The president, at the end of the strike, called for "rebuilding the country" to transform the peace that the country has achieved into "progress, well-being and peace opportunities for all."

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/presiden ... -0007.html


CNE denies forms to revoke the Ecuadorian president

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The CNE noted that the petition against President Guillermo Lasso did not meet the requirements to receive the signature collection forms. | Photo: The Telegraph
Published 5 July 2022

[/b]According to the CNE, the applicants for the request did not present evidence in relation to the breach of the government plan by Guillermo Lasso.[/b]

The plenary session of the National Electoral Council of Ecuador (CNE) resolved on Monday night to deny the request to revoke the mandate against President Guillermo Lasso.

With four votes in favor and one abstention, the CNE councilors accepted the recommendation of the legal advisory department and decided to deny the delivery of the format of forms for the collection of signatures for the revocation of the mandate of Guillermo Lasso and Alfredo Borrero.

According to the report presented by the National Director of Legal Advice and approved by the plenary session of the electoral entity, the petition against President Guillermo Lasso did not meet the requirements to receive the signature collection forms.


Among the justifications for denying the revocation request is that the person requesting the forms would not have met all the requirements to justify the request.

Another of the arguments presented by the CNE is that the applicants for the request did not present evidence in relation to the breach of the government plan presented by Guillermo Lasso.


The initiative against the Ecuadorian president was presented by a group in Guayaquil, which argues that, in its first year, there have been breaches of its government plan.

President Guillermo Lasso is expected to announce changes in his cabinet of ministers, after 18 days of indigenous and peasant mobilizations in various regions of the country.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/ecuador- ... -0001.html

Google Translator

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Ecuador: Lasso’s Masquerade vs People’s Real Demands
JULY 2, 2022

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Ecuadorian protest leader addresses some protesters with a megaphone. Photo: Facebook/OsgFecosSalcedo.

By Gustavo A Maranges – Jun 28, 2022

June 28 marked 15 days since the beginning of the demonstrations in Ecuador against the neoliberal government of Guillermo Lasso. During that time over 15,000 indigenous people and representatives of social movements have joined the protests to demand urgent actions to stop the collapse of the living conditions of the poorest and the entire working class. However, the state’s response has been violence and police repression, which has already caused six deaths, hundreds of wounded, and over 200 imprisonments.

According to the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), which is leading the protests, the demonstrations will continue as long as the government does not show itself willing to meet their most urgent demands. Namely, the reduction of fuel prices, a moratorium on the bank debts of the indigenous and peasant sectors, and the containment of illegal mining. CONAIE leader Leonidas Iza has stated that he was open to dialogue but that does not mean taking CONAIE members off the streets, they will be there as long as they want to be there and until the demands of the people are met.

The pressure on the streets forced President Lasso to overrule the state of emergency on June 25, as well as reduce the gasoline and oil prices by 10 cents (US) a gallon. He also promised to modify or overrule several decrees related to mining and oil extraction. However, the real impact of these few steps ahead is very limited. Iza considered them as a proof of the government’s “indifference towards Ecuadorian families.”

So far this year, fuel prices rose between 45% and 90%. Thus, the government’s proposal of reducing the price by 4% is insulting and token. According to CONAIE negotiators, the government can afford to pay 60% of the increment, and the population can take the remaining 40%. It means that Lasso’s measure in no way satisfies the people’s real needs. Nevertheless it is significant that he felt forced to bend at all.

Negotiations began on the night of June 27, but so far, no major progress has been achieved, although the protesters’ demands have been clear from day one. This is worrisome when the country’s economy has lost over $500 million during these 15 days. The tourist sector lost 76% of its bookings, while on June 28, the oil sector shut down due to the interruption of supply chains.

CONAIE has called on the government to cooperate in negotiations and avoid further damage to Ecuadorians. “Struggles always bring pain, they bring tragedies,” Iza said in an interview with the BBC. “We have comrades who have been murdered and directly shot in the head. We have done a lot to keep struggling. At this moment, [the solution] is in the hands of the president of the Republic.”

Meanwhile, the National Assembly should vote on Lasso’s impeachment in the next few hours. At the same time, Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo and Defense Minister Luis Lara have been summoned to account for their actions during the protests. Everything seems to indicate that the motion against Lasso will not succeed, since the Pachakutik party has stated they will not support Lasso’s impeachment, making it unlikely to gather the necessary 92 votes to remove the president from the office.

International condemnation of the heartbreaking images of repression in Ecuador and the murder of several citizens has been weak. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Michelle Bachelet has not spoken out, and the Organization of American States (OAS) has not initiated a single process or meeting to analyze this situation. Those who have spoken out, such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) and others, have limited themselves to calling for non-violence rather than condemning the excessive use of force by the police and the army.

Those who have mobilized to save the Ecuadorian government are its allies in the IMF, which recently hastily approved a $1 billion disbursement. These funds are part of an agreement signed in 2020, and according to the government, they will be employed to increase social spending, which does not match with its lack of flexibility to maintain affordable prices for basic commodities, including fuel, the main trigger for the protests.

Amid the current crisis, former President Rafael Correa has criticized Lasso for his lack of bravery to face the situation, and encouraged him to call for elections as Correa did in 2009, after approving a new Constitution. Lasso has used these statements to undermine the motion against him and the protests, arguing that Correa is behind both. It is clear that Lasso seeks to cover up the real reason for both problems, which is nothing but the result of several years of neoliberal policies and the continued reduction of public spending.

The conspiracy theory according to which Correa’s supporters are behind the current crisis is beyond absurd, since the CONAIE is the main organizer of the demonstrations and it is linked to the Pachakutik party, which has already supported Lasso against the impeachment.

The truth is that the total neglect of the humblest sectors has led Ecuador to this political and social crisis, which began with the government of Lenin Moreno and has been fostered by the COVID-19 pandemic and Guillermo Lasso’s mismanagement. Therefore, the solution must include a halt to the current privatization wave and the continued reduction of public services budgets.

However, regardless of the results of these negotiations, these protests have shown that the social movements continue to be the main defense of people’s interests. Today, Lasso has had to sit down to negotiate with indigenous representatives against his will and that of the businesspeople who support him. This has only been possible thanks to the coordinated action of the people on the streets. It is the most important lesson from the current situation in Ecuador.

(Resumen Latinoamericano – English)

https://orinocotribune.com/ecuador-lass ... l-demands/
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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Wed Jul 06, 2022 2:07 pm

Ecuador: Cabinet Changes Announced

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President Guillermo Lasso during the inauguration ceremony of the new authorities. Jul. 5, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@ComunicacionEc

Published 5 July 2022 (10 hours 52 minutes ago)

The President did not say who would head the Ministry of Health or the Secretariat of Peoples and Nationalities.


Changes came in Economy and Finance; Urban Development and Housing; Transport and Public Works; Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation; and who presides the Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security board of directors.

According to Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso, these changes "obey the orderly fulfillment of stages, within a coherent and long-term vision" and are not the result of particular circumstances, namely an 18-day national strike and an impeachment attempt against the President in the National Assembly.

Pablo Arosemena, the new assigned minister of Economy and Finance, said, "I have closely felt the needs of the citizens. International confidence is to grow the economy, promote the construction of public works and the generation of quality employment," adding that the economic plan will now be more focused on the family, business and productive economy.

María Gabriela Aguilera Jaramillo was appointed Minister of Urban Development and Housing (MIDUVI). In this respect, Lasso announced the implementation of the SDG (sustainable development goals) Cities program, saying, "We will design policies to have more inclusive, safer cities and to reduce housing deficits."


CHANGES IN THE MINISTERIAL CABINET through a statement issued by Comunicacion Ecuador, it was announced that President Guillermo Lasso accepted the resignation presented by four state portfolio authorities.

The President appointed Darío Herrera as Minister of Transportation and Public Works (MTOP), while Andrea Montalvo will be the new Secretary of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (SENESCYT).

As for the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (IESS), Alfredo Ortega was appointed the President's representative to chair the Board of Directors.

Lasso asked to work on the ways of access for universities, the delivery of quotas, and the strengthening of technical and technological education with the provision of more scholarships.


Given the delay in processing the reforms to the Higher Education Law (LOES), sent in August 2021, the President said that work would be done on decrees and agreements to achieve its objective concerning access to higher education.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ecu ... -0024.html

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Leonidas Iza urges to redefine the struggle in Ecuador

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"The condition of class, gender, ethnicity affects the indigenous movement more, and there is an identity of struggle," Leonidas Iza | Photo: Latin American Summary
Published 5 July 2022

Leonidas Iza valued that the indigenous mobilization and that of other sectors has shown the conditions to "look at what we Ecuadorians are."

The president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), Leonidas Iza, affirmed that the time has come to give a new meaning to the dignity and struggle of the oppressed, in an exclusive interview for TeleSur.

“It is time to resignify the dignity of the humblest, of the struggle, this is a collective decision. In Ecuador, poverty is not attacking only indigenous peoples”, valued the indigenous leader.

In the same way, Leonidas Iza valued that the mobilization of indigenous people and other sectors in the National Strike in Ecuador has shown the conditions to "look at what we Ecuadorians are and the contribution that we peasants make."


By also proposing to give new meanings to the struggle, the president of Conaie valued the political situation in Ecuador where he highlighted poverty, as a central element of the economic situation, "it is seriously attacking us where the privileged sectors are not willing to debate the people's everyday circumstances.

“We have shown the harsh reality. There has been a collective recognition. There is a collective decision in this process”, highlighted the leader of the indigenous movement, who also insisted that “the popular sectors are not willing to accept what society is imposing”.


Leonidas Iza's proposals are also aimed at guaranteeing decent living conditions in Ecuador, as well as justice, to counteract the current society that produces poverty and, where "in that poverty the most affected will continue to be the indigenous".

On the implementation tables of the agreements established during the signing between the Government of Ecuador and indigenous and peasant organizations that led the strike, Leonidas Iza specified that statements will be issued at the time, although he does point out that the execution of the demands must be connected and have results in people's daily lives.


Iza specified the need to install a rigorous process that debates what kind of society we want. "Either we move to build a society that participates in the other, and respects differences, or we are on a very fine thread of going from a racist state to a fascist state," he said.

“The indigenous movement in Ecuador has always defended the organizational structure of peoples and nationalities. We leaders support the decisions of the bases, that is community democracy”, he reaffirmed.

Regarding unity, the president of Conaie expressed that there are sectors that have benefited from the existing political bipolarity in Ecuador. “We are at the right time. Enough of taking care of the plots of power. We need a critical society. The one that from an analysis generates transformation”.

In the same way, he urged that political actors make an effort for unity, "and that it not end only in elections." A collective conduction, Leonidas Iza valued, because we are not willing to continue naturalizing the current situation.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/leonidas ... -0056.html

Caribbean leader blamed the US for attacks on Petrocaribe[/

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The Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines recalled the effects that the region has suffered due to the sanctions that the US imposed on Petrocaribe. | Photo: Nodal
Published July 6, 2022 (5 hours 23 minutes ago)

Among the issues discussed at the Caricom summit were food, security, energy and regional climate financing.

During the closing of the 43rd Summit of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), held in Suriname, the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves mentioned the effects of the sanctions against Venezuela in relation to the Petrocaribe program.

Ralph Gonsalves, condemned "the unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States administration during the time of President Donald Trump in relation to Venezuela (which) effectively put an end to the Petrocaribe agreement."

The headline highlighted the impact that the measure has caused in "several Caribbean countries, including the independent countries of the OAS, and other countries within Caricom."


Regarding food security, the President of Suriname, Chandrika Persad Santokhi, set out his goal of "achieving to reduce food imports by 25 percent by the year 2025" in his country to guarantee adequate food and nutrition.

Reference was also made to the need to modify the region's industrial policy to avoid constant dependency processes that harm access to supplies of any kind.


In this regard, the Foreign Minister of Suriname, Albert Ramdin, said that the region needs to diversify its economies to achieve "a certain degree of independence from products in other parts of the world."

“We are already experiencing the consequences of Covid-19, we are at the last of the queue to obtain it. We have to find a solution to this marginality”, he pointed out.


In order to accelerate these development processes, committees were established that will be led by Heads of Government and will include experts from Caribbean countries, according to the president of Caricom.

In addition, the secretary general of the Caribbean organization said that before the end of the month, an expert and other stakeholders will discuss "the elimination of non-tariff barriers on agricultural products."

The summit also discussed the development of the Single Market, which allows the free movement of goods, labor and services throughout the region, and the formulation and implementation of a common industrial policy.

Caricom is an organization made up of Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/caricom- ... -0002.html

Google Translator

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Peru: The Political Crisis Worsens
By Carlos Noriega on July 4, 2022

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Pedro Castillo

The crisis in Pedro Castillo’s government is worsening. Less than a month before the rural teacher and trade unionist who came to power as candidate of the left completes his first year in the presidency, the right wing, which from the first day of the government has bet on the coup, accelerates its plans to remove him from office and assault the power from the Congress it controls.

The instability of the government is accentuated by the destabilizing maneuvers of the right wing, which in its coup plans has the support of the big media, but also by the responsibility of a presidential administration that has moved away from its proposals for change, wanders inoperative and lacking direction, is stained by allegations of corruption, adds errors and failed appointments, and is weakened from within by sectarian attitudes and divisions in the governing party.

In a new offensive against the government, the parliamentary right wing seeks to disqualify the president and the vice-president, Dina Boluarte, removing them from their posts in order to take power. If both fall, the head of the government would be assumed by whoever at that time holds the presidency of the Congress -currently the position is in the hands of the legislator of the Acción Popular party, María del Carmen Alva, very close to Fujimorism and other ultra-right sectors, although in the last week of this month the parliamentary board of directors must be renewed, which will undoubtedly remain in the hands of the right wing-, thus the coup promoted by the extreme right would be consummated.

As part of this plan, a few days ago, the Congressional Oversight Commission, presided by the pro-Fujimori Héctor Ventura, approved a report accusing Castillo of constitutional infringement for refusing to testify before that commission in a corruption investigation, and for the meetings he held at the beginning of his term in the house of a friend, outside the official agenda and without informing about those meetings. The accusation points out that in those meetings there were meetings with businessmen who later won bids.

Videos show the lobbyist Karelim López, under judicial investigation for her intervention in the bidding process to build a bridge in which the payment of bribes has been denounced, entering the house where Castillo was receiving visitors. The president denies that both have coincided in that place. The report of this parliamentary commission states that Castillo would head a criminal organization to direct the delivery of public works tenders.

The president denies the charges. The parliamentary commission admits in its report that it does not have proof of Castillo’s guilt, but only indications and suspicions that must be investigated -they are already being investigated by the prosecutor’s office-, but it still jumps to accuse him.

Treason

Before this accusation, another constitutional accusation was presented in Congress against the president for the absurd charge of treason for having declared in a journalistic interview his sympathy with facilitating Bolivia’s access to the sea, a declaration in which there was no mention of ceding sovereignty and which did not lead to any government decision. An accusation that reveals the desperation of the right wing to find any reason to remove Castillo.

The coup right wing knows it does not have the 87 votes -two thirds of the 130-member unicameral Parliament- to remove Castillo from office alleging “moral incapacity”, something it has already tried unsuccessfully on two occasions, so now it resorts to the strategy of impeachment for an alleged constitutional violation to disqualify him from office and remove him from the presidency.

In order to approve the constitutional accusation, 87 votes are not required, but only a simple majority of 66 votes, which the ultra-right wing headed by Fujimorism that promotes the parliamentary coup hopes to achieve in this new case. The risk for Castillo is high.

Boluarte in the spotlight

If it succeeds in removing Castillo, the right wing needs to get rid of the vice-president as well in order to take power. That is why Boluarte has been subjected to a constitutional accusation accusing her of having held a position as Minister of Development and Social Inclusion in the board of directors of the Apurimac Departmental Club, which groups migrants from that region who live in Lima, as is her case, when the Constitution prohibits a minister to hold any other position except teaching.

The vice-president defends herself by pointing out that when she was appointed minister she resigned from her functions in the mentioned club and that the subsequent steps she took were exclusively for administrative regularization in order to transfer her position. In Congress, it is not the arguments that are important, but the strength of the votes and the obsessive eagerness of the right wing to overthrow the Castillo government.

While the right wing advances in the objective of closing the circle of the parliamentary coup, the ruling party is divided. The secretary general of the ruling Peru Libre (PL) party, Vladimir Cerron, publicly demanded Castillo to resign from the party, accusing him of acting to break the ruling party’s bench to form his own political group and for not fulfilling his campaign promises.

Under Cerron’s threat, Castillo resigned this week from PL. The PL bench has had successive divisions in this first year of government. Of the 37 parliamentarians with which the government began, only 16 legislators remain in PL loyal to Cerrón. Those who resigned have dispersed forming other benches that support the government. Castillo promotes the formation of a new party, the Partido Magisterial.

Encerrona

The rupture of Cerron and PL with Castillo became evident this week when Cerronist parliamentarians voted together with the right wing to censure Interior Minister Dimitri Senmache, who has been forced to leave office less than two months after assuming it. He was accused, without evidence, of having allowed the escape of former Transport Minister Juan Silva and a nephew of Castillo, who are under judicial investigation and under preventive arrest on charges of corruption in public works tenders. Senmache is the fourth minister censured by Congress in less than a year of government.

Cerrón plays to the radicalism of the left, but on more than one occasion he has become an ally of the parliamentary ultra-right, adding his votes to the approval of ultra-conservative norms against gender equality policies and now to actions to weaken the government. Cerrón’s sectarianism has blocked government alliances with other progressive sectors that would have strengthened it and has contributed decisively to its isolation.

The secretary general of PL wanted the government only for his party, and now that he has lost positions in the Executive he removes Castillo from PL and votes together with the coup leaders to dismiss a minister, which has been a hard blow to the government. The votes of Cerronismo against the Interior Minister are a warning to Castillo of what could happen to him if he does not give in to their pressure to give more power to Cerron and PL.

The president is left more isolated and weakened -a process that seems to be advancing without remedy- while the right wing pushes from Congress the accelerator of its coup plans, which threatens not only Castillo, but democracy if that ultra-right wing achieves its goal of capturing all power.

https://www.resumen-english.org/2022/07 ... s-worsens/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Fri Jul 08, 2022 2:24 pm

Assessing the Current State of Anti-Imperialism in Latin America
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JULY 7, 2022

The Iranian Marxist publication, Iranfardamag, interviews Rainer Shea.

What’s your take take on Petro’s electoral victory and the prospects of his administration joining organizations such ALBA? Would he become a Boric-style president or a Morales-style one?

I believe he’ll become a Boric-style president for three main reasons. One, he’s more likely to have his progressive alliance lean into the centrist-inclined governments in Chile and Argentina than into the region’s consistently anti-imperialist governments. If he joins ALBA I’ll be proven wrong, but I’m concerned I’ll be proven right. Two, he has a plan to disarm Colombia’s liberation movements, but not the Nazi-influenced forces which make up the country’s military. He aims to complete the peace deal with the guerrillas, but he doesn’t plan to create a people’s army like the Chavistas have, or even create an anti-imperialist military school like Morales did. He’s leaving the country’s left vulnerable to a coup, or whatever other types of violence the reactionaries carry out in the coming years. Three, his actions so far indicate his agenda is more centrist than leftist. He’s nominated a right-wing former Minister of Mines & Energy to be his foreign minister.

The solace we can take from this is that even Boric has been successfully pressured by Chile’s people into so far taking tangible steps towards dismantling neoliberalism. If he can be held in check that much by Chile’s masses, Petro can be held in check enough by Colombia’s masses to substantially improve the country’s conditions.

Do you think the leaders of the new so called pink tide are more centrist and moderate than the leaders of the previous pink tide?

I do believe they’re more centrist than the leaders of the previous Pink Tide. As I said, the Chavistas in Venezuela created a people’s army, and the Movement for Socialism in Bolivia created an anti-imperialist military school. The latter proved insufficient for preventing a coup, but it was at least an effort to preempt imperialist meddling. We’re seeing little or none of these tactical measures from the leaders of the new Pink Tide. We’re also seeing centrist policy tendencies among many of these newer leaders, such as those ones from Petro that I mentioned.

What we should consider, however, is that the original Pink Tide had both revolutionaries like Chavez, and leaders who were willing to serve imperialism despite supporting social democracy for their own people. Lula occupied Haiti on Washington’s behalf for a decade, and the U.S. only carried out a coup against him after the imperialists no longer had use for him. Leaders like Lula will capitulate to imperialism when they believe this serves their best interests. But as Washington’s grip over Latin America continues to weaken, and the transition into a multi-polar world order progresses, they’ll increasingly see anti-imperialism as in their interests. We’re seeing this in how Boric has decided to listen to his people’s demands on economic policy, rather than uncritically accomodate a northern bully country that’s decrepit in its reach and widely hated.

Recent elections of left wing leaders in Peru, and to some degree in Chile, haven’t so far led to any tangible achievements and social progress for the working class there, have they? Both in Chile and Peru, still the right wing forces are dominating most political and economic institutions and preventing any radical social reforms. Doesn’t this prove the limits of liberal/ capitalist democracy once again?

From what I’ve gathered, in Chile there’s been steady progress towards dismantling neoliberalism. Boric’s government has been able to raise the minimum wage, and it’s implemented a program to further mass education on the history of the country’s constitution. This is good news. But the fact that it’s seemingly more substantial than what Peru’s Pedro Castillo has been able or willing to accomplish, and the fact that it’s essentially all Boric has been able to accomplish, shows how strong of a grip the imperialists and the regional bourgeoisie still have over these countries. Progress is absolutely being frustrated, and we’re seeing this (for one example) in how Castillo has been getting bogged down by politically motivated legal scrutiny. What this shows is that as communists, we should be consistent in international solidarity with the struggles of oppressed peoples, while not pretending like those struggles are a linear path towards victory, or while pretending like their leaders are above criticism. Boric, Petro, Castillo, Lula, and other Pink Tide leaders in the region haven’t fought against the bourgeois structures of their governments in the ways Chavez, Maduro, or Morales and his party have.

How can the left go beyond the limits of liberal democracy if there is no grassroots working class revolutionary environment and organization?

Mao said that to go on the offensive when the masses are not yet ready is adventurism. So if you’re in a situation where there’s little or no organizational basis for revolution, you can’t do something reckless, like engage in revolutionary violence without sufficient mass backing. Without that mass backing, it’s not even revolutionary violence, it’s only violence for the sake of it. You need to take things one step at a time. You need to first put together the revolutionary organizational structure necessary to start defying the state. Which doesn’t mean approaching things from a “we’ll build it and then they’ll come” mentality, where you’re trying to get the masses to support you by prescribing what the masses need on your own. It means finding out what the material needs of the masses are by working amongst them, applying a Marxist analysis to these needs, and delivering improvements to the conditions of the masses. Then you’ll have a social basis to go against the state.

Leaders of the previous pink tide were generally more anti imperialist than the leaders of the current pink tide. Boric and Castillo, whose approval ratings have plummeted sharply, failed to boycott the Summit of the Americas in solidarity with Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua that were excluded from U.S.-hosted summit. Even Boric went on to attack these countries in the summit. Is any sort of socialist regional integration possible with leaders like these at the helm?

It’s not possible. Not anymore than it was possible for Haiti and Brazil to be united at the same time that Lula was violating the sovereignty of the Haitians. You don’t see actual anti-imperialist leaders like Putin and Xi denouncing each other for a reason: because they’re principled in countering the influence of Washington. No leader of a peripheral or semi-peripheral country who promotes imperialist narratives has their own country’s interests as their first priority. Unprincipled left-leaning leaders in the imperial peripheries like these ones will continue to exist until the U.S. empire gets defeated by the proletariat within its own borders, and the other imperialist powers fall as well. Then their lackeys within the peripheries will have nowhere to go besides the dustbin of history.

Which pink tide leaders/ movements have been more successful than the others in delivering on their promises?

The Chavistas and the MAS have by far been the most successful. Both of them essentially ended the status of their respective countries as U.S. neo-colonies. This is why even though Venezuela and Bolivia have both undergone coup attempts, with their democratically elected presidents having been forced out of office at certain points, the people have mobilized to reverse or defend from these coups. As I said, when you deliver substantial gains to the masses, the masses will have your back.

Is the arrival of the era of multi-polarization in the global community paving the way for the rise of left wing forces? How signficant has been Iran’s role in helping countries such as Venezuela thwart US threats?

The rise of multi-polarity is making the global left more powerful insofar as it’s taking away the leverage of U.S. imperialism, which is the world’s biggest obstacle to the left. With Washington less able to carry out regime change, leftists like the Chavistas and the MAS are now better able to build their power without being destroyed by imperialist meddling. But imperialism’s weakening throughout the last half century hasn’t necessarily produced more left-wing or communist governments, as a lot of the new anti-imperialist governments have been right-leaning or outright reactionary. Iran’s anti-imperialist revolution got hijacked by a repressive religious faction that executed the communists there, Putin’s anti-imperialist foreign policy model has gone along with a neoliberal domestic model, and Afghanistan’s fully breaking away from imperial control has come along with full jurisdiction for the Taliban. The crucial context is that all of these reactionary forces have come about in some way due to imperialist interference. I believe Iran, Russia, and Afghanistan would all be socialist if not for Washington’s sabotage of their communist forces.

Even though the imperialists have been able to frustrate the class struggle in these countries, this isn’t stopping them from weakening U.S. capital. Iran, like China and Russia, is a crucial source of aid for more vulnerable anti-imperialist countries like Venezuela. It’s helped them establish oil networks in defiance of U.S. sanctions, exposing the decrepitude of imperialism’s hand. This has brought the final blow to imperialism far closer.

Probably Iran is the only country in the World that has had a left wing revolution and is at conflict with the US on the world stage, but domestically lacks any strong socialist movement. What are the lessons Iranian leftist forces can learn from the pink tide forces (when it comes organising etc.)?

A lesson for modern Iranian communists (and all other communists) to take away from the Pink Tide is that you need to keep your expectations realistic, and do what’s practical. In Venezuela, there are communists who’ve attacked Maduro because he doesn’t have all the correct positions according to them. And maybe they’re right. But the reality is that the masses in Venezuela support Maduro because he’s protecting them from imperialism, and the Iranian masses support their government for the same reason. In this kind of context, where imperialism is rightly seen as the biggest enemy, combating genuinely bad policies or ideas from one’s own government requires finesse. The best way to win the masses is by delivering tangible material gains to them, by showing them that socialism is a better option than the current order. Otherwise you’ll risk engaging in adventurism that ends up helping the imperialists.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/07/07/111834/

Mr Shea has sharpened up considerably since my first encounter with him in the prints.
Italics added.

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Guatemala: “Political Unity” in the Imaginary of the Traditional Left
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JULY 7, 2022
Ollantay Itzamná

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Indians and peasants cannot call for unity. The only ones qualified to call for unity, and to indicate the political route to the Indians, are the Indians and peasants. Indians and peasants should not call for unity, nor for any kind of political articulation. This is the other ideological conviction that prevents them from attending, not only the socio-political articulation assemblies that CODECA and CPO have been holding for nearly a year, but also inhibits them from participating in the demonstrations and plurinational strikes called by indigenous and peasants.

Guatemala is a tropical country, co-inhabited, in its great majority, by native peoples, where liberalism made two failed national revolutions to modernize and develop the country.

After the violent interruption of the second liberal revolution (which the US suspected to be socialism), revolutionary proposals of socialist tendency emerged, headed by “mestizo vanguards” although genetically indomestizo, which systematically denied the quality of “revolutionary subjects” to the indigenous people.

Both in theory and in the praxis of the classic lefts of the country, in order to be a political subject, the indigenous had to stop being indigenous, “go through school” and thus become “Guatemalan”. In the same way, the peasant, in order to become a Guatemalan citizen, had to leave the countryside, migrate to the cities… and thus become a “citizen”.

In fact, neither the liberal revolutionaries nor the revolutionaries of the traditional left were able to “citizenize” the peasants, nor convert the indigenous people into “Guatemalans”. Much less, to make the “revolutions” they promised.

When indigenous people and peasants become socio-political subjects

In this context, and with the weight of the congenital evils of the bicentennial creole Republic, in Guatemala, indigenous and peasants, from their communities organized in resistance, rose up socially and politically to the “revolutionary vanguards”, and proclaimed themselves socio-political subjects and announced the construction of a “plurinational revolution”, with a plurinational State.

Since 2012, faced with the realization of the neoliberal political intentionality of the Peace Accords (1996), the indigenous and peasant communities in resistance to neoliberalism, being repelled in their demands in the ideological narrative of the lefts, decided to abandon the old lefts and create their own political organization (political instrument, Movement for the Liberation of the Peoples MLP, in 2018) and move towards the “plurinational revolution” for Good Living.

The political instrument, which raises as its ideology: the reconstruction of the Common House to ensure welfare for Mother Earth and welfare for human beings, without economic resources, nor guidelines of the old left, achieved in general elections of 2019 the historic 4th place. Never a political organization, in this “country of revolutionaries” had managed to get so far.

The hundreds of communities organized in resistance to neoliberalism, in spite of having a political arm (MLP), never stopped doing “direct and constant democracy” in the streets, in community assemblies, constant training spaces, etc.

These communities, before, during and after the electoral process, continued organizing, raising awareness and mobilizing their neighbors under the demand of “Let’s go for the process of Popular and Plurinational Constituent Assembly for the construction of the Plurinational State for Good Living”. They clamor, clamor, call for the articulation and “socio-political unity” of the social and political organizations of the left in Guatemala. But, the traditional political left (catalogued as neoliberal) anchored in the URNG and WINAQ, and the immobilized social left accommodated in the non-governmental organizations supported by the “apolitical” international cooperation, never went, nor do they go to the calls for articulation/unity for the construction of the plurinational State.

Why does the “revolutionary vanguard” not listen to the call for plurinational unity”?

The plurinational actors are not revolutionary subjects. For the revolutionary vanguard, the indigenous and peasants are not political subjects, much less revolutionary. Therefore, they are not qualified to nuclear/articulate any kind of revolution in Guatemala. “The Indians have to educate themselves to be proletarians, and the peasants must become citizens in order to be subjects”, is apparently the shared certainty of the aging revolutionary vanguard.

They are still suspicious of the human qualities of the natives. As children of colonial modernity, the revolutionaries of yesteryear still doubt the anthropological quality of the indigenous and the peasant. For them, the indigenous man or woman who does not know how to read or write, who does not speak the official language, or who does not have academic degrees, even if he or she is baptized, is perhaps a homunculus. But not a human being.

Indians and peasants cannot call for unity. The only ones qualified to summon to the articulation, and to indicate the political route to the Indians, are them. Indians and peasants should not call for unity, nor for any kind of political articulation. This is the other ideological conviction that prevents them from attending, not only the assemblies of socio-political articulation that CODECA and CPO have been holding for nearly a year, but also inhibits them from participating in the demonstrations and plurinational strikes called by indigenous and peasants. When did the URNG or WINAQ, or the NGOs accompany mobilized peasants and indigenous people in the streets and in the duels?

They despise the community as if it were a pre-modern phase. They believe in society, but not in the community. For them, the community is the primitive phase of humanity. Therefore, no political or economic action of resistance of the indigenous communities is, nor should be approved as valid. For this reason, the political power of the communities was wasted and historically discarded by the traditional left. What prevails is the individual vanguard that seeks to crown its existence with some position of popular election.

Electoralism as the only political strategy. The political left, as a rule, invests in times of constant street struggles carried out by the communities in the countryside. It only appears in times of electoral campaigns looking for votes. In this sense, they function as business parties, under the logic of electoralist representative democracy.

Perhaps, apart from the racialized ideology, this strategy is another reason why the traditional left does not understand or listen to the communities and peoples in constant collective action in the streets.

A popular and plurinational constituent process is the way forward.

The truth is that, despite the ideological and strategic assumptions (dysfunctional with the great dispossessed majorities in Guatemala) of the traditional left, the communities and peoples that promote the popular and plurinational constituent process make their own path of liberation, constituting themselves not only as socio-political subjects, with their own political organization, but also agreeing on their own horizon and theoretical framework (ideology) according to the contingencies of the Earth system.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/07/ ... onal-left/

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Ecuador: Govt-Indigenous Dialogue Sets Technical Working Group

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On the first day of the dialogue, the 10 thematic tables were defined for the fulfillment of the 10 demands set forth in the peace agreement. Jul. 7, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@notihoyecuador

Published 7 July 2022 (11 hours 43 minutes ago)

The creation of a technical working group is part of the peace agreement signed on June 30 to end the 18-day strike.


The president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (CONAIE), Leonidas Iza, said on behalf of the indigenous community he expects "this process to yield results in the issues of the national agenda, which are for the benefit of the majority of families in the country."

To implement the points agreed upon in last week's dialogues, Ecuador's government and the indigenous movement took part Thursday in the first meeting of the technical working group.

According to the Ministry of Government, "in the facilities of the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference, Minister Francisco Jimenez leads the first technical table," which sets the agenda for the dialogues during the 90 days established in the agreement.

On June 30, CONAIE and the government signed a peace agreement to end the 18-day strike. This agreement sets a 90-day deadline for the implementation of the ten points.


The Government of Ecuador and the indigenous movement held the first meeting of the technical work table to implement the points agreed upon in the dialogues that put an end to the protests.

The indigenous organization put forward a 10-point demand, including freezing fuel prices, agricultural subsidies and not signing free trade agreements that "destroy national production."

A day after June 30, when the peace agreement was signed, its two central points were reached: the reduction of the price of subsidized fuels and the repeal of the decree to promote oil activity.

In the next three months, government and indigenous peoples' and peasants' movement delegates will address the remaining points of the ten-demand list. Among them is the cancellation of overdue debts of up to 10 000 dollars owed by peasant families.


CONAIE initiated an indefinite national strike in mid-June against the policies of President Guillermo Lasso. At least six people died amid the anti-government demonstrations over the high cost of living.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ecu ... -0022.html
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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Mon Jul 11, 2022 2:01 pm

Peru: The Political Crisis Worsens
JULY 10, 2022

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President of Peru, Pedro Castillo. File photo.

By Carlos Noriega – Jul 4, 2022

The crisis in Pedro Castillo’s government is worsening. Less than a month before the rural teacher and trade unionist who came to power as candidate of the left completes his first year in the presidency, the right wing, which from the first day of the government has bet on a coup, accelerates its plans to remove him from office abusing the power of the Congress that it controls.

The instability of the government is accentuated by the destabilizing maneuvers of the right wing, which in its coup plans has the support of the big media, but one cannot deny the responsibility of a presidential administration that has moved away from its proposals for change, is now inoperative and lacks direction, is stained by allegations of corruption, accumulates errors and controversial ministerial appointments, and is weakened from within by sectarian attitudes and divisions in the governing party.

In a new offensive against the government, the parliamentary right wing is trying to disqualify the president and the vice president, Dina Boluarte, removing them from their posts in order to take power. If both fall, the head of the government would be assumed by whoever at that time holds the presidency of the Congress. Currently that position is in the hands of the legislator of the Acción Popular party, María del Carmen Alva, very close to Fujimorismo and other ultra-right sectors, although in the last week of this month the parliamentary board of directors must be renewed, which will undoubtedly remain in the hands of the right wing, thus the coup promoted by the extreme right would be consummated.

As part of this plan, a few days ago, the Congressional Oversight Commission, presided by the pro-Fujimori parliamentarian Héctor Ventura, approved a report accusing Castillo of constitutional infringement for refusing to testify before that commission in a corruption investigation, and for the meetings he held at the beginning of his term in the house of a friend, outside the official agenda and without informing about those meetings. The accusation claims that in those meetings there were businessmen who later won bids.

Videos show lobbyist Karelim López, under judicial investigation for her intervention in the bidding process for the construction of a bridge in which there have been complaints of payment of bribes, entering the house where Castillo was receiving visitors. The president denies having met her in that place. The parliamentary commission report claims that Castillo heads a criminal organization to give public works tenders to certain businesspeople and lobbyists.

The president denies the charges. The parliamentary commission admits in its report that it does not have proof of Castillo’s guilt, but only indications and suspicions that must be investigated. Those are already being investigated by the prosecutor’s office, but the commission went out of its way to accuse Castillo.

Treason

Before this latest accusation, another constitutional complaint was presented in Congress against the president for the absurd charge of treason for having declared in an interview his sympathy for facilitating Bolivia’s access to the sea, a declaration in which there was no mention of ceding sovereignty, and which did not lead to any government decision. An accusation that reveals the desperation of the right wing to find any reason to remove Castillo.

The coup-plotting right wing knows that it does not have the 87 votes—two-thirds of the 130-member unicameral parliament—to remove Castillo from office alleging “moral incapacity,” something it has already tried unsuccessfully on two occasions; so now it resorts to the strategy of impeachment for an alleged constitutional violation to disqualify him from office and remove him from the presidency.

In order to approve the constitutional accusation, 87 votes are not required, but only a simple majority of 66 votes, which the ultra-right wing headed by Fujimorismo that promotes the parliamentary coup hopes to achieve in this new case. The risk for Castillo is high.

Vice President Boluarte in the spotlight

If the right wing succeeds in removing Castillo, it will need to get rid of the vice-president as well in order to take power. That is why Boluarte has been subjected to a constitutional complaint accusing her of having held a position as Minister of Development and Social Inclusion in the board of directors of the Apurímac Departmental Club, formed by migrants from Apurímac region who live in Lima, as is her case, when the Constitution prohibits a minister from holding any other position except teaching.

The vice president has defended herself by pointing out that when she was appointed minister, she resigned from her functions in the aforementioned club, and that the subsequent steps that she took regarding the organization were exclusively for administrative regularization to transfer her position. In Congress, it is not the arguments that are important, but the strength of the votes and the obsession of the right wing to overthrow the Castillo government.

While the right wing is advancing in its aim of closing the circle of the parliamentary coup, the ruling party is divided. The secretary general of the ruling party Peru Libre (PL), Vladimir Cerrón, publicly asked Castillo to resign from the party, accusing him of working to break the ruling party’s parliamentary bloc to form his own political group and for not fulfilling his campaign promises.

Under Cerrón’s demand, Castillo resigned from PL last week. The Peru Libre bloc has got divided multiple times in this first year of government. Of the 37 parliamentarians with which the party began, only 16 legislators remain in PL loyal to Cerrón. Those who resigned have dispersed, forming other blocs that support the government. Castillo is promoting the formation of a new party, the Partido Magisterial.

Cerrón’s actions

The rupture of Cerrón and Peru Libre with Castillo became evident this week when Cerronist parliamentarians voted together with the right wing to censure Interior Minister Dimitri Senmache, who has had to leave office less than two months after assuming charge. He was accused, without evidence, of having facilitated the flight of former Transport Minister Juan Silva and a nephew of Castillo, who are under judicial investigation and preventive arrest on charges of corruption in public works tenders. Senmache is the fourth minister removed by Congress in less than a year of government.

Cerrón plays to the radicalism of the left, but on more than one occasion he has become an ally of the parliamentary ultra right, joining the ultra conservatives in their actions against policies of gender equality and now to weaken the government. Cerrón’s sectarianism has blocked government alliances with other progressive sectors that would have strengthened it and has contributed decisively to its isolation.

The secretary general of Peru Libre wanted the government only for his party, and now that he has lost positions in the Executive branch, he has removed Castillo from the party and has voted together with the coup leaders to dismiss a minister, which has been a hard blow to the government. The votes of Cerronismo against the interior minister are a warning to Castillo of what could happen to him if he does not give in to their pressure to give more power to Cerrón and PL.

The president is now more isolated and weakened—a process that seems to be advancing without remedy—while the right wing in the Congress accelerates its coup plans, which threatens not only Castillo but even democracy, if that ultra-right wing achieves its goal of capturing all power.

https://orinocotribune.com/peru-the-pol ... s-worsens/

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They reject a racist statement by the head of the Parliament of Peru

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The Ombudsman's Office advocated "the integration of Peruvians" and respect for the "multiethnic and multicultural" character of the country. | Photo: RPP
Published July 11, 2022 (6 hours 15 minutes ago)

The head of Parliament divided the country between Indians and whites while denying having a class divisionist discourse.

The Ombudsman of Peru rejected on Sunday racist expressions towards society in reference to the discriminatory statement made by the president of Congress, Maricarmen Alva.

The head of Parliament stated that Parliament was at the service of all Peruvians, including "Indians and whites", while accusing the Government of encouraging unrest in the country.

In response, the Ombudsman opposed "any expression that could generate discrimination by alluding to racial aspects of people" and asked government officials to avoid discriminatory positions.


The parliamentary leader advocated during her visit to the northern region of Piura for "a Congress for all, all without exception, at the national level, Lima and regions united, whites and Indians united, poor and rich united, we do not have a divisive discourse of class struggle”.

After these statements, the Ombudsman drew attention to the need to promote a discourse in pursuit of "the integration of Peruvians because of their condition as human beings, in a multiethnic and multicultural country."

Among the criticisms that Alva received was that of the left-wing legislator Ruth Luque, who pointed out that Alva "continues to see the country as a colony."


On the other hand, the social activist Tito Wanka considered that Alva "is the most racist congresswoman that any congress in Peru has ever had."

Meanwhile, the conservative political analyst Rosa María Palacios condemned the despotic and authoritarian attitude of the official.

Maricarmen Alva wrote on her twitter profile that her statements were taken out of context on behalf of the "modus operandi of those who try to generate a divisive discourse among Peruvians, as the ruling party and its allies do."


However, his words had already had a great impact. Congresswoman Cecilia García said that the president "has not passed the time of the viceroyalty, she says that she works for the Indians, a word that does not even exist in the country."

By the way, the term Indian was repealed in the country in 1821 by the Liberator José de San Martín and by President Juan Velasco who in 1969 changed the name from Día del Indio to Día del Campesino.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/rechazan ... -0001.html

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Guatemala and the Progressive Wave in Abya Yala
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JULY 10, 2022
Ollantay Itzamná

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The political results of “progressivism” were not the fruit of the articulation of traditional political parties, nor the product of electoral campaigns alone.

In some countries such as Guatemala, some actors of the traditional left are beginning to assume the electoral political “imperative”: Now is the time! It is our turn! enthusiastic about the string of electoral triumphs of progressive tendencies in the continent.

This emotional understanding does not always take into account all the basic premises of the political equations that resulted in the triumph at the ballot box in the different countries.

The results were not the fruit of the articulation of political parties, nor were they the product of electoral campaigns alone.

Long processes of organization, mobilization and training.

The last electoral results in Colombia, Honduras, Mexico, Chile, Bolivia, to mention some countries where “progressivism” triumphed at the polls, were not only the result of electoral political processes (electoral campaigns of weeks), but the product of a long and persistent work of organization, awareness, training, mobilization and political articulation in the countryside and in the cities. The electoral was the result of this effort of the construction of the socio-political force/subject.

Therefore, it is illusory to think that “making electoral alliances” under the haste of the next general elections we will “reap” optimal results. Nobody reaps what he does not sow, according to the adage. And we peasants say: he who reaps what he does not sow, steals.

It took Chile, Bolivia, Mexico, Colombia, Honduras, more than a decade of organizational work, training, articulation in the streets, in the assemblies, in the countryside and in the cities.

It was not the product of the electoral alliance of political parties alone. In no case did the progressive forces triumph only and solely with the alliance or articulation between political parties. Moreover, in cases such as Chile, Honduras, Mexico, Colombia, the political parties of the left approached and coordinated with social movements (peasants, women, youth, indigenous, workers, etc.) before the other parties of the left.

In the case of Honduras, the triumph of the Libertad y Refundación LIBRE party cannot be understood without the legacy and social strength of the National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP). Nor can the triumph of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS IPSP) be understood without the social movements that sustain it. Or the case of Pedro Castillo, in Peru, without the strength of the peasant and teachers’ patrols of the country.

They do not seek to win elections as an ultimate goal.

The objective of these progressive forces that triumphed at the polls was not to “win elections”. The objective was and is to bring about profound changes in these countries. The bet is to creatively confront privatizing neoliberalism, eco-fascist imperialism, external and internal racist neocolonialism, patriarchy and ecocide.

From there comes the bet for processes of plurinational constituent assemblies as the only way in some of these cases, or the proposal for the construction of plurinational states.

The mandate for articulation arises in the communities, peoples and sectors. In all cases, the need for socio-political articulation, apart from being constant, was and is a mandate of the communities, peoples, collectives, movements… annoyed by the impacts of the pandemic neoliberal system.

In this sense, this commitment to articulation came from the bottom up, from the periphery to the center, from the countryside to the cities. It was not an initiative or whim of the aging “revolutionary vanguard” in the capital cities of the racist, developmentalist and chauvinist republics.

It is important to take into account these socio-political premises in order to understand the progressive political equation and its results in the region.

Is there a Liberating Socio-Political Organizing Process in Guatemala?

In Guatemala we need socio-political alliances to advance towards the construction of a plurinational state to rebuild the good life for all peoples. Of course we do. And we have been in this process for some years now.

From the communities and peoples organized in resistance to the neoliberal inclemency our objective is clear: We do not seek to “recover” this genocidal and corrupt creole State.

We seek to build a plurinational State where we all fit, including our Mother. Only in this way will we advance towards Good Living. And our political methodology is the process of the Popular and Plurinational Constituent Assembly.

Any other effort of political organization of “progressive” forces is only a diversion, or has the purpose of impeding the plurinational project in Guatemala. We do not seek to win general elections to install and celebrate a “new” political elite to administer the rotten State of Guatemala. We are building a socio-political force, with its own political instrument (which does not function as a party, nor does it obey its general secretary), to recover all the privatized common goods, to accelerate the plurinational constituent process to create a plurinational State.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/07/ ... abya-yala/

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Ecuador: An agreement reached and a crisis that continues
July 10, 2022 Marco Teruggi

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18 days of resistance in the streets.

July 7 — On Thursday afternoon the Indigenous uprising in Ecuador ended. The trucks loaded with people began to leave Quito in caravans and under applause to their respective communities. They did it after 18 days of a national strike in which participated the different Indigenous organizations of the country, transporters, popular neighborhoods, all those who came out to protest against the government of Guillermo Lasso.

There were almost three weeks of roadblocks in the different provinces, mobilizations in the capital, daily repression, a balance of five protesters killed, a country in crisis.

The agreement between the Indigenous movement, in particular the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), and the government took several days to reach. The starting point was Monday, when the parties sat down after two weeks of protests, with the presence of the different branches of government. The government decided the following day not to return to the meeting, not to recognize the main leader Leonidas Iza, and thus to redouble a tension at the limit, crossed by the death of a military officer on Monday morning during a repression in Sucumbios, Amazon region.

On Wednesday, the possibility of the mediation of the Episcopal Conference appeared, which acted as the theater of the meeting on Thursday in the capital. Finally, an agreement was reached after midday. The main point highlighted in the agreement, the 15 cents reduction in gasoline and diesel, left at first the impression of little after 18 days of mobilization, a look that, however, did not seem predominant in the face of an atmosphere of victory.

It was not the only point achieved thanks to one of the longest and most massive displays of force of the Ecuadorian Indigenous movement, against a president with little social legitimacy, but with the support of the sectors of power.

The arm wrestling

Lasso’s government implemented several joint strategies in the face of the uprising that came after a year of his mandate and more than 80% of disapproval. On the one hand, a policy of direct confrontation with Iza, who was arrested at the beginning of the strike, released, and now has an open court case. This attack against the main leader was combined with a discourse to accuse him of being at the head of a coup attempt, and therefore justify a state of exception with militarization and daily and nightly repressive actions, as on Tuesday night, in the popular town of San Miguel de Común, in Quito.

The government sought to show itself in a position of strength in the face of its first major political crisis. That position adopted showed the support of different sectors of power, economic, police, military and political, particularly in one of its most difficult moments: the vote within the National Assembly (NA) to achieve the presidential dismissal promoted by Correismo, something that did not happen for lack of 12 votes.

The calculation of Lasso, the red circle, the factors of power, was that the Indigenous movement could not sustain the strike indefinitely and, consequently, would end up accepting a lower negotiation than the one originally proposed.

CONAIE began the strike with an agenda of ten points which included the reduction of the price of gasoline and diesel; economic relief for 4 million families with moratorium and renegotiation of debts; fair prices for agricultural products; moratorium on the expansion of the extractive mining and oil frontier; respect for the 21 Indigenous collective rights; and a halt to privatizations, among others. An agenda of sectoral demands and at the same time of economic model, with the flag of Ecuador having a central place in the mobilizations. Thus, the Indigenous movement put itself at the head of a national demand through its uprising.

The Conaie leadership’s calculation was, perhaps, that the government would give in before 18 days, as an effect of the crisis unleashed, the economic impacts, and the internal tensions. A re edition of the October 2019 uprising and its dialogue table, but now with real guarantees for the implementation of the agreements. However, the government showed support to be able to prolong the conflict, and the negotiation took place in a framework of attrition due to the days elapsed. What was signed was an expression of this correlation of forces, a crystallization point in a crisis that has been going on since before Lasso’s government and has no end in sight.

The crisis does not end

The national strike achieved several objectives: to double the budget for bilingual education; to strengthen price controls against speculation; to declare an emergency in the health sector; the end of decree 95 of oil policy, subsidy in inputs for small producers, among others.

There will be 90 days to carry out the agreements. How much of what has been agreed will be implemented? Some answers are yet to be seen within a crisis that closed one of its chapters on Thursday and remains latent.

The 2022 strike can be seen as a continuity of the 2019 uprising: massive protests against neoliberal policies and right-wing governments with centrally repressive responses. Lasso’s victory in 2021 meant a deepening of the model reinstalled by former president Lenin Moreno and, therefore, of its consequences and responses to them.

In both cases the Indigenous movement was at the forefront of the protests. Between 2019 and 2022 its presidency changed, now under the leadership of Iza, who became the main political target of the government, which initiated a process of judicialization of the protest. The movement is in turn heterogeneous, as was seen in the difference between the Conaie and its political instrument, Pachakutik. While the former led the uprising, the latter adopted a policy of backing the government in the NA. Many Indigenous congressmen were pressured in their communities to vote against Lasso in the impeachment process that finally did not reach the necessary majority, although it did achieve a simple majority.

The country is now in a moment of post-confrontational tranquility. It is uncertain to know when there will be new protests, surely led by the Indigenous movement that once again showed a capacity for national and massive mobilization, social legitimacy, and a leadership installed at national level in the figure of Iza.

In February 2023 regional elections will take place, which will show the force map at the polls for the government and its allies, Correism, and the Indigenous movement.

Source: Alai, translation, Resumen Latinoamericano – English

https://www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2022/ ... continues/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Fri Jul 15, 2022 3:58 pm

Peru's President Meets With UNCTAD's Top Official

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Peru's President met Tuesday with the Secretary-General of UNCTAD. Jul. 12, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@presidenciaperu

Published 12 July 2022

On Tuesday, the Peruvian President held a meeting with the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Lima's Government Palace hosted the meeting celebrated between Peruvian President Pedro Castillo and the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Rebeca Grynspan.

The session's main objective was to treat cooperation activities to contribute to the reactivation of Peru's economy. Promoting sustainable and inclusive development was also on the agenda of the meeting.

Foreign Affairs Minister Cesar Landa; General Director for Economic Affairs, Ambassador María Eugenia Echeverria; Permanent Representative of Peru at International Organizations based in Geneva, Ambassador Luis Juan Chuquihuara; and Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System Igor Garafulic attended the meeting as well.

Lima-based Torre Tagle Palace —the Foreign Affairs Ministry headquarters hosted last Monday Foreign Affairs Minister Landa and UNCTAD Secretary-General Grynspan, where they signed a letter of intent to promote cooperation opportunities and for the development of projects and capacity programs in various areas of economic and social activity in the Andean country.


The Peruvian Foreign Minister commented on the importance of developing key areas, such as the internationalization of MSMEs, digital economy, sustainable management of marine resources for the benefit of vulnerable populations, and economic empowerment of women, as well as other areas.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Per ... -0020.html

Ecuador: Dialogue on Strike Demands Enters New Phase

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The indigenous organizations demand the resignation and impeachment of the Ministers of the Interior, Patricio Carrillo, and of Defense, Luis Lara, whom they consider responsible for the repression during the national strike. Jul. 12, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@complicefm

Published 12 July 2022

The Ministry of the Interior will supervise the work and progress of each thematic roundtable. The deadline to implement the ten points is 90 days.

The Government of Ecuador and the indigenous organizations that called for the recent national strike plan to establish the ten thematic tables this Wednesday to address the pending issues of the popular mobilization.

According to local media, the tables will be named Focalization of Fuels, Public and Private Banking, Productive Development, Employment, and Labor Rights, and Energy and Natural Resources. The tables in charge of Collective Rights, Higher Education, Price Control, Access to Health, Security, Justice, and Rights completed the list.

It was learned that the Executive scheduled a follow-up of the work of the State portfolios responsible for the roundtables, and it was ratified that the term for implementing the ten points is 90 days. The process supervision will be in charge of the Minister of Government, Francisco Jiménez.

The leaders, delegates, technical teams, and specialists will be responsible for coordinating with the representatives of the indigenous movements the actions, strategies, and plans that will allow the accomplishment of the demands addressed in each roundtable.


This Wednesday starts the dialogue between MinGobiernoEc and CONAIE_Ecuador Each thematic table will be in charge of each responsible State Portfolio in the area of influence. The thematic tables will have delegate facilitators from several Universities.

Organizational work is advancing amid accusations by Lasso and certain ministers that the national strike protests were allegedly financed illegally.

Days ago, the leader of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), Leonidas Iza, rejected the alleged link with drug trafficking and recalled that the mobilization was sustained thanks to the immense solidarity of the Ecuadorian people.

Leaders of the Council of Peoples and Evangelical Indigenous Organizations of Ecuador (Feine) and the National Confederation of Indigenous and Black Organizations (Fenocin), also organizers of the strike, made similar statements.


Iza accused Lasso of maintaining a discriminatory and criminalizing protest discourse and said that the president does not help the dialogue process with this attitude.

While this was happening, these organizations demanded that the ministers of the Interior, Patricio Carrillo, and of Defense, Luis Lara, resign from their posts and that the National Assembly initiate an impeachment trial against them for the repression during the national strike.

In a resolution approved this weekend, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (Confeniae) demanded the Government assume responsibility for the excessive use of force, which resulted in the death of five demonstrators, thousands of injured, arrests, persecution, and criminalization.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ecu ... -0021.html

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They investigate the president of Peru for influence peddling

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President Pedro Castillo was summoned to testify by the Prosecutor's Office on August 4. | Photo: The Republic - Presidency
Published 14 July 2022

Castillo's lawyer described as virtually illegal the decision of the Prosecutor's Office and will file an appeal for annulment.

The prosecutor of Peru, Patricia Benavides, reopened the investigation for influence peddling of President Pedro Castillo, reports a statement from the Peruvian Public Ministry on Wednesday.

The official conducts a preliminary investigation into the alleged crime of pressure for the promotion of some officers in the Armed Forces and is summoned to testify on August 4.

The decision annuls the measure of Zoraida Ávalos, her predecessor, to freeze the case until the end of Castillo's presidential term because she enjoys immunity and the intentions to break the law did not materialize.


According to Ávalos, the postponement responded to the fact that the commanders had confirmed that none of the promotions requested by the president had been carried out.

The Prosecutor's Office also calls Bruno Pacheco, Castillo's former secretary and currently a fugitive from justice, businessmen Karelim López and Zamir Villaverde, and six army officers to testify.


For his part, Castillo's lawyer described the Prosecutor's decision as virtually illegal and will file an appeal for annulment.

Judicial authorities assure that the acting president can only be investigated preliminarily and if evidence appears, it would have to continue when he completes his term.

However, the opposition hopes that they will find irrefutable evidence so that Parliament decides to dismiss Castillo for permanent moral incapacity, an argument that has failed twice before.

“We show our faces, we do not flee the country, much less take refuge in an embassy; We have a clear conscience, we act in accordance with the law and the commitments assumed with the people, "Castillo published on his social networks at the end of 2021 when he was questioned as a witness by the Prosecutor's Office.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/investig ... -0006.html

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Electoral politics, the problem is They own it.

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National Strike in Panama Demands Justice for the Poor
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JULY 14, 2022
Peoples Dispatch

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The people of Panama have been on the streets since July 1 to demand the government take urgent measures to combat the growing economic and social crisis. Photo: SUNTRACS/Twitter

For almost two weeks, tens of thousands of Panamanians have been taking to the streets across the country protesting the cost of living crisis and lack of of response and attention from the government of President Laurentino Cortizo


Since July 1, tens of thousands of workers, teachers, students, doctors, and members of social movements have been mobilizing across Panama protesting the high cost of living and lack of support from the conservative government of President Laurentino Cortizo. The People United for Life Alliance, a platform that brings together various social movements and trade unions from across diverse sectors, has presented before the national government a list of 32 demands that address the grave economic, political, and social crises facing the country.

Este pueblo está cabre’ao.
Este pueblo está cabre’ao
Este pueblo está cabre’ao pic.twitter.com/QWQHsUASuJ

— 𝕊𝕌ℕ𝕋ℝ𝔸ℂ𝕊 ℂℍ𝕀ℝ𝕀ℚ𝕌𝕀 (@SuntracsC) July 13, 2022


The demands include freezing the price of fuel and basic commodities, a general increase in salaries and pensions, freezing the price of medicine and resolving the lack of supply, greater budget for public education and healthcare sectors, better working conditions in the education and health sectors, repairing of schools, hospitals, roads, and other public infrastructure, measures to combat corruption, rejecting the four bilateral US-Panama military bases, policies to support the Indigenous communities and ensure the respect of their autonomy, withdrawal of the austerity measures such as 10% reduction of the state workforce and a voluntary retirement program for public sector employees, among others.

On Monday, July 11, after violently repressing nationwide demonstrations for ten days, the government finally agreed to negotiate with the representatives of the United People for Life Alliance and the National Alliance for the Rights of the Organized People (ANADEPO) to end the protests, roadblocks and vigils that have paralyzed the principal economic activities in the country.

Following the meeting, on Monday evening, President Cortizo froze the price of fuel at USD 3.95 per gallon, and announced that he would approve a decree to put an end to the increase in the prices of 10 products of the basic family basket.

However, the people’s alliances rejected the measures, deeming them insufficient. They called on the citizens to organize in large numbers and maintain the social pressure, demanding concrete responses to face the rampant inflation worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

On Monday night, general secretary of the Single Union of Construction Workers (SUNTRACS), Saúl Méndez, affirmed that the strike would continue, and the organizations’ representatives would continue to dialogue with the government representatives.

“Tomorrow (Tuesday) we are going to carry out the actions that we have planned for in the morning hours, and the march in the afternoon. On Wednesday, there will be a 24-hour national strike in the construction, education, health, transportation and other sectors if no convincing answers to the needs of the people are received,” said Méndez. “We have proposed a list of 32 demands and the government has not referred to the rest of the points that we have stated, and naturally we will be here again,” he added.

Méndez stressed the crises facing Panama were a result of the decades of exploitation under capitalist economic models. “The accumulated problems are the result of a neoliberal model imposed by the economic elites and seven successive governments of traditional parties that profit from the needs of the people,” said Méndez, calling on the people to remain united, disciplined and firm in claiming a decent life for all.

On Tuesday, July 12, massive marches were held in several provinces of the Central American country including the capital Panama City, Veraguas, Chiriquí and Colón, among others.

#PuebloUnido#JusticiaParaLosPobres #PuebloNoAguantaMás
Alianza por el pueblo unido por la vida
La pelea es peleando 🔥 pic.twitter.com/WOYm5JcSUt

— Suntracs Oficial ⚒ (@suntracs1) July 12, 2022




La marcha sigue La alianza del pueblo unido por la vida de los panameños sigue creciendo. pic.twitter.com/TPVt7FNYMA

— ASOPROF (@ASOPROF30) July 12, 2022

In the absence of a response from the government, trade unions and social movements such as the Interior Transportation Workers Council (CONTRADIN), the National Central of Workers of Panama (CNTP), the Association of Doctors, Dentists and Professionals Related to the Social Security Fund (AMOASS), the Association of Teachers of Panama (ASOPROF), the Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture of Panama (CCIAP), the National Confederation of Independent Trade Union Unity (CONUSI), the National Front for the Defense of Economic and Social Rights (FRENADESO), the National Coordinator of Indigenous Peoples of Panama (COONAPIP), among others, expressed their full support for the decision to continue the national strike.

On July 13 thousands took to the streets in different cities as part of a national day of mobilization.

Así se está moviendo la huelga en las calles.
Este pueblo está cabrea’o
Este pueblo está cabrea’o
Este pueblo está cabrea’o
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
HUELGA GENERAL por RESPETO AL PUEBLO
CENTARIO pic.twitter.com/uWWkJAi79O

— Suntracs Oficial ⚒ (@suntracs1) July 13, 2022


A recent survey, conducted by local news channels, showed that 94% of those consulted support the national strike, validating the widespread social discontent against the Cortizo government.

Social media networks provide further evidence of the growing popular dissatisfaction against the ruling right-wing government. Thousands of people, on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, have been expressing their support for the national strike, posting photos and videos of the massive protests with hashtags such as #PuebloUnido (#UnitedPeople), #TrabajadoresUnidos (#WorkersUnited), #AbajoLosPrecios (#LowerThePrices), #JusticiaParaLosPobres (#JusticeForThePoor), #PuebloNoAguantaMás (#PeopleCannotTolorateAnymore), among others.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/07/ ... -the-poor/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Sun Jul 17, 2022 1:57 pm

After Ecuadorians, Panamanians Also Say ‘No More Pillaging’
JULY 14, 2022

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Strikers walking in the streets with a banner saying low cost of living. Photo: Suntracs.

By Gustavo A. Maranges – Jul 10, 2022

The situation in Panama is becoming increasingly tense as more people join in what has become a permanent strike expressed in street protests. During the last few weeks, there have been several strikes in the transportation sector, particularly in agricultural transportation, but the government has not offered any solutions to the demands so far.

The lack of response has generated growing discontent, and since last Thursday, teachers have joined the transport workers declaring a permanent strike, paralyzing a large part of the country’s economic activity. The strike is now being supported by several powerful unions, such as the People United for Life Alliance and the National Confederation of Independent Trade Union Unity (CONUSI), which means over 250,000 workers are withholding their labor.

According to the representatives of these organizations, the main demand is to stop the increases in fuel prices, which a few days ago reached USD $6 per gallon. They also demand an increase in salaries, and investments in public education.

The increase in fuel prices has had a remarkable impact on the cost of living, especially food, which affects not only the transporters but all Panamanian people. Therefore, CONUSI President Marco Andrade affirmed this is not only a union strike but a strike to improve the living conditions of all the people.

The strike has also mobilized several other sectors of society which have been greatly affected by the high prices of food and fuels. In response to this situation, President Laurentino Cortizo’s government capped the price of gasoline at USD $3.95 per gallon for some social groups, and offered subsidies ranging between USD $250 to USD $1,525 per month to agricultural transporters, but these are obvious stopgap measures to buy some time.

The government also invited strikers to negotiate in Veraguas. The table was set up on Saturday, but no results came of it, because the government delegation headed by Education Minister Maruja Gorday did not present any tangible solutions, causing anger among union representatives, who took it as an insulting maneuver.

“We are open to dialogue, but dialogue to get results; we do not believe in a dialogue where the government tells us that everything we put forward is not possible. The people can’t take anymore,” Andrade said after the first contact.

Given the government’s manipulation, both People United for Life Alliance and CONUSI have decided to maintain the highway blockades and public rallies, although the government has reiterated a call for another dialogue on Monday, July 11. Next week, several Indigenous organizations confirmed their support for the strike, which will have an even greater impact on the economy.

The protests in Panama join those that have already taken place in Ecuador. These are two processes have very similar roots with similar demands. It is really another expression against the neoliberal model that is sweeping the region. The Panamanian government has tried to avoid an escalation of social pressure, particularly considering how the crisis in Ecuador developed. However, its genuine willingness to solve the demands appears dubious at best, after the first meeting in Veraguas.

Latin America has become one of the most vulnerable regions on the planet. High levels of inequality, the impact of the pandemic, and the current energy crisis have worsened the living conditions of the poorest sectors. This, alongside neoliberal policies seeking larger profits for corporations, has been the main social trigger in both cases, Panama and Ecuador.

It is difficult to imagine that, in a context where millions of people see their family economies affected by the high price of fuels, transnational oil companies and distributors might have profit peaks. It simply constitutes pillaging of those who barely have enough to feed their families. However hard it may be to believe, it is the reality neoliberalism has imposed on a large part of the continent. Taking a glance at countries like Mexico, Bolivia, or Venezuela can confirm part of this thesis. Those governments have decided to invest in the most precious asset they have: people, and not corporations.

Panama is another example of how harmful neoliberalism can be to Latin America. The lack of public investment and neglect of those in need is the daily routine for some other countries in the region. Therefore, the strength of social movements will surely be felt if those governments do not take the necessary measures to stop the plummeting living conditions of workers and their families. Latin America is rising and the great fear of the almighty US is evaporating.

(Resumen Latinoamericano – English)

https://orinocotribune.com/after-ecuado ... pillaging/

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Ecuadorian President Investigated for Arrest of Indigenous Leader

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Based on the Penal Code, the public official who illegally deprives a person of liberty will be punished with a prison sentence of one to three years. | Photo: PL
Published July 16, 2022 (9 hours 27 minutes ago)

The Ecuadorian president and the ministers of the interior and defense have not commented on this investigation against him.

The State Attorney General's Office (FGE) launched an investigation against Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso, due to the arrest of indigenous leader Leonidas Iza during the protests last June, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie) reported this Friday.

The Conaie specified that the investigation that the FGE began also includes the Ministers of the Interior and Defense, Patricio Carrillo and Luis Lara, respectively.

According to the entity, the complaint is based on the conditions in which the leader of the organization was apprehended, at dawn on the second day of protests against the government's neoliberal measures and for responses to demands from the indigenous movement on transcendental issues for the Majority of the population.


He added that among the aforementioned irregularities, it was found that Iza was arrested without a court order, he was transferred to Quito without information; in addition to being accused of committing a crime in flagrante delicto.

Defense attorney Carlos Poveda warned that the crime could be aggravated as a crime against humanity, because days before the start of the strike, Iza's and other leaders' phones were tapped, accounts were manipulated, and persecutions with police officers began.

If considered a crime against humanity, the sentence would be 16 to 30 years in prison.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/ecuador- ... -0027.html

Peruvian Congress approves report that recommends impeaching the president

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The report of the Supervisory Commission was approved with 72 votes in favor, 40 against and zero abstentions. | Photo: EFE
Published 16 July 2022

The report will be sent to the Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations, which will follow up on the issue in the next legislature.

The plenary session of the Peruvian Congress approved this Friday a report that recommends constitutionally charging President Pedro Castillo for leading an alleged criminal organization.

With 72 votes in favor, 40 against and zero abstentions, the legislators approved the final report of the Oversight Commission.

The conclusions and recommendations of the investigation propose to proceed against President Castillo regarding alleged irregular acts, stating that since July 28, 2021, the head of state leads a criminal organization.

This irregular structure would be made up of public officials and individuals who would be operating within the Ministry of Transport and Communications.


The report maintains that the president allegedly committed the crime of collusion by conditioning the granting of contracts in exchange for economic benefits.

The report mentions alleged acts of corruption in the award of the Puente Tarata project, in the military promotions of 2021 and for the discovery of $20,000 in the office of former Secretary of the Presidency, Bruno Pacheco.

This report, after being approved, will be sent to the Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations, which will follow up on the issue in the next legislature, which begins at the end of July.

Castillo has avoided testifying before the Oversight Commission under the legal argument that he cannot be investigated or prosecuted during his administration, except in cases of alleged treason against the country, for the closure of Congress or for preventing elections.

(Accidentally deleted link before finishing paste, when I went back for it I couldn't find it, may have been pulled. Which might indicate that this story be taken with a grain of salt.)

They denounce the militarization of the southern macro zone of Chile

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The state of exception in the Araucanía region has been in effect since May 17. | Photo: EFE
Published 17 July 2022

The Chilean Government maintains a State of Emergency Constitutional Exception in force in the provinces of Cautín, Malleco, Arauco and Biobío.

Around 25 military vehicles arrived this Saturday in the so-called Southern Macro Zone of Chile, which covers the provinces of Cautín, Malleco, Arauco and Biobío, local media reported.

In a message posted on the Twitter social network, the user Sergio Andrés stated: They are militarizing the wallmapu!!… this is a political conflict, how do they not understand it!!. This was the speech of those who are now in government, right?

Meanwhile, the teleSUR correspondent in Chile, Paola Dragnic, published: “URGENT The Boric War: 25 military vehicles arrive in Wallmapu. They passed through CholChol and 12 advance to Galvarino, where there is Mapuche territorial recovery against the businessman J.Sutil. On Route S-40 Nva Imperial collides 1 military truck, 1 forestry and 1 private car.


Other messages indicated that the reinforcement of the military and police presence in the Macro South Zone occurred due to the alert of the seizure of coves by members of the Coordinator of Communities in Conflict Arauco-Malleco (CAM), an ethnic nationalist Mapuche group, considered by the Chilean authorities as a terrorist.


In southern Chile, there has been a conflict for decades between the Mapuche indigenous people, the State and forestry business groups.

The Chilean Government maintains a State of Emergency Constitutional Exception in force in the provinces of Cautín, Malleco, Arauco and Biobío, focused mainly on the control of roads and land communication routes.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/chile-de ... -0001.html

Google Translator

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Ecuador: Gov. Presents Proposals to Indigenous Movement

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The Ecuadorian Government introduced a proposal answering the demands made by the CONAIE. Jul. 15, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@ElUniversal
Published 15 July 2022

The indigenous movement will analyze the proposal and evaluate its viability. If accepted, there would be the first agreement between parties.

Thursday, during the second day of work between the indigenous movement and the Government, was installed, who presented a proposal at the thematic table on the moratorium on public and private banking.

CONAIE, FEINE, and FENOCIN requested financial policies aimed at vulnerable sectors, the management of possible moratoriums, and the forgiveness of credit debts.

One of the proposals introduced by BanEcuador establishes that for amounts between $3 000 and $10 000, the debt should be restructured for up to 10 years.

From the National Corporation of Popular and Solidarity Finance (CONAFIPS), Roberto Romero, president of the Board of Directors, informed that they presented proposals to inject more resources into the cooperatives so that there are more credits for medium, small and micro companies in the country.


"Today's session has been quite productive," concluded the minister about the first two thematic tables set up between the Government and social organizations.

The executive president of the Association of Private Banks, Marco Rodríguez, highlighted the financial responsibility of managing bank funds of depositors and investors.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ecu ... -0023.html

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Alba-TCP condemns measures imposed by the US on Nicaragua

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The sanction includes the revocation or prohibition of a US visa; and the prohibition of entry or admission to that country of such officials. | Photo: DW
Published July 17, 2022 (2 hours 5 minutes ago)

The regional bloc urged the international community to denounce this type of actions that violate the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

The Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America-People's Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) condemned the unilateral coercive measures imposed by the United States (USA) against 23 Nicaraguan judges and prosecutors.

In a statement issued this Saturday on its official Twitter platform account, the bloc stressed that this measure imposed illegally and illegitimately seeks to politically and socially destabilize that Central American country.

To which they added a call to the international community "to denounce this type of aggression that violates the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter."


Similarly, the regional bloc ratified its position of support in solidarity with the Nicaraguan people and government, as well as in the search for reconciliation and unity of the nation.

The measure imposed by the Department of State includes the revocation or prohibition of a US visa; and the prohibition of entry or admission to that country of such officials; based on the Law to Strengthen Nicaragua's Adherence to the Conditions for Electoral Reform, known as the Renacer Law.

This coercive measure imposed by the US on Nicaragua is added to several of a unilateral nature dictated by the White House to other countries such as Venezuela, Cuba and Russia; to the latter country increased after the start of the armed conflict with Ukraine.

These attempts to establish a hegemonic power and curb positions of multilateralism on the part of Washington have found rejection not only in the ALBA-TCP, but also in the international community and in dissimilar forums of various kinds.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/alba-con ... -0005.html

Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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