Re: South America
Posted: Mon May 29, 2023 2:54 pm
South American Summit in Brazil: President Maduro to Participate, Boluarte Declines
MAY 28, 2023
Headquarters of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Brazil, the Itamaraty Palace, in Brasilia. File photo.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, was invited to participate in the 2023 South American Summit convened by the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. President Maduro is expected to arrive in Brasilia on May 29. The summit will take place the next day, May 30.
The Brazilian president invited the heads of state of the other 11 countries of the region to participate in the summit: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Peru will be the only South American country that will not be represented by the president at the summit, the Foreign Ministry of Brazil reported on Friday, May 27. The de-facto president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, excused herself by arguing that she cannot leave the country without parliamentary authorization. Peru will be represented by the president of the council of ministers, according to the Brazilian Foreign Ministry.
According to analysts, Boluarte might be trying to avoid being questioned for the more than 70 deaths in police and military repression on peaceful protest by humble Peruvians who consider the ousting of President Pedro Castillo as a coup. The coup put Boluarte in power with the help of the Peruvian Congress, something labeled by many as a parliamentary coup d’etat.
The summit, scheduled for May 30, has four main priorities on its agenda: revitalization of South American integration, repositioning South America on the global stage, rethinking South America as a region of peace and cooperation, and the reactivation of UNASUR. The “main objective is to resume dialogue” between the countries of the region “that have not met for many years,” explained Gisela Padovan, secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry.
The Brazilian government expects the summit to discuss the possibility of “returning to a South American integration mechanism” that will be “permanent, inclusive and modern” and that will include the 12 countries of the region, regardless of the political ideology of the government of any of the countries.
Padovan stressed that the integration mechanism should not be fractured, thus distancing Brazil’s stance from that of organizations promoted in recent years such as Prosur. Prosur and the Pacific Pact, among others, are regional organizations with very limited and ideological scope created under Washington’s pressure to counter UNASUR and CELAC.
Brazil-Venezuela relationship
Relations between Brazil and Venezuela are in a new productive stage with the coming to power of Lula da Silva, in addition to a new wave of progressive governments that have embraced again the dream of unity of the Latin American independence heroes.
Recently, the Venezuelan ambassador to Brazil, Manuel Vadell, presented his credentials to the Brazilian president, which has been described by President Maduro as “a big step.”
The Venezuelan president stated that the appointment of ambassadors “constitutes a new starting point for the consolidation of the union between the two sister nations,” after years of attacks from Brazilian right-wing governments against Venezuela following Washington’s failed “regime change” attempt.
Open format
The summit will take place in a single day, with two sessions, one in the morning in which all the presidents will make opening remarks, and another in the afternoon, which will consist of an “informal” dialogue between the presidents.
This format aims to encourage the presidents to freely exchange ideas, and to identify the “common denominators” that serve as a basis for resuming the integration process of South America, according to the Brazilian Foreign Ministry.
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The Ecuador of Guillermo Lasso
MAY 27, 2023
Ecuador’s incumbent president Guillermo Lasso failed the people of his country during his short two-year term in office. Photo: Twitter/@LassoGuillermo.
By Tanya Wadhwa – May 27, 2023
During Lasso’s two years in office, Ecuador has registered the highest annual inflation of the decade, the highest rate of homicide in seven years, mass migration, and unprecedented drug-related activities.
On Wednesday morning, May 17, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso decreed the dissolution of the country’s parliament using a never-before-tested constitutional clause known as “cross-death,” which triggered early presidential and legislative elections, and caused the premature end of his presidential term and plunged the country into an unprecedented political crisis.
The dissolution of parliament took place a day after the body began an impeachment hearing against Lasso. He is accused of corruption and embezzlement of public funds. He argued that there was a “serious political crisis and internal commotion” in the country, and that the dissolution of the opposition majority parliament was a “constitutional solution” and a “democratic action.”
The “political crisis and internal commotion” however, was not because the Congress dared to investigate the president’s acts of wrongdoing, but rather because of Lasso’s questionable governance. According to a survey conducted in February 2023, 85% of Ecuadorians disapproved of Lasso as president.
While Lasso has now successfully avoided the possibility of being investigated and removed from office, it is necessary to recall the track record of the two-year banker turned president and what his administration has meant for the country.
Economic crisis
In December 2022, Ecuador registered its highest annual inflation of the decade: a record 3.74%, according to a report by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses of Ecuador (INEC). The items whose cost increased the most in 2022 included food products and non-alcoholic beverages, transportation, various goods and services, restaurants and hotels, furniture and household items, education, healthcare, and rent, water, electricity and gas services.
The INEC also reported that the cost of the basic family basket, consisting of 75 essential products, reached USD 763.44 in December 2022, and that of the vital family basket, made up of 73 products, but less in quantity and quality than the basic basket, reached USD 538.96.
Additionally, according to a recent study conducted by the INEC, 53.5% of the workers were employed in the informal sector in the first quarter of 2023. The figure represented an increase of 2.4% as compared to the same period in 2022. The situation was much worse in the rural areas, where 76.9% of the workforce is in the informal sector.
The survey also indicates that, in the first three months of the year, the average monthly income of this sector was USD 379.60. Likewise, in rural areas, the monthly income was around USD 219.70. Jobs in the informal sector are generally unstable, with low wages, and without social security or rights, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO).
Security crisis
Since January 2022, Ecuador has been witnessing a concerning spike in criminal violence, especially in the Pacific coastal regions. Assassins have been targeting judicial officials and killing police officers as well as citizens at record rates.
The Lasso government blames drug trafficking gangs for it, arguing that due to Ecuador’s location, between Colombia and Peru, the world’s leading cocaine producers, the country has become a key transit point for drug shipments to the United States and Europe.
In March, the president declared a 60-day state of emergency in the coastal provinces of Esmeraldas, Guayas, Los Ríos and Santa Elena, and deployment of the military to the streets. However, the murders have continued to take place, something that severely affects the credibility of the government.
In 2022, Ecuador recorded the highest rate of homicide in seven years: 25 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. In 2021, the rate was 13.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, which means in one year an increase of 82.5% was recorded.
Migration crisis
The deteriorating socio-economic conditions have forced thousands of Ecuadorians to leave their country and take on a perilous journey to the US in search of a better life. For years, Ecuadorian migrants have argued poverty and unemployment as reasons for migration. Now they are also citing the growing insecurity in the country as one of the causes.
There has been an alarming increase in Ecuadorian migrants crossing the Darién gap jungle that separates Colombia from Panama, an extremely dangerous trek. In January, the Panama Migration Office revealed that Ecuadorian was the second nationality that most crosses the Darién pass. During 2022, around 30,000 Ecuadorians crossed the jungle.
June 2022 national strike
In June 2022, hundreds of thousands of Ecuadorians mobilized across the country as a part of an indefinite national strike against the anti-people economic policies of the Lasso government and the increasing insecurity in the country. The strike was called for by various Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and peasant organizations, with a set of ten demands that address the urgent needs of the majority of Ecuador’s population in the face of rising inflation and cost of living crisis.
The demands included the reduction and freezing of fuel prices; provision of employment opportunities and labor guarantees; putting an end to privatization of public companies; introduction of price control policies for essential products; allocation of greater budget for public education and health sectors; protection to people from banking and finance sectors; provision of fair prices for agricultural products; an end to drug trafficking, kidnappings and violence; bans on mining and oil exploitation activities in Indigenous territories and near water resources; and respect of the collective rights of Indigenous peoples and nationalities.
After over two weeks of nationwide social protests and roadblocks, the government agreed to make concessions on some of its policies. It signed an agreement with organizations to end the strike and advance the negotiation process to address the social demands raised by them.
In October, the organizations and the Lasso government concluded the negotiations after three months of talks without agreements on all points.
Six were killed and over three hundred were injured during the protests before reaching an agreement. Following the strike, the National Assembly held the first impeachment vote to remove Lasso from power for unleashing brutal repression against social protests. Lasso survived the vote by a margin of just two votes.
Prison crisis
Ecuador’s prison system has also been going through a severe crisis since the end of 2020. Prisons across the country have been plagued by shootings, riots and violent confrontations. According to official data, since January 2021, 442 prisoners have been killed in the state’s custody in different massacres in prisons.
The Lasso government has blamed drug trafficking gangs fighting for control of prisons as well as territory and drug trafficking routes outside prisons for the crisis. Nevertheless, human rights organizations have highlighted that overcrowding, negligence of the authorities, and absence of crime prevention policies in the country are the fundamental reasons.
Drug-trafficking and the Lasso government
The Lasso government is trying to play the victim, but investigations have revealed that it may be intimately linked to the reason behind the worsening of the illegal drug trade and related violence in the country.
In January, digital media outlet La Posta published a series of documents and audio recordings that linked various government officials and Lasso’s brother-in-law, Danilo Carrera, with alleged acts of corruption and drug trafficking.
La Posta’s investigative report, called El Gran Padrino or The Great Godfather, revealed an alleged criminal structure for the appointment of positions and public contracts in exchange for money in state companies, linking Danilo Carrera’s friend and businessman Rubén Chérres —murdered in April—, and with various government officials, such as Hernán Luque, fugitive former president of the Coordinating Company of Public Companies (EMCO). According to the report, Chérres, Luque, and Carrera managed appointments to high positions within public companies and ministries, and decided which private companies work with the State in exchange for bribes.
The report also revealed Chérres’ alleged links with the members of the Albanian mafia, and that the mafia had chosen Ecuador as a strategic point for drug trafficking operations. It alleged that since Chérres and Carrera possessed influence over key institutions, such as the Customs service and the Ministry of Energy, they helped the members of the mafia disguise themselves under the facades of big businessmen and launder assets and promote arms and human trafficking in the country.
La Posta’s report details information from an investigative report prepared by the Anti-Narcotics Police of Ecuador between May and July 2021.
The impeachment trial
The publication of the report by the media outlet led the Prosecutor’s Office to initiate investigation against several public officials within public companies for the crimes bribery and corruption. The epicenter of the investigation in the EMCO were the public oil transportation company Ecuadorian Oil Fleet (FLOPEC) and the electricity company Electrical Corporation of Ecuador (CELEC).
In March, the opposition majority congress asked to start impeachment proceedings against the head of state. The Constitutional Court approved the request by opposition legislators to impeach Lasso politically for the crime of embezzlement of public funds, related to a contract signed between the FLOPEC and the private Amazonas Tanker Pool company.
The motion, presented by congresswoman Viviana Veloz of the left-wing opposition Union for Hope alliance (UNES) bench, detailed that there was evidence of “the diversion or distraction of the funds generated annually by these pools of companies with which LOPEC had a contractual relationship in the transportation of crude oil.” It also argued that Lasso “defined the continuation of oil transportation contracts in favor of third parties, conscious that they represented a loss for the state.”
For his part, Lasso rejected the existence of a structure or network of corruption in his government and public energy companies. He denied the accusations, arguing that the contract was signed under the previous administration of former President Lenín Moreno in 2018, and that under his administration profitable changes were made to the contract based on advice from the Comptroller General’s Office.
Pandora papers
In October 2021, Lasso was also implicated in corruption and financial crimes, after offshore companies owned by him were mentioned in the Pandora Papers. The Pandora Papers uncovered a complex web of tax havens, shell corporations, and offshore accounts that hide the true ownership of billions of dollars of assets.
A law passed in 2017 prohibits elected officials from holding assets and capital in tax havens. Following the allegations in the Pandora Papers, Lasso made several public statements declaring that he had not violated the law. He also released his financial documents in support of his claim. He said that while he had previously invested in foreign companies and held money in foreign accounts, he had sold them off after he dedicated himself to politics.
At the time, the National Assembly voted to only question him instead of removing him from office.
https://orinocotribune.com/the-ecuador- ... rmo-lasso/
Uruguay: It Is Time for Self-Criticism
MAY 27, 2023
Palestinians march in Gaza City to observe Land Day. Photo: Reuters.
By María Landi – May 19, 2023
On May 15, the 75th anniversary of Nakba, the ethnic cleansing that destroyed Palestine and established the State of Israel on its ruins was commemorated with events, marches and activities around the world, including in Latin America. In Uruguay, however, the date went unnoticed in institutions and civil society [1]. It is a paradox that in Uruguay, May is the Month of Memory, and that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the civic-military coup, and at the same time, in Uruguay the Nakba continues to be, three-quarters of a century later, a memory denied, silenced, ignored. In short, we accept the memoricide that the Zionist project imposed on the Palestinian reality [2].
Perhaps this is a phenomenon worthy of further study: why in Uruguay the Palestinian issue is not known, not studied—at any level of formal education—and, therefore, not understood.
It is also pertinent to ask why Uruguay has never made a self-criticism about the role that its representative played in the UNSCOP: the special commission formed in 1947 within the nascent United Nations (which barely had 50 member states) and in which Uruguay promoted the partition of Palestine to hand over 56% of its territory to a movement of European settlers who had been in the country for a few decades, made up less than a third of its population, and owned less than 6% of the land. As Luis Sabini Fernandez explains in a lapidary analysis [3], the representatives of the progressive governments of Guatemala (then headed by Juan J. Arévalo) and Uruguay (under Luis Batlle) [4], both aligned with the US neocolonial leadership, were instrumental in persuading their Latin American peers to vote for the partition of Palestine. Worse still, Uruguay’s sin dates back to 1917, as it was one of the few countries to sign the Balfour Declaration, by which the foreign minister of the British Empire formally promised the British Zionist movement his government’s support for the establishment of a “Jewish national home” in Palestine.
From a decolonial point of view, the lack of sensitivity to the existence, interests, and will of the original Arab population, who for centuries had constructed social, religious, and cultural institutions as well as a vibrant society and economy in Palestine, is inadmissible today; and yet—with typical colonialist contempt for the natives—was ignored by the European imperialist power, which gave away a country that did not belong to it to a colonizing movement whose explicit intention was to build in that strategic region a “bulwark of Western culture against barbarism” [5].
Colonialism is in the DNA of Uruguay, a country created for the interests of the British Empire, populated by successive waves of European immigrants, which still has problems with recognizing its indigenous and African roots [6]. But it is inadmissible that, almost 80 years later, Uruguay still finds more natural affinities with the white Ashkenazis who colonized Palestine and has so many difficulties to feel any empathy towards the Palestinian people, who have been resisting since then a project of territorial colonization, military occupation, and legalized apartheid.
I am not interested in analyzing why the Uruguayan right wing sympathizes with the Zionist project embodied in the State of Israel; the similarities of interests is evident. Instead, what deserves a serious analysis is why the left practices what Palestinian activists call PEP (progressives except for Palestine). The examples of close relations between the Uruguayan left and organized Zionism are many and longstanding. Senior leaders of the leftist bloc Frente Amplio, as well as renowned leftist intellectuals, political analysts, academics, human rights defenders, etc., have received from the hands of the Israeli Central Committee of Uruguay (CCIU) the Jerusalem Award, commemorating the “reunification of Jerusalem,” which is nothing but the occupation and annexation of East Jerusalem by Israel, an act considered illegal by the UN (a position that Uruguay, in theory, supports). Did any of them bother to find out what the award they were accepting represented? Is it ignorance, or is it fear of contradicting a powerful economic and media lobby?
The list of sins is extensive and spans the region. In 2007, Mercosur, under progressive governments with the exception of Paraguay, signed a free trade agreement with Israel (the bloc’s first with a country outside the region). It is true that Uruguay formally recognized the Palestinian state; but it did so only in 2011, a year after every one of its Mercosur partners had done so. In 2017, the mayor of Montevideo, Daniel Martínez organized, together with the Israeli embassy, a gala at the Solis Theater to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the creation of that State (completely ignoring the 70 years of Palestinian suffering). In 2020, a month before leaving the government, Tabaré Vázquez adopted the questionable and problematic definition of anti-Semitism created by the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance), which qualifies criticism of the policies of the State of Israel as anti-Semitic. And in 2022, the Frente Amplio voted for a staunch defender of the criminal policies of the State of Israel and its systematic violations of international law, one who also lobbies for Uruguay to vote against Palestinian rights at the UN, to become a member of the National Human Rights Institution.
We must not forget that numerous leaders of the left as well as of the trade union, university, business, scientific, cultural and sports circles—with or without Jewish roots—have traveled to Israel, have studied there, have marveled at the economic and technological miracle of that country, but have never been interested in knowing how the Palestinian population lives (not only in the occupied territories, where these Uruguayans have never set foot, but even inside the Israeli territory), nor how billions of dollars of US aid sustains that “miracle,” nor the very foundations on which the so-called exclusive and exclusionary “Jewish State” was built (especially the plight of the Bedouin indigenous communities). Thus, the Uruguayan left, by action or by omission, ends up being aligned with the colonizers and occupiers, and not with their victims. Yet the left, and not just the Uruguayan left, cultivates the fantasy (I do not mean hypocrisy) that they can be in solidarity with the Palestinian people without bothering their oppressor and even maintaining normal relations with the same oppressor.
It is therefore understandable that this so-called left would experience cognitive dissonance when, after decades of condemnations by Palestinians, major Israeli and international human rights organizations finally recognize, as they have done in recent years, that “the only democracy in the Middle East” is in reality an apartheid state: a racist regime of Jewish supremacy, built on the elimination, expulsion, segregation, and discrimination of the Palestinian people who do not really constitute a minority but more than half of the population living between the Mediterranean and the Jordan river, in addition to the fact that the Palestinian refugee population is double that number, and that “demographic threat” is the reason why they are not allowed to return to their ancestral land.
A separate chapter should be devoted to media of the entire ideological spectrum, which do not address the Palestinian issue, or do so in an inadequate manner to give an account of the ping-pong of aggressions from both sides, always without context or causal analysis. In the media programs and sections of international politics, Palestine does not exist, and it is better to ignore it than to mess with the powerful lobby and its allies. Years and years of Israeli investment in the well-served “annual press junkets” have paid good dividends.
Thus, it is not surprising that, across the political spectrum, Tyrians and Trojans seek the front rows to commemorate with the CCIU the night of broken glass, but little do they care that in Palestine every night is a night of broken glass (and broken houses, crops, ancient olive trees, water reservoirs, solar panels, tractors, vehicles, schools, mosques, animals, and human bodies) carried out by Israeli soldiers or by gangs of armed settlers, now formally integrated into the colonial army under a terrorist Minister of Security who never stops encouraging this violence.
What is the importance of remembering the Nakba, beyond the moral duty to break the silence and fight against memoricide, the denial of the existence, identity and centuries of history of the Palestinian people in their land, before they were dispossessed of it? In the reality of Uruguay, a country where the Zionist project has never been critically analyzed, nor has its responsibility for making it possible been reviewed, remembering the Nakba is important in order to get out of the epistemic trap of interpreting the Palestinian question as a conflict between two peoples disputing a territory, which is nothing more than applying the theory of the two demons, putting on an equal footing the oppressor and the oppressed, the occupier and the occupied, the colonizer and the colonized.
With this logic, one tends to consider that the core of the “conflict” lies in the 1967 occupation. As if the Zionist colonization of Palestine prior to 1947—with the complicity of the imperialist powers—did not involve any injustice towards the native Arab population. As if UN Resolution 181 had been equitative. As if the State of Israel had always been there; as if 1948 had been “a war” and not a deliberate plan (Plan Dalet) of ethnic cleansing, destruction of Palestinians’ villages and theft of property, massacres and expulsion of 750,000 people who today, together with their descendants, number 7 million and continue to live as stateless refugees. As if the UN resolutions from 1949 onwards were just and not a violation of its own founding charter, since these resolutions legitimized the establishment of Israel in 78% of the Palestinian territory (even more than the 56% granted by the already unjust Resolution 181) despite the fact that it was territory acquired through a war of conquest.
The Nakba refutes these naturalized myths and reminds us of the need to decolonize the analysis in order to understand that the root cause of the oldest problem that persists on the UN agenda, with grave consequences for a region that has never again experienced a day of peace, is the colonial, racist and supremacist project, which has materialized in a system of apartheid that should not be tolerated in the 21st century.
A number of Jewish organizations throughout the world have reached this conclusion, such as Jewish Voice for Peace (USA), Independent Jewish Voices (Canada), International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Na’amod (UK) and many others, as well as numerous Jewish people in the academia, the social and physical sciences, journalism, culture, and the arts. They are so many and so brilliant that it is impossible to name them in this column, but all these voices have been raised again and again to respond “Not in my name!” to the crimes committed by the Zionist state against the Palestinian people. I am privileged to count some of those exceptional Jewish people among my friends and fellow travelers.
Not a single one of those voices has been heard in Uruguay, a country that several personalities and organizations have proudly defined as “the most Zionist country in the continent.” Perhaps the absence of critical Jewish voices, as well as of a local Palestinian community (and an Arab community in solidarity with their cause) in the national public scene has contributed to this unanimous silence of the Uruguayan society, a situation that is unique in Latin America.
Perhaps it is time to start reflecting as a whole society, in this Month of Remembrance, and on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the coup d’état, that when we say “Never again” we must commit to ourselves that it is for all peoples everywhere in the world, including the Palestinian people, who have been resisting State terrorism and fighting for their liberation for 75 years.
Notes
1. With the exception of an event organized by the Vivián Trías Foundation and the Commission for the Support of the Palestinian People.
2. When I speak of Zionism, I am not only referring to its Jewish expression, but also to its Christian aspects, which are even older than the former. Christian Zionism is a great ally and facilitator of Israel’s colonizing project.
3. ONU 1947. Uruguay en el origen de Israel. Ediciones I Libri, 2022.
Jorge García Granados represented Guatemala and Enrique Rodríguez Fabregat represented Uruguay in UNSCOP. Two politicians of white and Eurocentric imprint, completely lacking in sensitivity towards indigenous issues, as Sabini points out.
5. Theodor Herzl, The Jewish State (1896). European Zionist leaders spoke explicitly about their colonization project, but stopped doing so when in the post-war period the decolonization processes gained legitimacy in the world; then they converted their discourse to “independence.”
6. Sabini observes that even in a leftist intellectual as influential as Carlos Quijano, “a strong anti-Americanism coexisted with no interest in the indigenous question.”
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Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Calls for Renegotiation of the IMF Debt and Judicial Reform in Argentina
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on MAY 27, 2023
Peoples Dispatch
Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner calls for renegotiation of the IMF debt on May 25. (Photo: Cristina Fernández de Kirchner/Twitter)
The Argentine vice president also called for coordination between public and private sectors to regulate strategic natural resources, and renewal of the democratic pact established after the last civil-military dictatorship
On Thursday, May 25, Argentina commemorated the 213th anniversary of the May Revolution, which led to the expulsion of the Spanish viceroy and the formation of the first national government of Argentina on May 25, 1810. The revolution also paved the way for Argentina’s independence from Spain’s colonial rule on July 9, 1816.
This May 25, in addition to celebrating the May Revolution, the ruling center-left government of the Frente de Todos coalition, along with various social movements and diverse sector trade unions, also commemorated the 20th anniversary of former president Néstor Kirchner’s inauguration. Under heavy rain, tens of thousands of citizens gathered in Plaza de Mayo, in the capital Buenos Aires, to pay homage to late President Kirchner.
At Plaza de Mayo, former president and current vice president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (CFK) addressed the supporters of left-wing peronism. She talked about the achievements of her husband’s government. She recalled that under Néstor Kirchner’s leadership (May 25, 2003 to December 10, 2007), Argentina was able to pay off all its gigantic debts to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which was left by the previous neoliberal governments. She also highlighted how the country’s economy thrived after that and during her two consecutive presidencies (December 2007-December 2015). She pointed out that during those 12 and a half years, the Argentine government regained control of the economy and began a process of industrialization in the country. She recalled how different measures taken by her government led to the strengthening of workers’ rights and resulted in reduced poverty.
In this regard, CFK condemned the opposition leader and former president Mauricio Macri (December 2015 to December 2019) for indebting the country again with a USD 44 billion IMF loan, which has brought the country to its knees today. Argentina is currently grappling with an inflation rate of 108% and a poverty level of around 40%.
Fernández de Kirchner also defended the current Alberto Fernández government. She assured that despite all the criticism and the pressing problem of income distribution, the current government is “much better than another Macri government would have been.”
The vice president stressed that “to better distribute income, many times you have to face those who have a lot.” “Why do you think they hate me, persecute me and ban me? Because I was never one of them nor will I ever be. Whatever they do with me: they kill me, they arrest me, I will never be one of them. I come for the people and I will never move away from them,” she said.
In December 2022, Argentina’s Federal Oral Court 2 sentenced CFK to six years in prison and disqualified her for life from holding public office on corruption and fraud charges. The former president rejected the accusations, adding that the charges and proceedings against her were politically motivated. She denounced that the sentence against her originates from a “lawfare”, a common form of “political warfare” in the region that involves politicians, the judiciary and the media working together with a view to smearing leftist leaders as corrupt.
Earlier this year, CFK appealed the verdict and under Argentine law, her right to serve and run for public office remains intact. Nevertheless, months ago, she announced that she would not run for the upcoming presidential elections in October. President Alberto Fernández also ruled out standing for re-election.
Fernández de Kirchner has a large and loyal base in Argentina. On several occasions during the rally on Thursday, her supporters reiterated their support for her. They requested her to reconsider her decision of not standing in the elections, singing songs and raising slogans such as “President Cristina” and “One more time” among others.
The Frente de Todos coalition has yet to decide its candidates for the primaries in August. CFK is a dominant figure in the coalition and an influential progressive leader. She is expected to play a major role in deciding the candidates as well as outlining the program for the next government.
During her speech on Thursday, she made four suggestions that in her opinion would transform the country: the renegotiation of the debt with the IMF and an end to its interference in the country’s politics and economic affairs; the coordination between public and private sectors to regulate strategic natural resources such as shale gas and lithium without losing sovereignty; the renewal of the democratic pact established after the last civil-military dictatorship; and the reform of the country’s judiciary.
The vice president also called on the people to build a stronger and more structured organization of the working class, with cadres that take the lead and the leap that the country needs.
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/05/ ... argentina/
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Brazil government stops arms sales to Peru
May 27, 2023
The government of Brazil has decided to stop the sale of lethal weapons to Peru until the political and social instability, ignited by the coup, ceases. The information, according to Brazil’s Metrópoles, was confirmed by Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira.
Vieria says he received a letter by PSOL lawmaker Fernanda Melchionna, who told Itamaraty and the Ministry of Defense that Peruvian security forces were using Brazilian ammunition to repress demonstrations against the overthrow of President Pedro Castillo.
“I took it to the president. We are not going to sell any more weapons to Peru. The weapons that are there were sold three years ago”, declared the Foreign Minister, during a hearing in the Chamber, on May 24. “Right now there is no request [from Peru for weapons]. This was done a while ago, and as long as the situation lasts, this export will not exist.”
The decision refers to the government of Peru. In the private sector, however, Peruvian companies also buy Brazilian weapons. The Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services informs that R$ 1.44 million in firearms and ammunition were exported to the country between January and April of this year. Last year, sales totaled R$ 6.5 million.
More than 50 Peruvians have been killed by security forces in protests against the coup which removed President Pedro Castillo from office in December.
https://kawsachunnews.com/brazil-govern ... es-to-peru
MAY 28, 2023
Headquarters of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Brazil, the Itamaraty Palace, in Brasilia. File photo.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, was invited to participate in the 2023 South American Summit convened by the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. President Maduro is expected to arrive in Brasilia on May 29. The summit will take place the next day, May 30.
The Brazilian president invited the heads of state of the other 11 countries of the region to participate in the summit: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Peru will be the only South American country that will not be represented by the president at the summit, the Foreign Ministry of Brazil reported on Friday, May 27. The de-facto president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, excused herself by arguing that she cannot leave the country without parliamentary authorization. Peru will be represented by the president of the council of ministers, according to the Brazilian Foreign Ministry.
According to analysts, Boluarte might be trying to avoid being questioned for the more than 70 deaths in police and military repression on peaceful protest by humble Peruvians who consider the ousting of President Pedro Castillo as a coup. The coup put Boluarte in power with the help of the Peruvian Congress, something labeled by many as a parliamentary coup d’etat.
The summit, scheduled for May 30, has four main priorities on its agenda: revitalization of South American integration, repositioning South America on the global stage, rethinking South America as a region of peace and cooperation, and the reactivation of UNASUR. The “main objective is to resume dialogue” between the countries of the region “that have not met for many years,” explained Gisela Padovan, secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry.
The Brazilian government expects the summit to discuss the possibility of “returning to a South American integration mechanism” that will be “permanent, inclusive and modern” and that will include the 12 countries of the region, regardless of the political ideology of the government of any of the countries.
Padovan stressed that the integration mechanism should not be fractured, thus distancing Brazil’s stance from that of organizations promoted in recent years such as Prosur. Prosur and the Pacific Pact, among others, are regional organizations with very limited and ideological scope created under Washington’s pressure to counter UNASUR and CELAC.
Brazil-Venezuela relationship
Relations between Brazil and Venezuela are in a new productive stage with the coming to power of Lula da Silva, in addition to a new wave of progressive governments that have embraced again the dream of unity of the Latin American independence heroes.
Recently, the Venezuelan ambassador to Brazil, Manuel Vadell, presented his credentials to the Brazilian president, which has been described by President Maduro as “a big step.”
The Venezuelan president stated that the appointment of ambassadors “constitutes a new starting point for the consolidation of the union between the two sister nations,” after years of attacks from Brazilian right-wing governments against Venezuela following Washington’s failed “regime change” attempt.
Open format
The summit will take place in a single day, with two sessions, one in the morning in which all the presidents will make opening remarks, and another in the afternoon, which will consist of an “informal” dialogue between the presidents.
This format aims to encourage the presidents to freely exchange ideas, and to identify the “common denominators” that serve as a basis for resuming the integration process of South America, according to the Brazilian Foreign Ministry.
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The Ecuador of Guillermo Lasso
MAY 27, 2023
Ecuador’s incumbent president Guillermo Lasso failed the people of his country during his short two-year term in office. Photo: Twitter/@LassoGuillermo.
By Tanya Wadhwa – May 27, 2023
During Lasso’s two years in office, Ecuador has registered the highest annual inflation of the decade, the highest rate of homicide in seven years, mass migration, and unprecedented drug-related activities.
On Wednesday morning, May 17, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso decreed the dissolution of the country’s parliament using a never-before-tested constitutional clause known as “cross-death,” which triggered early presidential and legislative elections, and caused the premature end of his presidential term and plunged the country into an unprecedented political crisis.
The dissolution of parliament took place a day after the body began an impeachment hearing against Lasso. He is accused of corruption and embezzlement of public funds. He argued that there was a “serious political crisis and internal commotion” in the country, and that the dissolution of the opposition majority parliament was a “constitutional solution” and a “democratic action.”
The “political crisis and internal commotion” however, was not because the Congress dared to investigate the president’s acts of wrongdoing, but rather because of Lasso’s questionable governance. According to a survey conducted in February 2023, 85% of Ecuadorians disapproved of Lasso as president.
While Lasso has now successfully avoided the possibility of being investigated and removed from office, it is necessary to recall the track record of the two-year banker turned president and what his administration has meant for the country.
Economic crisis
In December 2022, Ecuador registered its highest annual inflation of the decade: a record 3.74%, according to a report by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses of Ecuador (INEC). The items whose cost increased the most in 2022 included food products and non-alcoholic beverages, transportation, various goods and services, restaurants and hotels, furniture and household items, education, healthcare, and rent, water, electricity and gas services.
The INEC also reported that the cost of the basic family basket, consisting of 75 essential products, reached USD 763.44 in December 2022, and that of the vital family basket, made up of 73 products, but less in quantity and quality than the basic basket, reached USD 538.96.
Additionally, according to a recent study conducted by the INEC, 53.5% of the workers were employed in the informal sector in the first quarter of 2023. The figure represented an increase of 2.4% as compared to the same period in 2022. The situation was much worse in the rural areas, where 76.9% of the workforce is in the informal sector.
The survey also indicates that, in the first three months of the year, the average monthly income of this sector was USD 379.60. Likewise, in rural areas, the monthly income was around USD 219.70. Jobs in the informal sector are generally unstable, with low wages, and without social security or rights, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO).
Security crisis
Since January 2022, Ecuador has been witnessing a concerning spike in criminal violence, especially in the Pacific coastal regions. Assassins have been targeting judicial officials and killing police officers as well as citizens at record rates.
The Lasso government blames drug trafficking gangs for it, arguing that due to Ecuador’s location, between Colombia and Peru, the world’s leading cocaine producers, the country has become a key transit point for drug shipments to the United States and Europe.
In March, the president declared a 60-day state of emergency in the coastal provinces of Esmeraldas, Guayas, Los Ríos and Santa Elena, and deployment of the military to the streets. However, the murders have continued to take place, something that severely affects the credibility of the government.
In 2022, Ecuador recorded the highest rate of homicide in seven years: 25 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. In 2021, the rate was 13.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, which means in one year an increase of 82.5% was recorded.
Migration crisis
The deteriorating socio-economic conditions have forced thousands of Ecuadorians to leave their country and take on a perilous journey to the US in search of a better life. For years, Ecuadorian migrants have argued poverty and unemployment as reasons for migration. Now they are also citing the growing insecurity in the country as one of the causes.
There has been an alarming increase in Ecuadorian migrants crossing the Darién gap jungle that separates Colombia from Panama, an extremely dangerous trek. In January, the Panama Migration Office revealed that Ecuadorian was the second nationality that most crosses the Darién pass. During 2022, around 30,000 Ecuadorians crossed the jungle.
June 2022 national strike
In June 2022, hundreds of thousands of Ecuadorians mobilized across the country as a part of an indefinite national strike against the anti-people economic policies of the Lasso government and the increasing insecurity in the country. The strike was called for by various Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and peasant organizations, with a set of ten demands that address the urgent needs of the majority of Ecuador’s population in the face of rising inflation and cost of living crisis.
The demands included the reduction and freezing of fuel prices; provision of employment opportunities and labor guarantees; putting an end to privatization of public companies; introduction of price control policies for essential products; allocation of greater budget for public education and health sectors; protection to people from banking and finance sectors; provision of fair prices for agricultural products; an end to drug trafficking, kidnappings and violence; bans on mining and oil exploitation activities in Indigenous territories and near water resources; and respect of the collective rights of Indigenous peoples and nationalities.
After over two weeks of nationwide social protests and roadblocks, the government agreed to make concessions on some of its policies. It signed an agreement with organizations to end the strike and advance the negotiation process to address the social demands raised by them.
In October, the organizations and the Lasso government concluded the negotiations after three months of talks without agreements on all points.
Six were killed and over three hundred were injured during the protests before reaching an agreement. Following the strike, the National Assembly held the first impeachment vote to remove Lasso from power for unleashing brutal repression against social protests. Lasso survived the vote by a margin of just two votes.
Prison crisis
Ecuador’s prison system has also been going through a severe crisis since the end of 2020. Prisons across the country have been plagued by shootings, riots and violent confrontations. According to official data, since January 2021, 442 prisoners have been killed in the state’s custody in different massacres in prisons.
The Lasso government has blamed drug trafficking gangs fighting for control of prisons as well as territory and drug trafficking routes outside prisons for the crisis. Nevertheless, human rights organizations have highlighted that overcrowding, negligence of the authorities, and absence of crime prevention policies in the country are the fundamental reasons.
Drug-trafficking and the Lasso government
The Lasso government is trying to play the victim, but investigations have revealed that it may be intimately linked to the reason behind the worsening of the illegal drug trade and related violence in the country.
In January, digital media outlet La Posta published a series of documents and audio recordings that linked various government officials and Lasso’s brother-in-law, Danilo Carrera, with alleged acts of corruption and drug trafficking.
La Posta’s investigative report, called El Gran Padrino or The Great Godfather, revealed an alleged criminal structure for the appointment of positions and public contracts in exchange for money in state companies, linking Danilo Carrera’s friend and businessman Rubén Chérres —murdered in April—, and with various government officials, such as Hernán Luque, fugitive former president of the Coordinating Company of Public Companies (EMCO). According to the report, Chérres, Luque, and Carrera managed appointments to high positions within public companies and ministries, and decided which private companies work with the State in exchange for bribes.
The report also revealed Chérres’ alleged links with the members of the Albanian mafia, and that the mafia had chosen Ecuador as a strategic point for drug trafficking operations. It alleged that since Chérres and Carrera possessed influence over key institutions, such as the Customs service and the Ministry of Energy, they helped the members of the mafia disguise themselves under the facades of big businessmen and launder assets and promote arms and human trafficking in the country.
La Posta’s report details information from an investigative report prepared by the Anti-Narcotics Police of Ecuador between May and July 2021.
The impeachment trial
The publication of the report by the media outlet led the Prosecutor’s Office to initiate investigation against several public officials within public companies for the crimes bribery and corruption. The epicenter of the investigation in the EMCO were the public oil transportation company Ecuadorian Oil Fleet (FLOPEC) and the electricity company Electrical Corporation of Ecuador (CELEC).
In March, the opposition majority congress asked to start impeachment proceedings against the head of state. The Constitutional Court approved the request by opposition legislators to impeach Lasso politically for the crime of embezzlement of public funds, related to a contract signed between the FLOPEC and the private Amazonas Tanker Pool company.
The motion, presented by congresswoman Viviana Veloz of the left-wing opposition Union for Hope alliance (UNES) bench, detailed that there was evidence of “the diversion or distraction of the funds generated annually by these pools of companies with which LOPEC had a contractual relationship in the transportation of crude oil.” It also argued that Lasso “defined the continuation of oil transportation contracts in favor of third parties, conscious that they represented a loss for the state.”
For his part, Lasso rejected the existence of a structure or network of corruption in his government and public energy companies. He denied the accusations, arguing that the contract was signed under the previous administration of former President Lenín Moreno in 2018, and that under his administration profitable changes were made to the contract based on advice from the Comptroller General’s Office.
Pandora papers
In October 2021, Lasso was also implicated in corruption and financial crimes, after offshore companies owned by him were mentioned in the Pandora Papers. The Pandora Papers uncovered a complex web of tax havens, shell corporations, and offshore accounts that hide the true ownership of billions of dollars of assets.
A law passed in 2017 prohibits elected officials from holding assets and capital in tax havens. Following the allegations in the Pandora Papers, Lasso made several public statements declaring that he had not violated the law. He also released his financial documents in support of his claim. He said that while he had previously invested in foreign companies and held money in foreign accounts, he had sold them off after he dedicated himself to politics.
At the time, the National Assembly voted to only question him instead of removing him from office.
https://orinocotribune.com/the-ecuador- ... rmo-lasso/
Uruguay: It Is Time for Self-Criticism
MAY 27, 2023
Palestinians march in Gaza City to observe Land Day. Photo: Reuters.
By María Landi – May 19, 2023
On May 15, the 75th anniversary of Nakba, the ethnic cleansing that destroyed Palestine and established the State of Israel on its ruins was commemorated with events, marches and activities around the world, including in Latin America. In Uruguay, however, the date went unnoticed in institutions and civil society [1]. It is a paradox that in Uruguay, May is the Month of Memory, and that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the civic-military coup, and at the same time, in Uruguay the Nakba continues to be, three-quarters of a century later, a memory denied, silenced, ignored. In short, we accept the memoricide that the Zionist project imposed on the Palestinian reality [2].
Perhaps this is a phenomenon worthy of further study: why in Uruguay the Palestinian issue is not known, not studied—at any level of formal education—and, therefore, not understood.
It is also pertinent to ask why Uruguay has never made a self-criticism about the role that its representative played in the UNSCOP: the special commission formed in 1947 within the nascent United Nations (which barely had 50 member states) and in which Uruguay promoted the partition of Palestine to hand over 56% of its territory to a movement of European settlers who had been in the country for a few decades, made up less than a third of its population, and owned less than 6% of the land. As Luis Sabini Fernandez explains in a lapidary analysis [3], the representatives of the progressive governments of Guatemala (then headed by Juan J. Arévalo) and Uruguay (under Luis Batlle) [4], both aligned with the US neocolonial leadership, were instrumental in persuading their Latin American peers to vote for the partition of Palestine. Worse still, Uruguay’s sin dates back to 1917, as it was one of the few countries to sign the Balfour Declaration, by which the foreign minister of the British Empire formally promised the British Zionist movement his government’s support for the establishment of a “Jewish national home” in Palestine.
From a decolonial point of view, the lack of sensitivity to the existence, interests, and will of the original Arab population, who for centuries had constructed social, religious, and cultural institutions as well as a vibrant society and economy in Palestine, is inadmissible today; and yet—with typical colonialist contempt for the natives—was ignored by the European imperialist power, which gave away a country that did not belong to it to a colonizing movement whose explicit intention was to build in that strategic region a “bulwark of Western culture against barbarism” [5].
Colonialism is in the DNA of Uruguay, a country created for the interests of the British Empire, populated by successive waves of European immigrants, which still has problems with recognizing its indigenous and African roots [6]. But it is inadmissible that, almost 80 years later, Uruguay still finds more natural affinities with the white Ashkenazis who colonized Palestine and has so many difficulties to feel any empathy towards the Palestinian people, who have been resisting since then a project of territorial colonization, military occupation, and legalized apartheid.
I am not interested in analyzing why the Uruguayan right wing sympathizes with the Zionist project embodied in the State of Israel; the similarities of interests is evident. Instead, what deserves a serious analysis is why the left practices what Palestinian activists call PEP (progressives except for Palestine). The examples of close relations between the Uruguayan left and organized Zionism are many and longstanding. Senior leaders of the leftist bloc Frente Amplio, as well as renowned leftist intellectuals, political analysts, academics, human rights defenders, etc., have received from the hands of the Israeli Central Committee of Uruguay (CCIU) the Jerusalem Award, commemorating the “reunification of Jerusalem,” which is nothing but the occupation and annexation of East Jerusalem by Israel, an act considered illegal by the UN (a position that Uruguay, in theory, supports). Did any of them bother to find out what the award they were accepting represented? Is it ignorance, or is it fear of contradicting a powerful economic and media lobby?
The list of sins is extensive and spans the region. In 2007, Mercosur, under progressive governments with the exception of Paraguay, signed a free trade agreement with Israel (the bloc’s first with a country outside the region). It is true that Uruguay formally recognized the Palestinian state; but it did so only in 2011, a year after every one of its Mercosur partners had done so. In 2017, the mayor of Montevideo, Daniel Martínez organized, together with the Israeli embassy, a gala at the Solis Theater to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the creation of that State (completely ignoring the 70 years of Palestinian suffering). In 2020, a month before leaving the government, Tabaré Vázquez adopted the questionable and problematic definition of anti-Semitism created by the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance), which qualifies criticism of the policies of the State of Israel as anti-Semitic. And in 2022, the Frente Amplio voted for a staunch defender of the criminal policies of the State of Israel and its systematic violations of international law, one who also lobbies for Uruguay to vote against Palestinian rights at the UN, to become a member of the National Human Rights Institution.
We must not forget that numerous leaders of the left as well as of the trade union, university, business, scientific, cultural and sports circles—with or without Jewish roots—have traveled to Israel, have studied there, have marveled at the economic and technological miracle of that country, but have never been interested in knowing how the Palestinian population lives (not only in the occupied territories, where these Uruguayans have never set foot, but even inside the Israeli territory), nor how billions of dollars of US aid sustains that “miracle,” nor the very foundations on which the so-called exclusive and exclusionary “Jewish State” was built (especially the plight of the Bedouin indigenous communities). Thus, the Uruguayan left, by action or by omission, ends up being aligned with the colonizers and occupiers, and not with their victims. Yet the left, and not just the Uruguayan left, cultivates the fantasy (I do not mean hypocrisy) that they can be in solidarity with the Palestinian people without bothering their oppressor and even maintaining normal relations with the same oppressor.
It is therefore understandable that this so-called left would experience cognitive dissonance when, after decades of condemnations by Palestinians, major Israeli and international human rights organizations finally recognize, as they have done in recent years, that “the only democracy in the Middle East” is in reality an apartheid state: a racist regime of Jewish supremacy, built on the elimination, expulsion, segregation, and discrimination of the Palestinian people who do not really constitute a minority but more than half of the population living between the Mediterranean and the Jordan river, in addition to the fact that the Palestinian refugee population is double that number, and that “demographic threat” is the reason why they are not allowed to return to their ancestral land.
A separate chapter should be devoted to media of the entire ideological spectrum, which do not address the Palestinian issue, or do so in an inadequate manner to give an account of the ping-pong of aggressions from both sides, always without context or causal analysis. In the media programs and sections of international politics, Palestine does not exist, and it is better to ignore it than to mess with the powerful lobby and its allies. Years and years of Israeli investment in the well-served “annual press junkets” have paid good dividends.
Thus, it is not surprising that, across the political spectrum, Tyrians and Trojans seek the front rows to commemorate with the CCIU the night of broken glass, but little do they care that in Palestine every night is a night of broken glass (and broken houses, crops, ancient olive trees, water reservoirs, solar panels, tractors, vehicles, schools, mosques, animals, and human bodies) carried out by Israeli soldiers or by gangs of armed settlers, now formally integrated into the colonial army under a terrorist Minister of Security who never stops encouraging this violence.
What is the importance of remembering the Nakba, beyond the moral duty to break the silence and fight against memoricide, the denial of the existence, identity and centuries of history of the Palestinian people in their land, before they were dispossessed of it? In the reality of Uruguay, a country where the Zionist project has never been critically analyzed, nor has its responsibility for making it possible been reviewed, remembering the Nakba is important in order to get out of the epistemic trap of interpreting the Palestinian question as a conflict between two peoples disputing a territory, which is nothing more than applying the theory of the two demons, putting on an equal footing the oppressor and the oppressed, the occupier and the occupied, the colonizer and the colonized.
With this logic, one tends to consider that the core of the “conflict” lies in the 1967 occupation. As if the Zionist colonization of Palestine prior to 1947—with the complicity of the imperialist powers—did not involve any injustice towards the native Arab population. As if UN Resolution 181 had been equitative. As if the State of Israel had always been there; as if 1948 had been “a war” and not a deliberate plan (Plan Dalet) of ethnic cleansing, destruction of Palestinians’ villages and theft of property, massacres and expulsion of 750,000 people who today, together with their descendants, number 7 million and continue to live as stateless refugees. As if the UN resolutions from 1949 onwards were just and not a violation of its own founding charter, since these resolutions legitimized the establishment of Israel in 78% of the Palestinian territory (even more than the 56% granted by the already unjust Resolution 181) despite the fact that it was territory acquired through a war of conquest.
The Nakba refutes these naturalized myths and reminds us of the need to decolonize the analysis in order to understand that the root cause of the oldest problem that persists on the UN agenda, with grave consequences for a region that has never again experienced a day of peace, is the colonial, racist and supremacist project, which has materialized in a system of apartheid that should not be tolerated in the 21st century.
A number of Jewish organizations throughout the world have reached this conclusion, such as Jewish Voice for Peace (USA), Independent Jewish Voices (Canada), International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Na’amod (UK) and many others, as well as numerous Jewish people in the academia, the social and physical sciences, journalism, culture, and the arts. They are so many and so brilliant that it is impossible to name them in this column, but all these voices have been raised again and again to respond “Not in my name!” to the crimes committed by the Zionist state against the Palestinian people. I am privileged to count some of those exceptional Jewish people among my friends and fellow travelers.
Not a single one of those voices has been heard in Uruguay, a country that several personalities and organizations have proudly defined as “the most Zionist country in the continent.” Perhaps the absence of critical Jewish voices, as well as of a local Palestinian community (and an Arab community in solidarity with their cause) in the national public scene has contributed to this unanimous silence of the Uruguayan society, a situation that is unique in Latin America.
Perhaps it is time to start reflecting as a whole society, in this Month of Remembrance, and on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the coup d’état, that when we say “Never again” we must commit to ourselves that it is for all peoples everywhere in the world, including the Palestinian people, who have been resisting State terrorism and fighting for their liberation for 75 years.
Notes
1. With the exception of an event organized by the Vivián Trías Foundation and the Commission for the Support of the Palestinian People.
2. When I speak of Zionism, I am not only referring to its Jewish expression, but also to its Christian aspects, which are even older than the former. Christian Zionism is a great ally and facilitator of Israel’s colonizing project.
3. ONU 1947. Uruguay en el origen de Israel. Ediciones I Libri, 2022.
Jorge García Granados represented Guatemala and Enrique Rodríguez Fabregat represented Uruguay in UNSCOP. Two politicians of white and Eurocentric imprint, completely lacking in sensitivity towards indigenous issues, as Sabini points out.
5. Theodor Herzl, The Jewish State (1896). European Zionist leaders spoke explicitly about their colonization project, but stopped doing so when in the post-war period the decolonization processes gained legitimacy in the world; then they converted their discourse to “independence.”
6. Sabini observes that even in a leftist intellectual as influential as Carlos Quijano, “a strong anti-Americanism coexisted with no interest in the indigenous question.”
https://orinocotribune.com/uruguay-it-i ... criticism/
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Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Calls for Renegotiation of the IMF Debt and Judicial Reform in Argentina
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on MAY 27, 2023
Peoples Dispatch
Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner calls for renegotiation of the IMF debt on May 25. (Photo: Cristina Fernández de Kirchner/Twitter)
The Argentine vice president also called for coordination between public and private sectors to regulate strategic natural resources, and renewal of the democratic pact established after the last civil-military dictatorship
On Thursday, May 25, Argentina commemorated the 213th anniversary of the May Revolution, which led to the expulsion of the Spanish viceroy and the formation of the first national government of Argentina on May 25, 1810. The revolution also paved the way for Argentina’s independence from Spain’s colonial rule on July 9, 1816.
This May 25, in addition to celebrating the May Revolution, the ruling center-left government of the Frente de Todos coalition, along with various social movements and diverse sector trade unions, also commemorated the 20th anniversary of former president Néstor Kirchner’s inauguration. Under heavy rain, tens of thousands of citizens gathered in Plaza de Mayo, in the capital Buenos Aires, to pay homage to late President Kirchner.
At Plaza de Mayo, former president and current vice president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (CFK) addressed the supporters of left-wing peronism. She talked about the achievements of her husband’s government. She recalled that under Néstor Kirchner’s leadership (May 25, 2003 to December 10, 2007), Argentina was able to pay off all its gigantic debts to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which was left by the previous neoliberal governments. She also highlighted how the country’s economy thrived after that and during her two consecutive presidencies (December 2007-December 2015). She pointed out that during those 12 and a half years, the Argentine government regained control of the economy and began a process of industrialization in the country. She recalled how different measures taken by her government led to the strengthening of workers’ rights and resulted in reduced poverty.
In this regard, CFK condemned the opposition leader and former president Mauricio Macri (December 2015 to December 2019) for indebting the country again with a USD 44 billion IMF loan, which has brought the country to its knees today. Argentina is currently grappling with an inflation rate of 108% and a poverty level of around 40%.
Fernández de Kirchner also defended the current Alberto Fernández government. She assured that despite all the criticism and the pressing problem of income distribution, the current government is “much better than another Macri government would have been.”
The vice president stressed that “to better distribute income, many times you have to face those who have a lot.” “Why do you think they hate me, persecute me and ban me? Because I was never one of them nor will I ever be. Whatever they do with me: they kill me, they arrest me, I will never be one of them. I come for the people and I will never move away from them,” she said.
In December 2022, Argentina’s Federal Oral Court 2 sentenced CFK to six years in prison and disqualified her for life from holding public office on corruption and fraud charges. The former president rejected the accusations, adding that the charges and proceedings against her were politically motivated. She denounced that the sentence against her originates from a “lawfare”, a common form of “political warfare” in the region that involves politicians, the judiciary and the media working together with a view to smearing leftist leaders as corrupt.
Earlier this year, CFK appealed the verdict and under Argentine law, her right to serve and run for public office remains intact. Nevertheless, months ago, she announced that she would not run for the upcoming presidential elections in October. President Alberto Fernández also ruled out standing for re-election.
Fernández de Kirchner has a large and loyal base in Argentina. On several occasions during the rally on Thursday, her supporters reiterated their support for her. They requested her to reconsider her decision of not standing in the elections, singing songs and raising slogans such as “President Cristina” and “One more time” among others.
The Frente de Todos coalition has yet to decide its candidates for the primaries in August. CFK is a dominant figure in the coalition and an influential progressive leader. She is expected to play a major role in deciding the candidates as well as outlining the program for the next government.
During her speech on Thursday, she made four suggestions that in her opinion would transform the country: the renegotiation of the debt with the IMF and an end to its interference in the country’s politics and economic affairs; the coordination between public and private sectors to regulate strategic natural resources such as shale gas and lithium without losing sovereignty; the renewal of the democratic pact established after the last civil-military dictatorship; and the reform of the country’s judiciary.
The vice president also called on the people to build a stronger and more structured organization of the working class, with cadres that take the lead and the leap that the country needs.
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/05/ ... argentina/
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Brazil government stops arms sales to Peru
May 27, 2023
The government of Brazil has decided to stop the sale of lethal weapons to Peru until the political and social instability, ignited by the coup, ceases. The information, according to Brazil’s Metrópoles, was confirmed by Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira.
Vieria says he received a letter by PSOL lawmaker Fernanda Melchionna, who told Itamaraty and the Ministry of Defense that Peruvian security forces were using Brazilian ammunition to repress demonstrations against the overthrow of President Pedro Castillo.
“I took it to the president. We are not going to sell any more weapons to Peru. The weapons that are there were sold three years ago”, declared the Foreign Minister, during a hearing in the Chamber, on May 24. “Right now there is no request [from Peru for weapons]. This was done a while ago, and as long as the situation lasts, this export will not exist.”
The decision refers to the government of Peru. In the private sector, however, Peruvian companies also buy Brazilian weapons. The Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services informs that R$ 1.44 million in firearms and ammunition were exported to the country between January and April of this year. Last year, sales totaled R$ 6.5 million.
More than 50 Peruvians have been killed by security forces in protests against the coup which removed President Pedro Castillo from office in December.
https://kawsachunnews.com/brazil-govern ... es-to-peru