Ecuador Constitution Would Grant Inalienable Rights To Nature

Sept. 3, 2008 Ecuador’s proposed constitution includes an article that grants nature the right to “exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution” and will grant legal standing to any person to defend those rights in court. A sea lion pup on Santiago Island, one of Ecuador's famed Galapagos Islands. (MELANIE STETSON FREEMAN/STAFF/FILE) Voters will get to decide on Sept. 28 whether to adopt the new constitution, which would allow the president to run for reelection, to dissolve Congress, and to exert great control over the country’s central bank.. » read more

A Few Words from the FARC

09/07/08 "ICH" -- - It was a perfectly executed rescue mission and they pulled it off without a hitch. A small group of Columbian military-intelligence agents, posing as aid workers on a humanitarian mission, touched-down in the heart of rebel territory, gathered up Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages, and whisked them away to safety while a small army of rifle-toting Marxist guerrillas looked on dumbfounded. Whew. What a shocker. One of the American contractors who was freed in the mission even boasted to NPR that it was "the greatest rescue mission in history".. » read more

Fidel Castro and the FARC: Eight Mistaken Thesis of Fidel Castro

July 8, 2008 Introduction July 2008 Introduction I have been a supporter of the Cuban Revolution for exactly fifty years and recognize Fidel Castro as one of the great revolutionary leaders of our time. But I have never been an uncritical apologist: On several crucial occasions I have expressed my disagreements in print, in public and in discussions with Cuban leaders, writers and militants. Fidel Castro’s articles and commentaries on the recent events in Colombia, namely his discussion of the Colombian regime’s freeing of several FARC prisoners (including three CIA operatives and Ingrid Betancourt) and his critical comments on the politics, structure, practices, tactics and strategy of the FARC and its world-renowned leader, Manuel Marulanda, merit serious consideration. Castro’s remarks demand analysis and refutation, not only because his opinions are widely read and influence millions of militants and admirers in the world, especially in Cuba and Latin America, but because he purports to provide a ‘moral’ basis for opposition to imperialism today. Equally important Castro’s unfortunate diatribe and critique against the FARC, Marulanda and the entire peasant-based guerrilla movement, has been welcomed, published and broadcast by the entire pro-imperialist mass media on five continents.. » read more

MEXICO Prospering Despite U.S. Slowdown

May 23, 2008 The Latin American nation is holding up well with exports catering to the growing world economy. MEXICO CITY -- A sizzling stock market. A strengthening peso. Good economic growth. Someone forgot to tell Mexico that the U.. » read more

Brazil Prepares Nuclear Bomb Test To Protect Amazon Rights

May 23, 2008 Russia's Chief of the Armed Forces, General Yury Baluyevsky, has reported to President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin that the South American Nation of Brazil has notified Moscow, China and the Western Powers of its ‘intent’ to detonate its first atomic bomb should any foreign country attempt to interfere in its rights to the vast rainforests of the Amazon region. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva [pictured top left], these reports state, has become increasingly concerned over the West’s belligerent attitude towards the Amazon they call the ‘Lungs of the World’, but what Brazil calls its ‘sovereign territory’. Little known to the Western peoples is that Brazil, not Iran or Israel, has one of the oldest (since the 1930’s) and secretive nuclear weapons programs in the World, and as long ago as 1987 "had enriched uranium successfully on a laboratory scale to 20 percent". Brazil has, likewise, refused to sign the United Nations treaty on atomic weapons and has refused all requests for International inspections of its vast nuclear arsenal and uranium enrichment facilities. Brazil can likely expect a Western backlash, these reports continue, over its plan to flood vast areas of the Amazon rainforest, and as we can read as reported by the Scotsman News Service in their article titled “Brazil all set to flood the rainforest”, and which says: “The Belo Monte dam will swallow swathes of rainforest and harm rare fish, as well as the livelihoods and homes of about 15,000 people who live in the remote area of north-eastern Para state, critics say.. » read more

US Navy Resurrects Fourth Fleet to Police Latin America

May 7, 2008 Washington announced at the end of last month that it is resurrecting the long-ago moth-balled Fourth Fleet to reassert US power in the Caribbean and Latin America. Created at the time of World War II to combat German submarines attacking merchant shipping convoys in the South Atlantic, the Fourth Fleet was seen as no longer necessary after the Second World War and was disbanded in 1950. The Pentagon’s a statement on the revival of the fleet gave a far vaguer indication of its new duties, saying it would “conduct varying missions including a range of contingency operations, counter narco-terrorism, and theater security cooperation activities.” “Rear Admiral James Stevenson, commander of U.S.. » read more

Bolivia’s President Urges Development Of Economic System Based On ‘How To Live Well

April, 24 2008 EVO MORALES AYMA, President of Bolivia, said the Forum was to be viewed as a model for "living together" and was an extension of the decades-long struggle of indigenous peoples for equality and justice.  It was also appropriate that the Forum focus on climate change and the role of indigenous peoples in tackling that problem, since indigenous peoples were human beings with the same rights and responsibilities as anyone else. He noted that the indigenous movement had successfully organized itself to defend access to land and basic services, in the face of attacks and threats of extermination.  That fight should continue for as long as needed.  In the meantime, the Forum, along with similar bodies, could put forward alternative economic models to ensure the survival of indigenous peoples as they continued their quest.. » read more

The Voice of the White House for March 7, 2008

Washington , D.C. , February 28, 2008 : “The New York Times is now full of all kinds of idiot stories about the fictional Holocaust. This must be in advance of the new legislation being proposed to have Bush declare a National Day of Atonement wherein all Americans will have the chance to reflect on the Great Sufferings of the Jewish People. We now see references to Anne Frank Diaries which is pathetic since the German government proclaimed these famous tear jerkers as stone fakes some years ago and of course the new German comic book designed to “sensitize” German school children to the evil ways of their fathers.. » read more

Fidel Castro Announces Retirement

Tuesday 19 February 2008     Cuba's ailing leader Fidel Castro has said he will not accept another term as president, ending 49 years in power.     "I neither will aspire to, nor will I accept, the position of president of the council of state and commander in chief," he told the newspaper, Granma.     The 81-year-old handed over power temporarily to his brother, Raul, in July 2006 when he underwent surgery.     US President George W Bush said the news should mark the beginning of a transition towards democracy for Cuba.     "The international community should work with the Cuban people to begin to build institutions that are necessary for a democracy, and eventually this transition ought to lead to free and fair elections," he told reporters in Rwanda.. » read more

Venezuela Halts Oil Sales to Exxon Mobil

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's state oil company said Tuesday that it has stopped selling crude to Exxon Mobil Corp. and has suspended commercial relations with the U.S.-based oil company. State-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, said in a statement that it "has paralyzed sales of crude to Exxon Mobil.. » read more

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