Archive for
August 2nd, 2008
Stories
Peru: Rancas Faces Off Against Mining Company
Many may have heard of the village of Rancas because Peruvian writer Manuel Scorza wrote about the place in his series of novels “The Silent War,” and perhaps in “Drums for Rancas,” his most well-known book. However, Rancas is not a fictional town and it continues in a silent war against mining companies.
Elizabeth Lino Cornejo, a well-known natural linguist from Cerro de Pasco, located 30 minutes from Rancas, follows this community's fight and noticed that her access to administer her blog Te Voy a Contar [es] (I Will Tell You) was blocked (although it was still visible to the general public) due to “infractions of the conditions of use.” She writes:
Soy Gestora Cultural comprometida con mi comunidad y desde mi espacio profesional hago las denuncias pertinentes y ejerzo mi derecho a la libre expresión. Cerreña de nacimiento y por herencia de mis abuelos y bisabuelos que caminaron por aquellas calles que ya no existen, que dejaron de existir por la minería irresponsable. Mis hijos solo podrán pararse desde lo alto de los cerros a mirar aquel agujero gris e imaginarse que allí existió una ciudad, mientras les cuente que la lluvia ácida producida por las constantes explosiones contaminó el aire que respiraban otros niños de aquel lugar.
(…)
¿A quien le causa tanta molestia que utilice el internet para contar estas cosas y alzar la voz? ¿A quién le causa tanta molestia que denuncie el abuso cometido el fin de semana contra dos mis compañeros, amigos y hermanos Carlos Gora y Jhoel Rivera en Cerro de Pasco? Más que mi compromiso es mi deber. En un país donde solo se oye las voces de interés de quienes le rinden culto al dinero y han dejado de lado los valores humanos.
I am a cultural promoter committed to my community and from my own professional space, I make the pertinent complaints and exercise my right to free expression. I was born in Cerro de Pasco and due to the inheritance from my grandparents and great-grandparents who walked through those streets that no longer exist, that do not exist because irresponsible mining. My children can only stand on top of the mountaintops and look at the grey hole and imagine the a city once existed there, while I tell them about the acid rain produced by the constant explosions that contaminated the air that the children breathe.
(…)
Who does it bother that I use the internet to tell these things and raise my voice? Who does it bother that I denounce the abuse committed aginst two of my companions, friends, and brothers, Carlos Gora and Jhoel Rivera in Cerro de Pasco last weekend? It is more than a commitment, it is my duty: In a country where you only hear the voices of those that worship money and have left human values aside.
Lino Cornejo was later able to regain administrative access to her blog.
The Mining Company Volcán (Volcano) has been operating in Peru since 1943 in the mining settlements of Ticlio and Carahuacra, in Yauli, Junín. But in 1997 and 1999, it expanded with the acquisition of the San Cristobal and Andaychagua sites, also located in the province of Yauli, Junín and with Cerro de Pasco or Paraqsha, located in the province of Yanacancha, Pasco. These sites are now the property of Centromin Perú SA.
The web site of Minera Volcán argues that it operates its mining activies in harmony with the environment through the use of environmental impact studies and following environmental regulations. However, it is public knowledge that the company has had frequent problems with the residents in the area [es] where they operate or plan to operate, and other similar problems. For example, last December, Enlace Nacional reported that the local school had to be moved due to the expansion of the Volcán Mine [es] (video). But that is not all, in May, a law was passed (and which shows the economic power of the company) to relocate the city of Cerro de Pasco [es] , so that the Volcán Mine can expand its activities in the town.
In related news, the post Uprising: Peasant Community in Rancas from the blog Koripampa [es] denounces some of the maneuvers made by the mining company in order to achieve their objectives, including a meeting that was called in order to review the environmental impact report for a future project:
..sin embargo, y a espaldas de los pobladores de la comunidad, en ese taller se trato de aprobar de manera irregular la expansión minera de Volcán en los territorios comunales de Rancas. En dicho evento la población de la comunidad fue impedida de participar bajo el argumento que ya no había más espacio en el auditorio, mientras todos los asistentes al supuesto taller eran trabajadores y familiares de los trabajadores de la empresa Volcán.
..however, behind the backs of the residents of the community, the meeting attempted to approve the Volcán mining expansion in the communal territories of Rancas in an irregular manner. In said event, the populace of the community was impeded from participating under the argument that there was no more space in the auditorium, meanwhile all of the attendees of the workshop were workers and relatives of the workers from the Volcán company.
These conflicts do not end, as mining continues to be one of the major economic activities in the country and the high demand of metals is not an opportunity that should go to waste. There must be ways to find a compromise between these interests and those of the residents of the area where these deposits are found. In the field of mining, there are many skilled people from the Volcán Mine that are involved with interesting projects such as Mining Apprentices [es] , and perhaps both sides can agree to come together so that we avoid a situation where we all lose.
Russia: Solar Eclipse and Politics in Samara
Russian photojournalist Oleg Klimov was in the city of Samara on August 1, the day of a total eclipse of the Sun, to meet with representatives of the local opposition. On his blog, he described (RUS) a rare case of conjunction of Russian politics and astronomy:
[Please click here to see four photos by Oleg Klimov that are part of this post.]
The solar eclipse took place in Samara right after we had met with [members of] the local, rather important, opposition. Just as we had been warned, they put a “tail” on us right away. Last time it happened to me was in [Uzbekistan] in 1992, also during a period of the fight against opposition there, by the way. Then, the Dutch journalist and I were declared personae non grata by the ministry of foreign affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, because of violations of the program of our visit to the country, and it is still a big problem for the [Dutch] newspaper I work for to get [entry visas] to this country, democratic in its own way.
Our “tail” in Samara turned out even worse than in Uzbekistan. When he saw that I was taking pictures of a frail old man with a roentgenogram (with his broken leg pictured on it), the “tail” couldn't help but interfering, first by introducing himself as a doctor and then as a law enforcement official, and he set himself upon me, accusing me of bothering the old man who has the right to walk freely along the [Volga River] embankment… The “tail” didn't know that this way we were merely watching the Sun, as the Moon was slowly and steadily taking over it, and though there was no complete darkness yet, [a certain mental agitation] was already there, and the birds stopped chirping, and only the “tail” was croaking as a frog, demanding that I stop taking pictures of the old man and show him a document allowing me to photograph people in the street. An [idiot].
This is exactly what I told him: You must be a not very educated person. Look at the Sun through the photograph of the old man's broken leg and you'll see how a [chekist] and an oligarch Putin has stolen our Sun. He was genuinely surprised when he saw that half the Sun was indeed missing. (On the second photo, he is on the left, checking if the Sun is there ;). Me, I can't stop being amazed at how [idiotic the regime and those who serve it are].
While the “tail” was looking at the solar eclipse, we left, and soon we had another “tail” following us, but we were not paying attention. Who are they? - I don't know - police, [FSB], [pro-Kremlin youth movement Nashi, [Vashi, rhymes well with Nashi, means ‘yours,' while Nashi means ‘ours'] - may they all go [to hell].
[…]
Saudi Arabia: A ban on cats and dogs
Earlier this week in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, a ban was announced on selling cats and dogs as pets, or walking them in public, because of men apparently using them to make passes at women. Bloggers both inside and outside the kingdom have responded with disbelief.
The head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, who are known as the muttawa or religious police, explained that the commission was simply enforcing a previously issued religious edict.
Ahmed, a Saudi blogger, says:
I have been trying to avoid writing about the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice lately because, frankly, why beat a dead horse? But this one is just too good to miss… Now I’m not particularly a fan of cats and dogs. My friends who are pet owners know this, and they usually keep their pets away when I visit them. It’s not like I have anything against these animals but I just have this fear of getting too close to them. Still, this decision is just idiotic.
But before we get more into this, let’s go back a little bit. This whole ban thing has actually started in Jeddah two years ago. At the time, Jeddah’s Commission said that young Saudis who go out in streets with their pet dogs are violating of the Kingdom’s culture and traditions, and allegedly causing distress especially to families with young children. (But) the ban was never implemented. … However, although Riyadh and Jeddah are two big cities in the same country, they can be quite different on matters like these. The Commission is much, much more powerful in Riyadh than in Jeddah and therefore I expect this ban to be fully implemented in the capital.
Of course it is needless to say how ridiculous this whole thing is. The reason the Commission presented for the ban is kind of a joke, really: “because of men using them as a means of making passes at women,” they said. So you go and ban dogs and cats? How about punishing those so-called men? I guess you are too busy invading people’s privacy and controlling their lives to bother with few men who use their pets to annoy others.
American Bedu, an American woman and former diplomat now married to a Saudi, says:
I believe there are much more serious issues that need to be focused and acted upon instead of the impact pets may have on bringing the opposite sex together.
Sabra, an American living in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, doesn't have the energy to say much about this issue - but she tells us an anecdote about an animal being protected in the street:
I'm not even going to weigh-in on this one. I'm just gonna shake my head and mutter to myself that I live in a “LFZ.” [Logic Free Zone.]
I saw something rather sweet two days ago when The Kids and I were out for our morning walk. As we rounded the corner to walk down one of the alleys there was a young boy - a Saudi boy - and a cat. The young boy - maybe six or eight years old - saw me coming with my small Great Dane and bouncing black fur-ball of energy Standard Poodle and quickly bent down and scooped up the cat - as if protecting the cat from being used as a live squeak-toy and walked between two houses out of sight. I never, ever would let my Kids get close enough to a cat to harm it - and I had tight control of both leashes - a reflex whenever I spot a cat. It was just really touching - heart-warming even - the way the young boy thought to and made such an effort to ensure the cat's safety. [And, for the record, some of the “wild and stray” cats here - of which there ARE many - would be like buzz-saws on the muzzles of my two Kids if I ever allowed the Kids to get close enough.]
However Grace, an American woman working in Riyadh, can see the point of limiting the number of stray animals:
Look, I have to say this. There are so many street cats here roaming around the DQ [Diplomatic Quarter] that my former feline friendliness has been replaced with total disgust as the one eyed cat comes popping out of the trash can as I walk by on a daily basis. I walk into my apartment building and kitties bolt out the front door of the common area. Outside the grocery store a pile of baby kittens are nursing on an equally disturbing pile of trash. Call it cultural differences but I must say, in general, they do clean things pretty well here and have a great trash service. But the cats are just allowed to breed at will and being here does allow me to appreciate animal control.
John Burgess, a former US foreign service officer who blogs about Saudi Arabia, posted about this subject, and then in the comments section joked:
BTW, contrary to the beliefs of some, there is no etymological relationship between the words ‘mutt’ and ‘muttawa’.
Finally, Aafke, a Dutch blogger, provides us with a guide to using pets for mating:
So especially for those unlucky people stuck in a place where pets are going to be forbidden, here is a crash course in how to use pets for maximum result. … Why does the ”Pet-Thing” work? Apparently humans, and other animals, are programmed to go all ”Aaaaahhhhh, Cuuuute” when confronted by small fluffy little cute harmless somethings looking into our eyes. So use that programming and get your pet home before it’s too late! And of course for everybody else bend on some really scintillating, steaming, hot, sexy, romantic encounters: Read This!
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Karadžić in The Hague
A few days after Radovan Karadžić's arrest in Belgrade was announced on the 21st of July, his supporters started protesting against his transfer to the ICTY in The Hague, both in the streets and in Facebook (in various groups such as Free Radovan Karadžić, Freedom for Radovan Karadžić or many others). On the 29th of July the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) organized a rally that was attended by around 15,000 people and that ended up in violent clashes between some of the demonstrators and the riot police leaving 47 people injured.
(Photo by Jonathan Davis, used under a Creative Commons license)
LimbicNutrition Weblog liveblogged the protests and posted a series of photos of the aftermath of the riots and the damages caused by it. He described the clashes as follows:
It all happened very fast, with a group of hooligans spotting a relatively isolated unit of riot police, putting on masks and attacking.
I think the incident could have been prevented by a more organised police response. The police were deployed side-on to the advancing hooligans (lining the road), and it took their commander way too long to order them to redeploy as a phalanx (lined up across the road).
Eric Gordy of East Ethnia considered the protests to be “a failure in every respect”:
The turnout was low, the speeches were bad, the goals were not clearly stated, and the organisers failed to control the crowd. This is probably also why speakers were chosen from the D-list of Serbian politics: luminaries like Kosta Čavoški and Bora Đorđević.
[…] the only element of the meeting that made news was the violent confrontation between skinheads and police, who this time around did not have orders to let the hooligans destroy anything they wanted.
Whilst the protests were taking place in the streets of Belgrade, the Serbian government was preparing to fly Radovan Karadžić out of the country to The Hague. According to Byzantine Blog, his transfer was to take place at 10pm but was delayed until around 3:45 a.m. Wednesday because the “pilot of the Serbian Government's air fleet assigned the task to fly Dr. Karadžić to be delivered to the Hague, refused to fly the plane and assist in delivering” him.
Radovan Karadžić's initial appearance in the ICTY for an arraignment was scheduled for Thursday 31st at 4pm, during which he confirmed his identity and heard the judge read the charges against him, as described by the Srebrenica Genocide Blog:
Gaunt and visibly shaken, Karadzic listened as the Dutch UN Judge Alphons Orie read out a chilling list of atrocities contained in a lengthy 25-page indictment of war crimes, including including: genocide, complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity, extermination, violation of the customs of war, murder and the taking of hostages. Karadzic declined to enter a plea to the 11 charges against him.
Besides deferring to enter a plea, in this initial hearing Karadžić indicated that he would represent himself (like Milošević did). He has a further 30 days in which to enter a plea, and Judge Orie set the 29th of August for the next hearing. Moreover, the prosecution indicated that it intends to file an amended indictment, because of changes to the law and to the evidence available since the original indictment was last ammended in 2000.
Fedja of the blog Rants of a hyphenated researcher didn't appreciate this postponement:
Even though they had 13 years to prepare a polished, proof-read indictment against Karadzic, the prosecution said today that it would “amend” the indictment, giving Karadzic 30 extra days to enter a plea! Just to enter a plea! And this was not even something Karadzic had orchestrated. It was the prosecution handing him extra time on a golden plate.
Screen capture from the ICTY's livestream of Karadžić's initial court hearing
Karadžić also claimed that he had been seized and held by “unknown civilians” three days before the official arrest date given to the court, and referred to an alleged deal made with Richard Holbrooke, the former US ambassador to the United Nations. Eric Gordy of East Ethnia, describes Karadžić's claims:
[…] he felt he had been protected by an agreement he had made in 1996 with Richard Holbrooke, who was then the US envoy overseeing the negotiation and implementation of the Dayton agreement in Bosnia-Hercegovina. As the story goes, the offer was made to Karadžić that if he were to withdraw from public life, in return for this the United States would either (in some versions) see to it that he would not be pursued and arrested or (in more dramatic versions) see to it that the charges against him would be withdrawn.
The US State Department denies that there was an agreement, as does Richard Holbrooke. But of course denials do not tell us anything about factual states, merely what somebody would prefer for us to believe. All the same, there is as yet no convincing evidence (say, a copy of the signed agreement) that would definitively tell us there was an agreement.
And, after analyzing some of the known facts about the ending of the war, Gordy concludes:
So my conclusion is that maybe Richard Holbrooke did make some promises to Radovan Karadžić. If he did, it was a mildly clever way of influencing a gullible megalomaniac. It never could have any legal force, neither in preventing Serbia from arresting Karadžić nor in preventing the UN from trying him.
Although the judge interrupted Karadžić's allegations as not belonging to the initial hearing, he advised him to submit them in writing. The 4-page letter that Karadžić submitted with the title “Irregularities linked to my arrival before the tribunal,” was then published on the ICTY's website.
By bringing up the alleged “Holbrooke deal,” the blog Finding Karadžić analizes Karadžić's litigation strategy to be the following:
Karadzic's claim is one of de facto immunity, where an accused asserts that they took action to their detriment in reliance upon a promise not to prosecute them.
Karadzic will be entitled to call Mr. Holbrooke as a witness. He can call other witnesses, if there are any, to try to bolster this claim of a grant of immunity.
The burden is on Karadzic to clearly prove the existence of such an agreeement. When Mr. Holbrooke takes the stand and says that none existed, Karadzic has not met his burden. Based on everything the Karadzic family has talked about regarding Mr. Holbrooke over the last several years, there are no witnesses to this conversation between Holbrooke and Karadzic.
So, Karadzic loses this motion about immunity.
The best thing he could do for himself would be to cobble together a experienced team of criminal defense attorneys to attack the evidence and witnesses on the 11 charges. If not, Karadzic's immunity motion will quickly fail and evidence against Karadzic will be enough to overwhelmingly establish his guilt on most of the charges.
YakimaGulagLitteraryGazett commented on the court appearance, which she watched on TV from her home in Sarajevo:
Karadžić looked tired, but he said his health was perfect. He also accused Holbrook of trying to kill him, and had lots to say about the alleged irregularities of his arrest. Funny how tyrants turn into avid civil libertarians!
He had far more due process than anyone in Srebenica!
Writer Jasmina Tešanović, watching the court appearance from Belgrade, also gave her impressions at the blog BoingBoing:
The general opinion in Serbia is how old, how white and how distracted he now seems, alone, without soldiers, lawyers or family members. He declares himself as member of three states, Republika Srpska, where he lived, Montenegro where he was born, and Serbia where he lived under cover with different identities.
He is the veteran of one of the greatest put-up jobs in the history of world crime, and he declares that he was hiding in order to save his life. He says his life was guaranteed to him by the Dayton treaty and by Richard Holbrooke, in exchange for his stepping down from politics.
Karadžić seemed calmly determined to act in his own defense, demanding the return of his laptop, formerly in possession of Dragan Dabić. That computer is now in the hands of the police together with various official documents from Republika Srpska.
His judges say that the indictment against Karadžić will be altered and focused. Basically it charges him with practically every crime that the court in the Hague was built to try.
We are eager to see him handle all his legacies with all his identities.
Nidžara Ahmetašević from Sarajevo expressed her hopes for Karadžić's trial at the BalkanInsight blog:
I believe that justice exists. I am positive about that. And I want to see it […] I want this to happen because of all those who did nothing to stop him.
I hope I shall be able to hear, during the trial, about the reasons of the war and why my best friends are those who I met in the war and not in peace. I hope that his arrest means the war is coming to its end and that peace may even come as well.
Mozambique: 2038?
What will Mozambique be like in 30 years? Sociologist Carlos Serra [pt] provides nine “Byzantine” scenarios and invites his readers to amend them as they see fit:
1. A língua portuguesa será residual, penumbrada pela língua inglesa, tornada esta língua veicular por excelência nos meios urbanos. A língua portuguesa será especialmente uma língua douta, falada em círculos alfarrábicos, amparada por mestiçagens linguísticas docemente malandras em zona savaneira.
2. Os minérios serão geridos por Chineses, Russos, Brasileiros e eventualmente Indianos. O vale do Zambeze será sino-brasileiro em sua carvoação.
3. Se calhar já haverá petróleo, com Americanos e Canadianos na exploração.
4. As florestas, se ainda restarem, serão chinesas.
5. A terra será dos bio-combustíveis, gerida por ecléticas parcerias empresariais, abraçada pela pequena agricultura itinerante e desesperada, cumprimentada por celeiros especiais e bem protegidos de cereais para exportação (China e Índia).
6. O comércio, por grosso e a retalho, será sino-indiano, quinquilheiro.
7. A costa turística será europeia, com euro-americanos safarizados e chorando agarrados à memória de uma Europa moribunda e de uma América desimperializada.
8. Celulares serão fabricadas na terra, com exterior Nokia e alma chinesa; os carros serão sino-coreanos, com layout americano.
9. O mais imponente dos nossos ministérios, um super-ministério, será o dos Negócios Estrangeiros (veja-se a sua grandiosidade actual ali na baixa de Maputo, imagine-se o que será no futuro).
1. The Portuguese language will be residual, shaded by the English, made the par excellence language in urban areas. Portuguese will be particularly a scholarly language, spoken in cult circles, supported by sweetly mixed rascal-languages in the Savannah areas.
2. The ore will be managed by Chinese, Russians, Brazilians and eventually Indians. The Zambezi valley will have Sino-Brazilian mining.
3. If we stand a chance, there will be oil, with Americans and Canadians exploiting it.
4. The forests, if they remain, will belong to China.
5. It will be a land of bio-fuels, managed by eclectic business partnerships, embraced by the small itinerant, desperate agriculture, complimented with special and well protected barns for cereals for exportation (to China and India).
6. The trade, both wholesale and retail, will be Sino-Indian, bauble-like.
7. The touristic coast will belong to Europe, with safari suited Euro-Americans crying and clinging to the memory of a moribund Europe and a dis-Imperialistic America.
8. Cell phones will be manufactured in loco, with Nokia covers and Chinese souls, the cars will be Sino-Korean, with American layouts.
9. The most impressive of our ministries, a super-ministry, will be that of Foreign Business Affairs (see their current greatness here in downtown Maputo for a picture of what it will be like in the future).
Guatemala: A Lack of Information About Petrocaribe Deal
Photo by Surizar and used under a Creative Commons license
As is the case with other places around the world, fuel prices are very expensive in Guatemala. President Alvaro Colom recently signed an agreement with his Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chávez, called “Petrocaribe.” Many were excited with this news because they thought that the agreement would bring lower gas prices. Inflation, the falling value of the dollar, and a decrease in the amount of remittances from the US, have all affected the Guatemalan economy. However, many were disappointed with the agreement and that it did not bring the expected results.
Blogger CIEN [es] explains
¿Qué NO es? Petrocaribe no significa petróleo, gasolina o diesel más barato.
¿Qué SÍ es? Es un mecanismo de endeudamiento del Gobierno de Guatemala con el Gobierno de Venezuela. Esto significa que el Gobierno de Guatemala puede acceder a crédito a través de la compra de petróleo.
What is it NOT? Petrocaribe does not mean cheaper petroleum, gasoline or diesel.
What is it? It is a mechanism for the Guatemalan government to fall into debt with the Venezuelan government. This means that Guatemala can obtain credit by buying (Venezuelan) oil.
Libertario Liberado [es] thinks that the deal could be beneficial for the country:
Si consideramos los mas de 35,000 millones de Quetzales que tenemos en deuda externa a una tasa promedio de 10% anual, y analizamos la alternativa de tomar el dinero de PETROCARIBE al 1% anual deducimos rapidamente que financieramente es un buen negocio. Digo que es una alternativa BUENA siempre y Cuando el gobierno utilice este credito barato para pagar lo que debemos y NO para financiar supuestos proyectos solidarios, Es tan simple como trasladar una deuda cara a una opcion mas barata de largo plazo (25 años). En 10 años pagamos el total de nuestra deuda y reducimos los intereses de una manera significativa.
If we consider that we have an external debt of up to 35,000 million Quetzales (Guatemalan national currency), with an interest rate around 10% per year and we have the choice to switch to a debt financed by Petrocaribe with an interest rate of 1% per year, it is a financially good deal. But it is a good deal only if the Government uses the money to pay the external debt and not to sponsor so-called solidarity projects. It is as easy as switching from expensive credit to a cheaper, long term option. In ten years we can pay all our gross external debt and reduce our interest rate significantly.
Hunahpu and Ixbalanque [es] also explained their analysis on the subject, but also were critical with media coverage on the subject:
El ingreso de Guatemala a Petrocaribe representaría una gran oportunidad de incrementar la liquidez del estado. Entiéndase: enormes cantidades de dinero para invertir. Sin embargo, esta oportunidad única ha generado una tan predecible como irracional cobertura negativa en algunos medios de comunicación, quienes irresponsablemente utilizan el miedo y la desinformación para promover una anti-agenda política que literalmente les viene del norte. Considerando el impacto que dicha incorporación podría tener en la economía nacional será necesario primero evaluar la validez de los argumentos de los críticos y después discutir Petrocaribe desde puntos de vista más racionales.
Other bloggers are against the initiative and its impact, especially concerned with the final destination of the funds, in a country with a past of corruption and abuses from authorities:
No estoy de acuerdo con la firma de este pacto con Petrocaribe ya que nos endeudamos todavia mas, pero hay algo que me molesta todavia más y es como lo manejo la prensa Guatemalteca en especial Prensa Libre, casi cada semana sacaron reportajes demonizando a Petrocaribe atacando, destruyendo, me parecieron poco objetivos, desinformando, algo que me quedo claro es que sienten un especial desprecio por Chavez.
I disagree with the signing of the Petrocaribe agreement because it increases our external debt, but I am also upset with the way that the Guatemalan press, especially Prensa Libre is covering it. Each and every week they published reports making Petrocaribe look evil by attacking and destroying it. It appeared to be not very objective, misinformed, and it was clear their disdain for Chavez.
But, on the other hand, the Government is not clear with the agreement, the President has not yet explained the destination of the funds, the impact of their plans and the benefits (no cheaper oil) for Guatemalans from Petrocaribe, only few words saying that is for “social cohesion”.
Blogger Carpe Diem warns Guatemalans [es] on his post about it:
Fíjese pues…que nos lo está diciendo el presidente Alvaro Colom: El dinero que la administración socialdemócrata obtenga mediante Petrocaribe, va a ir a parar a los proyectos de Cohesión Social; y ¿quién dirige esos proyectos? Sandra de Colom. Nos lo están advirtiendo ellos mismos; y si los tributarios y electores pasamos por alto esa información, nos merecemos que nos esquilmen.Veamos algo del Consejo de Cohesión Social: Ese “proyecto” presume de su programa. Mi familia progresa; y esa piñata de la esposa del Presidente es el típico ejemplo de cuando sale más caro el caldo que la gallina. En el informe que presentó recientemente se nota que para repartir Q62 millones, se gastaron Q300 millones.
Watch … what President Alvaro Colom is telling us [es] : that the money that the social-democratic administration will receive through Petrocaribe will be used for Social Cohesion projects; and who runs those projects? Sandra de Colom (the First Lady). They are warning us; and if the taxpayers and the voters skip over this information, then we deserve to be fooled. Let's look at an example of Social Cohesion: My Family Progresses, and the piñata of the First Lady [es] is the typical example of what happens when there is too much overhead costs. The recently released report notes [es] that to distribute 62 million quetzales, they spent 300 million quetzales.
And that is what concerns bloggers the most, lack of information, misinformation and absense of objective coverage on the subject.
La cortina de humo de Petrocaribe ha impedido que los medios de comunicación recojan con más detalle la debacle en la que está inmersa el gobierno de la UNE. No hay resultados positivos en ninguna de las áreas, se ha cambiado con más frecuencia de la deseable a personal de muy alto nivel y el afán de gasto crece desmesuradamente.
The smoke screen surrounding Petrocaribe has not allowed the media to capture the details of the government debacle. On one hand, there are not positive results in any area, they have changed high level authorities too often, and the expenses have increased out of control.
It is not surprising that the media covered the subject in a negative way and created negative opinions of Petrocaribe. Chavez is controversial everywhere. Guatemala is not an exception. And analysts are using ideologies as arguments to discuss economics, according to Lucha Politica [es]:
In the meantime, news and details of the deal continue to be scarce, however, it has still yet to be approved by the Guatemalan Congress. It was signed for a period of 25 years and future is uncertain, so it is important to study it from an objective perspective, as bloggers have said. Most agree that the problem is not Petrocaribe per se, but lack of information about it.
Links for Sat, 2008-08
Global Voices in Spanish editor Juan Arellano was recently interviewed by Kat of Traductósphera [es] about his work on the Lingua project.
Sajkaca of the collective blog Balkan Crew shares the recipe for Slatko (Serbian for “sweet”), a Balkan specialty that is “a preserve in which fruits are kept whole in a thick and very sweet syrup.”
LJ user kaloy draws a thought-provoking parallell (RUS) between the declaration of a state of emergency in North Ossetia, because of African swine plague, and the neighbouring Ingushetia, where 23 people were killed and 17 injured in a low-intensity conflict only last month, and posts shaking pictures to illustrate the comparison.
Copydude comments on the Kaliningrad jazz festival, named after the local chain of pizzerias - Don Chento.
Grigory Pasko of Robert Amsterdam shares his views on the new Chekists and the crackdown by the security service (FSB) on members of the art group Poeticized Association for the Elaboration of a Theory of All-People’s Happiness (PORTOS).
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