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October 3rd, 2008
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Brazil: Impunity and forgetfulness over Carandiru Massacre
Visit to Carandiru, photo by Flickr user silmaraelis, published under a Creative Commons license. The caption says “the souls had longer been forgotten there”.
The Carandiru Massacre, considered a major human rights violation in the history of Brazil, happened sixteen years ago (October 2, 1992) after a riot broke out in the 9th Pavilion of Carandiru Prison Complex in São Paulo. The riot went out of control, which led to the elite force of the Military Police being called in and a confrontation which resulted in the reported death of 111 prisoners. No police were killed.
Human rights groups claim most prisoners were unarmed and offered no resistance, and that the police also fired at inmates who had already surrendered or had tried to hide. Regardless of this, no one has ever been punished, and the only person to be tried was the commanding officer of the operation, colonel Ubiratan Guimarães (assassinated in September 2006 in a possible crime of passion). He was initially sentenced to 620 years in prison but the conviction was later revoked after mistrial claims.
Many Brazilian bloggers republished the same pieces of news from the media, but only a very few dedicated an original post to the day. Dinha [pt] was one of them, remembering it as the “biggest act of cowardice committed by the Brazilian State against the imprisioned population in the country's history”:
Ontem, 02/10/2008, fez 16 anos que o Estado divulgou oficialmente que massacrou 111 cidadão brasileiros. Todos os que foram massacrados, assassinados, não estavam em guerra franca com o Estado, mas sim, no momento do massacre, eram prisioneiros, estavam sob cutódia desse mesmo Estado. Por isso estavam desarmados e mais, muitos estavam trancados em celas.
In a blog post called “Impunity”, Tarso Araújo [pt] reminds us that nobody has been made responsible for this crime, and that there is no estimate of when the accused will be tried:
O fato de o processo envolver muitos réus, além das dificuldades estruturais do Judiciário para responder ao acúmulo de ações pendentes, faz a tramitação ficar lenta.
O processo está em grau de recurso no Tribunal de Justiça de São Paulo (TJ-SP). Por haver indícios de autoria de crime doloso contra a vida, o juiz determinou que os réus fossem julgados por júri popular, situação com a qual os denunciados não concordam.
Depois que o TJ-SP decidir a questão, será necessário definir os procedimentos para o julgamento de um número elevado de réus. Não há previsão de prazo para que os réus sejam julgados.
The process is in appeal on the Court of São Paulo (TJ-SP). Because of the signs of a willful crime committed against life, the judge ruled that the defendants go to jury, a situation with which the accused do not agree.
Answering a question posted on Yahoo! Answers about how the rebellion started, Pucca [pt] shares a piece of story she learnt through an acquaintance, one of the few inmates from the 9th Pavilion who survived the massacre:
Um conhecido de família viveu aquele inferno. Ele nos disse que na verdade ninguem sabe afirmar exatamente como tudo começou. Ele disse que ajudou a jogar mais de 200 corpos dentro do fosso de supostos elevadores existentes no presídio e que tiveram suas portas lacradas com concreto. Seu amigo de cela (barraco) foi morto por policiais, ele só sobreviveu porque se escondeu atras da porta, quando as celas foram desocupadas pelos presos a pedido dos pms ele disse que correu juntamente com tantos outros presos pelas escadarias da prisão que estavam lavadas de sangue e cachorros pastor alemão iam ao encalço deles. Um dos cachorros mordeu sua mão direita. Disse que ficou no pátio com outros presos mais de 12 horas pelados e todos de cócoras. O crime dele???? Participou de um assalto a uma casa lotérica, réu primário cumpria pena no pavilhão 9, onde tudo começou.
The Hub brought an interview with P.P., who was serving next door on the 8th Pavilion and watched the horror unfold from his window. He says that the official number of deaths, 111, reflects only the re-claimed bodies - he believes there were more than 300 deaths. Together with a group of about 30 other inmates, he was summoned to help to carry the bodies, 50 of which he carried on his own. P.P. laments that, 16 years on, the case is marked by impunity and forgetfulness:
“It was ugly. But what hurts me most - how absurd it is that it has now been forgotten - no one talks about the Carandiru Massacre here in Brazil anymore” (P.P. in interview with Raquel Quintino - a human rights activist from the Universidade de Comunicação Livre).
The Carandiru Prison Complex used to be South America's largest prison and once housed nearly 8,000 inmates. The prison was demolished on December 9, 2002 to make way for a public park. YouTube user mtrombelli has a video documentary shot by students of journalism showing its last moments, empty cells and the demolition. Flickr user ispic has a gallery of pictures taken just before the demolition.
Those who would like to dive deep in the history of the prision and the massacre should start by watching the highly regarded film Carandiru, directed by Hector Babenco, and inspired by the best-selling book Estação Carandiru (Carandiru Station, as yet un-translated) by Brazilian physician Drauzio Varella, who worked in Carandiru as a volunteer addressing its AIDS epidemic from 1989 to 2001.
China: Giving a hand to rescue U.S?
The sweeping financial crisis that strikes U.S has brought a debate in the country and its congress whether the government should intervene and rescue the Wall Street, or even the entire economy. And It is not the only country pondering on a rescue plan.
Right in a recent interview by CNN, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao appealed for giving States a hand:
So this time we should join hands and meet the crisis together. If the financial and economic system in the United States go wrong, then the impact will be felt, not only in this country but also in China, in Asia and in the world at large.
Wen talked so with a certain reason, as blogger 百草止水 posted on discussion board Tianya.cn in a entry named “should China rescue U.S?” ; 中国到底该不该拯救美国;？
在这个世界上，美国是唯一牵一发而动全身的国家，不仅因为它是独一无二的超级大国，还因为它是全球最大的消费市场。你可以不从美国进口商品，但无法不向美国出口，如果这个消费市场停摆了，全球经济将无一幸免地跟着遭殃。
The plane named “subprime mortgage crisis” is running into “Dollar status” and “foreign debt”, illustrated by unknown netizen.
Besides the States’ significant influence over global market, more importantly, China is the largest holder of U.S. Treasury bills, and also maintained a strong trade tie with US where is the country’s major destination of export(21% of total). With its GDP’s reliance on export, the determination of China to help rescue U.S from another disastrous depression could be reasonable.
As Wen Jiabao said in the interview,
The U.S. finance is closely connected with the Chinese finance. If anything goes wrong in the U.S. financial sector, we are anxious about the safety and security of Chinese capital.
But does the situation allow China to rescue U.S?
Above all, the prospect of U.S economy is in deep uncertainty. No one could imagine how much the crisis that has destructed Bear Stern and Lehman Brothers is going to wreck anymore.
百草止水 pointed out that the crisis is rooted in the States’ inherent economic system, that
美国经济对金融产业的依赖很强：第一，美国以两亿多人口占据世界第一消费市场，不是因为美国世界最富，而是美国流行“寅吃卯粮”的消费文化，也就是说美国人习惯于拿明天的钱用于今天的享受。
Thus, the consequence could be
第一，美国人更加不敢将钱存入银行
第二，金融企业的不 景气会使其发行的债券无人问津，而且已发行的债券也可能成为白纸一张，华尔街的融资能力剧烈受挫，美国经济的前景更加堪虑。第三，美国银行的存款锐减，金 融企业的债券不再受欢迎，也就越来越无钱用于放贷和投资，缺乏了银行支持的消费市场便进一步萎缩，不仅美国经济陷入衰退，全球经济也会一片混乱。
第五，美国经济出现全面危机，美元更加疯狂地贬值，美元的世界货币地位彻底终结……
第六，美元的剧烈贬值将会使美国债券尤其是国债的持有人高度受损，作为美国国债的第一第二持有者的日本和中国将首当其冲。
第七，为转嫁危机，包括美国在内的世界各主要国家就会穷兵黩武，一场新的世界大战在所难免，核武器可能首次大规模使用，人类可能遭到灭绝。这不是百草止水危言耸听，1931年的欧洲金融危机就是这样子的，那场危 机成了第二次世界大战的导火索。
2. The downfall of financial industry would drive people away from the bonds Wall Street issued, thus its financing capability would be very much undermined…
5. the dollars are going to devalue so that its status as a global currency would come to an end.
6. as the largest and second holders of U.S. Treasury bills, Japan and China would be marred due to the slumping dollar value
7. Major nations in the world might endeavor to displace their crisis by the method of war, and a new world war with the massive use of nuclear weapons is inevitable…..
At the end of his article, the blogger posted a critical question
要知道，中国手里的外汇储备世界第一，在美国金融危机当中，中国有能力发挥积极作用。问题是美国一直在积极遏制和围堵中国，甚至一再阻扰中国的统一进程，对这样的国家我们需要以德报怨吗？
In 2 pages of comments followed, firespace1 scorned
支持楼主拿工资去救美国
7758521wan said:
你真是个牛人啊，据然想起来承救美国，他妈的你才吃饱饭几天啊，现在就出来救人，真是有种，你是真的有钱就到大街上去救几个同胞不是更好吗……我为你感到悲唉啊．
Accordingly, maybe people should ask “do we have the power to save America”.
零时三刻1970 said:
中国也没那能力去救美国
不落井下石抛国债已经是最大程度的支持了
But 推拖拉机的浣熊 thought the other way,
说楼主脑残的脑瘫患者.看不懂就闭嘴.别再那乱扣帽子.如果美国危机持续下去.最多十个月,国内经济必然失控.从金融开始到房地产后工业.国人到时不知多少人要自杀.
EileenZ rebuked:
照楼主的说法，美国永远都不能倒下，全世界都应该用本国的力量去支持美国的强大，这样他才能不停的用别人的钱去消费，给其他国家带来订单？
这样的逻辑，真的很糟糕，就像你不停的给钱别人来买你的东西一样，而这个人最终不会付清它的债务，因为他自己没有钱，所有的钱都是借来得。
讨厌猫的男人 seconds, giving an analogy
中国好比就是给美国打工,然在老板说我没钱了,公司要倒了.打工的说不能倒啊,倒了我没饭吃了,老板说那就你借点钱给我继续开公司,你也可以继续为我打工.楼猪这叫什么逻辑
That might be why insins said:
要救，但要乘机提条件 为什么要救？美国是中国的最大出口市场，他衰退，中国也要损失惨重。
提条件虽然不厚道，但跟美国人提不要心怀不安，他们对我们一直如此的，我们可以在台湾问题，西藏等问题提条件，多好的筹码啊
More than the unwillingness to give a hand, there are voices criticizing U.S is trying to transfer his financial burden to all the rest of the world, nothing different with a rogue state's action.
In another discussion board, IronBlood, 大大跑 said
美国金融破产与９７年国企业改革之初有的企业采用破产方法甩债另立公司都是为了破壳逃债，不过本质不同的是：美国是破外国债权，美国实际资产一点也没少……对这样不讲信誉赖掉他国债务的国家，为什么还要进行投资救市
On the one hand, China fears the financial crisis would not only involve the States itself, but destroy the global market and economic order as well; while on the other hand, it is thrilled by the significant chance, as the States might have during the World War 2, that along with the shift on power map, China would escalate to a status of super power.
大大跑's comment is exactly the expression of this ambition:
中国老百姓不同意政府参与美国救市，一是美国金融破产信誉让中国损失严重；二是国际上不应以美元做为单一世界货币绑架世界经济；三是世界上需要经济重新洗 牌规避类似美国大举破产逃债经济事故。有的网友说“美国的经济危机就是世界经济权益的一次再分配，中国务必做好重建新秩序的各项准备”
the economic crisis this time is a redistribution of the economic powers in the world; China, has to be prepared for the restoration of a new order.
Perú: Bloggers Adopting Congressional Representatives
At the beginning of this month, television host Rosa María Palacios published on her column in the Peru21 newspaper an article titled We Have the Right to Know [es] in which she wrote about her fruitless tries to get information on a congressman's expenses. When she wasn't able to get any answers, she prompted other citizens to do the same and request the information in an attempt to pressure Congress.
This article was quickly accepted among bloggers, and it spread as a meme. The first one to write about it on his blog and present it as something bloggers could do was Paki's Blog, in Adopt your Congressional Representative …[es]:
1. Primero escoge a un congresista, si es que votaste por él, aún mejor.
2. Envíale la carta (lo ideal sería que la dejes en Mesa de Partes del Congreso, ya que el acuse de recibo del fax de la oficina de Administración, no consigna el número telefónico) Recuerda que el nuevo Director de Administración del Congreso de la República es Víctor Guerrero de los Ríos (cambia el nombre en la carta) El número de fax es: (01) 311 7719
3. Pon en tu blog un banner como este. Te puedes bajar el PSD (sólo tendrías que meter la foto del parlamentario y su nombre)
4. Cada semana publica un post de seguimiento, hasta que el Congresista acceda a tu justa solicitud.
2. Send the letter (the ideal thing would be to leave it at the Congress' Admissions' Office since the fax receipt at the administration's office doesn't include a telephone number) Remember that the new Administration Director for the Congress of the Republic is Víctor Guerrero de los Ríos (change the name in the letter). The fax number is: (01) 311 7719
3. Include a banner like this in your blog. You can download the PSD (you would just have to include your member of parliament's picture and name.)
4. Each week publish a follow-up post, until the congressperson answers your fair inquiries.
As can be seen in the comments for the same post, bloggers have started to join the innitiative and by performing a Google search one can find many more. Obviously some members of the congress didn't like this idea very much and their answers varied from absolute resistence to poo-pooing: “If they adopt me, I will denounce them criminally. Besides, I´m an adult, I can't be adopted” (Congressman Walter Menchola), but not all did, some even invited bloggers to Congress. In El Blog del Morsa (The Walrus' blog) although a congressperson wasn't adopted, they published the post Blogosphere and politics: Adopt your Jaguar:
A pesar de que hablamos de unos 20 ó 30 blogs que se han sumado al llamado de RMP, desde ya se puede considerar un éxito la campaña. Ya se ha señalado públicamente la necesidad de que los congresistas rindan cuentas y ya no hay marcha atrás. Que no es el gran tema del Congreso, que el problema de fondo es la necesidad de partidos de verdad, ok. Pero el golpe fue encajado, directo a la quijada.
After several days, one of the requests made, in this case from the Peru21 newspaper, was rejected. The blog “Desde el Tercer Piso (From the Third Floor) attempts an explanation to this:
No me extraña que el Congreso de la República le haya negado a Perú.21 la información sobre los gastos operativos de 5 congresistas. Y menos aún que lo haya hecho con el mismo pretexto que le dio a Rosa María Palacios hace algunos días. Y tampoco será raro que el nuevo Director de Administración del parlamento me niegue mi solicitud de información sobre el primer vicepresidente Luis Giampietri. ¿Por qué? Ensayo una respuesta. Pues básicamente porque en el Perú nuestros funcionarios públicos, electos y no electos, no están acostumbrados a rendir cuentas a la población que los eligió y/o paga sus sueldos con sus impuestos. La carencia de ciudadanía efectiva en el país, sumada a la situación casi de impunidad con la que parecen vivir el Presidente, los Congresistas y demás, hacen que se generen temores una vez que se produce una campaña para que se hagan más transparentes las cosas en la política peruana.
After this, the blogger's requests also started getting rejected. And almost simultaneously The guideline that forced Congressional Representatives to justify their operational expenses was rendered ineffective, basically the heart of the matter which originated the campaign. The blog Una Bitácora de Jomra (Jomra's log) expresses the belief that in the end, although the requests were rejected (and he explains the legal base of this) the balance was positive:
Hay que tener en cuenta, además, que aunque la batalla legal pueda perderse, la política es ganable, aunque en su caso la administración y la justicia determinen que no hay derecho a pedir esos gastos de forma directa o en las circunstancias actuales o en los términos solicitados, podemos pedir a los congresistas que tengan la transparencia política que ha tenido Valle Riestra.
Lo andado, en sí mismo, es positivo. Sea porque se han presentado 10 o 100 cartas, sea porque el tema está en el debate nacional, que los congresistas se sientan “observados” (porque no son sospechosos de nada, pero sí estamos vigilando sus y nuestros bolsillos). … el queremos saber y el sentido de ciudadano responsable se va extendiendo, y eso ya en sí mismo es positivo.
What has been advanced in itself is positive. Be it because 10 or 100 letters were sent, or because the topic is in the national debate, and congress is feeling observed (because they aren't suspect of anything, but we are watching their and our pockets) … the need to know and the sense of civic responsibility is extending and that in itself is positive.
Nevertheless, criticism of the campaign wasn't absent. For example, El Jorobado de Notre Dame (The hunchback of Notre Dame) in his post The “caviarizatión” of the blogosphere tells us that it seems more like an ego-trip and selfish exercise to him:
O sea, desde cuándo a acá me has resultado un ciudadano responsable tú, oe, que gorreas cable, que no cruzas las pistas por las esquinas, que conduces borracho, que botas el pucho de tu cigarro a la calle… no me vengas pues. Anda no más. Lo que se busca es hacer evidente tu blog (cosa que está bien). O sea, sinceremos la huevada… Me da la impresión que los bloggeros han pisado el palito del liberalismo político de Rosa María Palacios que bajo el supuesto de que todos los ciudadanos somos iguales (mentira, pues, a quién le quieres engañar), de que todos tenemos la misma capacidad de ejercer determinados derechos como es la mal llamada “vigilancia ciudadana”. ¿Todos los ciudadanos somos iguales ante la ley? Más falso que beso de madrastra. El liberal-Rosa-María tiene una fobia al Estado, porque solo ve “ciudadanos con derechos políticos” y “economía de mercado”, cuando es precisamente la garantía de la estatalidad (de que las instituciones estatales de control funcionen, por ejemplo) lo que garantice que hasta el ciudadano analfabeto pueda acceder a un bien público como es la información. Se trata de construir instituciones estatales y no de decir que no funcionan. Se trata de mejorar la representación, y por lo tanto de no confundir a la institución (el Congreso) con los ciudadanos que ejercen ineficientemente los cargos de representación (algunos congresistas).
For his part, Lapicero Digital (Digital Pen) exposes some of the motives that prompted him not to participate in his post Why have I not adopted a congressional representative?:
2. El congreso es la institución más débil y más desprestigiada del estado peruano. Piñata fácil. El poder del estado no pasa por ahí, sino por el ejecutivo y por los poderes fácticos como la prensa, la iglesia, los militares, los empresarios, las mafias. Más aún, los poderes fácticos suelen aprovecharse de la debilidad del congreso para imponer sus propias agendas (”disolver-disolver”).
8. No se necesita un canal adicional de intermediación política (aunque se publicita a esta campaña como un “modelo de participación civil“). Ahora le tengo que enviar mis consultas a un blogger para que éste monitoree al congresista, aquí. El congreso ya tiene una página web donde se puede hacer el seguimiento de cualquier pedido y, de hecho, la ciudadanía ya recurre a esos mecanismos. Toca reforzar el contacto de la ciudadanía con sus representantes, no debilitarlo.
11. Una vez que se sepa sobre los gastos operativos de los/as congresistas ¿qué se gana? ¿Qué pasa con las otras métricas de calidad de la actividad de estos representantes? Cumplimiento de promesas electorales, número de proyectos presentados, ausentismo, comunicación con sus electores/as, etc. Toda esa información se podría obtener también, acaso más fácilmente, pero no se le hace mucho caso. Por alguna razón, tal vez seguidismo a la periodista Palacios, comenzaron por los gastos operativos, pero hay muchas dimensiones que hubieran podido atender. Claro, hacerlo requeriría un trabajo más involucrado y especializado. Más fácil es el cargamontón y llamar a que más gente joven pida lo que ya le fue rechazado a gente mayor.
8. An additional political intermediation channel isn´t needed (even although this campaign is being advertised as a “model of citizen participation). Now I have to send my requests to a blogger so that he will monitor the congressperson, here. The congress already has a website where the followup of any request can be made, and as a matter of fact, the general population is already using these means. We need to strenghten contact between citizens and their representatives, not weaken it.
11. Once that operative costs of congressional representatives are known then what? What happens to all the other quality metrics that measure the activities of these representatives? The keeping of their electoral promises, number of presented projects, absenteesim, communication with their electors, etc. All this information could also be obtained, even easier, but thye are not paid attention to. For some reason, may be just the need to follow journalist Palacios, they started with operational expenses, but there are many other dimension that they could've taken care of. Of course, doing so would require a far more involved and specialized work. Easier is the massive requests to ask the younger people to request what was already denied to the elders.
The blog Asesinato en el margen tries to give some answers to criticism in the post Defending the Adopt a Congressional Representative Campaign :
1. ¿Importa cuál es la motivación del solicitante? No. Yo podría ser un racista iracundo y ponerme a fiscalizar a Marta Moyano por esa razón, por ejemplo pidiéndole información sobre sus gastos operativos con el afán de fiscalizarla. También lo puedo hacer por puro ego, por creerme la mama de tarzan, por moda, por paternalismo, por figuretti o por computarme un ciudadano digital. ¿Eso invalida mi derecho a acceder a dicha información o a participar en una campaña para ello? No, para nada. Esto me recuerda el argumento del racismo para explicar la conducta fiscalizadora de la prensa con Toledo. Yo creo que algo de eso existió, pero el que haya existido o no es irrelevante pues de lo que se trata es de ver si es que las denuncias en contra de Toledo eran ciertas o no. Más allá de la motivación racista del denunciante, lo que importa es si lo denunciado constituye un hecho doloso que amerita una sanción de acuerdo con nuestro esquema legal. ¿Qué la prensa no es tan severa con García? Si pues, pero eso es otro tema.
Finally, the campaign has had some collateral products or unexpected spin-offs, like for example the sarcastic campaign Adopt a Journalist started by the blog tv-Bruto: Citizen Campaign: Adopt a Journalist: Banner for you to place on your “citizen blog” / video: Rosa Palacios is given a spoonfull of her own medicine or the snarky Adopt a blogger, as is satirically informed by the Naked Chile blog in the post Adopta a blogger campaign is launched. In a more serious plan there has also been a campaign to Adopt a Draftsman in the blog Hojas de Vida: ADOPT A DRAFTSMAN, a campaign that isn't a joke. And to wrap up , this interesting related post is by Andrea Naranjo: Political organizations and the digital inclusion/literacy: the case of Adopt a Congressional Representative. Also, the original Adopt a Congressional Representative blog itself.
The image for this post was taken from the blog del morsa.
Ecuador: Referendum Results Herald Changes
President Correa at the balcony in the Carondelet (Government) Palace . Photo by Presidencia de la Republica and used under creative commons license
The Minister of Economy for Alfredo Palacio's presidency, Mr. Correa, published a document in 2004 which can be found at La Insignia [es] where he stated back then what is currently being discussed in Art. 303 of the newly passed Constitution, stating that Ecuadorians will go back to a national currency, and control and regulation of money will return to the Ecuadorian Central Bank. Since Ecuador currently uses the US Dollar as currency, this has not been seen with positive eyes by many. However, not even the protests against the approval for the new Constitution, have stopped this “Citizen Revolution of XXI Century”, as the victory was proclaimed by the Presidential political movement, Alianza Pais (Country Alliance).
Preliminary results favor the Ecuadorian government (98.87% of votes had been counted, so far) and its vision of political future in Ecuador. As of today, 63.94% of population has voted for Correa's petition and 28.08% are supporting the NO. Guayaquil, one of the largest cities in Ecuador, however, voted differently than the rest of the country: even though results were quite close between both tendencies, finally the NO won with 46.97% of preference. Guayaquil's Mayor, Jaime Nebot, had to concede the results and being one of the leaders opposing the approved Constitution, he was quick to respond to Correa's call about dialogue and say he's not looking towards a separatist new Guayaquil, independent of its actual country, as many suggested.
Bloggers in Ecuador have commented about the referendum's aftermath. Some are happy with the triumph of the YES and some others think that promised change is still far, far away.
Juan Fernando Pachedo of Satturn Attacks [es] begins his post asking himself, New life hopes? and he continues to doubt that a plain paper as the Constitution, might change things in this South American country. On the contrary, he advises his fellow citizens to take some steps in the economical area:
- Abrir tan pronto puedas una cuenta en Euros, créanme no hay moneda que se ponga al euro
- Sacar tu dinero del país, algunos Bancos te permite abrir cuentas en sus filiales en USA o directamente puedes hacerlo tú, es el mejor camino.
- No embarcarse en deudas en los próximos dos años, no deudas grandes al menos, recuerda que ahora pagas en Dólares y cuando tengas una nueva moneda devaluada te será más difícil de poder pagar a las cuotas de tu casa, auto etc, etc
- Migrar, si tienes a donde y de forma legal hazlo, ojo no aconsejo te subas a un bote y te vayas a EEUU sin siquiera poder articulas dos palabras, pero si tienes un empleo o una profesión que te ayude, puede hacer una migración ordenada tuya y de tu familia.
- Take out your money from the country, some banks allow you to open accounts at its subsidiaries in the U.S. directly or you can do it by yourself, it is the best way.
- Do not get into debts in the next two years, not large ones in any case, remember that now you pay in U.S. dollars and when you have a new devalued currency, it will be more difficult to pay the home mortgage, car, etc, etc.
- Migrate, if you have a chance and can you do it legally, but listen, I do not advise you to board a boat and walk away to the U.S. without even articulating a couple of words, but if you have a job or a profession to help you, you can make an orderly migration for yourself and your family.
Eduardo Varas of Libros, Autores y Riesgos [es] laments that a great number of people, like him, neither voted for YES nor for NO. Eduardo thinks this shows that Ecuadorians vote favoring sensationalism and looked away from different options. Reminding us how Ecuador's political road has been in the last decade, he writes:
Y bueno, ver esa distancia, ver que un país se mueve por pasiones (por ejemplo, ayer en uno de los canales se pasó un reportaje sobre las consultas que se han realizado desde la vuelta a la democracia y me quedé helado al ver que en el gobierno de León Febres Cordero se lanzó una para preguntar al pueblo si se prefería que candidatos independientes pudieran participar en contiendas electorales. La mayoría dijo No. Luego, varias años después, Sixto Durán Ballén, en su gobierno, hizo la misma pregunta y ganó el Sí. No hay opción, se vota por la figura y no por sus ideas… eso suena a condena), y entender que el manejo será así por mucho tiempo, te obliga a despertar a varias ideas…
El Cronista of CronicaCero[es] recalls that this is the fifth time in less than two years that President Correa gets the favor from Ecuadorian citizens. He comes to realize that opposition is still blind to the changes that are really happening in his country:
Sí, a ver, dirán algunos que nada ha cambiado, que siguen los casos de corrupción, que sigue el gasto, que sigue el desempleo, que sigue la pobreza. Es cierto. Hay ciertas cosas que no cambian. Pero lo que se aprobó ayer, domingo 28 de septiembre, es sin duda, un paso enorme para modificar la estructura de un Estado que hace rato se olvidó de la gente y que se la jugó corruptamente por quienes tenían el poder financiero y político.
Links for Fri, 2008-10
Minerva's Crossing is impressed by the speeches Nepali Prime Minister and former rebel leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) gave in New York and comments: “rebel movements can change, if they are willing to do so”.
After the recent flirtatious statement incident of Pakistan president Asif A. Zardari, Teeth Maestro digs out another controversy relating to the president, this time whether he misspelled or not while signing in a guest book.
Bangladesh Corporate blog informs that the government owned telecommunications giant BTCL has started to offer a special number to access Internet service, which is the first of its kind in Bangladesh. All one needs is to have a land phone line and a modem and the dial-up internet usage charges will be added to the phone bill.
Simón Bécquer from the Alternative Reality blog in his post The Converse Shoes of the Socialist Youth [es] shows us the images for the new campaign for Venezuela's Socialist Youth, in which young people are asked to step into socialist shoes. However, these shoes, modelled and shown by President Chávez himself are oddly familiar: they are a red knock-off of the popular US brand Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars, with the PSUV logo instead of the traditional red and blue star. The author wonders where these ironic and “original” Venezuelan shoes could be purchased.
Rick Lowe at Weblog Bahamas thinks that the 5 million dollars that the government is allocating to rebuild the Nassau Straw Market “is over the top. This matter deserves clearer thinking.”
Yoani Sanchez takes a road trip to help some of the most severely affected Cuban hurricane victims and says: “I returned and confirmed that the recovery will take years, that hope is scarce and that the worst may be yet to come when the enthusiasm for helping fades.”
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