2. Argentine Priest Receives Life Sentence in ‘Dirty War’ Killings
3. Whether this reverend is really a scapegoat of the Catholic church or just a representative of the church's dark past in its dealings with the former regime, it proves once again the ambiguity that comes when religion and politics intertwine.
It also represents in a way, the repucussions of the centuries past in which the Catholic church played a major role in politics, and especially in subjugating the local people. This article goes to show how the later generations are reaping the consequences of their ancestors' actions.
----------------------- By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 9 — An Argentine tribunal sentenced a Roman Catholic priest to life in prison on Tuesday for conspiring with the military in murders and kidnapping during the country’s “dirty war” against leftist opponents, in a case that has become for many a powerful symbol of the church’s complicity with the former regime.
The Rev. Christian von Wernich, who worked as a police chaplain during the military dictatorship, was found guilty of involvement in seven murders, 31 cases of torture and 42 kidnappings. He is the first Catholic priest prosecuted in connection with human rights violations in Argentina, where at least 12,000 people were killed during the military regime from 1976 to 1983.
Seconds after the sentence was read, hundreds of protesters cheered and fireworks were shot off outside the courthouse in La Plata, about 50 miles from Buenos Aires. Father von Wernich, who wore a bulletproof vest in court, clasped his hands and frowned. Nearly a quarter of a century after the junta was toppled in 1983 and democracy was restored, the trial of Father von Wernich has forced Argentina to confront the church’s dark past during the dirty war. It illustrated how closely some Argentine priests, who had strongly aligned themselves with the power of the military, worked with the regime’s leaders.
Over several months of often chilling testimony during the trial, witnesses spoke about how Father von Wernich was present at torture sessions in clandestine detention centers. They said he extracted confessions to help the military root out perceived enemies, while at the same time offering comforting words and hope to family members searching for loved ones who had been kidnapped by the government.
His lawyer, Juan Martín Cerolini, maintained that Father von Wernich had been made a “Catholic scapegoat” for those who wanted to prosecute the church. Father von Wernich fled Argentina for Chile but was found in 2003 in the seaside town of El Quisco by a group of journalists and human rights advocates. He was working as a priest under the name Christian González.
Argentina’s past stands in stark contrast to the role the church played during the dictatorships in Chile and Brazil, where priests and bishops publicly condemned the governments and worked to save those being persecuted from torture and death. Graham Bowley contributed reporting from New York. ----- http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/world/americas/10argentina.html?ref=americas
1. SuJugn, Kim 2. Colombia mine collapse kills 24 3. What a GOLD!! In Colombia, rumours made local residents go to mine. Of course they were amateur and it was illegal.
Mining is a very uncommong thing because it was disappeared in Korea before I was born in or when I was just a baby. I only learned about mining history when I was in highschool.
For that reason, this article was a little bit shocking not only because of the fact that people go to the mine just because of rumor, but also because of its unsafety!
------------------------------- At least 24 amateur gold prospectors have been killed in a mine collapse in south-west Colombia.
Some 18 people were injured and another 10 estimated to be missing after the accident near the town of Suarez, about 350km (220 miles) from Bogota.
Local residents were mining for gold with few security measures in place.
Rescue efforts have been called off for the night and were hampered by the fact that there was no record of how many people had entered the mine.
Recent torrential rains had weakened the sides of the open cast mine, sparking a landslide of mud and rock on some 50 prospectors.
'No safety'
Cauca provincial Governor Juan Jose Chaux said the search had been suspended as darkness and bad weather had made the mine more unsafe.
A local policeman told AP news agency: "There are still a lot of people to rescue, and we don't know what conditions they're in."
Television pictures showed rescuers with heavy machinery wading through mud in an eight meter (25 feet) deep by 50 meter (160 feet) wide pit.
Mr Chaux said prospectors had entered the pit after rumours there were gold seams despite being warned it was unsafe by the Suarez mayor.
The site is owned by mining company Agromineros.
The BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Colombia says gold deposits abound in the region but few mining companies venture to operate there because warring factions control much of the country's rural parts.
Local residents have taken the opportunity to set up illegal mining operations which respect no safety regulations, according to our correspondent.
In February a gas explosion at a coal mine in north-eastern Colombia killed 32 miners.
Though mining is unfamiliar to us lke Sujung said, as said in class, mining industries are still young in Latin America.(So it is, in many other regions including Africa, I guess.) There're many news about booming in mining industry in Latin, one of which is about Brazil stock rising.
Loads of foreign capital of the industry's being been invested in these areas and large part of Latin America's economy is depending on the industry. But there are serious environmental and human rights issues as well as the issues from economic perspective.
This week, there is nationwide mining strike in Peru. Also in mexico.
ps.Well, the shortage of labor supply in the industry also might be a check-able issue, which'd help the holding of the strikes.
----------------------- Revolt in the Andes Sep 20th 2007 | LIMA From The Economist print edition
A vote of sorts against big mines
MANY of the world's top mining companies have made big investments in Peru and are now ramping up output just when world prices for minerals are at record highs. The government has handed out concessions for exploration covering 12m hectares (45,000 square miles), which it hopes will trigger further investment of $11 billion over the next four years. The industry is booming, as is the economy. But in the Andean highlands that contain the mineral deposits, some Peruvians are turning against the mining companies.
EPA
Not in our backyard, pleaseThe latest battle is at Rio Blanco, a remote spot close to the border with Ecuador where the Andes meet the Amazon, forming a misty cloud forest. Monterrico Metals, a London-based start-up recently sold to China's Zijin Consortium, plans to develop a huge copper mine there, costing $1.4 billion. Urged on by a loose coalition of environmentalists, Catholic priests and foreign NGOs, local mayors have campaigned against the project. On September 16th they held an unofficial referendum in the three affected districts. Of the 17,971 votes cast (a turnout of almost 60%, said the organisers), all but 984 voted against the mine.
Opponents say the mine would pollute rivers that are vital for farmers in fertile valleys lower down and accuse the company of ignoring local opinion. More broadly, they argue that mining has failed to develop the highlands. President Alan García's government denounced the referendum as unrepresentative and claimed its organisers were “communists”.
At Rio Blanco genuine fears and grievances have been mixed with much misinformation and political manipulation, a familiar pattern in Peru. The local mayors say they now want talks on the project. Richard Ralph, Monterrico's chairman, welcomes this as a chance “to dispel some of the myths about a mine that hasn't even been built”. He says that the project will use clean, modern mining technology and very little water, which it will not pollute. The company has promised the few thousand villagers who live close to the mine a community-development fund of $80m over the next three decades.
Monterrico hopes that work on the mine can still start next year, after an environmental-impact study is completed. Other mining companies in Peru will be watching closely. In recent years the industry has tried to clean up its image. But it labours under a legacy of poor environmental practice (some of it when the big mines were state-owned in the 1970s and 1980s). Conflicts between farmers and miners over water use are particularly common.
Modern mines may be much cleaner but they are capital-intensive and generate relatively few jobs. Some economists argue that mines could do more to boost surrounding areas by using local suppliers: one study found that in northern Chile each mining job generates seven others, while the figure in Peru may be lower.
In response to the protests, mining companies are spending more on community development. Half of their income taxes are also returned as local royalties. But local governments often make a bad job of spending this money. And in Apurímac, one of Peru's poorest regions, the national government has rejected all the projects proposed by local communities that would draw on a $40m fund set up by Xstrata, a Swiss firm developing a copper deposit at Las Bambas.
“Mining companies are making huge sums of money right now, but...the average person living near a mine does not see any benefits,” complains Victor Madariaga, who heads the chambers of commerce in southern Peru. In Cajamarca, the site of Yanacocha, a big gold mine, six out of ten residents are still poor (though that figure is lower than a decade ago and includes areas far away from the mine).
Others argue that by focusing on mining's impact on the local economy, the critics miss the point. Mining provides much of Peru's foreign exchange and tax revenues. Some Peruvians argue that more of the windfall from high prices should be taxed: mining's total tax bill was around $2.9 billion last year on net profits of some $7.3 billion, according to the mining society. Taxes have been edging up: the previous government imposed a royalty of up to 3% on new projects; Mr García negotiated a further “voluntary contribution” of 3% of the industry's after-tax profits (raising some $175m this year).
With or without mining, parts of the Andes will remain poor. But with it, Peru's economy can continue to grow fast. For that, the government will have to do more to engineer a modus vivendi. It is looking at reining in labour sub-contracting in the industry. But it has yet to take what is perhaps the most important step: remove environmental regulation of the industry from the mining ministry and vest it in a specialist environmental agency. The future of mining in Peru depends on the government acting as an effective referee. The days when mines could ride roughshod over the locals are well and truly over. ----- http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=894662&story_id=9833286
3. People are going to Argentina for plastic surgeries! Argentina is a country with more than abundant natural resources such as cows, minerals, fruits, etc. Now they add more attractions to actually bring people to their place; plastic surgery. People come and spend a lot of money for their beauty. It will certainly boost their economy because the the visitors will spend more than those who just come for tourism.
---------------
Oliver Balch charts the irresistible rise of the tango-and-boob-job break in Argentina
Tuesday October 24, 2006 Guardian Unlimited
Foreign tourists have long felt the pull of Buenos Aires's tango halls and dinosaur-sized steaks. But now a new feature of the so-called Paris of Latin America is drawing international visitors: the surgeon's knife. Alongside sightseeing trips and dance shows, holidaymakers are finding time to have their breasts augmented or their teeth whitened.
With Argentina expecting 4.1 million foreign visitors this year, worth an estimated £1.9bn to the national economy, tourism is big business.
Tourist numbers have increased year on year by around 10% since 2003, with Argentina proving particularly popular with British visitors. The number of UK tourists is up by more than a quarter (27%) on last year, with an increasing number of Britons coming for plastic surgery. The clinics of Buenos Aires's surgeons began filling up with foreigners soon after the economy imploded and the currency devalued in 2002. As a result, most treatments cost around a third of UK prices.
Argentina has two major benefits, other than cost. First and foremost, its cosmetic surgeons are among some of the best in the world. Only this weekend, Buenos Aires hosted an international symposium on "21st-century plastic surgery". On the agenda were workshops on third-generation ultrasonic liposuction and periorbital (around the eyes) rejuvenation.
Argentinian plastic surgeons have good reason to be so skilled: domestic demand for breast implants, laser surgery and nip-and-tuck treatments is sky high in this style-obsessed country.
One in 30 Argentinians is estimated to have gone under the plastic surgeon's knife, making the population the most operated on in the world after the US and Mexico. Boob jobs are a popular birthday present from Argentinian parents stuck as to what to buy their teenage daughters.
The second big draw is the country's reputation as an exotic tourist destination. Home to snow-capped mountains, crystal-clear lakes, colossal waterfalls and gaucho-strewn prairies, Argentina offers would-be patients a tempting array of holiday options.
Plenitas is typical of the boutique clinics that have opened in the capital over recent years to cater for the medical tourism boom. Based in a smart three-storey office in the city's exclusive Belgrano district, the company employs a dozen surgeons to work with its client base of foreign patients.
"We offer tailor-made services from beginning to end," explains the clinic's marketing coordinator, Martín Díaz Andrade. "We meet our patients at the airport, book their accommodation, arrange for them to meet the surgeon beforehand and then follow up with them once they return home."
Launched in 2003, Plenitas has expanded on its initial breast-implants-and-tango package with a wide range of different surgical procedures. Abdomen liposuction will set you back $1,000 (£530). Penis enlargement is priced at £1,330. For those with bigger budgets, there is the option of a full gastric bypass for £6,470.
All the prices include hotel accommodation, airport transfers and travel advice. In addition, patients are assigned an English-speaking personal assistant for the length of their stay. Flights from the UK are not included in the price.
"Some of our patients have not travelled much in the past, so there's a natural concern about coming to Argentina. We try to put them at ease by taking good care of them and giving them all the information they need," Mr Andrade explains.
The strategy is working. Plenitas attracts around 500 patients a year from all over the world. The majority come from the US, where the notion of medical tourism is more familiar than it is in Europe. The company also has a "significant number" of British patients, as well as clients from Spain, France and Germany.
Rob Maietta, a London resident, admits to having been "very surprised" at the prices when he first inquired about dental treatment eight months ago.
"If I went to a normal dentist in London it would cost me around £40,000, so I decided to do some research into other options," he says.
The 37-year-old IT project manager investigated clinics in Australia, eastern Europe and the Balearic islands before settling on Argentina, where the work he wanted done was half the price of the next cheapest option. For £8,000 he was able to get 17 titanium dental implants - plus a nose job thrown in for good measure.
Mr Maietta completed his surgery successfully last week, but he admits to having early concerns about arranging everything through the internet. Plenitas, like other clinics specialising in offshore surgery, depends heavily on online marketing.
With only a website to rely on, potential health tourists to Argentina should check for referrals and testimonials, a spokesperson from the British embassy in Buenos Aires advises.
As yet, no accreditation system exists for private clinics in Argentina. However, individual surgeons do require a national medical licence to operate. Again, double-checking their credentials should be top of any patient's checklist.
"We have an important control system to certify surgeons", says Martín Mihura, director of the national association of surgeons. "There are some [without qualifications], although they operate in isolation."
Medical tourists should also be advised against planning a fortnight by the pool after plastic surgery: doctors recommend being out of the sun for at least two months after invasive cosmetic surgery. Tango dancing is also unadvisable.
Most patients choose to fit in their travelling before their operation and then use the tail end of their holiday to rest and recuperate. That said, cold weather helps the recovery process, making a trip to the ice caps of Antarctica a possibility - even if there are only penguins there to admire your new facelift.
3. Although this article was written in recent aftermath of the Venezuelan coup the underlying message of the diminishing influence of the U.S. and the strengthening of the socialist/leftist alliance of the Latin American and Caribbean countries rings true today. The "unrest" in Venezuela may be out of sight for the Bush administration with the 'War on Terror' but it should definitely not be out of mind as those closest to you will need to be paid attention at one point or another. Isolationism is never a positive strategy - especially for a superpower such as the U.S. who will face grave consequences; not only economically and politically but also socially from the people in the region. Trust from citizens is the hardest to gain and the most difficult to maintain. The U.S. must not only try to 'win the hearts and minds' of the Iraqis and Muslims with which the greatest outward clash exists but those who are silent as well.
-------------- By Moisés Naím March/April 2003
How Latin America’s sole remaining dictator outsmarted the world’s sole remaining superpower.
Oil and beauty queens. For decades, those were the main story lines about Venezuela that caught the attention of the international media. Not anymore. Now the country seems to spring another surprise every other week. One of the greatest surprises of the Venezuelan crisis is how little Washington has mattered. Another is that Fidel Castro’s Cuba—small, poor, and isolated—has been far more influential in Venezuela than George W. Bush’s mighty America. Few episodes better illustrate the limitations of modern superpowerdom than the outmaneuvering of Uncle Sam by Fidel in a neighboring country that also happens to be one of the United States’ biggest oil suppliers.
The United States could not do much as Hugo Chávez took Venezuelan politics by storm and almost overnight transformed one of the United States’ most reliable partners into its most adversarial neighbor in South America. Last year, despite common perceptions to the contrary, the United States was also surprised when a cabal of Venezuelan military officers and business leaders hijacked a massive civil protest and briefly ousted Chávez. The clumsy, antidemocratic behavior of the plotters and the swift, effective reaction of Chávez’s supporters returned the president to power, once more startling the United States and leaving the Bush administration’s spokespeople sputtering awkwardly about their hesitation to unequivocally condemn the coup. Recently, the U.S. government was surprised again by labor strikes disrupting its oil supplies, just as the superpower contemplated military action in Iraq.
The United States has been just too busy to worry about Venezuela. September 11 took all of Latin America off the map for top U.S. policymakers. Without Islamic terrorists and nuclear capabilities, the region cannot compete for the time of U.S. leaders, who have given scant and intermittent attention to Venezuela’s crisis. Moreover, when a democratically elected president engages in thuggish, undemocratic practices but doesn’t cross lines that trigger international outrage or directly threaten U.S. interests, the options for intervention available to even a superpower remain limited. The tardy, ambiguous U.S. reaction to last April’s attempt to oust Chávez further constrains Washington’s ability to intervene. Democrats in the U.S. Congress wasted no time in denouncing the Bush administration for its handling of the situation. In effect, U.S. policy toward Venezuela was paralyzed by a lack of clear options, an outburst of partisan politics, and the almost exclusive focus of Washington’s policymaking apparatus on neutralizing al Qaeda and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
In contrast, Cuba’s attention to Venezuela has been sustained and effective. That is because Havana has had the need, the opportunity, and the means to be the most significant foreign influence in the Venezuelan crisis.
Cubans have no foreign policy goal more fundamental to their economic well-being than ensuring Chávez stays in power. Venezuela’s oil, “sold” under highly advantageous conditions to Cuba, is an important reason but not the only one. The alliance with Venezuela has done wonders to help Cuba ease the political and economic isolation that, thanks to the shortsighted U.S. embargo, has choked the country since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Indeed, Venezuelan Air Force pilots report that the equivalent of an airlift between Caracas and Havana has been established. Cuba is cementing its presence in Venezuela by sending thousands of sports trainers, health workers, and other government employees to spend extended periods there; at the same time, a large number of Chávez’s supporters are training in a variety of fields on the island. Most of the Cuban advisers are doctors and athletes, but some of them are political operatives and intelligence officers. Commenting on last year’s abortive coup against Chávez, a European ambassador in Caracas said, “I don’t know which was a bigger factor in returning Chávez to power, the ineptitude of his enemies or the effectiveness of the Cubans, but I do know that both played a role.”
Havana not only has strong motives to support President Chávez; it also has the talent and the institutions to do so with great efficacy. The New York Times recently reported that Cuban intelligence has been able to infiltrate some of the most sensitive spy agencies in the United States. Historically, Cuban agents have been either directly involved or have had front-row seats in almost all the revolutions, coups, and guerrilla movements in the Third World. Such experience certainly comes in handy when helping a valuable ally such as Chávez. Cuban diplomacy supported by Venezuelan oil money has also made significant inroads among Caribbean nations, which control an influential voting bloc in the Organization of American States (OAS). Such ties may well help sway the OAS, which, together with a recently created group of friendly nations, is attempting to mediate between Chávez and the opposition.
The Venezuelan situation can only be solved by Venezuelans. But, as the crisis deepens, the role of other countries will be crucial. Perhaps, even the sole remaining superpower will be able to find a way to avoid being outsmarted again by the hemisphere’s sole remaining Cold War dictator. ----------------- http://foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=9
These series of newly emerging allies among Latin American countries have been grabbing my attention with Hugo Chavez playing the role of missing-link in the circle.
I am wondering if Chavez really is the one center link that is organizing an opponent "army" against the US, or it is just my own speculations guided by the strong first impressions that was stamped in my mind by the movies we saw at the beginning of this class.
-------------------------------- HAVANA (Reuters) - Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who has not appeared in public since July last year, met on Saturday for more than four hours with his ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Cuban state television said.
Chavez, on his third visit to Cuba this year, arrived in Havana early on Saturday and will broadcast his weekly radio and television show from the mausoleum where the remains of guerrilla fighter Ernesto "Che" Guevara are entombed in the central Cuban city of Santa Clara.
Castro, who looked frail in pictures published last month, is not expected to appear on the show in person. No images of his meeting with Chavez were released on Saturday.
"The two revolutionary leaders discussed the history of our nations, the solid and growing bilateral relations, the situation in Latin America and the most serious problems facing humanity," a statement read out on Cuban television said.
The 81-year-old Cuban leader handed over power to his brother Raul Castro 14 1/2 months ago after emergency intestinal surgery for an undisclosed illness.
His long absence has fuelled rumors about his declining health and uncertainty over the political future of the Western Hemisphere's only communist-run state after his death.
In photographs of a meeting with Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos released on September 22, Castro looked thin, but appeared standing, wearing a track suit top over pajamas.
Chavez considers Castro his political mentor and has succeeded the Cuban leader as the main opponent of the United States in Latin America. His left-wing government has provided Cuba with crucial economic support and oil supplies.
Chavez chose to broadcast his Sunday program from Santa Clara in tribute to the Argentine-born Guevara, who helped Castro seize power in Cuba's 1959 revolution and was captured and executed in Bolivia 40 years ago.
A very down to earth* kind of guy. I'm an environmental sociologist interested in establishing material and organizational sustainability worldwide. I'm always looking for interesting materials/technologies, inspiring ideas, or institutional examples of sustainability to inspire others to recognize their choices now. To be fatalistic about an unsustainable world is a sign of a captive mind, given all our options.
*(If "earth" is defined in a planetary sense, concerning comparative historical knowledge and interest in the past 10,000 years or so anywhere...) See both blogs.
7 comments:
1. Euna Lee
2. Argentine Priest Receives Life Sentence in ‘Dirty War’ Killings
3. Whether this reverend is really a scapegoat of the Catholic church or just a representative of the church's dark past in its dealings with the former regime, it proves once again the ambiguity that comes when religion and politics intertwine.
It also represents in a way, the repucussions of the centuries past in which the Catholic church played a major role in politics, and especially in subjugating the local people. This article goes to show how the later generations are reaping the consequences of their ancestors' actions.
-----------------------
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 9 — An Argentine tribunal sentenced a Roman Catholic priest to life in prison on Tuesday for conspiring with the military in murders and kidnapping during the country’s “dirty war” against leftist opponents, in a case that has become for many a powerful symbol of the church’s complicity with the former regime.
The Rev. Christian von Wernich, who worked as a police chaplain during the military dictatorship, was found guilty of involvement in seven murders, 31 cases of torture and 42 kidnappings. He is the first Catholic priest prosecuted in connection with human rights violations in Argentina, where at least 12,000 people were killed during the military regime from 1976 to 1983.
Seconds after the sentence was read, hundreds of protesters cheered and fireworks were shot off outside the courthouse in La Plata, about 50 miles from Buenos Aires. Father von Wernich, who wore a bulletproof vest in court, clasped his hands and frowned.
Nearly a quarter of a century after the junta was toppled in 1983 and democracy was restored, the trial of Father von Wernich has forced Argentina to confront the church’s dark past during the dirty war. It illustrated how closely some Argentine priests, who had strongly aligned themselves with the power of the military, worked with the regime’s leaders.
Over several months of often chilling testimony during the trial, witnesses spoke about how Father von Wernich was present at torture sessions in clandestine detention centers. They said he extracted confessions to help the military root out perceived enemies, while at the same time offering comforting words and hope to family members searching for loved ones who had been kidnapped by the government.
His lawyer, Juan Martín Cerolini, maintained that Father von Wernich had been made a “Catholic scapegoat” for those who wanted to prosecute the church. Father von Wernich fled Argentina for Chile but was found in 2003 in the seaside town of El Quisco by a group of journalists and human rights advocates. He was working as a priest under the name Christian González.
Argentina’s past stands in stark contrast to the role the church played during the dictatorships in Chile and Brazil, where priests and bishops publicly condemned the governments and worked to save those being persecuted from torture and death.
Graham Bowley contributed reporting from New York.
-----
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/world/americas/10argentina.html?ref=americas
1. SuJugn, Kim
2. Colombia mine collapse kills 24
3. What a GOLD!! In Colombia, rumours made local residents go to mine. Of course they were amateur and it was illegal.
Mining is a very uncommong thing because it was disappeared in Korea before I was born in or when I was just a baby. I only learned about mining history when I was in highschool.
For that reason, this article was a little bit shocking not only because of the fact that people go to the mine just because of rumor, but also because of its unsafety!
-------------------------------
At least 24 amateur gold prospectors have been killed in a mine collapse in south-west Colombia.
Some 18 people were injured and another 10 estimated to be missing after the accident near the town of Suarez, about 350km (220 miles) from Bogota.
Local residents were mining for gold with few security measures in place.
Rescue efforts have been called off for the night and were hampered by the fact that there was no record of how many people had entered the mine.
Recent torrential rains had weakened the sides of the open cast mine, sparking a landslide of mud and rock on some 50 prospectors.
'No safety'
Cauca provincial Governor Juan Jose Chaux said the search had been suspended as darkness and bad weather had made the mine more unsafe.
A local policeman told AP news agency: "There are still a lot of people to rescue, and we don't know what conditions they're in."
Television pictures showed rescuers with heavy machinery wading through mud in an eight meter (25 feet) deep by 50 meter (160 feet) wide pit.
Mr Chaux said prospectors had entered the pit after rumours there were gold seams despite being warned it was unsafe by the Suarez mayor.
The site is owned by mining company Agromineros.
The BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Colombia says gold deposits abound in the region but few mining companies venture to operate there because warring factions control much of the country's rural parts.
Local residents have taken the opportunity to set up illegal mining operations which respect no safety regulations, according to our correspondent.
In February a gas explosion at a coal mine in north-eastern Colombia killed 32 miners.
-----------
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7043516.stm
Kyung-hee Kang
Revolt in the Andes
Though mining is unfamiliar to us lke Sujung said, as said in class, mining industries are still young in Latin America.(So it is, in many other regions including Africa, I guess.) There're many news about booming in mining industry in Latin, one of which is about Brazil stock rising.
Loads of foreign capital of the industry's being been invested in these areas and large part of Latin America's economy is depending on the industry. But there are serious environmental and human rights issues as well as the issues from economic perspective.
This week, there is nationwide mining strike in Peru. Also in mexico.
ps.Well, the shortage of labor supply in the industry also might be a check-able issue, which'd help the holding of the strikes.
-----------------------
Revolt in the Andes
Sep 20th 2007 | LIMA
From The Economist print edition
A vote of sorts against big mines
MANY of the world's top mining companies have made big investments in Peru and are now ramping up output just when world prices for minerals are at record highs. The government has handed out concessions for exploration covering 12m hectares (45,000 square miles), which it hopes will trigger further investment of $11 billion over the next four years. The industry is booming, as is the economy. But in the Andean highlands that contain the mineral deposits, some Peruvians are turning against the mining companies.
EPA
Not in our backyard, pleaseThe latest battle is at Rio Blanco, a remote spot close to the border with Ecuador where the Andes meet the Amazon, forming a misty cloud forest. Monterrico Metals, a London-based start-up recently sold to China's Zijin Consortium, plans to develop a huge copper mine there, costing $1.4 billion. Urged on by a loose coalition of environmentalists, Catholic priests and foreign NGOs, local mayors have campaigned against the project. On September 16th they held an unofficial referendum in the three affected districts. Of the 17,971 votes cast (a turnout of almost 60%, said the organisers), all but 984 voted against the mine.
Opponents say the mine would pollute rivers that are vital for farmers in fertile valleys lower down and accuse the company of ignoring local opinion. More broadly, they argue that mining has failed to develop the highlands. President Alan García's government denounced the referendum as unrepresentative and claimed its organisers were “communists”.
At Rio Blanco genuine fears and grievances have been mixed with much misinformation and political manipulation, a familiar pattern in Peru. The local mayors say they now want talks on the project. Richard Ralph, Monterrico's chairman, welcomes this as a chance “to dispel some of the myths about a mine that hasn't even been built”. He says that the project will use clean, modern mining technology and very little water, which it will not pollute. The company has promised the few thousand villagers who live close to the mine a community-development fund of $80m over the next three decades.
Monterrico hopes that work on the mine can still start next year, after an environmental-impact study is completed. Other mining companies in Peru will be watching closely. In recent years the industry has tried to clean up its image. But it labours under a legacy of poor environmental practice (some of it when the big mines were state-owned in the 1970s and 1980s). Conflicts between farmers and miners over water use are particularly common.
Modern mines may be much cleaner but they are capital-intensive and generate relatively few jobs. Some economists argue that mines could do more to boost surrounding areas by using local suppliers: one study found that in northern Chile each mining job generates seven others, while the figure in Peru may be lower.
In response to the protests, mining companies are spending more on community development. Half of their income taxes are also returned as local royalties. But local governments often make a bad job of spending this money. And in Apurímac, one of Peru's poorest regions, the national government has rejected all the projects proposed by local communities that would draw on a $40m fund set up by Xstrata, a Swiss firm developing a copper deposit at Las Bambas.
“Mining companies are making huge sums of money right now, but...the average person living near a mine does not see any benefits,” complains Victor Madariaga, who heads the chambers of commerce in southern Peru. In Cajamarca, the site of Yanacocha, a big gold mine, six out of ten residents are still poor (though that figure is lower than a decade ago and includes areas far away from the mine).
Others argue that by focusing on mining's impact on the local economy, the critics miss the point. Mining provides much of Peru's foreign exchange and tax revenues. Some Peruvians argue that more of the windfall from high prices should be taxed: mining's total tax bill was around $2.9 billion last year on net profits of some $7.3 billion, according to the mining society. Taxes have been edging up: the previous government imposed a royalty of up to 3% on new projects; Mr García negotiated a further “voluntary contribution” of 3% of the industry's after-tax profits (raising some $175m this year).
With or without mining, parts of the Andes will remain poor. But with it, Peru's economy can continue to grow fast. For that, the government will have to do more to engineer a modus vivendi. It is looking at reining in labour sub-contracting in the industry. But it has yet to take what is perhaps the most important step: remove environmental regulation of the industry from the mining ministry and vest it in a specialist environmental agency. The future of mining in Peru depends on the government acting as an effective referee. The days when mines could ride roughshod over the locals are well and truly over.
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http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=894662&story_id=9833286
1. Hyunji Ju
2. Buenos Aires or bust
3. People are going to Argentina for plastic surgeries! Argentina is a country with more than abundant natural resources such as cows, minerals, fruits, etc. Now they add more attractions to actually bring people to their place; plastic surgery. People come and spend a lot of money for their beauty. It will certainly boost their economy because the the visitors will spend more than those who just come for tourism.
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Oliver Balch charts the irresistible rise of the tango-and-boob-job break in Argentina
Tuesday October 24, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Foreign tourists have long felt the pull of Buenos Aires's tango halls and dinosaur-sized steaks. But now a new feature of the so-called Paris of Latin America is drawing international visitors: the surgeon's knife.
Alongside sightseeing trips and dance shows, holidaymakers are finding time to have their breasts augmented or their teeth whitened.
With Argentina expecting 4.1 million foreign visitors this year, worth an estimated £1.9bn to the national economy, tourism is big business.
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Tourist numbers have increased year on year by around 10% since 2003, with Argentina proving particularly popular with British visitors. The number of UK tourists is up by more than a quarter (27%) on last year, with an increasing number of Britons coming for plastic surgery.
The clinics of Buenos Aires's surgeons began filling up with foreigners soon after the economy imploded and the currency devalued in 2002. As a result, most treatments cost around a third of UK prices.
Argentina has two major benefits, other than cost. First and foremost, its cosmetic surgeons are among some of the best in the world. Only this weekend, Buenos Aires hosted an international symposium on "21st-century plastic surgery". On the agenda were workshops on third-generation ultrasonic liposuction and periorbital (around the eyes) rejuvenation.
Argentinian plastic surgeons have good reason to be so skilled: domestic demand for breast implants, laser surgery and nip-and-tuck treatments is sky high in this style-obsessed country.
One in 30 Argentinians is estimated to have gone under the plastic surgeon's knife, making the population the most operated on in the world after the US and Mexico. Boob jobs are a popular birthday present from Argentinian parents stuck as to what to buy their teenage daughters.
The second big draw is the country's reputation as an exotic tourist destination. Home to snow-capped mountains, crystal-clear lakes, colossal waterfalls and gaucho-strewn prairies, Argentina offers would-be patients a tempting array of holiday options.
Plenitas is typical of the boutique clinics that have opened in the capital over recent years to cater for the medical tourism boom. Based in a smart three-storey office in the city's exclusive Belgrano district, the company employs a dozen surgeons to work with its client base of foreign patients.
"We offer tailor-made services from beginning to end," explains the clinic's marketing coordinator, Martín Díaz Andrade. "We meet our patients at the airport, book their accommodation, arrange for them to meet the surgeon beforehand and then follow up with them once they return home."
Launched in 2003, Plenitas has expanded on its initial breast-implants-and-tango package with a wide range of different surgical procedures. Abdomen liposuction will set you back $1,000 (£530). Penis enlargement is priced at £1,330. For those with bigger budgets, there is the option of a full gastric bypass for £6,470.
All the prices include hotel accommodation, airport transfers and travel advice. In addition, patients are assigned an English-speaking personal assistant for the length of their stay. Flights from the UK are not included in the price.
"Some of our patients have not travelled much in the past, so there's a natural concern about coming to Argentina. We try to put them at ease by taking good care of them and giving them all the information they need," Mr Andrade explains.
The strategy is working. Plenitas attracts around 500 patients a year from all over the world. The majority come from the US, where the notion of medical tourism is more familiar than it is in Europe. The company also has a "significant number" of British patients, as well as clients from Spain, France and Germany.
Rob Maietta, a London resident, admits to having been "very surprised" at the prices when he first inquired about dental treatment eight months ago.
"If I went to a normal dentist in London it would cost me around £40,000, so I decided to do some research into other options," he says.
The 37-year-old IT project manager investigated clinics in Australia, eastern Europe and the Balearic islands before settling on Argentina, where the work he wanted done was half the price of the next cheapest option. For £8,000 he was able to get 17 titanium dental implants - plus a nose job thrown in for good measure.
Mr Maietta completed his surgery successfully last week, but he admits to having early concerns about arranging everything through the internet. Plenitas, like other clinics specialising in offshore surgery, depends heavily on online marketing.
With only a website to rely on, potential health tourists to Argentina should check for referrals and testimonials, a spokesperson from the British embassy in Buenos Aires advises.
As yet, no accreditation system exists for private clinics in Argentina. However, individual surgeons do require a national medical licence to operate. Again, double-checking their credentials should be top of any patient's checklist.
"We have an important control system to certify surgeons", says Martín Mihura, director of the national association of surgeons. "There are some [without qualifications], although they operate in isolation."
Medical tourists should also be advised against planning a fortnight by the pool after plastic surgery: doctors recommend being out of the sun for at least two months after invasive cosmetic surgery. Tango dancing is also unadvisable.
Most patients choose to fit in their travelling before their operation and then use the tail end of their holiday to rest and recuperate. That said, cold weather helps the recovery process, making a trip to the ice caps of Antarctica a possibility - even if there are only penguins there to admire your new facelift.
by Oliver Balch
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/argentina/story/0,,1930436,00.html
1. Heaeum Cho
2. A Venezuelan Paradox
3. Although this article was written in recent aftermath of the Venezuelan coup the underlying message of the diminishing influence of the U.S. and the strengthening of the socialist/leftist alliance of the Latin American and Caribbean countries rings true today. The "unrest" in Venezuela may be out of sight for the Bush administration with the 'War on Terror' but it should definitely not be out of mind as those closest to you will need to be paid attention at one point or another. Isolationism is never a positive strategy - especially for a superpower such as the U.S. who will face grave consequences; not only economically and politically but also socially from the people in the region. Trust from citizens is the hardest to gain and the most difficult to maintain. The U.S. must not only try to 'win the hearts and minds' of the Iraqis and Muslims with which the greatest outward clash exists but those who are silent as well.
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By Moisés Naím
March/April 2003
How Latin America’s sole remaining dictator outsmarted the world’s sole remaining superpower.
Oil and beauty queens. For decades, those were the main story lines about Venezuela that caught the attention of the international media. Not anymore. Now the country seems to spring another surprise every other week. One of the greatest surprises of the Venezuelan crisis is how little Washington has mattered. Another is that Fidel Castro’s Cuba—small, poor, and isolated—has been far more influential in Venezuela than George W. Bush’s mighty America. Few episodes better illustrate the limitations of modern superpowerdom than the outmaneuvering of Uncle Sam by Fidel in a neighboring country that also happens to be one of the United States’ biggest oil suppliers.
The United States could not do much as Hugo Chávez took Venezuelan politics by storm and almost overnight transformed one of the United States’ most reliable partners into its most adversarial neighbor in South America. Last year, despite common perceptions to the contrary, the United States was also surprised when a cabal of Venezuelan military officers and business leaders hijacked a massive civil protest and briefly ousted Chávez. The clumsy, antidemocratic behavior of the plotters and the swift, effective reaction of Chávez’s supporters returned the president to power, once more startling the United States and leaving the Bush administration’s spokespeople sputtering awkwardly about their hesitation to unequivocally condemn the coup. Recently, the U.S. government was surprised again by labor strikes disrupting its oil supplies, just as the superpower contemplated military action in Iraq.
The United States has been just too busy to worry about Venezuela. September 11 took all of Latin America off the map for top U.S. policymakers. Without Islamic terrorists and nuclear capabilities, the region cannot compete for the time of U.S. leaders, who have given scant and intermittent attention to Venezuela’s crisis. Moreover, when a democratically elected president engages in thuggish, undemocratic practices but doesn’t cross lines that trigger international outrage or directly threaten U.S. interests, the options for intervention available to even a superpower remain limited. The tardy, ambiguous U.S. reaction to last April’s attempt to oust Chávez further constrains Washington’s ability to intervene. Democrats in the U.S. Congress wasted no time in denouncing the Bush administration for its handling of the situation. In effect, U.S. policy toward Venezuela was paralyzed by a lack of clear options, an outburst of partisan politics, and the almost exclusive focus of Washington’s policymaking apparatus on neutralizing al Qaeda and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
In contrast, Cuba’s attention to Venezuela has been sustained and effective. That is because Havana has had the need, the opportunity, and the means to be the most significant foreign influence in the Venezuelan crisis.
Cubans have no foreign policy goal more fundamental to their economic well-being than ensuring Chávez stays in power. Venezuela’s oil, “sold” under highly advantageous conditions to Cuba, is an important reason but not the only one. The alliance with Venezuela has done wonders to help Cuba ease the political and economic isolation that, thanks to the shortsighted U.S. embargo, has choked the country since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Indeed, Venezuelan Air Force pilots report that the equivalent of an airlift between Caracas and Havana has been established. Cuba is cementing its presence in Venezuela by sending thousands of sports trainers, health workers, and other government employees to spend extended periods there; at the same time, a large number of Chávez’s supporters are training in a variety of fields on the island. Most of the Cuban advisers are doctors and athletes, but some of them are political operatives and intelligence officers. Commenting on last year’s abortive coup against Chávez, a European ambassador in Caracas said, “I don’t know which was a bigger factor in returning Chávez to power, the ineptitude of his enemies or the effectiveness of the Cubans, but I do know that both played a role.”
Havana not only has strong motives to support President Chávez; it also has the talent and the institutions to do so with great efficacy. The New York Times recently reported that Cuban intelligence has been able to infiltrate some of the most sensitive spy agencies in the United States. Historically, Cuban agents have been either directly involved or have had front-row seats in almost all the revolutions, coups, and guerrilla movements in the Third World. Such experience certainly comes in handy when helping a valuable ally such as Chávez. Cuban diplomacy supported by Venezuelan oil money has also made significant inroads among Caribbean nations, which control an influential voting bloc in the Organization of American States (OAS). Such ties may well help sway the OAS, which, together with a recently created group of friendly nations, is attempting to mediate between Chávez and the opposition.
The Venezuelan situation can only be solved by Venezuelans. But, as the crisis deepens, the role of other countries will be crucial. Perhaps, even the sole remaining superpower will be able to find a way to avoid being outsmarted again by the hemisphere’s sole remaining Cold War dictator.
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http://foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=9
Yong Mie Jo
"Fidel Castro meets with Venezuelan ally Chavez"
These series of newly emerging allies among Latin American countries have been grabbing my attention with Hugo Chavez playing the role of missing-link in the circle.
I am wondering if Chavez really is the one center link that is organizing an opponent "army" against the US, or it is just my own speculations guided by the strong first impressions that was stamped in my mind by the movies we saw at the beginning of this class.
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HAVANA (Reuters) - Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who has not appeared in public since July last year, met on Saturday for more than four hours with his ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Cuban state television said.
Chavez, on his third visit to Cuba this year, arrived in Havana early on Saturday and will broadcast his weekly radio and television show from the mausoleum where the remains of guerrilla fighter Ernesto "Che" Guevara are entombed in the central Cuban city of Santa Clara.
Castro, who looked frail in pictures published last month, is not expected to appear on the show in person. No images of his meeting with Chavez were released on Saturday.
"The two revolutionary leaders discussed the history of our nations, the solid and growing bilateral relations, the situation in Latin America and the most serious problems facing humanity," a statement read out on Cuban television said.
The 81-year-old Cuban leader handed over power to his brother Raul Castro 14 1/2 months ago after emergency intestinal surgery for an undisclosed illness.
His long absence has fuelled rumors about his declining health and uncertainty over the political future of the Western Hemisphere's only communist-run state after his death.
In photographs of a meeting with Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos released on September 22, Castro looked thin, but appeared standing, wearing a track suit top over pajamas.
Chavez considers Castro his political mentor and has succeeded the Cuban leader as the main opponent of the United States in Latin America.
His left-wing government has provided Cuba with crucial economic support and oil supplies.
Chavez chose to broadcast his Sunday program from Santa Clara in tribute to the Argentine-born Guevara, who helped Castro seize power in Cuba's 1959 revolution and was captured and executed in Bolivia 40 years ago.
- 13 October, 2007
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http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2007/10/14/fidel_castro_meets_with_venezuelan_ally_chavez/
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