In Brief
El Salvador: War on Gangs On October 9, the Salvadoran legislature approved a controversial anti-gang law that has raised alarm among human rights and civil liberties advocates. The new...
...It identifies gang members, for example, as those who: belong to a group that meets regularly, claim territory for their group, use signs or symbols to identify themselves or mark their bodies with scars or tattoos...
...In the same declaration, Flores expressed his intention to use "all necessary measures" to control the gang population and to not allow gang members, especially minors, to "shield themselves behind their rights...
...market but it's condibrands, national governments and tioned on demonstrated "positive labor groups can converge to steps" to improve compliance with improve working conditions in the internationally recognized workglobal economy...
...Their vic- standards in the current CAFTA tory came in response to govern- negotiations and the possibility ment sanctions that threatened to that Guatemala's benefits could be close the factories unless a collec- revoked under the U.S...
...Mano Dura initiated a crackdown on gang-related activity by authorizing hundreds of members of the armed forces to work with the National Civilian Police to "free" communities being "held hostage" by gang violence...
...Now some growers fear EU importers may be reluctant to buy Brazilian soy if it becomes hard to distinguish between the GM and the unmodified soybeans...
...Now, the next Minister of Labor will be asked why there aren't more...
...Opposition parties criticize the use of dangerous and repressive measures to combat a social problem that demands a more comprehensive approach...
...Developed countries experience similar graying, but they can supplement their increasingly inactive population with immigration...
...For more information visit <www.crispaz.org...
...Liz Claiborne's demonstrate enforcement of labor involvement was tied to their standards by threatening to sancobligations as a participating com- tion over 60 factories for labor pany in the Fair Labor Association rights violations...
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...The leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) and other center-left parties firmly opposed the measure...
...Uruguay is already one of the least populated countries of South America...
...Guatemalan Minister of Labor, Victor Moreira, In an unprecedented victory for explained: "What moved [the facGuatemalan maquila workers, the tory owners] was that Liz women of the SITRACHOI and Claiborne's representative was in SITRACIMA unions signed the the room...
...Polls by the firm Equipos/Mori show Uruguayans are increasingly considering moving abroad...
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...The new measure provides the legal support for the government's anti-gang Mano Dura (Heavy Hand) Plan introduced by President Francisco Flores in a July 23 address to the nation...
...Many in the criminal justice system have asserted that the anti-gang law, as written, violates constitutional guarantees and cannot be upheld in court...
...Greenpeace and other international and local consumer and environmental groups have been battling to prevent Brazil from following Argentina and other large agricultural producers that have legalized GM crops...
...The debate on labor the two unions in 2001...
...El Salvador is not alone in allowing heavily armed soldiers to police poor neighborhoods...
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...The crackdown is widely recognized as a strategy of the ruling ARENA party to garner support for the upcoming March 2004 presidential elections...
...Yet the president's plan has drawn strong criticism from diverse groups for its failure to address the many social and economic factors that lead youth to join gangs...
...If current birth rates continue, by the year 2050 Uruguay, the population of which now represents only 1.5% of the bloc, would constitute a mere 1.3% of Mercosur's total population...
...Jennie Pasquarella Uruguay: Population Trends Impede Development In a trend that alarms many Uruguayans, the country's emigration rate exceeds its population growth rate for the second year in a row...
...This collective bargaining agreement has already set a precedent," said Moreira...
...ing support of international civil -NotiSur society and unions, the problems at Choi Shin and Cimatextiles could easily have faded into the Guatemala: Victory for Maquila veil of impunity that continues to Workers cloak Guatemala...
...She maintains that if effective policies are not established to reverse current trends, the country will become marginalized and will lag in development in relation to its economic partners in Mercosur-Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay...
...Kelly Creedon Brazil: Government Lifts Ban on Transgenic Soy On September 25, the Brazilian government gave farmers the green light to plant genetically modified (GM) seeds for the 2003-2004 growing season...
...The elderly compose 17% of Uruguay's inhabitants, but only 10% in Argentina, 6% in Brazil and 5% in Paraguay...
...We are in Cuernavaca, Mexico, "The City of Eternal Spring...
...Under the new law, the punishment for belonging to a gang is two to five years in prison...
...The company's GSP, it could be excluded from involvement and pressure proved CAFTA...
...An individual who meets any of those criteria is subject to arrest...
...Andris Gaudin Contributors: Kelly Creedon is the Communications Coordinator for CRISPAZ, Christians for Peace in El Salvador...
...In addition, (FLA), which requires companies Moreira indicated that requiring a to submit to external monitoring collective bargaining agreement at and remedy labor violations at these factories could contribute to a countrywide shift in labor practices...
...Jennie Pasquarella is a student at Georgetown University Law Center...
...Opponents of the law cite its disturbingly ambiguous language...
...He lives in Buenos Aires...
...In his justification for the militarization, Flores blamed the scale of the gang problem on the dismantling of military security forces at the end of the civil war in 1992...
...Despite the ban, a significant percentage of Brazil's soy already came from smuggled GM seeds from Paraguay and Argentina...
...Agriculture Minister Roberto Rodrigues and members of Lula's economic team had advocated lifting the ban but Environment Minister Marina Silva opposed it...
...The imbalance with the rest of Mercosur is exacerbated by the significant graying of Uruguay's population...
...Attorney Andrea Salazar, representing Brazil's Institute for the Defense of Consumers, said a legitimate concern exists regarding the risk of disseminating genes from GMOs to other plants, as occurred with corn in the United States...
...Vice President Jose Alencar signed a temporary decree lifting an existing ban on such seeds, despite resistance from environmental advocates and their supporters in the government...
...agreement in the maquila sector Guatemala's maquila sector is last July after years of anti-union expected to grow dramatically if adversity...
...Andr6s Gaudin is a Uruguayan journalist who went into exile in Argentina in 1972...
...assess their impact on human Without COVERCO's continued health and the environment," presence, Liz Claiborne's active Salazar said...
...The The Choi Shin and Cimatextiles GSP grants developing countries case illustrates one example of duty-free access for certain goods how diverse influences from to the U.S...
...According to government migratory authorities 54,000 people emigrated from this country of 3.4 million inhabitants over the last 18 months, and estimates for 2003 project that birth rates will exceed death rates by a mere 20,000...
...And if the country's outmigration continues at the present rate, this percentage will be even smaller...
...The law, approved as a temporary measure, will be in effect for six months, a period coinciding with the final days of the Flores administration...
...Alencar said the government had decided to accept "a fait accompli," given the wide use of contraband GM seed from Argentina and Paraguay...
...According to Seventy percent of the produc- Labor Minister Moreira, if tion at the two factories is for Liz Guatemala is sanctioned under the Claiborne...
...What we are currently seeing," she adds, "is symptomatic of the dangerous and fundamental lack of a national project...
...That is what moved only existing collective bargaining them...
...The new anti-gang law was narrowly passed by the right-wing coalition led by the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party...
...Emigration and the generational composition of Uruguay, however, cause the inverse: Emigration flows are depriving the country of its most active citizens...
...In less than three months, the Mano Dura Plan has resulted in more than 3,000 arrests, the majority of which appear to be arbitrary roundups of youth with characteristics of gang affiliation...
...Similar operations are being used in Honduras and Guatemala, as police representatives from across Central America work together on a coordinated campaign to use military force to combat the threat of gang violence...
...Conservative sectors of society argue in support of sacrificing the rights of "criminals and delinquents" in order to protect the rights of "upstanding, honorable citizens...
...Some legislators have compared it to declaring a "war on young people," and speculate that, without complementary measures to treat the root causes of gang violence, the plan will generate even more violence...
...In the 1990s that number oscillated between 10% and 12...
...instrumental in convincing the Guatemala's Labor Ministry has factory owners to concede to the recently made a stong effort to unions' demands...
...Nonetheless, the law provides Study Spanish in Guatemala A not-for profit sisterhood of two collectively-run schools offers one-on-one instruction, family living, field trips and cultural activities...
...NotiSur is a weekly publication of the Latin America Data Base, an on-line news service...
...The Lula administration has been deeply divided on the issue...
...By August the percentage jumped to 22...
...The government said it was acting to avoid having to destroy the six million tons of GM soy expected at harvest time...
...Despite violent threats, the Central American Free Trade workers at the Choi Shin and Agreement (CAFTA) with the Cimatextiles twin factories in United States is signed at the end Villa Nueva, Guatemala founded of this year...
...We are not opposed to to 2000, the independent GMOs, but we want more research Guatemalan labor monitor COVdone, and not just about their ERCO documented labor condiagricultural properties, because tions at Choi Shin and what is needed are studies to Cimatextiles for Liz Claiborne...
...Brazil has traditionally banned GM foodstuffs from stores and prohibited the use of GM animal feed and grain...
...tive bargaining agreement was Generalized System of signed and steps were made to Preferences (GSP) also compelled improve labor relations in the fac- the government to act on the Choi tories...
...Tel: +52 (777) 311 8956 & 317 5151 Fax: +52 (777) 317 5151 & 316 3546 cls@cuernavacalanguageschool.com www.cuernavacalanguageschool.com Vol XXXVII, No 3 NOVEMBERJDECEMBER 2003 *1 I"'i"'-"""-""""- --Vol XXXVII, No 3 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2003 1IN BRIEF the police with sweeping powers of discretion to persecute and capture supposed gang members...
...When I began my term, I was asked why there weren't any collective bargaining agreements in the maquila sector...
...Society can't be the role in the factories and the ongoguinea pig...
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...Shin and Cimatextiles case...
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...ers' rights standards...
...In June, Lula's Chief of Staff Jose Dirceu said that Brazil would not allow the planting of GM crops, also known as transgenic crops, which critics say present risks to health, the environment and biodiversity...
...In addition, the population continues to grow older and the number of young people continues to decline...
...Uruguayan demographer Aida Pellegrino estimates 400,000 Uruguayans are already living abroad-proportionally the highest for a South American country...
...She spent the summer investigating labor conditions in Guatemala...
...Greenpeace lawyers plan to seek a court injunction, as does Brazil's Green Party, which is filing a constitutional challenge that, if accepted, puts the matter immediately before Brazil's highest court...
...The Brazilian chapter of Greenpeace accused the government of betraying its principles, selling out to big business and breaking a commitment made during last year's presidential campaign...
...Last February 17% said they were inclined to move away...
...Critics of the decision say the result is that Brazil, long a leader of global opposition to genetically modified organisms (GMOs), has given in to transnational agribusiness...
...We need to figure out exactly what is happening if we want to save this country from extinction," says demographer Pellegrino...
...The government had upheld the ban partly because of pressure from environmentalists, but also because of the opposition to GM products by the European Union, a major importer of soy products...
...Only 25% of the people in the country are below the age of 15, compared with 28% in Argentina, 30% in Brazil and 39% in Paraguay...
...The UN's Economic Commission on Latin America and the Population Reference Bureau have confirmed this trend, saying that the graying of Uruguay is even more problematic since it's coupled with an upsurge in emigration of "active age" citizens who represent the most educated and professionalized sector of the population...
...Of those arrested, approximately 80% have been released due to lack of evidence...
Vol. 37 • November 2003 • No. 3
