In Brief
Puerto Rico: Vieques Bombing Halted The U.S. Navy has ended practice bombing on the Puerto Rican Island of Vieques after 56 years and three decades of protest. Operations conducted in...
...Last year the Pentagon acknowledged the testing of chemical and biological agents during a training mission on Vieques in May 1969...
...However, the FMLN won 31 of 84 seats in the legislative assembly in the 2000 elections making it the single largest party in the assembly...
...Fifty-six percent of the overall population and more than 80 percent of indigenous Ecuadorans live in poverty...
...Marshals forcibly removed them...
...Postmaster: Send address changes to NACLA Report on the Americas PO Box 77, Hopewell, PA 16650-0077 or visit http://www.nacla.org Subscription Information $36/year for individuals ($61/two years, $86/three years...
...Box 1-201, C. P. 62000 Cuernavaca, Morelos, MEXICO Tel/Fax: (52-777) 313-2637 infor@cetlalic.org.mx www.cetlalic.org.mx Mexico's sovereignty in energy production to foreign interests, thus violating the Constitution...
...According to Navy spokesperson Lt...
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...The Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States is another divisive issue...
...The buildings burned through the night, because firefighters had also joined the protests...
...Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and additional mailing offices...
...The proposal met stiff opposition in the Congress, particularly from the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) and a majority of members of the former governing Party of the Institutional Revolution (PRI...
...Teo Ballvd Bolivia: 33 Killed in Nationwide Tax Protests In Bolivia, two days of mass demonstrations against a nationwide tax increase left at least 33 people dead and 200 injured and led to the replacement of almost the entire cabinet...
...assistance to Guatemala and Haiti is vital to the national interest of the United States...
...Operations conducted in the ocean near Vieques, however, will continue, and plans are underway to use various new locations-mostly in the southeastern United States-to make up for the loss of Vieques...
...In December, the Guatemalan Foreign Minister arrived in Washington bearing data demonstrating Guatemala's successes in fighting drugs...
...President Vicente Fox's administration first proposed the controversial scheme in June 2002 as a means to bring new capital to the natural-gas sector...
...for institutions: Can$80 (Can$135/2 yrs., Can$185/3 yrs...
...For a third straight year, tumbling world coffee prices have devastated the coffee-growing region where malnutrition and starvation are rampant...
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...Under the plan, PEMEX would enter into a series of contracts with multinational companies to explore, develop and exploit natural-gas fields in Mexico...
...We are in Cuernavaca, Mexico, "The City of Eternal Spring...
...In a press release, Amnesty International urged the government to investigate "the excessive use of force and the reported use of snipers" by the army...
...PRI and PRD legislators accused PEMEX director Radl Mufioz Leos of using the naturalgas shortage to promote the government's campaign to gain approval for private contracts...
...LA HERMANDAD EDUCATIVA includes Proyecto Linguistico Quetzalteco in Quetzaltenango and Escuela de la Montahia near Nuevo San Jos6...
...The report admits that, "CAFTA negotiations will also require significant U.S...
...Opposition groups continue to demand the complete demilitarization of the island: Radar and communication devices remain intact and, more seriously, land remains contaminated by toxic residues from the military operations...
...Scruggs, Robert M. Siegel, J. Michael Turner, Steven Volk, Susan Wood, Peter Yarrow Editorial Board Alejandro Bendafa, Emelio Betances, Roger Burbach, Jo-Marie Burt, Marc Chernick, Elizabeth Dore, Marc Edelman, Jonathan Fox, Jean Franco, Mark Fried, Marcial Godoy-Anativia, Jack Hammond, Luis Herndndez Navarro, Maria Hinojosa, Peter Kombluh, J. Palrice McSherry, Mario Murillo, Paulo S6rgio Pinheiro, George Priestley, Cathy Schneider, Hobart Spalding, Carlos Vilas, Coletta Youngers NACLA Report on the Americas (ISSN 1071-4839) is published bimonthly by the North American Congress on Latin America, Inc...
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...Guadalupe thinks "no one really knows what effects the nearly 60 years of bombing will have on the health of the island and its population, and the Navy is dodging the issue by turning the lands over to the federal government...
...Powerful PRI Senator Manuel Bartlett Diaz said there was no way that the private contracts are in compliance with the Constitution...
...Since mid-January four people have been murdered for what appear to be political motives...
...70/year for institutions ($122/two years, $175/three years...
...f47/year for institutions (f85/two years, 120/three years...
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...Withholding aid "to Guatemala would result in the further deterioration of Guatemalan institutions essential to combating the ever-growing influence of organized crime," which according to the INL report plays a prominent role in the drug trade...
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...El Salvador: New Wave of Violence The coming legislative and municipal elections on March 16, have caused a resurgence of political violence throughout El Salvador...
...This will give interested companies the opportunity to formulate their proposals once the actual bidding process is put into effect," said a PEMEX communique...
...Department of Health and Human Services-released a public health assessment on Vieques in November of last year...
...Civilian protestors joined police in the heart of downtown La Paz to reject the impuestazo or "tax slam...
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...Marine jets sprayed trioctyl phosphate, a chemical used to simulate nerve gas, on Marine units to test how the troops operated in protective gear and how effective actual chemical weapons might be...
...The Navy switched to inert shells after protestors engaged in civil disobedience and occupied the range for a year until U.S...
...Haiti's sanctions were waived predominantly for humanitarian reasons including the need for "assistance to programs that increase access to education, combat environmental degradation, fight the spread of HIV/AIDS, and foster the creation of legitimate business and employment opportunities...
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...His statements on economic policy made it clear that he would not follow the indigenous groups' call Continued on page 48 Order by mail, phone or fax or contact us on the Web Political Research Associates Cost: $15, low income $10...
...Long time animosity exists between the national police and the national army...
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...The controversy resurfaced in mid-February, when the Fox government took preliminary steps to implement the scheme without congressional consent...
...The Vol )(XXVI, No 5 MARCH/APRIL 2003 1 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...
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...According to the State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), both Guatemala and Haiti have failed to control rampant corruption that permeates every level of law enforcement in drug related cases...
...demands for the country to improve its efforts in the war on drugs...
...Sdnchez de Lozada's shaky hold on power has never seemed so tenuous...
...foreign assistance...
...Views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of NACLA...
...Web:,'l wwwA', publiceyed Jor: 8 NMJIA ---- REPRT N HE MERCA NACIA REPORT ON TH S 8 IN BRIEF Continued from page 8 to veer away from the neoliberal model followed by the administration of former President Gustavo Noboa...
...Many blame supporters of the ruling Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), founded by death squad leader Roberto D'Aubisson, for attacking members of the leftwing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), party of the country's former guerillas...
...Tel: (646) 613-1440...
...PEMEX sent the world's 75 largest energy companies technical information on a huge natural-gas reserve in northeastern Mexico...
...Opposition to military use of the island has been fierce since 1999, when two misfired 500-pound bombs killed David Sanes Rodriguez, a civilian security guard...
...INL reports that Guatemalan "police stole an amount of drugs estimated at double the amount officially seized...
...The company also provided potential bidders with terms and conditions that would be useful in putting together a bid...
...UK Subscribers: Order from Latin America Bureau, 1 Amwell Street, London EC1R 1UL (Tel...
...In recent months the Guatemalan government has scrambled to appease U.S...
...Some believe that the only reason the Navy left is so it would not have to foot the cleanup bill...
...Striking police initiated the protests on February 12, after being denied a 40 percent increase in their salaries...
...According to a similar document, concentrations of several metals were present in the fish and shellfish of the area...
...Ismael Guadalupe of the community based organization Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques says, "The end of bombing on the island is a huge step and a great triumph, but the most serious problems remain unresolved...
...However, according to the Andean Information Network, with the new tax "the salary deductions (including pension funds) of the average Bolivian would increase to over 30 percent"-a significant amount for a country where the legal minimum wage is just two dollars a day...
...Local residents say they will continue to demand a cleanup and further study of the health effects of toxic wastes left by the Navy...
...Active resistance to the Navy presence in Vieques, a town with 10,000 residents, began in the 1970s, when a group of local fishermen said the bombing and other Navy activities were ruining their livelihood and stifling local development...
...Canadian Subscribers: Order from Social Justice Committee, 1857 ouest de Maisonneuve, Montreal, Que., H3H 1J9 (Tel...
...Six people dressed in masks fatally shot David Antonio Perez, an activist for the FMLN, in front of his famContinued on page 8 NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 6 IN BRIEF Continued from page 6 ily on February 17...
...During the protests, army troops reportedly shot at police and civilian protestors from rooftops of government buildings...
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...His hope is to achieve a trade agreement before the FMLN can achieve the electoral success to definitively oppose the agreement...
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...The Navy's Dixon says that, "The Navy has not found any impact to the health of the civilian population and we work to maintain the natural integrity of Vieques," though many local residents believe military wastes have contributed to unusually high cancer rates in the area...
...The Navy announced on February 9 that it had officially concluded its final round of exercises...
...Political violence and political polarization could not have come at a worse time for El Salvador...
...For more information write or call: PO Box 452 Manson, WA 98831 Phone (800) 963-9889 Visit our web site: www.hermandad.com IN BRIEF LA.--RMAN.,____.__._._ Vol XXXVI, No 5 MARCH/APRIL 2003 1IN BRIEF assessment confirmed that "the residents of Vieques have been exposed to contaminants released during the Navy's military training exercises, but these exposures are much lower than levels known to be associated with adverse health effects...
...The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry-a public health agency of the U.S...
...ARENA governments have been in power in El Salvador since 1989...
...The "Majors List," as it is known, names the major illicit drug producing and drug-transit countries...
...www.casaxelaju.comlpedrera BUY OUR TEXTILES Support an indigenous women co-op in Quetzaltenango...
...While pressure from the indigenous cabinet members forced Guti6rrez to backpedal on some of the announced measures, such as an increase in the price of bottled cooking gas from $1.60 to $5.60, they had to accept the rest...
...071 278 2829) f25 for individuals (f45/two years, f60/three years...
...Despite President Gonzalo SAnchez de Lozada's announcement of the withdrawal of the new 12.5 percent income tax on February 13, the protests turned into riots...
...Drug related prosecutions in Guatemala have decreased even though the flow of drugs through the country has not diminished...
...on the final day of bombing 19 demonstrators were detained for trespassing and one person detained for destruction of federal property...
...TB Guatemala and Haiti "fail" in Drug Control Guatemala and Haiti have "failed demonstrably" in the war on drugs, according to a report from the Bush administration issued January 31...
...The government has yet to make good on a promise to conduct a cancer study proposed by Puerto Rican Health Secretary Johnny Rullan...
...At the same time, ECLAC executive secretary Jos6 Antonio Ocampo notes that "The idea, put forward a decade ago by the Washington Consensus that 'we already know what to do' turned out to be a mirage...
...Roberto Aim, Director P.O...
...Make a change in Guatemala...
...ECLAC also reports that "2002 marks a point at which interest payments have exceeded net external borrowing for five straight years...
...An allegiance between protestors and police against the army is not without historical precedent in Bolivia: police helped miners fight the army in the populist Revolution of 1952...
...In October, President Alfonso Portillo disbanded the notoriously corrupt anti-drug agency...
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...Long standing conflict between the two parties stems from El Salvador's civil war of the 1980's, and tensions have once more given way to violence...
...Of the 25 countries on the list, only Guatemala, Haiti and Burma were determined to have "failed demonstrably," and therefore, "* Social Sciences "* Journalism "* Advocacy IN BRIEF 4 NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS Continued from page 2 NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS Director Terry Gibbs Editor JoAnn Kawell Associate Editor Teo Ballv6 Business Manager Marisa Maack Production Manager Marisa Maack Advertising Coordinator Jordi Pius Llopart Editorial Assistant Megan Riley Staff Assistants Maggie Tang, Christy Thornton, John Galante, Karin Bonello Board of Directors Albert Bildner, Josh DeWind, Rick Edwards, Fred Goff, Judy Hellman, Eric Hershberg, Peggy Hutchison, Pierre LaRam6e, Susan Lowes, Deidre McFadyen, Don Reasoner, TM...
...On January 19, rocks thrown by ARENA supporters during an FMLN campaign parade killed Alvaro Edgardo Centeno, another FMLN activist...
...But this time the National Bolivian Police-normally the repressor of protests-began the protests and fought beside civilian demonstrators against the army...
...The ongoing battle over privatization of the healthcare system pits ARENA, supporting the privatization, against the FMLN, the only party to continually oppose the privatization...
...The FMLN leads in the polls for the coming elections, and hopes to win the presidential elections of 2004-for the first time a serious possibility...
...In Cochabamba, protestors burnt down the ruling MNR party's headquarters after military police wounded an eightyear-old girl with a rubber bullet...
...The report also said that withholding aid could hinder implementation of the Organization of American States' Resolution 822, which requires Haiti to hold legislative elections in 2003...
...Although officially decertified, a presidential release states that, "provision of U.S...
...A $4 billion loan from the fund hangs in the balance...
...This means that $39 billion, that is, 2.4 percent of 6 NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS GDP, has flowed out of Latin America and into the rest of the world...
...The policemen began to exchange gunshots with soldiers after the violence escalated from rock throwing, to tear gas canisters and finally automatic weapons fire...
...The contradictions within the fragile political alliance between Guti6rrez's Patriotic Society and the Pachakutik Pluricultural Movement-the political arm of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE)-became evident after Guti6rrez's victory in October...
...TB Ecuador: Indigenous Groups Break with President Quito-Inclusion in President Lucio Guti6rrez's cabinet marked a milestone for Ecuador's indigenous movement, but the government's first economic measures have sparked criticism from indigenous organizations and other grassroots groups...
...One of the first signs of the indigenous movement's newfound power was the appointment of two of its best-known leaders, Luis Macas and former deputy Nina Pacari, as ministers of agriculture and foreign relations, respectively...
...Perez's youngest child was shot in the leg after trying to escape...
...60/year for institutions ($100/two years, $142/three years...
...Bartlett stated that, "legally, there is no possibility for private companies to participate in the generation of natural gas...
...SPANISH <- ENGLISH TRANSLATION SERVICES Accredited by the American Translators Association Spanish to English English to Spanish www.gis.net/-andyk pcolt@mindspring.com NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 4 IN BRIEF decertified-making them technically ineligible for U.S...
...Perhaps of even greater "national interest" for the United States are the ongoing Central American Free Trade Agreement negotiations, which include Guatemala...
...CONAIE continues to use its influence in the government in an effort to avoid further economic measures that could affect lowincome Ecuadorans...
...Critics in Congress contended that the plan would surrender Vol XXXVI, No 5 MARCH/APRIL 2003 GUATEMALA Casa Xelaju offers: Volunteer work, internships...
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...In the wake of growing criticism, on February 19 the president replaced almost his entire cabinet and decreased cabinet positions from 18 to 13...
...SourceMex Latin America: Unemployment Highest in History Open unemployment in Latin America reached 9.1 percent last year, the highest level in the region's history, according to the United Nations' Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean...
...The new tax was the government's answer to the International Monetary Fund's demand that the government reduce its deficit from 8.5 percent of Gross Domestic Product to 5.5 percent...
...Fax: (646) 613-1443...
...The Central of Bolivian Workers (COB) and opposition leader Evo Morales of the Movement to Socialism (MAS) have called for the resignation of the president, and even members of the president's Nationalist Revolutionary Movement (MNR) are beginning "* Latin American Studies "* Historical Documents "* Legal Documents to distance themselves from the policies of the executive office...
...The measures, including a 39percent increase in fuel prices and a subsequent 25-percent hike in bus fares, were reminiscent of adjustments imposed by the International Monetary Fund, which have been strongly criticized by indigenous and grassroots leaders...
...In January, a coalition of groups had brought the country to a virtual standstill by blocking roads as part of a continuing standoff between the government and coca growers...
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...Rioters set fire to several government buildings and looted stores...
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...TB Mexico: PEMEX Privatization Debated A forecast by Mexico's staterun oil company PEMEX about a pending shortage of natural gas this year has reinvigorated a debate on whether the government should have opened exploration and refining operations to private companies...
...President Francisco Flores is trying to pass CAFTA by year-end...
...While many predict that CONAIE will be unable to modify the policy designed by an economic team headed by neoliberals and will eventually break with Gutidrrez, others say the confederation is far from declaring defeat...
...And more recently, in response to the decertification, the Guatemalan daily, La Prensa Libre, reported that Portillo offered to allow the United States to take charge of security at Guatemala's ports...
...involvement and assistance in projects linked to further economic liberalization...
...E-mail: nacla@nacla.org Website: http:/Awww.nacla.org NACLA is an independent nonprofit organization founded in 1966 to research the political economy of the Americas and U.S...
...Kim Dixon, "the Navy has certified that alternative training ranges have recently been made available," in other locales including Florida and North Carolina...
...policy towards the region...
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...The Navy should hand over the eastern third of Vieques to the Department of the Interior on May 1, 2003...
Vol. 36 • March 2003 • No. 5
