Judi Lynn
Judi Lynn's JournalBolivia’s Transformation
Bolivia’s Transformation
The Victory of Evo Morales
by Binoy Kampmark / October 14th, 2014
It is a sometimes overly rich recipe, starched with violence and populism, but Latin American politics is something to behold. In the Americas, experiments have been run and tried with brutal consequences. Revolutions and counter-revolutions have been plotted and enacted. The good have tended to be a short time in office, while the coup d’état has had something of a long history.
Evo Morales’ victory in the Bolivian elections for a third term with just over 60 per cent of the vote is no minor achievement. Cement magnate Samuel Doria Medina received a paltry 25 per cent, something he blamed on the late entry of ex-president Jorge Quiroga, a move that potentially split the anti-Morales vote. Morales’ Movement Towards Socialism romped in, winning eight of the nine regions, including the affluent area of Santa Cruz. A remarkable achievement, given Morales’ own background as the son of peasant Altiplano farmers.
Victory for Morales in Santa Cruz also proved particularly sweet given its base for opposition to the MAS in 2008. Then, it was the aspiring Rubén Costas, co-founder of the right leaning Unidad Demócrata (UD), who attempted to fan the flames of secession. This, it was said, was also being facilitated by US money, be it through USAID or the National Endowment for Democracy. The latest victory has prompted Morales to quash claims that the country was one of half-moons “but a full moon”.
This victory is much more than a polling matter. The conflict between wealthy settlers and the indigenous populations has been the scar that never leaves, and a Morales victory did much to stare it down. (He, himself, is a native Aymara.) In 2009, he introduced a new constitution with a focus on indigenous rights and grants of greater autonomy. Then came the fiscal redistributions – income gathered from natural gas has been used in targeted programs. While the corruption stain lingers in its accusing tone, the country has not become the victim of dedicated kleptocrats. As long as the natural resource boom continues, Morales is on a purple patch. He knows, however, that such patches do turn colour in time. (This might be a literal statement, given the environmental costs of the Morales program.)
In the main, Morales has provided a copy book on the redistribution of natural wealth via the state pocket. Infrastructure projects connected with gymnasiums, schools and medical clinics have received funding through the Bolivia Cambia Evo Cumple program. Growth rates of 5.5 per cent this year, and 5 per cent for next, have been predicted by the IMF.
More:
http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/10/bolivias-transformation/
Authors see chance for breakthrough in U.S.-Cuba relations
Authors see chance for breakthrough in U.S.-Cuba relations
By Daniel Trotta
HAVANA Mon Oct 13, 2014 12:42pm EDT
Oct 13 (Reuters) - The authors of a new book detailing 55 years of informal communications between the United States and Cuba see a rare opportunity to normalize relations, provided President Barack Obama wants to seize the moment.
William LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh co-wrote "Back Channel to Cuba," which was officially released on Monday and explains the informal and secretive "back channel" means that Havana and Washington have used to speak to each other despite their hostilities.
Based largely on declassified documents, the book created a stir with its revelation that former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger ordered contingency plans for a military strike in order to "smash Castro" in response to former President Fidel Castro sending Cuban troops to Angola in 1975.
The authors are in Havana for a dual presentation of their work and a similar book by Cuban authors Elier Ramirez and Esteban Morales, also released on Monday, that is based on previously unreleased Cuban documents.
More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/13/cuba-usa-idUSL2N0S80WZ20141013?rpc=401
Are Covert Ops Compatible With Democracy?
October 14, 2014
Global Subversion Begets a Question for Ed Snowden
Are Covert Ops Compatible With Democracy?
by BILL BLUNDEN
It’s part of the public record that the NSA has engaged in an industry-wide campaign to weaken cryptographic protocols and insert back doors into hi-tech products sold by U.S. companies. We also know that NSA officials have privately congratulated each other in successfully undermining privacy and security across the Internet. Hence it’s only logical to assume that the NSA’s numerous subversion programs extend into foreign “commercial entities”. Thanks to documents recently disclosed by the Intercept we have unambiguous confirmation.
Hi-tech subversion underscores the fact that the whole tired debate regarding cryptographic keys held in escrow for so-called lawful interception (what the Washington Post called “secret golden keys”) only serves to distract the public from programs aimed at wielding covert back doors. In other words, by reviving the zombie idea of an explicit back door the editorial board at the Washington Post is conveniently ignoring all of the clandestine techniques that already exist to sidestep encryption. In a nutshell: zero-day bugs and malware often trump strong crypto.
On an aside it’s interesting to observe the citadel of free thinkers at the Electronic Frontier Foundation continue to promote cryptographic tools as a privacy tonic with a faith that’s almost religious while conspicuously neglecting other important aspects of operational security. The EFF cheerfully provides a litany of alleged success stories. Never mind all of the instances in which the users of said cryptographic tools were compromised, even users who specialized in computer security.
Infiltrating the Media
The NSA’s campaign to undermine software and hardware is mirrored by parallel efforts in other domains. Specifically, the Church Committee and Pike Committee investigations of the 1970s unearthed secret programs like Operation Mockingbird which were conducted to infiltrate the media and develop an apparatus, a Mighty Wurlitzer of sorts, that allowed government spies to quietly influence public perception. The findings of congressional investigators have been substantiated by writers like Deborah Davis and Carl Bernstein.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/14/are-covert-ops-compatible-with-democracy/
10 Facts About Being Homeless in the USA
October 14, 2014
As the Crisis Deepens, the Government is Doing Less to Help
10 Facts About Being Homeless in the USA
by BILL QUIGLEY
Three True Stories
Renee Delisle was one of over 3500 homeless people in Santa Cruz when she found out she was pregnant. The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported she was turned away from a shelter because they did not have space for her. While other homeless people slept in cars or under culverts, Renee ended up living in an abandoned elevator shaft until her water broke.
Jerome Murdough, 56, a homeless former Marine, was arrested for trespass in New York because he was found sleeping in a public housing stairwell on a cold night. The New York Times reported that one week later, Jerome died of hypothermia in a jail cell heated to over 100 degrees.
Paula Corb and her two daughters lost their home and have lived in their minivan for four years. They did laundry in a church annex, went to the bathroom at gas stations, and did their studies under street lamps, according to America Tonight.
Fact One. Over half a million people are homeless
On any given night, there are over 600,000 homeless people in the US according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Most people are either spending the night in homeless shelters or in some sort of short term transitional housing. Slightly more than a third are living in cars, under bridges or in some other way living unsheltered.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/14/10-facts-about-being-homeless-in-the-usa/
The Yellow Book: Inside El Salvador’s Military Blacklist
October 14, 2014
The Yellow Book
Inside El Salvador’s Military Blacklist
by EVELYN GALINDO-DOUCETTE
The Yellow Book (Libro amarillo) is a 270 page document from 1987 that the National Security Archive in Washington DC made public on September 28th, 2014. The Yellow Book includes 1,975 photographs that the Salvadoran Armed Forces and the State Department of Intelligence of El Salvador used to catalogue people as “terrorists” and “enemies” of the state. The Yellow Book is the only military document that has been made public to this day.
At first glance the document seems to reiterate many of the cases that were made public through the work of the Truth Commission in El Salvador in the early 1990s. However, upon closer inspection, important clues begin to emerge about the nature of military surveillance of Salvadoran citizens and how disappearances and deaths were covered up. For example, in the document, names are encoded with letters and the codes matched with photographs that strip citizens of the very identities that stitched them into Salvadoran society. In the first few pages the book lays out a system for referencing “terrorist delinquents” so that names would not be spoken by radio or telephone. In effect, this code facilitated the process of making detainees disappear without a trace. The pictures themselves provide further clues about state surveillance; some photographs look as though they were part of the state ID card photographs and yet other photographs show individuals in much more haggard condition. Were these photographs taken during a given moment of detainment? Yet other photographs look as though they were taken during moments shared between friends or families. Were these photographs stolen from people’s homes during raids? There are other photographs that seem to have been taken without the person knowing that they were being photographed. These types of photographs suggest the work of a secret police that was trailing marked individuals. Additionally, the fact that the book was a photo-album to be photocopied means that it was likely a work in progress. As photographs were obtained they were added and information could shift and change without displacing the logic of the entire text.
The code also reveals the nature of state surveillance of Salvadoran citizens in the 1980s. The document identifies Salvadorans as leaders of militant groups, militants, and union organizers and specifies which particular group or political party the person is associated with. Salvadoran state authorities also recorded additional information about individuals such as pseudonyms and noted any trips abroad to Nicaragua, Cuba, Russia or China. Dozens of individuals are marked as “collaborators,” which leads the viewer to wonder about the torture mechanisms that broke the will of militants. The fact that there were so many collaborators muddies the public memory of a clearly divided left and right. What was the nature of the collaboration? Does “collaboration” mean naming people during torture sessions or does it imply a much deeper involvement as in the Chilean cases of Luz Arce and Alejandra Merino? Does the title of “collaborator” mean that the individual survived their involvement with the Salvadoran Armed Forces? Other individuals are listed as “pardoned” and this category of individuals also leaves many questions.
On the cover page just above the title of the book, a penned note serves as a prologue: “That this may be used. Make photocopies of the photographs and print them in bulletins, so that their enemies will be known.” This is part of a secondary “code” at work in the document in which some photographs are starred in pen and other names are crossed out. The stars mark names that are well known today including El Salvador’s current President Salvador Sánchez Cerén.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/14/inside-el-salvadors-military-blacklist/
On Centennial of Passenger Pigeon Extinction, Dove Hunting Flourishes
October 14, 2014
Who Remembers This About Mark Sanford
On Centennial of Passenger Pigeon Extinction, Dove Hunting Flourishes
by MARTHA ROSENBERG
Unlike former South Carolina Governor, now Congressman Mark
Sanford, the mourning dove is known for not leaving its mate. While many remember that Sanford left his gubernatorial duties in 2009 to “hike the Appalachian Trail ” in the arms of his Buenos Aires consort, few remember that part of the official delegation was dove hunting in Cordoba, Argentina.
Dove hunting is big in Argentina. “It is normal to shoot between 1,000 to 1,500 shells per hunter per day,” say promoters of the sport. “Hunters regularly use two guns and a reloader to prevent barrel overheating, as they may go through 1,000 (a thousand) rounds in a morning.”
Exultations from volume killers are not hard to find. At daybreak, “the birds started flying, and it was non
stop until we quit shooting at 11:30 or around 5 pm. Notice I said we quit shooting. The doves were still flying when we left as we were completely worn out from shooting,” writes Mike Bland of Houston, TX about the dove killing. “I have never seen so many dove (sic) and have never (sic) a more fulfilling hunt in my life,” wrote William Holliday of New York.
“Both of my boys became members of the Club 1000 for shooting more than 1000 birds in a single day–a proud papa moment,” wrote a beaming John Horton of Austin, TX.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/14/on-centennial-of-passenger-pigeon-extinction-dove-hunting-flourishes/
Brazil: The 'El Dorado' for international migrants
Brazil: The 'El Dorado' for international migrants
Wyre Davies
Rio de Janeiro correspondent
14 October 2014 Last updated at 10:36 ET
- Video -
The jungle state of Acre is a long way from anywhere. Tucked into the north-western corner of Brazil, it is closer to the big towns of eastern Bolivia and southern Peru than it is to the industrial heartland of southern Brazil.
Yet it is through here that many migrants looking for a better life or escaping persecution in their own countries choose to enter Brazil.
On the edge of town, where the paved road runs out and where the jungle meets the last few buildings, several times a day small convoys of mini-vans come down the track and people get out.
Like new arrivals anywhere, they look slightly bewildered, trying to get an immediate bearing on their surroundings. But they have little need to worry.
Informal understanding
For the time being, this is quite possibly one of the most welcoming places on the planet for a migrant or refugee to arrive.
More:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-29617698
Too little too late? Colombian police colonel gets house arrest 20 years after burning suspect’s pen
Too little too late? Colombian police colonel gets house arrest 20 years after burning suspect’s penis
Oct 14, 2014 posted by Adriaan Alsema
Twenty years after burning a kidnapping suspect’s penis, a Colombian police colonel was sentenced to six years house arrest for torture on Tuesday.
Retired Colonel Luis Enciso was convicted for the torture of a kidnapping suspect in 1994 when the police official and a colleague tried to get the suspect to confess by burning his reproductive organ with matches.
More than 20 years after the crime and seven years after the Inter-American Human Rights court condemned the Colombian state for torture, a Bogota court confirmed prosecution allegations that the police official had tortured victim Wilson Gutierrez.
According to Gutierrez, he had been asked to come to a Bogota coffee shop on August 24, 1994 by local businessman Ricardo Dalel, who the victim suspected of criminal activity. On arrival, he was arrested and taken to the local base of the UNASE, a now-defunct police unit to fight extortion and kidnapping.
While being interrogated, Dalel allegedly held down the victim while Enciso burnt the suspect’s penis with matches and shoved a broom handle up his anus.
More:
http://colombiareports.co/little-late-colombian-police-colonel-gets-house-arrest-20-years-burning-suspects-penis/
Televangelist Ernest Angley encouraged vasectomies, abortions, Akron Beacon Journal reports
Televangelist Ernest Angley encouraged vasectomies, abortions, Akron Beacon Journal reports
John Harper, Northeast Ohio Media Group By John Harper, Northeast Ohio Media Group
on October 13, 2014 at 7:05 AM, updated October 13, 2014 at 9:03 AM
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio -- Grace Cathedral, the church run by Pentecostal evangelist Ernest Angley, is being accused of operating like a cult, where women were pressured to get abortions and men were persuaded to have vasectomies, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
Beacon Journal reporter Bob Dyer interviewed 21 former members of Angley's church, many of whom have left Akron, about their experiences. He is publishing their revelations in a multi-part series this week.
The 93-year-old Angley, a native of North Carolina, settled in Akron in 1954 and in 1994 bought the round, 5,400-seat Cathedral of Tomorrow, formerly operated by televangelist Rex Humbard, in Cuyahoga Falls. Angley has churches in Springfield Township and Cuyahoga Falls, broadcasts sermons on WBNX television and flies a Boeing 747 on missionary trips around the world. His Cuyahoga Falls church includes the Cathedral Buffet.
~snip~
One former congregation member Dyer interviewed compared Angley to Jim Jones, the missionary preacher infamous for orchestrating a mass Flavor Aid suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, in 1978.
Other members told the reporter that Angley and his church controlled everything from what members were allowed to read to the most private aspects of their lives. They talked of three- to five-hour church services, several times a week.
More:
http://www.cleveland.com/akron/index.ssf/2014/10/cuyahoga_falls_evangelical_chu.html
Demonstrations over missing Mexico students turn violent
Source: Associated Press
AP/October 13, 2014, 11:13 PM
Demonstrations over missing Mexico students turn violent
ACAPULCO, Mexico - Hundreds of students and teachers smashed windows and set fires inside a state capital building in southern Mexico on Monday, as fury erupted over the disappearance of 43 young people believed abducted by local police linked to a drug cartel.
The protesters called for the 43 students from a rural teachers' college in Guerrero state, missing since Sept. 26, to be returned alive, even though fears have grown that 10 newly discovered mass graves could contain their bodies.
AP photographs showed smoke billowing from the government building in Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero, and flames licking from office windows. Firefighters battled the blaze.
Jose Villanueva Manzanarez, spokesman for Guerrero's government, said the protesting members of a teachers' union initially tried to get into the state congress in Chilpancingo but were repelled by anti-riot police. They then headed to the state government palace.
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/demonstrations-over-missing-mexico-students-turn-violent/
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