The Latin America thread

[Jairzinho]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/09/camila-vallejo-caricatures-chile-communist

 

Camila Vallejo: 'They tried to create caricatures of me'

The student leader who ignited a national debate over education is about to take her place as a Communist in the Chilean parliament
 

Chilean MP and former student leader Camila Vallejo. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian

 

Camila Vallejo is the antithesis of the average Chilean politician. She's not a man, she's not rich and she's not worried about re-election.

 

"Macho attitudes in Chile are expressed in many forms," says the 25-year-old, a recent mother, who was elected to parliament in November and takes office in March. "In the salary inequalities, the lack of respect for sexual and reproductive rights and the great difficulties that confront women trying to reach political office."

 

A member of the Communist Youth, Vallejo rose to prominence in 2011 as president of the politically powerful University of Chile student federation. In street marches during 2011 and 2012, university and high school students, led in part by Vallejo, exposed Chilean higher education to be a for-profit sham with little effective regulation. University presidents were jailed, universities shut down and investigated, the protesters ignited a national debate over the future of public education in Chile.

 

Vallejo has been delivering political speeches and organizing communities for nearly a decade. Even as a 19-year-old Vallejo was known for rousing speeches that espoused deeper social spending and inclusion for Chile's lower class. Elected last year to represent La Florida, a middle-class Santiago neighborhood, Vallejo epitomises shoe-leather politics. She walked her entire district, from farmer's market to small businesses, pushing her progressive agenda. The strategy paid off as she and fellow communist youth activist Karol Cariola were both elected.

 

"They tried to create caricatures of me to distract the population from the issues and avoid a debate," she says. "Nonetheless, the power of the ideas, and the reasoning behind our demands were far stronger … The public understood that we were not just students who fought for our own interestsand that the youth is also part of the process of a much greater social transformation that involves the rest of society."

 

Given her good looks and charisma, she has continually battled to keep the goals of the movement front and centre. In interviews, she refuses personal questions, even about her favourite movie. But ask her about the recent elections in which four student leaders won parliamentary seats and she beams with pride. "There's no reason why those seats need to be occupied by the traditional-style politicians we have always had."

[Bobby Hundreds]

First time I've seen that documentary totally bat shit crazy. I was pretty aware that it was going to be biased from almost the start that said it was fucking terrifying how media manipulates situations and when the media is owned by the very people who oppose you, you're pretty fucked, do you think now with the internets growth and peoples use of it and ease in uploading their own videos and their own reporting that such manipulation would be as easy.

[VladimirIlyich]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/09/camila-vallejo-caricatures-chile-communist

Camila Vallejo: 'They tried to create caricatures of me'

The student leader who ignited a national debate over education is about to take her place as a Communist in the Chilean parliament

 

 

 

Chilean MP and former student leader Camila Vallejo. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian

 

 

Camila Vallejo is the antithesis of the average Chilean politician. She's not a man, she's not rich and she's not worried about re-election.

 

"Macho attitudes in Chile are expressed in many forms," says the 25-year-old, a recent mother, who was elected to parliament in November and takes office in March. "In the salary inequalities, the lack of respect for sexual and reproductive rights and the great difficulties that confront women trying to reach political office."

 

A member of the Communist Youth, Vallejo rose to prominence in 2011 as president of the politically powerful University of Chile student federation. In street marches during 2011 and 2012, university and high school students, led in part by Vallejo, exposed Chilean higher education to be a for-profit sham with little effective regulation. University presidents were jailed, universities shut down and investigated, the protesters ignited a national debate over the future of public education in Chile.

 

Vallejo has been delivering political speeches and organizing communities for nearly a decade. Even as a 19-year-old Vallejo was known for rousing speeches that espoused deeper social spending and inclusion for Chile's lower class. Elected last year to represent La Florida, a middle-class Santiago neighborhood, Vallejo epitomises shoe-leather politics. She walked her entire district, from farmer's market to small businesses, pushing her progressive agenda. The strategy paid off as she and fellow communist youth activist Karol Cariola were both elected.

 

"They tried to create caricatures of me to distract the population from the issues and avoid a debate," she says. "Nonetheless, the power of the ideas, and the reasoning behind our demands were far stronger … The public understood that we were not just students who fought for our own interestsand that the youth is also part of the process of a much greater social transformation that involves the rest of society."

 

Given her good looks and charisma, she has continually battled to keep the goals of the movement front and centre. In interviews, she refuses personal questions, even about her favourite movie. But ask her about the recent elections in which four student leaders won parliamentary seats and she beams with pride. "There's no reason why those seats need to be occupied by the traditional-style politicians we have always had."

She has Stalin my heart. I'd be happy to peep behind her Iron Curtain,etc,etc.

[Strontium]

I see that pro-government thugs have been killing student protestors in Venezuela.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-26166094

 

 

 

At least three people were shot dead as violence erupted during anti-government protests in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, on Wednesday.

 

The violence broke out after some 10,000 demonstrators had gone home following a mainly peaceful rally.

 

Two people died after gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on the remaining crowd. A third died in later clashes.

 

The march was the latest in a series of mass protests against the policies of President Nicolas Maduro.

 

I'm sure it'll all be the fault of the Americans/capitalists/Israel/bogeyman of choice.

[Stu Monty]

Being patronised by a man who seems to think the CIA's Latin American stations have Islamic terrorism as their chief priority, and just stopped doing things that have worked brilliantly for years (like orchestrating civil unrest to remove elected officials) because "they're decent sorts" really doesn't pack much of a punch.

 

It's akin to being called economically illiterate by a man who states we'll all be working three day weeks for five days pay in the future because redistribution is so obviously going to sort stuff out.

 

Duplicitious removal of one of the deaths being a government activist at a pro-government rally noted.

[Strontium]

Venezuela continues to go the way all sane people who don't ignore reality said it would:

 

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-339535-twitter-says-venezuela-blocks-its-images-amid-protest-crackdown.html

 

16 February 2014 /PATRICIA LAYA AND SARAH FRIER, BLOOMBERG NEWS

 

MEXICO CITY — Twitter says the Venezuelan government is blocking images on its website, the latest sign of a crackdown after violent protests that killed at least three people in the past week.

 

Twitter users had been posting their photos of the street demonstrations, providing an alternative to state-run media. It's unclear if photos are blocked in all Internet providers in Venezuela, said Nu Wexler, Twitter spokesman.

 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro banned street demonstrations and ordered the arrest of opposition leaders after about 50,000 Venezuelan marched through Caracas to protest shortages of basic goods, creating clashes between protesters and government supporters.

 

Billy Vaisberg, director of an online directory of Venezuelan Twitter users called TwVen.com, said he had received several reports from people who couldn't see images on their feeds Friday.

 

In a post on its Spanish-language account, @twitter_es, Twitter advised Venezuelan users to subscribe to its text- message service to get updates.

 

Maduro has accused mainstream media outlets of creating confusion. He took Colombian station NTN24 off the air and in a national address yesterday criticized Agence France Presse for "manipulating information."

[VladimirIlyich]

Who'd have thought that a country whose system was constantly being undermined by the USA would descend into turmoil once he died. Its almost as if somebody made it that way.

How spooky.

 

[Strontium]

Oh yes, I should have known it was all the fault of the USA.

 

Maybe they should swap their CIA field office staff in South America and the Middle East around, because the South American officers seem to be able to bring regimes down with a click of their fingers, whereas in the Middle East they always end up needing to wage long and bloody wars costing billions.

 

Or maybe you're talking bullshit, that's also a possibility.

[Stu Monty]

So do you accept that the Latin American CIA offices probably have "fucking up socialist shit" at the top of their agendas then? Accepting that might be a start.

 

Also, you seem to have mistaken "needing" to wage wars with "wanting" to wage wars. You might also want to consider who gets those billions and if George "War is good for the economy" Bush sees things the way you do. I'd also venture there's been more regime change/regime propping by stealth in the middle east than there's been long bloody wars involving the US.

 

But. That aside. You accept that the CIA, and most other western intelligence agencies, are there to fuck with what the governments are trying to do, no?

[Strontium]

If you have any assertions, you ought to offer evidence to support them.

 

Particular reference should be given to the fact that the Castros have been in power in Cuba for more than half a century, some achievement considering all the destabilising that is apparently being done.

So far as the CIA's activities in Venezuela are concerned, unfortunately for armchair warriors the Wikipedia article only goes up to 2007, when they were accused of interfering in the referendum to hand Hugo Chavez absolute power, the only evidence offered there being a fake-looking memo. Evidently the CIA were washing their hair in 2009 when Chavez finally got his enabling act passed by the electorate.

 

As to what they might be doing now, I'd suspect sitting round waiting for the unsustainable mess to do the inevitable and collapse would be a decent guess. But then, I'm not quite as willing to make bare assertions with no supporting evidence as some are.

[Stu Monty]

If you have any assertions, you ought to offer evidence to support them.

 

Particular reference should be given to the fact that the Castros have been in power in Cuba for more than half a century, some achievement considering all the destabilising that is apparently being done.

 

So far as the CIA's activities in Venezuela are concerned, unfortunately for armchair warriors the Wikipedia article only goes up to 2007, when they were accused of interfering in the referendum to hand Hugo Chavez absolute power, the only evidence offered there being a fake-looking memo. Evidently the CIA were washing their hair in 2009 when Chavez finally got his enabling act passed by the electorate.

 

As to what they might be doing now, I'd suspect sitting round waiting for the unsustainable mess to do the inevitable and collapse would be a decent guess. But then, I'm not quite as willing to make bare assertions with no supporting evidence as some are.

 

So, just to clarify, you aren't going to have a discussion where it is presumed that the most secretive agencies in the world are making efforts to manipulate events to their own benefit unless we can provide evidence of said secret actions? That spies are doing spy stuff is not a good foundation for a conversation?

 

Can I ask what you think they do then? What you think they are for?

[Strontium]

Evidence. Put up or shut up.

[Stu Monty]

You treat discussion on this board with such a remarkably stupid attitude.

 

So do I take it you're not going to answer the question? 

 

We're actually sticking with a situation where we aren't allowed to base comment on a spy agency doing spy stuff unless we have the evidence. EVIDENCE OF CLANDESTINE BEHAVIOUR!

 

The problem here, as usual, is that I want to debate and you think you're on QT trying to avoid taking hits.

 

What do you think the CIA is for? Am I talking to a bot here, or someone with actual human opinions?

[VladimirIlyich]

Evidence. Put up or shut up.

Haha.

'I did not have sexual relations with that woman.'

[Kevin D]

Hey fun boys, get a room.

 

http://www.agoda.com/en-gb/agenda-hotel/hotel/edinburgh-gb.html

[Jairzinho]

Hey fun boys, get a room.

 

http://www.agoda.com/en-gb/agenda-hotel/hotel/edinburgh-gb.html

 

Looks quite nice there. Is that Venezuelan leather on the seats in the restaurant?

[Strontium]

Let the good times roll

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/29/us-cuba-investment-idUSBREA2S0EJ20140329

Cuba approves law aimed at attracting foreign investment

By Daniel Trotta

HAVANA Sat Mar 29, 2014 3:53pm EDT

 

(Reuters) - Cuba's National Assembly passed a new foreign investment law on Saturday that aims to bring badly needed capital to the communist economy by offering steep tax cuts and promising a climate of investment security.

 

The assembly voted unanimously in a special session to approve the law, official media reported. It will become valid within 90 days.

 

The new law halves the profits tax from 30 to 15 percent and exempts investors from paying it for eight years, though it also appears to withhold many of the tax benefits from companies that are 100 percent foreign-owned. Those incentives are reserved for joint ventures with the Cuban state and investments linking foreign and Cuban companies.

[Jairzinho]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML-KAeFo4Ls

[VladimirIlyich]

Let the good times roll

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/29/us-cuba-investment-idUSBREA2S0EJ20140329

 

 

Good idea taxing the foreign owned companies to assure some of their profits stay in your country.

Dont think Amazon or Vodafone will be investing there though.

[Jairzinho]

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Latin-America-Provides-Alternative-Paths-to-Successful-Poverty-Reduction-20141017-0018.html

 

 

Latin America Provides Alternative Paths to Successful Poverty Reduction

 

"On this day we recommit to think, decide and act together against extreme poverty — and plan for a world where no-one is left behind. Our aim must be prosperity for all, not just a few," said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a message for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

 

In the 1980s former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher famously coined the phrase “There Is No Alternative,” also referred to as TINA. Thatcher was talking about how free markets, free trade, and capitalist globalization were essential if countries wanted to achieve economic development and lift themselves out of poverty.

 

However, as the world celebrates International Day for the Eradication of Poverty October 17, Latin America proves otherwise.

 

The significant gains made in Latin America in reducing poverty, especially in countries led by left-wing governments that reject the neoliberal economic prescriptions that Thatcher praised and Washington continues to promote, proves that not only are there alternatives to free market capitalism, but that these alternatives are more humane and effective in creating egalitarian societies.

 

“After a two decade period of extremely low growth, characterized by a deepening of neoliberalism, the region has pursued more independent economic policies, with tremendous results,” said Jake Johnston, a research associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). “The resulting higher growth rates and increasing emphasis on addressing the needs of the most vulnerable has lifted over 60 million out of poverty in the last decade.”

 

According to a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report released in August, Latin America cut poverty almost in half from 2000-2012, reducing poverty from 41.7 percent to 25.3 percent of the population.

 

One country singled out by the UNDP as a success story was Bolivia, which reduced poverty by 32 percent during this period. The South American nation just reelected President Evo Morales on October 12. His socialist government serves as an example of how nationalizing strategic industries, increasing social spending, increasing the minimum wage, and investing in infrastructure are more effective in reducing poverty  than neoliberal alternatives.

 

While the minimum wage increased 87.7 percent during the last 10 years, Bolivia has reduced extreme poverty by 43 percent, according to a research compiled by CEPR.

 

CEPR also published a report in October which tracked the success of the successive Workers Party governments in Brazil, which began in 2003 with the election of Lula da Silva and continues today with President Dilma Rouseff who is looking to be reelected to a second term on October 26 in a tight contest with her neoliberal challenger, Aecio Neves.

 

According to CEPR,  Brazil, led by the Workers Party, reduced poverty by over 55 percent and extreme poverty by 65 percent, lifting 31.5 million Brazilians out of poverty and 16 million out of extreme poverty.

 

Bolivia and Brazil are part of the region's “pink tide” that began with the election of Venezuela's former president Hugo Chavez in 1998 and saw left-wing and center-left governments elected in a number of countries that include Ecuador, Uruguay, and Argentina.

 

“What these countries show is that a stronger presence of the State is possible provided certain conditions, and that putting the poorest at the front of the priorities in the agenda is mandatory,” said Alfredo Gonzalez, Poverty and Human Development Specialist at UNDP’s Latin American bureau in New York. “What they and many other countries in the region and all over the world are proving is that free market/free trade policies are not sufficient to reduce poverty.”

 

However, even a few of the more conservative governments have performed well, such as Peru, which according to the UNDP reduced poverty by 26.2 percent. CEPR's Johnston said that this actually illustrates how the region's leftist shift has even impacted even more conservative governments.

 

“Many governments throughout the region have increased social spending significantly, but one of the most lasting impacts of the region’s 'turn to the left' has been that all governments, right or left, have been pushed by the electorate to pursue more pro-poor policies,” said Johnston. “The region’s citizens simply expect more.”

 

The middle class in the region also grew by 82 million people; although the UNDP warned that there is a significant portion of the population that remains vulnerable to falling back into poverty — something the region still needs to overcome.

 

Another reason that Latin America was able to make these economic gains, especially in countries like Bolivia, Venezuela and Ecuador, is that these governments deliberately closed what Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano referred to as “The Open Veins of Latin America” — meaning that they refused to continue to allow their country's wealth from natural resources to flow out of their respective countries to the north via transnational corporations.

 

Johnston added that “the biggest change has been that throughout the region countries are demanding that more of the money earned from extractive industries stays within their countries instead of being shipped overseas as had been done historically. By capturing a larger share of the profits, governments have been able to pursue significant public investments and to increase social spending.”

 

While Latin America has made significant gains, there are still challenges moving forward to maintain and build on those gains.

 

“The first and most important challenge is to reach the poorest of the poor, those that the conditional cash transfer programs have not been able to reach and traditionally suffer from many forms of exclusion, who typically also are women, young people and/or part of an indigenous people,” said the UNDP's Gonzalez. “The second challenge is to protect what has been gained until today by building or strengthening universal social protection systems covering not only the poorest, but also the vulnerable … those who are not poor and still not middle class either, whose vulnerability put them at risk of becoming poor if faced with economic, environmental or some other forms of shocks. “

[Strontium]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-30516740
 

 

Obama hails 'new chapter' in US-Cuba ties

 

US President Barack Obama has hailed a "new chapter" in US relations with Cuba, announcing moves to normalise diplomatic and economic ties.

 

Mr Obama said the US' current approach was "outdated" and the changes were the "most significant" in US policy towards Cuba in 50 years.

 

Cuban President Raul Castro said he welcomed the shift in a TV address.

 

The move includes the release of US contractor Alan Gross and three Cubans held in the US.

 

Wednesday's announcement follows more than a year of secret talks in Canada and at the Vatican, directly involving the Pope.

 

The US is looking to open an embassy in Havana in the coming months, Mr Obama said.

The plans set out in a White House statement also include:

• Reviewing the designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism
• Easing a travel ban for US citizens
• Easing financial restrictions
• Increasing telecommunications links
• Efforts to lift the 54-year-old trade embargo

 

Long overdue.

[Jairzinho]

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/putin-promises-to-assist-cuba-with-offshore-oil-exploration/503332.html

 

Putin Promises to Assist Cuba With Offshore Oil Exploration

 

HAVANA — President Vladimir Putin pledged to help revive Cuba's struggling offshore oil exploration at the start of a six-day tour of Latin America as Russia aims to reassert its influence on the communist-ruled island.

 

Putin was joined in Havana by ally and head of state oil company Rosneft, Igor Sechin, to finalize a deal to explore for oil off Cuba's northern coast.

 

Putin also promised to reinvest $3.5 billion of Cuban debt with Russia into development projects on the island, part of a deal in which Russia forgave 90 percent of Cuba's debt, or almost $32 billion, most of it originating from Soviet loans to a fellow communist state.

 

Both measures inject much-needed foreign investment into Cuba and demonstrate an act of defiance against the U.S., which maintains a 52-year-old economic embargo that effectively shuts out many Western companies from doing business in Cuba.

 

"We will provide support to our Cuban friends to overcome the illegal blockade of Cuba," Putin said Friday.

 

Putin's journey to the back yard of the U.S. comes at a time when he is under pressure from the West to help restrain pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine and urge them to find a negotiated solution.

 

Sechin is one of the Russian executives the U.S. has targeted for economic sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. Washington has blacklisted individuals believed to be part of Putin's inner circle, and Sechin is among the most influential people in Russia.

 

On his first stop in Cuba, the Cold War ally of the former Soviet Union situated only 145 kilometers from the U.S., Putin met with former President Fidel Castro and current President Raul Castro before receiving the Medal of Jose Marti, Cuba's highest decoration.

 

Fidel Castro, 87, stepped down in favor of his brother for health reasons in 2008 after 49 years in power. For an hour he and Putin discussed international affairs, the global economy and Russian-Cuban relations, the Kremlin said.

 

Any major oil find would radically improve Cuba's economic trajectory.

 

Cuba produces about 55,000 barrels per day, through aging onshore wells and imports about 110,000 bpd on favorable terms from socialist ally Venezuela.

 

Following a number of foreign companies whose wells have all come up dry, Russian oil company Zarubezhneft last year began drilling in Cuba's Boca de Jaruco area. That project has been suspended. Zarubezhneft also has been helping Cuba extract from existing onshore wells.

 

An aide to Putin in Moscow said on Thursday that Zarubeznheft would sign a new deal in Cuba along with Rosneft, but in the end only Rosneft was present.

 

"Developing new blocks on Cuba's offshore shelf is [expected] in the very near future," Putin said.

[Section_31]

I see Obama has signed an executive order declaring Venezuela a national security threat and imposed sanctions. 

 

What this has highlighted for me personally though, is how difficult it is to find impartial news sources these days. I would genuinely like to know what's going on, but all the usual suspects are saying it's justified, and all the other usual suspects are saying it's not. 

[Jairzinho]

What would you consider an impartial news source? 

 

Mind you, this isn't like Russia/US+EU on Ukraine where both sides are clearly in the wrong, both huge powers trying to essentially steal a country. Where it would actually be possible to have a balanced report/article about the situation. This is America doing what they've done to Central/South America for the past 50/60 years. Imperialism. 

 

Yeah, Venezuela are a national security threat. As are the Cayman Islands.

[Section_31]

What would you consider an impartial news source? 

 

I have no idea, they've all got an agenda. 

 

Just as pointless reading the Daily Mail and CBS as it is reading Al Jazeira and even the Guardian to an extent, they've all got their own biasses. I'd just like to know the facts - what ever happened to those?