>Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2000 22:11:35 -0800 >From: Sam Pawlett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS > ISSUE #522, JANUARY 30, 2000 > NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK > 339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 > (212) 674-9499 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >1. Colombian Army Forcibly Evicts U'wa from Drill Site > >[.....] > >5. Ecuador: New President, New Protest Plans >6. Ecuador: Leaders of Coup, Uprising Face Arrest >7. Ecuadoran Province Votes for Autonomy >8. US Drug War Coming to Haiti? > >[.....] > > >*1. COLOMBIAN ARMY FORCIBLY EVICTS U'WA FROM DRILL SITE > >On Jan. 25, Colombian military and police forces headed by Maj. >Victor Hugo Rojas Aragon evicted U'wa indigenous people from a >protest encampment within their traditional ancestral territory, >where they were seeking to prevent the US oil company Occidental >Petroleum (Oxy) from drilling its first test well, Gibraltar 1. >The army used helicopters to remove the U'wa from the site at >Santa Rita and Bellavista, in Norte de Santander department. In a >communique issued the day of the operation, the U'wa reported >that "since this action three of our indigenous brothers are >missing." According to the U'wa communique, Norte de Santander >governor Jorge Garcia Herreros referred to the U'wa as "animal >Indians" who "have to be evicted violently." > >On Jan. 19, some 5,000 government troops had arrived and >surrounded the U'wa protest encampment [see Update #521]; on Jan. >22, 10 trucks had begun bringing in heavy equipment to be used >for clearing a road to the area. [U'wa Communique 1/25/00] At the >same time as the eviction, according to a report by Colprensa >published in the Medellin daily El Colombiano, a column of >National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas entered the area of the >proposed drill site and pushed some of the heavy equipment over a >cliff to sabotage the oil-drilling operation. The ELN has >reportedly announced its plans to support U'wa attempts to block >oil drilling in the region. [EC 1/28/00] [The ELN has frequently >targeted foreign oil company operations, generally by bombing >existing pipelines.] > >Eight environmental and human rights activists were arrested on >Jan. 26 for staging a sit-in in support of the U'wa at the >presidential campaign headquarters of US vice president Al Gore >in Manchester, New Hampshire. Supported by dozens of >demonstrators outside, the activists called on Gore to use his >deep family and financial ties to Oxy to halt the company's >planned drilling on U'wa tribal lands [see Update #521]. [Media >Advisory 1/26/00, jointly issued by ACERCA, Amazon Watch, Native >Forest Network & Rainforest Action Network] An international day >of action in support of the U'wa is planned for Feb. 3; see >http://www.ran.org or http://www.amazonwatch.org. > >[.....] > >*5. ECUADOR: NEW PRESIDENT, NEW PROTEST PLANS > >Gustavo Noboa Bejarano was officially sworn in as Ecuador's >president in a Jan. 26 ceremony in the National Congress, where >he delivered a 10-minute inauguration speech. [La Hora (Quito) >1/27/00] The next day, in an ordinary session, the Congress >elected deputy Pedro Pinto Rubianes as the country's new vice >president. Pinto is a member of Mahuad's Popular Democracy >(Christian Democrat) party. [Agencia Informativa Pulsar 1/27/00] >Noboa and Pinto are to remain in power until 2003, when Mahuad's >term in office would have ended. Backed by the military high >command, Noboa took over as president early on Jan. 22, on the >pretext that Jamil Mahuad Witt had abandoned the presidency amid >an indigenous uprising backed by military officers; the uprising >was thwarted by international pressure and a break in military >ranks [see Update #521]. By Jan. 27, Noboa had selected most of >the members of his new cabinet, all of them apparently male. [LH >1/26/00; Financial Times (London) 1/28/00] > >New minister of energy and mines Pablo Teran Ribanderia, >appointed on Jan. 27, announced he will push through projects to >extract more oil from the Ecuadoran Amazon. "The country should >not have wealth buried in the ground while there is hunger in the >streets, said Teran in his inaugural speech. "Foreign investment >is essential to the development of the mining, oil and >electricity sectors." [FT 1/28/00] > >On Jan. 29, the Popular Front (FP) called for a series of >demonstrations in February to block privatizations and the >"dollarization" plan introduced by Mahuad, which Noboa has >insisted he will carry out. FP leader Luis Villacis Maldonado >said that the national demonstrations will begin on Feb. 3. [El >Diario-La Prensa (NY) 1/30/00 from EFE] > >Villacis said his organization's members reject the final results >of the political upheaval that led to Mahuad's ouster on Jan. 21; >he described the event as the "imposition of a government by >mandate of the US State Department, the Ecuadoran oligarchy and >the servile attitude of the military high command." Villacis >called on the government to free Lucio Gutierrez and other >arrested colonels, who he said have been jailed "for being on the >side of the Ecuadoran people." The 80 organizations that make up >the FP are analyzing the Front's future plans at a conference >starting Jan. 29. While the removal of Mahuad from office was a >victory for grassroots sectors, according to Villacis, "We didn't >achieve everything we wanted, so the Popular Front will continue >to struggle until we win our objectives: rejection of the >dollarization plan; non-payment of the foreign debt; a general >increase in wages and salaries; the fight against corruption; the >unfreezing of bank accounts; price controls; improvement in >living conditions of all Ecuadorans; and the immediate departure >of US troops." [El Telegrafo (Guayaquil) 1/26/00] > >"We are tired of being marginalized and treated as orphans by the >government," said Cesar Umajinga, president of the Cotopaxi >Indigenous and Campesino Movement in Latacunga, a city some 50 >miles south of Quito. "This was not an armed uprising, and that >may have been a mistake that will have to rectified in the >future," warned Umajinga. "We do not even have weapons, and this >is not the time to take up arms. But I want to tell you clearly >and emphatically that if this system is not changed in the next >five years, then you are going to see our people take up arms." >[New York Times 1/27/00] > >The National Assembly of the Confederation of Indigenous >Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) began meeting on Jan. 28 to >evaluate the uprising and plan future actions. [Pulsar 1/27/00] >Agence France Presse reports that CONAIE plans to grant Noboa a >grace period of three to six months. But if the needs of the >nation's poor are not met by that time "there will be a great >popular uprising, and perhaps a civil war," said CONAIE president >Antonio Vargas Huatatoca. Vargas and Salvador Quispe, another top >CONAIE leader, both reiterated that CONAIE will keep its struggle >peaceful. The CONAIE leaders said they had achieved more through >peaceful means than anything they could have achieved through an >armed struggle. [AFP 1/24/00] > >*6. ECUADOR: LEADERS OF COUP, UPRISING FACE ARREST > >At least 10 colonels have been arrested for their role in the >Ecuadoran uprising, and 300 others are reportedly being >investigated by a military judge. [ED-LP 1/28/00 from AFP] On >Jan. 25, Attorney General Mariana Yepez Andrade asked Supreme >Court president Galo Pico Mantilla to order the preventive arrest >of Vargas and of former Supreme Court president Carlos Solorzano, >who formed part of a ruling junta that briefly held power on the >night of Jan. 21. [Pulsar 1/25/00; ET 1/26/00] > >Yepez also asked for the arrest of social democratic legislators >Paco Moncayo and Rene Yandun because they had expressed support >for the junta; Congress must strip the deputies of their immunity >before the arrests can be carried out. Moncayo, a retired >general, said he has decided to resign from the Congress and is >not afraid to face trial or jail. Moncayo urged that Mahuad and >Gen. Telmo Sandoval, chief of the armed forces joint command, be >investigated. Gen. Carlos Mendoza, who briefly joined a three- >person junta with Vargas and Solorzano before stepping down and >backing Noboa, has charged that Mahuad was planning to carry out >a self-coup. Former defense minister Gen. Jose Gallardo has >accused Sandoval of having planned to arrest both Mahuad and >Noboa. [Pulsar 1/25/00] Noboa confirmed Sandoval in his post on >Jan. 24. [La Republica (Lima) 1/25/00 from EFE] > >Mahuad sharply denied all accusations that he planned a self- >coup; he charged that military officers rebelled against him as >an indirect result of peace accords he signed with Peru, because >the accords led him to reduce the army and halt arms purchases. >[LH 1/26/00] > >Vargas too has announced that he will not try to escape arrest. >"Mr. Court President, don't waste paper, tell me when and where I >should turn myself in, because I'm not going to run away," he >said. "If they want to arrest me, call me on the telephone and >directly, and don't send the police," he added. Vargas said the >government is committing an error by arresting leaders instead of >opening a dialogue with the indigenous movement. "They're never >going to shut the people up," said Vargas, because [the people] >are rising up and seeking changes." [ET 1/26/00] > >*7. ECUADORAN PROVINCE VOTES FOR AUTONOMY > >On Jan. 23, a day after Noboa became president, residents of the >coastal province of Guayas voted in a long-planned referendum on >autonomy. Guayas is Ecuador's most populous and economically >important province; the provincial capital, Guayaquil, is >Ecuador's largest city, its commercial capital and its most >important port. According to official results released by the >Guayas Electoral Tribunal on Jan. 29, 96.8% of the voters >approved an autonomous governing scheme for the province. >Abstention was 35% of a total nearly two million register voters >in Guayas. [La Republica (Lima) 1/30/00 from correspondent] The >plan approved in the referendum calls for political and >administrative autonomy, and would keep revenues generated in >Guayas for spending within the province. The referendum is non- >binding, but may set the stage for constitutional reforms in the >context of further decentralization. [Pulsar 1/24/00; Clarin >1/24/00 from correspondent] > >On Jan. 25, Noboa appointed and swore in Joaquin Martinez Amador >as the new governor of Guayas province. Martinez is a former >president of the Ecuadoran Association of Private Banks. [LH >1/26/00; ET 1/26/00] > >*8. US DRUG WAR COMING TO HAITI? > >US secretary of the army Louis Caldera announced on Jan. 18, >during a visit to the Dominican Republic, that US troops will >carry out joint military exercises with troops from Central >America and the Caribbean near the border with Haiti in February, >and that there will be "more advanced" exercises in the summer. >Caldera said the exercises have "humanitarian" aims, but the >Dominican daily El Siglo reported that it obtained information on >Jan. 24 that the exercises are meant to train the Caribbean and >Central American troops in methods of fighting drug trafficking. >Caldera made his comments about the joint exercises only in >English, although he apparently translated his other remarks into >Spanish. The next day, on Jan. 19, Caldera and Dominican army >chief Maj. Gen. Eliseo Noble Espejo paid a visit to the border >with Haiti, along with deputy director of the White House Office >for Drug Control Policy, Thomas Umberg. [El Siglo 1/25/00] > >Caldera and Umberg also met with Haitian president Rene Preval in >Port-au-Prince on Jan. 19, obtaining authorization for US >intelligence services to operate inside Haiti to gather >information about the transit of drugs through Haiti to the US. >[Haiti Progres (NY) 1/26/00] > >US interest in drug trafficking through Haiti coincides with >rumors that the US wants to use Haiti as a replacement for its >training grounds on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, currently >shut down because of protests after a civilian was killed by a >bomb last April. On Jan. 9 the San Juan daily El Nuevo Dia quoted >Miriam Ramirez de Ferrer, a rightwing senatorial candidate of >Puerto Rico's New Progressive Party (PNP), as saying: "I know >that they are negotiating with Haiti and with Nicaragua to move >these military operations there, and this is very reliable >information given to me by a source I cannot identify." Edmond >Frederique, a Haitian unionist who lives and works in Puerto >Rico, reports: "The Nicaraguan government made a declaration >saying that the Constitution did not allow it to establish a >foreign base in Nicaragua. But the Haitian ambassador to >Washington said he didn't know about it... The Haitian consul >here never responded to the press, which called him." > >Spokespeople from the White House and the US National Security >Council told the New York-based weekly Haiti Progres that they >had heard the reports of negotiations for a possible base >relocation but could neither confirm or deny their validity. Navy >spokesperson Lt. Commander Herman Phillips said that the "Center >for Naval Analyses is conducting a six-month study into alternate >sites and methods of the training. I am sure they are looking at >a wide range of things, and the study is ongoing." [HP 1/19/00] > >Meanwhile, there have been several efforts to disrupt deliveries >of election materials for Haiti's Mar. 19 local and legislative >elections. Unidentified individuals burned the Communal Electoral >Bureau of the southwestern town Petit-Goave on the night of Jan. >22-23; local sources say the arsonists were from the far right. A >similar incident occurred in nearby Grand-Goave on Jan. 20 [see >Update #521]. An organization calling itself "IRAK" ("Iraq" in >French and Creole) took responsibility for another incident, in >Beaumont, Grand'Anse. [HP 1/26/00] > >[.....] > >======================================================================= >Weekly News Update on the Americas * Nicaragua Solidarity Network of NY >339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012 * 212-674-9499 fax: 212-674-9139 >http://home.earthlink.net/~dbwilson/wnuhome.html * [EMAIL PROTECTED] >======================================================================= >________________________________________________________________ >**************************************************************** >* CLM-NEWS is brought to you by the COLOMBIAN LABOR MONITOR at * >* http://www.prairienet.org/clm * >* and the CHICAGO COLOMBIA COMMITTEE * >* Email us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or * >* Dennis Grammenos at [EMAIL PROTECTED] * >* To subscribe send request to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * >* subscribe clm-news Your Name * >**************************************************************** > > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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