PANAMA SEEKS $5.3B PROJECT TO EXPAND CANAL
THE MIAMI HERALD
JUN. 27, 2006
PANAMA CITY, Panama - Panama's president sent lawmakers a bill Monday calling for a referendum on whether the government should undertake the biggest modifications to the Panama Canal since it was opened in 1914.
The project calls for a construction of a third set of locks on the canal that would reduce long lines of ships trying to cross the canal and allow larger ships to pass through. It is projected to cost $5.25 billion in a country whose annual budget is $6.5 billion.
President Martin Torrijos says the expansion is necessary to keep the canal competitive in the 21st century.
The canal, 105 feet above sea level at its highest point, uses a series of parallel locks to lift ships to Lake Gatun for the transoceanic passage.
So-called Panamax ships carrying 4,000 containers can now just barely fit through the canal's 108-foot locks. The new third set would be 177 feet wide and be able to accommodate post-Panamax ships that can carry twice as many containers.
COSTA RICA WANTS IRAQ REFERENCE REMOVED
THE WASHINGTON POST
JUNE 22, 2006
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica -- Costa Rica wants its name erased from the list of countries supporting the invasion of Iraq. But the United States says that's not possible.
The Costa Rican government initially supported the invasion, but public sentiment was never strong and polls show now that most Costa Ricans oppose the war.
Opponents of the fighting took the name issue to the country's Supreme Court, which ruled the references to support should be removed.
While the U.S. government removed the Central American nation from the list of the so-called "coalition of the willing" in 2004, it still appears in archive documents and on related Internet Web sites that haven't been updated.
"We are insisting through diplomatic routes that it be clarified our country was removed" from the list, Costa Rican Foreign Relations Minister Bruno Stagno told Radio Eco Thursday.
Stagno asked the U.S. government in May to ensure that the country's name was erased from all lists, but said the State Department told him on June 19 saying that wasn't possible.
TEACHER STRIKE MAY INFLUENCE MEXICAN VOTE
THE NEW YORK TIMES
JUNE 22, 2006
OAXACA, Mexico, June 21 — What started as a teachers' strike here five weeks ago has grown into a major movement to oust the governor of Oaxaca State that could affect the presidential election on July 2.
Last week began with strikers battling the police and ended with failed talks with a federal mediator. Tens of thousands of teachers still occupy the central square and the surrounding streets of this colonial town of 265,000, a cultural center and tourist attraction known for its artists and haunting pre-Columbian ruins.
But the teachers, who number 70,000, have been joined by dozens of community groups, Indian rights organizations, farmers' cooperatives and revolutionary parties. The teachers' initial demand for better pay has been drowned out by the general cry for Gov. Ulises Ruiz to resign.
"He has to go, Ulises, not just for what actions he has taken against us, but also for the things he has done to the people of Oaxaca, which have been nefarious," said Eduardo Reyes, a longtime high school history teacher from San Pablo Guila. "It is no longer a teachers' strike, it is a social movement."
ONE-TIME RISING POLITICAL STAR IN CUBA GOING TO JAIL
MIAMI HERALD
JUN. 22, 2006
HAVANA - A Communist official long held up as an example of the island's future leadership was sentenced to 12 years in prison for influence-peddling, the party said Wednesday.
Juan Carlos Robinson Agramonte, among the youngest members of the ruling Politburo before being kicked out of the elite body and the party in April, pleaded guilty Friday during a trial in Havana, the official Granma newspaper said. Government prosecutors had sought a 15-year sentence.
''It was demonstrated that Robinson Agramonte, in the open process of his ideological weakening and with abuse of his position, forgot his high responsibilities and the integrity demanded of a revolutionary cadre and used his influence to obtain benefits,'' Granma said.
It offered no specifics on what benefits were obtained or how Robinson used his influence to get them.
USING FDR AS MODEL, PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL OUT TO
BUILD NEW DEAL FOR MEXICO
WASHINGTON POST
JUNE 23, 2006
QUERETARO, Mexico -- Presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is often compared with South American leftists, has found a model in an icon from the north: Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
López Obrador's economics team has developed a blueprint for what they call the "Mexican New Deal." Their modern version of Depression-era populism is an ambitious program to create millions of jobs and stem migration by undertaking huge public works projects, including a railroad network, vast housing developments, ports and timber replanting.
"Roosevelt didn't solve all of America's problems, but he gave American society a sense that they were on the right track," Manuel Camacho Sol?s, one of López Obrador's top advisers, said in an interview. "Andrés Manuel López Obrador can represent something like that for Mexico."
López Obrador's proposals to stimulate Mexico's economy are part of a far-reaching agenda that would alter some of the touchstones of the government. He has advanced symbolic proposals -- such as moving out of the luxurious presidential compound known as Los Pinos and into the National Palace on Mexico City's downtown square. And he has suggested significant structural changes, such as chopping Mexico's six-year presidential term in half by holding a referendum after three years on whether the president should remain in office.
DIRTY POLITICS 'INGRAINED' IN MEXICO
As Presidential Vote Nears, Studies Suggest Coercive Tactics Are Still Pervasive
WASHINGTON POST
JUNE 26, 2006
MEXICO CITY -- The death of one-party rule in Mexico promised a new era of cleaner elections.
But two studies suggest that the first presidential contest since Vicente Fox ended the Institutional Revolutionary Party's seven-decade hold on power in 2000 may be tainted by many of the same coercive tactics that marred previous balloting.
Millions of poor Mexicans have been threatened with exclusion from health care and social assistance programs if they do not vote for various candidates, the studies show. Others, mostly in rural areas, have been given cash payoffs of $40 to $60 for their votes, a tidy sum in a country where the poorest families subsist on less than $4 a day.
The authors of the studies said the coercion is so pervasive that it could swing the outcome of the July 2 election, particularly if the front-runners, Felipe Calderón of Fox's National Action Party and Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Democratic Revolutionary Party, finish within two percentage points of each other.
OBRADOR LURES MEXICO'S 50 MILLION POOR
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
JUNE 26, 2006
QUERETARO, MEXICO – Andrés Manuel López Obrador is not a man who elicits lukewarm responses.
"He is marvelous. A superstar. An angel ... a true Mexican patriot," sighs Liliana García García, a shopkeeper attending an Obrador rally last week in the central state of Queretaro.
On stage in the Plaza del Armas, the gray-haired candidate in a pink and blue plaid shirt is revving up the crowd. "We are going to bring the price of electricity down," he promises. "Gas prices are coming down!" he cries. "We are not accepting the contradiction that we live in a rich country, but we are poor," he calls out. "We are going to end injustice!"
Polls in recent days show next week's presidential election will likely be a photo finish. Mr. Obrador, the candidate of the leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) has drawn even with Felipe Calderón of the ruling conservative National Action Party (PAN). Roberto Madrazo, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that led this country for 71 years until 2000, is trailing in third.
The public has dubbed Mr. Calderón - who focuses on foreign investment, free trade, and pro-business policies - the "employment candidate." Mr. Madrazo, who has devoted much of his campaign to fighting the scourge of violence, is often called "the security candidate." But Obrador is known, simply, as the "candidate of the poor."
PRÉVAL SEEKS HELP FROM ALL HAITIANS
MIAMI HERALD
JUN. 26, 2006
Haitian President Rene Preval speaks at a summit to promote tourism in Haiti, at the Radisson Deuville on Miami Beach.
Haitian Americans can play a pivotal role in rebuilding Haiti, Haitian President René Préval said during a visit to South Florida on Sunday.
''We need to recognize them as Haitians,'' Préval said in an interview with The Miami Herald. ``We need to have dual nationality.''
Préval's statement is perhaps his strongest to date on dual nationality, and an effort by the new leader in Port-au-Prince to draw support from Haitians abroad.
Haiti's 19-year-old constitution does not allow dual citizenship, but Préval suggested change may be in order to include many Haitian Americans who otherwise feel shut out in their attempts to help their troubled homeland.
The issue of dual nationality has become a political football, used by some on the island to keep Haitians who have become naturalized citizens elsewhere out of political decision-making. Expatriate Haitians in the United States and other countries argue that their experience, influence and resources should be tapped to help their homeland, long plagued by political and economic instability. Last year, Haitian Americans sent $1 billion in remittances to their native homeland.
SAO PAULO POLICE KILL 13 SUSPECTED GANG MEMBERS,
THWART ATTACK PLOT
THE MIAMI HERALD
JUN. 27, 2006
SAO PAULO - (AP) -- Police killed 13 suspected gang members in a shootout outside a prison in South America's largest city on Monday as authorities foiled a plot to attack prison guards.
The latest violence came six weeks after imprisoned gang leaders allegedly ordered attacks against police across the city and Sao Paulo state, sparking a weeklong wave of violence that killed almost 200 police, prison guards, suspected criminals and jail inmates.
There were no signs that Monday's violence was spreading or having any impact on daily life in Sao Paulo, a metropolis of 18 million.
And although police were put on high alert, Sao Paulo state Gov. Claudio Lembo said authorities did not expect a return of widespread violence.
''There are no problems in Sao Paulo,'' Lembo told Jovem Pan radio.
The presumed members of the First Capital Command gang -- 12 men and one woman -- were killed in a gunfight with police outside a prison in the industrial suburb of Sao Bernardo do Campo, said district police chief Marco Antonio de Paula Santos.
MEXICAN POLITICAL GROUPS DEMAND VOICE
THE MIAMI HERALD
JUN. 27, 2006
MEXICO CITY - For decades, political activism in Mexico often meant showing up at rallies, voting for the ruling party and picking up a bag of fertilizer, a basket of food or even cash.
But that began changing in the late 1980s as nonpartisan reformers worked for stronger electoral laws and sent tens of thousands of poll watchers to keep an eye on the ballot boxes.
Their efforts helped end the Institutional Revolutionary Party's grip on power in 2000 with the election of President Vicente Fox.
Now citizens' groups are scrutinizing the candidates ahead of Sunday's vote in the most wide-open presidential race in Mexican history.
Felipe Calderon of Fox's conservative National Action Party is in a tight battle against Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party. The Institutional Revolutionary Party candidate Roberto Madrazo is running a distant third; two other candidates trail far behind.
Nonpartisan citizens' groups are an important development in a country where, less than a decade ago, millions allowed a political party to dictate how they voted and where elections served largely as ceremonies to ratify the president's choice of a successor.
"The Citizens' Magnifying Glass," a Web site founded by historian Enrique Krauze, keeps a record of the main candidates' speeches, public comments, and a ranking by experts of the feasibility of the candidates' proposals.
13 DIE IN GUNFIGHT OUTSIDE BRAZIL JAIL
THE NEW YORK TIMES
JUNE 27, 2006
SÃO PAULO, Brazil, June 26 (AP) — The police killed 13 suspected gang members in a shootout outside a prison in São Paulo, South America's largest city, on Monday as the authorities foiled what they said was a plot to attack prison guards.
The latest violence came just six weeks after attacks against the police across the city and São Paulo state, sparking a weeklong wave of violence that killed nearly 200 police officers, prison guards, suspected criminals and jail inmates. That violence was said to have been ordered by imprisoned gang leaders.
There were no signs that Monday's violence was spreading or having any impact on daily life in São Paulo, a metropolis of 18 million people. And although the police were put on high alert, Gov. Cláudio Lembo said the authorities did not expect a return of widespread violence.
The presumed members of the First Capital Command gang — 12 men and one woman — were killed in a gunfight with the police outside a prison in a suburb, São Bernardo do Campo, said the district police chief, Marco Antônio de Paula Santos.
COLOMBIA CALLED ON TO HELP THE DISPLACED
THE MIAMI HERALD
JUN. 27, 2006
BOGOTA, Colombia - For thousands of Colombians uprooted by violence each year, the real struggle to survive begins only after they arrive empty-handed and homeless in Bogota and other cities, a top United Nations official said Tuesday.
"Victims of violence who are forced to abandon their homes don't have any real possibility of protecting their rights and safety or assuring their basic necessities are met," said Walter Kalin, the U.N. secretary general's representative on internally displaced peoples.
Kalin concluded a two-week tour of displaced communities in Colombia with a visit on Tuesday to Cazuca, a neighborhood on the southern outskirts of the capital of Bogota and the home to tens of thousands of internal refugees from the country's four-decade civil war.
The U.N. estimates that about 3 million Colombians have been displaced by the conflict between leftist rebels, the government and far-right paramilitaries - more than any other country except Sudan. The government puts their number at fewer than 2 million.
YOUNG MEXICANS MAKE UP KEY VOTING BLOCK
THE MIAMI HERALD
JUN. 27, 2006
MEXICO CITY - Mexico's presidential candidates have talked about pot on MTV, buddied up with professional wrestlers and traded ties for soccer jerseys as they cultivate a hipper, cooler image.
Now with just days to go before Sunday's election, they're hoping to persuade Mexico's young adults - 40 percent of the electorate - to actually get out and vote.
There's a great deal at stake for Mexico's 30 million young voters. Many are already raising families and will move into their prime working years during the next six-year presidency.
Alejandra Santos Ruiz, a 26-year-old design assistant, said she likes employment proposals by conservative candidate Felipe Calderon, who is running nearly even with leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
"It's the first time I will vote," she said. "Before, I wasn't interested because I wasn't working. But when you start working, you see how things are and you become interested in your country."
That kind of civic enthusiasm could be the exception.
Only three out of every 10 people between the ages of 18 and 30 voted in Mexico's 2003 mid-term elections. But they made the difference in the 2000 presidential elections: nearly 60 percent of 18-30 year olds who voted picked Vicente Fox, whose victory ended seven decades of one-party rule.
TWO ARISTIDE SUPPORTERS EXPECTED TO BE FREED SOON
MIAMI HERALD
JUN. 27, 2006
Two senior supporters of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, whose imprisonments have been attacked by human rights groups, could soon be freed, Haitian President René Préval said Monday.
''The government prosecutor has asked that [former Prime Minister Yvon] Neptune be released, and the dossier of Só Ann should be resolved soon,'' Préval said in a meeting with a small group of journalists at a downtown Miami hotel.
Neptune, who served under Aristide, was jailed a year ago in connection with a 2004 massacre of Aristide opponents near the western port city of St. Marc.
He has been on and off a hunger strike to protest his detention, saying it is politically motivated.
Só Ann, whose real name is Annette Auguste, has been jailed since Mother's Day 2004. A grandmother and singer, she and several other jailed Aristide supporters are accused of participating in a violent 2003 attack on Aristide opponents. Their cases are currently before a Haitian appeals court.
EU LINKS EXTRA AID TO REFORMS
THE MIAMI HERALD
JUN. 28, 2006
BRUSSELS - (AP) -- The European Union offered millions in extra aid to Haiti's President René Préval on Tuesday if he continues reforms to stabilize and anchor democracy in his troubled Caribbean nation.
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said the EU's executive office was preparing to send $293 million in new aid, and possibly more if progress continues.
''We think the developments are in the right direction,'' Barroso told reporters after meeting Préval at EU headquarters. ``There was a real effort after the election to build a national consensus. President Préval came here with an important delegation with former opponents.''
Préval said he aimed to foster new cooperation between political factions to address the needs of the population, notably on fighting poverty and improving basic needs like education, proper shelter and job creation.
''A big effort has been undertaken since the elections . . . to establish political stability,'' Préval said. He said his government's aim was to boost foreign investment in Haiti.
EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel said that ''depending on progress,'' further aid was being planned. He said a majority of the announced aid package would go toward education and building infrastructure like roads, as well as filling the current government budget shortfall in Haiti.
NOT ALL IN PERU ARE SOLD ON U.S. TRADE
THE MIAMI HERALD
JUN. 28, 2006
LIMA - The cotton apparel business owned by Patricia Telge's family got its start in the 1970s and was still working out of rented space in 1990, with nine employees.
In 2003, one year after the U.S. Andean Trade Preferences and Drug Enforcement Act took effect, the Telges' sales soared to $6.5 million, from $3.7 million in 2002, with 80 percent of the total going to the U.S. market.
But now ATPDEA, which grants special breaks to exports from Andean nations in return for drug-control programs, is set to expire Dec. 31. And while the Peruvian government has signed a free-trade accord with Washington, both legislatures must approve the accord.
Peruvian legislators are expected to start debating the free-trade accord today and vote on it as early as Thursday, amid support from some who see it as locking in advantages for some of the country's exports, and criticism from others who say it will hammer other local industries with cheap U.S. imports.
''If the agreement is not ratified, our sales will decline by around 60 percent,'' said Telge, general manager of the Lives company, which makes clothing for companies such as Guess and Armani. Today, it employs nearly 500 people and operates a 22,000-square-foot plant owned by the family.
ORTEGA CHOOSES FORMER ENEMY AS RUNNING MATE
MIAMI HERALD
JUN. 28, 2006
Former Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's house -- a six-bedroom estate with a formal salon, vast dining room and a couple of cottages out back -- has long represented the ill-gotten goods of the Sandinista era.
Ortega snatched it after his Sandinista guerrillas gained power in a 1979 revolution, and he reportedly paid just $2,000 for it when he left office in 1990, when experts estimated the two-block compound was worth a half-million bucks.
These days, the luxury home in Managua's El Carmen neighborhood has come to symbolize something else: reconciliation.
In an ''only in Nicaragua'' political move, Jaime Morales, the original owner of the house and a man who fought a losing legal battle to get it back for a decade, has become Ortega's vice presidential running mate in the November election.
AS SOCCER MANIA MOUNTS, POLITICIANS' GOALS ALSO COUNT
THE NEW YORK TIMES
JUNE 27, 2006
RIO DE JANEIRO, June 26 — With the knockout round in soccer's World Cup under way and an election looming, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has found the perfect way to combine his two main passions: when the opposition complains about incompetence and corruption in his government, he responds by linking himself to Brazil's wildly popular and successful national team.
"As in soccer, we are not going to cry about the goals we didn't score yesterday," Mr. da Silva said in a speech here, after Brazil eked out an unconvincing 1-0 victory over Croatia earlier this month in its first game of the tournament in Germany. "What we're going to do is think about the goals we're going to score."
Brazilians can count on hearing that kind of language every four years. The World Cup tournament not only regularly coincides with Brazil's presidential race, but it almost inevitably ends up spilling over into the campaign.
Brazil, which advanced to the elimination round and plays Ghana on Tuesday, has won five World Cups, more than any other country. Political folklore maintains that a Brazilian victory strengthens the incumbent. Though the numbers at the polls do not necessarily back up that theory, the country's obsession with the sport does offer opportunities both oratorical and practical to politicians.
Few are as astute as Mr. da Silva. In his public declarations he often uses soccer metaphors to explain his actions, as when the opposition was demanding late last year that Finance Minister Antônio Palocci be fired because of his involvement in the corruption scandal.
|
![[ space ]](../imagenes/relleno.gif){kind=small}
![[ banner ]](../imagenes/bolasimiranbanner.gif)
![[ corner ]](../imagenes/bolasimirancorner.gif){kind=small}