CHAVEZ WOULD ABOLISH PRESIDENTIAL TERM LIMIT
The Washington Post
January 11, 2007
BOGOTA, Colombia, Jan. 10 -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, sworn in to another six-year term on Wednesday, said he would seek a constitutional amendment that could extend his tenure as he hastens his country's transformation into what he calls "21st-century socialism."
In a three-hour discourse in the National Assembly that received widespread news coverage across Latin America, Chavez promised that "we are going to radicalize this process of ours, we are going to deepen this revolution."
Invoking the mantra once issued by his mentor and ally, Fidel Castro of Cuba, Chavez said the choice for Venezuela was clear: "Fatherland, socialism or death." The ceremony was full of symbolism. Chavez wore the tricolored presidential sash on his left side, switching it from his right, a nod to his leftist leanings. And he frequently alluded to Simón Bolívar, the 19th-century independence hero he reveres, God and Jesus Christ, whom Chavez called "the greatest socialist of the people."
CHÁVEZ BEGINS NEW TERM VOWING SOCIALISM
The New York Times
January 11, 2007
CARACAS, Venezuela, Jan. 10 — President Hugo Chávez was sworn in to a new six-year term at a ceremony here on Wednesday in which he described Jesus as “the greatest socialist in history” and pledged to speed Venezuela’s metamorphosis into a Socialist country.
“Fatherland! Socialism or death, I swear it!” Mr. Chávez yelled as he was sworn in and given the presidential sash and a golden key to the tomb where the remains of Simón Bolívar, the South American liberator, are interred.
In his speech, the president defended his decision this week to nationalize companies in the telecommunications and electricity industries and promised to seek greater control over natural gas projects. He also renewed his request to Congress for decree powers, saying a “revolutionary law of laws” would allow him to hasten the construction of Socialism.
SOME VENEZUELAN EXPATRIATES FEAR THE WORST
The Miami Herald
Jan. 11, 2007
South Florida's Venezuelans are warily watching President Hugo Chávez, who at his inauguration Wednesday extolled the virtues of his plan for an ''accelerated'' push into socialism during his coming six-year term.
At Doral's El Arepazo restaurant, the patrons' predictions for those years were often far less glorious than Chávez's characterization of his plan as new, improved socialism for the 21st century. To many, it will be a throwback to Fidel Castro's now 48-year-old government-controlled economy in impoverished Cuba.
A steady stream of local Venezuelans at the restaurant met Chávez's revolutionary pronouncements with a mix of outrage, dismay and, at times, increasing resignation.
VENEZUELA REELS FROM CHÁVEZ'S HARD LEFT TURN
The Miami Herald
Jan. 11, 2007
CARACAS - Venezuelans are hearing alarm bells as their country moves strongly down a leftist path led by President Hugo Chávez, who promised ''socialism or death'' from the factories to the schoolyards when he was sworn in Wednesday to another six-year term.
''Fatherland, socialism or death -- I swear it,'' Chávez said as he took the oath of office. He followed with a speech of 2 ¾ hours in which he acknowledged that his hard left turn after his Dec. 3 reelection is worrying some Venezuelans.
''I've heard that some people in the national sectors are saying they are afraid of socialism,'' he said. ``They ought to be scared of capitalism!''
Venezuelans' reaction to the shift -- on Monday, Chávez announced he would nationalize electricity and telecommunications companies -- has been difficult to gauge because the president's ideology remains somewhat vague, and he often seems to talk much tougher than he acts.
UNREST IN BOLIVIA SIGNALS DANGER AHEAD
OUR OPINION: MORALES, OPPONENTS MUST SEEK POLITICAL COMPROMISES
Opinion
The Miami Herald
Jan. 11, 2007
When he was inaugurated as president in January of 2006, Evo Morales could boast of being the first indigenous leader in 500 years elected to govern Bolivia. He was in a unique position to transform a chronically poor and unstable nation with an ethnically diverse population. Sadly, Mr. Morales is blowing this historic opportunity.
Bully tactics
The problem is not Mr. Morales' political objectives. He wants to improve the lives of the majority mestizo and indigenous Amerindian populations and diminish the political and economic power of the small conservative elite that has sought to keep the ''indians'' in their place for centuries. Foes, in turn, have fought Mr. Morales and his Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) political bloc at every turn.
FORMER CUBAN OFFICIALS RESURFACE, ENRAGE ARTISTS
The Miami Herald
Jan. 11, 2007
Recent public appearances by three former Cuban officials linked to harsh political purges in the cultural sector during the 1960s and '70s has aroused the ire of some of the island's intellectuals and artists.
The unusually public criticisms posted on the Internet include comments by three winners of Cuba's top literary prize, the National Literature Award, and several other well-known authors and artists.
The intellectuals demand an urgent response from the government in view of the ''political error'' represented by the reappearance of the former officials, most of them now in their 80s and not seen in public for many years.
RULING ON SHINING PATH REBELS ANGERS PERU
The New York Times
January 11, 2007
LIMA, Peru, Jan. 10 — A ruling by an international human rights court telling Peru’s government to honor 41 leftist rebels killed in a 1992 prison raid has provoked public indignation, and the government is considering withdrawing from the court.
The ruling has reopened scars of a rebellion that raged from 1980 to 1998. Javier Velásquez, leader of the governing APRA party in Congress, said after meeting with President Alan García on Monday that the authorities were mulling Peru’s withdrawal from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which issued the ruling.
The court serves to uphold and promote human rights in the Americas under the 1969 American Convention on Human Rights.
ARGENTINE EX-PRESIDENT CHARGED WITH RIGHTS ABUSES
The New York Times
January 13, 2007
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 12 — Acting at the request of Argentine officials, the Spanish police on Friday detained María Estela de Perón, the former president of Argentina and the widow of the founder of the ruling party, as part of a broadening investigation by the Peronist government of Argentina into past human rights abuses there.
A judge in the provincial city of Mendoza had issued an order on Thursday that Ms. Perón, known as Isabel, who lives in exile in Spain and gives her age as 75, be detained there for questioning regarding the disappearance of a student during her time in power. Almost simultaneously, a judge in Buenos Aires authorized the arrest of two other officials with ties to the late José López Rega, who was Gen. Juan Perón’s private secretary and later Ms. Perón’s closest adviser.
BRAZIL GAMBLES ON MONITORING OF AMAZON LOGGERS
The New York Times
January 14, 2007
REALIDADE, Brazil — A Brazilian government plan set to go into effect this year will bring large-scale logging deep into the heart of the Amazon rain forest for the first time, in a calculated gamble that new monitoring efforts can offset any danger of increased devastation.
The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in an attempt to create Brazil’s first coherent, effective forest policy, is to begin auctioning off timber rights to large tracts of the rain forest. The winning bidders will not have title to the land or the right to exploit resources other than timber, and the government says they will be closely monitored and will pay a royalty on their activities.
ECUADOR'S CORREA TAKES OATH, VOWS SOCIALISM SHIFT
The Miami Herald
Jan. 16, 2007
QUITO - Declaring that ''inhuman and cruel globalization'' has failed his country, leftist economist President Rafael Correa took office Monday with a promise to shift his nation toward socialism and to renegotiate its $10.2 billion foreign debt.
Correa, 43, who received his doctorate at the University of Illinois in the United States, became Ecuador's eighth president in 11 years. He is one of a half-dozen leftist Latin American leaders to win office or be reelected in little more than a year.
In the campaign that culminated in his November victory, Correa pledged to overhaul a political system that many people here view as corrupt, fragmented and inefficient.
At times, Correa employed the anti-American rhetoric favored by his ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, promising not to sign a free-trade agreement with the United States or to extend the U.S. lease on an air base in western Ecuador used by surveillance planes to monitor drug traffickers.
CASTRO IMPAIRED BY 3 SURGERIES, PAPER REPORTS
The New York Times
January 16, 2007
MEXICO CITY, Jan. 15 — Fidel Castro has had a series of surgeries in recent months to repair pouches that formed in his large intestine and later the onset of a serious infection in his stomach lining, a Spanish newspaper reported Monday.
The report by El Pais, the most detailed accounting of the Cuban leader’s illness to date, could not be independently confirmed. The newspaper cited two anonymous medical sources at Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid. Dr. José Luis García Sabrido, who is head of surgery at the hospital, examined Mr. Castro in December and told reporters afterward that the leader did not suffer from cancer, as American officials had speculated.
CUBAN SEEMS TO URGE FREER PRESS
The Miami Herald
Jan. 16, 2007
Cuba's chief ideologue is encouraging the state-controlled media to produce more stories that reflect problems faced by the population, according to reports from a journalism gathering in Havana.
Rolando Alfonso Borges, head of the Ideology Department of the Communist Party's Central Committee, also called for greater access to the Internet and the ''dissemination of the truth of Cuba,'' according to the reports.
But he also classified journalism as ''a weapon against imperialist humbugs'' and said that the news media must act ''with and for the Revolution,'' a long-standing criterion that prevents state-controlled press from being too critical.
VENEZUELA ENDS OIL NEGOTIATIONS
The New York Times
January 16, 2007
CARACAS, Venezuela, Jan. 15 — Venezuela will end negotiations with foreign oil companies over how it will take a majority control of their operations along the Orinoco River, the country’s oil minister, Rafael Ramírez, said on Monday.
Mr. Ramírez said that “there’s no possible negotiation” with the foreign companies, but he said that private companies would be allowed to own minority stakes in lucrative oil projects in the Orinoco River basin.
“Every case will be different,” Mr. Ramírez said. “We will have an effective majority control.”
The government negotiated last year with the companies about its plans to take majority control of oil operations in the country, but no agreements were reached.
In a speech to Congress last week, President Hugo Chávez said the private companies — BP, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Total and Statoil — would be given the option to stay on as minority partners.
EXPERTS: PROGNOSIS IS GRIM FOR CASTRO
The Miami Herald
Jan. 17, 2007
A Spanish newspaper's report that Fidel Castro is wasting away from life-threatening complications following multiple intestine-related surgeries means he has little chance of recovering, four South Florida medical experts said Tuesday.
If the anonymous sources that El País quoted are accurate, Castro is experiencing problems with his intestines and gall bladder, significantly decreasing his chances for survival, Dr. Miguel J. Rodríguez, a gastroenterologist at Homestead Hospital, told The Miami Herald.
''The chances are he won't survive this illness,'' Rodríguez said, adding that the Cuban leader would have an ''80 to 95 percent chance of dying'' from his ailments.
BACKSTORY: VENEZUELA'S CULTURAL REVOLUTION
The Christian Science Monitor
January 17, 2007
CARACAS, VENEZUELA - Omar Pinto, who works for the popular radio station Radiorama, sits under a framed poster of Madonna as young hipsters walk in and out of the station on a recent day in downtown Caracas. The hit song "Flying between your arms," by Latin pop icon Marc Anthony, comes on the air.
"We play the greatest hits – salsa, rancheros, Cuban music," he says. "See, it's just Latin music. Greatest hits."
A moment later, the station puts out a traditional Venezuelan folk song. It's as if someone flipped a switch on the format. Mr. Pinto can't even name the artist. By airing the song, however, the station helps fulfill its obligation under a federal "social responsibility" law, which mandates that 50 percent of what DJs play be Venezuelan – much of it traditional music.
"No, we wouldn't play that song before," says Pinto, almost laughing at the question. "It's not very popular."
COLOMBIAN PARAMILITARY HEAD CONFESSES
The Christian Science Monitor
January 17, 2007
MEDELLíN, COLOMBIA - Miryam Areiza traveled halfway across Colombia to hear the man who orchestrated the 1997 massacre of her father and 14 others admit to the crime.
But Ms. Areiza became angry – and ill – when former paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso read out her father's name and described the massacre during a precedent-setting judicial hearing here this week.
Mr. Mancuso, currently in a maximum security prison in this western Colombian city is the first of the country's death squad leaders to confess to his crimes as part of a negotiated deal under which 30,000 illegal right-wing fighters laid down their arms.
"He seemed proud of what they'd done, not remorseful," Areiza said bitterly after hearing him narrate how the massacre was organized. She added that Mancuso described how the top paramilitary leader at the time, Carlos Castaño, handed out military decorations to the illegal fighters who participated in the killing spree in northern Antioquia Province.
PUERTO RICAN KILLINGS MAY BRING OUT NATIONAL GUARD
The Miami Herald
Jan. 17, 2007
SAN JUAN - (AP) -- Police reinforced security at schoolhouse gates Tuesday and students rode buses rather than walk to class because of a soaring homicide rate that has the island's governor considering deploying National Guard troops.
Drug traffickers battling each other for control have been blamed for gun battles in the housing projects in Río Piedras, a suburb of the capital, and other parts of this U.S. Caribbean territory, home to 3.9 million people. There were 46 homicides in Puerto Rico during the first 15 days of 2007, almost double the number of killings during the same period last year, according to police.
Gunfire delayed the opening of two schools for a week following the Christmas break. But there has been a decline in slayings over the past three days. Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá said that he would wait to see if that trend continues before deciding on whether to deploy troops on patrols.
SECOND ARREST WARRANT ISSUED FOR ARGENTINA'S PERÓN
The Miami Herald
Jan. 17, 2007
BUENOS AIRES - A judge on Tuesday issued the second arrest warrant in less than a week against former President Isabel Perón, summoning her for questioning about a right-wing death squad that terrorized Argentina during her 1974-76 rule.
Judge Norberto Oyarbide ordered the arrest of the 75-year-old former leader in a probe of kidnappings and killings blamed on the Argentine Anti-communist Alliance, a shadowy paramilitary group best known as the Triple A, a judge's aide said on condition of anonymity because of court rules.
Oyarbide must now request Perón's extradition from Spain, where she has lived for 25 years, the court official said.
Last Thursday, Judge Raíl Acosta issued an unprecedented warrant for Perón's arrest in connection with the disappearance of a member of the Perónist party in the western Argentine province of Mendoza in February 1976.
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