U.S. State Terrorism in Puerto Rico

by Yeidy Rosa

While his annually recorded speech was being broadcast to radios throughout the island commemorating the 137th anniversary of Puerto Rico's September 23 Grito de Lares revolt against Spanish colonial rule, Filiberto Ojeda Rios, founder and leader of the revolutionary nationalist Ejército Popular Boricua (Boricua Popular Army), and a fugitive for the past 15 years, lay bleeding from a bullet wound to his shoulder that went through the middle of his back, piercing his lung. The shot was fired by a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sharpshooter from a helicopter circling above. It would be 24 hours before medical professionals and local authorities would be granted access to the scene. Once granted, the 72-year-old would be found lifeless, lying face-down and having slowly bled to death. The killing has drawn criticism even from those who advocate statehood for the island. Calls for an independent investigation of the FBI operation have come from human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, members of the United States Congress, the archbishop of San Juan, and the government of Puerto Rico itself.

Pollution, Apartheid and Protest in Occupied Palestine

by Ethan Ganor

from Weekly News Update on the Americas

Shortly before flying to his Texas ranch for a month-long vacation, on Aug. 2 US President George W. Bush signed the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) into law, following a 19-month effort to get the controversial measure approved by Congress. So far, the legislatures of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and the US have approved it; Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua have not yet ratified. "CAFTA is more than a trade bill," Bush said at the White House signing ceremony. "It is a commitment among freedom-loving nations to advance peace and prosperity throughout the region." (Bloomberg News, Washington Times, Aug. 2)

from Weekly News Update on the Americas

EMBERA INDIGENOUS MASSACRED

On Aug. 17, hooded assailants armed with assault rifles arrived at the home of an indigenous Embera Chami family in the community of Ubarba, in the Nuestra Senora Candelaria de la Montana indigenous reservation in the central Colombian department of Caldas. The assailants shot to death Rosalba Morales and Evelio de Jesus Morales at their home, and severely wounded Jose Abelino Morales, who died on the way to a hospital in Riosucio. An hour after the attack, unidentified assailants murdered William Andres Taborda at his home in the community of Limon, on the same indigenous reservation. (National Indigenous Organization of Colombia--ONIC statement posted Aug. 19 on Colombia Indymedia)

from Weekly News Update on the Americas

HUANCABAMBA: TWO DEAD AT MINING CAMP

In the pre-dawn hours of Aug. 1, some 3,000 to 6,000 residents of campesino communities in northern Peru seized control of the Henry Hills mining camp, owned by the mining company Majaz in El Tambo, Huancabamba province. The campesinos came from Ayabaca and Huacabamba (Piura region) and Paicapampa and San Ignacio (in Jaen province, Cajamarca). Many of them are members of the rondas, campesino self-defense groups formed during the 1980s to combat Maoist rebels. Armed only with sticks and agricultural tools, and a few old back-loading rifles, they quickly surprised and overpowered the camp's guards.

from Weekly News Update on the Americas

from Weekly News Update on the Americas

On Aug. 4, residents of the southern Bolivian city of Camiri, in Santa Cruz department, lifted their general strike after Hydrocarbons Minister Jaime Dunn signed an agreement promising to speed up the re-establishment of the state oil company, Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales de Bolivia (YPFB). The agreement, reached after eight hours of negotiations, lays out a timetable under which the process will culminate in three weeks. The government also committed to install gas service in 3,800 homes in Camiri by 2006, and to locate the exploration and drilling management headquarters of the newly founded YPFB in Camiri. The re-establishment of the state firm was mandated by a hydrocarbons law enacted by Congress on May 17, but its implementation has been delayed.

from Weekly News Update on the Americas

On Aug. 15, residents of the Amazon provinces of Sucumbios and Orellana in northern Ecuador began an open-ended civic strike--backed by local elected officials--to demand higher wages, more jobs and the construction of roads, schools and health clinics in the region, as well as the cancellation of contracts with two transnational oil companies, the US-based Occidental (OXY) and Canada's EnCana. The Ecuadoran prosecutor's office has legally challenged OXY--the largest private oil producer in Ecuador--for breach of contract, saying it bought some of EnCana's operating rights without the required approval from authorities. The strikers are demanding that OXY abandon Ecuador altogether. Some protest leaders are apparently demanding that the government renegotiate all contracts with foreign oil companies to demand a 50% share of the profits they make in Ecuador; others are demanding the full nationalization of Ecuador's oil. (Adital, Aug. 18; Financial Times, Aug. 19; AFP, Aug. 20)