Current Affairs

A US company, Pandemic, is going to sell a videogame, named Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, in which a US invasion is simulated in a country ruled by a tyran with the grasp of the oil refineries and with the final objective to throw out the tyran. This has worsened even more the US-Venezuelan relationship.

“The players take the place of soldiers to throw out a hungry tyran/dictator who varies the supply of Venezuelan oil, unleashing an invasion that makes the country a war place“. The simulated mission is began by a Marines’ commando to take it by a military assault.

This happens when Caracas has reinforced its alliance with Iran about the nuclear crisis. Ahmadinejah said:

“We hace a lot of common ideals and aims that unites us profoundly. And our common enemies’ position are each day less strong”.

Their common interests are so great they lack the same thing: oil refineries. As a result they are just making a new one jointly.

This came afterwards Bush said he was worried about an important erosion in democracy both in Bolivia and Venezuela.

Newsweek comments also about Chávez:

Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez is the new rock star of world politics. His impassioned rants against globalization, with animated poses to match, make front-page headlines almost daily. The commentariat-particularly in Europe-seems to buy Chávez’s line that Latin Americans are so disenchanted by their short tryst with liberalism that they now prefer a strongman to spread the benefits of a commodity boom. The recent moves by a Chávez soulmate, Evo Morales, to renationalize the energy resources of Bolivia reinforce a growing perception that Latin America is lurching to the radical left.

Read it all.

US had made arrangements to consider Lybia is fighting against terrorism. I was not the least happy about it. And at the same time Gadaffi says he is going to receive Chávez. As a result, Washington is going to suspend the selling of weapons to Caracas because of its lack of collaboration with the fighting of terrorism.

So Chávez is going to ask Oliver Stone to make a film about the failed coup d’état that took place in April 2002. “I am sure that there are a lot of people that are not willing the truth to come out because this people is going to investigate to have the truth and is going to tell both the good and the bad that happened then”, Chávez said. What? The same man who said that Castro is one of the wisest man on Earth is going to find the truth?

(more…)

Uribe won the elections in Colombia last Sunday with a 62.2 per cent of all the votes. Those are good news, taking into account the consequences of elections in other parts of Latin-America.

But looks like there are also bad news from Colombia: from HazteOir.org:

La Corte Constitucional de Colombia ha determinado que “no se incurre en delito de aborto, cuando con la voluntad de la mujer, la interrupción del embarazo se produzca en los siguientes casos : a) Cuando la continuación del embarazo constituya peligro para la vida o la salud de la mujer, certificado por un médico; b) cuando exista grave malformación del feto que haga inviable su vida, certificada por un médico; c) cuando el embarazo sea resultado de una conducta, debidamente denunciada, constitutiva de acceso carnal o acto sexual sin consentimiento, abusivo, o de inseminación artificial o de transferencia de óvulo fecundado no consentidas, o de incesto”.

So the Colombian Constitutional Court has determined that “it is not abortion and therefore not a crime when with the woman’s consentment, the pregnancy interruption is produced in any of these cases: a) when the continuation of the pregnancy is a danger for the mother’s life or health, certificated by a doctor; b) when there is a grave malforming of the foetus that makes makes him/her impossible to die; c) when the pregnancy is the result of a conduct that rightly denounced, constitutes the result of a sexual act without consentment, abusive, or of artificial insemination or fertilized ovule with no consentment or derived from incest.

Those are the same -nearly a copy- of the 3 causes for abortion we have in Spain (link in Spanish). -And, unluckily, we are the country in which abortions grow quicker -.

Hazteoir.org brings everyone the possibility to sign a petition who will be sent to UN, Human Pro-Life International, and several Latin-American and European pro-life associations that are fighting for this cause. If you read this and you are a pro-lifer, please sign the petition, it’s free and it’s written in English and in Spanish.

This cames after the UN has declared they are supporters of abortion for Latin-America (link in Spanish).

Tags: Colombia, Pro-Life issues

From Reuters:

A prominent U.S.-based rights group has said it did not expect China to promote human rights at home despite its new position on the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Human Rights in China (HRIC) said that China should use the opportunity to promote human rights as befits its role as an increasingly important global player, but expressed doubts that the country with the world’s largest population would change.

“While there has been some improvement in the human rights situation in China, over the past 17 years HRIC has documented continued and increasing detentions, arrests and other forms of persecution,” the group said in a statement seen on Wednesday.

“China’s position that countries can differ on human rights due to cultural and historic differences undermines the universality and indivisibility of human rights,” it added.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said on Wednesday that Beijing will honor its commitment to protect human rights.

“As a member of the council, the Chinese government will comprehensively push forward the human rights cause in China and seriously carry out its obligations under relevant international human rights conventions,” Liu said in a statement on the ministry’s Web site (www.fmprc.gov.cn).

China was elected to the council along with Russia, Cuba, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan.

The six counties, identified by New York-based Human Rights Watch as unworthy of membership on the new U.N. body, were on Tuesday among the 47 nations that won seats on the council for its first session, due to open on June 19 in Geneva.

Amnesty International has also urged all the newly elected states to fulfill their obligation “to uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights”.

It seems that is a bit impossible: They have jailed another blogger for the great crime of …. supporting free elections (HT: Free Thoughts):

CHINA sentenced a veteran dissident writer to 12 years in jail for subversion yesterday, after he posted essays on the internet supporting a movement by exiles to hold free elections.

The sentence on Yang Tianshui, 45, is one of the harshest to be handed down to a political dissident since the trials that came after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on students demanding greater democracy. It underscores the determination of the ruling Communist Party to brook no opposition and to maintain a tight grip on the internet.

Yang is one of several writers and dissidents to be tried over the content of internet postings. He has no plans to appeal because he regards his trial as illegal. Li Jianqiang, his lawyer, said: “He is most dissatisfied but he had expected such a sentence. He refused to answer questions because he does not recognise the legality of the court.”

If that is the way they have to fulfil their obligations and to push Human Rights, errr, well, …

Anyway, there is another truly amazing sign of equality between all the Chinese citizens:

Chinese want cars. Lots of them. More than 1,000 new cars hit the streets of Beijing every day.

A lot of those cars are compact cars - designed with the average Chinese consumer in mind. After all, the average Chinese car buyer is looking for an engine-powered vehicle to replace his bicycle or the tyranny of the crowded bus.

But some people in this country, where many still struggle on the poverty line, have rather bigger budgets.

By the way, in this blog from TimesOnLine there is not a mention to the jailed Chinese bloggers, although it seems to me it is so an important matter to examine. Global Voices On Line is announcing the launching of a page to track current cases from all the world.

There is someone missing though: Alejandro Fariñas. Even if he has ended his hunger strike (HT: “La Ventanita”), it seems to me it’s necessary to who who is and why has been 56 days on a hunger strike. You can read about him in Babalu’s Blog.

Tags: China, dissidents, freedom of expression, Human Rights, Release Hao Wu, Cuba

Even if the last post that I wrote was about Morales, I think he deserves another one. looks like he is not only accusing Spain of breaking aid promise and nationalising the oil and gas sectors but now he is also going to review the contract with the Spanish firms AENA and Abertis, united in SABSA, which is in charge of the management of Bolivian airports (link in Spanish). The workers of the firm has denounced it because, apparently, it has not done the investments at first it promised.

Even if I really do not know if they have really made the investments or not, it is somewhat similar to the nationalization of oil companies. The last news are that Morales has said Bolivia was not going to pay anything also to BBVA, who was obliged to turn over the shares in Andina (background). According to EL MUNDO, he said

“there is nothing to compensate, we are not nationalising, we are just recovering what belongs to Bolivian people”

Hmm, yes of course. Now, just a bit a reasoning: if you take something without the will of his proprietor and without paying him/her its price, how on earth that action should be named? Exactly: STEALING.

But the link goes on:

Solbes [Second Vicepresident and Economy Minister] has said in Spanish Cadena Ser [left-wing] that “taking goods from someone without compensation is utterly unnaceptable. But if they are only deprivin them of the management, then we will see what is the compensation. In any case, we have to study it very carefully”.

I totally agree with Sandmonkey:

Nationalization doesn’t help Faisal, and capitalism isn’t the problem. It’s a difference in approach. Trust me when I tell you that capitalists don’t want poor people in the world, because the more people with money there is the more goods they buy and more money they make. It’s just how we see things. For example, socialists see that a good way to help poor people is to give them welfare. Capitalists disagree, because welfare doesn’t really improve the person’s life, it just helps make it more tolerable. Capitalists for example champion micro-banking and micro-financing: Lend the people money to start their own businesses and not need your charity to live. We want the people to live with dignity, and welfare checks from the government is anything but dignified, and the door is always open for its abuse. Look at China: Capitalism helped move 300 million chinese from the poverty they lived under during the days of communism. When has socialism ever done that?

It is very interesting that even Alejandro Toledo, Peruvian President, and also an Indian reasons against the nationalization:

“If you do not have clear rules for the game, capital is not
going to come. If there is no capital, there is no growth. If there is no growth, there is no employment. If there is no employment, there is no income. If there is no income, there is nothing to invest more in nutrition, health and education, which are the most powerful weapons for reducing poverty,” the Peruvian president said.

Hmm, can you please tell all this to our President Mr. Zapatero? I’m sure he hasn´t know it yet…

So, in Spain, people are claiming for yet another boicot (Catalans are boycotting Castillian products and viceversa) against Morales.

Lastly, Barcepundit has written also about this. He reproduces a Fake photo of Morales and Spanish FM Moratinos (right). He has seen this image in Spanish Blog Zapaterías Rimadas, whose author writes the news in poetry.

In fact this image is very appropriate because looks like Spanish Administration is divided over Bolivian nationalisation: while Solbes does not agree with it and says it does not sound good:

foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said, “It’s just a change in the management of the titles.” Bolivian president Evo Morales answered Solbes, “There’s nothing to indemnify. We’re not expropriating anybody.”

I think however that the image is not correct: Morales is not punching on Moratino’s nose, but on the one of the workers and shareholders of these frims… and his own people, because of the lack of credibility, his country is going to have in the future.

But this is not all: According to Spanish blog Zetapolleces, Bolivia will also nationalize all the improductive large states. I do really believe that nationalising is not the solution at all. Firstly, they would have to examine WHY these states are improductive and provide a solution. And I expect that the proprietors are given some money in return….

You can read also DOCE DOCE comments, in which he remarks that the Leftists European MPs applauded Evo when after he said he was not going to compensate the firms. Hmm, what a wonderful world…

Tags: BBVA, Bolivia, European Union, Evo Morales, PSOE, Repsol, Spain, Zapatero

Spain Herald:

Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Bolivian president Evo Morales met on Friday for about 45 minutes in Vienna at the EU-Latin American summit there. Zapatero said the meeting had been “positive, sincere, and clarifying,” but did not mention any advantage over the agreement previously negotiated by a Spanish delegation in La Paz.

He did announce that Morales had sent an official letter praising Spain’s cooperation, in contradiction of the harsh accusations Morales had launched last Thursday. Morales’s letter said that he had never accused Spain of not fulfilling its commitments to Bolivia, but instead expressed hope that aid to development and debt forgiveness “would soon be a reality.” Meanwhile, PP leader Mariano Rajoy demanded that Zapatero defend Spanish interests in Bolivia and that Morales obey the law and international agreements.

And so he is putting into effect the cooperation: Spain Herald

Bolivian president Evo Morales said yesterday that his nationalization of Bolivian fossil fuel resources “does not expel or expropriate anyone,” to the applause of the Euro-MPs. Meanwhile, the Bolivian government announced that Spanish bank BBVA must turn over the shares in Andina, Repsol’s Bolivian subsidiary, that it manages through a pension fund, within three days.

“These pension funds will be closed down in three days if they do not obey the decree. That’s it,” said Bolivian vice president Alvaro García Linera, who signed a further decree allowing Bolivia to “take absolute control” over the fuels industry.

BBVA and Zurich Financial Service have managed two Bolivian pension funds since 1997. They were created with the government’s shares resulting from the partial privatization of Bolivian state companies in strategic sectors carried out during the 1990s, which attracted a great number of foreign investors.

Just a few minutes previously, Morales told the European Parliament, “Any company that invests in my country has the right to recover its investment and make a profit, but not to have control. They will be partners, not the owners of our natural resources.” He added, “Without social security, there can be no legal security.”

EL MUNDO reports:

they will have to hand to Bolivian state the shares they are managinig in the oil companies Andina (48%), which belongs to Spanish-Argentinian Repsol YPF; Transredes (34%), from the US Enron and the Dutch Shell, and Chaco (48%), from British Petroleum. These companies were created with the division of the State Company Bolivian Fiscal Oil fields (or Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos), which will recover control over them. They represent (approx.) 700 of the $1,600 million which this fund has.

Tags: BBVA, Bolivia, British Petroleum, Enron, European Union, Evo Morales, Shell, Spain, Zapatero, Zurish Financial Services

From Iranmania:

Visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said in case of a military attack against Iran, no country in the world would have access to crude oil, according to IRNA.

Chavez made the remark at a press conference, adding, “As Iran’s President Ahmadinejad has reiterated, if Tehran would come under attack, oil would get scarce for everyone.”

He also said that the US President George W. Bush should be put to trial at the international court of justice for having launched genocide in Iraq.

The Venezuelan President added, “For all the horror it has created around the globe in the course of the past century, the United States’ war machine should be dismantled, since under the current conditions it is a threat against the entire mankind, particularly against our children.”

HT: Noisy Room.Net.

UPDATE: I posted yesterday that Chávez was not going to meet Blair. If you read the BBC’s news, I posted upon it was Chávez who did not like to meet Blair. looks like it’s the other way round (HT DOCE DOCE, in Spanish).

UPDATE 2: E-nough quotes Chávez saying:

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said at the Vienna “social forum” that he, Evo Morales, and Fidel Castro “would continue being the bad boys of the empire, the axis of evil.”

Do you know who where there?

Among those president were Spanish communist leaders Gaspar Llamazares and Paco Frutos.

Marvellous…

Tags: Bush, Chávez, European Union, Iran, USA

From BBC:

Mr Chavez, a radical leftist, will meet the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone as well as some Labour MPs and union leaders during his two-day trip.

But he will not meet Prime Minister Tony Blair, whom he has called a pawn of the “imperialist” US.

Mr Chavez controls a country with the world’s fifth largest oil supply. On Friday Mr Blair urged Venezuela to use its energy resources responsibly.

The BBC’s World Affairs correspondent Chris Morris says Mr Chavez is following in the footsteps of Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Mr Chavez combines populist economics, authoritarian politics and a fundamental dislike of the United States - particularly the way he says it tries to dominate its neighbours, our correspondent says.

From World Net Daily: about the dictatorial Bolivarian project. Looks like Chávez’s ex-mistress thinks of Chavez as a dictator and worse in fact than what Blair has said ever.

Herma Marksman, who spent nearly 10 years of her life as “the other woman” at the side of Hugo Chavez, as the military man plotted his way to power in the ’80s and 90’s, still recalls her ex-lover as “sweet” and “kind,” but when it comes to his current rule over Venezuela, the ex-mistress uses words like “totalitarian” and “fascist dictatorship.”

The professor of history, who’s written two books about Chavez’s politics, told the London Times: “He is imposing a fascist dictatorship. A totalitarian regime is coming because he doesn’t believe in democratic institutions. Hugo controls all the powers.”

Marksman, whose home was used by Chavez to plan his coup against the Venezuelan government, says the two once shared a dream of “a prosperous Venezuela where justice would reign”.

“We were preparing for the time when we would be in government,” Marksman has written. “We wanted to establish a state in which the law was respected, to abolish corruption, to develop our basic industries and to do a real restructuring of the education system. None of that has happened.

“If anything, there has been a turning for the worse. Today there is more injustice, and no sign of that group of democrats who voiced, and accepted, different opinions. We live under an autocrat who does not respect the separation of powers. There is a chief justice who does not act, a financial comptroller who does not control, an ombudsman who only defends government interests. So where is the Bolivarian project?”

UPDATE: Chavez, to give Europeans cheap oil? My goodness if this is true, how low we have fallen…

Tags: Chávez, Great Britain, Tony Blair, Venezuela, Herma Marksman