Eight Million Cubans Condemned Bush Plan Against the Island

More than eight million and a half members of the Committees to Protect the Revolution (CDR) condemned Bush’s plan that seeks the destruction of the Revolution and the annexation of the island.Juventud Rebelde daily published a CDR’s declaration to warn about the platform’s intention to maintain and worsen the hostility of the US government against Cuba and the interference in our national sovereignty.

The text sent by this huge group of grown ups over 14 years old brought together without distinction of sex, race or religion denounced that the so-called Bush Plan includes a secret attachment hidden out by Washington for “national security reasons” and to “warrant its effective application”.

What could be so bad that has to be kept as a secret? Is it a new Giron? Will the attacks against fishers at sea and coast towns be intensified? Is it that bomb and fire terrorist attacks to shops and cinemas will be repeated?, are some arguments presented by the declaration.

The CDR’s statement added that the White House has earmarked 80 million dollars plus the unknown amount assigned for the secret measures. With such funds US contributors pretend to finance their agents in the island.

The CDR represent a popular watching system created to counteract terrorist attacks supported by the United States.

After pointing out that Washington’s aim is to exterminate Cuban resistance with hunger and diseases, the mass community organization reiterates that no US plan could defeat the Revolution or the people in the island.

Another Failed US Plan on Cuba Recalled

The secret chapter of the latest Bush Plan on Cuba has among its numerous antecedents the “Patty Plan”, with which the US tried to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro on July 26, 1961.

An article published by Granma daily on Friday recalled a vast US government terrorist plan to destroy the Cuban revolutionary process, in which Guantanamo Naval Base, a Cuban territory illegally occupied by the US, was included.

On the 45th anniversary of the end of the Flaming Case, through which the Revolution thwarted that plot, Granma brought to public light unpublished elements of those events.

The daily recalled that after Cuba´s 1961 defeat of the mercenary invasion of Playa Giron, organized by the US, the White House contemplated the assassination of Cuban revolutionary leaders to plunge the Caribbean country into chaos and facilitate a US invasion.

To that end, US authorities even proposed assassination attempts against its own soldiers, noted Granma.

The Patty Operation, in which Cuba seized a huge quantity of weapons, including infantry arms, mortars, cannons and explosives, was one of the first and most dangerous assassination attempts targeting Cuban leaders.

Chavez Leads Electoral Race

Caracas
Venezuela is gearing up Monday to begin the electoral campaign defined by leading President Hugo Chavez over the fragmented opposition, which has a scarce 19 percent support.

Chavez´s followers are estimated at 55-60 percent although some of his campaign coordinators say it's about 70 percent and aspire to a ten-point rise by the December 3 elections.

That is based on Chavez´s policy of better redistribution of national wealth through programs to guarantee free health and education, subsidized food and fight unemployment.

The opposition has been unable to outline an attractive alternative program and centers its actions on criticizing and trying to disqualify the governmental projects.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly is establishing clear rules of advertising and financing before the campaigning takes off.

The parliament is inquiring into the origin of opposition group Sumate´s funds, ostensibly received from abroad, which violates national laws.

Sumate is planning to hold US-style primary elections in August 13 to select only one opposition candidate but it must first clear up from where its resources come.

Fidel Castro steps down temporarily due to illness, to undergo surgery

HAVANA
Fidel Castro announced Monday night in a letter read by his secretary live on state television that due to illness he was temporarily relinquishing the presidency to his brother and successor Raul, the defence minister.

In the letter read by his secretary Carlos Valenciaga, Castro, 79, said he had suffered gastrointestinal bleeding, apparently due to stress from recent public appearances in Argentina and Cuba, and had to undergo an operation.

Castro undergoes surgery

HAVANA
Cuban President Fidel Castro underwent surgery for intestinal bleeding and delegated power provisionally to his younger brother Raul, the Cuban leader said in a statement read out on state television on Monday by an aide.

Castro, who turns 80 on August 13 and has led Cuba since a 1959 revolution, delegated his posts as first secretary of the ruling Communist Party, commander in chief of the armed forces and president of the executive council of state to Raul Castro, his brother and designated successor.

Castro said he had overexerted himself on a trip to a summit of South American presidents and celebrations last week of his 1953 assault on a military garrison.

"This caused an acute intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding," said the statement signed by Castro and read out by aide Carlos Valenciaga.

Castro said the operation forced him to rest for several weeks and delegate his government functions to Raul, who is 75.

Castro steps aside after surgery

Cuban leader Fidel Castro has undergone surgery and temporarily handed power to his brother Raul.

A statement written by the president and read on TV by his secretary said Mr Castro had suffered internal bleeding.

It said this had been caused by stress following a trip to Argentina and last week's ceremonies marking the anniversary of Cuba's revolution.

Mr Castro, 79, has been in power since 1959. Raul Castro, the defence minister, is his designated successor.

Cuba has a communist, one-party system.

The BBC's Stephen Gibb in Havana says the fact that the Cuban leader did not appear in person to issue his statement has added to speculation about the gravity of his condition.

A major celebration of his 80th birthday had been planned for 13 August, but has now been postponed until December.

Handing over the reins of power will be a shock to many Cubans, 70% of whom have known no other leader, our correspondent adds.

Protestors block Mexico City traffic, tent city rises

MEXICO CITY
Supporters of leftist presidential runner-up Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador turned a two-mile stretch of Mexico City's main thoroughfare into a virtual tent city on Monday, blocking rush-hour traffic and grinding much of downtown to a halt.

City police made no attempt to interfere with the largely peaceful "permanent assembly," which Lopez Obrador organized to press his demand for a recount in his narrow loss to conservative Felipe Calderon in the July 2 presidential elections.

Calderon's camp accused Mexico City Mayor Alejandro Encinas of cooperating with the demonstrators and called for police to clear the demonstrators. But Encinas, a member of Lopez Obrador's Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, called for calm as he sought negotiations with the protest organizers.

"We're going to act with moderation and intelligence in confronting difficult times on the national political scene, with the understanding that this is a national problem, not just a problem for Mexico City," he said.

The traffic blockage marks a new stage in the post-election dispute which until now has been marked by huge rallies and legal filings before a seven-member tribunal that must decide the case.

On Sunday, however, Lopez Obrador said he would keep his people in the streets - and perhaps even expand the protests - until the tribunal rules.

A ruling is due by Sept. 6, although it is unclear what Lopez Obrador's passionate supporters will do if the court does not order the vote-for-vote recount they are demanding.

Lopez Obrador spent the night in one of the encampments in the Zocalo, where an estimated 1.2 million of his supporters had rallied Sunday in what police said was the largest protest in Mexico's history.

His supporters vowed to remain peaceful, but tempers flared as the encampments paralyzed Mexico City's bustling center.

"We're defending democracy," said Eduardo Lopez, a 19-year-old student camped out with his girlfriend on the Paseo de la Reforma. "We have a constitutional right to protest. We're not breaking the law."

Angry taxi drivers and commuters took a different view.

"Lopez Obrador said his protests would remain peaceful and that they wouldn't interfere with the rights of ordinary citizens," said taxi driver Manuel Flores, who'd been stuck on a side street near the U.S. Embassy since 5 a.m. "With this blockade, they're trampling on our rights. We have no work. If this goes on, there's going to be trouble."

Heeding Lopez Obrador's call Sunday for a campaign of 47 "permanent assemblies," the protesters set up camps along the length of the Paseo de la Reforma, from famed Chapultepec Park to the Zocalo, in the heart of the city's historic center.

By Monday morning, the six-lane boulevard lined with high-rise hotels and office buildings had become a pedestrian mall dotted with tents. Traffic cops directed rush-hour commuters across the boulevard, but made no effort to dismantle the tents and metal barriers that the protesters had set up Sunday night. Local traffic was allowed to pass along two frontage roads alongside Reforma. But many suburban commuters were forced to take narrow side streets, where traffic crawled.

Some drivers honked their horns in support of the demonstration, others just glared.

"It all depends on whom you support," said newspaper hawker Fidel de la Cruz, who wasn't finding many customers on the main boulevard, which was bereft of cars. "People are really divided."

Most people interviewed ranted about the snarled commute.

"Stupid people, who can't accept the results," said exasperated Christine Garduno, 29, who normally takes a mini-bus from her subway stop but instead had to hustle scores of blocks to her job as a secretary. "If they want to have freedom of expression, that's fine. But don't make it so it affects everybody else," said accountant and black-suited Jose Luis Diaz Mares, 26.

At the monument to Christopher Columbus, midway down the Reforma, drivers navigated the traffic circle in irritation, forced to return the route they came. Independent taxi driver Antonio Campos Espinoza _ he had only two passengers in three hours of work _ cursed the protestors and figured he would return home for the day. Manuel Garcia, whose business sells tourist trips, busily worked the phones trying to arrange transportation for his clients.

"You think this would happen in the United States?" he said, shaking his head. "The police would yank them off the streets and take them to jail."

Instead, the local police - the department enjoys close ties to Lopez Obrador, the city's former mayor - received earfuls from angry commuters.

At the nearby intersection of Morales and Gonzalez streets, bank worker Beatriz Serrato Hernandez, 28, eased her tiny, squat sedan to the police line and peppered an officer with questions. His supervisor napped in the front seat of the patrol car.

In the grind that is Mexico City traffic, Serrato Hernandez's commute takes two hours on a normal morning.

"I'm so angry at this guy," she said of Lopez Obrador. "It took me another hour to get to work today."

With tents and police blocking her way, she figured she'd have to park in an unsafe parking lot nearby and go the rest of the way by foot. "I have no other choice," she said.

A block down, workers from the textbook company Ediciones Castillo, barked at police officers who wouldn't let them through a police line, even though it was a half-a-block away.

"We're used to marches, and they always let us into our offices," cried Daniela Luiselli. "But (Lopez Obrador) just wants a confrontation."

Nearby, protestor Eunice Medina Camacho brushed her teeth with bottled water. A nurse from Sinaloa state in northern Mexico, she was using vacation days to protest and had slept in a tent Sunday night. She asked commuters for forgiveness.

"We understand their concern," she said. "But we have to have justice in this country."

Bush sees Chavez as threat undermining democracy

President George W. Bush said on Monday he sees Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as a threat to undermining democracy but not a military threat.

Chavez has threatened to shut his government U.S.-based refiners and sell oil to other nations if Washington decided to cut diplomatic ties, a prospect that Washington has not suggested it would do.

Bush told Fox News Channel's "Neil Cavuto" that Chavez' threat is an "indication that we've got to make sure we've got a wise energy policy in the United States" and repeated his desire to wean the country from its dependency on foreign oil.

As for whether he sees Chavez as a threat to the United States, Bush said: "No, not a military threat. We've got a very strong military and we can deal with any threat to the homeland there is. And will if we have to. But, no, I don't view him as a threat. I view him as a threat of undermining democracy."

Chavez signs deals with Vietnam

The President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, has said he wants to work more closely with Vietnam as part of his alliance against American imperialism.

In Hanoi, the two countries signed a number of agreements including one on developing oil and gas reserves.

The radical, left-wing President spoke warmly of Vietnam's fight against the United States in the 1960s and 1970s.

However, Vietnam's communist leadership is more interested in co-operating with the United States than confronting it.

This is another leg of a world tour which has already taken President Chavez to Russia, Belarus and Iran.

In Vietnam, the two countries pledged to work together in oil, gas, mining and agriculture.

Cultural cancellations

Mr Chavez's original schedule had included a visit to the military museum which contains the wreckage of shot-down American aircraft.

He was also due to visit the 'Peace Village' which looks after children suffering from health problems blamed on defoliating chemicals used in the war by the US.

However, those elements of his trip have now been cancelled.

Vietnam has worked hard to build closer relations with Washington in the past 15 years.

The US Congress will soon hold a crucial vote which will determine whether Vietnam will join the World Trade Organisation this year.

These issues press more heavily on the current Vietnamese government than talk of alliances against imperialism.

Bolivian President Morales breaks nose in soccer game

LA PAZ, Bolivia
Bolivian President Evo Morales broke his nose Sunday when he was fouled by goalkeeper during an indoor soccer match and will sidelined for 48 hours, his office said.

Morales, a passionate soccer player and fan, was injured during a game in the central city of Cochabamba between his presidential team and a local squad, the Independence Warriors, the president's office said in a statement.

"In the game's 32nd minute, with the score tied 2-2, the local team's goalkeeper committed a foul against the President of the Republic that produced the injury to his nose," the statement said.

Morales was treated at a local clinic and instructed to rest for two days.

Morales, who was inaugurated as Bolivia's first Indian president in January, often plays soccer on weekends.

Bolivians Support Evo Morales

A new survey published on Sunday ratified the high popularity of Bolivian President Evo Morales, who is supported by 75 percent of the people, compared to the election decline by traditional parties.

The survey, carried out by the private company Equipos Mori, was carried out in the country´s five largest cities and its results were published in the weekly La Epoca.

The newspaper says that Morales´ 75-percent support can be considered high, despite a slight six-point decline compared to July 2005.

The same survey showed that 61 percent of those polled considers that the country has taken a good path under the Morales government, and 65 percent thinks that corruption has decreased during the current administration.

That support has resulted from the popular measures taken by the government, including the Agrarian Revolution, which will pave the way for a participative process that includes the mechanization of agriculture, after an emergent program to give fiscal lands to farmers, according to Land Deputy Minister Alejandro Almaraz.

Almaraz told the Cochabamba-based newspaper Los Tiempos that the new distribution of land will be based on consultations with social sectors and municipal authorities.

He added that the implementation of the agrarian reform kicked off in 1953 has failed and the majority of more than 80 million dollars invested over the past decade went to private companies hired for that purpose.

Over the past ten years, only 10.6 million hectares of land, barely 10 percent of the national territory, were distributed.

According to Almaraz, after announcing the new decree, the government will set the goal of verifying the legality of property until 2011 and the economic and social use of 96 million hectares out of a total of 106 million hectares, a process that will allow consolidating the right to agrarian property.

Protesters set up camp

MEXICO CITY
A fiery leftist who says he was robbed of victory in Mexico's presidential election set up protest camps to paralyse the heart of the capital on Sunday after hundreds of thousands of people marched to demand a vote recount.

1.2 million gather to demand recount

MEXICO CITY
A record 1.2 million people poured into Mexico City's central square Sunday in another show of force by backers of leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his demand for a recount in the July 2 election, which conservative Felipe Calderon narrowly won.

The turnout was less than the 2 million that Lopez Obrador had promised two weeks ago, when he brought 1.1 million followers to the Zocalo, the city's historic central square.

But police said it was the largest demonstration in Mexico's history, and analysts said it was enough to lend momentum to Lopez Obrador's case, which Mexico's federal election tribunal is considering. It must declare a winner by Sept. 6.

"The electoral tribunal has to rule independently, but they have to be aware of public opinion," said John Ackerman, a law professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Lopez Obrador said he will not arrange another mass march but instead will organize 47 "permanent assemblies" of supporters to hold around-the-clock vigils throughout the city until the tribunal rules.

"We will be here until we have a recount of the votes that gives us a legitimate president," Lopez Obrador told the cheering crowd.

Lopez Obrador is seeking a vote-by-vote recount of the 41 million ballots cast. Calderon won by less than 1 percent.

The crowd estimates were made by the city's public safety department, which reported no incidents of violence.

Mexico leftist’s backers aim for massive protest

Wave after wave of supporters of Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) arrive for a massive rally 30 July, 2006 at Mexico City's Zocalo. Mexico's election tribunal took up the case after Lopez Obrador's organization delivered 900 pages documenting alleged vote fraud. It has until September 6 to issue a final ruling. AFP PHOTO/Susana GONZALEZ (Photo credit should read SUSANA GONZALEZ/AFP/Getty Images)
Susana Gonzalez / AFP - Getty Images
Updated: 11:43 a.m. ET July 30, 2006

MEXICO CITY - Tens of thousands of supporters of Mexico’s leftist candidate gathered in the capital Sunday for what they hoped would become the nation’s largest-ever street protest, demanding a vote-by-vote recount of an election they claim was marred by fraud.

It was the third rally convened by presidential hopeful Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador since the July 2 vote and there were concernLopez Obrador’s aides say they expect 1.5 million to 3 million people to attend the demonstration. While his supporters and city police have sometimes exaggerated crowd estimates, the former mayor has previously draw hundreds of thousands into the streets.

Even as demonstrators filled Mexico City’s historic city center Sunday, lawyers for his conservative opponent, ex-energy secretary Felipe Calderon, were preparing to argue in front of the Federal Electoral Tribunal—Mexico’s highest election court—that the election was fair and Calderon the winner. The tribunal is weighing challenges filed by both sides.

An official count gave Calderon an advantage of less than 0.6 percent over Lopez Obrador, about 240,000 votes out of 41 million-plus cast. The electoral court has until Sept. 6 to either declare a winner or annul the election. Mexico’s constitution limits presidents to one, six-year term and President Vicente Fox, of Calderon’s National Action Party, leaves office Dec. 1.

U.S. could scrap trade benefit programs

A top senator on Thursday threatened to scrap a U.S. program that waives import duties on thousands of products from developing countries, particularly India and Brazil, now that world trade talks have collapsed.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, whose committee has jurisdiction over trade, told reporters he was frustrated that many developing countries that benefit from the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program oppose opening their own markets as part of a new world trade deal.

"Why should we continue to give them preferential treatment and particularly a few countries that get the bulk of the GSP, like India and Brazil?" the Iowa Republican asked, spotlighting two countries that he said shared a big portion of blame for this week's collapse of the world trade talks.

"Right now, no GSP renewal. If I change my mind on that, it's surely not going to include India and Brazil," he said.

The United States imported US$26.7 billion worth of goods from 136 developing countries under GSP in 2005. The 32-year-old trade program, which must renewed periodically, expires at the end of the year.

U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab told reporters Wednesday that GSP should be renewed. But in a nod to the view expressed by Grassley and other lawmakers, she indicated the administration could use its administrative authority to exclude some countries or products from the program.

Grassley said he also opposed renewal of a trade preference program for the Andean nations of Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia that dates back to 1991 and also expires at the end of this year. That program was created to help curb drug production in the region by creating other job opportunities through expanded duty-free access to the U.S. market for a long list of goods.

The United States has negotiated free trade pacts with Peru and Colombia that would lock in the trade benefits for those countries. However, negotiations with Ecuador have been frozen since Quito seized oil field operated by U.S. company Occidental Petroleum in May.

Bolivian President Evo Morales' decision this year to nationalize the energy industry and his close ties with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, an ardent foe of the United States, also have strained relations with Washington.

"I'm not interested in supporting renewal of (the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act, or ATPDEA)," Grassley said. "Ecuador's got a chance to sit down and talk with us. They're nationalizing and confiscating private investment in that country. You know, why should we continue to give them some preferences?"

Bush administration officials said they have not taken an official position yet on Bolivia and Ecuador's request for the ATPDEA to be renewed.

"Ultimately this is a decision that is going to be made by our Congress. And it's one that we are evaluating closely," Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Tom Shannon told reporters.

ATPDEA has been "an important counterpoint to drug production in the region. It's produced hundreds of thousands of jobs in the region, so in that sense it's been a very, very successful program," Shannon said.

Leftist Ortega poised for a return to power

BY JIM WYSS
MANAGUA

Polls show Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega in a position to win Nicaragua's presidency and return to the office he once took by force.

For 16 years, Daniel Ortega has been trying to regain at the ballot box what he once seized through a revolution -- the presidency of Nicaragua.

After toppling the Somoza family dictatorship in 1979 and leading the nation for more than a decade as the head of the Marxist Sandinista party, Ortega has lost the last three elections.

But now, a confluence of forces -- from a fractured opposition to the unexpected death of a chief rival -- seems to be giving the Reagan-era icon of the left a fighting chance of winning the Nov. 5 presidential race.

Sitting on the patio of the walled-off home that doubles as his campaign headquarters, Ortega, 60, does the political math: Twice during the past three elections, he has won more than 40 percent of the votes.

However, thanks to changes pushed through the National Assembly by his party in 2000, 40 percent -- and not a simple majority -- will be enough to avoid a runoff in this year's five-way race.

''I'm convinced we are going to win the first round,'' he told The Miami Herald, still sporting the black mustache he wore at age 33, when he led the Sandinista guerrillas to power. ``I don't see any problem hitting that 40 percent mark again.''

Ortega, whose government enforced radical Marxist economic policies in the 1980s, now says he wants to give the state a larger but not dominant role in the economy of this deeply impoverished nation.

All of the major polls have Ortega leading the race, ahead of Eduardo Montealegre, a banker and former finance and foreign minister whose center-right Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance has emerged as a U.S. favorite.

FRAGMENTED CONTEST

It's not that ''El Comandante'' is particularly popular, but that the opposition is fractured, said Victor Borge of the Costa Rica-based polling firm Borge y Asociados.

''Daniel is no stronger than he has been in the past, and the anti-Sandinista vote remains firm,'' Borge said. ``The new phenomenon here is that we no longer have a two-party race. That's unprecedented.''

In the past, Ortega's foes have lined up behind the Liberal Constitutionalist Party, or PLC. But Montealegre and the emergence of the center-left Sandinista Renovation Movement, known as MRS, have splintered the antiOrtega vote.

To complicate the scenario even further, MRS presidential candidate Herty Lewites died of a heart attack July 2. The folksy former mayor of Managua was a Sandinista dissident and vocal critic of Ortega, but he also was seen as the primary suitor for some of Ortega's core left-leaning supporters. Now, it's unclear where those orphaned voters will end up.

None of the major polling firms has released results since Lewites' death. One pollster privately predicted that about two-thirds of MRS supporters would eventually drift back to the Ortega camp. But others expect that many will stick with Lewites' less charismatic but highly respected vice-presidential candidate, Edmundo Jarquín, now the MRS' presidential hopeful, or even jump to Montealegre's camp.

''For [MRS voters] to head back to the Sandinista Front would be a betrayal of everything Herty stood for,'' said Manuel Orozco, Central America director for the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue. ``If anything, they are closer to Montealegre's position than Ortega's.''

LESS POLARIZED

But where some see an opposition in disarray, Ortega sees a maturing democracy. The fact that there are so many viable candidates is a sign that Nicaraguans have lost their Cold War views and may be ready to judge him on his platform, he argues.

''The problem here is we've never had normal elections,'' he said. ``We've always seen totally polarized elections -- Sandinista or anti-Sandinista.''

Ortega points to his reconciliation with his former nemesis in the Catholic Church and with Yatama, a Miskito Indian organization that took up arms against the Sandinistas during the CIA-financed contra war in the 1980s, as signs of progress.

''The reconciliation process in Nicaragua is much further along,'' he said.

A VIEW OF HISTORY

But while many voters may have forgotten or may be too young to remember Ortega's revolutionary past -- Marxist economic policies, alliances with Cuba and the Soviet Union, harsh media censorship and a dreaded military draft to fight in the contra war -- they haven't forgotten his more recent political shenanigans, Orozco said.

Particularly damaging was the deal he cut with former president and PLC strongman Arnoldo Alemán to share control of government branches such as the judicial system. That relationship -- called el pacto -- helped split the Sandinista party internally between reformers and hard-liners, and has continued even after Alemán was sentenced to 20 years on money-laundering and embezzlement charges.

''The people haven't forgotten the anti-democratic, corrupt and somewhat dirty methods the Sandinista Front has used to stay at the center of power,'' Orozco said. ``Those memories are still fresh.''

Ortega claims that the deals he cut with Alemán, a rabid anti-Sandinista, were in the interest of political stability.

Otherwise, ''we would be changing governments all the time like they do in Bolivia and Ecuador -- where the government doesn't hold up,'' he said.

Ortega came to prominence in 1979 after playing a leading role in the Sandinista Front guerrilla movement that overthrew U.S.-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle. As Ortega led the country ever more leftward, the Reagan administration fueled a bloody civil war by backing the contra guerrillas. In 1990, under pressure on the battlefield and struggling under a crippled economy, Ortega called for -- and lost -- free elections.

The days of the communist bloc are gone, but Ortega makes no bones about wanting to be a part of the revitalized Latin American left, led by such presidents as Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, Fidel Castro of Cuba and Evo Morales of Bolivia.

Among his proposals -- sure to rile Washington -- are plans to push for government control of ''strategic sectors,'' including telecommunications and power plants. He also said he plans to ''investigate'' the privatization process that put many state assets into the hands of national and international investors over the past decade.

''The neoliberal economic model is a source of corruption, and to talk about privatization is to talk about corruption,'' he told The Miami Herald. ``We need to investigate [privatizations] and look for the problems and the crimes, if they were committed, and then take corrective measures.''

A CHANGED MAN?

The tough talk plays well in this country, the second-poorest in the Western Hemisphere, where 50 percent of the nearly 5.6 million people live below the poverty line and where free-market reforms have been accompanied by painful price increases.

But it has also given ammunition to his opposition. Montealegre has called Ortega a ''puppet'' of Cuba and Venezuela who would scare investors away with his socialist policies.

Ortega maintains that he is not opposed to free markets as long as they are just, and that he is willing to work with any nation -- including the United States -- that has the best interest of Nicaragua in mind.

After all, he says, it was for Nicaragua that he took to the hills to overthrow Somoza, and it's for the country that he has been so insistent about regaining the presidency.

''To take power through the electoral process would close a cycle in Nicaragua's revolutionary struggle,'' he said. ``And of course it would be the beginning of a new cycle.''

100 Million Trees for Venezuela

[Thanks to Nobody for this story]
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CARACAS
Jul 27
Venezuela has launched a five-year reforestation project for Orinoco headwaters and tributary rivers in which more than 900 conservation committees and students from more than 100 schools will help plant 100 million trees in a 150,000-hectare area.

"Campesinos who used to clear land for crops or cow pasture are now turning to agroforestry, which is more profitable and better for the local environment," Miguel Rodríguez, vice minister of environmental conservation, told Tierramérica.

President Hugo Chávez launched the program, entitled Misión Árbol (Tree Mission), on Jun. 4 (Tree Day), and then led school children in a day of planting in El Ávila National Park, which separates the Venezuelan capital from the Caribbean coast.

The next step entailed collecting seeds from fruit trees and native forest trees, with the help of 926 conservationist committees -- mostly rural women -- who submitted 495 projects in conjunction with the Environment Ministry and 95 schools.

Tree Mission -- which has a first-year budget of 23 million dollars -- will also finance the creation of tree nurseries.

The Ministry has created technical assistance and monitoring units to follow up with the projects.

"Nothing will be achieved if we just hand over the money -- between 15,000 and 25,000 dollars per project -- and walk away. Instead, we will ensure continuous monitoring, and distribute the funding through committees that verify targets are being met," said Rodríguez.

These committees are set up in areas the Ministry has determined to be in need of reforestation.

While program spans 33 basins and mini-basins, activity has focused on the northern zone in the great Orinoco plains, which sprawl across more than one million square kilometres of Venezuelan and Colombian territory.

However, the initiative has also reached out to several indigenous and mining communities in the southeast, where the government is trying to persuade those who illegally mine along the upper stretches of the Caroní and Caura rivers to switch to other activities. Forty-seven nurseries are expected to generate 500,000 seedlings to replant 680 hectares in the area -- only a small drop in the ocean.

The nurseries contain seedlings of native timber-yielding species whose commercial exploitation is currently banned, such as mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni), cedar (Cedrela adorata), laurel (Cordia alliodora), pochote (Bombacopsis quinata) and araguaney (Tabebula chrysantha), the national tree.

But the plan is not a panacea for Venezuela's deforestation woes. Rodríguez admitted that the planned reforestation will in five years cover an area equivalent to the amount of forest lost each year, which official estimates say total 140,000 of the country's total 90 million hectares.

Approximately half of Venezuela's territory -- largely in the south and south east -- is forested. Non-governmental ecological organisations disagree with government figures, charging that annual deforestation rates in recent years have climbed to between 240,000 and 500,000 hectares.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) says Venezuela has placed 56.9 million hectares, almost 60 percent of its territory, under some kind of environmental protection, which includes 11.3 million hectares of forest reserves.

However, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reported that the country's forestry cover shrank from 62 percent in 1977 down to 54 percent in 1995, which amounts to an annual deforestation rate of 400,000 hectares during this period.

Rodríguez believes current rates are much lower, and Environment Minister Jacqueline Farías has proposed a forestry census.

Biologist Diego Díaz, president of the Vitalis environmental organisation, told Tierramérica that both the FAO and UNDP rely on government statistics and "deforestation is more widespread than official statistics claim, because urban and agricultural areas continue to expand, and mining and unregistered logging takes a heavy toll."

"We are in favour of reforestation, but we haven't been told if this mission will be combined with adequate zoning plans and respect for land-use designations. Community involvement plays a key role. In other countries, unscrupulous people have been known to damage an area to get resources to reforest it," said Díaz.

He noted that "reforestation must replace all forest strata, not just trees," citing as an example an initiative Vitalis has undertaken with the private Metropolitan University to set up a native-plant greenhouse in El Ávila park.

The star tree is the Caracas walnut (Juglans venezuelensis), an almost-extinct species native to the area around the capital.

Rodríguez also highlighted the importance of "returning a sense of ownership to rural communities that are now able to do what many have always wanted: reclaim the land that provides them with a living."

(* Humberto Márquez is an IPS correspondent. Originally published July 22 by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme.) (END/2006)

Here's how the Election Fraud was carried out in Mexico

by ourobouros

As the days continue to pass after the Mexican presidential election, members of the Coalición por el Bien de Todos (Coalition for the Good of All) continue to present what is called "prueba superveniente", or emerging evidence, of the electoral fraud and how it was carried out.

On election night I was a proud Mexican citizen, convinced that finally my country had reached a point in which actual democracy was viable; I was certain the elections had been clean and there had been no fraud. I even jumped on a few people on this site who derided our democracy and I strongly defended our electoral system.

That was then. This is now. Back then, I thought (as many others did), that every political party (or at least the major ones) had representatives in EVERY voting station across the country. As the post-electoral debacle began and continued, it was revealed that this was clearly NOT the case.

Today's most recent developments (story en español) brings us a much clearer picture of how this fraud was carried out. A key player in this operation is Elba Esther Gordillo, Teachers' Union longtime leader, longtime PRI official and general snake in the grass. Gordillo had a very public and nasty split with Roberto Madrazo within the PRI, which led her to "found" her own Party (Nueva Alianza) while still in the PRI. Shortly after the election she was caught on tape talking to a priista governor about negotiating with the PAN.

Anyway, here's what the PRD and its allied parties are presenting as evidence of Gordillo and her party's collusion with the PAN:

• In over 4,000 voting stations nation wide, where ONLY representatives of PAN or Nueva Alianza (or both) were present, Calderón's votes shot up dramatically, up to 80.77% (statistically impossible). In these voting stations ALONE, Calderón allegedly obtained 320,000 votes (remember the "official" margin between Calderón and AMLO was around 250,000).


• In 485 voting stations nationwide, where there were ONLY representatives of Panal, Calderón beat AMLO by a 63.91 to 29.69% margin (!!!)


• In 2,366 stations nationwide, where ONLY PAN reps were present, the percentages were 71.47 Calderón, 21.47 AMLO.


• Even more scandalous are the results from stations in which only reps from PAN AND Panal were present: 80.77% for Calderón, 13.02% for López Obrador.

This was revealed in a press conference held by Leonel Cota, national PRD president, and Senator Joel Ortega (PRD), who is also AMLO's campaign manager. Ortega also declared that Gordillo's involvement in this goes very deep and that it couldn't have been carried out without her input. The voting stations in which to carry out this fraud were carefully selected and had the protection and cover of local PRI or PAN governments.

This revelation should be a bombshell for the TEPJF (federal electoral court), and should be a major step forward towards achieving a vote by vote recount.

In the meantime, at least two million of us will be chanting and marching for our democracy tomorrow.

Stay tuned.

Tags: amlo, calderon, lopez obrador, mexico, elections, PRD, PAN, Bien de todos, election integrity, fraud, elba esther, gordillo, nueva alianza (all tags)

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• tip jar n/t (33+ / 0-)

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  Donna Z, murphy, queerbklynboy, ManfromMiddletown, WI Deadhead, Thistime, JohnInWestland, Karen Wehrstein, b2witte, peace voter, JuliaAnn, mad ramblings of a sane woman, Eddie Haskell, lcrp, zerelda, lalo456987, paige, panicbean, Neocynic, YucatanMan, dsteffen, esquimaux, eddienic, mango, Glorfindel, el cid, Seymour Glass, FloridaVoter, BB10, mariachi mama, PatriciaVa, dotsright, jayb

  voto por voto, casilla por casilla!

  by ourobouros on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 06:22:18 AM PDT

  • Please consider crossposting to (3+ / 0-)

    Recommended by:

    peace voter, dsteffen, mariachi mama

    European Tribune.

    We've been looking for more coverage on the Mexico, and I've not had the time to do it justice.

    By the way, I have to do an "I told you so" about the comment you had on my diary about more serious acts of civil resistance coming after July 30. Did you see Lopez Obrador's interview with Univision where he refused to to discount the possibility of occupying highways and airports.

    by ManfromMiddletown on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 07:14:59 AM PDT

    [ Parent ]

    • I don't know if it's an 'i told you so' though... (1+ / 0-)

      Recommended by:

      dsteffen

      I mean, certainly there is the POTENTIAL for things to begin to get violent, but that depends entirely on the reaction of the police forces and the people who control them. The citizenry that is fighting for its vote is firmly committed to its non-violent principles.

      I think they key here is we need to make the distinction: "serious acts of civil resistance" are not necessarily violent. What AMLO said about the airport and roads in the link you provided:

      Asimismo, al preguntarle tres veces si estaría dispuesto a que se "tomara" el aeropuerto de la ciudad de México como parte de sus acciones de resistencia civil, López Obrador dijo: "Vamos a consultar a la gente, vamos a consultar. Yo tengo que irle midiendo, tengo que ver la profundidad del movimiento, del ritmo".

      "O sea, ¿no descarta toma de aeropuertos, toma de carreteras?"

      "El límite es la no violencia, o para expresarlo de otra manera: es un movimiento pacífico" subrayó.

      When asked three times if he'd be willing to "take" the Mexico City airport as part of their civil resistance, AMLO said: "We will consult with the people, we will consult. I have to keep an eye on the pace, I need to see the depth of the movement, its rythm".

      "So, you don't dismiss the idea of taking airports and roads?"

      "Our limit is non-violence, or in other words: it's a peaceful movement."

      So, the way I see it is this: the ONLY way this can get violent is if the TEPJF refuses to do a vote by vote recount and police (and/or government) forces begin to crack down on the peaceful protestors. Violence will NOT be incited by AMLO or any of us on the Left. We are fully aware that peaceful resistance is our only recourse.

      As for taking roads and airports, we are within our right to stage such protests, all within the framework of non-violence and the defense of Democracy.

      voto por voto, casilla por casilla!

      by ourobouros on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 07:31:57 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      • Dude, I understand the distinction (1+ / 0-)

        I am on your side.

        Lopez Obrador stated that the "limit is violence",
        I am not suggesting that the PRD or AMLO are inciting violence. I am suggesting that these demonstrations can only go on so long before there is either a recount, or further demonstrations are "discouraged" by the government through the use of force.

        I am also suggesting that one of the first targets for occupation would be the oil facilities in places like Tabasco that provide a full third of government revenues. You have to acknowledge that the occupation of oil facilities is a distinct possibility. If that happens, this story will be on the front page in the American media.

        by ManfromMiddletown on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 07:44:08 AM PDT

        [ Parent ]

        • l know we're on the same side :) (3+ / 0-)

          Recommended by:

          ManfromMiddletown, dsteffen, mariachi mama

          and you're right... if violence DOES happen it will be initiated by the Right. I DO think however, that if the government employs force to "discourage" dissent, they will find out very quickly that it'll have the opposite effect.

          If they beat one of us to a pulp on a sidewalk, there will be THREE more of us to take his place. If they beat those three, there will be NINE demonstrating the next day.

          All peacefully, all democratically.

          As for the taking of oil refineries, it's certainly a possibility as it has already been done before (when Roberto Madrazo stole the Tabasco gubernatorial election from AMLO in 1994).

          For my part, in Mexico City, if the TEPFJ refuses to do a vote by vote recount, I am already preparing, with a group of friends, an urban resistance campaign where we will plaster the city with images of our call for democracy and repudiation of electoral fraud.

          voto por voto, casilla por casilla!

          by ourobouros on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 07:51:09 AM PDT

          [ Parent ]

          • Cuidate (2+ / 0-)

            Recommended by:

            YucatanMan, ourobouros

            and you're right... if violence DOES happen it will be initiated by the Right. I DO think however, that if the government employs force to "discourage" dissent, they will find out very quickly that it'll have the opposite effect.

            Hence, my preoccupation. The Mexican Right is either too stubborn or ignorant to realize that this isn't 1988. Combine the determination of the Left to "take" what is the right of all human beings, self determination for all, with the stubborn insistence of the Mexican Right and you have a recipe for trouble. And you know what, the motherfuckers in the PAN are too busy exalting the how they are superior to the unwashed masses, to comprehend that they are lending legitimacy to Marcos and la otra.

            When a people are denied self determination through the ballot, then this lends legtimacy to those who would have us believe that justice comes from the end of a gun. Note I speak of Marcos not AMLO.

            If they beat one of us to a pulp on a sidewalk, there will be THREE more of us to take his place. If they beat those three, there will be NINE demonstrating the next day.

            All peacefully, all democratically.

            As for the taking of oil refineries, it's certainly a possibility as it has already been done before (when Roberto Madrazo stole the Tabasco gubernatorial election from AMLO in 1994).

            I suspect that this will be the only way that this issue breaks back into the mainstream media in the United States, and do you really want to think what the response from the Bush administration would be to this? Calderon and the gang can't keep this kicking the poor people to the curb bit up for much longer withhout incurring a situation in which they don't have the power control. If massive, peaceful occupations of highways, and oil facilities occur, where do you think Fox and the PAN will turn to bring in the firepower to restored order?

            Remember, that nearly 1/10th of US firepower in Iraq is in private hands. And Filibusters, private military actions against Latin American governments, were common in the 19th century. And now we have Blackwater and the rest, military power not bound by the power of law available for hires. Mercenaries........

            by ManfromMiddletown on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 08:17:10 AM PDT

            [ Parent ]

            • One difference: liberals control Mexico City (3+ / 0-)

              Recommended by:

              YucatanMan, ourobouros, mariachi mama

              The largest overall security force in the nation is in Mexico City. Mexico City is now in its 2nd administration under the liberal PRD party, whose mayor Encinas supports AMLO.

              I think the very presence of such law enforcement not under the control of the right-wing provides a bit of a check on notions of using police violence against democracy activists.

              (However, the most corrupt and deadly of the armed agents in Mexico are by all accounts the federal police called "Judiciales", which fall under the department of the Treasury there and would sort of be like a combination of our FBI and a national SWAT force. Once the governmnent of Mexico -- the whole country -- offically asked the Treasury Police how many agents they had, and they refused to say.)

              by el cid on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 08:30:27 AM PDT

              [ Parent ]

      • I will be with you in spirit (0 / 0)

        as will millions more.

        How is the weather?

        by mariachi mama on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 08:03:04 AM PDT

        [ Parent ]

        • beautiful weather in Mexico City today (0 / 0)

          clear and very sunny, temperatures in the mid 70s Fahrenheit. Hope it stays this way thru tomorrow; couldn't ask for better weather.

          El sol azteca brilla fuerte y cálido en el corazon de México :)

          

          voto por voto, casilla por casilla!

          by ourobouros on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 10:45:07 AM PDT

          [ Parent ]

• I support a total vote recount. If he won fair (8+ / 0-)

  Recommended by:

  peace voter, JuliaAnn, rockhound, YucatanMan, ourobouros, el cid, BB10, PatriciaVa

  and square why would he be afraid of a total recount. I guess they borrowed this from the Shrub's Florida play book. Shrub went to the Supreme Court to stop a total recount and the American people are paying a great price till this day.

  by ameri on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 06:30:04 AM PDT

  • very true... (4+ / 0-)

    Recommended by:

    peace voter, JuliaAnn, YucatanMan, el cid

    in fact, what you state is one of our rallying cries and memes here: if you assert you won, why fear a recount? A simple question that has yet to be answered to the satisfaction of most Mexicans by Calderón.

    voto por voto, casilla por casilla!

    by ourobouros on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 06:32:14 AM PDT

    [ Parent ]

  • sigh - made no difference (0 / 0)

    Florida legislature was moving to designate a slate of electors for Bush, once the first Florida Supreme Court decision came down. Constitutionally they have the authority to determine how electors are selected -- you hyave not constitutional right to vote for the electors of the president and vice president. Florida's 25 electoral votes were going to go the Bush.

    Those who can, do. Those who can do more, TEACH!

    by teacherken on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 06:33:21 AM PDT

    [ Parent ]

• it is unfortunate (2+ / 0-)

  Recommended by:

  peace voter, dsteffen

  that, because of the mess in Lebanon, and the 24-7 coverage thereof, the situation in Mexico has largely dropped off the radar here. Thanks for the info.

  Let's get some Democracy for America

  by murphy on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 06:34:29 AM PDT

  • What little coverage (7+ / 0-)

    Recommended by:

    peace voter, greenskeeper, YucatanMan, ourobouros, dsteffen, mango, Glorfindel

    the story has gotten in the US press has been so biased that it is worthless. It's been shocking, actually.

    by mariachi mama on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 06:42:22 AM PDT

    [ Parent ]

    • yeah... (6+ / 0-)

      Recommended by:

      Pesto, peace voter, YucatanMan, Shaking the Tree, dsteffen, mango

      you would think 1.5 million people on the street marching for democracy would warrant more than a side blurb... but again, this is the "liberally biased" American mainstream media, right? ;)

      We'll see what kind of coverage 2.5 million people get when we open up our dailies on Monday.

      voto por voto, casilla por casilla!

      by ourobouros on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 06:43:53 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

• I have been suspicious (4+ / 0-)

  Recommended by:

  peace voter, lcrp, dsteffen, el cid

  since I heard Republican crews were there "helping" Calderon. I think they brought their dirty tricks across the border -- and didn't declare them, either. Good luck to you. Keep fighting!

  Why do you have to be a nonconformist like everybody else? - James Thurber

  by JuliaAnn on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 06:35:04 AM PDT

  • yes, they certainly did (9+ / 0-)

    Recommended by:

    peace voter, lcrp, YucatanMan, Shaking the Tree, dsteffen, mango, el cid, BB10, mariachi mama

    The brought in Dick Morris to "consult" for Calderón's strategy team. Morris and his crew were behind the swift-boating campaign against AMLO in which he was compared to Hugo Chavez and called a "danger to Mexico".

    Morris and his people were operating out of a Mexico City hotel. This is highly illegal, as it is expressly forbidden in Mexican electoral law for any foreigner to participate in any way in a political campaign.

    Sigh.

    We will prevail though. They will NOT steal our country again.

    voto por voto, casilla por casilla!

    by ourobouros on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 06:41:15 AM PDT

    [ Parent ]

    • Thanks And A Tip O' The Hat... (0 / 0)

      ...to Dick Morris mentors....Bill and Hillary Clinton!

      He can stump for Joe Lieberman. He can work with George H.W. Bush for dubious disaster relief charities. She can protect the flag and take on videogame sex.

      But actually stand up for democracy in Mexico?

      Not even on their radar screens.

      Besides, AMLO isn't likely to do the CAFTA do, and corporate globalization was always more important to Bill & Hill than actual democracy, anyway.

      by greenskeeper on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 08:25:37 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

    • Don't forget ChoicePoint's (2+ / 0-)

      Recommended by:

      ourobouros, el cid

      possession - illegally - of Mexican voter registration rolls. And the appearance of those rolls - on national TV, no less - on the PAN's own website after inputting a password based on Calderon's brother-in-law.

      Far from mis-reporting, the fraud ran long and deep to insure a PAN win. PAN has taken up the PRI banner of "permanent government" just as Karl Rove has the objective of "permanent Republican majority." However, Karl may have some problems with that now that the Middle East is falling apart, Iraq is falling farther apart, and the economy is slowing down due to interest rate hikes and a collapsing housing market. BUT, all that will not stop Republicans from pulling all the possible tricks to win elections.

      Just as the Spanish revolution was Hitler's proxy war for WWII, Mexico's elections are try-out zones for fraud techniques in the US. I cannot believe I write those words and 10 years ago would have dismissed those words as "crazy talk". However, it doesn't take tinfoil hats anymore to see what is happening.

      by YucatanMan on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 10:08:08 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

• You and I (9+ / 0-)

  Recommended by:

  ManfromMiddletown, peace voter, YucatanMan, ourobouros, serrano, dsteffen, mango, el cid, PatriciaVa

  Are on the same page. I felt the same as you election night, and even in the following days.

  I also have been talking here about Gordillo..she is in it up to her eyeballs. Watching here on television earlier this week with Calderon made me ill. I felt like slapping her ugly face. She has always been one of the biggest crooks in politics.

  As to the poll workers: Not only were many casillas un manned, but the poll workers themselves were often poorly educated and poorly trained.

  Poll workers were supposed to attend two training sessions, each about two hours long. But attendance was sporadic. Some people said they didn't have time. Others were bored by the classes or couldn't afford to travel to nearby cities where the classes were held.

  Poll workers were paid only 200 pesos – less than $20 – for their expenses.

  Just two weeks before the election, the IFE was still searching for 15 percent of the workers it needed for the election, said Hugo Concha, IFE's executive director of electoral training.

  “We were late training people,” he said.

  At thousands of polling places across the country, poll workers didn't show up on election day. In 11.60 percent of the polling places, people who either had no training or inadequate training were asked to fill in, Concha said.

  http://www.signonsandiego.com/...

  

  by mariachi mama on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 06:38:30 AM PDT

• Reminds me of someone (2+ / 0-)

  Recommended by:

  ManfromMiddletown, peace voter

  which led her to "found" her own Party (Nueva Alianza) while still in the PRI.

  by Elwood Dowd on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 06:41:14 AM PDT

• If Only We had Balls (3+ / 0-)

  Recommended by:

  peace voter, Eddie Haskell, ourobouros

  If only we had the balls to stand up like the Mexican people are.

  by leftyguitarist on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 06:50:38 AM PDT

  • not too late, their bravery may yet help us (0 / 0)

    Their fight for democracy THERE may inspire us to fight the bastards more effectively HERE.

    And a loss for the new wave of right-wing election manipulation & fraud ANYWHERE is a victory for democracy EVERYWHERE.

    by el cid on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 08:33:00 AM PDT

    [ Parent ]

    • not likely (1+ / 0-)

      Recommended by:

      ourobouros

      after the stole 2004 election talk on Ohio voter fraud was moreor less banned even at DKOS. The left in the U.S. is not very interested in structural issues like elections or the causes of particular policies.

      Om Lokaha Samastaha Sukhino Bhavantu (may all beings in all the worlds be happy)

      by Chris Cosmos on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 09:33:24 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      • agree somewhat, but partly failure of leaders (0 / 0)

        I think that the possibility of a huge, popular, citizen-fueled reversal of a coordinated national right-wing election theft in our neighbor to the south could actually strengthen the hand of those who were fighting election fraud here.

        One thing people look to is victory. In the USA, there appeared to many people (certainly at the top but a lot of people I knew, ordinary people) that no amount of activism could reverse any election manipulation or fraud. It's hard to know, since by definition we didn't really try.

        But people are complicated, and the threat of a good example is ever-present.

        by el cid on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 09:59:32 AM PDT

        [ Parent ]

• I hope this doesnt get lost in the other stuff (5+ / 0-)

  Recommended by:

  peace voter, YucatanMan, ourobouros, eddienic, mango

  So Important. recommended.

  by observer393 on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 07:06:53 AM PDT

• Recommended! (2+ / 0-)

  Recommended by:

  YucatanMan, eddienic

  Thanks for this diary. You've added much new iformation.

  Is the next big demonstration scheduled for tomorrow?

  ```
  peace
  
  

  take a holy vow to never kill again

  by peace voter on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 07:19:59 AM PDT

  • yes, tomorrow at 11 am local time (0 / 0)

    the march will begin at the anthropology Museum and head toward the Zocalo. City officials estimate attendance will be between 2 and 2.5 million. Of course, federal officials estimate a few dozen of us will show up :).

    voto por voto, casilla por casilla!

    by ourobouros on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 07:34:02 AM PDT

    [ Parent ]

    • with only 12 people you can fill the Zocalo (2+ / 0-)

      Recommended by:

      ourobouros, mariachi mama

      The attendance estimates are just wildly optimistic, they never had a million plus people last time, just a dozen people with really, really big shirts. Or maybe it was done with mirrors.

      It just looked like a million-plus people because you liberal maniacs just won't shut up and admit that we must be quiet and always let right wingers win.

      by el cid on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 08:37:05 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

    • Breathtaking View (1+ / 0-)

      Recommended by:

      mariachi mama

      Whenever I'm in Mexico City, I enjoy running around Chapultepec Park one time, then running up the path to reach the Castillo. In the early morning, from that vantage point, you see (and feel) the energy that emanates from this metropolis. For me, it's a breathtaking view.

      by PatriciaVa on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 08:54:01 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

• Calderon and his Regressive Policies (1+ / 0-)

  Recommended by:

  YucatanMan

  Great Diary.

  Here's what one Calderon Sycophant added to his Wiki entry.

  And yet, some Calderon Sycophants dare say that Calderon is to the left of President Clinton, when the truth is that he is FAR to the RIGHT of even Bush.

  -------------------------------------

  Daily Mass Catholic Pro-Lifer Wins Mexico Presidential Elections over Abortion Supporter

  By John-Henry Westen

  http://www.lifesite.net/...

  The Inter Press Service News Agency described Calderon saying: "He is known to be a devout, conservative Catholic, attending daily mass, and has not shied from acknowledging his stances against abortion, condom use, homosexual relations and euthanasia."

  ----------------------------------------

  by PatriciaVa on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 08:33:05 AM PDT

  • I have a bit of sympathy for this view (0 / 0)

    I think that in the particular case of Felipe Calderon, in many ways he is indeed to the right of Bush Jr.

    On the other hand, it's also true that US politics are so unbelievably right wing that what typically counts as "right wing" in most other nations, Latin America included especially, would be considered centrist or even leftist here.

    Similarly, if you took a typical Republican candidate here and plunked them down in most Latin American campaigns, they'd be considered so far right that they'd be lucky to be a 12th or 13th place party, much less a top 3.

    by el cid on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 08:41:30 AM PDT

    [ Parent ]

• Sugar O/T (5+ / 0-)

  Recommended by:

  lcrp, YucatanMan, ourobouros, esquimaux, Chris Cosmos

  Sorry way off topic, but the sugar dispute between the US and Mexico was settled, so now we get to have more American high fructose corn syrup shoved down our throats. The US soft drink manufacturers are salivating. Mexico needs to have a government that takes care of her citizens instead of letting corporations feed us poison.

  So maybe it's not so off topic.

  http://www.latimes.com/...

  by mariachi mama on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 08:35:03 AM PDT

• Calderon wants to raise taxes on middle-class (2+ / 0-)

  Recommended by:

  ourobouros

  Currently, Mexico collects less than 11% of GDP in taxes, compared to about 32% here, and as high as 50% in some Western European countries.

  There is no capital gains tax in Mexico. Roberto Hernandez, a friend of Calderon, sold his bank for over 10 billion dollars to Citigroup, and paid NOT ONE PESO in taxes.

  Calderon has said that's the way it should be.

  In fact, Calderon has vowed to slash the top marginal rate on the affluent, because he believes that the affluent pay more than their fair share in taxes.

  But if you're poor or middle-class, Calderon hopes to raise your tax burden.

  -----------------------------------------------

  http://mx.invertia.com/...

  POLITICA) PREPARA PAN OFENSIVA FISCAL VS POBRES: RAMIREZ

  Viernes, 28 de Julio de 2006, 9h58

  Fuente: InfoSel Financiero

  MEXICO, Julio. 28.- Alfonso Ramírez Cuellar, coordinador de las Finanzas Públicas de la bancada del PRD en la Cámara de Diputados, advirtió en torno la ofensiva fiscal que "preparan" los panistas contra los sectores de menores ingresos, mediante la imposición del IVA en alimentos y medicinas.
  De acuerdo con información de La Jornada, el presidente de la Comisión de Hacienda y Crédito Público, Gustavo Madero, señaló al IVA en alimentos y medicinas como una alternativa dentro de la reforma fiscal para elevar los ingresos del erario

  -------------------------------------------