A Nicaraguan Activist Fights Daniel Ortega's Canal Project

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

In attempt to stop her powerful work advocating against the destructive inter-oceanic canal Francisca’s children were attacked. Her home was raided, and authorities have harassed and detained her. During four years of peaceful resistance, Francisca has been repeatedly assaulted, leaving her physically injured and constantly alert to being attacked.
 -Frontline Defenders

By Sabrina Hernández
Francisca Ramírez is an activist from the rural community of  La Fonseca in the municipality of Nueva Guinea in southeastern Nicaragua. For more than four years, she has coordinated the Consejo Nacional en Defensa de Nuestra Tierra, Lago y Soberanía (CENIDH), an effort to protect the rights of rural communities in Nicaragua. The council's efforts are focused particularly on opposing the construction of  a canal that would connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Opponents of the project have made their discontent known through marches and rallies, The efforts of the council to oppose the canal have received strong international support, including the European Parliament.

Proponents of the canal, including President Daniel Ortega, argue that the project could give a potential economic boost to Nicaragua. The opponents point to the potential for significant environmental damage and displacement of many rural communities.In his work analyzing the effect of the Panama Canal on U.S. relations with Latin America, American History professor at John Hopkins University, John Holladay, calls the canal “the greatest liberty man has taken with nature.” One can rightly assume that this statement is even truer for the proposed Nicaraguan canal, which will certainly crisscross more significant amounts of land than the Panama canal did.

Comparisons to Berta Cáceres
The principal strategy of (CENIDH) is to is repeal Law 840, which effectively gave life to the project through the allocation of $50 million and stipulates that displaced land owners will be paid for their land a sum that the state deems “adequate." Even though the amount of money offered fails to meet the "adequate" threshold, the CENIDH does not want the canal to be built at all.

That is why Francisca Ramirez and other members of the organization have taken the opportunity to speak out against the project to international non-governmental organizations and to the foreign media. In this video,  Ramirez speaks to the press after meeting with the secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS).



Ramírez’s efforts has drawn comparisons to Honduran activist Berta Cáceres, who was murdered in 2016. However, her ctivism, much like that of Cáceres, has come at no small cost, though. She has been arbitrarily detained, her property raided, seized, and damaged, her family members have been beaten by men in military uniform, and she faces constant harassment from government officials.

"In addition to the repressive nature of the government, Ramírez is fighting back against the propaganda and efforts to misinform citizens," blogger Andrew Anderson wrote in the Frontline Defenders blog. "The latter seems to be one of the biggest challenges when denouncing human rights violations and mobilising fellow countrymen and women against them."

Ramírez confirms this, saying: “For a long time, the government has been dedicated to misinforming people, people are unaware of their rights. They think we are infringing on the government’s rights every time we march!”

"Nicaraguan defenders are struggling to preserve vital civil society space where values of equality and human dignity are upheld above the personalisation of power and ubiquitous clientelism. The country is at a turning point where it might head for a one-party State. The question is whether this time the international community is ready to support those who are using peaceful means to counter increasing authoritarianism and ensure respect for human rights," Anderson said in his blog.

Multilatinas in Mexico and South America

When we think about multinational corportations, our thoughts center on European, US, Canadian, or Japanese business enterprises conducting business and investing across borders. A number of Latin America-based companies are also prominent among the businesses that have a presence beyond their home country.  These Latin American mulinationals are often known as multilatinas.  In this week's issue of NotiSur, Andrés Gaudín examines the rapid growth of multilatinas,  based in South America's two largest economies. These include  Brazilian companies Vale, Petrobras, Weg, and Embraer and Argentine companies Tenaris/Ternium, Impsa, and Bagó.  Embraer (ERJ) has become the world's leader in regional jets (fewer than 120 seats). Today, virtually every major U.S. network carrier now includes Embraer jets in its fleet.  In addition to Argentina and Brazil, multilatinas are based in Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, and other countries.  Here is a list of some of the leading multilatinas, courtesy of América Economía.

Cemex plant, Cheshire, England (Wikimedia Commons)

CEMEX (Mexico) – Drawing in around US$15 billion annually, CEMEX is ranked as number one on América Economía’s 100 Latin American Multinationals of 2014. CEMEX is a giant in the building and construction materials industry its home country of Mexico and in three other continents. During Presdent Hugo Chávez's administration, Until his death last year, the company was led by Lorenzo Zambrano, whose grandfather founded his cement business in the early 20th century, profiting from the reconstruction of Monterrey after the Mexican Revolution.

LATAM AIRLINES (Chile) – LATAM Airlines Group is airline holding company with subsidiaries throughout South America. The air carrier was formed in 2010 following the merger of Chile’s LAN and Brazil’s TAM. Annual revenues are over US$13 billion, more than triple that of the next largest airline holding consortium in Latin America, Colombia’s Avianca-TACA group.

AVIANCA-TACA (Colombia) – Avianca-TACA AirHoldings was also formed in 2010, following the merger of Colombia’s Avianca and El Salvador’s TACA.Avianca-TACA is a subsidiary of Synergy Group, a conglomerate founded and owned by Avianca’s founder, Germán Efromovich, a Bolivian-born son of Polish Jewish immigrants who holds citizenships in Brazil, Colombia, and Poland.

TELMEX (Mexico) – Mexico’s telecommunications giant has had tight control over the Mexican telecommunications market for years, but its monopoly is coming to an end. Company chairman Carlos Slim Helu, a Mexican of Lebanese descent, and his family has frequently made the Forbes Magazine list of the world's wealthiest individuals.

GRUPO BIMBO (Mexico) – Mexico’s largest baking company also has a broad presence in global markets.  The company, which owns Thomas' English Muffins and Entenmann's cakes, is evolving into a dominant player in the US bakery market with its planned acquisition of Sara Lee's North American bakery business for US$959 million.

BRIGHTSTAR (Bolivia) – Bolivia’s only multinational to make an appearance on América Economía's power rankings, this telecomm growing giant was founded by the current CEO of Sprint, Marcelo Claure, in 1997. With headquarters in South Florida, the La Paz native grew Brightstar into a multibillion dollar multinational by focusing on developing markets in Bolivia, Paraguay and the Caribbean during the late 1990s. The company then struck a deal with Motorola Latin America in 2000, which opened up markets in the rest of the region.

Citgo Station, Tankstelle, Germany (Wikimedia Commons)

PDVSA (Venezuela) – Petroleos de Venezuela is Venezuela’s state-owned oil and natural gas company. PDVSA’s activities include resource extraction, exploration, refining and international exportation. Founded in 1976 following the nationalization of Venezuela’s oil industry, PDVSA purchased 50% of USA’s Citgo in 1986, and the remainder in 1990.

SUDAMERICA DE VAPORES (Chile) – Compañia Sudamerica de Vapores (CSAV),  founded in 1872, is the largest shipping company in Latin America and one of the oldest multinationals in the region. CSAV, which has the world’s 20th largest shipping fleet, expanded rapidly after the 1914 opening of the Panama Canal, making large gains on the coastal routes from western South American to Panama. After a century of unprecendented growth, CSAV entered into a merger agreement with German shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd, another shipping firm that earned its stripes during the global trade during World War I.

Wikimedia Commons

AJEGROUP (Peru) – Ranked number 10 on América Economía's power rankings, this company is of two Peruvian multinationals to appear on the list, Ajegroup is dedicated to the production and distribution of alcoholic and soft drink beverages. The company's Agua Cielo brand of bottled water is sold widely throughout Latin America and its Big Cola soft drink is a popular product in India.

GRUMA (Mexico) – The world’s largest producer of corn and flour tortillas is headquartered in San Pedro Garza García, just outside of Monterrey. Gruma owns a variety of brand names that sell well in US, China, England, Central America, and Venezuela. The Mexican multilatina has drawn wide attention in global stock markets, as Gruma's shares gain value in accordance with the worldwide increase in tortilla consumption.

-Jake Sandler

Also in LADB on March 4-6 

• Right’s "Pink Party" Experiment Unlikely To Unseat FA In Montevideo
• Fired Honduran Judges Question Effect of Negative Human Rights Court Ruling on Government
• Guatemalan Government Blames Gangs for Latest Spate of Violence
• Construction of Natural Gas Pipeline in Chihuahua Encounters Resistance From Some Raramuri Communities
• Low-Key Election of Supreme Court President Overshadowed by Nominations for Open Seat

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President Santos Four-Man ‘Peace Squad’ in Havana

As President Juan Manuel Santos and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) continue peace negotiations, the Colombian chief executive has had to deal with constant criticisms from the far-right and at the same time face the reality that the guerrillas have gained a political advantage have gained by declaring an indefinite cease-fire and then sticking to it. (Read more in this week's edition of NotiSur). This has prompted Santos to seek outside help from a select group of foreign advisors with expertise in peace negotiations.



In early January, the president’s Havana negotiators sat down for a closed-door meeting with four special guests: William Uri, a US mediation expert from Harvard University; Joaquín Villalobos, a former Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) guerrilla who helped negotiate El Salvador’s 1992 peace accords and has since become an outspoken critic of all leftist groups in Latin America; Jonathan Powell, a former British Cabinet chief who helped broker the peace deal with the Irish Republican Army (IRA); and Shlomo Ben Ami of Israel, an ex–foreign minister who played a leading role in the 1978 Camp David peace agreements with Egypt.

Santos seems to have covered all of the political bases with his four-man team of advisors. The four VIPs come from a very diverse background: a Salvadoran ex-guerilla turned British Foreign Service-sponsored peace negotiator and critic of the left in Latin America; a former Israeli Foreign Minister who negotiated for peace at the Camp David Accords; a former British banker and advisor to the Prime Minister who negotiated with the IRA; and a US author and social anthropologist who’s bestselling books have put him in the boardrooms of various peace talks and negotiations.

We thought it would be interesting to provide a bit more information regarding their biographies and their lifelong journey to the Havana Peace talks.

Photo: Fabrizio León in Observador Juvenil

Joaquín Villalobos: Perhaps the most enigmatic of all four, Villalobos began his career as a commander in the People’s Revolution Army, a left-wing Marxist guerilla army that emerged in El Salvador in the 1970s, eventually merging with other groups to form the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). During the bloody civil war that ensued, Villalobos fought against a US-Israel supported regime and paramilitary death squads. Conversely, he was also accused of participating in the murder of leftist poet Roque Dalton.Villalobos. His entire track record confronts this tension between fighting both for and against the revolutionary left.  Following the 1992 peace agreement in El Salvador, he was sent by British Foreign Service to study in England, and has acted as a major critic of leftist politics in Latin America since then. His main attributes seem to be straddling the line between the feared and ruthless left-wing guerilla commander of the 80s, and the right-of-center peace negotiator of today. Read his article,"La paz: cerca de La Habana, lejos de Bogotá"in El País  

Wikimedia Commons

 
Shlomo ben Ami:While the Israeli-supported Salvadoran government forces waged war against the guerillas in the 80s, Ben Ami was acting as the Israeli ambassador to Spain. A fluent Spanish speaker who was born and raised in a Mizrahi Jewish family in Morocco, Ben Ami began his career as a historian at Tel-Aviv University, concerning himself principally with studying the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. As Israel’s Minister of Foreign Relations, Ben Ami participated in the 2000 Camp David Summit. Since then, he has publicly supported the Palestinians’ decision to not accept the terms dictated by Israel. He now serves as vice president for the Toledo International Centre for Peace. .

 

Photo from Uri's Web site

 William Ury: A bestselling author of books on mediation and conflict management that deal with a wide range of topics. See his  official  Web site. “Bill Ury has the remarkable ability to get to the heart of a dispute,” former US President Jimmy Carter recently said. Trained initially as a social anthropologist in Yale and then Harvard, Ury founded and directs Harvard’s Program on Negotiation. He has participated in a wide array of peace talks ranging from family disputes to mediation for the Bushmen of Kalahari and the clan warriors of New Guinea.

from The Guardian

Jonathan Powell: An adviser to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair (1995-2007) and chief British negotiator on Northern Ireland. One of Powell's chief accomplishments was helping the Northern Ireland peace talks to move forward, resulting in the Good Friday Agreement. Powell also had a close working relationship with former US President Bill Clinton, and participated in a US-UK-Israel project that brought Latin American figures such as Joaquín Villalobos to study in England. The diplomat has also had his share of controversies, including an accusation that he might have divulged too much information Russian officials about the activities of the British spy agency M16 in that country. After retiring from government service, Powell became a senior investment banker with Morgan Stanley in 2007. He left the banking sector to create Inter Mediate, an organization that participates in armed conflict negotiations around the world.

-Jake Sandler

Also in LADB on Feb. 18-20

• Brazil Prepares for Austerity Under New Finance Minister
• UN Report Highly Critical of Mexico for Failing to Address Enforced Disappearances
• U.S. Seeks Request for Extradition of Drug Kingpin Joaquín Chapo Guzmán
• Former President Ricardo Martinelli Faces Corruption Inquiry
• El Salvador Pardons Woman Sentenced To 30 Years For Abortion-Related Offense

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The Environmental and Political Reasons Behind the Decision to Halt the Dragon Mart Project

Transnational project  in Quintana Roo Photo: Jake Sandler

The Dragon Mart megaproject in Quintana Roo state is on life support.  A couple of weeks ago, the federal environmental protection agency (Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente, PROFEPA) determined that the project--funded largely by Chinese interests--was causing too much damage to the fragile ecosystem of the area.  In addition to halting the project, developers were ordered to pay a fine and restitution 20 million pesos.  Read more in the most recent issue of SourceMex.

Quintana Roo’s Endangered Deciduous Jungle
The actual environmental transgressions cited by PROFEPA have mostly to do with violations of NORMA 059, which protects native Mexican species of flora and fauna. In particular, the Dragon Mart developers have been cited for violating the law’s ‘Anthropogenic’ clause, which evaluates changes in the use of soil and their impacts on human settlement.

The wetlands, mangroves and swamps most affected on the property known as “El Tucán” are not heavily populated. However, they contain some of the region’s most important and endangered ‘deciduous jungle’ species and ecosystems. Despite the heavy handed environmental protection policies on the part of the federal government, many critics speculate whether or not there is more behind the recent decision to halt Dragon Mart’s development; as articles such as this one in El Economista show, Quintana Roo is the same state where transnational interests in planting transgenic soy have superseded legitimate opposition. Others have sought to prove that a political dispute between Peña Nieto and Vicente Fox is actually what is behind the recent decision.

A Mexican-owned development?
Juan Carlos López Rodríguez, director of the Dragon Mart Cancun megaproject, has repeatedly stated that the company behind this project, Real Estate Dragon Mart Cancun SA de CV, is a Mexican company, founded in Monterrey and funded by 90% Mexican capital. A recent article in the daily business newspaper El Economista explains the company’s ownership in more detail: 45% is actually owned by Real Estate Dragon Mart Cancun, while another 45% is owned by Monterrey-Cancun Mart (of which Lopez Rodriguez is partner). Finally, the other 10% is accounted for by Chinese magnate Hao Feng, president of Chinamex, a company interested in introducing Chinese products throughout the world, and the same company that brought the first Dragon Mart to Dubai in 2003. As the name of Feng’s company suggests, ever since its founding in 2000, this Chinese firm has had its eyes on Mexico, particularly those places most visited by international tourists and businesses. That was the first year of Vicente Fox’s presidency, under which Lopez Rodriguez was involved in a China investment scandal while serving as a customs officer.

Speculation of a PRI power play against PAN
Reports have surfaced that  individuals linked to Fox are involved in 90% of the investment.  Among the names mentioned are José Luis Salas Cacho, ex-director of Maritime Transportation, and Manuel Bribiesca Sahagún, son of former first lady and Vicente Fox’s wife Marta Sahagún. So, is it possible that President Enrique Peña Nieto's administration is wielding its power via PROFEPA to land a blow in what is actually a decades-old power struggle between the PAN and PRI? However, you consider this situation, it is hard for the public to ignore the incestuous relationship between Dragon Mart investors and former PAN functionaries under Fox. Meanwhile, environmentalists and local community leaders in Cancun are praising the federal government’s decision as a victory for the land and for the rights of the region’s inhabitants.

-Jake Sandler

Also in LADB on Jan. 28-30

• German-Manufactured Assault Rifles Recovered from Local Police in Guerrero in Aftermath of Student Massacre
• New Stage of Relations Between Washington and Havana Triggers Expectations of Cuban People
• Ecuadoran Government Rescinds Property Loan, Sparking Confrontation with Indigenous Group
• Government Unveils Anti-Crime Strategy As El Salvador’s Homicide Rate Soars
• Honor Court Ruling Highlights Uruguay’s Many Military Pension Perks

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Center for Justice and Accuntability Seeks Truth, Justice, Redress for Victims of Torture, Human Rights Violations

"The administration of Salvador Sanchez Ceren has the obligation and opportunity to make a difference, to improve the lives of the people of El Salvador – the people th ey fought for – and ensure that they see justice."  Center for Justice and Accountability

Several thousand people participated in a candlelit procession through the campus of the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA), the scene, 25 years ago, of one of the most infamous episodes in El Salvador’s dozen-year civil war (1980-1992): the predawn murder of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and and the housekeeper's daughter.  This week's issue of NotiCen examines some of the issues surrounding the anniversary, including efforts to overturn a blanket amnesty approved in El Salvador in 1993, which allows the perpetrators to remain unpunished.

 

Photo: Center for Justice and Accountablity

Among those participating in the procession in San Salvador on Nov. 18 was Almudena Bernabeu, an attorney and rights advocate at the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) in San Francisco, California. The CJA has played a leading role in recent years in efforts to prosecute the authors of the UCA massacre

The CJA is an international human rights organization dedicated to deterring torture and other severe human rights abuses around the world. The organization also advances the rights of survivors to seek truth, justice and redress, which applies directly to its work in El Salvador. 

CJA uses litigation to hold perpetrators individually accountable for human rights abuses, develop human rights law, and advance the rule of law in countries transitioning from periods of abuse.
The case of the murdered Jesuits is just one of seven active cases in El Salvador.  The center is  involved in human-rights-related litigation in seven countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.  In addition to El Salvador, the CJA is involved in cases in Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and Peru (as well as the United States).  The other five countries where the CJA is involved in human-rights-related cases are Bosnia, Cambodia, China, Somalia, and Timor-Leste.

The CJA was founded in 1998 with support from Amnesty International and the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture to represent torture survivors in their pursuit of justice. The center is part of the movement for global justice for those who have been tortured or have suffered other severe human rights abuses.

"CJA is one of the few international human rights NGOs with a base of clients who speak out publicly against mass atrocities from a survivor's perspective," said the organization.  "At the heart of CJA’s mission is the belief that survivors themselves are the most effective spokespeople against torture, genocide and other abuses. CJA devotes resources to supporting clients who, as a result of participating in our litigation, are galvanized to dedicate more time and energy to anti-impunity efforts within their communities."

-Carlos Navarro 

Also in LADB on Dec. 10-12 

• Mexican Supreme Court to Elect New President, Welcome New Justice in 2015
• Tabaré Vázquez Back as Uruguay’s President, Reflecting Region’s Progressive Trend
• In Push To Spur Investment, Peru Weakens Environmental Protection
• Guatemalan Government Mired in Financial Problems
• Mexico Welcomes US President Barack Obama’s Executive Order on Immigration

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PEMEX and Shari’ah Law

Photo: Magister Mathematica, Wikimedia Commons

Mexico’s state-run oil company PEMEX, hurting from the global decline in oil prices, is looking for new ways to raise capital. In an attempt to spur new international investment in 2015, the Mexican government is considering the possibility of issuing Sukuk Bonds, a type of bond compliant with Shari’ah law (Islamic moral code). Because Shari’ah law forbids the charging or paying of interest, certain Islamic governments and financial institutions that seek to invest in global markets will only do so if Sukuk bonds are issued in the place of conventional bonds. Responding to the rapid growth of wealth and investment among the Islamic monarch member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Sukuk bonds have grown tremendously over the last 10 years.

According to Scotiabank’s Sukuk division, total outstanding Sukuk rose from US$8 billion in 2003 to well over US$243 billion in 2012. Together, the GCC and Malaysia account for over 90% of all issued Sukuk bonds. By issuing Sukuk bonds to lure Muslim investors, the Mexican government would be joining the UK, the US, Canada, Thailand, Singapore and Sri Lanka in a rising global trend of government-issued Sukuk bonds. Mexico would be the first Latin American country to issue Sukuk bonds. For more on PEMEX’s plans to boost investment, see the Nov. 19 issue of SourceMex.

The difference between sukuk and conventional bonds
Conventional bonds are paid back with interest, while sukuk bonds are paid back with a share of assets. Because the payment of interest is prohibited in shari’ah law, Sukuk bonds skirt around that prohibition by replacing interest payments with a promise to share profits. Essentially, purchasing a Sukuk bond is much more like purchasing shares in a company, while a conventional bond represents the purchase of debt to be repaid with matured interest.

Photo: Akif Sahin. Flickr

 Why does shari’ah law forbid interest?
The prohibition of interest, or Riba as it is called under sharia law, is rooted in the writing of the Quran. Saleh Majid, a lawyer representing Islamic Banking laws in Germany and the UK, explains that the prohibition of Riba came gradually, and is based on an interpretation of Verse 2:275, which states that “Allah permitted the sale and forbade Riba,” and that “Every loan which attracts benefit is Riba.”

The principle underlying this prohibition is the need to prevent usury, or the accumulation of unearned accretion of capital… essentially what we call loansharking. Due to varying interpretations of the Quranic verse, and varying methods of implementing it in modern law, each Islamic government has its own particularities. Even Jewish and Christian scripture discourages the use of interest on loans. In fact European banking laws have much to do with the rise of Islam and its medieval conquests. As it turns out, Sukuk is the plural of the Arabic sakk, translated to the medieval French, “cheque”, or our modern word “check”.

-Jake Sandler

Also in LADB on Nov. 19-21....

• Mexican Senate Appoints New Human Rights Ombud in Wake of Guerrero Crisis
• Nicaragua Pushes Ahead with Eco-Friendly Overhaul of Electricity Sector
• Killing of Two Paraguayan Journalists Highlights Narco-Corruption Issue
• Peruvian Business Associations Hoping to Hack Away at Workers’ Rights
• Planned Container Terminal in Costa Rican Port Brings Second Strike in Two Years

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So, Why is Bluefin Tuna So Special? Well, It May Not be the Taste…

Photo: Monterey Bay Aquarium

Every January at Tokyo’s most legendary fish market, wealthy aficionados and businessmen bid on the year’ s first bluefin tuna. A symbolic, celebratory auction meant to bring excitement to the new year of one of Japan’s most prized fish, the tuna is never sold at market value; last year, a successful restaurateur bought the year’s first bluefin tuna at Tsukiji fish market for over US$1 million. Of course, that tuna will be sold at a loss, but never mind that, it would be more accurate to view the million-plus-dollar acquisition as a well-spent publicity stunt rather than a gross overpayment for a single fish.

At this year’s January sale, however, the first fish sold for a mere US$70,000 (still far above the market price, but much less than expected). According to Andrew David Thaler on his deep-sea blog Southern Fried Science, the exorbitant price of the symbolic tuna will be “presented as an argument against bluefin fishing,” and perhaps this year’s decline is an industry reaction to sharp criticism about overfishing, an attempt to mellow-out the ostentation in the face of serious international attention and pressure to stop the craze that will soon cause the species extinction.  Before brokering an agreement at the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) meeting in California a few weeks ago, Japan had proposed asking its importers to avoid buying Pacific bluefin tuna from Mexico to pressure the Mexican government to take measures to avoid overfishing of this species.  Read more in the Nov. 5 issue of SourceMex.

So, why the craze? What makes bluefin tuna so popular, and so incredibly valuable? We all know that preparing sushi and sashimi is a form of high art in Japan, so there must be an intricate, quality-based reason for bluefin tuna’s supremacy, right? Well, maybe not… turns out for quite some time, tuna (and especially the fat belly-cut we know pay so much for) was considered disgusting and at one point even used for cat food.

Photo: Flickr user Frits Ahlefeldt-Laurvig

Foul-tasting' fish
 Until after World War II, tuna was considered foul-tasting compared to the prized white flounder and mackerel fish, and tuna was mainly served as a poor-man’s food on the street. This history is strikingly similar to that of a prized delicacy in the U.S; the lobster. The crustacean was once served to prison inmates, before popularity surged in upscale, cosmopolitan markets.

Once Japanese society began absorbing a considerable influx of American culture during the 1950s and 1960s, the Japanese began demanding fattier, American style proteins, but tuna still remained largely unwanted and sold for pennies per pound. However, as Japan’s export economy entered a golden age, “Japanese airline cargo executives began promoting Atlantic bluefin for sushi so they’d have something to fill their planes with on their return trip from Tokyo.” The craze only increased, until today’s current mayhem, in which reports show that the Mitsubishi Corporation is even stockpiling frozen bluefin in order to control the world’s inventory at inflated prices once the species cannot be found any longer. That, and other shocking truths about the current state of the bluefin market can be seen in the documentary The End of the Line.

Despite the popularity and the high prices at the dinner table, real sushi aficionados in Japan still think of bluefin as a fatty, metallic tasting fish much inferior in quality to more traditional fish used for sashimi and sushi. Ironically, it seems, popularity in this market follows advertising trends, rather than the actual refined tastes of the experts.

-Jake Sandler

Also in LADB on Nov. 5-7....

• Supreme Court Rejects Proposals to Bring Energy Reform, Minimum Wage, and Reduction of Congress to Citizens for Vote 
• Ruthless and Corrupt Haitian Dictator "Bébé Doc" Duvalier Dies Unpunished
• Secret Salvadoran ‘Hit List’ Shines New Light On Civil War Rights Abuses
• Venezuela on U.N. Security Council Despite Official U.S. Concern
• Re-elected Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff Faces Second-Term Challenges 

 Follow us on Twitter @LADBatUNM

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The European Union, Belize and the Fight Against Illegal Fishing

Fishing in Belize, Flickr user anoldent, North Carolina, USA

As the world's  largest fish importer, the 28-member European Union (EU) carries a lot of weight when it comes to maritime and fishing laws. Those laws,  controlled and enforced by the Commission for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, allow the EU to enforce bans and sanctions when it comes to imports of fish and seafood. 

These laws and regulations, formally established in 2008 by the EC under Council Regulation No. 1005, are implemented in order to “establish a community system to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing.”

Over a half a year since the EU officially banned fish imports from Belize (read more from Louisa Reynolds in NotiCen, Oct. 30, 2014), the European Commission (EC) has rescinded the ban in recognition of Belize’s progress in bringing the Central American nation’s fisheries to compliance with EC law. According to an official press release by the EC, the decision to lift the ban on Belize was because the Central American country had demonstrated “its commitment to reforming its legal framework and adopting a new set of rules for inspection, control and monitoring of vessel.”

This press release also included news that proposed bans on Panama, Togo, Fiji and Vanuatu were also lifted because those nations had made progress in combating piracy and illegal fishing.

These laws and regulations, formally established in 2008 by the EC under Council Regulation No. 1005, are implemented in order to “establish a community system to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing.”

The sanctions imposed over the last five years, largely under the leadership of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki, have vastly broadened the jurisdiction of these EC regulations by enforcing import bans for violations that do not occur in the EU territory. Internationalizing the scope of enforcement of the issues represented under the EC regulations has been a central goal of Commissioner Damanaki.

Banderas Europeas en el Berlaymont Bruselas  Amio Cajander.

Russian, Chinese Connection?
Although EC sanctions seem to disproportionately affect nations with struggling economies, an investigation launched in the last week is looking into the possibility of one of the largest “pirate” fishing boats in the world as being Chinese and Russian controlled. This case includes details and examples of how a fishing vessel can become pirate, such as switching between various, false national flags while traveling between China and South America.

The European Union itself was formed in order to protect economic interest of member nations, such as the European Coal and Steel Community, regarded as the predecessor of the modern EU. The recent action by the EC’s Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Commission is an important development along this almost 70-year history of attempts to create international communities for the enforcement of transnational agreements and accords, be them economic, political or human rights-based.

In this light, the EU is not only a global rarity of a political-economic union between nations, but also represents one of the few transnational organizations (like OPEC) with the power to enforce by wielding heavy sanctions. The main difference between EU and OPEC, however, is that OPEC rarely if ever utilizes its power to enforce sanctions in the name of environmental sustainability and human rights.

In the case of the EU’s Commission on Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, the bans and sanctions are in place not in order to protect the markets of member states necessarily, but to enforce international agreements against over-fishing, piracy and other illegal practices. Despite much criticism leveled against the harsh enforcement of regulations under Damanaki’s leadership, criticism that rightfully draws to attention the unfair impact these sanctions will have on the poorest sectors of the economy, Damanaki and the EC are standing behind their position that these regulations are meant to enforce and promote maritime sustainably, and are in no way aimed at reinforcing EU’s control of international markets. -Jake Sandler


Also in LADB on Oct. 29-31

Ecuadoran Authorities Attack Nascent Student Movement

Chile Grapples With Unsettling And Unexplained Bomb Attacks

Expansion in Private Restaurant Sector Provides Relief for Cuban Entrepreneurs

New Details Emerge of Political-Criminal Links in Guerrero

Foreign Direct Investment in Mexico Down Sharply in First Half of 2014

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Argentine Forensic Team Working in Guerrero

Photo: Via Creative Commons on Flickr

A team of Argentine forensic experts arrived in Iguala in Guerrero state in Mexico on Oct. 7 to help federal and state authorities identify the remains of bodies found in a clandestine, mass graves. It is unclear how many of the bodies uncovered in the mass grave are connected to the disappearance of 43 students following protests in Iguala on Sept. 26.This week’s issue of SourceMex lays out the array of unclear reports regarding what actually transpired on Sept 26, when students at a teacher’s college organized a protest against plans to cut funding to their university.

The Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (Equipo Argentino de Antropologia Forense, or EAAF), was founded in the mid-1980s when a team was formed to investigate the remains of disappeared families in Argentina. Since that project, EAAF has expanded its work to over 30 countries and helped form the Association of Latin American Association of Forensic Anthropology (ALAF). The two organizations have worked jointly in Guatemala, Bolivia, Spain, Colombia , Mexico and other countries. The joint work of EAAF and ALAF in Mexico dates back to the early 2000s, when the EAAF was asled tp participate in an international seminar titled "Truth Commissions: Torture, Reparations, and Prevention." Recently, EAAF was asked to assist a new Special Prosecutor investigating cases of people disappeared for political reasons during the 1960's and 1970's. Over the past several years, EAAF members worked in the state of Chihuahua on a project to exhume, analyze, and attempt to identify the remains of over a hundred individuals associated with the investigation of murdered and disappeared women in Ciudad Juárez.

The EAAF's mission statement explicitly states that the objectives of the team are to cater to the wishes of relatives of victims and their communities, and that  "the team's track record in international tribunals displays a deep and sincere dedication to truth and “the historical reconstruction of the recent past, often distorted or hidden by the parties or government institutions which are themselves implicated in the crimes under investigation."

Even though  President Enrique Peña Nieto's administration requested the intervention of the EAAF,  family members of the victims are relying on the Argentine experts for truth and justice because of  deep distrust of police and government authorities. Melitón Ortega, a relative of one of the missing students, has publicly expressed his distrust of state involvement in the investigation, representing a general attitude among his community members that the police and the government are the last people they want in charge of investigating this site.

So will the Argentine team succeed in helping relatives of  the students arrive at the truth? The task might be difficult. A slew of reports in the last week have revealed that the Argentine forensic team has had difficulty accessing the grave site, where state and federal authorities are tightly securing the area.

-Jake Sandler

Also in LADB This Week...
Unpredictable Brazilian Election Turns Predictable as Traditional Parties Duel
Brazilians headed to the polls on Oct. 5 to decide the fate of incumbent President Dilma Rousseff, conservative challenger Aécio Neves, and insurgent Marina Silva. In the end, voters endorsed Rousseff, but not by enough to avoid a runoff against Neves that will take place on Oct. 26. It was an unpredictable election season that saw polling numbers for the candidates fluctuate wildly. In one of the campaign’s most surprising and tragic turns,  Read More

Colombia’s Peace Negotiators Agree on Three Points, Urge Continued Progress
On the eve of the second anniversary of the beginning of Colombian peace talks, government and guerrilla representatives broke a self-imposed silence on Sept. 24 by reporting key details of agreements reached so far. President Juan Manuel Santos and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) were obliged to give a progress report to counteract false versions spread by warmongers seeking to discredit the negotiations and dismantle talks that began in November 2012 in Havana, Cuba.  Read More

Former Salvadoran President Francisco Flores Jailed Pending Corruption Trial
After months on the lam, former Salvadoran President Francisco Flores (1999-2004) is now behind bars pending trial on charges that he misappropriated roughly US$15 million donated during his presidency by the government in Taiwan. Flores, who hails from the hard-right Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA), El Salvador’s leading opposition party, disappeared from public view in late January. And, in May, when a judge in San Salvador issued a warrant for his arrest, he officially became a fugitive from justice.  Read More

Murder of Guatemalan Civil Servant Reveals Lack of Compliance with Private-Security Law
On July 3, well-known Guatemalan civil servant and feminist activist Patricia Samayoa Méndez was shot dead in a pharmacy by the establishment’s private security guard, who later barricaded himself in the pharmacy and attempted to shoot the police officers who were trying to arrest him. This case has highlighted that a new law imposing tougher sanctions on private security companies is not being properly enforced. Samayoa’s murder has called into question whether a law imposing more stringent regulations on private security companies that came into force in October 2013 is really being enacted.  Read More

Chinese-Mexican Consortium Submits Only Bid to Construct High-Speed Rail in Mexico
President Enrique Peña Nieto has set the process in motion to develop a high-speed train to connect Mexico City with the industrial hub of Querétaro, about 210 km northwest of the Mexican capital. On Oct. 15, the administration closed the bidding process for consortia to participate in constructing the rail line. Only one consortium submitted a bid, a partnership led by China Railway Construction Corp. (CRCC) that included Mexican companies GIA and Prodemex.  Read More

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Blue Helmets on Mexican Soldiers

Daniel Košinár  (Wikimedia Commons)

If you examine the composition of UN Peacekeeping forces, you would be hard-pressed to find any Mexican soldiers.  That is about to change with President  Enrique Peña Nieto's recent commitment to provide military and civilian personnel to UN missions.
The Mexican president made that pledge during an address to the UN General Assembly during the last week of September.

Peña Nieto, of course, would still have to comply with the Mexican Constitution, which prohibits any chief executive from unilaterally offering Mexican troops for peacekeeping forces. The president would require the consent of the Senate. Convesrsely, Peña Nieto and other future president are allowed to provide military and civilian personnel for UN humanitiarian missions without a vote from the Senate. How was Peña Nieto's decision received in Mexico?  There were many supporters and some detractors.  Read more in this week's issue of SourceMex.

Marie Lan-Nguyen (Wikimedia Commons)

Let's say hypothetically that Mexico had committed troops to UN peacekeeping operations a while back. Where would these Mexican soldiers be located? Currently, there are 16 ongoing UN Peacekeeping Operations, including Haiti, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, several Middle Eastern nations, as well as nine countries in Africa, from the Western Sahara to Democratic Republic of the Congo.

There are currently over 116,000 military and police personnel working under UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), and although many personnel are armed and trained in military operations, the DPKO’s main purpose and protocol does not normally involve active combat, but rather helping local security forces to establish the proper conditions for end of conflict and lasting peace. The UN does not have its own military force, and relies completely on contributions from member states.

There is some risk in committing military personnel to an area of conflict. In its 66-year history, the DPKO has suffered 3,177 fatalities, with more than two-thirds occurring since 1993. Uruguay, Haiti, Argentina, Guatemala and Spain have lost dozens of troops, although the majority of the casualties have come from Sub-Saharan African and Northern European nations.  While armed conflict has been the major reason for the loss of lives, more than 1,000 deaths  have occurred because of illness. The two places with the highest incident of fatalities have been Lebanon and the Congo.
-Jake Sandler

Also in LADB This Week...

Transforming the Sales Tax into a Value-Added Tax in Costa Rica: President Luis Guillermo Solís has a plan to boost government revenues: transform the current sales tax into a a value-added tax (Read more from George Rodríguez in this week's issue of NotiCen). So what's the difference?  Diane Yetter explains in the Tax & Accounting blog  "Sales tax is collected on retail sales at the time of the sale to the final consumer, and only the final sale in the supply chain is subject to tax. Sales tax is generally imposed on sales of tangible personal property and selected services. Value Added Tax, on the other hand, is imposed on each stage of the supply chain and ultimately charged in full to the final purchaser."

Investment in the Dominican Republic. Officials in the Dominican Republic are pleased about a recent increase in investment, but critics worry that the trend comes at the expense of human rights and the environment.  Read more from  Crosby Girón in NotiCen.

Argentina and U.S. Lock Horns amid ‘Default’ Fallout: Argentina’s current "default" crisis, which began three months ago when a judge in New York ruled in favor of a group of "vulture funds"—lenders that in 2005 refused to participate in a restructuring of the South American nation’s foreign debt—has gone from being a dispute between a sovereign state and private interests to a full-fledged face-off between the Argentine and US governments. Read more from Andrés Gaudín in NotiSur.

Center-Left Coalition Expected to Remain in Power in Uruguay: Uruguayan voters will head to the polls Oct. 26 for the last in a series of South American elections that also includes contests in Brazil, to be held Oct. 5, and Bolivia, on Oct. 12. The Frente Amplio (FA), in power since 2005, is hoping its progressive model—introduced by former President Tabaré Vázquez (2005-2010) and continued by the country’s current leader, President José Mujica—will earn the party a third-consecutive term. The FA’s conservative rivals, the Partido Nacional (PN or Blanco) and Partido Colorado (PC), are hoping to re-establish the political hegemony that kept them in power throughout most of Uruguay’s post-independence history (from 1830 to 2005). Read More from Andrés Gaudín in NotiSur.

Another term for Mexican Human Rights Ombud? Raúl Plascencia Villanueva, president of the semi-independent human rights commission (Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, CNDH), is facing severe criticism from what academics and opposition legislators see as the commission’s deficient and inadequate job of defending human rights in Mexico. Will the Senate reappoint him for another five years or will human-rights advocates succeed in pushing through a change?  Read more from Carlos Navarro in SourceMex.

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Church and Military Lose Their Luster in Paraguay

  Asuncion'Cathedral  (Axou28th, Wikimedia Common)

“The head of the Area of War Materials sold projectiles and explosives to anyone who asked for them.” -NotiSur, September 26, 2014

The above quote sounds like a description of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, or even a line from some Orwellesque sci-fi dystopian novel. It’s neither.

This is Paraguay in 2014, and this is just one of many listed items on an internal report of corruption within the Paraguayan armed forces conducted earlier this year. As Andrés Gaudín points out in this week’s issue of NotiSur, Paraguayan citizens are well-aware of the rampant corruption within the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. But, now, after internal reports have been released by the military as well as the Vatican, the armed forces and the Catholic Church have joined the ranks of Paraguay’s most blatantly corrupt institutions.

Paraguay's previous perception of the military and the church as institutions that were free of corruption coincides with a recent survey of 107 countries. In that survey, conducted by Transparency International, none of the countries ranked the military among the institutions affected by corruption. Only three of the 107 countries viewed religious bodies (which includes the Catholic Church) as one of the most corrupt institutions.

In his first year heading Paraguay’s government, President Horacio Cartes has made some gains in promoting transparency. Just this month, Paraguay became the 100th country to approve a freedom of information law.  The Paraguayan government still has problems shaking off the perception of corrption, however. 

There have been other efforts to fight corruption, including a legislative initiative approved by the Congress to address the widespread problem of nepotisim. A new law bans legislators from hiring or appointing to any public post "spouses, domestic partners, or relatives to the fourth degree of consanguinity and second degree of affinity." Nepotism has long been a concern for the Paraguay public. Last November, some businesses --restaurants, bars, and movie theaters--banned those officials publicly reported guilty of nepotism from entering those establishments  Read More in the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo.

While corrupt activities by institutions like the military and the church had been widely accepted in Paraguay for years, change might be coming. The transformation of the military might not be swift--as evidenced by the lack of action on the part of Cartes government against military officials renting out equipment to private enterprises and collecting informal "tolls." The fact that the practice has been exposed in an internal report is a very important first step. The corrupt activities by the Catholic Church cannot be overlooked, however, now that the Vatican has intervened. According to a recent report in The New York Times, Pope Francis sent investigators to the Diocese of Ciudad del Este. The investigators found sufficient evidence of corrupt activities and cover-ups to warrant the removal of Bishop Ricardo Livieres Plano.

-Jake Sandler

Also in LADB This Week...
Chile-Peru Border Row: A border dispute that was supposed to have been resolved by a landmark ruling issued eight months ago by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague is once again causing tempers to flare between Chile and Peru, this time regarding a miniscule patch of coastal desert.

Another Honduran Journalist Murdered:  The killing of Honduran newsman Nery Soto on Aug. 14 in the town of Olanchito in the northern department of Yoro, some 390 km northeast of Tegucigalpa, the country’s capital, prompted the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to call on Honduran authorities to investigate this and tens of similar crimes committed mostly since 2009—the year of the bloody coup that toppled then President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya

Currency "unification" coming in Cuba: Cubans await the arrival of "Day Zero" with uncertainty about the fate of their savings and their future purchasing power. The still-to-be-established date will end the simultaneous circulation of two currencies (the Cuban peso and the convertible peso) and is a measure that, according to the communist government, has been considered necessary for two decades to make the economy more efficient.

Mexican Court Agrees that Televisa is a Dominant Company: In March of this year, the Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones (IFT) ruled that Televisa was a dominant company, meaning that authorities had the right to enforce certain anti-monopoly provisions. The giant broadcaster and 18 affiliates appealed the ruling to a specialized court. However, the court ruled in September of this year that the IFT's designation was correct.

Toxic Spill Remains a Problem in Sonora State. The giant mining company Grupo México and its chief executive officer (CEO) Germán Larrea are again the center of controversy for violations of environmental policy in Sonora. In early August, state and federal environmental authorities cited Grupo México subsidiary Mina Buenavista del Cobre for spilling more than 1.4 cubic feet of sulfuric acid (about 40 million liters) into the Bacanuchi and Sonora rivers

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