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Is Torex Gold Resources Making Payments To Mexican Narcos, Near Where the "Ayotzinapa 43" Students Were Disappeared ?

& Rights Action March 2, 2015 [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Is Torex Gold Resources Making Payments To Mexican Drug Traffickers, Near Where the "Ayotzinapa 43" Students Were Kidnapped and Disappeared by Government Authorities and Drug Traffickers? In the State of Guerrero, where Mexican government officials and a Drug Cartel kidnapped and "disappeared" 43 students from the Ayotzinapa teacher's college in September 2014, the Canadian mining company Torex Gold Resources Inc. is allegedly paying C$84,000/month to "La Familia Michoacana", one more brutally violent Mexican drug cartel. * Make Tax-charitable donations for humanitarian needs of family members of the "disappeared" Ayotzinapa 43 & Your Old Age Security (Canada Pension Plan) Funds At Work! As of March 31, 2014, the CPP had $17,000,000 invested in Torex Gold Resources Inc. (http://www.cppib.com/dam/cppib/What%20We%20Do/Our%20Investment/CanadianPublicEquityMar312014(EN).htm) [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001UXNCZzdsfOt7zD5vREEI4SPDGXgMd_9BMsW8WemysnvDydUUqGUqjZWkCQWulZumAUofUQQ7tJ3bq-mcgyx7lDvY7OIx4bewrkU1TpbXiK0h_6c8wR95mvQ2G4yFpJQ-A6sP2FKJFF2uQIQZ-_JhjWY2uI1HjcnlXSmiTj70fGT6dEQhuXpwilMmzyJmJkzc3-aBSHBEquuB8NchL4GrvIsr-DPz687WWhCAoXyb6Of43XP0IVqGMZikEGIZsRWEU1EuOuxd9o8dMLSIauOPuzWfQZmRJGdx77H9uosWK8o=&c=d3jQkEYe_KSILhHWdothP5hbtZ9139CwPijAdfdhqOIjFxg4K2YG2w==&ch=HcY6wEyJNDYO6kb5CKV8Du86RugjMjAOLQf9tjqfhomLJRdzSohUEA==] Do you know what kinds of companies your Pension funds are invested in? & info below ******* Torex Gold Resources Inc. Subsidiary Denies Making Payments To Mexican Cartel http://www.lapoliticaeslapolitica.com/2015/02/torex-gold-subsidiary-denies-making.html [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001UXNCZzdsfOt7zD5vREEI4SPDGXgMd_9BMsW8WemysnvDydUUqGUqjZWkCQWulZumJv5DUPnOe8u2qiShL3onTMyCpvhaus7aUAGTThz2l4LPIgoO-wW4mVjgcxv6xjgQ0by9asv9nMc21mrmorN1w99HojBjRWxEIPv41lVyi2D3JFpEodtDO6RvXZ2jouY1rjClq6SWtsOkcXhRe1PycNIZ5HQztTJJWItoyZt9BNsT1ozPEXeqE5-0AuCO3in-cMOvwcaLTN0=&c=d3jQkEYe_KSILhHWdothP5hbtZ9139CwPijAdfdhqOIjFxg4K2YG2w==&ch=HcY6wEyJNDYO6kb5CKV8Du86RugjMjAOLQf9tjqfhomLJRdzSohUEA==] 14 February 2015 Press reports in Mexico have accused Minera Media Luna, a Mexican mining subsidiary of Toronto-headquartered Torex Gold Resources, of paying one million Mexican pesos a month (about C$84,000) to a henchman for La Familia Michoacana, one of Mexico's most violent drug cartels. The reports cite as a source an anonymous member of the Community Police in Nuevo Balsas, within the municipality of Cocula in the state of Guerrero, near the company's Morelos Gold Property, which includes the El Limon-Guajes project (under development) and the Media Luna project (in an advanced stage of exploration). The accusation is that Uriel Vences Delgado, also known as "La Burra" or "El 50", received the payments through two Mexican representatives of the Canadian company: Carmelo Navarrete and José Luis Peralta. According to the source, these alleged payments were to allow for mining operations to proceed without incident, including the free movements of goods and workers. Uriel Vences Delgado is understood to be the head of the cartel "plaza" in the municipalities of Cocula and Cuetzala. In this part of Mexico, as in many others, Community Police (also sometimes called "Autodefensas", though these are often larger paramilitary organizations) have formed to offer protection where official police are either absent or criminal. "I can understand those comments coming from Mexican people who are used to paying for protection," Gabriela Sánchez, Vice President Investor Relations, Torex Gold Resources Inc., told La politica in a phone interview. "However, we are not a target, because we pay for security. The communities are being victimized but we are not because we are a hard target." Sánchez, who spoke to La politica from Toronto, said that Torex Gold bought the property in Mexico in 2010, and as soon as they tried to establish a presence in 2011, they encountered problems. "We were starting to get our rigs in, and we were robbed at gunpoint," she says. "They took five trucks. The first two on a Wednesday, and then three days later, as we were trying to figure out who stole them, they took three more. We think it was common criminals." Sánchez says that, though locals had previously suggested to the company that they could buy protection, at that time Torex instead made the ethical decision to close the project. "We took our people out," she says. "And as soon as the last person was out, we issued a press release saying that our single asset had to close because of security concerns in Mexico. We are a public Canadian company; we had to disclose this. We said that until there was proper security we could not bring our people back." Torex Gold then did what mining companies do all over the world: they hired private security. This was Guerrero, always a tough place, but where things had been getting worse ever since former president Felipe Calderón declared his war on drugs shortly after taking office in December, 2006. The area around Cocula - which is not far from Iguala, where 43 students went missing last year - was rife with criminal activity. "The army came and calmed the area - they put in some patrols - but we had to put our own security in place," says Sánchez. "They can protect us, our assets, our people, but they are not allowed to protect the community." Mexican law asserts that only members of government security forces are allowed to be in possession of military-style weapons like assault rifles and machine guns. Since the cartels pay no attention to such laws, and are well-armed with AK-47s, a company like Minera Media Luna has little choice but to hire state security, which is what they did. "We hired police from the State of Guerrero, and trained them to Canadian and US standards," says Sánchez. "We hired private people to train them." Sánchez would not disclose to La politica who trained the Guerrero state police to protect the mine, or precisely how much Minera Media Luna is paying for this security, other than to say it is "probably a couple of million dollars a year." "No one has touched us, and that's why," she says. "Our company has about 200 employees, with another 1,400 to 1,500 contractors helping us build the mine. We hope to have it up and running by the end of this year. There are no Canadians on site, it is all Mexican, and we are very much in touch with the Mexican reality. We are not an easy target, but the locals still are." This was evident when, early in the morning on February 7, 12 people from the local community went missing (some reports say 18 went missing). One of these people worked for Media Luna as a labourer, and was off duty. Three others worked for contractors hired by Minera Media Luna. Upon hearing of this event, the company reduced operations to allow the army to return with full road access. The army managed to locate and free ten of the captives. On February 13, Torex Gold announced that construction activities at its El Limon Guajes Project had resumed. The perpetrators were not caught, and the remaining two individuals, Pedro Villalobos Tabares, from Nuevo Balsas, and Nedy Flores Adame, from Fundición, are still missing. The Community Police spokesperson claims that these two individuals are being held by the cartel leader Uriel Vences, who wants 500,000 pesos (about C$ 42,000) for their release. The army has stopped looking for the remaining two individuals. However, the chief of the Community Police force in Balsas, "Comandante Marcos", said that people from Nuevo Balsas, Real de Limón, La Fundición, and Las Mezas were continuing to look near Coacoyula, in the municipality of Iguala, where they believe Uriel Vences may have taken the two victims. They are now waiting for him to contact the families in order to start bargaining for a ransom. The spokesperson for the Community Police said that the government's response is now minimal - two patrols and ten state officers - with no helicopter support to aid in the search. Reports from the communities around the mine suggest that the people live in considerable fear of Uriel Vences and La Familia Michoacana, believing them to be involved in murder, kidnapping, and extortion. Specific to Minera Media Luna, it has been reported that workers at the mine have had to make direct payments to the cartel in order to continue their work unmolested. Though Torex Gold has made it clear that it is only responsible for security at its mine, and not in the larger community, there are reports that workers at the mine, and people living in the surrounding community, now plan to negotiate a more comprehensive security deal with the company. "These are small communities," says Sánchez. "There is no police presence, no army presence. And that has always been a problem. Anyone with a gun can do whatever they want. We are actively working with the community to work with the government to bring a permanent police presence." As it stands, Alfredo Phillips Greene, country manager for Minera Media Luna in Mexico, has responded to accusations in the press by asserting that, as a subsidiary of Canadian company, Minera Media Luna is in complete compliance with the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act. The irony is that, should Minera Media Luna in fact be paying for protection from a cartel, it would not be in contravention of the Act, which deals exclusively with government corruption. However, Phillips Greene also says that the company is in compliance with all legal and ethical criteria that apply to companies in both Mexico and Canada. For her part, Sánchez portrays the mining company as being sympathetic to the challenges faced by the communities near the mine site. "They deserve that security," she says. "It is a beautiful area. All they want to do is work and it is unfair that they are being victimized." However, the history of the site suggests that opposition to the mine could itself endanger one's security. On August 6, 2009, Torex Gold (then known as Gleichen Resources) entered into an agreement to acquire a majority stake in the Morelos Project from Teck Resources via the acquisition of Oroteck Mexico from Teck's subsidiaries Teck Metals and Teck Exploration. Soon after, trouble began. On August 23, 2009, Eligio Rebolledo Salinas, a community leader and opponent to the mine project, was shot four times by unidentified gunmen. Rebolledo Salinas had been campaigning for the company to pay a fair price to community members for land exploitation rights. Then, within a few days, three of Rebolledo Salinas' relatives, who were also campaigning against the mine, were arrested without warrant by scores of state judicial police, who broke into their homes and forced the men into unmarked vehicles, taking them to a police station in Iguala. They were held there for several days incommunicado, after which they were charged with the murder of a man from the same area. The men denied the charges. They also alleged that they were made to sign statements without knowing the contents, and denied access to lawyers. Perhaps not surprisingly, many in the Mexican press did not refer to this as a legitimate police action, but as a kidnapping. It should be noted, too, that it is members of the Guerrero State police who are now paid by Torex Gold to provide private security to their mine site. When these events happened, in 2009, exploration work in the area had been stopped by Teck Resources since the end of 2007. Once the new owners were in charge, pressure to approve the mine ramped up. According to Amnesty International: "After two years of tensions, in which former mine employees were laid off, and a few days before the attack on Eligio Rebolledo Salinas, two ex-employees of the mining company threatened community members saying "whatever it takes, the company will start its operations at the beginning of September or October" (cueste lo que cueste, para principios de septiembre u octubre la empresa empezara a operar)." Given this hostile environment, another activist against the mine, Evelia Bahena, was forced to leave the area out of fear for her personal safety. Nonetheless, negotiations continued, primarily with regard to various forms of compensation. Requests were presented for everything from medical services and personnel, to computers for "telesecundarias" (remote high school education), basketball courts, school supplies, water storage tanks, galvanized sheets of asbestos, and 300 doses of anti-scorpion serum. It took two years for the land agreements to begin to gel. On December 16, 2011, Torex Gold announced that Minera Media Luna had signed a long term, common land lease agreement with the Rio Balsas Ejido and for some individually owned parcels of land. (NB: In Mexico an "ejido" is community-owned land). The mine site (source: ProveedoresDeMinería.com) Then on March 12, 2012, Torex Gold announced that Minera Media Luna had signed a common land lease agreement with the Real del Limon Ejido. At that time Torex Gold also announced that it had signed land lease agreements for individually owned land parcels, as well as agreements for the land where the villages of La Fundición and El Limon are located. With the mining company now effectively controlling all that land, it announced plans to move 104 households off the mine site. And on July 12, 2012, Torex Gold announced that Minera Media Luna had signed a five-year exploration access agreement with the Puente Sur Balsas Ejido, for all of the Ejido common use lands. It is believed that all these lease agreements have a similar structure: 30 years with annual payments of 23,000 pesos (about C$ 2,000) per hectare during the first two years; and then for the next 13 years the equivalent, in pesos, of 2.5 troy ounces of gold per hectare, calculated at the annual average gold price published by the London Bullion Market Association. Starting in year 16, and every 5 years thereafter, the amount of the annual payments is to be renegotiated. With these lease agreements in place, Torex Gold moved fast to secure water access. On July 24, only 12 days after the final Puente Sur Balsas Ejido agreement, Torex Gold announced that Minera Media Luna had received a permit from the Mexican Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), through its National Water Commission (CONAGUA) to provide for the annual use of up to five million cubic meters of water from an underground aquifer. The company had drilled and tested the three wells needed to meet the required volumes. These wells are located approximately 14 km from the proposed plant site. In the past, some community members had expressed environmental concerns related to the effect of explosions, water usage, and cyanide leaching on the local environment. At present it is impossible to know to what extent those concerns are still present, as all dissenting voices have been silenced. This is an essentially lawless part of Mexico. After news broke that 43 students had gone missing from nearby Iguala on September 24 of last year, authorities went looking for them - only to find a collection of mass graves full of unknown victims. Of the over 80 people arrested in the Iguala kidnapping case, 44 are police officers. Now, it is Guerrero State police who have been hired to protect the mine site. Torex Gold may be correct when it insists that its security doesn't pay for protection, because it doesn't have to. What is certain is that no one - not a Mexican or a foreigner - can show up in rural Guerrero and protest this mine, and that in itself is worth reporting. ******* What To Do? Write to your own elected government officials, with copies of this information. Investigate your own Pension Funds, and write to them expressing your thoughts about investing in these types of companies and operations. Canada Pension Plan One Queen Street East, Suite 2500 Toronto, ON M5C 2W5 Canada [email protected] [mailto:%[email protected]], 416 868 4075, 866 557 9510 Executive Team Mark Wiseman, Executive Vice-President, Investments, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] André Bourbonnais, Senior Vice-President, Private Investments, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] John H. Butler, Senior Vice-President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Graeme Eadie, Senior Vice-President, Real Estate Investments, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Saylor Millitz-Lee, Senior Vice-President, Human Resources Donald M. Raymond, Senior Vice-President and Chief Investment Strategist, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Benita M. Warmbold, Senior Vice-President and Chief Operations Officer, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Nicholas Zelenczuk, Senior Vice-President and Chief Financial officer, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Lisa Baiton, Vice-President, Stakeholder & Government Relations, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Peter Ballon, Vice-President, Head of Real Estate Investments - Americas, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Susan Bellingham, Vice-President, Business Planning & Enterprise Risk Management, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Alain Carrier, Managing Director (Europe), Private Investments, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Edwin D. Cass, Vice-President and Head of Global Capital Markets Richard Egelton, Chief Economist & Vice-President, Economic and Research Services, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Jim Fasano, Vice-President and Head of Principal Investing, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Wenzel R. B. Hoberg, Vice-President, Real Estate Investments, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Mark Jenkins, Vice-President and Head of Private Debt, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Jean-François L'Her, Vice-President, Investment Research, Scott Lawrence, Vice-President, Head of Relationship Investments, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Chris Roper, Vice-President and Head of Short Horizon Alpha, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Cheryl Swan, Vice-President and Head of Treasury Services, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Jennifer Thompson, Vice-President and Head of Information Services, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]. Assistant: Colleen Sparrow, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Poul Winslow, Vice-President and Head of External Portfolio Management, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Brigid Barnett, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Linda Sims, [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] ******* Fund-Raising For Family Members of 43 Disappeared Students As Rights Action continues with our long-term work in Guatemala and Honduras, we have raised and sent $2,500 to family members and classmates of the Ayotzinapa 43, as they seek truth, justice and fundamental changes to the Mexican State and society. We will continue to support the family members of the Ayotzinapa 43 in 2015. Tax-Deductible Donations (Canada & United States) To support community organizations working for locally-controlled development, the environment, human rights and the rule of law in Honduras and Guatemala, make check payable to "Rights Action" and mail to: * Canada: (Box 552) 351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8 * USA: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091 * Credit-Card Donations: http://www.rightsaction.org/tax-deductible-donations [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001UXNCZzdsfOt7zD5vREEI4SPDGXgMd_9BMsW8WemysnvDydUUqGUqjaJY8e6-tJ3KOMAtGq_xEXEFI_PRcU0fXKACc6fp8nWUYg5euaR0v3DY-wLHQ0S9B8w3sjn7_CRuIt9ZNPLTXF1CybLxV7-UxEJTssU_gM8Fj5_7X2l_XnybTn3IzflEbSS8W2izgA9luC6lM2ukVkkrMUEQFFMtRA==&c=d3jQkEYe_KSILhHWdothP5hbtZ9139CwPijAdfdhqOIjFxg4K2YG2w==&ch=HcY6wEyJNDYO6kb5CKV8Du86RugjMjAOLQf9tjqfhomLJRdzSohUEA==] * Donations of stock: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] ******* More information: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] To receive our print newsletter: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Get on/off our listserv: www.rightsaction.org [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001UXNCZzdsfOt7zD5vREEI4SPDGXgMd_9BMsW8WemysnvDydUUqGUqjWK-NWZU5Svik_XUJz3OIk5E5pkNS9QEp6EGj5qvoOnZD2aBtiAamKjikG9uICDDf3RmEvG5Dg_vugdu5F9Gbg9B6KcDv3TRQFwCDMm3vV0Qx880jflkp0sx0eAOSmGCtA==&c=d3jQkEYe_KSILhHWdothP5hbtZ9139CwPijAdfdhqOIjFxg4K2YG2w==&ch=HcY6wEyJNDYO6kb5CKV8Du86RugjMjAOLQf9tjqfhomLJRdzSohUEA==] Follow us on facebook: www.facebook.com/RightsAction.org [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001UXNCZzdsfOt7zD5vREEI4SPDGXgMd_9BMsW8WemysnvDydUUqGUqjeYTwB2wI4lTGOGbvgqC9RcV1zwSzKQQjrzlkbxUAKOsurC1E0NETcEgW6x6AkPW9EuV6HNsghEuJKMkDp_o_JXyAdwXEpR1L5cVrapjvgoNticbig9C9mhoA0P0mj_IF62O6uWEYcuv&c=d3jQkEYe_KSILhHWdothP5hbtZ9139CwPijAdfdhqOIjFxg4K2YG2w==&ch=HcY6wEyJNDYO6kb5CKV8Du86RugjMjAOLQf9tjqfhomLJRdzSohUEA==] ******* & Forward this email http://ui.constantcontact.com/sa/fwtf.jsp?llr=v9oijwdab&m=1103480765269&[email protected]$&a=1120267398708 This email was sent to [email protected] by [email protected]. Update Profile/Email Address http://visitor.constantcontact.com/do?p=oo&m=0010W4b15eS5pxjtKsQ9aT6-g%3D%3D&ch=c8311eb0-207d-11e3-a1e6-d4ae529a824a&ca=d15c0495-f064-4bb3-bfd5-54ed13905d4e Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe(TM) http://visitor.constantcontact.com/do?p=un&m=0010W4b15eS5pxjtKsQ9aT6-g%3D%3D&ch=c8311eb0-207d-11e3-a1e6-d4ae529a824a&ca=d15c0495-f064-4bb3-bfd5-54ed13905d4e Privacy Policy: http://ui.constantcontact.com/roving/CCPrivacyPolicy.jsp Online Marketing by Constant Contact(R) www.constantcontact.com Rights Action | Box 50887 | Washington | DC | 20091

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LANR [March 2, 2015]: US Cites Honduras for Labor Violations Under Trade Treaty

CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND POLICY RESEARCH

Manipulated Latin America / Venezuela Media Coverage at the CBC

& Rights Action March 1, 2015 [email protected] ******* Manipulated Latin America/Venezuela Media Coverage at the CBC Letter to As It Happens (AIH), March 1, 2015 Dear As It Happens (CBC), (Feel free to share this with your editorial and news decision-making gang.) Recently, the CBC has reported a number of times in quite a misleading fashion about political upheaval in Venezuela. Are your news selection choices your own, at AIH, or are you getting messaging directions from further up the food-chain in CBC? It is not that there are not complex political issues going on in Venezuela - there are, and there have been going back many years, to well before the "Hugo Chavez" years; there will be for many years to come. One problem with your manipulated coverage is your biased selection of focus and "experts" to speak with. The next time you choose to shine your media flashlight on Venezuela, here is just one expert (Mark Weisbrot) you might invite to help begin to balance out your discussion and debate. * Recommend Reading: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/20/venezuela-revolt-truth-not-terror-campaign?CMP=share_btn_tw [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001tqo1jflojpTRx3vvDW8oHvAeGqGwRPFLreOqLqzx1HRNNJzHrvxVETRfYZprYdnrxVUTrwbma7jt_bcC9-Be5rpzQPpv9--

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U.S. government's "Alliance for Prosperity" has global companies, investors and military industry singing

& Rights Action February 28, 2015 [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] The U.S. government "Alliance For Prosperity" will impose more international corporations, investment and repression on the general populations of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador "The most polished segment of the "Alliance for Prosperity" details the sweetheart deals that Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador will roll out for international investors. U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden compared the Alliance to a kind of Plan Colombia for Central America. Plan Colombia was a six-year, $9 billion experiment that used anti-drugs policy as a pretext for bettering international investment conditions in Colombia, both through militarization and political reforms." (Dawn Paley) The long-term work and struggle continues for serious transformation of how Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador governments and societies work, as it does to put an end to how North American governments and militaries, banks and companies use and abuse the people and resources of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. * Get Involved / More Information: See below ******* Obama's Central American Rescue Plan Will Only Make Life There Worse By Dawn Paley, Feb. 5, 2015 (Original, with links: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120962/alliance-prosperity-wont-help-central-american-violence) [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001TXyQNivfKCkBb6TtFWBqioh6HtgMhTkAheTBjTNzOvEUYLKRsc77auN5tdBqfctwChmNNwWM9-N7QHduazkqinMKLDiK2MxYEHawyMq5wQ3b7Bd5qFw5SUq2lsc6K6G3LQjhmRRP-3L-wkcfBvmwHEXRYqIz7MgkgnY5qh383LZADUjxn9auwxJYsR6MRGM5RE2USlUtt57wEcLrZBSVxC5Q_DQa28MULIYRClJrW8RTdwv8BkV5GOSB6nojvEdNkTtxlQpquWDQgmCE2VBghQ==&c=fxUlDxzzQiOZb4a_1-aKVQsfBWQkIgTD5CjoSS3_41G95alH3m3y7A==&ch=C9WvrvF-LNyip9t3fsLBp5qzCbuVXA9qS4jdti8OtRY5q5Ly66eU9A==] When Americans began noticing a deluge of unaccompanied migrant children flooding to the U.S.-Mexico border, the immediate U.S. response was a stopgap. Youth were placed in shelters by the thousands, sometimes set up on military bases, which critics likened to detention centers and emergency hurricane shelters. Later, kids were placed with sponsors while their cases were processed. Now, a longer-term response is taking shape. The Obama administration has recently jumped on board with the Alliance for Prosperity, a plan that touts development and peace for Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. It promises to address the violence that's forcing children to flee in such Biblical numbers. Vice President Joe Biden's op-ed in the New York Times last week confirmed that President Obama would ask Congress for $1 billion to fund the Alliance For Prosperity, a name that recalls JFK's controversial Alliance for Progress. "Confronting these challenges," Biden wrote, "requires nothing less than systemic change ..." But the essence of what the Alliance for Prosperity promises is that more of the same - more local spending on infrastructure to facilitate foreign investment, more corporate tax breaks and "free trade" zones, and more regulatory harmonization - will allow Central America to pull itself up by its bootstraps. And, yes, that outcome is as unlikely as it sounds. Driving the public U.S. support for the Alliance for Progress is the ongoing humanitarian crisis of children fleeing their home countries. Between October 2013 and October 2014, 60,000 unaccompanied minors crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. Most of them were from Honduras, followed by Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico. These arrivals marked a spike in Central American minors trying to cross the border. (The number of Mexican minors has remained relatively stable; Mexican children are deported without a court hearing and thus not detained for significant lengths of time.) Many of the youth held in custody by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) were subjected to measures that would be considered objectionable against anyone, convicted adults or otherwise. Accusations against the CPB, in a complaint filed in June on behalf of 100 children by the American Civil Liberties Union and other rights groups are truly grotesque. They include "denying necessary medical care to children as young as five-months-old, refusing to provide diapers for infants, confiscating and not returning legal documents and personal belongings, making racially charged insults and death threats, and strip searching and shackling children in three-point restraints during transport." The ACLU proceeded to file a class action lawsuit in October challenging the federal government's failure to provide legal representation to the youth. After reaching a peak in June of 2014, the number of unaccompanied minors arriving to the United States has fallen off from more than 10,000 to a few thousand a month. This owes in large part to Mexico deporting more Central American minors. As fewer Central American kids arrived at the U.S. border, the issue and the plight of these children slid out of view. Enter the Alliance for Prosperity. In his op-ed, Biden wrote that the Alliance for Prosperity promotes security, good governance and economic growth in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. (The plan was authored this past fall by those countries' presidents.) The security proposal is thin on specifics, but aims to train and equip police, something the United States has been doing in the region for decades. The plan trots out classic promises to increase tax collection and transparency, toward improving government. It describes a renewed effort to invest in education, a sector decimated by austerity programs, including by promising cash to students who stay in school. But by far the most polished segment of the document details the sweetheart deals the three countries will roll out for international investors. Biden compared the Alliance to a kind of Plan Colombia for Central America. Plan Colombia was a six-year, $9 billion experiment that used anti-drugs policy as a pretext for bettering investment conditions in Colombia, both through militarization and political reforms. In short, this is not a comparison that should necessarily inspire confidence for Central Americans. In my book Drug War Capitalism, I explore how Plan Colombia was a foreign policy innovation that created a new blueprint for U.S. intervention on behalf of the corporate sector, guised as an anti-drugs initiative. In fact the success of Plan Colombia has little to nothing to do with drugs, but could be measured by examining growing levels of foreign direct investment and investor security. Biden's memory of Plan Colombia confirms my argument. Far from recalling an anti-drugs program, he lauds Plan Colombia such: "The Colombian government cleaned up its courts, vetted its police force and reformed its rules of commerce to open up its economy." Today's measure of success is distinct from the messaging about Plan Colombia at the time. It is also distinct from what we are told today about the Merida Initiative, the first re-incarnation of Plan Colombia, this time in Mexico. In an interview in 2007, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Robert Charles explained: "The aim of 'Plan Colombia' was to reduce overall cultivation in the country in the first five years by 50 percent. We've actually reduced it by more than 50 percent." Plan Colombia began in 2000, and ran through to 2006, after which U.S. funding to Colombia began to decrease and shift towards Mexico and the Merida Initiative, beginning in 2008. The U.S. State Department hawked the Merida Initiative as a way to strengthen courts and improve police odds in their fight against drug traffickers. Instead, those institutions' failures and cruelties have only deepened as U.S. largesse, to the tune of over $2.35 billion, has fostered increased violence across the country. Meanwhile, on the metrics that matter most directly to investors and politicians, the Merida Initiative has been a success: Mexico has passed reforms in finance, education, labor and energy that have cleared the way for foreign investment. But to people living here in Mexico, the Merida Initiative has only exacerbated an already grim daily reality. Biden's op-ed failed to mention the Merida Initiative, or its current incarnate in Central America, the Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI). When the Merida Initiative began, part of the funding was destined for Central America. In 2010, the Central America program was separated from the Merida Initiative, and re-packaged as CARSI. But CARSI did little to stem the violence or to reduce the tide of migrants. If anything, it did the opposite. In Honduras and Guatemala, homicide rates climbed steadily as U.S. funding for militarization via CARSI began to flow. Remember that Honduras sent the largest number of kids to the U.S. border, followed by Guatemala. In 2012, two solid years into CARSI, there were 7,172 recorded homicides in Honduras, marking the most violent year in the country's recent history. (That is, a country with 5 percent of the United States' population generated 56 percent as many murders as the United States saw that year.) Central America has been here before. Many of the features of CARSI and previous U.S. initiatives in Central America are recycled in the Alliance for Prosperity, albeit with a bigger budget and a more explicit focus on improving conditions for foreign investors. "Obviously the neoliberal program was not structured to reduce poverty, or to generate employment, or so that there would be no migrants," Guatemalan researcher Luis Solano wrote in an email interview. "But the public discourse was that of the famous 'trickle down policy,' a trickle down that never arrived except to the handful who benefited." Far from providing new opportunities for regular people in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, the measures proposed in the Alliance for Prosperity are likely to worsen the social and economic realities for the region's poor majority. This is likely to lead Central Americans - adults and children alike - to continue to seek out survival by heading north. Dawn Paley is a writer based in Mexico and the author of Drug War Capitalism. ******* Rights Action (USA & Canada) Funds grassroots organizations in Guatemala and Honduras (and less-so in southern Mexico and El Salvador) working for community-controlled development, environmental and human rights protection, and the strengthening of real democracy and rule of law. Rights Action does education and activism work concerning how the United States and Canada sometimes contribute to and benefit from environmental harms and human rights violations, repression, corruption and impunity in these countries. Get Informed / Get Involved * Speakers: Invite us to give educational presentations in your community about these issues * Educational Delegation: Form your own group or join one of our educational-solidarity delegation seminars to Guatemala and Honduras to learn more about these issues and struggles * Daily News: www.democracynow.org [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001TXyQNivfKCkBb6TtFWBqioh6HtgMhTkAheTBjTNzOvEUYLKRsc77atJVndizu3mSV1YsawIPuM-n1lPIAPMyxuQapzkLajPrnUb2cSROVeCrEpyhNRiHd69tL636iGi4SdGinol6KZN9y6nfg0XhxkfxR6H-ExcsvTqpZ9u9-8G3jyEUSj0V5w==&c=fxUlDxzzQiOZb4a_1-aKVQsfBWQkIgTD5CjoSS3_41G95alH3m3y7A==&ch=C9WvrvF-LNyip9t3fsLBp5qzCbuVXA9qS4jdti8OtRY5q5Ly66eU9A==] / www.upsidedownworld.org [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001TXyQNivfKCkBb6TtFWBqioh6HtgMhTkAheTBjTNzOvEUYLKRsc77atJVndizu3mSMHPzaPMSJQEf42YahsIH6CCrci3YyT9Gs12mLt56lhbltWpmTA2DRt8oOkpksBIXhFScu0mKDFKeF-Figo9fFDC93uZol53sWu8isAZcrluuCUjLDfQGoQ==&c=fxUlDxzzQiOZb4a_1-aKVQsfBWQkIgTD5CjoSS3_41G95alH3m3y7A==&ch=C9WvrvF-LNyip9t3fsLBp5qzCbuVXA9qS4jdti8OtRY5q5Ly66eU9A==] / www.dominionpaper.ca [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001TXyQNivfKCkBb6TtFWBqioh6HtgMhTkAheTBjTNzOvEUYLKRsc77atJVndizu3mSuMEJ0RnpsAi6g8E8RS9HlglTWBA9VzYImdVO5CHet3vTEdr66JR18wnr4Cemcp9L-OFXdWv_dFExHnFqMGE_oVoYcLIP6p5FiHdYNb4YKibeVI-s8nNiQg==&c=fxUlDxzzQiOZb4a_1-aKVQsfBWQkIgTD5CjoSS3_41G95alH3m3y7A==&ch=C9WvrvF-LNyip9t3fsLBp5qzCbuVXA9qS4jdti8OtRY5q5Ly66eU9A==] / www.rabble.ca [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001TXyQNivfKCkBb6TtFWBqioh6HtgMhTkAheTBjTNzOvEUYLKRsc77albZa-80DPqN1ofv-gxxLOzYIWHZc4Q9LvGzeZ25Z_vdrNKhnU713hOYrN11NEUi9CcNmsePRoFaFjU-Ew-ZDQU9hmShp7bufhHAUsULG5J-RY7D76OhdEs=&c=fxUlDxzzQiOZb4a_1-aKVQsfBWQkIgTD5CjoSS3_41G95alH3m3y7A==&ch=C9WvrvF-LNyip9t3fsLBp5qzCbuVXA9qS4jdti8OtRY5q5Ly66eU9A==] / Say No To 'Business, Repression and Impunity As Usual' The U.S. and Canadian governments, the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank, and North American companies and investors (including public pension funds like Social Security and the Canada Pension Plan) maintain profitable economic and military relations with the Guatemalan and Honduran elites, turning a blind eye to death and suffering by drought, repression, violence and impunity that are the norm in both countries. It is extremely difficult to hold our companies, investors, governments and international "development" banks accountable when they contribute to and benefit from human rights violations and environmental and health harms in other countries. Send, and keep on sending copies of this information, and your own letters, to your own elected politicians (MPs, Congresspersons, Senators), to your media, and to your own pension and investment funds, asking: Why our governments, companies and investment firms do nothing about the deep, endemic poverty, repression and violence, and environmental and health harms associated with North American businesses, while benefiting from these economic relations with the Guatemalan and Honduran political, military and economic elites? Tax-Deductible Donations (Canada & United States) To support community organizations working for locally-controlled development, the environment, human rights, real democracy and the rule of law in Honduras and Guatemala, make check payable to "Rights Action" and mail to: * Canada: (Box 552) 351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8 * USA: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091 * Credit-Card Donations: http://www.rightsaction.org/tax-deductible-donations [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001TXyQNivfKCkBb6TtFWBqioh6HtgMhTkAheTBjTNzOvEUYLKRsc77ankXP4zafAJqphYtdnnjWNZCJkBL8hvNE7yXYLky09Cx7pZM0KHsPH1gfCjPMHTctvbAXPaQrOCIG7jOTqdohvvbg-rroCVt0JWNWKWOQUKc-8JabNRyfavTxQ1JNCmxUVVQaPaEebKMaRR64EL3arKyf9i9mqmuPw==&c=fxUlDxzzQiOZb4a_1-aKVQsfBWQkIgTD5CjoSS3_41G95alH3m3y7A==&ch=C9WvrvF-LNyip9t3fsLBp5qzCbuVXA9qS4jdti8OtRY5q5Ly66eU9A==] * Stock donations: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] More information: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] To receive our print newsletter: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Get on/off our listserv: www.rightsaction.org [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001TXyQNivfKCkBb6TtFWBqioh6HtgMhTkAheTBjTNzOvEUYLKRsc77atJVndizu3mSjTs-jmEFa5w-ILtizhI10ahCMNq54sOd5MYSJwEXtOQJLE5hMm5qxFytml9LpTKy_TVuUa6FavuTaX8bwAzjBU6fGd4WSGWmiXtSiwv_zuk15OB5RQ_Sew==&c=fxUlDxzzQiOZb4a_1-aKVQsfBWQkIgTD5CjoSS3_41G95alH3m3y7A==&ch=C9WvrvF-LNyip9t3fsLBp5qzCbuVXA9qS4jdti8OtRY5q5Ly66eU9A==] Follow us on facebook: www.facebook.com/RightsAction.org [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001TXyQNivfKCkBb6TtFWBqioh6HtgMhTkAheTBjTNzOvEUYLKRsc77ai9Aqp4BCLRzkYsJ7NuO8vx1cfYl42X-8Pltys_cLg7F0VmAAoVkE9ehowJiAadI5GdX882nJCfcHYRg-6XY0k5dm0oVjMa2wtaCIX9g0sXYUMVE2SL8ar6IW-GP0XD-gpGuWMM83YNZ&c=fxUlDxzzQiOZb4a_1-aKVQsfBWQkIgTD5CjoSS3_41G95alH3m3y7A==&ch=C9WvrvF-LNyip9t3fsLBp5qzCbuVXA9qS4jdti8OtRY5q5Ly66eU9A==] ******* & Forward this email http://ui.constantcontact.com/sa/fwtf.jsp?llr=v9oijwdab&m=1103480765269&[email protected]$&a=1120247660779 This email was sent to [email protected] by [email protected]. Update Profile/Email Address http://visitor.constantcontact.com/do?p=oo&m=0010W4b15eS5pxjtKsQ9aT6-g%3D%3D&ch=c8311eb0-207d-11e3-a1e6-d4ae529a824a&ca=37d5cdc7-a26c-45cd-9ed5-26368454c1ff Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe(TM) http://visitor.constantcontact.com/do?p=un&m=0010W4b15eS5pxjtKsQ9aT6-g%3D%3D&ch=c8311eb0-207d-11e3-a1e6-d4ae529a824a&ca=37d5cdc7-a26c-45cd-9ed5-26368454c1ff Privacy Policy: http://ui.constantcontact.com/roving/CCPrivacyPolicy.jsp Online Marketing by Constant Contact(R) www.constantcontact.com Rights Action | Box 50887 | Washington | DC | 20091

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Update! SOA Grads in the News in 2015

SOA GRADS CONTINUE TO MAKE HEADLINES THROUGHOUT THE AMERICAS LASolidarity, In just the first two months of 2015, we have been horrified, though not surprised, to learn of the continued repression by SOA/WHINSEC graduates against their own people. As the US continues to secure economic and political interests by utilizing military solutions to social and political problems, SOA/WHINSEC graduates continue to make headlines in countries like Honduras, Guatemala, Peru and Chile, underscoring the importance of continuing the struggle to close the SOA/WHINSEC. While some graduates have yet to be held accountable due to the high levels of impunity in their country or in the US, they are all directly responsible for committing grave human rights violations, which include murder, torture and genocide. As we continue to highlight these atrocities, we invite you to join us in Washington, DC for our Spring Days of Action this April 22-25, Growing Stronger Together: Resisting the "War on Drugs" across the America. in solidarity, SOA Watch For more information: http://soaw.org/take-action/spring-days-of-action RSVP for the Spring Days of Action: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Oc0Hy1fZKQ65a_uTjKvR9siX_f4wlckINcqEZGBZf_Q/viewform?usp=send_form

Repression & Corruption Work: After Extreme Violence, KCA (Kappes, Cassiday & Associates) Proceeds With Mine In Guatemala

& Repression & Corruption Work: After Extreme Violence, KCA (Kappes, Cassiday & Associates) Proceeds With Mine In Guatemala By Grahame Russell, February 26, 2015 (after visit to "La Puya", February 4) From January 28 - February 8, 2015, Rights Action travelled with a Canadian journalist and students from the University of Guelph (Canada), to meet with Mayan and campesino communities suffering environmental and health harms, repression and other human rights violations caused by the Canadian-led mining industry in Guatemala. Rights Action provides grassroots funding to the community and environmental protection and human rights promotion work of the people we met with. From a spot up the road from "La Puya" (near Guatemala City), one sees where KCA - with military and police "protection" - has begun developing their gold and silver heap-leaching mining operation, in one of the driest regions of Guatemala. Our group could get no closer to the mine, blocked by Guatemalan security forces. This work began in earnest after violent State repression in May 2014, mentioned below. Three Years of Community and Environmental Protection Struggle On March 1, 2015, local farmers and citizens from San Jose del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc will celebrate the 3rd anniversary of their peaceful and courageous community and environmental protection struggle at a place known as "La Puya", by the entrance of a mine illegally acquired and developed first by the Canadian company Radius Gold and now the American company KCA. (As our group of University of Guelph students sat with local women and men at their permanent "La Puya" encampment, company trucks drove in and out of the mine entrance guarded by a permanent contingent of anti-riot police.) Internationally recognized hydrologist and geo-chemical expert, Robert Moran, studied KCA's improperly submitted EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) and concluded it was one of the worst EIA he had studied in over 40 years of work in the field of mining. (http://www.plazapublica.com.gt/content/entrevista-robert-moran-estudio-impacto-ambiental [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001WxGwYrkemOGYPvxB93ngJ9-hg8E2Tii9ZNDj-7oY5VDoWRX1fAPYwTekb-VNbW17XwzK0DN_QOOVZGztSmXRyc31yT00Vk4iQUHLq4CqRA_da1lwSFQR9w7e9LgWfORvvdDHv8z7l9wH0xTho6Pl5oh7eqTMgSSdJqTvxVdYPlIYJCA9l6N4E_RwJL3L_B3awAV_x18UvNZWhdLbOm6EqJ-OnLsOkrwPr6Zw4NJDVkHXN4Iwkx4MBoXHbxb4XramsvFrLxjiF_8=&c=YecexDCxvYzdP_Mk2RBNz07_4TJ93iocYwwp7jZfOX5xO-j8FbFJSg==&ch=UiMqW1MYh5qM4LPONcMnB8cmPiZy8QXqUmGwFcyZOV_oVuVFCS1csQ==]) No matter, licenses were "duly provided by the authorities". Three Years of Repression on Behalf of KCA and Radius Gold (original developer of mine) Both when Radius Gold was first developing the mine, and now with KCA, police and soldiers have carried out waves of repression against local farmers and citizens. (May 2014) Today, as the mine moves towards being operational, the companies - and their government and investor supporters - have shown again just how repression and corruption enable mining in Guatemala. Since 2012, Rights Action and many groups have regularly denounced the mining-related repression - attempted assassinations, false charges and imprisonments, beatings, tear-gas attacks, shootings - to the Canadian and American embassies, elected politicians and government officials ... to no avail. Legal System a Further Tool of Repression for Mining Industry In a numbingly repetitive, yet still stunning fashion, the Guatemalan "authorities" are now seeking five-year jail sentences for four "La Puya" community leaders, for a series of trumped charges relating to their community and environmental protection work. (http://noticias.emisorasunidas.com/noticias/nacionales/este-viernes-dictaran-sentencia-contra-lideres-comunitarios-puya [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001WxGwYrkemOGYPvxB93ngJ9-hg8E2Tii9ZNDj-7oY5VDoWRX1fAPYwTekb-VNbW17yAiSx4nX0BnFr0pAQm-c_elGDD8T-hohxQ48x8RH9htllHJzmlLwFRbM17gS6xq33F98ZTi1EkuaR34J-eo2gtgoZA5xiu7CZfpGQPnRAZvgw9_vISA4x112dlzGZ_os3vWuVq5DxgffYWCgkm4cHYOVLMls-3uodGfuNBOmuFdR6NYyhZbVbZ2LPLyUvo4yYrssO-WAWWq_BQP1DnDfAyryMtlYPIv_gESU95PdPFO-gIjBTCUf1w==&c=YecexDCxvYzdP_Mk2RBNz07_4TJ93iocYwwp7jZfOX5xO-j8FbFJSg==&ch=UiMqW1MYh5qM4LPONcMnB8cmPiZy8QXqUmGwFcyZOV_oVuVFCS1csQ==]) These same "authorities" cannot find the two assassins who fired 3 bullets at community member Yoli Oqueli in June 2012 (while Radius Gold was trying to illegally develop the mine). While Yoli miraculously survived the assassination attempt, one bullet remains lodged perilously close to her spinal column. Neither can the "authorities" find any wrong-doing in the actions of anti-riot police that, on at least three occasions, opened fire with tear-gas canisters and rubber bullets on peaceful protesters, sending dozens to local medical clinics and hospitals. "Each Blow Gives Us Strength" In May 2014, an anti-riot police officer fired a tear-gas canister directly at Felisa Muralles, from close range. On February 4, 2015, Felisa spoke to the University of Guelph students, explaining that "every blow gives us strength" to do what we need to do to peacefully protect our community and environmental well-being. ******* Tax-Deductible Donations (Canada & United States) To support community organizations working for locally-controlled development, the environment, human rights and the rule of law in Honduras and Guatemala, make check payable to "Rights Action" and mail to: * Canada: (Box 552) 351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T * USA: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091 * Credit-Card Donations: http://www.rightsaction.org/tax-deductible-donations [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001WxGwYrkemOGYPvxB93ngJ9-hg8E2Tii9ZNDj-7oY5VDoWRX1fAPYwVBPUhqMKEBVXenWMR2Lzo911PGxF1xH9c0QYoWwlNlVZohtF06OXvybCdu0wKMqkzhH65bZJtK4LdnD9rOGuJSlkOLuBRC--rS7G8ww4_8IJJtX84tIDiCOcgSul85Ve6pXZdTBwHgNmCcHW5aAc3dkDy3x_2-vgw==&c=YecexDCxvYzdP_Mk2RBNz07_4TJ93iocYwwp7jZfOX5xO-j8FbFJSg==&ch=UiMqW1MYh5qM4LPONcMnB8cmPiZy8QXqUmGwFcyZOV_oVuVFCS1csQ==] * Stock donations: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] More information: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] To receive our print newsletter: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Get on/off our listserv: www.rightsaction.org [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001WxGwYrkemOGYPvxB93ngJ9-hg8E2Tii9ZNDj-7oY5VDoWRX1fAPYwYJFh6j_39k1PQCYul0LxPMaCEdEIdzWjOveYI0XWqFzgHC5Sg651S

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LANR [February 27, 2015]: Case Against Argentine President Is Dismissed

CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND POLICY RESEARCH

"These Savages Will Soon Be Going"

- February 8, 2015, Rights Action travelled with a Canadian journalist

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LANR [February 26, 2015]: Haitian Protesters Decry Dominican Treatment of Countrymen

CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND POLICY RESEARCH

LANR [February 25, 2015]: Senate Democrats Balk at $1-billion Aid Plan for Central America

CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND POLICY RESEARCH

LANR [February 24, 2015]: Top Panama Judge Pleads Guilty to Corruption

CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND POLICY RESEARCH

LANR [February 23, 2015]: Controversy After Arrest of Four Honduran Military Police Officers

CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND POLICY RESEARCH

Keep Calm and Vote CEPR

CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND POLICY RESEARCH

Famine and Hunger Devastate Guatemala ..., Again The Pathological Interdependence of Feast and Famine in the Global "Free Trade" Economic Order

& Rights Action February 18, 2015 [email protected] ******* Famine and Hunger Devastate Guatemala ..., Again The Pathological Interdependence of Feast and Famine in the Global "Free Trade" Economic Order By Grahame Russell, February 18, 2015 "New famine", cries out the Guatemalan newspaper headline (La Prensa, February 7, 2015), threatening the lives of 874,000 people in 206 regions of the country. 'Famine and hunger spreading through Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador', reports the United Nation's Food and Hunger Program, pulling on heart strings, opening their bank accounts for charity donations, many of which might come from the countries and consumers that help create and profit from the famine and hunger. Former general, now president Otto Perez Molina promises: "My government will not abandon those families suffering from drought", as his government cuts back spending on health and education, increasing spending on police and military forces that provide "protection" to large-scale landowners, the mining industry, hydro-electric dam companies, etc, that control the best lands and water sources, so as to produce goods for faraway investors and consumers. In all of this dismally repetitive 'crisis' reporting, year after year, there is no discussion about how most of the people suffering famine and hunger live short distances from some of the richest lands in all of Guatemala, that - protected by men with guns (police, soldiers and private security): * produce bananas and pineapple for export (Dole, Chiquita, Standard Fruit, etc) to European and North American consumers whose fruit consumer demands will be met; * produce cow meat for export to fast-food and boutique hamburger joints ("billions served"); * produce African palm and sugar cane for food products and "green" energies like bio-diesel fuel and ethanol so that vehicles of faraway consumers will not hunger for fuel, will not be famished for endless travel and mobility. There will be no reporting about how the Guatemalan police, military and private security guards forcibly evict indigenous and campesino communities to make way for hydro-electric dams and open-pit gold, silver and nickel mining operations so that global investors (private equity firms and pension funds) will not hunger for profits. Nor will there be analysis about how the World Bank, Inter-American development Bank, governments of Canada, United States, etc, are passing more "free trade" agreements, to make more of Guatemala's best lands and water available to more foreign companies and investors to produce more products for export to more consumers in faraway places, creating more famine and hunger in Guatemala, just over there beyond the chain-linked, armed-guarded fence, just up there on the dried out, parched lands of the steep mountain sides. The annual devastation and death caused by famine and hunger in countries like Guatemala are not a 'crisis' and they are not national issues. There will be no end to this predictable, logical cycle of global feast and famine if there is no significant transformation of the unjust global economic system that creates and perpetuates it. ******* What To Do? Rights Action (USA & Canada) funds grassroots organizations in Guatemala and Honduras (and in southern Mexico and El Salvador) working for community-controlled development, environmental protection and human rights, and for the strengthening of real democracy and rule of law. Rights Action does education and activism work addressing how the United States and Canada sometimes contribute to and benefit from poverty, environmental harms and human rights violations, corruption and impunity in these countries. Get Informed / Get Involved * Speakers: Invite us to give educational presentations in your community about these issues * Educational Delegation: Form your own group or join one of our educational-solidarity delegation seminars to Guatemala and Honduras to learn more about these issues and struggles * Daily News: www.democracynow.org [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001LOzM8_PrTYMRenJh-q387N74W_Nw3zCaIYOlFCes1WpDZk8JlCtMMkyFIwjYUyrfhldj0gt4t00ZlSv_NNPKNS09QS-Bkor5xFDaopw9frNmwKGjV4vAfOe8Wq4HSp17ORODIjN60bbw1hotM0ybmlzQ0JIXS8o_SCCkqSKDfdcqjxyjkuM-BA==&c=lPBJpdizvGHBhG_BdnQF_hSeSfCVxxUw702-is-Z5gohgnxrbr1UlQ==&ch=QqpGMwysBQagc6MYZR7t0ghL1HfowP13rPx5j9DA9y60WOVIo-WMaw==] / www.upsidedownworld.org [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001LOzM8_PrTYMRenJh-q387N74W_Nw3zCaIYOlFCes1WpDZk8JlCtMMkyFIwjYUyrfAkcAbYGS0wb74sxadK0q0ZNMuIHUL4m7Y79T8guVoVnzk3FCpU59iIdmSrPGu9iUY30AGTmrWLgOenN5omB4Hj3NU_SlbtEBMdtyMWN4WZJTF9v1lCs1TA==&c=lPBJpdizvGHBhG_BdnQF_hSeSfCVxxUw702-is-Z5gohgnxrbr1UlQ==&ch=QqpGMwysBQagc6MYZR7t0ghL1HfowP13rPx5j9DA9y60WOVIo-WMaw==] / www.dominionpaper.ca [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001LOzM8_PrTYMRenJh-q387N74W_Nw3zCaIYOlFCes1WpDZk8JlCtMMkyFIwjYUyrfoRu97zW8JydPsRR7fYjjQi2h43VOdk_vi1C_OsjCqKYXVH3QLT4zU0mT1eJ9WN8PUOVW39X5d5B6YHUv_wsByngqFshIt84BuRa5xsGrTy2eD58cozGoWw==&c=lPBJpdizvGHBhG_BdnQF_hSeSfCVxxUw702-is-Z5gohgnxrbr1UlQ==&ch=QqpGMwysBQagc6MYZR7t0ghL1HfowP13rPx5j9DA9y60WOVIo-WMaw==] / www.rabble.ca [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001LOzM8_PrTYMRenJh-q387N74W_Nw3zCaIYOlFCes1WpDZk8JlCtMMqPhM7kUCx3Uls7

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LANR [February 18, 2015]: US Immigration Delay a Disappointment to Central American Countries

CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND POLICY RESEARCH

Spring Days of Action! April 22-25

2015 Spring Days of Action! School of the Americas Watch is mobilizing this April for our Spring Days of Action (SDOA). Our 2015 SDOA theme is "Growing Stronger Together - Resisting the 'Drug War' Across the Americas". Will you help us take the message to Washington, DC? Join us for actions in the streets and halls of Congress to hasten the end of militarization and the Drug War. Part of social change is grassroots power, and we'll be having a welcome party, congressional visits, critical mass bike ride, concert, movement strategy session, and more! Register to join us in D.C. April 22-25: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Oc0Hy1fZKQ65a_uTjKvR9siX_f4wlckINcqEZGBZf_Q/viewform SOA Watch will also be hosting a series of virtual lobby trainings in the lead up to the Spring Days of Action. For more information and to register, please click here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/13xmYIuJCKnIXV2YBxrKEwZ0Fj6tJjTtreausPdu9d_c/viewform "Growing": The movement's continued commitment to justice has only made our roots deeper and our reach towards the sun lengthen. More recently, SOA Watch's partnership withting the U.S. Drug War in Mexico, have made seedlings whispering in the wind take root and cultivate in our shared communities. This April we continue in this same tradition of growing by challenging the Drug War in Latin America and in the U.S. "Stronger": Change occurs over time, sprouting from the seeds planted by those who have come before us. Now, it is our job to continue to grow the movement, push for greater change, and continue building an alternative to war and Empire. State violence and impunity, Mass incarceration, the root causes of migration, the criminalization of dissent - the greatest social struggles we are currently resisting in the hemisphere are linked by the disastrous "Drug War". "Together": We are many communities in resistance, from Mexico, the U.S, and across the Americas, working for self-determination, justice, and an end to the violence of the Drug War. We are taking our message to Washington, DC not as individuals, but as a collective, echoing the millions of voices speaking truth to power and telling our own histories and herstories so that the powers that be cannot claim ignorance of the truth, and make a decision whether or not they will be part of the change for a better, more peaceful world. The SOA Watch Movement Is Confronting The "War on Drugs" The "Drug War" is militarizing, incarcerating, and killing communities in Latin America and in the U.S., especially traditionally oppressed peoples. Let's join join together this Spring to tell Congress the War on Drugs must end. Register for Spring Days of Action today! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Oc0Hy1fZKQ65a_uTjKvR9siX_f4wlckINcqEZGBZf_Q/viewform And register for our virtual lobby trainings, every other week leading up to the SDOA by clicking on this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/13xmYIuJCKnIXV2YBxrKEwZ0Fj6tJjTtreausPdu9d_c/viewform The enforced disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa, Mexico proved once again that the disastrous results of U.S. military aid and training in Latin America are ongoing. Similarly, in Ferguson and other U.S. cities have reminded us that police militarization and the treatment of black and brown people as internal enemies are also major problems in the U.S., while putting into context what militarization looks like on the ground for so many in Latin America and beyond. Check out the video above of Arturo, SOA Watch's Legislative Organizer, work with others in the movement to confront Congressional Representatives about the War on Drugs in Mexico in January, 2015. How to get to DC: http://soaw.org/take-action/april/251-info/715-how-to-get-to-washington-dc Where to stay in DC: http://soaw.org/take-action/april/251-info/3592-accommodation-options-for-april-days-of-action Local Organizing: http://www.soaw.org/presente/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=46&Itemid=74 Questions? Suggestions? Ideas? Please contact Arturo [email protected] or call (202) 234-3440. Together We Will Demand: - End the Drug War in Latin America! We demand an end to "security" aid & military training of Latin American soldiers and police. Drug use is a social health issue, it can no longer be used as an excuse to militarize, control, and exacerbate violence in Latin America. !Ya Basta! - End the Drug War in the U.S.! Pass the "Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act"! Our communities in the U.S. are also not battlefields, they are where people live and love. The Pentagon needs to stop sending "free" military weapons to police forces, who look more and more like soldiers, not peace officers. - Freedom for Nestora Salgado, U.S. and Mexican citizen & target of the Drug War, from solitary confinement! Schedule of Events Wednesday, April 22 7pm Opening Celebration at Haydee's Restaurant (3102 Mount Pleasant St. NW) Thursday, April 23 Lobby trainings and visits on Capitol Hill Friday, April 24 - Grassroots Lobbying, Direct Action, Critical Mass Bike Ride, Concert Saturday, April 25 - SOA Watch Forum and Strategy Session

#UStired2 and other groups protes

Troubled Times Ahead With Canada's Bill C-51, The So-called "Anti-Terrorism Act 2015"

& Rights Action [email protected] February 17, 2015 Troubled Times Ahead With Canada's Bill C-51, The So-called "Anti-Terrorism Act 2015" (As Canadian as Apple Pie; As American as Hockey) ******* Troubled Times Ahead With New Anti-Terror Legislation By Matthew Behrens [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001e0pa1ovG1T7dO5JLY5A0dEQVtQzOepEMTlZzuxQmVNB3LRbzU16vo4SsMUettX2Sg52W79-uSaJ_kjhBl5wosJyTSLusG2iOuSSv7jjCmw-YTbKLxYOzLYSbBcpGvXne7EdfGAHFSNkNpDQ2cflqtOnifrmLLobU7t9vIXcnn4J_xoGr4feC0xBWNWrvbgr15PVzGQTjf7doSJAUi7sCkdyn5qY4ZTWv&c=Y38LXyJIY6RHaVwKnopJX90gpF7xjVOzGn21Tn3NAC93HvnuG7SfbA==&ch=GvsypkWHkWcofesnduVlMb_E2Q2B10Va220-W69Qadz_GhOkbf96kQ==], February 16, 2015 http://rabble.ca/columnists/2015/02/troubled-times-ahead-new-anti-terror-legislation [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001e0pa1ovG1T7dO5JLY5A0dEQVtQzOepEMTlZzuxQmVNB3LRbzU16vo4SsMUettX2SfyCjMfYqhV5pF44WL4g62hK6KV0933hYtNWKCYPvqgJ8AZTlhSaT1hVFXrRUx77QFWxS0bi8voZW8V4872pFDde3y-Sve45RTgve5n2-Y35g9SE1_rSskPCmgCYrsSsu0TUfvwR6kom4ChRAnDpLdmdLl9J77NWhbMDoqxjnQWJuoq2Ln31YSmW1NWLM7n7R50AVYE7awzI=&c=Y38LXyJIY6RHaVwKnopJX90gpF7xjVOzGn21Tn3NAC93HvnuG7SfbA==&ch=GvsypkWHkWcofesnduVlMb_E2Q2B10Va220-W69Qadz_GhOkbf96kQ==] Just in time for an election campaign in which Stephen Harper is positioning himself as a war-time prime minister, Bill C-51 (Anti-Terrorism Act 2015) was recently introduced to play a dual role: granting extraordinary new powers to already hyperactive and unaccountable state security agencies, and baiting as "soft on terror" anyone who questions the bill's necessity and the human rights violations it will further legitimize. Harper started off 2015 by claiming [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001e0pa1ovG1T7dO5JLY5A0dEQVtQzOepEMTlZzuxQmVNB3LRbzU16vo4SsMUettX2SJdhG164jnYTuB3yvZjW6p2dg9DGg7U8-eb_NSlM4o85q-YzyxtlNM-vb695x-RXzIp1gti1ade7YE3xVfA4ZgajUX-vVp9A4ZLdtpO5XH4joLF8sko-3c_FfdDgb3g40nRuIqmqMpBtJsRkcS4R5oAOSc0xk1Lg07FM4w7HHcWX77Ttel_hVjiVw7TdDpzn0pnRPbykzhTwfuQyNQxjtyqkr19ZosKzdu9ZsJvCrPeV5aEx34r39EQ==&c=Y38LXyJIY6RHaVwKnopJX90gpF7xjVOzGn21Tn3NAC93HvnuG7SfbA==&ch=GvsypkWHkWcofesnduVlMb_E2Q2B10Va220-W69Qadz_GhOkbf96kQ==] "jihadists" had "declared war" on Canada, later adding [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001e0pa1ovG1T7dO5JLY5A0dEQVtQzOepEMTlZzuxQmVNB3LRbzU16vo4SsMUettX2Sl1aJS1i7V9ZQLgwJqqckG0ndi2-2r5OXLRvZCdswUyNFg_Rc8fvpBAm7XoXjzLrlILs8Te5--p9hIElMPGjc--J0s4M_d_LkgZbblMV5uRFRSI_5BOmYR72ekSRONA9jfnkkzWbhrYXvt-QOW-Km70JP0yBYF1RZTbYqJoXMRSsRXMKPolFWcfsC69C-dyEoL6CG8k_CK5OfbcIBHEt2i4udQKGW7StY&c=Y38LXyJIY6RHaVwKnopJX90gpF7xjVOzGn21Tn3NAC93HvnuG7SfbA==&ch=GvsypkWHkWcofesnduVlMb_E2Q2B10Va220-W69Qadz_GhOkbf96kQ==] a line from the George W. Bush playbook: "They want to harm us because they hate our society and the values it represents." (One thing Harper and others have yet to address is why so-called "jihadists" have not declared war on democracies like Brazil, Argentina, or Costa Rica, which have similar "values," not to mention vibrant celebrations of hedonistic sexuality that might make ISIS cringe.) Setting The Stage Introducing C-51, Harper declared: "violent jihadism...is not a human right. It is an act of war, and our government's new legislation fully understands that difference." Even though one of the RCMP's own internal documents [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001e0pa1ovG1T7dO5JLY5A0dEQVtQzOepEMTlZzuxQmVNB3LRbzU16vo4SsMUettX2SORM6PTzSCQoWiUMzCv7kN8rZbYFrQCYqcTI6uc_SRDCrZpC78BKOou1abb3-MNkFPabALB9KrOoG3N2b3yvqbcbQH30Ez7WGz9TEZ3PPkIGvtiBfJfarNfrGyeoyxpmHx8ixfVzvwix55EghRSghkV8NDkDYM8rGCvEaXB1VJBCExzU0hsSnaUvjJP3Skixn5mfMzDi8X7QVB_QZ3oa1t8LBSwRZK5jojr4N6kVecJSsTK-EEEhKHZMSHjtu_B6ScerFRlBMz2Q=&c=Y38LXyJIY6RHaVwKnopJX90gpF7xjVOzGn21Tn3NAC93HvnuG7SfbA==&ch=GvsypkWHkWcofesnduVlMb_E2Q2B10Va220-W69Qadz_GhOkbf96kQ==] advises against using terms like "jihadism" and "Islamic terrorism"

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