Across the Americas

HEMISPHERIC SOCIAL ALLIANCE
ALIANZA SOCIAL CONTINENTAL
http://www.asc-hsa.org

1) The new referendums in Bolivia were marked by a high level of abstention
2) Peru’s proposal about Decision 486 will be voted on June 21st
3) Ecuador: An audit of the external debt continues
4) Mexico: Food for Mexico’s campesinos: Hunger doesn’t wait
5) Central America: U.S. objectives move forward in Plan Puebla Panama and the Mérida initiative
6) Colombia: Government represses indigenous social mobilization with lethal weapons

---

1) The new referendums in Bolivia were marked by a high level of abstention

There was an air of abstention and popular resistance in many of the provinces and sectors in the departments of Pando and Beni, where the illegal referendums were held. According to press reports in Pando, if NO votes and abstentions are counted together, 64.7% of the population expressed opposition to the autonomous laws. The referendums, which were organized by local authorities who are against the change process, have been designated as illegal by the National Electoral Court and the Congress of the Republic for trying to validate autonomy laws that would violate the constitution. The fraudulent approval is part of a separatist strategy being advanced from the department of Santa Cruz, where there was a similar type of referendum last May 4. At the same time, the Bolivian government is moving forward with all the things necessary to hold the referendum on revocation of the mandates of the president, the vice president and eight departmental governors, scheduled for August 10. read more

• Main cattle roads blocked in Beni
• Illegal referendums in Pando y Beni: Popular resistance and violence from the autonomy people
• Bolivian Government doesn’t recognize autonomy referendums
• Bolivian government states that the "recall referendum" is irreversible

2) Andean Community of Nations (ACN): Peru insists in modifying a decision of the ACN in order to implement the FTA with the U.S.

The insistence by Alan Garcia on modifying Decision 486, referred to as the Common Regime concerning Intellectual Property, in order to move forward with the implementation of the FTA with the U.S., and on negotiating separately with the European Union puts the ACN in jeopardy yet again. Bolivian president Evo Morales has criticized the Peruvian position of favoring its FTA with the U.S. From his point of view, it elevates the risk of the ACN's disintegration. By rejecting the Peruvian proposal, Bolivia demonstrates that it also rejects what in this respect would be put on the negotiating table with the EU. The Peruvian initiative might be presented again in June, if the Bolivian and Ecuadoran positions soften somewhat. read more

• García alludes to the “aging” of the ACN to justify the FTA with the EU
• Bolivia asks that Peru respect the agreements of the ACN, prior to signing the FTA with the U.S.
• Morales suggests a referendum in the Andean countries about an FTA with the EU
• Colombia lines up with the U.S. relative to intellectual property and patents on medicines
• Perú's proposal regarding Intellectual Property will be voted on this coming June 21st
• Bolivia and Ecuador are expected to consent to changes in the Andean norms, to allow Peru to implement the FTA

3) Ecuador: Debt audit advances

The Integral Audit Commission of the Public Credit department began meeting last February in Quito, where they broadened the investigation involved in the work they had been doing relative to the debt. The Commission presented to President Correa a preliminary report which summarizes the findings of the five subcommissions that have worked on different parts of the investigation: bilateral debt, multilateral debt, external commercial debt, internal commercial debt, and judicial aspects. During the meeting, Correa affirmed his support for the work of the Commission and assured them that he would begin legal processes to bring to trial those responsible for the illegitimate debt that the country is saddled with. He also indicated that he was willing to stop repayment of some of the loans that are held by the World Bank. read more

4) Food for Mexican farmers: Hunger doesn’t wait

There has been a call to assist the organizations which are part of the National Campaign in Defense of Food Sovereignty and a Reactivation of the Countryside: “Without corn there is no country” (Sin maíz no hay país). Faced with the enormous suffering of Mexican families due to the increased prices of food, principally among those with the least income, which continues to cause malnutrition (undernourishment, anemia and obesity) and poverty, the Mexican government must renegotiate NAFTA. read more

• Mexican campesinos reject the official plan for responding to the food crisis
• CAM says that the food crisis demands that NAFTA be renegotiated or undone
• Mexico: The food crisis will affect 18 millon people

5) The Mérida Initiative, Plan Puebla Panama and the visit of Negroponte

Once again narcotrafficking and organized crime are used as pretexts for U.S. intervention in Mexico and Central America with the excuse of an increase in ungovernability, which actually results from the erosion of the state-nation as a direct consequence of the U.S. market for illegal drugs. Last May 22, the Senate of the U.S. approved, with conditions, $450 million, destined for Plan Mérida, a replica of Plan Colombia, which goes hand in hand with Plan Puebla Panama (PPP). PPP is a program of the IADB, which has the intention of creating an infrastructure of electrical network, highways, dry canals and, in some not too distant future, pipelines for transporting natural gas and petroleum. read more

• Colombia urges completion of the Pan-American Highway as a part of Plan Puebla-Panamá

6) Colombia: Government represses indigenous social mobilization with lethal weapons

On May 21st, 2008, about 500 indigenous people occupied the large ranch called “La Emperatriz”, justly reclaiming the lands promised to them as part of the integral repatriation granted after the Nilo massacre of 1991. The response of the government was serious repression by the ESMAD unit of the National Police, using guns with which the police inflicted grave wounds on 8 indigenous members of the Nasa people. On many occasions there have been public denounciations of violations of the agreements which were established between the government and indigenous peoples in the department of Cauca, and of systematic violations on the part of the state, including assassinations, criminalization of social protest of the organized indigenous peoples. read more

• No more warlike treatment of the Indigenous Peoples

###