WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #940, MARCH 23, 2008
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012
(212) 674-9499, weeklynewsupdate@xxxxxxxxx
1. Peru: Indigenous Seize Oil Field
2. Peru: Ex-Officer Loses Massacre Suit
3. Ecuador: ID Bombs Used on FARC Camp
*1. PERU: INDIGENOUS SEIZE OIL FIELD
At least two people were killed and 12 wounded on Mar. 22 in
Peru's northeastern Loreto department in clashes between police
and mostly Achuar indigenous workers who had been occupying
installations on the Pluspetrol Norte oil company's lot 1AB since
Mar. 20 in a labor dispute. The clashes occurred after the
workers attempted to take over the Andoas airport on Mar. 22;
they were then removed by police agents, who stayed to patrol the
area.
According to a National Police communique, indigenous people
firing shotguns killed police officer Jaime Armando Reyna Ruiz
and wounded 11 other agents who were on patrol. Police colonel
Armando Martinez said one worker was also killed. An indigenous
leader, Cesar Garcia, said on the Radio Programas del Peru (RPP)
radio network that in fact two indigenous people were killed,
while Loreto departmental president Ivan Vasquez told the media
that 27 people had been detained. Outside agitators were
"detected...inciting the natives to attack the police," according
to Vasquez.
There have been a number of disputes between Pluspetrol and the
Achuar communities. In October the Federation of Native
Communities of the Corrientes River (Feconaco) threatened to
occupy oil wells if the company failed to comply with agreements
it signed in 2006 relating to environmental issues and social
programs. Local communities occupied some facilities in January.
In the current dispute the workers are demanding a 50% wage
increase. Pluspetrol, which is largely owned by Argentines, said
it was in negotiations with the communities before talks were
broken off because of the Mar. 20 occupation. The company said it
was losing 23,000 barrels a day because of the occupation; the
usual daily production is 47,000 barrels, according to
Pluspetrol. [AFP 3/23/08; El Comercio (Ecuador) 3/23/08 from EFE;
La Republica (Lima) 3/23/08]
*2. PERU: EX-OFFICER LOSES MASSACRE SUIT
On Mar. 5 US District Judge Adalberto Jordan in Miami ordered
retired Peruvian army major Telmo Ricardo Hurtado to pay $37
million to two survivors of a 1985 massacre in which soldiers
under Hurtado's direct command killed 69 indigenous campesinos,
mostly women and children, in the highlands village of Accomarca.
The plaintiffs, Teofila Ochoa and Cirila Pulido, survived the
massacre as teenagers, losing many of their close relatives. They
sued Hurtado, who fled to the US in 2002, under the 1789 Alien
Torts Statute; the San Francisco-based Center for Justice and
Accountability (CJA) represented them [see Update #935]. The $37
million award is mostly symbolic; Hurtado is currently in
immigration detention.
Three Peruvian military units, led by officers Juan Rivera, David
Castaneda and Luis Robles, backed up Hurtado's unit during the
1985 massacre. Rivera, currently in immigration detention in
Maryland, is also being sued by Accomarca survivors with support
from the CJA. Castaneda lives in Boston, where he has repeatedly
applied for political asylum. Robles is still an active duty army
officer in Peru, although his movements have been restricted
because of an investigation by the courts. [Inter Press Service
3/5/08]
*3. ECUADOR: ID BOMBS USED ON FARC CAMP
Citing unnamed sources in the Ecuadoran Air Force (FAE), on Mar.
21 the Quito daily El Comercio reported that US "smart bombs" of
the sort the US fired at Iraqi targets during the 1991 Gulf War
were the ones the Colombian military used in a Mar. 1 attack on a
camp of the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
in Ecuadoran territory. More than 20 people were killed,
including FARC second-in-command Raul Reyes and four visiting
Mexican students [see Updates #937, 939].
The FAE sources reportedly said the camp was hit with 10 GBU 12
Paveway II bombs, 500-pound laser-guided weapons made by the US;
the same sources said these bombs are not usually part of the
arsenal employed with Brazilian Supertucano airplanes or Israeli
Kfirs, the planes favored by the Colombian Air Force. The
Colombian military insists that it used conventional bombs, fired
from eight of its planes: five Supertucanos and three US-built
A-37 planes. Ecuadoran authorities also are questioning the
reasons for the flight of an HC-130 airplane, used for refueling
helicopters, from the US base at Manta, Ecuador, just hours
before the Mar. 1 attack. On Mar. 20 the ABN agency distributed a
FARC communique, dated Mar. 14, charging that the US Southern
Command had led the attack. The FARC also denied that Reyes'
computer could have survived the bombing, "which pulverized
everything around it." The Colombian government has charged that
the computer has files compromising the Ecuadoran and Venezuelan
governments. [La Jornada (Mexico) 3/21/08 from AFP, DPA, Prensa
Latina; 3/22/08 from AFP, DPA, Notimex; AFP 3/23/08]
On Mar. 17 the Bogota daily El Tiempo published a photograph,
supposedly from a laptop computer found at the FARC camp, which
it said showed Reyes together with Ecuadoran internal and
external security minister Gustavo Larrea. It was in fact a
picture of Patricio Etchegaray, general secretary of the
Communist Party of Argentina, who said he had a long interview
with Reyes three years ago at a rebel camp. El Tiempo issued a
retraction in the afternoon, saying its information came from the
Colombian police. El Tiempo is partly owned by the Santos family,
which currently has two members in the government: Vice President
Francisco Santos Calderon and Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos
Calderon. [LJ 3/18/08 from DPA, AFP, Reuters]
Relations remained tense between Ecuador and Colombia, which have
not resumed normal diplomatic relations since just after the Mar.
1 attack. On Mar. 21 Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa said the
situation would get worse if it was true that one of the 23
people killed in the attack was Franklin Aizalia Molina, an
Ecuadoran mechanic who lived with his parents in Quito. The
parents said photographs of a body identified as that of FARC
negotiator, propagandist and songwriter "Julian Conrado"
(Guillermo Enrique Torres) were really of their son, who had
disappeared around the time of the attack. The Ecuadoran
government was to send a delegation of officials and relatives of
Aizalia Molina to Bogota on Mar. 24 to present fingerprints and
genetic material to help establish the body's identity. [LJ
3/23/08 from Prensa Latina, DPA, AFP]
More breaking stories from alternative sources:
Paraguay: Elections, Yellow Fever, and a Meddling Ambassador
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1184/1/
Fighting for Survival in Paraguay's Green Desert Wonderland
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1181/68/
Peru: Coca Advocates Protest Suggested UN Ban
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1188/1/
Chiquita sued over FARC payments
http://ww4report.com/node/5274
London Court Rules in Favor of Venezuela in Dispute with Exxon
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1185/68/
Another SOA? Police Academy in El Salvador Worries Critics
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1182/1/
Electrical workers union side-steps strike in Mexico City
http://www.ueinternational.org/Mexico_info/mlna_articles.php?id=1
30#814
Strike at Metropolitan University continues: second month
http://www.ueinternational.org/Mexico_info/mlna_articles.php?id=1
30#815
Grupo Modelo (Corona) out to smash independent union
http://www.ueinternational.org/Mexico_info/mlna_articles.php?id=1
30#816
Reciclamos! Is Community Recycling a Sustainable Livelihood in
Coastal Mexico?
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1183/1/
Cuba: Transvestites and Crossdressers Key Workers Against AIDS
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1187/68/
For more Latin America news stories from mainstream and
alternative sources:
http://nacla.newsvine.com/
For immigration updates and events:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com
END
Order The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers, new from
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--
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