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Javier E

The Prospect of Peace in Colombia - The New York Times - 1 views

www.nytimes.com/...pect-of-peace-in-colombia.html

colombia peace negotiation latin america politics

shared by Javier E on 09 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • If a final accord is signed within six months, as the negotiators have pledged, Colombia would offer an example of hard-won peacemaking at a time when so many other conflicts, which are spawning the largest wave of refugees since World War II, seem intractable.
  • As of last year, the three-way fight among guerrilla factions, government forces and right-wing paramilitary bands that often acted as proxies for the state, had killed more than 220,000 people and displaced an estimated 5.7 million. At the peak of the conflict, in 2000, kidnappings for ransom surpassed 3,000 a year.
  • The talks have forced Colombians to take stock of a painful past and face uncomfortable truths. Dozens of victims traveled to Havana to speak about abuses they endured at the hands of guerrilla leaders. Some implicated government forces in brutal acts. When I met some young FARC members in Havana last year during a reporting trip, I came to see them in a new light as they described taking up arms as a desperate choice they were forced to make to survive.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • The special war tribunals the government intends to establish to start adjudicating crimes will be dismissed as kangaroo courts by those who would have favored a military defeat of the FARC. I would argue, though, that this path will give Colombians an opportunity to start building a fairer society, one in which merit and talent matter more than last name and pedigree.
g-dragon

Antigua's volunteer medics on call around the clock - BBC News - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-latin-america-36152493

shared by g-dragon on 13 Jun 16 - No Cached
    • g-dragon
      g-dragon on 13 Jun 16
       
      Antigua is facing many problem now, but it is not just known for the challenges that it must face. A self donation based clinic helps injured people on the south side of Antigua and the workers there do no get paid. Many people who get into accidents there do not call the police because they know that it will take too long for them to get to them. The health clinic has also become a search and rescue team. Donations have gotten the ABSAC an ambulance, two boats, and a fire truck. The only problem is that as more people come there and expect treatment like a hospital, the clinic runs out of supplies. They also will need more devoted volunteers to work there.  - Daniel Lin
redavistinnell

Exclusive: leading candidate to be Commonwealth secretary general alleged to have recei... - 0 views

www.telegraph.co.uk/...ainst-Antiguan-government.html

leading candidate commonwealth fraud government politics foreign policy caribbean

shared by redavistinnell on 16 Jun 16 - No Cached
  • Exclusive: leading candidate to be Commonwealth secretary general alleged to have received $1.4m in fraud against Antiguan government
  • Sir Ronald Sanders, now the Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to Washington, apparently received monthly payments of £10,000 while serving as High Commissioner in London, according to a report ordered by his country’s government but never subsequently published.
  • Sir Ronald served as High Commissioner to Britain from 1982 until 1987 and then again from 1996 until 2004. Soon after he returned to London, the Queen made him a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG). She proceeded to award him a knighthood in June 2002. Two years later, Antigua’s then government commissioned an investigation by Robert Lindquist, a Canadian forensic accountant, after a routine audit suggested the state was overpaying a loan.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • The Lindquist report named Sir Ronald as a “person of interest” in this alleged fraud which cost Antigua $14 million (£9.3 million) between 1997 and 2006.
  • Mr Lindquist found that the monthly surplus of $203,594 – amounting to 40 per cent of Antigua’s total revenue from petrol sales tax - was shared between various beneficiaries, apparently including Sir Ronald. The architect of the alleged fraud was the late Bruce Rappaport, a S
  • A fax dated 28 November 1997 appears to show that Rappaport opened an account with the Bank of Bermuda called the “IHI Debt Settlement Co Account”.
  • The document says that “funds received monthly from the Government of Antigua” amounting to $403,334 were to be used to repay IHI to the tune of $199,74
  • Including funds that were channelled through Bellwood Services – a Panamanian company owned by Sir Ronald until 1996 – the Lindquist report says that he appeared to receive a total of $1,398,492 (£933,000).
  • But on 29 June 2015, Antigua’s police commissioner wrote to Sir Ronald’s lawyers saying this should never have happened, adding: “I hereby confirm that the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda has no interest in interviewing Sir Ronald Sanders and that there are no current or pending investigations that involve him in any way.”
  • Antigua's current government has described the Lindquist report as “riddled with hearsay, rumour and conjecture” and the result of a “partisan witch-hunt” launched by a previous administration. Sir Ronald has never been shown the report.
  • redavistinnell on 16 Jun 16
     
    This article shows the corruption with in the Antiguan government. There is an obvious gap between the government officials in Antigua and Barbuda and the people. One of the biggest problems facing Antigua's government is how corrupt it is.  
redavistinnell

Grant says union and political activities should not mix | Antigua Observer Newspaper - 1 views

antiguaobserver.com/ical-activities-should-not-mix

union activities mix caribbean economy

shared by redavistinnell on 16 Jun 16 - No Cached
  • Grant says union and political activities should not mix
  • Grant made the remark to OBSERVER media, yesterday, two days after Deputy General Secretary of the Antigua & Barbuda Workers’ Union (ABWU) Chester Hughes issued a strong warning to Prime Minister Gaston Browne, at a United Progressive Party (UPP) public rally, that the ABWU would mount strong opposition to any increase in taxes.
  • “I want to tell the prime minister that my statement to the media is not a threat; it’s a promise. If you and your government go forward and add any more taxes on the working class people of this country, there will be industrial unrest in this country,” Hughes declared.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • “It really would do the workers a good deal of benefit if the major trade unions could see a difference between their trade union activities and any political interest they may have.
  • According to Grant, it could be uncomfortable for those members of the ABWU who are not necessarily supporters of the UPP, to hear comments coming from the UPP platform that they may not agree with.
  • redavistinnell on 16 Jun 16
     
    The union is a way for Antiguan workers to gain personal freedoms over working conditions, and Grant believes that this should be a separate group from the government. But this leads to an issue with the idea of helping to create a unified government. If the people can not trust the government how can a true democracy work? The union attempting to separate from all political dealings will only further breakdown the attempt to create a democracy.    
Javier E

Middle Class and Hungry in Venezuela - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...s-and-hungry-in-venezuela.html

venezuela politics economy OAS

shared by Javier E on 11 Aug 16 - No Cached
  • Coffee and milk became luxuries for me a few years ago, but the really scary scarcity — of things like bread and chicken — hit my middle-class home at the beginning of this year. There was a week when I had to brush my teeth with salt.
  • Nine out of 10 Venezuelans can no longer afford to buy enough food, according to a study by Simón Bolívar University. The I.M.F. has forecast that inflation would exceed 700 percent this year.
  • We agreed that our best hope, really, is the Organization of American States and its Democratic Charter thing.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • “Did you see what Almagro said?” Luis Almagro is the O.A.S.’s secretary general. He has blamed Mr. Maduro for the crisis and has called on the O.A.S. to consider taking the steps necessary to “restore democratic institutions” in Venezuela.
  • “Yeah, it looks like they’ve invoked the Charter.” Under the charter, the O.A.S. can suspend a member state that fails to preserve the democratic order. Mr. Almagro seems to be hoping this threat will convince the Maduro government to accept humanitarian aid from abroad, which it has pre-emptively ruled out.
  • I realize these diplomatic processes can take months: It’s a whole continent trying to find consensus on a complicated subject.
  • Hurry up, O.A.S. guys, we’re hungry.
evanpitt14

OAS report on T&T secondary students: Marijuana use on rise | The Trinidad Guardian New... - 0 views

www.guardian.co.tt/...ry-students-marijuana-use-rise

shared by evanpitt14 on 03 Aug 16 - No Cached
  • secondary school students are turning to the recreational use of marijuana.
  • prevalence from 6.4 per cent in 2010 to 10.7 per cent in 2013
  • regional average is 8.8 per cent.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • 3 countries, including Antigua and Barbuda
  • used illegal substance reported by students
  • average “first use” age of 13.
  • in Jamaica, which has more relaxed laws on the use of marijuana, there has been little change in prevalence among secondary school students,
  • 21.1 per cent
  • frequent marijuana use was “very harmful.” This perception, however, was noted to be in decline, 71.4 per cent in 2010 and 63 per cent in 2013.
  • evanpitt14 on 03 Aug 16
     
    This article shows that marijuana is becoming more frequently used in secondary schools. Antigua and barbuda has almost identical data to this for T&T. Not only has it been more apparent, but also starting to be used at younger ages like 13.
evanpitt14

ONCP Antigua and Barbuda | Organization of Drug and Money Laundering Control Policy - 0 views

ondcp.gov.ag

shared by evanpitt14 on 03 Aug 16 - No Cached
  • Determined to address the problem of illicit drug use and substance abuse among its citizens, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda with the assistance of CICAD/OAS drafted a five (5) year plan
  • The existing plan, which is a collaborative effort between the various Governmental and non-governmental organizations
  • Anti-Drug initiative
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • rafficking in Class A drugs such as cocaine continues to offer the criminal the highest profit margin
  • T
  • Financial Intelligence & AML/CFT Compliance Financial Intelligence & Compliance Most serious organised crime is about money. Therefore, tackling money laundering is an essential part of combating the threat of drug trafficking, organised crime, fraud and the financing of terrorism. Financial Intelligence Unit AML / CFT Compliance Policy on Drugs Determined to address the problem of illicit drug use
  • Most serious organised crime is about money.
  • tackling money laundering is an essential part of combating the threat of drug trafficking, organised crime
  • evanpitt14 on 03 Aug 16
     
    This page explains a 5 year plan with the OAS and CICAD to combat drug trafficking and to fight crime involving drugs. It says that most crime is about money so if they combat money laundering, they can prevent more crime involving drugs.
evanpitt14

JAMAICANS NAMED IN $MILLION DRUG BUST | Antigua Observer Newspaper - 0 views

antiguaobserver.com/ans-named-in-million-drug-bust

shared by evanpitt14 on 03 Aug 16 - No Cached
  • $10.4 million drug haul that has resulted in the detention of four Jamaican nationals.
  • 00 pounds of cannabis.
  • ,
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • 2
  • 6
  • possession, possession with intent to supply, and transfer of the illegal substance.
  • Two firearms with matching ammunition, and large sums of Eastern Caribbean and United States currency were sized in the operation.
  • motor van and a speedboat believed to be involved in the incident.
  • laundering charges,
  • The police in their quest to stem the flow of illegal drugs in and out of the country, as well as to rid the country of illegal firearms and ammunition, have to date seized millions of dollars’
  • 2,500 cannabis plants,
  • evanpitt14 on 03 Aug 16
     
    This is about another major drug bust in Antigua involving marijuana. This shows how it is a hotspot for supplying drugs to the US because of the vast amounts of US currency found. It also shows how it can be easy to transport it because of vehicles like speedboats. The police are working to end it but it won't be easy.
evanpitt14

$1.25 MILLION DRUG BUST | Antigua Observer Newspaper - 0 views

antiguaobserver.com/1-25-million-drug-bust

shared by evanpitt14 on 03 Aug 16 - No Cached
  • estimated value of more $1 million
  • (ONDCP)
  • 533 pounds of compressed cannabis,
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • $1,066,000 and 5.6 kilos of cocaine, which was valued at $197,288.
  • $1,263,288.
  • charged with possession of cannabis, possession of cannabis with intent to supply, being concerned in the supply of cannabis and drug trafficking. They were slapped with additional charges of possession of cocaine, and being concerned in the supply of cocaine and drug trafficking
  • drug bust are ongoing
  • over 10 years in prison if they are indicted on all the charges
  • Class A drug and cannabis, which is a Class B drug, under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
  • pay more than $500,000 to the court for possessing cocaine
  • evanpitt14 on 03 Aug 16
     
    Earlier in 2016, there was a large drug bust in Antigua. This article shows how drugs are easy to access in the Islands because of the large quantities. It also shows how major charges can be for possession of the drugs.
rachelramirez

Ortega vs. the Contras: Nicaragua Endures an '80s Revival - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ua-endures-an-80s-revival.html

Nicaragua contras politics Venezuela

shared by rachelramirez on 04 Jul 16 - No Cached
  • Ortega vs. the Contras: Nicaragua Endures an ’80s Revival
  • Tyson and his men are contras — yes, like the ones from the 1980s who received stealth funding during the Reagan administration to topple Mr. Ortega’s leftist Sandinista government.
  • “It is a silent, dirty war that is not recognized,” said Bishop Abelardo Mata, a Roman Catholic leader who has served as something of a mediator between the two sides.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • They control fuel companies, television stations and public construction projects, which has many critics comparing his family to the right-wing Somoza dynasty that Mr. Ortega helped topple in 1979.
  • They complain they are broke and say the reason they are not more successful is that they do not have international aid, as they did during the Reagan administration.
  • Though Mr. Ortega enjoys strong support among the poor, he was widely criticized for constitutional changes that repealed term limits, allowing him to run this year for a third consecutive term.
  • The government denies that politically motivated rebels in the country still exist, despite occasional attacks on police stations and the killings of Sandinistas and known contras
  • That war ended more than 25 years ago, when Mr. Ortega lost at the polls. But since being re-elected in 2006, Mr. Ortega has come to rule over this Central American nation in sweeping fashion.
  • Venezuela has provided Nicaragua with hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of oil a year on preferential terms, and the government acknowledges that much of it is invested in private companies closely tied to the Ortega family and its allies.
  • “The Ortega-Murillo family is getting richer while the country people starve,” a rebel who calls himself Commander Rafael said about the president and his wife, Rosario Murillo
  • He said the Ortega administration must be doing something right. In January, the World Bank projected Nicaragua’s economy to grow by 4.2 percent in 2016, one of the highest rates in Latin America.
  • It is no wonder: 38 percent of the Venezuelan oil is used to fund social projects. More than 35,000 houses have been distributed among the poor in the past two years, according to a government website. World Bank statistics show that the poverty level dropped six percentage points from 2005 to 2009.
  • “He might have an expensive car, but the other presidents before him had their luxuries but did not help the people,” Veronica Aguilar, 55, said of Mr. Ortega.
  • The rebels are not buying it. In a sign of the new allegiance the socialist administration has to the country’s richest people, the government has lifted import taxes for luxury items like yachts and helicopters.
  • rachelramirez on 04 Jul 16
     
    This article highlights some of the positive change the Ortega family has brought to Nicaragua, despite being flooded with reports of corruption, but it shows how divided the country is. There are contras roaming the country, and have been doing so for 25 years, who refuse to step down, and now finance their resistance by working with cartels within Nicaragua. It seems as though chaos has decided to run through Nicaragua. Additionally, we are able to see that under the current president poverty has decreased and new millionaires have increased. It seems as though a few people have a high concentration of the money in Nicaragua.
rachelramirez

The Nicaraguan Firewall: How the Narco Gangs Have Breached It - TIME - 0 views

content.time.com/...0,8599,2116269,00.html

Nicaragua gangs corruption

shared by rachelramirez on 04 Jul 16 - No Cached
  • The Nicaraguan Firewall: How the Narco Gangs Have Breached It
  • Nicaraguan military and police leaders insist they've created a "firewall" against the western hemisphere's more than $40 billion drug trade and the ultra-violent narco-gangs pushing in from both the north and the south.
  • the country is a leader in drug busts and has managed to reduce its homicide rate to the second-lowest in the region behind Costa Rica.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Roberto Orozco, a Nicaraguan security expert at the Managua-based Institute for Strategic Studies and Public Policy (IEEPP). "We had already identified narco-penetration in lower levels of government, where municipal and local officials have been bought by organized crime. This is especially true along the principal drug-trafficking routes, where we've seen the worst corruption among police and local judges.
  • Substitute Magistrate Julio César Osuna, who was arrested May 27, is accused of using his government post to smuggle drugs, launder money and sell fake Nicaraguan IDs to foreign drug traffickers.
  • the drug gangs terrorizing Central America's northern triangle are moving into the rest of the isthmus.
  • Those who know the inner workings of the CSE say it's highly unlikely that Osuna, who is accused along with 21 other people who are not public officials, was working alone inside the government.
  • In the final months of Ortega's first Sandinista government in 1990, when party apparatchiks were busily divvying up confiscated properties and other spoils of their decade-long revolution, the National Assembly quietly passed a decree granting Nicaraguan citizenship to some 600 foreign revolutionaries, extremists and other political misfits who were being harbored by Nicaragua as an act of "solidarity.
  • While the Sandinistas' strong central government has slowed the narco-contamination of Nicaragua, the country's democratic institutions are extremely weak and vulnerable to corruption, analysts warn. It remains to be seen how far police will go — or be allowed to snoop — behind the thick curtain of secrecy that has shrouded the Sandinista government for the past five years
  • rachelramirez on 04 Jul 16
     
    Although Nicaragua is doing a good job fending off corruption considering where the country is located, corruption is beginning to seep into the government. Based off of this article it seems as if it would be a nearly impossible task to keep Nicaragua from turning into a mini-Honduras or El Salvador, where corruption and gangs rule. Additionally, the government seems divided at the higher and lower levels, as the lower levels of the government have been taken over by gang members, and they have allowed terrorists from numerous countries to gain citizenship. It seems as though the best course of action that Nicaragua could take is unifying the government, and supporting the economy so that the government does not have to play into gang's desires.
rachelramirez

New Access to a Nicaraguan Island - The New York Times - 0 views

intransit.blogs.nytimes.com/...-access-to-a-nicaraguan-island

nicaragua island economy

shared by rachelramirez on 04 Jul 16 - No Cached
  • Search New Access to a Nicaraguan Island
  • The government of Nicaragua is betting that a new $10 million airport will boost tourism on Ometepe Island, a Unesco Biosphere Reserve known for its towering twin volcanoes.
  • But the ship bypassed Ometepe, and Twain never set foot on the island. Fifty years later, the Panama Canal opened, making the old shortcut through the lake to get from the Pacific to the Caribbean Sea obsolete.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • The airport, essentially a 1,500-meter airstrip with a small customs building, was due to open more than a year ago, and hopes that other regional airlines like Taca and Nature Air would offer service to the island haven’t materialized.
  • rachelramirez on 04 Jul 16
     
    Although this island may be insignificant in the grand scheme of things, the Nicaraguan government seems desperate to cash in on anything the country's natural resources has to offer. The idea seems like a good small one, but would not be useful for giving the economy much 'kick'. Nicaragua has a lot to offer in terms of natural resources, but it is in my opinion that they should not overuse the land.
rachelramirez

How an Indigenous Group Is Battling Construction of the Nicaragua Canal | Science | Smi... - 0 views

www.smithsonianmag.com/...tion-nicaragua-canal-180956418

indigenous nicaragua canal diplomacy

shared by rachelramirez on 04 Jul 16 - No Cached
  • live on Rama Cay, a 22-hectare island that rises from the water like a set of oversized goggles about a kilometer and a half off Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast. The island is home to roughly half of the Rama’s 2,000 or so community members;
  • Unlike most Rama, Becky McCray has a college degree
  • The Rama’s territory, along Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast, stretches roughly from the Costa Rican border north to just south of Bluefields. Their territory is shared with the Kriols, descendants of Africans who adopted the Rama way of life centuries ago.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • The Rama-Kriols hold a communal title not only to the nine settlements where community members live, but also to the 4,843-square-kilometer territory where they fish, hunt, and farm. If current construction plans for the canal go ahead, that territory will be severed in two.
  • The massive Nicaragua Canal planned by a secretive Chinese billionaire, Wang Jing, and managed by his company, the Hong Kong Nicaragua Development Group (HKND), will stretch from the Pacific coast, across Lake Nicaragua, to the Caribbean coast and is destined to wipe at least one Rama village off the map
  • . The Rama’s fishing grounds will no longer be safe in the path of 400-meter-long megaships approaching the canal.
  • Aside from the Rama, whose territory will likely be the most impacted, at least four other indigenous groups will face disruption if the canal proceeds. Nicaraguan law explicitly bars indigenous land from being bought or sold; that means the land will be rented, not expropriated, says Kautz. Yet, critics say that because this is not expressly stated in the concession law, the land is vulnerable to seizure.
  • The following day, McCray and her companions watched in dismay as the law was adopted. “We didn’t get a chance to say anything,” McCray remembers. “They didn’t respect us, they didn’t give us a chance to defend what we were claiming.”
  • According to both international and Nicaraguan law, indigenous people must give their “free, informed, and prior consent” to any project that will affect the community’s territory or way of life.
  • According to Manuel Coronel Kautz, the president of Nicaragua’s Canal Authority, the National Assembly had documents from the Rama-Kriol government giving permission for the canal to be constructed prior to the vote that granted the concession
  • McCray was nervous as she read her remarks in Spanish. She cited three articles in the concession law that explicitly give the Canal Commission the right to expropriate indigenous land, and then she accused the government of violating international norms in the way it conducted community consultations, perhaps most blatantly by paying villagers—many of whom are illiterate—to come to the meetings. (Those villagers, Acosta claims, were then pressured into signing documents that they could not understand.)
  • Acosta filed a legal challenge to the canal concession law on July 1, 2013, just weeks after it was approved. Like the 31 other legal challenges to the law—based on environmental factors, human rights, and national sovereignty—the Rama’s legal case was dismissed. The Supreme Court said the lawsuits were invalid because the law passed the National Assembly with a wide majority and because the major development project took precedence.
  • Acosta worries that the Rama will lose their territory—displaced by golf courses and beach resorts—even if the Nicaragua Canal is never built.
  • The case at the IACHR is probably the Rama’s best chance for meaningful international intervention, but it remains to be seen whether or not this glimmer of hope is enough to protect their territory and keep their culture alive.
  • rachelramirez on 04 Jul 16
     
    Nicaragua seems to be blatantly attempting to pull the wool over the eyes of the indigenous people, but not expecting to get caught. From what I have previously read Nicaragua wants to be a player on the world stage, but they cannot achieve this status if they are not treating their people humanely. Although the government did get the indigenous group the Rama to sign documents that allowed the canal to be built on their land, government representatives knowingly had illiterate members of the Rama sign these official land documents. The indigenous people of Nicaragua deserve to be better informed about the canal, and the government owe the people understanding.
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