PARTE 1
PARTE2
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
The kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt
FREE INGRID NOW!
Colombia offers Farc hostage deal
BBC article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7317941.stm)
Colombia has offered to release jailed Farc rebels if they first hand over former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages.
Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo said that if some captives were liberated, it could begin the process of exchanging rebels for hostages.
The offer, backed by the president, comes amid reports that Ms Betancourt, a French-Colombian citizen, is ill.
She is said to have hepatitis B and a tropical skin disease.
Colombia's human rights ombudsman Wolmar Perez said earlier that Ms Betancourt's health was "very, very delicate".
We cannot run risks in this case and there is no more time to wait
Luis Carlos Restrepo
Peace Commissioner
He said the government had received reports that showed the former senator had been taken to a public clinic in the jungle of southern Colombia in February.
Announcing the "humanitarian" offer, Mr Restrepo told a news conference: "The legal basis for a humanitarian exchange has been established and we have reduced the requirements as much as possible.
"The government has joined the national and international cry that the life of Ingrid Betancourt be saved. We cannot run risks in this case and there is no more time to wait."
But Mr Restrepo said that in return for their release jailed rebels would have to promise not to return to the ranks of Farc, which has been fighting the Colombian state for five decades.
International campaign
Ms Betancourt, 46, is the most high-profile of the scores of hostages held in the jungle by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc. She was abducted during the presidential campaign in 2002.
She was pictured in a recent video, looking thin and frail.
There has been an international campaign for her release, with the presidents of France and Venezuela among those calling for her release.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez played a key role in negotiating the release of 10 hostages in January and February.
But such developments ended when a Colombian strike on a rebel camp across the border in Ecuador angered the government in Quito and its Venezuelan allies.
Colombia offers Farc hostage deal
BBC article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7317941.stm)
Colombia has offered to release jailed Farc rebels if they first hand over former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages.
Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo said that if some captives were liberated, it could begin the process of exchanging rebels for hostages.
The offer, backed by the president, comes amid reports that Ms Betancourt, a French-Colombian citizen, is ill.
She is said to have hepatitis B and a tropical skin disease.
Colombia's human rights ombudsman Wolmar Perez said earlier that Ms Betancourt's health was "very, very delicate".
We cannot run risks in this case and there is no more time to wait
Luis Carlos Restrepo
Peace Commissioner
He said the government had received reports that showed the former senator had been taken to a public clinic in the jungle of southern Colombia in February.
Announcing the "humanitarian" offer, Mr Restrepo told a news conference: "The legal basis for a humanitarian exchange has been established and we have reduced the requirements as much as possible.
"The government has joined the national and international cry that the life of Ingrid Betancourt be saved. We cannot run risks in this case and there is no more time to wait."
But Mr Restrepo said that in return for their release jailed rebels would have to promise not to return to the ranks of Farc, which has been fighting the Colombian state for five decades.
International campaign
Ms Betancourt, 46, is the most high-profile of the scores of hostages held in the jungle by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc. She was abducted during the presidential campaign in 2002.
She was pictured in a recent video, looking thin and frail.
There has been an international campaign for her release, with the presidents of France and Venezuela among those calling for her release.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez played a key role in negotiating the release of 10 hostages in January and February.
But such developments ended when a Colombian strike on a rebel camp across the border in Ecuador angered the government in Quito and its Venezuelan allies.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Land and Freedom - Movie by Ken Loach, about the Spanish Civil War
Great film!
CNT-FAI-POUM: SOLIDARIDAD
CNT-FAI-POUM: SOLIDARIDAD
Monday, March 24, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Pablo Neruda - STANDARD OIL CO. (English translation)
African nations should nationalise oil - Venezuela
Fri 11 Apr 2008, 14:44 GMT
[-] Text [+]
By Daniel Flynn
DAKAR (Reuters) - African nations should follow Venezuela's lead and nationalise their energy and mining sectors to secure the resources to fight poverty, Venezuela's deputy foreign minister for Africa said on Friday.
Reinaldo Bolivar, on a visit to Senegal, said his oil-rich South American nation would host a summit of African and South American nations in November to discuss cooperation ranging from energy to banking between the two regions.
African nations, which produce 15 percent of the world's oil, could learn from aspects of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's nine-year-old leftist revolution, Bolivar said.
"Africa's oil is plundered by multinationals: they sell it very expensively even here," he told a news conference. "African countries produce 10 million barrels of oil a day and they could supply their own market if they only united."
Bolivar said OPEC-member Venezuela, which produces some 2.5 million barrels a day of oil, was using its own resources to fight poverty following the re-nationalisation of the sector in 2007. The move has led to an acrimonious legal battle with U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil.
Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa's largest oil exporter, is dogged by power shortages and reliant on gasoline imports despite producing more than 2 million barrels of oil a day. Africa supplies nearly a fifth of U.S. oil imports.
"There are some things for (African countries) to learn: the principal of nationalisation of our basic industries, our natural resources in Venezuela, is something we consider necessary for our riches to benefit the people," he said. "Africa's oil should be for Africa."
Chavez's government, which has enjoyed enormous popularity with Venezuela's poor majority for its high social spending, has struggled in recent months due to shortages of basic goods and high inflation.
It has faced difficulties maintaining momentum after losing a referendum last year to speed up socialist reforms.
While resources nationalism has swept the globe from Russia to Bolivia, with state oil companies tightening their grip on oil and minerals resources in recent years, sub-Saharan Africa has lagged behind because state companies such as Nigeria's NNPC or Angola's Sonangol lack technological know-how, experts say.
November's summit in Venezuela would discuss the expansion of Chavez's proposed South American multinational state oil company, Petrosur, to incorporate some African partners. Analysts have viewed the stalled project with scepticism.
It would also propose cooperation on education, with a university for developing nations, and the expansion into Africa of the state-owned Telesur media group operating in some South American countries. Libya, Algeria, Mali, Guinea-Bissau and Gambia had all expressed interest, Bolivar said.
"Now CNN cannot tell us what to say. We have created our own network and we want Africa to take part," Bolivar said. "We are breaking the bonds of slavery."
© Reuters 2008. All Rights Reserved.
13 abril 2002 el pueblo derroca el golpe en venezuela. Y la voz del pueblo
Parte 1
Parte 2
VENEZUELA: Socialism does make you feel better!
(source: http://www.greenleft.org.au/2005/638/34022)
10 August 2005
Stuart Munckton, Caracas
Having come to Venezuela to witness the revolution and the social missions at its heart, I ended up having a closer view of one of the most important missions — Barrio Adentro (Into the Neighbourhood) — than I might have hoped or cared for, when I was “lucky” enough to become one of the 1% of victims of travellers’ diarrhoea to be hospitalised.
Barrio Adentro was established around two years ago to bring free, quality health care to the poor majority. In the past, doctors have mostly shunned the poor neighbourhoods, where people often can’t afford the fees.
The Venezuelan government invited Cuban medical volunteers to help staff the clinics, after just 50 Venezuelan doctors raised their hands to participate. Most Venezuelan doctors — a product of the old system where doctors used their careers to make themselves more comfortable — declined the government’s offer of a US$600 monthly stipend to bring health-care to the poor. The Cubans, who accepted $200 per month, have proven a big hit with the community. Not being in it for the money, but out of real humanitarian concerns, they treat their patients with genuine consideration and respect and have only their best interests at heart. Cuban doctors also teach courses at the free Bolivarian University. There are currently more than 20,000 Cuban medical personnel in the country.
The Venezuelan revolution is creating new ideals in people, and thousands are studying in the Bolivarian University to take the Cubans’ places. It is a requirement of this free course, which requires only a year 12 certificate to enter, that those who graduate work in the poor areas, rather than use their skills to set up private practices to get rich.
While out travelling on a bus in the state of Bolivar with 10 other participants of the first Australian-Venezuelan solidarity brigade and a handful of Venezuelan comrades, I was struck down with a particularly bad bug. The usual antibiotic treatments didn’t work and I got worse. It became impossible to even take medication, because I was throwing back up whatever I ate.
Private hospitals
Comrades decided to take me to a health clinic to get treatment. There was no Barrio Adentro clinic near where we were in Porto Ordaz, so they took me to the nearest private clinic. The first thing we were asked when we walked in was could we pay. The short answer was, without travel insurance, no way. I didn’t have the money available myself, but another comrade helped out.
The doctor came and did a few basic tests, such as hit my stomach and take my blood pressure, and asked me some questions. The doctor then diagnosed me as having E. coli, which turned out to be wrong, and wrote some prescriptions. I was so dehydrated by this stage I was hooked up to a drip. It took no more than two hours, for which I was charged 250,000 bolivars, or a bit under A$200. On top of this, the antibiotics I was prescribed, which didn’t work anyway, cost 64,000 bolivars (over A$40).
When we arrived back at Cuidad Bolivar, I was getting sicker still, and couldn’t hold down the antibiotics. The comrades took me to a nearby private hospital that gave me various antibiotics via a drip. I had a large, private room with a TV and a bed for my partner to stay in, but the treatment was simply not working. The day-and-a-half I was there cost over A$1000, again way beyond my means.
After a day-and-a-half of not getting any better, the Venezuelan comrades were determined to take me to Barrio Adentro to be treated by the Cubans. The Cubans, looking over the treatment records, were extremely cynical about the private hospital, believing the staff had merely pumped me full of drugs and charged me money, regardless of whether or not I was getting better. They were shocked by the records of what medicines I had been given.
While I thought the Cubans’ explanation sounded a little too cynical, one experience brought home vividly what is wrong with how the private hospital operated. One antibiotic in particular was making me throw up and when it was put in the drip in the middle of the night, when I had nothing in my stomach, it had caused me to throw up bile. The next day, my visiting friends explained repeatedly and with increasing urgency to the nurse who was about to put this drug in the drip that I had a violent reaction to it. But the nurse had her orders from the doctor and that was what she was going to do. Eventually she was persuaded to talk to the doctor, who told her to put the drug in the drip regardless. I instantly threw up, including the pills I had just swallowed. It was clear I wasn’t going to get better very quickly with this sort of treatment, for which I was being charged an arm and a leg.
The Cuban approach
The Barrio Adentro clinic was built three months ago, part of the extension of the mission through Barrio Adentro 2. It is a modern, clean building staffed by 30 doctors and eight to 10 nurses. There are three hospital beds, plus two beds for intensive care. The doctors, as well as looking after the patients staying there, see people who visit the clinic in the mornings and go out on trips around the communities in the afternoons.
The doctors set me up with a much simpler drug regime, avoiding the drug that I had the reaction to, which they said was wrong anyway. I didn’t have a private room and TV; I shared the room with two other patients. It was definitely not as luxurious as the private hospital, but I hadn’t come for a holiday — I had come to get better.
The treatment I received from the Cuban doctors was very effective, and I started to feel better by the next morning. I continued to get much better quickly and, although still weak from the illness, I was able to leave in under two days — sooner than they had expected — to continue antibiotic treatment myself.
Despite language barriers, I was able to observe how the Cuban doctors operated and related to the patients. They are extremely friendly, warm and genuinely compassionate. They clearly have real feelings for their patients and have personal emotional investment in them getting better. In the absence of a financial incentive, there is no other explanation for why they do what they do. The formality that surrounds most doctor-patient relations didn’t exist, from what I could see, in their relations with the Venezuelan patients. Genuine affection and friendship were shown between them.
The other thing that struck me was the way the Cuban doctors operated collectively and regularly had collective discussions about the patients and treatment. When there is a change of shift, one of the doctors who has been on takes all of those coming on shift to each patient, one by one, to explain their situation. The treatment of a patient is not the responsibility of an individual doctor. A doctor informed me that they had a discussion about me and decided I was well enough to leave.
Propaganda?
One other noticeable thing, compared to pretty much everywhere else I have been in Venezuela, is the absence of political material inside the clinic. This is a country where revolutionary graffiti, beautiful murals and political posters are everywhere and dominate the revolutionary institutions. But it is missing inside Barrio Adentro. The reason is quite simple — health care is for all people, regardless of politics. Anyone who needs treatment is made to feel welcome. The opposition claim the Cubans are here to indoctrinate the Venezuelan people, but I didn’t see any evidence whatsoever. Their only propaganda is the propaganda of the deed.
And, of course, all of the treatment was completely free. I was not charged a cent. Not for the bed I slept in, not for the food they fed me, not for the drugs in the drip. When I left, they didn’t give me a script for antibiotics to go fill out at my own cost at a pharmacy. They handed me what I needed for free.
It isn’t hard to see why Barrio Adentro is so popular with the people, especially when the costs involved in private treatment are considered. What would the poor do without Barrio Adentro?
I am deeply grateful for the treatment I was given. The Cuban doctors are the product of a socialist revolution, and Barrio Adentro is a key program in the struggle in Venezuela to build a “new socialism of the 21st century”. I can testify firsthand that socialism does make you feel better!
From Green Left Weekly, August 17, 2005.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.
From: International News, Green Left Weekly issue #638 10 August 2005.
Parte 2
VENEZUELA: Socialism does make you feel better!
(source: http://www.greenleft.org.au/2005/638/34022)
10 August 2005
Stuart Munckton, Caracas
Having come to Venezuela to witness the revolution and the social missions at its heart, I ended up having a closer view of one of the most important missions — Barrio Adentro (Into the Neighbourhood) — than I might have hoped or cared for, when I was “lucky” enough to become one of the 1% of victims of travellers’ diarrhoea to be hospitalised.
Barrio Adentro was established around two years ago to bring free, quality health care to the poor majority. In the past, doctors have mostly shunned the poor neighbourhoods, where people often can’t afford the fees.
The Venezuelan government invited Cuban medical volunteers to help staff the clinics, after just 50 Venezuelan doctors raised their hands to participate. Most Venezuelan doctors — a product of the old system where doctors used their careers to make themselves more comfortable — declined the government’s offer of a US$600 monthly stipend to bring health-care to the poor. The Cubans, who accepted $200 per month, have proven a big hit with the community. Not being in it for the money, but out of real humanitarian concerns, they treat their patients with genuine consideration and respect and have only their best interests at heart. Cuban doctors also teach courses at the free Bolivarian University. There are currently more than 20,000 Cuban medical personnel in the country.
The Venezuelan revolution is creating new ideals in people, and thousands are studying in the Bolivarian University to take the Cubans’ places. It is a requirement of this free course, which requires only a year 12 certificate to enter, that those who graduate work in the poor areas, rather than use their skills to set up private practices to get rich.
While out travelling on a bus in the state of Bolivar with 10 other participants of the first Australian-Venezuelan solidarity brigade and a handful of Venezuelan comrades, I was struck down with a particularly bad bug. The usual antibiotic treatments didn’t work and I got worse. It became impossible to even take medication, because I was throwing back up whatever I ate.
Private hospitals
Comrades decided to take me to a health clinic to get treatment. There was no Barrio Adentro clinic near where we were in Porto Ordaz, so they took me to the nearest private clinic. The first thing we were asked when we walked in was could we pay. The short answer was, without travel insurance, no way. I didn’t have the money available myself, but another comrade helped out.
The doctor came and did a few basic tests, such as hit my stomach and take my blood pressure, and asked me some questions. The doctor then diagnosed me as having E. coli, which turned out to be wrong, and wrote some prescriptions. I was so dehydrated by this stage I was hooked up to a drip. It took no more than two hours, for which I was charged 250,000 bolivars, or a bit under A$200. On top of this, the antibiotics I was prescribed, which didn’t work anyway, cost 64,000 bolivars (over A$40).
When we arrived back at Cuidad Bolivar, I was getting sicker still, and couldn’t hold down the antibiotics. The comrades took me to a nearby private hospital that gave me various antibiotics via a drip. I had a large, private room with a TV and a bed for my partner to stay in, but the treatment was simply not working. The day-and-a-half I was there cost over A$1000, again way beyond my means.
After a day-and-a-half of not getting any better, the Venezuelan comrades were determined to take me to Barrio Adentro to be treated by the Cubans. The Cubans, looking over the treatment records, were extremely cynical about the private hospital, believing the staff had merely pumped me full of drugs and charged me money, regardless of whether or not I was getting better. They were shocked by the records of what medicines I had been given.
While I thought the Cubans’ explanation sounded a little too cynical, one experience brought home vividly what is wrong with how the private hospital operated. One antibiotic in particular was making me throw up and when it was put in the drip in the middle of the night, when I had nothing in my stomach, it had caused me to throw up bile. The next day, my visiting friends explained repeatedly and with increasing urgency to the nurse who was about to put this drug in the drip that I had a violent reaction to it. But the nurse had her orders from the doctor and that was what she was going to do. Eventually she was persuaded to talk to the doctor, who told her to put the drug in the drip regardless. I instantly threw up, including the pills I had just swallowed. It was clear I wasn’t going to get better very quickly with this sort of treatment, for which I was being charged an arm and a leg.
The Cuban approach
The Barrio Adentro clinic was built three months ago, part of the extension of the mission through Barrio Adentro 2. It is a modern, clean building staffed by 30 doctors and eight to 10 nurses. There are three hospital beds, plus two beds for intensive care. The doctors, as well as looking after the patients staying there, see people who visit the clinic in the mornings and go out on trips around the communities in the afternoons.
The doctors set me up with a much simpler drug regime, avoiding the drug that I had the reaction to, which they said was wrong anyway. I didn’t have a private room and TV; I shared the room with two other patients. It was definitely not as luxurious as the private hospital, but I hadn’t come for a holiday — I had come to get better.
The treatment I received from the Cuban doctors was very effective, and I started to feel better by the next morning. I continued to get much better quickly and, although still weak from the illness, I was able to leave in under two days — sooner than they had expected — to continue antibiotic treatment myself.
Despite language barriers, I was able to observe how the Cuban doctors operated and related to the patients. They are extremely friendly, warm and genuinely compassionate. They clearly have real feelings for their patients and have personal emotional investment in them getting better. In the absence of a financial incentive, there is no other explanation for why they do what they do. The formality that surrounds most doctor-patient relations didn’t exist, from what I could see, in their relations with the Venezuelan patients. Genuine affection and friendship were shown between them.
The other thing that struck me was the way the Cuban doctors operated collectively and regularly had collective discussions about the patients and treatment. When there is a change of shift, one of the doctors who has been on takes all of those coming on shift to each patient, one by one, to explain their situation. The treatment of a patient is not the responsibility of an individual doctor. A doctor informed me that they had a discussion about me and decided I was well enough to leave.
Propaganda?
One other noticeable thing, compared to pretty much everywhere else I have been in Venezuela, is the absence of political material inside the clinic. This is a country where revolutionary graffiti, beautiful murals and political posters are everywhere and dominate the revolutionary institutions. But it is missing inside Barrio Adentro. The reason is quite simple — health care is for all people, regardless of politics. Anyone who needs treatment is made to feel welcome. The opposition claim the Cubans are here to indoctrinate the Venezuelan people, but I didn’t see any evidence whatsoever. Their only propaganda is the propaganda of the deed.
And, of course, all of the treatment was completely free. I was not charged a cent. Not for the bed I slept in, not for the food they fed me, not for the drugs in the drip. When I left, they didn’t give me a script for antibiotics to go fill out at my own cost at a pharmacy. They handed me what I needed for free.
It isn’t hard to see why Barrio Adentro is so popular with the people, especially when the costs involved in private treatment are considered. What would the poor do without Barrio Adentro?
I am deeply grateful for the treatment I was given. The Cuban doctors are the product of a socialist revolution, and Barrio Adentro is a key program in the struggle in Venezuela to build a “new socialism of the 21st century”. I can testify firsthand that socialism does make you feel better!
From Green Left Weekly, August 17, 2005.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.
From: International News, Green Left Weekly issue #638 10 August 2005.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Sunday, March 9, 2008
CUMBRE GRUPO DE RIO SANTO DOMINGO - OEA/OAS
IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS IS ABOUT, AND DON'T SPEAK SPANISH... WELL, YOU MAY FIND BRIEF QUOTES THAT I GOT FROM THE BBC SITE; BUT LET ME JUST SAY THAT, THIS EXCHANGES ARE WORTH THE $20/HOUR OF SPANISH LESSONS. A TRULY HISTORIC MOMENT... WHERE EVERYONE WINS IN THE END... OK, PERHAPS THE SAME CAN'T BE SAID FOR UNCLE SAM'S "MANIFEST DESTINY" HEMISPHERIC POLICIES. SORRY DUBYA... NOT THIS TIME.
CUMBRE GRUPO DE RIO SANTO DOMINGO - OEA/OAS
1. SUMMARY IN QUOTES ON URIBE'S DAMMING STATEMENT TO THE VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT, AND MOST DIRECTLY, TO THE ECUADORIAN PRESIDENT.
"I recognize that I didn't tell him about the mission for two reasons: one less important and the other weightier.
"The less important is because it was the sixth mission against Raul Reyes and those missions you never know if they will turn out or not. We had failed in the five missions before.
"The weightier reason, I didn't tell him about the mission because we've never had co-operation on the part of President Correa in the fight against terrorism."
"Regarding your smile, President Correa, I tell you that we have no interest in hiding anything."
"I hope we can return to a dialogue and speak in a more moderate tone."
On Colombia's conflict with groups such as the Farc:
"The struggle to defeat terrorism in Colombia is an autonomous struggle of the Colombian people and it will continue until the moment our country lives in democracy and pluralism."
Part 1
Parte 2
Parte 3
Parte 4
2. CORREA RESPONDING (PASSIONATELY) TO URIBE'S ACCUSATIONS, AFTER A BIT OF A VERBAL SCUFFLE BETWEEN THE TWO / RESPUESTA DIRECTA DE CORREA SOBRE LAS ACUSACIONES DE URIBE, DESPUES DE UN PEQUENHO INTERCAMBIO DE BURLAS.
Excerpt from an article in Latin American News Agengy, Prensa Latina: http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7BA65753DA-3B58-4969-9031-9E4D5598E113%7D)&language=EN
In response to Uribe"s speech on Colombia"s armed attack on Ecuador last week, Correa said the Colombian president and his "militaristic policies" were responsible for the crisis his country is going through.
Where is security? Where are the soldiers if you admit that the Colombian guerrillas cross the borders without opposition? wondered the Ecuadorian president.
I cannot accept Uribe"s fallacies; you are guilty because of your militaristic policies, Correa said in reference to the Colombian president"s statements that official personages in Quito are in contact with the Colombian guerrillas.
He recalled that the Colombian guerrilla movement was founded nearly half a century ago, and rebel attacks from Ecuador took place in 2004, when the country was under the dictatorship of Col. Lucio Gutierrez, who was very close to Washington.
He rejected Uribe"s fallacies on behalf of the Ecuadorian armed forces, soldiers and civilians, who have been killed over the past few years, and on behalf of poverty and suffering, Correa stressed.
3. VENEZUELA'S RESPONSE REGARDING COLOMBIAN ACCUSATIONS / CHAVEZ RESPONDIENDOLE A URIBE
ENGLISH BBC SUMMARY: "We still have time to stop a whirlpool which we could regret. Let's stop this... Let's reflect, let's be cool-headed."
On Farc and claims Venezuela supports the group:
"For us, they are not terrorists but insurgent forces, guerrilla forces. First you have to recognise that and then look for a path to peace."
On hostage negotiations:
"President Uribe, let me go look for these people like you let me look for the ones before. And let us form a group of countries, a group of presidents.
"And let us work for a humanitarian agreement... Let's take up the idea again of a group of countries for peace, the Santo Domingo group."
SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7284661.stm
Parte 1
Parte 2
Parte 3
Parte 4
4. ECUADOR'S RESPOND TO COLOMBIA'S ACCUSATION AND DEMANDS FOR APOLOGY AND RECONCILIATION / CORREA RESPONDIENDOLE A URIBE.
BBC SUMMARY: "My dear Dominicans, be very careful. If President Uribe thinks there is a Raul Reyes [the senior Farc figure killed by Colombia] in Santo Domingo he will come in and bomb it. And if he comes out with a computer he will say it's your fault."
"We are the victims not the murderers in this conflict. Finally, yes I do, please, call for respect for the Ecuadorean people.
"I tell you, your insolence is doing more damage to the dignity of the Ecuadoran people than your murderous bombs.
"Stop all these fallacies, stop trying to justify the unjustifiable and openly acknowledge that you have no right to attack Ecuador, that you are lying in what you say. Pledge to never again attack a brother country and dismantle this fallacy about the Farc that not even you believe Mr Uribe."
On claims of links to Farc:
"I cannot accept Uribe's lies. These hands are not tainted with blood."
Before shaking hands with Colombia's Alvaro Uribe:
"With the commitment of never attacking a brother country again and by asking forgiveness, we can consider this very serious incident resolved."
THE CLINCHER IS WHEN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC'S PRESIDENT FERNANDEZ WRAPS IT ALL UP BY ASKING GROUP HUGS... WICKED... WHY NOT BREAK OUT THE RUM AND MERENGUE MUSIC! THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONLY WAY THAT THEY COULD HAVE TOPPED WHAT OCCURRED THAT DAY.
SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7284661.stm
Parte 1
Parte 2
CUMBRE GRUPO DE RIO SANTO DOMINGO - OEA/OAS
1. SUMMARY IN QUOTES ON URIBE'S DAMMING STATEMENT TO THE VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT, AND MOST DIRECTLY, TO THE ECUADORIAN PRESIDENT.
"I recognize that I didn't tell him about the mission for two reasons: one less important and the other weightier.
"The less important is because it was the sixth mission against Raul Reyes and those missions you never know if they will turn out or not. We had failed in the five missions before.
"The weightier reason, I didn't tell him about the mission because we've never had co-operation on the part of President Correa in the fight against terrorism."
"Regarding your smile, President Correa, I tell you that we have no interest in hiding anything."
"I hope we can return to a dialogue and speak in a more moderate tone."
On Colombia's conflict with groups such as the Farc:
"The struggle to defeat terrorism in Colombia is an autonomous struggle of the Colombian people and it will continue until the moment our country lives in democracy and pluralism."
Part 1
Parte 2
Parte 3
Parte 4
2. CORREA RESPONDING (PASSIONATELY) TO URIBE'S ACCUSATIONS, AFTER A BIT OF A VERBAL SCUFFLE BETWEEN THE TWO / RESPUESTA DIRECTA DE CORREA SOBRE LAS ACUSACIONES DE URIBE, DESPUES DE UN PEQUENHO INTERCAMBIO DE BURLAS.
Excerpt from an article in Latin American News Agengy, Prensa Latina: http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7BA65753DA-3B58-4969-9031-9E4D5598E113%7D)&language=EN
In response to Uribe"s speech on Colombia"s armed attack on Ecuador last week, Correa said the Colombian president and his "militaristic policies" were responsible for the crisis his country is going through.
Where is security? Where are the soldiers if you admit that the Colombian guerrillas cross the borders without opposition? wondered the Ecuadorian president.
I cannot accept Uribe"s fallacies; you are guilty because of your militaristic policies, Correa said in reference to the Colombian president"s statements that official personages in Quito are in contact with the Colombian guerrillas.
He recalled that the Colombian guerrilla movement was founded nearly half a century ago, and rebel attacks from Ecuador took place in 2004, when the country was under the dictatorship of Col. Lucio Gutierrez, who was very close to Washington.
He rejected Uribe"s fallacies on behalf of the Ecuadorian armed forces, soldiers and civilians, who have been killed over the past few years, and on behalf of poverty and suffering, Correa stressed.
3. VENEZUELA'S RESPONSE REGARDING COLOMBIAN ACCUSATIONS / CHAVEZ RESPONDIENDOLE A URIBE
ENGLISH BBC SUMMARY: "We still have time to stop a whirlpool which we could regret. Let's stop this... Let's reflect, let's be cool-headed."
On Farc and claims Venezuela supports the group:
"For us, they are not terrorists but insurgent forces, guerrilla forces. First you have to recognise that and then look for a path to peace."
On hostage negotiations:
"President Uribe, let me go look for these people like you let me look for the ones before. And let us form a group of countries, a group of presidents.
"And let us work for a humanitarian agreement... Let's take up the idea again of a group of countries for peace, the Santo Domingo group."
SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7284661.stm
Parte 1
Parte 2
Parte 3
Parte 4
4. ECUADOR'S RESPOND TO COLOMBIA'S ACCUSATION AND DEMANDS FOR APOLOGY AND RECONCILIATION / CORREA RESPONDIENDOLE A URIBE.
BBC SUMMARY: "My dear Dominicans, be very careful. If President Uribe thinks there is a Raul Reyes [the senior Farc figure killed by Colombia] in Santo Domingo he will come in and bomb it. And if he comes out with a computer he will say it's your fault."
"We are the victims not the murderers in this conflict. Finally, yes I do, please, call for respect for the Ecuadorean people.
"I tell you, your insolence is doing more damage to the dignity of the Ecuadoran people than your murderous bombs.
"Stop all these fallacies, stop trying to justify the unjustifiable and openly acknowledge that you have no right to attack Ecuador, that you are lying in what you say. Pledge to never again attack a brother country and dismantle this fallacy about the Farc that not even you believe Mr Uribe."
On claims of links to Farc:
"I cannot accept Uribe's lies. These hands are not tainted with blood."
Before shaking hands with Colombia's Alvaro Uribe:
"With the commitment of never attacking a brother country again and by asking forgiveness, we can consider this very serious incident resolved."
THE CLINCHER IS WHEN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC'S PRESIDENT FERNANDEZ WRAPS IT ALL UP BY ASKING GROUP HUGS... WICKED... WHY NOT BREAK OUT THE RUM AND MERENGUE MUSIC! THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONLY WAY THAT THEY COULD HAVE TOPPED WHAT OCCURRED THAT DAY.
SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7284661.stm
Parte 1
Parte 2
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Sunday, March 2, 2008
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