Read about the elections on Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Equador and USA. And also about the student mobilization in Chile, catalan autonomy and about the G-8, the Mercosur and the UN summits.

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Presidential elections in Colombia

The president of Colombia, Álvaro Uribe, was reelected last May 28th with 7.4 million votes, equivalent to 62.2% of valid votes. In 2002, he had obtained 5.8 million (53%). However, as the absentee rate rose from 53.6% in 2002 to 54.8% today, actually Uribe received the explicit support of 27% of the electorate against 25% four years ago.

In Colombia voting is not mandatory and historically the right to reelection did not exist. Yet Uribe, like so many other presidents around the continent had done before, obtained a majority in Congress to amend the country’s Constitution to allow him to run for another term. He begins his second term in a favorable political situation because not only was he reelected in the first round but he also counts with a sound parliamentarian majority.

(For more, read “Los 10 retos de Uribe – El primer Presidente en ejercicio reelegido por voto popular, tiene una tarea pendiente tan grande como las expectativas que creó”)

On the other hand, a very important step was taken toward the consolidation of a political leftist camp with the result obtained by the candidate of the Alternative Democratic Pole, Carlos Gavíria, who ended in second with 2.5 million votes (22%), leaving the Liberal Party candidate, Horácio Serpa, in third with1.4 million (12%). In 2002, the same Serpa had arrived in second with 3.5 million votes (35%) and the candidate of the Democratic Pole, Luís Eduardo Garzón, “Lucho”, in third with 6%. This time however, apart from the growth of the left, various sectors of the Liberal Party supported Uribe –a dissident himself of the Liberal Party– from the very start of the campaign.

Still, despite the Pole’s modest performance in 2002, it was the first time the left managed to come united to an election with a common and consistent platform, challenging the right and distinguishing itself politically from the guerrilla. In the local elections of the following year, the Pole elected the mayors of several important cities, as well as the governor of the state of Valle, where the winner was Angelino Garzón, a liberal supported by the Pole. Lucho Garzón himself was elected mayor of the capital city Bogotá.

The two Garzóns come from the labor movement, having both been presidents of Colombia’s CUT, the country’s largest trade union center. What is striking is the fact that this result was obtained in a country stricken for so many years by an armed conflict, because in other places where this happened as in Peru, there was a polarization between the guerrilla and the government, with very little space remaining for the democratic left to maneuver. It was the very same CUT, however, when Lucho Garzón was president, which together with other social organizations and the Catholic Church, which articulated an initiative known as the Permanent Assembly for Peace, producing a huge mobilization and introducing a political wedge between the dichotomy government and guerrilla.

The Colombian guerrilla originated in the civil war that devastated Colombia in the late 1940s with more than 200,000 casualties and that opposed conservatives and liberals. This conflict repeated the struggle for political hegemony existent in the majority of the Latin-American countries between a rural bourgeoisie and an urban industrial class. The first guerrilla group was formed by peasants involved in this war, but who were left out of the peace accords.

With its first actions dating back to 1948, this group was the origin of many new insurgent groups, who were influenced by the 1960’s ideological visions of the Colombian Communist Party, Maoism, the Catholic left and the Cuban revolution, its exponent the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the People’s Liberation Army (EPL).

The EPL and the April 19th Movement (M-19) negotiated peace agreements with the government and integrated themselves into the Colombian political and institutional life in the early 1990s, but many of its members were assassinated –as, for example, Carlos Pizarro, an important and popular M-19 leader–, and since most former guerrillas risked losing their lives, this became an impediment to later peace accords.

In the meantime, paramilitary groups were organized, at first as an instrument for the protection of landowners threatened by the guerrilla, but thereafter as a rightwing political and military force which even came to control various territories, the “United Self-Defense of Colombia” (AUC). With Colombia’s consolidation as the main producer and exporter of cocaine, the various drug trafficking cartels also started meddling in the country’s political life. There are charges that both the FARC and the paramilitary have been involved in the funding of narcotics trafficking, albeit both groups’ vehement denials.

Even though the different insurgent groups came to occupy 35% of the Colombian territory during the Andrés Pastrana government (1998 – 2002) and a truce was reached, the two sides did not reach a peace accord, opening the way for Uribe’s first election campaigning as the tough politician who would settle the conflict. The end of the truce and the strengthening of the Army with the support of Plan Colombia forced the guerrilla to withdraw, though not suspend its activities.

Uribe proved to have the political skills required to win a second term. Despite some serious human rights violations, his insurgency-combat policy was named “democratic security”. While popular sentiment expects the government to promote peace negotiations, Uribe managed to close a deal with the paramilitary to disarm and is presently negotiating with the ELN. His economic policy is neoliberal, but global economic growth allied to a sensation of more home security also fueled a growth in the Colombian GDP. Furthermore, he displayed an amazing capacity to detach himself from the irregularities affecting some of his administration’s areas.

Still and in spite of the parliamentarian majority he boasts, certain expectations may prove difficult to deliver. For instance, amnesty and a deal to incorporate members of the AUC into the armed forces may fail because of the judiciary branch’s intention to bring charges against those responsible for the more serious human rights violations such as torture, kidnaps, assassinations and various massacres. Almost 31,000 people declared to be members of the AUC, but only 17,000 surrendered their weapons.

Also noteworthy is the fact that Colombia has one of the world’s largest contingents of internal refugees, only behind Afghanistan, Congo and the Sudanese region of Darfur.

For more, read “Campaign Marked by Threats – In the view of Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos, Amnesty International timed the release of its annual report on human rights in 150 countries to influence Colombia’s presidential elections next Sunday”)

Presidential elections in Peru

Confirming forecasts, Alan Garcia came out victorious in the presidential run-off elections in Peru with 54% of the electorate against Humala’s 46%; a difference which, however, had been falling in the two weeks preceding elections, while undecided voters still accounted on May 31st to 14% of the electorate, which raised hopes during the last week of the campaign in Humala’s central campaign committee. Humala won in the poorest regions and in 16 of the country’s 24 departments.

As noted here before, Garcia ruled Peru from 1986 to 1990 and fared quite poorly both in the economy –perhaps more on account of his virtues than errors, since the end of his term was marked by a serious crisis and high inflation rates because he established a limit to the payment of the country’s foreign debt service to a percentage of export revenues which triggered an interruption in FDI– and in the political arena –by not dealing adequately with two strong guerrilla groups, the Tupac Amaru and the Shining Path, for besides his not being able to neutralize them, he ended up being considered responsible for countless human rights violations perpetrated by the army.

Alan Garcia will have to face a highly unfavorable correlation of forces in the Peruvian parliament. His party, the PARA, only managed to elect 36 deputies. The traditional left, the Socialist Party and the Communist Party, none. To one side are the deputies elected in the rightwing slates of Lourdes Flores and Fujimori’s daughter, and to the other, the 45 deputies elected by Humala’s “Union for Peru” (UPP) coalition.

Closing a deal with the two first implies becoming hostage of the right and having to negotiate fiercely for every initiative he wishes to take. The UPP, on the other hand, is a new party, with an unknown ideological position, albeit the strong nationalist rhetoric of the campaign, with its parliamentarians being elected mostly in the countryside and, therefore, being very little known. Moreover, Humala’s political intentions for the future and his leadership over these new parliamentarians still remain to be seen. His first statements after the announcement of the run-off presidential elections’ results were of opposition. Let’s wait for the swearing-in to see.

Mexico

The PRD candidate, Manoel Lopez Obrador, managed to come back and retake the lead in some polls, though with a slight advantage over his opponent, PAN’s Felipe Calderón, confirming our assessment that his victory will depend on absentee rates on the day of the election. The higher the turnout, the better electorally for him.

Notwithstanding, he still has to overcome the problems that converted him from a virtually elected candidate into a potential runner-up. On one front, he has to stand up against the economic might of the country’s elite and the right’s smearing through a very strong anti-communist campaign, and on the other the opposition from the left by the Zapatistas and their allies, who propagate that the three main candidates are “two of a kind” (or as the Spanish saying goes, “flour from the same sack”). (See International Periscope nº 3)

There is an assessment that the right is still trying to exploit the fear campaign it is waging by seeking to demonstrate that Lopez Obrador’s election would stir mobilizations and conflicts. The most recent episode was a decision by the governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz of the PRI, to deploy the state’s riot police to dislodge the state’s striking teachers from their camp on the central square of the state’s capital city, also called Oaxaca.

The strike was called to push for the adoption of a career scheme for state teachers and was organized by the local branch of the National Education Workers Trade Union (SNTE), a union whose president, Esther Gordillo, has always had ties with the PRI. The operation to disperse the teachers started at 5 o’clock in the morning of June 14th with widespread use of tear gas and fire guns. More than 70 people were wounded and there is strong evidence pointing to 4 deaths, including that of a child.

(For more details, read “México 2006 – eleições”. On the last electoral debate, read ““Urbane” Debate Reveals Contrasts in Mexican Candidates’ Proposals”)

Elections in the second semester

In October it will be Ecuador’s turn to elect a new president. The incumbent, Alfredo Palácio, is Lucio Gutierrez’s vice-president, a former nationalist military, who had the backing of important sectors of the Ecuadorian social and indigenous movement. Sworn in early in 2003 amidst frustrated expectations of a progressive administration, he was eventually toppled by a middle class mobilization and, after a period in exile, was arrested. (Read more)

President Palácio was recently forced by grassroots movements to adopt a few nationalist measures, such as the refusal to sign a free trade agreement with the US and the canceling of the operating license of American oil company Occidental (OXY) for non compliance with local legislation.

At least for the time being, the preferred candidate, according to the polls, is Leon Roldós, a center-left politician who has been very critical of the bilateral trade agreement with the US and who defends a strengthening of ties with Venezuela and the remaining progressive governments of the continent.

In Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega leaped ahead in the popular preference in his fourth attempt to return to the presidency he left in 1990. Favoring Ortega is the fact that the right is running with two candidates, but there is also a Sandinista dissident candidacy of the Sandinista Renewal Movement, represented by Herty Lewites, the former mayor of the capital Managua, which counts among its members with Ernesto Cardenal and other personalities, plus the support of Sergio Ramirez, a former Sandinista commander who left the Front in 1996. The election is due in November.

Presidential elections in Venezuela are due in early December and, in spite of a likely union of the opposition to support a single candidate, Teodoro Petkoff, an old MAS leader who broke up with the chavismo, everything indicates that President Hugo Chávez should be easily reelected.

Student mobilization in Chile

The end of May staged the scene for a mass mobilization by secondary students in Chile. They took to the streets with the support of college peers, teachers and various parents’ associations, with rallies throughout the country gathering a million people.

Protests were intended against the Chilean education law, another legacy of the Pinochet dictatorship, and for more spending in education, particularly to favor poorer students.

The government, with President Bachelet personally involved, tackled the issue with the respect the social movement deserves. It began by firing the carabineros police commander, who had violently repressed the first demonstrations and arrested some 900 students.

Then it established a negotiation table at which it presented a proposal to increase the budget for education in approximately US$ 200 million a year, targeting initially the scrapping of the university-entrance exam fee for poorer students, broadening the hours for the use of school passes on public transportation, an increase in subsidies for school cafeterias and an increase in the number of scholarships for students.

It seems that at last some of the authoritarian skeletons left by the dictatorship are starting to be removed, for Bachelet also sent a bill to congress with the purpose of replacing the current privatizing legislation for the concept of the right to quality education to all Chileans.

The students, organized around the Coordinating Assembly of Secondary Students (ACES), have split over the proposal, which was approved by a slight majority.

(Read more: “Finaliza histórico paro de estudiantes”, and “Estudiantes chilenos crearon una mesa alternativa”)

Foreign ministers prepare Mercosur presidential summit

The foreign relations ministers of the Mercosur member countries met on June 16 to prepare the upcoming meeting of the Common Market Group to be held in Cordoba, Argentina on July 20th. Among various important decisions made, they agreed that Venezuela is to become a member with full rights and decided to subscribe to the creation of a “Mercosur Court” to settle controversies between members.

The foreign relations minister of Mexico, Luis Ernesto Derbez, came on an official visit to Brazil to discuss the two countries’ bilateral relations and to reaffirm his country’s intention of strengthening ties with the Mercosur. The conservative Brazilian press started to speculate over why Venezuela should integrate the Mercosur as a full member and not Mexico.

A free-trade agreement would be acceptable, but Mexico’s adhesion as a full member would not because it would entail the free entrance of goods from the USA and Canada through Mexico, a process known as “triangular trade” since there are no tariff barriers between the NAFTA countries.

The first case for the future “Court” will be the Argentina-Uruguay dispute over the construction of two pulp and paper plants on the Uruguayan side of the river separating both countries. Argentina accuses the investment of being harmful to the environment and brought the case before the Court of Justice in The Hague, while the Uruguayan government wants the Mercosur member countries to take a stand in face of the Argentinean blockade imposed on the circulation of vehicles and people between Uruguay and Argentina during the first months of the year, which it estimates to have caused US$ 500 million in losses.

Brazil will assume the Mercosur pro tempore chairmanship during the second semester and Foreign Relations Minister Celso Amorim has already announced that he will make all efforts to ensure that the process is more advantageous to Uruguay and Paraguay than it has been. From the point of view of trade flows, the most advantageous relation for both countries has been their own bilateral trade and not trade with Brazil and Argentina.

(Read more in “MERCOSUR: Venezuela entra con bálsamo para curar heridas”)

Catalan autonomy

After the victory obtained in the election of last June 18th, in which the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia was approved, the Spanish government should have its agenda taken by peace talks with the ETA.

The revision of the statutes of the 17 autonomous Spanish regions was one of the pledges made by Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero as he took office, and negotiations with the ETA have been on the agenda since the moment the group announced a permanent ceasefire last March. The passing of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia and the imminent start of negotiations seeking to put an end to violence in the Basque Country, strengthen the government of socialist José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

(Read more in “Eta declares permanent ceasefire”)

The proposal of more autonomy for Catalonia won with 73.9% of the votes, albeit an absentee rate of 50.59%, prompting the People’s Party (PP) to question the result. This party and the Esquerra Republicana (ER) had campaigned against the text, while the Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya (PSC-PSOE), Convergència i Unió (CiU) and Iniciativa per Catalunya – Verds (ICV) supported the reform proposed. The ER took part in the PSC-ICV province government, but broke up with the Pascual Maragál administration a few months ago.

(Learn more about the text of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia)

Massacres in Iraq, suicides in Guantánamo, Zarqawi’s death and congressional elections in the USA

There is a classified memorandum issued by the US Embassy in Iraq circulating over the Internet with descriptions of the kind of situation the staff is being put through, which differs considerably from the apparent calm put on by President Bush on his visit to the country last June12th.

This document describes a worsening of the conditions for those living outside Baghdad’s heavily protected international zone. These Embassy staff members have to deal on a daily basis with their being harassed on account of their garments or customs, threats by Islamic groups or militias and the constant fear that his/her neighbors find out they work for the US government.

(Read the full memorandum by the US embassy in Iraq in “From the Embassy, a Grim Report – From the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, a stark compendium of its local employees’ daily hardships and pressing fears”)

Three days after Bush’s recent surprise visit to Iraq, the US Congress engaged in an 11-hour debate over the reasons and the course of a war that has lasted nearly 4 years and claimed 2,500 fatal casualties among US troops and an unspecified number of Iraqi victims. The dispute gravitated around the voting of a resolution submitted by the Republicans whereby the US should “accomplish its mission of creating a free, sovereign and united Iraq” without the establishment of “an arbitrary date to withdraw American troops”.

In the Senate, Republicans tried to force the Democrats to take a stand with regard to this voting session and the war, exploiting the lack of unity in the Democratic Party. Democrat Senator John Kerry submitted an amendment to the resolution, proposing the formulation of a timetable for the withdrawal of the American troops in Iraq, which failed, not having received the support of many his own party peers.

In Congress, Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi is also striving to generate a consensus over the party’s position regarding the war. Yet the Republican Party’s strategy is to take advantage of divergences among the Democrats and present them as weak with regard to national security and defense, resorting to the argument that withdrawing troops from Iraq stems from a loser’s view of the operation.

The Democrats’ reluctance to make a stand and the Republican pressure reflect the concern both parties have with the elections due November7th that will choose the governors of 36 states, representatives to the House and Senators. At present Republicans control both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the latter composed of 55 Republicans, 44 Democrats and 1 Democrat who self-defines as independent.

Bush’s low popularity (about 30% approval rating in the last poll) and problems related to the presence of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan could enable Democrats to retake control of Congress. However, today’s favorable setting, due to the backlash against Bush with the recent events in Iraq, also depends on the position of Democrats with regard to issues such as immigration, same-sex civil union and the reaction to the manipulation of information relating to the war in Iraq.

The latest scandal came with reports of a massacre of 24 civilians in the Iraqi city of Haditha by American military in November 2005 that may have been covered up. Two other similar massacres, in the cities of Samarra and Ishaqi, are starting to surface.

(Read more in “Why Haditha Matters”)

Moreover, in early June, three prisoners of Guantánamo Base committed suicide bringing attention yet again to the arbitrary arrests made in name of the fight against terrorism.

(Read more in “Confusión en EEUU por suicidas de Guantánamo – Funcionarios de Estados Unidos intentan distanciarse de las primeras reacciones oficiales al suicidio de tres prisioneros en Guantánamo, según las cuales se había tratado de un mero acto de propaganda.”)

While Democrats have been unable to efficiently exploit to their advantage problems related to the presence of American troops in Iraq, the Republicans have been trying to use the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, considered the link between Iraq and Osama bin-Laden’s Al-Qaeda, to instill a fresh breath to the attempt to convince Americans that this war is legitimate and that they deserve to stay in control of the Senate, the House of Representatives, state governments and the presidency.

Update on Palestine

In Periscope no. 3 we covered the swearing-in of the new Israeli government and the peace plan proposed by Fatah and Hamas Palestinian political prisoners. The situation in the region has been deteriorating in several aspects, despite political initiatives seeking to untie the knots.

The US, Israel and the EU have kept their decision of withholding the Palestinian government aid to put pressure on the new administration formed by Hamas to formally acknowledge the state of Israel. With this measure, the country’s social problems have worsened and nearly 160,000 public employees have not received their paychecks for some months now. The three countries are studying now how to transfer some funds through the presidency of the National Palestinian Authority under PLO control at least to health-related sectors.

Tension between the Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas has been mounting for although the former commands a parliamentarian majority which allows it to appoint government ministers, the latter has the power to destitute the Prime Minister and also coordinates the security forces. The Hamas tried to set up their own parallel militia, which prompted armed skirmishes between the two groups.

Abbas now proposes a plebiscite to be held in July for the population to express their position with regard to the “prisoners’ document” and the acknowledging of the state of Israel –a move thought to have been taken to put the Hamas in a political corner, for there are polls showing that more than 70% of the Palestinian population would support the recognition of the state of Israel. This would also allow resuming the diplomatic offensive against Israel, since its new government refuses to negotiate with the Palestinian government claiming the latter does not recognize its right to exist as a State and has been stating that Israel will define its borders unilaterally and not in accordance with the UN resolutions, mandating a return to the 1967 borders. Israel relies on the support of Bush and Blair to that end, but not with the support of the EU as a whole.

In response to missiles fired from the Gaza Strip by some smaller Palestinian groups who have not adhered to the truce in force, the Israeli government resumed its policy of targeted killings by means of artillery and missile strikes. One of these attacks killed an entire family who was picnicking on a Gaza beach, causing great commotion and prompting the Hamas and other groups to announce a suspension of the truce.

This fact, in addition to its criminal nature, had devastating political ripple effects on both sides, for the Israeli minister of defense is Labour’s Amir Peretz, now indirectly responsible for the massacre of innocent people, and calling a plebiscite to recognise Israel and proposing peace negotiations under these circumstances might not achieve the results hoped for.

At this moment internal talks in Palestine are underway and expectations are that at least a deal between the Hamas and the PLO will be achieved, so that together both will be able to advance what has been accomplished so far with so much sacrifice.

(Read more about Palestine in the Al-Jazeera Special Report, “European Meets Israeli and Abbas on Palestinian Aid Plan” and “Commissioner: the EU will not recognize unilateral borders”)

Iran

The latest development in this process was the EU’s new proposal for Iran to stop producing enriched uranium which could eventually be used in the production of nuclear weapons. The proposal includes a series of economic benefits and support for Iran’s entrance in the WTO, in addition to the supply of enriched uranium for the generation of energy or the possibility of enriching uranium locally under international supervision.

Before this proposal was presented, the US and the EU intended to pass a resolution at the UN Security Council requesting Iran to suspend the enrichment or be penalized by international sanctions. However, Russian and Chinese opposition against the proposed sanctions and their support to negotiations have contributed to a new set of proposals, with the American support, despite the belligerent rhetoric displayed by the US. (“Iran: a Manufactured Crisis”)

The Soweto revolt turns 30

There were several mobilizations and revolts during the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa, most of them claiming many human lives. For instance, in the 1960’s Sharpewille revolt against forced banning and the obligation to use internal passports by the black population the police killed 76 people.

On 16 June 1976, thousands of secondary students from Soweto, a township in the outskirts of Johannesburg and inhabited only by blacks, took to the streets to protest against the mandatory teaching of “Afrikaans”, the language spoken by the white oppressing minority. The police reacted with gun shots and many students were killed and injured, among them Hector Peterson, whose image being carried by his colleagues crossed the world at the time and helped raise public opinion’s awareness with regard to the barbarism of the South African government’s racist policy.

The movement initiated in Soweto spread throughout the country, while police repression caused the deaths of some 566 people. In processes like these it is always hard to tell where the end begins, but undoubtedly what occurred in Soweto played a key role in the changes that began in the following decade and that led to the fall of the regime in the early 1990s.

As Nelson Mandela himself acknowledges in his autobiographical book “A long march to freedom”, the youth militants who took part in that mobilization, though following the ideas of former leaders of the ANC, the South-African Communist Party and other organizations, were much more aggressive and assertive in questioning the attitudes of the racist rulers than those who inspired them. Mandela himself found it ironical that someone like him, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment for involvement in the armed resistance to the regime, was considered a moderate in comparison with the new generation of militants.

Actually, it was the rebellion reaching the great urban popular masses and closing in on the white residential areas. The outcomes stemming from a racial forced segregation system were beginning to become visible to important sectors of the white elite and a distension process, albeit incipient, was initiated. (“The long march to freedom”)

Conflicts in East Timor

The Timorese population once again had to flee to the mountains, yet this time not to protect themselves against Indonesian soldiers or pro-Indonesia militias as in their past’s struggle for independence. Now the conflict, which has claimed nearly 30 deaths, was staged by inhabitants of the very Timor-Lorosae, the official name of the former Portuguese colony until 1975 and occupied by Indonesia until 1999.

The dismissal of nearly half the total contingent of 1,400 soldiers of the Timorese army –in a decision taken by Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri against the military who were on strike complaining about low wages and alleged discriminations over promotions– sparked the riots. Forces loyal to the Prime Minister brutally repressed a demonstration organized by the soldiers dismissed who took refuge in the mountains pledging to start a guerrilla movement to depose him. Later on, a group of soldiers opened fire on unarmed police officers being escorted by UN peacekeeping soldiers, killing ten of the strikers. Former militiamen and other gang members from poverty-stricken areas of the capital Dili also joined in and the violence became widespread. Australia and other countries sent troops in to intervene in the conflict and control the situation.

Even though Timor is rich in oil and other natural resources, its structural poverty is still present and the government elected in 2002 has not been able to find its way. The country is still under the tutelage of the United Nations, and many of the policies implemented in the country are clearly neoliberal, contributing only to worsen the situation.

Moreover, there are profound differences between President Xanana Gusmão and Prime Minister Alkatiri dating back to struggle for independence. Xanana, who was in Indonesian prisons for many years, started his political life in the Timor Leste Liberation Armed Forces (FALINTIL), while the prime minister militated in the Timor Leste Liberation Front (FRETILIN), an umbrella organization comprising various currents.

The president only holds a moderating power, while executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister. However, the latter has not shown the skills required to resolve conflicts and hand down equitable solutions. There is a view that while former members of the FALINTIL had to mobilize to be incorporated into the new army, old collaborators of the Indonesian regime rose to high ranking police posts.

The president resorted to a “state of emergency” to seize control of the situation and, although the Prime Minister stayed in office, at least at the outset, two ministers were removed: the ministers of the interior, Rogério Lobato, linked to Alkatiri and responsible for the police force, and of the defense, Roque Rodrigues, linked to Xanana and the head of the army. (Incidentally, Roque Rodrigues was the ambassador of the Timorese resistance in Angola during the fight for independence and visited Brazil on a couple of occasions.)

As would be expected, all these inconsistencies have not led to the resolution of East Timor’s problems. A good start would be adoption of a serious development program, given the fact that that the population is just a million inhabitants and that there are natural resources that can fund another kind of process; yet bearing in mind Minister Roque’s words in the early days of the new government: “Let’s not get drunk with the oil. It should serve only for the purpose of supporting our development”. (Read more)

G-8 summit

The 2006 annual meeting of the G-8 will be held in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on July 15–17. Themes composing the agenda are business as usual, only this time there is a guarantee that there will be no relevant demonstrations from civil society. It will also mark the debut of two new rulers: Angela Merkel, Germany’s Chancellor, and Italy’s Prime Minister, Romano Prodi. (Look the official site of the Russian Federation’s G8 Presidency in 2006)

EU decides to adjourn adoption of the Constitution

At the summit recently held by the member countries of the European Union, it was decided to adjourn the possible implementation of the Constitution for Europe for two years. The process collapsed with the results of the French and Dutch referendums rejecting the Constitution, with public opinion in both countries fearing that the Constitution would grant EC institutions more powers than those of the national legislations.

The EU also decided to accept Slovenia’s accession to the Euro zone. Finland assumed the EU presidency for the next term in substitution to Austria. (Read more information and details on the European Union)

China slows down growth

Not only those countries more deeply immersed in the financial globalization showed concern over recent signals issued by the Fed, the American central bank, and over possible speculative attacks. China has apparently received them as well. The country has just reduced its liquidity by withdrawing currency from circulation by increasing the banks’ required reserves. Chinese authorities’ main concern is with stability, even if that entails slowing down their economic development, which is nevertheless expected to be high.

(Read more in “China y la India anuncian que reabrirán sus fronteras al comercio bilateral después de 44 años”)

First Session of the UN Human Rights Council

The first session of the UN new Human Rights Council –which replaces the former Human Rights Commission and constitutes the most important change of the reform of the UN so far– was held on June 19th. The 47 countries that compose the Council embarked on a 2-week journey in which delegates are to establish the council’s working methodology.

No individual case is expected to be analysed except for a discussion on the question of the Palestinian territories. In principle, only resolutions of a more general nature, though not least important as on the rights of indigenous peoples and missing political prisoners, are to be adopted.

The United States is not a member of the Council and is present at the meeting in the quality of observer.

(To learn more about the Council, log on to the UN news page)