Les Films De Samantha Anderson

Federal police opened fire on protesters in Oaxaca Oaxaca

by Kristin Bricker, Upside Down World
Translated from English by Germain Rebellion Leyens and reviewed by Elisa Viteri

Doctors removed a bullet from the leg
Gilardo Mota Figueroa.

is reported that Mexico's Federal Police radio journalist shot Gilardo Mota Figueroa while covering a demonstration on Tuesday (15 February) against the visit of President Felipe Calderón to the city of Oaxaca. Mota Figueroa told the Chronicle of Oaxaca that an agent Federal Police, during his confrontation with the teachers union in Oaxaca, opened fire on the crowd to about six feet away. One bullet hit the leg of Mota Figueroa. Between 2 and 4 bullets were left embedded in an armored SUV that authorities had left parked on the street.

During the protest, the Federal Police also fired at point-blank tear gas against demonstrators, seriously wounding at least two people. According to the union of teachers, high school teacher James Raymond Servando Sanchez was hospitalized with a lung injury due to impact of a tear gas grenade in the chest. Another grenade this time supposedly fired by State Police hit protesters face Coache, fractured his skull and caused brain trauma. In addition, two journalists filed a complaint with the State Attorney's Office for physical damage and its equipment, caused by tear gas grenades that hit during the protest.

This
Humvee received several bullets during the demonstration.

To be considered "non-lethal weapons, tear gas grenades to be fired air or the ground. Tear gas grenades manufactured by Combined Tactical Systems Inc., which produces the grenade launchers used on Tuesday by the Federal Police, they carry a warning label that says: "Danger: Do not fire directly at person (s). Can cause serious injury or death. "

Federal Police is well aware that a direct hit from a tear gas grenade can be lethal. In 2006, during a joint operation between the State and Federal Police in San Salvador Atenco, a tear gas grenade killed Behumea Alexis, a 23 year old protester at him in the head. As a result of "unlawful use" of their weapons during the operation in Atenco, the National Human Rights Commission of the Mexican government (NHRC) recommended that the Federal Preventive Police (PFP), now the Federal Police and State Police should be trained in the "proper use" of their weapons. The head of the PFP rejected the recommendation of the NHRC and five years later, the Federal Police continues to fire tear gas against demonstrators' heads.

Federal Police fired tear gas canisters directly into

protesters.

Maureen Meyers, of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), argues that the violent police response to demonstrations Tuesday "underscores the lack of any real mechanism for accountability within the Federal Police" . Notes that the Federal Police ranks third in number of complaints against government agencies in relation to human rights, with 595 complaints filed with the NHRC in 2010. "An increasing number of reports of abuses by the Federal Police," says Meyers. On October 29, 2010, the Federal Police shot in the stomach with live ammunition a protester while painting graffiti at the 11 th "March Against Death" in Ciudad Juárez.

More funds for the Merida Initiative

The day before the Federal Police opened fire on protesters and the press in Oaxaca, U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled the draft budget for 2012. These estimates include U.S. $ 291.5 million for the Mérida Initiative programs in Mexico.

Police fired directly against this
protester with an unidentified projectile,
which fractured his skull.

The Ministry of Public Security in Mexico (SSP), by the Federal Police, is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the financing of the Merida Initiative. Through the Merida Initiative, the Federal Police received equipment, training (by the U.S. and Colombian police officers and private contractors), and even Black Hawk helicopters. While Obama's budget for 2012 reduced funding for the Merida Initiative Mexico some 250 million dollars compared with the previous year, increases starting INCLE (acronym in English of the International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement) at $ 500,000. INCLE financing is financing the bulk of, if not all, support for the Federal Police. Some

Merida Initiative funds are intended to reduce corruption within the Federal Police. Such support, said Meyers, "focuses more on trust control centers and polygraph tests. That obviously has nothing to do with this generalized model of abuse. "

Coache has

fractured skull and cerebral trauma as a result of a gas cartridge
you hit
in the head.

Meyers notes that there are three mechanisms of accountability that, in theory, would ensure that the support of the Merida Initiative does not fall into the hands of human rights violators, as the agents of the Federal Police open fire on protesters unarmed. The first is the Leahy Amendment, which prohibits any aid allocated outside the U.S. to "any unit of the security forces of a foreign country, when given the case that Secretary of State has credible evidence that such unit has committed gross violations of human rights" and not punish offenders. The U.S. embassy abusers crawls human rights individually in a database, but Meyers noted that the strength of the database depends on the amount of information you record in it the U.S. embassy. Kent Patterson, Americas Program, has criticized the implementation of the Leahy Amendment from the U.S.: "Mexico, like Colombia, sidesteps the issue by selecting for training only a few individuals of the affected units, rather than train all units. "

The other two mechanisms of accountability that apply to U.S. aid to Mexico for the war on drugs are related to the Merida Initiative itself. Only fifteen percent of the Merida Initiative aid is conditional on Mexico to improve accountability and transparency in the Federal Police and the Armed Forces. Additionally, in order to receive funds conditioned, Mexico must show that investigates and prosecutes those soldiers and federal police against whom there has been a credible allegation of human rights violations. "To our knowledge, in the latter case we have not really seen any case in which federal officers implicated in abuses have been effectively investigated and prosecuted," says Meyers.

Despite the flagrant impunity for violators of human rights belonging to the forces safety, conditions of human rights have not significantly affected Mérida in the flow of aid to the war against drugs in Mexico. U.S. Congress symbolically retained some of the funds, but so far the human rights conditions have delayed the arrival of money from the Merida Initiative for much longer than it takes the normal bureaucratic process, while spending the other 85% of funds untied.

© 2011 Upside Down World

Cervix At Seven Weeks

: CODEP talks about anti-drug war and the criminalization of social struggle

by Kristin Bricker, Upside Down World

CODEP Members
opposite the door that the military broke paving

premises without warrant. Photo by Santiago Navarro

approximately 6:45 pm on Tuesday 11 January, the Mexican Army raided the office of the Committee for the Defense of People's Rights (CODEP) and the Committee for the Defense Women's Rights (CODEM) both in the city of Oaxaca. According CODEP members who were present during the raid, about 20 uniformed soldiers in an official vehicle parked in front of the building where are the offices of these organizations, they broke the door and recorded lamina temporary offices. After the soldiers broke down the door, pointed a gun to sponsor Martinez, a member of CODEP. Martinez says he demanded a search warrant, but the soldiers pushed him and ran down the stairs of the building, which is currently half-built.

Other members of the organization managed to close the office doors where they maintain their computers, copiers, and their archives, so that soldiers could not get to record those offices. However, the soldiers managed to get themselves to other offices that were open, which included one bedroom and a printing workshop. According to Martinez, the soldiers took pictures of those offices. However, they did not take any article of the building, or made any arrests.

CODEP members who witnessed the raid said the soldiers were asked at gunpoint on the work of the organization and organized crime. Ernesto Lopez said that the commander of the soldiers, who only identified himself as "Carlos," he said received a "claim that organized crime was meeting here." Meanwhile, other soldiers questioned some neighbors if they knew of possible criminal activity or drug-related, at or near the building of these organizations.

During the raid the soldiers never had a search warrant and refused to identify. However, one of the members of CODEP managed to score the vehicle plate number of the military convoy as the soldiers were traveling.

After the raid, the CODEM CODEP and made contact with a deputy, who in turn contacted the Army. According to the deputy, the military said they "had detected something in the area" and that was the justification for that raid.

CODEM The CODEP and filed complaints with the National Commission and state human rights and the Human Rights Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, seeking to investigate the raid and you provide the CODEM CODEP and information about what happened. History

Enforcement
In an interview with Upside Down World, members CODEM CODEP and did not seem disturbed by the recent night raid on its offices by soldiers armed with assault rifles powerful. This is because it was not the first time they have suffered repression by the government, nor was the worst attack. In the latter event, "he more or less measured," says Claudia Tapia CODEM leader. "Because before going with great violence, beating us."

In his eighteen years of organizing women, farmers, taxi drivers and indigenous, CODEP and related organizations as CODEM have faced fierce opposition from the state government, and in particular the former governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. "Since his days as a Senator, we knew what kind of person [Ruiz] was," says Tapia. "So much so that since the beginning of his campaign, we resisted."

In February 2005, during the period before the 2006 popular uprising that nearly toppled Ulises Ruiz, José Luiz Soberanes, then president of the National Human Rights Commission of Mexico, organized a negotiation between the state government of Oaxaca and CODEP. The CODEP wanted to negotiate the release of political prisoner who was arrested immediately after Ruiz took office. "However," recalled Tapia, "instead of Ulises Ruiz arrived [at the negotiating table] as we had agreed, sent the police and they arrested our comrades." The police raided the hotel where negotiations have taken place, and a CODEP office, detaining a total of seven members of CODEP. Some spent several months in prison.

Angered, CODEP members continued to fight Ruiz administration. In May 2006, when the union of teachers in Oaxaca went on strike to improve conditions in their schools, the CODEP joined their encampment in the zocalo of Oaxaca City. CODEP members were in the camp with her children until 14 June, the infamous day that Ruiz sent the state police to violently break up the encampment of teachers without any warning.

The CODEP is one of the organizations that formed in the beginning to the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO), the conglomerate of organizations, communities and individuals that emerged after the June 14th repression to oust governor Ulises Ruiz. When then-President Vicente Fox sent federal police to violently break up the movement of the APPO in Oaxaca City November 25 2006, Marcos Garcia, a member of CODEP, supporters traveled to Oaxaca communities and pledged support to defend the capital. On November 27, while traveling to a community, Garcia was attacked by an armed commando that CODEP identified as a paramilitary group, one of many that operated in the state at that time. García attacked with high-powered weapons, shot his car with 177 bullets, eight of which hit him in his body. Miraculously, he survived the attack.

State repression against CODEP uprising that has continued since 2006. On October 25, 2008, about twenty federal police invaded a home in Oaxaca City where members of CODEP worked and lived. Police said the raid was an anti-organized crime operation. The police tortured Luis Ramón González López, member of CODEP for an hour. They beat him, placed a plastic bag over his head, and applied the infamous tehuacanazo, a tactic of torture which is popular among Mexican police. The tehuacanazo is mineral water (sometimes mixed with chile) is thrown in a stream inside the nose of the victim, creating a feeling of choking, which causes a severe burning sensation, sometimes causing the victim faints. That torture session left him with a rib González López broken and a punctured lung. During the interrogation, asked police to tell them González López location of a "bag of money," a request that the CODEP baffles to this day. "That house is so humble that neither case is the question," says Tapia. "They just want to terrorize us." After the torture, the police confiscated a laptop, two cell phones, documents and newspaper clippings about the uprising of 2006.

War on Drugs is the New Cold War
The CODEP know it is no coincidence that this is the second raid in pursuit of anti-drug war that they have suffered since President Felipe Calderon deployed the army to combat drug cartels in late 2006. In a press release about the raid, the CODEP said: "It is clear that this strategy of state terrorism that continues to make progress in our country, is part of the Merida [an aid package of the drug war] and Mesoamerican Plan [formerly known as the Puebla-Panama Plan, a project of "development" neoliberal] governments PAN and PRI [Mexico's] signed with the U.S. ... with the aim of destroying the human rights organizations and social organizations representing popular opposition to continuing the destruction of our nation and surrender of national sovereignty to foreign interests. "

" This is not new, "says Lopez." We have seen during the Cold War and other wars. Now America does not have an excuse or a fictitious enemy as they had in the seventies, where the enemy was communism. When the Soviet Bloc fell, there was an enemy who used to invent a war. So now the enemy is created related to drug trafficking and organized crime. Now, those who fight against the government to demand their rights, are also considered as organized crime. In Mexico, the Merida Initiative, the U.S. wants to control military on the territory ... and not allow a social movement such as occurred in Oaxaca or Chiapas in 2006 [the Zapatistas] in the nineties. U.S. wants to control our government and control our country to take ownership of natural resources in Mexico. "

Translated by Jeremiah Medina

Songs That Have Champion In It

BIT, ICSID and National Sovereignty by Lucas Pucci,

Federal Capital (Paco Urondo Agency, published in Journal 28/01/2011 BAE)

During the 90's began a period of neoliberal policies that begins with the Law Reform State and the Law Economic Emergency and continuous since 1991 with the Convertibility Plan, drifting in a process of economic liberalization, financial recovery, foreign ownership of the economy, industrialization, privatization of public assets, etc. with regressive social effects crystallized in the rise in unemployment, poverty, impoverishment of the popular sectors, widening social gaps, etc. denoting the exclusion of the state in order to guarantee the welfare of the population.

In this period of deregulation, attracting capital, "carnal relations" and functionality to the interests of transnational capital, the core countries and representatives of international organizations is that they signed 56 Bilateral Promotion and Protection of Foreign Investments (TBI).

During Menem management were concluded for at least 56 BITs of which 47 were approved by national law in the period 1992 -1999. The remaining 9 were ratified by national law, like other 2 signed during the Management Alliance. to December 2004 have been ratified by the national law of 58 TBI, surely a record for a host country for foreign direct investment "(Aspinall, p 48)

However, the case witness, and whose consequences still felt today as one of the factors of greatest conflict, is given from the BIT signed with France in 1991 and enacted in 1992, by which private investors were benefiting from the ability to use international courts without exhausting the local judicial precedent for future TBI to be signed, and differing from the 2 BITs signed by Italy and Germany, where foreign investors could only recourse to international courts have no local court ruling within 18 months into the lawsuit.

The BIT is an agreement between states subject to international public law, whereby investors of any of the signatory countries can use international courts to resolve disputes or controversies with the host state capitals. In short the legal equality between a private investor and a sovereign country. " Consequently, the signing of the BIT, which in itself denotes the government guarantee for the advance of transnational capital in the national economy result of the reforms mentioned above, expresses the policy of liberalization of regulations on foreign investment and deregulation , putting the spotlight on the protection of foreign investment, even over domestic investment, because while the latter in case of conflict must resort to local courts by submitting to the internal laws of the country, the former have the right to appeal international courts "as" of the applicants such as ICSID (World Bank-dependent), UNCITRAL, etc.. Once they were at their promoters of economic reforms and enactment of TBI. Importantly for understanding the complexity of the situation, which the awards are binding on the parties, have immediate executory force, the force of res judicata and are not subject to review by local courts, which demonstrates the legal submission against agencies international financial.

With the crisis and subsequent devaluation, the privatized companies they had achieved extraordinary gains in a decade, along with their parent companies, governments and international financial organizations that had struggled for a way out of dollarization of the currency, demanded a rate adjustment as well as the conservation of other benefits that help save high profit margins of the decade of 90, irrigation use international courts to be rewarded by the de-dollarization and de-indexation of tariffs. In this context, that are initiated both external and internal pressures on the government of Duhalde, who on a strategy of "dual and dilatory" in some cases accept the dollarization of rates and / or de-dollarized liabilities of the privatized, while others more related to public service and whose social effects were more noticeable, sought to extend until the inauguration of the Kirchner government. Also during the presidency of this, they implement a comprehensive and diverse that resulted in the termination of certain public services (Argentine waters, mail, San Martin line passenger trains, etc.), validation in some cases than by Duhalde administration, letters of understanding with several companies, including certain gains rate renegotiation and contract terms and disclaimers to ICSID, greater state control of investment etc.

Currently, Argentina has claims at ICSID by the privatized as a result of the devaluation, pesification and tariff freeze, which provides a sticky situation for the national financial interests. Against this background and noting that the termination of unfair imply continued for ten more years, is that the government has decided to continue with lawsuits against the knowledge of the few chances to win, looking to turn a legal framework to enable the review of adverse rulings by the Court Supreme.

The main provisions of BITs focus on a fair and equitable treatment to foreign investors, identical treatment to that accorded to the most favored nation, non-discriminatory treatment can not be punished as measures intentionally cause harm to them, a treatment no less favorable than for their counterparts in the national capital, free availability and transfer of foreign exchange restrictions inapplicable performance even when they were covered by national legislation, the possibility of using international arbitral tribunals with the same legal status state that the recipient of foreign investment, etc.

Clearly, the Argentina when ascribed to such treaties sided, turned by others vulnerable to future presentations to the ICSID opportunities not only for violations but also to the possibility of making decisions as a sovereign country on central issues concerning the economic and social policy: However among the major provisions of BITs argued by the privatized and threaten Argentina's defense can highlight the readiness of stabilization to a certain rule changes that foreign investors could considered as unfavorable to their interests will be the implementation of existing legislation at the time of signing the respective agreements or treaties, and the presence of specific compensation for various reasons that could affect foreign investors. Although several of the clauses mentioned affect the ability of the Argentina defense , the latter become more relevant on the reforms set out from the sanction of public emergency and exchange regime established in Law N National 25,561, as the main demands from ICSID privatized companies from the devaluation, even if during the term of the convertibility regime had witnessed extraordinary gains and breached its obligations especially concerning the degree of investment made, sought to maintain these extraordinary profits as a rate adjustment that holds those profit margins. Consequently the main arguments for the submission of claims before ICSID against Argentina, lie in the changes from the enactment of the National Law N 25,561 and the consequent results of the renegotiations to have privatized derived either deindexation and dollarization of rates, and even termination of contracts that according to the cases filed are part of a default by the Federal Government, as well as to amend the rules unfavorably on investment underwritten by what standards should govern the sign for the convertibility regime and therefore compensate these companies for any loss or inconvenience that may affect their investments.

respect, and although over time many claims were turned off: it is imperative to highlight that changing the exchange rate regime is the prerogative of a country as free and sovereign state and this one of the arguments Argentina's defense along with the economic and social emergency that the country lived and led to the devaluation . This process post devaluation and economic restructuring of the country, has generated in many sectors represented by 90, attack after recover lost profits, which is nothing more than an attack on the economic sovereignty of a country that has sought to rebuild despite them, the worst crisis in its history.

The author holds a degree in Labor Relations Study Group on National Economy and Popular (GEENaP) www.geenap.com.ar (Paco Agency Urondo)

Mount And Blade Wedding Dance Female

THE PROBLEM OF THE DELIVERY OF PROFITS, by Juan Santiago Fraschina

Federal Capital (Paco Urondo Agency, published in Journal 01/21/2011 BAE)

often measure the success of an economic model from increased foreign direct investment. Indeed, some Orthodox and heterodox economists consider a model of accumulation in a positive way by increasing the amount of investment of multinational companies. Therefore, there is little critical positions of the effects of foreign investment on the national economy.

However, foreign investment has some negative implications that deserve some attention because it could generate at present some "bottlenecks" to Argentina's economy. One of these negative consequences have to do with the external sector in general and the remittance of profits to subsidiaries of multinational companies to their headquarters permanently in particular.

In this sense, one of the pillars of the new development model introduced in 2003 is positive trade balance that allows a current account surplus in balance of payments. The cumulative 2003 - 2009 current account was U.S. $ 50.058 million.

For its part, the positive balance on current account is what allowed one of the fundamental policies of the new economic and social model: the policy of accumulating reserves by the Central Bank of the Republic Argentina. The reserves rose 10,501 to 52,145 million dollars from January 2, 2003 to December 30, 2010 .

Therefore, the current account surplus in the balance of payments that allows the entry of foreign exchange is essential for the accumulation of reserves by the Central Bank at the same time is essential to continue exchange rate policy of managed exchange rate and make reservations freely available to extend its policy of reducing indebtedness that has been recorded with the new model of development. The way is simple: to export more than what is imported, the trade surplus also allows the current account surplus generated by foreign exchange inflows, which enables the increase in reserves which in turn is essential to further reduce debt public sector external support from the Central Bank exchange rate competitive so that they result in a deepening process of re-industrialization of the national economy.

In this context, one can understand certain negative effects generating foreign direct investment in the external sector. It is true that foreign investment has a significant positive impact on the capital account by entering a large amount of foreign exchange. However, the positive effect on the balance of the capital account is contrasted with the strongly negative effect is verified in the current account.

For example, TNCs exhibit a greater tendency for local firms to experience trade deficits. Except TNCs export oriented, the other foreign firms have tendency to run trade deficits. One of the key reasons we can explain this behavior is the ease with which foreign firms have to obtain imported products from other subsidiaries of the corporation.

But the negative effect on the external sector is more important than foreign investment due to increased remittance of profits and dividends by transnational corporations embedded in the national economy, which implies an outflow of foreign exchange the country.

Table: Evolution current account balance of payments, 2003-third quarter of 2010 (million dollars)
previous	Utilities and dividends
2003	-633
2004	2286
2005	-3.895
2006	-4.939
2007	-5.241
2008	-6.094
2009	-6.627
Accumulated the first three quarters of 2010	5375
Source: INDEC

In this sense, the total of the remittance of profits and dividends from 2003 - 2009 was 29.715 million dollars, that is, more than half the cumulative current account balance of payments during the same period. For his part, accumulated in the first three quarters of 2010 showed 5,375 billion.

Even since 2003 grew steadily and year after year, the remittance of profits by foreign companies. While in 2003 was $ 633 million in 2009 was 6.627 million dollars. On the other hand, in the first three quarters of 2010, the remittance of profits was always above 1,500 million.

Therefore, both the trade deficit trend of foreign companies but the main effects of the remittance of profits and dividends from corporations, foreign investment, leading to strong negative ends on the current account balance of payments more than offset the positive effects on the capital account. we therefore conclude that transnational corporations show a strong deficit in current account balance of payments.

Thus, the remittance of profits ends up resenting the surplus global current account generated mainly by the surplus on the trade balance. Furthermore, if the remittance of profits is also growing requires increasing the trade balance is favorable to continue holding a current account surplus in the balance of payments.

To this we add other problems of transnational corporations with respect to the external sector such as that foreign firms experience a concentration of exports in primary products, particularly farm products. Also, within the industrial products exported by foreign firms highlighted the resource-based goods natural. In conclusion, by analyzing the characteristics of exports of TNCs can establish that they are concentrated in less sophisticated products and low value added in Argentina's economy which traditionally had comparative advantages and therefore do not contribute to improve export profile of Argentina's economy.

In this context, it is essential for deepening the current economic model re-discuss the role of transnational corporations and in particular discuss and reformulate the foreign investment law have been dragging since the early nineties. The new model of development and requires A new law on financial institutions need a new legislative framework for foreign direct investment.

The author is an economist of the Study Group of National Economy and Popular (GEENaP) www.geenap.com.ar (Paco Agency Urondo)