Riot
police storm hospital in El Salvador in effort to break strike against
privatization
El Salvador, March 7, 2000
Anti-riot police were called in to bust the ongoing strike
of the unionized Social Security doctors and health care workers in
El Salvador
.
The police stormed the Hospital Médico Quirurgico (surgery hospital in
San Salvador
) and shot canisters of tear gas into the emergency room where patients were
being treated.
Four people suffered from heart attack; at least two of those are
in a coma and others are in critical condition. In addition, four children
suffered respiratory distress with medical complications; 35-40 children were
evacuated and suffered respiratory complications; a photo journalist from the
Salvadoran newspaper, "El Mundo," was hit five times at close range
with rubber bullets and received extensive injuries to his right leg; a hospital
worker left the hospital to plead with the riot police not to shoot any more
tear gas. He was sprayed in the face with pepper spray and his face was severely
burned as a result.
Social Security health care workers - those that provide the
majority of the country's health care - have been on strike for nearly four
months in defense of the constitutional right to health care, and against
privatization. A Human Rights Ombudsperson representative facilitated
negotiations with the strikers and the riot police regarding Monday's protests.
The negotiation included discussions of the workers' plans to have a protest and
block several intersections near the grounds of government hospitals. The final
agreement included ending the blockades at noon, which the workers/protesters
agreed to. The chief of the riot police had not participated in the
negotiations, and when he was told about the blockades, he reportedly consulted
with his superiors and ordered in the riot police to attack the demonstrators
and those blocking traffic, at least twenty minutes before noon.
The riot police shot tear gas canisters and rubber bullets at the
approximately 1,000 protesters who were blocking traffic and protesting in front
of the hospital. They also used pepper spray and high-pressure water hoses on
some of the protesters. The response by many protesters was to chant protest
slogans and to throw rocks at the police.
The strike has the support of the majority of the country. Maquila
workers, national health care workers, judicial workers, other public sector
workers, peasant and farmworker communities, former civil patrols, and others
have come out publicly in support. According to a recent poll, 78% of the
population is against privatization.
Information provided by the Committee in Solidarity with the
People of
El Salvador
,
New York
Update: The
El Salvador
government has since announced it will re-hire fired workers, and negotiate.
"Contradictions"
- The SJC's Ernie Schibli in Honduras
Over the
years I have visited
Central America
quite frequently and for a variety of reasons. Every once in a while, the trip
is marked by a particular theme which keeps surfacing over and over again. Such
was the case of my most recent visit to
Honduras
. “Contradictions” -so many of them! It had been less than six months since
I had last visited the country so I did not expect many changes but the first
few minutes of this trip gave evidence of what was to come. Whereas we last
visited
Honduras
in September - the height of the rainy season - this time it was March - the
burning season. In September, the rains meant flash floods and the need to do
outdoor work in the mornings to avoid a thorough soaking. No worries about the
rain on this occasion! On the other hand, blowing dust, smoke and smog presented
another set of problems, especially when making a video.
The areas
which we got to visit in
Honduras
are quite mountainous and offer many opportunities to take pictures of quite
spectacular scenery. However, Hondurans have the custom of setting their fields
ablaze prior to planting their crops. The intentions are to clear the
undergrowth and destroy some of the more harmful insects. These it might well
accomplish but it also fills the air with smoke and certainly makes taking clear
pictures much more difficult.
Poverty
and Wealth
A second
contradiction is the obvious signs of wealth in a country in which almost 80% of
the population is poor, many living in misery.
Tegucigalpa
, like many Latin American cities, is in a valley surrounded by hills covered by
“shantytowns”, regions where the poor have settled, legally or not. Their
homes are often little more than shacks, crowded together on the sides of hills.
Many lack electricity and the clean water they require is what they can afford
to purchase from the tanker trucks as they make their rounds. Many of the
streets are unpaved and every year, during the rainy season, a number of
dwellings are washed over the sides of cliffs.
Yet, there
are other homes, also on the sides of the hills, usually hidden behind high
walls and patrolled by armed guards, which would not be out of place in some of
the wealthier areas of
Canada
. As we drove through one such section I was reminded of driving along
Gouin Boulevard
through Senneville on the western tip of the
Island
of
Montreal
. As in
Montreal
or
Toronto
, the dominant buildings in
Tegucigalpa
are, in addition to a few churches, the major banks. Oh, they are not as tall
as here but, in their own way, they are equally impressive. One of them, owned
by the Military, is actually shaped like a gun with the barrel aimed at the
former presidential palace. I say “former” presidential home because,
uncomfortable with this “gun” aimed at him, the president constructed a new
presidential residence elsewhere in the city.
Whereas
the poor do most of their shopping in crowded, crime-infested, popular markets,
the wealthy and the dwindling middle class head to the new shopping malls where
they can purchase all the consumer goods that their hearts can desire, free from
the hassle of beggars and thieves. Just as in any of North American malls, the
food courts were dominated by western fast-food chains such as Burger King,
Wendy’s and Pizza Hut.
Wendy’s
or McDonald’s?
Ian
Murray, who is producing our video on
Honduras
, is a longtime vegetarian and I, thanks to a heart condition, must avoid
cholesterol and fats. Beans, rice and tortillas sounded as just the menu to keep
us both happy. Unfortunately, just about every restaurant we visited was not all
that interested in rice, beans and tortillas but offered instead a steady diet
of chicken, beef and eggs, usually fried. (I am sure that had we gone to poorer
neighborhoods we would have found our beans and rice but, as we were often
carrying expensive video equipment, that would have caused other problems.)
However, we did discover that some of the American-based fast food chains did
have salad bars and so, as suppertime approached, it was often a case of one of
us turning to the other and asking: “Where to, tonight, Wendy’s,
MacDonald’s or The Pizza Hut?” In a land of bananas, pineapples and papaya
and a variety of fresh vegetables, we found ourselves eating (probably imported)
tomatoes and lettuce. Go figure.
Differing
Views on Debt Cancellation
The goal
of our trip was to make a video on the effects of the foreign debt on
Honduras
which meant that the question of debt cancellation was prominent in our
discussions. When we met with the experts - from human rights experts to doctors
to economists and church leaders - the idea of
Honduras
(and other poor countries) having its onerous foreign debt canceled was always
met with enthusiasm. In fact,
Honduras
is one of those poorer countries in which the Jubilee 2000 campaign has been
quite active. There was no need for us to explain the idea. They knew all about
the debt and Jubilee and were most appreciative of the efforts of Canadians and
others to eliminate the debt.
People in
the poorer barrios were also very aware of the debt and the harm it is causing.
In fact, they would speak of the pain from firsthand experiences. It is their
clinics and schools which are so crowded and deprived of resources. Their
children have to leave school after by the time they would reach grade six to
seek work and so help support the family or who have to beg, steal and
prostitute themselves to survive. When we brought up the topic of Jubilee with
them, we would be met with a grin and a “that’s nice” comment but a
singular lack of enthusiasm. “Sure, work toward canceling the debt but it
won’t help us; we’ll never see the results.” Corruption in
Honduras
is widespread and well known. Having seen aid funds all too often funneled off
and too many people enriching themselves at the expense of the public purse, the
poor we spoke with are very cynical about the Jubilee campaign. They need clear
and lasting evidence of its benefits before they will jump on the bandwagon.
Hope
versus Despair
This
difference of perception regarding Jubilee carried over into the assessment of
how things are going in the country. Again, those leaders whom we interviewed,
by and large people whom we would refer to as quite progressive, looked toward
the future with lots of hope. “Things are getting bettter” they would say
with conviction. “
Honduras
is gradually becoming more democratic and the standard of living is
improving.” On the other hand, this was certainly not the response of the
poor. The most positive response we could garner to the question as to how
things were today as compared to ten years ago was “agile” (the same). In
fact, on a couple of occasions I found that people were looking toward me to
give them some reason to hope. “In
Honduras
, there is always hope; unfulfilled hope” as one woman stated.
In
hindsight, I think that we can safely say that both responses were correct in
their own way. People such as Archbishop Rodriguez was right when he said that
things are getting better. There is more organization, the days of the military
dictators are over, and there are some impressive programs being undertaken
withe local and international help. But he and others are looking at the
long-term - 25 years or more down the road. If you are poor, however, forget the
long term. What counts is today, the food I have on my table, employment now,
medical care now, drinking water for the family today - not 25 years from now.
And for all too many people, these do not exist.
Conditionality
In Jubilee
campaign circles, the question of conditionality has been a bone of contention.
Many northern campaigns have insisted that debt relief be granted on the
condition that the money saved by the indebted countries be earmarked for the
poor. For their part, the southern campaigners have said “no” to this
because, as they see it, northern governments and institutions have forfeited
their right to set conditions. They believe that, despite the corruption and
mistakes of the “South”, the “North” shares at least an equal amount of
the blame for the current situation and so has no right to lay down conditions.
For these southern campaigners, the debt does not really exist.
It was
interesting then to hear quite a few people tell us that northerners, such as
Canadians, will have to monitor whatever debt relief is given to see that it
really does help the poor. They want to believe that their civil society will
have the strength to ensure that this debt relief goes to those who are hurting
the most but, just in case, they are asking us to stand with them. This is only
an “apparent contradiction” because the way they see it is that it is not
the North who is laying down the conditions but rather the South. It is they who
are making the conditions and we who are supporting them. This certainly
confirms the position adopted by the SJC that the only condition that we in the
North can make concerning debt cancellation is that the people of the South have
an influential say in how this relief should take place.
- Ernie
Schibli
Jubilee
campaign to cancel Third World debt is "whimsical" and could
"screw up the market", according to World Bank president James
Wolfensohn
"The issue of debt forgiveness is really quite an interesting
issue (because) there are two trillion dollars in outstanding debt to developing
countries -- that's 2,000 billion dollars -- included in which is the Philippine
debt," Wolfensohn told a news conference in Manila on February 26.
"The notion that for the Jubileum for someone to come along
and forgive that debt is whimsical," he said.
Writing off these debts could put pressure on multilateral lending
institutions' capitals and in the longer term "screw up the market"
for debt instruments, Wolfensohn said.
Wolfensohn recalled he recently asked a church leader advocating
debt relief to "forgive" some 100 million dollars worth of World Bank
bonds he knew the church was holding, but instead got an "ambiguous
reply."
While there is a "lot of passion" about debt forgiveness,
Wolfensohn said governments that own the World Bank and other lending agencies
were not prepared to raise the limit of the money they contribute as funds.
"The reality is the limit of debt forgiveness is the limit of
the governments that own us. The owners, the governments, are simply not
prepared to give up more than what they are (giving up) now," he said.
Last year, leaders of the world's eight richest nations agreed to
slash some 70 billion dollars off the 214 billion dollar debt of the world's 41
poorest nations, which debt relief pressure groups said was not enough.
"If you have a society based on debt forgiveness, who's going
to invest in debt anymore? So you really screw up the market," Wolfensohn
said.
Progressive
politics, populism or personal power?
The
new president of Guatemala
by Samantha Sams, Guatemala-Canada Solidarity Network
The tactics of Alfonso Portillo, the new President of
Guatemala, are now becoming clearer:
flex his muscles and let everyone know who’s boss; cause upheaval within the
army; take the industry, investment and entrepreneurial elite (represented by
the CACIF) in Guatemala down a few notches; impress the population with speedy,
flashy policy changes in the economy and swift tours around the country; attempt
to attract a number of individuals from a variety of political perspectives to
participate in his government; keep the press on his side; impress the
international community with his Human Rights rhetoric and anti-impunity
actions.
Nevertheless, Portillo’s overall strategy still remains unclear.
Is he actually trying to effect substantive changes in the Guatemalan polity?
Few people continue to earmark him as a mere puppet of Rios Montt. For he is a
person with initiatives, proposals and people at his disposal, apparently
willing to confront the traditional, historically intransigent powers in
Guatemala
. Whether this is out of a deep belief in justice or a deep desire to prove
himself a hero is difficult to discern. The question is: if this is indeed his
plan, can he carry it out successfully? Can he go beyond the superficial changes
effected by his government to date and create a real challenge to the powers
that be? How, without being overthrown or overruled by the party that helped him
come to power? How, without being the victim of a plot by CACIF and sections of
the army currently in disfavour to destabilise the country and leave him no way
forward? To what degree is he in fact backed up by Rios Montt and the FRG? And
what indeed is his plan for the nation?
Some analysts believe that they may have the answer. Portillo has
been likened to
Mexico
’s Lazaro Cardenas, who managed to silence the popular movement and avoid
unified action against his rule by co-opting key leaders of the Mexican
campesino movement. He displaced the army and economic elite of the time,
carried out land reform and opened up spaces of participation for the previously
marginalised sectors of the population. Following on the heels of these
revolutionary actions, he and his government initiated the institutionalisation
of the revolution – a regime which now spans decades of unilateral power in
Mexico
, with a permanent policy of co-opting popular organisations and a complex
system of State bureaucracy and corruption. While
Cardenas
did many good things in the 1940s, it took until 1994 – with the spark
ignited by the Zapatista uprising – for
Mexico
’s popular movement to rise again out of the silence as a strong united force.
If this is similar to Portillo’s plan for governing
Guatemala
, it may prove equally positive for the short term and equally negative for the
long term.
Portillo has also been likened to the new populist figures in Latin
American politics, such as
Venezuela
’s Hugo Chavez, who use their strong army backing and absolute majority in
Congress against former neoliberal governments and in favour of “revolutionary
reform”. These include populist economic measures and an openness to
participation from all sectors of society, as long as they are in favour of the
new regime. As “anti-system”, these new presidents use symbols and leaders
who have proved themselves to be against the system, in order to gain popular
support.
The move made by Portillo in relation to the army that most
impressed the international community was to facilitate the process around the
Gerardi case. He allowed the arrests of three members of the army, along with
priest Mario Orantes and parish housekeeper Margarita Lopez. While Orantes is
being accused of co-participating as material author of the crime, and Lopez as
accomplice to the crime, Colonel Byron Lima, his son Capitan Lima and ex
military specialist Obdulio Villanueva were all jailed under the accusation of
intellectual authorship, for having participated in the planning and cover-up of
the crime. All three of them had formed part of Arzu’s inner circle of
security, which implies relationships of a great deal of trust with the former
president. Portillo claims that another dozen or so members of the army are
implicated in the crime, making it clear that the crime was indeed an
extra-judicial execution which utilised State structures in order to plan and
execute the crime.
The Gerardi case has brought up a lot of questions around the
possible participation in the crime of right-wing factions of the church
connected to the army, and of Arzu’s government in covering up that crime and
putting obstacles in the way of the process of its clarification. Nevertheless,
in terms of Portillo’s move against the army, it would appear that it was a
very easy one to make, as the army personnel implicated are all part of the
“institutionalist” faction of the army - those who supported Arzu’s rule
– who are historical enemies of Rios Montt and other “hard-liners”.
There is no doubt that bringing the authors of the crime to justice
– whoever their allies may be – is a positive move, and the speed with which
the case is being handled is laudable, but there are no indications so far that
Portillo is pursuing the case as part of a policy of combating impunity and
strengthening the justice system. How could he, with Rios Montt at his side?
Nevertheless, without policies such as these accompanying his actions, what
remains is a flash in the pan – a show to win popularity at home and to gain
prestige abroad.
Portillo appears to be using the Gerardi case – Gerardi being the
symbol of truth and martyrdom in the face of violence and impunity – and
leaders such as Otilia Lux and Edgar Gutierrez in the same way. However, whether
Portillo has such backing and power as Chavez – let alone the ability to
effect real changes - remains to be seen.
Samantha Sams is based in
Guatemala City
. This article is excerpted from a longer report on the situation in
Guatemala
, which is available from the SJC.
Impunity
in Guatemala
By Henry
Monroy
Talking
about impunity in Guatemala implies doing a brief recollection of how the
present power structure was born, from the time when Guatemala was a colony of
Spain.
When the
Spaniards conquered the
Americas
, they imposed their culture here. When these regions obtained their
independence, in most of the new states it was not through massive social
movements, but rather power struggles from the Creoles to liberate themselves
from
Spain
. These events followed an unavoidable historic wave that had started in North
America, with respect to
England
.
At that
moment, the power structure left by the Spaniards was fully adopted by the
Creoles, that is to say, a structure that was racist, classist, elitist, and one
that exploited the great majority of the population of the new nations.
Guatemala
was no exception, especially since it is one of the few Latin American
countries that still has a majority of indigenous population (68%).
This
country has suffered authoritarianism, dictatorships, militarism, a mercenary
invasion that was financed and directed by the government of the
USA
in 1954, and a civil war that lasted more than 36 years leaving more than
200,000 dead and 50,000 disappeared. All these factors make
Guatemala
the perfect set-up for impunity in all its forms. Impunity is one of this
country's internal contradictions. The encroachment of impunity, together with
corruption, make it difficult for our society to advance in its struggle to have
a culture of peace, social justice and reconciliation.
The old
dispute between the oligarchy and the just demands of the population highlight
the fact that the structure of power uses the State as a vehicle to repress and
negate the population in general. As a result of that, we have a justice system
that is not able to respond to the daily requests for justice coming from the
population. It is even more worrisome to look at statistics like the ones from
the Guatemalan Institute for Comparative Studies on Penal Sciences. Eighty-nine
per cent of the people legally detained are there for crimes against private
property, and 82% of people convicted after a legal process are guilty of crimes
against private property.
These
statistics highlight the disparity in the use of State's resources in judiciary
matters. It privileges the protection of private property, a right guaranteed in
the Constitution but one which should not have priority over the right to life.
The protection of human life is the raison d'être for the existence of the
States according to human rights international treaties signed and ratified by
Guatemala and in articles 1 and 3 of the Guatemalan Constitution. In the
Guatemalan media it is possible to read daily about people that lose their life
violently and the system does not do the investigation, trial, and sentencing of
the assassins of Guatemalans. In the rare cases when one of them is identified
and brought to trial, they are set free thanks to a technicality. The cover-up
is maximized for State agents. The most glaring example of this impunity system
are the 200,000 deaths resulting from the civil war; the official number
according to the Report from the Commission for Historical Clarification, "
Guatemala
, Never Again". This report states that the Army was responsible for 93% of
the massacres and crimes against the Guatemalan people, the guerrilla was
responsible for 4% and it was not possible to establish responsibility for the
other 3%. More than one year has passed since the publication of this report and
we are still waiting for the State to spend some of its resources in the
investigation of these crimes, despite the constant demands from within the
country and from the international community.
The
unavoidable conclusion is that impunity in
Guatemala
continues to be one of the biggest obstacles to overcome, not only for
Guatemalans but also for the international community. Now, more than ever, there
is need for monitoring and denouncement, presence and solidarity from everybody.
To support the Guatemalan people is to support a just cause.
Henry
Monroy is a Guatemalan judge now living in exile in
Canada
.
Before
he left
Guatemala
, Judge Monroy presided over two prominent cases where military officers were
accused of being involved in assassinations of people working for human rights.
The trial began of three military officers accused of being the intellectual
authors of the assassination of Guatemalan anthropologist Myrna Mack began in
January 1999. For the first time in Guatemalan history, military officers were
to face trial for the intellectual authorship of an assassination resulting from
a repressive state policy.
The
next month, his court was assigned the Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera murder
trial. Bishop Girardi was brutally assassinated on April 26, 1998, three days
after presenting the results of the "Recuperation of the Historic
Memory" project. Bishop Gerardi had been the director of this project,
which documented thousands of human rights violations committed during the 34
year long internal war. Judge Monroy was able to redirect the course of the
investigation away from the passionate crime and common crime thesis and opening
other lines of investigation, including political motivation.
Threats
against him and his family forced him to seek protection from the UN
Verification
Mission
, which in turn requested that the state assume responsibility for his personal
security. Recognizing that this provided no protection and that his life was in
danger, he came to
Canada
as a refugee.
Inequalities
in
Guatemala
worsen
The structural problems that gave rise to
the war in
Guatemala
have yet to be resolved. Indeed, the effects wrought by the causes of the
internal armed conflict have multiplied over the past few years, due to
Guatemala
’s entry into the global market.
The unequal distribution of land and wealth has been exacerbated by
neoliberal policies in recent years, causing ever-increasing poverty for the
majority of citizens. One million people rely on agriculture for their survival,
while a thousand families control 70% of cultivable land. Structural adjustment
and privatisation have ensured that the few benefits afforded to the population
by the State have been put into the hands of the private sector. Salaries do not
meet the needs of families and individuals, and close to 80% of the population
lives below the poverty line.
Poverty
leads to high infant mortality rates, malnutrition and a series of mental and
physical health problems. The vast majority of the population lacks access to
adequate and affordable nutrition and health care. Poverty is also exacerbated
by the lack of access to education and training, aimed towards securing integral
human development of the general population. To add to this, formal education is
discriminatory for girls and indigenous children, illiterate adults and anyone
with different abilities or sexual orientations, thus limiting the development
of the majority of non-ladino or white males, especially if they are not
wealthy, heterosexual or able-bodied.
Patriarchal society,
strengthened by decades of militarisation, ensures that women continue to suffer
abuse and discrimination, in the face of almost total impunity. One in three
Guatemalan women has suffered sexual or physical abuse at home.
Racism and
ethnocentrism continues to permeate every institution of the system, affecting
the opportunities for indigenous peoples in all aspects of their lives.
Violence is endemic
throughout Guatemalan society. The culture of terror created during the war has
not disappeared, and added to it is the violence that springs from people’s
desperation in the face of poverty, injustice and impunity. Common crime is
rampant. Lynchings are carried out approximately once a day, somewhere in the
country.
The justice system is
severely deficient, inefficient and corrupt, thus contributing to the state of
impunity. Judges base their decisions on “psychology, experience and common
sense”, resulting in highly subjective ? often arbitrary - judgements.
A parallel power
structure exists in
Guatemala
, linked to a complex system of organized crime.
The army continues to
control the intelligence apparatus of the country, with one of the most
sophisticated intelligence systems in the world. Not only are old army
structures, such as those of the civilian patrols, easy to reactivate, but the
truth about Guatemala’s history continues to be repressed and attempts to
clarify acts of violence is met with the violence of the army and its many
intransigent structures.
Largely due to the
deficiencies in the justice system, the hidden powers of a parallel system of
control and the intransigence of existing military structures, impunity still
exists for past Human Rights violations.
While the cases of
Candido Noriega and
Rio Negro
have brought justice to those involved, the Xaman case was treated without
seriousness, the Mack case has only been allowed to ensure justice for the
material authors, while intellectual authorship has yet to be established, and
the Gerardi case remains unsolved. There has been no justice for the victims or
victims’ families for thousands of cases of political kidnappings, rapes,
assassinations, massacres and other policies of the genocide wrought by the
State upon the civilian population during the internal armed conflict.
The information about
the detained and disappeared in
Guatemala
has yet to be fully revealed, and the State has only committed itself to
carrying out one exhumation - out of the more than 600 massacres documented by
the Commission for Historical Clarification.
International solidarity - as a movement of groups and individuals aware
of the destruction wrought upon a peoples and determined to resist the
overwhelming forces of dehumanisation - still has the obligation to support
Guatemalan social and popular organizations and their movements for change, in
order to help press for the end to poverty, discrimination, violence and
impunity. These issues can be tackled via the Guatemalan government’s
compliance with the Peace Accords and adherence to international Human Rights
law.
By
Samantha Sams, excerpted from her report to the Guatemala-Canada Solidarity
Network
Human
rights and the environment -
People
from Central America and Mexico share their knowledge and perspectives at
Montreal conference
By Karen Rothschild, coordinator of SJC programs
on
Mexico
and organizer of the conference “Human Rights and the Environment”.
We need a fundamental change in spiritual and social values,
according to Pierre Bisaillon, a Franciscan priest and founding member of the
Centre de ressources sur la non-violence.
Pierre
's environmental philosophy is consciously similar to that of
Canada
's native peoples. Its central tenet is that human beings are not separate from
but are part of the environment; the Earth is our Mother rather than an object
of domination and exploitation.
Pierre
opened the
conference along with Silvia Whizar, coordinator and co-founder of the Santo Tomás
Ecological Association of Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico.
Silvia emphasized the drastic effect of environmental degradation
on the peoples of the South. While not neglecting Northern problems,
particularly the very negative spiritual and psychological effects of the
prevailing development model, she made it plain that it is in the South that the
most brutal effects of globalization are being felt. She described a double
standard; companies which respect environmental regulations in the North
frequently behave very differently in the South. (Another speaker later pointed
out the problem is not that the countries of
Central America
are lacking in environmental legislation, but rather that national and
transnational companies deliberately break environmental laws and regulations.)
The description by Bernard Hudon, representing the Coalition sur la
forêt vierge nordique, of the situation of the Québec forest gave much food
for thought to Maria Teresa Guerrero, whose organization is defending the rights
of the native peoples of the Sierra Tarahumara in the state of
Chihuahua
, who are struggling to protect the forested region in which they live.
Forest issues were also of great concern to Lucia Antonio of the
Unity of Indigenous Communities from the Northern Zone of the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec
. Her organization is leading a movement of civic opposition to the proposed
multi-faceted Isthmus Mega-Project and the threats that it poses to her region's
forests and waterways. The mega-project includes a multi-lane auto-route and
high speed train tracks, which will essentially bisect the region, as well as
such environmentally-destructive activities as large-scale eucalyptus
plantations and shrimp farms.
Both Maria Teresa and Lucia were surprised to learn of the
ecological and social problems caused by the over-exploitation of Québec's
forests. In a similar manner, Bernard Hudon discovered, to his surprise, that
the model forest projects supported by the Canadian government in Québec and in
Mexico
have been quite different in their effects. A project conception whose results
have been laudable in Québec has turned out quite differently in the state of
Chihuahua
, where transnational companies rather than local communities appear to be its
principal beneficiaries.
Reflecting their distinct geographical realities, the topic of
water was treated very differently by Northern and Southern speakers. Marie
Mazalto of Eau-Secours focussed on the dangers of the increasing international
trend toward the privatization of water supplies. She noted that the
privatization of the public water system in the
United Kingdom
(a pioneer in the privatization of public services) has led to an increase in
water-borne diseases and to a decrease in water usage that is detrimental to
public hygiene. The coalition of organizations forming Eau-Secours are working
for the right to water to be established as a basic human right at the
international level.
Mauricio Sermeño of UNES, a national coalition of Salvadoran
environmental organizations, scientists, and local communities, spoke of
El Salvador
as a country which is "dying" and whose environmental crisis should
serve as a warning to other countries. He dramatically described the rural
exodus caused by the complete failure of the water supply in many areas of
El Salvador
. Rivers, springs and wells have dried up as a result of the massive
deforestation that is the consequence of large-scale export agriculture (that is
to say, as a result of
El Salvador
's economic relationship with the rich countries of the North).
Combining scientific and social analysis, Charles Mercier of
Biotech-Action Montréal (BAM) discussed genetically-modified organisms as
instruments of control in the hands of the "life-science"
multinational companies. Despite this topic's not being directly addressed by
any of the Southern speakers, it is, nevertheless, a matter of much interest to
them.
Mexico
is already importing large quantities of genetically-modified corn from the
United States
, without controls or labelling. Although there is not at this time precise
information regarding the use of genetically-modified organisms in
El Salvador
, in the near future there is a real danger of campesino farmers' being obliged
by the rural credit banks to plant their fields with genetically-modified seeds.
(In
El Salvador
, it is standard practice for the bank to impose technical as well as financial
conditions when granting farm loans.)
Mariano Méndez spoke of the challenges facing his organization,
the Honduran Rural Development Institute, as it supports campesino organizations
in their efforts to recover from the disastrous effects of Hurricane Mitch and
to move towards more sustainable agricultural practices - in a national context
of economic crisis caused in large part by the current structural adjustment
programme. In describing the problems of rural
Honduras
, he spoke of a drastic shortage of health and education services and of a high
rate of migration from the country to the city.
The Honduran environmental situation is characterized by pollution
from untreated industrial wastes, and by the destruction of mangrove swamps (the
natural habitat of shrimps and other shellfish) caused by the shrimp-farming and
salt industries. The Green Revolution, brought to
Honduras
by the U.S. Technical Service for International Agricultural Cooperation, has
resulted in the degradation of soils and in a dependence on the use of
chemicals. This programme was focussed upon the training of technicians; it
ignored social realities (such as the abundance of rural manpower) and dangers
to the ecosystem.
Because of time limitations, discussion of Québec agricultural
issues was limited to the separate workshop on agriculture. However, the
Southern visitors had an opportunity to learn of the difficulties confronting Québec
farmers when they visited a dairy farm in St.-Jacques near
Joliette
. One of the farmers present is on the point of being certified as an organic
milk producer. He explained that all of the feed used for his cows has to be
organically grown (essentially produced on the farm), and that in cases of
illness no antibiotics could be used in treating the cows. The owners of the
dairy farm that was hosting the visit were `in transition' towards becoming
certified organic producers. They had stopped all use of farm chemicals, but
were not yet producing all of their feed and were still purchasing some
non-organic feed grains. They particularly mentioned the difficulties associated
with medical treatment - the fact that none of the veterinarians in their area
were trained in homeopathic medicine and that consultations with veterinarians
outside of a farmer's own area are not covered by the provincial programme that
subsidizes the veterinary travel costs to farms. The visitors were very struck
by the level of farm mechanization and computerization. Following their visit,
they expressed private concern about the extreme physical confinement to which
the cows were subjected.
The South-North environmental connection became very apparent in
Madga Lanuza's presentation on the effects of the activities of mining
companies, particularly of Canadian mining companies, in
Nicaragua
. She described dangerously negligent practices with regard to the storing of
cyanide (used for the extraction of gold) and mining wastes, which have caused
serious pollution affecting the health of local communities and of their
livestock. Magda pointed out that there is no such thing as "sustainable
mining", and that mining activities bring little or no benefits to adjacent
local communities.
The final session of the conference included speakers from two
organizations working at an international level. Jamie Kneen of
Ottawa
represented Mines Watch, a pan-Canadian organization founded in April 1999,
which provides support and advice to local communities suffering from the
environmental degradation caused by Canadian mining companies - both in
Canada
and in other countries. Silvia Whizar of the Santo Tomás Ecological
Association in
Villahermosa
,
Tabasco
, is a member of the international executive committee of Oilwatch, a network of
organizations from regions that have been very seriously affected by oil
industry pollution.
A mainly Southern network, Oilwatch brings together people from all
parts of the world; representatives from more than forty countries attend its
general meetings.
Québec participants were particularly interested in the report on
Canadian business given by former Montréaler François Meloche. François
explained how ordinary Canadians can take at least some steps to promote
economic justice. For instance, a great deal of business investment in
Canada
comes from the pension funds of salaried Canadians, who have a moral right to
know how their pension contributions are being used. He explained how, for a
very modest investment in shares, (for instance $30 worth of shares plus a $25
brokerage fee) it is possible to attend, and to raise questions at, annual
meetings of Canadian companies. He also reminded conference participants that,
through the purchase of "fair trade" coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, etc.,
Canadians can actively promote more just trading relationships as well as
farming practices which respect human and environmental health.
(Readers may wish to note that Bridgehead coffees, teas, and other
products can be found at the SJC office, at Le Frigo Vert - the nonprofit coop
run by Concordia students on
MacKay Street
, and at Dix Mille Villages in Pointe-Claire. Restaurants serving "fair
trade" tea and coffee include the Café Santropol, Wrapp's, and Café Rico.
Café Rico, which is located on
Rachel Street
near the Parc Lafontaine, also imports and roasts organic coffee from Central
American and Mexican campesino cooperatives.)
There were two recurrent themes heard implicitly and explicitly
throughout the colloque, especially from our Southern visitors. The first of
these concerned the need for a social approach to the whole question of the
links between the environment and social justice. Individual efforts towards
responsible consumption patterns and recycling are very important. They cannot,
however, constitute an adequate response to the fundamental social and political
injustices that are the result of the devastating environmental effects of the
globalized economic development model. What is needed is not individual
self-examination (and the assumption of guilt or virtue) but social analysis and
political purpose.
The second theme, expressed by Pierre Bisaillon at the outset of
the conference and by Mauricio Sermeño at its conclusion, was the imperative
necessity for a fundamental transformation in spiritual and social values.
Mauricio said that we all of us, North and South, live in societies that are
suffering from addiction, and the root of that addiction is the love of money.
Indigenous
women from Oaxaca bring their protest to Mexico City, ask for support
This month (April 2000), women who have been in a vigil for justice
since June 1997 are demonstrating in
Mexico City
to dramatize their situation and that of imprisoned family members. The SJC has
just received a message about this from Padre Uvi of
Oaxaca
,
Mexico
, one of the founders of the Bartolome Carrasco Briseno Human Rights Centre.
Padre Uvi's parish is in the Sierra Sur mountains of
Oaxaca
.
Fifty-five Zapotecan women from the region of Los Loxichas began a
vigil in front of the
Oaxaca
Government
Building
(Palacio de Gobierno) in June 1997. The government of
Oaxaca
, headed by former Governor Diodoro Carrasco (now federal Minister of the
Interior) had imprisoned 130 Zapotecan indigenous people, on the accusation that
they were members of the EPR armed guerrilla movement.
The women are convinced of the innocence of the prisoners, who are
their husbands or relatives. These men, after being abducted and tortured,
signed confessions that were written in a language that most of them could not
speak (Spanish) regarding events in which they had not participated; they were
subjected to trials in which there was no provision for Spanish-Zapoteco
translation.
Together with their thirty-five children, four of whom have been
born since they began the vigil, the women have kept up their peaceful struggle
for thirty-three months. They do not want to allow the government to go on with
its security operations, during which there have been fatal shootings as well as
deaths due to automobile `accidents' or to alleged `prison illnesses'. (There
has been at least one fatality in each of these categories.)
In the knowledge that the majority of their imprisoned relatives
have been kept in subhuman conditions in the state Central Penitentiary and held
incommunicado in filthy cells, these women decided to leave their shacks and
their few belongings to go to the city of
Oaxaca
. Their daily ordeal is a manifestation of resistance and determination. They
have vowed to continue their vigil until their husbands are released from
prison. (Their struggle has had some successes. So far twenty-five alleged EPR
guerrilla members have been released because of lack of evidence against them,
and fifteen more are about to be released.)
From their place of vigil in front of Government House, the women
are defending the dignity of indigenous people. The fact that twenty-per-cent of
the arrested men have now been released is a clear demonstration that the
women's struggle is based on truth and justice.
We (the Bartolome Carrasco Briseno Human Rights Centre) believe
that the women are true examples of the prophetic spirit of the indigenous
peoples and of their commitment to human rights. These impoverished indigenous
women are actively defending human life, indigenous dignity, and rights. They
are casting light upon the dark shadows of corruption and impunity that are
endemic to the administration of justice in
Oaxaca
.
In mid-March, the women issued this appeal:
"We wives of political prisoners from the Loxicha region have
decided to bring our vigil to the city of
Mexico
. Because our small children are without the protection of their fathers and
because of our desperation, we have come here to insist that the federal
aauthorities respond to our demands. For thirty-three months, we have
maintained, to no avail, a vigil in the city of
Oaxaca
. We must therefore seek other means of enabling ourselves to meet with the
government officials who have the power to deal with our case.
We are asking civil society, human rights organizations, and social
and civic organizations to join us in our demonstrations asking for the release
of our family members, who are imprisoned in various parts of
Oaxaca
and in the maximum-security institution of Almoloya de Juarez. Your support
will help us not to feel alone in our struggle."
The
women's message is signed by the Committee of Relatives of Political Prisoners
of the Loxicha Region, and by the Union of Peoples against the Repression and
Militarization of the Loxicha Region.
If you would like more background
information, please contact the SJC office.
