Latin American Leftists not-so-hot on global warming

by
Share this
Share

Unlike in the US and Europe, the political left in South America is often mum on climate change, says an analysis by Americas Quarterly, which identifies a trend of diverging goals between leftist leaders and environmentalists in the region.

The report notes how Bolivia’s Evo Morales opened up the Tipnis Protected Area for energy exploration, and how in 2019 his country matched Brazil’s pro-deforestation record of President Bolsonaro with massive torchings inthe Amazon. Mexico’s Lopez Obrador and Venezuela’s Maduro are singled out as actively indifferent to environmental concerns, and former far-left Brazilian president Lula’s lack of criticism of Bolsonaro’s active deforestation. In all cases, says the report, environmental conditions have worsened considerably over the last years.

By Milan Sime Martinic

UN: 100k missing in Syria civil war

by
Share this
Share

The International Commission on Missing Persons estimates that the conflict in Syria that started as part of the Arab Spring 10 years ago has disasppeared Syrians and foreigners in Syria at the rate of about 10K per year. Many of the missing were said to be along migratory routes, Mediterranean crossings, and areas where they are preyed upon by criminal enterprises.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Imprisoned Bolivian president says government is violating her rights as a woman and former head of state as government ups the charges and judge orders her held for 4 months

by
Share this
Share

In appeals for oversight to the UN, the EU and the US, former Bolivian President Jeanine Anez, charged with sedition, says the government is ignoring her human rights. Former president Evo Morales has called on Twitter for punishment and those he says conspired in a coup to take him out of office in 2019.

Prosecutors now say she is not being held as an ex-president but for her actions prior to assuming the office; they have added new allegations that she forced the presidents of the upper and lower houses of Bolivia to resign so that she could take over as next-in-line.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Yangon student union boycotts military-owned products

by
Share this
Share

YANGON, Myanmar – The Yangon University Student Union has begun a boycott of military-owned products in response to the military’s violent crackdown, which has over the past two months of clashes led to a death toll of 86.

The University Student Union has urged people not to buy or sell brands of beer and cigarettes manufactured by military-owned companies. The student union alleges that revenue from those products has contributed to human rights violation throughout the country, especially in ethnic areas.

The Yangon University Student Union has a reputation for taking an active part in political activities throughout the ages. In British colonial days, student union led the movement to liberate Myanmar from British rule.

By Htay Win
Photo credit Khit Thit

IDPs call for removal of Myanmar military stations

by
Share this
Share

YANGON, Myanmar – Internally displaced people in Rakhine state have called for the removal of Myanmar military stations near their villages in order that they could get back to their villages after the clashes between Arakan Army and the military have stopped.

“We do not dare go back to my village even though there is no fighting because of Myanmar military stations near my Saukkhat village,” said a woman from the IDP camp.

According to Rakhine ethnic committee, there are 148 IDP camps with a total population of 190,000 in five townships in Rakhine state.

There had been fierce fighting between the Arakan Army and Myanmar military in Rakhine state since 2018, and people fled their villages to the IDP camps while seeing more deaths of non-combatants. A year earlier, in 2017, others from the area fled similar troubles to neighboring Bangladesh as well. The Arakan Army was formed for a purpose of political self-determination 10 years ago in Kachin state.

By Htay Win

Police in Bolivia arrest former President Jeanine Añez; she claims ‘political persecution’

by
Share this
Share

The former interim caretaker was arrested in the middle of the night at her home in the Amazonian region of Beni under accusations of sedition, terrorism, and complicity in a “coup” that ousted former President Evo Morales. The courts said she was considered a “flight risk.”

In turn, she accused the government of political persecution, “It accuses me of having participated in a coup that never happened,” she tweeted.

Añez assumed the presidency as the constitutional next-in-line after Morales, his vice-president. The presidents of the upper and lower houses of Congress, and the president of the Senate resigned following a countrywide revolt that questioned his claim to have won the country’s 2019 elections. She was the second vice president of the senate.

Her charge was to run the country until new elections were held; she held office for one year and was the country’s second woman president, handing over power to Luis Arce of Morales’s political party after a landslide victory in elections held in October 2020.

By Milan Sime Martinic

British trade with the EU has collapsed

by
Share this
Share

In the first month after Brexit, Great Britain posted heavy foreign trade losses, collapsing by 41% in exports to the EU in January, coupled by a loss of 29% in imports. According to the British Statistical Authority, the foreign trade numbers are dramatically bad as the transition is problematic for many companies trading with the economic zone. It cited the export of fresh food such as fish to the EU which fell by two thirds in January. The new bureaucracy and the regulations brought about by Brexit are complex for many fishermen, noted the authority.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Mountain of gold discovered in Africa, mining banned while authorities figure what to do

by
Share this
Share

Luhihi Mountain in Congo’s South Kivo province is currently the scene of a gold rush, with some reports stating that the mountain is 60-90% gold. News of the mountain of gold caused hundreds of people to flock to the area with picks and shovels and a lot of ambition.

Melees erupted as masses of people worked up a frenzy to strike it rich with a handful of the precious metal. In turn, their actions caused the government to issue a decree banning mining on the mountain until new rules could be established, “Not only to protect lives but also to guarantee the traceability of the gold produced in accordance with Congolese law.”

The minister assured citizens that the suspension was made in order to identify the miners and ensure that they are registered with the regulators. “Traders, miners, and the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) must abandon the Luhihi mines and are prohibited from mining until further notice,” said the decree.

The discovery of the mound of gold ore is perhaps as significant for Congo as was the discovery of the Silver ore in Potosi, current-day Bolivia, in the 1500s, say mining analysts. The silver mountain made the former Inca hamlet the economic center of the world and transformed it into the wealthiest and most powerful city in the world at the time.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Gulf of Guinea pirates a growing threat in West Africa controlling area from Senegal to Angola, to Cabo Verde to Sao Tome and Principe

by
Share this
Share

Militant groups robbing and kidnapping foreign nationals for ransom have grown into a proper organized criminal network with a hub in Nigeria running pirate operations with impunity, and the problem is getting worse and more widespread in the region, stifling development across the entire west coast of Africa, according to a pirate expert speaking to Alan Kasujja on Africa Daily. Pirates now control an area that reaches as far as 200 knots into international waters, and modern vessels now allow them to evade authorities. Last year, 130 of 135 maritime kidnappings worldwide occurred in the Gulf of Guinea.

The area gets less international attention that the key oil routes of the Straits of Hormuz and the Horn of Africa.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Downed Brazilian pilot rescued after given up for dead in Amazon jungle

by
Share this
Share

SAO PAULO  -  Antonio Sera survived 36 days in the thick jungle along the Para River in Brazil’s lower Amazonia after his plane crashed and burned January 28. Government rescuers found no trace of him and gave up after a week. He told the Folha of Sao Paulo that he survived by eating fruit that he saw that monkeys would eat. The 36-year-old walked through the thick bush to safety and was 26 kilos lighter when found by Brazil nut farmers.

By Milan Sime Martinic

King Goodwill Zwelithini of the Zulu nation in South Africa has died

by
Share this
Share

The 72-year old ceremonial monarch was hospitalized in KwaZulu-Natal in the last weeks due to unstable diabetes and died unexpectedly after taking a turn for the worse, report South African media.

Despite no political power granted to him in the South African Constitution, the king wielded great influence among millions of Zulus.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Patagonian forest fires threaten protected areas in Argentina near Chile, many dead, missing

by
Share this
Share

Dozens of out-of-control fires have destroyed at least 1,200 hectares of area protected for its ancient trees in the Los Alerces National Park, 1,200 miles southwest of Buenos Aires.

Seven people were confirmed dead, 15 missing as fires burned homes in the region of the Valdivian forest in the pristine Andean pre-mountain range at the border with Chile, according to the Argentinian government.

by Milan Sime Martinic