Essential Afro-Latino/ Caribbean Current Events

[Yehuda]

Rebuilding hegemony

Redemocratised Latin America eventually rejected both the IMF-enforced neoliberalism which terrorised the region economically, and its past subservience to U.S. foreign policy.

Since the defeat of the FTAA or free trade area of the Americas, and the ascendence of the so-called pink tide, there have been ongoing efforts to establish a new hegemonic order to succeed the Washington consensus of the 1990s through economic and strategic blocs like the Pacific alliance, the Lima Group, and direct intervention through the U.S. dominated Organisation of American States.

These have stood counter to regional integration efforts like UNASUR, ALBA and CELAC, the protagonists of which were depicted by financial press as the “bad” South America; one of “populism” and “statism”, i.e. obstacles to low wages and privatisation.

From Honduras in 2009 and Paraguay in 2012, there have been a succession of coups, coup attempts, destabilisations and reversed elections; Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua. The failure of Argentinian neoliberal Macri to be re-elected punctured U.S. vision for the southern cone, as did the overthrow of the Bolivian coup regime both they and the IMF backed. The coup government led by CIA-connected Jeanine Añez now face punishment for massacres and torture during their putsch.

In Ecuador, home to the U.S. Manta airbase, and under the shadow of Council of the Americas patron Chevron, a combination of lawfare, proxy spoiler/splinter opposition, and disinformation against the left candidate most recently helped bring COA-lauded banker Guillermo Lasso to power. Lasso, neoliberal former head of Ecuador operations for the Coca-Cola company, succeeds ‘Shakespearean villain’ Lenin Moreno. Moreno was elected on a left-wing ticket to succeed Rafael Correa, only to quickly switch to a U.S. allied position once in office, engage in persecution of former allies, and encourage brutal repression of anti-austerity, anti-IMF protests. This led him too to face a lawsuit from indigenous organisations for crimes against humanity.

Two new Brazilian books ‘Ninguém regula a América‘ by Ana Penido/Miguel Enrique Stédile and ‘Brasil no espectro de uma guerra híbrida‘ by Piero C. Leirner both detail how beneath a veneer of public diplomacy, lawfare, encouragement and utilisation of the far right, along with other components, have been used by the United States over the past decade or more to wage an undeclared hybrid war across the region, in order to install governments aligned with U.S. interests; put simply it is the old empire with new weapons.

Anti-Corruption in particular went from a standing start in the early 1990s to become a principal tool of US statecraft, capable of swinging elections and toppling presidents. In Brazil’s case this had global dimensions via BRICS and its relations with China and Russia.

These kind of campaigns in Latin America are backed by Council of the Americas, NATO’s Atlantic Council, AEI, Transparency International, the libertarian Atlas Network and other NGOs, think tanks, and foundations, which act as US / FVEY government cutouts, providing strategic planning, material support, and editorial cover via clusters of locally stationed flacks. There has been little distinction between governmental agency and outsourced corporate activity in this area.

It is wrong to assume there was ever pause from the role U.S. corporations played in the horrors of 1960s and 70s Latin America, when the very same organisation that binds them, Council of the Americas, has been a constant, pulling political strings to provide an environment that is friendly to business, and swimming in blood, ever since.

With elections imminent in Brazil, Chile and Colombia, this malign influence should be central to any serious reporting.

South America’s ‘Business Friendly’ Bloodbath

 

[Yehuda]

Haitians protest their president in English as well as Creole, indicting US for its role in country’s political crisis

May 10, 2021 8.32am EDT

Protest signs on the ground before a march on March 28, 2021, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to denounce President Jovenel Moïse’s efforts to stay in office past his term. Valerie Baeriswyl/AFP via Getty Images

Haitian protesters on the nation’s streets have a laundry list of reasons they believe President Jovenel Moïse should resign.

They blame Moïse for overstaying his term, which should have ended on Feb. 7, for fiscal austerity that has caused rapid inflation and deteriorating living conditions and for sponsoring gang attacks that have killed at least 240 people since 2018, according to human rights groups.

And though very few people in Haiti speak English, Haitian protesters are using English to make their demands known, with viral Twitter protest hashtags like #FreeHaiti and protest signs reading “Jovenel is a dictator.”

My research on imperialism and Caribbean politics suggests Haitians are using English not only to draw Western attention to the crisis there, but also to indict the U.S. for its role in creating that crisis.

A scandal-plagued president

Sustained protests have been a hallmark of Moïse’s tenure since he was elected in November 2016 in an election that fewer than 12% of Haitians voted in.

Haitian President Jovenel Moïse speaks on Nov. 18, 2019. Jovenel at a podium with men sitting behind him

Moïse was the handpicked successor of Haiti’s unpopular last president, Michel Martelly. His meager 2016 electoral success came after two years of delayed votes and confirmed electoral fraud by Martelly’s government. In 2017, his first year in office, the Haitian Senate issued a report accusing Moïse of embezzling at least US$700,000 of public money from a Venezuelan infrastructure development fund called PetroCaribe to his personal banana business.

Protesters flooded into the streets crying “Kot Kòb Petwo Karibe a?” – “where is the PetroCaribe money?”

Lacking the trust of the Haitian people, Moïse has relied on hard power to remain in office.

He created a kind of police state in Haiti, reviving the national army two decades after it was disbanded and creating a domestic intelligence agency with surveillance powers. Since early last year, Moïse has also been ruling by decree. He effectively shuttered the Haitian legislature by refusing to hold parliamentary elections scheduled for January 2020 and summarily dismissed all of the country’s elected mayors in July 2020 when their terms expired.

Existing street protests exploded early this year after Moïse refused to hold a presidential election and step down when his term ended in Feburary 2021. Instead, he claims his term ends in February 2022, because Haiti’s 2016 election was postponed.

In the coming months, Moïse says, he intends to change the Haitian Constitution to strengthen the powers of the presidency and prolong his administration.

Memories of a dictatorship

For many Haitians, Moïse’s undemocratic power grabs recall the 30-year, U.S.-backed dictatorship of François Duvalier, aka “Papa Doc,” and his son Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier.

François Duvalier with bodyguards and his wife, Simone, after they voted in Haiti’s 1957 presidential election, in which Duvalier was a leading candidate. AFP via Getty Images

Both Papa Doc and Baby Doc relied on murdering and brutalizing Haitians to remain in power, in close collaboration with Western corporate and political interests in Haiti. The Duvaliers enriched themselves – along with Haiti’s American financial investors and U.S. manufacturers based there – while leaving the country in massive debt.

When mounting Haitian protests ended the regime in 1986, Baby Doc fled the country. Haiti was in economic collapse and social ruin.

The 1987 Haitian Constitution that Moïse now seeks to change was written soon after to ensure that Haiti would never slide back into dictatorship.

Beyond Moïse’s use of state violence to suppress opposition, Haitian protesters today see another similarity with the Duvalier era: the United States’ support.

In March, the U.S. State Department announced that it supports Moïse’s decision to remain in office until 2022, to give the crisis-stricken country time to “elect their leaders and restore Haiti’s democratic institutions.”

That stance – which echoes that of Western-dominated international organizations that hold substantial sway in Haiti, such as the Organization of American States – sustains what is left of Moïse’s legitimacy to remain president.

Haitians unhappy with continued American support for their embattled president have held numerous demonstrations outside the U.S. embassy in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, while Haitian Americans in the U.S. have protested outside the Haitian embassy in Washington, D.C.

Some Haitian demonstrators have also burned the American flag at several protests in Port-au-Prince. The flag-burning, like the English-language protest slogans, aims to highlight the history of Western foreign intervention that created the disaster situation in Haiti.

From its invasion and military occupation of Haiti from 1915 to 1934 to its support of the Duvalier regime, the U.S. has played a major role in destabilizing Haiti. Ever since the devastating Haitian earthquake of 2010, international organizations like the United Nations and nonprofits like the American Red Cross have also had an outsize presence in the country.

Last year, protesters staged demonstrations outside the United Nations headquarters in Haiti as the U.N. Security Council met to discuss Moïse’s future and the country’s political crisis. Their message, according to the publication Haïti Liberté, “No more foreign meddling.”

Protesters in Port-au-Prince in 2019 highlight the role of foreign governments in supporting President Jovenel Moïse, who was accused of corruption. CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images

Why English?

Haitian protesters aren’t the only non-English-speaking protesters to use English to air their grievances. In Myanmar, where a Feb. 1 coup overthrew the country’s democratically elected government, English-language protest signs, videos and hashtags abound.

According to linguist Mary Lynne Gasaway Hill’s 2018 book, “The Language of Protest,” using a widely spoken, politically dominant language like English helps to get traditional news outlets to cover uprisings occurring abroad. And if the state cracks down on dissent, that means international audiences will see the violence, too – potentially protecting protesters and hurting the government’s credibility.

English is a more likely protest tool, then, in a country where local people feel – or in fact are – powerless to effect change without outside alliances. Coupled with “social media and the rapidity of globalized communication,” Hill writes, English protest messages can raise some critical international solidarity.

I see another reason, too, for Haitian protesters’ recent adoption of English: It is the language of the United States, the world’s most powerful country and Moïse’s most influential international backer.

Haitians’ cries to “Free Haiti” ask Americans not only to pay attention to their struggle – but also to consider their country’s responsibility for it.

Haitians protest their president in English as well as Creole, indicting US for its role in country's political crisis

 

[Yehuda]

Committee established to aid Barbados’ transition to republican system

Written by: Sinai Fleary
24th May 2021

ANNOUNCEMENT: Barbados PM Mia Mottley

Barbados has announced the development of a Republican Status Transition Advisory Committee (RSTAC) to help plan and head the transition of the island from a monarchical system to a republic.

According to an announcement made late on Saturday, the acting Cabinet Secretary, Hughland Allman, will oversee the committee. The new RSTAC will have an agenda to discuss the responsibilities, rights and hopes of Barbadians, including the younger generation and those in the Diaspora.

There will be an opportunity for the public to send their ideas to the committee in the next few weeks and the public are being encouraged to attend its public meetings.

The RSTAC will be reviewing all previous work done towards getting Barbados to become a republic, this includes evaluating the draft Constitution Bill, 2004.

The Cabinet also said the committee will address the issue of individual freedoms and will reinforce the values of religious, spiritual and racial tolerance on the island.

Also high on the agenda, will be the expectations of the people of Barbados, with values such as dignity and respect being a focal point going forward. They will also assess the benefits and possibilities of Barbados becoming a multilingual society. The Cabinet said the Committee’s medium term will be submitted by June 30 and the final report is expected by the end of September.

The news was welcomed by people on social media, who called the plan “a step in the right direction.”

Barbados achieved independence from Britain on November 30, 1966. In 2020, Prime Minister Mia Mottley said Barbadians wanted a Barbadian head of state and said “the time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind.”

Barbados aims to complete the process in time for the 55th anniversary of independence, in November 2021. The island would follow other Caribbean nations who have removed Queen Elizabeth as their head of state. Guyana became a republic in 1970, followed by Trinidad and Tobago in 1976 and Dominica became a republic in 1978.

But in the early 19th century, Haiti became the world’s first Black republic and the first independent Caribbean nation after overthrowing French colonial control and fighting long and hard for freedom from slavery. Haiti’s independence is said to have influenced many subsequent rebellions by those enslaved across the Caribbean.

The recent announcement from Barbados, has seen members of the public in other Caribbean islands urging their governments to do the same.

The Queen is currently the head of state in Antigua, The Bahamas, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Committee established to aid Barbados’ transition to republican system

 

[loyola llothta]

 

[Yehuda]

XVI World Africa Week in Venezuela and the VII Cultural Festival with the Peoples of Africa successfully culminates

Written by Simon Garcia on 31/05/2021. Posted in News

The XVI World Africa Week in Venezuela and the VII Cultural Festival with the Peoples of Africa, events organized between the People’s Power Ministry for Foreign Relations and the People’s Power Ministry for Culture, ended this May 31 successfully, Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the illegal blockade imposed on the country by the United States Government.

The closing of these important acts of celebration to Mother Africa, developed in the spaces of the Bolivian Museum, in Caracas, was led by the People’s Power Minister for Culture, Ernesto Villegas, accompanied by the Executive Secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), Sacha Llorenti, the Vice-minister for Africa, Yuri Pimentel, and the rector of the National Experimental University of the Arts (Unearte), Tibisay Lucena.

Despite the difficulties, the activities registered an increase in participation compared to previous editions, as reported by Minister Villegas in the closing ceremony:

“Our identity gives us strengths, inspires us for the struggles of the present and the future, that is why we feel like Africa. And this year, Bicentennial of the Battle of Carabobo, we also discover ourselves in the impulse of that people of African origin, embodied in Lieutenant Pedro Camejo, the First Black”, he highlighted.

He pointed out that Venezuela has a notorious African root “which is fundamental to our own identity”.

“We celebrate ourselves by celebrating Africa”, said the Minister, highlighting that during the XVI World Africa Week in Venezuela and the VII Cultural Festival with the Peoples of Africa, more than a hundred videos were projected “with cultural expressions from Venezuela and various African countries”, in addition to a large schedule of seminars, “with an uplifting participation”.

In this sense, he exalted the interest that African culture arouses in youth, students and researchers.

“Africa lives in the libertarian struggles of the Venezuelan people of today (…) That power that Pedro Camejo and thousands of soldiers who gave their lives for our independence gave, remains intact to emerge victorious from the challenges of the present and that strength that the contemporary Venezuelan people have shown, to a large extent, comes from our African roots”, he emphasized.

For his part, Vice-minister Yuri Pimentel highlighted the teachings left by the development of the African celebrations in Venezuela in the midst of the pandemic, ensuring that once the health emergency is over, some of the telematic activities could be maintained. “They came to stay”, he said.

He cited as an example the initiative developed by Unearte such as the webinar Creative bodies, resistances and territories from the Afro-Venezuelan, which allowed the exchange of Afro-Venezuelan knowledge in the international arena, through 10 presentations. “More than 200 participants from 19 countries registered”, explained the Vice-minister.

“With the creativity and goodwill of each of those present here and many others who have not been able to come today (…) I can only thank the initiative and the effort to continue to bring our continents closer together, as it should be”, Vice-minister Pimentel specified.

The XVI World Africa Week in Venezuela began on May 25 with a photographic exhibition, which showed the rich history of relations and cultural ties between the Bolivarian country and the African continent.

XVI World Africa Week in Venezuela and the VII Cultural Festival with the Peoples of Africa successfully culminates

 

[Yehuda]

Colombian Singer and Social Activist Junior Jein Murdered

Published 14 June 2021

Singer Junior Jein, Colombia, 2021. | Photo: Twitter/ @AdrianaLucia

The 37-year-old artist sang in recent days about the massacres and forced disappearances in Cali at the hands of State repressive forces.

Colombian singer Harold Angulo known as "Junior Jein", one of the “Salsa chocke” precursors, was shot to death in the early hours of Monday morning.

The 37-year-old singer was attacked by men armed with rifles and a pistol when he entered a local nightclub to make a presentation.

Jein sang about the murders committed in Cali city, which he described as massacres and forced disappearances at the hands of State repressive forces.

Although the artist was immediately transferred to a nearby health center, he died because of six bullet wounds he received in his head, chest, and leg.



Since April 28, about 60 Colombians have died in mass protests and 2,300 citizens have been injured by the Anti-Riot Mobil Squad (ESMAD).

Although the initial demonstrations sparked against one now-withdrawn tax reform, they have continued with protesters demanding a basic income, opportunities for young people, and an end to police brutality.

On May 30, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called on the Colombian government to launch an independent inquiry into the deaths of citizens in Cali, where clashes between demonstrators and the security forces have been most deadly.



Colombian Singer and Social Activist Junior Jein Murdered

 

[Yehuda]

Walter Rodney: 41 Years Later

ON JUNE 14, 2021 BY SOCIALIST WORKERS ALLIANCE OF GUYANA

Walter Rodney. Credit: Walter Rodney Papers, Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library Archives.

A Statement from The Black Radical

Walter Rodney’s legacy endures 41 years after his assassination primarily because as a Marxist his life and work exemplified the dictum of ruthless criticism of all things existing. In famous works such as How Europe Underdeveloped Africa & Groundings with my Brothers, Walter took the colonialist and imperialist ruling classes of the United States & Western Europe to task for their oppression and exploitation of African and non-European working masses.

Rodney did not stop with the colonialists and the imperialists, however, and had a keen eye to the ways in which the leaders of newly independent African and Caribbean governments reproduced patterns of oppression and exploitation while leaning on the legacies and infrastructures of the old European masters in a developing process of neo-colonialism. Rodney’s ruthless criticism led him into conflict with Tanzania’s Julius Nyere while Rodney lectured at the University of Tanzania and when Rodney worked at the University of the West Indies, the Jamaican Labor Party government led by Hugh Shearer profiled and surveilled Rodney and eventually banned him from re-entering the country in 1976.

In 1980, Rodney would pay the ultimate price, his life, for challenging the supposedly “cooperative socialist” government of the People’s National Congress led at the time by Forbes Burnham in his native Guyana. Since his assassination both of Guyana’s dominat parties, the People’s National Congresss and the People’s Progressive Party have worked to erase Rodney’s legacy. For example, in 1988, the PNC published findings from a probe into Rodney’s killing which alleged that his cause of death was “misadventure” and which also listed his professions s “unemployed.” The PNC government also falsely prosecuted Walter’s brother, Donald Rodney, for crimes related to his assassination leading Donald to flee to Trinidad in exile.

For their part, the People’s Progressive Party did very little to reverse the perverse findings and rulings of the PNC government when they assumed power in 1992. In fact, it wasn’t until their power was threatened in 2014, that the PPP, under president Donald gave way to advocacy from Rodney’s family and supporters and launched a Commission of Inquiry (COI) into his death. Despite launching the COI into Rodney’s deaths be taking extraordinary measures such as the proroguing of parliament, Romator was unable continue the PPP’s reign in office and after 22 years the PNC led A National Partnership for Unity- Alliance for Change (APNU-AFC) government defeated the PPP at the polls during the May 2015 election.

Thus it was under the APNU-AFC government that the Rodney Commission of Inquiry was held and longtime PNC member and Attorney General Basil Williams argued that the PNC’s 1988 findings were factual and that Rodney was alleged to be part of a plot to violently overthrow the Burnham government in 1980. Veteran activists from Rodney’s Working People’s Alliance, such as Eusi Kwyana, testified to rebut the government’s allegations. However, Basil Williams continued to allege Rodney was hell bent on a violent overthrow and even cited a memorial essay by CLR James, Walter Rodney & the Question of Power, to make his case.

In the end, when the COI concluded, it was found that “Dr. Walter Rodney was a man of large and significant stature both in Guyana and beyond at the time of his death. He could only have been killed in what we find to be a State organised assassination with the knowledge of Prime Minister Burnham in the Guyana of that period.” In response, the APNU-AFC government both disputed and ignored the findings of the COI. The APNU-AFC event went so far as to summarily remove Walter Rodney’s name from Guyana’s National Archives in an attempt to tarnish his reputation. Rodney’s family and the Rodney Foundation started a petition to push the David Granger led APNU-AFC government to follow through with the recommendations. Unfortunately the APNU-AFC never followed through and conceded electoral defeat to the PPP in August of 2020.

It is in this context and background that Guyana’s current government, led by the People’s Progressive Party, through current Attorney General Anil Nandlall announced on June 10th, 2021 that Rodney’s death certificate would be amended and there would be attempts to integrate Rodney into the nation’s curriculum. This is of course a welcome development and all credit should go to Walter’s wife Patricia Rodney, his brother Donald and activists who have been fighting for justice since 1980.

This gesture by the government is a fitting tribute on the 41st anniversary of Rodney’s assassination. However, in the spirit of Rodney’s ruthless critical pedagogy we must also take it with a grain of salt given the political machinations at play with the PPP and we must keep up the pressure to ensure these are not just empty words meant for good PR around Rodney’s death anniversary but that concrete actions are taken in a definitive timeline to bring justice for Walter Rodney.

We join with all progressives forces and the Rodney family celebrating this victory across the world especially in Guyana, the wider Caribbean, Africa and the wider diaspora.

Walter Rodney: 41 Years Later

 

[Yehuda]

Protests in Colombia also erupt against decades of concealed racism

170 years after the abolition of slavery in the South American country, black and indigenous communities raise their voices in the face of a history of racial discrimination. Cali, the second city with the largest Afro-descendant population in Latin America, becomes a center and symbol of citizen frustration

Thousands of protesters gather at the Monument to the Heroes to commemorate a month of protests in the country, in Bogotá. EFE / Carlos Ortega

Camilo Sánchez Bogotá — June 5, 2021 — 22:23

In Marroquín, a neighborhood in the periphery of Cali, they know perfectly well the meaning of the word resistance. Long before the country went on strike, which has been going on for more than a month, this suburb, inhabited almost entirely by black people, was already managing to shake off its daily misfortunes. That is why the mobilizations — which at times have become authentic orgies of violence — have served as social catharsis for a population that has been weighed down for generations.

Marroquín is located in an eastern district of the city, where the simple act of entering is unsafe for many. This is Aguablanca, an enclave with about 800,000 inhabitants, 70% of them Afro-Colombian, and which year after year accumulates the highest homicide rates, the highest rates of unemployment and the highest numbers of contagion by coronavirus in the country's third largest city.

“Most of the dead and missing youth (27 people, allegedly) during the strike in Cali are black”, says Vicenta Moreno, a teacher and social activist who runs La Casa Cultural del Chontaduro (Peach Palm House of Culture), a project centered on the arts as a tool for rescuing young boys from violence. She also regrets that, up until now, there has not been an “analysis of the facts” where “impoversihment and negligence from a racial perspective” is evident.

The protests, which were initially triggered in response to a tax reform that strongly affected the middle classes, have resurfaced something as little addressed as racism. And, despite the fact that around 13% of the Colombian population is made up of black (10%) and indigenous people (3%), the social and political representation of these communities has been miniscule.

Professor Edward Telles, from the University of California, characterized it in a 2012 academic papaer as a “pigmentocracy”. In other words, a society where skin scolor determines one's place and opportunities throughout life. Other studies, from researchers such as sociologist and Ph.D in Philosophy Aurora Vergara, support it. “It has been proven”, says Vergara, “that Afro-descendant men in Colombia live 66 years on average, a decade less than the rest of the nation, which is 75”.

And she emphasizes that it has nothing to do with “genetic predisposition”, but rather with the “social determinants of a country that makes it possible for death to come quicker for some of its inhabitants to”.

Cali, a city with 2,2 million people, concentrates the largest Afro-descendant population in Latin America after Salvador, in Brazil. The bulk of Cali's black community lives on the eastern fringes of the city. Many of them have been displaced by violence from remote towns on the Pacific coast, just a hundred kilometers from Cali.

Despite promises of a better situation, upward mobility has not worked for the vast majority of people. Professor Vergara says that there are studies that have established direct links between black people living below the poverty line today in Cali and some families who were enslaved in the sugar cane plantations during colonial times. When combining the information, the coincidence between modern-day poverty and the worst humiliations of yesteryear is evident.

Soldiers guard the streets of Cali after President Iván Duque ordered more military presence. EFE / Ernesto Guzmán Jr

Racial silence

In mid-May, at the height of the protests, a newscast published a conversation involving a Cali surgeon on WhatsApp where she suggested as a solution to the chaos the intervention of “self-defense” squads to “literally get rid of some 1,000 indians, just enough so they understand”.

The epidemiologist Yoseth Ariza confesses that he was moved by noting the lack of interest in the discussions on the subject with some colleagues. For Ariza, who coordinates the ethno-racial studies line at the ICESI University of Cali, behind such violent speeches (and their consequent trivialization), there are some keys to understanding racism in Colombia.

The doctor surveyed more than 3,000 students from 72 public schools in Cali to examine aggressiveness in language. Among the findings, prepared for an official commission, he collected a “cloud of nicknames” that “sexualized” and “animalized” black people. According to Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, doctor in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin, both in Colombia and in the rest of Latin America there is an “underhanded” racism.

The truth is that both the mentality and the collective practices varied very little. The scholar depicts an evident gap in broad 2021: “Black people have the worst salaries, less representation in the industry, Government or the banking sector; there are fewer professionals, access to health is more limited and presence in prisons is greater”.

Discrimination against indigenous peoples in Colombia, with some historical and political nuances, revolves around the same logic, despite the fact that the 1991 Constitution recognized that the Colombian State is “multi-ethnic and multicultural”. But according to Dominican anthropologist Ochy Curiel, who settled in Colombia 15 years ago, the hierarchies of “structural racism remain intact”.

And the health crisis due to the coronavirus, which accounts for more than 90,000 deaths in the country, has been in charge of giving the last blow to an already fragile scaffold. Cali went from having 558,360 people living in poverty to 934,350, according to official figures. Today, a third of Caleños — of whom 20% are black — lack the resources for the basic elements of the shopping basket.

“The strike is exposing all of this”, recognizes the Dominican researcher, “what the rest of society did not want to see: the pain that comes from a deep racial segregation and an economic, political and religious system that still excludes indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants from truly participating in the construction of a State that is multicultural on paper”.

It is also true that discrimination is often hidden in daily behaviors that have become normalized. It is a somewhat devious phenomenon, softer than in the American case, where confrontation and violence often lead to more stark episodes like George Floyd's.

That is why Yoseth Ariza's research focused on unraveling the subtleties in the use of language. Among the phrases most repeated by the students, for example, was a popular saying: “we must improve the bloodline”. The doctor explains that it is a saying that parents used to suggest to the kid that “they should look for a boyfriend or girlfriend with lighter skin, lighter eyes and with straighter hair”.

Ariza describes it as a “nineteenth-century” attitude, reflecting an old desire to “whiten and homogenize” the country. He also says that in the course of his work he had “very unfortunate” arguments with principals of public schools who discriminated against his pollsters: “are you really a master's student?” “or do you really work at a university?” were some of the questions asked by teachers who “did not think that a black woman could work in a university like ICESI”.

Members of the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD) confront protesters during a day of protests in Usme, south of Bogotá. EFE / Mauricio Dueñas Castañeda / Archive

The story of many domestic workers

The case of domestic workers, who according to an academic investigation in the Cali are 90% black, is telling. Most of them are employed as girls in the houses of the wealthiest neighborhoods, in an exercise that until very recently, due to legal loopholes, lent itself to all kinds of labor abuses.

Political scientist Sergio Sierra explains that “these are women who are exposed to a system of enormous inequality”, with unfair remuneration and important emotional repercussions. He also mentions frequent situations of sexual harassment, which are invisible, obviously, due to the lack of data.

It is a way of “reproducing a system of enormous inequality”, says the political scientist. In his work, he describes how certain wealthy households employ young black women from the same family, generation after generation, in an almost hereditary act. That is why it was not rare to hear that the workers become almost “part of the family”. This simple preposition “of”, asserts Sierra, made all the difference.

In 2011, the Colombian magazine Hola published an image that showed a few distinguished women of Caleña society posing for a picture by the pool of their house, with two black women domestic workers in the background, dressed in all white and holding silver platters. The photo aroused a fleeting and vague indignation, quite shy compared to the debates that arose years later in Mexico over the role of indigenous domestic workers in the film Roma, by Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón.

In any case, the problem, however pressing and profound it may be, has never occupied an important place in the Colombian public debate. It comes down to, as sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva says, an absolute “racial silence”. Likewise, he also regrets that there is still no will to recognize it: “The racial issue is usually limited to a series of disconnected, individual and isolated stories, that are not representative of the reality of the majority of the population. Especially from the bourgeoisie. And that is obviously false”.

The Puerto Rican professor concludes the telematic interview with a rhetorical question, halfway between serious and light-hearted: “When have you seen a black or indigenous man as the heartthrob on television? Never!”.

Protests in Colombia also erupt against decades of concealed racism

 

[loyola llothta]

It's that time of the year again. The whole world, except Washington and a handful of puppets, condemned the US embargo against Cuba at the United Nations for the 29th straight year



1:53 PM · Jun 23, 2021

 

[loyola llothta]

Sean Penn wrote forward for new book of #Haiti's corrupt ex-PM Laurent Lamothe, and again attacked the country's anti-dictatorial / pro-land rights constitution as "reactionary." The fake humanitarian was an agent of disaster capitalism sent to facilitate neoliberal land grabs.



9:51 AM · Jul 5, 2021

 

[loyola llothta]

14 July 2021
Miami Mayor Says the US Should Consider Bombing Cuba

Mayor Francis Suarez said military options need to be 'discussed'
By Dave DeCamp


In the wake of anti-government demonstrations in Cuba, many US officials are calling for Washington to intervene. The mayor of Miami has gone as far to suggest that the US should consider bombing Cuba.

In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Mayor Francis Suarezargued in favor of US military intervention and listed examples of previous US wars that involved airstrikes. When asked if he is suggesting that the US bomb Cuba, Suarez said,

“What I’m suggesting is that option is one that has to be explored and cannot be just simply discarded as an option that is not on the table.”

“And there’s a variety of ways the military can do it. But that’s something that needs to be discussed and needs to be looked as a potential option in addition to a variety of other options that can be discussed,” he added.

In a separate interview with Fox Business News on Tuesday, Suarez again argued for US military invention.

“The US has intervened in Latin America in numerous occasions and has been very successful,” he said. Echoing the Cold War, Suarez said Cuba is a threat to the US because it is “exporting communism throughout the hemisphere.”

Luckily, it doesn’t appear that the Biden administration has any plans to invade or bomb Cuba. The State Department said Tuesday that it is looking at ways to “support” the Cuban people but is downplaying the impact of the decades-old US embargo on Cuba.

link: Miami Mayor Says the US Should Consider Bombing Cuba - News From Antiwar.com

 

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It is déjà vu all over again.
Foreigners Select Haiti’s Prime Minister
By Yves Engler



Recently the Core Group (US, Canada, France, Spain, Germany, Brazil, UN and OAS) published a note saying Ariel Henry was the prime minister of Haiti. Within 48 hours the other individual claiming the position fell into line behind Henry, who was a member of the US/France/Canada created ‘Council of the Wise’ that appointed the prime minister after President Jean Bertrand Aristide was ousted in 2004.

The Core Group’s bid to unify the PHTK (right wing ‘Bald-Headed’ Party) regime was designed to undercut an effort by a broad group of Haitian political actors to form a consensus government. The Commission pour la recherche d’une solution à la crise is seeking to form a government that would remain in place for a year or two in a bid to stabilize the country and revitalize moribund state institutions. Then it would oversee elections.

But the Core Group wants the PHTK regime to oversee quick elections, which will be easy to manipulate. Something that has happened numerous times in the recent past.

As a result, many Haitian civil society and political actors have criticized the Core Group’s ‘selection of Haiti’s leader by statement’. To understand their concerns, imagine the Jamaican, Congolese, Guatemalan and Filipino ambassadors releasing a collective statement on who should be prime minister of Canada.

The assassination of President Jovenel Moïse reflects the disintegration of Haitian politics after a decade of foreign intervention that empowered the neo-Duvalierist PHTK since an earthquake devastated Port-au-Prince and surrounding regions in January 2010. Instead of dispatching Heavy Urban Search and Rescue Teams to help with relief and medical support after the quake, Ottawa sent 2,000 troops to join over 10,000 US troops deployed to Haiti. As internal Canadian government documents show, they were deployed out of concern over a “popular uprising” amidst the political vacuum and the return of Haiti’s most popular politician, Aristide, from forced exile.

While their massive capacities offered certain logistical benefits, the foreign troops trampled on Haitian sovereignty by seizing control of the airport and port. Simultaneously, the government was sidelined from international reconstruction. In the months after the quake the US and Canada demanded the Haitian parliament pass an 18-month state of emergency law that effectively gave up government control over the reconstruction.

Not viewing then-President Renée Préval as sufficiently compliant, the US and Canada pushed for elections to take place only months after the horrific earthquake. With rubble throughout Port au Prince and hundreds of thousands living in camps, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon demanded Préval hold elections by the end of the year. In May 2010 Cannon said, “the international community wants to see a commitment, a solid, serious commitment to have an election by the end of this year.” (With far fewer logistical hurdles, it took two years to hold elections after the 2004 US/France/Canada coup.)

As a result of various obstacles tied to the earthquake and a devastating cholera outbreak introduced to the country by negligent UN troops in October 2010, hundreds of thousands were unable to vote during the first round of the November 28, 2010, election. Another factor dampening turnout was the exclusion of Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas from participating.

Following the first round of voting the US and Canada forced the candidate whom Haiti’s electoral council had in second place, Jude Celestin, out of the runoff. Rather than the candidate of Préval’s social democratic INITE party, US and Canadian officials claimed the extreme right-wing Michel Martelly deserved to be in the second round. A US and Canada dominated OAS electoral mission concluded Martelly was in second place despite, explains the Centre for Economic Policy Research, no “legal, statistical, or other logical basis for its conclusions.” Nevertheless, Ottawa and Washington pushed the Haitian government to accept the OAS’s recommendations. Cannon said he “strongly urges the Provisional Electoral Council to accept and implement the [OAS] report’s recommendations and to proceed with the next steps of the electoral process accordingly.” In an interview Canada’s foreign minister warned that “time is running out”, adding that “our ambassador has raised this with the president [Préval] himself.” As part of their full-court press, Haitian officials had their US visas revoked, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to Port-au-Prince and there were threats that aid would be cut off if Martelly’s vote total was not increased as per the OAS recommendation.

The pressure worked. But only about 20% of voters participated in the second round of elections, which Martelly ‘won’.

Washington and Ottawa backed Martelly as he failed to hold constitutionally mandated elections and became ever more violent. As president, Martelly surrounded himself with former Duvalierists and death squad leaders who’d been arrested for rape, murder, kidnapping and drug trafficking. When brutal dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier returned to Haiti after 25 years, Martelly told the New York Times no one wanted him prosecuted except for “certain institutions and governments” abroad.

During repeated visits Canadian foreign minister John Baird praised Martelly for “going in the right direction” and operating “a really functioning government.” In 2013 Baird and minister for the Americas Diane Ablonczy met Martelly and his Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe in Port-au-Prince saying, “we share with Haitian leaders the goal of seeing a self-sustaining economy with opportunity for all Haitians and a greater role for private-sector actors, including Canadian companies.” Ottawa backed Martelly until protests forced him to leave office at the end of his five-year mandate.

They also helped Martelly make the little-known Jovenel Moïse his successor. The US and Canada pushed to move forward with the second round of voting after mass protests broke out over election irregularities. When the second round was finally canceled Global Affairs put out a statement headlined “Ministers Dion and Bibeau concerned by postponement of Haiti’s presidential elections.” A subsequent audit of the election results found that 92% of polling place tally sheets had significant irregularities and a stunning 900,000 of the 1.5 million votes cast were from ‘accredited poll observers’ who could vote at any voting station.

In a new election a year later barely one in five eligible voters participated. According to official figures, Moïse received less than 600,000 votes — just 9.6 percentof registered voters. Voter suppression was widespread.

Beyond direct efforts to dampen turnout, elections had largely lost their legitimacy. Many Haitians believed then and believe today that no matter who receives the most votes the tallies will be ‘arranged’ to suit the ruling candidate. And if a pro-poor candidate wins, their agenda will be stifled or they will be overthrown.

This belief is based upon experience. In the most credible election in Haitian history, Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas won more than 70% of the votes for 7,000 positions. In the May 2000 legislative and municipal elections they took an unprecedented 89 of 115 mayoral positions, 72 of 83 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 18 of 19 Senate seats.

Knowing they had no chance of gaining power via the ballot box in the foreseeable future, the foreign backed opposition parties cried foul. After initially describing the elections as “a great success for the Haitian population”, the OAS subsequently criticized the counting method in a handful of Senate seats (as has been done in previous selections, the electoral council determined the 50 percent plus one vote required for a first-round victory by calculating the percentages of the top four candidates.) The opposition boycotted the subsequent presidential election, which they had no chance of winning. A USAID poll of 1,002 Haitians conducted on the eve of the November 2000 presidential election showed that Aristide was far and away the most popular politician and Fanmi Lavalas was the preferred party by an incredible 13 to one.

In one of the most impressive feats of 21st-century imperial propaganda, supposed ‘irregularities’ in the May legislative and municipal election became the justification for destabilizing and ultimately overthrowing Aristide. In other words, the 2004 coup against President Aristide began with an effort to discredit elections he neither participated in nor oversaw.

The US- and Canada-sponsored destabilization campaign included an aid embargo, funding for opposition groups, diplomatic isolation and paramilitary attacks. It culminated with US, French and Canadian troops invading the country to physically remove the president.

Incredibly this was all planned, in broad outline, in advance, in Canada.

In 2003 Jean Chrétien’s Liberal government organized the “Ottawa Initiative on Haiti” where high-level US, French and OAS officials discussed ousting Haiti’s elected president, re-creating the dreaded army and putting the country under UN trusteeship. Thirteen months after the meeting Aristide was forced out and Haiti was under UN occupation. The military was subsequently re-created.

The current Core Group traces its roots to the 2003 Ottawa Initiative on Haiti meeting. Some have labeled it a “fourth branch” of the Haitian government. But the Core Group’s success at rallying the PHTK behind Ariel Henry demonstrates its influence may be greater than that.

The vast majority of Haitians are right to be angry at foreign interference in their country. Look at where it has led.

link:
Foreigners select Haiti’s prime minister

 

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According to recently declassified documents from Tony Blair's first year in government, the UK Ministry of Defence was providing Caribbean states with "anti-narcotics paramilitary training" valued at roughly £1 million.





9:58 AM · Jul 30, 2021