La reunión de la ONU del pasado julio para crear un Tratado de Tráfico de Armas Global (ATT) terminó en una desilusión cuando los Estados Unidos se retiraron a último momento, declarando qe el tratado necesitaba “más estudio”.
Si no seguimos llamando la atención a la realidad de la guerra–como el Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad ha hecho desde que nació–dejaremos en la indefensión a las víctimas actuales y a las víctimas futuras, de una guerra que oficialmente se ha declarado terminada.
The Pentagon signed $444 million in non-fuel contracts for purchases and services in Latin America and the Caribbean during the 2012 fiscal year, an overall decrease of nearly 15% from the previous year. But US military spending in the region is still considerably higher than during the George W. Bush administration, when the equivalent Pentagon spending in Latin America averaged $301 million a year.
La “guerra contra la droga”, iniciada en diciembre de 2006 por el presidente Felipe Calderón, hundió a México en una grave crisis. Más allá del dramático balance humano (sobre 50 mil homicidios ligados al narcotráfico, 230 mil desplazados que huyen de la violencia, centenares de miles de desapariciones forzadas y decenas de miles de huérfanos, de heridos y de familias en duelo), el corazón del sistema político mexicano ha sido tocado : el retroceso de la legalidad y la violación sistemática de los derechos humanos en el contexto de este conflicto armado muestran, de una manera clara, las debilidades y el nivel de corrupción del Estado mismo.
Estados Unidos encarcela al más alto porcentaje en el mundo de su población. Aunque sólo tiene el 5 por ciento de la población del planeta, 25 por ciento de la población mundial encarcelada se encuentra tras las rejas en este país. En su mayoría son negros o latinos, drogadictos e inmigrantes.
“La aprobación de la LGV se inscribe dentro de una estrategia militarista y represiva de la seguridad pública, donde se mantiene la espiral de violencia y la impunidad entre delito organizado y Estado, que no han cambiado”, señala el autor de este artículo, integrante del Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad.
Imagine close to 50,000 people marching in absolute silence, in five different townships, from two to five hours apart. Not a word, nor even a greeting. Just a raised fist in a sign of strength, determination and unity. Streets overflowing with masked faces and wordlessness. It is a huge demonstration of force–the largest in the entire history of the Zapatista movement–just days before the 19th anniversary of their first public appearance and 30 years since their founding.
His name was José Antonio Elena Rodriguez. At 16, he was just finishing junior high and living with his grandmother on the Mexican side of the border city of Nogales. On October 13, 2012, José Antonio was hit by a hail of bullets coming from the U.S. side of the metal fence that lacerates Nogales. Some seven shots penetrated the boy’s body through the back and the head. He died instantly. The shots were fired by U.S. Border Patrol agents. The Border Patrol claims that the youth threw rocks at the unidentified agent or agents, who fired in return. The family reports that neither they nor their lawyer nor Mexican authorities have received information from the investigation on the U.S. side.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) began peace negotiations with a surprise proposal in La Habana (Cuba) on November 19th. In Colombia some groups assert that peace depends upon the political will of the guerrillas, but what conditions exist for a successful process?
What happened in Curuguaty? That’s the question that has been lingering in the minds of many Paraguayans after the controversial death of Vidal Vega, the peasant leader who was a key witness to the investigations of the Curuguaty massacre. Vidal Vega, 48, leader of a landless peasant movement in Paraguay was shot four times on December 1 2012, by bullets from a 12-gauge shotgun and a 38-caliber revolver fired by two unidentified men who sped away on a motorcycle, according to an official report prepared at the police headquarters in the provincial capital of Curuguaty.
