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Assassination of Digna Ochoa

The investigation into the assassination of Digna Ochoa is in the hands of Mexico City’s Attorney General, not the Federal Attorney General, according to President Vicente Fox. In a political dig at Mexico City Mayor Lopez Obrador and an effort to distance his own administration from the high-profile case, President Fox characterized the murder as “one more incident that happened in Mexico City.” Fox went on to ‘offer Mexico City’s Attorney General broad collaboration with information, with investigation, but the responsibility is theirs.” Lopez Obrador said that the assassination must be understood in the “context of paramilitaries and caciques throughout the nation.”

On October 29, Secretary of Government Santiago Creel installed a permanent government desk dedicated to the protection of human rights workers. However, members of the Miguel Agustin Pro Human Rights Center (PRODH), where Digna worked for many years, expressed a lack of confidence in the Fox administration. A spokesperson for PRODH cited the Federal Attorney General’s office, which is headed by former army General Rafael Macedo de la

GMO Sneak Attack Fizzles-USA and Europe

Stubborn opposition by labor, public interest, and environmental groups over the past several years stopped Clinton, and now Bush, from gaining "expedited" "Fast Track" negotiation powers. Fast Track legislation, if approved by Congress, would enable the White House to circumvent public opposition and expand legally binding trade treaties such as the WTO (a treaty which up until now has not been yet been fully applied to agriculture). Fast Track would also help Bush implement new corporate-instigated trade regimes such as the so-called Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Under Fast Track procedures, Congress can only vote yes or no on new treaties proposed by the White House, giving up for five years the power to modify or change trade rules, even when these regulations supercede or nullify local, state, or national laws in force in the US or other nations. WTO-imposed rules can nullify laws: protecting sea dolphins or turtles; import laws providing support for sustainable small farms in the developing world; laws banning hormone-tainted beef; laws regulating GMOs; or laws banning city or state purchases from sweatshops or making

Other Agbiotech Aggressions

Fast Track lobbying and diplomatic arm-twisting is just the tip of the iceberg. Other recent moves by government and industry on the biotech front include the following:

. Don't worry about the monarchs. Based on incomplete and short-term (industry-funded) studies, the global media dutifully reported in September that GE corn doesn't kill a "significant" number of monarch butterflies. The Gene Giants were shaken by studies published in 1999 showing that Bt corn pollen killed monarch butterflies. Never mind that the same indentured scientists who reached the recent "don't worry" conclusion admitted that one variety of GE corn-now to be taken off the market-does indeed kill monarchs and their relatives. Never mind that Bt corn kills beneficial soil microorganisms and beneficial insects such as the lacewing or ladybug. And never mind that all GE herbicide resistant crops, such as corn or soybeans sprayed with Roundup or other broad spectrum herbicides, kill the monarch caterpillar's sole food source, the milkweed plant. In addition, as Dr. Rebecca Goldberg, a public interest biotech expert, told the New

Homeland Security Issues

AUSTIN, Texas -- We Texans are sleeping more soundly at night now that Land Commissioner David Dewhurst is on the job as state director of Homeland Security, preventing attacks on important cultural monuments, such as the statue of the roadrunner in Fort Stockton. Dewhurst normally spends his time laboring on anti- litter campaigns, but he is fully qualified to ensure Homeland Security on account of he was once in the CIA doing something in Latin America we'd probably rather not know about.

On his regular watch, all Dewhurst has done for Texans' security is permit the Longhorn Pipeline Co. to build through populated areas without so much as an environmental impact statement, thus endangering the lives of thousands, if you believe those alarmist environmentalist types. Just the man for the job.

We would feel even better about this if alert eyes had not noted a peculiar error in a recent Dewhurst political ad in the Texas Monthly (he' s running for lieutenant governor, which has (SET ITAL) nothing (END ITAL) to do with the governor naming him security czar). In this four-page,

The Case of the Blid Predator

The usual bosh is getting into the press about the technological prowess of U.S. weaponry as deployed against Afghanistan. He's been getting some great scoops in his New Yorker dispatches, but in this instance, Seymour Hersh ran some amazing rubbish in the New Yorker a couple of weeks ago about the capabilities of the Predator unmanned reconnaissance vehicle. So did Thomas Ricks in the Washington Post in a story titled "U.S. Arms Unmanned Aircraft/Revolution In Sky Above Afghanistan." The Predator is made by General Atomics, a San Diego-based company, and each plane costs $20.5 million, which is a bargain in this day and age, though you don't get much for your money.

Hersh described a Predator operation over Afghanistan wherein the machine was supposedly "capable of beaming high-resolution images ... identified a group of cars and trucks fleeing the capital (Kabul) as a convoy carrying Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader ... The Predator tracked the convoy to a building where Omar, accompanied by a hundred or so guards and soldiers, took cover." At this point, the Predator's controllers could have

Tortilla Prices Rise

Tortilla producers announced an increase in the price of tortillas of between 12.5% and 37.5%. Tortillas provide about 40% of the calories in a typical campesino diet. Tortilla producers blamed the price increases on middlemen who "change the price when they like." The price of tortillas is expected to rise to between 4 and 5.5 pesos per kilo. Since the NAFTA accords took affect in 1994, Mexico has gone from a net exporter of corn, the raw material for tortillas, to a net importer of highly subsidized corn from the US. Last year, Mexico imported 3 million tons of corn at a cost of US$2.85 million. As part of NAFTA, Mexico agreed to remove consumer subsidies, including subsidies for tortillas, and the price of this Mexican staple more than tripled before the recent announcement of increases.

World Bank Says Recession Will Hit Mexico

The world economy is close to recession and developing nations will suffer the most severe impact, according to yearly prognostications published by the World Bank. The GNP of developing nations will grow by 2.9% this year, but only 1.1% in 2002, according to the report. If China, with annual growth approaching 10%, is removed from the mix, the developing world may be in recession in 2002. The report noted that "what makes this situation particularly risky is that, for the first time since 1982, the US, Europe and Japan are registering deceleration at the same time." The World Bank prescribed the same old medicine - increased "free" trade. The world economy grew by 4.5% in the 1970s, before free trade policies took hold, then grew by 3.5% in the 1980s and 2.5% in the 1990s, after the free trade model was in full bloom. Meanwhile, the Bank of Mexico predicted that steep declines in the industrial and service sectors would result in increased unemployment next year. Bancomer predicted a 3.5% decrease in industrial exports to the US this year. Manufacturing and services account for 90% of the Gross National Product of Mexico.

Is Pakistan at the Brink of Civil War?

If to believe print and electronic media’s headlines, Pakistan ’s military ruler General Musharraf is facing near revolt at the hands of religious political parties after his governments divisive decision to support US in her war on terrorism. In the aftermath of September 11 cataclysmic events, President Musharraf, left with no choice but to support international community in its war on terrorism, declared his government’s decision to provide logistic support to US forces (thus allowing US forces to use its air bases besides air space) and to cooperate with US services in intelligence collecting and sharing, thus inviting wrath of Muslim radicals who are openly supporting Taliban’s puritan regime.

The Great Oil Game

Episode I.

Clear and Present Danger: Depleted Uranium

Let there be light!” said God, and there was light!
“Let there be blood!” says man, and there’s a sea!
English poet, Lord Byron (1788–1824)

As US and NATO forces continues pounding Afghanistan with cruise missiles and smart bombs, people who be acquainted with aftermaths of two previous wars fought by US around the world, fear after Gulf and Balkan war syndrome another Syndrome the ‘Afghan War Syndrome’. A state of vague aliments and carcinomas, linked with usage of Depleted Uranium as part of missiles, projectiles and bombs in battle field. People of Afghanistan , who had been dying in starvation up till now, are likely to savor a modern form of death; death owing to radioactive materials pulverized over barren mountains and harsh plains in modern world’s war on terrorism. And the fear is that Afghan people will not be alone to go through it. People neighboring Afghans are equally at risk. World has attained globalize outline, now, all crop and spoil are equally shared among people.

What Depleted Uranium Is?

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