Secret Agent Superfly

The creepiest part of Minority Report, for Machetera at least, besides perhaps the part where the extracted eyeballs went rolling toward the sewer drain, was when the little mechanical insects were unleashed inside the apartment where a recently blinded Tom Cruise was hiding underwater in the bathtub, trying to hold his breath until they left. Which didn’t work, as you knew it wouldn’t. Yeah, THAT scene.

Creepy because it was true.

Pentagon Labs Implant Chips in Insects to Use as Spies

Rosa Miriam Elizalde – Rebelión

Translation: Machetera

While Venezuela is being criminalized as a country interested in international espionage and a campaign against its Simón Bolívar satellite is moving forward, the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency – the same one that created the Internet – has officially announced its advances in projects to make hybrid insects for use in surveillance missions.

DARPA has managed to develop several types of cyborg – organisms half biological and half machine – from which the movement of the insects can be completely controlled, by inserting microscopic chips in the larvae. When the insect reaches the adult stage, it can be used to listen in on conversations, detect explosives or carry out surveillance missions by remote control.

Invasion of the Cuban body snatchers

Not long after the triumph of the Cuban revolution in 1959, after most of the Cuban oligarchy had packed up their loot and run away, and emigration was slowing to a trickle, the CIA’s anti-Cuban propaganda machine cranked itself up for another pass to inflate the stats. In league with the Catholic church, they disseminated the rumor that Cuban children were going to be sent to Russia, chopped up into little tiny pieces and CANNED. The lie it was based on was a bit more mundane; that they would be sent to Russia and indoctrinated, but you can guess which rumor was believed.

It so terrified many Cubans that they sent their children off alone to Florida, 14,000 of them, to live in orphanages. Most never returned to Cuba, and one of them, Mel Martinez, ended up in the U.S. Senate and for awhile, chaired the Republican party as its House Latino, where he got a lot of mileage out of speaking to enraptured audiences about the totalitarian horrors of a Cuba he hadn’t seen for well over 40 years.

This modern tale of Cuban body snatchers comes from the same propaganda manual.

Our Spirit of Sacrifice and the Empire’s Extortion

Fidel Castro

The first report I saw came from the Italian news agency ANSA on April 22.

“La Paz, April 22.— A commission of deputies are to investigate the case of Bolivian scholarship student who died in Cuba, and whose body was repatriated without several vital organs, including the brain.

Guillermo Mendoza, president of the Chamber’s Social Policy Commission, announced that he would ask the Foreign Ministry for all facts on the case, according to the Catholic news agency Fides.

Bolivian Idol

Sergio Cáceres points out that the organizers of the upcoming referendum in Santa Cruz have a few wee details they might not have totally worked out yet.

May 4th and Beyond

Sergio Cáceres – Alai-amlatina

Translation: Machetera

After reviewing the Bolivian press, one has the sensation that the end of the world will begin on May 4th in Bolivia, as it reaches the final judgment. As almost everyone knows, May 4th is the date selected for a referendum in Santa Cruz to approve some statutes that would grant autonomy to the Department of Santa Cruz. These statutes were drafted by a group of businessmen, ranchers and large landowners in the Santa Cruz Civic Committee and the majority of the people know nothing about them. Should they win the referendum, the organizers will proclaim the de facto establishment of their autonomy.

It’s not the first time that this threat has been heard from the Santa Cruz Civic Committee. In December of last year, with great fanfare, they announced the establishment of their autonomy, de facto, as they love to say. The same happened in 2006 and 2004. But in the end they never did anything. Every time they were on the point of doing something, they took two steps backwards.

14 countries smack down the secessionists in Bolivia

The OAS is turning out to be a not so convenient U.S. tool these days.

Electoral Authorities From 14 Countries Support Resolutions Against Referendums in Bolivia

Rosa Rojas – La Jornada

Translation: Machetera

Electoral authorities in 14 Latin American and Caribbean countries, Mexico among them, expressed their support for the resolutions of the Bolivian National Electoral Court, “aimed at preserving the electoral institution and maintaining respect for domestic legal and constitutional norms as a fundamental principle in the strengthening of democracy in Bolivia.”

In recent days, the Court rejected the holding of a referendum over the autonomy statutes of Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando, a decision that was ignored by the departmental electoral courts, which continued their work toward holding said referendums.

Open letter to Cardinal Terrazas, Bolivia

On Sunday, April 13, Cardinal Julio Terrazas said in his sermon that he does not believe slavery exists in the Chaco region of Bolivia, and called on the government to provide proof. On Monday, April 14, the government in La Paz announced that it would provide the Cardinal with the proof he had requested. In Alto Parapeti alone, 13 families are holding 167 Bolivian families in slavery. 12 of them are in Ronald Larsen’s hands.

Open Letter to Julio Terrazas, Bishop and Cardinal of the Catholic Church in Bolivia, from Rafael Puente

Translation: Machetera

Julio, old friend, now Cardinal of our Church:

Many of us are dismayed, and not just a few directly outraged, with your recent words that cast doubt on the existence of slavery on the haciendas of our country, still so full of evil and injustice. Of course you have the right, and the duty, to seek reliable information about this disgrace. The sad thing is that you say it in the manner of one who insists that this type of exploitation does not exist, as though those who denounce this kind of injustice are engaging in defamation and abuse.

Have you really never looked closely at our brothers and sisters who occupy the lowest levels of Bolivian society, already so unfair? Are they not the smallest of the small, namely the favorites of Jesus of Nazareth, and therefore worthy of our pastors’ greatest concern? Shouldn’t one expect a Catholic bishop to be the first to denounce this fact, instead of asking for proof?

The face of white separatism in Bolivia

This is not a new story, and in the context of repressive oligarchy it’s frankly a really old one. What is new, is that this may be the only readable English translation of the report that originally appeared at Bolpress on April 5, 2008. Democratic Underground was all over the story, but had to rely on a Google translation.

There are several interesting aspects to the story. One is that in the version that appeared in the mainstream press, Ronald Larsen claimed that Bolivia’s Vice Minister for agrarian reform showed up at his ranch at 3 in the morning, drunk, and because Larsen didn’t know who he was, he shot out the tire on the Vice Minister’s car to “shut him up.” Of course this fanciful version leaves out a few details, such as the 24 foot trailer he parked on the road (among other things) to block the Vice Minister’s entrance, and the brazen attack on the 80 or so people who accompanied the Vice Minister. Larsen may have to go back to Montana and see if he can figure out how to make a living when he has to pay his “employees” a living wage.

Which brings us to the second interesting aspect. There are reportedly 12 Bolivian families living on Larsen’s pleasure ranch. Depending on the source, they are either indentured servants with no hope of escape, or happy little Bolivian campers. Judging by the nature of a boss who settles arguments at gunpoint, Machetera will leave you to draw your own conclusions. Certainly one has to wonder about what Larsen didn’t want the Vice Minister to see.

Bolivia in flames

The Bolivian crisis is much more serious than many people realize. Hugo Chávez, Evo Morales, Daniel Ortega and Carlos Lage (standing in for Raúl Castro) had an emergency meeting last Wednesday, April 23 in Caracas; that’s how serious it is. Machetera is running to catch up with a series of interrelated translations, to shed more light on the events from a Latin American perspective. This is the first in that series.

Pablo Villegas explains for Rebelión why April may be the last month of life for many Bolivians, young Bolivians in particular. The article is long, so you may wish to copy, paste and print.

The Colombia/Santa Cruz Axis

To the “Mothers of Santa Cruz..we’ll spill their children’s blood responsibly.”

Pablo Villegas – Rebelión

Translation: Machetera

An Autonomy Without Law or Reason

The problem between the government and the autonomists is that the latter demand greater prerogatives than the states [within Bolivia], comparable only to those assumed by Kosovo in its secession from Serbia.[1]

The autonomy movement confirmed its separatist character on April 3, with the presentation of a Governing Program for Santa Cruz to begin on May 4. This includes, among others, the creation of an Autonomous Assembly – a parliament in reality – a regional police force, autonomous exports and a self-contained tax system. Given the separatist character of the future government, an attempt to suspend the provision of fuel to departments outside Santa Cruz is a troubling possibility, one which would generate an extremely dangerous situation.

Punishing China

Further Explanation of the Boycott of the Olympics in Beijing

Alberto Montero Soler – Rebelión and La Otra Economía

Translation: Machetera

In case anyone still harbors any doubt about why Europeans and North Americans are trying to water down the Olympics hosted by the Chinese, yesterday (April 18, 2008,) the World Trade Organization published a report about the evolution of international trade in 2007, from which just about anyone could easily find arguments which help to explain the reasoning behind the present offensive against China.

In any case, in order to save you the trouble, I’ll sum it up for you:

Who’s the biggest murderer?

Machetera has never been a huge fan of the Olympics for many reasons that she won’t go into right now, except for one, which is that watching the Olympics on U.S. television is like watching a Third Reich propaganda film and endless commercial all rolled into one. A Tivo helps, but not as much as you’d imagine. Anyway, Alberto Montero Soler’s description of the political hypocrisy surrounding the Olympics is another. It’s a shame really, that such glorious athletics should be so abused.

Why So Much Fuss in the European Parliament Over the Chinese and the Olympics?

Alberto Montero Soler – Rebelión and La Otra Economía

Last Friday (April 11, 2008), in another exercise in cynicism and redundancy to which we’re becoming accustomed, the European Parliament approved a resolution in which it urges Beijing to negotiate with the Dalai Lama over the situation in Tibet.

It followed a debate full of high-sounding phrases such as “the free world should not shake hands with murderers,” without, at least as far as I was concerned, making very clear who the “free world” is, who are the “murderers” and the reasoning behind such qualifications.

When I began to think about it, certain questions kept coming forward about what seems to me excessive certainty with which some are qualified as belonging to the “free world” and others disqualified as “murderers.”

Correa on the “little emperor” Uribe (and other things)

Is this guy good or what? Fantastically good looking, intelligent, well-spoken, some people just have it all. (Eat your heart out Álvaro Uribe.) If you speak Spanish, the live interview is worth a look. Probably it’s worth a look even if you don’t. Go here for that, since WordPress is rejecting video uploads right now.

My Hands are Clean and Bloodless, Something Uribe Can’t Say – Interview with Rafael Correa, President of Ecuador

Gorka Castillo – Público

Translation: Machetera

In an interview with Público, the Ecuadoran head of state accuses the Colombian government of lying, and its president, Álvaro Uribe, of links with paramilitaries.

Ecuador’s president doesn’t mince words. Over an hour’s interview he analyzed the Latin American political situation and didn’t hide the wound opened by Colombia that will take some time to heal.

The British writer Richard Gott considers Colombia to be the main element in the region’s instability. Do you share his view?

This is nothing new, rather something that goes way back. Colombia is the only country that has paramilitaries, guerrillas, drug traffickers, extensive coca cultivation and extensive zones of the country uncontrolled by the state. Paramilitarism and narco-politics doesn’t exist in Ecuador. Nor do we cultivate coca. Those are exclusively Colombian terms. I say this regretfully because [the Colombians] are our brothers, but Colombia today is the focus of the greatest instability that exists in Latin America and this hurts all of us.

Do you wish to say that the Colombian government’s image in Latin America is not a good one?

Uribe’s government is completely discredited. We’ve already pointed out his lies; now no-one believes him.