I found these documents to be very interesting, especially as they are competing claims that create greater tensions among the Lago Agrio case conflict. Left, indigenous activists together with the global network of sympathizers have been able to find new ways to empower and increasinlgly capture the levels of power that have been for many years and still are highly influenced and controlled by corporate interests. The first document, an excerpt from the summary of the judge’s decision in the Lago Agrio trial that was prepared by the plaintiff’s lawyers explains the various bases on which the judgement was rendered. It tries to balance out the numerous pieces of testimonies and evidence against one another, and shows both sides of the conflict as much as possible.

Furthermore, the second document, an excerpt from the injunction granted by Judge Kaplan to Chevron in 2011 is interesting because of how he interprets the larger issues of the trial in Ecuador. This document is thus, very different interpretations of the same pieces of evidence. This makes it difficult for one to know the full truth of what happened during the Lago Agrio Case and the Texaco but provides us with multiple truths, depending on the perspective one takes. The perspective one chooses to opt toward is based on the similarity in ones values and interests, since these shape the worldview of one. The first document is a product of an Ecuadorian court, a particular history and of a political opening that was not expected by Chevron’s lawyers. On the other hand, the second documents context is a United States court, that was shaped by its own values and interests, that came to be because of the history it has.

Therefore, as Dawson makes clear, it is important not only to understand the multiple truths that come about in these two documents, but to also comprehend where power lies geographically, and how that power authorizes itself. We clearly see a changed geopolitical landscape in Latin America in the early 21st century, one consisting of more people speaking up for their own power or alternative power centers, not just the United States as the absolute truth. Thus, the Lago Agrio Case suggests an alternative narrative, where the forms of influence and domination that the upper class (who hold powerful corporate interests) once relied on are being challenged and reshaped by the people who do not share the benefits of globalization. As a result, the power from the United States has been starting to shift to the power of global capital, freeing people from their restricted areas and allowing them to shape their own future interests.

Newmont’s Conga Project in Peru Faces Uncertain Fate

http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2013/04/12/newmonts-conga-project-in-peru-fates-uncertain-fate/

In 2011, the The Newmount Mining Corporation started the Conga Project, an expansion of the Yanacocha mine in Cajamarca, Peru.  However, numerous protests in the city of Cajamarca, located only 73 kilometers from the expansion project have paused the development of the project since the water supplies would be threatened. Because it would be an open-pit mine, there is a risk of water contamination. The protests and rallies that have taken place since, refusing the claims of President Humala who says it will generate jobs and tax revenues.

The Conga project is a very ambiguous proposition as it may benefit or affect communities radically, damage the environment and/or meet economic interests by boosting local and national economic systems. However, because of the number of anti-mining protests, in November 2011, Peru’s central government requested the project to be suspended. Consequently, independent experts reviewed the approved environmental impact assessment report of 2010 in order to help resolve the environmental viability of the Conga project. As a result, they concluded that an international standard assessment was needed and recommended some water management improvements.

Newmount has thus started a “Water First” approach, constructing reservoirs before building production facilitates or initiating mining. This involves building reservoirs on high-mountain lake areas to make sure water is available for the local communities and its supply will last until the end of 2013. However does this solve the problems that will be created when the Conga project is implemented?

In my opinion it wouldn’t. Although the Peruvian government will benefit greatly with the profit gained by expanding the mine, they disregard important social and ecological factors that play a crucial role in the future of the community.

There are various social impacts that this project will cause including but not limited to: increase migration of workers, higher rates of criminality, disruption of social communities and a change in the landscape of the environment surrounding the area. For those who hold on to the national and local loyalties they were born and raised in, or those who cannot move, or simply insist that they would like to change the world they live in instead of living in another world.  This decision involves acting and speaking out. According to Hirschman, this is one of the ways in which members of societies behave in times of crisis, with their voice.  This is what gives power to the people, who are able to voice out their opinions and oppose ideas and actions they do not approve of, creating a change in their world.

Peruvians Emigrating in Droves to Escape Inflation, Food Shortages and Rebel War

http://articles.latimes.com/1988-12-25/news/mn-1402_1_food-shortages

In 1988, due to food shortages, increased inflation reaching 1110%, and an extended rebel war, many Peruvians are exiting the country, with more than half of the country leaving if they could. 52% of Peru’s 21 million people would emigrate if they could economically afford to. Officials show that there has been an 80% increase in demand for passports that would allow citizens to leave the country. Due to the economic circumstances, it is difficult to find jobs and as a result the number of emigrants has been doubling every year, pushing people to leave the country to find jobs that could support them.

In 1986, 27,017 Peruvians emigrated while in 1987, 53,076 citizens left the country. About 15,000 of them have tried to emigrate to Canada, compared to 2,000 people who left in 1987. During the same time, there was a lack of hope for the younger generation due to the Shining Path terrorism war that was also affecting the economic downfall that led to job losses, long food lines and a 50% loss in the average worker’s purchasing power. As a result, most of the Peruvian emigrants are university graduates, since there are only adequate jobs for 30% of the students who graduate. This has caused many to want to emigrate to places like the United States, a country that pays higher wages, has a better political and economic system in place and is able to pay them enough to live securely, allowing them to leave times of stress back in Peru.

Due to the large number of people who are trying to attain a tourist visa to the United States, Canada and Mexico, a business in fake visas has been created and has boomed over the past few years.  Clearly, this has been one of the only options Peruvians have had when dealing in times of crisis. Because citizens are technically free to move silently through the system, constantly forming and destroying relationships, they are able to—although with difficulty at this time— leave the country when they find themselves unable to participate in it. Exiting the country provides a warning sign of decline for Peru, especially for the state and government. Although citizens might want to voice their opinion to change this situation, they are unable to feed their families, putting their lives and future at risk, being an easier option to exit the country. Even after numerous times of trying to voice their opinion and change the world they live in, one reaches the point that they can no longer change the system and decide to then leave the situation they are living in.

In these texts and videos, we see how in different ways human rights groups emerge across Latin America during the 1970s and onwards with clear targets. We see how when states become weak and are unable or unwilling to recognize human rights, violence, protests, and speaking up through mediums of communication technologies come about. In the first video, a TV news interview, the sight, sounds and passion are portrayed, capturing the global attention as the mothers craft their narratives. The second document, a text that shows a movement closer to nature, more egalitarian and of a more primitive communism where they rebel against the Mexican government. The third document reveals a confrontation between the Guerrero (Mexico) state police and a group of peasants in a place called Aguas Blancas. The police ends up killing 17 members of the Southern Sierra Peasant Organization (OCSS). The video captures the entire event from start to finish, portraying the process of the killing and showing how intentional it was. This I found to be very interesting because it seems that the power of new forms of media are beginning to be used to bring truth to the country and the importance of communication technologies in creating a world in which cover-ups and conspiracies become almost impossible for states to create and control narratives and with it the flow of information. In the fourth and fifth documents, we see the music videos of the No Campaign assuring viewers of the happiness that will flourish in post-dictatorship Chile. In the sixth document, a collection of Chilean students who took their protest over tuition hikes and university governance to a global audience in 2011 is displayed through dancing. The seventh txt offers a possibility that the drug war simply could not be won, and thus reminds people that the war had placed one of the essential elements of a democratic society– a free press. Finally, the last document, a poet whose son was killed along with seven other youths in March 2011. He expresses his feelings towards the government whose interests he thinks should dramatically change.
Dealing with all these different mediums of communication technologies (videos, photographs, letters, internet, etc) how do you think the state has controlled the flow of information and promise of greater transparency today?

In document 9.1, an excerpt from an essay published by Mario Vargas Llosa, describes the investigation of the murder of 8 journalists in the Highlands. He agreed with inflicted rhetorical violence on the peasants, and perhaps justified other forms of violence indirectly. He describes the peasants as primitives using stone sling-shots and using pictures that were taken right before the massacre, he provided proof of a dialogue between the journalists and peasants, the latter who attacked them anyway convinced they were enemies, even though the journalists were unarmed. The fear within the people was clearly present and as an event of miscommunication/misunderstanding, Llosa portrays it as a planned attack and killing. This document clearly shows that guerilla movements were not “peasant movements,” but young adolescents and adults born in the cities, among intellectuals and middle-class militants. The democracy of Latin American countries will never be strong as long as it is the privilege of one sector of society and an incomprehensible abstraction for all others.

In the second document, an interview with President Gonzalo who almost celebrates violence and a war of annihilation (violence as cleansing, as ritual where the nation is reborn in the bloodbath). He believed that only by destroying, demolishing the old order, could a new social order be brought into being. Gonzalo together with Llosa share a superficial view of peasant and indigenous cultures, deeming them as inferior and almost deserving of dying. They had a strong vision where rural cultures desperately had to be re-made as they were useless and dangerous in their present form.
How does this view towards peasant communities and indigenous cultures differ from Fujimori’s words and actions during his presidency?

In the third document, Fujimori’s rationale for dismantling the Peruvian state, he claims he was paving the way for the establishment of a democratic state (his end goal) as it would effectively guarantee the equal participation for all citizens, not just the elite. For so many years, corruption and politcal infiltration have permeated throughout the government to such an extent that justice is treated as a commodity. Fujimori discusses how regionalism is no longer a solution, but a problem, since it has created regional “microcentralisms” and a new source of national frustration that has stemmed into terrorism. His urgency for national reconstruction is not clarified by annihilation, until years later he is accused for killing citizens while trying to cleanse populations. The justice Fujimori was fighting for as shown in document 9.3 is now being played on him.