Author Archives: Syndicated User

RE: Case Study: Guatemala, Bitter Fruit

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“...The United States were more interested in unquestioning allies than democratic ones...” (254).
This week's readings were very interesting, however, the cyclical nature of recent history in Guatemala made it so that by the end, things were getting confusing. Many of the 'changes' of power seemed to be replaying the previous regime, only worse. It reminded me of the whole 'dream within a dream within a dream' idea, although it was clearly a nightmare for all involved. Except, apparently, the CIA. They seemed to have faired pretty good by the end, growing their reputation for their.... intelligence assessment?
Not quite. 
Here are some of the things that jumped at me. I feel as though some go with a theme that I’ve explored in previous blogs of ‘things that remind me of the the contemporary U.S.’ The first chapter, however, reminds me of a different theme that I have also noticed in previous class readings: that is, the way in which certain individuals, strong personalities, ‘crazies’ even, have had huge effects on the history of millions of people. We saw it in A Memory of Fire , for example. Here we see it with Banana Sam. Also of great interest in this chapter was learning of the connection between New England and Central America. 
The fist instance of my U.S. theme came with the bogus Czech shipment in ‘the final countdown’. I could not help but feeling as though it was the day’s Iraqi WMDs scenario. The second instance was the fact that at the time, the U.S. was acting under an idea that the Cold War meant a different set of rules for ‘the game’, which seems to parallel the paradigm under which the war on terror is ran. 
The part with Che was very interesting in that it implied that U.S. actions somehow, by further radicalizing Guevara, had a direct role of causation in the way the Cuban Revolution developed. As the fight against Arbenz developed, the opening of the caches by the American-supported army connected with my U.S. theme again, as it mirrored what happened in Iraq at the beginning of the occupation. 
I found of interest the many hands that came to the Guatemalan pot. From the UFC (not the Ultimate fighting Championship, but the company that brought us the lovely term ‘Banana Republic’, which by the way, how offensive of a brand name is it?) to Time magazine writers called to draft constitutions, to the bizarre way in which the diplomats behaved (even getting assassinated in the dubious line of duty). 
The entire post-‘liberation’ period just stinks of a Guatemala with zero point zero sovereignty, which is a sad picture. The way in which Castillo-Armas (can you get a better name for that job? What is this, a Dickens-written telenovela?) was ‘built up’ as a Libertador made me wonder how much of the alleged predilection for caudillos in Latin America is fabricated.
The end of the story was part sad part ‘karma’s a bitch’, except of course, as I mentioned before, for the CIA. It is interesting to see all this in the current context of Guatemala, as the old story seems to be shaping the current one: we have an outgoing Colom, nephew of the one in our story, and an incoming School of the Americas gradute, General Perez-Molina. Just makes you wonder... who’s hands are in the pie now? 
Un Abrazo, Guatemala.
Peace. 

RE: Case Study: Guatemala, Bitter Fruit

Posted on by
“...The United States were more interested in unquestioning allies than democratic ones...” (254).
This week's readings were very interesting, however, the cyclical nature of recent history in Guatemala made it so that by the end, things were getting confusing. Many of the 'changes' of power seemed to be replaying the previous regime, only worse. It reminded me of the whole 'dream within a dream within a dream' idea, although it was clearly a nightmare for all involved. Except, apparently, the CIA. They seemed to have faired pretty good by the end, growing their reputation for their.... intelligence assessment?
Not quite. 
Here are some of the things that jumped at me. I feel as though some go with a theme that I’ve explored in previous blogs of ‘things that remind me of the the contemporary U.S.’ The first chapter, however, reminds me of a different theme that I have also noticed in previous class readings: that is, the way in which certain individuals, strong personalities, ‘crazies’ even, have had huge effects on the history of millions of people. We saw it in A Memory of Fire , for example. Here we see it with Banana Sam. Also of great interest in this chapter was learning of the connection between New England and Central America. 
The fist instance of my U.S. theme came with the bogus Czech shipment in ‘the final countdown’. I could not help but feeling as though it was the day’s Iraqi WMDs scenario. The second instance was the fact that at the time, the U.S. was acting under an idea that the Cold War meant a different set of rules for ‘the game’, which seems to parallel the paradigm under which the war on terror is ran. 
The part with Che was very interesting in that it implied that U.S. actions somehow, by further radicalizing Guevara, had a direct role of causation in the way the Cuban Revolution developed. As the fight against Arbenz developed, the opening of the caches by the American-supported army connected with my U.S. theme again, as it mirrored what happened in Iraq at the beginning of the occupation. 
I found of interest the many hands that came to the Guatemalan pot. From the UFC (not the Ultimate fighting Championship, but the company that brought us the lovely term ‘Banana Republic’, which by the way, how offensive of a brand name is it?) to Time magazine writers called to draft constitutions, to the bizarre way in which the diplomats behaved (even getting assassinated in the dubious line of duty). 
The entire post-‘liberation’ period just stinks of a Guatemala with zero point zero sovereignty, which is a sad picture. The way in which Castillo-Armas (can you get a better name for that job? What is this, a Dickens-written telenovela?) was ‘built up’ as a Libertador made me wonder how much of the alleged predilection for caudillos in Latin America is fabricated.
The end of the story was part sad part ‘karma’s a bitch’, except of course, as I mentioned before, for the CIA. It is interesting to see all this in the current context of Guatemala, as the old story seems to be shaping the current one: we have an outgoing Colom, nephew of the one in our story, and an incoming School of the Americas gradute, General Perez-Molina. Just makes you wonder... who’s hands are in the pie now? 
Un Abrazo, Guatemala.
Peace. 

Case Study: Argentina 1

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Those weeks’ readings depicted the tragic and unknown. All the readings, artistic pieces and poems were written by witnesses, survivors and people with first hand experiences. I was impressed by the honesty in their testimonials, and loved the way in which the readings connected in a way that it showed unification and created one voice.

In the Madwomen of the Plaza de Mayo, we got to see how little by little the movement started and how these women felt and kept their suffering silent for a while until they started noticing other mothers experiencing the same situation. It must have really been hard, in those times, to express your feelings towards the regime as one could easily get disappeared or deported. While reading this text, I kept on thinking about what got these women together, how they maintained strong and about the idea of hope. Being all mothers and on the same situation, they all got together and shared their pain in order to seek justice and gain their right to KNOW what really happened. I really enjoyed the way this was all portrayed like a diary of what happened and in a very linear way. It was very easy to follow and understand the whole situation. What bothered me was how when the Fifa World Cup occurred, the government tried to hide their problems and avoid media attention to the issue, “just as they put up walls to hide the misery of poverty and moved entire shantytowns, they also needed to cover up all of us and the children a few of us still had because we were a stain on the country” (pp. 436). I guess that’s a problem that occurs everywhere, even here in Vancouver with the Olympics and with the displacement of the homeless people. However, I was impressed with the madres’ courage to confront the government and grab the attention of the international media, since they would be the only ones to take care and put an emphasis of the issue of human rights violations.

The other article I read was Guillermo O’Donnell’s Modernization and Military Coups. In general, the article states what occurred in Argentina economically to trigger the military regime to escalate and how the emergence of militarization (regime) occurred through “modernization,” “the logic of the situation of high modernization and mass praetorianism leads to diminishing socioeconomic returns and to growing political activity on the part of the urban popular sector” (410). Therefore it triggered the political behavior of the military, which according to José Nun, has argued that political interventions by the military occurred due to the “ambiguities” and “fears” in the middle class. The military in that time, thus believed that they were the only ones to have the power to control and create an ordered society (public order) with prosperous socio-economical development. The author also makes a clear point in explaining how national security was confused with development, which is what created many tensions.

GLBT Rights and the Cuban 2012 Census

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"HAVANA, Nov 11, 2011 (IPS) - Communist Party militant, gay rights activist, journalist and blogger Francisco Rodríguez has triggered an online debate in Cuba by calling for sexual diversity to be identified in the next census, due in September 2012.

Better known by the name of his blog, Paquito el de Cuba, Rodríguez has urged the national statistics office, ONEI, to follow the lead of other countries that have begun to identify same-sex couples and families in the 2010 round of global censuses approved by the United Nations."


This article outlines the need to recognize Cuba's GLBT population in the next census in order to discredit the myth that there are few GLBT in Cuba.  The hope in recognizing this population through a census is to promote rights and prevent discrimination of GLBT and to persuade parliament to approve a bill recognizing equal rights for heterosexual and homosexual couples.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105805

GLBT Rights and the Cuban 2012 Census

Posted on by
"HAVANA, Nov 11, 2011 (IPS) - Communist Party militant, gay rights activist, journalist and blogger Francisco Rodríguez has triggered an online debate in Cuba by calling for sexual diversity to be identified in the next census, due in September 2012.

Better known by the name of his blog, Paquito el de Cuba, Rodríguez has urged the national statistics office, ONEI, to follow the lead of other countries that have begun to identify same-sex couples and families in the 2010 round of global censuses approved by the United Nations."


This article outlines the need to recognize Cuba's GLBT population in the next census in order to discredit the myth that there are few GLBT in Cuba.  The hope in recognizing this population through a census is to promote rights and prevent discrimination of GLBT and to persuade parliament to approve a bill recognizing equal rights for heterosexual and homosexual couples.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105805

Guatemala Week One

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Before reading this week’s selection on the United Fruit Company, I knew of its dominating power over Guatemala.  However, I did not in fact realize the extent to which the United Fruit Company treated Guatemala in a colonizing fashion.  United Fruit Company obtained a monopoly on banana production and trade and enormous economic control over the country.  By owning and controlling every mile of railroad and the only Atlantic port, Guatemalan exports were reliant on the United Fruit Company.  Thus Guatemala’s economic independence was prevented by this United States run company.  Even American politics shaped Guatemala’s state of economic freedom. 

Most terrible of all to me is the United Fruit Company’s denial of labour rights.  By establishing low wages and preventing labour unions from forming, farm workers were kept in a poor state.  The discrimination against indigenous people and people of color contributed to unequal conditions.  As is referenced in the reading, “nobody could dispute the fact that the United Fruit Company had taken out of Guatemala far more in excessive profits than it had ever put into that poverty-stricken nation.”  The United Fruit Company amplified impoverished conditions, and the company’s past involvement in Guatemala’s food production and land use has contributed to Guatemala’s state of insecurity and childhood malnutrition today.

Guatemala Week One

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Before reading this week’s selection on the United Fruit Company, I knew of its dominating power over Guatemala.  However, I did not in fact realize the extent to which the United Fruit Company treated Guatemala in a colonizing fashion.  United Fruit Company obtained a monopoly on banana production and trade and enormous economic control over the country.  By owning and controlling every mile of railroad and the only Atlantic port, Guatemalan exports were reliant on the United Fruit Company.  Thus Guatemala’s economic independence was prevented by this United States run company.  Even American politics shaped Guatemala’s state of economic freedom. 

Most terrible of all to me is the United Fruit Company’s denial of labour rights.  By establishing low wages and preventing labour unions from forming, farm workers were kept in a poor state.  The discrimination against indigenous people and people of color contributed to unequal conditions.  As is referenced in the reading, “nobody could dispute the fact that the United Fruit Company had taken out of Guatemala far more in excessive profits than it had ever put into that poverty-stricken nation.”  The United Fruit Company amplified impoverished conditions, and the company’s past involvement in Guatemala’s food production and land use has contributed to Guatemala’s state of insecurity and childhood malnutrition today.

Poor Guatemala…

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So it seems to me that Guatemala was just another stepping stone along the road of American imperialism...Ok so we know that.  What was the most prevalent thing for me in Shlesinger's comments was the importance of the 'media' in the coup and the power of the United Fruit Company.  Throughout the days leading up to the fall of Arbenz so much was made of the power of the radio, American publications, and propaganda.  Sadly no one is as adept at using the media to extract results as the good ol' USA.  We can see that capability now and in the events surrounding 9-11.  The construction of terrorists and their threat can be considered a direct result of a Cold War mentality.  I don't think we are aware of the extent to which the American media were complicit in propaganda and continue to be today.  Schlesinger talked of the way in which the Voice of Guatemala radio station intentionally targeted women, soldiers, workers and young people.  To me that sounds like the same audience that many major corporations target in their advertising campaigns.  Which leads me to wonder what percentage of the Cold War was really about economics and what percentage was actually about ideology? So much of what we read about the United Fruit Company and their abuses of so many rights are all because of profit.  How complicit are consumers in what occurred in so many places in Latin America.  It has been said that we like our cheap bananas and coffee and good returns on our stock investments that those prices could possibly been the reason so much violence and human rights violations were permitted.  So much of the chapters we read talked about perceptions in Guatemala during the lead up to the Arbenz overthrow, and how the radio stations and papers (backed by the American government) were able to successfully create a sense of panic and chaos.  I was glad that one of the pieces we read mentioned the resistance and protest that arose from the Americans involvement in Guatemala and elsewhere.  Why is it that there is always more power and money behind acts of exploitation and human rights violations than behind humanity?  The comment was made in the Schlesinger article that, "among the poor, the tradition of political passivity always dictated that they sit back and await events rather than attempt to influence them" (198).  This may have been the case during the 50s in Guatemala, but it seems to me that there is a very alive and active protest movement in Latin America that has a large quota of poor or lower class members.
Another thing that stood out to me in the article was the use of symbolism during the campaign to depose Arbenz.  The United Fruit Company came to represent the USA, pink sunglasses implied communism, and dead mules were used to imply successful army attacks where none had occurred.  I'm not quite finished the article yet but I'm wondering about the involvement of the School of The Americas.  It sounds like they may have had a huge impact in what occurred in Guatemala. I'm going to keep reading.

Poor Guatemala…

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So it seems to me that Guatemala was just another stepping stone along the road of American imperialism...Ok so we know that.  What was the most prevalent thing for me in Shlesinger's comments was the importance of the 'media' in the coup and the power of the United Fruit Company.  Throughout the days leading up to the fall of Arbenz so much was made of the power of the radio, American publications, and propaganda.  Sadly no one is as adept at using the media to extract results as the good ol' USA.  We can see that capability now and in the events surrounding 9-11.  The construction of terrorists and their threat can be considered a direct result of a Cold War mentality.  I don't think we are aware of the extent to which the American media were complicit in propaganda and continue to be today.  Schlesinger talked of the way in which the Voice of Guatemala radio station intentionally targeted women, soldiers, workers and young people.  To me that sounds like the same audience that many major corporations target in their advertising campaigns.  Which leads me to wonder what percentage of the Cold War was really about economics and what percentage was actually about ideology? So much of what we read about the United Fruit Company and their abuses of so many rights are all because of profit.  How complicit are consumers in what occurred in so many places in Latin America.  It has been said that we like our cheap bananas and coffee and good returns on our stock investments that those prices could possibly been the reason so much violence and human rights violations were permitted.  So much of the chapters we read talked about perceptions in Guatemala during the lead up to the Arbenz overthrow, and how the radio stations and papers (backed by the American government) were able to successfully create a sense of panic and chaos.  I was glad that one of the pieces we read mentioned the resistance and protest that arose from the Americans involvement in Guatemala and elsewhere.  Why is it that there is always more power and money behind acts of exploitation and human rights violations than behind humanity?  The comment was made in the Schlesinger article that, "among the poor, the tradition of political passivity always dictated that they sit back and await events rather than attempt to influence them" (198).  This may have been the case during the 50s in Guatemala, but it seems to me that there is a very alive and active protest movement in Latin America that has a large quota of poor or lower class members.
Another thing that stood out to me in the article was the use of symbolism during the campaign to depose Arbenz.  The United Fruit Company came to represent the USA, pink sunglasses implied communism, and dead mules were used to imply successful army attacks where none had occurred.  I'm not quite finished the article yet but I'm wondering about the involvement of the School of The Americas.  It sounds like they may have had a huge impact in what occurred in Guatemala. I'm going to keep reading.

Case Study Guatemala 1

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Bitter fruit


    When doing  this weeks reading, it really surprised me how little I know about the USA and what they will do to get what they want. first we saw how the United company started and how like many things at the beginning it sounded like a good idea, people liked bananas and  it was a big market and Guatemala could provide the banana and the banana could be exported, it seemed like such a good bissness. But as demand increased also did greed, the banana plantation where no enough so the companies went looking for more land to supply the demand for bananas. The companies took over a lot of land which Guatemala allowed since they promised trains connecting different places. For example one of the main companies Keith owned 112 miles of railroad in central America. when Keith and Boston fruit merged they made united company.
    In the readings we see constantly how politics and business merge,  and in many of the cases how business determines politics in one example Zemurray who was part of united company took out Manuel Bonilla a leader from Honduras who was in prison he did this and gave him weapons so he could overtake the Honduran government who wanted to take out a loan with New York bank and it was easier to deal with a president that would do what they company wanted, then to deal with a person who was lead by the New York bank.

    We see that governments where changed in order to please the company. The book mentions that people saw United company as USA and that the company did not want to deal only with democratic governments as they said, instead they were interested in dealing with governments that would sell out and would look for the companies well being, it did not matter to them if they were dictatorships. They are even instances where the government asked the United company not to increase pay and not give to much benefits because it would increase the countries wage. The united company was able to do what they wanted they controlled the trains they made also the coast and the countries, until in Guatemala came a new different type of president. the book mentions: “Guatemala's government ws the regions weakest most corrupt and pliable. In short the country offered an ideal investment climate, and United Fruits profits there flourished for fifty years. Then something went  wrong, a man named Jacob Arbenz became president”
This president demanded better compensation and condition for example these companies did not pay tax in the country they brought the lands for little money and Arbenz wanted this to change. But what did the company d,o they convinced the American government that Arbenz was a threat to freedom and they did all they could to remove Arbenz. Of course all this was done in the name of freedom, and they tried to hide their real reasons for being involved but they did not do a good job. For example they planed to bomb  Honduras pretending to being Guatemala and then Honduras would ask the USA for help that way they could attack Guatemala with the military, but their plan did not succeed those in Honduras could not even agree where the booming took place they would say different names and places, and when a news paper from the states went to look for the damage, there was no damage which showed that it was a planed by USA to attack Guatemala and all because of a banana exporting company. And things like these continued the result of this is that Guatemala as a country suffered a lot there was a lot of instability in government there where a lot of death and USA even affected the view outsiders had of Guatemala. What affects me the most is that these big company started small, and poor like the workers in the plantations. Boston fruit started wit one men buying the bananas they would throw away. But once the company succeed they forget where they come from and greed takes over.

WoW! This is shocking…

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This YouTube link is to a video I came across about Guatemala...I can't believe the extent to which the USA intervened in Guatemala...This is a serious violation on so many levels, including so many rights. Anyway...


http://youtu.be/nha9MsSSKvE

WoW! This is shocking…

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This YouTube link is to a video I came across about Guatemala...I can't believe the extent to which the USA intervened in Guatemala...This is a serious violation on so many levels, including so many rights. Anyway...


http://youtu.be/nha9MsSSKvE

News Article # 8

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http://www.el-nacional.com/noticia/9536/23/Sobrevivio-para-condenar-el-horror.html





 
Sobrevivió para condenar el horror/He survived to condemn the horror


    Lisandro Raúl Cubas lived in Argentina during the military regime, in October 20 1976 he took a cyanide pill to commit suicide instead of being captured and tortured by military, but because the pill was expired he didn’t die and was taken by the military and forced to work and tortured. He was not set free until January 20 1979. Later he moved to Venezuela where he lives in exile.

     He mentions that even though he left he never gave his back to his country of origin and the need to do justice. That is why he was one of the witnesses in a case on October 26, 2011, that resulted in the sentencing of 12 members of the ESMA. It was the first case and sentencing against the ESMA, which was a big accomplishment. From Venezuela Lisandro Raúl Cubas celebrated this victorious case, and he mentions that this guilty verdict is in a way a restorative affect on the victims.


Case Study Argentina 2

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     When I read Open Letter From A Writes To The Military Junta, by Rodolfo Walsh, I was surprised that some one would have the courage to write this type of letter, in the middle of the military regime, Rodolfo Walsh wrote this letter in 1977. He directs this letter directly to the government/military Junta and does not fear telling things as they were. He talks about the rights being violated like the habeas corpus he mentions “ over 7,000 habeas corpus writs have been denied by you this year” directing this to the military junta. He talks about the people being killed and being disappeared he estimates 1,500-3,000 being killed in secrecy. He gives example of people killed; one that stood out to me was a young person about 15 years old who was found “Floreal Avellaneda hands and feet bound”. He also talks about other human rights violations that are not as evident and that is using the bad economy as a means to control people because when people are worried about basic necessities being fulfilled they are less likely to address other problems like rebelling against the regime. I believe that by, writing this letter he was showing that not everyone can be controlled by threat and fear and that like him other people understood the extent of control and violation of rights that was happening.

     When reading a lexical of terror, it really surprised me how the military Junta was bale to control invade every aspect of people’s lives, to the point that even the language is controlled and alter, because words that once had simple unaggressive meaning had been transformed, and example of this is the word asado or barbecue normally related with a pleasant good time, now the meaning changed to when they burned peoples bodies and buried them. We see that the change is permanent because even now I think people when they hear these terms it still reminds them of the horrific crimes being committed.

Ex-ruling party wins violence-scarred Mexican race

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http://news.yahoo.com/ex-ruling-party-wins-violence-scarred-mexican-race-143302399.html

This article examines the presidential race in Mexico. It is becoming increasingly apparent that Calderon might very well loose the upcomming election. His war on drugs was simply too brutal and badly planned out, and many are now loosing faith in hime. The PRI, Mexico's former ruling party of 71 years, is gaining momentum again. What I thought interesting about this is that almost all political discourse seems to be related in some way to the drug war and cartels. It's impregnated politics so completely that the best way to attack and opposition party is to blame them of being related to a cartel. In this climate, it's become difficult to differentiate between drug lords and politicians.

Another thing that is mentionned in the article is the fact that, apparently, the Indigenous Purepecha people of Cheran have refused to let poll workers into their town, demanding an election that would respect their traditions. Apparently, they have been actively guarding Cheran from illegal loggers and drug traffickers. Not much is said about them, but this is an interesting case of Indigenous people demanding the right to have their unique traditions respected as well as protecting themselves. I'm wondering in this kind of individualistic communal organization is the way of the future.