Sunday, February 3, 2013
America's Expanding War On Drugs In Latin America - AP
Estados Unidos está militarizando lucha antidrogas http://ow.ly/hnFfI
America's Expanding War On Drugs In Latin America
via Latest News by AP on 2/3/13
-- The crew members aboard the USS Underwood could see through their night goggles what was happening on the fleeing go-fast boat: Someone was dumping bales.
When the Navy guided-missile frigate later dropped anchor in Panamanian waters on that sunny August morning, Ensign Clarissa Carpio, a 23-year-old from San Francisco, climbed into the inflatable dinghy with four unarmed sailors and two Coast Guard officers like herself, carrying light submachine guns. It was her first deployment, but Carpio was ready for combat.
Fighting drug traffickers was precisely what she'd trained for.
In the most expensive initiative in Latin America since the Cold War, the U.S. has militarized the battle against the traffickers, spending more than $20 billion in the past decade. U.S. Army troops, Air Force pilots and Navy ships outfitted with Coast Guard counternarcotics teams are routinely deployed to chase, track and capture drug smugglers.
The sophistication and violence of the traffickers is so great that the U.S. military is training not only law enforcement agents in Latin American nations, but their militaries as well, building a network of expensive hardware, radar, airplanes, ships, runways and refueling stations to stem the tide of illegal drugs from South America to the U.S.
According to State Department and Pentagon officials, stopping drug-trafficking organizations has become a matter of national security because they spread corruption, undermine fledgling democracies and can potentially finance terrorists.
U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske, pointing to dramatic declines in violence and cocaine production in Colombia, says the strategy works.
"The results are historic and have tremendous implications, not just for the United States and the Western Hemisphere, but for the world," he said at a conference on drug policy last year.
The Associated Press examined U.S. arms export authorizations, defense contracts, military aid, and exercises in the region, tracking a drug war strategy that began in Colombia, moved to Mexico and is now finding fresh focus in Central America, where brutal cartels mark an enemy motivated not by ideology but by cash.
The U.S. authorized the sale of a record $2.8 billion worth of guns, satellites, radar equipment and tear gas to Western Hemisphere nations in 2011, four times the authorized sales 10 years ago, according to the latest State Department reports.
Over the same decade, defense contracts jumped from $119 million to $629 million, supporting everything from Kevlar helmets for the Mexican army to building airport runways in Aruba, according to federal contract data.
Last year $830 million, almost $9 out of every $10 of U.S. law enforcement and military aid spent in the region, went toward countering narcotics, up 30 percent in the past decade.
Many in the military and other law enforcement agencies – the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, FBI – applaud the U.S. strategy, but critics say militarizing the drug war in a region fraught with tender democracies and long-corrupt institutions can stir political instability while barely touching what the U.N. estimates is a $320 billion global illicit drug market.
Congressman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), who chaired the U.S. House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere for the past four years, says the U.S.-supported crackdown on Mexican cartels only left them "stronger and more violent." He intends to reintroduce a proposal for a Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission to evaluate antinarcotics efforts.
"Billions upon billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars have been spent over the years to combat the drug trade in Latin America and the Caribbean," he said. "In spite of our efforts, the positive results are few and far between."
___
At any given moment, 4,000 U.S. troops are deployed in Latin America and as many as four U.S. Navy ships are plying the Caribbean and Pacific coastlines of Central America. U.S. pilots clocked more than 46,400 hours in 2011 flying anti-drug missions, and U.S. agents from at least 10 law enforcement agencies spread across the continent.
The U.S. trains thousands of Latin American troops, and employs its multibillion dollar radar equipment to gather intelligence to intercept traffickers and arrest cartel members.
These work in organized-crime networks that boast an estimated 11,000 flights annually and hundreds of boats and submersibles. They smuggle cocaine from the only place it's produced, South America, to the land where it is most coveted, the United States.
One persistent problem is that in many of the partner nations, police are so institutionally weak or corrupt that governments have turned to their militaries to fight drug traffickers, often with violent results. Militaries are trained for combat, while police are trained to enforce laws.
"It is unfortunate that militaries have to be involved in what are essentially law enforcement engagements," said Frank Mora, the outgoing deputy assistant secretary of defense for Western Hemisphere affairs. But he argues that many governments have little choice.
"We are not going to turn our backs on these governments or these institutions because they've found themselves in such a situation that they have to use their militaries in this way," Mora said.
Mora said the effort is not tantamount to militarizing the war on drugs. He said the Defense Department's role is limited, by law, to monitoring and detection. Law enforcement agents, from the U.S. Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection or other agencies are in charge of some of the busts, he said.
But the U.S. is deploying its own military. Not only is the Fourth Fleet in the Caribbean, the Pacific and the Atlantic, but the Marines were sent to Guatemala last year and the National Guard is in Honduras.
The Obama Administration sees these deployments as important missions with a worthy payoff. Hundreds of thousands of kilograms (pounds) of cocaine are seized en route to the U.S. every year, and the Defense Department estimates about 850 metric tons of cocaine departed South America last year toward the U.S., down 20 percent in just a year. The most recent U.S. survey found cocaine use fell significantly, from 2.4 million people in 2006 to 1.4 million in 2011.
Aboard the Underwood, the crew of 260 was clear on the mission. The ship's bridge wings bear 16 cocaine "snowflakes" and two marijuana "leaves," awarded to the Underwood by the Coast Guard command to be "proudly displayed" for its successful interdictions.
Standing on the bridge, Carpio's team spotted its first bale of cocaine. And then, after 2 1/2 weeks plying the Caribbean in search of drug traffickers, they spotted another, and then many more.
"In all we found 49 bales," Carpio said in an interview aboard the ship. "It was very impressive to see the bales popping along the water in a row."
Wrapped in black and white tarp, they were so heavy she could barely pull one out of the water. Later, officials said they'd collected $27 million worth of cocaine.
___
The current U.S. strategy began in Colombia in 2000, with an eight-year effort that cost more than $7 billion to stop the flow from the world's top cocaine producer. During Plan Colombia, the national police force, working closely with dozens of DEA agents, successfully locked up top drug traffickers.
But then came "the balloon effect."
As a result of Plan Colombia's pressure, traffickers were forced to find new coca-growing lands in Peru and Bolivia, and trafficking routes shifted as well from Florida to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Thus a $1.6 billion, 4-year Merida Initiative was launched in 2008. Once more, drug kingpins were caught or killed, and as cartels fought to control trafficking routes, increasingly gruesome killings topped 70,000 in six years.
Mexican cartel bosses, feeling the squeeze, turned to Central America as the first stop for South American cocaine, attracted by weaker governments and corrupt authorities.
"Now, all of a sudden, the tide has turned," said Brick Scoggins, who manages the Defense Department's counter-narcotics programs in most of Latin America and the Caribbean. "I'd say northern tier countries of El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Belize have become a key focus area."
The latest iteration is the $165 million Central America Regional Security Initiative, which includes Operation Martillo (Hammer), a year-old U.S.-led mission. The operation has no end date and is focused on the seas off Central America's beach-lined coasts, key shipping routes for 90 percent of the estimated 850 metric tons of cocaine headed to the U.S.
As part of Operation Martillo, 200 U.S. Marines began patrolling Guatemala's western coast in August, their helicopters soaring above villages at night as they headed out to sea to find "narco-submarines" and shiploads of drugs. The troops also brought millions of dollars' worth of computers and intelligence-gathering technology to analyze communications between suspected drug dealers.
Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield, head of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, predicts the balloon effect will play out in Central America before moving to the Caribbean.
The goal, he said, is to make it so hard for traffickers to move drugs to the U.S. that they will eventually opt out of North America, where cocaine use is falling. Traffickers would likely look for easier, more expanding markets, shifting sales to a growing customer base in Europe, Africa and elsewhere in the world.
Brownfield said almost all Peruvian and Bolivian cocaine goes east through Brazil and Argentina and then to Western Europe. Cocaine that reaches North America mostly comes from Colombia, he said, with U.S. figures showing production falling sharply, from 700 metric tons in 2001 to 195 metric tons today – though estimates vary widely.
When the drug war turns bloody, he said, the strategy is working.
"The bloodshed tends to occur and increase when these trafficking organizations, which are large, powerful, rich, extremely violent and potentially bloody, ... come under some degree of pressure," he said.
Yet the strategy has often backfired when foreign partners proved too inexperienced to fight drug traffickers or so corrupt they switched sides.
In Mexico, for example, the U.S. focused on improving the professionalism of the federal police. But the effort's success was openly questioned after federal police at Mexico City's Benito Juarez International Airport opened fire at each other, killing three.
In August critics were even more concerned when two CIA officers riding in a U.S. Embassy SUV were ambushed by Mexican federal police allegedly working for an organized crime group. The police riddled the armored SUV with 152 bullets, wounding both officers.
The new strategy in Honduras has had its own fits and starts.
Last year, the U.S. Defense Department spent a record $67.4 million on military contracts in Honduras, triple the 2002 defense contracts there well above the $45.6 million spent in neighboring Guatemala in 2012. The U.S. also spent about $2 million training more than 300 Honduran military personnel in 2011, and $89 million in annual spending to maintain Joint Task Force Bravo, a 600-member U.S. unit based at Soto Cano Air Base.
Further, neither the State Department nor the Pentagon could provide details explaining a 2011 $1.3 billion authorization for exports of military electronics to Honduras – although that would amount to almost half of all U.S. arms exports for the entire Western Hemisphere.
In May, on the other side of the country, Honduran national police rappelled from U.S. helicopters to bust drug traffickers near the remote village of Ahuas, killing four allegedly innocent civilians and scattering locals who were loading some 450 kilograms (close to 1,000 pounds) of cocaine into a boat.
The incident drew international attention and demands for an investigation when the DEA confirmed it had agents aboard the helicopters advising their Honduran counterparts. Villagers spoke of English-speaking commandos kicking in doors and handcuffing locals just after the shooting, searching for drug traffickers.
Six weeks later, townspeople watched in shock as laborers exhumed the first of four muddy graves. At each burial site, workers pulled out the decomposing bodies of two women and two young men, and laid them on tarps.
Forensic scientists conducted their graveside autopsies in the open air, probing for bullet wounds and searching for signs the women had been pregnant, as villagers had claimed.
Government investigators concluded there was no wrongdoing in the raid. In the subsequent months, DEA agents shot and killed suspects they said threatened them in two separate incidents, and the U.S. temporarily suspended the sharing of radar intelligence because the Central American nation's air force shot down two suspected drug planes, a violation of rules of engagement. Support was also withheld for the national police after it was learned that its new director had been tied to death squads.
As the new year begins, Congress is still withholding an estimated $30 million in aid to Honduras, about a third of all the U.S. aid slotted for this year.
But there are no plans to rethink the strategy.
Scoggins, the Defense Department's counter-narcotics manager, said operations in Central America are expected to grow for the next five years.
"It's not for me to say if it's the correct strategy. It's the strategy we are using," said Scoggins. "I don't know what the alternative is."
___
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Dario Lopez aboard the USS Underwood in the Caribbean, Garance Burke in San Francisco, Frank Bajak in Lima, Peru, and Alberto Arce in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, along with Romina Ruiz-Goiriena in Guatemala City.
When the Navy guided-missile frigate later dropped anchor in Panamanian waters on that sunny August morning, Ensign Clarissa Carpio, a 23-year-old from San Francisco, climbed into the inflatable dinghy with four unarmed sailors and two Coast Guard officers like herself, carrying light submachine guns. It was her first deployment, but Carpio was ready for combat.
Fighting drug traffickers was precisely what she'd trained for.
In the most expensive initiative in Latin America since the Cold War, the U.S. has militarized the battle against the traffickers, spending more than $20 billion in the past decade. U.S. Army troops, Air Force pilots and Navy ships outfitted with Coast Guard counternarcotics teams are routinely deployed to chase, track and capture drug smugglers.
The sophistication and violence of the traffickers is so great that the U.S. military is training not only law enforcement agents in Latin American nations, but their militaries as well, building a network of expensive hardware, radar, airplanes, ships, runways and refueling stations to stem the tide of illegal drugs from South America to the U.S.
According to State Department and Pentagon officials, stopping drug-trafficking organizations has become a matter of national security because they spread corruption, undermine fledgling democracies and can potentially finance terrorists.
U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske, pointing to dramatic declines in violence and cocaine production in Colombia, says the strategy works.
"The results are historic and have tremendous implications, not just for the United States and the Western Hemisphere, but for the world," he said at a conference on drug policy last year.
The Associated Press examined U.S. arms export authorizations, defense contracts, military aid, and exercises in the region, tracking a drug war strategy that began in Colombia, moved to Mexico and is now finding fresh focus in Central America, where brutal cartels mark an enemy motivated not by ideology but by cash.
The U.S. authorized the sale of a record $2.8 billion worth of guns, satellites, radar equipment and tear gas to Western Hemisphere nations in 2011, four times the authorized sales 10 years ago, according to the latest State Department reports.
Over the same decade, defense contracts jumped from $119 million to $629 million, supporting everything from Kevlar helmets for the Mexican army to building airport runways in Aruba, according to federal contract data.
Last year $830 million, almost $9 out of every $10 of U.S. law enforcement and military aid spent in the region, went toward countering narcotics, up 30 percent in the past decade.
Many in the military and other law enforcement agencies – the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, FBI – applaud the U.S. strategy, but critics say militarizing the drug war in a region fraught with tender democracies and long-corrupt institutions can stir political instability while barely touching what the U.N. estimates is a $320 billion global illicit drug market.
Congressman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), who chaired the U.S. House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere for the past four years, says the U.S.-supported crackdown on Mexican cartels only left them "stronger and more violent." He intends to reintroduce a proposal for a Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission to evaluate antinarcotics efforts.
"Billions upon billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars have been spent over the years to combat the drug trade in Latin America and the Caribbean," he said. "In spite of our efforts, the positive results are few and far between."
___
At any given moment, 4,000 U.S. troops are deployed in Latin America and as many as four U.S. Navy ships are plying the Caribbean and Pacific coastlines of Central America. U.S. pilots clocked more than 46,400 hours in 2011 flying anti-drug missions, and U.S. agents from at least 10 law enforcement agencies spread across the continent.
The U.S. trains thousands of Latin American troops, and employs its multibillion dollar radar equipment to gather intelligence to intercept traffickers and arrest cartel members.
These work in organized-crime networks that boast an estimated 11,000 flights annually and hundreds of boats and submersibles. They smuggle cocaine from the only place it's produced, South America, to the land where it is most coveted, the United States.
One persistent problem is that in many of the partner nations, police are so institutionally weak or corrupt that governments have turned to their militaries to fight drug traffickers, often with violent results. Militaries are trained for combat, while police are trained to enforce laws.
"It is unfortunate that militaries have to be involved in what are essentially law enforcement engagements," said Frank Mora, the outgoing deputy assistant secretary of defense for Western Hemisphere affairs. But he argues that many governments have little choice.
"We are not going to turn our backs on these governments or these institutions because they've found themselves in such a situation that they have to use their militaries in this way," Mora said.
Mora said the effort is not tantamount to militarizing the war on drugs. He said the Defense Department's role is limited, by law, to monitoring and detection. Law enforcement agents, from the U.S. Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection or other agencies are in charge of some of the busts, he said.
But the U.S. is deploying its own military. Not only is the Fourth Fleet in the Caribbean, the Pacific and the Atlantic, but the Marines were sent to Guatemala last year and the National Guard is in Honduras.
The Obama Administration sees these deployments as important missions with a worthy payoff. Hundreds of thousands of kilograms (pounds) of cocaine are seized en route to the U.S. every year, and the Defense Department estimates about 850 metric tons of cocaine departed South America last year toward the U.S., down 20 percent in just a year. The most recent U.S. survey found cocaine use fell significantly, from 2.4 million people in 2006 to 1.4 million in 2011.
Aboard the Underwood, the crew of 260 was clear on the mission. The ship's bridge wings bear 16 cocaine "snowflakes" and two marijuana "leaves," awarded to the Underwood by the Coast Guard command to be "proudly displayed" for its successful interdictions.
Standing on the bridge, Carpio's team spotted its first bale of cocaine. And then, after 2 1/2 weeks plying the Caribbean in search of drug traffickers, they spotted another, and then many more.
"In all we found 49 bales," Carpio said in an interview aboard the ship. "It was very impressive to see the bales popping along the water in a row."
Wrapped in black and white tarp, they were so heavy she could barely pull one out of the water. Later, officials said they'd collected $27 million worth of cocaine.
___
The current U.S. strategy began in Colombia in 2000, with an eight-year effort that cost more than $7 billion to stop the flow from the world's top cocaine producer. During Plan Colombia, the national police force, working closely with dozens of DEA agents, successfully locked up top drug traffickers.
But then came "the balloon effect."
As a result of Plan Colombia's pressure, traffickers were forced to find new coca-growing lands in Peru and Bolivia, and trafficking routes shifted as well from Florida to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Thus a $1.6 billion, 4-year Merida Initiative was launched in 2008. Once more, drug kingpins were caught or killed, and as cartels fought to control trafficking routes, increasingly gruesome killings topped 70,000 in six years.
Mexican cartel bosses, feeling the squeeze, turned to Central America as the first stop for South American cocaine, attracted by weaker governments and corrupt authorities.
"Now, all of a sudden, the tide has turned," said Brick Scoggins, who manages the Defense Department's counter-narcotics programs in most of Latin America and the Caribbean. "I'd say northern tier countries of El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Belize have become a key focus area."
The latest iteration is the $165 million Central America Regional Security Initiative, which includes Operation Martillo (Hammer), a year-old U.S.-led mission. The operation has no end date and is focused on the seas off Central America's beach-lined coasts, key shipping routes for 90 percent of the estimated 850 metric tons of cocaine headed to the U.S.
As part of Operation Martillo, 200 U.S. Marines began patrolling Guatemala's western coast in August, their helicopters soaring above villages at night as they headed out to sea to find "narco-submarines" and shiploads of drugs. The troops also brought millions of dollars' worth of computers and intelligence-gathering technology to analyze communications between suspected drug dealers.
Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield, head of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, predicts the balloon effect will play out in Central America before moving to the Caribbean.
The goal, he said, is to make it so hard for traffickers to move drugs to the U.S. that they will eventually opt out of North America, where cocaine use is falling. Traffickers would likely look for easier, more expanding markets, shifting sales to a growing customer base in Europe, Africa and elsewhere in the world.
Brownfield said almost all Peruvian and Bolivian cocaine goes east through Brazil and Argentina and then to Western Europe. Cocaine that reaches North America mostly comes from Colombia, he said, with U.S. figures showing production falling sharply, from 700 metric tons in 2001 to 195 metric tons today – though estimates vary widely.
When the drug war turns bloody, he said, the strategy is working.
"The bloodshed tends to occur and increase when these trafficking organizations, which are large, powerful, rich, extremely violent and potentially bloody, ... come under some degree of pressure," he said.
Yet the strategy has often backfired when foreign partners proved too inexperienced to fight drug traffickers or so corrupt they switched sides.
In Mexico, for example, the U.S. focused on improving the professionalism of the federal police. But the effort's success was openly questioned after federal police at Mexico City's Benito Juarez International Airport opened fire at each other, killing three.
In August critics were even more concerned when two CIA officers riding in a U.S. Embassy SUV were ambushed by Mexican federal police allegedly working for an organized crime group. The police riddled the armored SUV with 152 bullets, wounding both officers.
The new strategy in Honduras has had its own fits and starts.
Last year, the U.S. Defense Department spent a record $67.4 million on military contracts in Honduras, triple the 2002 defense contracts there well above the $45.6 million spent in neighboring Guatemala in 2012. The U.S. also spent about $2 million training more than 300 Honduran military personnel in 2011, and $89 million in annual spending to maintain Joint Task Force Bravo, a 600-member U.S. unit based at Soto Cano Air Base.
Further, neither the State Department nor the Pentagon could provide details explaining a 2011 $1.3 billion authorization for exports of military electronics to Honduras – although that would amount to almost half of all U.S. arms exports for the entire Western Hemisphere.
In May, on the other side of the country, Honduran national police rappelled from U.S. helicopters to bust drug traffickers near the remote village of Ahuas, killing four allegedly innocent civilians and scattering locals who were loading some 450 kilograms (close to 1,000 pounds) of cocaine into a boat.
The incident drew international attention and demands for an investigation when the DEA confirmed it had agents aboard the helicopters advising their Honduran counterparts. Villagers spoke of English-speaking commandos kicking in doors and handcuffing locals just after the shooting, searching for drug traffickers.
Six weeks later, townspeople watched in shock as laborers exhumed the first of four muddy graves. At each burial site, workers pulled out the decomposing bodies of two women and two young men, and laid them on tarps.
Forensic scientists conducted their graveside autopsies in the open air, probing for bullet wounds and searching for signs the women had been pregnant, as villagers had claimed.
Government investigators concluded there was no wrongdoing in the raid. In the subsequent months, DEA agents shot and killed suspects they said threatened them in two separate incidents, and the U.S. temporarily suspended the sharing of radar intelligence because the Central American nation's air force shot down two suspected drug planes, a violation of rules of engagement. Support was also withheld for the national police after it was learned that its new director had been tied to death squads.
As the new year begins, Congress is still withholding an estimated $30 million in aid to Honduras, about a third of all the U.S. aid slotted for this year.
But there are no plans to rethink the strategy.
Scoggins, the Defense Department's counter-narcotics manager, said operations in Central America are expected to grow for the next five years.
"It's not for me to say if it's the correct strategy. It's the strategy we are using," said Scoggins. "I don't know what the alternative is."
___
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Dario Lopez aboard the USS Underwood in the Caribbean, Garance Burke in San Francisco, Frank Bajak in Lima, Peru, and Alberto Arce in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, along with Romina Ruiz-Goiriena in Guatemala City.
Gay, Latino Groups Look For A More Comprehensive Immigration Reform - via Latino Voices on HuffingtonPost.com by AP
via latino - Google News on 2/3/13
 Yahoo! News (blog) |
Latino, Gay Groups Look For A More Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Huffington Post SAN FRANCISCO -- As a gay Mexican immigrant living in the United States illegally, Alex Aldana acutely understands his double-minority status. Not only does he fear deportation, he can't seek citizenship by marrying a partner because the federal ... Gay, Latino groups forge immigration allianceYahoo! News (blog) all 5 news articles » |
via Latino Voices on HuffingtonPost.com by AP on 2/3/13
SAN FRANCISCO -- As a gay Mexican immigrant living in the United States illegally, Alex Aldana acutely understands his double-minority status. Not only does he fear deportation, he can't seek citizenship by marrying a partner because the federal government doesn't recognize same-sex marriages.
He and other gay activists are hoping the new immigration debate at the top of Washington's agenda will change that, and they are betting on a newly forged but still fragile alliance between a pair of voting blocs considered critical to President Obama's re-election: Latinos and the gay community.
The gay rights movement is working to make sure bi-national same-sex couples are included in immigration reform legislation making its way toward Congress, a tricky task for a constituency at the nexus of two hot-button social issues. So far, it has done so with strong backing from its liberal Latino partners.
Groups such as the League of United Latin American Citizens, the National Council de la Raza and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund – all of which endorsed same-sex unions last year – reiterated this week that married gays should be part of a reform plan that provides a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.
Both Obama and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have included bi-national gay couples in their immigration reform blueprints. The framework that eight leading Democratic and Republican senators unveiled this week did not.
Republicans John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, two of the senators working to hammer out a bipartisan immigration bill, already have rejected the idea that gay immigrants have a place in the coming debate.
"I'm telling you now, if you load this up with social issues and things that are controversial, then it will endanger" the endeavor, said McCain, whose wife and daughter support marriage rights for same-sex couples. He does not.
Aldana, 26, is torn. He encourages Hispanic groups to include gay rights in their struggle, but reminds gay activists that immigration rights go far beyond just fighting for legal residency for foreigners in same-sex marriages.
"The reality is that immigration is not just about married couples. That's a middle-class concern. It's a privilege I support, but it's not something that will benefit all our immigrant communities," Aldana said.
Rep. Mike Honda, a California Democrat and vice-chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, plans to reintroduce stand-alone legislation next week in hopes of getting its provisions incorporated in any overarching immigration bill that reaches the Republican-controlled House.
"In the bow of the ship is immigration reform, and the big iceberg out there is reuniting families with bi-national couples," Honda said. "They cannot be excluded from the definition of family. Otherwise, we can't call it comprehensive."
Another factor is the U.S. Supreme Court's consideration in late March of the federal law that currently bars U.S. citizens in same-sex marriages from sponsoring their foreign-born partners for permanent legal residency. If justices uphold the Defense of Marriage Act, gay-friendly lawmakers would have less leverage to press the issue.
Gay rights leaders have focused attention on building strategic coalitions with ethnic and racial minority groups since the passage in 2008 of California's constitutional ban on same-sex marriages. Exit polling showed that about seven of 10 black voters and more than half of Latinos supported Proposition 8 on the same day Obama first won the White House, revealing a gap between gay groups that were seen as white and privileged and minority communities that were viewed as inherently anti-gay.
Ari Gutierrez, chairwoman of the Latino Equality Alliance, a Los Angeles-based group of gay, lesbian and transgender Hispanics, said important inroads have been made since the election. Gay contingents now participate in the immigrant rights marches held every May Day. Last week, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force sponsored the first daylong workshop at its annual organizing conference devoted to working in Latino communities.
"There is work that still needs to be shored up, but I think it's pretty much understood that, if it's legal for one, it should be legal for the other," Gutierrez said.
A survey by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released in October, just before Latino and gay voters were credited with key roles in Obama's re-election, found support for gay marriage rising quickly among Latinos, with 53 percent favoring allowing gay and lesbian couples to wed. When the same survey was conducted in 2006, 56 percent of Latinos opposed same-sex unions.
Ultimately, though, decisions about whose needs are addressed and whose are left for another day lies with lawmakers and the White House, not the good intentions of advocacy groups, said Frank Gilliam, dean of the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"If I were a Democratic Senate aide and this (issue) was a discussion in our staff meeting, I would tell our member that this is something you better be prepared to give up," Gilliam said. "We are talking politics. We are not talking about what the right thing to do is."
He and other gay activists are hoping the new immigration debate at the top of Washington's agenda will change that, and they are betting on a newly forged but still fragile alliance between a pair of voting blocs considered critical to President Obama's re-election: Latinos and the gay community.
The gay rights movement is working to make sure bi-national same-sex couples are included in immigration reform legislation making its way toward Congress, a tricky task for a constituency at the nexus of two hot-button social issues. So far, it has done so with strong backing from its liberal Latino partners.
Groups such as the League of United Latin American Citizens, the National Council de la Raza and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund – all of which endorsed same-sex unions last year – reiterated this week that married gays should be part of a reform plan that provides a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.
Both Obama and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have included bi-national gay couples in their immigration reform blueprints. The framework that eight leading Democratic and Republican senators unveiled this week did not.
Republicans John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, two of the senators working to hammer out a bipartisan immigration bill, already have rejected the idea that gay immigrants have a place in the coming debate.
"I'm telling you now, if you load this up with social issues and things that are controversial, then it will endanger" the endeavor, said McCain, whose wife and daughter support marriage rights for same-sex couples. He does not.
Aldana, 26, is torn. He encourages Hispanic groups to include gay rights in their struggle, but reminds gay activists that immigration rights go far beyond just fighting for legal residency for foreigners in same-sex marriages.
"The reality is that immigration is not just about married couples. That's a middle-class concern. It's a privilege I support, but it's not something that will benefit all our immigrant communities," Aldana said.
Rep. Mike Honda, a California Democrat and vice-chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, plans to reintroduce stand-alone legislation next week in hopes of getting its provisions incorporated in any overarching immigration bill that reaches the Republican-controlled House.
"In the bow of the ship is immigration reform, and the big iceberg out there is reuniting families with bi-national couples," Honda said. "They cannot be excluded from the definition of family. Otherwise, we can't call it comprehensive."
Another factor is the U.S. Supreme Court's consideration in late March of the federal law that currently bars U.S. citizens in same-sex marriages from sponsoring their foreign-born partners for permanent legal residency. If justices uphold the Defense of Marriage Act, gay-friendly lawmakers would have less leverage to press the issue.
Gay rights leaders have focused attention on building strategic coalitions with ethnic and racial minority groups since the passage in 2008 of California's constitutional ban on same-sex marriages. Exit polling showed that about seven of 10 black voters and more than half of Latinos supported Proposition 8 on the same day Obama first won the White House, revealing a gap between gay groups that were seen as white and privileged and minority communities that were viewed as inherently anti-gay.
Ari Gutierrez, chairwoman of the Latino Equality Alliance, a Los Angeles-based group of gay, lesbian and transgender Hispanics, said important inroads have been made since the election. Gay contingents now participate in the immigrant rights marches held every May Day. Last week, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force sponsored the first daylong workshop at its annual organizing conference devoted to working in Latino communities.
"There is work that still needs to be shored up, but I think it's pretty much understood that, if it's legal for one, it should be legal for the other," Gutierrez said.
A survey by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released in October, just before Latino and gay voters were credited with key roles in Obama's re-election, found support for gay marriage rising quickly among Latinos, with 53 percent favoring allowing gay and lesbian couples to wed. When the same survey was conducted in 2006, 56 percent of Latinos opposed same-sex unions.
Ultimately, though, decisions about whose needs are addressed and whose are left for another day lies with lawmakers and the White House, not the good intentions of advocacy groups, said Frank Gilliam, dean of the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"If I were a Democratic Senate aide and this (issue) was a discussion in our staff meeting, I would tell our member that this is something you better be prepared to give up," Gilliam said. "We are talking politics. We are not talking about what the right thing to do is."
Videos: Puerto Rico Statehood Video | HIDDEN BEACHES In Puerto Rico | OLD PUERTO RICO LA PERLA
via Videos matching: puerto rico by PrinciplesinAction on 1/29/13
 |
Video supporting statehood for Puerto Rico played before a January 29th LPCP conference
|
From:PrinciplesinAction
Views:2500
 
59ratings
|
| Time:02:59 | More inNonprofits & Activism |
via Videos matching: puerto rico by Maximilian Imaging on 12/23/12
 |
www.maximilianimaging.com blog.maximilianimaging.com Taken Dec. 15, 2012 Puerto Rico hidden beaches off of Rt 87 on the north-east part of the island. San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico is the oldest city on US territory (St. Augustine, Florida the oldest city in the continental). Founded in 1521 by Juan Ponce de León, who named it City of Puerto Rico ("Rich Port"). The history of San Juan begins a logn time before its official foundation, in 1493, during his second voyage, Christopher Columbus landed in Puerto Rico. He named the island "San Juan Bautista", in honor of John the Baptist. But was not until 1508, that the Spanish government appointed Juan Ponce de León as the first governor of the island. He founded the original settlement in Caparra, now known as Pueblo Viejo, behind the almost land-locked harbor just to the west of the present metropolitan area and the city quickly became Spain's most important military outpost in the Caribbean. A year later, the original settlement was relocated to a nearby coastal islet (to the site of what is now called Old San Juan) and named Puerto Rico (Rich Port). Sometime during the 1520s, confusion over the names led to a switch, the island took the name of Puerto Rico and the town became San Juan. Today, San Juan is known as "La Ciudad Amurallada" (the walled city) and is one of the biggest and best natural harbors in the Caribbean and is the second oldest European-founded city in the Americas (after Santo Domingo, which was <b>...</b>
|
From:Maximilian Imaging
Views:284
5ratings
|
| Time:04:57 | More inPeople & Blogs |
via Videos matching: puerto rico by CIBOYPRODUCT on 12/26/12
 |
This building was built outside the city walls it has been here since the time of the Pirates. its located in La PERLA This is the real thing not fake Hollywood stuff .Tourist are not allowed in this area of secrets , so please enjoy the rare footage , land is not for sale it is protected by the ILLUMINATI MEDIA CO,
|
From:CIBOYPRODUCT
Views:139
0ratings
|
| Time:01:13 |
Study: People who had sex three times a week or more looked 10 years younger - by Caribnews
via Caribnews's Facebook Wall by Caribnews on 2/2/13
Study: People who had sex three times a week or more looked 10 years younger
http://ow.ly/1ROoXM
http://ow.ly/1ROoXM
The Dow closed above 14,000 on Friday for the first time in more than ...
via Caribbean Business on 2/1/13
Dow ends above 14,000 for 1st time since 2007NEW YORK — The Dow closed above 14,000 on Friday for the first time in more than ...
Puerto Ricans will see their water bills rise sharply by at least $20 starting t ...
|
Juan Manuel Lopez stopped Aldimar Silva Santos in the ninth round Saturday night ...
via Caribbean Business on 2/3/13
'Juanma' wins by TKO in return to ringJuan Manuel Lopez stopped Aldimar Silva Santos in the ninth round Saturday night ... |
"No Comments": www.prdailysun.com - Local News
www.prdailysun.com - Local News
スイーツ ストレス
スイーツ 食べ放題には行きたくない
火曜日, 11月 27, 2012 | 10:18 amスイーツ食べ放題など、一体なぜ企画するのだろう。そんなに参加者は多いのであろうか。参加する人たちの気がしれない。そもそも食べ放題と言ってもスイーツなどそんなに食べられるものではないように思う。カロリー過多にもなりがちだろう。私の場合甘いものだけでは一食の代わりには到底ならない。行ってみようと思ったこともないが、一度だけ知人に誘われ、断れなくて近くのホテルに「スイーツ食べ放題」行ったことがある。もっとも１０００円で食べ放題なので大変安くはあったのだが。行ってみて、やはりあまり行きたくないと実感した。そこはフルーツなども置いていたが、新鮮さも今ひとつだったし、スイーツも値段なりか、あまり美味しいものがなかった。同じ１０００円を出すのであれば、普通のケーキセットの方はよほど良いという印象だった。ここのコーナーでは「食べ放題」というテーマがよくあるが、そんなに食べ放題に惹かれる人が多いのであろうか。私は香港で食べたアフタヌーンティはとてもよかったし、リゾート地ホテルの朝食のバイキングはよいと思うがそれ以外はサラダバーしか積極的に行こうと思わない。結局のところ、そんなには食べられないからだ。それでも若い年代の人たちは男性でも女性でも「食べ放題」に惹かれるのであろうか。まあ、いく種類もある料理の食べ放題ならともかく、例えば「ラーメン食べ放題」とか「麻婆豆腐食べ放題」とかひと種類の食物をそんなに食べ続けられるものだろうか。「スイーツ食べ放題」は、ただならば行かないこともないであろうが、自分からお金を出して積極的に行こうとは決して思わない。—admin | no comments
(posted in スイーツ)
スイーツ食べ放題はストレス解消
土曜日, 11月 24, 2012 | 6:18 pmわたしにとって、スイーツの食べ放題に行くことは、ストレス解消になります。イライラすると、無性に甘いのもが食べたくなります。甘いものを食べれば、イライラも忘れられるんです。以前、テレビを見ていたときに、女の人は甘いものを食べると、幸せを感じるホルモンが出るといっていました。男性よりも、女性の方が、ホルモンが出る量が多いそうです。だから、女の人は、スイーツが好きな人が多いのかもしれません。わたしも甘いものを食べるとすごく幸せです。東京にいたころ、スイーツの食べ放題をやっている、あるお店にハマりました。有楽町にあるお店なのですが、月に１回は通っていたと思います。そこのお店は、スイーツだけでなく、軽食も置いてあって、飲み物とケーキバイキングのセットで、１５００円くらいだったと思います。ケーキがすごくおいしくて、感動しました。パサパサになっているお店もありますが、そこは、作りたてがどんどん運ばれてくるんです。一つ一つが小さいので、何種類も食べられます。
最近は、歳をとったせいか、食べ放題に行こうという気があまり起こらないのですが、そのお店のスイーツの食べ放題は、今でも行きたいと思います。スイーツの食べ放題をうたっているお店は、たくさんありますが、質のいいお店は、少ないと思います。どうせ食べるなら、少し値段が高くても、おいしいものを食べたいと、わたしは思います。ケーキをホールで食べることが夢な女性にとって、スイーツ食べ放題は、とても魅力的だと思います。
—admin | no comments
(posted in スイーツ)
私のスイーツ食べ放題の思い出
水曜日, 11月 21, 2012 | 11:17 amスイーツが好きな人なら男女問わず一度はスイーツの食べ放題のお店に行ったことがあると思います。私も昔は何度か行きました。チェーン店やホテルなど様々なところでやっていますが、だいたい一回の料金も規模によって違いはあるものの、平均して２０００円前後といったところでしょうか。また場所によっては時間制限が設けてあるところも少なくないようです。それでもスイーツ好きにとっては夢のような空間で、何度でも挑戦したくなります。食べ放題に行く人の考えることは皆さん同じだと思いますが、いかに元を取るかということです。たくさん食べるのはもちろんですが、実際食べてみるとなかなか思うように食べられなかったりします。でも、たくさんの美味しそうなものを目の前にすると、やっぱりどうしてもあれもこれもと欲張ってしまうのが人間。ついつい取り過ぎてしまって、最後の方は無理して頑張って食べなくてはなりません。
定番のショートケーキ、チョコレートケーキ、チーズケーキ、フルーツケーキ、プリン、ゼリー、それに甘い物だけではなくて、サンドウィッチなどを置いてあるお店も多いよです。これらを自分のお腹と相談しながら時間内にひとつでも多く食べる、これがスイーツの食べ放題の醍醐味と言っても過言ではありません。そしてたくさん食べて満足して帰るのはいいけれど、満腹になり過ぎてもうスイーツの食べ放題は当分なくてもいいと思ってしまうのが私の悪い癖です。
—admin | no comments
(posted in スイーツ)
Puerto Rico's Police Force Considers Reforms - Puerto Rico Report | The Justice Department gave the Puerto Rican government until Apr. 15 to implement the accord - Puerto Rico - WNU
Puerto Rico's Police Force Considers Reforms | Puerto Rico Report
4 Jan 2013 by hadeninteractive
Puerto Rico's police force is the second largest
in U.S. states and territories, second in size only to that of New York City.
The Puerto Rican police force includes more than 17,000 officers. Puerto Rico
has a high level of violent ...
More results from Puerto Rico
ReportPuerto Rico’s Police Force Considers Reforms
Puerto Rico’s police force is the second largest in U.S. states and territories, second in size only to that of New York City. The Puerto Rican police force includes more than 17,000 officers.
Puerto Rico has a high level of violent crime, largely as a result of its position as a largely undefended border used in the drug trade with the United States.
Unfortunately, Puerto Rico also has a history of problems within its police force. The U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a report in September that identified a pattern of civil rights violations, and followed up last week with a lawsuit.
Former Governor Fortuno did not contest the lawsuit and instead created an agreement with the Justice Department that gives new Governor Padilla time to review the recommendations and make any changes his government requires.
The agreement calls for extensive reforms, as well as improved training for law enforcement officers in Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico: Government and US Agree on Police Reforms
The government of Puerto Rico and the US Justice Department signed a 106-page agreement on Dec. 21 for reforming the island’s 17,000-member police department. The reforms are intended to address numerous police abuses detailed in a September 2011 Justice Department report; the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) issued its own report on abuses in June 2012 [see World War 4 Report 9/10/11 and 6/25/12]. The Justice Department also filed a lawsuit requiring the Puerto Rican government and police department to comply with the Justice Department’s earlier directives, but this was considered a legal formality, since the agreement apparently represents the compliance the US was seeking.
The Justice Department negotiated the agreement with Puerto Rican governor Luis Fortuño and Police Superintendent Héctor Pesquera, but Fortuño will not be implementing it. Alejandro García Padilla, who defeated Fortuño in a Nov. 6 election [see Update #1151], will start his four-year term on Jan. 2, and he has hinted that he may replace Pesquera. The Justice Department gave the Puerto Rican government until Apr. 15 to implement the accord in order to give the new administration time to review its provisions. (El Nuevo Día (Guaynabo) 12/21/12, 12/23/12; Associated Press 12/22/12 via Arizona Daily Star)
WNU - Weekly News Update on the Americas
Issue #1157, December 23, 2012
________________________________________
puerto rico police department - GS
puerto rico police - GS
puerto rico police corruption - GS
Puerto Rico Police - YouTube
 |
The Puerto Rico Police —also known in Puerto Rico as La Uniformada — is the state police of Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rico Police is also one of two investigat... |
Police Abuse In Puerto Rico
Police Brutality Against Journalists in Puerto Rico
ACLU REPORT SAYS 1700 PUERTO RICAN POLICE OF…
0:18Police
open fire on Students in Puerto Rico Topic - Puerto Rico Police - YouTube
Puerto Rico Police - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to Security and Protection
Office: This unit is the Dignitary Protective
Services Division of the Puerto Rico Police Department. They
have been ...
Island of Impunity: Puerto Rico's Outlaw Police Force | American ...
A report released by
the ACLU in June 2012 concludes that the Puerto Rico Police
Department is plagued by a culture of unrestrained abuse and
impunity.
Puerto Rico's outlaw police force - Opinion - Al Jazeera English
Jun 26,
2012 – Police in the US territory have been accused of
civil rights abuses and overzealous crackdowns on peaceful
protests.
DOJ Takes Action Against Puerto Rico's Police Force | Politic365
politic365.com/.../doj-takes-action-against-puerto-ricos-police-...CachedShare
Dec 26,
2012 – Back in September of 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
issued a scathing report on Puerto Rico's Police Department
(PRPD), ...
Shared on Google+. View the post.
Puerto Rico: Government and US Agree on Police Reforms
The government of Puerto Rico and the US Justice Department signed a 106-page agreement on Dec. 21 for reforming the island’s 17,000-member police department. The reforms are intended to address numerous police abuses detailed in a September 2011 Justice Department report; the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) issued its own report on abuses in June 2012 [see World War 4 Report 9/10/11 and 6/25/12]. The Justice Department also filed a lawsuit requiring the Puerto Rican government and police department to comply with the Justice Department’s earlier directives, but this was considered a legal formality, since the agreement apparently represents the compliance the US was seeking.
The Justice Department negotiated the agreement with Puerto Rican governor Luis Fortuño and Police Superintendent Héctor Pesquera, but Fortuño will not be implementing it. Alejandro García Padilla, who defeated Fortuño in a Nov. 6 election [see Update #1151], will start his four-year term on Jan. 2, and he has hinted that he may replace Pesquera. The Justice Department gave the Puerto Rican government until Apr. 15 to implement the accord in order to give the new administration time to review its provisions. (El Nuevo Día (Guaynabo) 12/21/12, 12/23/12; Associated Press 12/22/12 via Arizona Daily Star)
Puerto Rico - WNU
Venezuela without Chavez: A Possible Scenario
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/7588
Venezuela’s 2012 State Election: Lessons for Chavismo and the Opposition
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/7564
Venezuela's Uncertain Future
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/7560
Obama signals four more years of bad relations with Latin America (US/policy)
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/4032-obama-signals-four-more-years-of-bad-relations-with-latin-america
Monday, August 13, 2012
WNU #1140: New Puerto Rican Law to “Intimidate” Activists
Weekly News Update on the Americas
Issue #1140, August 12, 2012
1. Puerto Rico: New Law to "Intimidate" Unions and Students
2. Chile: High Students Occupy Schools to Demand Reform
3. Dominican Republic: Residents Protest New Barrick Gold Mine
4. Mexico: Did Romney Donor’s Casino Launder Drug Money?
5. Links to alternative sources on: Latin America, Mercosur, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Honduras, Mexico, Haiti
ISSN#: 1084 922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/WeeklyNewsUpdat.
*1. Puerto Rico: New Law to "Intimidate" Unions and Students
On July 30 Puerto Rican governor Luis Fortuño signed into law a new Penal Code that he and legislators said would counter a recent rise in crime [see Update #1111] by imposing much stiffer prison sentences for a wide range of crimes. The new law, which replaces the Penal Code of 2004, also defines the seduction of minors through the internet as a criminal offense and gives the government the power to fire any public employee who commits a crime while carrying out a public function. “We’re not going to let the criminals take over Puerto Rico,” Fortuño said at the signing ceremony.
Fortuño insisted that the new code wouldn’t limit rights of free expression. But Puerto Rican legal experts noted that the revisions dramatically increased penalties for civil disobedience. For example, participating in a protest on the steps of the Capitol building that impedes the work of Puerto Rico’s legislature—like one carried out by students in June 2010 [see Updates #1039, 1100]--could now be punished with three years in prison, while in the 2004 Penal Code the penalty only applied if legislative work was interrupted through “intimidation, violence or fraud,” language which was removed in the new law.
Attorney César Rosado, a human and civil rights specialist who represents several unions, told the Puerto Rican daily El Nuevo Día that the new law “tries to intimidate the unions and other pressure groups—like the student movement—which historically have distinguished themselves by presenting resistance to any measure they consider unjust. Establishing a three-year sentence is a big deterrent for protest.” Activists have frequently used nonviolent civil disobedience as a form of protest in Puerto Rico, most famously in the mass arrests that led to the removal of the US Navy proving grounds from the small island of Vieques in 2003. “In democracy it’s important to allow activism,” constitutional law professor Hiram Meléndez Juarbe told the newspaper, “even if at times it’s inconvenient for the government.” (END 7/30/12, 7/31/12)
In the US the maximum penalty for interrupting a session of Congress is six months in prison and/or a $500 fine. El Nuevo Día noted that the punishment for six Puerto Rican independence activists who interrupted Congress by singing patriotic hymns on May 6, 2009, was a fine. (END 7/31/12)
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on Aug. 7 challenging the new law. The challenge was presented as an amendment to a complaint the ACLU filed against the Puerto Rico Police Department on June 27 alleging that the department violated the rights of protesters [see World War 4 Report 6/28/12]. (Jurist 8/8/12)
Issue #1140, August 12, 2012
1. Puerto Rico: New Law to "Intimidate" Unions and Students
2. Chile: High Students Occupy Schools to Demand Reform
3. Dominican Republic: Residents Protest New Barrick Gold Mine
4. Mexico: Did Romney Donor’s Casino Launder Drug Money?
5. Links to alternative sources on: Latin America, Mercosur, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Honduras, Mexico, Haiti
ISSN#: 1084 922X. Weekly News Update on the Americas covers news from Latin America and the Caribbean, compiled and written from a progressive perspective. It has been published weekly by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York since 1990. It is archived at http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com. For a subscription, write to weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/WeeklyNewsUpdat.
*1. Puerto Rico: New Law to "Intimidate" Unions and Students
On July 30 Puerto Rican governor Luis Fortuño signed into law a new Penal Code that he and legislators said would counter a recent rise in crime [see Update #1111] by imposing much stiffer prison sentences for a wide range of crimes. The new law, which replaces the Penal Code of 2004, also defines the seduction of minors through the internet as a criminal offense and gives the government the power to fire any public employee who commits a crime while carrying out a public function. “We’re not going to let the criminals take over Puerto Rico,” Fortuño said at the signing ceremony.
Fortuño insisted that the new code wouldn’t limit rights of free expression. But Puerto Rican legal experts noted that the revisions dramatically increased penalties for civil disobedience. For example, participating in a protest on the steps of the Capitol building that impedes the work of Puerto Rico’s legislature—like one carried out by students in June 2010 [see Updates #1039, 1100]--could now be punished with three years in prison, while in the 2004 Penal Code the penalty only applied if legislative work was interrupted through “intimidation, violence or fraud,” language which was removed in the new law.
Attorney César Rosado, a human and civil rights specialist who represents several unions, told the Puerto Rican daily El Nuevo Día that the new law “tries to intimidate the unions and other pressure groups—like the student movement—which historically have distinguished themselves by presenting resistance to any measure they consider unjust. Establishing a three-year sentence is a big deterrent for protest.” Activists have frequently used nonviolent civil disobedience as a form of protest in Puerto Rico, most famously in the mass arrests that led to the removal of the US Navy proving grounds from the small island of Vieques in 2003. “In democracy it’s important to allow activism,” constitutional law professor Hiram Meléndez Juarbe told the newspaper, “even if at times it’s inconvenient for the government.” (END 7/30/12, 7/31/12)
In the US the maximum penalty for interrupting a session of Congress is six months in prison and/or a $500 fine. El Nuevo Día noted that the punishment for six Puerto Rican independence activists who interrupted Congress by singing patriotic hymns on May 6, 2009, was a fine. (END 7/31/12)
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on Aug. 7 challenging the new law. The challenge was presented as an amendment to a complaint the ACLU filed against the Puerto Rico Police Department on June 27 alleging that the department violated the rights of protesters [see World War 4 Report 6/28/12]. (Jurist 8/8/12)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)