>the agreement. Construction of installations, estimated to cost $10.4 >million, had already begun when, on Sept. 21, the first U.S. Coast >Guard plane arrived at Comalapa for 10-hour surveillance flights. The >military may wear uniforms and carry arms. There is no limit on the >number of U.S. personnel or the type of arms or armament they use. > >The estimates for annual operating costs of $17 million for the four >forward operating locations assume a permanent staff at Comalapa of 10 >to 15 on one-to- two-year assignments, according to press reports and >information gathered by Jesuit Fr. Dean Brackley of the Jesuit >University of Central America in San Salvador, the capital city. > >Narcotics control is a part of the U.S. strategic plan to expand its >military presence in Central and South America, according to Dana >Priest, writing in The Washington Post Sept. 28. "Opening the FOL >[forward operating location] will make El Salvador the focal point of >the counter-drug activities in Central America," Gen. Charles Wilhelm, >commander-in-chief U.S. Southcom, was quoted as telling three >Salvadoran generals during a briefing session. "We realize in a >diplomatic sense this plan is counter-drug only. As a practical matter, >all of us know this agreement will give us a superb opportunity to >increase the contact with all our armed forces in a variety of ways." > >--'Trying to help them decide' >The Salvadoran constitution, using language mandated by the 1992 Peace >Accords, excludes the military from internal security functions, >limiting it to defending national sovereignty. Claiming, however, that >crime constitutes a national emergency, the government has for several >years been using the army to patrol the countryside. Now the Pentagon, >following its longstanding policy of encouraging Latin American >militaries to involve themselves in what are strictly police functions, >is encouraging the Salvadoran army to expand activities forbidden by >the constitution. "We're trying to help them decide what role the >military should have in anti-crime or anti-narcotics activities," an >embassy spokesperson, Greg Phillips, told a visiting group in June. > >Under the agreement with El Salvador, the United States also provides >training and financial support to El Salvador's National Civilian >Police, a unit established under the Peace Accords both to incorporate >former guerrillas and to purge the militarized police force of corrupt >elements. Since early July, the police are being trained by U.S. >Defense Department personnel, using ships and aircraft. They are also >being ferried by U.S. military helicopters to assignments in the >countryside. > >According to El Espectador, a major Colombian newspaper, the forward >operating locations are being used to monitor the Colombian guerrillas. >Tom Blickan of the Transnational Institute told NCR that the purpose is >to create "a cordon sanitaire around Colombia." Based in Amsterdam, >Holland, the institute describes itself as "an international network of >activist scholars concerned with analyzing and finding viable solutions >to such global problems as militarism and conflict, poverty and >marginalization, social injustice and environmental degradation." It >has 26 partners worldwide. They include, in the United States, the >Institute for Policy Studies, Bank Information Center, Institute for >Energy and Environmental Research, and Washington Office on Latin >America. > >"The United States," Blickman said in a phone interview, "is trying to >involve Colombia's neighbors in taking part in containing the conflict >in Colombia, but meets with resistance -- especially from Brazil and >Venezuela. The United States is also trying to avoid a direct >intervention with American troops, but is basically training and >financing the Colombia army to do the job and trying to involve >Colombia's neighbors in one way or another." > >The establishment of a permanent U.S. military base at Comalapa and the >introduction of U.S. personnel to train and ferry the Salvadoran >National Police thus emerge as part of a growing Pentagon presence in >the region. Although Costa Rica and Peru have both rejected a U.S. >request to establish a forward operating location, Costa Rica recently >agreed to joint anti-drug patrols both on its territory and in its >coastal waters. Honduras made a similar arrangement last March, >followed by Guatemala in April. > >--Drug war replaces Cold War >Nicaragua has authorized a U.S. drug authority office in Managua to >conduct counter-narcotics operations, and it is engaged in talks with >the Pentagon for joint military operations. According to experts in the >region, including the Transnational Institute's Blickman, drugs have >replaced the Cold War to justify U.S. SouthCom's continuing oversight >of the region. > >Margaret Swedish, editor of Central America/Mexico Report, a publication >of the Religious Task Force on Central America and Mexico, makes the >same point. Critics wonder, she said, if the real intention behind the >Pentagon strategy is "to find a way to redefine, and rejustify, the >historic presence of the U.S. military throughout Latin America." > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >**Please distribute this action alert far and wide** > >ACTION ALERT! MTV = Mock The Vote!! >Nov. 4, Saturday afternoon. >Piscataway, NJ on Livingston Campus. > >On Nov. 4, MTV's Rock the Vote is coming to Piscataway, NJ, home of >Rutgers University. This will be their last event before the elections, >so national media will be there in force! We are also being informed >that it will be televised live on MTV! > >MTV caters to youth and students, but it has failed to give air time to >the issues that affect our generation. MTV is guilty of ignoring >phenomena such as Ralph Nader and the Green Party, the prison boom and >the criminalization of youth, and growing inequality throughout America. >MTV's "The Real World" features young adults grappling with superficial >personal problems in a setting of glamour and ease, not the many >real-life social, economic, and environmental ills that are being passed >down to our generation by unaccountable corporations and politicians. It >glosses over reality, distracting young viewers with its non-stop haze >of videos and entertainment. > >No more! This is the ideal opportunity for us to demonstrate our >opposition to America's corporately managed "democracy." Rutgers Greens, >anarchists, and assorted other activists are mobilizing to turn Rock the >Vote into a carnival of protest and an assertion of our right to real >democracy. A rally for the U'wa tribe of Colombia, whose land and >culture is threatened by Al Gore and Occidental Petroleum, is also >planned. Come one, come all! Spread the word far and wide! On Saturday, >Nov. 4, MTV = Mock The Vote! > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >Hypatia Conference on Social Justice >Saturday, November 4 at 1:15am >College of St. Catherine >2004 Randolph Ave, St. Paul, MN 55105 > >The whole conference is November 3, 4 and 5. To register, call >651/690-8840 or on the web http://minerva.stkate.edu/hypatia.nsf > >The War on Drugs: A War on Colombia's Women and Families >Presenters: Jennifer Molina Balbuena, Jessica Sundin and Anh Pham from >the Anti-War Committee > >In the name of a failed "War on Drugs," U.S. politicians are ignoring >Latin America's biggest human rights crisis and funding Colombia's war >against its own people. In spite of daily abuses against Colombian >civilians - peasants, union activists, indigenous organizers, students, >human rights workers and others - Colombia's Army has just been awarded >a U.S. aid package of over a billion dollars. In addition to escalating >the civil war, U.S. aid sponsors a dangerous campaign to fumigate coca >crops. Aerial spraying of poisonous chemicals contaminates air and >drinking water, damages legal food crops, and has already forced many >families off their lands. Colombians know that a Drug War in Colombia is >not the solution to drug addiction the U.S. They are organizing against >what Bill Clinton called, "Yankee Imperialism." Come hear a first-hand >account from local activists who traveled to Colombia this summer and >met with some of these courageous Colombians. _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for anti-imperialist news. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________________
