Wednesday May 15, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 29
Brazil’s Rousseff sides with Trinidad Govt. to disclose financial position of Caribbean Airlines farmers in Indian land fight BRASILIA/SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has ordered her government to stop confiscating farmland to create new Indian reservations, government officials say, a policy reversal with major implications for one of the world’s top agricultural producers. Brazil has in recent decades set aside about 13 percent of its territory for indigenous tribes. Vast additional areas, including prime territory for the production of soy, beef, sugar and other commodities, are under consideration for possible transfer. That policy has been hailed as one of the world’s most progressive but had caused mounting clashes in recent months as thousands of farmers were evicted from land they had been cultivating, in some cases for decades. Rousseff, a pragmatic leftist facing re-election next year, has often favored prodevelopment interests over more humanitarian concerns and now believes the Indian affairs agency that determines which lands to set aside has gone too far, according to two senior government officials. Following a technical change to land management rules last week, Rousseff has told her government to refrain from approving new applications for Indian lands for the foreseeable future, the two officials told Reuters on
Dilma Rousseff condition of anonymity. Applications already under study will also be examined with greater rigor than before, which will have the effect of slowing the landgrant process down dramatically, they said. “She has decided to do whatever is possible to shield the farmers,” one official said. “It’s a total shift.” That shift diminishes a major threat to the continued expansion of the farm belt, a driver of Brazil’s prosperity in recent years and a critical source of commodities to China, the Middle East and elsewhere. The chain of events that led to the surprise shift began on April 29, when Rousseff was due to make a seemingly routine speech in the farming state of Mato Grosso do Sul. As she stepped to the podium in the city of Campo Grande, many in the crowd of
some 2,000 farmers began to jeer and whistle at her. The leftist leader looked surprised for a moment, then managed a smile. “People, I think it’s fine for you to scream, really, because that’s what democracy is about,” Rousseff said, as many continued to roar in disapproval. “There’s no problem at all.” Privately, though, Rousseff was disturbed - and caught off-guard. “What was that about?” she asked upon leaving the stage, according to an aide who was present. She demanded a report on what had angered the crowd by the next morning. Within a week, the government’s policy changed. Tensions between farmers and Indians have simmered for years, but boiled over in recent months as both groups, for different reasons, sought more territory for themselves. About 0.4 percent of the population is officially considered indigenous, although many more have at least some Indian blood. Brazil’s liberal 1988 constitution gives Indians the right to “lands they traditionally occupy,” and says the state is responsible for setting them aside. Successive governments have obliged, and the allocations have been far more generous in terms of area than in the United States or most other Latin American countries.
New threats in Colombia highlight risk for journalists, analysts BOGOTA (Reuters) Colombia yesterday warned of a plot by an organized crime group to kill several high-profile journalists, just weeks after an assassination attempt on an investigative reporter boosted concerns over threats to a free press in the violence-plagued Andean nation. Journalists and investigators have long been the target of attacks and threats in Colombia, allegedly carried out by corrupt politicians, drug lords, Marxist rebels, and right-wing paramilitary leaders to silence coverage that may damage their interests. A hit man has entered the Colombian capital to kill columnist Leon Valencia, analyst Ariel Avila and reporter Gonzalo Guillen, according to Andres Villamizar, head of a government-run agency to protect high-profile targets.
“We won’t allow these plans to be carried out,” Villamizar said early Tuesday from his Twitter account, pledging to step up security. Even though a U.S.backed military offensive has improved security over the last decade, the threats throw a spotlight once more on the dangers for reporters covering corruption and criminal gangs in Colombia, just when the government is seeking a peace accord with the biggest rebel group, the FARC. The threat likely stems from an investigation into links between paramilitary groups and politicians during last year’s municipal elections, Valencia, a former ELN rebel and columnist for respected Semana magazine, told Reuters. The hit man is thought to have traveled from the northern Cesar province. “No doubt we’re afraid because the people involved
are very powerful and have no limits,” the former member of the National Liberation Army said. “We will continue investigating, nothing will stop us.” Paramilitary groups continue to operate across Colombia even after former President Alvaro Uribe negotiated their demobilization in 2008 and many handed in their weapons in exchange for soft jail sentences. Thousands have morphed into new drug-funded crime gangs and continue to kill and threaten if their operations are at risk. It was not immediately clear why Guillen would be targeted alongside Valencia and Avila. Colombia has been rattled by a five-decade war against various insurgent groups including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and paramilitary forces - that has killed more than 100,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes.
P O R T- O F - S PA I N , Trinidad - CMC – Finance Minister Larry Howai was expected to detail the financial position of the state-owned Caribbean Airlines (CAL) yesterday amid media reports that the airline has had to write off millions of dollars in losses owing to mismanagement and credit card fraud. Howai is due to inform the Senate on the airline’s finances over the period January to December 2012. The Trinidad Express newspaper, which has been running a series of articles on the finances of the airline yesterday, reported that the six-year-old state company has found itself managing a billion-dollar debt and having to write off millions in losses owing to mismanagement of the company’s cargo revenues and credit card fraud. But CAL chairman Rabindra Moonan said the board has taken a decision and approved a transformation plan for the organisation and that while it is trying to move forward, it
Larry Howai was stymied by the actions of disgruntled former employees who he blames for the leaks about the company’s financial state. “It cannot be coincidence that now that the board has taken certain actions and there are certain more to come, that fires are being lit and people are using the media to advance a certain story about the company,” he said. But Trade Minister, Vasant Bharath, who is also a
Minister in the Ministry of Finance, said he’s “very concerned” about national carrier Caribbean Airlines (CAL). Bharath said he is still awaiting reports requested from the company on several matters. “We must be concerned with any organisation which runs sub-optimally. This just shows that you need the right people in the right places,” he said. Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley said the airline was bleeding Trinidad and Tobago “like a chop neck”. “Right now nobody knows what the Minister of Finance is doing by bankrolling CAL. All he is doing is giving them permission to go and borrow money short term. As of now we don’t know how much money they have borrowed and they writing off TT$200 million (One TT dollar = US$0.16 cents) and the CAL board is having a generally good time. Rowley said the airline was now “absolutely bankrupt”.