25 January 2001 Edition
Developers blamed for El Salvador death toll
BY SOLEDAD GALIANA
A week after the horrific earthquake in El Salvador, worsening weather conditions are posing a fresh threat for those who have lost everything. Heavy rains now threaten to unleash mudslides on hillsides loosened by the quake. President Francisco Flores has said a total of 750,000 people have already been left homeless by the disaster, which left 500 houses and over 1,000 people buried under a huge landslide.
Relief agencies warned that the situation remained critical for an estimated 200,000 people who needed food and at risk from cholera and other diseases spread by contaminated water, especially in the isolated countryside. The United Nations World Food Programme has appealed for urgent aid. ``Needs in rural areas have not been met at all,'' says Raymond Offenheiser, president of Oxfam's anti-poverty operations in the Americas.
The full cost of the damage caused by the massive quake is still not known, but with more than 120,000 houses in ruins, the reconstruction bill could run to more than $1 billion.
Coffee growers have said that about 20% of this year's harvest, which earns most of the country vital hard cash, has been lost in the quake.
Manmade problems aggravate the impact of natural disasters on the population of Central America. Intensive farming and deforestation of the region's steep hillsides mean the land is unstable and prone to slipping. Dense concentrations of people and poor construction methods all make the casualty toll far higher than in less populated places. Rescue workers said that the reason for the huge landslide in El Salvador was because the mountain overlooking Las Colinas had been deforested and cut away by building developers, despite protests and lawsuits.
As one of the survivors of the mudslide put it: ``The earthquake may have been God's will, but it was down to speculation and bad practice that people died in this village. The developers kept digging further and further into the base of the mountainside despite everything we said, and the government let them do it.''
For several years, environmental groups and local residents have been protesting against the deforestation and overdevelopment of the sides of the Cordillera El Balsamo, the ridgeline that overlooks Las Colinas. A lawsuit was even lodged against the construction companies, which brought a ruling halting development.
But that was overturned two years ago, and the developers continued stripping away trees and eroding the base of the mountain with new buildings.
In a display of democracy ``Spanish style'', judge Baltasar Garzón has jailed Pepe Rei, the popular editor of the Basque magazine Ardi Beltza.
Rei was jailed last week after the Spanish attorney general's office asked another judge to subpoena him to testify regarding allegations that he aided and assisted ETA, the Basque pro-independence armed group.
Rei is a well-known and respected journalist not only in the Basque Country, but also in Catalonia and Galicia, who has spent more than 30 years of his life in the world of journalism. He has worked for various newspapers and magazines, including the Basque daily newspaper Egin, - closed in July 1998 on Garzón's orders - covering just about every field of journalism, although he has always been more inclined towards investigative journalism.
Since the closure of Egin, Rei has been working on a new monthly magazine, Ardi Beltza (The Black Sheep). Since its publication, Ardi Beltza has exposed corruption among members of the Spanish establishment. Rei and Ardi Beltza became the target of ferocious attacks launched by government officials and supported by the Spanish media. A video produced by Ardi Beltza exposing the connivance of some well-known Spanish journalists with the government's policies in the Basque Country proved the cause of Rei's detention.
Spanish attorney general Fungairiño told the press on Monday 15 January that his office had launched an investigation on 9 November in response to charges by the assistant editor of the right wing Spanish newspaper La Razon. Jesus Maria Zuloaga claimed he felt threatened by articles published in Rei's magazine. The same day, two other journalists lodged complaints against Rei in court, after discovering they appeared in the videotape distributed by his magazine.
An Phoblacht reported in March 1999 the last time Pepe Rei was arrested by the Spanish police acting on orders of Garzón. Then, Rei was also charged with collaboration with ETA, arising from the proceedings that led to the shutdown of Egin. This case is still pending. On a previous occasion, in 1997, Rei was acquitted on a similar charge.
Throughout these 30 years, Pepe Rei has written five books. His later works uncovered corruption in the finances of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and Guardia Civil links with drug-trafficking in the Basque Country.
The number of legal actions filed against him have been unending, although not a single work of his has ever been denied by those affected and he has never been condemned by the courts. The various judges who have heard the cases have always commented on the accuracy of his information and the professionalism of his work.
Ardi Beltza has launched a campaign against the detention and imprisonment of journalist Pepe Rei. Messages can be e-mailed to [email protected]
Campaigners for jailed native American activist Leonard Peltier were dismayed this week when outgoing US President Bill Clinton failed to issue a hoped for pardon. It is traditional for an outgoing president to issue a number of presidential pardons and Peltier, who has spent 25 years in jail, had been widely expected to benefit.
In a statement reacting to the news, the Leonard Peltier Defence Committee said they were ``both shocked and saddened by President Clinton's decision to deny executive clemency to Leonard Peltier.
``During the last few days world support for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Peltier had reached remarkable levels, with calls and letters arriving from such renowned human rights and religious leaders as Coretta Scott King, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Amnesty International, Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchu and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, amongst many others. Grassroots support from people across the country had swamped the White House phone and fax lines for months. Native nations and organisations made their support known again and again in powerful messages. Thousands of concerned citizens walked and prayed in the streets of New York on International Human Rights Day. Yet somehow none of this was enough.
``For many weeks now President Clinton had called for national reconciliation
and racial unity in this country. He has called for ``One America'' and emphasized the great racial disparity and discrimination so evident in our criminal justice system. He has called again and again for respect and equality for all races. He has stressed the need for righting historical injustices and healing long festering wounds inflicted upon people of colour. He has insisted that the United States take its place as a world leader of human rights affairs. He has personally visited, and called for greater respect and justice for our first citizens.
Peltier, convicted of the killing of two FBI agents at the Pine Ridge Reservation, the site of the tragic shoot out between activists and FBI agents a quarter of a century ago, is long overdue for parole. He is now in failing health. His highly controversial conviction is deeply rooted in one of the most grim chapters of recent American civil rights history, specifically the Pine Ridge Reign of Terror.
Between 1973 and 1976, FBI-backed vigilantes terrorised, battered and assaulted scores of Lakota traditionalists and American Indian Movement (AIM) supporters throughout the reservation. Houses burned and entire families were wounded in drive by shootings. While the FBI stood by, some 64 AIM members and supporters were assassinated, their deaths never properly investigated or vindicated. Civil rights organisations excoriated FBI abuses again and again.
``Today will be remembered as but another day of US government shame and betrayal of Native people,'' the campaign concluded.
A week after the horrific earthquake in El Salvador, worsening weather conditions are posing a fresh threat for those who have lost everything. Heavy rains now threaten to unleash mudslides on hillsides loosened by the quake. President Francisco Flores has said a total of 750,000 people have already been left homeless by the disaster, which left 500 houses and over 1,000 people buried under a huge landslide.
Relief agencies warned that the situation remained critical for an estimated 200,000 people who needed food and at risk from cholera and other diseases spread by contaminated water, especially in the isolated countryside. The United Nations World Food Programme has appealed for urgent aid. ``Needs in rural areas have not been met at all,'' says Raymond Offenheiser, president of Oxfam's anti-poverty operations in the Americas.
The full cost of the damage caused by the massive quake is still not known, but with more than 120,000 houses in ruins, the reconstruction bill could run to more than $1 billion.
Coffee growers have said that about 20% of this year's harvest, which earns most of the country vital hard cash, has been lost in the quake.
Manmade problems aggravate the impact of natural disasters on the population of Central America. Intensive farming and deforestation of the region's steep hillsides mean the land is unstable and prone to slipping. Dense concentrations of people and poor construction methods all make the casualty toll far higher than in less populated places. Rescue workers said that the reason for the huge landslide in El Salvador was because the mountain overlooking Las Colinas had been deforested and cut away by building developers, despite protests and lawsuits.
As one of the survivors of the mudslide put it: ``The earthquake may have been God's will, but it was down to speculation and bad practice that people died in this village. The developers kept digging further and further into the base of the mountainside despite everything we said, and the government let them do it.''
For several years, environmental groups and local residents have been protesting against the deforestation and overdevelopment of the sides of the Cordillera El Balsamo, the ridgeline that overlooks Las Colinas. A lawsuit was even lodged against the construction companies, which brought a ruling halting development.
But that was overturned two years ago, and the developers continued stripping away trees and eroding the base of the mountain with new buildings.
Basque journalist arrested
In a display of democracy ``Spanish style'', judge Baltasar Garzón has jailed Pepe Rei, the popular editor of the Basque magazine Ardi Beltza.
Rei was jailed last week after the Spanish attorney general's office asked another judge to subpoena him to testify regarding allegations that he aided and assisted ETA, the Basque pro-independence armed group.
Rei is a well-known and respected journalist not only in the Basque Country, but also in Catalonia and Galicia, who has spent more than 30 years of his life in the world of journalism. He has worked for various newspapers and magazines, including the Basque daily newspaper Egin, - closed in July 1998 on Garzón's orders - covering just about every field of journalism, although he has always been more inclined towards investigative journalism.
Since the closure of Egin, Rei has been working on a new monthly magazine, Ardi Beltza (The Black Sheep). Since its publication, Ardi Beltza has exposed corruption among members of the Spanish establishment. Rei and Ardi Beltza became the target of ferocious attacks launched by government officials and supported by the Spanish media. A video produced by Ardi Beltza exposing the connivance of some well-known Spanish journalists with the government's policies in the Basque Country proved the cause of Rei's detention.
Spanish attorney general Fungairiño told the press on Monday 15 January that his office had launched an investigation on 9 November in response to charges by the assistant editor of the right wing Spanish newspaper La Razon. Jesus Maria Zuloaga claimed he felt threatened by articles published in Rei's magazine. The same day, two other journalists lodged complaints against Rei in court, after discovering they appeared in the videotape distributed by his magazine.
An Phoblacht reported in March 1999 the last time Pepe Rei was arrested by the Spanish police acting on orders of Garzón. Then, Rei was also charged with collaboration with ETA, arising from the proceedings that led to the shutdown of Egin. This case is still pending. On a previous occasion, in 1997, Rei was acquitted on a similar charge.
Throughout these 30 years, Pepe Rei has written five books. His later works uncovered corruption in the finances of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and Guardia Civil links with drug-trafficking in the Basque Country.
The number of legal actions filed against him have been unending, although not a single work of his has ever been denied by those affected and he has never been condemned by the courts. The various judges who have heard the cases have always commented on the accuracy of his information and the professionalism of his work.
Ardi Beltza has launched a campaign against the detention and imprisonment of journalist Pepe Rei. Messages can be e-mailed to [email protected]
Clinton fails Peltier
Campaigners for jailed native American activist Leonard Peltier were dismayed this week when outgoing US President Bill Clinton failed to issue a hoped for pardon. It is traditional for an outgoing president to issue a number of presidential pardons and Peltier, who has spent 25 years in jail, had been widely expected to benefit.
In a statement reacting to the news, the Leonard Peltier Defence Committee said they were ``both shocked and saddened by President Clinton's decision to deny executive clemency to Leonard Peltier.
``During the last few days world support for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Peltier had reached remarkable levels, with calls and letters arriving from such renowned human rights and religious leaders as Coretta Scott King, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Amnesty International, Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchu and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, amongst many others. Grassroots support from people across the country had swamped the White House phone and fax lines for months. Native nations and organisations made their support known again and again in powerful messages. Thousands of concerned citizens walked and prayed in the streets of New York on International Human Rights Day. Yet somehow none of this was enough.
``For many weeks now President Clinton had called for national reconciliation
and racial unity in this country. He has called for ``One America'' and emphasized the great racial disparity and discrimination so evident in our criminal justice system. He has called again and again for respect and equality for all races. He has stressed the need for righting historical injustices and healing long festering wounds inflicted upon people of colour. He has insisted that the United States take its place as a world leader of human rights affairs. He has personally visited, and called for greater respect and justice for our first citizens.
Peltier, convicted of the killing of two FBI agents at the Pine Ridge Reservation, the site of the tragic shoot out between activists and FBI agents a quarter of a century ago, is long overdue for parole. He is now in failing health. His highly controversial conviction is deeply rooted in one of the most grim chapters of recent American civil rights history, specifically the Pine Ridge Reign of Terror.
Between 1973 and 1976, FBI-backed vigilantes terrorised, battered and assaulted scores of Lakota traditionalists and American Indian Movement (AIM) supporters throughout the reservation. Houses burned and entire families were wounded in drive by shootings. While the FBI stood by, some 64 AIM members and supporters were assassinated, their deaths never properly investigated or vindicated. Civil rights organisations excoriated FBI abuses again and again.
``Today will be remembered as but another day of US government shame and betrayal of Native people,'' the campaign concluded.