U.S. Peace Council statement on Turkish incursion into Syria

The U.S. Peace Council strongly condemns the illegal incursion of the Turkish forces into Syria with the approval of the Trump Administration and in direct violation of the United Nation’s Charter and international law.

Immediately after Turkish incursion, the US war establishment, Republican and Democrat alike, went on a broad attack on Trump’s decision to “withdraw” US forces from Syria, calling it a disaster for US foreign policy. According to the New York Times (October 14): “Mr. Trump says his decision to pull American troops out of the way of the Turkish advance was part of his effort to extricate the United States from ‘endless wars’ in the Middle East and elsewhere.” For the New York Times and many others in US foreign policy circles, the extrication of the US from its many foreign adventures represents a grave threat to the bipartisan commitment to US policy of global “Full Spectrum Dominance.”

Despite the public outcry and opposition from forces in both parties, it is quite clear to us that Trump’s plan to “withdraw” US forces from Syria has nothing to do with extricating the US from “endless wars” as the Turkish incursion demonstrated. On the contrary, the Trump Administration’s approval of the Turkish incursion is a clear sign of the failure of US policy of regime change in Syria and represents a last-ditch effort to partition the Syrian territory in the hope of securing a permanent military presence by the US and its NATO allies on Syrian soil. It appears that the Trump Administration’s real plan is to replace US occupying forces in Syria with the Turkish (NATO) forces, driven by Trump’s desire to quell the growing anti-war sentiment in the US before the 2020 elections.

The corporate media has even taken a step further by shedding crocodile tears for the Syrian Kurds. In the past several days, the corporate media outlets throughout the country have been bombarding the public with a barrage of moral condemnation of Trump’s decision to “betray the Kurds” without mentioning that the US and other imperialist powers have been directly responsible for the suffering of the Kurdish people not only in Syria but also in Iraq, Iran and Turkey for several decades.

As regards the Syrian Kurds, US decision-makers never had any regard for the plight of the Kurds. They were just seen as a convenient tool to advance U.S. efforts to partition Syria. The US attempts to block and undermine any reconciliation process between the Kurds and the Syrian government is a case in point.

However, this effort was also defeated this past Sunday when the Kurdish forces finally signed an agreement with the Syrian government to allow the Syrian Arab Army to enter the northern Kurdish areas of the country. According to the same article in New York Times, “The Kurdish-led militia said the Syrian government had a ‘duty to protect the country’s borders and preserve Syrian sovereignty,’ and would deploy along the Syrian-Turkish border.”

Barring new sabotages by the US warmongers, this agreement might be the final nail in the coffin of US policy in Syria. It will allow, for the first time since 2011, for the Syrian people to unite in defense of their national sovereignty and their country’s territorial integrity.

Now everything depends on how persistent the Trump Administration and the Turkish government are in holding on to the occupied Syrian territory. The US and Turkey can either abide by international law and the UN Charter and leave Syria, or can cause severe casualties on the Syrian people, and especially on the Syrian Kurds, by continuing their imperialistic project in Syria.

It is our collective responsibility in the US peace movement to organize a united national campaign in support of the Syrian people and demand the total withdrawal of all occupying forces from Syria.

Leave Syria to the Syrian People!

Executive Committee of the U.S. Peace Council
October 14, 2019

Source: U.S. Peace Council

October 14 — Sunday night all of Ecuador turned into a celebration when authorities announced that Decree 883 that eliminated public oil subsidies would be revoked after eleven days of popular unrest. The information was released after tense talks between the Lenin Moreno Administration and the indigenous movement mainly represented by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE).

“As a result of talks, a new decree has been issued invalidating Decree 883,” informed Arnaud Peral, the representative of the United Nations in Ecuador.

“This is evidence that we can do everything if we are united,” said a demonstrator when she heard the news, while a crowd celebrated what they considered a victory over the Moreno Administration.

“Thanks brothers and sisters for supporting the indigenous people, helping everywhere. Thanks! This has not been in vain. We’ve won the struggle. We will always be united. The indigenous people will always be in the front,” said an excited young boy.

Possible talks between the stakeholders had been announced the previous day, right before Moreno decreed an indefinite curfew in the city. That day had been marked by a large mobilization in which many groups in the capital city had been gathering in the main area of protest, turning the downtown into streets of barricades faced with the Government’s repression.

The talks were being expected as a decisive moment but in case Moreno did not back down on Decree 883, then CONAIE would continue mobilizing, resulting in the extension of the crisis not only in Quito but throughout the country. In fact, protests were being carried out in different neighborhoods of the capital city, as well as road blocks across the country, “cacerolazos” or pot-banging protests day and night continued, amidst a scenario of a territorial extension of the unrest evidencing that it was not just an indigenous issue or a specific area of the country in conflict.

The Government’s refusal to revoke the decree that eliminated public oil subsidies seemed irreversible. Nevertheless, after talks with the mediation of the United Nations and Ecuador’s Episcopal Conference —despite moments of interruption—, the announcement expected by the whole country finally arrived.

Celebrations were to be expected. The place where repression, burning tires, tear gas bombs and nights of resistance had taken place in Quito became an explosion of honking horns, cheering, and chants of “the people united will never be defeated” rang from trucks loaded with people, taxi drivers, along with people who came from different areas of the city.

Another phase is now being entered with the agreement reached between the Government and people’s mobilization mainly expressed in the indigenous movement. How will be the decree be revoked? Will it be replaced by another to be debated later? Moreno promised a discussion after the meeting, while indigenous leaders reiterated that they would only accept a repeal.

Following several days, the night in Quito came to an end amidst celebration. Points about what will happen with the decree are still to be discussed, the same as other aspects signed in the agreement with the International Monetary Fund. And what about the abuses committed by the Government during its repression, which resulted in at least seven deaths according to the latest report issued by the Ombudsman.

Republished from Resumen

October 11 — The Lenin Moreno Administration informed they would not retract its economic adjustment measures. The indigenous movement said they will continue mobilizing. What will be the ending of this arm wrestle? In Quito, Sputnik interviewed Ecuadorean sociologist Irene Leon.

The agreement between the Government of Ecuador and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is part of a plan devised since Lenin Moreno took office in 2017, explained Irene Leon, member of the Network of Intellectuals in Defense of Humanity.

“They’ve tried to fulfill the necessary conditions for the IMF to accept us, they sought indebtedness when the country was able to solve its economy in a different way,” Leon said at the end of another day marked by a confusion of events in Quito and several areas of the country, with roadblocks and mobilizations since October 3rd against adjustment measures announced by Moreno to observe the demands of the international organization.

If an agreement with the Fund was part of the “neoliberal reconquest” initially proposed, implementing it in October was a result of Fund’s own demands. In fact, the letter of intention included a series of steps to be achieved by December 2019, so the Government was running out of time.

Leon, also member of the Foundation of Studies, Action and Social Participation, explained that Ecuador’s Constitution envisages a limit of indebtedness and a series of requirements to engage with foreign organizations.

The state of emergency announced on October 3rd “is issued to obviate those provisions and to create a situation in which things can be done through different means,” she commented.

The different steps had been probably devised even envisaging the little approval they would receive. The unexpected aspect was the size of the contempt against the measures: protests since last Thursday 3rd brought back memories of those which forced several presidents to resign, the last of them was Lucio Gutierrez in 2005.

Overestimating and underestimating

“These are very arrogant elites. They are anchored in financial capital, exporting companies, people who live tied to capital,” more related to “the dynamics of global capital rather than to Latin American dynamics,” analyzed Irene Leon.

Besides overestimating itself, the Moreno Administration committed another mistake which was underestimating people’s response: “They though there was not such a capacity for mobilization as the one occurring today and they did not think that rural sectors and indigenous communities would raise their voices too.”

This combination paved the way for a scenario of huge instability and the country advanced to a dynamic of nationwide protests, in Quito, Guayaquil, and the country’s most important highways. This is a response headed by different social and political sectors which, altogether, made up a process that overwhelmed the conviction of plans devised by the IMF, Moreno, and their economic allies.

There are several actors mobilizing, Leon said. First, what she calls the “people identified with the process of Citizen’s Revolution,” the political process headed by ex-president Rafael Correa. This leadership has some major features, such as “a mindset opposed to neoliberalism” and to not having a space for their own organization.

Second, she identified sectors reemerging into this scenario, such as labor unions, particularly a major movement was it is the workers’ union. This was the first one going out to reject the package of adjustment measures, especially the elimination of fuel subsidies. This was the kick-starter given its impact on the price of combustible and therefore on transportation and the price of commodities.

These sectors had been approaching Moreno’s rhetoric during the last two years and this new scenario allowed them to organize themselves again, the same as the indigenous movement mainly gathered under the Confederation of Indigenous Organizations of Ecuador (CONAIE), with a leading role in the agenda and in radicalizing the protests this last week.

Irene Leon noted as well the participation of two other important sectors: women and youth. In the case of women, the sociologist highlighted their role not only this last week but in the two years of resistance against the Moreno Administration and vindicating the achievements of the Citizen’s Revolution.

Arm wrestle

President Moreno is still supported by sectors of power, “elites and the Army,” the Ecuadorean sociologist noted. But he has a very low rate of approval and it is decreasing day to day, “less than 10 percent according to surveys,” she stated. How long can this situation stand?

The strength of mobilizations face difficulties too. One of them is regarding time. The indigenous movement, for instance, “these communities coming from a faraway Ecuador endure a huge human collective cost in order to be in Quito. Many of them came by foot from their places of origin, leaving their lands, crops, animals, and ways of living behind.”

Besides that, they are facing a very strong repression on behalf of the Government. CONAIE in fact has denounced that five of their members have been murdered and hundreds are injured or arrested. “It’s very difficult to think that Quito is going to continue like this,” explained Irene Leon.

CONAIE affirmed they would not hold talks until Moreno retracts the package of measures requested by the IMF. The President, in turn, said he won’t. How long will this arm wrestle last? “This situation cannot last too long. There has to be an ending,” Leon concluded.

Republished from Resumen

Repression against protesters continues and will likely intensify with the decree of the curfew and militarization in Quito

On October 12 at 2:20pm, Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno declared that a curfew and complete militarization of the capital city Quito would take effect at 3pm. The curfew is the latest desperate move by Moreno’s government to put an end to the massive people’s uprising against the neoliberal economic measures announced on October 1.

Moreno wrote on Twitter: “I have declared a curfew and militarization of the Metropolitan District of Quito and the valley. It will begin at 15:00. This will facilitate the acting of the Public Force against the intolerable excesses of violence.” Moreno is able to decree a curfew because he declared a state of emergency on October 3 which affords the executive branch special powers in order to maintain ‘security and order.’ However, the only thing the government has done is threaten peace and act with extreme violence against its own citizens. Videos have already circulated on social media of the entry of military vehicles to the capital.

An hour before the curfew was decreed, one of the most prominent organizations participating in the mobilizations, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationals of Ecuador (CONAIE), declared that “After a process of consultation with the communities, organizations, peoples, nationalities, and social organizations we have decided to participate in a direct dialogue with Lenín about the striking down or revision of Decree 883.” Decree 883 was announced by Moreno on October 1 and outlines the latest neoliberal economic measures in the country, including the elimination of a four decades old fuel subsidy. Many other organizations however, have declared that they will not leave the streets until the decree is completely abolished.

In response to the curfew, Ecuadorian movements and organizations have called on people to remain on the streets in defiance of the repressive measure and have called for international organizations to denounce the actions of Moreno’s government in order to prevent a human tragedy. The unprecedented levels of violent repression of protesters in the last 9 days of protests in Ecuador has caused at least eight deaths and hundreds of injured. According to the Ombudsman of Ecuador, 1,070 people have been detained.

Video shows moment in which protester was shot by Ecuadorian Public Force.

On Friday October 11, hundreds of Indigenous protesters, students, trade unionists, and citizens of Quito, mobilized towards the National Assembly in order to denounce the inaction of the government to the demands of the citizens and their violent response to protesters. Since the protests started on October 2, the National Assembly has not met to address the pressing issues. While thousands surrounded the area around the Assembly in a peaceful protest, the Police began a brutal attack. Organizations denounced that there were many children, youth, and old people present during the attack and police attempted to violently evict protesters from where many have been camping for the last week.

While most attention has been directed on the protests in Quito, people have also been mobilizing in the cities of Guayaquil, Ambato, Cuenca, among others.

As of now, thousands remain on the streets and the cries of “Out Moreno! Out!” can be heard far and wide, but Ecuadorians are gearing up for what could be one of the most brutal attacks by the repressive forces in recent history.

Republished from Peoples Dispatch

After 15 years of a military occupation of Haiti, the United Nations “peacekeeping” force will close operations on Oct.15. 

Growing protests now gripping Haiti began last year in reaction to the announcement by President Jovenel Moïse’s government of up to 50 percent increases in fuel prices. Protests have shut down businesses, airports and legislative buildings. 

The UN.org website says: “The current U.N. peacekeeping mission closes on 15 October 2019 and will be replaced by a political mission, building on the progress made with the Haitian authorities to reinforce stability, security and governance as well as the rule of law and human rights.”  

According to the publication Dominican Today, the Dominican Republic requested a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Oct. 3 to encourage a continuation of the U.N. presence. Dominican Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas stressed his government’s support for Haiti’s “democratically elected” President Jovenel Moïse. “What we see there [in Haiti] these days would seem routine, but it is unacceptable for countries such as those represented in the Security Council, who believe in dialogue, the rule of law and the scrupulous observation of human rights,” Vargas said in a statement.

Both the U.N. statement and Foreign Minister Vargas’ concern for maintaining “the rule of law” run in the face of the killing of hundreds of protesters by the Haitian government and paramilitary forces who were enforcing “the rule of law.” Rules and laws, like everywhere, serve class interests and the representatives of the ruling class in Haiti, who held rigged elections with the assistance of the U.S. and other imperialist supporters of the Moïse government. They use the U.N. to maintain their dictatorial and brutal rein on the Haitian people, especially in the interests of U.S. imperialism.

It’s interesting that on Oct. 4, the day after the special meeting of the Security Council, thousands upon thousands of people protested at the U.N. headquarters in Haiti. According to the publication Haïti Liberté:  “A gargantuan demonstration of many, many thousands marched from the capital’s Nazon/Delmas Roads intersection (the traditional starting point these days) to the U.N. headquarters in Haiti. The demonstrators’ message: no more foreign military occupation, no more foreign meddling, stop supporting the Moïse regime.”

On Oct. 7, Haïti Liberté reported another killing of a protester by government supported thugs. 

In addition to voter fraud, brutality and assassinations, the Moïse government has been saddled with continuing corruption charges where billions of dollars have been pocketed by officials. Four billion dollars in Petrocaribe loans given by Venezuela to Haiti for social service relief programs wound up in the pockets of government officials and members of parliament. 

Both the Nicolás Maduro and Hugo Chávez governments in Venezuela tried to assist the Haitian people with debt forgiveness and continued relief efforts, but met a wall of corruption by a government propped up by the U.S.

In fact, the Moïse government was given a lifeline when it–like other Organization of American States countries that voted last January under pressure from the U.S. — helped pass a resolution no longer recognizing the genuinely elected Maduro government of Venezuela.

Haiti and Venezuela

The imperialist assault on Haiti by the U.S. is linked to its assault on Venezuela, but neither Republicans nor Democrats want that connection to be seen.

In Miami, at a town hall meeting on Oct. 3 hosted by U.S. Representative Frederica Wilson, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and six Haitian panelists, Pelosi made that clear, responding to the Haitian panelists.

As reported by Haïti Liberté: “The meeting began with mostly vapid politician remarks by Pelosi, Wilson, Monestime and Joseph. But then it erupted (much to Pelosi’s discomfort) into a trial of and outcry against U.S. policy in Haiti.”

After indictment upon indictment of the U.S. for supporting weapons and rigged elections and imperialism in general against the Haitian people, Carline Paul, one of the panelists, felt empowered to speak and charged that the Trump administration “is supporting Jovenel Moïse for voting [at the OAS] against [President Nicolás] Maduro in Venezuela.” Washington “didn’t like it, because Venezuela has helped Haiti” and then the Haitian government was “forced to vote against Venezuela.”

“The United States is telling them: Don’t get in contact with China. Don’t get in contact with Venezuela. Don’t get in contact with so and so,” she said, concluding that “Trump, in the background, is supporting Jovenel Moïse; the people of Haiti say no interference … no more support for Jovenel Moïse as president of Haiti.”

Pelosi made a floundering and desperate defense of the policy of Trump and the Democrats in Venezuela, while dismissing the vital aid Venezuela sent to Haiti to save Haitian lives: 

“You’ve been candid, and I’m going to be candid,” Pelosi lied. “Maduro is a thug, so I’m not taking any respect for what Maduro might be doing in Haiti [sic]. I’m glad that there may be some benefit, but I’m not … erasing the injustices, the horror, the killings that he is doing in Venezuela because he is part of spreading a global and certainly a hemispheric exporting corruption and the rest [sic] … Not to get involved in a full-fledged discussion about Maduro, but I can’t leave a meeting where you’re saying … I cannot let my view of Maduro go unspoken in a group of this kind.” According to the article in Haïti Liberté, the room remained stonily silent.

According to the Haiti Action Committee Facebook page reporting on acts of solidarity with the people of Haiti, there were militant protests in San Jose, Calif. “As part of this week of action in solidarity with Haiti that spanned from California to Montreal, South Bay students, teachers, human rights and community activists held a march and rally in downtown San Jose, California, today in solidarity with the uprising of the Haitian people demanding an end to U.S. support for dictatorship and death squads in Haiti. As the rally drew to a close, six Haiti activists blocked the entrance to the Federal Building, representative of the U.S. government, chanting: ‘Stop massacres in Haiti!’ ”

Also last week, as heat from Haiti hits politicians and officials here in the U.S., it’s also hitting other imperialists complicit in the corruption and state violence in Haiti. Reported on the Facebook page of the Haiti Action Committee: “On Monday, 15 Haitian community members and allies occupied Justin Trudeau’s election office for a little over three hours. The Solidarité Québec-Haiti #Petrochallenge 2019 activists called on the PM to withdraw Canada’s backing of a repressive, corrupt and illegitimate president of Haiti. Trudeau’s government has provided financial, policing and diplomatic support to Jovenel Moïse, whose presidency is dependent on Washington, Ottawa and other members of the Core Group.”

What’s needed now here in the U.S. is more pressure on both the Democrats and Republicans, whose policies run counter to the interests of the people of Haiti, Venezuela and the world.

On October 9, the people of Ecuador took part in a massive national strike called by a number of organizations against the neoliberal reforms of President Lenin Moreno. Tens of thousands of workers, students, Indigenous people, peasants, Afro-descendant people, women and citizens took over the streets of Quito. The mobilization was directed towards the Historic Center where the Candolet Palace is located, but the area continues to be heavily militarized and barricaded and protesters were met with heavy repression.

In the midst of the strike, Moreno returned to the capital from Guayaquil, where he had temporarily shifted the seat of government to on Monday, as permitted by the state of emergency. He claimed that the primary focus of his return was to engage in dialogue with the mobilized organizations. Yet he has yet to meet their conditions which include the repeal of the economic measures and the resignation of interior minister Maria Paula Romo and minister of defense Oswaldo Jarrín. These ministers have been identified by movements as directly responsible for the brutal repression of protesters.

Last night, following the day’s massive march, police launched tear gas bombs and attacked the humanitarian refuge and aid distribution centers at the Catholic and Salesiana Universities where old senior citizens, women and children were staying. Many members of the Indigenous movements are staying in the centers as they came from outside the capital.

Organizations have condemned the use of tear gas, unconventional weapons, firearms and batons by the police and military. Eight protesters have been killed and hundreds are suffering from grave injuries. According to official figures, in the past seven days of protests, over 766 people have been arrested and 128 have gone through legal proceedings.

The mobilizations that have been occurring daily since October 2 are in response to a set of neoliberal economic measures or the paquetazo (package) announced by Moreno on October 1, including the elimination of a decades-old fuel subsidy. Despite the plurality of voices, organizations, and movements that have been on the streets for the past week rejecting the measures, the government and its regional allies claim that the protests have been instigated by former president Rafael Correa and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Furthermore, Lenín Moreno has reiterated, several times, that he will not change his position on the economic measures.

On October 8, Moreno ordered a partial curfew from 8 pm to 5 am in areas near government buildings through an executive decree 888. The curfew restricting the circulation of vehicles and people will remain in force throughout the state of emergency declared by the president last week, which could continue for a period of 30 days.

The Confederation of Indigenous Nationals of Ecuador (CONAIE), one of the biggest social organizations in the country, condemned the measure of curfew and called on people to continue mobilizing.

On October 8, 2,000 protesters from different Indigenous, peasant and social organizations and trade unions occupied the Ecuadorian Assembly and held a People’s Assembly. They too were brutally repressed by the national security forces, who threw tear gas and shot rubber bullets at the demonstrators. Several dozen who participated in this action were arrested and processed.

CONAIE also denounced police repression on the Indigenous community demonstrating at the museum, La Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, in Quito, where the police used tear gas and rubber pellets to disperse peacefully the protesting crowd consisting of children and elderly people.

Several alternative media projects that have been closely following the protests have also been subjected to raids and censorship. The radio station ‘Pichincha Universal’ denounced a raid carried out by the national police and the Attorney General’s Office on its headquarters. Through its Twitter account, the media outlet informed that the measure was executed “for the alleged crime of inciting discord among citizens.” Pichincha Universal has been extensively reporting on incidents of police repression across the country.

Social Movements of ALBA expressed its support for the people of Ecuador in their fight against the “lackey and subordinate government”. ALBA denounced the deaths caused by police repression and held Moreno and his government responsible for them.

“In less than three years, Moreno’s administration has indebted Ecuador to the tune of more than 20 billion dollars and effected tax cuts worth 4.295 billion for the rich. This income is now what the State pretends to recover from the rest of the people. Meanwhile, the winners of this neoliberalist party, the bankers, have reported earnings for more than 500 billion dollars. In other words a massive theft endorsed by mass media and international institutions. Nothing we haven’t seen before. But the straw that broke the camel’s back was the paquetazo to make the people of Ecuador pay its debt, by removing subsidies to fuel, whose consequence will be rising prices of food and basic products consumed by the working class,” said ALBA in an official statement.

Republished from Peoples Dispatch

Those who believe that class struggle is a matter of the past are wrong.  The economic elites of Ecuador, through the government of Lenín Moreno, have declared economic war on the Ecuadorian people, with the imposition of measures dictated by the International Monetary Fund, which include increasing fuel prices, more layoffs of public employees, cutting workers’ rights and measures to favor importers, exporters and the corporations of production.

In response to this “big package,” the affected sectors immediately began mobilizing, demanding the repeal of the measures adopted by the government that impacts the majority of Ecuadorians.  The protests began with the strike of the transport workers and now continue with the active participation of indigenous peoples in the mountains and in the Amazon, as well as popular urban sectors, workers, students and women.

Instead of responding to citizen demands, the government decreed a state of emergency for 60 days, ordering the mobilization of the armed forces and police to repress the demonstrations.  As a result of this measure, there is one dead, hundreds of people arrested, assaults on journalists, young people wounded with firearms and tear gas bombs, people beaten and harassed.

Many reasons to protest

The rise in fuel prices is the trigger for the recent mobilizations, but the general discontent that reigns in Ecuador has broader and deeper roots, and must be looked at from the moment that Lenín Moreno turned his back on the government program that allowed him to assume the presidency.

Moreno’s initial cabinet was replaced by representatives of the production corporation and the private media, who are imposing their own vision and group and class interests in order to favor themselves enormously from the state administration.

When the economy was showing signs of recovery, these sectors worked on a tale that the country was experiencing the worst crisis in history, for which the previous government was to be blamed.  After adopting a series of measures, such as the pardon of fines and interest to the defaulters of the large economic groups that have debts with the State, which total more than 4,500 million dollars, the economy has gone from tumble to tumble.  Among the main impact has been the increase in poverty and extreme poverty, the reduction of adequate employment, the growth of underemployment, the dismissal of public workers, greater insecurity and violence, and the government’s inability to address serious problems such as violence in prisons, illegal mining and the border situation.

Coincidentally, while the majority of the Ecuadorian people are going through serious economic and social problems, the rich minority sectors are increasing their profits in the midst of the crisis.  The banking sector, for example, in 2017-2018, made a profit of 554 million dollars, which represents an increase of 39.8% over December 2017.

On the other hand, the government, instead of seeking to finance the budget with a tax policy so that those who have more pay more, collect the debts of big businessmen and combat tax evasion and avoidance, resorts to external indebtedness in conditions that are extremely disadvantageous for the country.

Under these conditions, the government resorted to the International Monetary Fund, with which it signed an IMF Extended Service Agreement, in exchange for a loan of 4.200 million dollars, and agreed to the strings attached to increase in value added taxes (IVA), the rise in cost of fuels, the privatization of strategic sectors, the so-called labor flexibilization, which in reality means attacking the rights of workers, the reform of the statute of the Central Bank, reduction of the size of the State with layoffs of public workers among others, in order to achieve “fiscal balance”.  It should be remembered that the last agreement with the IMF took place in 2003, during the government of Lucio Gutiérrez, who did not end his term because of popular rejection.

President Moreno, with a level of credibility bordering on 16% and acceptance of only 22%, thus imposes a package of economic measures that has received support from the International Monetary Fund, the chambers of commerce, bankers and the corporate media, which have closed ranks to defend the measures, pointing out that the government has had the “courage” to “withdraw the subsidy” to fuels, “something that has not been done in the last 40 years.

The rise in diesel prices from 1.03 to 2.30 dollars and extra gasoline from 1.85 to 2.39 dollars, prices that will fluctuate every month, will have a great impact on the popular economy, since they increase the prices of basic necessities and public transportation, deteriorating the purchasing power of most Ecuadorian families and worse for those who earn a basic salary or have reduced income. Every penny that goes up in fares and groceries counts a lot for the 1.7 million people who subsist on less than $1.6 a day, and for another 4.4 million who receive less than $2.9 a day.

Transport workers strike and popular mobilization

On Thursday, October 3 and Friday, October 4, the strike of transporters affected the whole country, classes were suspended and the working day was shortened due to the difficulties of mobilization. This was the trigger for other sectors to mobilize against the measures of Lenín Moreno’s government in several cities, especially in Quito, where even some flights were canceled at the Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Tababela, due to the impossibility of getting there.  Government Minister María Paula Romo said there were demonstrations in 300 places that day. In Guayaquil, taking advantage of the situation, looting occurred.

Indigenous Mobilization in the Central Highlands

To counteract the transport workers’ strike, the government proceeded to apprehend some of its leaders in Quito (Jorge Calderón) and Cuenca, who are being prosecuted for paralyzing public services.  At the same time, some private media orchestrated a smear campaign against certain leaders. After this campaign of intimidation, the government and the transporters reached an agreement whereby the latter suspended the strike in exchange for increases in freight and passenger costs in urban and interprovincial transport, tax exemptions for the import of spare parts and even allow them to carry passengers standing on buses that travel through provinces.

With this agreement, Moreno’s regime gave rise to a second economic package that will have serious repercussions on the family economy, even more so when no type of compensation has been foreseen.  The lifting of the strike, however, not all transport unions complied and demonstrations against the rise in fuel prices were took place in Sucumbíos, Quito and Portoviejo and other cities.

When business leaders, the media and the government thought that the end of the transport strike meant the end of the protests, the mobilization of the indigenous communities in the provinces of Imbabura, Pichincha, Cotopaxi, Tungurahua, Azuay, Cañar and Loja, as well as in the Amazon region, broke out with great force.

On Saturday, October 5, through Monday indigenous people blocked the roads with barricades and trees, while holding rallies in provincial capitals such as Ambato, Latacunga, and Riobamba. The objective of the indigenous struggle is not only to demand the repeal of the package of economic measures, but also the suspension of concessions to open-pit mining and other demands in defense of small-scale agriculture.

In response to the declaration of the “State of Exception”, the unleashed repression and the imprisonment of the leaders of Pachakútic, Marlon Santi and Jairo Gualinga, the indigenous leaders of CONAIE issued a communiqué declaring their own state of exception in all indigenous territories and warned that “military personnel who approach indigenous territories will be detained and submitted to indigenous justice. The measure is given in response to “the brutality and lack of awareness of the public force to understand the popular character of the demands of the National Strike against the Big Package, which affects the whole of Ecuadorian society and deteriorates the living conditions and existence of the most vulnerable sectors of the country.  The indigenous organization denounced that military and police contingents harshly repressed the indigenous mobilizations, even attacking women and children.

The military, according to CONAIE, entered indigenous territories at various points in the Ecuadorian sierra, raiding houses, using pellet guns and tear gas bombs that wounded  demonstrators.  In the Panzaleo sector, in the Andean province of Cotopaxi, the military detained demonstrators, put hoods on them, and took them to unknown places.

Military held by Indigenous people

In the community of Nizag, province of Chimborazo, in Peguche, province of Imbabura and in Lasso, province of Cotopaxi, indigenous people and peasants held military and police officers, to exchange them for indigenous people detained, denounce repression and apply indigenous justice.

The corporate media and the “public” media have closed ranks around Moreno’s government and its policies. They joined the official story by silencing or minimizing the protests, and give bias coverage by omission of the protests in the country like nothing was happening.  But popular independent social media has been filling the information void. One of them is the Universal Radio Pichincha that has a wide audience not only in Pichincha province but also in Quito. The site has lost power several times but it continues to report. The Moreno government has censored and closed other digital media including ElEstado.net and Ecuadorinmediato.com.

State of emergency … increased repression

Resorting to the declaration of a state of emergency by a government with such low popularity is a sign of weakness in the face of growing opposition,  The 60-day state of emergency suspends the right of association and assembly 24 hours a day, limits the right to freedom of transit, and provides for the mobilization of the armed forces and police “to maintain order.”

Under this framework, 24,000 military personnel and thousands of police have been mobilized to contain the popular protest that as of October 6 have detained nearly 500 people according, María Paula Romo, the Minister of Government.

Romo, who defines herself as a feminist and “from the left that believes in rights and liberties,” was a member of the Alianza País assembly in Rafael Correa’s government. Then, in the last presidential elections, she spoke in favor of banker Guillermo Lasso and now, as the head of the Ministry of Government, she directs the harsh police repression against the demonstrators.

While armored personnel carriers of the Army and military red berets were stationed in front of the Government Palace on the Sunday, the Minister of Defense, Oswaldo Jarrín denied it, and at the same time made a public announcement that “because the military knows how to defend themselves, they have experience in combat and war, they cannot be outraged, they have honor, they have dignity and will be respected.”

On the morning of seventh we were able to see that the armored vehicles had been removed, but hundreds of policemen surrounded the Government Palace in the centre of Quito, which is fenced in to keep out impede pedestrian traffic.

On the same day that the measures were announced, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights questioned the Ecuadorian State about the adoption and impact of the structural adjustment provided by the IMF and its impact on human rights. The following day, in an unusual manner, the Committee issued a strong statement in which it pointed out that the reduction in the institutionality and budgets of the State through the implementation of the agreement with the IMF are incompatible with Ecuador’s international obligations and negatively affects economic and social rights.

The same concerns were communicated to Argentina a year ago in relation to measures dictated by the IMF. In March 2019 the Human Rights Council recognized that efforts to stabilize an economy in times of crisis disproportionately affect the most vulnerable sectors of the population and increases inequality in countries. This scenario of worsening inequalities and job insecurity is being implemented violently, as Moreno’s government intends to do through a state of emergency.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, expressed concern about the situation of indigenous peoples in the context of protests in Ecuador and urged the government to avoid excessive use of force, respect human rights, and seek a solution to the conflict through intercultural dialogue.

Finally, it is important to point out that although the current mobilizations in the countryside and the city are the most significant in recent years, during the Moreno administration, various demonstrations and protests have taken place, largely hidden by the corporate media.  The most recent protests took place from September 24-30 in the northern province of Carchi, with the closure of roads, demanding the construction of roads, a differentiated added taxes valued for the province, the creation of a free zone and the refund of such taxes to the Decentralized Autonomous Governments. In the province of Bolívar, thousands of indigenous people marched on September 25 in the provincial capital Guaranda, for the government to annul the mining concessions, which would affect more than 160,000 hectares of water sources and moors. Women’s marches for the decriminalization of abortion in cases of rape, which was denied by the National Assembly, have also taken place.

Source: America Latina in Movement, translation, Resumen Latinoamericano, North America bureau

Republished from Resumen

Mientras el presidente de Estados Unidos Donald Trump pronunciaba un belicoso discurso ante la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas el 24 de septiembre atacando a Irán, Venezuela, China y a los trabajadores y oprimidos de todo el mundo, la presidenta de la Cámara de Representantes del Partido Demócrata Nancy Pelosi anunció el comienzo de una investigación para la destitución de Trump.

Sin embargo, el proceso de destitución no tiene que ver con las numerosas violaciones de Trump a la ley internacional, tales como descartar el acuerdo nuclear con Irán, ser cómplice de la confiscación de los bienes de Venezuela en el extranjero y de su Embajada en Washington, o reforzar el bloqueo ilegal contra Cuba. 

Tampoco tiene que ver con la violación masiva de los derechos humanos en la frontera entre México y Estados Unidos o el encarcelamiento de refugiados en campos de concentración. Tampoco se trata de que sus políticas fomenten la destrucción del medioambiente.

No, el proceso de destitución se centra en una llamada telefónica hecha el 25 de julio entre Trump y el presidente ucraniano Vladimir Zelensky, en la que Trump presuntamente presionó a Zelensky para que investigara los cargos de corrupción contra el ex vicepresidente y actual candidato presidencial demócrata, Joe Biden.

Este cargo “explosivo” fue hecho por un agente de inteligencia que presentó una denuncia incriminatoria. El agente insinuó que Trump había exigido un ‘quid pro quo’ a Zelensky a cambio de seguir recibiendo ayuda de Estados Unidos. 

Más tarde se informó que la administración Trump había retenido temporalmente casi 400 millones de dólares en ayuda militar a Kiev antes de la llamada. La ayuda militar fue liberada después. Trump dice que no había conexión entre la llamada y su “revisión” de la ayuda. 

Es razonable preguntarse por qué la dirección del Partido Demócrata considera que este juicio político es digno, cuando los asuntos de vida o muerte que afectan a millones de trabajadores no lo son.

La explicación oficial, según The Guardian, es que “es ilegal que una campaña política acepte ‘una cosa de valor’ de un gobierno extranjero. Los demócratas dicen que una investigación de un oponente político, para lo cual Trump parece haber estado presionando, equivaldría a “una cosa de valor”.

Lo que nadie en Washington ni en los medios corporativos se preocupa por mencionar son los crímenes reales y mortales del gobierno de Estados Unidos y de las grandes empresas en Ucrania, tanto bajo la administración demócrata de Obama, en la que Biden trabajó, como ahora bajo la administración de Trump.

Soldado de EE.UU. ayuda a neonazis

El 23 de septiembre, el periodista investigativo de Grayzone Ben Norton informó sobre el arresto por parte del FBI, de Jarrett William Smith, un soldado estadounidense que quería unirse al Batallón Azov, un grupo militar neonazi en Ucrania.

“Mientras servía en el ejército de Estados Unidos,” escribió Norton, “este extremista de derecha dio a los militantes fascistas de Ucrania y otros países información sobre cómo construir bombas. … 

“El FBI dijo que también había planeado viajar a Ucrania para unirse al Batallón Azov, una milicia neonazi que durante años ha sido apoyada directamente por el gobierno de Estados Unidos”.

Esta es la verdadera historia sobre Ucrania que debe ser traída a la atención de los trabajadores y los oprimidos, porque informa sobre los crímenes mucho más significativos de Biden, Trump y la clase patronal acaudalada a la que ambos sirven:

• cómo Estados Unidos inició un régimen golpista de derecha en Ucrania en 2014 con la ayuda de fascistas declarados; 
• cómo el nuevo gobierno apoyado por Washington lanzó una sangrienta guerra contra el pueblo de la región minera de Donbass, al tiempo que aumentaba las amenazas militares contra la vecina Rusia; 
• La represión continua contra los opositores al régimen, incluyendo el encarcelamiento de cientos de prisioneros políticos, palizas y asesinatos por parte de grupos neonazis, y la masacre de 48 personas en la Casa de los Sindicatos en Odessa el 2 de mayo de 2014;
• cómo la austeridad y la privatización han beneficiado a los grandes capitalistas y bancos occidentales, perjudicando sin embargo al pueblo de Ucrania;
• y el hecho de que este proceso, que comenzó bajo la administración demócrata de Obama, continúa hoy bajo el Trump republicano.

Norton cita varios ejemplos anteriores de colaboración entre los supremacistas blancos estadounidenses y los fascistas ucranianos. El año pasado por ejemplo, se descubrió que miembros de un grupo de California que participaron en los violentos ataques racistas de Charlottesville en 2017, habían asistido a un campo de entrenamiento de Azov.

Azov se formó en 2014 como una de las varias “milicias de voluntarios” neonazis que, junto con las Fuerzas Armadas ucranianas, han librado la guerra contra los residentes, en su mayoría ruso parlantes, de la región minera de Donbass al este de Ucrania. En un referéndum popular, los residentes de Donbass votaron abrumadoramente a favor de la independencia y formaron las Repúblicas Populares de Donetsk y Lugansk. 

En 2015, cuando algunos congresistas estadounidenses expresaron su malestar por apoyar a un grupo que utiliza firmas signos fascistas, Azov fue rápidamente incorporado a la Guardia Nacional ucraniana para ofrecer una cobertura al entrenamiento y el equipo militar de Estados Unidos y la OTAN.

El 25 de febrero, la Oficina del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos informó que el número de muertes había llegado a 13.000 desde que comenzó la guerra en Donbass en 2014, con más de 30.000 heridos. Millones de personas fueron desplazadas y se convirtieron en refugiados como resultado de la guerra.

Para mantener un velo de “negación creíble”, la administración Obama había prohibido la venta directa de “armas letales” a Ucrania, facilitando esas ventas sin embargo, a través de terceros países como las monarquías del Golfo. Trump eliminó esa restricción.

Aunque Zelensky fue elegido por los ucranianos con la esperanza de poner fin a la guerra, los ataques militares de Kiev han aumentado desde que asumió el cargo en mayo.

El papel de Biden

Desde el comienzo de la guerra en 2014 hasta 2016, el vicepresidente Joe Biden sirvió como un virtual gobernador colonial de Ucrania. Visitaba el país con frecuencia, combinando recompensas y castigos para garantizar que el conjunto de oligarcas, políticos pro-occidentales y neonazis que tomaron el poder hicieran lo que Washington quería. 

El 25 de abril de 2014, este autor escribió: “La llamada ‘campaña antiterrorista’ [ataque militar a Donbass] fue lanzada tras una visita del director de la CIA John Brennan a Kiev los días 12 y 13 de abril. Tras humillantes reveses, incluyendo la deserción de muchas tropas que el régimen creía leales, el ataque se reanudó inmediatamente después de que el vicepresidente estadounidense Joe Biden, volara a Kiev el 22 de abril para ejercer más presión y prometer más ayuda”.

Fue Biden, más que ninguna otra figura de la administración Obama, quien supervisó las brutales “reformas” de austeridad y privatización exigidas por los grandes bancos y la guerra igualmente brutal de Donbass. 

Esto incluía la privatización de las ricas tierras agrícolas de Ucrania y su adquisición por Monsanto y otras corporaciones agroindustriales occidentales que empujan los transgénicos -una de las muchas disposiciones exigidas por el Fondo Monetario Internacional a cambio de un rescate de 17.500 millones de dólares-, así como la introducción del ‘fracking’. El hijo de Biden, Hunter Biden, estaba directamente involucrado en esto último como ejecutivo de la compañía productora de gas Burisma Holdings, junto con otros capitalistas con estrechos vínculos a la administración Obama.

Los cargos de corrupción que Trump supuestamente quería que Ucrania investigara tienen que ver con el papel de Joe Biden en el despido del Fiscal General ucraniano Viktor Shokin, quien supuestamente debía investigar corrupciones. Una de las entidades que Shokin estaba investigando era Bursima Holdings.

En una reunión del Consejo de Asuntos Exteriores, Joe Biden se jactó más tarde de cómo utilizó la amenaza de retirar una línea de crédito de mil millones de dólares para que despidieran al fiscal. Todo perfectamente legal y normal, se asegura. 

Los principales medios de comunicación, e incluso los medios alternativos como The Nation y The Intercept, se han esforzado mucho en justificar la conducta de Biden, tildándola como legal e inatacable, aunque admiten una apariencia de “improcedencia”. 

¡Después de todo, este tipo de conducta es costumbre normal para los políticos estadounidenses y la clase rica a la que sirven, sin importar a qué partido capitalista pertenezcan! 

El predicador de la austeridad

En diciembre de 2015, Biden habló en la Rada, el parlamento ucraniano, sobre la necesidad de “acabar con el amiguismo”. Elogió a los que llevaron a cabo el golpe dos años antes y a los que cometieron crímenes de guerra contra la población civil de Donbass.

También advirtió a los políticos allí reunidos que no perdieran los nervios al aplicar medidas de austeridad contra los trabajadores si querían seguir recibiendo dinero de Estados Unidos y del Fondo Monetario Internacional. 

“La parte más importante para seguir adelante con el programa del FMI requiere reformas difíciles. … votar para elevar la edad de jubilación es escribir su obituario político en muchos lugares. … Requiere sacrificios que pueden no ser políticamente convenientes o populares. …les insto a que mantengan el curso a pesar de ser tan duro como es”.

Cualquier trabajador, mirando estos hechos, podría preguntarse no sólo sobre la evidente corrupción, sino sobre cómo es “normal” y “legal” que un político estadounidense dicte la política económica y la política en general de otro país, incluyendo la guerra y la paz, la pobreza y la austeridad.

Tanto Biden como Trump, al igual que congresistas demócratas y republicanos están llevando a cabo su lucha por el poder y los privilegios sobre una montaña de cuerpos de niños, civiles y antifascistas asesinados en Donbass, y sobre la represión continua de los opositores políticos, periodistas y trabajadores comunes en Ucrania. 

Ese es el verdadero escándalo y la verdadera historia que debe ser expuesta.

On Sept. 27, activists demonstrated outside the Colombian Embassy in Washington, D.C. The picket line denounced the violent regime of President Iván Duque, supported by the U.S., and decades of reactionary policies by previous Colombian governments. In particular, the demonstrators addressed Colombia’s violence against Indigenous people, Afro-Colombians and progressive political activists. 

Sept. 27 is designated as “World Tourism Day.” Since the signing of the Havana Peace Accord in 2016 between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP), Bogotá has promoted itself as a hot new tourist destination. But in fact, the government has not held up its end of the peace agreement, and murders of activists, community leaders and former guerrillas have continued unabated.

In the U.S., the Coalition for Peace in Colombia joined the international call to hold actions called the People’s Travel Advisory to warn travelers that “Colombia is not a tourist destination, but a place of genocide and repression.” Actions were held in at least a dozen other cities in the Western Hemisphere, including Lima, Mexico City, San Francisco and Toronto. 

Not only has the Colombian government of the wealthy terrorized its populace with right-wing violence, but it has also served as a forward operating base for U.S. imperialism against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Since the attempted coup in Venezuela earlier this year, Colombia has consistently escalated its aggression against the democratically elected government of President Nicolás Maduro, to the point of threatening military action. 

The activists who gathered in Washington delivered a letter inside the embassy. It demanded the end of repression against oppressed people inside Colombia and for the Duque government to cease its cooperation with the U.S. military campaign to undermine Venezuela. Furthermore, the letter declared that Colombia was not safe for working-class travelers. 

In recent decades, the Colombian government has enacted large-scale political violence against oppressed people and activists — yet it is Venezuela that faces sanctions and other economic warfare. The activists in Washington joined with people around the world to denounce the reactionary Colombian government and will continue to call for a People’s Travel Advisory until the violence and repression stops!