Peru Blames Eradication of Poverty on Chavez

[JohnnyCougar]

Source: AP

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Hugo Chavez has been accused of using Venezuela's oil riches to meddle in Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia and Nicaragua. Now, Peru's president says the Venezuelan leader may be doing it here by funding militants and anti-poverty centers that preach populist revolution.

...

Congressman Rolando Sousa says there are 150 centers, and accuses Venezuela of funding them. He persuaded Congress this month to formally extend his investigation into the centers, granting it the power to scour phone and bank records to track their sources of support. "Where does the money come from?" he asked.

The head of one of the centers says their goals are humanitarian, and that they have helped thousands of poor Peruvians get medical care they could not otherwise afford. They deny any Venezuelan funding. "We only give information to our people" about medical and educational programs, said Marcial Maydana, who runs a center in the highland city of Puno.

Many of the medical procedures are performed in Venezuela and Bolivia, often by Cuban doctors, he said, but insisted the trips are paid for by Peruvian mayors and transportation companies when the patients cannot afford them. A former Peruvian interior minister, Fernando Rospigliosi, said he believes the Garcia government is exaggerating the influence of the missions and the Coordinadora. It wants "to make the public believe that social movements arising for other reasons can be attributed to external influence," he told The Associated Press.

Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iwfZDjpG8JNzbL2tWyv1WOS7MMtQD8VIBOE83

---

Bad, bad Chavez. Stop funding anti-poverty centers (even though we don't have proof that you're funding them anyways). Those people deserve to starve and die. It's the Alan Garcia way.

[Mojambo]

1. He needs to open up some of them up here. n/t

[JohnnyCougar]

6. I'm sure our government would consider that "helping the terrorists"

Anything that makes any rich people anywhere look bad is terrorism. Didn't you get the memo? ;-)

[davidinalameda]

2. you want to use the correct article headline?

Peru Says Chavez Backs Domestic Revolt

[JohnnyCougar]

3. My headline is better

It gets more to the 1984-like freedom-is-slavery aspect of politics in Latin America.

[seriousstan]

4. The original title use is the rule in LBN. You need to edit your headline.

[JohnnyCougar]

5. I must have missed that rule.

[seriousstan]

7. Wow, an honest to goodness internet outlaw. I'm all a quiver.

You'll learn.

[Trajan]

8. You must have ...

Rules ....

-snip-

4. When posting articles, always use the published title of the article as the title of the discussion thread. Additional information may be included in a thread title (in parentheses) if it helps to make the title more clear.

-snip-

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x87249

[JohnnyCougar]

9. If someone wants to move it to GD, then, I'm fine with that.

I think the article's actual headline is disingenuous to the reality of the situation, so I don't want to change the headline of this thread. I'd rather this just be moved to the GD forum. If mods want to do that, that would be great.

[freedomnorth]

18. Perhaps merge this thread

With this one: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3231144&mesg_id=3231144

That would nullify the need for strict rule following.

Which in this case IMHO are wrong, rules are there to bend. :)

[Mr Hedley Bowes]

11. What if the original title is disinformation?

Why do the rules compel the perpetuation of disinformation? How has this rule been historically enforced?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

12. I agree. The original title *IS* disinformation to protect and defend the rich nt

[Demit]

13. You're always free to comment on the title. Reproduce the title, then editorialize after it.

[DRoseDARs]

10. Sorry, but your dog won't hunt: The rule is stated right where you enter a title for the LBN thread.

Might I suggest a visit to your local optometrist? ;)

*********

Title: "Use the EXACT TITLE of the article you are posting, without additional comment. If there is no title yet, be descriptive."

followed by

Link: "If there is no link yet, leave this box blank. You may edit later."

followed by:

Source: "Examples: Washington Post, Associated Press, etc."

followed by

Excerpt: "Your excerpt must be no longer than four paragraphs. DO NOT add additional comments in this box."

followed by

Your Comments: "You may add your own additional comments in this box."

*********

[ConcernedCanuk]

24. Been here since 2004 and "missed that rule" - who you trying to fool?

.
.
.

If you don't like the rule, talk to the Admins, or post elsewhere.

And don't lie to us.

[JohnnyCougar]

26. I haven't posted on here for a few years.

I actually did forget about it.

[DRoseDARs]

27. Your dog STILL won't hunt: The rule is stated right where you enter a title for the LBN thread.

As I already said in post #10, you cannot miss that rule because it's right there where you enter a title.

[Up2Late]

14. And it's about 10 hours past the 12 hour rule too...

...and his headline doesn't make any sense.:shrug:

[JohnnyCougar]

16. It's a little bit tongue-in-cheek and sarcastic.

It's not supposed to make sense at first.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Alan Garcia ####ed up ROYALLY during his first Presidential term, when Chavez was nowhere in sight.

Corruption, human rights abuses, you name it, and no one to blame it on but himself.

Please examine this info. from his Wiki. which is available in many other sources, of course:

~snip~
The economic turbulence exacerbated social tensions in Peru and contributed in part to the rise of the violent rebel movement Shining Path, which launched the internal conflict in Peru and began attacking electric towers, causing a number of blackouts in Lima. The García administration unsuccessfully sought a military solution to the growing terrorism, allegedly committing human rights violations which are still under investigation. These include the Accomarca massacre, where 47 campesinos were gunned to death by the Peruvian armed forces in August 1985, the Cayara massacre (May 1988) in which some thirty were killed and dozens disappeared, and the summary execution of more than 200 inmates during prison riots in Lurigancho, San Juan Bautista (El Frontón) and Santa Bárbara in 1986. According to an official inquiry, an estimated 1,600 forced disappearances took place during García's presidency. His own personal involvement in these events is not clear. García was allegedly tied to the paramilitary Rodrigo Franco Command, which is accused of carrying out political murders in Peru during García's presidency. A US declassified report, written in late 1987, said that Garcia's party, APRA, and top government officials were running a paramilitary group, responsible for the attempted bombing of the El Diario newspaper, then linked to Shining Path, sent people to train in North Korea and may have been involved in executions <3>. According to investigative journalist Lucy Komisar, the report made it clear that it believed that García was giving the orders <3>.

In addition, there were unconfirmed but popular rumours that he was suffering from bipolar disorder. There were also rumours of ties to Colombian drug dealers, aside from public charges of high-level corruption and theft at all levels of his government, and the naming of APRA party members to various administrative positions that they were not qualified for.

García's presidency left the country with hyperinflation, isolated from the international financial community, with negative reserves of US$900 million, continuous subversive activities by the Shining Path, great increase in poverty levels and an electric train multi-million investment in Lima that was never finished. His critics claim the many poor decisions he took while in office created an environment that lead to the rise of an authoritarian leader like Alberto Fujimori. Some suspect García and APRA cut a deal with Fujimori during the 1990 election, backing him in return for immunity, so as to prevent Mario Vargas Llosa and his FREDEMO party, then leading in the polls, from coming to power. During the campaign, Vargas Llosa had promised to investigate corruption in the García administration.

Post-presidency (1990)
In 1992, García went into exile to Colombia and later to France after Fujimori's auto-coup during which the military raided his house. The new government re-opened charges against him for allegedly taking millions of dollars in bribes. He denied the charges, and in 2001 Peru's Supreme Court ruled that the statute of limitations had run out. There were charges of corruption involved in this decision, as at the same time a law was struck down by Congress which prevented anyone who had been investigated for charges of corruption in a public office to run for president (what his supporters in Congress dubbed the "anti-Alan law"). García could not justify how he had homes in the richest neighbourhoods of Bogotá and Paris, in addition to having his daughter enrolled in a top private school in France, if his only alleged income was from being an occasional guest speaker and the author of a few books with poor sales. His long-time ally Jorge Del Castillo represented him as his lawyer and performed very heavy lobbying for allowing García to legally return to Peru. After Castillo was elected to Congress, he had much more leverage for García's defence.

After living eight years and ten months in neighbouring Colombia and in France, he returned to Peru in 2001, following Alberto Fujimori's resignation from the presidency. As it had been rumoured for many years, García ran for president in the new elections called by transitory president Valentín Paniagua, with Jorge Del Castillo as his campaign manager. García competed against some of his harshest critics and worst political enemies, including Lourdes Flores Nano and Fernando Olivera. García's theme during this election campaign was that he was the most experienced candidate and thus the most prepared, as he had made mistakes before as President, and had learned from them. He attributed all the problems of the Peruvian economy in his first presidency to the economic problems of Argentina and Brazil at the time. He distanced himself from accusations that he had been protected by Fujimori during his exile, and he would switch the topic when he was asked about his endorsement of Fujimori in the 1990 election.

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Garcia

[JohnnyCougar]

17. When is he going to the Hague?

The United States also has a free trade agreement with Peru, yet Peru is still mired in poverty, hopelessness, and "freedom." But at least their leader doesn't say bad things about our president -- which means they're not terrorists like Chavez.

[Judi Lynn]

19. Ah, ha ha ha ha. Bush backed him against the terrifying, popular "leftist," Ollanta Humala.

God forbid the people should be allowed to elect a leftist in Peru.

Alan Garcia's campaign launched a sudden array of wild, off the wall attacks, attacking him because of his family, dragging out some alleged witness from his earlier military days who claimed he had committed abuses, then, as the coup de grace, they started claiming Ollanta Humala was close to Hugo Chavez and Chavez would use Humala as a means of taking over Peru, or some such crappola. Pure alarmist rot like the filth we're used to seeing from our own right-wing swift-boaters right here.

So he squeaked out a victory, allegedly, yet Ollanta Humala remains very popular with the same people who liked him earlier, and Garcia is still afraid of him, and still attacks him from the President's office.

Garcia is a total _Bush suck-up puppet. Our own little emperor must feel he's got the world by the ass when he can get his tiny group of puppets close around him.

[JohnnyCougar]

20. When is Peru's next election?

I can't wait.

[Judi Lynn]

21. Believe it's June, 2011, if I'm not mistaken. I think Garcia was elected 6-2006,

to serve a 5 year term (that is, if their terms are still 5 years long).

Seems he's been there forever already.

His first hitch was 1985 to 1990, I think, and he REALLY screwed up. You know something's really going on when he ends up getting re-elected after such a goddawful history.

[JohnnyCougar]

22. That's way too long. We need a recall refurrendum.

The sooner Garcia gets booted, the more people survive. It's as simple as that.

[Judi Lynn]

25. He's a loose cannon. He craves attention, he's an ass. He may be able to get something going as

they rev up their anti-drug machinery. Sometime back he was happy to inform the press that he was cracking down on drug crime, and he could easily be led to BOMB locations where he believed people were processing dope.

Just found this new article which indicates they're all prepared to launch into a new war on drugs in Peru:

Peru sees cocaine making a comeback

After a lull, production is rising, feeding demand in Brazil, Europe and East Asia, officials say. With flashy cartel men replaced by a piecemeal network, the trafficking is harder to combat.

By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 23, 2008

SANTA LUCIA, PERU -- Rustic mule trains ferry vital chemicals to clandestine jungle labs.
Booby-trapped fields ward off intruders.

Trekkers never seen on the Discovery Channel backpack the prized finished product on epic journeys from steamy Amazon hideaways to chilly highland distribution depots.

And a shadowy remnant of the notorious Shining Path rebel army, led by a charismatic man named Artemio, uses its muscle to pocket a fortune in a sinister protection racket.

Peru's cocaine industry, the world's largest and most violent in the late 1980s and early 1990s, is again on the upswing. Plots of coca bushes, whose leaves yield cocaine, have increased by about one-third since 1999, to about 127,000 acres, according to Peruvian and United Nations estimates.

And this time, the traffickers may be more difficult to combat because the flashy kingpins from Colombia have been replaced by a piecemeal network, a sort of gold rush of international entrepreneurs.

Production is still well below the record highs of the early 1990s, and neighboring Colombia has surpassed Peru as the global cocaine leader, supplying 90% of the U.S. market, according to the State Department. Moreover, President Alan Garcia is a staunch foe of the drug.

"Peru will not resign itself to be a country of narco-trafficking," vowed the pro-U.S. Garcia, who took office in 2006.

But Peru, the world's No. 2 supplier, feeds a booming demand in Brazil, Europe, East Asia and as far away as Australia, authorities say. The density of coca plantings has doubled in some cases, experts say, and the fertilizer-nourished leaf now yields a greater proportion of cocaine alkaloid, the active ingredient in cocaine.

A wave of drug-related lawlessness -- assassinations, ambushes, threats against prosecutors -- has fanned fears of the kind of narco-instability that afflicts Colombia and Mexico. The Tijuana cartel is suspected in the 2006 slaying in Lima, the Peruvian capital, of a judge hearing a case against an alleged cartel capo.

And renewed militancy among the peasants who grow the coca leaf has sparked road closures and violent clashes with law enforcement officers.

The Garcia administration initially agreed to suspend eradication efforts, a mainstay of the U.S.-backed anti-drug policy. But Garcia later reversed course and even suggested that clandestine laboratories be raided and bombed. With U.S. aid that totals about $50 million a year, Peru has trained and deployed hundreds of anti-drug police officers.

More:
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-coca23mar23,1,2943687.story

[EFerrari]

23. Best headline ever.

Why does Hugo hate hunger!!!1

[Delphinus]

28. I'm reading this and thinking

Good for Hugo!

It sounds like they have a paranoid in Peru - ala the boy king - in their anti-terrorism guy and maybe even in their president, Garcia. Perhaps Peru should fund the anti-poverty shelters themselves.

I've a feeling there's a whole lot more going on than meets the eye and that can be deduced from one article.

[Kolesar]

29. The REAL headline is "Peru Says Chavez Backs Domestic Revolt"

&this got moved from latest breaking news.