Category Archives: Latin America

Colombia: Implementing the peace agreement in the Valle del Cauca

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION . .

An article from Diario Occidente (translation by CPNN)

Generating a culture of peace, eradicating violence, promoting conciliation and respect for Human Rights and advancing in the eradication of illicit crops is the challenge set by the Valle del Cauca Peace Secretariat.

For this reason the Secretariat is active in the sectors where there are conflicts such as Buenaventura, Florida and Pradera. In 2021 they will promote four productive projects with youth associations in the Llano Verde sector in Cali where there was recently a massacre.

The Secretary of Peace of the Valley Orlando Riascos, who spoke with the Diario Occidente, also highlighted the importance that the national government should implement the peace agreements in Valle del Cauca.

What projects does the Valle del Cauca Peace Secretariat have for 2021?

We will continue to guarantee the functioning of the Departmental Peace Committee and its local campaigns. We have projects for the different communities, what are called productive peace territories, projects for those who were reintegrated and for those who were victims of the armed conflict and continuation of the humanitarian aid that is needed.

What productive projects are they going to promote?

We will promote four projects in Llano Verde where there was a murder of young people; we have contacted youth associations there and we are going to invest in them. Similarly, in Dagua, Cartago and Seville, our projects will assest where people already have a resource, an innovative company. We will provide resources and technical training so that they have the possibility of being autonomous in generating employment.

And with the national government?

We want the peace accords to be implemented in Valle del Cauca and that involves the issue of development plans for the different sectors of Florida, Pradera and Buenaventura. We need the private sector to make a greater presence; there are possibilities to do it in the Zomac Areas that were most affected by the armed conflict where they should invest their resources and build works that generate taxes. With the national government we have been working on a special program targeting the illicit crops in Jamundí and Florida so that these crops can be eradicated and peace can be achieved in the territories.

(Click here for the original article in Spanish.)

Questions related to this article:

What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

Are there difficult sectors on the issue of peace in the department?

Yes … the armed conflict in Valle del Cauca is not the same today as in Cauca or Nariño, fortunately there is a decrease in the armed conflict but we have the presence of irregular groups in the Garrapatas canyon, in the Pradera and Florida area, in Buenaventura and Jamundí, due to the drug issue that is complicated. Last year we had 2,329 hectares planted with coca in Valle del Cauca, and that promotes armed conflict. What we want is for the national, departmental and municipal governments to be present in the territories and to seek social relief policies for these sectors .

How do you assess what is happening in Buenaventura?

The principle of authority must be guaranteed, illegal groups, drug trafficking groups that are instigating the community cannot be accepted. There must be a very strong presence of the State, but that is not enough by itself. There must be a large inter-institutional presence of the national and departmental governments and the Buenaventura district to implement a policy that addresses ethno-education, social issues, employment and water, satisfying the social needs of Buenaventura. If the State does not act, it gives allows people to accept the proposals of drug trafficking sectors and illegal groups. It is necessary to have a strong military but also social presence, as the governor of Valle Clara Luz Roldán says, a strategy of engagement with the community.

How is the situation of social leaders in the Valley?
It is serious that social leaders continue to be threatened and assassinated. This is an issue that we have discussed at the request of the governor in the past Departmental Peace Council. Security councils have been established, such as a Departmental Human Rights Committee. We have a Human Rights subcommittee and we are dealing with these issues. We ae working with the National Protection Unit, with the police, with the related institutions.

What programs has the Valley Peace Secretariat been implementing?

The development plan of Valle del Cauca includes the building of peace territories. It is in the model of territorial peace that we are working to benefit the families of the reincorporated populations and the victims of the armed conflict, which in the department number more than 500 thousand. We work to ensure that Law 1448 is applied to aid the victims of the armed conflict and to generate productive projects for the reintegrated in Valle del Cauca. Last year the governor agreed to invest in the victims of the armed conflict, an investment in the four-year period of more than $ 88 billion for this population and for the reincorporated an investment of more than $ 1.65 billion in productive projects and technical assistance in coordination with the municipalities.

Has the pandemic affected these peace programs?

Yes, it has affected us a lot because there is an isolation of the community and social sectors due to the issues of unemployment, of hunger that occurs in some sectors. We respond with humanitarian aid in coordination with the Victims Unit of the national government, with resources placed by the Valle del Cauca Government, with the mayors, and we try to overcome the problem of communications through the use of social networks to continue acting with the community where direct contact is difficult.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, Latin America

UN human rights expert urges to lift unilateral sanctions against Venezuela 

. . HUMAN RIGHTS . .

An article from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

The UN Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures and human rights, Alena Douhan, today  [12 February] urged the United States, European Union and other States to drop unilateral sanctions imposed against Venezuela.

At the end of a two-week visit to Venezuela, Douhan said the sanctions have exacerbated pre-existing calamities. They have resulted in the economic, humanitarian and development crisis, with a devastating effect on the whole population of Venezuela, especially but not only those in extreme poverty, women, children, medical workers, people with disabilities or life-threatening or chronic diseases, and the indigenous populations.

“The devastating effect of sanctions imposed is multiplied by extra-territoriality and over-compliance adversely affecting public and private sectors, Venezuela citizens, non-governmental organisations, third country national and companies, said Douhan, adding that “humanitarian exemptions are lengthy, costly, ineffective and inefficient”.

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Question for this article:

What is really happening in Venezuela?

Are economic sanctions a violation of human rights?

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“Lack of necessary machinery, spare parts, electricity, water, fuel, gas, food and medicine, growing insufficiency of qualified workers many of whom have left the country for better economic opportunities, in particular medical personnel, engineers, teachers, professors, judges and policemen, has enormous impact over all categories of human rights, including the rights to life, to food, to health and to development.

“Due to the complexity of the situation I sought to meet the widest range of people to listen to their experience and insights. I met government officials, diplomats, international agencies, opposition leaders, non-governmental organizations, lawyers, doctors, teachers, academics, victims of human rights violations, representatives of private business and of the church, as well as ordinary people,” Douhan said.

Sanctions were first imposed against Venezuela in 2005 and have been severely strengthened since 2015, with the most severe ones being imposed by the United States.

Douhan stressed that unilateral measures are only legal if they are authorised by the UN Security Council, or used as countermeasures, or do not breach any obligation of States, and do not violate fundamental human rights. She called on the countries to observe principles and norms of international law and reminded them that humanitarian concerns should always be taken into account with due respect to mutual respect, solidarity, cooperation and multilateralism. She plans to issue a full report on her mission in September 2021.

HUMAN RIGHTS, Latin America

Brazil: Culture of Peace in schools will be the subject of a webinar on February 18th

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from Imprensa 24h (translation by CPNN)

The Secretariat of State for Education, Sports and Culture (SEDUC), through the School Projects Service on Human Rights (SEPEDH), linked to the Department of Support to the Educational System, will hold the Webinar entitled “Culture of Peace in the School Environment: Paths and Possibilities”, on February 18th, at 3 pm, through the YouTube Education Sergipe channel.

According to the SEPEDH coordinator, Adriane Damascena, the actions are part of the goal achieved by SEDUC, implementation of the Peace Policy and promotion of non-violence, in partnership with the municipalities, in an intersectoral manner in schools. “All this effort to ensure that the Peace Policy was implemented within schools links directly with the Government’s commitment, impacting educational practices and building more harmonious interpersonal relationships in the school community, as well as raising awareness about the importance of human rights. It is a commitment between the teacher, the management and the student, in a collective action for the benefit of all ”, said Adriane.

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(Click here for the original article in Portuguese)

Questions for this article:

Where is peace education taking place?

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The webinar will include the contribution and participation of Josué Modesto dos Passos Subrinho, secretary of SEDUC; Eliane Aquino, deputy governor of the state of Sergipe; Haroldo Luiz Rigo da Silva, member of the Restorative Justice Management Committee of the National Council of Justice; professor Daniela Carvalho Almeida da Costa, doctor and master in Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure at the University of São Paulo (USP); Maria Conceição de Figueiredo Rolemberg, attorney general; and Adriane Damascena, SEPEDH coordinator.

Government Decree

The Government of Sergipe recently published Law No. 8,796, which institutes the School Mediation Program throughout the Public School System. The program aims to promote the peaceful resolution of conflicts in teaching units; to encourage non-violent communication between the school community; to train teachers, students and management teams for a culture of peace; to form school mediation teams capable of mediating between the actors of the educational process, and to stimulate the development of peaceful coexistence in the family nucleus and in the communities in which the schools are inserted, among others.

SEPEDH’s technician, Nadja Tavares Bispo Reis, pointed out that among the various actions that are already taking place and that are continuing, the program plans to bring non-violent communication training to schools, which is an instrument for conflict mediation. The program also intends to take an approach on peace-building circles and restorative circles, which are other important instruments for improving coexistence with diversities and divergences. “All of these methodologies, if well applied, will be able to minimize school violence and avoid major conflicts,” she explained.

She also highlighted the use of SALVE, a legal warning instrument instituted by the State Prosecutor’s Office, through which schools notify the state of violations or practicak cases within the school environment. “SALVE is used both by teaching units and also by health units. These data are cross-checked and, in view of the results, they inform public policies to resolve the levels of violence ”, said Nadja. Through the School Mediation Program there will also be an awareness-raising initiative with managers and teachers about the importance of SALVE and how to provide a notification.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Call to strengthen the culture of peace and non-violence in Chiapas

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION ..

An article from NVI Noticias (translation by CPNN)

Launching the citizen campaign “Taking steps for equality” in the municipality of Suchiapa, Jorge Llaven Abarca thanked the participation of citizens in this comprehensive project that aims to strengthen the culture of peace and non-violence in Chiapas.


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(Click here for the article in Spanish)

Questions for this article:

How important is community development for a culture of peace?

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After completing a 5-kilometer journey, accompanied by his wife Guadalupe Gómez Casanova and children, as well as Elena Torres Villanueva, president of the Granito de Arena International Foundation; César del Valle, musician from Chiapas, Llaven Abarca highlighted that this initiative includes different activities to generate healthy coexistence and to reinforce values ​​in the family and social environment.

“I thank all the people who joined this virtual race with their family and friends, the objective is to promote the culture of peace and non-violence. Society and government must walk hand in hand to build a more just and supportive society ”, he declared.

He pointed out that next Sunday, February 14, a sporting activity will be held in the municipality of Chiapa de Corzo: “The invitation is open for you to participate virtually practicing your favorite sport. All of us in unity will eradicate violence in Chiapas.”

Finally, Guadalupe Gómez Casanova asserted that the citizen campaign “Taking steps for equality” is also a call to children and young people to avoid the consumption of alcohol and drugs: “Let’s say yes to sports, it is a tool to get away from any vice. We want youth to be healthy and free of violence ”.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America

Argentina: Conflicts: Positive Balance of Community Mediations

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from Jujuy al dia (translation by CPNN)

The Provincial Director of Mediation and RAC, Gilda Romero of the Ministry of Justice, took stock of the tasks carried out during 2020, stating that in the face of the health situation, due to COVID-19, community activities were developed, through digital tools, in order to achieve the peaceful resolution of conflicts and controversies that arose during the past year.

Romero highlighted that the pandemic complicated the coexistence between neighbors and relatives and sometimes led to conflicts or disputes; “Faced with this situation, the Directorate intervened by opening spaces for dialogue between those affected, in order to reach peaceful resolutions,” she said.

She mentioned that the most recurrent conflicts were caused by actions such as annoying noises, parties or celebrations, excessive volume of music, misunderstandings, incorrect waste management, abuse of the use of common spaces, such as the occupation of another’s parking spaces, being among the most common.

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(click here for a version in Spanish).

Question for this article:

Mediation as a tool for nonviolence and culture of peace

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In addition, she recalled that they also carried out the “Virtual Conversation on Community Mediation” for the mediation centers of Libertador Gral. San Martín, La Mendieta, Perico, Monterrico, Humahuaca, El Carmen and Dr. Manuel Belgrano, providing virtual monitoring and advice in various cases that arose during the pandemic.

“Mediation as a body promotes good relations and cooperation between public and private institutions. They worked together with the Directorate for Children and Adolescents of the Municipality of San Salvador de Jujuy, through training “Protocol of Access to Justice for children, girls and adolescent victims of crime.” Also with the Provincial Council for Women and Gender Equality through the training “Law on Gender Violence and Gender Diversity.” Both trainings were aimed at community mediators.

Another task was the “Workshop Community Operators” which included four virtual meetings for students who are about to complete their studies at the Instituto Superior Populorum Progressio “In.Te.La.” of Libertador Gral. San Martin.

“As a member of the Federal Network of Mediation Centers of the country, I participated in the videoconference “20 years working for the culture of peace.” This was sponsored by the Undersecretary of Access to Justice, National Directorate of Mediation and Participatory Methods of Conflict Resolution Also later, the “Meeting of Mediators 2020″ held in the province of Córdoba,” she said.

In addition, the official mentioned that she participated in the virtual campaign with the slogan “Mediation as a lifestyle” and “Mediation in times of Pandemic”. This promoted through social networks, the importance of the essential values ​​of relationships social: dialogue, tolerance, respect, empathy and solidarity, as primary tools for peaceful and harmonious coexistence between neighbors and families.

“Community Mediation is the fundamental tool that works in the construction of a culture of peace, generating spaces for dialogue, peaceful agreements, consensus, reflections and experiences. It is the conflict management process that, through dialogue and consensus, manages to settle controversies from the simplest to the most complex, avoiding that the conflict goes into the judicial system”, concluded the Provincial Director of Mediation, Gilda Romero.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Cooperation and Chocolate: The Story of One Colombian Community’s Quest for Peace

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by Agostino Petroni in Yes Magazine

A community in Colombia is ditching traditional capitalist models in order to build a collective future.


Volunteers of the nonprofit organization Operazione Colomba accompanying some members of the Peace Community to Mulatos village.

When it’s time for harvest, Germán Graciano Posso, a 38-year-old Colombian farmer, leaves his village, La Florencita, with a group of co-workers and heads into the hills where the cacao trees grow surrounded by a lush rainforest. Cacao pods the size of giant lemons hang off the trees’ branches: They come in various colors—green, red, and purple—but tend to turn yellow when they ripen. Posso harvests the fruits by hand, cracks them open with a machete, and collects the grape-sized seeds, which are covered in a white, squishy casing. Then he places the seeds in a wooden box where the casing undergoes a process of fermentation. Finally, Posso spreads out the seeds on a flat surface to dry in the sun. After eight days of drying, they will be ready to become chocolate.

This might seem a common agronomic practice, no different from the one conducted by other cacao growers worldwide, yet it carries a greater significance in this northwestern corner of Colombia.

Posso belongs to the Comunidad de Paz de San José de Apartadó, a conglomerate of villages scattered in Urabá of Antioquia, one of Colombia’s deadliest areas. For more than five decades, from 1964 to 2016, a bloody internal war between the Colombian army, right-wing paramilitary groups, and FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) killed more than 200,000 people. In this war dictated by drug-traffickers’ interests (both FARC and right-wing paramilitary groups financed their fight by growing coca and trafficking cocaine), farmers were among those who paid the highest toll. Over the past half-century, the United Nations estimates, more than 7 million Colombians—in a country of 49 million—were displaced by the war.

However, resisting the relocation trend, in 1997 the San José de Aparadó farmers declared themselves a peaceful community, neutral to the conflict, and chose to stay in their territory. Their decision carried violent consequences for the community: threats, sexual assault, kidnappings, torture, forced disappearances, assassinations, and massacres. Posso himself suffered the killing of 13 family members, and in 2017, he said, he survived a murder attempt.

Two decades after its declaration of neutrality, the community still carries on its peace crusade. Despite many difficulties, they are hanging on to their collective work thanks to the precious cacao cultivation.

“This is a life project,” Posso says. “We’re not doing this only for ourselves, but also for the new generation.”

The Risks of Existence

In the ’70s, cacao production expanded around San José de Apartadó, adding to the corn and beans that were cultivated for subsistence there, and quickly became the area’s principal cash crop. In 1985, a group of farmers, supported by the leftist party Unión Patriótica, founded Balsamar Cooperative, seeking better terms for the sale of their product. They built facilities and bought trucks, paying higher prices for the cacao from the area because they could cut out intermediaries and sell the cacao directly to Luker, a Colombian chocolate company. The farmers of San José, seeing the profit, started planting more cacao trees.

The land on which the cacao trees grew didn’t just interest farmers but also paramilitary groups, the FARC, drug-traffickers, landowners, and the army. The fertile soil was great for illicit coca cultivations, and proximity to Panama made it a natural smuggling corridor to North America. In the early ’90s, the various groups started taking hold of the area and threatened social groups such as the Balsamar Cooperative.

In 1996, all of the local leaders of the Balsamar Cooperative and other social groups were either assassinated or fled for their lives. Just being in the territory was a danger: If an armed force set up a base camp close by, the opponents would often accuse the farmer who happened to live there of supporting the other group and murder them. A large proportion of the 7,000 residents of San José de Apartadó fled, which quickly reduced the community to 500. 

On March 23, 1997, Brígida Gonzáles, 69, along with the others who decided to stay, founded the Comunidad de Paz de San José de Apartadó. This “Peace Community” declared itself neutral in the conflict, pledging not to get involved in any way—from acting as informants to cultivating illicit crops—and asked to be left in peace. Anybody who was willing to comply with those rules was allowed to be part of the community.

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Question for this article:

What is the relation between movements for food sovereignty and the global movement for a culture of peace?

What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

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“We had already suffered more than 300 deaths, forced disappearances, and displacements,” says Gonzáles, who today is one of the community leaders. Like the rest of her community, her personal losses are many: She lost 17 relatives to the war, including two sons and three siblings, some of whom were militarized by the FARC.

The new neutrality status did not last long. A week after the declaration, members of the community were forced out by the conflict. The cacao trees were abandoned, and the forest took them back.

But San José farmers had been subsisting on that agriculture and their cacao sales: Staying away from the fields meant economic ruin. After a few years of abandonment, the community decided to go back to their land slowly.

Tending to the fields alone was too dangerous because a disappearance could easily go unnoticed, so they organized daily trips to the Peace Community in groups of 50 or 100 to take care of the cacao trees and harvest their fruits. That was the beginning of the peaceful communal effort to regain their territory. What started as protection mechanisms soon became part of a broader philosophy of life.

Building Peace Together

Gwen Burnyeat, a political anthropologist at the University of Oxford, in England, who has studied the Peace Community, says that the concept of community is a reaffirmation of how they live, work, survive, and build peace together.

“You have a really interesting solidarity economics model in which you have individual economics interacting with a kind of collective economics,” says Burnyeat, who published a book in 2018 called Chocolate, Politics and Peace-building  and produced  Chocolate of Peace, a documentary about the role of cacao in the Peace Community. Members of the Peace Community have some individual land, but most of the 150 hectares of cacao trees grow in collectively owned plots. Members gather in small groups to tend the different plots, and every Thursday they do any work the community might need, from repairing a roof to planting more cacao trees. All of the produce from the community-owned crops goes into a collective pot, and then the community decides together how to distribute the funds.

“To them, this is actually a very profound act of transcending traditional capitalist society models and building something together,” Burnyeat says.

The Peace Community is known internationally thanks to the support of nonprofit organizations such as Peace Brigades International and Operazione Colomba. And because of the outside support, the community was able to enter the Fair Trade network and sell their cacao abroad for higher prices. According to Posso, the community sells about 50 tonnes of organic cacao a year to Lush, a British cosmetic company that makes soaps and other products with their cocoa.

But according to Burnyeat, the visibility brought by the nonprofits is an advantage that few other communities have, and she believes it provides a protection mechanism that is unsustainable in the long term. Plus it’s a double-edged sword: The community openly denounces the crimes against humanity on their official website, but this visibility also increases the risk of reprisals, like in 2005, when eight community members, three of them children, were slaughtered  by a group of paramilitary and army soldiers. Since then, the community has ended any interaction with the Colombian government.

Fruits of Hope

In 2016, FARC, the revolutionary paramilitary group that had carried out the bloody war against the state for decades, signed a long-awaited peace accord with the government of former President Juan Manuel Santos. The agreement deeply polarized the country but marked a historic moment for Colombia.

However, four years later, the peace is shaky, failing those it pledged to protect: According to a 2019 report of Colombia’s Institute of Studies for Peace and Development, 700 community leaders have been murdered since 2016.

The Peace Community, in addition to suffering this new wave of violence, is also under the threat of losing their communal land from a state project of agrarian reform, according to Germán Romero, a lawyer with dhColombia, a nonprofit organization in charge of representing the community in court to seek justice for the violence they have experienced.

“We’re trying to keep the integrity of the territory,” Romero says. He says the community has survived physical extermination but might not survive the state’s project of redistribution of land. Local politicians and entrepreneurs who are against the community accuse them of having stolen the lands they cultivate, a claim Romero dismisses.

Losing the land that gives them the fruits of hope might mean the community’s end. But by continuing to harvest cacao, the community is stating, season after season, their right to live in the place they call home.

“The world is tired of war,” says Gonzáles, the community’s founder. “Why don’t they leave us in peace?”

(Thank you to Alicia Cabezudo and Azril Bacal for sending this to CPNN)

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, Latin America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Who to Believe about Venezuela’s Election: Firsthand observation or PBS Newshour?

. .DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .


An article by Rick Sterling in Transcend.org

In early December I traveled to Venezuela to be an election observer at their national assembly election. I was part of a group of eight persons from Canada and US organized by CodePink. There were about two hundred international observers in total, including the  Latin American Council of Electoral Experts.  I have previously been an official election observer in Honduras and was an unofficial observer at the 2015 Venezuela national assembly election.


Photo: Rick Sterling

Meeting Opposition Leaders

Before the election, our small group met eight leaders of the Democratic Alliance. This is the major opposition coalition. Pedro Jose Rojas of Accion Democratica said the US sanctions are not doing what is claimed; they are hurting average citizens. Bruno Gallo of Avanca Progressista said Venezuela needs negotiation not confrontation. Juan Carlos Alvarado of the Christian Democratic Party said Venezuelans have been “victims of politics” and that dialogue and flexibility are needed. Several leaders spoke about the importance of the national assembly and the road to change is through voting not violence. Several leaders expressed the wish for better relations with the US; another one said Venezuelan sovereignty needs to be respected.  The common request was to end US sanctions and interference in Venezuelan politics.

We visited the factory where voting machines were assembled, tested and certified. The staff was openly proud of their work. In March this year, nearly all the pre-existing voting computers were destroyed in a massive fire at the main election warehouse. There were calls to delay the December election. But in six months, forty thousand new computers were ordered, built, assembled, tested and certified for the December election.

The Election Process

On election day, Sunday December 6, we visited many different elections sites. Typically, the election voting takes place at a school, with five or ten classrooms designated as “mesas”.  Each voter goes to his or her designated classroom / “mesa”.

The voting process was quick and efficient, with bio-safety sanitation at each step. The first step is to show your identity card and prove your identity with fingerprint recognition. Step 2 was to make your voting choices at the touchscreen computer and receive a paper receipt. Step 3 is to verify the receipt matches your voting choice and deposit the receipt in a ballot box. The fourth and final step is to sign and put your fingerprint on the voting registry.  The entire voting process took about 3 minutes.

At the end of the voting day, we observed the process of tabulating the votes. At each “mesa”, with observers from other parties present,  the paper receipts were recorded one by one. At the end, the results were compared to the digital count.  Voting results were then transmitted to the headquarters for overall tabulation.

Election results were announced by the Council for National Election (CNE) which manages the entire process.  CNE leaders are not permitted to be members of any party and the CNE leadership was recently changed at the request of the opposition.  In our discussion with leading opposition members, they complained about incumbent party advantages but acknowledged the election process is free, fair and honest.

PBS Newshour Special

With this firsthand experience, on December 29 I watched a PBS Newshour segment   about the Venezuela election and overall situation.   PBS reporter Marcia Biggs said, “Maduro’s party essentially ran unopposed in this month’s election.”   As noted above, this is untrue.

In fact, there were 107 parties and over 14,000 individuals competing in the December 6 election for 277 national assembly seats. While 8 parties were in alliance with the governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), there were over 90 opposition parties. The strongest opposition coalition was the Democratic Alliance comprising 7 opposition parties.  The Democratic Alliance won 1.1 million votes or 18% of the vote. The LEFT opposition to the PSUV, under the banner of the Communist Party of Venezuela, received 168 thousand votes.

Reporter Marcia Biggs claimed that “politics permeates everything in Venezuela and can determine whether you support Maduro and eat or go hungry.” This claim is based on a campaign statement by PSUV Vice President Diosdado Cabello encouraging people to vote. He jokingly said that women are in the forefront and can say to their family, “No vote, no food.” Video of him making the statement is here.  This statement has been distorted out of all meaning and context.

The PBS story showed a fistfight in the national assembly, implying that it was the Venezuelan government.  But, as reported in the “Juan Guaidó surreal regime change reality show”,  the fight was between competing factions of the Venezuelan opposition.

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Question for this article:

What is really happening in Venezuela?

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When they showed Juan Guaidó climbing over a fence, that was a publicity stunt to distract from the important news that Luis Parra was elected Speaker of the national assembly one year ago.  That was embarrassing because Guaidó’s claim to be “interim president” was based on his being Speaker.

Election turnout was lower than usual at 31% but one needs to account for the election taking place despite covid19 with no mail-in voting. Also, millions of registered voters have had to leave the country due to economic hardship. Also, transportation is difficult due to gasoline scarcity. This was a national assembly election, equivalent to a US mid-term election, which gets lower turnout. Note that 95% of voting eligible Venezuelans are registered voters compared to just 67%  in the USA.  Thus a turnout of 50% registered voters in the US equates to 33% of eligible voters.

US Meddling in Venezuela

The star of the 7-minute PBS story is Roberto Patino, the Venezuelan director of a food distribution charity. The report neglects to mention that Patino is associated with a major US foreign policy institution. He is a Millennium Leadership fellow and “expert”  at the neoliberal Atlantic Council where the “regime change” goals against Venezuela are  clear.  His food charity “Alimenta la Solidaridad” is allied with the “ Rescue Venezuela ” funded by the US with the apparent goal of undermining the Venezuelan government and promoting “interim president Juan Guaidó”.

Roberto Patino says the Venezuelan government is “very paranoid and they see conspiracies all over.” Paranoia is a mental condition where there is fear of imaginary threats.  But US threats and aggression against Venezuela are not imaginary; they are very real:

In 2002 the US supported the kidnapping and coup against the popular and elected President Hugo Chavez. The years have gone by but US hostility persists.

* In August 2018 there was a drone assassination attempt  on the Venezuelan President.

* In January 2019 the US declared that it would not recognize the elected President Maduro and instead recognized Juan Guaidó as “interim president”. His background is described in the article “The Making of Juan Guaidó: How the US regime change laboratory created Venezuela’s coup leader”

* In February 2019 President Trump threatened military intervention  against Venezuela.

* In March 2019, there was massive power blackout caused by sabotage of the electrical grid, with probable US involvement.

* In May 2020, two former US Special Forces soldiers and other mercenaries were arrested in a failed attempt  to overthrow President Maduro.

* In June 2020, the US Navy warship Nitze  began provocative “freedom of navigation” patrols along the Venezuelan coast.

* In August 2020, the US seized four ships  carrying much needed gasoline to Venezuela.

* In September 2020, in a attempt to undermine the Venezuelan election, the US imposed sanctions  on political leaders who planned to participate.

* The US 2021 stimulus bill includes $33Million  for “democracy programs for Venezuela”.

Based on the past twenty years, Venezuela’s government has good reason to be on guard against US threats, meddling and intervention. The PBS program ignores this history.

Another hero of the show is the exiled politician Leopoldo Lopez. He was imprisoned in 2014 for instigating street violence known as “guarimbas”  which led to the deaths of 43 people.

Like Patino, Lopez  is from the Venezuelan elite, studied in the US and has major public relations  support in the US. Like Guaidó, Leopoldo Lopez is more popular in Washington than his home country.

Will the US respect Venezuelan sovereignty?

If the PBS Newshour reporters had not been so biased, they would have interviewed members of the moderate opposition in Venezuela. Viewers could have heard Democratic Alliance leaders  explain why they participated in the election, why they are critical of US economic sanctions and US interference in their domestic affairs. That would have been educational for viewers.

On January 5, the newly elected national assembly will commence in Venezuela.  The fig leaf pretense of Juan Guaidó as “interim president” of Venezuela will be removed because he is no longer in the national assembly.  In fact, he was removed as speaker of the national assembly one year ago.

But viewers of the PBS special did not learn this. Instead, they received a biased report ignoring the moderate opposition and promoting a few US supported elites.  The report ignores or denigrates the efforts of millions of Venezuelans who carried out and participated in an election which compares favorably with the election process in the US.  You would never know it from PBS, and you might not believe it, unless you saw it with your own eyes.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, Latin America

Dominican Republic: Government takes action to eliminate violence against women and girls

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

Excerpts from articles in Diario Libre and El Caribe (translation by CPNN)

Assuming that it will not be a short task, the President of the Republic, Luis Abinader reported today his plans so that what he described as “wrong and violent machismo” in the country can be eradicated.


Prize-winners of contest “How to Eliminate Violence against Women, Adolescents and Girls”

While answering questions about the cases of femicides that occur in the Dominican Republic, where there are already at least two women killed at the hands of their partners or ex-partners, the president spoke of the great concern that the issue constitutes for the Government.

He recalled that in his administration two shelters have been created for women victims of gender violence, although he recognized how difficult it was to put them into proper operation at that time.

He also mentioned the preparations they are making for the formation of a specialized body of the National Police dedicated to the protection of women at risk.

“… It’s an issue that is going to take years and that must begin at some point is an education, from schools, going to high schools and throughout the country, a great campaign to promote a culture of peace, a culture of eliminating the wrong and violent machismo ”, said the president who understands that the Dominican is a country of good people.
. .

(Click here for the original article in Spanish.)

Questions related to this article:

Protecting women and girls against violence, Is progress being made?

[Meanwhile, on a practical level . . . ]

The Ministry of Women awarded winners of the contest “How to Eliminate Violence against Women, Adolescents and Girls”, within the framework of its Vivir Seguras campaign with the aim of proposing positive actions so that women and girls can Live Safely.

At the event held in the Mirabal Sisters Room of the National Palace, Mayra Jiménez, Minister of Women, and Juana Damaris José, Vice Minister of Violence Prevention, handed out tablets to the young Ana Santana, who obtained first place with 368 likes, and Leidy Mojica who obtained second place, with 292 likes.

Minister Jiménez congratulated and greeted the efforts of the participants, thanking the family of the winners for their work, through positive upbringing that promotes a life without violence for women, adolescents and girls in their homes, schools, places of work and public spaces.

“This experience represents a great opportunity to think and collectively build solutions to foster creativity among adolescents and young people that contribute to the construction of a culture of peace that allows us to live in a civilized way,” said the Minister for Women.

She called on Dominican families to reflect on the importance of eradicating violence and knowing the complaint channels, since she understands that eliminating violence against women, adolescents and girls is a responsibility of the entire society. . ..

Thanking the Minister, prize-winner Leidy Mojica stated that, “if a woman does not love herself, she is not capable of loving others either and that it is important to carry the message so that everyone receives information on how to prevent violence towards women and young women as well ”.

The other prize-winner, Ana Santana, indicated that “through the contest she was able to learn more about the harassment suffered by women with compliments that offend instead of pleasing.”

The Minister for Women pointed out that due to the pandemic, a larger public event could not be held, but that this did not mean that it was not important, while leaving the doors open for young people like Ana and Leidy to inspire them to participate in other initiatives of the Ministry of Women and to dream big in order to occupy positions in the future, from which they can contribute to the construction of a society free of violence.

Adolescents between the ages of 14 and 16 participated in the contest, who made videos, with content-based audiovisual messages to prevent violence against women, adolescents and girls.

Latin America, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

Veracruz, Mexico : General Directorate for Culture of Peace and Human Rights

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .

Sources :

The facebook page of the Dirección General de Cultura de Paz y Derechos Humanos

The official gazette of the Gobierno de Veracruz

An article in El Sol de Cordoba

The latest campaign of the General Directorate for the Culture of Peace and Human Rights of Veracruz is called the Blue Heart Mexico campaign, as announced on its Facebook page:

What is the Blue Heart Mexico campaign: #AQUIESTOY against human trafficking?

* Contribute to preventing crime among those sectors identified as most vulnerable.

* Give voice to victims of human trafficking and make visible the situations in which they find themselves.

* Raise awareness among the population so that people understand how they contribute to human trafficking, even without knowing it.

* Provide specific information on crimes and what society can do for their prevention, detection and combat.

The General Directorate of Culture of Peace and Human Rights was established in the government of Veracruz in 2019 in order to contribute to institutional strengthening through the design, implementation, management, strengthening and consolidation of public policies on culture and education for peace.

As described in their program for 2019-2024, the General Directorate responds to the emergency of addressing human rights violations and the deterioration of the social fabric in a context of high rates of violence. It establishes guidelines to deal with everything related to violence prevention through culture and education programs for peace and nonviolence, and existing programs related to prevention.

The program contributes to the public policy regarding the disappearance of persons, trafficking of people, torture, attention to human rights defenders and journalists, violence against women, girls, and adolescents, with special attention to the two Declarations: the Alert on Gender Violence against Women (one for femicidal violence; and the second for Comparative Tort). It is also concerned with care for victims of human rights violations.

It is also concerned with care for all who are in vulnerable situations, such as the LGBTTTI population, the elderly, people with disabilities, indigenous peoples, persons deprived of liberty, as well as monitoring of the care and protection measures for the migrant population.

(Article continued in right column)

(Click here for the original Spanish version of this article.)

Question related to this article:

How can we develop the institutional framework for a culture of peace?

Is there progress towards a culture of peace in Mexico?

(Article continued from left column)

The objective on human rights includes six strategies, which refer to the following topics:

1. Coordinate search actions regarding the disappearance of persons;

2. Coordinate comprehensive care for victims of crimes and human rights violations;

3. Evaluate compliance with international recommendations, as well as those issued by the national and state human rights commissions;

4. Coordinate in Veracruz the State Zero Tolerance Strategy for Violence against Women and Girls;

5. Follow up for the fulfillment of the actions of the Work Program
of the Declarations of Alert on Gender Violence against Women
(DAVGM).

6. Implement comprehensive care in the area of ​​human rights to the population historically violated from the differential approach.

The objective on culture of peace comprises four strategies;

1. Construct a short-term community and situational intervention model, with the participation of local actors, civil society, academia and instances of the 3 levels of government in contexts of crisis of violence, to rebuild the social fabric, focused on a specific population or territory.

2. Construct with local actors education programs for peace and non-violence based on popular education and a psychosocial approach, for vulnerable groups or populations (especially in regions with indigenous populations), to enable reconciliation and / or healing, and based on empowerment of actors who contribute to the reconstruction of the community social fabric.

3. Construct programs for peace and nonviolence in educational institutions, based on a differential approach that allows a considerable reduction of different types of violence.

4. Strengthen mechanisms for security, social prevention and combating criminal acts, in order to reduce risk factors that generate violence and crime in the areas with the highest incidence of crime.

The lines of action planned for each of the strategies can be synthesized as follows: collaboration, promotion, dissemination, prevention, training, development of diagnostics, database generation, statistical analysis, design and implementation of protocols, models and mechanisms for care, monitoring and evaluation.

To sum up, this program sets an important precedent. For the first time, in the state of Veracruz an extremely complex problem is recognized and addressed: the violations of human rights in a context of structural violence that has damaged the social fabric. To face this crisis, the program proposes the construction of an original public policy, through the culture of peace and respect for human rights, based on solidly supported objectives, strategies and actions, and oriented towards a radical transformation of the guidelines of social coexistence. Likewise, and as far as we realize, this program represents a national benchmark at a time when the State’s greatest obligation for the population is precisely in matters of human rights and citizen security.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America

Culture of Peace against violence in Mexico

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

Special to CPNN from Roberto Mercadillo

The principles of the culture of peace are being used to care for the victims and to prevent further occurences of the daily violence in Mexico caused by drug addiction, homelessness and attacks on journalists, human rights defenders and their families. .



Video of “Ciclo de Diálogos en Línea: Salud y Paz 2020”

(Click here for Spanish original of this article)

Question for this article

Is there a renewed movement of solidarity by the new generation?

Is there progress towards a culture of peace in Mexico?

Students and researchers from the National School of Anthropology and History and the Metropolitan Autonomous University formed “Psicocalle Colectivo”, an initiative that follows the premises of Manifesto 2000 for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence to approach communities of people who live in the streets and who use psychoactive substances, to create social and government interventions based on inclusion and respect for autonomy and mutual understanding.

The Seminar Interdisciplinary Looks of Violence of the National Institute of Anthropology and History opened a new area in Culture of Peace to train Postgraduate students in Physical Anthropology.

In Mexico City, the Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists together with the Neuroscience Dream Center investigated the mental health of journalists, human rights defenders and / or their families who have been victims of violence in Mexico and they proposed forms of intervention based on a culture of peace and dialogue to address their mental health.

The National Strategy for the Prevention of Addictions, the National Commission against Addictions and the Chair for Peace of the Guerrero Autonomous University, have carried out the “Cycle of Online Dialogues: Health and Peace 2020” with more than ten workshops and free conferences on-line.

Latin America, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY