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martes, 28 de febrero de 2023

El enojo del Presidente

A nadie debe sorprender que el evento del domingo en el Zócalo desestabilice a López Obrador, porque no es novedad su inmadurez emocional.

https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/opinion/raymundo-riva-palacio/2023/02/28/el-enojo-del-presidente/

febrero 28, 2023

Raymundo Riva Palacio

A nadie debe sorprender los insultos y mentiras del presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador contra algunas de las figuras más visibles que participaron en la concentración que desbordó este domingo la Plaza de la Constitución. A nadie debe extrañarle que ese tipo de desafío lo desestabiliza, porque no es novedad su inestable madurez emocional. Lo que es diferente es que hoy es el jefe del Ejecutivo, y que con sus enojos incontenibles estimula la violencia retórica, se lastima a sí mismo, a la investidura presidencial, y alimenta la percepción de que es narcisista y autócrata.

La mañanera de este lunes es un botón de muestra. Dedicó 37 minutos a la concentración en el Zócalo, durante los cuales profirió, en un cálculo estimado, 45 insultos y mentiras flagrantes, distorsionando episodios políticos y contradiciéndose para mantener su discurso de odio. ¿Por qué está enojado el Presidente?, se preguntarán algunos. En realidad está furibundo desde que Morena perdió la mitad de las alcaldías de la Ciudad de México, su bastión, y que en las elecciones nacionales de 2021 su partido obtuvo unos 2 millones de votos menos que los que alcanzó la oposición.

Todos los días agrega pinceladas a su cada vez más inevitable retrato de autoritario cuando reacciona con sevicia retórica a quienes no participen en el culto a su personalidad ni bailen al ritmo de su tambor. No importa si es un asunto local o internacional. Acomoda la realidad a su pensamiento, aunque se quede solo en el mundo defendiendo posiciones que emanan de su cosmovisión tropical. Lo que mejor refleja esa personalidad fue su reacción, ayer, al retiro definitivo del embajador de Perú en México, porque, acusó Lima, violó el principio de la no injerencia en los asuntos internos al apoyar al destituido presidente Pedro Castillo.

En sus propias palabras, de acuerdo con la transcripción de la mañanera de la Presidencia, López Obrador dijo: “Nosotros no aceptamos toda la farsa que ha significado la destitución del presidente Pedro Castillo, porque no se respetó la voluntad del pueblo de Perú, se pisoteó la democracia y se cometió una gran injusticia al destituirlo y encarcelarlo, y luego establecer de facto un gobierno autoritario, represor, y nosotros no coincidimos con eso”.

“Además, molesta mucho que todos callan. Está como esto que vimos (se refería a la concentración del domingo), que son muy hipócritas, gritan como pregoneros, ¿no?, cuando les conviene y callan como momias cuando no les conviene; entonces, la prensa mundial, los periódicos más famosos del mundo, la OEA en el caso de América, la ONU, las organizaciones de derechos humanos, nadie habla de esa gran injusticia, cuyo fondo es que una oligarquía en el Perú, nacional, pero sobre todo extranjera, está saqueando los bienes naturales del Perú: el gas, los recursos mineros”.

“Y necesitan tener un títere, un pelele, un gobernante a modo, y un Congreso también, como lo padecimos aquí nosotros durante más de 30 años, que todas las reformas a la Constitución que se hicieron fue para favorecer a una minoría rapaz y entregarles los bienes públicos, los bienes de la nación a empresas nacionales y extranjeras, todo el proceso de privatización; es lo mismo. En el caso nuestro, en 36 años ninguna reforma a la Constitución se llevó a cabo para beneficiar al pueblo raso, todas las reformas fueron para ajustar el marco jurídico al propósito de saquear a México. Entonces, es algo parecido lo que está sucediendo en el Perú. Entonces, molesta, indigna, es una gran injusticia, no se puede uno quedar callado, y lo vamos a seguir haciendo”.

¿Cómo se traduce esto? Que la presidenta Dina Boluarte es una pelele de las oligarquías, que el Congreso, la Suprema Corte y las Fuerzas Armadas se unieron todas contra Castillo para permitir el saqueo de los recursos naturales de Perú, contando con el silencio universal, una especie de conspiración global que involucró a las organizaciones multilaterales internacionales, las defensoras de los derechos humanos y los medios más prestigiados. Es decir, el mundo se alineó contra Castillo y él, López Obrador, es el único que se ha dado cuenta.

No se ría. La lectura que hace el presidente de México no debe causar hilaridad, sino preocupación y alarma. De manera creciente López Obrador reinterpreta las cosas y las cuenta a su manera. Ayer dijo que José Woldenberg, que fue el consejero presidente del entonces Instituto Federal Electoral que organizó la elección que resultó en la primera alternancia en la Presidencia, había sido una especie de instrumento del régimen para facilitar un gatopardismo. Pero minutos después, reconoció la alternancia y dijo que Vicente Fox la había traicionado. ¿Con qué parte de su interpretación nos quedamos?

Da exactamente igual, porque la verdad no rige su pensamiento, sino el cómo acomoda las cosas en su beneficio, como cuando dijo que las elecciones presidenciales de 2012 fueron fraudulentas porque hubo dinero en la campaña de Enrique Peña Nieto que inyectó la constructora brasileña Odebrecht. Esa historia la contó el exdirector de Pemex Emilio Lozoya, en colusión con el fiscal general, Alejandro Gertz Manero, como una de las condiciones para que recuperara su libertad. Ni ha salido libre Lozoya, ni es verdad lo que dijo. Odebrecht señaló, ante fiscales de verdad en Brasil y Washington, que a la única campaña que inyectaron dinero (500 mil pesos) fue a la de Javier Duarte para la gubernatura de Veracruz.

Las mentiras, la tergiversación de hechos, la reinterpretación de las cosas con fines propagandísticos están en el ADN de López Obrador, que no dejará de repetir las mismas falsedades, ni dejar de insultar, ni de violar la ley para enfrentar a todo ese conglomerado trasnacional corrupto que no tiene su visión y claridad sobre lo que pasa y por qué pasa. A muchos les parecerá muy afortunado tener un Presidente como él; a otros les empezará a causar lástima sus limitaciones, aunque se enoje, siga enojado y busque quiénes le paguen la incomprensión que debe sentir entre sus compatriotas y en el mundo.


lunes, 27 de febrero de 2023

Sat. March 18 -- National March on Washington – at the White House

On the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq

No War in Ukraine! No to NATO! No Weapons, No Money for the Ukraine War

Coinciding with the 20th anniversary weekend of the criminal U.S.-invasion of Iraq, a major set of actions including a demonstration at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Saturday March 18 demanding "Peace in Ukraine – Say NO to Endless U.S. Wars” and “Fund People's Needs, Not the War Machine.” Since 2003, the U.S. has engaged in sanctions (economic war) on more than 40 countries. These targets of U.S. economic warfare include the people of Cuba, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Iran and many other nations. Even in the wake of the worst disasters, like the recent deadly earthquake, Washington keeps its cruel sanctions in place against Syria. U.S. bases and “commands” blanket most of the world. It is a global empire.

The Biden administration is determined to escalate the Ukraine war. The real goal of the massive arming and training of Ukrainian forces has nothing to do with the interests of Ukrainian, Russian or American people. The aim instead is to “weaken Russia” as stated by the U.S. Secretary of Defense himself, even at the risk of a catastrophic nuclear war that could end life on Earth. A U.S. General commanding 50,000 troops in the Pacific also issued a letter to his sub-commanders in recent days informing them that he believes that the United States will be at war with China within two years. The danger of global war is growing! The people must act!

The demonstration will make connections between the human and financial toll of U.S. militarism at home and abroad. Key demands include:

  • Peace in Ukraine - No weapons, no money for the Ukraine War
  • Abolish NATO – End U.S. militarism & sanctions!
  • Fund people’s needs, not the war machine!
  • No war with China!
  • End U.S. aid to racist apartheid Israel!
  • Fight racism & bigotry not war!
  • U.S. hands off  Haiti!
  • End AFRICOM!

Endorsers:

United National Anti-War Coalition, ANSWER Coalition, Black Alliance for Peace, The People's Forum, CodePink, World BEYOND War, Popular Resistance, Veterans for Peace, International Action Center, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, Labor Against Racism and War, Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, Universal African Peoples Organization, East Bay Democratic Socialists of America, Socialist Action, Nevada Green Party, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Ohio Peace Council, Green Party of Connecticut, Berkely Fellowship of Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Committee, Environmentalists Against War, Pacific Green Party (OR), Linn-Benton Chapter, Lauren Faith Smith Ministry for Nonviolence, Maine Cumberland County Greens, Genesee Valley Citizens for Peace, San Jose Peace and Justice Center, Servicio Particular Alacran, Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, PeaceWorks of Greater Brunswick, UPWARD (Uniting Peace With Actions Respect and Dignity), Socialist Party of America, North Country Peace Group, Workers World Party, Roger Waters, Bronx Antiwar Coalition, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Chicago Anti-War Coalition, National Immigrant Solidarity Network, China-US Solidarity Network, North American Climate Conservation and Environmental group, Stop the War Machine - New Mexico, Mobilization Against War and Occupation,  Struggle  La Lucha,   Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace, Odessa Solidarity Campaign, DC Young Communist League, Uhuru Solidarity Movement, North American Climate Conservation and Environment group, Virginia Defenders for Freedom Justice & Equality, Roger Waters...

domingo, 26 de febrero de 2023

Hoy está en juego la democracia

Esa democracia ya permitió tres alternancias del poder ejecutivo federal, en el 2000, 2012 y 2018… y no se quiere que haya más, opina Enrique Quintana.

febrero 25, 2023

https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/opinion/enrique-quintana/2023/02/25/hoy-esta-en-juego-la-democracia/

Hoy está en juego la democracia en México.

Este domingo van a realizarse decenas de concentraciones en todo el país e incluso en el extranjero. El propósito de todas ellas es expresar el rechazo a una reforma que pretende destruir el sistema electoral que ha permitido que México se convierta en una real democracia en el curso de los últimos 30 años. De hecho es precisamente ese sistema, construido desde las movilizaciones de 1988, el que permitió que López Obrador y Morena llegaran al poder. Pero, precisamente, por la existencia de un juego democrático equitativo como el que existe en México, AMLO y el gobierno actual saben que pueden perder el poder.

Esa democracia ya permitió tres alternancias del poder ejecutivo federal, en el 2000, 2012 y 2018… y no se quiere que haya más.

Por eso es que se ha querido cambiar las reglas para tener reglas del juego que aseguren que Morena en el 2024 vuelva a obtener la presidencia de la República y el control de las Cámaras del Congreso.

Entre Morena y sus aliados se mezcla la visión de la vieja izquierda que consideraba que las elecciones eran solo una vía para llegar al poder, no el eje del sistema democrático, y la vieja mentalidad priista, expresada en aquella célebre frase del eterno líder sindical, Fidel Velázquez, en la que afirmaba que ganaron el poder con las armas, y que se los tendrían que quitar de la misma manera. Los cambios que cargan los dados en materia electoral a favor de Morena ya fueron aprobados en su totalidad por el Congreso de la Unión y ahora están a la espera de ser promulgados por el presidente de la República. Una vía para combatirlos es la jurídica.

En cuanto las reformas sean promulgadas vendrá una ola de Acciones de Inconstitucionalidad que llegarán a la Corte, así como Controversias Constitucionales y Juicios de Amparo que llegarán a los diferentes juzgados de la República. Tengo confianza en que el Poder Judicial tendrá la integridad y el valor suficientes para detener los cambios que claramente son violatorios de los preceptos constitucionales. Esa ruta, probablemente llevará algunos meses y, cómo vimos ya en los últimos días, habrá fuertes presiones en contra de la Corte para que no resuelva en los términos constitucionales sino al gusto del presidente. Por fortuna creo que López Obrador está equivocando la estrategia ya que con la grosera presión contra el Poder Judicial, lo que va a propiciar será que se reafirme la independencia de jueces, magistrados y ministros.

Además de la vía jurídica, hay otra igualmente relevante, se trata de la vía política, de la expresión de rechazo de la gente al intento de ‘destazar’ las instituciones que han garantizado la democracia en México, esencialmente el INE. Por ello, adquieren una importancia enorme las movilizaciones que el día de hoy van a realizarse. Si se logran llenar muchas plazas públicas en toda la República, comenzando por el Zócalo de la Ciudad de México, se hará difícil que prospere el intento de destruir las instituciones y reglas que preservan la democracia. Ya le he comentado en varias ocasiones que la Corte, aunque base tus decisiones en el análisis de la constitucionalidad de las leyes, no opera en una burbuja sino que toma sus determinaciones en un ambiente social específico. Tengo la certeza de que una movilización ciudadana de enormes magnitudes a nivel nacional le hará ver a los ministros que, literalmente, la gente de a pie es la que rechaza el intento de pasar por arriba de nuestra ley fundamental, para establecer un sistema electoral que cargue los dados a favor del régimen actual. En el mes de noviembre, en buena medida, la movilización ciudadana impidió que se realizara la reforma constitucional pretendida por López Obrador, que iba a cambiar la Constitución y a destruir al Instituto Nacional Electoral. Lo que ahora se pretende es hacerlo a través de los cambios legales que ya fueron aprobados, aprovechando la mayoría simple de Morena en las dos cámaras. La concentración ciudadana en las plazas públicas el día de hoy puede conducir a que también se impida este intento, respaldando la independencia y autonomía del Poder Judicial.

Hoy, la defensa del voto libre, requiere la consigna: “la Corte no se toca”. No será la última batalla. Habrá otras en el futuro que influyan en el curso de los acontecimientos en el país.

Pero, si la de hoy se pierde, es probable que ya no haya manera de revertir el resultado de la guerra.

viernes, 24 de febrero de 2023

Endless Wars Are the Enemy of Freedom

by John W. Whitehead and Nisha Whitehead Posted on February 24, 2023

https://original.antiwar.com/jwhitehead/2023/02/23/endless-wars-are-the-enemy-of-freedom-2/

“Autocrats only understand one word: no, no, no. No you will not take my country, no you will not take my freedom, no you will not take my future… A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never be able to ease the people’s love of liberty. Brutality will never grind down the will of the free.”—President Biden

Oh, the hypocrisy.

To hear President Biden talk about the Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, you might imagine that Putin is the only dictator bent on expanding his military empire through the use of occupation, aggression and oppression.

Yet the United States is no better, having spent much of the past half-century policing the globe, occupying other countries, and waging endless wars.

What most Americans fail to recognize is that these ongoing wars have little to do with keeping the country safe and everything to do with propping up a military industrial complex that has its sights set on world domination.

War has become a huge money-making venture, and the U.S. government, with its vast military empire, is one of its best buyers and sellers.

America’s part in the showdown between Russia and the Ukraine has already cost taxpayers more than $112 billion and shows no signs of abating.

Clearly, it’s time for the US government to stop policing the globe.

The US military reportedly has more than 1.3 million men and women on active duty, with more than 200,000 of them stationed overseas in nearly every country in the world.

American troops are stationed in Somalia, Iraq and Syria. In Germany, South Korea and Japan. In Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Oman. In Niger, Chad and Mali. In Turkey, the Philippines, and northern Australia.

Those numbers are likely significantly higher in keeping with the Pentagon’s policy of not fully disclosing where and how many troops are deployed for the sake of “operational security and denying the enemy any advantage.” As investigative journalist David Vine explains, “Although few Americans realize it, the United States likely has more bases in foreign lands than any other people, nation, or empire in history.”

Incredibly, America’s military forces aren’t being deployed abroad to protect our freedoms here at home. Rather, they’re being used to guard oil fields, build foreign infrastructure and protect the financial interests of the corporate elite. In fact, the United States military spends about $81 billion a year just to protect oil supplies around the world.

The reach of America’s military empire includes close to 800 bases in as many as 160 countries, operated at a cost of more than $156 billion annually. As Vine reports, “Even US military resorts and recreation areas in places like the Bavarian Alps and Seoul, South Korea, are bases of a kind. Worldwide, the military runs more than 170 golf courses.”

This is how a military empire occupies the globe.

After 20 years of propping up Afghanistan to the tune of trillions of dollars and thousands of lives lost, the US military may have finally been forced out, but those troops represent just a fraction of our military presence worldwide.

In an ongoing effort to police the globe, American military servicepeople continue to be deployed to far-flung places in the Middle East and elsewhere.

This is how the military industrial complex, aided and abetted by the likes of Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and others, continues to get rich at taxpayer expense.

Yet while the rationale may keep changing for why American military forces are policing the globe, these wars abroad aren’t making America—or the rest of the world—any safer, are certainly not making America great again, and are undeniably digging the US deeper into debt.

War spending is bankrupting America.

Although the US constitutes only 5% of the world's population, America boasts almost 50% of the world's total military expenditure, spending more on the military than the next 19 biggest spending nations combined.

In fact, the Pentagon spends more on war than all 50 states combined spend on health, education, welfare, and safety.

The American military-industrial complex has erected an empire unsurpassed in history in its breadth and scope, one dedicated to conducting perpetual warfare throughout the earth.

Since 2001, the US government has spent more than $4.7 trillion waging its endless wars.

Having been co-opted by greedy defense contractors, corrupt politicians and incompetent government officials, America’s expanding military empire is bleeding the country dry at a rate of more than $32 million per hour.

In fact, the US government has spent more money every five seconds in Iraq than the average American earns in a year.

Future wars and military exercises waged around the globe are expected to push the total bill upwards of $12 trillion by 2053.

Talk about fiscally irresponsible: the US government is spending money it doesn’t have on a military empire it can’t afford.

Unfortunately, even if we were to put an end to all of the government’s military meddling and bring all of the troops home today, it would take decades to pay down the price of these wars and get the government’s creditors off our backs.

As investigative journalist Uri Friedman puts it, for more than 15 years now, the United States has been fighting terrorism with a credit card, “essentially bankrolling the wars with debt, in the form of purchases of US Treasury bonds by U.S.-based entities like pension funds and state and local governments, and by countries like China and Japan.”

War is not cheap, but it becomes outrageously costly when you factor in government incompetence, fraud, and greedy contractors. Indeed, a leading accounting firm concluded that one of the Pentagon’s largest agencies “can’t account for hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of spending.”

Unfortunately, the outlook isn’t much better for the spending that can be tracked.

A government audit found that defense contractor Boeing has been massively overcharging taxpayers for mundane parts, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in overspending. As the report noted, the American taxpayer paid:

$71 for a metal pin that should cost just 4 cents; $644.75 for a small gear smaller than a dime that sells for $12.51: more than a 5,100 percent increase in price. $1,678.61 for another tiny part, also smaller than a dime, that could have been bought within DoD for $7.71: a 21,000 percent increase. $71.01 for a straight, thin metal pin that DOD had on hand, unused by the tens of thousands, for 4 cents: an increase of over 177,000 percent.

That price gouging has become an accepted form of corruption within the American military empire is a sad statement on how little control “we the people” have over our runaway government.

Mind you, this isn’t just corrupt behavior. It’s deadly, downright immoral behavior.

Americans have thus far allowed themselves to be spoon-fed a steady diet of pro-war propaganda that keeps them content to wave flags with patriotic fervor and less inclined to look too closely at the mounting body counts, the ruined lives, the ravaged countries, the blowback arising from ill-advised targeted-drone killings and bombing campaigns in foreign lands, or the transformation of our own homeland into a warzone.

That needs to change.

The US government is not making the world any safer. It’s making the world more dangerous. It is estimated that the US military drops a bomb somewhere in the world every 12 minutes. Since 9/11, the United States government has directly contributed to the deaths of around 500,000 human beings. Every one of those deaths was paid for with taxpayer funds.

The US government is not making America any safer. It’s exposing American citizens to alarming levels of blowback, a CIA term referring to the unintended consequences of the US government’s international activities. Chalmers Johnson, a former CIA consultant, repeatedly warned that America’s use of its military to gain power over the global economy would result in devastating blowback.

The 9/11 attacks were blowback. The Boston Marathon Bombing was blowback. The attempted Times Square bomber was blowback. The Fort Hood shooter, a major in the US Army, was blowback.

The US military’s ongoing drone strikes will, I fear, spur yet more blowback against the American people.

The war hawks’ militarization of America—bringing home the spoils of war (the military tanks, grenade launchers, Kevlar helmets, assault rifles, gas masks, ammunition, battering rams, night vision binoculars, etc.) and handing them over to local police, thereby turning America into a battlefield—is also blowback.

James Madison was right: “No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” As Madison explained, “Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes… known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.”

We are seeing this play out before our eyes.

The government is destabilizing the economy, destroying the national infrastructure through neglect and a lack of resources, and turning taxpayer dollars into blood money with its endless wars, drone strikes and mounting death tolls.

Clearly, our national priorities are in desperate need of an overhauling.

At the height of its power, even the mighty Roman Empire could not stare down a collapsing economy and a burgeoning military. Prolonged periods of war and false economic prosperity largely led to its demise. As historian Chalmers Johnson predicts:

The fate of previous democratic empires suggests that such a conflict is unsustainable and will be resolved in one of two ways. Rome attempted to keep its empire and lost its democracy. Britain chose to remain democratic and in the process let go its empire. Intentionally or not, the people of the United States already are well embarked upon the course of non-democratic empire.

This is the “unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex” that President Dwight Eisenhower warned us more than 50 years ago not to let endanger our liberties or democratic processes.

Eisenhower, who served as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II, was alarmed by the rise of the profit-driven war machine that emerged following the war—one that, in order to perpetuate itself, would have to keep waging war.

We failed to heed his warning.

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, war is the enemy of freedom.

As long as America’s politicians continue to involve us in wars that bankrupt the nation, jeopardize our servicemen and women, increase the chances of terrorism and blowback domestically, and push the nation that much closer to eventual collapse, “we the people” will find ourselves in a perpetual state of tyranny.

Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair DiariesWhitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.

jueves, 23 de febrero de 2023

TRIAL OF MEXICO’S FORMER TOP COP NEGLECTED U.S. ROLE IN WAR ON DRUGS

Genaro García Luna was convicted on Tuesday of accepting millions in cartel bribes. But the information U.S. officials had went mostly unexplored.

José Olivares

February 21 2023

https://theintercept.com/2023/02/21/garcia-luna-verdict/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=The%20Intercept%20Newsletter

ON TUESDAY, Genaro García Luna, Mexico’s former top law enforcement official known as the “architect” of the Mexican side of the drug war, was found guilty in New York federal court of collaborating with the Sinaloa cartel, the biggest organized crime group in North America.

For years, García Luna was the U.S. government’s most trusted ally in the war on drugs. As public security secretary, he wielded incredible power, overseeing Mexico’s Federal Police, the prison network, and a vast intelligence-gathering infrastructure, while working with the Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, CIA, and Department of Homeland Security in the fight against Mexican cartels.

“García Luna, who once stood at the pinnacle of law enforcement in Mexico, will now live the rest of his days having been revealed as a traitor to his country and to the honest members of law enforcement who risked their lives to dismantle drug cartels,” said Breon Peace, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

For experts and human rights advocates watching, however, the trial was ultimately underwhelming, revealing little about how the U.S. government and other Mexican politicians are implicated in the war on drugs. Rather, the case portrayed García Luna and his network of corrupt officials as a handful of bad apples, and what U.S. officials knew about García Luna’s illicit activities went mostly unexplored, despite the government’s role in providing funding, equipment, and training that has fueled drug-related violence. The ongoing conflict has led to 400,000 people killed, 82,000 disappeared, and hundreds of thousands displaced.

García Luna was found guilty of all five charges, including drug trafficking and continuing a criminal enterprise. Prosecutors alleged that he received around $274 million in bribes from the cartel from 2001 to 2012, first as head of the Federal Investigative Agency, the Mexican equivalent of the FBI, and then as secretary of public security.

García Luna was known to show off how close he was with U.S. officials: He held photo-ops and meetings with top U.S. officials, including President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and U.S. Attorney Eric Holder. Within the first couple years of his tenure as Mexico’s top cop, a glowing New York Times Magazine profile called him “The Fixer.”

Despite hints during the trial at how U.S. government officials may have known about García Luna’s dealings with the cartel, the dearth of physical evidence meant that the verdict largely relied on witness testimony and secondhand information. At one point, the prosecution even moved to stop the defense from asking questions about García Luna’s high-level meetings in Washington, D.C.

Though no solid allegations against the U.S. and Mexican governments emerged from the trial, experts say the verdict should be considered as a wider indictment of political corruption on both sides of the border, at the expense of victims of the militarized drug war.

“García Luna’s guilty verdict confirms the legacy of corruption in the governments of Felipe Calderón and Vicente Fox left in the wake of the U.S.-backed ‘war on drugs,’” said Oswaldo Zavala, a professor at the City University of New York and author of “Drug Cartels Do Not Exist: Narcotrafficking in U.S. and Mexican Culture.” “It should also be understood as a condemnation of decades of violent anti-drug policies that only enriched a few, while hurting the most vulnerable and disenfranchised.”

IN 2001, UNDER Mexican President Vicente Fox, García Luna became the head of the Federal Investigation Agency, known by its Spanish acronym AFI. At the time, the Sinaloa cartel was divided into factions: One was led by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, and another by Arturo Beltrán Leyva, Guzmán’s cousin.

According to the prosecution’s first witness, Sergio “El Grande” Villarreal Barragán, a former leader in the Beltrán Leyva faction, cartel members would pool money together to bribe García Luna and other top AFI officials, and, in exchange, AFI assisted the Sinaloa cartel in its war against rival groups. AFI also supplied cartel members with fake AFI uniforms, credentials, and vehicles, Villarreal Barragán said, and AFI agents would help conducts raids against rivals. The relationship allowed the cartel to traffic drugs and expand its territory within Mexico, while García Luna and AFI officials enjoyed the spoils of the cartel’s success.

In 2006, the new President Felipe Calderón appointed García Luna as secretary of public security, a cabinet-level position. When the Sinaloa cartel learned of the imminent appointment, Jesús “El Rey” Zambada, a former top cartel leader and brother of Ismael Zambada, testified that he and the cartel’s attorney delivered $3 million and $2 million to García Luna on two separate occasions.

That same year, the Mexican government launched the war on drugs. As the top law enforcement official in the country, García Luna became the face of the war, helping Calderón forge a new relationship with the U.S. to combat organized crime. As the drug war got underway, Jesús Zambada testified, Mexico’s Federal Police, who operated under García Luna, was helping the cartel traffic drugs through the Mexico City airport.

In 2008, the U.S. intensified its role in the drug war with a $1.5 billion security cooperation agreement with Mexico called the Mérida Initiative. The U.S. began sending weapons and money, and providing training to Mexican security units, as part of the effort to stop drug trafficking into the U.S. The Mérida Initiative approached the drug war using what is known as the “kingpin strategy” to arrest and extradite leaders of the major drug trafficking organizations; Guzmán was among the cartel leaders taken down as part of these efforts.

U.S.-trained units have been implicated in grave rights abuses and organized crime. Throughout the trial, prosecutors alleged that Ivan Reyes Arzate, a former top Federal Police official, worked with García Luna and undermined operations against criminal groups. But what flew under the radar was that Reyes Arzate, who is now in a U.S. federal prison, was the top commander of the DEA’s most-trusted unit inside the police force and received specialized training in Quantico, Virginia.

“When the U.S. had the most influence over security policy in Mexico — because the Federal Police was something we were deeply invested in — the whole system was corrupt and flawed,” said Michael Lettieri, a senior fellow for human rights at University of California, San Diego’s Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies.

During the trial, a DEA agent testified that the U.S. government knew of his alleged ties to organized crime since 2010, two years before he stepped down from office. The agent said that Villarreal Barragán — the former Beltrán Leyva lieutenant — had provided him information on the bribes to García Luna. In 2009, the DEA’s chief of intelligence operations, Anthony Placido, said in a public interview that the agency suspected García Luna of having ties to organized crime. Despite the DEA’s suspicions, the U.S. government continued working with him for at least three more years.

When a former U.S. ambassador took the stand, more questions were raised than answered about the U.S. government’s work with García Luna. Earl Anthony Wayne served as U.S. ambassador in Mexico starting in 2011. He met García Luna multiple times, Wayne testified, but said that “no one from law enforcement” ever told him García Luna was corrupt. When the defense asked Wayne about high-level meetings in D.C. with former officials, the prosecution objected, ending the line of questioning.

Some witnesses made charged but unsubstantiated allegations about top Mexican officials, including Calderón and current President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Edgar Veytia, a former attorney general from the Mexican state of Nayarit who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for working with cartels, testified on February 7 that the state’s governor told him that, in a meeting in Mexico City, Calderón and García Luna had said he needed to ally with Guzmán. At that time, the Nayarit state government was allied with Beltrán Leyva.

Calderón took to Twitter to deny Veytia’s allegations. “What he says about me is an absolute lie. I never negotiated nor made a pact with criminals,” he wrote. A poll from the Spanish-language newspaper El País found last week that 84 percent of Mexican respondents are in favor of an investigation into Calderón’s alleged ties to organized crime.

García Luna’s defense threw a political jab of its own when cross-examining Zambada. Defense attorney Cesar de Castro asked him about a $7 million bribe he allegedly made to Gabriel Regino, who served as Mexico City’s public security chief when Lopez Obrador was mayor, claiming the money was for Lopez Obrador’s 2006 presidential campaign. Regino has denied the allegation, and Zambada denied that the money was for Lopez Obrador or his campaign.

THE PROBING INTO García Luna’s alleged financial dealings does not end with Tuesday’s verdict, as the Mexican government is plowing ahead with civil charges that he stole money from Mexico.

García Luna left public office in 2012 following a change in presidency and moved to Miami where he started a security consulting company and lived a lavish lifestyle. Judge Brian Cogan barred any information about García Luna’s life post-2012 from being presented during the trial. (García Luna’s wife testified that their homes and assets in Mexico prior to the Miami move were purchased legitimately.)

In 2021, the Mexican government filed a civil lawsuit in Florida against García Luna, alleging he took over $700 million from government contracts; that case, experts hope, may reveal physical evidence of bribes that did not appear in the New York trial.

“I think that there may have been a lot more opportunity for documentary evidence, especially given the Mexican civil suit and what their financial crimes unit has been doing,” said Nathan P. Jones, a nonresident scholar in drug policy and Mexico studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. “That may have resulted in a case that may have had more paper documentation to back up the witness statements, if it hadn’t been limited to the pre-2012 period.”

While García Luna faces up to life in prison, the drug war shows no signs of ending.

Since he stepped down from office, the U.S. and Mexico’s “kingpin strategy” has led to the splintering of organized crime groups. Under Lopez Obrador, the Mérida Initiative was declared dead in 2021, but the Mexican president and U.S. President Joe Biden signed a similar security cooperation agreement later that same year. Despite Lopez Obrador’s campaign promise of “hugs, not bullets,” the National Guard — which replaced the Federal Police — along with the Army and Navy, continue to patrol the streets in the fight against organized crime. Lopez Obrador has also backed constitutional reforms for the continued militarization of public security until 2028.

On the U.S. side, 21 state attorneys general submitted a letter to Biden this month, requesting that Mexican cartels be designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, a move that would only heighten militarized action against drug trafficking groups and civilians.

“The actual verdict does matter, at least for the next three to four years while people still remember that it happened,” said Lettieri. “And then, 15 years down the road, it’ll be, ‘Garcia Luna who?’ And we’ll be exactly where we were — doing the same thing, losing the same battles, fighting the same war.”

miércoles, 22 de febrero de 2023

 ESTADOS UNIDOS SE LAVA LA CARA CON LA CONDENA A GARCÍA LUNA

Como lo anticipamos en este blog, el ex secretario de seguridad pública en el gobierno de Felipe Calderón (2006-2012), Genaro García Luna fue encontrado culpable de los 5 cargos de los que fue acusado en Estados Unidos, y ahora espera su sentencia para el mes de junio.

Igualmente, como lo hemos dicho hasta el cansancio en este blog, no se reveló durante el juicio nada que no se supiera ya, desde hace décadas. Esto es, que el crimen organizado es parte integral de los grupos de poder que controlan al Estado Mexicano; y por lo mismo, ninguna “estrategia” o “super policía”, del pasado o de la actualidad, va a terminar con el tráfico de drogas, de personas, de armas, contrabando de mercancías, de autos robados, etc.

El crimen organizado forma parte del entramado de poder del Estado Mexicano, y por lo tanto, creer que éste o aquél gobierno, o ésta o aquélla estrategia van a terminar con la violencia e inseguridad que plagan al país desde hace por lo menos medio siglo, es ser demasiado ingenuo o “pentonto”.

Ahora bien, el país hegemónico, es decir Estados Unidos, es la otra parte de la ecuación en este problema.

Hay reconocidos 33 millones de adictos a las drogas en ese país, y por lo menos dos veces más de personas que usan “regularmente” las drogas, aunque formalmente no sean adictos.

Estamos hablando que prácticamente un tercio de la población de Estados Unidos (alrededor de 100 millones de los 340 millones de habitantes), son compradores de los distintos tipos de drogas que se venden legal e ilegalmente en ese país.

Si se considera que en promedio cada uno de ellos gasta al menos 1000 dólares al mes en dichas compras (es una cifra conservadora), tendremos un mercado de 100 mil millones de dólares al mes; o lo que es lo mismo, un millón de millones 200 mil millones de dólares al año.

Esa cantidad de dinero compra muchas voluntades en el gobierno, las policías, las procuradurías, las fuerzas armadas, los bancos, las empresas, los medios de comunicación, los partidos políticos, etc. En México y en Estados Unidos.

Y ese es el punto fundamental. Para Estados Unidos está claro que el consumo de drogas de su población es un hecho irrefutable y que no pueden cambiarlo ni desaparecerlo.

Por más que criminalicen el consumo de drogas (17 estados ya legalizaron el consumo lúdico de la marihuana), la realidad es que su población es adicta a las mismas, y no va a dejar de comprarlas y de consumirlas.

De ahí que muchos actores políticos, económicos y sociales de Estados Unidos se enriquecen con ese negocio directamente (a través de la producción, distribución y venta) o indirectamente (como las agencias de seguridad y procuración de justicia, así como las penitenciarías que requieren cada vez más recursos para el “combate al narcotráfico”).

Por ello, para las élites de Estados Unidos es muy conveniente que el negocio siga y siga, pero que se le culpe a los proveedores de drogas de los altos costos en salud, económicos y en materia de inseguridad y violencia que conlleva este negocio.

Y quién más adecuado que el corrupto, débil y acomodaticio vecino del sur, que siempre está dispuesto a ser la “cabeza de turco”, el “chivo expiatorio” a modo para asumir toda la responsabilidad de las desgracias que conlleva el narcotráfico y sus negocios anexos; claro, a cambio de su respectiva “tajada”, que no será mayor a un 10 % (120 mil millones de dólares al año; el equivalente a 2 billones 204 mil millones de pesos al año).

Por supuesto que el papel que Estados Unidos juega en el comercio, consumo y mantenimiento de tan lucrativo negocio nunca se discutió o analizó en el juicio a García Luna.

El objetivo era doble. Por un lado, cumplir la parte del trato que se tiene con el gobierno de López Obrador de inculpar a los gobiernos anteriores de la situación de inseguridad y violencia en el país. Así, el gobierno actual puede quitarse responsabilidad del desastre que día tras día sufre la población mexicana con la violencia de los cárteles del narcotráfico y con el crecimiento en el consumo de drogas.

A cambio López Obrador sigue haciendo el trabajo sucio en materia migratoria y sigue cediendo lenta pero sistemáticamente a todas las exigencias de Estados Unidos en materia energética (“acuerdos” con las empresas que han demandado al gobierno mexicano por su preferencia por las empresas estatales) y de maíz transgénico (serán las propias “empresas” las que se autorregulen en esta materia).

De esta forma López Obrador sigue entregando los intereses del país a cambio de que Estados Unidos se convierta en uno de sus apoyos internos para aplastar a sus opositores.

El segundo objetivo de Estados Unidos fue demostrar ante la opinión pública de ambos países que el problema del narcotráfico y del consumo de sustancias letales como el fentanilo, es enteramente culpa del gobierno mexicano y de los cárteles del narcotráfico mexicanos.

Estados Unidos son “los buenos” que juzgan y castigan a los ”malos”, todos ellos mexicanos, y por lo tanto sólo los estadounidenses pueden dictar las políticas que se deben aplicar para combatir al narcotráfico.

Y el colmo es que los arrastrados y serviles medios de comunicación mexicanos (todos ellos, sin excepción, incluido el oficialista La Jornada) compraron enterita la narrativa gringa, y la repitieron como loros en nuestro país; sin haber hecho una mínima mención de que los Estados Unidos son tan parte del problema (de hecho son la parte principal del problema) del narcotráfico y la drogadicción, como lo es México.

Pero bueno, que se puede esperar de un país lacayo y bananero como México, cuya población en general es feliz siendo vituperada, explotada y ridiculizada todos los días por potencias extranjeras, por los vividores foráneos que llegan al país y lo siguen “conquistando” con espejitos y abalorios; y por sus propias élites depredadoras y socias del crimen organizado, a quienes nunca les ha importado el bienestar de la gente, ni el desarrollo del país.

martes, 21 de febrero de 2023

Putin’s state of the nation speech: What exactly did he say?

President Putin blames the West and Ukraine for the war he ordered a year ago.

21 Feb 2023

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/21/putins-speech-on-the-state-of-war-what-exactly-did-he-say

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has delivered a state of the nation speech in the Russian capital, Moscow, assessing the invasion of Ukraine he ordered a year ago.

Here are highlights from his address delivered on Tuesday to members of both houses of parliament, military commanders and soldiers:

‘Russia is suspending its participation’ in the New START treaty

“I am forced to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the strategic offensive arms treaty.”

The New START treaty was signed in Prague in 2010. It came into force the following year and was extended in 2021 for five more years after United States President Joe Biden took office.

It caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy, and the deployment of land and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them.

Russia has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world, with close to 6,000 warheads, according to experts. Together, Russia and the United States hold about 90 percent of the world’s nuclear warheads – enough to destroy the planet many times over.

‘A watershed moment for our country’

“I am making this address at a time which we all know is a difficult, watershed moment for our country, a time of cardinal, irreversible changes around the world, the most important historic events that will shape the future of our country and our people, when each of us bears a colossal responsibility.”

Western nations trying to ‘distract people’s attention’

“They just tried to use these principles of democracy and freedom to defend their totalitarian values and they tried to distract people’s attention from corruption scandals … from economic-social problems.”

‘Responsibility is on West and Ukrainian elite’

“The responsibility is on the West and the Ukrainian elite and government, which does not serve the national interest, but [rather serves the interest] of third countries [which] use Ukraine as a military base to fight Russia.

“The more they send weapons to Ukraine, the more we will have the responsibility of the security situation at the Russian border. This is a natural response.”

‘We don’t fight the Ukrainian people’

“We don’t fight with the Ukrainian people. They became hostages of the Kyiv regime that occupied Ukraine both economically and politically. Over years, they were doing everything to bring this degradation … They are using their people, it’s sad but true.”

Donbas subjected to ‘undisguised hatred’

“Step by step, carefully and consistently, we will resolve the tasks facing us. Since 2014, the (people of the) Donbas had been fighting, defending their right to live on their own land, to speak their native language.

“They fought and did not give up in the conditions of blockade and constant shelling, undisguised hatred on the part of the Kyiv regime. They believed and expected that Russia would come to their rescue.

“Meanwhile, we did our best to solve this problem by peaceful means. We patiently tried to negotiate a peaceful way out of this most difficult conflict, but a completely different scenario was being prepared behind our backs.”

‘Reviving enterprises and jobs’ in occupied Ukrainian lands

“We have already begun and will continue to build up a large-scale programme for the socioeconomic recovery and development of these new subjects of the federation (territory annexed from Ukraine). We are talking about reviving enterprises and jobs in the ports of the Sea of Azov, which has again become an inland sea of Russia, and building new modern roads, as we did in Crimea.”

‘I understand how unbearably hard it is’ for families of killed soldiers

Putin said he understood how difficult it was for relatives of Russian soldiers who had died fighting in Ukraine, and promised “targeted support” with a new special fund.

“We all understand, I understand how unbearably hard it is now for the wives, sons, daughters of fallen soldiers, their parents, who raised worthy defenders of the Fatherland.”

‘Child abuse all the way up to paedophilia … advertised as the norm’ in the West

“They distort historical facts and constantly attack our culture, the Russian Orthodox Church, and other traditional religions of our country,” Putin said of Western nations supporting Ukraine.

“Look at what they do with their own peoples: the destruction of the family, cultural and national identity, perversion and the abuse of children are declared the norm. And priests are forced to bless same-sex marriages.

“As it became known, the Anglican Church plans to consider the idea of a gender-neutral God … Millions of people in the West understand they are being led to a real spiritual catastrophe.”

“Look at what they do to their own people: the destruction of families, of cultural and national identities and the perversion that is child abuse all the way up to paedophilia, are advertised as the norm … and priests are forced to bless same-sex marriages.”