Protests hit Latin America

PUERTO RICO

This past weekend Puerto Rico was the scene of two main events protesting the neoliberal policies of Gov. Luis Fortuño’s administration.

The XXI Central American Games, with the participation of 31 countries, were to be opened on July 17 in the western city of Mayaguez, but a severe tornado hit that coast, damaging several structures in the stadium scheduled to hold the games. The opening was postponed to the following day.

On July 18, along with enthusiasm for the games, there was also a clear message denouncing Fortuño. In front of the entrance to the stadium several people held signs that read “Pítale a Fortuño en repudio” (Blow a whistle against Fortuño).

Fearing loud public disapproval in front of the international media covering the opening of the games, the governor cut short his planned speech. Instead, he just said, “The games are opened.” Though he shortened the time for the whistles, they were heard anyway.

Right after he opened the games, a group of athletes from Puerto Rico’s delegation held a banner that read in Spanish, “Red card for the Government of Puerto Rico.” In the World Cup of soccer, a red card is a penalty card that gets a player ejected from the current game and the next game.

The increase in hostile U.S. policy toward socialist Cuba also showed up in the games. In 1993 Cuba attended the games in the Puerto Rican city of Ponce. This time, however, the Cuban athletes could not participate in Mayaguez. Cuba canceled their participation last February when it became clear that U.S. federal authorities were imposing unequal treatment on the Cuban athletes.

The Puerto Rican Committee in Solidarity with Cuba issued a press release that read:

“We denounce the United States Government as the only actor responsible in preventing the participation of Cuba in these games and we understand that such action is an attack against our people, against Cuba and against all the peoples of the region.”

A Day of Solidarity with Cuba was held July 17 under the title “Not all are present, Cuba is missing. [We want] Games without layoffs and privatization, secure jobs for all.”

Some 30,000 people demonstrated July 19 in San Juan, protesting Fortuño’s repressive actions against demonstrators during and following the University of Puerto Rico’s two-month student strike. The “End of repression, respect for our rights march” also protested the economic policies of the current government. These policies have led to thousands of layoffs, widespread privatization and the imposition of an overall right-wing agenda.

PANAMA

Panamanian unions held a successful general strike July 13 to oppose President Ricardo Martinelli’s anti-people Law 30, other anti-people measures and the police massacre of Indigenous banana workers who were on strike in Changuinola. According to a statement by the Popular Alternative Party, “The strike achieved an almost complete standstill in the construction sector directed by SUNTRACS; the teacher’s movement achieved similar success nationwide as well as the administrative workers of the University of Panama; work at Coca Cola, Concreto S.A., Plásticos Modernos and Empaques de Colón, stopped 100 percent.

“In Cemento Panamá, Cuadernos Escolares, Plastiglas, Harinas Panamá, Cervecería Nacional more than 50 percent of the workers joined the strike. Other industrial sectors, which could not have a work stoppage, held picket lines and protest marches.” (pappanama.blogspot.com)

The actions, along with the Changuinola strike, forced the government to call for a Commission for Dialogue. This commission has only three labor representatives out of 13 members. Many sectors of the labor movement are opposing this commission, including CONATO, the National Council of Workers, which is composed of nine unions and several trade union federations. They are calling for an independent commission to investigate the Changuinola massacre.

When Martinelli recently visited Bocas del Toro (where Changuinola is a district) to distribute food to those affected by the criminal repression, the people refused to take it, stating that what they wanted was justice.

COSTA RICA

Under a shroud of silence from the U.S. media, on July 1 the Costa Rican National Congress approved a U.S. request to permit the presence of 46 U.S. Navy warships on both Caribbean and Pacific coasts for a period of six months. Equipped with the most sophisticated technology, these ships can carry 200 helicopters, including the infamous Black Hawks, warplanes and 7,000 Marines.

There are estimates that together with the U.S. National Guard already in Costa Rica, the number of U.S. troops could go up to 18,000. Supposedly to “combat drug trafficking,” this extraordinary display of U.S. military might is a terrible threat to the region, most particularly against socialist Cuba and the progressive governments of Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador.

This militarization is part of the new, more aggressive U.S. foreign policy. It augments the already-hostile U.S. presence south of the Rio Grande, which now includes the IV Fleet, seven new bases in Colombia, 11 bases in Panama and two in Honduras. The Costa Rican Constitution prohibits the presence of an army in the country. Article 12 of the Political Constitution states that “only by continental convention or for national defense may military forces be organized.”

The government of recently inaugurated right-wing President Laura Chinchilla Miranda from the National Liberation Party — she had worked with USAID — quickly approved the U.S. request to position its military. But opposition legislators and others have filed a lawsuit challenging this position.

There is popular opposition. A demonstration was called for July 21 to protest the approval of the U.S. request.