Andrew Clem home
Andrew Clem banner

Blog post


Monthly archives
(all categories)


June 28, 2006 [LINK]

Peru ratifies free trade with U.S.

The Peruvian Congress voted to approve [the free trade treaty with the United States that was signed last year.] All 28 members of the Aprista party, of which President-elect Alan Garcia is the leader, voted in favor of it. President Toledo pushed to have the vote taken before his term ends on July 28, after which the leftists allied to Ollanta Humala will gain a substantial number of congressional seats. Some of those legislators-to-be barged into the chambers during the late-night debate and staged a noisy anti-trade demonstration. This may be a grim foretaste of what is to come in Peruvian politics. CNN.com. In any case, the vote in favor of free trade marks an amazing turnabout from APRA's historical nationalistic stance, and it also demonstrates the party's strong parliamentary discipline. Some of the old guard Apristas must have cringed as they cast their affirmative votes.

Politics as usual in Colombia

Former justice minister Alberto Santofimio is on trial for plotting to kill Luis Carlos Galan, the charismatic presidential candidate, in 1989. It was a particularly gruesome scene as pistol shots were fired at close range on a crowded rally platform. Santofimio was a rival of Galan, and is accused of conspiring with the late drug lord Pablo Escobar to eliminate the crusading anti-narcotics politician. See BBC.

There are rumors that Ingrid Betancourt, who has been held hostage by the FARC rebels since 2002, may be released soon as part of a prisoner exchange. A FARC official says she is in good condition, but her family has had no contact with her since 2003. She was abducted while running for president, but the sweeping reelection victory by President Alvaro Uribe last month seems to have undermined the rebels' negotiating position. See CNN.com.

Brazil's war against gangs

Police in Brazil launched a preemptive attack against gang strongholds on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, killing at least 13 gang members. Another wave of violence was anticipated. See CNN.com. The possibility that this organized crime wave might spread to other cities and evolve into some kind of bandit-terrorist campaign poses a big threat to the government, and may hurt President da Silva's chances for reelection.

Posted (or last updated or commented upon): 28 Jun 2006, 8: 27 PM

(unformatted URL)
      .



This post is over a week old, so comments are closed.


© Andrew G. Clem. All rights reserved. Your use of this material signifies your acceptance of the Terms of use.


Hits on this page (single blog post) since July 2, 2007:

Category archives:
(all years)



This (or that) year's
blog highlights

Blog highlights have been compiled for the years 2010-2012 thus far, and eventually will be compiled for earlier years, back to 2002.


Explanation

The "home made" blog organization system that I created was instituted on November 1, 2004, followed by several functional enhancements in subsequent years. I make no more than one blog post per day on any one category, so some posts may cover multiple news items or issues. Blog posts appear in the following (reverse alphabetical) order, which may differ from the chronological order in which the posts were originally made:

  1. Wild birds (LAST)
  2. War
  3. Science & Technology
  4. Politics
  5. Latin America
  6. Culture & Travel
  7. Canaries ("Home birds")
  8. Baseball (FIRST)