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Park alert, companies that fight AIDS, sundry concerns and vulgar abuse
Urgent Volcan Baru National Park alert
Anybody out there know what they're going to do with the Volcan Baru National Park lately? I guess you all remember the cool fresh beauty of the pristine natural cloud forest, that cool cloud drizzle they call "bajareque" right up there next to Boquete and Volcan? Well I hate to inform you that all this is about to change and the Parque Nacional Volcan Baru (PNVB) and World Heritage Site is in grave danger of disappearing as such and with it great portions of pristine tropical cloud forest woodland and many types of endemic species, many of which only populate this tiny spot on this planet. The reason for this tragic event, a personal whim of building a road through a National Park and the diehard stubbornness from the first lady president (Mireya Moscoso) this country has ever had and (not to be a sexist) probably the last it ever will.
The situation has reached the point of "critical mass" now that President Mireya has surreptitiously and almost like a thief in the middle of the night enacted a new decree 107 of November 13, 2003 through the Gaceta Oficial, which modifies the existing one (decree 40 of June 24, 1976) which created the PNVB and now allows the building of the road by presidential decree http://www.prensa.com/hoy/portada/1382992.html. Since when can one person alone make or change laws? Not very democratic I believe.
The intentions for building this so-called "ecological" road (who ever heard of such contradictory terms) have surfaced ever since the lady took power back in 1999 but were shrugged off as being groundless and not taken seriously, an undertaking she would not even consider of going through with especially with all the public opposition against the project. Our groups have even suggested an alternative road (La Ruta Sur) around the park, which would benefit tens of thousand inhabitants there with no danger to the ecology of the park. But our hopes were dashed when late in 2002 (apparently she was carefully plotting her moves like a skillful chess player), she announced she would go ahead and build this road anyway http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_08/issue_19/outdoors_01.html.
Then in December and January the following year (and with the purpose of hurrying matters) she enacted two cabinet resolutions (number 123 of December 4, 2002 and number 10 of January 29, 2003), which gave the go-ahead for Constructora Urbana SA (CUSA) directly to sub-contract the Environmental Impact Study and the road building preparations themselves, shortcutting the requirement of celebrating an official bid by cloaking the issue with a "notorious urgency" decree (urgencia notoria). Who had ever heard of that before? http://mensual.prensa.com/mensual/contenido/2003/01/02/hoy/portada/835044.html.
In the beginning of 2003 we had "el niño" climatic phenomenon which made for an exceptional dry season. Fortunately for us we also had our information machinery going "full blast." There wasn't hardly a day when the newspapers didn't carry an article about the issue. So the park was saved for last dry season. Plus several lawsuits were lodged against the road. The first two were dismissed by the Supreme Court. It happens that Mireya's man in the court is Winston Spadafora (Sala Contencioso Administrativo), who is responsible for dealing with any suit against the government. It happens that the last two suits (one by ANCON) http://www.elpanamaamerica.com.pa/archive/11242003/nation04.shtml were finally accepted, which gave us a glimmer of hope.
La Prensa conducted a poll which showed that a only a "brutal minority" supported the building of such a tragic road, 81 percent against versus 15 percent in favor: http://mensual.prensa.com/mensual/contenido/2003/11/17/hoy/portada/1359828.html.
Finally an investigative article appeared in El Panama America, which proved that la presidenta did in fact own property in the road's way (an obvious conflict of interest): http://www.elpanamaamerica.com.pa/archive/11192003/nation15.shtml. Also view the Panama News comment: http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_09/issue_22/news_03.html.
Now to the bottom line we all know that our president is quite dependent on the approval by the the US Senate and Congress on many deals and sensitive issues she is working out with the US, such as the Plan Puebla Panama and the Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC) (similar to NAFTA). As we all know, these trade agreements hinge on environmental concerns. It also requires Congress to approve them.
Therefore I request that those of you who are US citizens prevent this little lady from getting away with this ecological madness, by voicing your concern directly to your senators and representatives on this matter. Just check out Yahoo or Google under 'Congress' and send them an email and get others to do the same. We've got to get this thing rolling! We also know that whatever the US voices carry a great deal of clout throughout the world especially here (you're free to use my letters and articles and all the material available on all our websites we created for this purpose). The dry season is just 15 days away and the tractors are already posted around the park for the assault. I believe that we are doing quite a bit down here organizing rallies, writing articles, informing people but I'm sure that with just a little help from our friends up there in Capitol Hill might just well make that little extra difference. Please HELP!
Looking for the Chens
I am wondering if you would be able to help me with a search for the Chen family from Chitre, Panama. Their daughter, Kenya, lived with us for three years, and we have lost contact over the years. The last letter I wrote was returned.
I am looking for Julio Chen Jr. and his wife Aura Elisa M. de Chen. I believe he was the mayor of Chitre 30 or more years ago. Their last known address was Apartado 1156 Chitre, Herrera, Republica de Panama. They also had relatives there by the name of Collado.
Do you have any suggestions for addresses or e-mail where I might continue my search?
Ex-reader
Fuck you i just quit reading your prpaganga
Editor's note: Sic. I received a fair amount of hate mail for the past issue, most of it from Americans on the far right of the political spectrum who objected to the inclusion of Al Gore's speech on the state of American freedom in the opinion section.
Politics is dishonest
I noted in checking the state of Illinois campaign financing on the internet that state senator Rauschenberger's financial record has been changed from about one million in contributions too about a hundred thousand contributions.
Somebody is dishonest, but I am not surprised. When I was in politics thirty years ago, honesty was much less important than attendance at political meetings. However the foundation of our political system is education, and when this is neglected, crime increases, and production decreases. At present, education in Illinois, is neglected, but our Governor made promises to conservative interest in the state not to pass income taxes, and he has good reason to be worried. The last two elected democratic governors in Illinois were sent to jail, and if he passes an income tax, he could be the third. However, this lack of honesty seems to be world wide. In capitalistic countries, the rich take advantage of the poor. Under socialist and religious governments, those in power, take advantage of everyone else. This is the way it has been for several thousand years, but now we have atomic bombs. Our earth has a crust that is between fifty and two hundred miles thick. If that crust is broken, the earth will explode like a balloon. When dishonesty in government creates angry people, some of them become dangerous, and in time they will learn how to make atomic bombs.
Ultimately, we cannot control learning, but we can create an international bill of rights. We can address in international court the complaints of angry people, and to some extent, mute the dishonesty of government.
Robert W. Carlson
Elgin, Il
Seven major companies commit to co-investment to expand
community HIV/AIDS programs using corporate infrastructure
Seven global companies with operations in developing countries --- AngloAmerican, Chevron Texaco, DaimlerChrysler, Eskom, Heineken, Lafarge and Tata Steel --- announced on December 3 that they will use their facilities, employees and other infrastructure to expand workplace HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs into communities where they operate. By using infrastructure that was created to serve their employees, this corporate contribution will reduce the start-up and running costs of public programs.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria applauded the willingness of companies to co-invest with public programs and encouraged its Country Coordinating Mechanisms to work with these companies to develop concrete proposals for funding in the upcoming proposal round, to be launched in January 2004. Ambassador Randall Tobias, who oversees President George Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, also lauded the approach.
The announcement was made at the residence of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki by US Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, Ambassador Randall Tobias, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and international agency heads Dr. Richard Feachem, Dr. Jong-Wook Lee and Dr. Peter Piot. Secretary Thompson, Ambassadors Tobias and Holbrooke are leading a delegation of business, government and non-profit leaders to Africa to build greater awareness and support for the fight against HIV/AIDS.
"We came to Africa to increase private-sector engagement in the war on HIV/AIDS, and this announcement is exactly the kind of innovative idea we want to promote," said Secretary Thompson. "Leveraging the resources of companies in this way is a great new opportunity for communities to realize the opportunity of the Global Fund."
The co-investment approach will benefit the fight against HIV/AIDS by increasing business engagement, sharing and thereby reducing program costs and maximizing near-term absorption capacity. Such capacity will be critical to the achievement of such global targets as 3 million people on antiretrovirals by 2005 ("3 by 5"), for which WHO and UNAIDS are mobilizing focused technical support.
The contribution of businesses in co-invested programs will include infrastructure as well as project management capacity and is intended to advance country-wide approaches to fighting the disease. Infrastructure costs have accounted for almost 40 percent of the financial resources required to scale-up Botswana's national AIDS treatment program, according to the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnership (ACHAP).
Ambassador Holbrooke commented "This is only the beginning of what companies can do --- I urge companies around the world to join these seven companies and the other members of the GBC in the fight against AIDS."
"We can only beat this pandemic if we work together," said Richard Feachem, Executive Director of the Global Fund. "Co-investment allows the private sector to contribute real assets and expertise to what must be a joint public/private collaboration in local communities. The Global Fund looks forward to providing financial support to this approach."
Pilot projects will be undertaken with the companies in the following countries:
* Lafarge, a building materials producer with operations in Cameroon (Douala and Figuil) has trained health workers to provide HIV treatment to employees and their families in remote parts of the country. These can expand their services to the community where access to state-run facilities is limited or altogether absent.
* In Ghana (Accra and Kumasi) Heineken, a beverage company, has been building HIV treatment facilities and training healthcare personnel. Now it is developing plans to ensure the facilities are sustainable and fully vested by the community.
* Tata Steel expanded its well-established workplace and community activities to encourage effective HIV/AIDS prevention through mass awareness and education. In Jamshedpur, India, the company has 21 community clinics serving 140,000 people that can be scaled-up to accommodate testing and treatment services for the community.
* In the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, Chevron Texaco and a number of companies in the extractive and energy industry will work together to consolidate their treatment networks including company hospitals and satellite clinics and to create broader community HIV treatment coverage. Companies in the extractive and energy industry will also partner at their sites in Russia (Sakhalin) to create broader networks of health care and HIV coverage.
* In South Africa, AngloAmerican and Eskom will pool resources such as clinics and skilled personnel in the "coal or power belt", a region stretching over 500 kilometers where both companies have mines and power plants. DaimlerChrysler's operation in East London has existing clinics, and they already share their healthcare staff with public sector services.
"As we work to more broadly engage resources to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the private sector has an enormously important role to play" said Ambassador Randall Tobias, the United States Global AIDS Coordinator. "I applaud the leadership being
demonstrated by these seven companies"
Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS said, "The GBC has always been at the forefront of innovative responses to AIDS through its highly effective advocacy with the business sector. This new initiative is one of the very first examples of genuine partnership between the public and private sector. It combines the individual strengths of companies and public health agencies to bring real HIV services for communities that desperately need them. Building on our long-established collaboration with the GBC, UNAIDS will provide the initiative with technical advice and support."
The International Labor Organizations and the World Economic Forum will also work to support the partnership.
The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS
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