nicaragua entrevista al ministro de agricultura ariel bucardo latinamerica press 2008

8/14/2019 Nicaragua Entrevista al ministro de Agricultura Ariel Bucardo Latinamerica Press 2008

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JANUARY 23, 2008. VOLUME 40, N 1 ISSN 0254-203X

independent information, from latin america & the caribbean, for the world www.latinamericapress.org

Since the Peace Accords were signed in 1996, ending Gua-temalas 36-year-long civil war, the countrys political estab-lishment has emphasized its commitment to building a newmulticultural state in which the countrys ethnic diversity isrespected. However, all the government has done is pay lipservice to racial equality while indigenous people continueto suffer discrimination and are denied fundamental humanrights such as self-determination and the right to receive ed-ucation in their own language.

Statistics on infant mortality, access to education andhealthcare reveal huge disparities between indigenous and

non-indigenous Guatemalans. There are 23 indigenousgroups in Guatemala (21 Mayan groups plus the Xincas and

ple perished or lost their homes and livelihoods, sinking evendeeper into poverty.

In its recovery efforts, the government prioritized the areaswhere the economic interests of the ruling elite were hit andshowed a lack of political will to provide disaster relief for ruralcommunities and to improve living conditions in indigenouscommunities to reduce the impact of future disasters.

The Guatemalan government has also ignored indigenousand campesino organizations opposition to the Free TradeAgreement between the United States and Central Americaand the Dominican Republic (CAFTA-DR) as well as this sec-

tors concerns over the environmental impact of open-pit min-ing and the construction of large-scale hydroelectric dams (LP,

GUATEMALA 1The forgotten masses

MEXICO 2Zero hour

ECUADOR 4The good with the bad

ARGENTINA 5Program for disarmamentis a success

COSTA RICA 6Leatherbacks at risk

PERU 7Andean potatoes for the world

VENEZUELA 8More money, more poverty?

NICARAGUA 10Interview with AgricultureMinister Ariel Bucardo

ARGENTINA 11Help without intermediaries

LATIN AMERICA 12Young people on the fringes

of society

Five Guatemalan indigenous languages are on the path to extinction.LOUIS

AREYNOLDS

Afro-Caribbean or Garfuna people). Gua-temalas 6 million indigenous people com-prise 60 percent of the population. But ac-cording to the United Nations DevelopmentProgram (UNDP), 87 percent of indigenouspeople live in poverty and 24 percent in ex-treme poverty; infant mortality rates reach49 for every 1,000 born alive compared to40 among ladino (non-indigenous) Guate-malans; 34 percent of indigenous peopleare malnourished compared to 11 percentof ladinos, and 41.7 percent of indigenouspeople are illiterate compared to 17.7 per-

cent of ladinos.

At-risk from natural disastersWhen natural disasters strike, indige-

nous communities are the most affectedand so far the government does not appearto have learned from past mistakes or to bemaking a serious effort to put together di-saster prevention programs.

The government came under strong crit-icism from indigenous leaders and humanrights organizations after it was slow in put-ting together a reconstruction plan whenHurricane Stan hit the country in late 2005.Indigenous villages in the western high-

lands were hit hardest and hundreds of peo-

Nov. 28, 2007).Today, 11 years after Guatemala ratified

the International Labor Organizations Con-vention 169 on indigenous rights, the Na-tional Assembly has yet to approve the leg-islation required for the pact to become partof Guatemalan law. The government hasused this as an excuse to declare that pop-ular consultations or indigenous plebi-scites on a number of issues includingopen-pit mining are non-binding.

Indigenous leaders fear that the new UNDeclaration on the Rights of Indigenous

Peoples, approved last year (LP, Sept. 19,2007) which asserts indigenous peoplesright to self-determination, autonomy andself-government, as well as the right to pre-serve their own judicial, economic and cul-tural institutions and the right to be consult-ed on any decisions that impact their wel-fare, might suffer the same fate as the doc-ument is not legally binding and there areno sanctions for states that violate indige-nous rights.

The Declaration cannot be seen entirelyas a success. We believe that it has manyloopholes and that instead of strengthen-ing indigenous peoples demands for au-

tonomy and self-determination, it strength-

GUATEMALALouisa Reynoldsin Guatemala City

TheforgottenmassesIndigenousGuatemalans face an

uphill battle againstracial discrimination.


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ens the nation-state and the status quo, saysMayan academic Kajkoj Ba Tiul.

Another unresolved issue is agrarian re-form and land evictions increased under thescar Berger (2004-2008) administration. Ac-cording to Amnesty International, 911 land evic-tions were recorded up to October 2004, a fig-ure that increased to 1,025 in December 2005.A national dialogue on rural development col-lapsed in August 2005 due to the governmentand the private sectors lack of political will tomeet

campesino demands, particularly with

regards to land tenure and expropriation.Little progress has been made on cultur-

al rights. The Mayan Languages Academy hasdeclared that five languages risk extinction be-cause the state has not taken the necessarysteps to defend indigenous identity. The fivelanguages at risk are: Sipakapense, spokenby 344 people in the villages surrounding Si-pakapa, in the Northern department of SanMarcos; Itza, spoken by 123 people in the de-partment of Peten, near the Mexican border,Tektiteko, spoken in the Northern departmentof Huehuetenango; Chorti, spoken by 105people in eastern Guatemala; and Mopan,

spoken by 468 people in the municipality ofSan Luis in Peten.

N 1, JANUARY 23, 2008 latinamericapress2

MEXICOJohn Ross in Mexico City

Zero hourAs NAFTA tariffs drop tonothing, agrarianapocalypse looms.

At the stroke of midnight this past Jan. 1, some100 farmers and day laborers from both sidesof the Mexican border with the United Statesmet on the Cordoba Las Americas bridge thatconnects El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, to markthe demise of Mexican agriculture.

In accordance with the timetables set bythe North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA) signed by Mexico, the United Statesand Canada 14 years ago, as of Jan. 1, 2008,all tariffs on corn, beans, powdered milk, sug-ar and 200 agricultural products were reduced

to zero, setting in motion a doomsday sce-nario that farmers organizations here say willinevitably lead to crisis in the Mexican cam-po or countryside, mass abandonment of un-sustainable plots, increased hunger, andeven armed rebellion by the nations belea-guered small farmers.

Strung across the roadway, each protest-er carried a letter of the alphabet in his or herhand but despite the palpable fear and loath-ing afoot out in the Mexican countryside asthe tariffs plummet to nothing, the farmerscould barely muster enough troops to spellout Sin Maiz No Hay Pais, or Without Corn,There Is No Country.

Despite the midnight deadline, the imme-

BOLIVIALand distribution. Onehundred families control25 million hectares (nearly62 million acres) in Bolivia,according to the United Na-tions Development Pro-gram (UNDP).

This is five times moreland than that managed bytwo million Bolivian campe-

sinoswho work small, over-

farmed plots amounting to 5million hectares (over 12million acres).

Consequently, eachland-owning family ownsan average of 250,000hectares (617,500 acres)while a campesino familyonly has one hectare (un-der 2.5 acres) to use forproduction.

The eastern depart-ment of Santa Cruz is aclear example of the dis-

parity in land distribution.According to the Nation-al Institute of Agrarian Re-form (INRA), only 15 fami-lies in Santa Cruz have500,000 hectares (over1.24 million acres) of fertileland close to the markets.

PLSAR.

According to Jos Canahuati, presidentof the the language academy since the Lawon Languages was passed in 2003, the Ex-ecutive branch has failed to provide the nec-essary legal framework for its implementa-tion thus rendering it ineffective.

Bilingual education is seen as the mosteffective way of preserving Mayan languagesbut has been assigned a tiny percentage ofthe states budget. There are currently 3,597nursery and primary schools in urban areasas opposed to 27, 735 schools in rural areas,a ratio of 1:8. However, 83,933 teachers aremonolingual and a mere 6,178 are bilingual,a ratio of 13:1. For every quetzal (US$0.13)spent by the Ministry of Education, only six Gua-temalan cents are assigned to the BilingualEducation Section.

Mayan linguists and activists also pointout that as well as increasing the scope ofbilingual education, the curriculum itself mustbe changed. Lolmay Garca, from the Fran-cisco Marroqun Linguistic Project added thatbilingual schools do not fulfill indigenous ex-pectations because the hegemonic contentof the national curriculum, filled with stereo-

typical images of indigenous people, is merelytranslated into indigenous languages.

diate impacts of this premeditated apocalypsemay be not be felt for a while at least untilthe spring planting season when farmershave to calculate how many hectares they canafford to sow. Unlike the United States, farmsubsidies are a thing of the past here, strippedaway years ago in the rush to NAFTA.

Price of maize skyrockets

Reduction to zero tariffs is not a steep drop.Incremental reductions over the past 14 yearshad eliminated 90 percent of barriers to UScorn by 2007.

Lavish subsidies for US corn growers al-lowed them to ship their product to Mexicobelow cost and still make a killing. This isbeing augmented by high ethanol subsidiesas maize climbs to record prices on US com-modity markets. Corn hit an all-time recordUS$177 per metric ton in mid-2007, but hasslid because of high inventories.

Meanwhile, the uptick in world corn pric-es ripples out with tortillas topping out atnine pesos ($0.9) the kilo on New Years

Day here tortilla prices in Mexico haverisen 126 percent under NAFTA from 1994 to2007 despite or because of massivecorn imports from the United States (44 mil-lion tons in the same period). The tortillaremains the household measure for basicfood prices in Mexico (LP, March 7, 2007).

According to the United Nations Food andAgricultural Organization or FAO, the world hasonly 11 weeks of consumable corn reservesleft, the lowest inventory since record keepingbegan. Corn prices will remain unstable untilproducers can sort out the relationship be-tween food cropping and biofuels, the FAOcautioned in a recent report. Low reserves and

high prices are a sure formula for social up-


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3N 1 , J AN UA RY 2 3, 2 00 8latinamericapress

heaval, underscores the UN organization,pointing out that grain riots broke out in Mo-rocco, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Guinea, Maurita-nia and Senegal last year.

Migration continues to riseThe migration of impoverished subsis-

tence farmers from southern Mexico thatswelled the Mexico City misery belt in sprawl-ing slums like Nezahualcoytl was the first con-crete evidence of the evisceration of the cam-

po, ventures Harvard professor John Wom-

ack in a recent e-mail. Womack is the author ofthe definitive biography of Emiliano Zapata, thefarmer-general who remains emblematic of thecampesinos struggle for land.

NAFTA has only accelerated the stampedefrom the countryside and into the migrationstream. By the trade treatys 10th anniversaryin 2004, NAFTA had driven 1.2 million farmersoff the land, according to a Carnegie Endow-ment evaluation of the pacts impacts issuedthat year. Since each farm family averages sixpeople, the total number of expulsees fromthe campohovers around 6 million.

In 1993, just before NAFTA became fact,

Mexicos Agriculture Ministry contracted UCLAprofessor Ral Hinojosa to calculate the fall-out amongst poor farmers. The researchersworst-case scenario was the diaspora of 10million campesinos. Now, with the reductionof NAFTA tariffs to zero, that goal is justaround the corner.

During ex-President Vicente Foxs 2000-2006 term, 2.4 million Mexicans, 70 pecent ofthem reportedly displaced farmers, migratedto the United States despite the formidablebarriers erected by Washington to keep themout. US anti-immigration pundits like LouDobbs and Republican and Democratic pres-idential hopefuls that beat up on undocument-

ed Mexican workers might do better to pin thetail on the correct donkey the North Ameri-can Free Trade Agreement.

According to CONAPO, Mexicos Councilon Population, 29 million Mexicans and Mex-ican descendants now live in the UnitedStates, 2 million more than those living in theMexican campo from which so many of them

have fled. Ironically, those 27 million who re-main on the land back home are sustainedby the $22 billion in remittances that thosewho have gone north send back Mexicossecond source of US dollars behind $100 bar-rel petroleum which is to say the Mexicanagricultural sector is supported by those whohave abandoned it.

One of the most lethal blows from zero tar-iffs will be a sped-up abandonment of their plotsby small corn farmers and their immersion in

an already-swollen migration stream, a tale thatdoes not presage a happy ending. Rural youthhave little option but to turn to drug cropping.Its the only sector where there is any profit,writes National Autonomous University re-searcher Simn David vila Pacheco.

Mexico produces no cocaine and is a tram-poline for springboarding Colombian cocaineinto the US. NAFTA trade actually opened newroutes for the transfer of the Colombian exportacross the border. Mexico does manufactureand export tons of methamphetamine orspeed but thats a non-agricultural item.

Increased cropping of marijuana and pop-py in the impoverished outback is guaranteed

to increase militarization of the countryside.President Ernesto Caldern has sent 30,000troops into the campo in a permanent war ondrugs that cost 2,000 Mexican lives in 2007alone.

Violence has been pandemic in the Mexi-can campo ever since the European Con-quest.

PERUTies to Plan Condor? Former de factopresi-dent, Gen. Francisco Morales Bermdez(1975-80), was included in a list of 140 ex-

dictators, ministers and heads of intelli-gence services in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil,Paraguay and Peru who collaborated inPlan Condor, the repressive alliance of theSouthern Cone dictatorships in the 1970sand 80s.

At the end of December, Italian judge Lu-isianna Figiola ordered the arrest of thoseaccused for the disappearance of 25 Ital-ians during Plan Condor.

Though the Peruvian military regimecould not have participated directly in PlanCondor, it allowed Argentine military officersto kidnap four dissidents in Lima between1977 and 1980, including university profes-

sor Juan Carlos Maguid, Noem Esther Gi-anetti de Molfino, Mara Ins Raverta andJulio Csar Ramrez the last three mem-bers of leftist group Montoneros.

Maguid, Raverta and Ramrez are stillclassified as disappeared, while Gianetti deMolfino member of rights organizationMothers of the Plaza de Mayo was founddead in Madrid in July 1980, one month afterbeing kidnapped on Peruvian territory.

Though Morales Bermdez, 86, has ad-mitted he knew about the presence of Ar-gentine Montoneros members in the coun-try, he claims that his government neverformed part of Plan Condor. However, a doc-ument from 1978, declassified by the USCentral Intelligence Agency reveals thatPeru and Ecuador were also members ofthe network. LP.Gen. F. Morales Bermdez

CDI

Corn is the basic staple for Mexicans.


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4 N 1, JANUARY 23, 2008 latinamericapress

Correa increases socialspending but blocksprotests.

With full control over the political system, butslow economic growth, President Rafael Cor-rea began the new year claiming that it willbe very hard the same people as alwayswill dispute everything in order to put an endto revolutionary change.

In his first year in office, Correas govern-ment concentrated on resource distribution

either directly to the poorest sectors orthrough emergency decrees to speed up pub-lic procurement as well the weakening ofpowerful economic and political groups.

In his annual address to the nation, pre-

sented on Jan. 15 before the Constituent As-sembly, marking his first year in office (LP,March 7, 2007), Correa mentioned direct so-cial investment, such as the developmentwelfare program, including a US$30-voucherdistributed on a monthly basis to Ecuadorspoorest people, particularly mothers. Healso mentioned $3,600 vouchers for homeconstruction.

Though he informed that the country hadgrown 4.4 percent in the non-oil economy,he could not ignore an Ecuadorian CentralBank report, which indicates a 2.6 percent in-crease in gross domestic product the low-est in Latin America.

Inflation and recessionAccording to the central bank, the increase

in money circulation through the human de-velopment vouchers provoked an increase inhousehold consumption amounting to 6 per-cent of the gross domestic product. However,this also put pressure on price indexes, caus-ing 3.3 percent inflation, which is higher thanthe growth rate, thus sparking economic re-cession.

A process of 3 percent annual inflation iscatastrophic in a dollarized economy that lacksdomestic production, confirmed assemblymember Diego Borja of the Democratic Left

party, following the presidents report.Despite the unflattering economic figures,Correas popularity continues to linger around60 percent, allowing him to take on policiesopposed by the business sector.

The tax reform which expanded taxes,particularly on inheritances and luxury goods

was spurned by business leaders. Othercontroversial policies have similarly been op-posed by equally powerful sectors. The landtransportation sector, which was subjected toa much stricter Transit Law, must now haveinsurance against accidents, and private foun-dations that manage public goods or fundingwill be affected by a series of controls and the

elimination of profits on these goods.

No more social protestIn his report, Correa defended the need to

apply greater control over tax evasion, contra-band and corruption in the public sphere, call-ing on citizens to respect the law: No morestrikes, no more violence. Everything throughdialogue, nothing by force.

In this way, Correa has already given signsof his decision to control opposition protests.

On Nov. 30 in Dayuma, in the eastern Am-azonian province of Orellana, the army at-tacked strikers who demanded asphaltedroads, regularization of electricity, potablewater, transportation and environmental pro-tection measures. Dayuma even when sur-rounded by oil activity suffers from poverty,frequent oil spills and a lack of access to ba-sic needs.

The Dayuma strike was harshly repressed

by the army and police. Afterward, Correa apol-ogized for the excesses committed and askedthe assembly to pardon 22 of 26 inhabitantsaccused of terrorism and sabotage during thestrike.

On Dec. 27, a march headed by Guayaquilmayor, Jaime Nebot a fierce Correa criticof the Social Christian Party was similarlyquashed. Nebots march began in Guayaquiland went toward Montecristi where the as-sembly is being held in order to protest forwhat Nebot considered an attempt againstmunicipal authority and particularly againstthe city of Guayaquil, in reference to the cen-tral governments announcement to disman-

tle the foundations controlling Guayaquilspublic services.The march was forcefully repressed in

La Cadena, on the border between the Gua-yas and Manabi provinces, where protest-ers were prohibited to continue due to alack of circulation permits, according to theexplanation of Guayas governor, CamiloSamn.

These harsh responses may be consid-ered warnings of what the government is will-ing resort to when it encounters opposition,in accordance with its National DevelopmentPlan, which outlines a 4.8 percent econom-ic growth for 2008 through the exploitation of

natural resources, in line with past govern-ments.For now, government efforts are evident-

ly focused on centralizing economic controland political action, with the aim of chan-neling the majority of available resourcestoward social investment, which in 2007,according to Correa, was for the first timegreater than the resources allocated to theexternal debt.

The government will also face the di-lemma of communities rights in zoneswhere natural resources are found and theneed to exploit resources in order to meetthe demands of the poor major i ty in

Ecuador.

BRAZILDeforestation increases inAmazon.More than 6,000km (2,300 square miles) offorest has disappeared inthe last four months of2007, advised Brazilian sci-entist Carlos Nobre, of thegovernments Spatial Re-search National Institute(INPE), in a recent seminarin Washington DC in theUnited States.

According to INPE, whomonitors the Amazon, 17percent of the Amazonssurface has already beendestroyed. From 1994 to2004 alone, 210,000 km(81,000 square miles) offorest were cut down (LP,Feb. 21 andMar. 21, 2007).

Environmental organi-zations say the increasedprice of primary materialshas given rise to illegal

logging in order to openland for agriculture andlivestock.

Infrastructure projects,such as road and hydro-electric construction (LP,Oct. 31, 2007), are alsocontributing to deforesta-tion.

The infrastructure isassociated with an ag-gressive and progressivechange in the use of land,Nobre confirmed.

Forest protection is cru-

cial in combating globalwarming. Around 20 per-cent of global carbon diox-ide emissions in the atmo-sphere is a result of defor-estation. LP.

ECUADORLuis ngel Saavedra in Quito

The good with the bad


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ARGENTINAAndrs Gaudin in Buenos Aires

Program fordisarmamentis a successOver 70,000 firearms havebeen surrendered inexchange for money.

An average of 500 Argentines a day surrendertheir firearms in a government civil disarma-ment program that began on Aug. 1, 2007.The program offers different incentives tothose who come forward voluntarily to tradearms for money in the official drop-off loca-tions governmental agencies, sport clubs,nongovernmental organizations.

The Program for Voluntary Surrender ofFirearms, executed by the Ministry of the Inte-rior through the National Arms Registry, or RE-NAR, aims to decrease the use and prolifer-ation of arms; to reduce the number of acci-dents, violent acts and crimes brought on by

plained that the overwhelming majority ofthose who respond to the initiative are of le-gal age, overall women who are beaten orinherit the arms from their husbands and who,on surrendering the arms, tell us that the pro-gram established by the law has offered thema solution, as they did not know what to dowith the revolvers in their homes before.

One woman who received a check for 450Argentine pesos ($142) for the surrender of a9 mm pistol, tearfully explained that the gunbelonged to her husband, but that she no long-er wanted it in the house. When he gets cra-zy, he grabs it and threatens me, even whenthe kids are present he doesnt even careabout the kids. It scares me a lot, maybe oneday hell accidentally fire and kill me.

Along with the Program for Voluntary Sur-render of Firearms, the law aims to distancechildren from a culture of violence and pro-hibit the fabrication, sale, trade and importa-tion of firearm replicas, as well as to instructnational authorities in promoting campaignsto sensitize and abandon the use of thesetoys in childrens games.

Good resultsIn the first five months since the law wentinto effect, authorities collected more than70,000 firearms, much more than what RE-NAR had originally estimated. Consequent-ly, President Cristina Fernndez has decid-

GUATEMALAAdoption law. On Dec.31, Guatemalas AdoptionLaw took effect. The leg-

islation seeks to put anend to the profitable inter-national adoption busi-ness managed by a net-work of lawyers and nota-ries (LP, March 21, 2007),which sees profits ofaround US$200 millioneach year. The cost ofeach adoption is around$40,000.

According to the Attor-ney Generals Office inGuatemala, 5,110 adop-tions took place between

Jan. 1 and Dec. 3, 2007,90 percent to US families.The law establishes a

National Adoption Coun-cil, with representativesfrom the Foreign Ministry,the Supreme Court andthe Presidents Secretaryof Well-Being, which willoversee the adoptions.

Lawyers have an-nounced that they willpresent proof of the lawsunconstitutionality. It isthe second time they

have resorted to thismeasure to protect theirinterests.

In 2002 Guatemalajoined The Hague Con-vention on the Protectionof Children and Coopera-tion in Respect of Inter-country Adoption, but ayear later, at the requestof a local group of law-yers, the ConstitutionalCourt ruled that the con-vention was unconstitu-tional. LP.

Manypeople needto solve theproblem of

having afirearm inthe house. Carolina Cncaro

access to and use of arms; tomake society more sensitive tothe risks implied by the mereexistence of arms; and to pro-mote a culture that does notpossess or use firearms,states Law 26.216, approved onDec. 20, 2006 and implement-ed on Jan. 11, 2007.

Money and incentivesAccording to the Justice Min-

istrys most recent national sta-tistics, 2,628 people were killedby firearms in 2006, represent-ing 29 percent of all non-natu-ral deaths.

However, national statistics

ed to postpone the programsconclusion, originally sched-uled for Dec. 31, 2007, to theend of 2008. She has alsoadded $3.4 million to the pro-grams budget.

Before starting, we esti-mated that by March of this yearwed be receiving around

40,000 arms, and now it lookslike we will maybe triple our ini-tial goal by that time, saidMeiszner on announcing inJanuary the campaigns sec-ond phase in summer vaca-tion spots and, especially, in theprovinces where the programhas yet to be enforced.

are not updated and only register deathscaused by firearms, failing to measure theuse of firearms in other crimes, such as rob-beries and kidnappings.

Argentina differs greatly from the violencerates of other South American countries such

as Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela, but it isimportant to stay alert because even withouthaving serious social problems in the coun-try, we are seventh in Latin America for deathscaused by firearms, said sociologist JulioWaiselfisz, author of a study prepared for theOrganization of Ibero-American States.

On top of paying between US$33 and$142, on a scale beginning with 22-caliberrevolvers and going up to 9 mm pistols, thelaw offers complementary incentives to pro-mote the voluntary surrender of arms, suchas amnesty for those who do not have a per-mit or legal registration of the arm at the timeof turning it in.

Andrs Meiszner, director of RENAR, ex-

The experience gathered in these monthsindicates that the program arrived at the per-fect time. The majority of those who come tothe drop-off locations report dramatic situa-tions it is evident that there are many peoplewho need to solve the problem of having a

firearm in the house, said Carolina Cncaroof the Argentine Disarmament Network.According to official information, just un-

der half of the arms surrendered had beenregistered with RENAR at some point, whileothers still had their documentation in order.But Meizner warns that in spite of the pro-grams success, we are still far from reach-ing better possession standards.

In a population of more than 36.4 million,there are more than 1.2 million firearms le-gally registered in the hands of civil society,and authorities estimate another 2.5 millionfirearms on the black market, meaning thereis a firearm for one in every 10 inhabitants in

Argentina.


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N 1, JANUARY 23, 2008 latinamericapress6

COSTA RICABryan Kay in Playa Junquillal

Leatherbacksat riskLocal community leaders

and organizations teamup to spread importanceof endangered animal.

The numbers of Pacific leatherback tur-tles, the charismatic giant marine turtleare falling rapidly. In the last 20 years, anestimated 90 percent of them have dis-appeared many of their nesting sitesare under threat and their safety in theheavily-fished Pacific Ocean has dimin-ished drastically.

Some may say the leatherback isfighting a losing battle to survive, but ac-

cording to biologists in Costa Rica,home to one of the most important nest-ing sites for the Pacific leatherback, afew recent victories have been recorded.

Biologists with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), activistsand members of beach town communities are in the midst ofa four-pronged fight to save the species.

Carlos Drews, the coordinator of the WWFs Marine TurtleConservation program in Latin America and the Caribbean,says the species population crash can be pinned to four ma-

jor threats: accidental or incidental fishing, egg poaching, be-achside developments and climate change.

Drews, a Colombian biologist, illustrated the leatherbacksdemise with a glaring statistic.

In the last three decades the numbers we have seen arriv-

ing at Playa Grande [the main Pacific nesting site for the leath-erback] has gone from 1,800 to 50-120, he saidThe main threat is from by-catch or incidental capture of

non-target species, which claims the lives of 50,000 marineturtles every year.

In a bid to reduce the by-catch of endangered species,more than 250 global fishermen met at the World FisheriesForum in the Costa Rican port town of Puntarenas in Novem-ber and vowing to tackle the problem. One method currentlybeing deployed is to change the type of fishing hook from a Jshaped instrument to a circular one. Tests have shown by-catch of turtles can be reduced by as much as 90 percent with

Known as the Pacific Leatherback Conservation Project,local youngsters and student researchers have been workingfor two years to halt egg poaching, according to Gabriel Fran-cia, the biologist who leads the project.

He has enlisted a small group of volunteers dedicated toprotecting the turtles, carrying out patrols of the beaches aroundJunquillal around the clock.

Despite the relative success, Francia lamented a recentsurge in turtle egg poaching in the area, which has been linkedto an influx of people working in the areas burgeoning con-struction developments.

These people dont have children in schools, they dont

have any commitment in the area,said Francia.One of the key planks of the project is work in the localschools. Francia said the hope is that children take the mes-sage about the dangers of turtle egg poaching home to theirparents.

New customsBiologist Valerie Guthrie, another of the project organizers,

said they cannot completely rule out local residents as re-sponsible for the recent climb since eating turtle eggs is anew custom in the Junquillal area.

But she said moves were now being made to work in con-

BRYANKAY

Menor (left) and Jaime with an olive ridley turtle that has recently spawned.

The ratio ofthose whorespect theturtles tothose whodont isprobably still50-50.

Rainer Frommlet

the apparently kinder hooks, without affect-ing fishing levels.

Starting smallBut one of the WWFs proudest achieve-ments involves a small project in the tinynorthwestern beach town of Playa Junquil-lal, Guanacaste, near the symbolic PlayaGrande, known as the home of the leather-back due to its importance as one of themost important nesting sites in the wholeof the Pacific.

The community-based initiative, whichsought to transform poachers into protec-tors, saw turtle egg poaching undergo acrash of its own, from 100 percent to a nearzero, the WWF said. Drews described thecommunity effort as a model for other

communities.

junction with the construction companiesto disseminate the same message.

Francia, however, was scathing in his

criticism of the developments being thrownup in the greater Guanacaste area.Plush condominiums and apartment

buildings are starting to dominate parts ofthe coast. As these developments go up inareas near turtle nesting sites, said Fran-cia, newly-born young become disorientat-ed by the bright lights, halting their develop-ment and threatening populations.

Francia said there is no place for theencroaching buildings when nature is un-der threat. He said the planners who al-low such developments to get the greenlight also threaten Costa Ricas reputa-tion as a country dedicated to ecological

preservation.


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Meanwhile, members of the public say they are noticingthe difference the project has made. German hotel ownerRainer Frommlet said the project had been successful, butreckons around half of local residents continue to flout thelaw.

The ratio of those who respect the turtles to those whodont is probably still 50-50, he said. But before it was prob-ably 70-30 against.

Reformed poachers Jaime and Menor Jen, two of the localvolunteers, blame much of the residual poaching on alcohol-ics who steal the eggs to support their addiction.

The problem with alcoholics is they take them in order toget alcohol, said Jaime. They sell them for 2000 or 3000colons ($4-$6) for 100.

The CIP collects all potato varities.NELLYPLAZA

During a recent patrol of the beaches at Junquillal, theytold how they had been unaware of the damage they werecausing to marine turtle populations until the project began.

The project also works with the olive ridley and the blackturtles and as the Jen brothers spoke of their fondness for thecreatures, an olive ridley emerged from the sea to spawn.

The pair waited patiently as the turtle laid 106 eggs in anest it had burrowed in the sand, before collecting and replac-ing them in another spot where poachers will be less likely tofind them.

They carry out the patrols every night, but claim they haveno intention of returning to their old ways. We learned aboutthe problems in the sea and the numbers. Plus, they are beau-tiful, added Jaime.

provement in Mexico were founded, as wellas the CIP.

Who are the owners?The heart of the CIP is its germplasm

bank. In two refrigerated chambers, more than5,000 potato species, both native and genet-ically improved, are conserved in test tubes.Each one has a genetic passport.

With more than 120 natural enemies including bacteria, insects, viruses and fungi

potato germplasms must necessarily beconserved. Furthermore, as a result of tem-perature increase due to global warming, thenumber of harmful insects has also in-creased.

Ana Panta, the germplasm banks headbiologist, assures that the banks genetic re-sources are available to anyone who needsthem.

Campesinos come here with their sickpotatoes, we clean them and they can takewith them a clean seed, she says.

Other researchers from universities andgovernment or private institutions also usethe bank.

As a biological resource, the campesi-noswho grow the potatoes are their owners.As genetic material, the owner is the Peruvi-an government, explains Isabel Lapea, law-yer specialized in biodiversity at the PeruvianSociety of Environmental Law.

One exception would be the genetic re-sources of the CIP. The Convention on Bio-logical Diversity, signed in 1992, establishes

that governments have sovereign rights over

PERUHildegard Willer in Lima

Andeanpotatoesfor the worldInnovative projectsencourage native potatoproduction.

When the International Potato Center, knownas CIP for its initials in Spanish, was founded

in 1971, there was no doubt that the mostsuitable place for it was in Peru. There aremore than 5,000 potato varieties, the majorityof which are still grown in the Andean high-lands, where the tuber was born some 7,000years ago.

David Tay and Alberto Salas are two of 60researchers who work in the CIP in Lima,where varieties of tubers from all over theworld are collected, researched, classified,conserved and improved.

Tay, originally from Malaysia, first arrivedin Peru 28 years ago to research potatoes.Now he is in charge of the conservation andclassification of CIPs genetic resources, with

unwavering interest.

For a yellow potato, Id gladly rejectmy plate of rice, Tay affirmed.

When at the beginning of the 1970sthe so-called green revolution promisedsolutions to food security problems in de-veloping countries, industrialized nations

and multilateral institutions, such as theWorld Bank and Food and Agriculture Or-ganization of the United Nations, found-ed international research centers coordi-nated by the Consultative Group on Inter-national Agricultural Research (CGIAR).In this way the World Fish Center in Ma-laysia, International Rice Research Insti-tute in the Philippines and the Interna-tional Center for Maize and Wheat Im-


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N 1, JANUARY 23, 20088 latinamericapress

statisticsspotlight

LATIN AMERICALower classes hardest hitby demands for bribes.Low-income families inboth developed and devel-oping countries are theclass most affected bybribes, according to theGlobal Corruption Barome-ter 2007, published byTransparency International(TI) in December.

The study has made itclear that too often, peoplemust part with their hard-earned money to pay forservices that should befree, said Huguette La-belle, TI president.

TI found it is the low-income sector that is most

often faced by a demandfor bribes, in both rich andpoor countries. This inturn means that corruptionacts as a regressive taxthat increases income ine-quality, the report states.

In Latin America, thepolice sector is most likelyto seek bribes, followed bythe judiciary.

More than 63,199 peo-ple in over 60 countries nine in Latin America were interviewed for last

years study.LATIN AMERICA

Respondents who paida bribe to obtain

services

Country %

Dominican Rep. 2 8

Bol iv ia 2 7

Peru 1 8

Panama 1 3

Venezue la 1 2

Argentina 5

Colomb ia n d

Ecuador n d

Guatema la n d

Source: Transparency International

their own biological resources. But since theCIPs genetic resources were formed before1992, the CIP refers to the previous agree-ment, which states that genetic resourcespertain to humanity in general.

Red light to transgenicsOne controversial issue is the research of

transgenic potatoes, which are modified withother organisms genes. In July 2007, the CIPpresented the revolution a new geneti-cally modified potato variety that is resistantto potato moths, one of the most harmful in-sects to the potato.

According to CIP policy, genetic engineer-ing helps developing countries to improvetheir production and consequently helps elim-inate poverty an opinion that meets strongresistance in Peruvian civil society.

The Action Network on Agricultural Alter-natives (RAAA) in Lima warned that the trans-genic potato variety revolution couldcontaminate the native species and threatenbiodiversity.

The CIP has a two-sided policy, saidYmelda Montoso, of the RAAA, on the one

hand, to conserve the species, and on theother, to develop transgenic potatoes. Is thisreally the role of an international organization?

Due to the accumulating criticism, the CIPhad to back away and reassure public opin-ion that the transgenic potato would not bereleased in Andean countries.

Market for native potatoesThe current concern over commercial

abuse of native Andean potato varieties ismore rather hypothetic. The reality is that thereis no market for native potatoes, which is whythe campesinos in the high Andes who growthem do not receive significant profits.

The Andean Potato Project, an agreementbetween the CIP and the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation, seeks tochange this situation by introducing nativepotatoes to the Lima market as a gourmetproduct for wealthier consumers. The projectgives incentive to small businesses so thatthey use the native variations for bagged po-tato chips (Jalca Chips). The project alsopays the Andean potato producers above-market prices.

The Jalca Chips come in all different col-ors, like purple and yellow. Tikapapa, an-other gourmet potato product is sold in thebest supermarkets in Lima.

Before conquering the Lima market,Tikapapa had already conquered the world.In December, the British BBC and US maga-zine Newsweekawarded Tikapapa first prize

in the competition World Challenge 2007,which was conducted in association withShell Oil.

The United Nations declaration of 2008as International Year of the Potato will alsocontribute to the native potatoes increaseddiffusion.

VENEZUELAAndrs Caizlez and Elsa Pia in Caracas

More money, more poverty?Consumption soars, but unequal distribution persists.

There is more money in the hands of the poor-est Venezuelans, causing consumption tosoar, but fundamental issues such as alack of shelter and other basic needs arestill far from being resolved.

Once President Hugo Chvezs govern-ment took full control of the state oil companyPetrleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) following aDecember 2002-January 2003 oil strike, the

companys priorities were rearranged. Accord-ing to their website, US$13 bill ion waspledged in 2006 to the nations social devel-opment. In fact, it is common to find announce-ments advertising that PDVSA will financeevents ranging from children orchestras tofood programs.

Luis Pedro Espaa, head of the PovertyProject at the Andrs Bello Catholic University,says that thanks to the oil bonanza, the countryis living an illusion, just as it did in the 1970s.

There are people who consume more,but only because PDVSA has more income.When the oil market suffers a cold, we our-selves will die of pneumonia, assured Es-

paa in a recent interview.

Network against povertyAccording to the governments National

Institute of Statistics, Venezuela has seen aspectacular reduction in poverty. Householdsliving in poverty reduced from 54 percent in2003 to 27 percent in 2007, while families inextreme poverty went from 25 percent to lessthan 8 percent.

David Velsquez, who was minister of

Social Participation and Social Developmentuntil the beginning of this January, believesthat government policies are responsible forthe achievements.

A network against poverty is developing.It is possible to reach the goal of Zero Misery[extreme poverty] in 2001 and Zero Poverty in2021, he remarked.

Furthermore, the Economic Commissionfor Latin America and the Caribbean gave Ven-ezuela second place (after Argentina) as thecountry with the most successful policies forreducing poverty in 2007.

However, it is obvious for Mercedes Puli-do, former minister of Social Development,

that while Venezuelans have higher incomes,


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basic problems continue without being re-solved.

If income alone is measured, there isundoubtedly a positive change, but this doesnot resolve the structural problem of poverty.What we have, so to speak, are poor peoplewith more money, commented Luis VicenteLen, director of Datanlisis, a market andpolitics research firm.

According to the Human DevelopmentReport 2007-2008 issued by the United Na-tions Development Program (UNDP), thereis a serious situation of unequal distributionin Venezuela: the poorest 10 percent mustshare 0.7 percent of the countrys gross do-mestic product, while the richest 10 percentcontrol 35.2 percent of the GDP. For UNDP, auseful indicator for measuring income distri-bution is the Gini coefficient, which grew from44.1 in 2006 to 48.2 in 2007 on a scale ofzero (perfectly equal) to 100 (perfectly un-equal).

The president of INE, Elas Eljuri, disre-garded the UNDP report, which he brandedas ridiculous.

Social emphasisFollowing the defeat of the Dec. 2 refer-endum when Venezuelans voted againstthe proposed constitutional reform pre-sented by Chvez, which included indefi-nite presidential reelection (LP, Dec. 12,2007) President Chvez announced thatmore emphasis should be placed on so-cial problems.

Specifically, Chvez mentioned that hisgovernment should reinitiate some of the so-cial programs he launched a year before the2004 referendum, when it was decidedwhether Chvez would stay in power or not.The programs include free medical attention

and education as a part of 21st Century So-

cialism promoted by Chvez (LP, Aug. 25,2004 and Jan. 24, 2007).

In the 2008 budget approved last Novem-ber by Congress, 4 percent US$2.5 billion

was designated for the social programs,referred to as missions, having been bol-stered by the price of oil, which currently bor-ders $100.

There are 20 missions in all, which ac-cording to Pulido are non-systematic dueto their lack of institutionalism, are exclusivesince they demand political affiliation with theBolivarian process, and lack control.

Ratified for another seven years at the be-ginning of January, Comptroller General Clo-dosvaldo Russin admitted difficulties in su-pervising how public money is spent on theseprograms.

For Aura Gil, 35-year-old student at theRibas Mission, a secondary school for adults,the government is doing whats right so thatthe poor move forward.

In less than two years, Gil completed herprimary education and managed to combinework with studies. The government gives theequivalent of $139 monthly grants to partici-

pants. Those who receive this grant reallyneed it, said Gil.Meanwhile, there was 22.7 percent infla-

tion in Venezuela in 2007, one of the highestin the region according to the VenezuelanCentral Bank. However, the impact was great-er for the poor as even the BCV admitted

since there was a 30 percent increase inprices of food and drink, where the poorspend more.

Venezuela has a population of 28 millionand the current minimum wage is equivalentto $286. The Social Analysis Center, which forthe past 15 years has calculated the basic foodbasket for a five-person household, estimated

it last December at $1,178 per month.

inbrief In Argentina, the Cordoba province par-doned campesinos, rural activists and apriest who have been accused of remov-ing the fence around a field inherited fromtheir ancestors, which was taken over in2005 by a businessman who had illegallyacquired the land.

Costa Rican authorities deported morethan 9,000 Nicaraguans who tried to en-ter Costa Ricaillegally between Dec. 21and Jan. 6. The migrants had intended tolook for work in the coffee, fruit and sugarcane harvests that begin in January andFebruary.

The Confederation of Indigenous Nation-alities in Ecuador(CONAIE) elected Mar-lon Santi as their new president on Jan.13, who will replace Luis Macas. Santi,recognized for his fight against oil compa-nies, will serve until 2010.

Social Demo-crat lvaro Co-lom was swornin as presidentof Guatemalaon Jan. 14 for afour-year term.Colom, whowon a runoffvote Nov. 14

against retiredgeneral OttoPrez Molina, isthe sixth presi-dent to be dem-ocratically elected since the end of thearmed conflict in 1986.

Venezuelastarted 2008 with a new cur-rency: the strong bolivar is intended forcontrolling inflation, which soared lastyear to 22.7 percent. The new currencyremoves three zeros from the former,which will set the exchange rate at 2.15bolivars per dollar.

lvaro Colom

What wehave, so tospeak, arepoor peoplewith moremoney. Luis Vicente Len

WWW.A

LVAR

OCOLOM.C

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N 1, JANUARY 23, 200810 latinamericapress

How would you describe the agricultur-al infrastructure in Nicaragua?Nicaragua is a country of small-scale pro-

ducers; we have almost 200,000 small andmedium sized producers and almost 1,300are mass producers with more than 350 hect-ares [870 acres] of land. The majority are pro-ducers with land measuring between nearly14 and 35 hectares [35 and 87 acres]. Thisguarantees that, while there is a tendency to-ward large concentrations of land, the distri-bution of land in Nicaragua is balanced.

On the other hand, we have a structuralproblem: a producer of [870 acres] in Nicara-gua with the existing technology produces the

same as a producer of [174 acres] in El Sal-vador.

Program does not give away foodWhat changes has the current govern-

ment made concerning food security?It is still very early to talk about the chang-

es in food security since we have inherited adecade and a half of neoliberalism. Conse-quently, it will take more time to make chang-es in the infrastructure of the nations foodsystem.

What we can assure is that there are gov-ernmental policies that lead us to hope therewill be a better food supply in the future, over-

all for Nicaraguas campesinos, who areamong the poorest.In the last 16 years in Nicaragua, many

economic resources have been spent, includ-ing the national budget and international co-operation for the fight against poverty. The re-sult has been negative because each day thepoor are poorer while the rich grow richer. Thismeans that all the resources spent on thefight against poverty have somehow foundtheir way back to the elite, who has adminis-tered the distribution.

Today for a change, we are working on foodproduction, carried out by those who will con-sume it, overall in the rural sector. We are cur-

rently working on the Zero Hunger program

to guaranteeing food for Nicaraguans, nationalfood security.

How has the Free Trade Agreement be-tween the United States and Central Amer-ica and the Dominican Republic (CAFTA-DR)affected the agricultural sector?

CAFTA-DR has already been in force for ayear (LP, Nov. 29, 2006) and we do not be-lieve it has a positive impact on the agricultur-al sector since it is a pact that was createdunder very unequal terms with the UnitedStates. Nicaragua is a country with very out-dated technology in comparison with the Unit-ed States: we have electrical blackouts; we

dont have an irrigation system, machinery, orroads; and we have a campesino populationthat is almost completely illiterate.

On the other hand, the United States sub-sidizes its producers and it is very difficult tocompete with the advanced technology theyhave. We would like to have a trade agree-ment that would at least allow us to competeunder equal conditions, but this is not thecase with CAFTA-DR.

What role do the European Union Asso-ciation Agreements play?

I see countless mysteries surrounding thisissue. We aspire to have good trade relations

with Europe, but I am not convinced that [out-side countries] can achieve the conditionsnecessary to enter the European market, as itis one of the most protective of its agriculturalproduction in the world.

If they dont give us preference, we wouldlike for them at least to eliminate their subsi-dies, protection of their production and non-tariff barriers, and for them to allow CentralAmerican countries to compete in these mar-kets under equal conditions.

More than just trade relationsWhat do you think of Venezuelan Presi-

dent Hugo Chvezs promotion of the Boli-

varian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA)?

NICARAGUAInterview with Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Ariel Bucardo

First priority is domesticfood production

ARGENTINAEight oppressors con-demned. Former militarycommander Cristino Nico-laides was condemned to

25 years on Dec. 18 forhuman rights violationsduring the military dictator-ship (1976-83).

Nicolaides, 82,formed part of the military

junta that ruled the coun-try between 1982 and1983, presided by formergeneral, Reynaldo Big-none, who is now underhouse arrest for crimesagainst humanity.

The ruling, which wascelebrated by human

rights organizations, alsoaffected former militaryofficers Pascual Guer-rieri, Carlos Fontana,Waldo Roldn, Luis AriasDuval, Santiago Hoya,Juan Carlos Gualdo andformer policeman JulioSimn (aka TurcoJulin), who were sen-tenced to between 20 and25 years for the disap-pearance of five militantsof the leftist group Mon-toneros between 1979

and 1980.Other former dictators,such as Jorge RafaelVideal (1976-81) and Uru-guayan Gregorio lvarez(1981-85) face trials forcrimes against humanity,committed during PlanCondor the repressivecoalition between the dic-tatorships in Argentina,Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Para-guay and Uruguay in the1970s and 80s (LP, Dec.26, 2007). LP.

Ariel BucardoJOSCARLOSBONINO

The program Zero Hunger (Ham-

bre Cero) is an integral part of theSandinista National LiberationFront (FSLN), that has returned topower after 16 years and is promis-ing a fight against extreme povertyand food insecurity.

Jos Carlos Bonino, LATINAMER-ICAPRESScollaborator, has met withAriel Bucardo, Secretary of Agricul-ture and Forestry in Nicaragua, totalk about this program and the ef-fects of US and EU trade agree-ments on the Nicaraguan agricul-tural sector.

(LP, May 16, 2007) with the goal thatpeople no longer ask for food.There have been many programsto combat poverty and hunger thatgive food away to the people, butthis makes families dependent andeven more impoverished.

We are handing out capitalgoods to poor families so that theyproduce; the governments first pri-ority is domestic food productionand afterward, exportation. We havechanged the conceptions of previ-ous governments, which focusedall efforts on exportation. We havechosen the path that leads us first


11/12


Maxi at the home of histutor, Mario Julio Sotelo.

PAOLOMOIOLA

More than a trade agreement, we hope thatit is a policy oriented toward fair trade and fairinvestment. We want to develop a strategicalliance in which solidarity moves these pooror emerging nations interests, rather thancompetition or economic opportunism, such

started living with me. He helps me in my cou-rier job.

In the harsh hands of the policeWhen I was little, said Maxi, I was with

my dad for seven years. Later with my momfor two years, before she died of AIDS. I didntwant to be with my relatives, so I chose thestreet. Its been six years since Ive seen anyof them and I dont have any desire to seethem.

In the street, Maxi added, you learn goodthings and bad things. The good thing is youlearn to live with other people; the bad is learn-ing to do drugs and steal.

Several times Maxi has been in the hands

of the police. I cannot say that all policemenare bad. Some bring you something to eat,while others keep you for the whole day with-out even giving you a glass of water.

One time, Maxi was with a friend whohad a small dose of marijuana in his wallet.As I had no [police] drug record, I said itwas mine, for my personal use. I was in thepolice station for 11 hours without even be-ing allowed to go to the bathroom or make aphone call.

Im not a bad person, Maxi continued.Even though people think that as soon I ap-proach them to ask for some change. Theyprotect their bag, their cell phone. But not all

of us are the same, as Mario knows.Maras ranchada

Many people, including families with kids,sleep under archways.

The beds are improvised, but they at leasthave blankets. There are bags and sacks allover, filled with personal items. Someone hascollected cardboard boxes to sell or use as ashelter and there are various shopping carts,used to transport belongings.

Martn, 13, is one of the occupants. I amalone, so I came to Maras ranchada sinceshes a friend, he says. During the day, Martnearns change through juggling in the streets.

Im from Buenos Aires. Ive lived in thestreet since I was 9 years old. My mom liveswith my step-father and little sister, but I haventseen them for a long time.

Martns hands look like those of an elder-ly carpenter. They are marks left by Poxirn,Sotelo explains, referring to the glue thatmany street kids use to get high.

Maras ranchada is in the corner of thearchway, in front of shop windows. Mara holdsa newborn in her arms: the son of her daugh-ter, who is still a minor. Her other son, Vctor,uses drugs and had his foot amputated afterfalling off a train. Mara says she is 29 yearsold, but Sotelo explains that she does not know

her real age.

ARGENTINAPaolo Moiola in Buenos Aires

Help withoutintermediariesMartial arts teacher devoteshis life to spending time

with street children.

Commonly seen in the subway, a train station

or sheltered in a doorway, there are many chil-dren who have become masters at survival inthe streets, living amidst drugs, police andthreatening circumstances. Fortunately, thesechildren dont always have to face this precar-ious life alone.

Martial arts teacher Mario Julio Sotelo, 47,dedicates much of his time and energy to help-ing street children directly, without intermedi-aries. Sotelo has spent time in Costa Ricaand the United States, but now works as acourier and volunteers teaching martial artsto kids in the Miguel Magone Center (LP, Dec.12, 2007). In my own small way, I also try tohelp street kids, he says.

Open HouseThis is my humble home, only a step

above the ranchadain the street, warns Sote-lo, as if to excuse it. The term ranchadarefersto an improvised shelter made by street chil-dren: the place where they meet, sleep andestablish their daily schedule.

In the ranchadas, the children decide theiractivities, Sotelo explains, activities that of-ten include robbery; there are few groups wholive on recyclying, he said, referring to thosewho collect recyclable items from the trash toexchange for money. They also use drugs inthe ranchadas.

Sotelo says he works with street childrenbecause he feels the need to do it, as he toowas once on the street. Since I was an or-phan, I grew up in an institute and didnt knowmy parents. I learned to survive in an institutethat, all things considered, was a respectableplace.

Sotelos house is open to everyone. I re-peat, he insisted, this is a little ranchada,its not a real house where there are bedsand everyday comforts. I have whats essen-tial. I live with my son. I have three forks: onefor me, the other for him and one for the visi-tor, who today is Maxi. Maximiliano, 16, sitsand listens. I have known Maxi for years,

Sotelo continues, but only recently has he

as what usually happens in trade agree-ments.

The intention is to make allies so that wesee ourselves as one single nation with equaltreatment, which is a dynamic we are alreadyseeing in the oil issue.


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VA AREA - AIR MAIL VOL. 40, N 1 JAN. 23, 2008

APARTADO 18-0964, LIMA 18, PERU

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LATIN AMERICAInter Press Service

Young people on thefringes of societyUnfinished basic schooling forces

youths to accept unstable jobs.Seven million young Brazilians and nearly 800,000 young-sters in Argentina swell the ranks of a veritable army of LatinAmerican youths who neither work nor study a phenome-non that threatens to continue reproducing poverty, say ex-perts.

In Brazil, those who do not work or attend school make upnearly 20 percent of young people between the ages of 15 and24, according to a study on youth development drawn up byArgentine sociologist Julio Jacobo Waiselfisz.

Jorge Werthein, director of the Latin American Technologi-cal Information Network, which commissioned the report, saidthe cause of the situation is structural and historical inequal-ity which is a reality throughout Latin America.

Due to the lack of prospects, young people have no prob-lem saying, for example, that I prefer to be involved in drugtrafficking, even if I die young, because that way Ill have thethings that other people have, like a motorcycle or brand nametennis shoes, says the study.

That is what we are unfortunately seeing in many coun-tries, and reproducing in others in Latin America, with the emer-gence of gangs, said Werthein.

His study also found that young whites in Brazil attend 1.5years more of school than young blacks.

But Werthein is not completely pessimistic. He noted thatprograms developed in Brazil over the last few years have led,for example, to progress toward universal primary school en-rollment, which has climbed to 97 percent, and in the fightagainst illiteracy among the countrys youths, which has

plunged to 2.4 percent.

Education is the keyThe expert said it must be a top priority for the region to

implement long-term education plans, with a 30 to 40-yearhorizon, as Argentina has begun to do.

Guillermo Prez Sosto, one of the authors of the reportDecent Work and Youth, believes the only effective way tobring about change is by eliminating the causes of the prob-lem, through preventive actions aimed at keeping young peo-ple in school. For example, he said, by ensuring that there areguardians or tutors who track them down when they start skip-ping class and who take an interest in their problems, as wellas by combating teen pregnancy and drug use.

If the educational system was better at holding on to stu-dents and the labor market was less precarious, it would beeasier for these boys and girls, he said.

Though successful programs have been carried out to im-prove the situation, they do not address the underlying prob-lems, he said.

As an example, he mentioned a plan that began to be imple-mented jointly in 2006 by Argentinas Education Ministry and theToyota carmaker. The strategy focuses on training and insertionin the labor market for unemployed secondary school drop-outs.

While they underwent training to work in the Toyota factory,the participating youngsters received 900 pesos (US$300) amonth, and when the training course was over, they were hiredby Toyota at a monthly wage of 2,400 pesos ($800).

But out of 2,600 youngsters who applied for the 300 spotsin the program, only 60 passed the psychological tests andwere found to have the required learning ability, he lamented.

In Mexico, meanwhile, three out of 10 young people be-tween the ages of 20 and 29 are unemployed, and one out offour of these are not studying either, according to the 2006national survey on employment.

Support programs for young people have also been imple-mented in Mexico City, which has a population of 20 millionand has been governed by the leftwing Party of the DemocraticRevolution since 1997.

One of the programs created social guardians in neigh-borhoods where unemployment and youth violence are at theirworst. Their task, financed by the city government, is to getyoung people involved in different community, sports and cul-

tural activities.

nicaragua entrevista al ministro de agricultura ariel bucardo latinamerica press 2008

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