In brief

HAITI: Disease epidemic looms

As the death toll from Hurricane Jeanne's attack on Haiti continues to climb well over 2000, Oxfam health experts in the country have warned of a looming disease epidemic, as hundreds of thousands of people are forced to drink, bathe and cook with water from ditches containing dead livestock and raw sewage. With bottled water prohibitively expensive, Haitians are reliant on creeks and wells that have been destroyed or become contaminated in the flooding. Oxfam's Joe Fay told Granma on September 24 that the health system, like its security, had completed broken down, and there was a real danger of cholera and typhoid fever, as well as malnutrition, dehydration and diarrhea. Looters continue to pillage aid destined for the worst affected areas, hardly surprising in a country where most people go hungry. The UN has appealed for more peacekeepers to join the 3000 struggling to keep order, as an October 1 protest calling for the return of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resulted in the deaths of three police officers.

COLOMBIA: US increases aid

On September 24, the US State Department announced that the Colombian government has complied with the human rights criteria necessary to receive US$32.5 million in military aid. The decision was made despite an increase in illegal detentions, forced disappearances and extra judicial executions in Colombia, as noted in Washington's 2003 human rights report on Colombia and a February 2004 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia report. The money represents 12.5% of the annual US overseas military aid budget. In August, declassified files from the US Defense Intelligence Agency noted that in 1991, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe was on the list of 104 "most important narcoterrorist" in Colombia.

EUROPE: Divisions over 'safe list' revealed

According to a September 27 report at , European Union member states are divided over a proposed list of 10 "safe countries of origin". EU states would have the right to automatically reject asylum applications if the applicant had ever resided in such "safe" countries. The countries proposed for the list are Benin, Botswana, Cape Verde, Chile, Costa Rica, Ghana, Mali, Mauritius, Senegal and Uruguay. EU member states are already considered "safe" countries. According to Statewatch, several European countries are unhappy with the inclusion of the African countries, some citing the prevalence of female genital mutilation. Despite the appalling human record in Chile, only four EU countries opposed including it. Justifying its support for including Chile, the French response claimed that there is "no question of systematic or institutional violence - the fact that the number of appeals against police abuse more than doubled between 1990 and 2000 is seen to reflect citizens' restored confidence in state institutions." The full report is available at .

ZIMBABWE: 69 women activists arrested

Seven women participating in a 440 kilometre march from Bulawayo to Harare to protest a new bill restricting non-government organisations were arrested on September 29. Charged with violating the Public Order and Security Act, the women, members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise, had not been released as at October 1. This comes on top of the arrest of 62 of the marchers on September 28. The bill would set up a body to register all civic bodies, and activists fear it will be used to shut down critical NGOs.

UNITED STATES: An epidemic of distrust?

A September 29 Reuters Newspoll claimed that 61% of US adults said they had lost faith in political leaders and government institutions during the last four years. On a scale from A to F, politicians recieved a "trustworthyness" grade of C, just slightly higher than corporate executives, lawyers and entertainment celebrities, all on C-, and level with print and television journalists. The most cited reason for the loss of trust was the war on Iraq (35%), followed by the 2000 election controversy in Florida (16%) and white-collar crime scandals (14.4%). More than 60% of respondents said they would find in favour of the Abu Ghraib prisoners who had been abused by US soldiers if they were tried in US courts, and 67% said they would side with a worker suing his employer for racial discrimination. The most trusted occupation were firefighters, with an A- score.

GUATEMALA: Protesters charged with terrorism

The leaders of the Coordination of Communities Affected by the Chixoy Dam have been charged by the Guatemalan government for terrorism, following a peaceful occupation of the Chixoy Dam installations on September 7. The charges, laid on September 23, came despite the government's September 8 written agreement to negotiate compensation and reparations for the communities affected during construction of the dam. The World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank supervised the 1970s and 1980s hydorelectric project, during which around 600 people were massacred and 17 villages were forcibly displaced by the Guatemalan government. The September 23 charges have not only put in jeopardy a possible negotiated settlement, but may prevent villagers from attending an October 19 trial of some of those accused of slaughtering 107 children and 70 women in Rio Negro in 1982.

BRITAIN: Racism invades Plymouth school

Parkside Community Technology College in Devon was short 23 pupils in early September, around 10% of the student population, after a large group of students allegedly racially abused their classmates, including a number of recently arrived refugees. Ten students were suspended for a week following the incident, and 13 young teenagers were kept home by their parents for fear of further attacks. A police investigation into attacks at the school is continuing. For more British anti-racist news, visit .

UNITED STATES: House endorses more trips to Cuba

On September 21, the US House of Representatives voted 275:174 in favour of allowing Cuban-Americans to visit Cuba more frequently. Under restrictions imposed earlier this year, they are currently only permitted to visit the US once every three years, but the amendment approved by the House, if allowed to become law, would permit annual visits. The Bush administration is opposed to the amendment.

UNITED STATES: Prison spending trumps education spending

A report released on August 25 by the Justice Policy Institute revealed that US spending on prisons grew five times as fast as fast spending on higher education in the last 20 years. The study looked only at 17 states, all considered "swing states" in the presidential election. The report also found that nearly twice as many black men in their 30s had been to prison as had obtained a bachelor's degree; that the 7 million people incarcerated in US prisons cost the government $22,650 a year each; and that nearly 2 million adults in the 17 states were unable to vote because of a felony conviction - 30% of them black. For more information, visit .

JAMAICA: Haitian refugees rejected

On September 30, the Jamaican government announced that it had rejected applications for political asylum from 281 Haitians who fled the violence that followed the February coup that deposed Haiti's President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The government said it was preparing to return the asylum seekers to their hurricane devastated country.

BRAZIL: Bank workers defy courts to continue strike

Some 200,000 Brazilian bank employees entered their 17^th day of strike on October 1, despite a September 30 court decision that the union had to make sure 60% of staff worked, enabling the banks to open. The strikers are demanding a 19% salary increase, an additional month of salary annually, a profit-share scheme, longer opening hours and reduction of bank fees. The bankers are offering just 12%.

From Green Left Weekly, October 6, 2004.
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