International

In late November, Chicagoans Beatrice Lumpkin and her husband Frank, a retired steelworker leader, traveled to Venezuela.

The mountains of Venezuela rise steeply out of the warm Caribbean Sea. We drink in the startling beauty of this South American country as the bus starts its steady climb up to Caracas, the nation’s capital.

The Haitian government finally released Father Gerard Jean-Juste on Nov. 29 after imprisoning him for six weeks on trumped-up charges. A judge ruled Nov. 19 that there was no evidence to support government charges against him of inciting violence and importing arms.

Halliburton bilks gov’t for billions in Iraq, then loses one-third of property

Outrageous! That is what many are calling the war profiteering by U.S. corporations who have flocked into Iraq. In particular, Halliburton Corp., which Vice President Dick Cheney used to head, has come under scrutiny over its $10 billion Pentagon contracts, many obtained without competitive bidding, as well as fuel-price gouging and other improper or illegal actions. Meanwhile, U.S. cities and states are starved for cash.

News Analysis

Imperialist conspiracies to seize control of natural resources and to dominate peoples of distant lands are in full swing. Apart from the Iraqi debacle, the events unfolding in the former Spanish colony of Equatorial Guinea, on the West African coast, are particularly instructive.

In the wake of the U.S. assault on Fallujah, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Louise Arbour, called for investigation of possible violations of international laws on treatment of civilians and war prisoners in Iraq.

A Haitian judge has rejected government charges that imprisoned Father Gerard Jean-Juste, a Roman Catholic priest and pro-democracy activist, was responsible for importing weapons and inciting recent violence in Haiti.

Aidan White, general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, condemned the Colombian government last week for deporting four senior international trade unionists from the international airport in Bogotá in early November.

Father Gerard Jean-Juste, a Roman Catholic priest, pro-democracy activist, former Lavalas government cabinet minister and defender of the poor was arrested by Haitian police on Oct. 13, becoming the latest victim of the unfolding wave of repression that is washing over the country.

At the first-ever China Poverty Eradication Award ceremony on Oct. 17 — the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty — China announced with great pride that the poor population in the country’s rural areas had decreased to 29 million from 250 million in 1978.

News Analysis

In its drive to show the world — and the American people — that Washington can bring “democracy” to areas where it’s deemed lacking around the globe, the Bush administration has set great store by the presidential election in Afghanistan, finally held Oct.