BoRev.Net

The union workers of Mexico City regional electricity utility Luz y Fuerza, occupied & under dissolution from the government, respond.

Via La Jornada, among the reasons the union finds for Luz y Fuerza's economic difficulties are that (a) the Federal government and its related properties don't pay any power bills and (b) the largest corporate consumers pay a discounted rate of 1/3.

...“Los trabajadores del SME –por eso están enojados los empresarios– estamos revisando uno por uno los servicios de cuentas especiales y, ¿qué creen lo que encontramos? La Torre Mayor de Reforma, directa; varios hoteles de la Zona Rosa y de Polanco, directos; el periódico Reforma, directo; unomásuno, directo. La propia Presidencia de la República no paga luz; todas las dependencias federales no pagan la luz, tienen tomas clandestinas. Las repetidoras de Telmex tienen mediciones de ellos, tomas clandestinas, equipos de medición manipulados por ellos mismos, por los administradores de Luz y Fuerza, no por los trabajadores”...

...Asimismo, en la zona centro del país, donde gracias a la electricidad generada por Luz y Fuerza se produce más de 35 por ciento del producto interno bruto, según el dirigente del SME, 70 por ciento del consumo de electricidad corresponde a 46 mil grandes industriales, que pagan en promedio a 46 centavos el kilovatio-hora, mientras los usuarios domésticos lo pagan a $1.50. "Y todavía a fin del año ese recibo de luz de los industriales es deducible de impuestos", dijo a una multitud que en respuesta exclamó: "¡Qué poca madre!"

That key quote again:

70% of electrical consumption [in Luz y Fuerza's area of operation] corresponds to 46,000 large companies, that pay on average 46 cents for each Kilowatt Hour, while domestic users pay $1.50.

I'm sure once the utility is broken apart and sold to the regime's friends as a privatized utility then this will all be done more equitably and efficiently and ponies will flow freely.

Utpal, I certainly would not brush off any links between El Pais and Santos-family inclinations, but if I were going to publish an editorial arguing against a 3rd term for Uribe but one not fundamentally questioning, much less portraying in a horrifying fashion, the recent record of the entire Uribe / conservative Colombian agenda, I would write it very differently.

It would sound much more like the editorials published by the Washington Post which praise Uribe, his record, and the aims of his regime and coalition, but describe a 3rd term as unhelpful, and then, of course, I'd laud Santos as a superior replacement.

Of course, this is just one editorial in El Pais from the deputy director Bastenier; if following editorials begin to take the implied pro-Santos tone, then that conclusion would be much stronger supported.

For the moment I'll remain (momentarily) optimistic that a more analytic and generally pro-civil-society tone will be retained, but I don't have very high hopes.

@Utpal: I think Forero notes the size of the country, rather than the population, because the idea is that the golf courses aren't *for* Venezuelans--it's all that wasted space that could be going to golf courses for foreign tourists.

The Santos family owns all the major media in Colombia. Grupo PRISA has also entered into partnerships with them I believe, so the Santos connection can't be entirely brushed off. And yes, the Santos's are evil and might be less prone to Uribe's occasional pragmatism, although who knows what people do in power -- there is apparently grumbling in the business sectors in Colombia that the govt. is unnecessarily creating enemies among neighbors.

They forgot that Vzla has only slightly more than half the population of California.

PeacePatriot -- I think that's a bit more interpretation than I would go for at this point, not least because Santos is implicated in a number of the scandals El Pais mentions.

It's possible, though, since one of the reasons many conservatives fear a 3rd Uribe term is the fear that the over-scandalization may prevent him from being effective.

I posted your item on Colombia and the human rights activist at the DU Latin American Forum. We'll see if this brings out the goblins and ghouls.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x24426

Note to El Cid: I fear that the reason El Pais is dumping on Snortboy is that South America's "Donald Rumsfeld"--former Defense Minister Manuel Santos-- is running for president. Santos is chafing at the bit to invade Venezuela and Ecuador, kill all the leftists and steal the oil. Little Alvaro can't hold a candle to this guy for sheer evildudedom. That's my guess why corpo/fascist 'news' monopolies are doing Bush Jr.'s pet goat in.

"The government has initiated plans that could lead to the takeover of two of Venezuela's best-known courses, which golf enthusiasts point out would leave only 20 functioning courses in a country more than twice the size of California."

This is the closest I've read to the start of Quilapayún's Las Ollitas

-Óigame hijo, tráigame un sandwich de cocodrilo con palta, por favor
-No hay cocodrilo
-Es el colmo! Hasta dónde vamo'a llegar con este gobierno?!

Spain's El Pais, which typically is more concerned about Hugo Chavez' dangerous leftism, has apparently had about enough of Colombia's Alvaro Uribe, particularly the prospects of a 3rd term.

This is a really powerful essay.

I wish our U.S. billionaire newspapers like the Washington Post could somehow afford a local translator to re-publish the essay into English, but we are a poor 3rd world country without internet connections and must rely upon crazed right wingers and hawks for all our recycled opinionizing on Latin America.

In the original:

Colombia no se mira en el espejo

...Colombia, como Dorian Grey, no quiere mirarse al espejo porque la lista de desaguisados que amojonan el segundo mandato presidencial, haría sonrojar hasta a un dictador. Enumerarlos es como una visita al museo de los horrores: más de medio centenar de diputados uribistas procesados o en la cárcel, la mayoría por conexiones con los paramilitares; espionaje telefónico del DAS (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad) sobre todo el que se mueva; compra de votos a la vista del público para cambiar la Constitución; adjudicación de notarías a cambio de apoyo parlamentario; legitimación del transfuguismo masivo, como ocurrió en la aprobación de la ley del referéndum ya citado, sobre el que el Ejecutivo estudia la reforma del censo para que la cifra de siete millones y pico de votantes, mínimo exigible para que valga la consulta y que son la cuarta parte del electorado, quede en poco más de cuatro millones, con lo que a Uribe le bastarían dos para ser candidato; el caso más egregio de todos, los dos mil y pico falsos positivos -eufemismo por asesinato- de otros tantos campesinos perpetrados por el Ejército para hacerlos pasar por guerrilleros, sobre los que Uribe no reconoce responsabilidad ni conocimiento. Y la última bofetada, la certificación estadounidense de que Colombia coopera en la lucha contra la droga -especialmente, cediendo el uso de siete bases a Estados Unidos- cuyo texto está concebido en lenguaje de potencia protectora a tribu protegida. Washington afirma, entre otros descaros, que "facilitará el diálogo entre el Gobierno colombiano y los cuerpos sociales", dando por sentado que Bogotá necesita que la estimulen. Y nadie protesta...

In my rough translation:

Colombia won't look in the mirror

...Colombia, like Dorian Grey, avoids looking in the mirror because the list of blunders that staked the second Presidential term, would cause a dictator to blush. To list them is like a visit to a horror museum: more than 50 Uribist deputies [i.e., Uribe-allied] are under investigation or in jail, most of them for connections with the [right wing death squad narco-] paramilitaries; telephone [and e-mail] espionage by the DAS agency (Department of Administrative Security) of anything that moved; the buying of votes in full public view to change the Constitution [i.e., "Yidispolitica"]; assignment of public notaries in exchange for parliamentary support; legitimation of massive voting against one's party, such as that which occurred in the law of the [Uribe re-re-election] referendum already mentioned, with regard to which the Executive has been considering reforming the Census so that the statistic of 7 million plus voters, the minimum necesary for the [re-election] poll to value, is reduced to just over 4 million voters, with which Uribe would need only 2 [million] to be the candidate; [and] the most egregious case of all, the 2,000 odd "false positives" -- euphemism for assassination -- of peasants perpetrated by the Army which then disguised them [the victims] to appear as guerrillas, about which Uribe recognizes neither responsibility nor recognition. And the final blow, the U.S. certification that the U.S. gave Colombia for cooperating in the fight against drugs -- especially, ceding the use of 7 [military] bases to the USA -- whose text is conceived in the language of a great power protecting a privileged tribe. Washington affirms, turning the other cheek, that it will "facilitate dialogue between the Colombian government and other social organizations," assuming as a given that Bogota needs the push...

It's not what I expected from the publication which so excitedly ran all the Colombian military press releases on the supposed FARC laptops, etc.

Good gawd, are they STILL on about golf? How long can they masturbate over that, I wonder?

Honduran de facto leader restricts media further.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE59925L20091010

Hly crp hw wrng cn Iln Rs Lhtnn be!!