Exodus from Buenos Aires to the Atlantic begins

Translated by Brian Schwarz

Originally published Thursday December 31, 2009 in "Pagina/12" of Buenos Aires, Argentina (pagina12.com.ar) under the heading Comenzó el éxodo a la costa atlántica

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA - By 8:00 a.m. today some 70 cars per minute were passing by the vehicular control post at kilometer 32 of the Gutiérrez spur of the Buenos Aires-La Plata expressway heading to state highway 2 and onward to the Atlantic coast.

“Fortunately, for the moment there haven’t been any accidents", said chief officer José Ruiz of the Buenos Aires highway patrol.

"Overall, traffic is flowing, and the only congestion is at the 20 kilometer marker of the Buenos Aires-La Plata expressway, in Quilmes”, he added.

Ruiz recalled that “during the whole day yesterday there was a great movement of vehicles heading toward the coast that only tapered off around midnight, but [this morning] between 4:30 and 5:00 it started to increase again”.

Ships turned away from Acajutla as port shuts due to union strikes

Translated by Brian Schwarz

Originally published December 30, 2009 in "El Diario de Hoy" of San Salvador, El Salvador (elsalvador.com) under the heading Barcos se alejan de Acajutla, cerrado por protesta sindical

ACAJUTLA, EL SALVADOR – Port employees have blocked the entrance to port installations in El Salvador since last Monday December 28 and have threatened to worsen their protests if the port authority does not soon responsd to their demands, which are direct contracts with CEPA [Ecuador’s port authority] or better salaries.

Ships that load and offload at the port of Acajutla have seen delays in their operations due to the dock worker-provoked labor strike. Since Monday, some 400 members of the El Salvador seaport worker’s union (STIPES) have blocked rights of way to CEPA installations in Acajutla, Sonsonate, forcing bulk carriers and containerships to divert shipments to the Guatemalan port of Quetzal.

The greatest losses have fallen on the shoulders of importers. Representatives from this sector say that ships carrying apples, grapes and toys, which were slated for distribution for year’s end festivities, cannot be offloaded at the port due to the strike.

The protests are designed to ask that the government extend direct contracts to employees who currently work for the three different sub-contractors operating through CEPA.

The demonstrators claim that these businesses do not offer fair treatment of its employees, who are humiliated by receiving low salaries of $7, $10, or $15 per month. These payments were confirmed through pay stubs and Social Security documents.

The majority of the [affected] employees work in the loading and offloading of ships.

General secretary of the union, Gregorio Elias, said that since Monday night they have initiated the strikes by blocking rights of way to CEPA [port facilities], due to a lack of response from the port authority.

“We want to be contracted directly with CEPA or that the subcontractors commit themselves to giving a fair salary with all the requirements of the law to their employees”, [Elias] told El Diario de Hoy on Tuesday December 29.

The unionists insist that the current president committed himself during his political campaign to fight the way CEPA manages its workforce, but that for now things remain unchanged.

CEPA president Guillermo López Suárez holds that he has personally met with the union about 30 times and that the most recent meeting on December 24 supposedly resulted in an impasse between the union and the port authority.

On this occasion, [López Suárez said], the conditions set forth by the plaintiffs [unionists] were accepted, including [the request] to contract directly with the unions. So when protests worsened December 26 he was surprised.

The public official made clear that CEPA does not intend to engage in “jobbery” with opportunists who have seen the opportunity to negotiate.

The workers also have denounced [CEPA’s] failure to fulfill a resolution agreed upon five months ago that would have made effective the new contracts for 2010.

Members of the union have said that demonstrations would begin to increase starting next Monday and do so until a response is received from the government.

Livestock sales in Uruguay find Web success

Translated by Brian Schwarz

Originally published December 30, 2009 in "Espectador" of Montevideo, Uruguay (espectador.com) under the heading Camponegocios: buenas ventas

MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY - Camponegocios.com closed its first month of operations with 97 percent of its supply sold. The livestock-trading portal sold in one month nearly 1,000 heads of cattle.

The first Web portal for the buying and selling of cattle and sheep closed its first month of business Thursday, December 24 with more than 300 authorized businesses.

The total amount [earned] from operations was more than $200,000.

Shares [listed on the site] sold within an average of 10 days, marking a great achievement regarding transaction speed for Camponegocios.com. On December 24 Camponegocios fulfilled its fastest transaction to date, selling a batch of cattle within two hours.

Manager of Camponegocios.com, Fabián Artigue, said that “without a doubt, this makes [one] believe that these transaction speeds and the security of authentications are here to stay”.

Producers from diverse parts of the country participated in Camponegocios’ first month of operations. The departments most active in the purchase of livestock via the portal were Río Negro, Salto, Paysandú, Durazno, Maldonado, Lavalleja, and Flores, among others.

Artigue said that “beyond the numbers, the important thing is that users are able to experience the speed, security and efficiency of the system”.

Moreover, during this first month of operations, Camponegocios made presentations to various cooperatives throughout the country, giving more than 500 producers the opportunity to get to know this new portal.

Costa Rica anticipates the return of 75,000 Nicaraguans

Translation by Brian Schwarz

Originally published December 30, 2009 in “La Prensa” of Managua, Nicaragua (laprensa.com.ni) under the heading Costa Rica espera el retorno de 75 mil nicas by Josué Bravo

PENAS BLANCAS, COSTA RICA – Costa Rican border authorities at Peñas Blancas and Los Chiles have been preparing since December 28 to facilitate the entrance of tens of thousands of Nicaraguans who, before and during Christmas, left through these borders to vacation in their homeland.

Migration and immigration director Mario Zamora calculates that most of the estimated 75,000 Nicaraguans who work in Costa Rica and left for vacation during this December holiday season will return to the country either Friday, January 1 or Sunday, January 3.

To manage the inflow, the control operation that facilitated [the Nicaraguans’] exit will be reversed, Zamora said. Besides providing more support at migration windows, police control in Peñas Blancas, Los Chiles and the surrounding areas will be amplified in order to confiscate false documents and prevent the passage of illegals [into the country].

It is during these final days of December and early January that large quantities of Nicaraguans are turned away from the border for evading migratory controls. Between December 28, 2008 and January 7, 2009, border officials turned away 2,400 Nicaraguans who had entered illegally at Peñas Blancas and Los Chiles

Figures for this season’s [migration] have not yet been released by the public safety ministry.

The safety ministry did report that as the Nicaraguans were departing, safety minister Janina del Vecchio and public forces chief Erick Lacayo visited Peñas Blancas where they verified the dynamic flow of people across the border and confirmed the high level of collaboration between the two countries’ police forces and with the Nicaraguan military.

Today and January 3, Peñas Blancas will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. On January 1 the service schedule will be from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. And from January 3 to January 7, the schedule will return to 6 a.m. to midnight.

In Peñas Blancas, as with other of the country’s borders, migration [officials] installed an electric plant to avoid computer crashes in the case of power outages.

Chinese company cements deal to buy Chilean iron ore mine

Translated by Brian Schwarz

Originally published December 30, 2009 in “El Mercurio” of Santiago, Chile (elmercurio.com) under the heading Empresa china concreta millonaria compra de mina de hierro en Chile by Franco Vera Mejías

VALLENAR, CHILE - Chinese company Shunde Rixin Development Co. (Rixin) this week acquired a 70 percent stake in the exploration rights to a Chilean iron ore deposit, located some 700 kilometers from Santiago near Vallenar. According to various Chinese and U.S. sources, the mine has mineral reserves of around 5 billion [metric] tons, making it the fifth largest in the world.

Chilean [mining] industry sources said the exploitation rights to the Chilean mine were sold by another Chinese company, and that the transaction value was less than $10 million. Nonetheless, the total cost of the project will reach a value to fluctuate between $1.9 billion and $2.2 billion, according to estimates given by Rixin president Li Zihao in a press release.

The Chinese state mining company Minmetals is also involved in the project. Yesterday the company announced that although it will not provide financial assistance, it will help in the sale of the mined iron ore, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) digital edition.

Price controls

According to the president of Rixon, the purchase of exploitation rights to the project, which should be in operation in 2012, is aimed at helping curb the foreign “monopoly” on the sale of iron ore.

WSJ reported that China has been making moves recently to break free from price controls set by Australian and Brazilian iron ore producers.

Rixin’s president has said that the mine – the name of which is still unknown – could supply China with 30 million tons of ore by 2012, and after 2014 [production] could reach 120 million tons annually.

Once operations begin, shipments of Chilean iron ore could reach 10 percent of all Chinese iron imports.

Shunde Rixin Development Co. is a private textile exporter, car trader and metals-mining company located in [China’s] Guangdong province.

Bees kill man for urinating on hive

Translated by Brian Schwarz

Originally published Wednesday, December 30, 2009, in “Nuevo Ojo” of Lima, Peru (ojo.com.pe) under the heading Abejas lo matan por orinar en panal

NUEVO CHICLAYO, PERU – The stings of thousands of killer bees caused the death of a rural man who, in a state of drunkenness, urinated on a beehive in the Amazonas region of Peru.

Luis Quispe Salazar, 30, was attacked over the weekend while making his way to his home in the Nuevo Chiclayo section of Utcubamba province’s Cajaruro district.

The unfortunate individual had apparently been drinking to celebrate Christmas with his loved ones. Close friends of the victim said he had decided to head home alone and that because he was completely drunk he did not account for the dozens of killer bee hives along the road.

Witnesses of the incident said the killer bees, which are known to attack people when they feel their nests or their queen are in danger, stung the unfortunate man over his entire body for more than an hour.

The man was found by some of his neighbors who were passing through the area. These neighbors then informed the man’s family of what happened. Immediately he was taken to the EsSalud Good Samaritan Hospital of Bagua Grande, and despite attempts at first aid the man died as the venom had already affected his vital organs.