[Lasnetmail] The Permanent Tribunal of the People

[LASNET]

LIMA.-The Permanent Tribunal of the People (TPP) continued listening to
allegations of diverse illegal acts carried out by European transnational
corporations that operate in Latin America.

The mock court, working within the framework of the Social Summit, has been
organized parallel to the fifth European Union-Latin America-Caribbean
Summit (EU-LAC).

The TPP was set up on Tuesday and immediately heard the accusations
presented by representatives of the Confederación de Comunidades Afectadas
por la Minería (Confederation of Communities Affected by Mining / CONACAMI),
which were made against the Monterrico Metals company of Great Britain,
reported PL.

That corporation was accused of playing a role in the Majaz Project in the
northern Peruvian region of Piura, which would cause the destruction of
agriculture there.

As farmer leader Magdiel Ugaz indicated before the judges, headed by Belgian
priest François Houtard, the company's actions would put the biological
diversity of the area seriously at risk. This region, inhabited by the
Andean tapir and the Anteojos bear, is noted for its flourishing cedar
trees, the Cat's Claw plant (a natural anti-inflammatory) and diverse
medicinal grasses.

Ugaz pointed out that the rural communities of the area were never
consulted, as required under prevailing legislation, and that protests have
been repressed, leaving a balance of two dead and hundreds of arrests and
convictions - several of them for "terrorism."

Also making accusations was Mario Palacios, the leader of CONACAMI, and the
representative of the Observatorio de Conflictos Mineros de América Latina
(Latin America Mining Conflict Observation Boby), Caesar Padilla, who
explained that in the last 20 years, governments have manipulated
regulatory, legal and judicial frameworks to stimulate mining investment. 
He noted that by operating in such a manner to protect the neo-liberal
model, this has lead to serious negative consequences to the environment and
human health.

The tribunal also heard the accusation against the illegal activity
committed by the Spanish transnational Repsol YPF in Argentina, Bolivia and
Ecuador. These critiques were made by Diego Mansilla (Argentina), Gustavo
Rodríguez and Fabián Key (Bolivia), and Alejandra Almeida (Ecuador). 
In Bolivia, for example, the company controls 1,300,000 hectares of land,
while in Ecuador it operates on 200,000 hectares of tropical forests, while
preventing the entry of government representatives to verify accusations of
highly polluting operations, as claimed by the indigenous community.

In the Summit of People, the more than 3,000 delegates from some 40
countries of Europe and Latin America are discussing an alternative model of
development that is emerging as "an inclusive alternative that recognizes
the diversity of people and multiculturalism."

Meanwhile, the issue of the food crisis that threatens the planet entered
with force in the preliminary discussions of the fifth Euro-Latin American
Summit, as the media and sources close to the meeting have highlighted the
possibility that the forum will include proposals to confront that peril,
pointed out PL.

Peruvian Minister of Agriculture Ismael Benavides recognized that the
uncontrolled increase in international food prices is worrisome to his
government, which is hosting the meeting, and admitted that that situation
particularly affects the country's poorer sectors. He did not discard the
possibility of the issue being included on the agenda of the EU-LAC Summit,
which is looking at the fight against the poverty and the protection of the
environment.

World agriculture is at the front of a dramatic crossroads, the minister
underlined, after revealing -in addition to other pieces of frightful data-
that Peru imports 95 percent of the wheat that consumes.

Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno said the issue remains
floating in the air, although at the moment he is excluded from the official
calendar of the summit.

The Antillean official maintains that it is not possible to speak of the
fight against poverty -the central theme of the summit- without mentioning
the uncontrolled increases in the international price of the foods.

He is hoping for an eleventh-hour change to the Lima Declaration, the
document that will be fine tuned until Wednesday by experts from the member
countries of this bi-regional mechanism. This coming Thursday it will then
be provided to the foreign ministers for their analysis, and finally
presented to the presidents on Friday.
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