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News Briefs
Morales calls vote on constitution
Bolivia is bracing for another referendum on December 7 —this time on President Evo Morales’ new constitution, which has land reform as a major and controversial component.
On August 10, Morales, his vice-president, and six governors survived a recall referendum ballot. The governors of La Paz, Jose Luis Paredes Munoz, and Cochamamba, Manfred Reyes Villa Bacigalupi, both lost their seats, only gaining roughly one-third of the vote each. Morales has since appointed interim governors.
Morales has called again for a dialogue with the opposition governors of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando, Tarija y Chuquisaca, that would be mediated by the Cathoic Church and Organization of American States.
Cuban communists call for participatory, democratic socialism
A document published by a group of Cuban communists shows that the unanimity previously thought to exist among the island’s communists may be only a veneer.
The statement, published on the website “Kaos en la Red”, was penned by former Communist officials and militants as well as diplomats and a former director of Juventud Rebelde. The document says that the new generations of Cubans do not “feel the same commitment as previous generations towards this socialism that is poor and without perspectives.” It goes on to warn that the current direction of the system could be capitalized on by ‘the enemy’ and come apart suddenly.
Entitled ‘’Cuba needs a participative and democratic socialism,’’ and claiming to represent the joint thinking of Cuban communists and revolutionaries, the document outlines measures to end the stagnation afflicting the island country. Among these: adopting a single currency; updating the penal code; respecting the right to private property; making the electoral process more participatory and democratic; ending the harassment of Afro-descendent Cubans and other marginalized groups; and privatizing agriculture.
Montreal riot highlights racial profiling of immigrants in Canada
Montreal police are being criticized for using profiling tactics in dealing with immigrant youth, after officers shot and killed Fredy Villanueva in the city’s northside on August 9. The shooting resulted in rioting the next day in which a police officer was shot in the leg.
Montreal’s North is a community of 84,000 that is overburdened with poverty amongst its largely immigrant community. The situation is not simply a ‘Latin’ racial incident but one of poverty and a lack of resources for immigrant communities where youth are often unsupervised and lack appropriate outlets for their energy.
The official enquiry into the actions of that day should shed futher light and commentary on the shooting itself as well as the conditions that sparked the riots. Poorer communities in Canada require urgent support in dealing with poverty and youth issues.
Experts discuss labor mobility in North America
Experts met on June 23-24 to discuss how labor mobility fits into the regional equation of deepening interdependencies and economic ties such as NAFTA between Canada, United States and Mexico. FOCAL’s “Expert Dialogue on Labour Mobility” held in Mexico City included panelists from the public sector and academia of Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. The Chatham House rules discussion frankly explored existing legal, economic and political frameworks for labor mobility as well as what lessons can be drawn from past experiences and policies. The conference report will be released in September 2008. The event was organized by FOCAL, the Metropolis Project of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the Centre for the Study of North America (CISAN) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the Policy and Strategy branch of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. These partners have informally agreed to working together to help support and disseminate research on mobility and migration in North America in the future and to consolidate a “Metropolis-North America” based at UNAM in Mexico City.