Thu, 9 March 2006
10.4Mb 23 Minutes. The Petrol Wars. When Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez offered oil at half price to the victims of Hurrican Katrina in New Orleans eyebrows were raised. When a municipal Council in Massachusetts accepted the offer to provide cheap heating oil to pensioners and underprivileged (whose subsidies had been cut) to help them through the winter, the Bush administration went ballistic. A Republican congressman has called for an investigation of CitCo - the US company which is distributing the cheap oil - while other companies, like Exxon make record profits, indulge in price fixing and anti-trust practices, and fail the 'social responsibility' obligations the big oil companies are expected to voluntarily accept. So why does CitCo come under the microscope? Lara Pullin of the Australian Venezuela Solidarity Network has a few suggestions, which seem to be in accordance with sympathetic congressman Serrano, and President Hugo Chavez himself in rare interviews with the community radio network "Democracy Now". Musical background provided by the late Ali Primera, poet songster, with his song "Dear Mr. Sam" and "The Petrol War".
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Wed, 8 March 2006
17.5Mb. 38 Minutes. Friday March 3. Memorial gathering for Commandante Shafik Handel at the Venezuelan Embassy in Canberra, Australia.
While only a handful of Australians would know Salvadoran activist Jorge Shafik Handel, over half a million Salvadorans turned out on the streets of San Salvador last February for a state funeral, and on Friday March 3. admirers all around the world simultaneously held gatherings to honour his memory.
Shafik Handel was the central figure in the high command of the FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front), which fought a protracted guerilla war in El Salvador through most of the 1980s. After an offensive in November 1989 during which the FMLN guerillas controlled two thirds of the capital, San Salvador for almost a week, the Salvadoran government was forced to negotiate a peace with the FMLN. Shafik again, was a central influence in negotiating the peace agreement that was eventually signed in 1992, and when the FMLN entered Salvadoran elections as a political party he again provided a strong leadership role. He was expected to lead the FMLN to a victory in this year's upcoming presidential elections.
To honour him at the Venezuelan Embassy in Canberra, was the Venezuelan Charge D'Affaires Nelson Davila, representatives of the Canberra Committee of the FMLN, a member of the Socialist Alliance, Mick Gentleman, MLA in the ACT Assembly, and Brian Henderson, of the Australia Cuba Friendship Society. Poetry reading by refugee Salvadoran poet, Bernardo Zamora, Celtic music by Brian Henderson.
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