tagged w/ Guatemala
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Guatemalan prostitutes, prisoners and mental patients who were intentionally exposed to sexually transmitted diseases, without their knowledge or consent, by U.S. researchers in the 1940s, cannot sue the United States argued the Obama Administration on Monday, no matter how shameful and unethical the studies were.
In its first response to a lawsuit filed on behalf of the experiment's subjects, the Justice Department late Monday said sovereign immunity protects federal health officials from litigation stemming from the study. The experiment conducted in the 1940s exposed Guatemalan civilians to test the effects of penicillin.
President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius all have apologized for the research, hidden for decades until a Wellesley College medical historian uncovered the records in 2009.
The Justice Department filing Monday said the studies were "a deeply troubling chapter in our nation's history."
"As a result of these unethical studies, a terrible wrong has occurred. The United States is committed to taking appropriate steps to address that wrong," the filing said, without elaborating on what steps might be planned. But the government attorneys argued, "This lawsuit is not the proper vehicle — and this court is not the proper forum — through which the consequences of this shameful conduct may be resolved."
The government says the Federal Tort Claims Act protects the United States from lawsuits based on injuries suffered in a foreign country, even if the acts that caused the harm were planned in the United States.
Attorneys for the Guatemalans said the immunity assertion contradicts the apologies made by Obama and his advisers. They also said failure to accept responsibility for the human rights abuses violates the international prohibition against nonconsensual human medical experimentation that the United States and other nations renounced during the Nuremberg trials following World War II.
"We will continue to vigorously fight for the rights of the Guatemalans wronged in this matter to obtain a remedy for the harms done by U.S. officials," plaintiffs' attorney Terrence Collingsworth said in a statement in response to the filing. "But we remain open to the United States deciding to do the right thing, consistent with long-established human rights law and basic morality."
Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom said he wants the U.S. government to compensate six survivors who have been identified. But the lawsuit also seeks compensation for heirs of all the victims who have died, some who have experienced their own health problems possibly linked to their parents' exposure, with the amount to be determined by a jury. Attorneys representing the Guatemalans first asked the Obama administration to set up an out-of-court claims process similar to those established in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the 9/11 terror attacks, but they got no response and filed the suit.
Guatemalan officials said last month that they have found 2,082 people were involved in the experiments conducted from 1946-1948 to infect subjects with syphilis, gonorrhea or chancroid. U.S. officials put the figure at 1,308 subjects.
The STD study was designed to test the effects of penicillin, then a relatively new drug. Among the goals of the research, funded by the predecessor of the National Institutes of Health, was to see how well differing dosages of penicillin worked against different venereal diseases.
An American team persuaded officials at prisons and mental institutions to cooperate by giving them other equipment and supplies such as refrigerators and difficult-to-get medications for malaria and epilepsy. Sometimes, individual subjects were paid with cigarettes and, in the case of prisoners, infected prostitutes were used to expose them to the disease.
The U.S. has been involved in numerous other infamous medical studies on human subjects. The most notorious was the Tuskegee syphilis research on 600 black men in Alabama who were studied without being offered any treatment. The physician involved in that study, Dr. John Cutler, directed the Guatemalan research.
Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/health/2012/01/10/obama-administration-claims-immunity-in-shameful-std-study-guatemalans/#ixzz1j44Ql3uuGuatemalan prostitutes, prisoners and mental patients who were intentionally exposed... more
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Guatemala victims of US syphilis study still haunted by the ‘devil’s experiment’Guatemala victims of US syphilis study still haunted by the ‘devil’s... more
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“Helios: Eadweard Muybridge in a Time of Change” is an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), which presents the first-ever retrospective examination of all aspects of artist Eadweard Muybridge’s pioneering photography. Best known for his groundbreaking studies of animals and humans in motion, what a magnificent photographer Eadweard Muybridge was and what a brilliant eye he had is too often overlooked. In addition to his iconic studies of animals in motion, Muybridge (1830-1904) was also an innovative and successful landscape and survey photographer, documentary artist, inventor and war correspondent.
The works in this exhibition have been brought together from 38 different collections and include a number of Muybridge’s photographs of Yosemite Valley, images of Alaska and the Pacific coast, pictures from Panama and Guatemala and urban panoramas of San Francisco, most of which were published under the pseudonym “Helios.” The exhibition also includes examples from Muybridge’s experimental series of sequential stop-motion photographs, such as his masterpieces “The Horse in Motion” and “Animal Locomotion.”
This piece includes a number of vintage photographs from the exhibition, a photo-gallery, a music video and a stop-motion animation.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/06/05/helios-the-pioneering-photography-of-eadweard-muybridge/“Helios: Eadweard Muybridge in a Time of Change” is an exhibition at the... more
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The School of the Americas (SOA), in 2001 renamed the “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation,” is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers, located at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Initially established in Panama in 1946, it was kicked out of that country in 1984 under the terms of the Panama Canal Treaty. Former Panamanian President, Jorge Illueca, stated that the School of the Americas was the “biggest base for destabilization in Latin America.” The SOA, frequently dubbed the “School of Assassins,” has left a trail of blood and suffering in every country where its graduates have returned.
Over its 59 years, the SOA has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. These graduates have consistently used their skills to wage a war against their own people. Among those targeted by SOA graduates are educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred, and forced into refugee by those trained at the School of Assassins.
http://www.soaw.org/about-the-soawhinsec
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja9nXs1tQ7Q&feature=related
The video contains Part 1 of a two part documentary about the school. Almost all the military criminals that have committed atrocities in Central and South America are graduates from this school.
Your tax dollars are paying to destabilize Latin American democracies. America is running a terrorist training camp in the name of cooperative security. People need to speak up about this, this school needs to be closed down.The School of the Americas (SOA), in 2001 renamed the “Western Hemisphere... more
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jubal
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added this
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11 months ago
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Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom and his wife Sandra Torres have filed for divorce so she can stand for election to succeed him, officials say.Ms Torres announced she would be the governing party candidate in September's presidential election earlier this month.
link :http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12813999Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom and his wife Sandra Torres have filed for divorce so... more
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Japan has been shaken due to an earthquake of 8.9 magnitudes. This earthquake has done huge scale damage to infrastructure of Japan. Simultaneously, it has been reported that tsunami waves will strike vast areas of Pacific Ocean. Countries what may come under affect of these tsunami waves are Russia, Philippines, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama.Japan has been shaken due to an earthquake of 8.9 magnitudes. This earthquake has done... more
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The Pacific region’s all countries have gotten tsunami warning. Only Canada and United States are the two countries where this warning is not applicable. All other islands come under warning of this tsunami. This tsunami has been issued after the striking of an earthquake in Japan. A few days ago, Japanese issued another warning but US officials had rejected that warning. But this time, the tsunami warning has come from Americans. This warning will include Hawaii, South American Countries and Mexico in its range.The Pacific region’s all countries have gotten tsunami warning. Only Canada and... more
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Osborn owns their own production workshop in Guatemala wherein they have 25 employees working for them who lovingly use fair trade, locally sourced materials to create their [darling] shoes. By hand. Shoes made by hand. That is a very important detail, as handmade shoes are often among the highest quality, longest lasting options.
http://www.awakenedaesthetic.com/2010/09/oxford-fever/Osborn owns their own production workshop in Guatemala wherein they have 25 employees... more
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This day in sound in 1986. News of terrorists threats over the outcome of the Achille Lauro hijacking. Fighting escalates in Yemen. David Rockefeller brings out the riots in Buenos Aires and VP Bush goes to Guatemala for the swearing in of Vinicio Cerezo.This day in sound in 1986. News of terrorists threats over the outcome of the Achille... more
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By Sarah Grainger, BBC
In a modest breeze-block house in a village in Guatemala’s chilly and damp Western highlands, Aura Garcia tunes her small radio every Saturday morning to 93.7FM Radio Arco Iris which broadcasts the soap opera ‘El Intruso’ (the Intruder).
Aura is 17-years-old and a member of one of Guatemala’s indigenous Maya communities, which make up over half of the country’s population but whose members mostly live in poor, rural areas. Her mother tongue is Mam and she dresses in the traditional blouse and skirt of the Maya, heavily embroidered with a rainbow of bright colors.
For over a year Aura has been faithfully listening to the radio show and following the stories of Yon Maycol, a womanizing tuk-tuk driver and his girlfriend, Inocencia, wily Felipe and studious Lesly, the daughter of a single mother.
Like any soap opera, there is intrigue, romance and conflict. But ‘El Intruso’ carries important public health messages as well. Yon Maycol, the local Lothario who has spent time in the US, is persuaded to take an HIV test before he begins dating his latest girlfriend Inocencia. Felipe woos Lesly who knows little about contraceptives and ends up pregnant, as her mother had done. In later episodes Felipe discovers he is HIV positive, develops AIDS and eventually dies from pneumonia.
To read more of this story, please visit: http://mediaimpact.org/news2.htmlBy Sarah Grainger, BBC
In a modest breeze-block house in a village in... more
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In this nation whose murder rate more than triples that of Mexico, judges and prosecutors are underpaid, underprotected and under attack by organized crime. Guatemala teeters on the edge of failed-state status.
Yet a U.N.-backed investigative team that has by all counts been highly effective in prosecuting criminals is suddenly meeting stiff resistance from the very people who should stand to gain from a stronger rule of law: Guatemala's political and business elite.
The pushback comes as nearly half the territory in a country of 14 million is controlled by drug gangs and other criminals, with violence even at the capital's swankiest addresses. More than 96 percent of murders go unsolved, and just last month stray bullets killed three bystanders at a crowded restaurant in the capital's hotel district.
"We live in a terrifying anarchy," psychologist Oscar Quintero said on a TV show where mental health experts discussed coping strategies.
The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, or CICIG in Spanish, was launched three years ago at Guatemala's request to dismantle illegal security groups, many of them tied to the military and a legacy of the 1960-1996 civil war, and to end criminal impunity. It has also taken on rampant vigilante justice, which includes contract killings of criminals.
The work by a team of cops and prosecutors from 25 nations has landed a raft of senior officials in jail -- a remarkable feat for a country whose elite has long made sure that law enforcement was selective and the penal code lax.
Eduardo Stein, a well-respected vice president from 2004 to 2008 who helped bring the commission into Guatemala, has now accused it of "going out of control" for filing extra-judicial execution charges against top officials from his government over the allegedly pre-meditated killing of prison inmates. Stein and other businessmen have suggested the commission be put under local political control, arguing that it has overstepped its mandate and even operated outside the law.
Its director, former Costa Rican attorney general Francisco Dall'Anese, rejects the campaign for local control as sabotage, part of "a dark campaign by powerful groups" seeking to dissolve the commission, although he declined to name names.
"It is touching people we never expected it to touch," said Pedro Pablo Marroquin, editor of the La Hora newspaper. "And the problem is, we live in a society where some people are untouchable."
Facing trial on criminal charges dominated by embezzlement are former President Alfonso Portillo, a son of ex-dictator Efrain Rios Montt, an ex-defense minister, two former interior ministers, a prisons director, three national police chiefs and two anti-narcotics police commanders.
Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/312200#ixzz15GIpSTEaIn this nation whose murder rate more than triples that of Mexico, judges and... more
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With the arrest of a computer graduate, Delhi Police on Monday claimed to have unearthed a "new route" of human trafficking whereby people were sent illegally to Mexico, Canada and the US through Guatemala.
Adil Vali Mohammed (38) was taken into custody at the Delhi airport after a large number of passports were seized from him, O P Mishra, Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport), said.
"While returning from Guatemala Adil Vali Mohammed was found in possession of 31 passports apart from his own at the Delhi airport. The recovery of such a large number of passports belonging to different passengers was alarming," he said.
During questioning, the DCP said, Mohammed revealed a very organised network of carrier agents and middlemen involved in human trafficking who would charge Rs 20-30 lakh from the victims.With the arrest of a computer graduate, Delhi Police on Monday claimed to have... more
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Saul Flores, a student at North Carolina State University, traveled more than 5,000 miles across Latin America in the summer of 2010 to experience the conditions many immigrants face as they attempt to reach the United States border. During the trip he took more than 20,000 photos of the people and cultures of the region. Flores is selling prints of his photos to raise money for an impoverished elementary school in Atencingo, Mexico.Saul Flores, a student at North Carolina State University, traveled more than 5,000... more
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Persecution for race, religion, nationality, political opinion or social group have all provided grounds for winning U.S. asylum.
But not persecution for being a girl or a woman.
"We have a legal definition of refugees that has been interpreted in a way that has really left women out," said Karen Musalo, director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at University of California Hastings' College of Law.
That could change, however, with the case of women resisting compulsory return to Guatemala, the country in Latin America with the highest rate of femicide.
The U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals is now reviewing the case of Lesly Yajayra Perdomo, a 34-year-old woman who has been seeking refugee status for six years. At the same time, it is also considering whether Guatemalan women between the ages of 14 and 40 could be classified as a particular social group for granting asylum.
If the board rules yes, approximately 3,000 Guatemalan women presently facing deportation in the U.S. could be eligible for refugee status, if they successfully make the case that returning to Guatemala could mean death.
"There are many Guatemalan women in the U.S. who were victims of violence in Guatemala or, like Perdomo, who would face extreme danger if forced to return to Guatemala. This decision would provide an important tool for these women," said Kelsey Alford-Jones, program associate of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission.
Read the full story here http://womensenews.org/story/in-the-courts/101001/appeals-case-gives-hope-guatemalan-refugeesPersecution for race, religion, nationality, political opinion or social group have... more
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U.S. scientists infected prostitutes with syphilis or gonorrhea and sent them to have unprotected sex with soldiers or prison inmates, later testing them for possible cures, U.S. officials said.U.S. scientists infected prostitutes with syphilis or gonorrhea and sent them to have... more
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INFECTARON A 696 personas con sífilis!
El Gobierno de Estados Unidos se ha disculpado con Guatemala por sus experimentos entre los años 1946 y 1948 que infectaron intencionalmente a cientos de personas de ese país con sífilis y gonorrea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVdsQMFBT0QINFECTARON A 696 personas con sífilis!
El Gobierno de Estados Unidos se ha... more
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