Colombia sends tanks to Venezuelan border

Venezuela condemned Colombia on Sunday night for sending tanks to the border in a “provocation” amid surging unrest in both countries.

The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry released a statement slamming the deployment of armoured vehicles “scant metres from the frontier” in Paraguachon, Guajira department, on the Caribbean coast.

The statement pointed out that in recent days Colombian authorities had “broadcast to the world that it they were preparing for waves of migrants from Venezuela to Colombia” fleeing violence in Venezuela.

Caracas said: "The provocation aims to divert attention from the political and social crisis” in Colombia’s in the Cauca valley, Buenaventura, where a mass civic strike entered its seventh day yesterday, despite troops being deployed on the streets.

Residents are demanding improvements to infrastructure and drinking water supply for the sake of their health.

The Cauca Valley Patriotic Union yesterday sent a message of solidarity to Venezuela “In its valourous resistance against the economic and terrorist war unleashed by that country’s extreme right opposition.”

And Colombia faces more unrest in the coming week.

The CUT [United Workers’ Central or Central Union of Workers] union federation has called general public employees strike and protests today [TUES] along with political, social and peasants’ organisations.

That follows last Tuesday’s 500,000-strong strike in demand of wage rises to compensate for inflation and “regressive tax reforms.”

Tomorrow [WED] groups affiliated under the National Indigenous Organisation of Colombia (Onic) will march from the Popayan to Cali in the Cauca Valley.

And national marches in support of the peace process with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are planned for June 1.

A leaflet from the “Venezuela Resistance and Student Movement” circulated on social media (see below) called for an indefinite national general strike starting yesterday.

The authors blamed the government for the economic crisis — and warned businesses, bus and taxi drivers they would not be responsible for looting and arson if they continued doing business.

Nearly two months of opposition regime change riots across Venezuela have now left 53 people dead, according to news channel Telesur — ten more than 2014’s year of “Guarimba” bloodshed to the same end.

Only six of those are confirmed to have been killed by the security forces — while two officers have been killed.

On Sunday the Public Ministry ordered a probe into the latest deadly shooting of Edy Alejandro Teran a a protest in Tachira state on saturday night, that also left an 18-year-old boy and a woman injured.

The mystery of the Guanches

The origins and language of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands remain a mystery, writes Dr Sabina Goralski Filonov Translation by James Tweedie The guanches, the aboriginals of the Canary Islands whose origin, lost in the mists of time, still arouses intense and passionate debate and great controversy about their origins and the how the seven Canary Islands were populated – which according to some studies occurred between 10,000 and 8,000 years BC. Literally, the word ‘Guan’ means man or person and ‘Chenech’ or ‘Chinet’ is applied to the island of Tenerife, thus meaning a man or inhabitant of Tenerife – although according to Núñez de la Peña, the Spanish named them the Guanchos during the conquest of the islands. But with the passage of time, experts in the subject are questioning whether the word Guanche was used to designate the primitive inhabitants of all the islands in the pre-Hispanic period. The term ‘Guanche’ has also ceased to be applied to the distin

Los Gigantes Beach Landslide Tragedy - Three Days of Mourning for Victims

SHATTERED IDYLL: Los Guios beach in Los Gigantes in happier times. SANTIAGO del Teide council declared three days of official mourning after two women were killed in a landslide on Los Gigantes beach on November 1. by James Tweedie The local authority announced the period of mourning following an emergency council meeting on Monday November 2, called in response to the tragic deaths of 57-year old British holidaymaker Marion O’Hara and 34-year old Canarian hotel worker Maria Vanesa Arias Romera. Flags at Santiago del Teide town hall were flown at half mast for the period of mourning, and all official functions observed a minute’s silence in memory of the victims. The two women were killed when 130-foot wide stretch of the cliffs above the tiny Los Guios beach collapsed from a height of about 200 feet, burying them beneath rubble up to 15 feet deep, according to a spokesman for the Guardia Civil which was conducting the investigation into the accident. The landslide occurred about 3pm

African Teachers Against Privatisation

Teachers from across Africa urged the continental bloc to halt the privatisation of national education systems today. Unions affiliated to the Education International (EI) federation pressed the African Union (AU) to stop the spread of sordid tin-shack schools funded by the world's richest man. The EI statement, issued in the Ethiopian capital and seat of the AU Addis Ababa warned: “we are witnessing a shift away from education as a public good,” with “a reduction in education budgets and increased privatisation of education.” “This is not the Africa we want,” said EI Africa Committee Chair Christian Addai-Poku, referring to the AU's 'Agenda 2063' plan. “Quality education for the public good is an indispensable condition for the development of our continent and the realisation of the full potential of all its people.” The teaching unions criticised the rapid growth across the continent of ‘low-cost’ private schools, which they said were “notorious for empl

Homeless dogs’ home fights for compensation

Dingo Dogs owner Phil Nelson at his since-demolished home. DOGS’ home owner Phil Nelson has vowed to take legal action following his eviction from his Dingo Dogs animal sanctuary in August. by James Tweedie Indian-born Mr Nelson, along with former girlfriend and Dingo Dogs treasurer Leigh Crouch were left homeless by the court-ordered eviction and have been sharing a small hut in the mountains near Las Chafiras with ten dogs and three cats ever since. Mr Nelson’s dispute with his former landlord began in September 2004, after he officially registered his rented hillside finca as an animal sanctuary. It was a requirement of his registration that he keep proper financial records, including receipts for payment of rent. Mr Nelson says that despite having a rental contract and paying his rent “as regular as clockwork” for years, his landlord never gave him a receipt even after he began asking for one every month in 2004. In May 2005, after his landlord had refused

Dispossessed Couple Begin Hunger Strike

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Wednesday August 18 2010 A CANARIAN couple began an “indefinite” hunger strike outside Tenerife's Palace of Justice on Wednesday in a property dispute. by JAMES TWEEDIE Husband and wife José María Fernández Herrero and Esmerelda Delgado (pictured) from the island of El Hierro are protesting against a court ruling in March which deprived them of 350 square metres of the land on which their home is built. The couple set up camp outside the court building on in Avenida Tres de Mayo in the provincial capital with nothing but sleeping bags, folding chairs and a banner on Tuesday August 17. They announced their hunger strike, during which they will eat nothing and drink only water, at a press conference the next day. Their banner read: “Against judicial defenselessness in El Hierro.” The couple accuse lawyer Reyes Margarita Fernández Qunitero – a substitute judge who has nevertheless been in office for over four years, and who presided over the court case – of ru

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