Brazil Appeals to Neighbors to Cut Dependency on the US and EU

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Brazzil Magazine

Brazil Appeals to Neighbors to Cut Dependency on the US and EU
Written by Newsroom
Monday, 21 July 2008

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Alvaro Uribe, the presidents of Brazil and Colombia, respectively, vowed Saturday, July 19, to boost trade and investment between their nations ahead of crucial world trade talks this week. Lula urged Colombia and the region to increase trade ties "so we aren't left dependent on a single partner," such as the US or European Union.

Lula called on European leaders attending the so-called Doha Round trade talks this week in Geneva to maintain farm ties with poor and developing nations, which have demanded that wealthy countries slash farm tariffs and subsidies that they say hinder development.

Wealthy nations on the other hand have insisted that developing countries grant manufacturers and service providers a better access to their markets. The impasse looms large as negotiators gather to try to save seven years of frustrating talks on a new global trade pact.

"We want to negotiate, but we don't want to keep our countries from having the opportunity to develop in the 21st century," said Lula adding that he is optimistic an agreement can be reached giving "poor nations better opportunities in international trade."



Read more: http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/9597/

[Judi Lynn]

1. Sorry, error. n/t

[jwirr]

2. Are you saying the article is an error? I was just about to cheer. nt

[Judi Lynn]

3. Nope, I accidently repeated the article, so I had it TWICE in one thread!

Regarding the story, everyone concerned about Latin Americans getting their countries back probably would see this is entirely positive, healthy, and healing. The next few years could be amazing, if they aren't beaten down the hard way, all over again, through U.S. right-wing violent meddling and machination.

[Indenturedebtor]

4. Good for them. I would like to see us do some trade here in the US

As we have the largest consumer economy in the world, why does it benefit us to really trade with other countries and allow them access to our markets?

Can't we just make all of our own consumer crap here? Or would that mean that rich parasites would have to pay an almost decent wage like they did in the halcyon days of american prosperity?

[Judi Lynn]

5. It would make perfect sense, but then, where would their astounding profits go, if they pay

wages to the American workers which actually RESPECT the amount of energy and care they invest in their jobs?

If they can't STEAL the money from the workers, they don't stand to get as rich as quickly and to sustain preposterous levels of excess, like Ira Rennert, US citizen, owner of Doe Run in Peru:

06 06 07
Peruvian Religious Leaders Implore Doe Run Owner Ira Rennert to Help Thousands of Lead-Poisoned Children in La Oroya, Peru. Doe Run and Renco Corporation Refuse to Meet.
June 6, 2007. A group of Peru’s leading religious leaders will meet next Friday with the president of Doe Run Peru (DRP) to propose an ethical solution to the health crisis in La Oroya and to prevent further contamination of Peru’s Mantaro River Valley.
Contamination produced by DRP operations has had a negative impact on the health of thousands of children and pregnant women who live near the company’s smelter in La Oroya.

The meeting marks the first stop in an unprecedented international, interfaith pilgrimage to St. Louis, MO and later to New York to implore Doe Run owner, Ira Rennert, to invest in the proper technology to update company operations in Peru. The DRP smelter emits more than 2 million pounds of sulfur dioxide, lead, arsenic, and other toxins every day. Doe Run Resources Company profits in 2006 were between $125-150 million, according to company documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Rennert, apart from making large donations to religious and charitable causes, finances the Torah Ethics Project which promotes ethical values in the U.S. Jewish community.

Among those attending the meeting with the Doe Run Peru president, Juan Carlos Huyhua, are Monsignor Pedro Barreto, the archbishop of Huancayo and coordinator of the State of Junín Roundtable on Environmental Concerns; Rev. Rafael Goto, the president of the National Council of Protestant Churches of Peru; Sister Adele Human, a Dominican Sister; and Rev. Pedro Bullón, the president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Peru. “Given the $150 million profit of the Doe Run Company last year, Mr. Rennert has the opportunity to significantly reduce contamination, thereby improving the health of thousands of children and families,” said Monsignor Barreto, leader of the religious delegation. Msgr. Barreto added, “The purpose of our meeting today with Dr. Huyhua is to inform him of our trip to the United States to meet with Mr. Rennert, who is precisely the person who can do the most to help solve the current crisis.”

In spite of numerous civil suits, fines, and a decision by Peru’s Constitutional Tribunal last May, DRP’s lead, arsenic and sulphuric acid emissions have actually increased in the last two years, according to a report published last week by LABOR, a Peruvian non-profit group. But even if DRP complied with Peru’s relatively lax air quality standards, a study by Dr. Perry Gottsfeld of Occupational Knowledge International shows that by 2011, Doe Run arsenic and lead emissions in La Oroya will still be 1245 and 11 times, respectively, that of its smelter in Herculaneum, Missouri. “This is why we are appealing to Mr. Rennert as a man of religious conviction”, noted CONEP President Rafael Goto. “He is widely known as a pious believer and philanthropist”

More:
~~~~ link ~~~~

Information on his destructiveness back home in Missouri:
The Tale of Doe Run
A Firm Grip on the Corporate Ankle
by Tom Kruzen

http://www.greens.org/s-r/41/41-04.html

~~~~~~~~~
Ira Rennert's Hamptons "home." Click thumbnails:

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/551422814IrrFUH?start=60
http://images.google.com/images?ndsp=20&hl=en&safe=active&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-37,GGLD:en&q=%22Ira+Rennert%22&start=0&sa=N



Doe Run, owned by Rennert, in La Oroya, Peru













Rennert, and the Mrs. are standing on the left of the photo.

18 April, 2008 < 14:30 >

Peru Smelter Loses Environmental Certification


One of the largest metal smelters in the hemisphere lost its environmental certification in a highly unusual move taken by the company's third-party auditors.

The March 11 decision revokes certification granted two years ago to Doe Run Peru, an affiliate of the New York City-based RencoGroup, a private holding company owned primarily by U.S. billionaire Ira Rennert.

TUV Rheinland cited non-compliance with Peruvian environmental laws and the lack of adequate pollution controls as its rationale for revoking certification, according to OK International, Earthjustice and AIDA, non-profit groups that work to protect public health from industrial pollutants and to provide legal aid in environmental cases, often dealing with the extraction of natural resources.

A number of studies conducted by the government, as well as international health experts, have shown that almost all of the children living in the area surrounding Doe Run's smelter have high levels of lead in their bodies.

Many are severely exposed and require immediate medical treatment, according to a press release issued by OK International, Earthjustice and AIDA last week.

The decertification hit just as Doe Run Peru's employees began to strike.

More than one thousand workers from Doe Run Peru marched through the streets of Lima today. According to local NGO's they are asking for greater profit-sharing and increased corporate financial transparency.

More:
http://www.livinginperu.com/news/6210

[Judi Lynn]

6. google translate tool reading of the text under the photo of the little girl

in the valley Rennert has poisoned:

"There is a place in the world
where the birds do not fly
where trees and
Children do not grow, where
Lead is the bread
every day"