Q&A: Peruvian Cardinal Does Not Want Rebel Priest as President

[Judi Lynn]

Q&A: Peruvian Cardinal Does Not Want Rebel Priest as President
Ángel Páez interviews activist priest
MARCO ARANA

LIMA, Oct 28 (IPS) - Catholic priest Marco Arana, who is also a social and environmental activist, has not yet officially decided to run in Peru's next presidential elections, but he is already facing opposition from the highest-level Catholic Church officials in the country.

Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani told Arana publicly that he would have to renounce the priesthood if he wants to run for president in 2011, and the president of the bishops' conference, Monsignor Miguel Cabrejos, challenged him to make up his mind, saying "You can't have one foot in a political party and the other in the Church."

Ignoring the warnings, the activist priest continues to forge ahead with his new Land and Liberty political movement that is weaving alliances with political groupings with a view to standing in the next elections, which would make him the first Catholic priest to compete for the presidency in this South American country.

Arana, a native of Cajamarca, the biggest city in northern Peru, holds a theology degree from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and a doctorate in sociology, and was ordained in 1990.

He has made a name for himself – he was included on Time magazine's Heroes of the Environment 2009 list, published in September – working with the poor in the most impoverished parts of the rugged Andean region of Cajamarca over the last 20 years, and defending their rights from mining companies operating there.

His activism has put him at loggerheads with powerful foreign mining companies, especially the U.S.-based Newmont Mining corporation, which is the majority stakeholder in the Yanacocha mine, the largest open-pit gold mine in South America.

In December 2008, Arana himself seized a young man who was filming him, and turned him over to the police. He was found to be working for Forza, a private security company that was providing services to Yanacocha.

More:
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49043

[Judi Lynn]

1. Photo, Padre Marco Arana:

http://www.amnesty.ca.nyud.net:8090/take_action/actions/images/peru_hrds_threats_intimidat.jpg http://marconaprotesta.files.wordpress.com.nyud.net:8090/2009/05/padre_marco_arana.jpg

http://img.terra.com.br.nyud.net:8090/i/2009/08/19/1297535-7843-it2.JPG http://4.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_brIyg5OdFyg/SsRzltqPAII/AAAAAAAAXOg/0a8nsdhVtEE/s400/5.jpg

http://www.cajamarcaopina.com.nyud.net:8090/home/images/personalidades/marcoaranagrande.jpg

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http://2.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_64ZWIaXNaDY/R8NPRT6P-qI/AAAAAAAAAV4/V9hNU8Ntlng/s400/PIC_0702.JPG
Google translation of an article relating to Father Arana:

Intercultural Communication for a more humane and diverse
Peru: They ask three ministers meet victims of the mercury spill

Servindi, 8 January, 2008 .- Father Marco Arana issued yesterday an open letter to three state ministers who advocate treating victims of the mercury spill in the town of Choropampa and continues to claim victims.
The letter expressed outrage that even "hundreds of children and adults suffer fainting, nose bleeds and severe neurological disturbances" because the spill occurred in June 2000.

http://www.servindi.org.nyud.net:8090/img//2009/01/rosas_alvarez.jpg
Since 2005 Lewis Rose Alvarez (29) is bedridden without traction in its membership, Regional Hospital of Cajamarca without receiving any support.
His wife Rachel Llatas serves him and his two minor children.

The authorities must intervene. Yanacocha can not ignore its responsibility.
Choropampa calls for an appropriate solution to their serious health problems caused by the mercury spill happened in 2000.

In late December of last-indica Arana was hospitalized with serious neurological problems Rosas Alvarez Leiva, 29 years old, who had already more than four years bedridden due to paralysis of their arms and legs.

The Environmental Health Directorate of the Ministry observed in 2008 that mercury is still present in the homes of Choropampa but the official version of the Yanacocha heavier and prevents adequate care to those affected.

Father Arana, after acknowledging having exhausted almost all avenues for people to be heard, calls on ministers to do what is necessary "to restore once and for all health of the inhabitants of Choropampa.

Remember that the current President Alan García, when he was in election campaign, offered to turn Choropampa "in the first eco-district in Peru.

Father Arana expected to visit Choropampa health minister, ordered an independent assessment of the affected residents' health and address the request to install a health center specializing in treating heavy metal toxicology.

--

Open Letter to the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Health and Environment of Peru

Lima, January 06, 2009

Dr. Yehude Simon. President of the Council of Ministers
Dr. Antonio Brack. Minister of Environment
Dr. Oscar Ugarte Ubilluz. Minister of Health

Dear Minister

You receive my cordial greeting. With some of you to join me links of friendship and personal appreciation, so I encourage you to write a letter to staff about public health issues.

I write this open letter in solidarity with the victims of mercury spill Choropampa because the situation of our brothers affected and can not wait because it really is up to you to find a just and humane.

For my part, I have exhausted almost all avenues for that population to be heard, since I have written about it, I have spoken and made many fruitless meetings in the Minister's Office itself MINSA 2006 in time of President Toledo and exposed to the gravity of the situation to World Bank officials in Washington and the Board of Newmont shareholders twice in Denver, USA

You should know that mercury continues to claim victims among the peasants of Choropampa. In late December, was hospitalized with serious neurological problems Mr. Rosas Alvarez Leiva of only 29 years old, carrying more than four years bedridden due to paralysis of their upper and lower limbs and hundreds of children and adults suffer fainting, nose bleeds and severe neurological disorders.

Just last Christmas, Mr. Alvarez was admitted to the Medicine of the Regional Hospital of Cajamarca (bed No. 26). Doctors treating him speak of the terrible Parkinson and sheer nerve damage that affects the patient. Some of them, "of the record say it is by mercury, but dare not speak in public and less to write that in the history, also"everyone knows that mercury is"They say. Do not want to risk his job or his professional reputation as Yanacocha get "20 scientists to prove the contrary.

Also know that in the previous government, there was even a deputy minister of energy and mines who traveled to Cajamarca to intimidate a senior health management, saying "to not create panic among the population, the MEM was going to handle this and if not step down. So things are in Cajamarca, in the realm of the still-powerful Yanacocha.

The wife and the father of Mr. Rosas Alvarez, are poor farmers and have nothing to lose, and to have lost health. For more than four years have been talking about asking for medical aid could rise to his patient. They hold in their hands calloused Medical Report N ° 021-2008-STSN incn-0447482 medical history that gave them last year at the National Institute of Neurological Sciences, Lima, which literally reads:

"Oriented to person, disoriented in time and space, with a resting tremor in his left hand, rigidity akinesia, cogwheel sign, tendon reflexes not well determined by stiffness - akinesia ... pneuropsicológico Report: moderate cognitive deficits, mainly in the ability mnestic and executive functions, showing diffuse neuropsychological dysfunction level, presents a picture emotionally anxious, because of their current situation ... On 28 May 2008, received dosages of results
... heavy metal cadmium in urine cadmium values in excess of reference values in urine for non-smokers; ... urine mercury values above the reference values with 7.67 being the reference value <5 mg / Hg."

Neurological damage is one of the sequelae of mercury poisoning more established specialized medical community. The mercury is still present in the homes of Choropampa as demonstrated last year monitoring the Environmental Health Directorate of the Ministry of Health (1).

The official version of the mining company that has prevented adequate health care states that:

"Soils and life in the area Choropampa have no mercury contamination ... So there is no risk of pollution or contamination in areas where the mercury spill occurred in 2000. The report indicates that cleanup activities were successful and that no evidence of risk of causing adverse effects to the environment or human health through diet"(2).

I know, on good authority that even the former Health Minister Hernán Garrido Lecca, was personally interested in knowing about the health situation of the population affected by mercury in Choropampa, although the population is not known what action to protect health implemented.

In 2006, the current health minister, Dr. Oscar Ugarte Ubilluz, was a consultant for the Andes Foundation, an NGO of Minera Yanacocha, then he wrote in a document that several of the watersheds of Cajamarca had their water polluted by heavy metals the effect of the activities of Minera Yanacocha (see: http://www.losandes.org.pe/downloads/2006/libros/05.pdf) (3) when this is also a fact that the mining company denies.

For this reason I believe that the current health minister was personally encouraged to visit Choropampa, he would order an independent evaluation of the current state of health of the residents who were affected by the mercury spill in 2000 and hear the claims of a population cry out for the installation of a clinic specializing in treatment of heavy metal toxicology, as the president himself still a candidate Garcia offered to turn Choropampa "in the first eco-district in Peru.

Lords Health Minister of the Environment, Prime Minister, Yehude Simon, do what is necessary to restore once and for all health of the inhabitants of Choropampa ...

Atte,

P. Marco Arana Zegarra
DNI 26605193
Coordinator of the Regional Bureau for the Fight Against Poverty in Cajamarcahttp://www.servindi.org/actualidad/6558

http://cache.daylife.com.nyud.net:8090/imageserve/04sVcBb05146u/610x.jpg

Cardinal Cipriani, walking ahead of the Peruvian President, Alan Garcia.

http://cache.daylife.com.nyud.net:8090/imageserve/030017l6i6gjV/610x.jpg

http://pope2008.typepad.com.nyud.net:8090/photos/uncategorized/2008/06/27/communion_pope.jpg

http://radio.rpp.com.pe.nyud.net:8090/dialogodefe/files/2009/04/5-el-papa-abraza-al-nuevo-cardenal-juan-luis-cipriani.jpg
http://marconaprotesta.files.wordpress.com.nyud.net:8090/2009/08/larepublica_12ago.jpg

[Peace Patriot]

2. Well, this is certainly fascinating news, both as as to Peru's future and as to the region-wide

leftist democracy movement.

The influence of the Catholic Liberation Theology movement--and even of the teachings of the more sincere orthodox clergy ("love thy neighbor," "do unto others...," "give everything you have to the poor and come follow me," et al), or inadvertently taught by the fascist clergy (they can't help but preach it, because, hey, it's right there in the New Testament, in every story)--on politics in Latin America is something we Jeffersonians of the North don't understand very well, even if we went to Catholic schools. There is this other dimension to things, in Latin American politics, and, these days, it includes a more open alliance between the progressive activist priests--the operatives of a religion which is officially anti-Goddess (anti-Pagan)--and the indigenous, whose ancient religions revere Mother Nature.

In Ecuador, for instance, the new Constitution, approved by nearly 70% of the voters, enshrines Mother Nature ("Pachamama") with special rights to exist and function properly apart from human wants and needs. Ecuador remains an overwhelmingly Catholic country, but this parallel spiritual tradition is now emerging as a compelling force for change, when combined with Liberation Theology. Regard for Mother Nature (the wholeness and health of Planet Earth) and the human and civil rights of excluded populations (the indigenous and semi-indigenous--the majority) have come together on the material as well as the spiritual plane. We see its manifestations in every country where the left has won elections over the past decade, and most especially in the Boliviarian countries (the most leftist), Bolivia and Ecuador, and to some extent Venezuela. (Although Venezuela does not have the large indigenous populations that Bolivia and Ecuador have, the Chavez government has been responsive to indigenous environmental and social movements, and Venezuelan is a socialist country in part because it is a Catholic country, where the message of the New Testament--"love thy neighbor"--is preached from the altar every week and every day. The rightwing upper clergy may not believe what they are preaching, but they have to preach it.) (And I'm sure they would rather it be in Latin, so their flocks cannot understand what it is saying!)

That is one thing that comes to mind with this news--the emerging alliance between Liberation Theology activists and the indigenous struggle to save Mother Earth.

The other thing that comes to mind is the relations between the secular left and the religious left. In this interview, Father Arana is asked about Ollanta Humala, the leftist candidate who came out of nowhere in the last election, and nearly beat Alan Garcia. Humala is army-trained (a lieutenant, I believe) and has ties to armed rebellions against previous dictatorships. Our corpo-fascist press blamed Chavez's and Evo Morales' endorsement of Humala for Humala's loss of that election, but that is not at all what happened. Those endorsements, in fact, boosted Humala. And here is what Fathere Arana says about Humala:

IPS: Is an alliance with (former presidential candidate) Ollanta Humala's Nationalist Party in your plans?

MA (Father Arana): No. Land and Liberty has a profile of its own. Our proposal focuses on social justice and ecological rights, which a broader platform than the one offered by the Nationalist Party. Our cornerstone is democratisation and respect for human rights, which also differentiates us from Humala's party.

IPS: Have you held talks with Humala?

MA (Father Arana): Yes, we have talked, and I took advantage of the occasion to express my points of view about his movement. For example, the need to democratise decision-making and avoid a "caudillo" (political boss) from controlling the organisation.

-----------------

Arana's statements are kind of worrisome, in the sense that the secular left and the religious left really need to come together to overcome the power and wealth of the fascist elites. And, as much as I approve of participatory democracy in theory--as an ideal--there is simply no question that in seeking the power to run a secular state, and in governing one, strong (FDR-type) leaders are necessary. The wealthy and the powerful exercise their control brutally--literally (with violence) and economically, and also in the realm of ideas and images (control of the media, propaganda). You really cannot expect a scenario of "Bambi Meets Godzilla" to result in "Bambi" winning. You need "caudillos" (which means something like "knights on white horses" in its more appealing version, and "political bosses" in its negative connotation) working together with the people in a balanced way. Where would the leftist movement be, in Latin America, without these "caudillo" qualities in Chavez, Morales, Correa, da Silva and many others? Nowhere. But the critical moment, say, in Venezuela, came when the "caudillo" was knocked off his horse, by the 2002 coup, and the people rescued him. Chavez owes his power to the people. It is a balance, with the one dependent on the other--a balance that needs constant effort to be maintained.

As a person of Irish immigrant heritage, I know for a fact that "political bosses" are necessary (or perhaps a better word is inevitable) to the protection of the poor. They may become very corrupt, but they are dealing with corrupt powers in a very corrupt system. And they may become headstrong as well--egotists, powermongers--and then you have to deal with that. Only rarely does it happen--in fact, I don't think it's ever happened--that a political revolution changes an entire system of government. So, in Peru--as in the U.S. with the Irish--the starting conditions are extremely corrupt. And you will never be able to turn that system toward the service of the poor--nor clean that system up--entirely by being "Christian" to everybody--by being "kind to your neighbor." You need to defeat people, in elections (often in corrupt conditions). You need to throw the bad guys out of power, and put any criminals among them in jail. You need to command the police and the military. Those are the realities in a secular state. We're not talking Thomas More's "Utopia." And it takes political strength. Yes, "caudillos" can become corrupt--or can forget who put them on their horse. But you simply cannot reform a country without champions--without courageous leaders.

Also, for the very reason that the left is democratic (represents and responds to the vast poor majority), it is especially vulnerable to "divide and conquer." So, as I said, I find it worrisome for Arana to be criticizing Humala (although the interviewer does lead him into it) rather than focusing on their common enemy: Alan Garcia and the U.S. operatives behind him. (Garcia is, without question, a U.S. puppet.) If Arana and Humala run against each other in the primary, the likely outcome is that the U.S. puppets--the corpo/fascist traitors to their people--will win once again. Humala is a proven vote-getter. Arana is as yet untested in that respect. Maybe Arana is the best solution--as to beating the right. I really don't know for sure. But I would sure rather see them working together--rather than sniping at each other, or running against each other.

In Paraguay, Fernando Lugo was able to pull the fractious left together (their fractiousness had resulted in 61 years of rightwing rule in Paraguay), and he was no doubt able to do this partly because he was known as "the bishop of the poor." (He has this other dimension that transcends politics.) Arana seems to be a similar figure--a leader first of all moved by spiritual teaching. Maybe he can pull together a similar overall movement for change, whereas Humala is perhaps too divisive. Humala's almost-win against Garcia really brought the corpo-fascists out of the woodwork.

In Venezuela, though, Chavez--who has a similar background to Humala (military insurrection against brutal rightwing government)--was exactly what the people wanted. A president without support in the military--and Humala and Chavez both have direct connections to their militaries--may find himself--like Mel Zelaya in Honduras--at the other end of a gun, in the middle of the night, on a plane with darkened windows. And I might just add that the military and the police in Peru have been under U.S. military and Bushwhack tutelage. There are (consequently) brutal and traitorous elements, funded by our tax dollars (the infamous US "war on drugs") ready to do to a leftist president of Peru exactly what they did to Mel Zelaya. This argues in favor of Humala, who has the experience and connections to retain civilian control of the military. Working together with Arana, they could turn Peru around. I don't know if either of them could do it alone. As with Honduras, this is a VERY U.S.-connected situation. The CIA, working on behalf of U.S. corporate predators and war profiteers will likely go all out to keep the rightwing in power. The left must pull together.

Thanks for finding this and posting it, Judi! It is both hopeful and worrisome--and quite informative.

[Peace Patriot]

3. Info on U.S. interference in Peru, and on "free trade" = increased cocaine trade

From GreenLeft, posted by Judi, here...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x25537

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At least 69,000 people died (in the prior civil war between the fascist dictatorship and leftist guerrillas, with the cocaine trade in the middle of it all--my note). However, what the corporate-owned news sources are not reporting is that the new conflict is a direct result of the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement (TLC). In 2000, Peru’s governmental Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended that lasting peace and stability could be established in devastated regions only by providing programs that would encourage “employment and income generation”.

Perversely, this objective has been completely undermined by the TLC, which has slashed the livelihoods of the rural poor. The TLC required Peru to remove tariffs on many staple agricultural products, leading to a steadily-increasing flow of imports from heavily subsidised US agribusiness.

Nearly a third of the Peruvian population depend on agriculture for their income and at least 1.7 million families have already begun to suffer adverse effects from the free trade deal. With the TLC driving down commodity prices, rural dislocation is on the rise. This (has) lead to a corresponding increase in coca production as desperate peasant farmers strive to make ends meet.

Increased coca production has boosted profits for the cartel bosses, who have helped to revitalise the Shining Path and other like-minded groups by hiring their members as mercenary enforcers. This symbiotic arrangement has been in place for decades, but the fallout from the TLC has lent it new life.

The drug barons are not the only beneficiaries of the devastation that has resulted from the TLC. With the US eager to restore its previously hegemonic grip on South America, the so-called “War on Drugs” has provided the Pentagon with an excuse to broaden its involvement in Andean nations such as Peru.

“Coca eradication” operations have been stepped up, leading to a wave of unreported military abuses against civilians in coca-producing areas.

Under the guise of combating terrorism, the Peruvian security forces are engaged in a struggle against all forms of dissent (peaceful or otherwise) on behalf of the ruling elites and foreign corporations who stand to gain from the TLC.

Pulling the strings by supplying funds, training and material is Washington. The Bush administration designed the free trade deal with oppressive intentions, and the Obama administration is continuing to implement that foreign policy goal.

With the US strategy of fomenting instability in the region, the threat of spill-over terrorist violence striking heavily-inhabited population centres in Peru is once again an ugly possibility.

http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/815/41937
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We're turning Peru into Colombia.

[Peace Patriot]

4. It gets worse. The Dyncorp connection...

The Peru Shoot Down
The CIA, DynCorp, and Why the Truth May Not Come Out
October 29, 2009 By Greg Guma

Posted by Judi, here
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x492141

Original here
http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/22983

----------------------

I was not kidding, in my point above, about the need for "caudillos" (the good kind) with experience/connections in the military, in order to achieve civilian control of the military, in order to assert the sovereignty of a country like Peru (increasingly a fascist-run U.S. client state), and to prevent coups when the poor majority achieves democratic control of the government. Conditions in Peru, and what is at stake in Peru, are much more perilous than conditions/US corpo-war profiteer stakes in neighboring Paraguay, where a leftist president (a bishop) was elected last year. This influences who Peru may need as president--a priest who is close to the poor, or a former military commander who is close to the poor? Humala might raise hackles in Washington--the way Arana might not--but, on the other, who can take charge of this errant rich elite and its police/military forces in Peru, with a bad actor like Dyncorp in the mix?