Nicaragua: Socialist leaders mourn revolutionary comrade
Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, marked International Workers day by lamenting the death of Comandante Tomas Borge, founder of the Nicaraguan Sandinista Front for National Liberation, whom he called “a historical fighter for his country.”
Borge, 81, who officially served as his country’s ambassador to Peru, died in Managua due to complications following surgery for pulmonary disease.
Chavez expressed his condolences to Daniel Ortega, president of Nicaragua, who declared three days of national mourning and suspended previously planned activities for May Day, International Day of the Workers.
“Comandante Borge was in life an example of untiring struggle for the cause of humanity and socialism,” Chavez said.
Spain: Pinochet investigation shifts to Chile
Spain’s last legal proceeding against the widow and relatives of CIA-backed Chilean despot Augusto Pinochet, for money-laundering, concealment of assets and the fraudulent destruction of personal incriminating evidence, was shelved, April 29.
The judge of the Audiencia Nacional (National Court), Pablo Ruz, who replaced Baltasar Garzon, decided recently to provisionally dismiss the case, citing a similar case with the same facts currently being tried in Chile.
“The matters under investigation by this court are currently being tried by a Chilean court which has jurisdiction and competence for such subjects,” Ruz stated in a written summary.
All testimony and evidence related to the Spanish investigations surrounding this case will be forwarded to Chile, where the case will continue in the court of Santiago.
Bolivia: Tipnis construction protest march
The Ninth Annual Indigenous March in defense of the Isiboro Secure National Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS), which began April 27 in the department of Beni, is scheduled to finish in the Bolivian city of La Paz, covering more than 375 miles in 65 days.
Roughly 300 indigenous people from 24 organizations are participating in the march to express their rejection of the road construction cutting through TIPNIS.
The Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin, encompassing indigenous organizations from Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guyana and Surinam, declared their “total solidarity” with the march.