BYE BYE CHAVEZ

On August 15 Venezuelans will vote in a referendum on whether or not to revoke the presidential mandate of Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Chavez, writes Humberto Calderon Berti, ex-foreign minister of Venezuela, ex-president of OPEC, and a leader of the opposition umbrella group Coordinadora Democratica. In this article, the author writes that the Venezuelan people have struggled for years against the current regime, which has attempted to establish a totalitarian-style government. The referendum is the culmination of a long chain of events in which the electoral authorities, rather than facilitating the process they are charged with managing, did nothing but obstruct it. After the convocation of the referendum, the government began a campaign of intimidation and blackmail against those who had signed, resorting to the usual mechanisms preferred by totalitarian systems. In recent days there have been accusations that the opposition is preparing violent acts. If violence does occur, the regime will be responsible.

“IT IS AN ERROR TO BELIEVE THAT CHANGING THE US PRESIDENT AUTOMATICALLY MEANS A CHANGE IN THE US STAND ON THE MIDDLE EAST”: INTERVIEW WITH YASSER ABED RABBO

He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and co-author of the Geneva Accord, a negotiated but unofficial plan for a permanent peace between Israelis and Palestinians. According to the plan, in exchange for peace with Israel, the Palestinians would gain a non-militarised state and sovereignty over the Temple Mount (with Jewish access to the holy spot), while Israel would keep certain West Bank settlements, including many of the new Jewish communities erected on the Arab side of Jerusalem. Yasser Abed Rabbo talks with IPS about Gaza, the crisis in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), and terrorism.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Families Resettle in 'Eco-Neighborhood'

The ''eco-neighborhood'' is the destination of 1,700 poor families who in 1999 took over a 22-hectare area in the Chilean capital's Peñalolén district, in the foothills of the Andes.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Desalinization on Margarita Island

The fishing community of San Francisco, in the most remote and arid region of Venezuela's Margarita Island, will launch in August a desalinization plant intended to alleviate the thirst of the town's 3,500 inhabitants

Ecobreves – CUBA: Drought Halts Reforestation

The long drought that has hit Cuba is blocking reforestation efforts, which in the past decade were able to increase the island's forest index to more than 23 percent. In 1959, that index had fallen to 13.7 percent.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Regulating Transgenics

The National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP) is promoting a bill in the Guatemalan Congress to regulate the influx into the country and the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: EU Backs Environmental Campaign

An environmental defense campaign will get under way in 25 Honduran municipalities in two months, with nine million dollars in financing from the European Union, Environment Minister Patricia Panting told Tierramérica.

Bricks and Cement Can Be Friends of the Environment

Creativity is the key to making construction an environmentally sustainable enterprise. This industry consumes more than half of the natural resources extracted in Latin America. There is more construction and demolition rubble than other kinds of urban waste, say experts.

Recycling Is an Art

Recycled plastic, paper and aluminum are the raw materials for eco-designers, who dream up new manufactured objects that save energy and reduce industrial waste.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Savannah to Disappear by 2030

The ''cerrado'', a type of savannah that covers a vast part of central and western Brazil, will disappear by 2030 if current rates of deforestation continue, says the environmental watchdog Conservation International.

INTERVIEW WITH MORDECHAI VANUNU: ‘A STRANGE CONCEPT OF JUSTICE’

Three months after his release after 18 years in prison in Israel, Mordechai Vanunu, Israel\'s nuclear whistleblower, was back in his country\'s judicial system, this time to demand his full freedom: the lifting of restrictions imposed on him by Israeli authorities barring him from talking to foreigners, particularly journalists, and from leaving the country. Under international law Israel is obliged to restore to Vanunu his full rights as a normal citizen after completion of his sentence. The only exception to this rule is for reasons of \'\'national security\'\'. The judges in the first short session before the Court rightly pointed out that the question of secrets was a key factor in the case. And indeed the nuclear debate has been picking up in Israel in the months around Vanunu\'s release. This whistleblower thinks it is high time that the State thank him instead of trying to punish him forever.

Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: Children Lift Up Voices for Environment

Fifteen delegates from different regions of Colombia headed on Jul. 16 for the 5th International Children's Conference of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), to take place Jul. 19-27 in the northeastern U.S. city of New London.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Forests Celebrated, But Cutting Continues

As the annual Fiesta del Bosque (Festival of the Forest) takes place in Mexico, as it has every July since 1951, environmental groups are demanding a reforestation policy that would reverse the loss of hundreds of thousands of tree-covered hectares.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: GUATEMALAWater Without Chlorine

Water for human consumption is not chlorinated in 45 percent of the 331 municipal districts of Guatemala, according to a study by the National Association of Municipalities (ANAM).

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Green Municipality

Residents of the western Honduran municipality of Tomalá opted one year ago not to burn any more forest to create farmland, and to protect the area's micro-watersheds.

Energy Debate in Turbulent Waters

Brazil is once again putting priority on hydroelectric dams, a strategy ecologists criticize because of its potentially high environmental and social costs. But officials promise strict prior evaluations.

Learning to Live with Drought

In May, not one province in Cuba saw more than 60 percent of the historic average of rainfall. The government is taking emergency measures.

Ecobreves – PERU: Ultimatum for Polluters

The environmental health division of Peru's Health Ministry gave 165 mining and industrial companies 30 days to install treatment plants for the residual liquid that they have been dumping into the Rimac River, the source of 72 percent of the water consumed by the seven million residents of the capital.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Climate Change Threatens the Capital

A study conducted by Argentine experts states that the water level of the Rio de la Plata (River Plate), which flows along the edge of the capital, could rise 60 to 100 cm this century as a consequence of global warming.

All-Terrain Contamination

European cities are debating the possibility of banning all-terrain vehicles from circulating on urban streets.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Amazon in the Eco-Spotlight

The world's knowledge of the Amazon and its role in the global climate will expand Jul. 27-29 as a result of the 3rd conference of the Large-scale Biosphere Atmosphere (LBA) Experiment in the Amazon, the biggest international cooperation program for environmental studies.