NotiSur, 05/25/01: Venezuela, Brazil, Peru Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Reminder: This copy of NotiSur is for your private use only, not for redistribution! -- NY Transfer ------------------------------------------------------------ L A T I N A M E R I C A D A T A B A S E NotiSur - South American Political & Economic Affairs ISSN 1060-4189 Volume 11, Number 19 May 25, 2001 ------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright 2001, Latin America Data Base (LADB), Latin American Institute, University of New Mexico Director: Rebecca Reynolds Bannister Editor: Patricia Hynds Staff writers: Carlos Navarro, Robert Sandels LADB ARCHIVES: Back issues are referenced to provide historical background relevant to the articles in this newsletter. These can be accessed with a subscription to the LADB searchable on-line archives at http://ladb.unm.edu/ by clicking on Search Archive. 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In This Issue: VENEZUELA: POSSIBLE STATE OF EMERGENCY CAUSES SPLIT IN GOVERNING COALITION * President says he might decree a state of emergency * President's party breaks with MAS * Opposition still looking for leader * The church criticizes Chavez BRAZIL: PROGRESSIVE AIDS PROGRAM UNDER ATTACK BY BIG PHARMA AND US TRADE REPRESENTATIVE * First World treatment in a Third World country * Drug companies "bullying" poor countries to accept high prices * Brazil goes on the offensive * Pharmaceutical company makes concessions * Need for global fund for AIDS treatment PERU: PROGRESS MADE ON TWO HUMAN RIGHTS CASES * IACHR ordered Barrios Altos investigation reopened * Colina leader confesses to journalist * Chileans await new trial ____________________________________________________________ ********************* VENEZUELA ********************* VENEZUELA: POSSIBLE STATE OF EMERGENCY CAUSES SPLIT IN GOVERNING COALITION Despite having far-reaching power, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has made little progress in resolving the social and economic problems of the country's poor majority. Recent suggestions that the president might declare a state of emergency brought opposition even from allies and caused a rupture in his Polo Patriotico coalition. Although the president still enjoys enormous popularity, recent polls indicate that Venezuelans are not satisfied with government efforts to reduce poverty, unemployment, crime, and corruption. In late April, the daily El Universal reported that the Asamblea Nacional, dominated by deputies from the governing alliance, passed only one of the 15 bills it considered in the first three months of the year. The paper also reported that, five months after the Asamblea gave the executive special powers to enact 46 bills, it had only acted on five. President says he might decree a state of emergency On April 25, Chavez asked the legislature, the Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (TSJ), the attorney general, and the comptroller's office for additional power to attack corruption and the social and economic crisis in the country. Responding to the criticism that his administration has not accomplished much in two years in office, Chavez called on the members of his party to relaunch the "Bolivarian revolution," and he urged the legislature to speed up debate on the bills needed to reactivate the economy. In early May, the administration suggested that Chavez might declare a state of emergency, under which some constitutional guarantees could be temporarily suspended, to combat corruption and rising crime. The president's opponents and some of his allies said the move was unnecessary. The Enabling Law (Ley Habilitante), passed last November, gave the executive extraordinary powers for one year to enact social, economic, and financial laws (see NotiSur, 2000-11-10). "I think it's absurd. We must reject this," said Allan Brewer Carias, a constitutional lawyer who helped draft the new Constitution. "There is nothing that justifies a state of emergency except the government's incompetence." The president has clearly been frustrated in recent weeks by the slow progress of his revolution. "The social situation in the country is very serious," he said in a late-night televised address on May 11. "I am seriously thinking about it. If someone asked me about the probability of declaring a state of emergency, I would say the probability is getting higher." His statements brought strong criticism from political opponents, and some allies from the Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS) concurred. The opponents accused Chavez of plotting to assume dictatorial powers to force through his project for a peaceful revolution. President's party breaks with MAS On May 8 Chavez's Movimiento V Republica (MVR) said it was going to "review" its relationship with its main parliamentary ally, after prominent MAS members criticized the possible state of emergency. Among the comments that angered the MVR, MAS Deputy Carlos Tablante said that "a true democracy is impossible if all the power is concentrated in one leader." Tablante also said Chavez does not need a state of emergency because he already has enough power to deal with Venezuela's problems. MAS's support was key in passing the Enabling Law. The party has belonged to the Polo Patriotico coalition since it decided to back Chavez's 1998 presidential candidacy. On May 10, the MVR formally announced it was breaking off relations with MAS because of the "opportunist and destabilizing discourse" of some of its leaders. Analysts said the majority held by the MVR and its allies in the 165-seat Asamblea Nacional would not be seriously threatened, since as many as 13 of the 21 MAS deputies would likely continue supporting the president. Leopoldo Pucchi, secretary general of MAS and former labor minister in the Chavez administration, said he backed the president's program for change, but his support was dependent upon a "change of direction" in the attitude of the president. He said the president should use dialogue as a political tool, end the ongoing period of transition in favor of institutionalizing the new regime, and improve the administration's performance in areas such as the fight against corruption and the efficacy of social programs. Pucchi said MAS had asked Chavez in January to initiate a dialogue with the middle class and with the productive sectors of the country, whose cooperation is necessary if the government is to achieve its socioeconomic goals. Opposition still looking for leader In late April, Eduardo Fernandez, leader of the Comite de Organizacion Politica Electoral Independiente (COPEI), said at a meeting in Rio de Janeiro that his party is looking for "a civil and democratic alternative" to the Chavez government. The former presidential candidate and longtime secretary general of COPEI said the party would take the first steps at the party congress in June. "We will try to construct a civil, democratic, popular, and progressive alternative to the comedy of errors that has existed in Venezuela since Chavez took office," said Fernandez. He said that, under Chavez, Venezuela "has gone back to the days that we thought were gone of government by messianic caudillo," and it has become mired in a process of rapid institutional deterioration. "[Chavez] promised less poverty, and today we have much more than before; he said there would be more security, and the streets are more dangerous every day; he promised jobs, and only the informal labor sector is growing; and he assured us that he was going to do away with corruption, but today it seems like there has never been more," Fernandez said. Meanwhile, former presidential candidate Francisco Arias Cardenas announced his new political party on May 20, which, he said, aimed to unite the opposition against Chavez. Arias, who participated with Chavez in the 1992 failed military coup, said the Union para el Progreso will promote and channel anti-Chavez opposition in all sectors of society, including universities, trade unions, churches, and the military. Arias said Union will work with other opposition groups, and its doors will be open to those who want to participate in preserving freedom and democracy. Arias was trounced in his bid for the presidency against Chavez in the July 2000 election, despite the explicit backing of the media and the business community and the implicit support of institutions such as the Catholic Church. The church criticizes Chavez Relations between the government and the Catholic Church have been rocky since Chavez took office. In mid-April the church warned that the government was in danger of becoming totalitarian. Baltasar Porras, archbishop of Merida and president of the bishops conference (Conferencia Episcopal Venezolana, CEV), said in an interview published in the daily El Universal that the church has also criticized the excesses of "neoliberalism and savage capitalism," but to "fight for the poor while destroying their possibility of ceasing to be so is a contradiction." "Two years are enough for a government to come up not just with plans but achievements," Porras said. He also criticized what he called a "process of Cubanization," with numerous "cultural, sports, and organizing events that have for their goal and panacea the Cuban system." On May 16, the CEV again criticized the Chavez government in its report to the Consejo Episcopal Latinoamericano (CELAM) meeting in Caracas. The CEV's blistering appraisal accused the government of "administrative incompetence and cronyism." It questioned whether real democracy exists in Venezuela and said Chavez had failed to keep his campaign promises to reduce poverty, crime, and unemployment. Minister of the Presidency Diosdado Cabello responded to the bishops' criticisms, saying that when the hierarchy divests itself of its privileges, "I will begin to listen to the relative message that the government is not attacking poverty." But the following day, Cabello held out an olive branch, saying the government wanted to dialogue with the church to avoid future conflicts. [Sources: Notimex, 04/15/01; El Nuevo Herald (Miami), 04/26/01, 05/10/01; Associated Press, 05/08/01, 05/11/01, 05/16/01; Spanish news service EFE, 04/26/01, 05/09/01, 05/11/01, 05/14/01, 05/19/01; Reuters, 05/10/01, 05/16/01, 05/17/01, 05/20/01] ********************* BRAZIL ********************* BRAZIL: PROGRESSIVE AIDS PROGRAM UNDER ATTACK BY BIG PHARMA AND US TRADE REPRESENTATIVE By Matthew Flynn [The author is a staff writer for the International Weekly Edition of the Gazeta Mercantil, a Sao Paulo-based financial newspaper.] In recent years, Brazil has become a leading voice for the developing world. From trade disputes with the industrialized world regarding sales of regional aircraft to reform of the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), South America's largest country has been pushing a Third World agenda that contradicts the role rich, industrialized countries of the North have outlined for the poor, underdeveloped nations of the South. The latest conflict between Brazil and the multinational companies based in the US and Europe has turned into a classic case of "lives vs. profits"--the access to AIDS treatment for millions of poor people versus the need of multinational drug companies to provide millions in profits to shareholders. To lower treatment costs and provide greater coverage to its HIV-positive population, Brazil's Health Ministry has threatened to violate patents of state-of-the-art AIDS medication. In response, Big Pharma--large multinational pharmaceutical companies--urged the US Trade Representative (USTR) to request the World Trade Organization (WTO) to investigate Brazilian legislation governing intellectual property. Brazil has won international support not only for its highly acclaimed AIDS program, but also for its international diplomatic efforts. Despite strong resistance from the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations (IFPMA) and the USTR, Brazil's proposal that AIDS medication is a human right have been approved by the UN Commission on Human Rights and the WHO. "If we concede a patent and the product is not sold to Brazil, then we have the right to produce it, paying a royalty," defended Jose Serra, Brazil's Minister of Health and presidential hopeful for the Partido da Social Democracia Brasiliera (PSDB). First World treatment in a Third World country In the 1980s when the AIDS crisis first appeared on the scene, Brazil was expected to be one of its main targets. "In 1992 the World Bank projected that the country would have over a million AIDS sufferers by the year 2000," said Dr. Marco Antonio Victoria, chief medical advisor to Brazil's AIDS program. "This year we have only 200,000 registered cases, and we estimate a total of 540,000 infected people throughout the country." Brazil's remarkably low infection rate of 0.6% of the adult population is attributed to the willingness by the government and social organizations to fight the disease head on. Billboards advocating the use of condoms, although condemned by the Catholic Church, have increased awareness. Brazil's low infection rate contrasts with Botswana, which has the highest incidence of HIV infections in the world at 36%. Recent Health Ministry data also reveals that AIDS- related deaths dropped 50% between 1995 and 1999. The positive statistics are attributed to the government's determination to provide free AIDS treatment to those who are infected--a necessity in a country in which 70 million people live below the poverty line. Instead of paying up to US$15,000 a year, the cost for patient treatment in the US, Brazil decided to produce in government laboratories eight of the 12 antiretroviral drugs that compose the AIDS "cocktail," which slows the progression from HIV positive to full-blown AIDS. Not only are patients given a new lease on life, but the government pays only US$4,400 per patient. The program pays for itself. "The reduction in the incidence of AIDS-related diseases, an 80% reduction in hospitalizations, and a need for less treatment has saved the government US$670 million," said Victoria. This year, the Brazilian government hopes to extend treatment to 105,000 people. However, 36% of the program's US$300 million budget goes for two drugs--Efavirenz and Nelfinavir, made by Merck & Co. and Hoffmann-La Roche, respectively. Recently, the government announced it might violate the patents of the two costly drugs and give a "compulsory license" to local laboratories to produce them. When government laboratory Far-Minguinhos imported the raw material for the two medications from India, multinational drug companies took the offensive. Drug companies "bullying" poor countries to accept high prices After losing the moral battle in South Africa, where 39 large pharmaceutical firms have sued the government because of its "parallel imports" of cheap, generic copies of AIDS medications, drug companies urged the US government to request a WTO investigation against Brazil. The stakes are high since the Brazilian pharmaceutical market is estimated at US$6.5 billion per year. "We believe Brazilian officials have made some good efforts putting resources toward this major problem, but they are still part of the world order and need to work things out with our companies," said Mark Grayson, spokesman for the Pharmaceutical and Research Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). The US asserts that Brazil's patent laws are out of sync with TRIPS. Brazil manufactures the eight ingredients in the AIDS cocktail because of a loophole in the country's patent legislation, which only provides intellectual property rights to medicines approved after 1997 when the bill was passed. The Health Ministry's campaign encouraging consumers to buy generic copies of patented drugs is just one of the thorns in the side of Big Pharma. Robert Zoellick, the US trade representative, told the Council of the Americas, a US business association that promotes hemispheric trade, that the US is not against Brazil's AIDS program but rather protectionism. The TRIPS accord provides "complete flexibility to allow other countries to take necessary measures to combat a health tragedy," said Zoellick. What the US was questioning at the WTO, he said, was the article in Brazil's patent legislation that allows "compulsory licensing" for any product not produced within the country within three years after being patented. But the US has had difficulty shedding the image that it is merely defending the profits of multinational drug companies. "The US and the international pharmaceutical companies essentially want countries to buy their expensive patented products, and they are bullying developing countries to have medicine policies and patent legislation that further those commercial interests," said Michael Bailey, policy analyst with the international anti-poverty organization Oxfam. Brazil goes on the offensive Unlike smaller nations that often back down when threatened with a WTO investigation, Brazil organized international support for its case. At the UN Commission on Human Rights meeting in Geneva, Brazilian diplomats proposed a resolution to ensure "that the application of international agreements is supportive of public health policies that promote broad access to...affordable pharmaceuticals and medical technologies." Of the 53 member countries on the commission, 52 voted in favor of the resolution. The US was the only country to abstain. George Moose, US representative ambassador to the commission, called the motion "bad public health policy." Last week, Brazil's resolution guaranteeing treatment for AIDS patients was endorsed by the WHO. IFPMA, however, said that Brazil does not have the capacity to produce good quality generic medicines. Besides the support of various nation-states, Brazil also has the backing of many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Oxfam is urging the US to withdraw its WTO case. Having a clause that mandates products be produced nationally is within the TRIPS accord, argued the organization, since it will only be invoked in cases of abuse of "economic power" such as high prices charged by drug companies. Pharmaceutical company makes concessions Merck has already buckled under the pressure from the Brazilian government and NGOs and cut the price of Efavirenz by 59%--to US$0.89 from US$2.06 for a 200 mg dose. Brazilian officials are currently negotiating similar price reductions with Roche. Dr. Victoria says drug companies have a lot of room to reduce prices since as much as "80% to 90% of the cost of medicines goes into marketing and profits to shareholders." The pharmaceutical industry warns that patent violations will have serious repercussions in future care. "If every time there is an epidemic a patent is violated, companies will not get a return on their investments and then will stop selling their products in countries where there is a threat of violating a patent," said Jose Eduardo Bandeira de Mello, president of the Brazilian Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (ABIFARMA). IFPMA has also threatened to stop investing in countries that do not respect intellectual property rights. Another concern for the drug industry is that, if prices are slashed in the developing world, consumers in rich countries will also demand price cuts or seek cheaper copies in the gray market. Drug companies, watching their profits drop, will then have fewer incentives to pour money into research and development for an AIDS vaccine. Oxfam's Bailey believes a differentiated price system is still possible and patent protection is a valid argument in rich countries, which provide most of the drug companies' market. The case for intellectual property in poor countries, he says, is quite different. "Tough patents in developing countries certainly generate high profits, but there is no evidence that it will generate more research," said Bailey. Need for global fund for AIDS treatment Access to life-saving medication for the needy has finally reached the agenda of multilateral organizations like the World Bank and G-7/8 meetings of the leaders of industrialized countries. One proposal is to create a fund to finance research and the purchase of medication from drug companies. Haste is needed to avoid an international catastrophe as less than 5% of those infected with HIV have access to adequate treatment. What UN General Secretary Kofi Annan calls "the greatest public health challenge of our times" has already claimed the lives of 16.3 million people and currently infects 33.6 million worldwide. "If the South African government had been able to afford a similar package of care as that given to HIV/AIDS sufferers in Brazil, over 300,000 lives could have been saved since the court case [in South Africa] began three years ago," said Bailey. ********************* PERU ********************* PERU: PROGRESS MADE ON TWO HUMAN RIGHTS CASES Peru's attorney general has asked Congress to charge former President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) with murder in a high-profile human rights case. That case and several others are working their way through the legal system following the decision by interim President Valentin Paniagua to return to the binding jurisdiction of the Organization of American States (OAS) human rights court. Earlier this year Peru formally returned to the Inter- American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), based in San Jose, Costa Rica, two years after Fujimori withdrew rather than accept the court's order to grant new trials for four Chileans convicted of terrorism (see NotiSur, 2001-02-16). Under Fujimori, Peru's human rights record was among the worst in Latin America. On May 23, Attorney General Nelly Calderon asked Congress to charge Fujimori with being a co-author of the Barrios Altos massacre. In the November 1991 attack, masked assailants burst into a party in the Barrios Altos district, a poor Lima neighborhood close to the presidential palace, and opened fire, killing 15 people, including an 8-year-old boy. "This is very serious," said Deputy Daniel Estrada, chair of the congressional subcommittee investigating allegations of murder, forced disappearances, and terrorism involving the former president. The Barrios Altos charges are the most serious against Fujimori to date. The ex-president, in self-exile in Japan, was fired as "morally unfit" to rule last November. He had left the country during a corruption crisis involving his spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos. Fujimori faces charges of dereliction of duty, while Montesinos is wanted on charges ranging from arms and drugs trafficking to running death squads and ordering torture. Estrada said if Congress approves the request by the attorney general and formally opens an investigation, it could pave the way for a Japanese judge to proceed against Fujimori. He said if Congress considers that there are sufficient grounds, it would then charge Fujimori and order the attorney general's office to proceed. IACHR ordered Barrios Altos investigation reopened On March 20, the IACHR said Peru's amnesty laws aimed at protecting military officers from prosecution for rights abuses were incompatible with the American Convention on Human Rights and thus lacked legal standing. The court called on the Peruvian government to punish members of the Comando de Liberacion Nacional (Colina) death squad for the Barrios Altos massacre. No charges were ever filed in the Barrios Altos case, but human rights groups, citing survivors of the massacre, said it was the work of the Colina death squad. The Fujimori government always denied the existence of the Colina group, which human rights organizations say was formed by Montesinos to combat leftist guerrillas. On March 28, Peru's Corte Suprema de Justicia (CSJ) said it would accept the IACHR ruling. Two days earlier special prosecutor Ronald Gamarra said the former heads of the Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional (SIN), Gen. Julio Salazar Monroe, and the Servicio de Inteligencia del Ejercito (SIE), Juan Rivera Lazo, had been arrested. Warrants were issued for other Colina members, including Col. Federico Navarro Perez and Majs. Carlos Pichilingue Guevara and Santiago Martin Rivas, as well as several lower-ranking military. Besides the Barrios Altos massacre, the Colina group is accused of murdering nine students and a professor from the Universidad Enrique Guzman y Valle, known as La Cantuta, in 1992 (see NotiSur, 1993-10-01, 1994-02-25), assassinating labor leader Pedro Huillca in December 1992, and murdering a former intelligence agent, Mariela Barreto, and torturing another, Leonor La Rosa, in 1997 (see NotiSur, 1997-04-25). Colina leader confesses to journalist Gilberto Hume, editor for Canal N cable TV channel, said on a news show on the station that Maj. Martin Rivas had admitted to participating in the Barrio Altos massacre and the murders at La Cantuta. "He has accepted responsibility for La Cantuta and Barrios Altos for the first time," Hume told Reuters. He said Martin Rivas was willing to testify about his role to a planned truth commission that will probe rights abuses. Martin Rivas told Hume he led the Colina group, "following higher orders." Martin said that after the 1995 amnesty was passed, he was discharged from the military, and he assumed it was because Montesinos wanted him "out of circulation." He said Montesinos planned an operation to kill him and blame it on Sendero Luminoso. "He [Martin Rivas] discovered the plan, he confronted those involved and sent Montesinos a message that he had evidence against him, which was safe outside the country," said Hume. After authorities originally tried to cover up the killings at La Cantuta, several soldiers--including Martin Rivas--were convicted by a military court in 1994 (see NotiSur, 1994-02-25). But they were freed in 1995 under the amnesty law that Fujimori pushed through a compliant Congress (see NotiSur, 1995-07-07). On May 22, Estrada said the former president had promoted the military who were involved in Colina. He cited a document sent by Fujimori to the minister of defense requesting the promotions. Estrada also said that a former member of the group told the committee that Fujimori had sent a note congratulating the group after the Barrios Altos massacre. Chileans await new trial In the ruling that prompted Fujimori to withdraw from the IACHR's jurisdiction, the court said that Chilean citizens Jaime Castillo, Lautaro Mellado, Maria Concepcion Pincheira, and Alejandro Astorga had not received due legal guarantees when a special Peruvian military court sentenced them to life imprisonment in 1994 (see NotiSur, 1999-07-09). The same military tribunal sentenced Chileans Alejandro Valdivia and Marcela Gonzalez Astudillo to 20 years each. All were accused of being members of the Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru (MRTA). The IACHR ruled that the Chileans must be given new civilian trials. In April, the Chileans began a hunger strike to demand that they be given the new trial in compliance with the IACHR ruling. The Chileans were in the Yanamayo maximum security prison in the department of Puno, in what their families called "inhuman conditions." On May 14, Minister of Justice Diego Garcia Sayan said the Consejo Supremo de Justicia Militar (CSJM) had annulled the earlier verdict and ordered a new, civilian trial for the Chileans. He said the decision did not indicate any relaxation by the government toward terrorism and said there are serious accusations against the Chileans which will be examined in the new trial. The Chileans have been transferred to Lima to await the new trial. [Sources: Inter Press Service, 05/10/01; Notimex, 03/28/01, 05/22/01; Spanish news service EFE, 03/20/01, 03/28/01, 05/01/01, 05/14/01, 05/17/01, 05/21-23/01; Reuters, 03/20/01, 05/21/01, 05/24/01; Associated Press, La Republica (Peru), 05/24/01] ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= pvtsa-05.29.01-01:24:39-27764