seafood.com

SEAFOOD.COM NEWS by Ken Coons - May 5, 2003 - The U.S. State Department has issued its annual certification that lists countries whose sea turtle protection programs have been found to be equivalent to that imposed on U.S. shrimpers.

According to an NFI report, Indonesia, Venezuela and Honduras are not among the certified, and Costa Rica just squeaked by.

U.S. importers can still bring in shrimp from non-certified nations if the individual shipment has been certified by a government official of the exporting country as being turtle-safe.

However for Venezuela and Honduras, only farmed shrimp or artisanally caught shrimp qualifies for this shipment-by-shipment exemption.

A State Department form (DS2031) is required to accompany all imports of shrimp.

Ken Coons Seafood.com News 1-781-861-1441 Email comments to John Sackton and Ken Coons

Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter Posted May 05, 2003

APPLETON — More than 18 percent of foreign-born Fox Valley area residents live in poverty, which is more than three times the 5.5 percent rate of poverty for the overall population, census figure show.

“People move up north for a better chance,” said Federico Sotillo, a native of Venezuela who lives in Green Bay. “Because too many people are coming, the job situation gets harder. The competition gets harder.”

Figures from the 2000 census released recently, and reviewed by The Post-Crescent in Appleton, indicate that 18.4 percent of the approximately 19,444 foreign-born residents in the five-county area live in poverty. Nationwide, the immigrant poverty rate is 15.4 percent.

The counties the newspaper looked at were Brown, Calumet, Outagamie, Winnebago and Waupaca.

The federal poverty threshold varies depending on the size of the family. In 1999, the threshold was $16,895 for a family of four with two kids. The median family income in Wisconsin that year was $52,911.

The census numbers also showed:

nThe area’s most recent immigrants struggle much more than those who arrived in the country before 1980. More than four times as many of the newer arrivals are poor.

nThe largest percentage of poor immigrants (25.6 percent) are among those who arrived between 1995 and 2000.

2001 Domingo Alberto Rangel

Si Venezuela vive una guerra peculiar, como muchos lo creemos, quienes actúan en su vida política deben adaptarse a tal condición o trabajar dentro de ella. La realidad objetiva determina no sólo la gran estrategia, influye y condiciona también las tácticas y el estilo y algo fundamental, la moral de los combatientes. La política tiene en cuanto al tipo de peleas que en ella puedan darse, dos situaciones definidas: La guerra y la paz. Ya Clausewitz lo dijo hace cerca de doscientos años en su inmortal libro "De la Guerra", sobre el cual se han acumulado las miradas de las generaciones posteriores pero jamás el polvo de la indiferencia. Para Clausewitz la guerra es la política por otros medios. En otros términos, cuando llega a prevalecer o va a prevalecer la guerra, es necesario utilizar otros medios. Desde hace años Venezuela viene deslizándose hacia la guerra. Como el caimán que cae al caño o se sume en el sin llamar la atención, la guerra viene adueñándose de la escena venezolana con lento pero seguro ritmo de intruso. Varios golpes militares desde 1990, muchas intentonas de alzamiento y sobretodo, una atmósfera de intolerancia recíproca entre los bandos de la contienda política, nos sugieren que como lo sostiene Clausewitz, la situación va a ventilarse o ya se ventila "por otros medios". Aquí avanza una guerra cuyas raíces económicas y sociales aparecieron el Viernes Negro al quebrar el modelo petrolero. Pero sólo unos pocos actores de la política se han dado cuenta de este proceso. ¿A dónde va Venezuela? debería ser la pregunta sacramental de cada político, como aquella pregunta que según Rómulo Gallegos, se hacían los bongueros del Arauca: ¿Con quién vamos? cuando emprendían sus largas jornadas sobre el lomo de un río traicionero.

LA VENTAJA DE CHAVEZ Entre todos los actores de la vida política de Venezuela el único o uno de los pocos en darse cuenta de la situación bélica que vive la nación es Hugo Chávez. Quienes somos sus adversarios definitivos e irrevocables tenemos que reconocerlo, porque ignorarlo equivaldría a otorgar una clarísima ventaja. Saber que se vive una guerra, desde cuando ella se vive y cual es la perspectiva y el ritmo de tal guerra son requisitos inexcusables de victoria. La guerra es tan exigente y draconiana, es una tirana tan atroz que con ella cualquier equivocación lleva a la muerte y el acierto otorga certificado de vida. Para demostrarlo con objetividad de historiador, citaré don episodios, con protagonistas pertenecientes a bandos históricos encontrados: Uno de ellos ocurre en la España de 1936. La guerra entonces iniciada culmina tres años después con la victoria del fascismo, entre otras muchas cosas, porque Francisco Franco, pequeñín y barrigón, nada marcial, ni varonil, prepara sin embargo el conflicto desde años atrás, convencido de que España va a ir a una guerra que nadie, ni nada evitará o siquiera retardará. El otro episodio destaca la ventaja que concede determinar el carácter de una guerra con toda precisión. Ocurre el 22 de junio de 1941, cuando un ejército de tres millones de soldados invade a la Unión Soviética. Y se oye, días después, la voz de Stalin: Vienen a destruir nuestra cultura, a pisotear el trabajo de siglos que han hecho nuestros pueblos, a irrespetar nuestra dignidad de nación. Allí empezaron los alemanes a perder aquella guerra. Stalin había resucitado a Iván el Terrible para juntarlo con Lenin, en una guerra nacional. El gigantesco ejército alemán tendría que rendirse en Stalingrado.

CHAVEZ: LA MARCHA HACIA LA GUERRA Desde el 11 de abril del 2002, Chávez parece persuadido de la situación de guerra en la cual vivimos o hacia la cual avanzamos. Ese día, por el susto mortal que pasó, por las horas de agonía, acorralado y acobardado, por lo que fuera, Chávez tuvo la intuición de que la insurgencia militar que hacía de él un prisionero era un capítulo de la guerra civil que así asomaba sus narices. Y desde entonces no hace otra cosa que preparar su participación en el conflicto o mejorar sus condiciones. Empezó por limpiar el alto mando militar y colocar todos los mandos superiores e intermedios de la Fuerza Armada en manos seguras o confiables. Luego se dedicó a crear a través de algunos Mujiquitas suyos que saben hacer trabajo de hormigas, un aparato civil armado. Y en tercer término, reflexionando sobre la magnitud internacional de todo conflicto miró hacia Colombia y esto es decisivo. Colombia tiene hoy el ejército más poderoso al Sur del Río Grande. Ese ejército derrocaría al del Brasil en cuestión de horas. Quien entienda que en Venezuela se vive o empieza a vivirse una guerra civil no puede ignorar la contienda armada, vieja de medio siglo, que arde allende la frontera. Y Chávez se ha vinculado o busca utilizar como medio de defensa a los bandos revolucionarios de allende el Táchira los cuales, poco claros, no disciernen a ratos su verdadero interés.

EL CUADRO BELICO La oposición venezolana no puede o no debe olvidar este cuadro bélico. Ser hipócrita, como lo es Chávez, manejar la doblez como hace Chávez, obrar en la paz pero sin olvidar la guerra como hace Chávez, constituye hoy el primer postulado del decálogo táctico de la oposición. Chávez es tan dúplice que manda sus Mujiquitas a hacer el papel de Tartufos en la Mesa de Negociación, pero no olvida a sus esbirros que preparan emboscadas y organizan cuadros de combate. La guerra venezolana es peculiar como todas las guerras de hoy. Se combate y brota la sangre mientras se habla de paz y en apariencia se perfilan unas elecciones con solemnidad teatral. Volvemos a España. Nadie creía que aquel general barrigoncito llamado Francisco Franco, podía triunfar. Según Paúl Preston en su biografía de este personaje, Franco tuvo una virtud: Desde 1931 vio que España iba a una guerra civil y se dedicó, sin desmayar un solo día a organizar sus fuerzas para ella.

Posted May 04, 2003 By Ben Jones Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers

The roads in the United States may not be paved with gold, but they have long beckoned to immigrants seeking something better.

The roads have led many to the Fox River Valley and the Green Bay area, where thousands have put down new roots.

But despite the area’s reputation for high-paying jobs, the paychecks of more than 3,500 immigrants in the region tell a different story — they still live in poverty.

“People move up north for a better chance,” said Federico Sotillo, a native of Venezuela who lives in Green Bay.

“Because too many people are coming, the job situation gets harder. The competition gets harder,” he said.

Recently released figures from the 2000 census show that 18.4 percent of the approximately 19,444 foreign-born residents in Brown, Outagamie, Calumet, Waupaca and Winnebago counties live in poverty.

That’s more than three times the rate of poverty for the area’s overall population. Nationwide, the immigrant poverty rate is 15.4 percent.

The federal poverty threshold varies depending on the size of the family. In 1999, the threshold was $16,895 for a family of four with two children. The median family income in Wisconsin that year was $52,911.

Sotillo also said the wages of some Hispanic workers are lower because of exploitation by employers.

“They use the Hispanics because they know they are illegal,” Sotillo said. “So they pay them whatever they want to pay them. They fire them whenever they want to fire them.

“How are they going to argue about it? They have no rights here.”

Chungyia Thao, president of Universal Translation and Staffing in Appleton, came to the United States in 1987 at the age of 15 from a refugee camp in Thailand.

Thao arrived with few possessions and no English skills. He lived with family in Seattle while attending school.

He said that while life in the refugee camp was hard, life in the United States presents other challenges. He said a lack of English skills puts daily activities and jobs out of reach for many immigrants. He said it is particularly difficult for older Hmong.

“Most of the older generation, they are just finding jobs in factories, but there are not many good jobs,” he said.

Sotillo, who is minister of a United Pentecostal Church in Green Bay, said many new immigrants come from rural areas and don’t have the education and technical skills to obtain high-paying work.

“If we find a job, it has to be a manual job like working in a factory or farm work, because we don’t have the skills,” Sotillo said. “We don’t know how to use a computer, we don’t speak good English.

“So, of course, we don’t get good jobs.”

Lo Lee, director of the Hmong American Partnership in Appleton, said a cultural difference may account for part of the high immigrant poverty level reflected by the census.

Lee said many Hmong households, for example, are large and extended families. They may be surviving but not faring well by the federal standards.

“I don’t think anyone is going be foodless or homeless, but they may not have the quality of food or the quality of life,” Lee said.

Some immigrants come to Northeastern Wisconsin to earn money by working in farm fields.

But many migrant workers instead find themselves unemployed and waiting.

Deanna McGill, a case manager at the Emergency Shelters of the Fox Valley in Appleton, said that between 12 and 15 percent of the people in her shelter are migrant workers, including many from Mexico.

“They come up for work, but what happens sometimes is maybe the fields aren’t ready or the crops are delayed,” McGill said. “Their employers might not have housing.”

Amparo Baudhuin, an immigration caseworker for the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, said immigrants in general are hard-working.

“It’s fantastic,” she said. “The majority of folks from Mexico, Central America and South America have an incredible work ethic. They have a great instinct of self-preservation.

“If they don’t work, they don’t eat.”

Baudhuin said immigrants can’t take advantage of many federal assistance programs unless they have been in the country for years.

And acceptance of certain programs now could jeopardize someone’s chances of becoming a citizen later because the application process takes such things into account.

“The bottom line is the government wants immigrants that are coming of their own free will to basically survive on their own strengths and not take advantage of anything,” she said.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Wednesday, April 30, 2003 By: Elio Cequea

Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2003 14:44:44 -0500 From: Elio Cequea feico57@aol.com To: Editor@VHeadline.com Subject: Mr. Rivero, first of all I apologize

Dear Editor: to Mr. Rivero, first of all I apologize for bringing up his father on this...

Anyway, does this sound contradictory to him "...right on the surging of urban slums and shanty towns ... wrong to disprove robust economic growth."

It does to me ... I thought economic growth reduces the other one.

About the "excellent" UN reports he refers to, he should read them again and remember the surging of urban slums and shanty towns he agreed with.

With regard to the future of a humble (I know he meant poor...) Venezuelan couple in the early 60s, does surging slums and shanty towns in the 70s, 80s and 90s rings a bell?

At this moment, the future remains to be seen...

About taking stoke to my theory, none of the economic reports available to the general public consider how the wealth of a nation is distributed among its population. This fact makes these reports irrelevant when it comes to developing countries ... they do not indicate the advancement and improvement of the entire country.

Venezuela's GNP mostly grew from the 50s to the 70s ... but, the benefit of it was seen only by a few.

That explains the growth of "slums and shanty towns" in the same period ... the few that benefit from it became fewer and fewer as time went by, thanks to cultural abominations like "meritocracy."

Amazing how similar is the sound of this word to democracy ... the truth is that they imply very different things. The first one EXcludes and the other one INcludes.

In Venezuela we have both "world class wealth and world class poverty" ... one is getting wealthier and wealthier the other one, poorer and poorer.

That is what we need to stop.

Elio Cequea feico57@aol.com

PS: Gustavo Coronel also called 'Gente de Petroleo' heroes in his article "Why rebels rebel." We cannot call hero the one that rebels because he thinks victory is a sure and easy thing. They thought they had nothing to lose. Heroes go to war with the risks in mind. They don't find that out later. A hero lives with the consequences. A hero chooses to be hung or shot after being defeated. A hero doesn't cry out for mercy pleading for his job back, for example. It is not a hero who goes on a strike and still gets paid his salary ... a hero sacrifices himself. What was their sacrifice while they were being  "heroes"?  The people Gustavo Coronel calls heroes are a mockery of what a real hero is...