Around Latin America

-In absolutely excellent news, 15 Colombian soldiers were sentenced to 4 to 30 years in prison for killing two civilians whom they later claimed were "rebels." The 10 soldiers (including an officer) who were involved with planning and murdering the two victims received 30-year sentences, while another five men involved with covering up the killings received 4-year sentences. This is major news, as it's one of the first times soldiers have been charged and convicted in "false positive" killings, or killing civilians and later covering it up by saying the dead were "rebels" allied with teh FARC. Hopefully, this marks the beginning of the end of impunity in Colombia.

-Brazilian police this week broke up a gang that specialized in trafficking prostitutes internationally. The gang used the internet and brothels to recruit women whom it then sent to Las Vegas, the Dominican Republic, and France to work as prostitutes. Ten individuals (including one American) were arrested in Brazil, and two more Americans are being held in the U.S.

-Roberto Micheletti's government has declared an end to the curfew it imposed. The curfew, declared in mid-July, was the second time Micheletti's "democratic" government made such a move since the coup at the end of June. And in a related story, Greg points out the hypocrisy of Honduras condemning Venezuela's government for imposing censorship, while Honduras's government imposes censorship.

-Former Costa Rican president Rafael Angel Calderon is facing the possibility of 24 years in prison after prosecutors charged him for corruption. Calderon, who was president of Costa Rica from 1990 to 1994, is charged with pocketing over half a million dollars in commission money intended to help Costa Rica's healthcare system. Calderon, who is hoping to seek another turn as president (Costa Rica disallows consecutive terms, but presidents can serve twice non-consecutively), says the charges are "politically motivated," though I don't really know if that's just window dressing or a legitimate charge. Calderon is the first former president to stand trial in Costa Rica.

-Is Lula trying to regain state ownership of the world's largest iron ore producer? Veja isn't the most reliable source (by which I mean, Veja is frequently part of the effort to smear Lula and discredit him), but the fact that Vale was owned by the Brazilian state until Fernando Henrique Cardoso privatized it in 1997, and that Vale's second-quarter profits apparently dropped 84% compared to last year, lends a certain degree of legitimacy to at least the possibility of the Brazilian state trying to regain control of Vale.

-And in more cheerful environmental news, there's an interesting (if depressing) story on the arrival of the nutria, a large (up to 30 lb.) rodent from Argentina, in the United States, and the havoc it is wreaking on the Chesapeake Bay. The nutria feeds on plants in the wetlands, leading to no plant life and wetland, but open water.

Water Privatization in Indonesia

Color me less than shocked that water privatization schemes in Indonesia have only exacerbated water problems. Like so many nations, Indonesia faced massive pressure from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to privatize their social services in the 1990s. Facing real problems from the Asian economic collapse in 1997-98, Indonesia agreed to do so. Bill Guerin explores the failures of privatizing the water system of Jakarta. His findings:

"Yet ever since Jakarta's water supply was formally privatized in 1997, prices have risen astronomically while access has dwindled for poor residents. Nearly half of Jakarta's residents now lack a piped water connection, more than the entire urban population of Brazil's Rio de Janeiro, a World Bank sanitation specialist recently noted."

Privatization was simply foisted upon the Indonesian people, and even the government. The process for taking over the water system was not open to the public. There were no public bids on the contracts. No public debate took place. Immediately upon the French and British conglomerates taking over, water prices for Jakarta residents skyrocketed. Water went up 20% in 1998 and another 35% in 2001. Millions of impoverished Jakarta residents could not afford to pay for the most basic element of human existence.

What did the companies do with those profits? They pocketed them. Water supplies did not improve. Jakarta remained depended on dwlinding underground water resources. Promised improvements in the city's shaky water infrastructure never happened.

The Indonesia government is claiming it will resist further privatization schemes. The two major conglomerates have recently pulled out, leaving Jakarta in the lurch. Can the Indonesian government fix the problems building for the last decade? I'm pretty skeptical given the nation's poverty and governing problems. Perhaps they can stop the situation from worsening. But Indonesia will feel the fallout from privatization for a very long time to come.