EU-DIGEST

Colombia Frees Betancourt, US Hostages in Daring Operation - Betancourt thanks France

Colombian forces freed French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages from FARC rebels on Wednesday, July 2, after military spies tricked captors into giving them up without a single injury. Betancourt's captors were duped by a Colombian military team posing as rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Santos said the military intelligence agents infiltrated the guerrilla ranks and led the local commander in charge of the hostages, alias Cesar, to believe they were going to take them by helicopter to Alfonso Cano, the guerrillas' supreme leader.

Ingrid Betancourt said she will travel to France to meet President Nicolas Sarkozy now that she is free, as she credits her survival of the ordeal to efforts by the French to press for her release. First she will be reunited with her family in Colombia.

Labels: Betancourt, Colombia, EU, France

How safe are the flowers you are buying

The flower industry keeps those flowers perfect for our enjoyment with a heavy douse of chemical fertilizers, insecticides, growth hormones, fungicides, and highly toxic pesticides. Imports can have unregistered chemicals or those otherwise banned because of the high costs at stake. If bugs are found in the cargo, the entire lot can be rejected. Studies have found more than 50% more pesticides on flowers than the allowable limit on produce; roses had 1000 times more cancer-causing pesticides than food! The pesticides used are very strong toxic chemicals. They travel to neighboring farms and into their water supply. Many of these chemicals are listed as "category 1" and include the most hazardous of chemicals (Methyl Bromide). Some of these chemicals are known to deplete our ozone layer and cause birth defects. When you touch a chemically treated conventional flower, you get poisons on your skin which can be ingested when you put your hand to your face or your child's face or can even penetrate your body through your skin. When you smell the fragrance, you are also inhaling poisons. Worse yet, the workers (many sorely underpaid) on flower farms and in green houses usually work in toxic environments. Studies show that they are exposed to 60 times the "safe" standard. As you can imagine, the toxic fumes are intensified in green houses! And as the farm hands return from work toxic chemicals also enter their homes and into the lives and bodies of their children and loved ones. But it does not end there. When the flowers are shipped and arrive at their destinations around the world, health hazards can now also enter the home of the consumer. This time with the addition of usually environmentally unfriendly packaging.

Have you ever checked if the packaging or sleeves around the flowers you are buying are made from recyclable and sustainable materials. Like corn-based flower sleeve made from polylactic acid (PLA), a natural, rapidly biodegradable alternative to traditional petroleum based cellophane sleeves used by most flower companies! Are they safe to the environment, can they be recycled? Do the flowers you buy carry a sticker which says that the flowers are eco-friendly and have not been treated with poisonous chemicals?

The next time you buy flowers for someone or for some special occasion, make sure they are not only appealing to the eye, but also carry a label guaranteeing they are eco-friendly. These are all serious questions that need to be addressed by the multi-billion flower industry, which at the moment seems to be burying their head in the sand.

Labels: Colombia, Council of Europe, Flower Industry, Peru, Pesticides

Venezuela's Sukkhoi fightr jets

For the complete report from The Seattle Times click on this link

War in Latin America ? Venezuela, Ecuador sending troops to border with Colombia after rebel leader killed - by IAN James

President Hugo Chavez ordered tanks and thousands of troops on Sunday to the border with Colombia, accusing it of pushing South America to the brink of war by killing a top rebel leader on Ecuadorean soil. Denouncing Colombia's slaying of the rebel commander in a cross-border raid into Ecuador, Chavez said Venezuela will respond militarily if Colombia violates its border. He ordered Venezuela's embassy in Bogota closed. "Mr. Defence Minister, move 10 battalions to the border with Colombia for me, immediately -- tank battalions. Deploy the air force," Chavez said during his weekly TV and radio program. "We don't want war, but we aren't going to permit the U.S. empire, which is the master (of Colombia) ... to come divide us." In protest, Ecuador withdrew its ambassador from Bogota, ordered Colombia's top diplomat expelled and ordered the mobilization of troops to the border with Colombia.

"This could be the start of a war in South America," Chavez said. He warned Uribe: "If it occurs to you to do this in Venezuela, President Uribe, I'll send some Sukhois" -- Russian warplanes recently bought by Venezuela.

Labels: Colombia, Ecuador, Latin America, US, Venezuela, War

Flower market - Future isn't rosy for Colombia growers - by Chris Kraul

Nearly all world currencies have gained against the dollar in recent years; the dollar has slid 30 percent in value since 2002 against an index of world currencies, according to the International Monetary Fund. But the greenback's decline has been steeper against the currencies of Third World countries whose economies have been lifted by booming demand for commodities such as copper, sugar and soybeans, and the incoming floods of dollars chasing them. After years of strong business fueled by Americans' appreciation of big-budded Colombian roses, the industry is fighting stiff competition from Ecuador, China, Kenya and Mexico.

Although Colombia shipped almost $800 million in flowers to the United States last year, the industry has cut margins to maintain its market share. Investment in new varieties and technology has shrunk, according to the grower industry association, Asocolflores.

Labels: Colombia, Flower Industry