Authorities said late Tuesday they were prepared to send troops into the streets of the Guatemalan capital, after nearly 1,000 protesters prevented lawmakers from voting on a pending free-trade agreement between Central America and the US.
Demonstrators blocked the legislature for hours, delaying a session during which some lawmakers wanted to put the free-trade pact to a vote.
Colonel Wilfred Estrada, a spokesman for the army, said he received an order from the security detail in charge of protecting the president to ready 500 soldiers and military police who would be deployed if a new round of protests erupted yesterday or today.
Interior Secretary Carlos Vielmann told reporters that the country's national police force was in charge of responding to protesters, but said that "should they falter ... they would have some small support from" military forces.
No one was hurt or arrested during Tuesday's protests, but legislators unable to make it to their offices were forced to spend most of the day in auxiliary buildings nearby.
"There aren't enough lawmakers for quorum and when some who want to enter the building get close, they aren't allowed to," said Mariano Rayo, a congressman who got to the legislature early but was then prevented from leaving.
Other lawmakers wanting to leave the legislature successfully made it to the street, only to be chased for blocks by protesters.
Demonstrators eventually dispersed, allowing the legislative session to begin on Tuesday night. Lawmakers quickly passed a resolution pledging to compensate those who could be hurt by the ratification of the free-trade agreement.
Protesters had promised even larger demonstrations today and tomorrow, but it was unclear whether the proposal approved late Tuesday -- and the army's plan to deploy troops -- would alter those plans.
They are demanding that the agreement be put to a public referendum and oppose passage of a law that would grant concessions to private companies for infrastructure construction projects, saying it was a maneuver aimed at privatizing public services.
The US signed the agreement, known as CAFTA, last May with Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
CAFTA also sparked a wave of smaller, more orderly protests in neighboring Honduras on Tuesday, where demonstrators briefly blocked roads.
Guatemalan President Oscar Berger, whose party has been a chief supporter of the agreement, has ruled out holding a public referendum.
CAFTA also faces a tough road ahead in the US. President George W. Bush says the accord would open new markets for US goods and services while encouraging economic and democratic reforms in Central America, but he didn't have the votes in Congress last year. He may not have support this year either, because of competition fears among US sugar and textile producers.
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS