Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Tim Boultbee, Ken Stone May 28, 2022

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded May 28th, 2022

In early May, Cuban president, Miguel Diaz-Canel returned the diplomatic favour, hosting his Mexican counterpart, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Havana. The two signed various agreements tying the two nations closer, while AMLO used the opportunity to further criticize historical US foreign policy in the hemisphere, reminisce about Mexican support for Castro and the Cuban revolution, and to call for the lifting of the decades-long blockade against Mexico’s “sister nation.” None of this likely pleases the United States, but worse still for the Biden administration is Obrador’s hardly veiled threat to boycott next week’s Summit of the Americas confab in Los Angeles.

Tim Boultbee is a long-time activist for Latin American human and democratic rights. From Ronald Reagan’s Dirty Wars against the people of Nicaragua and El Salvador to the financial annexation of Mexico by means of the NAFTA agreement he has borne witness as an international observer at the front lines of the fight for justice. Tim is currently a member of CASC, the Victoria Central America Support Committee, assisted the Building Bridges Human Rights Project in Chiapas, and worked to raise funds for the Fray Bartolome Human Rights Center in San Cristobal.

Tim Boultbee in the first half.

And; just as Canada has supported US belligerence in Latin America, (earning for the trouble exclusion from CELAC, the organization likely to determine the cultural, political, and economic future of the hemisphere) the current administration too has gone along with its larger neighbour’s campaign to isolate China. The lengths Trudeau’s government is willing to go to please Uncle Sam was made painfully obvious in its two-plus years contralegal persecution of Huawei executive, Meng Wanzhou. Now, it has announced the exclusion of Huawei from this country’s 5G communications network development.

Ken Stone is a long-time antiwar activist whose served as an executive member of both the Syria Solidarity Movement and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. Ken and the Coalition fought tooth and nail against the incarceration of Meng Wanzhou and extradition efforts by the United States, and they’ve opposed the odious AUKUS military pact threatening war with China in the Pacific. The danger AUKUS presents to World peace ramped up last fall with the deal to provide nuclear powered submarines to Australia, and more lately with the announced rapid development of hypersonic missile technology and expanded electronic warfare aimed at the People’s Republic.

Ken Stone on Huawei in Canada, and AUKUS going over the top in the Pacific in the second half.

But first, Tim Boultbee and Biden’s Summit of the Americas proving a low point in hemispheric interrelations.

Chris Cook has hosted Gorilla Radio since 1999. Check out the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com

https://www.patreon.com/posts/67050445

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Peter Ewart, Ellen Moore May 20th, 2021

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition, recorded on the dates, May 11th and 17th, 2021

Five centuries after Cortez, Mexico is again defending colonization by a foreign army. This time the Conquistadores come in the guise of transglobal corporations, their goal the gold to be gleaned from Mexico’s greatest treasure, maize. But first, Bayer-Monsanto would transmogrify, through the magic of Genetic Modification, the ancient grain into a more malleable form of glyphosate-resistant corn, ready for the application of millions of tons of Bayer-Monsanto marketed pesticides.

The one kink in the scheme is Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s vow to rid his country of GMO’s by 2024. And that’s where the sword leaves the scabbard for the chemical lobby and its U.S. Trade Representatives.

Peter Ewart is a Prince George, B.C.-based writer whose articles feature online and at the PG Daily News in Prince George. In his latest, ‘Mexico, Glyphosate and Bayer-Monsanto‘ he warns of the threat posed to the original staple crop of Turtle Island and its progenitors, the “People of the Corn”.

Peter Ewart in the first half.

And; last week, after nearly thirty years, the founder and board chair of Pan American Silver stepped into a golden sunset retirement made comfortable by the millions of dollars he made for himself and his shareholders at the expense of indigenous peoples and the natural environment throughout Latin America. In the meantime, he’s burnished a public image as philanthropist leader of corporate responsibility, and environmental champion; all belying a “legacy of community harm and environmental destruction“.

Ellen Moore is the International Mining Campaign Manager at Earthworks, a U.S. based non-profit that supports communities impacted by oil, gas and hard-rock mining. Before joining Earthworks Ellen worked in Nevada and Guatemala on issues related to human rights, environmental justice and mining. Moore moderated an event held last week to mark the toxic reality of Pan American Silver.

Ellen Moore and the false glitter of Pan American Silver in the second half.

But first, Peter Ewart and the cancerous return of Bayer-Monsanto, Mexico’s new Conquistadores.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: https://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com