http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=cuatro Sat, 25 May 2013 05:21:39 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=cuatro Mon, 06 May 2013 09:08:19 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dcf_1367845432 absolutdani Another angle of the Vintage Jet Accident in Madrid in Cuatro Vientos airport. My condolences to the family and friends of the pilot. This video is not mine. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dcf_1367845432 absolutdani Vintage Jet Accident in Madrid - Another angle Plane, accident, jet, madrid, Cuatro Vientos Sun, 05 May 2013 12:37:13 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f1a_1367769279 apaulsey Oh yeah, its CINCO DE MAYO! I was just on my way to my shop and came up on a slow moving pickup -It took me a second to realize that there was a goat tied up in the back. I started filming as the goat was trying to break free. Then, they started to turn into the local fairgrounds entrance -It didn't take long for me to realize what day it was. Obama's thoughts on the holiday: "Cinco de mayo reminds us that America's diversity is America's strength. Today, as we celebrate the contributions and history of Mexican Americans and Hispanics in America, let us celebrate the larger story of America and our unique immigrant heritage." http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2013/05/05/obama-cinco-do-mayo-statement/2136639/ Cinco de Mayo is once again upon us. Traditionally the province of Mexican heritage enthusiasts and drunk people, this year you can really own the holiday and impress your family and friends with these four fun facts. Don't worry, you'll be getting five facts worth of content on this list, but "Cinco Facts for Cinco de Mayo" is just trite. 1. Cinco de Mayo Means "Fifth Of May" Well, technically it means "Five of May," since "cinco" means "five" and "quinto" means "fifth," but it's close enough. This is why when someone asks you, "So, like, when is Cinco de Mayo?", it means she is either dumb or took French in grade school. If it's the former, she is probably the perfect audience for this joke you've been saving for just such an occasion, "What do you call four matadors in quicksand? CUATRO SINKO!" Although, let's be real, that's a joke that will kill with both high and low brow audiences, especially if both audience have already had a few margaritas. Those aware of Mexican heritage, whose ranks you are soon to join, might point out that matadors are typically Spanish and that Cinco de Mayo has nothing to do with Spain. This brings us to fact numero dos. 2. Cinco de Mayo Does Not Commemorate Mexican Independence You might be thrown off by the fact that "Cinco de Mayo" follows the naming conventions of "Fourth of July," and get tricked into thinking Cinco de Mayo celebrates Mexico's Independence Day. Don't worry, this is a classic rookie mistake. Mexico's independence day is actually celebrated on September 16. I've found a very effective way to compensate for such a faux pas is to simply throw a very extravagant Mexican Independence Day party in September. Here is how it works: your friends will be sitting around, probably discussing your many shortcomings and one of them will say, "Remember that time Cait thought Cinco de Mayo celebrated Mexico's independence from Spain? God, what a idiot." And then someone else will say, "No, she throws a huge Mexican Independence Day party in the fall every year. It must have been some one else," and just like that your reputation as a person with a reasonable knowledge of Mexican history is restored. 3. Cinco de Mayo Commemorates the Battle Of Puebla Cinco de Mayo actually celebrates the victory of Mexican forces against the French in the Battle of Puebla, on May 5, 1862. Some facts you should know about the Battle of Puebla - that's right, facts on facts on facts, told ya you'd get your five-facts-worth - include that the victory was of symbolic, rather then strategic significance. In fact, after the defeat at Puebla, the French still managed to occupy Mexico for six more years through the puppet government of Emperor Ferdinand Maximilian. Many described this move by Napoleon III as, "#Rude," but that didn't stop him. Nonetheless, Battle of Puebla became a rallying cry for resistance fighters, as it represented the victory of Mexican forces over the French against great odds. 4. Cinco de Mayo is More Widely Celebrated in the U.S. Than in Mexico Perhaps due to its dubious significance as an event or the existence of an actual independence day to celebrate instead, Cinco de Mayo is not widely celebrated in Mexico. It's believed that Cinco de Mayo was first celebrated by Americans of Mexican heritage during the American Civil War. It underwent a resurgence in popularity in the States during the 1960s, when Chicano activists championed the holiday as an example of indigenous people's rejection of the rule of invading Europeans. Today Cinco de Mayo can be likened to a Mexican St. Patrick's Day, in that a) in terms of a celebration of heritage, it matters a lot more to those who have left the country whose heritage it honors, and b) every one else just uses it as an excuse to drink excessive amounts of vaguely ethnically-themed alcohol. For those of you who would like to experience a more authentic Mexican holiday or just want an excuse to ring in the autumn season with a healthy dose of mescal, I will see you on September 16. http://www.policymic.com/articles/39807/cinco-de-mayo-2013-4-facts-about-the-holiday If you live near the Houston area and you cherish your life, please stay off of the roads. The drinking has already started -Shit's about to get real! http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f1a_1367769279 apaulsey 5/5/13 - Why is there a goat tied-down in the back of that truck? cinco de mayo,goat,truck,drunk,driving,mexico,houston,texas Wed, 11 Jul 2007 13:09:58 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=eb8_1184173798 alxemi Documental sobre Corea del Norte, Cuatro CNN+ North Korea 2/2 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=eb8_1184173798 alxemi Documental sobre Corea del Norte, <span class="highlight">Cuatro</span> CNN+ North Korea 2/2 Corea del Norte, Cuatro CNN+ North Korea alejandro cao Fri, 16 Feb 2007 01:36:12 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4ae63_4607 zvids Comienza el juicio sobre los atentados del 11m en Madrid. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4ae63_4607 zvids madrid bombings trial begins - <span class="highlight">cuatro</span> chomsky vids, cuatro, i Wed, 11 Jul 2007 12:34:14 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ac9_1184171654 alxemi Documental sobre Corea del Norte, Cuatro CNN+ North Korea http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ac9_1184171654 alxemi Documental sobre Corea del Norte, <span class="highlight">Cuatro</span> CNN+ North Korea 1/2 Corea, Norte, North, Korea, alejandro, cao Tue, 20 Mar 2007 09:10:43 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d4f_1174396243 zvids Peace now http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d4f_1174396243 zvids guerra de irak 4 chomsjy vids, cuatro, la sexta, sexta, laSexta, war, iraq, war on terror, terrorism, guerra, irak, genocidio, muerte, bloof, dead, disaster, bush, aznar, blair, president, command in chief, commander in chief, comandante, jefe Fri, 16 Mar 2007 20:30:22 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f2d_1174091422 zvids No a los criminales de guerra estadounidenses, juicio para ellos en el tribunal internacional de La Haya en Holanda. Stop christian and islamic terrorists! http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f2d_1174091422 zvids stop the war! peace now! manifestaci chomsky vids, cuatro, gabilondo, peace, pace, paz, madrid, manifestacion, us, usa, u.s., army, iraq, irak, afganist Wed, 14 Feb 2007 22:40:27 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=da56e_4407 zvids Close gtmo. insurgents, arms, baghdad, firefight, combat, marines, fire, fight, baghdad, marine http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=da56e_4407 zvids atentado en ir chomsky vids, cuatro, noticias, i Mon, 12 Feb 2007 18:25:40 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0311b_4207 zvids Las mentiras de Irak que provocan las masacres acruales. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0311b_4207 zvids el desastre estadounidense en irak ampli chomsky vids, cuatro, laSexta, la sexta, lasexta, noticias, i Sat, 24 Nov 2012 00:20:13 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e6b_1353734216 ricardo666 This post was updated on Nov 23, 2012; 3:45pm. Joe Luis Saenz Mexico arrests suspected murderer on FBI most wanted list 1:36 p.m. CST, November 23, 2012 MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican federal police have captured suspected murderer, rapist and drug gang member Joe Luis Saenz, one of the 10 most wanted fugitives on the FBI's list, the government said on Friday. Saenz, a U.S. citizen, was arrested in the city of Guadalajara in western Mexico on Thursday following an investigation carried out by the federal police in conjunction with the FBI, the government said in a statement. According to the FBI, Saenz is suspected of shooting and killing two rival gang members in Los Angeles in July 1998. For the FBI's most wanted list, see: http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten Less than two weeks later, Saenz allegedly kidnapped, raped, and murdered his estranged girlfriend. Saenz is also believed to have murdered another man in October 2008 in Los Angeles County. FBI records suggest Saenz is 36 or 37, and the bureau offered up to $100,000 for information leading to his arrest. Born in Los Angeles, Saenz was known to travel between the United States and Mexico, and was believed to be working for a Mexican drug cartel, the FBI said. He had a number of aliases including Zapp, Peanut Joe Smiley and Honeycutt, it added. (Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by Sandra Maler) http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-mexico-arrest-fbibre8am0t7-20121123,0,2850252.story More on Jose Luis Saenz......... The Killer of His Daughter's Mother A cunning American boy becomes a Mexican Cartel soldier and East L.A. executioner Twelve years ago, Jose Saenz was a LAUSD dropout and run-of-the-mill tagger known on the Eastside of Los Angeles as Smiley, a nod to the way he flashed his trademark brilliant grin. At age 22, he sidled up to two young Eastside men peddling dope on North Clarence Street in Boyle Heights, pretending to be friend not foe. When Smiley got real close, he yanked out a hidden gun and killed Josue Hernandez and Leonardo Ponce, two members of the East L.A. 13 gang. Worried about a Prizzi's Honor-style scenario, police believe, Smiley feared that those close to him knew too much about the double murder - honor killings, in his mind, required after his two victims beat up his teenage buddy, Juan Pena. So 11 days after the Clarence Street murders, on a hot August afternoon in 1998, police say, Smiley raped and executed the woman who had intimate knowledge of him: his pretty, dark-haired, estranged girlfriend, Sigreda Fernandez, 21, mother of his 2-year-old baby girl. He left Fernandez's ravaged body sprawled in a bedroom in his grandmother's house, with an eerie, apologetic note scrawled on her wall. Beautiful Sigreda Fernandez, assassinated by Smiley to keep her quiet, holds their baby. For years, nobody has had a death wish strong enough to rat out Smiley for these killings, save for young Juan Pena. Dying several years ago of childhood leukemia, he fingered his blood brother Saenz for the executions on North Clarence Street. But Smiley, with his intense black eyes and his quick, deviant mind, vanished from the local cops' radar for 10 years - to Mexico for some of that time, the FBI says, where he morphed from East L.A. tagger and Cuatro Flats gang member to a connected, Mexican-cartel drug "soldier" - simply put, a high-level executioner, and then trafficker, operating on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border. Many facts are unknown and long periods of time inside Mexico remain a mystery. But U.S. authorities believe Saenz hooked up in northern Mexico with former Cal State Los Angeles business student Rolando Ontiveros, a nattily dressed product of private schools with a sharp brain, who used his education to ill ends south of the border. Like Rolo, Smiley rose to operate in high-end international drug smuggling circles, where million-dollar coke transactions went down. He sometimes used Tijuana bars as a base, crossing to the U.S. regularly with a bogus Mexican passport to do business with dealers in L.A. and Orange counties, and in other states. According to Rene Enriquez, a former Mexican Mafia leader, the key operators move easily between Southern California and Mexico, principally Mexican-American men heavily drawn from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. "It's like coming to East Los Angeles," when they arrive in Mexico, surrounded by other Southern Californina Latino gang members and former convicts, many of whom met in California prisons. "He's walking right in the loop again, from one geographic location to another. ... It's the California gang world in Mexico." " was pretty much on the run when he left here," says Los Angeles Police Department homicide detective Ron Chavarria, investigating the 1998 Clarence Street murders attributed to Smiley. "He didn't have a car or anything. Then, years later, he is an established drug dealer." In the intervening years, "He did something to get himself to that level. People are deathly afraid of this guy. You mention this guy's name and are done. They don't want to talk about him." It is now known that during that time Smiley, today 34, partied under the noses of LAPD and city and county police agencies throughout Southern California with his drug-dealer pals, frequenting nice, suburban Long Beach-area bars like Lakewood's Elephant Club, Hollywood Boulevard hot spots, and chic Southern California watering holes. Life was fine. At one point Smiley was ferried around by a chauffeur employed by his gangster buddy Oscar Torres, a Los Angeles Hummer limo-service owner, who wore upscale clothes, lived as "Sam" in a quiet, suburban equestrian community in Whittier - and sold prodigious quantities of coke to feed Southern California's habit. But Oscar Torres ended up on his friend Smiley's execution list in 2008, after a careless screwup that for an average person would have resulted in a traffic ticket but for Torres had mortal consequences. In summer 2008, as Torres drove through Missouri heading to L.A., fresh from an East Coast coke deal, two small-town sheriff's deputies in St. Charles County pulled him over for tailgating and speeding. He and his passenger seemed extremely nervous, so the cops searched the car. They found $610,000 in hidden packets of cash - but, incredibly, the deputies let Torres go without trying to figure out who he was or what he was up to. The cash, however, stayed in Missouri. And that cash? Well, some of that was Smiley's money. Two of Torres' Southern California homes were in horsey Pellissier Village, where he often slept in his rundown two-bedroom crash pad, tricked out with a sauna and nine surveillance cameras. Three months after he lost the $610,000 in Missouri, before dawn one day, Torres heard knocking on his door and opened it to find Smiley, grinning like a madman. Smiley, police say, executed his friend with four shots to the face. Then, he carefully removed from Torres' surveillance system the DVD disc he knew had captured it all - from several unflattering angles. Smiley should have finished his high school education on the Eastside. He didn't quite understand how the surveillance system worked. When L.A. County Sheriff detective Traci Gonzales saw that the DVD was missing, she took the security equipment to her tech guys, and they retrieved from its hard drive crystal-clear pictures of a Latino man cackling shortly before he blew away the doomed Torres. In a matter of days, LAPD Hollenbeck Division detectives viewing the tape recognized the executioner as former youthful tagger and LAUSD dropout Jose Saenz. With that videotape in hand, in 2009 the Los Angeles FBI office jumped into a hard-fought nationwide contest: They proposed Saenz for the government's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List, and Special Agent Scott Garriola submitted a detailed five-page application to compete against 55 other FBI offices that insisted their fugitives were the baddest. Garriola had a major edge. He and his Fugitive Apprehension Team had for years been tracking a guy on the Top Ten, who had shot and seriously hurt an L.A. County Sheriff's deputy. That fugitive was caught in a rural town in Mexico last year, meaning Garriola was among the first to know that a spot on the Top Ten was about to open. "The early bird catches the worm," laughs the 22-year-veteran agent, who, at any given time, tracks 40 to 50 rapists, murderers, dope dealers and gangsters. "Who else knew there was going to be an opening but me?" Smiley won the nationwide beauty contest. Last October, the FBI's deputy director announced on CNN that Saenz; Ukrainian-born Semion Mogilevich, who is wanted for his involvement in a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud thousands of investors; and Eduardo Ravelo, a captain in the Juarez, Mexico-based Barrio Azteca criminal enterprise; would join the Ten Most Wanted list of international terrorists, cybercriminals, serial killers and organized crime figures, ranging from Osama Bin Laden to Boston mobster James J. "Whitey" Bulger. "You don't celebrate with drinks and a DJ," Garriola says. "It's not like we were high-fiving in the bull pen." Now, the feds and local police hope that with the extra funding and attention that automatically flow to any case on the famed list, this wanted killer of his own daughter's mother will finally be hunted down. (The feds are offering $100,000 for tips leading to his conviction, and can be contacted at (888) CANT HIDE.) But even if authorities catch up to Smiley, one question may be unanswerable: How did a screwed-up teen raised in a rough American barrio rise to become one of the most vicious criminals in America, in all probability trained by cartels in Mexico, then sent back to represent the worst of both nations? Smiley was the only child of a Marravia gang-member father and a mother with substance-abuse problems. He lived with his grandmother in a small backyard bungalow on rundown, historic Ferris Avenue just two blocks from the East Los Angeles Station Sheriff's department. He spent much of his time with his cousins at the 29-acre Pico-Aliso projects, a five-minute drive from Los Angeles City Hall and the largest - some say the most dangerous - public-housing development west of the Mississippi. Saenz was not one of those tortured kids who saw beyond the grimy walls and corruption inside Pico-Aliso and dreamed of escape. Even as a sly youngster, he was mired in it. Families lived in fear at the projects, controlled by several gangs, including the Cuatro Flats. In fact, the Cuatro Flats crime organization arose in 1942 soon after the projects - a disastrous social experiment that urban planners insisted would lift up the poor - were erected. After years of pressure, in 1999 the city of Los Angeles started tearing down Pico-Aliso's two-story buildings, grouped around yards that were entered through breezeways. In their place, developers constructed a complex of attractive detached and semidetached single-family houses called Pueblo del Sol - the latest fad that urban planners insist can transform L.A.'s inner-city areas. On the day demolition began, a pastor marched down the street, carrying a replica of the Virgin of Guadalupe - to bless Pico-Aliso's destruction. On these streets in 1998, Smiley decided to return the insult done to his youthful gangster friend, 14-year-old Pena, who'd been attacked by East L.A. 13 gangbangers Hernandez and Ponce. LAPD Detective Chavarria says that as Pena looked on, the smiling Saenz casually approached the two young men as if to buy drugs, then shot Ponce in the chest, thigh and back and Hernandez three times in the head. Efrain Bello and his brother Bogart in happier times Bullets delivered to the head would become Saenz's signature. As Hernandez and Ponce lay bleeding, Smiley advised his young pal never to leave a crime scene until he was sure his targets were good and dead. "He said, 'Sometimes they fake it, or pretend they're dead,' " Chavarria says Pena told police. For the next several days after those killings, Southern California was caught in a blistering heat wave. The sun-baked San Fernando Valley saw record temperatures of 107 degrees in Chatsworth; Los Angeles and Orange County authorities received more than 100 calls per minute from motorists stranded in overheated cars, and air-conditioning repair businesses helped people with busted coolers and boiling tempers. It was, in short, a great week for a despicable act. Early on August 5, Smiley's dark-eyed former girlfriend, Sigreda Fernandez, mother of his toddler daughter, must have been worried when she saw Smiley and another gangster at the Pico-Aliso housing projects where she lived. Nobody will ever know what was said between Smiley and Sigreda, or the rage and horror she endured when she realized he meant her harm. Police say Saenz and his accomplices abducted Fernandez, a Roosevelt High School graduate employed by the Santa Fe Railroad company, and drove her to Smiley's grandmother's house six miles away. There, he told his grandmother to leave her own home. The older woman later claimed, according to a coroner's report, that she complied because Smiley said he and Fernandez had a lot of talking to do, and were trying to reconcile. Three hours later, at 11 a.m., he called his grandmother and told her not to come home, authorities say, because he had just made a big mistake. But the elderly woman didn't obey this time. His grandmother returned to her cramped bungalow, where she discovered the slain Fernandez in the back bedroom, sprawled half-nude with a bullet wound to her temple. The only movement was a fan, eerily blowing near the body. On a dresser at the foot of the bed, Sheriff's detectives found a pile of .357 magnum shells and a misspelled note that read: "the guys who drove me hear have nothing to do with this." On the living room wall, they found a message scrawled in pencil: Saenz asked his grandmother to take care of his child and told her he loved her. Police quickly picked up one of Saenz's accomplices - none other than youngster Juan Pena. They ultimately charged Pena with the two homicides on Clarence Street after a tipster placed him at the scene with Saenz. Although not the shooter, he was convicted of murdering East L.A. 13 gang members Hernandez and Ponce and sent to the California Youth Authority, where he died at 17 of leukemia. But not before spilling his guts about Saenz's alleged premeditated murders of the two men who beat him up. "I don't know why he decided to give up the whole story," Chavarria says. "Maybe part of it was because he knew he was going to die." But Smiley fell off the face of the Earth, for 10 long years. Los Angeles authorities believe Saenz decided his best career move was to go south into Mexico, to learn the vicious drug trade on the other side of the border. There, Mexican authorities are in a losing war with the cartels, and the chances that they will find or keep tabs on Americans who have joined the dark side are poor. Out on the town: Rolo Ontiveros, now on trial; Oscar Torres (now dead) "If you get to the level, you would probably have to be working for the cartel," Chavarria says. "You are the middleman at that point." Garriola believes that Smiley is "involved in murder, as well as enforcement for the cartels. ... The money we found was earmarked for . Torres lost it and Torres was murdered." He says "squads" of Americans work here, enforcing Mexican cartels' deals. Cartels train Americans in outlaw camps in Mexico, where Smiley apparently was welcomed. According to the California Department of Justice, Mexican crime lords desire these recruits because they can easily cross the border and operate throughout California, using cartel training, including surveillance and ambush techniques. Chavarria says the cross-border system of American and Mexican criminals "is huge. You can get a headache trying to take it all in." In Mexico, Smiley hooked up with Rolando "Rolo" Ontiveros, the former private school and Cal State L.A. student turned Mexican Mafia soldier. Described as a thinker and very ambitious, Ontiveros grew up on tattered Blanchard Street in East Los Angeles, the home turf of the Lott gang, joining it as a teenager along with his childhood friend Oscar Torres. Later on, the two were joined by a kid named Bogart Bello, who formed a clique inside the gang called the Lott Boys. Torres is dead, his demise captured on video at the alleged hands of Saenz, and Bello's bizarre disappearance and death, though ruled an accident, are widely assumed to be Saenz's work as well. " was from a traditional Mexican family," says Sheriff's detective Gonzales. "They were hardworking. His parents had been married for numerous years. He had a typical father figure. His brothers and sisters are traditional, law-abiding citizens." In fact, his brother Mario is a Los Angeles Police Department Central Division traffic officer. From the outside, it seemed that Ontiveros had escaped the streets by graduating from LAUSD's troubled Roosevelt High School and in 1991 enrolling in a business and economics course at Cal State L.A. on the heavily urbanized Eastside. But, in fact, police say, he was holding gang meetings at a campus library. Cal State L.A. officials acknowledge only that Ontiveros was a student from 1991 to 1997, but who didn't graduate. An eerie security camera sequence documents the execution of Oscar Torres "If you went to a gangster park, the cops would be there, so why not go to Cal State L.A., where nobody would suspect?" asks Detective Gonzales, who is probing the murders of Sigreda Fernandez and Oscar Torres. "This is not street-level drug sales or gangster crimes. This is hard-core drug trafficking." He lived as a downtown Los Angeles hipster, renting a posh unit in the classy Bunker Hill Towers on West 1st Street, sharing the building with other choosy tenants: judges, lawyers and downtown professionals. Ontiveros was one of 43 reputed Mexican Mafia members and associates indicted in 1999 by a Los Angeles County grand jury for racketeering, murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and drug trafficking. Federal authorities believe Ontiveros helped plot to kill drug dealer Richard Serrano at his Montebello auto body shop in 1998 - details that poured from the mouth of former Cal State L.A. student and Mexican Mafia associate Max Torvisco, who cut a plea deal and is now in federal prison. Bogart Bello's gravestone overlooks his old gang's East L.A. territory Last October, federal and local authorities finally caught up to Rolo, blending into well-kept, middle-class Rowland Heights, where he was in the midst of turning the home into an indoor marijuana grow. Police say $1 million in pot, retail, was confiscated. He goes on trial on July 27, on federal RICO charges. Assistant United States Attorney Bob Dugdale says, " worked his way through the Lott gang to become a leader and eventually a soldier." There is one deeply troubling hint that Rolo may have had friends in high places. In 1999, the cops nearly closed in on Rolo, according to an anonymous law enforcement source who cannot be named because he fears department reprisal. But when the LAPD's Eme Task Force - named for La Eme, or the Mexican Mafia - showed up at his apartment in Bunker Hill Towers, Rolo was gone, a fact that left cops unnerved and jumpy. "Someone tipped him off," says the source. Yet only a handful of law enforcement officials knew about the raid on Rolo. LAPD Internal Affairs reportedly began an investigation, whose secret outcome will probably never be known. Police believe that Rolo Ontiveros fled to Mexico, and rumors drifted back that he had opened up restaurants there, while keeping his hand in the drug trade in Southern California, along with his Cuatro Flats gang pal Saenz, and his Lott gang pals, Torres and Bello. "They were all in it deep," says Gonzales, a small woman who sounds tough, and is. "These guys are intelligent. They are not dumb asses. They didn't look like your typical shave-your-head baggy-pants gangster. They went to high-dollar clubs. They were trendy. That was the image they were looking for. They know what the laws are. What police can and cannot do. How to avoid detection." Homicide detective Chavarria began hearing rumors that Smiley was in Los Angeles and had brazenly walked into LAPD's Hollenbeck station and used the ATM, set up inside so residents of tough Hollenbeck, with its small stucco homes and numerous gangs, could feel safe while getting cash. Another informant says Saenz had plastic surgery to change his face. Chavarria heard that Saenz was killed in Mexico by drug cartels. Smiley was becoming a legend who moved silently between the First and Third Worlds, an elusive go-between supplying the U.S. drug appetite and negotiating Mexico's violent drug wars. "His homeboys put that out," Chavarria scoffs. "They would say he was shot and killed in a shoot-out in Mexico. It was all bullshit." But unsettling news about Saenz kept dribbling in. A woman in Boyle Heights had been kidnapped for money, a crime rarely seen in Los Angeles, yet harrowingly similar to the crisis in Mexico, where thousands of kidnappings have occurred. She was released unharmed after a large, undisclosed amount was paid to her abductors. Chavarria heard about it all later, and street rumors pointed to Saenz. It's not hard to hide in plain sight in massive, diverse, messy Los Angeles and its eastern suburbs. At the entrance to Pellissier Village in Whittier, signs warn that horses use the same roads. In fact, they and their riders amble freely down the middle of the streets. Roosters cock-a-doodle-do. About 80 percent of the 200 residences include horses in stables behind modest, plain-Jane houses. Others have miniature donkeys or a cow or two. People ride along the nearby San Gabriel River, just up from the treasured wetland ecosystem of the Whittier Narrows. Though only 20 minutes from L.A., the area, designated as a equestrian district in 1972, has a small-town feel. Its peace was shaken early on October 5, 2008, when shots rang out. Responding police found the bullet-ridden body of Oscar Torres on the front lawn of his two-bedroom house on Mardel Avenue. One neighbor, awakened by nearby knocking and gunfire, recalls, "My daughter told me to stay down." Neighbors knew Oscar Torres as Sam, a "nice guy who never bothered anyone" and who operated a party-equipment rental business and a stretch Hummer-limo service. But close friends say he went by the street name EZ and was a martial arts practitioner who routinely frisked even his friends. "If he met you, he would shake you down," says Efrain Bello, whose late brother, Bogart, was close to Torres and Ontiveros before his own bizarre death. Torres "didn't trust anybody. But he was extremely loyal. When my brother disappeared, he was the first person there. He wasn't afraid of anybody. He was well-respected on the streets." Inside the home where Torres was slain, detectives found a man barely alive, who'd been shot in the back. Inside a sauna in Torres' bedroom, they found two duffel bags crammed with 40 handguns and assault rifles. Wedged between his mattress and box spring was a short rifle. Over his bedroom door a sign read EZ Street. "None of the cars were registered in his name," says Detective Gonzales. "He had no ties to anything. We talked to many of the neighbors and they had no idea. They just knew him as Sam. There were multiple people who said, 'Nice guy, we never would have known.' " Detectives also found a high-tech system of monitors that would later provide chilling video evidence pointing directly to his friend Smiley as Torres' killer. Anthony Limon, the victim found shot in the back, told detectives that he'd agreed as a favor to limo-service owner "Sam" to ferry around four guys in his Hummer limo that night, picking up the first three and taking them to a spot in the Long Beach area - the upscale Elephant Bar Restaurant in suburban Lakewood - where they picked up Smiley. Then it was on to El Parral Club in working-class South Gate, then several hours cruising in Hollywood, then back to Lakewood. But one of the guys, who police later determined was Saenz, was restless. He ordered Limon to drive to Montebello, then at 5 a.m. ordered him to drive to the limo owner's home in Whittier. Later, at a dramatic meeting between Traci Gonzales and FBI special agent Garriola, she showed him the video retrieved from that night. Like a scene out of The Ring, the video flickers with shadowy, ethereal black-and-white images of Saenz smiling and rubbing his hands together gleefully while knocking repeatedly on Torres' door. At one point, Saenz reaches into his pants pocket to check on something. Torres is seen opening the door in his underwear, and the men barge in. Limon told police that inside, Smiley pulled a gun on Torres, so Limon jumped in front of Torres and pleaded with Smiley to calm down. Instead, Limon was hit on the head, and as he fell he heard one of the men he'd driven around all night bark out: "Dome him!" - street lingo for a bullet to the head. Before the shot slammed into his back, he recalled to cops, Limon heard someone giggle. It was all about that vast amount of cash sitting back in Missouri, confiscated three months earlier by the St. Charles County cops, who pulled Torres over. "There was some money owed and a timetable," Garriola says. "Oscar didn't meet it." Gonzales says Torres had already been forced, either by the local Mexican Mafia or the cartels in Mexico, to prove that the money had really been confiscated by the St. Charles deputies. "We heard through informants he took the letter and showed it to his people," she says. A month after Torres' murder, Smiley's cousin Johnny Prado, who can be clearly seen in the video, was arrested for murder and attempted murder, and last November he went to prison for 26 years. His friends told police that he was an industrious construction worker, but Chavarria says he couldn't get away from the East L.A. gangs. "When they get older, they still have an allegiance," he says. "If they are called upon, they have to step up." Smiley is still out there, crossing back and forth between Mexico and California, cashing in and spreading mayhem. "It is like chasing a ghost," Chavarria notes. Bogart Bello's grave site at the Calvary Mortuary in East Los Angeles is on a hill that overlooks the Virgin of Guadalupe Church on 3rd Street and gang territory where he grew up with his childhood friends Torres and Ontiveros. His tombstone reads: "Forever Living On The Top," an homage to his Lott gang. Most of those buried nearby are long dead, and visitors are few. But Efrain Bello tends his brother's site religiously. "The police don't care," says Bello of his brother Bogart's death. "It's like another drug dealer dead. I don't think my life can continue until there is justice for my brother. To me it was the worst thing that could ever happen." Efrain says Bogart Bello and Rolo Ontiveros became big-time dealers because they and their families "were dirt-poor." He admits that Bello earned his first $1 million by age 19, and by 2008 was handing out free coke samples to Hollywood celebrities and reaping $25,000 monthly in sales. Among his best coke customers were downtown L.A.'s big lawyer population. But, he says, his brother tried to go into a legit business by founding Lott Records and producing rap songs, including one about the Lott gang. In 2008, Bello was found dead in the backseat of his Audi Q7 on Chamberlain Street in Mission Hills, a stone's throw from the Ronald Reagan Freeway. After police turned up few clues, a detective hired by Efrain discovered that Bello and Smiley had just been involved in a drug deal in which Smiley disliked the quality of the coke and "took it as a great disrespect." Chavarria and Gonzales believe Smiley kidnapped and probably killed Bello, but LAPD Foothills Division homicide supervisor Jim Freund says, "We can't prove that he was kidnapped. That came from the brother. ... Obviously someone dropped him off in the position" in which he was found, lying in his backseat with a bag pulled over his head. But when it comes to murders and kidnappings in Southern California linked to Jose Saenz, Detective Gonzales says, "People aren't willing to cooperate and talk about what is going on and what is happening." The killer of his daughter's mother has won silence on the streets of Southern California. Short of a confession from Smiley, Bello's death will go down as accidental, a reminder that the cross-border drug carnage in America's cities - fueled by Smiley and young boys who grow up to be like him, and their willing customers - is never fully measured http://www.sfweekly.com/2010-06-16/news/the-killer-of-his-daughter-s-mother-a-cunning-american-boy-becomes-a-mexican-cartel-soldier-and-east-l-a-executioner/ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e6b_1353734216 ricardo666 FBI most wanted list captured suspected murderer, rapist and drug gang member Joe Luis Saenz, one of the 10 most wanted fugitives Fri, 23 Sep 2011 01:13:08 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=32b_1316751906 HydrogenEconomy vid 2: http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/blog/id.7985/blog_detail.asp - vid 3: http://pawatercooler.com/v3/?p=22696 - http://michellemalkin.com/2011/09/16/michael-bloomberg-obama/ Michael Bloomberg: You Have the Responsibility as an American to Make Obama Successful - I WANT TO GET RE-ELECTED An old West Virginia Hillbilly saying: "You cannot get the water to clear up Until you get the pigs out of the creek." *SOME OF YOU MAY APPRECIATE THIS AND SOME OF YOU MAY NOT.* *I DO NOT APOLOGIZE FOR SENDING THIS BECAUSE OF IT'S TRUTH.* *If any other of our presidents had doubled the national debt, Which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, Would you have approved?* *If any other of our presidents had then proposed to double the debt again Within 10 years, Would you have approved? * *If any other of our presidents had criticized a state law That he admitted he never even read, Would you think that he is just an Ignorant hot head? * *If any other of our presidents joined the country of Mexico And sued a state in the United States to force that state To continue to allow illegal immigration, would you question his patriotism And wonder who's side he was on? * *If any other of our presidents had pronounced the Marine Corps Like Marine Corpse, would you think him an idiot? * *If any other of our presidents had put 87,000 workers out of work By arbitrarily placing a moratorium on offshore oil drilling On companies that have one of the best safety records of any industry Because one foreign company had an accident, Would you have agreed? * *If any other of our presidents had used a forged document As the basis of the moratorium that would render 87000 American workers unemployed would you support him? * *If any other of our presidents had been the first President to need a Teleprompter installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes? * *If any other of our presidents had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars To take his First Lady to a play in NYC, would you have approved? * *If any other of our presidents had reduced your retirement plan holdings Of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, Would you have approved? * *If any other of our presidents had made a joke At the expense of the Special Olympics, Would you have approved? * *If any other of our presidents had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive And incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him A thoughtful and historically significant gift, Would you have approved? * *If any other of our presidents had given the Queen of England An iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought it A proud moment for America ? * And then Obama returns Churchill Bust to England : British Press sees snub. *If any other of our presidents had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia Would you have approved? * *If any other of our presidents had visited Austria and made reference to the nonexistent "Austrian language," would you have brushed it off as a minor slip? * *If any other of our presidents had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current in their income taxes, would you have approved? * *If any other of our presidents had stated that there were 57 states in the United States , wouldn't you have had second thoughts about his capabilities? * *If any other of our presidents would have flown all the way to Denmark to make a five minute speech about how the Olympics would benefit him walking out his front door in his home town, would you not have thought he was a self-important, conceited, egotistical jerk. * *If any other of our presidents had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, wouldn't you have winced in embarrassment? * *If any other of our presidents had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he's a hypocrite?* *If any other of our presidents' administrations had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually get what happened on 9-11? * *If any other of our presidents had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans , would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence? * *If any other of our presidents had created the position of 32 Czars who report directly to him, bypassing the House and Senate on much of what is happening in America , would you have ever approved. * *If any other of our presidents had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved? * *So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? * *Can't think of anything? Don't worry. He's done all this in 24 months - so you have that much time to come up with an answer.* - http://www.theblaze.com/stories/un-dignitaries-go-all-out-in-nyc-can-you-guess-which-president-dropped-16k-per-night-for-hotel/ UN Dignitaries Go All Out in NYC: Can You Guess Which President Spent $16K Per Night For Hotel? - http://www.theblaze.com/stories/gay-ex-staffer-makes-lurid-claims-in-sexual-harassment-suit-against-jesse-jackson/ Gay Ex-Staffer Makes Lurid Claims in Sexual Harassment Suit Against Jesse Jackson - http://www.theblaze.com/stories/marine-recruiters-set-up-shop-at-tulsa-gay-center-same-day-dadt-ends/ Marine Recruiters Set up Shop at Tulsa Gay Center Same Day DADT Ends - http://www.theblaze.com/stories/egypt-bans-picking-export-of-palm-leaves-needed-to-celebrate-jewish-holiday-of-sukkot/ Egypt Bans Picking &amp; Export of Palm Leaves Needed to Celebrate Jewish Holiday of Sukkot - http://www.theblaze.com/stories/blind-womans-home-demolished-after-allegedly-tricked-into-signing-over-deed/ Blind Woman's Home Demolished After Allegedly Tricked Into Signing Over Deed - http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fi-california-jobs-20110917,0,1936078.story?track=rss&amp;utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fnews+%28L.A.+Times+-+Top+News%29 California unemployment rate hits 12.1% as employers slash jobs State employers reduce payrolls in August for the second month in a row as they see signs of a faltering economy, pushing the jobless rate up from 12% in July. - http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Suit-Girl-was-checked-out-of-Miss-school-raped-1776763.php Suit: Girl was checked out of Miss. school, raped - http://oregonfaithreport.com/2011/09/125-sex-offenders-attending-schools-as-students/ 125 sex offenders attending school as students = http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/harry-reid-takes-issue-day-bike-paths_593579.html Harry Reid Takes On the Great Issue of Our Day . . . Bike Paths! - http://www.nwcn.com/news/129951608.html Police make largest drug bust in Portland history Multiple drug felony charges were to be filed in court Friday against 46-year-old Ricardo Alarcon Castaneda, 37-year-old Julian Castaneda-Alarcon, 40-year-old Minerva Rosas-De Alvalos, and 34-year-old Ivan Sosa-Gascon. - http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2011/09/its_unfair_how_muslim_kids_get.php Puyallup parents smack down CAIR attempt to spread islamism to their school. - http://www.komonews.com/news/local/129900123.html 6 gang members charged in mass shooting at Kent car show Nicholas Moreno, Ignacio Vazquez-Trevino and Martin McSmith each face three counts of first degree assault with a firearm. Juvenile James Lopez, Jr. has been charged as an adult with drive-by shooting, and two brothers, Shea Auble and Patrick Auble, are each charged with rendering criminal assistance. Moreno and Vazquez-Trevino are still the loose and warrants are out for their arrest, prosecutors said. - http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2011/09/16/seattle-green-jobs-bust-20-million-14-jobs/ Seattle Green Jobs Bust: $20 Million = 14 Jobs - http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/22/second-ethics-complaint-to-be-filed-against-wasserman-schultz-over-dnc-ad/ Second ethics complaint to be filed against Wasserman Schultz over DNC ad - http://www.katu.com/news/va?vaid=fdcd429e44399b8611832aba447bbcd4 FORBES 400: Warren Buffett Was The Only Big Loser - http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/20/committee-searches-for-economic-tipping-point-prefer-not-to-find-it/ Committee Searches for Economic 'Tipping Point'; Prefer Not to Find It - http://cnsnews.com/news/article/over-760000-stimulus-funds-go-interactive-visual-dance Over $760,000 Stimulus Funds Go To Interactive Visual Dance - $16 muffins, $8 coffee served in Justice audit As the U.S. government grapples to find ways to trim the bloated federal deficit, a new report suggests officials might start with cutting out $16 muffins and $10 cookies. "We found the Department (of Justice) spent $16 on each of the 250 muffins served at an August 2009 legal conference in Washington," said a DOJ Office of Inspector General report released on Tuesday. The DOJ spent $121 million on conferences in fiscal 2008 and 2009, which exceeded its own spending limits and appeared to be extravagant and wasteful, according to the report that examined 10 conferences held during that period. The review turned up the expensive muffins, which came from the Capital Hilton Hotel just blocks from the White House, as well as cookies and brownies that cost almost $10 each. The department spent $32 per person on snacks of Cracker Jack, popcorn, and candy bars and coffee that cost $8.24 per cup at another conference, the report said. The DOJ also spent nearly $600,000 for event planning services for five conferences, the document said. A Justice Department spokeswoman said most of the gathering were held when there were no strict limits on food and beverage costs, adding the DOJ had taken steps since 2009 "to ensure that these problems do not occur again." Word of the agency's extravagant spending drew a swift response from Capitol Hill. Senator Chuck Grassley, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee which has oversight of the Justice Department, said the report was a blueprint for the first cuts that should be made by the "super committee" searching for at least $1.2 trillion in savings. "Sixteen dollar muffins and $600,000 for event planning services are what make Americans cynical about government and why they are demanding change," Grassley said in a statement. "People are outraged, and rightly so." - http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110919/01530216000/us-marshals-service-asks-us-to-remove-comment.shtml US Marshals Service Asks Us To Remove A Comment - http://crime.about.com/b/2011/09/21/finally-justice-for-officer-mark-macphail.htm Finally, Justice for Officer Mark MacPhail - Ron Paul jumps the shark... http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/Ron-Paul-president-Kucinich/2011/09/21/id/411853 Paul: I'd Consider Democrat Kucinich for Cabinet - obama sends Leftist groups to attack Issa http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/progressive-group-ramps-up-attack-on-issa 'Progressive' group ramps up attack on Issa "A liberal advocacy group is filing an ethics complaint against Rep. Darrell Issa, alleging that the California Republican has repeatedly used his public office for personal gain," The Hill reported Tuesday. The group, American Family Voices, is planning to file the complaint with the House Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) ... "This is all a well-coordinated plan," John Hinderaker of the Powerline blog asserts. "Those who lodged the ethics complaint make no secret of the fact that they rely on the discredited NY Times story." That would be the hit piece discussed a month ago in this column that showed the desperation of the left to shield the administration from "Project Gunwalker" investigations. "So, who is 'American Family Voices'?" Powerline continues. "We have no idea, of course. They are a 501(c)(4) organization that does not disclose its donor list." It's true, they don't. A search of the nonprofit reporting site, GuideStar , shows an income of $358,437 and Form 990 filings for 2007 through 2009. The program description for this organization claims they are a " oter registration and voter turn-out, non-partisan issue advocacy including research, coalition builing and advertising." "Non-partisan issue advocacy." Right. Let's see the types of American families represented by their leadership . The president of this group is Mike Lux , "co-founder and CEO of Progressive Strategies." Importantly, " n November 2008, Mike was named to the Obama-Biden Transition Team. In that role, he served as an advisor to the Office of Public Liaison on working with the progressive community." The secretary-treasurer is Amy Pritchard , a self-described "Progressive Democratic Political Consultant and entrepreneur" and a chronic donor to leftist politicians , including Obama. Board members include: Phyllis Cuttino , a well-heeled environmentalcase cosmic ray denier who would have us believe her bachelor's degree in political science and history from an exclusive liberal arts college beyond the means of most American families qualifies her to demand emissions standards of those who are actually educated, competent and experienced at designing, engineering and manufacturing automobiles. Naturally, she's a big supporter of Dianne Feinstein and the UN, and argues that Obama is in sync with America on standards -evidently he's every bit the car design expert Cuttino would have us believe she is. Then there's Bernard Craighead , who lists his employers as the Democratic National Committee and Urbanomics Consulting Group (which includes The Bell Campaign/Million Mom March among its clients ). He was also a panelist on " The Progressive Potential of Chicago City Politics ...sponsored by the University of Chicago DSA Youth Section and the Hispanic Association for Cultural Expression and Recognition." Long-time readers will recall the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America)-they're the ones who endorsed Obama and promoted a "solidarity song" that includes the lyrics "When the revolution comes, we'll kill you all with knives and guns..." You know, typical "American families." Next we have businessman and "philanthropist" Leo Hindery, Jr., " an economic adviser to the Obama campaign ." Funny that he should be involved in an ethics complaint against a Republican politician, when former Senate Majority Leader and Democrat Tom Daschle, whom Hindery provided a Cadillac and driver for as part of the compensation package for being a "consultant" with his private equity firm chalked up "$101,943 in back taxes plus interest" for violating the law by not reporting it as income. That would be the same Tom Daschle who " pushed Hindery for Obama job ." Victoria Duffy-Hopper? Aside from being a big Obama supporter she...well, see for yourself if she appears to be representative of any American families you know. And then we have Joe Velasquez , a "former White House deputy political director and longtime union organizer, directs Moving America Forward, a 527 organization dedicated to registering and mobilizing Latinos." It's a shame that Mr. Velasquez is apparently more concerned with running interference for Obama than getting justice for the rising Mexican death toll being attributed to the administration's "Project Gunwalker" covert operations. Because this is what Rep. Issa, the man American Family Voices is attacking, is trying to get to the bottom of. And had the Democrats, who at the time headed up the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, heeded accusations raised by veteran ATF agents when they were first brought to their attention-instead of arrogantly ignoring them with deliberate indifference -current Chairman Issa would not now be holding "Gunwalker" hearings. As for Mike Lux rejecting accusations his group's attack on Issa is politically motivated, he and his board-and those behind the tentacles extending to all of them-are demonstrable agenda-driven political operatives on a mission, and this is but another front in the ideological war-in actuality a cold civil war-they are waging on the freedoms of American families. The very name "American Family Voices" is a calculated deception, as is the term "progressive" to describe those who wish to regress the Republic to iron-fisted centralized rule. That they would question anyone's ethics is in itself a sick, subversive joke. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=32b_1316751906 HydrogenEconomy obama public housing - &quot;Another you lied moment&quot; - Mike Kelly's righteous rant obama,no,class,public,housing,mike,kelly,you,lied,moment,family,security,matters Mon, 23 May 2011 07:24:53 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c69_1306149810 nurdmyth On Monday, May 9, the Environmental Evaluation Commission, meeting in Coyhaique , a city in the Chilean Patagonia, and composed of 12 appointed officials in President Sebastian Pinera's government, approved the hydroelectric plant Hidroaysen , a merger between Spanish-Italian Endesa and the Chilean Colbun . The project includes the construction and operation of 5 dams, two in Baker River and three in Pascua River located in the Ais'en region in the remote south of Patagonia, Chile and it has an estimated value of 3.2 billion worth of investments. Where the Baker and Nef rivers meet. Image by Flickr user jpgarnham (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). Where the Baker and Nef rivers meet. Image by Flickr user jpgarnham (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). This video tells us a little about what the project is about: Video: Hidroaysen is a hydroelectric project that will build and operate five dams in the Chilean Patagonia, two in the Baker River and three in de Pascua River, flooding 5910 hectares equivalent to the surface of the Manhattan Island in New York. To provide energy to Santiago and new mining projects in the north of the country, Hidroaysen is looking to install 3800 towers, each 60 mts. tall, along 2000 kms. becoming the most lengthy electric wiring in the world. It would join the interconnected central system at the Lo Prado Bridge, thus going through half of one of the longest countries in the world. The project was approved by 11 votes in favour and one against in the midst of a tense atmosphere marked by a protest of about 1,000 people outside the Coyhaique City Hall, where the voting took place. Pese a las 11 mil observaciones ciudadanas presentadas, las denuncias de que informes de los organismos t'ecnicos que revisaron el proyecto fueron cambiados y la inhabilidad de cuatro ministerios, el apoyo expl'icito del gobierno de Sebasti'an Pi~nera y de los medios masivos, fue aprobado en medio de un fuerte contingente policial el proyecto de Hidroays'en. Despite the 11 000 citizen manifestations, the complaints that various reports from technical organisations that revised the project were changed and the incompetence of four ministries, the public support from Pi~nera's government and mass media, the Hydroaysen project was approved in the midst of a strong, police contingent. According to the observations of the online chilean news site El Ciudadano . To which the site radio.uchile.cl added: La iniciativa energ'etica estaba altamente cuestionada por una serie de irregularidades que se presentaron durante su tramitaci'on como cambios sorpresivos y sin fundamento de los servicios t'ecnicos. Sus detractores adem'as denunciaron un sistem'atico lobby de las empresas Endesa y Colb'un respaldado por el Gobierno para presionar por la aprobaci'on de este proyecto." The energy initiative was highly questionable because of a series of irregularities that presented themselves during the drafting of legal documents with surprising changes, with no approval from any technical organisations. Its detractors, over all, exposed the systematic lobbying of the Endesa and Colbun companies backed by the government to force the approval of this project. The "for" and "against" stances vary in reasoning. However, the majority of the population is against the construction. On Twitter, the Carbon footprint consultancy @carboambiente commented: Encuestas online indican que #NOaHidroaysen :@Emol 53%;@laterceracom 66%;@nacioncl 79%; @PublimetroChile 81% que m'as quieren!!! Online polls show that "No to Hydroaysen": @Emol 53%; @laterceracom 66%; @nacioncl 79%; Publimetro 81%... what more do they want? Tomas Mosciatti, journalist from Bio Bio Radio explains the reasons for rejecting the Hydroaysen project to CNN Chile: Video: Tomas Masciatti professes that in his personal opinion, besides it not being environmentally friendly to proceed with this project, there are also very important considerations that were not taken before going ahead with what he calls the biggest project ever undertaken in Chile. He outlines the fact that Chile has no energy policy, that things have not been put in place when taxation, the cable system or consumer's rights are concerned. He also stresses that Chile is not facing such a grave energy crisis to have to resort to making a decision so quickly as this one was made. He also mentions political implications, such as Chile producing a surplus of energy (and contamination) to be later sold to Argentina. Other problems he says are corruption within the authorities, imperialism and a monopoly created when Hydroaysen rules the energy sector with a whopping 80% production in the entire market. Masciatti says that the residents of Aysen will get no benefit whatsoever from this project since all the energy will be channeled to Santiago, plus they will pay the same rates as the people of Santiago, which isn't fair to them at all. There have been various publications that contain the disapproval of the project. Among them, there is an ecological group called Verdeseo that published "7 Reasons for a Patagonia without Dams " . Also, Pablo Astudillo of online community El Quinto Poder, wrote "7 Reflections before the eventual approval or rejection of the Hydroaysen " , which says, in a nutshell: Protest for a Patagonia Without Dams. Image by Flickr user International Rivers (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) Protest for a Patagonia Without Dams. Image by Flickr user International Rivers (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) 1. La hidroelectricidad NO es energ'ia limpia. 2. Duplicar la energ'ia no ayuda a superar la pobreza. 3. Duplicar la energ'ia tampoco asegura el bienestar econ'omico. 4. Las energ'ias renovables no convencionales (ERNC) s'i son una opci'on. 5. Las represas no garantizan energ'ia m'as barata. 6. La legislaci'on ambiental es deficiente. 7. La ciudadan'ia no recibe informaci'on suficiente sobre los efectos negativos de los proyectos el'ectricos. 1. Hydro-electricity is not clean energy. 2. Doubling energy production will not help reduce poverty. 3. Nor will it secure economic security. 4. Non-conventional renewable energy is an option. 5. Dams don't guarantee cheap energy. 6. Environmental policy is lacking. 7. The public does not get enough information about the negative effects that these energy projects may have. As for the arguments in favour, the company's site mentions : 1. La energ'ia de Hidroays'en es limpia y renovable. 2. Evita la construcci'on de termoel'ectricas. 3. No impacta al turismo 4. Generar'a empleo y acciones positivas de responsabilidad social en la comunidad. 1. Hydroaysen energy is clean and renewable. 2. The construction of thermal power stations is avoided. 3. It doesn't impact tourism. 4. It will create employment and general social responsibility in the community. On the other hand, Sebastian Jordana of Platforma Urbana states in his analysis of pros and cons in a post titled,"Hydroaysen a necessary evil? " : Todos saben que da~nos va a hacer, entonces, ?para qu'e construir semejante proyecto? La demanda energ'etica incrementa todos los a~nos, y por ende, la oferta debe aumentar tambi'en. Se estima que de aqu'i a 10 a~nos m'as, Chile no podr'a cumplir con esta demanda, por lo que nuevas formas de producir energ'ia son necesarias. Los detractores de Hidroays'en hablan de otras formas de producir energ'ia, lo cierto es que la hidr'aulica es limpia y rendidora. Por ejemplo, para producir 360 MW de energ'ia se necesitan aproximadamente 25.000 hect'areas de energ'ia solar, 15.000 de energ'ia e'olica y solamente 3.600 de energ'ia hidr'aulica. Everyone knows the damage it's going to cause, so why do such a project? The demand for energy is growing yearly, therefore the supply has to increase as well. In an estimated 10 years, Chile will not be able to supply this demand and so new energy sources are necessary. The Hydroaysen detractors talk about alternative energy sources and that surely hydroelectric energy is clean and profitable. For example, to produce 360 Mega Watts of energy, you would need approximately 25 000 hectares of solar energy, 15 000 of wind energy, but only 3600 of hydroelectric energy. Activist, blogger and Global Voices author Felipe Cordero (@felipe_cordero) summarized the detractors' stance in a tweet: Nadie dice que #hidroaysen no usa energ'ia renovable. Lo renovable ahi es el agua, pero la inundaci'on y el cableado es el problema No one is saying that Hydroaysen doesn't use renewable energy. The renewable part is the water but the flooding and the cables are the problem. Social media reactions appeared quickly after the project was approved. The tweets made against the government and the project propelled at such a speed making the hashtag #nohydroaysen a trending topic for the entire day on May 9. Also, a call to protest onthe streets was made in all the country. An estimated 10,000 people reacted to this call, according to the online journal El Dinamo . Carolina Santander (@carolinasantan) lamented: Con mucha rabia, pena y verguenza, estos politicos (todos) son unos vendidos sin escrupulos. #NOAHIDROAYSEN With a lot of rage, sadness and shame, these politicians (all of them) are unscrupulously sold. #Notohydroaysen Travesia La Bermudez (@Kaxorras_Mal ) noted: Porque la gran mayor'ia de los chilenos queremos una #PATAGONIASINREPRESAS ! #NOAHIDROAYSEN //RT! Because the greater majority of Chileans want Patagonia without dams! #NOAHIDROAYSEN // RT! Actress Leanor Varela (@leonorvarela ) also wrote: Tengo est'omago tomado por estar tan lejos.Prefer'ia estar ah'i con uds como la ultima vez. Aguante los q salieron a las calles! #noahydroaysen I'm sick to my stomach from being so far away. I want to be there at this very moment. For those who take the streets, Be strong! #noahydroaysen However, these demonstrations were repressed by Chilean police throwing tear gas and water at protesters, and apprehending 63 people in Santiago alone, according to a report from newspaper El Mercurio in it's online version. According to radio Cooperativa, "The protest was a gathering of 7000 people in Plaza Italia but the Chilean gendarme dissolved the crowd with three water launchers and two gas launchers. The protests were repeated in cities like Coyhaique in front of the Environmental Evaluation Commission- Concepcion, Temuco, Valparaiso and Valdivia, where the police dispersed tear gas on a protest of about 500 people. " The Facebook page for El Quinto Poder gathered images and testimonies of the protesters throughout Chile. March against Hidroays'en in Santiago, Chile May 9, 2011. Image by Flickr user jorgeparedes (CC BY-NC 2.0) March against Hidroays'en in Santiago, Chile May 9, 2011. Image by Flickr user jorgeparedes (CC BY-NC 2.0) Andres Araos (@andresaraos) commented: 19:00 empieza protesta en plaza italia; 19:05 empiezan a llover bombas labrimogenas... represion pura en contra de la libre expresion The protest in Plaza Italia began at 7:00 pm and the tear gas began at 7:05 pm, pure repression of freedom of expression. Publicist Ivonne Cubillos (@ivocubillos) observed: la marcha de plaza italia no pudo ser marcha, lacrim'ogenas y el guanaco la detuvieron, que linda democracia!!! The march in Plaza Italia couldn't be a march, teargas and water launchers kept them back. What a lovely democracy! The force used by the police against protesters was denounced by politicians as well as by the media, and even the General of the gendarme was called upon to testify about the "abuse" (reported by El Mercurio online) On the other hand, blogger Tomas Bradanovic posted the following comment against the protests with the title "Patagonia with Dams" : Los seres humanos tenemos una tendencia irresistible a seguir las modas y ahora que hay m'as comunicaci'on es f'acil masificarlas. Hoy est'a de moda ser "ambientalista" lo que es una cat'astrofe para el medio ambiente que lo que menos necesita son militantes tontos y manipulables Human beings have an irresistible tendency to follow what's in fashion and now that we have better mediums of communication, it is much easier to spread them. It's now fashionable to be an "environmentalist" and the last thing the environment needs is a bunch of militant and manipulable fools. Daniel Fernandez, executive vice-president of Hydroaysen, also expressed his distaste for the protests in an interview with the online journal El Dinamo, dismissing the citizen resistance as a pitfall for the project just as with Barrancones saying "100 Twitter users isn't a whole community." As far as the dissident voices, the protests have only just begun. There have been many other calls to take the streets on the 13th and 23rd of May. The leader of the protestsPatagonia Sin Represas (Patagonia without Dams), has started an online petition and will take the battle to a legal level. In an interview with radio Bio-Bio , attorney Marcelo Castillo of Patagonia sin Represas announced with an animated regret that the new battle is starting, that about 20 such judicial, administrative as well as penal resources have all united against Hydroaysen. Additionally, the director of Greenpeace Chile , Matias Asun, criticised the historical responsibility of political representatives of the country in recent years in the same radio station, saying that they have not taken the issue of the environment seriously. Unlike the 90's, now social media and online communities have helped sensitise people about the repercussions of energy projects, just like with Barrancones in Punta de Chorros , canceled thanks to activism, and now Hydroaysen in the Aysen region. Information and open discussion have raised the voice of the people concerning their opinions on these developments, so that projects that were easily approved before now come under everyone's scrutiny. 1000 Chilean pesos bill with the phrase "Patagonia Without Dams". Image by Flickr user soy elOjo (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) 1000 Chilean pesos bill with the phrase "Patagonia Without Dams". Image by Flickr user soy elOjo (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) Elizabeth Rivera collaborated in the translation of this post. Article printed from Global Voices: http://globalvoicesonline.org URL to article: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/05/16/chile-citizens-reject-the-hidroaysen-dam-project/ URLs in this post: Coyhaique: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coihaique Hidroaysen: http://www.hidroaysen.cl/site/inicio.html Endesa: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endesa Colbun: http://www.securities.com/Public/company-profile/CL/Colbun_SA_en_1160290.html Baker River : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker_River_%28Chile%29 Pascua River: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascua_River Ais'en region: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ais%C3%A9n_Region Image: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/04/09/egypt-stranded-palestinian-mother-tweets-ordeal-from-cairo-airport/picture-12-2-2/ El Ciudadano: http://www.elciudadano.cl/2011/05/09/aprobado-proyecto-hidroaysen-organizaciones-llaman-a-protestar/ radio.uchile.cl: http://radio.uchile.cl/noticias/113936/ carboambiente : http://twitter.com/#!/carboambiente/status/67740635259617280 #NOaHidroaysen: http://hootsuite.com/dashboard# 7 Reasons for a Patagonia without Dams: http://verdeseo.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/7-argumentos-para-una-patagonia-sin-represas.pdf 7 Reflections before the eventual approval or rejection of the Hydroaysen: http://www.elquintopoder.cl/fdd/web/medio-ambiente/opinion/-/blogs/siete-reflexiones-antes-de-la-eventual-aprobacion-o-rechazo-de-hidroaysen Image: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/04/08/thailand-thousands-join-anti-government-protest/67146-revision/ Hydroaysen a necessary evil?: http://www.plataformaurbana.cl/archive/2008/09/01/hidroaysen-%C2%BFun-mal-necesario/ felipe_cordero): http://twitter.com/#!/felipe_cordero/status/68177178570919937 #hidroaysen: http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23hidroaysen #nohydroaysen: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23noahidroaysen El Dinamo: http://www.eldinamo.cl/noticia/unas-10000-personas-protestaron-en-todo-chile-tras-aprobacion-de-hidroaysen carolinasantan) : http://twitter.com/#%21/carolinasantan #NOAHIDROAYSEN: http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23NOAHIDROAYSEN Kaxorras_Mal: http://twitter.com/#%21/Kaxorras_Mal #PATAGONIASINREPRESAS: http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23PATAGONIASINREPRESAS leonorvarela: http://twitter.com/#%21/Leonorvarela #noahydroaysen: http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23noahydroaysen El Mercurio: http://www.emol.com/noticias/nacional/detalle/detallenoticias.asp?idnoticia=480653 El Quinto Poder: http://www.facebook.com/elquintopoder#%21/elquintopoder?sk=wall Image: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/04/09/palestine-misconceptions-regarding-criticism-of-hamas/67314-revision-4/ andresaraos): http://twitter.com/#!/andresaraos/status/67791853193400320 ivocubillos): http://twitter.com/#!/ivocubillos/status/67757930560225280 the General of the gendarme was called upon to testify about the "abuse" : http://www.emol.com/noticias/nacional/detalle/detallenoticias.asp?idnoticia=480744 "Patagonia with Dams": http://bradanovic.blogspot.com/2011/05/patagonia-con-represas.html an interview: http://www.eldinamo.cl/noticia/si-yo-me-creyera-el-cuento-de-patagonia-sin-represas-tambien-me-opondria-hidroaysen Barrancones : http://www.bnamericas.com/project-profile/es/Central_Termica_Barrancones-Barrancones Patagonia Sin Represas: http://www.patagoniasinrepresas.cl/final/index.php radio : http://www.biobiochile.cl/2011/05/10/batalla-judicial-anticipan-detractores-de-hidroaysen.shtml Greenpeace Chile: http://www.greenpeace.org/chile/es/ Barrancones in Punta de Chorros: http://radio.uchile.cl/destacadas/81464/ Image: http://globalvoicesonline.org/?attachment_id=67196 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c69_1306149810 nurdmyth Chile: Citizens Reject the Hidroaysen Dam Project chili, damnit