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	<title>Council on Hemispheric Affairs &#187; Commodities</title>
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	<link>http://www.coha.org</link>
	<description>COHA is an NGO specialized in monitoring Latin American and Canadian Relations for more than 30 years...</description>
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		<title>Pumping Petroleum from Hardisty to Houston</title>
		<link>http://www.coha.org/pumping-petroleum-from-hardisty-to-houston/</link>
		<comments>http://www.coha.org/pumping-petroleum-from-hardisty-to-houston/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 22 Sep 2011 18:05:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Canada]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COHA Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Commodities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Front Page]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.coha.org/?p=14193</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Protests over the United States&#8217; potential endorsement of the Keystone XL Oil Pipeline have increased, springing the issue into national awareness. While environmentalists argue the dangerous consequences of destructive mining tactics, possible spills and accidents, and the invasiveness of a cross-country crude oil pipeline, pragmatists argue the pipeline&#8217;s economic and diplomatic advantages. The issue has now become mired in a swamp of politics, where the consequences of either support or rejection of the pipeline will be equally damaging to executive officials&#8217; patronage from their constituents. Demonstrations outside the White House in Washington, D.C. are not uncommon. However, if the average tourist visited the President’s residence between August 19 and September 2, he or she would have encountered especially vocal and defiant protesters. Residents of the United States  and Canada gathered in opposition to the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a 1,700 mile-long petroleum transit line extending from Hardisty, Alberta to several gulf cities in Texas. Well over 500 protesters were arrested while committing acts of civil disobedience in an extremely visible show of discontent with Washington’s pipeline construction inclinations.[1] The protestors demanded that President Obama withhold his support for the project, citing the potential impact on mid-western states’ [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<title>Colombia&#8217;s Gold Rush: The Silver Lining for Paramilitaries and Guerrillas</title>
		<link>http://www.coha.org/colombias-gold-rush-the-silver-lining-for-paramilitaries-and-guerrillas/</link>
		<comments>http://www.coha.org/colombias-gold-rush-the-silver-lining-for-paramilitaries-and-guerrillas/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:22:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[COHA Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Colombia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Commodities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Rights]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.coha.org/?p=13993</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Colombian government neglect allows for guerrilla and paramilitary groups to extort and tax local miners. With no distinction between illegal and informal miners, the Colombian government continues to marginalize innocent miners to promote its interest and to facilitate the operations of multinational mining companies. Multinational mining companies may be funding paramilitary groups in an effort to relocate local populations. With gold prices soaring to around USD 1,600 per ounce, Colombia has made a concerted effort to stimulate foreign investment in its mining sector.[1] As a result, the Colombian government has favored multinational mining companies over small to medium scale local miners. While this new gold rush represents a significant source of investment and finance for the federal government, it also helps fund Colombia’s four-decade long civil war. After years of government-sponsored eradication, paramilitary and guerrilla armies have begun to abandon coca production and are turning to gold mining, as well as the extortion of mining communities, to generate significant sources of revenue. Moreover, as a result of governmental favoritism, multinational mining corporations utilize national military forces and paramilitaries to harass native populations, local miners, and unionized workers in an effort to force them from their gold-laden lands. Illegal Taxes on [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.coha.org/colombias-gold-rush-the-silver-lining-for-paramilitaries-and-guerrillas/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<title>Obama’s Final Stopover: Ignoring CAFTA Protests in San Salvador</title>
		<link>http://www.coha.org/obama%e2%80%99s-final-stopover-ignoring-cafta-protests-in-san-salvador/</link>
		<comments>http://www.coha.org/obama%e2%80%99s-final-stopover-ignoring-cafta-protests-in-san-salvador/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 23 Mar 2011 23:08:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Commodities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[El Salvador]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Front Page]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.coha.org/?p=12225</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[• Obama meets Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes in San Salvador • Leaders ignore demands for CAFTA renegotiation • Salvadoran government, worried about environmental impact of gold mining, may have to pay USD 100 million to obdurate transnational investors • A question of sovereignty, not money President Obama arrived in El Salvador on March 22 in order to hold up that country as an example of what Latin American states can achieve through cooperation with the United States. Given the Central American country’s acquiescence in the militarization of Washington’s regional War on Drugs, and its enactment of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) after a bruising domestic struggle, Obama observed, “There are few better examples of both the opportunities and challenges facing the Americas today than here in El Salvador.”1 Obama and his counterpart, Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes, discussed a number of issues, including the advancement of military and civilian counter-drug initiatives, an additional USD two-hundred million in U.S. funds for Salvadoran legal institutions, and immigration reform affecting the nearly two million Salvadoran citizens in the United States. Discussion of reforming CAFTA however, which is a primary demand of civil society organizations in El Salvador, was conspicuously absent from the [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Brazil and China Commercial Ties Blossom Despite Limitations, while Brazil-U.S. Diplomatic Ties Remain on Course, with Some Exceptions</title>
		<link>http://www.coha.org/brazil-and-china-commercial-ties-blossom-despite-limitations-while-brazil-u-s-diplomatic-ties-remain-on-course-with-some-exceptions/</link>
		<comments>http://www.coha.org/brazil-and-china-commercial-ties-blossom-despite-limitations-while-brazil-u-s-diplomatic-ties-remain-on-course-with-some-exceptions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:03:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brazil]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Commodities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Free Trade]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Front Page]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Press Releases]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.coha.org/?p=9301</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[According to O Estado de São Paulo, the Chinese state-run oil company Sinopec has agreed to buy stakes in two offshore oil blocks from Brazil&#8217;s state-owned Petrobras. President Hu arrived in Brazil at the end of May for a meeting of the BRIC nations.  Sinopec will probably take a twenty percent stake in these two oil blocks, strengthening the relations between Brazil and China. Sinopec and Petrobras are also expected to draw up a further agreement dealing with refining and supplying oil-sector services.Trade between Brazil and China has been booming as Brazil’s diplomatic and commercial relations improve due to the country’s increasing role on the world stage. For example, China recently expanded its embassy personnel in Brasilia. China has become the largest market for Brazilian exports, and Chinese exports to Latin America have risen twenty-six percent since 2005. The popular media has promulgated a number of explanations for the recent market surge between Brazil and China. A few explanations include: Brazil’s growing importance on the international stage, both countries’ similar degree of development, along with the country’s desire to balance the influence of the United States. Although any one of these theories might be valid, the purpose of the partnership [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>Venezuela – U.S. Research File   The Interdependence Behind Bilateral Political Tensions: Economic Realities Affecting Venezuela &#8211; U.S. Relations</title>
		<link>http://www.coha.org/economic-realities-affecting-us-venezuela-relations/</link>
		<comments>http://www.coha.org/economic-realities-affecting-us-venezuela-relations/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 16:50:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Commodities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Front Page]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Venezuela]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.coha.org/?p=8544</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In January 2006, the sixth gathering of the World Social Forum, during which Hugo Chávez as well as other left-leaning and socialist leaders fiercely criticized imperialist practices, was held in the Caracas Hilton Hotel. As James Surowiecki noted in an article for The New Yorker six months before the conference opened, a meeting sponsored by the Venezuelan Ministry of Finance took place at the same hotel. The aim of the aforementioned meeting was meant to promote American investments in Venezuela. How can one explain such a paradox? Are Venezuela and the United States only rhetorical political foes? Or, is there an underlying economic relationship between these two countries that renders them important trading partners? Opposite Ideologies and the Escalation of Political Hostilities Since Chávez took office in 1999, Venezuela has rapidly moved from being a stable and compliant partner of the U.S. to a fire-breathing anti-imperialist power. The Venezuelan leader came to power with the will to awaken his Bolivarian dream. At the same time the U.S. was entering into an archly neoconservative spell. Specifically, while the U.S. interventionist and market-based ideology was being fortified by George W. Bush’s election, Chávez was praising political sovereignty, economic self-sufficiency and the union [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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