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Titulos De La Calle

thewize — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:33:56 +0000

I’ve been slacking on the blogging recently so I’m going to take a look back at some of the big events from the year in which the world of music really opened up for me.

First up I am going to go back to an awesome event back in the summer called ‘Titulos de la Calle’.

The night before I was drinking Micheladas with my mate Patrick and I was awoken on Saturday morning (feeling a little worse for wear) by the sounds of Hip-Hop wafting in through the window from the venue next door. I got up to investigate (i.e. looked out of my bedroom window) and I saw a few people milling around and a little sound-checking going on so I called in on my way to my guitar class.

I met the organizers and discovered that it was an all-day event celebrating the four corners of Hip-Hop – MCing, Djing, Breaking and Graffiti. I was offered a spot in the MC battles but I explained that no one would understand me and I wouldn’t understand anything being said to me anyway. I explained that I was an MC from England and I showed them my Community Spirit and I managed to blag myself a 20 minute set later in the afternoon. I was also pretty pleased that I had done all this in Spanish!

When I got back there later on the place was packed with writers, breakers, skaters, MCs, & DJs with every available surface getting graf’d up and the tunes spinning.

Hip-Hop culture is still kinda young here in San Luis but the graf scene especially is really strong. My man Scratch asked if I was ready right away and I gave my disc to the DJ and hit the stage. It’s a strange thing rapping for people who don’t understand a word, no matter how dope the lyrics might be nobody is moved by them whatsoever so you have to make sure that the flow and the energy is right up there. It went off pretty well, I did win over the crowd as I showed and proved, it felt good to throw out some CDs and the people showed their appreciation.

La Gente de la Calle

Some heads came up to me as I left the stage and asked about my album and then I went walking around and shopping it to the people in the crowd. I got a lot of good feedback and met a few good connects from local crews. We exchanged CDs and kicked some rhymes before watching the battles. Man, these kids went loco for the battles, I didn’t get any pics or footage myself but I dug this up from youtube:

I’ve got my own photography project in the works called Street Paint of San Luis but for now here is a little taster of the scene here:

Later on I went back to my building and watched from my roof with a blunt and a brew feeling pretty contented. This was one of my performing adventures this year and I’ll be back with more before the year is out.

PEACE

New Gold's 2008 Sustainability Report

operationwatch — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 21:04:09 +0000

In a New Gold press release dated Dec 14, 2009 that’s titled New Gold Granted Injunction to Temporarily Lift Shutdown Order at Cerro San Pedro Mine, you can find the following statement ¹ :

New Gold Inc. (“New Gold”) (TSX and NYSE AMEX-NGD) today announces that it has been granted an injunction related to the suspension of operations at its Cerro San Pedro mine in Mexico. The court ruling temporarily overturns the Mexican environmental enforcement agency’s order to suspend mining operations at the Cerro San Pedro mine. New Gold’s wholly owned Mexican subsidiary, Minera San Xavier (“MSX”), filed the appeal seeking to overturn the suspension order on December 3, 2009. Mining operations will recommence at the Cerro San Pedro mine and are expected to continue through
the duration of the appeal trial.

New Gold is one of the companies that I mentioned in my second letter to the Prime Minister of Canada. Out of concern for the possibility that they might not be running their mine at Cerro de San Pedro responsibly, I recently read through New Gold’s 2008 Sustainability Report ². My comments in this post are regarding that report.

In that sustainability report, you can find lots of positive statements about the importance of workplace safety and environmental and social responsibility. For example, on page 2 you can find reference to “a company-wide commitment to corporate social responsibility.” Given the data that they provide of zero lost-time injuries and zero fatalities for 2008, they do appear to have a good workplace safety record for their mine at Cerro de San Pedro. Their statements on environmental responsibility in particular are nonetheless extremely vague and unsatisfying to me, and some important concerns are not even addressed. Allow me to explain.

First of all, there’s a reference to ISO 14001:2004 which does nothing to allay my concerns for reasons that I discussed in a previous post. There is no mention in this report by New Gold that ISO 14001:2004 does not state specific environmental performance criteria, nor is there any mention of what specific environmental performance criteria their ISO 14001:2004 certification would entail.

Secondly, nowhere in New Gold’s 2008 Sustainability Report are the concepts of acid mine drainage or heavy metal pollution mentioned. As was explained in the video about Marcopper in the Philippines, some types of mining waste have been known to pollute local water with sulphuric acid and heavy metals. If a problem of acid mine drainage and heavy metal pollution were to develop at Cerro ³ de San Pedro, then it could persist for centuries, if not millennia, after the closure of the mine. The question of whether or not this problem could arise was not mentioned in New Gold’s 2008 Sustainability Report.

Another important question is the one of cyanide management. Cyanide heap leaching of gold typically involves soaking enormous amounts of crushed rock in a solution of sodium cyanide and water. Tonnes of sodium cyanide and millions of litres of water are used every day in the operation of a mine like the one at Cerro de San Pedro. Gold mining companies are of course aware of the public relations nightmare associated with soaking mountains in sodium cyanide. If the word cyanide on its own weren’t enough, then catastrophes such as the spills at the Baia Mare mine in Romania and the Omai mine in Guyana would be. So it’s clearly in the interest of gold mining companies to manage the cyanide responsibly, at least to the extent that doing so will provide for a maximal balance between the image of the company and the other benefits seen by the people, such as the shareholders, that each company answers to.

It’s also true that people deal every day with all kinds of dangerous substances, not just cyanide, and that within many developed countries regulations exist to ensure that hazardous operations are carried out properly. Towards the end of New Gold’s 2008 Sustainability Report, on p. 19, there’s mention of the International Cyanide Management Code. I quote directly from their report:

While cyanide has its inherent toxic properties, its safe transport, handling, use and destruction are well understood and manageable. New Gold mine operations use cyanide as part of the process of extracting gold from the ore using strictly controlled procedures for the safety of personnel and the environment alike. The International Cyanide Management Code (ICMC) provides an excellent international reference standard for transporting, storing and using cyanide. The ICMC is renowned as the international benchmark for cyanide management. For more information go to: http://www.cyanidecode.org/cyanide_use.

It’s interesting that they don’t state there whether or not they actually adhere to the ICMC guidelines that they mention. Take a look at the list of signatory companies of the ICMC. New Gold isn’t on that list ⁴.

Independent of anything to do with New Gold Inc., there’s a question in my mind of whether or not a company’s presence on that list indicates that it necessarily deals with cyanide responsibly in all of its operations. Two additional points come to mind however, as a result of New Gold’s statements regarding the ICMC:

If New Gold is implementing a “company-wide commitment to corporate responsibility,” then it would seem natural to assume that the “strictly controlled” cyanide management procedures that they refer to would be good ones. But if they are good ones, then why would they appear to not satisfy what New Gold itself describes as “an excellent international reference standard for transporting, storing and using cyanide”? If on the other hand their procedures do satisfy the ICMC criteria, then what’s holding them back from either explicitly saying so in their 2008 Sustainability Report, or from being a signatory member of the ICMC?

If New Gold is implementing a “company-wide commitment to corporate responsibility,” but did not see fit to become a signatory member of the ICMC, then why are they talking about how good the ICMC is?

Cerro de San Pedro is elevated above the city of San Luis Potosí, the latter being located at the bottom of the Tangamanga Valley. The outskirts of the San Luis Potosí urban area are about 10 kilometers from the leaching pad and about twelve kilometers from the extraction site. According to some 2005 data from the INEGI, Mexico’s federal agency specialising in the collection of statistical and geographical information, the neighbourhood of Cerro de San Pedro where the extraction occurs was at an altitude of 2040 meters and the neighbourhood of La Zapatilla where the cyanide leaching occurs was at an altitude of about 1950 meters ⁵. The municipality of Soledad de Graciano Sánchez, on the east side of the San Luis Potosí urban area, the side that is closest to the mine, has an elevation varying between 1740 meters and 1870 meters ⁶.

Including only the municipalities of San Luis Potosí and Soledad de Graciano Sánchez, the city of San Luis Potosí had just under a million inhabitants in 2005 and was growing at a rate of 2 % per year ⁷.

[1] The press release is available at www.sedar.com or from New Gold’s home page at www.newgold.com.

[2] A link to New Gold’s 2008 Sustainability Report is currently prominent on their home page, so please go ahead and read that report along with any other information that they have to offer.

[3] In case you’re wondering what cerro means, it’s a Spanish word with a definition that would fall somewhere between the definitions of the English words hill and mountain. Cerro de San Pedro is in the Sierra Madre mountain range.

[4] At the time of writing, this list had been last updated on December 1^st, 2009.

[5] Both neighbourhoods are in the municipality of Cerro de San Pedro. They’re referred to as localidades by the INEGI.

[6] The INEGI data can be found here (in Spanish).

[7] That census information is also available from the INEGI, and can be seen here (in Spanish).

What is ISO 14001:2004?

operationwatch — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:15:48 +0000

First of all, where will you find reference to it? If you read information made available by New Gold Inc. about their Cerro de San Pedro mine, then you’ll see they state that they have received ISO 14001:2004 certification for their environmental management system. For example, in their annual report for 2008, you can find the following statement:

Cerro San Pedro’s environmental management system received recognition from the International Organization of Certification, achieving ISO 14001:2004 status.

So that’s the context that it exists in. Let’s see if we can find out what it is. Let’s first figure out what ISO is. Some information on what ISO is is available at the ISO website. It’s a non-governmental organization formed out of a large number of member institutes around the world, many of which are themselves mandated by governments, with a central office in Geneva. They publish international standards in the interest of allowing businesses to operate in a way that meets not only the needs of the business in question but also the broader needs of society as a whole.

That sounds good. But then what is ISO 14001:2004? Again, an explanation is available on the ISO website. Look at the following paragraph that’s taken from that link:

ISO 14001:2004 specifies requirements for an environmental management system to enable an organization to develop and implement a policy and objectives which take into account legal requirements and other requirements to which the organization subscribes, and information about significant environmental aspects. It applies to those environmental aspects that the organization identifies as those which it can control and those which it can influence. It does not itself state specific environmental performance criteria.

That last sentence in particular caught my eye, although I’ll admit I had to read it a few times before convincing myself that I was reading it correctly. Read it again yourself. So in the case of ISO 14001:2004, ISO does not specify the environmental performance criteria that are decided upon by the company and the people who tell the company what it can do. I’m guessing that whether or not that’s satisfactory would depend on factors such as what country you live in, what kind of laws exist there, how well those laws are recorded and respected, what kind of influence you have in that country, what company is being certified, and how much you value environmental safety.

It seems therefore that the answer to the question of what ISO 14001:2004 actually is is not as straightforward or consistent as the answer to what it isn’t. I don’t want to trivialize the amount of hard work that I imagine is often involved in achieving this certification. But the amount of work or expense that might go into doing that can’t discredit the value of what we’ve been able to determine from a bit of reading.

If you don’t know what New Gold Inc. or Cerro de San Pedro are and would like to find out, then you can do so by reading my second letter to The Prime Minister of Canada, or visit their website at www.newgold.com.

A Message to the Prime Minister of Canada

operationwatch — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:34:37 +0000

I’ll start this blog by posting an email exchange between the office of our prime minister, the Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper, and me. I’m leaving out the names of the people directly involved in the exchange.

It’s possible to jump directly to any of the three letters in this exchange.
My first letter to the Prime Minister is here.
The Prime Minister’s reply is here.
My second letter to the Prime Minister is here.

What follows is the first of the emails in the exchange. I wrote and sent this email to the Prime Minister’s office at pm@pm.gc.ca

September 30, 2009

Dear Prime Minister Harper,

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my letter. I’m a Canadian citizen. I partly want to address your statement about Canada not having a history of colonialism, but the contents of my letter go beyond this topic. I understand that a lot of letters pass through your office, so I have put a lot of thought into the content of this letter.

In addition to the issue of Canada’s aboriginals who are undoubtedly upset by this comment, I would like to point out another issue that I have not seen raised as often.

As we know, your comment was made in the context of the G20 conference where much of the discussion involved the topic of international trade. It’s clear to me that several Canadian mining companies are operating in economically underdeveloped countries around the world, and are doing so in a way that is unmonitored by us in Canada. These operations are often carried out under the pretext that they bring economic development to poor regions of the world, which is in part true. However, at the same time there is the implicit assumption that the countries where these operations are occurring are sufficiently developed to be able to deal with the dangers to life and health and human rights that are brought about by these activities.

In the interest of keeping this letter short, I won’t give a long list of examples. One example that comes to mind due to its immediate urgency is the North Mara mine in Tanzania. This mine, which is operated by Barrick Gold Corporation with headquarters in Toronto, has been accused of spilling toxic chemicals into a river that supports people, their livestock, and wildlife. The North Mara mine is expected to increase production this year. I don’t understand how we in Canada could allow companies such as Barrick Gold to continue to operate unmonitored while such a reality exists. Certainly such a thing would never be allowed to occur in Canada.

I would like to bring attention to the fourteenth report of The Canadian Parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade which unequivocally states that “more must be done to ensure that Canadian companies have the necessary knowledge, support and incentives to conduct their activities in a socially and environmentally responsible manner and in conformity with international human rights standard.”

In addition, the Committee urged our government to “establish clear legal norms in Canada to ensure that Canadian companies and residents are held accountable when there is evidence of environmental and/or human rights violations associated with the activities of Canadian mining companies.”

As such, I would like to respectfully recommend a retraction of the colonialism statement that has caused so much controversy. I would also like to request the acknowledgement of two important realities: 1) that Canada has a history of colonialism that has impacted and is continuing to impact our own aboriginal population; and 2) that Canada is currently allowing companies, that are based in Canada, to operate abroad in a manner that is endangering human life, human health and human rights.

Again, thank you very much for taking the time to read my letter. I understand that you and the people in your office are very busy, so if you can find the time to respond I would be extremely grateful.

—————————————————————

Some links of interest follow.

1) The Fourteenth Report of The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade :
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=1961949&Mode=1&Parl=38&Ses=1&Language=E

2) An article from a Tanzanian newspaper discussing the pollution created by the North Mara mine: http://www.thisday.co.tz/News/6034.html

3) An article from Dow Jones Newswire discussing the same issue:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dj-tanzania-barrick-ltd-says-north-mara-wont-be-closed

4) An article by Ray Naluyaga from Bloomberg.com stating that the North Mara mine is expecting to increase production this year:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=aTObv3CbGX70

The link from the Tanzanian newspaper was available at the time, and the Prime Minister’s office had an opportunity to view it although it’s currently not available. The article in question was published in the newspaper This Day. It’s titled Independent researchers detect high levels of pollution around North Mara gold mine and has been cached by Google here:
http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:LE4-vvcVApcJ:www.thisday.co.tz/
News/6034.html+site:thisday.co.tz&hl=en&strip=1

What follows is the reply that I received from the Prime Minister’s office. I didn’t have the foresight to inform them that I may decide to post their reply on the internet. However, given that their response is very similar to public statements that I have seen made by them about the colonialism comment, I decided that the fairest thing was for their point of view to be presented here.

October 23, 2009

On behalf of the Prime Minister, thank you for your recent correspondence regarding statements made by the Prime Minister at the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, and your concerns over the international operations of Canadian mining companies. We are pleased to have this opportunity to respond.

The Prime Minister’s remarks at the G-20 concerning “colonialism” were in regard to Canada’s history in foreign relations and were clearly understood as such by those that were present. The marginalization, mistreatment and racism towards Aboriginal people in the context of Canada’s domestic history, including colonialism within Canada, has never been denied or minimized by our government.

This past June marked the first anniversary of the Prime Minister’s formal apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools. We recognize that while the formal apology put all Canadians, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, on the road to reconciliation together, there is still a long journey ahead. We are moving forward with implementation of the Indian Residential Schools Agreement and have established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to document that sad chapter in our history and help chart a new course of reconciliation.

Our Government has taken real and tangible actions to come to terms with Canada’s past treatment of our indigenous people. We look forward to building on this progress, and continuing to work together to better the lives of Aboriginal people throughout Canada.

With regard to Canadian mining companies, we have taken the liberty of forwarding a copy of your correspondence to the office of the Hon. Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs. His office is in the best position to respond to the concerns you have raised.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to write.

cc The Hon. Lawrence Cannon, P.C., M.P., Minister of Foreign Affairs

I was of course happy to receive a reply acknowledging the negative impact that history has had on Canada’s aboriginal people. The issue of whether or not our aboriginals are satisfied by this reply is something that, for the time being at least, I will leave up to them. Meanwhile, the other issue of importance from my letter has been passed on to our Minister of Foreign Affairs. I waited a month and did not receive a reply. I decided to send a new email to the Prime Minister’s office. That email follows.

November 23, 2009

Dear Prime Minister Stephen Harper:

Thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my letter. Let me start by saying that I’m very happy to be a citizen of a country where we are able to engage in open and free dialogue with our government and to make our concerns heard.

Thank you also for taking the time to pass my concerns on to our Minister of Foreign Affairs. A month has passed since your office sent my message to the Hon. Lawrence Cannon. I have not heard from his office. As such, I feel that the concerns that I expressed regarding the international operations of Canadian mining companies were not addressed. I understand that both of your offices deal with a lot of correspondence, and I understand that the work that you are doing is important, so I have put a lot of thought into what I am writing, and I am writing to you only because I consider my concern to be an important one.

We are in agreement that your statements at the G20 summit were made in the context of foreign relations. Let me remind you of what statement it is that I’m referring to. The press quoted you as having said the following: “We also have no history of colonialism. So we have all of the things that many people admire about the great powers but none of the things that threaten or bother them.” [1] In my previous letter, I mentioned the Fourteenth Report of The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade [2] where it’s stated that “mining activities in some developing countries have had adverse effects on local communities, especially where regulations governing the mining sector and its impact on the economic and social well-being of employees and local residents, as well as on the environment, are weak or non-existent, or where they are not enforced.” Given this observation, I believe that the statement that you are quoted as having made at the G20 summit is false. From the conclusions that were given in this report, it is clear that companies with headquarters in Canada are being allowed to operate in a way that does threaten and bother people. We all say things that we later regret, or that come out differently from how we intend, so my interest is not to dwell on something that you have said. Instead, I would like to take this opportunity to bring awareness to the issues that the Committee has addressed, in the hope that we can fix the problems that their report has brought attention to.

In my previous letter, I provided the example of the North Mara mine that is run by Barrick Gold Corporation with headquarters in Toronto. This mine is located near Serengeti National Park in Northern Tanzania [3] and has been widely accused of poisoning people, livestock and wildlife following a spill of toxic chemicals from a mine that is expected to increase production in the coming year [4]. I also pointed out that I was aware of other issues, but did not discuss them in the interest of keeping my letter short.

I would like to now provide another example. About twelve kilometers outside of the highly-populated city of San Luis Potosí in Mexico, New Gold Inc., with headquarters in Vancouver, has been involved in a project that entails the demolition of the small mountain of Cerro de San Pedro [5]. Metric tonnes of explosive and sodium cyanide have been used daily in order to leach out silver and gold from the demolished remains of this mountain. If the project were to continue to completion, a crater measuring approximately a kilometer in width and 250 meters in depth is what would remain of Cerro de San Pedro, along with some heaps of waste and demolished rock that may pose a toxic hazard to the surrounding community.

For a moment, let’s pretend that it could be considered reasonable to allow a dangerous operation such as this one to be carried out a few kilometers away from a heavily populated area, in a country that’s known to be afflicted by corruption, unmonitored by us. Let’s also assume that, if something were to go awry, the safety of the people of San Luis Potosí would be considered to be more important than the uninterrupted operation of the mine. It would still be essential to consider that the demolished mountain is a site of important historical and cultural significance, and that explosions have been taking place only dozens of meters away from a centuries-old church.

San Luis Potosí itself is a very beautiful city of important historical and cultural significance. UNESCO hosts on its website a list of sites that signatory countries of their World Heritage Convention, countries such as for example Canada and Mexico, hope will be nominated for inclusion in UNESCO’s List of World Heritage sites. Mexico’s list has an item pertaining specifically to San Luis Potosí in which the mountain of Cerro de San Pedro is mentioned as being the genesis of this historical city [6]. On the coat of arms of San Luis Potosí, their patron saint, King Louis IX of France, is shown standing atop Cerro de San Pedro. This coat of arms was given to the people of San Luis Potosí by Viceroy Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, Duke of Albuquerque, at the time that San Luis Potosí was officially granted the title of City in 1656 [7]. I hope therefore you will agree that Cerro de San Pedro is of very important historical and cultural significance to the people of Mexico. Imagine for a moment how Canadians would feel if a foreign entity, motivated by profit, were to arrive in Canada and to obliterate an equivalent cultural landmark. Fortunately, the most recent news of this project is that it is in the process of being shut down by the Mexican authorities, although cyanide leaching operations are still continuing and the small mountain of Cerro de San Pedro has for the most part been destroyed [8]. If we in Canada had been more watchful, it would not have been necessary for things to go so far before the mine was shut down. It would have even been possible to prevent the project from going forward at all.

I would therefore like to ask you, our Prime Minister, if you would consider fixing this situation. Do people feel bothered or threatened when their sources of water are contaminated by toxic waste, or when a historical symbol that supports their patron saint on their coat of arms is demolished, soaked over a period of years in highly toxic substances, and replaced by an enormous crater and piles of rubble, a few kilometers outside of a city inhabited by a million people? Do you think that the reputation of Canadians around the world might not be affected by activities such as these? Please consider fixing the problems outlined in the Fourteenth Report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. For your convenience, I’m providing the following assertions that have been extracted from this report:

The Government of Canada has a stated commitment to corporate social responsibility standards and international human rights norms.

Canada does not yet have laws to ensure that the activities of Canadian mining companies in developing countries conform to human rights standards.

It’s important for us to be clear that Canadians do indeed believe in social responsibility and human rights, and that we value the environment that we live in and care about other people’s cultural heritage.

Let me close by pointing out that it does not make sense for us to argue in favour of hazardous operations such as the ones that I’ve discussed as a way of bringing economic growth to poor regions of the world while simultaneously implying that the countries where the operations are occurring are sufficiently developed to be able to handle the challenges of these operations on their own. Furthermore, how can we argue that we can bring forward a positive example by doing trade with countries that are struggling with corruption if we then allow our own companies to engage at their own discretion in harmful practices in these same countries? I do not believe that the mining business is inherently bad. There are obviously very many good, honest, hard-working people who are involved in the mining sector. But hoping to navigate by chance the difficulties that these activities present is a very serious mistake.

Thank you very much for reading my letter and for hearing my concerns. I will be sharing the contents of my letters as well as the contents of your reply with fellow Canadians and with other people who care about and are affected by the issues that I have addressed in this letter. I look forward very much to receiving your reply.

—————————————————————

[1] An article that discusses this statement can be found here:
http://news.globaltv.com/money/Every
%20nation%20wants%20Canada%20Harper/2037877/story.html

[2] The report may be found here:
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=1961949&
Mode=1&Parl=38&Ses=1&Language=E

[3] A map showing the location of the Tarime District where the North Mara Mine is located can be found here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode&q
=tarime&&sll=-1.944207,35.925293&sspn=7.515939,11.195068&z=6

[4] In my previous letter, I also provided a link to the following article from the Tanzanian newspaper This Day:
http://www.thisday.co.tz/News/6034.html.
If that link is unavailable then it is cached here:
http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:LE4-vvcVApcJ:www.thisday.co.tz
/News/6034.html+site:thisday.co.tz&hl=en&strip=1
Another article that discusses the same issue is available here:
http://www.thisday.co.tz/News/5970.html or here:
http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:9Fh2F0A9BGoJ:www.thisday.co.tz/
News/5970.html+site:thisday.co.tz&hl=en&-a&gl=us&strip=1

[5] A map that shows the location of the mine and the city of San Luis Potosí can be found here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en”
&geocode=&q=22.198,+-100.814&sll
San Luis Potosí has a population of about one million people.

[6] To read the mention of Cerro de San Pedro, see the item on UNESCO’s website that is titled San Luis Potosí on the Mercury and Silver Route of the Intercontinental Camino Real, which is located here:
http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5163/

[7] One possible place to read about this piece of history is the website of the tourism office of the municipality of San Luis Potosí:
http://www.sanluis.gob.mx/turismo/Historia-escudo.php (in Spanish).
A rough computer-generated translation of this site can be found here:
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u
=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sanluis.gob.mx%2Fturismo%2FHistoria-escudo.php
&sl=es&tl=en

[8] For information about the shutdown of this mine, see the following Forbes article:
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/11/19/
business-materials-lt-mexico-canada-mine_7142909.html

In the version that I sent to the Prime Minister’s office there was a typo in footnote [7]. I said that the link on the history of Cerro de San Pedro was from the San Luis Potosí state tourism office, but it is in fact from the tourism office of the municipality of San Luis Potosí. Which tourism office it’s from is neither here nor there, but I mention it for the sake of being clear about anything that’s been changed from the version that the Prime Minister received.

Now it’s a matter of waiting for a reply.

Update December 21^st, 2009

Several of the articles that I’ve provided links to have disappeared. Those articles are:

From note 2) of the September 30^th letter, the article from the Tanzanian newspaper ThisDay titled Independent researchers detect high levels of pollution around North Mara gold mine. It disappeared from Google’s cache on December 11^th. If you google the title then you will find it, since other people have reposted it. I downloaded Google’s cached version, so may repost it myself.
From note 3) of the September 30^th letter, an article from Dow Jones Newswires that is titled Tanzania Barrick Ltd Says North Mara Won’t Be Closed and dated July 09, 2009. This article is still available here.
From footnote [4] of the November 23^rd letter, an article from the Tanzanian newspaper ThisDay titled The human cost of gold: And a deadly price to pay which is dated June 30th, 2009. It disappeared from Google’s cache on December 3^rd. Again, if you google it then you will find it since other people have reposted it. I downloaded Google’s cached version, and have reposted it myself here.
The article in footnote [8] of the November 23^rd belongs to the Associated Press, so it was a bit careless of me to refer to it as a Forbes article. That link has also disappeared. It was written by Mark Stevenson, is dated November 19, 2009 and is titled Mexico orders Canadian company to end mining and is dated . You should be able to find it easily using a search engine.

FMF: Monterrey venció al América en la ida con gol de De Nigris

hugol87 — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:54:27 +0000

El fútbol mexicano y en especial el equipo de Monterrey han pasado en los últimos días momentos muy difíciles tras la muerte de Antonio de Nigris en la ciudad de Larisa en Grecia, tras un paro cardíaco. En la ciudad regiomontana se realizó una memoria emotiva antes del juego de liguilla que enfrentaba al Monterrey con el América. Durante la ceremonia, la esposa de El Tano llevó la urna con las cenizas del jugador y la colocó sobre el césped del estadio Tecnológico como una forma de despedir al jugador del club de sus amores. Después los jugadores de los dos equipos así como los árbitros y aficionados, soltaron globos blancos que se elevaron sobre el estadio regiomontano.

Volviendo a lo que respecta el partido, fue muy cerrado sin embargo el peligro real no se hizo presente hasta que llegó el gol de los locales. Al minuto 47’ el chileno Humberto Suazo hizo un centro magistral para Aldo de Nigris y el hermano de Antonio no le fallaría ni a su hermano ni a su equipo, batió a Guillermo Ochoa por el único espacio donde podía pasar el balón. Al final Aldo dedicó no solo el gol sino su vida al hermano que tanto admiró.

En los otros juegos de la liguilla, Puebla empató en casa ante Cruz Azul 4-4, San Luis derrotó al Toluca 1-0 y Santos venció a Morelia 2-1.

Lucha Report for 11/21

Carnage Chronicles — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:49:47 +0000

By Kris Zellner NEWS AAA announced yesterday that their animated movie would premiere on January 22,

Minera San Xavier sigue trabajando y el gobierno declarando nomás

PoKaMa — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:08:10 +0000

La Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA) es dirigida por Patricio Patrón Laviada

Cold water on gold fever

richmx2 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:24:39 +0000

NGD, a Canadian gold-mining company is “cooperating with Mexican government authorities and pursuing all legal appeals after the company was notified yesterday that it must suspend mining operations”, at Mineria San Xavier (called Cerro Cerro San Pedro in company press releases) in San Luis Potosí –

Otto at Inca Kola News – who posted about the closure this morning — wrote in his subscription-only Latin American commodities investor newsletter “IKN Weekly” had suggested there were problems with the Canadian firm’s investments last weekend:

It is up to the individual investor to decide whether NGD suits his or her portfolio, but in this case I’ll venture to say that I would not be a shareholder in New Gold for the forseeable future. That’s just me. Enough said.

The mine closure follows complaints from citizen groups and Greenpeace that the company was not just damaging the environment and illegally working in protected forest areas, but — according to an article in the 13 June 2009 La Jornada, NGD was involved in several corrupt schemes to illegally acquire land from “falsos ejidatarios” in the 1990s. In what was billed as a liberalization, collective farms (ejidos) were broken up into private ownership plots under the Salinas administration — the result being not that the owners of the small farms (which were only productive when cooperatively farmed) were often pressured or cheated into selling off valuable properties to outside investors. In NGD’s case — at least according to the complaints — this went one step further, sending in “ringers” to make claims on the land.

AND… in what’s an under-reported story even in Mexico … leaders of dissenting farmers and environmental activists, were assassinated. Since 1999 Pro San Luis Ecológico has been seeking to annul the company’s mining permits, thwarted (or so ) by the Fox Administration and various PAN officials in the state who assisted NGD in shopping for “friendly jurisdictions” to hear the legal claims.

IN June 2004, the Ninth Tribunal (equivalent in a U.S. system to the Federal District Court) ruled in favor of citizens and against NGD, on the grounds that the company’s land claims were flawed.

A separate October 2005 ruling — this time from the Federal Tribunal for Fiscal and Administrative Affairs (TJAFA, for its initials in Spanish) — based on complaints from SEMANAT, the Secretariat of the Environment — ordered the government to cancel NGD’s environmental impact statement.

According to Juan Carlos Ruiz Guadalajara, a researcher for the Colegio de San Luis who wrote the Jornada article, the mining company — actively colluding with the state and federal PAN administrations — went court shopping for a friendlier jurisdiction to fend off the inevitable. This latest ruling — from PROFEPA (Mexico’s Environmental Protection Agency) carries out the court order, annulling a re-issued Environmental Impact Statement. However, the company is telling investors that:

“This is a continuation of a decade of challenges from a group of individuals largely from outside the area who are opposed to the mining operations at Cerro San Pedro. We are taking all possible steps to respond to challenges to our legal ability to operate the mine, and believe that we will resume full operations” says New Gold CEO Robert Gallagher.

In other words, they’re still court shopping. Otto is the go-to guy for investments, and I’ll not comment on the feasibility of throwing more money at the problem. The larger issue seems to be that a very outside the area group (the Canadian company) is complaining about “challenges from a group of individuals largely from outside the area…” — which means basically scientists, environmentalists and water quality experts called in by the local farmers and residents opposed to the mine — having been thwarted by Mexican courts for so long, with the active collusion of the political leadership, is looking to change the rules of both the democratic and judicial process.

I won’t make a comment on it here — but worth noting — is that “Tranparency International” has new rankings for its always interesting “corruption index”. Mexico has become a lot more “corrupt” under the present administration, despite its claims to be the clean team.

Más de la minera San Xavier en SLP

PoKaMa — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:41:20 +0000

Javier Solórzano (Radio Trece) entrevista a Juan Carlos Ruiz, Doctor en Historia, investigador del C

At San Luis Potosí!!

darkprot — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:54:40 +0000

So, as I previously said I was being in San Luis Potosi this week. I was attending to a PROTEOMICS meeting, which was very productive for me. New people. As I stayed in a hotel of the downtown, it was obvious to visit downtown. I must accept than I was sceptic about the beauty of the city. I thought that it was a boring city or at least not an interesting city. How wrong I was.
The downtown is divided into many little gardens and squares. First one was “fundadores”. Some blocks and you’ll be in the Main square. Man, It’s beautiful. The constructions in this city were made with a special stone called “cantera” which is pink, beauty, nice and very ornamental. A picture of the main square

So there is also the beautiful Carmen and Vicente Guerrero gardens, which has very beauty churches. I don´t want to told you about story but, its nice. Some blocks away, you’ll also find the FERROCARIL MUSEUM (for trains jeje). As SLP was mainly a miners city, trains were very important for improving the city. So in this museum you can find lots of information about that. Also, the mountains surrounding the city has rivers. Those rivers were canalized into the city by means of pipes and, the water was locked into CAJAS DE AGUA (“water boxes”). The one in the picture is one of the principal symbols of the city. Ancient inhabitants walked to these boxes in search for water. As usual more pics at my FLICKR site.

So, sadly, I couldn´t go to Real de Catorce. But that visit has been scheduled. Talking about food, its great. I recommend the “Enchiladas Potosinas” which are a kind of tacos with potatoes, carrots and herbs. Yummy.
But the best of all is the candy. Wow, yummy, amazing. I bring many candy boxes to Mexico. Jeje. Last night i was in a “callejoneada” which is a kind of night-walk around downtown. This walk is typically made with an “Estudiantina” which is a typical musical group from these colonial cities. They sang funny songs about, well, wine among other stuff jaja. Its cool to be drunk jaja. Sadly no pictures or video ’cause I missed the camera at the hotel. So finally I returned to DF. Sad. But I’ll be back soon SLP : )
Greetings

Reading: Mexica (Norman Spinrad)
Listening: White Lies (Album: To lose my life)
Mood: Worried

Saqueo México siglo XXI: Oro y Plata del Cerro de San Pedro, San Luis Potosí

PoKaMa — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:35:57 +0000

——- Desacato de Minera San Xavier, reto a la gobernabilidad: ONG Pro San Luis Ecológico

Help-Portrait en San Luis Potosí

Fränko Rakastaa — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:14:30 +0000

Estoy realmente satisfecho con la respuesta que ha tenido Help-Portrait entre la comunidad de fotógrafos y voluntarios potosinos que de alguna u otra forma han estado apoyando el proyecto anunciado por el fotógrafo estadounidense Jeremy Cowart.

Para los que todavía no saben qué es Help-Portrait, ahí les va (en forma de video, en inglés)

Les dejo otro video de lo que se puede lograr con Help-Portrait (en inglés)

Lindo, no???

Hago nuevamente la invitación a la comunidad de fotógrafos potosinos para que sean parte de esta iniciativa, no importa la experiencia que se tenga en fotografía…

Necesitas ser fotógrafo para participar??? Por supuesto que no, la invitación también está abierta para cualquier voluntario que deseé unirse al proyecto… Los voluntarios que quieran ayudar lo pueden hacer de distintas formas; nos sería muy grato contar con personas que se desempeñen como maquillistas y/o peinadores, personas que puedan filmar el evento, personas que cuenten con equipo de iluminación y estén dispuestas a prestarlo, personas que se encargen de la logística, personas que gusten llevar comida y bebidas para el día del evento, y por último, personas que estén dispuestas a ayudar a los beneficiarios con comida, ropa, juguetes o alguna otra donación… En fin, si piensas que puedes ayudar, no dudes en hacerlo…

Les comento que se ha creado el grupo oficial de Help-Portrait SLP para tratar todos los temas referentes al proyecto… Desde ahí se realizarán los anuncios oficiales y planeaciones del evento… Los interesados pueden inscribirse gratis y colaborar con nosotros de cualquier forma posible…

Aún queda un tanto por hacer para lograr un buen desenlace, pero estamos trabajando para lograrlo…

Por último, quiero agradecer a los que hasta ahora se han involocrado con esta causa, especialmente a Ray Uribe y a Alejandro Cruz por demostrar su interés y compromiso por Help-Portrait…

DON’T TAKE PICTURES, GIVE THEM…

La niña que jugaba conmigo

espacioenrenta — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:17:23 +0000

Yo creo que los fantasmas existen. Hace algunos días una amiga me decía que creer en fantasmas era como que admitir que Dios y todas las demás cosas así, existen. Yo no sé, pero los fantasmas sí son neta.

En múltiples ocasiones he tenido algunos encuentros extraños con cosas que quién sabe qué son. Todo comenzó cuando tenía aproximadamente un año y medio. Lógicamente yo no recuerdo nada de lo que les contaré, pero las demás personas que ya eran adultos sí. Cuando mi papá me contó lo que pasó, le pregunté a mi mamá, a amigos de ellos y a la señora que en aquellos tiempos me cuidaba. A continuación lo que me dijeron que pasó según pude enlazar sus testimonios.

Era 1988, y mis papás decidieron rentar una casa cerca de Av. Industrias, quien viva en San Luis Potosí ubicará fácilmente la avenida. En ese entonces era una zona muy lejana al centro. Se encontraba la casa por donde está Malla Soldada.

Mis papás tenían que trabajar y contrataron a niñeras para que me cuidaran durante el día. Y ahí comenzó el problema, ninguna duraba más que un par de días. Ellas le comentaban a mi mamá (quien siempre ha sido muy escéptica) que les escondían las cosas y a veces les hablaban y no había nadie más que yo. Muchas niñeras pasaron diciendo lo mismo, mi papá (que es lo contrario a mi madre) siempre les creyó y esto los llevó a discutir sobre el tema terminando mi papá durmiendo en el sofá.

Él dice que cuando estaba ahí acostado de frente le quedaban las dos ventanas de la sala y vio pasar una luz muy fuerte así que se asomó para ver si era algún automóvil pero cuando salió en la calle no había nada, ni rastro de que alguien anduviera por ahí. Corrió a avisarle a mi mamá que creyó que era un pretexto para no dormir en el sofá. Lo volvió a correr y cuando iba rumbo a la sala escuchó que yo estaba “hablando” en mi cuarto. Fue y vio como yo estaba “platicando” con alguien. Me sacó de la cuna y dice que yo le señalaba con el dedo la calle, quién sabe por qué me tomó de la mano y dejó que lo llevara a donde yo quería ir (siempre señalando un punto). Él dice que caminé y caminé jalandolo y de repente llegamos a un punto (en medio de la calle) donde me quede muy seria y volteé a ver al rededor y él se asustó porque sintió algo raro y me llevó a una iglesia que estaba cerca.

Por esos días conocieron a Doña Ramona, quien era una mujer que iba mucho a la iglesia y ese tipo de cosas. Mi mamá empatizó con ella porque pensaba que ella no se andaría con invenciones de fantasmas. El primer día que Mamá Ramona estuvo en la casa, según me dijo ella, se puso a ver la televisión y yo estaba sentada en el piso jugando con unos cubos. Entonces tomó un vaso de agua y vio correr a una niña, pero pensó que era su imaginación, unos segundos después escuchó una voz que le hablaba “Ven, ven, la niña.. la niña” Se asustó mucho y me tomó para irnos a su casa. Al llegar mis papás se asustaron de que no había nadie así que fueron a la casa de Mamá Ramona y allá me encontraron, ella les contó lo ocurrido y acordaron que de ahí en adelante ella me cuidaría en su casa.

Entonces mi mamá medio creyó el asunto y comenzó a preguntar a los vecinos. Lo que averiguaron fue que el terreno en donde vivíamos era de un señor que era trailero. En aquél terreno vivía una familia en una casa de lámina y cartón. Tenían una niña de más o menos 11 años y varios hijos más. Un día el señor llegó borracho con el trailer y la niña iba cruzando la calle para llegar a su casa. Atropelló a la niña y cuando se bajó a ver, se dio cuenta que la niña seguía viva, así que se subió al trailer y la remató. Dicen que en todas las casas que estaban en esa zona había testimonios de personas que vieron o escucharon o sintieron la presencia de aquella niña.

Poco tiempo después nos cambiamos de casa. Como siempre uno no sabe qué tan de cierto hay en las cosas de este tipo, menos aún si no las recordamos, pero el que varias personas concuerden en un mismo hecho me da cierta seguridad de que algo extraño pasaba en esa casa.

Vero.. tú rifas, eres la binanada

espacioenrenta — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:32:05 +0000

Híjole.. que la Vero (hermana de la Lupe) acaba de ganarse un millón de … ah no, eso es lo que me gustaría que se hubiera ganado pa que se mochara… lo que ganó fue el premio 20 de noviembre. Según mis fuentes confidenciales ella nos quiere invitar chelas a todos para celebrar!

Jajaja les cuento que yo soy fans de la Vero. Ojalá que en un futuro, cuando sea famosa en el mundo mundial, me de chamba aunque sea de detieneparedes. O mejor, imaginenme en un programa de La Historia detrás del mito:

- cof, cof.. sí, yo la conocí hace muchos años ya, cuando sólo la conocían en su casa y en pueblo quieto. Graaandes anécdotas, yo siempre creí en su talento, pero nunca tuve varo pa comprarle nada. Recuerdo una vez cuando comimos juntas y me pasó el aguacate en la mesa. ¡Cómo olvidarlo! Y aquél otro maravilloso momento cuando mi hijo le tiró el can… de saber que tendría tanto dinero hubiera consentido esa relación sin importar los años de diferencia.

- Que qué tanto la conozco? Mucho.. sé que le gustan los cigarros delicados. ¿Qué más necesito saber? si eso es lo más importante. Dime qué fumas y te diré quién eres.

Entonces, en ese futuro lejano, ella ya ni se acordará de mi (igual y ya desde ahorita, esos artistas desconocen luego luego a sus faneses), menos del aleks y mucho mucho mucho menos a este méndigo blog.

No queda más que felicitar a la Vero y esperar.. esperar.. ESPERAR a que llegue con un six (mínimo) pa celebrar. Por cierto, si ya conocen su obra ps me vale madre digo, bien por ustedes, si no aquí les dejo unas imágenes (ok nomás una porque la página está cáida, luego pongo más, así tenga que infiltrarme a las 12 de la noche [mejor más tarde porque lupe se duerme por ahí de las 3 de la mañana] a la casa de ellos para tomar fotos o tomar prestadas las pinturas) y verán porqué soy su fans (yo no me hago fans de cualquiera, ni en el feisbug…)

( visiten: http://www.artistasdelatierra.com/artistas/veroelias pero en unos días porque los weyes webmasters no han de haber pagado los mensos )

Vero, un abrazo grande, besos (de mejilla.. ni te me emociones que no eres mi tipo a pesar de que soy tu fans) y demás barbosidades como rezos, por ejemplo…

¡Alto a la Impunidad! Minera San Xavier debe acatar las leyes mexicanas

PoKaMa — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:30:05 +0000

A LA OPINIÓN PÚBLICA NACIONAL E INTERNACIONAL El pasado 24 de septiembre y en cumplimiento de una ej

El Saucito a perpetuidá

espacioenrenta — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:10:36 +0000

por los siglos de los siglos…

¿quién podría querer una chamarra universitaria?

espacioenrenta — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:42:21 +0000

Hoy, después de hablar sobre el supuesto coloquio que supuestamente se hará por parte de los supuestos estudiantes de nuestra carrera, llegó Xilef muy emocionado… casi casi que al borde de las lágrimas, con un wey vende chamarras.

¿Qué tiene un vendechamarras de especial? NADA… pero es un blog de pendejadas así que déjenme ser…

El chiste que el vendechamarras empezó a decir que ps andaba ahí ofreciendo sus modelos de chamarras universitarias con el loguito de la CCSYH (coordi pa los cuates) y que quería el ese wey que diseñaramos el logo de nuestra carrera. Está pendejo, cómo se nota que no vio el super diseño de los carteles del coloquio. Bueno, enseñó ahí tres chamarras que eran más o menos como estas:

Costaban 680, 600 y 500

(en las vías las venden como a 100 pesos, me cae)

Total, el argumento del vendedor era que así uno podría andar uniformado en la uni… ¿qué no lo que uno quiere es andar sin uniforme? es decir, primaria, secundaria, preparatoria .. siempre añoramos el bendito día de despedirnos de los chingados uniformes.. y este wey quiere venir a vendernos uno!

qué chingallos! y luego bien caras.. ¿700? ps qué! me va a enseñar francés o qué pedo? ¿hará mis tareas? ¿me despertara temprano pa ir a la uni? ¿hace de comer? o qué!

Además qué pinche mamón andar ahí con tu chamarra de la uni, bi nanes… igual y pa cuando uno salga, así de recuerdo pa los nietos o algo así.. pero pal diario wakala!

Pero cada quien tiene derecho de vender lo que quiera… yo me quedé pensando.. estamos aquí los más letrados (PUAJAJAJAJA… es pa subirnos los ánimos) ¿quién chingados le va a comprar algo?

Todos empezaron a pasar de largo… y de repente oi a un wey comprando ¿quién será? ¿quién? ¿quién? ¿quién será el mamón que va a venir con su chamarra de la uni?

A HUEVO… XILEF!

cómo me la curaré cuando la lleve… cómo me la curaré!

Trópico de Cáncer

AnaJ. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:33:55 +0000

¡Ahí arriba! Explicación sobre los equinoccios y solsticios en el monumento en el Trópico de Cáncer

Mexico Now Embracing U.S. Training in Drug War

mexicoinstitute — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:59:05 +0000

The Arizona Republic, 10/29/09

SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico – At a police academy ringed by brick walls and razor wire, dozens of American agents are helping to train Mexican police recruits as part of a $1.4 billion U.S. aid project aimed at helping Mexico fight its drug cartels.

The program, which opened without fanfare in July in the central city of San Luis Potosí, marks a major change for Mexico, which is sensitive about foreign meddling and has long resisted large-scale U.S. training of its police and soldiers.

Y llovió café, Café Tacuba.

sindicatodelsonido — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:27:00 +0000

Nubes grises oscurecieron aún más la noche en que Café Tacvba y Monte negro se presentaron en un foro que ha acogido tanto a bandas nacionales como internacionales, el “Teatro de la ciudad” del Parque Tangamanga I de San Luis Potosí. Café Tacvba le dibujó a un cielo lluvioso el racimo de estrellas que nunca aparecieron para iluminarlo, dirigiendo una danza constante en honor a Tláloc; disfrazados Rubén, Meme, Quique y Joselo de niños, de hombres románticos, de aventureros; de marineros dirigiendo un barco que se mueve a todas partes.

“Pa’ que la realidad no se sufra tanto, ojalá que llueva café en el campo”…

Puntualmente, Café Tacvba arribó al escenario a las 10 de la noche. Iniciaron el ritual fijando sus propias reglas con una avalancha de éxitos: no controles mis sentidos, mi forma de pensar, mi forma de actuar. Y alármala de tos, porque la lluvia no soportó más quedarse guardada ente las nubes y empezó a caer fuertemente para unirse al baile que nos regalaron; Rarotonga revivió y la vimos morir otra vez, su espíritu no faltó.

“¿Y qué pasará entonces?” me preguntaba, pues los instrumentos de la banda se empezaban a mojar. Los asistentes ya estábamos empapados y las cabezas se pintaron azul cielo, cubiertas por los impermeables que se vendieron durante el evento y que se mantuvieron durante casi todo el recital.

“Uno nunca sabe qué va a pasar a continuación, y eso es perfecto porque es el puro misterio. Y en la vida no existe más que el puro misterio que es delicioso, perfecto. Y bueno, también existen muchos recuerdos, muchos de ustedes que los tienen, que nosotros ni siquiera los imaginamos… ¿no nos los pueden prestar?” Y en un gran grito, desde los cuatro puntos cardinales, la gente les aventó lo que nos han regalado. Les prestamos nuestra vida un par de horas y a cambio aún nos quedaba más.

A lo alto del escenario, un halo iluminó perfecto el teclado. Meme subió solo, romántico, empezó a tocarlo y hacer introducción al baile y el salón; “ueo, eo eo”, le respondieron con la voz bien fuerte y las palmas golpeando el aire, haciendo mucho ruido. El amor es falaz, menos el amor a la música, supongo. Se reintegraron los demás tacvbos al gran baile en ese salón que preparamos todos juntos; mira en dónde nos venimos a encontrar.

Déjense caer fue la siguiente instrucción… Las olas dejaron de mojarnos por un momento; el suelo tenía sed; la vida es imprecisa, el cielo a sus pies y ahí, en ese momento, abandonaron sus instrumentos para revivir esa coreografía a la orilla del escenario. Se alinearon y dejaron que la batería y el ritmo conocido les indicara cómo moverse. Algunos desde sus lugares les siguieron los pasos.

Y los recuerdos volaban y volaban, la lluvia reapareció emocionada pero la banda no paró. ¿Cuánto espacio más quiero ocupar? Lo ocuparon todo, el sonido nos invadía y opacaba la fuerza de los truenos que nos seguían amenazando; el agua derramada está. Por eso, Rubén nos invitó a convertirnos todos en un gigantesco ramo de flores. Nos sentamos juntos, estrecharon las manos de cada una de los asistentes, nos regalamos mutuamente ilusiones, escucharon nuestros sueños y nos miramos a los ojos.

Y que llueve café, Café tacuba, café en el campo. Mi soledad, siempre he pertenecido a ti se coreó fuertemente en el Tangamaga. Y esa noche, la despedida tenía qué llegar en algún momento. Un grupo de personas empezó a gritarles a cada uno su nombre, quizá así no se irían.

“Rubén, Rubén, Rubén; Meme, Meme, Meme; Quique, Quique, Quique; Jo-selo, Jo-selo, Jo-selo; Quique, Quique, Quique; Jo-selo, Jo-selo, Jo-selo; Luis Ledezma, Luis Ledezma, Luis Ledezma, Luis Ledezma… y Rubén respondió: “Alejandro Flores Betancourt, Alejandro Flores…” y se rió. Las despedidas siempre son tristes… “pero cómo los vamos a extrañar, muchachos. Siempre los vamos a tener en la mente”. Cómo te extraño mi amor y todavía no te has ido; vamos a enloquecer pero pronto tienes qué volver, porque te entregamos todo el corazón, que ni con un puñal me podrás sacar.

Aquí estoy a tu lado y espero aquí sentado hasta el final; aquí es el momento donde las bandas se toman un descanso. Saben que la gente no se irá aunque la lluvia arrecie, aunque los relámpagos insistan en quedarse. Ya chole chango chilango, no manches dice la changa, regresaron al escenario y Meme se encargó de cantarle a la luna escondida, lo único, preciosa, que mi mente habita hoy. Ingrata la chica banda, yo le di mi amor en el concierto de los tacvbos y yo ya no le creo nada.

“…Y la gente se arrejunta, junta los cuerpos pa’ subir el calor”

En más de una hora y media, Café Tacvba recorrió 20 años de historia musical, de discos, de presentaciones y de su amor por la música. No son una banda que requiera de una gran parafernalia para adornar el escenario porque con la pura presencia y sus canciones (las propias y de las que se han adueñado), lo llenan. A los costados unos paneles rectangulares proyectan colores y en momentos objetos en movimiento.

Abandonaron sus instrumentos en dos ocasiones para bailar y el suyo es un concierto que vale la pena. Como Rubén Albarrán dijo casi al inicio, todos guardamos recuerdos gracias a la música y estos son los que evocamos cuando los escuchamos o vemos un video. La vida es un gran baile y en este ‘salonsote’ que es el mundo, la música que nos dejan y que nos traerá recuerdos lo llena todo.

Por el momento, se inició una importante promoción de Juan Carlos Rulfo y Carlos Hagerman para “Los que se quedan”, un largometraje que se estrena este fin de semana y cuya banda sonora está compuesta por canciones de Revés. Las presentaciones en nuestro país continuarán y lo cerrarán tocando en tres ciudades más, según su perfil en MySpace.

“Ahí va la chilanga banda, chin-chin si me la recuerdan, carcacha y se les retacha”.

Y más que una nota al calce, Monte negro.

Directamente desde Los Ángeles, Monte Negro inició una serie de presentaciones en nuestro país visitando en primer lugar ésta, la ciudad de los siete barrios. No es fácil abrir concierto para una de las bandas más respetadas y queridas del país, Monte Negro en varias ocasiones se llevó rechifla de los asistentes que llegaron temprano a la cita pero Kinski, vocalista, se mostró cálido con la audiencia con la que habló constantemente.

El setlist de la banda fue directo y es evidente un sonido que se ha formado del trabajo y una trayectoria de varios años. La banda completó su presentación y se mostraron seguros con su propuesta. Vale la pena seguirles la pista y aprovechar que están recorriendo algunas ciudades mexicanas. Si quieres conocerles, busca la entrevista que el equipo del Sindicato del Sonido sostuvo con ellos.

De manera muy especial, quiero agradecer a César Arenas López (Light & Shadows Studio) que se encargó de tomar para Sindicato del Sonido las fotos del evento. (Sitio: http://dizzaor.deviantart.com/ Mail: light.and.shadows@hotmail.es). Pronto en la página y también las pueden ver en el MySpace del Sindicato.

México DF eleva la alerta por gripe A

Dr. House — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:10:29 +0000

El secretario de Salud de la capital mexicana, Armando Ahued, informó este miércoles del aumento del

3737 México, San Luis Potosí, Políticos deben manejar mejor el Internet, Guadalupe Guevara, Octavio islas, mención

octavioislas — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:02:46 +0000

A toda la clase política de México le hace falta “Educación digital”, lo que implica mayor contacto y conocimiento de la red de redes, pues es imposible que regulen o intenten regular a través de leyes o prohibiciones el Internet, consideraron los doctores Oscar Octavio Islas Carmona y Alejandro Byrd Orozco quienes impartieron la ponencia “El ser en la era digital”, realizada en el marco del 25 aniversario de la Universidad del Centro de México.

Los especialistas en Ciber cultura sostienen que la campaña del presidente Estadounidense Barack Obama demostró que lejos de restringir a los medios electrónicos, se les debe usar de forma positiva “deben aprovecharlo en su favor” sostiene Octavio Islas Carmona.

Estos especialistas en Imagen pública y en comunicación con la sociedad, señalan que está demostrado que cuando se califica mal a los grupos y comunidades de usuarios del Internet como es el Twitter, el Facebook, el Wikipedia y los blogs siempre se afectará a la imagen de los políticos.

Leer nota completa: http://www.cmenlinea.com/?c=140&a=74401

3731 México, San Luis Potosí, Pulso Histórico, Cibernautas aprenden en la práctica, Enrique Carvajal, Octavio Islas (mención)

octavioislas — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:37:32 +0000

Contrario a lo que muchos piensan, los cibernautas se hacen en la práctica y no en las aulas, expresó Octavio Islas Carmona, doctor en Ciencias Sociales, quien aseguró que basta con “picarle” a las teclas de la computadora en lugar asistir a un aula.

Entrevistado después de impartir la conferencia, “El ser en la era digital”, expresó que México tiene déficit en materia de computación y pocas personas saben navegar en la web, lo cual presenta limitantes para el crecimiento, puesto que los negocios y la educación “on-line” ha tenido un crecimiento desmedido en el último lustro. Contrario a lo que muchos piensan, los cibernautas se hacen en la práctica y no en las aulas, expresó Octavio Islas Carmona, doctor en Ciencias Sociales, quien aseguró que basta con “picarle” a las teclas de la computadora en lugar asistir a un aula.

Continuar lectura: http://www.pulsoslp.com.mx/NotasHistoricas.aspx?Fecha=20091017&Nota=786&P=2

¿Existen los desmugrantes?

espacioenrenta — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:08:20 +0000

Todas creiamos que no existía, pero vean nomás: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=desmugrante

así que ¿qué opinan? ¿se dice así o no?