Venezuela's new legislative superbody opens despite wide criticism

Venezuela on Friday inaugurated a new legislative superbody that is expected to rewrite the constitution and give vast new powers to the ruling Socialist Party, defying worldwide condemnation that the new assembly undermines democratic freedoms.

The 545-member assembly unanimously elected well-known allies of President Nicolas Maduro to its leadership in a show of unity, signaling that the socialists have put aside differences to focus on consolidating the all-powerful body.

Former Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez, a close Maduro ally was elected to the presidency while former Vice President Aristobulo Isturiz will serve as vice president.

The leadership notably excludes Socialist Party No. 2 Diosdado Cabello, a long-time rival for power to Maduro, who himself put Rodriguez's name forward.

"There is no humanitarian crisis here, what we have is love, what we have is a crisis of the right-wing fascists," said Rodriguez, dressed in a bright red pantsuit, in an opening speech that paid homage to late socialist leader Hugo Chavez.

"The people arrived with fighting spirit, on their feet."

The assembly will function in the same downtown Caracas palace complex as the existing opposition-run congress, which could potentially be dissolved by the new all-powerful body.

The two bodies are expected to hold sessions in parallel, separated by an ornate cobblestone courtyard.

The largely ceremonial installation of the constituent assembly offered few hints as what its first moves would be.

Leaders including Maduro and Cabello have in recent days suggested it would quickly move against Chief Prosecutor Luisa Ortega, who broke with the government this year and described the assembly election as a fraud.

Governments ranging from Latin American neighbors to the United States and European Union have condemned the assembly, with the Vatican making a last minute plea for authorities to suspend it.

Brazil on Friday recommended that Venezuela be suspended from trade bloc Mercosur until it returns to democracy.

MODEST PROTESTS

Protests against the inauguration of the assembly by the opposition were relatively modest. Demonstrators have for four months been clashing with security forces, often building barricades and lobbing rocks at security forces. At least 125 people have been killed in the unrest.

"Today they're enjoying a pyrrhic victory, without a doubt," said opposition lawmaker Freddy Guevara, who joined a group of opposition sympathizers in an upscale neighborhood of Caracas.

"We're starting a new stage of the struggle, and we're finishing all the discussions within the coalition to put forward a new agenda."

Socialist Party officials arrived at congress carrying portraits of independence hero Simon Bolivar and Chavez, whose image was removed from the legislature's main hall by the opposition legislators when they took over in January 2016.

"The constituent assembly is love, peace and loyalty," said Raquel Rodriguez, a 57-year-old government worker who joined the march. "A lot of people have not been loyal to this (movement), but everyone here has."

The assembly's election on Sunday prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to label Maduro a dictator, a term the opposition has long used to describe the unpopular leader.

Opposition leader Antonio Ledezma, who had encouraged protests against the constituent assembly, on Friday morning was returned to house arrest after being briefly put back in prison.

Ledezma and fellow opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez had been taken to prison from house arrest early on Tuesday.

It was not immediately evident if Lopez would also be returned to his home.

Panama on Friday granted political asylum to two justices recently appointed by the opposition Congress to an alternative Supreme Court. Four other justices named to the alternate tribunal remain holed up in the residence of Chile's ambassador.

Source: Reuters

Brazil calls Venezuelan president's move a 'coup'

The Brazilian government on Tuesday called the plan for a constituent assembly announced by the president of neighboring Venezuela a "coup" to change the country's political rules to his liking.

"President Nicholas Maduro’s proposal for a constituent assembly is a coup d’état. It is another break with democracy, violating the country’s constitution," Brazilian Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes said in a statement posted on Facebook.

Nunes said social organizations controlled by Maduro would elect the constituents and draw up a constitution "as he wants it."

Source: Reuters

Deepest aqueduct in South America growing crops in the desert

Two thousand meters under the Andean range, South America's deepest aqueduct carries water that will grow thousands of hectares of fruit and vegetables in one of Peru's most desertic and underdeveloped regions.

This new development project is set to grow exponentially as its first crops are exported to North America and Europe.

The aqueduct, one of the largest engineering works ever undertaken in Peru, travels 20 kilometers (12 miles) under the Andean mountains, diverting the waters of the Huancabamba river towards Peru's northern coast to irrigate 43,500 hectares of crops planted in the desert, as EFE witnessed during a field visit.

The Olmos irrigation project is located 900 km (560 mi) to the north of Lima and required a $600 million budget, the investment director of the project's concessionary company H20lmos Odebrecht Latinvest, Alfonso Pinillos, explained to EFE.

The tunnel, conceived some 90 years ago by British engineer Charles Sutton, was completed in 2012 to alleviate the hydric resources deficit in the Olmos dry valleys in the Lambayeque region, which sees an average annual rainfall of under 25 liters per square meter.

Pinillos explained that the tunnel perforation, with a 4.8-meter diameter borehole and a capacity of 42 cubic meters per second (1,483 cu.ft/s), was developed using a custom-made tunneler and assembled piece-by-piece inside the tunnel.

No women were involved in the boring phase as a sign of "respect" to an old Andean mining tradition so the Pachamama ("Mother Nature" in the Quechua language) "doesn't get jealous." Its progress had to deal with unexpected rock collapses that delayed work and increased costs.

Once completed, the water will flow from the Limon dam, a wall 330 m (1,082 ft) long and 43 m (141 ft) high built across the Huancabamba river to dam 30 million m3; the starting point of a 65-km (40-mi) route that will carry water to the crops.

After covering 20 km underground, the tunnel becomes a waterfall into the Lajas river, 30 km (18.6 mi) later it is collected by irrigation channels leading to another dam that then proceeds to distribute the water to the fields.

Lands once arid now boast 12,000 Ha of produce: Sugar cane, grapes, avocados, mangoes, asparagus and even cranberries, and now employs 4,000 workers, according to Odebrecht's irrigation concession development manager, Juan Carlos Urteaga.

Urteaga estimated the project will generate 30,000 direct and 100,000 indirect jobs once its 43,500 Ha are fully operational. This will also require building a nearby new city for 70,000 people.

The project covers 5,500 Ha of Valle Viejo de Olmos' farmlands and 38,000 Ha purchased by Peruvian, Chilean, US and European corporations with an estimated production of around $650 million.

Within the first group, a farming co-op (Asociación Agropecuaria La Juliana) told EFE they plan to ship their first 32.4-ton banana crop container to Holland, which is worth around $9,000.

Among the project's corporate partners, the Peruvian group Gloria has built a $300 million sugar refinery plant and Agro-Frusan, a US-Chilean joint-venture producing 2.5 tons (5,512 lbs) of cranberries daily for export to US and Canada.

This project will achieve full speed once the project's second phase is completed, increasing by four the Limon dam's capacity and doubling the irrigated surface to nearly 100,000 Ha.

Source: EFE