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November 11, 2005 Alexander Cockburn November 10, 2005 Peterside,
Ogon, Watts and Zalik Pat Williams Steve Higgs Jimmy Massey Lucson Pierre-Charles Anthony Newkirk Lawrence R.
Velvel Website of the Day November 9, 2005 Gary Leupp Tariq Ali Chris Floyd Elaine Cassel Joshua Frank Alison Weir Diana Johnstone
Paul Craig
Roberts Roger Burbach Ron Jacobs Ralph Nader Jim McGrath David Bloom Stan Goff
November 7, 2005 Dick Reavis Jason Leopold Dave Lindorff Eli Stephens David Swanson M. Junaid Alam Matt Reichel Naima Bouteldja Jeff Halper Website of the Day
November 5 / 6, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Lawrence R.
Velvel Diana Johnstone Roosa / Nevins Niranjan Ramakrishnan John Ross Mike Whitney Mark Engler Juliano Mer-Khamis Ron Jacobs Jill S. Farrell Missy Comley
Beattie Mitchel Cohen Evelyn J. Pringle Reza Fiyouzat Charles Sullivan Zachary Richard Ben Tripp St. Clair / Vest
November 4, 2005 Jeffrey St.
Clair Dave Lindorff Phillip Cryan Christopher Brauchli William S.
Lind Daryl G. Kimball George Beres Peter Montague
November 3, 2005 James Petras Saul Landau Rep. Cynthia McKinney Michael Dickinson Joshua Frank Remi Kanazi Reza Fiyouzat Website of the Day
November 2, 2005 Cockburn /
St. Clair Robert Oscar Lopez John Walsh Brian J. Foley Ramzy Baroud M. Junaid Alam Todd Chretien Bruce K. Gagnon Website of the Day
November 1, 2005 Ron Jacobs Gary Leupp John Ross Bill Quigley Joseph Nevins Dave Lindorff Linda S. Heard Heather Gray Michael Dickinson Jeffrey St. Clair
October 31, 2005 Elaine Cassel Mark Weisbrot Mike Whitney Norman Solomon Farooq Sulehria Nicole Colson Madis Senner Paul Craig
Roberts
Cockburn /
St. Clair Peter Linebaugh Tim Wise John Chuckman Steven Higgs Brian Cloughley M. Shahid Alam Nikki Robinson Ralph Nader Joe DeRaymond Joshua Frank Laura Santina Fred Gardner Michael Dickinson Ron Jacobs Dr. Susan Block Vanessa S. Jones Jeffrey St.
Clair Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
October 28, 2005 Jared Bernstein Virginia Tilley Phil Gasper Jennifer Matsui Manual Garcia,
Jr. Monica Benderman Jason Leopold Dave Lindorff
Saul Landau Stuart Hodkinson Ingmar Lee Lila Rajiva Ilan Pappe Niranjan Ramakrishnan Michael Donnelly Ron Jacobs Cockburn / St. Clair
October 26, 2005 Kathy Kelly Gary Leupp Mike Marqusee Eric Ruder Patrick Cockburn Joshua Frank J.L. Chestnut, Jr. Website of
the Day
October 25, 2005 Paul Craig
Roberts Ken Sengupta / Patrick Cockburn Conn Hallinan Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed Jackie Corr Robert Day John Sugg
October 24, 2005 Dave Lindorff Michael Donnelly Patrick Cockburn Mike Whitney Norman Solomon Bill and Kathleen
Christison
October 22 / 23, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Billy Sothern Saul Landau Ralph Nader Behrooz Ghamari Brian Cloughley Diana Barahona Fred Gardner Lee Sustar Patrick Cockburn Laura Carlsen James Petras Joshua Frank Manuel Garcia,
Jr. Michelle Bollinger Missy Comley
Beattie Kona Lowell Ben Tripp Jeffrey St. Clair Poets' Basement Website of
the Day
October 21, 2005 Dave Lindorff Winslow T. Wheeler Col. Dan Smith Norman Solomon Madis Senner Michael Donnelly
Dave Lindorff Ray McGovern Jeremy Brecher
/ Patrick Cockburn Kevin Zeese Ross Eisenbrey Randy Shields Justine Davidson After Lucas
Cranach Joe Allen
October 19, 2005 Christopher Reed Stephen Soldz Chet Richards Patrick Cockburn Scott Richard
Lyons Ralph Nader Website of
the Day
October 18, 2005 Chet Flippo Ron Jacobs Keeanga-Yamahtta
Taylor Dave Lindorff Virginia Rodino Thomas Healy Ralph Nader Stephen Lendman Patrick Cockburn
October 17, 2005 Peter Linebaugh Norman Solomon Cockburn /
Sengupta Mike Whitney Uri Avnery Harold Pinter Website of
the Day
October 15 / 16, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Patrick Cockburn Saul Landau Neve Gordon Moshe Adler Christopher Brauchli Diane Farsetta Sam Husseini Monica Benderman Mickey Z. Douglas C.
Smyth Lee Sustar Fred Gardner Elizabeth Schulte Joshua Frank David Vest Ben Tripp Poets Basement Website of
the Weekend
October 14, 2005 Farrah Hassen Ron Jacobs Sasha Kramer Katrina Yeaw Nicole Colson Raúl Zibechi Nikolas Kozloff Website of the Day
Jeremy Scahill Jeff Birkenstein Brendan Smith / Jeremy Brecher Stan Cox Anis Memon Gary Leupp Dave Zirin Matthew Koehler Werther Website of
the Day
Omar Waraich William Cook Phil Gasper Dave Lindorff Matt Vidal John Gautreaux Diana Johnstone Mark Weisbrot Brian J. Foley Website of
the Day
October 11, 2005 Roger Morris
/ Steve Schmidt Lila Rajiva Bill Quigley Paul Craig Roberts Dave Lindorff Dr. Teresa Whitehurst Mitchel Cohen Tariq Ali Website of
the Day
October 10, 2005 Cindy and Craig
Corrie Joshua Frank Gideon Levy Alan Wallis Mickey Z. CounterPunch News Service Paul Craig
Roberts Website of the Day
October 8 / 9, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Ralph Nader Jennifer Van Bergen Saul Landau Jeff Halper Lenni Brenner Nikolas Kozloff Brian Cloughley Alice Slater John Gautreaux Fred Gardner Niranjan Ramakrishnan M.G. Piety Tom Gorman Mike Whitney Aseem Shrivastava Ben Tripp Poets' Basement
October 7, 2005 Larry Johnson Will Youmans Dave Lindorff Judith Scherr Russell D. Hoffman Jared Bernstein Jennifer Van
Bergen Website of
the Day
P. Sainath Scott Parkin Paul Craig
Roberts Andréa Schmidt Dave Lindorff Joshua Frank M. Junaid Alam Matthew Koehler Robert Pollin
October 5, 2005 Heather Gray Robert Jensen Ramzy Baroud Col. Dan Smith Dave Zirin Paul Craig Roberts Alan Maass
October 4, 2005 Nikolas Kozloff Mike Roselle Joshua Frank John Chuckman Alan Farago Mickey Z. Christine & Ethan Rose Gary Leupp Website of the Day
October 3, 2005 Vijay Prashad Paul Craig
Roberts Joshua Frank Seth Sandronsky Jeffrey St. Clair
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November 11, 2005 Who Killed Gilberto Soto?Murder in El SalvadorBy JOE ALLEN November 5th marked the one-year anniversary of the assassination of Teamster organizer José Gilberto Soto in El Salvador. Soto was in El Salvador building links with port workers in the region when he was killed by gunmen outside his mother's home in Usulutan, 60 miles from the capital city of San Salvador. In the year since his death, no serious investigation has taken place into his murder and its possible link to his union activities. Soto was an organizer with the Teamsters Port Division in New Jersey and had spent the last several years in a campaign to organize port workers, mostly drivers, in the Northeastern United States. One of the major targets of his organizing drive was the Copenhagen-based shipping giant Maersk, one of the largest shipping companies in the world with offices and representatives in over 100 countries. In 2003, Soto began working with the Danish General Workers Union to document violations of worker rights by Maersk, particularly in Central America. Maersk has a long and rotten record in the region, especially in El Salvador. In 2001, Maersk fired and blacklisted over 100 drivers in a vicious union-busting campaign. Maersk controls 80 percent of the container shipping market in El Salvador. Soto had just arrived in El Salvador to begin his organizing work when he was murdered by two gunmen, according to witnesses. He had meetings planned with Maersk truck drivers and other port workers, as well as with labor officials in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras. The initial response of the Salvadoran police--historically involved in the death squad killings of trade unionists and leftists--was a predictable attempt at a cover-up. A month following Soto's death, the police arrested and charged Soto's 59-year-old mother-in-law, Rosa Elva Zelaya, with organizing his murder. They paraded Elva Zelaya and the three men she is accused of hiring in the alleged murder plot in front of reporters and declared that the case was "solved." Rosa Zelaya has publicly denied any role in Soto's murder. The motive according to the police? Rosa Zelaya conspired to kill Soto because of the unhappy marriage between her daughter Maritza and Soto. The assassins were allegedly going to be paid out of the proceeds of Soto's life insurance policy. Among the many problems with this ridiculous story is that, according to the Teamsters, Maritza isn't the beneficiary of Soto's life insurance policy. There are many more unanswered questions a year after his murder. Soto's children remain unconvinced of the Salvadoran police's "official" version of the events surrounding the death of their father. "We all just want to see justice done," Soto's son, Edson J. Soto, told the New Jersey newspaper The Record last May. "We want to know why he was killed and who he was killed by. My father was important to a lot of people...I didn't really know how important he was until after he died." Yolanda Soto, Soto's sister, also told The Record: "It's hard to know what to believe because the theory of the government of El Salvador is that they accuse this woman, the mother of Maritza. But these people, the witnesses, say they've been forced by police to say these are the people who committed this crime." Last December, Beatrice Alamanni de Carrillo, director of the Salvadoran Office for the Defense of Human Rights, issued a scathing critique of the police investigation into Soto's murder. She has been the subject of repeated death threats over the years for investigations into the violations of human rights in El Salvador. Her office was created as part of the peace treaty in 1992, ending nearly a decade and a half of civil war. Alammani de Carrillo claimed that, among other things, the suspects were subject to physical and psychological torture including asphyxiation, sexual abuse and death threats. "They had been held in isolation for several hours and taken to remote locations, where they were subjected to illegal interrogations and physical and psychological torture," wrote Alamanni de Carrillo. Alamanni de Carrillo ordered medical evaluations of two of the defendants, which she said showed evidence of trauma and sexual assault. "The theory that the union activities of José Gilberto Soto may have been the motive for the homicide was never investigated by police or prosecution authorities in charge of the case," she wrote. Alamanni de Carrillo told a visiting delegation of American trade unionists and supporters that Soto's murder resembled the death-squad killings that were prominent features of Salvadoran political life from the 1970s to the early 1990s. El Salvador's right-wing death squads--made up of members of the police and military--have a bloody history of harassing and killing trade unionists at the behest of the richest employers. So far, Soto's long-time foe Maersk has been able to avoid being put under the spotlight for its union-busting activities in El Salvador or for any possible knowledge of the events surrounding Soto's murder. For a company like Maersk that employs thousands of workers, owns millions of dollars worth of property, and has extensive connections with the political and security apparatus in Central America and a rotten union-busting record, one would think that they would be a focus of any investigation into Soto's death. Soto, himself, was clearly aware that there was chance that physical harm could come to him during his time in El Salvador. His other sister Maria says that he left a letter with her that included a list of people to call should "something happen to him." While the Teamsters, the International Longshoremen's Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union have offered a $75,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Soto's killers, little else has been done in the last year. If Soto's killers and their corporate masters are ever to be brought to justice, a vigorous international campaign must be built that forces the Salvadoran government and Maersk to come clean. Joe Allen writes for Socialist Worker. He can
be reached at: joseph.allen4@worldnet.att.net
The War So Far: a Failure Worse Than Vietnam by Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad "The need for the White House to produce a fantasy picture of Iraq is because it dare not admit that it has engineered one of the greatest disasters in American history. It is worse than Vietnam because the enemy is punier and the original ambitions greater." Get the answers you're looking for in the subscriber-only edition of CounterPunch ... CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558
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from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann  Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair                       |
