Killer Coke in Columbia youtube

John Perkins on Columbia
EXCERPT:
September 28, 2009 by admin
July 7, 2008

What’s Up with Free Trade in Colombia?
On radio interviews I am frequently asked about the “free trade agreement” the Bush administration is trying to hammer out with Colombia and about John McCain’s recent trip to Colombia. Here’s my answer in a nutshell:
Nine countries in Latin America have recently voted in presidents who are saying “no” to staying the course with international policies that allow foreign corporations to exploit human and/or natural resources. These democratically elected presidents have gone on the record of not seeking US aid but instead asking for reversals in policies, including “free trade agreements,” that have been very destructive to their economies — and resulted in a huge influx of immigrants to the US.
Colombia is a major exception. Washington’s push for a new trade agreement with Colombia is an attempt to bolster the Uribe administration — a president who is held in very low esteem throughout most of Latin America and is seen (along with Mexico’s Calderón) as one of the last of the old “Washington puppets.”
Uribe infuriated many Latin Americans when he illegally sent troops into Ecuador to assassinate FARC representatives who reportedly were there to try to negotiate hostage exchanges and a peace deal. I was traveling in Central America at the time and heard first-had the anger directed at the Colombian president for the way he ignored Ecuador’s sovereign rights and escalated hostilities.
This “free trade agreement” is Washington’s desperate attempt to shore up one of its few remaining Latin puppets and at the same time tilt the playing field even further in favor of the big corporations.
What you can do: Speak out against “free trade agreements” that are written to help multinational corporations exploit other countries. Email your representatives and the corporations whose goods and services you buy. Tell them you know that what is best for the US are strong Latin American economies where local resources are channeled to the poor through health, education and other social services.
John

Gross Up for top executives
EXCERPT:
Why gross up?
Back in the 1980s Congress imposed an excise tax on "golden parachutes," the lucrative severance benefits that were given to top executives if the company was taken over by another firm. The goal was to prevent "greedy" executives from reaping huge windfalls upon a change in control of a business. (To learn more about CEO compensation, see Putting Management Under The Microscope, Evaluating A Company's Management and Lifting The Lid On CEO Compensation.)

However, the plan put forth by Congress didn't work as planned.

Gross up clause wikipedia
A gross up clause is a provision in a contract which provides that all payments must be made in the full amount, free of any deductions or withholdings, and without exercising any right of set-off. The provision will usually indicate that if there is a mandatory withholding or deduction by operation of law (usually with respect to tax), then the paying party shall "gross up" the payment so that the receiving party receives the same net amount.

[edit] Sample clause
"All payments to be made under this Agreement shall be made in cleared funds, without any deduction or set-off and free and clear of and without deduction for or on account of any taxes, levies, imports, duties, charges, fees and withholdings of any nature now or hereafter imposed by any governmental, fiscal or other authority save as required by law. If a Party to this Agreement is compelled to make any such deduction, it will pay to the receiving Party such additional amounts as are necessary to ensure receipt by the receiving Party of the full amount which that party would have received but for the deduction."
[edit] External links
"When Shareholders Pay The CEO's Tax Bill", BusinessWeek, MARCH 5, 2007

Killer Coke
EXCERPT:
The Emory Wheel, "Are We Still Coke U?," By Jeannie Tinkham and Robbie Brown, December 9, 2005
Read Article

On Dec. 12, New York City Council Member Hiram Monserrate held a press conference at New York University to celebrate the student Campaign to Stop Killer Coke victory at the campus. Present with the Council Member were members of the student group; Jose Schiffino, CSEA Local 1000 organizer and a member of Monserrate's factfinding mission to Colombia; USAS national organizer Camilo Romero, and Campaign Director Ray Rogers. Also present were striking members of the Graduate Student Organizing Committee (GSOC) - UAW. Speakers linked the two struggles in speeches and slogans including "GSOC in! Coke out!"

Hiram Monserrate goes to Columbia to investigate Coca Cola now he is no longer in Senate
2 EXCERPTS:
Hiram Monserrate
1) We are here in front of the Coca-Cola plant in Barrancabermeja, where the union SINALTRAINAL has just had a demonstration of solidarity. Earlier we tried to enter the plant, and we were denied entry by Coca-Cola.

Monserrate went on a fact-finding mission to Colombia with a delegation of union leaders in January 2005. The report he issued upon his return blasted Coca-Cola.

Hiram Monserrate
2) The Coca-Cola workers told me harrowing tales -- tales of being beaten up, tales of being arrested and charged falsely, tales of having their families and themselves kidnapped by paramilitaries who were working in conjunction, according to their allegations, with Coca-Cola managers, plant managers.

Hiram Monserrate wikipedia
EXCERPT:
Expulsion from New York Senate
A nine member committee of State Senators of both parties headed by Eric Schneiderman (D-Manhattan) recommended disciplinary action against Monserrate. Politicians of both parties at the national, state, and local level have called for him to resign, or for his expulsion from the State Senate.[7][46] The committee's report was released on January 14, 2010 and recommended that the full Senate expel or censure him.[47][48] On January 21, 2010; State Senator Brian Foley (D-Long Island) introduced a resolution to the Senate calling for his expulsion for behavior "not compatible with his oath of office."[49]

Jesus Mantilla
Jesús Mantilla Oliveros was the Minister of Public Health and Social Development of Venezuela up to 2009.[1][2]

Coca Cola FEMSA
EXCERPT:
Relevant Information
The Mexican and Argentinean franchises were acquired in 1979 and 1994, respectively.
It is the largest Coca-Cola bottling company in Latin America with 31 bottling plants.
It is listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BVM) under the symbol KOFL and on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol KOF.
The Coca-Cola Company owns a 31.6% share of Coca-Cola FEMSA.
Sales totaled US $7,870 million ($102,767 million MXN) as of December 31st 2009.
It is one of the world’s most profitable soft-drink bottlers.
It uses state-of-the-art information technology for:
Channel marketing
Supply chain management
Pre-sales system
Serves approximately 1,600,000 retailers weekly in Latin America.
Sold 1.9 billion unit cases in 2009.
Now serving over 200 million consumers in 9 countries of Latin America.
It offers 99 different beverage brands to its customers daily.
It employs 67,426 people (as of December 2009)

FEMSA to import Hybrid transport vehicles
EXCERPT:
07/27/2010
Mexican firm Femsa has stated that it will introduce a fleet of hybrid (diesel-electric) trucks, which will translate into fuel savings of between 20% and 40% and reduce CO2 emissions by between 15-20 tonnes per year. Se publicaron 3 notas en los medios: Expoknews, Esmerk y Veintepies back to top

Coca Cola Scandal
EXCERPT:
At KillerCoke's Website You'll find a raft of information on Coke and its bottlers' operations in Colombia. There is extensive documentation of rampant violence committed against Coke's unionized workforce by paramilitary forces, and powerful claims of the company's complicity in the violence.

An April 2004 report from a fact-finding delegation headed by New York City Council Member Hiram Monserrate contends:

“To date, there have been a total of 179 major human rights violations of Coca-Cola's workers, including nine murders. Family members of union activists have been abducted and tortured. Union members have been fired for attending union meetings. The company has pressured workers to resign their union membership and contractual rights, and fired workers who refused to do so.”

“Most troubling to the delegation were the persistent allegations that paramilitary violence against workers was done with the knowledge of and likely under the direction of company managers. The physical access that paramilitaries have had to Coca-Cola bottling plants is impossible without company knowledge and/or tacit approval. Shockingly, company officials admitted to the delegation that they had never investigated the ties between plant managers and paramilitaries. The company's inaction and its ongoing refusal to take any responsibility for the human rights crisis faced by its workforce in Colombia demonstrates — at best — disregard for the lives of its workers.”

Hugo Chavez bans Coke Zero
EXCERPT:
Coke Zero, a variation of Diet Coke aimed at young men, was launched in Venezuela in April with the aim of doubling Coca-Cola's share of the low-calorie soft drinks market. On sale in Europe since 2007, the brand was promoted in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace to imbue a macho edge.

Venezuelan authorities turned out to be edgier. They ordered an immediate halt to production pending an investigation into "ingredients that could be harmful for the individual". Calls to the health ministry seeking elaboration were not returned.

BBC news business Venezuela bans sale of Coke Zero
EXCERPT:
Diet Coke and many other 'diet' sodas & 'diet' products contain poisonous sweetner aspartame aka nutrasweet

there are thousands of sites on the internet which have information showing the potentially DEADLY effect of longterm use of aspartame / nutrasweet.

U.S. FDA "safety" determination was based on studies which show that aspartame / nutrasweet caused grand mal seizures in monkeys -- the reason aspartame / nutrasweet was approved anyway ? The manufacturer was Monsanto, a company who seems always to have managed to influence FDA in pushing through profitable products which in MANY CASES are deleterious to human health and/or potentially ruinous in terms of agriculture, etc.

Criminality on a scale that is practically unfathomable, has caused aspartame / nutrasweet to be legitimized for sale around the world .. god only knows why no one anywhere else in the world has the guts to stand up to "Coca Cola diplomacy"

Hats off to Hugo Chavez and his health minister Jesus Mantilla -for having more guts than anyone in U.S. politics (not to mention the brave Britons, of course.)

This one'll cwack you up please watch the video
EXCERPT:
Well, from the inventors of hybrid cars, latest gadgets and the country that showered the world with technology comes yet another invention that may either amaze you or amuse you. Aya Tsukioka, an experimental fashion designer had shown yesterday one of her newest clothing design, a skirt that can turn into a Coca-Cola vending machine.