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Somalia: Endless War.

Saturday, 1 February 2020 8:00

The country has been struggling with extreme weather changes, violence and disease for nearly 30 years and is increasingly subject to severe climate shocks that are worsening a prolonged humanitarian crisis. Here are seven things we should know about the crisis
in Somalia:

1. It’s a complex crisis
The humanitarian crisis in Somalia is one of the longest and most complex in the world. The country is experiencing both armed conflict and worsening climatic shocks across different regions, a dangerous combination that has resulted in massive displacements, both within Somalia and across its borders. Through 2018, more than 880,000 Somalis became displaced from their homes. 300,000 fled from fear of violence and attacks, and over 500,000 mostly farmers and pastoralists were displaced due to the impacts of climate shocks such as flooding or drought. Pastoralists raise and herd livestock as their main source of income and are commonly located in drylands. Pastoralist communities represent 60 per cent of Somalia’s population.Last year, an additional 575,000 Somalis were displaced from January to November adding to more than four million Somalis in need of humanitarian assistance. Providing aid is difficult because the many internally displaced people are located in areas with active armed conflict and limited infrastructure.

2. People are suffering from the impact of extreme weather conditions
In 2011, 260,000 people died from a famine in Somalia. Half of them were children. Five years later, Somalia experienced another prolonged drought from 2016 to 2017 that displaced over a million people. Last year, the impact of drought threatened hundreds of thousands lives, placing additional strain on communities, stretching available humanitarian resources and displacing 300,000 people. Displaced people, particularly children, mothers and the elderly are now facing serious hunger, health and protection risks in an area already receiving little to no humanitarian assistance due to insecurity and conflict.

3. The country has experienced extended violent conflict
Somalia has experienced armed conflict for nearly three decades. In recent years, non-state armed groups have carried out bombings, suicide attacks, armed assaults and kidnappings. At the same time, military operations have resulted in the sporadic death, injury and displacement of civilian populations. In some areas, civilians are required to pay fees to armed groups or are pressured to participate in hostilities, and in others, clan-related conflict is increasing among pastoralist and farming communities as natural resources decrease due to flooding and drought. All of these aspects make for a very challenging environment to deliver assistance. For several years, violence has prompted populations to flee to urban areas where aid is more accessible.

4. Poor health and communicable diseases are killing people
Massive displacement and food insecurity have a major effect on the health of the population. 1.5 million people need humanitarian assistance. Almost one million children risk being acutely malnourished, carrying severe implications for their future health and that of subsequent generations. This is among one of the factors that cause one out of seven children to die before they reach five years old. On top of that, Somalis are exposed to serious risks from the outbreak of diseases such as cholera, measles and diarrhoea, spread easily in congested living conditions and where there is a lack of clean water and sanitation.

5. People are fleeing to the big cities
The different factors within Somalia’s crisis are forcing people to move to urban areas to seek humanitarian assistance. Many urban migrants live in camps or informal settlements and have limited access to information about their rights and available services. Families set up makeshift shelters wherever they can, putting them at risk of violence, exploitation, abuse and disease. The need for space, food, water and shelter places strain on resources in urban areas. The capacity of host communities with limited systems in place are then stretched, leading to forced evictions and extreme vulnerability among displaced populations. Over many years, Somalis have also fled to neighbouring countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Yemen. Some people are now returning to Somalia, either in the hope of re-establishing their lives or due to a lack of safety in the country they have fled to for protection.

6. Somalia is hosting other refugees
Somalia also receives refugees from its neighbouring countries. The country currently hosts 39,000 refugees, mostly from Ethiopia and Yemen. In the coming months, Somalia expects to receive over 90,000 returnees that have been seeking refuge in Kenya and Yemen.

7. Women, children and minorities are the most vulnerable
Women, children and members of minority groups are particularly vulnerable during displacement. Women and girls, especially those living in informal urban centres, are at risk of gender-based violence, and often have less access than others to opportunities to earn a living. A lack of sufficient infrastructure forces many women and girls to walk in dangerous areas to find water or firewood, exposing them to additional risks and causing many to seek support from aid agencies. Female-headed and child-headed households, and members of minority groups become more vulnerable due to the absence of their social and community networks. Displaced people that belong to different clans than that of their host community face an increased risk of violence and abuse. One third of those who need assistance are children, most of whom are out of school. This makes them more vulnerable to exploitation through child labour, including possible use in hostilities.

Tria Garcia

Saving the Planet and Ourselves.

Saturday, 1 February 2020 8:00

Australia, Philippines, California and Central and South Africa have been recently hit by severe drought and endless forest fires. Thousands are suffering. Plants and animals perish. This we must and can stop.

The experts and advocates saving the planet call it an “ecocide” where the ecology and environment is being destroyed before our eyes. There is always hope that humans can change their destructive lifestyles and convert from using coal and fossil fuels that drive industrial production to renewable sources of energy such as geothermal, solar and wind power.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has declared recently that action and important decisions must be made now to cut the greenhouse emissions that are pumping deadly gases into the atmosphere. The coal-fired power plants and factories burning oil are the main culprits as well as the millions of diesel- and gas-powered vehicles around the world.

The change to renewable sources of electricity has to be urgently accelerated if we are to hold the rising temperature to 1.5 degrees and reach carbon neutrality by 2050. That is to produce no more CO2 than the forests and oceans can absorb and offset by planting trees, using carbon capture technology and a zero tolerance for greenhouse gasses.

The greater risk, according to some climate advocates, is what UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said. It is that the “point of no return is no longer over the horizon.” What he means is the point when the climate gets so hot that it is not possible to stop or reverse it. When the planet has heated up to melt the permafrost, billions of cubic feet of methane gas will rise into the atmosphere and thicken the blanket around the planet so no heat can escape and the sun will bake us as if we are in an oven. The ice in Antarctica and the Arctic is melting so fast there is too little ice to reflect the sun’s rays back into space. It could lead to disastrous drought globally and food crops will fail and mass starvation will be the result.

The scientific evidence is clear. The years 2014 to 2023 will be marked as the hottest years in 150 years. That indicates that the climate has warmed one degree centigrade since the levels in 1850-1900. The forecast of temperature rise will be between 1.03 and 1.57 degrees above pre-industrial levels in the coming years. However, if nothing is done now, by the year 2100, the increase will reach a critical disastrous 3.2 degrees increase. If the industrialized nations act now to change, then the increase will still be a very dangerous and a disastrous 2.9 degrees increase.

The biggest polluters on the planet are the United States and China. India is not far behind. President Trump does not believe the scientific evidence that the climate is changing since he lives in permanent climate-controlled environment with air conditioning. China wants to be a global power as powerful as the United States and keep building coal-fired power plants to produce and sell to the world and grow economically and militarily.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in addressing the climate injustice, many small island nations must have support and there must be “economic and environmental justice for all.” The President of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific said that they are fighting for life as oceans rise due to melting ice caps and are inundating their low-lying islands.

Another deep concern posed by the rising waters around the Marshall islands is the huge concrete dome known as the Runit Dome that encases 3.1 million cubic feet of deadly radioactive debris and soil including the death-dealing plutonium. Susanne Rust of the Los Angeles Times reports the United States detonated 67 nuclear bombs between 1946 and 1958 in the Marshall Islands.

Several islands were vaporized and thousands of islanders were evacuated and exiled. Many were suffering the severe effect of radiation. The huge dome is gradually under threat from the rising oceans and the radioactive waste will likely seep out and contaminate the ocean waters and the marine life. It could be goodbye to the Marshalls and their wonderful resilient people. We hope not and if global action is taken to curb global warming there is a chance they and mankind will survive.

Fr. Shay Cullen

The Atlantic Ocean.

Saturday, 1 February 2020 8:00

In ancient times, the Atlantic Ocean was believed to be a mysterious extent of water that could not be crossed, until Columbus came up with the idea, as foolish as it was ingenious, of sailing across it.

The discovery of the Americas, together with all the historical vicissitudes that occurred during the following centuries, encouraged growing and continuous exchange between one side and the other, earning for this ocean an unquestionable strategic position as the centre of interest of all the major powers of the time.
With the Second World War, the United States acquired effective dominion over the Atlantic as it became the leading maritime power at the head of the Atlantic Alliance, in contrast with the land-based coalition reunited by the Warsaw Pact.

The importance of the control of the Atlantic for the United States did not mean it had only to protect its own coastline but also the security of Europe since any collapse of interchange with the old continent would have seriously damaged the US economy and made it vulnerable to the Soviet threat. At the same time, protecting Europe amounted to protecting its own power, as well as guaranteeing Washington (as is the case also today) its representation as a power present in Eurasia.
The implosion of the Soviet system altered the equilibrium of the international chessboard, and the Atlantic Ocean also lost the priority that marked it out for all those years. Nevertheless, the value of the commerce on the ocean remains unchanged in the vitally necessary economic interchange between Europe and the Americas.
This new scenario has led the US to review its maritime priorities and to reduce its investment in the Atlantic area through a change in location of some commands and a reduction in the number of personnel, vehicles and armaments deployed in the area, in order to redirect these resources elsewhere. If we consider that geo-politics follows the law of physics according to which ‘nature abhors a vacuum’, even in the case of downward spirals, these moves almost immediately encouraged the rivals of the US to take advantage of them.

China, especially, by means of a series of economic investments is looking ahead to the Atlantic, positioning itself in some areas that we may describe as highly strategic, being nothing less than main entry doors. Their aim is to respond to the encircling movement being implemented by the United States in the Pacific and in the Indian Ocean, even if Chinese action has hitherto been only economic. China, in fact, has invested in Greenland in the rare soils sector and is carrying out research in Iceland with which it has made a contract of free exchange, and also in Sweden, Norway and in the Svalbard Archipelago. It has made an important contribution to the development of the port of Tangiers which has increased its influence over the Atlantic side of the Straits of Gibraltar, and it has involved Portugal (the only Atlantic state among the participants) in the Silk Road Project by stipulating scientific cooperation accords in the oceanographic sector, while in Cape Verde it is engaged in infrastructure projects.
Apart from economics, China has also worked on the diplomatic front, persuading the Dominican Republic, Salvador, Panama, Costa Rica, Granada and San Tomé e Prìncipe to withdraw their diplomatic recognition of Taiwan. On the military front, they have conducted military exercises with the Russian navy.

Unlike the Chinese, the Russians have been conducting military exercises in the Atlantic since 2006. Among the major exercises organised by the Russians were a simulated attack on the Norwegian Arctic Command at Bodo and submarine exercises in the waters of Scotland, Sweden and Finland, reaching as far out as the Bay of Biscay and the Gulf of Mexico. The latter, due to its geographical position, is considered the jugular vein of the United States. Neither must it be forgotten that a bastion of Russian power is concentrated on the peninsula of Kola which looks out over the Barents Sea where air bases and nuclear armaments are located and which naturally opens out to the North Atlantic.
It is clear that Moscow’s moves are not calculated so much to bring about war, also because the Russian navy is not equipped to engage in conflict on the high seas, as to test the soft underbelly of the United States. In response to these challenges, NATO is conducting air patrol exercises; it has reopened the radar station at Sana Vord and Oslo and expanded the Arctic Station on the island of Jan Mayen. Furthermore, in 2018, the Second Fleet was reactivated at Norfolk. One of its many duties is to guard the 26 internet cables on the seabed which connect the United States to Europe, Africa, South America and the Caribbean. (F.R.)

Brazil. Frevo, infectious joy.

Saturday, 1 February 2020 8:00

If the samba is the sound of Rio de Janeiro, the frevo is that of Recife in North-East Brazil, where it began towards the end of the nineteenth century: a rhythm inseparably tied to the exuberance of the Pernambuco carnival, which, in 2012, became part of the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage.

The word itself expresses its essence: it means to boil, indicating the euphoric effervescence of the frenetic carnival dances. With the passing of years, the frevo became emancipated, accepting the influence of jazz and the songs of songwriters while influencing such great masters as Gilberto Gil and Chico Buarque de Hollanda, and, more recently, Lenine, Sivuca and Dori Caymmi.

It has several basic types: the frevo de bloco, accompanied by an orchestra and large or small dancing troupes; the frevo conçao which has the form of a song; the frevo de rua meaning that of ‘the street’, created especially for carnival spectacles; and the frevo fusion, which combines this popular and biting rhythm with the elegance of jazz or that of classical music, or even with the energy of rock music.
A recent addition has been the so-called frevo Opus Dei, characterised by clearly faith-inspired lyrics.
Wind instruments, drums and other percussion instruments are at its heart. With the joy and sometimes the anger often found in the lyrics, the extrovert bodily expression constitutes its basic emotional framework. It is almost impossible to stand still while listening to it.

Among its best known exponents is the Spok Frevo Orchestra: it has 18 members conducted by Inaldo Cavalcante de Albuquerque, known as Spok, a saxophonist and Vaglia composer, a major exporter of frevo to the West. He is a native of lgarassù, in the same state of Pernambuco, close to Recife where he developed as an instrumentalist, composer and teacher. It was there, in 1996, that he launched his project of a spectacular wind orchestra which has toured the world for years, exporting all the exuberance of the traditional music of North West Brazil, with an irresistible mix of Brazilian music and virtuoso jazz. This is a band that has obviously found its natural dimension performing in concerts and live shows, rather than in its recordings, to the extent that they have made only a handful of albums to date. The best known of these are the sparkling debut album Passo de anjo made in 2004 (to which we must add the live version released in 2008), and the Ninho de vespa recorded in 2015.

The century-old heritage of this music – more than anything else an approach to living – has most probably found in the Spok Frevo Orchestra, its best testimonial anywhere in the world.
Of course it is not only music, but dance. In his book Frevo, Capoeira e Passo, Valdemar de Oliveira writes, ‘Frevo doesn’t invite you. It drags you. Its effervescent rhythm is something magnetic, against which it is difficult to resist’.

The dance was inspired by capoeira movements (Brazilian martial art) and have more than 120 different movements! Jumps, coordinated fast leg movements, leg flexions and tumbling are some of the examples. It’s not so easy to try.
But there are people that are capable of dancing this with perfection who are called passistas (frevors dancers). They wear colorful clothes and when they are dancing, they use small umbrellas to perform the movements and acrobatics. It’s very beautiful to watch!

Franz Coriasco

Zimbabwe. Street children in Harare.

Saturday, 1 February 2020 8:00

Hundreds of street children roam the centre of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, living in subhuman conditions. Many of them are second generation victims: their poverty is a consequence of their orphanhood. Their parents died from HIV and now they are all alone without family, living on the street and, in some cases,
in a foreign country.

Samora Machel Avenue, so named in honour of the father of Mozambique’s independence, crosses the centre of Harare from east to west. Luxurious hotels, some colonial houses surrounded by high office buildings, traffic jams, bustle of the streets … the typical urban landscape of any African capital.Fuel shortages cause long lines of cars waiting for refuelling, especially during peak times in the late afternoon. Some drivers take advantage of the wait to buy shoes from a street vendor or have someone wash the car by hand in five minutes. The wide areas of the Total gas stations become improvised markets, which are widely spread throughout the continent.

“The street kids know it and take advantage of that”, says Marvelous, who is 35. He works at a gas station in Harare and explains to us: “When they stop at a red light, drivers must watch carefully ahead and behind their car, if they get distracted, in few seconds they’ll be surrounded by children. Most of them ask for alms, but there are also those who try to steal anything they may find inside a vehicle.

The zvigunduru
Many of the unemployed youth in Harare have turned to drugs and they are often referred to as zvigunduru, which in Tsonga, the local language of Zimbabwe, means ‘sleepers’, as they spend most of their time sleeping or lying down after consuming drugs. One can see the zvigunduru lying down mainly in the alleys where there are hotels, gas stations, and banks. The area around the Number One hotel is one of their favourite places. It’s better not to get lost inside that area, which is in fact the street children’s territory, where laws are dictated by those who have nothing to lose.

Marvelous knows almost all those kids by their first name. “Look, that kid’s name is John. He is a good kid and does not take drugs”, he says pointing at a kid wearing a shabby white shirt and a worn out pair of trousers. By drugs, Marvelous refers to toriro, the local drug that causes aggressive behaviours, since the effects of cocaine are potentiated by mixing it with bicarbonate. John says he is 10, but he looks a little bit older; he does not speak much since he distrusts white men and journalists alike. “What I want to do is to go to school”, he keeps on saying. He tells us that his mother, who is from the city of Gweru, in the centre of the country, married an immigrant from Malawi, who abandoned her soon after he was born. “I grew up with my maternal grandparents, but there was not enough food for everyone and so I decided to come to Harare hoping to have a better life”.

John tells us that he survives thanks to the coins he gets from drivers and that he and another dozen young people spend the night in the alleys of this area. “I’m not afraid because Mad is with me”, says John, pointing at a boy standing a few metres from us.
At dawn, the older children leave the alley and reach the avenue where they beg for money or food. Then, at mid-morning they come back bringing bread, tetrabriks of juice and a bottle of maheu, the maize-based local drink. They are soon surrounded by all the other children and all of them eat greedily because they know that that may be the only decent meal of the whole day. But, when kids can’t get any food or money from people, then one can see them searching for food in the garbage bins outside the numerous Spar supermarkets of the area despite the security staff trying to keep them away because customers are frightened by them.

The victims of the epidemic.
Not far from the alleys in the Number One hotel area, is the colonial style Catholic cathedral of Harare and on the other side of the Fourth Street stands one of the most prestigious mission complexes in Zimbabwe. It includes the school of the Dominican Sisters, which is attended by more than 1,000 schoolchildren, and the main house of the order in Zimbabwe. Sister Angela is a nurse. She was born in Germany and has been living in the African country for 56 years. “There are more and more kids living in the streets of the city centre”, she tells us in the shadow of a jacaranda in the beautiful garden of the school. “Many of them are currently arriving from border countries, such as Mozambique and Malawi. There are many orphans among them.
The African continent is experiencing the boom of the AIDS epidemic, which swept over Southern Africa at the end of the last century and the beginning of the current one. Many children are orphans because AIDS killed their parents”.

Several humanitarian and non-governmental organizations based in Harare are working to help these children. Keepers Alert is an organization directed by the local writer Patience Chiyangwa, and it offers support to orphans and street children through the House of Smiles. “Street kids come daily to this centre to take a shower, wash their clothes and feed themselves and we also offer computer classes, to those who are interested in them”, Chiyangwa tells us.
Harare, the ancient capital of Rhodesia, was, and still is, a beautiful city with wide avenues lined with jacarandas.
Today, the violet shade of its flowers offers shelter to hundreds of children and teenagers abandoned to their fate in a notorious alley that is only 100 metres distant from a central avenue that bears the name, paradoxes of life, of an African liberator.

Xaquín López – Photos: Sonsoles Meana

Why the Hippo lives in the Water.

Saturday, 1 February 2020 8:00

Many years ago the hippopotamus, whose name was Isantim, was one of the biggest kings on the land; he was second only to the elephant. The hippo had seven large fat wives, of whom he was very fond. Now and then he used to give a big feast to the people, but a curious thing was that, although everyone knew the hippo, no one, except his seven wives, knew his name.

At one of the feasts, just as the people were about to sit down, the hippo said, “You have come to feed at my table, but none of you know my name. If you cannot tell my name, you shall all of you go away
without your dinner.”

As they could not guess his name, they had to go away and leave all the good food behind them. But before they left, the tortoise stood up and asked the hippopotamus what he would do if he told him his name at the next feast? So the hippo replied that he would be so ashamed of himself that he and his whole family would leave the land, and for the future would dwell in the water.

Now it was the custom for the hippo and his seven wives to go down every morning and evening to the river to wash and have a drink. Of this custom the tortoise was aware. The hippo used to walk first, and the seven wives followed.
One day when they had gone down to the river to bathe, the tortoise made a small hole in the middle of the path, and then waited.

When the hippo and his wives returned, two of the wives were some distance behind, so the tortoise came out from where he had been hiding, and half buried himself in the hole he had dug, leaving the greater part of his shell exposed. When the two hippo wives came along, the first one knocked her foot against the tortoise’s shell, and immediately called out to her husband, “Oh! Isantim, my husband, I have hurt my foot.” At this the tortoise was very glad, and went joyfully home, as he had found out the hippo’s name.

When the next feast was given by the hippo, he made the same condition about his name; so the tortoise got up and said, “You promise you will not kill me if I tell you your name?” and the hippo promised.
The tortoise then shouted as loud as he was able, “Your name is Isantim,” at which a cheer went up from all the people, and then they sat down to their dinner.

When the feast was over, the hippo, with his seven wives, in accordance with his promise, went down to the river, and they have always lived in the water from that day till now; and although they come on shore to feed at night, you never find a hippo on the land in the daytime.

(Nigerian Folktale)

The Pacific Ocean.

Saturday, 1 February 2020 8:00

The Pacific, almost twice as big as the Atlantic, with an area of 161 million square kilometres, is a single body of water covering about one third of the planet.

The sudden ascent of China has transformed this area into a theatre stage where a great confrontation is taking place between the great powers that will determine the future of the planet. Its importance is due to the economic explosion of this area of Asia, in the wake of that of China and the exponential growth of maritime commerce which, from the East flows to the West and vice-versa, absorbing 63% of global container traffic.

Oil tankers in Malacca Straits.

Its routes are obliged to pass through such places as the Indonesian Straits (Sonda, Lombok and Malacca), those essential places of transit that have acquired such great geostrategic importance. If we look closely, we can see that the so-called ‘first chain of islands’ to be found in the Pacific, starting from Vietnam and extending to the south of Malaysia and curving north from the Philippines towards Japan, forms a ring that encloses the east coast of China. It would be no exaggeration to affirm that whoever controls these choke points holds the keys to the global economy, an economy that is today so interconnected and globalised that any collision between ships or warlike tensions would be sufficient to cause the closure of these points (through which, besides, about half of all the crude oil of the world market passes) and cause a chain reaction whose effects would weigh upon the international economy. The crucial nature of these points of passage is such that it explains both the central position they occupy in world politics and the resulting competition to establish control and supremacy over them, as well as the motive why the great regional powers (such as China, Japan and India) have set up military bases and deployed naval forces to amplify their presence in the seas of the South West Indian Ocean. This has also given rise to the huge US military presence in the area which may be explained by the concern of Washington to keep control of the routes, by reinforcing ties with the main allies and partners of the past (Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan and Australia), and to contain Chinese expansion.

This has placed China in a disadvantaged position since its exports could depend upon the good will of the United States which enjoys absolute military superiority.
Nevertheless, the USA, despite its domination, is putting pressure on its regional allies to compete with China which, to counter such a threat, has prepared a plan of transformation for its own navy which will enable it to expand its projected presence by passing from the defence of its coasts to the substantial control of the China Sea and to being a challenge on the high seas. In the meantime it has launched an asymmetric type of strategy with prohibited areas, consisting of the creation of artificial islands in the South and East China Seas, upon which defensive anti-aircraft and naval defensive armaments have been installed. This action has the precise aim of limiting the effectiveness of aircraft carriers which, historically, have represented the projected power of the United States. In the area in question, there are, besides, a number of historically controversial issues which have been recently reignited both regarding the control of the sea-routes and the exploitation of the oil deposits to be found below the sea-bed. As a result, every island, atoll or rock may be a cause of dispute since they may potentially be strategically important.

A group of desolate volcanic islets known by North and South Koreans as Dokdo and by Japanese as Takeshima.

Apart from the dispute between the two Koreas, that between Japan and Russia over ownership of the Kuril Islands, now the object of talks between Tokyo and Moscow in the hope of reaching agreement, is still active. Furthermore, Tokyo has disagreements on two other fronts: with China over the Senkaku/Diaoy Islands and with Korea over the rocky Takeshima Archipelago located in the southern part of the Sea of Japan, despite the desire of the USA to reach a definitive resolution of the problem so as to unite the two oriental powers and strengthen mutual interests. A further historical bone of contention is that involving China and Taiwan whose economies have created such a close relationship as to render it unlikely that it should descend into armed conflict. This same evaluation, in addition, may also apply to Sino-Japanese relations. Last, but by no means least, there is the conflict between China and Vietnam which, in more recent periods has considerably deteriorated, the crux of which is a dispute over waters claimed by both countries using historical arguments. In detail, the area in question is that around the Spratly and Paracel Islands whose surrounding waters constitute a strategic passage zone, besides being rich in fish and natural resources such as oil deposits.

It is interesting to note how Vietnam is seeking to weave a united anti-Chinese front among the other ASEAN countries, supported by Japan and the USA. The reality is demonstrated by the fact that more than once Peking has accused the US administration of directly manoeuvring its great allies Japan and the Philippines, not excluding Vietnam, for the purpose of creating instability in the region. With this complicated and intertwined mosaic, there is no doubt that the major challenge lies in maintaining stability in the region to ensure participated growth and maritime trade. The priorities are still those concerning the control and defence of the shipping routes and the security of shipping, ports and coasts. (F.R.)

Illicit financial flows. The Big Business.

Saturday, 1 February 2020 8:00

It is a fact that the tax systems of developing countries are severely constrained by lack of adequate legislation, deep-rooted weak democratic institutions and pervasive corruption. Tax systems’ collection shortfalls are mainly due to low Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, poverty and illicit financial flows (IFF).

Therefore, in order to increase the tax revenues in such countries, it would be necessary to increase the fiscal space (Domestic Revenue Mobilisation) in a progressive way without affecting the poorest. With a fair and progressive increase in taxes on the wealth of companies and citizens, developing countries can collect more money and allocate it to public services that benefit their citizens, such as infrastructure, education or health.

In developing countries, income and expenditure management (tax systems) play a key role in poverty eradication and sustainable development. In fact, the Sustainable Development Goals in their target 16.4 point to the reduction of IFFs along with the return of stolen assets as a means to achieve sustainable development.

Thus, while effective and efficient use of the tax system has a positive effect on the public services provided to the population, a mismanagement of the tax system leads to behaviours that results in illicit financial flows, which is particularly serious in Africa and mainly in those countries that are rich in natural resources.

A clear example of this mismanagement of the tax system is the data showing that African countries are losing US$50 Billion a year on Illicit financial flows and that this amount is greater than all the Official Development Assistance (ODA) the continent receives. There are two main reasons for IFF: first, a national bad management on their tax systems. And second, it is due to the weakness of an international tax system control. Although the main responsibility in the tax system lies with national governments; in a globalized economy, international cooperation mechanisms and global tax reforms are needed to prevent multinationals from taking advantage of legal loopholes to evade or avoid paying taxes. But what are we referring to when we talk about Illicit Financial flows?

According to the report of the High-level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa of 2015, Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) is “money that is illegally earned, transferred or utilized. This funds typically originate from three sources: commercial tax evasion, trade misinvoicing and abusive transfer pricing: including criminal activities… and bribery and theft of government officials”. This definition allows us a better understanding of why the activity generated with the extractive industry (oil, gas and minerals) is directly responsible for the loss of domestic revenues by countries rich in natural resources.

It is estimated that developing countries raise only 65 per cent of the potential revenue they could raise, and out of that amount, the extractive industry is responsible for 60-65 per cent of the money defrauded in Africa. These illicit behaviours and inefficiency in revenue collection make it necessary to review the tax systems to improve the capacity to collect taxes and to establish international control mechanisms to the practices of the extractive industry. Among these illicit behaviors we highlight the three most common practices in the IFF:

Tax Avoidance. In principle, this practice would be within legal limits. Multinationals in their strategy to reduce production costs would in parallel develop an aggressive tax strategy in which they would minimize amounts to be paid in taxes by taking advantage of the national legislation and complex corporate structures. In these cases, companies would study the legal gaps in order to benefit from tax exemptions provided for in the tax law. That is, large corporations with astronomical economic benefits that would cling to legal arguments to stop contributing in the countries where they develop their extractive activities. Although a priori these practices would be legal, they are still unethical business practices, incompatible with corporate social responsibility established by all international standards.

Tax Evasion. This illicit conduct clearly means illegal fraud actions in which the large corporations fails to pay the amount due for the benefits obtained. Multinational companies involved in resource extraction are particularly effective at paying only a small share of the taxes that they owe. It happens when extractive companies try to avoid paying taxes by falsifying and concealing certain data with which the amounts to be paid are determined, such as the quantities of ore extracted, the price received by them, the profits obtained by the company, payments made to local authorities and officials to obtain licenses, etc. These actions are considered tax offences and are punishable by a fine and even imprisonment. Moreover, tax evasion in African countries deprives governments of the ability to provide public services, such as healthcare and education, to the 413 million people living below the poverty line.

Transfer pricing. This practice refers to the rules and methods for pricing transactions within and between companies under common ownership or control. These companies operate in different countries and realize transactions to distort the real incomes. To carry out these practices, companies use complex corporate structures within the same corporate group. Sometimes these companies have their headquarters in tax havens where hardly any companies are taxed.
The companies declare few profits in ordinary activity, distort the purchase and sale prices of raw materials, and make purchases and sales between companies in the same group, always declaring losses in developing countries and declaring profits in tax havens
where they are hardly taxed.

But who benefits most by these illicit conducts?
What is striking is that companies use legal tricks for their illegal and illicit practices. These practices are covered by national and international legal tax systems and therefore protected by politicians, policy makers and officials. The only beneficiaries are the corporations that certainly do not pay taxes in developing countries and neither do they in the rich countries because they use the corporate structures to tax in tax havens.

So why do politicians, policy makers and governments continue to resist changing the legislation? What part of the negotiations and agreements between big corporations, politicians and governments does not transcend to the citizens? Why do most European ministers and commissioners, at the end of their terms in office, end up being members of the boards of directors of large companies? Does it have anything to do with the revolving doors?

José Luis Gutiérrez Aranda,
Trade Policy Officer,
Africa Europe Faith and Justice Network (AEFJN)

Who controls the Oceans?

Saturday, 1 February 2020 8:00

Besides having always been that part of the world where the most of commercial interchange takes place, the sea also has a central role for society, influencing – directly or indirectly – most aspects of daily life.

The movement of the geo-economic axis towards the maritime environment is more easily understood if one considers that 70% of the surface of the earth is covered by water and 80% of all life on the planet developed in the seas and oceans; around 80% of the world’s population live less than 200 km from a coast, and that, during the past decade, 75% of countries have increased their maritime accessibility. It is in the sea, in fact, that most of the productive work of humankind takes place: transport along the maritime lines of communication, the flow of oil and gas, fishing, the exploitation of energy and mineral resources discovered below the sea bed and the laying of underwater cables through which almost all communications pass.

These data confirm that the sea is the main means of commercial and communications productivity and so it may be said that, like the Internet, it constitutes the new means of globalisation since 75% of this current flows through a small number of obligatory choke points, composed of canals and international straits.
In this regard, we need to bear in mind that maritime trade is growing at the rate of 3.8% per year. This growth is doubtless favoured by the support of new protagonists who have appeared on the international scene and who have greatly influenced the process of rearranging trade balances, making it possible for new routes to emerge with considerable repercussions for the strategies of the players in the sector and, consequently, for the port infrastructure chosen for the management of movements. In particular, this development is more marked in the countries of South East Asia. In parallel, there has been the development of the role of the sea-going companies of those countries, which, since the early nineties, began to increase in importance in the list of major maritime transport companies.

The country which is taking its place on a global level as the main geo-economic maritime actor, due to its great capacity to increase worldwide container traffic, as well as for the fact that it is one of the major exporters of oil by sea, is China. Peking has had to equip itself to ensure the control and security of the maritime routes travelled by its own trade goods and by which its raw materials are imported. It is no coincidence that the economic power developed by the Chinese colossus in recent years is being supported by a series of strategic infrastructure projects used to accompany, protect and increase the capacity for expansion of the country. One of these is certainly the great project called the ‘New Silk Road’ by land and by sea, thought up by Peking with the main objective of bringing China closer to the rest of the Eurasian continental landmass and the Mediterranean, as well as of developing the hinterland areas which were left behind with respect to the coastal strip. According to the estimates by authoritative centres of research, the Belt & Road Initiative will, by 2040, increase World GDP by 7.1 trillion dollars per year, 4.2% per annum.
It is beyond doubt that the implementation of such an ambitious project (together with the Russian Razvite), will have considerable geopolitical repercussions if we bear in mind the fact alone that it aims at bringing together Europe and Asia both in infrastructure and economic terms. China’s self-affirmation has, furthermore, caused a substantial movement of the balance of trade from west to east, as well as an increase in inter-Asian trade. Asia, has, in effect, assumed a dominating role in the container-movement business.

In this new geo-economic scenario, the sea continues to gain notable importance as the area where commercial goods flow, and becomes increasingly important for all sectors of the maritime economy, increasing the correlation between industrial production, commercial exchange and maritime transport. This has obviously brought notable changes to the department of maritime transport, generating close competition between transport companies, the progressive global alignment of port authorities towards private management, with the resulting disengagement of the public sector, resulting in competition between the ports themselves.
The naval shipyards are working at an increasing rate and it is estimated that, in the next three years, 133 new container ships of 10,000 to 23,000 TEU, 45 of which will be of 18,000-23,000 TEU, will be built. This also causes a strong tendency to concentrate sea-routes: In 1998, the top four companies owned 20% of the world market while today, that percentage has reached 57-58%. If we take into account the top ten companies, the figures are 40% in 1998 and over 80% in 2019.

Egypt. Suez Canal.

The emergence of new Asian powers, together with the disorganised economic growth in African countries, which are considered expanding markets with a greater diversity of rates than the countries of Europe has, besides, caused a movement in the geopolitical axis towards the south and east of the planet, encouraging the concentration in the Mediterranean of the new geo-economic streams of the world economy. This phenomenon, seen by the shipping companies as the basis of their activities, is identified by them as a dominant current changer that extends across the basin from east to west, from Suez to Gibraltar, allowing the Mediterranean to become the meeting point for intermodal long distance transport, replacing the North Sea routes. Proof of this is seen in the work of widening the Suez Canal, necessitated by the increase of traffic seen in recent years and still growing. In 2018 there was a further increase in transport with respect to the preceding years, with the record number of over 18,000 ships and 983.4 million tons of cargo passing through. These figures show how the strategic importance and the growth of the canal are a result of the development of the Indo-Pacific area where the interests of the major international actors have become concentrated. (F.R.)

Middle East on Fire.

Saturday, 1 February 2020 8:00

What are the implications of the assassination of Qasem Soleimani. U.S. Forces in Iraq at risk. Conflict with Iran. Instability in all region.

Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of the elite Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC) had just arrived on a flight from Syria. Seconds after he went through the exit, the car he boarded was hit by a missile, launched from a drone, killing him along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, second in command the Popular Mobilization Forces (Hashd al-Shaabi), the coalition of pro-Iranian Shiite paramilitary militias in Iraq. Regardless of any considerations about whether or not the IGRC (sometimes known as Sepah), or the single Quds force within it, should be designated a terrorist organization (as the United States and other western governments do), and any other concerns about the Islamic Republic in Iran, the assassination of Soleimani launched during an air raid that also saw drones employed.

The implications of the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, now an Iranian Martyr are necessarily significant. He earned his fame and reputation as a formidable soldier and strategist immediately after the 1979 revolution, enlisting with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard and fighting valiantly in the war against Iraq between 1980 and 1988. In that period, he became known for an ability to infiltrate enemy ranks as part of high-risk operations. In the 1990’s, Soleimani transferred that ability to lead secret operations abroad. Ironically, his last operation was a diplomatic one – involving only moderate risk. He was on an official mission to discuss the possibility of détente between the Islamic Republic and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in a deal brokered by Iraq. Was, then, President Trump’s action part of a plan to compromise any effort to reduce Tehran-Riyadh tensions, presumably because such a de-escalation would make it harder for the U.S. to justify its massive military presence in the Persian Gulf?

Soleimani and Martyrdom
Far from wanting to define Iran as a model of democracy and freedom, the killing of Soleimani will inevitably produce ‘side effects’, or blowback, throughout the Middle East, including areas of U.S. ‘influence’ such as Iraq. Iran has long established an effective network throughout the region, which will frame Soleimani’s death in the context of Shiite soteriology – that is the narrative of salvation through the idea of martyrdom, as developed from the death of the Imam Hussein (Hussein ibn Ali, grandson of Prophet Muhammad) at the Battle of Karbala on October 10, 680 AD (61 AH) against vastly superior Umayyad forces led by the Ubaid ibn Ziyad, Umayyad Governor of Basra.

In a tradition revived through the ‘good vs. evil’ narrative of the Islamic component of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Shiites (under duress) interpret the events of Karbala as Hussein setting the example that consciously facing and accepting certain death, or martyrdom, is always preferable to accepting the unjust and corrupt rulers. In soteriological terms, Shiites, therefore, have both a privilege and an obligation to challenge ‘evil’. It is that challenge that represents victory over it. That concept of martyrdom was central to the galvanization of many Iranians in the early months of the war, that Iraq launched at the behest of the United States and the ‘petro-royals’ of the Gulf, thwarting any predictions that Iran, weakened by revolution, would succumb quickly. The assassination of Soleimani fits, almost ideally, within this framework and those, whom the general inspired, will be eager to fulfill
their own martyrdoms.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani

In a more cynical light, the Ayatollahs and more genuinely ideological cadres of the Islamic Republic, could not have asked for a more effective way to rally support than Trump’s assassination of Soleimani. The soteriology will both strengthen the ‘conservative’ camp within Iran itself – that is the IGRC itself and the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei – at the expense of President Rohani and the reformists. Rohani will have to defer any plans to ease tensions with the West, adopting a more martial tone in order to preserve political support for his government in the context of widespread economic discontent and, what appears to be, an intensified U.S. effort to destabilize it. The IGRC’s unintentional downing of a Ukraine International Airlines airliner – (flight PS752, under murky circumstances) in the hours after launching missiles as part of an operation (code-named Operation Martyr Soleimani) against the Ayn al-Asad airbase in Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq, and another base in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, housing U.S. troops – has generated additional domestic tension, adding yet another dimension to the anti-government protests.

Trump Trapped by Impeachment Trials and Re-election
The probability – even more than the possibility – that U.S. President Donald trump bogged down in impeachment machinations, will be tempted to solidify support from his evangelical Christian supporters and pro-Israel lobbies by assenting to a complete Israeli takeover of the Palestinian Occupied Territories. Such a step would all but ensure Benjamin Netanyahu’s re-election as prime minister in 2020 (Source: Haaretz). Evidently, that could set the entire Middle East on fire, deepening anti-American sentiment in Iraq, and playing into what will certainly represent Tehran’s anti-Washington strategy: stir Iraqi Shiites – and by all indications, this process has already begun.
Several anti-US demonstrations, drawing hundreds of thousands of people, erupted in Baghdad on January 23 demanding the departure of American troops in the country.

The fact that Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr (who is more of an Iraqi nationalist Shiite, complaining about the excessive Iranian influence in Baghdad) launched the demonstrations draw attention to the fact that the very Shiites, who managed to gain political ground in the aftermath of the 2003 Anglo-American invasion, have turned against their ‘benefactors’. Al-Sadr’s militias were joined by pro-Iranian ones, including the very Kataib Hezbollah, commanded by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (one of the eight people including Major Brigadier General Hossein Pour Jafari, Colonel Shahroud Mozaffari, Major Hadi Taremi, and Captain Vahid Zamanian who were killed in the strike against Gen. Soleimani), and their message is clear: should the United States refuse to leave Iraq, its troops shall be considered as hostile occupiers, adding that any security and airspace control agreements between Washington and Baghdad should be canceled. Such demand echo those of Prime Minister Adel Abdel-Mahdi, who demanded American troops leave Iraq in the immediate aftermath of Soleimani’s assassination.

U.S. Forces in Iraq.
U.S. Forces in Iraq cannot simply act as if nothing has changed. Trump’s action will have consequences, and Iran will be in a better position (after taking direct action with its missile strike against American military bases in Iraq to avenge Soleimani) to operate through its allies in Iraq. The Shiite re-awakening, combined with intensifying calls for an American withdrawal, could lead at the very least to a situation comparable to the October 23, 1983 bombings – attributed to Hezbollah – against barracks near the Beirut international airport, which killed 307 American and French troops. Indeed, there are few options. If the Americans refuse to leave, they will come under fire. And, after destroying the Baathist State and military apparatus, it won’t be easy for them to find refuge among the Sunnis.

Perhaps, the remote al-Anbar province near Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan (and even there, the presence would be precarious, given that neither Turkey nor Iran have an interest in allowing the Kurds to fully separate from Baghdad) could provide a refuge for a while, but it does not change the long-term prospects, which call for a withdrawal. The Iranian missiles were mean as a friendly warning, which needs little translation: US forces in Iraq are not secure. The message from the massive street protests, may be less explosive, but is equally clear: Iran has allies, which can complicate a continued U.S. presence in the region. Such complications include a heavily impaired ability for the U.S. to conduct training exercises – and the Iraqi government will not allow Iraqi troops to participate, having all but formally declared the United States an occupying force – given their intensified vulnerability. And if U.S. troops are unsafe in Iraq, so are U.S. companies and contractors.

Iran and Iraq are unofficially at war.
Prompted to perform dangerous steps on the international stage by his would-be impeachers, and eager to consolidate support for the 2020 presidential elections, Trump has few choices. He could diffuse the situation by lifting many, if not all, the sanctions imposed against the Islamic Republic and initiate direct and unconditional dialogue with President Rohani – or better yet with Khamenei, just as he did with Kim il-Jong. But, Iran is not North Korea: there are overly and overtly influential lobbies and geopolitical narratives (in support of Israel) that would prevent anything even resembling dialogue from happening. The Saudis, who seemed interested in pursuing dialogue, have interpreted the Soleimani assassination as a friendly warning from Washington, that Uncle Sam does not approve such overtures.

Therefore, they may simply wait: perhaps, for a direct U.S. attack on Iran? Meanwhile, as Washington’s differences with Tehran’s tensions with Washington have mutated into hostilities with Baghdad, the Iranians have themselves lost the power to put the genie of conflict back in the lamp. General Soleimani had built a legendary reputation, which translated into authority. New commander of the Quds Force, Esmail Ghaani, will enjoy less strategic independence and will likely be used as a mere instrument to carry out Khamenei’s vision, while lacking the influence and control over the network, which Soleimani wove over the years, coordinating and organizing various Shiite militias and organizations in Lebanon, Iraq and Bahrain. Without Soleimani, an element of predictability has been lost, raising the opportunities for jarred actions, leading to wider war as Iran plays the regional and Shiite cards.
Alessandro Bruno

The priorities of Russian foreign policy in Africa.

Wednesday, 1 January 2020 8:00

Holding summits for African heads of governments is fast becoming a recurrent event among the global power brokers. The EU has had about 5 of these summits, probably to massage and codify her colonial exploitative economic spree with Africa because
nothing significant has really emerged from those submits
to enhance Africa’s fortune.

Following the example of China in the recent past, Russia too had, for the first time, invited the African heads of government to a two-day Africa summit in Sochi from 23.-24 October, 2019. Over 40 African heads of government participated in the summit. Just like China, Russia has the privilege of entering into the African political space as a non-colonialists but Russia had the added advantage of having supported African states in their struggle for independence.

During the Cold War, it had close ties with socialist states like Guinea, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Angola. Those countries have now become the boosters for the rebuilding of Russian interest in Africa. Neither China nor Russia cares about human rights in Africa, but Russia in particular does not hide her thirst for arm sales, nor even shy away from helping autocratic regimes to sway national elections, as has been reported from DR Congo and Guinea while the Chinese unbriddled quest for mineral resources has no equal.

Obviously, both China and Russia are exploiting the vacuum created by the European colonialists from their lack of true and constructive commitment to Africa to market their respective products in Africa. But in the final analysis it is a race of fury for the control of Africa’s natural resources, the global digital economy and power.
The primary products offered to the African heads of governments by Russia during the most recent summit are worrisome. Among others, Russia has offered nuclear technology alongside weapons and mining expertise to Africa.

As part of the summit, the Russian energy group Rosatom signed a preliminary agreement with Rwanda to help her with the construction of an atomic research centre and another contract with Ethiopia with the aim of building a high-performance nuclear power plant. Russia has granted Egypt a $ 25 billion loan for the construction of a nuclear power plant and is supplying enriched uranium for a research reactor.
In South Africa. Rosatom had made a deal to build eight $75 billion nuclear power plants under former President Jacob Zuma, which was cancelled after his removal from power.

Truly, Africa needs power to drive her economic development but to suggest nuclear energy for Africa as an option considering its technical demands and environment threats is highly questionable and condemnable. Rather than nuclear energy, is there no wisdom to suggest the development of the rich supply of sun and wind in Africa for solar and wind plants as alternatives for Africa that would be cheaper, cleaner and better.However, it needs to be interrogated further whether these summits are about the development of Africa or the exploitation and control of her resources.

Like China and the European colonialists, Russia is fast leaving her foot print in Africa. In Guinea, Russian corporations exploit huge bauxite deposits and run a gold mine without paying taxes. In Uganda, the Russian corporate group RT Global Resources is building an oil refinery for three billion Euros. Russian companies are planning platinum mines in Zimbabwe and want to develop one of the largest diamond deposits in Angola.Russia could thus double its trade volume with Africa to $ 20 billion in 2019, though this remains modest when compared to China’s $ 300 billion.

Not only that, Russia is also strengthening its influence on the continent through military cooperation. Over the past four years, Russia has signed military cooperation agreements with 19 African states, to supply weapons and training. 40% of all military exports to Africa come from Russia, 17% from China and 11% from the US. At the Sochi summit, Putin declared his intention to double arms exports to Africa and on the spot signed a contract with Nigeria to supply Mi-35 combat helicopters.

In the Central African Republic Russia is very present with 200 military advisors and a Russian is the security advisor to the president. The country is attractive because of its uranium and gold deposits. In an agreement with Mozambique Russia supports the fight against Islamist terrorists in the North and also granted a debt swap in exchange for access to the large oil and gas fields. In Sudan, instructors train the security forces and Russian soldiers supported them in the brutal suppression of demonstrations last June.

Often, military training is not carried out directly by the Russian army, but by mercenaries of the Wagner group, a private security company already notorious through its operations in Crimea and Syria. During the Sochi summit, President Wladimir Putin declared that, “Today, developing and strengthening mutually beneficial relations with African countries is one of the priorities of Russian foreign policy.” But only time will show what this new found love with Africa practically means

However, it is viewed that there is a debt crisis hanging over the neck of the continent. This new wave of interest is indeed a feast on the soul of the African continent. Every resource that the continent can boast of is targeted; the level of resource extraction is massive. In return, there is promise of infrastructural development. It is the replay of an old story. In the 1980s, most African countries fell into a “debt trap” that led to a “lost development decade”. The bail out by the International Monetary through the so-called HIPC initiative (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) came at a high cost, with the imposition of strict conditions which stifled all possibilities of development.

With China’s billions of credits for infrastructure projects, Russia’s arms exports, and governments borrowing further billions on the financial markets, Africa is well on the way to a new debt crisis. Time will tell if the seemingly huge debt reliefs that China and Russia have granted to some African countries are worth the soul of the African continent which has become the main dish for the insatiable appetites of Russia, China and the powerful western countries.
Wolfgang Shonecke

Guatemala. The native flavour of boj.

Wednesday, 1 January 2020 8:00

Boj, which originates from the northern region of Alta Verapaz, has a cultural and spiritual meaning to the Q’eqchi’ people, it is served at religious celebrations and indigenous festivities.

The inhabitants of the Alta Verapaz department say that the basic ingredient of this drink is corn, which has cooked on a wood fire for three days and which is left to soak for two days before being ground. In the meantime, some sugarcane is crushed to get the juice, which is poured in a bowl of cooked clay first, and then into a clay jar, where a base of fermented corn and ginger was previously placed at the bottom. Eight days of fermentation are needed to make a brown, thick and
acidic liquor.

For a more refined flavour, the cane can be ground without the shell and a compound of yeast for bread, soda and oatmeal crackers is put at the bottom of a jar, next to rotten corn that has not previously been used for fermentation. The result, they say, is an off-white drink with foam like that of champagne. There are several legends about the origin of boj. According to the Mayan worldview, this drink has existed since pre-Hispanic times and its production is linked to the creation of the world and man. Over centuries, several experiments were made to achieve the perfection of this drink, whose basic ingredient was, every time, fermented corn. The final recipe includes sugarcane which was introduced during the colonial era and which gives a distinctive taste.

There are several kinds of boj that are served on different occasions. The ceremonial boj, as the name implies, is primarily served on occasion of religious celebrations and indigenous festivities, and its preparation implies a sacred ritual. People traditionally, before drinking boj, pour a little of it on the ground before the figure of a saint, as a symbolic blessing of the place. This drink is served during celebrations such as the Pa’baanq or planting day, baptisms, weddings, birthdays and patron saint festivities. Of course, you have to be very careful, because boj is a seriously powerful alcoholic drink, warn those who have already experienced the powers of its ancestral influence.

Pedro Santacruz

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