During the 1880s, Brazil continued to prosper and social diversity increased markedly, including the first organized push for women’s rights. The country had greatly changed in the five decades since Pedro II’s accession to the throne. The liberalism adopted by successive Government cabinets favored private initiatives and resulted in decades of economic prosperity. It “had an economy that was rapidly developing in the 1880′s”. Brazil’s international trade reached a total value of Rs 79.000:000$000 (see Brazilian currency) between 1834 and 1839. This continued to increase every year until it reached Rs 472.000:000$000 between 1886 and 1887 (an annual growth rate of 3.88% since 1839). Brazilian economic growth, especially after 1850, compared well with that of the United States and European nations. The national revenue, which amounted to Rs 11.795:000$000 in 1831, rose to Rs 160.840:000$000 in 1889. By 1858, it was the eighth largest in the world. To give an idea of the economic potential of the country during the Empire, if “it had been able to sustain the level of productivity achieved in 1780 and managed to increase exports at a pace equal to that verified in the second half of 19th century, its ”per capita” income in 1950 would be comparable to the average per capita income of the Western European nations”.

Development on an immense scale occurred during this period, which anticipated similar initiatives in European countries. In 1850, there were 50 factories valued at more than Rs 7.000:000$000. At the end of the Imperial period in 1889, Brazil had 636 factories (representing an annual rate of increase of 6.74% from 1850) valued at approximately Rs 401.630:600$000 (annual growth rate of 10.94% since 1850). The “countryside echoed with the clang of iron track being laid as railroads were constructed at the most furious pace of the nineteenth century; indeed, building in the 1880′s was the second greatest in absolute terms in Brazil’s entire history. Only eight countries in the entire world laid more track in the decade than Brazil.” The first railroad line, with only 15& kilometers, was opened on 30 April 1854 at a time when many European countries had no rail service. By 1868, there were 718& kilometers of railroad lines, and by the end of the Empire in 1889, this had grown to 9,200& kilometers (with another 9,000& kilometers under construction), making it the country with “the largest rail network in Latin America”.

“Factories also sprang throughout the Empire in the 1880s at an unprecedent rate, and its cities were beginning to receive the benefits of gas, electrical, sanitation, telegraph and tram companies. Brazil was entering the modern world.” It was the fifth country in the world to install modern sewers in cities, the third to have sewage treatment, and one of the pioneers in installing telephone lines. Beyond these, it was the first South American nation to adopt public electric illumination (in 1883) and the second in the Americas (behind the United States) to estabilish a telegraphic line connecting it directly to Europe (in 1874). The first telegraph line appeared in 1852 in Rio de Janeiro. By 1889, there were 18,925& kilometers of telegraph lines connecting the country’s capital to distant Brazilian provinces such as Pará, and even linking to other South American countries such as Argentina and Uruguay.

The Brazilian Empire was admired internationally for its democratic system and for its respect for freedom of speech. In politics there were “solid and competitive parties, an active parliament, a free press, open debate”. The Argentine President Bartolomé Mitre called the country a “crowned democracy” and Venezuelan President Rojas Paúl after learning of the Emperor’s fall said, “It has ended the only republic that existed in [South] America: the Empire of Brazil.” The Brazil of the last year of Pedro II’s reign was a “prosperous and [internationally] respected” nation which held unchallenged leadership in Latin America. Its navy was the fifth or sixth most powerful in the world in 1889 with the most powerful battleships in the western hemisphere. The Emperor was beloved by the Brazilian people and was regarded with “respect, almost veneration” in North America and Europe due to his democratic, liberal and progressive ideals and actions. The remarks made by a former U.S. consul at Rio de Janeiro, who met Pedro II in late 1882, tells much of the general view that foreigners had of Brazil and its Emperor by the end of the 1880s:

The British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone said that Pedro II was “a model to the Sovereigns of the world” and held him as being a “great and good Sovereign”. Brazilian writer Machado de Assis would later remember him as “a humble, honest, well-learned and patriotic man, who knew how to make of a throne a chair [for his simplicity], without diminishing its greatness and respect.” When he became Emperor in 1831, Brazil was on the verge of fragmentation. Fifty-eight years later, the country had been at peace for more than four decades, slavery had been extinguished, the representative system was consolidated, and the leadership of the military was in civilian hands (something not seen in the Spanish-American countries). Indeed, for “the longevity of his government and the transformations which occurred during its course, no other Head of State has marked more deeply the history of the nation.” Even though Brazil was richer and more powerful than ever, though it enjoyed an excellent international reputation, and though Pedro II himself was still extremely popular among his subjects, the Brazilian monarchy itself was dying.

A tired emperor

Beginning in late 1880, letters from Pedro II to the Countess of Barral reveal a man grown world-weary with age and having an increasingly alienated and pessimistic outlook. In them he frequently expresses “his loneliness and his desire to escape into her company.” The Emperor entertained a fantasy of leaving everything behind and realizing his cherished ambition of taking up a life in Europe, as he expressed it: “and I, were I to enjoy my total independence, where would I be? Guess.” This strong desire to retire to a less circumscribed life abroad was a constant presence throughout the 1880s. Despite the dichotomy between reverie and reality, he remained respectful of his duty and was meticulous in performing the tasks demanded of the Imperial office, albeit often without enthusiasm.

Pedro II was also undergoing physical decline, which only served to exacerbate his mental state. In younger days, he was admired for his ability to work long hours and rapidly bounce back from setbacks. But “lack of exercise and very poor eating habits also took their toll.” By the 1880s he had to rely on pince-nez spectacles for reading due to deterioration of his eyesight, and on dentures for eating, as sugar had caused his teeth to decay. A tendency to doze off unexpectedly began to be exhibited, including falling asleep “in the middle of important meetings and during public engagements.” The cause was what is known today as type 2 diabetes (non-insulin-dependent), with which the Emperor was diagnosed sometime around 1882. Throughout the following years, the monarch was afflicted with several sudden illnesses, ranging from stomach pains to fevers. In 1884 he received a laceration on his left leg which became infected and, complicated by his diabetes, took longer than expected to completely heal. He also began suffering from “urinary problems due to the damage done by diabetes to his kidneys.”

Tired of the emperorship and beset by frequent ailments, Pedro II increasingly withdrew from government business, often behaving more like a bystander. He was observed walking around dressed in tailcoat and carrying an umbrella in the streets, sometimes surrounded by cheerful children; sampling fruits in the local market; and tasting the students’ food in the kitchens on visits to schools. He tried to live as an ordinary person, successfully “mixing with the people in the streets”. He abolished several rituals related to the monarchy, such as hand-kissing in 1872 and the ”guarda dos archeiros” (Archers’s Guard) in 1877, “the palace guard clad in multicolored uniforms and armed with halberds.” The City Palace, where the government met, was practically abandoned as also was the Imperial residence at the Palace of São Cristóvão, now devoid of courtiers. An Austrian diplomat, summarized well the situation in late 1882:

Pomp, ritual and luxury were discarded. These caused Pedro II to be viewed as “a great citizen” in the popular imagination, but at the same time his image as a monarch, as a living symbol and authority figure diminished. As a German journalist remarked in 1883: “It is a rare thing, in the Emperor’s situation: he has no personnal fortune and his civil list, already by itself insufficient, is almost all expended on charity, in a way that he cannot afford any pomp in the court, nor do anything to give any gleam to his residences […] It undoubtedly does great honor to the man, but contributes little to the necessary prestige of the Emperor.” But the society in which the Emperor lived put great store in ceremonials and customs, and the Emperor had discarded much of the symbolism and aura with which the Imperial system was imbued.

The monarchy’s fate: heirless

After their experience of the perils and obstacles of government, the political figures who had arisen during the 1830s became wary of taking on a greater role in ruling the nation. They looked to the Emperor as providing a fundamental and useful source of authority essential both for governing and for national survival. Pedro II’s natural ability and proficiency as a ruler encouraged greater deference as time passed. The political establishment “perceived him as the key to the successful working of the [political] system, someone whose reputation and authority protected him from all discussion.” These elder statesmen began to die off or retire from government until, by the 1880s, they had almost entirely been replaced by a younger generation of politicians who had no experience of the Regency and early years of Pedro II’s reign, when external and internal dangers threatened the nation’s existence. They had only known a stable administration and prosperity. In sharp contrast those of the previous era, the young politicians saw no reason to uphold and defend the Imperial office as a unifying force beneficial to the nation. Pedro II’s role in achieving an era of national unity, stability and good government now went unremembered and unconsidered by the ruling elites. By his very success, “Pedro II had made himself redundant as emperor”.

The lack of an heir who could feasibly provide a new direction for the nation also diminished the long-term prospects for continuation of the Brazilian monarchy. The Emperor loved his daughter D. Isabel, and respected her strong character. However, he considered the idea of a female successor as antithetical to the role required of Brazil’s ruler. “Destiny had spoken in the loss of his two male heirs and the lack, after their death, of any more sons.” That view was also shared by the political establishment, who continued to harbor reservations when it came to any thought of accepting a female ruler. D. Isabel’s children were also discounted as heirs. Pedro II had not raised them as possible successors to the throne, but rather in hopes that they would become worthy citizens. The consensus was that a suitable successor “had to be a man”, that is, a male of the Braganza line.

The Emperor’s great-grandmother, Maria I of Portugal, had been a queen regnant. However, she had been married to her uncle, Pedro III of Portugal who was a Braganza. This meant that her offspring would continue to belong to the House of Braganza. Emperor Pedro II was the last of the direct male line in Brazil descended from Dom Afonso I, first king of Portugal and founder, in 1139, of the dynasty which headed the Brazilian Empire. There were two other male Braganzas, albeit living abroad: Pedro II’s half-brother Rodrigo Delfim Pereira and his cousin Miguel, Duke of Braganza. Both were barred from the line of succession, however. The former because he was an illegitimate son, and the latter because he was a foreigner and not a descendant of the first Brazilian Emperor, Pedro I.

None of these issues bothered Isabel, who did not imagine herself taking on the position of monarch. Her public roles gave no indication of preparations for assuming a greater part in government. She seemed content in supporting her father’s position and made no effort to assemble her own faction of supporters within the political establishment. Her views and beliefs held no attraction for disaffected politicians, so no independent movement formed to adopt her as champion. She “was content with the life of an aristocratic lady, devoting herself to family, religion, charitable works, theater, opera, painting and music.” Her husband, the Count of Eu, was equally disliked. He was shy, humble and eschewed displays of pomp and luxury. Since his marriage to Isabel in 1864, his behavior was described as “exemplary”. But the count’s private virtues did not become a part of his public image. To those outside his immediate circle, he came to be characterized as a greedy foreign interloper. Baseless rumors of questionable business dealings also circulated, such as one which portrayed him as a Rio de Janeiro slum-lord. The prospect of the Count becoming consort detracted from the prospect of Isabel becoming Empress. The couple offered “to Brazilians no alternative center of loyalty or competing vision of the monarchy”.

A weary emperor who no longer cared for the throne, an heir who had no desire to assume the crown, discontent among ruling circles who were dismissive of the Imperial role in national affairs: all seemed to presage the monarchy’s impending doom. Nevertheless, Pedro II was unconcerned that times and conditions were changing. After more than five decades on the throne, he had become complacent in a belief that the devotion and support of his subjects was immutable. Because of these factors, and the lack of an energetic response on the part of Pedro II, it has been argued that prime responsibility for the monarchy’s overthrow rested with the Emperor himself.

Republicanism

Republicanism as an enduring political movement appeared in Brazil during December 1870 in Rio de Janeiro with the publishing of a manifesto signed by 57 people and with the creation of the Republican Club. It represented an “insignificant minority of scholars.” There was no repudiation of or desire for eliminating slavery in the manifesto. In 1873, the Republican Party of São Paulo was created, and it affirmed that slavery would have to be resolved by the monarchist (Conservative and Liberal) parties. The reason for this was because many of the republicans from São Paulo were themselves slave-owning farmers. The objective of most republicans was to wait until the death of Pedro II and by a plebiscite or other peaceful means, prevent Princess Isabel from ascending the throne. Republicanism did not envisage any “social readjustment” (such as improving the quality of life for former-slaves), and they “were not revolutionaries in the deep meaning of the word.” The republican movement “had a slow and irregular evolution, concentrated in the provinces south of Bahia”—more precisely in the provinces of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul.

It was “an extremely small group” with a “precarious organization in the provinces” and no cohesion or connection among themselves. The only republican faction to achieve political clout was the Republican Party of São Paulo, which managed to elect two deputies to the Chamber of Deputies in 1884, though none were elected to the Empire’s last legislature in 1889. In the 1880s “it attracted sympathy in lesser numbers than [slavery] abolitionism, and at a slower pace.” Its numbers only increased after 1888, adding new adherents consisting of farmers who had been slave owners and who perceived themselves victims of an unjust abolition of slavery that had not included any type of indemnity to them. Even so, in 1889 the “avowed republicans were probably a small minority” as the “republican ideals, in reality, had never managed to seduce the people. Its dissemination was restricted to the intellectual and military fields.”

As “the republicans themselves recognized, the party did not have size, organization and popular support enough to overthrow the monarchy.” Republicanism “did not manage, at any moment of its development, to spur the national soul. It never had the stature to provoke a strong enthusiasm or enlist all forces that were divorcing from the throne.” Even with radical propaganda and little interference from the authorities, the Republican Party in existence from the beginning of the 1870s was a small one. It praised republics such as the United States, France and Argentina, while conveniently ignoring progressive monarchies such as the United Kingdom and the Scandinavian countries. In 1889, its members were “spokesmen in public squares and writers of periodicals. They were far from having the power to develop a propaganda that could shake the foundations of the throne.” In the “political process of the second empire [reign of Pedro II], the republican party had such a dull and secondary role that it might even have been forgotten; it was unable to influence rationales advocating the regime’s dissolution.” It was the crisis between the military and the Government, “of very diverse origin and evolution” from the republicanism, which was to prove the main factor in the fall of the monarchy.

Pedro II showed no interest in the republican manifesto of 1870. The Marquis of São Vicente, then President of the Council of Ministers, suggested to the Emperor that republicans be forbidden to enter into public service, a practice then common in monarchies. Pedro II answered, “Mr. São Vicente, allow the nation to govern itself and decide whatever [monarchy or republic] they want.” The President reprimanded the monarch, “Your Majesty does not have a right to think in that way. The Monarchy is a constitutional doctrine which Your Majesty swore to maintain; it is not incarnate in the person of Your Majesty.” But the Emperor did not care and simply answered: “Well, if the Brazilians do not want me as their Emperor, I shall become a teacher instead!”

The Emperor not only always refused to forbid republicans from becoming public servants, but also hired the republican military officer Benjamin Constant as a professor of mathematics to his grandsons. He allowed open republican activities, including newspapers, assemblies, meetings and political parties, and exempted republican deputies elected to the Chamber of Deputies from swearing allegiance to the crown. The freedom of the Press, “one of the foundations of the regime, kept allowing fierce criticisms and vile caricatures opposing the regime and its public personalities.” Pedro II was intransigent in his defense of the unrestricted freedom of speech which had existed in Brazil since independence in 1822. He was accused of being excessively tolerant towards the republicans, but “he did not pay attention to several warnings stating that his behavior undermined the political foundation of the monarchy.” In 1889, Pedro II said to José Antonio Saraiva that he would not mind if Brazil became a republic. The “Emperor’s indifference towards the fate of the regime was also one of the main factors in the fall of the Monarchy.”

Military deterioration

A serious problem began to become evident during the 1880s. This was a weakening of discipline within Brazil’s military. The older generation of officers were loyal to the monarchy, believed the military should be under civilian control, and had a great aversion to the militaristic caudillism against which they had earlier fought. But these elders were no longer in control and many had since died, including the Duke of Caxias, the Count of Porto Alegre, the Marquis of Erval, and others. It was accepted that military officers could participate in politics while staying on active duty. However, most did so as members of the Conservative Party and Liberal Party. This meant that their political careers were apt to come into conflict with their duty as officers to act in subordination to the civilian government, which could be in the hands of their political opponents. Earlier involvement in politics by members of the military had not threatened the stability of Brazil’s institutions, due to pervasive loyalty to the monarchy and constitution. The conflict of interest in mixing military and political spheres became more obvious and threatening as support for the constitutional establishment eroded among some elements within the military, although neither the Emperor or government seem to have grasped the extent and implications of the increasing involvement of members of the military as political dissidents. Until this point Brazilians, both civilians and military, shared a sense of pride in the nation’s political stability and for having avoided the caudillos, coups, military dictatorships and rebellions that characterized neighboring countries. Their perception of the superiority of the Brazilian political system was attributed to an established tradition of civilian control over the military. And the ministers who held the War and Navy portfolios in the cabinet were, with rare exceptions, civilians.

The monarch was examined by the French doctors Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard, Jean-Martin Charcot and Michel Peter who recommended a visit to the spas at Baden-Baden. He remained there for two months and met with old acquaintances, including Wilhelm I of Germany and Leopold II of Belgium. He also visited the tomb of his daughter Leopoldina in Coburg. He returned to Paris on 8 October 1887 and met his sisters Januária and Francisca. From there he traveled to Italy where he was invited by the King of Italy to a dinner along with Victoria of the United Kingdom and Natalija Obrenović, Queen of Serbia. In Florence he unveiled the painting ”Independence or Death” by the Brazilian painter Pedro Américo in the presence of the British Queen, the Serbian queen and Charles I, King of Württemberg. In Milan he met with Cesare Cantù. There his health worsened on 3 May 1888, and he passed two weeks between life and death, even being anointed. The doctor Charcot came from Paris to assist and administered caffeine by intervenous injection, resulting in an improvement in the Emperor’s health. On 22 May he received news that slavery had been abolished in Brazil by a law sanctioned by his daughter . Lying in bed with a weak voice and tears in his eyes, he said, “Great people! Great people!”

Pedro II returned to Brazil and disembarked in Rio de Janeiro on 22 August 1888. The “whole country welcomed him with an enthusiasm never seen before. From the capital, from the provinces, from everywhere, arrived proofs of affection and veneration. The emotion from those who saw him disembark, frail, thin, with bent body, weak legs, was one most profound.” The cadets from the Military Academy climbed Sugarloaf Mountain and placed a gigantic banner on which was written “Hail.” Such popular enthusiasm directed toward the Emperor was not matched even by the celebrations of his majority in 1840, in the Christie Affair of 1864, upon his departure to Rio Grande do Sul in 1865, or even after the victory in the War of the Triple Alliance in 1870. “To judge from the general manifestations of affection that the Emperor and the Empress had received on the occasion of their arrival from Europe, in this winter of 1888, no political institution seemed to be so strong as the monarchy in in Brazil.” Even former slaves displayed loyalty towards the monarchy and vehemently opposed the republicans, whom they called “the Paulistas.” The “monarchy seemed to be at the height of its popularity.” Pedro II had reached the pinnacle of his prestige among Brazilians.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Decline and fall of Pedro II of Brazil, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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Family

The Morello family was actually more or less, two Sicilian families tied by blood and marriage, the Morello-Terranova family. Both of these Sicilian families held deep roots in the community of Corleone, a small town located outside of Palermo. Calogero Morello married Angela Piazza in 1865, and the marriage produced 3 children, the eldest Antonio, his younger brother Giuseppe, and his sister Marietta. Their father died in 1872, but in the Sicily of that era, it was not uncommon to find a widow with children soon remarried, and Angela did just that in in the summer of 1873. Bernardo Terranova, another Corleone native, had 4 children of his own, Salvatrice, the eldest, then came Vincenzo, Ciro and Nicolo.

Pre Crime-Family History

Antonio Morello was ambitious and ruthless and on December 4, 1893 Morello murdered a New York mafioso named Francesco Meli. Meli was an influential member of Brooklyn’s Neapolitan Camorra, a rival group within New York’s Italian underworld and one of the Morello Gang’s strongest enemies. The killing of Meli may have represented a struggle for control of the Brooklyn dockyards and the illegal rackets around that area and with the murder of Meli it seems that Sicilian mafiosi Antonio Morello was able to usurp Neapolitan mafia control of the Brooklyn dockyards and eventually expanded his group’s operations into parts of the Upper Manhattan and Bronx waterfronts, while leaving the Lower Manhattan area to the Irish and Jewish gangs that still dominated that area.

In later years there have been reports that the murder of Meli by the elder Morello was also personal, rumors are that Meli’s underlings had robbed Morello’s wife prior to his murder. This was possibly an act of disrespect directed at Antonio and his family during the conflict concerning the Brooklyn docks between the Sicilian Morello and Neapolitan Meli, so to Morello the killing of Meli was also a matter of honor. Both the Dec. 5th issue of the Hartford Courant and the Jan. 19th and 23rd issues of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle described “Francisco Mele” as a one-armed organ grinder and Morello as a “padrone.”

Upon establishing itself within New York’s Italian underworld the Morello Gang made certain they associated themselves with mafia members who originally came from their area of Sicily in order to generate support and create alliances that would allow Morello and his associates to overcome any rival group.

One of Antonio Morello’s strongest allies in New York was Ignazio Saietta, another well known Sicilian-American mafia member from Morello’s hometown of Corleone, Sicily. Siaetta was known within the Italian communities of New York as “Lupo”, which meant “wolf” in Italian, his ruthless and vicious nature was legendary among the Italians and the mafia of New York.

Continuing to support the Saietta Gang, their allies based in the Little Italy, Manhattan area of the city, Antonio Morello and his family, who arrived in 1893, would use their alliance with Saietta to become one of the most dominant mafia groups within New York City.

In the late 1890s Lupo Saietta married into the Morello family when he wed Antonio’s half sister, Salvatrese Terranova, the sister of Ciro Terranova, their union produced a son Rocco who was born in 1900. Some organized crime and American mafia historians believe that the marriage of Saietta into the Morello-Terranova clan was the true beginnings of the Morello crime family as the marriage not only created family ties, but cemented the underworld alliance of the two groups, which then gave them an even stronger advantage over most of their rivals as the bonds of secrecy and loyalty within the mafia family were now based on family and blood ties, something very important to traditional mafia families.

Antonio Morello was gunned down in the summer of 1898 at the age of 44, apparently the victim of a mafia rivalry. With the death of Antonio Morello in 1898, leadership of the Morello crime family was passed onto his brother Giuseppe Morello, although Iganzio Saietta was considered the overall leader of the Manhattan group and with that carried a level of seniority and was recognized as the co-leader of the organization that Antonio Morello helped create.

Post-Antonio Era

Benardo Terranova was a well known ”man of honor” in his community, a member of the Sicilian mafia, and soldier in the Corleonesi clan, which would one day become one of the most powerful and famous criminal organizations in the world. At this time the Corleonesi mafia was only a small, rural band made up mainly of peasant farmers, but as tradition called for Terranova, who had joined the mafia sometime in the 1880s, while he was still young and strong, was eager to bring his sons into the fraternity or brotherhood. His own sons were far too young, so taking an interest in the future of his step-son, Giuseppe Morello was initiated into the mafia sometime in the late 1880s, most likely in 1889, at the age of 21, when Morello was allegedly involved in the murder of a local captain of the field guards. Giuseppe Morello quickly rose through the ranks of the Corleone mafia, surpassing even his step-father’s rank and influence, becoming the lieutenant of caporegime Paolino Streva, one of capo Salvatore Cutrera’s top men. Unfortunately for Morello and his family, just 3 years later he was embroiled in a counterfeiting case and was sought for arrest and questioning.

This is when the Morello-Terranova family decided to leave Sicily and immigrate to America. The family left Corleone and arrived in America in 1893, first settling in the predominately Italian enclave of East Harlem New York, but lack of work caused the family to move south into Louisiana to look for work on plantations near New Orleans just a year later. While in Louisiana, Giuseppe Morello, being an established mafioso from Corleone was able to meet other mafiosi originally from the Corleone area, who had immigrated to Louisiana and settled in New Orleans, where one of the largest Italian populations in America existed in the late 1800 and early 1900s. Morello was able to create new friendships with southern based mafiosi from Corleone, who had family, relatives and friends based in New York and around the country. These new relationships would serve Morello in the future and throughout his criminal career in the American mafia. The Morello-Terranova family remained in Louisiana until 1902 and then returned to New York. While the Morello-Terranova family had been in Louisiana for a few short years, the New York landscape had changed, as tens of thousands more Italians flocked to New York, and continued to fill the Italian communities and tenement buildings. Bernardo Terranova and step-son Giuseppe Morello quickly used their mafia connections to land jobs and then immediately became involved in Italian underworld activities with associates other Corleone mafia members based in New York. Morello was a natural leader, who possessed a quick mind, cunning, and a ferociousness that could be called upon to match his cold eyes and steely looks. The two oldest Terranova boys, Vincenzo and Ciro were now in their mid-to-late teens and began to join their step-brother as he committed crimes and involved himself in the rackets, including horse theft, robbery, extortion, counterfeiting. Only Nicolo was still somewhat young at 13, but he would soon become the group’s top horse thief, a valuable racket at the time since horse and buggy where still the most common mode of transportation.

Within 2 years half-brothers Vincenzo “Vincent” Terranova, Ciro “The Artichoke King” Terranova and Nicola “Nick” Terranova became members of the crime family. Originally known as the ”116th Street Mob” or ”Morello Gang”, the Morellos quickly established dominance within the predominantly Italian neighborhood of East Harlem, Manhattan and parts of the Bronx and eventually Brooklyn. The Morello gang as they were known early in their criminal careers became a highly secretive and closed group, mainly consorting with Sicilian men of Corleonesi origins, who made up most of the group’s membership.

Counterfeiting Scandal

The Morello-Lupo alliance continued to prosper and both men were accorded a great deal of respect from mafia members across the city, but according to former Pittsburgh mafia leader Nicola Gentile, Giuseppe Morello would become the more powerful of the two mafia leaders and would soon be recognized as the “boss of bosses” of the New York mafia. In 1903 the group began a major counterfeiting ring with powerful Sicilian ”mafioso” ”Don” Vito Cascio Ferro, printing $5 dollar bills in Sicily and smuggling them into the United States. Many of the later “barrel murders”, particularly that of Giuseppe “Joe” Catania Sr. (whose body was found in July 1902), were thought to have been committed by the Morellos, who employed a large number of members of the counterfeiting operation.

On April 13, 1903 the body of Benedetto Madonia, brother-in-law to police informant Giuseppe DiPrimo (de Priemo), was found in a barrel after being brutally tortured. A United States Secret Service detective, who had been investigating the counterfeiting ring, traced the man to a restaurant where he was seen with Morello crime family Boss, Ignazio Lupo along with associate and hitman, Tommaso “The Ox” Petto. New York detective Joseph Petrosino later confirmed Madonia’s identity after visiting DiPrimo at Sing Sing Prison. A letter by Madonia seeking to leave the organization was found in a search of Madonia’s house. With this evidence several ”mafiosi” were arrested including Morello, Lupo, Petto, and restaurant owner Pietro Inzarillo as well as several other members. However the charges are later dropped after witnesses changed their statements.

The Morello crime family had consolidated their hold on Upper Manhattan however on November 15, 1909 New York police raided a building in Highland, New York the Morellos were using as a front for their counterfeiting operation. After letters were found by Black Hand victims from New Orleans, fifteen members of the Morellos, including Giuseppe Morello and Ignazio Lupo, were arrested. Recovering a large amount of both American and Canadian counterfeit bills, including Morello member Pasquale Vasi in possession of $1,200 worth of counterfeit money, the printer agreed to testify against the Morellos.

Beginning on January 26, 1910 the trial ended on February 19 with all members involved convicted, including Giuseppe Morello and Ignazio Lupo, who were sentenced to thirty and twenty-five years respectively at Atlanta Federal Prison.

Mafia-Camorra War

With Giuseppe Morello’s and Lupo Saietta’s conviction, Nicholas “Nick” Terranova, with Vincenzo and Ciro Terranova, took control of the Morello crime family. At this time the Morellos’ power was at its height, controlling Manhattan’s criminal activities from East Harlem to Greenwich Village. Soon after opening the Venezia Restaurant, the club became a popular hangout for the city’s underworld.

Nick’s efforts to unify the Italian criminal organizations of New York, particularly the Sicilian ”Mafiosi” and the Neapolitan ”Camorristi”, during the early 1910s were unsuccessful despite his best efforts.

The Morellos’ main rival was ”Don” Pellegrino Morano who controlled the Camorra gangs controlling Brooklyn. As violence continued between ”Mafiosi” and ”Camorristi”, the Morello crime family began to split, particularly after the 1914 and 1915 murders of crime family associates and East Harlem Camorristi, Fortunato “Charles” Lamonti and Giosue Gallucci. The crime family split into several factions headed by their top members, Giuseppe Masseria and Umberto “Rocco” Valenti, although there is debate by crime writers and historians as to whether Rocco Valenti was a Sicilian ”Mafioso” and a member of the Morello crime family or Neapolitan ”Camorristi” and a member of the Morano crime family and only allied to the Morellos.

During this time the Morellos had allied with ”Don” Giosue Gallucci, a prominent East Harlem businessman and Camorrista with local political connections and the Lamonti Brothers who where also powerful East Harlem businessmen and Camorristi. Gaetano “Thomas” Lamonti and brother Fortunato “Charles” Lamonti were known as friends of the Morellos who owned a feed store down the street from the famous ”Murder Stable” owned by Ignazio Lupo. After the 1914 murder of Lamonti brother Charles and the 1915 murder of Gallucci, the alliance between the Morellos and the East Harlem Camorristi ended as the Brooklyn Camorristi planned to eliminate the Mafiosi from Manhattan.

In early 1916 Camorra Boss Pellegrino Morano, with lieutenant Vincenzo Paragallo, began moving into the Morello crime family’s territory. After six months of fighting, however, Morano offered a truce to end the stalemate. Mafia Boss, Nick Morello agreed as a meeting was arranged at a Navy Street café owned by Camorrista, Alessandro Vollero. However upon arriving, Morello was ambushed by five members of the Brooklyn Camorra group and killed along with bodyguard, Charles Ubriaco on September 7, 1916. While the loss of the Morello crime family’s senior leader was a blow to the Mafia, Camorra Boss, Pellegrino Morano was quickly charged with Nick Morello’s murder after two members of the Camorra group, Tony Notoro and Ralph Daniello, contacted New York police implicating Pellegrino Morano and Alessandro Vollero, revealing the war between the Sicilian and Neapolitan gangs. Both Morano and Vollero, after being denied help from New York detective Michael Mealli, were convicted of murder and imprisoned, as were the remaining leaders of the Camorristi, effectively ending the Mafia-Camorra War.

A Crime Family Divided

In the aftermath of the Mafia-Camorra war the Morellos were in control of East Harlem, parts of the Bronx and Brooklyn, New York, ensuring the dominance of the Sicilian mafiosi, as the remaining Camorra members were absorbed into the different Sicilian mafia families that had been formed since the late 1890s, early 1900s in New York organization by the end of 1917. The Terranova brothers, Vincent and Ciro took the place of their half brother Nick as leaders of the crime family and although Ciro Terranova was tried for the murders of gambling bosses, Charles Lombardi and Joe DiMarco in 1918, the brothers remained in control of the Morello crime family as the case was later dismissed.

The organization remained divided between Morello crime family members, Joe Masseria and Rocco Valenti, however as Masseria began gaining power after his release from prison in 1916, serving 3 years for committing a burglary at a Bowery pawnshop and from then he rose to become one of the top members of the crime family, while Valenti had been a Brooklyn Camorra member who after the war joined the Morello crime family and quickly rose through the ranks to become a top crime family member by 1920. The Morellos and their crime family faced a civil war amongst themselves following the post Joe Morello-Lupo Saietta era. The internal conflict centered around two of the most powerful members of the crime family and their factions which battled for control of the Morello crime family during the early 1920s.

The Morello-Masseria-Valenti Conflict

The Masseria faction versus the Valenti faction was an internal war that was waged within the Morello crime family from 1920-22 and whether or not the Morello family was aligned with Masseria or Valenti is the question that poses a great dilemma for many crime writers, historians and mob watchers. There are many interested in this part of the Morello crime family’s history who believe that either the Morello family was an ally to the new rising mafia power in New York, Joe Masseria or they were aligned with Masseria’s enemy, Umberto “Rocco” Valenti in order to stop Masseria from gaining control of the crime family and becoming the top mafia boss in New York. A universal fact within this era of the New York mafia is that Brooklyn mafia Boss, Salvatore “Toto” D’Aquila along with the support of Cleveland mafia Boss, Joseph “Big Joe” Porello had become the self proclaimed ”Boss of Bosses” of the American mafia from the mid-1910s and was now looking to be officially anointed and took a great interest in the outcome of the Morello-Masseria-Valenti conflict. Now whether or not Salvatore D’Aquila had given his support to Joe Masseria in his bid to gain the leadership of the Morello crime family in an effort to rid themselves of alleged former Boss of Bosses, Giuseppe Morello is in question. If Salvatore D’Aquila gave his support to Joe Masseria it was believed that it was so that Masseria would then support D’Aquila’s bid to officially gain the Boss of Bosses title, but Masseria had his own plans for the coveted title.

Crime writer David Leon Chandler’s 1975 book, “Brothers in Blood:The Rise of the Criminal Brotherhoods” supports the theory that when alleged former boss of bosses, Giuseppe Morello, now called “Peter the Clutch Hand” was released from prison in 1920 he immediately began a campaign to recapture the leadership of the Morello crime family. From 1916, the Morello crime family had been under the leadership of Morello’s half brothers the Terranovas, but was being coveted by mafia power, Joe Masseria and that by aligning himself with Rocco Valenti and Pittsburgh mafiosi, Nicola “Cola” Gentile, Morello could eliminate Masseria and hold onto his crime family. Rocco Valenti and Nick Gentile had allegedly aligned themselves with each other in 1920 to oppose mafia boss, Tata D’Aquila in his bid to become the true boss of bosses and Morello apparently believed he could use the two mafiosi in his quest against Joe Masseria or so the theory goes. The only undisputed fact in the war is that Joe Masseria and Rocco Valenti battled each other from 1920-22 to claim the leadership of the Morello crime family, but what is highly disputed is whether Giuseppe “Peter the Clutch Hand” Morello had allied himself with either Rocco Valenti or Joe Masseria? This is the main question that must be answered and crime writers, historians and mob watchers who support the theory that Giuseppe Morello was allied to Rocco Valenti are hard pressed to explain the factual alliance of Joe Masseria and the Terranova brothers, Vincent and Ciro throughout the time Giuseppe Morello is in prison from 1910-22 and the fact that their alliance continued during the conflict, pitting the Terranovas against Valenti. Whether Tata D’Aquila supported Joe Masseria or opposed him as others believe, the true realization of Joe Masseria’s close alliance and business association to the Terranovas lead many who have researched the events occurring in the war to conclude that the Morellos and Terranovas were allied to Masseria against Rocco Valenti in his bid for the crime family leadership being that Giuseppe Morello would never oppose or for that matter kill his relatives and half brothers, the Terranovas to support Valenti. There are many factual and recorded events in the war that give us a clearer look at the participants and what their alleged alliances would have been once the events are examined.

Victims of the war

The first mafioso to fall victim to the aspirations of Joe Masseria and Rocco Valenti was bootlegger and Valenti ally, Salvatore Muaro who was murdered by alleged Morello-Masseria gunmen on Christie St. December 29, 1920. The next person to be killed in the war that was directly connected to the Morello crime family was Terranova family uncle, George Terranova who was murdered allegedly by Valenti gunmen on January 27, 1921. Rocco Valenti then made a concrete move in the direction of winning the war and taking over the Morello crime family when Boss, Vincent Terranova was shot and killed in front of his home at 116th St. and 2nd Avenue by gunmen shooting from a moving car on May 8, 1922. With the death of Morello crime family boss, Vincent Terranova, Joe Masseria was then seen as the successor for the crime family’s leadership and soon became known as ‘Joe the Boss”. This is one of the events that causes confusion for people and gives way to a theory that Masseria killed Terranova in order to become boss of the crime family. Others believe Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria acts immediately to avenge the death of Terranova by personally setting up an ambush for Rocco Valenti and his bodyguard, Silva Tagliagamba at the curbside liquor exchange near Grande and Mulberry Streets in Manhattan a short distance from police headquarters where bootleggers meet openly to exchange surplus liquor. Joe Masseria’s plan to kill Valenti was considered sound due to the fact that Masseria’s underling, Tommy Pennochio supervised the liquor exchange and would be able to assist Masseria and his gunmen in Valenti’s ambush. But Rocco Valenti escaped Masseria’s shooters, even though Tagliagamba was mortally wounded. Masseria was later apprehended by police as he fled the scene. Police were surprised to find that Masseria had a gun permit issued by a New York city official. Masseria was eventually charged with Tagliagamba’s murder, though the case was never prosecuted.

End of the conflict==

On August 8, 1922, Joe Masseria was apparently ambushed by Rocco Valenti gunmen on 5th St. and 2nd Ave. near his home. Masseria ducted into Heiney’s Millinery where a Valenti gunman proceeded to shoot at Masseria 4 times from a range of no more than 10 feet. Masseria, so the story goes, ducked and dodged the bullets. The gunman and store clerk were amazed as store items and Masseria’s straw hat were the only things hit by the bullets and with that, the legend that Joe Masseria could dodge bullets was born. Joe Masseria executes a second effort to eliminate Rocco Valenti by duping him into believing he is scared for his life, wishes to retire and abdicate the Morello crime family leadership to Valenti. There is another theory by those who believe the Morello-Valenti alliance existed that Joe Masseria’s second plan to eliminate Rocco Valenti included naming Peter Morello the boss of bosses and abdicate the crime family leadership to him. Either way the facts state that on August 11, 1922 at an Italian restaurant located at 233 East 12th St. Joe Masseria and Rocco Valenti have an alleged peace meeting to discuss the terms of Masseria’s abdication. After they eat and the meeting is concluded Masseria leaves the restaurant first at which time Valenti realizes he has been set up and runs down the street for a taxi and is shot just as he reaches the taxi door. The alleged shooter of Rocco Valenti is Masseria underling, Charlie “Lucky” Luciano. The elimination of Valenti leaves Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria the top Italian crime boss in New York and in control of the newly named Masseria crime family. Giuseppe “Peter the Clutch Hand” Morello becomes the crime family’s top advisor and a close aide to Masseria, thus strengthening the theory that Morello was allied to Masseria.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Morello crime family, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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Polls consistently show an unprecedented support for President Uribe by many Colombians, estimated at around 70% after his second year in office. Support is widespread, but highest among medium and higher income Colombians. Uribe’s relative popularity is largely attributed to his administration’s successful campaigns against the FARC and the ELN, and in part to the efforts to begin demobilizing the paramilitaries (United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia). Also, analysts point out that Uribe is seen as a charismatic 24-hour workaholic and a promoter of personal and administrative austerity, which some interpret as a role model for other Colombians and politicians.

Uribe and his cabinet members travel outside Bogotá on weekends and, as part of the communitarian state model, organize weekly communitarian councils in every department, even remote regions of Colombia. The stated objective of these councils is to promote citizen participation and exchange direct feedback with local authorities, publicly hearing and discussing their concerns. These sessions are shown live on a public state television channel for several hours. Uribe’s supporters widely believe that these councils have contributed to varying degrees of advancement in the resolution of local issues by simplifying “red tape”. The councils are credited with keeping Uribe’s popularity levels and reinforcing his image of a hardworking, plain-speaking politician.

Sympathizers consider that Uribe has achieved significant results in the fight against illegal armed groups, allowing civilian traffic to return to many roads abandoned during the 1990s. They believe he has tried to implement macroeconomic measures to stimulate internal commerce, growth and reduce unemployment, although he has not passed important bills such as a structural tax reform.

Security policy

Uribe’s declared priority has been to contain or defeat the three main armed groups in Colombia, the AUC, ELN, and FARC. Military operations against them have intensified since he took office, especially against FARC.

Uribe has stated that the government must first show military superiority in order to eventually make the guerrillas return to the negotiating table with a more flexible position, even if this would only happen after his term in office expired. Early in his government, he was quoted as saying that Colombia’s main concerns are now the challenges of terrorism and the narcotics trade.

In a dialog with BBC’s “Talking Point”, Uribe stated: “Of course we need to eliminate social injustice in Colombia but what is first? Peace. Without peace, there is no investment. Without investment, there are no fiscal resources for the government to invest in the welfare of the people.”

His security program is based on a policy of democratic security, aiming to:

# gradually restore police presence in all municipalities

# increase judicial action against crimes of high social impact,

# strengthen public institutions

# reduce human rights violations

# dismantle terrorist organizations (specially armed rebel groups, the main one is the FARC-EP),

# reduce kidnappings and extortion

# reduce homicide levels

# prevent forced displacement and facilitating the return of forcefully-displaced people

# continue to fight the illegal drug trade through interdiction, eradication and judicial action.

The policy intends to achieve these goals by:

# engaging the civilian population more actively

# supporting soldiers

# increasing intelligence capacity

# reinstating control over national roads

# demobilizing illegal groups

# integrating the armed forces services

# increasing defense spending.

In early 2002, Uribe’s administration decreed a one-time tax of 1.2% of the liquid assets of the higher income Colombians and corporations, with the goal of raising US $800 million. More than $650 million was collected before the final payment quota was made, surpassing original expectations. Another goal was to increase defense expenditures from a current level of about 3.6% of GDP to 6% of GDP by 2006.

According to official government statistical information from August 2004, in two years, homicides, kidnappings, and terrorist attacks in Colombia decreased by as much as 50% – their lowest levels in almost 20 years. In 2003, there were 7,000 fewer homicides than in 2002 – a decrease of 27%. By April 2004, the government had established a permanent police or military presence in every Colombian municipality for the first time in decades.

The Colombian Embassy in Washington states that, as a result of this policy, the Colombian armed forces would now have: “60% more combat ready soldiers than four years ago; Helicopters which have significantly improved the mobility of Armed Forces throughout the national territory; Attack helicopters ensuring means to be more aggressive in the fight against FARC and AUC; Increased basic combat supplies, including rifles and ammunition; and [has received] significant less human rights complaints against them.”

In January 2005, Human Rights Watch stated: “Paramilitary groups maintain close ties with a number of Colombian military units. The Uribe administration has yet to take effective action to break these ties by investigating and prosecuting high-ranking members of the armed forces credibly alleged to have collaborated with paramilitary groups. Credible reports indicate that some of the territories from which the military has ejected the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolutionarias de Colombia, FARC) are now under the control of paramilitary groups, which continue to carry out indiscriminate attacks on the civilian population.”

A February 2005 report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the year 2004 stated: “Achievements and advances were observed in the field of human rights and international humanitarian law; however, there were also difficulties and contradictions…Progress was recorded in terms of prevention and protection, including strengthening of the mechanism of community defenders and the early warning system, as well as regarding the Ministry of the Interior’s programs for the protection of vulnerable groups. Weaknesses persisted in the Government’s responses to warnings, as well as in decreasing risk factors for vulnerable groups. The Government adopted positive measures regarding the destruction of stored anti-personnel mines. The armed forces occasionally carried out operations in which they failed to observe humanitarian principles.”

An anti-terror statute criticized by many human rights groups was approved by Congress on 11 December 2003 but was struck down in August 2004 by the Colombian Constitutional Court during its review. The statute granted the military judicial police rights and allowed limited arrests and communication intercepts without warrants. It was struck down due to an error in the approval procedure, an objection the court has also presented towards other bills.

International relations

President Uribe’s concrete actions tend to show him as a staunch enemy of narcotics trafficking, as his administration has been responsible for arresting and extraditing more drug traffickers to the United States and to other countries than all other presidents to date. He has been publicly recognized as a supporter of the US war on drugs by continually implementing the anti-drug strategy of Plan Colombia.

He is also recognized as a supporter of the US war on terror, and the invasion of Iraq. In January 2003, President Uribe ended a radio interview by asking “why isn’t there any thought of [making] an equivalent deployment [as in the invasion of Iraq] to put an end to this problem [the Colombian conflict], which has such potentially grave consequences?”.

In a 22 November visit to the coastal city of Cartagena, US President George W. Bush stood by the results of President Uribe’s security policies and declared he would continue to provide Plan Colombia aid in the future: “My nation will continue to help Colombia prevail in this vital struggle. Since the year 2000, when we began Plan Colombia, the United States has provided more than $3 billion in vital aid. We’ll continue providing aid. We’ve helped Colombia to strengthen its democracy, to combat drug production, to create a more transparent and effective judicial system, to increase the size and professionalism of its military and police forces, to protect human rights, and to reduce corruption. Mr. President, you and your government have not let us down. Plan Colombia enjoys wide bipartisan support in my country, and next year I will ask our Congress to renew its support so that this courageous nation can win its war against narco-terrorists.”

The Uribe administration has maintained generally positive diplomatic relations with Spain and most Latin American nations. It signed several accords, including one in 2004 for the joint construction of a pipeline with Venezuela, a security and anti-drug trafficking cooperation deal with Paraguay in 2005, a commercial and technological cooperation agreement with Bolivia in 2004,

a defense agreement with Spain (which was modified in 2004 but still remained valid),

and economic and cultural agreements with the People’s Republic of China in April 2005.

Several analysts consider that, being a relative ally of the USA, Uribe would be ideologically opposed to left wing governments in Latin America and elsewhere. Yet, Uribe has participated in multilateral meetings and has held bilateral summits with presidents Hugo Chávez, Martín Torrijos, Lula da Silva, Ricardo Lagos, and Carlos Mesa, among others. Colombia has also maintained diplomatic relations with Cuba and the People’s Republic of China.

There have been some diplomatic incidents and crises with Venezuela during his term, in particular around the 2005 Rodrigo Granda affair, Colombia’s frustrated 2004 acquisition of 46 AMX-30 tanks from Spain, and an Alleged planned Venezuelan coup in 2004 by Colombian paramilitaries. These internationally worrying circumstances have been ultimately resolved through the use of official diplomatic channels and bilateral presidential summits (in the first two cases).

International law enforcement cooperation has been maintained with countries such as the USA, Spain, the United Kingdom, México, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Panama, Paraguay, Honduras and Brazil among others.

Uribe’s government, along with Peru and Ecuador, negotiated and (with Peru) signed a free trade agreement with the US. On 30 December 2005, President Uribe signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with Mercosur and gives Colombian products preferential access to the market of 230 million people. Trade negotiations have also been underway with Mexico, Chile, the Andean community and the USA over its current proposal.

After the 2009 Honduran election Uribe joined a list of leaders that are supporting the next government following the coup d’état. “Colombia recognizes the next government”, Uribe told reporters during an Ibero-American summit in Portugal on 30 November 2009. “A democratic process has taken place in Honduras with high participation, without fraud.”

In 2009, bilateral negotiations between the United States and Colombia which would give U.S. forces increased access to several Colombian military bases for the stated purpose of fighting terrorism and the drug trade generated controversy throughout the region. Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez criticized the proposed deal as the creation of a purported “imperialist beachhead” while Colombian diplomats defended the agreement. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that “there was no intention to expand the number of permanent [U.S.] personnel [in Colombia] beyond the maximum permitted by Congress.” Other Latin American nations, including Brazil, also expressed their own concerns about the matter.

Socio-economic policy

The Uribe administration has continued dealing with the IMF and the World Bank, securing loans, agreeing to cut expenses, agreeing to continue debt payments, privatize public companies and foment investor confidence, in order to comply with financial orthodoxy.

Under Uribe, social spending has also seen a huge increase. The government’s High Advisor for Social Policy, Juan Lozano, stated in February 2005 that the administration had by 2004 achieved an increase of 5 million affiliates to the subsidized health system (3.5 million added in 2004, for a total of 15.4 M affiliates), an increase of 2 million Colombians that receive meals and care through the Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF) (for a total of 6.6 million), an increase of 1.7 million education slots in the National Service of Learning (SENA) (for a total of 2.7 million), an increase of 157% in the amount of microcredit available to small entrepreneurs, a reduction of unemployment from 15.6% in December 2002 to 12.1% by December 2004, the addition of almost 200,000 new houses to existing housing projects for the poor, a total of 750,000 new school slots in primary and high school, some 260,000 new university slots, the return of 70,000 displaced persons to their homes (under an 800% increase in the budget assigned to this matter), and support for a program that seeks to increase economic subsidies from 170,000 to 570,000 of the elderly by the end of the term. The High Advisor added that a “colossal effort” is still required and work must continue, and that this progress would constitute a sign of the Uribe administration’s positive effects on social indicators.

Companies such as Carbocol, Telecom Colombia, Bancafé, Minercol and others, which were either already in crisis or considered by the government as overly expensive to maintain under their current spending conditions, were among those restructured or privatized.

In December 2009, a report by researchers from the National University of Colombia criticized several of the government’s policies and concluded that, with the exception of inflation control, many longstanding social and economic challenges are yet to be overcome.

Most direct critics have considered Uribe’s administration neoliberal, and argued that it has not addressed the root causes of poverty and unemployment, because continued application of traditional trade and tax policies tend to benefit private and foreign investors over small owners and workers. Union and labor claim that many of the privatizations and liquidations have been done to please the IMF, the World Bank and multinational companies, and will hurt several national industries in the long run.

Setbacks in 2003

A national referendum was promoted during Uribe’s campaign and later modified by Congress and judicial review. The ability to revoke Congress was removed, as was the option to vote “Yes” or “No” as a whole. The modified proposal was defeated at the polls on 25 October 2003, and several left-wing candidates opposed to the referendum were victorious at regional elections the following day. At least 25% of the electorate needed to vote on each of the 15 proposals in order it to be accepted, but overall participation was only 24.8% and only the first proposal (“political death for the corrupt”) achieved this. All 15 proposals were approved by a substantial majority of those who voted.

Analysts considered these events a political setback for President Uribe, as one of his main campaign propositions had failed, despite his personal leadership. The “active abstention” and blank voting campaigns that his opponents, in particular the Independent Democratic Pole and the Colombian Liberal Party, had promoted were allegedly successful in convincing enough of their sympathizers to stay home and instead participate in the next day’s round of elections.

A number of Uribe’s own supporters did not participate, as they found the referendum, which had been modified by Congress and later by the Judicial branch, to be too complex, long and uninspiring. Some also pointed out that extraordinary electoral initiatives (that is, those voted outside standard electoral dates) have traditionally suffered complications in Colombia, including a lack of participation.

In September 2003, Uribe issued a speech that contained allegations against what he called “agents of terrorism” inside a minority of human rights organizations, while at the same time declaring that he respected criticism from most other established organizations and sources. Similar statements were later repeated in other instances.

These statements were sharply criticized inside and outside Colombia because they could endanger the work of human rights and opposition figures.

Contacts begun in 2002 with the paramilitary AUC forces and their leader Carlos Castaño, which had publicly expressed their will to declare a cease-fire, continued in 2003 amid a degree of national and international controversy.

Reelection proposal

In 2004, Uribe successfully sought a Congressional amendment to the Colombian Constitution of 1991 which allowed him to run for a second term as president. Uribe originally had expressed his disagreement with consecutive reelection during his campaign, but later changed his mind, first at a private level and later in public appearances.

Many analysts considered that, in order to secure the approval of this reform, Uribe may have slacked on his campaign promises, because of what has been perceived as his indirect bribing of congressmen, through the alleged assignment of their relatives to the diplomatic corps and through promises of investment in their regions of origin. Uribe’s supporters consider that no actual bribing took place, and that a consensus among the diverse sectors that back Uribe’s policies in Congress had to be reached through political negotiation.

The amendment permitting a single reelection was approved by Congress in December 2004, and by the Constitutional Court in October 2005.

Claims of drug trafficking links =

2004

In 10 August 2004, the National Security Archive (NSA) published a declassified 1991 intelligence report from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which contained a list of several individuals identified as “Colombian narco-traffickers”. The document states that it is “not finally evaluated” intelligence information. The source for the report and the reporting officer’s comments were not declassified.

The report listed then-Senator Álvaro Uribe as a “close personal friend of Pablo Escobar” and described him as “dedicated to collaboration with the Medellín [drug] cartel at high government levels”. It also stated that Uribe had “attacked all forms of the extradition treaty” and that his father had been murdered because of a “connection with the narcotic traffickers”.

In response, the Colombian Presidency made an official statement rejecting several of the accusations in the report, adding that the same information had been part of previous allegations during Uribe’s 2002 presidential campaign. It argued that Senator Uribe’s position on the extradition treaty was available in the congressional archives for 1989 and had been reiterated in 2002 interviews: to postpone a proposed popular referendum on the matter until after the 1990 parliamentary and presidential elections, to prevent drug traffickers from influencing the results of the vote.

The official communique also stated that Uribe’s father had been killed by FARC in 1983 during a kidnapping attempt and that in 1991 Senator Uribe was studying at Harvard Extension School in the United States, as the Colombian Congress had been suspended during the sessions of the Constituent Assembly. The statement concluded by saying that Uribe had extradited more than 170 individuals to several countries around the world and that the President opposed any modification to current extradition mechanisms.

The NSA acknowledged that the information in the report was “only as good as its source” and that it was “difficult to verify the accuracy of the information” because of the details which remained classified. The NSA added that the report was different from average field intelligence as some degree of evaluation had already taken place “via interfaces with other agencies”, that the source believed the statements to be true without qualifications, that the report included detailed information suggesting it would be employed for multiple uses, that much of the other information in the report was accurate and verifiable, and that significant effort had been spent on compiling the information.

Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Conway stated that the report was raw, uncorroborated information from one source and that “no conclusions can be drawn from it”. Robert Zimmerman, U.S. Department of State deputy spokesman, rejected the allegations against Uribe and stated that his record was that of “a strong opponent of drug trafficking”. Zimmerman added that “we have no credible information that substantiates or corroborates the allegations in an unevaluated 1991 report”.

Paramilitary demobilizations =

Late 2004

After some of the AUC’s main leaders had declared a cease-fire and agreed to concentrate in Santa Fe de Ralito, several paramilitary demobilizations began in earnest, thousands of their “rank and file” fighters were disarmed and incorporated into government rehabilitation programs late in 2004. The main AUC leaders, who would be held responsible for atrocities, remained in the concentration zone and continued talks with the government’s High Commissioner for Peace, Luis Carlos Restrepo. A number of the paramilitary members who initially demobilized in Medellín apparently did not actually belong to the AUC and this caused public concern. The AUC commanders claimed, as the year ended, that they had difficulties controlling all of their personnel from their isolated position, that they had already demobilized some 20% of their forces, and that they would await for the drafting of the necessary legal framework before making any more significant moves.

Paramilitary disbandment

In 2005 President Uribe and Colombia’s congressmen prepared for the elections held in May and March 2006 respectively.

FARC, which some had been perceived as relatively passive, in February began to show signs of what analysts considered renewed vigor. It made a series of attacks against small military units, which left at least three dozen casualties. Uribe said in a speech that FARC remained strong and had never retreated, and he credited Colombia’s soldiers for previous successes against FARC activities.

Negotiations with the AUC also increased public anxiety. Discussions continued about the legal provisions to assure “justice, reparation and truth” after a full demobilization. Also according to many observers, paramilitary activity continued despite AUC’s declared cease-fire, albeit at a reduced rate. The demobilizations were renewed in November and finished in the complete disbandment of the group by middle February 2007, although some of the paramilitary units rejected disbandment and returned to criminal activity. These groups became known as the Black Eagles. This group is relatively small in comparison to the AUC and haven’t been able to achieve the notoriety or the military power of their predecessor, but are present on some former paramilitary areas, like Catatumbo and Choco.

The Colombian congress agreed to prosecute AUC leaders under the controversial Ley de Justicia y Paz, by which the paramilitary leaders would receive reduced sentences in exchange for their testimony and declarations of their entire criminal activity: links with drug dealers, assassinations, disappearances and massacres. These declarations are to be brought before an specialized judge, in a public hearing attended by the victims. The paramilitary leaders are also forced to “repair” the damage caused to the victims or their families: By disclosing the location of mass graves and by repaying each of them through economic assistance. As of 2008, these public hearings are still under way.

2006 presidential elections

In 2004, Uribe’s political supporters amended the constitution to allow him to run for a second term, previously proscribed by the Colombian constitution, and his own decision to run for a second term was announced in late 2005. With this amendment, Uribe was re-elected on 28 May 2006 for a second presidential term (2006–2010), and became the first president to be consecutively re-elected in Colombia in over a century. He received about 62% of the vote, consisting of about 7.3 million ballots in his favor.

The Organization of American States (OAS) deployed electoral observers in 12 departments: Antioquia, Risaralda, Quindío, Atlántico, Bolívar, Santander, Córdoba, Cauca, César, Nariño, Magdalena and Valle. In a statement made on 28 May, OAS mentioned that the elections “have taken place in an atmosphere of freedom, transparency and normalcy”, despite incidents “related to the use of indelible ink, voter substitution and the accreditation of electoral witnesses, though these have no effect on the electoral process as a whole” and “developments in northern Santander province that took the lives of army personnel and left others injured in an ambush carried out by subversive groups.”

Parapolitics scandal

In November 2006, a political crisis emerged as several of Uribe’s congressional supporters were questioned or charged by the Colombian Supreme Court and the office of the Attorney General for having alleged links to paramilitary groups. Álvaro Araújo, brother of Uribe’s Foreign Minister María Consuelo Araújo, was among those summoned for questioning. In November, the former ambassador to Chile, Salvador Arana, was charged for the murder of a mayor in a small town in the Department of Sucre. The Supreme Court sentenced Arana to 40 years in prison on December 2009.

In April 2007, Senator Gustavo Petro made several accusations against President Uribe during a televised congressional debate about paramilitarism in Antioquia. Petro said that some of the Uribe family’s farms in the north of the country had been previously used as staging grounds for paramilitary forces. He also showed a picture of Santiago Uribe, the President’s brother, together with Fabio Ochoa, a drug dealer, in 1985. Petro also argued that Governor Uribe’s office allowed paramilitary personnel to participate in some of the legal cooperative neighborhood watch groups known as CONVIVIR. Another accusation concerned the possible participation of a helicopter belonging to the former Antioquia Governor’s administration during a paramilitary massacre.

Two days later, President Uribe publicly revealed that former US Vice President Al Gore had cancelled his participation in a pro-environment event Uribe was to attend in Miami due to the continuing allegations against him. The Colombian President reacted by organizing a press conference during which he addressed several of the accusations Senator Petro and others had made against him. Uribe argued that his family had nothing to do with any massacres and that they had already sold the implicated farms several years before the alleged events. He also stated that the Uribes and the Ochoas were both famous in the horse breeding business, causing their meetings to be both common and public. He claimed that the helicopter’s hours and missions had been strictly logged, making it impossible for it to have participated in any massacre. Uribe said that he supported the CONVIVIR groups but was not solely responsible for their creation, adding that other civilian and military authorities also participated in their oversight. He also said that he dismantled some CONVIVIR groups when doubts began to surround their activities.

On 22 April 2008, former senator Mario Uribe Escobar, one of the Colombian President’s cousins and a close political ally, was arrested after being denied asylum at the Costa Rican embassy in Bogotá, as part of a judicial inquiry into the links between politicians and paramilitary groups. Mario Uribe has been accused of meeting with paramilitary commander Salvatore Mancuso in order to plan land seizures.

On 23 April 2008, President Uribe revealed that a former paramilitary fighter had accused him of helping to plan the 1997 massacre of El Aro, a charge which he said was under official investigation. Uribe described the accuser as a “disgruntled convict with an axe to grind”, denied the charges and said there was proof of his innocence. The Colombian newsweekly Revista Semana reported that the paramilitary in question, Francisco Enrique Villalba Hernández, had not mentioned Uribe during previous declarations made more than five years ago, when he was sentenced for his own role in the massacre. The magazine also listed a number of possible inconsistencies in his most recent testimony, including the alleged presence of General Manosalva, who had died months before the date of the meeting where the massacre was planned.

2007

In 2007 Virginia Vallejo, media personality and former lover of Pablo Escobar, published her memoir “Amando a Pablo, odiando a Escobar” (Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar), where she accused several Colombian presidents of involvement with drug traffickers. She stated that Escobar “idolized” Uribe and that he and his partners in the Medellín Cartel had obtained “dozens of licenses for landing strips and hundreds for the aircraft and helicopters on which the infrastructure of the drug trafficking industry had been built” while Uribe served as Director of the Colombian Civil Aviation Agency (1980–1982).

President Uribe denied Vallejo’s allegations. He said he wasn’t a friend of Escobar “even when it was fashionable”, that he had no business or political dealings with him and that he had seen Virginia Vallejo only once, in an airport. He added that, due to his political visibility, “he had seen Pablo Escobar many times, but from a distance”. The president also claimed that, though he had begun wearing glasses only in 1990, Virginia Vallejo had referred to his “seminarist glasses” of 1983.

Uribe argued that he had been “waiting for 20 years” for anyone to present photographs of any alleged meetings between him and Escobar. In an 16 October 2007 statement, the Director of Civil Aviation in Colombia said that former Director Uribe had implemented stronger regulations for the operation and licensing of aircraft, companies and landing strips, citing decree 2.303 of 1981 which introduced as a requirement a certificate from the National Council on Narcotics, which would be provided after consulting DAS, F-2, Customs, the Inspector General and Army Brigades. The statement mentioned that Director Uribe had already been investigated by the Inspector General of Colombia at his own request, leading to no formal charges.

President Uribe accused an ”El Nuevo Herald” correspondent in Colombia, Gonzalo Guillén, of being behind Virginia Vallejo’s book, describing him as someone who had “dedicated his journalistic career to infamy and lies”. The journalist denied any involvement, arguing that he had only interviewed Vallejo once, for a July 2006 article. Guillén said that Uribe had been angered after his earlier publication of another book, “The Confidants of Pablo Escobar”, which contained claims about the Uribe family’s ties to organized crime. BBC News reported that Guillén, who said he had received 24 death threats in three days, left Colombia after Uribe’s accusations.

Daniel Coronell, journalist and ”Revista Semana” columnist, wrote an October 2007 opinion column mentioning the 15 June 1983 edition of Medellín’s ”El Mundo” newspaper, which had reported that Colombia’s Civil Aviation provided a special permit to a helicopter belonging to Pablo Escobar, described as a landowner by the paper, which was used by Álvaro Uribe Vélez to travel to the area where his father Alberto Uribe Sierra had been murdered by the FARC. Coronell also wrote that the 16 June edition of ”El Colombiano” contained an invitation to Alberto Uribe’s funeral from Escobar’s “Medellín sin tugurios” foundation. During a heated radio debate with Coronell, President Uribe argued that the helicopter had been assigned to him by Colombia’s Civil Aviation authority, that he did not know it belonged to Pablo Escobar during the crisis and would have otherwise refused to board it, and that he returned to Medellín with his father’s body by land. He also reiterated that he had no links to Escobar.

On 9 December 2007 Gerardo Reyes of ”El Nuevo Herald” published a story about the 1984 assassination of Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla and the seizure of a helicopter found during the earlier raid of the Tranquilandia drug lab complex. According to the article, Cecilia Lara Bonilla, Rodrigo’s sister, had made a sworn statement in July 1984, indicating that the slain minister thought the anti-drug operation had compromised important politicians throughout the country and that the seized helicopter belonged to Alberto Uribe Sierra, Álvaro Uribe’s father. Police Colonel Jaime Ramírez Gómez, in another declaration, had stated that Lara Bonilla feared retaliation from the owners of the helicopter and the airplanes seized in Tranquilandia, without specifying any names at the time. In a telephone conversation with El Nuevo Herald, Cecilia Lara Bonilla stated that she stood by her earlier declarations and said she believed her brother “did have many doubts about Uribe [Vélez]. He did not express them clearly.” According to ”El Nuevo Herald”, the newspaper had requested, but did not receive, any comments from the Colombian President’s Press Office in October, before the story was published.

The article indicated that President Uribe had previously argued that the helicopter had been sold before the Tranquilandia operation. The judicial process which followed Lara Bonilla’s murder included a DAS report which stated that the seized helicopter was registered as the property of a private enterprise managed by Carlos Alberto Amórtegui Romero, one of whose partners was Alberto Uribe Sierra. Jaime Alberto Uribe Vélez, one of the late Uribe Sierra’s sons, had declared seventeen days after the anti-drug raid that the helicopter had been sold by the company to a third party a month before the operation, as payment for a debt. The judicial archives for the investigation did not contain any formal record of the transaction.

The Colombian government sent a letter to ”El Nuevo Herald” saying that Carlos Amórtegui, the legal representative of the company which owned the seized helicopter, had published a 22 May 1984 statement in Cromos magazine about the sale of the aircraft.

Rodrigo Lara Restrepo, son of the murdered Minister of Justice, had been named Colombia’s Anti-Corruption Czar a year and a half before the publication of the article. Lara Restrepo told the Miami newspaper that he would make a declaration in the following days. Lara Restrepo later resigned his post, arguing that several government officials had known about the ”El Nuevo Herald” story since October, without informing him about it, and that he had not previously read Cecilia Lara’s 1984 statements. He added that he still believed in the Colombian government and the Uribe administration’s fight against the drug cartels, but that his resignation was made as a sign of respect for his father.

The head of the Colombian President’s Press Office, César Mauricio Velásquez, said that he decided not to reply to correspondent Gerardo Reyes, who had made an e-mail inquiry, and also criticized the journalist. He added that he had not thought about informing Rodrigo Lara Restrepo.

DAS scandal

In May 2009 Colombian prosecutors officially began an investigation on a series of illegal wiretapping and spying activities carried out against opposition politicians, judges, journalists and others by the ”Department of Administrative Security” (DAS). The probe has involved several of President’s Uribe top aides and former high-ranking personnel within the Department.

Former DAS counterintelligence director Jorge Alberto Lagos has told investigators that information on the country’s Supreme Court judges was provided to Bernardo Moreno and José Obdulio Gaviria, two of Uribe’s aides. Gaviria has claimed that criminals have tried to damage the government’s image as part of a “political war” against the administration. ”El Tiempo” has criticized these explanations, raising questions about the President’s knowledge of these activities. Uribe himself has denied ordering any illegal wiretapping and claims that those responsible for spying on the opposition are part of “a mafia group that hurts the Colombian Democracy, freedom, the country and the government itself.”

The DAS, an “intelligence service that answers to the president” as described by the ”Washington Post”, has been the subject of earlier controversies during the Uribe administration. According to ”Revista Semana”, revelations about the infiltration of paramilitaries affected the entity under former DAS chief Jorge Noguera in 2007 and further accusations have continued to surface. The magazine reported that information gathered by the DAS has been allegedly forwarded to paramilitaries, narcotraffickers and guerrillas.

Previously, former DAS computer systems chief Rafael García had claimed that the Department and Colombian paramilitaries were involved in a plan to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

Claims of bribery to approve re-election bill

In April 2008, Yidis Medina, a former congresswoman from the pro-government Colombian Conservative Party, claimed that members of President Uribe’s administration had offered her to appoint local officials in her home province, in exchange for voting in favor of the 2004 reelection bill. According to Medina, the government had not fulfilled that promise, prompting her declaration. The Attorney General of Colombia ordered her arrest, after which she turned herself over to authorities and testified to the Supreme Court as part of the investigation. The opposition Alternative Democratic Pole party asked for President Uribe to be investigated for bribery. After the declarations made by Medina, the Supreme Court of Colombia sent copies of the process to other judicial authorities, who have the jurisdiction to investigate several former and current cabinet members and other high officials. The Accusations Commission of the Colombian Congress will study the matter and decide if there are enough merits to officially investigate President Uribe.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Álvaro Uribe, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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Charlie Fairhead

Charlie is the longest serving member of the ”Casualty” team, having appeared from 1986–2004, 2005–2007 and 2009 onwards. He is portrayed by Derek Thompson, and is described by the BBC as “the lynchpin of Holby’s ED. [...] an indispensable, trustworthy and diplomatic member of the team.” Series producer Oliver Kent has described Charlie as “by far our most important character” and “absolutely core to the show’s success”. Charlie appears in the first episodes of both ”Casualty” spin-offs ”Holby City” and ”Holby Blue”. He has various relationships over the course of the show. The most notable is with Barbara “Baz” Wilder – another original character. Baz leaves ”Casualty” after the first season but returns nearly a decade later. Trapped in an unhappy marriage, she pursues a relationship with Charlie, ultimately becoming pregnant with their child Louis. Baz divorces her husband and marries Charlie. The marriage however is later dissolved after Baz takes a job in Canada. She briefly returned to the series to be by the bedside of her ill father, but ends up dying after being involved in a road accident. Charlie himself brushes with death on several occasions including a shooting, a hit and run involving a stolen ambulance, a pulmonary embolism, attempted drowning and a heart attack.

Charlie’s son Louis sets him up with colleague Maggie Coldwell, who he admits having feelings for, and he later proposes to Maggie. She turns him down as she is leaving for Thailand, but agrees to stay in contact. At the beginning of series 22, Charlie celebrates his thirty fifth year in nursing. However, throughout the course of the series, he struggles with childcare issues, as well as the news that either he or Tess Bateman will have to be made forcibly redundant. Although Tess volunteers for the redundancy, Charlie becomes involved in a fight with a patient and is asked to leave the department. He returns to the show several months later, after working in the private sector in the interim.

Charlie will soon become a grandfather after Louis had a brief relationship with Shona Wark, the alcoholic sister of a patient, and got her pregnant.

Nick Jordan

Nick Jordan (portrayed by actor Michael French in ”Casualty” in 1998 and then from 2008 onwards) originates in ”Holby City” as a registrar on the show’s cardiothoracic ward. He later returns as a general surgical consultant, before transferring to ”Casualty” to run the Emergency Department. Following Nick’s 2006 departure from ”Holby City”, the series’ official website described him as: “decisive, confident, charismatic and passionate. He was constantly striving for the top and wanted to emulate Meyer.” Michael French, discussing his character shortly after the show’s 1999 conception, asserted that: “Like most blokes, he sometimes treats women as playthings – if they’re willing. A little bit of hanky panky is part of the human condition, after all!” Of his decision to transfer to ”Casualty”, French explained: “The BBC came up with the idea [...] At first, I wasn’t sure about him moving away from heart surgery, but we soon thrashed some ideas around and I realised it would work. It’s certainly great to play Nick again and I’m having a fantastic time on the show.” Both ”The Guardian” and the ”Sunday Mirror” have likened Nick to George Clooney’s ER character Doug Ross – “the one everyone fancies”, but while Andrew Billen for the ”New Statesman” agrees that Nick is “good-looking”, he suggests French’s playing another “love rat” character after his ”EastEnders” role as David Wicks to be type casting. More recently, Nick has been involved in a storyline where he was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour, but, with intervention from Zoe Hanna, he then had an operation to remove most of the tumor and how now returned to the ED in a part time administrative role. After Jessica’s crash on her wedding day, he was appointed Acting Clinical Lead, to take pressure off Adam.

Tess Bateman

”Title:” Clinical Nurse Manager

Tess Bateman (played by actress Suzanne Packer from 2003), is described by the BBC as “a traditionalist [...] dedicated [and] well-balanced”. They expand: “She may be viewed as a kill-joy and inflexible but her immaculate, business-like front masks a wicked, dry, sense of humour. She’s a control freak, not to be messed with.”. Since Martina Laird, who played Paramedic Comfort Jones, left the show in 2006, Tess is the longest serving female character. Following her husband’s paralysis and their subsequent separation, she struggles to come to terms with her son Sam’s bi-polar condition, and is reluctant to see him gain his independence. She has a strong friendship with fellow nurse Abs Denham. After budget cuts, Tess considers taking redundancy, leaving Charlie Fairhead to run the department, but these plans are stymied when Charlie temporarily leaves the department after attacking a patient. Over the course of the show, Tess has several near-fatal encounters. In series 20, she is drugged and left for dead by Sam’s unstable girlfriend, Fleur. In series 22, she is injected with a paralysis drug by Bank nurse Lewis, and in series 23, she trips in a building site, impaling herself through the abdomen on a metal pole.

Kathleen”Dixie” Dixon

Kathleen “Dixie” Dixon (played by actress Jane Hazlegrove from 2006) arrives in series 21, having transferred from another hospital alongside her close friend Cyd Pyke. When senior paramedic Josh Griffiths takes a six month sabbatical to travel the world, Dixie becomes Operational Duty Officer. She forges a friendship with new recruit Jeff Collier, to whom she admits she is a lesbian. Believing Cyd’s life is in danger following a venomous snake bite, Dixie confesses her love for her friend. When Cyd recovers, their friendship becomes strained by this revelation. Cyd decides to transfer to another hospital. In series 23, Dixie accidentally runs a girl over whilst driving the ambulance. Hazlegrove assess that this incident “dictates what happens to Dixie over the course of [series 23] – the wheels fall off.” Dixie requires counselling after the accident. The victim’s family burn her house down in revenge, and she moves in with Jeff.

Dixie asks Jeff to marry her, to make her father proud. her father is unaware that she is a lesbian. Her father who is on his deathbed catches Dixie kissing another woman and suffers a heart attack.

Jeff Collier

Jeff Collier (played by actor Matt Bardock from 2007 )born 1971, is a paramedic. He becomes good friends with Dixie, and when she is told budgetary constraints mean she must have one of her team transferred to another hospital, Jeff volunteers to go. He returns several months later, following the departure of Cyd Pyke. He discovers that fellow paramedic Snezana is stealing hospital equipment to help illegal Serbian immigrants, and reluctantly agrees to keep it a secret when she swears not to do it again. Jeff’s wife leaves him and begins seeing another man. He sees his children infrequently, and offers Dixie his spare room when her house is burnt down.

In November 2009, Jeff was struck on the back of the head by Alistair MacCormack, who believed that Polly (who he deludedly regarded as his “girlfriend”) was seeing Jeff. Alistair also thought that Jeff had got a restraining order against him, but it was really Polly, who had gone to the police to report Alistair. Jeff was admitted to the ED but was not able to see his attacker, who came at him from behind.

Dixie asks Jeff to marry her, to make her father proud. her father is unaware that she is a lesbian. Her father who is on his deathbed catches Dixie kissing another woman and suffers a heart attack.

Ruth Winters

Ruth Winters (portrayed by actress Georgia Taylor from 2007) is one of three new characters to join ”Casualty” at the beginning of its twenty second series. It was first announced on 18 July 2007 that Taylor had been cast in the role of Ruth. The BBC describe the character as “clever, hardworking and focused”, stating that she has wanted to be a doctor since she was eight, and graduated top of her class – working hard at the expense of her personal life. Taylor herself has commented: “Ruth’s very responsible and articulate, and seems pretty confident. But underneath it all, she’s something of a troubled soul which hopefully we’ll find out later on. She’s very self-critical and won’t allow herself to make any mistakes. But, for a junior doctor, the whole first year in a hospital is about making mistakes and learning from it. Ruth won’t accept help from anyone; she thinks she knows it all.”

During her first few months in the show, Ruth misdiagnoses a patient with severe stomach pains, missing a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. She blames her mistake on a nurse in order to preserve her reputation. Ruth is shocked when her alcoholic father is admitted as a patient. She reluctantly fakes a blood alcohol test so he will not be prosecuted for causing an accident, but is devastated to realise he has manipulated her into this. Ruth goes on to administer a patient with the wrong medication, and order a nurse to remove another patient’s neck brace, leaving them paralysed as a result. She lies about her culpability, and later accidentally gives a patient a morphine overdose. When a suicidal patient dies in her care, Ruth confesses her mother committed suicide when she was a child. When Ruth misdiagnoses yet another patient, resulting in his death, she hangs herself. She is in a coma for a month, but eventually recovers.

She becomes close to colleague Toby de Silva, and they assume what Taylor has described as a “brother/sister relationship where they love eachother but they can’t stand each other.” Ruth later sleeps with new department head Nick Jordan, only to be rejected by him the next morning.

She goes on to begin a tentative relationship with nurse Jay Faldren. Series producer Oliver Kent commented on their pairing: “Ruth’s never allowed romance into her life, but when she starts to get close to Jay, the possibility of happiness with another person suddenly presents itself to her. But the question is, will she allow herself? Or will his laddish ways get in the way? She’s so obsessed with her career that she’s always tempted to put that first.” As of Series 24, the first episodes display that Ruth and Jay are continuing their relationship – only to be keeping it from their colleagues for her benefit, which later annoys Jay giving her the ammunition to kiss him in public but, when they head home Ruth realises she has forgotten to take some pills and worries she could be pregnant. She soon finds out her suspicions are correct, she is pregnant and soon takes the pill to terminate the pregnancy without telling Jay. On her birthday, Jay presents her with a necklace for their date at the surgeon’s dinner. Ruth’s happiness is short-lived when senior medic Sarah Evans warns her that Jay is bad news and that she’ll think twice about recommending her for the surgical training post if she continues to see him. Feeling unwell, Ruth cancels their date, but is confronted by Jay at the dinner. As Ruth leaves in embarrassment she collapses, haemorrhaging. Taken into casualty, Ruth is mortified to have to be treated by her colleagues. She swears Tess to secrecy over the abortion pill, despite knowing that Jay is panic-stricken. When her condition stabilises, Ruth admits that she was pregnant and she and Jay share a tender moment. But when Sarah Evans tells Ruth that she must remain focused if she wants to work as a surgeon, Ruth dumps Jay for the sake of her career.

In Series 24 episode 14, her brother Jonathan, the black sheep of the family, makes an unwelcome visit to Holby City Hospital, fresh from serving a prison sentence. Ruth is horrified when Jonathan turns up in the Emergency Department looking for her help much to Jay’s surprise, who didn’t even realise she had a brother. Jonathan swears to Ruth that he has turned over a new leaf but she sees the track marks in his arms and refuses to believe that he’s changed. Later, a group of hard-drinking homeless men cause havoc in ED when they start stealing bottles of alcohol-based hand sanitiser from the wards and take it back to an unsafe hospital annexe to enjoy in private. Tragedy strikes when young security guard Mick, desperate to win Ruth’s approval, confronts the homeless men on his own, but Jonathan, who has seen the commotion, is quick to get help. Ruth looks forward to celebrating Christmas with her brother when she notices an heirloom has gone missing from her flat. As she’s plunged into a world of stolen phones, heroin overdoses and male prostitution, Ruth realises that she’s likely to face Christmas alone. Days after a lonely Christmas, Ruth and Jay are thrown together to work on a medical case and Ruth finally admits that she’s lonely after another family disaster. Letting down her guard, she accepts Jay’s comfort and the pair head home together. However this is short lived, when Ruth later admits at New Year that she terminated the pregnancy, not that she miscarried leading to Jay dumping her. This leads to her to build the courage to admit she loves him, but he walks away anyway.

Months later, Ruth has a big presentation that goes horribly wrong. But when conference organiser and big name doctor Edward takes an interest in her anyway, she’s incredibly flattered and a little bit smitten. Ruth married Edward Thurlow, Clinical Director of Neurosurgery on the 26th June 2010, making Jay too late when he pleads his undying love at the registry office, leaving Ruth to reveal that she has already married.

Adam Trueman

Adam Trueman (portrayed by actor Tristan Gemmill from 2007) is a consultant in the Emergency Department. Gemmill spent 8 hours shadowing a real Consultant on an ED shift as research for the role. Describing his character, he assessed: “Adam is self-confident, witty and brash, an excellent doctor who cares deeply about his job. He presents a strong exterior to the world but perhaps has issues and vulnerabilities that suggest there is more to him than you might first expect.” Upon his arrival, Adam clashes with Clinical Lead Harry Harper, however they come to appreciate one another more with time. On Harry’s last day, he offers Adam his job but Adam refuses and Zoe Hanna is given it instead. At a party, Adam meets Jessica Harrison and they have a one night stand. He was shocked to find that she is the department’s new nurse when he arrives at work the next morning. He and Jessica begin an affair, but she breaks up with him when her son Lucas is injured in a road accident while they are together.

At the beginning of series 23, following Jessica’s discovery that her husband was also having an affair, Gemmill explained: “Adam is hopeful they will get together again but Jessica has a more realistic approach because obviously she doesn’t want to abandon her children. She’s having troubles with Sean, and she sort of more or less decides that actually ‘no this is not going anywhere’ and she has got to get over it, forgive Sean and move on with her life, which leaves Adam quite smacked in the face really. He has a bit of an unstable time of it.” Gemmill added that: “Adam’s state of mind is not helped by the arrival of Nick Jordan who comes into the department as Clinical Lead and has very definite ideas of how to run the place. Adam clashes with him almost straight away and they stay at loggerheads for some time.” Furthermore, Adam’s brother, Alex, who was paralysed in an accident when they were children, begins to deteriorate from a resultant illness. Adam is devastated when his brother dies, and channels his anger towards Nick, who helped Alex sign an advance directive requesting not to be resuscitated. When Adam discovers Jessica’s new son Harry could be his, the two renew their relationship. He is angry when she uses Harry as bait to get her other children, Lucas and Amelia, back from their father who has taken them to Saudi Arabia. They later reconcile, and Adam proposes. Although Jessica turns him down, they stay together, and a DNA test confirms Adam is Harry’s father.

Jessica then later accepts Adam’s proposal, and a wedding is being arranged for the New Year. Adam, Jessica and the three children are now all living together, with Adam taking an active role as father. Their New Year’s Eve wedding is aborted when they are called back to the ED to deal with a major accident, and have to settle for a blessing in the hospital chapel. However, returning to the wedding venue to sign the legal papers, their car skids onto an icy lake and plunges in, ultimately leaving Jessica in a coma and Harry dead.

Jessica gradually recovers but she and Adam drift further apart, leading to her departure to America with an old school friend, which leaves Adam devastated. He becomes increasingly reckless, having a one night stand with young vulnerable nurse Alice and inviting himself into a patient’s house after work one night. Adam then begins a false relationship with the patient’s mother, hoping to relive the paternal feelings he had for his own son, Harry, and Jessica’s two other children. After this relationship disintergrates, Adam spirals further into depression.

Big Mac

Mackenzie “Big Mac” Chalker (played by actor Charles Dale from 2007) is the department porter. The BBC describe him as “lonely” and “vulnerable” stating that he “hates himself” and “spends his days loathing the world and his nights gorging on comfort food, escaping into James Bond films.” An episode of series 23 devoted to the character sees him assume a vigilante role on the city’s Farmead Estate. Dale states that the episode causes Mac to realise: “it’s time he stood up for himself and that he can’t run from things that happened in the past all his life.” Describing Mac’s personality, Dale appraised that Mac is “deeply introverted” and struggles to accept that his colleagues actually like him. He explained that although Mac occasionally acts pompously, this approach is “a mask that he puts on to keep people at distance when he gets afraid or embarrassed”. He expanded that Mac has: “been scared to go out and he’s terrified of life. But because of people in the hospital he’s slowly discovering it.” Mac is a British Sign Language interpreter.

Zoe Hanna

Zoe Hanna (played by actress Sunetra Sarker from 2007) is a Consultant in the Emergency Department. Prior to appearing in ”Casualty”, Sarker had played a guest role in spin-off show ”Holby City”. Sarker describes Zoe as: “strong, cheeky and rebellious”, as well as “very selfish, very righteous, very rude and self-centred”. She has an affair with Orthopaedic Consultant Sean Anderson, unaware he is the husband of her colleague and friend, nurse Jessica Harrison. In series 22 episode 29, she is promoted to Clinical Lead of the department, over colleague Maggie Coldwell. When Maggie appears at a tribunal for negligence, hospital manager Marilyn Fox asks Zoe to lie in court, condemning Maggie. She blackmails Zoe, threatening to expose her affair with Sean. Zoe disregards her threat, clears Maggie’s name, and admits to the affair herself. Zoe is dismayed when she discovered she cannot have children. She becomes close to Abby, a patient of hers who is being abused by her husband. She takes in Abby and her daughter Sharice, and when Abby is killed by her husband, begins fostering Sharice. She takes steps towards adopting her, however comes to realise that she is struggling to balance her work and childcare, and allows Sharice to live with her maternal grandparents.

Sarker commented that although Zoe initially began fostering Sharice out of guilt, as the story progressed, she adapted to the role more easily than she had expected, and: “underneath all the Zoe layers, I think there’s quite a decent human being. She’s just layered by a lot of selfishness, a lot of righteousness, a lot of pigheadedness, and those traits don’t lend them to being a mother very easily. I think that once she’s peeled off a few of those layers, she’s quite liking being a mum.” Having given up Sharice, Zoe then embarks on a relationship with department head Nick Jordan. Sarker explained that Zoe and Nick have a very interesting dynamic” and that: “You can see that they’re very similar people which would make them allies or enemies. [...] Zoe’s the first female to meet Jordan’s professional standards. She’s no pussycat and Jordan knows that. He’s got a certain amount of respect for her, as she has for him.” Characterising the relationship, Sarker explained: “They’ve both been single for a very long time through their own choices and neither of them feel any pressure or expectations, which is a good combination for something to happen. I think this is the grown-up version of a flirtation. It’s a bit more factual with these two; there isn’t much softness or gooeyness to them. They are more like steel on steel!”

Noel Garcia

Noel Garcia (portrayed by actor Tony Marshall from 2008) is the department receptionist. He is described by the BBC as “the practical joker of the bunch”, who believes he is only working on the reception as a stop-gap before his big break. Noel is “very much a people person”, and “the Laurel to Big Mac’s Hardy”. Marshall was cast in the role having been out of work for six months, and admitted to being nervous about joining, but commented: “it is such a well run show that on my first day, I felt like I’d always been here.” His character Noel knew his father was in a care home but discovers at the end of 2009 that he has serious dementia.

Jay Faldren

Jamshid “Jay” Faldren (portrayed by actor Ben Turner from 2008) is a nurse, described by the BBC as “a young Charlie Fairhead”. Despite being a “prankster” and a “restless soul”, Jay is “a brilliant nurse. Potentially, one of the best to ever step through the doors of ED.” Jay believes he is “God’s gift to women” and has three rules of romance: “never lie, never make a promise you can’t keep, and always stay for breakfast.” However, Jay then falls for doctor Ruth Winters, and “everything change[s]“. Turner had previously guest-starred in ”Casualty” as a male rape victim, and believes that this role aided his casting as Jay, explaining: “They sort of had me in mind and because the last story I did on ”Casualty” was quite strong in terms of storyline, they really liked it and when I auditioned they were in full praise of that previous episode.” He visited a real hospital as research for the role, to gain an understanding of what the job is like for real-life medical staff.

Polly Emmerson

Pauline “Polly” Emerson (portrayed by actress Sophia Di Martino from 2009) is an ambulance technician. She’s described by the BBC as: “a superhero; she wants to save the world. The only problem is Polly is young, idealistic and needs to learn that the world is a complicated place and not everyone wants to be healed.” Di Martino had previously appeared in supporting roles in both ”Casualty” and spin-off ”Holby City”. She auditioned three times for the part, and had to cease studying for her Masters degree in Applied Theatre when cast. She commented on her casting: “I feel very lucky to be joining such a long-running and well-established drama. I’m looking forward to Polly bursting onto screens, and hope viewers find her as much fun as I do.” Series producer Oliver Kent added: “Sophia is a brilliant actress and we’re very excited that she’s joining us. We can’t wait for the audience to see her – they’re going to love her.” Di Martino describes Polly as “very optimistic. She sees the best in everyone. She’s fun, opinionated, brave and sometimes gets a little bit too close to her patients.” After the suicide of homeless man Alistair MacCormack, who was infatuated with Polly, Polly was suspended while a full inquiry into his death was undertaken, after evidence given against her by Alistair’s best friend, Abe, who believed that Polly should lose something that she really loved – her job – as revenge.

Lenny Lyons

Lenny Lyons (played by Steven Miller) is one of eight new Foundation House Officer Year 2 doctors joining the department at the start of Series 24. He appears insensitive and unsuited to working as a doctor, but deep down he harbours secrets about his past. He grew up in a children’s home, which his childhood friend Davey later went back to and torched. His tutor is Nick.

Yuki Reid

Yuki Reid (played by Will Sharpe) is one of eight new Foundation House Officer Year 2 doctors joining the department at the start of Series 24. Yuki Shows a higher level of intelligence than the other F2s however due to his shy nature, and tendency to obsess over every detail in his work, he becomes stressed under pressure. He has known May since the beginning of medical school and helps her out with work, and is secretly smitten with her. He and the other F2s are currently competing for an important fellowship award, though on the day of the award ceremony he finds out that Lenny has been guaranteed the award in return for keeping quiet about a botched medical trial. His tutor is Zoe.

While he is a handsome young man, Yuki suffers from social anxiety therefore is very shy around fellow people and anyone who he is with. He has a brilliant mind of intelligence, yet can’t show it off due to the previous point; social anxiety. In ‘What Tonight Means to Me – Part One’, a series of flashbacks explained that Yuki’s brother had Cancer and had passed away.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Characters of Casualty, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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Following ”Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons”, ”Joe 90” was purposely conceived and developed to be a different kind of Supermarionation series, placing the narrative emphasis less on action, advanced technology and visual effects and more on characterisation and plotlines subscribing more to the spy thriller genre than science fiction. Co-creator Gerry Anderson explained, “The show majored on its characters, which I thought were all very good. The puppets had become so lifelike, I now strongly believed that they could carry the action without the usual massive assistance from futuristic hardware.” Explaining his inspiration for the series, Anderson recalls his pre-Supermarionation days when he served as an assistant editor for such films as ”The Wicked Lady” and handled recording tape on a daily basis. While pondering on the blanking and re-use of such tape, Anderson made a connection to the human brain’s electrical activities, explaining, “I read somewhere that the human brain is controlled by electrical impulses and how thoughts are stored electronically. I started toying with the story potential of a process that would allow the recording of brain patterns and transferring them to another brain. I was really likening it to magnetic recording, where material could be stored or transferred to another tape.” When it came to naming the lead character and, from that, the name of the new series, Anderson recalled that on his previous production, ”Fireball XL5”, the surname “Ninety” had been an early proposal for Colonel Steve Zodiac, and selected it for the schoolboy who would be the next protagonist. The script for the pilot episode was written by Anderson with his wife, Sylvia, as was the custom for each new puppet series that the couple developed.

Filming

Commissioned by ITC financier Lew Grade in the autumn of 1967, with pre-production completed in October while the final episodes of ”Captain Scarlet” were still being filmed, principal photography for ”Joe 90” ran from 13 November 1967 to mid-August 1968 using two puppet stages at the Century 21 Studios on the Slough Trading Estate in Berkshire. The average shooting period for each episode was two weeks, as had been the case with the previous series. Since he was occupied by post-production on the second ”Thunderbirds” feature film, ”Thunderbird 6”, and the development of his live-action film, ”Doppelgänger”, Gerry Anderson was unable to take on a producer role as he had done for ”Captain Scarlet”, instead passing the responsibility down to Reg Hill and David Lane. Lane in particular recalls that in his role as producer, he was “responsible for looking at the scripts, the effects, the puppets, the whole thing really”, and found support in Anderson’s long-serving collaborator Desmond Saunders, who directed the pilot episode and acted as production controller for the rest of the series. Other directors for ”Joe 90” included Leo Eaton, Alan Perry and Ken Turner, all of whom had contributed to ”Captain Scarlet”, and Peter Anderson, who was promoted from his earlier position as assistant director to replace the outgoing Brian Burgess and Robert Lynn.

Design

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Joe 90, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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Lyon opened up their Ligue 1 season in a positive fashion defeating Toulouse 3-0 with a brace from Karim Benzema and a rare goal from Jean II Makoun. Following a 0-0 draw away to Lorient, which dropped them to 3rd in the standings, Lyon rebounded with back to back wins over Rhône-Alpes rivals Grenoble and Saint-Étienne. Following that, Lyon picked up their third straight victory with a 3-2 win over Nice. The match was, however, marred with controversy. After trailing 0-2, Lyon got back into the match with two spectacular free kicks from Juninho. With the match in injury time and looking to end in a draw, referee Jean-Charles Cailleux and one of his assistant referees ruled a handball infraction had been committed by Nice defender Vincent Hognon in the box given Lyon a penalty, which was converted by Benzema. Looking at the replay, it could have easily been determined that the handball infraction had been without malice and that the penalty should have not been given. However, Lyon escaped with a victory, which moved them into first place. They followed this win up with back to back one goal wins over newly-promoted side Le Havre and Nancy giving them five straight league victories.

The following week, Lyon received their first loss in the league against Rennes that would later be described as a “thrashing” by the media. Lyon struggled in every aspect of the match and allow Rennes striker Mickaël Pagis to score a hat-trick, the last goal being a beautiful strike from almost thirty yards out. The loss to Rennes showed as Lyon’s horrilbe form continued drawing with both Lille and Auxerre the following two weeks. Lyon finally got back on track with shut-out wins over Sochaux, Le Mans, and Monaco before heading into their showdown with imminent rivals Bordeaux. With Lyon playing at home, they prove to still be the most dominant French side in the league defeating Bordeaux 2-1 with goals from Benzema and a beautiful goal from Kim Källström. The following week, Lyon got another test, this time in Paris. In this match, Lyon not only incurred their second defeat, but they lost their consistent right back Anthony Réveillère to injury with the player likely being out for the season, though he later returned to the squad. The following match, Lyon only managed a 0-0 draw in the downpouring rain against Valenciennes.

Lyon suffered their third defeat of the season the following week against relegation strugglers Nantes. Lyon came into the match apparently looking ahead to their Champions League clash with Bayern Munich and proceeded to underestimate the West Coast side who defeated Lyon 1-2 with two goals from the Croat Ivan Klasnić. The loss was promptly followed by a showdown for first place with rivals Marseille the following week. Other than battling for first place, the return of Hatem Ben Arfa to the Gerland was on the minds of supporters, as well as the players. However, despite the hype and build up leading up to the match, including achieving a record television audience, both clubs failed to score a goal as the match ended in another 0-0 draw. Lyon finally ended their winless run with a 1-0 victory over Caen with Karim Benzema scoring Lyon’s lone goal, his 10th of the league campaign. With the victory, Lyon were assured 1st place heading into the three week winter break.

Lyon returned from the winter break taking on Lorient. Despite getting an early goal from Ederson, Lyon failed to get a winning result leaving the match with a 1-1 draw. The following week, they rebounded with a 2-0 victory over Grenoble with Ederson getting on the scoreboard for the second straight week. Due to Lyon’s cup matches being postponed, they were forced to endure two cup matches, in a span of four days, before facing rivals Saint-Étienne. The match ended in another 1-1 draw. After a full week of training, Lyon again rebounded from a draw picking up a convincing 3-1 victory over Hugo Lloris’s former club Nice with Jean Makoun scoring up an unexpected brace. This match also marked the league debut of youth product Yannis Tafer. The following week, they picked up another convincing 3-1 win, this time against Le Havre, with Makoun scoring again. This match also marked Lyon’s 3rd straight match where a red card was given out. The following week, Lyon again earned a victory, defeating Nancy 2-0. Lyon started the match without the majority of their regulars who were being rested for the 1st leg of their Champion’s League showdown with Barcelona.

Returning from Champion’s League play, Lyon faced Rennes, who was responsible for the champions first loss of the season. The match remained even until the 66th minute when Kim Källström scored following a gifted pass from the youngster Miralem Pjanić. The scoreline remained until injury time when Rennes striker Jimmy Briand scored after receiving a nice through ball which caught Lyon defender Cris off guard. Briand proceeded to get a shot on the ball off balance, which got past the charging Hugo Lloris to tie the match 1-1, which was the eventual scoreline. Lyon followed this draw with a defeat taking on Lille, whom they had just contested three days ago in a Coupe de France tie. With the match being played at the Stade de France and the clubs entertaining a record crowd, Lyon fielded a pretty strong, yet questionable side with players Mathieu Bodmer and François Clerc returning from a long absence and also having the task of defeating Barcelona in Spain in the second leg of their Champion’s League clash. In the match, Lyon failed constantly to get on the scoreboard with the Ivorian and former mastiff Kader Keïta missing on numerous opportunities. Lille made sure they made good on their chances with the Slovakian Róbert Vittek scoring the opening goal in the 60th minute and the Brazilian Michel Bastos finishing off Lyon scoring the second goal in the 88th minute to pick up a 0-2 victory.

After returning from their embarrassing defeat to Barcelona in Spain, Lyon suffered another embarrassment losing their first match at home this season to minnows Auxerre, despite both management and Claude Puel stating the club would respond positively to their elimination from the Champion’s League. Fielding the exact same lineup that lost 2-5 to Barcelona, Lyon failed for the second week in a row to get on the scoreboard losing 0-2 to Auxerre, who got goals from Ireneusz Jeleń and the Dane Thomas Kahlenberg leaving Lyon to hope they get a positive result from the ”Le Classique” in order to hold on to their first place position.

They would indeed keep hold of first place as a result of Marseille’s 3-1 victory over PSG. Lyon responded by picking up their first league victory in over three matches in a 2-0 win over Sochaux. They captured their second straight league victory in a win over Le Mans with Karim Benzema securing a much needed brace in a 3-1 win. With the likes of Marseille, Bordeaux, PSG, Lille, and Toulouse on their backs, Lyon needed victories to ensure their 8th straight league titles. They proceeded to falter drawing with mid-table club Monaco 2-2. Despite being 10 spots down in the table, Monaco were the stronger side forcing Lyon to come back from a goal down twice. The draw also dropped Lyon from the top spot, which they had held since the 4th week of the season. With Marseille recording a victory over Lorient hours before, Lyon needed a victory over Bordeaux to ensure they remain in the title race. Early on in the match, Lyon were denied a clear penalty chance after the Brazilian Ederson was taking down in the box by Bordeaux right back Matthieu Chalmé. Bordeaux proceeded to score just before halftime with a goal from the former Lyonnais Alou Diarra after the Brazilian Wendel hit the post on a shot off a corner kick. Chalmé would be involved in another denied penalty dispute later in the match, this time with Benzema. Despite the initial foul occurring inside the penalty box, the referee Stéphane Bré ruled the foul had occurred outside the box where Benzema fell. Eventually, Lyon fell to Bordeaux dropping the defending champions to 3rd and, instead of fighting for the title, were now fighting for the 3rd and final Champions League place with PSG, whom they faced next week. Played on a Friday, Lyon failed to score a goal for the second straight week as the match ended in a 0-0 draw. The next week against Valenciennes, Lyon endured their 7th defeat of the season losing 0-2. The lost effectively, but not mathematically, eliminated Lyon from winning their eight consecutive title. That occurred the following week. Despite defeating Nantes 3-0 with Jean Makoun scoring a brace, a victory by Bordeaux over Valenciennes eliminated Lyon from title contention.

Instead of reminiscing, Lyon took the opportunity to focus on qualifying for next year’s UEFA Champions League with a key match against Marseille. Though they were positioned for the third qualifying round in the standings, Lyon looked to jump Marseille into second position to go directly through the group stage. In front of a record crowd for a Marseille match, Lyon cruised to a 3-1 victory with Benzema finally ending his goal drought scoring a brace. Juninho scored the third goal. The following week, against Caen, Juninho and Benzema scored again in a 3-1 victory. For Juninho, it was his 100th career goal for Lyon. Juninho also received a standing ovation upon being substituted out, in what some knew was his final match at the Stade Gerland. Unfortunately, the victory was with malice since Marseille also won that week. Lyon were now guaranteed to finish in the 3rd spot meaning they would be seeded directly into the Playoff round, where they might end up facing the likes of the 2008–09 UEFA Cup champions Shakhtar Donetsk and Sporting Clube.

Ligue 1=

League table

Results summary

Results by round

UEFA Champions League

Lyon entered the 2008-09 UEFA Champions League for the 8th straight season. Due to finishing as champions of Ligue 1 this past season, Lyon again entered directly to the group stage. The draw for the group stage was determined on August 28, 2008. Lyon were paired with the defending German champions Bayern Munich, Italian side Fiorentina, and the Romanian runner-ups Steaua Bucureşti.

Lyon began their Champions League quest at home taking on Fiorentina. Lyon also unveiled their fluorescent green third kit in this match. As with the Nice match, which occurred just four days before, this match had its share of controversy. Following a disappointing first half, with Fiorentina leading 0-2 after two goals from Alberto Gilardino, Lyon came out for the second half with scoring in mind. With Lyon attacking, following a cross into the box, a collision occurred just inside the field of play between Frédéric Piquionne and Fiorentina defender Luciano Zauri, which unexpectedly injured the latter. Following a clearance by the Fiorentina defence, it was expected, by Fiorentina, that the ball would be put out of play with fair play being in mind. However, with Lyon trailing 0-2 and several Lyon players not having any idea of Zauri being down, they proceeded to attack and eventually a goal was scored by Piquionne. Following this incident, Lyon still trailed 1-2, but in the 86th minute, after earning a free kick Juninho and Benzema proceeded to display excellent and sly teamwork as Benzema equalised for his side drawing the match 2-2 and giving both clubs 1 point through one round.

With one point in hand, Lyon traveled to Munich, the capital city of Bavaria to take on group leaders Bayern Munich who defeated Steaua Bucureşti 1-0 on the opening matchday. With both teams coming off unimpressive matches a couple of days before (Lyon an unspectacular 2-1 victory over Nancy and Bayern, a 0-1 loss away to Hannover), the match showed why with Lyon’s only goal coming off the head of Bayern defender Martin Demichelis in the 25th minute from one of Juninho’s spot kicks. Bayern later equalised through the Brazilian Zé Roberto in the second half. Though Lyon had decent chances, including one where Karim Benzema had a chance to capitalize on a Bayern mistake late in the second half, the match remained 1-1 with Lyon leaving Munich with just 2 points through two matches.

After starting off slow, Lyon rebounded picking up two victories in their home-away series with FC Steaua Bucureşti. Similar to last season matches with Stuttgart, Lyon used these matches to get back into the competition defeating Steaua 5-3 in Romania. They came back from a 2-0 deficit and a 3-2 one goal deficit before finishing off the Romanian side in the latter portion of the second half with a goal from Benzema and a brace from Fred. The second match was a positive result as well with Lyon picking up a solid 2-0 victory with goals from Juninho and Anthony Réveillère. With the result in the other match between Bayern and Fiorentina being a draw, this moved Lyon into first place in the group (on goal differential) heading into the final two matchdays.

With the group stage drawing to an end and injuries piling up, Lyon traveled to Florence to again face Fiorentina. Despite having injury troubles at the back of the defense, Lyon performed well and only conceded one goal, again from Gilardino, though at the time of the goal, Lyon were up 2-0 after goals from Jean II Makoun and Karim Benzema. Despite chances from Brazilians Juninho and Ederson, in which both players hit the post in amazing fashion, the scoreline remained as Lyon booked their place in the knockout stage. In the final group stage match, which decided what team would finish first place in the group, Bayern Munich defeated Lyon 2-3, scoring all three of their goals in the first half. Lyon controlled the second half with two goals from Govou and Benzema, but could not get a third to draw the match or a fourth to win the group. With this result, Lyon went through as second.

Group F

”UEFA Champions League 2008-09 Group F

First Knockout Round

For the six straight season, Lyon reached the first knockout round. Due to finishing second, Lyon faced the danger of being paired with several big clubs that finished first in other groups. Notable clubs Lyon could have been paired with include Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona, and Juventus to name a few. Following the draw, Lyon indeed received a tough draw being given La Liga side F.C. Barcelona. Lyon and Barcelona were in the same group the previous Champions League season. Lyon lost to Barcelona 0-3 at the Camp Nou, but played well enough to earn a 2-2 draw at home.

In the opening leg at the Gerland, Lyon got off to a quick start scoring in just the 7th minute with a deceiving free kick, from an odd angle, by Juninho, which confused Barcelona keeper Víctor Valdés and eventually with into the inside of the side netting. Lyon continued to perform well into the first half with the defense constantly pressing Barcelona’s attack and Lyon’s offense missing on a variety of goal chances. Barcelona eventually got its equaliser from the head of Frenchman Thierry Henry drawing the match at 1-1. This was the final scoreline as Lyon headed into the second leg at the Camp Nou. In the second leg, the exact opposite occurred with Barcelona constantly pressurizing Lyon in the first half leaving Barcelona to control the match with most of the possession occurring in Barcelona’s attack. This showed as Barcelona earned first half goals from Henry twice, Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto’o, which effectively ended Lyon’s chances of advancing to the quarter-finals, despite Jean Makoun and Juninho scoring back-to-back goals in the 44th and 48th minute respectively. The final scoreline eventually was 2-5, eliminating Lyon from the Champion’s League for the 7th consecutive season and for the 3rd consecutive season in the Round of 16.

Coupe de la Ligue

Lyon entered the Coupe de la Ligue season having last won the cup in 2001. The previous season, they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Le Mans. As with all other years, Lyon entered the cup in the Round of 16 as they qualified for the UEFA Champions League, where they faced last year’s relegation side FC Metz. However, despite being relegated last season, Metz pulled off a tremendous 1-3 victory eliminating the defending league champions from the competition for the 8th straight season. Since winning the title in 2001, Lyon have only made it to January (usually when the quarter-finals take place) four times.

Coupe de France

Lyon entered the 2008-2009 Coupe de France season as defending champions having won the title the previous season in a highly-contested 1-0 victory against Paris Saint-Germain. Lyon began the defense of their title heading to the West coast to take on the Brittany-based side US Concarneau. The match was postponed for its assigned January 3 date due to a frozen pitch and was rescheduled to be played on January 24, 2009. Though, Lyon were the dominate side the entire match, the score at halftime was only 2-0. Lyon came out blazing in the second half scoring four goals, three of them in the final six minutes of the match to defeat Concarneau by a score of 6-0.

Lyon advanced to the Round of 32 where they faced rivals Olympique de Marseille in what was the first big draw of the cup. In the match, Lyon got off to a quick start with Karim Benzema scoring the first goal in just the 2nd minute. The rest of the match was fairly even, though, marred with several incidents, including former Lyon player Hatem Ben Arfa receiving a barrage of boos when he entered as a substitute in the 16th minute, as well as every time he touched the ball and Lyon player Kader Keïta picking up a second yellow card for elbowing new Marseille player Brandão in the face. In the end, Benzema’s goal was the only goal of the match with Lyon securing their place in the Round of 16, where they faced another secondary rival Lille. Lille, whom Lyon were to face in a league tie three days later, opened the scoring with a goal from the Brazilian Michel Bastos in the 22nd minute. Lyon responded just two minutes later with a goal from Jean Makoun. Just before halftime, Lille’s prolific youngster Eden Hazard scored to give Lille a 2-1 lead. Lyon again responded just two minutes later in injury time with a goal from a Lyon youngster Anthony Mounier, thus evening the match heading into halftime. With Lyon constantly responding back, Lille effectively ended Lyon’s chances of defending their title by scoring at the death with a goal from Nicolas Fauvergue giving Lyon no time to respond back, eliminating the defending champions from the Coupe de France.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article 2008–09 Olympique Lyonnais season, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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Manchester United entered the 2009–10 FA Cup at the Third Round stage, and were the last home team drawn on 29 November 2009. They welcomed bitter rivals Leeds United to Old Trafford on 3 January 2010. Leeds reached the Third Round after beating Kettering Town 5–1 after extra time in a replay of their Second Round tie.

With a League Cup semi-final against Manchester City three days later in mind, Alex Ferguson opted for a mix of youth and experience for the Leeds match; the midfield quartet of Gabriel Obertan, Darron Gibson, Anderson and Danny Welbeck had an average age of almost 21, while Gary Neville and Wes Brown started in defence with Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov up front. United went into the game 43 places above their opponents in the league system and started on the front foot; however, it was Leeds who opened the scoring in the 19th minute, when a long ball forward found Jermaine Beckford, who held off Wes Brown before poking the ball past Tomasz Kuszczak in the United goal. In search of an equaliser, Manchester United had two penalty appeals turned down in the second half and both Rooney and Michael Owen missed the target from close range, but the goal never came and the match finished 1–0 to Leeds, their first win at Old Trafford since 1981. The result meant that United had been eliminated from the FA Cup at the third round stage for the first time under the management of Alex Ferguson – they last lost an FA Cup third round tie in 1984, when they were beaten 2–0 by Bournemouth at Dean Court.

Knockout stage

The draw for the round of 16 of the Champions League was made in Nyon, Switzerland, on 18 December 2009. United, as group winners, could have faced such teams as Bayern Munich and Internazionale, but were ultimately paired with Milan. This presented the possibility of former player David Beckham facing United for the first time since he was sold to Real Madrid in 2003.

Beckham started the first leg on the right side of the Milan midfield and played a major part in the build-up to the first goal of the game; in the third minute, Patrice Evra gave away a free-kick 35 yards from goal, which Beckham crossed into the penalty area. Evra himself attempted an acrobatic clearance, but the ball only went as far as Ronaldinho on the edge of the penalty area. The Brazilian forward volleyed the ball towards goal, and United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar dropped to his right to block its trajectory; however, Michael Carrick got in the way first and it deflected off his legs and past Van der Sar. United then survived several lapses in concentration throughout the first half before Paul Scholes got their equaliser with 10 minutes left in the half; Darren Fletcher pulled a low cross back from the right side of the penalty area, and Scholes shaped to hit the ball with his right foot. He missed the ball, but it hit his standing leg and spun into the far corner of the goal past Dida’s outstretched hand. United took the lead half-way through the second half via Wayne Rooney; Antonio Valencia was played the ball on the right wing, and he beat Milan left-back Giuseppe Favalli before standing up a cross to the far post, which Rooney headed looping back over Dida’s head. Eight minutes later, Rooney was on the scoresheet again as he ran unmarked into the Milan penalty area and headed Fletcher’s lobbed pass past a static Dida. Clarence Seedorf pulled a goal back for Milan with five minutes left in the game, flicking the ball behind his right leg with his left foot, but United held on to win the match 3–2 and take three away goals back to Old Trafford.

The second leg was played three weeks later on 10 March. Wayne Rooney had missed United’s previous match against Wolverhampton Wanderers with an injury, but he was passed fit for the Milan game. Meanwhile, David Beckham was left on the bench for Milan, and so he would have to wait to make his Old Trafford return. At the start of play, Milan needed to score at least two goals to stand a chance of going through to the quarter-finals, but United put the tie almost beyond doubt in the 13th minute; captain Gary Neville swung in a pin-point cross from deep on the right side and Rooney nodded the ball past Christian Abbiati for his ninth consecutive headed goal. The score remained at 1–0 going into half-time, but Rooney doubled the lead within a minute of the restart, sliding the ball under the advancing Abbiati after Nani had played him in with a perfectly-weighted cross with the outside of his right foot. Park Ji-Sung made it three on the night with a low shot to the far corner of the net after Scholes played him in with a disguised pass in the 59th minute. Beckham came on to rapturous applause five minutes later, and forced a save from Edwin van der Sar with a powerful volley from the edge of the area, but Darren Fletcher sealed a 4–0 win (7–2 on aggregate) with a header from Rafael’s deep cross.

The draw for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final took place in Nyon on 19 March 2010. Unlike the round of 16 draw, there was no seeding or country protection in this draw, meaning that United could be drawn against fellow English side Arsenal or their Group B opponents CSKA Moscow. However, they were eventually drawn against Group A runners-up Bayern Munich, who they had famously played in the 1999 final. The first leg of the quarter-final will be played on 30 March 2010, while the second leg will be played a week later on 7 April. The semi-final draw took place immediately after the quarter-final draw, and United and Bayern were paired with the winners of the all-French quarter-final between Lyon and Bordeaux.

United got off to the perfect start as Wayne Rooney scored after just 64 seconds in the first leg at the Allianz Arena against Bayern. However, for the remainder of the game United were poor and Bayern looked very likely to score an equaliser. That the equaliser came was no surprise, but that it took over 70 minutes to come was. Franck Ribéry fired a free-kick which took a deflection off Rooney and into the back of the net. United managed to hold on until deep into injury-time when Ivica Olić scored from close range after Patrice Evra dithered on the ball. To make matters worse, Wayne Rooney was injured in the build-up to the late winner and was reported to be unavailable for the return leg at Old Trafford eight days later.

However, the second leg saw Wayne Rooney get a surprise start after Sir Alex had claimed that he wouldn’t risk making the injury any worse. The striker got involved early by setting up Darron Gibson’s third minute goal to give United the advantage. Four minutes later, Nani scored a second with a clever flick set up by Antonio Valencia. Nani netted again with a strike from range after Rooney had failed to control Rafael’s cross. With a two goal advantage on aggregate and an away goal from the first leg, United were in the driving seat but a close range goal from Olić before half time altered the mood, meaning that Bayern only needed one more goal to be heading through. In the second half, an early sending off for Rafael weakened the side and chances came few and far between, especially as Nani was left to play alone up front following Rooney being substituted for John O’Shea. The reds came close to perhaps sealing the game when Evra put Nani through on goal, but the winger was unable to beat the goalkeeper. With quarter of an hour to go, Arjen Robben volleyed into the low left hand corner and put Bayern Munich back in the driving seat, levelling the aggregate score. The score remained the same until the end and United were knocked out on away goals.

Statistics accurate as of match played 9 May 2010

Adapted from the Wikipedia article 2009–10 Manchester United F.C. season, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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During Zelaya’s time in office Honduras became a member of ALBA, an international cooperation organization based on the idea of social, political, and economic integration between the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Political opponents, particularly business elites, opposed his foreign policy, including his alliance with Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, and friendship with Cuba’s Raúl Castro.

Alliance with ALBA

On 22 July 2008, Zelaya sought to incorporate Honduras into ALBA, an international cooperation organization based on the idea of social, political, and economic integration in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Zelaya did not file the country’s budget to the Honduran Congress by 15 September 2008, as required by the country’s constitution. He said it was impossible to come up with numbers, blaming the world financial crisis. Zelaya was criticised by one of his own ministers. Julio Raudales, Zelaya’s former deputy minister, said the budgetary black hole cost the country some $400 million (in external funding).

On 30 September, Zelaya signed two emergency executive decrees, both with the number 46-A-2208, which each authorized transfer of 30 million lempiras of public money for advertising his fourth ballot box plans. The Supreme Audit Court’s investigation raised concerns of squandering public funds.

Conflict with media

Zelaya said that the main media outlets in Honduras, owned by wealthy conservatives, are biased against him and did not provide coverage of what his government was doing: “No one publishes anything about me. .& .& . what prevails here is censorship of my government by the big media.” Inter Press Service says that the vast majority of radio and TV stations and print publications are owned by just six families.

According to a paper written by Manuel Orozco and Rebecca Rouse for the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in the United States, the Honduran media operate as arms of political parties. Honduran journalists say that most of the news media there are unabashedly partisan, allied with political parties and local power brokers.

On 24 May 2007, Zelaya ordered ten two-hour ”cadenas” (mandatory government broadcasts) on all television and radio stations, “to counteract the misinformation of the news media.” The move, while legal, was fiercely criticized by the country’s main journalists’ union, and Zelaya was dubbed “authoritarian” by his opposition. Ultimately, the broadcasts were scaled back to a one-hour program on the government’s plans to expand telephone service, a half hour on new electrical power plants and a half-hour about government revenues. According to the University of New Mexico’s electronic bulletin ”NotiCen”, “Zelaya’s contention that the media distort his efforts is not without merit”, citing reports which gave the public the impression that murder rates were rising, when they actually fell by 3% in 2006.

A journalist who often criticized Zelaya was murdered by unknown gunmen in 2007. Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) and the United Nations criticized the threat to journalists in Honduras. Other critical journalists, such as Dagoberto Rodriguez and Hector Geovanny Garcia, fled into exile because of constant murder threats.

Corruption investigations of Hondutel

Manuel Zelaya appointed his nephew Marcelo Chimirri as General Manager of the state-owned telecom Hondutel.

According to the Mexican newspaper ”El Universal”, relying on information supplied by the Arcadia Foundation, Hondutel’s income decreased 47% between 2005 and 2006, the first year of President Manuel Zelaya’s administration, despite Hondutel’s monopoly on international calls In April 2009, Latin Node Inc., an American company, pleaded guilty to making improper payments to Hondutel, “knowing that some, or all of those funds, would be passed on as bribes to officials of Hondutel”. Chimirri who resigned in 2007, was arrested following the coup, and remains in prison on charges of abuse of authority and embezzlement, charges which he denies. Apart from Chimirri, Oscar Danilo Santos (the former manager of Hondutel), Jorge Rosa, and James Lagos are all charged in connection with allegedly committing crimes of abuse of authority, fraud and bribery having received bribes of $1.09 million U.S. from an international carrier in exchange for Hondutel providing that carrier lower rates than other firms. Auditor Julio Daniel Flores was charged for the lesser crime of violation of duties of officers.

Attempts to modify the constitution

President Zelaya came to international attention in June 2009 when he was overthrown in a military coup and forced into exile. The crisis that led to his removal from office centered around the question of whether changes would be made to the 1982 Honduran Constitution. Zelaya proposed a national poll to gauge interest in constitutional change, which provoked a fierce reaction from opposition parties. Those responsible for the coup justified their actions on the grounds that Zelaya’s interest in potentially convening a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution was illegal, and alleged that his real motive was to increase his time in office. Zelaya denied that his motive was to stay in office, stating that he intended to step down in January 2010 as scheduled, noting that his successor would be elected at the same time the vote on whether to convene a constituent assembly would occur.

Under constitutional law, the President of Honduras can amend the constitution without any referendum given that a congressional majority exists. However, eight articles cannot be amended, including those related to term limits, the permitted system of government, and the process of presidential succession.

Because the president can amend 368 of 375 articles without any constituent assembly, some suspected that Zelaya’s true intention was to extend his rule. One-time Christian Democrat presidential candidate Juan Ramon Martinez argued that Zelaya was attempting to discredit parliamentary democracy, saying, “There appears to be a set of tactics aimed at discrediting institutions… he has repeated on several occasions that democratic institutions are worthless and that democracy has not helped at all”.

Referendum

On 11 November 2008, following requests from many Honduran groups for the convening of a constituent assembly, Zelaya issued a decree organizing a poll to decide whether the electorate wanted a fourth ballot box installed at polling places for the upcoming 29 November 2009 General Election – an addition to the usual three for Presidential, Congressional, and municipal candidates. The fourth ballot would be to ask voters whether they would consider convening a National Constituent Assembly for the purpose of writing a new constitution. Later, in March 2009, Zelaya announced that first he wanted to have a preliminary poll – he suggested 28 June 2009 as a date – to ask voters whether they wanted the fourth ballot to be included in the November 2009 election.

There has been considerable debate as to whether Zelaya’s call for a poll about whether to organize a constituent assembly was legally valid according to the 1982 Constitution. Article 373 of the Constitution states that the Constitution can be amended by a two-thirds majority of the normal National Congress. Only eight articles cannot be amended in this fashion; they are specified in Article 374 of the Constitution and include term limits, system of government that is permitted, and process of presidential succession. Because the congress can amend 368 of 375 articles without any constituent assembly, some observers charged that Zelaya’s true intention of holding a referendum on convening a constitutional convention on the same date as his successor’s election was to extend his term of rule.. In a newspaper interview shortly before his removal from office, Zelaya stated that he had every intention of stepping down when his term ends in January 2010.

The Associated Press, citing Manuel Orozco of the Inter American Dialogue, said that “His [Zelaya's] campaign for changing the constitution has energized his support base of labour groups, farmers and civil organisations who have long felt marginalized in a country where a wealthy elite controls the media and much of politics.”

Violation of Supreme Court rulings

The Supreme Court, without deciding on the constitutionality of the poll, ruled that a lower court ruling blocking the referendum was lawful

The Supreme Court’s ruling was supported by Congress, the country’s attorney general, top electoral body, and the country’s human rights ombudsman, who all said that Zelaya violated the law. Despite the opposition of the other branches of the government, Zelaya moved forward with his plan to hold a consultative poll on 28 June 2009. In Honduras it is a function of the military to assist with election logistics; accordingly, in late May 2009, Zelaya issued a request to the military to distribute ballot boxes and other materials for the poll. The chief of the military, General Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, refused to carry this out. In response, Zelaya dismissed Vásquez on 24 May. Subsequently, defense minister Edmundo Orellana and several other military commanders resigned in support of Vásquez. Both the Honduran Supreme Court and the Honduran Congress deemed the dismissal of Velásquez to be unlawful.

By 25 June, the newspaper ”La Tribuna” reported that the military had deployed hundreds of troops around Tegucigalpa, to prevent possible disturbances by organisations that support Zelaya and with the exception of leftist organizations, “all sectors are publicly opposed to the consultation, which has been declared illegal by the Prosecutor and the Supreme Court”. The troops were deployed from the First Infantry Battalion, located 5& km East of the city, to the vicinity of the presidential residence in the West, and the airport, in the South.

There is some doubt, however, that Zelaya ever actually fired Vásquez. CNN news on 27 June reported that Zelaya on 24 June had ”said that he would” fire Vásquez; but that on 26 June Zelaya said that he had never carried out his threat and the general had not been fired. “I didn’t do it”, CNN quoted him as saying.

The Congress, the attorney general, and the top electoral tribunal declared Zelaya’s proposed referendum to be illegal. Congress began to discuss means to impeach Zelaya. On 27 June and again on 30 June 2009, thousands of protesters opposed to Zelaya’s rule marched through the capital city.

Constitutional crisis

On 28 June 2009, the country’s Supreme Court issued an order to detain President Zelaya, who was subsequently seized by the military. He was then brought to the air force base Hernan Acosta Mejia,

and taken into exile in Costa Rica.

The reason given for the arrest order were charges brought by the Attorney General, and the order was to enable a statement to be made to the Supreme Court.

The decision to expatriate him was, however, taken by the military themselves, knowing full well that it violated the constitution, ‘to avoid mob violence.’

Following the coup, Zelaya spoke to the media from his forced exile in San Jose, and identified the events as a coup and a kidnapping. He stated that soldiers pulled him from his bed and assaulted his guards. Zelaya stated that he would not recognize anyone named as his successor, and that he wanted to finish his term in office. He also stated that he would begin to meet with diplomats, and attended the Summit of Central American Presidents held in Managua, Nicaragua, two days later (30 June 2009).

The National Congress was obliged to vote unanimously to accept what they said was Zelaya’s letter of resignation, but Zelaya said he did not write the letter.

National Congress President Roberto Micheletti, the next person in the presidential line of succession, assumed the presidency following Zelaya’s removal from office.

The event was greeted with forced applause in Congress, which had denounced Zelaya’s repeated violations of the constitution and the law and disregard of orders and judgments of the institutions.

The world — including international bodies like the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and the European Union – publicly condemned the events. U.S. President Barack Obama said, “We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the President of Honduras.” Hugo Chávez threatened to invade Honduras if the Venezuelan embassy or ambassador were attacked. Venezuela has said it would suspend oil shipments, and Honduras’s neighbors—El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua—suspended overland trade for two days.

An ineffectual one-page United Nations resolution, passed by acclamation in the 192-member body, condemned the events and demanded Zelaya’s “immediate and unconditional restoration” as president. The resolution calls “firmly and categorically on all states to recognise no government other than that” of Mr. Zelaya.

During the first five days out of country, Zelaya spent 80,000 dollars of Honduran public money on luxury goods, including hotels, food and fine clothing.

Zelaya’s wife, Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, charged that the exiling of her husband was a violation of the Honduran Constitution.

Article 102 of the Honduran Constitution forbids expatriating or handing over of Hondurans to foreign countries.

According to Greenberg Quinlan Rosner poll, on October 9–13, Hondurans opposed the coup 60% to 38%, but were evenly divided on restoration of Zelaya’s presidency 49% to 50% (with limited powers), or 26% to 51% (with full powers). The approval rating of Micheletti’s interim presidency was 47% while Zelaya’s presidency had an approval rating of 67%.

Return to Honduras

On 21 September 2009, Zelaya and his wife arrived at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa. Zelaya stated that to reach the embassy he travelled through mountains for fifteen hours, and took back roads to avoid checkpoints. Zelaya did not state from which country he entered Honduras. Hundreds of Zelaya’s supporters surrounded the Brazilian embassy. Zelaya chanted “Restitution, Fatherland or Death!” to his supporters, raising fears that Zelaya was attempting a violent confrontation.

Michelletti initially denied Zelaya had returned, but later admitted he had done so, stating that it “changes nothing of our reality”. Michelletti later issued a curfew and asked the Brazilian government to place Zelaya in Honduran custody to be put on trial. Brazilian foreign minister Celso Amorim stated that Brazil did not aid Zelaya’s return. Security Vice Minister Mario Perdomo ordered checkpoints to be placed on highways leading to Tegucigalpa, to “stop those people coming to start trouble”. Defense Minister Lionel Sevilla suspended all air flights to Tegucigalpa.

Costa Rican President Óscar Arias and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged both sides to begin a dialogue toward a peaceful solution and Eulogio Chavez, leader of a 60,000-member teachers union, announced that his organization would go on strike to back Zelaya. Shortly thereafter, Zelaya said that “Israeli mercenaries” were torturing him with high-frequency radiation and mind-altering gas and that Israeli mercenaries had installed a mobile phone jammer.

On 27 September 2009 Honduras gave Brazil a ten-day deadline. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that he would ignore the deadline, stating that “Brazil will not comply with an ultimatum from a government of coup-mongers”. Honduran interim president Roberto Micheletti warned that his government would take action if Brazil did not determine Zelaya’s status soon. President Lula requested an apology.

Hundreds of Honduran soldiers and Police Officers have surrounded the Brazilian embassy, where protests against the coup continue.

On 29 October 2009, the government of “de facto” president Roberto Micheletti signed what United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called a “historic agreement” to let Manuel Zelaya serve the remaining three months of his term. “If Congress agrees”, according to Elisabeth Malkin reporting for ”The New York Times”, “control of the army would shift to the electoral court, and the presidential election set for 29 Nov. would be recognized by both sides. Neither Mr. Zelaya nor Mr. Micheletti will be candidates”.

When Micheletti announced he had, unilaterally, formed the unity government without input from Zelaya, Zelaya declared the agreement “dead” early on 6 November. The United States sent diplomats to help to resurrect the pact, but Zelaya insisted that he would not accept any deal to restore him to office if it meant he must recognize the elections of 29 November.

Presidential Election of 29 November 2009

On 29 November 2009, a presidential election was held under a state of emergency declared in Decree PCM-M-030-2009. According to the decree, the Secretary of State of the ‘de facto’ government was expected to participate in the military command for this state of emergency. Five of the six presidential candidates retained their candidacies, while Carlos H. Reyes had withdrawn his candidacy on 9 November in protest at what he perceived as illegitimacy of the election. Zelaya called for a boycott of the poll. Some Hondurans interviewed by Associated Press said that they “sought to move past the crisis with the elections”, which had been scheduled previous to Zelaya’s removal. Early returns indicated that conservative Porfirio Lobo was elected with around 55% of the votes. Official numbers for the turnout of the election falsely placed it at around 60%,, but subsequently revised the numbers to 49% turnout.

Organisations and individuals in Honduras, including the National Resistance Front against the coup d’état in Honduras, Marvin Ponce of the Democratic Unification Party, and Bertha Oliva of COFADEH, and internationally, including Mercosur, President Cristina Kirchner of Argentina and

the Union of South American Nations, said that elections held on 29 November under Micheletti would not be legitimate.

On 2 December, the National Congress began debate regarding the possible reinstatement of Zelaya to the presidency.

On 4 December, Juan Barahona-led activists ended five months of daily protests demanding the reinstatement of Zelaya, saying they’re moving on now that Congress has voted to keep Manuel Zelaya out of office. Juan Barahona, who had been leading protests since late June when Zelaya was forced out of the country, said that his supporters are “closing that chapter” of their struggle. Barahona said it’s time for Hondurans who support policies in favor of the poor and other themes that Zelaya espoused to shift their focus to the 2014 elections.

Exile

On 20 January 2010, the Dominican Republic and President-elect Lobo agreed to a deal that would allow Zelaya to be transported safely from the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa where he had been, to the Dominican Republic upon Lobo taking office on 27 January. Lobo stated that he would ensure Zelaya would leave safely and “with dignity.” Lobo negotiated with Dominican President Leonel Fernández. Lobo also discussed the situation with former presidential candidates who signed a statement on the agreement, as well as requesting that sanctions placed against Honduras as a result of the incident be lifted. The next day, Zelaya agreed to the deal, while a close advisor said he would remain politically active and hope to later return to political activity.

Zelaya, along with his wife, two children, and President Fernández of the Dominican Republic, left Honduras on 27 January 2010, for the Dominican Republic. They continue to live in the Dominican Republic. Zelaya continues to be seen as the legitimate head of state of Honduras by several countries in the region.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Manuel Zelaya, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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Background, 1977-95

Perth first showed interest in joining the National Soccer League in its inaugural year in 1977. However, a series of logistical problems and financial concerns meant that the league was not keen to include a Western Australian (WA) side. While the state representative side continued to perform well in national and international cup competitions, WA continued to be unrepresented at a senior club level until 1994.

In 1994, a group of businessmen led by Joe Claudio formed the Perth Kangaroos IFC. The club competed in the 1994 Singapore Premier League along with the Darwin Cubs. At the time, there were visions of establishing an Asia-Pacific Super League which could become a sporting and financial empire in the east. It turned out to be something of a farce. The Kangaroos finished the league season undefeated and easily won the Singapore league title. However, with dwindling support and resources, the experiment proved to be a financial disaster and Perth Kangaroos IFC soon folded.

Early seasons, 1995-98

In 1995, another consortium led by Nick Tana made a bid for entry into the National Soccer League. Perth Glory was subsequently licensed to join the 1996/7 NSL season. From a relatively unheralded start, the club would develop beyond all expectations and establish the game in a state where Australian rules football dominated and Rugby league was about to fail.

Former Adelaide City player and Perth Kangaroos coach Gary Marocchi was appointed coach for the first two seasons and won many fans with his bold, attacking style. Initially believed to be nothing more than a token participant, Perth surprised many by only just missing the cut for the finals; finishing 7th and 8th in 1996-97 and 1997-98 respectively. The exciting style of “you score three, we score four” drew fans – including many British expatriates.

Players like NSL-title-winning sweeper Vinko Buljubasic, Perth born striker Bobby Despotovski and young local star Vas Kalogeracos were brought into the team and achieved cult status. New Zealand international Gavin Wilkinson was also signed while local midfielder Gareth Naven was appointed captain.

In their first match in the NSL, Perth Glory lost to UTS Olympic 4-1, with veteran Scot Alan MacKenzie scoring the first goal for Glory and Doug Ithier winning the first Man-of-the-Match award. Huge crowds and good results soon followed with an exciting win over defending champions the Melbourne Knights thrilling a huge crowd.

Glory needed only a point in their final match of the season but were defeated by the Knights and fell just short of making the finals. Glory midfielder Paul Strudwick was sent off during the match in controversial circumstances while trouble in the crowd also marred the match.

In the 1997/98 season, despite again narrowly missing the top six and signing more high-profile players like Ernie Tapai, Danny Hay and Nigerians Samson Siasia and Peter Anosike it was a disappointing season for the Glory.

The Bernd Stange era, 1999-2001

Fan support was consolidated in the era of Bernd Stange. The former East German national coach became a media star after replacing Gary Marocchi who was sacked and finally took the team into the competition playoffs. The success of the team created record attendances along with record exposure in the local media. During Stange’s reign, Glory competed in its first-ever NSL Grand Final in 1999/2000 after having already won the League championship.

In his first season, Stange had taken Glory to their first ever finals series the previous season and had fallen in the preliminary final against Sydney United. With new signings John Markovski and Con Boutsianis fitting straight into the side, local player Jamie Harnwell started to develop into a key defender and made the step to replace the injured Vinko Buljubasic. Unfortunately a horror form slump at the height of summer denied the Glory a top two place but massive crowds still attended their two home finals at the WACA Ground against Adelaide City and Marconi Stallions.

The following year, Glory recruited young players Ivan Ergic, Jason Petkovic and Olyroo Kasey Wehrman. The 1999/2000 grand final is remembered as one of the most thrilling matches in NSL history. Earlier in the Championship Playoff series, Perth had narrowly beaten the Wollongong Wolves in a two-legged Major Semi Final – needing a dramatic 80th-minute penalty and goal in extra time to advance (Ergic drew the penalty and scored the golden goal). In the grand final, Perth again faced the Wolves and led 3-0 at half time against a miserable Wolves outfit; thinking the game was won, Stange substituted key Glory players Scott Miller, Bobby Despotovski and Ivan Ergic. Yet, the Wolves rallied superbly and Perth experienced a series of defensive blunders to be pegged back to 3-3 at full time. Perth subsequently lost on penalties, but this defining moment galvanised the team and would be a motivating force for years to come. James Afkos, a young defender and son of Glory co-owner Paul Afkos saw his penalty saved, which gave the win to the Wolves. The Wolves side also featured players such as Scott Chipperfield, Sasho Petrovski as well as Matt Horsley and Stuart Young who would go on to play with the Glory in later years. The loss was a crushing blow to Glory but the team had done well despite problems Stange had with stars such as Vas Kalogeracos and Con Boutsianis who had both left the club. Stange had also been told midway through the season that his contract would not be renewed—but well-organised supporter protest and media pressure forced Tana to change his mind and publicly announce the U-turn before a home match against the Canberra Cosmos.

In spite of the loss, Stange was popular with the public but his time had come by the end of the 2000/01 season. Glory was too inconsistent during the season, suffering from more player disharmony involving Stange’s tactics, and falling just short of a top-two spot. Glory had at times played good attacking football but proved unable to do so consistently.

In the finals series the Glory once again came up against the Melbourne Knights and drew 0-0 in Melbourne despite having Jamie Harnwell sent off. Following the match Melbourne Knights fans attacked the team and their bus as they tried to leave Sunshine Stadium. It is believed that the fans were angered by a Serbian salute made by Bobby Despotovski in response to provocation from the Melbourne Knights fans who have a traditionally large Croatian support.

In the return leg Glory were eliminated following a 2-2 draw. The Knights had gone into an early lead with goals in slippery conditions before two late goals to the Glory but it wasn’t enough with the Knights winning through the away goal rule. Despite signing high profile recruits such as Damian Mori (who had formed a prolific partnership with Bobby Despotovski up front) and Brad Maloney while also holding onto young star Ljubo Milicevic the Glory had underachieved and Stange was sacked by Nick Tana.

Mich d’Avray as coach, 2001-04

Despite the flair of Stange’s reign, it would take the more tactical approach of Mich d’Avray to finally win the NSL Championship. While less flamboyant than his predecessor, d’Avray successfully transformed the team with a different strategy to the previous coaches. The attacking 5-3-2, which saw almost as many goals conceded as scored, was replaced with a 4-4-2. Some may argue that the team began to play a less attractive form of the game, but nobody could argue with the results. In 2001/2, the team nearly went the entire season undefeated with a side that only had former Adelaide City midfielder Brad Hassell as a major addition. After scraping through in the second leg of the major semi final against Newcastle, Glory faced Sydney Olympic in the grand final at a sold out Subiaco Oval. While the 2000 Final was one of the great games of domestic Australian association football, the 2002 final was a tight and tense affair with Glory hardly getting a shot on target due to the fact that they lacked any bite in the midfield and had their two strikers marked out of the game. Ante Milicic was on target for Olympic though and his goal early in the second half was enough for Olympic to win 1-0 and break the hearts of Glory fans once again. It was also to be former Socceroo Alistair Edwards final match before retirement.

Many Glory fans consider this match as the final straw for the fans who had flocked in their thousands in the past, and only the hardcore fans still remained at games in the NSL and first two years of the A-League.

Maloney left the club at the end of the 2002 season but his replacement proved to be a key in Glory finally getting that elusive title. German midfielder Andre Gumprecht was brought in to the club thanks to Stange and made an instant impact. With the NSL disintergrating around them, Glory and Olympic were the only two semi decent teams still left in the league to galvanise their midfield and fought it out for top spot all season. Glory picked up Socceroo Simon Colosimo halfway through the season and eventually won the right to host the 2003 Grand Final after coming out on top of a new, confusing and convoluted league table finals format that had dragged a poor season out. In the Grand Final Glory took the game to Olympic and following a headed goal from in the first half from Harnwell it was all over late in the match when Mori saw his shot dribble over the line in dramatic fashion. 2-0 was the end result and d’Avray had delivered the Grand Final victory Glory had yearned for.

In the final NSL season in 2003-04, Glory only had Parramatta Power as a huge threat with the Western Sydney club buying up big for the season. Players like Fernando Rech, Michael Beauchamp and Ante Milicic were brought in along with Glory midfielders Gumprecht and Colosimo in what seemed to be a huge blow to the champions. In response to the plundering of their engine room d’Avray signed up Sydney Olympic title winners Tom Pondeljak, Wayne Srhoj and Jade North while also getting former Socceroo defender and West Australian native Shaun Murphy back from the United Kingdom.

In a season where Glory again went head to head with a team from Sydney, Parramatta beat the Glory at home 4-2 and then away 2-0 to host the final ever NSL Grand Final. Glory thrashed Adelaide United in the preliminary final and faced Parramatta at Parramatta Stadium to try and go for back to back victories. In pouring rain, Parramatta were brought down to the level of their opponents and scrapped for every ball in a match devoid of many chances. Mori wasted two sitters before young striker Nick Mrdja nailed a shot past Clint Bolton to claim the golden goal and win the match for Glory and their second NSL title.

In the 2005-06 season d’Avray was the Glory’s director of football but after the club decided to hire the coaching services of Ron Smith and David Mitchell his services where no longer wanted within the club for the 2006-07 season.

End of the National Soccer League, 2003-04

It was around 2001 that the league showed signs of significant deterioration. A combination of central mismanagement, conflicts of interest and poor sponsorship would eventually lead to a government enquiry and the removal of the leadership of Soccer Australia. Eventually, the relaunched and renamed Football Federation Australia announced the creation of the A-League for 2005/6. The financial backing and business nous of chairman Nick Tana had ensured the viability and success of the club during the earlier dire times – and ensured it a place in the future of the game in Australia.

First season in the A-League, 2005-06

In 2005, it was announced that former Liverpool and England star Steve McMahon would be appointed as coach. The new season saw a complete overhaul of the playing squad, with Simon Colosimo and former Sunderland and Leeds striker Brian Deane as key signings. Other notable signings included future young stars Nick Ward and Billy Celeski.

Early results in friendlies against local opposition were not great, but Perth became the first team to defeat Sydney FC, winning 1-0 in the semi-final of the 2005-06 Pre-season Cup before losing in the final 0-1 to the Central Coast Mariners. Perth’s woeful recruiting strategy was soon evident with the early departure of star import Brian Deane after seven games. Another McMahon recruit, Northern Ireland junior international Neil Teggart, quit the club prior to the start of the regular season. Deane was replaced by Damian Mori, a former Perth Glory striker. Originally on a three-game temporary contract, after some impressive performances Mori stayed for the rest of the season and finished with seven goals.

However, the club continued to be dogged by problems which would only be later revealed to the public. Steve McMahon was subject to constant media criticism over his coaching style and was accused of nepotism by signing his son, Steve McMahon Jr, who was of questionable talent. Rumours also surfaced that players were planning to stage a revolt against the coach. On December 7, the club reported that the parties had “amicably” chosen to go separate ways. On December 9, 2005, the club announced that assistant coach Alan Vest would move into the head coach role for the remainder of the season, with striker Damian Mori taking on a dual role as player-coach after being named as his assistant.

The coach’s departure was merely a symptom of deeper troubles. Poor performances saw Perth miss out on qualification for the finals for the first time since 1998. Dwindling support from chairman Nick Tana, as he looked to sell his 75% stake in the club, seemed to underpin a general decline in club fortunes. After the Round 20 match against Sydney FC, Alan Vest hinted that the current player group were incapable of achieving anything better and stated that “cliques” had been formed undermining club harmony. To cap off a bad season, Western QBE announced they were withdrawing as major sponsor after being associated with the club for 8 years.

Under FFA control, 2006-07

In March 2006, Football Federation Australia relieved owner Nick Tana of ownership and management of Perth Glory.

In July 2006, Australian international Stan Lazaridis signed a 2 year deal. This was quickly followed by the appointment of Ron Smith as head coach and Michelle Phillips as CEO on July 26. Unfortunately, star youth player Nick Ward did not honour his two year contract and defied the advice of the FFA and left for Queens Park Rangers in England. In a major bonus for the Glory, long time partner and sponsor Western QBE Insurance gave a show of faith and signed on as the clubs major sponsor in round 18, until the end of the 2007-2008 season. Western QBE had previously been sponsor of the club since 1998, but decided against resigning a deal at the start of the 2006-2007 season, leaving the Glory in a very tough situation- without any sponsor or owners. But in December 2006, signs were shown that owners had been found by the FFA, and so Western QBE were reinstated.

Back in private ownership, 2007/08

The FFA (holders of the Perth Glory licence) announced on February 23, 2007 that the Glory was to be handed over to a triumvirate of owners – Tony Sage, Brett McKeon and John Spence. This announcement ended almost a year of uncertainty.

The new Glory owners are ambitious in their plans, and are bringing new hope to a club that was somewhat poor, both off the field and on, in 2006-07.

On the 2nd of March, it was announced that former Perth Glory players Anthony Danze and Billy Celeski had rejoined the club, along with new signings Dino Djulbic and AIS graduate Jimmy Downey. It was also announced that Naum Sekulovski had agreed to a new one year deal with the Glory.

On the 21st of March, Perth Glory announced the signing of former Perth SC and Young Socceroos Goalkeeper Tando Velaphi. This was followed on the 27th of March with the signing of Nikita Rukavytsya, also from Perth SC. Nikolai Topor-Stanley joined the club after Sydney FC’s Asian Champions League campaign finished.

On the 19th of May, Perth Glory announced that Milton Keynes Dons winger Nick Rizzo had signed a two-year deal with the club. On the 24th of May, the signing of little-known Croatian striker Mate Dragičević was announced. Dutch veteran Michael Mols was expected to sign as a Glory player for the 2007-08 season but rejected the offer to sign for Feyenoord. Hayden Foxe and Mitchell Prentice were later added to the squad, and the signing of striker James Robinson was also completed.

Probably the biggest coup for the Glory for the 2007-08 season was the signing of a one-year sponsorship deal with Singapore listed steel manufacturer Delong Holdings, worth $AUD750,000, one of the biggest in the A-League, who will feature on the back of the Glory jersey. On the front of the Glory jersey, long-serving major sponsor Western QBE will feature prominently, another deal worth over $AUD500,000 for one year, with an option of two years after that.

In the 2007 A-League Pre-season Cup, the Glory surprised many by making the Final against Adelaide despite not playing a single game in WA. In the first round in Port Maquarie, Glory beat Newcastle United Jets FC 1-0 to lead group B from the outset. In the second round, in Adelaide, Glory took the lead through young sensation Nikita Rukavytsya, but were held to a draw by United after a 35-meter wonder strike from Reds defender Cassio. Going into the final group game, against Premiers and champions Melbourne Victory FC, Perth needed a positive result to progress to the Final. In Darwin, in what the FFA designated as a home game, Melbourne scored first through Costa Rican sensation Carlos Hernández, a 35-meter cracker. But the Glory equalized and then took the lead through goals from Harnwell and Nikita Rukavytsya. Unfortunately in the other game, United thrashed unfortunate Newcastle, who had to settle for third place in the group, by 4 goals to 1, meaning Glory would have to face Central Coast, winners of the other group and in ominous form on the back of two wins and a draw. Glory, however, played amazingly well and were victors 3-2 in Gosford. Unfortunately, again United beat their opponents Queensland by 3 goals to two in an absolute cracker of a game, meaning United would host the Grand Final. This was Perth’s second chance at the Pre-Season silverware in the A-League.

Prior to the match, Socceroo Simon Colosimo was handed the captaincy and the job of steering Perth back to former Glory.

Perth eventually lost after leading for a large part of the match, again to a Cassio wonder strike, the final score being 2-1 to United. Many people put this down to the travel that the squad endured throughout the campaign for the laps in the last 20 minutes.

The season started poorly though for the Glory, winless after 12 rounds and attracting only four-figure attendances. As a result, Ron Smith came under increasing pressure from fans and the media to deliver results. The team struggled to score goals, with Mate Dragicevic in particular becoming a figure of derision. Glory legend Bobby Despotovski publicly called for Smith to be replaced, and on the 4 November Smith was sacked as manager. David Mitchell was handed the caretakers role for the rest of the season.

The bold new era of Perth Glory began the same day, when it was announced the Glory were forming a strategic alliance with English Premier League club Manchester City. Results and crowds immediately picked up. A 4-1 thrashing of Newcastle in Mitchell’s debut match bode well for times ahead, with Glory’s first win at home in a year against Melbourne and Glory’s first-ever win over Sydney. Mitchell won four and drew two of the remaining 10 games of the 2007-8 season.

The club’s playing staff drew controversy as the season ended, with news that Simon Colosimo had agreed to join Sydney FC at the end of the season. The story was published in the Sunday Times newspaper and resulted in Colosimo being jeered by sections of the Shed crowd during the round 18 loss to Queensland Roar. Colosimo later strongly denied any deal was done, but admitted that the crowd response made him less likely to stay at Perth. [http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22990096-5005408,00.html] Colosimo was dropped for the final two games of the year for “tactical reasons”. He completed his move to Sydney FC at the end of the season.

2008/09

Pre-season preparations began much earlier than usual, with Perth Glory going on a three game tour of China in March, consisting of matches against Changchun Yatai, Changsha Ginde and Guangzhou. The tour was used as an opportunity for the club to assess potential signings, including state league players Josip Magdic (Floreat Athena), Mark Lee (ECU Joondalup), Callum Roberts (Fremantle) and Marc Anthony (Stirling Lions). Eugene Dadi, whose mooted move to the Glory last season was stalled due to Hapoel Acre’s refusal to release him, also made the trip. The Glory lost all three matches; the first match went to Changchun 3-0, the second match to Changsha 2-0 and Guangzhou won the final game 3-1. Callum Roberts scored the Glory’s only goal on the tour.

Perth Glory have made four new signings in the off-season. Eugene Dadi was granted release from his former club to sign for Perth Glory.[http://www.perthglory.com.au/default.aspx?s=pgfc_news_item&id=21826] Adriano Pellegrino and Adrian Trinidad joined the club in early May.[http://perthglory.com.au/default.aspx?s=pgfc_news_item&id=22078][http://perthglory.com.au/default.aspx?s=pgfc_news_item&id=22079] Jimmy Downey also had his contract extended by a further year. Josip Madgic and Naum Sekulovski have also re-joined the Glory for season 2008/09. Stan Lazaridis is the most notable depature, having been told by the club he is no longer required after two seasons hampered by injury, suspension and poor form. In July 2008, Glory announced the signing of Brazilian international midfielder Alexandre da Silva Mariano, better known as ‘Amaral.’ The defensive midfielder has played with some of the great clubs around the globe including Brazilian giants Palmeiras and Corinthians, perennial Portuguese championship contenders Benfica and successful Italian Serie A outfits Parma and Fiorentina. He has also represented Brazil 31 times during a long and successful career before joining Perth on their pre-season tour of Indonesia. Glory had been keeping a close eye on youngsters Scott Bulloch (Sorrento), Anthony Skorich (Western Knights) and Andrija Jukic (Perth SC) who were all up and coming players in the WA State league. Bulloch signed with the Glory’s senior team in August, while Skorich and Jukic joined Glory’s Youth Team. In September, Wayne Srhoj returned to Australia after 5 seasons in Romania, to sign with the Glory for the rest of the season.

Perth finished the season in 7th place, with 22 points. Glory once again started the season poor, though they did however finish the second half of the season strongly, winning 4 matches and drawing 3, securing 15 points in the last 11 rounds since November. In November, Head Coach Dave Mitchell signed a contract extension securing his services till the end of the 2010/11 season. Mitchell’s contract extension, despite Glory’s slow start, showed the new direction Glory’s club was heading, of vision, but built on stable foundations. Promising signs on and off the field were shown this season and things progressed further with Tony Sage taking sole ownership of the club at season’s end.

2009/10

Former Perth Glory co-owner Brett McKeon sold his shareholding in the club to Tony Sage in February 2009 making Sage the sole owner of the club. Following this Sage has invested money into the club for the 2009-10 season including a number of wholesale changes to operations, marketing, players and staff.

As part of Glory’s pre-season campaign, the club hosted English Premier League clubs Wolverhampton Wanderers FC and Fulham FC as well as new A-League franchise North Queensland Fury for friendly matches in Perth in July. Although Glory went down 1-0 and 5-0 to Wolverhampton and Fulham respectively the event was a success attracting an average of 13,000 fans to Members Equity Stadium for both matches. Perth Glory continued their pre-season in Mandurah with a 1-0 victory against North Queensland Fury featuring Fury’s marquee signing Robbie Fowler.

For season 2009-10, Perth Glory have undertaken an overhaul of the club badge and playing kit, which includes vertical white and purple stripes on their home kit for the first time in the clubs history.

Tony Sage’s promise to invest in the club by spending the full amount of money on players allocated under the A-League’s salary cap rule had eventuated with the club making key signings. Victor Sikora was signed in February 2009 following a short term stint at Glory on loan from FC Dallas during the latter part of the 2008-09 A-League season. Further international players were added to the squad with Serbian striker Branko Jelić signed on a 3 year deal from Energie Cottbus and Englishman Andy Todd joining from Derby County. Following up on an early season promise by Tony Sage to sign Socceroo players, Perth Glory have successfully secured the services of Jacob Burns. In June 2009, in a bold move to attract attention for 2010 FIFA World Cup selection, Mile Sterjovski joined the club on a marquee contract, while Chris Coyne also announced his intentions by returning to his hometown club.

Perth Glory’s first match of the 2009-10 A-League season was played away at Hindmarsh Stadium against Adelaide United on August 7, 2009.

This is the first season that Perth made the finals series.

2010/11

Perth signed ex-North Queensland Fury manager Ian Ferguson as the assistant coach, despite rumours circulating that Ferguson and new Glory signing Robbie Fowler had a bad working relationship whilst at North Queensland Fury. Glory signed veteran Jamie Harnwell to a new one-year deal for the 2010-11 season. The club also went on to sign Perth products Jamie Coyne and Todd Howarth to contract extensions, before signing left-back Josh Mitchell and striker Michael Baird, who have both been playing for Romanian club Universitatea Craiova.

On 27 April 2010, it was announced that Fowler had agreed to become part of Glory’s squad for the 2010-11 A-League season. Fowler reportedly ignored offers from Middle East clubs to stay in Australia after enjoying his stay in the country with his family since having joined North Queensland Fury last season.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Perth Glory FC, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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January

* January 1 – The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially enters into force.

* January 1 – Euro notes and coins are issued in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Finland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Austria, Ireland and the Netherlands.

* January 8 – The No Child Left Behind Act is signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush.

* January 9 – The United States Department of Justice announces it will pursue a criminal investigation of Enron.

* January 10 – Enrique Bolaños begins his 5-year term as President of the Republic of Nicaragua.

* January 14 – The asylum case of Adelaide Abankwah is heard in New York.

* January 16 – The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and freezes the assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban.

* January 17 – The eruption of Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo displaces an estimated 400,000 people.

* January 23 – ”Wall Street Journal” reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Pakistan, accused of being a CIA agent by his captors.

* January 27 – Several explosions at a military dump in Lagos, Nigeria kill more than 1,000.

* January 31 – A large section of the Antarctic Larsen Ice Shelf begins disintegrating, consuming about 3,250& km (1,254 miles) over 35 days.

February

* February 1 – Kidnapped ”Wall Street Journal” reporter Daniel Pearl is murdered in Karachi, Pakistan.

* February 3 – Costa Rica holds presidential and congressional elections.

* February 8–24 – The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* February 12 – The trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

* February 12 – The U.S. Secretary of Energy makes the decision that Yucca Mountain is suitable to be the United States’ nuclear repository.

* February 13 – Queen Elizabeth gives former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani an honorary knighthood.

* February 19 – NASA’s Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.

* February 20 – In Reqa Al-Gharbiya, Egypt, a fire on a train injures over 65 and kills at least 370.

* February 22 – Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in a military ambush.

* February 22 – A Spanish-facilitated ceasefire begins in Sri Lanka.

* February 23 – FARC kidnaps Ingrid Betancourt in Colombia while she campaigns for the presidency.

* February 27 – A series of riots leaves hundreds dead, after 59 Hindu pilgrims die aboard a train burned by a Muslim mob in Godhra, India.

* February 28 – The ex-currencies of all euro-using nations cease to be legal tender in the European Union.

* February 28 – Gujarat communal riots begin, wherein the Gulbarg Society massacre takes place in Ahmedabad, in which 69 people were burnt alive or killed.

March

* March 1 – U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: In eastern Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda begins.

* March 1 – Continuing violence in Ahmedabad, India kills 28; police shoot and kill 5 rioters.

* March 1 – The Envisat environmental satellite successfully reaches an orbit 800& km above the Earth using an Ariane 5 on its 11th launch, carrying the heaviest payload to date at 8,500& kg.

* March 1 – ”STS-109”: Space Shuttle ”Columbia” flies the Hubble Space Telescope service mission, its last before ”STS-107”.

* March 3 – São Tomé and Príncipe hold legislative elections.

* March 4 – Ansett Australia, one of the oldest airlines in the world and the second largest in Australia, ceases operation after collapsing financially. This event also marks the largest job loss in Australian history.

* March 6 – France agrees to return the remains of Saartjie Baartman to South Africa.

* March 12 – In Houston, Texas, Andrea Yates is found guilty of drowning her 5 children on June 20, 2001. She is later sentenced to life in prison.

* March 14 – 125 vehicles are involved in a massive pile up on Interstate 75 in Ringgold, Georgia.

* March 14 – ECOWAS Parliament established.

* March 17 – Portugal holds parliamentary elections.

* March 17 – In Islamabad, Pakistan, the International Protestant Church attack occurs.

* March 19 – US war in Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 1) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, with 11 allied troop fatalities.

* March 21 – In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and 3 others are charged with the kidnapping and killing of ”Wall Street Journal” reporter Daniel Pearl.

* March 24 – The 74th Academy Awards, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, are held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California with the film ”A Beautiful Mind” winning Best Picture.

* March 27 – A Palestinian suicide bomber killed 30 Israeli civilians and injured 140 others at the Park Hotel in Netanya, triggering Operation Defensive Shield, a large-scale counter-terrorist Israeli military incursion into the West Bank, two days later.

April

* April 1 – Maryland defeats Indiana 64–52 to win the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia.

* April 2 – Israeli forces besiege the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, when militants take shelter there.

* April 9 – The funeral of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother takes place in Westminster Abbey, London.

* April 11 – April 14 – A military coup d’état against the leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez fails.

* April 15 – An Air China Boeing 767-200 crashes into a hillside during heavy rain and fog near Pusan, South Korea, killing 128.

* April 17 – Four Canadian infantrymen are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from 2 US F-16s.

* April 18 – The discovery of a new insect order, Mantophasmatodea, is announced.

* April 21 – French presidential election, 2002: The first round results in a runoff between Jacques Chirac and the leader of the main French far-right party, Jean-Marie Le Pen.

* April 22 – At a special session of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Director-General Jose Bustani is fired.

* April 25 – ”Soyuz TM-34”: South African Mark Shuttleworth blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome; he had paid £15 million for the trip.

* April 27 – The Laughlin, Nevada River Run Riot kills 3.

May

* May 5 – In the second round of the French presidential election, Jacques Chirac is reelected.

* May 6 – In the Netherlands, politician Pim Fortuyn is assassinated.

* May 9 – A 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem ends, when the Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected militants among them deported to several different countries.

* May 9 – In Kaspiysk, Russia, a remote-control bomb explodes during a holiday parade, killing 43 and injuring at least 130.

* May 10 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling American secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.

* May 12 – Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a 5-day visit with Fidel Castro, becoming the first U.S. President, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro’s 1959 revolution.

* May 12 – The Russian Shuttle ”Buran” is destroyed in the Buran hangar collapse, killing 8 workers.

* May 20 – East Timor regains its independence.

* May 21 – The US State Department releases a report naming 7 state sponsors of terrorism: Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria.

* May 22 – 16th Street Baptist Church bombing: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of 4 girls.

* May 25 – Estonia hosts the first Eurovision Song Contest in a former Soviet republic.

* May 25 – China Airlines Flight 611 disintegrates near the Penghu Islands at Taiwan Strait, killing all 225 people on board.

* May 26 – The Mars Odyssey finds signs of large water ice deposits on the planet Mars.

* May 26 – A barge collides with the Interstate 40 bridge across the Arkansas River in eastern Oklahoma, killing 14.

* May 31 – June 30 – the 2002 FIFA world cup is held in South Korea and Japan

June

* June 3 – The ”Party in the Palace” takes place at Buckingham Palace, London for Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee celebrations.

* June 4 – The planetoid Quaoar is discovered orbiting the Sun in the Kuiper belt.

* June 6 – Eastern Mediterranean Event: An object with an estimated diameter of 10 meters collides with Earth, over the Mediterranean Sea, and detonates in mid-air.

* June 8 – Serena Williams defeats her sister Venus Williams in straight sets to win the 2002 French Open.

* June 10 – An annular solar eclipse occurs.

* June 10 – The first direct electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of 2 humans, is carried out by Kevin Warwick in the United Kingdom.

* June 11 – Antonio Meucci is recognized as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.

* June 14 – In Karachi, Pakistan, a car bomb in front of the U.S. Consulate kills 12 Pakistanis and injures 50.

* June 15 – Near Earth Asteroid 2002 MN misses the planet by 75,000 miles (120,000& km), about 1/3 the distance to the moon.

* June 24 – The Igandu train disaster in Dodoma Region, Tanzania, kills 281 people in the worst rail accident in African history.

July

* July 1 – The International Criminal Court is established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Crimes committed on or after this date may be prosecuted by the court.

* July 1 – A Russian passenger jet and a cargo plane collide over the town of Überlingen, Germany; 72 are killed (see Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937).

* July 9 – The Organization of African Unity is disbanded and replaced by the African Union.

* July 10 – At a Sotheby’s auction, Peter Paul Rubens’ painting “The Massacre of the Innocents” (first version) is sold for £49.5million (US$76.2 million) to Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet.

* July 14 – During Bastille Day celebrations, Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt.

* July 15 – In Washington, D.C., “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to aiding the enemy and possession of explosives during the commission of a felony; Lindh agrees to serve 10 years in prison for each charge.

* July 19 – Hail kills 25 and injures hundreds in the Chinese province of Henan.

* July 21 – Telecommunications giant WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (the largest such filing in United States history).

* July 27 – Helen Clark, leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, is re-elected in a landslide victory.

* July 27 – A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes at an air show in Ukraine, killing 85 and injuring more than 100, making it the worst air show disaster in history (see Sknyliv airshow disaster).

August

* August – The 2002 European floods ravage Central Europe.

* August 7 – Tama-chan, a bearded seal native to the Arctic, is discovered in Tama River in Tokyo.

* August 10 – Turkmenistan adopts a law to rename all the months and most of the days of the week according to Ruhnama, a book written by Turkmen president Saparmurat Niyazov.

* August 12 – In Arlington, Virginia, US Airways declares bankruptcy.

September

* September 2 – The United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, successor of the 1972 Conference on the Human Environment, 1983 World Commission on Environment and Development, and the 1992 Conference on Environment and Development, opens.

* September 5 – A car bomb kills at least 30 people in Afghanistan, and an apparent assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai fails the same day.

* September 10 – Switzerland joins the United Nations.

* September 11 – The World Summit on Sustainable Development comes to a close.

* September 15 – The Swedish parliamentary election, 2002 leaves Prime Minister Göran Persson and the Social Democrats in power.

* September 19 – Civil war starts in Côte d’Ivoire.

* September 20 – The Kolka-Karmadon rock ice slide occurs.

* September 22 – The German federal election leaves Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, his Social Democrats and the Greens in power.

* September 25 – The Vitim event, a possible bolide impact, occurs in Siberia, Russia.

* September 26 – The Senegalese passenger ferry ”Joola” capsizes in a storm off the coast of Gambia; 1,863 are killed.

October

* October 2 – The Congress of the United States passes a joint resolution, which authorizes the President to use the United States Armed Forces as he deems necessary and appropriate, against Iraq.

* October 2 – The Beltway sniper attacks begin with 5 shootings in Montgomery County, Maryland.

* October 7 – The discovery of Quaoar is announced.

* October 9 – The Dot-com bubble bear market reaches bottom, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average slips below 7,200.

* October 11 – Myyrmanni bombing: A lone bomber explodes a home-made bomb in the Myyrmanni shopping mall north of Helsinki, Finland; the casualties include himself.

* October 12 – Terrorists detonate bombs in 2 nightclubs in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 and injuring over 300.

* October 16 – Iraq War Resolution is authorized by a majority of the U.S. Congress.

* October 21 – 9 of 13 DNS root servers are disabled in a DDoS attack.

* October 22 – 25 – Chechen rebels take control of the theatre ”Nord-Ost” in Moscow and hold the audience hostage.

* October 24 – The Beltway snipers, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, are arrested.

* October 25 – U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, his family, and his staff are killed in a plane accident at Eveleth, Minnesota.

* October 27 – Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is elected President of Brazil.

November

* November 2 – The Godless Americans March on Washington brings together 2,000 atheists, freethinkers, and humanists in a mile-long parade down the National Mall.

* November 5 – The U.S. Republican Party maintains control of the House of Representatives and gains control of the United States Senate.

* November 6 – The U.S. Federal Reserve System drops its primary discount rate by 50 basis points to 0.75%, putting the real interest rate solidly below the inflation rate.

* November 7 – Iran bans the advertising of United States products.

* November 8 – Iraq disarmament crisis: The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves UN Security Council Resolution 1441, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face “serious consequences”.

* November 13 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq agrees to the terms of UN Security Council Resolution 1441.

* November 13 – The oil tanker ”Prestige” sinks off the Galician coast, causing a huge oil spill.

* November 14 – Argentina defaults on a US $805 million World Bank loan payment.

* November 15 – Hu Jintao becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of China.

* November 16 – A Campaign against Climate Change march takes place in London from Lincoln’s Inn Fields, past Esso offices to the United States Embassy.

* November 18 – Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.

* November 21 – At the NATO Summit in Prague, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia are invited to join the organization.

* November 22 – In Nigeria, more than 100 are killed at an attack aimed at the Miss World contestants.

* November 25 – U.S. President George W. Bush signs the Homeland Security Act into law, establishing the Department of Homeland Security, in the largest U.S. government reorganization since the creation of the Department of Defense in 1947.

* November 26 – Legislation by the European Court of Human Rights and Law Lords, ruling in favour of convicted murderer Anthony Anderson, ends the right of the Home Secretary to set minimum terms for convicted murderers.

December

* December 7 – As required by the recently passed U.N. resolution, Iraq files a 12,000 page weapons declaration with the U.N. Security Council.

* December 9 – United Airlines, the second largest airline in the world, files for bankruptcy.

* December 10 – The High Court of Australia hands down its judgement in the Internet defamation dispute in the case of Gutnick v Dow Jones.

* December 12 – Hans Enoksen is elected prime minister of Greenland

* December 27 – A suicide truck-bomb attack destroys the headquarters of Chechnya’s Moscow-backed government, killing 72.

* December 29 – The Communist New People’s Army blows up a bust of Ferdinand Marcos in Benguet, Philippines.

* December 30 – An eruption on the volcanic island Stromboli off the coast of Sicily causes a flank failure and tsunami. The island is later evacuated.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article 2002, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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