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Another game of connect the dots, starring Bill and Hillary Clinton
Last edited Thu Feb 18, 2016, 02:28 PM - Edit history (1)
Clinton Foundation funded companies benefitting major donor’s construction projectWhen Pacific Infrastructure, a company connected to Clinton Foundation mega-donor Frank Giustra, needed $150 million to build a port and pipeline along the northern Colombian coast, it went to the International Finance Corporation for funding.
There was one major obstacle. The project, according to a review by the International Finance Corporation, was deemed “Category A.” That meant it would likely have “significant adverse social and/or environmental impacts that are diverse, irreversible, or unprecedented” on the local community.
As a condition of the investment, Pacific Infrastructure agreed to fund social programs to alleviate some of the damage. It said that it would launch job-training centers for Afro-Colombians and indigenous peoples in Cartagena, where the local economy would be negatively affected by the project. The company also said it would support the local fishing and farming industries.
Within the next few months, two for-profit companies were created in Cartagena. One was a job-training center to teach locals how to work at the port. The other was a food supplier that helped support fishers and farmers by selling their products to hotels and supermarkets.
Bill Clinton and Frank Giustra launched both companies using funding from the Clinton Foundation’s Colombia-based private investment fund, Fondo Acceso.
By the end of 2013, the International Finance Corporation agreed to invest $150 million in the port construction, despite reservations about the environmental and social effects. The IFC’s U.S. funding is linked to State Department appropriations.
Ethics watchdogs questioned the timing of the projects, noting that they appeared to benefit the donors’ financial interests. Giustra, a close friend of Clinton’s since 2005, co-owned Blue Pacific, which was a primary investor in the Pacific Infrastructure port project at the time.
Ken Boehm, director of the National Legal and Policy Center, said it appeared that “Guistra’s financial interests addressed the serious questions about his project’s significant adverse effects by promising benefits through companies funded by the Clinton Foundation’s secretive Colombian so-called private investment fund.”
“This looks a lot more like a sweetheart deal for Guistra rather than anything resembling a legitimate charity,” said Boehm.
So let's recap:
Guistra, who Clinton also helped secure a massive uranium deal with a repressive dictator - the outcome of which was the transfer of a huge percentage of US uranium to a Russian company, and hundreds of millions to the Clinton "Foundation" and hundreds of thousands to the Clintons directly via speaking fees - Guistra wanted to build a massive oil pipeline. He needed to get the money to do that, and he needed to alleviate some of the damage the pipeline would cause o the local economy.
So.
He and Clinton spin up a few for profit companies - paid for by the Clinton "foundation" and in exchange, the IFC agrees to pay for the project, bearing in mind that the IFC gets it's US capital via the State Department.
In order to build the pipeline, Pacific Infrastructure also said it would have to take over property owned by locals—potentially by force, if the owners were unwilling to sell.
The International Finance Corporation published the Pacific Infrastructure proposal for board comment on Jan. 13, 2013. The next day, a temporary employment agency in Colombia called Gente Estrategica received a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development to fund a job-training program for ethnic minorities.
That spring, the Clinton Foundation and Gente Estrategica opened up a joint job-training program for indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombians in Cartagena, with support from USAID.
Job Training... ? Training to do WHAT exactly?
The “Acceso Training Center at Gente Estrategica” was co-sponsored by Giustra, and funded by the Clinton Foundation’s equity fund, Fondo Acceso. A Clinton Foundation official said it trained workers to operate the Pacific Infrastructure port.
“[T]he Training Center offers training in different trades related to ports operation, which has helped hundreds of employees and potential employees of the Port Society Puerto Bahía (owned by Pacific Infrastructure),” said the Clinton Foundation official, who asked not to be named.
Pacific Rubiales, an oil company founded by Giustra that he says he no longer owns shares in, provided some of the funding for the training center. The Acceso Training Center also partnered with the Puerto Bahia Foundation, a non-profit group run by Pacific Infrastructure.
“USAID, in partnership with the Acceso Training Center and the [Colombia] Ministry of Labor, aims to implement a training program [for the] population of African descent and indigent victims of armed conflict in Cartagena,” said the Acceso Training Center website.
By the end of 2013, Gente Estrategica had received nearly $2 million from USAID for its job-training program.
Yes, you read that right. The US government is paying millions to train workers to work at a private business owned by one of the largest Clinton Foundation donors. That deal was also cemented with help from the Clinton Foundation, which also created to for profit companies along the way.
Surely though this is all above board??
USAID declined to comment and said it would only answer questions about the grant through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The agency, whose budget is controlled by the State Department, also declined to answer questions about Gente Estrategica’s labor rights record.
That's weird... huh?
Gente Estrategica is a subcontracting company that supplies employees to corporate clients on a contractual basis. The U.S. government and human rights activists have criticized the subcontracting industry in Colombia, saying the indirect hiring system leaves workers with few rights or protections.
Gente Estrategica supplied workers for another company in Giustra’s orbit, Pacific Coal, in 2012. The employees went on strike for over 20 days, protesting what they referred to as excessive working hours and low pay. Pacific Coal called in Colombian authorities to break up the picket line, and Gente Estrategica reportedly fired the protesting workers, claiming that the strike was illegal.
Gente Estrategica did not respond to request for comment.
Nice and progressive.
So what the hell is going on here?
Well it's a little thing called crony capitalism. the Clintons help their MAJOR DONOR get all of his start up costs paid for by the US government.
It might be worth remembering that that's the same government which can't - according to the Clintons - afford to give every American healthcare or a university education.
http://freebeacon.com/issues/friends-in-high-places-3/
I'd HIGHLY recommend googling: Clinton Giustra
But only on an empty stomach.
Links verifying the information in this story:
http://ceo.ca/2013/04/02/colombia-giustra-iacono/
https://ifcndd.ifc.org/ifcext/spiwebsite1.nsf/DocsByUNIDForPrint/6B17F0C8861F3E2F85257AF200568B49?opendocument
https://www.clintonfoundation.org/main/news-and-media/press-releases-and-statements/press-release-fondo-acceso-sas-announces-first-investment-in-colombia.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Finance_Corporation
https://ifcndd.ifc.org/ifcext/spiwebsite1.nsf/78e3b305216fcdba85257a8b0075079d/6b17f0c8861f3e2f85257af200568b49?opendocument
https://www.clintonfoundation.org/our-work/clinton-giustra-enterprise-partnership/programs/acceso-training-center-enterprise
EDIT:
There's more on Billary and Giustra in Columbia here:
http://www.ibtimes.com/colombian-oil-money-flowed-clintons-state-department-took-no-action-prevent-labor-1874464
Their role in helping Giustra get a massive Uranium deal here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/cash-flowed-to-clinton-foundation-as-russians-pressed-for-control-of-uranium-company.html
http://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/five-questions-about-the-clintons-and-a-uranium-company
More on Clinton Guistra here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-clintons-a-luxury-jet-and-their-100-million-donor/2015/05/03/688051d0-ecef-11e4-8abc-d6aa3bad79dd_story.html
You can also find evidence, EASILY, of the two of them lying to the press about meeting with the energy minister from Kazakhstan - only admitting after being told a photo existed. Even though the meeting took place in Bills house.
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Any port in a storm, eh?
You were complaining about the WaPo a couple days ago, and now you're using the Free Beacon as a source?
Sid
But only on an empty stomach.
And I just left a thread that swears the only right wing attacks here are the attacks on Bernie. Such bullshit.
