tax loopholes: lagunas legales de la norma tributaria

thanks to Siobhan Ring for asking this one.  

this is for outreach work in the States, so can anyone think of a simpler and easier to understand version for folks with lower literacy? or do you think even low literacy folks will understand norma tributaria? lagunas en la ley de impuestos might be more widely understood but the loopholes are usually in the codes, not the actual laws.  maybe that's putting too fine a point on it. 

commodities: productos basicos

as I've posted before, commodities are often rendered as mercancía, yet in some contexts productos basicos works much better.

I was reminded of it by this fabulous article about the state of coffee in Colombia and the reasons behind the recent coffee growers strike. 

Procurador General vs. Fiscal General (in Colombia)

procurador general: inspector general

There was recently a heated debate about the peace process between these two men, described here, and it reminded me of how tricky it can be to distinguish between the two in English.

(note, this entry is corrected, I had originally mistakenly posted it as solicitor general, but procurador is closest to the US position of Inspector General)

For written translations my friend Andrea Parra suggests a footnote, explaining that the procurador has plenary disciplinary power to sanction any public official and is mandated by the constitution to oversee implementation of judicial orders and the protection human rights. She also makes reference to art. 277 of the Colombian Constitution.

judicializacion: malicious prosecution on trumped up charges

I've posted about this one before, but I was moved to repost this because I saw the cognate (judicialization) used again and want to emphasize that I believe this a FALSE cognate to be avoided - as can be seen by the English definition here and by googling it in English and seeing how it is used.

I am sad to say that these are still rampant in Colombia, the latest victim being human rights defender Sofia Lopez.  WOLA writes:

On April 12, 2013 Corporación Justicia y Dignidad was informed that one of its staff, Sofia Lopez, is currently under investigation by the Attorney General’s office for rebellion along with sixty other persons It is concerning is included in a list that includes persons who have already been arrested and sentenced. It is disturbing that this revelation comes after Lopez was harassed and intimidated in April. On April 4, 2013 a woman approached her calling her a “guerilla lawyer” and saying that “guerilla lawyers die here, they kill them here, so be careful.” The presence of two suspicious men in front of the lawyer’s office is frequent. These men spend three to four hours in the vicinity. Ms. Lopez does highly sensitive work advocating for victims and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has granted her organization several injunctions and security measures.

The Colombian Attorney General’s office should explain and clarify the charges against Lopez. The Protection Unit must provide protection to Lopez and fully enforce the injunctions and security measures recommended by the IACHR.