Upside Down World

Political and Social Crisis in Paraguay

Written by Reto Sonderegger
Thursday, 09 October 2008
In his inaugural speech this past August, Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo clearly positioned himself on the side of the socially weak and excluded. However, there is a high risk of rapid, far-reaching social change failing, not just because of the united rejection by the traditional oligarchy, which is made up of large land owners, the mafia and smugglers, but also as because of the lack of an organized social basis for such changes.

Community, Indigenous and Worker Alternatives to Transnational Mining

Written by Jennifer Moore
Wednesday, 08 October 2008
Four dozen labour, indigenous, peasant farmer, small and medium scale mining, and environmental organizations recently met in Bogotá at the Andean Forum in Response to Large Scale Mining to discuss the experiences struggling against the powerful transnational mining industry.

Latin America: The War on Democracy - Documentary Online

Written by John Pilger

Wednesday, 08 October 2008

Chavez & Pilger Meet

The War on Democracy is John Pilger's first major film for the cinema - in a career that has produced more than 55 television documentaries. Set in Latin America and the US, it explores the historic and current relationship of Washington with countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile.

Refugees in Ecuador: Plan Colombia and the Asylum Lottery

Written by Stuart Schussler
Tuesday, 07 October 2008
This is the first part in a three-part series on asylum in Ecuador. The series deals with Ecuador’s response to the refugee crisis created by the ongoing conflict in Colombia, the daily challenges of surviving as a refugee in Ecuador, and how refugees are organizing themselves to demand their human rights.

Bolivia in Dialogue: Between Hope and Civil War

Written by Clifton Ross
Thursday, 02 October 2008
"If 85% of Bolivia is owned by 15% of the country, that means that 85% of us are sharing the 15% that's left," Eleodoro explains to me, his words hissing through the gaps left by his missing teeth. Eleodoro is a campesino I've just met, and in many ways, his analysis sums up the current reality of Bolivia.

Latin America Censored: Upside Down World Editors Receive 2007-2008 Project Censored Awards

Written by Upside Down World, Project Censored
Wednesday, 01 October 2008
Upside Down World editors Benjamin Dangl and Jason Wallach received 2007-2008 Project Censored Awards for their coverage of Washington’s interventions in Latin America and the fight against water privatization in El Salvador. Each year Project Censored selects the top 25 most important censored news stories chosen out of hundreds of articles.

Cooperation as Rebellion: Creating Sustainable Agriculture in Paraguay

Written by April Howard
Wednesday, 01 October 2008
Removing Soy As newly elected Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo moves to make good on campaign promises, the proposals of Paraguayan farming movements themselves point the way to sustainable change.

Photo Essay: Water Tribunal in Guatemala Condemns Goldcorp... Again

Written by James Rodriguez
Wednesday, 01 October 2008
The Latin American Water Tribunal held its 5th public hearing with the slogan: ‘Hydraulic justice for indigenous lands and territories’. In the first weeks of September, the juryu of the non-state tribunal met in Antigua, Guatemala, to discuss and analyze ten cases in which water issues adversely affected indigenous peoples in Mexico and Central America.

New Ecuadorian Constitution Approved by Strong Majority, President Correa Claims “Historic Victory”

Written by Daniel Denvir
Monday, 29 September 2008
Quito, Ecuador—According to exit polls, between 63-70% of Ecuadorians voted to approve a new constitution on Sunday, scoring a major victory for President Rafael Correa. Correa hailed the results, saying that “today Ecuador has decided on a new country.”

Ecuador's Constitution Gives Rights to Nature

Written by Cyril Mychalejko
Thursday, 25 September 2008
Jaguars, spectacled bears, brown-headed spider monkeys, and plate-billed mountain toucans may all just breathe a little easier next week if Ecuadorians approve a new constitution in a referendum on Sunday that would grant these threatened animals' habitats with inalienable rights.

Peru: Interview with Political Prisoner Lori Berenson

Written by Emma Shaw Crane
Thursday, 25 September 2008
Lori Berenson American activist Lori Berenson was pulled off a bus in Peru in November of 1995, detained by anti-terrorist police, and tried for treason against the Peruvian state by a hooded military tribunal. A gun was held to her head as she received her sentence: life in prison.

Bad News From Haiti: U.S. Press Misses the Story

Written by Dan Beeton
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Anti-Occupation Protests Protests in Haiti over high food prices have dominated U.S. media coverage of the country in recent months. While these reports have drawn international attention to an urgent situation, they have often lacked proper context. Haiti’s problems did not suddenly arise, yet the media began paying attention to them only after the food protests erupted in April, especially after six people were killed and the prime minister, Jacques-Edouard Alexis, was forced out of office.

Information on Washington’s Interference in Bolivian Affairs

Written by Upside Down World
Monday, 22 September 2008
U.S. Embassy in La Paz Gathered here is a collection of articles, letters, videos, reports, observations and resources regarding Washington’s recent interventions in Bolivian affairs, attempts to undermine the country’s social movements and embolden the Bolivian opposition.

Peru: Buried But Not Forgotten on International Day of the Disappeared

Written by C. Edward Anable
Thursday, 18 September 2008
Photo: Alain Wittman On a cold December night in 1984 in Putis, Peru more than 100 men, women, and children were forced to dig their own graves before being executed with automatic weapons and then buried in shallow earth. What is not known are the identities of the victims or who ordered the massacres or why. Almost 24 years later at least one of these questions has begun to be answered.

The Machine Gun and The Meeting Table: Bolivian Crisis in a New South America

Written by Benjamin Dangl
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
Opposition Protest Upon arriving in Santiago, Chile on September 15 for an emergency meeting of South American heads of state, Bolivian president Evo Morales said, "I have come here to explain to the presidents of South America the civic coup d'etat by Governors in some Bolivian states in recent days." The conflict in Bolivia and the subsequent meeting of presidents raise the questions: What led to this meltdown? Whose side is the Bolivian military on? And what does the Bolivian crisis and regional reaction tell us about the new power bloc of South American nations?

Peru: Piura Votes, A Dangerous Precedent

Written by Jennifer Moore
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
One year ago today, a local vote was held concerning possible mining activity in three highland districts in northwestern Peru. The referendum drew thousands of peasant farmers, many of whom traveled for the best part of a day by horse, truck or on foot.

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