Month: March 2009
Salvadoran Election Climate: Evidence that “Washington’s Policies Have Been Buried on Wall Street?”
The dusty roads outside the town of Suchitoto in El Salvador are marked by omnipresent reminders of the coming elections: political propaganda painted on rocks and telephone polls, and homemade flags hanging from trees. Yet in a ‘back to the future’ twist,’ scattered throughout these small quiet towns are deployments of Salvadoran troops who have been patrolling the region over the last several months. […]
Mapping Controversy in Oaxaca: Interview with Aldo Gonzalez, Indigenous Rights Officer of UNOSJO
When the Union of Social Organizations of the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca (UNOSJO) released a press statement last January denouncing the Mexico Indigena/Bowman Expeditions extensive geographical project to produce maps of the “digital human terrain” of Zapotec communities, they had little idea the storm it would create across the globe. […]
The Ecuador Solidarity Network stands with Acción Ecológica!
PLEASE CIRCULATEDear Friends,We need your help! In a clear act of censorship, the Ecuadorian government has closed Acción Ecológica (Environmental Action), the country’s leading environmental organization. We believe that this action is a retaliation against […]
Is the US Giving Colombian “Drug Lords” A Free Pass on Worse Crimes?
Éver Veloza García
Yet another of Colombia’s top paramilitary leaders was extradited to the U.S. Thursday to be brought up on drug trafficking charges despite the objections of some rights groups and questions raised by Colombian politicians visiting Washington. Éver Veloza García was put on a plane for New York by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, making him the 15th high-ranking paramilitary leader to be extradited.
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Democracy Promotion in El Salvador: Elections 2009
In many ways, El Salvador is a symbol. In Spanish it means The Savior. Some people joke that if God sent the Savior (El Salvador) to judge the world, we are all in a lot […]
Colombia’s Magic Laptops and the War Against Social Movements
One of Colombia’s major magazines, Cambio, published a story quoting from the magic laptops that survived bombing in the Ecuadorian jungle and were retrieved after the Colombian government assassinated Raul Reyes just about a year […]
Latin America: Help the Poor or Learn From Them?
Villa 21
The ideology that emanates from the international finance organizations maintains that the poor suffer from a "lack" of resources, that poverty is a scourge to be combated, and that the best method of doing so is to "help" the poor. On the other hand, the priests that live among the poor believe that it is more important to learn from them. […]
“Campaign of Fear Is Atrocious” Ahead of Salvadoran Vote
Rafael Roncagliolo Credit:Eric Lemus/IPS SAN SALVADOR, Mar 9 (IPS) – "I would not say that the media in Latin America contribute to fomenting civic culture, overall. They generally head in the opposite direction," says Rafael […]