Year: 2009
Dissecting Utopia: New Book Assesses Latin American Left
The conflict in Honduras has been an ongoing challenge for governments across the political spectrum in Latin America. In the years leading up to this tense and decisive event a number of leaders and social movements have pushed the region to the left. It is this regional shift that is the focus of The New Latin American Left: Utopia Reborn. […]
Independent Candidate Challenges Chilean Political Establishment
For the first time since Chile’s return to democracy, the country’s ruling political coalition may lose the presidency. The centrist "Concertación" coalition is being challenged from both the left and the right, facing perhaps its toughest electoral battle yet. […]
Surreal Honduras: Putting the Narrative Together in the Local Press
Gabriel Garcia Màrquez could easily have written "A Hundred Years of Solitude" in any country of Central America. It’s a region replete with characters and magical landscapes and myths with power to make the hair stand up on the back of your neck when you merely hear them. […]
Damming Magdalena: Emgesa Threatens Colombian Communities
A small path descends from the town of La Jagua, crossing a field and forest until it ends at a cliff overlooking the Magdalena River. Pairs of buff-necked ibis take flight announcing their local name, “cocli cocli.” Above the beach where children swim, the rock is carved by erosion and dotted with small holes occupied by birds. The landscape is dotted, too, every 100 meters, with concrete markers declaring the land, river, and everything else a “public utility” that Colombia has given to the energy company Emgesa as part of the Quimbo Hydroelectric Project. […]
Argentina: Turning Around – An Interview with Mark Dworkin and Melissa Young
Argentina: Turning Around is an exciting film which captures the spirit of Argentina’s grassroots response to economic meltdown. Drawing from diverse interviews and incredible footage, the film offers an inside look at the victories and challenges of Argentina’s neighborhood assemblies, protest movements and worker-run factories. […]