Month: June 2010

Building a Future in the Barrio of Chapellín: An Interview with Rosa María González

June 28, 2010 Susan Spronk and Jeffery R. Webber 0

On Thursday, June 17, 2010, we made our way to the Caracas barrio of Chapellín. The barrio is a large, impoverished area developed through illegal land settlements over decades. We arrived at the Comuna of the barrio, a house taken over from drug dealers by local community activists, using finances from the Chávez government. Rosa María González, a leading activist in the Comuna, and spokesperson for Habitat and Land program in the barrio, took time out of her schedule to speak with us outside the house of the Comuna.

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The Media Empire Strikes Back: Reviewing Reviews of South of the Border

June 27, 2010 Cyril Mychalejko 0

Oliver Stone’s new documentary about Latin America’s leftward political shift and its growing independence from Washington is being lambasted by the media. One spectacular example is courtesy of The Wall Street Journal’s Ron Radosh, who remarkably calls out Stone for not mentioning the economic successes of Chile under the brutal dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet during the 1970’s as a point of comparison to show how Venezuelan society under Chavez is suffering. […]

Honduras One Year Later

June 27, 2010 Belén Fernández 0
Although U.S. President Barack Obama warned in the immediate aftermath of the Honduran coup last year that its success would set a “terrible precedent” in the region, the U.S. in fact proved instrumental in legitimizing said precedent via a post-coup policy of noncommittal condemnation and sanctioning. Obama’s initial characterization of the coup as illegal quickly gave way to State Department dithering over whether the military removal of a president was really military in nature. 

Based Out in Latin America

June 24, 2010 Grace Livingstone 0

Foreign bases have been a mainstay of global US military domination for decades. But in Latin America they have been closing fast and a new deal to use seven Colombian military bases is, paradoxically, a sign of US weakness in the region.

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Two Dead in Confrontation in Oaxaca, Near Site of Canadian Mine

June 22, 2010 Nancy Davies 0

Just two weeks prior to the July 4 state-wide election in Oaxaca, Mexico, an anti-mining and political confrontation took place. A battle broke out between PRIistas and residents of the villages El Cuajilote and Maguey Largo who oppose the exploitation of the mine “La Trinidad” located on communal lands in the municipality of Ocotlán, Oaxaca on June 19. […]

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