Year: 2010
Peruvian State Protects Mining Company Instead of Citizens: Interview with Mario Tabra Guerrero
Today, while those in power wage a campaign of media disinformation to prepare the scene for the 2011 presidential elections, peasant communities of Ayabaca, Piura continue to fight multinational mining corporations. With government support, these companies continue to explore for and exploit mineral deposits, ignoring residents’ concerns about the environment and the water supply. Upside Down World interviewed anti-mining movement leader Mario Tabra Guerrero.
Prison Violence and Security in Latin America
The second paragraph of a January 27 article in Venezuelan daily El Universal entitled “Riot leaves at least 7 dead and 17 wounded in La Planta” announces that “a little after 9 this morning, inmates in the La Planta prison, mainly in cell blocks 1, 2 and 3, initiated a shootout. Meanwhile the National Guard responded with shots from above.” The fact that the Caracas prison inmates have obtained materials with which to initiate a shootout suggests that the National Guard, tasked with prison security, may have had more to do with the scene than simply responding from above—something additionally suggested by the reaction of prisoners’ wives outside the complex to the arrival of more troops.
Resisting Mining: Brutal Repression and Uprising in Argentina
Residents in Northern Argentina have protested the opening of an open pit mining site in the town of Andalgala in the province of Catamarca . A recent police crackdown on the protest has sparked a popular uprising of citizens saying, ‘no to the mine’. Following massive protests in response to police repression this month, a judge temporarily halted further mine works planned to open in 2012.
Venezuela Creates Peasant Militias, Enacts Federal Government Council
Source: Venezuela Analysis Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced the creation of a new Peasant Militia, which will form part of the national Bolivarian Armed Forces (FAB) and also enacted the new Law of the Federal […]
Chile: Will Presidential CEO Modify Regional Political Scenario?
(IPS) – Will right-wing billionaire Sebastián Piñera’s arrival to the presidency in Chile modify the overall political outlook in Latin America? Analysts consulted in various countries have different takes on the question. Airline and media […]
Venezuela’s Revolution Faces Crucial Battles
Source: Green Left Weekly Decisive battles between the forces of revolution and counter-revolution loom on the horizon in Venezuela. The campaign for the September 26 National Assembly elections will be a crucial battle between the […]
Peru: No Justice for Indians in Amazon Massacre
(IPS) – Although the technical investigations cleared two of the indigenous demonstrators accused in the murders of 12 policemen during a bloody June 2009 clash between native protesters and the security forces near the northern […]
Beer Globalization in Latin America: When Beer in Mexico is Dutch and Chicha in Colombia is Popular
On a pleasant autumn day in 1890 the Cuauhtémoc brewery was founded in Monterrey, Mexico. This brewery, which also specialized in ice production, went on to become Mexican Economic Development Inc. (FEMSA), brewing such beers as Dos Equis, Tecate and Sol. Recently the Dutch brewing giant Heineken bought FEMSA, bringing over half of the world’s beer production into the hands of just four mega-corporations. One Mexican columnist wrote of the merger in La Jornada, “Just a bit more globalization and we will all be lost.”