Month: June 2012
What will Washington do about Fernando Lugo’s ouster in Paraguay?
Source: The Guardian Unlimited, Comment Is Free A coup d’etat is taking place right now, Friday afternoon, in Paraguay. That is how it has been described by a number of neighboring governments. And the Union […]
Bolivian police mutiny over pay widens
Source: Washington Post AP – A mutiny by rank-and-file Bolivian police demanding higher wages spread across the nation on Friday, with an estimated 4,000 officers occupying barracks. Protesters sacked and set fire to furniture and […]
Paraguay: ‘There are More Dead Comrades’
The death of 18 people, among them 11 campesinos, occurred last Friday when police cleared, without prior dialogue, an estate occupied by landless campesinos in the northeast of Paraguay. “What happened was a slaughter of our comrades. Many lies are being told to discredit the campesinos, who are struggling to obtain their own land to work, who are fighting for the rights given to them by land reform,“ declared Damasio Quiroga, general secretary of the Paraguayan Campesino Movement.
Rio+20: Declaration of Kari-Oca II Adopted by Five Hundred Indigenous Representatives in Sacred Ceremony
Over five hundred Indigenous Peoples from Brazil and throughout the world gathered at Kari-Oca II, an encampment seated at the foot of a mountain near Rio Centro, to sign a declaration demanding respect for Indigenous Peoples’ role in maintaining a stable world environment, and condemning the dominant economic approach toward ecology, development, human rights and the rights of Mother Earth.
Uruguay plans to legalize marijuana sale
Source: Al Jazeera Bill framed to legalise production and sale of drug, whose consumption is already legal in the South American country. Uruguay is set to introduce legislation allowing the state to sell and distribute […]
Julian Assange seeking asylum in Ecuadorean embassy in London
Source: The Guardian Julian Assange has dramatically sought political asylum at the Ecuadorean embassy in London, days after the supreme court rejected the last of his appeals against extradition to Sweden to face sex crime […]
Democracy from Below in Bolivia: An Interview with Oscar Olivera
“[W]e don’t believe in a democracy of parties, where just a few leaders make all the decisions. We want a democracy of participation, a democracy where the people can make decisions about their own future.” – Oscar Olivera
Behind the Headlines in Mexico
Original reporting on organized crime and the drug war is dangerous and sometimes deadly in Mexico. The Mexican magazine Contralínea reports that 93 journalists have been assassinated and 16 disappeared since 2000. The U.S. and Mexican police, army and government have become the principle sources of information for what is taking place in increasingly violent areas throughout Mexico. […]