April 2014 – Page 5 – Upside Down World

Lessons from the Costa Rican Elections

April 4, 2014 Laura Carlsen 0

The results of the Feb. 2 elections in Costa Rica fell like a bucket of cold water on the left in the Central American nation. Confident of achieving at least a second-place finish that would carry them to a run-off in April, instead the candidate of the left-of-center Broad Front, José Maria Villalta, came in third, leaving him out of the running. According to the final tally, Villalta received only 17.3% of the vote, compared to 29.7% for the official candidate, Johnny Araya of the National Liberation Party (PLN) and a surprising 30.6% for the candidate of the Citizen Action Party (PAC), Luis Guillermo Solís.

[…]

Va Por Kuy: Deadly “Non-Lethal” Weapons and Disappearance Under Peña-Nieto’s Reign

April 3, 2014 Andalucia Knoll 0

On December 1st, 2012, federal police fatally injured teacher and activist Juan Francisco Kuykendall Leal with a rubber bullet at a protest of Mexican president Enrique Peña-Nieto. However, Kuy’s injuries were kept quiet for 14 months, when his death finally called attention to the police brutality and impunity that marked Peña-Nieto’s inauguration and has continued under his leadership.

[…]

Tell Secretary Kerry: No US Funds to the Guatemalan Army!

April 3, 2014 GHRC and NISGUA 0

Guatemala’s UN Truth Commission report not only attributes 93% of all human rights violations and acts of violence to the Guatemalan State, which included over 600 massacres, it also finds the US responsible for playing […]

Gas de esquisto y sismos crecen de la mano en México

April 3, 2014 Emilio Godoy 0

[…]

Fracking, Seismic Activity Grow Hand in Hand in Mexico

April 3, 2014 Emilio Godoy 0

(IPS) – Scientists warn that large-scale fracking for shale gas planned by Mexico’s oil company Pemex will cause a surge in seismic activity in northern Mexico, an area already prone to quakes. Experts link a […]

Are Brazil’s Dams to Blame for Record Floods in Bolivia?

April 1, 2014 Emily Achtenberg 0

Source: NACLA In recent months, Bolivia’s Amazonian region has experienced the most disastrous flooding of the past 100 years. In the Beni department, 7 of 8 provinces and 16 of 19 municipalities are under water, […]

¿Dónde está la izquierda guatemalteca?

April 1, 2014 Ollantay Itzamná 0

[…]

In Bolivia, Being a Journalist and Organizer go Together

April 1, 2014 Marta Molina 0

Source: Waging Nonviolence Susana Pacara, one of the founders of Radio Lachiwana in Cochabamba, Bolivia, believes that communication work is a key part of the defense of territory. She doesn’t mean this in an abstract […]

Canada Arms Mexico

April 1, 2014 Dawn Paley 0

Ottawa’s increased support of the Mexican army comes as the number of dead in the drug war, now in its seventh year, continues to rise. “We’re talking about 100,000 dead. Those are official figures, and then there are those that have been killed more recently—the war continues, like in the case of Michoacán, we have no idea how many dead there are,” said Javier Sicilia. “There are no trustworthy numbers of the dead or disappeared.”

[…]