Mexico: Why Ayotzinapa Still Matters
In a country where political crises are ignored by the government until they fade into oblivion, the families of the missing students of Ayotzinapa have kept their search alive for seventeen months.
Month: February 2016
Women Farmers and Land Grabs in Haiti: An Interview With Iderle Brénus
Source: TowardFreedom.com Beverly Bell conducted the following interview with Iderle Brénus from which this text is drawn. Brénus is an economist with a master’s from the University of Havana in small business and community development, and another […]
Indigenous land and forest rights in the spotlight during pope’s visit to Mexico
Source: Mongabay During the pope’s recent five-day visit to Mexico, indigenous and community groups from throughout Latin America gathered to discuss land rights issues. Green wooden crosses line the edges of the open air auditorium […]
Mexico: Charges Against Zapatista Subcomandante Marcos Ruled Invalid 20 Years Later
Source: Democracy Now! In Mexico, a federal court has ruled criminal charges against Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos are no longer valid—more than two decades after they were first lodged. The Zapatistas launched an uprising on […]
The Horizon of Evo Morales’ Long Decade in Power: Implications of Bolivia’s Referendum Results
Bolivian President Evo Morales lost the referendum last Sunday that could have given him the ability to run for re-election in 2019. The margin was small, but the implications are huge: Bolivia’s longest standing and most popular president finally has an end date for his time in power, on January 22, 2020. The Bolivian left and its vibrant social and indigenous movements were always bigger than Morales, and Sunday’s referendum results underline this.
Photo Essay: Bolivians Rally For and Against President Evo Morales’ Ability to Run for Fourth Term
Bolivians head to the polls today in a referendum to decide whether or not President Evo Morales can run for a fourth term. In October of 2014 Morales was elected to his third term, and the constitutional amendment up for a vote today would allow him, if re-elected, to remain in office until 2025. Here is a collection of photos from the Yes campaign, in support of the amendment to allow Morales to run again, and the No campaign, against the constitutional change.
Mexico-US: A Sister’s Pain and Demand for Justice Knows No Borders
In 2013, Francisco Javier Cisneros Torres was forcibly taken from his home in Tala, Jalisco. Since then, his sister Nansi Cisneros of Los Angeles, California, has built new initiatives to bring together other families who are also searching for loved ones. For her, this is an important step to building cross-border momentum to demand an end to human rights abuses in Mexico.
The Dark Side of Clean Energy: Industrial Wind Plantations in Mexico
Farmers and residents in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca have repeatedly stated that the construction of electricity-generating wind parks is focused more on profits, greenwashing and generating cheap electricity for the US, rather than serving their own communities or Mexico’s energy needs.
The New South American Political Map
The election results in Venezuela and Argentina, the Brazilian crisis, and the erosion of the “citizens’ revolution” in Ecuador are part of a change in political climate that puts the transformative processes underway on the defensive.