International

Fifteen thousand social movement activists descended on Detroit during the fourth week of June for the second United States Social Forum (USSF) to discuss and debate proposals for how to build a better world. Latin American solidarity activists held a minor but impressive presence. The Latin American Solidarity Coalition (LASC) pulled together an impressive listings of events. Together with other groups such as the School of the Americas Watch (SOAW) and a variety of Venezuelan and Cuban groups, solidarity activists had a notable presence.

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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. […]

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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U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) threatened to issue subpoenas against the U.S. Defense and State Departments last month if they continue to refuse to accurately account for billions of dollars spent on private contractors assisting Washington in the ‘war on drugs’ in Latin America. But McCaskill’s concerns raise broader questions about oversight and transparency of a controversial industry and its ever expanding role in Washington’s foreign policy.

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Co-ops across the region are breaking previous paradigms and proving that they are not only economically viable, but have the capacity to join together and support each other in their struggle.  It is often not easy, and not always successful, but many are trying.

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The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is a grassroots, Florida-based farmworker group, largely comprised of Mexican, Guatemalan and Haitian immigrants. In recent years, by way of high-profile consumer campaigns, the CIW has compelled the world’s four largest fast food companies, among others, to concede to demands for better pay and unprecedented labor rights. This time, beloved Sunshine State darling Publix Supermarkets is in the tomato pickers’ sights.Why? Here are 5 secrets Publix does not want you to know.

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Although most of the governments in Latin America today are described as progressive, abortion is only legal in one country, while in five countries it is banned under all circumstances, even when the mother’s life is at risk. But draconian laws against abortion that allow very few, or no, exceptions have failed to prevent the average abortion rate in the region from reaching 31 per 1,000 women, two more than the global average, and higher than any other region.

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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.

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As the story of the tragedy in Haiti continues to unfold, the spotlight seems to have turned away from the aid and the tragedy itself, and instead now largely focuses on the U.S. military aid effort. Doctors Without Borders and the director of French aid have both complained that the U.S. military has impeded the progress of the relief mission. Regardless of what troop increases may represent, it undoubtedly highlights a problematic trend in development aid effort; aid is often militarized.

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