Over the past few weeks U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and latter-day media “experts” have hailed Manuel Zelaya’s return to Honduras and the pending reintegration of the country into the OAS as a restoration of democracy. Here in Honduras, it is clear that such claims could not be further from the truth.
On June 10, thousands of Mexican people will gather at the chaos-ridden border city of Juarez to build the next step of the growing “No mas sangre” (No More Bloodshed) movement. The plan to gather in Juarez stems from a six-point plan presented by Javier Sicilia and crew at a May 8 rally in Mexico City’s central square. This video report explains why Mexican folks are mobilizing, and why they have politicians shaking in their boots.
On May 23 and 25, police in the Delmas district of Port-au-Prince destroyed camps where people homeless since the January 2010 earthquake have taken up shelter. During the raids, police and other municipal workers arrested and beat some of those living within the camps.
El Salvador’s breadbasket has an alternative vision to the one that US biotech firms like Monsanto would like to impose: “food sovereignty.”
Oaxaca’s new governor, Gabino Cue Monteagudo, holds the unhappy job of cleaning the Augean stables of crime and corruption. He is widely credited with honesty and decency, but initiating and promoting profound change may require more than one generation.
The long march arrived at the Plaza de la Catedral—the very same one occupied by Zapatistas on January 1st, 1994. This time, 30 EZLN commanders awaited the crowd.
On May 7, Ecuadorians voted in a referendum on ten questions ranging through constitution, judicial, political, and social issues. In the run-up to the vote many observers cast the election as a plebiscite on president Rafael Correa’s four years in office, a test of his popularity, and on his prospects of winning reelection in 2013, rather than a contest over any specific issue that the referendum raised. More than anything, however, the referendum revealed the deeply fragmented nature of the country.
The Zapatistas remain the ever patient outsiders in a country torn apart by violence and corruption, quietly building an autonomous alternative, a living example of what a disciplined, long-term struggle can achieve.
Social psychologist Abraham Rivera speaks about the Rural Cities Initiative in Chiapas, Mexico. This interview is accompanied by numerous photos of the “Sustainable Rural City” Project of Santiago el Pinar.
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