Archives – Page 124 – Upside Down World

Growing Protests As UN Attacks Haitian Refugee Camp

June 2, 2010 Beverly Bell 0

Last week, the United Nations peacekeeping mission fired tear gas and rubber bullets into a crowded refugee camp, leaving at least six hospitalized and others suffering respiratory problems. Citizen organizations plan demonstrations for today, the sixth anniversary of the U.N. armed presence in Haiti. The march is part of growing protests against the military forces which have amassed in Haiti since the January 12 earthquake and the lack of attention to displaced people’s needs.

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Foosball with the Devil: Haiti, Honduras, and Democracy in the Neoliberal Era

June 1, 2010 Adrienne Pine 0

From the perspective of Honduran and Honduranist scholars, the most common reference to Haiti is as a point of hemispheric comparison. Whether measuring GDP per capita, state legitimacy and citizens’ political tolerance, or corruption, the phrase “Honduras ranks last…after Haiti” seems to be de rigueur. This is no coincidence: the policies and structures that have effected extreme poverty and highly concentrated wealth in both places are very much connected.

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Argentina’s Bicentennial: Indigenous Tell Another History

May 27, 2010 Marie Trigona, Photos by Francisco Ciavaglia 0

Argentina celebrates the bicentennial of a revolution that paved the road to independence from Spain with the nation’s capital transformed into a gala event. But not everyone is celebrating. The nation’s indigenous people are calling attention to a legacy of invasion and displacement that continues to this day. As bicentennial events commenced, indigenous groups led a caravan to the nation’s capital to demand recognition of their sovereign culture and plurality, in one of the largest indigenous demonstrations in Argentina’s history.

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Mexico: Another Triqui leader Slain in Oaxaca

May 26, 2010 Nancy Davies 0

Less than a month after the deaths of two activists in the ambush of a humanitarian caravan headed to San Juan Copala, an armed group assassinated the indigenous leader Timoteo Alejandro Ramirez, a member of the Movimiento de Unificación y Lucha Triqui-Independiente (MULT-I) and a founder of the autonomous community now under siege. The armed group entered the home of Ramirez in the community of Yosoyuxi, which has been giving shelter to those who fled San Juan Copala. The shooters also murdered Ramirez’ wife.

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The Circle Opens Out: New Evidence on Criminality in Colombian Regime

May 25, 2010 Manuel Rozental 0

The circle is closing on the Presidential Palace in Colombia, where the headquarters of a “criminal enterprise” involving Colombia’s secret services (DAS), function under the direct orders of President Alvaro Uribe and his advisors. This latest report provides evidence, not only of involvement, but direction, orders and full control from the Presidential Palace and the President’s closest friends and advisors of illegal and criminal operations. TThe testimonies and documents provided and exposed in this report (and added to the already abundant existing proof) are conclusive.

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Bolivia and its Lithium: Can the ‘Gold of the 21st Century’ Lift a Nation out of Poverty?

May 25, 2010 Rebecca Hollender and Jim Shultz, The Democracy Center 0

With more than half the planet’s known lithium reserves, Bolivia may hold the keys to the future of the electric car, and just at a time when its President has declared that the nation, not foreign corporations, will control that development and make the profits. But obviously, it is a story far more complicated than that. There are serious environmental questions, significant uncertainties about the future demand for lithium, and doubts about Bolivia’s capacities to pull off such an ambitious project.

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Bolivia: Elections Deepen Local Democracy

May 25, 2010 Emily Achtenberg 0

While the results of Bolivia’s April 4 regional and local elections are now officially certified, their significance—who really won and lost—continues to be debated. For President Evo Morales, the vote confirms the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party as the sole political force with strong support throughout the nation. For re-elected Santa Cruz governor Rubén Costas, leader of the regionally-based conservative opposition, his victory means that “the forces of democracy have defeated tyranny.”

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Ecuador: Correa Looks to Reopen Unpopular Mining Project in Junin

May 20, 2010 Carlos Zorrilla 0

An official government site reveals that the Correa government plans on investing $180,000 on “social and environmental studies” during 2010 to determine the feasibility of the Junin copper deposit. The study would be the first step for the newly-created national mining company to try to reactivate a mining project which has resulted in two transnational mining companies being defeated by Intag’s communities and organizations. Now the stage is being set for possible confrontations between communities and local governments pitted against the national government and its national mining company.

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Haiti According to Haiti: International Aid as Colonialism

May 19, 2010 Raúl Zibechi 0

Brazilian anthropologist Omar Ribeiro Thomaz has spent long periods of time in Port-au-Prince as a teacher over the last ten years. Despite being white and foreign, he speaks Haitian Creole and interacts with Haitians as an equal. His vision of the country after the earthquake and of international aid challenges ideas and images propagated by the media.

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Decision Delayed Over Ecuador’s New Water Law

May 18, 2010 Jennifer Moore 0

Ecuador’s National Assembly President Fernando Cordero closed a highly-anticipated plenary session last Thursday by declaring that the controversial new water law would not be voted on until there has been prior consultation with communities. Cordero’s unilateral decision means that final treatment of the law will likely be delayed for months.

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