Archives – Page 167 – Upside Down World

Development and the Desert: Border Land Struggle Turns Bloody in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

August 28, 2008 Kari Lydersen 0

Lomas de Poleo, in the Anapra region of Ciudad Juarez, is in the planned location for the cross-border Jeronimo-Santa Teresa project. Until 2002, no one showed much interest in the destitute parcels of land settled by migrants search of a humble plot of land to raise a few animals. Since then, the residents and the Zaragoza brothers – scions of local gas, dairy and Corona beer franchises – have been locked in a grueling, litigious and often violent struggle over the land.

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Asunción’s Bañados Neighborhood: The Power of Community in Paraguay

August 28, 2008 Raúl Zibechi 0

Asunción (Wikipedia)

It has been nearly half a century since the Bañados area (Spanish for marshy wetlands) was a swamp upon where the Paraguay River dumped its waters during rainy seasons. It was also Asunción’s garbage dump. Today, it is one of the most populous neighborhoods, where extreme poverty has become tolerable thanks to incredible solidarity. […]

Guatemala: The Forgotten Spirits of Rabinal

August 26, 2008 Thaddeus al Nakba 0

The impunity enjoyed by war criminals is one of the main obstacles to justice in Guatemala. Like other indigenous communities in Guatemala, Rabinal is the current home to powerful criminals of the past. Hundreds of massacre survivors remain quiet and most of those responsible for human rights abuses have stayed behind, confident that justice will never catch up to their crimes. […]

Stiglitz Goes To Paraguay: Move Over Chicago, A Cambridge Boy’s in Town

August 25, 2008 Gustavo Setrini 0

Among the throng of distinguished international guests drawn to participate in the first democratic transition of government in Paraguay’s 190-year history, Joseph Stiglitz, economist and advisor to the Clinton White House, may just prove the most influential. […]

Working Hard, Drinking Hard: On Violence and Survival in Honduras

August 21, 2008 Adrienne Pine 0

Human rights abuses, whether they are carried out by private security guards working for companies owned by the leaders of the 1980s death squad "Battalion 316," by the underpaid and poorly-trained police force, or by maquiladora owners, are inseparable from structural adjustment programs being imposed by the IMF and World Bank, with no democratic involvement on the part of the Honduran people. […]

Dispatch From Paraguay: Hope Reigns at Dawn of Fernando Lugo Presidency

August 20, 2008 Clifton Ross 0

Lugo Addresses Crowd

At the inauguration of president Fernando Lugo, the central plaza in Asunción, Paraguay was full of the people who brought Lugo to power, including the indigenous and campesinos from distant parts of the country. Lugo summed up the sentiments of his supporters: "I refuse to live in a country where some can’t sleep because of fear and others can’t sleep because they’re hungry." […]

Venezuela: Land Reform Conflict Arises Around Strategic Water Source

August 20, 2008 James Suggett 0

Cooperativist ecological farmers supported by the Venezuelan government’s land reform programs were attacked on August 7th by armed and masked men who, the farmers say, were hired by large estate owners in the area to cut short the changes heralded by the “Bolivarian Revolution” in their rural Andean Mountain valley. […]

Guatemala: SalvaVidas Purified Water Union Suffers Threats and Injustice

August 19, 2008 Kim Kohler and Josh MacLeod 0

Recently, SalvaVidas employees decided to organize a union in the hope of improving their working conditions. Immediately after finding out about the incipient union, the company fired those involved and temporarily closed the factory, declaring bankruptcy and insisting that the union members sign letters of resignation—common union breaking measures. […]

The Street and the Ballot Box: Voices From Bolivia’s Recall Vote

August 14, 2008 Alex van Schaick, Luis Gonzales and Teresa Carrasco 0

Cochabamba, Bolivia – On August 10, Bolivian President Evo Morales won a resounding victory in Bolivia’s recall referendum. Regardless of what happens next, the vote invigorated Morales’ mandate in what was a broad endorsement from his base and beyond. As Toribio Terrazas, a farmer from outside Comunidad Mamenaca explained, "I want the president to continue because he is forging a good path for all Bolivians in the country." […]

Repression of Documentary Filmmakers in Chile

August 14, 2008 Christian Peña 0

In the last five months there have been several incidents of arrest, detainment, and in one case expulsion of documentary filmakers by Chilean authorities. Each case is unique, but what they all have in common is that all three groups have been filming documentaries about the Mapuches. […]