Evo Morales’ victory at the polls this Sunday is likely because of the progressive changes his government has brought about, as well as its ability to co-opt certain social movements and expand controversial but lucrative extractivist industries. This victory is all but assured in spite of these contradictions and tensions, but also because of them.
While the radical left works to fix its own fragmentation, it must also consider what to do in relation to the final run-off between Rousseff (PT) and Neves (PSDB) at the end of the month. This has always been a delicate moment for those in opposition to the PT from a leftist standpoint, as strategic support and valid criticism have to be negotiated in order to deter support for the right-wing candidate.
Climate change is likely to impact mostly small and family farmers, who produce more than half the food in the region and have inadequate resources with which to deal with unpredictable weather. Despite this looming threat, strategies for sustainability are far from clear. Regional drivers of growth are export-oriented commodities, and while some sectors have advanced in added value, technology and innovation, natural resources exploitation is still the key of the whole regional boom.
You have a government with a former guerrilla who spouts philosophy and liberalizes marijuana but wants to mine, calls for marriage equality, yet has been the principal promoter of genetically modified cultivation in the country, talks like a man of the people, but at the same time the ballet is flourishing in Montevideo for the cultural élite. […]
The Indigenous people of Guatemala have just lived through another massacre in their territories, which has led to the declaration of another state of emergency by the government of Otto Pérez Molina. The acts of violence started on the evening of September 19th, when, according to the communities, armed actors entered their territories and identified themselves as workers with Cementos Progreso, they opened fire and killed a member of the community delegation that was in the area, killing him.
Mexicans celebrated National Day of Maize on September 29, 2014, with demonstrations, marches, and expositions. Known as the Land of Maize, Mexico now imports one-third of this sacred icon and staple food, mostly from the US. A fierce battle is being waged over corn that is still grown in Mexico, with small farmers and seed sovereignty activists pitted against Monsanto and other GMO giants, the Mexican government, the US government, and the World Trade Organization.
The massive spill of toxic mining residue that took place in August in Mexico’s northwestern state of Sonora has underscored the weakness of the country’s environmental laws, as well as the destructive consequences of free-market mining. It is a harbinger for what is in store for the country since Enrique Peña Nieto’s government extended neoliberal reforms to the oil and gas sector, allowing for private and foreign investment in all facets of exploration and production, with a green light for fracking.
A wave of change rolled through Latin America at the turn of the twenty-first century, sweeping away neoliberal two-party governments, bringing calls to re-found the states based on broad participation and democratically drafted constitutions. […]
Uruguay’s marijuana legalization law should be a wake up call to political leaders across the hemisphere stop applying the failed policies of the past, and instead address the structural changes that need to happen to end the drug war.
For the people of Atenco, their whole identity, customs, traditions, history and existence are bound up with their land. The airport project to them means the destruction of their entire social fabric, their cultural history, collective identity and community life as indigenous people. They say “the project to us is death.”
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