Archives
Washington Should Follow Latin America’s Lead in Condemning Israel’s War on Palestine
As Washington supports Israel’s violence, Latin American heads of state have stood up against the offensive, acting as moral leaders for the hemisphere, and demonstrating their independence from the historically-hegemonic empire to the north. The difference between reactions from Washington and Latin America highlight new power configurations in a multi-polar world. On the one hand, Washington remains complicit in Israel’s war crimes, and on the other, Latin American governments have taken a stand with the Palestinian people, on the right side of history.
Colombia – Hope in the Midst of a Violent Crisis: Life in Buenaventura’s Urban Humanitarian Space
Labeled a humanitarian crisis by Human Rights Watch and featured in a report by Amnesty International earlier this year, Buenaventura and Puente Nayero have been gaining international attention. Even so, since the Humanitarian Space was established, more than fifty threats have been made toward community leaders and members, as well as toward the national and international accompaniers.
Gabriel García Márquez: The Last Visit
I had been told he was in Havana but that, because he was sick, he didn’t want to see anyone. I knew where he usually stayed: in a magnificent country house far from the city centre. I called on the phone and Mercedes, his wife, eased my doubts. She said, warmly: “Not at all, that’s to keep the pests away. Come over, ‘Gabo’ will be happy to see you.”
Ecuador: Free Pacto from Mining
The most alarming aspect in the granting of these concessions is that the communities were not consulted. In the national mining company’s 2013 environmental impact study, mention was made of a survey of the region’s inhabitants that recognized that 75 percent of the population rejects mining activity at the Ingapi concession, and 60 percent rejects the one at Urcutambo.
Why Argentina is Right to Defy the Taliban of Global Finance
Argentina defaulted on its sovereign debt for the second time in 13 years on July 30, defying a U.S. court ruling and a small cabal of financial fundamentalists led by the right-wing multi-billionnaire hedge fund mogul Paul Singer. The first thing to note is that, despite repeated accusations by the vultures that Argentina is in contempt of U.S. court rulings, Argentina’s willingness to pay its debts is not in question.
El Salvador: Maternity and Maternalism
The core of women’s oppression in patriarchal societies is not maternity, or motherhood, but maternalism; that is to say, the imposition of maternity as women’s primordial and inescapable destiny and the central axis around which they should organize their lives and distribute their time. In the maternal ideology dominant in El Salvador, the imposed hegemonic maternity is constructed out of the religious figure of Mary of Nazareth.
Finally Free: Mass Burial of Wartime Victims in Guatemala Exhumed from Former Military Garrison of Comalapa
On July 18, 2014, members of the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala (FAFG) returned to family members the positively identified remains of ten wartime victims exhumed from the former Military Garrison in San Juan Comalapa between 2003 and 2005. All ten victims, Kakchiquel Mayans whose DNA matched that of living family members, were buried in the municipal cemetery the following day.
Laws that Kill Protesters in Mexico
People in this town in the central Mexican state of Puebla found out the hard way that protesting can be deadly. A new law passed in Puebla makes it possible for police to use firearms or deadly force to break up demonstrations. […]
We Reap What We Sow: The Link between Child Migrants and US Policy
Seven-year-old children wandering alone through desert landscapes are the result of a long string of events that are now demanding a closer look from mainstream media and a wider audience in the United States. From military coups that overthrew democratically-elected governments to free trade agreements that destroyed the livelihood of countless independent farmers, the U.S. had a hand in many events that shaped Central America.