Archives – Page 44 – Upside Down World

Lessons from the Costa Rican Elections

April 4, 2014 Laura Carlsen 0

The results of the Feb. 2 elections in Costa Rica fell like a bucket of cold water on the left in the Central American nation. Confident of achieving at least a second-place finish that would carry them to a run-off in April, instead the candidate of the left-of-center Broad Front, José Maria Villalta, came in third, leaving him out of the running. According to the final tally, Villalta received only 17.3% of the vote, compared to 29.7% for the official candidate, Johnny Araya of the National Liberation Party (PLN) and a surprising 30.6% for the candidate of the Citizen Action Party (PAC), Luis Guillermo Solís.

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Va Por Kuy: Deadly “Non-Lethal” Weapons and Disappearance Under Peña-Nieto’s Reign

April 3, 2014 Andalucia Knoll 0

On December 1st, 2012, federal police fatally injured teacher and activist Juan Francisco Kuykendall Leal with a rubber bullet at a protest of Mexican president Enrique Peña-Nieto. However, Kuy’s injuries were kept quiet for 14 months, when his death finally called attention to the police brutality and impunity that marked Peña-Nieto’s inauguration and has continued under his leadership.

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Canada Arms Mexico

April 1, 2014 Dawn Paley 0

Ottawa’s increased support of the Mexican army comes as the number of dead in the drug war, now in its seventh year, continues to rise. “We’re talking about 100,000 dead. Those are official figures, and then there are those that have been killed more recently—the war continues, like in the case of Michoacán, we have no idea how many dead there are,” said Javier Sicilia. “There are no trustworthy numbers of the dead or disappeared.”

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Where Does the Left Stand in Guatemala?

March 31, 2014 Ollantay Itzamná, Translation by Christina Hewitt 0

The URNG must stop being the classic barely-supported left party and become a horizontal political tool for all organized and unorganized sectors of Guatemala who dream of structural changes. The agendas and ancestral knowledge of the indigenous peoples should be incorporated into its speeches and practices. In Guatemala, indigenous peoples, like all other excluded people, live without a State and without rights. The URNG should raise and undertake the urgent task of rebuilding Guatemala.

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El Libertario: Beware Venezuela’s False ‘Anarchists’

March 30, 2014 George Ciccariello-Maher 0

Not everyone who calls themselves anarchists are worthy of the name. Before expressing our solidarity, we should be clear who it is we are supporting.

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Colombia: Peace Talks Fail to Stop Human Rights Abuses Ahead of UN Review

March 29, 2014 Amnesty International 0

Colombia’s government is failing to address the country’s critical human rights situation said Amnesty International on Tuesday ahead of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ annual review of the country. For example, most paramilitary groups have not been effectively disbanded despite their supposed demobilization in a government-sponsored process that began in 2005. They are still responsible for multiple human rights violations, often acting in collusion with elements of the security forces.

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Peru: Senselessness in the VRAE Region

March 26, 2014 Gustavo Gorriti, Translated by Danica Jorden 0

Stopping the planned eradication in the VRAE and replacing it with an effective anti-drug trafficking deterrent is now one of the most important decisions to be made.

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Living Legacy of Machismo: Rape Victim Charged for Self-Defense in Mexico

March 26, 2014 Andalusia Knoll 0

Alleged kidnapping and rape victim Yakiri Rubi Rubio is out on bail but could spend ten years in jail for “excess of legitimate defense” – turning her attacker’s knife back on him – in a case that reveals continuing problems of unequal justice in Mexico. “If they judge us for having survived, the justice system wants us dead.”

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The Zapatistas at 20: Building Autonomous Community

March 24, 2014 Melissa Forbis interviewed by Johanna Brenner 0

The Zapatistas have been very successful in organizing autonomous governance, autonomous schools, and autonomous healthcare. Their economic situation has been more difficult to work on. They have some advantages from their location in the countryside where they have been able to take over land and establish autonomous territorial governance. However, they are also embedded as we all are in neo-liberal capitalism—this is the 20 year anniversary of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement.

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A Step Toward Justice in the Long “War on Terror”: Uruguay Offers to Welcome Guantanamo Detainees

March 22, 2014 Benjamin Dangl 0

Under the Presidency of José “Pepe” Mujica, Uruguay has made a number of international headlines in recent years for progressive moves such as legalizing same sex marriage, abortion and marijuana cultivation and trade, as well as withdrawing its troops from Haiti. This week, Mujica offered to welcome detainees from the US’s detention center at its base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

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