Crisis in the Americas: Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela

This Report examines three critical moments in today's Latin America: the tense face-off in Venezuela between supporters and opponents of President Hugo Chávez; the coming of an apparent flashpoint in the long Colombian armed conflict; and the helplessness of the Argentine government to do anything to stem the country's economic chaos. Discussions of these national crises are grouped together here because of the strong possibility-and palpable concern among the region's political leadership-that these separate moments portend a larger hemispheric crisis.

July/August
2002
Volume: 
36
Number: 
1

Taking Note

Margot Olavarría
On the night of May 31, about 15 people, masked and wearing all black, stormed into a packed club in Valparaiso, Chile, El Dique, where several anti-fascist rock groups were playing.

Intro

NACLA
This report examines three critical moments in today’s Latin America: the tense face-off in Venezuela between supporters and opponents of President Hugo Chávez; the coming of an apparent flashpoint in the long Colombian armed conflict; and the helplessness of the Argentine government to do anything to stem the country’s economic chaos.

Open Forum

Steven Volk
On May 8 of this year, an unusually warm fall day in Santiago, Chile’s capital, I found myself seated in the chambers of Appellate Court Judge-Magistrate Juan Guzmán Tapia.

Report

Roger Burbach
A grassroots rebellion is taking place in Argentina with the common refrain "que se vayan todos," or "throw them all out." It is directed against the entire political leadership of the country as well as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and transnational companies doing business in the country.
Steve Ellner & Fred Rosen
In the late afternoon of Thursday April 11, a huge anti-government march, perhaps half a million strong, wended its way through the streets of Caracas, first to the headquarters of the state-owned Venezuelan Oil Company (PDVSA) to lodge its protest against President Hugo Chávez’s firing of the oil company’s chief executives, then to the presidential palace, Miraflores, to lodge its protest against Chávez’s rule in general.
Andrés Gaudin
"Until last December, we observed evidence of malnutrition in some 30 children per month. Today the monthly average is more than 40. When these children come in to the clinic, we notice the signs even before we actually begin examining them. Their eyes are huge, their hair has turned yellow and stiff, their bellies are swollen, they don’t respond to stimuli," says Argentine doctor Mario Martínez, director of the Primary Care Center of Villa Quinteros in the northern province of Tucumán.
Jason Hagen
In 1998, Colombians elected a presidential candidate who promised them peace. On May 26, 2002, they chose one who promised them security, Alvaro Uribe Vélez. In both cases, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had a preponderant role in determining those choices.
Luis Lander and Margarita López-Maya
Few things happen in Venezuela that don’t have to do with oil, either directly or indirectly. The country is one of the world’s main producers of petroleum products, and it plays a crucial role in the international energy market.
Jon Beasley-Murray
So this is how a modern coup d’etat is overthrown: almost invisibly, at the margins of the media. Venezuela returned to democracy despite a self-imposed media blackout of astonishing proportions. A huge popular revolt against an illegitimate regime took place while the country’s middle class was watching soap operas and game shows; television networks took notice only in the very final moments, and, even then, only once they were absolutely forced to do so.
Eric Hershberg
The catastrophic collapse of the Argentine economy during the second half of 2001, and its accelerating decline during the first half of 2002, has created hardships of a scale and scope that fully justify concluding that the country is undergoing a "Second Great Depression."

Reviews

Carmenza Gallo
Nazih Richani’s book Systems of Violence: The Political Economy of War and Peace in Colombia is a convincing and important analysis of the current military conflict in Colombia.

In Brief

InterPress Service
AREQUIPA—Five days of protests against the Peruvian government’s decision to privatize state-run electric companies in the southern department of Arequipa ended June 19 when an official mission sent by President Alejandro Toledo struck a truce with local authorities and protest leaders.