Columns

October 24, 2012
Guest post by Peter Beattie: Tomorrow's Maria Moors Cabot Prizes are awarded to “journalists who have covered the Western Hemisphere and, through their reporting and editorial work, have furthered inter-American understanding.” Based on the criteria used to select this year's winners, I bestow my own honorary Cabot Prizes.
October 22, 2012
The second half of October is always a time of reflection amongst progressive forces in Caribbean, but especially so in Grenada. This is because October 19 marked the 29th anniversary of the death of Maurice Bishop, the Prime Minister of the People’s Revolutionary Government of Grenada. In addition, October 25 will mark the 29th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Grenada.
October 22, 2012
Unlike Mitt Romney’s remarks disparaging the 47%, which were made in private to a coterie of wealthy donors, financial consultant Pedro Burelli disparaged 100% of Venezuelans at a free event, open to the public, and hosted by one of the most prominent, bipartisan think tanks in Washington, D.C. 
October 19, 2012
Bolivian President Evo Morales has signed a new construction contract for the first segment of a controversial highway that would bisect the TIPNIS Indigenous Territory and National Park, ramping up the stakes in the conflict as indigenous resistance and community divisions continue.
October 19, 2012
In light of the initiation of the peace process in Colombia, the country faces a stark choice between durable peace or continous war.
October 17, 2012
On October 10, a U.S Border Patrol agent shot through an opening in the boundary wall and killed José Antonio Elena Rodriguez, 16, in Nogales, Sonora. While the circumstances surrounding the incident remain fuzzy, the shooting appears to have been both unnecessary and easily avoidable. Moreover, it highlights the urgent need to de-escalate the multifaceted “war” in the borderlands and to demilitarize the region.
October 12, 2012
From July 29 to September 6, Eleazar Castellanos, a 46-year-old undocumented day laborer with Tucson’s Southside Worker Center, traveled with the Undocubus movement from Phoenix, Arizona to Charlotte, North Carolina. Armed with the cry “No Papers, No Fear,” the 40 plus riders carried their message of “dignity and justice for all” to the delegates of the Democratic National Convention.
October 11, 2012
Despite widespread opposition from the Haitian people and many of their political representatives in parliament, the renewal for the mandate of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) is set to occur on October 15. However, MINUSTAH's renewal should not be regarded as a step towards increased security and stability in Haiti, but rather an investment in the suppression of pro-democracy forces.
October 11, 2012
The host of Honduras's Resistencia radio show a national voice for the opposition that emerged after the country's 2009 coup.
October 8, 2012
The media's behavior in the lead-up to Venezuela’s elections has been overwhelmingly disgraceful. The Hall of Shame that follows is a sampling of some of the most typical distortions, gratuitous slurs, and incorrect predictions that readers have been exposed to over the past few weeks.
October 4, 2012
Given the waves of anti-government protests which have recently engulfed Haiti, one would have thought that Haitian President Michel Martelly would have found refuge from controversy while visiting the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Yet this was not the case.
October 2, 2012
Both the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are preparing for their meeting in the Norwegian Capital, Oslo, on October 17. The composition of the facilitators and observers reflect a balancing act between the Santos government and the FARC.
October 1, 2012
Guest post by Ansel Herz: In the Christian Science Monitor, the head of a prominent think tank advocates for a continuation of the UN's military presence in Haiti. To do so, he must avoid the UN's responsibility for the country's cholera epidemic, assaults and killings of civilians, and its corruption of Haiti's democratic institutions.
October 1, 2012
Rival mineworker factions have signed an agreement with the Bolivian government to end a violent dispute at the Colquiri tin mine. The conflict offers a window into the complexity of Bolivia’s mining sector, and the challenges faced by the government in balancing the competing expectations of salaried and cooperative mineworkers.
September 30, 2012
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican Human Rights Coalition have counted thousands of people who have died in the desert trying to get into the United States. In many cases the cause of death cannot be determined. Sometimes there is not even a way to determine gender. Some have died of violence, car wrecks, even hanging, but the vast majority have died of heat and dehydration.
September 27, 2012
  Earlier this month, the government of St. Lucia announced that it will be maintaining ties with Taiwan. This came as a surprise to many, but Prime Minister Kenny Anthony argued that it was best for St. Lucia to stay the course with Taiwan and not behave “like a Jack-in-the-Box, jumping from one country to another every few years.”
September 25, 2012
The composition of  any negotiating team reveals facts about the importance of the negotiations, the nature of those negotiations, and their prospects for success. Drawing on this understanding, we can make some educated guesses about what to expect from the upcoming negotiations between the Colombian state and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
September 24, 2012
On September 18, the American Enterprise Institute hosted a panel called, “Assange's asylum in Correa's Ecuador: Last refuge for scoundrels?” Remarkably though, its message imploded. 
September 22, 2012
Belize, like much of the Caribbean, is trapped between high debt and a foreign economic environment hostile to the implementation of progressive economic reforms. On September 21, Belize won a 60 day reprieve after a partial debt payment of $11.7 million, which avoided their descent into a full blown default.
September 21, 2012
The mainstream media have falsely portrayed the exploration of the neoliberal charter cities idea—privately owned municipalities dedicated to producing exports—as if a sovereign, democratic government were undertaking the project with the consent of the population.
September 20, 2012
One hundred miles into the interior of the United States was deemed a "constitution-free zone" by the American Civil Liberties Union. On this occasion, while driving home from work—from the border town of Douglas to Tucson, Arizona—L. Cruz challenges this federal power to stop and question people at the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint located near Tombstone, Arizona.
September 16, 2012
  One of the core reasons why the civil war in Colombia has endured for so long is because the costs of peace for the dominant classes and the United States is more than the costs of war. Nevertheless, there are several issues that can assess the possibility of success of the process of a possible peace in Colombia. 
September 13, 2012
Almost a year after resigning as Bolivia’s Defense Minister, Cecilia Chacón has broken her silence to question President Evo Morales’ appointment of ex-Interior Minister Sacha Llorenti as ambassador to the UN—an act which, she says, signifies impunity for those responsible for the police repression of lowland indigenous marchers last September 25 at Chaparina.
September 13, 2012
What MINUSTAH’s near certain renewal on October 15 essentially means is another year of impunity for MINUSTAH, whose mandate entrusts them with the protection of the Haitian people on paper, but routinely and unapologetically violates their human rights in practice. Better options are available but are not considered. Why?
September 12, 2012
If you are a U.S. American Muslim crossing the international border into Michigan from Canada, be prepared for Customs and Border Protection officers to handcuff, detain, and interrogate you for perhaps two, but possibly ten, hours. The U.S.-Canada border is quickly becoming one of the hot spots of the post-9/11 homeland security era in the United States.

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