Columns
April 29, 2013
The progress and a successful conclusion of the current peace talks in Colombia largely depends on a change in U.S. policy toward the Andean subregion and in Latin America at large.
April 25, 2013
Bolivian President Evo Morales has put the controversial TIPNIS highway on hold for three years, until extreme poverty is eliminated in the TIPNIS. The surprise announcement comes amidst continuing conflict over the proposed road and ahead of the 2014 presidential elections where Morales is seeking a third term.
April 24, 2013
As a result of many dozens—possibly hundreds—of messages from readers over the past few weeks that criticized The New Yorker’s inaccurate coverage of Venezuela, reporter Jon Lee Anderson issued a response in an April 23 online post. This marks the first time the magazine has publicly addressed its controversial and erroneous labeling of Venezuela as one of the world’s most “socially unequal” countries.
April 24, 2013
Activists and organizers for Chican@ studies are playing a central role in the fight to compel Pima Community College to drop the "i" word from college curricula. The effort is inextricably tied to the ongoing movement for migrant justice in the United States.
April 18, 2013
If the goal is for democracy to run its course in Venezuela, it is incredibly important that anti-democratic means do not become the tools of choice in order to bring about a change in government more favorable to U.S. interests. As the events in Venezuela unfold, it is becoming increasingly clear that this is wishful thinking.
April 16, 2013
With border policing an important component of the comprehensive immigration reform package proposed by the so-called Gang of 8, this photo essay offers a glimpse of how this intensley border controlled universe looks from two distinct vantage points. The first perspective comes from businesses that want to make a profit, and the other is seen through the lens of binational protesters six months after the killing of 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez by a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
April 13, 2013
Bolivia's National Revolution of 1952, whose 61st anniversary occurred on April 9, has been relegated to the dustbin of history by successive Bolivian governments. Yet, this historic episode has profound and continuing relevance for events in Bolivia today.
April 12, 2013
Colombia's “Green War” over the emerald trade is another example of the precarious path of state building that Colombia has had to undergo since its independence in the 19th century. It is a process that is still unfolding.
April 11, 2013
In the most trying of times, it is often said that it becomes much easier to tell real friends from the fake. Since the announcement by United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki Moon, claiming that the U.N. has legal immunity when it comes to their role in introducing cholera to the country, the Haitian people are currently learning that outside of Cuba, even supportive words are hard to come by within the rest of the Caribbean Community.
April 8, 2013
While issuing a correction to reporter Jon Lee Anderson’s third Venezuela article over the past year would have been embarrassing for The New Yorker magazine, the continued silence and inaction of the elite intellectual journal is perhaps a greater indictment.
April 3, 2013
This blog addresses the U.S. posture toward the peace process in Colombia, as seen by the commander of the South Command, General John Kelly.
April 2, 2013
A just-released report from the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Arizona sheds new light on the effects of the U.S. government's migrant "removal" efforts and the growing ties of deportees to the United States.
March 31, 2013
Recent data on land titling and redistribution in Bolivia provide a useful picture of what the Morales government has accomplished to date, as well as the unfinished business that lies ahead.
March 28, 2013
In the most recent Canadian budget, it was announced that the Canadian International Development Agency was being “modernized.” Going forward, CIDA will no longer function as a separate governmental agency, but instead it will be folded into the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
March 27, 2013
Last month’s sequester-related release of immigrants from immigration detention centers brought praise from immigrants' rights advocates and impassioned criticism from conservative politicians. If the surprise move by ICE accomplishes nothing more, hopefully it will prompt us to ask whether we want to continue relying so heavily on confinement as a tool for enforcing immigration law.
March 27, 2013
The three thousand peasants that participated in the third encounter of the National Association of Peasant Reserve Zones, which took place last Friday, were an important impetus to the FARC’s proposal of expanding agricultural reserve zones in Colombia.
March 21, 2013
Across the region there is a familiar narrative whereby economies are in a tailspin, austerity reigns, traditional sources of trade and aid are no longer in effect, opportunities are harder to come by, and the aspiration of many youth is to simply get their hands on a visa to go abroad. There is an alarming need for political and institutional innovation in the Caribbean.
March 20, 2013
The notion of security applied by The New York Times in its disucssion of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands and Israel-Palestine obscures much more than it illuminates. In both cases, it helps to legitimate occupation and the associated forms of violence.
March 19, 2013
White smoke is rising in Havana, Cuba where the negotiators of the Juan Manuel Santos and the insurgents of the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) have been negotiating since early last year. The two sides have almost agreed on the most important issue on the agenda: the agrarian question.
March 15, 2013
The New Yorker Magazine's Jon Lee Anderson has provided coverage on Hugo Chávez and Venezuela that is rife with errors and distortions, some of which are exposed through simple arithmetic.
March 15, 2013
The Academy Award-nominated film “NO” re-opens a window on an inspirational moment in Latin American history, when Chileans used the ballot box to bring down the notorious dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in a 1988 plebiscite. Even more interesting is some of the history surrounding the event that the film leaves out, especially concerning the U.S. government's role in the "NO" campaign.
March 13, 2013
On the Texas border with Mexico, the isolated and beautiful Big Bend National Park is unique. Without many Border Patrol agents, it defies the notion that border policing is an enduring part of this landscape. At the same time, it upholds the fundamental inequalities of national border and immigration policy.
March 12, 2013
Colombia's rentier-based economy constitutes the main threat to development and peace.
March 11, 2013
For the Zapatista support bases of San Marcos Avilés, the nightmare of displacement has no end. Human rights organizations and solidarity activists warn that the Tzeltales are at risk of a displacement equivalent to that of 2010.
March 7, 2013
NACLA writer Keane Bhatt speaks to Al-Jazeera about the legacy of Chávez for the youth of Venezuela.