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April 7, 2009
As a special tribunal in Peru pronounced former president Alberto Fujimori guilty of human rights atrocities, the National Security Archive today posted key declassified U.S. documents that were submitted as evidence in the court proceedings. The declassified records contain intelligence gathered by U.S. officials from Peruvian sources on the secret creation of “assassination teams” as part of Fujimori’s counterterrorism operations, the role of the Peruvian security forces in atrocities and Fujimori’s participation in protecting the military from investigation.
April 7, 2009
As part of the "Not just Change, but Justice" campaign, a joint-effort by NACLA and the Latin America Solidarity Coalition, activist-scholar Lesley Gill reports on U.S. militarization in Latin America asking the question, "What are we facing today?" Though skeptical about change, she outlines why Obama needs to change Bush-era policies and end programs like Plan Colombia and Plan Mexico. Gill says that continued funding for both militarized anti-drug programs will embolden paramilitary groups and cause repression against activists.
April 6, 2009
Daniel Ortega’s presidency, the “second stage of the Sandinista Revolution,” as he called it, has been characterized by sectarianism, authoritarianism, and intolerance of dissidents. It therefore represents a profound betrayal of the original Sandinista movement, which was committed to popular democracy, openness, and pluralism.
April 2, 2009
As part of the "Not just Change, but Justice" campaign, a joint-effort by NACLA and the Latin America Solidarity Coalition, Father Roy Bourgeois, spoke at a recent panel in Washington D.C. Bourgeois, the founder of the School of the Americas Watch, spoke about Empire, the political sea-change taking place in Latin America, and the role of U.S.-based activists in changing Washington's foreign policy toward the region in the Obama era.
April 1, 2009
A special preview from the next NACLA Report, upcoming in May: After a month and a half of political deadlock, violent confrontations with police, and the death of a union militant, Guadeloupean activists reached a wide-ranging agreement with the French government. While the movement's grievances stemmed from the exorbitant living expenses in, they were firmly rooted in the French overseas territory’s history of economic exploitation and racial inequality. The movement’s success marks a new chapter of political and social activism in the French Antilles.
March 30, 2009
Although some Venezuelan opposition groups are still in denial over Hugo Chávez's victory in his campaign to eliminate term limits, others have tried to regain their footing. A few distinct tendencies have become visible: from re-engagement with the political process and an attempt to broaden appeal, to a more thorough self-analysis and a recognition of the need to address poverty and inequality. The direction taken by the opposition could well determine the future of the Bolivarian Revolution.
March 26, 2009
Voters in El Salvador took the first step on March 15 toward turning the tide against 130 years of conservative rule over the country by electing Mauricio Funes of the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) party as president. The FMLN's resilience and persistence has finally paid off. But after nearly three decades of struggle – on the battlefield, in the streets, and at the ballot box – the political forces that make up the FMLN now face perhaps their greatest challenge: governing.
March 25, 2009
Alan Knight, a specialist on the Mexican Revolution, once wrote, “Revolutionary generations die, but the legacy of (especially successful) revolutions is never entirely spent." In this interview, he discusses revolutionary icons, the competing claims to revolutionary legitimacy by contemporary political actors, and official amnesia over tensions within the revolution, among other topics.
March 23, 2009
Generating enough electricity to power a small city while offsetting several hundred thousand tons of carbon emissions sounds like an ideal source of eco-friendly energy. But tell that to the residents of La Ventosa in Oaxaca, Mexico. The construction of Latin America's largest wind farm on these communal campesino lands in the wind-whipped Isthmus of Tehuantepec is threatening their lands and their livelihoods.
March 19, 2009
In both Cuba and Venezuela, the revolutionary imagination has been free to develop in the domain of culture, preserving the legacy of struggle and serving as the social conscience of leftist governments. This legacy of struggle has been preserved and passed down, keeping alive alternative visions for social justice.