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Rebel Currents
January 16, 2014
Michelle Bachelet won a landslide victory in Chile’s December presidential run-off election, campaigning on a radical platform of educational, tax, and constitutional reform. But she now faces formidable obstacles, as Chile’s anti-democratic institutions and alienated electorate conspire to discourage systemic change.  
January 14, 2014

As Cesar Chavez embarked on high-profile fasts and associated activities, his self-sacrifice made him saint-like in the eyes of many. It also allowed Chavez to do things that appeared as antithetical to everything for which he stood. Joseph Nevins reviews Frank Bardacke's Trampling Out the Vintage: Cesar Chavez and the Two Souls of the United Farm Workers.

January 11, 2014

The United Nations negotiations on climate change took place last November in Warsaw, Poland. As climate finance and “loss and damage” payments dominated the agenda, indigenous peoples’ groups fought to be heard. While some groups discussed their experiences with the current UN proposals, COICA proposed an alternative: “REDD+ Indigena.”

Cuadernos Colombianos
January 7, 2014
There is a crisis in the "national state" formations in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, increasing due to the declining hegemonic power of U.S. imperialism. Within this complex panorama of the deepening crisis of the national state, we might ask: what about Colombia after 50 years of civil war? 
Border Wars
January 7, 2014
Jeh Johnson is the new head of the Department of Homeland Security, and thus oversees matters relating to U.S. immigration and boundary policing. An examination of his record makes clear that the new boss is more or less like the old boss. At the same time, Johnson brings baggage with him that is cause for worry.
Rebel Currents
January 3, 2014
Bolivian workers received an unexpected gift this past Christmas: an extra payment equal to one month’s wages, mandated by President Evo Morales on November 20. Is this a redistributive measure to socialize profits, or an electoral strategy to shore up key voting sectors and finance the presidential campaign?
Extractives in Latin America
December 31, 2013
In past weeks, the governments of Ecuador and Bolivia moved to shut down or expel major NGOs (non-government organizations) that work on issues of the environment, extractivism, and indigenous rights. Is this a reasoned assertion of sovereignty against foreign intervention or a move against social movements and democracy through an attack on their bases of foreign support?
Red Hot Burning Peace
December 26, 2013
As we approach the end of the year, Red Hot Burning Peace takes the opportunity to report on some overlooked stories from the last couple of months and tie up some loose ends, covering President Santos' apology to the comunidad de Paz de San Jose de Apartado, Drummond's fine, Petro's ongoing battle for reinstatement, and the current FARC ceasefire.
Cuadernos Colombianos
December 26, 2013
In a report published on December 21, the Washington Post brought the U.S. role in the Colombian conflict into sharper focus when it revealed the role of the CIA and the NSA in the assassination of the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) commander Raul Reyes in March of 2008. According to the report, the U.S. covert military operations were funded by a multibillion dollar “black budget.”
Red Hot Burning Peace
December 24, 2013
Bogotá has been rocked by indignados protesting the past two weeks due to a possibly unconstitutional removal of the city's Mayor Gustavo Petro. The Procurador Alejandro Ordoñez was behind the move, banning him from holding public office for 15 years. But the institutional force behind Ordoñez, and the consequences the removal will have in the new year, remain to be seen.  

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