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The Other Side of Paradise
February 21, 2013
While it is too early to tell whether or not Jean Claude Duvalier will appear in court today to face charges for embezzlement and corruption, it is important, whatever the outcome, to highlight that Guatemala’s arduous 14-year struggle to prosecute former military dictator Efrain Rios Montt for crimes against humanity provides an important template for Haiti moving forward.
February 20, 2013
A staggering 54 countries have participated in various ways in the American torture system, hosting CIA “black site" prisons, allowing their airspace and airports to be used for secret flights, providing intelligence, kidnapping foreign nationals or their own citizens and handing them over to U.S. agents to be “rendered” to third-party countries. How did Latin America come to be territorio libre in this new dystopian world of black sites and midnight flights?
February 19, 2013
“Charter cities” have been promoted for years by Paul Romer, a University of Chicago–trained economist teaching at New York University. But the applicability of Romer’s radical vision in Honduras always depended on the enthusiasm of the authoritarian, post-coup government of Porfirio Lobo.
February 16, 2013
Incumbent Rafael Correa is the clear frontrunner in Ecuador. So journalists are finding new ways to cover the country's upcoming presidential election.
Manufacturing Contempt
February 16, 2013
The New York Times reinforces attitudes that Latin American politics can be little more than a primitive charade, starring authoritarian leaders and a hoodwinked public, punctuated by laughable distractions. Thankfully—at least within the paper's coverage—this "political theater of the absurd" isn’t commonplace here at home.
Rebel Currents
February 15, 2013
While widening inequality is helping to stifle the U.S. economy, in Bolivia domestic demand fueled by rising incomes and narrowing inequality is a driving force behind the country's newly found economic prosperity. The U.S. could learn a lot from Bolivia's example.
The Other Side of Paradise
February 14, 2013
For decades Jean Claude Duvalier brutally ruled over Haiti—leading to the murder, dissapearance, and torture of tens of thousands. However, the recent decision by an appeals court on February 7 demanding Duvalier appear in court or face arrest is a small but extremely important step toward gaining justice for his many victims.
Border Wars
February 13, 2013
Against the backdrop of drones and surveillance towers on the Northern Border, CBP agents repeatedly handcuff border-crossers, often brandishing weapons, conducting invasive body searches, and detaining people for up to 12 hours.
Cuadernos Colombianos
February 12, 2013
More than 5,000 workers at coal multinational corporation began a strike demanding higher salaries, better working conditions, and effective measures to protect the environment. This strike reveals yet a much larger problem with the extractive resource industry in Colombia.
February 11, 2013
After 417 days of wrongful imprisonment, Zapatista Francisco Sántiz López is freed. The following is a news update from the Dorset Chiapas Solidarity Group.