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Manufacturing Contempt
January 25, 2013
José Cárdenas has concealed the financial benefits he’s accrued from lobbying precisely because they make his espoused views both easily predictable and utterly dismissible. Fortunately for him, mainstream news organizations like The Miami Herald, Foreign Policy, and NPR accommodate this charade.
The Other Side of Paradise
January 24, 2013
On January 8, 2013, Canada’s Minister of International Cooperation—and head of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)—blindsided Haiti, the United States, and the United Nations by announcing through the media that he would be freezing any further distributions of development aid.
Border Wars
January 24, 2013
The comprehensive immigration reform bill will soon be introduced in Congress could be great— normalizing the status of millions who are now forced to live in the shadows. However, if history is any guide, it could instead mean a ramping up of enforcement that creates a life and death circumstance for crossing migrants, as well as destroying the fragile eco-system of the borderlands.
Cuadernos Colombianos
January 21, 2013
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has modified its position regarding Colombia's latifundios. This is its first change on the latifundio question since its inception in 1964.
Rebel Currents
January 18, 2013
While President Evo Morales decrees that Bolivia’s TIPNIS conflict is resolved, conflicting reports issued by the government and religious and human rights groups over the past few weeks have served to extend the controversy over the proposed highway that would bisect this indigenous territory and national park in the Amazon lowlands.
Border Wars
January 17, 2013
This past November I visited Ciudad Juárez, Mexico to witness the urban redevelopment taking place in the city’s historic district. With my digital camera I took about thirty minutes of footage from which I produced this seven and a half minute video, “La Ultima Taza de Café?” (The Last Cup of Coffee?).
January 16, 2013
Carlos Ciappina is the Secretary of the School for Journalism and Social Communication at the National University of La Plata, which awarded Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez its Rodolfo Walsh Award for Popular Communication in 2011. According to Ciappina, the right to communication means not only free speech, but also access to the means of communication.
Cuadernos Colombianos
January 14, 2013
Peace talks between representatives of the Juan Manuel Santos government and the FARC delegates resume today in Havana, Cuba.
January 11, 2013
During the first decade of the 21st century, Bolivia’s “classic” newspapers have disappeared. Beyond print, radio has traditionally dominated Bolivia’s media landscape, a reality due in large part to the country’s multiethnic and multicultural makeup. For perhaps the same reason and also because of its high degree of politicization, Bolivia leads the world in community broadcasting.
The Other Side of Paradise
January 10, 2013
In 2012, the Caribbean was the site of many positive developments—but overall the region as a whole is desperately trying to keep its head above water. While last year marked 50 years since the end of formal British colonialism in both Jamaica and Trinidad, it also highlighted that new and perhaps more powerful structures of control have arisen in the region such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, and the international drug trade.