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December 22, 2011
The U.S. government has denounced the recent legitimate presidential election in Nicaragua, while supporing flawed elections in Haiti and Honduras over the last two years. While this U.S. policy may appear baffling, it begins to make sense when you consider the long-standing U.S. political agenda in the region.
December 21, 2011
NACLA’s latest Report on the Americas is now available. This issue, "Latino Student Movements: Defending Education," gives voice to Latino student movements across the Americas that are standing up to the crises, cutbacks, and repression.
December 20, 2011
Criminality and corrupt authoritarian politics have a tendency to blend, especially when large sums of money are available to grant impunity to certain citizens. Over the past three weeks, for example, Mexicans have witnessed a number of deliberate attacks—whose obvious foretelling was conspicuously ignored by state authorities—on political activists.
December 19, 2011
Today is the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the popular rebellion in Argentina. An uprising that with popular power forced out four governments in two weeks. But that was only the beginning. This year, 2011, is also a beginning. Not at all dissimilar from Argentina, this has been a year of popular uprisings, popular power, and new ways of organizing and doing politics.
December 19, 2011
In Patricio Guzmán's latest film, the Chilean filmmaker points his camera toward Chile's Atacama desert, where several groups intertwine in a search for the past. In this NACLA video interview, Guzmán speaks about his new movie, nostalgia, Chile, the Latin American "pink tide," filmmaking, and the need for an audio-visual revolution.
December 16, 2011
Fifty years ago, in 1961, the Cuban literacy campaign mobilized more than 1 million Cubans as teachers or students. In that same year, 707,000 Cubans learned how to read or write. The new documentary Maestra tells the story of that inspiring campaign through the memories of the women who served as literacy teachers—the maestras themselves.
Border Wars
December 14, 2011
A recent report on Border Patrol transportation raids in northern New York State demonstrates how "security" penetrates society in a virus-like fashion: it goes wherever it can. This has been reality in the post-9/11 era, where the Border Patrol has increasingly focused on interior enforcement, with harmful implications for human and civil rights.
December 14, 2011
During Felipe Calderón’s War on Drugs systematic human rights violations have been documented. Now testimonies confirm the suspicions that clandestine detention centers are operating in Mexico. We don't know how many, but we can determine who is operating them—organized crime and the Mexican Army and Marines.
Mexico, Bewildered and Contested
December 13, 2011
This past December 2 and 3, in Caracas, the heads of 33 Latin American and Caribbean states signed on to a project that has long been dear to Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez's heart. Conservative Mexican president Felipe Calderón opened the founding “presidential summit” of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) with phrases Chávez has long championed.
Cuadernos Colombianos
December 12, 2011
Yesterday morning Colombia and Latin America lost one of its most influential intellectuals and social scientists: Álvaro Camacho Guizado, a colleague, mentor, and, above all, a very dear friend. Camacho dedicated his life and energy to the study of narco-trafficking. He was also an early critical voice against U.S. anti-drug policy in Colombia.