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August 18, 2010

The August 1 deployment of 1200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexican border further ignites skepticism about the Obama administration's stated claim that there would be a shift away from militarization in the U.S. anti-narcotic strategy. While in March Washington stressed that new strategies were needed to fight drug trafficking, which would include expanding our border focus beyond interdiction of contraband to include "building stronger communities," troops are lining up on the U.S.-Mexican border once again, and U.S. aid under the Merida Initiative continues to flow to Mexico for seemingly the same-old militarized approach.

August 10, 2010

Following the hype of being deemed as one of the world's "fastest growing and most important energy development stories," Colombia put 168 oil and gas concession blocks on auction in June to foreign and national exploration and production companies. The Canadian energy corporations that led the charge to gobble up these concessions now stand to have preferential treatment in Colombia. The Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, signed into law in Canada in June, now only awaits Colombia finalization to go into effect.

August 6, 2010

On July 29, a federal judge issued a partial injunction stopping four of the most egregious provisions of Arizona's controversial new immigration law, SB-1070. However, that same day Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio quickly responded by saying "It doesn't matter what the ruling is by the federal judge," and along with a 200-strong posse swept into an immigrant community with the intent of arresting undocumented people. But while Arpaio’s customary bravado underscores the vigilante attitude running rampant in Arizona, what he doesn’t say is that he’s authorized to do his immigration sweeps not under Arizona state legislation, but federal law.

July 30, 2010

There is a direct correlation between the more than $5 billion in military assistance the United States has given Colombia since 1999 and a dramatic spike of extrajudicial killings in the country, according to a report released on July 29 by the Fellowship on Reconciliation and the U.S. Office on Colombia. This not only flies in the face of U.S. officials who claim that Plan Colombia has been a complete success, but also the Leahy Law, a U.S. law that forbids providing funding to military units that are treated with impunity after committing abuses. The report states: “Our analysis strongly suggests that implementation of Leahy Law in Colombia requires suspension of assistance to nearly all Army fixed brigades and many mobile brigades."

July 28, 2010

Even though a federal judge blocked key controversial provisions of Arizona's new immigration legislation, one of the harshest anti-immigrant laws ever passed in the United States still went into effect on July 29 in that state. This law, however, didn't come out of thin air. The "zero tolerance" logic behind the law mimics what has already been established by the federal government. Indeed, the confluence of these immigration, military, border, and economic policies in Arizona has not only made it the country’s primary laboratory for draconian immigration policies, but also connects the U.S. border zone to a broader international context of “global apartheid.”

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2010 edition of NACLA Report on the Americas.

July 27, 2010

The year 2009 was arguably the worst year of economic downturn in Mexico since the onset of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Mexico's GDP fell by an estimated 6.5% last year, an economic collapse that was consistently downplayed by the country's political and economic elite. When Mexican President Felipe Calderón asserts, as he often does, that this crisis was caused by “external” forces and factors, he is dead wrong: As the great recession of 2009 showed so clearly, Mexico has become an appendage of the U.S. economy.

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2010 edition of NACLA Report on the Americas.

July 22, 2010

On July 1 the Peruvian government notified Father Paul Mc Auley, an environmental activist in the northern Amazon region, that it was rescinding his residency in the country. The order to expel the British priest comes on the heels of his efforts to ensure accountability for the massive June 19 oil spill of PlusPetrol, an Argentine oil company with a safety record equal to that of British Petroleum. This further indicates an unofficial governmental policy in Peru to stifle voices that highlight the social and environmental costs of the country’s resource development agenda.

July 21, 2010

NACLA denounces the State Department’s decision to deny a visa to Colombian TV journalist Hollman Morris. Morris was slated to receive the Samuel Chavkin Award for Integrity in Latin American Journalism, given by NACLA in recognition of his brave and uncompromising coverage of the armed conflict in Colombia. The visa denial appears to be intended to punish Morris for his reporting on the Colombian peace and human rights movement. With this, Washington has joined the Colombian government in tarring Morris as a “publicist for terrorism,” in the words of Colombian president Álvaro Uribe.

July 19, 2010

At a June 5 meeting of coca farmers in Cochabamba, Bolivian president Evo Morales threatened to expel USAID from Bolivia, accusing the U.S. governmental organization of lending financial support to groups that oppose his government. The announcement was made just days after the United States met with Bolivia, as part of ongoing talks aimed at reestablishing full diplomatic relations, after a damaging political dispute in 2008. While in public officials are giving glowing reviews of the progress of the negotiations, reality reveals that reconciliation may still be a long way away, especially as the United States continues to meddle in Bolivian affairs.

July 15, 2010

The U.S. State Department is secretly funneling millions of dollars to Latin American journalists. Newly released documents show that between 2007 and 2009, the State Department channeled at least $4 million to journalists in Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela through the Washington-based Pan American Development Foundation (PADF). Thus far, only documents pertaining to Venezuela have been released. They reveal that the PADF, collaborating with Venezuelan NGOs associated with the country’s political opposition, has been supplied with at least $700,000 to give out journalism grants and sponsor journalism education programs. In funding the Venezuelan news media, the United States is funding one of the opposition’s most powerful weapons against President Hugo Chávez.

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