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August 25, 2008

Statistically, president Evo Morales won a resounding victory in the recent recall referendum on his presidency, but so did his staunchest opponents at the head of several departmental governments. Neither side in Bolivia's long-running standoff has gained an upper-hand, and both sides have promised to move forward unilaterally with their conflicting political agendas, meaning further polarization and outbreaks of violence will likely continue.

August 22, 2008

Opinion divides sharply on whether the Democratic candidate's platform for U.S. policy in Latin America is really the stuff of "Change We Can Believe In." Looking at it closely, the picture gives reasons for hope, but also some important points to work on. Electoral posturing aside, the cards have been laid out for a first reading on the hemispheric future. Obama's approach, more than the policies themselves, gives us much to work with in turning disaster into a genuine good neighbor policy for the region.

August 19, 2008

When Colombian president Álvaro Uribe extradited more than a dozen paramilitary leaders to the United States on drug trafficking charges, the murderous militia leaders took with them the truth about the thousands of massacres and murders they committed as part of the government's dirty war against guerrillas. But what weighed most heavily into the president's abrupt decision was perhaps the information these death squad leaders were revealing about their intimate collaboration with members of Uribe's governing coalition, the government armed forces, and the private sector.

August 19, 2008

Latin America, once thought of as the U.S. "backyard," has been moving further out of the orbit of the United States. As the testing ground for Washington-imposed neoliberal policies, Latin America has now become the locus for a series of left-wing leaders who are contesting these policies, and as they do so, they have been turning towards allies in Europe, China, and the Middle East as a counter to U.S. hegemony. Europe, in particular, has begun sketching out alternative policies that make the U.S. seem increasingly isolated in its approach to Latin America.

August 15, 2008

Bolivian President Evo Morales, of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party, won a resounding victory in Bolivia’s recall referendum. With 96.1 percent of polling tables counted, the National Electoral Court reports 67.77 percent support for Morales nation-wide.

August 13, 2008

The conflict over taxes on agricultural exports in Argentina has its historical roots in the fact that most governments in the 200-year history of the country have taxed agricultural exports to generate revenue for other purposes. The country has a huge potential for producing food and grains; a recent estimate is that it can produce enough food for 450 million people—this, in a country with about 38 million people. It is also one of the most unequal countries in the world, with the top 10 percent receiving about 30 times what the bottom 10 percent receives, down from about 50 times in 2002.

August 11, 2008

Since the inception of the oil industry in the early twentieth century, Venezuela has had strong cultural ties to the United States. President Hugo Chávez however has sought to change this by cultivating a sense of cultural nationalism in his country. Through this “Bolivarian Cinecittà,” Chávez seeks to spur production of films dealing with social empowerment, South American history, and Venezuelan values.

August 8, 2008

A NACLA investigative article into the Salvadoran branch of the International Law Enforcement Academy, a U.S.-sponsored global network of police schools, raised concerns among some human rights activists and U.S. policy analysts. They criticize the article as a "personal attack" against Benjamín Cuéllar, a Salvadoran human rights activist, whose organization offers human rights training at the academy. The author defends his findings writing that Cuéllar's participation constitutes "the co-optation" of human rights discourses in the service of U.S. military intervention.

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August 5, 2008
August 5, 2008

The Caribbean coast of Honduras has been home to Afro-indigenous Garifuna communities for over 200 years. But a government-sponsored plan to build a tourist mega-resort on Garifuna lands in Tela Bay threatens not only their communally owned territories, but also an entire way of life for one of the planet's most unique cultures.

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