Solidarity

On Monday August 20, a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta heard the case of the Cuban Five for the third time. In August 2005, a similar three-judge panel of the same court had unanimously overturned all of the Five's convictions and ordered a new trial. In 2006, after the direct intervention of U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, the full panel of that Court reinstated the Five's convictions.

In Santiago on September 11, 1973, I watched as Chilean air force jets flew overhead. Moments later I heard explosions and saw fireballs of smoke fill the sky as the presidential palace went up in flames. Salvador Allende, the elected Socialist president of Chile died in the palace.

Residents and activists already concerned about the devastating impact proposed dam projects could have on southern Chile's pristine wilderness, now have a new argument for why it is simply a bad idea to dam Patagonia's rivers: earthquakes.

In 2003, after several weeks of massive protests and violent state repression, Bolivian President Gonzalo "Goni" Sánchez de Lozada signed his resignation and fled to Miami. It was October 17. The day is etched in the collective memory of Bolivians as the victorious culmination of a hard-fought battle—a war, in fact, or the "Gas War" as most Bolivians still call it.

Last Thursday, we lost a friend and comrade in the quest for social justice and solidarity in the Americas. After almost 25 years of operation, the Minneapolis-based Resource Center of the Americas was forced to close its doors despite years of reluctant and painful lay-offs and budget cuts. All of us at NACLA are heartbroken by the news.