The parade of denial goes on. US Central Command chief Gen. Abizaid makes headlines by speaking the obvious—his dramatic understatement treated like a splash of cold water, so deep is the degree of self-delusion: “I believe that the sectarian violence… Read moreIraq: propaganda and the “civil war” question
This Aug. 7 clip from the London-based Arabic daily al-Hayat was sent by our correspondent Gilbert Achcar, who writes: “There is little chance that you could find something like the news below reported in any language but Arabic. I couldn’t… Read moreIraqi parliament speaker condemns “blue djinn” of occupation
Shortly after 9:30pm on July 31, after more than two years of detention, Muslim community leader Abdel Jabbar Hamdan walked out of the Terminal Island federal detention center in San Pedro, California, and returned to his Buena Park home with… Read morePalestinian detainee Abdel Jabbar Hamdan freed at last
With all eyes elsewhere, it seems authorities in Mexico’s southern state of Chiapas, scene of the ongoing Zapatista rebellion, are taking the opportunity to repossess lands occupied the rebels. Recognition of the “agrarian reform” carried out by adherents of the… Read moreChiapas: police evict Zapatista village
Some 300 primary and secondary school students and their mothers occupied the municipal auditorium in the conflicted Mexican village of San Salvador Atenco Aug. 5, holding the municipal president Pascual Pineda Sanchez captive for eight hours. The protesters accuse Pineda… Read moreMexico: protesters detain Atenco mayor
On Aug. 5 the seven judges of Mexico’s Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Branch of the Federation (TEPJF) unanimously rejected a motion by center-left presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for a full recount of the 41 million ballots cast… Read moreMexico: Electoral Tribunal refuses full recount; protests escalate in DF, Oaxaca
From Canada Free Press, Aug. 7 (links, annotation and emphasis added by WW4 REPORT): With world attention trained on Israel and Hezbollah, the situation is tense in Bogota, Colombia, today as President Alvaro Uribe prepares for his inauguration for a… Read moreColombia braces for inauguration violence
The Joel Sierra Regional Human Rights Committee Foundation has reported a wave of recent murders in the municipalities of Arauquita, Tame and Saravena in the eastern Colombian department of Arauca. On July 27 in Tame, meat vendor Alberto Tovar Trujillo… Read moreColombia: wave of killings in Arauca
Haiti’s Collective for Mobilization Against the High Cost of Living held a sit-in on July 25 in front of the Hotel Karibe Convention Center in Port-au-Prince to demand cancellation of Haiti’s external debt. The protesters carried signs with such slogans… Read moreHaiti: debt, occupation protested
On Aug. 4, a federal court in Buenos Aires, Argentina, sentenced former federal police officer Julio Simon to 25 years of prison for the 1978 abduction and torture of Chilean citizen Jose Poblete Roa and his Argentine companion, Gertrudis Hlaczik,… Read moreArgentina: ex-agent gets 25 years
Seems like both sides in the Cuban political divide are atempting to co-opt Santeria, which is definitely bad news for the doves and chickens of Miami and Havana. Apparently neither the Fidelistas or the anti-Fidelistas are playing to the animal-rights… Read moreMiami-Havana Santeria wars
This July 30 Chicago Tribune story is suddenly much more relevant, since Fidel ceded executive powers—just one day after it appeared! The existence of groups like Elizardo Sanchez’ Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation (about which more below)… Read moreIndependent Cuban dissidents to Uncle Sam: No, gracias!
