This is a clear sign of chastisement in high places. We sure hope these folks have got Barack Obama‘s ear! Jim Lobe writes for InterPress Service May 14: New Approach Awaited on Latin America, Cuba WASHINGTON – More than 150… Read moreCouncil on Foreign Relations reconsiders Monroe Doctrine
Colombia extradited 14 top commanders of the right-wing paramilitaries to the US May 13 on drug trafficking and other charges. Security forces rousted the warlords from their prison cells in a surprise pre-dawn operation and took them to Bogotá’s military… Read moreColombia extradites paramilitary commanders
Presidents Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Rafael Correa of Ecuador warned of possible “contagion” in their countries by the autonomy movement in the eastern Bolivian province of Santa Cruz. “The central plan by the CIA and its lackeys in Venezuela… Read moreSeparatist “contagion” spreading in Andes?
Colombia’s military committed “crimes against humanity” when it shot three people in the back and killed a man with a blow to the head during the March 1 raid on a guerilla camp in Ecuador, Quito’s Interior Minister Fernando Bustamante… Read moreEcuador accuses Colombia of extrajudicial executions
Colombia has for the first time extradited an imprisoned paramilitary leader to the US to face drug-trafficking charges. Bogotá agreed to the extradition of Carlos Jiménez Naranjo AKA Macaco because he was found to be continuing to run his criminal… Read moreColombia extradites paramilitary leader
Unionists and other activists marked International Workers Day with marches throughout Latin America on May 1 as rising food and fuel costs cut into workers’ standard of living. Demands included increases in the minimum wage, an end to violence against… Read moreLatin America May Day round-up
Street clashes broke out in the departmental capital of Santa Cruz and towns in the surrounding countryside May 4 as regional authorities declared victory in the autonomy vote. Dozens were injured, including one protester hit by a dynamite blast in… Read moreViolence mars autonomy vote in Bolivia
Venezuela‘s President Hugo Chávez convened an extraordinary meeting of member nations of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) in Caracas April 23 to discuss the world food crisis. At the meeting, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Bolivian President Evo Morales,… Read moreFood crisis: summit in Venezuela, protests in Peru
On the eve of the May 4 autonomy referendum in the lowland department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia is increasingly polarized—with the central government of President Evo Morales refusing to accept the legitimacy of the Santa Cruz vote, and the Santa… Read moreBolivia polarized on eve of autonomy vote
Colombia’s Caño-Limon oil pipeline was paralyzed for a third day after it was blown up by FARC guerillas on April 29. Military-escorted engineers are working to repair the pipeline, which carries 100,000 barrels of oil a day from a field… Read moreColombia: FARC blow up oil pipeline
A new report released by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) demonstrates that intensive aerial herbicide spraying of coca crops in Colombia has backfired badly, contributing to the spread of coca cultivation and cocaine production to new areas of… Read moreColombian herbicide spraying grows —so does coca crop!
Jesús Caballero is one of the latest trade union leaders to be assassinated in Colombia. A labor unionist with the State Training Institute in the Caribbean town of Sabanalarga, Caballero disappeared on April 16 and his body was found two… Read moreColombian government continues attack on rights defenders
