from Weekly News Update on the Americas Argentine bricklayer Luis Gerez, a survivor of torture who testified against a former police official, disappeared the evening of Dec. 27 in his town of Belen de Escobar, 60 kilometers north of the… Read moreARGENTINA: “DIRTY WAR” DEATH SQUADS BACK?
Continue ReadingARGENTINA: “DIRTY WAR” DEATH SQUADS BACK?Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad paid diplomatic visits to three Latin American countries Jan. 13-15, starting with Venezuela on Jan. 13. He and President Hugo Chavez reviewed accords they had signed in Caracas in September and signed new accords which were… Read moreAhmadinejad tours Latin America
The wives of eight campesinos from Ayacucho, Peru, who were arrested for involvement in a December ambush on a police patrol have began a hunger strike to demand the their release. Peru’s Interior Minister Pilar Mazzetti admitted in a press… Read morePeru: unrest follows Ayacucho ambush
from Weekly News Update on the Americas: The Second Summit of the South American Community of Nations (CSN), held Dec. 8-9 in Cochabamba, Bolivia, concluded with a declaration that the meeting had laid the “cornerstone” for a regional union with… Read moreSOUTH AMERICA: SUMMIT PROCESS STALLS
Continue ReadingSOUTH AMERICA: SUMMIT PROCESS STALLSfrom Weekly News Update on the Americas: On Nov. 28, a standoff in Bolivia’s Senate ended when the rightwing National Unity (UN) party’s only senator joined two senators from the rightwing Democratic and Social Power (Podemos) in returning to the… Read moreBOLIVIA: AGRARIAN REFORM LAW SIGNED
Continue ReadingBOLIVIA: AGRARIAN REFORM LAW SIGNEDVoters Reject Traditional Parties in Elections Marred by Violence by April Howard, Toward Freedom A soldier running from angry protesters died instantly when he fell off of a cliff, town offices were burned down, and one mayor escaped to Lima,… Read morePERU: ELITE FACE THE HEAT
Continue ReadingPERU: ELITE FACE THE HEATCampesinos Mobilize for Agrarian Reform by Benjamin Dangl, Toward Freedom Silvestre Saisari, a bearded, soft-spoken leader in the Bolivian Landless Workers’ Movement (MST), sat in his office in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. The building was surrounded by a high cement wall… Read moreLAND AND POWER IN BOLIVIA
Continue ReadingLAND AND POWER IN BOLIVIAWhat is Behind Bush’s Andean “Anti-Terrorist” Strategy? by Julian Monroy, WW4 REPORT Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe Velez—the Bush administration’s main ally in the hemispheric war on terrorism and drugs, as well as in the pursuit of free trade policies—was in… Read moreCOLOMBIA: WASHINGTON & THE PARA SCANDAL
Continue ReadingCOLOMBIA: WASHINGTON & THE PARA SCANDALState Terror and the Struggle for Ecopetrol by Bill Weinberg, WW4 REPORT After seven hours of debate on Dec. 12, Colombia’s Congress voted 60-29 to authorize the sale of a 20% stake in the Colombian state oil company. Ecopetrol. Under… Read moreCOLOMBIA: THE PARAS & THE OIL CARTEL
Continue ReadingCOLOMBIA: THE PARAS & THE OIL CARTELVenezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Ecuador’s president-elect Rafael Correa met in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, Dec. 21, where they spoke in support of a regional integration that goes beyond trade. “This integration must be based on a new model, on… Read moreNew Ecuador-Venezuela bloc —against US drug war
Salvatore Mancuso, top chieftan of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) began testimony Dec. 19 before a special tribunal about the paramilitary newtwork’s role in massacres and assassinations. Under a peace deal with the government, the AUC leaders will… Read moreColombia: para leader testifies at tribunal; dialogue stalled
According to the “Joel Sierra” Regional Human Rights Committee Foundation, “armed opposition groups” are believed responsible for a number of recent murders of civilians in Colombia’s eastern department of Arauca. The killings include the Nov. 29 murder of campesinos Edgar… Read moreColombia: guerillas kill campesinos?
