Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe took over the country's airwaves Sept. 10 to defend the military against reports soldiers were behind a string of bombings in the capital, Bogota. In a live half-hour speech during prime-time on all the major networks,… Read moreColombian military implicated in Bogotá blasts
Carlos Castaño, patriarch of Colombia’s far-right paramilitary movement, is confirmed dead at the age of 39. Mario Iguaran, Colombia’s chief prosecutor, said a skeleton unearthed from a shallow grave was that of Castaño, the long-missing leader of the feared Self-Defense… Read moreColombia: paramilitary patriarch killed on brother’s orders
And not a moment too soon. This is sure to bring a smile to followers of the Global Anti-Golf Movement (GAGM). Chris Kraul reports for the Los Angeles Times, Aug. 31: In Caracas, the Poor Shall Inherit the Golf Course… Read moreVenezuela: Chavez cracks down on golf
from Weekly News Update on the Americas On Aug. 16, members of the Shipiba indigenous community of Canaan de Cashiyacu seized nine oil wells operated by the Maple Gas Corporation in Maquia district, Ucayali province, in the Peruvian Amazon region… Read morePERU: INDIGENOUS OCCUPY OIL FACILITY
Continue ReadingPERU: INDIGENOUS OCCUPY OIL FACILITYfrom Weekly News Update on the Americas On July 29, thousands of Venezuelan campesinos and supporters marched in the city of San Felipe, capital of Yaracuy state, to demand land reform and protest attacks on campesino leaders. The March for… Read moreVENEZUELA: CAMPESINOS MARCH FOR LAND
Continue ReadingVENEZUELA: CAMPESINOS MARCH FOR LANDfrom Weekly News Update on the Americas During the week of Aug. 14, some 500 indigenous Guarani people began an occupation at the Parapeti station of the Yacuiba-Rio Grande gas pipeline (GASYRG) near Charagua, in the eastern Bolivian department of… Read moreBOLIVIA: INDIGENOUS SEIZE GAS PIPELINE
Continue ReadingBOLIVIA: INDIGENOUS SEIZE GAS PIPELINEUrban Gardening and Self-Sufficiency in Caracas by April M. Howard, Toward Freedom In the middle of the modern, concrete city of Caracas, Norali Verenzuela is standing in a garden dressed in jeans and work boots. She is the director of… Read moreVENEZUELA: THE GREENING OF THE REVOLUTION
Continue ReadingVENEZUELA: THE GREENING OF THE REVOLUTIONby Stefan Baskerville, Diplo Rusty buses lined the wide road, their roofs packed with men, sitting, crouching and lying down. Families sat and stood in the back of old pick-up trucks. The people arrived in droves, by truck, bus or… Read moreTHE NEW AGRARIAN REFORM IN BOLIVIA
Continue ReadingTHE NEW AGRARIAN REFORM IN BOLIVIAJennifer Pagonis, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees offered the following comments on the situation in Colombia Aug. 8 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. From the UNHCR website: To mark World Indigenous Day tomorrow, UNHCR in… Read moreColombia: UN sees crisis for indigenous peoples
Simon Romero writes for the New York Times, Aug. 21 (emphasis added): Venezuela, Tired of US Influence, Strengthens Its Relationships in the Middle East CARACAS — Venezuela has long cultivated ties with Middle Eastern governments, finding common ground in trying… Read moreVenezuela-Iran alignment grows
Peru’s populist hero of the left faces charges in an atrocity from the “dirty war” against leftist guerillas in the early ’90s. From Lima’s La Republica via Living in Peru, Aug. 16: Arturo Campos Vicente, district attorney of Tocache, has… Read morePeru: Ollanta Humala charged in “dirty war” atrocity
Colombian authorities detained 14 top paramilitary leaders Aug. 16, saying they were not complying with the amnesty law. The leaders, who include two former commanders wanted in the United States on drug-trafficking charges, were taken into custody in various parts… Read moreColombia: paramilitary leaders arrested
