by Weekly News Update on the Americas SOLDIERS KILL MORE CIVILIANS On March 27, relatives found the bodies of Colombian campesinos Javier Alexander Cubillos, Wilder Cubillos and Heriberto Delgado at the morgue in Fusagasuga, Cundinamarca department. The army had apparently… Read moreCOLOMBIA: PEASANT ACTIVISTS ASSASSINATED, U.S. TROOPS BUSTED
Continue ReadingCOLOMBIA: PEASANT ACTIVISTS ASSASSINATED, U.S. TROOPS BUSTEDby Bill Weinberg "Oilmen are like cats; you can never tell from the sound of them whether they are fighting or making love." –Calouste Gulbenkian The famous Armenian entrepreneur spoke these words when reflecting on the post-World War I carve-up… Read moreCOLOMBIA VS. VENEZUELA: Big Oil’s Secret War?
Continue ReadingCOLOMBIA VS. VENEZUELA: Big Oil’s Secret War?President Uribe Threatens San Jose de Apartado Following Massacre by Virginia McGlone After eight years of existence, the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado in Antioquia, Colombia, continues to stand strong in the midst of a war that they… Read moreCOLOMBIA: PEACE COMMUNITY UNDER OCCUPATION
Continue ReadingCOLOMBIA: PEACE COMMUNITY UNDER OCCUPATIONDisgraced former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori—now hiding from corruption charges in Japan, and officially barred from seeking office until 2010—hopes to run for president again in 2006, and is promoting his campaign with a new soft-drink, Fuji-Cola, a fizzy product… Read moreGenocide goes better with Fuji-Cola
Peasant Pacifist Leader and Family Killed by Army at San Jose de Apartadoby Virginia McGlone Less than a month away from the eighth anniversary of the founding of thePeace Community of San Jose de Apartado, in Colombia’s violence-tornAntioquia department, a… Read moreCOLOMBIA: MASSACRE AT PEACE COMMUNITY
Continue ReadingCOLOMBIA: MASSACRE AT PEACE COMMUNITYby Weekly News Update on the Americas COCALEROS BLOCK ROADSOn Feb. 17, campesino coca growers (cocaleros) in the Peruvian district ofTocache, in the Huallaga valley in San Martin region, began an open-endedstrike to protest the recent aerial spraying of pesticides… Read morePERU: COCALEROS PROTEST SPRAYING, SHINING PATH ATTACKS
Continue ReadingPERU: COCALEROS PROTEST SPRAYING, SHINING PATH ATTACKSPeasant Pacifist Leader and Family Killed by Army at San Jose de Apartado by Virginia McGlone Less than a month away from the eighth anniversary of the founding of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado, in Colombia’s violence-torn… Read moreCOLOMBIA: MASSACRE AT PEACE COMMUNITY
Continue ReadingCOLOMBIA: MASSACRE AT PEACE COMMUNITYOn Feb. 28, the US State Department released its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, covering 2004. The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) finds that some of the findings have been shaped by "political considerations": One glaring discrepancy… Read moreState Department rights report reveals double standard on Venezuela, Colombia
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez charged Feb. 21 that President Bush is behind a plot to assassinate him—and warned that if it succeeded, Venezuela would halt oil exports to the US. "If I am assassinated, there is only one person responsible:… Read moreChavez: Bush trying to kill me
Bad news for freedom of speech on opposite sides of the planet. The presidents of both Kygyzstan and Venezuela seem to have gone litigation-happy against opposition figures. Most recently, Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev announced he will sue the opposition newspaper… Read moreKyrgyz, Venezuelan presidents silence opposition
Pakistan’s restive province of Baluchistan was hit with devastating floods when torrential rains burst the Shadikor Dam near Pasni, sweeping people, homes and livestock into the Arabian Sea. A smaller dam also burst elsewhere in the province, while landslides also… Read moreCatastrophic floods hit Pakistan, Venezuela; Chavez sees climate threat
Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel responded angrily to charges by US Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Roger Noriega that his government’s new arms deal with Russia is intended for trafficking to Colombian guerillas. "Venezuela is a… Read moreVenezuela defends Russian arms purchases
