A military coup ousting Honduras' progressive president Zelaya has undermined progress towards democracy in Latin America. If the
US
supports the demand of regional governments for Zelaya's reinstatement, this could be a chance for improved relations between the Americas, writes Greg Grandin.
On June 5, World
Environment Day, Amazon Indians were massacred by the government of
Alan Garcia in the latest chapter of a long war to take over common
lands - a war unleashed by the signing of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
between Peru and the United States. By Raúl Zibechi.
When the global financial crisis hit the US, President Lula assured Brazilians that their economy was ‘decoupled’ from the world's free market. Yet the country's recent economic decline has left half a million people in poverty, making us question his rhetoric of independence, says Renaud Lambert.
The
seeds of Latin America's rebirth - challenging US domination and neoliberal orthodoxy, breaking down
social and racial inequality, building regional integration and taking
back strategic resources from corporate control - were sown half a century ago in
Cuba, writes Seamus Milne.
In the context of ambiguous electoral victories, movements
throughout Latin America have come to the conclusion that despite the
importance of electing and defending progressive governments, real
change cannot come without struggles in the workplaces, schools and
streets. By Daniel Denvir.
The new approved Bolilvian constitution, which puts the country's valuable
natural resources in public hands and makes future privatisation
difficult, marks a major landmark in Bolivian history that will create frissons of excitment throughout Latin America. Commentary by Vincent Bevins and Richard Gott.
Media outlets in the US and Europe have viewed the popular movement that brought Bolivian president Evo Morales to power as the precursor to a dangerous civil war. But Bolivian democratic politics can offer a model to Britain and beyond, argue Samual Grove and Pablo Navarrete.