:: Latin America
A new turning point - The venezuelan election: Chavez wins, US loses (again)!
12.05.2005The Venezuelan congressional elections of December 4, 2005 mark a turning point in domestic politics and US-Venezuelan relations.
Don’t cry for Lula: the politics of a decaying workers regime
07.30.2005Corruption has devastated the Lula regime in Brazil. Every sector of Lula\’s \”Workers Party\”(PT) has been implicated in bribery, fraud, vote buying, theft of public funds, failure to report illicit campaign financing and a host of other felonious behavior, revealed almost daily between May-July 2005.
A historic meeting - The Organization of American States - June 2005
06.15.2005The OAS meeting of June 5, 6 and 7 2005 was a historic meeting because it confronted fundamental political, economic and military issues that effect the relationship between the US and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Six myths about the benefits of foreign investment
06.13.2005There are several myths about foreign investment propounded by orthodox economists, publicists for multinational corporations (MNCs), which are repeated and widely circulated by mass media journalists and editorial writers.
Colombia, the US and the threat to Venezuelan sovereignty
01.20.2005A major diplomatic and political conflict has emerged between Colombia and Venezuela subsequent to the revelation of a Colombian government covert operation in Venezuela, involving the recruitment of Venezuelan military and security officers in the kidnapping of a Colombian leftist leader.
The kidnapping of Rodrigo Granda
01.13.2005A major political controversy is raging in the mass media of Colombia and Venezuela, left-wing websites and elsewhere over the kidnapping of FARC leader Rodrigo Granda.
Latin America: political re-alignment and empire
10.25.2004The history of US empire-building in Latin America has combined a great deal of political flexibility along with extremely rigid economic principles.
Neoliberalism and class politics in Latin America
09.23.2004The sweeping and ill-informed rhetorical excesses about ?civilizational?, ?epochal?, ?global? changes and ?world-historical? century-long projections are at best based on anecdotal selective data, and at worst vacuous emotive ejaculations designed to give prominence to personal opinions.
President Chavez and the referendum: myths and realities
08.26.2004Between rightwing frustration and leftwing euphoria, little has been written about the complex and contradictory reality of Venezuela politics and the specificities of President Chavez policies.
Argentina: From popular rebellion to normal capitalism
04.21.2004Between December 19-21, 2001 a massive popular rebellion overthrew the incumbent President De la Rua amidst the greatest street battles and highest casualties (38 protestors were assassinated) in recent Argentine history. Major demonstrations and street blockages took place throughout the rest of the country, in an unprecedented alliance between the unemployed, underemployed workers and a substantial sector of the middle class which had just been defrauded of its savings.
Class-based direct action versus populist electoral politics
03.27.2004Recent history has witnessed mass popular uprisings that ousted right-wing neo-liberal politicians in Bolivia (October 2003), Argentina (2001), Ecuador (2000) and Peru (2001).
Brazil and Lula: Year zero
01.31.2004The election of Luis Inacio Lula da Silva raised great expectations on the center-left. For most leftist writers, his election heralded a new epoch of progressive changes which, while not revolutionary, defined the end of neo-liberalism.
Imperialism and resistance in Latin America
11.06.2003It is entirely appropriate that the Ibero-American Presidents Summit (IAPS) takes place in Bolivia this year. For just a few weeks earlier, Bolivia was the site of a historic, perhaps epoch-making confrontation between a corrupt neo-liberal elite backed by the US Embassy and the Armed Forces and the peasants, workers, students and urban poor committed to regaining sovereign control over their energy sources and domestic markets.
Brazil and the FTAA
09.29.2003The best way to understand Brazil\’s position on the FTAA is to began by examining the key policymakers involved in making foreign economic policy.
Present situation in Latin America
06.06.2003There are four keys to understanding the present situation in Latin America:
Argentina: 18 months of popular struggle A balance
05.28.2003I spent the month of May 2003 in Argentina visiting factories, working class suburbs, villas miseria ( impoverished housing of unemployed squatters ), lower middle class assemblies in the cities, social centers of the unemployed and universities, interviewing trade unionists, unemployed workers, student and faculty activists, human rights activists, film and video makers, the Madres de Plaza de Mayo (both sectors), writers, doctors , journalists, and Marxist and center-left political leaders.
The responsibility of the intellectuals: Cuba, the U.S. and Human Rights
04.18.2003Once again the intellectuals have entered into the center of a debate this time over the issues of U.S. imperialism and human rights in Cuba.
Whither Brazil?
James Petras and Henry Veltmeyer :: 03.21.2003The election of Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has raised great expectations on the center-left. For most leftist writers, his election heralded a new epoch of progressive changes which, while not revolutionary, defined the end of neo-liberalism.
Grito de los Excluidos
12.26.2002The \”cry of the excluded\” has many meanings, depending on the historical context and the protagonist. The word \”excluded\” has a double meaning.
Neo-liberalism, popular resistance and mental health
12.17.2002The socio-economic damage wrought by the application and implementation of neo-liberal economy are abundantly clear throughout the world.
A reply to Horacio Verbitsky
12.17.2002In an article, \”Nuevas Amenazas\” published in Pagina/12 ( December 15, 2002 ) Horacio Verbitsky makes a series of unsubstantiated accusations, personal attacks that are absolutely and totally false, in the process of opposing popular mobilizations directed against the Duhalde regime.
Epilogue
11.29.2002By most economic measures the Cardoso regime was the worst in the 20-21st century. But one of the positive results of its failures was to provoke a massive shift to the left among the electorate.