Americas

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The Speed of Change: Bolivian President Empowered by Re-Election

Benjamin Dangl December 8, 2009 Benjamin Dangl

Celebrations in La Paz (ABI)
Bolivian President Evo Morales was re-elected on Sunday, December 6th in a landslide victory. After the polls closed, fireworks, music and celebrations filled the Plaza Murillo in downtown La Paz where Morales supporters chanted "Evo Again! Evo Again!" Addressing the crowd from the presidential palace balcony, Morales said, "The people, with their participation, showed once again that it's possible to change Bolivia… We have the responsibility to deepen and accelerate this process of change."

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Turning Activists Into Voters in Uruguay: Frente Amplio and José Mujica

Benjamin Dangl December 3, 2009 Benjamin Dangl

Mujica with Madres of Plaza de Mayo
Torrential rain didn't keep voters away from the polls on Sunday, November 29th when José "Pepe" Mujica was elected president with 52% of the vote. The 74-year-old Agricultural Minister spent 14 years in jail for his participation in the Tupamaro guerilla movement, and has pledged to continue the policies of his predecessor, current left-leaning president Tabaré Vásquez. Mujica also promised that while president, he would return to his farm outside the capital city at least 5 hours a week to tend his flowers and vegetables.

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Report From Honduras: Elections As Coup Laundering

Jesse Freeston and Tamar Sharabi November 30, 2009 Jesse Freeston and Tamar Sharabi

The Honduran Coup regime rode police state repression into the November 29 elections hoping for clean slate. Only the governments of Taiwan and the United States sent international observers, and the delegation funded by the US State Department arrived at the Electoral Tribunal at the same time the leaders of all six independent human rights monitors in Honduras were delivering their request that the elections be suspended.

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The Peru Shoot Down: The CIA, DynCorp, and Why the Truth May Not Come Out

Greg Guma November 10, 2009 Greg Guma

Among the five cases of intelligence operation cover up currently being investigated by the US House Intelligence Committee is the 2001 shoot down of a small plane in Peru, resulting in the death of a Baptist missionary from Michigan and her 7-month-old daughter. The CIA inspector general has already concluded that the CIA improperly concealed information about the incident. So, what happened in Peru, and why? At first, of course, the CIA employed its usual tactics: denial and deflection of blame.

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US Establishes Military Bases in Colombia as Honduran Crisis Continues

Benjamin Dangl November 5, 2009 Benjamin Dangl

Colombian President Uribe
In a quiet ceremony behind closed doors in the Colombian Presidential Palace, US Ambassador William Brownfield sat down with three Colombian ministers to sign a deal allowing for 1,400 US military and private contractors to operate in seven expanded military bases in the country. The date was October 30, just one day after an apparent solution had been reached to allow ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to return to power. These two developments are central to the mixed messages the Obama administration is sending to Latin America.