Americas

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What is the U.S. Military Doing in Paraguay?

Benjamin Dangl August 2, 2005 Benjamin Dangl

The U.S. military is conducting secretive operations in Paraguay and reportedly building a new base there. Human rights groups and military analysts in the region believe trouble is brewing.However, the U.S. embassy in Paraguay denies the base exists and describes the military activity as routine. According to an article in the Bolivian newspaper, El Deber, a U.S. base is being developed in Mariscal Estigarribia, Paraguay, 200 kilometers from the border with Bolivia. The base will permit the landing of large aircraft and is capable of housing up to 16,000 troops. A contingent of 500 U.S. troops arrived in Paraguay on July 1st with planes, weapons, equipment and ammunition. (1)

With Bolivia's recent uprisings, their enormous gas reserves, and a presidential election on the way, this questionable activity could pave the way for a U.S. intervention.Rumors of Al Qaeda training grounds near Paraguay may also work to the Bush administration's advantage as it makes a case for military operations in the region.

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Guatemalan Government’s Apology Leaves Unanswered Questions

Tim Willard July 28, 2005 Tim Willard

{mosmedia} On July 18th, Guatemala's Vice President, Eduardo Stein, flew to the remote village of Plan de Sanchez to formally apologize for the government-directed 1982 massacre of more than 200 Achi Mayans in that region.  "We are here today to ask forgiveness in the name of the Guatemalan state from all of the victims of the conflict," the Vice President said.

Stein confessed that the army had "unleashed bloodshed and fire to wipe out an entire community," and told the residents that the Berger administration was committed "to push the investigation into the events that occurred to allow for the clarification of what happened and permit us to identify, try and punish the intellectual and material authors of these offenses."

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Argentina: Hope in Hard Times

Benjamin Dangl July 21, 2005 Benjamin Dangl

"Imagine you lost your job and the government closed down the banks, so you couldn't get out your savings.  What would you do?" asks the narrator of the new film, Argentina: Hope in Hard Times.  In the case of Argentina's economic crisis in 2002, the situation brought about a renewal in grassroots democracy. This film covers the social movement that broke out in Argentina during that crisis, taking the viewer on a wild ride to street protests, worker-controlled factories, barter fairs and a Citibank transformed into a community center.  It discusses the rise and fall of a country that, in a matter of days, went from being one of the richest nations in the region, to one of the poorest. 

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Growing Evidence of a Massacre by UN Occupation Forces in Haiti

US Labor/Human Rights Delegation to Haiti July 20, 2005 US Labor/Human Rights Delegation to Haiti

The San Francisco Labor Council sent a small delegation of US trade unionists and human rights workers to participate in the National Congress of the Confederation of Haitian Workers, held in Port-au-Prince July 1st and 2nd, as well as to investigate the labor and human rights conditions in Haiti. Toward the end of our mission, on July 6th, we received an eyewitness report from local Haitian human rights workers that UN military forces had carried out a massacre in one of Port-au-Prince's poorest neighborhoods, Cite Soleil. We extended our trip to investigate the report.