South America

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Tue Apr 11, 2023 2:51 pm

New Campaign To Reinvigorate the Establishment of Zone of Peace in Our Americas
APRIL 7, 2023

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Flyer with a map of the American continent (right) and the following caption: "Reject US Imperialism! Make our Americas a Zone of Peace." Photo: Black Alliance for Peace.

By Bill Hackwell – April 4, 2023

Today in a press conference in Washington DC the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) along with key allies launched a popular collective campaign to promote the urgent need to establish a Zone of Peace in Our Americas. The press conference coincided with similar events that took place in Havana, Cuba; and Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The “Zone of Peace” concept emerged from the January 29, 2014, meeting of the heads of state and governments of the Community of

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Washington DC

Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), all of which declared Latin America and the Caribbean should be seen and respected as a “Zone of Peace.” The BAP effort is geared towards activating the popular movement element to bolster the support to those states for its implementation across the region.

Ajamu Baraka, chairperson of the coordinating committee of BAP explained that the deliberate decision to launch the campaign on April 4 was to coincide with the founding of Black Alliance for Peace on April 4, 2018 and to connect it to the lifelong dedication to peace of Martin Luther King who was assassinated on this day in 1968. “Today we make this declaration to the world to counter the US’s commitment to militarism. We have the majority of people on our side, but we need a vision that we are more than what we are today, we need to build capacity.”

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Havana Cuba

Jemima Pierre, from the BAP co ordinating committee explained how the US wants to continue their Monroe Doctrine mandate by invading Haiti and through the US military’s Southern Command they want to extend militarism throughout Latin American.

Also speaking was the editor of Black Agenda Report Margaret Kimberly and Nina Macapiniac from Bayan – USA who warned of the US military expansion in the Pacific with the announcement by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration in February his approval of an expansion of the U.S. military presence in the country to four additional Philippine military bases from the five existing sites.

Initial Core Demands of the Zone of Peace in the Americas are:

1- Dismantle SOUTHCOM. Shut down the 76 U.S. military bases in the region

2- End U.S./NATO military exercises. Close foreign military bases, installations and enclaves, as well as withdraw foreign occupation troops

3- Disband U.S.-sponsored state terrorist training facilities. Shutter the “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation” (WHINSEC)—formerly the School of the Americas—in Fort Benning, Georgia, United States, and terminate U.S.—as well as foreign—training of police forces

4- Oppose military intervention into Haiti. Support the people(s)-centered movement for democracy and self-determination

5- Return Guantánamo to Cuba. The United States must give back to the Cuban people and their government the territory it illegally occupies

6- Sanctions are war. End illegal sanctions and blockades of regional states, including all economic warfare and lawfare, and recognize their sovereignty

https://orinocotribune.com/new-campaign ... -americas/

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A RETURN OF UNASUR LOADED WITH SKEPTICISM
10 Apr 2023 , 5:21 pm .

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On April 6, Santiago Cafiero, Foreign Minister of the Argentine Republic, announced the return of his country as a Member State of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), thus reversing the denunciation of the Constitutive Treaty made by former President Mauricio Macri in 2019, through which made the Argentine exclusion from the body official.


The following day, the Brazilian president Lula Da Silva confirmed the return of Brazil to Unasur through a presidential decree ( N°11,475 ), nullifying the complaint made, also in 2019, by former president Jair Bolsonaro with the purpose of remove the country from the body and deepen its weakening.

The synchronization of the announcements regarding the return to Unasur reflects a pattern of block action between Buenos Aires and Brasilia, which was manifested for the first time at the opening of the last CELAC summit in the Argentine capital, where Lula and Alberto Fernández monopolized public opinion with a press conference from which they launched a proposal for a common currency that would bear the name "South".

On the other hand, the announcement occurred just one day after the end of the Anti-Inflation Summit convened by Mexico . Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Belize, Bolivia, Venezuela, Honduras, Colombia, Cuba, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines participated in the initiative.

The return of Brazil to the international arena under Lula has shifted the region's axis of geopolitical gravitation to the south, diminishing the profile of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) as the sole engine of integration through the pro tempore presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), function later transferred to Argentina for the year 2022.

In this sense, the timing of the announcement of the return to Unasur in the midst of the Mexican initiative corresponds to this existing tension for protagonism and the projection of power in the region where Brazil sees itself as the natural leader of the continent, together with to Argentina, in a context of rising confrontation between Mexico and the United States that has hit AMLO. First degree geopolitics.

At this point in the international situation, no one would doubt that a revitalized Unasur would significantly contribute to strengthening the Latin American integration framework.

However, just a few months after the presidential and legislative elections in Argentina (scheduled for October), the announcement comes at the wrong time and once again confirms that the integration effort has not been a strategic priority on the part of President Alberto Fernández.

Fernández wasted the pro tempore president of CELAC during 2022, a space from which he could have started the reactivation of Unasur, taking advantage of the power of the institution. This would also have allowed Brazil, but also Colombia and Chile, to re-enter in due course with reconstructed minimum institutional conditions once they reversed the previous governments' denunciations of the treaty.

But it is not only about all the time that was wasted due to a lack of will, leadership and understanding of the moment. The Argentine national context in view of the presidential and legislative elections scheduled for October of this year also influences the perspective of a Unasur with geopolitical traction in the medium term.

The division in the governing coalition of the Frente de Todos, the dispute over the lists to Congress as the distance between Alberto and Cristina Fernández grows and the growth of the libertarian Javier Milei in the polls , who leads a "young" vote -of 16 to 35 years - which concentrates almost 40% of the electoral roll, make the permanence of power in the hands of Peronism uphill, especially if the scenario of a second round occurs , which is highly probable.

The return of a government with a neoliberal tendency in Argentina would be a stumbling block for the relaunch of Unasur.

The situation in Brazil, although it is different, also imposes certain limits. Lula's government appears stable and consolidated, but since it does not have a majority in Congress, progress in terms of economic and financial alliances within the body is jeopardized, while the legislature, dominated by opposition factors, must approve Good for moving forward with strategic agreements.

The convergence between lost time and the timing of Fernández's announcement suggests that the movement in Buenos Aires has a specific and conjunctural purpose. The undersecretary for Latin American affairs of the Argentine Foreign Ministry, Gustavo Pandiani, asserted the following : "If we are closer and talk to each other more, we have a little more common power to sit down, for example, in the European Union."


The mention of the European Union is not free, since it is expected that in the coming months the free trade agreement between the bloc and Mercosur will be unlocked, after 20 years of endless and conflictive negotiations.

The announcement about Unasur could have more to do with accelerating the pace of that negotiation than with consolidating a geopolitical gravitation of a multipolar nature outside the margins of US dominance, taking into account that the policies of Brussels are being dictated by Washington, DC and the European entity does not form an autonomous position politically speaking.

Getting to the signing of the treaty with the European Union would mean a diplomatic success for a weakened Fernández in his country's domestic politics, and also for Lula, who would continue in his geopolitical line of maintaining an unstable and conservative balance between the United States and the BRICS. , even when the transition of the international order, and the accelerated decline of the hegemony of the Atlantic axis, are reducing the comfort zone of a flexible and changing alignment according to the circumstances.

https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/un ... cepticismo

Google Translator

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A Fake Left Conference in Chile
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 7, 2023



A conference of political parties that claim to be progressive will meet in Chile this weekend. While many of the attendees are allies – some say puppets – of Washington, organizers did not invite representatives from the leftist governments of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Don DeBar, Stephen Sefton, Camila Escalante

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/04/ ... -in-chile/

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Peruvian Indigenous Leader Killed In Central Region

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Asháninka indigenous leader Santiago Camilo Contoricón Antúnez. Apr. 10, 2023. | Photo: Twitter/@DiarioUnoPeru

Published 10 April 2023

Santiago Camilo Contoricón Antúnez was an indigenous leader of the Peruvian Asháninka ethnic group.


The indigenous leader was killed by several gunshots on Saturday night in the community of Puerto Ocopa, in the Junin region.

Two subjects entered Contoricón's house Saturday night and shot him and then fled on a motorcycle, according to local police.

Contoricón belonged to the Community Self-Defense Committee and was also mayor of the district of Río Tambo. The leader was involved in the fight against insecurity in native communities and in the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro River Valley (VRAEM).

The VRAEM concentrates 28 000 hectares of illegal coca production, representing about 45 percent of the illicit crops identified in the South American nation.


The Rewards Program offers a significant sum for suitable and timely information that facilitates the identification and capture of those responsible for the assassination of the Asháninka leader, Santiago Camilo Contoricón Antúnez.

Contoricón also led resistance in the area against the remnants of the defunct Sendero Luminoso armed group, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

"The great Asháninka nation is in mourning. For the unexpected departure of a great Asháninka leader. Rest in peace, brother and friend Santiago Contorción Antunez," said the District Municipality of Río Tambo in a statement on social networks.

The Peruvian government has offered a reward of up to 150 000 soles (about 40 000 dollars) for information leading to the identification of the perpetrators of this crime.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Per ... -0013.html
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Sat Apr 15, 2023 2:12 pm

Central America Redesigns its Positions vis-à-vis China and the U.S.
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 14, 2023
Lourdes María Regueiro Bello

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In just six years, the Central American diplomatic landscape has changed abruptly: almost the entire region now supports the “One China” policy. Will the subregion be able to successfully navigate the murky waters of strategic competition between China and the United States?

When the government of Xiomara Castro announced the establishment of diplomatic relations between Honduras and the People’s Republic of China and the severing of relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan), it was not a surprise to anyone. It was rather an expected move, the result of a balance of costs and benefits on an exclusive relationship, which involves choosing China or Taiwan and also weighing the consequences on the relationship with a partner such as the United States.

Until five years ago, Central America was a bastion of relations with the Republic of China (hereinafter Taiwan); gradually most of the countries in the subregion have joined the concert of nations that recognize the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter China). This about-face must be read in a global, subregional and bilateral relations context.

In general terms, the global context can be described as a crisis of the so-called “rules-based liberal order” hegemonized by the United States. This element, together with the strategic competition between the United States and China, points to the emergence of a new global order “under construction”, which for some will be multipolar, while for others it will be characterized by bipolarity. The Covid-19 pandemic and the deployment of Russia’s Special Military Operation (SMO) in Ukraine have revealed some features of what could be the world order in gestation, and both events have accelerated it.

“Until five years ago Central America constituted a bastion of relations with Taiwan: gradually, most of the countries of the sub-region have joined the concert of nations that recognize China.”

The strategic competition between the United States and China is being waged in different areas in which the powers display their instruments of power: diplomatic, informational, military, economic, financial, socio-cultural, technological, commercial, environmental, ideological, public health and intelligence. China’s advances in critical areas of power are perceived as threats by the United States, which sees its role weakening not only at the global level, but also in its traditional areas of influence, which are no longer exclusive.

As a region, Latin America and the Caribbean is a recognized area of U.S. influence; in the strategic competition it becomes a contested space, but this condition entails particularities in the subregions and countries. It is therefore important to point out the strategic importance of Central America for China and the United States.

Why is Central America important?

The Central American subregion has geographical characteristics that throughout history have motivated the interest of the powers: this space has special conditions, which could be qualified as a geological comparative advantage for the construction of new interoceanic passages. In a context of strategic competition – as has happened in almost all transitions of domination – control of the main trade routes becomes a critical issue because of the possibility of blocking competitors and adversaries. In the case of Central America, the Isthmus of Panama -to cite an example- connects not only North America with South America, but also facilitates maritime trade routes between the East and West coasts of the United States, and between the Asian region with the East coast of the United States and Western Europe.

Central America is the geographic space in the hemisphere that throughout history has had the largest number of bioceanic connection projects, which shows its strategic and geopolitical importance, well known to the United States and not ignored by China.

Historically, the United States has been wary of the relations of Central American countries with other powers, even if they were Japan or the United Kingdom (Yao, 2023), at the time, its partners; therefore, the deployment of diplomatic pressures and the threat of coercive measures by the United States, in the search for the countries of the region not to break their relations with Taiwan, comes as no surprise.

“In a context of strategic competition, the control of the main trade routes becomes a critical issue because of the possibility of blocking competitors and adversaries”.

Latin America and the Caribbean’s bilateral relations with China go through the United States. Until 2017, with the exception of Costa Rica – which had established relations with China in 2007 – the rest of the Central American countries had relations with Taiwan, which gave it a greater weight than China in the political and diplomatic spheres.

Taiwan is an ally of the United States, which in the diplomatic sphere hinders China’s progress wherever the island has official relations, since Chinese foreign policy demands the recognition of one China and Taiwan as an inalienable part of its territory. This dispute is functional to the U.S. policy of containment of China, thus encouraging Central American countries to maintain relations with the island.

China’s main interest lies in achieving recognition of its sovereignty over Taiwan and weakening its legitimacy. That is the reason why Central America appears as a key piece, in addition to the geographical advantages of the area, which are not limited to the Panama Canal or the projected Canal in Nicaragua. Other possible routes have also been evaluated: through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the Darien or the Gulf of Urabá (Rodrigues, 2019). Although these options did not become real projects due to their complexity and the very existence of the Panama Canal, the requirements of world trade and the oversaturation of port infrastructures in a context of technological development would justify the reactivation and feasibility of this type of project.

China is making inroads in Central America

In a period of six years Central America went from being a region mostly related to Taiwan to having a privileged relationship with China. In 2017 Panama ceases to recognize Taiwan, in 2018 El Salvador does so, in 2021 Nicaragua and in 2023 Honduras, leaving only Belize (linked to the Caribbean) and Guatemala, which according to Evan Ellis (2023) could, after the June 2024 elections, change its preferences.

The next step in the establishment of relations with China by the Central American countries has been the signing of a memorandum of understanding to become part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which is China’s global geopolitical project. The first country in the hemisphere to join the BRI was Panama, followed by Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua. In a relatively short period of time, China managed to change the map of Central American relations by breaking the strongest regional fortification that Taiwan had in the world.

“In a period of six years Central America went from being a region mostly related to Taiwan to having a privileged relationship with China.”

The corollary of this Chinese advance is the loss of U.S. muscle over foreign policy decisions motivated by economic interests of the countries in the area, regardless of the political color of their governments.

The internationalization of Chinese companies has boosted China’s economic presence throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, as a trading partner, investor and lender, which constitutes an opportunity to access complementary capital to address the problems of growth and development, for which the region does not have sufficient financial and technological resources. The resources granted by traditional partners such as the United States and the European Union have been insufficient and often conditioned by extra-economic variables.

Taiwan’s policy towards Central America always had as its main objective the recognition of its statehood in the United Nations, in addition to blocking any Chinese attempt to approach the Central American Integration System (SICA) in which Taiwan was an Extra-Regional Observer, as well as a Non-Regional Partner of the Central American Bank (CABEI).

“The internationalization of Chinese companies has boosted China’s economic presence throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, as a trading partner, investor and lender, which constitutes an opportunity to access complementary capital.”

The resources granted by the island included donations, low-interest loans, financing and construction of government buildings, scholarships, among others. They promoted visits by top Central American officials and invitations to visit Taiwan. In 2017 they established visa waivers for Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Belize, which was very well received as these are countries that face serious visa restrictions for qualifying as migrant-sending countries. Taiwanese diplomacy reacted very quickly to the severance of diplomatic relations and promptly cancelled cooperation and aid plans. Its offer of resources was not suitable to compete with those granted by the United States and China.

Chinese counterweight to the U.S.: geopolitical significance

The chain severance by most Central American countries of diplomatic relations with Taiwan and its establishment with China merits some reflections at several levels:

Hemispheric

The United States continues to be the most important actor for the sub-region; it is a partner with the capacity to influence critical variables such as remittances, migration regulations and cooperation on security issues; this makes Central American countries very sensitive to U.S. pressures for fear of losing support and resources coming from that actor.

Although U.S. control over critical variables that affect the daily lives of Central Americans is a strength in favor of that country, the pressures to not establish relations with China first, and to break them after they were established, did not succeed in reversing the path that had been trodden. Although in several countries commitments have been modified, leading to the cancellation in some cases, and postponement in others, of major projects agreed upon by previous governments -as has occurred in El Salvador and Panama- none of them have backed down under the pressure they have suffered.

Under the Donald Trump administration, the demands to cease assistance to the Northern Triangle governments were expanded. Note that the first wave in this century of establishing relations with China occurs under the Trump administration, which reduced by 30% the resources allocated to these three countries (CRS, 2019) disregarding the priority that the subregion had in Barack Obama’s time.

The Chinese proposals, as well as a formal participation in their initiatives, would allow these countries access to complementary resources, but without establishing affinity between political projects as a condition for developing cooperative ventures. China explicitly mentions its interest in having non-ideologized relations with countries of different political orientation (Ministry, 2016). In summary, although Central America continues to be an area of influence of the United States, it has lost its exclusivity and we are now facing an area in dispute.

Bilateral

The establishment of diplomatic relations with China has generally been preceded by an economic approach: such is the case of Honduras, the last country to establish relations with the Asian giant.

“China explicitly mentions its interest in having non-ideologized relations with countries of different political orientation.”

China has become the second supplier of goods to the Honduran market after the United States. Since 2015 there has been a China-Honduras Chamber of Commerce and Industries and for more than a decade the idea of turning the country into a production platform for manufactured goods with Chinese technology has been handled.

China’s flagship project in Honduras is the Patuca III hydroelectric plant, a large project ($349 million). Despite its official relations with Taiwan, Chinese companies have undertaken large-scale projects and this year there is talk of a $300 million project to finance and build a new dam, Patuca II, in that country (Ellis, 2023).

The establishment of relations should not be interpreted as tacit support for the Chinese political or economic project. It has been economic pragmatism, together with the evaluation of the costs derived from the possible reactions of the United States versus the benefits of the relationship with the Asian country, that has prevailed. Experts in the region have typified the pragmatism of these decisions as active non-alignment, or diplomacy of equidistance. In Central America there has not been a conceptualization that accounts for this position of resilience, which implies certain levels of friction with the United States.

In the bilateral relationship with the United States, some Central American countries have relieved the tension of their decision by making concessions in relation to third parties that do not represent a vital interest.

Sub-Regional

SICA has accumulated one of the most successful integration experiences in the region and it has developed in a context of political-ideological diversity of its members. In the face of China, the region has suffered from the absence of a common spokesperson to formulate its demands and enable it to overcome its position as a passive taker/receiver of proposals. An exercise of this nature in the subregional space could be a benchmark for the rest of the region.

Strategic dispute, questions and concerns in the Central American context

The step taken by Honduras and Nicaragua breaks Taiwan’s preeminence as a non-regional observer in SICA bodies. Will China replace Taiwan in that position and in CABEI? The current list of SICA observer states and organizations is heterogeneous in composition and includes adversarial powers such as the United States and several of its allies, on the one hand, and Russia, on the other. This augurs interesting debates in the near future, although a postponement of this discussion cannot be ruled out until the profiles of the new map of world power are clearer.

A common practice among the countries participating in projects with China is the use of local currencies in exchanges, but two of the countries of greatest interest to China -El Salvador and Panama- are formally dollarized countries: could cryptocurrencies be an option?

Central American countries, by formalizing their relations with China, could benefit from its competition with the United States, as long as competition prevails and not contention, in which case the costs of their participation would rise due to the weight that the relationship with both contenders has on their economies.

The balance of competition between these two powers will be determined by: (a) the role of the United States in the subregion, by the pressures it exerts on sensitive issues and by the resources it brings into play to neutralize the influence of its rival; (b) by the effectiveness of Chinese diplomacy and its capacity to dissuade the region’s leaders; (c) by the offer of cooperation, loan conditions and investment commitments; and, (d) by the effect of U.S. communicational deployment to dissuade countries from becoming involved in major projects with China (Regueiro, 2020).

“Central American countries, by formalizing their relations with China, could benefit from its competition with the United States” (Regueiro, 2020).

For their part, Central American countries will have to maintain a balance between calculating the advantages of deepening and expanding relations with China and overt or surreptitious opposition, probably accompanied by U.S. sanctions (Regueiro, 2020).

Eventually, changes in government resulting from the electoral cycle may imply greater rapprochement/distancing, or the cooling of certain projects due to U.S. pressures. What is certain is that, in order to compete with China, the United States will have to improve its offer, and this may offer a new context for managing dependence (Regueiro, 2020).

Bibliography

CRS, (Congressional Research Services) (2019). U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America: An Overview: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/IF10371.pdf

Ellis, R. E. (2023, March 7). Engagement of the People’s Republic of China with Central America – An update. Center for Strategic Studies of the Army of Peru. https://revanellis.com/Compromiso-de-la ... 0Ellis.pdf

Ministry (2016, May 19). Wang Yi Speaks on China-Latin America Relations: The Three “No Changes”. MINISTERY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA. http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/esp/wjb/wjbz/zyhd

Regueiro Bello, L. M. (2020). Central America in the geopolitical dispute between China and the United States. Brazilian Journal of Latin American Studies, 19(37), Article 37. https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1676-6288 ... 020.172815

Rodrigues, J. P. (2019). How serious are the alternatives to the Panama Canal?. https://logisticsportal.iadb.org/node/4212

Yao, J. (2023, March 29). China, Panama and geopolitics. Ciclo de Conferencias Semester 2023-2 of CECHIMEX, Mexico, via zoom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a077_3qBFM

References

1 This article is a summarized and updated version of the one published by the author under the title CENTRAL AMERICA IN THE GEOPOLITICAL DISPUTE BETWEEN CHINA AND THE UNITED STATES, published in Brazilian Journal of Latin American Studies – Cadernos Prolam/USP, v. 19, n. 37, p. 106-136, out. 2020. Edição Especial: Relações China – América Latina e Caribe. ISSN: 1676-6288

2 The renowned Panamanian analyst, Julio Yao, explains that in 1850, England and the United States signed the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty that committed them not to build a Canal in Central America without consulting their counterparts. He also mentioned that Henry Kissinger in 1976 declared that Panama would never exercise its independence over the Canal, such statement was motivated by the fact that Panama and Japan were negotiating the construction of a Sea Level Canal without the knowledge or permission of the United States.

3 Upon establishing relations with China, the visa waiver was withdrawn.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/04/ ... d-the-u-s/

Russia and Latin America: Forward-Looking Partnership and Cooperation
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 14, 2023
Sergey Lavrov

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In the run-up to my visit to Latin America, I decided to share with readers my thoughts on the prospects for Russian-Latin American relations in the current geopolitical context.

The international situation remains extremely tense and continues to worsen in many aspects. The main reason for that is the stubborn desire of the so-called historical West, led by the United States, to maintain global dominance and to hinder the development and strengthening of new global centres and ultimately to impose on the international community a neo-colonial unipolar world order in the hope of, as President Vladimir Putin aptly put it, “collecting a tribute from humankind… extracting the hegemon’s rent.”

This is what stands behind long-time Western policies to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states, including through ideologically motivated operations to change objectionable governments, and to make extensive use of unilateral, illegitimate sanctions and dirty information war tricks. The consequences of these policies have been felt by many nations around the world, including Cuba, Venezuela, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria.

The ruling elite in the United States and the EU have always seen Ukraine as a tool to contain modern Russia. For years now, they have been nurturing this neo-Nazi Kiev regime, which came to power in February 2014 as a result of an anti-constitutional coup, dragging it into NATO and flooding it with attack weapons. In fact, they were pushing it to bring a military solution to the Donbass issue and to conduct ethnic cleansing among the local people who refused to recognise the results of the coup. Cynical confessions by the former leaders of Ukraine, Germany and France to the effect that they needed the Minsk Package of Measures, which they signed and which was approved by UN Security Council Resolution 2202 in February 2015, only to gain time for Kiev to build up its military capacity. It turns out that Berlin and Paris had been deceiving not only Moscow, but the entire international community. Meanwhile, France and Germany, like other Western countries, openly supported the Kiev regime in its outright refusal to conduct direct talks with Donetsk and Lugansk, even though this requirement was at the heart of the Minsk agreements. This says a lot about the European leaders’ ability to negotiate and the lack of elementary decency as human beings.

At the same time, despite the openly aggressive policy pursued by the United States and its allies to recklessly expand NATO in violation of the promises that they gave us in the early 1990s, we did everything possible, up to the last minute, in order to reduce the degree of tensions in Europe. To this end, in December 2021, President Putin proposed an initiative to provide Russia – and Ukraine – with legally binding security guarantees in the western direction. However, our proposals were haughtily rejected amid Kiev’s preparations for a military solution to the problem of Donbass.

This left us with no choice but to recognise the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, to conclude treaties of friendship and mutual assistance with them and, in response to their official request, to launch a special military operation in accordance with Art. 51 of the UN Charter. The goals of the operation are to protect Russian and Russian-speaking people from extermination in the lands where their ancestors have lived for many centuries and to eliminate any military threat to Russia’s security on our western borders.

Clearly, everything that is happening in and around Ukraine is part of the unfolding fight for the future international order. What’s at stake today is whether the world order will be truly fair, democratic and polycentric, as the UN Charter says, which proclaims the sovereign equality of all countries, or whether the United States and the coalition that it is leading will implement their agenda at the expense of other countries including pumping resources over to suit their needs. This is precisely the goal of the rules-based order concept. The Western capitals want to replace international law, primarily the UN Charter’s goals and principles, with these rules that were made up by no one knows who.

This simple truth has been realised by many countries that are implementing nationally oriented agendas and are guided, above all, by their core interests. It is no coincidence that the efforts to abandon the US dollar in foreign trade and to create an infrastructure of transport, logistics, interbank, financial and economic ties that are not controlled by the West have stepped up significantly around the world. Naturally, about three-quarters of the countries around the globe, including our Latin American friends, chose not to join the anti-Russia sanctions. We appreciated them for that.

The rapidly changing geopolitical landscape opens up new opportunities for expanding mutually beneficial cooperation between Russia and the Latin American countries, which are now playing an increasingly prominent role in the multipolar world order.

For us, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is an area of foreign policy that is important in and of itself. We do not want this region turn into an arena of confrontation between major powers. Our partnership with Latin America is built on ideology-free and pragmatic approaches and is not directed against anyone. Unlike former colonial parent countries, we do not divide our partners into friends and enemies. Neither do we confront them with an artificial choice of whether they are with us or against us. We are in favour of the Latin American and the Caribbean countries remaining united and diverse as well as remaining strong, politically close and economically sustainable.

We consistently stand for the strengthening of Russian-Latin American cooperation based on mutual support, solidarity and consideration for each other’s interests. Our relations with many countries in the region, including Brazil, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, which our delegation will visit in the second half of April, rely on strategic partnerships.

We are open to continuing to strengthen our diverse contacts at the level of heads of state and government, parliaments, diplomatic services, and other ministries and agencies. We are likewise open to expanding cooperation on a multilateral basis, primarily as part of Russia’s dialogue with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

I believe we have things to show the Russian and Latin American public. The contractual and legal framework has expanded noticeably in recent years and concerns, in particular, the creation of a space for mutual visa-free travel which includes 27 states in Latin America and the Caribbean. All of South America and most of Central America can now be visited visa-free by our citizens.

Despite the sanctions imposed on Russia and the political pressure, if not blackmail, on the part of the United States and the European Union, our total exports to the LAC countries grew by 3.8 percent last year. Fertiliser and refined oil product trade is up as well. In 2022, Russia increased wheat exports to Latin America and the Caribbean by 48.8 percent, nearly 50 percent.

While we are at it, I would like to note that without any help from the UN, we supplied 23 million tonnes of grain and 20 million tonnes of fertiliser to international markets. This does not include the tens of thousands of tonnes of fertilisers that the West is blocking in its ports in defiance of the Black Sea Grain Initiative that was signed in Istanbul at the UN Secretary General’s initiative. We even suggested making these fertilisers available to the poorest economies at no cost. Our efforts in this regard are being hindered as well.

Russia and Latin America have their respective competitive advantages in the context of the objective processes for forming a multipolar world order. It is essential to make the maximum use of the complementary nature of our economies in order to build comprehensive project, production and technological alliances, and to expedite the transition to transactions in national currencies or other currencies as an alternative to the US dollar and the euro.

Acting within the framework of existing opportunities, we contribute to overcoming international development challenges in that region. In the interest of strengthening civil security, we are training national law enforcement professionals, and providing unfailing assistance to the countries in need, in bringing relief in the aftermath of natural disasters.

I would like to note in particular the steady growth in the number of Latin American students whose studies in our country are covered by Russian state grants. Taking into account our mutual interest in strengthening education ties, we are determined to work hard on agreements on mutual recognition of diplomas.

Russia will continue to pursue an independent, peaceful and multi-faceted foreign policy course. We will continue to contribute to the strengthening of global security and stability and the settlement of conflicts. In conjunction with our like-minded partners, we will continue to push for the practical application of UN Charter principles, including the sovereign equality of states and non-interference in their internal affairs. We stand for expanding the membership of the Group of Friends in Defence of the UN Charter and reinforcing other multilateral associations, including BRICS and the SCO, which strive to democratise international relations.

We remain open to building up ties with our foreign partners who are willing to interact with us on the principles of equality, integrity, mutual respect and consideration of interests. It is gratifying to know that our Latin American friends are among such partners.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/04/ ... operation/

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THE COMMERCIAL DEFEAT DEALT BY CHINA TO THE US IN THE REGION (GRAPHS)
Betzabeth Aldana Vivas

Apr 14, 2023 , 1:30 p.m.

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The emergence of China as the new center of commercial gravity in the region has relegated the United States (Photo: Oleg Elkov / Alamy Stock Photo)

At the end of last year, at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), President Xi Jinping expressed some of the keys to China's economic growth:

Between 2012 and 2021 China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased from 54 billion yuan to 114 billion yuan. In this same period, the total volume of the Chinese economy with respect to the world economy reached 18.5%, with an increase of 7.2 percentage points, which ensured it ranked second in the world among the largest economies in the world . and left Japan and Germany in third and fourth place, respectively.
China is the first world power in total volume of trade in goods in the world, for which President Xi highlighted: "Our country has become the main trading partner of more than 140 countries or regions, and we are among the first nations in the world in attracting foreign funds and investment abroad".
The continent's commercial reality has changed rapidly in recent years to the point of sealing a significant geoeconomic turnaround: The People's Republic of China has displaced the US as its main trading partner, which explains Washington's growing concerns about the continuity of its position of historical economic hegemony in the region.

The data below, presented using a comparative method of trade between the United States and China in the region, reflect this quantitative leap on a South American scale (*), and specifically on Brazil, an industrial and economic dynamo that has a specific weight of influence on the evolution of these changes.

As a starting point, the year 2010 offers a visual of its commercial progress that is connected with the consolidation of Chinese foreign policy in the region. The following previous fundamental doctrinal elements can be considered:

In 2008, the Chinese government's first policy document on Latin America and the Caribbean was published , in which it presented the objective of establishing a comprehensive partnership with the region.
In 2009 China launched a new plan, the Yuan Cross-Border Trade Settlement Pilot Program , to gradually move towards the internationalization of its currency.

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Exports of goods and services to South America (Photo: Misión Verdad)

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Imports of goods and services from South America (Photo: Misión Verdad)

According to the graphs, in 2015 the meeting point of the foreign trade curves between the two countries is observed. This makes sense considering that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) included the yuan in the basket of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) currencies, and it became the official currency of more than 180 IMF member countries along with the US dollar, the euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound.

In addition, that same year the First Ministerial Meeting of the CELAC-China Forum was held in Beijing, from which the China-Latin American and Caribbean States Cooperation Plan (2015-2019) was adopted . This mechanism allowed the region to take on a predominant role in the foreign policy of the Asian country and in the inclusion of the Belt and Road Initiative. In addition, of course, the hemispheric meeting generated the push towards China's great rise in trade with the Latin American region, from 2016 onwards.

As for the commercial flows of the United States with South America, the pronounced decline in US imports and exports since 2014 is shown, with another resounding fall at the height of the Donald Trump administration, which broadly speaking can be inferred that Given that oil is the main resource of interest to the United States and its geographical proximity to the region, the start of the imposition of unilateral "sanctions" against Venezuela marked a considerable turning point in the volume of north-south trade.

At the same time, this change in trade between the United States and the nations of the southern continent can be attributed to the effects of the global economic slowdown that has been dragging on since the financial crisis of 2008, of which it was the epicenter country. Other factors are added, such as the decrease in prices of raw materials years ago and global competition in the production and export of goods and services with financial and logistical facilities.

In conclusion, since 2016 China's exports began to surpass those of the United States, and the distance was widening from 2019 onwards. On the import side, the advantage taken by the Asian powerhouse has deepened since 2016, while the United States has had a pronounced decline since 2018 without managing to recover the minimum levels recorded since 2016 in the last two years.

BRAZIL LEADS THE REGION
Regarding the visit to China by the President of Brazil, Lula da Silva, it is necessary to comment that there is an important precedent in the relaunch of binational economic cooperation: The recent announcement of the establishment of compensation agreements in yuan between central banks from both countries.

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Imports of goods and services from Brazil (Photo: Misión Verdad)

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Exports of goods and services to Brazil (Photo: Misión Verdad)

The graphs show that, for almost 10 consecutive years, China has been Brazil's largest trading partner and, therefore, the most important country in its trade balance.

Brazil is the largest economy in the Latin American region, and is a major supplier of raw materials such as soybeans, iron, and oil. In the case of industrial metals, for China the demand for iron is crucial since it is the basis for the production of steel, whose alloy is used for construction, industry, the automotive sector and machinery.

With soybeans, a prominent development was the trade rivalry unleashed by the Donald Trump administration, which ultimately benefited Brazil as China shifted its food trade away from the United States and the South American country's agricultural exporters took center stage.

Five years ago Boston University Professor of Global Development Policy Kevin Gallagher said in an interview: "Brazil has won the Chinese lottery."

In general terms, it is evident that the emergence of China as the new center of commercial gravity in the region has relegated the United States, which, due to the negligence in imposing its exceptionalist policies and interference in southern nations, has seen its commercial influence diminished. , which brought with it a shift towards China as a reliable and safe alternative.

(*) South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.

https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/la ... n-graficos

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Paraguay’s Indigenous Communities Demand More Rights Ahead of Elections
APRIL 15, 2023

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Paraguayan indigenous leader Maria Luisa Duarte. Photo: Wikicommons.

By Alejandra García – Apr 10, 2023

On April 30, Paraguay will go to the polls to elect the country’s new president in a process marked by a lack of debate and the absence of urgent proposals such as free access to education, and more rights for the indigenous peoples, such as their right to land.

Little is expected to change in Paraguay with this election. The ruling right-wing Colorado Party’s candidate is former Finance Minister Santiago Peña, who is in a close race with opposition coalition candidate Efraín Alegre of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA) whose program is not much different from Peña’s, and who too will continue to steer Paraguay in a neoliberal direction away from the real issues. This is the situation although in a June 2022 poll, 70% of the population had said that the country needed profound changes, such as the inclusion of indigenous rights.

“The interests of indigenous peoples do not usually appear in the election campaigns, nor are their claims and demands ever heard,” Aché indigenous leader María Luisa Duarte, mother of six, said in a recent interview for the Paraguayan news agency Presentes.

In the upcoming elections, the country will elect its presidential, parliamentary, and local government officials to serve for the next five years. However, according to Duarte, this has been a distressing process. Paraguay urgently needs to rebuild itself, develop in a balanced way, be inclusive, and become a more just and fairer country. Yet, these issues are absent from this election campaign. Paraguayans are questioning the future of the country.

Daniela Benítez, a leader of the the Nivaclé people, who is also a mother of six and was a candidate for the senate in 2018, added, “We cannot talk about future development without talking about the right to land. That is our main demand.”

According to official data, Paraguay has 7 million inhabitants; of them, 122,000 are indigenous people, who belong to 19 indigenous groups, distributed in more than 600 communities. However, 85% of the country’s lands belong to just 2% of Paraguay’s total population.

On October 12, 2022, for the second time, the country’s indigenous movement presented to the Paraguayan State institutions a work plan with 34 points, demanding a dignified life for the 19 indigenous groups.

These included the cessation of forced evictions, respect for ancestral lands, and an increase in the budget for land purchases. However, although almost six months have passed, the current government has not shown the political will to continue with the working group to which it had committed itself.

“The land sustains us; it is our priority and our strength,” Benítez emphasized. “For us, it is fundamental to sow, to eat healthy food harvested on our farms. That is how we feel fulfilled.”

Both the women leaders agree that public policies in education and the creation of a market and a fair price for healthy food are other urgent demands of the country’s indigenous communities.

“We also need greater access to job opportunities and decent housing,” Duarte added. “Education, vocational training, and access to university studies are also human rights. We all have the right to study the career we like, even if we are poor peasants or indigenous.”

“We demand that we be guaranteed the quality of life we desire and deserve as the National Constitution of the Republic supports,” she concluded.

Regarding rights for Paraguayan women, especially indigenous women, both commented that “there is a lot of struggles ahead.”

“We women leaders continue believing, proposing, and fighting,” Benítez said. “We believe that we can reverse this lack of rights and the marginalization we face. We, women, can wake up. Indigenous women in Paraguay are fighters, and we have hope for tomorrow. Women will be the catalyst for real change. We will restore our people’s dignity, always by doing good.”

(Resumen Latinoamericano-English)

https://orinocotribune.com/paraguays-in ... elections/
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Religious Fundamentalism and Imperialism in Latin America: Action and Resistance
DECEMBER 19, 2022
Español Português

Dossier no. 59

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Participants of a march and vigil organised by the Love Conquers Hate Christian Collective light candles during a prayer with believers of various faiths in Rio de Janeiro in 2018, ‘joined together for the same values: life, liberty and the defence of human dignity as Christ taught us’, they declared.
Reference photograph by Gabriel Castilho


The art in this dossier reimagines photographs that, as the authors write, ‘recover the voices and resistance, from the past and the present, that have confronted religious fundamentalism in Latin America’. These images recover the various spaces and ways in which Christianity is present in the lives of the Latin American people as a form of resistance.


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Reference photograph: Sandinistas at the Walls of the National Guard Headquarters: ‘Molotov Man’, Estelí, Nicaragua, July 16th, 1979, by Susan Meiselas/Magnum Photos

‘Neither reason nor science can satisfy all the need of the infinite that exists in man’.

– José Carlos Mariátegui1


Introduction
It is impossible to disconnect religion from the political projects of domination and liberation in Latin America. Since the era of colonisation, some movements have used religion to oppress, abuse, and enslave people, while others have used religion to organise and liberate them. Today, the advance of religion and religious rhetoric in institutional politics in Latin America has become a significant trend. An ever-greater number of believers, be they progressives or reactionaries, have worked to spread their beliefs, demands, and projects in daily religious life and in the public sphere.

The overwhelming majority of Latin Americans are Christian, including over 80% of the population across the region (Catholic and evangelical combined) and over 90% of the population in countries such as Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Peru. All countries in the region have a population that is at least 50% Christian (with the exception of Uruguay, where the figure is 44%), and in many countries there is a shift from Catholicism to forms of Protestantism. Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Honduras have currently narrowed the gap between the number of Catholics and evangelicals; meanwhile, El Salvador, Brazil, Costa Rica, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Bolivia all have populations that are at least 20% evangelical. This percentage is even higher in working-class areas.2

Habits and practices of faith are crucial to the everyday life of Latin America’s working class. Churches, temples, terreiros3 (yards), and prayer houses are part of the people’s culture; here, they find reception, a sense of community, and the possibility of collectively living out their spirituality. On a continent marked by the legacy of colonialism, social forms of all kinds – including religion – have provided refuge and the basis for resistance. Religion is not only intrinsic to people’s daily lives, but also to their struggles and revolutions.

However, since neoliberalism began to advance in Latin America, the right wing has grown in both political and social spheres. This process is reflected not only in the withdrawal of rights from the working class, but also in discourses that seek to weaken democratic institutions. Religious fundamentalism is an instrument used to maintain this neoliberal project by fixating on the idea that there is only a single, immutable, and unquestionable truth. In other words, it is anti-dialogical and anti-pluralistic and strongly idealises a past that never existed. This absolute and dogmatic ideology extends well beyond religion: it also shapes political, economic, and social life.

This dossier synthesises the research of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research (Brazil) working group on evangelism, politics, and grassroots organising. Examining the history of Christianity and growth of religious fundamentalism in Latin America, with Brazil as a primary case study, the text traces the development of religious fundamentalism from its origins up to its contemporary form and its insertion into regional politics, where it seeks to further misogynist, anti-communist, and anti-democratic agendas as well as imperialist projects on the continent. On the other hand, we also recover the voices and resistance, from the past and the present, that have confronted religious fundamentalism in Latin America. Inspired by the revolutionary practices of Latin America’s many martyrs and influenced by the teachings of the Colombian sociologist Orlando Fals Borda and Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, this dossier is based on interviews with working-class educators and with members of popular movements’ evangelical base.


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Members of the Gullah community in Georgia (United States) participate in a ‘ring shout’ during a service in a ‘praise house’, ca. 1930s.
Reference photograph: Doing the Ring Shout in Georgia, photographer unknown, sourced from the Lorenzo Dow Turner Papers, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution.


Religious Fundamentalism and Its Origins
At the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries, Christian theology as a field of study was marked by various advances in thought and methods of investigation that were strongly influenced by the European Enlightenment of the seventeenth and eighteen centuries. These perspectives held practical implications; for example, the so-called Social Gospel sought to provide a theological response to the reality faced by the urban working class in large cities in the United States after the crisis and economic transformations of the War of Secession (1861–1865).4

With the advance of modern science and the development of scientific forms of reading (such as hermeneutics for Biblical study), it became necessary to ground the study of the Bible in its historical context and to interpret the mystical language it at times employs. The historical-critical method questioned the literal interpretation of the Bible and gave new meaning to the figure of Jesus and to biblical stories by emphasising their ethical and moral value rather than focusing on a metaphysical analysis. The movement that adopted this approach came to be known as liberal theology.

It was in this historical context, reacting to the new meanings that were being offered by liberal theology, that religious fundamentalism emerged in the form of conservative Protestant groups that opposed this new, scientific way of seeing the world. Beginning with the publication of twelve volumes entitled The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth between 1910 and 1915, this movement argued that certain elements in the Christian faith were non-negotiable. This publication was financed by the Presbyterian billionaire Lyman Stewart, organised by the Reverend Reuben Archer Torreye, and distributed throughout the US and other English-speaking countries. Roughly three million copies were put into the hands of believers, theologians, and missionaries, free of cost.5

Religious fundamentalism was therefore born as an antagonistic reaction to science, humanism, and the values of modernity that emerged from the Enlightenment, which it saw as an enemy to be combatted. This project’s vision was closely linked to the idea of ‘Manifest Destiny’, which developed in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century and held that the conquest of the American West by US colonisers was God’s wish. This idea was taken up and adapted by the Christian right in the second half of the twentieth century, which used it to justify US imperialist action around the world, including in Latin America.

The US imperialist project is intimately linked to this fundamentalist religious vision, which asserts that believers have been sent by God to ‘civilise’ the ‘barbarians’. US Protestantism has been used as a religious justification for the country’s imperialist actions. It is not possible, in any analysis, to separate imperialism from religious fundamentalism, whose followers see their struggle as a war of good against evil that cuts across not only religion but also politics, military power, education, and the environment. As a result, the movement inserts itself into the world and into the daily lives of workers, actively positioning itself against its opponents in various contexts well beyond the religious realm. The Protestant maxim ‘convert the individual and society will change’ sheds light on this approach and the perceived importance of winning over new believers: no longer is it just individual sin that must be purged, but the sins of all nations.

Furthermore, fundamentalists see the attainment of wealth as a Protestant duty, and their interpretation of the Bible asserts that faith and discipline will lead to prosperity for believers, above all financially. Poverty is therefore understood as a reflection of a lack of faith and lack of discipline. Prosperity theology, strongly associated with neo-Pentecostalism, has been intimately linked to conservative Protestantism since the start of the twentieth century.

However, to the Black, immigrant, and impoverished workers in the US who attended Protestant churches at the beginning of the twentieth century, this view would not have made sense. This ‘inadequacy’ of a Protestantism of wealth is at the root of Pentecostalism, whose origin lies in the Azusa Street Movement in 1906 in Los Angeles. According to the testimony of the Black preacher William J. Seymour, poor, Black, and immigrant followers had cathartic and spiritual experiences that incorporated their ‘Africanity’, or African identity, expressed through their bodies and their songs. This liturgical Africanity carried with it the legacy of rituals practiced by enslaved Africans: ring shouts, dances, clapping, speaking in tongues (glossolalia), and emotion that overflows in celebration and worship.

Pentecostalism, in its own way, dignified marginalised people who were experiencing socioeconomic and racial tensions during that period in the US and promoted gender equality in its leadership. Through the practice of faith, a collective identity was created that served as a means of dealing with certain forms of individual suffering: alcoholism, psychosocial anguishes, and violence and conflict in the home. Pentecostalism was born, therefore, as a form of resistance by Black people in the United States and a desire to live out their spirituality in dialogue with their ancestors, something that was not found in the discourse and liturgy of white Protestantism.

Pentecostal Protestants encountered difficulties practicing their faith in conventional, institutional forms, facing resistance from traditional fundamentalist US Protestantism. However, in the 1960s, fundamentalists became more similar to the Pentecostals in order to win back the influence that they had lost among working-class believers. This phenomenon cannot be understood without recognising the role played by the Baptist pastor Billy Graham in the late 1940s. Graham, a well-known pastor and preacher, held the conviction that ‘America’s destiny’ depended on the ability to convert individuals to a form of Christianity that followed a fundamentalist reading of the Bible. In an effort to reform early twentieth century fundamentalism, he created the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which had a strongly expansionist impulse, extensive financial support for campaigns in Latin America, and an alliance with dictatorships on the continent. This was accompanied by a popular and mass-oriented approach to anti-communism, attacking communists on the basis of moral concerns, defending the patriarchal family, and arguing that Christians should mobilise to further this objective. Graham became a personal advisor to US presidents such as Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush and was even offered the ambassadorship to Israel by former President Nixon.

Although religious fundamentalism was not born in Pentecostal churches, it is important to mention that, as much as the Pentecostal movement broke with some forms of oppression, the centrality of points considered to be traditional in the Christian faith were maintained and exploited in the course of time in this strategic link between fundamentalism and Pentecostalism. As such, fundamentalism, allied with an imperialist project, was able to take on a new religious form. The traditional Christian right saw in Pentecostalism a strategic opportunity, which it used to bring theological and expansionist elements to various parts of the Global South.

We can therefore conclude that one of the characteristics of fundamentalism is its reactionary character. However, to advance our understanding of new fundamentalist narratives that have emerged since the expansion of Pentecostalism, we must better understand the religious elements that began to take shape in Latin America during this period.


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Liberation theologian Frei Betto and Cuban leader Fidel Castro during a twenty-three-hour interview in Havana later published in Betto’s book, Fidel and Religion: Conversations with Frei Betto, 1985.
Reference photograph by Alex Castro, sourced from Frei Betto’s personal archive via Fidel and Religion, Fontonar Press.


Christianity and Politics in Latin America
A history of authoritarianism, colonialism, slavery, and imperialism, as well as animosity towards the emergence of revolutionary currents driven by the Cuban Revolution of 1959, paved the way for Latin American dictatorships to spread with force beginning in the 1960s. Meanwhile, a Christian movement mobilised against these forms of oppression on the continent, combining Marxist analytical tools with religious faith to shape a God of liberation. Emerging in the 1960s, liberation theology constructed an ideology and practice to guide the struggle of the poor and oppressed against injustice rooted in a reading of the Bible that emphasised a historical, emancipatory Jesus.

Liberation theology arose as a response from various popular organisations in a period when industrialisation was advancing throughout the region, peasant masses were being proletarianised, and structural social inequalities were deepening. We cannot understand the advance of grassroots work in Latin America without understanding the popular, revolutionary Christianity that took root there. Liberation theology’s new proposal for the Christian faith centred the poor and marginalised and was groundbreaking in its readings of the Bible. Its method is made up of three key components. First, reality: living amongst the people, learning what they know, and being one with them; second, the Bible: which it brings into dialogue with daily life, into reality and the search for answers; and third, community: sharing bread and life through the communitarian transformation of reality. As Gustavo Gutiérrez, a founder of liberation theology, outlined, its new proposal became essential ‘to understand the mechanisms of oppression of the prevailing social order’ in order to carry out a ‘radical break from the current state of things, a profound transformation of the private property system [and] of the exploited class’s access to power, and a social revolution that would break this dependence and allow for the change to a new society, a socialist society’.6

Through liberation theology, faith and struggle have gone hand in hand in Latin America. Among the many examples of the close ties between resistance and Christianity on the continent are:

*Nicaragua, where Christians, influenced by liberatory actions throughout the continent, were essential in the Sandinista Revolution and the struggle for national liberation.
*El Salvador, where Christian movements on the continent inspired a greater commitment to the poor. In particular, it is important to mention the teachings of Father Rutilio Grande (1928–1977) and his methodology of a critical and popular reading of the Bible and the example of the Popular Revolutionary Bloc, led by the young Christian Juan Chacón (1952–1980).7
*Colombia, where the Catholic priest, sociologist, and guerrilla Camilo Torres Restrepo (1929–1966) called for an ‘effective love’ for one’s neighbour and defied and condemned the Church, claiming that it had been corrupted by the powerful.
*Brazil, where the pastoral work of Catholic and Lutheran churches was essential to the formation of the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST).8

There have also been a number of important Protestant figures in liberation theology. For example, Richard Shaull (1919–2002), known as the ‘theologian of the revolution’, was a US Presbyterian theologian who lived in Brazil for many decades, dedicated his studies to the dialogue between Christianity and Marxism, and brought together social issues and the evangelical faith. Rubem Alves (1933–2014), a student of Shaull’s, coined the term ‘liberation theology’ in his doctoral thesis.9In addition, figures such as the Mexican theologian and biblist Elsa Támez (1951– ), the Argentinian Marcella Althaus-Reid (1952–2009), and the Brazilian activist in the Pastoral Land Commission (Comissão Pastoral da Terra, or CPT) Nancy Cardoso (1959– ) have deepened our understanding of the body and sexuality through a feminist theology that critiqued liberation theology.

However, the way of being in the world advocated by liberation theology – actively and concretely participating in the struggles for justice – was unacceptable to the forces of imperialism and their allies. In liberation theology, they saw a threat to their interests and the established order, and so, they set out to destroy it.


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Neighbourhood residents and other guests participate in a popular bible study in Petrolina, in the state of Pernambuco, 2019.
Reference photograph sourced from the Popular Communication Centre


The Battle of Subjectivity
Across Latin America, the Christian conservative movement joined forces with the imperialist offensive against liberation theology. As Vijay Prashad, director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, writes, ‘Protestant sects, particularly those with US roots […] preached the Gospel of individual enterprise, not social justice’.10The slogan haz patria, mata un cura – ‘be a patriot, kill a priest’ – was taken at its word in El Salvador, for example, while in Bolivia, the country’s intelligence services, together with the CIA, assembled dossiers on theologians of liberation in the 1970s.

US imperialist strategy took many forms, from supporting coups and dictatorships to intervening in elections and seeking to foment opposition to popular organisations. The US government sought closer relations with the Catholic Church in the 1980s as its head, Pope John Paul II, intervened in the Nicaraguan Revolution and criticised progressive priests. In their internal documents, the CIA emphasised the need to take this battle onto the field of subjectivity; that is, they sought to shape the way in which people constructed meaning of their lives in the wretched context of dependent capitalism.

In this context, the alliance between Pentecostalism and religious fundamentalism gave rise to what became known as neo-Pentecostalism, a faith that grew steadily in the 1980s and 1990s before rapidly expanding from the 2000s onwards. The boom of neo-Pentecostalism strengthened the advance of imperialism and neoliberalism through the faith’s various tendencies, namely the theology of domination and the prosperity gospel.

The theology of domination, or reconstructionism, emerged in the US in the 1970s and sought the reconstruction of theocracy, offering a Christian cosmology that would help evangelicals gain and hold power in the public sphere. This current is closely associated with the idea of ‘spiritual war’, a struggle against an enemy that can act in various areas of life. This idea was linked to a reading of the Old Testament which contended that Christians should no longer avoid the world – a theological given in earlier forms of Pentecostalism – and all the evil within it, such as sin and temptation; rather, they should exist in the world in an active sense, in a war against evil, including by occupying seats of power.

Meanwhile, the so-called prosperity gospel sees the accumulation of material goods as a sign of divine blessing. Although this thinking gained force among neo-Pentecostals, it is rooted in classical Protestantism, according to which glimpses of God’s blessings can also be reflected in the here and now, be it through financial prosperity, recompense for discipline and the Protestant work ethic, or other means.

The church’s fundamentalist ideas have resonated with a working class that has been put on the defensive by neoliberal assaults on livelihood and social life as well as by the fragmentation of working-class culture and revolutionary organisations. The process of deindustrialisation and the restructuring of the world of work, in which factories had provided workers with a space to organise collectively to improve their quality of life, caused many workers to lose not only their jobs, but also their space for sociability and collective struggle. The church responded to this need for socialisation by transforming collective questions into individual ones, promoting a new working-class identity which centred one’s status as a believer, and removing, from an economic and ideological point of view, the centrality of the organised proletariat as a revolutionary subject.

With the help of fundamentalist churches, which linked the idea of good luck to dedication and bad luck to a lack of faith, neoliberalism normalised poverty and attributed it to misfortune. The discrediting of the socialist vision of revolution as the means to overcome exploitation and oppression weakened the ability of the working class and peasantry to put economic and political questions at the centre of their analysis of the present. Instead, individualistic ideas of personal advancement and religious ideas of morality structured the thinking of many sections of the working class and peasantry. The Christian right took back religion as a means of domination, often making use of the left’s own methods to reach out to the working class and to carry out highly effective daily grassroots organising. Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal evangelical churches responded to the people’s concrete daily needs by providing answers on a subjective and objective level to a considerable section of the working class through cathartic worship services, which offered celebrations, culture, and leisure in the peripheries and were often the only space for collective life.



Latin American Religious Fundamentalism
The rapid rise of neo-Pentecostalism in Latin America became evident both in the movement’s presence in the media and in its engagement in politics. Beginning in the 1980s, the old adage that ‘evangelicals don’t get involved in politics’ no longer rang true. In Brazil, this entry into politics can be summed up in the maxim ‘brothers vote for brothers’. Evangelical notions of the world and God began to change, which influenced how they engaged in institutional politics. As the years went by, religion gained force as a linguistic and political code or symbol.

The 2014 presidential election in Brazil demonstrated the extent to which political communication had become dressed in religious garb to further agendas such as defending Christian morality and the patriarchal conception of the family. Religion was also used as a tool in the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff in the Chamber of Deputies in 2016. This was evidenced, for example, when Eduardo Cunha, then-president of the Chamber, a Pentecostal belonging to the Assembly of God church, and a key actor in the impeachment process, began the session by saying ‘This session is open under God’s protection’. Furthermore, a strong moral and religious message permeated the parliamentarians’ speeches during the impeachment vote, which were broadcast across the country. Although the evangelical section of Brazil’s Congress, which accounted for roughly 36% of all federal deputies in Congress at the time, did not have complete control over the process, its support for impeachment was fundamental, with 83.85% of the evangelical section voting in favour of Dilma’s removal from office.11 According to research by Huffpost Brasil, there were 18 mentions in the Chamber of Deputies of the ‘crimes of responsibility’ that Dilma was alleged to have committed, while the 513 federal deputies mentioned the terms ‘family and children’ and ‘God’ a total of 270 and 75 times respectively.12

The grip of religious rhetoric on Latin American politics was evident once again in the 2019 coup against Evo Morales, when self-proclaimed interim President Jeanine Áñez marched into the presidential palace holding an oversized evangelical Bible above her head and declared, upon seizing power, that ‘the Bible has returned to the palace’. Áñez’s grand entrance was predated by her proclamation on Twitter just a few years earlier, ‘I dream of a Bolivia free of satanic indigenous rites. The city is not for Indians; let them go back to the highlands’, an assertion that guided the politics of the coup government and its massacre of Indigenous peoples.13

Furthermore, during the pandemic, religious fundamentalism in Brazil, Chile, Peru, and elsewhere in the region strengthened opposition to public health measures. For example, fundamentalists argued against social distancing by contending that faith, more than such policies, would protect believers. This anti-science approach, present in fundamentalism from the outset, is an important element of the movement.

Although Protestantism in Latin America has been characterised by a strong anti-Catholic bias, evangelicals are by no means the only religious fundamentalists in the region. In recent decades, evangelicals and Catholics alike have adopted a political discourse saturated with religion and have pursued an extremely conservative agenda, mainly using the legal field to attack progressive causes, such as gender rights, and to weaken democracy. Additionally, their movement is backed by US investment in evangelical missions and projected across the continent.

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The theologian and pastor Odja Barros performs Brazil’s first same-sex marriage in a Baptist church in the state of Alagoas, 2021.
Reference photograph sourced from Odja Barros


Fundamentalist Causes
The so-called defence of morality is a key component of fundamentalist discourse, manifesting equally in the executive branch, the legislature, and the judiciary. ‘Gender ideology’ is also a major focus of religious fundamentalist discourse, initially emerging from a Catholic context but soon spreading widely across traditional and social media platforms and being absorbed by evangelical fundamentalist sectors. This term is used to condemn everything that is not cis-gender and heterosexual, based on the belief that a family is limited to the fruits of matrimonial relations between a man and a woman. Abortion is also seen as reprehensible, stemming from the view that only God has the power to take a life and thereby denying a woman’s right to make decisions concerning her own body. When their conservative perspective is questioned, fundamentalists label any criticism as ‘gender ideology’, a framing used to provoke moral panic.

The pro-patriarchal family discourse as a political-economic project has made major advances in Latin America. Fundamentalists defend their notion of an ‘ideal family’ as a way to maintain the status quo in public policy, in which women are treated as procreators and principal caregivers responsible for children, the sick, and the elderly, and in which care work in the private sphere continues to fall to women. Fundamentalists also use the law and education to uphold a patriarchal and extremely unequal society.

Religious groups, hand in hand with Latin American conservative elites, have taken to the streets to decry the legalisation of abortion, taking on feminist movements that had advanced the discussion on women’s rights to make decisions about their bodies. The insertion of religious fundamentalism into legislative debates has played a decisive role in blocking progressive legal changes from being enacted on important issues in the fight against patriarchy.

In Brazil, it has been the Calvinists (traditional Protestants) who have most fervently fomented a fundamentalist discourse in Jair Bolsonaro’s government. They have occupied important ministries, such as Pastor André Mendonça in the Ministry of Justice, Pastor Milton Ribeiro in the Ministry of Education, and the Baptist pastor and Minister for Women, the Family, and Human Rights Damares Alves, a popular figure among evangelicals who has constructed a narrative centred on the gender-based oppression and violence she has suffered, has taken strong action against ‘gender ideology’ and sexual freedoms, and played an international role in opposing the legalisation of abortion.

Meanwhile, the Presbyterian pastor and former minister of education Milton Ribeiro has advocated for home-schooling, a call that was taken up by the government. The push for home-schooling is a common cause among conversative sectors in Brazil and the US alike that dates back to the 1960s and 1970s. Since the school is an essential space in Brazil, as in many countries, not only from the point of view of education, but also to protect many children from violence and hunger, the home-schooling agenda does not speak to the needs of the poorer strata of the working class. Meanwhile, to prevent the school from being a space to garner support for progressive causes or any outlook that proposes an alternative perspective on the working class’s lived reality, the Bolsonaro government adopted the ‘Schools Without Parties’ cause, which became a bill used to intimidate teachers to limit themselves to providing an allegedly ‘neutral’ education.

To understand our current moment, we must understand how the fundamentalist movement has operated strategically alongside the people at the grassroots level. Popular support for fundamentalism’s conservative agenda has been essential to legitimise this project in society; without daily activity in the churches, the institutional advance of this project would not have been possible.



The Evangelical Movement’s Ascent to Political Power in Brazil
A month before the 2016 coup against then-President Dilma Rousseff, Jair Bolsonaro, a declared Catholic, left the Progressive Party (PP) and joined the Social Christian Party (PSC). At the event confirming his membership, Bolsonaro was baptised – a symbolic ritual for evangelicals – by the president of the party, Pastor Everaldo Pereira of the Assembly of God Church. The baptism didn’t happen just anywhere; it took place in Israel, in the waters of the River Jordan, where the Bible states that Jesus was baptised. This led many to believe that Bolsonaro had converted to the evangelical faith, a strategic move to capture evangelicals’ imagination.

Moral panic, along with fake news, propelled Bolsonaro’s candidacy and his growing relevance to Christians in the 2018 presidential elections. Bolsonaro was able to construct a persona that resonated with evangelicals by presenting himself as an ‘authentic’ candidate who would defend the patriarchal family, who spoke freely and without a filter, who was not concerned with status, who had simple tastes and habits, and who represented something ‘new’, standing out in contrast to the years of the Workers’ Party (PT) government, which occupied the presidential office from 2003 to 2016 and which his campaign associated with ‘old, corrupt politics’. This strategy was ultimately successful, culminating in Bolsonaro’s victory in the 2018 elections, in which he received 71% of the evangelical electorate’s vote – a sector that represents 31% of Brazil’s population – despite the campaign’s violent, racist, and misogynistic discourse.14A number of factors were crucial in Bolsonaro’s election; along with his increased ties with the evangelical sector, which had come to occupy institutional spaces of power, his campaign was able to propagate powerful discourses and narratives related to family, morality, and so-called gender ideology.

Religious fundamentalism has entered the political sphere to affirm a capitalist model of society, which currently appears with a neofascist face. Fundamentalism, in alliance with the neoconservatism that has advanced in Latin America in recent years, centres a moral discourse that is based on the ‘traditional family’ and on reproductive issues. Furthermore, it has built a seemingly unshakeable base amongst the working class, which it has moved to support a project of which it is the main victim.


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Bishop Sérgio Arthur Braschi of the Diocese of Ponta Grossa (in the state of Paraná) blesses food that Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) donated to 500 families in need, 2021.
Reference photograph: Jade Azevedo (MST-Paraná)


Resistance and Future Horizons

‘Let us leave behind what divides us and search for what unites us’.

– Camilo Torres Restrepo15


The working class lives its religious faith daily in individual rituals, in private conversations with God, in values, and in collective spaces of communion. It is in daily life that the working class is moving towards an evangelical identity centred on the concept of religious brotherhood rather than on a shared identity as workers. This change demonstrates the power of religion at the grassroots level, in which even everyday language is shifting to reflect the lexicon of a people that no longer organises itself exclusively through trade unions, social collectivities for struggle, and popular movements, but instead mainly in churches. No revolution is possible without a revolutionary subject; in the case of Latin America, it is not possible to advance towards any radical transformation of society without accounting for the strong influence of Christianity on the socialisation of the masses.

If evangelism has permeated the homes of working-class families, it is in the home, through recovering liberating theologies of struggle, that religious fundamentalism will be combatted and a new home built where faith is respected and even absorbed as a legitimate language of the working class. We must be open to a broader understanding of religion; as Fidel Castro taught us, ‘nothing can be more anti-Marxist than the petrification of ideas’.16It is in the Battle of Ideas and the Battle of Emotions, in profound and respectful dialogue with believers who have found in the Bible a possible path for survival in the face of so much adversity, that religious fundamentalism can be extinguished. It is important to note that the majority of the base of popular movements in Brazil are religious Christians committed to the struggle and to faith. The belief in God, the Bible, faith, and all aspects of religion must be understood as a way of seeking to understand the world; only in doing so can the possibility be created to build a new, liberatory language that unifies the working class behind a common, revolutionary project.

The Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci’s writings on religion and Christianity, and in particular the role of the Catholic Church, help us go beyond a limited discussion about whether or not one should believe in God.17The task at hand is to understand religion and its power to move the people’s hearts and minds toward political action. Gramsci radicalised Marx’s maxim that ‘religion is the opium of the people’: since it is a tool to speak out against and resist the obstinate facts of life, such as hunger and illiteracy, it also provides the power to collectively create new ethical and moral values in the face of an oppressive reality. Religion has two contending faces: it is equally an alienating and transformative force.

Gramsci was aware of how religion has been used as an oppressive tool throughout history, often serving to domesticate the working class and exploit its weaknesses. However, through religion and its ability to move the people’s hearts and minds, it is possible to build what Gramsci called a counter-hegemonic common sense. To deny this possibility and insist upon solely anti-clericalism and atheism as revolutionary tactics is to propagate an elitist attitude that serves as an impediment to overcoming fundamentalism in Latin America today.

Cuba has much to teach us when it comes to furthering a dialogue about the role of faith in building a revolution. In the early years following Cuba’s revolutionary triumph, many religious Cubans who remained on the island did not feel that they were part of the revolutionary process because of the state’s resistance to the churches, a product of a still-limited reading of the issue by European Marxism, and because of the US origins of the country’s evangelical churches. Though this resistance persisted through the 1970s, it gradually ceded way to a new perspective of joint action between the Church and State. The Cuban Revolution learned, over time, to welcome and incorporate elements of faith to fortify its struggle.

If fundamentalism was able, with the help of substantial funding and grassroots work on the ground, to create a new common sense among workers – even if this common sense is in contradiction with their lived experience – it will be based on the concrete reality and many factors that shape workers’ lives that a critical and revolutionary way for the working class to practice its faith will be built. In order to consolidate a philosophy of praxis in Latin America, it is both a necessary and urgent task to critically reconfigure the people’s faith in a progressive direction. A Marxist perspective seeks out the counter-hegemonic currents that exist within the forces of religion. We know that believers are not simply passive followers; to the contrary, it is through their religion that they produce and reproduce worldviews, which are not without contradictions or reformulations. As Gramsci points out, ‘there is one Catholicism for the peasants, one for the petits-bourgeois and town workers, one for women, and one for intellectuals which is itself variegated and disconnected’18This is also the case with evangelicals – in discussing religion, we are discussing a multitude of realities that exist within a single faith. It is important not to generalise or homogenise evangelicals in Latin America as if they were all fundamentalists, or as if they were all manipulated. It is not enough for the left to repeat the anti-religious sentiment of some Western Marxist thinkers when it comes to religion in the Global South.

In order to strengthen resistance to religious fundamentalism and its misogynist and hateful discourse, it is essential to construct alternative conceptions and narratives that are meaningful to and that resonate with the working class and peasantry. This counter-hegemonic discourse and resistance can only advance by setting the languages of faith and struggle into dialectical relationship with one another. Fundamentalism has reacted to advances in the progressive camp and has effectively incorporated some of its components into their strategy. Similarly, the progressive camp must look at why this has been successful and extract meaningful lessons to strengthen projects that further the interests of the working class. This must be done through a lens that has been discarded by Marxism in recent decades: one that critiques anti-religious thought. This is the only way that Marxism will be able to undo the knots that religious fundamentalists have tied in popular discourse and to advance in spaces that are occupied by imperialism and its allies. This will be done not by starting from scratch, but by becoming familiar and dialoguing with religious believers who continue to resist and are often isolated from the popular Marxist camp. Reclaiming Latin America’s history of liberation theology and identifying and reaching out to the forms of resistance within the religious sphere is necessary to begin building indispensable bridges between faith and popular struggle.

In order to build progressive dreams and visions of the future, we must foster hope among the people that can be lived in their daily reality. We must also recover and translate our history and the struggle for social rights into popular organisation by creating spaces for education, culture, and community in which the people can gain better understandings of reality and engage in daily experiences of collective solidarity, leisure, and celebration. In these endeavours, it is important not to neglect or dismiss new or different ways of interpreting the world, such as through religion, but, rather, to foster open-minded and respectful dialogue between them to build unity around shared progressive values.

While there are no easy answers, a starting point is to understand the adversaries of the working class and how they act both on a macro and micro level. It is essential to create new mechanisms of dialogue and build a collective, counter-hegemonic project. Such a project will not advance without a deep understanding of what the working class desires and what moves it to act.

The Peruvian Marxist José Carlos Mariátegui, using Miguel de Unamuno’s concept of ‘agony’ (the inner suffering or struggle that humans face), spoke of the need to ‘re-enchant’ the working class; in other words, to overcome people’s disenchantment with life. Both revolutionary Marxists and revolutionary Christians were agonic souls, fighting for this re-enchantment.19 This revolutionary agony, for Mariátegui, translates into overcoming the antagonism between faith and atheism by equating revolutionary emotion and religious emotion. In truth, what Mariátegui meant is that what moves us, as agonic beings, towards justice is more than what any institution can define: it is a deep feeling, a longing for something not yet real but which we seek to build as a vital necessity. Mariátegui broadens the customary way of talking about religion. He provokes us, arguing that a revolution is always religious – not that it has to do with institutional religion, but that it seeks to answer the deep feelings and longings that are not satisfied under capitalism.


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More than 100,000 women from across Brazil participated in the March of Daisies (Marcha das Margaridas), a public action in the country’s capital, Brasilia, in 2019 demanding popular sovereignty, democracy, justice, equality, and an end to violence.
Reference photograph by Natália Blanco (KOINONIA Ecunumical Presence and Service), sourced from the ACT Brazil Ecumenical Forum (FEACT)



Notes
1Mariategui, ‘Man and Myth’, 383.

2 Franco, ‘Um olhar contra-hegemônico e pluralista’, 11–46.

3 Translator’s note: Terreiros are places where rituals for Candomblé and other Afro-Brazilian religions take place.

4 The War of Secession, or the American Civil War, took place in the United States between the states of the North and those of the South from 1861 to 1865. This conflict began when the southern states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. The War of Secession was motivated by the differences between the two groups regarding the abolition of slavery and the expansion of new territories that were being occupied to the west.

5 Sousa, ‘O Nascimento do Fundamentalismo Cristão nos Estados Unidos’, 103–116.

6 Semeraro, ‘Gramsci e a religião’, 95.

7 Löwy, O que é cristianismo da libertação .

8 Stedile and Fernandes, Brava Gente, 19.

9 Alves, Dogmatismo e Tolerância.

10 Prashad, Balas de Washington, 101.

11 Étore Medeiros, ‘Boi, Bala e Bíblia contra Dilma’.

12 Cunha, Lopes, and Lui, Religião e política, 127.

13 Prashad, ‘Those Who Search for Dawn Don’t Fear the Night’; Prashad, ‘Bolivia Does Not Exist’.

14 Balloussier, ‘Cara típica do evangélico brasileiro é feminina e negra’; Balloussier, ‘Evangélicos veem Bolsonaro como o mais autoritário’.

15 Rojas Barragán and Herrera Farfán, Camilo Torres Restrepo: Polifonías Del Amor Eficaz, 293

16 Castro, Speech delivered at the Cultural Congress.

17Gramsci, Sotto la Mole.

18 Gramsci, Quaderni del cárcere, 1397.

19 Löwy, ‘Mística Revolucionária’, 105–116.



Bibliography
Alves, Rubem. Dogmatismo e Tolerância [Dogmatism and Tolerance]. São Paulo: Edições Paulinas, 1982.Balloussier, Anna Virginia. ‘Evangélicos veem Bolsonaro como o mais autoritário e o que mais defende a democracia’ [Evangelicals See Bolsonaro as the Most Authoritarian and the One Who Most Defends Democracy]. Folha de São Paulo, 18 October 2018. https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/201 ... acia.shtml.

Balloussier, Anna Virginia. ‘Cara típica do evangélico brasileiro é feminina e negra, aponta Datafolha’ [The Typical Face of Brazilian Evangelicals Is Female and Black, Says Datafolha]. Folha de São Paulo, 13 January 2020.

Castro, Fidel. Speech delivered at the closing session of the Cultural Congress of Havana held at the Chaplin Theatre. 12 January 1968. http://www.fidelcastro.cu/en/discursos/ ... in-theater.

Cunha, Christina Vital da, Paulo Victor Leite, Lopes, and Janayna Lui. Religião e política: medos sociais, extremismo religioso e as eleições de 2014 [Religion and Politics: Social Fears, Religious Extremism, and the 2014 Elections]. Rio de Janeiro: Fundação Heinrich Böll, 2017.

Dias, Lissânder. ‘31% são evangélicos no Brasil, diz Datafolha’ [31% of Brazilians Are Evangelicals, Says Datafolha]. Ultimato, 3 March 2020.

https://www.ultimato.com.br/conteudo/31 ... -datafolha.

Franco, Clarissa de. ‘Um olhar contra-hegemônico e pluralista sobre o quadro religioso global desde as epistemologias do Sul’ [A Counter-hegemonic and Pluralistic Look at the Global Religious Picture from the Epistemologies of the South]. In Ribeiro, Claudio de Oliveira. Diversidade Religiosa e o princípio pluralista [Religious Diversity and the Pluralist Principle]. São Paulo: Editora Recriar, 2021, organised by Claudio de Oliveira Ribeiro. São Paulo: Editora Recriar, 2021, 11–46.

Gramsci, Antonio. Sotto la Mole (1914–1920) [Under the Mole (1914–1920)]. Torino: Einaudi, 1972.

Gramsci, Antonio. Quaderni del carcere [Prison Notebooks]. Curated by V. Gerratana. Torino: Einaudi, 1975.

Löwy, Michael. ‘Mística Revolucionária: José Carlos Mariátegui e a Religião’ [Revolutionary Mysticism: José Carlos Mariátegui and Religion]. Estudos Avançados 19, no. 55 (2005): 105–116.

Löwy, Michael. O que é cristianismo da libertação: religião e política na América Latina [What Is Liberation Christianity: Religion and Politics in Latin America]. São Paulo: Expressão Popular and Editora Fundação Perseu Abramo, 2016.

Mariátegui, José Carlos. ‘Man and Myth’. In José Carlos Mariátegui: An Anthology, edited and translated by Harry E. Vanden and Marc Becker. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2011.

Medeiros, Étore. ‘Boi, Bala e Bíblia contra Dilma’ [Ox, Bullets, and the Bible against Dilma]. Agência Pública, 18 April 2016. https://apublica.org/2016/04/truco-boi- ... tra-dilma/.

Prashad, Vijay. ‘Bolivia Does Not Exist: The Forty-Sixth Newsletter (2019)’. Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, 14 November 2019.

Prashad, Vijay. ‘Those Who Search for Dawn Don’t Fear the Night; Nor the Hand that Holds the Dagger: The Fifty-First Newsletter (2019)’. Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, 19 December 2019..

Prashad, Vijay. Balas de Washington: uma História da CIA, Golpes e Assassinatos [Washington Bullets: A History of the CIA, Coups, and Assassinations]. São Paulo: Expressão Popular, 2020.

Rojas Barragán, Luz Ángela, and Nicolás Armando Herrera Farfán, eds. Camilo Torres Restrepo: Polifonías Del Amor Eficaz [Camilo Torres Restrepo: Polyphonies of Effective Love]. Buenos Aires: Editorial El Colectivo, 2018.

Semeraro, Giovanni. ‘Gramsci e a religião: uma leitura a partir da América Latina’ [Gramsci and Religion: A Latin American Reading]. O Social em Questão, 20, no. 39, (December 2017): 87–108.

Sousa, Rodrigo Farias de. ‘O Nascimento do Fundamentalismo Cristão nos Estados Unidos: das origens ao Caso Scopes’ [The Birth of Christian Fundamentalism in the United States: From its Origins to the Scopes Case]. In Fundamentalismo Religioso Cristão – Olhares Transdisciplinares [Christian Religious Fundamentalism – Transdisciplinary Views], organised by André Leonardo Chevitarese, Juliana Cavalcanti, Sergio Dusilek, and Tayná Louise de Maria. Rio de Janeiro: Kliné, 2021, 103–116.

Stedile, João Pedro and Bernardo Mançano Fernandes, Brava Gente – a trajetória do MST e a luta pela terra no Brasil [Brave People: The MST’s Trajectory and the Struggle for Land in Brazil]. São Paulo: Expressão Popular and Perseu Abramo, 2012.

https://thetricontinental.org/dossier-5 ... n-america/

It is important for the materialist to understand this.Certainly the Nicaraguan Revolution has religious overtones. OTOH, I think the Soviets made a mistake giving to much liberty to the Orthodox Church which the traitor Yeltsin elevated to Tsarist's levels. There is religion and then there is religion. Religion, like philosophy, is a weapon.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Thu Apr 20, 2023 2:10 pm

The road traveled in Bolivia

The Bolivian justice must settle accounts with the coup repressors installed in 2019, who were removed from power by the struggle of the people in the streets, said to Granma newspapers Andrónico Rodríguez Ledesma, president of the Senate of the Legislative and Plurinational Assembly who recently visited Cuba, invited by the Cuban Parliament.

Author: Nuria Barbosa León | internet@granma.cu

april 20, 2023 07:04:23

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The Bolivian people were heavily repressed by the coup plotters; however, with their tenacious struggle they won the victory. Photo: Reuters

The Bolivian justice must settle accounts with the coup repressors installed in 2019, who were removed from power by the struggle of the people in the streets, said to Granma newspapers Andrónico Rodríguez Ledesma, president of the Senate of the Legislative and Plurinational Assembly who recently visited Cuba, invited by the Cuban Parliament.

His history as a social leader began in the universities and when the constitutional order was broken, he was elected senator representing the Movement Towards Socialism-Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples (MAS-IPSP).

"In the year of Jeanine Áñez's government, Bolivians lived through an administration that caused health chaos with the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic, negative numbers in the economy and the deepening of the political and social crisis." In the absence of brother Evo, and practically all the national leaders, he took the initiative to mobilize the tropical region first, then Cochabamba, and finally the big cities."

During the 12 months of the coup government, the MAS-IPSP leaders had to go underground when they were seriously threatened with fascist methods. Their offices were burned and their property confiscated. In addition, blackmail and threats against family members were used to provoke fears and rejection.

"When I met with the people," he said, "I spoke to them about breaking the fear of the government, and in the face of the scourge of the pandemic to take strict quarantine measures. We began to organize, to meet with the leaders, with the organizations and with the community bases. We held secret meetings in different places, and at the right time we called the La Coronilla coliseum in Cochabamba. More than 10,000 people gathered there under the slogan Todo por la patria (Everything for the homeland). From that moment on, the struggle gained strength to demand the holding of the presidential elections."

As the MAS-IPSP managed to maintain two thirds in the National Assembly, it forced the de facto government to present calls for elections, which were postponed alleging the scourge of the pandemic, without taking measures to combat its effects. First they were set for May, then for August, and they were finally held in October. "With a lot of pressure from the Legislative Assembly and from the streets we triumphed and the political power was conquered," assured the Bolivian deputy, who lived moments of great tension, where he would go by days without sleeping or eating, traveling from one place to another, without being able to use the airports due to the persecution unleashed by the coup authorities.

"Our objective is to achieve good for the Bolivian people. We have full stability in our country, and the economic indexes are beginning to recover. Bolivia has one of the lowest inflation rates in the continent," stated Rodríguez Ledesma, and explained that they are preparing for the 2025 presidential elections with the goal of continuing the process of change initiated by Evo Morales, based on the political awakening of the people, with a civilizing horizon far from capitalism.

Translated by ESTI

https://en.granma.cu/mundo/2023-04-20/t ... in-bolivia

The mobilizations in Peru are the result of pent-up indignation.

Although the trigger for the protests has been the impeachment of President Pedro Castillo, the grievances are rooted in historical problems.

Author: Nuria Barbosa León | internet@granma.cu

april 14, 2023 08:04:11

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The reasons why Peruvians are protesting are not new, they come from years ago, but have reawakened with the latest events. Photo: El País

For writer, university professor, former foreign minister of Peru from July to August 2021Héctor Béjar Rivera, during the government of Pedro Castillo, the mobilizations in his country have their origin in the indignation and discrimination against his people.

"The Peruvian Republic has flaws of origin,” he wrote to Granma newspapers. “When it was founded, the 20,000 black slaves, many of whom had fought as soldiers in the liberating armies of San Martin and Bolivar, were not incorporated to the citizenship; nor the indigenous guerrillas; nor the indigenous people who were 90% of the population, and who had led countless uprisings against colonialism; nor the youth, because it was established that one was a citizen from the age of 24; nor the women.”

"The first constituent Congress of 1822 was formed only by Catholic priests, soldiers and lawyers. The Peruvian Republic was born handicapped, socially weak, blind to social reality and deaf to popular claims, which were always answered with repression, massacres and persecution.

"With minor alterations and expansions, this situation was maintained throughout 200 years of Republic, and has made crisis.

"It was accepted, successively, that illiterate people, women, young people from 18 years old vote, but never an indigenous, Andean, black or Amazonian native became a representative in the Congress of the Republic. Democracy was monopolized by the parties of the oligarchy or the urban middle classes.

"The decadence and corruption of this system, which is already exhausted, has caused the general uprising of social organizations of different types: peasant patrols in the north of the country, Quechua and Aymara communities in the south, merchants in the popular markets, transporters, university students, teachers, thousands of people, men, women of all ages who have self-convened, surpassing, by far, the initiative of the parties of the left.

"The basis of this very broad movement works from the resolutions of communities and collective organizations of different types, which do not have or accept the classic leaders of traditional politics.

"As is known, the trigger for the current popular explosion was the abusive and illegal removal of President Pedro Castillo by the extreme right-wing groups that have captured the Congress. The indignation explodes even more when the government of (Dina) Boluarte has responded to the protests by mobilizing the Army, which has killed more than 60 people, firing tear gas bombs and war bullets into their bodies."

-In the face of the hegemony of the United States, how do you assess the correlation of forces in the continent?

-There is no correlation of forces favorable to the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean in the face of the hegemony of the United States, which keeps Cuba and Venezuela blockaded and conspires against Nicaragua.

"Simón Bolívar's will for integration was not continued. Governments have followed the individual state behavior that has been characteristic of our subcontinent since the failure of the Panama Conference of 1826.

"It is necessary to accelerate the partial integration processes of the Andean Community of Nations, MERCOSUR, UNASUR, CELAC, and other instances that link us as a supranational identity different from the United States and Canada."

-What can the processes in Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua mean in this Latin American context?

-The information on these four countries is hidden or distorted by the media, which are in the hands of reactionary monopolies. The Cold War politics, which divides the world into good guys and bad guys, has returned.

"However, in spite of this journalistic and informative blockade, broad popular and youth sectors maintain sympathy, solidarity and adhesion with these revolutionary processes, which mean lessons to learn in the course of the struggle for a system different from the corrupt and savage capitalism that reigns.

"The figures of Fidel, Che, Allende and many other revolutionary leaders and martyrs constitute today icons and examples that broad popular sectors of Latin American nations follow."

Translated by ESTI

https://en.granma.cu/mundo/2023-04-14/t ... ndignation

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Peru: Piura No Longer a Fujimori Stronghold
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 19, 2023
Clau O’Brien Moscoso

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Piura No Longer a Fujimori Stronghold Flooding in Piura region of Peru (Photo: El Instituto Nacional de Defensa Civil – Indeci)

Peru is facing popular struggle in the wake of a coup which ousted President Castillo. It must also confront a legacy of political corruption.

National Strike, Day 103


The parliamentary coup that took place on Dec 7th that ousted democratically elected President Pedro Castillo has now passed its 4th month. Over 120 days and there are still no investigations into any of the over 80 deaths, or there are attempts by the prosecution to stall and move investigations to Lima , where protesters say there will be no justice. Though protesters from provincial regions have left the capital city to reassess the struggle from their home territories, more delegations continue to travel to Lima to demand the peoples’ popular vote be respected and to get the coup regime to step down. Though the daily manifestations may seem to have slowed down in Lima, the struggle continues throughout Perú, including in the Piura region that many had abandoned to the Fujimori right-wing. But since the devastating flooding the region has been hit with, the people have not seen any support from the centralized government and have joined the national strike to oust the coup regime.

Alberto Fujimori, dictator of Perú from 1990 to 2000, presided over some of the worst human rights violations in the history of the republic and is currently serving 25 years for the massacres in Barrios Altos and La Cantuta . The right wing dominated Congress has toyed with the idea of releasing Fujimori early. This would only further infuriate the masses on the ground, many of whom were also affected by the violence during the ‘90s. Despite Fujimori’s reign ending in 2000, Peruvians say that the country is still dominated by the Fujimori mafia, led by his daughter Keiko Fujimori, who lost presidential elections on multiple occasions but is clearly governing behind Dina Boluarte.

I spoke to a young labor leader from the city of Piura, who is working in Lima, and dedicated to mass popular education of the Peruvian working and campesino classes.

C.O. – Hi, what’s your name and where are you coming from?

Julio – My name is Julio Cesar, from the city of Piura, but currently struggling here in the city of Lima.

C.O. – Right now, we are living through various crises here in Perú, from the political crisis to social and economic crises. How did we get here?

Julio – More than anything else, a small economic group that has entered and rooted itself via a political group that is the Fuerza Popular party, a political party that since 2011 when they lost elections to this current day, have dedicated themselves to obstruct the work of anyone that got to the Presidential Palace. We saw that with former presidents Kuczynski, Vizcarra, Ollanta Humala, and now recently with Pedro Castillo Terrones. This small economic group only cares about watching over and defending their interests that have been guaranteed by law with the Fujimori dictatorship era constitution from 1993. Fujimori, who is one of the most corrupt politicians in the world, and who was our “president.”

C.O. – What’s happening now in Piura with the rain and flooding? What does the state and municipality do to help the people of Piura, or have they done anything?

Julio – Well, the reality is that many people blame natural disasters for their conditions; “it’s because of the rains that we’re like this.” But we see in other countries that similar disasters can happen, but they don’t suffer the same consequences that our people go through – loss of agriculture, economic inflation that’s a product of this small economic group setting prices. For example, we have horrible public infrastructure in our country. That’s what the interior of our country faces, 200 years of neglect from the centralized republican government, that has not given all the peoples of the country basic infrastructure that would allow them to survive these natural disasters. Not to minimize these natural disasters, but to point out that our conditions are precarious. Imagine, it’s 2023 and people are forced to cross what are essentially rivers when the flooding occurs on a bed of tires or some wooden makeshift boat. There, the state has never guaranteed its presence, there is no healthcare, education, with or without natural disasters, people still have to get in line at the public hospitals at 5 AM to get an appointment or wait in line at the public schools to see if there’s a vacancy to register for classes. So, what conditions do these kids study in? With holes in the wall and very little resources, that’s if the school has a roof, there are some that don’t even have that. Right now, in the rural areas, people must walk two hours to get to their educational centers. The roads aren’t built, cars can’t drive by, there aren’t bridges that connect town to town, that’s the abandonment of 200 years of republic. And because of that byproduct of that small economic and political group that has maintained our country in ignorance and has only served for these elites to keep ransacking our country and the rest remain poor.

C.O.- Who are the transnational corporations present in your area? What miniscule group, as you say, exploit Piura?

Julio – The agro exporters are the biggest presence there. These Arabic companies that have practically taken the desert to exploit and they say, “this will help the people” but how much do they pay the workers there? One sol an hour. And those people have to work 12 hours, from 5AM to late at night. But the media won’t tell you that. They say there is progress and development, but for who? For these giant agro-exporter companies that poison our rivers, that have taken over our lagunas, while the people don’t have clean drinking water, these companies have their own water reserves. And at the national level, there are only 7 families that have almost full economic control of the country- the pharmaceutical industry, real estate, minerals, transport- in other words, there’s a monopoly and what allows this monopoly? The Fujimorista constitution. One of these families is the Rodriguez-Pastor, in the pharmaceutical industry. Those bastards that sold one tylenol normally for 20 cents now for 40 soles. So there exists this monopoly that controls everything and doesn’t care about the pain of the people. Because if they wanted to, we would have food lines again. But because they side with the dictatorship, it doesn’t suit them.

C.O. – Could you speak about the struggle against this in Piura? How are the people organizing themselves against these transnationals?

Julio – There in Piura, as of 10 years ago, you could confidently say that it was a Fujimorista bastion. But in actuality, Piura has grown demographically tremendously, and now who populate those settlements are migrants from the Andes region of Piura, like Ayabaca, Morropón or Huancabamba, that migrate to the city of Piura looking for better opportunities. The same thing that happens here in the capital, where people from the south, from the Amazon, from the coast look for better opportunities. So that happens where the people from the Andes where there was never any development migrate to the city and live in poor urban areas and those people who are rural have a long tradition of being anti-Fujimorista and so that has slowly changed the minds of people from Piura. And today those people are in the struggle. In fact today they told the regional governor of Piura that the next time the government goes to lie to the people of Piura, they are capable of throwing them in the river. So for this region to have voted for Perú Libre, for Castillo, at 40% is a great achievement and proof the people were fed up.

In Piura, there is a project called Rio Blanco, where the state wants to give these companies rights to our basin headwaters because supposedly, they have found more copper and gold and they want to exploit these mineral reserves for the next 30 years for a Chinese company. And obviously if Piura having a desert that currently does not have enough water and charges 2 soles for a bottle of water and see these foreign companies taking over our basins and aqueducts, then of course the city of Piura is organizing because being the second most important city in this country, it can’t be possible that there isn’t enough water, light, that there are more bars than hospitals. It can’t be that we have phosphates, and the farmworker can’t have fertilizers, and so that’s why the people of Piura are organizing because we want to see a change, not for ourselves but for our future generations. It was not that long ago that when Vizcarra was in, he signed a loan with the International Monetary Fund, leaving Perú in debt for the next hundred years. And that money goes to these business owners who fund the media, who fund the political campaigns of their right-wing puppets that have kept the Peruvian people in a state of despair. And so, I want to invite the people of Piura, and of Perú to stay in the struggle, to organize, because just like it was our parent’s generation to fight the first Fujimori dictatorship, now it’s our duty to finish the job and draft a new constitution.

The elites here who have their own mansions and private beaches- they can talk about politics, but you, working person, must work 14 hours driving a taxi or working on the streets but talking about politics, no. But that’s why the people need to be organized, whether it’s your neighborhood councils, parent associations, educational committees, university organizations. There are plenty of ways to organize ourselves and fight back because we must fight. Victory is as close as ever. I will end with this quote by Malcolm X, “If you are not careful, the newspaper will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are oppressing.”

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/04/ ... tronghold/

Peru’s Coup Government is Privatizing Lithium Mining
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 18, 2023
Tanya Wadhwa

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Dina Boluarte addressed the nation on April 12 to evaluate the actions of her government since December 7. Photo: Twitter

The move to privatize one of the country’s key strategic resources has been widely rejected by Indigenous community and left movements


Peru’s Minister of Energy and Mines, Óscar Vera, announced on April 10 in a press conference that the government of de facto president Dina Boluarte is set to grant permits to a Canadian mining subsidiary for lithium exploration in the southern region of Puno, near the border with Bolivia. Vera also reported that the authorities were working to reduce license approval time for copper mining projects from about two years to about six months.

The Macusani Yellowcake mining company, owned by the Canadian company Plateau Energy Metals, which as of 2021 is a subsidiary of American Lithium, also has a license for uranium mining in Macusani, Peru.

A day after Vera’s announcement, Indigenous leaders from 14 regions of Peru held a press conference to publicly condemn the decision. The leaders allege that the government’s announcement poses serious risks to 10 million people affected by toxic metals.

In the press conference, organized by the National Platform for People Affected by Metals, Metalloids and Other Toxic Chemical Substances in the capital Lima, Félix Suasaca Suasaca, general secretary of the organization and an Indigenous leader from the Puno region, warned that the people of region wouldn’t allow the lithium’s mining without a prior social agreement with the inhabitants.

“As long as there is no acceptance by the people of Puno, lithium will not come out,” said Suasaca, who came to Lima along with other leaders to express repudiation of Indigenous communities.

Suasaca called for the nationalization of lithium industrialization in Puno so that the people of Peru benefit from its exploitation. “Lithium has to be transformed, industrialized in Puno, the refinery plants have to be built in Puno…the budget must be directed to the Puno region. We are not against mining, but its industrialization must be done here. The raw minerals must be industrialized in Peru, not delivered to another country. Who are we making rich? Another country. What about Peru?” he asked.

The Indigenous leader also rejected the persecution of environmentalists in the country and condemned the lack of compliance with the guidelines established to protect the environment and the health of the population inhabiting the areas affected by the extraction of hydrocarbons and minerals.

“They (foreign mining companies) only leave us with contamination. Each of the government ministries, the regional, provincial and district governments should comply with the Multisectoral Plan for the care of those affected by toxic metals due to these extractive activities. There are many areas affected and contaminated by large scale irresponsible extractive mining activities,” said Suasaca.

“We, the leaders, are being criminalized, due to the current socio-political situation we are experiencing, due to the ouster of Mr. Castillo and usurper Dina Boluarte, and due to this congress that is not interested in the environment. We are not terrorists, we are defenders of human rights and the environment, we are legitimate leaders,” he added.

In this regard, the leader stressed that the organization would send the Multisectoral Plan to each of the regional governments along with a list of affected areas, so that the governments know where this plan needs to be implemented.

“The reactivation of the extractive industry should not be an excuse to put an end to the protection of the environment and human life. The announcements made by the Minister of Economy to end the so-called ‘permissions’ reflect the priorities of the government,” stressed Indigenous leaders from 14 regions.

Conferencia de prensa Plataforma Nacional de Afectados por Metales Tóxicos https://t.co/S4CgujKbo5

— Plataforma Nacional de Afectados x Metales Tóxicos (@MetalesToxicos) April 11, 2023


On April 12, Rubén Apaza Añamuro, spokesperson of the Council of Indigenous Authorities Mallkus, Jilaqatas and Mama Tallas of the Puno region, also expressed the discontent of Indigenous communities with the de-facto government’s attempts to privatize lithium. Apaza Añamuro also said that “the natural resource will not leave the department without first being industrialized.”

He recalled that in a recent meeting of Indigenous authorities, it was agreed to declare lithium as a natural resource belonging to the Quechua and Aymara peoples of the Puno region, as well as to demand its sovereignty. In this regard, the leader added that “we are not opposed to mining, but the conditions must be met, we cannot allow our natural resources to continue being given away.”

He emphasized that resources such as lithium belong to the region, therefore, if a social license is not granted, it should not be explored or exploited.

Political analysts have pointed out the similarities between the de-facto government of Dina Boluarte in Peru and the former de-facto government of Jeanine Áñez in Bolivia. Boluarte and Áñez came to power following coups promoted by right-wing forces and conservative oligarchy, and within months of assuming office they took steps to privatize the lithium reserves in their respective countries. Based on the resistance that Bolivians led against the Áñez regime between November 2019 and 2020, which eventually restored democracy in Bolivia, the analysts hope for a similar fate with the Boluarte government.

Since December 7, 2022, the day democratically elected left-wing President Pedro Castillo was removed by right-wing dominated Congress in a legislative coup and subsequently arrested, hundreds of thousands of people have been in the streets across Peru. They have been demanding Castillo’s immediate release, former vice-president Boluarte’s resignation, closure of the Congress, advanced general elections by the end of the year, and a referendum on a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution.

Puno has been one of the regions with the largest number of anti-government and anti-congress demonstrations in the past months.

Days after his forcible removal and arrest, on December 15, 2022, in a letter shared on his Twitter account, Castillo denounced the involvement of the United States in the coup against him, and indicated that the reason behind it was the country’s large copper reserves. In February, he concluded that it was the country’s lithium reserves that the US and its allies were actually after.

“In Puno, my government and I wanted to rescue the Camisea Gas project and lithium from the region. The whole problem has to do with lithium. Imperialism wants lithium and my government wanted to give lithium to the people,” said imprisoned Castillo in an interview with El Salto in February.

Lithium is in demand worldwide for the manufacture of batteries and its interest makes it an assert of geopolitical interest, especially in a deposit as extensive as that of Puno, which could displace Argentina, Chile and Bolivia in the production of lithium in Latin America.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/04/ ... um-mining/

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Argentinians Protest Against Visit By Head of US Southern Command
APRIL 18, 2023

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US SOUTHCOM head General Laura Richardson meets Argentinian Defense Minister Jorge Taina on Monday, April 17, 2023. Photo: HispanTV.

General Laura Richardson, head of the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), traveled to Argentina on Monday with the aim of meeting with officials including Argentina’s Defense Minister Jorge Taiana. Richardson also visited Argentina in April, 2022. The visit occurs while Russia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov tours the region, visiting Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba.

As a result of Richardson’s visit, various activist groups and social movements have organized demonstrations against the interference of the United States in the region and to oppose the destructive economic policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that have suffocated Argentina’s economy since right-wing president Mauricio Macri took on an odious debt in 2018.


The protesters denounced the neocolonial role of the US general and the White House towards Latin America and the Caribbean, exemplified in the military command organization SOUTHCOM. The US Southern Command station, headquartered in Miami, arrogantly claims responsibility “for providing contingency planning, operations, and security cooperation in its assigned Area of Responsibility which includes Central America, South America, and The Caribbean. The command is also responsible for the force protection of US military resources at these locations.”

In addition, demonstrators accuse the US of seeking to put the wealth of South America at the service of US supply chains.

Last January, Richardson issued categorical statements regarding US interventionist plans for the region. The high-ranking military figure spoke possessively about South and Central America as “our region,” spouting anti-China and anti-Russia propaganda while referring to the countries of the region as if they belonged to the US. “The PRC, in a lot of our countries in this region, is the number one trade partner,” she said at that time.

A little over two years after the US-backed coup in lithium-rich Bolivia, Richardson drew attention to the importance of the compound. “This region… With all its rich resources and rare earth elements. You’ve got the Lithium Triangle, which is needed for technology today. 60% of the world’s lithium is in the Lithium Triangle—Argentina, Bolivia, Chile.”

Richardson also stated that the US is interested in oil reserves found in Guyana and Venezuela, as well as copper and gold. When she mentioned the US concern regarding fresh water found in the region, her choice of words could lead one to think that the US already owns this water. “We have 31% of the world’s fresh water in this region too,” she said.

https://orinocotribune.com/argentinians ... n-command/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: South America

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Argentine Government Welcomes U.S. Army’s Southern Command with Open Arms
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on APRIL 25, 2023
People’s Communication Network

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The head of the Southern Command, Laura Richardson, visited Argentina to review and discuss lithium, fresh water, oil and other assets.

The head of the US Southern Command, Laura Richardson, arrived in Argentina on Sunday and held a private meeting with the Minister of Defense, Jorge Taiana, on Monday, after holding a meeting with Juan Martín Paleo, the Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces. As reported by the Southern Command, they discussed “security cooperation” as “Argentina is a trusted regional security partner”.


In January, during an Atlantic Council (think tank close to NATO) event, he said: “Why is this region important? With all its rich resources and rare earth elements, you have the lithium triangle, which today is necessary for technology. Sixty percent of the world’s lithium is in the lithium triangle: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile… We have 31% of the world’s fresh water in this region… With that inventory, the United States has a lot left to do, this region matters, as it has a lot to do with national security and we have to start our game… We also have the largest oil reserves, including light and sweet crude. You have the resources of Venezuela as well, with oil, copper, gold, and there is the importance of the Amazon as the lungs of the world.”

The meeting between Richardson and Taiana coincides in turn with the visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Brazil, in the broader context of the NATO/US war on Ukrainian soil against the Russian Federation.

Two months ago, as a result of the Russian Special Military Operation in Ukraine, the head of the Southern Command proposed to several South American countries to get rid of Russian military equipment to donate it to the Ukrainian country and replace it with North American material. According to the media Zona Militar, the Armed Forces would have in their arsenals helicopters, armored vehicles, light weapons, artillery pieces and ammunition of Russian and Soviet origin, although they would be units four decades or more old. Argentina and Brazil have reportedly received the offer, without moving forward with the initiative.

The topics that Commander Richardson and Minister Taiana discussed in the Libertador building were kept strictly confidential, but it is known that among the topics of interest of the Southern Command are: the purchase of equipment for the Armed Forces, the advance of China in the region, the safeguarding of natural resources and joint cooperation in military operations. Among the concerns that Richardson brings to Argentina is the repeated warning from Washington about the installation of China’s space station in Neuquén managed by the Chinese People’s Army, always accused of “dual use”.

The arrival of “the general” is added to the one made last week by U.S. Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman. These visits are part of the continuity of the conversations between the administrations of both countries, which had a central point on March 29 at the White House with the meeting between Biden and the “progressive” Alberto Fernandez.

The truth is that the discussion on what to do with and how to deal responsibly with the natural assets of countries like Argentina is part of the historical debate on national sovereignty and the real possibilities of economic, industrial and social development of the peoples, neither Peronism nor Kirchnerism think about the issue from an anti-imperialist point of view. This is pure and hard capitalism.

For capitalist political managers there is no contradiction between supposed “national development projects” and the appropriation of natural resources by multinational corporations (many of them American or Chinese). For them, the fact that these strategic resources are in the hands of the working peoples of Latin America is unnecessary and even inconvenient.

In addition, the visit included a meeting with the heads of the Army, Navy and Air Force, as well as with the Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Juan Martin Paleo.


During their visit last year, Taiana and Richardson talked about Argentina’s need to modernize its military equipment and the conditions of the British veto, which, by decision of the United Kingdom, prevents the sale of military equipment with components from that country to Argentina. The Argentine government hopes that this restriction will be relaxed, in order to aspire to enter the US market, with the purpose of accessing the renewal of the units and material of the different forces.

Another concern of the United States is the challenge posed by China’s rapprochement to the region, which was expressed by Wendy Sherman during her visit to Buenos Aires.

During her visit to Argentina, Sherman met with Ministers Santiago Cafiero and Sergio Massa, but also with the Secretary of Energy, Flavia Royón, and her Mining counterpart, Fernanda Ávila. At the end of the day, he gave a speech in which he talked about the nuclear cooperation between Argentina and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). In this sense, he emphasized that although Argentina “understands nuclear energy well” with respect to the manufacture of small reactors, the country should “be cautious” when it comes to agreeing with Beijing.

Last Monday, Taiana received a delegation from China’s State Administration for Science, Technology and National Defense Industry, headed by its vice-administrator, Zhan Bin Xu. The objective was to “deepen international cooperation between the two countries in the field of defense industry,” the ministry reported.

“We are not asking them to choose between us and China, although I believe we have superior products to offer. But what we do say is that they have to be cautious, understand what they are buying,” Sherman pointed out.

“There are ongoing discussions about aircraft that I think are going in a positive direction but it’s not fully resolved,” the U.S. deputy chief of diplomacy replied at the Bosch Palace during the meeting with journalists.


At the same time, the United States as well as China and Russia are expectant about the construction of the Antarctic Logistics Pole in Ushuaia, which the Argentine government is promoting to establish “a bridge to Antarctica”. The initiative is complemented by the Integral Naval Base which is also being carried out in the capital of Ushuaia.

The Southern Command is the Pentagon unit designed to defend the interests of the United States in the region. Headquartered in Miami, it controls U.S. bases in Latin America, and provides training, intelligence and military coordination to all regional armed forces under the recommendations of the State Department. Today, with the presence of the Southern Command in Argentina, the Fernandez government is only deepening its political subordination to the US.

Translation by Internationalist 360°

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/04/ ... open-arms/

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More than 2,600 detainees during a police operation in Costa Rica

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The Costa Rican government seeks to combat organized crime and the escalation of homicides in various parts of the country. | Photo: @seguridadcrc
Published 26 April 2023

The Vice Minister of Public Security indicated that 60 of those captured had "pending issues with the law."

Costa Rican authorities reported Tuesday that more than 2,600 people have been arrested in the first week of the special operation against organized crime in the Central American country.

The President of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves, announced last Tuesday the security operation called "Costa Rica Segura", which implies an increase in police officers on the streets and the incorporation of 700 uniformed officers.

The Vice Minister of Public Security, Daniel Calderón, indicated through a video that 16 people were arrested for crimes against life and more than 90 for crimes against property, mainly assault.


Calderón also pointed out that 60 of those captured had "pending issues with the law."

The official Calderón commented that in the first week of the security operation, 47 firearms, 11 "less lethal" weapons and 106 bladed weapons have been seized, as well as various quantities of different drugs.

At the beginning, the operation "Costa Rica Segura" was rejected by police agents with mobilizations, considering it unfair that their rest day was reduced.


The Costa Rican government seeks to combat organized crime and the escalation of homicides in various parts of the country, which made 2022 the year with the most violent deaths since there are records.

The operation against organized crime "Costa Rica Segura" will be extended for six months.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/costa-ri ... -0002.html

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(Tip for would-be eco-tourists: Go to Nicaragua, there's more good habitat, less crime and a developing socialist to support. )

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President of Ecuador absent at impeachment hearing

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With the presentation of the president's defense, the court will conclude the phase dedicated to hearing witnesses and analyzing documents. | Photo: EFE
Published 26 April 2023

The presence of Guillermo Lasso within the process will only occur if the second and final stage of the judicial process is reached.

The President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, will not appear before the Oversight Commission of the National Assembly (Parliament) as part of the impeachment process against him for the crime of embezzlement.

According to the schedule, this Wednesday the ruler was to present his defense. However, the legal secretary of the Ecuadorian Presidency, Juan Pablo Ortiz, pointed out that, in principle, the presence of the president within the process will only occur if the second and last stage is reached, when he has to make his argument before the plenary session. of the camera.

Meanwhile, his lawyer Édgar Neira will be the one to intervene to try to demonstrate that there is no political responsibility in the irregularities detected in a contract between the state-owned Flota Petrolera Ecuatoriana (Flopec) and the company Amazonas Tanker.


For the questioning legislators, this agreement is the basis for prosecuting the president for apparently knowing about the anomalies and not doing anything to stop them despite being harmful to the country.

With the presentation of the president's defense, the court will conclude the phase dedicated to hearing witnesses and analyzing documents and, from that moment, the Commission will have ten days to conclude a report on whether or not to recommend impeachment.

The legislators requesting the trial will also present their arguments this Wednesday, something that was scheduled for the day before, but the session was postponed so that the prosecution and defense parties appeared the same day.

In order to censure the head of state, the support of two thirds of the plenary of the Assembly is needed, that is, 92 of 137 parliamentarians.

https://www.telesurtv.net/news/ecuador- ... -0008.html

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"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Fri May 05, 2023 1:13 pm

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Boluarte regime signs $770K lobby contract with U.S. PR firm
May 2, 2023

Peru’s coup regime has locked down a $40,000/month lobby contract with U.S. public relations firm Patriot Strategies, according to a agreement document published by AP reporter Josh Goodman.

The contract, dated April 10th, says “Patriot’s representation will encompass providing targeted communications, strategic planning, tactical execution, and public relations assistance on matters before the US Congress, the White House, academic institutions, NGO’s and think-tanks, the business community and the media. Patriot’s efforts will be in furtherance of the Peruvian State’s long-term interests and safeguarding the good image of Peru as an attractive partner for investment, tourism and constructive engagement for the benefit of the Peruvian People. Building on its previous engagement with the Embassy of Peru, Patriot will work with the Embassy of Peru to expand and implement a strategy..”

The agreement states that the PR firm will “submit a technical report to the Embassy of Peru” upon the conclusion of the contract term, which lasts fourteen months, effective as of April 10.

At $40,000 USD per month, the Peruvian government’s contract with Patriot totals $770,000 USD including “Administration and Implementation Support Costs”, charged in the amount of $15,000 USD per month to the Embassy of Peru.

Social movements and civil society organizations in Peru continue to draw attention to the illegitimacy of the Dina Boluarte administration, which since December 7, has carried out dozens of killings of protesters and civilians in general, and which has committed a long and growing list of human rights violations since the coup.

By Kawsachun News

https://kawsachunnews.com/boluarte-regi ... -s-pr-firm

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Lasso's Anti-Terrorist Operations Raise Concern in Ecuador

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Soldiers patrol the street in front of the Presidential Palace, Quito, Ecuador, 2023. | Photo: Twitter/ @LosTiemposBol

Published 4 May 2023

Citizens expressed concern about the ongoing military "strategy" because, in practical terms, it is not clear how the government will define who "terrorists" are.

On Wednesday, President Guillermo Lasso signed a decree allowing the Armed Forces to carry out military operations throughout Ecuadorian territory "to confront and counter terrorist organizations and individuals."

This decision was announced as part of a strategy that tries to put an end to the increasing number of violent acts, murders, robberies, and assaults that Ecuador has experienced since Lasso came to power in 2021.

The decree establishes that the military operations are aimed at guaranteeing sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as the full validity of the rule of law. It also sets that these operations must respect both "international instruments" and domestic laws.

Within the current strategy, the Armed Forces Joint Command must coordinate with the National Police and initiate actions "to repress the terrorist threat with all the means at its disposal."

Lasso also ordered that the institution in charge of the prisons provide for the security of soldiers and agents who could be "subjected to criminal legal proceedings" for participating in the anti-terrorist operations.

The Ecuadorian president commissioned the Finance Ministry to provide the Armed Forces and the Police with all the necessary resources to fulfill the entrusted mission. Citizen reactions to the de facto militarization of the country did not wait.

Progressive politicians, human rights advocates and intellectuals expressed concern about the ongoing "strategy" because, in practical terms, it is not clear how the Lasso administration will define who "terrorists" are.

In recent days, the Ecuadorian far-right spokesmen accused the Indigenous movement of "harboring terrorists and possessing paramilitary forces."

These baseless accusations and the decree occur at a time when Congress will have to decide whether President Lasso is subject to impeachment in a highly publicized corruption case, in which his brother-in-law and the Albanian mafia are apparently involved.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Las ... -0012.html

Ecuador's Former President Moreno Faces Prison Order

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Ecuador's Former President Lenin Moreno (R). | Photo: Twitter/ @RosaDiazY

Published 20 April 2023

In 2019, a journalist investigation linked Moreno to INA Investment, an offshore company that the Prosecutor's Office began to investigate.


On Wednesday, the Ecuadorian Attorney General's Office requested provisional detention for Lenin Moreno, who served as the country's president between 2017 and 2021.

This politician faces trial in the "Sinohydro Case," in which he is accused of receiving bribes for the construction of Coca Codo Sinclair, the country's largest hydroelectric power station.

Currently, Moreno resides in Asuncion city in Paraguay, from where he serves as the the Organization of American States' Commissioner for Disability Issues. The ex president should have appeared before the National Court of Justice in Quito on March 20, but he did not.

Initially, the Prosecutor's Office had requested provisional detention for all the defendants in this case, with the exception of Moreno and 12 other people over the age of 65, whom the Constitution exempts from this measure.


The tweet reads, "Lenin Moreno and his family will pay for their atrocities. Jail for the traitors of the people. Guillermo Lasso this will be your destiny. Delinquents!,"

However, due to the non-compliance with the periodic appearance before the judicial authorities, the Public Prosecutor's Office now requests his preventive imprisonment.

In fact, the Sinohydro Case provisional prison request also covers eight other people, including Moreno's wife Rocio Gonzalez and their daughter Irina.

From the outset, the former president showed his intention not to appear in court and tried unsuccessfully to revoke the court order on two occasions. To that effect, Moreno argued that his physical condition prevented him from making frequent trips from Paraguay to Ecuador.

At least 37 citizens are accused of bribery in a corruption case in which the Prosecutor's Office estimates that the Chinese company Sinohydro paid around US$76 million in bribes for the construction of the Coca Codo Sinclair plant.


The political scandal broke out in 2019 when La Fuente journalists published information involving a Moreno's brother with a luxurious property in Alicante (Spain) as well as with accounts in tax havens, from which financial triangulation operations were carried out.

These data revealed alleged irregularities that linked Moreno to INA Investment, an offshore company that the Ecuadorian Prosecutor's Office began to investigate.

Moreno argues being a victim of a political plot against him and denies having anything to do with the mechanisms through which the construction of Coca Codo Sinclar was financed.

In Ecuador, however, Moreno is remembered as a far-right politician who betrayed the Citizen Revolution movement that sponsored his candidacy.

Once in power, he implemented neoliberal policies that favored financial elites, cracked down harshly on Indigenous Peoples and workers, and shamelessly sided with the U.S. agenda.

As a consequence of the latter, Moreno withdrew the political asylum of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and allowed his capture at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ecu ... -0009.html
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Thu May 11, 2023 2:59 pm

The Peruvian State Carried Out Extrajudicial Killings and Other Abuses
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on MAY 10, 2023
Clau O'Brien Moscoso

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Human Rights Watch and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Confirm What Masses Have Condemned: Peruvian State Carried Out Extrajudicial Killings and Other AbusesRelatives mourn victims during a mass after the deadliest clashes in anti-government protests against Peru's President Dina Boluarte, in Juliaca, Peru February 9, 2023. (Photo: REUTERS/Pilar Olivares)

Human Rights Watch and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights confirm what was already clear to BAR's reporter and others on the ground in Peru. The coup government has committed extra-judicial killings and other human rights abuses.


National Strike, Day 120

This past week marked the 5th month since the democratically elected President Pedro Castillo was ousted in a parliamentary coup. It also marks five months of popular mass mobilizations against the current coup regime led by Dina Boluarte and the far-right Congress, controlled by the Fujimori/Montesinos mafia. The past several weeks has also seen multiple publications from Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) confirming what Peruvians have already reported, that human rights abuses, including the use of indiscriminate force and extrajudicial killings, among others, occurred during the protests throughout Peru following the coup, with most of the violence concentrated primarily in the southern Andean regions. These reports, and several that have already been published by other human rights observers, confirm what the people on the ground have been protesting since December 7th of last year. Recommendations are made for impartial and independent investigations into these deaths and violations with a specific focus on racial and ethnic discrimination.

The coup regime continues to dig its heels in and denies responsibility by saying that “ it's just one NGO ” claiming Boluarte's detractors are misogynists because she is the first woman head of state. The masses of people who have remained out in the streets and fighting to overturn this dictatorship say she is not the first woman president; she is the first woman dictator. They say this isn't about being a woman, this is about the popular vote once again being denied to the primarily indigenous peasant and working class of the country who overwhelmingly voted to reject the failed 30-year neoliberal regime installed by a dictatorial constitution. This is about the masses of the working class, peasant and indigenous Peruvian people being the protagonists in the political sphere, whether by electing one of their own in Castillo, or by being active participants in a Constituent Assembly. The hollow “ identity reductionism Boluarte used as justification for carrying out massacres, amounting to more than 80 deaths at this point, is more failed rhetoric to evade responsibility for those deaths. The president of the IACHR, Margarette May Macaulay , in response to these remarks stated, “The president's statement is disappointing, but these things usually happen”.

Both reports rely on hundreds of interviews, reviewed footage and photographs of the protests, and reviewed ballistics and autopsy reports of those killed, during the immediate aftermath of the coup and several months later, whether on the ground or remotely. They concluded that the Peruvian military and national police carried out extrajudicial killings, with the violence in Ayacucho amounting to a massacre, violated the constitutional rights to peacefully protest, arbitrary arrests, violations of the free press and that there was racial stigmatization against the mostly indigenous peasant protesters and their supporters in the capital city, among other abuses. This type of animus was highlighted by HRW 's report in the highland town of Ayacucho, “'Fuck him,' Bárcena Loayza recalled a military officer responding. 'Terrorists deserve to die like that.' The ambulance took the wounded back to the hospital. Hancco Chacca died in the early hours of December 17”. The Peruvian state and mainstream media outlets owned by some of the country's richest families, have fueled this rhetoric against indigenous campesinos by calling them “terrorists”, “terrucos”, “senderistas”, “cholos” and “indios” (the last two being specifically racially charged disparaging indigenous peoples), allowing the over 80 deaths and other violations occurring to be whitewashed, according to the IACHR .

As the approval ratings for both Dina Boluarte and the Congress reach record lows, the coup government has hired an American PR firm to soften Boluarte's image amidst all the continued protests and now human rights reports from multiple organs that confirm extrajudicial killings and other violations of international law, for which the state is responsible. Boluarte and her de ella Prime Minister Alberto Ótarola have also begun to distance themselves from these accusations by stating that neither Dina Boluarte or any top official gave the order for these killings, thereby making the Chief of the National Police and of the Military the responsible party . Despite the findings of these reports, they both give credibility to the right-wing saying Castillo launched a failed coup attempt and that the constitutional orders were followed. This aspect of the reports has been denied by protesters, saying the impeachment itself was illegal, only reaching 101 votes and not the 104 required, and that the protocols for an impeachment were not followed. Of course the fact that IACHR is under the auspices of the Organization of American States, an organization dominated by US interests that greenlit massacres in the Andes in Bolivia in 2019, is not lost on the people.

The past several months has seen mass mobilizations and organization against this coup regime throughout the 25 regions of Peru and in the capital city, with multiple waves of provincial delegations traveling to the capital city, as well as erecting hundreds of blockades throughout the country as part of the national strike. While many delegations have gone back to their regions to continue the struggle in their own communities and as campesinos to harvest the lands, there are plans for an upcoming “ Third Takeover of Lima.” ” which thousands of protesters are expected to mobilize for. There are daily concentrations in Lima outside the Penal de Barbadillo, where Pedro Castillo, along with former dictator Alberto Fujimori, are held to demand the liberty and restitution of Castillo and coordinated strikes in the macro-regions while protesters are back in their home regions . They say they will not stop mobilizing, much less now that human rights reports have confirmed what the masses have denounced as killings and acts of human rights abuses which seem to be causing a rift in the coup regime between the heads of the Armed Forces and the executive and legislative powers.

**In Spanish**

Human Rights Watch and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights confirm what the masses have condemned: the Peruvian state committed extrajudicial executions and other abuses

Last week marked the fifth month since the democratically elected president, Pedro Castillo, was ousted in a parliamentary coup. It also marks five months of massive popular mobilizations against the current coup regime led by Dina Boluarte and the far-right Congress, controlled by the Fujimori/Montesinos mafia. In recent weeks, both Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) have published several reports confirming what Peruvians have already reported that human rights abuses have occurred, including the use of indiscriminate force and extrajudicial killings, among others, during the protests in Peru after the coup, with most of the violence concentrated in the southern Andean regions. These reports, along with others published by human rights watchdog groups, they confirm what people on the ground have been protesting since December 7 last year. Recommendations are made for impartial and independent investigations into these deaths and rapes, with a specific focus on racial and ethnic discrimination.

The coup regime continues to deny its responsibility by saying that " it is only an NGO " and affirming that Boluarte's detractors are misogynists. because she is the first female head of state. The masses of people who have remained in the streets fighting to overthrow this dictatorship say that she is not the first female president; she is the first female dictator. They affirm that this is not about being a woman, it is about the fact that once again the popular vote has been denied to the majority of peasant and indigenous women and to the working class of the country, who voted overwhelmingly to reject the failed 30-year-old neoliberal regime installed by a dictatorial constitution. It is about the masses of the working class, peasant and indigenous people of Peru being the protagonists in the political sphere, either by electing one of their own in Castillo, or by being active participants in a Constituent Assembly. The “ identity reductionism "Hole that Boluarte used as a justification to carry out massacres, which have resulted in more than 80 deaths at this time, is a failed speech to evade responsibility for those deaths. The president of the IACHR, Margarette May Macaulay , in response to these comments, stated: "The president's statement is disappointing, but these things often happen."

Both reports are based on hundreds of interviews, reviewed images and photographs of the protests, and autopsy and ballistic reports of the victims, during the immediate aftermath of the coup and several months afterward, either on the ground or remotely. They concluded that the armed forces (FFAA) and the Peruvian National Police (PNP) carried out extrajudicial executions, with the violence in Ayacucho reaching the level of a massacre, violated the constitutional rights to protest peacefully, carried out arbitrary detentions, violated freedom of the press and racial stigmatization of peasant protesters, mostly indigenous, and their supporters in the capital, among other abuses. This type of animosity was highlighted in the HRW report in the city of Ayacucho, “'Fuck him,' Bárcena Loayza recalled that a military officer responded. 'Terrorists deserve to die like this.' The ambulance took the injured back to the hospital. Hancco Chacca died in the early hours of December 17.” The Peruvian state and the mainstream media, owned by some of the country's wealthiest families, have fueled this rhetoric against indigenous peasants calling them "terrorists," "terrucos," "senderistas," "cholos" and "indios" (the The latter two have a specifically racial charge that despises indigenous peoples), which allowed the more than 80 deaths and other violations that occurred to be whitewashed, according to the IACHR .

As approval ratings for both Dina Boluarte and Congress reach historically low levels, the coup government has hired a public relations firm US government to soften Boluarte's image amid all the ongoing protests and now multi-agency human rights reports confirming extrajudicial killings and other violations of international law for which the state is responsible. Boluarte and his Prime Minister Alberto Ótarola have also begun to distance themselves from these accusations, stating that neither Dina Boluarte nor any high-ranking official gave the order for these executions, so the responsibility would fall on the Chief of the National Police and the Army. . Despite the findings of these reports, both lend credence to the right wing that Castillo launched a failed coup attempt and that constitutional orders were followed. This aspect of the reports has been denied by protesters, 101 votes and not the 104 required, and that the protocols for an impeachment trial were not followed. Of course, the fact that the IACHR falls under the auspices of the Organization of American States, a US-dominated organization that approved massacres in the Andes in Bolivia in 2019, is not lost on people.

In recent months, massive mobilizations and organizing against this coup regime have been seen in all 25 regions of Peru and in the capital, with multiple waves of provincial delegations traveling to the capital city, as well as the placement of hundreds of blockades across the country as part of the national strike. Although many delegations have returned to their regions to continue the struggle in their own communities and as peasants to harvest the land, there are plans for an upcoming "Third Takeover of Lima" for which thousands of protesters are expected to mobilize. There are daily rallies in Lima in front of the Barbadillo Prison, where Pedro Castillo, along with former dictator Alberto Fujimori, are to demand the release and restitution of Castillo and coordinated strikes in the macro-regions while the protesters are back in their regions. originally. They claim that they will not stop mobilizing, much less now that human rights reports have confirmed what the masses have denounced as murders and acts of human rights violations that appear to be driving a wedge in the coup regime between the heads of the Armed Forces and the executive and legislative powers.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/05/ ... er-abuses/

US Interventionism in the Peruvian Justice System and the Coup D’état Against Pedro Castillo
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on MAY 9, 2023
José Carlos Llerena

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US Ambassador Lisa Kenna with Peruvian Attorney General Patricia Benavides. Photo: Twitter

Suspicions were raised after the US Ambassador to Peru posted a photo with Peru’s Attorney General. Peruvian activist and jurist José Carlos Llerena Robles argues that US interventionism in the Peruvian justice system has much deeper roots


On April 13, US Ambassador to Peru Lisa Kenna posted a photo with the Peruvian Attorney General Patricia Benavides on her personal Twitter account. She added that the two had a meeting to discuss “the importance of moving forward with investigations of incidents of violence and human rights cases in recent months”.

This tweet is further evidence to not only the role played by the US embassy in the coup d’état against President Pedro Castillo Terrones on December 7, 2022, but also a long history of US interventionism in the justice system of our country. It also shows that today, in a period of multi-polar transition, is extremely strategic for the US to take care of its “Backyard” and give continuity to the Monroe Doctrine.

There is no doubt about the fundamental role played by Prosecutor Benavides in the judicial, parliamentary, and media plot to achieve the illegal and arbitrary detention of President Castillo. As such, the meetings held prior to the coup d’état of December 7, 2022, as well as the public congratulations from Ambassador Kenna, a former CIA officer according to her public resume, to the prosecutor are no coincidence. It is worth noting that the prosecutor’s sister is a suspect in the organized crime case “Los Cuellos Blancos del Puerto” (White Collars of the Port).

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However, this meddling of US hegemony in the internal affairs of the Peruvian State is neither recent nor specific to this case. Economist Silvio Rendón, in his book “The intervention of the United States in Peru. From the project of the protectorate till Wikileaks”, systematizes the Yankee interventionism in our country since the War of the Pacific, with its modalities ranging from its military modalities to the “Human Rights” industry. At the beginning of the year 2000, in the well-known period of the “return to democracy”, this interventionism adopted a different garb. Through NGOs and with USAID funding, support was given to the “Reform of the Justice System”.

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The purpose of this interventionist tactic is to guarantee control over the design and application of the Justice System in Peru in order to safeguard US economic, commercial and geopolitical interests in the country. For example, USAID was in charge of the training and promotion of the new Criminal Procedure Code, as detailed by Javier De Belaunde in his text “The Reform of the Justice System, on the right path?”

As De Belaunde points out, “the new Code proposes a new model of criminal procedure. The new law, which is accusatory, oral and public, redefines the roles of the judges and the Public Prosecutor’s Office”.

In other words, the United States Agency for International Development helped determine the procedural rules of the Peruvian criminal process, as well as the “training” of state actors in the process, such as the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The importation of legal categories or mechanisms is also part of the interventionism in the justice system. This not only guarantees procedures similar to those that exist in the United States, but also builds and feeds a consensus among legal operators about how the American model of justice is an ideal. This happens with the Law of Effective Collaboration, or Plea Bargaining, which today is so useful for Lawfare schemes where the imputation of crimes of “corruption” to progressive and leftist leaders are always based on testimonies of “witnesses” and “effective collaborators”, rather than on evidence to support a criminal charge. Effective Collaboration makes it possible for Judge Moro, a ward of the US Department of Justice, to say bluntly, at the time of sentencing President Lula Da Silva: “I have no evidence, but I have convictions”.

Another manifestation of this interventionism in the justice system, and perhaps more shamelessly, is the extension of the scope of application of US laws to Peruvian territory. This happens, for example, with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which turns out to be, as Romano and Britto point out, “a legal and institutional framework that enables the extraterritoriality of US regulations, affecting individuals, companies and entire economies”. Precisely, this legal scheme allows the United States to apply economic sanctions to States whose alternative projects do not satisfy US expectations, violating any notion of sovereignty of the peoples, or to prosecute leftist leaders for accusations of “corruption” which in the long run are never proven but which are effective for short-term political purposes of the Creole elites and US imperialism.

In this sense, the recent meeting between the US Ambassador Kenna and the Peruvian Public Prosecutor is nothing but another evidence of the level of interventionism of the US imperialism that Peru has been suffering for several years. The official communication channels show that the US Embassy, even before Patricia Benavides took office, has had an intimate relationship with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which raises doubts as to whether the interests of the Peruvian people are being prioritized in the prosecutor’s work in Peru.

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It is enough to lift a stone in the Peruvian justice system to find funds from the US State that seek to guarantee its geopolitical interests instead of the effective jurisdictional protection that all Peruvian men and women deserve. From the presence of USAID in the first level of the Judicial Branch building, to the apparently “collaborative” Justice Sector Support Project -managed by the ABA ROLI and funded by the US State Department- which in 2017 developed a “Digital Evidence Manual” for the Public Prosecutor’s Office, to the training and capacity building of justice system operators by NGOs with funding from USAID and NED. The meeting between the Prosecutor of the Nation and the ambassador is only the tip of the iceberg of an affront to the sovereignty of justice of Peru, but, at the same time, irrefutable proof of the role of the United States in the coup d’état against President Pedro Castillo on December 7, 2022.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/05/ ... -castillo/

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Peruvian Coup Regime Approves Lithium Mining as Puno Rejects Plan Without Nationalization
MAY 5, 2023

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Protesters with banner in hand reading: "The US installed Dina (Boluarte) to get lithium and cocaine." Photo: Twitter @OllieVargas79.

By Clau O’Brien Moscoso – Apr 26, 2023

The people of Peru demand that their lithium reserves benefit that nation through a nationalization process, and that their environment be protected when their resources are extracted.

National Strike, Day 110

The Peruvian coup regime remains entrenched in power more than four months after the parliamentary coup that ousted democratically elected President Pedro Castillo. On April 10th, the de facto Minister of Energy and Mines Óscar Vera announced the coup government would grant permits to Macusani Yellowcake , subsidiary of Canadian mining company Plateau Energy Metals, which as of 2021 is a subsidiary of American Lithium in the Macusani town of the Puno region. This comes in the wake of the anti-coup protests that placed lithium as one of the main resources the coup government, serving its transnational corporate interests, would move swiftly to privatize. Leaders of the Puno region, including the National Platform for People Affected by Metals, Metalloids and Other Toxic Chemical Substances, have stated clearly that until there is respect for the people of Puno, the lithium will not leave.

This comes after the unanimous decision by the Council of Original Aymara and Quechua Authorities in Ilave, Puno with the participation of 3,000 community members to continue defending the sovereignty of their territories, and not exploit lithium without nationalization and industrialization within Perú to benefit the people of the 13 provinces of Puno. According to one leader, “We will not allow lithium to leave the highlands without industrialization, we will exercise our legitimate right over the sovereignty of lithium for the Aymara, Quechua, and Amazonian peoples. Lithium will not be freely disposed of as they believe in Lima.” However, the coup regime in Lima has not consulted these communities in Puno, or so much as done environmental surveys in the area to minimize environmental degradation.

The people of Puno, much like the coup regime and its corporate masters, understand the importance of lithium in the 4th industrialization and have seen the advances that nationalizing that mineral can mean for the people in neighboring Bolivia. This coup was always about getting to the lithium of Puno, along with all the other vast minerals and resources Perú contains. As a young protester from Asillo, Puno told me, “They have negotiated international treaties with legal contracts with companies that exploit our raw materials; we are simply a raw material exporting country. And we as young people think that in the 21st century we can transform these resources.”

The battle in Puno, much like the broader struggle in Perú, is to end the ransacking of natural resources by transnational corporations with no regard for the people of those lands whose soil and waters become contaminated, whose labor is exploited for 1 sol an hour, whose roads and infrastructure remain dilapidated, and whose children must walk for hours to get an underfunded education. As Pedro Castillo stated in an interview with El Salto publication, “the whole problem has to do with lithium. Imperialism wants lithium and my government wanted to give lithium to the people.” One could say this is why Bolivia’s president Luis Arce has proposed the creation of a Latin American wide Lithium OPEC to jointly design a lithium policy throughout the region that prioritizes the development of those countries. Mexico’s AMLO also recently announced the nationalization of that country’s lithium deposits, and Chile’s Gabriel Boric also made a similar announcement that puts the mineral at the center of future development of Latin American countries, using their own natural resources to fund public services like education, housing, healthcare, etc. This is what the people of Puno are fighting for- sovereignty over their lands and resources to improve the lives of people on those lands.

The region is making a transition from raw material exporting countries to sovereign nations that industrialize their own resources and trade internationally to benefit their own people. Those at the forefront of these struggles understand that it’s more than just raw materials. This is about life itself, about future generations. As we see yet another social leader assassinated by private interests (¡Santiago Contoricón presente!) for defending territorial rights, the Peruvian people yearn and are fighting for the sovereignty that the current coup regime is selling off to the highest bidders, mostly Western entities.

https://orinocotribune.com/peruvian-cou ... alization/

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How Did Right-Wing Forces Win a Majority of Seats in Chile’s Constitutional Council?
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on MAY 10, 2023
Peoples Dispatch

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Chile’s right-wing forces won the majority of seats in the Constitutional Council in a vote held on May 7. Photo: Servel/Twitter

Center-left President Gabriel Boric has called on the opposition “to prevent history from repeating itself,” and “draft a constitution that interprets the vast majority of the country”


On Sunday, May 7, over 12 million Chileans participated in the the polls to elect the 50 members of the Constitutional Council, a new body responsible for writing the country’s new constitution. According to the final results released by Chile’s Electoral Service (SERVEL), right-wing forces won the majority of seats in the Constitutional Council.

The far-right Republican Party won 23 seats, and Safe Chile, the coalition of center-right parties, won 11 seats. Meanwhile, Unity for Chile, the alliance of left-wing and center-left parties, won 16 seats. Additionally, there is one seat reserved for a representative of the Indigenous peoples.

With these results, the conservative forces, which had explicitly expressed themselves against the drafting of a new constitution, ironically now have the power to set its course.

The Republican Party, which has been in favor of maintaining the current constitution stemming from the US-backed military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), has more than a third of seats, which grants it the power to potentially block any social reform and veto it during deliberations.

Additionally, the Republican Party and the Safe Chile coalition together have more than 30 seats, necessary to approve any new norm without the need to make a pact with the left.

Meanwhile, the ruling center-left government of President Gabriel Boric and allies, which suffered a defeat, have very little room to influence the new constitution.

In this regard, on Sunday, following the announcement of preliminary results, President Boric called on the opposition “not to make the same mistakes” that they did in the previous process. “Democracy is always defended and strengthened with more democracy, and never with less,” said the president.

The head of state pointed out that “this council is going to have the republican responsibility of making these lessons a lesson to prevent history from repeating itself, and drafting a text that interprets the vast majority of the country.”

“A Constitution that is born from a democratic process will be able to have social legitimacy and provide long-term stability to our country, which is what our people need,” added President Boric.

Why are Chileans rewriting their constitution?

The demand to rewrite the country’s dictatorship-era constitution was raised during the social uprising against inequality in October 2019. A year later, in October 2020, Chileans overwhelmingly approved the drafting of a new constitution in the entry plebiscite. In May 2021, they elected a majority of independent and left-wing candidates as members of the Constitutional Convention for this responsibility. Nevertheless, the proposed constitution was turned down by 62% of the votes in the exit referendum in September 2022. This is attributed to a widespread misinformation and divisive campaign led by the conservative sectors in mass media and social media. Had it been passed, it would have become one of the world’s most progressive constitutions.

In January, the congress and the president approved a bill to launch a new constituent process to replace the country’s constitution. According to this new process, the members of the Constitutional Council will begin writing a new constitution on the basis of a draft already prepared by the Commission of Experts. They will take office on June 7 and have five months to fulfill their mission.

On December 17, the citizens will return to the polls to vote to declare themselves “in favor” or “against” the final draft in another mandatory referendum.

Return of the right?

The resounding victory of the right-wing in Sunday’s elections came as a shock to many on the left.

For Camilo Godoy, a sociologist from the University of Chile with a masters in International Studies from the University of Santiago Chile, the right’s victory points to the continued trend of “not necessarily depoliticization, but of de-ideologization of Chilean society.” Godoy highlights that this process has been occurring over the last several years and “has been encouraged by the current neoliberal system”. “Political preferences tend to be very volatile,” Godoy said, pointing to the seemingly stark shifts between the elections of Michelle Bachelet, Sebastian Piñera, and Gabriel Boric in the last decade.

Godoy argues that some of the shock may also stem from the mischaracterization of the nature of the social uprising in 2019, interpreted by many as a politicized uprising against neoliberalism and capitalism. “It is necessary to read [the uprising] beyond this dichotomy of the revolt understood in an anti-capitalist sense, but to understand that there was a fraction of society that saw in this movement a kind of catharsis. A catharsis against abuses, against the stabilization of certain injustices in society, and in that sense, it wasn’t necessarily a very ideological movement or a very politicized movement.” In other words, while the motivations for people taking to the streets may arise from the injustices of the neoliberal capitalist system, the uprising itself did not necessarily provoke a shift in political consciousness or ideologization of society against the right and its project.

The government of center-left president Gabriel Boric is another significant factor in understanding the swing to the right. The South American country continues to face a difficult economic situation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicting a 1% contraction of the country’s economy.

While Boric’s government has taken important steps to alleviate the economic burden on vulnerable sectors, for example with the increase in minimum wage and the expansion of the public health system, “these are modifications that do not alter and do not transform the economic model which we live in.”

“It is evident that in the context of a perceived crisis, the electorate is inclined towards those candidates who perhaps offer more radical measures, so, in that sense, that the right-wing constitutes a majority in the Constitutional Council comes as a kind of logical response,” Godoy added.

“When you have a president who is very pragmatic and who in the end also leaves enough space so as to not be attacked or have his leadership directly criticized, he basically decides to establish a somewhat weaker leadership… and that may give room for a greater emergence of the right,” the sociologist commented. He characterized Chile’s right as “one of the strongest and most aggressive right-wings in Latin America, that concentrates not only the media, the press, but also a large part of the companies privatized during the dictatorship, the economic sectors.”

Still, for Godoy it is not a moment for defeatism. “This is not going to be permanent, on the contrary, this country has demonstrated during the last decades that it is highly volatile ideologically, and as the left we have to take advantage of that volatility and also be able to link the micro [issues] with the macro, because that’s where the left is failing,” he states.

It is a moment for the left to “re-articulate, recompose, and reorganize itself in function of an agenda of transformation.” For Godoy, “there is a part of the population that wants to transform this model and there is another part that basically just wants to live better, but both sides have to meet. But if there is weak leadership or [leadership] that essentially opts for continuity, obviously that is going to strengthen the right-wing sectors.”

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/05/ ... l-council/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Thu May 18, 2023 2:07 pm

President of Ecuador Dissolves National Assembly Amid Impeachment Trial
MAY 17, 2023


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Ecuadorian army blocking the access to the National Assembly after the controversial decision of President Lasso to dissolve it, May 17, 2023. Photo: Jose Jacome/EFE.

The president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, dissolved the National Assembly on Wednesday morning while the impeachment trial against him for corruption and money laundering was underway. The decision brings memories of a similar constitutional decision taken by Peruvian President Pedro Castillo a few months ago that ended very differently, with Castillo’s controversial arrest and harsh criticism by the White House and its regional pundits.

In a televised address to the nation on Wednesday, May 17, Lasso announced the application of the muerte cruzada or cross death mechanism and dissolved the parliament through Executive Decree 741. “I have decided to apply Article 148 of the Constitution of the Republic, which grants me the power to dissolve the National Assembly due to serious political crisis and internal commotion,” the Ecuadorian president said in a national radio and television broadcast at 7:00 a.m. local time.

Lasso issued the decree while the impeachment process against him was underway in the National Assembly, as he has been accused of embezzlement of public funds. According to many analysts, there was a probability that the National Assembly could reach the required 92 votes for Lasso’s removal. However, with the dissolution of the Assembly, the impeachment process gets automatically canceled.

In fact, in his speech, Lasso called the impeachment process a “destabilization attempt.” “It is not possible to move forward with an Assembly whose political project is to destabilize the government, democracy and the state,” he said.

“This [the cross death] is the best possible decision, which opens the way to recover hope and tranquility, and will allow the government to focus all its efforts on meeting the needs of the Ecuadorian people,” he added.

“This is a democratic decision, not only because it is constitutional, but also because it gives back to the Ecuadorian people, to you, the power to decide your future in the next elections,” Lasso continued. The muerte cruzada mechanism mandates the convocation of both legislative and presidential elections within six months of its declaration. The winners of these elections will complete the current presidential and legislative terms that will end in May 2025.

In this regard, the Ecuadorian president reported that he requested the National Electoral Council (CNE) “to immediately call for legislative and presidential elections for the rest of the respective terms.” The CNE has to make the announcement within seven days according to the cross death rule.

As Article 148 of the Constitution of Ecuador states, while the processes of holding new elections will continue, the president would govern by decree for six months with control of the Constitutional Court.

In fact, Lasso did not waste time to start governing by decree. After issuing Executive Decree 741 declaring the cross death, he issued Executive Decree 742 on the Organic Law for the Strengthening of the Family Economy, and sent it to the Constitutional Court for its opinion. The organic law is about tax reforms that Lasso had sent to the National Assembly last week.

The case against Lasso
The impeachment process was related to a contract signed between the Ecuadorian state oil company Flota Petrolera Ecuatoriana (FLOPEC) and Amazonas Tanker Pool, an international company that operates oil transport vessels.

Although the case dates back to 2018, when Lenín Moreno was the president, Lasso is accused of having signed a new contract with Amazonas Tanker Pool last year, despite the State Comptroller General having issued a report in 2021 stating that the operations with Amazonas Tanker Pool caused financial damage to the Ecuadorian State and recommended evaluating “the convenience and relevance of continuing” the contract.

Losses suffered by FLOPEC are estimated at $6 million, as detailed by Assembly member Esteban Torres, one of the impeachment initiators, in the plenary session of National Assembly on Tuesday, May 16, when the impeachment trial began.

In that session, Viviana Veloz, another National Assembly member, presented a video in which Vice Admiral Johnny Estupiñán, former manager of FLOPEC, said that the Lasso government had extended the contracts with Amazonas Tanker Pool.

Despite the accusations, President Lasso claimed that no contracts were signed or extended during his government, in his appearance before the National Assembly on Tuesday. In fact, he did not address most of the accusations and instead tried to deflect the blame and responsibility.

On Wednesday, in his address to the nation, Lasso labeled the impeachment process as a “politically motivated trial,” claiming that it is not about “the truth or the fight against alleged corruption,” but that his accusers were trying to “take over the presidency of the Republic in this way to usurp all the powers of the State.”

“They claim that I am politically responsible for not having acted in an alleged case of corruption,” Lasso said. He added that the claimants “have been unable to find any evidence” against him, while disregarding witness testimonies and video evidence presented at the National Assembly on Tuesday.

Armed forces announce support for Lasso
After Lasso declared the dissolution of the National Assembly, police and military forces surrounded the National Assembly building and prevented the staff and the assembly members from entering the building. The National Assembly was prepared to continue with the session on Wednesday morning to debate the impeachment of the president.

The military also put up fences surrounding the National Assembly headquarters, while inside the building and at the main entrance, members of special units of the police and riot police have taken up positions.

The Armed Forces and the National Police issued a statement supporting President Lasso and his application of the cross death mechanism, calling it a “constitutional norm.”

“The Armed Forces and the National Police announce their unalterable position of absolute respect for the Constitution and the laws,” said Nelson Proaño, head of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces.


“Therefore, it [cross death] is subject to a constitutional norm and must be fully and completely respected by all citizens,” added Proaño, claiming that the Armed Forces and the National Police are “obedient and non-deliberative institutions.”

He also warned that the security forces will act “firmly” against any sort of violence, “to protect the life, rights and guarantees of all Ecuadorians.”

“We call for the unity of Ecuadorians, to maintain a climate of respect for the law, without confrontations, without violence, which will allow us to have a peaceful Ecuador,” he stressed.

Similarly, Fausto Salinas, commander general of the Ecuadorian National Police, said that “the Police are prepared at the national level and are monitoring the events, and we hope that there will be no violence or any call for violence from any leader of any organization.”

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Transit Agency (AMT) of Quito announced that the National Police and the Armed Forces closed part of the avenues 6 de Diciembre, Gran Colombia, Juan Montalvo, Yaguachi, and Piedrahita, which are near the National Assembly building.

Ecuador: Impeachment Motion Against President Lasso Advances


Reactions of politicians
The former president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, criticized the dissolution of the National Assembly, branding it a “coup.”

“What Lasso is doing is illegal,” Correa wrote in a tweet. “Obviously there is no ‘internal commotion.’ He just could not buy off enough assembly members to save himself.”


In another social media post, Correa called the announcement of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces and Police to declare Lasso’s decree constitutional a “sad democratic setback,” since the decision on the constitutionality of the mechanism pertains to the Constitutional Court.

The correista legislative coalition Union for Hope (UNES) called Lasso’s decision “unconstitutional,” but announced that the party would not call for protests in the street and would wait for the call for elections.

UNES National Assembly members held a press conference outside the legislative headquarters, where Marcela Olguín, vice-president of the National Assembly, commented that Lasso implemented the cross death to “prevent the impeachment vote,” but his action implies the “triumph of the Citizens’ Revolution” which had promoted the impeachment trial.

The president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), Leonidas Iza, called Lasso’s action a “self-coup.”


“Since he did not have the necessary votes to save himself from his imminent dismissal, Lasso carried out a cowardly self-coup with the help of the Police and the Armed Forces, without citizen support, leading to an imminent dictatorship,” he commented on social media.

CONAIE, which led huge protests against Lasso’s administration in June last year, announced that they will convene a special council to analyze the situation and make collective decisions.

The Social Christian Party (PSC), which supported Lasso in the presidential elections of 2021, but which later distanced itself from the president, announced that it will file a complaint of unconstitutionality before the Constitutional Court against the presidential decree of cross death.

The Constitutional Court is yet to make a statement. The National Electoral Council, on the other hand, called a press conference for Wednesday afternoon to make announcements about possible early elections that could elect a new president and National Assembly members by November this year.

https://orinocotribune.com/president-of ... ent-trial/

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WHAT IS HAPPENING IN ECUADOR? A BRIEF RECOUNT
May 17, 2023 , 11:15 a.m.

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The opposition accuses him of "embezzlement" or embezzlement of public funds (Photo: EFE)

Ecuador is going through a political crisis that resulted in the second attempt to remove President Guillermo Lasso in less than a year from Congress. The first parliamentary initiative was proposed by the opposition in June of last year, when only 80 votes of the 92 needed to remove the government were obtained.

These last two weeks will be crucial to know what will be the outcome of the drama that the South American country is experiencing. On May 10, the Assembly, with an opposition majority, gave the green light to the impeachment trial against Lasso for corruption and on Tuesday the 16th began the process to submit for consideration whether or not to continue the current presidential term.

The opposition accuses him of "embezzlement" or embezzlement of public funds for not acting after allegedly learning that some officials fraudulently awarded third parties several contracts from the state company Flota Petrolera de Ecuador (Flopec). In addition to that, the Lasso government faces one of the biggest social crises due to insecurity, criminal violence and drug trafficking.

The Ecuadorian president defended himself on Tuesday, May 16, against the accusation of alleged embezzlement and the trial was expected to last until today. In case of being dismissed, he would be replaced in office by the vice president of the country, Alfredo Borrero, who would hold office until 2025.

However, on Wednesday the 17th, President Lasso, through a decree, dissolved the National Assembly due to "serious political crisis and internal commotion" in accordance with article 148 of the Constitution. Likewise, the National Electoral Council is notified to call elections within a period of seven days. The reaction and the outcome remain to be seen because the political forces of correísmo and the rest of the opposition to Lasso maintain pressure and mobilization in front of the presidency.

https://misionverdad.com/que-esta-pasan ... e-recuento

Google Translator

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Ecuador’s corrupt, mafia-tied president closes the congress
May 17, 2023Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso
The president of Ecuador, Guillermo Laso, has activated the ‘Muerte Cruzada’, dissolving the National Assembly and allowing himself to rule the country by decree for six months, in what is already being called a dictatorial move by his main opponents.

“I have decided to apply article 148 of the Constitution of the Republic, which grants me the power to dissolve the National Assembly due to a serious political crisis and internal commotion, for which I have signed Executive Decree number 741. In addition, I have requested the National Electoral Council to immediately call legislative and presidential elections for the rest of the respective periods,” the president said in an address to the nation.


Just after the president’s announcement, the military and police made their own declaration in support for the embattled president in an address to the nation. It’s now up to the Constitutional Court to determine whether or not the executive’s decision is in accordance with the Constitution. Lasso said that he took the measure because of a serious social upheaval. However, the president was in the midst of a political trial in the National Assembly, which began on Tuesday and which would have seen a vote for the removal of the president.

Around 92 votes were needed for the president to be removed from power, in an Assembly which had elected new authorities, many of which are from the Correista bench—associated with former left-wing president Rafael Correa.

Members of the National Assembly were unable to enter the legislative building in Quito on Wednesday morning, which they found completely militarized. People have taken to Avenida Amazonas in protest, with reports of tire burning.

The indigenous movement CONAIE, has stated that it will take measures after it holds and assembly to consult with its bases and decide on collective action. Meanwhile, the Revolución Ciudadana has said that the decree issued by Lasso “is evidence of the triumph of the Impeachment Trial. This desperate and unconstitutional action is a strategy of a desperate government that seeks to avoid the vote to remove him, without caring about the people.”

https://kawsachunnews.com/ecuadors-corr ... e-congress

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Mexico refuses to hand over trade bloc presidency to Peru’s de facto president

President AMLO reiterated that Mexico does not consider Dina Boluarte to be the legal president of Peru since the coup against Pedro Castillo

May 16, 2023 by Peoples Dispatch

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Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), on May 15, once again refused to hand over the pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance to Peru’s de facto president of Peru, Dina Boluarte. Photo: Presidency Mexico

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), on Monday, May 15, once again refused to hand over the pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance to Peru’s de facto president of Peru, Dina Boluarte. President AMLO said that there was a consensus between Mexico, Colombia and Chile not to give the presidency of the alliance to Peru.

“There are four countries [in the bloc]: Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru. And the opinion of the president of Colombia is similar to mine and the president of Chile. He is [also] not interested in giving Peru the presidency of this group called the Pacific Alliance… We can hand it over to Chile, to Colombia and let them decide what they [want to] do, but this lady, with all due respect, [is] a usurper, [who] expelled our ambassador from Peru,” said AMLO in response to a journalist’s question during his daily morning press conference.

President AMLO reiterated that the former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo was unjustly imprisoned because he came from a humble background and he did not allow the conservative forces to plunder his country as they are doing today. In this regard, he suggested that Boluarte leave the presidency to Castillo, who obtained a legitimate victory in free elections.

“I suggest that she resign from the presidency because she is usurping that position and that she gets Pedro Castillo out of jail, a humble person, a teacher from the mountains of Peru and unfortunately in that country as in others racism and classism prevail,” said AMLO.

AMLO once again insisted that he cannot hand over the presidency of the Pacific Alliance to Boluarte because “for us, she is not legally and legitimately the president of Peru.”

Last month, on April 25, the Boluarte government requested the AMLO administration for the transfer of the pro tempore presidency of the trade bloc for the second time since December 2022. Through an official communique, sent to the foreign ministries of Mexico, Colombia and Chile, the Boluarte government demanded respect for Peru’s right to assume the rotating presidency of the bloc “without further delay” and said that “Mexico’s refusal breaches international obligations that affect the prestige of the alliance.”

Boluarte took office on December 7, 2022, after Castillo was removed by the right-wing dominated Congress in a legislative coup, and was subsequently arrested for having tried to dissolve the Congress by decree.

Following Castillo’s forcible removal and illegal arrest, hundreds of thousands of people, mainly from the long-neglected and marginalized countryside of Peru who identify themselves with Castillo, mobilized in different parts of the country. The protesters condemned Boluarte for betraying the progressive ticket she was elected on after she entered into a political alliance with the country’s right-wing forces. They demanded Castillo’s immediate release, Boluarte’s resignation, new elections, and a new constitution.

The Boluarte government unleashed brutal police and military repression against those who took to the streets against her government. According to reports from local media and human rights organizations, around 70 people have been killed in the protests, most of them in violent repression by state security forces.

On May 3, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) confirmed its report that 57 people died in these protests, and said that the state’s response to demonstrators was characterized by the “disproportionate, indiscriminate and lethal use of force.” It added that in some cases, the actions could be classified as “extrajudicial executions” and “massacres.”

Various Latin American political leaders have criticized the Boluarte government for violating Castillo’s political rights as well as the human rights of thousands of Peruvians who demanded her resignation. Mexico President AMLO, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, Chilean President Gabriel Boric, Honduran President Xiomara Castro, and Bolivian President Luis Arce are among those who have explicitly expressed support for Castillo and repeatedly called on Peruvian authorities to respect human rights and not to repress the people.

In the past months, the Boluarte government also announced the definitive withdrawal of the Peruvian ambassadors to Honduras, Mexico and Colombia. Peru has been maintaining bilateral relations with the countries through the chargé d’affaires. Additionally, in January and February, the Peruvian Congress also declared former Bolivian President Evo Morales and Colombian President Petro, respectively, a ‘persona non grata’ and prohibited them from entering Peru, due to their comments rejecting the coup against Castillo.

According to a recent survey conducted by the IPSOS Peru, 75% of the Peruvian citizens disapprove of the Boluarte administration, 79% reject the performance of the Congress, 68% are dissatisfied with the Judiciary, and 57% are displeased with the work of the Prosecutor’s Office.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/05/16/ ... president/
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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Mon May 22, 2023 2:11 pm

Imperialist Logic: Yes to Guillermo Lasso, No to Pedro Castillo
MAY 19, 2023

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Peruvian President Pedro Castillo (right) and Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso (left). Photo: CNN/File photo.

In less than six months, Latin America has witnessed two congressional closures, in the nations of Ecuador and Perú. However, the treatment by international media of the measures taken by Pedro Castillo and Guillermo Lasso is entirely hypocritical.

The inconsistency of media such as El Clarín and Infobae in reviewing the dissolution of Congress by the president of Perú, Pedro Castillo, and the president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, was evident this Wednesday, May 17, when Lasso announced the dissolution of the Ecuadorian National Assembly.

In international media, Castillo’s actions were described as a self-coup, while Lasso’s activation of the cross-death mechanism was depicted as an institutional procedure.


On Tuesday night, Lasso signed decree 741 that establishes the dissolution of the National Assembly and the calling of general elections. The decision was made in the middle of a parliamentary impeachment against him, which seeks his dismissal for corruption.

A similar procedure happened in Perú in December, when Pedro Castillo applied a similar measure to dissolve Congress, that was about to pass an impeachment trial against him. At that time, the Peruvian president dissolved Congress, announced early elections, and that he would rule by decree.

The former Peruvian president also supported his decision in the Constitution, which empowers the president to dissolve Congress “if it has censured or denied its confidence to two councils of ministers.”

As expected, international media serves as propaganda for the right in Latin America and provides a hypocritical discourse on what happened in Ecuador and Perú.


At the time, the United States rejected Castillo’s actions and urged him to reverse his decision. But because Lasso’s decision serves imperial interests, Washington stated that they respect the internal constitutional processes.

Given what happened, the scenarios in both countries are very different. Pedro Castillo is currently in prison for his decision after he was accused of committing a coup, while Lasso continues to be president of the nation while general elections are called.


(RedRadioVE) by Ana Perdigón, with Orinoco Tribune content

https://orinocotribune.com/imperialist- ... -castillo/

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Cristina Fernández: Why She Will Not Be a Candidate

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In her message, the Vice-President strongly questioned the Justice of the recent suspension of the elections in the provinces of Tucumán and San Juan, where Peronism was the favorite. May. 17, 2023. | Photo: Twitter/@cba_adri

Published 18 May 2023

The former President reiterated that she will not be a presidential candidate, but said that she will participate in the campaign: "The important thing is to enter the runoff".

The Vice-President of the Nation, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, spoke on C5N in the Duro de Domar program, where she explained the reasons why she will not be a presidential candidate in this year's elections. "A precautionary measure is enough to suspend me," she said.

In her speech, she affirmed that she is not in a position to run. "I am on probation, technically", she stressed in relation to the possibility that the Supreme Court may decide to suspend her candidacy, as they did with the nominations of Sergio Uñac in San Juan and Juan Manzur in Tucumán.

Although some days ago she insisted again that she will not be a candidate, when asked about the reaction of the militancy and the requests for her to finally be a candidate, she stated again: "I believe that there is text compression in the people. There is love, affection and shared faith. But text comprehension is an attribute of the majority. It seems to me that what I said the other day is very clear, which is no more than what I said on December 6. The word of someone who was twice president has to be worth".

"I am not going to weaken Peronism in the middle of an election", she said before the proposal of a certain sector of Peronism that she should evaluate a candidacy knowing the possibility of being banned.


The Tweet reads,
"IMF Agreement. Second part.

In this second part, which could be titled "Chronology of the manganeta", it is detailed how Macri's officials exchanged roles and functions to commit this swindle to all the Argentine people."


In her message, the Vice-President strongly questioned the Justice of the recent suspension of the elections in the provinces of Tucumán and San Juan, where Peronism was the favorite.

Fernández de Kirchner noted that the decision of the highest court, for which an impeachment trial has been requested, was adopted "only 72 hours before the beginning of the electoral ban and with a clear political objective: to harm Peronism and cover up its own crimes ".

"I am not going to enter into the perverse game that they impose on us with a democratic facade so that those same judges, perched today in the Court, issue a ruling disqualifying me or directly removing me from any candidacy I may hold, to leave Peronism in absolute fragility and weakness in the face of the electoral contest. Recent events have proved me right", he said.

He also criticized the International Monetary Fund (IMF), considering that the organization "intervenes, takes the helm of the Argentine economy, imposes its economic program and triggers again the uncontrolled inflationary process" in the country.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Cri ... -0022.html

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Honduras Anti-Corruption Reform Disturbs Washington
MAY 18, 2023

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Foreign minister of Honduras, Eduardo Enrique Reina. Photo: Cheme Moya/EFE/File photo.

The foreign minister of Honduras, Eduardo Enrique Reina, told the undersecretary for affairs of the western hemisphere for the US Department of State, Brian A. Nichols, that he is “surprised” by Washington’s opposition of the legal reforms made in Honduras to combat public and private corruption.

“Mr. Nichols, it is surprising that the US opposes all the legal reforms to combat public-private corruption presented in a sovereign state by President Xiomara Castro,” Reina wrote this Wednesday, May 17, via social media, “such as energy laws, the tax justice project, and the elimination of ZEDEs [Employment and Economic Development Zones]. We do not accept such artificial statements.”


The Honduran diplomat’s words were in response to a tweet by Nichols, in which the US official stated that Washington is “following the reactions to the protest in Choluteca, Honduras,” that oppose the draft Justice Tax Law. “The right to peaceful march and the right to express one’s opinions are fundamental to democracy,” Nichols wrote, “and must be promoted and protected.”

The US official statement alludes to the fact that President Castro convened the National Security Council on the grounds that the demonstrations endangered the order, peace, and internal security of the State. The demonstrations in question were the provocations that occurred in the streets of Choluteca; the president added that such acts “seek to impede the legislative procedural function of the National Congress of the Republic.”

The aforementioned protests were carried out on May 9 by employees of the Choluteca shrimp, okra, and melon industries. A part of the Honduran private sector opposes such a bill as the Tax Justice project, which, according to the government, seeks to ensure that there is justice in the payment of taxes in the Central American country.

“Private companies and political organizations instructed and financed their employees and followers to mobilize against the Tax Justice project,” President Xiomara Castro highlighted after the Choluteca incident, “to prevent this law from being discussed and approved.”

Analysts saw Nichols’ statements as a new “regime change” operation in the making by the White House against another leftist government in Latin America; this is a common part of the US toolkit to force its hegemonic agenda over the region.

https://orinocotribune.com/washington-c ... n-reforms/
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Re: South America

Post by blindpig » Sat May 27, 2023 2:24 pm

Approval of US Troops to Train Peruvian Armed Forces Proves US Behind Coup
Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on MAY 24, 2023
Clau O’Brien Moscoso

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Approval of US Troops to Train Peruvian Armed Forces Proves US Behind CoupPeruvian military training at Fort Hood, Texas in 2021 (Photo: jbsa.mil Donald Sparks)

US SOUTHCOM is strengthening ties with Peru’s coup government by training that country’s military and police force.


National Strike, Day 140

Amid continuing social upheaval five months after the parliamentary coup against Pedro Castillo, the Peruvian Congress, controlled by the hard right, has approved the entrance of US troops into national territory to train the Peruvian military and National Police beginning June 1st through the end of the year. This comes after the Supreme Court ruled that protest is not a protected right under the 1993 Fujimori dictatorship era constitution. This also comes after a visit from the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Peaceful Assembly and Association Clément Nyaletsossi Voule stated that there was no evidence of terrorism from protesters and called for accountability and political reform to end the crisis. As multiple reports from human rights observers have confirmed, the armed forces carried out extrajudicial killings and massacres during the first few months of the popular uprising following the overthrow of President Pedro Castillo. The Peruvian masses have stated that this was a clear US backed coup from the beginning and are now getting concrete evidence that the right-wing coup regime works hand in hand with the North American hegemonic power to train armed forces in so called “conflict zones”, particularly in the south of the country where the strike and blockades have been the strongest.

With 70 votes in favor, 33 against and 4 abstentions, the Peruvian Congress approved the military training of Armed Forces by US troops, who already occupy multiple bases through US SOUTHCOM (Southern Command) since the 1990s during the Fujimori dictatorship. The “conflict zones” where US troops will be training Peruvian Armed Forces include Lima, Callao, Loreto, San Martín, Huánuco, Ucayali, Pasco, Junín, Huancavelica, Cusco, Ayacucho, Iquitos, Pucusana and Apurímac, regions which saw incredible violence on the part of the coup regime during protests the past five months. Some of these regions are also active protest areas against extractive mining corporations, like the Las Bambas copper mine in Apurímac, where there are active blockades and protests by communities affected by extractive mining that has poisoned their waters and lands.

With only a 6% approval rating , Congress has rammed through some of the most authoritarian laws in recent Peruvian history, rivaling that of the dictatorship of the 1990s, including a raise of the retirement age to 75 and approving projects that continue deforestation of the Peruvian Amazon . Of course, it should be noted that this Congress is dominated by the Fujimori controlled Fuerza Popular political party and its various satellite parties. This is why the people on the ground have for years demanded the closure of the coup Congress which they see as being the institutional continuation of the Fujimori dictatorship, along with the 1993 constitution inherited from Washington, DC . It is precisely this document that privatizes the country’s natural resources, which the mostly indigenous campesino populations of those regions rich in resources see as theft and a violation of their sovereignty for the profits of transnational corporations. Perhaps the most important demand of this current uprising is exactly that, the self determination and sovereignty of the peoples of Perú.

Since the start of the coup, US interference and western interests were evident, from the nakedly imperialist remarks by SOUTHCOM Commander General Laura Richardson to the US Ambassador Lisa Kenna meeting with the Minister of Defense Gustavo Bobbias the day before the coup against Pedro Castillo. As Richardson has previously stated on numerous occasions, “US Southern Command is our neighborhood ” that is “off the charts in natural resources and rare earth elements… but the PRC (People’s Republic of China) in a lot of our countries in this region is the number one trade partner.” This modern day Monroe Doctrine declaration was picked up by former CIA aide to Mike Pompeo Lisa Kenna as she quickly met with key figures in the coup regime and declared her approval of the Boluarte regime. The very day Castillo was ousted.

Now with the explicit participation of US military personnel in the training of the Peruvian armed forces that have already been investigated by human rights organizations and found to have committed acts of extrajudicial killings, massacres, and brutal political repression, the struggle for a country governed by the people at the service of the people intensifies. The ex-president of Bolivia Evo Morales aptly stated in a tweet on Sunday, “Peru is governed from Washington. With this authorization from the Peruvian right, we warn that the criminalization of the protest and the occupation of US military forces is consolidating a repressive state that will affect sovereignty and regional peace in Latin America.” As Congress continues to block commissions to investigate the killings, the masses of Peruvian people continue to organize and plan for the Third Takeover of Lima for July 19th while also organizing regional strikes and continuing the blockades in the south of the country. This new decree by the widely unpopular Congress will not deter the popular will of the Peruvian peoples eager for their sovereignty and self-determination.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2023/05/ ... hind-coup/

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Chile rallies behind Peru’s coup government

Evo Morales harshly criticized the move by the Boric government which occurred just after Peruvian congress approved the entry of hundreds of US troops for training activities

May 26, 2023 by Peoples Dispatch

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Sub-Secretary of Foreign Ministry Gloria de la Fuente with Vice Foreign Minister Ignacio Higueras of Peru. Photo: Foreign Ministry Chile

The former president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, on Wednesday, May 24, condemned the Chilean government’s decision to support Peru’s de facto government in demanding the transfer of the pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance. Morales pointed out that the decision was especially concerning because it had come at a time when the Peruvian Congress had approved the entry of US troops for training activities in the country.

“We are very concerned about the decision of the president of Chile, brother Gabriel Boric, to support the illegal and illegitimate government of Dina Boluarte for the pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance just when the US military intervention in Peru has been authorized,” said Morales in a tweet on Wednesday morning.

“It seems that the president of Chile has forgotten that [former president of Chile Salvador] Allende was a victim of CIA interventionism. The presence of the US Armed Forces in Peruvian territory corresponds to the interference plan of the Southern Command to usurp the natural resources of the region, especially lithium, gold and freshwater. The authorization of the entry of these troops is an attack against peace in Latin America,” Morales added.

Morales’ statement came two days after the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile, Gloria de la Fuente, stated on behalf of the Boric government that Peru should assume the temporary presidency of the regional trade bloc.

“Our government, through its Foreign Ministry, has been very clear about our position regarding the Pacific Alliance. We believe that indeed the pro tempore presidency corresponds to Peru. We advocate that there be an understanding between our countries that will effectively allow this [issue] to be smoothed out in the best possible way,” said De la Fuente after a meeting, held on May 22 in Lima, with the Peruvian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ignacio Higueras.

Currently, the rotating presidency of the Pacific Alliance -an entity that brings together Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru- is in the hands of Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). It was scheduled to be transferred to Peru in January. However, President AMLO refused to hand it over to Boluarte, insisting that “for Mexico, she is not legally and legitimately the president of Peru.”

Since the legislative coup against former progressive president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, and his illegal arrest in December 2022, President AMLO, on several occasions, has explicitly condemned the Boluarte government for violating Castillo’s political rights as well as the human rights of hundreds of thousands of Peruvians who took to the streets demanding her resignation. He has called on Boluarte “to resign from the presidency because she is usurping that position and to get Pedro Castillo out of jail.”

On Monday, May 22, the Peruvian Congress, where the right-wing parties have a majority, declared President AMLO a ‘persona non grata’ and banned him from setting foot in the country. AMLO’s public statements criticizing Boluarte and supporting Castillo, his decision to grant asylum to Castillo’s family in Mexico and his refusal to hand over bloc’s presidency to Peru are some of the reasons that provoked the designation.

In January and February, the Peruvian Congress also declared Morales and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, ‘persona non grata’ and prohibited them from entering Peru due to their comments rejecting the coup against Castillo and the brutal repression unleashed against protesters in Peru.

In the past months, the Boluarte government has also announced the definitive withdrawal of the Peruvian ambassadors to Honduras, Mexico and Colombia, alleging that the statements made by their heads of state represent interference in Peruvian internal affairs. Peru has been maintaining bilateral relations with the countries through the chargé d’affaires.

The decision adopted last Friday by the Peruvian Congress to authorize the entry into the country of the US Armed Forces, from June 1 to December 31 of this year, “for cooperation and training tasks for the military and police of Peru,” has been condemned by various social and Indigenous organizations of Peru. Many have deemed it “a maneuver” of the US empire to consolidate Boluarte’s de facto regime, and through it, take control of the country’s large copper and lithium reserves.

It is worth noting that in April, the Boluarte government announced its plans to privatize lithium mining in Peru, marking contrast to Castillo’s proposal to nationalize it. Minister of Energy and Mines Óscar Vera announced that the government would soon grant permits to a Canadian mining subsidiary for lithium exploration in the southern region of Puno, near the border with Bolivia. He also reported that the authorities were working to reduce license approval time for copper mining projects from about two years to about six months.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/05/26/ ... overnment/

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Far Right Holds Chile Hostage
MAY 25, 2023

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Republican Party leader José Antonio Kast at a press conference in 2021 Photo: Mediabanco Agencia / Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0.

By Carole Concha Bell – May 23, 2023

The ultra-conservative Republican Party won a majority on Chile’s new Constitutional Council, delivering a major blow to President Gabriel Boric’s transformative platform.

President Gabriel Boric’s government suffered a critical defeat on May 7, as Chile’s far-right Republican Party won a majority in elections to select members for a Constitutional Council. In an ironic twist, ultra-conservative politician José Antonio Kast, an outspoken critic of the process, is now in control of drafting the country’s new constitution. The council is the latest installment in a process launched as part of the 2019 “Agreement for Social Peace” following weeks of fervent protests over inequality in which thousands were imprisoned and subjected to human rights violations, including torture, at the hands of Chilean security forces.

The Republican Party, led by populist lawyer Kast, won more than 35 percent of the votes, securing 22 of the 50 available seats. The ultra-conservative Chile Seguro (Safe Chile) coalition won 11 seats, with 21 percent of the vote, leaving the left-wing governing coalition Unidad para Chile (Unity for Chile) with just 17 seats. Only one Indigenous representative was elected, Alihuan Antileo, in sharp contrast to the previous assembly in which Indigenous representation and gender parity were championed. This recent vote follows a prior attempt to enact a new constitution that was summarily rejected by the electorate last year. Following months of negative campaigning, attacks on the reputation of chamber members, and misinformation spread by the opposition and amplified by Chile’s right-wing media outlets, 62 percent voted to reject the progressive draft constitution on September 4, 2022.

The Republican Party was founded in 2019 by Kast, formerly a member of the pro-Pinochet Independent Democratic Union (UDI) party.The Republican Party was founded in 2019 by Kast, formerly a member of the pro-Pinochet Independent Democratic Union (UDI) party. He resigned from UDI in protest when the party began to critique the former dictator and went on to become a frontrunner against Boric in the 2021 presidential election under the Republic Party banner. The party’s ideology is deeply rooted in Pinochetismo, promoting neo-conservative heteropatriarchal religious values that oppose equal marriage, abortion, and sex education in schools.

The Republican Party’s spokesperson and Constitutional Council member Luis Silva Irarrázaval, part of the Catholic sect Opus Dei and whose slogan is “Let’s Recover Chile,” told the press after getting elected that he will “oppose abortion as a right.” Silva also said that “women’s reproductive rights are not essential to a constitution.”

A Rejection of Traditional Political Parties
While the surprising outcome of the vote indicates a sharp swing to the right, there are various other factors to consider. Sunday’s vote was mandatory, reaching a voter turnout of 84.9 percent. In May of 2021, turnout for the Constitutional Convention election was under 50 percent, despite nearly 80 percent of voters supporting a new charter in a 2020 referendum. Last week’s ballot saw a high number of null votes—21 percent of the total—and low votes for traditional right- and left-wing parties, indicating a rejection of mainstream parties.

Christie Mella, a psychologist and social policy specialist who lives in Valparaíso, said she voted null as a rejection of “this negotiated deal made by the Chilean political elites.” Like others on the left, Mella identifies as an “Octubrista” (Octoberist), aligned with the 2019 social uprising and the demands made by disenfranchised sectors of Chilean society at that time. “I am not a Noviembrista,” said Mella, referring to the “Agreement for Social Peace and a New Constitution” signed by lawmakers, including then congressman Boric, that ushered in the constitutional process.

“That agreement was a strategy to save Chilean political institutions that were being openly questioned on the streets of Chile during the uprising. Boric signed that agreement to get where he is today. The protests were about rejecting that political class—not just the Right but all the political parties who are complicit in impunity for human rights [violations] and their servile roles as administrators of the economic model that we inherited from the Pinochet regime,” Mella added.

Progressive critics accuse the Boric administration of pandering to the Right and abandoning the president’s transformational platform. Since taking office, Boric has failed to reform the police and alienated Indigenous voters by enforcing a military state of emergency in Southern Chile, despite promising that he would pursue dialogue with Indigenous sectors in conflict with multinationals on their ancestral territory. Boric’s recent political appointments, including former Santiago mayor Carolina Toha as interior minister, include the same politicians that were rejected in the streets in 2019, signalling a centrist shift that privileges an influential political base long seen as being out of touch with the majority of the Chilean people.

“To vote null is to reject this pact of betrayal,” said Mella. This rejection reflects criticism by some progressive sectors over the lack of grassroots representation in the “social peace” agreement and in the latest iteration of the constitutional project. Other motivations for casting null votes include a lack of interest in the process and a scarcity of information about the candidates. Polls carried out by Cadem in the leadup to the vote indicated that some 70 percent of voters were not interested in the outcome and the wider constitutional process.

Hector Rios Jara, a specialist on Chilean social movements, attributes voter apathy to fatigue with a process that is increasingly distanced from citizens’ day-to-day interests. “The constitutional strategy is detached from immediate change in everyday life,” says Rios Jara. “It hasn’t improved the everyday conditions of the people, which was one of the triggers for the uprising of 2019.”

An Uncertain Future
The destabilizing effects of the far-right swing has caused ripples far beyond the mechanics of drafting a new constitution. Rios Jara says the outcome of the vote denotes a crisis for the country’s centrist parties, including the Party for Democracy (PPD), the Liberal Party, and the Christian Democrats, who led the post-dictatorship transition to democracy. “This gives some room for the government to regroup as a leading force of the center-left. That will be fundamental for the next round of elections,” says Rios Jara.

Rios Jara notes that far-right politicians will be able to “take control of the convention as they hold an outright majority. The center-right also complements that majority. Therefore, the Right can decide the final outcome of the convention on their own terms. That is a major defeat for the center-left and government coalition.”

With only 17 seats on the newly formed council, the governing coalition will have no veto power in the constitutional process.With only 17 seats on the newly formed council, the governing coalition will have no veto power in the constitutional process. “It is clear that despite the Left being in government, they have lost control of the process. The Left was unable to capitalize on the momentum of delegitimizing neoliberalism in Chile,” says Rios-Jara, lamenting the fact that the social uprising of 2019 has not translated into real social change.

The Constitutional Council will commence its work on June 6, with a deadline to deliver the completed draft constitution by November 6. A mandatory referendum on the new charter is scheduled to be held on December 17.

Following the announcement of the election results Boric tweeted: “Today the Chilean people have once again expressed their positions democratically by electing constitutional councillors, whom I invite to act with wisdom and temperance to draft a text that reflects the majority in the country.”

Despite this considered statement, the Boric government’s transformative plans for the future of Chile lie in tatters, a proposal that in many ways depended on the enactment of a progressive constitution.

This coming December the Chilean electorate faces an impossible conundrum: to reject the new proposal, and in doing so legitimize the constitution enacted under Pinochet’s reign of terror, or enact a potentially even more authoritarian text that will likely restrict women’s and LGBTQIA+ rights, strip away existing labor and environmental protections, and further entrench neoliberalism, impunity, and inequality.

https://orinocotribune.com/far-right-ho ... e-hostage/


Boric is a liberal who deceived the Chilean left to get elected. The people are going to have to hit the streets again to prevent this regression.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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