Latin America: C-SAW Real News & Information

2004-06-15T08:22:00.000-04:00

Opponents Predict Defeat for Central American Trade Deal

2004-05-27T10:52:00.000-04:00

New Transcripts Point to US Role in Chile Coup

2004-05-17T08:53:00.000-04:00

Thousands Protest Colombian Paramilitary Presence in Venezuela

2004-05-02T11:03:00.000-04:00

General seeks boost for Latin American armies: "The top U.S. general for Latin America wants regional armies to help fight the war on terror -- a strategy that some observers say could result in a return to widespread human rights abuses of past decades."

2004-04-23T15:07:00.000-04:00

A survivor tells her story: "Treatment for a leftist: Kicks, freezing water and electric shocks. In between, a visitor from the CIA."

2004-04-14T13:24:00.000-04:00

U.S., France Block UN Probe of Aristide Ouster

2004-03-25T13:02:00.000-05:00

US Lawmakers Back Increase in Military Presence in Colombia

2004-03-18T10:37:00.000-05:00

Can Aristide's Tale Be True?

2004-03-15T08:42:00.000-05:00

US Revealed to be Secretly Funding Opponents of Chavez: "Washington has been channeling hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund the political opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez - including those who briefly overthrew the democratically elected leader in a coup two years ago."

2004-03-12T16:51:00.000-05:00

Role in Haiti Events Backfiring on Washington

2004-03-04T11:21:00.000-05:00

Bush undermined Haiti democracy [commentary by Jesse Jackson]

2004-03-01T16:43:00.000-05:00

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Condemns Bush Administration for Supporting the Ouster of Haitian President Aristide: "This Administration has employed a campaign of misinformation in order to carry out what essentially is a coup d'etat."

2004-02-06T08:36:00.000-05:00

Kissinger Document Shows Pre-Emption in Practice: "While critics and supporters of the Bush administration's pre-emption doctrine have described it as unprecedented in U.S. diplomacy, the release of a 34-year-old memo advocating 'regime change' in Chile shows the policy has been around for quite some time."

2004-02-04T22:00:00.000-05:00

Bush Administration Eyes Bolivia's Morales as Radical Who Has Nation's Ear

2004-02-02T08:38:00.000-05:00

Bush's Bogus Guestworker Program

2004-01-18T00:34:00.000-05:00

The Trouble With CAFTA: "CAFTA is a bad deal, one that promises to extend the harmful impacts of NAFTA to Mexico's weaker southern neighbors."

2004-01-17T23:15:00.000-05:00

Bush Told U.S.-Imposed Policies Are 'Perverse'

2004-01-17T23:13:00.000-05:00

Latin Americans Blame US for Hellish Problems

2004-01-17T23:05:00.000-05:00

Latin America squares up to US: "Anti-Bush sentiments surface at regional summit"

2004-01-17T19:57:00.000-05:00

Struggle Endures for Zapatistas

2004-01-17T19:53:00.000-05:00

Tit for Tat: Brazil to Fingerprint US Citizens

2004-01-17T19:49:00.000-05:00

Bombs Away, Vieques Unearths Toxic Navy Trash

2004-01-17T19:16:00.000-05:00

NAFTA: North American Deal Dismal After a Decade

2004-01-17T17:46:00.000-05:00

Battle Rages with Ecuador Indians Over Jungle Oil

2004-01-17T17:37:00.000-05:00

Critics: CAFTA Trade Pact Will Cost US Jobs and Hurt Already Impoverished Central American Countries

2004-01-14T23:44:00.000-05:00

Indicted Chilean Interrogator May Help Solve U.S. Civilian's Murder: "A retired Chilean air force interrogator who was indicted this week could help investigators solve the murder of a young American civilian 30 years ago during Chile's bloody U.S.-backed coup."

2004-01-14T23:27:00.000-05:00

S.F. nonprofit sues former Salvadoran commander / Group accuses man of torture, war crimes: "The Center for Justice and Accountability, along with a Tennessee law firm, claims in a civil suit filed in Memphis that Nicolas Carranza, a U.S. citizen living in Memphis, was El Salvador's vice-minister of defense between 1979 and 1981, a time during which violent attacks were mounted against Salvadorans who criticized their government."

2003-12-10T17:34:00.000-05:00

Labor, Rights Groups Vow to Stop CAFTA in Congress: "...[U]nions want CAFTA trade partners to incorporate core labor rights--including the right to organize and bargain collectively--into their laws and to enforce them. Just last week, New York-based Human Rights Watch published a lengthy report that found that worker rights went largely unrecognized and unenforced by the government of El Salvador which sometimes even helps private employers carry out abuses against workers, particularly union members. "

2003-12-04T12:46:00.000-05:00

Transcript: U.S. OK'd 'dirty war' in Argentina: "At the height of the Argentine military junta's bloody ''dirty war'' against leftists in the 1970s, then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told the Argentine foreign minister that ''we would like you to succeed,'' a newly declassified U.S. document reveals."

2003-12-01T23:57:00.000-05:00

Chavez film puts staff at risk, says Amnesty: "An award-winnning documentary about the coup last year that briefly ousted the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, has become the subject of a bitter dispute. Last week, it was withdrawn from an Amnesty International (AI) film festival because Amnesty staff in Caracas said they feared for their safety if it were shown. "

2003-12-01T23:00:00.000-05:00

Guatemalan Voters Reject Dictator's Bid for Power

2003-11-21T12:55:00.000-05:00

Mexican Workers say Rights Denied as Firms Threaten to Pull Out

2003-11-19T18:04:00.000-05:00

Courtroom Drama: Peasants Sue Major US Oil Firm: "A landmark class-action lawsuit by 30,000 Ecuadoran peasants and Indians against ChevronTexaco, which bounced around U.S. federal courts for nearly a decade, finally got underway this week in a small courthouse in a remote area of Ecuador. "

2003-11-19T18:01:00.000-05:00

Bolivian Leader's Ouster Seen as Warning on US Drug Policy: "Dr. Gamarra and others point to events in Bolivia as a warning that United States drug policy may sow still wider instability in the region, where anti-American sentiment is building with the failure of economic reforms that Washington has helped encourage here."

2003-11-19T17:48:00.000-05:00

Ecuadorans put Chevron on trial / Company accused in class-action lawsuit of despoiling Amazon region with crude

2003-10-20T12:47:00.000-04:00

Poor vs. Profit in Bolivian Revolt
When the government of Bolivia collapsed Friday, the development highlighted a series of fundamental questions that are bedeviling much of South America, where globalization has led to a dramatic increase in foreign investment — but where the benefits have largely failed to trickle down to the poor.... Bolivia is a stark illustration of the damage caused by unchecked economic liberalization in Latin America.

2003-10-19T12:27:00.001-04:00

Bolivia on 'Brink of Catastrophe,' U.S. Urged to Mediate
The [Washington Office on Latin America] said Washington bore "no small responsibility for the crisis now enveloping Bolivia," primarily because of its pressure on successive governments in La Paz to liberalize the economy and eliminate coca production. "Unyielding U.S. stances with respect to economic austerity measures and coca crop eradication have constantly put Bolivia's elected leaders at odds with the Bolivian people and have narrowed the political space in which Bolivians themselves can seek their own solutions to their problems," WOLA said.

2003-10-19T12:27:00.000-04:00

Carlos Mesa New Leader in Troubled Bolivia as Former President Quits

2003-09-26T09:11:00.000-04:00

Sharp Increase in U.S. Military Aid to Latin America
"Despite pervasive problems of poverty in Latin America, the United States' focus on military rather than economic aid to the region is increasing," according to Lisa Haugaard, executive director of the Latin America Working Group Education Fund (LAWGEF), one of the groups that sponsored the new study.... [T]he report also expresses concern over the growing number of obstacles to obtaining reliable information about U.S. military-related programs in the region.

2003-09-26T09:10:00.000-04:00

No US Aid for Colombia If Killers Pardoned, Say Rights Advocates
Washington should cut off aid to Colombia if the country proceeds with an amnesty for leaders of right-wing paramilitary groups responsible for some of the worst massacres of the country's decades-long civil war, human rights groups insist.... Washington currently provides more than $700 million a year in mostly military aid, more than it gives any other country except Israel and Egypt.

2003-08-27T17:20:00.001-04:00

Rumsfeld to resume US air missions in Colombian drug trade crackdown from The Independent, 8/20/03
Washington is already heavily involved in Colombia, which receives more US aid than any other country except Israel and Egypt. Much of the $3bn (£bn) provided in the past three years has been military assistance, prompting widespread criticism because of the links between the Colombian armed forces and paramilitary groups responsible for kidnappings and murders, especially of union leaders and civilian critics of the Bogota government.

2003-08-27T17:20:00.000-04:00

The Case Against the Generals: US Now Home to Hundreds of Accused War Criminals and Torturers from All Over Latin America from The Washington Post, 8/17/03
By the time El Salvador's civil war finally ended in 1992, many members of the military elite -- the people who presided over the torture and murder of thousands of guerrillas and suspected leftist sympathizers -- had chosen the same haven [torture victim Juan Romagoza] had: the United States.

2003-08-27T17:19:00.001-04:00

Bush, the rainforest and a gas pipeline to enrich his friends from The Independent, 7/30/03
President George Bush is seeking funds for a controversial project to drive gas pipelines from pristine rainforests in the Peruvian Amazon to the coast. The plan will enrich some of Mr Bush's closest corporate campaign contributors while risking the destruction of rainforest, threatening its indigenous peoples and endangering rare species on the coast.

2003-08-27T17:19:00.000-04:00

Colombia: U.S. "Misses an Opportunity": [Human Rights] Certification Not Based on Facts from Human Rights Watch, 7/8/03
The U.S. State Department's human rights certification for Colombia does not hold that country accountable for its failure to break persistent links between the military and abusive paramilitary groups, Human Rights Watch said today.

2003-08-27T17:18:00.000-04:00

Washington Lends Muscle to Besieged Colombian Pipeline 7/1/03
"By dedicating U.S. funds to the specific purpose of protecting a private oil pipeline, the United States is further drawn into civil conflict in Colombia, a conflict that is essentially about major resources like oil. As infrastructure lies at the heart of the conflict, the U.S. policy is likely to aggravate the situation," said Kimberly Stanton, [Washington Office on Latin America]'s deputy director, in an interview yesterday.