The recent clash between indigenous peoples and Peruvian national police sends a powerful message from the Amazon jungle straight to Washington: The enormous social, political, and environmental costs of the free-trade model are no longer acceptable.
Virtually no one in the United States celebrates May Day. Yet International Workers’ Day all started here, and we continue to export the violence faced by the workers it commemorates. Workers who sew our clothes, grow our flowers, and mine the metals used in our cars and cell phones are still experiencing the same problems confronted by U.S. workers a century ago.
The stage was set for a showdown. Hugo Chávez and Barack Obama exchanged another round of insults before getting on their planes to head to Trinidad and Tobago. Many countries came prepared for an all-court press to admit Cuba to the Organization of American States (OAS) and demand lifting the U.S. embargo against the island. Five nations that form part of ALBA, the Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America, vowed not to sign the official declaration of a Cuba-less OAS.
When President Barack Obama went to Trinidad for the Summit of Americas, he brought the promise of "change" to a Latin America policy that has brought suffering to our neighbors while reducing U.S. influence and moral standing in the hemisphere. Change would be especially welcome to Haitians, who have suffered their usual unfair share of political and economic instability from these policies. But Haitians are still waiting to see whether the promised change will extend beyond ending the illegal and destructive policies of the last eight years, and include a shift away from U.S. policies that have failed both our oldest neighbor and our highest ideals for over two centuries.
Relations between the United States and several Latin American nations have sunk to their lowest level in years. Last September, both Bolivia and Venezuela expelled U.S. ambassadors (Bolivia accused the United States of interfering with its energy policy and Venezuela saw a North American attempt to depose President Hugo Chávez.). Venezuela then recalled its ambassador to the United States, and President George W. Bush expelled Bolivia’s ambassador. In February, Ecuador expelled two U.S. diplomats on charges of interfering in internal affairs. Most recently, in March 2009, Bolivia threw out a U.S. diplomat believed to be helping the CIA sabotage its energy industry. In Guatemala, a country with close ties to the United States, discord emerged as declassified U.S. government documents showed that Washington knew that U.S.-supported Guatemalan officials were behind the disappearance of thousands of people during Guatemala’s 36-year civil war.
Barack Obama’s rise to the U.S. presidency has left most Latin Americans suspended between skepticism and hope. That’s bound to make the V Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, to be held on April 18 and 19, especially interesting.
A desire for change isn’t a sentiment unique to voters in the United States, and it’s not something that our country should fear when embraced by our Southern neighbors. El Salvador, a country that will hold presidential elections on March 15, is a case in point. It’s a place where a single party has been in power for two decades. It has long been mired in poverty, crime, and corruption. And its own Cheneys and Rumsfelds remain in power. A victory by the progressive frontrunner in the electoral contest — the first Latin American presidential elections since President Barack Obama’s inauguration — would give the new White House an opportunity to reject fear-mongering about the rise of left-leaning governments in Latin America and instead praise the regional wave of democratic transformation.
Mexico faces two serious challenges: the deepest economic slowdown in Latin America and an explosion of drug-related violence. To the extent that these crises are getting any attention at all in the United States, the views are widely divergent.
More than 100,000 people gathered on the edge of the Amazon rainforest for the 9th World Social Forum in Belém, Brazil in late January. Youth from local universities mixed with seasoned activists from around the globe. Sheltered from the beating sun and drenching rains by huge white tents, they talked in pairs and in the hundreds, to old friends and new allies. The conversations amounted to nothing less than a full-scale re-imagining of the world order — one rising out of the ashes of today’s economic, ecological, and cultural crises.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and his supporters scored a significant victory on February 15, winning a national referendum to amend Venezuela’s constitution and allow the Venezuelan leader to run for re-election in 2012. With almost 95% of the votes counted, the results indicated that approximately 54.4% of Venezuelans approved the measure while only 45.6% voted in opposition. This was Chávez’s second attempt to end term limits. He tried this 15 months ago and failed, and in regional elections in November the opposition made significant gains, leading many to believe Chávez’s proposal might be defeated again in Sunday’s vote. But with just over 67% of eligible voters turning out to cast their ballots, the referendum prevailed. And while the wording of the referendum presented to voters on electronic voting screens across the country never mentioned the word "re-election," the vote did end term limits for all elected officials in Venezuela.