Venezuelans Tell Us What They Think

GRITtv

June 26, 2009

"Venezuela: Revolution from the Inside Out" is a small independent documentary that manages to break through the media spin on Venezuela in a big way and really gets at the heart of what is important to these misunderstood people. You can find out how to order a copy from our friends at PM PRESS by heading to pmpress.org.

Latin America news roundup - June 26, 2009

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa delivers a speech at the Government Palace in Quito, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

TOP STORY - New CEPR paper assesses the Ecuadorian economy under Correa (Center for Economic and Policy Research)

Bolivia - A thaw in U.S.-Bolivia relations? (NACLA)

Brazil - Rousseff shows no cancer signs-doctors (Reuters)

Brazil - Lula has big plans for Brazil - before and after his exit (Petroleumworld.com)

Brazil - Brazil’s jobless rate drops for second straight month (Bloomberg)

Brazil - Green shoots spring up in resilient Brazil economy (Reuters)

Brazil - Brazil’s Lula and sugarcane industry launch new national labor commitment (SugarcaneBlog.com)

Guatemala - CIA and assassinations: The Guatemala 1954 documents (The Progressive Mind)

Latin America - 'A great feeling of love': Hilda and Che (NACLA)

Peru - Big oil's big mess (TPMcafe)

Latin America news roundup - June 25, 2009

A Bolivian demonstrator holds a sign with a image of Peru's President Alan Garcia during a protest against Garcia in La Paz June 9, 2009. Bolivian indigenous people protested in front of the Peruvian embassy in La Paz against Peru's centre-right president Garcia, who they say is to blame for violent clashes between Indian groups and the police that killed more than 60 people. REUTERS/David Mercado (BOLIVIA POLITICS CONFLICT)

TOP STORY - Peru's Garcia to struggle for rest of term (Reuters)

El Salvador - Ghosts at the polls (Consortium News)

El Salvador - Salvadorian petrol station owners call on gov't to join PetroCaribe (Xinhua)

Peru - Images of 'Amazon's Tiananmen' (The Independent)

Venezuela - Venezuela, US move to restore expelled ambassadors (Associated Press)

Venezuela - Venezuela eases price controls on basic foods (Associated Press)

Venezuela - Sardine workers in Venezuela elect worker administration (Venezuelanalysis)

United States - Naomi Klein quip on "think tanks" (Pink Scare)

World - Rick Steves: A perspective on Iran (FORA.tv)

The Global Food Crisis

Obama: From Fair Trade to Free Trade?

GRITtv

June 24, 2009

As a primary candidate, Barack Obama posited himself as the Fair Trade candidate in opposition to Hillary Clinton whose support of NAFTA during her husband's administration was seen as a liability. But as soon as Hillary was out of the picture Obama began to backpedal on trade telling Fortune magazine that his anti-NAFTA stance was “overheated and amplified.” Now that he’s in the White House, what do we know about his trade policies?

Lori Wallach, Executive Director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, Jose Schiffino, Chair of the Fair Trade Committee of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), Ana Maria Quispe, a human rights activist from Peru, and Christy Thornton, Executive Director of the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA) on Obama and free trade.

The Achuar Take on Occidental Petroleum

GRITtv

June 24, 2009

Amazon Watch explores the impact of Occidental Oil's legacy along the border of Peru and Ecuador. Home to the Achuar people, the land and the lives of the people who live there has been polluted. Over 150 wells and 300 miles of roads and pipeline were built, the water and land contaminated. Occidental has never paid for their actions and in 2006 the Achuar people decided to fight back and stop the destruction of their land. Now they're asking Occidental to pay for the damages and the harmful legacy they've left behind.

Latin America news roundup - June 24, 2009

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez speaks during his weekly broadcast "Alo Presidente" in the western state of Zulia June 21, 2009. REUTERS/Miraflores Palace/Handout

TOP STORY - A “critical evaluation” of Venezuela's Bolivarian process (Venezuelanalysis)

Chile - Obama to Chile: No apologies (Latin Americanist)

Colombia - U.S. majority leader Hoyer needs to know that the Uribe Government of Colombia is not fit for an FTA (Council on Hemispheric Affairs)

El Salvador - Leftist govt clamps down on corruption (Inter Press Service)

Guatemala - CIA, United Fruit Company and overthrow of Guatemala's democracy (Political Cortex)

Venezuela - Venezuela investigates private TV station Globovision for inciting assassination, other crimes (Venezuelanalysis)

United States - Touring empire's ruins: From Detroit to the Amazon (The Nation)

World - The Shock Doctrine and the economic crisis (Pulse)

World - Classical economics: Economic arguments and ideology (Daily Kos)

World - Iran had a democracy before we took it away (Truthdig)

Latin America news review - June 23, 2009

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, seen here in April 2009, on Saturday said that he wants the world to pay Ecuador some 5.2 billion dollars in exchange for not drilling for oil in the Yasuni National Park, a UNESCO world biosphere reserve. (AFP/File/Rodrigo Buendia)

TOP STORY - Ecuador will become member of ALBA on June 24 (Dow Jones)

Bolivia - An interview with Evo Morales (The Liberator Magazine)

Colombia - Spying in the name of 'Democratic Security' (Inter Press Service)

Colombia - Controversy over proposed parliamentary immunity in Colombia (Colombia Reports)

Colombia - Colombian warlords extradited to U.S. want kin out of Colombia (Latin American Herald Tribune)

Colombia - UN 'concerned' over polarization in Colombia (Colombia Reports)

El Salvador - El Salvador's president vows to end poverty (Inter Press Service)

Peru - Twobreakfasts approval rating drops 9 points to 21% (Inca Kola News)

World - Continental Drift hypothesis - the turning point? (The Next Layer)

World - One sixth of humanity is hungry - UN (OneWorld.Net)

Latin America news review - June 22, 2009

A woman cries as she watches police search one of her relatives, unseen, in the street in Bagua Grande, Peru, Saturday, June 6, 2009. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

TOP STORY - Peruvian indigenous still missing (Inside Costa Rica)

Brazil - Lula to send Brazil oil bill to Congress in July, Bernardo says (Bloomberg)

Brazil - BRIC summit marks frustration with dollar (Tehran Times)

Colombia - Colombian senator: Probe into alleged rebel ties a "farce" (EFE)

Colombia - Piedad Cordoba lobbies Spain for support (Colombia Reports)

Ecuador - Correa threatens to expel oil companies suing Ecuador (Latin American Herald Tribune)

Latin America - Support for Palestine builds in Latin America (Socialist Voice)

Uruguay - Mujica and Lacalle lead June 28 Uruguayan presidential primaries (MercoPress)

Venezuela - How Hugo Chavez has helped Canada's oil sands (Globe and Mail)

Eduardo Galeano Chronicles the History of Human Adventure