Like many global hot spots of the twentieth century, the Andes is marked by its history of structural inequality, racial conflict, and legacies of poverty and violence. Tensions between urban and rural areas as well as between descendants of European and Andean ancestry still exist and remain a source of scholarly interest in the region.… Read More Surveying the Field: Peasant Power in Andean History
(Published originally in Mediato) La mina de oro y plata Río Blanco, atacada y quemada este mes por manifestantes de la comunidad, es emblemática en la industria minera ecuatoriana por todas las razones equivocadas. Haciendo caso omiso a la resistencia de las comunidades locales, del Municipio de Cuenca y de la provincia del Azuay, el gobierno… Read More Minería: del dicho al hecho
Alejandro Velasco, Barrio Rising: Urban Popular Politics and the Making of Modern Venezuela (Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2015). Alejandro Velasco’s Barrio Rising: Urban Popular Politics and the Making of Modern Venezuela (2015) uses the Caracas superblock housing complex, known today as 23 de Enero, to analyze Venezuela’s transition from the dictatorship of Marcos… Read More Barrio Rising: Urban Popular Politics and the Making of Modern Venezuela: Velasco
When Chile granted literate men over the age of 21 the right to vote in 1925, a new era marked by the rise of mass society had begun.[1] Similar to processes unfolding around the world, the enfranchisement of progressively-larger swaths of Chile’s population in the early-twentieth century upended traditional politics and undermined the economic status… Read More Mining for the Nation: Jody Pavilack
Thomas Rogers’ The Deepest Wounds argues that Pernambuco sugar planters “saw no distinction between land and labor” (8). Enslaved and free workers on cane plantations were demoted in elites’ eyes to a level equal with the animals and the earth – merely another natural resource to be commanded by the planters (72-73). This monograph shows… Read More The Deepest Wounds: Thomas Rogers
By Nathan Gill Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) — Chile will use an anti-terrorism law criticized by human rights groups to try and quell a spate of violence over indigenous lands in the country’s south, a government official said. The government will apply the law, dating from the military dictatorship, against those responsible for armed attacks against… Read More Chile Invokes Anti-Terror Law to Quell Violence, Rosende Says
By Nathan GillFeb. 27 (Bloomberg) — Ecuador may renew diplomatic relations with Colombia if certain conditions are met, President Rafael Correa said today in a statement posted on the presidential Web site. Correa asked Colombia to reveal all the details of an air raid last year in Ecuadorean territory, repay Ecuador for unspecified damages, support… Read More Correa Says Ecuador Willing to Renew Relations With Colombia
(Dec. 6, 2007) Violent protests continue to rock Bolivia as politicians refuse to compromise on a new national constitution. President Evo Morales has proposed a national recall vote for himself and the country’s nine prefects to help end protests that began after his political party Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) railroaded a new draft constitution through… Read More President Proposes National Recall Vote As Bolivia Slides Further Into Chaos
(Nov. 30, 2007) Without delay, Ecuador’s new Constitutional Assembly approved President Rafael Correa’s proposal to close the national congress until the assembly concludes its broad reorganization of the state in what officials are calling a “Citizen Revolution.” Ecuador is the third South American country to call a Constitutional Assembly this century, joining Venezuela and Bolivia… Read More 21st Century Socialists Turn Tables On Opposition
(Nov. 26, 2007) Last Friday Bolivian President Evo Morales and his MAS party in the National Assembly approved constitutional changes by a simple majority vote in an irregular session without the presence of opposition parties. According to the former Vice President Victor Hugo Cádenas the meeting took place in a military barracks in Sucre where… Read More Bolivian Assembly Approves Constitution In Irregular Session
(Nov. 25, 2007) Riot police shot a group of students from the Universidad Monteávila on Friday for handing out pamphlets protesting the upcoming constitutional referendum in Venezuela. El Observador Online reported that eight students were wounded in the attack. Police firing small pellets and tear gas forced students to seek protection inside their university. The… Read More Venezuelan Police Shoot Students Protesting Chávez’s Constitutional Reforms
Besides the now famous spat between President Chavez and King Juan Carlos and the evil empire bashing of the People’s Alternate Summit, what actually happened at the Iberoamerican Summit that took place in Santiago last week? Why did the leaders of 33 countries go to so much trouble to meet together for three days of… Read More The Other Iberoamerican Summit
(Oct. 30, 2007) Are the constitutional reforms to be voted on in December a threat to Venezuela’s democracy, and if so, what implications does this have for the region? In a strong statement denouncing the proposed constitutional reforms a number of influential academic and social academies have recently spoken out against President Hugo Chávez’s proposed… Read More Why Are People Worried About Constitutional Reforms in Venezuela?
(May 31, 2006) The investigation into the murder of Eugenio Berríos has uncovered links between Augusto Pinochet Hiriart, the eldest son of the former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet, and various military organizations in Chile and Uruguay suspected of taking part in the 1993 homicide of the former secret police chemist. Investigative Judge Alejandro Madrid released… Read More BERRIÓS CASE: JUDGE INVESTIGATES PINOCHET’S SON
(May 31, 2006) The investigation into the murder of Eugenio Berríos has uncovered links between Augusto Pinochet Hiriart, the eldest son of the former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet, and various military organizations in Chile and Uruguay suspected of taking part in the 1993 homicide of the former secret police chemist. Investigative Judge Alejandro Madrid released… Read More BERRIÓS CASE: JUDGE INVESTIGATES PINOCHET’S SON
(May 29, 2006) President Michelle Bachelet made a historic visit to the headquarters of the Families of Disappeared Detainees (AFDD) on Friday to speak with leaders of the group about human rights issues. The visit was the first time since the transition to Democracy in 1990 that a Chilean president has personally visited the organization… Read More PRESIDENT OF CHILE MEETS WITH HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP
(May 29, 2006) Senator Alejandro Navarro convinced four Mapuche prisoners on a hunger strike to end their protest last Friday after the group resumed the strike on May 15th. All four prisoners are under medical supervision at the intensive care unit of the Temuco Regional Hospital because of organ damage due to the prolonged fast.… Read More MAPUCHES END HUNGER STRIKE
(May 29, 2006) President Michelle Bachelet made a historic visit to the headquarters of the Families of Disappeared Detainees (AFDD) on Friday to speak with leaders of the group about human rights issues. The visit was the first time since the transition to Democracy in 1990 that a Chilean president has personally visited the organization… Read More PRESIDENT OF CHILE MEETS WITH HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP
(May 24, 2006) Gen. Manuel Contreras, former director of Chile’s secret police, will appear before Santiago’s Constitutional Tribunal Thursday to appeal the 258 human rights violations currently filed against him. Gen. Contreras’ lawyer, Fidel Reyes, is expected to argue that the charges against his client are inapplicable because of due process violations arising from the… Read More OPERATION COLOMBO: CONTRERAS RESPONDS TO ALLEGATIONS
(May 24, 2006) Senator Alejandro Navarro will travel to Araucanía in southern Chile on Thursday to figure out what went wrong with a government negotiated agreement that ended a 63-day hunger strike of four Mapuche prisoners. The strikers resumed their protest last Saturday criticizing the government for failing to hold up their end of the… Read More GOVERNMENT PERPLEXED BY MAPUCHE HUNGER STRIKE
(May 22, 2006) An unknown man delivered a series of bank statements and personal letters to Chile’s police last December that detail the involvement of Gen. Ricardo Izurieta, Chile’s former commander in chief, in the Riggs Bank case. The letters were made public for the first time in El Mercurio on Sunday and suggest that… Read More NEW DOCUMENTS SHED LIGHT ON RIGGS BANK CASE
(May 22, 2006) The Mapuche hunger strikers renewed their protest against Chile’s anti-terrorist law Saturday after accusing government officials of failing to uphold their side of the agreement that ended a 63 day hunger strike on May 14. The four prisoners refused meals Saturday and called for a general Mapuche strike throughout the country. The… Read More MAPUCHES PROTEST AGAINST DISCRIMINATION
(May 22, 2006) The Mapuche hunger strikers renewed their protest against Chile’s anti-terrorist law Saturday after accusing government officials of failing to uphold their side of the agreement that ended a 63 day hunger strike on May 14. The four prisoners refused meals Saturday and called for a general Mapuche strike throughout the country. The… Read More MAPUCHES PROTEST AGAINST DISCRIMINATION
(May 19, 2006) Former Dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet was questioned in his Santiago mansion Tuesday for the third time about his role in the murders of a group of left-wing political activists. The former dictator is being investigated for the murders of 47 people who were killed in Operation Colombo, a joint operation between the… Read More PINOCHET INTERRORGATED IN OPERATION COLOMBO CASE
(May 18 2006) Judge Víctor Montiglio closed the case against six retired military member in the Caravan of Death case Wednesday deciding to apply Chile’s controversial 1978 Amnesty law instead of prosecuting. The ruling goes against the stated policy of the Chile’s Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court as well as the Geneva conventions on… Read More CARAVAN OF DEATH: JUDGES SENTENCE DRAWS CRITICISM
(May 17, 2006) Investigators have accused Gen. Ramírez Rurange with giving the order to take Col. Gerardo Huber out of the country in 1992 shortly after Huber was called to testify about an illegal arms sale to Croatia. The investigative Judge Claudio Pavez suspects that Col. Huber was shot when he refused to leave the… Read More NEW INDICTMENTS LINK TWO CHILEAN HUMAN RIGHTS CASES
(May 17, 2006) Judge Carlos Cerda has authorized a team of Chilean State prosecutors (CDE) to travel to the U.S. to investigate multiple bank accounts held by Chile’s former Dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet and his family at Barclays Bank PLC and Lehman Brothers. The authorization comes on the heels of new findings in the Riggs… Read More RIGGS BANK CASE: JUDGE CERDA SENDS TEAM TO U.S. TO TRACK BRIBES
Door May Open Revealing Dictator’s Complicity In Other Human Rights Violations, Including The Death Of President Frei Montalva (May 12, 2006) The investigation into the death of former secret police chemist Eugenio Berríos has allegedly linked Chile’s former dictator General Augusto Pinochet to the murder as well as the mysterious death of former President Eduardo… Read More PINOCHET CHARGED IN CHILE FOR MURDER OF SECRET POLICE CHEMIST EUGENIO BERRIOS
Judge Links Huber’s Death To Pinochet’s Arms Trafficking (Oct. 6, 2005) Investigations into illegal weapons sales to Croatia and the mysterious death of Colonel Gerardo Huber have surged forward as new discoveries from the Riggs Bank case shed light on the motives behind decades of arms purchases, bribes, and murders. Judge Claudio Pavez, lead investigator… Read More CHILE AT CORNER OF HUBER AND RIGGS
(Sept. 28, 2005) President Ricardo Lagos met with the Assembly of Human Rights on Monday announcing that human rights violators would not be eligible for amnesty. The move was greeted with enthusiasm by the Assembly after waiting two years for an audience with the president and a recent series of set backs on the human… Read More LAGOS WILL NOT SUPPORT AMNESTY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATORS
(Sept 14, 2005) Ex-Colonia Dignidad doctor Harmut Hopp was released on bail last week after denying charges of human rights violations. Pointing the finger at Paul Schafer, leader of the right-wing paramilitary group of Germans in the south of Chile, Hopp denied any knowledge of illegal activities at the Colony compound. Colonia Dignidad was a… Read More COURT RELEASES COLONIA DIGNIDAD DOCTOR
Death in the sun-drenched fields or torture in the shade of the house? Resistance or collaboration? How did enslaved Africans cope with the trauma of life on Anglo-Jamaican sugar plantations in the eighteenth century? These are some of the very disturbing questions Trevor Burnard tackles in chapter six of Mastery, Tyranny, & Desire, where he… Read More Mastery, Tyranny, & Desire: Trevor Burnard
Imagine you have thirty hours of interviews, nine months of work, more than seven decades of oral history from a privileged witness to the rise of Peronism and the Argentine labor movement…and then you start reading postmodern theory (125). Was it all a waste of time, you ask? This is Daniel James’s dilemma after recording… Read More Doña María′s Story: Daniel James
