Taking the 'country of the future' back to the past
Sao Paulo, 20th October. It seems that Michel Temer will stop at nothing to buy his survival as president: even changing the rules to make it more difficult to rescue workers trapped into slavery and to punish employers caught using them.
All this to please the powerful Bancada Ruralista, rural lobby,...
This article is an edited translation. You can read the original on Agencia Pública's website, in Portuguese, here.
Former army captain Jair Bolsonaro is no longer seen alone in the halls of Brazil’s congress, as was once common. Now the representative from Rio de Janeiro makes lightening speeches for passing visitors and students. He is always surrounded by cell phones, further fueling...
Jesús Alberto ‘Chucho’ García is Venezuelan Consul General in New Orleans and previously represented the Venezuelan government in Angola, Mali and Burkina Faso. He is a founder of the Juan Ramón Lugo Afro-Revolutionary Movement. Despite describing the current opposition to Nicolás Maduro as ‘racist and fascist’, he says that the state’s bureaucratic approach to production is ignoring the creativity...
As peace activists, we have become too accustomed to share bad news. However, on this occasion I’m glad to be able to say that, while there are still many challenges, we are on the right path towards building peace in Colombia.
The oldest insurgent group in the Americas, FARC-EP (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia- the People’s Army), no longer...
Sāo Paulo, 16 September: Like a tropical King Canute, president Michel Temer defies the waves of accusations battering his government, even when they are presented by the chief prosecutor himself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR2ZsDt9SPk
credit: Metropoles.com
In a 240-page indictment, Rodrigo Janot, the chief prosecutor, has accused the president, his closest ministers and allies, all members of the PMDB, of forming a ‘quadrilhão’ – big criminal...
The Movimento de Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (Landless Rural Worker's Movement, MST) has a gender-balanced national directorate of 52 individuals, with two people elected periodically in each of its 26 state assemblies. Gilmar Mauro is a member of the national directorate of MST, representing the state of São Paulo. Brian Mier, COHA research associate and Brasilwire contributor, caught up...
On 27 August, Guatemalan president Jimmy Morales made a special TV broadcast to the nation.
In the broadcast, he declared that Iván Velásquez, the head of the UN-appointed CICIG (Commission against Impunity in Guatemala) was ‘persona non grata’ in the country, and that the ‘competent authorities’ would see that Velásquez was immediately deported.
Morales’ move came less than 48 hours after...
This article was written for BrasilWire. You can read the original here.
The political situation in Brazil is getting confusing, even for people who study it. To summarise recent events:
In April the organized left held the largest general strike in Latin America this Century, demanding for a halt to the austerity reforms and for illegitimate president Michel Temer’s immediate...
This article was translated from the French by Gregory Duff Morton, Bard College.
After two decades of military dictatorship, a new Constitution proclaimed in 1988 gave pride of place to human rights and the protection of the environment. Nicknamed the Citizen Constitution, it expressed hope for a regime of justice and democracy. Thirty years on, it has suffered from all...
Aug 14 2017
What is President Temer's weapon for fighting corruption charges? Why, corruption of course.
In his relentless battle to stay in power, President Michel Temer has appealed to the very methods he stands accused of by the Attorney General’s investigations: bribery and corruption, or as Theresa May might say, confidence and supply.
This enabled him to win last week’s crucial...