Colombia’s Disappeared. The cover of Colombia’s Semana magazine depicts a photo which should warm the cockles of any decent heart: the indigenous people of Cauca carrying an armed soldier, one of many who had invaded their land, away from their town.
The story of the resistance in Cauca was simply amazing, as indigenous, armed with nothing more than sticks, chased away the U.S. -funded military and physically dismantled the barracks they had just set up. Yet, the editors of Semana were not overjoyed with this scene, instead referring to it as a “tragedy,” and asking how it could be that indigenous peoples would drive out the very military which purports to protect them. NYT: Town expels cops, takes loggers hostage - World news - The New York Times - NBCNews.com. Text: We're sorry. The text content of this page is no longer available. Photos: Narco culture permeates Mexico, leaks across border Open in new window Tijuana, June 2009: Mexico's drug culture is defined by guns and money, to be sure, but it includes sex, movies, music and even a heavy dose of religion.
It also extends across the border into the U.S. Ciudad Juarez, August 2009: Women spread flour to soak up blood where a young man was murdered. Editor's note: This image contains graphic content that some viewers may find disturbing. Discuss: Most active discussions. A Coup in Paraguay? Is That in Africa? “Americans will do anything for Latin America except read about it.”– James Reston “You go Uruguay and I’ll go my way,” said Groucho Marx, but what and where is Paraguay?
“And why should I care, the Giants are in first place, crab is in season and I will have health care,” said a San Francisco man. I tried to explain that coups are so 20th Century even with the new non-military twists. He shrugged. I explained. Lugo’s defense request for 18 days to prepare as provided by law was denied, and Paraguay’s Congress ousted President Lugo and replaced him with Vice President Federico Franco, his vice-president from the right-wing Liberal party.
U.S. Another coup had taken place, like the 2009 one in Honduras, when sages promised there were to be no more coups in Latin America. 'War on drugs' has failed, say Latin American leaders. A historic meeting of Latin America's leaders, to be attended by Barack Obama, will hear serving heads of state admit that the war on drugs has been a failure and that alternatives to prohibition must now be found.
The Summit of the Americas, to be held in Cartagena, Colombia is being seen by foreign policy experts as a watershed moment in the redrafting of global drugs policy in favour of a more nuanced and liberalised approach. Otto Pérez Molina, the president of Guatemala, who as former head of his country's military intelligence service experienced the power of drug cartels at close hand, is pushing his fellow Latin American leaders to use the summit to endorse a new regional security plan that would see an end to prohibition. In the Observer, Pérez Molina writes: "The prohibition paradigm that inspires mainstream global drug policy today is based on a false premise: that global drug markets can be eradicated. " Pérez Molina concedes that moving beyond prohibition is problematic. Victims of U.S. “Drug War” Mount as Media Yawns.
Last week, you would have been lucky to find even a small blurb in a few newspapers about but another journalist killed in post-coup Honduras — the 19th in the last two years, making Honduras by far the most dangerous country in the world to be a journalist.
Indeed, Honduras is now the murder capital of the world. It is important to note the comparative silence about the mass killing of journalists in Honduras with the mass outpouring of grief the media showed for the two Western journalists (Marie Colven & Remi Ochlik) killed in Syria recently, with the photo of Ms. Colven donning the front page of every paper in the U.S. the day after her killing. Of course, Ms. Colven and Mr. Doing Biden’s Bidding. Vice President Joe Biden landed in Mexico City last night and he’s left little doubt about his mission—to lock in the regional drug war.
His visit comes at a time of mounting calls to end prohibitionist laws and the drug war model. Biden will be in Mexico City all day Monday meeting with President Felipe Calderon and presidential candidates, then in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Tuesday, where he’ll meet with President Porfirio Lobo and have a “working lunch” with Central American presidents. On a March 1 call with the press, a reporter asked whether the drug war would be on the agenda at the meeting with Central American presidents. Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Dan Restrepo, replied, “The Obama administration has been quite clear in our opposition to decriminalization or legalization of illicit drugs.
Can that position really qualify as dialogue? A real discussion on effective strategies has to include the option of legalization. He has a tough road ahead of him.