tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76828370390377919172009-12-07T20:14:45.233-08:00News and Views - in Spanish and English - about the U.S., Latin America, and other developments taking place around the world, with links and information related to citizens' and community media projects, as well as news articles, press releases and commentaries from independent sources. Visit the informative links to various news sites, alternative media, Colombia's indigenous movement and more.Mario Alfonso Murillo Ayala (MAMA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/15233286154382982464marioradio@gmail.comBlogger246125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7682837039037791917.post-75599588331168095262009-11-06T07:45:00.000-08:002009-11-06T07:47:29.045-08:00

Hi folks,, Just thought I'd share with you the latest article from Colombia Journal, which focuses on the dangers of an expanded US military presence in Colombia:U.S. Military Documents Show Colombia Base Agreement Poses Threat to RegionBy Garry Leech Leaders in South America have publicly expressed their concerns regarding the recently-signed agreement between the U.S. and Colombian

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Written by Micheál Ó Tuathail and Manuel Rozental* Thursday, 05 November 2009 Indigenous Guard of the Minga, 2008Last fall, Colombia’s social and popular movements captured the world’s attention. Emerging initially from the indigenous territories in Northern Cauca and expanding to unite diverse sectors, the Social and Community

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The U.S. and Colombian Role in the Honduran Crisis By Garry LeechMany analysts and sectors of the mainstream media have suggested that the apparent ineffectiveness of the U.S. government to resolve the crisis in Honduras is evidence that the influence wielded by the region’s superpower is waning. They argue that the assertiveness of Brazil in its efforts to have Honduras’ coup regime step

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Folks,While a lot has been said about the "successes" of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's Democratic Security Strategy, funded wholeheartedly by U.S. taxpayers through the Plan Colombia package, there is growing evidence that an upswing in violence is occurring on the ground in various regions of the country. Our friends at the Center for International Policy - Colombia, have been keeping close

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This note from our friends at CIP-Colombia:Francisco Santos and the paramilitariesThe former paramilitary chief [Salvatore Mancuso] stated that [Vice President Francisco] Santos … also met several times with the paramilitaries’ leaders and that “I was surprised because I noticed how much he identified with the cause” and because “he told [AUC paramilitary leader Carlos] Castaño that he liked the

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The Indigenous Minga – One Year Later: Colombia’s Popular Movement and the Imperial Presidency of Alvaro UribeColombian Indigenous Rights Activist to Update New Yorkers on Situation Facing Indigenous Movement in Colombia Several Events in the Metropolitan Area Planned Rafael Coicué is a native Nasa from the indigenous reserve of Corinto, in Colombia’s southwest province of Cauca. A veteran social

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Greetings folks, One year ago, the world was moved by the courageous and unprecedented mobilization of the indigenous and popular movement in Colombia, which on October 20, 2008 was already in its second week. A lot has happened since then, including most recently, in Cauca, with a series of events that commemorated the one-year anniversary of the historic mobilization. There is considerable

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For Immediate Release!Contact: marioradio@gmail.comOctober 12th, 2009Colombian Indigenous Rights Activist, Rafael Coicué, to Visit New York in Late OctoberFocus of his meetings: The Indigenous Minga – One Year Later: Colombia’s Popular Movement and the Imperial PresidencyRafael Coicué is a native Nasa from the indigenous reserve of Corinto, in Colombia’s southwest province of Cauca. A veteran

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US Government Stalls on Visa for Colombian Activist Delays Could Prevent Activist from Being Present to Receive Human Rights Award NEW YORK - Human Rights First has chosen Colombian activist Gabriel Gonzalez as the 2009 recipient of its prestigious human rights award. The award will be presented at a gala ceremony in New York on October 22, but instead of being part of the celebration

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Colombia’s Domestic Spying Scandal By Adam Isacson, CIP Latin America Security Program. Last updated October 8, 2009.A PDF version of this document is available at www.cipcol.org/files/factsheets/das_scandal.pdf On February 21, 2009, Colombia’s most-circulated newsweekly, Semana, broke an important story. It revealed that the Administrative Security Department (DAS), the Colombian Presidency’s

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National Security Archive Update, October 8, 2009State Department Cable says Colombian Army Responsible for Palace of Justice Deaths, DisappearancesDocument Introduced as Evidence in Trial of Col. Alfonso Plazas VegaFor more information contact:http://www.nsarchive.orgWashington, DC, October 8, 2009 - A declassified U.S. State Department document filed in a Colombian court yesterday blames the

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Lest we forget, this is an important message for all of us to remember. Thank goodness for those creative grafiteros in Bogotá!MAMA

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DAY 87 – HONDURAS COUP RESISTANCE = AGAIN, A VICIOUS CRACK-DOWNSeptember 22, 2009, Alert#69 BELOW: Action requested: Demand for comprehensive economic sanctions & possible “blue helmuts” peace-keeping missionVarious information from today’s brutal repressive crackdownHow to donate fund for the National Front Against the Coup & what to do? INTERVIEWS & MORE INFORMATION:

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Here's an interesting overview of the historic developments taking place in Honduras, posted on Upside Down World.

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Here is the latest article from Colombia Journal, something very much worth reading as President Alvaro Uribe prepares to visit NYC on yet another lobbying ambush:Exorcising the Ghosts of Paramilitary Violence: Reclaiming Liberty in LibertadBy Garry LeechMarco Tulio Pérez arrived in the remote Afro-Colombian community of Libertad in 2000. One of his first acts was to organize a beauty pageant for

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Last week, the U.S. State Department said that Colombia has satisfied most human rights concerns and certified Alvaro Uribe's government, thus opening the way to more than $580-million dollars in U.S. aid for the year. The announcement came just two weeks after Colombia's own Armed Forces was implicated in a massacre of 12 Awa indians in the southern province of Nariño, and amidst the ongoing

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September 17, 2009 A Scandal Over Spying Intensifies in Colombia By SIMON ROMERO BOGOTÁ, Colombia — President Álvaro Uribe, the top ally of the United States in Latin America, is enmeshed in a scandal over growing evidence that his main intelligence agency carried out an extensive illegal spying operation focused on his leading critics, including members of the Supreme Court,

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Folks,You may have heard about this latest atrocity carried out in Colombia on August 27th, although you would be hard-pressed to find any mention of it in the US news media. As the Obama Administration finalizes a deal with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to open seven military bases for U.S. military forces, Human Rights Watch is calling on an investigation into the massacre of 12

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By Gustavo CapdevilaGENEVA, Aug 13 (IPS) - The head of Colombia's biggest association of indigenous people is concerned that allowing U.S. troops to use military bases in his country will signal a regression to former times when the United States exercised control over Latin America, while a native activist warned of an increase in the number of cases of sexual abuse of young indigenous women by

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Hello folks,The tensions over the US-Colombia military base agreement continue to rise, despite the whirlwind South American tour of Colombian Presiodent Alvaro Uribe two weeks ago, which brought him to every regional capital to discuss the plan with his counterparts. Here is the latest posting from our friends at Center for International Policy, CIP, which has an overview of the UNASUR meetings

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'Me responsabilizo de las opiniones de la gente que entrevisto': Alfredo Molano En su nuevo libro 'Ahí les dejo esos fierros', el sociólogo analiza el conflicto colombiano desde la mirada de protagonistas rasos.****************************Alfredo Molano is a sociologist, journalist and commentator who has written over a dozen books about the conflict in Colombia. He has been

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Bases deal “presents enormous dangers for entire hemisphere” - Fellowship of Reconciliation, FOROver one hundred religious, national, community organizations and leaders and academics today called on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to “suspend negotiations for expanded U.S. military access or operations in Colombia,” a plan that has generated a swell of protest among Latin American countries,

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Folks, Some of you may be following the controversies around the U.S. military base agreement with Colombia. This situation, which has not surprisingly caused tensions with other regional leaders, has overshadowed the ongoing push to change the Colombian Constitution in order to allow for yet another re-election of President Alvaro Uribe, a measure that seems to be all but dead in the current

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THIS NEWS ITEM WAS RECENTLY POSTED IN REUTERS. While it uses some of the typical, narrow-minded language employed by most "Western" news agencies reporting on Colombia, the broader message of how US military plans in Colombia might interfere with regional stability, and how Colombia's neighbors are not pleased, is perhaps more important.MAMA********************************By Hugh BronsteinBOGOTA,

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Here is the latest article from our friends at Colombia Journal:Colombia’s Deteriorating Displacement CrisisBy Garry Leech Tercer Milenio Park is located only blocks from Colombia’s presidential palace in the center of Bogotá and offers respite from the chaotic city to local residents. But for the past four months, it has also been a refuge from the country’s rural violence for more than one

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