Fidel Castro, Cuba’s leader of revolution, has died aged 90. Here is an extract from Tariq Ali‘s introduction to The Declarations of Havana, Verso’s collection of Castro’s speeches. On 26 July 1953 an angry young lawyer, Fidel Castro, led a small band of armed men in an attempt to seize
Continue readingTag: Latin America and the Caribbean
Canadian Dimension: What Happened to the Pink Tide?
Photo by Eneas De Troya
When the ‘pink tide’ of left-leaning governments first rose to power on the back of anti-neoliberal protests across Latin America in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the initial re…
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Tribute to Fidel Castro on His 90th Birthday
Photo by Marcelo Montecino
On Saturday, August 13, the world will celebrate the 90th birthday of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro Ruz, the only individual ever to be acknowledged by the UN as a “World H…
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Venezuelan Opposition Unlikely To Secure Recall Referendum Before Year’s End
Photo by Joka Madruga
Earlier this week, Venezuela’s national electoral council, known as the CNE, announced that the presidential recall referendum will be proceeding to the next phase, and outlined a tim…
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Reactionary Tide in Latin America
Photo by Gabriel Cabral
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the Left has won elections in most Latin American countries, in a powerful wave of popular rejection of the disastrous neoliberal policies of th…
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Beyond the Boliburguesía Thesis
Photo by Joka Madruga
“Oil didn’t wreck Venezuela’s economy, socialism did.” That’s what Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, of the Washington-based conservative think tank Ethics and Public Policy Center, wrote ea…
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: 66% of Brazilians Say Congress Voted Coup for Their Own Benefit
Photo by Senado Federal
Less than one quarter of Brazilians think that lawmakers acted with the best interests of the country at heart when approving the coup against Dilma Rousseff.
As the interim government o…
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Brazil: Coup or Fiasco?
Michel Temer • Photo from Public Domain
The President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, has been suspended from her office while she goes on trial by the Senate. If convicted, she would be removed from office, which …
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Nicolas Maduro Declares Emergency to Face Foreign Intervention
Photo by Joka Madruga
The 60-day state of emergency will be used against threats of intervention by the United States and Colombia, among others, in light of the political assaults on Brazil’s Dilma Rousse…
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The Political Crisis in Brazil
Photo by Jordi Bernabeu Farrús
Since the 1980s, Brazil’s Workers’ Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores, PT) has been one of the largest political parties of the left in Latin America. It has held power …
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: A Chill Wind From the North: the US Returns to Latin America
Photo by Carlos Díaz
Old familiar dangers lurk in the corners of Latin America. More than a decade of hope — enshrined in the experiments in Venezuela — now seems extinguished. The “pink tide” of electo…
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Overthrowing Dilma Rousseff
Photo by Rede Brasil Atual
Every so often, the bourgeois political system runs into crisis. The machinery of the state jams; the veils of consent are torn asunder and the tools of power appear disturbingly naked…
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Indigenous Rights Under Attack: Canadian economic and political interests over human rights
Illustration by LargeMarge
No one defending their land and territory in Honduras is safe. That was the message that rang loud and clear after Berta Cáceres was murdered in her home on March 3. Cáceres, an Indi…
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Venezuelan Opposition Launches Campaign to Oust Nicolas Maduro
Photo by Joka Madruga
Venezuela’s right-wing opposition launched a campaign Tuesday to remove socialist President Nicolas Maduro from power this year. The plan includes street protests for his immediate re…
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Brazilian Democracy in Distress: Unpacking Dilma Rousseff’s Impeachment
Photo by Senado Federal
Alfredo Saad Filho is Professor of Political Economy at the SOAS Department of Development Studies. His research interests include the political economy of neoliberalism, industrial polic…
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The Roots of the Current Situation in Venezuela
Photo by Diariocritico de Venezuela
The current economic, political, and social situation in Venezuela is very complicated, which makes it somewhat difficult for outsiders to make sense of. On the one hand there…
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Colombia’s Killing Fields: Peace is War
Photo from Public Domain Introduction Colombia has received more US military aid–over $6 billion dollars in the past decade – than any country in the Western Hemisphere. For its part, Colombia allowed the Pentagon to build seven military bases, more than all the other countries in the region combined. There
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The United States and Venezuela: Decades of Defeats and Destabilization
Photo by David Hernández Introduction US policy toward Venezuela is a microcosm of its larger strategy toward Latin America. The intent is to reverse the region’s independent foreign policy and to restore US dominance; to curtail the diversification of trading and investment partners and re-centre economic relations to the US;
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: John Pilger: Venezuela’s Struggle Against “a Common Enemy”
Photo by Jorge Paparoni With a “slow-motion coup” underway in Venezuela, John Pilger is interviewed for Telesur, the Latin American TV network, by Mike Albert. Mike Albert: Why would the US want Venezuela’s government overthrown? John Pilger: There are straightforward principles and dynamics at work here. Washington wants to get
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The Cuban Epic
Photo by John Puddephatt Cuba brought the greatest ideas of social transformation to several generations of Latin Americans. Its revolution touched the youth, convulsed political organizations and shook the left. In the Sixties Castroism broke with all the dogmas, demonstrating that a socialist process was possible on the continent. Ninety
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