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The Immortal Ideas of Martí
Reflections by Fidel Castro Ruz

The leader of the Cuban Revolution says that that the crude lies of McCain and Bush are paths to obtaining nothing against a people that has learned how to resist the power of the empire for almost half a century. Just a few days ago a friend sent me the text of a statement made by Gallup, the famous U.S. pollster. I started to leaf through the material with the natural suspicion about the untrue and hypocritical information that is usually used against our homeland. It was a poll about education and it included Cuba which tends to be ignored. The situation was being analyzed in four regions of the world: Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America. In some aspects, several countries in the Caribbean were included.
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South American Nations Form New Regional Grouping: UNASUR
May 24th 2008, by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com

Mérida, May 24, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com)-- At a summit in Brasilia, Brazil, on Friday, 12 South American countries formally constituted the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), a regional integration initiative which began informally in 2004. At the Summit, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Colombian President Álvaro Uribe shook hands respectfully, and Colombia remained the only country which declined to participate in the proposed South American Defense Council.
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U.S. Military Base Near Venezuelan Border?
May 23rd 2008, by Nikolas Kozloff - CounterPunch

Despite his record unpopularity, it would appear that President Bush wants to go out of office with a bang. Having failed to overthrow Hugo Chávez through an attempted coup, the White House now hopes to escalate pressure on Venezuela’s President by other means. On Saturday, a U.S. navy plane strayed into Venezuelan airspace. Venezuelan Defense Minister Gustavo Rangel said that the aircraft "practically flew over" the island of La Orchila - where Venezuela has a military base and President Hugo Chávez has a residence - and another island before turning back. U.S. officials claimed the plane had “navigational problems.”
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Bolivia and Venezuela Sign Military Cooperation Agreement
May 23rd 2008, by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com

Mérida, May 23, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com)-- Bolivian President Evo Morales and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez met in Caracas Thursday evening to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries and to sign a military cooperation agreement before traveling together to the summit of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) in Brazil on Friday.
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Obama pledges new direction on Latin America
by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor May 23

Courting another key constituency in the swing state of Florida, Barack Obama today outlined what he calls a new approach for Latin America distinct from the Bush administration's failed policies. Speaking to the Cuban American National Foundation, the Democratic front-runner called for direct diplomacy throughout the hemisphere to advance democracy and promote American values and ideals, to immediately allow Cuban Americans unlimited family travel and remittances to the island, to create an Energy Partnership for the Americas that would develop alternative energy, launch a regional security initiative to battle drug trafficking, to target development assistance for Latin America aimed at promoting bottom-up growth, and to reinstate a Special Envoy for the Americas in the White House and open more consulates and expand the Peace Corps in Latin America.
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Colombia's Economic Growth Fueled by Repression
by Garry Leech

Over the past five years Colombia has achieved impressive economic growth as foreign investment has increased dramatically. According to most analysts, it is the policies of President Alvaro Uribe that have created the security conditions required by foreign companies to operate in the country. A significant portion of Colombia's economic growth has resulted from investment in the country's extractive sector, reflecting the confidence of foreign investors in the capacity of the Colombian military to safeguard their operations in the country's rural conflict zones. However, analysts who praise the Uribe government for Colobmia's economic growth often ignore the fact that the enhanced security provided by the Colombian military has been achieved through an increase in human rights abuses perpetrated against the rural population.
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Cuba: A Half-Century of Distorted News and Counting . .
Saul Landau - May 16 2008

Since January 1959, nearly half a century ago, U.S. mass media have reflected the views of the U.S. government and systematically misreported the Cuban Revolution. This should not surprise readers familiar with the equally unrevealing journalism on revolutions in Russia and China, although notable exceptions in each case shined beacon lights on reality. In 1957 Herbert Matthews, like John Reed in Russia and Edgar Snow in China, wrote front-page stories on Fidel Castro’s guerrilla band in Cuba’s eastern mountains. He emphasized the brutality of Fulgencio Batista’s dictatorship and U.S. support for that corrupt and brutal regime, portraying Fidel as a democrat who followed a long line of Latin American revolutionaries. After the revolution triumphed, Lee Lockwood’s photojournalism for Life marked a second exception in which facts placed in context emerged from the stories.
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Film on Che Guevara at Cannes Festival
Prensa Latina

Cannes, May 22 (Prensa Latina) If it were about ovations, favorable remarks and respect for history, the film on Che Guevara, at Cannes Festival, would be at the forefront to win grand prize. That is at least the first conclusion going on in this city of La Cote d Azur of France, where actor Benicio del Toro and film maker Steven Soderbergh, among others, keep on reiterating their admiration for the Argentinean-Cuban revolutionary man. Del Toro (who played Oscar in "Traffic"), Puerto Rico-born and US resident, told media that he would be very pleased to hear Fidel Castro's opinion on his performing in the film directed by Soderbergh, one of the best Hollywood directors. I spent five minutes with him, he was already aware about this project, he knew what we were doing and said he was very glad to see we dedicate so much time to a research of that period, he assured.
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Venezuela Dissatisfied with U.S. Explanation for Airspace Violation
by Kiraz Janicke - Venezuelanalysis.com

Caracas, May 21, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Nicolás Maduro, declared on Tuesday that the Venezuelan government is not satisfied with the explanation provided by U.S. Ambassador Patrick Duddy in reference to the violation of Venezuelan airspace by a U.S. Navy plane.
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Revolutionizing Education and the Face of Venezuelan Society
by Carlos Ruiz - Ven Central

U.S. foreign policy talks of democracy to mean subversion to Western capital, although this interpretation arises via dubious logic from the unwavering principle of economic freedom for all. Obviously, all policy (including economic) should follow from democratic choice, but the inherent problem for capitalists is that their ideology can only be seen to benefit a majority when viewed from the perspective of an increasingly privileged minority.
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Venezuela Proposes Food Crisis Fund at Controversial Trans-Atlantic Summit
by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com

Mérida, May 20, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com)-- Fifty heads of state from Latin America, the Caribbean, and the European Union (EU) pledged to strengthen trade relations in order to fight poverty and promote sustainable development at a two-day summit that concluded Saturday in Lima, Peru.
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Guatemala: No End to the Assassination of Trade Unionists
by International Trade Union Confederation

The situation for trade unionists in Guatemala is getting worse by the day. Sergio Miguel García, a member of the National Health Workers’ Union of Guatemala (SNTSG) and organizing and minutes secretary of the “Vector-Borne Diseases” branch in Puerto Barrios, was assassinated on May 13. He was shot at by unknown assailants while traveling to work by motorbike.
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Dammed Diversion: Information Harvesting and the Alleged FARC Computers
by James Jordan - PoliticalAffaris.net

In these days of water shortages, a lot of people are talking about water harvesting, which basically boils down to diverting and conserving and utilizing water sustainably. But water isn’t just diverted for good reasons. In my home in Tucson, Arizona, the Santa Cruz river was flowing just fifty years ago and folks used to go down there to fish. Today, you’d just be casting your line in the sand. That water got diverted by big agriculture, industry, unregulated growth, and poor conservation.
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United Socialist Party of Venezuela Presents Pre-Candidates for Regional Elections
by Kiraz Janicke - Venezuelanalysis.com

Caracas, 20 May, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), handed over a list of approximately 5,000 pre-candidates to the National Electoral Council on Sunday as the party gears up for the June 1 internal elections of candidates for the upcoming state and local elections in November.
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Argentina: A Different Kind of Land Occupation
by Shane Kavanagh

"This is going to be a different type of occupation," say the people of Tierra y Libertad (Land and Freedom), a land occupation on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The name of their group gives an idea of what they intend. The occupation began on March 29th this year when 40 families entered a small parcel of land in La Matanza and began setting up a community. Since then the occupation has grown to over 135 families and has continued to organize and resist eviction in the face of intimidation and violence.
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Spinning the News - The FARC-EP Files, Venezuela and Interpol
by Stephen Lendman

First some background. On March 1, the Colombian military (with US Special Forces help) illegally attacked a FARC-EP rebel camp inside Ecuador. US satellite telephone tracking located the site. Washington signed off on the mission. Over 20 people were killed, including 16 or more FARC-EP members while they slept. Key among them was Paul Reyes, the FARC-EP's second-in-command, key peace negotiator and public voice, and lead figure in the Chavez-led hostage negotiations with Colombia.
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Ecuador: CONAIE Indigenous Movement Condemns President Correa
by Daniel Denvir and Thea Riofrancos

The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) declared itself in opposition to the government of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa on May 12. The CONAIE accused the president of continuing right-wing neoliberal economic and racist social policies. The harsh condemnation focused on Correa..s opposition to two key demands: the recognition of Ecuador as a plurinational state in the new constitution and the requirement that communities must offer prior consent before large-scale mining and other major extractive projects take place.
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Latin America has ‘created its own neighbourhood’
Federico Fuentes, Caracas

The drums of war are once again beginning to sound, as US imperialism steps up its propaganda attack on Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution. The new offensive has centred on the supposed documents found on the laptops retrieved from the site of the illegal military assault by Colombia that massacred over 20 people at a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) campsite inside Ecuador in early March. This is despite clear evidence of Colombian government interference with the laptops before handing them over, which many accept would rule such evidence as illegitimate. On May 16, the Venezuelan government denounced as a "provocation" the incursion of 60 Colombian soldiers into Venezuelan territory, intercepted 800 metres over the border. This occurred at the same time as the US Navy has decided to reactivate, after 58 years, its Fourth Fleet to patrol Latin American waters.
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Bolivia: Recall referendums open new struggle
Federico Fuentes, 17 May 2008

A new period of uncertainty has opened in Bolivia with the initiation of recall referendums for the president and prefects of Bolivia’s nine departments by the opposition-controlled Senate. The law, first introduced into the House of Deputies by the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) government in December, had been gathering dust due to the refusal of the right-wing opposition to approve it in the Senate. The sudden move this month to pass the law has left many wondering why the opposition would take a decision that will have Bolivia go to the polls on August 10. The idea behind the law is to let the people resolve through the ballot box the “catastrophic deadlock” between the government of President Evo Morales, backed by the social movements, and the opposition, spearhead by the elites from the eastern region who are tied to gas multinationals and agribusiness interests.
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Bolivia's make-or-break referendum
John Crabtee, 16 May 2008

Bolivia's Right has pushed for a referendum to unseat Evo Morales, but could it hurt them more than the president? The gauntlet has been thrown down. President Evo Morales has fixed 10 August as the date for the recall referendum that will decide his fate, and that of his vice-president and nine 'departmental prefects', the heads of regional government. He will hope for a victory that will silence the country's increasingly vocal right-wing opposition. It was the right who initiated the recall referendum, though it now seems the ploy may backfire. On 8 May, the bill introducing a referendum, originally a government initiative, was passed by the opposition-controlled senate. Opposition leaders believe that popular opinion is fast moving against the government and that the bill creates an opportunity to force Morales’ resignation. Rising to the challenge, Morales immediately signed it into law.
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ECUADOR: New Constitution Addresses Demand for ‘Plurinational’ State
By Kintto Lucas

QUITO, May 5 (IPS) - Ecuador’s new constitution, which a constituent assembly expects to finish drafting by mid-June, establishes a united "plurinational" state, recognising equality along with ethnic diversity, as agreed between the government and indigenous organisations." ’Plurinationalism’ means admitting that several different nationalities coexist within the larger Ecuadorean state, which is obvious in this country and need not scare anyone," said President Rafael Correa. "Everyone should have the same opportunities," he added.
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Taking Back Dignity
A Gringa Diary

Seen: On the train, two women with two tiny kids- a boy and a girl, and the girl was playing with a doll that was white with the blondest blond hair. There are a few white people here, but most people are all beautiful shades of brown. Yet a lot of the advertising and products originate from overseas or buy into the whole blond (north American) is beautiful cultural imperialism garbage. Brigade moments: Coral translating ‘hugs’ as ‘cuddles’ – which is so much more sexual and affectionate! Jammo, who owns 80 musical instruments, doing charades of them and we had to guess…whilst a bit drunk... Me at the Bolivar Museum- I thought a glass showcase with Bolivar’s boots and writing table and stuff in it, had a top- and put my book on it, of course there was no glass there and it dropped into the display.
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Unions, collectives, wage increases, colourful wool and blackouts
by Tamara Pearson http://gringadiary.blogspot.com

I write this while I’m watching Chavez on TV in my friends’ apartment in Caracas. He’s giving the May Day speech (the night before May day) where he usually announces the new increase in the minium wage. It’s amazingly relevant to the brigade that we have on at the moment and the discussions that we had today (I’m here in Caracas helping out with an AVSN brigade, 12 Aussie trade unionists here to learn about the revolution, with a focus on the trade union aspect). We finished today off by talking to the vice president of the Latin American Parliament, Carolus Wimmer. He argued that in a way, Chavez is blocking the development of movements, because he keeps handing down change- that for example, the trade unions have little reason to struggle, because he keeps just giving them pay increases.
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Inclusion in Elementary and Secondary School Increases 23%
The inclusion of Venezuelans in the educative system increased 23% in the last nine years, said the Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez during a Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday April 29. The Venezuelan head of State affirmed that the government is responsible of strengthening education in high schools and Bolivarian schools, and pointed out that education “is everybody’s responsibility.” Chávez recalled that they approved about $1.4 billion in order to continue construction works in 1,225 schools. Some of them must be rebuilt, and widened, but new facilities must be built in order to have them ready in 2008.
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Venezuela: Highest Minimum Wage in Latin America
A 30 percent raise came into force on May 1 and it will reach 5 million workers and 1.2 million pensioners. Expropriation of Venezuela’s largest steelmaker, Sidor, becomes official. The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, raised Venezuela’s minimum wage by 30% on May 1, 2008. During a national broadcast, the Venezuelan president also announced that all public employees’ wages will be increase by 30% and the salary scale will be adjusted. This event also included the swearing-in ceremony of the new Minister of Popular Power for Work, Roberto Hernández.
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