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[Translation of an essay from Generacción of Lima for June 8. See original here and related article here.]

by José Suárez Danós

Once the democratic triumph of Ollanta Humala as president elect of Peru was known, even before the official vote count was finished, the first thing heard in national and international circles was the unhappiness over his win felt by the transnational forces of the defeated neoliberal system. And what better way to express it than to sound the bugles of war for their hostility and vexation over the interruption of 20 continuous years of unhampered feudal exploitation of the Peruvian economy.

With the goal of suggesting that real political power in Peru still rests with “The System,” and that they intend it to be so, they have taken it upon themselves to send early messages, both open and veiled, through diverse entities and members of their economic, political and media clergy on the continent.

These have ranged from the fierce measure of bringing down by force their own stock market, the Bolsa de Valores of Lima, and the country’s macro-economic indicators the day after Humala’s win, to bringing in a media chorus of news agencies who predict “great fluctuations” in the economy because of his indisputable electoral success, which would continue until a stangely alluded political “stabilization” was achieved. (more…)

[Translation of an article from Brasil de Fato of São Paulo for April 13. See original here.]

by Pedro Carrano

As though in a passage from Greek mythology, Chilean activists are in a labyrinth, trying to find their way by following the scattered threads of the popular and workers’ movement, almost forty years after the coup d’état and the coming to power of General Augusto Pinochet in 1973, an event that shattered President Salvador Allende’s Popular Unity and debilitated popular organizing in the areas around Santiago de Chile. It destroyed the sense of belonging to a class. With full force, it brought in neoliberalism.

Even when the dictatorship gave way to elections and the Pinochet era came to a close in 1988, the 23 years of government by the Concertación that followed did not lead the country out of the neoliberal labyrinth. The resources and the raw materials of the earth were handed over to transnational enterprises. (more…)

An interview with economist José Manuel Flores

[Translation of an interview from Brasil de Fato for March 5. See original here.]

by Pedro Carrano

Since 1973, the Chilean economy has traced a long path, beginning with the coup headed by General Augusto Pinochet against the popular government of Salvador Allende, and today is being consolidated into an economy controlled by large domestic and foreign businesses that holds the line on exportation and keeps the internal market strangled – despite representing only one percent of the productive capacity of the country. So they control 80 percent of the internal market and provide jobs for only 20 percent of the population.

This is the analysis of Chilean economist José Manuel Flores. In a country in which neoliberalism has gained hegemony and has brought about a radical alteration in the economy, the export of copper is central, a target of control and export. “Before, copper was exported and now copper concentrate, its raw material, is being exploited. Transnationals control 76 percent of Chilean copper,” the economist calculates. In an interview with Brasil de Fato, Flores talks about the relation between natural resources and the Chilean economy, the failure of the Concertación as an alternative government after Pinochet’s departure, and now as the opposition to the government of rightist Sebastián Piñera, in office for a year. In this scenario, popular movements take on a new importance. The recent popular revolt in the province of Magallanes against an increase in the price of gas demonstrates this. (more…)

They favor reducing social projects, increasing taxes

[Translation of an article from the May 19 edition of La Jornada of Mexico City. See also "Massive protest held in Madrid," below.]

by Claudia Herrera and Armando G. Tejeda

Madrid, May 18 – Declaring themselves “global partners,”  heads of states from the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean today closed their sixth summit by stengthening commercial ties. In the Madrid Declaration, they committed themselves to “improving energy efficiency” and reducing contaminating emissions that contribute to the greenhouse effect.

The Latin American leaders conveyed to their European counterparts their concern over possible consequences of the crisis confronting Europe as a result of the threat of bankrupcy in Greece and its possible contagion to Spain and Portugal, considering that exports from Latin American countries to Europe could be affected as well. (more…)

Confrontations leave 15 injured in Colombia, 66 arrested in Chile

[Translation of an article from La Jornada of Mexico City for May 2 with material from Agence France Presse and Deutsche Presse Agentur.]

Thousands of workers in different Latin American countries marked workers’ day on May 1, with massive demonstrations in Venezuela and marches in Colombia that left 15 injured and, in Chile, at least 66 arrested.

With an eye toward the May 30 presidential elections, Colombian unions

marching in Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Pereira, Neiva and Popayán pressed candidates for the creation of “more and better jobs and for curbing violence against union activists and society.”

Amid demands on the leaders in election polls, independent Antanas Mockus and governing-party candidate Juan Manuel Santos, a number of disturbances and explosions of homemade bombs were reported on Saturday in Bogotá and Bucaramanga.

Fifteen were injured, including five reporters. Also affected were presidential candidates Rafael Pardo of the opposition Partido Liberal and leftist Gustavo Petro, who were forced to leave a plaza in central Bogotá because of teargas launched by police when incidents broke out after a march. (more…)