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Her views on the Latin American Left today

[Translation of an interview from Folha de São Paulo for August 28. See original here.]

by Eleonora de Lucena

She defines herself as a Marxist-Leninist “popular educator.” A Chilean, she was a student of philosopher Louis Althusser, a Catholic student leader and a member of the socialist government of Salvador Allende. She married one of the commanders of the Cuban revolution, Manuel Piñeiro or “Barba Roja,” and in the 2000s she became an adviser to Hugo Chávez.

Marta Harnecker says she has written more than 80 books. The best known, Conceptos Elementales del Materialismo Histórico (The Basic Concepts of Historical Materialism), from the 1960s, has sold more than a million copies and is in its 67th edition. At 75, she travels throughout Latin America and says she is optimistic; the United States no longer does what it wants in the region and the concept of sovereignty has spread. (more…)

[Translation of an article from El Clarín of Santiago, Chile, for July 5. See original here.]

By Ángel Guerra Cabrera

The coup d’état against the president of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, calls for a revision of strategy and tactics by the progressive governments and popular forces of Latin America.

It should be remembered that the United States has at its disposal a large runway in Mariscal Estigarribia, in the Paraguayan Chaco, ready for Galaxy transport planes and B-52 bombers. It was constructed in agreement with the very oligarchical parties that staged the parliamentary coup against Lugo, who have also approved beforehand the incursion of United States troops into the country, recent signs indicating that their presence will be made permanent. (more…)

((Aline Sasahara photo))

On Wikileaks, on the Mexican student movement, on freedom of the press

[Translation of an article from La Jornada of Mexico City for June 22. See original here.]

by Stella Calloni

Rio de Janeiro, June 21 – The president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, said on Thursday that countries should struggle to achieve real freedom of the press, as part of a broader concept, as well as the right of all citizens to freedom of expression, which the powerful media are intent on privatizing with the goal of making profits. In this respect, he pointed hopefully to the rebellion of the university students of Mexico in the face of the power of the media, which he described as at some times dictatorial. (more…)

Celso Amorim -- Agence France Presse photo

[Translation of an article from BBC Brasil for September 5. See original here and related articles here, here and here.]

By Marcia Carmo

Brazil needs to begin thinking about the gradual departure of its troops from Haiti, Defense Minister Celso Amorim said Monday in the Brazilian embassy in Buenos Aires.

In an interview, Amorim said that before the complete withdrawal there should first be a gradual reduction of troops in accordance with a schedule agreed to jointly by the countries of Unasur (Unión de Naciones Sudamericanos – Union of South American Nations) and the United Nations. (more…)

[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…)

FARC leader Cano says US military presence is “an indignity”

[Translation of an article from La Jornada of Mexico City for July 31.]

Bogotá, July 30 – In a 30-minute video posted Friday on its web site, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), the oldest guerrilla force in the country, has proposed to President-elect Juan Manuel Santos that a dialogue be initiated to seek a political solution to the internal armed conflict.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced last night that his country has deployed military units on the border in response to “a threat of war” by Colombia because outgoing President Álvaro Uribe is “capable of anything.”

“What we are proposing, once again, is that we talk. We are still determined to seek political solutions. We are hoping for the new government to reflect and not to deceive the country any longer,” said Guillermo Sáenz, known as Alfonso Cano, leader of the insurgency, in a video recorded in July in the Colombian mountains. (more…)

Social organizations repudiate Colombia’s policies, support Venezuela

[Translation of an article from La Jornada of Mexico City for July 27.]

By Stella Calloni

Buenos Aires, July 26 – President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner met tonight with the president-elect of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, who is on a tour of the region in the midst of a severe crisis with Venezuela and while an emergency meeting of the Unión de Naciones Sudamericanas (Unasur – Union of South American Nations) is being planned for Quito, Ecuador.

During the afternoon, thousands of demonstrators gathered in the Plaza de Mayo to reject Colombia’s policies and the Colombian visitor and to support Venezuela, a country they consider to be the target of “generalized activity by the United States that threatens all of Latin America.”

The meeting between Fernández de Kirchner and Santos, which lasted an hour, included a broad review of the situation in the region. It included the participation of Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman, the foreign minister designate of Colombia, María Angela Holguín and the Colombian ambassador in Buenos Aires, Álvaro Eduardo García Giménez. (more…)