South America Watch Thread

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caltrek
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The Ex-Rebel Women Searching for Colombia’s Disappeared
by Daniela Díaz Rangel
June 14 , 2022

Introduction:
(Latino Rebels) BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Yaritza, Mireya, Shirley, and Otilia travel the country searching for the bodies of those who were disappeared during the civil war.

During the more than five years since a peace deal was signed between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the government, their investigative unit of over 100 ex-FARC fighters searches for answers for the families of those who went missing—some of whom have waited decades for closure.

It is estimated that the Colombian conflict left approximately 80,000 people missing, including civilians, soldiers and guerrillas, although the exact figure is unknown.

“It is a way to help reconstruct the truth, which is part of our commitment to peace-building,” said Shirley, who spends her days interviewing potential witnesses in conflict-torn regions of the country. “It is a way of rebuilding the social fabric. It is a way of helping families, those of us who have missing loved ones from the war. It is a way of closing a cycle of anguish and pain.”

Shirley joined the FARC in 1980, in the department of Caquetá, after her family was displaced from Tolima. She was a fighter in the insurgent organization for 34 years. In 2014 she went to Havana, Cuba as part of the FARC delegation that negotiated the peace deal with the government. Since the peace deal was ratified in 2017, she has worked for the investigative unit.
Read more here: https://www.latinorebels.com/2022/06/ ... appeared/
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weatheriscool
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Gustavo Petro wins the Colombian election, becoming the country's first Leftist president.
Source: New York Times

For the first time, Colombia will have a leftist president. Gustavo Petro, a former rebel and a longtime senator who has pledged to transform the country’s economic system, has won Sunday’s election, according to preliminary results, setting the third largest nation in Latin America on a radically new path. Mr. Petro received 50.57 percent of the vote with more than 97 percent counted Sunday evening. His opponent, Rodolfo Hernández, a construction magnate who had energized the country with a scorched-earth anti-corruption platform, won 47.16 percent.

Mr. Petro’s victory reflects widespread discontent in Colombia, with poverty and inequality on the rise and widespread dissatisfaction with a lack of opportunity, issues that sent hundreds of thousands of people to demonstrate in the streets last year. “The entire country is begging for change,” said Fernando Posada, a Colombian political scientist, “and that is absolutely clear.” The win is all the more significant because of the country’s history. For decades, the government fought a brutal leftist insurgency known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, with the stigma from the conflict making it difficult for a legitimate left to flourish.

But the FARC signed a peace deal with the government in 2016, laying down their arms and opening space for a broader political discourse. Mr. Petro had been part of a different rebel group, called the M-19, which demobilized in 1990, and became a political party that helped rewrite the country’s constitution. Both Mr. Petro and Mr. Hernández beat Federico Gutiérrez, a former big city mayor backed by the conservative elite, in a first round of voting on May 29, sending them to a runoff. Both men had billed themselves as anti-establishment candidates, saying they were running against a political class that had controlled the country for generations.

Among the factors that most distinguished them was how they viewed the root of the country’s problems. Mr. Petro believes the economic system is broken, overly reliant on oil export and a flourishing and illegal cocaine business that he said has made the rich richer and poor poorer. He is calling for a halt to all new oil exploration, a shift to developing other industries, and an expansion of social programs, while imposing higher taxes on the rich. “What we have today is the result of what I call ‘the depletion of the model,’” Mr. Petro said in an interview, referring to the current economic system. “The end result is a brutal poverty.”
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/19/worl ... ction.html
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caltrek
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weatheriscool wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 12:48 am Gustavo Petro wins the Colombian election, becoming the country's first Leftist president.
Source: New York Times

...
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/19/worl ... ction.html
Common Dreams also has an article on this election: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022 ... residency

Here is the AP take on the news, with more detail included: https://www.latinorebels.com/2022/06/1 ... colombia/

Edit: Also this from Axios: https://www.axios.com/2022/06/19/colomb ... hernandez

caltrek's comment: Interesting how Latin American elections more and more are ending on a note of civility while elections in the U.S. are leading to more and more sour grapes and even violence. In regards to the election in Columbia (from the Axios article):
Conceding defeat, Hernández said: "I wish Gustavo Petro the wisdom to know how to run the nation, that he fulfills his promises to fight corruption and that he doesn't let those who supported him down."
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Ecuador deal reached to end weeks of deadly protests and strikes
Fri 1 Jul 2022

Ecuador’s government and the country’s main Indigenous group have reached an agreement to end 18 days of often-violent strikes that had virtually paralysed the country and killed at least four people.

The deal, which includes a decrease in the price of fuel and other concessions, was signed by government minister Francisco Jimenez, Indigenous leader Leonidas Iza and the head of the Episcopal Conference, Monsignor Luis Cabrera, who acted as mediator.

The agreement on Thursday sets out that gasoline prices will decrease 15c to US$2.40 a gallon and diesel prices will also decline the same amount, from $1.90 a gallon to $1.75.

The deal also sets limits to the expansion of oil exploration areas and prohibits mining activity in protected areas, national parks and water sources.

The government now has 90 days to deliver solutions to the demands of the Indigenous groups.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... nd-strikes
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caltrek
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Latin America Venture Capital Investments Slow After Blowout in 2021
by Alex Wilhelm and Anna Heim
July 8, 2022

Introduction:
(TechCrunch) The global venture capital slowdown is upon us. It’s just not as bad — yet — as many anticipated, putting the world’s startup market into an odd position, forced to navigate waters that are somewhere between calm and stormy. An uncertain global macroeconomic future and rising interest rates are not helping to explicate the situation.

On a regional basis, however, a clearer picture emerges. In Latin America, for example, the venture slowdown started earlier than in other regions — and has continued, per recent data from Sling Hub and Crunchbase, two startup-focused data companies. Latin America, then, is not proving to be like Europe in Q1 or the United States in Q2 — regions where the general trend of declining venture capital deal value either bucked course or managed a slower-than-anticipated decline.
For those who have joined TechCrunch+, read more here: https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/08/vcs- ... t-2021/
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caltrek
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The 2024 Venezuelan Election
by Jessica Dos Santos
July 18, 2022

Extract::
(Common Dreams) In recent weeks, I’ve started to pay more attention to opinion polls (in Venezuela). Two in particular stood out to me, the ones by Datincorp and Delphos (though I know they have a historical anti-Chavista bias). The former stated that 63 percent of those polled want a president that is neither from Chavista or opposition ranks. The latter claimed 48.3 percent don’t trust any political party.

The data rang familiar. Yet 10 years ago, 80 percent of Venezuelans identified either as opposition or (mostly) Chavista. More than that, the battle lines were clear and we were determined to defend our trench. That is hardly the case today, certainly not with a similar intensity.

One way or another, it seems most people have the same immediate goals: securing minimal conditions to live peacefully. In such a scenario, many analysts see fertile ground for the emergence of an “independent” or “outsider” figure, which usually are hardly one thing or the other. However, perhaps because of the polarization we’re so used to, it doesn’t seem all that probable.

I have no idea what is going to happen, but what really bothers me is not knowing what I want to happen. For one, I’m absolutely sure I don’t want any of the opposition “leaders” anywhere near Miraflores Palace. On the other hand, I feel that institutional Chavismo needs to change its way of doing politics. I write this down, read it again and I’m scared that I don’t want to erase it.

But I’m not sure I would welcome six more years like the ones we’ve been through. It’s not blasphemy, rather a sort of natural exhaustion. In the past three elections, the ruling Socialist Party (PSUV) ran on a platform that it is the only political outfit with the ability to run a country devastated by the crisis and the US blockade.
Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/views/20 ... election
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caltrek
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What Will Happen With Chile’s Radical Draft constitution?
by James Francis Whitehead
July , 2022

Introduction:
(Courthouse News) — With the drafting of a new constitution complete, Chileans will vote Sept. 4 on whether to replace the current dictatorship-era document.

The 154 members of the constitutional convention, which included schoolteachers, scientists, social workers and Indigenous leaders, handed the draft to President Gabriel Boric on July 5. “Today, we begin a new phase,” said Boric at the nation’s former congress building in the capital of Santiago. “Once more, it will be the people who have the final say on their destiny.”

Chile’s draft constitution marks a radical shift from the current constitution that was approved by the military government of Augusto Pinochet in 1980. Despite heavy modifications, the current document preserves the neoliberal fingerprints of its writers, which restricts the role of the state, omits certain rights, emphasizes private property and promotes a market-led model.

The new 388-article draft would transform the state into a provider of a strong safety net and social services, guarantee greater regional powers and Indigenous rights, enshrine a host of rights such as free higher education and health care, and protect the environment. Although 78% of Chileans voted in favor of writing up a new constitution in 2020, support for it continues to dissipate, with the majority of people intending to reject the draft constitution.
Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/what-w ... itution/
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caltrek
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Gustavo Petro: A Colombia of Possibilities and the Politics of Love
Inaugural Address of Gustavo Petro
August 11, 2022

Introduction:
(Common Dreams) The following is the English translation of Gustavo Petro's full inaugural address delivered in Bogota's Bolivar Square after being sworn in as Columbia's president on Sunday, August 7, 2022.

To arrive here undoubtedly involves a life's journey. An immense life that is never travelled alone. My mother Clara is here, nothing would exist in my mind at this moment without her. My father Gustavo, of the Caribbean, is here. And so are my siblings, Adriana and Juan, who put up with me. My children are also here: Nicolás Petro, Nicolás Alcocer, Andrea and Andrés, and Sofía and Antonella, my little ones whose hearts and souls are blossoming. And so is Verónica Alcocer, my companion, who has given me children and so the gift of life itself. Her love has made everything possible. She is here not only to accompany me, but also to accompany the women of Colombia in their efforts to move forward, to create, to fight, to exist; to overcome violence inside and outside the family, to build the politics of love.

The people, just as they have been on the journey of my existence, are also here. The humble hands of the worker, the peasant women and those who sweep the streets. The hearts of labour are here, and the dreams of those who suffer. So are the working women who embrace me when I falter, when I feel weak. And love for the people, for those who suffer and are excluded. All of this has brought me here to unite and build a nation.
This is how One Hundred Years of Solitude by our beloved Gabriel García Márquez ends: "Everything written there was, and has and always will be, unrepeatable because the lineages condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second chance on earth".

Many times in our history we Colombians have been condemned to the impossible, to the lack of opportunities, to a resounding 'No'. I want to tell all Colombians who are listening to me in Plaza Bolivar, in the surrounding areas, throughout Colombia and abroad that our second chance begins today. We have earned it.
Read more of Gustavo Petro’s full speech here: https://www.commondreams.org/views/202 ... tics-love
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Machu Picchu Ticket Sales Halted as Chaos Continues at Popular Peru Tourist Site
by Selina Denman
August 13, 2022

Introduction:
(The National) Long lines and overcrowding at Machu Picchu have led authorities to halt the sale of tickets granting access to Peru’s most popular tourist site until next Friday.

The decision was made after numerous visitors voiced their discontent at not being able to enter the ancient Incan citadel. Hundreds of tourists blocked the train tracks close to Machu Picchu to protest the fact they have not been able enter Machu Picchu since the beginning of the week due to overcrowding and overbooking by local tour operators.

"I paid a tour company for my ticket for one day with a guide,” said Eduardo Ponce, a Mexican tourist. “We paid extra for the bus to bring us here to Machu Picchu and they won't allow us to enter because we don't have a ticket to enter. We have the train ticket and the bus ticket."

As travel rebounds in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, destinations around the world are struggling to handle surging demand. The challenge is particularly pertinent at historical sites where authorities must balance queues of tourists with preservation and protection.

Machu Picchu has a maximum capacity of 4,044 people per day, but Peru’s minister of culture warned tourists of possible disinformation campaigns by local tour operators selling fake tickets. Alternatively, travellers are being enticed to take the train and purchase tickets upon arrival at the site, often discovering there are none to be had after arriving.
Read more here: https://www.thenationalnews.com/travel ... ist-site/
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Party of the Oppressed: The First Progressive Government in Colombia
by Daniela Díaz Rangel
August 18, 2022

Introduction:
(Latino Rebels) BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Two Sundays ago, the streets of Bogotá were filled with revelers—highly unusual for a presidential inauguration, which is usually a formal affair that concerns heads of state more than the public.

Newly-elected president Gustavo Petro and his running mate, Francia Márquez, set up giant screens throughout downtown Bogotá so those in the streets could view the ceremony. The historic moment was also reflected in the demographic makeup of those in the streets —the “nobodies,” as Márquez often referred to them on the campaign trail, using the term coined by the late Uruguayan journalist and writer Eduardo Galeano to describe the forgotten populations who hope the historic moment brings them greater representation in government.

Colombia has been governed for decades by white men from the upper classes and with a mainly right-wing ideology. Petro and Márquez won the election promising to represent populations that have historically been ignored by previous administrations.

Petro has said his priorities as president will be respect for human rights, environmental justice, and full implementation of peace—an important political agenda at this time in Colombia, as the two leaders are taking control of a country with extremely high rates of violence, particularly after the non-implementation of the Peace Agreement signed with the former FARC guerrillas in 2016, which led to the creation of “dissident” splinter groups and growing power of dozens of other criminal armed groups.
Conclusion:
With elections over, however, and the ceremonies complete, Petro and Márquez now begin the difficult task of governing. The outgoing administration of Iván Duque has left behind critical economic and security concerns, but for those who supported the Petro-Márquez campaign, representation of communities long ignored by the capital is enough to hope these challenges can be met successfully.
Read more here: https://www.latinorebels.com/2022/08/1 ... ezphotos/
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