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South/Latin America

  • The Rise of America’s New Enemy
    12 November 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    9 comments

    I was dropped at Paradiso, the last middle-class area before barrio La Vega, which spills into a ravine as if by the force of gravity. Storms were forecast, and people were anxious, remembering the mudslides that took 20,000 lives. "Why are you here?" asked the man sitting opposite me in the packed jeep-bus that chugged up the hill. Like so many in Latin America, he appeared old, but wasn’t. Without waiting for my answer, he listed why he supported President Chavez: schools, clinics, (…)

  • The Soccer Star and the President
    9 November 2005 par (Open-Publishing)

    by DAVE ZIRIN
    If there were a Mount Rushmore of international soccer, Diego Maradona’s face would adorn it. In 2000 he was named by FIFA (the Fédération Internationale de Football Association), along with Pelé, as the greatest player in the history of the sport. But in his native Argentina, Maradona is a lightning rod for love, hate, brutal criticism and passionate defense. He is Muhammad Ali in 1968—if 1968 lasted for twenty years.
    Maradona was in the eye of a media storm last weekend, (…)

  • Chávez and Maradona Lead Massive Rebuke of Bush
    9 November 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    16 comments

    by Jordana Timerman
    Some aspects of George Bush’s travels have become commonplace, including massive protests, sporadic violence and tight security operations. All of these usual elements—notably the imperial-style arrival of the US president with an entourage of 2,000 people and four AWACS surveillance systems—were present at the Fourth Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina.
    But the opposition to Bush and his proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), as well as (…)

  • Bush rebuked by the hand of God
    7 November 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    2 comments

    By Phil Davison
    George Bush presumably knew before this weekend that the "hand of God" could be merciless. He certainly does now. Maradona, rather than Iraq, was uppermost on the US President’s mind this weekend as he attended a summit of leaders from the Western hemisphere in the Argentinian beach resort of Mar del Plata.
    As domestic polls informed him that he was increasingly mistrusted by his fellow Americans, Mr Bush was clearly mortified to be called "human trash" by Latin America’s (…)

  • The day George Bush came face to face with Latin America’s revolt
    6 November 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    9 comments

    Thanks to a powerful indigenous movement from Colombia to Bolivia, US free-trade policies are in tatters
    by Naomi Klein
    When Manuel Rozental got home one night last month, friends told him two strange men had been asking questions about him. In this close-knit indigenous community in south-west Colombia, ringed by soldiers, rightwing paramilitaries and leftwing guerrillas, strangers asking questions is never a good thing.
    The Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca, which (…)

  • Battle ahead at Americas summit
    5 November 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    1 comment

    Leaders from 34 nations have begun arriving in Argentina for the fourth two-day Summit of the Americas.
    They are meeting in the coastal resort of Mar del Plata amid much uncertainty about what can be achieved on the summit’s main aim of job creation.
    There are deep divisions over free trade, with the US championing it as the best way to relieve poverty.
    President George W Bush is among those attending the talks. He is expected to be targeted by left-wing protesters.
    Thousands of (…)

  • Bush, Chávez clash over hemispheric trade accord
    5 November 2005 par (Open-Publishing)

    By Finlay Lewis
    MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina - President Bush pressed his free trade agenda yesterday at the opening session of a hemispheric summit in the face of a challenge by Venezuela’s leftist leader Hugo Chávez and street violence by anti-American protesters.
    The disagreement between Bush and Chávez over trade unfolded against the backdrop of a peaceful demonstration that turned unruly by evening. About 1,000 rock-throwing protesters burned an American flag and threw a gasoline bomb (…)

  • Bush faces showdown with Chavez ’the Kid’
    5 November 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    5 comments

    By Phil Davison
    If President Bush thought a weekend beach break in Argentina would get him away from his Washington woes, he is about to be proved wrong. Tens of thousands of South Americans are descending on Mar del Plata to protest against the US President.
    Can you imagine one of the leaders at the G8 summit slipping out between sessions, through the security cordon, to join in a street demonstration of bearded anoraks against the summit’s most powerful participant, George Bush? (…)

  • Bush faces Latin fury as popularity sinks at home
    5 November 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    14 comments

    By Rupert Cornwell
    President George Bush, his presidency foundering and his popularity at record lows at home, ran into new protests abroad yesterday at a Western hemisphere summit in Argentina - a gathering that is theoretically focussed on trade but which has so far only served to highlight the battered image of the US across Latin America.
    Mr Bush went into the 34-nation meeting intent on promoting traditional US doctrines of free trade and liberal market economics, with the goal of a (…)

  • Bush to face mass Argentine protest over ’imperialism’ during his visit
    3 November 2005 par (Open-Publishing)

    By Adam Thomson
    Anti-US protesters are planning a mass demonstration against President George W. Bush’s visit to Argentina this week for the Summit of the Americas in the seaside resort of Mar del Plata.
    Luis D’Elía, who heads one of the country’s so-called piquetero movements - leftwing groups of disaffected unemployed - said the protest would bring together up to 100,000 people and would include popular figures such as Diego Maradona, the former Argentine soccer star.
    "The idea is to (…)