Music continues to act as the primary driving force to open relations between U.S. and Cuba. Cuban folksinger Carlos Varela visited Washington D.C. earlier this month to discuss U.S.-Cuban relations at a forum organized by American University and privately with U.S. legislators, before continuing to California to work on a record with Jackson Browne, according [...]
The United States continues to destabilize the Cuban Revolution, Raúl Castro said in a speech to the Cuban National Assembly on Sunday, Dec. 20. Castro referred to an unnamed U.S. contractor employed by Development Alternatives, Inc. who was arrested by the Cuban government for distributing laptops to political dissidents on Dec. 5 as an example [...]
Over the past weekend, Colombia announced it plans to build a military base near the country’s border with Venezuela, according to a story by Agence France Presse. “It is a strategic point from a defense point of view,” said Defense Minister Gabriel Silva. The base, located in Colombia’s Guajira peninsula, will hold up to 1,000 [...]
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Serrana Auliso is eighty years old, but moves with the fierce agility of a woman half her age. I’ve scarcely passed the threshold of her front door when she leads me by the hand into the living room, upends a heavy sofa and drags a side table across the floor. “Help me [...]
This section contains brief summaries of the main stories to come out of Latin America this week. Compiled by the staff of the Latin America News Dispatch. Argentina: A former Argentine naval officer went on trial last Friday, Dec. 11, for his alleged involvement in the torture and disappearances of dissidents during Argentina’s military dictatorship. [...]
In a statement posted on the website of Colombia’s Anncol news service, The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) threatened to join forces in their fight against Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and “North American Imperialism.” “We report that we have met in an environment of fraternity and camaraderie that [...]
The influential Chilean polling organization Latinobarómetro released its annual survey of public opinion in Latin America last week. The general trend shows that Latin Americans have more faith in their governments than last time the region suffered a major economic crisis in 2001. One of the more interesting results was that Latin Americans now view [...]
The 8th Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of America (Alba) took place between December 13-14 in Havana with sharp criticisms toward the United States coming from Cuban President Raúl Castro and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez. In his opening remarks, Castro called out U.S. President Barack Obama for his plan to install U.S. military bases in [...]
NEW YORK — The going rate for unprotected sex with a prostitute in Haiti’s urban centers was less than one U.S. dollar in 2001, says an article posted by the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA). In the same year, The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), posed the question, “If women [...]
Latin America News Dispatch co-founder Roque Planas appeared on GritTV with Laura Flaunders on a panel with NYU professor Greg Grandin and Queens College professor Sujatha Fernandes. The panel discussed the future of U.S.-Latin American relations in the wake of the coup in Honduras and the elections in Chile. Andres Conteris reported from the Brazilian [...]
Ollanta Humala, “Neither Left, Nor Right” — An Interview
Rancher’s Murder Highlights Complicated Immigrant-Crime Connection
Afro-Colombian Community Faces Eviction To Make Way For Gold Exploration
Oil Prospects in Cuba Have Some Rethinking U.S. Trade Embargo
Immigration Enforcement By Local Police Is Ineffective and Misuses Authority, Report Says
Nixon Administration Advocated Use of Death Squads in Uruguay, New Documents Indicate
Film Spotlights Child Immigrants’ Lonely Journey North