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 Change Triumphs in Ecuador's Constitutional Referendum
By Helga Serrano N. and Eduardo Tamayo G.
People voted for a more participative democracy, demilitarization, and for the ability to intercede actively in political life. U.S. presence in Manta will end in 2009.
 The Bolivian Crisis, the OAS, and UNASUR
By Tony Phillips
The unanimous declaration of support from South American presidents in the UNASUR meeting in Santiago raises hope that this new forum could offer a stabilizing force for self-managed South American international relations that could rival or surpass the Organization of American States.
 The Biosafety Protocol and the Future of Biosafety
By Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero
How are concerns about the safety of genetically modified organisms addressed at the international level by the United Nations Biosafety Protocol, known also as the Cartagena Protocol, and how can they be regulated on a global scale?
Armoring NAFTA: The Battleground for Mexico's Future
By Laura Carlsen
The "securitization" of the trilateral relationship under NAFTA has profound implications for Mexican civil society, where the Mexican government is changing its priorities and using security measures to crack down on social protest.
Return of the Good Neighbor: From Cuba to Geneva
By Wayne S. Smith
There is no reason now not to return to something resembling the Good Neighbor Policy, no reason certainly not to commit ourselves to respect international laws and treaties, and to fully respect the sovereignty of the other states. These suggestions would be a good start.
 Cross-Border Activists Escalate Fight Against "The Wall of Death"
By Kent Paterson
In Mexico and Latin America, the wall is viewed as a symbol of racism, xenophobia, and militarism. Grassroots activists go up against the Department of Homeland Security to prove that cross-border activism can unite forces against the divisive wall project.
Democrats to Immigrants: "Get Right with the Law"
By Tom Barry
Instead of the immediate reform necessary, the Democrats will continue fiddling with their language and principles while the forces of immigration restrictionism keep winning the battles on messaging and policy.
Republicans Echo Immigration Restrictionists
By Tom Barry
Four years ago, immigration was one of the shortest sections of the platform. In a sign of the newfound strength of the restrictionists, the immigration section is one of the longest sections of the 2008 platform.
Taking Away the Ladder: China and the Competitiveness of Mexican Exports
By Kevin P. Gallagher and Roberto Porzecanski
If Mexico doesn't rethink its industrial and macroeconomic policies, China may take away the ladder to economic development that Mexico seeks to climb.
 "Acapulco-ization": The Final Stage of Tourism?
By Kent Paterson
This economic model is not providing for middle-sized cities like Acapulco—and Puerto Vallarta, Zihuatanejo, and Cancun are learning similar lessons.
A Partial Debate On a Partial Plan
By Andrés Musacchio
Faced with this scenario, which at times has taken on a destabilizing hue, the Argentine government has committed a number of errors of political strategy.
Mexican Environmental Journalists Improve Coverage
By Talli Nauman
Environmental reporting in Mexico faces obstacles in bringing to light the severe environmental crises facing the nation. Through valiant efforts, a dedicated group of underpaid and under-recognized reporters is making itself heard in this important field.
Obama, Latin America, and FDR
By Tom Barry
A commitment to mutual respect, self-determination, and cooperation would take Obama much further in forging an Americas partnership.
Democracy and Conflict: Bolivia's Constituent Assembly, Federal Government and Departmental Autonomy Statutes
By Pilar Uriona Crespo and Dunia Mokrani Chávez
The MAS governments' reforms based on a political project envisioned by social movements faces off with the regional autonomy movement of the Crescent provinces.
 What did Bolivian Society Say Through the Recall Referendum?
By Raquel Gutiérrez Aguilar
Confidence in Morales continues and increases, but, as is known from Bolivian society's deepest vital core, political transformations of the institutional and regulatory structure of inherited power are urgently needed.
 Would There Be Change in Obama's Americas Policy?
By Laura Carlsen
Opinion divides sharply on whether his platform for U.S. policy in Latin America is really a "Change We Can Believe In." Looking at it closely, the picture gives reasons for hope, but also some important points to work on.
Asunción's Bañados Neighborhood: The Power of Community
By Raúl Zibechi
The city's former garbage dump is now one of the most populous neighborhoods, where extreme poverty has become tolerable thanks to incredible solidarity.
 Haiti's Compounding Food and Health Crises
By Rupa Chinai
Haiti today is a tragic case study of how developing nations can lose the sovereign right to ensure access to healthcare when they lose their right to local food self-sufficiency under globalization.
U.S. Recession, Drug War Violence Cause Crisis in Mexico Tourism
By Kent Paterson
Foreign travelers account for nearly $13 billion of the tourist revenue, so fewer foreign travelers translates into economic pain. Tourism generates more money than the maquiladora export industry or remittances sent home by U.S.-based migrants.
Scenarios for the FARC
By Raúl Zibechi
How will the decline of the FARC affect regional stability? The change is not confined to Colombia—although it has its epicenter there—but extends to countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru, and affects the entire region.
 Welcome Home Raymundo Pacheco
By Tom Barry
It shouldn't be too much to expect that the Mexican government welcome its citizens back home—to be there at the border with agencies that provide shelter, food, transportation, and medical attention for all the hundreds of thousands of Raymundos and Raymundas who are unwillingly coming home.
 United States Announces IV Fleet Resumes Operations Amid South American Suspicions
By Matthew Flynn
In a region where there are virtually no terrorist groups or nuclear arsenals seeking to attack the United States, it is time for a civilian and not a military approach to define U.S. foreign relations in Latin America. The reactivation of the Fourth Fleet is taking us further down the opposite path.
UNASUR and the Challenge of Being South American
By Ariela Ruiz Caro
The objectives are laudable. Nevertheless, there are more than a few difficulties in creating the Union of South American Nations. Political differences and the weight of ideological alliances could place geopolitical national projects over regional interests.
Back to the Future: Limits of Economic Growth in Latin America
By Eduardo Gudynas
Traditional economists, political actors, both conservative and progressive, and many other social groups have not wanted to listen to the debate, which is why in Latin America we continue to ignore the warnings.
The Soybean Crop in Uruguay: The Creation of a Power Block
By Raúl Zibechi
In Uruguay, as in all other countries in the region, the expansion of single-crop agriculture (monoculture) combined with the powerful presence of agri-multinationals, has led to the creation of new power blocks.
 U.S. Lawmakers Approve Mexico Military Aid as Human Rights Complaints Mount
By Kent Paterson
Reports of human rights complaints in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua came at a time when the Bush administration just signed into law the anti-drug assistance package to Mexico known as the Merida Initiative, or Plan Mexico.
North America Doesn't Exist
By Laura Carlsen
The North American Free Trade Agreement is a misnomer in every one of its terms—it wasn't an agreement, it isn't free trade, and North America doesn't exist. So now what?
NAFTA and the Elephant in the Room
By Laura Carlsen
Even when Canada and Mexico have a chance to sit down and discuss regional integration, the United States is the dominating influence. Unfortunately, our most pessimistic predictions about NAFTA's potential effects have come true.
Amazon Tribes Fight to Keep the Xingu Alive
By Glenn Switkes
The sense of determination and unyielding commitment on the part of indigenous people to protect the Xingu was not dimmed by the violence, or by the media backlash orchestrated by the government.
The Dragnet for "Fugitive Aliens"
By Tom Barry
Incorporating immigration policy into national security strategy, the administration treats immigrants as security threats and criminals.
 Haitian Massacre Victims Win Historic Victories in U.S. Courts
By Brian Concannon
The Raboteau victims' example is particularly relevant to Haiti's current leadership, and to the members of the international community that exercise significant influence in Haiti, especially the United States, France, and Canada.
The Immigrant Bed Bureaucracy
By Tom Barry
There's always room in the inn for immigrants. That's essentially the guarantee offered by the Department of Homeland Security.
When More Is Less: The Limited Impact of Foreign Investment in the Americas
By Kevin P. Gallagher and Andrés López
A comprehensive review of the impact of foreign investment liberalization in Latin America shows that, with some exceptions, foreign investment has fallen far short of stimulating broad-based economic growth and environmental protection in the region.
Homeland Security's Enemy Next Door
By Tom Barry
Why all the anti-immigrant fervor in government? What are the politics behind this offensive? This new article in our series on immigration policy examines how the politics of immigration restrictionism have mixed with national security politics to create America's new immigration crisis.
Colombia: Indigenous Self Defense in Times of War
By Raúl Zibechi
The Cordillera Central is one of the prime regions torn by the war between the Colombian military and the FARC, so local indigenous groups taken their security into their own hands.
The Revolution of 1968: When the Basement Said Enough!
By Raúl Zibechi
What remains if we take from '68 the multitudinous protests on main avenues? If we leave the colossal although fleeting events of that period?
The Deterrence Strategy of Homeland Security
By Tom Barry
Under the Bush administration, the immigration system has become a system of crime and punishment.
County Jails Welcome Immigrants
By Tom Barry
Involving local governments and police in immigration law enforcement and detention is not a solution; it just extends the failure of immigration policy to new levels of government.
Behind Latin America's Food Crisis
By Laura Carlsen
What's happening should be seen as wake-up calls to fix our most vital link to each other and to life itself—the food system.
 Mexico's Battle Over Oil
By Laura Carlsen
The public has a right and need to participate in this crucial debate for the future of Mexico and of the region as a whole.
Paying the Price of the Immigration Crackdown
By Tom Barry
Just as we are squandering billions abroad in the war in Iraq, we are wasting billions of dollars at home in what has become a war on immigrants.
 Juarez Mothers Demand Justice for their Murdered Daughters
By Kent Paterson
As families demand justice, cases of women murdered in Ciudad Juarez mount and impunity continues.
"We Are Workers, Not Criminals"
By David Bacon
Instead of making work a crime and treating immigrants as criminals, we need equality, economic security, jobs, and rights for everyone.
Argentina Versus the World Bank: Fair Play or Fixed Fight?
By Tony Phillips
Argentina is the ICSID's biggest caseload and the court represents a significant agent in the Argentine economy. A single ruling for investors against the state could cost the Argentine public hundreds or thousands of millions of dollars, equivalent to a significant tax loss or the price of constructing many new hospitals.
Haitian Food Riots Unnerving But Not Surprising
By Mark Schuller
We need to take heed, but also action, to respond to recent food riots. Long-term solutions will have to address both our dependence on oil and the inequalities in distribution within the world system.
The Real Crisis of Argentina's Agricultural Sector
By Carlos A. Vicente
Agro multinationals that have benefited from the soy boom are robbing the Argentine people of their natural resources.
 Border Land Battle Pits Development against Human Rights
By Kent Paterson
In a context of mounting violence, the struggle of Lomas de Poleo residents for basic human rights has become an example for the rest of the borderlands.
Food Fights
By Laura Carlsen
Unless governments hold fast to their right to regulate supply, these food fights could develop into all-out war.
Where the Asphalt Ends: Bogota's Periferies
By Raúl Zibechi
At the southern end of Bogota, Colombia, in the cold, wind-eroded mountains, millions of people displaced by 60 years of war try to build the world of their dreams despite threats from armed groups and abuse from landowners.
The North American Union Farce
By Laura Carlsen
The North American Union (NAU) conspiracy theory is an offshoot of an all-too-real trilateral agreement called the "Security and Prosperity Partnership" (SPP). Let's sort out the facts.
 Historical Mapuche Hunger Strike Ends in Success
By Raúl Zibechi
Patricia Troncoso forced Michelle Bachelet's government to yield and allow her weekend passes and completion of her sentence at a work-study center.
Indigenous Movements in the Americas: From Demand for Recognition to Building Autonomies
By Francisco López Bárcenas
We must celebrate these examples of indigenous peoples and communities that have decided not to wait passively for changes to come from the outside and have enlisted in the construction of autonomous governments.
 The Militarization of the World's Urban Peripheries
By Raúl Zibechi
Urban peripheries have become war zones where states attempt to maintain order based on the establishment of a sort of "sanitary cordon" to keep the poor isolated from "normal" society. What can come of the isolation and militarization of the places where a third of the world's population live?
Cosmetic Changes: The Argentine Economy after the 2007 Elections
By Alan B. Cibils
While it is too soon to know what changes CFK will introduce, if any, her actions so far indicate that, despite having a new president, not much will really change for the better in the country.
Truth about Illegal Immigration and Crime
By Tom Barry
Anti-immigration forces have been hammering into our heads the dangerous link between illegal immigration and increases in violent crime. Their only problem: the facts don't support their alarmist contentions.
 2008: Latin America's Hope and Challenge
By Laura Carlsen
U.S. policies can promote rather than suppress efforts at self-determination and social justice in the region.
Climate Change Cause and Effect, An Americas Perspective
By Tony Phillips
In the recent Bali consensus the U.S. government agreed to overall cutbacks and China, formerly exempt as a developing country, agreed to voluntary cut-backs. But how will Latin America affect climate change and be affected by it?
Wall Street and Immigration:
Financial Services Giants Have Profited From the Beginning
By Peter Cervantes-Gautschi
The role that the financial services industry and its political lobbying is and has been playing in the issues surrounding immigration can no longer be ignored.
 NAFTA Inequality and Immigration
By Laura Carlsen
Since NAFTA, the Mexican economy rests on four pillars: the informal economy, non-renewable resources (oil and gas), remittances from migrants in the United States, and drug trafficking. To call that a shaky foundation would be an understatement.
Arizona Border Fence Environmental Impact Questioned
By Brenda Norrell
The thin environmental assessment lists many threatened and endangered species of flora and fauna in the area potentially affected by the fence near Sasabe, Arizona, yet comes up with a "Finding of No Significant Impact."
A Global Good Neighbor Ethic for International Relations
By Tom Barry, Salih Booker, Laura Carlsen, Marie Dennis, and John Gershman (May 2005)
Inspired by Franklin D. Roosevelt's vision of international relations guided by "mutual respect" and cooperation, the IRC's Global Good Neighbor Initiative is initiating a process of reclaiming this legacy by promoting dialogue and action aimed at forging a new animating vision for foreign policy in our time:
A Global Good Neighbor Ethic for International Relations.
Read the full
report now (also in
Spanish); the executive
summary is also available.
 Hungry for Justice:
How the World Food System Fails the Poor
Inequalities in the world's food system have been aggravated by recent developments to create the much talked-about food crisis. But what is behind the headlines? This new series delves into agrofuels, trade policy, corporate concentration, climate change, and rising demand to help sort out the real causes of the crisis and what needs to be done about it.
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Large scale infrastructure projects are changing the social, political, and physical geography of Latin America. Check out the latest in the series, "Damming Patagonia's Rivers: A Dirty Energy Business (#8)" at http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5247.
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The Merida Initiative, providing $500 million dollars in aid primarily to Mexican military and police forces, is now before Congress. Find out how U.S. taxpayers' money could wind up increasing impunity, corruption, and human rights violations in Mexico, while missing the mark in the battle against drug-related violence. Read the special report (updated July 10) from Americas Policy Program.
Click here to take action:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/gx/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=978.
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