Category: Latin America/Caribbean

Why would labor honor Cuba’s denial of worker rights?

     

Most leaders of the American labor movement understood communism to be a “uniquely dangerous enemy of free trade unionism,” writes Arch Puddington in his sterling biography of Lane Kirkland, the… Read more »

Venezuelan opposition arrests show Maduro moving to consolidate power

     

Two prominent Venezuelan opposition leaders were taken from their homes in raids by intelligence services in the early hours of Tuesday, in what analysts say signals a lurch toward a… Read more »

Naked power grab an existential threat to Venezuelan democracy

     

Venezuela’s socialist government says a national election has given it a popular mandate to dramatically recast the country’s political system even as condemnations of the process have poured in from… Read more »

Can Ecuador reverse Andean region’s media crackdown?

     

  Former president Rafael Correa’s government used state media outlets as campaign propaganda machines, it was alleged today. His administration’s censorship policies also constituted a ruthless assault on free media in Ecuador,… Read more »

A Venezuela formula to punish Maduro, help the people

     

A US subsidiary of Venezuela’s PDVSA that has been used as collateral for a Russian loan has emerged as a stumbling block to Washington’s moves to impose additional sanctions on… Read more »

‘A sickness beyond borders’ – understanding and combatting media capture

     

Recent developments in South Africa have highlighted how state capture has emerged as an increasingly dangerous threat to democratic governance and to prospects for democratic transition. According to a definition… Read more »

Ecuador: ‘succession politics get ugly’

     

  When the government candidate eked out a victory in the bitter runoff for president of Ecuador in April, incumbent Rafael Correa was ebullient. The willful populist who ran the small Andean… Read more »

Cuba’s transition will be shaped more by internal factors than external actors

     

In the wake of the new EU-Cuba deal, European Parliamentarians have urged Havana to respect human rights and Brussels confirms that the mutual deal could be cancelled if the Communist… Read more »

Sliding into civil war? Venezuela’s ‘drama threatens to turn from farce to tragedy’

     

  Venezuela’s government hunted on Wednesday for rogue policemen who attacked key installations by helicopter, but critics of President Nicolas Maduro suspected the raid may have been staged to justify… Read more »

Russia’s test lab for cyberwar: social media ‘democratize propaganda’

     

In Russia’s shadow, the decades-old nightmare of hackers stopping the gears of modern society has become a reality in Ukraine, Andy Greenberg writes for Wired: And the blackouts weren’t just… Read more »