THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE  #213 (MAY 2008)

This issue’s contents:

COVER: Change & challenges in Latin America

A new page in Paraguayan history
By Michael Fox

In April this year, an ex-bishop, Fernando Lugo, ushered in a new era in Paraguay's history when he led a coalition, the Patriotic Alliance for Change, to victory in the country's presidential election. His triumph over

the incumbent Colorado Party, which has monopolised power for the past six decades by a combination of terror and patronage, has paved the way for social change at home and greater regional cooperation with the neigbouring progressive regimes.

Ecuador's new constitution addresses demand for 'plurinational' state
By Kintto Lucas

Ecuador has taken a decisive step in uprooting its colonial past by recognising the equality of its various communities through an explicit declaration in its new constitution that the country is a 'plurinational' state.

United States manoeuvres to carve up Bolivia with autonomy vote
By Roger Burbach

As Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, attempts to effect a transformation of the country in the interests of the majority, the small, largely white minority in the richer provinces is pushing for an agenda of secession under the guise of seeking more autonomy.

Bolivia: Local indigenous leaders beaten and publicly humiliated
By Franz Chávez

The backlash from Bolivia's rich, largely white minority to President Evo Morales's reforms has taken the form of racist attacks on indigenous leaders and activists.

Argentina's soy storm: Tensions rising among farmers
By Marie Trigona

Argentinian President Cristina Kirchner's decision in March to increase the tax on farm exports provoked a storm of protest which paralysed local food supplies and exports. Although the tax hike was ostensibly directed against the large soy farmers, and designed to curb the massive expansion of soybean production at the expense of food production for domestic consumption, the move has pushed the small farmers into joining the lockout. Currently, a temporary truce prevails as the Argentinian Congress considers the issue.

The real crisis of Argentina's agricultural sector
By Carlos A Vicente

The real crisis facing Argentina stems not from the tax hike but from the phenomenal expansion of corporate farming of genetically engineered soybean, says Carlos A Vicente.

Colombia: Crisis in a climate of impunity
By Jeremy Dear

For the past 60 years, Colombia has been torn apart by a civil war between government forces and the left-wing FARC guerrilla group. Unfortunately, the country's President, Alvaro Uribe, who is linked to outlawed right-wing paramilitary death squads but has the staunch support of the US and Britain, has rebuffed all efforts to find a peaceful and just solution to the conflict. The following article by a British trade unionist, while it focuses on British complicity in the war, provides a clear analysis of the crisis currently gripping the country.

Colombia: Between the dead and dread
By Carlos Gutiérrez

Following confirmation of the death of Manuel Marulanda Velez, the supreme leader of the left-wing guerrilla group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), at the end of May, the conflict in Colombia has intensified. The government of President Alvaro Uribe has stepped up its efforts to subjugate FARC even as it finds itself under intense scrutiny over its link to right-wing paramilitary death squads and a bribery probe into his 2006 re-election threatens his political future.

US military looks to Colombia to replace base in Ecuador
By Teo Ballvé

Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa has made it clear that he is not prepared to renew the US military's lease on its base in Manta, Ecuador, which is set to expire in 2009.  A new report suggests US military operations in South America might have found a perfect new home in central Colombia's Palanquero air base, one of the region's most state-of-the-art military installations.

Gap between Latin America and Washington still growing
By Mark Weisbrot

US moves to isolate President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela by linking him to 'terrorism' are making no headway as the gulf between Washington and a changing Latin America grows.

ECOLOGY

Are we missing the 2010 target?
By Ashish Kothari

In 2002, governments of the world agreed to achieve a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level as a contribution to poverty alleviation and for the benefit of all life on earth. A recent review by a UN body meeting in Bonn has revealed that this target is unlikely to be achieved.

ECONOMICS

Disappointing outcome at food summit
By Neth Dano

The recent food security summit convened by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation failed to meet the world's expectations on the urgent need for the international community to respond to the current global food crisis. Neth Dano, who attended the conference, reports.

Limited impact of FDI on economic growth in Latin America
By Kanaga Raja

A study by researchers from several countries in the Americas on the social and economic impact of economic liberalisation in Latin America has concluded that while a handful of countries in the region were able to attract considerable foreign investment, such investment wiped out local firms and accentuated environmental degradation.

WORLD AFFAIRS

US trying to 'legalise' permanent occupation of Iraq
By Phyllis Bennis

In the face of massive Iraqi popular and parliamentary opposition, the Bush administration has been trying to coerce the US-backed Iraqi government into signing a so-called 'bilateral' agreement to legitimise its continued occupation of Iraq after the UN mandate runs out in December this year.  Phyllis Bennis explains the implications.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Watchdog says Philippine government in denial of rights violations' causes, solutions
By Alexander Martin Remollino

The Philippine UPR (Universal Periodic Review) Watch has assailed the Arroyo administration for being 'in denial' about the causes of human rights violations in the Philippines. It also criticised the government for adamantly refusing to heed the recommendations of UN Human Rights Council members, which could have helped improve the human rights situation in the Philippines.

What does an apology mean to Harry Wilson?
By Kevin D Annett

Canada has at long last apologised for its policy of forcing, from the 19th century to the 1970s, aboriginal children to attend state-funded Christian schools with the aim of uprooting them from their own indigenous culture and assimilating them. In the context of what has happened and is still happening to Canada's indigenous people, Kevin D Annett asks whether an apology means anything.

WOMEN

Guatemala approves law against femicide

Women's groups and human rights organisations have successfully pressurised Guatemala's lawmakers to enact a law to protect women against femicide and other forms of violence in a country where in 2007 alone, some 590 women were murdered.

VIEWPOINT

Humanitarianism
By Jeremy Seabrook

Writing in the wake of the Western response to the recent natural disasters in Burma and China, Jeremy Seabrook notes the contrast between the speed with which rescue operations are mounted in an emergency and the languid response to the larger goal of eliminating global poverty.

ASEAN's terrible failure over Burma
By Tom Fawthrop

The Burmese junta's callous response to international relief following the recent cyclone disaster has brought to the fore the failure of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN)  to handle the problem of Burma, says Tom Fawthrop.

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