Latin America

Democracy Now did what media are supposed to do when contentious topics are in play, and hosted a debate about the granting of "rule by decree" powers by Venezuela's legislative assembly to President Hugo Chavez.

Reuters ran a story yesterday about how Rigoberta Menchu is considering running for president in the next elections in Guatemala, scheduled for September 9, 2007. According to a Prensa Latina article, Encuentro por Guatemala is interested in her candidacy and will be meeting with her next week to discuss the possibility.

A youtube video, originally posted on Rights Action's site. It goes hand in hand with the January 11 Paley article on Canadian mining company Skye Resources' involvement in the aggressive eviction of several indigenous Guatemalan communities.

Haiti Analysis is a new website featuring writing and, well, analysis about the political situation in Haiti. They're off to a good start, with a decent article on So Ann's visit to New York by Kim Ives.

“We are wasters of power,” she said of the Lavalas movement generally. “Several times we have taken it and each time we waste it.”

She reproached Préval for consorting with imperialism and playing into Washington’s game of repressing the masses and implementing neoliberal reforms such as privatization of key state-owned companies.

There has been some fuss about the Venezuelan government's plan to remove the license for the Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) network. Rabble.ca even linked to it.

The main problem seems to be that an organization that receive funding from the US State Department, the National Endowment for Democracy and the International Republican Institute (and then refuse to disclose the details) is calling it a crackdown on freedom of speech.

The Andean Information Network, once its website is up and running again, has a few more articles about the current developments in Cochabamba, Bolivia. As well, this blog offers a good conglomeration of news stories, including translations from local press, on a variety of topics related to the country's politics.