Large scale infrastructure projects are changing the social, political, and physical geography of Latin America.
Check out the latest in the series, "Border Land Battle Pits Development against Human Rights (#7)" at http://americas.irc-online.org/am/5142.
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 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.
A Primer on Plan Mexico
By Laura Carlsen
The Bush administration has put its proposal to militarize Mexico into the upcoming Iraq Supplemental Bill. To avoid the pitfalls of this policy, a more effective binational plan would address root causes, develop mechanisms of binational coordination, and assume U.S. responsibilities and obligations.
"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.
Synthetic Biology's Role in Agrofuels
By Carmelo Ruiz Marrero
The debate on next-generation agrofuels could be transformed by the new field of synthetic biology. Also known as synbio, synthetic biology goes beyond genetic engineering to create life from scratch by combining nanoscale biology, computing, and engineering.
Losing the Forest for the Trees: Tree Monocultures and the Biofuel Boom
By Carmelo Ruiz Marrero
Using trees for fuel as part of the agrofuels boom means cultivation of massive monoculture tree plantations, which have some consequences we have already seen, and more that are likely to appear as the genetically modified tree market expands.
Next-Generation Biofuels
By Carmelo Ruiz Marrero
Some big players are wagering that the problems of agrofuels can be solved by a new generation of agrofuels derived from cellulose. How do they plan to do this and what consequences does it have?
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.
Biotech Bets on Agrofuels
By Carmelo Ruiz Marrero
Latin American civil society's aspirations of land reform, environmental protection, alternatives to neoliberalism, and food and energy sovereignty, are at stake.
Dissecting the North American Summit Joint Statement: Bush's Last Stand
By Laura Carlsen
Check out the analysis "between the lines" that reveals what they were really talking about at the trilateral summit in New Orleans.
Time to Renegotiate NAFTA, Not Expand It
By Representative Marcy Kaptur (United States), Senator Yeidckol Polevnsky (Mexico), and Peter Julian, Member of Parliament (Canada)
This week in New Orleans at the fourth summit of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) it is time to chart a fair trade future for North America that fosters democratic governance, growing economies, rising standards of living for all, and puts the interests of working people and the environment over those of global corporations.
Two Chicken Stories: NAFTA's Real Winners and Losers
By Laura Carlsen
The international system is rigged to strengthen the hand of mega-corporations and weaken small farmers, workers, women producers, and migrants.
U.S.-Latin America: The Intersection of Trade and Security
By Laura Carlsen
The U.S. Congress faces a vote on two more free trade agreements in Latin America that will test domestic sentiment on trade policy and the relationship of trade to security.
 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.
Expansion of Biotechnology in Brazil Brings Violence
By Isabella Kenfield
Illegal incursions of Monsanto, Syngenta, and otther biotech firms into Brazilian agriculture have resulted in increased conflict.
 Paraguay: Elections, Yellow Fever, and a Meddling Ambassador
By Raúl Zibechi
The election climate in Paraguay grows tense with the possible defeat of the Red Party that has been in power for more than half a century. The U.S. ambassador's interference in the electoral campaign and a yellow fever epidemic are keeping tensions high.
Presidential Candidates on Trade
By Americas Policy Program
The candidates' positions on (1) their assessment of NAFTA, (2) renegotiation of NAFTA, (3) pending Free Trade Agreements, (4) future Free Trade Agreements, and (5) labor and environmental standards.
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.
 Mexicans Say: Integrate This!
By Katie Kohlstedt
If only the injustices of NAFTA made enough people angry enough to push their governments to do something. What you read here may just make you angry!
 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?
 Republican Party Candidates on Immigration
By Americas Policy Program
Profiles on their positions on immigration reveal the characters of the two remaining candidates for the Republican presidential nomination—John McCain and Mike Huckabee.
Understanding Lula's Strength
By Ladislau Dowbor
Recent data from Brazil has shown some interesting phenomena. It's worth looking at the image that emerges: this explains not only the votes to re-elect Lula, but also the road ahead.
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.
Mining the Latino Vote in Nevada
By Laura Carlsen
Designed to be a harbinger to predict later tendencies, Nevada offered a glimpse into what could be in store as the campaigns move on to other, more delegate-laden, states. What we saw gave cause for concern.
 Democratic Party Candidates on Immigration
By Americas Policy Program
Where do Clinton, Edwards, and Obama stand on immigration? Here their positions are laid out to help distinguish them.
Border Apartheid Documented in United Nations Report on Indigenous Peoples
By Brenda Norrell
Systematic racism, forced assimilation, and apartheid of indigenous peoples in the United States is documented in the "Consolidated Indigenous Shadow Report," to be presented by the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in February.
UN Troops Accused of Human Rights Violations in Haiti
By Maria Luisa Mendonça
The UN stabilization mission in Haiti has been extended until October 2008. But critics and victims of the UN forces, coordinated by Brazil, accuse the blue helmets of politically motivated killings and extensive human rights abuses. More discussion of the role of Brazil in Haiti is needed.
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.
Lima's Community Kitchens: Combating Hunger and Loneliness
By Raúl Zibechi
Over the years, and despite a noticeable improvement in Peru's economic situation, the number of solidarity efforts remained at the level reached at the spike of poverty.
 Apaches Rise to Defend Homelands from Homeland Security
By Brenda Norrell
A national working group coalition of supporters, attorneys, Apaches, and other indigenous peoples to resist the seizure of their lands, the desecration of their sacred places, and the militarization of their communities.
Fourteen Years of NAFTA and the Tortilla Crisis
By Ana de Ita
The tortilla crisis shows that one of the NAFTA's basic assumptions—that it benefits consumers, even if it sacrifices farmers—is a macabre fallacy.
Why Bolivia Matters
By Laura Carlsen
Bolivia's effort to use the state to retake and redistribute resources ceded to private economic interests under globalization, to enfranchise indigenous populations, to narrow the appalling gap between the haves and have-nots of our era deserves a chance and will no doubt provide lessons for the rest of the world.
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?
 Cuba Changes, U.S. Policy Stagnates
By Wayne Smith and Jennifer Schuett
There is hope that the changing political equation in Miami, pressure from economic interest groups interested in trade and investment, and support by the majority of Americans for normalization of relations with Cuba will lead to long overdue policy change after the 2008 elections.
Standing Up to NAFTA
By Laura Carlsen
If there is one thing we've learned from the growth of inequality under NAFTA, it's that trickle down doesn't work unless you squeeze from the top. As final phase implementation in January approaches, we need a new and fair trade policy more than ever.
Losing the War of Ideas, Again
By Tom Barry
Anti-immigration advocates have created the ideological frameworks—security, rule of law, nationalism—that now frame the raging immigration debate. Meanwhile, immigration advocates find that their own humanitarian, economic, and historical arguments supporting liberal immigration flows have little resonance in the public debate.
Mexico's Street Brigade: Sex, Revolution, and Social Change
By Raúl Zibechi
In Mexico, one of the strongest and most overbearing enclaves of patriarchy and machismo, Subcomandante Marcos has opened the doors to debate about discrimination in a controversial area.
 Salsipuedes: Challenges for Ecotourism in Mexico's Baja California
By Miguel Ángel Torres and Micheline Cariño
This article provides us with a tour of the region highlighting positive and negative examples of local tourism development, along with some beautiful views!
Planning the War on Immigrants
By Tom Barry
Following their success in stopping a comprehensive immigration reform bill that included legalization provisions, anti-immigration groups have rallied around a common strategy: "Attrition through Enforcement." Will this attack be a strategy that the American people can be proud of?
 NAFTA Free Trade Myths Lead to Farm Failure in Mexico
By Laura Carlsen
Since the start of this unequal partnership the failure to resolve the Mexican agricultural crisis, in large part caused by NAFTA, has increased migration and complicated relations between the United States and Mexico and between our people. Read on to dispel some of the most common "free trade" myths.
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.
Negotiations for Colombian Hostage Release Deserved More Time
By Adam Isacson
With President Alvaro Uribe's decision to cut off a negotiations process led by Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, hope that the FARC guerrillas will release long-held kidnapping victims has faded once again.
 Latin America: The Downside of the GM Revolution
By Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero
An overall look at genetically modified crops in Latin America that takes us on a tour of the current situation in several countries, and what the GM industry and people's movements are doing to deal with these advances.
 Indigenous Peoples Vow to Bring Down Apartheid Border Wall
By Brenda Norrell
Participants renewed their determination to halt the border wall and inhumane practices on indigenous lands on the border and commemorated the men, women, children, and unborn children who have died on Tohono O'odham lands.
 Passing the Baton: Argentina's Political Future
By Lucía Álvarez and Diego González
The first lady, senator, and presidential candidate for the currently ruling Front for Victory Party (FPV), Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, won a comfortable victory in the first round. How will she govern and manage her fragmented party?
La Victoria, Chile: Half a Century Building Another World
By Raúl Zibechi
It was one of the first organized occupations of urban land on the continent and in a half century built an alternative city, defied the dictatorship, and continues to find ways to break out of the neoliberal model.
 Bolivia: Coming to Terms with Diversity
Interview with Alvaro Garcia Linera, Vice President of Bolivia
By Laura Carlsen
Garcia Linera says the conflicts are to be expected, as Bolivian society takes on "the two conquests of equality"—political rights for indigenous peoples and economic equality through a redistribution of national wealth.
 Wal-Mart Faces Accusations of Anti-union Practices in Argentina
By Marie Trigona
On Nov. 17 an international day of action will call attention to workers' reports of how the retail chain systematically violates international labor laws.
Peru Gets its Free Trade Agreement with the United States
By Ariela Ruiz Caro
The North American market is undoubtedly important for our country. The problem is the price that we are willing to pay for it.
Clinton's Lack of Respect for Latin America
By Tom Barry
If Hillary Clinton wants respect for U.S. foreign policy she will need to show more respect for our southern neighbors than the outline of her potential foreign policy currently shows.
 The Battle of Zihuatanejo
By Kent Paterson
Cruise ship boosters favor construction of a new bay pier, but a new movement, People for the Defense of the Bay, is actively organizing to stop it.
 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.
 The United States, Bolivia, and Dependency
By Stephen Zunes
Unless and until Washington's policies toward Latin America are successfully challenged from within the United States, there are real limits as to how much Bolivia's government can improve the economic conditions of its people.
 Who Controls Ecuador's Water?
By Sara Grusky, Food & Water Watch
Residents of Guayaquil are demanding damages from Bechtel for water contamination, an end to water cut-offs, and a return to local, public control.
 Fujmori's Trial: An Opportunity for Peru
By Raúl Zibechi
The Chilean Supreme Court's extradition to Peru of ex-president and dictator Alberto Fujimori could contribute to the consolidation of Peru's fragile democracy and may even reduce the culture of fear.
Multinationals and the "Maquila Mindset" in Mexico's Silicon Valley
By Lyuba Zarsky and Kevin P. Gallagher
Foreign investment created an "enclave economy" the benefits of which were confined to an international sector not connected to the wider Mexican economy.
Plan Mexico and the Billion-Dollar Drug Deal
By Laura Carlsen
Much evidence exists to show the negative consequences and lack of results of the supply-side "war on drugs" that relies primarily on military and police enforcement measures. So why are we spending a billion dollars on a failed model?
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."
Paraguay's Hour of Change
By Raúl Zibechi
All the polls consider Fernando Lugo the favorite and the only one able to replace the long-dominant Red Party.
Strategic Dialogue on Trade, Growth, and Poverty Reduction
By Americas Policy Program
A focused debate on a complex set of problems that continues to be at the forefront of the challenges faced by Latin American societies.
 Mexico's Prophets of Climate Change: Women Forest Defenders
By Kent Paterson
A growing cadre of poor rural women quietly carry on the work of defending and restoring Guerrero's forests against loggers.
The Agrofuels Trap
By Laura Carlsen
A closer look reveals that in many ways the rosy future envisioned by agrofuels promoters looks like the worst of the past.
 Indigenous People Challenge Peru's Soy Highway: An Interview with Julio Cusurichi
By Zachary Hurwitz
The 2007 Goldman Prize winner discusses the negative effects of the Interoceanica Sur project and what is being done to organize around it.
Biofuels and Small Farmers
By Victor M. Quintana S.
Biofuel exploration and development—if it enters into the hyper-industrial and transnational logic—will harm not just peasant families and rural communities, but also less powerful nations.
Extending NAFTA's Reach
By Laura Carlsen
Declarations from the trinational summit acknowledged public concerns about the content and the secrecy of the talks, but said nothing to clear up doubts about the closed-door proceedings.
Creating the Bases for a New World
By Raúl Zibechi
The MST's new focus includes fighting environmental destruction and domination by multinational agribusinesses.
Via Campesina Sets an International Agenda
By Laura Carlsen
In their diversity and determination, peasant farmers of Via Campesina provide an example of their slogan—globalize hope.
The New Politics of Political Aid in Venezuela
By Tom Barry
A new USAID funding focus on foreign "democracy builders" in Venezuela and around the world is really support for regime change.
Energy Diplomacy Leads to a Crossroads for South American Integration
By Eduardo Gudynas
So where does South America stand?
Chile and Venezuela: Myths and Realities of the Arms Race
By Raúl Zibechi
Although Venezuela garners the headlines, as it turns out it is not the country at the forefront when it comes to acquiring armaments.
 Reflections on the 2007 U.S. Social Forum
By Laura Carlsen and Katie Kohlstedt
A "Social Justice Smorgasbord," the issues discussed at the first U.S. Social Forum did not revolve around utopian visions of a better society. Rather, they expressed the urgency of people fighting for survival—to survive as who they are in the face of intolerance, to preserve communities threatened by hate, to maintain basic freedoms, and assure basic needs.
 The Madeira Complex:
International Banks to Fund Deforestation and Displacement
By Zachary Hurwitz
Reports calculate that the dam projects would forcibly relocate up to 3,000 families along the length of the Madeira, and the pressure on environmental and fishery resources could be intense.
 "Deep Integration"—the Anti-Democratic Expansion of NAFTA
By Laura Carlsen
Who is behind the SPP—heralded as the next step in regional integration and as part of what some observers have dubbed the "NAFTA Plus" agenda?
Lula's Economic Plan is Unsustainable
By Gustavo Faleiros
At the end of January, a Lula team presented the nation and the National Congress the Plan for Growth Acceleration (PAC).
 Big Projects Surprise Small Communities
By Talli Nauman
Multi-million-dollar projects such as Seawater Farms Bahia Kino, the Nautical Stair Steps, Sonora's coastal highway, a chain of liquid natural gas (LNG) terminals and pipelines, a multi-modal maritime transportation center, countless coastal tourist real estate developments, and toxic as well as domestic waste deposit proposals are flooding the area.
Measuring the Cost of Lost Policy Space at the WTO
By Kevin P. Gallagher
Recent findings imply that developing nations should exercise great caution in negotiating measures in the WTO's Doha Round that further restrict policy space, especially given the small gains projected to arise from a likely deal.
Loreto Sees the Limits of Growth:
Slow and Steady Wins the Race
By Miguel Ángel Torres
Massive tourism development in Loreto, Baja California could lead to a tenfold increase in the town's population by 2025, but community input is key to the sustainability of the process.
Brazil's Ethanol Plan Breeds Rural Poverty, Environmental Degradation
By Isabella Kenfield
U.S. plans to increase imports of Brazilian ethanol to be forged during Bush's South America visit in March is likely to subordinate the livelihoods of many Brazilians to maintain U.S. consumption.
U.S. Drug Habit Migrates to Mexico
By Sam Logan and Kate Kaires
With the heavy and relatively rapid onset of demand for methamphetamine, demand has begun to spread out from the United States to Mexico, and possibly beyond.
Agri-food Industry's Deadly Cycle Feeds Immigration
By Eric Holt-Gimenez
The agri-food industry's vicious cycle of dispossession, appropriation, and substitution increases immigraton and profits off immigrant labor and changing consumption patterns. Is there a way to break the cycle?
Chilean Workers Stake a Claim to Mine Profits
By Hugo Fazio
The demands of the miners in the Escondida Mine strike represent a tiny portion of earnings compared to the profits reaped by the owners of the Chile's largest copper mine. Who should be able to exploit Chile's huge copper deposits following the process of privatization?
Economic Justice in Haiti Requires Debt Restitution
By Anthony Phillips and Brian Concannon Jr.
Aid may help, but Haiti's independence debt should be restituted for historical and moral reasons. France has the opportunity to set a good neighbor example.
Lessons from Argentina's Experience with the IMF, Debt, and Financial Crises
By Alan Cibils
Argentina will continue to feel the long-term effects of the IMF influence on the debt restructuring and policies that led to its financial crisis. See how debt repayment figures into the Argentine economy over the next decade.
U.S. Hegemony or Global Good Neighbor Policy?
By Laura Carlsen and Tom Barry
Over the past few years we have faced major challenges in conceiving of a new foreign policy in Latin America. IRC's new special report examines the salient new developments in the region and concludes with general guidelines for a more coherent and constructive U.S. Latin American policy.
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.
 Fueling the Debate: Agrofuels, Biodiversity, and Our Energy Future
From Colombia's experience with Palm Oil Biodiesel to Brazil's proposed role in supplying the world with ethanol, Americas Program analysts shed light on the agrofuels debate and the effects of a U.S.-Brazil ethanol alliance. Read about the reality behind sugarcane production and its social and environmental effects.
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