International Socialism Project

Addicted to social media, Milei acts like a true president-troll, in the mold of Donald Trump.  Armies of followers—both organized and spontaneous—support him with violent online attacks, using enflamed rhetoric and memes to discredit the opposition.

Just as European colonizers claimed that they were on a “civilizing mission” when they invaded, occupied, and plundered Black and Brown nations over a period of centuries, the U.S.’s stated aim of “helping” Haiti is likewise patently false. The U.S. has controlled Haiti’s destiny for over a century, and building a genuine democracy there has never been on the U.S.’s agenda.

“We would point out that repression in Nicaragua is increasing. There is no freedom of the press or of information. No one is allowed to think differently from the regime, because people risk imprisonment or exile, and the confiscation of all their property.”

Here, the ISP translates and republishes a report on the recent landslide election in Guatemala of the reformist candidate Bernardo Arévalo. This article appeared first on the independent Guatemalan news site Divergentes. Correspondencia de Prensa republished it.

On May 7, the Chilean right scored a major victory in elections to choose delegates to draft a new constitution for the country. The conservatives, who mostly want to maintain the current constitution drawn up under the Pinochet dictatorship, have more than the 60 percent support in the constitutional council they need to write the new constitution without having to offer any concessions to the left.

Three weeks after his arrest by the regime of President Daniel Ortega made international headlines, one of Nicaragua’s most renowned intellectuals, Oscar René Vargas, has been indicted by the government with “conspiracy to undermine national integrity” and other trumped-up charges.

A rapid end to the Peruvian crisis appears unlikely after the right-wing “soft coup” against President Pedro Castillo.

This brief note on the current situation in the lead-up to the October 30 Brazilian elections is written by the socialist Valerio Arcary, a member of Resistencia, a current inside the Party of Socialism and Freedom (PSOL).

In this article, originally published in the Uruguayan newspaper Brecha, and republished in Correspondencia de Prensa, the Uruguayan socialist journalist Raúl Zibechi argues that Bolsonaro’s strong second-place finish in the recent Brazilian presidential election showed that the far right is deeply rooted in Brazilian society, even if it may not defeat Lula in the October 30 presidential runoff.

Brazil’s dominant classes have never had a great fondness for democracy. Inheritors of three centuries of European colonization and four centuries of slavery, they have shown, in the last hundred years, a strong propensity for an authoritarian state…

The main lesson from the results of the first round is this: to defeat Bolsonaro electorally on October 30, it will be necessary for the people in the streets, with Lula, to transform the current electoral majority into a wave of popular support…

The theses propose tasks for the Brazilian left in the likely event that Bolsonaro won’t accept defeat, and at time when the constitutionally designated election authorities have allowed the military to conduct its own audit of the vote.

Congress had earlier passed a law forbidding the colony to declare bankruptcy, which states and cities in the U.S. can do. So even though Puerto Rico was bankrupt, it could not declare bankruptcy.

Among the reasons for the victory of the “No”was the multimillion-dollar campaign of terror and “fake news” the No side mounted. The “No” campaign said the new constitution would establish a chaotic regime of expropriation of private property, including people’s houses…

This article, originally appearing in the Uruguayan newspaper Brecha and reprinted by Correspondencia de Prensa, provides a preview of what is likely to be a nasty and hard-fought campaign.