We are with the people in the streets to defend their vote. We are on the side of their democratic demands. But at the same time, we mark distance with the political leaderships that are trying to manipulate them or use them as “cannon fodder.”
Latin America
Argentina: One hundred days of cruelty and transgression
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.
Haiti’s people have never been allowed to control their own destiny
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.
Nicaragua: “We need solidarity!”
“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.”
A seed grows in Guatemala?
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.
Chile: In free fall. Reformist defeat reloaded.
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.
Oscar René Vargas is Nicaragua’s latest prisoner of conscience
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.
Protests continue in Peru as newly installed government cracks down after coup
A rapid end to the Peruvian crisis appears unlikely after the right-wing “soft coup” against President Pedro Castillo.
Red alert: For an all-out offensive in Brazil
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).
Understand or condemn: Bolsonarismo leaps forward
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.
End of the nightmare in Brazil?
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…
Brazilian elections — Lessons from the first round: A quick take before the dust settles
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…
Bolsonaro will not accept defeat. What is to be done?
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.
Behind the electrical blackout of Puerto Rico from Hurricane Fiona
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.
Chile rejects a new constitution: A preliminary analysis
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…