• The growing danger of reporting
May 17.12
EXPRESSING alarm at the increase in the murder of journalists in Mexico, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova has called for an urgent investigation. The violent deaths of three Mexican journalists in the state of Veracruz in less than a week seemingly triggered this response.

• TOMAS BORGE
Among the dead who never die
May 10.12
TOMAS Borge died on the evening of this past April 30. He was 82 years of age and was the sole remaining survivor among the founders of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN).

• FROM HAITI
Profit from misfortune
April 30.12
No one knows for sure how many non-governmental organizations (NGO) currently remain in Haiti. When the earthquake two years ago brought a wave of humanitarian aid groups to the nation – known as the country of the NGO’s – it became fodder for disaster capitalism.

• One hundred years of struggle for Chilean Communists
April 26.12
The Communist Party of Chile (PCCh), over the course of its 100 years of existence has found ways to translate into action its desire for liberty and social justice in this South American country.

• Repression in Honduras
April 26.12
Honduran land rights activists have denounced threats of violence made in Rigores and Marañones by a large landholder backed by Honduran security forces, and a plan for military intervention in campesino communities.

• Chávez refutes rumors about his health, announces plans to return to Venezuela
April 25.12
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, on April 23, refuted rumors circulated recently which alleged that his health was deteriorating. In a telephone call from Havana he indicated that, to the contrary, his recovery was progressing after the latest treatment of a cancerous lesion detected last February, according to Telesur.

• Argentina recovers sovereignty over its oilfields
April 23.12
With the nationalization of 51% of the oil company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF), the Argentine government is intent upon recovering its sovereignty over this resource which is of strategic importance to the development and industrialization of the country, during a difficult world economic juncture, according to many international analysts.

• Violence against women in Mexico
April 11.12
MEXICO CITY.— "The suffering is too much, we can’t take it," says Martha Rincón with fierce emotion. She is the mother of Esmeralda Castillo, whose name, in 2009, was added to the list of dead or missing women in the city of Juárez.

• US Ambassadors to Venezuela: A Chronology of Failure
April 11.12
During his 13-year-long presidency Hugo Chavez has had to deal with five US ambassadors and numerous charge d'affaires. The history of relations between them and the Venezuelan leader shows how successfully one can oppose a policy of blackmail, conspiracy, overturns and 'orange revolutions'.

• Summit of the Americas: an uncomfortable exercise
April 4.12
UP until a little over one month ago, it was barely known that a regional summit of heads of state and government in the American hemisphere is to take place in Cartagena, Colombia this April.

• Fidel: Guerrillero del tiempo, launched in Bolivia
April 4.12
LA PAZ, —Fidel: Guerrillero del tiempo, a book about the life of the Cuban Revolution’s leader, was launched April 3, in Bolivia’s Government Palace with President Evo Morales in attendance, along with a variety of important political and cultural figures, including Vice President Álvaro García Linera, cabinet members and legislators.

• FROM HAITI
Parks without the homeless
April 4.12
NOW you can finally see the parks in Port-au-Prince! For the first time since the January 2010 earthquake, the city’s plazas and public spaces are beginning to reappear after being besieged by thousands of people made homeless by the quake.

• 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MALVINAS WAR
Inseparable part of Argentine territory
April 4.12
ON April 2, 1982, Argentina and the United Kingdom fought a war for sovereignty of the Malvinas Islands, which resulted in the death of 649 Argentine soldiers, 255 British troops and three civilians from the islands.

• Chevron Oil on criminal charges
March 29,12
RIO de Janeiro.—There are mixed views in Brazil in relation to the court case faced by the U.S. Chevron company for oil spills in the Atlantic Ocean.

• Voices united: Never again!
March 29,12
CASA de las Américas in Havana opened its doors on March 24 to the Day of Memory, Truth and Justice, to honor the sacred rights of which humanity must never lose sight.

• Honduras expands as Pentagon hub in Central America
March 29,12
DESPITE persistent reports of serious corruption and human rights abuses by the Honduran army and police, the Pentagon increased its contract spending in Honduras to $53.8 million in Fiscal Year 2011, up by 71% from the previous year.

• El Salvador
Controversial mid-term elections
March 29,12
THE municipal and legislative elections which took place March 11 in El Salvador left a number of controversies in their wake, promoted by governmental, economic and media forces. These concern progress made by the right wing, which the results show as only relative.

• FROM HAITI
Another crisis tormenting Haiti
March 22,12
IF, for one moment, it is possible to imagine a Haiti which has not suffered earthquake and disease, a Haiti without centuries of plunder, indebtedness and dictatorships, there would still be another problem to overcome.

• Aysén is Chile
March 22,12
THE popular uprising in the Aysén region of southern Chile one month ago has already given a strong indication of what is to come in 2012 for President Sebastián Piñera’s administration.

• Cuban Medical Brigade in Haiti proposed for Cooperation Prize
March 15,12
THE Cuban Medical Brigade working in Haiti has been nominated for the Prince of Asturias Awards 2012 in the International Cooperation category.

• Venezuelan presidential elections
March 15,12
HENRIQUE Capriles Radonski was recently elected as Venezuelan opposition candidate for the October 7 presidential elections. He is currently governor of the state of Miranda, which includes parts of Caracas and is the second most highly populated in the country.

• Chávez: Desire to live strengthened
March 12,12
PRESIDENT Hugo Chávez stated during a special television program broadcast from Havana on March 11 that his post-operative checks have revealed no complications.

• FROM HAITI
More than 400,000 Haitians treated through Operación Milagro
March 8,12
JÉRÉMIE.— The mobile Operation Miracle’s move to Saint Antoine Hospital in this department capital city will benefit the 425,000 primarily rural residents of Grand’Anse, located in Haiti’s southeastern region.

• Little respect for human rights in Chilean prisons
March 8,12
SANTIAGO.— Overcrowding, disregard for prisoners’ human rights and internal violence are wracking the Chilean penitentiary system and making evident the need for structural reform, according to human rights specialists.

• Chávez fully on the road to recovery
March 5,12
"My recuperation is marked and sustained, thanks to God, the Virgin and the Saints for all their support, to medical science, to Fidel and Raúl," affirmed President Hugo Chávez during a special program from Havana, broadcast yesterday, March 4, by Venezolana de Televisión.

• Chávez: I am recovering rapidly
March 2,12
VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chávez had a teleconference yesterday with Minister of Energy and Oil Rafael Ramírez, during which he expressed satisfaction with the achievements of the Grand Housing Mission Venezuela and informed him about his recuperation.

• Chávez: "lifting in flight like the condor"
March 1,12
LAST night, the Bolivarian people and everyone in the world interested in the recovery of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez received two items of good news.

• Cuban medicine preventing spread of cholera in the Americas
March 1,12
HAVANA.— There are no deaths from cholera in Haiti at the present time, thanks to the work of Cuban medical personnel, who have also contributed to preventing the spread of this disease in the Americas, affirmed Lorenzo Somarriba, head of the Cuban Medical Mission in Haiti.

• Crossfire between troops and criminals in Mexico
March 1,12
MEXICAN armed forces’ confrontation with organized crime and the criminal acts of the latter currently constitute the most terrifying aspect of Mexican society.

• Chávez: heartfelt thanks for solidarity
February 29,12
AMID applause and exclamations of ¡Pa'lante Comandante!, Venezuelan Vice President Elías Jaua read to the country’s National Assembly the communiqué from the Presidency of the Republic concerning the surgical procedure undergone by President Hugo Chávez.
 
• FROM HAITI
Aging without hope?
February 23,12
WHILE aging is a natural phenomenon, the perception of age is also related to bio-psychic and socioeconomic factors. For any society seeking the prolongation of life in conditions of well-being, heath care for older adults is a major aspect.

• Chávez: "We will live and win!"
February 23,12
CONSTERNATION at the news that President Chávez is to undergo further surgery was followed by an impressive wave of popular support and love. Venezuelan revolutionaries listened to his first-hand and frank explanation of the situation. Immediately, their collective response could be heard everywhere, "Palante, Comandante!" (Keep on going, Comandante!)

• President Chávez to undergo surgery in Havana
February 22,12
CARACAS.—President Hugo Chávez of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, announced February 21 that he is about to undergo surgery in Havana, "without any rush and in due time," as he stated in a telephone contact with the "Contragolpe" program broadcast by Venezolana de Televisión.

• Growing along the road to social equality
February 16,12
THE Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) was established by the UN Economic and Social Council in 1948 to contribute to regional economic development, coordinate action to promote it and to reinforce economic relations among countries. Subsequently, its work extended to the Caribbean nations and the incorporation of a social development dimension.

• Evo Morales accuses NGO’s of spying for the United States
February 16,12
BOLIVIA.— Bolivian President Evo Morales has stated that certain non-governmental organizations are acting as a fifth column for the United States by passing on information about Latin America labor and social leaders in exchange for project funding.

• FROM HAITI
Mobile clinic on the border
February 16,12
CAPOTILLO lies in the mountains bordering the Dominican Republic. The commune strikes one as a small settlement detained in the distant past of civilization.

• Venezuela’s awakening
February 16,12
THERE are revolutions destined to change the direction of peoples. They illuminate the future and mark the birth of societies including all, for the good of all.

• Raúl’s words
February 6,12
Comments by Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, President of the Councils of State and Ministers during 11th ALBA-TCP Summit of heads of state, Venezuela, February 4, 2012. Year 54 of the Revolution.

• The Orinoco Oil Belt
February 2,12
THE Venezuelan government is moving forward with an important expansion of its oil operations in the Orinoco Belt, considered the largest deposit of crude in the world, conscious of the fact that this area is the driving force within the national economy.

• THE MALVINAS
21st century colonial enclave
26.Enero.12
ONCE again the British government has reacted arrogantly to Argentina’s claim of sovereignty over the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich islands. The United Kingdom is maintaining its recalcitrant attitude of rejecting any kind of dialogue.

• FROM HAITI
No deaths from cholera reported for 12 months
26.Enero.12
THE Cuban Medical Brigade (BMC) in Haiti stated that, from January 18, 2011, there have been no deaths from cholera in the areas in which they are working.

• For the Maya, the world isn't ending – the environment is
26.Enero.12
GUATEMALA.— The end of the Maya long-count calendar does not predict a global catastrophe, let alone the end of the world, say native activists and elders who spoke to IPS in Guatemala. But what are coming to an end are the world's natural resources, as a result of human activity, they warn.

• TWO YEARS AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE
Traditional burials
19.Enero.12
FOR centuries, respect for death and ways to face it have been one of the idiosyncrasies of a number of cultures around the world. The belief of life after death has motivated the adoption of different psychological and sociological behaviors which have varied in accordance with the context, the time and the religion professed.

• The people for President
19.Enero.12
THIS title, President Daniel Ortega’s campaign slogan during his reelection bid, was taken to heart by Nicaragua’s people, reflecting the desire of the broad masses in this small Central American country to consolidate the "Christian, socialist...

• FROM HAITI
2012 begins fortuitously in Sud
January 12,12
YEARS don’t always end the way we imagined; sometimes life surprises and everything begins anew in a very unexpected way. More than a farewell to adventures and misadventures, the end of a year can be the starting point for another 365-day cycle and lends itself to predictions for the coming year.

• CELAC: united in diversity
January 12,12
SANTIAGO DE CHILE.—The troika of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), comprising Chile, Cuba and Venezuela, met for the first time on January 9 in this capital and announced that the 2nd CELAC Summit will be in January 2013, according to AFP.

• Daniel Ortega sworn in as President of Nicaragua
January 11.12
MANAGUA, January 10.—A new chapter in Nicaragua’s history opened here today in Managua’s Plaza de la Revolución which witnessed the triumph of the Sandinista Popular Revolution in 1979, when reelected President Daniel Ortega was sworn in for a second five year term (2012-2017), in the presence of international diplomatic delegations.

• Venezuela and Iran to develop strategic alliance
January 10.12
CARACAS, January 9.—President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela today received his Iranian counterpart Mahmud Ahmadinejad at Miraflores Palace (seat of government), where they signed a joint declaration confirming bilateral links and committed themselves to continue developing a strategic alliance to the benefit of both nations.

• Iranian President begins Latin American tour in Venezuela
January 9.12
CARACAS, January 8.—President Mahmud Ahmadineyad of Iran arrived in Caracas today and was received at the international airport by Vice President Elías Jaua, PL reports.

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