Geography Archives: Guatemala

  • The Responsibility to Protect, the International Criminal Court, and Foreign Policy in Focus: Subverting the UN Charter in the Name of Human Rights

    It was just a matter of time before members of the collapsing left enlisted in the imperial attack on the most fundamental principles of the UN Charter, and added their voices to the growing chorus of support for Western power-projection under the Responsibility to Protect doctrine (R2P) and the International Criminal Court (ICC).  But this […]

  • Spinning the Honduras Coup

      In the Summer of 1984, under the oversight of U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte, I was deported from Honduras with five other Americans for meeting with union representatives who wanted to tell us about the murders and disappearances of their leaders. At the time, the poor nation was known as “the aircraft carrier USS Honduras” […]

  • Honduras Coup: A Template for Hemispheric Assault on Democracy

    The people of Honduras have now suffered more than 40 days of military rule.  The generals’ June 28 coup, crudely re-packaged in constitutional guise, ousted the country’s elected government and unleashed severe, targeted, and relentless repression. The grassroots protests have matched the regime in endurance and outmatched it in political support within the country and […]

  • Interview with Honduran Indigenous Leader Salvador Zuniga: “If They Get Away with This Coup, We Are Heading Back to Very Bloody Times in Latin America”

    On July 29th, Tortilla con Sal managed to talk to Salvador Zuniga, a veteran leader of the indigenous peoples’ movement in Honduras. Zuniga talked about what is currently happening in Honduras. At the time of the interview, Zuniga and other leaders like Bertha Caceres and the Garifuna Miriam Miranda were in temporary encampments in Nicaragua set up to give some respite to Hondurans from the fierce military repression in Honduras, especially along the frontier with Nicaragua.

  • Responsibility to Protect?

    On July 23, a debate concerning the Responsibility to Protect took place in front of the General Assembly of the United Nations.  The responsibility to protect (R2P) is a notion agreed to by world leaders in 2005 that holds States responsible for shielding their own populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and related crimes […]

  • Riding the “Green Wave” at the Campaign for Peace and Democracy and Beyond

    There are many problems with the Campaign for Peace and Democracy’s “Question & Answer on the Iran Crisis,” issued by the CPD on July 7, and widely circulated since then.1 The CPD adopted this format, it tells us, because “some on the left, and others as well, have questioned the legitimacy of and the need […]

  • Honduras: The Hour of the Grassroots

    Three weeks after the June 28 military coup that expelled Honduran President Mel Zelaya and claimed to overthrow his government, the country remains shaken by a profound and dynamic popular upsurge demanding Zelaya’s return and the restoration of democracy. The collapse on July 18 of the much-touted “negotiation dialogue” between Zelaya’s government delegation and representatives […]

  • Honduras Ship Action Declared

    17 July 2009 The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) today called for all its union members to oppose the coup in Honduras by focusing protests on the Honduran merchant fleet. The global union organisation, which represents 656 unions worldwide with four and a half million members, has made the call as its latest move to […]

  • Honduran Coup — Made in Washington

    15 July 2009 The Department of State had prior knowledge of the coup. The Department of State and the US Congress funded and advised the actors and organizations in Honduras that participated in the coup. The Pentagon trained, schooled, commanded, funded, and armed the Honduran armed forces that perpetrated the coup and that continue to […]

  • Hondurans Resist Coup, Will Need Help from Other Countries

    The military coup that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras took a new turn when Zelaya attempted to return home on Sunday.  The military closed the airport and blocked runways to prevent his plane from landing.  They also shot several protesters, killing at least one and injuring others. The violence and the enormous crowd — […]

  • It’s Not about Zelaya

    Manuel “Mel” Zelaya is a rancher and business owner who wears large cowboy hats and, in November 2005, was elected president of Honduras, an impoverished Central American country with a population of 7.5 million.  On June 28 of this year the Honduran military, backed by the country’s elite, removed Zelaya from power.  He instantly became […]

  • The United States Is the Only Remaining Country in the Americas Still Maintaining Diplomatic Relations with Honduras after Sunday’s Coup

    Thursday, July 2, 2009 DAY 5: MASS PROTESTS IN HONDURAS AGAINST COUP; TENS OF THOUSANDS MARCHING ON THE CAPITAL TO AWAIT PRESIDENT ZELAYA’S RETURN Despite the suspension of constitutional rights in place as of yesterday, per a decree by the Honduran congress in support of the coup government, tens of thousands of Hondurans are mobilizing […]

  • Military Coup in Honduras Threatens Democracy across Central America

    June 29, 2009 The military coup d’état in Honduras is a dangerous step backward for Honduras and threatens democracy across Central America. Democracies thrive only when democratic institutions operate peacefully and under the rule of law.  The military coup against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya brings back terrible memories of the 1980s when the Honduran military […]

  • Bolivia: Morales Enacts New Constitution in El Alto

    Fog covered El Alto, Bolivia on Saturday morning as social movements from around the country marched into the city to mark the official passage of Bolivia’s new constitution.  “This is the second independence, the true liberation of Bolivia,” Bolivian President Evo Morales said as he signed the new constitution. The new constitution was approved by […]

  • Why They Hate Immigrant Workers, and Why We Love Them

    On Tuesday, December 9, the anti-immigrant lobbyists at the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) held a press conference in downtown Washington, DC to promote their “Immigration Reform Agenda for the 111th Congress.” The press conference followed the new line that groups like FAIR have adopted since the financial crisis broke out last September.  Undocumented […]

  • Canadian Supreme Court to Rule If Farmworkers Are Human Beings . . . or “Disposable Tools”

    Human rights, including the right of workers to form trade unions, to strike, and to bargain collectively with employers, are universal and indivisible rights which inhere in all human beings by virtue of their humanity. The Liberal Party government of the Canadian province of Ontario, however, is challenging this notion by calling on the Supreme […]

  • Rethinking Religion and the Modern

    “Our community is expanding: MRZine viewers have increased in number, as have the readers of our editions published outside the United States and in languages other than English.  We sense a sharp increase in interest in our perspective and its history.   Many in our community have made use of the MR archive we put […]

  • Indigenous Peoples Rising in Bolivia and Ecuador

    Introduction Indigenous peoples in Indo-Afro-Latin America, especially Bolivia and Ecuador, are rising up to take control of their own lives and act in solidarity with others to save the planet.  They are calling for new, yet ancient, practices of plurinational, participatory, and intercultural democracy.  They champion ecologically sustainable development; community-based autonomies; and solidarity with other […]

  • Developing Countries: Dangerous Times for the Internal Public Debt

    Since the second half of the 1990s, the internal public debt of the world’s developing countries has increased significantly.  This increase is now reaching alarming proportions in a number of middle-income countries.  While some very poor countries have not yet been affected, the historical trend indicates a continuing rise in the debt level for developing […]

  • The United States and the World: Where Are We Headed?

    This paper was presented at the Alexandre de Gusmão Foundation and the International Relations Research Institute’s (IPRI) “Seminar on the United States” hosted by the Itamaraty Palace (Brazilian Foreign Ministry) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on September 29, 2008. Introduction The United States appears to be embarking on a transition on two major fronts: its […]