News in English

31.07.2004 The city of Quito, Ecuador was the setting for the first March of the Social Forum of the Americas, attracting nearly 10,000 participants from Latin and North America. The participants, many of whom came from the Social Forum of the Americas, mobilized first in the Plaza de los Arbolitos (Plaza of the Little Trees) near the center of the city, and later began a huge procession to express their disagreement and resistence across the hemisphere to neoliberal economic policies and free trade agreements.
Press release by:FIRE

29.07.2004 It’s unlikely, though, that Kerry will take up Clinton’s strong advocacy of free trade as a force for global economic development, political liberalization, and U.S. economic growth and modernization. Unlike Clinton, Kerry is not a free trade ideologue and true believer. But like Clinton, and in contrast to Bush, Kerry is likely to be a stronger advocate for social clauses in trade agreements, if for no other reason than to placate labor and environmentalist constituencies.

28.07.2004 Over recent years, former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet has had millions of dollars transferred to bank accounts in the United States. No one knows whether the money has been donated by friends of the former ruler or was stolen from the country's coffers, but investigations have been promised both in Chile and the United States.

27.07.2004 In an interview with Benjamin Dangl, contributor to Latinamerica Press, Hardt talks about the roles of major Latin American leaders, the recent US military intervention in Haiti and the coordination of activist movements in Latin America and the United States.

27.07.2004 Trade unionists and campaigners will be mounting a protest at Levi's central London flagship store at 174 Regent Street this Thursday 29 July at 12.30 (lunchtime) over the sacking of 350 workers assembling Levi's jeans at a factory in Haiti.

22.07.2004 Eastern Antioquia is one of the most militarized regions in Colombia: in addition to six army battalions and numerous police detachments there are four guerrilla fronts — two each from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Army of Liberation (ELN) — as well as two paramilitary blocs.

21.07.2004 The productive structure in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean is today more heterogeneous than it was in the past and than other developing economies, such as those of eastern Asia. The region has a model based on "three speeds", each of which requires different types of public policy to develop.

20.07.2004 While the presidents of Mexico and Central America move forward in implementing macroeconomic projects, hundreds of indigenous people, peasants, environmentalists, popular communicators and human rights defenders convene in San Salvador at the Fifth Mesoamerican Forum of the People to look for alternatives for living and integration.

20.07.2004 The Bolivian president, Carlos Mesa, today claimed victory after exit polls showed voters had backed him in a referendum regarding the future of the country's vast natural gas reserves. Early results also suggested the largely peaceful vote on Mr Mesa's five-question referendum had been a political success.

16.07.2004 Almost 30 years after his disappearance in January 1975, tailor Miguel Ángel Sandoval is about to leave a legacy of Chilean jurisprudence that he never would have imagined. One of more than 1,000 disappeared during the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet (1973-90), the case of this militant of the Revolutionary Leftist Movement (MIR) — 26 years old when he was detained — will set a precedent on the application of the Amnesty Law for violators of human rights convicted of crimes against humanity.