• Sao Paulo Forum supports progressive Latin American governments
August 9,12
The Sao Paulo Forum’s 19th edition concluded August 4 with the approval of a document in which those in attendance expressed their support to progressive governments in the region and rejected intervention of any other kind in Latin America on the part of foreign powers.

• Venezuela: a historic moment
December 27,12
ALL shades of analysis are emerging from the recent elections for state governors and legislatures in Venezuela. The overwhelming majority of opinions seem to have only point in common: by winning 20 out of 23 states, the revolutionary forces have secured a resounding victory, thus confirming Chávez’ Bolivarian socialism as a historical movement and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) as the nation’s principal political force. In summary, the country’s political map is redder now than four years ago.

• Regional elections change political map of Venezuela
December 20,12
THE recent regional elections for state governors in Venezuela demonstrated that the population of this country – formerly governed by politicians dependent on the United States – once again decided at the polls that there is no room for political positions at a remove from the unity and socialist thinking formed in the collective consciousness by President Hugo Chávez Frías.

• Indian and Latin American cooperation
December 13,12
THIS year, India has shown a notable interest in increasing its economic relations with Latin American countries. Given the serious crisis in the Eurozone and the deceleration of the U.S. economy, nations south of the Rio Bravo are demonstrating greater macroeconomic stability and represent a major growing market.

• Dialogue on the Gulf of Fonseca
December 13,12
THE recent presidential dialogue between Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador related to the Gulf of Fonseca was a positive act in terms of Central American unity in the face of historic disputes and currents of thought, which were reviving confrontation.

• Statement from Venezuelan Vice President Nicolás Maduro
President Chávez is confronting a complicated and difficult post-operative phase
December 13,12
CARACAS, December 12.—The post-operative recuperation process of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez "is going to be complicated and difficult," affirmed Vice President Nicolás Maduro today.

• President of Ecuador offers Chávez solidarity and support
December 11,12
ECUADORAN President Rafael Correa met with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez on December 10 in Havana, to offer his support and solidarity.

• Resounding popular support for Chávez
December 11,12
CARACAS.— President Hugo Chávez’ call for unity to guarantee the continuing advance of the Bolivarian Revolution was answered immediately in the country’s streets and plazas, while, at the same time, messages of support and solidarity poured in from around the world, after the President announced, December 8, that he would be undergoing further surgery in Cuba.

• We have and will have a homeland
December 10,12
THE Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is once again giving the world a lesson in commitment to the homeland, Latin America and those fighting all over the world for peace, unity and sisterhood with the most dispossessed.

• Venezuela assuming new challenges
December 6,12
NEARING the end of the present year, the Venezuelan people are immersed in two highly significant tasks: discussing the 2nd Socialist Plan for 2013-2019, and preparing for the December 16 elections for governors of the nation’s 23 states who will accompany reelected President Hugo Chávez in the continuation of his political mandate.

• The U.S. implementing its usual subversion tactics in Bolivia
November 29,12
AS Bolivia’s 2014 general elections draw closer, the United States is accelerating the implementation of its customary, largely unsuccessful, subversion strategies, well-known throughout Latin America and in Cuba, where they have been standard practice since the first years of the Revolution in the 1960’s.

• ECUADOR
Platform of a revolution in motion
November 22,12
THE Alianza PAÍS (AP) in Ecuador has officially nominated current President Rafael Correa as its candidate in the country’s February 17, 2013 presidential elections.

• Colombian government and FARC-EP begin peace talks
November 20,12
TEN years after the frustrated peace process in San Vicente del Caguán, during the Andrés Pastrana government, Colombian authorities and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP) officially initiated peace talks on November 19 in Havana to seek an end to the political, social and military conflict the country has endured for more than 50 years.

• Almost 19,000 Guatemalans affected by earthquake
November 15,12
GUATEMALA (PL).—According to the Guatemalan government, 18,755 persons are affected by the earthquake in the country last November 7, while detailed statistics of human and material damage are being calculated as this edition goes to press.

• PARAGUAY
Franco government sitting on a powder keg
November 15,12
CHARGES of corruption against Federico Franco, including revelations about the enormous increase in his personal fortune during the five months of his administration, have undermined even further the image of those who engineered the parliamentary coup against former President Fernando Lugo, this past June.

• Municipal elections in Chile
Abstention wins
November 9,12
SHOCK was expressed throughout the country when the National Electoral Service announced that 60% of Chilean voters stayed home on election day and right-wing parties were especially distressed.

• Resounding FSLN victory in municipal elections
November 9,12
MANAGUA, November 5.—The Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) won 134 of Nicaragua’s 153 mayoralties in the November 4 municipal elections, the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) announced.

• Catalonia, a new state in Europe?
November 9,12
MANY current world borders are artificial lines created by wars and conquests throughout history; advancing with power and retreating with defeat. Peoples with diverse languages, cultures and religions enclosed in one single state of which they do not feel part, a situation which is turning into a time bomb.

• Evo Morales addresses UN General Assembly
November 2,12
EVO Morales hit the nail on the head. The President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, in his remarks to the United Nations General Assembly, asserted that dominating the world scene today are two counter-posed forces: imperialism’s offensive to re-colonize the world, on the one hand, and, on the other, the rebellion of peoples and states seeking their full independence, or at least greater autonomy.

• Brazilian left makes advances in municipal elections
October 25,12
THE first round of municipal elections in Brazil produced positive results for the Workers’ Party (PT) and the left in general.

• Frustrated generation in Latin America and the Caribbean
October 25,12
ONE out of every 12 young people in Latin America and the Caribbean failed to finish elementary school and lack qualifications for finding a job, according to the Education for All Follow-up Report.

• Pétion-Ville’s two forts
October 25,12
DEEP in the mountains of Kenscoff – close to Pétion-Ville – and 1,500 meters above sea level, are the ruins of Fort Jacques and Fort Alexandre, vestiges of Haitian history. Both fortifications, destroyed by the January 2010 earthquake and abandonment, symbolize the birth of the first consolidated republic of Latin America.

• Venezuela after the battle
October 18,12
TWO weeks after the election, it cannot be said that everything has calmed down, because Venezuela is and will be the hotbed of passion which all revolutions bring with them. Here is a look from the terrain cleared by an ample, transparent victory, as publicly acknowledged by the man who opposed President Hugo Chávez.

• Rafael Correa, the press, Assange and the elections
October 11,12
THE principal rival of Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa in the 2012 presidential elections is not a political party, but the right-wing press. Despite the fact that the leader of Alianza PAIS has not as yet announced that he intends to run for another term, in recent months he has had to respond to a whole series of attacks from the national and foreign media, all wielding accusations against him of one kind or another in order to discredit him.

• Hugo Chávez reelected President of Venezuela
A triumph for the Patria Grande
October 9,12
THE unforgettable day October 7, 2012 will long be remembered in the history of Venezuela and Latin America with the unimpeachable victory of Venezuelan President Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías in the presidential elections. After a count of 95.5% of the votes cast, Chávez won 55.5% versus the 44.39% of the main opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, as announced in the first bulletin read by the Electoral National Council (CNE).

• Brazil opens the 67th UN General Assembly
October 5,12
PRESIDENT Dilma Rousseff gave the opening speech at the 67th session of the UN General Assembly, which adopted the prevention and peaceful solution of international conflicts as central issues.

• Operation Condor against Cuba
October 5,12
IN the 1978 World Football Cup, Argentina beat Peru by 6-0, thus removing a considerable rival. That win swung the balance toward the Argentine team’s aspirations. Just four days later, a 3-1 victory over Holland gave them the championship.

• Venezuela and right-wing paranoia
October 5,12
IN the last few weeks, the commercial media in various Latin American countries have intensified their propaganda against Hugo Chávez. The October 7 presidential elections in Venezuela have produced dismay in the ranks of the right. Panic is spreading from Caracas, because all the surveys, including those done by sectors supporting the neoliberal opposition candidate Henri Capriles point to a close to 20% advantage for Hugo Chávez.

• Evo Morales: The real terrorist is the United States
September 27,12
NEW YORK, Sept. 26.—President Evo Morales of Bolivia condemned this Wednesday the inclusion of Cuba on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism drawn up by the United States.

• March in defense of social missions in Venezuela
September 27,12
CARACAS.—The social missions are an essential part of the Venezuelan Revolution and its continuity and of the project of Bolivarian socialism; in other words, the strategic program of Chávez and the popular majorities accompanying him.

• HAITI
Training to improve services
September 27,12
PORT-AU-PRINCE.—Doctors from the Cuban Medical Brigade (BMC) in Haiti are attending a postgraduate training course given by Professor Armando Caballero López, Doctor in Medical Science and an intensive care specialist, in order to optimize treatment for seriously ill patients and respond more effectively to the health problems of the population.

• PARAGUAY
Battle for land and sovereignty
September 25,12
MARCHES, demands, hunger strikes and new land occupations are taking place in Paraguay amid announcements of the possible granting of a military base to the United States in the heart of the sub-continent.

• Honduras
Submission to landowners and transnationals
September 20,12
CAMPESINOS from Bajo Aguán, northern Honduras, have been met with blows by police under the Porfirio Lobo regime and, on top of that, are being portrayed as criminals, while their leaders have been prevented by the courts from taking part in any protest demonstrations.

• ELECTIONS IN VENEZUELA
Future of the Bolivarian homeland
September 20,12
APPROXIMATELY 19 million Venezuelans are convened to vote in the October 7 presidential elections. On that day, the candidate who wins the majority of valid votes cast within a system of universal, direct and secret suffrage, as established in the Article 228 of the Constitution, will be responsible for leading the country for the next six years.

• FARC-EP to propose bilateral ceasefire in Oslo
September 13,12
THE Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-Army of the People (FARC-EP) is to propose "a bilateral ceasefire" in the first meeting of the negotiators for the organization and the Juan Manuel Santos government, scheduled for October 8 in Oslo, Norway.

• Allende: History is ours and the people are making it
September 13,12
"THIS might be the last opportunity that I have to address you. The Air Force has bombed the Radio Portales and Radio Corporación towers. My words do not hold bitterness but disappointment, and they will be the moral punishment of those who have betrayed the oath they made (...) In the face of these facts, it is only...

• The Venezuelan people merit the October 7 victory
September 6,12
CARACAS.—"The impassioned people who massively support you (...) merit their enjoyment of the historic victory awaiting us on October 7, and without triumphalism, as you constantly warn."

• ECLAC: Reflections on equality and a road to equity
September 6,12
SAN SALVADOR (PL).—The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) called for profound reflection on the inequality reigning in the region and presented a road toward social equity.
This affirmation is one of the conclusions of the 34th session of this UN regional organization which took place in San Salvador at the end of August.

• UNICEF report on Latin American children and education
September 6,12
APPROXIMATELY 22.1 million Latin American children are outside of the educational system or in danger of being unable to complete their studies, UNICEF warned in an extensive report, according to EFE.

• FELAP Conference in Caracas
September 3,12
CARACAS.—The 11th Congress of the Latin American Federation of Journalists (FELAP) confirmed Argentine journalist Juan Carlos Camaño as president of the regional organization during the closing session of this two-day event.

• Chilean students march again
August 30,12
SANTIAGO DE CHILE.—Thousands of secondary and university students embarked on a long, festive and peaceful march, insisting on their demands for a free public education of quality, under the unprecedented vigilance of 2,200 police without their anti-riot uniforms, AP reports.

• Venezuelan government creates special fund for victims of the Amuay oil refinery accident
August 29,12
CARACAS.—Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez affirmed on August 27 that a patriotic spirit and the battle for life are the most important things for the Bolivarian government.

• Ecuador grants political asylum to Assange
"We are not a colony"
August 23,12
THE Ecuadorian government’s honorable decision to grant political asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on August 15 has provoked a major controversy.

• UNASUR in solidarity with Ecuador and against British threats
August 23,12
GUAYAQUIL.—Foreign Ministers of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), affirmed their support for the sovereign government of Rafael Correa, in relation to the country’s decision to grant diplomatic asylum to Julian Assange, and condemned the UK government threat to the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

• Cuba joins Venezuela in defending the Bolivarian Revolution
August 23,12
IDEAS about Latin American independence put forth by the great historic leaders José Martí and Simón Bolívar are more relevant today than ever. This was the message reaffirmed during a meeting in solidarity with Venezuela on August 15, at Havana’s José Martí Memorial, as part of an international campaign in support of President Hugo Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution.

• FROM HAITI
Art and solidarity
August 23,12
HAITI is not the same country as it was two years ago. Although the earthquake damage remains latent, the disaster has been concealed by attempts to look toward the future and seek distant but not impossible progress.

• Ecuador grants Julian Assange asylum
August 17,12
QUITO, August 16.—The Ecuadorian government today granted Julian Assange political asylum, given that, to date, the founder of WikiLeaks has not received guarantees from the governments of the UK or Sweden that he will not be extradited to the United States, where he considers that his life will be endangered.

• Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America
Communiqué
August 17,12
We, the countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, ALBA, express our strongest rejection of the threats uttered by the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland against the integrity of the embassy of the Republic of Ecuador in London.

• MERCOSUR: Toward Latin American Integration
August 16,12
JULY 31, 2012 will be recalled in the history of Latin America and the Caribbean as a landmark, a giant step, with Venezuela’s full entry into the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR), in the first extension of this customs association in the 21 years of its existence.

• Attacks on journalists in Chile
August 16,12
AS if we were still living under a dictatorship, the Chilean state has once again refused a passport to journalist Hernán Uribe Ortega (88 years of age). Uribe was due to travel to Venezuela to present a report related to attacks on journalists, to the 11th Congress of the Latin American Federation of Journalists (FELAP), scheduled for September 1-2 in Caracas. Co-founder of FELAP in 1976, he headed its Attacks on Journalists Investigative Commission (CIAP-FELAP) for 20 years.

• MEXICO
Challenges of the next six years
August 9,12
IN the next six-year presidential term (2013-2018), Mexico mustface huge political, economic, social and security challenges which will not be easy for any national politician to solve.

• Bolivia’s borderlands, from neglect to integration
August 1,12
PELECHUCO, a remote region of Bolivia close to the Peruvian border, has welcomed a government delegation providing health care services, telephone equipment and identity cards, as part of an effort to better serve such neglected areas.

• The attempted U.S. siege of Bolivia
July 19.12
THE exacerbation of internal social disputes, tense relations between the governments of Santiago de Chile and La Paz in the context of their maritime disagreement, and press revelations as to U.S. bases possibly being installed on the Paraguayan border with Bolivia are all evidence of a clear Washington plan to besiege this nation.

• Can I adopt a Haitian child?
July 12.12
ONE can see this question repeated throughout the web. A rapid Internet search on the situation of children in Haiti throws up disturbing results. Millions of websites, blogs and pages note how to adopt these minors, as if the solution to the problem were to uproot them from their land.

• Chávez begins electoral campaign with massive popular caravan
July 6.12
CARACAS.—President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela formally began his electoral campaign for the October 7 elections this past July 1, with a caravan that left Plaza Bolívar in Mariara, state of Carabobo, and covered 18 kilometers to Avenida Constitución in Maracay, capital of Aragua state, surrounded by people throughout its tour.

• Enrique Peña Nieto proclaims himself winner in Mexican elections
July 6.12
MEXICO.—Enrique Peña Nieto, presidential candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Green Ecologist Party (PMVE) has proclaimed himself the winner in the Mexican elections, while the aspirant of the Left, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, stated that he will challenge the result.

• Bolivian reactionaries play old card
July 6.12
ON January 27, 2006, barely a few hours before Evo Morales assumed the leadership of Bolivia for the first time, the presidential minister of the inaugural cabinet issued an order to dismantle a spy station located on one of the mezzanine floors of the Quemado Palace.

• Paraguay: two centuries of coups
July 6.12
PARAGUAYANS would seem to be under the influence of a historical curse: more than two centuries beset by coups. In a strange coincidence, the first and the latest are related to the Church and empires. In 1767, the Company of Jesus was expelled from the land, when the Spanish crown discovered that the Jesuits were sowing the first seeds of an ideal which we now call socialism.