PRAGOTI

The spread of the crisis from the US-Europe to Latin America is a result of the Centre-Left Regimes' continuities of the neo-liberal policies, the maintenance of the same ruling economic classes and the pursuit of economic strategies dependent on inflows of speculative capital, debt financing and the agro-mineral export.

James Petras raises important questions about the changes and claims of independence, decoupling and post-liberal models, which many regime leaders, ideologues and progressive US-European Latin American writers made over the past several years.

Courtesy: Information Clearing House

La Paz, Bolivia -- October 28, 2008 -- After three months of intense class struggle, there can be no doubt that the US-backed right-wing opposition to the government of President Evo Morales has suffered three important defeats. The right’s offensive to topple Morales, which climaxed with the September 11-12 “civic coup” attempt, has been decisively rolled back by the combined action of the government and social movements.

''There are two opposing approaches to the analysis of ecological destruction and the emergence of Indian movements in Latin America: the liberal and the Marxist.

Marxist class analysis highlights the centrality of property ownership, specifically the class nature of the ownership of the means of production and control over state power as central to understanding the destruction of the environment and the complex politics of Indian society''.

James Petras concludes ''Ecology and Indian liberation are essentially and inextricable part of the class struggle''. (Courtesy: Dissidentvoice)

"USAID has an "Office of Transition Initiatives" operating in Bolivia, funneling millions of dollars of training and support to right-wing opposition regional governments and movements." This is not the first time that the "Kosovo model" of supporting terrorist paramilitaries has been applied in Latin America. The Salvador/ Kosovo option is part of a US strategy to fracture and destabilize countries. The USAID sponsored OTI in Bolivia performs much the same function as a similar OTI in Haiti.

Noted economist and Left activist, Michel Chossudovsky writes in Global Research.

The domestic and international reaction to the Left parties that are in office in a number of countries in South America – most notably in Bolivia and Venezuela – has tended to utilise violent, non-democratic and even means of sabotage to destabilise the regimes. The ongoing developments in Bolivia are the most notable examples of the tactics of the opposition.

The big question when Morales was elected was whether he could stay long in office, or whether the Bolivian right, perhaps in collusion with the armed forces, could oust him. He has now demonstrated that he can.

An EPW editorial (Courtesy Economic and Political Weekly) and an article by Immanuel Wallerstein (Courtesy Monthly Review) on the political developments in Bolivia.

AROUND 35,000 Cuban health specialists are providing free or paid services in the world. Furthermore, some young doctors from countries such as Haiti and others among the poorest of the Third World are working in their homelands thanks to the assistance provided by Cuba. In Latin America, our main contribution has been the ophthalmologic surgeries that will help to preserve the eyesight of millions of people. In addition, we are assisting in the training of tens of thousands of young medical students from other nations, both in and outside Cuba.

Action by sub-contracted workers in the forestry and mining industries has successfully challenged the pro-business rules which are Pinochet's legacy.

The President's bid to tilt the nation's balance of power towards the Indian majority has met with violence from a right-wing rebellion, The Guardian reports from Bolivia. Article, courtesy The Guardian Observer.

The defeat of the Colorado Party in the 2008 presidential elections meant much more than a change of government in Paraguay. This defeat meant the fall of the last political party in Latin America that had been formed both politically and ideologically within the framework of the Cold War.

Pragoti presents an exclusive interview with professor Vijay Prashad, George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. Vijay Prashad has also written in and edited the book, "Dispatches from Latin America: The Frontline Against Neo-liberalism". Prashad answers questions related to the political situation in the United States and in Latin America.