13 November 2019

Serious state repression has returned to Chile. The military, who were patrolling the streets of the country until recently since October 19, when President Sebastián Piñera declared a state of emergency, have been filmed shooting at unarmed protesters in large crowds or at close range. Additionally, the Carabineros de Chile (Chile’s police force) are raiding the homes of student leaders, detaining them, beating them and holding them for hours or even days without access to lawyers and family.

Posted on November 17, 2019 by Rodrigo Acuña and filed under Truthout and tagged Chile Human Rights.

Ecuador: Rebellion against Lenin

By Rodrigo Acuña

American Herald Tribune

19 October 2019

With most of the world’s corporate media giving endless coverage to protestors in Hong Kong, a far more critical political crisis has just taken place in the South American country of Ecuador. Although the government of Lenin Moreno continues to be in power, it has only just survived after a series of major protests led by the country’s indigenous communities, transport unions and student groups.

Posted on October 20, 2019 by Rodrigo Acuña and filed under American Herald Tribune and tagged Ecuador Human Rights.

Chile: Killing of Mapuche activist provokes large protests

By Rodrigo Acuña

Latin America Bureau

27 November 2018

The recent death of the 24-year-old Mapuche activist and leader Camilo Catrillanca has sparked widespread condemnation and protests throughout Chile.

On Wednesday November 14, a newly created special ‘anti-terrorist’ unit of Carabineros, the Chilean police, known as Comando Jungla entered the Mapuche traditional community of Temukuikui near the town of Ercilla in the Araucanía region, approximately 370 miles south of Santiago. Claiming to be in pursuit of local car thieves, the operation involved hundreds of police offices with two helicopters.

Posted on May 26, 2019 by Rodrigo Acuña and filed under Latin America Bureau and tagged Chile Human Rights.

Colombia: mixed messages

By Rodrigo Acuña

The Diplomat

January 2008

The recent release of hostages by Colombia's largest rebel movement the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), has again demonstrated the rebels' willingness to engage in peace negotiations with the government of Álvaro Uribe Vélez.

And yet, if the latest reports that the FARC have kidnapped six tourists are correct, it also reveals that their leadership does not regard its international image - which is deservedly bad enough - high on its list of priorities. This is particularly the case after the successful mediating role played by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and the declaration passed by his country's National Assembly which stated that the FARC and the Army of National Liberation (ELN) - the country's second largest leftist guerrilla group - to be insurgents and not terrorists.

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Rodrigo Acuña and filed under The Diplomat and tagged Colombia FARC Human Rights Civil War.

Cuban detainees' hope for fair trial

By Rodrigo Acuña

Eureka Street

3 October 2007

Outside the alternative media, last month saw nearly no coverage of the incarceration in the United States of Cuban agents Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando Gonzáles and René Gonzáles.

Now into their ninth year of imprisonment, the Cuban Five — as they are otherwise known — are serving a variety of sentences that include convictions for conspiracy to commit espionage and homicide. By most credible accounts, the Cubans are in prison — some on life sentences — for political reasons and not because they have broken any serious laws, other than overstaying their visas.

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Rodrigo Acuña and filed under Eureka Street and tagged Cuba USA Human Rights.

Latin America: Pilger goes Latino

By Rodrigo Acuña

New Matilda

27 September 2007

In his first feature film The War on Democracy, journalist John Pilger aims to expose Washington's foreign policy in Latin America, and does not pull any punches.

Through a series of interviews with activists, scholars and incumbent and retired Washington officials, and not the least with the “ordinary” people of Latin America, Pilger seeks to illustrate some of the current changes taking place in the region following the coming to power of current Left-wing governments.

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Rodrigo Acuña and filed under New Matilda and tagged John Pilger Hugo Chávez Human Rights US interference.

A Narco-Terrorist State

By Rodrigo Acuña

New Matilda

18 April 2007

A recent article by Paul Richter and Greg Miller in the Los Angeles Times has again brought international attention on Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez. At the centre of the LA Times article is a leaked report from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which claims that Colombian army chief General Mario Montoya and a paramilitary group carried out an operation against Marxist rebels in 2002, that left 14 people dead and ‘dozens more disappeared in its aftermath’.

Given the nature of the activities of paramilitary groups in Colombia and Uribe’s ‘long and close association’ with Montoya, the revelation adds to a scandal which, Richter and Miller say, ‘already has implicated the country’s former Foreign Minister, at least one State Governor, legislators and the head of the national police’.

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Rodrigo Acuña and filed under New Matilda and tagged Colombia Álvaro Uribe Human Rights Crime.

Apologists for State Terrorism

By Rodrigo Acuña

New Matilda

20 December 2006

It is a truism that all evaluations of history are tainted by one’s vision of how the world should work. Another truism is that a lack of primary sources can often leave certain grey areas in the historical record.

Sometimes, however, events or eras are roughly clear and some degree of consensus is achieved.

General Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile (1973–1990) is one such case. In particular, the illegitimacy of his regime and its vast human rights violations against anyone broadly on the political Left or who opposed his regime. Most serious Latin American studies scholars and journalists would agree that Pinochet brutally overthrew a government which, despite many faults, was democratically and legitimately elected.

Dissent from a consensus, of course, always exists and on 15 December, The Australian published a strange article by James Whelan, a neo-conservative journalist who for many years has written works which present the Pinochet era in a favourable light. Whelan’s piece was revisionism of the worst kind.

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Rodrigo Acuña and filed under New Matilda and tagged Chile Coup d'état Human Rights.

The Mystery of the Missing Ballots

By Rodrigo Acuña

New Matilda

13 September 2006

This week, one of the largest cities in Latin America is almost at a standstill as tensions rise over what many are calling a fraudulent election. Yet with notable exceptions, the international press have ignored the crisis.

Since the 2 July Mexican presidential election, which was won by National Action Party (PAN) candidate Felipe Calderón under controversial circumstances, the historical Zócalo Plaza and other prominent areas of Mexico City have been occupied by hundreds of thousands of supporters of rival candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador from the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PDR).

Obrador's supporters claim that he was robbed of electoral victory through fraud, while Obrador himself has declared he will set up a parallel government if votes are not recounted in full.

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Rodrigo Acuña and filed under New Matilda and tagged Mexico Election Human Rights.