[R-G] Fwd: Recent Venezuela/Latin America articles at Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal

[Anthony Fenton]

Dear friends and comrades,

/Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ continues to carry
regular in-depth articles on the unfolding revolution in Venezuela, as
well as developments in Latin America and the world. Here are some of
its more recent Latin America and Venezuela-related content. Don't miss
out! Please subscribe free to the regular weekly ``what's new at
/Links/'' announcement emails at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373

Visit /Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal /at
http://www.links.org.au

Terry Townsend,
Editor.

*****

Colombia: Behind the freeing of Ingrid Betancourt
<http://links.org.au/node/509>

By *Stuart Munckton*

July 5, 2008 -- On July 2, an operation by the Colombian military
succeeded in freeing French-Colombian citizen Ingrid Betancourt from the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who had held her prisoner
since 2002. Betancourt was the highest-profile FARC-held prisoner and
the action, which also liberated 14 other prisoners, captured world
headlines.

*More on the struggle in Colombia HERE
<http://links.org.au/taxonomy/term/114>.*

* Read more <http://links.org.au/node/509>

Michael Lebowitz: The spectre of socialism for the 21st century
<http://links.org.au/node/503>

The following is the keynote address to the annual meeting of the
Society for Socialist Studies, Vancouver, June 5, 2008. It was
originally titled ``Building socialism for the 21st century''.

By *Michael A. Lebowitz*

A spectre is haunting capitalism. It is the spectre of socialism for the
21st century. Increasingly, the characteristics of this spectre are
becoming clear, and we are able to see enough to understand what it is
not. The only thing that is not clear at this point is whether the
spectre is real -- i.e., whether it is actually an earthly presence.

* Read more <http://links.org.au/node/503>

Fidel on Colombia, FARC and opposition to US intervention: `Pax
Romana' <http://links.org.au/node/510>

By *Fidel Castro Ruz*

July 5, 2008 -- ... While in Colombia the senior military officers went
to great pains to explain that Ingrid Betancourt's rescue had been an
entirely Colombian operation, the US authorities were saying that "it
was the result of years of intense military cooperation of the Colombian
and United States' armies".

* Read more <http://links.org.au/node/510>

Fidel on Trujillo; honesty in journalism; and the release of Ingrid
Betancourt <http://links.org.au/node/508>

/Excerpt:/ ``Out of a basically humanist sentiment, we rejoiced at the
news that Ingrid Betancourt, three US citizens and other captives had
been released. The civilians should have never been kidnapped, nor
should they have been kept prisoners in the conditions of the jungle.
These were objectively cruel actions. No revolutionary purpose could
justify it. The time will come when the subjective factors should be
analysed in depth.''

* Read more <http://links.org.au/node/508>

`Is Cuba done with equality?' NOT! <http://links.org.au/node/505>

By *Fred Feldman *

June 28, 2008 -- I am responding to ``Of Pay and Productivity: Is Cuba
Done With Equality <http://www.counterpunch.org/adler06202008.html>?'',
an article by Moshe Adler, director of Public Interest Economics, which
appeared in the June 20 /Counterpunch/ (a radical monthly print and
daily webzine based in the US.) The article deals with the latest
modifications of the country's wage structure made public June 11.

* Read more <http://links.org.au/node/505>

Characteristics of the experiences underway in Venezuela, Ecuador
and Bolivia <http://links.org.au/node/504>

By *Eric Toussaint*

June 27, 2008 -- In Latin America, if we exclude Cuba, we can point to
three general categories of governments. First, the governments of the
right, the allies of Washington, that play an active role in the region
and occupy a strategic position: these are the governments of Álvaro
Uribe in Colombia, Alan García in Peru and Felipe Calderón in México.
Second, we find supposed "left" governments that implement a neoliberal
policy and support the national or regional bourgeoisies in their
projects: Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Nicaragua and the government of
Cristina Fernandez Kirchner, from Argentina's Peronists. They are
governments that implement a neoliberal policy that favour grand
capital, covered up with some social assistance measures. In effect,
they make it a bit easier to swallow the neoliberal pill by applying
social programs. For example, in Brazil poor families receive a bit of
help from the government, which assures them popular support in the
poorest region of the country.

* Read more <http://links.org.au/node/504>

Taking stock of the Bolivarian Revolution: Changing Venezuela by
Taking Power <http://links.org.au/node/498>

Review by *Derrick O'Keefe* - Rabble.ca

/Changing Venezuela by Taking Power,
<http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/book/changing_venezuela> by Gregory
Wilpert (Verso, 2007)/

June 26, 2008 -- Gregory Wilpert has pulled off a triumph on two fronts
with his new book on the Bolivarian Revolution, /Changing Venezuela by
Taking Power/. Most obviously, Wilpert's book --- in both its scope and
(sometimes almost maddening) objectivity --- is the most detailed and
credible analysis yet published of the Venezuelan revolution, which
itself represents, arguably, the single most significant challenge today
to the hegemony of global capitalism.

* Read more <http://links.org.au/node/498>

XIV Sao Paulo Forum: Left parties debate the current historic
conjuncture <http://links.org.au/node/495>

By *Inés Hayes*, with reports from Montevideo by *Cristina Camusso* and
*Julio Louis*.

*Dilemma:*/ /From May 22 to 25, the XIV Sao Paulo Forum was held in
Montevideo, Uruguay. Under the banner `The Latin American and Caribbean
left in the new time, richness in diversity', 844 delegates from 35
countries in Latin America, Asia and Europe participated in this
historic meeting. The first encounter was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in
1990. The debates over the crucial issues of the 21st century are
embodied today in the governments which have emerged through the
electoral road. The historic dilemma of reform or revolution once again
returns to centre stage.

* 1 comment <http://links.org.au/node/495#comments>

Peru: Miners, Moqueguanos win victory following violent government
attacks <http://links.org.au/node/494>

By *Carlos Quiroz <http://peruanista.blogspot.com/>,
*peruanista.blogspot.com*
<http://peruanista.blogspot.com/>*

June 19, 2008 (updated June 26) -- The videos you are about to see are a
bit shocking. For 18 months the people of the Moquegua region
(southeastern Peru) and the mining workers from that region have been
seeking for peaceful negotiations with the Peruvian government in Lima.

* Read more <http://links.org.au/node/494>

<http://links.org.au/node/494#comments>

Photo essay: Mexican indigenous front agitates for rights of
migrants in the US <http://links.org.au/node/488>

Text and photos by *David Bacon*

SANTIAGO DE JUXTLAHUACA, OAXACA, MEXICO

MAY 31, 2008 -- The assembly of the Indigenous Front of Binational
Organisations in the Mixteca region of Oaxaca, one of the poorest areas
in Mexico. A large percentage of the indigenous population of Oaxaca and
other states has left to work in northern Mexico and in the United
States. The FIOB is a political organisation of indigenous communities
and migrants, with chapters in Mexico and the US. It advocates for the
rights of migrants, and for the right not to migrate -- for economic
development which would enable people to stay home

Read more <http://links.org.au/node/488>

Cuito Cuanavale: How Cuba fought for Africa's freedom
<http://links.org.au/node/483>

By *Barry Healy*

June 14, 2008 -- This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Battle of
Cuito Cuanavale, a heroic struggle in which, between October 1987 and
June 1988, in some of the fiercest fighting in Africa since the Second
World War, the South African Defence Force (SADF) were humiliatingly
defeated by liberation forces in Angola.

* Read more <http://links.org.au/node/483>

Nicaragua: Anti-FSLN opposition seeks unity to topple Ortega
government <http://links.org.au/node/482>

By *Felipe Stuart Cournoyer*

Managua -- On June 11, 2008, the axe of Nicaragua's Supreme Electoral
Council (CSE) came down on the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS[i])
and the old historic Conservative Party of Nicaragua (PCN), now a tiny
shell of its former self. The CSE unanimously decided to deregister both
parties on the grounds that they had failed to fulfill the requirements
of the national electoral law.

* Read more <http://links.org.au/node/482>