“Nestora Salgado’s name has become a symbol of resistance for many women struggling … against patriarchal violence and for indigenous communities,” said R. Aída Hernández Castillo in the Mexican daily La Jornada in August. But the state sees her only as a threat. Aug. 21 marked the two-year anniversary of her imprisonment on false charges,… Read more »
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Labor Weather Report — October 2015
September 2015 — Making the public pay. Confronted with $72 billion in debt, Puerto Rico’s government is calling for “shared sacrifice.” Thousands of public-sector unions protest because the public is being expected to shoulder the entire burden. Plans include school closures and contracting for-profit companies to run public roads and ports. Resistance and rage is… Read more »
El gobierno Dominicano detiene, reprime y deporta a miles de inmigrantes Haitianos y sus descendientes
Yesibon Senatus, 70 años de edad, haitiano de nacimiento, cortador de caña, desde hace tiempo lucha por la pensión y residencia Dominicana. Quesnel Michell, 22 años, hijo cañeros, nacido y criado en Dominicana, registrado por sus padres en la Oficialía del Batey Magdalena, propiedad del Central Romana, a quien la Junta Central Electoral le negó… Read more »
Dominican Republic represses and deports thousands of Haitian immigrants and their children
Yesibon Senatus is 70 years old and Haitian by birth. He is a sugarcane cutter and for years has been fighting for a pension and Dominican residency. Quesnel Michell is 22 years old, the son of sugarcane workers. Born in the Dominican Republic (DR), he was registered by his parents at the Central Romana company… Read more »
Freedom Socialist editorial — “Guatemalan Spring”
Corruption in high places has been business-as-usual in Guatemala for 60 years. It’s the reason rich men run for president. However, since April, huge, daily anti-corruption protests have erupted nationwide against President Otto Pérez Molina and his administration. Numerous political appointees have resigned and both the president and vice president are now jailed, charged with… Read more »
Cómo Wall Street y el colonialismo de Estados Unidos dio luz a la crisis de deuda en Puerto Rico
La mayoría de turistas ven a Puerto Rico como La Isla del Paraíso sin preocupación alguna. Pero durante su visita en el 2014, esta autora se enteró directamente de los trabajadores Puertorriqueños cómo es la vida realmente. Un trabajador de construcción sin empleo tuvo que iniciar una peluquería móvil para sobrevivir. Unos días hay pocos… Read more »
Immigrants found buried in mass “graves of shame” in Texas
Seventy miles from the Mexican border in dirt-poor Brooks County, Texas, the human remains of hundreds of asylum seekers, mostly from Central America and Mexico, were uncovered in 2014 in a mass grave. Hundreds more are believed elsewhere in South Texas. Desperate people died while escaping police violence, civil war, all-powerful street gangs, and take-no-prisoners… Read more »
How Wall Street and US colonialism created Puerto Rico’s debt crisis
Thousands of government workers protested proposed cuts to education and freezing of public union wages and hiring in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 11, 2015. Photo: Alvin Baez / Reuters Most tourists see Puerto Rico as a care-free island paradise. But while visiting in 2014, this author heard from workers what life was really… Read more »
Pope Francis, the Catholic Church, and Argentina’s “Dirty War”
These richly-robed men rule the wealthiest entity on the planet. Photo: Allessandro Bianchi / Reuters Throughout the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, Latin America was a battleground between the haves and the have-nots. On one side were people fighting for social justice and radical change, no doubt inspired by the Cuban Revolution. On the other side… Read more »
Dirigente sindical costarricense Orlando Barrantes – Pena de prisión de 12 años en una emboscada política
Orlando Barrantes Orlando Barrantes ha dedicado su vida a mejorar las condiciones de los pobres y de los trabajadores en Costa Rica. Durante muchos años fue el Secretario General del Consejo Nacional de Trabajadores Bananeros (CONATRAB) y actualmente es líder del Movimiento de los Trabajadores y Campesinos (MTC). Ahora se enfrenta a una larga pena… Read more »