Honduran Coup: The U.S. Connection
There is growing evidence that the United States was more than a bit player in the Honduran coup, writes columnist Conn Hallinan.
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Electoral Hypocrisy in Latin America
When it comes to changing term limits on Latin American presidents, U.S. lawmakers and pundits are applying a double standard–at least in Honduras and Colombia.
Hypocrisy and the Honduran Coup
The United States needs to stop supporting coups — of all political stripes — and start supporting actual democracy.
School of Coups
The Honduran coup highlights why the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, which replaced the School of the Americas, must be scrapped.
Revamping Plan Colombia
Bogotá and Washington are negotiating an agreement for five military bases in Colombia that would escalate the U.S. military’s presence in the region.
Time to Clamp Down on Vulture Funds
Congress must make it illegal for private investment firms and hedge funds to prey on poor countries.
Behind the Honduran Coup
It’s a mistake to understand Honduras (or Latin America more generally) as driven by Cold War style conflicts between a pro-U.S. bloc and a pro-Chávez bloc.
Is The War On Drugs Coming to An End?
Tipping points are easy to identify in retrospect, but much more difficult to predict in advance. What prospects does an Obama administration pose for the disastrous war on drugs? Using a multimedia presentation, IPS Fellow Sanho Tree will examine the confluence of factors that could spark a change in the political consensus supporting the drug war as well as the obstacles to change. Sanho returned from Colombia in March, 2009.
Space is limited so please pre-register!
Words and Deeds in Trinidad
President Obama charted a new direction for U.S. policy toward Latin America. Now it’s time for him and his allies to make good on the promise.
Briefing on the Trinidad Summit of the Americas and the New U.S. Cuba Policy
Farewell, Monroe Doctrine
President Obama could earn broad support in Latin America by formally acknowledging that this archaic and unilateral U.S. policy has expired.
Obamas Agenda for Change and the 2009 Summit of the Americas
Barack Obama’s electoral victory represents hope for a change in direction for U.S. relations with Latin America.
Latin America’s New Consensus
The region’s newfound independence may blunt the impact of global economic turmoil.
Arts Event: Where Rivers Meet
This special event will feature poetry and art by Francisco Letelier and music by Jacqueline Fuentes. Join us on October 14 at the Letelier Theater (named in honor of Orlando Letelier) as these artists create a vision of possibility through images, words and music.
Francisco Letelier is well-known for his moving visual art, as well as for his powerful spoken word poetry, which examines and celebrates struggles for human rights. He is the son of Orlando Letelier, the Chilean diplomat who was assassinated by agents of Pinochet in Washington, DC in 1976, on his way to work at the Institute for Policy Studies. Francisco has carried on the legacy of Chilean culture, creating opportunities which bridge continents and disciplines.
Jacqueline Fuentes is an intense experience, a fusion of love, awareness and revolution. Audiences are mesmerized by the power of her voice and the beauty of her lyrics. The volatile political injustices of her native Chile, culminating with the 1973 coup d’etat, gave a voice to folk music and the plight of the people it represented. Jacqueline was heavily influenced by this movement and by such great artists as Mercedes Sosa and Violeta Parra, not only for the beauty of their music but how it had the power to move so many people. Crossing the boundaries of language, religion, and geography their music formed a collective of inspiration and solidarity.
This event is free but seating is limited. Entrance to the building is in the courtyard. See their website for more information.
Please RSVP to emilyh@ips-dc.org.
This performance is in honor of this year’s Letelier-Moffit Human Rights awardees, the Indian Workers Congress and Francisco Soberón and Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos (APRODEH) of Peru for their courageous advocacy of human rights. The Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights awards program will take place Wednesday, October 15, at the National Press Club — visit the event page for more details or to purchase tickets.
Patricio Zamorano in Concert
The Institute for Policy Studies is pleased to join the Embassy of Chile and Georgetown University’s Center for Latin American Studies to sponsor this concert by Patricio Zamorano, an award-winning performer and composer of Latin American folk music.
Concierto de Fiestas Patrias
Free Admission
RSVP: cultural@embassyofchile.org / 202-530-4118
Location of ICC Auditorium
This auditorium is one and a half blocks from the campus entrance at the corner of 37th and O Streets in Georgetown.
Special guests:
Roberto Brodsky, Chilean writer
Juan Maldonado, Guitarist
Mauricio Betanzo, Cellist
Philippe de Pontet, Percussionist
Kevin Williams, Sound Technician
About Patricio Zamorano
His mentors in Chile were Margot Loyola, winner of the National Art Award and the most respected folk specialist in that country, and Cuncumén, a music group with 50 years of history, where Victor Jara started out on his music path. Even though his roots are in the Chilean folk tradition, he has developed an urban style in his compositions with a message focused on the human being and his/her history, social issues, human rights, and also love and hope for a better world.
He plays some of the most traditional South American instruments: guitar, charango, tiple, cuatro, ukelele, quena, zampoña, and ravel.
He has revived all rhythms from the depths of his country and culture, and projected them on to the urban world and stages. He has also gathered old folk songs directly from musicians in the Chilean countryside; these songs are also part of his repertoire.
Patricio Zamorano has performed on many stages both in Chile and the United States, including TV and radio programs, theaters, schools, universities, clubs, cultural centers, libraries, and embassies; also political events to support human and civil rights. In Chile, as part of Cuncumén he performed at the most important national theater, the Teatro Municipal of Santiago, a venue normally reserved for classical repertoire, which opens its doors to folk music and artists on rare occasions.
Zamorano and the members of Cuncumén are winners of the 1996 award for best folklore album from the Association of Journalists Covering Entertainment (Premio APES) and he’s a member of the Sociedad del Derecho de Autor, SCD (Chilean performing rights organization).
More information can be found at the Chilean Embassy website.