United States Struggles To Pick A Side In Upcoming Honduran Elections

Of the countries in Central America’s “northern triangle,” Honduras is the one that sends the most migrants to the United States. Already this year over 32,000 Honduran migrants have been deported from the United States, including more than 2,600 children. The country’s president, Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH), was supported by President Trump because he is a strongman willing to forcibly stop Honduran migrants from leaving the country. He even signed a misnamed “safe country” agreement implying that Honduras was a haven for asylum seekers. In return, Trump was willing to acquiesce in JOH’s disastrous domestic policies even though they are one of the main drivers for migrants to leave.

Continue reading

US Targets Nicaraguan Presidential Election

Before Henry Kissinger became a Clinton pal, liberals condemned him for saying: “I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves.” The 1973 US-backed coup and bloodbath in Chile followed. Now Uncle Sam has a problem in Nicaragua, where independent polls predict a landslide victory for Daniel Ortega’s leftist Sandinista slate in the November 7th presidential elections.

The US government and its sycophantic media are working to prevent Ortega’s reelection. On July 12, the US slapped visa restrictions on one hundred Nicaraguan elected legislative officials, members of the judiciary, and their families for “undermining democracy.”

Continue reading

Max Blumenthal Meets Rafael Correa In Venezuela

Max Blumenthal interviews former Ecuador President Rafael Correa, who was in Venezuela to observe its legislative elections and show support to a government under sustained economic and political attack by the US.

Correa addresses issues ranging from the repression in his country under the watch of its outgoing neoliberal president, Lenin Moreno, to the persecution of Julian Assange and the role of a CIA contractor in targeting him and the Wikileaks founder.

Blumenthal and Correa also discuss the prospect of a left-wing victory in Ecuador’s upcoming national elections, and what the US-backed government is doing to stop it.

Continue reading

Oregon Becomes First State To Decriminalize Small Possession Of All Drugs

Voters in Oregon approved a historic ballot initiative that would decriminalize possession of smaller amounts of all illegal drugs and funnel tax revenue from legal marijuana sales into addiction treatment, potentially providing an early model for combating deep racial disparities in the criminal legal system and significantly slowing the war on drugs.

Now that Measure 110 has passed with nearly 59 percent of the vote, racial disparities in drug arrests are expected to drop by an astounding 94 percent, according to an analysis by the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, a state agency.

Continue reading

Chile: Approval For A New Constitution Wins Massive Mandate

Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020 – Chileans today overwhelmingly approved, at the polls, the doing away of the Constitution drafted and approved under the military regime of Augusto Pinochet and gave the green light to the creation of a Constitutional Assembly.

According to official data by Chile’s official electoral body, with 45.24% of the vote counted, 77.85% percent of the voters checked the Approval box, an overwhelming figure in contrast to the 22.15% percent who chose to legitimize the current Constitution, which was supported by a majority of right-wing parties.

Continue reading

Belarus Opposition Candidate Revealed As Western Regime Change Puppet

Belarus’s political and social landscape grows more complex and precarious as time passes, with the aftermath of the recent election still unfolding. But what has already become apparent is that in this game of political chess, the people will not be winners. Because now-deleted webpages reveal opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya may be little more than a Western regime change puppet. And the end result will offer no solutions for ordinary Belarusians at all.

The situation in Belarus is extremely fluid.

Continue reading

Silvercorp: Foiled Venezuela Mercenary Group In Brazil During 2018 Election

The paramilitary group behind the foiled operation, called Gedeon, was based around security contractor Silvercorp USA, which has been linked to U.S. President Donald Trump. The State Department denied prior knowledge, yet U.S.- backed Juan Guiadó, the self-declared interim President of Venezuela, and figurehead of several failed coup attempts was revealed to have had a contract with the mercenaries, which include two former Green Berets. The $212 million dollar contract between Guiadó, opposition strategist J. J. Rendon, “US advisors” and Silvercorp included “strategic planning,” “equipment procuring” and “project execution advisement”. Silvercorp USA also claimed that they have forces in Venezuela already, training for a terror campaign, which included a threat to the life of President Maduro, whom the U.S. Government had recently placed a $15m dollar reward for information leading to his arrest.

Continue reading

Venezuela: Guaido Replaced As Parliament Head

Caracas, VZ – Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido was handed a defeat Sunday in his bid to secure reelection as president of the country’s National Assembly (AN).

With the votes of reportedly 81 of 150 lawmakers, opposition Deputy for Yaracuy State Luis Parra was named president of the legislature. Franklin Duarte of the Social Christian COPEI party will serve as first vice president, Deputy Jose Noriega as second vice president, and Democratic Action (AD) party legislator Negal Morales as secretary. The parliamentary leadership is renewed annually on January 5, according to Venezuela’s Constitution.

The leadership slate was presented Sunday morning by Deputy Jose Brito in opposition to that headed by incumbent Juan Guaido.

Continue reading

Elections Between Witch Hunts, The Coup Plan In Bolivia

A colleague who had to leave Bolivia writes to me. She is being chased along with her partner who, they told her, they are looking for him to “liquidate him”. Since before Evo Morales was forced to resign, a list of names began to circulate; its application accelerated from that moment. It was Arturo Murillo, de facto government minister, who was responsible for putting it in black and white: he talked about “hunting” three leaders, after chasing parliamentarians accused of “sedition” and “subversion.” Communication minister Roxana Lizárraga pointed to “journalists and pseudo-journalists”, and on Thursday the Telesur TV channel was taken off of Bolivian television stations.

Continue reading

Eleven Military-Intelligence Democrats Win US House Seats

With the victory of Jared Golden, an Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran, in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, a total of 11 Democrats with military or intelligence backgrounds have won Republican-held seats in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections.

The military-intelligence apparatus accounts for the largest number of victorious Democratic challengers in Republican districts, more than lawyers (9), state and local government officials (7), businessmen/wealthy individuals (7), or others (8).

Continue reading

Communities Use Direct Democracy To Save Democracy

Madison, WI  – On Tuesday, November 6th, Wisconsin residents in nine communities will vote on whether to amend the U.S. Constitution to clarify that only humans should have constitutional rights and that money is not the same as speech and political spending can be limited to allow all Americans to participate in the democratic process.

Voters will cast ballots in Jackson, Sauk and Wood counties, the villages of Readstown, Westfield and Weston, and the towns of Kickapoo, Rib Mountain and Vermont.

If all vote in favor, 142 Wisconsin communities will have called for the We The People amendment.

Continue reading

Oil Town Makes History, Residents Say No Fracking

The Texas town where America’s oil and natural gas boom began has voted to ban fracking, in a stunning rebuke to the industry.

Denton, a college town on the edge of the Barnett Shale, voted by 59% to ban fracking inside the city limits, a first for any locality in Texas.

Organisers said they hoped it would give a boost to anti-fracking activists in other states. More than 15 million Americans now live within a mile of an oil or gas well.

“It should send a signal to industry that if the people in Texas – where fracking was invented – can’t live with it, nobody can,” said Sharon Wilson, the Texas organiser for EarthWorks, who lives in Denton.

Continue reading

Scots In Their Own Words On Independence

The people of Scotland head to the polls on Thursday to vote on whether to get independence from the United Kingdom. Scotland has been part of the U.K. for the past three centuries but has its own local parliament. Some Scots, who make up about 8 percent of U.K.’s population, want more local governance and freedom from London, who often vote in more right-wing governments than Scotland does. Prime Minister David Cameron, a Tory, is a staunch opponent of independence, and his government has embraced neoliberal policies and austerity at the cost of the social safety net.

Continue reading

NYC Trash Train Plan Derailed In Chester, PA

We’ve been re-organizing the Chester Environmental Justice group to “derail” plans to send 500,000 tons/year of trash from the richest part of New York City by train to be burned in the low-income, 75% black City of Chester, near Philadelphia, PA. The plan would fulfill a contract Covanta has with New York City to burn this waste for the next 20-30 years. That contract would send an equal amount to Covanta’s Niagara Falls, NY incinerator, where people are fighting the trash-by-trail plan as well (see http://stopburningthefalls.com/myths/). Chester hosts the nation’s largest trash incinerator, burning up to 3,510 tons/day, and residents have had enough.

We just won a vote of the Chester City Planning Commission Wednesday, when we got them to vote “NO” on Covanta’s proposal for a rail box building to store the rail cars of trash. It’ll go to City Council next, and we’ll be cranking up the pressure to get them to follow the Planning Commission’s advice.

With about 100 people turned out, standing-room-only, we packed the place and made a strong impact. We also had 100 people email the local officials leading up to the meeting.

Continue reading