MetaFilter posts tagged with latinamerica

R.I.P. Mercedes Sosa

lunit — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 21:44:06 -0800

Mercedes Sosa, a beloved Argentinian folk singer, passed away today. Argentine President Cristina Kirchner has ordered an official period of mourning. Known as the "voice of the voiceless ones" and affectionately as "La Negra", her music was deeply political. Over the course of her career, she produced over 70 albums and helped to popularize Nueva Canción (previously on Metafilter), a movement in Latin American music that combines folk music with contemporary influences and political lyrics.

Latin American Science

tellurian — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:02:18 -0800

History of Science in Latin America and the Caribbean [flash required] – the history of science from a Latin American perspective.

Viva la Evolucion

adamvasco — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 04:27:59 -0800

A new Latin America is emerging on the global political stage. A two part video from Al Jazeera analysing how the Obama administration may deal with Latin America and what the relations will mean on a global level.
Viva la Evolucion - - Part 1 & Part 2
Featuring an exclusive interview with Noam Chomsky, and panel Dr Celia Szusterman, Associate fellow, Chatham House; Prof Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Harvard University and former Brazilian strategic affairs minister; and Dr Andres Mejia Acosta

A School for Torture

saulgoodman — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:19:30 -0800

An amendment to the Defense Authorization Act currently under consideration in congress would force the notorious School of the Americas (currently known as "WHINSEC") to "release to the public the names, ranks, countries of origin, courses taken and dates of attendance of all the students and instructors at the institute." Originally established in Panama in 1946, and now located at Fort Benning, Georgia, the school has variously been dubbed "School of Assassins" and "The Ultimate Union Buster" by human rights watchers and labor organizations. According to the advocacy group School of Americas Watch (SOA Watch), the training center "has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics." Putting it more pointedly, SOA Watch asserts: "Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, 'disappeared,' massacred, and forced into refugee by those trained at the School of Assassins." The school remains in operation today, under a new name, despite the lobbying efforts of organizations like SOA Watch to close the program, on the basis of human rights abuses stemming from the school's role in the so-called Argentinian Dirty War and other internal Latin American conflicts. In the US, the School of the Americas/WHINSEC has more recently come under renewed scrutiny for its possible role in shaping interrogation policies that led to the torture of prisoners held at Abu Ghraib. In 1996, the US Defense Department acknowledged that between 1982 and 1991, the School taught torture techniques and other tactics such as blackmail, beatings and executions determined to be inconsistent with US and international standards of human rights, making the school's training manuals from that period available to the public for the first time. [Related Previously: 1, 2]

The earth has no price.

shetterly — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:33:29 -0800

A fight for the Amazon that should inspire the world. "Army helicopters opened fire on the protesters with live ammunition and stun-grenades. More than a dozen were killed. But the indigenous peoples did not run away. Even though they were risking their lives, they stood their ground. One of their leaders, Davi Yanomami, said simply: "The earth has no price. It cannot be bought, or sold or exchanged. It is very important that white people, black people and indigenous peoples fight together to save the life of the forest and the earth. If we don't fight together, what will our future be?" And then something extraordinary happened. The indigenous peoples won." Via A Tiny Revolution: Latin America, World's Moral Political Leader.

Pink Tide to El Salvador

aniola — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 07:32:32 -0800

Will El Salvador become the next Pink Tide nation? FMLN leader Mauricio Funes is running for president. Elections on Sunday. Links in Spanish: Official campaign website FMLN party website

Truth will never be denied.

adamvasco — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:43:21 -0800

Don Quixote - or a superhero? Judge Baltasar Garzón has launched a criminal investigation into the fate of tens of thousands of people who vanished during the country's civil war and General Francisco Franco' s dictatorship. This is upsetting some people. The Spanish Civil War left an estimated half a million people dead. The Spanish Civil War had global resonations. Latin American (and the Philippines) were never “de-Falangized.” Franco and his fascists remained in power in Spain until 1975. The decisive influence of Latin American fascists in the decades following the war (including their intimate collaboration with elements of U.S. intelligence) is a matter of public record. The legacy of the Falange Exterior is very much with us today. This investigation is taking place with against a rising tide of fascist influence in Europe.

Echoes of Latin America in José González's music

umbú — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:19:50 -0800

Guitarist and singer José González's myspace page mentions [lots of youtube ahead] Low and Elliot Smith. And no review of the Swede whose parents left Argentina in the 1970s is complete without a reference to Nick Drake. But what about the influence of styles from the hemisphere his parents left behind? After listening to González, Cuban Nueva Trova singer Silvio Rodriguez's early work sounds remarkably familiar, and Northeastern Brazilian rhythms picked on nylon-string guitar also resonate. Here are some examples by Gil berto Gil, Caetano Veloso, and Marisa Monte. Lyrically, however, in contrast to Rodriguez's poetic Marxism, and Gil and Veloso's dadaist Tropicália and subsequent MPB pop styles, González's new record "In our nature" is currently influenced by, yes, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.

Short Stories by Roberto Bolaño

Kattullus — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:47:21 -0800

7 short stories by Roberto Bolaño Gómez Palacio, The Insufferable Gaucho, Álvaro Rousselot’s Journey, Phone Calls, Dance Card. From Nazi Literature in the Americas: Edelmira Thompson de Mendiluce, Luz Mendiluce Thompson & Ernesto Pérez Masón and The Fabulous Schiaffino Boys. If you know the fiction of Roberto Bolaño you know what you're in for. If you don't, any of these stories is a good place to start, though the first three are perhaps the most natural starting points. One more story in audio form: A Literary Adventure [Miette's Bedtime Story Podcast] Poems: Self Portrait at Twenty Years and My Life in the Tubes of Survival. Interviews with his two main English language translators Chris Andrews and Natasha Wimmer. Biographical Essay on Bolaño by Wimmer. [pdf] Carmen Boullosa, a friend and contemporary of Bolaño's, describes the literary scene the young Bolaño participated in during the 70's. Paul Berman explains how Bolaño's novel The Savage Detectives fits into the literary history of Latin America. [Bolaño previously on MetaFilter]

Virtual Museum of Art

netbros — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 15:42:51 -0800

MUVA El PAIS has been conceived as a dynamic, interactive museum bringing together the most renowned works of contemporary Uruguayan art, an important contributor to Latin American art. MUVA is devoted to quality, content, education, information and recreation through the knowledge of visual arts. In Spanish and English, Flash and/or HTML.

IN YR BACK YARD QUIETLY EXPANDING MAH GLOBAL INFLUENCE

Bletch — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:41:21 -0800

China expands its influence in Latin America. Last time we looked, China had become a major investor and player in Africa. But in the last four years, the rise of Chinese-Latin American trade, investment and influence has been nothing short of explosive. And with not just the usual suspects, but many nations, and including sensitive arms deals to Bolivia. A good thing? Opinions differ. The rise of the softer superpower continues. Well, when the world's #1 has other priorities, they're bound to neglect their own back yard...

South/Latin American composers after 1900

invitapriore — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 11:37:01 -0800

While the first pioneering forays into atonality and free chromaticism were starting to occur in Western European music, the talents of Latin and South America were discovering the Romantic beauty of re-interpreting the past. [much, much more inside!]

Interesting times

Abiezer — Mon, 07 May 2007 15:07:36 -0800

Parallel History Project on Cooperative Security "By far the most ambitious and integral project in the burgeoning field of cold war history"

Nueva Orleans

ColdChef — Tue, 09 May 2006 10:35:05 -0800

Nueva Orleans Before Katrina, Hispanics accounted for 3 percent of New Orleans’ population, with just 1,900 Mexicans showing up in the 2004 Census. No one knows for certain how many new ones have arrived, but estimates put the number between 10,000 and 50,000.

Bolivia Nationalizes Natural Gas

redsparkler — Wed, 03 May 2006 09:56:00 -0800

My mother is very worried. ExxonMobil moved in and helped Bolivia develop, she says. Now they have food and medicine, thanks to the kindly hand of Big Business. But now Bolivia's kicking them out. After Exxon spent 3 billion dollars helping them! What will happen to the next poor country that needs Exxon's help?

South American dominoes

wilful — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 21:25:03 -0800

[NewsFilter] A leftist candidate from one of Bolivia's Indian peoples who wants to legalise coca-growing has claimed victory in the presidential election. Mr Morales, an admirer of Fidel Castro, said on Sunday that he wanted ties with the US but "not a relationship of submission". He also promises to make foreign oil and gas investors pay what he says is a fairer share to Bolivians.

National Security Archive

plep — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 05:11:24 -0800

George Washington University's National Security Archive carries a collection of declassified US documents and articles on Saddam Hussein; Mexico, Cuba and other Latin American countries; Nixon's meeting with Elvis; the CIA and Nazi war criminals; etc.

Huge Gated Communities

halekon — Fri, 24 Dec 2004 18:51:05 -0800

Are these huge gated communities OUR urban future? Enormous gated communities in Latin America - complete with schools, clinics, and a wide array of recreational possibilities - are now billing themselves as Latin America's best example of New Urbanism.

New generation lives to see another Che

Postroad — Wed, 26 May 2004 17:32:50 -0800

New generation lives to see another Che "Che Guevara is widely remembered as a revolutionary figure, to some a heroic, Christ-like martyr, to others the embodiment of a failed ideology. To still others, he is just a commercialized emblem on a T-shirt. But for Latin Americans just now coming of age, yet another image of Che is starting to emerge: the romantic and tragic young adventurer who had as much in common with Jack Kerouac or James Dean as with Fidel Castro. The phenomenon began a decade ago with the publication of his long-suppressed memoir known in English as "The Motorcycle Diaries," which has become a cult favorite among Latin American college students and young intellectuals..."

Bogeymen

vacapinta — Fri, 31 Oct 2003 11:55:37 -0800

CocoWeb (trans) is a project which has assembled 516 manifestations of the Bogeyman in Latin America. The list includes the well-known Coco or Cucuy, a dark figure who makes an appearance in the art world as the subject of one of Goya's Caprichos. Any Hispanic child can tell you about La Llorona, a grieving woman who walks in the night (familiar enough to be used in a controversial got milk? ad). In South America they can tell you about the Sack-Man, on of the original bogeymen, who walks in the darkness, looking for children to throw into his sack.

the killer in you

The Jesse Helms — Thu, 22 May 2003 09:17:44 -0800

Welcome to self-policing corporate responsibility. A division of the pharmaceutical company Bayer (Expertise with responsibility) sold millions of dollars of blood-clotting medicine for hemophiliacs - medicine that carried a high risk of transmitting AIDS - to Asia and Latin America in the mid-1980s while selling a new, safer product in the West.

17 million Latin American people out of work

Voyageman — Tue, 10 Dec 2002 11:25:25 -0800

17 million Latin American people out of work Claimed to be the highest level since 1980. How much longer, or how many more, until nations revert to Che Guevarra or Pinochet and the US to the CIA and intervention? Will history repeat itself, or has history paved the way for an alternative outcome?

Monroe Doctrine

Pollomacho — Mon, 02 Dec 2002 09:40:22 -0800

December 2, 1823 President James Monroe made his annual speech to congress and outlined his policy that the American continents were "henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers" Since then the US has, for better or worse, at times stood by the Monroe Doctrine, ignored it when they had bigger issues back home and even argued that it doesn't apply in the case of American imperialism. Is it time to retool our Latin America policy now that Europe doesn't seem so bent on imperialism there, or is the Doctrine needed as much as ever?

stbalbach — Tue, 06 Aug 2002 07:11:51 -0800

What a real depression looks like. Total collapse of the middle class, malnutrition, starving bands of marauders eating road-kill, it's every survivalists dream come true. Until last year, Argentines were part of the richest, best-educated and most cultured nation in Latin America. Not anymore.

BlueTrain — Tue, 25 Jun 2002 17:18:44 -0800

Brazil is in some trouble. So the question must be asked, can globalization be an extension of imperialism? If so, in this case, is it? If not, how would one explain the current crisis felt in Brazil and all of Latin America?