WTF is Going on in Latin America & The Caribbean

Episode Title: Nicaragua-Renewable Energy Preserves National Sovereignty & Economic Development

Today, we have the privilege of conversing with the Executive President of the Nicaragua Electrical Energy Company (ENEL), Ernesto Martinez Tiffer.

Nicaragua is the leader in the Hemisphere of the Americas on renewable energy and has been for almost a decade. In this episode, we talk about the continuation of this program and the further development of renewable energy in Nicaragua. We also discuss Nicaragua's partnership with the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative to assist energy infrastructure development in the country as well.

In partnership with Friends of Latin America, Massachusetts Peace Action and Task Force on the Americas, original broadcasts of WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean can be viewed every Wednesday at 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET on CODEPINK YouTube Live

Episode Title: Justice for Berta & Victory for the Guapinol 8

Guest: Karen Spring host of the podcast Honduras Now. She is also the in-country coordinator for the Honduras Solidarity Network.  

Berta Caceres was a Honduran (Lenca) environmental activist, indigenous leader,[3] and co-founder and coordinator of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH).[4][5][6] She won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015, for "a grassroots campaign that successfully pressured the world’s largest dam builder to pull out of the Agua Zarca Dam" at the Río Gualcarque.[7][8]

Six years ago today, she was assassinated in her home by armed intruders, after years of threats against her life.[9] A former soldier with the US-trained special forces units of the Honduran military asserted that Caceres' name was on their hit-list months before her assassination. Her assassins are yet to stand trial.  

On February 24, after 914 days of arbitrary imprisonment, the defenders of the Guapinol River were released. The village of Guapinol sits downstream from the open-pit mining project in Carlos Escaleras National Park. Many locals view the mine as a threat to the regional watershed.

Newly inaugurated president Xiomara Castro has declared justice for Berta and on February 28 declared Honduras free of open-pit mining.

In partnership with Friends of Latin America, Massachusetts Peace Action and Task Force on the Americas, original broadcasts of WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean can be viewed every Wednesday at 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET on CODEPINK YouTube Live

Episode Title: The War Against Puerto Rico Continues

Guest: Monisha Rios, a Puerto Rican psychologist and social worker, joins us live from Puerto Rico

Political and economic tensions within the U.S.-occupied Latin American & Caribbean nation of Puerto Rico have resulted in another major uprising, led this time by teachers and other workers in the public sector. A national strike is scheduled for the 18th of February. This has come after a teacher fell asleep at the wheel when leaving his 3rd job and died in a car crash. https://www.latinorebels.com/2022/02/07/prteachersstrike/

 A bit of background:

 In 2016, U.S. Congress imposed a Financial Oversight & Management Board (FOMB) as part of the Puerto Rican Oversight, Management, & Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) to rule its colony and impose IMF-style austerity measures to pay off an illegal debt. This came at the request of the current PNP Gov. Pierluisi when he was the Resident Commissioner under PDP Gov. Padilla. Since then, there have been numerous protests and a massive uprising (with features of a color revolution) that forced the resignation of then Governor Roselló of the Statehood party (PNP). Protests against the austerity measures have begun again in response to the FOMB's actions. The FOMB has been headed by none other than Natalie Jaresko, former Ukrainian Minister of Finance (2014-2016) who implemented the "largest IMF program in the institution's history" the impact of which severely harmed the Ukrainian people. In 2017, she was sent to Puerto Rico to do the same as Executive Director & Interim Revitalization Coordinator of the FOMB.     

In partnership with Friends of Latin America, Massachusetts Peace Action and Task Force on the Americas, original broadcasts of WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean can be viewed every Wednesday at 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET on CODEPINK YouTube Live

Episode Title: Costa Rican Presidential Election heads to a Runoff

Guest: Matt Kirkegaard of Progressive International who was on the ground in Costa Rica as an international election observer.

On Sunday, February 6 Costa Ricans took to the polls to elect a new President. According to the latest results reported from Costa Rica’s Supreme Election Tribunal (TSE) there will be a second and final round on April 3 between former President Jose Maria Figueres of the National Liberation Party (PLN) and Rodrigo Chaves of the Party for Social Democratic Progress (PSD). Figueres received 27.29% of the vote and Chaves 16.66% with approximately 80% of the results reported.

To win the first round outright, a candidate had to secure more than 40% of votes. The two leading contenders will face each other in a run-off on April 3. A total of 25 candidates were competing in the first round.

Additionally, all 57 seats of the national legislative assembly are also up for grabs. A divided legislature is likely, with local media forecasting Figueres' National Liberation Party (PLN) would win the most seats with 19, but well short of a majority.

A disappointing election result was the record level of absenteeism. According to the TSE 40%, of eligible voters stayed away from the first round of voting.

In partnership with Friends of Latin America, Massachusetts Peace Action and Task Force on the Americas, original broadcasts of WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean can be viewed every Wednesday at 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET on CODEPINK YouTube Live

Episode Title: Honduras Elects a New Future Part II

Guest: Lucy Pagoada-Quesada who is a teacher, Coordinator of D19-Libre, US-Canada and a co-host of Voices of Resistance broadcasting on WBAI NYC Sundays at 1pm ET.

Hondurans saw Xiomara Castro sworn in as their country’s first female president Thursday, January 27 amid a sea of waving flags in the national stadium.

Castro blasted the departing administration for leaving her a heavily indebted country where poverty and a lack of opportunity have driven hundreds of thousands of Hondurans to migrate in recent years.

“My government will not continue the vortex that has condemned generations of young people to pay the debt taken on behind their backs,” Castro said.

“We have the duty to restore the economic sector on the basis of transparency, efficiency, production, social justice, wealth distribution and national revenue,” she said.

High unemployment, persistent violence, corruption, and troubled healthcare and educational systems are just some of the pressing challenges inherited by the new government. But, the people have liberated themselves from 12 years of US coup installed National Party rule.

Lucy and I were both present at Castro’s inauguration last Thursday and are thrilled to be having this conversation today.

In partnership with Friends of Latin America, Massachusetts Peace Action and Task Force on the Americas, original broadcasts of WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean can be viewed every Wednesday at 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET on CODEPINK YouTube Live

Today's episode features a return visit to IALA (Instituto Agroecologico Latinoamericano) Ixim Ulew located in San Tomas, Chontales, Nicaragua.

Guests:

Erica Takeo, Friends of the ATC Solidarity Coordinator

Carlos Rodriquez Valera, Founder and Coordinator of IALA Ixim Ulew

Erica, Carlos and I reunite to discuss the progress made at IALA Ixim Ulew since first meeting in April 2021 as part of the Yes to Sovereignty, No to Sanctions delegation organized by Friends of the ATC and SanctionsKill

Please join us for an informative and heartfelt conversation live from Nicaragua.

Additional Information::

CLOC-Via Campesina

In partnership with Friends of Latin America, Massachusetts Peace Action and Task Force on the Americas, original broadcasts of WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean can be viewed every Wednesday at 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET on CODEPINK YouTube Live

This episode was broadcast live from Managua, Nicaragua three days after the inauguration of President Daniel Ortega and Vice-President Rosario Murillo. It is a conversation with journalists Camila Escalante of Kawsachun News and Fiorella Mayorca and Jonathan Mayorca of The Convo Couch all of whom attended the inauguration on January 10.

We discuss events leading up to the re-election of the Nicaraguan President and Vice-President and what the continuation of their administration means for the Hemisphere of the Americas.

A few things of regional importance included in the conversation: since winning re-election on November 7, the Ortega government has announced that Nicaragua will leave the OAS and also return to the recognition of The People's Republic of China. As part of the inauguration ceremony November 10, President Ortega announced that Nicaragua will join the Belt and Road Initiative.

Follow:

Camila Escalante @camilapress

Fiorella Mayorca @Fiorella_im

Jonathan Mayorca @JonathanMayorca

Kawsachun News @KawsachunNews

The Convo Couch @theconvocouch

The War on Cuba is an award-winning documentary series executive-produced by Oliver Stone and Danny Glover that takes an in-depth look at the economic war waged by the Trump administration on the Cuban people. Released on YouTube in October 2020 and viewed half-a-million times, the series shows the devastating impact of U.S. sanctions and examines the political and electoral interests driving U.S. policy. CODEPINK's Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans were the Executive Producers of this episode. 

With Special Guest: Cuban Journalist and the lead protagonist of The War on Cuba, Liz Oliva Fernández

On December 19, a left of center millennial who rose to prominence during anti-government protests in 2019 was elected Chile’s next president after a bruising campaign against a free-market firebrand likened to Donald Trump.

With 56% of the votes, Gabriel Boric handily defeated, by more than 10 points, lawmaker José Antonio Kast, who tried unsuccessfully to scare voters that his inexperienced opponent would become a puppet of his allies in Chile’s Communist Party and upend the country’s vaunted reputation as Latin America’s neoliberal prototype.

In a model of democratic civility that broke from the polarizing rhetoric of the campaign, Kast immediately conceded defeat.  Meanwhile, outgoing President Sebastian Pinera — a conservative billionaire — held a video conference with Boric to offer his government’s full support during the three month transition.

Among many things, Boric campaigned with the promise to fight climate change by blocking a proposed mining project in what is the world’s largest copper producing nation.

He also promised to end Chile’s private pension system — the hallmark of the neoliberal economic model imposed by the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

He has said, “We are a generation that emerged in public life demanding our rights be respected as rights and not treated like consumer goods or a business.  We know there continues to be justice for the rich, and none for the poor, and we no longer will permit that the poor keep paying the price of Chile’s inequality.”

Joining us this episode to discuss this historic victory in Chile is friend and guest Patricio Zamorano who is a political analyst and the Director of The Council of Hemispheric Affairs. Patricio is a Chilean citizen living in the US and voted on December 19 at the Chilean Embassy in Washington DC. 

On November 30th, just two days after historic presidential elections in Honduras, conservative ruling party candidate Nasry Asfura conceded defeat in the Presidential Election paving the way for his Libre Party rival Xiomara Castro to become the first female leader of the Central American country. With over 52 percent of the votes tallied by the evening of November 30, Castro had 53.4 percent support.

Although the electoral council has not published preliminary vote totals for congressional races, early results point to a possible majority for Castro's Libre Party and its main allies.

As Asfura's concession brings to an end a turbulent period under the US supported National Party which has been dogged by scandals and corruption accusations especially during the two terms of outgoing President Juan Orland Hernandez.

Hernandez is deeply unpopular and has been implicated in a drug trafficking case in a US federal court. His brother is already in prison. He denies wrongdoing but could face an indictment when he leaves office.

Castro's victory will see the center-left return to power after a 12-year hiatus that followed the ousting of her husband, former president Manuel Zelaya, in a US backed coup in 2009.

Joining today's conversation to discuss the historic presidential elections in Honduras on November 28th is journalist Alina Duarte. Alina hosts and produces a Sunday afternoon news hour on Sin Censura. She is a reporter for Canal Catorce in Mexico City and is also a journalist with Nuestra Red.

Alina and I were election observers with CESPAD (Centro de Estudio para Democracia) in Honduras on November 28th. She with the Nuestra Red contingent and me with the Global Exchange team.