Tag: Dina Boluarte

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez set to tour Latin America with a group of congressional Democrats 🧐💭

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
“We have much to learn from our counterparts in these countries, including how to confront disinformation and violent threats to our democracies,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), pictured in April, said of the delegation to Brazil, Chile and Colombia.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez set to tour Latin America with a group of congressional Democrats

The agenda (which has not yet been made public) is expected to include meetings with Presidents Lula da Silva (Brazil), Gabriel Boric (Chile) and Gustavo Petro (Colombia) and parliamentary representatives. The legislators will also meet with civil society organizations that work “on the frontlines of ecological transitions, democratic transformations and peace negotiations in the countries,” the delegation explains in a joint statement. The trip seeks to “promote a U.S.-Latin American relationship based on mutual respect, understanding and a commitment to cooperation.”

Ocasio-Cortez, a key figure in the Democratic Party’s most progressive wing, and Misty Rebik, Sanders’s chief of staff (sent on behalf of the 81-year-old veteran senator), will be joined by four congressmen: Joaquin Castro and Greg Casar (both from Texas), Nydia Velázquez (New York) and Maxwell Frost (Florida), who is the youngest congressman in the House of Representatives at 26. Castro is a member of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, which is part of the Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee. He recently spearheaded a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken to pressure Peru’s President Dina Boluarte over human rights violations occurring in that country. Casar is in his first term as a congressman and belongs to the Progressive Caucus, while Velazquez became the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in Congress in 1993.

…

The defense of democracy is another ideal that guides the trip. According to the congresspeople, the “twin” insurrections on Capitol Hill, on January 6, 2021, and in Brasilia (on January 8, 2023) “made it clear that the fate of democracy in the United States is closely tied to that of its southern neighbors. “[Our] democracies,” they believe, “not only share the challenge of defending their institutions from political violence, disinformation and other forms of anti-democratic intervention; they also share the challenge of restoring confidence in the ability of those institutions to meet citizens’ fundamental needs.”

Ocasio-Cortez highlights another goal of the trip: exploring how to “confront disinformation and violent threats to our democracies.” The charismatic congresswoman adds that “it’s long past time for a realignment of the United States’ relationship to Latin America. The U.S. needs to publicly acknowledge the harms we’ve committed through interventionist and extractive policies, and chart a new course based on trust and mutual respect.”

Pentagon sending troops to train Peruvian coup regime’s killers

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), the Pentagon’s overseer for Latin America and the Caribbean, will be sending hundreds of Marines and special forces troops to Peru beginning as early as this week, to train military and Peruvian National Police special forces units. These same forces have carried out massacres and extra-judicial executions to suppress the mass protests against the coup regime of Dina Boluarte.

Pentagon sending troops to train Peruvian coup regime’s killers

Thousands of people take over Arequipa & Andahuaylas airports in Peru

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Thousands of people have taken over the Arequipa airport in southern Peru on Monday, sparking a confrontation with security forces that has resulted in at least four injured, according to initial reports by local media.

Thousands of people take over Arequipa airport in Peru

Related:

Mass Protests In Peru In Support Of Pedro: Demonstrators Take Over An Airport, 1 Dead

Orinoco Tribune Editor: There Was a Coup Against Pedro Castillo in Peru + Some Notes

Orinoco Tribune Editor: There Was a Coup Against Pedro Castillo in Peru + Some Notes

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Orinoco Tribune Editor: There Was a Coup Against Pedro Castillo in Peru

Rodríguez remarked that the appointment of Vice President Dina Boluarte as the de facto president is a measure adopted by the Peruvian Congress to disguise the coup d’état. “Naming Dina Boluarte as the de facto president is a halfway solution between Pedro Castillo and José William Zapata, the president of Congress, who is a right-wing military man accused of corruption and drug trafficking and what have you,” he opined. “So, I believe they chose Dina Boluarte to prevent greater tension or political instability in Peru… In fact, José William Zapata was the president of Peru for some minutes and then transferred power to Dina Boluarte. This was all that was behind the coup in Peru.”

Some notes, to self, on José Williams, Hernando de Soto, Institute for Liberty and Democracy, Omidyar Network, & Atlas Network:

Read More »

Crisis in Peru: the president’s party left the government of Pedro Castillo + Can Pedro Castillo Save His Presidency?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Crisis in Peru: the president’s party left the government of Pedro Castillo | Peru Libre turned to the opposition

The new cabinet that Cerrón calls the right wing has resumed diplomatic relations with Venezuela, broken since the government of the business right of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016 – 2018), active promoter of the failed Lima Group. This decision has upset the right wing and the mainstream media, which promote a permanent state of war against the Nicolás Maduro regime and pressure the government in that direction. The new cabinet has marked a position on the issue, far from the right

Related:

Peruvian president reshuffles cabinet, changes seven ministers “in favor of governability”

In a brief television address, Castillo said that it was “time to put Peru above ideologies and isolated party impositions” and thanked Bellido for his services. The head of state added that he had “made these decisions in favor of governability” and that “the balance of powers is the bridge between the rule of law and democracy. It must seek tranquility and cohesion in government.” The president also said that his administration would “promote private investment,” but “without corruption and with social responsibility, and prioritizing productive diversification.”

Can Pedro Castillo Save His Presidency?

Indeed, it is that very identity that, along with widespread distaste for the political class, helped sweep Castillo, previously affiliated with the centrist Possible Peru party, to power. Despite Cerrón’s constant talk of supposed demand for revolutionary change from “the people,” recent polling shows most Peruvians are actually centrists, keen for incremental change to make the Peruvian state more efficient, clean, and responsive. Just 1 in 4 voters identifies as “left,” and that includes the center left. Nevertheless, with voting compulsory in a society worn out by the pandemic and never-ending political scandals, Castillo, with his humble, provincial authenticity, managed to strike Peruvians as the least bad candidate.

So, Castillo was always a centrist! Center-left, Progressive International, portrayed him as a Socialist! I’ve been skeptical since I know that PI is all about saving capitalism.