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Friday, November 6, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
VENEZUELA: Students March Against Constitutional Reforms
Thousands of students opposed to President Hugo Chávez marched Tuesday in the Venezuelan capital to protest a proposed constitutional reform that has drawn criticism from many sides.VENEZUELA: Anti-Domestic Violence Campaign Targets Men
If the coffee is cold, he goes ballistic, smashes the cup on the floor and lashes out at his partner. If she doesn’t come running when he calls, or their daughter cries, he shouts impatiently and hits her. These are some of the scenes in unprecedented TV spots now appearing in Venezuela.COLOMBIA: Bush, Rebel Chief Have Key Role to Play in Hostage Swap
U.S. President George W. Bush and the leader of Colombia’s FARC guerrillas, "Manuel Marulanda", both have a key role to play in the search for a humanitarian hostage-for-prisoner swap in Colombia, according to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who is attempting to broker an agreement for an exchange.VENEZUELA: Adios Lenin…and Other ‘Exotic’ Names
While Stalin led hundreds of students on a march in solidarity with Nixon, authorities in Venezuela were drawing up a law to prevent parents from giving their children names that are invented, difficult to pronounce in Spanish, or exotic.VENEZUELA: Prison Homicides Still Routine
In Venezuela’s prisons, "every human right is violated every single day," said a Latin American ambassador in a private conversation a decade ago, rationalising the actions of some of his fellow-countrymen who had fled from justice in this country.VENEZUELA: Not Even Funerals Safe from Flying Bullets
At the wake of Yeison Mendoza, a 25-year-old construction worker shot dead in Petare, a poor neighbourhood on the eastside of the Venezuelan capital, prayers, tears and flowers set the atmosphere until hooded gunmen on motorcycles fired a hail of bullets into the Zambrano funeral parlour, killing three people and wounding another five.VENEZUELA: A New Life for At-Risk Kids, and Music Too!
On tour in Germany after performing to rave reviews at the BBC Promenade Concerts in London, the members of Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar Youth Symphony Orchestra and its wild-haired conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, have made a remarkable journey from their less than promising social origins.COLOMBIA: Venezuela’s Chavez to Help Seek Humanitarian Exchange
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has agreed to help negotiate the release of hostages held for years by Colombia’s guerrillas, after meeting with the captives’ families.RIGHTS-VENEZUELA: No Change in Patterns of Police Brutality and Impunity
Eloísa Caro, a 26-year-old domestic worker, was blindfolded, handcuffed, beaten about the face, verbally abused and nearly suffocated with a plastic bag last year when she was summoned by the judicial police in the Venezuelan capital to give a statement on a robbery in the house where she worked.LATIN AMERICA: Vying for Leadership, Lula Heads North, Chavez South
Political and economic alliances with a view to strengthening Latin American integration are subtly shifting as Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visits Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean this week and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez tours Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador and Bolivia.ENERGY-SOUTH AMERICA: Mega Gas Pipeline Plans Held Up
The South American mega-pipeline project to transport natural gas from the Caribbean to the River Plate, supplying a large part of Brazil en route, "has cooled down because of attacks from within South America itself" and due to attempts by the United States to delay the plans, complained Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.ENERGY: ‘Gas OPEC’ Still a Long Way Off
A cartel of natural gas-producing nations similar to OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries), an idea floated by countries like Iran, Russia and Venezuela, remains a distant possibility due to the nature of the market.DEFENCE-VENEZUELA: Russian Subs on the 'Scope
The announcement that Venezuela is buying five Russian submarines triggered alarm that a conventional arms build-up is occurring in a country that has adopted the defence doctrine of asymmetric war, or one involving " all of the people."MERCOSUR-VENEZUELA: Integration by Ultimatum
Venezuela has lost patience with delays in Paraguay and Brazil's congressional ratifications of its entry into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), while it is being urged to speed up its adoption of the common external tariff and other bloc regulations.VENEZUELA: Afro-descendants Seek Visibility in Numbers
As their counterparts in other countries of Latin America have begun to do, Afro-Venezuelans want to stop being statistically invisible, and are seeking more precise figures to help them in their struggle against racism and marginalisation.LATIN AMERICA: More and More Countries Ban Smoking in Public Places
The 150 million smokers in Latin America and the Caribbean are finding it more and more difficult to smoke in public spaces, as a growing list of countries adopt measures aimed at protecting non-smokers from second-hand smoke.VENEZUELA: Marches and Counter-Marches Over TV Station’s End
Hundreds of journalists and students carried a one-kilometre banner reading "S.O.S. Freedom of Expression", written in 10 languages with letters one metre high, through the Venezuelan capital Monday to protest the authorities' decision not to renew the broadcasting licence of the country's most popular TV station.VENEZUELA: Museums Throw Open Their Doors to the Disabled
"We drew a fat woman with little dots. I like learning to draw. Maybe I'll be an artist later on," Lisette, a 15-year-old mentally disabled girl who goes every Friday from her school in the south of the Venezuelan capital to the Alejandro Otero Museum, told IPS.ECONOMY-VENEZUELA: Nationalisation Drive Takes Broad Aim
Venezuela's nationalisation drive is moving full-steam ahead. After placing telecoms, electricity and oil companies in state hands, President Hugo Chávez has warned that he is prepared to nationalise everything from banks to the largest steel company, and even health clinics and chicken farms.VENEZUELA: The Gift of Native Tongues, On the Air
Eiker García and Nelson Maldonado took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly, producing a long "mmm" sound, following the instructions of the professional radio presenter who was giving them breathing and elocution lessons.LATIN AMERICA: Activists Back Venezuela-Driven Alternative Integration
Progressive social and political movements joined the governments of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) in their aim to bring about integration based on solidarity and social justice.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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