Amazon deforestation continues to plummet

By TIK ROOT August was another month of relatively good news for the Amazon rainforest: The rate of deforestation has continued to decline significantly. Earlier this week, Marina Silva, Brazil’s environment minister, announced a 66.1 percent decrease in Amazon deforestation compared to last August. That amounted to a loss of about 217 square miles, according to… Read More Amazon deforestation continues to plummet

More Evidence Regarding Henry Kissinger’s Lies About Chile

Chile is a dagger pointed at the heart of Antarctica – Henry A. Kissinger. By Melvin Goodman / CounterPunch Our 240 years of history have not produced a more controversial secretary of state than Henry A. Kissinger.  There are enormous achievements associated with Kissinger, including the Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in… Read More More Evidence Regarding Henry Kissinger’s Lies About Chile

Titicaca: the world’s highest navigable lake is drying out

Water levels at Lake Titicaca – the highest navigable lake in the world and South America’s largest – are dropping precipitously after an unprecedented winter heat wave. The shocking decline is affecting tourism, fishing and agriculture, which locals rely on to make a living. “We don’t know what we will do from now until December because the… Read More Titicaca: the world’s highest navigable lake is drying out

‘Hi, Mom. I love you’: US man kidnapped as a baby in Pinochet’s Chile reunited with family

NB: This story is heartbreaking as well as wondrous, it leaves me speechless. Nothing can be said aside from wonderment at the joy and tragedy of human life. God bless you María Angélica, God bless you Jimmy Lippert Thyden, enjoy the miracle of finding each other after four decades. We all love you too. DS… Read More ‘Hi, Mom. I love you’: US man kidnapped as a baby in Pinochet’s Chile reunited with family

Driving out the rainforest invaders: crackdown on illegal mining brings hope after Bolsonaro

 Jonathan Watts in Altamira Like mechanised Valkyries, nine helicopters filled with armed men and women in camouflage uniforms swoop over dense forests and remote rivers – but this is not a scene from Apocalypse Now, it is a Brazilian government mission to forestall catastrophe in the Amazon rainforest. The aircraft from the country’s two main environmental agencies,… Read More Driving out the rainforest invaders: crackdown on illegal mining brings hope after Bolsonaro

How corruption and gang warfare transformed Ecuador

the high-profile assassination on Wednesday of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio could be a turning point for the country Tara John Ecuadorians have found themselves in the middle of a bloody turf war as rival criminal organizations mete out brutal and often public shows of violence, battling to control drug trafficking routes that cross the Andean nation. Reports of dismemberments,… Read More How corruption and gang warfare transformed Ecuador

Mexico vigilante leader’s killing highlights failure to curb violence

Hipólito Mora’s death in a hail of bullets is just the latest murder as the country’s brutal crime conflict shows no sign of abating More than 150,000 people have been murdered since Mexico’s current president took power and Hipólito Mora suspected he would join them. “I knew this day would come,” the lime farmer turned… Read More Mexico vigilante leader’s killing highlights failure to curb violence

Chris Hedges: Mexico’s Epidemic of Murdered Journalists is an Ominous Warning to the Press

Over 100,000 people have been disappeared in the course of the destructive drug war waged in Mexico over the past two decades. Among the deceased are more than 150 journalists murdered for their work to expose the dense network of corruption and violence that links government officials, police, and the military with organized crime. The… Read More Chris Hedges: Mexico’s Epidemic of Murdered Journalists is an Ominous Warning to the Press

Brazil: A dangerous cocktail of violence and lies

Philipp Lichterbeck Repairing the physical damage following the rampage of the Bolsonarist fanatics will likely cost millions, which will have to come from Brazil’s taxpayers. The harm done to Brazil’s democracy and to the country’s collective psyche, however, is far greater. A fanatical and violent minority went on a rampage in the capital, Brasilia, on camera. While the… Read More Brazil: A dangerous cocktail of violence and lies