By Ben Dangl Originally published in July 2011 in Third World Resurgence The health problems facing President Chavez have raised questions as to the future of his project to transform Venezuelan society. Benjamin Dangl explains why he believes that this revolution will live on. A FEW years ago, when I first visited Venezuela, I met countless enthusiastic…
By Ben Dangl Originally published on December 9, 2011 in Al Jazeera New Latin American and Caribbean regional bloc reflects Washington’s waning presence in the region. Rain clouds ringed the lush hillsides and poor neighbourhoods cradling Caracas, Venezuela as dozens of Latin American and Caribbean heads of state trickled out of the airport and into motorcades and hotel rooms. They were…
By Ben Dangl Originally published on March 10, 2013 in TowardFreedom.com The bus slid along the Bolivian jungle road, with evangelical music blasting out of the speakers. Rain dripped steadily through the holes in the roof as the vehicle surged ahead in fits and starts, past the lights of small villages and the vast blackness…
Written by Benjamin Dangl Tuesday, 25 August 2009 Reviewed: Reclaiming Latin America: Experiments in Radical Social Democracy, Edited by Geraldine Lievesley and Steve Ludlam. Zed Books (August 18, 2009), 288 pages Reclaiming Latin America: Experiments in Radical Social Democracy provides an in depth and accessible introduction to Latin American politics for people seeking to understand…
Written by Benjamin Dangl July 28, 2009 Reviewed: The New Latin American Left: Utopia Reborn, edited by Patrick Barrett, Daniel Chavez and Cesar Rodriguez-Garavito. Published by Pluto Press (2008), 320 pages. The conflict in Honduras has been an ongoing challenge for governments across the political spectrum in Latin America. In the years leading up to…
By Benjamin Dangl May 6, 2009 Source: Alternet When George W. Bush went to Latin America, Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona called him “human trash,” and protesters flooded the streets. Now, when Barack Obama visited, leftist Venezuela President Hugo Chavez wanted to shake his hand, the right-wing president of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, asked for his…
By Benjamin Dangl April 17, 2009 Published by The Guardian Unlimited At the Summit of the Americas this weekend, the US will find that the hemisphere is no longer its playground While George Bush was the most unpopular president ever in South America, Barack Obama could end up being the most popular. To that end,…
Written by Benjamin Dangl Thursday, 16 April 2009 After Bolivia beat the Argentine soccer team led by legendary Diego Maradona by 6 to 1, Maradona told reporters, “Every Bolivia goal was a stab in my heart.” Bolivia was expected to lose the April 1 match as Argentina is ranked as the 6th best soccer team…
By Benjamin Dangl Monday, 08 September 2008 Throughout the past eight years of the Bush administration, North and South America have politically and economically been heading in opposite directions. While Bush waged wars, curtailed civil liberties and spread neoliberalism, South Americans stopped corporate looting, ousted corrupt presidents and developed economies for people instead of profit.…
Source: The Progressive Magazine, Feb. 2009 Issue By Benjamin Dangl Five years ago, when Evo Morales was a rising political star as a congressman and coca farmer, I met him in his office in Cochabamba, Bolivia. He was drinking orange juice and sifting through the morning newspapers when I asked him about a meeting he…