(2020-07-08). Headlines for July 8, 2020. democracynow.org Trump Begins Formal U.S. Withdrawal from World Health Organization, Brazil's Official Coronavirus Death Toll Tops 65,000 as Jair Bolsonaro Tests Positive, U.S. Confirms Record 60,000+ Coronavirus Cases as Trump Demands School Reopenings, Houston Mayor Pleads with Republicans to Cancel Texas Convention Amid Coronavirus Surge, Prominent GOP Senators to Skip Republican National Convention Amid Pandemic, Serbian Anti-Lockdown Protesters Storm Parliament; Spanish Study Questions "Herd Immunity", Mexican President to Meet with Trump; Canadian PM Won't Attend over COVID Concerns, Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley…
(2020-07-08). Bolivian Polls Show Socialist Candidate To Win Elections In First Round. popularresistance.org The U.S.-backed, interim president Jeanine Añez only has 13 percent of the voting intention. | The Latin America Strategic Center for Geopolitics (CELAG) Tuesday published the results of a survey according to which the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) presidential candidate Luis Arce would get 41.9 percent of the votes in the upcoming elections in September. | This percentage of popular support would allow him to win the elections in the first round, far exceeding the Bolivian right-wing candidate, Carlos Mesa, who would barely get 26.8 percent of the vote.
(2020-07-08). The US and UK are a wrecking ball crew against the pillars of internationalism. peoplesdispatch.org Vijay Prashad writes on the imperialist actions led by the US and the UK against Venezuela and the emptiness of their commitment to international law…
(2020-07-08). Trump in 'free trade' talks with Brazilian right-wing authoritarian President Bolsonaro. peoplesworld.org 
WASHINGTON—Even as he celebrates forcing one so-called "free trade" pact down Mexico's throat, President Donald Trump is pursuing another, with his right-wing Southern Hemisphere compadre, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Of course, the talks may have hit a medical snag: Bolsonaro, who's been even more outspoken than Trump in denouncing the coronavirus as a fabricated threat, …
(2020-07-08). Facebook bans accounts linked to Roger Stone, Proud Boys & Brazil's Bolsonaro in fight against 'coordinated inauthentic behavior'. rt.com 
Facebook has banned dozens of pages allegedly linked to ex-Trump adviser and Republican operative Roger Stone, as well as Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, in its relentless battle against political 'misinformation networks'. | The 100-account network said to be linked to Stone, a Florida resident, was discovered in the course of an investigation into the right-wing group Proud Boys, banned from Facebook years ago, the social media behemoth
(2020-07-08). Uruguayans reject the approval of the Urgent Consideration Law. peoplesdispatch.org The Urgent Consideration Law (LUC) is a neoliberal legislation that promotes budget cuts in the public sector, supports the privatization of public companies and restricts the right to strike of the workers, among other setbacks…
(2020-07-08). US coronavirus cases top 3 million: study. yenisafak.com Maryland-based university's tally counted 3,009,611 confirmed infections and 131,594 fatalities, while 936,476 people have recovered from the disease.The US continues to be worst-hit country with the highest number of cases and deaths worldwide, followed by Brazil and the UK.Recent spikes in cases and hospitalizations forced many US states to pause their reopenings or reimpose new restrictions to curb the spread of the virus.More than 36.8 million tests have been conducted so far.
(2020-07-07). 'Pattern' of Abuse by Colombian Soldiers Raises Questions Over US' Continued Funding for Forces. sputniknews.com The rapes of two young, Indigenous girls by soldiers in rural Colombia have shed light on the role that the US plays in expanding and training the Colombian military, two activists told Sputnik.
(2020-07-07). Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro tests positive for Covid-19. thecanary.co 
Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro says he has tested positive for coronavirus (Covid-19) after months of downplaying the severity of the disease.Bolsonaro confirmed the test results while wearing a mask and speaking to reporters in the country's capital Brasilia."I'm well, normal. I even want to take a walk around here, but I can't due to medical recommendations," Bolsonaro said.People have protested over Bolsonaro's handling of the pandemic (AP/Eraldo Peres)The president has often appeared in public to shake hands with supporters and mingle with crowds, at times without a mask. He has said that his history as an…
(2020-07-07). Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro Tests Positive for Covid-19. commondreams.org The announcement comes three days after the right-wing leader was photographed without a mask with the U.S. Ambassador to Brazil. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gettyimages-12177721131_0.jpg …
(2020-07-07). Latin America under CoronaShock: Social crisis, neoliberal failure, and the People's Alternatives. mronline.org 
The first cases of COVID-19 were detected in December 2019 in Wuhan (China). In early March, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the rapidly expanding illness a pandemic.
(2020-07-07). South America's Covid-19 crisis has exposed the inequalities of the region & the lack of real progress addressing poverty. rt.com 
As the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc in South America, it is the poorest who are worst affected. The pandemic has highlighted the societal problems that countries have been unable to eradicate. | At roughly 7: 30am on July 6, a gasoline truck overturned on a perilous stretch of Colombia's Caribbean highway known for accidents. In this part of the world, a vehicle accident itself is generally not newsworthy. | But times are different. With Covid-19 ravaging South America, we can begin to understand why ten people lost their lives when the truck's cargo exploded, and around 50 are in a serious condition fr…
(2020-07-07). Bolivia's interim president Jeanine àÅñez is waging a war on women. peoplesdispatch.org In a two-part series, Cindy Forster discusses how àÅñez usurped power following the coup in November 2019 and has carried out a campaign to undermine fundamental rights of all Bolivians especially the Indigenous and working-class…
(2020-07-07). Bolsonaro tests positive for coronavirus. peoplesdispatch.org Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro affirmed on Tuesday July 7 that he tested positive for COVID-19. The information was confirmed by the Special Secretary of Social Communication. | "The result of the test of COVID-19 done by the President Jair Bolsonaro on the night of Monday July 7 presented a positive diagnosis. The president remains in good health and at this moment he is in the Alvorada Palace," said the government in a note. | Bolsonaro had already told his followers on Monday July 6, that he had symptoms such as a fever of 38 degrees and pain in his body. He has reported to be feeling well and with "clean…
(2020-07-07). Unprecedented Ruling For Indigenous Peoples. popularresistance.org On April 2, a ruling issued in Costa Rica by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights resounded strongly in the arid north of Argentina. For more than two decades, the original communities of the province of Salta had been awaiting the outcome of the case Lhaka Honhat Association (Our Land) vs. Argentina, a case sponsored by CELS since 1998. | After more than twenty years of litigation, the Court ordered the government of Argentina to cede an undivided deed to 4,000 km2 of ancestral territory to the Lhaka Honhat Association of Aboriginal Communities, located in the north of the country. Furthermore, the South Ame…
(2020-07-07). Guaido Representative Threatens FBI Investigation Into Journalists. popularresistance.org Vanessa Neumann, the U.K. ambassador of self-declared President of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, claims that she is working closely with the FBI in an investigation exposing a "transnational criminal network" of journalists, including John McEvoy, Pablo Navarette, independent outlet Venezuelanalysis and former MintPress News contributor Camila Escalante. | From the Twitter account of her communications firm, Asymmetrica, Neumann said that the four sources were involved in a "criminal conspiracy" supporting Venezuelan vice-president Delcy Rodriguez. "There is a price on your head" she informed them, "welcome to the rule…
(2020-07-07). Vice-president of Ecuador Otto Sonnenholzner resigns. peoplesdispatch.org The vice president of Ecuador, Otto Sonnenholzner, on July 7, resigned from his post, which he had held since December 2018. According to the local media, his disagreements with various government officials led him to take the decision. | "A year and a half ago, without looking for it, I was presented with the opportunity to serve Ecuador from the vice presidency of the Republic and I accepted it. I will always thank the President for his trust and the National Assembly, which gave me the opportunity to serve my country from this institution in a constitutional way," said Sonnenholzner on national television in t…
(2020-07-06). Guaido Representative Threatens FBI Investigation Into Journalists Exposing Her Dealings. mintpressnews.com From the Twitter account of her communications firm, Asymmetrica, Vanessa Neumann accused four journalists of a "criminal conspiracy" to support Venezuelan vice-president Delcy Rodriguez. "There is a price on your head," she threatened.
(2020-07-06). The Meaning of the 1811 Independence for Today's Venezuela. counterpunch.org For any country the celebration of independence is of great historical importance and pride. July 5 marks the 209th anniversary of Venezuela's independence. The meaning of the term "independence" has certainly occupied central stage in the last 21 years of the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela. Former President Hugo Chávez and current President Nicolás Maduro have
(2020-07-06). Venezuela denounces 'absurd decision' of UK to retain its gold reserves. mronline.org 
A British high court ruled on July 2 that because the UK recognizes opposition leader Juan Guaidó as president, it does not have to give the government of Nicolás Maduro access to the reserves.
(2020-07-06). Ambassadors Are Not Completely Useless, It Seems. Many Are Getting Their Hands Dirty in New Diplomacy. strategic-culture.org Diplomacy is in a crisis, re-emerging as something else more sinister and darker for its ambassadors. From Venezuela to Lebanon though, their time is up. Their dirty game is no longer a secret and it will be the starving Lebanese who will unseat them. | Diplomacy has been in the news quite a bit in late June. Yet it has still left many of us wondering if there is ever a real role for diplomats to play in this junk-news, social media-obsessed world which has reduced them to mere "waiters who are occasionally allowed to sit down" as Peter Ustinov once put it. | But Venezuela's President Nicholas Maduro, who the We…
(2020-07-06). Foreign Election Interference: Who is to Blame? counterpunch.org 
he New York Times has always taken the view that U.S. election interventions have "generally been aimed at helping non-authoritarian candidates" whereas Russia has "more often intervened to disrupt democracy or promote authoritarian rule." Too bad the Times could not interview Iran's Mohammed Mossadegh, Chile's Salvador Allende, or the Congo's Patrice Lumumba, who were targeted by the Central Intelligence Agency and replaced by brutal regimes that ruled for decades.
(2020-07-06). Adolfo Pérez Esquivel: "The United States has no allies, it has no friends, it only thinks of its economic interests" peoplesdispatch.org Carlos Aznárez speaks with Adolfo Pérez Esquivel about the debt crisis facing Argentina and why Argentina should not pay…
(2020-07-06). Brazil's coronavirus cases top 1.5 million amid record unemployment. wsws.org From March to May, some eight million workers lost their jobs, and more than half of the country's working age population have become unemployed.
(2020-07-06). Venezuela Is on a Path to Make Colonialism Obsolete. globalresearch.ca On June 29 the European Union (EU) slapped
(2020-07-06). Venezuela: Arrest Warrants Issued for Guaido's Foreign Commissioner & US, UK Reps. venezuelanalysis.com Eleven people, including the ad-hoc Central Bank board, are charged with "usurpation of office" following the "plunder" of Venezuela's gold in the Bank of England.
(2020-07-06). Brazil's President Bolsonaro Has Coronavirus Symptoms – Reports. sputniknews.com In late June, media reported that Bolsonaro might have contracted the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) after the Brazilian leader was captured without a protective mask at public gatherings.
(2020-07-05). Trump Regime Wants Legitimate Iranian Fuel Shipments to Venezuela Seized. globalresearch.ca No nation in world history more strongly professes support for democratic values and the rule of law while more egregiously breaching its proclaimed principles than the US. | It's been this way throughout the country's history, fleeting moments alone when positive …
(2020-07-05). Iran records highest daily COVID-19 fatalities. yenisafak.com Iran on Sunday confirmed 163 more fatalities from coronavirus, the largest daily spike in the country since the outbreak, caused by the novel coronavirus, bringing the nationwide death toll to 11,571.A further of 2,560 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, raising the overall count to 240,438, Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said.She added that 3,168 patients remain in critical condition in the country.Since first appearing in China last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 188 countries and regions. The US, Brazil and Russia are currently the countries hardest hi…
(2020-07-05). Brazil reports 1,091 virus fatalities, 523 die in Mexico. yenisafak.com Brazil Sunday reported 1,091 COVID-19 fatalities, while 523 more patients died in Mexico over the past 24 hours.The death toll in Brazil reached 64,265, according to the data by the country's Health Ministry.A total of 37,923 new cases were reported in the Latin America country, pushing the total count to 1,577,004.Meanwhile, the death toll in Mexico rose to 30,366 with 523 more fatalities, the Health Ministry data showed.The number of cases surged to 252,165, with 6,914 additions over the past 24 hours.So far 152,309 patients have recovered from the virus in the country.Mexico confirmed its first COVID-19 case…
(2020-07-05). Iranian animation to go on screen at Venzuela's film festival. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jul. 06 (MNA) — Iran's animated short title 'I'm not Alice but here is Wonderland' will be screened at Five Continents International Film Festival in Venezuela.
(2020-07-04). Thousands of delivery workers strike across Brazil and other Latin American countries. wsws.org Thousands of delivery workers engaged in a strike on Wednesday to demand better working conditions in more than 10 Brazilian capitals, as well as in cities in Argentina and Mexico.