(2020-07-17). Headlines for July 17, 2020. democracynow.org United States Hits Daily Record of 75,600 Coronavirus Cases as Death Rate Rises, Colorado & Arkansas Mandate Masks as Georgia's Governor Sues to Overturn Atlanta Mask Ordinance, Detroit Protesters Block School Buses in Bid to Halt In-Person Summer Classes, "Science Should Not Stand in the Way" of School Reopenings, Says Trump's Spokesperson, India and Brazil Pass Grim Coronavirus Milestones, Colombia's Hospitals Near Capacity as Paramilitaries Enforce Coronavirus Lockdowns with Violence, Thousands Still Planning to Attend Scaled-Back Republican National Convention in Florida, Trump Administration Wins Reprieve in…
(2020-07-17). Why Laos, Vietnam & China Have Beaten the Virus and India, Brazil and the U.S. Have Not. strategic-culture.org 
Vijay Prashad explores the differences between the pandemic responses of a few countries with socialist governments and others in the capitalist order. | Vijay PRASHAD | Too little has been made of the fact that countries like Laos and Vietnam have been able to manage the coronavirus; there are no confirmed deaths from Covid-19 in either country. Both of these Southeast Asian states border China, where the virus was first detected in late December 2019, and both have thriving trade and tourist relations with China. India is separated from China by the high Himalaya Mountains, while Brazil and the United States ha…
(2020-07-17). The 'strongmen' have failed. peoplesdispatch.org Three countries, the US, Brazil and India, lead the global COVID-19 case count. What connects them are their leaders -Trump, Bolsonaro and Modi – whose policies and polarizing ways have hindered efforts to combat the disease.
(2020-07-17). Neoliberal discourse on land harms livelihoods and environmental security: Oakland Institute report. peoplesdispatch.org Studying the cases of countries like Ukraine, Zambia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka and Brazil, the Oakland Institute report debunks some of the myths on development and land use propagated by mainstream economics, and calls for the preservation of commons.
(2020-07-17). Chile: Night Of Fury To Demand The Withdrawal Of Pension Funds. popularresistance.org From Tuesday night until early Wednesday morning, Chilean citizens took to the streets to support a pension-related bill and protest against President Sebastian Piñera. | Today the Lower House is expected to vote on a bill that will allow Chileans to withdraw the 10 percent of their savings that remain controlled by the repudiated Pension Fund Insurers (AFP), which are private companies that control pensions in this South American country since that time of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990). | "This initiative is supported by a large majority of the people, which claims to have the freedom to dispose…
(2020-07-17). Colombians Question Deployment Of US Security Forces. popularresistance.org Colombian soldiers and military brass have been implicated in a string of human rights violations in recent weeks. On May 1, Semana magazine reported that the Colombian military illegally used U.S. military aid to spy on journalists and human rights defenders, including U.S. citizens. On June 4, Colombian armed forces carried out forced eradication of illicit crops and injured six farmers. On June 25, seven soldiers confessed to gang-raping a 13-year-old Emberá girl in Northern Colombia. | Yet the United States is only deepening its relationship with the Colombian military. On May 28, the U.S. Southern Command (S…
(2020-07-16). Venezuela's Electoral Process Is Legitimate, Fernandez Says. telesurenglish.net Argentina's RELATED: | His statements came after international mainstream media…
(2020-07-16). Cardboard Coffins Are Used to Bury the Poorest in Bolivia. telesurenglish.net Given the inability of RELATED: | Burying or cremating a corpse has become almost a luxu…
(2020-07-16). Brazil Surpass 2 Million Covid-19 Infections In 27 Days. telesurenglish.net Brazil ¥s Ministry of Health reported on Wednesday that the country has reach 2, 012, 151 confirmed cases and 45,403 new contagions in the last 24 hours. | RELATED: | The country is the world's second worst-hit by the pandemic following the United States, as only 27 days ago Brazil had registered a million COVID-19 cases. | According to the government figures in the lasts, weeks were reported almost 40,000 confirmed new cases per day wh…
(2020-07-16). Brazil Prohibits Burnings In National Territory For 4 Months. telesurenglish.net The Federal Government of Brazil issued a decree on Thursday prohibiting the burnings in the national territory, a decision that aims at reducing fires during the drought period, especially in the Amazon rainforest, according to the Ministry of Environment. | RELATED: | The so-called queimadas, by which farmers clear land for cultivation or planting grass, are a widespread agricultural practice in Brazil, despi…
(2020-07-16). Why Are Chileans Fighting for Their Pensions?>. telesurenglish.net On July 15, Chile's Lower House approved a social benefit bill, which allows Chileans to use up to ten percent of their retirement funds, tax-free, in advance as an effort to help alleviate COVID-19's economic harm. The night before the bill's approval, pot banging, and demonstrations welcomed the measure and displayed the social enthusiasm alongside collective rage directed towards a government desperate to defend private companies that control the pension funds. However, why are Chileans fighting for their pensions? | A cause to fight for | On October 18, 2019, massive protests erupted in Chile, as a respons…
(2020-07-16). The Ravages of Lithium Extraction in Chile. globalresearch.ca In Chile, the Covid-19 pandemic is raging with an unprecedented speed. There are
(2020-07-16). Colombia: Authorities Capture Social Leaders Murders' Suspects. telesurenglish.net Colombia Public Prosecutors' Office Wednesday reported the capture of six suspects involved in the murders of social leaders in the El Choco department. | RELATED: | "Today, officials from the Special Unit's technical investigation corps, in association with the Army, were able to capture six of its members. Five of them formed the financial line and one of them a political link to the organization," the director of the Specia…
(2020-07-16). Colombia: Bogota Hospitals Overloaded With COVID-19 Patients. telesurenglish.net Colombia Bogota Medical College (CMB) on Thursday informed that local healthcare centers collapsed due to COVID-19 bed occupancy. | RELATED: | According to the institution's report, the Santa Clara Hospital assists 52 patients with only a 44-bed capacity. The Occidente clinic ceased admissions due to total overcrowding of their installations. | Besides, COVID-19 patients do not receive oxygen or medical equipment…
(2020-07-16). How Latin American Activists Are Harnessing the Black Lives Matter Movement. progressive.org Protests have surged in Colombia and throughout Latin America following the police murders of George Floyd and an Afro-Colombian man.
(2020-07-16). Ecuador Exceeds 5,150 Deaths From COVID-19. telesurenglish.net Ecuador's Health Ministry (MSP) Wednesday reported 45 new deaths from COVID-19 over the last 24 hours, bringing the overall death toll to 5,158 deaths. The MSP also assured that 3,343 deaths have been registered from symptoms similar to those caused by the new coronavirus. | RELATED: | In this South American country, 759 new positive cases of COVID-19 were registered, which brings the number of confirmed infections t…
(2020-07-16). Venezuela Denounces US Destroyer Incursion in Contiguous Zone. telesurenglish.net Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza Thursday denounced to the international community that the USS Pinckney (DDG-91) warship sneaked into the "contiguous zone" of this South American country. | RELATED: | "It is an inexcusable act of provocation that aims to undermine our sovereignty and territorial integrity," Arreaza tweeted. | He also stressed that this act of "erratic and childish" provocati…
(2020-07-16). Government Gave Big Oil The Power to Prosecute Its Biggest Critic. popularresistance.org In recent years, the American government has given the fossil fuel industry hundreds of billions of dollars of subsidies and opened up wide swaths of public land for drilling. Now, as the climate crisis worsens, a federal judge has given a private corporate law firm with ties to fossil fuel companies the power to criminally prosecute one of the industry's biggest foes—a lawyer who notched one of history's biggest legal victories against a major oil company. | In 2011, Steven Donziger led the legal team that secured a $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron for polluting the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador. Chevr…
(2020-07-16). Blockbuster Oil Bribery Scandal Exposes Corrupt Double-Dealing Of Guaidó 'Attorney General'. popularresistance.org Below the radar of US media, a district court in Florida tossed out a multibillion-dollar bribery case in March 2018 thanks to testimony delivered by a former member of the shadow administration of Venezuelan coup leader Juan Guaidó. | That ex-official, Jose Ignacio Hernandez, served as attorney general in the US-backed Guaidó junta until July of this year. As this investigation will reveal, Hernandez's testimony was bought and paid for by foreign oil giants with an interest in defrauding Venezuela's state petroleum company out of billions of dollars. | These corporate titans, which included some of the world's l…
(2020-07-16). 'Inexcusable Act of Provocation': Caracas Denounces US Navy Destroyer Steaming in Venezuelan Waters. sputniknews.com The Venezuelan government has denounced a "freedom of navigation operation" performed by the US Navy on Thursday, calling the violation of Venezuelan waters by a US warship ostensibly defending the freedom of the seas "erratic and childish."
(2020-07-16). Italy imposes travel ban on 3 more Balkan nations. yenisafak.com Italy on Thursday imposed a travel ban on three more Balkan nations due to the coronavirus pandemic, the country's heath minister said.Italy's list of high-risk countries now contains 16 nations with new additions; Kosovo, Serbia, and Montenegro, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said on Facebook.Travelers, who had been in these countries in the last 14 days, will not be able to enter Italy.The list of restricted countries included Armenia, Bahrein, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bosnia Herzegovina, Chile, Kuwait, North Macedonia, Moldova, Oman, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic, Serbia, Montenegro, and Kosovo.Since originati…
(2020-07-15). Is U.S. Military Action against Venezuela Contemplated? Trump Wants to Extradite Maduro. globalresearch.ca The Sino-Venezuelan agreement by which the Chinese state petrochemical company Sinopec will invest 14,000 million dollars to achieve daily oil production of 200,000 barrels per day of crude in the Orinoco Oil Belt, (considered the most abundant oil field in …
(2020-07-15). Trump Tells Florida Crowd 'Something Will Happen In Venezuela' Soon. popularresistance.org On a trip to COVID-19 riddled Florida this weekend, President Donald Trump not-so-cryptically revealed that he had something big planned for Venezuela during a meeting with leaders of the U.S. military's Southern Command. "Something will happen with Venezuela. That's all I can tell you," he said, before adding that Washington would be "very much involved" in what he was referencing. Biden has also taken a hard line on Venezuela and is attempting to out-hawk Trump on the issue. "It's time for free and fair elections so that the Venezuelan people can turn the page on the corrupt and repressive Maduro regime," he sa…
(2020-07-15). Corporate Greed Drives COVID-19 Pandemic Inside Peruvian Amazon. therealnews.com 
Peru's lawmakers are weighing a vote on crucial legislation, which, if passed, will declare large areas of pristine Amazon rainforest off limits to drilling and mining projects—a clear showdown between Big Oil and corporate mining interests and the rights of Indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon. | Peru's Congress was expected to vote on the draft bill Thursday, July 2. But the proposal did not make it into the legislative agenda, prompting questions about whether corporate dollars are pulling the strings behind the scenes. | The proposed amendment has revived bitter decades-old social divisions in the…
(2020-07-15). WOLA's David Smilde Advocates a more Efficient Regime Change Strategy against Venezuela. dissidentvoice.org Common Dreams, a liberal-left website, reposted an article by David Smilde of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA): "Joe Biden Should Not Try to Out-Hawk Trump on Venezuela." It starts off well with the subtitle: "The first task for a Biden administration would be to take military intervention off the table." The US has …
(2020-07-15). Popular protagonism in Venezuela's transition to socialism: A conversation with Michael Lebowitz. mronline.org 
The Marxist theorist emphasizes that socialism involves people transforming themselves.
(2020-07-15). What's Behind Brazil's COVID-19 Disaster? counterpunch.org 
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(2020-07-15). The blinding of Gustavo Gatica and the return to unrestrained police state violence in Chile. wsws.org The Chilean security forces enjoy a level of immunity not seen since the 17-year military dictatorship, when thousands were arrested, tortured, killed and disappeared.
(2020-07-15). Colombia: Pandemic Could Last Past 2021, Minister says. telesurenglish.net Colombia's health minister Fernando Ruiz Gomez Wednesday warned the pandemic crisis could extend until early 2021 in the South American nation. | RELATED: | "The models give us that probably until the end of November, beginning of December, we will have a still relatively significant increase. I hope that by January and February we will have passed the worst of the situation", Ruiz precluded. | Since Colombia recorded the first C…
(2020-07-15). Venezuela: amputation, extortion and death amidst booming gold mining racket. news.un.org The Human Rights Council on Wednesday heard damning reports of serious exploitation and abuse of children and indigenous communities in Venezuela, where mining for gold and other minerals is booming.
(2020-07-15). Venezuela's Oil Production Plunges as US Issues New Threats. venezuelanalysis.com Special Envoy Elliott Abrams threatened to "go after" shipping companies that continue to transport Venezuelan crude.
(2020-07-15). NYT Acknowledges Coup In Bolivia While Shirking Blame For Its Supporting Role. popularresistance.org The New York Times (6/7/20) declared that an Organization of American States (OAS) report alleging fraud in the 2019 Bolivian presidential elections—which was used as justification for a bloody, authoritarian coup d'etat in November 2019—was fundamentally flawed. | The Times reported the findings of a new study by independent researchers; the Times brags of contributing to it by sharing data it "obtained from Bolivian electoral authorities," though this data has been publicly available since before the 2019 coup. | The article never uses the word "coup"—it says that President Evo Morales was "pu…
(2020-07-15). Report Warns Of Unprecedented Wave Of Land Privatization. popularresistance.org Amidst a worsening climate crisis, the Oakland Institute's new report, Driving Dispossession: The Global Push to "Unlock the Economic Potential of Land," sounds the alarm on the unprecedented wave of privatization of natural resources that is underway around the world. Through six case studies—Ukraine, Zambia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, and Brazil—the report details the myriad ways by which governments—willingly or under the pressure of financial institutions and Western donor agencies—are putting more land into so-called "productive use" in the name of development. | "The fact…
(2020-07-15). Bolivian Sex Workers Urged to Wear See-Through 'Biosecurity Suits' to Prevent COVID-19 Infection. sputniknews.com Sex workers in the Bolivian city of La Paz are preparing for a new normal amid the COVID-19 pandemic with equipment such as bottles of bleach, gloves and see-through raincoats, which will all help them work safely.
(2020-07-15). Coronavirus claims more lives in Oman, Bahrain. yenisafak.com Local health authorities on Wednesday recorded eight deaths from the novel coronavirus in Oman and another three in Bahrain. In a statement, the Omani Health Ministry said 1,679 additional cases were registered, raising the total count to 61,247, including 281 deaths, and 39,038 recoveries.In Bahrain, three people died from the virus over the past 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry.The Gulf state's tally now stands at 34,078 cases, including 114 deaths, and 29,753 recoveries.Since first appearing in China last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 188 countries and regions. The US, Brazil…
(2020-07-14). Trump Tells Florida Crowd "Something Will Happen in Venezuela" Soon. thealtworld.com "Something will happen with Venezuela. That's all I can tell you," Trump said, before not-so-cryptically adding that Washington would be "very much involved." | MPN— On a trip to COVID-19 riddled Florida this weekend, President Donald Trump not-so-cryptically revealed that he had something big planned for Venezuela during a meeting with leaders of the U.S. military's Southern Command. "Something will happen with Venezuela. That's all I can tell you," he
(2020-07-14). Boris Johnson Should not be Making New Global Enemies When His Country is in a Shambles. counterpunch.org Antagonising China may not be wise, particularly as it's clear that dysfunctional leaders like Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro could not control an outbreak of acne.
(2020-07-14). Why should the Argentine government take over Vicentin? peoplesdispatch.org Argentina's elite has waged strong resistance to the possible state takeover of the Vicentin Agroindustrial Group, ignoring how this could contribute towards food sovereignty and help Argentina deal its foreign debt crisis…
(2020-07-14). Colombia: Killing of rights defenders, social leaders, ex-fighters, most serious threat to peace. news.un.org The killing of former combatants, human rights defenders and social leaders of communities devastated by decades of conflict, remains the most serious threat to peace in Colombia since the signing of a landmark peace agreement in 2016, the top UN official in the country told the Security Council on Tuesday, meeting in-person at UN Headquarters in New York, for the first time in four months.
(2020-07-14). Workers Struggles: The Americas. wsws.org Members of Actors Equity at Disney World in Florida have been locked out over their demand for COVID-19 testing while doctors in Peru are among those protesting inadequate response to the pandemic…