US Opens Venezuela Interest Section in Colombia as Guaido Rebuffs Further Talks
Lucas Koerner and Ricardo Vaz | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-08-28
It remains unclear whether the new Venezuela Affairs Unit will facilitate talks with Caracas.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14640

The Green Party Denounces Business Deals and Trade Policies Through Which Multinational Corporations Profit From the Destruction of the Brazilian Rainforest
commondreams.org | 2019-08-28
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commondreams.org/newswire/2019/08/28/green-party-denounces-business-deals-and-trade-policies-through-which?cd-origin=rss

Transnational Honda shuts down production in Argentina
wsws.org | 2019-08-28
Honda said it was discontinuing car production in Argentina, "in the face of abrupt changes occurring to automobile industries around the world."
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/08/28/hond-a28.html

It's not just Brazil's Amazon rainforest that's ablaze — Bolivian fires are threatening people and wildlife
Claire F.R. Wordley | nationofchange.org | 2019-08-28
Up to 800,000 hectares of the unique Chiquitano forest were burned to the ground in Bolivia between August 18 and August 23. That's more forest than is usually destroyed across the country in two years. Experts say that it will take at least two centuries to repair the ecological damage done by the fires, while at least 500 species are said …
nationofchange.org/2019/08/28/its-not-just-brazils-amazon-rainforest-thats-ablaze-bolivian-fires-are-threatening-people-and-wildlife/

Lula Tells the World He's "Back in the Game" from Jail. "Lula is Brazil's only Possible Factor of Stability"
Pepe Escobar | globalresearch.ca | 2019-08-28
Brazil has always been a land of superlatives. Yet nothing beats the current, perverse configuration: a world statesman lingers in jail while a clownish thug is in power, his antics now considered a threat to the whole planet. | In a …
globalresearch.ca/lula-back-game-from-jail/5687382

Health concerns rise in Brazil as Amazon fires rage
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2019-08-28
Lingering smoke in the Amazon is causing concern among Brazilians who say that respiratory problems — particularly among children and the elderly — have increased as fires in the region rage."The kids are affected the most. They're coughing a lot," said Elane Diaz, a nurse in the Rondonia state capital of Porto Velho, as she waited for a doctor's appointment at a hospital with her five-year-old-son Eduardo."They have problems breathing. I'm concerned because it affects their health." | The number of people treated for respiratory issues increased sharply in recent days at a local children's hospital."Th…
thecanary.co/discovery/news-discovery/2019/08/28/health-concerns-rise-in-brazil-as-amazon-fires-rage/

Canada and Bolsonaro
Yves Engler | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-28
By now most environmentally conscious people understand that Jair Bolsonaro is a bad guy. Brazil's president has scandalously blamed environmentalists for starting fires burning in the Amazon region, after having called for more "development" of the huge forests. Canadians are lucky we have a prime minister who is not such an embarrassment and understands environmental…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/28/canada-and-bolsonaro/

Inexorable Solidarity With the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil
commondreams.org | 2019-08-28
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commondreams.org/newswire/2019/08/28/inexorable-solidarity-indigenous-peoples-brazil?cd-origin=rss

We are facing a global emergency in the Amazon. Here's what we can do
Leila Salazar-Lopez and Lindsey Allen | nationofchange.org | 2019-08-28
Called "the lungs of the Earth", the Amazon rainforest and its lush trees make roughly 20% of the oxygen on Earth. Yet, right now, the skies of Sao Paolo, Brazil are black and the smoke can be seen from space. Flames are ravaging the Amazon Basin. Though climate change has catalyzed many devastating blazes in recent years, …
nationofchange.org/2019/08/28/we-are-facing-a-global-emergency-in-the-amazon-heres-what-we-can-do/

The Open Amazon and Its Enemies: A Call for Action and Optimism
Francesc Badia i Dalmases | commondreams.org | 2019-08-28
Tree in the Brazilian rainforest. (Photo: Pablo Albarenga, all rights reserved.) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/amazonr.jpeg …
commondreams.org/views/2019/08/28/open-amazon-and-its-enemies-call-action-and-optimism?cd-origin=rss

How Bolsonaro's Climate Change Denial & Anti-Indigenous Policies Led to Massive Fires in the Amazon
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-28
In Brazil, fires continue to rage in the Amazon, and new drone footage shows the smoke and flames gathering strength. A vast plume of smoke has spread across South America and the Atlantic Ocean and is visible from space. The fires are also destroying large swaths of land in Bolivia. The fires are unprecedented in recorded history, and environmentalists say most of the fires were deliberately set by illegal miners and cattle ranchers. So far this year, there have been nearly 73,000 fires in Brazil, with over half of them in the Amazon region — an 83% increase from the same period last year. Far-right Brazil…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/28/brazil_jair_bolsonaro_unprecedented_amazon_fires

What Will It Take To Declare A Climate Emergency?
Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-08-27
Students march in Melbourne, Australia. Source AAP. The Embassy Protectors Defense Committee is calling on the US State Department to drop the federal charges against us. On May 16, federal forces invaded the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, DC in violation of the Vienna Convention and arrested four Embassy Protectors even though we were there with …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/08/what-will-it-take-to-declare-a-climate-emergency/

Clampdown on Housing Rights Activists in Bolsonaro's Brazil
Michael Fox | thenation.com | 2019-08-27
Clampdown on Housing Rights Activists in Bolsonaro's Brazil…
thenation.com/article/brazil-bolsonaro-activists-housing-homeless-rights/

Argentina: The Political Pendulum may be Swinging Left Again in Latin America
Nino Pagliccia | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-27
The primary vote in Argentina last August 11 indicated quite a strong rejection of neoliberal policies in a region that has seen a wave of right-wing governments coming to power in the last ten years. The current neoliberal president Mauricio Macri lagged 15 percentage points behind the center-left Front of All (Frente de Todos) coalition…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/27/argentina-the-political-pendulum-may-be-swinging-left-again-in-latin-america/

Football is 'refuge for those who have left everything'; UN initiative aims to bolster well-being of refugee, migrant children in Peru
United Nations | un.org | 2019-08-27
Sport brings people together "regardless of conditions or flags", a senior United Nations official in Perú said on Tuesday referring to a new initiative launched over this past weekend to promote the well-being of children and youth in Lima's refugee and migrant communities through football.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/08/1044991

The Week Trump Hit Peak Megalomania
Peter Bolton | counterpunch.org | 2019-08-27
The fact that Trump is an egomaniac hardly constitutes news. Before becoming president his professional life was characterized by a succession of attention-seeking vanity projects. Through his career as a property developer, he oversaw the construction of a series of gaudy buildings, which stand as monuments to kitsch in locations as diverse as Panama, Uruguay,…
counterpunch.org/2019/08/27/the-week-trump-hit-peak-megalomania/

Venezuela: "Landowners Persecute and Murder the Yukpa with Impunity"
Alex Anfruns | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-08-27
The French journalist Angèle Savino lived in Venezuela for thirteen years, during which time she followed closely the conflict between the Yukpa and the major landowners. "After Chavez decided to hand over the land to the Yukpa, the assassinations ensued" — she confides. Convinced that in Venezuela, the indigenous struggle for land is also that …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/08/venezuela-landowners-persecute-and-murder-the-yukpa-with-impunity/

Glenn Greenwald on the Amazon fires and the fight for Brazil's future
Aaron Maté | thegrayzone.com | 2019-08-27
Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept discusses the record-setting Amazon forest fires, the struggle against Brazil's far-right government, and how his…
thegrayzone.com/2019/08/27/glenn-greenwald-on-the-amazon-fires-and-the-fight-for-brazils-future/

Spurning Amazon Aid, Bolsonaro Brings Up Notre Dame Fire
Staff | truthdig.com | 2019-08-27
JACUNDA NATIONAL FOREST, Brazil — Brazil insisted on Tuesday that it would set conditions for accepting any aid from the world's richest nations to help fight Amazon fires, saying France couldn't protect the Notre Dame Cathedral from fire devastation and should focus on its own problems. | The increasingly personal feud between Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and French leader Emmanuel Macron threatened to derail a pledge of tens of millions of dollars by the Group of Seven nations for the Amazon region. | Brazil has bristled over what it views as neo-colonial interference by Europe on matters of soverei…
truthdig.com/articles/spurning-amazon-aid-brazil-brings-up-notre-dame-fire/

Canada's PM Trudeau Supports Brazil's Environmentally Criminal President not the Amazon Rain Forest
Yves Engler | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-08-27
By now most environmentally conscious people understand that Jair Bolsonaro is a bad guy. Brazil's president has scandalously blamed environmentalists for starting fires burning in the Amazon region, after having called for more "development" of the huge forests. Canadians are lucky we have a prime minister who is not such an embarrassment and understands environmental …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/08/canadas-pm-trudeau-supports-brazils-environmentally-criminal-president-not-the-amazon-rain-forest/

Amazonia in Flames
Peter Koenig | dissidentvoice.org | 2019-08-27
On 28 October 2018, Jair Bolsonaro was elected President of Brazil with 55.1% of the vote and with a gigantic help from Cambridge Analytica. At the World Economic Forum (WEF) in January 2019 in Davos Switzerland, Bolsonaro made a sumptuous presentation, "We Are Building a New Brazil". He outlined a program that put literally Brazil up …
dissidentvoice.org/2019/08/amazonia-in-flames/

A Top Financier of Trump and McConnell Is a Driving Force Behind Amazon Deforestation
Ryan Grim | theintercept.com | 2019-08-27
Steve Schwarzman is the CEO of the Blackstone Group, which partially owns a Brazilian firm that is helping transform the Amazon from jungle to farmland.
theintercept.com/2019/08/27/amazon-rainforest-fire-blackstone/

Rainforest on Fire: Brazilians Mobilize Against President's Amazon Policies
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-08-27
Mobilizations took place throughout Brazil on Monday, to declare their opposition to President Bolsonaro's environmental policies, which have contributed to the largest increase in Amazon rainforest fires in years…
therealnews.com/stories/rainforest-on-fire-brazilians-mobilize-against-presidents-amazon-policies

Venezuela: Major Gas Explosion Called Act of 'Sabotage'
TeleSur English | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-08-26
Government spokespersons have blamed opposition activists from First Justice Party.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14637

MLB Breaks Ties with Venezuelan Baseball over US Embargo
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-08-26
All US-based ball players, including Venezuelan nationals, are now barred from playing in Venezuela.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14639

Max Blumenthal: US sanctions on Venezuela are 'sociopathic'
Aaron Maté | thegrayzone.com | 2019-08-25
The Grayzone's Max Blumenthal discusses his heated exchange with a former Obama official and a member of Venezuela's far-right opposition…
thegrayzone.com/2019/08/25/max-blumenthal-us-sanctions-on-venezuela-are-sociopathic/

La Via Campesina: Burning the Amazon is a crime against humanity
susan_p | greenleft.org.au | 2019-08-25
Amazon rainforest La Via CampesinaIssue 1235 Brazil climate emergencyAugust 26, 2019La Via Campesina is a global social movement that unites 148 groups representing small farmers, peasants, rural workers and indigenous communities around the world. | It fights for…
greenleft.org.au/content/la-via-campesina-burning-amazon-crime-against-humanity

Analysis and implications of the Argentine elections
unitedEditor | uwidata.com | 2019-08-24
The victory of Alberto Fernández in the PASO has generated a financial, social and political earthquake in Argentina. Who is Fernández, and what would his victory mean for the crisis-worn South American country? Argentina's internal political context Fernández' incumbent opponent, Mauricio Macri, was likely surprised that, after the economic and social disasters of left-wing Peronism …
uwidata.com/5041-analysis-and-implications-of-the-argentine-elections/

Brazil Isn't the Only Far-Right Government Destroying the Planet
Basav Sen | progressive.org | 2019-08-24
As the Amazon burns, the terrifying parallels between the U.S. and Brazilian governments highlight the damage authoritarian leaders are doing.
progressive.org/dispatches/brazil-far-right-destroying-planet-sen-190824/

Argentina's Economic Crisis Deepens as Macri Applies IMF Measures
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-08-23
President Macri is trying to blame his predecessor and likely successor in office, Cristina Fernandez and Alberto Fernandez for Argentina's steep economic crisis. However, the IMF plan he is applying lays out very clearly where the real blame lies, says CEPR's Mark Weisbrot…
therealnews.com/stories/argentinas-economic-crisis-deepens-as-macri-applies-imf-measures

Pre-elections indicate defeat for pro-imperialist Macri
John Catalinotto | workers.org | 2019-08-23
It is rare that primary elections hit the news cycle like a thunderclap. Yet political observers across Latin America see the Aug. 11 primary in Argentina as indicating a continental shift, reversing the right-wing wave in that region. Some even call it a setback for Donald Trump. Mauricio Macri had . . . | Continue reading Pre-elections indicate defeat for pro-imperialist Macri at Workers.org…
workers.org/2019/08/23/pre-elections-indicate-defeat-for-pro-imperialist-macri/

Venezuela's Maduro Confirms Secret Trump Talks as US Navy 'Ready' For Action
Ricardo Vaz | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-08-23
US Southern Command chief said US Navy will "do what needs to be done."
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14634

GOP Lobbyists Help Brazil Recruit U.S. Companies to Exploit the Amazon
Lee Fang | theintercept.com | 2019-08-23
This summer, fires are being used to clear wide swaths of the Amazon at an unprecedented rate. One-fifth of the Amazon has already been destroyed in the past 50 years; further industrialization of the rainforest risks destroying another fifth, a loss that would be catastrophic for the global ecosystem. | The disaster is widely blamed on interests seeking to clear the world's largest rainforest for cattle ranching, mining, and export-focused agribusiness. Documents reveal that those interests a…
theintercept.com/2019/08/23/gop-lobbyists-help-brazil-recruit-u-s-companies-to-exploit-the-amazon/

Bolivian Mine Workers Strike Against one of World's Largest Mining Corporations
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-08-23
The Japanese Sumitomo corporation runs one of the world's largest zinc, copper, and lead mines in Bolivia, where it has been denying workers overtime pay, despite a court order to pay them. We talk to the mine workers' union president, Henry Cayo…
therealnews.com/stories/bolivian-mine-workers-strike-against-one-of-worlds-largest-mining-corporations

"Our House Is On Fire": Brazil Faces Global Outrage as Massive Fires Spread in Amazon Rainforest
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-23
The United Nations is calling for the protection of the Amazon amid fears that thousands of fires raging across Brazil and some parts of Bolivia are rapidly destroying the world's largest rainforest and paving the way for a climate catastrophe. The fires have spread a vast plume of smoke across South America and the Atlantic Ocean that's visible from space. They're unprecedented in recorded history, and environmentalists say most of the fires were deliberately set by illegal miners and cattle ranchers. Indigenous people in Brazil have accused far-right President Jair Bolsonaro of encouraging the destruction. Bols…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/23/jeff_merkley_us_nuclear_policy_green

Sen. Merkley on the Dangers of a New Nuclear Arms Race & Why He Backs the Green New Deal
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-23
Fallout from the Trump administration's decision to pull out of the landmark 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is mounting. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to prepare for what he called a "symmetrical response" after the U.S. tested what it said was a nonnuclear cruise missile earlier this week. The U.S. launch was the first test of its kind since the Trump administration withdrew from the INF. We speak to Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon about U.S. nuclear policy, as well as the Green New Deal, President Trump's wish to buy Greenland and…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/23/amazon_fires_brazil_andrew_miller

FROM THE FIELD: Argentina Preserving Pristine Forests
United Nations | un.org | 2019-08-22
Thousands of species of animals and plants which are indigenous to a vast forest in Argentina could be saved thanks to a partnership between the United Nations and the South American country.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2019/08/1044761

Collusion in Brazil's judiciary brings the curtain down on the rule of law
susan_p | greenleft.org.au | 2019-08-22
corruption Tony RosenbergIssue 1234 Brazil Operation Car WashAugust 22, 2019Messages between Brazil's federal prosecutor, Deltan Dallagnol, who led Operaàßà£o Lava Jato (Operation Car Wash) and then-judge, Sergio Moro, have revealed that the evidence used…
greenleft.org.au/content/collusion-brazil-judiciary-brings-curtain-down-rule-law

Meet Alvaro Enciso, the Artist Placing Crosses in Sonoran Desert to Memorialize Migrant Deaths
Staff | democracynow.org | 2019-08-21
More than 3,000 human remains have been found in the Sonoran Desert, most of them of migrants fleeing their home countries to embark on an uncertain and perilous journey to the United States. On a recent visit to the Arizona borderlands, Democracy Now! accompanied Tucson-based artist Alvaro Enciso into the desert at the site where he placed four unique markers to honor four immigrants killed in a car accident years ago as they fled from Border Patrol. In the past five years, Enciso, who is originally from Colombia, has built and installed over 900 crosses across the treacherous Sonoran Desert in Arizona as part o…
www.democracynow.org/2019/8/21/alvaro_enciso_unique_crosses_sonoran_desert

40 rebuttals to the media's smears of Julian Assange — by someone who was actually there
Fidel Narváez | thegrayzone.com | 2019-08-20
A former diplomat who worked in the Ecuadorian embassy while Julian Assange lived there in asylum debunks 40 of CNN's…
thegrayzone.com/2019/08/20/cnn-media-smears-julian-assange-fidel-narvaez/

Say no to the McCarthyite attack on Chicago teachers
Fight Back | fightbacknews.org | 2019-08-20
As the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) find itself locked in tough contract negotiations and faces the possibility of a strike, corporate and right-wing media like the Chicago Tribune, Breitbart and others have launched a bizarre attack that seems like it is straight out of the 1950s red scare. Rather than addressing the real problems impacting teachers and students in Chicago schools, these reactionary pundits have decided the rant and rave about – of all things – a delegation of teachers that traveled to Venezuela earlier this summer. | Here are the facts of the matter. A group of teachers who are also members of…
www.fightbacknews.org/2019/8/20/say-no-mccarthyite-attack-chicago-teachers

Venezuela Oil Production Continues Slump as US Embargo Deters Foreign Trade
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-08-19
July's production was 740,000 barrels per day, 4 percent lower than in June.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14631

Venezuelan Opposition Journalist Served as Agent for US, UK Gov't
TeleSUR English | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-08-14
In a U.S. diplomatic cable, Bocaranda is dubbed a "reliable source" and to be "strictly protected."
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14627

Venezuela's Maduro Reshuffles Cabinet as Supreme Court Strips Three Opposition Lawmakers of Immunity
Ricardo Vaz | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-08-14
The National Constituent Assembly will also evaluate bringing forward legislative elections.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14628

Venezuela Secures New Chinese Oil Investment
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-08-12
The move defies the US embargo's secondary sanction provisions targeting foreign firms trading with Venezuela.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14625

Worldwide Solidarity Rallies Held in Support of Venezuela
TeleSur English | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-08-12
Rallies were held on Saturday across the world in support of Venezuela as the Bolivarian Republic faces an inhuman economic blockade imposed by the United States and their Western allies.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14623

Venezuelan Gov't Suspends Dialogue as EU Criticizes US Embargo
Lucas Koerner and Ricardo Vaz | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-08-08
The European Union objected to the "extraterritorial application of unilateral measures."
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14619

Actions urged against U.S. blockade of Venezuela
Gloria La Riva | liberationnews.org | 2019-08-08
With Trump's Aug. 6 announcement of a total U.S. economic blockade of Venezuela, President Nicolás Maduro is calling on people worldwide to stand with Venezuela on Saturday, Aug. 10, with solidarity rallies.
liberationnews.org/actions-urged-against-u-s-blockade-of-venezuela/

Venezuelan Campesinos' March on Miraflores Blocked by Police
Ricardo Vaz | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-08-08
The mobilization marked the one-year anniversary of the Admirable Campesino March.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14620

Venezuelan Athletes Bring Home Medals from Pan-American Games
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2019-08-07
Venezuela has scored thirteen medals so far, including three golds, with more expected.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14617