This is the first instalment in a series of articles on lessons for the left, and focuses on the case of Bolivia
Unlike in Europe, the left in Latin America is still winning elections — albeit with difficulty.
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has emerged triumphant after a military raid to rescue him from protesting police.
Ecuadorean troops stormed a hospital in Quito on Thursday and rescued President Rafael Correa, who was trapped inside for hours by renegade police.
Rafael Correa sailed to a re-election victory on Sunday but will face tough times during his second term as a weak economy threatens his popularity.
The presidents of Venezuela and Colombia exploit the feelgood factor in the region to mend a relationship that had turned sour.
The founder and chief commander of Colombia’s Farc rebel force, Manuel Marulanda, has died after more than 40 years fighting the state from jungle and mountain camps. If confirmed, the death of Manuel Marulanda, who organised the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrillas in the 1960s, would be the heaviest blow yet to Latin America’s oldest insurgency.
The presidents of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela ended a border dispute on Friday with a summit handshake after a week of regional diplomacy in the face of hostile rhetoric and troop build-ups.”And with this … this incident that has caused so much damage [is] resolved,” leftist Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez accused his Colombian counterpart of war crimes as Venezuela and Ecuador turned up the heat on Bogotá over its military strike on an insurgent camp inside Ecuador. ”A war crime occurred there,” Chávez charged late on Wednesday at a joint press conference with Ecuadorian counterpart Rafael Correa.
Colombia’s military said on Saturday its troops had killed a top rebel commander in an attack on a jungle camp across the border in Ecuador in a severe blow to Latin America’s oldest guerrilla insurgency. Raul Reyes, one of seven members of the secretariat of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, was killed in an operation that included air strikes and fighting with rebels across the border.
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/ 3 February 2008
Torrential rains have caused widespread flooding in southern Ecuador, eastern Bolivia and northern Argentina, with nearly 50 people killed and thousands made homeless, triggering international humanitarian aid to the region. It is estimated that more than 30 000 families in Bolivia have been affected by the floods.