Orinoco Tribune 2 (2023-04-20). Colombia: Petro and Duque Clash Over Compliance With 2016 Peace Accords. orinocotribune.com 
Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused his predecessor, former President Iván Duque (2018-2022), of "tearing to shreds" the peace agreement signed by the government of Juan Manuel Santos with the former FARC guerrillas, by not fulfilling the commitments made by the Colombian state with the former combatants. | During his participation in the National Council for Peace, Reconciliation and Coexistence, Petro said that Duque had four years to enforce the agreements, as he had been president for four of the seven years of the existence of the agreement since it was signed in 2016. | "How many hectares did Duque bu…
Orinoco Tribune 2 (2023-04-20). Taiwan Pushed Closer to Conflict by Washington. orinocotribune.com By Brian Berletic — Apr 12, 2023 | The island province of Taiwan has been pushed closer still to conflict by Washington recently as the US hosted a visit by Tsai Ing-Wen of the Democratic Progressive Party who currently heads the administration in Taipei. | During her trip to the United States, Tsai Ing-Wen met with the current US Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy in a move meant to deliberately undermine China's sovereignty through oblique political recognition of separatist elements within China. | The BBC in its
Ana Perdigón (2023-04-20). Jeanine àÅñez Charged for Senkata Massacre in Bolivia. orinocotribune.com
Staff (2023-04-20). With 5% of World Population, US Consumes 80% of World's Opioids. orinocotribune.com 
The spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin, rejected the accusations and sanctions issued by the US, under the pretext of alleged participation in the trafficking of fentanyl precursors (opioids), against Chinese citizens and companies. | "US blames China for exporting 'fentanyl precursors,' which are in fact only ordinary chemicals sold through normal trade. In‚ÄÇinternational‚ÄÇtrade,‚ÄÇit‚ÄÇis the importer's duty to prevent such chemicals from falling into the hands of illicit drug-makers.‚ÄÇBy…
Staff (2023-04-20). Russia's Foreign Minister Meets With President Maduro in Caracas (+Bolivia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines). orinocotribune.com 
Caracas, April 19, 2023 ( Lavrov arrived in Caracas this Tuesday and held meetings with Venezuelan authorities, including the minister for foreign affairs, Yván Gil, and vice president, Delcy Rodríguez. Issues including energy agreements, i…
Staff (2023-04-20). Miguel Díaz-Canel Re-Elected as President of Cuba. orinocotribune.com 
In its tenth term, the recently constituted Cuban National Assembly of People's Power has ratified Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez in his continuation as president of the Republic of Cuba. | Díaz-Canel was re-elected this Wednesday, April 19, with 459 votes comprising 97.66% favorable validations of the absolute majority, as reported by the president of the National Electoral Council, Alina Balseiro Gutiérrez. | President Díaz-Canel…
Nazz Aboutabl (2023-04-20). People's Action Proudly Endorses Amanda McIllmurray and Helen Gym in Philadelphia Municipal Elections. peoplesaction.org Organization Adds Amanda McIllmurray and Helen Gym to its People's Slate WASHINGTON, D.C.—People's Action today endorsed two progressive champions in Philadelphia municipal elections: Helen Gym for mayor and Amanda McIllmurray for Philadelphia City Council. Both candidates are proud members of Reclaim Philadelphia, a member-driven political powerhouse and affiliate of People's Action. The two are running movement …
Peoples Dispatch (2023-04-20). Cuban parliament re-elects President Miguel Díaz-Canel for second term. peoplesdispatch.org Díaz-Canel thanked former president and the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, Army General Raúl Castro, for his support and trust, and the Cuban people for their courage and loyalty…
Peoples Dispatch (2023-04-20). Black liberation organizers indicted for opposing war. peoplesdispatch.org On April 18, a federal grand jury
Peoples Dispatch (2023-04-20). EU's withdrawal of tariffs on Ukrainian grain backfires as eastern European countries rise in opposition. peoplesdispatch.org The European Union and five countries in eastern Europe at are loggerheads over the tariff-free import of grain from Ukraine. The five countries say that the removal of tariffs has affected their internal markets and their farmers…
Fiona Edwards (2023-04-20). Obsolete Cold War attitudes are holding Europe back. peoplesdispatch.org Recently, the United States has been followed by a number of European countries in supporting a cold war policy toward Russia and China. This has created increasing problems in Europe—bringing a major war to the continent, creating serious economic difficulties, and intensifying a decline in living standards. | In this context, the case for Europe establishing an independent foreign policy has gained support, as a way of ensuring security and prosperity. | The US brings hot war to Europe: | Starting with the most extreme expression of the situation, the war in Ukraine has claimed tens of thousands o…
Natalia Marques (2023-04-20). The US has a child labor crisis. Lawmakers are trying to make it worse. peoplesdispatch.org Iowa just passed one of the most extreme pro-child labor bills in recent times, leaving employers off the hook if a child worker dies on the job…
Peoples Dispatch (2023-04-20). Czech government's plan to raise retirement age faces intense protests. peoplesdispatch.org The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM) as well as trade unions have launched petitions to reject the conservative government's plan to increase the retirement age in the Czech Republic to 68 years…
Ana Vraƒçar (2023-04-20). Health worker shortage in Global South cannot be resolved by tepid mechanisms and bans. peoplesdispatch.org Nigeria's House of Representatives is considering a bill which would block young physicians from emigrating right after university. The proposal points to the widespread problem of mass emigration of health workers from the Global South…
M.K. Bhadrakumar (2023-04-20). China, Russia circle wagons in Asia-Pacific. peoplesdispatch.org The The visit carries forward the pivotal decisions taken at the intensive one-on-one talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow through March 20-21. In a bre…
Atlanta Antifascists. (2023-04-20). Inside Southern Sons Active Club; Part I. popularresistance.org In January, we began infiltrating the Southern Sons Active Club (SSAC), a racist group operating in the Carolinas and in Georgia that is part of the broader "Active Club" network. With this two-part report, we identify twelve SSAC members and two former members. We also discuss a Georgia participant in the "Revolutionary White Brotherhood" (formerly "Blood and Soil Crew"), a regional neo-Nazi youth group with close ties to SSAC. We document SSAC's ties to a white supremacist now facing charges for his part in a bank robbery conspiracy. In another instance of the club attracting violence-prone neo-Nazis, we discus…
Amanda Katz, Labor Notes. (2023-04-20). In Los Angeles Schools, Solidarity Strike Scores Big For Both Unions. popularresistance.org When Los Angeles educators joined school support staff on the picket lines last month, our solidarity strike helped them clinch a contract with a 30 percent raise. | Riding that wave, yesterday educators reached a tentative agreement of our own, with a 21 percent raise, smaller classes, and improved staffing. | Superintendent Alberto Carvalho had scoffed in February when support staff voted by 96 percent to authorize a strike. On Twitter he belittled the threat as empty theatrics. "1, 2, 3…Circus," he wrote, "a predictable performance with a known outcome, desiring of nothing more than an applause, a coin, and…
Ken Cosentino, Last Real Indians. (2023-04-20). Seneca Nation Casinos And DOD Contracts: Bullets! Drones! Tanks! popularresistance.org Prepare yourself for a journey down a bizarre rabbit hole, by following the money trail between the Seneca Nation of Indians (SNI) and the United States Department of Defense/Intelligence Agencies. When a government investigator saw what you are about to read, he looked over at his partner and exclaimed "Why the Hell is an Indian Nation providing services to Defense contractors?!" | According to their own websites, SNI was "Once a member of the Hodinà∂hsà∂: ni ¥ Confederacy," meaning SNI is no longer a member of the Six Nations. In fact, they have not been part of the Confederacy since 1848. There is…
Cartie Werthman, Desmog. (2023-04-20). The Meat Industry Is Advertising Like Big Oil. popularresistance.org Later this month, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) will head to the 2023 National Agri-Marketing Association's conference to see if its public relations campaign about beef's sustainability can secure the national award for campaigns directed to consumers. | Earlier this year, a campaign NCBA began in 2021 called "Beefing up Sustainability," and a corresponding campaign targeted to kids, advanced to the final round. | Both were part of NCBA's multi-pronged PR campaign about how beef is actually a climate-conscious food. The group, which is the beef industry's largest trade association, plastered t…
Saima May Sidik, Ecowatch. (2023-04-20). Ten Rivers Facing Pollution, Development, And Climate Change. popularresistance.org By America's waterways need help. Threats such as industrial pollution, poorly planned development, and climate change are widespread. In some cases, help could be imminent—but only with support from the public and lawmakers, according to a report out today from the conservation group American Rivers. | The report, called America's Most Endangered Rivers, has been produced annually since 1984. Each report describes 10 threatened rivers, each facing an upcoming decision with the potential for public influence, such as whether to remove a dam or compel polluters to clean up waste. | "I like the focus on actio…
Katelin Penner, Next City. (2023-04-20). What Barcelona Can Teach New York City About Affordable Housing. popularresistance.org Earlier this month I visited Barcelona, Spain's second largest city, where my sister has been studying abroad. We did all of the major tourist hits: we ate tapas, took a cable car to the top of MontjuàØc, drank sangria, strolled through Park Gàºell, one of Antoni GaudŒØ's signature works. We were captured by the beauty of the massive, rainbow stained glass windows of the Sagrada Familia church. I babbled to my family about superblocks, Barcelona's innovative street design model, intended to decrease car use and air pollution while increasing access to public space. | Yet the thing I found…
Coordinating Committee, Black Alliance for Peace. (2023-04-20). Indictment Of African People's Socialist Party Is A Racist Assault On The Black Liberation Movement. popularresistance.org The unsealed indictment states that on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, a federal grand jury in Tampa, Florida, levied charges of "conspiring to covertly sow discord in U.S. society, spread Russian propaganda and interfere illegally in U.S. elections." While no evidence of conspiracy, propagandizing, or interference has been presented, the APSP and its members have the right, as all U.S. citizens do, to freely criticize U.S. domestic and foreign policy. | Not since the Palmer Raids of the early 20th century, nor since the indictment of W.E.B DuBois in 1951, or the confiscation of Paul Robeson's U.S. passport during the a…
Seymour Hersh. (2023-04-20). Seymour Hersh: Trading With The Enemy. popularresistance.org The Ukraine government, headed by Volodymyr Zelensky, has been using American taxpayers' funds to pay dearly for the vitally needed diesel fuel that is keeping the Ukrainian army on the move in its war with Russia. It is unknown how much the Zelensky government is paying per gallon for the fuel, but the Pentagon was paying as much as $400 per gallon to transport gasoline from a port in Pakistan, via truck or parachute, into Afghanistan during the decades-long American war there. | What also is unknown is that Zelensky has been buying the fuel from Russia, the country with which it, and Washington, are at war, and…
Joe Lauria, Consortium News. (2023-04-20). Leaks Spelling The End For Ukraine. popularresistance.org A Washington Post headline last week was a bombshell for someone who has only been reading about the Ukraine war in The Washington Post and other Western media: "U.S. doubts Ukraine counteroffensive will yield big gains, leaked document says." | The story admits that Western media audiences have been misled about the course of the war, that essentially what mainstream media has been reporting about Ukraine has been a pack of lies: namely that Ukraine is winning the war and is poised to launch an offensive that will lead to a final victory. | Instead, the second paragraph of the piece makes clear the leaked docume…
Clau O'Brien Moscoso, Black Agenda Report. (2023-04-20). Piura No Longer A Fujimori Stronghold. popularresistance.org The parliamentary coup that took place on Dec 7th that ousted democratically elected President Pedro Castillo has now passed its 4th month. Over 120 days and there are still no investigations into any of the over 80 deaths, or there are attempts by the prosecution to stall and move investigations to Lima , where protesters say there will be no justice. Though protesters from provincial regions have left the capital city to reassess the struggle from their home territories, more delegations continue to travel to Lima to demand the peoples' popular vote be respected and to get the coup regime to step down.
Staff (2023-04-19). Russia's FM Lavrov Meets With Venezuela's VP Rodriguez and FM Gil in Caracas. orinocotribune.com Caracas, January 19, 2023 ( Lavrov, a close friend of Venezuela, arrived this Tuesday, April 18, at the Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetia after visiting…
scorinoco (2023-04-19). President of Syria Receives Saudi FM in Damascus (Rapprochement). orinocotribune.com 
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad received Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan at the presidential palace in Damascus on Tuesday, April 18, Al Mayadeen reported. | The Syrian presidency announced in a statement that President al-Assad assured bin Farhan that the sound relations between Syria and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are the natural state that should prevail and that these relations do not only hold interest for the two countries but also reflect an Arab and regional interest. | The presidency highlighted that al-Assad conveyed his greetings and appreciation to Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and…
scorinoco (2023-04-19). President of Russia Travels to Kherson Region to Meet Soldiers, Pays First Visit to Lugansk. orinocotribune.com Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Vostok National Guard staff in the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR), the Kremlin announced in a statement. | "Vladimir Putin visited the Vostok National Guard staff in the Lugansk People's Republic, where he received reports from Col Gen Alexander Lapin and other senior officers on the situation in that area," the statement said. | Putin's visits to the staff of the Dnepr grouping of troops in the Kherson Region and to the Vostok National Guard staff in the Lugansk People's Republic on Tuesday, April 18, were quite impromptu, the Kremlin press service said. | This was V…
Staff (2023-04-19). Julian Assange, 4 Years Into His Imprisonment. orinocotribune.com By Oleg Yasinsky — Apr 14, 2023 | This week marks the fourth anniversary of the criminal imprisonment of Julian Assange, an Australian citizen kidnapped and convicted by the US for having dared to bother the mafia group, the most powerful and bloody in history, known worldwide as "Western civilization." He is accused of 18 crimes, including espionage. A single word of solidarity and support for Assange, no matter how useless or naive it may be, will never be superfluous, redundant or obvious. | Beyond the myth or symbol that the media turned him into within the cyclical and fleeting nature of their trends, t…
Ana Perdigón (2023-04-19). Venezuela Advances Public Consultation of Asset Forfeiture Law. orinocotribune.com 
On Monday, Venezuela's National Assembly (AN) held a session for public consultation on the Organic Law of Asset Forfeiture. The law aims to speed up the process of seizure and disposition of assets seized from corruption, drug trafficking and terrorism. | AN Deputy Diosdado Cabello presented the public consultation of the Organic Law of Asset Forfeiture, which was approved in the first discussion on March 31. Representatives of legal consultancies of all state levels were present at the session; Cabello urged them to submit their feedback and recommendations as soon as possible. | The law will be discussed in fo…
Staff (2023-04-19). Argentinians Protest Against Visit By Head of US Southern Command. orinocotribune.com 
General Laura Richardson, head of the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), traveled to Argentina on Monday with the aim of meeting with officials including Argentina's Defense Minister Jorge Taiana. Richardson also visited Argentina in April, 2022. The visit occurs while Russia's Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov tours the region, visiting Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba. | As a result of Richardson's visit, various activist groups and social movements have organized demonstrations against the interference of the United States in the region and to oppose the destructive economic policies of the Internation…
Peter Certo (2023-04-19). In OtherWords: April 19, 2023. otherwords.org Next week is National Library Week. Americans love their local libraries, but this year's Library Week falls amid an unprecedented hike in book bans, classroom censorship, and other attacks on learning and freedom of speech. | This week in OtherWords, school district librarian Christopher Harris shares about growing up in a rural community without a public library — an experience he says made him committed to being a rural librarian as an adult. Pointing to surveys showing that the vast majority of Americans oppose book bans, Christopher says the book banners represent an extreme fringe peddling an outside…
Christopher Harris (2023-04-19). Support Your Local Librarians by Rejecting Book Bans. otherwords.org Growing up in Milwaukee, the local branch of the public library was always just a bus ride away. But when my family moved to central Pennsylvania when I was entering high school, we lived in a rural region that didn't even have a public library. | In the '90s, before the internet was widely available, the loss of a robust library system left me feeling cut off from the world. This is one reason I've spent the last 20 years living in a rural community, where I serve as library director for a school district. | After decades building resources and capacity in our small school districts, some of which don't even hav…
Jim Hightower (2023-04-19). Beware of Creeping Autocracy. otherwords.org It's always instructive to hear powerful political officials declare that in the name of democracy, they must usurp the people's democratic authority. | This has become all too common, as even so-called democratic regimes in France and Israel have infuriated their people by trying to ram vastly unpopular, anti-democratic schemes into law by executive fiat. | Luckily, though, our U.S. of A remains committed to the people's rule, right? Moreover, our leaders agree that local government is best, for it is closest to the people, right? | Uh, no… and no. | As the once-conservative Republican Party has turned extremi…
Kali Daugherty (2023-04-19). Don't Shred the Safety Net — Expand It. otherwords.org Most of us rely on some cash assistance to get by at some point, whether we realize it or not. | For wealthy people, that might include a family trust or any number of elaborate tax breaks. For middle-income people, it might come in the form of a mortgage interest deduction on their taxes, an inheritance, or a grandparent's contribution to a college fund. | But for many working people, that kind of help can only come from public programs — the kind that are now under threat from conservatives in Congress. | I worked in a homeless shelter for disabled adults for a decade. The work was grueling, physically an…
Lindsay Koshgarian (2023-04-19). Breaking Down Your Tax Bill. otherwords.org
Khalil Bendib (2023-04-19). Cartoon: Pro-Life, Anti-Kid. otherwords.org
Tanya Wadhwa (2023-04-19). New wave of violence in Ecuador's prisons leaves 19 inmates dead in four days. peoplesdispatch.org Violence continues to rock Ecuador's prisons. In a new wave of brutality, at least 19 inmates and three prison officers were killed in two different prisons between April 12 and April 15. | The spate of violence began on Wednesday morning, April 12, when security guards at the Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil city, Guayas province, found six inmates hanged in their cells in one of the twelve wards that make up the prison. As a result of the incident, the National Comprehensive Care Service for Adults Deprived of Liberty and and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI), the state agency in charge of Ecuador's penitentiaries,…
Peoples Dispatch (2023-04-19). Peace talks between Colombian government and FARC dissident group to begin in May. peoplesdispatch.org The announcement was made during a public event held in Caquetá with the objective of sharing the group's proposals for peace talks with social organizations and requesting their participation in the peace process…
Peoples Dispatch (2023-04-19). Saudi Arabia's foreign minister visits Damascus to expedite Syria's regional integration. peoplesdispatch.org Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan became the first high official from his country to visit Damascus since the war in Syria broke out in 2011. Farhan met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and discussed the process of Syria's reintegration into regional politics…
Julián Pilatti (2023-04-19). Argentina's far-right grows amid the crisis. peoplesdispatch.org The rise of the far-right libertarian Javier Milei in Argentine politics is not so easy to explain, but it is already a reality. What do his supporters see in such a controversial figure and how is it related to a crisis of political representation?
By Dave DeCamp / Antiwar.com The White House is preparing to take unprecedented action to limit US investments in China's tech sector, POLITICO reported on Tuesday. The action would come in the form of an executive order signed by President Biden that would require American companies to notify the government of new investments in Chinese tech. It …
By Conor Smyth / Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) A ban on evictions. Required paid leave. Continuous Medicaid coverage. Free school meals. Emergency SNAP allotments. An extra $600 a week in unemployment benefits. Child tax credit expansion. Thousands in stimulus checks. These measures were part of a suite of policies the US government passed …
Domestic uses of robotic dogs are fundamentally dehumanizing and would further suggest that they contribute strongly to the militarization of culture and strengthening the power of the surveillance state.
A polling firm found that Peru's coup-plotting, right-wing-controlled congress has 6% approval and 91% disapproval. Unelected leader Dina Boluarte has 15% approval and 78% disapproval. But they have the full support of the US, Canada, and foreign mining corporations.
By Paul Street / CounterPunch The Capitalist Democrats… The Democratic Party is a militantly capitalist entity and always has been — and not just in the neoliberal era. The much beloved New Deal Democratic president Franklin Roosevelt, himself a wealthy member of the capitalist establishment, boasted that he had saved the US American profits system by overseeing …
France's president has proven himself to be a well-oiled weathervane. What he says on Monday may not match what he says or does on Wednesday. But his remarks while visiting China are interesting in several ways.
By SP Staff Last week's Scheer Intelligence podcast featured a headline inspired by the late comedian George Carlin. The headline serves as an excuse to revisit his 2005 HBO special "Life is Worth Losing," where Carlin includes one of his most iconic bits critiquing America's consumerism, education, politics and the myth of the American Dream. …