Americas

Careful What You Tweet For

Staff / Truthdig Apr 12, 2013 When a staffer at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo posted a link to "The Daily Show" on Twitter, the American and Egyptian governments learned the power of social media; with digital product placement, editors can integrate advertisements into film or television scenes that were never there to begin with; meanwhile, to make way for a parking lot near the 2014 World Cup stadium site in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian authorities are kicking indigenous squatters out. These discoveries and more after the jump. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Ailing Hugo Chavez Names Successor

Peter Z. Scheer / Truthdig Dec 11, 2012 Although he was only recently elected to a fourth term as Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez has flown to Cuba for yet another surgery to address malignant cancer. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Obama Avoids Alignment With Israel Against Iran

Staff / Truthdig Jan 6, 2012 Obama dodges Netanyahu's attempts to suck the U.S. into a war against Iran; Stephen Colbert's many fictional faces are interfering with real world politics; meanwhile, the Argentine LGBT community is combatting the country's deep-rooted stereotypes. These discoveries and more after the jump. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

How Brazil Is Saving the Amazon

Staff / Truthdig Jan 2, 2012 Readers of Jared Diamond's "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" know that deforestation comes right before people eating each other to survive, so it is some relief that Brazil is sending armed officers into the Amazon to stop illegal logging. It's a war, says the BBC, and the environmentalists are winning. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

The Argentine Model

Staff / Truthdig Oct 24, 2011 While politicians from Athens to Washington are pushing through devastating austerity programs, Argentines voted in droves Sunday to re-elect their populist, welfare queen of a president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. (more) Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Chilean Students Take to the Streets

Staff / Truthdig Aug 7, 2011 Young Americans may lie sedate while insatiable corporatists ride roughshod over their futures, but not their South American counterparts Animated by a growing student debt, young Chileans are opposing the longstanding privatization of their university system (more). Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

U.S. to Throw More Money at Central America’s Drug War

Staff / Truthdig Jun 25, 2011 At a regional conference this week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged almost $300 million to the governments of Central America during 2011 to aid in their efforts to oppose cartels and others involved in the region's violent, illegal drug trade. (more) Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Murder Mystery: Chile Exhumes Salvador Allende

Staff / Truthdig May 25, 2011 A panel of forensic scientists will examine the remains of former Chilean President Salvador Allende, who either killed himself or was slain as forces loyal to all-around bad guy Augusto Pinochet stormed the presidential palace in 1973. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Brazil Scrambles to Respond to Spike in Deforestation

Staff / Truthdig May 20, 2011 Following a period that saw "the lowest level of deforestation in the history of Amazonia," Brazilian plant life and all things dependent upon it met a sudden reversal of fortune when slash-and-burn practices in the rain forest increased 27 percent over the past winter. (more) Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Brazil High Court Legalizes Same-Sex Unions

Staff / Truthdig May 7, 2011 In a decision that will not please the Roman Catholic Church, Brazil's Supreme Court has ruled that same-sex couples deserve the same legal rights that married heterosexuals receive. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Peruvians to Decide Between Progressive Future and Neoliberal Past

Staff / Truthdig Apr 29, 2011 In a presidential election next month, Peruvian voters will decide whether to trust their future to broad social welfare programs or the conservative economics of their now incarcerated former leader. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Google to Change Rio Map After Slum Complaints

Staff / Truthdig Apr 27, 2011 Google has agreed to modify the labeling of its Rio de Janeiro map after city officials and residents complained that it gave a skewed perception of the city's social geography by making shantytowns too prominent. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )