Americas

Are the Images of Violence Coming From Venezuela Falsified?

Staff / Truthdig Mar 6, 2014 Pictures of police brutality supposedly from protests in Venezuela are spreading all over social media, but they may not have been taken in the South American country; an average-sized healthy version of a Barbie doll is being developed; meanwhile, the worst revelation Edward Snowden made is that the U.S. government is trying to discredit political activists. These discoveries and more after the jump. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Meanwhile Everyone Is Waiting for Venezuela’s Protests to Turn More Violent as the Death Toll Rises

Staff / Truthdig Mar 6, 2014 The anti-government unrest rocking Venezuela shows no sign of letting up, with the demonstrations and violence now spreading beyond the capital to provincial cities. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Salvador Allende’s Daughter Chosen as First Woman to Lead Chilean Senate

Natasha Hakimi Zapata / Truthdig Mar 4, 2014 Isabel Allende, not to be confused with the Chilean writer who also goes by that name, will hold the same seat her father did before he became the first Marxist president in South America. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Rifts Deepen Between Pro- and Anti-Government Factions in Venezuela

Staff / Truthdig Feb 24, 2014 As clashes between government forces and protesters in Venezuela continued through the weekend, civilians took sides in rival marches held Saturday, each pointing to the other as the catalyst of the country's recent wave of unrest. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

International Media (Finally) Zoom In on Violence in Venezuela

Staff / Truthdig Feb 22, 2014 "Tonight, Venezuela is seeing a spasm of violence that’s unlike anything the country has experienced since 1989," blogger Audrey M. Dacosta wrote from Caracas on Wednesday. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

‘What You Should Know About the… Protests in Venezuela’

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Feb 22, 2014 Failing to win a mandate from Venezuelans in elections over the last few years, the leaders of the country's mainstream, U.S.-backed opposition are exploiting discontent among the population in an effort to topple the democratically elected government, sociologist Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya writes. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Venezuelan Hard-Liner Resurfaces as Maduro Expels U.S. Officials

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Feb 17, 2014 Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez has appeared in a video asking his fellow citizens to join him in a march Tuesday to demand an end to a government crackdown that followed last week's deadly protests. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Venezuela Braces for More Violence

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Feb 14, 2014 A week of protests in Venezuela resulted in the deaths of three people and more than 20 injured Wednesday, leaving President Nicolas Maduro in a struggle to restrain discontent among opposition groups and radical elements of his Chavista movement. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Jon Stewart Explains Why Republicans Aren’t the Only Politicians Who Are Corrupt

Staff / Truthdig Feb 13, 2014 Despite Nancy Pelosi, minority leader of the House of Representatives, personally telling the "Daily Show" host that only Republicans are swayed by money, Stewart has a few examples in the shape of ambassador nominees that prove otherwise. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

A Commander of the Dos Erres Massacre Squad Gets 10 Years in Prison

Staff / Truthdig Feb 11, 2014 A federal judge sentenced a former Guatemalan Army officer to the maximum 10 years in prison Monday for immigration crimes, ruling that the ex-commando obtained U.S. citizenship by concealing his role in the massacre of 250 men, women and children in a Guatemalan village in 1982. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

Brazil’s Leaders Set Lower and Middle Classes Against Each Other

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Feb 9, 2014 "In Brazil there is a saying: 'A good thief is a dead thief,' " journalist Nicole Froio writes at The Guardian. "These words have never been more relevant in today's Brazilian class-ridden landscape, where prejudice, violence and racism run free." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Brazil’s ‘Rolezinhos’ Want a Place at the Table

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Feb 8, 2014 Huge numbers of youths from Brazil's new middle class -- raised in shanty towns but educated in public universities -- are congregating in shopping malls where they feel closest to the consumerist dream. And due to police repression, they're becoming spontaneous expressions of public hope, frustration and yearning. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )