South America

Following a long absence from Venezuela for surgery in Cuba to remove a reported pelvic abcess, Chavez flies back to Havana for more treat. Chavez, who was accompanied by his daughter Rosa, will stay here for an undisclosed period of time.

The ex-presidential candidate for the Humanist Party, Tomás Hirsch, confirmed, on Friday, his participation in an activity at the University of Santiago (USACH) where, following the harsh intervention of police officers in the march for education, the authorities are attempting to confuse public opinion by criminalising the student movement.

Over 100,000 high school and university students and teachers have been protesting throughout Chile since mid-June demanding reforms to the country’s education system. To calm the demonstrations, President Sebastián Piñera announced on July 5 a US$4 billion-plan, financed using income from the copper mining industry that, he says, will make schools more efficient.

Bolivian lawmakers on June 18 approved new legislation aimed at protecting food for the country, but critics argue it will lead to an influx of genetically-modified seeds because it would give power to the multinational genetically-modified seed and fertilizer companies to overrun indigenous communities with their products.

Nearly 17,000 workers at Chile´s National Copper Corporation, went on strike on Monday to protest about the privatization of the mining company. The strikers planned a national rally in Plaza de la Ciudadania outside the presidential palace, where copper miners, the teachers’ union and student federations will demand the re-nationalization of the copper mining industry.

The Argentine ambassador to the United Nations, Jorge Argüello, confirmed Argentina’s readiness to “negotiate” with the United Kingdom. This comes after Cristina Fernández de Kirschner described Britain’s rejection of dialogue as a “gesture of mediocrity and stupidity.” Argüello pointed out that the British government “is remaining without arguments” in the dispute.

Reporters Without Borders firmly condemns last week’s murder of journalist Luis Eduardo Gómez in Arboletes, in the northwestern department of Antioquia, and the threats that two journalists, Medellín-based Mary Luz Avendaño and Bogotá-based Gonzalo Guillén, have been getting in unrelated cases.

A social phenomenon exploded almost fifty years ago: young people began to make their voice heard and took control of the social space. Different cities witnessed the simultaneous uprising as this clamour became the visible form of the much-discussed Gasset y Ortega thesis on generational dialectics as the driving force of history with extraordinary empirical evidence.

Through authors like Rita Levi, Maturana, Piaget, Vigotsky, Husserl, Freire and, fundamentally, Silo, the Chilean teachers Rebeca Bize and Mario Aguilar have developed a solid theoretical foundation for a new humanist education in “Pedagogy of Intentionality, Educating for an Active consciousness”. The book was presented in Buenos Aires, in the National Library.

Reporters Without Borders condemns the persecution of Mario Sánchez, a radio journalist based in the town of Centenario, in the southwestern province of Neuquén, who has been the target of repeated attacks and threats that began on 19 June, when unidentified intruders set fire to his home after taking his computer and travel documents.