Egypt Election: Muslim Brotherhood Candidate Could Face...
The Ft. Benning, GA, military training center formerly known as the SOA, or School of the Americas, is used to train Latin American soldiers in combat, counterinsurgency and counter-narcotics. Frequently referred to as the "School of the Assassins," the school is now known as WHISC, or the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. The group School of Americas Watch says the role of U.S.-trained generals in the 2009 Honduras military coup underscores the need for the school’s closure.
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Out of Exile: Part II of Exclusive Report on Ousted Honduran President Zelaya’s Return 2 Years After U.S.-Backed Coup
We continue our coverage of the historic return of ousted Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, who on June 28, 2009, was kidnapped at gunpoint and put on a plane to Costa Rica in a coup orchestrated in part by two generals trained in the United States. Scores of peasants, teachers, journalists, farmers have been assassinated since...June 01, 2011 | Story -
Out of Exile: Exclusive Report on Ousted Honduran President Zelaya’s Return Home 23 Months After U.S.-Backed Coup
In a Democracy Now! global broadcast exclusive, we take you on the plane of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya as he and his family return home after almost two years in exile. We speak with Zelaya, ousted Honduran foreign minister Patricia Rodas, Honduran exile René Guillermo Amador, and former Colombian senator Piedad...May 31, 2011 | Story -
AUDIO: "A Return to Democracy in Honduras?" Amy Goodman Reports on Zelaya’s Return to Honduras
Amy Goodman files her first audio report from Nicaragua on ousted president Manuel Zelaya of Honduras historic return home. She filed this report from the airport in Managua and interviews Father Roy Bourgeois of SOA Watch.May 30, 2011 | Blog Post -
“Harvest of Empire”: New Book Exposes Latino History in America as Obama Campaigns for Latino Vote
President Obama’s trip to Puerto Rico was announced at a time when he is making a concerted push to win the Latino vote in 2012. Earlier this month, Obama gave a major address to a mostly Latino audience in El Paso, Texas, calling for immigration reform. Juan Gonzalez joins us to discuss the history of Latinos in the United...May 25, 2011 | Story -
Zelaya to Leave Honduras as Coup Leaders Cleared
In Honduras, ousted president Manuel Zelaya is due to leave the country today after President-elect Porfirio Lobo is sworn into office. Zelaya has taken refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa since returning to Honduras in September. On Tuesday, the Honduran Supreme Court dismissed all charges against six military commanders...January 27, 2010 | Story -
On 20th Anniversary of Killings of 6 Jesuit Priests by US-Backed Salvadoran Forces, Thousands to Protest "School of the Assassins" at Ft. Benning
Thousands are gathering at Fort Benning in Georgia this weekend for the annual protest to shut down the US Army training center dubbed by critics as the "School of the Assassins" for having trained some of the worst human rights violators in Latin America. This year’s protest will mark the twentieth anniversary...November 20, 2009 | Story -
Hoodwinked: Former Economic Hit Man John Perkins Reveals Why the World Financial Markets Imploded — and How to Remake Them
John Perkins calls himself a former economic hit man. He has seen the signs of today’s financial meltdown before. The subprime mortgage fiasco, the collapse of the banking industry, the rising unemployment rate — these are all familiar to him. Perkins was on the front lines of monitoring and helping create these very...November 10, 2009 | Story -
Internal Pressure Forces Honduran Coup Regime to Reverse Civil Liberties Crackdown, But Repression Continues
The Honduran coup regime has been forced to reverse a harsh crackdown on civil liberties amidst growing protests for the restoration of the ousted President Manuel Zelaya. But Honduran forces still blocked a large protest march and shut down two media outlets that have criticized the coup regime. Meanwhile, a top US diplomat criticized the coup regime’s decision but then turned around to...September 29, 2009 | Story -
Report from Honduras: Ousted President Manuel Zelaya Returns to Honduras in Defiance of Coup Government
We go live to the Brazilian embassy in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, where Manuel Zelaya has sought refuge. After Zelaya’s dramatic return, the coup government ordered a curfew, but thousands of Zelaya supporters defied the ban and rallied outside the Brazilian embassy. Earlier this morning police fired tear gas outside the embassy to disburse the crowd. We hear Zelaya speak from inside...September 22, 2009 | Story -
Despite Pledge to Cut Military Ties to Coup Regime, US Continues to Train Honduran Soldiers at School of Americas
While the European Union cut off aid to the coup regime in Honduras, the United States continues the money flow, and while the US says it has cut military ties, the National Catholic Reporter reveals Honduran army officers are still receiving military training at the notorious School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia. [includes rush transcript]July 21, 2009 | Story -
Honduran Coup Regime Blocks Ousted President Zelaya’s Return; Troops Open Fire on Supporters at Airport, Killing Two
One week after a military coup in Honduras, soldiers and riot police blocked the airport runway Sunday evening, preventing ousted President Manuel Zelaya from returning to the country. Heavily armed Honduran soldiers also used tear gas and machine guns to disperse an unarmed crowd of tens of thousands of people who had come from all over the country, despite military blockades, to wait at the airport...July 06, 2009 | Story -
"Undo the Coup." By Amy Goodman
The first coup d’etat in Central America in more than a quarter-century occurred last Sunday in Honduras. It was led by a graduate of the U.S. Army’s School of the Americas, a military facility that has trained some of Latin America’s worst torturers, murderers and human rights abusers.July 01, 2009 | Blog Post -
Generals Who Led Honduras Military Coup Trained at the School of the Americas
Romeo Vasquez, a general who led the military coup in Honduras against President Manuel Zelaya, received training at the US School of the Americas. The SOA has trained more than 60,000 soldiers, many of whom have returned home and committed human rights abuses, torture, extrajudicial execution and massacres. According to School of the Americas Watch, Vasquez attended the SOA in 1976 and 1984. The...July 01, 2009 | Story -
What’s Behind the Honduras Coup? Tracing Zelaya’s Trajectory
We take a look at ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya with journalist Nikolas Kozloff, author of Revolution!: South America and the Rise of the New Left. Despite initial conservative leanings, Zelaya took on powerful vested interests in Honduras. " [Zelaya] was at odds politically with the Honduran elite for the past few years and had become one of Washington’s fiercest critics in...July 01, 2009 | Story -
Guatemala’s Indigenous Countryside Drives Election Victory Over Atrocity-Linked General
In an upset victory, Alvaro Colom, who ran on an anti-poverty platform, beat the hard-line retired General Otto Perez Molina with close to 53 percent of the vote. We get reaction from Guatemalan American writer Francisco Goldman. His new book "The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop?" implicates the defeated Perez Molina in the 1998 murder of beloved Guatemalan human rights...November 06, 2007 | Story -
Bolivian President Evo Morales on Indigenous Rights, Climate Change, Iraq, Establishing Diplomatic Relations with Iran, Che Guevara’s Legacy and More
In a Democracy Now! special, we spend the hour with Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia. In a wide-ranging conversation, Morales discusses the impact of the war in Iraq on Latin America, warns against the use of biofuels to reduce carbon emissions and highlights the importance of indigenous rights. "I am convinced that the indigenous people are the moral reserve of humanity,"...September 26, 2007 | Story -
As Police Arrest Public Housing Activists in New Orleans, Federal Officials Try to Silence Leading Attorney for Low-Income Residents
New Orleans police raided the Saint Bernard housing project this morning where activists had been occupying a building to prevent government plans to demolish it. Meanwhile, the Housing Authority of New Orleans has sent a letter to one of the lead lawyers for the residents, Bill Quigley, asking him to stop speaking to the media and to remove statements he made that appear in several online videos....January 31, 2007 | Story -
Argentine Torture Survivor Patricia Isasa Returns to Police Station Where She Was Imprisoned and Abused
Patricia Isasa was 16 years old in 1976 when she was kidnapped by Argentine police and soldiers. She was tortured and held prisoner without trial for two and a half years. Before she joins thousands heading to Fort Benning, Georgia to protest what used to be called the School of the Americas, Isasa joins us in our firehouse studio to tell her story and of her lifelong campaign to bring her torturers...November 16, 2006 | Story -
Bolivia Delegation Urges U.S. to Notify Ex-President Sanchez de Lozada of Obligation to Return to Trial for 2003 Massacre
A Bolivian delegation is in the United States this week to urge the U.S. government to notify Bolivia’s ex-President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and two of his ministers of their obligation to return to Bolivia for trial in the deaths of 67 people and more than 400 wounded during October 2003. We speak with Rogelio Mayta, an attorney representing the families of those killed in the 2003 massacre....October 05, 2006 | Story -
Bolivian Activist Oscar Olivera on Bechtel’s Privatization of Rainwater and Why Evo Morales Should Remember the Ongoing Struggle Over Water
Leading Bolivian activist, Oscar Olivera joins us in our firehouse studio to talk about the ongoing struggle over water in Cochabama and the successful fight against the privatization of water by Bechtel six years ago. Olivera says, "If that uprising in 2000 had not ended in a popular victory, Evo Morales today would not be the president." [includes rush transcript]October 05, 2006 | Story
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Columns
By Amy Goodman with Denis Moynihan
Gen. John Allen, commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan, spoke Wednesday at the Pentagon, four stars on each shoulder, his chest bedecked with medals. Unlike Allen, many decorated U.S. military veterans left the streets of Chicago after the NATO summit without their medals.
Web Exclusives
In an extended interview, David Bronner, president of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, discusses the history of the company, why they put sustainability and social justice ahead of profits, the organic and GMO labeling movements, the U.S. war on hemp, and why they refuse to sell out. [includes rush transcript]
Human Rights Watch’s Kenneth Roth examines why the U.S. has not pressured Bahrain to release pro-democracy activists. He also discusses Syria and the conditions in Israeli jails and courts that prompted 1,550 Palestinian prisoners to go on a hunger strike. [includes rush transcript]
