Latin America news roundup - September 7, 2009

Colombia's former intelligence chief Jorge Noguera gestures during a news conference in Bogota in this file photo taken on April 12, 2006. Noguera was arrested on February 22, 2007 on charges of helping right-wing militias murder labour leaders, part of a scandal touching President Alvaro Uribe's closest political allies. REUTERS/Kena Betancur/Files (COLOMBIA)

Colombia - DAS worked together with paramilitaries, former official repeats (Colombia Reports)

Brazil - Lula Calls on Brazilians to Help Win Approval of New Oil Rules (Bloomberg)

Brazil - Brazil's Lula rejects Iran sanctions, urges talks (Reuters)

Brazil - Brazil, France making progress in jet talks — Lula (Reuters)

Colombia - Father of Kidnapped Colombian Soldier Stages Protest in Bogota (Latin American Herald Tribune)

United States - Meet the Press's idea of a "debate" (Salon)

Venezuela - Oliver Stone: 'The truth about Hugo Chávez' (Guardian)

Venezuela - GM to restart Venezuela output, assemble new car (Reuters)

Venezuela - The Counter-Revolution Will Not Be Organized (BoRev.Net)

Latin America news roundup - September 6, 2009

TOP STORY - Chavez the un-demon comes to Venice in Stone film (AFP)

Chile - Chileans mark 39th anniversary of former President Salvador Allende's election (Xinhua)

Colombia - Dark Trade: Aid-for-bases, failed development reveal the dark side of U.S. “soft power” (Columbia City Paper)

Honduras - Why Obama Won't Use the M-Word for Honduras' Coup (Time)

Honduras - Has Obama sided with Chávez? (21st Century Socialism)

Latin America - Is America ready to admit defeat in its 40-year war on drugs? (Guardian)

Venezuela - Anti-Chavez marches fail to draw crowds (CNN)

Venezuela - Noam Chomsky Meets with Chavez in Venezuela (Venezuelanalysis)

Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to visit Spain (Xinhua)

World - Speaking Truth to Power: The Mythology of Imperialism (Monthly Review)

Latin America news roundup - September 5, 2009

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya talks at the U.S. State Department after a meeting with U.S. Secretary Hillary Clinton in Washington, September 3, 2009. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES POLITICS)

TOP STORY - IMF May Withhold $164 Million Allocated to Honduras (CEPR)

Brazil - Lula’s Aide Cancer-Free, but Noncommittal on Presidential Bid (Latin American Herald Tribune)

Brazil - France seen leading race to equip Brazil air force (AFP)

Colombia - Neoliberalism Needs Death Squads in Colombia (Dissident Voice)

Honduras - Zelaya Speaks (The Nation)

Honduras - Another Baby Step on Honduras (Huffington Post)

Honduras - Chavez welcomes US decision to cut aid to Honduras (Associated Press)

United States - Glenn Greenwald on the permanent U.S. warfare state (Salon)

United States - The Beltway consensus: the Left is to blame for health care battle (Salon)

United States - Bill Moyers on the health care debate, Democrats, and Afghanistan (Salon)

Playing the 'anti-Semitism' card against Venezuela

By Eric Wingerter and Justin Delacour

NACLA

September 2009

Excerpt from report:

Such hyperbolic media coverage exemplifies the tendency of the U.S. press to portray left-leaning Latin American governments as hotbeds of anti-Semitism. In the case of Venezuela, where the government has never made any overtly anti-Semitic public statements, much less enacted policies targeting its Jewish citizens, the storyline has been promoted in three key ways: (1) attributing anti-Semitic acts or statements by private citizens to the government, (2) conflating legitimate criticism of Israeli policy with anti-Semitism, and (3) relying on press statements by U.S.-based Jewish organizations like the ADL or the Simon Wiesenthal Center, often at the expense of Venezuelan Jewish organizations, which regularly complain that their views are misrepresented, even flatly contradicted, by U.S. groups pursuing their own agendas...

(click here to view entire report)