Latin America as seen from all four sides

Solidarity, democracy, the search for peace and sovereignty, protests, blockade and independent media are some of the topics on the agenda of the “Latin America Conference 2023 – Adelante!”, to be held this Saturday 28 January in London. Debate, analysis and proposals are part of this traditional event.

Monica del Pilar Uribe Marin

With Lula’s victory in Brazil, Latin America showed that it is experiencing a new wave of progressive governments, not necessarily because the region has become ‘leftist’, but because people are fed up, even those who in the last decade had elected right-wing governments.

This renewal of the political map in Latin America – where the battle at the ballot box was particularly tight in Colombia and Brazil – is part of the cyclical nature of history, since the end of the 1990s saw the beginning of a decade in which people like Chávez, Correa, Evo, Kirchner and Mujica, among others, infused the continent with a new air of unity and geopolitical independence.

However, the right wing does not give up its power easily, and in its struggle to preserve it, the US has had an ally who, through sanctions, blockades, ‘diplomatic’ interventions, disinformation and other trickery, plays its part in destabilising democratic decisions.

This reality, which is as old as the interventions of the United States and the popular struggles for their rights, has a platform for discussion, analysis and exhibition this Saturday at the annual Latin America Conference – Adelante!

Latin America. Image by Mapboy / Flickr. Creative Commons License.

This year there will be more than 40 speakers, 19 seminars, several documentary screenings, Dan Kovalik the author of “Nicaragua: a history of us intervention & resistance” signing his book, a plenary and a Rally, among other activities.

To see and listen to

The event starts at 10 am with the open plenary “Progress and resistance in Latin America”, with Dan Kovalik, Rocio Maneiro, Mariela Kohon, Kevan Nelson and MP Richard Burgon.

Then, from 11:20 a.m. to 12:20 p.m., the following seminars will take place: “José Martí to Fidel, roots and principles of the Cuban revolution”, “Venezuela – End the sanctions, give back the Gold”, “Nicaragua/Colombia – Climate justice, food sovereignty & agroecology: the role of peasant communities”, “Chile – 50 years of Solidarity and Struggle”, “Mexico – Advances in AMLO’s transformation of Mexico”, and “Socialism, Unity, Internationalism – Why We Stand with Latin America’s Left”.

At the same time, as part of the Film Fest programme, there will be a screening of “Truce”, a documentary by Pablo Navarrete and Teilo Vellacott, 33 mins (Alborada Films, UK, 2017), which explores the Colombian peace negotiations through the stories of FARC guerrilla women who, after the signing of the peace agreement, finally laid down their weapons.

Then, from 12:25 to 1:25, comes the second series of seminars: “Cuba – Innovation and progress in the face of adversity”, “Venezuela – Latin America’s new Left Wave, Chavez’s dream renewed”, “Brazil – Building solidarity after Lula’s Historic Victory”, “Nicaragua – Education the Nicaragua example” , “Making Black Lives Matter a reality – anti-racism and black liberation in Latin America & the Caribbean”, “Latin America – Biden’s new cold war and the struggle for peace”, and “Peru – Solidarity with the Struggle for Democracy”.

Regarding the film screenings, from 12:05 to 13:05, the film “Santiago rising”, by Nick Mac William, 89 mins, (Alborada Films, UK, 2021), a film based on what happened at the end of 2019 in the capital of Chile when massive protests over economic inequality engulfed the country.

From 2:40 to 3:40 these seminars will be held: “Cuba and the United States – Impasse or progress?”, “Venezuela Q&A – What’s really happening in Venezuela? With eyewitness accounts”, “Bolivia shows a better world is possible – public need before corporate greed”, “Colombia: New government, peace talks and social reforms”, “Ecuador – no to neo-liberalism & US-domination”, and “Latin America, Mainstream Media Misrepresentation & the Independent Media fightback”.

The Prisma is on this last panel (Latin America, Mainstream Media Misrepresentation & the Independent Media fightback), chaired by Thomas Barlow ((from the Independent Media Association). Speaking on the panel will be, in order: Monica Del Pilar Uribe, director and editor-in-chief of The Prisma Newspaper, Matt Kennard of Declassified UK, Nathalia Urban of Brasilwire, and Pablo Navarrete of Alborada.

At the same time, the film “Chávez, Venezuela and the New Latin America” will be shown, which presents the exclusive interview that the daughter of “El Che”, Aleida Guevara, gave to the former President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez and other characters of that time, with the aim of discussing the change that has taken place in Latin America in the last decades.