Introduction

 Please see the following links for information on specific countries.

Nicaragua 

Republic of Cuba

EZLN

Colombia

Bolivia

Venezuela

This link will take you to an interactive map which tracks the elections and political activity throughout Latin America.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/interactives/latinpolitics/index.html

 Interesting Viewpoint on Latin America

JORGE G. CASTAÑEDA is the author of “Utopia Unarmed: The Latin American Left After the Cold War” and “Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara.” After reading some information about the points he makes in his writings, I found one piece that seems significant to note. That is his description of the fact that there is not one Latin American left today, but rather that there are two.

1.      The first he claims is “modern, open-minded, reformist, and internationalist,” and it ironically has its origins from the hard-core left policies of the past.

2.      The other he claims stems out of Latin American populism (a type of government and politics that stresses government by the people, including the masses), and is nationalist and close-minded.

Therefore, it appears that the Latin American left with radical roots has evolved and changed today because of its past mistakes, while the second type remains closed off. This particular author wishes to persuade those outside of Latin America to allow the first type of leftist policy to grow because it is what the Latin American countries need in order to fix the evident inequalities associated with poverty and wealth concentration.  Thus, it will be interesting to see through our study of Latin American countries what specific socialist policies are taking root.

Check this link out to read some of his work:

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060501faessay85302-p0/jorge-g-castaneda/latin-america-s-left-turn.html

If you want information on US Policy in Latin America here are some general links.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4316899.stm

http://www.lawg.org/about/AboutLAWG.htm