Editors’ Picks 2023: The Best of NACLA's Online Coverage

Spanning 12 countries and themes of anti-Blackness, Indigenous rights, defense of democracy, extractivism, the Latinx diaspora, and more, join us in taking a look back at our most memorable web stories of 2023.

December 15, 2023

 

A collage of photographs from NACLA web articles published in 2023.

 


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Over the past year, NACLA has continued to cover important news, scholarship, and movements for solidarity across Latin America and the Caribbean. For our web coverage, we reported on presidential elections in Guatemala, Ecuador and Argentina, regional solidarity with Gaza, the 50 year anniversary of Chile’s 1973 coup, movements in defense of land and territory, climate and insecurity, and much more. In our 2022 print issues of the NACLA Report on the Americas, we delved into Latin America’s new left turn, the precarious balance of the Amazon rainforest, the Afterlives of Empire in the Caribbean, and most recently, the shifting role of militaries as guarantors or saboteurs of democracy. 

Here is a list of our most memorable pieces from this year. Support our work to help us bring you more quality analysis and reporting in 2024.


Recent acts of anti-Haitian violence and discrimination are not isolated events, but part of a long history of anti-Blackness in the Dominican Republic. Read more.


The essence of the phenomenon tied to Jair Bolsonaro’s rise is extreme, and it is a potent force for radicalizing people towards authoritarian and violent positions. Read more.  


El Salvador Arrests Prominent Anti-Mining Activists

Giada Ferrucci and Pedro Cabezas | February 1, 2023

The government of Nayib Bukele opens civil war wounds by arresting five water defenders linked to the historic community of Santa Marta, raising speculation about a possible reversal of the country’s metals mining ban. Read more


In Gentrified Alphabet City, a New Latino Social Club and Art Space Opens its Doors

Damaly Gonzalez | February 28, 2023

La Sala de Pepe opens a portal to the past, drawing from a long history of Latino social spaces and working to preserve the cultural spirit of the Lower East Side. Read more


Peru's Media Faces a Crisis Within a Crisis

Brunella Tipismana | April 7, 2023

With Peru's mainstream media concentrated in a few hands, citizens turn to the internet to challenge hegemonic narratives. The results are not always utopian. Read more


“Rompamos El Silencio"

Kevin Ramírez | May 12, 2023

The recent dismantling of the Cuna Nahuat Indigenous language program in El Salvador is the latest in a long history of erasure for Salvadoran Indigenous communities. Read more


The Shadows of the Past Hang over Guatemala’s 2023 Elections

Emily Taylor | June 9, 2023

Guatemala’s June 25 elections are troubled by anti-democratic backsliding and dominated by traditional elites, raising questions about their legitimacy. Read more.


Trampled by Transformation: Mexico’s Tren Maya

Dawn Marie Paley | July 24, 2023

As expropriations for the controversial megaproject accelerate, impacted communities assess the security and geopolitical implications. Read more.


Ecuador Votes to Keep Yasuní Oil in the Ground in Historic Referendum

Angélica María Bernal and Joshua Holst | August 23, 2023

Ecuadorians have chosen to safeguard the biodiverse Yasuní National Park from oil drilling, marking a major triumph for grassroots Indigenous and environmental activists against the fossil fuel consensus. Read more.


Remembering the Women Victims of the Pinochet Dictatorship in Chile

Hillary Hiner | September 10, 2023

As emboldened far-right denialists dismiss the horrors of state terrorism, seeking truth and justice for systematic sexual political violence remains urgent, 50 years after the 1973 coup. Read more


Forward Ever: 40 Years on from the End of the Revolution and the U.S. Invasion of Grenada

Amy Li Baksh | October 24, 2023

In the throes of the Cold War, a tiny Caribbean island dared to wage a revolutionary experiment. As the Revo imploded, the United States invaded. Read more


Gustavo Petro Holds Firm on Palestine

Gabe Levine-Drizin | November 2, 2023

Despite Colombia’s deep historical ties to both Israel and the United States, Petro has been one of the most outspoken leaders in support of Palestine, calling for peace both at home and abroad. Read more


Panama’s Massive Environmental Awakening

Francisco Javier Bonilla | December 1, 2023

The Canadian-owned mine at the center of a national uprising will be shut down. But differing environmentalisms in the isthmus may now be on a collision course against one another. Read more

 

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