• Listen to the entire program

KPFK Fund Drive Day 7
It has been less than two weeks since a police rebellion in the Latin American country of Ecuador resulted in its President, Rafael Correa, being held at a hospital for more than 10 hours. In the aftermath of what many are calling an attempted coup, it was announced that the capital Quito will indefinitely remain on high alert with the army patrols in certain areas and in Congress. The explanation for what happened on September 30th was a new law that cut bonuses and other perks for police officers, setting off a fire storm of street protests by law enforcement. When President Correa went to the police headquarters in Quito to address the police, he was attacked by tear gas and trapped inside a hospital before being rescued by the Army. Last week on Uprising we interviewed two guests, Marc Becker and Amalia Pallares who were not convinced that there was enough evidence of a coup attempt. But just this week, one of the three main police officers implicated in the coup attempt has been identified as a graduate of the US military training camp formerly known as the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia. The progressive peace group, SOA Watch is reporting that Colonel Manuel Rivadeneira Tello was enrolled in a combat arms training course in the school now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.

In the successful coup in Honduras that took place last June, ousting the democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya, two graduates of the School of the Americas were found to be involved: Gen. Vásquez Velásquez and General Prince Suazo.

GUEST: Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, he is a columnist for the Guardian Newspaper in London, and for Folha de Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest newspaper, and Board president of Just Foreign Policy

Acclaimed Hollywood director Oliver Stone, whose film credits include Platoon, JFK and Wall Street, recently turned his sights on politics in Latin America. His brand new documentary, South of the Border, is a sweeping overview of the dramatic shifts in electoral power all across South America over the past ten years. Creating an alternative to what Stone sees as US media bias against leaders like Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, the controversial American director paints an intimate portrait of the peaceful, almost entirely democratic revolution sweeping through South America. In fact Chavez, who is the Latin American leader most reviled by Fox News, CNN, the New York Times, and other mainstream news outlets, features heavily in South of the Border. The film, which is narrated by Oliver Stone, offers a rare opportunity for Americans to hear directly from Latin American leaders. As the film crew travels across the continent, Stone meets with Chavez of Venezuela, Evo Morales, the President of Bolivia, Cristina Kirchner the president of Argentina, Fernando Lugo, the president of Paraguay, Rafael Correa, the president of Ecuador, and Raul Castro, Fidel Castro’s successor in Cuba. South of the Border is just out on DVD.

Find out more about the film at www.southoftheborderdoc.com.

Thank you Gifts:

South of the Border – DVD – $90
We are Not Afraid: Inside the Coup in Honduras – $50

Call 818-985-5735 or visit www.kpfk.org to make a pledge.