When an illness becomes serious, when medical attention becomes a vehicle for myopic, politically motivated decisions and when a patient becomes drunk with power, it can only end this way. The strongman has died, and in so doing, he has initiated a substantial shift in the Venezuelan political landscape.

Sumak kausay is the Kichwa word for "living well", or buen vivir in Spanish. It is an indigenous principle that entails the harmonious interaction between man and nature, the respect for life and ecosystems, and an equitable and sustainable sharing of resources. This millennia-old idea has gained visibility in plurinational states of Latin America.

The right to collectively own land appears in the new Bolivian Constitution (adopted in 2010) mainly because some rural communities retain their centuries-old custom of collectively owning land, particularly pastoral land. The Comunidad María Auxiliadora has found that there are also many benefits in owning urbanised land collectively. However, these benefits, and the existence of the community in general, is currently threatened by a small group of residents who want to profit from selling their houses, and are fighting a dirty war in order to be able to obtain private ownership. This group is supported by a mafia, including corrupt local government officials, who profit from buying and illegally selling land.

On October 5th, a new mass corruption scandal was uncovered involving Peña, his posse and his technological businesses of repression. The prosecutor and his employees gave classified information to businesses that sell technology to detect drugs. In this way the company would win bidding rights even when the products were 400% overpriced, with an evident profit for the entrepreneurs of repression and the employees of the Ministry of the Interior, who would receive a “surplus” in the “Overpricing Scandal,” which cost Ex-Prosecutor Alejandro Peña his position in government.

In Caracas, politicking for the Oct. 7th election is literally a party. Marches of thousands take to the streets; the hottest commodities are the graffiti-styled Chavez campaign shirts, and on a daily basis, gigantic trucks drive through the barrios blaring salsa music and campaign slogans for their candidate on the loud speakers.

As the electoral ritual granting legitimacy to the occupant of the presidential seat approaches, we want to affirm to the country’s public opinion what the anarchists’ position has been regarding the electoral carnival as instrument for control and submission of the collective. What follows is the El Libertario #67 Editorial, where we clearly state our position.

Contrary to the predictions of sociologists and political scientists, the Chilean student movement, after a rather cold start to the year, obscured by the student federations’ fruitless negotiations with political power, refused to return to the condition of mere students. They declared themselves on strike, taking over high schools and occupying the streets. First, with the end of winter vacations, came the public secondary schools, shaking the university students out of their calmness, forcing them to admit the sterility of the negotiations in congress and making clear the insufficiency of representation within movements whose power necessarily lies in the expression of the multitude as multitude.

Chile -- Students on Thursday renewed their protests in favor of free education. Yesterday saw clashes between students and police that led to 75 arrests, injuries to police and damage to three buses and other property.

More than 100.000 students and workers packed La Alameda of Chile, in the capital Santiago demanding free education for all during a cold and rainy day. The protesters walked in front of the Presidential Palace, La Moneda, and the Ministry of Education.

The Achuar live in the Pastaza, Corrientes, and Morona River basins on both sides of the Peru-Ecuador border, and are members of the Jivaro linguistic family. Their total population is estimated to be from 5,000 to 16,000 people in Ecuador and 11,000 in Peru. The communities are situated on riverbanks and in interfluvial areas, connected by a network of paths. The Peruvian Achuar living in the Pastaza have two main representative federations, ATI and ORACH, united within the national Achuar federation FENAP. These federations carry out internal projects and provide political representation for the communities at the local and national levels.