Decolonized Journalism

Photo by Georg Eiermann on Unsplash Recently, the U.S. “allowed” a Russian oil tanker to deliver about 730,000 barrels of oil to Cuba, providing some relief to the island. At least that’s President Donald Trump’s story. He also stated that he has “no problem” with oil deliveries to Cuba while still referring to its government as a “bad regime.” On the surface, this appears to signal a policy shift.

Photo by Dorian Labbe on Unsplash The newly formed Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (ACCC), announced at the recent Shield of the Americas (SOTA) Summit, promises to upend decades-old agreements between Latin American and Caribbean island nations. The coalition creates a unilateral military framework inclusive of only countries with far-right leaders who appease Trump.

Photo by Tutz Dias on Unsplash Whether Cuba is a democracy or not is often the subject of much debate and is frequently centered on hyperbole and misinformation. While many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) say that Cuba isn’t democratic, many of the complaints they cite are often seen in the United States and elsewhere.

Harvesting sugar cane in Cuba, early 1900s | Public Domain Before 1959, if you were rich and white in Cuba, you were likely doing very well. Even if white and middle-class, with not much ownership in anything, you would have been faring far better than nonwhite Cubans and immigrants who came from China, Mexico, or any other country represented in Cuba’s history, to work the fields.

Photo by Quick PS on Unsplash Congressional Oversight Hearings are meant to monitor the implementation of policy by any given presidential administration and hold those accountable who may have violated people’s civil rights, the nation’s laws, or codes of conduct. However, it seems that more focus than ever is on proselytizing, rather than asking hard questions. Meanwhile, confirmation hearings have always been partisan in this way.

Dolores Huerta launches New York Lettuce Boycott with César Chávez | Public Domain I once admired what César Chávez was able to accomplish with the United Farm Workers (UFW) before he corrupted it. But the more you read about him, the more you begin to realize that his counterpart, Dolores Huerta, was the real driving force behind the movement’s success. All he brought to the table was being a man in an age of unfettered machismo. If not for Huerta, you likely would have never heard of Chávez.

Photo by Alexander Van Steenberge on Unsplash As Cuba’s electrical grid failed, much of the U.S. corporate media’s reporting on the grid’s collapse is leaving two key details out of the story: the U.S. is using collective punishment and starvation as weapons, which led to island-wide blackouts.

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash Recent events in Latin America are beginning to raise eyebrows in the broader public. Much of it comes thanks to the recent Shield of the Americas summit at Trump’s Doral golf resort in Florida. The summit, which led to the creation of the America Counter Cartel Coalition (ACCC), underscored the White House’s goals in the region.

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Recently, President Donald Trump created the Shield of the Americas, a consortium of 12 Latin American nations and the United States, officially focused on targeting cartels with military force, curbing “illegal” immigration, and countering China in the region.