[Chilean right steps out from shadow of Pinochet to win power democratically for the first time since 1958.]

Rightwinger Sebastián Piñera Wins Chile Presidency

Monday 18th January 2010, by The Guardian

The billionaire Sebastián Piñera won Chile's presidency yesterday to become the country's first democratically elected rightwing ruler in 52 years, vowing to make Chile "the best country in the world".

Piñera's triumph over the former president Eduardo Frei ended over two decades of rule by the centre-left coalition that followed Augusto Pinochet's brutal dictatorship, and marked a tilt to the right on a continent dominated by leftist governments.

Alborada e-news: January 2010

http://www.alborada.net/

Amig@s,

Happy new year and welcome to the January 2010 Alborada e-news. Our e-news will inform you about our activities, as well as the latest news and events related to Latin America. This e-news can also be found here: http://alborada.net/enews-january2010

Please feel free to forward this e-news to anyone who might be interested.

****You can unsubscribe from this e-news at any time by emailing info[at]alborada.net with ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject line.****

Behind the trial of the Miami 5 - film screening - London

Stockwell Community Centre, 1 Studley Road, London, SW4 6RA (behind Stockwell tube station)
Sunday 17 January 2010
2pm

Behind the trial of the Miami 5 - the untold story

This 50 minute film tells of the background events and issues that lie behind the unjust imprisonment of the Five who infiltrated anti-Cuban terrorist groups in Miami to stop further terrorist attacks on Cuba.

Speaker: Steve Cottingham, British lawyer campaigning on behalf of the Miami 5

Organised by South London Cuba Solidarity Campaign

More info: http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/events_list.asp

Seminar and Book Launch: Gareth Jones and Dennis Rodgers (eds.), Youth Violence in Latin America: Gangs and Juvenile Justice in Perspective

19 January 2010, 17:00 - 19:00
Institute for the Study of the Americas, London

More info here: http://americas.sas.ac.uk/events/events.php?id=6768

Movimientos and Global Local presents
Latin Quarter

Cargo
Thursday 28th January
7pm-1am
£6 adv / £8 door

A part of Global Local’s aim to get global music out to a wider audience the Latin Quarter showcase will give a taster of the fresh talent and new Latin acts set to storm the festival stages this year. Los Chinches have already made their mark in London within a year of forming blowing away audiences with their high tempo brand of Tropical Rock ‘n’Roll. Longjon La Flecha play psyched out uber-Latin Funk channelling the spirit of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Lokandes bring together musicians from all over the world to fuse Andean melodies and flutes with Reggae, Funk and Son. And Natema finish the night off with their energetic electronic beats mixed with Brazilian folkloric drums and accordion.

***Alborada has a £5 guest list to this event. To get on it, email: info[at]alborada.net with 'Movimientos-Jan10' in the subject line.***

Avatar is real: Pandora is located in Central and South America and Africa

Sunday 3rd January 2010, by Carlos Quiroz

If you haven’t seen Avatar then you are missing out a good movie. The film excels in creativity, imagination, excitement stories and technical work. The result is overwhelmingly pleasing to the senses and I suggest you watch its 3D version to enjoy it the best.

Most importantly this film has a message beyond the central romance story, and perhaps that is the reason why I suggest you should watch it. I won’t spoil your experience by telling you what happened at the end of the movie, however I would like you to understand the context of its main story, some say its fiction but it has a lot of reality.

Listen to the song here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/alboradauk#p/f/3/UnHYumtz6o0

The song is from Merdeces Sosa's latest and last album 'Cantora 2'

More info here:
http://alborada.net/mercedessosa-rip

[Latin America's battle between progressive governments and hostile right-wing media is playing out in Ecuador.]

To read the article in Spanish click here:
http://tinyurl.com/ydq8xly

Media Battles in Latin America Not About "Free Speech"

Friday 8th January 2010, by Mark Weisbrot - CEPR

For the past month in Ecuador there has been a battle over regulation of the media. It has been in the front pages of the newspapers most of that period, and a leading daily, El Comercio, referred to the fight as one for "defense of human rights and the free practice of journalism." This was in response to the government's closing down of a major TV station, Teleamazonas, for three days beginning December 22.

Movimientos kicks off the year in style at Passing Clouds with two of London’s hottest underground live acts both blending their Latin roots with groove-laden psychedelic descarga, but coming up with very different results. Monsalve, led by celebrated bass player Raul Monsalve (Family Atlantica) and featuring some of London’s hottest Jazz and African musicians, they make a highly anticipated debut at the Clouds and Longjon La Flecha returning after smashing it last year and prior to their big show at Cargo at the end of the month.

Plus guest DJ Analog Jones will be making a rare appearance outside the studio to drop some next generation salsa dura from Colombia, Nicaragua and the Puerto Rican barrios of New Jersey

And residents Cal Jader and Sebilio taking you from classic Salsa bombs, Cuban and tropical rhythms to the freshest Rumba Funk, New Cumbia, Brazilian beats - The sound of the global Latin underground!

And early doors a chance to catch Peruvian ethnomusicologist Sofia Buchuck’s film Crossing Borders on the Latin American refugee experience in London, introduced by the director and followed by poetry.

No Fare Deal for London or Venezuela

Wednesday 6th January 2009, by Alex Holland - The Samosa

Not many Londoners can be happy as they grope through the frozen murkiness of the commute to their first days back at work after the winter break. Adding to their misery is London's mayor, Boris Johnson, who has made their journey much more expensive with huge fare rises.

Critics of Johnson's transport policies have highlighted how these massive increases - 20 percent for single bus fares alone - would not have been so high if Johnson hadn't trashed other sources of funding for London's transport.