Juan Víctor Fajardo

Op-ed: The aftermath of Venezuela's referendum

As of this past Sunday, Feb. 15, 2009, the Venezuelan constitution no longer stipulates a term limit for popularly-elected government posts. This means that current and future mayors, governors and pr…

Obama bliss builds bridge for world change

Obama’s electoral victory was a motivation for celebrations all over the world. Recent conversations with friends in Caracas and Paris have left no doubt in my mind as to how the world experienced the…

Dysfunctional democracy

This past Sunday Chavez declared that he would be “more than willing” to meet with Obama if he were elected president. His willingness to meet with the head of state of “the empire” is both promising …

Potential trade deal flawed

This week I have chosen to write about a topic related to Freddy Caicedo’s visit to Swarthmore on Monday (10/20). Caicedo is a Colombian human rights organizer that works closely with Witness for Peac…

Venezuela and Russia

In May of 2001, during his first visit to Moscow, Chavez announced the birth of a “future strategic alliance” between Russia and Venezuela. At the time, his statement was not taken very seriously (to …

Bolivia follows the troubling lead of Venezuela's Chavez

The past week has been a troublesome one for Latin America. The Pando region in northern Bolivia is currently the setting of violent protests and confrontations between supporters of Evo Morales’ gove…

Introducing the cam-bur-pin-ton

The direct translation of “Cambur Pintón” from Spanish to English is: “Almost ripe banana.” Yes, there is a term for this.

Coincidentally, it is also a phrase that one uses when tuning a Ven…

Journals from Mexico

MASACUATA

07/08/2006

As Don Antonio and I walked down a muddy trail to his chili fields by the river, I wondered to myself how he managed to keep his all-white attire immaculate. Sometimes he answered…

Journals from Mexico

DIA IDEAL

20/07/2006

It was very cold this morning. As the sun rose, I sipped a cup of fresh coffee and enjoyed a tlacoyo. Doña Constancia, an elderly woman, put a lot of love and effort into making u…

Journals from Mexico

This past summer I spent two months in Mexico working as a volunteer in the Mexico Summer Project “Semilleros de Futuros”. It is organized and coordinated by the American Friends Service Committee (…