By TOM CLIFFORD - March 14, 2013

“We have much to be sorry for...The attitude of the church was scandalously close to the dictatorship to such an extent that I would say it was of a sinful degree.”

- Father Ruben Captianio, speaking on the collusion between the Catholic Church in Argentina and the ruling Military Junta, 1976-83.

By Bill Van Auken - 16 March 2013

Placed on the papal throne is not only another hard-line opponent of Marxism, the Enlightenment and all manner of human progress, but a man who is deeply and directly implicated in...Argentina’s “Dirty War”...[T]he Vatican spokesman was compelled to address the past of the new Pope Francis — the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Bergoglio. He dismissed the accusations against him as the work of “anti-clerical left-wing elements.”

By Patrick O’Connor - 14 March 2013

Former cardinal of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was yesterday installed as the new head of the Catholic Church...Within Latin America, the Church has long worked hand in hand with the most reactionary political forces, in league with US imperialism, against left-wing movements of the working class and oppressed peasantry...“History condemns him...It shows him to be opposed to all innovation in the church and above all, during the dictatorship, it shows he was very cosy with the military.”

In view of the actions that happened in Bariloche, Rosario, and some areas of Greater Buenos Aires, where instances of looting supermarkets and other businesses occurred, the PTS charges...that these acts are the result of the fact that, under the administrations of the Kirchners, a large part of the population, mainly young people, continues to live under conditions of extreme poverty, without work or working under the table and with precarious employment.

Yesterday afternoon, Raúl Godoy, a Zanon worker and a national leader of the Partido de los Trabajadores Socialistas (PTS), took the seat of the Workers’ Left Front in the Neuquén Legislature.

With a big contingent, we participated in the march for abortion rights, this Thursday, November 1, next to dozens of social, political and feminist organizations, brought together by the Abortion Rights Campaign of the City of Buenos Aires. We mobilized one year after the unsuccessful session of the Penal Legislation Committee, where the ruling party refused to allow a quorum, in order to begin to deal with the bill.

By Chris Hedges - July 18, 2011

Torture, prolonged detention without trial, sexual humiliation, rape, disappearance, extortion, looting, random murder and abuse have become...part of our own subterranean world of detention sites and torture centers...“We tortured people unmercifully...We probably murdered dozens of them … both the armed forces and the C.I.A.”

My new book Che Guevara: A Biography has just been released. This book is the most up-to-date biography of Che Guevara now available and is written for a new generation of readers interested in learning about him and his legacy.

By Marie Trigona - October 31, 2010

The death of [grassroots trade unionist] Mariano Ferreyra reflects...[the] tradition of union bureaucracy and attacks against workers which has reared its ugly head...However, the diversity of opposition slates and delegate's assemblies fighting for democratic union representation reflects a growing grassroots labor movement, which continues to grow despite corrupt and violent practices on the part of official union leadership.

By Marie Trigona - Znet

Kraft may have met its match in Argentina. The country has a long tradition of labor organizing and strong and active social movements. The current crisis has heightened demands for a new economic model less dependent on foreign investors and companies that use mobility as a way to control workers in developing countries.

By Marie Trigona - Znet Commentary

May 1, 1909. Police kill thirty workers in a South American city. The workers are gunned down and violently beaten during a protest to demand an eight hour work day and remember the Hay Market Martyrs. Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, was the scene of this massacre targeting the anarchist-labor movement which proliferated throughout the region through the beginning of the 20th century.

SchNEWS - Friday 17th April 2009: Issue 672

Residents of the run down Buenos Aires neighbourhood of San Fernando took community relations into their own hands last week when they demolished the beginnings of what was [called] an 'economic apartheid wall'.

By Marie Trigona - December 10, 2008

Worker occupations have been used since the onset of the industrial revolution as a strategy for workers to defend themselves against deplorable work conditions, unsafe workplaces and firings. In Latin America, workers have used the factory occupation not only to make their demands heard but to put into practice worker self-management...More than 10,000 workers are employed by Argentina's 200 worker occupied factories...Reflecting on the current economic crisis in the US, many Argentine workers without bosses are wondering when US workers will follow in their footsteps.

NY Daily News

An intimate memoir of Che Guevara by his widow is making the rounds of New York publishers this week as the 40th anniversary of his death approaches.

Aleida March tenderly describes the man behind the revolutionary icon in her manuscript, "Evocation." Her book details her experiences falling in love, marrying and raising four children with Guevara, who was killed in Bolivia at age 39.

Remembering His Death, Celebrating His Life

On October 9, 1967, 40 years ago today, Che Guevara was assassinated in Bolivia by his CIA-assisted and -directed captors.

He told the frightened soldier who was sent to execute him in the small room where Che lay, seriously wounded: “I know you are here to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man."