June 18th, 2010 - Simone Bruno -
Eduardo Galeano, in the first chapter of his masterpiece: “Open Veins of Latin America” describes the mines of Potosí. The history of this Bolivian town is the paradigm of European colonial exploitation. In Potosi the natives were forced to work as slaves to extract huge amounts of minerals that were then exported to Spain. The city was founded at the foot of Cerro Rico, a mountain full of mineral veins, particularly silver, so that the tip was said to shine under the rays of the sun. By 1625, Potosi had become one of the most heavily populated cities in the world. In its first 28 years of existence, the number of inhabitants had reached that of London and had even surpassed Rome, Madrid and Paris.
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June 11th, 2010 - Simone Bruno -
The day Luis Eduardo Guerra died was hot. It was the dry season. The river that separates the village from his small cocoa plot was almost dry. For this reason, the easiest way to go was through the river itself. The stones made the journey uncomfortable, but not as much as venturing into the forest.
Luis Eduardo was crossing the threshold of middle age. He had three sons and his wife had recently died. With a black mustache and a beard cut with care, he’d looked death in the face many times. The first time he saw a corpse he was when he was perched on his father’s shoulders, running towards the coast, away from the war.
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June 2nd, 2010 - Simone Bruno -
When analysts cite the U.S. government declassified documents, when a writer reconstructs the historical facts of the Cold War or the South American dictatorships and when some journalist investigates the facts of Iran-Contra Gate, the documents are always based on the National Security Archive work.
The NSA has occupied the front pages of The New York Times, Noam Chomsky uses NSA documents to reinforce his thesis and many journalists spend their time in the archive researching pieces of history. Tina Rosenberg, who won the Pulitzer prize with her book on the fall of communism in the Eastern Europe, based her book on the documents regarding the Eastern Europe declassified by NSA.
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May 26th, 2010 - Simone Bruno -
When you go to Europe, you can enjoy many things: historical monuments, ancient cities, amazing museums filled with history and of course, great food; all while spending the Euro, which represents an important step towards political unification.
What is hard to imagine, even for young Europeans, is that the old people you meet in the streets of Paris, Rome, Berlin and London, saw with their eyes Germany bombing France and England, Italy invading Greece, Poland occupied and Russia almost conquered.
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May 14th, 2010 - Simone Bruno -
The center of Toribio is obscured by heavy rain that falls relentlessly. The Saturday morning market, however is swarming with hundreds of women, intent to choose fruits, vegetables and pieces of meat hanging on the stalls arranged in the square.
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