In the early seventies, the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops convened the First National Encuentro and subsequent encuentros. This book deals with the process and development of the first National Encuentros.

"Why is everyone so quiet? Is this the democracy you wanted?" So ask the Zapatistas, the group of indigenous Mexicans who, on January 1, 1994, mounted a rebellion against the implementation of NAFTA, political corruption, and the slow, unreported genocide of indigenous people worldwide. As the group expressed their demands and revealed their tactics, it quickly became obvious that they were less an armed guerilla force seeking to seize state power, and much more a social movement seeking to catalyze civil society's full democratic power. For this reason Mexican political analyst Gustava Esteva has called the Zapatista rebellion "the first revolution of the 21st century." He explains that whereas the revolutions of the 20th century were tests for state power, the Zapatista struggle was for greater local autonomy, economic justice, and political rights within the borders of their own communities. Zapatista Encuentro contains documents and communiqués from Subcomandante Marcos - the leader of the Zapatistas - from the 1996 Encounter for Humanity and Against Neoliberalism. This remarkable event brought together 5,000 activists from all over the world to discuss how globalization (neoliberalism) affects us politically, culturally, economically, and socially.

A Taino Indian boy on the island of San Salvador recounts the landing of Columbus and his men in 1492.

El contenido de este libro es extremadamente complicado pero fácil de entender. Los temas están divididos en quince encuentros conversacionales entre un profesor universitario retirado y un joven estudiante. Ambos desarrollan una amistad extraordinaria y los temas tratados revelan que hay un misterio espiritual en un lugar no circunscrito y no antes explorado en nuestra vida. Debemos entender que como resultado de nuestras experiencias adquiridas todos tenemos una forma de pensar, de actuar y ver la vida. Por esta razón, es posible que alguno de los temas tratados entre en conflicto con la manera de pensar que hasta ahora hayas tenido. Pero al analizarlos, y entenderlos estos se incorporan a nuestro conocimiento creando cambios de ideas y los conflictos intelectuales se desvanecen. Entonces despertamos a un nuevo amanecer. Seremos felices, prospero, tendremos abundancia, buenas amistades, salud y energía para controlar el dolor, suprimir enfermedades y todo aquello en la mayoría de las veces te maltrata y te abusa. La decisión de explorar esa nueva realidad, constituye el primer paso hacia la iluminación. Aumentaras tu conocimiento y cambiaras tu manera de pensar y ver la vida. Porque, "cuando la mente conoce, al cuerpo no le queda otra cosa que cambiar". El camino resultara muy agradable y comprenderás que "lo importante no es llegar si no que vas de camino"

With case studies covering Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia and Mexico, this is the first book to explore the links between gender and nationalism in the context of Latin America. It includes contributions from Latin American scholars to offer a unique and revealing view of the most important political and cultural issues.

"This is a very exciting collection that will fill an important gap in what has emerged in comparative studies of women and Latin American democracies. Maier and Lebon provide provocative overview essays, and the chapters trace a range of cases from Argentina and Brazil to Nicaragua and Venezuela, showing how institutions. leaders and culture all shape the opportunities and challenges women face."---Jane Jaquette, editor of Feminist Agendas and Democracy in Latin America --

Cuban Studies has been published annually by the University of Pittsburgh Press since 1985. Founded in 1970, it is the preeminent journal for scholarly work on Cuba. Each volume includes articles in both English and Spanish, a large book review section, and an exhaustive compilation of recent works in the field.