Fausta’s Blog

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. Haiti continues to be the top story, but in Venezuela Hugo Chavez is now closing RCTV permanently, continuing to consolidate his power. Seven students from Universidad Santa María (USM), a private university in the state of Anzoátegui (northeastern Venezuela), were injured after the police broke up a demonstration outside the campus.

AMERICAN POLITICS
Univision’s Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Rep. Xavier Becerra regarding President’s Obama’s 1st year (link in Spanish)

ARGENTINA
New Twist in Argentine Currency Fight

Argentina: Cristina Against Everybody Else?

BOLIVIA
Fidel: Protect Morales from ‘the empire’

BRAZIL
Brazil’s presidential biopic
Lula, sanitized: A film for the campaign trail

CHILE
Chile’s presidential election
Piñera promises a gallop: After 20 years, a move to the right

And the winner is, Chile!

Las exitosas Bicicletas Públicas de Providencia

Open letter to Sebastian Pinera

Chile unlikely to lead anti-Chávez bloc

COLOMBIA
Ecopetrol proven oil reserves up 35%; share price falls

CUBA
More on the free healthcare: Twenty-Six Cuban Mental Patients Dead

Cuba: What Globalists Want You to Know

LEAVE CHE ALONE!!!…I MEAN it!!! (part 2)

José Daniel Ferrer García, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 1/24/10

Repairs

ECUADOR
Lawyers for the Government of Ecuador Engage in Revisionist History – Myth of Jurisdiction Exposed

Ecuador Should Stop Interfering With International Arbitration Mandated by Treaty

Humor: Nueva Ley de Comunicación
¡Prohíben photoshopear lluchas! Un grupo de asambleístas considera nocivo el retoque de fotos femenino de contenido erótico.

HAITI
The upside of Yankee imperialism in Haiti

Debate grows in aftermath of quake: Should U.S. let more Haitians immigrate?

Post-earthquake chaos in Haiti
A massive relief effort limps into gear: The world’s attempt to aid Haitians stumbles against extraordinary difficulties of transport and communications

U.S. Military in Haiti: A Compassionate Invasion

And the meme goes on

HONDURAS
Pepe’s deal with Zelaya

Hammering Honduras

Honduras’s new president
Lobo alone: Picking up the post-coup pieces

MEXICO
Mexico: Halting drug war corruption

PANAMA
Supreme Court to Noriega: Bon voyage

VENEZUELA
RCTV international cut-off

¡ESTE PUEBLO YA NO SE DEJA “CARIBEAR”!

Tonight’s baseball game of the final series a hotbed for protests

A January 23 harsh on democracy: RCTV out again and Globovision is the last network in Venezuela to present the opposition views, the rest are pro Chavez or “neutral”, that is, silent.

Venezuela President Chavez orders TV station off the air

Chávez closes down opposition media outlets

Venezuela Orders Cable Providers to Remove RCTV

Hugo Chavez: Circling the Drain?
The Venezuelan would-be dictator has put his country in an accelerating economic collapse.

How Hugo Chavez’s revolution crumbled

During the past two weeks, just before and after the earthquake outside Port-au-Prince, the following happened: Chávez was forced to devalue the Venezuelan currency, and impose and then revoke massive power cuts in the Venezuelan capital as the country reeled from recession, double-digit inflation and the possible collapse of the national power grid. In Honduras, a seven-month crisis triggered by the attempt of a Chávez client to rupture the constitutional order quietly ended with a deal that will send him into exile even as a democratically elected moderate is sworn in as president.

Last but not least, a presidential election in Chile, the region’s most successful economy, produced the first victory by a right-wing candidate since dictator Augusto Pinochet was forced from office two decades ago. Sebastián Piñera, the industrialist and champion of free markets who won, has already done something that no leader from Chile or most other Latin American nations has been willing to do in recent years: stand up to Chávez.

Piñera was only stating the obvious — but it was more than his Socialist predecessor, Michelle Bachelet, or Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been willing to say openly. That silence hamstrung the Bush and the Obama administrations, which felt, rightly or wrongly, that they should not be alone in pointing out Chávez’s assault on democracy. Piñera has now provided Washington an opportunity to raise its voice about Venezuelan human rights violations.

He has done it at a moment when Chávez is already reeling from diplomatic blows. Honduras is one. Though the country is tiny, the power struggle between its established political elite and Chávez acolyte Manuel Zelaya turned into a regional battle between supporters and opponents of the Chávez left — with Brazil and other leftist democracies straddling the middle.

The outcome is a victory for the United States, which was virtually the only country that backed the democratic election that broke the impasse. Honduras is the end of Chávez’s crusade to export his revolution to other countries. Bolivia and Nicaragua will remain his only sure allies. Brazil’s Lula, whose tolerance of Chávez has tarnished his bid to become a global statesman, will leave office at the end of this year; polls show his party’s nominee trailing a more conservative candidate.

Haiti only deepens Chávez’s hole. As the world watches, the United States is directing a massive humanitarian operation, and Haitians are literally cheering the arrival of U.S. Marines. Chávez has no way to reconcile those images with his central propaganda message to Latin Americans, which is that the United States is an “empire” and an evil force in the region.

The week’s posts and podcasts:
Bill for Haiti czar? 15 Minutes on Latin America
Hope among the ruins: the @USNSComfort VIDEO
Just what Haiti needs: John Edwards
Zeyala to go, Nancy rejects the Bill, and other roundup items with VIDEO
Anti-Americanism and the Haiti earthquake: 15 Minutes on Latin America

Post re-edited for omitted items.

Please note there will be no podcast tomorrow due to an appointment change.

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. The two top stories of the week are the Venezuelan currency devaluation, and Argentina’s Central Bank dispute.

LATIN AMERICA
Threat of Terrorism in Latin America

Today’s roundup at The Americano

ARGENTINA
Argentine Leader Fights Bank Move

Argentina’s bank grab
The reserves, or your job: The president’s ultimatum to her Central Bank chief

BRAZIL
Brazil reflects on Lula’s last year

Lula and the generals
Don’t look back: The army blocks a truth commission

CUBA
The Vigil brothers, Cuban Political Prisoners of the Week, 1/10/10

En memoria de Gloria Amaya

Reggaeton

U.S. says contractor arrested in Cuba is no spy

500 Cuban Doctors Manage to Defect Via Venezuela

ECUADOR
Flota aerea Taura trasladada desde ayer a la base de Manta

Ecuador Orgs Reiterates Solidarity with Cuba

HONDURAS
Guest blog: Diaspora, remittances and immigration

MEXICO
A peaceful getaway or a lawless frontier?

Mexican Cartel Skins Rival’s Face, Stitches It on Soccer Ball

Tijuana reels amid a surge of violence
After some gains in Mexico’s drug war in 2009, Tijuana has had a bloody turn of events in the new year. More than a dozen people, four of them students, were reported slain in the last week.

Organised crime in Mexico
Outsmarted by Sinaloa: Why the biggest drug gang has been least hit

A Mexican cult
Death in holy orders: Syncretism in the era of the drug baron. There is a novel on this, named La Virgen de los sicarios, and a movie of the same name.

NICARAGUA
Foto (del abuso) familiar

PANAMA
How to be a wheeler-dealer

PARAGUAY
Señor Topocho

PERU
Peru’s Interbank Names Interim General Manager

PUERTO RICO
Good news: Puerto Rico to Become Cruise Ship Hub of Caribbean

VENEZUELA
Chavez’s 3-Tiered Currency System May Spur Inflation

Venezuelan devaluation and Giordani for dummies!

Chavez Says Dollars Were Sold Very Cheap at Old Rate

By subscription: Chavez To Activate $1 Billion Fund

Chavez’s Devaluation Leaves Venezuelans Jittery About His “Socialism of the 21st Century”

Special thanks to the Baron, Eneas, Maggie and Vlad

The week’s posts and podcasts:
Chavez devalues the currency: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Oliver Stone: “We can’t judge people as only ‘bad’ or ‘good.’”
Chavez devalues currency, creates a distraction
Court reinstates head of Argentina’s Central Bank
Argentina’s central bank impasse: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Al-Qaeda and the FARC – together? 15 Minutes on Latin America
Argentina’s Central Bank director resigns: 15 Minutes on Latin America

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The story of the week: the Copenhagen Climate Talks.

LATIN AMERICA
The ALBA’s sucre bill is no such thing

Noteworthy article from last February’s WaPo: Latin America’s Document-Driven Revolutions
Team of Spanish Scholars Helped Recast Constitutions in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador

ARGENTINA
Argentina’s Dirty War Orphans

BOLIVIA
Bolivia seizes land from TV network owner

Bolivia Pres Morales Calls For Billions In Climate Reparations

‘Mr. Bolivia’ wins world’s most handsome man contest

BRAZIL
Los pensamientos de Lula

Brazil – a hug from Lula

Roubini Says Brazil Real Overvalued, New Laws Needed

Resource-rich Brazil puts up its guard
The nation is reviving its space program as part of a push to secure its territory. ‘In the coming era of scarcity, we’re going to have to defend what we’ve got,’ a consultant to the Defense Ministry

CHILE
Another Test for the Chilean Model

Frei’s strategy

Chile’s presidential election
Piñera flies the flag: Sebastián Piñera, an airline tycoon, is well placed to break his country’s political mould. But he promises less change than meets the eye

COLOMBIA
Security in Colombia
Calling freedom: How mobile phones may help to deter kidnaps

Colombia to Build Military Bases on Venezuela Border

CUBA
Tell me again how American tourists can make a difference in Cuba?

For those of you who think Cubans actually own a house in Cuba, Karina’s patio is neither private nor special*

Before he left for Denmark, Hugo stopped in Havana: Fidel gives Chávez a breakfast sendoff

ECUADOR
Ecuador Parliament Discusses Education Law

GUATEMALA
Rash of public lynchings hit Guatemala
Mistrust of justice system to blame, experts say (h/t Islam in Europe)

HONDURAS
Guest blog: Enough is enough!

Manuel Zelaya: Eligible to lose Honduran citizenship

MEXICO
Mexico City backs gay marriage in Latin American first

Via Gates of Vienna, Islam is the new religion in rebellious Mexican state Chiapas

The City That Went to Hell

NICARAGUA
Pro-Iranian Chavista Daniel Ortega overturns term limits

PANAMA
Birds of a feather (sort of)

PUERTO RICO
Sotomayor disappointed by ‘wise Latina’ souvenirs. Let’s hope no one’s bought her one of the NY Times t-shirts for peoples of color as a Christmas gift.

VENEZUELA
As the adoring crowd cheers Chavez in Copenhagen, the environmental record of the revolution is abysmal

That “inherited” excuse getting popular with Leftists these days

VIDEO Chavez declares himself a Marxist:

Losers of the world unite – in Denmark

All you really need to know about them

Venezuela Imprisons Judge Who Freed Banker Without Trial

Venezuela’s Chavez accuses Dutch of aggression

Venezuela passes banking law raising government control

Morning Bell: The Hugo Chavez Case for Cap and Trade

Daily Gut: Green–It’s the New Red

Anunciantes que abandonaron a Tiger Woods acuden al Presidente Chávez

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
Putting our economy in the hands of Chavez fans

The week’s posts and podcasts:
Jake Tapper picks up the scent of Chavez’s sulfur
Chavez: Obama smells of sulfur, too
Chile’s new prosperity: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Chavez does Denmark
At Real Clear World:
Former Sinaloa Drug Lord Dead in Shootout

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad started his tour of South America by accepting Lula’s invitation to Brazil, which was first scheduled for last May but was postponed after public outcry. Protestors were at the airport

Around 200 Iranian businessmen accompanied Ahmadinejad’s delegation, in a sign of their eagerness to tap opportunities in a continent that does not consider Tehran a pariah.

Lucia Newman, formerly of CNN, reports on the visit,

More links on the visit in the Brazil section below.

Meanwhile, Mahmoud Abbas is visiting Argentina.

LATIN AMERICA
New corruption ranking says a lot

US builds up its bases in oil-rich South America
From the Caribbean to Brazil, political opposition to US plans for ‘full-spectrum operations’ is escalating rapidly. To which I say, “Drill, baby drill, here in the USA.”

ARGENTINA
Don’t cry for me, America

BOLIVIA
International Human Rights Clinic suit against former Bolivian president and minister of defense moves forward

Agua para el molino centralista

BRAZIL
Polémica visita de Ahmadinejad a Brasil

Ahmadinejad, murderer, visiting Brazil on November 23: AHMADINEJAD, O MATADOR

Brazilians Take to the Streets Against Iran President’s Visit
IDF intercepts shipment of Brazilian weapons for Hezbollah

Armas brasileiras para o Hezbollah.

The NYT says that by hosting Ahmadinejad, Brazil Elbows U.S. on the Diplomatic Stage

Brazil: Pro-Israel March Against Ahmadinejad and Jew hatred

Looking ahead, Brazil’s farmers take up reforestation
Demand for ‘greener’ products changes growers’ tactics

Hackers Fail To Crack Brazilian Voting Machines

Last Word on Battisti on ‘Political’
Brazilian supreme court rules in favor of extradition

Brazil investigating Battisti
Police say they have uncovered proof of terrorist activities

Olavo de Carvalho explains Lula and the Sao Paolo Forum

Mack Supports Senator LeMieux’s Hold on Tom Shannon to Be Ambassador to Brazil

CHILE
La semana en Plataforma Urbana

COLOMBIA
U.S.-Colombia FTA: American Workers Wait as Congress Dithers

Colombia says Venezuela blows up two border bridges

COSTA RICA
China May Spend $700 Million on Costa Rica Refinery

CUBA
Cuba: violence unabated, Castros prove HRW and critics right

The ghost of 1980

Raúl Castro y Yoani Sánchez:
crónica de fin de régimen

‘Jorge Barrera Alonso,’ Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 11/22/09

A great leap forward for Cuban healthcare

Former U.S. official, wife admit to 30 years of spying for Cuba. Plea deal reached for couple recruited by intelligence operative

Another Reminder Why Easing U.S. Sanctions on Cuba Not Warranted

Cuba and the United States: Resistant to sticks and carrots
The difficulty of pressing for change in a police state

Iran’s Tehran Times publishes Fidel Castro’s latest: The Bolivarian Revolution and peace

ECUADOR
Inequities in Ecuador

HONDURAS
Honduras’ Roberto Micheletti to step down for 7 days

U.S. Confirms Recognition of Honduras Presidential Elections

Reflections on Honduran Politics: Gauging the Will of the People

First Lady Hosts Social Work Session

Honduras election sets return to business as usual

Patricia Rodas dice que el país vive en insurrección
Patricia Rodas reconoce que en las últimas semanas el movimiento zelayistas ha decaído en todo el país.

MEXICO
Skeptics doubt Mexican data on military abuses
Figures contradict U.S. numbers; complaints rise as drug war rages

Mexico’s economy: A different kind of recession
In some ways the pain is less bad than the statistics suggest. But recovery will be harder than in the past unless complacency gives way to reform

US-Mexican cooperation in dealing with criminal insurgents

Buying guns for the Zetas

NICARAGUA
Entrevista a Felix Maradiaga

PANAMA
In the Grip of the Gripe

PERU
Revolting news: Human Fat Ring Busted in Peru

Darkest Peru

Peru and Brazil: Messing around with dams
First build a road, then flood it

PUERTO RICO
Candlelight vigil for gay teenager brutally murdered in Puerto Rico

VENEZUELA
Venezuelan GDP down 4.5%, stagflation is here, now what?

Venezuela Falls Into Recession As 3Q GDP Shrinks 4.5%

Tacoa’s troubles

Chavez Rejects U.S. Mediation in Venezuela-Colombia Spat, U.S. Withdrawal is “Only Solution”

Chavez praises Carlos the Jackal

Alleged news agency allegedly strips the word “alleged” of any meaning whatsoever, sources allege

Socialist International and other assorted insults to intelligence

Bad news for Venezuela’s economy
After five years of expansion, the Venezuela economy is in technical recession as Gross Domestic Product has declined over two successive quarters

US politics
November 23, 1963

Thanks to Alex, The Baron, Bill, Dick, Eneas, Maggie and Roberto

This week’s posts and podcasts
Why the US stopped supporting Zelaya: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Cuba: Get yer free penile implant!
Ahmadinejad heading to Brazil
Yoani Sanchez gets reply from Obama
Chavez now making clouds abort from the presidential palace
Brazil takes off: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Honduran Congress will decide on Zelaya “after the election”
VIDEO Venezuela Franklin Brito’s hunger strike: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Islamic militants and the drug trade
Americans jailed in Cuba while visiting family: 15 Minutes on Latin America

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The must-read post of the week: Yoani Sanchez’s Shadow Beings
Update: Related, Cuba’s blogosphere has developed a sharper edge
Cuba’s blogosphere has taken on a decidedly harsher face in recent months, an act of online defiance in the face of government retribution.

ARGENTINA
Las FARC, Chávez, Irán, Bolivia y ¿Argentina?

Argentina-Brazil Trade Spat Threatens Weaker Peso

BRAZIL
Presidential politics in Brazil
Her master’s voice: Dilma Rousseff, Lula’s preferred successor, is a more interesting politician than she appears to be. But would she be different from her boss?

Public morality in Brazil
Hemlines and headlines: Less licentious than it sometimes looks

The Economist’s Special Report on Brazil: Land of promise
Brazil is big, democratic, stable and rich in resources, says Brooke Unger. So why is it not doing a lot better?

COLOMBIA
Venezuela and Colombia
Jaw-jaw war: A hundred years of bombast

Colombia moves to calm tensions with Venezuela

COSTA RICA
Costa Rica Diarist: Democracia

If it’s the weekend, it’s the New York Times

CUBA
Armando Valladares: Castro’s Gulag

Cuba shuts down… Cuba… to save energy.

Fidel Castro’s long goodbye

Scenes from Havana
Money and Cuba policy: cause and effect?

Who Funded the “Public Campaign” Report?

Cuba reporta 63 casos de dengue

Cuba: presos de la Causa de los 75 en estado crítico

Fidel García Roldán, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 11/15/09

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Via Phyllis, Trustee Tries to Cancel The Sugar Babies Screening at the University of Miami

Tonight’s screening of The Sugar Babies at the University of Miami will proceed as scheduled despite enormous pressure from a member of the university’s Board of Trustees. One of the board’s senior trustees is Alfonso Fanjul, who is also the Chairman and CEO of Flo-Sun, Inc., a sugar company featured in the film for its inhumane labor practices, which include employing children to work sugar cane fields in conditions that can best be described as modern-day slavery.

The award-winning, feature-length documentary The Sugar Babies is scheduled to be screened tonight at 7 p.m. as part of the Latin American Film Series organized by the University of Miami Center for Latin American Studies. It will be followed by a question and answer session with filmmaker Amy Serrano. Tomorrow, November 13, Serrano will also lead a round table discussion about the film and the current situation of Haitian laborers in the Dominican Republic.

Dominican diplomats also pressured the university to remove the film from the festival. Edgar Aponte, Dominican Minister Counselor, will be attending the event. Aponte works under Carlos Morales Troncoso, the Dominican Minister of Foreign Affairs, who happens to be the former president and CEO and current shareholder at the Fanjul-owned Central Romana Corporation in the Dominican Republic.

Dominican Republic Makes Major Drug Bust
The president of the National Drug Control agency says the drugs were hidden in a container on a ship bound for Spain. Maj. General Rolando Rosado Mateo says the cocaine had arrived from Venezuela.

ECUADOR
Ecuador’s Amazonians sue Chevron over poison waterways
Tens of thousands of Ecuadoreans living in the Amazon rainforest are suing Chevron, the US oil company, for poisoning their waterways in what is billed as one of the biggest environmental lawsuits in history.

Chevron’s lobbying campaign backfires

EL SALVADOR
Death Toll from El Salvador Floods Rises to 192

HONDURAS
The Cardinal and the Constitution
Cardinal Rodriguez says Manuel Zelaya was removed from power constitutionally.

Honduras shows Latin America’s ’strongman’ is Jim DeMint

DeMint and Honduran Democracy 1 – Obama Administration 0

Investigan lugar desde donde fue lanzado explosivo contra bodegas electorales
No se reportaron daños humanos ni materiales, pero las autoridades trabajan esclarecer el hecho.

Honduras finds alleged drug landing strip

Comment on: “The New Hemispheric Agenda and the Role of Regional and International Organizations”

JAMAICA
Gloomy Jamaica
Unfixable? The burden of debt and crime

MEXICO
Street blockades breed ‘anything-goes’ culture

NICARAGUA
Gobierno de Nicaragua insulta a Holanda, su primer cliente en Europa

Nicaragua Seizes Arms Cache From Mexico Drug Gang

PANAMA
Poor TV Quality this morning

PARAGUAY
Power outages

Venezuelan military presence in Paraguay: Presencia militar secreta de Venezuela en el país ABC

Fuentes castrenses que pidieron el anonimato por razones obvias confirmaron a ABC que el último año ha sido frecuente la llegada sin registro de militares venezolanos, aparentemente para “colaborar” con las Fuerzas Armadas en tareas de inteligencia. La coordinación estaría a cargo del agregado militar de ese país, Oscar Carrizales Pinto, que llamativamente es general, cuando este tipo de puestos habitualmente lo ocupan oficiales de menor rango. Los tripulantes del Hércules que se habrían quedado en el país el jueves no hicieron trámites migratorios.

PERU
Peru and Chile in “Spy” Scandal

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Bonds Beat U.S. States as Fortuno Cuts

URUGUAY
Mujica en crudo

VENEZUELA
Venezuela-Mali-Europe: the cocaine connection

Chock full o’ nuts Chavez: Chavez asking Cubans to ‘bomb clouds’ amid drought

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez says he will join a team of Cuban scientists on flights to “bomb clouds” to create rain amid a severe drought that has aroused public anger due to water and electricity rationing.
Chavez, who has asked Venezuelans to take three-minute showers to save water, said the Cubans had arrived in Venezuela and were preparing to fly specially equipped aircraft above the Orinoco river.
“I’m going in a plane; any cloud that crosses me, I’ll zap it so that it rains,” Chavez said at a ceremony late on Saturday with family members of five Cubans convicted of spying in the United States.

In case you think this came from The Onion, here he is saying it in Spanish, announcing that the Cuban technicians arrived and are ready to bomb the clouds:

Chavez helping the opposition? “elections” at the PSUV

‘Chavismo’ Losing Steam in Venezuela

Chávez dice que se manipularon sus palabras del domingo

Venezuela paves the way to expropriate occupied coffee roasters
The Ministry of Food will allocate USD 6.05 billion to the execution of projects in 2010

AMERICAN POLITICS
Obama as Climate Strongman: Taking the Chavez Adoration a Step Too Far

The Sao Paulo Forum expands to USA

IMMIGRATION
Where two contentious issues intersect
Immigration and health House measure omits Senate panel’s legal test

Special thanks to Dan, Dick, Maggie and Phyllis.

The week’s posts and podcasts
Mexico: Amlo’s pretend government
Brazil’s big blackout: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Blackout in Venezuela: 15 Minutes on Latin America
OAS calls emergency meeting on Honduras

At Real Clear World:
Zelaya: No Part of U.S. Brokered Deal
Chavez Sort-of Backtracks on War Statements

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Today’s top story: Yoani Sánchez and Orlando Luís Pardo Lazo last Friday, November 6, were kidnapped off a street in Havana just as they were about to participate on a peace demonstration. They were severely beaten by three men, threatened, and released. More details on the story in the Cuba section below. I’ll be talking about this in today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern.

Val Prieto posted an item Claudia Cadelo, another Cuban blogging from the island-prison, is posting now at Babalu.

Another top story making the news in the media is that Chavez is threatening war with Colombia… again. You’d think he would come up with something new by now.

ARGENTINA
Latin American Leaders Seek to Rein in Media, Press Group Says

BRAZIL
The Guardian blogger loooves Lula: How far can Lula’s stardust scatter?
The president of Brazil stands for democracy, and for the poor. These are still valuable qualities in the 21st century

In the midst of a tectonic shift in the new world order

World’s barriers: Rio de Janeiro

CHILE
Chile’s Mapuches
The people and the land: A fight over history and poverty

COLOMBIA
Developments in Colombia-Venezuela Trade Row?

How Pablo Escobar’s son atoned for the sins of his father
Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar was gunned down in 1993. In an exclusive interview, his son tells Uki Goñi why he had to seek reconciliation with the children of Pablo’s victims while Dinosaurs and Versace entice tourists to Pablo Escobar’s drug ranch

CUBA
A gangland style kidnapping

Who’s Afraid of Yoani Sanchez?

Human Rights Watch denounces attack on Yoani

Professional violence

Penúltimos Días has video of the Cuban state security detail that follow Yoani Sanchez

Reign of terror in Cuba

The detention and beating of Yoani Sanchez and friends is business as usual for the Castro brothers. Their so-called people’s revolution has in fact been a half-century reign of terror against the Cuban people. Bombings, executions, hijackings, torture, imprisonment, the deliberate drowning of women and children, fear tactics imposed by Stasi style security agents with CDR spies in every neighborhood, mandatory indoctrination of children, concentration camps, hunger, actos de repudios, forced exile and family separation, and the denial of human rights. Equally shocking is the fact that these mass-murdering thugs remain the darlings of the left. Just this past week Hollywood’s roving reporter Sean Penn made pilgrimage to Cuba in search of spike for his kool-aid. Surely, there must be a special place in hell for them all.

Dictatorships and double standards, part 2

Yoani Sanchez: Don’t blame me

Yoani contra la barbarie

Revelan detalles íntimos de cómo vive Fidel Castro hoy en día Paper describes Fidel’s home, daily routine

GUATEMALA
El regreso de las patrullas de autodefensa civil

EL SALVADOR
Chávez’s Next Target: El Salvador
Twenty-first century socialism may have stumbled in Honduras but it is being tried again in El Salvador.

HAITI
Rebuilding Haiti
A step backward: The dumping of the prime minister raises fears of drift

HONDURAS
Honduras Accord did not fail

Honduras’s political conflict
Zelaya’s scrap of paper: Unless outsiders continue to press, a deal to end a stubborn political conflict risks coming unstuck even before it is implemented

Calamity in Honduras; Obama bus backs over Zelaya…

Zelaya in June 25 video: For those of you who must insist that Zelaya didn’t violate the law prior to being deposed, here is a video of Zelaya leading a mob to steal the Venezuela-printed ballots and electoral material that the Honduran authorities had declared illegal.

VIDEO Mel Zelaya did propose reelection.

MEXICO
Perspective on: Freud and Mexico, via Vienna

Soldiers wary of often corrupt Mexican police

NICARAGUA
Democracy still unravelling

A New Mosque in Nicaragua Fires Up the Rumor Mill
In Poor Country, ‘Everyone Asks’ if Iran Helped Out; Question for the Contractor

PANAMA
Infectious Disease Associated With Gringos

PARAGUAY
Military leaders replaced in Paraguay

PERU
Ecosystem in Peru Is Losing a Key Ally

PUERTO RICO
Ailing Puerto Rico cuts more public sector jobs

VENEZUELA
Chavez Orders Venezuela to Ready for War as Colombia Urges Calm Chavez Says Venezuela to Prepare for War as Deterrent

“Generals of the armed forces, the best way to avoid a war is to prepare for one,” Chavez said in comments on state television during his weekly “Alo Presidente” program. “Colombia handed over their country and is now another state of the union. Don’t make the mistake of attacking: Venezuela is willing to do anything.”

Chavez: Prepare For War, Here Come The Americans …

Chávez asks the military to prepare for war with Colombia: Chávez pide a militares “prepararse para guerra” con Colombia. Here he is stating it in his Alo presidente TV show (in Spanish). He also tells Obama “don’t make a mistake, Mr President Obama, and order open aggression against Venezuela by using Colombia. Don’t make that mistake, because we’re ready for everything.”

Chavez steps up Colombia war talk

The 2010 votes: gerrymandering in Venezuela

LA NUEVA POLARIZACIÓN

Venezuela’s energy shortage
Losing power: Communism is a cold shower

Venezuela’s Central Bank Reserves Boosted By IMF Infusion

Venezuela: Indians die of swine flu

Via Caracas Chronicles, Gays Attacked, Harassed By Police

Special thanks to Maggie, the Baron, Eneas, Dick and Dan.

The week’s posts and podcasts
Zelaya Says Honduras Deal Is Off
Cuban bloggers arrested and beaten
Ecuador jails political dissidents: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Honduras: “What we got here is… failure to communicate.”
To the bathroom with a flashlight in Caracas: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Nicaragua’s Ortega, now and forever? 15 Minutes on Latin America

In today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern (if you don’t catch it live, you can listen to any archived podcast at your convenience),
Daniel Ortega seeks to extend his term limit…indefinitely, the latest of the current trend among Latin American rulers.

Related reading:
Constitutional Danger in Nicaragua, Ortega Up to His Old Tricks
The Time of Tyrants
In Nicaragua, tensions flare amid power quest
Pro-government demonstrators rocked the U.S. Embassy as opposition leaders complained the president is undermining Nicaragua’s democracy in his effort to remain in power.
U.S. says concerned by Nicaragua election ruling
Latin American leaders move to extend their rule

——————————-
Later today I’ll be in Rick Moran’s podcast at 8PM Eastern, and in Silvio Canto’s podcast at 10PM Eastern, talking about the New Jersey election.

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

This week’s big news: the new Honduras agreement. Please see this morning’s roundup on the international reaction, and last Friday’s post. More posts on Honduras below.

LATIN AMERICA
Hacia una visa común latinoamericana

ARGENTINA
Argentina’s debt negotiations: Settling up
The government seeks a deal on its remaining defaulted bonds

BOLIVIA
Hugo Chávez pagó a BTR para armar a la policía antimotines de Evo Morales

BRAZIL
Indígenas del Amazonas salvan a sobrevivientes de un accidente aéreo en Brasil

Saturday guitar

CHILE
Chilean President Rides High as Term Ends

Cinco nuevos proyectos de edificios de oficinas en Santiago Centro.

COLOMBIA
Colombia’s paramilitaries: Militias march again
The “justice and peace” process the Colombian government offered to right-wing paramilitaries is at risk of falling apart

CUBA
Sean Penn’s Cuba odyssey

WHO chief says Fidel Castro ‘looks wonderful’

Obama asked Spain to deliver a message to Raúl about ‘changes,’ newspaper says

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Marriage amendment in DR flies under the radar

HONDURAS
Zelaya advierte que no avalará el Gobierno de Unidad si no es restituido

Republican lawmakers seek probe over Honduras coup

Honduras Is An Opportunity. And the United States shouldn’t squander it. Well, they just did.

George Soros and the Illegal Drug Trade Behind Obama’s Honduras Policy?

MEXICO
Mexico’s Debacle—A Teaching Moment

U.S. put Mexican human rights crusader into forced asylum. Lawyer likens episode at El Paso crossing to ‘Twilight Zone’

NICARAGUA
Constitutional Danger in Nicaragua, Ortega Up to His Old Tricks

The Time Of Tyrants

PANAMA
Panama’s financial industry
Shades of grey: The unfinished job of cleaning up the country’s financial reputation

Exit tax up to $40 next year

PERU
Local soccer hooligans kill young woman in Peru

Jaime Bayly talks about the case (in Spanish)

PUERTO RICO
Quick Work: First Lawsuit Hits Over Friday’s Explosion in P.R.

Descartan terrorismo en incendio de P.Rico
El FBI concluyó que la explosión en Capeco no fue un acto de sabotaje, sino que fue provocado por gases que emanaron de un tanque en el almacén de combustibles de la empresa

URUGUAY
Uruguay: el Frente Amplio conserva la mayoría parlamentaria

VENEZUELA

Reader question, interesting comparisons on the US and Venezuela’s money printing

Venezuela as a narco-state

Interview with Daniel Duquenal of Venezuela News and Views

They all knew about electrical woes for at least 7 years

High Level U.S. Diplomat Meets With Chavez

Socialism in action in Venezuela

AMERICAN POLITICS
Justifying the Prize

This week’s posts
Please note there were no podcasts last week since I had laryngitis.
Trick or treat: The Zelaya costume
Lifestyles of the rich and famous Communists
To hell in a handbasket
Argentina: The war against the media.

Update, 3 November
Welcome, Dodgeblogium readers!

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

UPDATE
Carlos Alberto Montaner: Honduras Must Hold Firm on Zelaya

Politics is full of surprises. Roberto Micheletti, designated president of Honduras by that country’s parliament, wanted former President Manuel Zelaya to remain in jail in Tegucigalpa while judges and prosecutors formalized the judicial process against him for violation of the Constitution, corruption and misappropriation of public funds. Curiously, Hugo Chávez, Lula da Silva and Daniel Ortega have made that detention possible.

True, Zelaya is not in a Honduran jail but in the Brazilian Embassy in the capital, but that’s a lot more convenient for the government of Micheletti. It is unlikely that pro-Zelaya commandos will break into the Brazilian haven to try to rescue him, because he entered it of his own will and, in any case, the responsibility for Zelaya’s physical integrity is now in the hands of Brazil. The Honduran police need only guard the building’s exterior and control the comings and goings. At some point, Zelaya will decide to submit to his country’s justice, or maybe he’ll choose to spend a long time under asylum.

Meanwhile, President Micheletti, with remarkable firmness, says that he’s going ahead with the elections planned for Nov. 29. Shortly before Zelaya’s return, Panama declared that, if the upcoming Honduran elections are fair and transparent, it will recognize the new government. That’s the sensible thing to do. Fortunately, President Ricardo Martinelli is a brave statesman who doesn’t mind swimming against the current if it is morally justifiable to him.

LATIN AMERICA
The American journey
Columbus Day celebrates our ever-new beginning

“HITN, Latino and Categorizing”

George Shultz on the Drug War
The former secretary of state has long doubted the wisdom of interdiction.

Pot cartels busted

Commentary: How realistic is it for the Caribbean to join the G20?

Maya Disparage Apocalyptic Nutjobs, since 2012 isn’t the end of the world, Mayans insist

ARGENTINA
Obituary on Mercedes Sosa

BOLIVIA
Buenos días represión

INTO THE ABYSS: BOLIVIA UNDER EVO MORALES AND THE MAS

CHILE
Fiesta de las Bicicletas en el Forestal.

CUBA
Architecture of the emergency

Yoel Lázaro Carbonell Guilar, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 10/11/09

Michael Moore proven a liar on national TV

The Accolades Keep Coming In… Castro Praises Obama’s Nobel Prize

Fidel Castro Lauds Obama’s Nobel Prize

GAO Report, Another U.S.-Cuba Policy Sideshow

Cuba’s economy: The demise of the free lunch
Near-bankruptcy is causing Cuba to jettison the Utopian paternalism of Che and Fidel. The future involves hard work for higher, but still-paltry, wages

Defector goes AWOL in Spain

ECUADOR
NY Times Plays Photo Tricks to Condemn Chevron in Ecuador Dispute

GUATEMALA
The entire country of Guatemala had an electric blackout yesterday due to a lightning strike. Didn’t take long for a crazy conspiracy theory to come up with a nutty explanation – Apagón en Guatemala fue causado por terroristas indígenas y un líder español

HONDURAS
What Micheletti really said to the OAS

Crisis in Honduras: What was really behind the removal of President Manuel Zelaya, and is he likely to be reinstated?

Conozca al padre Tamayo, el guía espiritual de Zelaya en la embajada de Brasil

Jim DeMint’s Report From Honduras–>Obama Is Wrong

The Honduras article Sen. Kerry (D, MA) didn’t want you to see.

Important news from Honduras

Release the Koh Memorandum on Honduras

Barack Fidel Che Obama, the Bolivarian Revolution’s useful idiot, reverses the Monroe Doctrine

MEXICO
Additional 300 miles of border fencing killed, via The Latin Americanist

NICARAGUA
DeMint vs Kerry on Honduras

PANAMA
Death Paperwork For Foreigners in David

PERU
The Mystery of Capital among the Indigenous People of the Amazon

VENEZUELA
The 2010 votes: legal cheating in a pro Chavez electoral system

So you want to know what Chavez’ economic plan is?

Off target

Muertos de sed o ahogados por la lluvia

Venezuelans got a reprieve from the endless cadenas yesterday when Chávez called in sick, Hoy no hubo Aló Presidente por un “quebranto de salud” de Hugo Chávez

Chávez: Obama no merece el Nobel Unlike Castro, Chavez says Obama doesn’t deserve the Nobel Prize.

Janissaries or Mercs?

IMMIGRATION
Workplace Immigration Raids Not a Cure-All
Experience shows that even though such crackdowns are necessary, they often cause more problems than they solve.

Special thanks to Ada, Bill, and Dick.

This week’s posts and podcasts
Argentina’s new media law: 15 Minutes on Latin America
The complicated Brazil Olympics
Argentina’s new law limits the media
Why won’t the Obama administration support the upcoming Honduran elections?
Lanny Davis proposes a new solution for Honduras
Honduras’s Micheletti blasts OAS
Chavez shouldn’t travel as much, and other headlines: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Hondurans start new talks
VIDEO: Venezuelan farm stolen by Chavez

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The big stories of the week:
The judge of the Chevron-Ecuador lawsuit (the largest lawsuit in history) reclused himself after damning videos showed him in a bribery situation.
Brazil and France sign huge defense deals involving the building of 36 fighter jets and nuclear technology.
Hugo Chavez travels through Libya, Syria, Iran, Algeria, Belarus and Russia, and hints at a nuclear Venezuela.

LATIN AMERICA
Bring order to arbitrary acts

Castro, Morales, Nyerere named official UN heroes

Making Friends

ARGENTINA
¿Kirchner gana o pierde poder con más confrontación?

BOLIVIA
Evo reitera que llegó al poder “para toda la vida”

BRAZIL
Brazil’s oil policy: Preparing to spend a “millionaire ticket” from offshore
The government has unveiled plans to give the state the lion’s share of the money from vast new oil discoveries. Will this wealth be invested or squandered?

Brazil’s nationalistic move to up oil stakes angers critics

COLOMBIA
Backed Into a Corner

Term limits in Colombia: Closer to Uribe 3.0
But the courts could still block it

CUBA
Yoendri Márquez Moya, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 9/6/09

UN Crowns Fidel Castro “World Hero”

U.S. Lifts Almost All Curbs on Family Visits to Cuba

Via Andrew, Prison walls in Cuba

U.S. scholarships get Cuban college students expelled: A group of Cuban college students who were offered U.S.-funded scholarships were instead blacklisted or kicked out of school.

Did Andrew Zimmern Gloss Over ‘Bizarre World’ of Cuba?, and Why do Cubans have to resort to eating RATS?

Yet Again, a Musician Endorses Castro

ECUADOR
Ecuadorean Judge Steps Down in Chevron Amazon Suit

Judge Núñez admits he needs to step aside; Amazon Defense Coalition proven wrong

Ecuadorian Judge Juan Núñez, the judge presiding over the Chevron environmental lawsuit in Lago Agrio, made the decision Friday to recuse himself from the case. Chevron has maintained that no judge who has participated in the type of meetings shown in the video recordings (released earlier in the week) could possibly have rendered a legitimate decision.

Transcripts of a meeting recorded on June 5 clearly show the judge has prejudged the case even though evidence was still being submitted and final arguments have not been held. And the judge was willing to talk about that decision with businessmen (Hansen) seeking post-verdict remediation contracts.

Swine flu fells Ecuador president’s security chief
Toxic Revenge
A $27 billion lawsuit against Chevron won’t clean Ecuador’s dirty slate.

GUATEMALA
Bienvenido al mundo de los locos

HONDURAS
Zelaya, a Chavez Sympathizer was NO Friend of America

Obama’s Honduran mistake, Part Two

Obama punishes small country because its courts opposed dictatorial ex-president’s return to power

Clinton to meet Zelalya Thursday on Honduras situation

Honduras: A Truth Stranger Than Fiction?

Why Honduras matters more and more

Hillary v. Honduras
The Obama administration declares it won’t recognize the results of a free and fair election.

Stop Bullying Honduras

MEXICO
Mexico’s health care lures Americans

Calderon Changes His Cabinet, Not His Policies

NICARAGUA
Liberty Torch Passed From Zelaya to Ortega

PUERTO RICO
Caribbean islands crack down on illegal immigrants

VENEZUELA
Chavez to Ahmadinejad: Jesus and the Mahdi Will Come Soon

Noam Chomsky in Venezuela: ‘A better world is being created’

Oliver Stone ‘Warmly Embracing’ Hugo Chavez in Blame America Doc

Venezuela’s oil policy: A sticky proposition
Take a tiny bit of it, or leave it

Richard Blanco’s Death Sentence

Maintaining radio silence

Chávez y Ahmadinejad apoyarán “los frentes antiimperialistas” (+ Fotos)

Lingering shutdown in refineries lowers inventories
Expansion of Cardón refinery has taken more than 200 days; El Palito continues on standby

Engel hits Chavez on Israel attack

The magic of Venezuelan mathematics (LXXVIII)

No Mas Chavez: the fall out in Venezuela

América Latina reacciona contra Chávez

IMMIGRATION
Mexico Denounces Growing Intolerance Toward Mexicans in U.S

Special thanks to Ada, the Baron, Dick, Eneas and Maggie.

This week’s posts and podcasts:
Hugo goes to Venice UPDATED with photos
VIDEO Honduras: Micheletti at No Más Chávez demonstration, & reaction to the US State Dept’s action
Today is Global Anti-Chavez Day UPDATED
Hugo Goes on Tour: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Uribe gets his amendment, and other headlines: 15 Minutes on Latin America
VIDEOS: Chevron Offers Evidence of Bribery Scheme in Ecuador Lawsuit

At Real Clear World:
Hugo and Mahmoud, Best Friends Forever!
U.S. Suspends Foreign Aid to Honduras