If you can’t beat them, imitate them:
Noticias 24 reports that Bolivian president Evo Morales supports the creation of Coca Colla, a coca-based “energy soft drink”,
since we are interested in industrializing coca.
Not coincidentally, Evo proposes expanding the legal number of hectares dedicated to coca production from 12,000 to 20,000.
That should do for a lot of Gatorade.
Can’t make it up, if I tried.
Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.
While Evo Morales won yesterday’s election and apparently gained control of the of the senate, the big story of the week is the crisis at the Venezuelan banks. Read the Venezuela News and Views post and the links in the Venezuela section below.
LATIN AMERICA
The Iranian Time Bombs
ARGENTINA
Argentina’s Dirty War Orphans
‘Iran building terror network in South America’
Iran Demands Nurses In Bolivia Wear Hijabs and El uso de velo en un hospital iraní causa polémica en el país
One Reason why most Europeans are Morons
Drug lords finding safe haven in Bolivia
Elecciones en Bolivia: el vice de Evo asegura que “la Constitución respeta la propiedad”
BRAZIL
Behold, the fake Obama, via Instapundit,
How can you tell the fake Obama from the real one? The fake one wears the American flag on his lapel.
CHILE
La semana en plataforma urbana
Colombia and the United States
Off base: Hoist on the petard of a dissuasive defence agreement
CUBA
Not Michael Moore’s Cuba!
A Distinguished Diplomat’s View
The impossible dream, again
“Cuba provides best Medical training ON EARTH!” says Al Jazeera
A Castro son is elected world baseball VP
ECUADOR
Ecuador Seeks To Block Chevron
HONDURAS
My Personal Witness of the Honduran Election
Letter to the nation from Roberto Micheletti
Honduran Democrats Overcome the Brutal Obama Imperialism
Democracy Won in Honduras, Now Obama Can Help It Advance
Honduras Tears Down a Berlin Wall
MEXICO
107 slave laborers freed in Mexico City
PANAMA
Chocolate fix?
PUERTO RICO
Nielsen Adds Puerto Rico
Airport Check-in: Atlanta gets rental car center, Puerto Rico to privatize
•Puerto Rico has applied with the Federal Aviation Administration to privatize San Juan Luis Muñoz Marin International.
The FAA’s pilot airport-privatization program allows up to five airports – with one slot for a large hub airport – to sell a long-term lease to private operators.
A local government selling the airport lease would receive a one-time windfall but give up operational control and recurring revenue.
Puerto Rico would become the third airport in the program if the FAA accepts its application after a 30-day review. Chicago Midway has applied for and was granted the large hub airport slot in the program, but its privatization efforts collapsed this year after an investor group failed to raise $2.5 billion needed for a 99-year lease.
New Orleans is the other airport accepted in the program.
Alvaro Pilar, executive director of the Puerto Rico Ports Authority, which operates the airport, told the Associated Press that money collected from private investors may go to address the island’s fiscal crisis by paying down some of its $3.2 billion deficit.
A majority of airline tenants would have to sign off on any privatization deal. American Airlines is the dominant tenant at San Juan Muñoz.
VENEZUELA
The Venezuelan banking crisis made simple (plus Chacon departure)
Venezuela Takes Greater Control of Banks
Venezuelan Minister Quits on Banker Brother’s Arrest
Senior Venezuelan minister resigns in purge of bankers
As the Venezuelan Government intervenes more banks, its strategy remains unclear and uncertain
Report: Voluntad Popular is launched in Valencia
“¡POLICÍA, NO MATES A MI HIJO!”
ENTERTAINMENT
Behind ‘Poliwood’ Part 1: Defending Castro, Chavez and Penn
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: The World Cup draw
The week’s posts and podcasts:
Bolivia’s election: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Chile now officially a developed country
Rudy does Rio
Fighting drought, Venezuela takes over more farms
Honduran Congress rejects Zelaya’s reinstatement: 15 Minutes on Latin America
The LA Times calls for carrots for Cuba
Honduras congress will NOT reinstate Zelaya
No-fat murders
At Real Clear World:
Brazil and That Coveted Security Council Seat
Honduras: Pepe Lobo Wins
Today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern,
Evo Morales Appears to Win Bolivia Vote
Second Term Expected to Bring More Ambitious Economic Changes; Ruling Party Poised to Take Over Senate
Related reading:
Bolivia’s Morales Wins Election, Congress on Vow to Help Poor
Bolivian elections: Evo Morales’s power grows with easy victory
Bolivian President Evo Morales has easily won a second term in power, according to early exit polls that showed the former coca farmer with a strengthened mandate to pursue socialist reforms.
Semanario Verdad Latinoamericana reports that nurses in a Bolivian hospital are forced to wear a hijab veil at their jobs.
The article, Bolivia: enfermeras son obligadas a llevar velo, says that state newspaper Cambio (link to their website here, but no link to their report on the hospital) reported that following a donation of $1.2 million USdollars by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit Wednesday last week, the nurses at a hospital in El Alto have to wear a veil due to conditions set by Iran.
In today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern, Ahmadinejad and his entourage of 200 businessmen visit Bolivia and Venezuela.
Related reading:
Iran’s leader gets backing in friendly Bolivia
Iran, Bolivia agree to cooperate on study of Lithium
Iran’s Ahmadinejad arrives in Venezuela
Venezuela opposition and Jews protest Iran visit
Blogging about Latin America is always interesting, and at times vastly amusing.
Imagine a beauty pageant, a contestant wearing as “national costume” a corset, thigh-high lace-up boots and carrying a bullwhip, and an international diplomatic feud that two countries are ready to take to The Hague.
Unlikely?
Think again:
A diplomatic storm is brewing between Peru and Bolivia. Bolivia’s president has accused Peru of thievery. Peru’s Congress issued a bristling denial. Bolivian diplomats are threatening to take the dispute to an international tribunal at The Hague.The two Andean neighbors are tussling over a costume in the Miss Universe pageant.
Last week, in the event’s national-costume competition, Peru’s candidate, Karen Schwarz, wore an elaborately embroidered outfit with a massive horned headpiece. It was inspired by practitioners of a timeless Andean ritual known as La Diablada, the Devil’s Dance.
Take a look:
Kinky in a colorful way, you say? Not so! It’s festive,
The costume’s designer, Ricardo Dávila, insists he and his 16-member costume-making team weren’t inspired by Bolivia, but by festive outfits in the Peruvian city of Puno. Besides the horned helmet with bulbous eyes, Ms. Schwarz’s costume features a beaded corset, hip-hugging shorts and boots rising above the knee. A cape, bursting with bright yellow and red colors, is emblazoned with a painting of Lake Titicaca, which borders Peru and Bolivia. Mr. Davila dubbed his cotton and papier-mâché fancy “Diabolically Beautiful.”
There’s even a scheduled performance of La Diablada today in front of the Peruvian embassy in Washington.
Of course the costume is only window dressing for a larger issue:
Many analysts say festering political tensions between Bolivia and Peru are stoking the so-called “Misses’ War.” Bolivian President Evo Morales is a highly nationalistic leftist who is a good friend of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez. Peru’s President Alan García is a centrist who loathes Mr. Chávez. Mr. García enraged Mr. Morales in May by granting political asylum to three ex-ministers from a prior Bolivian government whom Mr. Morales was trying to imprison for their alleged roles in a political massacre. In June, Mr. Morales, who is himself of Indian origin, accused Peru of genocide after indigenous protests in the Peruvian Amazon resulted in the deaths of more than 30 Indians and police officers.Now Mr. Morales has focused his wrath on the devil costume. “We can’t stop the miss from wearing that, but she should recognize the [intellectual] property, the origin of La Diablada,” Mr. Morales said last weekend. This week, Bolivia’s government began running ads asserting its sovereignty over La Diablada on CNN’s Spanish-language network and regional broadcaster Telesur. Thursday was declared the “Day of Recognition of the Bolivian Diablada” with performances and academic colloquies in La Paz.
Adding to the absurdity of the situation, now Evo Morales is talking about “intellectual property rights”?
You can’t make it up if you try.
On the endless stream of glum news from our hemisphere, this is particularly bad:
Bolivia busca apoyo ruso para potenciar sus fuerzas armadas
Bolivia golpea a las puertas de Rusia, una potencia militar mundial, para reemplazar su obsoleto equipo bélico, según un diplomático ruso en La Paz, lo que de materializarse permitiría al país andino reforzar su capacidad en este ámbito.El embajador ruso en Bolivia, Leonid Golubev, señaló que su país está en condiciones de modernizar el armamento y equipos militares bolivianos, a partir de un compromiso de crédito acordado en Moscú entre los presidentes Evo Morales y Dimitri Medvedev, a mediados de febrero pasado.
”Todo lo que pide el gobierno de Bolivia nosotros estamos dispuestos a cumplir. Podemos decir que el Ejército boliviano va a estar bien modernizado y va a responder a los países que lo rodean”, dijo Golubev, citado por el diario La Razón.
(My translation: if you use this translation, please credit me and link to this post)
Bolivia seeks Russian support in updating its armed forces
Bolivia’s knocking at the door of Russia, a world military power, to replace its obsolete war equipment, according to a Russian diplomat in La Paz, which, were it to materialize, will allow the Andean country to strengthen its military capacity.The Russian ambassador in Bolivia, Leonid Golubev, indicated that his country is willing to modernize Bolivia’s military equipment and armaments, starting with a credit agreement between presidents Evo Morales y Dimitri Medvedev from mid-February.
“We are willing to provide everything the Bolivian government requests. We can say that the Bolivian armny will be well modernized and will respond to its surrounding countries,” Golubev declared to Bolivian daily La Razón.
Bearing in mind the historically strained Chile and Peru, the growing drug trade in Bolivia, and Iran’s growing influence in Bolivia, this is very bad news.
And that’s only the beginning, folks.
In today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern, not only did Chávez chicken out from debating Jorge Castañeda, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Enrique Krauze, he cancelled his Alo Presidente show Saturday and Sunday.
Bolivia’s Evo Morales, who was scheduled to be his Sunday show guest and then travel with Chávez to Mauricio Funes’s inauguration in El Salvador, decided to stay put after all.
Chat’s open at 10:45AM and all podcasts are archived for your convenience.
Bad news, from a report prepared by Israeli intelligence ahead of Israel Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon’s visit to South America next week:
The Foreign Ministry’s report further claims that Chavez contributed to the strengthening of ties between Tehran, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua by inviting Ahmadinejad to presidential inauguration ceremonies that were held in these countries. The Ministry also suspects Bolivia of providing Iran with uranium.
The report also includes information on Hezbollah’s presence in Latin America.
Questions:
Is Venezuela mining its uranium deposits? Are the Chinese involved? Would that be the purpose of the human trafficking Daniel witnessed last year?
UPDATE
Somewhat related, Will the Left Apologize to Bolton?, via Dan Collins.
Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.
This week’s big story: Chavez’s nationalizing the oil contractors, removing books from public libraries, threatening Globovision, all for the purpose of consolidating power around himself, which was the subject of this morning’s podcast. See the links under Venezuela below.
Another big story: while the OAS aims to legitimize the Cuban regime by granting it membership in the organization, the Cuban government rejected the idea via an article by Fidel Castro in Granma, the official organ of the Cuban Communist Party.
In other news, Peru is also granting asylum to Bolivian ministers who oppose Evo Morales. as you may recall, Peru recently granted political asylum to Venezuelan opposition leader Manuel Rosales.
ARGENTINA
U.S. Government Funds $400,000 Study on Gay Sex in Argentina Bars
BARBADOS
Commentary: Thompson’s immigration declaration too harsh
BRAZIL
At least 31 dead, 50,000 homeless in Brazil flooding
Vale iron ore train in N. Brazil halted by floods
COLOMBIA
Colombia and Venezuela: Latin America Bond and Currency Preview
CUBA
At the Melia Cohiba
Castro le teme al huracán Obama
Cuba Doesn’t Belong in a Democratic Club
Castro’s apologists make a move at the OAS.
ECUADOR
Deep in the Jungle, Ecuador Targets the FARC. Let’s hope so.
FALKLANDS ISLANDS
A Small Place
Nearly half the Falkland Islanders are immigrants. What draws people to a grim chunk of rock in the South Atlantic?
GUATEMALA
Spanish think tank awards Manuel Ayau for his exemplary lifework in the defense of liberty
MEXICO
After Dems Bailout, GM To Move Out of US
MONTSERRAT
Frogs flown from Montserrat to flee deadly fungus
PANAMA
Panama and the decline of the Sao Paolo forum
Panama bucks the Latin American left
Super 09: A supermarket king defeats the Left
PARAGUAY
Paternity Makes Punch Line of Paraguay President
More!
PERU
Peru’s Garcia Gives Asylum to Bolivian Ministers — Bolivia’s Morales Calls Garcia “Vulgar”
Nadine Heredia, esposa de Ollanta, recibe dinero de diario ‘chavista’
Crime in Peru: Printing Money
Quantitative easing in a new capital of counterfeiting
VENEZUELA
Chavez accelerates the pace of destruction of Venezuela, taking over oil service companies.
Chávez Seizes Assets of Oil Contractors
Venezuela: Chavez’s government seizes oil contractors Photos here
Chavez latest seizures will likely reduce production
Chávez seizures fuel Venezuela oil fears
El Día Mundial de la Libertad de Expresión visto desde los barrios
You do not need to be an economist to know that things are not going well in Venezuela
Globovision shakes chavismo early this morning
Eurocámara apoya a “perseguidos” venezolanos
María Conchita busca “desenmascarar” a Chávez
Venezuelans aim to kick crime out
Trade unions in Venezuela: Socialism v labour. Curbing opposition to chavismo
Hugo Chávez Attacks Media Opponents Again, Threatens to Withdraw Their Licenses
Special thanks to Maggie and the Baron. Congratulations to Eneas Biglione on his Leadership Award
UPDATE, Tuesday 12 May,
Welcome, Dodgeblogium readers. Please visit often.
