Fausta’s Blog

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The big story of the week: Cristina Fernandez seized the Central Bank

After a month of wrangling, Argentine President Cristina Kirchner succeeded in sacking central bank President Martin Redrado last week. In his place she named Mercedes Marcó del Pont, a Yale-trained economist who has expressed the view that central bank autonomy ought to be limited.

The opposition howled at the news. Felipe Sola, former governor of Provincia de Buenos Aires, warned that the new bank president “is going to do what the executive decides and they are going to modify the bank charter to justify her doing what the executive tells her.”

Of course that would seem to be the point. Mr. Redrado was fired because he refused to turn over $6.6 billion in bank reserves to Mrs. Kirchner, who wants to pay foreign creditors but doesn’t want to use treasury revenues.Ms. Marcó del Pont, if she wants to keep her job, will follow the orders of the president.

UPDATE
Welcome, Instapundit readers!
Please also listen to the podcast, Argentina’s Cristina seizes the Central Bank

LATIN AMERICA
Obama and the FTAs

ARGENTINA
Argentina’s reserves and its debts
Central Bank robbery: The president gets her way, again, but at a price, and visit the blogs and articles featured below,

El riesgo país es el matrimonio

BOLIVIA
PDF file: Into the abyss: Bolivia under Evo Morales and the MAS

BRAZIL
Brazil’s possible next president
Serra waits, a bit too patiently, for the presidency
The front-runner in Brazil’s coming presidential contest has done a decent job running its biggest state. But to keep his lead he must get campaigning

CHILE
El impacto de un gigante: “Mi negocio queda al lado del Costanera Center”

COLOMBIA
Uribe Vows Calm as Colombia Awaits Referendum Ruling

Colombia’s health reforms
Shock treatment: President Uribe tries to push through some much-needed changes

COSTA RICA
Costa Rica Debt May Outperform on Chinchilla Poll Win, RBS Says

CUBA
“Guardian angels”

Kenneth, What Is the Frequency: How CBS and Dan Rather Set Up Elian Gonzalez

Rage against the Marxist machine

Commentary: No ‘common policy,’ as Europe grapples over its future ties with Cuba

Cuba 1963: Inside castro’s prisons

Orlando Zapata Tamayo and Juan Ramón Rivera Despaine, Cuban Political Prisoners of the Week, 2/7/10

ECUADOR
Ecuador at Risk: Drugs, Thugs, Guerrillas and the Citizens Revolution

Cocaine trafficking keeps Ecuador anti-drug authorities busy
Seizures set a record last year for the country, which is growing in importance as a hub for shipments to the U.S. and Europe

Ecuador president says cops overreacted to insult

Humor: Por atentado a la majestad del poder
¡Correa se mete preso a sí mismo!
Asesores le aconsejan no volver a salir a la calle

Indigenous Groups Confront Rafael Correa
Ecuador’s Neo-Liberal Model

GUATEMALA
Conferencia sobre Evolución en Guatemala

HAITI
“Trop loin du Bon Dieu”

Haiti’s Crisis: Oil, Oligarchs, and The Groundhog Day Manifesto

The evil genius of the U.S. plan to destroy Haiti

HONDURAS
Honduran amnesty and truth

MEXICO
Protection through Integration: The Mexican Government’s Efforts to Aid
Migrants in the United States

PANAMA
Facts and rumors

PARAGUAY
¡Sinvergüenzo!

PERU
Chocolate and coca

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rican nationalist pleads guilty to charges related to 1983 Wells Fargo robbery in Conn.

In Hartford, A Machetero Pleads Guilty To Role In 1983 Wells Fargo Robbery

VENEZUELA
Via Instapundit, Venezuela: Chavez equates Twitter with terrorism

DEL “TAS PONCHAO” AL 26/9: ¿ESCALERA, BARRANCO O TOBOGÁN?

Murderer Ramiro Valdes comes for the 18 years of Chavez bloody military coup

CIA Factbook Draws Chavez’s Ire

Government Expands Business Nationalization Powers

From 2007,

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. I had planned to do a regular Carnival as usual, but today received this email from The Anchoress,

These most recent updates by this missionary are sounding very grim, indeed. You read them and realize you are reading a modern psalm – that these people are in the midst of an Old Testament crisis. The missionary’s camp, thirty miles from Port au Prince, has seen no help; thieves are being killed outright, as there is no law, no jails.

Also, the Team Rubicon stuff is fascinating. A small group of Marines, medical personnel and Jesuits managing to avoid the bureaucratic red tape and get to work. Yes, I am link whoring, not because I’m greedy but because Ed’s story needs telling and the Team Rubicon needs funding. If you could link, I would appreciate it very much.

You must go read her post, The Living Psalm of Haiti

As so many turn their focus to the special (and possibly controversial) election in Massachusetts, I continue to receive updates from a Haiti-stationed missionary named Ed (via DeLynn), some of which I have shared with you here and here and here, and which cannot be ignored. Ed is outside of Port au Prince, and I have been particularly interested in his reports because, while Port au Prince is getting massive attention, there are people even 50 miles away from that epicenter whose lives are also in a complete shambles. While we hear that supplies and help are on the ground in PAP, Ed writes of seeing helicopters pass by but no relief, “noting on the ground yet,” day after day.

You must go read the rest.

OTHER NEWS AND BLOGS ON THE HEMISPHERE:
ARGENTINA
Cristina Kirchner, el Jefe de Estado más impopular de América

CHILE
Chile mira adelante tras la elección presidencial de Piñera

What the left really fears about Chile’s new president

Won by a 52-48 percent margin: Piñera echoes calls by JFK, Obama

The Dominoes Begin to Fall: Chile’s Leftists Lose Presidency After 52 Years in Power

CUBA
Chemical and Biological Weapons in Cuba

ECUADOR
Ecuador’s president
Smile turns to frown: Blackouts of power and news

Ecuador: La prepotencia del poder – por Carlos de la Torre

Ecuador: ¿Tres o trescientos años? – por Antonio Rodríguez Vicéns

HAITI
Memo to President Obama: Haitians are asking for Marines, not the State Department

Haiti after the quake

Medics liken Haiti to a war-ravaged zone

Haiti’s earthquake
Catastrophe in the Caribbean:
One of the world’s most vulnerable countries is devastated by a murderous earthquake

Security fears mount in lawless post-earthquake Haiti

U.S. task force commander for Haitian relief says logistics remain stumbling block

Stop trivializing tragedies

Strong quake hits Haiti, collapsing hospital

HONDURAS
Micheletti awarded the Brass Balls Award La imagen: Micheletti homenajeado como el ‘héroe de los huevos de oro’

JAMAICA
Hillary Clinton says Jamaica has pivotal role in Haiti’s recovery

PANAMA
Rodelag Fire

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico: What you must see on a quick trip to the island

VENEZUELA
Venezuela’s devaluation
The weakening of the “strong bolívar”: In a harsher world Venezuela faces a reckoning

Milicianos cuestionan a Hugo Chávez

This week’s posts and podcasts
Chavez accuses US of using the earthquake as pretext for military occupation
The Haitian Exodus
Chile’s new president: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Chile: Runoff election today
Haitians granted Temporary Protection Status
Earthquake in Haiti? Blame global warming, and the USA
Earthquake in Haiti, UPDATED with VIDEO
The constitutional showdown in Argentina: 15 Minutes on Latin America

At Real Clear World,
Disastrous earthquake in Haiti

In today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern,
Sebastian Piñera wins Chile’s presidency.

Related reading:
Market Watch: Billionare investor Piñera wins Chile presidency
Newsreal:
The Dominoes Begin to Fall: Chile’s Leftists Lose Presidency After 52 Years in Power
The Santiago Times: Piñera Defeats Frei In Chile Presidential Election
Op-ed at the Santiago Times, Memory Versus Hope, Frei Versus Piñera

(This election, like so many, is between the party of memory and the party of hope, past versus future. The Concertación’s only hope is that the majority of Chileans still take the left’s suffering during the Pinochet dictatorship so much to heart that they won’t vote for the presidential candidate they judge to be more closely allied to the dictatorship.

(Frei—and much more important—Frei’s father, the former Chilean President Eduard Frei Montalva (in office 1964-70) called for Marxist President Salvador Allende (1970-73) to be removed from office, by military coup if necessary. But they later were advocates of Chile’s return to democracy, and thus Pinochet opponents.

(Piñera, too, was a Pinochet opponent. He led the alliance of businessmen who loudly announced they would vote NO to Pinochet’s continuing in office in the crucial 1988 plebiscite. But his center-right political party, Renovación Nacional (RN), is allied with the farther-right UDI party, which is the home of most Pinochetistas.

Chile Stocks Surge In Early Trading On Pinera Pres Election
On the left, Nikolas Kozloff: Chile’s Presidential Election and Future of South American Left
WSJ: Chile’s Frei Concedes Defeat to Piñera
Juan Forero at the WaPo: Conservative billionaire businessman Piñera is elected president of Chile
NYT: Right-Wing Businessman Wins Chile’s Presidency

Prior post: Chile: Runoff election today

Report from Al-Jazeera from Lucia Newman, who used to love Castro when she worked for CNN in Cuba, painting Sebastian Piñera as “right wing” and implying he’d be sympathetic to the juntas of old days,

Juan Forero, reporting for the NYT, is more balanced, Chile race reflects Latin America’s growing preference for free-market centrists

Whether a billionaire businessman or a former president wins Chile’s presidential election Sunday, the outcome will reflect a broader trend in Latin America — the rise of the pragmatic centrist.

After years of victories by leftist candidates, market-friendly moderates are gaining ground in the region.

Some are emerging from the right, such as Sebastian Piñera, 60, an airline magnate who has held a razor-thin lead in the polls ahead of Chile’s runoff vote.

Political analysts say that Piñera and the ruling coalition candidate, Eduardo Frei, 67, who was president from 1994 to 2000, differ in style but not markedly in the substance of their proposals. Irrespective of whom voters choose, Chile is unlikely to veer from the centrist, free-market path that has brought the nation prosperity since the end of Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in 1990.

Political analysts say the right is not making a comeback in Latin America, where a mix of leftist rabble-rousers and European-style socialists have taken power since a bombastic former army colonel, Hugo Chávez, won office in Venezuela in 1998 by pledging to overturn the old political order.

Instead, voters are showing a preference for moderates rather than firebrand nationalists who preach class warfare and state intervention in the economy, according to political analysts and recent polls.

“Voters are more calculating and rational than we give them credit for,” said Christopher Sabatini, senior policy director at the Council of the Americas in New York. “People are making the choice to support market economies and rational leaders.”

That was the case in Panama,

In Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, a supermarket-chain owner with close ties to the United States, won the presidency in May. In Brazil, the popular governor of Sao Paulo state, José Serra, enjoys a solid lead in the polls over his more left-leaning rival ahead of October’s presidential election. Polls show the winner in Costa Rica’s election next month will probably be the ruling party’s Laura Chinchilla, who is expected to closely hew to the current government’s market-friendly policies.

Even the Communists are calling themselves moderate,

But two prominent leftists who won office last year — former rebel José “Pepe” Mujica in Uruguay and Mauricio Funes, head of a party that was born out of the guerrilla movement in El Salvador — have highlighted middle-of-the-road policies.

They say they are inspired by the region’s most admired moderate, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. A former union activist, Lula is known for his innovative anti-poverty programs and a cautious oversight of the economy that has won Wall Street approval.

“The Latin American voter wants refrigerators and washing machines — they want prosperity,” said Marta Lagos, director of Chile’s Latinobarometro polling company, which surveys political attitudes in 18 Latin American countries. “They have abandoned the ideological flag.”

Hugo Chávez’s support in the region is at an all-time low of 27% approval rating, while 59 percent of Latin Americans surveyed last month said a market economy is best for their country.

Whatever the outcome of the election in Chile, the social policies will continue along with the judicious monetary policy.

This, along with Latin Americans’ new support of market economies, is great news for the region.

I’ll post more on the election once the results are in.

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

LATIN AMERICA
Via Gates of Vienna Newsfeed, OAS: THE HEMISPHERIC GOVERNMENT SHAPING YOUR FUTURE

Weapons of Freedom

Time For Latinos to Stand Against Illegal Immigration
And it’s up to the rest of us to give them the benefit of the doubt and stop assuming that their loyalties lie elsewhere.

BAHAMAS
Letter: Visitor safety in the Bahamas

BRAZIL
Via Islam in Europe, Brazil – More Halal beef for Arab countries

CHILE
Chile’s second transition

COLOMBIA
Colombia says Venezuela mistook Santa’s sleigh for US spy plane

FARC’s Plan to Booby Trap Colombia

CUBA
Camila and her wicker basket

Cuba human rights worsened in 2009 — activist

Fake autobiography of Fidel is on target, writes reviewer, herself a Castro scholar

Christian Pilgrims to Bethlehem Honor Che Guevara

CURACAO
Curacao: Case of missing US diplomat going cold

ECUADOR
Ecuador: Report Says U.S. Aided Attack On Rebels

HAITI
Report says 225,000 Haiti children work as slaves

HONDURAS
Anybody seen Pati?

JAMAICA
Plane from D.C. overshoots runway in Jamaica; dozens injured

MEXICO
Family of Mexican marine slaughtered in revenge attack over raid that killed drug lord

PANAMA
Close quarters

PERU
Alan García cuestiona “angustia” de Evo Morales

VENEZUELA
2010 for Venezuela

How much does the Chavez Government have left in the parallel funds?

Via Islam in Europe, Chavez announces new discount ’socialist’ stores

Chávez Accuses Netherlands of Plotting Aggression With the U.S.

The devil in a red tie

“¡ESTO NO PARECE NAVIDAD…!”

HUMOR:
Los mejores montajes del 2009 del Chiguirre Bipolar:

The week’s posts and podcasts:
Chávez threatens Toyota, GM
Zelaya’s Christmas at the Brazilian embassy
Boy reunited with Dad in Brazil
‘Bloggera’ y también tanguera

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

In today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern,
Joining the developed countries, In Chile, many are optimistic that prosperity is coming

This week, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a club of rich nations that includes the United States, Japan and several European countries, formally invited Chile to join. Becoming the first South American nation in the 30-member group would be among the tangible signs of Chile’s steady rise since the 1980s, when it was in the grip of dictatorship.

“It’s a recognition of all the good things we’ve done,” Andrés Velasco, Chile’s finance minister, said in an interview last week.

Such a transition from developing to developed country last happened more than a generation ago — think Ireland and South Korea. No one is exactly sure of the timing for Chile. But economists say this country of 17 million will become the first Latin American country to switch categories sometime in the next decade.
…
Chile has posted Latin America’s fastest economic growth over a generation, and poverty has dropped from 45 percent before the demise of Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s government to a regional low of 14 percent today. But Giugale and other economists say Chile has advanced in areas more difficult to measure, such as strengthening state institutions like the courts and fighting corruption.

Chile also has a stable and robust democracy, ruled since 1990 by a coalition of Socialists and Christian Democrats that unseated Pinochet. The current president, Michelle Bachelet, has a popularity rate hovering at nearly 80 percent.

And though polls show that a conservative opposition businessman, Sebastian Piñera, may win the presidency in a January election, no one expects an overhaul of Chile’s economic system. Piñera, who won a first round of voting Sunday over the ruling coalition candidate, Eduardo Frei, has said he would not reduce government or roll back an extensive social safety net.

Good news from the region, for the region.

Related reading:
Change Chile Can Believe In
With conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera favored to win the presidency, the South American country is looking forward.

Related posts:
Chile now officially a developed country
Andres Velasco’s plan: Save for a rainy day

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean – a day late due to several work and family related reasons. Thank you for your patience.

LATIN AMERICA
The FARC and the ‘Peace Community’

Dead End America

The Latinobarómetro poll
A slow maturing of democracy: More Latin Americans now trust the government than the army

BOLIVIA
Bolivia’s presidential election
The explosive apex of Evo’s power: A triumphant Evo Morales has won a second term. But the going will not necessarily get any easier for his social revolution

Drug lords finding safe haven in Bolivia

BRAZIL
Muslim numbers soar in Latin America’s Islamic resurgence

CHILE
Elecciones en Chile trasncurren con tranquilidad
Tres horas después de iniciado el proceso, el 98.71% de las mesas receptoras estaban instaladas; eligen al sucesor de la presidenta Michelle Bachelet y un nuevo Congreso

Via Instapundit, Impotent futurism: the design of Allende’s cyber-utopian boondoggle

Free As In Beer: Cybernetic Science Fictions from Greg Borenstein on Vimeo.

CUBA
Via The Corner, Cuba detains contractor for U.S. government
American was handing out mobile phones, laptops to activists

The frog in the pot

ECUADOR
Ecuador: Correa Announces Restructuring Of Central Bank

Ecuador media moves create waves

GUATEMALA
Aunque no renazca de sus cenizas

HONDURAS
Alas, I will *not* be asking how to say in Spanish…

Opinion: On Hondura’s Vote – by Otto Reich

MEXICO
Cartels stealing Mexican oil

Behold the Conquering Hero

PANAMA
Nice-looking eggplants

PARAGUAY
Paraguay’s president
Loose-lipped Lugo: Giving offence and receiving it

VENEZUELA
Banking in Venezuela
Fall of the Boligarchs: Hugo Chávez cracks down on allies

Ahmadinejad, Chavez and Mugabe Will Speak at UN Junk Science Summit

Venezuela: Bank Nationalizations

Purga política detrás de ofensiva contra banqueros

Venezuela: Agents Raid Brokerage Firm

Police commit 20 percent of Venezuela crimes—minister

Venezuelan government takes over farms

Cooling Hugo Chavez

DIALÉCTICA DE LA GUERRA CIVIL (claves para evitarla…)

The week’s posts and podcasts:
The Tehran-Caracas Nuclear Axis
The Venezuelan banks takeover: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Curly, Larry and Moe at Copenhagen Climate Talks next week
Orquesta Kef: Entry denied
Blogburst/blogacción: Free Darsi Ferrer NOW!
Honduras: Zelaya may be heading to Mexico? UPDATE: Nope.
Venezuela’s new Continental Bolivarian Movement: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Venezuela: “Thousands of Russian missiles” coming
The Panama Canal expands: 15 Minutes on Latin America

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’

BOLIVIA
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.

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
Uribe’s Constitutional Challenge
The heroic Colombian president is putting his gains at risk by trying for a third term.

The Colombian Miracle
How Alvaro Uribe with smart U.S. support turned the tide against drug lords and Marxist guerrillas.

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

Ecuador plays ‘dirty’

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: The Tiny Nation Succeeds As A Functioning Democracy Despite Opposition Pressure From Communist Nations In The Region … and The Obama Administration

Honduras Tears Down a Berlin Wall

Honduras’s presidential election
Voting to move onwards and upwards: Porfirio Lobo, pictured below, has won the support of Hondurans. Now he must convince the outside world of his legitimacy

MEXICO
107 slave laborers freed in Mexico City

PANAMA
Chocolate fix?

The Panama Canal
A plan to unlock prosperity: Ten years ago this month Panama took possession of the canal that bears its name. It has high hopes for a $5.25 billion expansion of the waterway

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

The three-legged stool

“¡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

While we’re wallowing in disastrous economic policy, Chile is flourishing. Why is that?

How Chile Got Rich

Wealth: Chile is expected to win entry to OECD’s club of developed countries by Dec. 15 — a great affirmation for a once-poor nation that pulled itself up by trusting markets. One thing that stands out here is free trade.

At a summit of Latin American countries last week in Portugal, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet suddenly became the center of attention — and rightly so. She announced that her country was expected to win membership in the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, an exclusive club of the richest and most economically credible nations.

Chile is the first country in South America to win the honor, and in a symbolic way its OECD membership card seals its exit from the ranks of the Third World to the First.

For the rest of us, it’s a stunning example of how embracing free markets and free trade brings prosperity.

How?

Embracing markets has made it one of the most open economies in the world, ranking third on Cato’s index, just behind Hong Kong and Singapore. Per capita GDP has soared to $15,000.

Besides its embrace of free trade, other reforms — including pension privatization, tax cuts, respect for property rights and cutting of red tape helped the country grow not only richer but more democratic, says Cato Institute trade expert Daniel Griswold.

But the main thing, Griswold says, is that the country didn’t shift course. “Chile’s economy is set apart from its neighbors, because they have pursued market policies consistently over a long period,” he said. “Free trade has been a central part of Chile’s success.”

Chile has signed no fewer than 20 trade pacts with 56 countries, giving its 19 million citizens access to more than 3 billion customers worldwide. When no pact was in force, Griswold notes, Chile unilaterally dropped tariffs. This paid off handsomely.

You’ve heard of flat taxes? Chile has a flat tariff — only 5% on any item not exempted by a free-trade treaty, Griswold points out. But almost nobody has signed off on free-trade treaties like Chile.

Go read it all.

Estonia, Israel, Russia and Slovenia are also in the process of applying to the OECD.

Congratulations to Chile on this outstanding achievement. May it continue in this track.