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.
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.
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.
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.
Welcome to the first Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean of 2010. I hope you had a joyful holiday season and wish you a prosperous and happy year.
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.
•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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
“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.”
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.”
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.
Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. 
