Fausta's Blog

ARGENTINA
At least 3 dead, dozens hurt in Argentina train wreck

Tweet of the week:

It'd be funny if it weren't their actual system of gov't. Cc @fausta #argentina pic.twitter.com/ramGqJvTcw

— J.P. Freire (@JPFreire) June 15, 2013

BRAZIL
Brazil’s public finances
An ever-deeper hole

Brazil Bus Protests Illustrate Broader Malaise
The scale and persistence of the protests this past week, some of which turned violent, are a symptom of a broad, if vaguely defined, frustration felt by Brazilians in major cities that goes beyond the price of a bus or subway ticket.

CHILE
Simultaneous raids in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay after links between football transfers and money laundering
An estimated 150 search warrants were simultaneously implemented in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile in financial institutions, football clubs and players’ representatives looking for evidence on an organization dedicated to money laundering through the sale of soccer players.

COLOMBIA
Colombia kidnapping: Spanish tourists freed by police
Two kidnapped Spanish tourists are rescued by police in Colombia, as two people suspected of trying to collect a ransom are held in Spain.

COSTA RICA
LOVE AND MADNESS IN THE JUNGLE
A brilliant American financier and his exotic wife build a lavish mansion in the jungles of Costa Rica, set up a wildlife preserve, and appear to slowly, steadily lose their minds. A spiral of handguns, angry locals, armed guards, uncut diamonds, abduction plots, and a bedroom blazing with 550 Tiffany lamps ends with a body and a compelling mystery: Did John Felix Bender die by his own hand? Or did Ann Bender kill him to escape their crumbling dream?

CUBA
Toronto man, 78, guilty of sex crimes against children in Cuba
On Friday, James McTurk of Toronto became the first Canadian convicted of sex crimes committed against children in Cuba.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Miami judgment hits Dominican Republic for $50M

ECUADOR
CPJ dismayed by approval of media law in Ecuador

Editorial: Fruitless del Norte

Andres Oppenheimer: U.S. wins rare diplomatic battle in Latin America

HONDURAS
Can a Gang Truce Help Save Honduras?
It’s not a long-term solution to rampant drug violence, but it could provide short-term relief.

LATIN AMERICA
Xi Jinping in America’s backyard
From pivot to twirl
The Chinese leader tries a smooth move in America’s backyard. He visited Costa Rica and Mexico.

New drug threat to West Africa, warns president of Guinea
Latino drug cartels are seeking new West African client states after French military action in Mali destroyed their key smuggling route to Europe, the president of Guinea has warned.

MEXICO
Toeing the Line

Security in Mexico
The new face of Mexican policing
A public-private effort to reduce violence in Mexico’s wealthiest city

Mexico’s Spoiled Rich Kids
The entitled children of the country’s elite are now coming under fire.

PERU
Peruvian politics
The president is not for pardoning

PUERTO RICO
Migrants in Puerto Rico Await Driver’s Licenses

VENEZUELA
The Ghost of Chavez: Venezuela Getting Sicker

They came, they saw, they squatted

CARDENAS: The ‘Cubanization’ of Venezuela
Domination by the Castros has accelerated since Chavez’s death

The Obama administration has a funny way of rewarding those who call us ‘imperialistas‘

The week’s posts:
Venezuela: Ban baby bottles next?

The Nicaragua canal: Don’t be the next Lord Crawley

Venezuela: The lifeline, the triple currency

Puerto Rico: 65th Infantry to be honored with Congressional Gold Medal

Venezuela: The toilet paper app UPDATED

Argentina: Good-bye, business, hello drug lords

Mary O’Grady takes Joe Biden to the woodshed

Podcast:
US-Latin America issues of the week

First, the triple currency:
Carlos Eire posts on how Maduro Institutionalizes Cuban-Style Economic Chaos in Caracastan

The Venezuelan currency — the Bolivar — has now been assigned three different values by Maduro’s economic ministers.

The official name for this institutionalized chaos is “Sistema Complementario de Divisas (Sicad)”.

…

This new “Sicad” system in Caracastan is much more than an open display of the Castronoid obsessios with acronyms for destructive and repressive government programs: it’s an acknowledgment of the existence of a black market. Under “Sicad” the Bolivar will have three distinct exchange rates. Right now, depending on what kind of financial transaction one is making, the Bolivar will be worth 10 cents on a US Dollar, or 6.3 cents on a US Dollar, or 3 cents on a US Dollar. The lowest of these three values is the real value of the Bolivar, for that is the value pegged to the black market, which is euphemistically referred to as the “parallel” market.

The purpose is to obscure the devalued currency’s worth so no one knows its worth.

Spain’s ABC has much more (in Spanish) on the 3-card Monty; the also point out that Argentina’s got the official and the black market rates. Clarín (in Spanish) has more on Argentina’s double currency.

And the lifeline,
Venezuela gets a lifeline from the United States

One government, however, has chosen to toss Mr. Maduro a lifeline: the United States. Last week Secretary of State John F. Kerry took time to meet Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua on the sidelines of an Organization of American States meeting, then announced that the Obama administration would like to “find a new way forward” with the Maduro administration and “quickly move to the appointment of ambassadors.” Mr. Kerry even thanked Mr. Maduro for “taking steps toward this encounter” — words that the state-run media trumpeted.

What did Mr. Maduro do to earn this assistance from Mr. Kerry? Since Mr. Chávez’s death in March, the Venezuelan leader has repeatedly used the United States as a foil. He expelled two U.S. military attaches posted at the embassy in Caracas, claiming that they were trying to destabilize the country; he claimed the CIA was provoking violence in order to justify an invasion; and he called President Obama “the big boss of the devils.” A U.S. filmmaker, Timothy Tracy, was arrested and charged with plotting against the government — a ludicrous allegation that was backed with no evidence. Though Mr. Tracy was put on a plane to Miami on the day of the Kerry-Jaua encounter, Mr. Kerry agreed to the meeting before that gesture.

As I mentioned last week, the Tracy kidnapping worked.

Walter Russell Mead posts on the logical (?) result of Cristina Fernandez’s ruinous economic policy and her brand of radical peronista nepotism as described dy Douglas Farrah,
Argentina to Drug Lords: Money Wanted, No Questions Asked

If Farah is right that the economic fate of ordinary people in Argentina is largely in the hands of a few radical thirty-somethings nostalgic for Perón, it would go a long way toward explaining the country’s current state of affairs. Argentina is now well into the capital shortage phase of its latest, repetitive cycle of failure. The government has stolen all the money that wasn’t nailed down, and neither foreigners nor rich Argentines will voluntarily lend it any more.

The temporary answer is to go bottom fishing in world capital markets: to welcome dirty drug and arms money into the country in an era when bank secrecy in more respectable places is beginning to erode. This is what the Kirchner government is doing with its recent passage of a tax amnesty that would allow drug dealers and terrorists to put their money in Argentina without the usual formalities and queries. But we wouldn’t advise any international drug lords to trust Argentine politicians; precisely because their money is illegitimate, it will be easy for the authorities to confiscate the money through some clever trick.

This is the kind of desperate decision one might expect from a Peronist youth group that finds itself at the helm of a failing state; it’s unlikely to end better than any of the other gimmicks and dodges tried at similar stages of the Argentine failure process over the decades.

Meanwhile, the government continues to turn the screws on retailers, by freezing prices on several different brands of wine and liquor, six ice-cream desserts and 12 types of olives — as well as 22 deodorants. But that’s not the disquieting part,

When President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced the general outlines of the freeze late last month, she also said that under the “Mirar Para Cuidar” (Watch to Protect) program, young political activists would fan out across the country to ensure that supermarkets hold prices down as agreed.

Unemployed young people, with an anti-business agenda in a corrupt country welcoming criminals – what could possibly go wrong?

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos got his neighbors in a flutter by hinting that he would like Colombia to join NATO, which conveys a message to the rest of South America – and not about geography.

ARGENTINA
Now US falls out with ‘corruptible’ Argentina
ARGENTINA’S relations with the US have reached an “all-time low”, a top think-tank warned last night.

In a recent report he claims Argentina has profited from a US-led clampdown on the Mexican drug cartels. They switched distribution routes via Argentina, which is now believed to supply 70 tons of cocaine a year to Europe, a thirds of annual consumption.

It is feared that Argentina’s ties with Iran could lead them to build missiles together

Argentina can no longer be seen as a reliable counter-narcotic partner, or a partner in any sense, for the US.
Douglas Farah, senior fellow with the International Assessment and Strategy Center think-tank
Argentina also imports far more ephedrine, used in the making of many designer drugs, than its pharmaceutical industry needs, despite a US attempt at a crackdown in 2008.

This is said to be behind a flood of methamphetamine reaching the US.

BRAZIL
Rio Olympic venue closed until 2015
Officials in Rio de Janeiro say a recently-built stadium that will be used at the 2016 Olympics will remain closed for 18 months while the roof is repaired.

Brazil’s disappointing economy
Out of step (video below the fold since it starts immediately)

COLOMBIA
Colombia and the FARC
Digging in for peace
A deal on land marks a welcome breakthrough in peace talks. But there is still much to do, and not much time to do it in

Colombia and the arms treaty with no legs to stand on

UN hails first deal between Colombian government, rebels

CUBA
Cuban Documentary Extols ETA Terrorists

Widow and children of assassinated Cuban dissident, Oswald Paya, take political refuge in U.S.

Cuban political prisoner Enrique Figuerola Miranda on hunger strike for 40 days

DOMINICA
Dominica Catholics vow support for accused priest

ECUADOR
NGOs will have new controls in Ecuador

GUATEMALA
Administrative issues at the OAS GA in Guatemala

LATIN AMERICA
Xi Jinping in America’s backyard
From pivot to twirl
The Chinese leader tries a smooth move in America’s backyard

Demography in Latin America
Autumn of the patriarchs
Traditional demographic patterns are changing astonishingly fast

The Pacific Alliance a New Center of Gravity in Hemispheric Trade

MEXICO
Mexico bar kidnap ‘linked to gang’
Prosecutors in Mexico City say they believe the disappearance of 12 young revellers from a bar in the capital is linked to gang rivalry.

Mexican housebuilders
Dropping a brick
Changing government policies have plunged housebuilders into a crisis

Mexico Soldiers Free 165 Kidnapped Migrants
Mexican soldiers stormed a residence near the U.S. border and rescued 165 migrants who had been kidnapped by criminal gangs and held for ransom for up to three weeks, a Mexican official said Thursday. The cartels control the border.

PANAMA
Central America’s low-cost life lures baby boomers, even from Bonita Springs

PERU
Peru’s Shining Path leader Florindo Flores, a.k.a. Comrade Artemio sentenced
A court in Peru sentences the last of the original leaders of the Shining Path rebels to life in prison.

PUERTO RICO
How Puerto Rico Will Hack its Way to the Global Future

VENEZUELA
As Economy Stalls, Inflation Heats Up and Maduro Seems Clueless

María Lourdes Afiuni, Three and a half years, some rapes, beatings and a forced abortion later, has not yet been released.

Venezuela scraps food restriction
Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro calls a plan to restrict the number of basic food items people can buy in the western state of Zulia “insane”.

Chavez’s Folksy Style Proves to Be a Tough Act to Follow
President Nicolás Maduro does a good political impersonation of his predecessor Hugo Chávez. However, he’s missing a key ingredient: Mr. Chávez’s folksy, often ribald, sense of humor. Not to worry, Gustavo Ríos more than makes up for it,

The week’s posts and podcast,
George Galloway’s racism

Venezuela: The kidnapping worked

Mexico: Retailers Descend on Mexico

Colombia: Bayly entrevista a Uribe, 2a parte

Venezuela: Timothy Tracy released

Colombia: Bayly entrevista a Uribe

Cuba: Castro’s pawn

Podcast:
Argentina and other US-Latin America issues

(more…)

Talking about Argentina and other US-Latin America issues with Silvio, Michael Prada, and Soledad Ytuarte of the Buenos Aires Herald.

You can listen to it here.

This week’s big news item is the spotlight on a subject I’ve posted about for years: Iran’s Latin American networks.

Mary O’Grady has the background information:
Uncovering Iran’s Latin Networks
A prosecutor in Buenos Aires finds Tehran’s fingerprints region-wide.

In October 2006, Mr. Nisman indicted seven Iranians and one Lebanese-born member of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia for the AMIA murders. Interpol notices for their arrest were issued but none was captured. Then, late last year, the Argentine government of Cristina Kirchner announced that a “truth commission,” to be chosen by Argentina and Iran, would examine the viability of the prosecutor’s case.

To many Argentines, that seemed like letting the fox decide the fate of the chickens. But Mrs. Kirchner forged ahead, getting congress to agree. On May 20 Ahmadinejad approved Iran’s participation on the commission.

Mr. Nisman’s response was to release a mountain of evidence against Tehran into cyberspace for all the world to see.

Video:

My posts on the subject this week:
Roundup: More on Iran in Latin America

Argentina: Iran’s infiltration in Latin America

ARGENTINA
Color Dekadencia

Argentina’s Elected Autocracy
Faced with growing public opposition, the Kirchner government is stepping up its attacks on democracy.

An Argentine Dictator’s Legacy

CHILE
Maria Corina Machado went to Chile. Juan Cristobal Nagel is charmed.

COLOMBIA
Colombia says Maduro claims ‘crazy’
Colombia rejects as “crazy” allegations made earlier this week that it is trying to destabilise Venezuela, in the latest diplomatic row.

CUBA
Iran and Cuba: The Real “Mad Men”

All Eyes on Yoani’s Return

Cuban dissident says security forces are studying Vladimir Putin’s rule

An Honor Roll

I did not mention this — that he named the embassies in Havana that allow dissidents and democrats to come in and use the Internet. Would you like the complete list? The embassies of the Czech Republic, Sweden, and Holland, and the U.S. interests section (which is housed in the Swiss embassy). That’s it. “The rest of the diplomatic corps in Cuba does not give us any type of help,” said Roberto.

Che Guevara was no hero, he was a racist (h/t Babalu)

ECUADOR
Ecuador: Concern for Rights of WikiLeaks Founder

EL SALVADOR
A Salvadoran at Risk Tests Abortion Law

Salvadoran woman allowed C-section
A seriously ill Salvadoran woman says she will undergo a Caesarean section following the Supreme Court’s decision to deny her an abortion.

GUATEMALA
Ex-President of Guatemala Faces Judge in Manhattan

HONDURAS
Honduran gang truce begins

JAMAICA
Police: American killed in Jamaica during robbery

LATIN AMERICA
Meet Latin America’s Serious Side: The Pacific Alliance

MEXICO
Murder of Mexican reporter in Veracruz spotlights official hostility toward press

Immigration Reform: Compassion for Mexican Elites

PERU
Wedding bells for Van der Sloot in Peru prison

PUERTO RICO
Annals of the Security State: ‘Is Puerto Rico in America?’

VENEZUELA
The Dead Voted Massively Last October in Venezuela

Venezuelan Military “Technology”: It’s All Kid’s Stuff

The True Intentions of Iran in Latin America are Questioned

The week’s posts:
Mexico: 11 kidnapped in broad daylight

Good news Sunday: The Pacific Alliance

Venezuela: Bayly entrevista a Capriles, 2a. parte

El Salvador: Abortion denied

Venezuela: Capriles travels to Colombia

Mexico: Iron Man? No, Peatónito!

Venezuela: 2 Americans shot in strip club

Cuba: Would you spend a week’s salary for an hour on the internet?

Paraguay: Nueva Germania, and Nietzsche’s sister

Podcast:
US-Latin America: Free trade agreements

Following up on yesterday’s post on Iran’s infiltration in Latin America,

Demonstrators holding photos of the 85 people who died in the 1994 AMIA bombing

BBC: Iran ‘in Latin America terror plot’ – Argentina prosecutor
An Argentine prosecutor has accused Iran of trying to infiltrate countries in Latin America to sponsor and carry out “terrorist activities”.

AP: Argentine Prosecutor: Iran Infiltrating Continent

NYT: Prosecutor in Argentina Sees Iranian Plot in Latin America

In his report, Mr. Nisman contended that the 1994 bombing was not an isolated event. “It has to be investigated as a segment in a larger sequence,” he said in a report summary, pointing to parallels with the case of two Guyanese men convicted in 2010 of conspiring to attack Kennedy International Airport in New York.

In that case, a former Guyanese government official, Abdul Kadir, opened himself to a claim by prosecutors in New York that he secretly worked for years as a spy for Iran when he said during cross-examination that he had drafted regular reports to Iran’s ambassador in Venezuela on plans to infiltrate Guyana’s military and police. The plot to attack the airport did not advance beyond the conceptual stage.

Mr. Nisman, who has investigated the bombing since 2005, suggested that “criminal plans” by Iran could be under development in Latin America, including Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guyana, Paraguay, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay.

And let’s not forget the direct flights fron Tehran to Caracas.

WSJ: Iran in America’s Backyard
Remember that botched attempt to blow up John F. Kennedy airport in 2007?

Connecting the dots, Mr. Nisman found that one of the Iranian agents in the plan to incinerate JFK—Guyanese citizen Abdul Kadir—had a “close relationship and hierarchical subordination” to Rabbini. But Kadir’s activities were supported from other countries as well. He “was very important to the plot, not only because he was a successful leader, but also due to his deeply rooted connections with Iran and its embassy in Venezuela.” And he was active in countries throughout the Caribbean, including Trinidad and Tobago; Dominica; Barbados; Antigua and Barbuda; Surinam; and Grenada. “His activity as an Iranian leader allowed him to establish and strengthen relations with other regional Islamic leaders and by 1998 he was the representative of the Secretariat of the Caribbean Islamic Movement.”

It is unlikely that either Kadir or Rabbani would have gotten as far as they did without the use of a seemingly benign activity to shield them. “The dual use of institutions controlled by the Iranian Regime, the cultural, religious and propagation activities conducted by its agents abroad and the radical indoctrination of its supporters” become operational with “the construction of intelligence stations,” the summary explains. These have “the capability to provide logistic, economic and operative support to terrorist attacks decided by the Islamic regime.”

Telegraph (h/t Gates of Vienna): Argentine prosecutor accuses Iran of establishing Latin America terrorist networks
An Argentine prosecutor accused Iran on Wednesday of establishing terrorist networks in Latin America dating back to the 1980s and said he would send his findings to courts in the affected countries.

The Economist, back in January: Argentine-Iranian relations
A pact with the devil?

US State Department: Country Reports on Terrorism 2012

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee (MENA) released the following statement,500-Page Indictment by AMIA Bombing Prosecutor Reveals Troubling Extent of Iran’s Infiltration into Latin America, Says Ros-Lehtinen,

This indictment reaffirms the fact that Iran’s dual use of diplomatic and cultural offices is utilized to deepen its infiltration into the Hemisphere

She asserts,

“I’m deeply troubled by the findings by Alberto Nisman, whose 500-page indictment cites extensive evidence of Iran’s ‘intelligence and terrorist network’ in various Latin American nations. This report shows clearly that the 1994 AMIA bombing was not an isolated event, but rather that it was part of a larger and still ongoing scheme by the Iranian regime and its proxies to expand their influence in the Western Hemisphere and threaten U.S. security interests in the region.

“This indictment reaffirms the fact that Iran’s dual use of diplomatic and cultural offices is utilized to deepen its infiltration into the Hemisphere. In particular, the indictment implicates the fugitive Mohsen Rabbani, the mastermind behind the AMIA bombing, as the primary coordinator of Iran’s nefarious activities in the region. Another disturbing example cited in the indictment which demonstrates the scope of Iran’s activities is that of the two Guayenese men who were convicted in 2010 for conspiring to carry out a terrorist attack on JFK airport in New York. These examples underscore the danger that the Iranian regime presents not only through its nuclear program, but also through its unrelenting efforts to export its violent radicalism to our own Hemisphere

I may remind you that Iran’s Minister of Defense is the mastermind of the AMIA attack.

ARGENTINA
Are We Becoming Argentina?
The Republican Party is taking America down a dangerous path.

Alan Faena’s Argentine Residence
The restoration of the businessman’s Argentine estancia is a touchstone for an ambitious new real estate development that he hopes will change Miami.

Jorge Rafael Videla
Death of a “Dirty War” criminal

BOLIVIA
Bolivia Enacts Law Allowing Morales to Seek 3rd Term

BRAZIL
Brazilians
Portuguese for the perplexed

Brazil ‘cancels’ most African debt
Brazil says it will cancel or restructure almost $900m (£600m) worth of debt owed by African countries, to boost economic ties with the continent

Brasilia, immigrants from Bangladesh forced to work in slave-like conditions (h/t GoV)

CHILE
Barrick Gold fined for Chile project
Chilean authorities fine the world’s largest gold mining company, Barrick Gold Corp, more than $16m for environmental offences at an Andean mine.

COLOMBIA
Colombian welfare: Family Subsidy by the Box

CUBA
Cuban activist Alexander Tamayo arrested

ECUADOR
Ecuador president starts third term
Ecuador’s President, Rafael Correa, is sworn into office for an unprecedented third term in the capital, Quito

GUATEMALA
Guatemala extradites ex-leader Alfonso Portillo to US
Guatemala’s former President Alfonso Portillo has been flown to the United States to face corruption charges.

HONDURAS
Rhinoceros beetle

LATIN AMERICA
Hunger Strikes End in Several LatAm Countries

MEXICO
Mexican Billionaire Wants Probe of Activists
Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim says protests by an activist group in the U.S. have the trappings of an orchestrated campaign against him and his mobile phone companies and is asking California to investigate the group.

Soldiers re-occupy Mexico’s Hot Land

PANAMA
Great Time – No Photos

PERU
Corruption in Peru
A widening web

PUERTO RICO
‘Las Caras Lindas’: To Be Black And Puerto Rican In 2013

Six Cuban Rafters Rescued from Puerto Rican Islet

URUGUAY
Uruguayan Official Defends Drug Policy During Mexico Visit

VENEZUELA
The Cuban elephant in the room

Mario Silva and our daily abjection

Mario Silva’s Gossip Tape Aimed at Discrediting Chavismo/Madurismo

Good luck with that: Venezuela’s PdVSA Gets $1 Billion Credit Line From Schlumberger
State energy monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA, will receive a $1 billion revolving credit line from oil-service provider Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB), the South American country’s oil minister said Friday.

The week’s posts and podcast:
Argentina’s K Decade: 10 years of Kirchnerismo

Cuba: Dissidents meet exiles in Miami

Venezuela launches missile

Guatemala: Ríos Montt conviction thrown out

Venezuela: The Silva tape

Podcast (Audio starts immediately): US-Latin America issues of the week

As a Huge crowd cheers Argentine leader’s 10-year rule, ‘Bad vibes’ spoil Kirchners’ decade in Argentina.

“Bad vibes” is one way to call high inflation, near-default debt, persecuting economists, capital flight, takeover of private pension funds, Aerolíneas Argentinas and Repsol’s YPF, and the decline of the farming industry while the judiciary and media are under siege , and Cristina keeps making rude noises about the Falklands (between shopping trips to Paris).

Yeah, “bad vibes”.

AFP has a report in Spanish on the “K” decade,

Related:
Google no longer able to pay Android developers in Argentina, pulling apps on July 27th

Developers in Argentina have begun receiving letters from Google informing them that “Google Play will no longer be able to accept payments on behalf of developers registered in Argentina starting June 27, 2013.” The change applies to both paid apps and apps that use in-app purchases. The move appears to be related to new, restrictive regulations the Argentine government has imposed on currency exchanges, which The Telegraph detailed this past September.