Fausta's Blog

talking about Venezuela with Daniel Duquenal.

Live now, and you can listen to the archived podcast at your convenience.

talking about Colombia plus US-Latin America issues this week with Michael Prada of the The International Center for Democracy and Kevin Howlett, editor of Colombia Politics.

Live now, or listen to the archived podcast at your convenience.

live now, talking about Immigration reform: Amnesty or common sense?

with Michael Prada and Jorge Ponce of Babalu blog. Listen live, or at your convenience.

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez arrived in NYC yesterday, and received a warm welcome at the airport, unlike her prior experience in Brazil. In the evening, she spoke at Columbia University,

Thursday night, Sánchez appeared at Columbia University’s School of Journalism to answer questions.

Sánchez described the problems Cubans have when trying to access the Internet and government surveillance of independent journalists. She also spoke about the changes made by Cuban leader Raúl Castro.

“I would love to pose 50 questions to Raúl Castro. And I anticipate right now that they won’t be answered,” she said.

Sánchez stressed that Cuban government restrictions of the Internet have “been even more aggressive” than she expected.

Cuba is one of 60 countries that censor communications and limit or harass Internet users constantly. The average access to the Internet by Cubans is the lowest in the Western hemisphere. Individual connections are restricted to official entities and educational and cultural institutions, under strict supervision.

Access to foreigners and Cuban citizens must be officially authorized after an exhaustive background check. “But as a journalist I am not frightened by the problems,” said Sánchez. “What’s most important is that the Cuban government and [the Communist Party daily] Granma are reading us. That is why they have created an alternative blogosphere to reply to us. They’re acknowledging us and that’s a first step toward acceptance.”

Prior to her visit to the USA she had visited Mexico, where only four senators attended her speech at the Senate in Mexico City.

After NYC, she’s heading to Washington, DC.

live now, with David Goldman

Winning for Best Latin American Coverage! THANK YOU, DOUG!

I won last year for Best Latin American Coverage, and Doug Ross will soon announce this year’s winners of the Fabulous 50 Blog Awards.

Will I win?

or not?

Friends Howard Portnoy, J.E. Dyer, Dustin Siggins and Libby Sternberg, all former Green Room contributors, kindly invited me to join them at the new blog, Liberty Unyielding.

Today’s our official launch!

My LU post today is Assange: Freedom of expression for me, but not for Ecuadorians…while he hides at the Ecuadorian embassy.

As you can see from the heading, the blog’s name was inspired by Thomas Jefferson’s quote,

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.

Please visit LU daily, tweet, and tell your friends.

I am considering ceasing to blog on politics.

For eight years I have posted on serious issues taking place in our hemisphere that affect our everyday lives, and, to be honest, I’ve about had it. Every post on Latin America takes time researching sources from the country in Spanish, French or Portuguese, plus English-language reports. And what for? The American media and the American public would care more if the Iranians were making deals with Martians than they care if Hezbollah makes deals with the Zetas right in our own country.

The American politics posts draw more traffic but are clearly out of the mainstream of a coddled, self-absorbed electorate that thinks their vaginas, their abortions, and their welfare checks are more important than national security, chronic unemployment and respect for the Constitution.

Half the country doesn’t even pay federal income taxes. They do not value the effort of us who do.

The re-election of Obama ensures a bad economy, which in turn ensures that I will remain unemployed as a translator. At the same time, I have always been interested in literacy. Therefore, I’m considering blogging my Spanish-to-English translation work so it’s available for free for whoever may want to read it or not.

I may continue the Carnival of Latin America on Mondays, since that’s the sort of thing I have been reading on my own time for decades.

And to hell with politics.

UPDATE,
Linked by Preppers, MacBourne’s, and Doug Ross. Thank you!

And many thanks to all commenters here, Facebook, and Twitter for their encouraging words.

Linked by Monty Pelerin. Thanks!