Fausta's Blog

ANTIGUA
Stanford Victims Will Benefit From $300M Settlement

ARGENTINA
Imprisoned priest Francisco Jalics breaks silence over Pope Francis, clearing him for involvement in ‘Dirty War’
Jalics had been silent for years in a German monastery. He once thought then-Cardinal Bergoglio played a role in his arrest

Social Justice And Pope Francis: Choosing Freedom Over Serfdom

After Frosty Past, Pope Meets Argentine Leader

Making nice? Argentina’s Kirchner and Pope Francis meet in Rome (+video)
Beneath the cordial meeting today between new Pope Francis and President Kirchner lies a rocky and strained relationship that stretches back to 2004.

[Additional video below the fold]

BRAZIL
Indians, police clash at Rio complex near Maracana to be razed for 2014 World Cup

Brazil’s opposition
The Minas medicine
Aécio Neves ran his state well. But he may struggle to convince voters that his formula is right for the presidency

CHILE
Wave of prawn deaths baffles Chile city of Coronel
Thousands of dead prawns have washed up on a beach in Chile, sparking an investigation.
Hundreds of dead crabs were also washed ashore in Coronel city, about 530km (330 miles) from the capital, Santiago.

COLOMBIA
Ten years later, Colombia nabs rebel linked to Uribe inauguration attack. What’s with the “rebel” thing? The guy’s a terrorist.

COSTA RICA
Starbucks buys coffee farm in Costa Rica (h/t DP)

CUBA
African Politicians Laundering Money Through Cuba

Daughter of Oswaldo Paya demands international inquiry into his death

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Republic detains 35 soldiers and police, 4 French citizens in drug investigation

République dominicaine : démantèlement d’un réseau de trafic de drogue vers la France

ECUADOR
Ecuadorian diplomacy fails in his attempt to change the IACHR reforms

GUATEMALA
Guatemala ex-ruler Rios Montt on trial for genocide
The trial of the former military ruler of Guatemala, Efrain Rios Montt, for genocide and crimes against humanity has begun in Guatemala City.

HONDURAS
Seldom Tried Honduran Dishes Made from Unusual Root Crops (h/t DP)

LATIN AMERICA
Heads of state at the Papal inauguration, Bayly style (in Spanish),

MEXICO
Mexico’s attorney general says no motive yet in US car shooting that wounded 2 CIA agents

PANAMA
Panama Canal Minister: Deepen Port of Savannah

PERU
Petroperú to Take Over Former Talisman Concession in Peru
Petróleos del Perú SA plans to take over operations at Block 64 in northern Peru, an important step for the state-owned oil company to return to upstream operations.

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico: US army drills ‘did not cause illnesses’

VENEZUELA
Venezuela Acts to Ease Dollar Shortage

Chavez trek

The week’s posts:
Pope Francis not dancing to Cristina’s tune

Yoani Sanchez meets Marco Rubio

Latino demographics: Integration is the key factor

Mexico: Will PEMEX reforms come to pass?

Correcting my error on my article on Pope Francis

Podcast

(more…)

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. This week’s big story: Pope Francis, the first Latin American Pope.

ARGENTINA
Behind the Campaign to Smear the Pope
Argentines who want their country to be the next Venezuela see Francis as an obstacle.

Francis

Pope Francis appears for first angelus
Pope Francis appeared before more than 100,000 people massed in St Peter’s Square on Sunday for his first Angelus prayer and asked the faithful to pray for him.

Muchas gracias for a ‘triple first’ of a Pope

Popes and Dopes
Some journalists are remarkably ignorant–or at least think their readers are.

Vatican denies Dirty War allegations
The Vatican has denied that Pope Francis failed to speak out against human rights abuses during military rule in his native Argentina.

Video: Will Pope Francis go left on economics?

Jaime Bayly on the Pope (in Spanish)

BOLIVIA
Earth to Evo Morales

BRAZIL
Brazil’s oil royalties
Counting the barrels

CENTRAL AMERICA
Presidential elections in Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama

CHILE
Exhumation of Pablo Neruda’s remains set for 8 April
A court in Chile has set a date for the exhumation of the remains of the Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda, as part of an inquest into his death.

National Science Foundation Celebrates Inauguration of Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile

COLOMBIA
Colombia’s Peace Process Sans Chávez

CUBA
In First U.S. Trip, Cuban Dissident Yoani Sanchez Vows To Turn Up The Heat

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Report Grand Jury Investigating Robert Menendez

ECUADOR
Ecuador preacher sentenced for homophobic comments
The former Ecuadorean presidential candidate Nelson Zavala has had his political rights suspended for a year and been fined for homophobic comments.

FALKLAND ISLANDS
The Falklands referendum
Loud and clear
The islanders seek to sway world opinion by voting to stay British

British Media Focus on Bergoglio’s Falklands Remarks

This Map Helps Explain the Falklands Dust-Up

HONDURAS
Chicken and avocado stuffed naan

MEXICO
Chavez’s legacy is worse than Calderon’s

Spicy, Spicy

Mexico’s Education Breakthrough
Why February 2013 may be remembered as a turning point for Mexican schools.

PANAMA
FERIA INTERNACIONAL DE DAVID 2013

PUERTO RICO
Contrary to prior reports, Paulson Not Planning a Move to Puerto Rico

VENEZUELA
Body of Chavez makes final journey
The body of Venezuela’s late president Hugo Chavez is being escorted to its resting place in a Caracas museum. For now, that is.

Chavez madcap wake

Venezuela says permanently embalming Hugo Chávez’s body faces ‘technical’ difficulties

Latin America after Chávez

The Narrative of the Dead

Lukoil learns the hard way

ROS-LEHTINEN: Venezuela after Chavez: What comes next?
U.S. dithering won’t encourage democracy

The week’s posts and podcasts:
Yoani Sanchez in NYC

Crazy in Venezuela

At BlogHer, Francis I: The First Latin American Pope

Pope Francis I loves tango

BREAKING: New Pope elected – an Argentinian porteño

Falklands: The votes are in, but Cristina can’t believe it

Hugo’s mummy

Podcasts:
Silvio Canto’s

Willie Lawson’s

The UK’s Daily Mail reports,
How Senator Bob Menendez tried to pass a law that would have helped donor whose jet he repeatedly used for trips to the Dominican Republic

he disclosure of the legislation that Menendez wanted to push through- that had incentives for natural gas vehicle conversions- is the latest intersection between the New Jersey Democrat who is the subject of an ethics inquiry on Capitol Hill and the Florida doctor involved in a federal criminal investigation.

Dr. Salomon Melgen invested in Gaseous Fuel Systems Corp. of Weston, Florida, and joined its board of directors in early 2010, according to the company’s chief executive and a former company consultant.

GFS designs, manufactures and sells products to convert diesel-fuel fleets to natural gas. The amount of Melgen’s investment is confidential under rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission, but a 2009 document filed with the SEC showed the company required a minimum individual investment at that time of $51,500.

At the same time, Menendez emerged as a principal supporter of a natural gas bill that would boost tax credits and grants to truck and heavy vehicle fleets that converted to alternative fuels.
The bill stalled in the Senate Finance Committee, and after it was revived in 2012, the NAT GAS Act failed to win the needed 60 votes to pass.

While the bill was under consideration between 2009 and 2011, the former consultant for GFS spent $220,000 lobbying Menendez’s staff and other congressional and federal officials on the act’s provisions as well as other regulatory issues, according to interviews and Senate records.
…
Melgen has been a staunch supporter, giving more than $14,000 directly to Menendez since the late 1990s and, through his eye clinic, donating $700,000 last year to a ‘super’ political committee that supported Democratic Senate candidates. The committee, in turn, spent $582,000 to back Menendez’ campaign.

More:
Web of Influence
Ties between Menendez and controversial donor more extensive than previously thought

Breitbart has the story:
The Manuel Noriega Connection to the Family Behind the Melgen-Menendez Dominican Port Security Deal

But fret not. Everybody’s in a frazzle because government spending’s going to increase only by 8.9%.

ARGENTINA
Argentina dispatch: the troubled reign of Queen Cristina of Argentina
Beset by economic stagnation, Argentines are growing weary of President Cristina Kirchner’s obsession with the Falklands, reports Philip Sherwell

In Spanish (audio starts right away), HACER: Agustín Rangugni y Eneas Biglione entrevistan a Gonzalo Blousson, Presidente del Partido Liberal Libertario, sobre actualidad y desafíos que enfrenta Argentina

BRAZIL
Andres Oppenheimer: Brazil should stop being self-absorbed giant

A Visit Angers Brazil’s Pro-Cubans
Protests Greet Havana Dissident, Highlighting Latin America’s Still-Strong Love Affair With Castro

CHILE
Chile’s Gen Pinochet ‘tried to cling to power’ in 1988
Pinochet wanted to hold on to power when he lost a referendum on his rule in 1988, newly declassified documents in the US suggest.

Russian inmate joins Chilean club
A Russian inmate is allowed to remain in Chile and play for a local football club after serving three-year prison sentence for drug smuggling.

CUBA
The Old Act of Repudiation

Cuba under Raúl: He’s tinkered but it’s the same old machine

The spirit of freedom is strong in my hometown of Antilla, Cuba

Why Is UN Praising the Castro Regime?

20 Of The Most Embarrassing Moments In The History Of The Democrat Party

11) The Bay of Pigs (1961): After training a Cuban militia to overthrow Castro, Kennedy got cold feet and didn’t give the men all the air support they were promised. As a result, they were easily defeated by Castro’s men and today, Cuba is still ruled by a hostile, anti-American dictatorship.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
If Only CNN had the resources that the Daily Caller Does…

ECUADOR
Ecuador’s presidential election
More of the same, please

EL SALVADOR
Memories of Stolen Children

HAITI
UN rejects Haiti cholera compensation claims
The United Nations has formally rejected compensation claims by victims of a cholera outbreak in Haiti that has killed almost 8,000 people.

JAMAICA
Lenten diet

MEXICO
Will Mexico Welcome Wildcatters?
The new finance minister says his country needs entrepreneurs to find untapped energy reserves.

Mexico’s disappeared
Into thin air

Brewer: Border not Secure, Drug Cartels ‘Ready to Come Across’

PANAMA
Amazing!

PERU
Sendero Luminoso, fragilidad institucional y socialismo del Siglo XXI en el Peru

PUERTO RICO
Bond Investors Wade Back Into Puerto Rico

José Aponte Votaría Por Reforma Legislativa Si Le Hacen Otra Tarja

URUGUAY
Uruguay’s culture of impunity continues to rear its head
Judge Mariana Mota’s transfer shows that the country’s culture of impunity for the crimes of dictatorship still endures.

VENEZUELA
A Mixed Message From Chavismo On President Chávez’ Health

Will they dare to swear in Chavez in the dark?

300 officials from the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Force (FAR) are taking part in strategic decisions made in security and defense in Venezuela.

LETTER FROM CARACAS
SLUMLORD
What has Hugo Chávez wrought in Venezuela? The Tower of David, among other things.

Venezuelan Information Minister Ernesto Villegas: “The president holds firm to C
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is still suffering breathing problems following his return from Cuba where he was treated for cancer, officials say.

The week’s posts and podcasts:
Remembering Brothers to the Rescue

Next thing you know, she’ll be sending Hugo Chavez a get-well card

Ted Cruz and guns

Two questions re: Hugo Chavez

Podcast: US-Latin America: Chavez, and other issues

is the relationship between Miami ophthalmologist Solomon Melgen and New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez:

Melgen had reportedly received help from Menendez is the matter of a port-security contract between a company owned by Melgen and the Dominican government. That contract could be worth as much as $50 million a year for 20 years — that is, a total of one billion dollars — except that Dominican officials refuse to honor what they have condemned as the “exorbitant” terms of the contract. Melgen’s financial situation looks shady; he reportedly owes the IRS $11.1 million. But if he could get the U.S. government to pressure the Dominican Republic into honoring that billion-dollar contract, Melgen’s money worries would be over.

Unfortunately for Melgen, however, Matthew Boyle broke the story less than a week before Election Day last fall and, while the mainstream media ignored Boyle’s exclusive at the time, now the potential political ramifications are quite serious. Even if it cannot be proven that Menendez consorted with hookers, underaged or otherwise, during his visits to Melgen’s Caribbean luxury resort, the New Jersey Democrat’s connection to his Florida benefactor is sure to be subjected to intense scrutiny now.

Let’s hope so.

In Santo Domingo, Vinicio Castillo, Melgen’s and Menendez’s Dominican lawyer – who also happens to be Melgen’s cousin – said the accusations are aimed at discrediting Salomon Melgen and U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and stopping a contract to X-ray shipments moving through ports in the Dominican Republic.

Castillo called the allegations part of a “diabolical plot” orchestrated to discredit Melgen, who owns a company with a lucrative contract with the Dominican government to provide X-ray machines at ports. The machines would be used to scan shipping containers to look for contraband and illegal drugs.

The contract was originally signed with the Dominican government a decade ago. Two years ago, Melgen bought out the company that had signed the contract.

That contract has raised controversy due to its cost — an estimated $500 million to $1 billion over 20 years. And the machines have not been installed.

Menendez, who has received healthy campaign contributions from the doctor, in a July Senate hearing peppered Obama officials about what they were doing to help U.S. business interests in the Dominican Republic. He specifically mentioned the contract for X-ray equipment at the ports.

Castillo’s father, Vinicio “Vincho” Castillo, the government’s drug czar and Melgen’s uncle, has also spoken about the need for the machines.

Menendez would rather have you believe this is a story that “anonymous, nameless, faceless individuals on a Web site” concocted.

Now that Senator Robert Menendez’s friend and major campaign donor Dr. Salomon Melgen is under investigation for Medicare fraud, two of the prostitutes they hired have been missing for several months:
Following the trail of Sen. Robert Menendez scandal leads to dead end in Dominican Republic
Women named by tipster exist and were there — but not anymore.

Maybe they’re hiding at the Doll Palace, maybe not.

As you can see from the article, at least one tipster is not anonymous.

Meanwhile, blame Cuba…

The bigger issue, which I pointed out months ago, is whether he violated Senate rules by accepting two round-trip flights to the Dominican Republican from Melgen. Menendez goes back a long way,

Menendez, who scaled the political ladder in Hudson County, a Democratic bastion long known for its flexible ethics, is no stranger to controversy.

In 2007, Chris Christie, who at the time was the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, began a federal investigation of Menendez over potential conflicts of interests with recipients of government financing.

The Star-Ledger reported then that Menendez had collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent for a building he owned in Union City from the North Hudson Community Action Corp., an antipoverty group. Menendez had helped the group win millions of dollars in federal funding.

But no charges were filed, and Menendez ultimately received a rare clearance letter from the U.S. attorney’s office informing him that the case was being closed.

Last May, Joseph Bigica, a major supporter of Menendez, pleaded guilty to using straw donors to funnel nearly $100,000 in illegal contributions to the senator’s campaign, which was not accused of any wrongdoing. It acknowledged having received the donation, but said it had been a victim in the case.

A campaign official said they planned to give the money to charity.

Bigica, of Franklin Lakes, admitted that from April 2005 to May 2009 he had conspired to make the illegal contributions to the campaign committee of an unidentified candidate for federal office. Officials did not identify the candidate, but campaign finance records show the donations went to Menendez.

Ah, the scent of New Jersey politics…and now he’s chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

UPDATE:
Stacy checks out the facts, and also points out (emphasis added)

This is highly interesting, because on Jan. 4, Menendez paid back Dr. Melgen $58,500 for three flights, but this (alleged) Easter weekend trip wasn’t one of those, and it was during the Easter weekend trip that one of the sex parties (allegedly) took place.

And this:

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Billion With a ‘B’: Did Menendez Provide Special Favors to HookerGate Donor? “Follow the money – if Melgen had a billion-dollar contract at stake, his ‘friendship’ with Senator Menendez was obviously more than a mere social acquaintance, which doesn’t necessarily mean that it was illegal for Menendez to pressure the administration to help Melgen enforce his Dominican port security contract. But how and why does a Florida opthamologist become an international port-security mogul?”

Video starts below the fold:
(more…)

ARGENTINA
Documentary (in Spanish):

BRAZIL
Brazil Nightclub Fire Kills at Least 245

Brazil Streetwalkers to Take English Lessons for 2014 World Cup; RELATED: The Proud Winner of the Miss Brazilian Prostitute Title Was Beaming

COLOMBIA
Security in Colombia
Fear of missing out
The second-biggest guerrilla group tries to muscle in on peace talks

Colombian Police Seize Over 4 Tons of Cocaine Bound for Mexico

CUBA
Alan Gross and his descent into hell

All talk
The government fails to promote new leaders—even though hard times loom

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Emails show FBI investigating Sen. Bob Menendez for sleeping with underage Dominican prostitutes – 16-year-olds.

GUATEMALA
Edging back from the brink
A potential “failed state” is clawing its way back to something like normality

HONDURAS
Honduras can’t pay its bills, neglects services

MEXICO
As Deadly Mexican Cartel Loses Control, Heroin and Meth Trafficking Rise

Florence Cassez released in Mexico

PERU
EU-Colombia-Peru Aim for Trade Accord in Effect by First Quarter

Peru on the Right Path to Eradicating Child Malnutrition, UN Official Says

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Top 10 Most Wanted Captured by NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force

VENEZUELA
More than 50 people have been killed in a prison riot in western Venezuela, hospital staff say. [GRAPHIC PHOTOS] En Uribana ya van más de 50 muertos y 120 heridos (FOTOS)

Chavez Cancer Freezes Venezuela’s Overseas Oil Funding (h/t DP)

Venezuela’s $100 billion oil industry is seeing the first drop in funding in five years from some of its closest partners, as concern mounts President Hugo Chavez’s battle with cancer is creating a political vacuum, people familiar with the matter said.
The government, which for a decade has disclosed credit lines from China when they’re signed, has announced none since April, according to a report released Jan. 13 by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, known as UNAM. Russian and Indian companies are withholding planned investments in Venezuelan oilfields, according to eight oil company executives and consultants who declined to be identified because they weren’t authorized to talk about the matter publicly.

Hugo Chavez Starting More Treatment in Cuba, Hugo Chavez Respiratory Infection: Venezuelan President Overcomes Health Issue

Why President Hugo Chávez’s Twitter Account Went Silent

The Missing President

Chavez is not going quietly

Impunity in Venezuela
The price of justice
A family with a case against the government faces “extermination”

Gustavo Rios, Hugo Chavez Impersonator, Thinks Dictator’s Cancer Is No Laughing Matter

The week’s posts:
South American cocaine’s African routes

Brazil: Barcodes on Rio’s sidewalks

Venezuela: Hugo’s fake picture

Halitophobia! in Spanish, no less

Venezuela: Noelia’s plane seized by the government

ARGENTINA
Argentina Court Declines Intervention in Media Case

Argentina Congress hosts “Islam for peace” seminar

Muslims sense of belonging in Argentina, ratifying their right and proud to be Argentine citizens, challenges the sense of injustice that the Muslim community faces, unjustly, in the 21st century-world.

via Gates of Vienna

BOLIVIA
Spain’s Iberdrola Has 4 Units Taken Over by Bolivian State

Coca Licensing Is a Weapon in Bolivia’s Drug War

BRAZIL
High Stakes in Brazil After Outage
A day after power outages left travelers at Rio de Janeiro’s international airport in the dark, President Dilma Rousseff tried to calm fears that Brazil was facing the kind of energy shortages that upended national politics a decade ago.

Corruption in Brazil
A healthier menu
As the historic trial of those guilty of a legislative votes-for-cash scheme draws to a close, Brazilians digest the verdict

Obituary: Oscar Niemeyer
Oscar Ribiero de Almeida de Niemeyer Soares Filho, architect, died on December 5th, aged 104

COLOMBIA
Sister of Colombian Drug Cartel’s Founder Killed

CUBA
We came, we saw, we were appalled

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Hillary shall remain concussed while in Punta Cana

ECUADOR
Banana Republic v. Chevron

LATIN AMERICA
Latin America, the Mideast, and the Pope

MEXICO
Cartels Clash in Mexican Town
Armed men stormed a town in the mountains of the western state of Sinaloa on Christmas Eve and shot nine men, then dumped their bodies as part of a war between Mexico’s two most powerful cartels.

Old PRI, new PRI? In Mexico, a New Approach to Stanching Drug Violence

Mr. Peña Nieto’s six-point program includes better government planning; increased intergovernmental coordination; protection of human rights; more social investments and crime-prevention programs; additional evaluation of government programs; and institution building.

It also proposes a 10,000-member force to secure municipalities and states where law enforcement is powerless against organized crime. The administration has said it will focus on street gangs and criminals employed by the cartels, a shift from former President Felipe Calderón’s emphasis on eliminating top drug trafficking bosses.

PARAGUAY
Paraguay’s awful history
The never-ending war
How a terrible but little-known conflict continues to shape and blight a nation

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Introduces New Guidelines for Hate Crimes

USA
Latino Muslims are shaping a new US identity, via Gates of Vienna

VENEZUELA
Seven more Years!

The week’s posts:
Mexico: 120-yard tunnel near the Nogales entry into Arizona

Where will Assad go?

Argentina: Squeeze and “creativity”

Hillary, who shall remain concussed until next week, has taken her concussion on holiday to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Gateway Pundit posts that Hillary Clinton So Sick She Had to Travel to Punta Cana Resort to Celebrate the New Year.

The poor woman will not only be nursing her concussion at the tropical resort, she’ll also be nursing her hangover in Bill’s presence,

According to press reports, the Clintons will celebrate New Year’s at the Puntacana Resort & Club and could also attend a fashion show scheduled for December 29, which will be held in honor of famous Dominican designer Oscar de la Renta.

Worse yet, Anna Wintour will be at the party. “Just don’t be late!”

Snark!

That Hillary concussion is so serious that only a New Year’s drunken binge in the Dominican can cure it. dominicantoday.com/dr/people/2012…

— Razor (@hale_razor) December 29, 2012

UPDATE,
Linked by Pirate’s Cove. Thank you!

State Dept. Says Clintons Are Not Partying in Dominican Republic as Was Reported; where are they partying, then?

@iowahawkblog State Department denies. Apparently she is partying somewhere else?

— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) December 30, 2012

UPDATE 2,
Did she have a facelift, maybe?