Fausta's Blog

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Venezuela’s economy is in the crapper as it completely runs out of toilet paper. That’s what Chavez’s Socialism for the 21st Century brings you.

ARGENTINA
Comparing Argentina And The United States

Argentina’s dollar tourists
A vacation from inflation

Argentina ex-military leader Jorge Rafael Videla dies
Former Argentine military leader Jorge Rafael Videla has died aged 87 while serving a life sentence for crimes against humanity.

BELIZE
What the hey? Mayan Pyramid Bulldozed for Gravel
The government in Belize said it is pursuing an investigation into a road-building company after the near destruction of one of the largest Mayan pyramids.

BRAZIL
Trafficking gang ‘smuggled Bangladeshis into Brazil’
Brazilian police say they have identified a gang specialising in trafficking Bangladeshi nationals into the country.

CHILE
Chilean Company Wants to Sell Glacier Water to Middle East

COSTA RICA
Costa Rican president in jet scandal
Revelations that Costa Rica’s president used a jet belonging to a Colombian with alleged links to drug trafficking have led to three resignations.

ECUADOR
President Send Urgent Reforms For Mining Law to Congress

GUATEMALA
Justice in Guatemala
The genocide question
A former dictator’s conviction may not be the end of a tragic story

HONDURAS
What happened here?

MEXICO
Understanding Pena Nieto’s Approach to the Cartels

Mexico Grows at Slowest Pace in Three Years
Mexico cut its growth forecast on Friday after the national statistics agency reported the economy had expanded at its slowest pace in three years, clouding optimism surrounding the president’s introduction of an aggressive reform agenda.

NICARAGUA
POLL NUMBERS!!! No significant opposition party in Nicaragua

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Governor Weighs Raising Taxes for Highway Agency

Puerto Rico Sets Plans for Bond Sales
Puerto Rico aims to sell more than $3.4 billion in municipal bonds this year, it told investors, highlighting the fiscally troubled island’s reliance on credit markets.

VENEZUELA
Scarcity was much cooler under Chávez

The Crappiest Economy?
Sucks to be Venezuelan: the country has run out of toilet paper, thanks to price controls straight out of a Woody Allen movie. Daniel Gross on Bolívar’s backward business legacy.

How food shortages are dividing Venezuela

La Lista de Maduro

Revisionismo económico chavista, próximos pasos

The week’s posts and podcast:
Guatemala: The Gen. Rios Montt decision

Pacific Alliance vs. Mercosur

Cuba: Alan Gross’ family may now have enough to pay for his ransom

Brazil: MDs don’t want uncertified Cuban medics

Argentina: The bond extortion

Venezuela runs out of toilet paper

En español: Bayly entrevista a Guillermo Fariñas

Mexico: Waiting for Popo

4 items on Cuba: Mariela, Fariñas, Pittsburgh, and Barbara

Podcast: (audio starts immediately) Repression in Cuba plus US-Latin America issues

The big news this week, Fascist Venezuela: The end of the National Assembly

ARGENTINA
Buenos Aires Lures Foreign Buyers
A hunger for stable U.S. dollars is creating opportunities for buyers to nab steeply discounted properties. As long as the properties are owned by sellers willing to do a foreign-account-to-foreign-account sale, that is.

BOLIVIA
Bolivia throws out USAID

BRAZIL
Dams in the Amazon
The rights and wrongs of Belo Monte
Having spent heavily to make the world’s third-biggest hydroelectric project greener, Brazil risks getting a poor return on its $14 billion investment

Shock over latest Brazil bus rape
Police in Brazil are looking for a man who raped a woman on a moving Rio de Janeiro bus, in a case that has shocked the host nation of the football 2014 World Cup.

CHILE
Statistics in Chile
How many Chileans?

COLOMBIA
Colombian government FARC peace talks, first 6 months

CUBA
Political Change in Cuba so that Everything Remains the Same

FBI Adds Cop Killer Joanne Chesimard To Most Wanted Terrorist List
She Was Convicted Of Gunning Down A New Jersey State Trooper In 1973

In poor health, Cuban prisoner of conscience Marcos Lima released from jail

COSTA RICA
Costa Rica Declares Obama Visit a National Holiday

ECUADOR
Judge dismisses $19B Ecuador judgment against Chevron’s Canadian subsidiary

MEXICO
Obama In Mexico Gives Cartels Short Shrift

Evolving U.S.-Mexico Relations and Obama’s Visit

Mexico’s Drug War and Booming Economy

THE GANG OF EIGHT’S TORRENT OF IMMIGRANTS: IS THE REAL NUMBER 57 MILLION?

NICARAGUA
Nicaragua cloud forest ‘under siege’
Indigenous communities say that illegal logging and land speculators are threatening Central America’s most important tropical forest.

PUERTO RICO
Another top university official in Puerto Rico resigns amid protest

URUGUAY
‘Breaking the wall of impunity’ in Uruguay
Uruguayan judges and prosecutors begin to defy the Supreme Court of Justice’s closure of human rights investigations.

VENEZUELA
For foreign non-illustrated media and chavista supporters: chavismo media lock up

Mario Vargas Llosa: La muerte lenta del chavismo
PIEDRA DE TOQUE. Al mismo tiempo que el Gobierno de Nicolás Maduro convertía el Parlamento en un aquelarre de brutalidad, la represión se amplificaba y se detenía a funcionarios por votar a la oposición

The week’s posts and podcast:
About cinco de mayo, the American holiday

Venezuela: 50 shades of crazy

Obama in Costa Rica

Cuba sheltering Most Wanted Terrorist

Venezuela: The Cuban perp?

Obama heads to Mexico

Fascist Venezuela: The end of the National Assembly

Bolivia: No term limit for Evo

Ecuadorian Ambassador to Peru allegedly kicks a woman in public

Cuba’s message to dissidents: You had your trip, now we’re coming after you

Immigration from south of the Mexican border

Podcast: In Silvio Canto’s podcast.

Video:

Racial slurs, insults, build up to the ambassador’s wife slapping one of the women, and the ambassador, Rodrigo Riofrio Machuca, joining in and kicking the women. The eyewitnesses say that the women fell to the ground and he continued kicking. When the police showed up and refused to arrest him, the women followed him and saw him enter the Ecuadorian embassy.

Video from the security cameras is missing.

Apparently the only people investigating are the journalists. One witness gave them an 8-minute video of the incident.

The Peruvians want their president to expel this ambassador.

As Drudge says, developing . . .

UPDATE,
Supermarket Scrap Has Ecuador Envoy in Trouble

The mother says he called them “ignorant Peruvians” and made a disparaging reference to the country’s large indigenous population.

Ummm… no; the mother in the video asserts that the ambassador made a racial slur against indigenous Peruvians, and then blamed them for the (bad) state of things.

A meteor lit up the night last Sunday in Argentina, but the big news wasn’t the meteor, it was the courts. Mary O’Grady writes on how Kirchner Targets Argentina’s Judiciary

Congressional midterm elections are set for October and the kirchneristas are desperate to win a majority so that they can change the law to allow the president to run for a third term. To reach that goal, the government decided that more cooperation from the courts is in order.

Mrs. Kirchner’s government drafted and Congress has now approved a law that, among other things, does away with existing rules for picking members of the magistrate council, the body that chooses and can impeach federal judges. Those rules ensured that the council would be made up of a politically mixed group of individuals chosen by politicians, judges, lawyers and academics.

In their place, the reform stipulates that the council will be elected by popular vote in the same election that chooses the president—raising the likelihood that the executive will control the judiciary. If 51% of voters want judges who will strip the other 49% of their property, so be it. The reform also limits to six months any injunction against a government policy, conveniently destroying the protection that Clarin now enjoys. There will also be new appellate courts with judges appointed by the council.

Caudilla Cristina: divide the opposition, take control of all the institutions, demonize a foreign country to create a common enemy.
ARGENTINA
36 Hours in Salta, Argentina

BRAZIL
‘Problems’ as Maracana stadium reopens in Rio

CARIBBEAN
US tries new aerial tools in Caribbean drug fight (H/T DP)

COLOMBIA
Colombia’s FARC guerrillas thank US lawmakers for supporting Havana peace process

CUBA
Rosa Maria Paya, you have the Castro dictatorship’s attention

Note to AP: Mariela Castro is a Cuban Regime Official

Woman indicted in Cuba spy case is in Sweden and out of U.S. reach

ECUADOR
Government of Ecuador to sue newspaper La Hora for a third time

GUATEMALA
Guatemala’s genocide trial
Playing for time
The spectre of never-ending impunity returns to a divided country

MEXICO
USDA/Mexico Spanish-language flyer: Get kids on food stamps without showing documents

Thirteen die in Mexico prison battle
At least 13 people die and dozens are injured after fighting breaks out between rival groups of inmates at a prison in central Mexico.

PANAMA
Fossil of “most ancient” monkey of Americas found in Panama Canal

PARAGUAY
Paraguay’s elections
Return of the Colorados
A tobacco magnate promises change in one of South America’s poorest countries

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Teams Take Top Spots at 20th NASA Great Moonbuggy Race

St. LUCIA
‘Miracle’ survival after St Lucia fishing boat sinks

VENEZUELA
Arrestan en Venezuela al ex general Antonio Rivero
El ex general denunció en el pasado la “cubanización” de las fuerzas armadas venezolanas y presentó ante la fiscalía casos de intromisión.

Viceroy Maduro swears fealty to his supreme overlord King Raul

INFORME ESPECIAL: Resumen de los principales casos de represión del Gobierno de Venezuela a Grupos Estudiantiles. Enero-Abril 2013

General Carlos Julio Peñaloza
CUBA CONTROLÓ ELECCIONES MEDIANTE RED SECRETA, pag.14

Escuchen a Diosdado Cabello dando instrucciones contra Capriles en reunión privada en Margarita

The Cubanization of Venezuela: Cuba creates 5-million Venezuelan voters out of thin air

Chavismo: from XXI century socialism to XXI century fascism

The week’s posts and podcast:
Venezuela: Maduro has US citizen arrested

Argentina: The high cost of not doing business

Cuba: no off-shore oil

Venezuela: Persecuting Capriles

Argentina: Sunday meteor

Mexico: Striking teachers dig in their heels

Venezuela: You call that an audit?

Podcast:
In Silvio Canto’s podcast, talking to Jon Perdue.

In Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, at least according to the chavista-controlled board of election, won last night. Henrique Capriles Radonski demanded a recount, asserting that electoral fraud had taken place. Here’s his speech last night (in Spanish),

In his speech, Capriles said he wants the Cuban military out of Venezuela’s government and institutions. As Mary O’Grady said, The Castro regime wasn’t going to allow an easy victory for the opposition candidate who has pledged to stop sending oil to Havana.

By now, ballot boxes are turning up,

(PHOTO) Found in dumpster boxes of votes that Chavistas stole from the centers RT #Venezuela2013 #VenezuelaSomosTodos twitter.com/IvonneKinser/s…

— Ivonne Kinser (@IvonneKinser) April 15, 2013

@douglirodil RT @cynthia823: Por favor RT! Estan botando las cajas! Terminamos d recoger 1 en avenida en Puerto Ordaz twitter.com/Cynthia823/sta…

— ricardo colon (@Riccolon) April 15, 2013

Maduro’s acceptance speech was a double dose of crazy.

ARGENTINA
Argentina’s economy
Gaucho blues
A dollar shortage bites

Via The Argentine Post, a link I missed when it was first posted,
Argentina’s Plan for Iran

BRAZIL
Brazilian state of Acre in illegal immigration alert
The Brazilian state of Acre has declared a state of emergency after a surge of illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bolivia and Peru.

CHILE
Chile poet Pablo Neruda’s remains to be tested in US
The family of the Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda has agreed to send his remains to a laboratory in the United States for toxicology tests.

COLOMBIA
FARC links with Al-Qaeda?

Evidence has emerged of a link between the FARC and Islamist terrorist groups in the North African Maghreb after two Colombian nationals were arrested in Algeria last month by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Spanish intelligence services.

Colombian authorities row over Farc jail terms
Colombia’s attorney-general has said members of the rebel group Farc could escape jail terms should a peace deal be struck.

Colombia’s emerald king
Death of a tsar

COSTA RICA
Via DP, National holiday turns violent as families blocked from president’s speech
Costa Ricans outraged that they weren’t allowed to attend the annual Juan Santamaría Day festivities in an Alajuela park.

CUBA
In Spanish: Jaime Bayly entrevista al bloguero cubano Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo,

Time to Occupy Beyonce and Jay-Z

US Treasury OFAC: Send Beyoncé and Jay-Z an Anniversary Present

Rosa Maria Payá denounces death threats against her and her family.
Rosa Maria Payá holds the Cuban government responsible for whatever may happen to her and her family.

ECUADOR
Quito’s new airport
A tight fit

HONDURAS
Smoke from nearby forest fires forces 4-hour closure of airport for Honduras’ capital

JAMAICA
Puerto Rican jury rejects death sentence in police killing

MEXICO

Mexico Is Picking Up the Peso
Reforms, Search for Risk Are Boosting the Currency; ‘a Cultish Characteristic’

Mexican Proposal to Allow Foreigners to Own Coastal Property

PERU
Rural development in Peru
The Andean connection
Diminishing distance, falling poverty

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico protects top US turtle nesting site long eyed by developers

Puerto Rico Agrees To Pay More Than $35 Million In Back Wages To Thousands Of Workers

SURINAME
Politics in Suriname
Guerrilla, rapper, gold miner…president?

URUGUAY
Uruguay president ‘sorry’ for Fernandez ‘old hag’ quip
The President of Uruguay, Jose Mujica, has apologised for apparently referring to Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner as an “old hag”.

Luis Alberto Lacalle, abogado y presidente de la Republica Oriental del Uruguay de 1990 a 1995 envia un afectuoso saludo a la Fundacion HACER de Washington DC desde el 25 Aniversario de la Fundacion Libertad de Rosario

VENEZUELA
Maduro and Capriles: tale of two Venezuelan presidential candidates

Venezuela’s presidential election
Voting in St Hugo’s shadow
In his search for a popular mandate, Nicolás Maduro ascribes divine powers to his predecessor but offers few earthly policies

Venezuelan blogs for their complete coverage:
Caracas chronicles
Devil’s excrement
Venezuela Nr=ews and Views

The week’s posts and podcast,
Venezuela: Maduro wins

Venezuela: two election day live feeds

A word on elected Latin American dictators

Venezuela: How important is tomorrow’s election? UPDATED

If you are in Hialeah tonight: Rosa María Payá event

OLPL en el show de Bayly

G-r-o-s-s: Bolivarian “sanitary” towels

Venezuela: Capriles Campaign Chief killed

Venezuela: The meaning of April 14 UPDATED

Cuba this morning

Venezuela: Violent deaths per 100,000

Podcast:
Talking with Silvio Canto.

Last week Venezuela’s acting president and presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro officially inaugurated his campaign by publicly stating that Hugo Chavez had spoken to him in the form of a bird (but apparently not as a parrot). In the spirit of the occasion (all puns intended), and in keeping with a red Chavista shirt theme, I’m illustrating this week’s Carnival with the most famous red bird of all, the Angry Bird, instead of the usual map.

ARGENTINA
Argentina floods ‘catastrophe’ for La Plata, Buenos Aires
Emergency workers in Argentina continue to try to rescue residents stranded by flooding in Buenos Aires and La Plata

Pope Francis calls for aid for Argentina flood victims
Pope Francis has appealed for “civil and ecclesiastical institutions, as well as people of good will”, to provide help to the victims of devastating flooding in Argentina that has left dozens dead.

Fears Ease of a Default by Argentina

BOLIVIA
Colombianos manejan una red de préstamos en Santa Cruz de la Sierra

BRAZIL
Rio Charges Three Men With Attack on American, French Visitors
Rio de Janeiro police said they have arrested a third suspect and sidelined two police officers after the rape of an American woman over the weekend.

CHILE
Smoking in Latin America
Stubbed out
A bastion of tobacco addiction introduces a ban

COLOMBIA
Santos´ invisible and elitist cabinet

CUBA
Religious persecution in Cuba rises in 2012

Beyonce, Jay-Z turn heads in Havana

Washington’s 51-year embargo makes it illegal for U.S. citizens to visit Cuba for mere tourism, although tens of thousands of Americans travel there each year on academic, religious, journalistic or cultural exchange licenses.

Social Security says benefits can’t be sent to Havana
The U.S. Social Security Administration makes it clear that benefits cannot be collected in Cuba.

ECUADOR
Chevron Embargo Would Not Affect YPF Deal -Ecuador Plaintiffs
A freeze on Chevron’s funds in Argentina would not include any future investments the company would make in the country, according to a lawyer representing the Ecuadorian plaintiffs in the case behind the freeze.

GUATEMALA
Guatemala strongman trial hears litany of horrors

MEXICO
Are the Kaufman County Murders Connected To The Mexican Drug Cartels?

REPORT: MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS BEHIND INCREASING VIOLENCE IN THE UNITED STATES

Mexico’s new president
Peña’s promising start
A lot done, and quickly, but much more still to do

PARAGUAY
Paraguay’s electoral alliances and land deals

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico-Born Labrador Top Republican on Immigration

Puerto Rico moves to overhaul public pensions

URUGUAY
Controversia por dura frase de presidente de Uruguay sobre Cristina Fernández
El mandatario uruguayo no se dio cuenta que los micrófonos estaban abiertos y se escuchó en la transmisión en vivo de una conferencia de prensa al sentenciar: “Esta vieja es peor que el tuerto”

VENEZUELA
Venezuela’s snap election still pretty much all about Chavez

Nicolás Maduro Decide Solamente Decir “Chávez” Hasta Que Acaben Las Elecciones

Denuncian a Maduro de ser un agente de Cuba, fotos, video y audio

The week’s posts and podcast
Venezuela: And now the Macarapana curse

Uruguay: Open-mic fail

Cuba: Beyonce’s no-no

Maduro: Cuba’s Venezuelan Pawn

Cuba: More repression

Thursday night tango and blogging

Yoani Sanchez in Jaime Bayly’s show: en español

Crazy cult campaigning in Caracas: The shrine

Venezuela: Maduro opens his campaign by saying he talked to Chavez, who is now a bird UPDATED

Uruguay: Same-sex marriage approved by Senate

Argentina: Cristina’s discomfort

Podcast: Silvio Canto‘s

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

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

ARGENTINA
Pensions in Argentina
Now or never
The government drags its feet over compensating pensioners for inflation

BOLIVIA
Bolivia: Morales criticises Chile over sea and soldiers
Bolivia’s President Evo Morales has renewed his calls for the release of three soldiers arrested in Chile.

BRAZIL
Brazil’s zombie politicians
Unstoppable?
Despite serial corruption allegations, the old guard just keeps coming back

CHILE
Chile’s Sebastian Pinera visits wildfire victims

COLOMBIA
Colombian Farc releases two hostage policemen
Colombia’s largest rebel group, the Farc, has released two hostages held captive since 25 January.

CUBA
Cuban dissident blogger prepares ‘victory’ tour abroad

ECUADOR
Why Ecuador Matters

Assange: Total cost to police Ecuadorian embassy hits £2.9 million

FASHION

JAMAICA
Jamaica agrees $750m IMF loan terms
Jamaica has agreed terms with the International Monetary Fund to receive a new $750m (£483m) loan.

MEXICO
Mexico’s new president
Tearing up the script
Three months after taking office, Enrique Peña Nieto is rewriting his reform agenda

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rican food, beyond rice and beans

US POLITICS
“Cruz has taken the wear-their-scorn-as-a-badge-of-honor approach with his liberal critics.”

VENEZUELA
Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez in first post-surgery images

Devaluating the devaluation

The Gran Inquisitor by Miguel Angel Santos

The week’s posts,
Hugo Chavez reportedly back in Venezuela

Colombia: Good news on the Casona

Mexico develops cheap energy; USA not quite

Pope decided to resign after visiting Cuba and snubbing the Ladies in White

Podcast:
The US & violence in Central America