Archive for the ‘Guatemala’ Category

The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Monday, December 10th, 2012

LatinAmerARGENTINA
Argentine bonds
Argy-bargy
EVER since Argentina defaulted on $81 billion of debt in 2001, it has been thumbing its nose at its creditors.

Argentine Court Grants Reprieve To Media Group

BRAZIL
Brazil’s economy
Stalled
A long-awaited recovery still fails to materialise

CHILE
Chile clashes over Freirina smelly pig processing plant
Police in northern Chile have clashed with protesters angry at the government’s decision to reopen a huge pig processing plant

COLOMBIA
Colombia Kills 20 FARC Fighters in Bomb Raid

CUBA
Pay no attention to the dictators behind the curtain

Cuban Government Pulls Plug on “Cubatón”

ECUADOR
Corrupt Judgment Against ChevronTexaco Takes Hemispheric Dimensions

Este es el documental que revela las conexiones Rafael Correa – Hugo Chávez – FARC

GUATEMALA
McAfee Hospitalized in Guatemala After Asylum Denied

My Own Darwin Award Nomination: Captured

MEXICO
Jenni Rivera, norteno and banda singer and Mun2 TV star, dies in plane crash in northern Mexico
43-year-old musician, born and raised in California, was a star of Spanish-language television

Obituary: María Santos Gorrostieta
María Santos Gorrostieta Salazar, former mayor of Tiquicheo, was found dead on November 15th, aged 36

Mexico’s new government
With a little help from my friends
The new president believes that he has broad political agreement to change his country

13 BODIES FOUND IN VEHICLES IN NORTHERN MEXICO

PANAMA
Panama and Israel: A special relationship

PARAGUAY
Footballer Diego Mendieta’s death prompts Indonesia row
The death of a Paraguayan footballer owed months of back pay from his club in Indonesia has sparked outrage among fans and the global players’ union.

PUERTO RICO
Caiman Invasion in Puerto Rico

TURKS AND CAICOS
Turks and Caicos ex-PM Michael Misick held in Brazil
Police in Brazil have arrested the former prime minister of the Turks and Caicos islands, Michael Misick.

VENEZUELA
Venezuelan politics
The invisible president

Chávez Back in Venezuela After Cuba Treatment

And he is back….

Important Dates To Keep Up With, Given All The Rumors Flying Around Venezuela

The week’s posts:
Mexico: Mayan apocalypse tourism

Venezuela: Hugo’s baaack

Assuming Assad asks asylum…

Unarmed in Mexico

Cuba: US won’t swap 5 spies for Alan Gross


The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Monday, December 3rd, 2012

ARGENTINA
Debt – Argentina’s long-festering wound

The Argentine Debt Saga Continues: A COHA Side-By-Side Report with The Pan-American Post

Argentine bonds
Argy-bargy

HPOA Defense: Oxford Ph.D. Claims He Was “Duped” Into Carrying Four Pounds of Coke By Promise of Meeting Lovely Woman

BELIZE
John McAfee ‘captured on Belize-Mexico border’
The mystery over the whereabouts of millionaire software tycoon John McAfee deepened on Sunday night after his blog suggested he had been captured by police in Belize only for officials to deny they had him in custody.

BRAZIL
Brazil Tepid Growth Disappoints

Brazil’s Image Takes a Beating
Gang violence, corruption, and blackouts have created a PR nightmare.

Rousseff acts on Brazil oil plan
Part of a law intended to share royalties from Brazil’s oil fields across the country’s 26 states is vetoed by President Dilma Rousseff.

COLOMBIA
Colombia pulls out of International Court over Nicaragua
Colombia has announced it no longer recognises the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, in The Hague.

Farc peace talks in Cuba adjourned for a week
The Colombian government and rebels from the Farc have concluded the first stage of peace talks aimed at ending five decades of conflict.

CUBA
Linguistic Reforms

Will a new German law cover Cuban prostitutes?

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
A rum do
The new president faces a tax revolt

Remembering the Mirabal Sisters

ECUADOR
‘Free speech champion’ Julian Assange silent on the assault on free speech in Ecuador

GUATEMALA
Probe finds horrific sexual, physical abuse in Guatemala psychiatric hospital

LATIN AMERICA
Briefing: Secretary of State Candidates and Their Views on Latin America

MEXICO
Departing Mexican Leader Leaves a Mixed Legacy

Border BFFs: Obama, Peña Nieto Bond as Agendas Remain Suspect
And two Republicans used the occasion to introduce their DREAM Act alternative: the ACHIEVE Act.

Mexico, In Hands of a New and Unknown PRI Commanded by Peña Nieto

PUERTO RICO
Camacho case spurs Puerto Rico to examine brain-death guidelines

The funeral: Matando Dos Pájaros De Un Tiro, Cafres Celebran Reunión Anual En El Velorio Del Macho Camacho

VENEZUELA
China’s Misguided Hugo Chávez Love Affair

Another ordinary night in Caracas…

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Battling Bone Metastasis, Report Says

The signs are piling, the end is near (?)

Chavez’ Authorized To Leave Country To Seek Health Treatment

Cancer at the Heart
With Hugo Chávez in Cuba for yet more medical treatment, will Venezuela fall apart without him?

Infrastructure in Venezuela
Cancelling Christmas
Inefficiency is promoting autarky, perhaps by design

The week’s posts and podcast,
Mexico: Obama not attending inauguration

Argentina: Broken Bad

Venezuela: Judge Afiuni’s detention UPDATED

Podcast:
As Silvio Canto’s guest.


The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Monday, November 12th, 2012

LatinAmerARGENTINA
Argentina’s president rocked by biggest protest for a decade

Argentines flood the streets to protest against President Cristina Fernandez
Brandishing banners and banging on pots and pans, thousands of Argentines take to streets of Buenos Aires to protest against President Cristina Fernandez.

Argentina Puts Pressure on Media Firm

Argentina: Chevron’s Assets Are Frozen

Tango Therapy: A Fun, New Way to Treat Parkinson’s Disease


BOLIVIA
This is what can happen when you are the most interesting man in the world

BRAZIL
Brazil in Africa
A new Atlantic alliance
Brazilian companies are heading for Africa, laden with capital and expertise

Brazil: 13 new deaths in Sao Paulo’s gang battle
More than 90 police officers have been killed this year in the city
At least 13 people have died in fresh violence between police and a gang in Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paulo

CAYMAN ISLANDS
Cayman allows boat with Cuban migrants to continue to Honduras

COLOMBIA
Colombia President Interrupts Speech for Phone Call from Obama

CUBA
Cuban dissidents detained; Yoani Sánchez released
A group of political dissidents were detained near a Havana police station. Among them: blogger Yoani Sánchez, who was later released.

Whose Brain Is It?

Yaremis Flores, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 11/11/12

GUATEMALA
Guatemala Suffers a Major Quake

JAMAICA
Jamaica approves laws to allow for casino gambling

MEXICO
The Real Victims of Mexico’s Drug War
Not all who die at the hands of the cartels are criminals—and not all who work for them do so willingly.

Mexico moves away from secret military tribunals

Mexico to reconsider joint policies with U.S. amid new state marijuana laws

Organised crime in Mexico
The stakes of marijuana legalisation
Could Mexico’s bandits find themselves undercut by “El Cártel de Seattle”?

PANAMA
Potrerillos Neighborhood Watch Criminal Actively Report: November 7, 2012

PERU
Obama gets endorsement from self-described Peruvian medicine men

Mayor and mafias
A referendum too far

Peruvian Ambassador Resigns After Meeting with Rebel Supporters

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico’s vote for US statehood signals dissatisfaction with status quo
The pro-statehood plebiscite is unlikely to bear fruit, but it does express Puerto Ricans’ anger at being second-class Americans

VENEZUELA
Lying As A Way Of Life In The Chavez Revolution

Miss Venezuela Playboy Bunny Held in Drug Lord Case


The “six more years of Hugo Chavez” Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Monday, October 8th, 2012

ARGENTINA
The president and the potbangers
Times are getting tougher for Cristina Fernández, but she is not beaten yet

Wall Street Billionaire Battles Argentina, Has Ship Detained Over $1.6B Bond

BRAZIL
Brazil judges split on Lula aide
Supreme Court judges delivering their findings on a big corruption case disagree whether former chief of staff Jose Dirceu led scheme to buy opposition support.

Vigil Held on Carandiru Massacre Anniversary

CHILE
Slow-Burning Challenge to Chile on Easter Island

COLOMBIA
Colombian President in Recovery

Colombian band Bomba Estéreo’s “El Alma Y El Cuerpo” (Soul and Body) Updated 2X

CUBA
The sacrificial lamb has been shorn and taken to the altar. Immolation postponed.

Rumplestiltskin, Cuba detains anti-Castro blogger for 30 hours
Yoani Sanchez, a social media maven, and her husband are detained while en route to a politically sensitive trial.

ECUADOR
Ecuador president says he’ll advise Tunisia on debt renegotiations

EL SALVADOR
Gangs’ Truce Buys El Salvador a Tenuous Peace

GUATEMALA
Guatemalan Protests Leave At Least Six Dead as Police Clash with Demonstrator

MEXICO
Univision: Juarez drug cartel leader ‘El Diego’ was captured with Fast and Furious weapons

Ho hum: Mexican teenagers slaughtered with Fast and Furious guns

Mexico’s Cartels Increase Their Muscle In The U.S.

PANAMA
Makes One Think

PARAGUAY
Paraguay post-impeachment
A Liberal spring
The interim president enacts reforms

PERU
Peru rebels burn down helicopters at jungle airfield
Three helicopters were destroyed in the attack on the airfield in Cusco province
Left-wing Shining Path rebels in Peru have burned three helicopters used by a private gas consortium, officials say.

PUERTO RICO
Humor: Estudiantes Universitarios Molestos Que No Pudieron Abuchear A Fortuño En Persona

Puerto Rican Identity, In and Out of Focus

VENEZUELA
The Other Election: Venezuela

Hugo Chavez Might Actually Lose His Election on Sunday

Venezuela’s presidential election
The autocrat and the ballot box
A united opposition and discontent over government mismanagement mean a genuine electoral challenge for Hugo Chávez

Chávez’s Foreign Fan Club
The Venezuelan election will have ramifications throughout Latin America and beyond

Will Hugo Chavez lose the election tomorrow?

How Hugo Chávez Became Irrelevant

Chávez’s Stamp Most Keenly Felt on Farms

The week’s posts:
Venezuela: “God’s timing is perfect”

#Venezuela: The results – it’s Chavez

#Venezuela election: Live coverage on line

Venezuela: Election results “between 9-10PM tonight”

Venezuela: Tupamaros threaten death to opposition

Watch now: @Univision’s Operation ‘Fast and Furious’: Arming the enemy (English subtitles, complete show)

Colombia: President Santos has prostate cancer


The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Monday, October 1st, 2012

LatinAmerARGENTINA
The president and the potbangers
Times are getting tougher for Cristina Fernández, but she is not beaten yet

BRAZIL
Corruption in Brazil
Worth the wait
The supreme court makes graft riskier

CHILE
Chile’s economic statistics
For richer—or poorer
Re-crunching the numbers—whatever they might be

COLOMBIA
Uribe Outbursts Act As Misguided Obstacles to Colombian Peace Talks

CUBA
Journalists reporting on Lignano murder arrested in Cuba (h/t GoV)

“That *!&^*%$#@! blockade…” (or why the Castro dynasty loves people-to-people exchanges)

ECUADOR
VIDEO starts immediately: Rescued tourists describe Ecuador kidnap ordeal
A British and Australian tourist kidnapped in Ecuador while visiting a remote nature reserve in the Amazon jungle speak following their rescue by Ecuadorean authorities on Saturday.

GUATEMALA
Asylum Granted to Guatemalan Massacre Survivor

GUYANA
Sunday Reminisces: Dinner and Guns at the Whorehouse with my Wife

MEXICO
The Paradoxes of Felipe Calderón
The Mexican president who fought the drug war leaves behind a growing economy and says the U.S. should consider ‘market alternatives.’

Univision: The untold story of what ‘Fast and Furious’ wrought in Mexico
Sunday evening, Univision airs an investigative report on how the botched ‘Fast and Furious’ program resulted in a deadly toll in Mexico when US authorities allowed guns to ‘walk’ across the border
. Instapundit,

I don’t think this operation was “botched” or “deeply flawed.” I think it worked as planned, except for the part about being caught. Still, even if you aren’t troubled by the too-close nexus with the Administration’s preferred gun-control narrative, there’s this: “In order to reach the target of the operation, which was identifying the drug traffickers who were using the guns, [ATF agents] were waiting for the guns to be used. And how are guns used in Mexico? Killing people. I talked to an ATF agent who said there was no other way to explain it.”

Bullets Follow Guns to Mexico
Ammunition Is Easier to Buy and Hide Than Weapons; Smuggling Is Harder to Stop

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Ex-Senator Jorge de Castro Font Pleads Guilty to 93 Charges

Puerto Rico jury rejects death penalty in drug dealer case

Puerto Rico First Lady Luce Fortuño to stump for Romney along I-4 in Florida.

VENEZUELA
Venezuelan Elections: sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words

Venezuelan Bond Soar On Higher Probability Of A Capriles Victory

Chávez accused of election dirty tricks

A Thug’s Comeuppance? Hugo Loses The Lead

Breaking new ground for the future
Since his election in the primaries as the candidate for the opposition Unified Democratic Panel (MUD), he started a frantic nationwide tour for Venezuelans to know him “face to face”

Venezuela’s presidential election
The autocrat and the ballot box
A united opposition and discontent over government mismanagement mean a genuine electoral challenge for Hugo Chávez

A Serious Challenger for Chávez
Henrique Capriles has been drawing roaring crowds. Hugo Chávez? Not so much.

Video in Spanish of yesterday’s Capriles rally (via Carlos); slide show here [VIDEO MOVED TO BELOW THE FOLD SINCE IT STARTS RIGHT AWAY]

The biggest electoral march / rally / event in the history of the Americas

Venezuelan youth could decide if Chavez remains in power; IMO it’s going to take a lot more than the youth vote.

Do Richard Holloway and other Leftist class warriors realise that El Sistema has links with Opus Dei?

As Venezuelan Vote Looms, Skeptics Anticipate Last-Moment Chávez Victory

The week’s posts & podcast:
Fast & Furious on @Univision

Tonight on @Univision: Fast and Furious

A week from the election, Putin send Chavez “Stalin’s dog”

Brazil: Google chief detained, Court Bans Anti-Islam Video

In Silvio Canto’s podcast

Venezuela: Yet another fire at a refinery


(more…)

The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Monday, September 3rd, 2012

ARGENTINA
Argentinian politicians unveil plan to shoot seagulls that attack whales
Birds regularly peck the mammals, then feed on the open wounds – behaviour environmentalists have blamed on humans

The Noose Tightens

BRAZIL
Brazil’s Listless Growth Continues
Disappointing Quarterly GDP Rise Bodes Ill for Emerging Markets’ Ability to Boost World Growth

Mariel, puerto para la llegada masiva de empresas brasileñas a la economía de Cuba (h/t Silvio)

CHILE
Chile’s mining industry
Friends again
Anglo American and Codelco settle their dispute

COLOMBIA
Colombia and the FARC
Talking about talks
This time negotiations might eventually bring peace

CUBA
Castro Cashes-In From Obama’s Policy

Surprise upon surprise! “Reforms” only serve to make everything worse in Castrolandia

Tempering Dad

Cuban police arrest former Group of 75 prisoner of conscience Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia (updated)

Aunt says the daughter of Cuba’s vice president defected for love
The daughter of Cuba’s vice president defected because she has a boyfriend in Florida, her family said

ECUADOR
An Ecuadorean history of the world
Rafael Correa is using the Assange case to stake a claim to leadership of the Latin American far-left. He may find the spotlight uncomfortable

GUATEMALA
Switzerland arrests Guatemala ex-police chief Sperisen
Swiss authorities say they have arrested Guatemala’s former police chief, Erwin Sperisen, over the death of seven prisoners in 2006.

LATIN AMERICA
Latin America’s Autocrats Fail Marx’s Survival Test

MEXICO
Mexican-American relations
The trials of Ernesto Zedillo
An American court is preparing to judge the man who brought democracy to Mexico for war crimes. The case looks like a settling of political scores

Pemex Makes Its First Big Oil Find in Deep Gulf

Mexican cartels now trafficking … cigarettes?

PERU
Peru state of emergency over Conga mine to expire
The Peruvian government says it will not extend a state of emergency in force in three northern provinces.

PUERTO RICO
Mitt Romney Would Support Puerto Rico Statehood Bid, Gov. Fortuno Says

Gov. Luis Fortuno of Puerto Rico address RNC

VENEZUELA
Hardly Reported: Venezuelan Refinery Disaster Has Chavez on Defensive, May Be Deadliest in World History (H/T Phineas)

Venezuela’s refinery disaster
A tragedy foretold
A fatal refinery blast will not help Hugo Chávez

Venezuelan Governmentt Spins On Amuay Disaster, Evidence Mounts Of Insufficient Maintenance

The strange case of the Yanomami massacre in Venezuela

Indigenous organizations denounce illegal gold miners’ crimes since 2009
Several indigenous organizations issued a statement on this matter

Empty greenhouses, empty promises (report in Spanish)

The week’s posts:
Reading: The War of All the People

Venezuela: Deadly socialism


The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Monday, August 13th, 2012

LatinAmerARGENTINA
¡Estamos salvados! Ahora tenemos a Hugo Chávez

YPF-PDVSA partnership

Latin America Gears Up as Bike Hub. I’ve been to Buenos Aires, and I wouldn’t try it. Plus, if Buenos Aires is so intent on “improving quality of life”, they could start by repairing the sidewalks.

BRAZIL
Paulo Coelho v James Joyce
Lost in Translation

Telecommunications in Brazil
The next big blackout?
A swamped mobile-phone network could choke Latin America’s biggest economy

From Poverty to Power
How Good Governance Made Brazil a Model Nation
. I wouldn’t call it a model nation yet.

The China Temptation
Why Brazil should reject Beijing’s economic model.

CENTRAL AMERICA
Confronting Drug Gangs in Central America

CHILE
Catholicism Condemns Chileans to Epidemic

COLOMBIA
Acid attacks in Colombia reflect rage

Car bombs cause major blackout in southwest Colombia, via Gates of Vienna.

WHITEWASH IN COLOMBIA, U.S. MILITARY TAKING THE FALL

CUBA
Swede involved in Cuba dissident car crash concerned about fate of Spanish driver

ECUADOR
PDF file H. RES. 745

EL SALVADOR
Rescuing Salvadoran Democracy: Part II
Sen. Marco Rubio wants to suspend aid to the country until constitutional order is restored.

GUATEMALA
Ancient Mayans May Have Sacrificed Earliest Domestic Turkeys, via Gates of Vienna.

JAMAICA
Jamaica at 50: A Caribbean island that has far more to offer than Bob Marley and Usain Bolt…

MEXICO
Schumpeter
Narconomics
From HR to CSR: management lessons from Mexico’s drug lords

Mexico Ousts Brazil as Investors’ Top Choice in Latin America

Mexico rises from the drug ravages

Undefeated
A Mexican demagogue rises again.

PERU
High flying technology to map Peru ruins
Archaeologists in Peru are getting ready to fly an unmanned craft that could radically speed up data gathering at historical sites.

He May Be Leader of Peru, but to Outspoken Kin, He’s Just a Disappointment, via ¡No Pasarán!

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico, Drug Corridor to the Mainland United States

Uncle of Calle 13 hip-hop singer killed in Puerto Rico

URUGUAY
Uruguay Mulls Over Legal Government Marijuana Dealing

VENEZUELA
Sean Penn joins Chavez on campaign in Venezuela

Handles like oil, priced like coal

Venezuela’s army
The vote that counts
Would the generals accept a presidential handover?

The week’s posts:
Crony capitalism: in Argentina, it’s a way of life

Quote of the day

Estas manos/These hands UPDATED

Cuba: Still no offshore oil, but 1 more foreigner taken hostage

Kenya: Venezuelan ambassador murdered

In The Green Room:
Chavez: American “mercenary” detained in Venezuela


The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Monday, July 9th, 2012

LatinAmerARGENTINA
Cause: Argentina Bans Dollar Purchases For Savings, Infobae Says (h/t Clark). Effect: Making The Euro Zone Look Good

Argentina convicts 2 dictators of stealing babies

BOLIVIA
La República de la cocaína

Bolivian farmer dies in protests against Canadian mine

CHILE
Star Gazers
Way out in a barren Chilean desert, the biggest telescope ever made is taking shape
, via Instapundit.

CUBA
The Self-Employed and the “Mules”

The Truth About Cuba, via Babalu.

Raul Castro’s long trip to China raises questions about a secret stopover
A trip that takes one day on commercial jetliners took more than two, raising questions about a secret stopover

ECUADOR
Ecuador Seeks Liquidity Loan As Correa Loses Oil Funding

Pide a EEUU no renovar Atpdea con Ecuador
Chevron descarta cualquier acuerdo extrajudicial con demandantes ecuatorianos

GUATEMALA
U.S. soldier killed on humanitarian mission in Guatemala

HONDURAS
Xiomara Castro Urges Hondurans to Retake Power

MEXICO
Remember Fast and Furious’s Mexican Victims.

Mexico destroys 1 million chickens for bird flu

Mexico’s Leader Seeks to Shed the Past

Mexico’s election
The PRI’s qualified comeback
The former ruling party triumphs, but without the majority it had hoped for

OLIVER STONE: MEXICO NEEDS DRUG WAR FOR ECONOMIC SURVIVAL

MEXICO ELECTION REPORTEDLY CORRUPT

PANAMA
Castro & Co. Are Best Kept at Arm’s Length
Economic growth in Latin America is at risk if tyrants are welcomed as legitimate leaders. As my family learned in Panama, poverty and tyranny go hand in hand.

PARAGUAY
Mercosur Shows Lack Of Ethics

The Paraguay MERCOSUR fiasco: the loser list

PERU
Peru: Three die in clashes over Conga gold mine project
Clashes in northern Peru between police and demonstrators opposing a multi-million dollar gold mining project have left at least three people dead.

PUERTO RICO
Our American Dream: Bobby Sanabria, the Voice of Afro-Cuban Jazz


URUGUAY
Uruguay president: Only pot will be legal

VENEZUELA
Chavez Promotes to Minister Military Officer designated by the U.S Treasury as Drug Kingpin

Venezuelan Officials Acting on Behalf of the FARC

Chávez: into Mercosur by a side door

Venezuela’s presidential campaign
Tilting the pitch
The opposition faces some extraordinary obstacles

Mitt Romney: We Stand With Venezuelans Fighting For Democracy And Freedom

The week’s posts:
Cuba: $1.55 billion, gone!

MoDo did well!


The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Monday, June 18th, 2012

LatinAmerANTIGUA
Stanford Sentenced to 110 Years in Prison for Ponzi Scheme

ARGENTINA
Peso Blues

Talk Radio Gives Voice to Falklands Veterans
Thirty Years After U.K. Victory, Argentines Work Through Their Trauma on the Air; ‘Like a Psychiatrist’s Couch’

The shows highlight Argentine veterans’ difficult postwar adjustment process. A repressive military government mobilized the veterans, often conscripts from working-class backgrounds, for Argentina’s 1982 invasion of the islands in a last-ditch bid to rally popular support. Argentina’s leadership hadn’t expected the British to dispatch its own invasion force to retake the islands. Argentine troops were left underequipped and with only an improvised plan to confront the professional U.K. army.

Britain warns Argentina over Falklands “aggression”

UK must ‘negotiate’ over Falklands sovereignty Argentina President Cristina Kirchner tells UN
Argentina’s President Cristina Kirchner tells the UN that negotiations between the UK and Argentina would benefit ‘all countries around the world’.

COSTA RICA
Princeton U goes on the road: Lacrosse Team from American Ivy League School Visits Costa Rica

CUBA
Sen. Bob Menendez regarding the arrest of Cuban pro-democracy leader


GUATEMALA
The gringo was Russian, The Fish That Ate the Whale:
The Life and Times of America’s Banana King
, via American Digest.

ECUADOR
ALBA attacks justice, human rights

FALKLAND ISLANDS
Falkland Islands to hold referendum on sovereignty
The Falkland Islands will hold a referendum on its “political status” in a bid to end the dispute with Argentina over the archipelago’s sovereignty.

The referendum will be organised by the Falkland Islands government and will take place in the first half of next year.

MEXICO
NBC Breaks Two Year Embargo on Fast & Furious; Offers Viewers a Detailed Account of Lethal Covert Operation That No One Authorized

The NYTimes magazine has a must-read report, Cocaine Incorporated (h/t AD), with a yowza,

In 2007, Mexican authorities raided the home of Zhenli Ye Gon, a Chinese-Mexican businessman who is believed to have supplied meth-precursor chemicals to the cartel, and discovered $206 million, the largest cash seizure in history. And that was the money Zhenli held onto — he was an inveterate gambler, who once blew so much cash in Las Vegas that one of the casinos presented him, in consolation, with a Rolls-Royce. “How much money do you have to lose in the casino for them to give you a Rolls-Royce?” Tony Placido, the D.E.A. intelligence official, asked. (The astonishing answer, in Zhenli’s case, is $72 million at a single casino in a single year.)

Go read every word.

NICARAGUA
Venezuela buys 12.56% of Nicaragua exports
Nicaragua’s global exports have increased by 11% in 2012

VENEZUELA
Venezuela court decisions shake up 2 small parties

The TEA Party and the GOP can learn a thing or two from Venezuela.

Venezuelans consider the unthinkable: a government without Chavez

VIRGIN ISLANDS
“A sunny place for shady people”, Sideways.

The week’s posts:
Chavez’s Iranian drones

Low expectations for the G20

The racing Zetas

Hmmmm…


The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Monday, May 14th, 2012

LatinAmerARGENTINA
Argentina as No Claims-Nation Revealed in Repsol Losses: Energy

Repsol YPF SA (REP), the Spanish oil explorer seeking $10.5 billion from Argentina for seizing its assets, will line up behind companies from Exxon Mobil Corp. to Unisys Corp. yet to be repaid by the most-sued nation on earth.

There are 26 cases pending against Argentina, more than any other country, at the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington, the principal arbitration court for claims against sovereign countries. So far, it has refused to pay any of the tribunal’s judgments, according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch economists’ report.

Argentina’s state-owned firms
So far, not so good
Can YPF avoid the grim fate of other nationalised companies?

BOLIVIA
Bases militares venezolanas: Entrevista a la Diputada Norma Pierola

CHILE
Chile charges suspect with Japanese astronomer murder
A Chilean man has been charged with the murder of Japanese astronomer Koichiro Morita in Santiago earlier this week.

CUBA
Smile, You’re on Candid Camera.

Getting Ready for Life after Castro
Managing the transition to a democratic Cuba: A user’s guide.

More Red Than Cross

ECUADOR
Ecuador seeks answer to riddle of Inca emperor’s tomb

Chevron’s Ecuador Morass
The U.S. oil company charges that the $18 billion judgment against it was secured by fraud.

UPDATE:
MUST-WATCH VIDEO,


EL SALVADOR
Central America’s gangs
A meeting of the maras
Precarious truces between gangs have lowered the murder rate in two of the world’s most violent countries—but for how long?

GUATEMALA
End of times not quite here yet: Mayan art and calendar at Xultun stun archaeologists

“The ancient Maya predicted the world would continue, that 7,000 years from now, things would be exactly like this,” he said.

MEXICO
Maps Show 330 Illegal Aliens Crossing Ariz. Border in One Night in March, Including Ultralight Incursion

Forty-nine headless corpses found in Mexico

Mexico’s presidential election
Political lucha libre

Mexico’s leading presidential candidate is handsome, popular and still a mystery

PERU
‘Mutated’ Shining Path Resurfaces in Peru

Peru ministers resign over Shining Path rebel clashes
Peru’s interior and defence ministers have resigned in the face of a public outcry over a failed security operation against Shining Path rebels.

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Plans to Stop Deficit Borrowing by Fiscal 2014

Puerto Rico plans to offer free Web connections at dozens of centers and public plazas

VENEZUELA
Venezuela’s narcostate

Venezuelan politics
A modest concession to reality
, but the weird news continue: Venezuela crossword Chavez assassination plot denied
A Venezuelan crossword compiler has been questioned by intelligence agents after being accused of hiding a coded assassination message in a puzzle.

Venezuela analysts cast doubt on presidential election
Venezuelan analysts in Miami said the Hugo Chávez administration is casting doubts about this year’s presidential election.

Watching Some “Strategic” Companies In Bolivarian Venezuela

The week’s posts:
Saturday tango: CNN version

Cuban slave labor used to build Ikea furniture in the 1980s

The History of Ernesto Che Guevara – A Short Story

Argentina’s Olympic gaffe

Mexico: The boob tube UPDATED with VIDEO

In Defense of Marco Rubio’s Story of His Family’s Exile