Fausta's blog

UPDATE
Via Instapundit,
Interpol Confirms Authenticity Of Raul Reyes's Computer Files
Welcome to this week's Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. If you would like your posts on Latin America and the Caribbean included in the next Carnival, please email me: faustaw2 "at" gmail "dot" com. Please send only posts directly related to Latin American and Caribbean news and politics, not to commercial endorsements and advertising of resort areas and the like.

This week's big story:

Santa Cruz, Bolivia's largest province with 1.5 million inhabitants which Simon Romero describes as

a boomtown in the fertile lowlands. There avenues of glistening office buildings house some of Bolivia's largest private companies and the headquarters of most foreign corporations operating in the country.

Besides finance and resource extraction, Santa Cruz is also home to agribusiness concerns that produce much of the nation's food.

has voted for autonomy from the central government by an 85% margin, thereby rejecting Evo Morales's and Hugo Chavez's socialist plans:

"I hope the government will hear the call of its people now, and not the call of [Venezuela's left-wing President Hugo Chavez] and will start choosing its own course and accept this autonomy and decide it's time to sit down and talk", former president and leader of the opposition Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga told the BBC.

Evo Morales, who has taken steps to increase state control of the economy by ordering foreign energy and telecommunications companies to give control to the government, is not taking this well and rejected the autonomy vote claiming that as many as half the ballots were invalid. There was some rioting following the vote.

Three other eastern states - Beni, Pando and Tarija - hold autonomy votes next month.

More links and details below in the Bolivia section.

WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
Financial Times' Americas

LATIN AMERICA
Waving, not drowning: Cocaine now moves by submarine

ARGENTINA
Cristina in the land of make-believe

Argentina rattled by Falkland drilling plans

BOLIVIA
Santa Cruz Autonomy Vote Passes In Bolivia-- Morales Supporters Promise War

Santa Cruz de la Sierra: Arriesgandolo todo por la autonomía

Via Babalu, Los Ponchos Rojos

At least 21 injured in Santa Cruz autonomy referendum

Bolivia region 'chooses autonomy'

Viva La Revolución

BRAZIL
Good news from Brazil: S&P's rates it "Investment grade', but the big story in the country was that soccer star Renaldo got caught with three transvestite prostitutes because of "psychological problems due to his knee injury."

CHILE
Thousands evacuated as Chile volcano spews ash

Chile: One, two, three,...FOUR times a lady!

COLOMBIA
Colombia captures drug dealer wanted by US

Southern Exposure

CUBA
'This the Development of the World'

Via Babalu, Babalu, Art Deco Havana:


Committee of elders Raúl institutionalises a gerontocracy

ECUADOR
Ecuador considers enshrining women's right to sexual pleasure. Maybe they'll meet up with some of the older Chileans?

The sins of legitimizing terrorists

JAMAICA
A new face

MEXICO
Democrats stalling on Mexico aid to fight drug insurgents

Mexico's Revolutionary: Felipe Calderon's Multi-Front War for Modernity

PARAGUAY
Via Maria, IRAN'S WINNING LATIN POWER PLAY

Paraguay wants to renegotiate Itaipu treaty with Brazil

PERU
Alan García: Peru's Born-Again Free Marketeer

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rican superdelegates back in the news

VENEZUELA
Hugo's All-Too-Predictable Shortages

Party in the House of Pain: Tout le Seattle Will Be There Sans Moi Bien Sur

Is Chavez a CIA agent?

Unfraternal: Squabbles in the ruling party

US Democrats: Hugs for Hugo

Hugo, we're watching you

Break out the Champagne!

US Terror report cites Venezuela, Iran Syria

Special thanks to Maggie, Maria, Eneas, Larwyn, and GM Roper.



Share on Facebook

Labels: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Jamaica, Latin America, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. If you would like your posts included in the Carnivals, please email me: faustaw2 "at" gmail "dot" com.

Today's big story: Bill Richardson's trip to Caracas to ask Hugo Chavez, who has given $300 million dollars to the FARC, to negotiate for the release of three American FARC hostages.

Simon Romero of the NY Times reports,

The meeting itself was exceptional, marking a rare personal encounter between and a prominent American official and Mr. Chavez, following a sharp deterioration of political relations between the Bush administration and Venezuela’s government.

It's not clear whether Richardson is ignorant of or indifferent to the anti-American propaganda Chavez spews weekly on TV.

Video: Bill Richardson habló después de reunirse con Chávez, video in Spanish:


IBD Blogs commented on the visit. Others blogging about it:
Richardson working hard for his VP spot with Obama
Foreign policy by BDS
Gov. Bill Richardson Meets With Hugo Chavez
No thugs left to pander to
I also posted about it yesterday.

Another big story from last week, the body of Beatriz Porco, a 22-year-old Bolivian who won a scholarship to study medicine in Cuba two years ago, was returned to her family on April 2, minus several internal organs, including the girl's brain, kidneys, lungs, and uterus. Humberto Fontova writing at NewsMax notices that this is not the first time this has happened under the Cuban "free healthcare" system.

LATIN AMERICA
NAFTA is working

ARGENTINA
Argentina Farmers Ready to Revolt Again

Official: Argentine economy minister resigning

BOLIVIA
Morales sees threat from 'separatist' groups

Bolivia's Morales: End Capitalism to Save the World

Once more to the brink

BRAZIL
Brazil Oil Finds May End Reliance on Middle East, Zeihan Says

Brazilian Assumptions of a McCain Victory 'Premature,' 'Reckless'

COLOMBIA
What's at Stake in Colombia

Colombia denuncia nuevo ataque de las FARC desde Ecuador

Guerrilleros de las FARC atacaron con armas no convencionales desde Ecuador a tropas de Colombia que prestaban seguridad a una petrolera, que cumple actividades de exploración en la frontera binacional, denunció el sábado el comandante del Ejército colombiano, general Mario Montoya.

Cousin Mario: "Parapolitics" touches the first family

FARC computer reveals more South American ties

CUBA
WaPo Editorial: No Space for Dissent

Parallel Universes

The Elian Gonzalez Case

As usual, it's fidel's fault

Fins ain't wot they used to be

ECUADOR
Official: Laptop reveals ties to Ecuador

New documents from computers seized in a March raid on a FARC camp in Ecuador show that the guerrilla group may have ties to a prominent Ecuadorean politician.

Dictator Correa is Indeed an "Outrage to Democracy"

Southcom: Air base in Ecuador will not be replaced

"My Hands are Clean and Bloodless, Something Uribe Can't Say"

GUATEMALA
The Indian/Guatemalan Tuk-Tuk Connection?

MEXICO
Mexico's Calderon Makes Fierce Defense Of NAFTA

Kidnappings soar in Mexico as drug gangs seek new income

Editorial: Calderón can't expect unconditional aid

Mexico’s Hugo Chavez wannabe

PARAGUAY
Paraguay wants to renegotiate Itaipu treaty with Brazil

Paraguay’s historic election

Latin America’s Latest Marxist Leader Takes Power in Paraguay

Fernando Lugo, Hugo's latest buddy

PERU
EEUU instalará base militar en Iquitos en reemplazo de la de Manta, revelan

VENEZUELA
Gary Casparov on Chavez

Chavez according to Caballero

Venezuela's Chavez wants government monitoring of news

Abridged world history of lie

Cattle Call in Venezuela

Venezuela nationalisations show disarray

Video
HACER's Eneas Biglione was a guest on "Four Corners" of Press TV, making the case for NAFTA and Free Trade Agreements.

BLOGGING ABOUT THE CARNIVAL
Obi's Sister



Share on Facebook

Labels: Argentina, Bill Richardson, Bolivia, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Hugo Chavez, Latin America, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. If you would like your posts included in next week's Carnival, please email me: faustaw2 "at" gmail "dot" com.

The big story this week? Barack Obama's Communist ties, which may include the FARC. More thoughts on that at American Thinker.

Another important story just developing right now: Opposition victorious in Paraguay

Former Roman Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo has won Paraguay's presidential election, ending more than six decades of rule by the Colorado Party.

More at the link.

BLOG OF THE WEEK
LatinAmericaBlog

LATIN AMERICA
Democrats are shaping Latin America policy in dramatic ways

Do Border Walls Cause More Harm Than Good?

ARGENTINA
Argentine president orders probe into massive fires

BOLIVIA
Cloning Chavez

BRAZIL
Brazil warns FARC to stay out, but...

Two from the Economist: The Delights of Dullness
Oil: More Bounty. Could Brazil become as big an oil power as it is an agricultural one?

COLOMBIA
Via Roger, Travel writer tells newspaper he plagiarized, dealt drugs

The Uribe Temptation. America stiffs its best friend in Latin America. How much will he really care?

The case for Colombia: the Washington Post takes side for Colombia and against Venezuela

A Conversation With Alvaro Uribe

South America's Most Troubled Border

Obama's trade pandering

which brings us to Today's cartoon:
Via ECrisis:


CUBA
Remembering the Bay of Pigs: April 17, 1961

The sudden shock of cold water

Cuba and the Vatican

ECUADOR
Banana Republic and Friends

Something Good This Way Comes

JAMAICA
Dual But Unequal: The dual citizenship debate

MEXICO
Mexico's Unfinished Reform
President Calderón tackles the state oil monopoly -- and the anti-democratic forces that support it.

PARAGUAY
Liberation Politics: The Colorado Party's 61-year grip on power may be at an end (see also top story above).

PERU
A strange tale out of Peru on bird flu.

PUERTO RICO
US Justice Department probes shipping practices to Puerto Rico

Pre-Raphaelites from Puerto Rico

VENEZUELA
Chavez helps out Haitians, continues to ignore Venezuelans

Hugo Chavez Supporter Bundled $50,000 Donation For Barack Obama

Venezuela is now the biggest importer of foreign weapons in South America, and ninth world-wide

Caracas is more dangerous than Baghdad

A First Nations chief from southern Manitoba is asking Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for $1 million to fight for pipeline royalties.

The Simpsons are back

Chavez helps out Haitians, continues to ignore Venezuelans

Errors, Lies and Manipulations on education in the times of Chavez and his brother

Hugo needs the money, pronto



Share on Facebook

Labels: Argentina, Barack Obama, Bolivia, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The big story: Nancy Pelosi throws Colombia under the bus by postponing a vote on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. The message Pelosi has sent the world is that in America, the only superpower in the world, political squabbles take precedence over security interests. By doing so, Nancy Pelosi has covered herself in a cloak of shame and infamy. Unfortunately for us, everybody in the hemisphere will have to pay the consequences. Scroll down for all the links and roundup on the story.

Another small big story, Bill Clinton went to Puerto Rico to woo the underwhelming crowds in preparation for the June 1 Democrat primary.

LATIN AMERICA
A Coming Test of Virtue
Once a byword for financial busts, Latin America has so far escaped this credit crunch unscathed. But for how much longer?

ARGENTINA
Argentina's beef with its farmers

BOLIVIA
ETA operating in Bolivia

Bolivia using star of David in new ID cards Branding Bolivian Jews

BRAZIL
Brazil reduces its dependence on foreign...condoms

CHILE
Via Gates of Vienna, Chile: Palestinian refugees arrive to warm welcome

COLOMBIA
To free trade or not to free trade with Colombia?
Pelosi's War
Drop Dead, Colombia
Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi blocks a trade deal with America's closest South American ally
Edward Schumacher-Matos
SwordsCrossed
Red State
Is Hillary Running on Colombian Cash?
WSJ
Colombia's Plata Says Rejecting Trade Accord Same as Sanctions
National Review
Pelosi's bad faith
Obama: Trade with Cuba- Good... Trade with Colombia- Bad

A dark day in history: Nancy hands out 'the Chavez Rule'
Democrats' lose-lose strategy in Colombia
Hillary vs the Colombia Free Trade Agreement
Pelosi plays politics with Colombia trade deal

CUBA
Cuba si, Colombia no?

The devil is in the details

ECUADOR
Pay Pals of Soros's Barack Obama Take Center Court in Ecuador's Specious Claims: Undermine Foreign Policy and Rule of Law

$16 billion environmental lawsuit tests Chevron

HAITI
After Protests, Haitian Leader Announces Rice Subsidies

MEXICO
Government Cracks Down On Illegal Immigrants

Playing Monopoly in Mexico

Mexicanos prefieren a Hillary

Mexico's energy reform: Regeneration. Felipe Calderon sends a modest plan to Congress, which girds for battle

Vodka wars:
The Absolut Mexico kerfuffle through the prism of history
A toast to Skyy Vodka, the beverage of anti-reconquistas
Via Instapundit, SKYY® Vodka, Made in the USA, Proudly Supports Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

NICARAGUA
Ortega's winning ways showing through

PERU
Rumble in the jungle: How barefaced capitalism can help save the Amazonian rainforest

PUERTO RICO
Governor's legal fight fuels the turmoil in Puerto Rico. Campaign-finance charges dog Nov. re-election chances

Bill Clinton to Puerto Rico: 'We Need You'

Clinton in Puerto Rico

"Yes, Bill Clinton is here"

VENEZUELA
The Danilo Anderson case collapses: who is going to pay for ALL the wasted lives?

If it is Wednesday it must be Chavez' day to nationalize steel

FACTBOX: Venezuela's nationalizations under Hugo Chavez

Smoot-Chavez

Hugo Chavez's Submarines of the Caribbean

Chavez pitches Africa on the Nationalizing the Oil Industry

Strategic Move: Hugo Chávez seeks to nationalise the cement and steel industries and his armed forces are now occupying 32 sugar plantations

Podcast:
I was a guest at Mid Stream Radio and talked about Venezuela



Share on Facebook

Labels: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Haiti, Latin America, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

If you would like your posts to be included in the Carnivals, please email me faustaw2 "at" gmail "dot" com.

This week's big story:
Last Saturday Colombia fired top Clinton aide Mark Penn's firm over apology (emphasis added):

The Colombian government said Saturday it has fired Mark Penn's public relations firm after the chief campaign strategist for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton apologized for meeting with Colombian officials pushing a trade deal with the U.S.

Then Penn resigned/ was pushed out of the Clinton campaign:

"Sources said that the Clintons were angry to learn about Penn's work, especially because they had been told that Penn had recused himself from controversial clients and would restrict his private work."

Ironically, "Penn also was regarded by many in the campaign as too self-serving."

Spanish-language blog of the week:
El opinador compulsivo, via Judith


THE WEEK IN LATIN AMERICA
CULTURE
Julio Cortázar: the Poetics of Exile

ARGENTINA
Via Gates of Vienna, Iran: Ahmadinejad thanks football legend for his support

La Evita Segunda

How Argentina screws the farmers

The Kirchners self-induced farm crisis

Argentina: Create a distraction and claim the Falklands… again

BOLIVIA
Evo Morales no descarta aplicar el Estado de Sitio contra las autonomías departamentales (bilingual post)

BRAZIL
Colombian drug lord sentenced in Brazil

In Portuguese, Chegam ao Rio mais médicos para ajudar no atendimento a doentes com dengue

Rice's relocation of envoys praised, panned

COLOMBIA
Colombian President Uribe Blasts Barack Obama

Obama Vows Opposition to Colombia Trade Deal

Colombia to Penn: You're Fired Colombia Terminates PR Contract

Colombia's Budget Gap Ended 2007 Close to Target, Zuluaga Says

FARC gets FARCed

COSTA RICA
Los nexos entre políticos de Costa Rica y las FARC complican al gobierno de Oscar Arias

CUBA
Cuba takes a step from the shadows

Cuba tries micro-capitalism

Prisoner of Conscience vs. Political Prisoner

ECUADOR
Ecuador's Bond Yields Fall Below Venezuelan Yields

MEXICO
An Absolut-ly Outrageous Ad in Mexico City

PUERTO RICO
PR Politico's webpage on Gov. Acevedo's indictment

VENEZUELA
Beti's Baby

Hugo Chavez Nationalizes Cement Industry, Eats Sandwich Bigger Than His Own Head

Venezuela 'to tax oil windfall' Hugo taxes his own oil profits

I'm sure there is nothing to it...

Venezuela cements its economic doom

Portrait of Hugo while visiting Brazil.

Milking Venezuela, literally! Chavez buys Los Andes

Chavez's new decision making tool: Managemeny by hearsay

Special thanks to Maria, Larwyn, Maggie, and Siggy for their support.



Share on Facebook

Labels: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Democrats, Ecuador, Election2008, Hillary Clinton, Latin America, Mexico, politics, Puerto Rico, Venezuela

Following up on the Kirchners's self-induced farm crisis post:

The striking farmers have declared a month-long truce, after the government offered small farmers a rebate on the export tax and compensation for transport costs. The Kirchenr administration remains adamant about the tax increases:

The assembly followed a very different rally held Tuesday by supporters of the government of Cristina Fernández, in the Plaza de Mayo outside of the seat of government in Buenos Aires. Addressing a crowd of as many as 200,000 supporters, according to police estimates, she called for support for the measure that sparked the conflict in the first place: the hike on soy and sunflower export taxes.

The farm export tax revenue is not shared with the provinces, who need funds to improve their infrastructure.

The farmers have agreed to a truce but

they demanded greater control over the way the taxes are to be used. "We want to recuperate the country’s lost federalism," they said, criticising the fact that the export tax is not distributed among the provinces.

Juan Echeverría, who belongs to the most radical sector taking part in the protests -- a group of farmers who do not form part of any of the four major rural associations -- said the countryside "exploded" because the export tax hike was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

"Soybeans were the last refuge of profitability, after the trampling of the profit margin for milk and beef," he said.

The rural activist said that in the past few years, dozens of small dairy farms have closed down, because the subsidies shelled out by the government over the past year have gone to the large producers.

The strike has caused beef and produce shortages in the cities. Additionally,

The absence of Argentine beef and tighter Brazil and Uruguay supplies is now causing a surge of orders for Australian beef from the EU, Russia, the Middle East, North Africa and South East Asia.

Since the Kirchners need a distraction, what better way than to mark the anniversary of the Falklands war?



The Falklands (which Argentinians call the Malvinas) have been British territory since the 1830s, but come in handy at times like this.



Share on Facebook

Labels: Argentina

The Argentinians tend to vent their political frustration with cacerolazos, where they congregate in public places and bang on kitchen pots, usually cheap tin pots that make the most noise. They all agree on a time of day to hold the cacerolazos so anyone who wants to join in from the privacy (?) of their front yard, their farm, or their apartment in New York City will be banging at their pots at exactly the same hour.

I know Argentinians who have engaged in cacerolazos in Miami, FL, Tokio, Japan, and Montgomery, NJ. The one in Montgomery has Princeton address, so maybe I should say Princeton.

Absurd as this gesture may sound, it points to a chronic situation in Argentinian politics: the choice of Peronist populism over an open economy.

Yesterday I linked to Mary Anastasia O'Grady's article, Tax Rebellion in Argentina

To wit, while a strong peso made Argentines prosperous in the 1990s, it was incompatible with the rigid, closed economy. The situation is the same today: Either the economy is opened, labor markets are made flexible and the business climate improves or the government clings to a weak peso policy as a way to compensate for an uncompetitive economic model and inflation comes back. Take your pick.

By choosing the latter, the Kirchners have won the support of that segment of the Argentine economy loyal to the principles of 20th-century fascist Juan Peron. These include labor militants, government bureaucrats, the Peronist political machine and the likes of Mr. D'elía, whose thugs act as Mrs. Kirchner's informal enforcers. But by generating inflation and provoking shortages Kirchneromics is also fueling widespread discontent.

The Mr. D'Elia the article refers to is Luis D'Elia, described by the Guardian as "a controversial protest leader and former government official." D'Elia was deputy secretary for land reform under the Nestor Kirchner administration. Last week D'Elia's cohorts, apparently sent by the Kirchners, started beating up the hapless crowd engaging in a "cacerolazo" in front of the government palace, La Casa Rosa (the pink house).

(I use the Kirchners in plural. Presidenta Cristina Fernandez and her husband, former presidente Nestor Kirchner are a two-for-one deal, much as Hillary and Bill would be, if we elect her.)

Amateurs with tin pots are no match for professional thugs, so you know how that turned out. You would think the Kirchners would deny any association with D'Elia,

But instead of distancing herself from D'Elia's violent behavior, Fernandez seated him behind her a night later during a speech in which she defending her higher taxes on soy exports and appealed to farmers to respect public order.

What is this particular fuss about?
Argentinian farmers have had to pay a 35% income tax on profits, and a 35% export tax. That's bad enough. What's making it worse is that the current administration has raised the export tax from 35% to 44%. With rising commodity prices,

if the price of soy goes up... the "retention rate" increases until the government can end up taking as much as 95% of any marginal increase in farmers' gross income.

As Anastasia O'Grady explains in her article,

Mrs. Kirchner says the tax increase is a redistribution mechanism, suggesting that growers and ranchers have to be forced to share more of their good fortune with others. But the greater motivation behind the export-tax increase is inflation.

This government, it seems, will do just about anything to reduce inflation except the one thing that would solve the problem: Let the peso strengthen. It has imposed price controls on businesses; frozen, and then subsidized, energy prices; and prohibited the export of beef.

Allow me to point out that Argentinian beef is one of the best in the world. Prohibiting its export is a foolish measure indeed. But I digress.

Planting, harvest, transport and the cost of land eat up another 50%, therefore it's not surprising that the farmers are protesting.

Protesting farmers have stopped trucks carrying farm produce, making them turn back or dump their goods on the side of the roads.

The farmers continue their strike, and Cristina is promising not to cut taxes, but to subsidize small and medium-sized farmers.

Price controls lead to shortages, inflation and black markets, but the Kirchners are not above fudging the numbers, either:

Last year it fired the director of the government's agency for inflation data because she refused to fudge the numbers. Even so, prices rose by an estimated 20% in 2007 and expectations for this year remain high. This would explain the new round of confiscatory export taxes. By discouraging farmers from sending food abroad, the government thinks it can increase food supplies inside the country and damp prices.

While making farmers furious and reducing the incentive to produce, this does nothing to address the causes of the inflation, which are monetary expansion and the failure of the economy to attract investment and expand productive capacity. A strong peso and a commitment from the government to respect private property are what's needed to confront rising prices.

That's not about to happen any time soon. The Kirchners are willing to send in the thugs to prevent it.

Special thanks to Siggy for the links.



Share on Facebook
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Labels: Argentina, business, economics

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

If you would like your posts to be included in the Carnivals, please email me faustaw2 "at" gmail "dot" com.

This week's big stories:
Colombia seizes thirty kilos of depleted uranium from the FARC. The American media doesn't seem to have caught on that this is news.

Democrat Congressman James McGovern was found to have ties with the FARC.

Also in US and Latin American news, governor of Puerto Rico Anibal Acevedo was been indicted, booked, and released without bail on nineteen charges of conspiracy, false statements and violations of various campaign finance laws, following an FBI investigation in Puerto Rico and Philadelphia. Acevedo was one of Obama's superdelegates. The Democrats have scheduled the Puerto Rico primary for June 1.

LATIN AMERICA
Latin America File: Chavez, Ortega, Lula challenge US power in hemisphere through formation of new military pact, ALBA Defense Council

Media Terrorism on LatAm Agenda

Counterterrorism Blog Panel: Disclosures From FARC Computer About Ecuador and Venezuela PDF file

ARGENTINA
The Kirchners v the farmers: The countryside's beef about export taxes becomes the new government's first political test
UPDATE
Via Siggy, Tax Rebellion in Argentina


BRAZIL
Immigrants Chase the Brazilian Dream

Feverish in Rio: The dengue mosquito exposes public-health laxity

CARIBBEAN
The Canadian connection: Providing banking, business and policemen

Fighting the War on Terror in the Caribbean and Central America

CHILE
Before '73 Coup, Chile Tried to Find the Right Software for Socialism

COLOMBIA
Colombia Announces Find of 66 Pounds of Uranium It Says Linked to FARC

U.S. 'concerned' about FARC uranium
An alleged rebel cache of uranium is raising concern in Washington -- and questions about why the rebels had the radioactive metal

FARC Uranium May Be Depleted, But It's Still Nuclear Material

Via American Digest A FARC Fan's Notes

COLOMBIA SEIZES FARC TERRORIST URANIUM STASH!

Colombia Probes FARC Ties to Uranium Seized in Bogota

Mario Ballesteros, head of the state-run geology institute Ingeominas, said a study of the uranium, its possible uses and health risk would be presented on Friday, EFE news agency reported today.

"The FARC may have wanted this material to build a stronger rocket that destroys the president or a minister's armored car, not create a weapon of mass destruction," said Cesar Restrepo, from Bogota's Security and Democracy Foundation.

Padilla said informants he didn't identify, who are close to an alleged arms supplier Reyes called "Belisario," led the military to the uranium. Authorities are investigating the origin of the material, he said.

Embossed on the two metal lodes, in English, was the warning "Caution: Radioactive Material. Depleted Uranium," according to the military's video.

DU Dud: The Silver Lining to FARC’s Uranium

Rep McGovern Denies Being In Bed With FARC (The Sun Chronicle)

The FARC Jones Boy & Congressman James McGovern

Is the Biggest Bombshell on the FARC Computer Yet to Be Revealed?

Colombia: Venezuela supported rebel group, claims academic

COSTA RICA
FARC Cash Seized in Costa Rica Linked to Iran and Venezuela

CUBA
Cubans Can Now Have Cell Phones; Problem Is, Nobody Can Afford Them

Cell Phones Don't Replace Freedoms

Good News and Bad News

ECUADOR
No End In Sight To Andean Conflict

On Ecuador's border, FARC rebels visit often

Ecuador: A push to eliminate constiutional protections for gays and lesbians

Sedition is.... as Sedition Does: Liars and Manipulators Abetting Murderers and Terrorists

MEXICO
Sending In the Cavalry

NICARAGUA
Freedom of expression threatened in Nicaragua

PERU
Peruanista on YouTube


PUERTO RICO
AG Announces Crackdown on Corrupt Politicians, Democratic Party Immediately Disbands

Puerto Rico, New Jersey, and those busted governors

Film: Las Dos Caras de Jano

VENEZUELA
Is the Biggest Bombshell on the FARC Computer Yet to Be Revealed?

Files Suggest Venezuela Bid to Aid Colombia Rebels, which also reveals that a Colombian agent was killed by the FARC after she was found to have microchips implanted in her body.

Instapundit, The Bolivarian republic of Massachusetts

Hugo, laid bare by a laptop

Chavez: Anyone but McCain

The American Friends of Hugo Chavez

Andres Oppenheimer: Media wars in Venezuela

Chavez behind the Andean troubles

From those who brought you the Tascon List: official racism in Venezuela

Mision conuco, higher education version

The Verbal Diarreah Starts Again

One last chance for Chavez

Falling oil production a challenge for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

PODCAST
Matthew Vadum, of Capital Research Center was my podcast guest on March 25.

ENTERTAINMENT
Salsa dancing: Selling rhythm to the world

Special thanks to Maggie, Siggy, Larwin and Maria.



Share on Facebook

Labels: Argentina, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela

Welcome to the Easter Week Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

This week's big story: The mega-embassy in Bolivia

[Peruvian President Alan] Garcia -- who is no fan of his Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chávez -- suggested in an interview with The Miami Herald's Andres Oppenheimer that Chavez is building a "general headquarters" in this Andean capital that would serve to coordinate Venezuela's joint operations in the region with its leftist allies Cuba and Nicaragua.

A minor media frenzy ensued, with television crews racing to the seven-story office tower in La Paz's middle-class Obrajes neighborhood.

Corralled by a television reporter, top Venezuelan diplomat Douglas PErez said the construction was simply an embassy, to replace the current rented office in a downtown high-rise.

The $500,000 building, he said, will also house an auditorium, offices of Venezuela's state energy company PDVSA and perhaps a branch of the country's development bank Bandes.

The reporter pressed on: What about the mural showing the flags of Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia? Decoration, Perez answered with a shrug. The construction "looked a little ugly, so we hung that big picture up to cover it. That's it."

That will be in addition to the 200 pro-Chavez Casas del ALBA operating in neighboring Peru, which the Peruvian Congress is investigating for ties between the Bolivarian embassy compound in Bolivia, the ALBA homes in Peru, and violent groups in Peru.

In tomorrow's podcast at 11AM Eastern Matthew Vadum of the Capital Research Center will talk about how Enablers grease path for Chavez.
Matthew Vadum, Editor, Organization Trends and Foundation Watch

Formerly a CRC research fellow, Matthew Vadum is also a veteran journalist. During his seven years in the Washington bureau of The Bond Buyer, a daily financial newspaper based on Wall Street, he covered Congress, the Supreme Court, housing, and state and local finance. While a reporter for the Central Penn Business Journal in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, he won an award for outstanding legal journalism from the Pennsylvania Bar Association for an article that focused on employment law. He holds an M.A. in American Studies from Georgetown University.

LATIN AMERICA
U.S. media lags in covering Latin America, which is why this Carnival is so popular.

ARGENTINA and BRAZIL
Brazil and Argentina
The tortoise and the hare: Why those wimpish Brazilians are catching up with Argentina's racier economy

BOLIVIA - PERU - VENEZUELA
The three países hermanos were clearly not enough for el macacón...

Megaembajada bolivariana se instala en La Paz

COLOMBIA
At Le Monde, Colombia's drug traffickers and kidnappers are victims, while those who fight against them are to blame

The FARC's Terrorist Diplomacy

FARC's uranium likely a scam

The FARC implosion

Via Instapundit, How To Beat an Insurgency

Venezuelan, Colombian militaries built differently

CHILE
Magnitude 5.6 - WEST CHILE RISE

CUBA
Free the Group of 56 in Castro's Prison

The Bay of Rigs

Consumer electronics in Cuba
Byte by byte
The inalienable right to a toaster - but not quite yet

Cuban government has lifted its ban on farmers buying their own supplies to improve agricultural production.

Ovacionan feligreses bautistas a los 75 presos politicos

Viva Castro's departure: Cuba in 2008 should be the Hong Kong or Singapore of Latin America. Yeah, right. It should be, but why isn't it?

They'd Get More Letters, But Nobody Can Afford Paper

THE CUBA EMBARGO: TOO SOON TO TEAR DOWN THE GOAL POSTS

The ultimate in Leftie cynicism: Cuba is not a country for capitalists – but people are still happy. Happy enough to venture shark-infested waters just for the hell of it.

ECUADOR
Just Say No to Chavez, the FARC, Correa and MARXISM

MEXICO
AMLO's baaack....The resurrection The return of a former opponent adds to the president's troubles; Lopez Obrador returns to Mexican spotlight

PARAGUAY
Elections in Paraguay: A Bishop-Candidate Favors the So-called "Socialism of the Twenty-first Century"

PERU
Peruvian officials accuse Chavez of bankrolling subversives

Embassy . . . or base for Chávez?

PANAMA
Key U.S. drug informant lands in prison
Nelson Urrego went from convicted trafficker to key informant to life on a Survivor island to prison

PUERTO RICO
Letter from Barack Obama to Puerto Rico

EL SALVADOR
Via Matt, who IM'd this from Paris just now, After deportation, illegals are determined to return

TRINIDAD TOBAGO
An Event-ful Weekend

VENEZUELA
An Empty Revolution: The Unfulfilled Promises of Hugo Chávez

The Chavez Media's predictable failure

The hopeless destruction power of the Chavez revolution

Chavez threatens to silence 2nd TV station

Hugo's Cuffs Removed

Special thanks to Maggie, Larwyn, Maria and Eneas.



Share on Facebook
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Labels: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Hugo Chavez, Latin America, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela

Being a friend of Hugo isn't all photo-ops, fun and games, and suitcases full of money:

Argentina is scaring off foreign investment by allying with leftist Venezuela at the expense of ties to its biggest export markets, the mayor of Buenos Aires said.

"Venezuela has one of the worst images in the world these days, but it appears to be the best friend of the government and of our country," Mayor Mauricio Macri, a prominent opposition figure, told Reuters in a recent interview.

Macri said Argentina's economic boom of the past five years cannot continue without major investment and he criticized President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner for failing to do more to lure foreign investors.
...
A center-leftist who succeeded her husband last year, Fernandez has maintained the close relationship with Venezuela. Chavez has met the Kirchners regularly, bought billions of dollars in Argentine debt and has pledged to supply oil and diesel to help the country deal with energy shortages.

But Macri said Fernandez' friendship with the fiercely anti-U.S. Chavez is costly, and Argentina should instead be improving ties with China, India, Europe and the United States.

Which they badly need to do, because,

Direct foreign investment in Argentina grew 12 percent last year, compared with 84 percent in Brazil and 82 percent in Chile, La Nacion newspaper reported on Sunday, citing a preliminary report from a United Nations economic agency.

Of course the Kirchners blame the IMF, the US, and whatever. It's a lot easier to create a distraction than it is to take responsibility for messing up BIG TIME:

But Kirchner angered Wall Street by browbeating investors into taking losses of some 70 cents on the dollar when Argentina halted payments on its sovereign debt.

It also defaulted on $6.3 billion in debt owed to the Paris Club, an informal group of wealthy creditor nations. No repayment deal has been reached and Fernandez, like her husband, is angling for lenient terms.

This time Hugo's not coming to their rescue. He's got his hands full as it is.
-------------------------------------------------------------
In other Venezuela-related news, Court releases Venezuelan assets

The High Court in London has suspended an order that froze $12bn (£6bn) of the assets of Venezuela's state oil firm, PDVSA, in a dispute with ExxonMobil.

Last month we discussed the injunction in podcast with Alek Boyd of VCrisis. As you can hear in the podcast, Exxon was granted injuctions in the US, the Netherlands and the UK. The current release applies only to the UK courts. We'll have to see if the other courts follow.



Share on Facebook

Labels: Argentina, Hugo Chavez, Latin America, USA, Venezuela

UPDATE, Tuesday March 4
FARC purchased uranium; Chavez gave the FARC $300 million as a Valentine's Day gift

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

If you would like your posts included in the Monday Carnivals, please email me your links, faustaw "at" yahoo "dot" com.

Today's big story: After the Colombian army did a brief raid into Ecuador and killed the FARC's #2 guy, Hugo's ordered troops, tanks and jets to stand by the border with Colombia, and Hugo's friend Correa of Ecuador has done likewise, probably after Hugo reminded him of their joint projects and asked for a show of indignation.

What will it come to? I try to answer that question this morning at Pajamas Media. More from Venezuela News and Views here.

LATIN AMERICA
What the world is hearing

Can The US Prevent A Starvation Crisis?

NAFTA Nonsense Insults Our Allies

U.S. Candidates & Latin America experts: a clue to policy

The Democrats and NAFTA bashing

ARGENTINA, BRAZIL
Proliferation of Nuclear Technology in Latin America Continues

CHILE
Chile stocks fall on US recession fears, earnings

COLOMBIA
Colombia's hostages

FARC releases four more hostages

Top FARC Dog Raul Reyes Killed By Colombian Forces

CBS/AP Fail to Call FARC Narco-terrorists Terrorists

CUBA
Video: Transition of Power in Cuba from Fidel to Raul Castro


The Same Old Cuba

Tyler Cowen on visualizing poverty

Young Blood

Via Instapundit, Can't say that of Cuba

A view of the Cuban economy

Cuba, North Korea and the Terrorism List

Cuba signs rights treaties at U.N. Socialist regime accuses U.S. of harming rights of Cubans

"We're all in this together"

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Fighting cocks culled

ECUADOR
TENSIONS RISING-- Documents Link Ecuador's President to FARC

Correa and Chavez Act to Support the criminal cartel FARC while Colombia Does the Right Thing

"Sovereign Trusts" Clone Russian Cartels and Replace Liberties in 3 Andean Nations

GUYANA
Investigations into Guyana massacres said to be progressing

HAITi
Commentary: Giving a jolt to the Haitian economy!

MEXICO
Mexico under siege

Mexico discovers due process

NICARAGUA
Daniel Ortega's approval rating

PANAMA
Making a dream of retirement in Panama a reality

PERU
Llamas and mash

PUERTO RICO
New York labor leader Dennis Rivera in shady Puerto Rico union deal

VENEZUELA
Propaganda, not policy: Hugo Chavez has not ended illiteracy

Squatting in Venezuela: worse than ever

Is Chavez admitting an alliance with FARC?

Venezuela Targets English Terms

A tax break for Hugo Chavez

China steps forward as Venezuela's key oil buyer

The Muzzle by Teodoro Petkoff

Behind the Chavista bomb attack and the invation to the Archbishop Palace

More on Fedecameras

Jungle Travel

Special thanks to Siggy, Maggie, Jose and Larwyn.

UPDATE, Tuesday March 4
Welcome Instapundit and Red State readers. If you have a chance, please listen to my podcasts on Venezuela and its politics.

If you're a blogger, would you like to join us for dinner and brunch at Spring BlogFest East on April 5 and 6?



Share on Facebook

Labels: Argentina, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guyana, Haiti, Hugo Chavez, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela

Welcome to the Presidents' Day Edition of the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Today's big news: Venezuela seizes 1/2 ton milk and chicken from clinic, thereby showing how price controls don't work and encourage hoarding and black markets, and continuing Hugo's fight against private health care. The news was listed under the "Oddly Enough" category but when it comes to Venezuela, it's never oddly enough: after nationalizing the oil industry, Chavez is threatening to create a tax on windfall oil profits.

As I said, it's never oddly enough when it comes to Hugo.

If you would like your posts included in the Monday carnivals, please email me the link: faustaw "at" yahoo "dot" com.

LATIN AMERICA
Investor's Business Daily editorials on Latin America and Caribbean are a must-read.

Via Instapundit, Why does Obama hate NAFTA?

ARGENTINA
Party time: Nelson Kirchner tries to rule Peronism

BELIZE
The squid and the whales

BRAZIL
Christ statue struck by lightning

CHILE
Chile to continue working with Peru despite border dispute

Felipe Aguilar puts Chile on golfing map

COLOMBIA
War of the roses

CUBA
"Main Stream Media

Cuba demands US gives back Guantanamo Bay

Cuba to send 4 jailed dissidents into exile

Via the Cuba Archive, Crosses honor Castro's foes

Too close to the truth