Fausta's blog

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.

The big story: The FARC has set up undercover cells abroad in 17 countries.
Spanish newspaper El Pais published yesterday a report, Las FARC crean células clandestinas para su expansión internacional
Documentos del ordenador de Reyes revelan una red de apoyo en 17 países.
FARC creates clandestine cells for international expansion
Documents from Reyes's computer reveal a support network in 17 countries.

The article (in Spanish) states that the FARC, through its Coordinadora Continental Bolivariana (CCB) [Continental Bolivarian Coordination] network created in 2003, the FARC has developed a strategy that involves legal groups, clandestine cells and guerrilla training. These groups are closely associated with leftist organizations in seventeen countries, including Germany and Switzerland.

They opened four organizations in Mexico, managed by two cells that answer directly to the Secretariado, the FARC's leadership.

In the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela the FARC sponsor guerrillas through so-called "Biodiversity Forums", in addition to "official political-diplomatic relations" with Communist parties and the governments of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Ecuador.

Their aim, is

"Crear un gran Ejército revolucionario con el apoyo de masas para derrocar el sistema capitalista e instalar el socialismo".
"To create a great revolutionary Army with the support of the masses in order to destry the capitalist system and install socialism."

Al Jazeeera has a related Report: Farc set up cells abroad

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia has established undercover cells abroad in 17 countries, a Spanish newspaper says, quoting from documents found on the computer of Raul Reyes, a slain commander of the anti-government group.

All this information comes from the computers seized from Raul Reyes.

Both Interpol and US intelligence officials at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence have verified that the Reyes files are authentic.

Maite Rico of El Pais continues today their series on the FARC with this article, La guerrilla que pasó a ser mafia
Los documentos de Raúl Reyes reflejan la descomposición interna de las FARC The guerrilla that became a mafia: Raul Reyes's documents show the FARC's internal corrosion.

Among the details in today's article in addition to their narcotraffic involvement, the FARC is the world's largest planter of land mines, their ties with internations criminal organizations, and their revenues from kidnappings, among them half a million dollars revenue from kidnapping two Swiss executives from pharmaceutical company Novartis.

You can read the articles at El Pais in Spanish. The above is my translation and summary. Please credit me if you use it. Thank you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Add Angela Merkel to the list of people Hugo has insulted: Venezuela's Chavez slams Germany's Merkel comments

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday almost told German Chancellor Angela Merkel to go to hell, but stopped short of insulting the woman leader on Mother's Day.
Instead he called her a political descendant of Adolf Hitler and German fascism.
"Ms. Chancellor, you can go to ...," he said, pausing for effect and eliciting giggles from the audience, a group of military officers, cabinet ministers and government officials. "Because she's a woman I won't say anything else."

Being insulted by Chavez is indeed a mark of honor.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
CARNIVAL LINKS:

LATIN AMERICA
South America: Leaders Warn of Autonomy Attempts in Venezuela, Ecuador

Narco subs pose new challenge for US coast guards

BOLIVIA
Chavez Threatens To Intervene in Bolivia!

Bolivia's largest state votes on sweeping autonomy measure

Open letter to my Santa Cruz friends in Bolivia

BRAZIL
Amazon's future in delicate balance

CHILE
Hacker leaks 6m Chileans' records

COLOMBIA
New Colombia drug gangs wreak havoc

CUBA
The "Non-Judgmental" Michael Moore

Slave-labor tourism: Destinations: Varadero and Havana

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Two Cheers for Fernandez: The president heads for a third term

ECUADOR
Ecuador's Constitution: Going nowhere
Another leftist bogs down

Chavez and Correa Must Go: FARC Materials Authentic

MEXICO
Mexican Drug Cartels Making Audacious Pitch for Recruits

Democrats wrong on cutting Mexican anti-drug aid

Via Siggy, Believers flock to 'Narco Saint's' shrine

NICARAGUA
Nicaraguan Councils Stir Fear of Dictatorship

PERU
Peru Takes The Other Path

Poverty amid progress: A revolution in South America's fastest-growing economy is not reaching everyone

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Presidential Primary roundup at American Taino

Obama Slaps the Puerto Ricans in the Face

VENEZUELA
A must-read: From FARC to Venezuela to...

Chavez sought Belarus help for Colombian rebels: report

Chavez Tried to Arm FARC with Help From Belarus
Chavez tried to get arms from Belarus for FARC
Chavez tried to arm FARC, El Pais reports

Via Maggie and Instapundit, Morning Bell: Why Are Liberals Actively Helping Terrorists?

Colby Cosh on Hugo Chavez and FARC: Meet the Western Hemisphere's first state sponsor of terrorism

A simple cure for Venezuela's inflation

ENTERTAINMENT
Time to dance to Imigrante latino by Hermanos Flores (Flores Brothers) from El Salvador:




Share on Facebook

Labels: Bolivia, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, FARC, Hugo Chavez, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Puerto Rico, terrorism, Venezuela

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 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

Peru and Costa Rica join in the hunt:

Peru seizes two FARC rebels with tip from Colombia

Peruvian police said that acting on a tip they received from Colombia, they detained John Manrique, 30, also known as "Tanaka" or "Oliver," and Lady Vivas, 25, in Peru's jungle region of Loreto.

Both belong to the 63rd front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, said Octavio Salazar, head of Peru's national police.

"Tanaka" was engaged in leftist guerrilla activities and drugs and arms dealing on the Peru-Colombia border, police said. FARC guerrillas have been known to spend time in countries that border Colombia to hide out or regroup.

Costa Rica seizes FARC cash as Interpol probes

Costa Rican police have seized $480,000 in cash thought to be linked to Colombia's FARC rebels, as Interpol probes the guerrilla group's ties to other countries, police said on Monday.

The money was found in a raid on a house near the capital San Jose on Friday after a tip-off from Colombia based on information in a computer found at a FARC camp attacked by Colombian troops this month, a San Jose police spokeswoman said.

And,

Colombia says documents seized in the raid on the FARC camp showed the rebels were receiving help from the governments of Venezuela and Ecuador.

Colombia has also asked Mexico to investigate ties between its citizens and the FARC after several Mexicans were found among the dead in the strike on the camp. Mexico has opened its own probe and called the situation worrisome.

More on the FARC here.



Share on Facebook

Labels: Colombia, Ecuador, FARC, Mexico, Peru

Welcome to the Saint Patrick's Day Edition of the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. Starting the week in a festive mode, today's big story is the concert at the Venezuela-Colombia border.

Juanes, other stars stage concert for peace on Colombian-Venezuelan border

Tens of thousands of Colombians and Venezuelans flocked to a border bridge on Sunday for a free concert that Grammy-winning rocker Juanes organized to help heal the worst crisis in Andean relations in decades.

Held atop the Simon Bolivar bridge connecting the northeastern Colombian town of Cucuta with San Antonio in Venezuela, the show also featured Colombian singer Carlos Vives, Dominican Juan Luis Guerra and Spain's Miguel Bose and Alejandro Sanz on the playbill.

As you may recall, Alejandro Sanz had cancelled a concert in Venezuela due to pressure from Chavistas.

The BBC has more


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

LATIN AMERICA
Rice Urges South America To Keep Terrorists Out

Bush and Uribe v. Chavez and Correa

A natural gas disaster

The FARC Files

U.S.: An unreliable ally
Center for Strategic and International Studies (pdf file) Tension in the Andes

Tension in the Andes

BOLIVIA
Bolivia court suspends constitution vote

BRAZIL
Portrait In Red: One of the world's most successful AIDS programmes faces new problems

CHILE
Chile: Palestinians look for a new future in South America

COLOMBIA
Bush to push vote on Colombian FTA?

Colombia Has Earned Its Trade Pact

Peace in our time, on the box, But it may well prove to be as phoney as the war

Obama and FARC

The pattern of pursuit

FARC looking for anti-aircraft missiles

Chiquita Sued By U.S. Families for Support of the FARC

COSTA RICA
Costa Rica finds FARC funds

CUBA
Babalu Blog has been on the story about the Defecting Cuban soccer players
7 Cuban soccer players abandon free health care

La amnesia del Vaticano by Maria Werlau of Cuba Archive

Cuba Lifts Ban on Computers, Other Electronics

Wall Street Journal reports Cuban link to FARC

Center for Security Policy's study (PDF file) Implications of the recent Change in Cuban Leadership

DOMINICA
Dominica: The Caribbean's Next 'Terror Island'?

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
La lección de diplomacia de Alvaro Uribe ante el 'pobre patán' de Rafael Correa

ECUADOR
Introducing U.S. Congressional Directives Resolving to Tell the Truth about Chavez's FARC Cartels

Guardian Angels of Evil

Correa calls on to establish new OAS without U.S. participation

JAMAICA
Crown and Anchor: The staying power of the British monarchy in its Caribbean ex-colonies

MEXICO
The Mexican milk problem

Opposition Party May Tone Down Radical Voice

Canuck Cook Caged in Guadalajara

Mexico police capture top Tijuana hitman

PERU
Peru meteorite may rewrite rules

PUERTO RICO
Fortuno Wins Puerto Rico Primary

TRINIDAD TOBAGO
Joseph: American paid $55m for police reform

VENEZUELA
Hugo's own Emperor's Club

Sad acts of anarchy surface in daily life in confrontational Venezuela

Le discours belliqueux du Lt. Col. Chavez permet de resserrer les rangs et de disqualifier les opposants, aussitôt accusés de trahison de la patrie

An important week for Hugo Chavez

The American Friends of Hugo Chavez

Pedro M. Burrelli:
What do we do now with Mr. Chavez?

Smuggling is thriving despite Chávez policies
One of President Hugo Chávez's key efforts to prevent smuggling and put food on the shelves in western Venezuela is failing.

The FARC's Guardian Angel

US considering adding Venezuela to states sponsoring terrorism list Venezuela & the terror supporters list: Pros and cons

Gobiernos auspiciadores de terrorismo

PODCAST
Raices de Esperanza interview

Special thanks to Maggie, Larry, Larwyn, Siggy, Armando and Eneas



Share on Facebook

Labels: Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Trinidad Tobago, Venezuela

Back in my school days we were taught that only meteorites made of metal stayed intact enough to cause damage on the ground.

Not quite so. Look at this crater:

Peru meteorite may rewrite rules

Usually, only meteorites made of metal survive the passage through Earth's atmosphere sufficiently intact to scoop out a crater.

But the object which came down in the Puno region of Peru was a relatively fragile stony meteorite. During the fiery descent through Earth's atmosphere, these are thought to fragment into smaller pieces which then scatter over a wide area.

Yet pieces of the estimated 1m-wide meteorite are thought to have stayed together during entry, hitting the ground as one.

rofessor Schultz believes fragments from the Carancas meteorite, which crashed to Earth on 15 September last year, may have stayed within the speeding fireball until they struck the ground.

This might have been due to the meteorite's high speed.

At the velocity it was travelling, fragments could not escape the "shock-wave" barrier which accompanies the meteorite's passage through the atmosphere.

Instead, the fragments may have reconstituted themselves into another shape, which made them more aerodynamic. Consequently, they encountered less friction during their plunge to Earth, holding together until they reached the ground.

The meteorite was travelling at 15,000 mph when it hit the ground. It was sheer luck that it didn't hit a large metropolitan area.

Some think the meteorite doens't make sense; There's even a Spoof Peru Meteorite Crater Hit by New Meteorite, coining the word meteorwrongs, which might even explain all the people who got sick last year while visiting the site.



Share on Facebook

Labels: Latin America, Peru, science

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,