Fausta's Blog

Yes, Mexican students studying to be teachers are holding hostages in protest against president Peña Nieto’s proposed changes. Mary O”Grady reports on Mexico, Where Teachers Take Hostages
President Enrique Peña Nieto needs to show the country that he will defend the rule of law.

Mexican students studying to be teachers released a hostage on Wednesday—in the municipality of Nahuatzen—due to concerns about his health. But they continue to hold five others. The students are supported by the Michoacán State Teachers Organization, which warned that the remaining captives, who are state policemen, would be freed only when a demand for 1,200 new teaching jobs is met.

ARGENTINA
Argentina Peso Trades on Black Market Above 10 to USD
Argentina’s currency traded above 10 pesos to the U.S. dollar for the first time on the black market, with Argentines desperate to acquire greenbacks for travel and savings paying a premium of 93% over the official exchange rate.

BRAZIL
Brazilian will be the first Latin American to head the WTO

Brazil judge suspends stadium deal
A judge suspends a deal giving control of Brazil’s biggest stadium to a private consortium, saying there were irregularities in the bidding process.

CHILE
Alert Status Raised at Chile’s Copahue

así estaba el volcán copahue a las 3.30 de la madrugada twitter.com/claucaviahue/s…

— claudiacarrasco (@claucaviahue) May 9, 2013

COLOMBIA
Bojayá massacre, Uribe and Plan Colombia

CUBA
Fidel Castro may be America’s most famous illegal immigrant

Cuban spy, back in Havana after years in U.S. prison: No regrets

HONDURAS
Tribute to a fallen police officer – Edgardo Galdámez

LATIN AMERICA
Olavo de Carvalho on socialism: A thousand combat fronts which do not advance the socialist cause ostensibly, but erode the moral and cultural values of capitalist society

MEXICO
Vatican declares Mexican Death Saint blasphemous

The PRI’s long tail
A battle is brewing between Enrique Peña Nieto and the dinosaurs in his party

The Rise of the ‘Aztec Tiger’
Under a charismatic new leader, Mexico is roaring toward a turnaround

Barack Obama’s visit to Mexico
The unmentionables

Thermo Sold Plant Overrun by Drug Cartel, Suit Alleges
Lab-equipment maker Thermo Fisher allegedly hid information that a Mexican facility it sold as part of a broader deal last year was overrun by a drug cartel, according to claims in a lawsuit filed by Opengate Capital.

PANAMA
Proof Of Life

Panama orders power rationing as drought continues
The Panamanian government has ordered schools to close and government offices to reduce their opening hours as the country suffers from a power shortage.

PERU
The Father and Son Business Meeting: Plutocrats and their progeny
A secretive fathers-and-sons knees-up for billionaires

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico to end inmate transfer program with US

1/3 Population of Puerto Rico Gets Food Stamps from U.S. Gov’t — $2 Billion in 2012

TURKS & CAICOS
Arrests of vacationing Americans in Turks and Caicos spark concern

VENEZUELA
Venezuela’s election aftermath
Cry havoc
As political and economic crises deepen, the army waits in the wings

The week’s posts and podcast:
Guatemala’s historic decision

Venezuela: Photo of the week

Should Argentina dollarize?

Lady in White met Pope in white

Blogger call on tomorrow’s CSP conference

Venezuela: no US access to Timothy Hallet Tracy

Turkey’s mustache business

Argentina: El Tejar moves to Brazil

Podcast,
Mexico and other US-Latin America issues

ARGENTINA
Defence chiefs prepare new plans to defend Falkland Islands
Defence chiefs have drawn up new contingency plans designed to prevent hostile action by Argentina towards the Falkland Islands.

Falklands Redux: Is President Kirchner South America’s Biggest Troll?

P&O cruise firm stops Argentine port stops
Passengers due to embark on the Southampton-based ships were told last month
A cruise firm has put a temporary halt to stops at three Argentine ports after continuing tensions with the country over the Falklands.

BOLIVIA
Presidente en ejercicio afirma: indígenas “libre pensantes” pueden irse

BRAZIL
From last year, Brazil: Landowners Declare War against Indigenous Guarani-Kaiowá in Mato Grosso do Sul

Tax in Brazil
Nothing is certain
Brazilian firms fight huge and unpredictable tax bills

Chinese Tech Titans Eye Brazil
Chinese consumer-technology firms are dominant at home but have struggled overseas. Now, in a bid to change that, they’re charging into Brazil and other emerging markets.

Drug addicts light up the night in Brazil’s ‘cracolandias’
Crack epidemic and related violence are reminiscent of Washington or New York in the 1980s.

CHILE
Background on the Mapuche, from 2004: Mapuche Indians in Chile Struggle to Take Back Forests, and from last year: Attacks on Chile’s Indigenous Peoples Thwart Efforts at Land Reparations

Indigenous rights in Chile
Unhappy new year

COLOMBIA
Latin American local government
A load of rubbish
Another unpopular mayor for Colombia’s capital

COSTA RICA
Mothers in Breastfeed Protest at Costa Rica Mall

CUBA
A Silent Mariel

Seventh circle of Hell gets a wee bit more crowded

Oppenheimer: Cuba’s role in Venezuela may grow — for now

As Hugo Chavez fights for his life, Cuba fears for its future
Venezuela is not the only Latin American nation that is monitoring every moment of president Hugo Chavez’s illness. His ally Cuba has relied on him for economic help, and that could soon come to an end.

EQUADOR
Ecuadorian President Warns of Possible ‘CIA Attack’ Before Elections

GUATEMALA
As Biofuel Demand Grows, So Do Guatemala’s Hunger Pangs

HAITI
Still waiting for recovery
Three years after a devastating earthquake, the “Republic of NGOs” has become the country of the unemployed

HONDURAS
La Ceiba, Honduras, airport sign translation

MEXICO
Recent violence in north-central Mexico reportedly kills dozens

PANAMA
As Panama Canal gets bigger,U.S. ports race to keep up

PERU
Two killed in Dakar rally crash involving British team
Two people have been in killed in Peru in a head-on collision involving a support vehicle for the Dakar rally.

Peru boom spurs middle-class growth
Asian demand for copper and gold has put disposable income in the nation’s pockets.

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Beauty Queen Faints, Uses Crutches

TURKS & CAICOS
British to seek extradition of ex-Turks and Caicos premier from Brazil
Turks and Caicos says that British authorities will soon formally ask Brazil to extradite the island’s former premier as part of the ongoing criminal investigation in the island chain.

VENEZUELA
Venezuela’s ‘Weekend At Bernie’s’ Inaugural A Sign Of Chavez’s Tottering Regime

The Chávez Legacy in Venezuela
Autocratic rule, economic ruin, and South America’s highest murder rate.

To Understand Today’s TSJ Decision, Let’s Look At Motive

Venezuela’s presidency
Brotherly love in the Bolivarian Republic
With the president ill, who is really running the country?

Now what? Looking at the 2013 Venezuelan calendar

Venezuela Inflation Jumps Sharply as Shortages Rise
Venezuela’s consumer prices surged in December at the fastest pace in nearly three years as the oil-rich South American country grappled with severe shortages of consumer goods, the central bank reported.

Controversy aside, there is no denying Hugo Chavez redefined Latin American politics
The leader of Venezuela’s social revolution has undergone a fourth operation for cancer and was unable to attend his inauguration after being elected for a fourth term as president.

The week’s posts:
Dead or alive?

Oh, peachy, now the Obama admin’s cozying up to Maduro

Venezuela: Chavez swearing-in can be delayed

Weekend at Chavez!

Venezuela: Twitter raid UPDATED

ARGENTINA
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

ARGENTINA
Argentina’s debt default
The noose tightens

Argentina rejects US ruling over foreign debt repayment
Argentina will appeal against a US ruling ordering it to pay $1.3bn (£800m) to foreign creditors holding bonds that it defaulted on in 2001.

I was in Buenos Aires the day Kirchner died, and the graffiti read, “Evita and Nestor, together in heaven”; Make room, Evita: Argentine leader seeks to put late husband Nestor Kirchner on Peron pedestal. The only surprising thing is that it’s taken Cristina two years.

BRAZIL
Brazil busts corruption ring

CHILE
Chile Faces Hurdles to Sustain Robust Economic Growth

COLOMBIA
Land reform in Colombia
Peace, land and bread
The hard bargaining start

FARC rebels release 4 Chinese oil workers

Colombia Farc rebels optimistic about Cuba peace talks
Negotiators from Colombia’s largest rebel group, the Farc, say they are highly optimistic about peace talks currently under way in the Cuban capital, Havana.

From Colombian evangelicals to Jews in region with a hidden Jewish past

CUBA
As predictable as a soiled diaper on a newborn baby

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
The Dominican Republic’s Taxing Turn
Servicing its debt will take 44% of government revenue by 2015, despite steep new taxes.

A rum do
The new president faces a tax revolt

HAITI
Haitian ex-soldiers in hiding renew call for president to restore disbanded military

MEXICO
Lame-duck lameness: Mexico’s President Calderon seeks to change country’s name
Profile: Felipe Calderon
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has sent a bill to congress to change the official name of the country.

Chinese-Mexicans expelled during xenophobic period celebrate anniversary of repatriation

From darkness, dawn
After years of underachievement and rising violence, Mexico is at last beginning to realise its potential, says Tom Wainwright

1 of FBI’s 10 most wanted arrested in Mexico

NICARAGUA
Colombia awaits government´s San Andrés reaction (h/t Silvio Canto)

PANAMA
Angry Panama
The earthbound bite back
Why is Latin America’s fastest-growing country so furious?

PUERTO RICO
The 51st state?
America may not want what its Caribbean outpost now does

Ex-boxer Hector ‘Macho’ Camacho dies after shot

TURKS & CAICOS
The Turks and Caicos Islands
Paradise interrupted
A troubled Caribbean territory tries to turn over a new leaf

VENEZUELA
Breaking Bad? Venezuela National Guard finds buried stash of cash
Security forces in Venezuela have found $550,000 (£343,000) buried near the border with Colombia, interior ministry spokesman Jorge Galindo said.

The building up of a FARC/drug corridor in Venezuela

Accomplices Galore

The week’s posts:
Venezuelan immigration to the USA quadrupled over the past 15 years

Argentina: Now on general strike

Mexico: No Iran or Hezbollah here

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

LATIN AMERICA
Latin American summitry
In ever-closer union, divided we stand

Latin American literature
Writing after the “boom”: Saying farewell to Latin America’s literary giants

Why Bigger Quake Sows Less Damage
Scientists Say Recent Temblors Are Unrelated; Underwater Topography May Explain Where Tsunami Wreaked Havoc

Clinton seeks to mend Latin America ties on tour

Racial Classifications in Latin America

Aponte: A Loyalty Risk for Ambassador?

ARGENTINA
Remarks With Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
Hillary Rodham Clinton

Falklands Fallacy

Argentina warns BHP not to drill for Falklands oil
BHP, the Anglo-Australian mining giant, has been warned it will face sanctions in Argentina if it pushes ahead with oil exploration offshore Falklands.

‘We must educate the Argentines’
Born in Buenos Aires before moving to the Falklands, Maria Strange is furious at her homeland’s ‘silly’ obsession with the islands.

BRAZIL
The gun-toting boys from Brazil who rule Rio’s ‘Corner of Fear’

Paris Too Sexy for Brazilian Beer Drinkers

CHILE
Call Me Shallow But This Just Makes. My. Day.

8.8-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Chile

Chile earthquake: Easter Island evacuation as tsunami brings disaster to Pacific islands
A devastating earthquake in Chile has triggered a tsunami which is radiating across the Pacific and has already caused serious damage on the islands said to have inspired Robinson Crusoe.

Terremoto en Chile: Catastro online de caminos y viviendas

Earthquakes and Freedom: Chile vs. Haiti

COLOMBIA
Colombia’s Uribe to Retire, Opening Path for Santos

Colombia’s president
Third time, unlucky: The courts block Álvaro Uribe from seeking a third term as Colombia’s president

The man behind Colombia’s miracle

CUBA
Viva Zapata
A Cuban dissident is murdered while Latin leaders schmooze with Castro.

Dissident’s death will put Cuba on the spot

Cuba’s Doctor Abuse

Green Madness

Zapata Lives!

Death of Cuban Dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo

Death of dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo leads to clampdown in Cuba

ECUADOR
Judicial misconduct

EL SALVADOR
Foreign Aid and Salvadoran Corruption
The World Bank should audit former President Tony Saca.

HONDURAS
The good coup

MEXICO
No finish in sight for ‘virtual’ border fence

Cancun secrets

Via Babalu, Felipe Calderon’s meeting with Castro,

PUERTO RICO
EDITORIAL: Puerto Rican run
The deck is stacked for statehood

TURKS & CAICOS
Turks & Caicos former premier blasts British, calls for immediate elections

VENEZUELA
ETA, FARC, Chavez relation revealed in Spain

Spain to intensify investigations into ETA in Venezuela
Judge Eloy Velasco accused Arturo Cubillas Fontán of serving as a link between Basque separatist group ETA and the Colombian guerrilla

ETA,FARC ACCUSED OF COOPERATION WITH VENEZUELAN HELP

Venezuelan Government hires Cubans to build computer systems Venezuelans are much more capable at

The Falklands conflict: tin-pot tyrant Hugo Chavez roars like a mouse against the British lion

Venezuela: ‘it’s the new Zimbabwe’!

Chávez “salió del aire” brevemente durante rueda de prensa por fallo eléctrico

Political Discrimination in Venezuela

Why does violent crime keep worsening in Venezuela?

The week’s podcasts and posts:
El Salvador and foreign aid: 15 Minutes on Latin America
A-jad the truther, and his friends
Chavez, ETA, & the FARC’s plot to kill Uribe: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Laughing at Britain’s expense
Haiti, Chile, Iran, and democratic seismology
Botoxics
How Milton Friedman saved Chile
Cuba’s doctor abuse: 15 Minutes on Latin America
8.8 Earthquake Strikes Chile, and a personal request UPDATED WITH LIVE VIDEO
Chavez blackout fail
The Falklands, continued: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Wonders never cease: OAS report rebukes Venezuela on human rights
The Falklands Oil Dispute

At Real Clear World:
Argentina’s Angle