Fausta's Blog

BOLIVIA
Bolivia to consider nationalizing embattled silver project

BRAZIL
Credit in Brazil
Maxing out
A spike in defaults signals a need for caution, not yet panic

CUBA
Cholera death toll at 158; Cuba scrambles to fight rare cholera outbreak, and the understatement of the week, An outbreak of cholera tests a much-praised health system

Cuba Seeks Closer Ties With Beijing

Remembering the “13 de marzo” Tugboat Massacre, July 13, 1994

ECUADOR
Ecuador to make ‘sovereign’ decision on Assange: president

Assange and Ecuador: A toxic mix
Analysis: Why WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Ecuador are so bad for each other

HONDURAS
Honduran seizures raise fear of wider conflicts

LATIN AMERICA
South American integration
Mercosur RIP?
Mounting protectionism and the rule-breaking admission of Venezuela have fatally undermined a once-promising trade block

MEXICO
After Mexico’s election
Counted out
López Obrador, sore loser

NICARAGUA
No New Property Waiver for Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega

PARAGUAY
Paraguay’s presidential coup: the inside story

The Significance of Paraguay
It is still a functioning democracy, which is more than we can say about Venezuela and Nicaragua.

Paraguay counts cost of Lugo’s sacking

Franco’s challenge

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Seeks US Help to Fight Crime, Drugs

VENEZUELA
To Power Syria, Chávez Sends Diesel

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

US VIRGIN ISLANDS
Virgin Islands governor’s chief of staff resigns after seeking favorable tax breaks

The weeks’s posts:
10 ways Chavez has presented a national security threat

Integration through welfare dependence: SNAP to the Parque Alegría dole

National Drug Intelligence Center closed

Argentina bans buying dollars

Venezuela: Chavez gives China control over oil

Assange comfy…at the Ecuadorian embassy

ARGENTINA
Argentina ex-human rights official charged with embezzlement
A former top official with one of Argentina’s leading human rights movements has been charged with embezzlement.

UNC professor, jailed in Argentina, has his defenders

BRAZIL
Brazil’s economy
A bull diminished
The economy has slowed, but there are still opportunities around

COLOMBIA
Colombia’s Ecopetrol Tops Petrobras As Biggest Latin Company -Study

Colombia to send 50 percent more natural gas this year to Venezuela

Political violence in Colombia
A blast from the political past

Twitter wars: Uribe vs Santos, in Spanish,

CUBA
Cuba after Hugo Chávez

Foreign investment in Cuba
Come and see my villa
The regime has taken to locking up businessmen

Repression, beatings, arrests, and imprisonment of opposition continue

Cuban independent journalist awaits deportation back to his hometown

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Republic Holds Presidential Election

HAITI
Never the gentleman, ‘Pay the f*** up!’ Sean Penn turns the air blue in Cannes with expletive-ridden plea at Haiti Relief benefit

HONDURAS
Probe underway in remote area of Honduras after gunfight involving U.S. drug agents

Honduras prisoners riot at jail in San Pedro Sula
Officials in Honduras say inmates have taken control of a prison in the city of San Pedro Sula

MEXICO
Van Jones rips Holder over Operation Fast and Furious: ‘We just don’t value all life the same’

Mexico’s Drug War: 50,000 Dead in 6 Years

Mexico’s drug war
Storm clouds with silver linings
A series of choreographed horrors belies an overall drop in killings

Obituary:
Carlos Fuentes, man of letters, died on May 15th, aged 83

PUERTO RICO
Supreme Court turns away suit seeking Puerto Rico congressional vote

TRINIDAD
Jihad in Trinidad

VENEZUELA
Chávez: Radicalizando la Revolución

The Little Known Story Of How ExxonMobil Seized $300 Million From Hugo Chavez

VIRGIN ISLANDS
Alleged blood diamond financiers tied to Obama Virgin Islands bundler

The week’s posts:
The College for Defense of the Bolivarian Alternative of the America: Latin America’s school for dictators

Venezuela: Debt Falls as Chávez Fails to Back Down

Border security is national security

Curiously, a government handout is causing a stir in the Caribbean,
Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands go head to head on rum, fueling tensions in Congress,

Put simply, the argument involves whether tax dollars can be used to lure a Captain Morgan Rum distillery from Puerto Rico to the Virgin Islands, a project highly coveted for the tax revenue it promises.

The Virgin Islands, a relatively poor, majority-black territory of about 120,000 people, has promised nearly $3 billion in tax subsidies to the owner of Captain Morgan if it moves the rum-making operation to St. Croix, the largest of its three main islands. The money will come from rum taxes the U.S. government gives back to the territories; the Virgin Islands will use the rebates to help build a distillery for the company and provide it cash payments for the next 30 years.

Virgin Islands officials say the deal, along with a similar agreement benefiting the Cruzan rum brand, is an economic development coup that will deliver several hundred jobs and millions of dollars in new rum-tax revenue for roads, schools and other projects. “We are keeping companies in America . . . and strengthening our economy,” said John P. deJongh Jr., governor of the Virgin Islands.

But Puerto Rico, which stands to lose $120 million in annual rum-tax revenue, is pushing Congress to step in. That side portrays the Captain Morgan deal as a U.S. taxpayer bailout for Diageo, the London-based spirits conglomerate that also owns Dom Perignon, Johnnie Walker and other prominent brands.

and look! it’s now become a racial issue

Lawmakers on the side of the Virgin Islands include 18 members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who signed a letter last month opposing Puerto Rico’s attempts to undo the agreement.

Who’s winning the rum war so far?
The lobbyists.

Why am I not surprised?