Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. If you would like your post included in next Monday’s Carnival, please email me: faustaw2 “at” gmail “dot” com.
The big news of the week is the alarming increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the region, including Venezuela where the country’s oldest synagogue was vandalized last Friday. Jews in Venezuela, who have for over two hundred years enjoyed tolerance and peace, over the past few weeks have suddenly found themselves in fear of attack and discrimination. Andres Oppenheimer, writing at Miami Herald points to other incidents in Argentina and Brazil. Meanwhile, Telesur broadcasts
a story entitled ”Gaza’s Ruins,” which accuses Israel ”and the world’s Jews” of failing to denounce alleged atrocities by Israeli troops and ”Jewish planes” in Gaza
and Fidel Castro (or his amanuensis) writes in Granma, the official organ of the Cuban Communist Party that Obama supports Israeli ‘genocide’.
I’ll be talking about this disturbing trend in today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern. Chat’s open at 10:45AM and the call-in number is 646 652-2639.
UPDATE
BBC video
LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN
The Caribbean economies
Lonely beaches: A fall in tourism, and other body blows
Aiming To Shoot Across America’s Bow
Populism: The Illusion that Won’t Go Away
Rainforest Resurgence, and New Jungles Prompt a Debate on Rain Forests
Commentary: Is there disunity in CARICOM?
Don’t miss also Market Memorandum‘s news roundup.
ARGENTINA
Fuga de capitales se triplico en el 2008
Argentina Stalling Buenos Aires Bond Plan, Mayor Says
Facebook will let anybody in these days
Bolivian Christian Group’s Ad Against New Constitution
BRAZIL
Dig like Brazil
Lula Raises Brazil’s Minimum Wage 12% as of February
COLOMBIA
Bomb goes off in Bogotá, FARC suspected
Colombia FARC Frees Four Hostages to Opposition Senator Cordoba, three policemen and a member of the Colombian army; The Red Cross verified that the hostages were released; however, Colombia FARC Have Killed Many of Their Captives, Caracol Says
As many as 300 captives taken by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia are dead, Caracol Television reported.
The FARC, as the drug funded group is known, were thought to hold as many as 700 Colombians kidnapped for ransom, the TV channel said. Herbin Hoyos, founder and host of “Voices of Kidnapping,” a radio program that relays messages from family members to rebel hostages, said in an interview with Caracol he has the names of many of the victims and their burial sites.
The details were provided to Hoyos by demobilized members of the FARC.
During his state visit to Germany after his trip to Davos, Uribe insists he’s not asking to stay in power in perpetuity, but that he wants his long-term policies to take hold (article in Spanish).
CUBA
Castro Betrayed Che With Moscow’s Help, Says Former Guerrilla
The star that illuminates and goes missing*
Orestes Paino Viera, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 2/1/09
Raúl Castro se reunió con Vladímir Putin en la sede del Gobierno ruso
GUYANA
British sunken ship discovered off Guyana
Hundreds of Guyanese waiting to be deported from Canada
MEXICO
Calderon Says Mexico May Need More Measures to Spark Economy
NICARAGUA
Nicaragua Strongmen’s Pact Under Strain
PUERTO RICO
1st Puerto Rican astronaut, Ralph Acaba, carries pride in heritage
Puerto Rico’s Democratic Party presents measure for tax relief
PERU
Mining in Peru
If a city’s the pits, Then move the city
VENEZUELA
Chávez Grabs Again for Life Tenure
Intimidation is on the rise as a referendum approaches.
Synagogue in Venezuela Vandalized in Break-In Israel acusa a Chavez del ataque a sinagoga
Barbarians at the gate: the Caracas Synagogue is profaned
“The Threat closer to Home”: a book on Hugo Chavez’s fake revolution
A long term view of monetary liquidity and international reserves in Venezuela
Former PDVSA President Giusti Denies Report of Madoff Losses
Here, There and Everywhere: Venezuela Trip Notes from Cartagena, Colombia
Here, there and everywhere
Bolivia’s Evo Morales, Ecuador’s Rafael Ortega, Honduras’s Manuel Zelaya, and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, plus Cuba’s vicepresident, Carlos Lage asisten a la cumbre extraordinaria del ALBA.
AMERICAN POLITICS
What Obama Can(Not) Do for Latin America
The week’s posts and podcasts
Meanwhile at at the World Social Forum in Brazil: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Maradona does Caracas
Brave Benicio ran away. Bravely ran away, away.
Today at 11AM Eastern: Iran’s “Subversive” Role in Latin America
Wonder why no countries like to do business in Cuba?
The Battisti asylum in Brazil: 15 Minutes on Latin America
At Real Clear World:
Venezuela: More Anti-Semitism
Gates: Iran’s “Subversive” Role in Latin America
That is so cute! A Bolivian Native American version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.