Fidel’s busts’ Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. Today’s Carnival is named after those busts of Fidel Castro Hugo Chavez is planning to install in Caracas while Cuba continues to hold political prisoners and harass their wives.

LATIN AMERICA
Via Real Clear World Video: Greg Grandin, Michael Shifter, Kevin Casas-Zamora and John Coatsworth discussing Latin America

Médicos cubanos en Venezuela huyen por Colombia de la tiranía castrista

Henry Kissinger ‘cancelled warning against political assassinations’
Henry Kissinger cancelled a warning against carrying out international political assassinations just days before a former Chilean ambassador was killed in Washington, according to a newly released State Department cable, via The Latin Americanist

A Study of Productivity in Latin America

ARGENTINA
Federalismo pisoteado

BARBADOS
US pledges help to fight Caribbean drug trafficking

BRAZIL
Lula to decide on Battisti
Brazilian president gets court papers on ex-terrorist, via Gates of Vienna

Judge allows start of bids on controversial Brazil dam

China and Brazil sign trade deals at Bric summit

CHILE
El Nuevo Tablero Territorial: reconstrucción anti tsunami

COLOMBIA
Rural poverty in Colombia

CUBA
Chilean Businessman Found Dead in Havana Apartment

Los Estefan hablaron con Obama sobre la situación de los DD.HH en Cuba

Cuban security agents again halt march by Ladies in White
For the second time in as many weeks, security agents denied the female relatives of jailed dissidents permission to hold their protest Sunday.

Héctor Larroque Rego, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, April 18, 2010

The Other Interview

Intransigent Cuba
Protest songs
Grumbling is not the same as dissent

ECUADOR
DiCaprio and Norton attend eco-conference

Ecuadorean threat to oil giants
The Ecuadorean government has threatened to take over foreign oil concessions if the companies resist growing state control of the industry.

Ecuador May Begin Mine Royalty Talks Next Month, Chamber Says

HAITI
Michelle Obama Visits Haiti

Justice for Haiti

Rebuilding Haiti
Dreaming beyond the rubble
While a barely functioning government struggles with a huge refugee problem, the world has agreed on money and a plan to turn a “Republic of NGOs” into a state

HONDURAS

Congress vs. Honduran Democrats
American liberals are still sore about the ‘coup’ that ousted Manuel Zelaya.

La Gringa’s Mango Ice Cream Recipe

MEXICO
Robin Givhan examines Michelle Obama’s first trip abroad alone

Oklahoma Taxes Money Orders to Mexico: Mexico Threatens Oklahoma with Trade War

Adios Amigos. Hola Czarinna de Diplomacia

Obesity in Mexico? Sra. Calderon should remind Mrs. BO no one is getting killed on the border because they are fat!

The “Other” Side of the Mexican Border

Fleeing Drug Violence, Mexicans Pour Into U.S.

Proceso en la guarida de “El Mayo” Zambada

Mexico’s culture wars
Metrosexuality
As the capital grows more liberal, conservatives are rallying elsewhere

NICARAGUA
Political battle brews in Nicaragua as 2 judges refuse to surrender their gavels
The refusal of Sandinista judges on the Supreme Court to step down after their terms expired is the latest effort to thwart democracy in the Central American country, opposition leaders and analysts say.

PANAMA
Chiriquí Center is Getting Closer

PARAGUAY
El caso Grütter

PERU
Peru town copes with being devoured by mine

Peru’s Machu Picchu ruins reopen to tourists

PUERTO RICO
Cuban Revolutionary-Turned-Critic Carlos Franqui Dies in Puerto Rico

VENEZUELA
Unveiling of bust in Caracas is postponed

Chávez pays 1-day visit to Castro brothers

Colombia blasts Venezuela’s detention of fishermen

We despise you and dislike you, but please gringos send some dollars, the arepa project ain’t working well

Of course, hackistry plays a role too…

19 de abril as a dysfunctional holiday

Via Jeremayakovka, Boxer Edwin Valero found dead in jail

The fighter was a household name in Venezuela and had a huge image of President Hugo Chavez tattooed on his chest, along with the country’s yellow, blue and red flag.

US POLITICS
GLORIA ESTEFAN: ‘Our Gloria’ Betrays Cuban Fans, Jumps On Obama Bandwagon

The week’s posts and podcasts:
Free Trade’s Friends
The case for Free Trade with Latin America
Let them eat sushi
The incredible Colombian travel advisory
Chavez Rallies to Defend His Government

At Real Clear World:
Flyin’ High with Evo