Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

Archives for October 2011

By

Hugo Chavez’s BFF Gaddafi no longer

Libya live: Muammar Gaddafi ‘killed’ as Sirte falls
Live rolling coverage from Libya as rebels claim to have killed ousted dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, following the fall of his stronghold Sirte.

• Colonel Gaddafi reported killed in Sirte – senior NTC official
• Photo released purports to show Gaddafi ‘badly injured’
• Gaddafi’s son Mutassim dead – NTC commander
• Rebels converge on centre of Sirte to celebrate
• Rebels hoist new national flag over captured holdout

WARNING: all links have gruesome photos

Many of the reports say that Gaddafi was killed by “rebels”, however, Noticias 24 claims he was killed by a NATO air strike to his convoy as he was trying to escape Sirte

Just last month Hugo was praying for him.

At least this puts to rest the rumors that Gaddafi was in Venezuela. Hugo Chavez was in Havana about to fly to Venezuela when the news broke about Gaddafi.

Chavez is heading to a shrine in Táchira to pray some more.

27737
Share

By

Venezuela fines Globovision over prison coverage

Hugo Chavez’s dictatorship has fined TV channel Globovision US$2.1 million over its coverage of the deadly prison riots at Rodeo prison last June:

Globovision was fined for its coverage of a prison riot that erupted in a prison in June after troops raided an adjacent prison looking for weapons. The raid set off gunfights that left three dead, and the standoff finally ended with negotiations after 27 days. Authorities said four inmates who escaped also were slain by soldiers.

Globovision’s vice president, Maria Fernanda Flores, called the fine “unpayable.” The channel has defended its coverage of the riot.

The fine equals more than 7.5% of the station’s annual revenues, and will likely bankrupt the station.

Long-term readers of this blog may recall that Guillermo Zuloaga, Globovision’s majority owner, had to flee Venezuela last year, following Chavez’s constant threats against him and the station.

Venezuela News and Views has more. The Devil’s Excrement has a post on another Chavista decision on a candidate for the opposition.

AFP had this report last year on Globovision,

Prior posts on Globovision here.

27729
Share

By

Good-bye, garage sale

In one more instance of governmental intrusion in daily life, Louisiana has banned cash-only transactions for second-hand goods:

Cold hard cash. It’s good everywhere you go, right? You can use it to pay for anything.

But that’s not the case here in Louisiana now. It’s a law that was passed during this year’s busy legislative session.

House bill 195 basically says those who buy and sell second hand goods cannot use cash to make those transactions, and it flew so far under the radar most businesses don’t even know about it.

“We’re gonna lose a lot of business,” says Danny Guidry, who owns the Pioneer Trading Post in Lafayette. He deals in buying and selling unique second hand items.

“We don’t want this cash transaction to be taken away from us. It’s an everyday transaction,” Guidry explains.

Guidry says, “I think everyone in this business once they find out about it. They’re will definitely be a lot of uproar.”

The law states those who buy or sell second hand goods are prohibited from using cash. State representative Rickey Hardy co-authored the bill.

Hardy says, “they give a check or a cashiers money order, or electronic one of those three mechanisms is used.”

Hardy says the bill is targeted at criminals who steal anything from copper to televisions, and sell them for a quick buck. Having a paper trail will make it easier for law enforcement.

It also comes in handy for the taxman, too.

27727
Share

By

Dishonor among thieves

TOTUS, the Teleprompter of the US, was kidnapped from the Virginia Center Commons Courtyard Marriott and released, unharmed, at the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express near the Henrico airport.

TOTUS was able to return to work on time for President Obama to say

“In some ways, they’re not that different from some of the protests that we saw coming from the Tea Party. Both on the left and the right, I think people feel separated from their government. They feel that their institutions aren’t looking out for them,” he said.

The redistributor in chief missed the point.

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

In many ways, they are different: For starters, Tea Partiers don’t steal from each other the way OWS Thieves preying on fellow protesters

Occupy Wall Street protesters said yesterday that packs of brazen crooks within their ranks have been robbing their fellow demonstrators blind, making off with pricey cameras, phones and laptops — and even a hefty bundle of donated cash and food.

Mostly because Tea Partiers stand for hard work and property rights – Taxed Enough Already is their motto.

UPDATE, Wednesday, 19 October,
Connan on TOTUS, via Ace,

27724
Share

By

Inspirational Argentina

Cristina Fernandez, president of Argentina, believes President Obama is inspired by Argentina’s example. He may well be,

Less than one month into Barack Obama’s presidency, Argentine president and hardcore Peronist Cristina Kirchner gave this assessment of his government: “I don’t know if Obama has read Perón, but let me tell you, it sure seems like it.”

Mrs. Kirchner was speaking to union members of the newly nationalized Aerolineas Argentinas, and she confessed she felt “contenta.” All around the world governments were intervening in their economies as if to “copy” the model that Argentina had been using since 2003, when her husband Néstor first became president. Her reasons for linking Mr. Obama with one of the most notorious corporatists of the 20th century went like this: “The other day I heard the president of the most powerful country on earth say that, in technical and financial terms, the unions are not part of the problem, but rather, part of the solution, and that he wants large prosperous unions together with large, prosperous businesses.”

I have in the past warned of the similarities between Obama’s current populist politics and those of Argentina’s, past and present.

Some readers of this blog would assume the current disastrous economic conditions in the US preclude the re-election of the current president. In Argentina, however, Cristina’s re-election is nearly a sure thing,

Argentines will re-elect her and not without reason. Labor has always been the stronghold of Peronism and that loyalty continues. Local producers may dream of ridding themselves of “voluntary” price controls imposed by the government, but the depreciating currency has kept them competitive abroad, and they like their government subsidies. Farmers have been riding a boom in dollar-priced exports. Even the famous “piqueteros,” bands of left-wing activists who block roadways and paralyze cities to demand social justice, have a symbiotic relationship with this government: Satisfying their “moral outrage” requires greater government intervention, so they are a useful tool for Mrs. Kirchner. Think about that the next time someone tells you that Occupy Wall Street is a liability for Mr. Obama.

Protectionism, inflation, and unemployment won’t prevent anyone’s re-election. Just keep that in mind.

27717
Share

By

The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

LatinAmerARGENTINA
Flights cancelled due to volcano ash

Falsifican las cifras en Buenos Aires
Argentina tiene una de las tasas de inflación más altas del mundo. Pero, sobre la base de los datos oficiales, nadie lo sabría.

BRAZIL
Sao Paulo’s ‘Big Worm,’ an elevated highway, must go, urban planners say

CENTRAL AMERICA
Central America Death Toll at 45 From Heavy Rains

CHILE
Fading miracle: rescued Chilean miners return to harsh realities, via The Latin Americanist

Mining safety in Chile
An ounce of prevention

COLOMBIA
The Colombia-United States free-trade agreement
Get cracking

CUBA
Cuban-American relations
And then there were four

Remembering Laura Pollán

Laura is gone, Laura is no more

FRENCH GUIANA:
Video at this link First Soyuz launch from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana

More,

GUATEMALA
Justice in Central America
Parachuting in the prosecutors
Two failing states in Latin America have turned to outsiders for help. We report first from Guatemala, on a UN effort to fight organised crime

HONDURAS
Drudge: Honduras on course to break world records with murder rate…

MEXICO
CBS: Don’t forget Grenadewalker, too

Mexico’s drug war
The Perry doctrine

Mexico’s President Works to Lock In Drug War Tactics

Jailhouse Mayhem

PANAMA
Admit It: It’s Victory

PUERTO RICO
Llegó lo que faltaba, Puerto Rico launches its own Occupy Wall Street

VENEZUELA
Free gas for the rich

PDVSA Now Giving Away Gasoline to Gas Stations

Hugo Chávez, Deadbeat

While Hugo Chávez is in Cuba “for medical tests”, his former doctor says he only has 2 years left to live due to an aggressive sarcoma of the pelvis. He also stated that Hugo has been under long-term treatment for manic depression.

The week’s posts,
Lady in White Laura Pollan died.
Los Zetas: Organized crime puts the brakes in illegal immigration to the USA, aids Iranian terrorism
Soyuz launching from French Guiana
House approves Colombia/Panama/SKorea free trade agreements
The Iranian plot to kill Saudi Ambassador involved Mexican cartels
The Mounting Hezbollah Threat in Latin America

At Conservative Commune,
Laura Pollan: The heroic life of a courageous woman

27675
Share