The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

ARGENTINA
Argentina as No Claims-Nation Revealed in Repsol Losses: Energy

Repsol YPF SA (REP), the Spanish oil explorer seeking $10.5 billion from Argentina for seizing its assets, will line up behind companies from Exxon Mobil Corp. to Unisys Corp. yet to be repaid by the most-sued nation on earth.

There are 26 cases pending against Argentina, more than any other country, at the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington, the principal arbitration court for claims against sovereign countries. So far, it has refused to pay any of the tribunal’s judgments, according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch economists’ report.

Argentina’s state-owned firms
So far, not so good
Can YPF avoid the grim fate of other nationalised companies?

BOLIVIA
Bases militares venezolanas: Entrevista a la Diputada Norma Pierola

CHILE
Chile charges suspect with Japanese astronomer murder
A Chilean man has been charged with the murder of Japanese astronomer Koichiro Morita in Santiago earlier this week.

CUBA
Smile, You’re on Candid Camera.

Getting Ready for Life after Castro
Managing the transition to a democratic Cuba: A user’s guide.

More Red Than Cross

ECUADOR
Ecuador seeks answer to riddle of Inca emperor’s tomb

Chevron’s Ecuador Morass
The U.S. oil company charges that the $18 billion judgment against it was secured by fraud.

UPDATE:
MUST-WATCH VIDEO,

EL SALVADOR
Central America’s gangs
A meeting of the maras
Precarious truces between gangs have lowered the murder rate in two of the world’s most violent countries—but for how long?

GUATEMALA
End of times not quite here yet: Mayan art and calendar at Xultun stun archaeologists

“The ancient Maya predicted the world would continue, that 7,000 years from now, things would be exactly like this,” he said.

MEXICO
Maps Show 330 Illegal Aliens Crossing Ariz. Border in One Night in March, Including Ultralight Incursion

Forty-nine headless corpses found in Mexico

Mexico’s presidential election
Political lucha libre

Mexico’s leading presidential candidate is handsome, popular and still a mystery

PERU
‘Mutated’ Shining Path Resurfaces in Peru

Peru ministers resign over Shining Path rebel clashes
Peru’s interior and defence ministers have resigned in the face of a public outcry over a failed security operation against Shining Path rebels.

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Plans to Stop Deficit Borrowing by Fiscal 2014

Puerto Rico plans to offer free Web connections at dozens of centers and public plazas

VENEZUELA
Venezuela’s narcostate

Venezuelan politics
A modest concession to reality, but the weird news continue: Venezuela crossword Chavez assassination plot denied
A Venezuelan crossword compiler has been questioned by intelligence agents after being accused of hiding a coded assassination message in a puzzle.

Venezuela analysts cast doubt on presidential election
Venezuelan analysts in Miami said the Hugo Chávez administration is casting doubts about this year’s presidential election.

Watching Some “Strategic” Companies In Bolivarian Venezuela

The week’s posts:
Saturday tango: CNN version

Cuban slave labor used to build Ikea furniture in the 1980s

The History of Ernesto Che Guevara – A Short Story

Argentina’s Olympic gaffe

Mexico: The boob tube UPDATED with VIDEO

In Defense of Marco Rubio’s Story of His Family’s Exile