The Venezuelan birthers Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

The birth certificate is missing – was Venezuela’s Maduro born in Colombia? The Venezuelan opposition wants to know.

ARGENTINA
Argentina evicts LAN airline from Buenos Aires hangar
Latin America’s biggest airline has said the Argentine authorities have evicted it from its hangar in Buenos Aires’ main domestic airport.

BRAZIL
Brazil’s opposition
Own goalS
Consolation for a weakened president

COLOMBIA
Protests in Colombia
Hit the road

The politician who learns how to channel this anger, he says, can count of plenty of votes in next year’s congressional and presidential elections.

CUBA
Irony: Brazil’s Workers’ Party Helps Cuba Violate Labor Rights

ECUADOR
The Meaning of Chevron’s Oil-Pollution Case in Ecuador

MEXICO
Militares chavistas enviaron más de 52 toneladas de cocaína a México

El ex militar venezolano que fue agregado esta semana a la lista de los capos de la droga por el gobierno de Estados Unidos, afronta desde el 2011 cargos por haber facilitado el envío de 50 toneladas de cocaína a México, desde Venezuela, junto con otro ex oficial de la Guardia Nacional y una bróker aduanera de ese país, según documentos de una corte de Nueva York.

PARAGUAY
Paraguay’s congress gives new president more powers
President Cartes speaking after his inauguration last week
President Horacio Cartes took office last week
A week after being sworn in, President Horacio Cartes of Paraguay has won new powers from both houses of parliament to deploy the military to tackle unrest in the country.

PUERTO RICO
Healthcare group Fresenius warned over Puerto Rico plant
U.S. regulators have issued a third warning this year for German healthcare group Fresenius to improve procedures at its sites, this time a blood bag manufacturing plant in Puerto Rico.

VENEZUELA
A horrible murder worthy of a bizarre crime novel: Death at a maternity [hospital]

So much flies out of this one, like for example,

1. What kind of sociopath beats up a nurse at a hospital?
2. Why were these women tinkering with the hospital elevator?
3. Why were they given probation when they clearly represent a danger to society?
4. What kind of illness requires a 45-day stint … at a maternity hospital?
5. If they’re sick enough to be hospitalized, how can they have the strength to beat up a nurse?
6. Who paid for these ladies’ hospital bill?

Chávez: Still With us?

Viva Hugo: the cult of Chávez lives on in Venezuela

The week’s posts and podcast:
Venezuela: Where was Maduro born?

Brazil: Cuban doctors now OK

Puerto Rico: 68 arrested on SS disability fraud

Mexico: The failed auction, the oil reform, and US shale

Podcast:
US-Latin America stories of the week