First the Chong Chong Gang, then the Mu Du Bong, now the Haddad 1: Weapons smuggling to and from rogue states.
ARGENTINA
Menem said no: Argentina Former Prez Refuses to Testify in AMIA Bombing Cover Up
Menem refused to testify on grounds that he was under obligation to maintain ‘state secrets’ which only the Senate could lift.
Argentine Jewish leader: What happened to Alberto Nisman?
Lengthy but must-read: Inside the Spyware Campaign Against Argentine Troublemakers, including Lanata and Nisman.
BRAZIL
Raid in Sao Paulo discovers ISIS money-laundering network: Polícia Federal descobre rede de apoiadores do Estado Islâmico em São Paulo. O achado assusta. Ainda mais porque terrorismo, no Brasil, não é crime
On August 31st Dilma Rousseff, their president, sent Congress a budget for 2016 with a gaping primary deficit (before interest payments) of 30.5 billion reais ($8 billion), or 0.5% of GDP, challenging its members to close the gap. It was a break with the sound-money practices that have underpinned Brazil’s economy. It was, some critics say, illegal. Certainly nothing similar has happened since at least 2000, when Fernando Henrique Cardoso, then the president, transformed public finances.
On a charitable view, Ms Rousseff was shocking legislators into making hard decisions rather than simply blocking her fiscal proposals. A harsher reading is that she does not know how to lead Brazil out of recession.
CHILE
Chile on Path to “Modest” Recovery, Central Bank Says
COLOMBIA
COLOMBIAN MAN DETAILS SEXUAL ASSAULT BY VENEZUELAN SOLDIERS DURING DEPORTATION
CUBA
Russian Spy Ship Targets U.S. Nuclear Submarines, Then Heads to Cuba
Hope in change: August was worst month for political repression in Cuba since June 2014
EL SALVADOR
MS-13 GANG MEMBER IN U.S. ILLEGALLY WANTED FOR SALVADORAN PROSECUTOR’S MURDER
GUATEMALA
What’s Happening in Guatemala?With its government about to fall, Guatemala is finally questioning the neoliberal orthodoxy of the post–Cold War world. Not that they actually tried it.
MEXICO
Excuse me while I whip this out: *GRAPHIC CONTENT* WATCH ‘DISABLED’ MAN DISPLAY HIS 19-INCH PENIS
“I don’t believe Chapter 9 would solve Puerto Rico’s problems,” he said. “I believe what would solve Puerto Rico’s problems is the same thing that would solve Washington’s problems, and that is to restructure the way government spends its money.
“No organisation, whether it’s a government, a company or a family, can survive long-term spending more money than it takes in.”
Aides: Clinton raised up to $500,000 during Puerto Rico trip
You can’t cure stupid: Puerto Rico Senate Declares Spanish over English as First Official Language
VENEZUELA
Maduro castiga a Colombia para proteger al Cartel de los Soles [Maduro punishes Colombia to protect the Cartel of the Suns.]
Read more here:
Why is China Bankrolling Venezuela?
Whatever Beijing’s motivations, the practical effect of said loans, according to Ellis [Evan Ellis of the U.S. Army War College], has “enabled countries such as Venezuela to continue as de facto sanctuaries for criminal and insurgent groups, and also, as points of entry into the region for Russia, Iran and other actors with potentially hostile intentions toward the United States.”
The week’s posts and podcast:
The mysterious Bolivian ship and its tons of weapons UPDATED
Guatemala: President resigns, is charged and jailed
Labor Day weekend film review: Wild about Wild Tales
Brazil: U.S. fast food chains expanding
Venezuela: Well on the road from “malgoverned space” to failed state
Haiti: Hillary’s “campaign against the negative stories concerning our involvement in Haiti”
Breaking: Obama Clinches Vote to Secure Iran Nuclear Deal
Pedro Pan exhibit and panel coming up
Wikileaks is a Front for Russian Intelligence
Guatemala: Central America’s Next Flashpoint
Chile: Bachelet’s proposal for failure
En español: Mensaje a Jorge Ramos (with English excerpts)
8PM Eastern Podcasting live on Latin America, Trump, http://t.co/HNZscHnzzt
— Fausta (@Fausta) September 2, 2015