Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

Archives for September 2016

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Colombia: Santos presents FARC peace agreement to UN Security Council

LAHT reports,

Santos submitted the document to the Security Council’s president in the presence of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who confirmed that he would travel to the northern Colombian city of Cartagena next week for the signing of the peace agreement.

It’ll be interesting to see who actually gets to sign the agreement; the document I read last month (which is titled “final agreement”) did not show President Santos or Timoleón Jiménez a.k.a. Timochenko (who will remain as FARC leader) as signatories.

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Hugo Chavez mural up in the Bronx

Inaugurated, for all to see,

“The young artist knows nothing about the character, he gets paid to paint”

Paid by the Communist Venezuelan regime. Independent journalist Maibort Petit tweeted that only journalists pre-approved by the Venezuelan government were allowed to get close, and that Delcy Rodríguez, Minister for Foreign Affairs attended the inauguration.

Let’s hope the artist was paid cash up front.

As you may recall, Chávez used to send cheap heating oil to the Bronx under the aegis of Joe Kennedy II.

Now the oil is gone but the propaganda lives on.

In other Venezuela news, No recall vote for Nicolas Maduro in 2016. Electoral authority rules that a referendum to remove President Nicolas Maduro cannot be held this year.



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Mexico: Vicente Fernandez {hearts} Hillary

Hugely popular singer Vicente Fernández (Chente to his fans), idol of the Mexican working class, momentarily suspended his retirement to take on a commission from the Clinton campaign to write a corrido for Hillary out of his devotion for her possibly large stipend, but who knows?

After taking to Chente’s musical director (wait, wasn’t Chente retired?) last week Chente’s songwriter was so inspired by Hillary that he adapted the song Los Mandados in half an hour, and, presto! here is the result, in full bloom and video production values:

“With all respect, today I make public my support of Mrs. Hillary Clinton. This is for defending my Mexican and Latin American brothers and sisters.”

I can’t wait for Chente’s youngest son, Alejandro, to follow suit, especially if he wears those tight trousers he favors. 

I also wonder what Chente would say if, for instance, Bruce Springsteen made political videos favoring a Mexican presidential candidate.

In one of those happy coincidences, on the same day another video of celebrities endorsing Hillary was released. Like the Chente video, it preaches to the choir.

Hilarity ensued:

Professor Robert George took the more serious view,

Well, I actually recognized one of these self-proclaimed famous people, and he is indeed a (standard issue) Hollywood liberal (Martin Sheen). So evidently this is not what I would otherwise have supposed it to be: a thinly veiled effort by Trump supporters to induce their man’s critics to vote for him by highlighting the elitism, narcissism, and self-importance of so many celebrities who favor Clinton. It is actually meant to be a pro-Clinton ad

I don’t know about you, but the prospect of Mark Ruffalo showing his private parts in a film does not fill me with desire, much less with desire to vote, and definitely not with desire to vote for Hillary. Maybe somebody ought to tell Hollywood writer/producer/director Joss Whedon (“Avengers,” “Firefly”) whose new super PAC, Save the Day, produced the video.

And no, I wouldn’t vote for Hillary even if Clive Owen showed up and asked me in person.

UPDATE
More chuckles,

The death of Leni Riefenstahl has clearly left a great void.

Cross-posted at WoW! Magazine.

78% of Latinos Have Negative View of Donald Trump, according to Telemundo. With the constant anti-Trump propaganda in Spanish language and Mexican media, I’m surprised it’s not 99%.



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Instapundit suspended from Twitter

Glenn Reynolds’s Twitter account was suspended, and it’s not even clear (scroll down at Twitchy) why, since he has not been told.

Glenn explains (emphasis added)

Was just on Hugh Hewitt talking about this. Since Twitter won’t let me respond to — or even see — my critics, let me expand here.

I’ve always been a supporter of free speech and peaceful protest. I fully support people protesting police actions, and I’ve been writing in support of greater accountability for police for years.

But riots aren’t peaceful protest. And blocking interstates and trapping people in their cars is not peaceful protest — it’s threatening and dangerous, especially against the background of people rioting, cops being injured, civilian-on-civilian shootings, and so on. I wouldn’t actually aim for people blocking the road, but I wouldn’t stop because I’d fear for my safety, as I think any reasonable person would.

“Run them down” perhaps didn’t capture this fully, but it’s Twitter, where character limits stand in the way of nuance.

Meanwhile, regarding Twitter: I don’t even know that this is why I was suspended, as I’ve heard nothing from Twitter at all. They tell users and investors that they don’t censor, but they seem awfully quick to suspend people on one side of the debate and, as people over at Twitchy note, awfully tolerant of outright threats on the other.

Let’s have the UN control the internet, and see how that works out!

UPDATE
Ed Driscoll

#FREEINSTAPUNDIT: GLENN REYNOLDS CENSORED FROM TWITTER, RESPONDS, GETS REINSTATED.

Related: An effort to shape the media battlespace between now and the election by silencing voices?

Update: Glenn Reynolds Vs. Eric Alterman : A Twitter Tale.

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Brazil: Adeus, médicos cubanos

Good-bye, Cuban doctors!

Brazil Seeks to Replace Cuban Doctors with Brazilians in Rural Health Program. Plans to replace up to 4,000 Cuban doctors with Brazilians in next three years

The Brazilian government said Wednesday it plans to greatly reduce the number of Cuban doctors working in a health care initiative that has brought thousands of physicians from the Caribbean island to underserved communities across the South American nation.

Brazil will continue a program called Mais Médicos, or More Doctors, to address a chronic lack of physicians that has mainly affected remote rural areas, the country’s health ministry said. But the government hopes to attract more Brazilian doctors to the program, to replace the foreign professionals.

As you may recall, Brazil’s medical association did not want the uncertified Cuban medics but were persuaded to accept them,

The reduction of Cuban doctors attending the program was expected after President Michel Temer, a member of the center-right Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, took office.

The program was started by former President Dilma Rousseff, whose leftist Workers’ Party has historic ties with Cuban leaders. At the time it was created, the initiative generated huge controversy among Brazilian medical associations, which claimed the foreign doctors weren’t well prepared and had poor skills, putting Brazilians’ health at risk.

Either way, the country faces a chronic shortage of qualified medical personnel.

Related:
Cuba’s Slave Trade in Doctors. Havana earns almost $8 billion a year off the backs of the health workers it sends to poor countries.

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Venezuela: Newborns in cardboard boxes

21st Century Democratic Socialism headline update:

Infobae reports that Venezuelan hospitals are placing newborns in cardboard boxes, not only because of a shortage of cribs, but also because of a lack of incubators.

Free healthcare and all that: The youngest victims of an economic disaster: Babies are left in cardboard boxes at cash-strapped hospital in Venezuela as the country spirals into financial abyss Heartbreaking pictures were taken by medical staff at a hospital in the northwest of the country

– The president of the Venezuelan Medical Federation (FMV), said hospitals have just five percent of the medical equipment that they need
– Experts believe the shortage of medicine is around 80 per cent
– Citizens in Venezuela have had to endure triple-figure inflation

On Monday, PdVSA Bonds Fall After Swap Proposal. Investors hesitant over terms of $7 billion debt exchange “Hesitant” about an offer overvalued by a factor of ten (emphasis added)

PdVSA President Eulogio Del Pino on Monday defended the offer. The firm estimated the “enterprise valuation” of its Citgo unit at $12.5 billion.

But Russ Dallen, a managing partner at Caracas Capital, arrived at a valuation of around $1.3 billion based on the recent sales value of PdVSA’S Chalmette Refinery in Louisiana. In addition, should PdVSA default on the new bond, the bondholders would stand to receive less in a restructuring than holders of Citgo’s existing 2020 bonds, he said.

“It is difficult to see many takers of this deal,” Mr. Dallen wrote in a note.

SEBIN Arrests Activists Who Produced PJ Video Against Repression. This is the video:

Todos vivimos la crisis. Todos queremos revocarla. ¡Todos este #16S a la Av. Libertador!

A video posted by Julio Borges (@julioaborges) on



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