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The Christmas Eve edition of the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Welcome to thie Christmas Eve edition of the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. I wish all of you a very happy Christmas.

If you have a post or a news item you would like to contribute, please email me: faustaw -at- yahoo -dot- com.

The big story of the week: The bombing of the Argentine Jewish community center in 1994 and Iran, the NIE, and Rafsanjani.

SPANISH LANGUAGE WEBSITE OF THE WEEK:
El Cato

LATIN AMERICA
The Carnivorous and Vegetarian Lefts, by Carlos Alberto Montaner. This was his speech at the Opening Plenary Session, The Whitherspoon Institute, Princeton University, Dec. 6, 2007.
UPDATE: Speaking of vegetarian lefties, Chavez Faces Challenge From Former Comrade: Venezuela’s New Hero Has Respect in Army; a Vegetarian Mystic

A South American arms race?

Latino-Islamic Terror: Hezbollah Shows Off Their Latin Bombers

De-Fence, De-Fence

Via Babalu, Chavez offers oil for bananas deal

The Changing Dynamic in Latin America

ARGENTINA
Iran’s Nuclear Terror. More at Patterico’s Argentina, Iran and nuclear weapons.

AMIA and the NIE

AMIA, the communal offices of the Argentine Jewish community, was struck by a massive suicide truck bomb on July 18, 1994 – 85 were killed and over 200 injured. Iran and Hezbollah were suspected from the beginning. The Argentine investigation has had several false starts and has been mired in corruption, but in recent years has gotten on track. Last month Interpol voted overwhelmingly to issue a red letter calling for the arrest of five Iranians (along with Hezbollah’s external operations chief Imad Mughniyah) on the basis of the Argentine investigation. The publicly available report on the AMIA bombing offers tremendous insight into the Iranian regime’s modus operandi and worldview.

Full Prosecutor: Argentina bombings ordered by Iran
The NIE & Rafsanjani
Cog in the Regime
ABOUT IRAN’S BUENOS AIRES BOMBINGS
The NIE’s Iran finding was based on…an old laptop and the word of Rafsanjani?

Troubles for Argentina’s New Evita

The suitcase full of Chavista money is also in the news:
Stung in Miami

Ballet star Bocca bows out in Buenos Aires

ARUBA
Natalee Holloway Case Officially Closed

BOLIVIA
Bolivia: $872,000 from Chavez with Love

A meltdown in Latin America

Bolivians fear political unrest as rivals face off

BRAZIL
Petrobras to Invest Up to $1 Billion With Bolivia State Company

Lula Says 2007 Was Exceptional, 2008 Will Be Better

COLOMBIA
FARC’s Real Aim: Ending Democracy

Colombia protests over Nicaragua’s FARC remarks

CUBA
Chavez deepens investment in Cuba

Via Gates of Vienna, Seven Questions: Castro’s Decline

Cuban Refinery Inaugurated, With Chávez in Spotlight

Venezuelan leader Chavez presides over oil summit in Cuba

Chavez dice desde Santiago que Venezuela y Cuba son una misma nacion

Omnibus Includes $33.6 Million for Democracy Promotion in Cuba (Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen)

On a Purely Personal Note

Blogging from Cuba: Generacion Y?

Fidel hints at retirement

ECUADOR
Santa Claus Lives

MEXICO
Intifada On The Mexican Border

Running just to stand still: How to reform the flawed behemoth that is the world’s sixth-biggest oil producer

NICARAGUA
Nicaraguan expats to join forces in opposition to Daniel Ortega

Iran making diplomatic inroads in Nicaragua

New friends in the neighborhood

Iran’s push into Central America

The Skunk Is Back In Nicaragua

PERU
Chavez: At it Again

PUERTO RICO
Puertorican politics remain the same as they were when I lived there: politicians continue to use the “status” as a smokescreen behind wich to hide the real underlying problems of the island:
Statehood topic tops all issues in Puerto Rico<: House panel energizes debate by calling for new referendum

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO — The governor is under criminal investigation, crime and unemployment are soaring and the economy is faltering as foreign firms are shutting down factories.

But to hear the politicians on this gem of a Caribbean island tell it, the only real issue on the public agenda is whether Puerto Rico should become the 51st state, ending its decades-old status as a U.S. commonwealth.

A bill calling for a referendum on the issue recently won approval in a U.S. House committee, triggering a new round of intense debate on the island, despite the fact that final congressional approval and an actual vote are still iffy propositions at best.

Some tiring of debate
After decades of rowdy argument, though, some Puerto Ricans appear to be tiring of the seemingly eternal debate over what is known here as the “status” issue.

Don’t I know it.

VENEZUELA
Prodigality as state policy:
The case of Hugo Chavez

The Hallaca Effect: Chavez’s Undoing

The Nixon Moreno case: Political Persecution is alive and well in Chavez’ revolution

“Ironically, the United States is financing Chavez’s Bolivarian revolution”

Che shirt wearing Cuban idiots booed in Venezuela, also at Citizen Feathers

El movimiento estudiantil, antídoto contra Chávez

Chavismo without Chavez?

Venezuela, redux

Venezuela falls behind the times

More Venezuela price caps may go
About time
And speaking of Chavez…

The 2007 result: the surprising abstention

Analisis psiquiatrico de Hugo Chavez:
Entrevista al Dr. Franzel Delgado Senior

HUMOR
Hillary Hires King Juan Carlos to Manage Husband

Beam me up, Hillary!

La Isla Bonita

BLOGGING ABOUT THE CARNIVAL
A colombo-americana’s perspective

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For more Carnival fun, don’t miss the Carnival of Christmas, 2007 Edition

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The Bolivian secession edition of the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

UPDATE
Not secession – federalism, instead.
See below (*)

The big news this week in Latin America: The four richest Bolivian regions declared autonomy from the Morales government, on the same day as Evo Morales formally received a new draft Constitution.

(*) Clarifying: It’s not secession; it’s federalism
I just received an email from Alek Boyd of VCrisis

First off governors of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija have been democratically elected, as Morales. Ergo that rules out accusations about lacking democratic credentials the official propaganda machine is leveling against them.

Second, they are not seeking independence. Contrary to what the MSM is publishing the autonomic statute in first article states:

“Santa Cruz se convierte en Departamento Autónomo, como expresión de la identidad histórica, la vocación democrática y autonómica del pueblo cruceño, y en ejercicio de su derecho a la autonomía departamental, reforzando la unidad de la República de Bolivia, y los lazos de hermandad entre todos los bolivianos”.

That is to say they are not proposing secession, what they are proposing is self rule in economic, education, tax and resource management issues.

Some of you may think that such a thing amounts to independence from Bolivia, however the prefectos have been very clear in that respect, their proposal is similar to the current system of autonomic regions in Spain.

Third, the issue of autonomic rule was presented to popular vote through referendum. In 4 out of the 9 departments (Santa cruz, Beni Pando and Tarija) the SI option, that is the one supporting autonomy, won. Ergo, said proposal is as democratic as Morales’-driven national constituent assembly from a strictly legal point of view, for if what Morales needed to rewrite the constitution was the approval of “the people” said approval was granted by “the people” to provincial statutes of self rule in those regions.

Fourth, Morales’ constituent proposal has violated procedures, the most striking evidence of it is a) the seat of constituent assembly discussions to get the new charter approved was moved from Sucre to Oruro, so that Morales supporters could get it passed by simple majority [2/3 of votes were never reached], and b) the text approved in Oruro contained originally 408 articles as opposed to the one presented to Morales last Saturday which contains 411 articles. A drafting committee in charge of modifications has introduced 3 new articles which have not been approved
by the constituent assembly, therefore illegal.

Related links in Spanish: Gobierno Departamental de Santa Cruz, and Con los estatutos, prefectos controlan tierras y tributos. From reading this information it’s clear that what the prefectos are after is a federal system like the USA’s.

Special thanks to Alek for clarifying this question. My apologies for my mistake.

Previous post:
Links listed from most recent to older:

Bolivia set on collision course over autonomy

All the legislation – as well as a separate and especially contentious constitutional provision limiting the size of landholdings – has to be submitted to referendums that are expected to take place early next year.

“I am convinced that we will not retreat a millimetre nor move one step to the side,” Ruben Costas, the governor of Santa Cruz, told tens of thousands of jubilant supporters waving the department’s green and white flags. Mr Costas warned the central government not to send in troops or police. “This is a warning. Do not dare to invade us or militarise us.”

Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando departments, which all announced autonomy on Saturday, form a half-moon shape around the solidly pro-government capital and heavily indigenous departments of La Paz, Potosi and Oruro. Two other departments – Cochabamba and Chuquisaca – are unhappy with the new constitution, railroaded through by an emergency session of a constituent assembly eight days ago by pro-government supporters. “The country has taken two different directions,” said an editorial in El Deber, a daily newspaper published in Santa Cruz.

The deputies at the Constituent Assembly approved one version but Evo received a different one; VCrisis has the captures. The first version states that the power comes from the people while the second version stresses the preselection of candidates. Gateway Pundit has more.

At play? Natural gas, which Gazprom is eyeing, along with Brazil and Chile.

Ed Morrissey correctly points out

If these districts can secure themselves against the central government, this could get very, very ugly. Natural gas is their chief export and their resource for hard currency. If the breakaway districts can keep it for themselves and safely export it (mainly to Brazil), they can build a significant war chest while leaving Morales to feed the rest of Bolivia’s poor in the west. That will prompt Morales to march on the east, perhaps assisted by Chavez in Venezuela, and a civil war will almost certainly erupt — and sooner rather than later.

Publius Pundit, Blue Crab Boulevard are blogging on the story, while Marginal Revolution asks, What does Bolivia have to do to make the front page?

Bolivians Now Hear Ominous Tones in the Calls to Arms

Bolivia tense amid autonomy push

Cardinal Terrazas calls for peace in overcoming crisis in Bolivia

Bolivia Leader Is Mobilizing Armed Forces

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SPANISH-LANGUAGE WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
Two this week:
Penultimos dias, and Red Liberal Hispanoamerica

LATIN AMERICA and CARIBBEAN
The Bank of the South:
Bolivarian finance: The IMF can sleep easy

Caribbean nations, EU reach agreement on access to markets. The Caribbean countries are Jamaica, Barbados, Dominican Republic, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname.

Caribbean Net News is an excellent resource on the islands. Don’t miss also HACER‘s weekly roundup

ARGENTINA
Marital bliss: A different Kirchner is in charge, but many of the policies remain the same

Irish Tourist Ronan Lawlor Missing in Argentina or Chile

ARUBA
OpenSEA adds members, promises smooth saling for 802.1x NAC

BRAZIL
Is Brazil changing its focus from income redistribution to income creation?

Energy: Brazil’s not peaking

CAYMAN ISLANDS
Lesson 4: Not Every Disaster is a Disaster

CHILE
Insulza’s Divided Attention

COLOMBIA
Pouty Hugo: “I Will Not Speak to Uribe For As Long As I Live”

FARC FAILS to Kidnap President Uribe’s Two Sons

Uribe’s anticorruption chief resigns

CUBA
Cuban diplomat seeking asylum in Spain

A Cuban diplomat who allegedly aided a dissident doctor in Mozambique has skipped a flight out of Paris to seek political asylum in Spain, Spanish daily El Mundo reported Sunday.

Lorenzo Menendez said he faces prison for helping the dissident but believes socialist Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will bow to pressure from Havana to deport him.

Zapatero is a weak leader, indeed.

BEATDOWN IN HAVANA!!… Castro Thugs Bash Democracy Protesters

video: Now you see the light

Huckabee does a flip-flop on Cuba

Huckabee Unaware of Issues Between U.S. and Cuba

Bloggers United for Cuban Liberty continue their campaign.

DOMINICA
One laptop per child project initiated in Dominica

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Pirate Captain William Kidd’s Ship, the Quedah Merchant, Possibly Found in the Caribbean

ECUADOR
Correa celebrates the Chavez coronation in Argentina: A faustian pact called bolivarianism

GUATEMALA
A post on Guatemala’s new and more restrictive adoption law And Even More…

GUYANA
Relations between Venezuela and Guyana remain strained due to the continued incursions of Chavez’s military into the other country, the latest of which was

Last November 15, a contingent of 36 armed Venezuelan military personnel, led by a general, forced the crew off of Guyanese-owned dredges and bombed the pontoons.

That was followed by unauthorised overflights by Venezuelan helicopters in Guyana’s airspace.

Guyana-Venezuela joint group to be set-up to prevent incursions

MEXICO
The Fantastico Mr. Fox

Lessons for Mexico in Brazil’s Boom: In the energy sector, open markets work.

The Dark Side of Microlending

NICARAGUA
Iran making push into Nicaragua

Iran and Nicaragua: A new relationship?

Iran’s foothold in Monkey Point, Nicaragua

Danielito gone wild

PERU
Peru Is In, Now Where’s Colombia?

Peru: Barrick Gold Corp. Helicopter Crashes because of Engine Failure

Converted Buses to be Taken Off Peru’s Highways

PUERTO RICO
Rush’s Snakes & Arrows world tour to be extended

VENEZUELA
Venezuela, and Oil and podcast

Organized crime in Venezuela administration

Venezuelan Chavista agents arrested in the US for voting plot

Miami Maletagate indictments: Just the tip of the iceberg?

Chavez lives down to his reputation

LAC roundup

Patria, Vuitton o Muerte! Gastaremos!

Chavez vs. The Venezuelan Electorate

HUMOR
Funnimetric’s Post details: Fausta’s Carnival of Latin America

Chucha Libre (Spanish)

Mundial de patos (Spanish)

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BLOGGING ABOUT THE CARNIVAL:
A colombo-americana’s perspective
A Second Hand Conjecture
Babalu
Billy Jones
Sex and the South
Wizbang

====================================================

More Carnival fun at SheBlogs Carnival, brought to you by Sex and the South

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Four Bolivian regions declare autonomy

The richest-Four Bolivian regions declare autonomy from government on the same day as Evo Morales formally received a new draft constitution.

The deputies at the Constituent Assembly approved one version but Evo received a different one; VCrisis has the captures. The first version states that the power comes from the people while the second version stresses the preselection of candidates. Gateway Pundit has more.

At play? Natural gas, which Gazprom is eyeing, along with Brazil and Chile.

Ed Morrissey correctly points out

If these districts can secure themselves against the central government, this could get very, very ugly. Natural gas is their chief export and their resource for hard currency. If the breakaway districts can keep it for themselves and safely export it (mainly to Brazil), they can build a significant war chest while leaving Morales to feed the rest of Bolivia’s poor in the west. That will prompt Morales to march on the east, perhaps assisted by Chavez in Venezuela, and a civil war will almost certainly erupt — and sooner rather than later.

olivia Leader Is Mobilizing Armed Forces

Publius Pundit, Blue Crab Boulevard while Marginal Revolution asks, What does Bolivia have to do to make the front page?

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Latin America Leaders Set to Inaugurate Chavez’s Bank of South

Fresh from the Bloomberg newsfeed: Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay are joining Venezuela’s Bank of the South, as expected.

Latin America Leaders Set to Inaugurate Chavez’s Bank of South

The Bank of the South, a Latin American development bank fostered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, will be inaugurated today, a week after the Venezuelan leader met his first political defeat in nine years at home.

It’s a very modest bank:

The Venezuelan government has said the new poverty-fighting bank will have starting capital of around $7 billion. The governments involved haven’t yet determined how they’ll divide contributions to the bank or whether it will turn to capital markets to increase its lending power

Now comes the business part

None of the bank’s supporters have an investment grade credit rating. Both the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank enjoy AAA credit ratings because of the backing of the U.S. The Corporacion Andina de Fomento has an A+ credit rating from Standard & Poor’s.

The rating of any new multilateral lender would also hinge on the commitment of its member countries, said John Chambers, managing director of sovereign ratings at Standard & Poor’s.

“It’s important that the member countries provide strong backing for the institution and that they support its priorities,” Chambers said.

The Bank of the South could be unsettled by disagreements about its role among its leading members. Chavez, who called President George W. Bush “the devil” in a speech last year at the United Nations, is followed in his anti-American stance by only Ecuador and Bolivia.

Lula’s also not jumping in the deep end, to say the least:

Objections from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva prevented Chavez from turning the Bank of the South into a rival to the International Monetary Fund, too, offering loans in the event of currency crises.

“Lula has a much more conciliatory, moderate attitude toward the U.S. and so I think that’s going to create conflict with Chavez as they set up the Bank of the South,” said Michael Shifter, a director at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based research organization. “This has already been seen in the way Brazil worked to prevent the new bank from also competing with the IMF.”

Reading the news, The Husband, who is a financial guy, said, “If there’s a bank you expect to fail, this one’s it.”

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Today’s Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean


Last week’s top story:
Not as strident as all the Venezuelan news, but very important, Four killed in Bolivia clashes over new constitution

A Bolivian protester died early on Monday after being injured in clashes with police over the weekend, local officials said, raising the death toll to four from violent confrontations over a new draft constitution.

Jose Luis Cardozo “died in the early hours on Monday,” said Fidel Herrera, the head of the municipal council of Sucre, and one of the protest leaders.

Cardozo suffered serious injuries on Saturday as thousands of demonstrators demanded their southeastern city of Sucre be named the capital of Bolivia and protested pro-government delegates approving a new constitution.

The protests took a violent turn on Saturday evening when another demonstrator, a 29-year-old lawyer, died of a gunshot wound. Police later used tear gas to quell the protests.

Two other people, a police officer and a third protester, were also killed in the street violence and dozens were injured.

The Bolivarian Revolution’s not quite going as planned in Bolivia.

Bolivian protesters free prisoners

SUCRE, Bolivia (Reuters) – Demonstrators opposed to efforts by Bolivian President Evo Morales to overhaul the constitution on Sunday torched police stations and stormed a jail, freeing 100 inmates, while on the streets protesters clashed with police and one officer was killed.

The protests in the southern city of Sucre came hours after pro-government allies in a constitutional assembly approved a preliminary draft late on Saturday of the new constitution, a key Morales political project.

Morales, a leftist and Bolivia’s first Indian president, says the new constitution will give the country’s indigenous majority more political power.

But the vote was boycotted by the rightist opposition, which has heavily criticized the assembly.

On the streets of Sucre, protesters stood face to face with police officers, setting fires to tires as tear-gas rained down on them.

They also set fire to Sucre’s San Roque prison, starting a prison riot that saw at least 100 inmates escape, local media said.

In other Bolivian news, Bolivia’s Gas Nationalization: Opportunity and Challenges

Spanish-language website of the week:
RELIAL Red Liberal de America Latina

Don’t miss HACER’s roster of Latin American blogs and the Wall Street Journal in Spanish.

SOUTH AMERICA:
Crisis in the Americas

Terrorist In The Neighborhood

As fears mount, experts debate terrorist inroads in Latin America (registration required)

Don’t like your constitution? Then rewrite it
In Latin America, revisions can renew a nation’s pride – or exploit its people

CHILE
I want my two dollars

COLOMBIA
Media Myths About Free Trade Cause Many To Forget Benefits

Notes from a Reader in South America, Ambassador Gherbasi

Betancourt’s husband asks Chavez to keep mediating

Uribe and Chavez trade insults as Venezuela freezes ties

Uribe: Chavez wants a Marxist FARC government in Colombia

Further adventures in Bolivarian diplomacy

CUBA
Is there a doctor in the Gulag?

Around the Block for Some Cafe … (roundup)

Jeff Jacoby: Writing the truth about Cuba

ECUADOR:
I Marched with the Terrorists: Chevron-Texaco sued again in the Amazon

Ecuador’s Correa wins control of constituent assembly, official results show

Unofficial Vote Count Confirms Correa Victory

VENEZUELAN-ECUADOREAN-IRANIAN AXIS ON THE MOVE

IMMIGRATION
Estados Unidos, Admision Gratis

MEXICO
U.S. Anti-Drug Plan Would Recast Legal System in Mexico

From Mexico but posting on the Brooklyn madrassa, War of Ideas on the Homefront

PANAMA
Panama November Rains Leave Jamaica Mission Team Stranded

PERU
Victims of Ica Held a Peaceful Strike During Friday’s Riot

Violently Treated Women in Peru March for Their Rights

You tax money at work: UN declares 2008 as ‘International Year of the Potato’ (IYP)

PUERTO RICO
Pageant officials investigate who put pepper spray on Miss Puerto Rico Universe’s gowns

VENEZUELA
The referendum on the extensive rewrite of the Constitution is scheduled for December 2.

Who are the students of the Venezuelan opposition?

This Ain’t Hell has a roundup of referendum articles and posts.

Read the item-by-item analysis of the constitutional reforms at the Venezuela’s Constitutional Reform website.

To vote or not to Vote? Venezuela at the crossroad or all the doors will open Chavez’s reform

Venezuela’s path to self-destruction
Voters are on the verge of handing President Hugo Chavez the power to turn their country into a dictatorship

Vi a Maria A comeback for communism

Do Wealthy Liberal Democracies Fail?

Chavez Loses Lead; Declares Opponents Traitors

Only The Sith Deal In Absolutes

Center for Security Policy‘s articles on Venezuela via CVF
(In Spanish)
Countdown to Tyranny I
Countdown to Tyranny II
Countdown to Tyranny III
Countdown to Tyranny IV

Article 98: Patents and the decline of innovation in Venezuela

Other Venezuela-related posts:
Yes, we have no milk in Venezuela

“Do you want me to pee on you?”

Chavez budgets $250 million for ‘alternative’ groups
Venezuela’s proposed budget includes more than $250 million for ‘anti-imperialist’ groups in the United States and Latin America.

Colombians fire Hugo

Video: Unhinged in Venezuela
Breakdown

Excusing Chavez and Defending The Indefensible
Voting in Tyranny
Loving Chavez
Excusing Chavez

Chavez under fire

James Petras, Gunslinger

Clown Conference, Tehran, November 19, 2007

HUGO CHAVEZ VS. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Stalin Vs. Chavez

“I hope so, too.”

Hugo and ‘Jad, talking currency

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Special thanks to Maggie, Eneas Biglione, Larwyn, and Maria.

Linking to the Carnival:
A Colombo-americana’s perspective
Pajamas Media

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The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean "Por Que No Te Callas" Edition

UPDATE
scroll down

As usual, Chavez manages to suck off all the air when it comes to Latin American news.

The “Por que no te callas?” fallout continues. While the story went mostly ignored here in the USA, it was the story of the week in Latin America and parts of the USA: there’s even a ringtone:
The king’s on the phone, and he says: ‘shut up!’

To give an idea of how much attention the king’s five-word outburst has received, consider the numbers on YouTube.com. Three YouTube postings with the exchange have been viewed almost 800,000 times.
By comparison, the first part of the YouTube/CNN Democratic debate received about 73,000 hits, according to YouTube.

Happy to oblige, here’s the You Tube explaining the event:

But I prefer the Juan Carlos as Leonidas:

Via GM Roper, the cartoon

Spanish Smack-Down

Distraction tactics in Venezuela

The Latin American Terminator

The bully is blustering

Por que no te callas

The Hilarity: ‘Tis Overwhelming

Plenty of You Tube to go around.

First it was King Juan Carlos; Now it’s King Abdullah‘s turn. Is this the beginning of a trend? More Governments seem ready to join the King of Spain in telling Chavez to shut up.

Spanish-language link of the week:
Via Kate, El comandante y el Rey: La salida de Juan Carlos I, tras las interrupciones e insultos de Hugo Chavez, tuvo la virtud de rasgar el velo de hipocresía que rodea las Cumbres Iberoamericanas

Also don’t forget to visit The Wall Street Journal in Spanish.

In other Venezuelan news,
The referendum on the Constitution is scheduled for December 3. Here’s what Chavez wants to do and what will really happen

Evil incarnate

Chavez’s radical push spurs military dissent

Chavez’s proposal to change the name of the National Guard to that of Territorial Guard, and reassign its members to other security forces, triggered a wave of discontent in mid-August. Corporals in the 40,000-strong Guard complained that the change amounted to the Guard being eliminated — and Chávez was forced to backtrack.

Will Chavez pull the trigger?
Venezuelans may give their president the power to restrict oil production — and cause a global recession.

Hugo Chavez: Students forced masked soldiers to shoot them.

Students Emerge as a Leading Force Against Chavez

Food rationing in Venezuela

Hugo Chavez Certifiably Insane

More Trouble for Chavez

The Perils of Petrocracy

Venezuela scrambles for food despite oil boom

Via Siggy, who calls it “journalistic fraud and deceit re: South America”, If Hugo Chavez is a dictator, then so are Brown and Sarkozy

Sean Penn: Hugo Chavez Is ‘Much More Positive’ for Venezuela Than Negative

Dumb and Dumber

Among the inbound luggage there might be the odd flying carpet bought by the more outlandish visitor to Tehran’s Grand Bazaar. But Venezuela’s main international airport is buzzing with rumors that the “ghost plane” comes and goes laden with artifacts that would make a TSA official throw a fit: automatic weapons, electronic gadgets, and suspect lead crates.

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UPDATE:
Jackson Diehl of the Washington Post is exactly right (emphasis added):

For the past week, the press of the Spanish-speaking world has been abuzz about a verbal slapdown of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez by King Juan Carlos of Spain. Incensed by Chavez’s ceaseless insults and interruptions during an Ibero-American summit meeting in Chile, the normally temperate Juan Carlos turned to Latin America’s self-styled “Bolivarian” revolutionary and blurted: “Why don’t you shut up?”

The story might have lasted a day, while everyone chuckled over something that, as one Spanish newspaper put it, “should have been said a long time ago.” That it has lasted a week is the work of Chavez. He called a news conference last Monday in which he recounted the history of Spanish colonialism and compared himself to a persecuted Jesus Christ. He held another news conference Wednesday to announce that he was reviewing all ties between Venezuela and Spain. He demanded a royal apology. He even coined his own phrase: “Mr. King, I will not shut up.”

Crude and clownish, si, but also disturbingly effective. Borrowing the tried-and-true tactics of his mentor Fidel Castro, Chavez has found another way to energize his political base: by portraying himself as at war with foreign colonialists and imperialists. Even better, he has distracted the attention of the international press — or at least the fraction of it that bothers to cover Venezuela — from the real story in his country at a critical moment.

In 13 days, abetted by intimidation and overt violence that has included the gunning down of student protesters, Chavez will become the presumptive president-for-life of a new autocracy, created by a massive revision of his own constitution. Venezuela will join Cuba as one of two formally “socialist” nations in the Western hemisphere. This “revolution” will be ratified by a Dec. 2 referendum that Chavez fully expects to win despite multiple polls showing that only about a third of Venezuelans support it. Many people will abstain from voting rather than risk the retaliation of a regime that has systematically persecuted those who turned out against Chavez in the past.
…
If you’re thinking you haven’t heard much about this transformation in a major oil-producing country two hours by air from Miami, you’re right. U.S. media and human rights groups have basically ignored Chavez’s latest power grab. Human Rights Watch, which has been conducting a campaign about what it says is the “human rights crisis” in neighboring, democratic Colombia in close cooperation with congressional Democrats, has issued no statement on the Venezuelan violence — including the shooting of the students by government-backed paramilitaries on Nov. 7 — and objected to only one of the 69 new constitutional articles.

The Bush administration seems to have abandoned any effort to influence events in Caracas, hamstrung by Chavez’s use of “the empire” as a foil. Worst of all, Latin America’s own democratic leaders, who rallied in the 1990s against a less-ambitious attempt by right-wing Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori to install an autocracy, have largely been silent. Unlike Chavez, Fujimori didn’t have petrodollars with which to subsidize his neighbors’ fuel or buy their debt bonds; Chavez has spent billions on both. The summit of Spanish-speaking countries would have been entirely harmonious had not Chavez himself deliberately provoked Juan Carlos. The king missed his cue; rather than addressing Chavez, he should have asked the assembled heads of state: “Why don’t you speak up?”

Bravo!

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ELSWHERE IN LATIN AMERICA:
Posts on SOUTH AMERICA in general
Brrrr… South America Has Coldest Winter in 90 Years

The Latinobarometro Poll: A warning for reformers. Latin Americans expect more from the state and less from the market

ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, PARAGUAY (Tri-border area)
In Paraguay, Piracy Bleeds U.S. Profits, Aids Terrorists

BOLIVIA
Hugo’s having trouble exporting his Bolivarian Revolution,
Revolution postponed: A popular president deadlocked by a determined opposition

U.S. to Bolivians: Stop attacking ambassador

CHILE
After the Caudillo

7.7 Quake Shakes Northern Chile

COLOMBIA
Colombia’s Uribe Seen as Solidifying Power
Opponents Say Widely Popular President Is Toughening Stance Against Critics

CUBA
Cuban farmers reject Venezuela-Cuba confederation

Reality in Cuba: “El Concierto”, “The Concert”

A roundup of Anti-Fidel “International” Blogs

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:
Dominican Government Calls for Censorship of HRF Film on Human Trafficking

HONDURAS:
The latest phone company wiretapping scandal.

Ancient Americans had chocolate alcohol

ECUADOR:
CHAVEZ AND IRAN BUY PAL CORREA: CORREA EASILY BOUGHT TO STAND UNITED FOR NUCLEAR ANDES

MEXICO
The U.S. and Mexico: Taking the “Merida Initiative” Against Narco-Terror

GUERRILLAS IN THE MIST:
In a Modernizing Mexico, Blasts Reveal Shadowy Side

You must be a legal resident to get a driver’s license in Mexico

NICARAGUA
A Colombo-americana’s perspective has a huge roundup links on the subject of Venezuela’s influence in Nicaragua

PANAMA
Kucinich Protests Army Training School

PERU
The Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa

4,000-Year-Old Temple, Mural Found in Peru

Education and Peru: The Work of Tapurisunchis

PUERTO RICO
Adios: Pharma Retreats From Puerto Rico

Pet massacres carried out in Puerto Rico

URUGUAY
Another day, another country: Uruguay

Special thanks to Eneas Biglione of HACER

Would you like to send a link to next week’s Carnival on Monday November 19? Email me your links to: faustaw “at” yahoo “dot” com.

BLOGGING about the Carnival:
A Colombo-Americana’s Perspective
Cubanology
Gateway Pundit
Obi’s Sister

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The second Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Welcome! This week’s posts on Latin America and the Caribbean are:

On Latin America in general:
Wealth and Nations, via Dr Sanity

Latin American Report

SOS: Truth Telling Deeply Needed for Latin America (link now corrected)

ARGENTINA:
Via Eneas of the Hispanic American Center for Economic Research, Corruption in Argentinian election – 28-October-2007

Via Siggy, Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina: Jewish community welcomes new president, who has taken a strong position against terrorism and the Dirty War.

BOLIVIA:
Learning English through avatars

CUBA
Poster relates Che’s dark side

“The Victims of Che Guevera” poster, produced by the Young America’s Foundation, centers on a collage that uses tiny photos of those killed by Cuba’s communist regime to compose the face of the Marxist guerrilla, who has become a popular T-shirt icon.

Via Larwyn, WaPo Writer Waxes Poetic for Castro Regime Control Mechanism

Castro’s Cuba

Son: [Oscar Elias] Biscet is “an inspiration”; The unyielding ones

ECUADOR
The Vatican Denounces Chavez-Correa anti-Freedom Constitutional Epidemic

HAITI
Again… UN Troops Involved In Another Child Sex Scandal

MEXICO
Chucha Libre

NICARAGUA
Nica news for Nov 2

VENEZUELA
Venezuela’s Constitutional Reform continues the item-by-item review

The New York Times Does PDVSA: The Perils of Petrocracy

EXPOSING THE CHAVEZ NIGHTMARE IN LATIN AMERICA

When Hugo Met Naomi

Troops Attack Venezuelan Protesters – Again

Venezuela Congress OKs ending Chavez term limits; Via Larwyn, Venezuela Circling the Drain

OTHERS LINKING THE CARNIVAL:
A colombo-americana’s perspective
Babalu
Dr. Sanity
ECrisis
Heading to Retirement
The Washington Times

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The first CARNIVAL OF LATIN AMERICA and the CARIBBEAN

Welcome to the first Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Today’s top Latin American news is that Argentina’s first lady, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, is now its president.
Here’s the BBC video report

The campaign has been colorful, to put it mildly, between those auctioning their votes on line to that suitcase with $800,000 that Chavez (allegedly) sent the Kirchners last August

Argentina To Elect New Evita – Or Is It Hillary?

From The Heritage Foundation: Argentina: Implications for the U.S. If First Lady Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner Becomes President. One thing for sure: expect more populism.

This week’s Spanish-language roundup: Martha Colmenares’s roundup on the Argentinian elections

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BAHAMAS:
Road Rage in the Bahamas

BOLIVIA:
The women’s civic committee of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, shows how the police have tried to repress protestors. Bolivia Confidencial posts their video here (Such is Evo’s repression) in Spanish.

BRAZIL:
Learn To Surf In Floripa

CHILE
Subjective Lens photoblog Chile

CUBA:
Leonard Weinglass’ seditious activism on the Cuba 5

Cuba, Bush, and The Lives of Others

El che lives at the UN

ECUADOR:
ECrisis posts on International terrorist rings in Spain and Latin America, and links to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps

Also at ECrisis, Banco del Sur is a Slush Fund for Sponsors of Terror, Drug Running, Criminals, Mafias, Racketeers and Propagandists

MEXICO:
The Rehabilitation of Miguel Hidalgo

AfroMexico – Mexicans of African descent (via Mexico in English)

Anything but no, when it comes to travelling with the dog.

NICARAGUA:
Ortega’s Nicaragua: Another Tropical, Socialist Paradise?

PERU:
Alvaro Vargas Llosa on Fujimori’s Shadow

PUERTO RICO:
La Casa’s Leticia Rodriguez Continues Legacy

VENEZUELA:
The Venezuelan bloggers are doing a line-by-line review of Chavez’s proposed constitutional reforms. You can read it all here: Venezuela’s Constitutional Reform.
Veneuela-USA looks at
Constitutional reform – Article 100

Alive and blood thirsty (comments on the Che influence over chavismo)

Another shameful day in Venezuela’s democracy

The hunt for the liter of milk

Chavez is Adored by His Subjects – NOT!

The dope from Venezuela

The Prophetic Scent of repression.

The Human Rights Foundation: Artists Reunite for Human Rights in Latin America; Concert Tour in New York to Stress the Plight of the Caracas Nine

The Venezuela Connection: exhibit F, as a Royal Navy warship seizes 3 tons of cocaine from Venezuelan vessel
More at the Royal Navy website.

Blog Carnival

If you are a Latin America or Caribbean blogger who wants your post featured in next week’s Carnival, please send me your link: faustaw “at” yahoo “dot” com.
One link per blog, please.

Special thanks to Lady Godiva for her kind words and support.

Don’t miss also the resources at the Hispanic Center for Economic Research for more information on Latin America.

——————————————————–

Others blogging on this:
The Astute Bloggers
Doug Ross@Journal
Dr. Sanity
GM’s Corner
Obi’s Sister
Sigmund, Carl and Alfred

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