BRAZIL
Brazil jail fights kill 59 in 2013
At least 59 inmates have been killed in a single northern Brazilian prison this year; the town is Pedrinhas.
CHILE
Statistics in Chile
No consensus
COLOMBIA
Colombia`s year of peace
CUBA
The Free Alan Gross website.
Magazine Celebrates Mass Murderer Che
ECUADOR
Ecuador Faces Legal Quandary over Intra-Indigenous Violence
HONDURAS
Honduran High Court Rejects Challenge to Presidential Vote
JAMAICA
Police in Jamaica probe slaying of New York teen
MEXICO
Observations and Questions as NAFTA Reaches 20 Years of Age
A Civil Servant in Mexico Tests U.S. on Asylum
NICARAGUA
A must-read firsthand account from a former NGO worker: 32 years after the revolution Reagan is right
PERU
The Dark Side of El Dorado: Illegal Gold Mining In Peru Generating More Money Than Drug Trafficking (emphasis added)
In fact, so much gold has been produced by the “informal” (or “illegal’) mining sector in Peru – involving some 40,000 miners who have tried to scrape whatever they can in abandoned mines around the country, from the jungle province of Puerto Maldonado to the deserted landscape of Ica – that gold has become more lucrative than cocaine trafficking (of which Peru is the largest exporter, having surpassed Colombia in 2012, according to the United Nations).
With A Downgrade On Debt Imminent, Puerto Rico Needs A Visit From Santa Claus
TURKS & CAICOS
Turks and Caicos Islands: 18 Believed to Be Migrants From Haiti Drown
Eighteen people believed to be migrants from Haiti died Wednesday when their overloaded sailboat overturned as it was being escorted to shore in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
URUGUAY
Uruguayan Navy Seizes Over 1 Ton of Cocaine
USA
‘Military-Style’ Raid on California Power Station Spooks U.S.
The Most Underreported Foreign News Stories of 2013
The Most Underreported Domestic News Stories of 2013
PDVSA awards crude tender to U.S. refiner at wide discounts-trade, via Kermit, wjo points out,
A decade or so ago Venezuelan crude was sold on longterm contracts at about $10 per barrel discount from the two widget fiction crudes, WTI & Brent. Looks like it is now $20 discount and crude production has declined quite a bit.
What Will Happen In Venezuela In 2014?
2013 in review: the year we realized that the Venezuelan electorate is wretched and vile
ICYMI, The Venezuelan State’s Occupy “Movement”: The Victory of Socialism!
The week’s posts:
Cuba: Institutionalized racism
Argentina: Rocket up, power out
Argentina: 60 wounded by piranha attack
Cuba: Doctors to earn $40 a month
Nicaragua: Paul Berman writes to de Blasio
Reformed dictators don’t exist
At Da Tech Guy: Fausta’s Puerto Rican Christmas menu