Turks and Caicos

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).

PUERTO RICO
PENSION WARS
Pension Update: Puerto Rico Up, San Jose Down
It’s been an up-and-down week for public pensions. In San Jose, a judge struck down a significant piece of the city’s pension reform plan, setting the stage for a big ballot fight next year. In Puerto Rico, on the other hand, the Senate finally passed a measure to put the Teachers Pesion Fund on solid footing.

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

VENEZUELA
Caracas Says It Received China Credits
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said China has given his country $5 billion in credits under a deal reached in September.
Money Pledged in September to Be Used for Several Purposes

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

Muere Hugo Chávez, nace el chavismo
Con o sin el expresidente, el chavismo es una plataforma viable, y es la preferida por los venezolanos. De eso ya no queda duda

ICYMI, The Venezuelan State’s Occupy “Movement”: The Victory of Socialism!

The week’s posts:
Cuba: Institutionalized racism

Argentina: Rocket up, power out

Ecuador: Cléver Jiménez, accused of hacking, gets raided. Assange & Snowden could not be reached for comment.

Mexico showed the way in 2013

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

February 23, 2009 By Fausta

The Lugar Report Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. If you would like your link included in next Monday’s Carnival, please email me, faustaw2 “at” gmail “dot” com.

Two big stories last week:
Allen Stanford, resident of St. Croix and holder of dual US-Antigua citizenship, managed to bilk thousands of investors across Latin America, and went missing for a few days. He eventually was located in Virginia. I did a background post for Real Clear World and will continue to follow the story in months to come.

The second big story is the (pdf file) “CHANGING CUBA POLICY — IN THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL INTEREST” report by the committee headed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Richard Lugar (Rep. – Indiana). The report – as the title says – recommends a change in US foreign policy with Cuba. Don’t miss today’s podcast on the Lugar report.

LATIN AMERICA
Reality intrudes on drug war

Is Obama Planning a North American Common Market?

CARIBBEAN
The restless Caribbean: Unhappy islanders
Troubles strike far-flung satellites of France and Britain

ANTIGUA-BARBUDA
$8bn ‘missing’ from Allen Stanford’s offshore bank

Howzat!
Shocking allegations against Stanford Group, so soon after the arrest of Bernard Madoff, suggest this will be a fraud-infested downturn

ARGENTINA
Embarrados

Por qué tenemos el futuro hipotecado?

Argentine farmers start protest

BOLIVIA
Bolivia pays a high price for nationalization

Gobierno nacionalizará tres empresas eléctricas

BRAZIL
Lime Slime’s Brazil: Skinheads and Celsos

Carnival queen sambas with Obama’s face on thigh

CHILE
Fidel, Raúl at odds, Chilean editor says

Bachelet vexed by Fidel’s article

Chile’s economy: Stimulating
Cashing in the fruits of rigour

COLOMBIA
Colombia’s Uribe Seeks Brazilian Oil, Milk, Beef Investments. Colombia Seems a Better Client than Ecuador, Venezuela or Bolivia for These Sectors

Hugo Chavez seguirá protegiendo a las FARC

Colombia police in wiretap probe
Colombia’s secret police is under investigation over claims rogue agents may have intercepted phone calls and passed on information to criminals.

Via IBD Blog, Unrest in Bogotá over ‘pico y placa’

CUBA
Lugar, GOP Senate Report Urge Fresh Look at Relations With Cuba

PDF file Changing Cuba Policy – in the United States National Interest. Staff trip report to the Committee on Foreign Relations United States Senate

Still waiting

José Manuel de la Rosa Pérez, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 2/22/08

ECUADOR

Ecuador expels second US diplomat for ‘meddling in internal affairs’
Ecuador ordered the expulsion on Wednesday of a second US diplomat for allegedly “meddling in its internal affairs” in a dispute over an aid programme, fuelling tensions between the OPEC member and its most important trade partner.

Ecuador says expelled diplomat was ‘CIA chief’

Hedge Funds for the Few & Socialism-Communism- Labor Union Populism for the Many

Ecuador Police Raid Stanford Office

EL SALVADOR
El Salvador and the Chávez Model
With the presidential election approaching, chavismo weighs heavily on voters’ minds.GUADALOUPE
Race, class fuel social conflict on French Caribbean islands

Economic Riots In Guadalupe Turn Racial

GUATEMALA
Presidente de Guatemala conoce proyectos con Chavez y aumenta nexos con Cuba

HONDURAS
Hallan avioneta venezolana abandonada en Honduras Authorities found Venezuelan airplane abandoned in Honduras. The plane was believed to have carried nearly a ton of cocaine.

MEXICO
Earth to President Obama: Our neighbor Mexico is in dire straits

Bret Baier Reports on Problems with Mexico, Drug Cartels, and Kidnappings (VIDEO)

Must-read report on the Mexican drug wars at the Wall Street Journal: The Perilous State of Mexico
With drug-fueled violence and corruption escalating sharply, many fear drug cartels have grown too powerful for Mexico to control. Why things are getting worse, and what it means for the United States.

The New York Times and Terror Tourism

Mexico’s ceramics industry: A clean plate
A battle for lead-free pottery

NICARAGUA
Political tension in Nicaragua: The new Somoza
Daniel Ortega’s slide to autocracy

PANAMA
Chavez holds Venezuela

RV Caravan From Texas To Panama

PUERTO RICO
In Bronx, Little Houses That Evoke Puerto Rico

VENEZUELA
Abrogation of the soul

Chavez on despots’ term-cutting edge

The consequences of the 2009 vote

Some parting shots on Chavez, Venezuela and Stanford

Antisemitism in Venezuela: troubling findings

Is a Venezuelan diplomat promoting antisemitism?

Venezuela: Expectations & Challenges 2009 – The Opposition’s Perspective . Part 1 here, continues at YouTube

ENTERTAINMENT
Che’s image and its perception

IMMIGRATION
EDITORIAL: Illegal-alien outrage

audio feature: How migrant workers from El Salvador risk their lives to get to the US

US POLITICS
Via IBD Blog, Mexico needs Obama’s eye

TRAVEL
Vacation Rental Homes in Costa Rica

Special thanks to Ada, the Baron, Eneas, Larwyn and Maggie

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September 8, 2008 By Fausta

The hurricane edition of the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

UPDATE
You can listen to today’s podcast here

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. If you would like your posts included, please email me: faustaw2 “at” gmail “dot” com.

This week’s big story: the hurricanes traveling through the Caribbean. Over 500 people died in Haiti.

LATIN AMERICA
‘Cold War II’ could involve Latin America

Star Resorts Development Inc. (SRDP.OB): Playing the Tourism Boom in Latin America

Mary Anastasia O’Grady talks about bringing stability to Latin America:

Más delicias “bolivarianas”

Al deterioro de las instituciones centrales de la democracia en Bolivia, Ecuador y Venezuela se les suman ahora los casos de Honduras y Nicaragua.

DPA: Iran, Bolivia, Venezuela can recognize independence of South Ossetia, Abkhazia

The war on drugs hits serious snags

The dangers of Hezbollah in Latin America

ARGENTINA
Satisfying the creditors: The President Pays Her Dues

ARUBA and Netherland Antilles
Antilleans outraged by ethnic database plan

BOLIVIA
Evo Morales huye en helicoptero hacia el Brasil – Venezolanos en linea

Despite U.S. Aid, Coca Cultivation On Rise in Andes

Two “revolutionary nations” agree to boost their relations
Iran and Bolivia are natural allies: Ahmadinejad

BRAZIL
Spying on justice: The top spooks eavesdropped on the top court

(Audio starts when you click on link) Jeffrey Nyquist interviews Brazilian philosopher Olavo de Carvalho

COLOMBIA
Un nuevo PC de las FARC amenaza con un escándalo mayor que el de Reyes

El gobierno de Colombia aseguró hoy que la información contenida en los computadores y memorias USB del jefe guerrillero “John 40″, cuyo campamento fue atacado esta semana, es más grande que la encontrada a “Raúl Reyes”.

El ministro de Defensa, Juan Manuel Santos, confirmó, de acuerdo a lo reseñado por Radio Caracol, que en total fueron tres computadores y 40 memorias las encontradas en Puerto Cachimo, Guaviare, donde se desarrolló el operativo.

“Nos va a dar información igual o más importante de la que obtuvimos en el ataque a Raúl Reyes“, dijo el ministro Santos quien añadió que “la información se irá revelando paulatinamente con el fin de no prevenir a esta guerrilla.

De otro lado, Santos informó que Gener García Molina, alias”John 40″, resulto herido en el bombardeo y huye herido por las selvas del Guaviare.

En el ataque, llevado a cabo por unidades de la Fuerza Omega, fueron abatidos 9 guerrilleros y 4 más fueron capturados.

Las autoridades colombianas presumen que el jefe guerrillero está protegido, en su huída, por 4 guerrilleros del frente 43, que alcanzaron a huir con él, indicó Santos.

‘Rescue’ latest in series of setbacks for Colombia’s FARC

Bloggers at the RNC: Josh talks about Colombia

CUBA
At least 7 newborns died in a Cuban hospital due to a bacterial infection

U.S. policy bad for Cubans in need

No country for old women

Free Gorki Aguila!

ECUADOR
Under Siege: Freedom in Ecuador

The Economist’s Country Briefing predicts double-digit inflation.

Putting the rights of nature in Ecuador’s constitution

Freedom in Ecuador under siege

Venezuela e Irán envían urea a Ecuador

HAITI
Haitian Hurricane Relief

Eyewitness: Haiti’s storm ordeals

MEXICO
Oh rose, thou art sick: The president faces a long goodbye

NICARAGUA
Nicaraguans continue to be disillusioned with their current situation

Repression in Nicaragua under Sandinistas

TURKS and CAICOS
Caribbean lashed by Hurricane Ike

VENEZUELA
Chavez announces that he’ll take part in military maneuvers with the Russians and will “graze past Miami” Chávez anuncia que irá en un Sukhoi a Cuba y que pasará “rozando Miami” Considering the current weather in the Caribbean, that’s going to be a bumpy ride. Chavez invites Russia to maneuvers, as Venezuela to host Russia navy exercise in Caribbean (h/t Lady Logician).

Energy and arms dominate Russia-Venezuela talks

Chavez takes over fuel transport

A Little Insult Is All the Rage in Venezuela: ‘Pitiyanqui’

Unenlightened Venezuelans

Electric sector begins to show Chavez’ recipe for disaster

How the US Gov. made 20 millions today from Hugo’s Citgo

Upcoming event
‘Bolivia: Surviving and Thriving despite XXI Century Socialism’ September 9, 6-9PM

Video
The birth of Freedom

AMERICAN POLITICS
Sarah America Will Take It To Petrotyrants

HUMOR
The Val Guide to Hurricane Preparedness

Special thanks to Eneas, GoV, Irish Spy, and Maggie.

PLEASE NOTE THE NEW PODCAST SCHEDULE:
The daily 15 Minutes on Latin America podcast has been moved up to 10AM Eastern.

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August 13, 2008 By Fausta

VDH on Moscow’s sinister brilliance, and a closer scenario

Victor Davis Hanson’s article, Moscow’s Sinister Brilliance
Who wants to die for Tbilisi? looks at the upside for the Russians: The home front, the timing, the comeuppance, and the apologists in the West.

The new reality is that a nuclear, cash-rich, and energy-blessed Russia doesn’t really worry too much whether its long-term future is bleak, given problems with Muslim minorities, poor life-expectancy rates, and a declining population. Instead, in the here and now, it has a window of opportunity to reclaim prestige and weaken its adversaries. So why hesitate?

Money quote (puns always fully intended):

Russia does not need a global force-projection capacity; it has sufficient power to muscle its neighbors and thereby humiliate not merely its enemies, but their entire moral pretensions as well.

Bear that in mind.

A more talented petty tyrant than Chavez will someday put that lesson to practice in our hemisphere.

Let’s think of this scenario: Chavez is replaced by a more disciplined guy who’s politically savvier, say, Victorio Putinto. His friends and foes alike call him Tinto (behind his back) but Victorio has no sense of humor, so he doesn’t like it. Putinto knows how to work the photo-ops and gets invited to the US president’s vacation house. His polished businesslike appearance looks comfortable in the halls of power anywhere in the world. He has popular appeal in his own country and feeds both the masses real hunger and the country’s elites greed.

All appearances aside, Putinto, like Hugo and Putin, has a Cold War mindset. Putinto continues his weapons deals with Russia and Iran. Putinto also puts some of the Venezuelan oil money to work building the military infrastructure of the country, rallying the armed forces totally to his side. Meanwhile the old colonial powers, France and Britain, leave or continue to considerably neglect whatever outposts they have in the Caribbean.

Who’s going to stop Victorio from invading, say, Guyana, and several of the former European colonies, such as Turks and Caicos? Who’s going to prevent those lands from becoming strategic posts from which Victorio can terrorize the region? To use VDH’s question, who wants to die for Turks and Caicos?

John Hawkins links to Spengler (via Memeorandum), who points out that

The number of flashpoints for violence in the world has grown in inverse proportion to their importance. The world is full of undead tribes with delusions of grandeur, and soon-to-be-extinct peoples who rather would go out with a bang than a whimper. The supra-ethnic states of the world have a common interest in containing the mischief that might be made by the losers. China, which has an annoying terrorist problem in its Westernmost province, has plenty of reason to help suppress Muslim separatists.

Russia’s simply working on this changing paradigm. Richard Fernandez has the best commentors on the blogosphere, so, if you have time, browse through.

You mean history hasn’t ended yet?

Geographic Freudian slip? Notice how the BBC map paints Russia and Georgia the same color:

On a less serious vein, Cappy asked the other day,

Is it just me, or are there others that think Putin escaped from a James Bond film?

Definitely yes, Cappy; both Putin and George Soros are like someone out of an Ian Fleming novel.

—————————————————————————
UPDATE
You can listen to the podcast here
I’ll be talking about the Russia scenario translated to a Latin American setting today at 11AM Eastern. Chat’s open by 10:45AM and the call in number is 646 652-2639. Join me!

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August 11, 2008 By Fausta

The second Monday in August Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. If you would like your posts included, please email me: faustaw2 “at” gmail “dot” com.

This week’s big story, which was rather predictable: Yesterday’s referendum in Bolivia continues the current status, with Evo Morales still in power and the opposition also in Eastern Bolivia remaining strong:

Bolivians voted Sunday to keep President Evo Morales in office, with unofficial returns on a recall referendum giving him a victory even larger than the one that put him in office more than two years ago.

But despite drawing more than 60 percent of the vote, according to partial counts from polling stations, Morales appears to have not fundamentally changed the prevailing political deadlock in this Andean nation. The governors in eastern Bolivia, who form the powerful opposition to Morales, also held their seats by wide margins, leading to concerns that the voting results could exacerbate tensions here.

The president, vice president and eight of the nine state governors were subject to Sunday’s recall vote. Three governors, including Morales opponents from La Paz and Cochabamba, were defeated. Meanwhile, the governor of Santa Cruz, the relatively wealthy lowlands state that has led the fight for more regional autonomy and to remove Morales, was backed by nearly 70 percent of voters, Bolivian television reported.

The departments voting against Morales are: Santa Cruz (70%), Beni (78%), Tarija (62%) and Chuquisaca (61%). As you may recall last May Santa Cruz, home to 25% of Bolivia’s population, voted for autonomy, a result which Morales dismissed.

Noticias24 has a video (in Spanish) of the final results.

Resultados del referéndum de Bolivia
by noticias24

Official results will be available in 7-10 days.

Morales to push on with Bolivian reforms after winning vote. The Beeb makes it sound as if having opposition in Bolivia is a bad thing, since they claim that the referendum was “designed to heal the country’s wounds” – into a Communist country.

As regular readers of this blog know, Evo Morales has the financial and ideological support of Hugo Chavez. Version Final estimates that in the past two years Chavez has sent Morales US$2,912,851,275, including $55 million for the purchase of helicopters and $30 million for improving the Bolivian army ifrastructure. More at the PDF file in Spanish (via el duende de Santa Cruz). Gateway Pundit posts that Venezuela and Iran are to loan Bolivia 225 million dollars to create a state cement company for the construction of roads and houses, ignoring housing shortages in their own countries.

UPDATE Venezuela News and Views analyzes the results

Rural and city vote is very split everywhere, the same phenomenon we observe in Venezuela with Chavez, as education and business drive away like garlic the vampirism of state control. this is dramatic in Potosi, the province that gave Evo its largest victory with 80.8%. The rural vote there was 94.1% FOR Evo but a much lower 68.5% in urban areas.

Crossover voting is more prevalent and important than what I thought at first. For example in La Paz the NO to Evo is 22.9% but the YES to Paredes was twice that amount, at 42.3%.

The division of the country is made clearer if we look at the average Evo Victory. In the 5 provinces he won, the average percentile SI is 70.8%. But in the four he lost the percentile average SI is 44.3%!!!! A difference of 25%!!!! It hardly gets more divided than that.

You must read the rest of his post.

In other Latin American news, Colombia has destroyed a FARC outpost described as “a small city” with 43 houses, where the Colombian military found weapons, electrical plants and documents. The information leading to this strike was provided by two informants.

ARGENTINA
With buddies like these, Argentina and Venezuela are in real trouble.

BOLIVIA Articles prior to the referendum:
Bolivia, Shell Oil reach pipeline compensation deal

Bolivia reached a “friendly” agreement Aug. 8 to compensate Royal Dutch Shell for its stake in the nationalized gas pipeline company Transredes

Morales Says He `Doesn’t Fear’ Results of Recall Referendum

Bolivia: Se acerca la batalla del jacha uru

Protests Mount as Bolivia Heads for Crucial Vote

BRAZIL
Brazil to Fight Ethanol Tariffs

Paying for the forest: Donations are welcome, even from foreigners

CHILE
Bomb Explodes at Brazilian Embassy in Santiago, EFE Reports

Viento en contra sobre la Concentracion

COLOMBIA
So … Should Colombia Give the Hostages Back to the Terrorists?

Afghanistan: Colombian soldiers to back Spanish troops

Red (Double) Crossed

FARC Commanders Indicted Over Kidnappings of Americans

CUBA

The picture of the Revolución
This photo is the perfect metaphor for the half-century long Communist dictatorship: the infrastructure, the economy, and Cuban society crumble away while the cult of personality is highlighted in bright letters.

Political prisoners end hunger strike

A disident’s return to Cuba

GUATEMALA
US tourist hacked to death in Guatemala

ECUADOR
Constitutional coup d’etats by Chavez and Correa

Death Threats Received by Archbishop and Human Life International Leader in Ecuador for Opposing “Abortionist” Constitution

Special forces search for FARC

HAITI
George Soros’ Testing Ground

MEXICO
Mexico’s Poor Forgo Goods as Income From U.S. Drops

Drug cartels feeling the heat
Under unprecedented pressure, Mexico’s drug cartels have unleashed epic violence, which some say shows that antidrug measures are working.

The Mexican kidnapping business

NICARAGUA
Vinculos de Daniel Ortega con las FARC

PARAGUAY
The next leftist on the block: Measuring up Fernando Lugo’s plans for a misgoverned country

TURKS and CAICOS
Commentary: Are the Turks and Caicos Islands ready to leave the nest?

VENEZUELA
In Enacting Decrees, Chávez Makes New Power Grab

VENEZUELAN BUSINESSMAN TURNS THIEVES INTO EMPLOYEES
Alberto Vollmer’s programs for poor squatters and young hoodlums seen as a model for defusing social tensions.

Power Grab
Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez launches a new attack on his country’s freedoms

S.O.S. Venezuela’s Political Disaster – August 7, 2008

What now in Venezuela? How do you fight against a “legal” coup d’etat?

Chavez accused of reviving old reforms

Chavez’s way

Chavez continues nationalization drive

About those Russian planes….

AMERICAN POLITICS
A Lousy Latin Lover

PODCAST:
I’ll be talking about Bolivia in this morning’s podcast at 11AM Eastern. The call in number is 646 652-2639 and chat will be open at 10:45AM, please join us! UPDATE You can listen to the podcast here.

Special thanks to the Baron, Eneas, Maggie and Siggy.

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