American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture
The worst forest fires in Chile’s history have now destroyed more than a million acres of land, leaving at least 11 dead.
Here’s a roundup from international media,
Huge planes help fight Chile forest fires
AP PHOTOS: Chile Continues to Battles Its Worst Wildfires
Russian plane combats forest fires in Chile
Deadly wildfires continue to ravage Chile
In pictures: Raging wildfires in Chile lead to mass evacuations
The Vatican and Argentina’s bishops have finished cataloguing their archives from the country’s “dirty war” and will soon make them available to victims and their relatives who have long accused church members of complicity with the military dictatorship. The 3,000 files being released, though, are a fraction of the documentation believed to be in the possession of the Argentine church.
A joint statement Tuesday by the Vatican and the Argentine bishops’ conference said the process of digitizing the archives had been completed and that procedures to access the information would be forthcoming. No date was set, and the opening for now is restricted to victims, detainees, their relatives and the religious superiors of victims who were priests or nuns.
BRAZIL
Brazil Turns Away From Establishment Politicians in Local Elections.
Even as President Michel Temer struggles to assure investors that Brazil is politically stable, this month’s municipal elections show restless voters fed up with Brazil’s ruling class and willing to gamble on unconventional newcomers
CHILE
Is Chile leaning to the right again?
COLOMBIA
Colombia government peace team to meet with Uribe allies
CUBA
What could possibly go wrong? Congress: Cuba to Share Critical U.S. Intel With Iranian Spies. Intel sharing with Cuba endangers America, lawmakers warn
He said that the action-oriented outcome document, known as the New Urban Agenda, enshrined now in the ‘Quito Declaration on Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements for All,’ should be seen as an extension of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, agreed by 193 Member States of the UN in September 2015.
GUATEMALA
Comparing Presidential Corruption Scandals in Guatemala and Brazil: Part 2
Following a report in the Washington Post that the foundation raked in millions from foreign governments while Clinton was at the State Department, Clinton’s team discussed over email how to address questions about the Algeria donation from other outlets.
JAMAICA
More soldiers for western Jamaica
Government has announced plans to augment the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) in western Jamaica in an effort to have speedier and more effective response to any violent upsurge in that section of the island
DoD Official: U.S.-Mexico Military-to-Military Relationship ‘Worth Strengthening’
Clinton Trots Out Mexican Music Legend Vicente Fernández on Univision, Telemundo, as she panders,
PANAMA
COPA Launches New Low Cost Carrier to Colombia and More (H/T JC)
Panama’s Copa Holdings has unveiled a new low-cost carrier, Wingo, as it aims to turn its loss-making Colombian operations around.
Bogota-based Wingo will operate its first flight on 1 December, and will take over all of Copa Colombia’s routes except its flights to and from Panama City.
PUERTO RICO
Patients left in limbo as more doctors flee Puerto Rico
URUGUAY
Possible new home for Gitmo ex-detainee unhappy in Uruguay, but Lord knows where,
The group did not say which country made the offer and it was unclear if Dhiab has travel documents. Uruguayan officials did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday.
VENEZUELA
Opposition Protests Will Be Met With Colectivos: Venezuelan VP
Silvio Canto points out that Chile goes right on the anniversary of Allende’s election.
With over 99 percent of results counted on Sunday night in local elections, the right-leaning Chile Vamos pact emerged as the big winner. It won slightly more votes than President Michelle Bachelet’s left-leaning Nueva Mayoria coalition, despite the left going into the vote with a massive incumbent advantage.
Conservative candidates won the majority of key swing cities, including central Santiago, a municipality inside the capital that is considered an electoral bellwether.
. . .
The results should benefit Pinera, a conservative politician and businessman who served as president from 2010 to 2014 between Bachelet’s two terms and is widely expected to seek a return to office.
WSJ:
The election is the latest setback for Latin America’s left following the end of high commodity prices that drove economic growth for a decade. In August, former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was ousted in an impeachment trial. Bolivian President Evo Morales’ proposal to change the constitution to run for another term was rejected in a referendum. Late last year, Argentine voters elected business-friendly President Mauricio Macri to overhaul his predecessor’s populist policies.
Or, as Bloomberg put it, Chile Voters Give Government a Bloody Nose and Peso a Boost
Yes, there’s a presidential debate tonight. Meh.
ARGENTINA
Argentina plans eurobond
Probe into Nisman’s death will go to federal courts
En su testimonio, afirmó que se dio una orden ilegal a Migraciones para saber sus movimientos, reveló el dueño de un teléfono clave y vinculó a Aníbal Fernandéz.
Argentina Seeks To Export Its Human Rights Policy
BOLIVIA
“Narcos”. Artículo completo de Veja sobre Evo y Álvaro – Evo Morales and his vice-president Álvaro García Linera, investigated by the DEA.
Give it up, Evo: Bolivia’s Morales accuses Chile of restricting access to ports
BRAZIL
Brazil’s Supreme Court Gives OK to Open Probe of New President Temer
Judge approves preliminary investigation, which is based on plea-bargain testimony by a key witness that implicates President Michel Temer, other PMDB members
CHILE
CIA found ‘convincing evidence’ Chilean dictator was behind 1976 D.C. attack
The latest revelations about the Cold War-era case come on the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Orlando Letelier, a leading opponent of the Pinochet regime and onetime Chilean foreign minister, and his think-tank colleague, Ronni Moffitt, in a car bomb on D.C.’s Embassy Row.
COLOMBIA
“The FARC’s abortionist confessed to [performing] 400+ abortions on abused girls. Is there pardon, justice, and reparation?”
El abortista de las Farc confesó más de 400 abortos practicados a niñas abusadas. ¿Hay perdón, justicia y reparación? #Villavicencio pic.twitter.com/Wt4xuMt3ny
— Óscar Iván Zuluaga (@OIZuluaga) September 22, 2016
CUBA
How Kim (DPRK) and Castro (Cuba) Blackmail Abe (Japan)
Nearly on a monthly basis, some senior North Korean is on a “working visit” to Cuba. Or some senior Cuban regime official is on a “working visit” to North Korea.
With the exception of China, there’s no other nation in the world that North Korean officials visit with such frequency.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Republic’s Former Anti-Drug Chief Sentenced to 20 Years
ECUADOR
Ecuadorian Police Oust Dozens of Cubans Demanding Visas from Quito Park
IMMIGRATION
HILLARY: THE THIRD WORLD HAS A “RIGHT” TO MOVE TO THE UNITED STATES. No, they don’t.
JAMAICA
American says he wants to protect Jamaica’s natural ganja
MEXICO
Priest Killings Highlight Mexico Govt’s Credibility Problem
NICARAGUA
Nicaragua rejects U.S. bill for loans with strings attached (emphasis added)
Nicaragua on Thursday criticized a proposal by U.S. lawmakers that would require the Central American country, which will hold elections in November, to make political changes in order to receive international loans.
. . .
The Nicaraguan government was responding to the Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act, a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday. A version was introduced by Senator Ted Cruz in the U.S. Senate earlier this month.The bill proposes blocking Nicaragua from obtaining loans from international financial institutions unless the country “is taking effective steps to hold free, fair, and transparent elections.”
On Nov. 6, Nicaraguans will vote for president and 90 members of the National Assembly.
President Daniel Ortega is the favorite as he seeks his third consecutive term.
PANAMA
Smithsonian opens climate change lab in Panama
PARAGUAY
Polka lessons
Budgets have been roughly in balance and public debt is low. The central bank aims for an inflation rate of 4.5% and usually gets close. Commercial banks are healthy (in part because they charge high interest rates and face little competition). Regulation, like the tax code, is business-friendly. Independent trade unions, suppressed under Stroessner, are weak.
PERU
Peru President Says Unasur Unable to Resolve Venezuela Crisis
PUERTO RICO
Where were you when the lights went out? The Puerto Rico blackout, from space
URUGUAY
More on Abu Wa’el Dhiab: Uruguay says ex-Gitmo detainee demands exceed government
“The Uruguayan government is doing everything possible,” Vazquez said. “But as I’ve said in the past: If the countries where the Syrian citizen wants to go don’t take him, we can’t do anything about it.”
VENEZUELA
Military and Police Corruption: Venezuela’s Growing Evil
In an attempt at demonizing any opposition, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton tars the Trump supporters as deplorable and/or clueless, and later tried to walk it back, making what even Mexican media called a half apology.
Protesters Set Up 100 Soup Kitchens in Argentine Capital. What took them so long?
Nisman’s Iran case reaches new appeal stage
The efforts to reopen the complaint filed by late AMIA special prosecutor Alberto Nisman against former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in January last year will continue this week with a hearing at an appeals court to determine if Federal Judge Daniel Rafecas had reason to deny such a petition from the DAIA Jewish community group last month.
In parallel, Federal Judge Claudio Bonadio has been making progress in an accusation of treason against Fernández de Kirchner and former foreign minister Héctor Timerman in relation to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Iran.
ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, COLOMBIA:
South America’s Drug Slums: Jurisdiction of Organized Crime
BELIZE
Belize will not support second probe into death of Guatemalan teen
BOLIVIA
Bolivia proposes prison time for illegal coca production
BRAZIL
Upcoming event at Cato: Brazillionaires: Wealth, Power, Decadence, and Hope in an American Country, September 13, 2016, 12:00PM to 1:30PM
If you can’t make it to the event, you can watch it live online at www.cato.org/live and join the conversation on Twitter using #Brazillionaires. Follow @CatoEvents on Twitter to get future event updates, live streams, and videos from the Cato Institute.
Rousseff Abandons Brazil’s Capital after Ouster
CHILE
Affluent Chile draws migrants but it’s no picnic for them
COLOMBIA
Colombia’s ELN rebels and paramilitary heirs scramble to occupy FARC territory
Colombian Condemns Murder of Owner of FARC Transition-Zone Property
CUBA
Cuba’s Walled Garden
House panel will consider bill to halt Cuba flights next week
Sirley Ávila León Cuban Democracy Leader Disappears From Commercial Flight
ECUADOR
Ecuador Begins Drilling for Oil in Pristine Corner of Amazon
Sweden puts pressure on Ecuador over questioning Julian Assange
HAITI
Hillary Cares About You? Ask the Haitians She Ripped Off
JAMAICA
Prince Buster: Jamaica’s True Voice of the People
MEXICO
‘Wolf Boys’: 2 American teens become brutal hitmen for feared Mexican drug cartel
PANAMA
Panama Papers: Denmark to buy leaked data
PUERTO RICO
Latin America’s Largest Sail Training Ship Docks in Puerto Rico
URUGUAY
Abu Wa’el Dhiab, a.k.a. Jihad Ahmad Diyab, a.k.a. Abu Wael Dihab, a.k.a. Jihad Ahmed Mujstafa Diyab, is still at it:
Hunger-striking ex-Guantanamo inmate leaves Uruguay hospital
Uruguay searching for country to take ex-Guantanamo detainee (emphasis added)
Syrian native Abu Wa’el Dhiab has repeatedly said he is unhappy in Uruguay and is demanding he be allowed to leave the South American country, which took him in with five other former Guantanamo prisoners in 2014.
. . .
Although there’s nothing impeding Dhiab’s family from coming to Uruguay, the former prisoner is against it, Mirza said. “We’d have to ask ourselves why his family could not come to Uruguay when the families of other Guantanamo refugees came here when they wished.”
. . .
Dhiab also says that he feels like a prisoner in Uruguay.
A prisoner who traveled to Argentina, and through Brazil to Venezuela, that is.
VENEZUELA
FROM VOODOO ECONOMICS TO VOODOO
Almost 60 Percent of Venezuelans Say They Want Out
The big news of the week: The announcement that the FARC and the Colombian government had finalized a peace agreement, which, from the looks of it, will not be signed by the president of Colombia or the FARC’s top leader.
Almost unnoticed: Iran’s LatAm tour.
ARGENTINA
Vile: Argentinian pupils wearing Nazi armbands attack Jewish students in ‘Mengele village’
#Iran #Argentina #Latinoamérica y #Nisman. Todo en una misma nota:https://t.co/ICO3IeTvbI
— Damian Pachter (@damianpachter) August 21, 2016
BOLIVIA
Bolivian miners lift roadblock after deputy minister beaten to death
How USA Today unraveled Ryan Lochte’s Rio drama; US swimmer Lochte ‘won’t respond’ to Brazil false claim charge. Cynics would say that Lochte provides a useful distraction.
CHILE
Chile’s pensions:The perils of not saving. A pioneering system, now in need of reform
COLOMBIA
Colombia’s opposition paints apocalyptic picture of post-conflict, for good reason.
CUBA
Iranian press gloats over Iran’s new Latrine sphere of influence
Captive Nations Presentation: Cuba, Human Rights and U.S. Policy
ECUADOR
Iran, Ecuador discuss ways to strengthen oil prices
When Clinton was secretary of state, donations from foreign governments to the Clinton Foundation correlated to large increases in weapons exports from the U.S. to the countries which donated. With Clinton’s help, Clinton Foundation donor Claudio Osorio won a $10 million loan in 2010 from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation meant to be used to build houses in Haiti. Corrupt Venezuelan banker Gonzalo Tirado hired Jonathan Mantz, a Clinton fundraiser, and made a donation to the Clinton Foundation in order to avoid being extradited to Venezuela.
MEXICO
Morelos: Mexican state buries over 100 people in mass grave, including torture victims
Of the 117 bodies found, 17 could not be identified as they were either too badly decomposed or because they had been decapitated or were missing other body parts. Four of the 84 showing signs of having suffered violent deaths had bullet holes in their skulls.
According to an investigation by Univision, Rivera asked Pierdant to pay her taxes on the property as “a favor between friends.”
An information request to the Miami-Dade County Tax Office revealed the actress actually hired two law firms to cover those taxes, including during the years of 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015.
PERU
Ayahuasca: a brain-altering chemical, rife with dangerous side-effects, taken in an isolated locations, what could possibly go wrong? Filipino tourist dies in hallucinogenic ritual in Peru.
PUERTO RICO
Last person out, please turn off the lights: Puerto Rico: An island’s exodus
ST. KITTS
ATIP docs for [Justin] Trudeau’s St. Kitts trip reveal undisclosed costs for “Tour Manager”
Not only were taxpayers on the hook for the costs of bringing the government-funded nanny—even though she didn’t appear on one version of the flight manifest—but also thousands of dollars for Trudeau’s tour manager to tag along, even though it wasn’t an official trip of any kind.
URUGUAY
Not very high times: Weeks From Selling Pot, Uruguay Producer Sees Future in Hemp
Weeks before selling its first ounce of pot at pharmacies, International Cannabis Corp. is already betting that hemp – a variety of cannabis – will be a much bigger market than selling the psychoactive part of the plant, according to Chief Executive Officer Guillermo Delmonte. Hemp and its extracts can be used in food, cosmetics and medicine
VENEZUELA
American Joshua Holt now a political prisoner in Venezuela
Venezuela ex-mayor Ceballos sent to prison from house arrest
Venezuela’s Inflation Rate Now Approaching Lunacy Levels
FARC soon to a Venezuelan arepera near you
The big all-over-the-world stupid story of the week: Ryan Lochte and three other swimmers got drunk and gave Brazilians an excuse to feign outrage over their country being embarrassed; I’m still waiting for the Brazilians to be embarrassed over the body parts washing on shore during the Olympics or over the six Brazilians a day who die at the hands of state security forces.
Meanwhile, a new word enters the lexicon, Iranophobia (emphasis added),
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will tour six Latin American countries next week to “foil the Iranophobia plots promoted by Israel,” the Islamic Republic’s semi-official state news agency Fars reported on Wednesday.
. . .
Zarif will be accompanied on his visit to Cuba, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia and Venezuela by a 60-member economic delegation.
Unlike Ali Baba, whose entourage was only forty-strong.
ARGENTINA
This may explain a number of things: Freudian psychoanalysis is so popular in Argentina, even prisoners go once a week
BOLIVIA
Bolivia opens ‘anti-imperialist’ military school to counter US foreign policies
The Santa Cruz academy was initially inaugurated in 2011 as the “ALBA School” after the now-weakened regional alliance that includes Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Cuba.
Morales’s invitation to that event of then-Iranian defense minister Ahmad Vahidi provoked an uproar in neighboring Argentina, where judicial authorities have accused Vahidi of a role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center that killed 85 people.
BRAZIL
less than 3% of robberies in Rio, and less than 8% of murders, led to criminal sentences from 2003 to 2006.
Mercosur malaise 1: Brazil Summons Uruguay Ambassador as Mercosur Tensions Rise
Brazil summoned Uruguay’s ambassador on Tuesday after the neighboring country’s foreign minister accused Brazil of trying to “buy” its vote to block Venezuela from taking the rotating presidency of the Mercosur trade bloc.
In comments to lawmakers last week that were made public on Tuesday, Uruguayan Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa said his government was “angry” with Brazil’s attempt to prevent Caracas from leading the regional group that also includes Argentina and Paraguay.
. . .
Since Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff was suspended in May, her replacement Michel Temer has moved the country away from leftist allies such as Venezuela and toward traditional allies the United States and Europe.Argentina and Paraguay, once close allies to Caracas, have also moved to undermine Venezuela as the OPEC nation’s socialist government struggles with economic and political crises.
CHILE
Freight train falls into river after bridge collapses in Chile
COLOMBIA
InSight Crime three-part report: Colombia Elites and Organized Crime
Are New Groups Already Moving In On FARC Drug Empire?
The Libertarian Case against the Santos-Farc Agreement in Colombia
CUBA
One Year Later: Assessing President Obama’s Failed Cuba Strategy
HAITI
UN admits role in Haiti’s deadly cholera outbreak
JAMAICA
Bolt ends Olympic career with ninth gold
MEXICO
El Chapo’s Son Kidnapped? Ivan ‘El Chapito’ Guzmán Tweets Amid Reports Of His Abduction By Rivals
Mexico Michoacan: Police accused of executing 22 in ranch assault
NICARAGUA
Nicaragua struggles to control fire at sole refinery
PUERTO RICO
‘Gold Medal My Way of Giving Back to Puerto Rico’: Puig
URUGUAY
Mercosur malaise, 2: [Argentina’s] Malcorra blames Uruguay for leaving Mercosur ‘in limbo’. FM says Montevideo ‘should have waited’ before dropping bloc’s pro-tempore presidency
Hungry Venezuelans break into Caracas zoo and butcher a horse
While the pools turn green, the athletes are breaking records and earning medals, even if some (like Ryan Lochte and four teammates) get mugged at gunpoint by men in police uniforms.
BOLIVIA
Evo Morales Confirms Bolivia’s Economic Downturn
Israeli Wrestler Takes Olympic Gold Without Winning Single Match After All Muslim Opponents Forfeit‘
NBC PANIC: RIO RATINGS HIT LOW…
From green pool to missing pontoon, problems won’t go away…
At The Economist, they’re not into records:
Why few records will be broken in Rio: The human body may have reached its limits
The factors fuelling America’s dominance of gymnastics
Why Pacific-island nations are so good at rugby
Olympians have discovered new fads and superstitions
CHILE
Chile’s privatized social security system, beloved by U.S. conservatives, is falling apart
COLOMBIA
Good luck with that: Colombia wants involvement of pope and UN in post-conflict courts.
CUBA
The fruits of “smart diplomacy”: Fidel Castro Lambasts US And Obama On 90th Birthday. The veteran Communist firebrand mocks attempts by America to kill him during Havana’s long Cold War stand-off with Washington.
Judicial Watch Investigates Starwood’s Hotel Deal With Cuban Military
MEXICO
Jorge Ramos Moves Towards Hitting Campaign Trail for Hillary. He will continue to call himself a “journalist,” which brings to mind this,
Ricardo Pierdant, a Miami-based businessman, in 2013 paid close to $30,000 in property taxes on behalf of first lady Angélica Rivera for an apartment she owns in Miami, according to tax records seen by The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Pierdant is a close friend of Mexico´s first family, according to Mr. Peña Nieto´s office.
The first lady purchased her apartment in the wealthy island enclave of Key Biscayne in 2005.
Mr. Pierdant subsequently purchased another apartment directly above Ms. Rivera’s, according to Miami property records.
Texas Family Among Those Kidnapped by Los Zetas Cartel in Mexico
NICARAGUA
Nicaragua’s president makes a farce of democracy
PANAMA
IDEAS PANAMA PAPERS Joseph E. Stiglitz and Mark Pieth: Why We Left the Panama Commission
PARAGUAY
Murders Add to Fears of Narco War in Eastern Paraguay
Paraguay recalls ambassador in diplomatic dispute with Venezuela
Earlier this week, socialist Maduro accused Paraguay of being part of “an extreme right wing alliance” aimed at blocking Venezuela from assuming its role as head of Mercosur as scheduled during the second half of the year.
PERU
PPK works out: Peru’s 77-year-old new president isn’t acting his age. And Peruvians love it.
PUERTO RICO
1 in 4 Puerto Ricans will have Zika by end of year…
URUGUAY
Montevideo Is Considering Joining The Pacific Alliance Trade Bloc, since Peru and Colombia issued an invitation.
VENEZUELA
Again, Venezuelans cross into Colombia after border is reopened
Invictus, via Miguel Octavio,
