Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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El Chapo vs Netflix

Netflix is playing a miniseries about the drug lord of the world’s biggest drug crime organization, and he will be suing because they

“defame” his character by adding salacious details to his life story.

I kid you not:
“El Chapo” Guzman Sues Netflix, Univision over Use of His Image.

I’m under the impression that he cannot sue for royalties, but would like to know if the actor gets to wear the Barabas shirt.

In other Chapo news,
Chapo’s alleged girlfriend, Mexican congresswoman Lucero Guadalupe López, was arrested on conspiracy charges at San Diego airport as she was entering the U.S. in search of asylum.

Mexico has its bloodiest month in 20 YEARS: May sees a record number of murders as violence intensifies between gangs vying to fill space left by El Chapo

  • Mexico’s May has seen the highest increase in homicides in over 20 years
  • The first five months of 2017 have seen an increase of about 30 per cent in homicides over the same period last year
  • The violence is in part due to the weakening of El Chapo’s cartel, Sinaloa since his extradition to the US last year, meanwhile the Jalisco cartel is on the rise
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Colombia: Three dead in terror attack in Bogota

No one claims responsibility as of the writing of this post,
Three women have been killed in the Colombian capital, Bogotá, in what the authorities say was a terrorist attack.

The authorities say they believe the explosion was caused by a small bomb in a ladies toilet.

The attack happened on a busy Saturday afternoon, when the Andino shopping centre was full of people buying presents for Father’s Day, being celebrated on Sunday.
. . .
It is not yet known who was behind the attack.

The rebel group the National Liberation Army (ELN), the second largest in the country after the Farc, has used one of its Twitter accounts to condemn the attack and say it shared the victims’ pain.

They say those who are accusing them of being behind the attack are trying to jeopardise peace talks, which are continuing with the government.

Related:
Caught in the crossfire of armed gangs in Colombia

Weekly InSight: Coca, Cocaine and Colombia

UPDATE

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Venezuela, the world’s deadliest country

Four Venezuelan cities are in the list of top-ten deadliest (not including areas considered to be war zones), while Caracas tops the list. Acapulco, Mexico is #2.

Worse yet, “Forty-three out of the world’s 50 most violent cities are in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Dangerous cities list: Latin America confirmed as world murder capital. Venezuelan capital of Caracas heads the ranking with 130.35 homicides for every 100,000 inhabitants

Forty-three out of the world’s 50 most violent cities are in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to an annual report by Mexico’s Citizen Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice (CCSPJP). The list does not count cities currently considered to be in combat zones.

 The Igarapé Institute in Brazil has confirmed this situation, noting that 14 out of the 20 countries with the highest homicide rates are in the same part of the world.
Latin America and the Caribbean are home to eight percent of the global population, yet account for 33% of homicides.
Venezuela has the dubious honor of being the only country with four cities in the top 10, with the capital, Caracas, leading the world ranking at 130.35 homicides for every 100,000 inhabitants.

The Mexican city of Acapulco comes in second with 113.24 homicides per 100,000 residents, followed by San Pedro Sula in Honduras, with a rate of 112.09 per 100,000.

The list:

The 10 most dangerous cities in the world, according to the CCSPJP, are the following (figures represent murders per 100,000 residents):

1. Caracas, Venezuela (130.35)

2. Acapulco, Mexico (113.24)

3. San Pedro Sula, Honduras (112.09)

4. Distrito Central, Honduras (85.09)

5. Ciudad Victoria, Mexico (84.67)

6. Maturín, Venezuela (84.21)

7. San Salvador, El Salvador (83.39)

8. Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela (82.84)

9. Valencia, Venezuela (72.02)

10. Natal, Brazil (69.56)

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Panama: How Panama’s Criminal Landscape Has Changed Since the Days of Narco-Dictator Noriega

Geographic location, secretive banking sector, and a contraband trade hub ensure Panama’s place in the drug trade.

InSight Crime reports on How Panama’s Criminal Landscape Has Changed Since the Days of Narco-Dictator Noriega

Deceased Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was said to have turned his country into one of the most emblematic examples of a “narco-state” in Latin American history, and his dealings with Colombia‘s biggest drug bosses laid the groundwork for Panama‘s role in the global drug trade for decades after his 1989 arrest by US troops. We explore why Panama remains a drug trafficking haven for the successors of the Colombian criminals that Noriega helped make rich.

Notorious former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega died in a Panama City hospital on May 29 due to health complications. The 83-year-old former strongman had been under house arrest in his native country after serving time in both the United States and France on drug-related charges.

Read the whole thing.

Jon Lee Anderson writes on Manuel Noriega, a Thug of a Different Era

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Brazil: The heaters in the heaters

From Miami to Rio, via air,

Brazil seizes 60 assault rifles hidden in pool heaters

Police in Brazil have seized 60 assault rifles that had been smuggled from the US city of Miami in a shipment of swimming pool heaters.

The weapons, which included 45 AK-47 guns, were found at the cargo terminal at Rio de Janeiro’s Galeao International Airport.

Four people have been arrested, police said.
. . .
It is believed the guns could have been sold in Brazil for up to $1.5m (£1.1m) in total. Detectives are investigating an exporter in Miami, Globo newspaper reported without identifying them.

In other headlines:
J&F Investimentos, the holding company behind meatpacking giant JBS SA, agreed to pay roughly $3.2 billion in fines

The penalty outpaces the one levied against construction conglomerate Odebrecht last year as part of the same investigation.

The Associated Press reports J&F plans to pay the fine over a span of 25 years.

Yet this penalty is just one part of the plea deal; another component played out in a very public way earlier this month, when J&F co-owner Joesley Batista turned over a secret recording to prosecutors. That recording — which appears to show Temer condoning the payment of hush money to an imprisoned politician — leaked to media earlier this month, prompting protests in the streets and questions of whether Temer’s tenure could survive the scandal.

Temer insists he will remain in office.

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Mexico: Ríodoce’s Javier Valdez killed in mob hit

Mexican journalist Javier Valdez, known for his award-winning coverage of the drug trade, has been shot dead.

Valdez was shot dead on the street near the premises of the Mexican news weekly he had founded, Ríodoce.

During his career spanning nearly three decades, Valdez wrote extensively on drug-trafficking and organised crime in Mexico, including the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel.

The cartel is believed to be responsible for an estimated 25% of all illegal drugs that enter the US via Mexico.

Valdez is the sixth Mexican journalist killed this year.

Ríodoce vows to continue.

“We were hit in the heart today: Ríodoce”

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Brazil: Lula denies all wrongdoing, but wants to run again

Following up on yesterday’s post, Brazil’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was in court and, as expected (emphasis added)

vigorously defended himself in during a court deposition here Wednesday, denying that he had a role in a monumental corruption scheme being investigated by a judge who has become popular for his crusade against graft.

In a show of defiance to Judge Sergio Moro, Mr. Lula repeated his intention to run for the presidency next year, implying that the investigation wouldn’t stop him from returning to office and thereby putting him into a position where he would be immune from charges.

Oh. That.

You can watch the full deposition on YouTube,

Thousands of supporters had gathered outside the Curitba courthouse while Lula was questioned for five hours.

Lula would be banned from running for public office if found guilty

in any of the five trials he faces this year in cases centering on how construction companies overcharged Petrobras on projects, with the illegal funds then channeled to politicians. Mr. da Silva has been indicted on five indictments of corruption, influence-peddling and money-laundering charges.

The Curitiba questions had to do with allegations that he and Mrs. Lula received $1.2 million from OAS, a company that did business with Petrobras, involving a three-story penthouse Lula claims he never owned.

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