Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Bolivia: Evo goes to Cuba

While the locusts attack Bolivia’s crops, Evo Morales was in Cuba last week, reportedly for treatment of a throat ailment,

Morales, 57, went to Cuba for treatment on Wednesday after a sore throat robbed him of his voice, causing him to cancel public appearances.

The government news agency said it was an emergency trip.

While at the hospital, Raúl Castro dropped by for a visit,

Reportedly, the FARC’s Timochenko also dropped by.

Evo recovered and landed in Caracas to participate in the latest ALBA summit and commemoration of the fourth anniversary Hugo Chávez’s death.

He was still sounding a little raspy.



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Cuba: What the hey is Moringa?

I was visiting Babalú Blog and came across this post by Carlos Eire: Evo Morales enthusiastic about Moringa pills given to him by Fidel Castro

“It’s such an important nutrient. Fidel now sends me Moringa pills,” said Evo Morales, president of Bolivia.

Evo just visited Fidel, to help him extend his 90th birthday celebrations.

El coma-andante Fidel has been promoting the cultivation of the Moringa plant for years, promoting it as a “miraculous tree” and urging its cultivation.

Carlos had added an illustration with the benefits, and a caption,

Moringa: the cure for everything, including original sin

Google is my friend, so I found moringa on  WebMD. There are some side effects (emphasis added)

Moringa is POSSIBLY SAFE when taken by mouth and used appropriately. The leaves, fruit, and seeds might be safe when eaten as food. However, it’s important to avoid eating the root and its extracts. These parts of the plant may contain a toxic substance that can cause paralysis and death. Moringa has been used safely in doses up to 6 grams daily for up to 3 weeks.

There isn’t enough information to know if moringa is safe when used in medicinal amounts.

Regarding the “Nutrition for infants . . . and pregnant and nursing mothers,”

Special Precautions & Warnings:

Pregnancy and breast-feeding: It’s LIKELY UNSAFE to use the root, bark or flowers of moringa if you are pregnant. Chemicals in the root, bark, and flowers can make the uterus contract, and this might cause a miscarriage. There is not enough information available about the safety of using other parts of moringa during pregnancy. Stay on the safe side and avoid use.

Moringa is sometimes used to increase breast milk production. Some research suggests it might do this, however, there isn’t enough information to know if it is safe for the nursing infant. Therefore, it is best to avoid moringa if you are breast-feeding.

Back in the olden days, there were similar remedies with anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory properties,

So better check WebMD before you take advice from Evo and Fidel.

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Bolivia: Evo Morales didn’t have a son

As you may recall, I posted last month about Evo’s girlfriend, the Chinese deals, and the campaign to be president-for-life,

Back in March I linked to an English language article summarizing Evo Morales’s missing child story and how it relates to corruption, Beyond the Zapata scandal: Outsourcing Bolivia’s National Development to China

“The basic details behind the scandal have been confirmed by President Morales himself. In 2007 or shortly before, the President had a relationship with Gabriela Zapata, resulting in a child who died shortly after birth. Zapata went on obtain a university education and alaw degree, and in 2013 was contracted by the Chinese company CAMC Engineering which won an estimated $580 millionin work from the Bolivian state, of which,$366 million was awarded after Ms. Zapata was hired to represent the company.”

As it turns out, Evo’s child is eight years old (link in Spanish), but Evo not only claims the child is dead, he threw in the clink Zapata’s aunt for asserting that the child is alive, which is one heck of a way to avoid a paternity suit.

In yet one more bizarre twist to the already-weird baby story, now it tuns out that Bolivian President Evo Morales’s “Secret Son” Was a Hoax.Son Who Appeared in Court Was Borrowed From Family Friend

First and foremost, I apologize to all involved (including Evo) for assuming that child was his.

I should have waited for the DNA test results.

No word as to whether any DNA tests were performed.

Now that that’s out of the way, it turns out that Evo’s former girlfriend Gabriela Zapata borrowed the boy from his natural parents, Victor Carlos Vega and Isela Chávez, for five years. Claudio Rivera Guzmán (the son of Pilar Guzmán, Zapata’s “spiritual” aunt – whatever that means) and another family member, Juan Garrido Espinoza, plus Zapata’s lawyers, William Sánchez Peña and Wálter Zuleta, were also found to be involved illegally in the hoax, so now all of them are in the clink.

You can’t make this up if you try.

————————————————

We talked about this and other topics in last night’s podcast,

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Bolivia: Evo’s girlfriend, the Chinese deals, and the campaign to be president-for-life

The NYT has an editorial on Evo Morales’s corruption, with the catchy title The Worst Boyfriend in Bolivia

If Bolivia’s widening political scandal were to be turned into a soap opera, a fitting title would be “Heartless Ex-Boyfriend.” The protagonists: a Machiavellian statesman and a former paramour. The plot: She threatens to expose him as a monster, but he is determined to stay in power indefinitely, even if he has to jail, silence and discredit her and his critics.

Back in March I linked to an English language article summarizing Evo Morales’s missing child story and how it relates to corruption, Beyond the Zapata scandal: Outsourcing Bolivia’s National Development to China

The basic details behind the scandal have been confirmed by President Morales himself. In 2007 or shortly before, the President had a relationship with Gabriela Zapata, resulting in a child who died shortly after birth. Zapata went on obtain a university education and a law degree, and in 2013 was contracted by the Chinese company CAMC Engineering which won an estimated $580 millionin work from the Bolivian state, of which,$366 million was awarded after Ms. Zapata was hired to represent the company.

As it turns out, Evo’s child is eight years old (link in Spanish), but Evo not only claims the child is dead, he threw in the clink Zapata’s aunt for asserting that the child is alive, which is one heck of a way to avoid a paternity suit.

I also had a prior post describing the scandal’s effect on Evo’s campaign to be allowed to run for reelection in 2019.

Evo has been in office since 2006. The coca growers want Evo as president until 2035, and Evo is doing his darnest to oblige. Considering the billions of dollars involved, why wouldn’t he?

All that dough got to your head?

The NYT also has a Review: ‘A Moment of Silence’ Follows the Evo Morales Era in Bolivia

While he delivered a constitution that recognized the rights of native groups, the film asserts that he resorted to the tactics of the leaders he despised. When his proposals undermined his constituency, the people protested, only to be met by government brutality, according to chilling testimony. “What does the president want?” one woman asks. “All these people voted for him.”

The editorial also points out the pattern of repression (emphasis added),

She [Gabriela Zapata] and her lawyers also said she has damaging information about the president’s right-hand man, Juan Ramón Quintana, the minister of the presidency.

But whether any of this intriguing material will be allowed to surface — and whether Ms. Zapata will get to defend herself and name names — is now in doubt. Last week, the government jailed her defense lawyer, Eduardo León, and an aunt, Pilar Guzmán, who had corroborated her assertion that Mr. Morales’s son was in fact alive. Mr. León, a prominent lawyer, has attended court hearings wearing a sign with the words “political prisoner.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Morales’s allies in Congress have been peddling bills that would curtail freedom of the press and regulate social media. What they fail to see is that Mr. Morales’s defeat in February resulted from damning facts, not critical news coverage. And they are clearly nervous about the insider account of corruption Ms. Zapata stands to tell if she gets her day in court.

On Tuesday, Mr. Morales announced a new referendum campaign, saying that the first one had been tainted by “lies” about the Zapata case. “During the second inning, we’ll see who is who,” he said.

Bolivia’s index of economic freedom has tanked since Evo came to power:

Let’s hope the new referendum campaign fails.

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Bernie supporters, stop calling it “democratic socialism”. Call it what it is: Communism.

As you may know, I follow Venezuelan news every day. As in everything else, the headlines follow trends, and the latest trend in Venezuelan news is “democratic socialism.”

Some of it has to do with Bernie Sanders, whose platform actively promotes the so-called “democratic socialism.”

According to Wikipedia,

Democratic socialism is a political ideology that advocates political democracy alongside social ownership of the means of production, with democratic management of enterprises within a socialist economic system. The term “democratic socialism” is sometimes used synonymously with “socialism”; the adjective “democratic” is often added to distinguish it from the Marxist–Leninist brand of socialism, which is widely viewed as being non-democratic.

Which, in practical terms,  means that communism is palatable if everybody votes for it so nobody has a right to complain. Your rights to private property and self-determination are done for either way, no matter what color lipstick that pig wears.

It’s like being a little pregnant.

Yesterday John Hinderaker posted on THE TRAGEDY OF DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM (emphasis added),

The Times does a good job of describing the disastrous state of health care in Venezuela–there is much more at the link–but never mentions the cause of the disaster, democratic socialism.
. . .
For a more perceptive analysis of Venezuela’s problems, see this excellent roundup by AEI’s Mark Perry. Among other headlines: “Hungry Venezuelans Hunt Dogs, Cats, Pigeons as Food Runs Out.” That is what happens under Bernie Sanders’ democratic socialism. Currently, inflation is running at stratospheric rates, and Venezuela can no longer afford to buy the paper needed to print more worthless currency.

The Washington Examiner explains how Venezuela is ‘democratic socialism’ in action, and concludes,

In recent years, polls have shown that younger Americans have become less wary of socialism. Many of them now “feel the Bern” in the current presidential elections. They were still children, or not even born yet, when the Berlin Wall fell. They have had few opportunities to see socialism in action because (for good reasons) there have been few new experiments with it in the time since.

They need to be told the full story of Venezuela, so that they can see how even a democratically elected socialist regime can bring a once-prosperous country to its knees. The unbending Maduro is giving them a unique chance to see it all play out in real time.

I hope they will listen. However, I am skeptical.

Almost ten years ago hundreds of emails and comments rained down abuse on me when I reported that Hugo Chávez declared himself a Marxist, because, after all, he was a self-proclaimed “democratic socialist” and I could not understand the difference.

Here’s the thing: I was quoting Chávez’s own words to the National Assembly, (starting at 0:16 in the video)

“Como ya le dije, pues, y entonces dije, bueno, yo además de cristiano, yo no soy sólo cristiano, yo soy un revolucionario, ¡y también soy marxista!”

(My translation) “As I told him, then, I then said, well, in addition to being a Christian, I’m not only a Christian, I am a revolutionary, and I am also a Marxist!”

As for Venezuela’s failure, true Bernieskees will assert that Maduro failed to follow Hugo’s stellar policies, as a former friend insisted two years ago, and that’s why things went wrong.

And let’s not forget the ones who think thins are bad in Venezuela because their currency exchange system is a mess, and after all,

Venezuela isn’t quite as socialist as many people assume.

As I said, Venezuela’s just a little pregnant, in their eyes.

THE OAS IN THE NEWS:
The OAS has a new Secretary General, Luis Almagro, following former Marxist José Miguel Insulza‘s retirement last year. Almagro is taking a hard line on Venezuela:
OAS Head Blasts Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. Former Uruguayan Foreign Minister Luis Almagro says leader verging on becoming ‘petty dictator’.

Mr. Almagro said he was considering applying the OAS’s Democratic Charter to Venezuela, as requested Monday by New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch, and earlier by Venezuela’s opposition-led Congress.

As I explained last Saturday, were the OAS to declare that Venezuela had violated its Democratic Charter, the country could be expelled from the OAS [See OAS Democratic Charter], which would mean pariah status for the country that Hugo Chávez envisioned leading the Hemisphere.

Maduro called Almagro a CIA agent, and Almagro hit back,

Mr. Almagro accused Mr. Maduro and his allies of stealing public money and called on him to release “the people you hold prisoner for their ideas.” He also urged the Venezuelan president to stop subverting the opposition-run parliament.

“You will never be able to give back the lives of children who have died in hospitals because they did not have medicine, you will never be able to free your people from so much suffering, so much misery, so much distress and anxiety,” Mr. Almagro wrote.

The secretary general exhorted Maduro to allow the referendum to take place this year, arguing that “when politics are polarized the decision must go back to the people.” To continue resisting a vote, which Mr. Maduro seems determined to do, “would make you just another petty dictator, like so many this Hemisphere has had.”

Mr. Almagro is expected to convene a special session at the OAS to discuss the erosion of democracy in Venezuela. Adhering to democratic principles is a requirement for membership in the OAS, which was established in 1948.

Of course, Maduro could take the same attitude Evo Morales had when Evo declared himself a Marxist seven years ago,

(My translation:) “One can not understand that anyone would be expelled from the OAS for ideological reasons. I am a Marxist-Leninist, too, so what? Are they going to expel me?”

However, since Maduro no longer has money to buy himself the love of other heads of state as Hugo used to, the OAS decision may actually carry some weight. It certainly opens the door to other leaders to take on Maduro, not only at the OAS but also Mercosur and Unasur.

IN OTHER MADURO NEWS,
His wife’s nephews are scheduled to be tried on drug charges on November 7 in Mahattan. They claim the 800 kilos of cocaine belonged to Diosdado Cabello and Tarek El Aissami.

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The crazy season Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

LatinAmerYou could make a case that it’s crazy season somewhere in the world at any given time, but it’s the Republican primary’s turn.

Elsewhere in our hemisphere,
ARGENTINA
Nisman case: Spy chief returns to Argentina to make bombshell allegations. Jaime Stiuso, who for almost 40 years was central to Argentina’s secret services, has returned from self-imposed exile to testify before a judge in the Nisman case, and shock a television chat show

Re: the Nisman investigation, read Eamonn’s string, Stiuso’s credibility: He’s a bad, bad man, but that doesn’t mean he’s lying,

BOLIVIA
A good, English language article summarizing Evo Morales’s missing child story and how it relates to corruption, Beyond the Zapata scandal: Outsourcing Bolivia’s National Development to China

The basic details behind the scandal have been confirmed by President Morales himself. In 2007 or shortly before, the President had a relationship with Gabriela Zapata, resulting in a child who died shortly after birth. Zapata went on obtain a university education and a law degree, and in 2013 was contracted by the Chinese company CAMC Engineering which won an estimated $580 millionin work from the Bolivian state, of which, $366 million was awarded after Ms. Zapata was hired to represent the company.

As it turns out, Evo’s child is eight years old (link in Spanish).

BRAZIL
Without a doubt, the top story of the month (yes, it’s early in the month, but still) is the raid on former president Lula’s home, his detention, questioning and release by the authorities investigating the Petrobras corruption scandal

Prosecutors now say they have evidence that Lula, members of his family and the Lula Institute, an NGO that he heads, received “undue benefits” worth 30m reais ($8m) in 2011-14 from builders embroiled in the Petrobras scandal. Lula was “one of the principal beneficiaries of the crimes” committed at the oil company, prosecutors claim. He vehemently denies any wrongdoing, and reportedly greeted the federal police officers at his door with calm, if not his usual folksy charm.

Many may have thought Lula was above the law at this point, but

Lula’s dawn surprise tops off a rough 24 hours for his embattled successor and protégée, Dilma Rousseff. The day before IstoÉ, a news magazine, published what it claimed was leaked testimony by Delcídio do Amaral, a senator from her (and Lula’s) Workers’ Party (PT), who was arrested last November in connection with the Petrobras affair. Mr do Amaral apparently alleged that Ms Rousseff appointed a judge simply because he was inclined to release important suspects, such as construction bosses, from pre-trial detention. Mr do Amaral also reportedly testified that Lula tried to buy witnesses’ silence. Ms Rousseff and Lula dismissed the report as unfounded speculation by IstoÉ; Mr do Amaral’s office issued a terse note declining to confirm the leaks’ contents (without expressly denying them).

Hours after IstoÉ dropped this bombshell, the Supreme Court charged the speaker of Congress’s lower house, Eduardo Cunha, with corruption and money-laundering. The chief prosecutor accuses Mr Cunha, who denies any wrongdoing, of managing the Petrobras “bribe pipeline”.

Other leftie leaders are uneasy.

Meanwhile, read about How the Left Came to Reject Cheap Energy for the Poor

CENTRAL AMERICA
CentAm Still Dominant Cocaine Route Into US: State Dept

CHILE
Historia de un oso (Bear Story)Chile Wins an Oscar for Tackling Its Past

14 injured after protest over fishing quotas turns violent in Arica

COLOMBIA
Editorial: Colombia Reports will ignore government’s press freedom limitations

Colombia Reports will ignore the Colombian government’s unlawful ban on reporting on FARC leaders’ trips to rank and file guerrillas. If we comply, this website could be censored any time deemed convenient by either the government or guerrillas.

Interior Minister Juan Fernando Cristo told press on Thursday that journalists are prohibited from reporting on FARC leaders’ attempts to explain a pending peace deal to their guerrillas, a significant step in a peace process that — like any process affecting citizens — requires public scrutiny.

More on the police prostitution ring,
Broadcast of politician and police leader’s secret sex tape prompts homophobia debate in Colombia. La FM for broadcasting an eight-minute excerpt of a video recording in which former Senator Carlos Ferro and a police captain discuss sex in crude details

CUBA
Obama’s unrequited Cuban romance. The president is unable to tell the difference between friend and enemy

Obama’s Cuba Visit Aims To Knock America Down A Peg. President Obama thinks the main problem with the world is the United States. That’s why he needs to cut us down to size in Cuba—and everywhere else.

Havana, the City of Scarcity. Cuban Capital’s Most Striking Feature Is Not Poverty, But Shortage

ECUADOR
US agents busted $2 million of cocaine in Florida, and it may be the latest shipment from a growing drug hotspot

See the Fiery Eruption of Ecuador Volcano. Tungurahua emits lava and a column of ash four miles high.

HONDURAS
Prize-Winning Activist Berta Cáceres Killed in Honduras. Victim had won prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize last year for fighting dam project

LATIN AMERICA
Why Latin American leftists would love a President Trump

China’s Pivot To Latin America: Beijing’s Growing Security Presence In America’s Backyard

How to Run a Drug Cartel. The black market is driven by the same forces as any other economic enterprise.

MEXICO
Air pollution: La Ciudad de México se ahoga: La concentración de contaminantes ha aumentado en el último lustro

Just how much of this is true? El Chapo entered US twice while on the run after prison break, daughter claims. In an exclusive interview, Rosa Isela Guzmán Ortiz says Mexican officials helped him evade US patrols and that he bankrolled the election of senior politicians

PANAMA
Panama economic growth slows to lowest since 2010

PARAGUAY
Stratfor report: Dark Pasts and Bright Futures in Paraguay

considering Paraguay’s difficult history, there is much to be impressed with, in terms of the country’s political evolution and economic growth over the past 20 years.

PERU
The real shining path in Peru: Incarnate Word sisters

PUERTO RICO
Inside La Isla: The Primary in Puerto Rico. Statehood, the Zika virus, and bankruptcy are big issues on the Island of Enchantment, but when you can’t vote for president, how do you make your voice heard?

Thousands of Puerto Rico Inmates Vote in Republican Primary

At least 6,500 of the island’s 11,500 prisoners are registered to vote, and government officials said this year’s turnout was strong. Even prisoners not registered are allowed to participate in the open primaries, which are held two days ahead of the vote for the general population. The island’s Republican primary is Sunday while Democrats vote in June.

URUGUAY
UPDATE 1-Uruguay calls for tighter money supply as inflation spirals

VENEZUELA
Obama Renews Declaration that Venezuela is a National Security Threat. But it’s more just a desperately poor nation suffering from socialist mismanagement and oppression.

The Legend Of El Dorado, Turned Backwards



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#Bolivia: Evo concedes defeat

Was about time:
Evo Morales concedes defeat in Bolivia referendum that was held last Sunday.

Evo finally got around it,

Bolivian President Evo Morales acknowledged defeat in a referendum that would have cleared the way for him to run for a fourth term in 2019, saying in a speech on Wednesday that he would respect the decision of the people.

. . .

Most polls ahead of the referendum suggested a narrow win was likely, given Morales’ solid support among those who credit him with slashing poverty in Bolivia, South America’s poorest country when ranked by gross domestic product per capita.

But in the end, with more than 99 percent of votes counted, the “no” side had 51.3 percent to the “yes” side’s 48.7 percent, Bolivia’s electoral commission said.

The results were announced three days after the polls, with multiple allegations of fraud and irregularities (links in Spanish) surfacing during that time.

However,

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