Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Venezuela: Bal Harbour police Police wired drug money to known drug traffickers, money launderers

This was in the Miami Herald this weekend, and mostly went unnoticed, but it’s the “what the hey” story of the month, if not the year:

Bal Harbour to Caracas: Millions in drug money. Hundreds of thousands went to man who is now top aide to President Nicolás Maduro. Village police ‘broke the law,’ says former top DEA agent. Police wired drug money to known drug traffickers, money launderers

Click on image to enlarge:

For two years starting in 2010, they funneled millions in drug money into the bank accounts of Venezuelans, including William Amaro Sanchez, now special assistant to President Nicolás Maduro. The stated goal: to disrupt criminal groups.

They sent drug money to a well-known trafficker, a cash smuggler and a money launderer — more than $4 million in all.

If you think this was a routine sting operation, get a hold of this (emphasis added),

In spite of U.S. warnings about the emergence of the country as a major hub for cocaine, the police never investigated the people to whom they were sending millions in drug proceeds, including a host of individuals with criminal records.

How it worked:

Jaw-dropping.

This is a Fast and Furious, without the guns.

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Comparing voting in NJ to voting in FL

IMG_0743Today I’m Comparing voting in NJ to voting in FL at Da Tech Guy Blog.

I didn’t go into the local politics in my article, but after decades of political campaigns in four states, I had never experienced such bombardment as the local Florida Crist-Scott campaign this year. You could not escape the campaigns: TV, radio, robocalls, internet (Google ads ran Crist ads in my blog), knocking on doors, campaign workers at the mall, both sides did not let up.

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Obama makes campaign stop, meets Coco & Berta

after a $32,000/plate dinner, With Charlie Crist as guest, President Obama raises cash in Miami, chats with Cuban dissidents Guillermo “Coco” Fariñas and Berta Soler.

Florida’s newest high-profile Democrat, former Gov. Charlie Crist, was spotted at the Segovia Tower in Coral Gables at a $32,000-a-head fundraiser hosted by personal injury attorney Ralph G. Patino.

Obama moved next to a fundraiser hosted by Jorge Mas Santos, a Cuban American National Foundation leader and CEO of MasTec. There, the president thanked Mas Santos, who stood next to him, and singled out Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.

Obama told two of Cuba’s leading dissidents in South Florida that he admires their sacrifices, a rare White House recognition of the peaceful opposition on the communist-ruled island.

“The most important thing here was the recognition by the president of the United States, the most powerful democracy in the world,” dissident Guillermo Farinas said minutes after the meeting.

The other dissident is Berta Soler, of the Ladies in White.

Speaking by the pool of Mas Santos’ house, Obama said his policy of supporting civil society in Cuba is beginning to show results, but that Washington must continue to be “creative and thoughtful” in its policies.

Results, you say? Cuban human rights monitor reports 763 political arrests in October.

Just last week Fariñas was beaten up by a mob in his hometown of Santa Clara, Cuba.

If you like your policy of supporting civil society in Cuba, you can keep it. Period.


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BlackHawks over Brickell UPDATED: What the heck is going on?

Imagine BlackHawk helicopters firing in a high-density, high-traffic area in a major American city. Something out of a movie, done with CGI effects, you say?

Think again,

Shark Tank reports: Blackhawk Choppers Buzz Miami Skyline, Blank Rounds Fired

Last week, an unknown number of Blackhawk helicopters strafed the Miami skyline while numerous residents on balconies overlooking the city witnessed the helicopters actually firing their machine guns with blanks in the vicinity of the Miami Herald Building. One amateur video shot by Atlanta resident Josh Epperson captured the sound of blank rounds being fired.

Government officials can still own assault weapons under the Feinstein bill.

For full paranoia mode, here’s another question: Why is the Department of Homeland Security purchasing 450 million rounds, and why is the Social Security Administration purchasing 174,000 rounds, of hollow-point bullets?

UPDATE: What the heck is going on?
Army drill scares residents on Houston’s south side (h/t Melissa)

The U.S. Army along with other agencies took over the old Carnegie Vanguard High School near Scott and Airport. There were armed men in fatigues, plenty of weapons and what many thought were real live rounds

“I felt like I was in a warzone.” Jerrals said. “It was nonstop. I was terrified.”

Cross-posted at Liberty Unyielding.

Linked by Zion’s Trumpet. Thank you!

UPDATE:
Minneapolis, August 28, 2012,

(reminded by Chris Muir)

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The WaPo finds 900,000 Puerto Ricans in Florida

In Florida, Puerto Ricans’ rise gives a key swing state more swing voters

There are nearly 900,000 Puerto Ricans in the state,

Yowza! There are 4 million in PR, another 4 million outside the island, so it’s hardly surprising several of my relatives live in Fl.

and perhaps by the time they reach the million mark they will no longer be an overlooked constituency. They are rapidly catching up — in raw numbers, if not in political clout — to the long-established Cuban American community that many people think of when they think of Hispanics in Florida.

What sets Puerto Ricans apart from other Hispanic groups is that they’re all American citizens. On the island, which is a commonwealth of the United States, Puerto Ricans can vote in presidential primaries, but they have no voice in the general election because Puerto Rico has no electoral votes. But when they move to Florida and take up residency, Puerto Ricans have the same voting rights as someone who moves from across the Georgia border.

There’s a video,

The article is OK, but conflates all Latinos, while the real subject is Central Florida,

Jose Martinez, 31, is a Dominican entrepreneur who is in the thick of the new Orlando economy. He owns 13 MetroPCS stores, selling cheap cellphones — pay in cash, no contract required — to a mostly immigrant clientele, including many Mexicans, he says.

Makes you wonder about non-citizens voting as “Puerto Ricans”, though.

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The missing Brazilian

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

Wednesday last week Brazilian millionaire Guma Aguiar’s 31-foot fishing boat washed up in Fort Lauderdale, and it didn’t take long before his mom and his wife started feuding. Now a Rabbi has intervened,
Rabbis Work Out Truce Between Missing Millionaire’s Feuding Mom and Wife

Two rabbis helped facilitate a truce between missing millionaire Guma Aguiar’s feuding mother and wife, who took their $100 million battle to a Florida courtroom today.
…
While Aguiar’s wife wanted control, his mother was fighting for control to be handed over to a third party — Northern Trust, a wealth management company selected by Aguiar to take care of his assets should anything ever happen to him.

A court hearing to appoint conservatorship was expected this evening. But earlier today two rabbis and a congregant, who made up a committee formed by Aguiar as a group of advisors, kicked into place a legal mechanism that gave Northern Trust control of the assets. The court agreed to it.

His assets were not in Brazil,

If Northern Trust accepts, it will have control of all of Aguiar’s U.S. assets, valued at more than $50 million. But control of his millions in Israeli assets is still up for grabs; the Florida court did not have control over international assets.

For now, both parties agreed to the truce.

Aguiar had a troubled history,

He has been arrested several times, including for drug possession and driving under the influence, according to court records. He is also currently on probation after pleading no contest to domestic violence charges.

In 2010, he was involuntarily admitted to an Israeli psychiatric hospital after his erratic behavior.

Aguiar made his fortune in 2006 when he and his uncle Thomas Kaplan sold their Texas-based energy company for a reported $2.5 billion. The two have been in a messy legal battle since 2009 over the division of the money.

They went on to say that he was the victim of what amounted to “psychological terrorism.”

In 2011, he was appointed an emergency guardian after his wife and mother petitioned a Miami-Dade judge for one.

However, since his body has not been found, there’s no evidence that he’s dead.

Only thing for sure: the lawyers will be making a lot of money.


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Herman Cain flunks the Versailles test

Herman Cain went to the most famous Cuban restaurant in Miami, and didn’t do well at all. The Miami Herald’s Naked Politics blog has all the details, but here’s the video:

As Babalu said, it isn’t pretty.

I really like Cain, but he’s woefully unprepared on anything having to do with foreign policy. Heck, he’d do better if he even read this blog every few days.

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Florida: Invasion of the giant snails!

Folks in Florida not only have to contend with alligators and flying roaches, now they get giant snails, too.

How big are we talking about? THIS big:

ht african land snails florida thg 110916 wblog Giant African Snails Invade Miami Florida


Ugh!

Big, ugly, and destructive,

Giant African land snails can grow to be as long as 8 inches and consume at least 500 different types of plants. They also destroy stucco and plaster.

“They leave excrement all over the sides of houses. They’re very nasty,” Feiber said. “These things are not the cute little snails that you see.”

They also pose a health risk by carrying a parasite that can cause meningitis in humans.

Apparently the snails were smuggled from Africa for religious purposes,

In 2010, officials began investigating Charles Stewart, a man who practices the African religion Ifa Orisha, the Miami Herald reported. Stewart was accused of using the snails in his rituals and

Are you sitting down?

investigators claim an African woman brought them to him by sneaking the snails under her dresses on flights to Miami, the Miami Herald reported.

No word on what her dry cleaning bills are like.

The last time Florida had a snail invasion, it took 10 years to get rid of them.

I wonder if we could ship them to France as escargot.

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