Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

May 9, 2016 By Fausta

The Chanel show Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

The ultimate Potemkin village show went to Cuba, obscene as it could get, which inspired Juan Abreu’s NSFW Ayer soñé con el culo de Lagerfeld (H/T Babalú). Hollywood Stars Cavort in Cuba while Arrests of Dissidents Hit New High

ARGENTINA
Lord Price said UK and Argentina at the start of a new era of bilateral relations

President calls to fight poor quality, ‘useless’ jobs

BOLIVIA
Bolivia natural gas exports fall sharply in first quarter to $594.4 mn

BRAZIL
Brazil Senate’s Impeachment Committee Votes to Try RousseffPresident could be forced to step down next week

Uh, oh! Mexico’s Top Broadcasters Forgo Airing Rio Olympics. Televisa’s coverage of 2012 London games pushed up costs without generating additional revenue growth

CHILE
Experts Blame El Niño For Dead Sea Creatures on Chile’s Beaches

Food Crisis as Fishermen Block Access to Island in Chile

COLOMBIA
Colombia to send jets against criminal gangs

Ingrid Betancourt Returns to Colombia with Call for Unity

ECUADOR
UN reports quake death toll hits 660; donor response poor

IMMIGRATION
Mexico Will Issue Birth Certificates to Illegal Immigrants in United States. Amendment Could Provide Birth Certificates to 2 Million Mexicans

JAMAICA
Church group says darkness of evil over Jamaica

MEXICO
Ex-Mexican President Vicente Fox trolls Trump about his ties, which are made in China.

Mexico: the most dangerous country in the Americas for journalists. Five reporters have been killed in 2016 so far, according to an NGO

PANAMA
Panama Papers source ‘John Doe’ sends manifesto to explain data-release actions

PERU
Quad/Graphics Discloses Peru Foreign Bribery Investigation

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Governor Warns of Another Default. Puerto Rican Gov. Alejandro García Padilla said the territory won’t make a roughly $800 million payment due in July on its most senior bonds, a move that would accelerate the island’s debt crisis.

Say it, Louis!

VENEZUELA
Germán Malvare Venezuelan Opposition Leader Fatally Shot

Lights out

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Filed Under: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Ingrid Betancourt, Jamaica, Latin America, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela Tagged With: Donald Trump, Fausta's blog, Panama Papers

July 12, 2010 By Fausta

The SOB Day Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean with VIDEO

LatinAmerWelcome to this week’s Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. The Carnival today is named after a new holiday proposed by a guy in Argentina – SOB day. A holiday we can all celebrate.

ARGENTINA
Clarin denounces Argentine government’s increase in press harassment

A new holiday in Argentina? SOB day!

BRAZIL
Petrobras Debt Risk Rises More Than Pemex on Deep-Water Drill Costs Climb

Brazil’s Petrobras Eyes 2011 Start-Up for Ethanol Pipeline

CHILE
Entrevista a Alejandro Gutierrez, arquitecto ARUP: “Yo creo que debiera haber un Alcalde Mayor”

Alejandro Gutierrez _ Desafíos para Santiago from Plataforma Urbana on Vimeo.

COLOMBIA
U.S. denies visa to Colombian journalist Hollman Morris, citing Patriot Act

Giving a new shade to the meaning of bitch: Ingrid Betancourt sues the Colombian state

COSTA RICA
Legislators Appeal To Constitutional Court To Stop U.S Warships From Entering Costa Rican Waters

CUBA
Hardly surprising: Spain begins to qualify prisoner release terms

At first, Spain’s foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos assured everyone that the 52 Cuban prisoners of conscience that are supposed to be released and shipped to Spain can return to Cuba whenever they like. The release was not a forced exile, he declared to reporters.

Now, however, he is beginning to qualify that statement by saying that Spain cannot guarantee that the Cuban dictatorship will authorize their return.

France offers to resettle deportees

Hollywood Mourns Their Castro Connection


Cuba to release 52 political prisoners, Catholic Church says

The Elian Gonzalez case 10 years on

Obama says: Cuba Si!, Gulf Coast No!

Saturday chuckle, in Spanish with all the dirty words you can fit in three minutes:

The First Sip of Water

Probably Still There to Join in the Fun

ECUADOR
Chavez, Correa Boost Cooperation

As part of those efforts, Venezuela and Ecuador on Tuesday will carry out their first binational transaction through the Unique System for Regional Equalization (SUCRE), to reduce costs and avoid dependence on the U.S. dollar.

Yeah, right.

GUATEMALA
How Guatemala nearly went ‘narco’

Hiring: héroes para Guatemala

GUYANA
Guyanese man pleads guilty in JFK bomb plot

Guyana recommits to peaceful resolution of border issue with Venezuela

HONDURAS
La Gringa is looking for Honduras Blogs.

MEXICO
Mexican president’s allies lead in key elections

Somewhere over the rainbow in Mexico’s elections

Mexicans Vote in State Elections

Mexico’s Culture of Racism

The myth that the border can’t be secured

Longer-term Impact of the Alliances

Drugs Aren’t the Only Problem

Mexique : Allah au pays des Mayas

Islamists in Mexico (report in Spanish:

PANAMA
South Korea investing big into Panama

Protests in Changuinola, Bocas del Toro Province

PERU
Peruvian Drug Dealers Hid Dope In Vuvuzelas

Catching up with Peru’s fight against narcoterrorists

Pisco to Lima gas pipeline in Peru may take three years

VENEZUELA
Venezuelans oppose Chávez attempt to nationalize private food company

VICEMINISTRO DE CHAVEZ SE QUEJA DEL OLOR DEL CAVIAR…

Stone’s Reel Mission

But Stone also revealed at Friday night’s showing in Santa Monica that the documentary wasn’t about box office returns. No, he’s more concerned about showing it through “the cultural circuit” to impressionable audiences with little knowledge of Latin America.

“We’ve got demand from a lot of universities,” Stone said, for “as many as possible to see it.” It’ll play on TV next year too, he said.

Hugo Chavez belongs in the rogues’ gallery: Compare him to the world’s worst dictators

Not so Random Chavismo Target of the week: Twitter

IMMIGRATION
Lawyer for American Taliban to Head DOJ Arizona Case

Brewer To Boston: MYOB

So, Will Holder Tell Arizona that the States Are Pre-empted from Defending Themselves from Hezbollah, Too?

HUMOR
During the floods in Brazil that kept Lula from the G20 (h/t Roissy, who looks at the betaness of it all, I think the guy carrying the girls would have carried the day had he used a Rhett Butler technique.)

The week’s posts and podcasts:
Cuba to expel 52 political prisoners: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Cuba to expel political prisoners
Hezbollah honcho busted at his Tijiuana Mx home
Two parties win in Mexico, but does it matter?
In Silvio Canto’s podcast
Obama: we can’t secure the border

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Filed Under: Argentina, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Chile, Colombia, Communism, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, elections, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hugo Chavez, illegal immigration, immigration, Ingrid Betancourt, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Venezuela Tagged With: Abdel Nur, Gulf oil spill, Oliver Stone, vuvuzela

March 3, 2009 By Fausta

The real Ingrid Betancourt in captivity, and today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern

Former hostages Keith Stansell, Thomas Howes and Marc Gonsalves have their book out, Out of Captivity. Monsters and Critics has a lengthy review of the book. In it the former hostages describe not only their horrible ordeal, but also explain in detail what Ingrid Betancourt was like:
Colombia Hostage Book
Ingrid Betancourt was ‘worse than guards’, claims a fellow hostage
The heroic status of Ingrid Betancourt, who was rescued from six years in the hands of Marxist guerrillas deep in the Colombian jungle, has been shattered by a memoir from her fellow captives.

One of the American prisoners claimed that she was haughty, self-absorbed, stole their food, hoarded books, and risked their lives by informing the guards that they were CIA.

Mind you, Betancourt had to be aware that by claiming the men were CIA she was endangering their lives.

But the three American hostages are not the only ones: The London Times, in an article titled Hostages line up to vilify the ‘jungle heroine’ Ingrid Betancourt

Now Clara Rojas, a friend and colleague seized with Ms Betancourt in 2002, has joined in with further disclosures expected in a forthcoming book.

“I thought she was my friend, but she has demonstrated to me that she wasn’t so much,” Ms Rojas said in a trenchant interview with the Spanish edition of Vanity Fair published this week.

In the report, entitled False Appearances, Ms Rojas, a Colombian lawyer, rejects as fiction the story advanced by Ms Betancourt as to how they came to share captivity. She was not Ms Betancourt’s vice-presidential candidate, Ms Rojas said, nor did she volunteer herself as a hostage. She had accompanied Ms Betancourt to San Vicente del Caguán, where they were captured in February 2002, “out of friendship”.

When the Farc guerrillas who intercepted them said they were taking Ms Betancourt, Ms Rojas asked what would happen to her. Her inquiry so offended them that they took her as well, she said. “I had a generous attitude and because of this I expected something different from Ingrid, but it wasn’t so.”

She also spoke of Ms Betancourt’s distant behaviour in the jungle, particularly after Ms Rojas became pregnant by one of her captors.

Worse yet,

The birth of Ms Rojas’s son Emmanuel in 2004 is a particular source of tension. Ms Betancourt claimed in an interview with Larry King that she stopped Ms Rojas from drowning her baby in a jungle river — an allegation that is denied.

On the bright side, El Espectador got on the nerves of Raul Reyes, the now-dead #2 FARC guy, who described her as,

A lady of volcanic temper, rude, and provoking the guerillas in charge of her.”

Why does this matter?

It matters because Betancourt was nearly idolized in parts of Latin America and in Europe, particularly in France, and has made it known that she might seek another chance at Colombian politics. Market Memeorandum recommends, We Recommend Shunning Shares of Ingrid Betancourt. The Revelations of the Three Americans Finally Break an Absurd Code of Silence

Ingrid Betancourt was the symbol of Colombia’s cruel war for years. The former senator was abducted by the FARC guerrillas for about seven years, keep in captivity under miserable conditions. Her release took place last July, in a successful counter-intelligence operation launched by the government of President Alvaro Uribe. Her release was nothing but spectacular and fanned optimism over the decay of the FARC and the possibility that Colombia would someday finally be in peace.

That infamous symbol is over, thank God!

On Friday, three U.S. contractors who were also retained by the FARC for 1,976 days after their plane was shut down by the guerrillas (they refuse to be called spies but they probably were spying on the FARC’s drug operations) released a book in which they thrash Mrs. Colombia War Symbol, a.k.a. Ingrid, accusing her of hoarding and stealing food, complain about her attitude to her peers in the camp and tell a tale of cruelty, envy and arrogance. As AP Bogotá-based writer Frank Bajak said in his story, the Americans revealed that ”she was haughty and self-absorbed, stole food and hoarded books, and even put their lives in danger by telling rebel guards they were CIA agents.´´ What a national heroine we have in this country!

But here comes the funny thing. As if it were a sort of an offense against Colombian sovereignty, politicians, clerics, children, the poor and the rich — everyone — came to the attack of the three Americans (as if they hadn’t been kidnapped and put under the same suffering of the national heroine for long years) to defend our brave former senator. Colombians alleged that the Americans had broken a slient, tacit, Biblic-if-you-fancy code that states ”kidnapping jungle experiences die in the jungle.´´ Pure BS. It seems that Colombians are afraid of the revelations about their lives in the jungle — I don’t know what kind of secret code was that or where it did come from.

The truth is, that code exists no more, thanks to the bravery of these three spies who seem freer and less inclined to worshipping false idols like Betancourt than 44 million people. Looks like life in a FARC camp is pretty much a season of ”Big Brother,´´ that horrendous reality show were contestants love stabbing one another in their backs, cheating their couples outside the house where the show is filmed, intriguing for and against others … well, I can only say I laughed when I read the news.

Since we write about markets here, I will put this on market terms: Colombians, please sell your holdings of Ingrid Betancourt shares sooner than later. I urge the rest of the world to do the same. Stop believing in her. If you once were sympathetic to her mother, the former beauty queen and pedantic longstanding member of Bogotá’s oligarchy, Mrs. Yolanda Pulecio, shun her stock quickly too, before they tank like Citigroup Inc.’s stock. Those two are the reflex of a fetid Colombia — and I don’t mean their suffering should be overlooked, but carefully assessed, put into perspective. Truth is, Ingrid Betancourt’s irresponsible attitude during the aftermath of the breakdown of peace negotiations in Feb. 2002 led to her abduction. Her irresponsible attitude put the country and then-President Andrés Pastrana at a crossroads.

Betancourt would do something good to the world by sending back that prize she won, the Príncipe de Asturias. She should renounce to a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. That would be a shame for the country she says she loves so much — but put on dire straits the day she decided she had to be kidnapped by the FARC to make a point.

The war against the FARC rages on. Last weekend,

The Colombian army has killed a leading commander of the left-wing guerrilla movement FARC. Jesús Gúzman, also known as Gaitan, was killed in fighting at the weekend. He was wanted in connection with a series of supermarket bombings near the capital Bogotá, which formed part of an extortion campaign.

The Colombian intelligence services believe that FARC is increasingly resorting to extortion now that it is becoming more difficult for the movement to kidnap people for ransom.

At the same time, in south east Colombia the FARC killed four Colombian troops.
(CORRECTION Thursday, 5 March): South WEST Colombia)

The FARC is changing tactics and launching what they call “Plan Rebirth”

The rebels have brought their 45-year conflict back into the cities, with four bomb attacks so far this year.

They have also stepped up their extortion demands and their hold on the drugs trade, according to the government.

Whether this is an act of desperation or a regrouping, we shall soon find out.

I’ll be talking about this in today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern. Chat’s open at 10:45AM. See you there.

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Filed Under: Colombia, FARC, Ingrid Betancourt Tagged With: Fausta's blog, Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves, Out of Captivity, Thomas Howes

January 26, 2009 By Fausta

The Bolivian referendum Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

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

Yesterday’s big news: Bolivia, the hemisphere’s third poorest country after Haiti and Guyana, approved a new Constitution

Approval of the constitution, which caps a two-year campaign by Morales, will give expanded discretionary powers to the president, such as the ability to dissolve Congress. He will also be eligible to run for a second five-year term late next year. The earlier constitution did not allow consecutive terms.

Observers expect him to dissolve Congress and call for new elections ahead of scheduled December 2009 balloting.

As expected, voters in the western highland states such as La Paz with large indigenous populations overwhelmingly approved the new charter, according to the preliminary results, while voters in the four eastern states that passed autonomy measures last year were resoundingly opposed.

For many voters interviewed Sunday in the city of La Paz, the nation’s capital, the most salient features of the new charter are the strengthened rights for Bolivia’s three dozen ethnic groups, which make up about a third of Bolivia’s 9.2 million population. The word “indigenous” appears 130 times in the new constitution.

According to clauses in the new document, those groups will now be able to eschew the traditional court system and resort to their own “community justice,” claim some nationalized lands as their own and receive a greater share of royalties on minerals and energy developed on or beneath those lands.

I’m writing a post on the referendum for Real Clear World Blog, and will link to it here later.

Other news: Cristina Fernandez‘s trip to Cuba and Venezuela, and Mexico’s Ominous Drug Wars

In today’s podcast:
The Bolivian referendum, other headlines from today’s Carnival, and a few words on Slumdog Millionaire from the context of third-world poverty. Chat’s open at 10:45AM and the call in number is 646 652-2639. Join the conversation!

You can listen to the podcast here, live, or archived.

LATIN AMERICA
Mario Vargas Llosa: Atribuye la crisis al “despilfarro” y niega fin del capitalismo

ARGENTINA
Argentina to Swap Up to 11 Billion Pesos of Debt

BOLIVIA
Bolivia’s new constitution
A passport to Utopia
Evo Morales campaigns for a great leap forward. Or back, say some

¿Evo perdió la chaveta?

Spilling Ink Instead of Blood: Bolivia Poised to Vote on New Constitution

Chavez envia tropas militares armadas a Evo Morales – Noticiero Digital

Bolivia nationalizes BP subsidiary

Bolivia poll won’t end opposition

In Bolivia, vote unlikely to heal divide

BRAZIL
Fugitives from justice in Brazil
The madness of asylum
Why this indulgence for a convicted killer?

GM to Invest TARP Dough in Brazil

CHILE
División de los poderes públicos.

Wal-Mart sees price cuts, no job cuts at Chile D&S-paper

COLOMBIA
Las FARC despues de Marulanda: ¿extincion estrategica o transformacion organizativa?

CUBA
castro, inc. cancels Canadian Oil Deal

Obama: Stay the Course on Cuba
Dialogue with the Castro brothers is not an effective policy.

Oil shift: Canadians out, Russians in

Rafael Ibarra Roque, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 1/25/09

ECUADOR
El Loco Returns: How to Re Elect a Drug King Pin

HAITI
After Four Years, No Justice for Murdered Haitian Journalist

MEXICO
Mexico: The coming collapse

Economic policy in Mexico
Damage control
A Latin American country softens recession with counter-cyclical policies

DeFacto Legalization

Calderon seeks to dispel talk of ‘failing state’

Remembering Enrique “Kiki” Camarena

The British method fails again…

The White House press release on the Mexico City Policy and Assistance for Voluntary Population Planning

Drug Gangs Have Mexico on the Ropes
Law enforcement south of the border is badly outgunned.

NICARAGUA
In Obama’s Words, President Ortega Must ‘Unclench His Fist’

PANAMA
Via Chiriqui chatter, Two Gems of Panama Spanish Colonial Period

PUERTO RICO
Six plead guilty in former Puerto Rico governor’s case

VENEZUELA
Venezuela’s León Let The Cat Out of the Bag: Public Finances Are in a Bind

After Chavez gives the green light to repression, wholesale attacks on the opposition begin

Recipe for No

Bistromatics, Venezuela edition

Venezuela’s Horse Not As High

Six of one, half a dozen of the other

Minc(i)ed Facts

GOSSIP
Ingrid Betancourt at the beach in Miami with her new boyfriend

AMERICAN POLITICS
Fatal Naivete On Free Trade

Letter to Obama Supporters
America’s enemies remain our enemies.

This week’s posts and podcasts
Hugo changes his tune
Hillary’s Fatal Naivete On Free Trade
Castro says he “probably won’t be around in 4 years”: Today’s 15 Minutes on Latin America
More student protests in Venezuela: Today’s 15 Minutes on Latin America
Obama Seeks Halt to Legal Proceedings at Guantanamo
At Real Clear World, and today at 11AM Eastern: Latin American headlines on the Obama inauguration
Chavez sanctions tear-gassing Papal nunzio?

At Real Clear World:
Latin America Headlines on the Inaugural
Bush’s Foreign Policy Successes, No. 5 Colombia
Brazil: Lula Invites Bush for Fishing Trip

Special thanks to Ada, The Baron, Eneas, Maggie and Maria.

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Filed Under: Argentina, Barack Obama, Bolivia, Brazil, Caribbean, Carnival of Latin America, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Daniel Ortega, Ecuador, Evo Morales, FARC, Haiti, Ingrid Betancourt, Latin America, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela Tagged With: Fausta's blog, Slumdog Millionaire

December 10, 2008 By Fausta

Isaza goes to Paris: 15 Minutes on Latin America

Former FARC member Wilson Bueno Largo, a.k.a. Isaza, ​starts a new life in France​, welcomed by former hostage Ingrid Betancourt. What does this mean for Latin America?

Listen today at 10AM Eastern. Chat’s open by 9:45AM.

You can listen to the podcast here.

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Filed Under: Colombia, FARC, Ingrid Betancourt, Latin America, politics, terrorism Tagged With: Fausta's blog

August 6, 2008 By Fausta

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

Andy McCarthy, who prosecuted the perpetrators of the first World Trade Center attack, asks, So … Should Colombia Give the Hostages Back to the Terrorists?

The International Committee of the Red Cross is in a snit over Colombia’s use of its emblem during the brilliant rescue operation that freed Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages from the FARC terrorist group.
…
The ICRC doesn’t have much to say when, for example, Palestinian terrorists use its resources as cover to transport terrorists and explosives (see this 2004 WND report from Michelle Malkin). Why squawk about this one?

Taranto makes exactly the right point:

Maybe we’re dense, but it seems to us that rescuing civilian hostages from a terrorist group is a higher humanitarian priority than preventing unauthorized use of a trademark. The way the Red Cross interprets them, the Geneva Conventions seem almost quaint.

As I mentioned in this afternoon’s podcast, the hostage rescue mission was indeed carried peacefully and its purpose, which was met, was the rescue of prisoners which were held by an organization that had tortured those prisoners for years. It was indeed a humanitarian mission, and not a shot was fired. If the Colombian military wanted to kill the FARC members they could have.

As you can see in the newly-released videos of the hostage rescue, the Red Cross insignia was one of many used in order to make the helicopter look like the helicopters used by any of the many NGOs that routinely deal with the FARC.

Think about it: NGOs dealing with the FARC, a criminal and terrorist organization, use the Red Cross emblem. Why doesn’t the ICRC complain about that, too?

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Filed Under: Colombia, FARC, Fausta's blog, Ingrid Betancourt, Red Cross, terrorism Tagged With: Fausta's blog

July 7, 2008 By Fausta

The Colombian hostage rescue edition of the 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.

The big news of the year so far is the rescue by the Colombian military of the FARC’s four most valuable hostages: French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, Americans Thomas Howes, Keith Stansell and Marc Gonsalves, and eleven Colombian officers and NCOs, including the courageous Lt. Malagon who remained unbroken after ten years of captivity.

ARGENTINA
Chavez tied to Argentine bribe scandal coverup

Bolivian president Evo Morales’s administration is tottering, and so was he when getting off the plane in Tucuman: No red carpet for Evo at Argentina’s Mercosur summit

Argentina’s War on Farmers Raises Food Prices Around the World

BOLIVIA
¿Alguien entiende a la Democracia de Bolivia o de Evo Morales? La oposición gana la Prefectura de Chuquisaca.

UK Navy commandos seize huge cocaine shipment; among them, Prince William.

COLOMBIA
Chavez voodoo dolls on the streets of Colombia

Must-read insights: Reflections on 2 July’s rescue

From the Colombian government website: Uribe apoya idea de Chávez de construir ferrocarril colombo-venezolano Uribe supports Chavez’s idea of a Colombian-Venezuelan railway, with one line through the eastern plains tying into Ecuador, and another line by the Caribbean.

Uribe’s hostage triumph

And how do we thank Colombia?

Kouchner: France paid no ransom for Betancourt Ingrid’s liberation seen from Bogota: “The whole room was cheering”

FARC’s ‘Human Rights’ Friends

Since the late 1990s, the NGO practice of dragging the military into court on allegations of human rights violations has destroyed the careers of some of the country’s finest officers, even though most of these men were found innocent after years of proceedings. “Judicial warfare” turned out to be especially effective because under legislation pushed by Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, “credible” charges against officers put at risk U.S. military aid unless the accused was removed. The NGOs knew that they only had to point fingers to get rid of an effective leader and demoralize the ranks. Given this history, it’s not surprising that the FARC thought a helicopter from an NGO was perfectly natural.

Video:

Colombia Rescues the FARC’s Most Famous Hostage

Colombian Press on Betancourt Rescue

Is this truly a farewell to the revolution?

More on the hostage rescue
They’re Home: Three American Hostages Rescued by Colombian Military

Rescued Americans feast on pizza, soda

COLOMBIA “ENTEBBE” LIBERATION DAY

Fallout from Colombian Hostage Rescue all Good

Israel Helped in FARC Hostage Rescue Operation

Now this is their kind of crisis

Planning for rescue included a seating chart

Video shows orderly hostage rescue become celebration

Foljder

Comment at Just One Minute on Uribe & human rights.

Some more stuff about the Colombian FARC hostage rescue.

The Colombia hostage rescue

MSNBC host: Was the Colombia hostage rescue a sham designed to benefit McCain?

Speaking of which, a few links John McCain’s trip to Colombia (Sen McCain had already left for Mexico when the rescue took place, unlike what this blogger states):
McCain lauds Bogota’s fight against drug trafficking
McCain to tour Colombian drug control efforts
McCain Heads Today for Colombia, Where Adviser Has Long Had Ties

CUBA
On this day in history

“Word of mouth”

ECUADOR
Ecuador indulta 1,200 “mulas” y traficantes de drogas. Ecuador pardons 1,200 “mules” and drug traffickers

Ecuador drops visa requirement

Ecuador buys planes, radar for border

Ecuador is Unstable Because the Current Regime is Corrupt

HAITI
The UN says Things Not All That Bad in Haiti. How bad do they want them to be?

JAMAICA
Sick transit: The murder of an anti-corruption campaigner

MEXICO
Markets for the poor in Mexico, with video:

McCain knits trade, security issues

PANAMA
Greenback Is a Reason to Rejoice in Panama

PARAGUAY
James Cason, Ambassador, Paraguay Singing Sensation

PUERTO RICO
Via Sam, Theo Spark

Pfc. Robert Camocho, of Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, Co. B., 2-6th Inf. Regt., scans a simulated IED lane while training at Camp Buehring, Kuwait. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Michael Schuch)

VENEZUELA
Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela ‘supplies half of Britain’s cocaine’

Hugo Chávez’s Jewish Problem

Socialist Cities. More at the Washington Post’s Chávez’s ‘Socialist City’ Rises
First of Several Grand Projects in Venezuela Reflects Leader’s Monopoly on Big Decisions

U.S. ties Caracas to Hezbollah aid
Freezes assets of envoy, businessman

Iran and Venezuela agree on cultural ties

Via Irish Spy, Testimony places Chávez in scandal
According to court documents, Carlos Kauffman told the FBI that lawyer Moisés Maionica assured him, ‘President Chávez was involved’ in Venezuela’s ‘briefcase scandal.’

Venezuela’s Chavez Implicated in Argentine Scandal

Fears grow for Venezuelan banks

US imports less oil from Venezuela

When all the clowns in Venezuela want to run the circus

Chávez’s Continental Strategy in Tatters

Army unrest grows over Chavez reforms Fotos del camion volteado en el desfile del 5 de Julio. I’m posting on this in today.

US ELECTION
Benign Neglect? by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
Parsing–but not quite praising–Obama’s Latin America policies.

Eight Questions on Latin America for John McCain

McCain in Colombia: don’t embody “Bush’s third term” in Latin America

SOCIETY
You and your people

IN SPANISH
Jaime Bayly gives the best political commentary on his show. Here’s what he had to say on the hostages, via Noticias 24:
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Prior posts and roundups on the hostage rescue:
One side benefit of the Colombian hostage rescue: No Alo Presidente!
The Colombian hostage rescue: Aftermath
The Colombian hostage rescue video
“Hostage rescue is happy coincidence for McCain in Colombia…”
BREAKING NEWS: INGRID BETANCOURT RESCUED

Special thanks to Eneas, Larwyn, Maggie, Sam, and Siggy..

Crossposted

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Filed Under: Alvaro Uribe, Argentina, Barack Obama, Bolivia, Brazil, Caribbean, Carnival of Latin America, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Election2008, FARC, Haiti, Hugo Chavez, Ingrid Betancourt, Jamaica, John McCain, Latin America, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Venezuela

July 6, 2008 By Fausta

One side benefit of the Colombian hostage rescue: No Alo Presidente!

Noticias 24 reports that Hugo’s weekly 4-hours long TV program is “suspended until further notice”, due to

Chavez’s heavily-booked schedule this upcoming week.

Following the Colombian hostage rescue he probably doesn’t have much to brag about.

As far as Hugo’s schedule goes, the Venezuelan Minister of Communications mentioned that Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is scheduled to visit Venezuela on July 11 and the Petrocaribe summit’s scheduled for July 12-13.

Chavez’s situation in either visit will be vastly different from what anyone pictured four months ago. Now he’s in a sweat, being the big loser in the hostage liberation.

Unless he can come up with a really good powerpoint presentation, he can kiss the Nobel Peace price good-bye. But don’t count him out yet. At the current oil prices, he’s still got the bucks to carry him through.

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Filed Under: Alvaro Uribe, FARC, Ingrid Betancourt, oil, TV, Venezuela

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  • Today’s hot topics: Democrats’ collusion shift, tax-return rift, Venezuela drift, and more! – PoliticalWitchDoctor.com on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Today’s hot topics: Democrats’ collusion shift, tax-return rift, Venezuela drift, and more! - AmericanTruthToday on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Did Venezuela’s Minister of Defense Back Out At The Last Minute? on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Roseanne Not Back, Khan not Invited, Operaman’s back, Jobs back, Fausta’s back (but not here yet) Thoughts under the fedora – Da Tech Guy Blog on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?

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