Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

March 28, 2016 By Fausta

Colombia: Kerry Urges Colombians to Cave to the FARC

Mary O’Grady has the details,
Kerry Urges Colombians to Cave to the FARC (emphasis added),

. . . the Obama administration is invested in the five years of negotiations—in Havana—between the government of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC. Mr. Santos has not secured one concession from the terrorists. The FARC says it will not accept even one day in jail, will not hand over its weapons to the government, will not relinquish its profits from kidnapping, drug-trafficking and extortion and will not compensate the millions of its victims. Mr. Santos, on the other hand, has broken multiple promises to the Colombian people, including a pledge not to grant the terrorists amnesty.

More of that “smart diplomacy” bearing fruit.
ICYMI,

Buscan explosivos sembrados por las Farc en alrededores de escuelas en Baraya, Huila. Más información a las 12:30pm.https://t.co/ZLH6pD43Tl

— Noticias RCN (@NoticiasRCN) March 24, 2016

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Filed Under: Colombia, FARC, John Kerry Tagged With: Fausta' blog, smart diplomacy

February 29, 2016 By Fausta

The leap year Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

ARGENTINA
Judge Calls on Ex-Argentine President Kirchner to Testify in Derivatives Case. Request comes as part of probe into allegations central bank sold dollar futures contracts at artificial lows

BOLIVIA
LATIN LEFTY MELTDOWN: Bolivians Reject Evo Morales’s Bid to Lift Term Limits

Gabriela Zapata: Bolivian leader’s former lover arrested.A former lover of Bolivian President Evo Morales is arrested as part of an inquiry into alleged corruption involving government contracts.

BRAZIL
Brazil-Europe undersea cable to hide web traffic from US snooping

CHILE
Argentina and Chile after friendly settlement over extradition of former guerrilla

Argentina will seek a friendly settlement with Chile regarding the long-standing bilateral conflict over the extradition of Galvarino Apablaza before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Apablaza is accused of involvement in the murder of a conservative Senator and kidnapping of a newspaper executive.

COLOMBIA
Colombia Police Director Resigns Amid Prostitution Scandal

CUBA
Halliburton Fined for Cuba Sanctions Violations that took place in 2011

Must-Watch: Kerry Woefully Uninformed, Can’t Name Human Rights Improvement in Cuba

ECUADOR

Who is responsible for the current environmental and social conditions in Ecuador's Amazon?https://t.co/Va0FS4yXG7

— The Amazon Post (@AmazonPost) February 24, 2016

GUATEMALA
Guatemala military sentenced for rape

JAMAICA
Bad idea: Woman arrested at JFK for smuggling half pound of cocaine in vagina from Jamaica (h/t Ed Driscoll)

LATIN AMERICA
Point: Central America’s Gangs are More Dangerous Than Ever
Counterpoint: International Terror and the Gangs of Douglas Farah

MEXICO
What Drives Crime in Mexico City’s Most Dangerous Areas?

PANAMA
Snubbing Malta for Panama secrecy

PERU
Peruvian President Investigated in Brazil Petrobras Probe

The 44-page federal police report dated Feb. 5 now moves the sprawling corruption probe beyond Brazil’s borders, saying investigators suspect Humala received $3 million in bribes from the large Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in exchange for contracts in Peru.

PUERTO RICO
With CDC Help, Puerto Rico Aims To Get Ahead Of Zika

URUGUAY
Uruguay VP Admits He Faked College Degree. Contrary to Official Documents, Interviews, Raúl Sendic Does Not Hold Bachelor’s Degree from University of Havana

VENEZUELA
Venezuela puts off default by shipping tons of gold to Switzerland

Dollar Today: U.S. Court Dismisses Venezuela’s Case Against Currency Website. Venezuela has seven days to amend its case

Now revealed that Odebrecht also illegally funded Hugo Chavez. Hear that, @MiamiDadeCounty? https://t.co/SRPUhCmAvn

— CapitolHillCubans (@CapitolCubans) February 26, 2016



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Filed Under: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean, Chile, Colombia, crime, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Jamaica, John Kerry, Latin America, Mexico, MS-13, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Venezuela Tagged With: Fausta' blog, Gabriela Zapata, Galvarino Apablaza

December 2, 2015 By Fausta

The $100 billion no-deal Iran deal

What is a verbal contract worth these days? Read my post, The $100 billion no-deal Iran deal.

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Filed Under: Barack Obama, Iran, John Kerry Tagged With: Da Tech Guy Blog, Fausta' blog

August 21, 2015 By Fausta

The foreign policy house of lies

Please read my article, The foreign policy house of lies, on one of the many lies the Obama foreign policy is based.

The title comes from this line,

a highly successful, cutthroat consultant is never above using any means (or anyone) necessary.

Change consultant for community organizer. The dollar signs in the logo fit well with the money the Castros stand to get.

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Filed Under: Barack Obama, Communism, Cuba, John Kerry Tagged With: Da Tech Guy Blog, Fausta's blog

August 19, 2015 By Fausta

Menendez on Iran: Failure Theater, or not?

Today Menendez has an op-ed on the NYPost reiterating his proposal for a better Iran deal.

Please read my article, Menendez on Iran: Failure Theater, or not?
‎

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Filed Under: Barack Obama, Iran, John Kerry Tagged With: Bob Menendez, Da Tech Guy Blog, Fausta's blog, Robert Menendez

August 14, 2015 By Fausta

Cuba UPDATED

Secretary of State John Kerry is in Havana today for the opening of the U.S. Embassy. Read my article and roundup here.


Politico’s “formidable agent of change” on the job

UPDATE

Excuse that there was no space at ceremony for any dissidents to be invited belied by actual space at ceremony pic.twitter.com/Cd8N2HQdT5

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 14, 2015

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Filed Under: Communism, Cuba, John Kerry, Raul Castro Tagged With: Da Tech Guy Blog, Fausta's blog

June 22, 2015 By Fausta

Venezuela: Next stop on the Obama administration’s “normalizing” with dictators?

Thomas Shannon (left in the above photo), a senior counselor to Secretary of State John F. Kerry, met with Venezuela’s National Assembly president Diodado Cabello (right) in Haiti earlier this month.

As you may recall, Diosdado is being investigated by the U.S. Justice department for drug trafficking and money laundering.

Jackson Diehl asks, why?

Cabello and his nominal boss, President Nicolás Maduro, were quick to trumpet their versions. The meeting, Maduro said, was part of a “normalization” of relations between his increasingly beleaguered regime and the Obama administration. Cabello offered it as proof that the reports that he is a U.S. criminal suspect are false. U.S. officials, meanwhile, sounded confused. Both the White House and State Department spokesmen said they were unaware that Cabello had met with Shannon.I heard another story: that the meeting was part of what has become an increasingly urgent attempt by the administration to broker a soft landing for a collapsing Latin American state.

Diehl speculates that Kerry intends to prolong Leopoldo Lopez’s life, and aim for “fair elections” (whatever that means in Venezuela at this point, since there is no reason why the Venezuelan regime would want a real election). Mary O’Grady has more,

A State Department official told me last week that the issues discussed with Mr. Cabello in Haiti included the treatment of the Maduro government’s political prisoners, the importance of setting a date for parliamentary elections this year, and providing internationally credible observation.

While Shannon has traveled twice to Venezuela this year,

when asked at a State Department briefing about Mr. Cabello’s role in Port-au-Prince, State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said “I was not aware of a meeting with him.”

And yet,

A State Department spokesperson told me in an email last week that the [Haiti] meeting was “positive and productive.” Translation: Nothing to see here; move along. In fact there’s a lot riding on these negotiations. The end of the chavismo dictatorship would be a good thing. But a descent into chaos of African proportions would take with it the frail democracy movement.

Venezuela News and Views agrees,

The fact of the matter is that Venezuela is a problem big enough that negotiations are a must because the alternative, not negotiating and waiting to see what happens is even worse.

There is a lot riding on these negotiations, for both Venezuela and Cuba.

And then there is a fourth party not mentioned by Diehl and O’Grady: Iran.

Emili Blasco, in his book Bumerán Chávez: Los fraudes que llevaron al colapso de Venezuela, details the many and extensive ties between Iran and Venezuela. Not to be ignored is how Iran milks the difference between the black market and official bolivar-dollar exchange rates and drains Venezuela’s foreign currency reserves. An easing of commercial ties between the U.S. and Venezuela will benefit Venezuela’s foreign currency reserves.

Iran, for one, will be watching closely.

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Filed Under: Haiti, Iran, John Kerry, Venezuela Tagged With: Fausta's blog, Thomas Shannon, US State Department

February 24, 2015 By Fausta

Colombia: Aronson special envoy to FARC peace tallks

U.S. Names Aronson Special Envoy to Colombia
Former assistant secretary of state will help Colombian government and FARC in negotiations

On Friday, President Barack Obama named Bernard “Bernie” Aronson, a U.S. assistant secretary of state for inter-American Affairs from 1989 to 1993, as the envoy. He will help the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, overcome roadblocks in the final stretch of negotiations.

Let’s hope it’s not another case of “not wanting anything in return.”

But they do look glum, don’t they?

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Filed Under: Colombia, FARC, John Kerry

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