Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Paraguay: The PCC’s great bank robbery

A gang of at least thirty men blew up the front of the Prosegur private security firm in Ciudad del Este, in Paraguay’s tri-border area, and made off with US$40million.

And that was just the start:
Huge robbery sparks gun battles in Paraguay and Brazil

After the robbery, the gang created a diversion by burning cars and attacking the local police station.

They escaped after a two-hour shootout that left one police officer dead at the scene after the company’s vaults were blown up.

Police believe they fled in several of the security company’s armoured trucks and then may have transferred their booty to waiting boats at the Parana river.

They were believed to have travelled 50km (30 miles) downriver to a region called Itaipulandia in Brazil, were they were intercepted by Brazilian police.

Brazilian federal police came across 12 men who exchanged fire and then escaped, Brazilian Globo website reported.

The BBC said there were fifty men, AlJazeera said up to 80 people may have been involved in the attack, and the Telegraph claims there were thirty,

Vladimir Jara, spokesman for Paraguay’s interior ministry, said they too believe the robbery was carried out by a Brazilian criminal organisation.
. . .
The city’s [Ciudad del Este] location means that cocaine from Bolivia flows down the river, before being distributed into the large Brazilian and Argentine metropolises.

At least 12 people managed to escape police at a third confrontation in Itaipulandia, also on the Brazilian side of the border.

Paraguayan police chief Luis Rojas said it was possible the attackers had help inside the police.

The above news video (in Spanish) attributes the robbery to Sao Paulo’s Primer Comando, Brazil’s largest organized crime organization, Primeiro Comando da Capital, or PCC, which was recently recruiting Colombian FARC members.

The PCC reportedly has consolidated control over the area’s drug traffic monopoly.

CNN also reports

Authorities believe the robbers were members of Primer Comando de la Capital, one of the largest criminal organizations in Brazil.

O Globo (link in Portuguese) confirms that eight suspects are under arrest. The O Globo article states there are fifty suspects, and that the eleven hostages had been released. Brazil’s Federal Police seized six rifles, ammunition, two boats and seven vehicles used in the assault.

This is the largest robbery in Paraguay’s history.

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Paraguay: Riots over re-election proposal

Riots are breaking out in Paraguay over President Horacio Cartes’s proposed change to the country’s Constitution, which would allow him to run for re-election,

Cartes is seeking to amend the constitution to enable himself to run for office again in 2018 after his current term ends.

Removing the ban would also allow left-wing former president Fernando Lugo to run again. He held power from 2008 to 2012, when he was removed after an impeachment trial.

After the Senate sidestepped opposition resistance and approved the bill, it was due to be voted on Saturday in the Chamber of Deputies, where the president has a majority.

The Paraguayan Congress building was set on fire on Sunday, over the proposed change,

Protesters in the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion stormed the National Congress building following a day of rallies in anger at the senators’ closed-door vote allowing President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election.

Opposition party youth leader Rodrigo Quintana died of severe injuries after being shot by police at his organization’s office. The Guardian reports,

Forensic investigators found that Quintana died as a result of lead shotgun pellets penetrating his lungs.

Video below the fold,

[Read more…]

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Venezuela: Where’s the money going?

Truckloads of bank notes have turned up thousands of miles away, first in Paraguay, and now in Brazil.

Photo: O Globo

InSight Crime has the story: Another Massive Seizure of Venezuela Currency Deepens Mystery: Why, since the currency itself is worthless? There are at least two theories:

In the case of Brazil,

One of the possibilities authorities are considering is that the drug traffickers were using the money to purchase weapons from Venezuelan arms dealers. Two years ago, police found that Venezuelans had supplied over 100 rifles to Rio gangs, reported O Globo.

In Paraguay,

the 25 tons of bolivars were reportedly offered to counterfeiters for $1 million. That is probably the highest value that could have been fetched for a currency that has become largely worthless due to Venezuela‘s worsening economic crisis.

Then there is a likelihood of money laundering, too.

Read the InSight Crime analysis.

The O Globo article (link in Portuguese) is here.

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Mexico: Updated travel warning

US renews Mexico travel warning over fears of escalating violence. A month before release of final figures, 2016 set to be most violent year of Peña Nieto’s time in office

In one sense, the warning is little more than a formality. It is regularly updated for Mexico as it is for 20 other countries, and the US State Department notes “the extensive effort to counter criminal organizations that engage in narcotics trafficking and other unlawful activities throughout Mexico,” as well as efforts to ensure safety at major tourist destinations.

However, US authorities also warn of the dangers of a country caught up in a decade-long drug war, noting that “gun battles between rival criminal organizations or with Mexican authorities have taken place on streets and in public places during broad daylight.”

Mexico’s war on drugs turns 10

A look at notable dates in Mexico’s decade-old drug war

Related:
Sinaloa Cartel Attempted to Set Up Trafficking Structure in Paraguay

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The pre-debate Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Yes, there’s a presidential debate tonight. Meh.

ARGENTINA
Argentina plans eurobond

Probe into Nisman’s death will go to federal courts

Stiuso habló de una “guerra” entre espías tras la muerte de Nisman. La versión del ex director de la SIDE sobre su pelea con el espionaje K

En su testimonio, afirmó que se dio una orden ilegal a Migraciones para saber sus movimientos, reveló el dueño de un teléfono clave y vinculó a Aníbal Fernandéz.

Argentina Seeks To Export Its Human Rights Policy

BOLIVIA
“Narcos”. Artículo completo de Veja sobre Evo y Álvaro – Evo Morales and his vice-president Álvaro García Linera, investigated by the DEA.

Give it up, Evo: Bolivia’s Morales accuses Chile of restricting access to ports

BRAZIL
Brazil’s Supreme Court Gives OK to Open Probe of New President Temer

Judge approves preliminary investigation, which is based on plea-bargain testimony by a key witness that implicates President Michel Temer, other PMDB members

CHILE
CIA found ‘convincing evidence’ Chilean dictator was behind 1976 D.C. attack

The latest revelations about the Cold War-era case come on the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Orlando Letelier, a leading opponent of the Pinochet regime and onetime Chilean foreign minister, and his think-tank colleague, Ronni Moffitt, in a car bomb on D.C.’s Embassy Row.

COLOMBIA
“The FARC’s abortionist confessed to [performing] 400+ abortions on abused girls. Is there pardon, justice, and reparation?”

CUBA
How Kim (DPRK) and Castro (Cuba) Blackmail Abe (Japan)

Nearly on a monthly basis, some senior North Korean is on a “working visit” to Cuba. Or some senior Cuban regime official is on a “working visit” to North Korea.

With the exception of China, there’s no other nation in the world that North Korean officials visit with such frequency.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Republic’s Former Anti-Drug Chief Sentenced to 20 Years

ECUADOR
Ecuadorian Police Oust Dozens of Cubans Demanding Visas from Quito Park

IMMIGRATION
HILLARY: THE THIRD WORLD HAS A “RIGHT” TO MOVE TO THE UNITED STATES. No, they don’t.

JAMAICA
American says he wants to protect Jamaica’s natural ganja

MEXICO
Priest Killings Highlight Mexico Govt’s Credibility Problem

NICARAGUA
Nicaragua rejects U.S. bill for loans with strings attached (emphasis added)
The Nicaraguan government was responding to the Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act, a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday. A version was introduced by Senator Ted Cruz in the U.S. Senate earlier this month.

Nicaragua on Thursday criticized a proposal by U.S. lawmakers that would require the Central American country, which will hold elections in November, to make political changes in order to receive international loans.
. . .
The Nicaraguan government was responding to the Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act, a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday. A version was introduced by Senator Ted Cruz in the U.S. Senate earlier this month.

The bill proposes blocking Nicaragua from obtaining loans from international financial institutions unless the country “is taking effective steps to hold free, fair, and transparent elections.”

On Nov. 6, Nicaraguans will vote for president and 90 members of the National Assembly.

President Daniel Ortega is the favorite as he seeks his third consecutive term.

PANAMA
Smithsonian opens climate change lab in Panama

PARAGUAY
Polka lessons

Budgets have been roughly in balance and public debt is low. The central bank aims for an inflation rate of 4.5% and usually gets close. Commercial banks are healthy (in part because they charge high interest rates and face little competition). Regulation, like the tax code, is business-friendly. Independent trade unions, suppressed under Stroessner, are weak.

PERU
Peru President Says Unasur Unable to Resolve Venezuela Crisis

PUERTO RICO
Where were you when the lights went out? The Puerto Rico blackout, from space

URUGUAY
More on Abu Wa’el Dhiab: Uruguay says ex-Gitmo detainee demands exceed government

“The Uruguayan government is doing everything possible,” Vazquez said. “But as I’ve said in the past: If the countries where the Syrian citizen wants to go don’t take him, we can’t do anything about it.”

VENEZUELA
Military and Police Corruption: Venezuela’s Growing Evil



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The #Rio2016 Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean, week 2

While the pools turn green, the athletes are breaking records and earning medals, even if some (like Ryan Lochte and four teammates) get mugged at gunpoint by men in police uniforms.

ARGENTINA
Theresa May reaches out to Argentina with ‘mutual respect’ as she works to ease restrictions on the Falkland Islanders exploiting their oil reserves

BOLIVIA
Evo Morales Confirms Bolivia’s Economic Downturn

BRAZIL
Brazil Mourns Olympics Guardsman Shot in Ambush.Out-of-town officer was part of large security contingent deployed to Rio for Games

Israeli Wrestler Takes Olympic Gold Without Winning Single Match After All Muslim Opponents Forfeit‘

NBC PANIC: RIO RATINGS HIT LOW…

From green pool to missing pontoon, problems won’t go away…

At The Economist, they’re not into records:

Why few records will be broken in Rio: The human body may have reached its limits
The factors fuelling America’s dominance of gymnastics
Why Pacific-island nations are so good at rugby
Olympians have discovered new fads and superstitions

CHILE
Chile’s privatized social security system, beloved by U.S. conservatives, is falling apart

COLOMBIA
Good luck with that: Colombia wants involvement of pope and UN in post-conflict courts.

CUBA
The fruits of “smart diplomacy”: Fidel Castro Lambasts US And Obama On 90th Birthday. The veteran Communist firebrand mocks attempts by America to kill him during Havana’s long Cold War stand-off with Washington.

Judicial Watch Investigates Starwood’s Hotel Deal With Cuban Military

MEXICO
Jorge Ramos Moves Towards Hitting Campaign Trail for Hillary. He will continue to call himself a “journalist,” which brings to mind this,

Mexico’s President Faces New Scrutiny. President Enrique Peña Nieto, whose past two years in office have been shadowed by a conflict-of-interest scandal linked to a Mexico City mansion, is facing new scrutiny linked to the first family’s use of a luxury apartment in Miami.

Ricardo Pierdant, a Miami-based businessman, in 2013 paid close to $30,000 in property taxes on behalf of first lady Angélica Rivera for an apartment she owns in Miami, according to tax records seen by The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Pierdant is a close friend of Mexico´s first family, according to Mr. Peña Nieto´s office.

The first lady purchased her apartment in the wealthy island enclave of Key Biscayne in 2005.

Mr. Pierdant subsequently purchased another apartment directly above Ms. Rivera’s, according to Miami property records.

Texas Family Among Those Kidnapped by Los Zetas Cartel in Mexico

NICARAGUA
Nicaragua’s president makes a farce of democracy

Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega shows his true colors. Since taking office in 2007, the president has concentrated power in his family’s hands

PANAMA
IDEAS PANAMA PAPERS Joseph E. Stiglitz and Mark Pieth: Why We Left the Panama Commission

PARAGUAY
Murders Add to Fears of Narco War in Eastern Paraguay

Paraguay recalls ambassador in diplomatic dispute with Venezuela

Earlier this week, socialist Maduro accused Paraguay of being part of “an extreme right wing alliance” aimed at blocking Venezuela from assuming its role as head of Mercosur as scheduled during the second half of the year.

PERU
PPK works out: Peru’s 77-year-old new president isn’t acting his age. And Peruvians love it.

PUERTO RICO
1 in 4 Puerto Ricans will have Zika by end of year…

URUGUAY
Montevideo Is Considering Joining The Pacific Alliance Trade Bloc, since Peru and Colombia issued an invitation.

VENEZUELA
Again, Venezuelans cross into Colombia after border is reopened

Invictus, via Miguel Octavio,



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The post-conventions Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

The RNC and the DNC had their conventions in two consecutive weeks, and after their monopolizing media attention, we’re glad they are over.

Almost unnoticed, however, was the story of the Syrian terrorist released from Guantanamo to Uruguay, who supposedly needs crutches to get around, was missing for several weeks, to eventually turn up some 4,600 miles away from Montevideo (a little under the distance from New York to Moscow), in Venezuela, of all places, just so he can petition the Uruguayan consulate – which he could do in Montevideo – to “ask for assistance to fly to Turkey or some other country to be reunited with his family.” Which gave him plenty of time to do all sorts of things.

ARGENTINA
New species of dinosaur discovered in Argentina

BOLIVIA
Bolivia’s president isn’t lowering his sights despite a scandal worthy of a telenovela

Record-setting dinosaur footprint discovered in Bolivia

BRAZIL
Brazil’s Lula faces trial over Petrobras

Four terror suspects ‘tried to travel to Brazil for Olympics’

Rio’s ‘wall of shame’ between its ghettos and shiny Olympic image

Rio 2016: Athletes warned to keep mouths closed while in faeces-infested water. All efforts by the government to clean the Rio waters seem to have failed

Stelberto Soares, a municipal engineer who has worked on Rio sanitation issues for decades, said that the government’s efforts to clean the waters were superficial at best.

“They can try to block big items like sofas and dead bodies, but these rivers are pure sludge,” he said, “so the bacteria and viruses are going to just pass through.”

Headlines from Drudge:

Brazil Preps for Olympics With Warships, Troops…

Athletes told ‘keep mouths closed’ in feces-infested water…

Rio Murders Rise…

Muslim female athletes compete while covered…

Fire in Olympic Village…

CHILE
Watch Chilean police bust $12 million worth of cocaine that was headed to Europe

15 Reasons To Put Chile On The Top Of Your Travel List

COLOMBIA
Colombian Courts Greenlight Controversial FARC Peace Referendum. Colombia’s Constitutional Court Issues Regulations for Yes/No Vote on Guerilla Peace Talks

The FARC made them an offer they couldn’t refuse: Colombia Indian Community Made Peace with FARC 20 Years before the Government

Colombia Town Anxious Ahead of Peace Plan's Experiment in Coca Substitution

Colombia Town Anxious Ahead of Peace Plan’s Experiment in Coca Substitution

CUBA
Military and family remittances, a well-kept secret

ECUADOR
Everything You Need to Know About the DNC’s WikiLeaks Scandal. Emails Released by Julian Assange and WikiLeaks Reveals Democratic FoulPlay During Primary Season

Ecuador Ends One Chevron Battle. What Does It Mean for the War?

GUATEMALA
Who Killed Guatemala’s Prison ‘King’ Byron Lima? (Part I)

MEXICO
Rafael Caro Quintero, Fugitive godfather of Mexico’s drug trade speaks out from hiding to deny he is back in business

Criminal Groups Benefit from Mexico’s Crackdown on Migrants

NICARAGUA
Nicaragua Electoral Authority Unseats Opposition Lawmakers

Nicaragua’s top electoral authority decimated the country’s political opposition on Friday by unseating practically all of its remaining lawmakers in congress as President Daniel Ortega prepares to seek a third term.

The Supreme Electoral Council ousted 16 opposition legislators from the Liberal Independent Party and its ally the Sandinista Renovation Movement Friday for not recognizing their officially sanctioned leader. That leader, Pedro Reyes, had recently been given that authority by the Supreme Court, which removed the opposition party’s previous leader following a long-running political dispute. Reyes is seen by some within his own party as a tool of Ortega.

PANAMA
First LNG Carrier Transits the Expanded Panama Canal

PARAGUAY
Brazilian Drug Lord Found Serving Time in Paraguay Prison ‘VIP’ Suite

PERU
Peru’s new president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski sworn in

PUERTO RICO
CDC: Zika could affect 10000 pregnancies in Puerto Rico by year’s end

More Defaults Likely to Come: What Puerto Rico Owes on Aug. 1
– Sales-tax payment of $256 million expected to be made
– Island owes $1.3 million of interest on general obligations

The commonwealth and its agencies owe about $346 million in bond payments on Aug. 1, most of which goes toward repaying sales-tax supported debt. The deadline follows the island’s July 1 default on nearly $1 billion of principal and interest, the largest such payment failure in the history of the $3.7 trillion municipal bond market.

URUGUAY
Uruguay Formally Ends its Presidency of Mercosur Trade Bloc

VENEZUELA
NO ARRIVALS: THE VISIBLE ISOLATION OF CARACAS

Chavistas Demand That Venezuelan Legislature Be Outlawed

From Socialist Utopia To Slave-Nation – Venezuela Unveils Shocking “Forced Labor” Law

Venezuela’s new decree



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The Russian spy facility in Nicaragua Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

A very big deal we haven’t been paying attention to: Russia is building an electronic intelligence-gathering facility in Nicaragua.

ARGENTINA
Argentina raises Falklands negotiations at UN meeting – is that why Macri is so desperate to have Malcorra named as UN Secretary General?

A Cautionary Tale of ‘Stem Cell Tourism’

Ephedrine Traffic: Kirchner’s Cabinet Chief in the Crosshairs Again

BOLIVIA
Sex, lies and paternity claims: Bolivia’s president reels amid tumultuous scandal

The Jewish year is 5776, and the Chinese is 4712; now Bolivia’s leader wants you to know: It’s the year 5524. Set Your Clocks Forward: Bolivia’s President Says That It’s the Year 5524

BRAZIL
As the Olympics Near, Brazil and Rio Let the Bad Times Roll

WADA Suspends The Only Doping Lab in Brazil

Brazil’s Shuttered Anti-Doping Lab

Come to the Olympics in Brazil — Zika is under control, says Brazil’s health minister.

#Rio2016: World is ready, but is Brazil?

CHILE
Chile to preserve Colonia Dignidad cult archive

Colonia Dignidad’s documents spelling out the torture and other abuses that happened in the cult are important in investigating crimes of the Chilean military dictatorship, the National Monuments Council said while announcing its decision to preserve the archive.

The closed, cult-like community was set up in 1961 by former Nazi and convicted pedophile Paul Schäfer, ushering his decades-long rule over hundreds of mostly German expats. Schäfer and other cult members molested children and prevented adults from leaving the estate in central Chile.

After General Augusto Pinochet took power in Chile in 1973, the cult leadership started cooperating with the regime and offering their premises as a torture camp and a warehouse for weapons and poison gas.

Chile returned to democracy with Pinochet stepping down in 1990, leading to a public shift on the status of the German enclave. Schäfer was forced to flee the country in 1997, but was arrested in 2005 and died in prison in 2010.

COLOMBIA
Peace, at last, in Colombia

Historic Peace Agreement in Colombia

Let’s hope it holds.

CUBA
House lawmakers blocked from visiting Cuba. Chairman McCaul’s Cuban Visa Crisis

Obama dispatches Shaquille ‘Kazaam’ O’Neal to apartheid Cuba as ‘Sports Envoy’

ECUADOR
Venezuela vs. Ecuador (Chavismo vs. Chavismo Dollarized)

Sweden asks to meet Julian Assange inside Ecuador embassy

MEXICO
From Mexicata:
New Criminal Justice System now in effect throughout Mexico, Office of the Mexican Presidency

‘The Vulture of Impunity’ casts a Shadow over ‘Mexico’s Moment,’ by J. Tadeo (openDemocracy)

Three Key Takeaways from Mexico’s Regional Elections, by Ben Raderstorf and David Alzate (Inter-American Dialogue)

As Cartels Ebb, Kidnapping is on the Rise in Mexican States, by Patrick Corcoran (InSight Crime)

NICARAGUA
Is Moscow preparing for new Cold War? Russia agrees to build spy base in Nicaragua and prepares to deploy missiles on Polish border

Russia and Nicaragua have agreed a deal for an electronic spy base
Moscow will also give Nicaragua 50 tanks as part of the deal
In the 1980s Nicaragua’s Sandinista regime was a sworn enemy of US
Russia has also announced plans to deploy missiles in Kaliningrad enclave

PANAMA
Panama Canal Expansion Opens Tomorrow

Redone Panama Canal deepens port rivalries

Panama Canal expansion will affect shipping — but how?

PARAGUAY
Drug Czar Steps Down After Deadly Anti-Cannabis Operation

PERU
PICTURED Peru Two drugs ‘mule’ living the high life with her cocaine-smuggling pal after being released from jail. Northern Irish stunner Michaella McCollum Connolly pictured enjoying her glamorous new-life in capital city Lima

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Governor suspends payments on infrastructure debt

URUGUAY
CHAIRMAN ROYCE: FORMER GITMO DETAINEE’S ESCAPE FROM URUGUAY UNDERSCORES NEED TO HALT FUTURE RELEASES. He was in Brazil, doing what?

VENEZUELA
Venezuela petition signatures ‘validated’. Venezuelan opposition leaders say they have validated enough signatures on a petition to move to the next stage in a process to remove President Maduro.

Mass Famine Is Imminent as Neighbors, Washington Stand By

UPDATE
Linked to by Da Tech Guy. Thank you!



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