Update on Honduras’s election: What next?
Argentina to slap steep taxes on luxury imports; Cristina buys hers in Paris anyway.
BRAZIL
Brazil awards $9 billion of airport deals, prepping Rio for Olympics
Crude cost of Brazil’s new pipeline is a dark shadow
CHILE
The Aftermath of Chile’s Election
This may be about to change: Why does Chile prosper while neighbouring Argentina flounders?
Chile has usually followed economically sensible policies, inflation is low and the budget is almost balanced – by contrast Argentina engages in repeated self-inflicted economic upheaval
COLOMBIA
Colombia’s Wayward Search for Peace (emphasis added):
One should therefore be skeptical of rosy reports from Havana about agreements being made on this point or that. All agreements to date are worthless until the guerrillas turn in their weapons and human rights violators surrender to the authorities.
Secondly, the Obama administration must clearly and loudly annunciate U.S. interests in the matter. After all, U.S. taxpayers have a $10 billion investment in Colombia, used to train and equip Colombian security forces and have as much a stake as anyone in any final agreement with the FARC. That the U.S. has relegated itself to the closet while the likes of Cuba and Venezuela flaunt their participation in negotiations is absurd — and no doubt has contributed to the Colombian people’s doubts about the outcome.
CUBA
Feinberg’s Pitch for Dictatorship in Cuba
Cuba Seeks Mexican Businessman in Corruption Probe
Deciphering diplo-speak on Cuba
Dispatch From the Balcony of Time Travel
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Deportation fears on rise in Dominican Republic
NICARAGUA
The New Sandinista Autocracy
In his 1986 State of the Union Address, President Reagan declared: “Surely no issue is more important for peace in our own hemisphere, for the security of our frontiers, for the protection of our vital interests, than to achieve democracy in Nicaragua and to protect Nicaragua’s democratic neighbors.” The region and the world obviously look much different today than they did in 1986: The Soviet Union and the Cold War are long gone, and Nicaragua no longer poses the same geopolitical threat to U.S. interests. Yet the Sandinistas are once again attempting to create a dictatorship, and Nicaragua’s neighbors are once again struggling with rampant violence. Large portions of Guatemalan territory are effectively controlled by the Zetas Cartel, and Honduras is now the global murder capital. (Honduran human-rights commissioner Ramón Custodio Lopez has expressed fears that his nation is becoming a failed state.) And while a March 2012 gang truce between MS-13 and Barrio 18 has significantly reduced homicides in El Salvador, the gangs have continued to extort and terrorize the Salvadoran people, and their truce appears to be unraveling.
PANAMA
Lawyer: Panama Sets $1M Fine for North Korea Ship
PERU
Peru thwarts antiquities smugglers
VENEZUELA
Venezuela: Bozo as Al Capone, or is it Vice-Versa?
Venezuelan tyrant* confirms: new wave of confiscations, redistributions.
Another update: Visiting royals? Those regrettable moments
The week’s posts:
Ecuador: Promises, promises
Bachelet wants to increase taxes, put private colleges out of business, and rewrite the Constitution. What could possibly go wrong? Chile: A step to the left
As expected in Colombia: Santos to run for 2d term
Arturo Sandoval receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom
John Kerry puts a “Kick me” sign on America
Argentina: Cristina gets dog, reorganizes cabinet
En español: La terapia intensiva de esta semana
Cuba: What Castro knew about Oswald
Venezuela: Involving Interpol against @JJRendon
At Da Tech Guy’s: How things can get worse in Venezuela
