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En español: Últimas noticias del idiota iberoamericano

Argentina: Carlos Alberto Montaner & Alvaro Vargas Llosa: “Argentina ha instalado un sistema económico perverso” – Infobae

Carlos Alberto Montaner y Álvaro Vargas Llosa, autores del libro “Últimas noticias del nuevo idiota Iberoamericano”, analizaron en InfobaeTV el rumbo del Gobierno y advirtieron que “camina hacia una catástrofe“. Las trampas del populismo y la “responsabilidad” de la oposición.

En la Argentina se instaló un sistema populista, de gran concentración de poder político; de erosión sistemática de los contrapesos y del control del poder; un sistema económico muy perverso, que consiste básicamente en extorsionar al campo para subvencionar a la ciudad, a través de eso crear un voto cautivo para permitirle al sistema una continuidad”, sentenció el peruano.

Luego advirtió por las dificultades crecientes que enfrentará la economía por la desaceleración que sufrirá como consecuencia de los cambios en las condiciones internacionales. “Hoy tiene un gasto público descomunal y una tendencia a gastarse todas sus reservas, que está provocando una situación de mucha urgencia, muy dramática”. Incluso consideró que una devaluación como la de enero puede no ser suficiente para hacer frente a la brecha entre el dólar oficial y el libre: “A los pocos meses el mercado te demuestra que tus políticas están cayendo en las mismas consecuencias”.

Montaner no fue menos optimista. “Argentina está en un ciclo muy negativo, camina hacia la catástrofe“.

El cubano reconoció que, pese a ese agotamiento que denuncian, el Gobierno goza de un considerable apoyo. “Si la oposición no consigue juntarse, va a ser muy difícil el remplazo y el sostenimiento del remplazo”.

Y explicó que “en el grupo clientelista, los clientes van a mantenerse unidos porque tienen un interés particular, que no es el del Estado, pero la oposición tiene una responsabilidad de sacar al país de esta terrible situación”.

Entrevista:

Back to English, in other Argentina news:

Argentina in Contempt of Court in Bonds Case, U.S. Judge Rules
Nation Has Tried to Circumvent Rulings on Repaying Creditors Holding Defaulted Bonds, Court Says

The contempt decision comes after the country has made several attempts to get around Judge Griesa’s series of rulings that say the country can’t pay its restructured bondholders until it pays the approximate $1.6 billion it owes to its holdout creditors.

Argentina recently passed legislation to switch the jurisdiction of its bonds governed by U.S. law to Argentina, which Judge Griesa repeatedly has said is illegal and can’t be carried out. The country also is trying to remove Bank of New York Mellon Corp. BK -0.85% as the trustee bank that processes payments and replace it with a local Argentine bank, another move that triggered the contempt citation.

“[Argentina] has been and is now taking steps in an attempt to evade critical parts of” U.S. court order, Judge Griesa said on Monday at the federal courthouse in Manhattan. “There’s a very concrete proposal that would clearly violate the injunction.”

Judge Griesa has jurisdiction in this case because Argentina in the 1990s borrowed money from foreign investors under the agreement that any disputes would be litigated in U.S. courts. Argentina defaulted in 2001, and has for years battled hedge funds that refused to accept debt exchanges in 2005 and 2010.

The hedge funds that sued Argentina in the U.S. agreed to support a request by Citigroup (C), which sought to pay $5 million interest, tied to Argentine bonds, due to today.

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Chavez’s suitcases of money

Alvaro Vargas Llosa writes about Chavez’s bribery to further his Bolivarian Revolution,
Beyond the Suitcase

There was only one man who could tell the story in full because he is the only person who understands its labyrinthine plot, and the only one who has spoken to many of the protagonists, seen most of the documents and traced the distant roots of the events of Aug. 3, 2007: Hugo Alconada, the journalist who covered the saga for Argentina’s La Nacion newspaper. His book “Los secretos de la valija” (The Secrets of the Suitcase) has momentous implications.
…
This case is strong proof that Chavez is employing his country’s oil money to bribe other nations into sustaining his international revolutionary goals. The implications for Argentina are even more revealing. It is hardly news that Buenos Aires is a Chavez ally and that political corruption is widespread in the Argentine government. But the revelation of its extent and its links to the highest echelons of power indicate that the Kirchner couple will face serious investigations if the opposition wins the next elections—a fact that throws new light on their latest autocratic moves, including the passing of a law that will grant extraordinary powers to the government over the media. The law was approved after the Kirchners’ defeat in the recent legislative elections and before the new Congress, in which the opposition will have the upper hand, takes office in December.

You can buy the book Los secretos de la valija at Amazon:

Thanks to Bill for the link.

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Chávez chickens out

hugo-chavez-delivers-a-sp-001

Hugo Chávez, rambling as usual in his Aló Presidente TV show (whose 10th anniversary he is celebrating with a 4-day long cadena, as if Venezuelans hadn’t suffered enough), said on Friday that he was willing to debate the speakers at the Cedice conference (prior posts here and here).

Cedice participants Mario Vargas Llosa, Enrique Krauze, and Jorge Castañeda agreed to debate Chávez himself, on the condition that there be equal time for their points so that they wouldn’t be sitting there listening to Chávez rant.

Fair enough.

I have met Mario Vargas Llosa and Enrique Krauze, and they are top intellects. Brilliant men, each of them.

Now, Chávez, self-deluded as he may be, does have a flash or two of lucidity, and decided this debate was not a good idea after all.

He cancelled today’s show without further explanation.

I have an article coming up soon at Real Clear World with more background on Chávez’s current oppression.

Oh, look
Via Drudge, Hugo Chavez to present Obama with book by Vladimir Lenin. Without a hint of irony, the book’s title is, ‘What Is To Be Done?’

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More Alvaro in Venezuela

Álvaro Vargas Llosa continues his visit to Venezuela with a TV interview (in Spanish) where he explains why countries that respect property rights and free enterprise are the countries who prosper:

The main message of his interview is that the participants at the Cedice conference on freedom and democracy:

“We have come to share the idea that political freedom is fundamental for Latin American civilization. The ideas that economic freedom and respect to private property are basic ingredients for prosperity.”

Chavez is the middle of a three-day-long cadena, which is his TV broadcast that has to be carried through all the licensed TV and radio stations in the country. He’s been singing songs and reading Mario Benedetti’s poems. Not that he’s satisfied with that – he wants Globovisión shut down permanently: Chavez demands Venezuela TV station be punished:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened on Thursday to personally take action against an anti-government TV station if the nation’s authorities do not punish the channel, which expects to be closed.

He’s done it before (as readers of this blog know)

Two years ago Chavez refused to renew the license of Venezuela’s largest private television station, which was implicated in a brief coup against him. That provoked international criticism and anger in Venezuela but did not dent his popularity.

That station, RCTV, is now available only on cable systems and has ceased to be a political force.

In his speech at Cedice yesterday, Álvaro asked “why is [Chavez] so afraid of Globovisión, since he controls all the media?” During his press conference at Cedice he discussed the benefits of microloan programs.

Álvaro Vargas Llosa is a fellow at the Independent Institute. The Independent’s blog has been posting on Álvaro’s trip.

In the meantime, Reuters says that Álvaro’s dad, Mario is stirring things up: Novelist Vargas Llosa stirs up left and right in Latin America. Good for him.

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Please note there won’t be a podcast this morning, since today is a very busy day. However, you can catch me on CNN’s Blogger Bunch at noon (yes, again). The panel will be talking about Padre Alberto.

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Alvaro detained

Álvaro Vargas Llosa, author of Liberty for Latin America: How to Undo Five Hundred Years of State Oppression, co-author of the Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot, and steady critic of Hugo Chavez, was detained by Venezuelan authorities when arriving in Caracas

On the evening of May 25, Independent Institute Senior Fellow Alvaro Vargas Llosa was detained for questioning for almost three hours by Venezuelan authorities following his arrival at the Caracas International Airport.

Since the officers in charge of his custody forgot to take away his cell phone, he was able to answer a call from Globovisión, a Venezuelan television network opposed to Chavez´s regime, which broadcast the conversation live. Alvaro believes that call was key to his release since it rapidly spread the news of his detention through media outlets worldwide, placing pressure on the ruling dictatorship.

Alvaro traveled to Caracas to attend a forum on freedom and democracy organized by the Center for the Dissemination of Economic Knowledge (CEDICE), a Caracas-based free-market think tank. He is scheduled to speak at an event commemorating the organization’s 25th anniversary, along with other distinguished lecturers including Alex Chafuen, Manuel Ayau Cordón, Enrique Ghersi, Jorge Castañeda, Guy Sorman and his own father Mario Vargas Llosa.

In a radio interview, Alvaro told how without any explanations the police withheld his passport and took him to a room reserved for smugglers, where they interrogated him and among others things asked him to identify his “accomplices”. He also anticipated that his father Mario will surely undergo similar treatment when he arrives in Caracas on Wednesday.

Here’s Alvaro’s telephone conversation (in Spanish) with Globovisión, the TV station currently under attack by Chavez:

Anthony Gregory at the Independent Institute’s Blog has more.

Upon his release, Álvaro headed straight to Globovisión. Here is the interview, where he deplored the accelerated decline in Venezuelan democracy:

The Buenos Aires Herald, El Universal, El Herald and the Miami Herald also reported on the story.

Today Álvaro’s father, eminent writer Mario Vargas Llosa, is expected to arrive in Caracas. He’s already let it be known that he won’t be holding back any criticisms of the regime.

I’ll be talking about this in today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern. Chat’s open at 10:45AM and all podcasts are archived for your listening convenience.

UPDATE
Via commenter Rodrigo, the official Venezuelan news agency didn’t take long to call both Vargas Llosas and Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza characters in the service of the empire. By “empire” they mean the US.

Perhaps Le Monde’s South American correspondent Jean-Pierre Langellier also is a “character in the service of the empire,” too?

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