Antonio Rivero

April 7, 2014 By Fausta

The Juan Boria Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Juan Boria was an Afro-Puerto Rican poet, teacher and actor whose joyful performances on television I used to watch when I was a child growing up on the island. You couldn’t not have fun listening to him, even if sometimes you didn’t understand the words. I dedicate this Carnival to him, in thanks for the delightful moments his work still brings us. I have not found any YouTubes videos of his performances, only of his audios. Here’s one:

ARGENTINA
Argentina’s economy
Creeping toward normality

BRAZIL
Which Path Will Brazil Choose?

CHILE
Big Earthquake In Chile, Not Many Killed

COLOMBIA
Vote for peace, vote for Santos?

COSTA RICA
The election results are a given, after the challenger stopped campaigning – he’s still in the ballot, though (video in Spanish)

CUBA
AP Considers Twitter “Subversive” — for Cubans

ECUADOR
Chevron Takes Battle To Radical Environmentalist Lobby

JAMAICA
‘Ganga Future Growers’: Pot-growers group launched in Jamaica

MEXICO
Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez admitted to hospital in Mexico City
Colombian author, whose works have outsold everything in the Spanish language except the Bible, is being treated for lung and urinary infections

PANAMA
Mexico, Panama sign free-trade pact

PERU
Visit Choquequirao, Peru
Explore Peru’s famous Incan ruins in the lesser-known but still breathtaking city of Choquequirao.

PUERTO RICO
Ft. Hood: Puerto Rico friends, family of Ivan Lopez shocked

URUGUAY
Move aside, president of Uruguay: We have a new ‘poorest world leader’. He’s still the worst-shod, though.

VENEZUELA

An appeal to all to show support for the people of Venezuela. Please read: http://t.co/v9LyAn8E4i #SOSVenezuela pic.twitter.com/uaaK2t9vxI

— Kevin Spacey (@KevinSpacey) April 5, 2014

Spain Halts Sale of Riot Gear to Caracas
Madrid Seeks to Avoid Fanning Violence, As 200,000 Spaniards Reside in Venezuela

30 Spaniards have been arrested by forces loyal to the socialist administration of President Nicolás Maduro.

Otra foto otro angulo con foto para los que dicen "Montaje" @fdelrinconCNN @nautrom @Frank28_777 #CalleSinRetorno pic.twitter.com/p8IAqwW1ul

— #CalleSinRetorno #47 (@darksoldeath) March 30, 2014

Are Race and Class at the Root of Venezuela’s Political Crisis?

Killing dissent? One of Leopoldo López’s aides, and the brother-in-law of an opposition mayor have been murdered. Matan a allegado de Leopoldo López y a cuñado de alcalde opositor
Un allegado del líder opositor venezolano Leopoldo López y un cuñado del alcalde del municipio caraqueño de Sucre, Carlos Ocariz, fueron asesinados en un parque de Caracas, se informó el domingo.

GM Takes $400 Million Loss in Venezuela as Ford Loses $350 Million

Crash dummy policies

NEWS FROM VENEZUELA

The Market For Common Sense

Caracas chaos: Venezuelan general [Antonio Rivero] on the run
Death in the streets, rationing by fingerprints and a general on the run: how oil-rich Venezuela has descended into chaos

NYT Gives Print Op-ed Space to Venezuela’s Maduro, Ignores Growing Repression

The week’s posts:
Ecuador: Pass the Ketchum

Annals of Papal gift-giving, UPDATED

Venezuela; about that Maduro op-ed in the NYT, UPDATED

We interrupt our blogging on Latin America to bring you the latest on Putin

Vargas Llosa going to Venezuela

Ecuador: Looking for fools wanting to part with their money

#SOSVenezuela: Testing Venezuela’s sincerity

The Most Interesting Man in the World has spoken,

At Da Tech Guy Blog:
What Eich means

A makeover for . . . cream cheese?

May 8, 2013 By Fausta

Venezuela: no US access to Timothy Hallet Tracy

As I reported two weeks ago, the Maduro regime is holding American Timothy Hallet Tracy on charges of espionage. Now Venezuela Gives U.S. No Access To American Being Held In ‘Nightmare’ Situation

U.S. diplomats have been denied access to California man Timothy Tracy, 35, who is being accused by the government of being a spy and foment postelection unrest.

During his visit to Latin America, [President Barack] Obama said the allegations against documentary film-maker Tim Tracy, 35, were “ridiculous”, a statement that a lower official in Venezuela rejected, while Nicolás Maduro described Obama as the “grand chief of devils”.

Tracy, a director and producer at Los Angeles-based Freehold Productions, had filmed retired general Antonio Rivero when the general was advising students how to protect themselves from armed chavista gangs who roam in motorcycles during opposition protests.

Opposition leaders claim that the wave of oppression is being orchestrated from Cuba.

Rivero was jailed on April 27, Tracy on April 24.

In other Venezuela news, The opposition challenges 2,320,490 votes of April 14 (15.4% votes cast, margin of victory 1.49% votes cast)

UPDATE:
Castro’s Two American Hostages

April 29, 2013 By Fausta

The meteor Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

LatinAmer A meteor lit up the night last Sunday in Argentina, but the big news wasn’t the meteor, it was the courts. Mary O’Grady writes on how Kirchner Targets Argentina’s Judiciary

Congressional midterm elections are set for October and the kirchneristas are desperate to win a majority so that they can change the law to allow the president to run for a third term. To reach that goal, the government decided that more cooperation from the courts is in order.

Mrs. Kirchner’s government drafted and Congress has now approved a law that, among other things, does away with existing rules for picking members of the magistrate council, the body that chooses and can impeach federal judges. Those rules ensured that the council would be made up of a politically mixed group of individuals chosen by politicians, judges, lawyers and academics.

In their place, the reform stipulates that the council will be elected by popular vote in the same election that chooses the president—raising the likelihood that the executive will control the judiciary. If 51% of voters want judges who will strip the other 49% of their property, so be it. The reform also limits to six months any injunction against a government policy, conveniently destroying the protection that Clarin now enjoys. There will also be new appellate courts with judges appointed by the council.

Caudilla Cristina: divide the opposition, take control of all the institutions, demonize a foreign country to create a common enemy.
ARGENTINA
36 Hours in Salta, Argentina

BRAZIL
‘Problems’ as Maracana stadium reopens in Rio

CARIBBEAN
US tries new aerial tools in Caribbean drug fight (H/T DP)

COLOMBIA
Colombia’s FARC guerrillas thank US lawmakers for supporting Havana peace process

CUBA
Rosa Maria Paya, you have the Castro dictatorship’s attention

Note to AP: Mariela Castro is a Cuban Regime Official

Woman indicted in Cuba spy case is in Sweden and out of U.S. reach

ECUADOR
Government of Ecuador to sue newspaper La Hora for a third time

GUATEMALA
Guatemala’s genocide trial
Playing for time
The spectre of never-ending impunity returns to a divided country

MEXICO
USDA/Mexico Spanish-language flyer: Get kids on food stamps without showing documents

Thirteen die in Mexico prison battle
At least 13 people die and dozens are injured after fighting breaks out between rival groups of inmates at a prison in central Mexico.

PANAMA
Fossil of “most ancient” monkey of Americas found in Panama Canal

PARAGUAY
Paraguay’s elections
Return of the Colorados
A tobacco magnate promises change in one of South America’s poorest countries