Capt. Louis Renault

November 14, 2017 By Fausta

Venezuela: Restructuring debt?

The guy in charge of the commission’s in Washington’s drug kingpin list. The Finance Minister is under U.S. sanctions for alleged corruption.

And the investors couldn’t get information on how to attend the commission’s meeting in Caracas on Nov. 13, “which happens to be the deadline for almost $300 million in outstanding bond interest payments.”

There was no information on what the requisites are for attending the meeting, where it would take place or whether the government would provide accommodation and transport.

In short, it was A Meeting About Nothing.

Gee, could this supposed meeting be just a prop so Maduro could blame the default on someone else?

I call it a Capt. Louis Renault Moment,

PDVSA downgraded to default by S&P. Let the domino effect begin.https://t.co/vnFDw0P6PR

— Prof. Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) November 14, 2017

Cross-posted at WoW! Magazine.

April 21, 2017 By Fausta

Ecuador: Partial recount results predictable

Predictably,

Following a recount of almost 1.3 million votes in Ecuador, the electoral council has confirmed left-wing candidate Lenín Moreno as the winner of the presidential poll held on 2 April.

The recount slightly boosted Mr Moreno’s margin over his conservative rival, Guillermo Lasso.

Mr Lasso had demanded a full recount citing allegations of fraud but the national electoral council only agreed to a recount of 10% of the votes.

Cue Capt. Louis,

Where’s the OAS?

But monitors from the Organization of American States said they considered “a recount of this magnitude and under these norms to be an exercise in transparency”.

More like an exercise in futility.

UPDATE:
Linked to by Silvio Canto. Thank you!

April 5, 2017 By Fausta

Today’s Capt. Louis Renault moment:

Ecuador National Electoral Council Says Vote Results Are Irreversible. Council says Lenin Moreno got 51.2% of the votes, with 48.8% for Guillermo Lasso, with almost all ballots counted

As you may recall, on election day early results showed Lasso ahead, them the CNE website went down, and when it went back up Moreno was declared the winner.

Now the CNE says the results are “official and irreversible.”

Cue Cpt. Louis,

Lasso is holding a press conference right now,

¡ATENCIÓN! ¡En Vivo! Presentación de fundamentos de impugnación a los resultados electorales https://t.co/0bYZOZcDAL

— Guillermo Lasso (@LassoGuillermo) April 5, 2017

December 22, 2016 By Fausta

Cuba: Persecuting the Ladies In White

Carlos Eire posts a Normalization Circus Update: More abuse heaped upon Ladies in White (emphasis added)

Okay, okay, time to spell it out:

Ever since Mr. Obama visited the Castro Kingdom, King Raul has not allowed any dissidents to stage public protests.

His new tactic is to arrest potential protesters before they are able to raise their voices in public.

The change has been as abrupt as it has been obvious.

While King Raul waited for the lifting of sanctions, he allowed dissidents to be somewhat visible.

As soon as sanctions were lifted, King Raul no longer had to pretend to be a somewhat nice guy.

The once-somewhat- visible Ladies in White are now totally invisible virtual prisoners in their homes, instantly rounded up and roughed up the instant they step out their doors.

And ever since the European Union signed its Carte Blanche deal with King Raul, the repression has been increasing at an alarming rate.

A couple of years ago, I was in Rick Moran’s podcast with Jazz Shaw and Doug Mataconis, where Jazz and Doug approved of Obama’s Cuba policy “because what we have been doing about Cuba hasn’t worked,” ignoring the fact that the regime’s goal is to consolidate power around itself. Lifting sanctions has availed the regime of financial resources it previously lacked, further facilitating that purpose.

Small surprise, then, that Our new relationship with Cuba doesn’t seem to have changed much of anything.

As Capt. Louis said,

November 8, 2016 By Fausta

Today’s Capt. Louis Renault moment brought to you by Cuba

Frank Calzon asks, Have the Cubans Broken into Hillary Clinton’s E-Mail?

“. . . on October 14, the White House announced a new policy directive on Cuba: The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) will support broader United States government efforts to normalize relations with Cuba, with Intelligence Community elements working to find opportunities for engagement on areas of common interest through which we could exchange information on mutual threats with Cuban counterparts.”

[Emphasis added.]

That demands an answer from the president or Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, to the questions: Is Cuba one of the five nations given a “99 percent chance”? And did Cuba access Clinton’s e-mails? (Rhodes has been leading the continuing secret negotiations with Cuba’s Colonel Alejandro Castro Espín, son of Cuba’s president, Raul Castro, regarding the continuing rapprochement between the two nations.)

To answer Calzon’s question, $5 says not just yes, but hell, yes.

Or, as Capt. Louis put it,

November 2, 2016 By Fausta

Venezuela: Jail for demonstrators, says Maduro

Following up on yesterday’s post on the so-called talks between the government and the official opposition,
Maduro Threatens to Imprison Venezuela Opposition for Advocating Demonstrations

Talks between President Nicolás Maduro and the opposition meant to defuse the country’s political crisis are off to a shaky start after the embattled leftist leader threatened to jail rivals advocating for street demonstrations.

Because the Popular Will is not the official opposition, says Maduro (emphasis added),

Mr. Maduro, speaking on his weekly television program Tuesday night, directed his stern warning to the Popular Will party, calling it a terrorist organization, after it said it objected to the opposition alliance’s plan to ease protest pressure on the president in favor of Vatican-mediated talks that are endorsed by the U.S. State Department.

Which brings us back to Capt. Louis Renault,

Opposition members in Venezuela have suspended the “trial” of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, ahead of talks with the government, a trial which would have been a symbolic gesture anyway,

Analysts had said Nicolas Maduro’s “trial” would have been largely symbolic because the constitution gives the president immunity from such processes. The hearing, which Maduro has called a “coup attempt,” had been slated for Tuesday. Maduro has said those involved in trying to depose him should be jailed.

In other news,
VENEZUELA TO CITY DWELLERS: GROW YOUR OWN!

#ThisIsVenezuela Urban farming in #Venezuela. Thanks to @NicolasMaduro. Image via @OvarioV pic.twitter.com/d2n6quZOt9

— Michael Welling (@WellingMichael) July 16, 2016

Last, but not least, Leaked DEA Tape Ties Venezuelan First Lady to Drug Money

June 17, 2016 By Fausta

Brazil: Russian team barred from Olympics

This breaking news brought to you by Capt. Louis Renault,
Russia’s Track and Field Team Barred From Rio Olympics

Russia’s track and field team has been barred from competing in this summer’s Rio Games because of a far-reaching doping conspiracy, an extraordinary punishment that might be without precedent in Olympics history.

I am shocked, shocked, about allegations of Russian doping!

If the Olympics were held in Chicago, the women teams would need no doping. All they would have to do to win is to have the male athletes self-identify as female and beat the girls.

April 25, 2016 By Fausta

The collapsed bike path Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Almost emblematic of Brazil’s current political and economic situation, a bike path collapsed, leaving two dead, as Ties emerge between city officials and the company responsible for building the elevated bike path that collapsed on Thursday, killing at least two people.

ARGENTINA
Leonardo Fariña, associate of Lázaro Báez, is singing like a bird claiming Báez and Ernersto Kirchner conspired to steal public money.

After a US Judge Allows Argentina to Resume Paying Creditors, Argentina Delivers $597 Million Windfall to Bond Investors

BELIZE
Belize-Guatemala border tensions rise over shooting

Tensions between Guatemala and Belize over a border dispute have risen sharply after a shooting incident in which a Guatemalan teenager died.

Guatemala says the 13-year-old boy was attacked by Belizean soldiers. Belize says its troops shot in self-defence after coming under fire.

Belize also accuses Guatemala of “amassing” troops along the border.

Guatemala’s claim to parts of territory governed by its neighbour dates back to when Belize was a British colony.

BOLIVIA
Today’s Capt. Loius Renault moment: Bolivia’s Morales Gives Pope 3 Books on Coca and Recommends Taking It

BRAZIL
Must-read: Brazil’s Giant Problem.Corruption is just a symptom of Brazil’s deeper issue: a vast state apparatus that has tried to be the country’s engine of economic growth. I don’t see a change in this miindset:

“The problem is, from time immemorial, Brazil’s political leaders only see one way forward, the growth of the state,” said Fernando Henrique Cardoso, a former leftist intellectual who sought to reduce the size of Brazil’s government while president from 1995 to 2002. “But you need another springboard for progress, that doesn’t exclude the state but that accepts markets. This just doesn’t sink in in Brazil.”

Brazil’s political crisis: The darkest hour. The economy is in freefall. The president is likely to be impeached. Brazil’s democracy faces its toughest moment since the end of dictatorship

CHILE
What Is Behind Bachelet’s Push to Reform the Chilean Constitution? “Supervised” Town Hall Meetings Dishonest, Ineffective Method For Rewriting Founding Principles

Humberstone and Santa Laura Works, The GHOST TOWN declared a world heritage site: Inside the spooky mining settlement which has been abandoned for more than 50 years in Chile

COLOMBIA
Colombia’s Anti-Drug Policy Benefiting BACRIM: Inspector General

Inspector General Alejandro Ordóñez Maldonado said the criminalized paramilitary networks known as BACRIM (from the abbreviation of “criminal bands”), alongside rebel group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – FARC), have profited the most from the government’s decision in May 2015 to ban the aerial spraying of glyphosate on coca crops, reported El Espectador.

What the FARC’s Elusive Finances Mean for Peace

The Economist recently published estimates that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia –FARC) had assets worth 33 trillion Colombian pesos in 2012, even after paying to maintain its guerrilla army. That is $11.4 billion at the current exchange rate. The value was reportedly based on an “unpublished study by government analysts.”

CUBA
Change In Cuba — But Not For The Better

Another Sunday of repression in Cuba, April 10, 2016, but Smokey Robinson and other U.S. artists hail new ‘love’ with Cuba

ECUADOR
Ecuador death toll reaches 654

HONDURAS
Denials Follow Revelations in Honduras Drug Czar’s Assassination

MEXICO
U.S. Muslim Plotted with Islamic State to Smuggle Fighters Through Mexico, Say Feds

Mexico President Pena Nieto proposes relaxing marijuana laws

NICARAGUA
Thousands March to Protest Proposed Nicaragua Canal

PANAMA
Investigators raid property of ‘Panama Papers’ law firm Mossack Fonseca

PARAGUAY
Life Is Like Purgatory in the Squalid Shanty Towns of Paraguay

PERU
Peru’s Fujimori and Kuczynski seen tied in poll on June run-off

Discovery of 4,500-year-old female mummy sheds light on ancient Peru. Archaeologists say the mummified remains, found near one of the oldest cities in the Americas, probably belong to a noblewoman aged 40 to 50

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Moving Closer to Deal With Some Bank Bondholders