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American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Brazil: Eike Batista arrested

Eike Batista, who once was Brazil’s richest man, was arrested after returning from New York (emphasis added),

The entrepreneur, who for a brief period was Brazil´s richest man, is accused of paying $16.5 million in bribes to the former governor of Rio de Janeiro state, Sérgio Cabral, according to a police spokesman. The alleged payments were made from 2007 to 2014, while Mr. Cabral was in office, according to police officials.
. . .
Mr. Batista and his lawyer, Fernando Martins, said the businessman left Brazil for business reasons Tuesday night, two days after police sought to arrest him, and didn’t know an arrest warrant was about to be issued.

Batista is in deep trouble; in addition to the above mentioned bribery charges,

Brazilian prosecutors said in September that Mr. Batista paid bribes of $2.35 million to the presidential campaign of former President Dilma Rousseff in 2010. The prosecutors, who are leading Brazil’s so-called Operation Car Wash investigation centered on embezzlement at state oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA, said Mr. Batista came forward in June to offer them the information.

Prosecutors filed no charges against Mr. Batista at the time and said they were investigating the alleged payment.

Mr. Batista also was indicted for financial crimes related to the failure of OGX, the oil company he created, which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2013.

O Globo (link in Portuguese) reports that Batista negotiated with federal authorities the terms for his return, since they regarded him as a fugitive. However, according to O Globo, the authorities did not make a formal request to the U.S. for Batista’s arrest.

Sometime between his departure and return to and from NYC, Batista shaved his head, which has caused quite a buzz in Brazil,

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The Paris massacre Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

The week’s top story everywhere: Pres. Obama declared Isis had been contained on the same day ISIS suicide bombers killed at least 41 people in Beirut, Lebanon. The following day, ISIS claimed responsibility for 128 deaths on a coordinated attack perpetrated on an unarmed citizenry in Paris.

A headline that was mostly ignored, but will have dire repercussions in our hemisphere. Abandoning Past Assurances, U.S. Accepts Iran’s Arming of Hezbollah.

ARGENTINA
Argentine Government Slams High Court for Ordering Disclosure of YPF-Chevron Deal for the development of the giant Vaca Muerta shale formation.

Kirchners Nearly Double Size of Argentinean State in 10 Years. Official Report Warns Current Government Spending Is Unsustainable

China, Argentina pledge continued cooperation regardless of election outcome

BOLIVIA
Bolivia Rules Out Uranium Production, Opts to Focus on Lithium Industry

BRAZIL
Brazil Court Orders Retirement of Judge in Eike Batista Trial. A Brazilian appeals court Thursday ordered the early retirement of the federal judge who had been presiding over the trial of Brazilian businessman Eike Batista.

Immigration to Brazil:No golden door. Forbidding policies take an economic toll

They do not come because Brazil needlessly puts up additional roadblocks. Its legislation on immigration is “anachronistic”, admits Beto Vasconcelos, who handles the issue at the justice ministry in Brasília. The main law dealing with immigration, enacted by generals who ruled from 1964 to 1985, treats foreigners as a menace to national security and to Brazilian workers. It bars non-Brazilians from taking part in political rallies, owning stakes in newspapers or participating actively in trade unions.

CHILE
Bachelet Inaugurates Construction of World’s Largest Telescope in Chile

COLOMBIA
The FARC are not disarming: Colombia’s rebels want peace, but fear giving up their guns

Colombia is Top Cocaine Producer Again, Still Supplying Mexican Cartels

CUBA
Did Secretaries Pritzker, Vilsack and Amb. Thorne Violate U.S. Sanctions Law?

Cuban exile musings: What does it take to qualify as a charming “despot” nowadays?

ECUADOR
Ecuador Forced to Fork Over US$1 Billion to US Oil Firm OXY. Correa Claims Reduced Penalty Is Both a Victory, Attack on Nation’s Sovereignty

EL SALVADOR
Murder rate increases sharply in El Salvador

During the first 10 months of 2015, El Salvador — a country with a population of 6.5 million — reported nearly 5,500 homicides, making it the murder capital of the world, according to Elizabeth Kennedy, a San Diego State University social scientist.

HONDURAS
Honduras Indians’ land being seized by drug gangs and settlers, UN official says. Special rapporteur on indigenous rights finds land invasions and deforestation. Miskitos and other groups demand government help in remote region

JAMAICA
Serial Killers Stalking Jamaica – Researcher, Police Agree That Repeat Offenders Behind Murder Numbers

MEXICO
Mexico’s Teachers Gird for Mandatory Performance Tests. This weekend the first of Mexico’s 1.4 million teachers will start taking performance tests, a core feature of President Enrique Peña Nieto’s education overhaul that has engendered some violent protests.

Mexican Cartels Remain Unrivaled in US Drug Market. Local Gangs Join Forces with Criminal Groups South of the Border, Warns DEA Report

NICARAGUA
Nicaragua OKs canal’s impact studies, clearing way for construction

PANAMA
Panama rushes to secure canal after Paris attacks

PARAGUAY
Structural Problems Perpetuate Widespread Corruption in Paraguay

PERU
AP PHOTOS: Peru’s coca destroyers perform grueling work

PUERTO RICO
Little-known hedgie plays hardball with Puerto Rico’s debt

Puerto Rico: Isle of Disenchantment

URUGUAY
Uruguayan gov’t cuts Syrian family aid for gasoline incident

During a meeting with government officials last month, Merhi Alshebli doused himself with gasoline. He did not light himself on fire. Alshebli and other Syrian refugees resettled in Uruguay last year have complained that the government hasn’t helped enough.

VENEZUELA
Venezuelan president criticises ‘imperialist ambushes’ after two relatives arrested by US for drug trafficking. Franqui Flores de Freitas and Efrain Campo Flores, family of Nicolas Maduro’s wife, appeared before a New York court on drug trafficking charges on Thursday and were remanded in custody

Arrested nephews of Venezuela’s first lady could face life in prison

Good luck with that: Push for Venezuela to allow observers. Lawmakers from the US and Latin America urge Venezuela to allow OAS observers to monitor upcoming legislative elections.



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The third Monday in September Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

LatinAmerARGENTINA
Judge Thomas Griesa Rules Against NML Capital in Argentine Debt Case
Citibank Doesn’t Have to Hand Over Documents in Hedge Fund’s Bid to Block Next Interest Payment

Argentina: Down the Tubes, Again

BOLIVIA
A Nuclear Bolivia? Why Not?

BRAZIL
Pelé unveils unique football pitch where players’ energy produces electricity
Brazillian football legend launches a revolutionary artificial pitch that converts players’ energy into electricty to power Rio de Janeiro favela

Brazilian Tycoon Faces Criminal Charges
Brazil’s federal prosecutors have filed criminal charges against Brazilian businessman Eike Batista, compounding the legal woes of the once high-flying entrepreneur.

CHILE
Memory is not history
“Dirty war” memorials should not be used to rewrite the past

The historical truth silenced by “memory” is that the cold war in Latin America was fought by two equally authoritarian sides. Argentina’s coup in 1976 was triggered in part by the violence of the Montoneros, a leftist-nationalist guerrilla group of which several of Ms Fernández’s officials were members.

In Chile, too, memories of history can be incomplete. The museum in Santiago is not trying to impose an interpretation of history, just recounting facts, Ms Bachelet told Bello in July. Yet the only clue that Allende’s government, through its attempt to impose a Marxist programme, had itself contributed to the breakdown of democracy and “the destruction or weakening of many points of consensus” is contained in a quote from a Truth Commission of 1991, which is inscribed on a wall tucked away by the toilets. Allende will be commemorated on this week’s anniversary of the coup as a fallen hero of democracy, with no mention of his own mistakes—even Zhou Enlai, then China’s leader, warned him that he was moving too fast towards communism.

Chile MP charged over 1981 killings
Chilean MP Rosauro Martinez is charged with the killing of three left-wing militants during the dictatorship of Gen Augusto Pinochet.

COLOMBIA
Chikungunya infections spread to Colombia

COSTA RICA
Costa Rica seizes 1.5 tons of pot in chase at sea

CUBA
Cuba to send doctors to Ebola areas

Cuban Political Prisoner of the Day, Daniel Enrique Quesada Chaveco, Sept. 13, 2014

Gerard Depardieu, great friend of the Castro dynasty, avatar of hypocrisy

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Poll Shows Dominicans Most Worried About Crime, Economy

ECUADOR
State Oil Firms to Invest $400 Million in Ecuador Oil Block
Exploration in the 490,000-Acre Oil Concession to Start in January

Ecuador’s Petroamazonas will have a 51% stake in the project, while Sipetrol SA, a unit of Chile’s state-owned Empresa Nacional de Petroleo, or Enap, will own 42% and Belarus’s Belorusneft will have the remaining 7%.

EL SALVADOR
Even Stronger: Truce Between El Salvador Gangs Has Unintended Consequence

But free of violence does not mean free of gangs. The entrance to Ilopango is still controlled by the Mara Salvatrucha, while a northern stretch of the suburb is controlled by 18th Street. Nothing about the agreement has impeded Gonzalez or any of his gang from walking around freely and exerting full control. In fact, it’s only strengthened their power.

GUATEMALA
Firms from Russia, China, Spain, U.S. Interested in Guatemala Pipeline

Companies from Russia, China, Spain and the United States are interested in participating in the construction of a pipeline linking Mexico and Guatemala, the Central American nation’s economy minister said Thursday.

HAITI
Ex-President of Haiti Put Under House Arrest

JAMAICA
In Jamaica, Rastas Ready for Pot Decriminalization

MEXICO
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif calls for deepening of ties with Mexico

ICE OFFICIALS DEPORT MEXICAN NATIONAL WANTED FOR MURDER

NICARAGUA
Nicaragua Requests U.S. Help in Investigating Meteorite

PANAMA
Egypt issues stamps to mark new Suez Canal – but uses pictures of Panama Canal
The multi-billion pound scheme to widen the canal was announced last month, but officials have suffered a series of false starts

PARAGUAY
Paraguayan bus drivers in crucifixion protest

PERU
Assassinations in the Amazon: how will Peru respond?
Indigenous leaders killed near Brazil border following logging and land title battle

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Finds It Has New Friends in Hedge Funds

VENEZUELA
Venezuela to charge two opposition activists deported from Colombia last week
Lorent Saleh and Gabriel Valles, two Venezuelan opposition activists, will face charges after they were deported last week from Colombia.

Venezuela Arrests 64 for Anti-Maduro Protests: Rights Group

Now what? Venezuela on static noise

Venezuela’s ongoing collapse

Glen Chavez?

The week’s posts and podcasts:
Venezuela: The next default

Venezuela: Deadly new illness

Today’s illegal invasion headlines

En español: Unidad de quemados

Chile seeks foreign help in subway bombing case

September 11: In memory of Joe Angelini, Jr.

55 years a slave: The new Cuba-Brazil human traffic

Venezuela, springboard for Hezbollah

Puerto Rico: Trump golf course defaults

Chile: Terrorist attack injures 14

This week’s podcast:
US-Latin America stories of the week with Fausta Wertz editor of Fausta’s Blog

At Da Tech Guy Blog:
“Obama’s Betrayal of the Constitution”

Gov. Walker and the curious case of the district attorney’s wife

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BNDES: Brazil’s really big bank

Juan Forero reports on BNDES, the Brazilian Development Bank, A bank that may be too big for Brazil.
BNDES:

  • has loaned a third of a trillion dollars since 2010, twice the amount the World Bank provided to about 100 countries combined
  • According to critics, most of the money goes to the country’s richest and most politically connected companies, among them JBS (the largest contributor to Dilma Rousseff’s campaign), construction giant Odebrecht, and now-broke Eike Batista’s EBX Group (which received $4 billion in loans).
  • Treasury funds and payroll tax revenue are used for loans.
  • In exchange for loans, BNDES has acquired a minority stake in dozens of private companies, giving the bank’s executives a say in their operations.

For all practical purposes, BNDS is acting as an investment bank, not a public institution focused on fostering social development, while maintaining its lack of transparency,

But analysts say there is another downside to BNDES’s big spending: It fans inflation, which has remained stubbornly high at just under 6 percent a year.

To keep it under control, the Central Bank on Nov. 27 raised its benchmark rate to 10 percent. Such a high interest rate — the highest of any developed country — is believed to crowd out the development of private lenders.

What could possibly go wrong?

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The Memorial Day Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

LatinAmerARGENTINA
Argentina Banks Lost $518M In Foreign Currency Deposits Last Week

EU takes action against Argentina at WTO over import restrictions.

Argentina’s resource-rich province tries to develop gas fields

BRAZIL
Eike Batista
The salesman of Brazil
Brazil’s richest man is betting on resources and infrastructure. Can he deliver?

GE Bets on Brazilian Tycoon Batista

CHILE
Gay rights in Chile
An atrocity prompts change
A sad milestone in the battle for tolerance

COLOMBIA
Giving peace a chance
Or letting justice rule untrammeled

CUBA
The internet cable that only works for the Castro dictatorship

Vatican Launches New Program: Medals for Tyrants and Their Lackeys

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
After Leonel
The new president risks governing in his predecessor’s shadow

ECUADOR
Minsk to deepen co-operation with Cuba, Ecuador

MEXICO
Why Lorenzo Pagina and Sergio Brino had to found Google in Mexico, via American Digest.

Drug Probe Targets Mexican Army

Mexico finds cartels making fake military uniforms

Women on the rise in Mexican drug cartels

PARAGUAY
Deliberately late pizza deliveries raise awareness of world hunger and money for charity
A risky advertising campaign cooked up by agency ONIRIA/TBWA has seen two pizzerias in Paraguay provide a deliberately slow service to help customers begin to understand those affected by hunger, via Best of the Web, which says,

So the pizzeria failed to deliver what it promised and was more interested in making its customers feel guilty about their success. Is this a true story or a parable about the Obama administration?

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico bail referendum sparks rights debate

VENEZUELA
Iran invites Venezuelan President Chavez to NAM summit; $5 says he ain’t gonna make it.

New Tensions as Colombian Soldiers Killed Near Venezuela

Ties between Bogota and Caracas are starting to fray again after 12 Colombian soldiers were killed near the Venezuela border, allegedly by Colombian rebels who are said to be using the neighboring country as a comfortable refuge.

The week’s posts:
Venezuela: The posters

Cuba: Hookers rob chef

Gay Cuban-Americans protest Raul Castro’s daughter’s visit

Venezuela: Chavez back on TV

In Silvio Canto’s podcast.


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