American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture
We interrupt our blogging on Latin America to comment on Putin’s speech at the G20, live on France24. Salient words:
“Supply and demand
“Business stimulation
“Foreign investment
“Promoting investment climate
“Curb protectionism
“Increase openness of regional trade agreements
“Bolster transparency”
Who’s the grown-up?
UPDATE:
During the Q&A press conference, Putin vowed to help Syria if Syria’s attacked. He also asserted the rebels used the gas to provoke the US to intervene.
COLOMBIA
Politics and crime in Colombia
Double agent
FARC Smuggle Explosives into Cities via Ecuador Border: Police
CUBA
WATCHDOGS: Solons worry Medicare billions going to Castro, Cuba
Medicare fraud worth billions may be steered to Cuba
“Subversive monstrosity”: 500 Cubans attend internet festival in Havana
Hiding Cuba’s crimes behind gay rights lies
Cuban activist Bismark Mustelier sentenced to 2 years in prison
ECUADOR
WikiLeaks Finds Its True Home In Banana Republic Ecuador
WikiLeaks’s Assange, Ecuador’s Correa, and the Politics of Anti-Americanism
Otto Reich: US Should Not Sign New Trade Agreements with Ecuador
FALKLAND ISLANDS
Self-determination in the South Atlantic
HONDURAS
Violence in Honduras
The eye of the storm
Timid steps to tame the world’s most violent country
JAMAICA
Organised crime in Jamaica
Dudus gets his due
MEXICO
OBAMA BOWS TO MEXICAN PRESIDENT
Mexico election diary
#YoSoy132 at a crossroads
Mexico ready to vote, watchful for fraud
PARAGUAY
Paternity suits, cancer, and now, impeachment, for the bishop-turned-president: Paraguay Senate says impeachment trial of president will start on Friday (slideshow).
Paraguay’s president vows to fight impeachment
Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo vowed on Thursday to stand and fight rather than resign after his opponents launched an impeachment drive over a land eviction in which 17 people died last week.
PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico governor presses for bigger federal presence in Caribbean
Crews put boom around freighter grounded off Puerto Rico island, no signs of pollution
Puerto Rican Militant Accepts Plea Deal in Big 1983 U.S. Heist
URUGUAY
Uruguay marijuana sales to be controlled by state
Uruguay is planning a radical approach to the legalisation of marijuana by proposing the sale of the drug be controlled by the state. Well, that’s one way to make sure the politicians get rich. (h/t GoV)
The week’s posts:
Whittle on Fast & Furious
Obama: Latinos in, utensils out!
Why executive privilege over Fast & Furious?
Assange wants asylum in Ecuador
Smart diplomacy: As global leaders gather in Mexico, Obama chews gum
At Hot Air: Paraguay: Lugo will be spending time with his families.
At least this time he didn’t wave: As global leaders gather, Obama chews gum
Apparently, despite being surrounded by twenty other world leaders, President Barack Obama “was chewing gum the whole time.”
Nah, Nicorette.
Hollande, Putin and Ahmadinejad confirm presence at Rio 20
From June 20 to 22, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio 20, in Rio de Janeiro, will highlight the presence of more than 115 heads of state and government. They will focus on discussions on the defense of the environment with sustainable development and social inclusion. Attention will be focused on the presidents François Hollande (France) Vladimir Putin (Russia) and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Iran), among others.
Ahmadinejad’s also stopping by Bolivia and Venezuela to call on his friends Evo and Hugo. Hugo has visited Iran nine times in the past 13 years.
No word on whether Chavez will attend the G20.
Mexico’s Calderón Tempers Expectations for G-20 Meeting
Mr. Calderón also sought to temper short-term expectations from the summit.
“Each particular event, and in this case the G-20 meeting, doesn’t necessarily generate in itself some news event that would have a special impact on markets,” he said. “However, what we can expect, and that’s the goal of the meeting, is to deal frankly with the current problems in the world, particularly Europe.”
As you can hear in the above interview, there’s going to be a lot of lip service paid to mostly symbolic issues that will not improve, and may even worsen, economic or market conditions, such as “financial social inclusion, food security and the green economy”.
Calderón also expects a bailout for Spain, which comes as no surprise. Bailout in Spain Leaves Taxpayers Liable for the Cost – which taxpayers?
The G-20 will meet in Los Cabos, Mexico on June 18 and 19.
Aiming to “reset” the button, Hillary stands out in the crowd; perhaps she thought she was in Rode Island with Joe Biden,
Didn’t get the memo? Hillary Clinton dons lime green shirt for G20 ‘family photo’ while everyone else wears white (h/t Babalu)
Fashion faux-pas, or smart diplomacy? You decide!
Yes, this is bad enough. The real scandal, however, is this: The reporters went along with a request that they abstain from, well, reporting,
The surprising lack of coverage may be explained by a report alleging that journalists present at the event were requested to sign an agreement to keep mum on the embarrassing comments. A Reuters reporter was among the journalists present and can confirm the veracity of the comments.
A member of the media confirmed Monday that “there were discussions between journalists and they agreed not to publish the comments due to the sensitivity of the issue.”
He added that while it was annoying to have to refrain from publishing the information, the journalists are subject to precise rules of conduct.
“Precise rules of conduct”: don’t embarrass some on vital Middle East issues, but make sure to report that Herman Cain asked a woman out to dinner and stuck someone with a bill.
Welcome to this week’s Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. As the title indicates, it’s been a year since Mel Zelaya was thrown out of office. He and his teddy bear are also gone from his tin foil-lined room at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.
ARGENTINA
Collateral damage
Cristina se reunió con empresarios antes del comienzo de la cumbre del G20
BARBADOS
Barbados and Panama sign double taxation agreement
BOLIVIA
Bolivian Bottles Build Houses
BRAZIL
Brazil’s foreign policy
An Iranian banana skin
Lula has little to show for his Tehran adventure
Lula’s adventure in Tehran smacks of the overconfidence of a politician who basks in an approval rating of over 70% and who sees the Iraq war and the financial crisis as having irreparably damaged American power and credibility. But the United States is still Brazil’s second-largest trading partner. Although some American and Brazilian officials are keen to prevent ill-will over Iran from spoiling co-operation in other areas, it nevertheless may do so. The United States Congress may be even less willing to support the elimination of a tariff on Brazil’s sugar-based ethanol, for example.
Lula wants the UN reformed to reflect today’s world, with Brazil gaining a permanent seat on the Security Council. But by choosing to apply his views on how the world should be run to an issue of pressing concern to America and Europe, and in which Brazil has no obvious national interest, Lula may only have lessened the chances that he will get his way.
Lula skips G20 summit due to deadly Brazil floods
CHILE
Piñera’s (dis)approval
Entrevista a Josep Montaner, “El rol de la sociedad civil ha de ser activo en cualquier situación” Video in Spanish,
Josep Montaner _ Rol de la sociedad civil from Plataforma Urbana on Vimeo.
COLOMBIA
THOMSON: Santos sweeps to the presidency
Platform for security, stability and development win b
Good news from Colombia, but does Obama appreciate it?
Ros-Lehtinen: Recognizing Colombia’s presidential election and the U.S.-Colombia alliance Ros-Lehtinen Resolution on Colombia Elections Passes House
Will Washington treat Colombia’s Santos as an ally?
COSTA RICA
Father’s Day in Costa Rica
CUBA
When Learning Turns to Dust
Syrian president due in Havana on Sunday
Interviews With Dr. Darsi Ferrer and Juan Juan Almeida
ECUADOR
UPDATE: Filmmakers Argue Against Ruling In Chevron Case
HONDURAS
A year without Mel Zelaya
More intromission by US Ambassador Llorens and G-16
JAMAICA
Mr Coke turns himself in
MEXICO
Mexican Violence Crosses Borders; Attracts Media Attention
Mexico Represents Single Biggest Drug Trafficking Threat to U.S.
PANAMA
Washington Post on retiring to Panama
PARAGUAY
Journalists in the crosshairs of Paraguayan People’s Army
PERU
Peruvian Franken-Corn Defamation Case Update
Keiko Fujimori Leads Peru Presidential Poll, El Comercio Says
Keiko Fujimori says “I will be in the second round” for president of Peru in 2011
Peru judge rules Van der Sloot confession valid
PUERTO RICO
Students approve strike pact. Back in the olden days when I was a student at the UPR they were striking, too, but no one slept in cute little tents on campus. Either way, the strikes are a total waste of time.
VENEZUELA
Today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern: UN: Most of the cocaine going to Europe passes through Venezuela
The report launched by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) expresses concern about Venezuela due to the existence of cells of armed insurgent groups, such as the Bolivarian Liberation Front and civilian militias supported by the government.
WDR 2010 website. PDF file: full report.
Syrian president meets with Chavez in Caracas
Revolutionary Rot, But News It’s Not: AP Ignores Venezuela’s ‘Battle for Food‘, also at BizzyBlog
Como el paternalismo crea dictadores
A radical shift to the radical left in Venezuela
Ollie Loves Hugo & Hugo Loves Ollie
Le Monde criticizes the selling out of Venezuela to Cuba, Chavez gets revenge by taking away a minor farm of Diego Arria and Letter from Diego Arria to Hugo Chavez
VenEconomy: Venezuela Dominated By & Split Up Into Ghettos
Commie Despot Renegs On Debts, Seizes Oil Rigs
Today’s Video: Oligarchs vs. Bolivarians
Maria Conchita Alonso on Oliver Stone’s South of the Border (VIDEO)
HUMOR
My cousin sent this, Por que Cuba No fue a el Mundial Los Pichy Boys
The week’s posts and podcasts:
How about, Sayonara, Citgo?
Venezuela to nationalize U.S. firm’s oil rigs
Venezuela’s fast-track doctors
Jamaica: Dudus Coke in the can
Mexican gangs’ lookouts in Arizona
Rum war?
Obama Secretary of Labor: Illegals Have a Right to Fair Wages VIDEO
In Silvio Canto’s podcast.
In Rick Moran’s podcast.