Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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The ISIS border terror alert Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

LatinAmerJudicial Watch has an Imminent Terrorist Attack Warning By Feds on US Border, which, as Andrew McCarthy explains,

this is not a surprise — particularly less than two weeks before September 11. But it is nonetheless jarring to read.

ARGENTINA
Argentina workers claim general strike ‘successful’
Labour groups opposed to Argentine President Cristina Fernandez say the second general strike of the year has been a success.

More bat-shit craziness: Argentina contemplates moving capital from Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is seen as being geographically remote from much of the rest of the country
Buenos Aires could be replaced as capital of Argentina by a city 600 miles to the north [Santiago del Estero], under a plan floated by Cristina Kirchner

BOLIVIA
Bolivia Seizes Guns Bound for Brazilian Crime Outfit, the intended for the gang known as the First Capital Command (Primeiro Comando da Capital, or PCC).

BRAZIL
Other than post-Chavez Venezuela, Brazil is the worst out of 11 countries ranked by a joint study conducted by Brazilian and German economic think tanks.

Brazil Falls Into Recession
Brazil’s economy fell into a technical recession and cut its growth forecast, delivering another blow to President Dilma Rousseff’s re-election hopes.

Inside the all-woman village desperate for men
The women of of Noiva do Cordeiro are “appealing” for eligible men
Video
Harry Wallop visits the small rural Brazilian village of Noiva do Cordeiro, populated by beautiful women who are looking for love

CHILE
Immigration: Minister of Defense Warns Against “Entering Chile without Authorization”

Chile Manufacturing Falls More Than Forecast as Retail Slows

COLOMBIA
Fugitive Colombian Warlord Nabbed in Panama

Hoy en La Noche grupo de cubanos espera en Colombia respuesta a solicitud de refugio político:

CUBA
Why work? You earn more selling three avocados a day.

The Vatican’s man in Havana says Cubans’ only hope for a better life is to escape Cuba

Internet for Cubans vs. Helping Castro’s Censorship

Oh! Oh! Canada: Party girls UPDATE

DOMINICA
Dominica Will Be First Nation with Universal Bitcoin Possession
70,000 Island Residents Get a “Bitcoin Drop” March 2015

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Republic investigate ex-nuncio for pedophilia
Wesolowski appealing def[r]ocking by the Vatican

DRUGS
Drug Use and Drug Spending: How the Washington Post and the President Get It Wrong

ECUADOR
The Future of Dollarization in Ecuador

Ecuador to bring in digital currency
Ecuador says it will introduce the world’s first digital currency issued by a central bank and it will go into circulation in December

GUATEMALA
Jews ‘forced’ from Guatemala villageMen from a Jewish community load furniture onto a lorry in San Juan La Laguna
Some 230 members of an Orthodox Jewish group begin leaving a village in western Guatemala after a bitter row with the local indigenous community.

HONDURAS
Honduras Knocks on Door of Development Bank to Fund ZEDEs
Catrachos Seek Peace with Neighbors in Sensitive Gulf of Fonseca Region

JAMAICA
Jamaican Ends Legal Challenge to Anti-Sodomy Law after growing fearful about violent backlashes.

MEXICO
Mexico Looks to Raise Wages
Mexico City’s leftist Mayor Miguel Ángel Mancera raised pressure on the federal government with a proposal to lift the federal minimum wage—which lags only behind Haiti in the hemisphere—to $6 per day for 2015.

Mexico’s Pemex Forecasts 6.7% Drop in Crude Production in 2014
The head of Pemex’s exploration and production division said production will fall from 2.52 million barrels per day in 2013 to 2.35 million bpd at the close of 2014

More Than 134,000 Petition Obama Admin. to Demand Release of Sgt. Tahmooressi — Here’s the Response They Received Instead

NICARAGUA
Nicaragua Landslide Traps Gold Miners
Rescuers in Nicaragua raced to reach at least 24 freelance gold miners trapped by a landslide, including 20 who have been located and have managed to communicate with emergency crews.

PANAMA
Widened Panama Canal may threaten West Coast port jobs

PARAGUAY
Brazil, Worse Than Paraguay

PERU
Peru Moves Van der Sloot to Tougher Prison

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Lures Franklin as Equity Funds Buy Junk: Muni Credit

URUGUAY
More than 20 companies bid to supply legal pot in Uruguay

VENEZUELA
Venezuelans Feel Less Safe than Any Population on Earth
Residents Rate “Law and Order” Worse than War-Torn Syria

Health Secretary: Venezuelan Medical Care in Critical Condition
Gustavo Villasmil Details How the Brain Drain and Supply Shortages Feed the Crisis

Venezuela’s Black Market Bolivar Slides to Record Low

Venezuela is becoming a crude importer. Discuss.

Chavismo promoting CITGO sale tells us more than what we care to know

There Is Too Much Money To Be Made In The Bolivarian Revolution I: The Gasoline Racket.

“Los venezolanos en el callejón sin salida del chavismo”

The Venezuela Case Study In How Not To Help The Poor

A Proposal of a New Flag from a Opposition Movement to Chavismo and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela {Venezuatu}…! THE NEW COUNTRY OF: Venecian Guiana !

HUMOR
HAHAHA You go to the beach and run into Hugo Chavez

The week’s posts and podcast:
A day in the life of the Panama Canal

ISIS border terror alert?

Colombia: Former Pablo Escobar lead henchman goes free

En español: Unidad de quemados

Brazil: 3 beheaded in prison riot

Today’s illegal alien invasion headlines

Argentina: Enter Soros

Peña Nieto goes to LA

Colombia: Was military intelligence hacked?

At Da Tech Guy Blog:
The audacity of taupe

Warren Buffett and his American dollars for Canadian doughnuts

Podcast:
Gloria M Strassburger, author, plus Fausta Wertz editor of Fausta’s Blog


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The Memorial Day Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

LatinAmerWith deep gratitude to all who have served our beautiful country in the armed forces, this week’s Carnival.

ARGENTINA
Spanish oil company Repsol ends operations in Argentina
Spanish oil company Repsol has ended its operations in Argentina, two years after the government seized its assets.

Last month the Argentine congress gave final approval to pay $5bn (£3bn) in compensation for Repsol’s stake in Argentine oil firm YPF.

The Spanish company has now announced that it has sold the last batch of bonds it received to cover its losses.

Argentina’s Jewish community talks fondly of friend Francis in the Vatican
Rabbi Abraham Skorka only one of large number of Argentinian Jews with whom pope has developed strong, personal ties

A Desperate Mother’s Search Leads to a Fight Against Sex Trafficking
Desperate for answers about her daughter’s disappearance in 2002, Susana Trimarco started the Fundación María de los Ángeles, an organization that rescues and rehabilitates sex slaves in Argentina.

BAHAMAS
Ah, Bahamas: Sun, Sand and the NSA Recording Your Cell Phone Calls

BOLIVIA
Bolivia Hires Spain’s Isotron to Build Solar Power Plant

BRAZIL
Brazil Deploys Vast World Cup Security Plan
Brazil is spending $855 million on security and safety during the 2014 FIFA Soccer World Cup, which the country will host from June 12 to July 13, the government said on Friday.

Freak hail storm strikes World Cup 2014 host city Sao Paulo
A hail storm covers streets in ice in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo which will host the opening match of the football World Cup in less than a month

CHILE
Revolutionary ‘tears-up’ £300m student debt to protest fees
A Chilean artist has destroyed £300m of student debt ‘IOUs’ to protest tuition charges

COLOMBIA
Colombia’s President Santos to face Zuluaga in run-off vote
Official results from Colombia’s presidential election say the incumbent President Juan Manuel Santos will face his main rival, Oscar Zuluaga, in a run-off next month.

Oscar Iván Zuluaga, a conservative candidate closely allied with former President Álvaro Uribe, won the most votes in the first round of Sunday’s presidential election.

CUBA
Yoani Sanchez’s Independent Online Publication Unblocked in Cuba

From Inside Cuba’s Burning Fire

Miami, Safe Haven for Cuban Torturers? Federal Case of Ethiopian Abuser Reminder, You Cannot Hide from US Justice

Andres Oppenheimer: In Cuba, technology may beat censorship

A Cagy KGB Rabbi

ECUADOR
Ecuador to Begin Oil Drilling in Amazonia

Presidente for life: Ecuador’s Correa Seeks to Allow Indefinite Re-Election of All Officials
Ecuador’s President Asks for Constitutional Amendment

EL SALVADOR
6 Gunned Down on Bus in El Salvador

GUATEMALA
U.S. Sentences Guatemala Ex-President to 5 Years for Money Laundering

HONDURAS
In Violent Honduras, Soccer Is Offering Young Children An Escape From Gangs, Drugs

JAMAICA
Lobbyists call for Jamaica to decriminalize pot

MEXICO
Marine hero stuck in Mexican prison on gun charges

Mexican Zapatista head Marcos steps down
The leader of the Zapatista rebels in southern Mexico, Subcomandante Marcos, announces he is leaving the 20-year-old guerrilla group.

Mexican federal forces rescue 68 CentAm migrants being held captive

How Mexico’s New President Is Turning His Country Into a Servile US Client
Enrique Peña Nieto is using violence and repression to dismantle his country’s progressive legacy. So, is servility why Mexico’s holding Andrew Tahmooressi?

PERU
U.S. Opens Talks with Peru on Waiving Visas

Attorney: Joran van der Sloot to marry in Peruvian prison, become father

PUERTO RICO
Borinqueneers to get Congressional Gold Medal

URUGUAY
Marijuana to Be Sold for Less Than $1 a Gram in Uruguay
Authorities said the price was deliberately set below what marijuana sells for illegally, and the quality control of the drug available at pharmacies would be “very high”

VENEZUELA
CNN team denied right to cover Venezuela local elections

Surprise! Latrine America backs Maduro in Venenozuela

Mythbusting the reduction of poverty

Unfortunately, A Bleak Future For Venezuelans.

Crackdown presents challenge to Citizens Energy, Joe Kennedy II

The week’s posts and podcast:
Puerto Rico: rising volume of drugs coming from Venezuela

Colombia: Who will be the next president?

En español: Unidad de quemados

Mexico: Kevin’s selfie

Bob Menendez on the Venezuelan nightmare

LatAm in top-10 happiest

UN: Cuba to chair World Health Assembly

Venezuela: Chavistas rolling in dough

At Da Tech Guy Blog:
Cuba and moral blindness

Podcast:
US-Latin America stories of the week


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The Iranian networks Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

LatinAmerThis week’s big news item is the spotlight on a subject I’ve posted about for years: Iran’s Latin American networks.

Mary O’Grady has the background information:
Uncovering Iran’s Latin Networks
A prosecutor in Buenos Aires finds Tehran’s fingerprints region-wide.

In October 2006, Mr. Nisman indicted seven Iranians and one Lebanese-born member of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia for the AMIA murders. Interpol notices for their arrest were issued but none was captured. Then, late last year, the Argentine government of Cristina Kirchner announced that a “truth commission,” to be chosen by Argentina and Iran, would examine the viability of the prosecutor’s case.

To many Argentines, that seemed like letting the fox decide the fate of the chickens. But Mrs. Kirchner forged ahead, getting congress to agree. On May 20 Ahmadinejad approved Iran’s participation on the commission.

Mr. Nisman’s response was to release a mountain of evidence against Tehran into cyberspace for all the world to see.

Video:

My posts on the subject this week:
Roundup: More on Iran in Latin America

Argentina: Iran’s infiltration in Latin America

ARGENTINA
Color Dekadencia

Argentina’s Elected Autocracy
Faced with growing public opposition, the Kirchner government is stepping up its attacks on democracy.

An Argentine Dictator’s Legacy

CHILE
Maria Corina Machado went to Chile. Juan Cristobal Nagel is charmed.

COLOMBIA
Colombia says Maduro claims ‘crazy’
Colombia rejects as “crazy” allegations made earlier this week that it is trying to destabilise Venezuela, in the latest diplomatic row.

CUBA
Iran and Cuba: The Real “Mad Men”

All Eyes on Yoani’s Return

Cuban dissident says security forces are studying Vladimir Putin’s rule

An Honor Roll

I did not mention this — that he named the embassies in Havana that allow dissidents and democrats to come in and use the Internet. Would you like the complete list? The embassies of the Czech Republic, Sweden, and Holland, and the U.S. interests section (which is housed in the Swiss embassy). That’s it. “The rest of the diplomatic corps in Cuba does not give us any type of help,” said Roberto.

Che Guevara was no hero, he was a racist (h/t Babalu)

ECUADOR
Ecuador: Concern for Rights of WikiLeaks Founder

EL SALVADOR
A Salvadoran at Risk Tests Abortion Law

Salvadoran woman allowed C-section
A seriously ill Salvadoran woman says she will undergo a Caesarean section following the Supreme Court’s decision to deny her an abortion.

GUATEMALA
Ex-President of Guatemala Faces Judge in Manhattan

HONDURAS
Honduran gang truce begins

JAMAICA
Police: American killed in Jamaica during robbery

LATIN AMERICA
Meet Latin America’s Serious Side: The Pacific Alliance

MEXICO
Murder of Mexican reporter in Veracruz spotlights official hostility toward press

Immigration Reform: Compassion for Mexican Elites

PERU
Wedding bells for Van der Sloot in Peru prison

PUERTO RICO
Annals of the Security State: ‘Is Puerto Rico in America?’

VENEZUELA
The Dead Voted Massively Last October in Venezuela

Venezuelan Military “Technology”: It’s All Kid’s Stuff

The True Intentions of Iran in Latin America are Questioned

The week’s posts:
Mexico: 11 kidnapped in broad daylight

Good news Sunday: The Pacific Alliance

Venezuela: Bayly entrevista a Capriles, 2a. parte

El Salvador: Abortion denied

Venezuela: Capriles travels to Colombia

Mexico: Iron Man? No, Peatónito!

Venezuela: 2 Americans shot in strip club

Cuba: Would you spend a week’s salary for an hour on the internet?

Paraguay: Nueva Germania, and Nietzsche’s sister

Podcast:
US-Latin America: Free trade agreements


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Van der Sloot pleads guilty to murder

Not to the murder of Natalee Holloway, but the murder of Stephany Flores,
Van der Sloot pleads guilty to Peru killing

Stephany Flores was murdered five years to the day after Natalee Holloway was last seen.

Additionally,

Joran van der Sloot was charged with fraud and extortion by federal prosecutors in the United States shortly after Ms Flores was killed. It is alleged he extorted money from Natalee Holloway’s mother by offering to lead her to her daughter’s body.

He still has to face those charges.

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The year without Mel Zelaya Carnival of Latin America, and VIDEO

LatinAmer 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.

Today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern:
The UN Office for Drugs and Crime’s report

ARGENTINA
Collateral damage

Cristina se reunió con empresarios antes del comienzo de la cumbre del G20

Seventy-five years ago today

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

“Cuba experts”

Ramiro on a hunger strike?

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

Jamaican drug lord captured

MEXICO
Mexican Violence Crosses Borders; Attracts Media Attention

Mexico Represents Single Biggest Drug Trafficking Threat to U.S.

NICARAGUA
Nicaragua’s Sandinistas accused of paying for power
Daniel Ortega’s ruling Sandinistas Front is using strong-arm tactics to limit opposition, observers say.

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.

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The Santos election Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. Today’s big story: Colombia’s Juan Manuel Santos won the country’s presidential runoff by a landslide,

Santos is credited with delivering some of the biggest blows against the FARC while serving as defense minister from 2006 to 2008. These include the 2008 rescue of 15 hostages including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. defense contractors. He also ordered the raid into Ecuador that killed the group’s second in command, Raul Reyes.

ARGENTINA
Argentina’s two leading newspapers want government to withdraw from newsprint business

Botnia’s polluting activity questioned
Gualeguaychú activists acknowledge ‘the need of a new strategy,’ put Gov’t on the spotlight

BOLIVIA
Drugs, USAID Complicate Relations

Relations between Bolivia and the United States are still on a roller-coaster, two years after Bolivia expelled the U.S. ambassador, with Bolivian President Evo Morales now threatening to kick out the main U.S. government aid agency.

Inteligencia militar: grupo “Tupac Katari” protege a terrorista peruano

BRAZIL
Brazil’s foreign policy
An Iranian banana skin
Lula has little to show for his Tehran adventure

Doing business in São Paulo (audio)

COLOMBIA
Colombia’s Santos is elected president

Colombian Stocks Rise As Investors Anticipate Santos Victory

Viva Santos?


Colombia Election Skunks The Media

Washington and the Colombian Elections

Colombia’s Coal Mining Accident

Hackers attempt attack on Colombian journalist’s website

CHILE
Carta destacada de la semana: Plan Regulador Metropolitano

CUBA
A Beautiful Comeuppance (One Hopes), via Dan.

The Pedro Pan organization responds to CNBC

Fish Eyes


Prelate restates Church-State relationship and the inviolability of religious freedom

Cuba Involved in Mexican Drug Trafficking and Human Smuggling

The Cuban Terrorist Trade

ECUADOR
Ecuador Says To Respect Colombia’s Elections

‘Gringo chief’ Randy Borman helps Ecuador’s Cofan Indians survive, thrive

EL SALVADOR
Customs canine sniffs out cocaine soup at Dulles

GUATEMALA
Recibí una amenaza contra mí vida y esta es la evidencia

Crime and politics in Guatemala
Kamikaze mission
The UN’s prosecutor resigns, taking an enemy with him

HONDURAS
Assaultcracy

JAMAICA
Jamaica to host world domino championships. My brother-in-law ought to participate.

MEXICO
Mexico’s deadly drug violence claims hundreds of lives in past 5 days

Arizona Sheriff: Mexican Drug Cartels Now Control Parts Of Arizona

Human Rights Defenders Seek Protection in Mexico

NICARAGUA
Today’s Video: Remnants of war

PANAMA
A Morning In Parque Cervantes

PERU
Joran Van der Sloot retracts confession; claims police ‘tricked’ him: report

Holloway suspect to face judge on Monday in Peru murder

PUERTO RICO
Newt Gingrich Interviews Luis Fortuño, Governor of Puerto Rico

VENEZUELA
Rotten food: the biggest crime ever committed against Venezuelans/ Comida podrida: el mayor crímen jamás cometido contra los venezolanos.

Meanwhile, back at the banana plantation

Remember that Oliver Stone propaganda movie that premiered in Caracas last week? Pro-Chavez Documentary Bombs In Venezuela – Report And it’ll bomb here, too:

“South of the Border” is due to hit U.S. screens next week.

Venezuela’s Chavez fights off criticism of economic record

When an opinion becomes “close to a crime” and the real crimes go unpunished in Venezuela

UNA NUEVA ESTRATEGIA PARA UNA VICTORIA DE VERDAD

IMMIGRATION
Obama Orders Dance Classes, Movie Nights, and Bingo for Illegal Detainees

Worst NYT Article EVAH! … ‘Border Violence in Arizona Totally Exaggerated’

The week’s posts and podcasts:
Colombia’s runoff election tomorrow
US asks Paraguay to extradite suspected Hezbollah financier, formerly of Broooklyn and New Jersey
Illegals in Mexico: What Calderon doesn’t want the US to know
Globovision owner flees Venezuela
National Lampoon Caribbean Vacation: Venezuela edition
Chavez at the BBC’s HARDtalk: Never answer what they ask you VIDEO

At Real Clear World,
Colombia: Santos Wins in Landslide

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Van der Sloot confesses

Joran van der Sloot has confessed to Peruvian police to the murder of Stephany Flores:

Van der Sloot’s confession came on his third full day in Peruvian police custody, on the eve of a planned trip to the hotel in which he was to participate in a reconstruction of the events leading to Flores’ slaying

And
why did he kill her?

According to Peruvian police, Dutchman Joran van der Sloot, 22, confessed Monday to the murder of Stephany Flores.

Authorities say that he admitted to murdering the Peruvian woman because she saw “something” about Natalee Holloway on his laptop computer.
…
Van der Sloot reportedly told police “I did not want to do it… The girl saw private things. She had no right. I approached her and she was scared.”

He continued, “We discussed it and she tried to escape, and I took her neck and hit her.”

Dan Riehl asks,

So, the question is, is whatever she supposedly saw still on the PC. And is it incriminating in the Holloway case? Or, did it have to do with the alleged extortion attempt?

As Dan said last week, the information on the Flores murder may help solve the Natalee Holloway murder.

UPDATE
Richard Fernandez has insights into the criminal mind:

My impression has been that apart from the cops, the outside world doesn’t really understand that the vast gulf that separates the low-life world from polite society isn’t one of inferiority but of difference. It’s a mistake to look down on criminals. There’s the idea that criminals are somehow disadvantaged and underprivileged. But in their own domain, they are wonderfully optimized to survive and every bit as adapted to their sordid fields as a brain surgeon. You look down on them and underestimate them at your peril.

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Van der Sloot arrested in Chile

Joran van der Sloot arrested in death of Peruvian woman

Joran van der Sloot has been detained in the death of a Peruvian woman, according to Chilean police.

Chilean police say the Dutchman entered the country two days before Peruvian officials announced that he was the prime suspect in the death of 21-year-old Stephany Flores in a Lima hotel.

Police say Flores had been seen with the suspect the day she was killed.

The murder occurred exactly five years to the day after Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway’s disappearance in Aruba — on May 30, 2005.

Prosecutors on Aruba say van der Sloot is still their main suspect.

More at ABC News

Prior post and podcast.

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