Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

August 25, 2014 By Fausta

The prehistoric seals Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

LatinAmerThere you have it: Seals helped Europeans wipe out Native Americans
Europeans have long been blamed for wiping out 95 per cent of Native Americans by bringing foreign diseases to the New World. But a new study suggests seals could be partly to blame

The research shows that tuberculosis is likely to have spread from humans in Africa to seals and sea lions, who then carried the disease to South America and transmitted it to Native populations long before Europeans landed on the continent.

ARGENTINA
Argentina Presents Plan to Bypass U.S. Courts, Pay Creditors; later, Argentina debt plan ruled ‘illegal’
Argentina’s plan to ask investors holding defaulted bonds to swap them for new locally issued debt is ruled “illegal” by a US court.

Companies fear radical turn in Argentina

The government’s unorthodox economic management came under further scrutiny on Thursday when beef exports were suspended to combat inflation, despite dollar shortages.

BOLIVIA
Bolivia Exports More Than 20,000 Metric Tons of LPG in 1H 2014

BRAZIL
Brazilian Police Officers Acquitted of Murder Charges
A jury has acquitted four police officers of murder charges in the 2012 shooting death of a suspected car thief, a case that attracted attention to the lethality of Brazilian police.

CHILE
Rerun time: Peru in Diplomatic Squabble With Chile
Map Shows Triangle of Land as Belonging to Peru

COLOMBIA
Rebel Attacks in 2014 on Colombia Oil Infrastructure Cause $531 Million in Losses

[The president of the Colombian Petroleum Association, Francisco Jose Lloreda] called on the government to provide security guarantees irrespective of whether a peace deal is reached with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group in talks in Havana dating back to 2012.
. . .
The FARC and ELN have carried out numerous attacks in recent months on oil infrastructure, particularly pipelines and tanker trucks in the northern provinces of Arauca and Norte de Santander, which border Venezuela, and in Putumayo, which borders Ecuador

CUBA
Moringapalooza Cretin Summit 2014: Caracastan’s Maduro visits his master Nosferatu in Havana

Must-Read: Cuban Catholic Youth Activists Write Pope Francis

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Miley Cyrus Banned from Performing in Dominican Republic on ‘Morality Grounds’

ECUADOR
Ecuador President Rafael Correa Seeks Law Allowing Perpetual Re-Election
Popular Leader Setting Stage for Expected Fourth Run in 2017

Top-Down Digital Currency Coming to Ecuador, with Ban on Competition
Imminent Prohibition Covers All Unofficial Physical, Digital Currencies

EL SALVADOR
Saving El Salvador: Why The Vatican Needs To Make Archbishop Romero A Saint; I disagree.

GUATEMALA
General Dies in Crash
A top Guatemalan general and four other officers were killed on Wednesday when the helicopter they were in crashed near the country’s northern border with Mexico, Guatemala’s government said.

“Meet the Press” covered Rand Paul’s pro bono eye surgery in Guatemala and larded it with impugnment of his motives. Paul has been doing pro bono work for decades.

HONDURAS
In Honduras, U.S. deportees seek to journey north again

LATIN AMERICA
ALBA Meets UN Security Council Over Gaza

Why the Pacific Alliance Puts Mercosur to Shame
Protectionist Panderers No Match for Liberal, Free-Market Integration

Build the Border Fence Already!

MEXICO
Mexico Unveils New Police Force
President Enrique Peña Nieto inaugurated a 5,000-strong unit of the federal police that is tasked with protecting key parts of Mexico’s economy from violent drug gangs.

Are we supposed to believe that Mexican authorities are keeping track of who’s crossing? Mexico Dismisses Perry Claim Islamic State Could Have Crossed U.S. Border
The Mexican embassy in Washington Friday dismissed Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s claim that “there’s a very real possibility” extremists from the Islamic State have already snuck into the U.S. over the southern border.

"They were just never heard from again." A Mexican cartel incinerated hundreds of victims: http://t.co/h2KiBto0hX pic.twitter.com/MQ5p1jhMMz

— VICE News (@vicenews) August 17, 2014

NICARAGUA
Nicaraguans, safe at home, feel little reason to flee to U.S.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/08/18/4296029/nicaraguans-safe-at-home-feel.html#storylink=cpy

PANAMA
New Challenges for Panama Canal at 100

PARAGUAY
Paraguay seizes nearly one ton of cocaine in DR Congo-bound rice

PERU
Peru’s Congress Rejects Prime Minister’s Cabinet for Second Time
Various Lawmakers Demand Changes to President Ollanta Humala’s Administration

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico to Use Old Traffic Network to Lay Fiber-Optic Cables

URUGUAY
The Rights Abuses Uruguay Doesn’t Want You to Know About
A small South American country has been making big strides in human rights. But it’s still got some work to do.

VENEZUELA
VenEconomy: Venezuelan Government Goes for More Censorship, Barbarism

Got Shortages? Chavistas Sic “Operation Queue Killer” on Cash Registers
Pricing Superintendent Rebukes Defective Checkouts, Announces Biometric Rationing

The week’s posts and podcast:
Ecuador’s new fake currency

Good luck with that!

TSA: Illegals without ID can fly with ‘Notice to Appear’

Argentina’s shell game

Colombia: Luis Carlos Cervantes murdered

Is Populism beatable?

Would “gender mainstreaming” fix the border crisis?

Argentina: “Qui cum canibus concumbunt cum pulicibus surgent”

Briefly interrupted

The Panama Canal Centennial roundup

At Da Tech Guy Blog
Biometrics and the police state

Podcast
Panama Canal, Argentina, Mexico & US-Latin America stories of the week


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Filed Under: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, FARC, Guatemala, Honduras, Latin America, Mexico, news, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Venezuela Tagged With: ALBA, ELN, Fausta's blog, Pacific Alliance, Rand Paul

May 5, 2014 By Fausta

Chile: Bachelet, going left as promised

Last November I predicted that, if Michelle Bachelet made good on her campaign promises, it would be disastrous not only for Chile, but also for the region.

She’s on her way:
Assault on the Chilean Miracle
President Bachelet wants to raise the corporate tax rate to 35% from 20%.
(emphasis added)

Three decades of fast growth—led by liberal economic policies—have made Chile the most prosperous country in Latin America. Its annual per capita income of more than $19,000 is up from $5,000 in 1990. The percentage of Chileans living in poverty stands at 14.4%, down from 45% in 1985.

The country also stands out politically in the region for its adherence to a rule of law that protects minority rights and eschews banana-republic populism.

Now Ms. Bachelet and her minions in Congress are signaling a game change that suggests a return to the political polarization of the early 1970s. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that they see their legislative majorities as their chance to finally ram the utopian dream of the late President Salvador Allende down the collective Chilean throat.

Sen. Jaime Quintana, spokesman for the New Majority coalition in the upper chamber, said as much in March, when the opposition complained that the ruling coalition was using a “steamroller” in Congress. Not “a steamroller,” Mr. Quintana said. “We are going to use a high-powered steam shovel because it is necessary to destroy the antiquated foundations of the neo-liberal model of the dictatorship.”

In addition to raising the corporate tax rate to 35% from 20%, Bachelet wants to eliminate the FUT,

a key provision in the tax code that allows companies to delay paying taxes on earnings if those earnings are reinvested rather than paid out. Known by its Spanish initials as the “FUT,” this provision has provided much of the capital that fueled Chile’s rapid growth in the last three decades.

Wait until she amends the Constitution and starts overspending the mining profits on social programs and running a deficit.

And don’t forget she’s invited Putin already.

Chile goes down, and the Pacific Alliance is o-v-e-r.

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Filed Under: Chile Tagged With: Fausta's blog, Michelle Bachelet, Pacific Alliance

March 12, 2014 By Fausta

Biden goes to Chile

Joe Biden went to Michelle Bachelet’s second inauguration and managed to do a decent job: Read my article, Biden goes to Chile, at Da Tech Guy Blog.

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Filed Under: Chile, Joe Biden Tagged With: #dm7, Da Tech Guy, Fausta's blog, Michelle Bachelet, Pacific Alliance

January 4, 2014 By Fausta

Latin America: Free trade vs. Mercosur

David Lhunow writes on The Two Latin Americas
A Continental Divide Between One Bloc That Favors State Controls and Another That Embraces Free Markets

In 2014, the Pacific Alliance trade bloc (consisting of Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Chile) is slated to grow an average of 4.25%, boosted by high levels of foreign investment and low inflation, according to estimates from Morgan Stanley. MS +1.55% But the Atlantic group of Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina—all linked in the Mercosur customs union—is projected to grow just 2.5%, with the region’s heavyweight, Brazil, slated to grow a meager 1.9%.

Related: Is 2014 Latin America’s “big year”?


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Filed Under: business, economics, Latin America, trade Tagged With: Fausta's blog, Mercosur, Pacific Alliance

July 15, 2013 By Fausta

The Pacific Alliance: Colombia, Chile, Peru and Mexico

“After a decade of chavismo, these four countries are what is left of liberal democracy in Latin America” – and that’s good news:

The Next Big Free-Trade Breakthrough As a single region, the Pacific Alliance will be the eighth largest economy in the world.

Each of the members already has a bilateral free-trade agreement with each of the others and each has an FTA with the United States. Peru began opening its markets during the Fujimori government (1990-2000). With almost 20 years of Nafta under its belt and a decade of sparring with Chinese producers, Mexican business has become accustomed to foreign competition and is hungry for new markets. Chile has been opening its markets unilaterally for decades, and Chilean producers are world-class. Colombia, arguably the least open of the pack, is led by pro-market President Juan Manuel Santos.

As a single free-trade region, the Pacific Alliance will be formidable. Its population—almost 210 million—is 36% of Latin America and larger than Brazil. In 2012 the four economies combined accounted for 36% of the region’s gross domestic product, roughly half of the region’s total exports and imports. As a single region, the alliance would be the eighth largest economy in the world and the seventh largest exporter, according to Mexico’s economy ministry.

The alliance will also liberalize competition in services and provide a framework for certainty and regulatory stability for foreign investors.

Read the whole thing.

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Filed Under: Chile, Colombia, Latin America, Mexico, Pacific Alliance, Peru Tagged With: Fausta's blog, Pacific Alliance

May 18, 2013 By Fausta

Pacific Alliance vs. Mercosur

The Economist has a must-read article on Latin American geoeconomics
A continental divide
The region is falling in behind two alternative blocks: the market-led Pacific Alliance and the more statist Mercosur

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Filed Under: Latin America, trade Tagged With: Fausta's blog, Mercosur, Pacific Alliance

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