The Groundhog Day Carnival of Latin America & the Caribbean

Cross-posted

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. If you would like your post included in next Monday's Carnival, please email me: faustaw2 "at" gmail "dot" com.

The big news of the week is the alarming increase of the region, including Venezuela where the country's oldest synagogue was vandalized last Friday. Jews in Venezuela, who have for over two hundred years enjoyed tolerance and peace, over the past few weeks have suddenly found themselves in fear of attack and discrimination. Andres Oppenheimer, writing at Miami Herald points to other incidents in Argentina and Brazil. Meanwhile, Telesur broadcasts

a story entitled ''Gaza's Ruins,'' which accuses Israel ''and the world's Jews'' of failing to denounce alleged atrocities by Israeli troops and ''Jewish planes'' in Gaza

and Fidel Castro (or his amanuensis) writes in Granma, the official organ of the Cuban Communist Party that Obama supports Israeli 'genocide'.

I'll be talking about this disturbing trend in today's podcast at 11AM Eastern. Chat's open at 10:45AM and the call-in number is 646 652-2639.

LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN
The Caribbean economies
Lonely beaches: A fall in tourism, and other body blows

Aiming To Shoot Across America's Bow

Populism: The Illusion that Won’t Go Away

Rainforest Resurgence, and New Jungles Prompt a Debate on Rain Forests

Commentary: Is there disunity in CARICOM?

Don't miss also Market Memorandum's news roundup.

ARGENTINA
Fuga de capitales se triplico en el 2008

Women keep disappearing

Argentina Stalling Buenos Aires Bond Plan, Mayor Says

BOLIVIA
DEA presence ends in Bolivia
The last of the U.S. drug agents leaves on President Evo Morales' orders. The U.S. and Bolivia are in a bitter dispute over the South American country's anti-drug efforts.

Facebook will let anybody in these days

Bolivian Christian Group's Ad Against New Constitution

BRAZIL
Dig like Brazil

Lula Raises Brazil’s Minimum Wage 12% as of February

COLOMBIA
Bomb goes off in Bogotá, FARC suspected

Colombia FARC Frees Four Hostages to Opposition Senator Cordoba, three policemen and a member of the Colombian army; The Red Cross verified that the hostages were released; however, Colombia FARC Have Killed Many of Their Captives, Caracol Says

As many as 300 captives taken by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia are dead, Caracol Television reported.

The FARC, as the drug funded group is known, were thought to hold as many as 700 Colombians kidnapped for ransom, the TV channel said. Herbin Hoyos, founder and host of “Voices of Kidnapping,” a radio program that relays messages from family members to rebel hostages, said in an interview with Caracol he has the names of many of the victims and their burial sites.

The details were provided to Hoyos by demobilized members of the FARC.

During his state visit to Germany after his trip to Davos, Uribe insists he's not asking to stay in power in perpetuity, but that he wants his long-term policies to take hold (article in Spanish).

CUBA
Castro Betrayed Che With Moscow's Help, Says Former Guerrilla

The finer points of credit

The star that illuminates and goes missing*

Houston we have no problem

Manifestación en Barcelona

Orestes Paino Viera, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 2/1/09

Raúl Castro se reunió con Vladímir Putin en la sede del Gobierno ruso

GUYANA
British sunken ship discovered off Guyana

Hundreds of Guyanese waiting to be deported from Canada

MEXICO
Calderon Says Mexico May Need More Measures to Spark Economy

Killing the lawyers of Juarez

NICARAGUA
Nicaragua Strongmen's Pact Under Strain

PUERTO RICO
1st Puerto Rican astronaut, Ralph Acaba, carries pride in heritage

Puerto Rico's Democratic Party presents measure for tax relief

PERU
Mining in Peru
If a city's the pits, Then move the city

VENEZUELA
Chávez Grabs Again for Life Tenure
Intimidation is on the rise as a referendum approaches.

Synagogue in Venezuela Vandalized in Break-In Israel acusa a Chavez del ataque a sinagoga

Barbarians at the gate: the Caracas Synagogue is profaned

“The Threat closer to Home”: a book on Hugo Chavez's fake revolution

A long term view of monetary liquidity and international reserves in Venezuela

Former PDVSA President Giusti Denies Report of Madoff Losses

PDVSA maula

Here, There and Everywhere: Venezuela Trip Notes from Cartagena, Colombia
Here, there and everywhere

Bolivia's Evo Morales, Ecuador's Rafael Ortega, Honduras's Manuel Zelaya, and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega, plus Cuba's vicepresident, Carlos Lage asisten a la cumbre extraordinaria del ALBA.

AMERICAN POLITICS
What Obama Can(Not) Do for Latin America

The Latino Republican Forum

The week's posts and podcasts
Meanwhile at at the World Social Forum in Brazil: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Maradona does Caracas
Brave Benicio ran away. Bravely ran away, away.
Today at 11AM Eastern: Iran’s “Subversive” Role in Latin America
Wonder why no countries like to do business in Cuba?
The Battisti asylum in Brazil: 15 Minutes on Latin America

At Real Clear World:
Venezuela: More Anti-Semitism
Gates: Iran's "Subversive" Role in Latin America

The Argentinian economy Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Cross-posted

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. If you would like your links included please email me: faustaw2 "at" gmail "dot" com.

This week's top stop stories:
Venezuela's support of Hamas, and Argentina's bleak economic outlook.

Last week Chavez expelled the Israeli ambassador to Caracas. Yesterday he was threatening to expel the American Charge d'Affaires in Caracas, John Caulfield, for going to a wedding in Puerto Rico. Chavez claims Caulfield was plotting against him...at the wedding.

Argentina's economic outlook is bleak, and not likely to improve over the short term. While the country has been invited to the G20 summit and may be distancing itself from Caracas's influence, government spending is out of control,

Argentina’s Ministry of Economics estimated in midsummer that the country was carrying about $150 billion in debt. The government has been borrowing from anyone who will lend — namely, the captive domestic bond market and regional ally Venezuela — at high interest rates to fund its populist programs, which include steep energy subsidies and the outright nationalization of six (now seven, counting Aerolineas) companies. Payments on Argentina’s debt will total more than $10 billion in the first six months of 2009 alone. At the same time, the government is assuming more and more responsibilities across the board and shows no sign of halting.

Because the 2009 government budget did not take the nationalized pension funds into account, it appeared at first blush that the government might have secured for itself some means of taking the bite out of debt payments with that appropriation. Given that the original budget was based on highly optimistic economic performance forecasts — the global downturn and the decline of Argentina’s agriculture industry notwithstanding –- it was possible to argue that the move was relatively prudent, despite the jitters felt by investors.

But the reality is that Fernandez is increasing spending at such a rate that the administration will quickly burn through the extra cash. This is not typical debt manipulation, but rather, as investors had feared, the outright commandeering of Argentines’ retirement savings to prop up the government’s populist policies.

Setting aside the emotional and financial impact to Argentine workers as they contemplate their futures, the government has ensnared itself in an accounting dilemma. If spending continues in the face of falling revenue and limited credit, Buenos Aires eventually will hit a wall. And so far, its only recourse has been to liquidate what few financial assets remain in-country. Although there could yet be a grand scheme that will compensate for this problem, the government has shown no evidence thus far that one exists. The odds of an outright debt default and a return to the economic crisis of 2002 are growing.

I'll be talking about Argentina's economy in today's podcast at 11AM Eastern.

LATIN AMERICA
The world of the FARC (Part I: Europe)

The world of the FARC (Part II: America)

Going South

Battle for Influence in Latin America

Political Risk Bulletin from Market Memorandum

Spain's Bets Sour in Latin America

ANTIGUA
Cuban-trained doctors in Antigua denied enrollment as medical practitioners

The Antigua Sun reported that the Antigua and Barbuda Medical Registration Board (MRB) refused to register the documents because, according to the Chairman of the MRB, David Dorset, the requirements were not satisfied that they could practice medicine by themselves.

Additionally Dorset said the applicants had not proven their entitlement to practice medicine in another country. Therefore, they would not be registered in Antigua and Barbuda under the Medical Act.

ARGENTINA
Housing in Argentina. Misery in their midst: A fight over an iconic shantytown

BOLIVIA
Sospechosa liberacion de narcos vinculados al MAS

BRAZIL
Lula's last lap: A freakishly popular president has only a year left before electioneering curtails his mandate. He will spend it reacting rather than reforming

COLOMBIA
Third term temptation: Álvaro Uribe pushes his luck

COSTA RICA
Death toll rises to 9 from Costa Rica quake

CUBA
Like Generation Y, Penultimos Dias got hacked.

The humble

Charts and figures

Change stirring in Cuba

Via The Real Cuba, Havana Cuba, 1930s



Cincuenta años de revolución cubana --2ª parte--



DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Republic buys eight planes from Brazil

ECUADOR
Ecuador: Using OPEC Cuts to Take Over the Energy Sector

Ecuador is willing to talk with Colombia

Ecuador 14 January: The Studfather

More Financial Crimes Underway in Correa's Ecuador

JAMAICA
Jamaican residents forced to flee homes in face of violence

MEXICO
Via Instapundit, New reports about Mexico, the failing state on our border

Ten of Mexico's Most Notorious Drug Traffickers Extradited to U.S.

NICARAGUA
Ortega se apoya en Chavez y se enfrenta al mundo

PANAMA
Mail Going Outside of Panama

PERU
Peru: As corrupt as ever

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico union leaders meet with Economic Advisory Panel

Puerto Rico expands coastal reserve

ST KITTS-NEVIS
Return of the noose: St Kitts has just hanged its first man for a decade and believes it is the only way to beat violent crime

VENEZUELA
Dictatorship for Dummies: Learn how to quash dissent Chávez-style.

Moneda virtual “Sucre” será aprobada en diciembre por el ALBA

Crece el apoyo a Chávez en el Medio Oriente

Government reduces travel quotas for Venezuelan residents Travelers can take out even fewer dollars in order to conserve its US currency reserves.

Israeli Ambassador Expelled from Venezuela

Israeli Ambassador Booted by Hugo Chavez

According to this report, the embassies are closing Las últimas palabras del Embajador de Israel antes de su partida

Embajador Israel
by noticias24

El Loco outreach suspended in Boston

AP: Turkey Holds Iran Shipment to Venezuela

An open letter to the more than 100 Latin American "experts" who criticized the report on Venezuela by Human Rights Watch

Kristallnacht in Caracas?

Venezuela reducing oil to US refineries on OPEC cut

Via IBD: Drilling stops in 17 oilfields
The suspension affected oilrigs in Anaco, El Tigre and Campo Boscán

Crudo venezolano cerró la semana al alza con un precio de US$37.62

US POLITICS
Eric Holder and the FALN Pardons

10 Points for President-Elect Obama's Latin America Strategy

Special thanks to Ada, the Baron, Eneas, Kate, Larwyn, Maggie and Maria.

These week's posts and podcasts:
The Jews Face a Double Standard
Venezuela expels Israeli ambassador to protest Gaza offensive
Turkey holds Iranian explosives heading to Venezuela, transition purgatory, and other news items
At Real Clear World:
Argentina's Outlook: Bleak
Bolivia Launches State-Run Media
Podcasts:
Tango
Latin America and Israel
Venezuela expels the Israeli ambassador to protest Gaza offensive, and other headlines from Venezuela
Humberto Fontova talks about the Cuban Communist revolution: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Argentina runs out of change: 15 Minutes on Latin America



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France24 video: Colombia's elite troops fighting the FARC

Via A Colombo-Americana's Perspective video report Colombia's elite troops fighting the FARC

Alavaro Uribe made the fight against the FARC the cornerstone of his presidency. Colombia's elite troops are in charge of defeating the guerrillas in the heart of the jungle.

In March reporters Ibar Aibar and Sebastian Dufour followed the Colombian military’s special armed forces, forces responsible for carrying out President Alvaro Uribe fight againt the FARC. They were also the ones who liberated Ingrid Betancourt.


These hand-picked men were trained by the U.S. military and are well-equipped. They track FARC leaders across the thick Colombian jungle. For days on end they hike across mountain passes that are 3, 000 metres high carrying 50 kilogramme-backpacks, braving rain and mud, eating monkey meat and remaining primed for battle at all times. But those times of battle are becoming increasingly rare.

"We control the areas where the guerillas have gathered their weapon reserves, their food and their medical supplies," says Colonel Luis Gomez, adding that the FARC is pulling back as more and more people defect from their ranks.

The Colombian army extracts information from these defectors. Military forces would be useless without this in a zone where thermal cameras alone cannot track rebels.

Ibar Aibar has seen a "Colombian army which is extremely hardened." Four months after filming he is not surprised by the army's latest exploit: the liberation of Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages.

Click on the video above to watch this special edition of "Reporters"

This is a must-watch.



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Colombia Free Trade Agreement: "Not a Matter of Whether, but of When"

Rich Lowry (emphasis added):

Just got off the phone with Secretary of Commerce Gutierrez who has worked his heart out to pass the FTA and—as a great lover of freedom—is ecstatic over the gains President Uribe has made against FARC. He says, as far as he is concerned, passing FTA is "not a matter of whether but of when." He would hope it would be in this session of Congress, but knows "the odds are not in favor" of it. "Next in line," he says, "is a lame-duck session of Congress." He sees the justifications for opposing the deal collapsing everywhere he looks. Opponents say that they want to protect workers in Colombia. "Uribe has a 90 percent approval rating," Gutierrez says "It's not as though we know more about what's right for workers in Colombia than he does." According to Gutierrez, every time President Bush talks to Uribe and asks what the U.S. can do for Colombia, Uribe says one thing—pass FTA. "I don't know how anyone can deny the FTA," he says of Uribe, "after everyone has seen how much progress he's made, how popular he is, and the recognition he's received around the world. I can't believe Congress is the only one who doesn't see it." If Congress keeps delaying it, Gutierrez worries "how selfish and out of touch we'd look with the world, with our neighbors, and with our allies." What's so aggravating, of course, is on top of everything else, our exporters are paying tariffs to get their goods into Colombia as long as the FTA languishes, while most Colombian goods already have tariff-free access to the U.S. Is it too much to ask that Congress act in the country's national-security and economic interests, even if it upsets unions? We'll see...

Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in Congress are holding up what would be a most valuable show of support for America's most important ally in South America. Nancy sees absolutely nothing wrong with telling the world that she deems partisan politics more important than America's own security. Her actions amount to treason.

This afternoon I called into Media Lizzy's podcast and we let it rip.

RELATED
Worst.Congress.Ever.

More posts on Nancy Pelosi and her perfidy here.

Crossposted



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FARC you, say Howes, Stansell and Gonsalves

John Hinderaker posts the possibility that Nancy Pelosi was indirectly contacting the FARC for a hostages-for-terrorists swap. Hindreaker states,

If this report is correct, Nancy Pelosi was carrying on her own foreign policy in opposition to that of the United States, trying to work with the socialist Hugo Chavez and the Communist FARC terrorists to undermine America's ally, Colombia. In normal times, this would be unthinkable. Given the crazed state of today's Democratic party, I'm not so sure.

Considering that this information was found in the FARC computers and that Nancy has been known to carry out her own brand of Hermes scarf diplomacy, this is not mere speculation on John's (or Mary O'Grady's) part.

Colombian president Alvaro Uribe is well aware of Nancy's duplicity and has called her bluff at least once.

Complicit also with the FARC are many of the NGOs - so much so that the ">FARC didn't question that an NGO would facilitate the helicopter used by the Colombian army to carry out the rescue.

The spotlight rightly belongs to the former hostages. Flopping Aces has the video of Marc Gonsalves speaking at yesterday's press conference:


Gonsalves said,

"I have seen how even their own gorillas commit suicide in a desperate attempt to escape the slavery that the FARC had condemned them to.

The majority of the FARC forces are children and young adults. They come from extreme poverty and have very little or no education. Many of them can't even read. So they're usually tricked into joining the FARC and they're brainwashed into believing that their cause is a just cause."

Keith Stansell proposed marriage last May to his girlfriend while he was still a captive, through another hostage who was released earlier,

But in a hopeful twist to Colombia's bleak kidnapping saga, Stansell, 43, grasped on the recent release of a fellow hostage, Colombia's former lawmaker Luis Eladio Perez, to carry the marriage proposal to his girlfriend.

Medina met the lawmaker at an airport, amid a throng of well-wishers, soon after his release. She had approached him for any scrap of information about her hostage boyfriend.

Instead, Perez plucked a flower from a bouquet he was holding and handed it to her. He proposed on Stansell's behalf.

"The tears came out of me... and he hugged me," recalled Medina, 36, a petite brunette who lives in Bogota and met Stansell on the job, as an air hostess. "I was sleepwalking, with the rose."

She said yes.

Thomas Howes has reunited with his family

The Americans, including Marc Gonsalves and Keith Stansell, were taken hostage after their light aircraft crashed in the jungle on a counternarcotics operation. A fourth contractor, Tom Janis, was killed by the FARC shortly after the crash, the company said.

I believe Keith Stansell is the man in the video I translated who said to the reporter,

"Tell my family, my family, the whole world."

The FARC is still holding 700 innocent people hostage. Ingrid Betancourt is exhorting Uribe to "rectify [his] radical, extremist, vocabulary of hate." Undoubtedly suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, Betancourt would do well instead to insist that the FARC release all their hostages or suffer the consequences of their horrible crimes.

(special thanks to Larwyn and VCrisis)

IN TODAY'S PODCAST at 11AM Eastern
You can listen to the podcast Here.
Our guest Jon Perdue, director of Latin American studies programs of the Fund for American Studies, will talk about the hostage release and what it means for the region.

Chat opens at 10:45AM and the call-in number is 646 652-2639. Join us!



UPDATE, Wednesday July 9
Chávez, Seeking Colombia Role, Distances Himself From Rebels

Crossposted



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The Colombian hostage rescue: Aftermath

UPDATED WITH VIDEO TRANSLATION
Please scroll down
Yesterday I stated that the hostage rescue by Colombia's military has changed the political landscape in South America. Last Wednesday Investor's Business Daily looked at some of the actors.

It's really early to explore the implications, but here are some of the more immediate:

1. Colombia has undermined the FARC to the point of having it on the run, killing its top leaders, and infiltrating its topmost ranks. At its height, the FARC controlled over 30% of Colombia's territory and terrorized the entire country. Colombia is about to end its decades-long civil war, and the good guys are winning.

While the really hard work is about to start - i.e., ending the stranglehold of the cocaine trade - the victory opens the possibility that that, too, can be attained.

2. The FARC started as the military wing of the pro-Moscow Colombian Communist Party and has remained aligned with Communists in Latin America, including Hugo Chavez.

(Please don't come telling me that Chavez is not a Communist. He declared himself a Communist on January 2007, as this laudatory article at the Guardian states,

"Socialism or death - I swear it," he said last week, and declared himself a communist.)

This is a blow to Communism in Latin America. To use Esteban Lijalad's words, "Today Che died".

3. Appeasement never works, and the only way to defeat terror is through relentless, calculated, strategic, effective force. This carries great implications not only for Colombia and Latin America, but also on the war on terror.

The BBC

The rescue has vindicated Mr Uribe's uncompromising position with respect to negotiating with the Farc and justified his refusal to make concessions in order to gain the release of hostages.

4. Hugo Chavez's dream of heading a Bolivarian empire in Latin America has been dealt a huge blow. The FARC, one of his key allies, is defeated. As Ingrid Betancourt herself said,

"agradezco los esfuerzos de Chavez, pero debe saber que los Colombianos elegimos a Uribe, no a las FARC".
(my translation:) "I appreciate Chavez's efforts, but he should learn that we Colombians elected Uribe, not the FARC."

5. Just as the bad guys get together - as Chavez supports the FARC, Hezbollah, and Iran - the good guys also get together for training and technology: The US has funded the Colombian government's efforts in its war against terror to the tune of $600 million/yr in security and antinarcotics aid (h/t Betsy), and Israel (h/t Atlas) provided training:

The Israeli consultation was focused mainly on intelligence issues, special operations and integration and coordination between different security elements. This was in order to prepare them for a coordinated and productive campaign within a short period of time.

6. However, it can not be emphasized enough that it was the Colombians themselves who actually planned, executed, and succeeded in a months-long operation, and who will continue to do the heavy lifting.

Clarification: To give you an idea of why point #6 is so very important, Simon Romero of the NYT summarizes the situation in one sentence:

The mission would require near perfect execution by a military that only a few years ago could rarely be trusted.

That is a hugely significant development, both in the symbolic sense, and in the strategic implications. It marks a new stage in the history of Latin America.

UPDATE
As to the rumors circulated by Swiss public radio and their unnamed sources, clearly the Swiss should stick to reporting on cuckoo clocks. Daniel casts a jaundinced eye on the Swiss.

UPDATE 2: Translation of Operation Check: Images from Ingrid Betancourt's rescue
Macker sent this video of the rescue, asking that I translate it:


Translation: Please credit me if you use this translation. Thank you.

Operation Check (as in chess): Images from Ingrid Betancourt's rescue
13:23:00 [Voice off camera] "...from this side... hold...hold...backlighting...backlighting..."

13:24:00 [Reporter, now in front of camera, approaching man in long-sleeve t-shirt] "Commander, may I ask you only one question?"
[FARC commander] "No, no, there's a rule and I'd be violating a rule."
[Reporter] "Allow me, only one question. Only one question, yes?"
[FARC commander] "Ask me in the helicopter." (chuckles)
[Reporter] "But it'll be too noisy. Let me ask you a question, so it shows."
[FARC commander] "No, it is..."
[Reporter] "Real easy one, Commander."
[FARC commander] "It's against the rules."
[Reporter] "Commander, one question, please."
[FARC commander, laughing] "No, it'd really be a mistake for me to give a..."

Video cuts him off.

Camera zooms to the hostages: man wearing black t-shirt, Ingrid Betancourt wearing hat, tall man in sleeveless t-shirt & baseball cap.

[Reporter, again off camera, while the tall man's hands are tied] "...of prisoners at the hands of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces [i.e., the FARC]. the people's army. We'll have the chance to talk with the three Americans being held by the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces. On politics, we can't talk about politics. Get closer [to the tall man], get closer."

13:27:30 [Tall man, getting closer to the camera] "Tell my family, my family, the whole world." [gets taken away]
[Reporter] "On politics, we can't broadcast, we can't have the group of prisoners at the hands of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces, we can't..."

13:27:45 [Hostage with mustache, approaching reporter] "Yes, excuse me. I only have one thing to say: I have been chained for ten years. I am Lieutenant Malagon, of the glorious Colombian National Army, [voice breaks] kidnapped for many reasons by this guerilla."

13:28:01 [Reporter] "Words by Lieutenant Malagon. We can't broadcast them directly, we can't quote them but we know the suffering."
[Lt. Malagon] "They should be broadcast, because I have something very important to state...."

Gets cut off.

13:28:29 [Walking to helicopter]

13:29:11 [Lt. Malagon says something, voice drowned by helicopter noise.]

13:29:12 [Reporter] "We understand, but the restrictions, the press is restricted, it's not allowed."

13:29:31-13:31:49 [Sound off]

Once in the helicopter, Betancourt crying, hostages laughing, hugging, thumbs up. Betancourt & other hostage holding each other. Helicopter noise, unintelligible voices.

[Man's voice] "My God, man, thanks."
[Betancourt] "Let's give thanks for this moment."
[Man] "Who do you give thanks to, mother?"

Betancourt shakes her head.

[Man] "I always expected this, always. Ten years waiting! Ten years expecting it!"

Sound gets cut off.
13:38:45 Video ends.

Welcome, Power Line, American Power, Dr Melissa Clouthier, Conservative Syndicate, Irish Spy and Belmont Club readers!

Crossposted



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Uribe Calls Pelosi's Bluff

Today's WSJ editorial, Uribe Calls Pelosi's Bluff (emphasis added):

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's main excuse for trying to kill the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is that Colombian President Álvaro Uribe winks at atrocities by his country's illegal paramilitary groups. The charge has always been false, and yesterday Mr. Uribe proved it by extraditing 14 "para" leaders to the U.S.

Regardsless of Pelosi's idiocy,

Mr. Uribe has done more to reduce violence, from both right and left, than any president in modern Colombian history.

The message that Nancy's squabbling gives the world is that in America, the only superpower in the world, political squabbles take precedence over security interests.

UPDATE
Colombia Ups Ante on Free Trade Agreement

Mr. Uribe's Send-Off
The Colombian president confounds his American critics by doing exactly what they asked for.

In the meantime, Human Rights Watch and its congressional partners are running out of excuses for their campaign against the U.S. free-trade agreement with Colombia. The murders of "trade unionists" they decried have drastically decreased; the paramilitary leaders they claimed would go free are in U.S. custody. If their agenda is genuinely human rights -- and not opposition to free trade -- it's time for them to change course.

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The Spring Daylight Savings Time edition of the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Welcome to the Spring Daylight Savings Time edition of the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. If you would like your links included in the Carnival, please email me the link: faustaw "at" yahoo "dot" com.

The hot news of the week was Chavez's threatened war with Colombia, a crisis which, in typical Latin American fashion, was neatly wrapped on Friday afternoon, in time for a swim and a nice dinner at the Dominican Republic. Chavez has resumed diplomatic relations with Colombia, thus being able to continue importing food to ease food shortages arising Chavez's price controls.

The real news (as Austin Bay said) is Colombia's successful war against the FARC.

I recommend to all my readers this must-read from The Economist: On the warpath: Colombia is moving closer to breaking the FARC -unless Venezuela stops it

The posts and articles below are in addition to the posts I included on March 5 and 4.

Latin America and the US elections
Latinos Seek Citizenship in Time for Voting

LATIN AMERICA
Thugs, demogogues and Latin America

S. American Leaders Resolve Crisis

BOLIVIA
Lynching, Communal Justice, and Bolivia's New Constitution

4 Provinces Reject Court Ruling On Autonomy Referendums

BRAZIL
Betting the fazenda

COLOMBIA
Presidentes Uribe, Chavez, Ortega y Correa se aprietan la mano y alivian grave crisis diplomática Presidents Uribe (Colombia), Chavez (Venezuela), Ortega (Nicaragua) and Correa (Ecuador) shake hands and ease the grave diplomatic crisis.

Grand Master of Masons of Venezuela Murdered in Kidnapping Attempt

La ultima carta de 'Raúl Reyes' a las Farc

Gobiernos auspiciadores del terrorismo



Fighting FARC: On Strategy and Satellite Phones

Colombia offering a democratic alternative to Chavez

Despite setbacks, FARC far from out

NRO editorial Uribe!

Gruesome End... FARC Saws Off Leader's Hand After Assassination

Terrorists, Marxists, Leftists and the Democrats

Rescues in Afghanistan, sitting out elections and border troubles in Colombia

Alvaro Uribe keeps outchavezing Hugo Chavez

Another FARC leader killed

El Carcelero, via No pasaran

The Latin Israel

Colombia Is Criticized For Raid Into Ecuador

CUBA
Pluck and luck save smuggled photos

Statement of the Municipalities of Cuba and Human Rights

PDF file: De la mesa de trabajo de Martha Beatriz Roque

Your no-good brother in law

Cuba's underground internet rebellion

Is there a cure for Cuba?

ECUADOR
Documents show FARC ties to Venezuela, Ecuador

More hostages to be freed

Real Crisis in Andes Escalates: Democracy and Courage Shot in the Back Once Again by Latins

HONDURAS
Gunmen disguised as police kill 8 in Honduras
Massacre at billiards hall; effort under way to halt wave of violence

MEXICO
Wrong about Mexico

Mexican police net huge weapons cache in Tijuana

NICARAGUA
Nicaragua breaks diplomatic relations with Colombia

PANAMA
Panama Caught up in FARC Crisis

PUERTO RICO
Desperation and the Puerto Rico primary

Via Maria, Scrutiny for Puerto Rico Over Animal Treatment

TRINIDAD
T&T Jazz Festival begins

VENEZUELA
Via Siggy, Allies of Terrorism
The presidents of Venezuela and Ecuador are revealed as backers of the criminals who fight Colombia's democracy.

Venezuela pleads guilty in a cash case

Venezuela reopening embassy in Colombia

The kind of war we're going to have...

Venezuela's not-show show of force

(Fotos) En camiones van los tanques

Via Instapundit Does Hugo Chavez help the poor?

The American Friends of Hugo Chavez

Incidente fronterizo entre la DISIP, GN y habitantes de Paraguachon

No sooner did the army get to the area that the soldiers started calling in sick: Avalancha de peticiones de baja y permisos médicos en la FAN

Must-read (in Spanish) El Tiempo's special supplement on the contents of Reyes's computer
Baduel le dijo que no (for background on Baduel, see my Dec. 4, 2007 post)

Chavez Moves Toward War

Via Maggie's Farm, Ricochet in the Andes

The Corruption of Democracy in Venezuela

FARC ships through Venezuela to Guinea-Bissau in West Africa to Europe

Special thanks to Larwyn, Maggie, Maria, Siggy, Alek and Wretchard



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FARC purchased uranium; Chavez gave the FARC $300 million as a Valentine's Day gift

During Saturday's raid against the FARC in Ecuador, the Colombian army seized three computers loaded with incriminating information against Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Rafael Correa of Ecuador. The computers belonged to Raul Reyes, the FARC's #2 man.

The Colombian Government's Official Website (in Spanish) details the findings:

• The Venezuelan government paid $300 million to the FARC on February 14 this year.
• Venezuela had agreed to ship old rifles to the FARC during that same meeting.
• The computer files show the acquisition and sale of 50 kilograms of uranium. The Colombian government has created a task force to locate this uranium.
• The information in the computers reconfirm the FARC's ties to the drug trade.

Other docoments show that Raul Reyes had met with Ecuador's minister of internal security and that they discussed Mr Correa's "interest in making official relations with the Farc".

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe issued a communique to the press stating, "The revelations about agreements between the terrorist group FARC and the governments of Ecuador and Venezuela will be submitted to the Organization of American States and the United Nations."

Let's not mince words here: Colombia is sandwiched between two countries who are aiding and abetting the forces that have waged a four-decade long war against its citizenry.


map via BBC

This war has been financed through the drug trade, and through hostage taking. The hostages live in worse conditions than slaves lived under during the Spanish rule.

The information on the uranium purchase, however, brings a different context to this war:

"When they mention negotiations for 50 kilos of uranium, this means that the Farc are taking big steps in the world of terrorism to become a global aggressor. We're not talking of domestic guerrilla but transnational terrorism," said Colombian national police chief Oscar Naranjo at a news conference in Bogota.

Correa and Chavez have mobilized troops to the Colombian border, and now Correa is trying to create a distraction by focusing attention on Ingrid Betancourt, the FARC's most famous hostage. At CNN, Ecuador: Colombian raid prevented release of captives

"I can tell you we were involved in very close conversations with the guerrillas, and we were very close to gaining the release of 12 captives, one of them Ingrid Betancourt," Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa told reporters.

Correa is using Ingrid Betancourt, FARC's most famous hostage, as a distraction from the facts that the new evidence shows him and Chavez in cohoots with the FARC, and from the importance of the new evidence unearthed by the raid.

UPDATE
Uribe Seeks Chavez Charges at International Court

Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe said he'll seek charges at an international tribunal against Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez for sponsoring terrorism.

"I'll present to the International Criminal Court charges against Hugo Chavez for financing and sponsoring genocide," said Uribe, on Caracol Radio, after a meeting with a former rebel-held hostage in Bogota.

Blogging about it:
Coalition of the Swilling
Gateway Pundit
Belmont Club
QUIEN SIRVE A UN CRIMINAL ES UN CRIMINAL.
The world panics, Venezuelans and Colombia stay cool
Instapundit on CITGO



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