The swine flu Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Cross-posted

Yes, everybody is talking about the Mexican swine flu, and ironically I had to delay this Carnival since I was down with a cold.

No need to panic over this flu, but make sure to take any flu seriously.

LATIN AMERICA
Final declaration of the Summit of the Americas

No mas venas abiertas para America Latina

The war on mining: Fighting back

Obama goes south: An analysis of the Summit of the Americas

Alvaro Vargas Llosa: The Idiot’s Bible

Selenium Overdose Caused Deaths of Polo Horses

FARC guerrillas charged with conspiracy to aid foreign terrorists

BOLIVIA
Chabad House in Bolivia raided by police

Croatia: Morales murder plot suspect 'wanted to form separatist army'

Biometric Voter Registration: the Ace Up the Sleeve of Evo Morales

BRAZIL
Ahmadinejad to Visit Latin America Next Month

Ahmadinejad no Brasil (link in Portuguese)

COLOMBIA
FARC guerrillas charged with conspiracy to aid foreign terrorists

Finnish connection found on computer of Colombian guerrillas

Kidnapping in Colombia How many hostages? More than the government claims

CUBA
The short night of the long knives

Venezuela names new envoy to Cuba

The Right Deal on Cuba

How Fidel Snookered Everyone: The summit exposed Castro's peers in Latin America, not Obama, as the real innocents abroad. Jorge Castañeda is an idiot - Part 2

Mijail Capote Aranda, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 4/26/09

Castro brothers' power struggle may doom Obama's overtures

ECUADOR
Ecuador president claims poll win

Ecuador's election: Revolution! Please give generously. Rafael Correa has his country’s politics firmly under control, its economy much less so

JAMAICA
Strangeways here we come

MEXICO
Is that an anti-aircraft gun in your pocket?

Experts probe deadly Mexico flu

The flu and the festival

Swine flu started at Vera Cruz pork processor?

Plan Would Deploy Guard Near Mexico
$350 Million Effort Aimed at Drug War

NICARAGUA
Judge throws out Dole “bananeros” cases, citing fraud

PARAGUAY
Lugo pide perdón por escándalo de paternidad

Paraguay President asks for forgiveness over paternity claim scandal
Fernando Lugo, the President of Paraguay and a former Roman Catholic bishop, has asked for forgiveness over a scandal in which he is facing paternity claims.

La telenovela que desconcierta

Fernando Lugo pede perdão por escândalo

Le président du Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, confesse avoir eu un enfant quand il était ecclésiastique


Bayly on Lugo (in Spanish):


And then Fernando Lugo’s brother, Pompeyo, on the rumors about Fernando and the Argentinian chorus girl, plus Alan Garcia’s poncho:


PERU
Peru grants asylum to Venezuelan opposition leader

TRINIDAD
The Fifth Summit of the Americas - Ego vs Cuba vs Rhetoric

VENEZUELA
Venezuela - Iran Foreign Relations

In praise of Rosales

In Defense of Appeasement

Government shows its true colors now that Rosales has been neutralized

No 10's Venezuelan 'workie' could write next Budget

Obama and the Pundits: Wrong on the handshake, wrong about Chavez

Surprise!... HuffPo Blogger Sean Penn Defends His Buddy Hugo Chavez

Interpol seeks arrest of opposition leader

Heroes

Red Notice for Rosales

Fist-bumping with despots

CULTURE
Poland 'to ban' Che Guevara image
The iconic image of Che Guevara found adorning students' walls and t-shirts across the world could be banned in Poland under a government proposal to outlaw materials that incite "fascism and totalitarian systems".

IMMIGRATION
Cyber Attacks and Our Southern Border

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

The first Monday in March 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 added, please email me, faustaw2 "at" gmail "dot" com.

Don't miss this afternoon's podcast at 2PM. My guest will be Michael Moynihan.

LATIN AMERICA
The Stanford affair: An $8 billion scandal goes a long way
The allegation of an $8 billion fraud against Sir Allen Stanford is causing financial worries across the region, not least in Antigua, home to his main bank

Del "Informe Mattarollo" a la increible corrupcion en YPFB

Piracy of movies, songs thriving in Latin America

ARGENTINA
Argentine Creditors Said to Swap 3.5 Billion Pesos of Loans

BELIZE
New scholarship holders from Belize to study in Cuba

BRAZIL
The Brazilian Amazon: Preventing pillage in the rainforest
A scheme to regularise land holdings in the Amazon forest faces many obstacles

COLOMBIA
En fotos: estas son las cavernas donde se escondía el ‘mono Jojoy’

Via IBD blog, Colombian VP: Add ecological devastation to cocaine's toll

Spies in trouble: The domestic-intelligence agency is caught misbehaving again

Video: Colombia discovers Farc hideouts

CUBA
Castro's New Republican Friends

Arturo Magín Colomar Puig, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 3/1/09

Ill Castro 'takes walk in Havana'

Jeff Spicoli speaks…

Sanctions, Keeping Things in Perspective

The new Che, same as old

Raúl welcomes special French envoy

ECUADOR
Ecuador's Borja Says Dollarisation is 'Faltering.´ I Wonder What He Means -- Do These Ecuadorean Officials Want a Weaker Currency Than the Dollar?

Ecuador Profits from Dirty Financial & Drug Crimes

Meltdown response: Ecuador erects trade barriers, WTO fears spread of protectionism; Ecuador's response to crisis appears to be world's toughest

MARTINIQUE
French PM says order to be maintained in Martinique

MEXICO
Mexico needs Obama's eye

Mexico’s Foreign Embassies: A Terror Threat to America?
Travelers from Muslim countries are bribing Mexican foreign service workers for travel documents that will get them access to the U.S.

A Stimulus Plan for Mexican Gangsters
Obama's promise not to crack down on medical-marijuana use raises the stakes for traffickers.

PUERTO RICO
In Puerto Rico, Less Is So Much More

UBS in Puerto Rico Pension Gets Fee Bonanza Seen as Conflicted

VENEZUELA
Journalists in Venezuela

Bananas

Leftist Hero Hugo Chavez Takes Control of Rice Plants

Food supply is tied to Brazil, Argentina and Colombia
From 2005 to 2008, the value of food imports heightened 299 percent

Command economy fails in Venezuela

Chavez sends army to rice plants
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has ordered the army to take control of all rice processing plants in the country.

Arria versus Weisbrot: Debate at American University

What to Do about Hugo Chávez: Venezuela’s Challenge to Security in the Americas

Chavez Orders Takeover of Venezuelan Rice Mills

Chávez, Ahmadinejad y la nueva "crisis de los misiles”

The second Monday in February Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Crossposted

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. If you would like your posts included in the Carnival, please email me, faustaw2 “at” gmail “dot” com.

While Venezuela remains in the news since this week precedes next Sunday’s constitutional referendum, there are good news from the region. I’ll talk in today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern about how Uruguay’s favorable business environment is attracting foreign investment, and there are other stories – check top story under the Latin America header for more.

LATIN AMERICA
Tables turned: Latin America’s lesson for west

Latin America and the financial crisis

M.E. Times: Hezbollah in Latin America

TURKEY AIMS FOR USD 20 BLN TRADE VOLUME WITH SOUTH AMERICA

Latin America's Quiet Revolution
An unprecedented political and economic transformation is under way in most of the region

Populism: The Illusion that Won’t Go Away

ARGENTINA
Argentine seminary ousts Holocaust denier as leader

BOLIVIA
U.S. needs to end 'imperial attitude,' Bolivian says

BRAZIL
Bailing out...Brazil?

COLOMBIA
Ten new species of amphibian discovered in Colombia
A spiky orange rain frog and three poison frogs are among 10 new species of amphibian discovered in Colombia, scientists have revealed.

The FARC’s cynical stunt

FARC Hostage Released After 7 Years



FARC slaughtered 300 hostages (via IBD blog)

CUBA
Honoring victims of Castro, Che

Cuba’s Castro arrives in Moscow for talks - Financial Times

Omauris Rondón Rivero, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 2/8/09

Two agendas

You don’t say…

ECUADOR
“Caso Chauvín comprueba relaciones de Quito con FARC”

Correa Expels Sanity, Comity and Legitimacy

MEXICO
Mexican army runs joint patrols with Tijuana police

PANAMA
Es un milagro

Mexican Carrying $430,000 Arrested in Panama

PERU
Chinese mining group to invest 1 bln dollars in Peru

PUERTO RICO
Six Americans missing after plane crashes off Puerto Rico

Pregnant tourist kidnapped, killed

VENEZUELA
Central Bank musings: Printing money and going bankrupt

Allanada casa del estudiante Miguel Ponte y se lo llevan detenido

Campaña antisemita desde Venezuela

Chavez: Another Vote Possible on Term Limits

Chávez's biggest opponent: what's not on a dinner table
Food shortages and high prices are vexing Venezuela as President Hugo Chávez asks his countrymen to let him run for reelection indefinitely

Kristallnacht in Caracas

Venezuela detains 11 suspects, including 7 police officers, in synagogue attacks (via LGF Linkviewer)

Chavismo's Amazing Self-Refuting Referendum Argument

Un ejercito al servicio de Hugo Chavez - por Casto Ocando

Venezuela behind on payments to oil contractors

The NO march in Caracas

Preso por horas por hacer campaña por el “No”

Venezuela campaign gets rough

Grenade explodes at anti-Chavez party headquarters

US POLITICS
Pass the Colombia Free Trade Agreement

United States of Argentina
How inflation turned a rising power into a pauper

IMMIGRATION
LAT's Song Wails Dirge for Illegal Immigrant's Woes

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

This week’s posts and podcasts
Ecuador expels US embassy employee, and loses investor
Venezuelan blogger detained by police tells of his ordeal
Fidel Castro says Obama’s Cuba policy “lost its virginity”: 15 Minutes of Latin America
Venezuelan blogger detained by police
Ten killed in Brazilian slum raid: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Chavez’s 10th anniversary: Today’s 15 Minutes on Latin America
Bolivia’s lithium: Today’s 15 Minutes on Latin America

At Real Clear World
Of Beef and Money in Uruguay
Chávez’s 10th
A tale of two forums





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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 Bolivian referendum Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Cross-posted

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

Yesterday's big news: Bolivia, the hemisphere's third poorest country after Haiti and Guyana, approved a new Constitution

Approval of the constitution, which caps a two-year campaign by Morales, will give expanded discretionary powers to the president, such as the ability to dissolve Congress. He will also be eligible to run for a second five-year term late next year. The earlier constitution did not allow consecutive terms.

Observers expect him to dissolve Congress and call for new elections ahead of scheduled December 2009 balloting.

As expected, voters in the western highland states such as La Paz with large indigenous populations overwhelmingly approved the new charter, according to the preliminary results, while voters in the four eastern states that passed autonomy measures last year were resoundingly opposed.

For many voters interviewed Sunday in the city of La Paz, the nation's capital, the most salient features of the new charter are the strengthened rights for Bolivia's three dozen ethnic groups, which make up about a third of Bolivia's 9.2 million population. The word "indigenous" appears 130 times in the new constitution.

According to clauses in the new document, those groups will now be able to eschew the traditional court system and resort to their own "community justice," claim some nationalized lands as their own and receive a greater share of royalties on minerals and energy developed on or beneath those lands.

I'm writing a post on the referendum for Real Clear World Blog, and will link to it here later.

Other news: Cristina Fernandez's trip to Cuba and Venezuela, and Mexico's Ominous Drug Wars

In today's podcast:
The Bolivian referendum, other headlines from today's Carnival, and a few words on Slumdog Millionaire from the context of third-world poverty. Chat's open at 10:45AM and the call in number is 646 652-2639. Join the conversation!

You can listen to the podcast here, live, or archived.



LATIN AMERICA
Mario Vargas Llosa: Atribuye la crisis al “despilfarro” y niega fin del capitalismo

ARGENTINA
Argentina to Swap Up to 11 Billion Pesos of Debt

BOLIVIA
Bolivia's new constitution
A passport to Utopia
Evo Morales campaigns for a great leap forward. Or back, say some

¿Evo perdió la chaveta?

Spilling Ink Instead of Blood: Bolivia Poised to Vote on New Constitution

Chavez envia tropas militares armadas a Evo Morales - Noticiero Digital

Bolivia nationalizes BP subsidiary

Bolivia poll won't end opposition

In Bolivia, vote unlikely to heal divide

BRAZIL
Fugitives from justice in Brazil
The madness of asylum
Why this indulgence for a convicted killer?

GM to Invest TARP Dough in Brazil

CHILE
División de los poderes públicos.

Wal-Mart sees price cuts, no job cuts at Chile D&S-paper

COLOMBIA
Las FARC despues de Marulanda: ¿extincion estrategica o transformacion organizativa?

CUBA
castro, inc. cancels Canadian Oil Deal

Obama: Stay the Course on Cuba
Dialogue with the Castro brothers is not an effective policy.

Oil shift: Canadians out, Russians in

Rafael Ibarra Roque, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 1/25/09

ECUADOR
El Loco Returns: How to Re Elect a Drug King Pin

HAITI
After Four Years, No Justice for Murdered Haitian Journalist

MEXICO
Mexico: The coming collapse

Economic policy in Mexico
Damage control
A Latin American country softens recession with counter-cyclical policies

DeFacto Legalization

Calderon seeks to dispel talk of 'failing state'

Remembering Enrique “Kiki” Camarena

The British method fails again…

The White House press release on the Mexico City Policy and Assistance for Voluntary Population Planning

Drug Gangs Have Mexico on the Ropes
Law enforcement south of the border is badly outgunned.



NICARAGUA
In Obama's Words, President Ortega Must 'Unclench His Fist'

PANAMA
Via Chiriqui chatter, Two Gems of Panama Spanish Colonial Period

PUERTO RICO
Six plead guilty in former Puerto Rico governor's case

VENEZUELA
Venezuela's León Let The Cat Out of the Bag: Public Finances Are in a Bind

After Chavez gives the green light to repression, wholesale attacks on the opposition begin

Recipe for No

Bistromatics, Venezuela edition

Venezuela’s Horse Not As High

Six of one, half a dozen of the other

Minc(i)ed Facts

GOSSIP
Ingrid Betancourt at the beach in Miami with her new boyfriend

AMERICAN POLITICS
Fatal Naivete On Free Trade

Letter to Obama Supporters
America’s enemies remain our enemies.

This week’s posts and podcasts
Hugo changes his tune
Hillary’s Fatal Naivete On Free Trade
Castro says he “probably won’t be around in 4 years”: Today’s 15 Minutes on Latin America
More student protests in Venezuela: Today’s 15 Minutes on Latin America
Obama Seeks Halt to Legal Proceedings at Guantanamo
At Real Clear World, and today at 11AM Eastern: Latin American headlines on the Obama inauguration
Chavez sanctions tear-gassing Papal nunzio?

At Real Clear World:
Latin America Headlines on the Inaugural
Bush's Foreign Policy Successes, No. 5 Colombia
Brazil: Lula Invites Bush for Fishing Trip

Special thanks to Ada, The Baron, Eneas, Maggie and Maria.



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The first 2009 Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

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

Last week Cuba celebrated the 50th anniversary of its Communist revolution. Please check the posts listed under Cuba below for a roundup of articles and posts.

Tomorrow at 11AM Humberto Fontova will be my podcast guest and he'll talk about the anniversary; in today's podcast I'll touch on Bolivia's new TV station, sponsored by Iran and Venezuela, Argentina's change shortage, and other headlines.



ANTIGUA-BARBUDA
Antigua-Barbuda opposition criticises PM for taking funds from Venezuela

ARGENTINA
Argentina Is Short of Cash – Literally
Spare some change?

Buenos Aires Becomes IT-Wise
Buenos Aires invites ITC businesses to set up in its forthcoming world-class Technology District.

BELIZE
US Southern Command donates equpment to Belize

Equipment valued at US$27,000 was recently handed over to Belize's National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO). Ceremonies were held at NEMO’s Warehouse in Belmopan.

The equipment includes more than 500 folding beds commonly referred to as cots and more than 100 sleeping bags. This most recent donation is from the United States Southern Command, based in Miami.

On hand to make the presentation was United States Ambassador to Belize, Robert Deiter. In making the presentation, Deiter said the US, in assisting in the area of management this year alone, made other donations recently to the Belize Defence Force and the National Coast Guard, in addition to training in several villages across the country.

Deiter stated that he is proud of his Mission’s work with NEMO in a region where disasters can and do strike/

BOLIVIA
Catholics oppose Bolivia control freak government

Morales inaugurará diario y canal del Estado con ayuda de Irán y Venezuela

BRAZIL
The samba beat, with missteps: It may be the rising power in the Americas but Brazil is finding that diplomatic ambition can prompt resentment



Confiança da indústria é a menor desde outubro de 1998, diz FGV Business confidence at its lowest since October 1998, via Market Memorandum

CHILE
Chile, interest rates, inflation, Bachelet and the central bank

COLOMBIA
Colombia mata a un Jefe de Finanzas de las FARC y a sus 4 escoltas Colombia kills FARC finance boss and his 4 bodyguards.

Colombia's Leader Digs In
After U.S.-Backed Successes, Uribe Weighs Extending Reign

Helping the Hostage-Takers: Switzerland and the Reyes Computer Files (English translation)

CUBA
Abused

50 years with Fidel Castro: how many more years of misery for Latin America?

MSM Report Card for stories about 50th Anniversary of Cuban Revolution

Grief Marks Anniversary of Triumph of Castro, via The Corner

Cuban Stalinism at 50--and the Media Lies Continue

Cuba's Long Black Spring: Video

Castro’s Cuba at 50

“It goes without saying”

One hell of an achievement

Shame on U.S. Media for Idolizing Che Guevara

Cuban Stalinism at 50--and the Media Lies Continue

The Cuban revolution at 50: Heroic myth and prosaic failure

Ill winds: Hurricanes have added to the woes of the downturn



Where’s the “patria o muerte”?

WaPo's Booth Hails 'Half-Century of Revolution' in Cuba

Commemorating 50 Lousy Years

Two new films out this month give the full Hollywood treatment to two very different military and political heroes.

Castro's One 'Hell' of an Achievement

In Cuba, Cellphone Calls Go Unanswered
Growing Ranks Use Coveted Device for Less Costly Paging, Texts

Communism, Socialism Paradise, Cuba

Humberto Becerra Alfonso, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 1/4/09

Historia de una jinetera

ECUADOR
Equador determina pagamento de parte da dívida com o BNDES Ecuador paid $28.1 million of its $243 million loan to Brazil’s National Economic and Social Development Bank Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES), while Rafael Correa still says the loan is “illegal.” (h/t Market Memorandum)

MEXICO
In Mexico, Hope Lies With the Voters Leon Krauze’s Segunda Edicion broadcasts today at 2PM Mountain time.

Mexicanas sucumben al “sex appeal” de los narcos

Mexican criminal insurgency may spread to US

NICARAGUA
Nicaragua’s broken democracy

PANAMA
Home invasion in Boquerón

Elogia en La Habana a la revolución cubana Panamanian president Martín Torrijos praises the Cuban revolution in Havana.

PARAGUAY
¿El pueblo del Che Guevara? - por Eduardo Quintana

PERU
Shining Path Terrorists Threaten to Expand Attacks in Peru

PUERTO RICO
Trump development in Puerto Rico to be eco-friendly

Yahoo says Puerto Rico in top ten of world's favourite destinations

ST KITTS-NEVIS
Hanging them high: Don’t bother to reform, just execute

VENEZUELA
An open letter to the critics of the HRW report on Venezuela

2008: the year Hugo Chavez lost his democratic fig leaf

Socialism with cheap oil: Hugo Chávez embarks on a race against the impending impact of world recession

Venezuela halves travelers dollar allowance to $2,500

Chavez After the Oil Boom, also at Caracas Chronicles

The Wizards of Oil: As prices fall, so do the ambitions of Vladimir, Hugo and Mahmoud.

Tras 10 años de Gobierno, se le ocurre “reducir la dependencia del petróleo”

Estos son los nuevos aviones que comprará Hugo Chávez

US POLITICS
Housing Push for Hispanics Spawns Wave of Foreclosures

This week’s podcasts and posts
Denny and “the governor of all Puerto Ricans”
The disaster that is the Cuban revolution
Two photos
At Real Clear World Blog: Venezuela: 2008 in Review
Cuba: A Photograph as Metaphor




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The low-oil-price Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Crossposted

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

This week's big story: Oil prices.
As of the writing of this post, oil is trading at $43.45. This signals a huge change in Latin American politics. Miguel makes a prediction on the internal effect in Venezuela in his post As oil cycle overshoots on the downside the worst effects of The Devil's Excrement will be in play, (via A Colombo-Americana)

LATIN AMERICA
Special Report: West Africa welcomes Latin America's drug barons

Canadian envoy does not foresee G-20 replacing G-8 as major forum

CARIBBEAN
A sea change in the Caribbean

ARGENTINA
Going pinker on the Plata: A new destination for gay tourists

In photos: Buenos Aires architectural details

BOLIVIA
Aumenta la pobreza con Evo Morales de presidente

BRAZIL
Fall of an opportunist: Justice for a controversial financier

Brazil's Decision on Deforestation Draws Praise

COLOMBIA
The Ingrid show

Love in the time of Cartagena

Via IBD Blog, FARC kill 8 Colombian police

CUBA
Saving the Revolution

Cuban political prisoner named RSF's Journalist of the Year

Castro Brothers Want to Meet Obama

Fine sand

From beyond the grave: Fidel offers to meet with Obama

We talk, you just listen and send money

Cuba tightens restrictions on bloggers

Cuba da su aprobación al Che de Soderbergh via Spanish Pundit

ECUADOR
Ecuador’s Novel Carbon Storage Method

Mean and Petty Ecuadoreans Swear Allegiance to Cartels and Denounce Each Other

Ecuador to Boost Trade in Iran

Iran to impart high technology to Ecuador And what kind of technology would that be? “space science and satellite technology.”

HAITI
Rape looms large over Haiti slums

MEXICO
Responding to Mexican Drug-Related Terrorism

Morgue is only safe place in Mexico

AP Feels Sorry for Mexico Over Drop in 'Money Sent Home' By Returning Illegals

Japan, Mexico agree on efforts to resist protectionism, climate change

NICARAGUA
Nicaragua and the MCC

PANAMA
First Russian warship uses Panama Canal since 1944

PERU
To the barricades: The politics of non-stop protest

PUERTO RICO
Illegal immigration from the Dominica Republic: 2 survivors bring relief to family, but 49 missing

Oscar De La Hoya leaves hospital, heads home to Puerto Rico. I don't know much about boxing, but it looks like De La Hoya should retire.

VENEZUELA
With revolutionary students like these who needs conservative old farts?

As Chavez attacks, the whole Venezuelan Government becomes offensive against its enemies

‘Boligarchs’ rise to top in socialist Venezuela

A Nuclear Venezuela

Chávez government handed out millions in exchange for votes

Opposition damns Chavez vote bid

Body of Cubs catcher Blanco found in Venezuela

US POLITICS
The Obama Administration and U.S.-Cuba Policy

NY City’s useful idiots

Pro-Amnesty Activist Joins Obama White House Staff

US Trade Representative nominee in cocaine pardon scandal

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

THIS WEEK’S POSTS AND PODCASTS
Yoani’s troubles: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Russian warship to cross Panama Canal
Hugo busts the opposition: 15 Minutes on Latin America
Rape in Haiti: 15 Minutes on Latin America
China sneezes; will Latin America catch a cold?





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The plundered pensions Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

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

The week's big story: As the country is about to default again on its debt, Argentina’s leftist President Cristina Kirchner signed a proposal nationalizing the country’s private pension funds in what could be seen as a grab for cash and power amid the global economic crisis. Read more about it in the section for Argentina below.

LATIN AMERICA
The Hezbollah-Latin American Ties Become More Evident, also at Counterterrorism blog

ARGENTINA
Argentina Allows Pension Funds to Resume Trading

Juan Forero summarizes the suitcase trial in Miami, which is now gone to the jury: Court Case in Miami Casts Light on Corruption in Venezuela

If it feels good, do it!

Cristina's looking-glass world: A plan to nationalise private-pension funds looks like a cunning but short-sighted government effort to stave off another debt default

Asco de gente

BOLIVIA
While the US cuts off trade benefits with Bolivia because of cocaine, Evo Morales goes for nose surgery:
U.S. Cuts Off Trade Benefits to Bolivia Over Drugs

Via Lucianne, Bolivia's president to undergo nasal surgery

BRAZIL
Licensed to scribble: An end to journalism’s closed shop?

Brazilians vote in key city polls

CHILE
Consumer groups call on FDA to test Chilean salmon

COLOMBIA
Suspected Hezbollah Operatives Nabbed in South America, Congress Should Approve FTA

Huge cocaine bust in Colombia

Colombian army frees Farc hostage but he says he escaped with his guard: Farc hostage escapes with guard

Via IBD Blog, For every hectare of coca planted, 3 to 4 hectares of forest are actually cut down: POINT OF VIEW/ Francisco Santos Calderon: Colombia battling cocaine, preserving nature

Colombia's indigenous protest against Uribe

Small explosions wound 18 in Colombian capital

CUBA
Surprise! Cuban DGI helped Ayers and the Weather Underground

Hirám González Torna, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 10/26/08

ECUADOR
Vicious attack turns couple’s dream trip to nightmare: Oregon man critical but stable after being stabbed on Ecuadorian beach

Iran's Financial Scams: Ecuadorean Fiscal Astroturffing for Criminals

HAITI
Read about Fusion Technology's dealings in Haiti: Democrats for Despotism Party figures had a profitable relationship with Haiti's dictator. Video at the article.

JAMAICA
Illegal immigration, and Jamaican ganja for Haitian guns: Haiti and Jamaica's deadly trade

MEXICO
Declining conspicuous consumption for drug thugs

Mexican Senate Passes Energy Reform

PERU
Return of Peru's Shining Path as terror movement kills 19 soldiers

Jaime Bayly, in Spanish, talking about South Park’s Andean bands


PUERTO RICO
Via Jeremayakovka, The Republican Party of Pennsylvania and PA's Secretary of State are trading barbs over voter registration.

Nearly 1,000 pounds of coke seized in Puerto Rico

After the San Juan Star's closing, the government will be subsidizing a new English-language daily: English-language daily to debut in Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO - A group of journalists in Puerto Rico said Tuesday they are ready to launch the island's first cooperative-style newspaper this week with a $1 million boost from the government.

The new English-language tabloid would replace the Pulitzer Prize-winning San Juan Star, a nearly 50-year-old daily that closed two months ago amid declining revenues and disputes between the publisher and union over layoffs and benefit cuts.

Roughly 15,000 copies of the Puerto Rico Daily Sun will be printed on Wednesday and about 2,000 subscribers have already signed up, editor Rafael Matos told a news conference in the U.S. island's capital, San Juan.

The Puerto Rican Department of Labor and Human Resources will contribute $1 million to help cover salaries and benefits. Half that amount will be available under a local law that provides incentives to companies that create new jobs, Secretary Roman Velasco said.

Matos said the paper's objectivity would not be compromised by the government help.
"We are subject to the strictest of journalistic canons," Matos said. "This is not an investment from the government - it is a contribution."

Matos said 90 former Star employees agreed to buy a minimum of $200 in shares of the United Press Cooperative to help start the paper/

VENEZUELA
Via Grouchy Old Cripple, Chavez raises whisky prices


Via Venezuela News and Views, Sacrificios bolivarianos

U.S. Treasury Designation Targets Iran's WMD Financing, Alliance With Venezuela

News from Europe: thumbs down on Chavez

Chavez' folly: He owns and controls everything, but they don't work. It can only get worse

A letter to Sean Penn

AMERICAN POLITICS
"I was born in Colombia, but I was made in the USA"

The more things change: The neighbours’ tepid enthusiasm for Barack Obama

The Conservative Rebellion

Would There Be Change in Obama's Americas Policy?

More news on Latin America at Wall Street Journal en español and HACER

THIS WEEK’S POSTS AND PODCASTS
Chavez wants to jail rival Rosales
A suitcase full of money from Hugo to Cristina
OPEC cuts production, prices fall, Hugo sweats some more
Colombia smashes drug ring with Hezbollah ties
Argentina: Let’s plunder the pensions!
Sean Penn goes to Caracas



Special thanks to Eneas, Larwyn, Maggie and Maria.


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The “Cuban oil” Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Crossposted

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

This week's two big stories: Cuba and oil, and Obama on Colombia.
Cuba claims massive oil reserves.

The BBC ran the story last Friday, and the numbers come from - where else - the Cuban government, which claims more than double the previous estimate of oil reserves:

The US Geological Survey (USGS) recently estimated that as much as 9bn barrels of oil and 21 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could lie within that zone, in the North Cuba Basin.

However, Cubapetroleo exploration manager Rafael Tenreyro Perez said his company's estimate was higher because it had better information about Cuba's offshore geology.

"I'm almost certain that if [USGS officials] ask for all the data we have, their estimate is going to grow considerably," he told a news conference in the capital, Havana.

If correct, Cuba's oil reserves would be almost the same as those of the US - 21bn barrels, according to the Oil & Gas Journal - and nearly twice the size of Mexico's - 11.7bn barrels.

I asked oil industry expert and former PDVSA board member Gustavo Coronel his opinion on these figures and he replied,

No country can claim oil reserves unless some basic requirements can be met:
sufficient geophysical exploration,
successful exploration,
drilling,
sufficient number of confirmatory wells,
clear definition of the dimensions of the reservoir,
certainty that the production of the oil can be economically done.

All of this and more is necessary before a country can claim to have X barrels of oil reserves.

Cuba, so far, has done NO one of these things. In fact, one of the very few companies looking for oil in this area of Cuban territorial waters, SHERRITT, a Canadian company (I think) just CALLED IT QUITS, gave up its rights to continue exploration. Why would a company do this
if there were the enormous oil "reserves" claimed by Cuba?

Sherritt indeed has canceled its agreement for operations in Cuban waters, saying the ventures were not viable:

Sherritt's evaluation was that exploration activity was not worth continuing, an option available within its contract, said Cupet Exploration Director Rafael Tenreyro. "They have their reasons for not continuing," he said.

That's the same Rafael Tenreyro Perez who claims that Cuba has twice as much oil as anyone else's estimate. Earlier this year Sherritt had relenquished its deepwater blocks off Cuba because it could not attract a partner to share the development costs and risks.

So much for the facts on the Cuban claims. But don't be surprised if you hear about it in the media. After all, they keep praising Cuba's healthcare even when Fidel himself had to import a gastroenterologist/oncologist to save himself.

Oil? More like snake oil.

Obama Is Wrong About Colombia: Labor unions are much safer under Uribe.

It is far safer to be a union member today in Colombia than to be a member of the general population. This is a fact, and it would be interesting to know why Mr. Obama has repeatedly refused to acknowledge it.

Is it because of his heavy reliance on campaign contributions from the antitrade AFL-CIO? Or perhaps, like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Mr. Obama has an ideological bias in favor of Colombia's hard left. If it's the latter, then it is worth asking whether an Obama presidency would change U.S. foreign policy to look more favorably on insurgents of the FARC variety.

Here's Mary Anastasia O'Grady:



CARIBBEAN
Trade winds: Finally, a deal with Europe

LATIN AMERICA
Bad Bets: Currency worries in Brazil and Mexico

Rediscovering Latin America

ARGENTINA
Argentina faces court battle over airline

Live search maps for Argentina

BOLIVIA
Letter of the Civil Society of Cochabamba to the International Community - Comite Civico de Cochabamba

BRAZIL
Brazil's Future Going the Way of Oil

Police battle police in Sao Paulo. video

COLOMBIA
The FARC’s shrinking world

CUBA
Defector Recounts Escape: Alcantara One of Two Players to Leave Team During U.S.

Via Babalu, The Ghosts of Communism

The sounds of tyranny



ECUADOR
Ecuador’s New Constitution First to Guarantee Rights to Nature

Correa warns against “illegitimate” debt

Ecuador is not a democracy

Cardenal ecuatoriano ataca al gobierno frente al Papa

Ecuador vs. Democracy

MEXICO
Cae una importante red de narcos colombianos en México

Via LGF linkviewer, State Department warns against travel to Mexico: Deadliest drug zone invites Americans to tour 'land of encounters'

Mexico to deport Cuban migrants

NICARAGUA
Periodistas de Nicaragua cargan contra Daniel Ortega por “dictador”

PERU
Return of Peru's Shining Path as terror movement kills 19 soldiers

Peru’s unloved president: Pursued by the ghosts of the past

PUERTO RICO
A minor earthquake hit Puerto Rico on Saturday, Magnitude 3.0 - PUERTO RICO REGION causing no damage.

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
Enill: T&T has 64 years worth of oil and gas reserves

VENEZUELA
Just as the country is hit by a huge electrical blackout (the third one this year), Sean Penn is back in Venezuela for an unannounced visit: Sean Penn llega a Venezuela y se reúne con Hugo Chávez (+ Fotos) If you’re fluent in Spanish, you’ll love the comments (most not suitable for work!) .

Those exquisite little moments that bring you a big smile on your face

Oil-Fueled Nation Feels Pinch
As the Price of Crude Plunges, Venezuela Is Poised to Face a Lot of Pain

Venezuelans have no Electricity nor Water this October 19, 2008

Feeling the pinch: Chavez Says Oil Between $80 and $90 Is `Sufficient'

What will Chávez do without Castro?

Vivanco speaks out

Terrorist worship in Venezuela

Hugo Chavez Celebrates End of Free Markets, Demands Recipe for Chicken-Fried Bacon

NPR Touts Hugo Chavez, End to 'Free Market Fundamentalism'

Venezuela's government looking to establish new 6-hour workday

VIRGIN ISLANDS
Hurricane fears ease in Caribbean

AMERICAN POLITICS
Palin Thwarts The Gas Cartel

Stances on trade are worlds apart

On trade agreements, Obama's playing with fire

Special thanks to Eneas, GoV, Maggie, and Maria.



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