The “smells like Bush” day Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Cross-posted

It's the day before inauguration day, and contrary to some overly optimistic expectations, t Hugo Chavez said on Saturday Barack Obama had the “stench” of his predecessor as U.S. president. While here in the USA "To trash Bush was to belong," the trend continues with Chavez and his minions. The carnival goes on!

In today's podcast I'll be talking about Pres. Bush's legacy in Colombia. Chat's open at 10:45AM.

LATIN AMERICA
“Lula marcó distancia ante la posición de Chávez” Lula distances himself from Chavez's position; Hillary and Obama aren't happy about Chavez's anti-Americanism, and other brief news today at Noticias24.

ARGENTINA
Argentine President Urges Consumers to Keep Spending while Cristina Fernandez visits Cuba

A U.S. Court's Threatening Ruling

Enrique Dumas, Who Took Tango to Television in Argentina, Dies

BOLIVIA
Oliver Stone entrevista a Evo Morales en La Paz

Book Review: "Los planes A y B de Evo Morales" de Paul Coca - Juventud y Analisis

BRAZIL
Brazilian church roof collapses

Iran wants Brazil’s support for trying Israeli leaders as war criminals

Ex- terrorist gets asylum in Brazil

Italy's Foreign Min Blasts Brazilian Decision On Fugitive

Brazil's army: But what is it for? A philosopher redesigns an army

COLOMBIA
Uribe's Voice: Transcript of a Call

CUBA
Another flare-up of Castro’s death rumors Signs keep adding up, while Fidel still active, Chávez now says yet Report: Fidel Castro in a coma

Come and live it

"Che" Director Has an Eerie Feeling. Wonder Why?

Medvedev hails renewed ties with Cuba

ECUADOR
Ecuador vows partial bond buy-back

GUYANA
Libya to establish People's Bureau in Guyana

MEXICO
Thick-billed Parrot: Mexico and beyond…?

They Kidnap Americans Don't They?

What If Mexico Loses Its Drug War?

Anarchy in Mexico

NICARAGUA
Bad news out of Managua, the Pacto lives on

PANAMA
Cocaine plane trail is open challenge for Obama administration

PARAGUAY
Fundacion Libertad contra el monopolio de internet

PUERTO RICO
University of Puerto Rico begins new environmental education programme

Separatist? PBS Can't Call a Terrorist a Terrorist

URUGUAY
Uruguay Minister Posts Photos of Her Taking Shower on FaceBook

VENEZUELA
Chavez to swipe US$ 12 billion in international reserves for his personal use

Chavez dysfunctional reality

Venezuela's Chavez takes stock

Chavez turns into Palestinian hero

Kuwaiti MP calls to move Arab League to Caracas
Waleed al-Tabtabai says Venezuelan President has proved he is more Arab than some Arabs.

Chavez - a worse threat than bin Laden?

Hugo Crawls Back

Chavez 'part of evil side of politics'

Chavez Chagrined: Will Oil Companies Return to Venezuela?

Hey, what's one little Order of Magnitude between friends?

Venezuela's indigenous people: A promise unkept. Indigenous Venezuelans get welfare but, so far, not much land

ENTERTAINMENT
Part II: “Che:” Bad Movie About A Bad Guy Gets Worse

US POLITICS
Did Barack Obama promise Mexico’s president he would open the borders?

Chavez to Assess Obama’s Policies Before Reaching Out

Obama’s Hispanic Agenda

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

The week's posts and podcasts:
Eeet steeenks...
Today’s 15 Minutes on Latin America, at 11AM Eastern: Chavez wants the oil companies back
A name from the past: Noriega
Begging after biting the hand that feeds him
Today at 11AM Eastern: That military report on Mexico
“U.S. military report warns ’sudden collapse’ of Mexico is possible”
Pres. Bush honors Tony Blair, John Howard and Alvaro Uribe
Today’s 15 Minutes on Latin America: Venezuela’s back-door currency devaluation

At Real Clear World Blog:
Venezuela: Can't Take "No" for an Answer
Venezuela: Currency Depreciation Through Back Door





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The third Monday in November Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Crossposted

Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean, the weekly roundup of news items and blog posts on the region. If you would like your posts included, please email me: faustaw2 "at" gmail "dot" com.

This week's big story: The G20 weekend meeting in Washington DC. While Washington commuters had to put up with the traffic jams, and the leaders pledged to work together to restore global growth, that pledge is probably worth the paper it was signed on (since it wasn't signed on paper), and nothing much else happened. On the bright side, oil is trading in the $56 range.

I'll be talking about the G-20 in today's 15 Minutes on Latin America podcast.

LATIN AMERICA
The Latinobarómetro poll
Democracy and the downturn
Latin Americans are standing up for their rights

ARGENTINA
Menem faces court over bomb probe

Decálogo del asaltado

BRAZIL
The Forest Jihad

COLOMBIA
Pelosi Serves Up Colombia To Europe

Last Chance for a Colombia Pact

UPDATE:UAW Won't Support Colombia Trade Pact For Big-3 Aid

FARC se infiltra en universidades para entrenar a milicianos

Rooting out cocaine production in Colombia

CUBA
To save the ants

From the official Communist party organ, Castro writes a book about Colombia

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominicans charged with organizing fatal journey

ECUADOR
Correa amenaza con incursionar y bombardear territorio de Colombia

ECUADOR
Soros's Narcostate Promotional Team Does Ecuador

JAMAICA
"Driven Life" and others in a dynamic conversation about faith and its impact on the world.
Spurning Europe, Caribbean pushes death penalty

MEXICO
Mexico's War: The Iraq Next Door

Mexico stock exchange says drug war scaring off IPOs

Criminal insurgency strikes Mexican media

NICARAGUA
How to steal an election
Daniel Ortega sets an ugly precedent

Preliminary thoughts on Nicaragua

U.S. Should Cut Foreign Assistance to Nicaragua

PARAGUAY
Landing on our airstrip

Meeting with other Paraguay bloggers in Paraguay

PERU
The Re-Emergence of the Shining Path: The Criminal-Terrorist Nexus

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico to eliminate Electoral Fund in 2009

URUGUAY
Uruguay head vetoes abortion bill

VENEZUELA
On Sunday, Venezuelans will be voting for 23 governors across the country. Mary O'Grady writes about Chávez's threat to bring out the tanks if people don't vote for his candidates: Dodd's 'Democrat' Tightens His Grip

Venezuela News and Views has been posting on the elections. Here's the latest: The Venezuelan 2008 election: update 16 - Holding Margarita

Chavez says Venezuela is moving toward developing nuclear power

The clueless and strange tale of the expelled Venezuelan Diplomats

US POLITICS
The only way is up
After eight years of neglect by Bush, relations between the US and Latin America can only improve under Barack Obama

The NYT has a lame article about how Obama's athletic abilities make him qualified to discuss foreign policy with the likes of cigar-yielding tyrant Castro (I wonder when was the last time Fidel even saw a baseball) and coca leaf growers' union leader Evo Morales, For Obama, a Scouting Report on Athletic Heads of State. James Joyner aims, shoots, and scores in his comment on the puff piece.

SCIENCE and EDUCATIONAL
The 'Secret Jews' of San Luis Valley

An introduction to Spanish nouns and genders

This week’s posts and podcasts
Today's 15 Minutes on Latin America: The G-20.



Huge weapons cache on Mexican border drug wars
“What Obama Might Do?”, on Latin America
Postcards from the edge: Sandalistas {heart} Hugo




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The "flying from Caracas" 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: The Russian fighter jets leave Venezuela, Chavez expells the HRW director, and Chavez decides to make a last-minute stop in Russia on his way to China.

I'll talk about this in today's podcast at 10AM Eastern. Chat's open by 9:45AM and the call-in number is 646 652-2639. Join us!



ARGENTINA
Argentine rallies for missing man

Suitcase full of cash adds to Chavez corruption claims
Rights activists kicked out amid Washington accusations that Venezuela illegally gave funds to Kirchner

BELIZE
Taiwan, Belize to sign oil exploration deal

BOLIVIA
Possible deal in Bolivia

Now put it back together
A political standoff turns deadly, but bloodshed may bring both sides to their senses. At least they have agreed to start talks

Bolivia on the Brink

BRAZIL
The Islamization of Brazil

Brazil Wants to Build 50 Nuclear Power Plants, Nuclear Submarines, More?

New fleet may mean U.S. covets Brazil's oil: Lula

CARIBBEAN
BBC Caribbean report (audio)

COLOMBIA
Uribe asks Hill to OK trade pact
Held up over rights concerns

Detienen a supuesto jefe de FARC cuando intentaba comprar armas a venezolanos

CUBA
The Cuban “Katrina”

Bloodied, but unbowed
Desperate for international aid, hurricane-torn Cuba turns down any relief from its old foe, the United States

Secretary Gutierrez Statement on Announcement of a FOURTH Offer to Cuba for Humanitarian Assistance

Fidel Castro: It's good to be dictator

Castro brothers reject US hurricane aid while manipulating essentials for sale

The Real Cuba has lots more on the hurricanes’ damage

Music video (language warning in Spanish):



ECUADOR
A Superb Reason to Stay this Madness and VOTE NO!

Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference asks that Bishops and priests be respected in voicing their opinion, even if they are not shared by others

HAITI
Haiti 'overwhelmed' after storms

JAMAICA
Jamaica News Bulletin Partners With Brewer Investment Group, LLC

MEXICO
Delegitimization of Mexico through lower oil prices

7 killed in Mexican Independence Day attack

Mother suspects Juárez police in son's slaying

PDF file Mexico’s Drug Cartels:
Congressional Research Service, Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade Division

Mexico plans anti-kidnap police

NETHERLANDS ANTILLES
Denny's blogging his vacation: Bonaire 2008 Day 1

PARAGUAY
Lino Oviedo acusa a Lugo de estar muy supeditado a Hugo Chavez

PERU
Perú espera respuesta a presunta presencia de sicarios peruanos en Bolivia

Alan García bate records de impopularidad: sólo 19 %

PUERTO RICO
Caribbean officials working to lure visitors back

URUGUAY
Uruguay: Bills, Bidets, and Boundaries

VENEZUELA
Missile cruiser "Peter the Great" heading for Venezuela

El 80% de los militares rechaza el proyecto de Hugo Chavez

The Chavez bagman trial

Back on his old hobby-horse
But there are limits even to Hugo Chávez’s anti-Americanism

Talking to Chavez

The Venezuelan 2008 election: update 7. Still these many homeless?

Chavez unstable by the truth about Human Rights Watch report

Dog meat for USAF

Sobre Chávez pende la espada de la justicia globalizada"/"The sword of the international justice hangs over Chávez"

US POLITICS
Who’ll back Monroe Doctrine?

McCain rules out negotiations with the Venezuelan government

Special thanks to Eneas, GoV, Maria and Maggie.

This week’s podcasts and posts:
Russian jets leave Venezuela 3 weeks ahead of time; Chavez heads to Cuba for the weekend

Obama es un descarado

Bolivia: 15 Minutes on Latin America





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The third Monday in August Carnival of Latin America & the Caribbean

Crossposted at http://faustasblog.com

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.

Today's big story: Chavez announced that the Russian fleet will be visiting Venezuela, that China and Venezuela are launching a satellite on November 1 and opening a Venezuelan space program, and that the private cement manufacturers have run out of time and are now being nationalized. All that, after he got back from crusing Paraguay with Lugo.

Busy guy.

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

LATIN AMERICA
Latin America's populist decade may soon end

GAO Drug Control report (PDF file) U.S. outlines frustrations with anti-drug efforts in Latin America
A U.S. report showed improvements in coordinating antidrug efforts in Latin America, but cited corruption and lack of funding as top reasons the effort has not been more effective.

ANTIGUA
Georgia, The Olympics And A Tragedy Goes Unnoticed

ARGENTINA
Mopping up the bonds

Argentina May Raise Taxes on Higher Salaries, Cronista Reports. Meanwhile, La fortuna del matrimonio Kirchner sigue en constante aumento

Campaña por Santa Cruz

BOLIVIA
Bolivia Monstruoso y vergonzoso fraude

Bolivia - Minusválidos – engañados – ultrajados - robados

Evo’s big win
A recall referendum strengthens the socialist president, but fails to knock out his opponents in a still-divided country

BRAZIL
Brazil Passes Maternity Benefit Richer Than Europe's

Drunk Drivers Protest Brazil Crackdown as Traffic Deaths Plunge

Slide show: A selection of stunning views of Brazil, in photographs submitted by the readers of O Globo OnLine

Las andanzas de Lula

CARIBBEAN
BBS Caribbean report (audio), mostly on Olympic sports.

COLOMBIA
Uribe to the Rescue

CUBA
Mary Anastasia O’Grady;s interview of Armado Valladares: Twenty-two years in Castro’s Gulag

Leodan Mangana López and José Luis Rodríguez Chávez, Cuban Political Prisoners of the Week, Aug. 17, 2008

Book Review: Exposing the Real Che Guevara

Castro Blames Bush For War in Georgia-- Pravda Gives Bush the Finger

Le Monde: Cuban Government Scales Repression Against Political Dissidents - Pablo A. Paranagua (French)

Petición y comunicado de intención a la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular

Obama family values, abortion, and Dr Oscar Elias Biscet

Cuba redux

Cuba trades giraffes for medical equipment

ECUADOR
Ecuador seeks new deal with foreign drillers

Ecuador is at the mercy of international criminal cartels

GUATEMALA
Guatemala: ¿Sociademocracia, o socialdesgracia?

NICARAGUA
Tidbits out of Nicaragua

Tearing up the rules: Daniel Ortega bans his foes

Fallen leader's aim: Topple Ortega
Unfazed by scandals -- and house arrest -- former President Alemán prepares for a political comeback in Nicaragua amid what he calls a multifaceted crisis

PARAGUAY
Jungle Mom and Hugo Chavez ...Together again!

Paraguay leader embraces failed policies of socialism

Paraguay's president faces huge task

Paraguay's new president pledges to end misery, corruption

Via Lucianne, Hugo Chavez basks in Paraguay President Fernando Lugo's glory
The Venezuelan travels with the new president to spread their leftist message in the countryside

PERU
Lessons from an earthquake: A town rebuilds, slowly

PUERTO RICO
Tropical storm Fay brought drought relief. Details (in Spanish) Alivio para los embalses

URUGUAY
Argentina and Uruguay's tango row

VENEZUELA
Venezuelan Pres. Chavez Reassures Jewish Leaders. My post here

AOTW 8-15-2008 Hugo goes full multi-culti, changes Latin America to Indian America

The Venezuelan 2008 election: update 5 -second predictions-

Update on Maletagate: Venezuelan Government offered to pay US$ 2 million for Antonini's silence

the facts of the case could not be denied, a suitcase full of US$ 800,000 in cash, caught in a country friendly to Chavez, arriving in an airplane chartered by PDVSA and filled with PDVSA employees and Argentinean Government officials.

A 4 años del asesinato de Maritza Ron por pistoleros chavistas

The axis of oil

IMMIGRATION
Governators to protect the borders

ENTERTAINMENT
Bayly interviews his mom (in Spanish)


Special thanks to Eneas, Maggie and Siggy.

The week’s 15 Minutes on Latin America




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The "No mas FARC" Day edition of the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

UPDATE
This Ain't Hell But You Can See it From Here has photos and video of the march in Washington, DC


Welcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. Today is International March Against the FARC Day (No mas FARC), and A Colombo-americana's Perspective has a list of all Meeting Points for No a las FARC demonstrations in Colombia, other countries in South America, and meeting points in Central America, the Caribbean, the US and Canada, Europe, Asia, Egypt, Australia and New Zealand. She explains in this post what it all means,

Timing is everything. It seems so simple and yet so complex, that an event could "sink or swim," as it were, solely based on the time at which it occurs. This perfectly explains why the movement, started on Facebook in the first days of 2008, has rapidly grown to a worldwide phenomenon in which many have joined the Colombian people and with a single voice will say today: NO MORE FARC.

Read every word.

The BBC explains the origins of the movement,

The protest was started on the social networking website Facebook by a 33-year-old engineer, Oscar Morales, from his home in Barranquilla on Colombia's Caribbean coast.

Over 250,000 Facebook users signed on, and the movement was taken up by newspapers and radio and television stations across the country.

The overall turnout for Monday's protests is expected to be in the millions, our correspondent says.

The one in our area will congregate in front of the UN building (46th and 1st) at noon today. For more information on this event, the contact is nomasfarcnewyork@gmail.com.

If you would like your links on Latin America to be included in the Monday carnivals, please email me by Sunday evening: faustaw "at" yahoo "dot" com.

LATIN AMERICA
Latin America 'falling off the map' in Davos

Uncle Sam's Latin Challenge

ARGENTINA
Argentine Union Says Inflation Outpaced Official Data

Lawyer admits being Venezuelan agent

With all the problems in Argentina, the government shows its priorities and decides to legislate on naming children - Cristina Kirchner, on naming children

BRAZIL
The Holocaust float at the Rio Carnival
Follow-up: Judge bans Holocaust-themed Rio Carnival float
BBC video report on Carnival Celebrations in Brazil

COLOMBIA
Uribe open to overseas observers in Colombia

GUYANA
Sun, sea and murder: Here, too, drug-trafficking is to blame


HAITI
Poor Haitians Resort to Eating Dirt

MEXICO
Marching as to war: Drug gangs ratchet up the violence in Mexico as judicial reform begins

Mexico Furious over German 'Finger in Butt' Hit

NICARAGUA
Moochers of the world, unite!

Nicaraguans wary of Chavez's largess

PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Teachers Delay Strike

URUGUAY
Acto en Montevideo contra las FARC

VENEZUELA
This week's must-read article at the Observer/Guardian Revealed: Chavez role in cocaine trail to Europe
The Venezuelan connection for Europe's dope
Protein Wisdom, Feathers, Caracas Chronicles and Venezuela News and Views have links and commentary.

Ken Livingstone fails to register Venezuela Information Centre interest

What Chavez' Facebook page would look like, complete with 666 friends. If I could, I would throw a sheep at him!

This time Chavez went too "FARC"

Via Siggy, Will Venezuela Be Judenrein?

Via Irish Spy, MARK FALCOFF: GOOD NEWS FROM VENEZUELA

Chavez calls for anti-American army

Venezuela: President thanks Iran and suggests anti-U.S. army
Venezuela, the mouse that roared: Shoulder to shoulder with Hugo Chavez

Venezuelan bank hostage gang make getaway in ambulance

Colombia top drug thug killed in Venezuela

Since there's no milk in Venezuela, the Chavez government wants people to believe there’s no milk anywhere in the world There is no milk in Alexandria, VA, USA

Reaction and Revolution: My very first White Hand

VIDEO
(In Spanish) Hugo Chavez endorses FARC Terrorism (after swearing on his mother he wouldn't):


Special thanks to Siggy, Kate, Maggie, Irish Spy, and Eneas for their support.

BLOGGING ABOUT THE CARNIVAL
A colombo-americana's perspective
Obi's Sister
Don't miss Gateway Pundit's post on Colombia



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Latin America Leaders Set to Inaugurate Chavez's Bank of South

Fresh from the Bloomberg newsfeed: Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay are joining Venezuela's Bank of the South, as expected.

Latin America Leaders Set to Inaugurate Chavez's Bank of South

The Bank of the South, a Latin American development bank fostered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, will be inaugurated today, a week after the Venezuelan leader met his first political defeat in nine years at home.

It's a very modest bank:

The Venezuelan government has said the new poverty-fighting bank will have starting capital of around $7 billion. The governments involved haven't yet determined how they'll divide contributions to the bank or whether it will turn to capital markets to increase its lending power

Now comes the business part

None of the bank's supporters have an investment grade credit rating. Both the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank enjoy AAA credit ratings because of the backing of the U.S. The Corporacion Andina de Fomento has an A+ credit rating from Standard & Poor's.

The rating of any new multilateral lender would also hinge on the commitment of its member countries, said John Chambers, managing director of sovereign ratings at Standard & Poor's.

"It's important that the member countries provide strong backing for the institution and that they support its priorities," Chambers said.

The Bank of the South could be unsettled by disagreements about its role among its leading members. Chavez, who called President George W. Bush "the devil" in a speech last year at the United Nations, is followed in his anti-American stance by only Ecuador and Bolivia.

Lula's also not jumping in the deep end, to say the least:

Objections from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva prevented Chavez from turning the Bank of the South into a rival to the International Monetary Fund, too, offering loans in the event of currency crises.

"Lula has a much more conciliatory, moderate attitude toward the U.S. and so I think that's going to create conflict with Chavez as they set up the Bank of the South," said Michael Shifter, a director at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based research organization. "This has already been seen in the way Brazil worked to prevent the new bank from also competing with the IMF."

Reading the news, The Husband, who is a financial guy, said, "If there's a bank you expect to fail, this one's it."



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The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean "Por Que No Te Callas" Edition

UPDATE
scroll down

As usual, Chavez manages to suck off all the air when it comes to Latin American news.

The "Por que no te callas?" fallout continues. While the story went mostly ignored here in the USA, it was the story of the week in Latin America and parts of the USA: there's even a ringtone:
The king's on the phone, and he says: 'shut up!'

To give an idea of how much attention the king's five-word outburst has received, consider the numbers on YouTube.com. Three YouTube postings with the exchange have been viewed almost 800,000 times.
By comparison, the first part of the YouTube/CNN Democratic debate received about 73,000 hits, according to YouTube.

Happy to oblige, here's the You Tube explaining the event:


But I prefer the Juan Carlos as Leonidas:


Via GM Roper, the cartoon

Spanish Smack-Down

Distraction tactics in Venezuela

The Latin American Terminator

The bully is blustering

Por que no te callas

The Hilarity: 'Tis Overwhelming

Plenty of You Tube to go around.

First it was King Juan Carlos; Now it's King Abdullah's turn. Is this the beginning of a trend? More Governments seem ready to join the King of Spain in telling Chavez to shut up.

Spanish-language link of the week:
Via Kate, El comandante y el Rey: La salida de Juan Carlos I, tras las interrupciones e insultos de Hugo Chavez, tuvo la virtud de rasgar el velo de hipocresía que rodea las Cumbres Iberoamericanas

Also don't forget to visit The Wall Street Journal in Spanish.

In other Venezuelan news,
The referendum on the Constitution is scheduled for December 3. Here's what Chavez wants to do and what will really happen

Evil incarnate

Chavez's radical push spurs military dissent

Chavez's proposal to change the name of the National Guard to that of Territorial Guard, and reassign its members to other security forces, triggered a wave of discontent in mid-August. Corporals in the 40,000-strong Guard complained that the change amounted to the Guard being eliminated -- and Chávez was forced to backtrack.

Will Chavez pull the trigger?
Venezuelans may give their president the power to restrict oil production -- and cause a global recession.

Hugo Chavez: Students forced masked soldiers to shoot them.

Students Emerge as a Leading Force Against Chavez

Food rationing in Venezuela

Hugo Chavez Certifiably Insane

More Trouble for Chavez

The Perils of Petrocracy

Venezuela scrambles for food despite oil boom

Via Siggy, who calls it "journalistic fraud and deceit re: South America", If Hugo Chavez is a dictator, then so are Brown and Sarkozy

Sean Penn: Hugo Chavez Is 'Much More Positive' for Venezuela Than Negative

Dumb and Dumber

Among the inbound luggage there might be the odd flying carpet bought by the more outlandish visitor to Tehran's Grand Bazaar. But Venezuela's main international airport is buzzing with rumors that the "ghost plane" comes and goes laden with artifacts that would make a TSA official throw a fit: automatic weapons, electronic gadgets, and suspect lead crates.

---------------------------------------------------
UPDATE:
Jackson Diehl of the Washington Post is exactly right (emphasis added):

For the past week, the press of the Spanish-speaking world has been abuzz about a verbal slapdown of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez by King Juan Carlos of Spain. Incensed by Chavez's ceaseless insults and interruptions during an Ibero-American summit meeting in Chile, the normally temperate Juan Carlos turned to Latin America's self-styled "Bolivarian" revolutionary and blurted: "Why don't you shut up?"

The story might have lasted a day, while everyone chuckled over something that, as one Spanish newspaper put it, "should have been said a long time ago." That it has lasted a week is the work of Chavez. He called a news conference last Monday in which he recounted the history of Spanish colonialism and compared himself to a persecuted Jesus Christ. He held another news conference Wednesday to announce that he was reviewing all ties between Venezuela and Spain. He demanded a royal apology. He even coined his own phrase: "Mr. King, I will not shut up."

Crude and clownish, si, but also disturbingly effective. Borrowing the tried-and-true tactics of his mentor Fidel Castro, Chavez has found another way to energize his political base: by portraying himself as at war with foreign colonialists and imperialists. Even better, he has distracted the attention of the international press -- or at least the fraction of it that bothers to cover Venezuela -- from the real story in his country at a critical moment.

In 13 days, abetted by intimidation and overt violence that has included the gunning down of student protesters, Chavez will become the presumptive president-for-life of a new autocracy, created by a massive revision of his own constitution. Venezuela will join Cuba as one of two formally "socialist" nations in the Western hemisphere. This "revolution" will be ratified by a Dec. 2 referendum that Chavez fully expects to win despite multiple polls showing that only about a third of Venezuelans support it. Many people will abstain from voting rather than risk the retaliation of a regime that has systematically persecuted those who turned out against Chavez in the past.
...
If you're thinking you haven't heard much about this transformation in a major oil-producing country two hours by air from Miami, you're right. U.S. media and human rights groups have basically ignored Chavez's latest power grab. Human Rights Watch, which has been conducting a campaign about what it says is the "human rights crisis" in neighboring, democratic Colombia in close cooperation with congressional Democrats, has issued no statement on the Venezuelan violence -- including the shooting of the students by government-backed paramilitaries on Nov. 7 -- and objected to only one of the 69 new constitutional articles.

The Bush administration seems to have abandoned any effort to influence events in Caracas, hamstrung by Chavez's use of "the empire" as a foil. Worst of all, Latin America's own democratic leaders, who rallied in the 1990s against a less-ambitious attempt by right-wing Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori to install an autocracy, have largely been silent. Unlike Chavez, Fujimori didn't have petrodollars with which to subsidize his neighbors' fuel or buy their debt bonds; Chavez has spent billions on both. The summit of Spanish-speaking countries would have been entirely harmonious had not Chavez himself deliberately provoked Juan Carlos. The king missed his cue; rather than addressing Chavez, he should have asked the assembled heads of state: "Why don't you speak up?"

Bravo!
---------------------------------------------------
ELSWHERE IN LATIN AMERICA:
Posts on SOUTH AMERICA in general
Brrrr... South America Has Coldest Winter in 90 Years

The Latinobarometro Poll: A warning for reformers. Latin Americans expect more from the state and less from the market

ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, PARAGUAY (Tri-border area)
In Paraguay, Piracy Bleeds U.S. Profits, Aids Terrorists

BOLIVIA
Hugo's having trouble exporting his Bolivarian Revolution,
Revolution postponed: A popular president deadlocked by a determined opposition

U.S. to Bolivians: Stop attacking ambassador

CHILE
After the Caudillo

7.7 Quake Shakes Northern Chile

COLOMBIA
Colombia's Uribe Seen as Solidifying Power
Opponents Say Widely Popular President Is Toughening Stance Against Critics

CUBA
Cuban farmers reject Venezuela-Cuba confederation

Reality in Cuba: "El Concierto", "The Concert"

A roundup of Anti-Fidel "International" Blogs

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:
Dominican Government Calls for Censorship of HRF Film on Human Trafficking

HONDURAS:
The latest phone company wiretapping scandal.

Ancient Americans had chocolate alcohol

ECUADOR:
CHAVEZ AND IRAN BUY PAL CORREA: CORREA EASILY BOUGHT TO STAND UNITED FOR NUCLEAR ANDES

MEXICO
The U.S. and Mexico: Taking the "Merida Initiative" Against Narco-Terror

GUERRILLAS IN THE MIST:
In a Modernizing Mexico, Blasts Reveal Shadowy Side

You must be a legal resident to get a driver's license in Mexico

NICARAGUA
A Colombo-americana’s perspective has a huge roundup links on the subject of Venezuela's influence in Nicaragua

PANAMA
Kucinich Protests Army Training School

PERU
The Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa

4,000-Year-Old Temple, Mural Found in Peru

Education and Peru: The Work of Tapurisunchis

PUERTO RICO
Adios: Pharma Retreats From Puerto Rico

Pet massacres carried out in Puerto Rico

URUGUAY
Another day, another country: Uruguay

Special thanks to Eneas Biglione of HACER

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Ethanol and wealth creation

In The Economist, an article about ethanol, Fuel for friendship

Firms around the world are trying to make biofuel out of everything from trees to cooking oil. To make ethanol from corn or wheat, as Americans and Europeans tend to do, distillers must first convert the starch in those crops into sugars. But Brazilian distillers dispense with this expensive step, as they use sugarcane as a feedstock. So Brazil can produce ethanol for 22 cents a litre, compared with 30 cents a litre for corn-based ethanol, according to Icone, a Brazilian think-tank. That makes it cheaper than petrol, and therefore lucrative for farmers without subsidies.

U.S. sugar is too expensive to convert to fuel, thanks to a complicated system of tariffs and quotas that keeps the U.S. price of sugar artificially high, and the US can't produce enough sugar to meet an increasing demand in ethanol. Those are two reasons why import it.

However, as I mentioned in yesterday's Blog Talk Radio with WC of The Gathering Storm, the ethanol produced in Brazil is subject to a 54-cents-a-gallon US tarriff.

Since Brazil's ethanol has too much water (and is quite similar to rum), the way to get around this tarriff is for Brazil to ship its ethanol to dehidration factories in one of two dozen Caribbean countries that are exempt from the tarriff, and then take it to the US by tanker where a gasline refiner makes it undrinkable and blends it with gasoline. The blended ethanol is then shipped to gas stations.

The lobbyists and the politicians are to blame for this tarrif:

The ethanol industry not only receives billions of dollars in subsidies each year, but governmental protection from international competitors as well.

But back to The Economist,

Brazil is not the only country in Latin America that sees great promise in ethanol. Colombia now has five distilleries amid the sugarcane fields of the Cauca Valley, which produce 360m litres a year. Two more are under construction elsewhere. These producers are guaranteed a market, since regulations oblige fuel merchants to mix ethanol into petrol. By 2009 the required blend will be 10% ethanol and will gradually rise to 25% thereafter. Costa Rica has a similar policy, and Panama is contemplating one.

Indeed, since sugarcane is grown throughout the region, most Latin American countries could benefit. A recent study from the Inter-American Development Bank argued that replacing 10% of Mexico's petrol consumption with locally refined ethanol would save $2 billion a year and create 400,000 jobs. Several Caribbean governments hope that the ethanol boom could help revive their ailing sugarcane farms.

The greatest lure would be access to the American market. Various Central American, Caribbean and Andean countries can already send ethanol to America tariff-free, thanks to concessionary trade agreements. Maple, an American energy investment group, plans to spend $120m on an ethanol plant in Peru to take advantage of such a waiver. A pipeline running out into the nearby Pacific Ocean will deliver the plant's output directly to tankers bound for America. Proponents of the project say it will create 3,200 jobs. If all goes well, exports could reach 120m litres a year by 2010, and perhaps as much as 400m in the more distant future.

The United States, for its part, has several reasons to encourage ethanol production in Latin America. For one thing, it will need seven times more of the stuff than it currently produces to meet Mr Bush's 35 billion-gallon target. There simply is not enough spare land in America to grow adequate feedstock for such an amount, unless scientists find a way to make ethanol cheaply from abundant materials such as wood or grass. Although Mr Bush's ultimate goal is energy independence, he would presumably prefer to be dependent on ethanol from friendly countries such as Brazil and Colombia than on oil from hostile places like Iran and Venezuela.

An ethanol boom in Latin America would also attract investment to rural areas and create lots of jobs. That might help to reduce the steady northward stream of illegal immigrants. It would certainly burnish America's image, and stem support for anti-American tub-thumpers such as Venezuela's Hugo Chávez. He has won friends throughout the region by selling oil cheaply. By sharing technology and promoting investment in ethanol, America would also be reducing Latin America's fuel bill. If it bought lots of ethanol from its neighbours, it would be providing them with a lucrative export of their own.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Brazilian counterpart signed an energy agreement making ethanol an internationally traded commodity.

This can be a first step that the US takes to unleash a new area of prosperity in Latin America. Let's create free markets, and create wealth by abolishing all farm subsidies and trade barriers with Latin American countries that are willing to provide property rights, democracy and the rule of law for their citizens.

President Bush went to Brazil and will also visit Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico. Robert Mayer has more thoughts on the subject.

Update: Bush promotes trade with Uruguay

Uruguay is keen to sign free trade deals with the US, even if it means leaving the Mercosur trade bloc.

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In yesterday's Blog Talk Radio show with WC of The Gathering Storm, I mentioned several books:
Journalists Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, Carlos Alberto Montaner, and Alvaro V. Llosa's

Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto has written several books that I highly recommend on the subject of property rights, rule of law, capital creation and free markets:


Later in the conversation we talked about Dinesh D'Souza and Robert Spencer, who I met at CPAC last week. Their books are:
Dinesh D'Souza

and
Robert Spencer