Fausta's blog

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The swine flu Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

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.

Labels: Bolivia, Brazil, Caribbean, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Iran, Jamaica, Latin America, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela.

Monday, April 06, 2009

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

There are lots of interesting stories today, but do not miss Mary O'Grady's excellent article in today's Wall Street Journal, Aid Keeps Latin America Poor: For real progress, they need the means to accumulate wealth. This should be required reading for everybody.

LATIN AMERICA
A meeting with Vladimir Bukovsky

Iran Setting Up Shop South of the Border

The Southern Front- Islamic Terrorism and Failed States, South and Central America

3 trends in Central American real estate as developers and buyers respond to market conditions

Why Biofuels Are the Rainforest's Worst Enemy

Obama administration 'comfortable' with Hezbullah?

Latin Governments are Resorting to Protectionism to Cushion Their Economies From Effects of Global Crisis, According to Analysis Piece by Reuters

Americas summit's draft declaration is hard to take seriously

ARGENTINA
Raúl Alfonsín, An Argentine democrat: A flawed politician of rare integrity

La coparticipacion de la violencia

BOLIVIA
Biggest cocaine lab found in Bolivia

Sin resistencia no habra democracia

BRAZIL
Brazil Constructs Walls Around its Slums and Sends a Message: “You’re doing it Wrong.”

Rudd stunned

Brazil’s ‘Teflon’ Leader Nicked by Slump

CHILE
The progressives' Chile summit: Home truths. A global alliance of the centre-left is (scratchily) back in business

COLOMBIA
From Medellin, Hopeful Signs For A Free-Trade Pact

COSTA RICA
La advertencia de Biden
La lucha de México contra la droga tendrá el efecto secundario de empujar a los traficantes hacia Centroamérica
Para desgracia de México, los esfuerzos por cerrar el corredor del narcotráfico en el Caribe tuvieron éxito

U.S. Promotes “Good Friends” Policy in Central America

CUBA
No to Penguins and Albatrosses, Yes to Supporting a State Sponsor of Terrorism

Brunswick, ME…Castro’s useful propogandists…

Power Line, How not to promote democracy in Cuba and at home

U.S to Lift Some Cuba Travel Curbs

'Hey! Let's ease restrictions on Cuba' – Lugar

Lugar favors a special envoy to Castro

House reps head to Cuba

Embargo myth #1

NYT Ignores Free Speech Activist Yoani Sanchez; Focuses on Lefties

ECUADOR
Correa Calls for Arrest of Journalist

EL SALVADOR
Subverting Latin Democracy
Hugo Chávez scores a victory in El Salvador. Is Panama next?

Obama curtails successful drug interdiction program in El Salvador

GUATEMALA
Zeta camp found in Guatemala

MEXICO
Mexican asylum seekers on rise in Vancouver
Large number of those hoping to stay in Canada are affluent professionals claiming to be on the run from warring drug cartels

Washington continues to play ostrich about Mexico (UPDATED 2X)

Mexican and U.S. Attorneys General Confer to Strengthen Cooperation on Drug Violence

Stepping up the fight in Mexico

Two from The Economist:
Taking on the narcos, and their American guns. Senior American officials are trooping to Mexico with assurances of support in its drug war. Will warm words be backed up by action?
The Mexico-US border: Fear of violence, But still pretty safe—on the northern side

PARAGUAY
Fundacion Libertad presenta a Franco un plan de impuesto unico

PUERTO RICO
FBI: Thousands of Puerto Ricans victims of ID theft

As many as 12,000 Puerto Rican schoolchildren, teachers and school administrators are believed to be victims of an identity-theft ring that sold stolen personal documents to illegal immigrants in the mainland United States, according to the FBI.

VENEZUELA
Prisoners from Guantánamo would be welcome in Venezuela

Miss Universe Displays Better Judgment than President Obama

Cuba’s style justice in Venezuela

Chavez completes repressive sweep, as April 2002 policemen are condemned to 30 years in prison

Chavez: Capitalism is 'the Road to Hell'

How squeaky clean is Teodoro Petkoff?

Meanwhile, in that other haven for narcos.......

Hoy se celebra audiencia de Baduel

Venezuela's Chavez: Capitalism Must End

IMMIGRATION
McCain loses temper with Hispanic immigration activists

Census Head to Use "Community Organizing" Groups to Count (or... "Count") Illegal Aliens

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

This week’s posts and podcasts:
Baduel’s arrest
How Chavez is subverting Latin Democracy
The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S
Ecuador: Who is Rómulo López and why does Correa want him arrested?
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart on the budget, easing restrictions with Cuba, and the US joining the UNHRC
At Real Clear World:
U.S to Lift Some Cuba Travel Curbs
Doha Brief: Chávez Invites Bashir to Venezuela

Labels: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Hugo Chavez, Lula, Mexico, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Venezuela.

Monday, March 09, 2009

The Sarko in Mexico 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 Monday's Carnival, please email me: faustaw2 "at" gmail "dot" com.

The big stories last week were Hugo Chavez's nationalizing American food producer Cargill in Venezuela, and the change in the Cuban Communist regime. Developing this week: Nicolas Sarkozy's first state visit to Mexico, and Lula's visit to the White House on Saturday.

The Sarko visit, in today's podcast:
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni spent the weekend at the beach and touring Aztec ruins with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Sarkozi's first state visit to Mexico starts today. He's expected to discuss the upcoming G-20 meeting, economic crisis and the Florence Cassez case.

Other links from the international media on the Sarko visit:
Le Figaro: Mexique : Sarkozy et Calderon évoquent «l'affaire Cassez»
Libération: Affaire Florence Cassez : transfèrement «probable»
France24: Cassez case casts long shadow over Sarkozy's state visit
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is visiting Mexico on a mission to boost trade with the Central American country. He will also plead the case of Frenchwoman Florence Cassez, who is languishing in a Mexican jail on kidnap charges.
El Universal: Calderón-Sarkozy: una cita en tierra de dioses
Sin actos protocolarios, los presidentes de México, Felipe Calderón, y de Francia, Nicolas Sarkozy, recorrieron ayer las pirámides de Teotihucán
UK's Mail: Sarkozys' stay in £3,000-a-night Mexican villa sparks outrage in recession-hit France

LATIN AMERICA
Border lawmakers fear narco-nuke terrorism link

Bad news for Latin America

ARGENTINA
El kirchnerismo analiza nacionalizar el comercio de granos

BAHAMAS
Double digit unemployment recorded in Bahamas

BOLIVIA
Bolivia Exports Decline 32.9% in January From a Year Earlier

BRAZIL
Nine-Year-Old's Abortion Outrages Brazil's Catholic Church

Reaping the rewards of indolence:
Some of the unreformed aspects of Brazil’s economy are now helping to limit the damage from the world downturn—but its prudence in recent years is helping too

Brazil Said to Be Considering Reducing Primary Surplus. Reaction? Negative

COLOMBIA
We Recommend Shunning Shares of Ingrid Betancourt. The Revelations of the Three Americans Finally Break an Absurd Code of Silence

Via IBD Blog, Colombia says troops kill guerrilla commander

An article by Marc Gonsalvez: I Was Held Hostage in Colombia, and My Captors Should Face US Justice

An unmended fence: Colombia gained much and suffered little from its raid into Ecuador

CUBA
The Queen

Fidel not a hands-off political leader

CT Blog: Is Removal of Cuba From “State Sponsors” List Inevitable?

Richard Brown Pérez, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 3/8/09

Como vacas al matadero

Ex-ministers admit “errors”

The other Castro stamps his heel: Two senior figures are dismissed after tasting “the honey of power”

Obama will use spring summit to bring Cuba in from the cold
US companies are queuing up as the president moves to ease restrictions on travel and trade, raising hopes of warmer relations and an end to the embargo

Cuba regime purge may be defensive act

ECUADOR
Narcotrafico de las Farc se beneficio en frontera con Ecuador tras ruptura de relaciones

El Salvador
El Salvador's Presidential Election, March 15th 2009

MEXICO
Via the Baron, EXCLUSIVE: 100,000 foot soldiers in cartels
Numbers rival Mexican army

Make Mexico's War A Higher Priority

Mexican criminal insurgency comes to Houston

Mexico Finally Rises Near the Top of the Agenda

US Federal agent cautions travelers headed to Mexico

Lech Walesa receives the Legion of Liberty Award - IPEA

Hasta la vista, baby

The Financial Storm Hits Mexico : Their politicians aren't doing much to staunch the bleeding.

PERU
A rare victory in the judicial war in Peru

Las casas ALBA en el Perú

PUERTO RICO
Coast guard rescues 1 man, searches for another, while 11 others rescued in Puerto Rico

VENEZUELA
No more arepas for you

Government to “intervene” areperas?

Hugo Chavez Calls On Obama To Follow Path of Socialism

Zombie capitalism

Chavez tightens state control of food amid rocketing inflation and food shortages

Venezuela seizes Irish company's tree farm

Chavez Sets Up Showdown With Mendoza After Seizures

Venezuela May Take Over More Rigs to Allow Drilling to Proceed

Chavez sours Latin American investment climate

Inmates at Venezuelan jail play football with inmate's severed head

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

The week’s posts and podcasts
In the face of the Cuban cosmetic change, Obama will use spring summit to bring Cuba in from the cold
Viva Maria Conchita
Chavez calls on Obama to follow the path of socialism. UPDATE: “Go wash your *ss, Mr. Obama”
Chavez’s full digestive cycle: First the rice, now the toilet paper - all in today’s podcast!
Today at 11AM Eastern: Unannounced Fidel Sightings
Chavez and the food supply
The real Ingrid Betancourt in captivity, and today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern
¿Por qué no te callas?, part 2

At RCW
The Cuban cosmetic change
Brazil’s Lula to visit Obama
Raúl Castro's House Cleaning

You can also find all the week's tango posts here

Labels: Argentina, Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fidel Castro, Latin America, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela.

Monday, February 23, 2009

The Lugar Report Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

Cross-posted

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

Two big stories last week:
Allen Stanford, resident of St. Croix and holder of dual US-Antigua citizenship, managed to bilk thousands of investors across Latin America, and went missing for a few days. He eventually was located in Virginia. I did a background post for Real Clear World and will continue to follow the story in months to come.

The second big story is the (pdf file) "CHANGING CUBA POLICY -- IN THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL INTEREST" report by the committee headed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Richard Lugar (Rep. - Indiana). The report - as the title says - recommends a change in US foreign policy with Cuba. Don't miss today's podcast on the Lugar report.

LATIN AMERICA
Reality intrudes on drug war

Is Obama Planning a North American Common Market?

CARIBBEAN
The restless Caribbean: Unhappy islanders
Troubles strike far-flung satellites of France and Britain

ANTIGUA-BARBUDA
$8bn 'missing' from Allen Stanford's offshore bank

ARGENTINA
Embarrados

Por qué tenemos el futuro hipotecado?

Argentine farmers start protest

BOLIVIA
Bolivia pays a high price for nationalization

Gobierno nacionalizará tres empresas eléctricas

BRAZIL
Lime Slime's Brazil: Skinheads and Celsos

Carnival queen sambas with Obama's face on thigh

CHILE
Fidel, Raúl at odds, Chilean editor says

Bachelet vexed by Fidel's article

Chile's economy: Stimulating
Cashing in the fruits of rigour

COLOMBIA
Colombia's Uribe Seeks Brazilian Oil, Milk, Beef Investments. Colombia Seems a Better Client than Ecuador, Venezuela or Bolivia for These Sectors

Hugo Chavez seguirá protegiendo a las FARC

Colombia police in wiretap probe
Colombia's secret police is under investigation over claims rogue agents may have intercepted phone calls and passed on information to criminals.

CUBA
Lugar, GOP Senate Report Urge Fresh Look at Relations With Cuba

PDF file Changing Cuba Policy – in the United States National Interest. Staff trip report to the Committee on Foreign Relations United States Senate

Still waiting

José Manuel de la Rosa Pérez, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 2/22/08

ECUADOR
Ecuador says expelled diplomat was 'CIA chief'

Hedge Funds for the Few & Socialism-Communism- Labor Union Populism for the Many

Ecuador Police Raid Stanford Office

EL SALVADOR
El Salvador and the Chávez Model
With the presidential election approaching, chavismo weighs heavily on voters' minds.

GUADALOUPE
Race, class fuel social conflict on French Caribbean islands

Economic Riots In Guadalupe Turn Racial

GUATEMALA
Presidente de Guatemala conoce proyectos con Chavez y aumenta nexos con Cuba

HONDURAS
Hallan avioneta venezolana abandonada en Honduras Authorities found Venezuelan airplane abandoned in Honduras. The plane was believed to have carried nearly a ton of cocaine.

MEXICO
Earth to President Obama: Our neighbor Mexico is in dire straits

Bret Baier Reports on Problems with Mexico, Drug Cartels, and Kidnappings (VIDEO)

Must-read report on the Mexican drug wars at the Wall Street Journal: The Perilous State of Mexico
With drug-fueled violence and corruption escalating sharply, many fear drug cartels have grown too powerful for Mexico to control. Why things are getting worse, and what it means for the United States.

The New York Times and Terror Tourism

Mexico's ceramics industry: A clean plate
A battle for lead-free pottery

NICARAGUA
Political tension in Nicaragua: The new Somoza
Daniel Ortega’s slide to autocracy

PANAMA
Chavez holds Venezuela

RV Caravan From Texas To Panama

PUERTO RICO
In Bronx, Little Houses That Evoke Puerto Rico

VENEZUELA
Abrogation of the soul

Chavez on despots' term-cutting edge

The consequences of the 2009 vote

Some parting shots on Chavez, Venezuela and Stanford

Antisemitism in Venezuela: troubling findings

Is a Venezuelan diplomat promoting antisemitism?

Venezuela: Expectations & Challenges 2009 - The Opposition's Perspective . Part 1 here, continues at YouTube

ENTERTAINMENT
Che's image and its perception

IMMIGRATION
EDITORIAL: Illegal-alien outrage

audio feature: How migrant workers from El Salvador risk their lives to get to the US

TRAVEL
Vacation Rental Homes in Costa Rica

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

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Labels: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, FARC, Guatemala, Honduras, Hugo Chavez, Latin America, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Venezuela.

Monday, February 02, 2009

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

Labels: Alvaro Uribe, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Caribbean, Carnival of Latin America, Colombia, Cuba, FARC, Fausta's blog, Guyana, Latin America, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Venezuela.

Monday, January 26, 2009

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.