The Agonist - Latin America

Chavez Goes Weapons Shopping in Russia Amid Arms Race

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:58:25 -0700

Matthew Walter | July 21

Bloomberg - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez heads to Moscow today to shop for air defense systems, submarines and other weaponry as Latin America's arms race quickens amid signs that his regional influence is waning.

Past Venezuelan arms purchases from Russia have strengthened ties with Moscow as its rivalry with the U.S. intensifies over President George W. Bush's plans for an Eastern Europe missile defense system and other issues. Chavez, 53, also plans to visit Belarus, a Russian ally that the U.S. considers a dictatorship.

Chavez will order $2 billion worth of weapons, including Project 636 diesel subs, Mi-28 combat helicopters and airplanes made by Ilyushin Co., the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported May 12, without saying how it obtained the information. The Russian Interfax news service, citing an unnamed defense ministry official, said today Chavez may order $1 billion of weapons, including three Varshavyanka subs and up to 20 Tor-M1 air-defense systems.

Hmmm, what if Russia put in a missile defense system in Venezuela?

In Tijuana, a Market for Death in a Bottle

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 03:25:40 -0700

Marc Lacey | Tijuana

NYT - “Cocaine?” a hustler working Tijuana’s seedy Avenida Revolución called out on a recent night, his voice not the least bit muted.

“How about girls?”

When neither offering elicited the desired response, he tried another: “Cuban cigars?”

He could have continued for quite a bit longer reciting from Tijuana’s extensive menu of contraband. One product from this border town, though, trumps all others in terms of shock value: death in a bottle, a liquid more potent than even the strongest tequila.

The drug, pentobarbital, literally takes a person’s breath away. It can kill by putting people to sleep, and it is tightly regulated in most countries. But aging and ailing people seeking a quick and painless way to end their lives say there is no easier place on earth than Mexico to obtain pentobarbital, a barbiturate commonly known as Nembutal.

Ecuador looks to Iran and China in new oil refinery

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 05:57:39 -0700

Quito | July 20

AFP - China and Iran are interested in investing in a six-billion-dollar oil refinery Ecuador is building with Venezuelan help on the Pacific coast, President Rafael Correa said Saturday.

"That refinery is being built with (Venezuela's state giant) PDVSA although Iran and China also are interested," the Ecuadoran leader said in his weekly television address.

Correa said Iran could be involved and shrugged off any concern that might cause.

"Somebody may say: Iran, Axis of Evil. But what do I care what other countries think? We have to be masters of our own destiny. We have nothing against Iran. Iran has done nothing to us," Correa said.

Oil prices threaten Latin America's economic gains

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:48:28 -0700

Marla Dickerson | San Salvador | July 18

LA Times - Are exploding oil prices about to burn Latin America?

With the largest petroleum reserves outside the Middle East, the region has been on a roll in recent years. Record exports of crude and grain fueled economic growth not seen since the 1970s. The region's stock markets roared. Easier credit spawned a consumer class that snapped up homes and cars. About 26 million Latin Americans climbed out of poverty between 2002 and 2006, United Nations figures show.

But the same forces behind that prosperity are now, paradoxically, creating misery in the midst of bounty. Surging fuel prices have ignited inflation throughout the region, driving up the cost of food, whose prices were already on the upswing thanks in part to ravenous global demand for Latin America's farm products.

A gallon of gas now costs more than a typical day's wages in some countries in the region. Food prices have escalated an average of 15% over the last year, according to the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Prices of many staples have increased much more than that.

Also see: Soaring inflation undermines sustainability of Persian Gulf region

Mexico faces new drug challenge: mini-submarines

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:46:01 -0700

Ken Ellingwood | Moscow | July 18

LA Times - Colombian suppliers have increasingly used small, semi-submersibles to try to smuggle drugs north toward their eventual markets, mainly in the U.S.

The capture was worthy of an action thriller: elite Mexican troops rappelling from a helicopter onto the deck of a mysterious submarine.

The 33-foot vessel turned out to be crammed with parcels apparently containing cocaine, possibly tons of it. The disheveled crew of four had emerged in stocking feet and baggy shorts, claiming to have shipped out from Colombia a week earlier under threat of death.

Mexico's military confirmed Thursday that the men were Colombian, but it offered little new information on the capture of the mini-sub off the southern coast a day earlier.

Capt. Jose Luis Vergara, a spokesman for the Mexican navy, said authorities were hauling the "very well-constructed" vessel to shore and had yet to weigh the contraband, which he said probably amounted to tons.

World court stays US executions

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:46:54 -0700

July 16

BBC - The US has been ordered not to execute five Mexican nationals on death row by the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

The ICJ - the UN's highest court - had previously ruled that the men were denied the right to help from their consulate after their arrests.

Mexico says the US has not reviewed the cases - as demanded by the ICJ.

The court told the US it must not execute the men before it made its final judgement.

Don't Expect the Democrats to Stop an Attack on Iran

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:30:48 -0700

It’s very early in the morning and I’m here writing about the possibility of my country attacking another nation in the Middle East for no real reason except to put some capitalistic fears to rest. The major reason that the United States desires to attack Iran isn’t because they believe that they will build an atomic weapon, it is the fear that Iran will switch from the dollar and embrace the Euro which will send our currency into free fall and bring about a possible recession or depression in this country as our dollar becomes worthless.

Make no mistake about why wars are fought. The central reason is almost always about resources, markets or threats to an economy. The rhetoric that precedes a war is usually never about the real reasons a nation desires to attack another. The reasons for war are veiled in talk about freedom or principles, but warring nations usually have neither. This nation, built on a system of values called capitalism or a market economy is always ready to use its armed forces as a means to force their economic needs on other nations.

Ancient Peruvian tomb unearthed

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 01:15:04 -0700

July 6

BBC - The body was inside a wooden sarcophagus
Archaeologists have unearthed an ancient tomb in northern Peru that could throw light on the pre-Columbian Moche Indian culture.

The tomb in Ucupe, 670km (416 miles) from the capital Lima, contained well-preserved human remains along with jewellery and ceramics.

The finds suggested the tomb related to nobility, experts said.

The Moche Indians thrived from 100-800 AD and were famed for their ceramics, architecture and irrigation.

Archaeologists said the tomb's body, found inside a wooden sarcophagus, was wearing a gold-coloured funeral mask and was surrounded by copper crowns, earrings, nose pieces and ear flaps .

Former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and 3 Americans have been rescued

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:43:23 -0700

Bogota | july 2

CNN -

Betancourt, who is reportedly in severely deteriorating health, was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, in 2002.

Along with Betancourt, three Americans and 11 other hostages who were Colombian police were rescued from FARC. The rebel group is known to hold at least 750 hostages in the jungles of South America.

Santos said the rescue operation included a fact-finding effort to develop intelligence in the area, followed by the final phase, in which helicopters were used.

The Colombian military had infiltrated the FARC leadership and arranged for the hostages to be taken to the south of the country, where they were to be picked up by a helicopter that the rebels believed was controlled by another group, Santos said.

Brazilian Secret 93 Million Don't Want to Talk About Is Racism

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:15:01 -0700

Telma Marotto | Sao Paulo | June 27

Bloomberg - Walking to and from work was humiliating, Jose Mario da Silva Ferreira says. For 26 years as a Sao Paulo executive, he worked in the financial heart of South America's biggest city. And every day on Avenida Paulista, women tightened the grip on their handbags as he passed.

It wasn't his behavior, it wasn't his gray hair and it certainly wasn't his pinstriped suits. It was the color of his skin. Ferreira, 43, is black. The women reacted as though he were a purse snatcher, he says.

Latin America May Halt Trade Talks Over EU Immigration Rules

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:02:53 -0700

June 23

Deutche Welle - A new EU law that calls for the swift deportation of illegal immigrants has been loudly criticized by Latin America, which has threatened to halt trade talks as a result.

In an effort to have illegal immigrants treated equally across the bloc, the European Parliament has passed a controversial deportation law. Now, some Latin American countries, especially those with many immigrants in Europe, are protesting the measures. Millions of Latin Americans live in Europe, many from poor Andean countries and war-weary Colombia.

The EU Returns Directive regulates the deportation of illegal immigrants to their country of origin. Under the law, an illegal immigrant will have two options: either "return" home or face "removal." The directive also allows clandestine migrants to be detained for up to 18 months, and face a five-year travel ban after being deported.

Rhetoric reached new heights on Saturday, June 21, when Ecuador's President Rafael Correa warned that trade talks between the EU and the Andean Community could be suspended if the 27 member bloc pushes ahead with the new law.

"What do we have to talk about with a union of countries that criminalizes immigrants?" Reuters news agency quoted him as telling a radio broadcast. "It will be very hard to talk business and ignore human rights."

Bolivia Uncertain Political Future in Wake of Autonomy Votes

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:01:24 -0700

La Paz | June 23

IPS - The political future in Bolivia is unpredictable following the autonomy referendums in the provinces of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija, whose governors interpret the triumph of the pro-autonomy position as a vote of confidence and a victory over President Evo Morales.

The autonomy referendums, which run counter to the Bolivian constitution, have been criticised as an attempt at separatism. The four rightwing governors -- known as prefects in Bolivia -- are seeking decentralisation and greater control over the revenues from the natural gas and other resources in their provinces by means of the creation of provincial assemblies and local tax collection mechanisms.

Background here

Gas-rich Bolivian province holds autonomy referendum

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:21:30 -0700

Tarija | June 22

AFP - Voters in Bolivia's gas-rich Tarija province went to the polls on Sunday for an autonomy referendum that President Evo Morales has branded illegal and separatist.

Polls opened at 8:00 am (1200 GMT) and were due to close at 4:00 pm (2000 GMT) in Tarija, which is expected to join three other provinces that have backed greater autonomy from the Morales government.

The southern province has only 400,000 inhabitants but holds 85 percent of the country's natural gas, which accounts for 13 percent of the gross domestic product. According to opinion surveys, the referendum is expected to win strong support.

Castro condemns EU's 'hypocrisy'

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 02:17:34 -0700

June 21

BBC - Former Cuban President Fidel Castro has lashed out at the EU's decision to lift sanctions against his country, calling it "an enormous hypocrisy".

He said the move was "disparaging" because it was conditioned on human rights progress in Cuba.

The ailing 81-year-old said the measure came just days after the EU passed a "brutal" law that could jail illegal immigrants up to 18 months.

The EU said its move was aimed at encouraging change in Cuba, following Fidel Castro's replacement by his brother Raul in February.

In an article published on Cuba's official website, Fidel Castro said he wanted "to put in writing my contempt for the enormous hypocrisy that surrounds the [EU] decision".

While saying that Cuba must improve its human rights record and free political prisoners, the EU mistreats illegal immigrants from Latin America by using the new law to jail and expel them, Mr Castro wrote.

EU Defies US, Lifts Sanctions on Cuba

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:44:39 -0700

June 20

Deutsche Welle - The foreign ministers of the 27-nation EU bloc have agreed to scrap sanctions against Cuba. The Caribbean country's northern neighbor is bound to be angered by the move.

The move is expected to place Brussels and Washington on a collision course and drew criticism from Cuban dissidents.

The vote on Thursday, June 19, scrapped the sanctions that were imposed in 2003, suspended in 2005 and are largely symbolic. They include limits on high-level government visits and the role of EU diplomats in Cuba's cultural events and do not approach the hard line of the 46-year-old US sanctions, which include a trade and investment embargo.

Earlier Thursday, a US State Department spokesman said Washington opposed any moves to ease sanctions on Cuba, saying that reforms so far under new Cuban President Raul Castro are "some very minor, cosmetic changes" that have fallen well short of ending decades of repressive policies under his brother, Fidel Castro.