Evening headlines: Epidemic may rise in storm-battered Haiti; Hugo = Fidel?

*Over 2000 Haitians may have died over the weekend from storms and mudslides cause by Tropical Storm Jeanne. (Image shows mass grave for some of those killed over the weekend).

*Colombian president Alvaro Uribe was inaugurated for a second term and promised to continue his hard-line stance against leftist guerillas and to devote more energy to social issues.

*Here’s a thought: is Hugo Chavez the next Fidel Castro?

*Gang violence in Sao Paulo has put Brazilian police on high alert.

*Argentina’s government is interested in claiming the Falkland Islands through diplomatic means, yet the British government refuses any talks of ceding the islands.

*After weeks of failed negotiations miners at Chile’s Escondida mine walked off the job and are striking.

*Lopez Obrador supporters continue hope of electoral win.

*U.S. imposes sanctions against Russia as payback for arms deal with Venezuela.

Latin America

Programming Note

Good day everybody. For the next few days there will fewer posts by me since I will be very busy sorting out some personal issues. (At the very least I'll post evening headlines). Sorry for the incovenience.

In the meantime please feel free to check our page on other blogs and websites on Latin America as well as the Latin American Network Information Center's "Newspapers in Latin America" website.

Week in Review: July 31 to August 6

Monday July 31:

*Cuban dictator Fidel Castro temporarily relinquishes power to his brother, Raul, as the Cuban media reports that Fidel underwent intestinal surgery. Cuban exiles take to the streets in Miami to celebrate while pundits examine how the U.S. will react as well as what could be expected under Raul Castro’s regime.

*The Associated Press reports that Bolivia’s government retracted a plan to remove religion classes from schools.

*Newly elected Peruvian president Alan Garcia said that all government salaries will be cut even though his salary would still be the highest for a Latin American head of stae.

*The U.S. Navy awarded Boeing with a contract to build and sell missiles to 5 countries including Chile.

*Fifteen army troops were killed in an ambush as leftist guerillas escalate their attacks in the week heading up to Colombian president Alvaro Uribe's 2^nd inauguration.

Tuesday August 1:

*Leaders from around Latin America reacted in distinct ways to Fidel Castro’s sickness and transfer of power.

*Fidel Castro claims that his health is “stable” according to a statement allegedly written by him and read on Cuban television.

*Microsoft introduced a Spanish-language version of Windows XP for Latin American PC users.

*Senior members of Colombia’s anti-drug police have been touring Afghanistan on an advisory mission.

*Argentina’s highest court ruled in favor of a mentally disabled rape victim who wanted to undergo an abortion.

Wednesday August 2:

*Testimony today from the Government Accountability Office showed undercover agents were able to cross the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada using false documents.

*Hugo Chavez’ tour abroad took him to the African countries of Benin and Mali were he pledged stronger energy cooperation between Venezuela and those two African countries.

*The Latin Alternative Music Conference began today in New York City.

Thursday August 3:

*Fidel Castro’s exiled younger sister claims that Fidel is “very sick, but not dead”.

*Venezuela ordered its diplomatic envoy to Israel to return home.

*Supporters of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador blocked the entrance to Mexico’s stock exchange.

Friday August 4:

*An ex-policeman was sentenced to 25 years in jail in the first verdict handed down for human rights abuses during Argentina’s military dictatorship.

*U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in the Dominican Republic after spending one day visiting government officials in Haiti.

Saturday August 5:

*The Federal Electoral Tribunal in Mexico ordered a partial recount of last month’s presidential election.

*Brazilian newspaper Folha da Sao Paulo alleged that Fidel Castro has abdominal cancer.

Sunday August 6:

*Bolivia’s constitutional assembly opened on Sunday and has a year to formulate a new constitution for the country.

*Cuba’s vice president says that Fidel Castro may be healthy enough to return to power in a few weeks.

Latin America, week in review

Mexican court rejects recount request

Mexico’s Federal Electoral Tribunal denied presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s demand for a vote-by-vote recount. Instead, the court ordered a partial recount of approximately 9% of the voting stations registered in last month’s presidential election. Supporters for Lopez Obrador (image) were upset at the court’s decision, as protestors in Mexico City yelled claimed the Tribunal’s verdict was “a total fraud.”

Mexico

Evening briefs: ‘Banco de Wal-Mart’ coming soon to Mexico?

*Wal-Mart’s Mexican division started filing paperwork in order to open its own banking unit.

*Venezuela ordered its diplomatic envoy to Israel to return to Caracas.

*Workers at the world’s largest copper mine (image) in Chile are close to going on strike.

*An ex-policeman was sentenced to 25 years in jail for human rights abuses during the Argentine dictatorship between 1976 and 1983.

international politics, human rights, finance, Argentina, United States, Chile, Venezuela

Cuba: Have you seen Fidel lately?

*Cuba’s government says that the country is “prepared for the defense” of their country and prepared for any form of U.S. intervention.

*Dissident Cuban activist Oswaldo Paya advocates that any changes in Cuba have "to be by Cubans and not the U.S.” and also claims that “the hardliners in Miami…don't represent most of the exiles now.”

*There seems to be a difference of opinion among the Cuban community in the U.S. as to how the U.S. should change its policy towards the island. The difference is based on age with older exiles tending to be more hard line than younger generations, which are “far less political.”

*Several leaders of Cuban exile groups have called on President Bush to ease travel restrictions to Cuba that the president severely tightened in February 2004.

*The media is running rampant speculating over the state of the Cuban economy; was it doing well under Fidel, will it do better under Raul’s rule, or will it be the “future land of opportunity” in a post-Castro era?

*Listen to a podcast of Julia Sweig, senior fellow at the Council for Foreign Relations, being interviewed on Fidel’s break in power.

*The U.S. government is looking into adding more broadcasts into TV and Radio Martí, though one official acknowledged that “the emphasis (is) on ‘let's get the message there the best way,’ not say ‘it has got to be this mechanism or that one.’”

*Is it any surprise that the Bush administration’s point man on Cuba is staunchly anti-Castro and that the Cuban government refers to him as the “Paul Bremmer for Cuba”?

international politics, human rights, Fidel Castro, Bush administration, United States, Cuba

Haiti needs to curb violence, says visiting U.N. chief

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan visited Haiti and called for the local government to be more active in combating violence. Annan, who met with President Rene Preval, said Haitian police are “inadequately trained” and “infiltrated by criminal elements.

Annan arrived in the Dominican Republic a few hours ago and will meet with President Leonel Fernandez.

Dominican Republic, Haiti, United Nations, international politics

Colombia ready for Uribe’s 2nd inauguration

President Alvaro Uribe will be inaugurated for a second term this Monday after easily winning reelection in May. Though crime rates have diminished across the country, Uribe still faces daunting challenges ahead of him such as leftists insurgents that do not want to go down quietly, high numbers of displaced people in the northern and southern parts of the country, and an uneasy peace process with paramilitary factions.

(Image depicts campesino supposedly killed by paramilitaries in the 1980s).

Alvaro Uribe, Colombia, armed conflict, human rights, international politics

AMLO supporters blockade stock exchange

Hundreds of sympathizers of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador blocked the entrance to Mexico’s stock exchange earlier today. The demonstration comes as Mexican stocks are plunging and calls by President Vicente Fox insisting that protest camps in Mexico City be removed as soon as possible.

Mexico, international economy, international politics

Bolivia: Evo pushes land reform while keeping high approval rating

*President Evo Morales has urged Congress to pass land reform plans

in spite of fierce opposition by landowners.

*Bolivia’s government backs down from a proposal to remove religion courses from public schools.

*The latest poll shows President Evo Morales’ approval rating steady at 75%.

*Brazilian energy company Petrobras announced that it would reduce its dependence on oil from Bolivia due to disagreements with Bolivia’s government.

Evo Morales, oil, international politics, Bolivia

‘Fidel’s okay’ says his exiled younger sister

Juanita Castro claims that her brother Fidel is “very sick, but not dead”, thus echoing statements made by Cuban officials over the past 24 hours. Juanita, who has been exiled in the U.S. since the 1960s, also expressed her disappointment at the excessive celebration by Cuban exiles in South Florida.

Cuba, Fidel Castro

Evening briefs: Gov’t salaries cut in Peru; Chavez tour nears end

*Peru’s president slashed government salaries including his own.

*Buenos Aires (image) is in the middle of a property boom led by foreigners.

*Hugo Chavez is in Benin as he wraps up a tour that has taken him to countries like Iran and Vietnam.

*Felipe Calderon’s campaign coordinator for international affairs sounds off on last month’s Mexican presidential elections.

politics, international economy, Mexico, Peru, Argentina

Music: LAMC begins in NYC; Hip Hop Hoodios gain broad appeal

*The Latin Alternative Music Conference begins today in New York City. One of the main topics of discussion will be the impact of reggaeton on the Hispanic music scene and if the popularity of that genre has definitively propelled it out of the alternative music realm.

*VivirLatino posts on a New York Times article that looks at a small group of Latino Goths that live in the South Bronx. It reminded me of the strong cult-like following Morrissey has among Mexican-Americans living in Southern California.

*The RBD bandwagon continues (for better or for worse).

*The appeal of the Hip Hop Hoodios cannot be underestimated as their eclectic style has been highly praised by the Jewish, Hispanic, and hip-hop communities. (Link via Hispanic Tips).

*The music division of media giant Univision has been sued by a Mexican regional label citing breach of contract.

*MTV Latin America will hold its next awards show in Mexico City.

(Image from Os Mutantes’ concert a few weeks ago in New York via Brooklyn Vegan).

Latin America, music

Mixed reactions by Latin American leaders to ailing Fidel

The heads of Bolivia and Venezuela, Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez respectively, were enthusiastic in their hopes for a full and speedy recovery by Fidel Castro. Other regional leaders were more muted towards Fidel, such as Mexico’s president wishing Fidel “a rapid recovery,” though some worry over the possibility that Cuba might enter civil war if Fidel dies.

Cuba, Fidel Castro, Latin America

Border insecurity: agents cross U.S. borders with fake IDs

Undercover agents were able to cross nine border checkpoints on both the Mexican and Canadian borders by using false passports, according to the Government Accountability Office. A spokesman for the Homeland Security Department says that “agents sometimes cannot verify more than 8,000 different kinds of currently acceptable IDs without significantly slowing border traffic”.

Mexico, Canada, United States, immigration

Evening briefs: Fidel’s allegedly feeling fine, while Argentine court rules in favor of rape victim

-A statement read a few hours ago on Cuban television and supposedly written by Fidel Castro claims that his health is “stable” and calls on Cubans to continue their daily activities.

-The Christian Science Monitor wonders if Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (image) has gone too far in having supporters set up protest camps along one of Mexico City’s main roads.

-Sixteen people were killed in an ambush and a separate car bomb in Colombia.

-Finally, two brief follow-ups on stories we’ve covered. The Telesur news network (which we discussed on in this post) has plans to expand into the U.S. (2^nd note down). Also, an Argentine court ruled in favor of a mentally disabled rape victim in a case that had pitted the government against the Roman Catholic Church.

Cuba, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Fidel Castro, armed conflict, human rights, international politics, law, television, women

Cuba: Fidel’s health and passage of power to his brother on the minds of a lot of people

Update (04:00pm): Miami Herald columnist Andres Oppenheimer gives three reasons why Fidel handed over power to his brother. Meanwhile, this picture is ironic in so many ways.

*Unlike the raucous joy in Miami Monday night (left image), Cubans on the island met the news of Fidel’s handover of power with stunned silence and tranquility.

*Politicians such as Senator Mel Martinez and Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (both Cuban exiles) are guarded in their optimism for a positive change to occur in Cuba. Meanwhile, Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez are closely monitoring the situation in Cuba in order to ensure the public safety of people in South Florida.

*So how should the U.S. react if Fidel dies and there’s a regime change? The obvious point is that the U.S. needs to promote a “pro-democracy” agenda. Will it involve a direct intervention welcomed with open arms by the Cuban people? Or perhaps things will be chaotic and will lead to a legitimate political opening. Or maybe U.S. intervention will hurt more than help and make the situation in Cuba worse. Then again the U.S. could “finagle some way to gain control and grant it statehood”. Mind you, this could all be moot and irrelevant if Raul Castro really is the “far more radical” leader some believe he is and he’s able to successfully consolidate power for himself.

*Speaking of the new leader of Cuba, here are a few biographies on Raul Castro (right image).

*Remember the Bush administration report released three weeks ago discussing regime change in Cuba? Here it is (in PDF format).

*The calm after the storm- people of Cuban decent in South Florida ponder what would happen in Cuba if Fidel were to die.

*Here’s a thought: could oil be the factor that overturns the U.S. embargo on Cuba?

*An English-language translation of Fidel’s letter that was read on Cuban television last night.

*Wonkette sarcastically wonders if Fidel has the power to “change other people’s birthdays” beside his own.

*Finally, a few anti-Castro jokes which aren’t too bad.

Cuba, Fidel Castro, international economy, international politics

On this day in Latin American history: August 1st

-1498: Christopher Columbus became the first European to visit Venezuela.

-1808: Slaves from Trinidad and Tobago were emancipated via an act of the British parliament. Thus, today is a national holiday in Trinidad and Tobago- Emancipation Day.

-1902: The U.S. finalizes purchasing the rights to construct the Panama Canal (image) from France.

-2004: Over 400 people die when fire rages through a supermarket in Asuncion, Paraguay.

Latin America, history