Argentina : Isabel Perron Arrest Ordered by Judge

Former President of Argentina, Isabel Peron,wife of Argentine strongman Juan Peron, was ordered arrested yesterday to be questioned regarding ties to right-wing death squads before she was overthrown in a 1976 military coup.This Mrs. Peron followed the (in)famous Eva Peron.

Although nearly 13,000 people are reported dead or missing from the 1976-83 junta era, human rights groups say the toll approaches 30,000 dissidents killed before civilian rule was restored in 1983.

Isabel Peron currently resides in Spain.

Link : CNN

Image : Amerika-live.de

Tags : Argentina, Isabel Peron

Cuba : Wake Held for Dissident Miguel Valdés Tamayo

A wake was held Miguel Valdés Tamayo, a Cuban dissdent, in La Habana today. Valdés Tamayo had been incarcerated, with a sentence of 15 years, in 2003 and was released after a year because of ill health. He died of a heart attack on Wednesday.

"Vamos a hacerle una guardia de honor, junto a sus compañeros de causa", explicó a la AP Laura Pollán, una de las llamadas Damas de Blanco, esposas de los disidentes presos que suelen marchar pidiendo la libertad de sus maridos.

He was one of 75 anti-Castro activists who were imprisoned in 2003.

Link : Univision.com

Image Link : Nueva Prensa

Tag : Cuba, Miguel Valdés Tamayo

Nicaragua : Daniel Ortega is Back

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez isn't the only Latin American leader sworn in today. Daniel Ortega, the former president of Nicaragua and Sandinista leader, was sworn in as president again today. While Ortega is promising a more middle of the road regime than his image as a revolutionary leftist enemy of the U.S. from the 1980's, he is friendly towards current U.S. enemies like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.

Link : VivirLatino, Fox News
Tags : Daniel Ortega , Nicaragua

Cuba : Going Consumerist?

Post-Navidad and Dia de Reyes numbers has some Cuban officials worried that people on the island are losing their communist perspective.

In a two-page spread, the Juventud Rebelde reported on the revival of "Three Kings Day," a Latin American tradition of giving gifts to children on Jan. 6, commemorating the arrival of three wise men who offered the newborn Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

"A tradition that seemed extinct in Cuban society rises again," the state-run newspaper said. "Although no one sees celebrating the millennial festivity of the Three Kings as heresy, the danger could be in (the holiday) accentuating consumerist habits and social differences."

Reportedly stores in central Habana were packed, especially the toy department.

Link : Fox News
Tags : Cuba, Communism, Three Kings Day

Venezuela : Chavez to Nationalize Power and Telecommunications

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela today announced plans to nationalize the country's power and telecom companies.

"All of those sectors that in an area so important and strategic for all of us as is electricity — all of that which was privatized, let it be nationalized," Chavez said in a televised speech after swearing in a new Cabinet.
"C.A. Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela (CANTV), let it be nationalized," Chavez said. "The nation should recover its property of strategic sectors."

Chavez is making good on the promise made after his reelction to make more radical movements in tge direction of socialism.
Link : Yahoo! News
Tags : Hugo Chavez, Venezuela

Colombia : After 6 Years Official Escapes FARC Kidnappers

Fernando Araujo, a former development minister in Colombia, was last seen in December 2005 exercising in Cartagena when he was allegedly kidnapped by members of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia aka the FARC. Yesterday, the minister escaped as Colombian army and marine troops battled the FARC.What followed was Araujo treking five days through the mountainous jungle to San Agustin, 350 miles north of the capital city of Bogota.

Image : Wikipedia
Tags : Colombia, FARC