Hugo Chávez to be Embalmed, Displayed at Venezuelan Museum (UPDATED)

The body of recently deceased Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez will be embalmed and placed on display at a planned museum according to interim leader Nicolás Maduro.

Chávez’ body will be preserved “so that it may be forever exhibited to the public at the Museum of the Revolution”, declared Maduro to the press at the Fuerte Tiuna military base where Chávez has lied in state on Thursday. The former Vice President compared what will happen to Chávez’ remains with the preserved corpses of famed revolutionary figures Vladimir Lenin and Ho Chinh Minh.

Maduro also said that Chávez would lie in state for an additional seven days before being moved to its final resting place, which is currently under construction.  

“We want the whole world to see him without any limitations”, Maduro mentioned after hundreds of thousands of Chavistas put up with hot weather and waits of up to ten hours in order to pay their respects to the former president.

“Comandante — rest in peace. We'll carry on your fight,” said one mourner who also praised Chávez’ “powerful connection” to Venezuela’s impoverished classes.

Israel “Disappointed” Over Argentina-Iran Truth Panel

The government of is real is none too pleased at Argentine lawmakers who approved the creation of a truth commission with Iran to investigate the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Buenos Aires Jewish community center.     

"Past experience shows that agreements with Iran don't change Tehran's positions and are not followed,” read a statement issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry. “The same holds for the current agreement, which will not lead to bringing those responsible for the bombing to trial. We are disappointed with the decision," said the communiqué.

Argentine and Israeli officials have criticized each other over Argentina’s deal with Iran that was announced by Argentine President Cristina Kirchner on January 27th.

Representatives of Jewish groups in and outside of Argentina were also upset at the Argentine Congress including the slim majority of Chamber of Deputies members who on Thursday accepted the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Iran.

“The idea of establishing a 'truth' commission on the AMIA tragedy that involves the Iranian regime would be like asking Nazi Germany to help establish the facts of Kristallnacht,” declared American Jewish Committee Executive Director David Harris.

"This is a memorandum that is not clear, that is not complete and that we feel doesn't bring any benefit to the cause,” said Julio Schlosser, president of the Jewish umbrella organization DAIA, before the vote took place.

The president of the AMIA Jewish Community Center, Guillermo Borger, threatened that he “will make a presentation to the Argentine Supreme Court seeking invalidation of the agreement.”  (Argentina is home to Latin America's largest Jewish community.)

The Kirchner administration believe that the panel will help Argentine courts question eight Iranians suspected of masterminding and carrying out the attack that killed 85 people and wounded 300.  The Iranian government has denied involvement in the bombing and there is a possibility that country’s parliament may reject the MOU:

Daily Headlines: December 28, 2011

* Argentina: President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is scheduled to undergo surgery on January 4th in order to treat a thyroid cancer detected by doctors last week.

* Latin America: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to visit four Latin American countries next month including Venezuela and Cuba.

* Colombia: The FARC will reportedly release six hostages including three police officers kidnapped since 1999.

* Uruguay: The Uruguayan Senate approved a bill that would decriminalize abortions in the first twelve weeks of pregnancy.

Image Source – Flickr via Dilma Rousseff (Argentina President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (second from left) received the visit of her Brazilian counterpart, President Dilma Rousseff, in Buenos Aires last October). (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Online Sources- AFP, CNN, BBC News, Bloomberg

World Watch: Asleep at the switch

* Congo: A preliminary report from the U.N. found that peacekeepers “failed” to protect residents of an eastern Congo town where over 300 people were raped by militia troops.

* India: Organizers of the Commonwealth Games in India have come under scrutiny for a myriad of problems from shoddy construction of venues to the use of child labor.

* Iran: President Barack Obama blasted his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for suggesting that the U.S. government may have been behind the 9/11 attacks.

* Asia: Relations between Japan and China are expected to improve after Japanese authorities released a detained Chinese fisherman.

Image – BBC News
Online Sources- The Telegraph, Voice of America, AFP, CNN

Ahmadinejad: Iran backs Brazilian nuclear mediation

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has agreed "in principle" to meditation by Brazil in order to break an international deadlock over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. According to a testament on Ahmadinejad’s website he agreed to Brazilian intervention while talking on the phone with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

A spokesman for the Brazilian Foreign Ministry subsequently denied that the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has yet to make an official offer for mediation. Yet the spokesman added "this does not mean that Brazil would not do so if other countries requested it."

While visiting Tehran last week Foreign Minister Celso Amorim backed intervention as the best way to resolve the impasse between Iran and Western powers. Assuming Ahmadinejad’s claims are true then Brazil’s possible mediation would be a major diplomatic victory for that South American country:

An emerging world player, Brazil has urged Western nations to negotiate a fair solution with Iran over its nuclear program. It has also called on Tehran to provide guarantees that its nuclear program has no military ambitions in return for enjoying its right to have peaceful nuclear technology.

Both Ahmadinejad and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton exchanged heated words in speeches this week at a conference on nuclear nonproliferation. In a TV interview last night, meanwhile, the Iranian leader said that his country will "definitely" continue its nuclear program despite the global opposition.

Image- Wall Street Journal (2009 image of the current Brazilian and Iranian presidents)
Online Sources- BBC News, AP, Voice of America, The Latin Americanist, Reuters

World Watch: Nap Time

* World: According to a study carried out by U.S. researchers chronic sleep deprivation cannot be resolved by a night or two of very good sleeping.

* Iraq: A court sentenced eleven suspects to death over their role in a series of 2008 bombings that killed over 100 people.

* Sudan: Tensions have escalated ahead of national elections after the military and rebels clashed in the region of Darfur.

* Iran: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has blamed the U.S. and Israel in the recent death of a prominent Iranian scientist and professor.

Image – CBC
Online Sources- UPI, BBC News, Voice of America, Reuters

Lula & Ahmadinejad Get Chummy

Riding the wave of Brazil's emergence as an economic power, president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hasn't wasted many chances to increase his country's profile on the international stage.

Lula is front and center today, hosting a state visit by controversial Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Iranian president's visit has raised some eyebrows in the US, with several experts claiming that Brazil's engagement with Iran will undermine the West's efforts to convince Iran to scrap its nuclear armament programs. Protesters also took to the streets in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to denounce the Iranian leader's controversial position on Israel, the Holocaust.

Delving even deeper into Mideast affairs, Lula expressed his hope to become more involved in the Israel-Palestine crisis and is promoting his goal of seeing a joint Israeli-Palestine soccer team take the field against Brazil's all-stars.

After many years of fruitless US-led efforts to bridge the Israeli-Palestinian divide, it seems unlikely that a soccer game will do the trick. But under Lula's leadership, Brazil will likely continue to become an increasingly major player on the world stage.

Image Source: NY Times
Online Sources: NY Times, AFP, Guardian, Bloomberg, Reuters

World Watch: A small spark of hope

* World: In what may be a major breakthrough, scientists have developed a vaccine that decreases the risk of HIV infection by over 30%.

* Iran: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defied mounting criticism against him over the recent discovery of a “secret” nuclear facility under construction.

* Middle East: Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi proposed a “one state solution” for Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

* U.S.: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg returned to work at the Supreme Court after suffering a health scare that required a brief hospitalization.

Image- CBC
Online Sources- BBC News, Chicago Sun-Times, Al Jazeera English, New York Times

Daily Headlines: September 25, 2009

* Latin America: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad praised his country's ties to several Latin American states and said that there are “no limits” to their relations.

* Honduras: The Honduran political crisis could force that country’s critical October 10th World Cup qualifier against the U.S. to be played in another nation.

* Puerto Rico: The island’s economic woes continue as Gov. Luis Fortuno threatened to lay off 30,000 public workers on top of the 8000 he dismissed four months ago.

* Colombia: On a related note, Colombia has been hit with its hardest recession in a decade.

Image- AFP
Online Sources- Bloomberg, The Latin Americanist, New York Times, etaiwannews.com, Reuters

World Watch: Gimme Shelter

* France: French officials are planning to shutdown and evict about 1500 mostly Middle Eastern migrants from a squalid refugee camp nicknamed “the jungle.”

* Japan: Speaking of immigration, perhaps Japan will be more welcoming of migrants as the country faces a shortage of workers due to a more elderly population.

* World: According to a study by Alzheimer's Disease International, the number of people worldwide with Alzheimer's disease has shot up by 10% since 2005.

* Iran: Both the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran and Human Rights Watch has called on global leaders to demand more accountability from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while he attends the U.N. General Assembly this week.

Image- BBC News (“Some 1,500 migrants live in very poor conditions outside Calais.”)
Online Sources- BBC News, AFP, USA TODAY

Defense official warns against Iran in LatAm

Another top U.S. defense official has warned against Iranian influence in Latin America.

Echoing similar concerns as Defense Secretary Robert Gates and other top military brass, the head of U.S. Southern Command Gen. Douglas Fraser had this to say:

"The real concern is not a nation-to-nation interaction, it is the connection that Iran has with extremist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah and the potential risk that that could bring to this region," Fraser told journalists ahead of taking up the post…

Commenting on Iran's ties to extremist groups in the region, Fraser said: "it is a concern, and it is an issue we will continue to monitor for any increasing activity."

Since coming into office in 2005, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has strengthened ties with countries like Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba. It remains to be seen how relations will be affected by the recent turbulence in Iran stemming from possibly fraudulent presidential election results.

Image- AFP
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, AFP, PRESS TV

Today’s Video: Iran’s “Mister Danger”

With the Iranian authorities clamping down on civil liberties, stifling dissent, and turning a blind eye to police abuses, it would be foolhardy and inhumane for any head of state to solidly back Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Sadly, it’s a lesson that one Latin American leader has decided to ignore:

Online Sources- BBC News, UPI, Al Jazeera English, Reuters

Ahmadinejad nixes Latin American tour

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has postponed his planned tour of Latin America according to a government statement.

Ahmadinejad’s proposed visit to Venezuela, Ecuador and Brazil was supposed to have started Wednesday yet he postponed it yesterday without publicly providing a reason why. According to one report, however, the timing of the visit was “not well programmed” since it would have meant less time for Ahmadinejad to campaign for reelection.

Representatives for the Iranian and Brazilian governments are planning a future meeting date for Ahmadinejad and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Nevertheless, the planned visit peeved off several thousand Brazilians who protested in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Furthermore, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed concern over the “disturbing” inroads made by Iran in Latin America:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday defended new moves to engage anti-US leaders in Latin America as a way to check what she called "disturbing" Iranian and Chinese inroads in the region…

"I don't think in today's world ... that it is in our interest to turn our back on countries in our own hemisphere," Clinton told diplomats and other State Department staff.

She described the new world as "a multipolar world where we are competing for attention and relationships with at least the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians," adding such countries can soon fill the void.

"If you look at the gains, particularly in Latin America, that Iran is making, that China is making, it's quite disturbing," the chief US diplomat said.

"They're building very strong economic and political connections with a lot of these leaders. I don't think that it's in our interests," Clinton said.

Image- PRESS TV
Online Sources- AFP, Brazzil Magazine, Monsters & Critics, Bloomberg

“Capitalism needs to go” says Hugo Chavez

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez had a few choice words to say about the international economy and U.S. diplomatic efforts in Iran.

“Capitalism needs to go down. It has to end. And we must take a transitional road to a new model that we call socialism" said Chavez during his state visit to Iran. Chavez also blamed the U.S. and Great Britain for imposing a financial model that exacerbated the global financial crisis.

Aside from the interview, Chavez also expressed doubts that the U.S. can seek peaceful relations with Iran. "I don't have much hope, because there is an empire behind him. He's the president of an empire," Chavez said about U.S. President Barack Obama.

Earlier today, Venezuela and Iran strengthened their economic ties:

Iran and Venezuela on Friday inaugurated a joint bank to finance their development projects, during a visit by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Tehran, state media reported.

The Iran-Venezuela Joint Bank, based in Tehran, has an initial capital base of 200 million dollars, with each nation providing half of the funds, the state broadcaster said…

"What happened today represents a strong will to build a new world," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, attending the opening ceremony with Chavez…

Chavez, a vocal cheerleader in Latin America for Iran and its nuclear ambitions, was quoted as saying that the two countries should "further strengthen their trade cooperation."

Image- PRESS TV
Online Sources- AFP, PRESS TV, AP, Milenio

Chavez offers to take in Gitmo detainees

Forgive me for sounding cynical, yet I cannot help but wonder if the following is a late April Fools Day joke or not:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said he is prepared to receive detainees held by the US military at the Guantanamo Bay camp in Cuba…

"We wouldn't have any problem in taking in human beings," Mr Chavez told Arabic TV channel al-Jazeera at the summit in Doha, Qatar, where he has been pushing for closer ties with the Arab world.

President Chavez also renewed his calls for Guantanamo Bay to be returned to Cuba, saying the US should finish with "this miserable prison".

Earlier today, Chavez visited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and both leaders promised “a common revolutionary front ... in the world.”

Online Sources- BBC News, AFP
Image- AFP (“Camp Delta area at the US Naval Base in Guantanamo, Cuba.”)

Report: Chavez blamed for anti-Semitism

A U.S. State Department report on anti-Semitism claimed that disdain against Jews was growing worldwide. The study found that prejudice against Israel and “government-promoted hatred towards Jews” was on the rise. Among the governments cited by the report (entitled "Contemporary Global Anti-Semitism") was the one in Venezuela:

The report singled out a number of leaders, governments and state-sponsored institutions for fanning the flames of anti-Semitism, with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the top of the list.

It also took to task the Syrian government, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, as well as the government-backed Venezuelan, Saudi Arabian and Egyptian media.

"Chavez has publicly demonized Israel and utilized stereotypes about Jewish financial influence and control," it said.

The Chavez regime and the Iranian government have strengthened political and economic ties in recent years; earlier this month, Ahmadinejad said that both countries will “remain partners in different fields.”

Sources- Reuters, AFP, Associated Press, the Latin Americanist, IRNA

Image- MSNBC

Daily Headlines: October 1, 2007

* After hosting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week (image), Bolivian president Evo Morales will apparently return the favor in November.

* Brazilian officials granted refugee status to a pair of Cuban athletes who defected during the Pan American Games in July.

* During his weekly radio show, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez announced plans to construct fifteen hospitals across the country.

* Peruvian miners plan to go on strike next week over the lack of rights to thousands of subcontracted laborers.

* The campus of Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM) was named a UNESCO cultural heritage site last week.

Sources (English)- Bloomberg, BBC News, Monsters & Critics, AFP

Sources (Spanish)- El Diario/La Prensa

Image- BBC News

Daily Headlines: September 26, 2007

* Argentine rockeros Soda Stereo added a second U.S. date to their reunion tour: Miami on December 5th. (They’re scheduled to play in Los Angeles on November 21^st).

* Illegal drug use by Latino teens has gone up mainly due to “Hispanics' adoption of American cultural and lifestyle habits”, according to a White House report.

* Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will visit Bolivia and Venezuela later this week.

* The skeletal remains of 22 people “disappeared” during the reign of Augusto Pinochet were found in a lake outside of Santiago, Chile.

* Follow-up: Peruvian doctors denied allegations that recently extradited former president Alberto Fujimori is in “poor health.”

Sources (English)- MiamiHerald.com, sodastereo.com, Voice of America, The Latin Americanist, USA TODAY, Associated Press

Source (Spanish)- El Diario/La Prensa

Image- La Ultima