Video of the Day: From gaucho pants to a "presidenta"?

Last night's The Colbert Report touched briefly on the election of Cristina Kirchner on Sunday as Argentina's first female elected president. Colbert did not drag out his Latino alter ego "Esteban Colberto" for the segment though he naturally expressed worry over the Kirchner-Clinton similarities.

Did I mention that "Dirty War" ex-dictator Jorge Videla may have been a hermaphrodite according to Colbert?

(Video link):

Nicaragua Sick from Rain

The storms in Central America are creating the perfect breeding ground for illness, especially in Nicaragua. A waterborne disease, leptospirosis, spread through animal urine has killed nine people

As of midday Monday, nine people had died of the disease and 1,606 people had fallen ill. The highest number of cases, 745, appeared in the northwestern city of Somotillo.

The infectious disease is usually contracted through cuts in the skin. It is spread because the urine of rats, cows and pigs ends up in pools of standing water during stormy weather. and sickened more than 1,600 in storm-stricken Nicaragua, health officials said earlier this week.


Source : MSNBC
Image : Queens University at Belfast

Daily Headlines: November 1, 2007

* Follow-up: The death toll caused by Tropical Storm Noel’s rampage through the Caribbean has risen to over 80, while floods have swamped most of the Mexican state of Tabasco (image).

* Despite one commentator’s harsh criticism of John Edwards opposition to a U.S.-Peru free trade pact, isn’t having an opinion better than no opinion at all?

* On Tuesday, Brazil was officially selected as the site of the 2014 soccer World Cup.

* During a speech at a B'nai Brith conference, Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff blasted the growing relationship between the governments of Iran and Venezuela.

* Colombian police seized two homemade submarines which were being used to ship illegal drugs.

Sources- AFP, BBC News, FOX News, International Herald Tribune, Reuters, Foreign Policy - Passport

Image- BBC News

Video of the Day: Guillermo del Toro

We end today with Halloween in mind; more specifically, the work of Mexican film director Guillermo del Toro. His horror films are difficult to describe except to say that they are very striking visually as well as psycholgcally.

Below is the trailer for one of del Toro's films- 2001's The Devil's Backbone (not The Devil's Advocate as had originally been written in this post).

You can get a flavor of del Toro's style from the trailer but I highly recommend that you watch the movie itslf.

(Video link):

Sources- Wikipedia, YouTube

59 killed by tropical storm in Caribbean

Tropical Storm Noel has thus far claimed the lives of at least 59 people in the Caribbean as the downpour barrels towards the Floridian coast. Flash flooding and mudslides killed about 50 people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic while over 9000 Cubans were evacuated from flood-prone areas.

Though Noel has passed the island of Hispaniola the danger continues, according to on emergency official:

"The situation is still dangerous and the number of deaths could rise," said Luis Luna Palino, a spokesman for the Dominican Republic's National Emergencies Centre told local radio.

"Rescuing people is becoming difficult because the rains are continuing."

Sources- Bloomberg, BBC News, AFP, Forbes

Image- BBC News

U.N. to U.S.: Drop the embargo against Cuba

184 of the 192 members of the U.N. General Assembly voted Tuesday to end the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. Though the proposal was non-binding, yesterday’s vote marked the 16^th consecutive year that the global body called for the U.S. to drop the embargo.

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque did not mince words when denouncing the embargo yesterday:

The blockade "has never been applied with as much ferocity as in the past year," he said, noting that Washington even barred US companies from providing Internet services to Cuba and was denying Cuban children access to needed medication.

And he later told AFP that the vote was "the expression of the virtual universal rejection of the policy of blockade and aggression which Bush, like no other US president, has applied toward Cuba."

Aside for the issue of Cuba, the resolution also called for countries to “repeal or invalidate” measures similar to the U.S. embargo on the island.

The U.N.’s vote came nearly a week after a speech by U.S. President George W. Bush denounced the Castro regime and called for countries worldwide to back democratic change in Cuba.

Sources- Scotsman.com, Reuters, Xinhua, AFP, The Latin Americanist

Image- RTE News

Trick or treat? Not for some in Mexico and Ecuador

Halloween is not typically celebrated in Latin America with several countries preferring to commemorate All Souls’ Day starting today. Yet lately Halloween has become increasingly popular in the region much to the chagrin of certain groups.

In Mexico, the Catholic Church criticized the celebration of Halloween as "damaging and against the faith." In a statement released on Monday, the Archdiocese of Mexico had called on drastic measures to shun Halloween and embrace the Dia de los Muertos:

The archdiocese urged parents not to let their children wear Halloween costumes or go trick-or-treating — instead suggesting Sunday school classes to "teach them the negative things about Halloween," costume parties where children can dress up as Biblical characters, and candy bags complete with instructions to give friends a piece while telling them "God loves you."

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa banned government offices from celebrating Halloween. Correa justified the edict by claiming that Halloween ran against the Ecuador’s national values and people should observe the country’s own “charming festivals”.

Sources- history.com, Mexidata.info, International Herald Tribune, The Times

Image- Fly Away Café

Daily Headlines: October 31, 2007

* Some couples get married in an ornate church. Others opt to be wed in a pastoral outdoor setting. Yet those that are futbol-crazy exchange vows in Argentina’s Church of Maradona.

* Mexico's attorney general emphasized the need for the U.S. to curb arms sales and money laundering in order to lower crime related to the drug trade.

* U.N. secretary general Ban Ki-moon plans to stress environmental issues during his visit to Argentina, Chile, and Brazil next week.

* Russia will double or triple its arms sales to Venezuela, according to a Russian arms official.

* Follow-up: $119,500 was the price paid by a Texan rare books dealer for an alleged lock of Ché Guevara’s hair auctioned off last week.

Sources- The Offside, BBC News, AFP, El Universal, Bloomberg, The Latin Americanist

Image- The Offside

Video of the Day: “Granadaaaaaa!”

Let’s sing the chorus together:

“Granadaaaaaa!

Granada, Cadiz, Sevilla.

Red butter is called mantequilla.

You’re treated so fine

When you come here and dine

I’m already lucky to see ya.

Olé! Olé! Olé! Olé!”

(Video link):

By the way, I prefer the uno with tostones and congri, thanks.

Source- YouTube

Daily Headlines: October 30, 2007

* Mexican antitrust authorities will begin an investigation against the telephone companies owned by billionaire Carlos Slim (image).

* Opposition has come from several groups- including immigrants rights organizations- against New York governor Eliot Spitzer's plan to provide licenses to illegal immigrants.

* Archeologists encountered a vital find in Puerto Rico: a large space possibly used for ceremonial rites by pre-Columbian peoples.

* Brazil’s government plans to increase defense spending by over 50% in 2008.

* Venezuela’s Attorney General admitted in an interview that corrupt officers have helped drug traffickers from neighboring Colombia.

* Follow-up: From one current presidenta to a future presidenta – Chile’s Michelle Bachelet congratulated Argentine Cristina Kirchner for her victory on Sunday.

Sources- International Herald Tribune, news.com.au, earthtimes.org, Newsday.com, New York Times

Image- Sydney Morning Herald

Quote of the Day: A notion of progress

“Our politicians are always talking about how migrants are treated in the US, but no one focuses on how they live in their own communities…Something is missing in our country. We need people to say, 'This is my country, this is my home, this is my land.' Tamaula can be a model.”

--Adriana Cortes- the director of the not-for-profit Bajio Community Foundation- emphasized how some community groups are promoting small businesses in Mexican rural towns. The aim is to develop villages and make them more self-sustainable, thus prevent immigration to the U.S.

Source- Christian Science Monitor

Image- Food and Agriculture Organization

Putin compares U.S. missile plan to Cuban missile crisis

Russian president Vladimir Putin compared a U.S. plan to create a missile defense system in Europe to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Said Putin at a press conference on Friday following a summit between the European Union and Russia:

"Analogous actions by the Soviet Union, when it deployed missiles in Cuba, prompted the 'Caribbean crisis,'" Putin said, using the Russian term for the Cuban missile crisis.

"For us the situation is technologically very similar. We have withdrawn the remains of our bases from Vietnam, from Cuba, and have liquidated everything there, while at our borders, such threats against our country are being created," he said.

Putin’s comments came two days after U.S. president George W. Bush spoke out on Cuban policy. In a speech at the State Department, Bush emphasized the urgency of supporting dissident movements and called on other countries to back democratic change on the island.

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque replied to Bush’s speech by saying that it indicated his “personal hatred toward Cuba” and dismissed a domestic uprising on Cuba as a “fantasy”.

Image- BBC News

Sources- Associated Press, Sydney Morning Herald, Guardian UK

Study: Haiti “stepping stone” for HIV into Americas

A study released today by U.S. researchers claims that the HIV virus spread from Africa to the Americas via Haiti in the 1960s.

For years scientists believed the claim made by journalist Randy Shilts in “And the Band Played On”. Shilts’ theory said that AIDS had been spread by a gay Canadian flight attendant who died in 1984. Yet the conclusions of the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences posits otherwise:

"Our results show that the strain of virus that spawned the U.S. AIDS epidemic probably arrived in or around 1969. That is earlier than a lot of people had imagined," said senior author Michael Worobey of the University of Arizona, Tuscon…

In fact "Haiti was the stepping stone the virus took when it left central Africa," said Worobey. "Once the virus got to the US then it just moved explosively around the world."

On a related note, pharmaceutical firm Merck has advised that the volunteers of an experimental AIDS vaccine get further tests since the vaccine may increase the risk of infection. Over 2000 people from several countries in the Americas including Haiti, Jamaica, and Brazil had volunteered for the trial in 2004.

Sources (English)- Reuters, The Telegraph, Wikipedia

Sources (Spanish)- El Tiempo

Image- the Money Times

Colombia: Uribe allies biggest losers in elections

Opposition politicians were the big winners in local elections held in Colombia yesterday. One of the most notable victories was by Samuel Moreno for the mayor of Bogota (image); the former legislator ensured that the leftist Alternative Democratic Pole (PDA) would continue its hold on the Bogota mayoralty by easily beating ex-mayor Enrique Peñalosa. In addition, several independent candidates won key mayoral positions including the son of impoverished campesinos in Medellin and a woman in Cartagena.

The head of the PDA- Carlos Gaviria emphasized the “convincing victory” in Bogota served as a “massive defeat” to President Alvaro Uribe. The Uribe administration took the claims with their usual humility and good nature:

“Those in charge with responding…where (Interior Minister) Carlos Holguin and (Vice President) Francisco Santos. The former accused Gaviria of being one of the intellectual heads behind the website of the FARC (guerilla organization). Santos assured that nobody with high ethical principals can be defeated.”

The build-up to yesterday’s elections was punctuated by violence against candidates, especially those from rural areas. Yet the vote transpired calmly and with little violence except for a few isolated incidents.

Sources (English)- Reuters, BBC News, PRESS TV, International Herald Tribune

Sources (Spanish)- El Tiempo, RCN

Image- BBC News

Argentina: Say hello to "Presidenta" Kirchner

Current First Lady and Senator Cristina Kirchner will be the next president of Argentina after winning comfortably in the first round of election yesterday. Kirchner became the first woman elected to the argentine presidency after earning nearly double the amount of votes as second-place finisher Elisa Carrio.

Despite some worries over the economy, Kirchner’s victory speech emphasized her campaign message of continuing the progress enjoyed during her husband’s administration:

“Since 2003 we've fought poverty, unemployment and the things that did so much damage and brought so much tragedy to the Argentine people,” Fernandez said with her husband by her side. “We're going to construct a different history.”

Throughout the elections Kirchner’s victory appeared to be a foregone conclusion; for months most polls had placed her as the clear favorite in the run-up to Sunday and one political analyst told BBC News that “the vote was one of the most disorganized in recent Argentine history.”

In addition, Kirchner tried to shake off comparisons between her and other notable female political leaders like Eva Peron and Hillary Clinton. Some political commentators had even gone as far as to compare the jewelry worn between Kirchner and Clinton.

Sources- BBC News, Forbes, Voice of America, Bloomberg, The Latin Americanist,

Image- BBC News

Daily Headlines: October 29, 2007

* Democratic presidential contender John Edwards spoke out against a U.S. free trade agreement with Peru that’s up for approval in the Senate.

* Venezuela’s space agency was officially established last week and hopes to launch a satellite by August 2008.

* Eleven Mexican migrants that crossed into Southern California are being treated for burns from massive wildfires.

* Peru’s government wants the extradition of a former aide to Bolivian president Evo Morales on charges of terrorism.

* The former president and three serving senior executives of Cisco in Brazil continue to be under custody due to accusations of tax fraud.

Sources- International Herald Tribune, MSNBC, Prensa Latina, Guardian UK

Image- ABC News