Blogging the democratic revolution
In Hugo Chavez’s 21st Century Socialist Venezuela. El Universal has a superb roundup of the year, documenting the continuous stream of expropriations defacing Venezuela as its democracy slides into tyranny. Read it here and here.
From Venezuela’s government propaganda, a news organ called Venezuelan Global News reports meat shortages in Caracas, calling attention to a problem that obviously is being discussed in the streets by Venezuela’s poor, a topic Venezuela’s private-sector media, or at least the mainstream English-language media, may have missed. This is the first I have heard of this shortage. The meat reportedly in short supply is pork legs, used in the making of Venezuelan Christmas hallacas (we’d recognize that as a tamale over here), a traditional Christmas food. Although I had not seen any reports of pork shortages in the press, the…
On January 1st, CAFTA is ready for implementation. The nations of Central America have just a few things to do to get it all in place but on a rolling basis, they will be set to get involved with the opportunities of free trade and with it, all the prosperity that follows. After NAFTA was implemented, Mexico’s stock exchange rose 200% in the years that followed. So it shall be with CAFTA. Central America should prepare to be a big global player, a known name, a symbol of excellence, and a rich, prosperous region that has broken all ties to…
VCrisis has several good pieces tonight on Argentina but one that caught my eye an event I knew about – that Argentina’s largely leftist press is on the take, with a few isolated exceptions. Now many of those exceptions are under attack as the Nestor “Anti–Summit of the Americas” Kirchner regime strengthens and consolidates its power a la Hugo Chavez. Press freedom is beginning to wither there for those who are not on the take. The story is here.
Cuban exiles at Killcastro.com (the name comes from Havana street graffiti) went over, point by point, U.S. proposed reforms for a post-Castro Cuba. They focused exclusively on how effective each individual measure would likely be to dislodge “The Beast” from power and enable the blossoming of freedom in Cuba, the coming Havana Spring all hope to follow in the wake of Castro’s unmournable death. The fascinating item from these real Cubans is here.
I Believe Only In The Power Of The People by Evo Morales December 24, 2005 Thank you for the invitation to this great meeting of intellectuals “In Defense of Humanity.” Thank you for your applause for the Bolivian people, who have mobilized in these recent days of struggle, drawing on our consciousness and our regarding how to reclaim our natural resources. What happened these past days in Bolivia was a great revolt by those who have been oppressed for more than 500 years. The will of the people was imposed this September and October, and has begun to overcome the…
…that have implications for revolutionary change in 2005. From Latin America, here’s my personal list of the most revolutionary stories in the hemisphere: 1. CAFTA – Toughest legislative battle of the year in the U.S. and the most important one. Free trade with the tiny nations of Central America has become a reality. And free trade lifts businesses across the board. Even Contra Cafe! No more will Hugo Chavez be free to subvert the hemisphere with his pork-barrel spending programs that create dependency. Instead, every nation will stand up for itself and all of its earnings will be purely their…
Daniel at Venezuela News has scrolled through the year’s news and come up with a great list of awards for the year on topics ranging from man of the year to ‘analyst’ of the year, to assorted female categories. It’s great fun to look at – read the whole thing here.
The animals are at it again. They got caught trying to kill President Uribe of Colombia. The story is here. COLOMBIA-PRESIDENT Explosive found near ranch of Colombia President Uribe Bogota, Dec 24 (EFE).- A bomb made up of some 46 kilos (101 lbs.) of explosives and shrapnel was found near the ranch of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, in the northern province of Cordoba, presidential bodyguards reported. The device was found shortly before Uribe was scheduled to arrive at his rural retreat, located some five minutes from the regional capital, Monteria, and 902 kilometers (560 miles) northwest of Bogota. Military personnel…
Sounds insane, but it’s true. Venezuela has the world’s finest coffee, but when I looked around in the shops of Caracas for some bagfuls to take home for Christmas presents, there were none to be found. (I had trouble finding the Hugo Chavez Action Figure for Christmas, too. Not even the buhoneros had it in stock.) These shortages, like the various meat shortages seen around Caracas in past months, are glints of the shortages to come as the communist revolution of Hugo Chavez consolidates. They are a sign of something, the first shooting pains, and they don’t just occur in…
With the recent magazine photos of the sexy young bin Laden niece – tell me THAT girl isn’t, in her own way, a revolutionary – I thought it would be worth it to note that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro has wealthy young offspring who like to party it up in Havana, too. But unlike the bin Laden girl, who’s doing her cheesecake pictures to stick it into bin Laden’s face, these young Castros have no idea that their sybaritic lifestyle is actually on film. The Real Cuba has found some authentic news photos showing the sons and daughters of the…
Christmas is barely legal in Fidel Castro’s monstrous dictatorship in Cuba, and this year more than most. There is a sullen, sad atmosphere in Havana these days, partly from want, and partly from the sour, tired nature of the regime on its last legs. That’s why Val Prieto at Babalu blog came up with the idea of asking Cuban Americans from all over to describe their best Cuban Christmas memories, from childhoods either in Miami or in Havana. The rich tapestry of customs and relationships is completely unique and, given Castro’s tyranny, distinctly revolutionary. The whole fascinating thing can be…
David Sasaki and Juliana Rincon Parra at Global Voices have something very special in their Bolivian blog roundup – a slew of translations from the original Spanish. If you had always wanted to be able to read the Spanish blogs but couldn’t do it, they’ve opened that window and have a long, beautifully done roundup from the Spanish-language Bolivian bloggers. Well worth a click here.
Daniel in Yaracuy has another elegantly done post comparing and contrasting two court verdicts in two highly politicized cases, one for the opposition, and one for the ruling party. As may be imagined in Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela, the reality shows that Chavistas get about three times as much ‘justice’ as Venezuela’s battered opposition. I’ll add one more editorial note that Daniel didn’t: I don’t believe any of these verdicts reflects the truth of what happened and none of the people going to jail on either side had anything to do with the murders. It’s all politics, jumping from the pockets…
In one of his finest posts, Daniel in Yaracuy province describes the curious reverse phenomenon now seen in Venezuela under the Hugo Chavez regime: the effort to eradicate all symbols of secularism and holiday cheer in Venezuela, in favor of a highly politicized, chavista-cized more ancient Christian model. It’s a strike against globalization and the U.S. in particular. That’s why Daniel’s seeing some weird things around Yaracuy, and he’s posted all the photos, well worth a click here. While we are on the topic of Christmas, take a look at Alek Boyd’s ‘Merry Christmas Venezuela’ post and photo, showing Santa…
They grossly undercounted the amount of support shown by Evo Morales in that strikingly well-executed election this past Sunday. Boz goes into several reasons why in an extremely interesting post here.
Far-left and strongly anti-U.S. Evo Morales has won a decisive victory as president of Bolivia with over 50% of the popular vote, preventing any moves in Congress to deliver the election to any other candidate. There was nothing fraudulent about it, and voter turnout was an amazing 80%. Bolivians who are celebrating this are happy because Morales is the first-ever indigenous Aymara president the nation has ever had. For people who have been shut out from the existing system, for whatever reason, it’s a great step forward to see one of their own in the highest office in the land.…
…according to exit polls. The AP report is here: COCHABAMBA, Bolivia (AP) – Bolivia’s Socialist presidential candidate Evo Morales, who has promised to become Washington’s “nightmare,” held an unexpectedly strong lead over his conservative rival in Sunday’s election, according to two independent exit polls. The wide margin means Morales, a coca farmer who has said he will end a U.S.-backed anti-drug campaign aimed at eradicating the crop used to make cocaine, will likely be declared president in January. “If (the U.S.) wants relations, welcome,” Morales said after voting, holding a news conference where piles of coca leaves were spread atop…
Source: El Universal Two years of riots, roadblocks, and instability have culminated in today’s impossibly important presidential election in Bolivia. Bolivia matters because as Bolivia goes politically, so goes South America. The country is often compared to Tibet but politically, it could also (imperfectly) be compared to Iowa, Ohio, or Peoria, Illinois. What direction this wind blows may influence events all over the continent. There’s more to that, though. Far-left Evo Morales is the current frontrunner. If he gets 50% plus 1 vote, he becomes president outright and if he gets less than that, the election moves into the Senate.…
Saturday, I watched as about 1000 Venezuelans rallied at Altimira Square in Caracas for jailed union leader Carlos Ortega who was sentenced to nearly 16 years in prison for organizing the great oil strike of 2002-2003. Ortega is a union leader whose career somewhat parallels that of Lech Walesa, but who also is a member of one of the old discredited opposition parties, known as AD, or the ‘adecos.’ He organized the strike in a bid to prevent the politicization of the Venezuelan state oil company and to keep unions strong and separate from the political cronyism of the Chavista…
Bolivians elections are advancing rapidly as Jorge Quiroga and Samuel Dorian Medina try to forge an alliance that can take on far-left Evo Morales who is currently in the lead but is by no means a certain winner. Morales is threatening mayhem if he does not win. His lead is extending but Bolivian voters have a history of moving against the frontrunner at the very end of a campaign so anything can happen. A quick roundup: Miguel Centellas of CIAO! has the latest poll showing Evo Morales in a decisive lead with 34% of the vote. Miguel Buitrago of MABB…
Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez buys loyalty from supporters through handouts from Venezuela????s vast oil bounty. So while accidents are at a record high and investment is at a record low at Venezuela????s state oil company, something that high oil earnings should alleviate if PDVSA were a normal company, it has instead become Hugo Chavez????s personal ATM for social spending programs. Gustavo Coronel has a fine essay on the phenomenon here.
As growing numbers of elections approach and get down to the wire, Boz has all the latest poll numbers from around the region, giving one indication as to how they may go. Read it here.
Hundreds of students marched in the streets against corruption, with a cardboard model of a ????bagman????in a cage as well a model pig, both of which reprented corruption. The story in El Universo is here.
Blogging live from Caracas, Venezuela today, I found myself stuck in an hours long taxi line at a mall in Chacao, an upper middle class neighborhood in Caracas. Amid the prettily decorated mall trees, people were carrying red and green cello-wrapped baskets of Bimbo-brand Panettone and bottles of Concho y Toro wine, something nice for the holidays but certainly not rarified upper class delights. The line moved unbelievably slow and darkness fell after a couple hours. I started asking people around whether they voted, what they thought of their president and what they thought the future held. I had expected…