DAILY LINKS
The Nation has a long, wonky, wonderful article on Mexican maize cultivation, the effects of NAFTA, and the dangers of genetically-modified seeds. Author Peter Canby backs up his excellent writing with piles and piles of meticulous research. Not to be missed. [link, via SM] (Image from Joel Penner.)
Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas ended his hunger strike yesterday after 134 days. Farinas decided to end his strike after the Cuban government said it would release political prisoners rounded up in the "Black Spring" crackdown of 2003. Get well soon. [link]
The Uruguayan selection, which has made it to the quarter finals of the World Cup, just received a shipment of half a ton of fine cuts of beef for the mother of all asados in preparation for a contest against Ghana on Friday: "450 kilos of lomo, 200 of entrecot, 75 of vacío, 75 of colita de cuadril, 150 of ojo de bife and 50 kg of picaña." [link]
Hitmen have assassinated the PRI candidate for governor of Tamaulipas State, Rodolfo Torre Cantú. Torre was gunned down along with six others at about 10:30 this morning on a highway on the way to a campaign event. Drug mafias are assumed to be responsible. [link]
From the days when coups were something of a regional sport, new documents detail a famous British ballerina's role in a plot to topple the government of Panama. The plan was to use her yacht to gather men and arms, then "land somewhere and collect in the hills." It didn't work. [link]
Mexico's Attorney General's Office has posted on its web site irrefutable evidence that gold-plated AR-15s and diamond-studded pistol grips are not nearly as cool-looking as they sound. The deadly knick-knack collection is said to belong to Valencia Cartel leader El Lobo. [link]
Two Brazilian ranchers were sentenced to 30 years in prison apiece for ordering the killing of an environmentalist nun: "Prosecutors said the pair offered to pay a gunman $25,000 to kill the 73-year-old [Dorothy] Stang because she had prevented them from stealing a piece of land that the government had granted to a group of poor farmers." [link]
This video of a kidnapping and car chase in Mexico is notable mainly for the bad-assitude of the TV journalists who were on this like white on rice. Well done, gentlemen.
The Economist takes a peak at the Mockus phenomenon in Colombia: "His moustacheless beard gives him the air of a Baltic pastor... He is financing his campaign with a bank overdraft. His supporters rely on Facebook and make their own posters; street vendors sell unofficial campaign T-shirts." [link]
Some cruise lines will cease traveling to Antarctica after this cruise season, as a ban on the use and carriage of heavy fuel oil goes into effect next year. The ban came after a 2007 incident when a Gap Adventures ship got punctured by ice and sank, causing a mess. [link]
Category Archives: Colombia
Colombia’s Uribe and Ecuador’s Correa will meet face to face at the regional Rio Summit this week. The two countries broke off relations with each other in 2008 when the Colombian military attacked a FARC encampment on Ecuadorian soil.
Also posted in Ecuador, Politics, Side notes | Leave a comment
Business is business
Beggars can’t be choosers. Faced with an electricity crisis that’s forcing rolling blackouts during peak use hours, Venezuela is considering Colombia’s offer to sell it some juice. Initially, Vice President Elías Jaua had said Venezuela would not buy electricity from Colombia, as relations between the two countries have been “frozen” since the middle of last [...]
Also posted in Politics, Venezuela Tagged Chávez, Colombia, electricity, mudslinging, Venezuela Leave a comment
A Colombian police report found that despite its claims to the contrary, the FARC controls 70% of Colombia's cocaine production.
Tough life
Being a left-wing revolutionary terrorist isn’t all fun and games. Someone’s got to dig the latrines and carry firewood, and a notebook kept by a FARC leader shows those tasks often meted out as punishment: Liliana GB for having incurred subparagraph “E” of first level violations by losing a Handy radio and two antennae. Make [...]
Peace in Medellin owes itself not to law enforcement efforts, but to a "pact" between rival gangs arranged by civil society leaders. The Center for International Policy's Colombia Program explains.
Also posted in Side notes, War on drugs Leave a comment
Marching in
Spotted on the facade of the National Congress, in Bogota, Colombia
FARC: Now dealing in death, antiquities
The FARC says it has a new hostage: The sword of Simón Bolívar. The claim was published on Colombian news Web site Anncol and accompanied by a photo. According to Colombia Reports: The sword has had a long and tumultuous history in Colombia, in which myth and rumour are often indistinguishable from fact. In 1974, [...]
The Donkey Library
The Biblioburro is a great story. Once a week, Mr. Luis Serano saddles up his two burros with a selection of books and rides off into Colombia’s backwoods (in the eastern Caribbean area) to give people a chance to read. In 2008, the New York Times published an excellent profile of the institution. Now film [...]
Estado de what, now?
This video is a couple days old, but still worth posting. It shows excerpts from a heated debate between Uribe and several academic luminaries that took place on Wednesday at Jorge Tadeo Lozano University.
Checkmate?
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's aspirations to trash constitutional term limits and win a third consecutive term in office suffered a setback in the Supreme Court yesterday. The judge in charge of preliminary analysis recommended that the court rule against holding a national referendum to eliminate term limits.
