Lat/Am Daily » Uruguay

Guinea pig bets on Uruguay

Peter Krupa — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:50:37 +0000

The Germans may have Paul the Psychic Octopus, but the Peruvians have Jimmy the Frightened Guinea Pig, whose terrified skittering apparently means Uruguay and Germany will face off in the World Cup final.

Not sure if having the support of a guinea pig will do anything to encourage the Uruguayan squad today as they stare down almost certain destruction at the hands of the Dutch.

Uruguay fuels up

Peter Krupa — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 01:31:25 +0000

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]

Guinea pig bets on Uruguay

Kissinger and Operation Condor

Peter Krupa — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 18:21:15 +0000

The good folks at George Washington University’s National Security Archive project report that recently-declassified memos show U.S. Secretary of State and Nobel Prize winner Henry Kissinger directly ordering underlings to cancel warnings against launching Operation Condor to military dictatorships in Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay .

Four days later, a car bomb killed former Chilean foreign minister Orlando Letelier and his secretary Ronni Karpen Moffitt as they drove through Washington, D.C.

Frankly, I don’t find these documents as scandalous as the NSA does, although the AP says controversy over this particular point of history has been raging for some time. Avoiding warning other governments against committing atrocities is not nearly as outrageous as directly participating in or encouraging those atrocities. I suppose the implication is that if you avoid issuing warnings, you’re probably involved somehow.

What is interesting to me is the tone of the State Department communications. To wit:

What we are trying to head off is a series of international murders that could do serious damage to the international status and reputation of the countries involved.

Really? That’s what you’re concerned about? The “reputations of the countries involved?” I would have been concerned about the people to be extra-judicially tortured and murdered.

Anyway, it’s not like we needed further proof that Kissinger is a war criminal. Can you un-nominate someone for a Nobel Peace Prize?

Peter Krupa — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:04:21 +0000

Latin America is the most unequal region in the world, according to a recent report from the U.N. The wealthiest 20% of the population hold 56% of the total wealth. The most unequal countries in the region are Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina, with Venezuela and Colombia also fairing particularly badly. [link]

Untethering

Arias out of bounds

Peter Krupa — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 15:49:56 +0000

Juan Santamaría, the pacifist.

Sometimes, almost-former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias is insufferable. He has this schtick where he travels around the world preaching that other countries should abolish their militarys like Costa Rica did, and then the world will be a better place.

No doubt it would be, but this is exactly the kind of self-regarding smugness that makes the rest of Central America hate the Ticos. Now Uruguay hates the Ticos too, after Arias decided he has a better idea for how they should run their affairs:

“I’m going to ask President Mujica to consider abolishing his army. Why does Uruguay need an army? Who is Uruguay’s enemy? Is Argentina going to invade, is Brazil going to invade?” Arias said in an interview.

“I’m going to write a letter to President Mujica to ask him to consider what we considered in 1948, when we asked ourselves, what do we need an army for? Why don’t we get rid of it, and declare peace with the world? I certainly think that Uruguay could do the same,” added Arias, who holds a Nobel Peace Prize.

Wow, what a great idea, what could possibly go wrong? I guess this argument might make sense to a country that’s never been in a conflict with powerful, well-armed neighbors (a few dozen of William Walker’s drunks crossing the border from Nicaragua doesn’t count). Historically, however, it’s a deeply hypocritical position because when facing conflict, Costa Rica invariably hides under the skirts of someone else’s military.

During the conflict between the Sandinistas and the Contras, Costa Rica sold out its peace principles immediately to allow the U.S. government to operate clandestinely from its northern border, in exchange for billions of dollars in aid money. Similarly, faced with massive amounts of drug trafficking both along its coasts and in the air, defenseless Costa Rica has turned time and again to the U.S. Navy and Air Force to bail it out.

I guess criticizing your neighbor for buying fire and flood insurance is pretty easy when you rent.

Tiff over a swastika

Peter Krupa — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:42:07 +0000

(Via Página/12)

A curious corner of South American history is bulging into something of an international diplomatic tiff. In 1939, after a sea battle with the British, Nazi battleship SMS Graf Spee limped up Río de la Plata to Montevideo and scuttled itself. There it sat, at the bottom of the bay just off shore from the capital of Uruguay, for almost 70 years.

Recently, however, some divers have hauled up a huge brass insignia from the wreck, featuring an eagle and a swastika. And Germany is pissed. They don’t want the piece sold or displayed because of its swastika.

As this blog post points out, that’s a little weird, considering the Germans fund World War II exhibits in other parts of the world. It almost sounds like they’re trying to extend their own laws prohibiting Holocaust denial and the display of National Socialist images to the rest of the world.

The ball is now in Uruguayan President Mujica’s court.

Here’s a short British propaganda video about the scuttling of the Graf Spee.

And here’s a longer documentary about the Graf Spee, if you’ve got an hour to kill. Good stuff.