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: Human Rights
Touchy, touchy
The Chávez government has arrested former Zulia Governor Oswaldo Álvarez Paz “on charges of conspiracy, spreading false information and inciting hatred.” What Álvarez Paz did was go on television and state the obvious: That drug traffickers are operating more or less openly from Venezuelan soil with either the active or passive cooperation of the Venezuelan [...]
Martyr’s anniversary
Wednesday is the 30th anniversary of the assassination of El Salvadoran Bishop Óscar Romero by right-wing thugs. They shot him to death while he was saying mass. Tim’s El Salvador Blog has been doing a bang-up job during the last week or so blogging on the upcoming anniversary. Of particular note is a recent post [...]
False positives documentary
Colombian journalist Felipe Zuleta has produced an excellent two-part documentary on the “False Positives” scandal that rocked Colombia in 2008. Basically, it turned out the army was taking poor youths from Bogota’s slums and killing them to pump up their supposed FARC body counts. So, not so much false positives as murders. Current presidential front-runner [...]
Snip snip
This week was a tough call for Creepy Colombia Story of the Week. I almost went with The Farmer who Fathered Seven of his 17 Children Via his Daughter, but instead I think I’ll stick with similarly- yet opposite-themed Rich Guy who Pays Peasants To Get Sterilized. The former story almost argues for the latter’s [...]
Also posted in Colombia, Odd Leave a comment
Magician with the picana
It sounded like a straight-forward political scandal. An Argentine judge named María José Sarmiento blocked Kirchner’s controversial attempt to use Central Bank reserves to pay its foreign debt. Yesterday, the government tried to arrest her father. An outrageous example of the executive harassing the judiciary, right? Except the judge’s father is Luis Sarmiento, a retired [...]
Cuba’s Ladies in White got busted up by a government-sponsored mob when they tried to march yesterday for the release of political prisoners. Amnesty International called on the government to protect the Ladies in White. [link]
Also posted in Cuba, Side notes Leave a comment
On Sunday, Nahum Palacios became the third journalist to be killed in Honduras in two weeks. The radio and television journalist was gunned down on Sunday night by men traveling in two vehicles who sprayed his car with 42 bullets. Police say they have no leads. Journalists all over the country marched to protest the [...]
Also posted in Honduras, Side notes, War on drugs Leave a comment
The chilling effect
It started with a rumor posted on popular anti-Chávez site NoticieroDigital.com that several government ministers had been murdered. Now there is talk in Venezuela of “regulating the internet,” whatever that might mean. I’ll believe it when I see it (and when I do see it, I’m going into the web proxy business). Frankly, the rumors [...]
Also posted in Politics, Venezuela Tagged Chávez, freedom of expression, Human Rights, Venezuela 1 Comment
Glass houses
Incensed at the recent State Department report wherein the U.S. wags its finger at the rest of the world for not respecting human rights, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has gone ahead and stated the obvious: In the continent’s latest assertion of independence from its overbearing northern neighbour – Ecuador has already closed down a US [...]
Crackdown