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: Odd
Argentine ranchers are suing fruit farmers over the use of "hail cannons," which shoot booming shock waves straight up into clouds. The farmers say the cannons prevent hail by breaking it up. The ranchers say the cannons are causing a drought. Most experts, meanwhile, doubt the cannons do anything at all.
Also posted in Argentina, Side notes Tagged Argentina, farmers, hail cannons, ranchers Leave a comment
Prepare for landing crashing
Popular Mechanics has published a list of the world’s 18 strangest airports, and to no one’s surprise, Honduras’ Toncontin International makes the list. Nestled among mountains and smack in the middle of Tegucigalpa, Toncontin has only one 7,000-foot runway, which is awfully stubby for 747s and 757s. Maybe “strange” isn’t quite the right word. How about [...]
Also posted in Honduras Tagged airports, Honduras, scary as hell, Toncontin, what were they thinking 1 Comment
Justice with a gun
Judges in Peru are apparently extremely hardcore. The Honorable Raúl Rosales Mora didn’t like that Carlos Saavedra, a photographer for Caretas magazine, was snapping photos of him for a scandalous article, so he made the article a little more scandalous by whipping out a handgun. “Don’t you know what you’re doing, pointing that gun at [...]
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 [...]
Find something else to cry into
Down near the bottom of the list of things you want during a recession is smaller beers with lower alcohol content. Unfortunately for Salvadoreans, that’s exactly what they’re getting, as domestic beer company Industrias La Constancia (ILC) reduces the size and punch of it’s beverages. They say it’s supposed to “lower costs.” The Morenita, for [...]
Oceans catorce
This sounds like it should be in pre-production. The alleged perps of the “Theft of the Century” in Argentina are on trial. The theft itself sounds… amazing: The “Theft of the Century” took place on January 13, 2006, in the Acasusso branch of Banco Río, when five criminals stole at least US$8 million in gold [...]
The littlest samba queen
That 7-year-old samba queen got her moment in the spotlight at Carnival this weekend. And she burst into tears. Too many photographers, it seems. It’s not clear whether she did the whole parade, but her father held her hand across the finish line. Some people still seem upset about the whole thing. I, for one, [...]
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, [...]
Who’s the best paid of them all?
Of the top 12 highest paid presidents in the region, who do you think is number one? OK, fine, Barack Obama, who makes about US$400k annually. What about number two? Colombian news magazine Portafolio says it’s Guatemalan President Álvaro Colom, who makes about US$220k annually presiding over a country of 12 million people. At the [...]
Also posted in Cuba, Guatemala, Politics, Venezuela Tagged Bolivia, Cuba, executive compensation, Guatemala, Venezuela Leave a comment
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