Just because it’s late, I’m tired, I’m still at work, and every so often you need to look at something beautiful, I give you, the most incredible bookstore in the world, the Librería El Ateneo Grand Splendid in Buenos Aires.
The consensus in Colombia seems to be that the parapolíticos – politicians with links to paramilitaries – 
A New York court 
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]
It’s the body count, stupid
The best reason to dislike Hugo Chávez is not that he’s a Marxist or a tyrant or anti-American or any other such silliness of the likes you find in the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal. The best reason to dislike Hugo Chávez is that after 11 years, it’s safe to say he’s failed as a president.
A recent illustration of this is a report from an NGO indicating that murders have almost tripled in Venezuela since Chávez took office in 1998. That year, there were 4,550 murders; in 2009, there were 16,047, or about 53 for every 100,000 people, putting Venezuela in the top three most murder-prone countries in the world.
Crime is a complicated issue, and people are right to point out that crime and police corruption were a problem before Chávez came to power. But he had 11 years, the most amazing pile of cash in the history of the country, and total control of the legislature. A skilled leader and manager with those kinds of resources could have at least kept a lid on things.
Instead, according to the same report, the Chávez government has launched a total of 15 half-cocked anti-crime initiatives, none of which has accomplished anything. As a gruesome illustration of their failure, in only the last 15 days, 230 people were murdered in Caracas.
Other examples of Chávez’ mismanagement of the country and the enormous oil bonanza he was handed last decade abound: power outages, surging inflation, capital flight, poor access to water, a brain-drain, etc. All of these are debatable to some extent.
But you can’t argue away bodies, and they’re really piling up.