The judges deciding whether to extradite ex-Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo to the U.S. said they received death threats. An anonymous caller to the court threatened to kill the three judges’ families if they did not suspend proceedings. Though the judges later approved Portillo’s extradition to face money laundering charges in the U.S., he has to face trial in Guatemala first on other charges. [link]
These ones are on sale.
Two reports were issued recently on Latin American arms purchases. Venezuela has recently given the impression of being particularly spendy on new weapons, perhaps because ex-military man Chávez likes to talk about guns and things. According to the Washington Office on Latin America, however, everyone’s going shopping. Brazil is the region’s biggest buyer of arms, followed by Chile.
The thing that gets me is that in addition to the usual jet fighters and whatnot, everyone is buying tanks. From the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s report:
A number of states in South America are investing in tanks and armoured vehicles. In September 2009 Venezuela received $2.2 billion in credit from Russia, which will be used to purchase an unknown quantity and type of air defence systems, artillery and armoured vehicles, as well as 92 T72M1M tanks. In 2009 Brazil began to take delivery of 220 second hand Leopard1A5 tanks from Germany, while Chile completed the acquisition of 140 secondhand Leopard2A4 tanks, also from Germany. In late 2009 Peru announced that it was planning to sign a deal for 80 MBT2000 tanks from China.
I guess it’s no crazier than Chile spending US$2.71 billion in 18 F-16s, or Brazil picking up a French nuclear submarine, but at least those weapons have some sort of broader range, added value, use in “diplomatic” displays of force, what-have-you. But tanks?
They’re pretty much only good for parades. Or arms buildups.
(Image from Wikimedia Commons)
In its report as an observer of the Colombian legislative elections, the OAS is complaining that lots of vote-buying went on. Apparently the going rate for a vote is $10 and a sandwich. The report also complains that the election material was hard to understand and the system of telephonic results reporting was chaotic. However, on the plus side, there was relative calm, and political violence was down “100%.” [link]
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 that started the uproar deserve to be investigated. Veiled threats of violence against government officials (and actually, threats of violence against anyone) are not protected speech anywhere in the world. But the proper response in that case is to send some detectives to knock on doors. Instead, Chávez goes on a general televised rant against the media:
Around 3:45 he states, in reference to an analyst who spoke to television channel Globovisión:
Whoever makes a statement must present proof for what they’re saying, both the one who says it, and the one who lets it be said and spread. They know they’re committing a crime that is punished with prison anywhere in the world.
When journalists and editors are required to bear the burden of proof on pain of imprisonment, it silences speech. This is the reasoning behind New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. Everyone has different libel laws and different standards for acceptable speech, but I would never practice journalism or publish information in a country where I could go to jail for making a mistake.
Neither would anyone else, and that’s just the point. Whether or not anyone ever actually goes to jail is irrelevant. Speech is silenced. The chilling effect is in, and not coincidentally, on another Venezuelan news site – Noticias24.com – comments have been turned off. Just in case.
The consensus in Colombia seems to be that the parapolíticos – politicians with links to paramilitaries – won big in Sunday’s legislative elections. Specifically, the National Integration Party (PIN) won eight of the country’s 107 Senate seats, making it the fourth largest party in the Senate.
The distressing thing is that the candidates with ties to paramilitaries were well known and well identified by the media. Even so, the shady candidates identified in La Silla Vacia‘s excellent reporting got 1.5 million votes, and 60% of them won. Writes La Silla Vacia:
As it is impossible for anyone to buy a million votes, PIN’s strength reflects the fact that an emerging power in Colombia linked partly to drug trafficking has been able to consolidate a place for itself in Colombian society.
That is, people voted for dirty politicians not because they were forced, but because they wanted to.
Chile inaugurated billionaire Sebastian Piñera as its new president on Thursday. The Council on Hemispheric Affairs has produced a brief document giving an excellent overview of the history of U.S.-Chile relations and the historical and political context in which Piñera takes office. [link]
Bolivan President Evo Morales is in Chile this week for Sebastian Piñera’s swearing in as that country’s new president. The two are facing off this afternoon on the football pitch. From EFE:
The game, which was organized by the Chilean Ex-Professional Football Players Union, will include the participation of former renowned Chilean players, including Marcelo Salas, Carlos Caszely, Elías Figueroa, Rubén Martínez, Mario Soto, Pedro González, and Leonel Herrera, among others.
Piñera better bring his A-game: Morales lives and trains in La Paz, 3,640 meters above sea level. On the other hand, Piñera owns part of a professional football team, so maybe he’ll bring some ringers.
Here’s hoping for a match between Chávez and Uribe.
Two Costa Rican congressmen almost came to blows yesterday on the floor of the legislature over a “falta de respeto.” As is typical of a Costa Rican sissy-fight, everyone is pretty polite about the whole thing, at least up until the end. You will note that Oscar López, the diputado who steps, is blind. Often during political rallies, he threatens to beat the opposition with his cane. No one figured he might mean it literally.
La Nación has all the gritty details.
La Silla Vacia has published a great interactive map showing where the sketchy politicians will be running for office during Colombia’s legislative elections this month. Colombia has had a tough time putting together a Congress free of links to paramilitaries, drug trafficking, and left-wing guerrilla groups. Dozens of former lawmakers are under suspicion or actually in jail from the parapolíticas scandal, but as the interactive map indicates, family members or close allies are standing in for them in many elections.
Honduran ex-President Mel Zelaya has found himself a job with Venezuela’s PetroCaribe project as “Political Council.” PetroCaribe gives Venezuelan oil to member states at preferential rates, one would assume in exchange for political favors. [link]
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]
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