Stories about Latin America from February, 2006
Costa Rica: Political Ethics, New Tax Bill
Bob Glass says that the political party, PAC has clarified its ethics code. Professional blogger, gambler, and former Washington Secretary of State candidate, Jacqueline Passey is not happy with a new tax bill.
Paraguay: “No One in Paraguay Likes Football”
Bob is looking everywhere for a Paraguayan football-loving blogger, but so far has had no luck.
Venezuela, Bolivia: Latin American Conferences in US
Ben Dangl invites readers in Vermont to attend the “Winds of Change in the Americas” conference on Sunday, March 5th while Venezuelan, Miguel Octavio informs his readers of a talk by Professor Javier Corrales on “Chavez and the Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism,” which will take place in Boston tomorrow evening.
Peru: Reliabiligy of Peruvian Polling
Fabiola Bazo has a pdf file of the latest national poll just five weeks before Peruvians elect a new president. Un Lobo en Perú points out that “in the recent past, opinion polls have proven to be notoriously bad guides to electoral behaviour.”
Venezuela: 17th Anniversary of Caracazo
Oil Wars remembers the tragic massacre which took place 17 years ago today when “the government of Carlos Andres Perez sent the army into the streets to put down, with bullets, the huge popular protests against his stringent economic package which involved increasing fuel and transport prices.”
Venezuela: 90's Poetry and the Magic Middle
Venepoetics links to an anthology of Venezuelan poetry from the 90's. Iria Puyosa says she is little impressed by the top 100 blogs according to Technorati (ES) and is much more a fan of the “magic middle.” She offers readers her own top 25.
Bolivia: Support for Morales, but not Courts
Eduardo Ávila links to a survey which says that 79% of Bolivians approve of new president, Evo Morales so far. Meanwhile, Miguel Buitrago points to the large distrust of the Bolivian justice system, asking, “is this a crisis of the democratic sistem or is it a realignment?”
Uruguay, France: A Mix of Grapes and Cultures
SaltShaker weighs in with some hidden World War II history between Uruguay and France and how it contributed to Uruguayan Cognac.
Argentina, Chile: More Free Music
Fernando Casale has more free tracks for indie music lovers. Check out Calostro from Chile and Argentine, Sebastián Kramer.
Mexico: New Report Documenting Mexico's Dirty War
Michelle Dion links to resources in English on the soon-to-be released official report of abuses by the PRI regime in Mexico's Dirty War of the late 60's and 70's. RegioBlogs and Olganza have more information in Spanish.
Brazil: The Winners and Losers of Carnival
Sangroncito has three descriptive posts on Carnival in Salvador, noting that, “not everyone in Salvador loves Carnaval. For some middle and upper class Soteropolitanos (as citizens of Salvador are called), Carnaval is a nightmare of crowds, noise and crime and they flee the city.” Robert Basler writes of a screenwriter's...
What Salvadoran bloggers are saying – politics and nostalgia
El Salvador is in the midst of a very spirited campaign season leading to the election of mayors and National Assembly deputies on March 12. The campaigning has produced a great deal of commentary in the Salvadoran blogosphere in the past two weeks. Blogs in Spanish Ligia at El Salvador...
Bolivia: U.S. Revokes Politician's Visa
Boz, Eduardo Ávila, and Adam Isacson all disapprove of the United States revoking the visa of Bolivian peasant leader and Morales ally, Leonida Zurita.
Peru: A BlogsPeru Screensaver
BlogsPerú has compiled a new community screensaver (ES), which is available for download. As always, they are accepting new, relevant photos to be published in the next version.
Computer Crash: Food Overload
Was your umbilical cord attached to a computer when you were born? It may sound like a strange statement, but the truth is that some of us think that. Especially if you happen to be in the middle of the Ecuadorian Andes and there is no telephone or Internet for...
Mexico, El Salvador, Peru, Brazil: Poll Numbers
Boz has released his now infamous Friday poll numbers from around Latin America. Tim Muth breaks down the numbers in El Salvador which show the two main parties, FMLN and ARENA running neck to neck. Jon at PostHegemony gives more background context to the differences between the FMLN and ARENA.
Peru: Presidential Candidate on Same-Sex Unions
Peruvian leftist presidential candidate, Ollanta Humala explained at a recent press conference that he would accept homosexuals to serve on his cabinet says Andres Duque. Fabiola Bazo has more details from the press conference in a bilingual post that brings up a tense moment between Humala and a journalist who...
Diary of Negotiations: Argentina's New Experiment in Blogs and Politics
The following is a translation of Mariano Amartino's post originally written in Spanish on Clarín's Weblog Sobre Weblogs Diario de Gestión (Newspaper of Negotiation) is one of the more interesting experiments to have emerged as a way to merge blogging with politics. Basically, it is a website that offers a...
Bolivia: The “Sound Mobile”
Eduardo Ávila has posted a video of his friend, Miguel campaigning in Quechua via a giant speaker attached to the roof of his car in the outskirts of Cochabamba. Ávila has also posted a picture of what he calls the “Sound Mobile:” a minivan equipped with booming speakers to get...
Mexico, Brazil: Showing of Brazilian Documentary on Bloggers
Alfredo Sanchez (ES) and Eduardo Arcos (ES) both post about the free showing of a Brazilian documentary about bloggers and another about cinema clubs this Saturday in Mexico City. More information about both documentaries can be found at Cine Club Bravo, the group hosting the event.
Argentina: Are you from Buenos Aires?
Santiago, an Argentinean living in Brooklyn, New York offers his surefire test of whether or not you are from Buenos Aires.
About our Latin America coverage
Melissa Vida is the Latin America Spanish-language editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.
Fernanda Canofre is the Brazil editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.
