Stories about Latin America from March, 2006
Bolovia: Airport Protest Photographs
Indymedia Bolivia has lots of interesting photographs and comments (ES) from Cochabamba's Jorge Wilstermann airport, where airline employees are protesting.
Peru: Presidential Election
Taking a break from the usual tech focus, Patrice introduces his readers to Sunday's elections in Peru, noting that they will probably lead to a second round runoff. Peru Election 2006 links to a three page essay (pdf) by Peter DeShazo entitled, “The Lure of Populism.”
Bolivia, Chile: Who Invented the Potato?
Maria Passo has a long list of what she believes are Peruvian cultural inventions that have been “stolen” by Chile. One commenter, Danica says jokingly, “chile sucks. I'm bitter. gimme my ocean back!”
Venezuela: Op-Ed Translations
Katy of Caracas Chronicles has translated an opinion piece, originally published in Tal Cual by Marino González, a professor at Simón Bolívar University. Venepoetics translates an op-ed, also from Tal Cual, by Oswaldo Barreto.
Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Nicaragua, Mexico: Poll Numbers
Punctual as always, Boz has his Friday poll numbers from across Latin America.
Images from Argentina: Perito Moreno Glacier
“Glacier Perito Moreno with Mountain, Argentina” by Tyuzo. Argentina's Perito Moreno Glacier has been in the international news lately as it takes stage during the unfolding drama that is global warming. Ironically, Perito Moreno is one of only three Patagonian glaciers not retreating due to warming temperatures. In fact, its...
El Salvador: Dollars and Donuts
Rob Mercatante, usually based in Guatemala, just got back from a trip to El Salvador. Here are his reflections on dollarization and donuts.
Costa Rica: Global IT Ranking
Uri Ridelman notes that Costa Rica lost eight places in global IT ranking according to the World Economic Forum. Costa Rica was ranked below El Salvador and Panama, but above Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
Brazil: Brazil's First Man In Space
Made in Brazil explains why 43-year-old astronaut Marcos Pontes was on the front page of all Brazilian papers today.
Bolivia: “Battle at the Cochabamba Airport”
Eduardo Ávila is covering a developing story at Jorge Wilstermann airport in Cochabamba, where workers of the airline Lloyd Aereo Boliviano are demanding that the indebted airline be nationalized. Writing from Cochabamba, Jim Shultz describes LAB as “one more lab rat in that great IMF-induced economic experiment of privatizing all...
Argentina: Indie Online Radio
unaRadio is an online radio station based in Argentina which describes itself as “a free medium to distribute the work of independent artists in Spanish and other languages.” You can listen to it in any media player by clicking here.
DR: No to “sexual liberty”
Andrés Duque reports that language referring to “sexual liberty” will be removed from a current draft amendment to the Dominican Republic's Civil Code. One of the fears among critics of the phrase is that it could pave the way for same-sex marriage legislation. Duque quotes the the interim attorney general...
Caribbean, US: US-Caricom meeting
Larry Smith discusses the recent US-Caricom meeting in the Bahamas in the context of both recent US foreign policy and Condolezza Rice's career. He quotes a Bahamian diplomat, who says: “The policies of the US are not producing the results that it desires, and therefore how should friends of the...
The Week That Was – Bolivian Blogs
Terrorist bombings just don’t happen in Bolivia. That is why all sorts of speculation surfaced when two explosions ripped through two budget hotels in the capital city of La Paz. Two Bolivians died in the tragic crime and two individuals are now in custody. The Bolivian blogosphere started to perform...
Peru, Mexico, Venezuela: Election Influence
Jefferson Morley takes a look at how Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez is influencing elections in Mexico and Peru in his roundup of the Latin American press.
El Salvador: Hunger Strike in Chalatenango
Writing from Chalatenango, El Salvador, Jesse Stewart says that 26 people representing 100 communities have occupied a Cathedral there to protest, among other issues, the disappearance of Erlinda and Ernestina Cruz during “Operation Cleansing” of June 1982.
Mexico: 4th World Water Forum
World News A La Mexicana sums up the 4th World Water Forum, which took place last week in Mexico City.
Chile: Beto Stocker
Fernando Casale links to two albums by Chilean musician Beto Stocker, both of which are licensed with Creative Commons licenses.
U.S.A., Cuba, Venezuela: “Operation Partners of the Americas”
Western Hemisphere Policy Watch believes that “Operation Partners of the Americas” is meant to flex muscle at Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.
Brazil: UN's Convention on Biodiversity
Kat says on Cuaderno Latinoamericano that Curitiba was chosen as host city of UN's Convention on Biodiversity “because it is one of the most environmentally conscious cities in Brazil.”
March 24 in the Argentinean Blogosphere
Last friday, march 24, marked 30 years since the beginning of the last military dictatorship in Argentina. There were plenty of reasons to remember this date, which stated the beginning of a political period marked by violations of human rights, the murdering of political opposition to the dictatorship, the use...