Stories about Latin America from July, 2005
Cuba: Hamburgers
A contributor to A Hamburger Today visited Cuba to get the low down on the Socialist Island's hamburger scene. Though he encountered “the kindest people I've ever met,” the taste of the hamburgers left something to be desired: “The burger stayed in my mind for days. I kept tasting that...
Bolivia: Samuel Doria Medina
Barrio Flores profiles Bolivian presidential candidate and Burger King magnate, Samuel Doria Medina, who describes his political platform as hot sauce, not ketchup.
Colombia, Bolivia: Coca buybacks
Plan Colombia and Beyond writes about a new Colombian initiative to buy back illegal coca harvests in Colombia. The post notes that a similar program in Bolivia a few years ago did not do much.
Argentina: Medical Tourism and Who Benefits
Expat Argentina has a post in English on “medical tourism” in Argentina while Jorge Gobbi of Blog de Viajes says in Spanish that more studies need to be done to discover just who does benefit from increased tourism.
Argentina: Text Messaging
The metablog, weblog.com.ar, reports that 80% of cell phone users in Argentina use text messaging [es]. It often seems like the U.S. is about the only country that doesn't.
Argentina: First Impressions, Buenos Aires
Marisa, from Leander, Texas, writes a spanish and english version of her arrival to Buenos Aires and then this post of her first impressions of the city when she stumbled upon what “felt like … the middle of a COPS episode.
Venezuela: polling
Daniel of Venezuela News and Views discusses “The difficult art of Venezuelan polling”
Central America: CAFTA
Boz ponders CAFTA and free trade in general as the agreement enters a House vote this week.
Ecuador: Former president a wanted man
Jeannette Jalil writes from Chile that “The Supreme Court of Ecuador has issued an arrest warrant for the former president, Lucio Gutierrez.”
Flickr Pick from Dominican Republic
Roberto Muñoz of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic took this picture, “Tides” an hour from where he lives.
Bolivia: Evo's Chances
MABB gives yet another (and probably the definitive) speculation on Evo Morales’ chances of becoming Bolivia's next president.
Nicaragua: Coffee and Contras
Boli-Nica has two posts on a recent Miami Herald article about the nexus of organic coffee and politics in Nicaragua. His posts are full of links to other bloggers discussing the issue.
Bolivia: A Valuable Look Back at Bolivian History
Blog From Bolivia offers some excellent reflection on a piece written in 1952 entitled “Democracy in the Andes” by William Rosenberg. In a satirical response to recent comments on the Democracy Center's outsider funding, there is also an announcement that Blog From Bolivia is currently on vacation until August 1st.
Bolivia: Election Buzzword #1 – Gonismo
Eduardo of Barrio Flores writes that “Gonismo” – referring to the Neoliberal policies of ex-president, Gonzalo “Goni” Sanchez de Lozada, has become the Bolivian election buzzword.
Buenos Aires, City of Faded Elegance » Borges, Girondo, & Norah Lange
Jeff Barry has yet another quality reflection and summary of 20th century Argentine literature which he ties in with his own life.
Argentina: Foreign Debt Museum
Diego of Altered Argentina continues his Debt For Education Swaps series with a review of the Foreign Debt Museum at the University of Buenos Aires’ School of Economics. He's pretty sure this is the world's first museum devoted to debt.
Peru: Taxis in Lima, Peru
Live from Lima has little faith in the capabilities of taxi drivers in Peru's largest city.
Uruguay: Tannat Wine
Don Ball Carbajal discusses the unique flavor of Tannat wine from Uruguay.
Venezuela: Sumate
Daniel of Venezuela News and Views compares Chavez's persecution of opposition group SUMATE with Rome's ancient persecution of Carthage.
Venezuela: New Currency Law
Venezuelan Politics discusses a new law which places greater regulation on currency trading in Venezuela and offers some possible consequences.
Colombia: El Tiempo RSS feed
Boz says Colombia's biggest paper now has RSS feeds.