Stories about Latin America from January, 2006
Caribbean: Does “pre-Columbian” also mean Chinese?
JT at the Caribbean Beat Blog writes about the “ancient-looking map” which turned up last month, suggesting that a Chinese admiral may have visited the Caribbean before Columbus.
Ecuador: Student Protests Grow Larger
After Morgan encountered the tear gas of riot police, Jonathan now says that schools were closed today in Quito after the size of student protests has increased.
The Race to Wire Brazil
The $100 laptop (previously covered here at Global Voices) isn’t the only contender out there designed to bring personal computers into the lives of a broader spectrum of Brazilian society, as a spin around Brazilian blogs will attest: O Velho introduces Microsoft’s recent launch into the Brazilian mass market. In...
Colombia: Rise of Paramilitary Political Influence
Adam Isacson runs through last week and explains the political gains made by paramilitarists in Colombia.
Costa Rica: Revolutionary Calendar
Batichangó.com has designed a 2006 calendar which is free to download and “100% revolutionary.”
Argentina: Discriminatory Headlines at El Clarín
Toutatis claims that a recent headline at the major daily, Clarín plays on Argentine stereotypes towards rugby players. Not an isolated incident, Toutatis hopes that protests throughout the blogosphere will hold national and local papers responsible for their sloppy journalism and misleading headlines.
Trinidad & Tobago: Trinidadianness
J9 takes a break from some Carnival-related work to think about what makes Trinidadians Trinidadian, while Caribbean Free Radio‘s 41st podcast investigates the truth of the song lyric “Trinidad and Brazil we have the same vibration” by talking to a friend in Salvador da Bahia. Meanwhile, Elspeth Duncan continues her...
The Week That Was – Bolivian Blogs
Este artículo también está disponible en español en Blogs de Bolivia The unique festivities surrounding the inauguration of Bolivia’s new President attracted the interest of many bloggers. Starting on Saturday, January 21, a ritual at the archaeological site of Tiwanaku attracted thousands of Bolivians, curious foreigners and the interest of...
Ecuador: “The Smell of Tear Gas in the Evening…”
Morgan describes what it is like to be caught in a cloud of tear gas after riot police retaliated against protesters who hijacked two buses in anger over a proposed hike in bus fare from 25 to 35 cents. (Ecuador uses the U.S. dollar)
Andean Countries: Digital Andean Library
Otto Boye y Arturo Durán introduce (ES) the Digital Andean Library (ES), which makes available to internet users various studies, books, and documents from the Andean countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
Venezuela: Impressions of Maracaibo
Adam Isacson gives a detailed description of his weekend visit to Venezuela's second largest city, Maracaibo; where he says that McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and Citibank are more evident than pro-Chavez propaganda. Isacson also notes that the price of gas in the petroleum exporting port is around US 25 cents a...
Costa Rica: Sugar Cane Energy
The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) is looking into sugar cane waste as a source of renewable energy says Bob Glass.
Chile: Bachelet Digital
Bachelet Digital (ES) is a newly launched weblog by incoming president, Michelle Bachelet, which will serve as a measuring stick for her “Digital Agenda: 2006 – 2010″ program. The blog – with the tagline, “four years to digitalize Chile” – so far, concentrates on themes like internet access, open source...
No Money for Studying in Chile
This week, due to a database programming error, government-sponsored loans as well as educational grants for low-income students were given to the wealthiest of those who applied. “Mechonbarsa” (ES) writes that President Lagos promised that 40,000 students would be covered by the loans and scholarships, but now only 14,000 will...
Chile: Canadian Blogger Commits Suicide in Santiago
Roberto Arancibia meditates (ES) on the suicide of Canadian blogger, Chris McKinstry in his Santiago apartment. McKinstry was the founder of Mindpixel, a digital mind modeling project. His final blog post, entitled “Very Serious Thoughts on Suicide” quotes, among others, Charles Caleb Colton: “Suicide is a fundamental human right. This...
Peru: Festival of Blogs Summed Up
Juan Arellano sums up (ES) the conversation from last week's third Festival of Blogs, which had the designated topic, “Blogs and Journalism: Together or Apart?” The media's love/hate relationship with blogs seems a recurring theme among the excerpts.
WSF Starts Walking the Walk in Caracas
The WSF is the expression of a new way of doing politics. People—the youngest as well as the historical fighters still fighting— are increasingly aware of politics going beyond simple party or parliament representation. They want to get involved in changing their own reality and the world, everyday and not...
Mexico: Mexican Versus American Nationalism
Olas Feras notes that it is interesting to read the Mexican-American perspective on the difference between Mexican and American nationalism. The post is also available in Spanish.
USA: Life Thread
Los Hilos de la Vida or “Threads of Life” is a group blog by English as a Second Language students in Boonville, California. Every post tells the story of a pictured quilt in the words of each student.
Bolivia: Morales Takes Reins
Eduardo Avila, watching CNN en Español, was disappointed with Morales’ inaugural speech: “The historic and poignant moment was spoiled by the speech that had a stream of consciousness feel to it.” Jim Shultz says, “in a ceremony that hasn’t taken place since the conquest half a millenia ago, Bolivia´s first...
Argentina: Clarín Doesn't Give Attribution
Eduardo Acros wonders why the Argentine daily, El Clarín isn't giving recognition to Mariano Amartino (who blogs for El Clarín at Weblog Sobre Weblogs) for finding leaked screenshots of Internet Explorer 7 on a little-known tech website. Arcos notes that Argentina's other major daily, La Nacion, does in fact link...
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