· May, 2006

Stories about Latin America from May, 2006

Mexico: Unfortunate Name

  23 May 2006

In a post titled “unfortunate name Eduardo Arcos says that the Policy Interpretation Network on Children’s Health and Environment (AKA “PINCHE Project”) will need to change it's name if it ever comes to Mexico. In a related item, León Felipe Sánchez has posted a photograph of an attention-grabbing, if not...

Chile, Mexico: Valentina Palma's Letter and Video

  23 May 2006

Eduardo Arcos has posted another letter from Chilean anthropologist Valentina Palma [ES] who was detained by Mexican police in the violence that erupted outside Mexico City earlier this month. Al Giordano has posted a video of Palma being led away by police armed with firearms (contradicting earlier official claims).

Argentina: “The Take”

  23 May 2006

Jon of Posthegemony reviews Avi Lewis's and Naomi Klein's film “The Take” about the Argentine movement to take over and recuperate abandoned factories and argues that “Lewis and KIein are blithely unconcerned by the fact that the justification for the factory takeovers is presented very much in line with neoliberal...

Chilean Bloggers Update

  23 May 2006

Normally, Chilean bloggers have common concerns in their blogs, but this week coordination just didn’t happen. So, this is a cocktail of news. Leo Prieto (ES) , posts about his interview with the Sub-Secretary of Government Telecommunications to promote broadband internet access in Chile. The initiative carried the support of...

Latin America: World Cup Weblogs

  23 May 2006

José Luis Orihuel has posted a compilation of all the Spanish-language weblogs devoted exclusively to this year's World Cup. “El Expatriado” says that Argentina is getting ready and Franco Giménez notes that the Argentinean company Neyra Hermanos has launched a World Cup blog.

Edible Blog Report

  23 May 2006

#1: A food blogger's reunion in Pistoia, Italy: Kishko and Lucullian Delights tell the story in their blogs. The photos are stunning. It makes me want to go there! Then we bought some chocolate and loitered around, looking at the main sights but as I am a lousy guide and...

Haiti: Among 10 Highest Producers of Mangos

  23 May 2006

“The place occupied by the Haitian mango is threatened on the international market given the demands of foreign consumers looking for a quality product,” says (Fr) Haitian newsfeed Alterpresse. “Ranked among the 10 highest worldwide producers of mangos, Haiti needs to do everything to better exploit this niche. A study...

Haiti: New Blog CollectifHaitideProvence

  23 May 2006

CollectifHaitideProvence [Haitian Collective of Provence, France] is the name of a new French and Creole language blog launched by a Haitian organization of the same name made up of nine organizations that seem to be based in either France, Haiti or both. Their first entry posted yesterday explains (Fr &...

Venezuela: Poet Elizabeth Schön

  22 May 2006

Guillermo Parra features Venezuelan poet Elizabeth Schön who he describes as “a writer who has often been overlooked in Venezuela, but whose work has maintained a consistent philosophical and technical rigor throughout her long career.”

Venezuela: Opposition Candidates Win Mayoral Races

  22 May 2006

Both Miguel Octavio and Daniel Duquenal write about yesterday's mayoral elections in Carrizal and Nirgua, which Duquenal describes as “insignificant in the grand scheme of things, though very telling in illustrating the contradictions within Venezuelan politics.”

Nicaragua: Protesting Sodomy Laws

  22 May 2006

Dani Santo Domingo, writing from Costa Rica, says that protesters around Latin America stood outside Nicaraguan embassies in Argentina, Chile, México, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay to speak out against the country's anti-sodomy laws. He has posted pictures from most of the protests.

Argentina: Ale Lago's First EP

  22 May 2006

Fernando Casale has posted the first album of Ale Lago, “published under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.5 AR license, so you’re free to copy, share and remix, as soon as you don’t do it for commerial purposes.”

Peru: Reactions to Presidential Debate

  22 May 2006

Maxwell A. Cameron has written an excellent and thorough summary of the presidential debate between Alan Garcia and Ollanta Humala, concluding: “Garcia won on substance, while Humala won on style. The overall effect is unlikely to be decisive.” Gran Combo Club has a review [ES] of the reaction by Peru's...

Brazil: On Last Week's Violence

  22 May 2006

Andrew Comings last week's gang violence and the nature of the Brazilian penal code. Luís Afonso Assumpção recommends an article from FrontPage Magazine.

Caribbean: Hurricane outlook

  22 May 2006

Over at the West Indies Cricket blog, Ryan Naraine cites the NOAA’s 2006 Atlantic hurricane season outlook, which says there is “an 80% chance of an above-normal hurricane season, a 15% chance of a near-normal season, and only a 5% chance of a below-normal season.”

The state of the argentinean blogosphere: Rosario, Santa Fe

  22 May 2006

Spanish Version of this article here. Rosario is one of the biggest cities in Argentina, with Cordoba and Buenos Aires. For this reason, it's surprising to find that the city doesn't have a directory of blogs, although there are some of them operating as concentrators of initiatives related to this...

Argentina: Free Wi-Fi for Buenos Aires

  19 May 2006

Chilean blogger Leo Prieto inspires applause in the comments for Buenos Aires Mayor Jorge Telerman's announcement [ES] that the city will provide its citizens with free wi-fi access. One commenter responds, “we Chileans are always copycats with bad ideas, why not copy these good ones?”

Blogging, The New Journalism Frontier

  19 May 2006

Este artículo también está disponible en español. The following article addresses five questions asked by university faculty member and digital journalism advocate, Zinnia Martínez, in her weblog, Periodismo Interactivo. The questions were the following: • How journalism has been incorporated into Venezuelan blogosphere? • What Venezuelan blogosphere add to Venezuelan...

About our Latin America coverage

Gabriela Mesones Rojo
Gabriela Mesones Rojo is the Latin America Spanish-language editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.

Fernanda Canofre
Fernanda Canofre is the Brazil editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.