· July, 2006

Stories about Latin America from July, 2006

Cuba: Fidel's birthday concert

  21 July 2006

Pan-African News Wire reproduces an article from Cuban news daily Granma, announcing plans for a concert to celebrate Fidel Castro's 80th birthday celebrations on August 11-12 in Havana. The concert will feature several “top protest and ballad singers of Latin America” as well as South African star Miriam Makeba.

Mexico: Election Update

  21 July 2006

Various election updates from the usual suspects. Mark in Mexico is shocked that only half a percent of Mexicans living in the United States voted by absentee ballots. Ceci Connolly says López Obrador might have a few surprises in store. And Ana Maria Salazar has her usual rundown of the...

Brazil: Music: Bonde do Role

  21 July 2006

Atari has a change of heart about the “funk light” band, Bonde do Role and their “party music that’s reasonably fun to dance to.”

Blogs are Improving Citizen Concerns

  21 July 2006

You’re riding on the highway at maximum speed (120 K/H), talking with a friend, calm. Suddenly a public bus passes you so fast that curiosity gets ahold of you: how fast is this bus is going? And the driver decides to follow the bus. Carlos Verdugo (ES) posts the experience:...

Cuba: How many Cubans does it take to…?

  20 July 2006

Pac MacLaurin posts a photo of three Cuban store clerks and comments on the country's labour inefficiencies: “A friend of mine once told me that when he was working in Havana as a press photographer there were two people in the elevator of his hotel at all times. One person...

Venezuela: Metro Line Number Four

  20 July 2006

Caracas’ number four metro line is now in service. Oil Wars is a fan of the paint job. Huguito, who posted a couple dozen photos of the new line to his Flickr account, is happy that the stations are well marked (ES).

Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador: Indian Interest

  20 July 2006

Massimiliano Cali is surprised to read that, shortly after the nationalization of the natural gas sector, “the Bolivian government is set to approve a US$ 2.3bn bid by two Indian companies to extract of one of the world's largest untapped iron ore deposits.” Meanwhile, Boz notes that India also began...

Mexico: The Neverending Election

  20 July 2006

Professor Matthew Shugart posts an excerpt of his interview with Mexico Watch on the Mexican elections. Professor Michelle Dion is skeptical of a “statistical analysis of the 2000 election votes in Mexico.” Mark in Mexico says that things aren't looking good for Lopez Obrador in the case of a recount....

Argentina: Blog and Book Presentation

  20 July 2006

Leandro Zanoni, journalist, author, and blogger thanks the attendees who came to the presentation (ES) of his newest book, “Vivir en los Medios: Maradona off the record.”

The Week that Was – Bolivian Blogs

  19 July 2006

Este artículo también está disponible en español en el sitio Blogs de Bolivia Commemorations and anniversaries were on the minds of a handful of Bolivian blogger this week. Twenty-six years ago on July 17th, politician and writer Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz (ES) was kidnapped and murdered by the dictatorship government...

Colombia: Cyber-war

  19 July 2006

Colombian blogger Bluelephant says (ES) that a group of Muslim cyber-criminals called “The Islamic Brigade” is carrying out selective attacks on weblogs with a pro-Israel political line: “They erase them and publish personal information about the authors. Among those affected are various friends from simply Bloom (e.g. http://kozure.blogspot.com, http://herut.blogspot.com, http://heruth.blogspot.com....

Guatemala: Returning Home Via the Web

  19 July 2006

Alfa notes that many Guatemalans living abroad use the internet (ES) to seek information about family members, recipes of favorite dishes, and photographs of their hometown. The post includes several websites catered to Guatemalans living abroad.

Mexico: AMLO vs. Al Gore

  19 July 2006

Like many others, Wave Making compares this year's election in Mexico with the contested 2000 election in the United States. (Also available in Spanish) Ana Maria Salazar has another thorough summary of the day's news in Mexico.

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.