Stories from 15 January 2009
Bolivia: Convincing Others to Vote “No” on New Constitution
Bolivians will head to the polls on January 25 to decide whether or not to approve the draft of the new Constitution. With ten days go, early polling indicates that the "Yes" side will emerge victorious, partly because it has the full weight of the national government. However, the opposition, led by the governors of 4 states, as well as some other unlikely opponents, are doing everything they can to convince others to vote "No."
Peru: Changing Indigenous Last Names to Avoid Discrimination
In Peru, some citizens see the necessity to change their last names, especially those that are typically indigenous, such as from “Quispe” to “Quimper,” as a way to avoid discrimination [es]. Eland Vera compares this to the practice by some movie stars in the United States who have done the...
Guatemala: More Cell Phones Because of Deregulation
Luis Figueroa of Carpe Diem [es] writes that more Guatemalans, especially the poor, have cell phones now because “the deregulation and privatization of the telecommunciations industry democratized telelphone services.”
Japan: Making a comic strip out of your daily life
Blogger pontadon regularly updates her blog [ja] with funny comic strips about her daily life.
Chile: Wine from the Itata Valley
Contenidos Locales [es] introduces us to Susana Navarrete, who writes, “There is nothing like Chilean wine,”and adds information about the Itata Valley in the Bío Bío region of Chile where the wine is produced.
El Salvador: Metrobus Proposal by ARENA Mayoral Candidate
Rafael Monge is very intrigued by the Metrobus program proposed by ARENA mayoral candidate Norman Quijano in San Salvador [es], which would help alleviate traffic issues in the capital.
Dominican Republic: Far Behind Other Latin American Countries
Even though the Dominican government is implementing 536 informational technology training centers across the country for those citizens who have little knowledge of computers, Joan Guerrero writes that the country is still far behind other Latin American countries according to a recent study [es].
Israel: Arab parties banned from participating in elections
Elections will be held in Israel on 10 February 2009, and the Central Elections Committee has voted to ban two Palestinian (Arab) political parties from participating. In this post we hear the reaction from bloggers within Israel and outside.