Around the Hemisphere

"Ahhh...te bañaste..."

• Is it possible to be in the CIA and FBI at the same time? According to Venezuelan Minister of the Interior, Tarek Al Aissami, it is. The Excrement elaborates. Just goes to show you, never trust anyone named Tarek (q)…?
  

• Chavez the Economist: The foundations of capitalism are being shaken and it’s the fault of American imperialism, neocolonialism, and Lauren sleeping with Audrina’s boyfriend.
  

• In Nicaragua, Ortega seems to be pushing socialist reform forward slowly but surely. It appears he wants to be able to negotiate the price of public land for private use at a rate different than that of the free market. Specifically, he proposed to : “negociar los terrenos a precio catastral y no a precio del libre mercado”. I’m unclear what exactly “precio catastral” means in English (if someone who knows the nuances of financial Spanish better than me, I would welcome any input), but it has something to do with the value of a piece of land before speculators drive up the price. What I can glean from this is the following: Ortega has plans to undertake massive public works projects in the future, most likely with Venezuelan and possibly Iranian funds. In order to move these projects forward, the government will need to acquire large tracts of private property through some sort of eminent domain purchase. Instead of paying market rate for the confiscated land, Ortega would like at least a 20% discount on what the ‘speculated value’ is. Well, at least Ortega is actually offering to pay something for the land, unlike Chavez who just seized large fincas in Venezuela for “Bolivarian Revolution” and allowed squatters to come in and destroy the land…

• Does the American lifestyle promote obesity? Compelling evidence that merely living near the border will make you fat.
  

• National museum dedicated to “o jogo bonito” now open in São Paulo.
  

• Alfonso Portillo, ex-Guatemalan president, extradited back home from Mexico to face corruption charges.
  

• Talks on a Free Trade Agreement re-open between the European Union and Colombia/Peru. Considering the previous iteration of this deal was with all four CAN (Comunidad Andina de Naciones) members, it looks like Bolivia and Ecuador aren’t feeling the free-ness.