Around the Hemisphere

• Good article on Brazil’s emergence as a global economic power.
  

• Caracas lands at the top of FP’s list of Murder Capitals of the World.
  

• More on the impact of the financial crisis in Latin America
  

• More FARC members land on the Treasury Department’s "Lista Clinton":
  

• The failure of Chavismo to provide even basic services to Venezuela’s sprawling slums, as regularly documented by Radar de los Barrios: “If you don’t pay for the tank…there won’t be water. After ten years of discussions about ‘socialism’, water has become ‘privatized’ in the most perverse way. As such, the only thing the “revolution” has efficiently distributed is thirst…”
  

• Perhaps in response to Venezuela’s recent shopping spree on Russian weaponry, a comparison of Brazil and Venezuela’s military defense capabilities. The author makes a case for strengthening Brazil’s air-land defense capacity (just in case Paraguay wants to invade I guess?)
  

• Speaking of Paraguay, the nation’s equivalent of Paris-Dakar is the Transchaco Rally. According to Wikipedia (I seem to hear those three words a lot lately…as if it makes Wikipedia any more reliable) rally racing is Paraguay’s second most popular sport after fútbol. Unfortunately, the race has been postponed this year due to a sustained drought in the region. In the meantime, dozens of owners of souped-up 1983 Subaru DLs sit waiting to kick some ass…
  

• Colonialism as the primary cause of the current crisis in Bolivia; exploring historical roots, looking at the crisis from a regional standpoint, with the obligatory “U.S. is behind it all” scenario thrown in for good measure.
  

• In the Antonini Maletagate case, one witness confirms that the money came from the Venezuelan government.