Around the Hemisphere...and in Orbit

6 days left until the big day. After two years of constant media coverage and intense scrutiny of the candidates, the campaign has basically eaten up 25% of Bush's eight years. Not necessarily a bad thing, I suppose. Meanwhile, U.S.-Latin American relations are at a crossroads. Is enough attention being paid to goings-on here in our own backyard? Will the foreign policy focus shift away from Central Asia/the Middle East anytime soon? In any case, the show must go on:

• Maradona is the new coach of Argentina’s national team. The world is stunned, and not everyone in Argentina is happy about it.
  

• Rafael Correa with a touch of schadenfreude in regards to those who lost their shirts in the financial crisis

• The Ibero-American summit is being held in El Salvador. Chavez said he was skipping it, but apparently will go after all. No matter, the important thing is that Shakira will be there...
  

• Venezuela launches the Simon Bolivar satellite from southeastern China, which will be used for TeleSUR, other Venezuelan state-run media outlets as well as China’s CCTV. Official government line says this puts Venezuela “at the vanguard of telecommunications within Latin America.”
  

• Another hostage escapes in Colombia, this time after 8 years in activity. Meanwhile, the Post laments a long-fought and largely forgotten war.
  

• The UN steps up again to challenge the U.S. embargo on Cuba. Again, if Obama is President, will he lift it as he advocated in 2004? Or will he maintain it as "an important inducement for change" like he said in 2007?
  

• Daniel at VZ News and views curses the Venezuelan state takeover of CANTV (telecom company) as he laments his slow internet service. It could be worse dude; you could be forced to get Comcast like I am…

Photo: Mindefensa.gov.ve

Cracks in the Dam

Much of the world seemingly believes that Hugo Chavez is a dictator. While the technical definition of that word can be debated, his actions as of late certainly do nothing to prove otherwise. The most recent incident features Chavez more or less vowing to throw opposition leader Manuel Rosales in jail. Rosales ran for President against Chavez in the most recent elections in Venezuela, and although he lost, the race was closer than Chavez would have liked it. Chavez’s party is in danger of losing some key positions around the country, particularly in Zulia state in western Venezuela, the main stronghold of an otherwise weak and fragmented opposition. As Governor of Zulia, Rosales was a constant thorn in Hugo’s side. In the upcoming gubernatorial and mayoral elections, Rosales is running for mayor of Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second largest city. Chavez announced he would be drawing up military plans in case Rosales wins the election.

Empty threats from Chavez are nothing new, but now it seems he has really taken off the gloves in regards to Rosales, stating, "I am determined to put Manuel Rosales behind bars. A swine like that has to be in prison.” He has accused Rosales of working with the CIA and plotting to overthrow and assassinate him (sound familiar?...it’s so oft repeated now it just seems humorous more than anything else).

On Monday, Rosales decided to hit back, announcing he would take Chavez to court for a litany of serious crimes, foremost being narco-trafficking, corruption, and terrorism. Wow. Does that cover all of it? What about treason, shoplifting, bootlegging moonshine, sodomy….? He’s no pushover apparently: ''If he [Chavez] doesn’t respect me and tries to sweep the floor with me, I won’t take it. Not from him or anyone else."

While all this may sound like lame political bitch-slapping back and forth, it probably reflects the growing uneasiness in the country that comes with plummeting oil prices. Much like McCain has been torpedoed by the financial crisis in the U.S., $60 barrels of oil spell political trouble for Chavez. Venezuela had massive problems when oil was at $140/barrel, including widespread food shortages, terrible inflation, increased kidnappings and street violence… Although a large percentage of the country lives in poverty, they probably understand the fundamental problem of low oil prices in a petrostate and what that means for their immediate future. That said, the November 23 elections will probably reflect that reality, and Chavez lashing out means he sees the writing on the wall.

Around the Hemisphere

• Mexico and Cuba reach immigration deal to “avoid Mexican territory being utilized by the mafia as a route for trafficking Cubans.” In other words, no more easy defections.
  

• Massive academic effort results in a 1200 page encyclopedia of the Spanish language. “…from the beginnings of the language in the 16th century to more modern manifestations of teenage slang on the Internet…to the ‘Spanglish’ phenomenon…” Sounds interesting…and no doubt expensive!
  

• In Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega targets investigative journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, son of Violet Chamorro, who defeated Ortega in elections in 1990. Some say it’s a move towards repression of dissident voices and a slow shift to a totalitarian regime. The Post wonders why the U.S. government hasn’t paid closer attention…
  

• Argentina’s government seizes private pension funds to help pay off debt. It always sounds so ominous when another country’s government intercedes in the free market, doesn’t it?
  

• Brazil’s Central Bank to the rescue again, this time to help exporters.
  

• The Excrement has an analysis of how falling oil prices may impact the Venezuelan economy. I was actually wondering about this myself. How does a megalomaniac maintain his profligate spending ways when oil drops from $140 to $70/barrel in a matter of months?
  

• Modern-day slavery in Brazil? Low, low wage workers find themselves trapped by financial hardship.

Chavez the Celebrity Magnet

A few years ago, Hugo Chavez started to receive visits from a small group of celebrities. I don’t remember the exact order in which they all visited, but off the top of my head I believe the group included Danny Glover, Kevin Spacey, Harry Belafonte, and Naomi Campbell. All three of the actors on the list are known for their ultra-liberal political stances, not to mention keen detest for the Bush administration. In a 2006 visit to Venezuela, Belafonte labeled Bush as “the greatest terrorist in the world.” These words garnered him plenty of criticism, and even had the fairly liberal John Edwards declining Belafonte’s political endorsement for President.

As for Campbell, I’m not sure what her political leanings are, or even if she has any at all. In her case, rumors swirled that she was actually dating Chavez, maybe seeing herself as a proletariat Carla Bruni or something like that. For Glover, it turns out his “friendship” with Chavez would be lucrative; he received around $20 million from the deep-pocketed one to fund a biopic movie about Haitian revolutionary Touissant Loverture. None of these celebrity jaunts with Hugo particularly bothered me at the time. Sure, I liked the Lethal Weapon movies and who doesn’t love “The Banana Boat” song?

Wacky, lefty politics from people too rich to care about what anyone thinks... But, this whole deal with Chavez and Sean Penn is more bothersome to me. First of all, I like Penn as an actor quite a bit. Not to conflate one’s onscreen achievements or personality with real-life actions, but he has a certain presence, a certain legitimacy that makes him stand out as an actor. Secondly, I thought what he did during Katrina was ballsy as hell. He caught a lot of flak for renting a boat and trying to pull people out of flooded areas, but at the time it was a hell of a lot more than what FEMA was doing.

So, the fact that he has allowed Chavez to parade him around the country not once but twice is troubling to me. Last year on Letterman, Penn seemed to be drinking the Kool-Aid quite heavily. What he says about Chavez’s efforts in Venezuela is nothing less than an old MVR press release. The most egregious, erroneous tidbit he offers up is that RCTV, the TV station shut down by Chavez due to its political leanings, had been “encouraging assassination every day since 1998.” Incredibly, stupidly wrong on all accounts.

Penn was back in Venezuela this weekend, allowing himself to be driven around, out on display for all to see. Chavez's pet, prize, Oscar-winning gringo actor, together to celebrate the glory of the revolution and thumb their noses back north at the horrible empire. I haven't heard if Penn is backing Obama for President, but if he is, I wonder what his justification for visiting Chavez will be once Obama takes office? There will be no more Bush to use as an excuse, as if having a crappy president were really an excuse to visit with quasi-dictators who have eschewed all democratic ideals, destroyed political institutions and squandered oil revenues... (uh oh, this is starting to sound like a rant).

So, it saddens me to see actors who I had genuine respect for behave so irresponsibly. I suppose Jane Fonda was criticized for similar antics during Vietnam, but she was actually protesting a war. What is Penn trying to prove? Does he really believe that Chavez has helped the poor in Venezuela? Has he done the research, looked at the numbers to see that on aggregate, the poor are exponentially worse off than they were 10 years ago? If you happen to run into him, please ask him for me...

Photo: Cooperativa.cl

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.

Latin American Reaction to U.S. Financial Crisis

The fact that our financial woes in this country will impact the entire globe is undeniable, but many Latin American nations may be feeling particularly nervous. The U.S. is the largest trading partner for the vast majority of these countries, so already shaky economies may be even more vulnerable if recession hits hard here.

A brief roundup of reactions from the region:

Nicaragua

Mexico

Colombia

Venezuela

Brazil

Argentina

Chile

The Chavez contingent decides to say "I told you so."

Good macro-level take from the Washington Post.

Grandpa's Startin' to Tell Stories Again...

When Chávez takes his anti-imperialist show on the road, it becomes increasingly clear that his global “strategic partners” are less interested in his ideology than in all the money he can potentially throw their way.

Hugo’s most recent road trip took him to Cuba, China, Russia, France and Portugal, as he looked to secure bigger and better energy and military partnerships. Not content to just sign economic deals, it appeared Chávez was looking for some ideological commiseration as well from some of the United States’ more notorious global acquaintances. Unfortunately for him, there was little to find.

In China, Chávez heaped praise upon the Chinese government while taking his usual shots at the U.S.:

“China is demonstrating to the world that they don’t need to hurt anyone in order to become a major power. They are soldiers of peace.”

Chávez also pandered to the communist sensibilities of the Chinese, saying how blessed he was to be in the presence of “Mao’s heirs” and “in the land of Mao”. He then went on to declare that he himself was a Maoist (yo soy maoista). Not to split hairs, but at this point in their history, it seems China takes more pride in emphasizing the current success of their capitalist economy than their revolutionary past. And while I’m no expert, I’m not sure how many Chinese today readily identify themselves as Maoists. This is just another prime example of Chávez’s loquacious bullshit that is meant to charm a foreign audience, but more often than not falls on deaf ears. A few years back, on a visit to the Middle East, Chávez proclaimed his strong admiration for Nasser in Egypt, and also produced this gem:

“My heart is with the millions of Arab people. Sometimes I feel that I am Arab myself…. I have crossed deserts, ridden camels, and sung with the Bedouins. I learned during these experiences to love and respect the Arabs, who have a place in my heart.”

While the image of Chávez riding a camel and singing with Bedouins makes me smirk a bit, I highly doubt he knows who the hell Nasser even was or what Bedouins are. Unlike some of the Arab nations, who perhaps felt they had found a Latino soulmate after Chavez denounced Israel and recalled the Venezuelan ambassador, it seems the Chinese will not bite and play into Huguito’s little war of words. After Chávez gave a typical anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist rant in Beijing, the official response from the government was, “China and Venezuela maintain normal state-to-state relations. They are not based on ideology, nor are they directed against any third party and will not affect other countries.” They also made sure to emphasize that there would be no Chinese-Venezuelan military cooperation. Even Putin made sure to release a statement to reassure that his meeting with Chávez did not mean he had “ideological differences with U.S.”

So, it seems that everyone will tolerate a certain level of grandstanding and bellicose posturing as long as they get a cut of the oil bonanza. If Chávez spent this much effort dedicated to solving domestic issues, perhaps he wouldn’t need to spend 25% of his time traveling abroad to get away from it all.
(Photo from AP)

Around the Hemisphere

• Ecuador ratifies a new constitution with a 64% “Yes” vote. Some of the immediate impacts: 1)tightens presidential control over banking, energy and telecom industries 2)Correa now has direct control over central bank, can set interest rates 3)allows for a second, four-year presidential term. Given Correa’s wild popularity in Ecuador (around a 70% approval rating), winning re-election seems a foregone conclusion. Now let’s see if he starts to consolidate power even more, as Chavez did when he first pushed through his constitutional rewrites in 1999.
  

• The cartel violence rages on in Mexico as sixteen bodies are found in Tijuana, murdered execution-style.
  

• With the uptick in hurricane action these last few years or so, stories of devastation seem to blend into one another. Katrina, Ike, Rita, etc… What we rarely see, however, is how all these hurricanes hit other, much poorer nations than our own. Ike did some massive damage in Cuba, as evidenced in these photographs.
  

• U.S. financial crisis impacts markets in Buenos Aires and São Paulo
  

• Does Obama’s “Change” message remind Venezuelan-American voters a little too much of Chavez?
  

• A statue dedicated to recently deceased FARC leader Manuel (Tirofijo) Marulanda Vélez was erected in Caracas. Gustavo Coronel characterizes it as “a new affront to the decent and democratic people of America”.
  

• Statistics like this always make me sad. In August alone, the Amazon lost another 756 square kilometers of acreage, an area roughly half the size of the city of São Paulo.
  

Magnicide?

Not a real word, I know. At least not in English...

magnicidio

m. Asesinato de una persona muy importante por su cargo o poder:
"magnicidio de un presidente."

In Spanish, however, it sounds cool (at least to me). It sounds important. It sounds regal. It sounds serious. Like deicide, or regicide. Killing someone important or kingly or god-like. Perhaps it is the nature of the language to dramatize certain acts with words of that magnitude. Hell, maybe we used "magnicide" in the English language at some point to describe assassination, but I certainly found no evidence (at least in a 2 minute Google search!) that anyone uses it today.

There is one person that likes to use it...a lot. His name is Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias and he is the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. And he thinks people are constantly trying to commit magnicide on him.

Yesterday was the latest in a long list of government accusations/announcements of having foiled assassination attempts. Police in Zulia state confiscated 4 Carl-Gustav 84mm anti-tank grenade launchers that were ostensibly going to blow up Huguito's plane/car/tank/dirigible...

Maybe it was a legit plot uncovered. Maybe it wasn't. In any case, here is a sampling of instances where Chavez has accused just the United States of trying to kill him:

• June 4, 2005 - Then vice-president Jose Vicente Rangel claims that the Bush administration wants Chavez dead and lays blame for his "eventual" assassination saying that Bush will ultimately probably succeed. What an optimist, eh?
  

• October 17, 2003 - Chavez cancels plans to visit the UN, claims he has personally uncovered an assassination attempt against him in New York
  

• February 23, 2005 - Chavez denounces CIA plans to kill him on his TV program Alo Presidente
  

• Uses supposed CIA assassination plot as part of excuse to close down RCTV in early 2007
  

• September 2006 - puts forth vague conspiracy that Chavez's speech at the UN calling Bush the devil would spur some Israeli-planned assassination that Bush has already signed off on
  

• September 13, 2008 - Chavez expels US Ambassador Patrick Duddy, claims he is behind plan to overthrow and murder him.

It is doubtful anyone really takes him seriously anymore, even among the hardcore chavistas. But who knows, maybe someday we will hear stories about plans to kill Chavez just like the stories about the CIA trying to give Castro exploding cigars or sending him hookers with syphilis...

Around the Hemisphere

• Jamestown article reassessing Islamic terrorism in Latin America: I won't say this article offers up recycled, rehashed theories about...oh hell, I guess I just did

• Venezuela’s Support For Palestine: A Model For Third World Diplomacy - Probably not too many people out there who would consider Chavez's diplomatic skills as a model for anything...

• “USAID, arma clave de la guerra sucia contra América Latina” ;
One opinion that finds American aid offers to Cuba following Hurricanes Ike and Gustav particularly nefarious…

• Daniel at VZ News and Views provides some compelling visual evidence that Chavez’s vaunted social programs have done little to alleviate poverty in Venezuela. I couldn’t imagine a worse fate than to fall into the Guaire river (and I use the term “river” very loosely here. It makes the Ganges look like an unspoiled Artesian spring).

• While many are suspicious of USAID’s efforts in Latin America, there are others who are bending over backwards to justify Chavez’s expulsion of the director of Human Rights Watch Venezuela last week. While the underlying premise is the same (both are imperialist tools aimed at forcing American policy down the throats of smaller countries, blahblahblah), this editorial tries to document the many ways in which HRW has been tied to Washington over the years.

• Documenting the arrival of Russian warplanes in Venezuela (in Portuguese); on a similar note, Russian nuclear warship “Peter the Great” (or Pedro el Grande as some like to call it down south) is on its way to the Caribbean.

• New report by the always thorough Douglas Farah, chronicling FARC links to a whole host of international players, including Ortega and Qaddafi. The report dissects details from the treasure trove of documents found on a FARC laptop when a Colombian military raid killed second-in-command Raul Reyes last spring. Farah also interviewed plenty of figures close to the case, making this report the best yet on what was uncovered (links to a Pdf file).