Latin America- some things don't change

 #MarceloPecci , a Paraguayan prosecutor known for his work on high-profile anti-money laundering and anti-drug cases, was killed on the Colombian tourism island of Baru. I'm a bit puzzled that Pecci's wife Claudia was spared. She said they were approached by two men on a private beach near their hotel, and one of the men later shot Pecci.

Earlier blog:  

https://vaporvents.blogspot.com/2020/09/statues-tumble-cops-watch.html

May 20, 2022

Elon Musk will meet with Bolsonaro today in Brazil to discuss a potential partnership on rural connectivity and deforestation monitoring.

May 23, 2022

Easter Island, a special territory of Chile located over 2,000 miles from the Chilean coast, will re-open to tourism. Since the  2020 Covid outbreak island residents, have occasionally taken over its airport to stop flights from the mainland. 

June 5, 2022

Five people were arrested in Medellin, Columbia for Pecci's murder according to Attorney General Francisco Barbosa 

More details when those apprehended appear before a judge.

July 10, 2022

Juan Carlos Giordano, a socialist lawmaker in Argentina :

"Argentina is a capitalist semi-colony in the chains of the IMF. Today we are here to say we need a second independence. Argentina must break its ties with the IMF which is the Spanish Empire of the 21st century."

Really dude, your country took the IMF loans then mismanaged the money.

Four people accused of murdering Pecci, a high-profile Paraguayan prosecutor while he was on his honeymoon, each received 23 -year prison sentences.

Aug 3, 2022

The Nicaraguan government led by dictator Ortega ordered the closure on Monday of seven Catholic radio stations linked to a Bishop Rolando Alvarez. Nicaraguan telecommunications agency said the radio stations did not meet the technical requirements to be on air, but did not specify the requirements.

Aug 11, 2022

Joao Martins, the head of Brazil's powerful farm lobby, referred indirectly to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva by declaring the country had no room for the return of a president who was jailed for corruption. 

Sept 3, 2022

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, who has frequently criticized the left-leaning Argentine government, commented on the failed assassination attempt of lefty VP Cristina Fernández, who's facing a possible 12-year sentence for corruption 

“I lament it, and there are people already trying to blame me for that problem,” ..... “It is good that the attacker didn’t know how to use a gun, otherwise he would have been successful. "

Sept 5, 2022

Congrats to Chileans who overwhelmingly voted against a proposed new constitution yesterday. 62% rejected what would have been one of the world's most progressive charters.

Sept 16, 2022

 "Our flag will never be red!" — a jab at the colors of Lula's left-wing Workers' Party- by Bolsonaro' s supporters during a celebration of Brazil's 200 years of independence on September 7, 2022. Portugal officially recognized Brazilian independence on August 29, 1825.

 This didn't happen often to European countries. When Spanish and Napoleonic forces threatened the security of continental Portugal in 1807, it moved its royal court from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro.

Oct 3, 2022

How about the pollsters who had Bolsonaro way behind in the polls? Since neither he nor Lula received above 50%, there will be a runoff election on Oct 30.

Nov 14, 2022

Tens of thousands of people packed the Mexican capital’s main boulevard  in the largest demonstration against one of the president’s efforts during his nearly four years in office.

Nov 14, 2022

A massive turnout in Mexico City on Sunday to protest President Obrador’s proposal to overhaul the country’s electoral authority was a strong rebuke of his assertion that criticism comes only from a small, elite opposition.  Many fear this is a power grab by Obrador.

Nov 26, 2022

Since my Dad worked at Domino Sugar from the 1950s to the 1980s, I check out stories on sugar imports. The Dominican Republic has decided to seek a solution to revoke the decision of the USA to suspend the importation of refined sugar and sugar products manufactured by the Central Romana Corporation. USA is claiming a number of violations, particularly withholding of wages.

Does the USA have proof?  Where has the DR government been?

Dec 23, 2022

Gabriel Salinas was arrested on Tuesday at a routine checkpoint east of Venezuela's capital Caracas 

He is accused of participating in the murder of Paraguayan anti-mafia prosecutor Marcelo Pecci, who was murdered while on his honeymoon in May, 2022. I'm guessing one of the five men arrested in June for Pecci's murder gave the prosecutors Salinas' name.

April 19, 2023

and Bolsonaro was supposed to be the devil in Brazil. Biden's crew loves Lula da Silva, who just accused the USA of “encouraging war” while on a visit to China.

May 4, 2023

 Peña, an economist, defeated Efraín Alegre, the Presidential candidate of the Concertación Nacional coalition who proposed dropping Paraguay's long-running ties with Taiwan.

July 2, 2023

Mexico's Govt blasts Florida's immigration law while ignoring its own problems and passing its problems onto others. People in glass houses__

Aug 23, 2023

 

Venezuela appeals to SCOTUS to limit Citgo auction. About 90% of these request fail.

Sept 3, 2023

Increases in taxes and utilities hurting biz in Venezuela. Sound familiar?

Oct 7, 2023

Six men suspected of involvement in the murder in August of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio were killed in a penitentiary in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Oct 27, 2023

Turf wars in Rio: Cops kill a crime boss so gangsters torch 35 buses. 

The attacks on buses occurred in the west part of the city, where rival criminal groups are fighting for territorial control. 

Nov 6, 2023

In Colombia, FARC, leftist guerrilla rebels, pulled out of peace talks with lefty Prez Petro claiming broken promises.

Petro is a former member of the M19 armed guerrilla movement.

NOV 15, 2023

Argentina: Neither Massa nor Milei, the Libertarian, collected over 45% of the votes or had a 10-point lead, so the runoff will be November 19.

Dec 7, 2023

Helicopter missing that was taking five senior Guyanese officers to inspect troops guarding the border. Bad weather rather than hostile fire from Venezuela.

Litigation is pending before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague over where the region's borders should lie.in mineral- and oil-rich Essequibo region.

Caracas claims that the region has belonged to Venezuela since 1777, when the country was under Spanish rule, which began in 1522 and ended in 1811. Georgetown claims the correct border was defined by international arbitrators in 1899. 

ExxonMobil discovered oil off the coast of Essequibo in 2015.

Dec 29, 2023

Royal Navy patrol vessel HMS Trent is visiting Guyana, and Maduro feels it breaches the "spirit" of an agreement. Oil Baby!

 Disputes will be resolved in accordance with international law, but Maduro's government does not recognize the ICJ.

Jan 8, 2024

Take note: Cuba will reduce subsidies due to a lack of foreign currency.

Food subsidies will be cut, while prices for electricity, water and gasoline will rise.

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Jan 10, 2024

Gunmen stormed TC studio in Ecuador during a live broadcast. Peru declared an emergency along its border with Ecuador, and China closed its embassy temporarily.  President Noboa named 22 gangs as terrorist organizations to be hunted by the military.

Feb 17, 2024

Pop singer Lali Esposito answers but doesn't rebut Milei's accusation that she took government $$ to give free concerts.

April 21, 2024

Edmundo Gonzalez, 74, is a former ambassador to Argentina and will be Maduro's opponent in July election. He's going to need more than luck. 

May 17, 2024

Some light news: The volcanic island of Robinson Crusoe, located 416 miles west of Chile's mainland and having1,200 residents got to compete in Chile's domestic football cup for the first time.

 The Football Federation of Chile invited Robinson Crusoe Island and Alejandro Selkirk Island to play as a unit, as the "Juan Fernandez Archipelago".

Island was renamed in 1966 after the Daniel Defoe novel.

May 30, 2024

NO surprise: Venezuela’s election authorities revoked an invitation to an EU mission to observe its upcoming presidential election, in which Maduro is seeking reelection.

June 14, 2024

 Hey protesters in Argentina: IMF has praised Milei's agenda and released tranches of frozen loans.

June 17 2024

My dad worked at the Domino sugar refinery in Baltimore,  and we got to tour the plant on  a Family Day in the early 1970s.

Decades of  mismanagement and reduced state investment have damaged the sugar industry in Cuba. However, it has provided an opening for private entrepreneurs such as Clamanta to find a place in the market.

June 18, 2024

In Venezuela, Maduro is desperate. He had the owner of a sound truck, rented by his opponent Machado, arrested.  

July 28, 2024

Sad chuckle on this: Delusional AG Tarek Saab claims his country Venezuela doesn't prosecute people for their political opinions and holds no political prisoners. 

August 14, 2024

I finished a slim book about Uruguay in the late 1800s and England's impact on their economy last night.

Many Uruguay  citizens are shopping in Argentina where prices are lower, and some folks are moving to border cities in Entre Rios, Argentina.

Many German Nazi move to Uruguay  at the end of WW2

Aug 30, 2024

Maduro overturned election results to stay in power and blames sabotage for Venezuela's capital city Caracas power outage. Same old sh^t!

Sept 6, 2024

USA seized Maduro plane claiming it was bought illegally and smuggled out of FLA. Maduro is  busy trying to arrest the opposition.

Sept 12, 2024

Milei touches the third rail with a block of pension hikes in Argentina,  and it survives a veto override attempt

Sept 18, 2024

Petro, Colombia's Lefty Prez, will end peace talks with ELN, a far left terrorist group who used a truck loaded with explosives to kill 2 and wound 27 yesterday in Arauca.

Sept 24, 2024

 Companies for Republican Security, the general reserve of the French National Police which was banned in Martinique following  riots there in December 1959, is on its way there. 

It is rarely deployed in French territories in the Caribbean, but was requested during riots in Guadeloupe in 2009.

Martinique’s leaders requested the forces yesterday.

Oct 1, 2024

Quimico, a chemical high with a cannabis base mixed with epilepsy pills, is fueling drug wars and violence in Cuba. Knives and machetes, are their main weapons.

Oct 7, 2024

Recently elected Mayor Alejandro Arcos was found dead on Sunday in Chilpancingo in the southwestern state of Guerrero Mexico. Three days earlier ,the city government's new secretary, Francisco Tapia, was shot dead.

Oct 20, 2024

Venezuelan Interior Minister Cabello has Taha, Palestinian ambassador to Venezuela, take part in pro-Maduro rallies and arrests five tourists for terrorist activities and offers no proof.

Oct 28 2024

Going to be a close one in Uruguay in the next round on Nov 24  between Orsi , the Left candidate, and Delgado , the conservative candidate.

Yamandu Orsi got 1.06 million votes.  Alvaro Delgado, got  644,147 votes., however Ojeda, the third place candidate with 385,685 votes, has pledged to back Delgado.

Nov 4, 2024

Milei sacked FM Diana Mondino, who voted in favor of lifting the USA economic embargo on Cuba at the UN, and stated that Argentina remains "categorically opposed to the Cuban dictatorship."

 Only the USA and Israel voted to oppose the resolution, and it's the first time during Milei's term that Argentina has not aligned with the USA and Israeli governments.

Gerardo Werthein is the new FM..

Statues tumble, cops watch

 Protesters in Colombia toppled a statue of Spanish conquistador Sebastián de Belalcázar in the south-western city of Popayán while the cops watched. So why don't you go through the legal process to move statues that disturb your sense of justice? BTW, protesters did you know that Benalcázar died while under indictment for the killing of one of his fellow Spanish leaders, Jorge Robledo.

I've been following  Latin American events at two  blogs for a few years.

https://vaporvents.blogspot.com/2014/03/hey-sean-wheres-your-pen.html 

https://vaporvents.blogspot.com/2013/06/blue-tape-death-squads.html

Sept 20, 2020

 Interim President Anez has pulled out of the October 18, 2020 election in Bolivia in hopes of keeping Arce  of Morales party from winning in round 1.Recent polls show Arce has more than 40.3% , while Mesa, a Centrist has 26.2%,  Camacho, a conservative anti-Morales activist,  has 14.4% and Anez is at 10.6%. The election winner requires at least 40% of valid votes in the first round and a 10-point advantage over the closest competitor. 

Oct 1

 Chile's House of Representatives passed a bill that would punish people who “justify,” “approve” of, or “deny” the human rights violations committed during the country’s dictatorship between 1973 and 1990 with up to three years in prison. Its Senate hasn't taken up the bill, and it's great to see Human Rights Watch adding this caution : "but the criminalization of speech is not an acceptable way to pursue those aims."

Oct 19, 2020

It's going to get chillier politically in Chile after protesters set two churches  and a police station afire.

Oct 26, 2020

#LeopoldoLopez ,  arrived in Madrid, Spain on Sunday following  leaving the Spanish Embassy in Venezuela residence and escaping by sea to Aruba. Maduro quickly removed General Nestor Revero from his job overseeing SEBIN security outside the embassy. Let's see how how roughly Maduro treats Spanish embassy personnel.

Nov16

 #peru : #merino resigns due to deadly protests after taking over last week for the impeached Vizcarra.  What a clusterF! Meanwhile  Commie  Morales is welcomed back to #uruguay.  Same old sh^t in Latin America.

nov 23

#guatemala : Hundreds of people stormed into Guatemala's Congress building as part of protests against President Alejandro #Giammattei who responded via Twitter. that "he defended people's right to protest, "but neither can we allow people to vandalize public or private property." Does this sound familiar?

dec 6, 2020

This will be the new rage  from the Lefties: Argentina passes confiscatory tax on the wealthy "one- percenters"  to pay for virus measures. Those with assets worth more than 200 million pesos ($2.5m; £1.8m)  will have to pay.  #AlbertoFernandez

jan 11, 2021

Court allows Cape Verde to  expel #AlexSaab, Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro ally, to the USA on money laundering charges. The US DoJ charged him two years ago with running a global multi-million dollar money laundering operation. 

Jan 29, 2021

A special tribunal in Columbia has accused eight former leaders of the Marxist group FARC of kidnappings civilians, including Americans, and extortion to finance its war to topple the Colombian state. Two of  those eight are now in congress and all. have 30 days to respond to the special tribunal’s indictment. In 2016 FARC signed a peace agreement, but I wonder if this news leads to sporadic riots.

Feb 15, 2021

 RIP #Menem , Argentina's president between 1989 and 1999, oversaw the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the UK, visiting Great Britain in 1998. That was a huge step after the Falklands war, but most of his career was filled with financial scandals.

Feb 19, 2021

 Vaccine Gate in  Peru:  Former President Vizcarra and his family, plus consultants, lobbyists, and  cabinet ministers were inoculated starting in September 2020 before the Covid vaccine was approved by Peruvian authorities.  Of course,  the Chinese embassy in Peru rejected the notion that the shots were a perk in exchange for the contract.

March 3

#LuisAbinader , the president of the Dominican Republic, has announced plans to build a fence along its border with Haiti, and claims the barrier will help curb illegal immigration, drugs, and the flow of stolen vehicles between the two countries.

April 8, 2021

Is this Communist tactic coming to your town?  Luis Duque,  a buddy of Maduro and the mayor of Sucre municipality in Yaracuy state in central Venezuela has been placing red warning symbols on the homes of people with COVID-19 and is threatening to cut welfare handouts for those breaking quarantine. 

April 13, 2021

A conservative wins  the Presidency in  the Ecuador runoff election. Lasso won 52.4% of the vote to defeat left-leaning economist Andres Arauz's 47.4%, according to the Election Council website. Arauz congratulated Lasso  then added this snide comment. " I only ask you to stop the lawfare, which destroys lives and families." Lawfare  is a term used to broadly label anyone who opposes the Left as purveyors of fake news and practitioners of  tactics to destroy democracy.

april 22, 2021

Kim Jong Un , the North Korean dictator ,calls President Miguel Díaz-Canel the new leader of Cuba, comrade . We get the message!

JUNE 1, 2021

After all the negative press Bolsonaro, the President of Brazil has received, COPA America is asking him to allow the Copa America soccer tournament to be played there. Argentina and Columbia were the original co-hosts, but Columbia was removed on May 20 due to wide-spread protests sweeping the country, and Argentina was removed a few days ago due to a spike in Covid cases.

June 7, 2021

Do you recall when Ortega was the darling of the  Left  during the  Iran- Contra hearings? Arturo Cruz is the second opposition presidential candidate to have been detained this week by Nicaraguan police. On Wednesday police took in Cristiana Chamorro, who leads the opposition to #danielOrtega, who has ruled since 2007,  in the polls.

June 11, 2021

It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy: In 2019, when two rebel commanders of the Martin Villa Front  broke from the FARC peace pact  and fled Colombia, #Maduro called them leaders of peace and  welcomed them to Venezuela. Now the Venezuelan Army is locked in a battle with them in the Apure region.

june 30 2021

Protesters in Barranquilla, Colombia have toppled a statue of Christopher Columbus. The trend continues: 

July 12, 2020

 Home invaders assassinated #moise , who called himself “Banana Man,” and had ruled Haiti by decree f after his government postponed legislative elections in 2018. Hey Joe, just send Kamal and everything will improve. Or maybe the Clintons who have a foundation there?

Aug 30, 2021

In some parts of oil rich Venezuela, citizens are returning to  “stick gas” - wood stoves.

Aug 31, 2021

It  took newlyweds, Heydi Paco and Jhonny Pacheco, three days to climb to the top of the Illimani Mountain (21,125 feet above sea level) in the Andes from Bolivia's capital, La Paz. 

Oct 14, 2021

Backward  to Venezuela: #RaúlBaduel , an army general who helped Chavez survive a coup in 2002, became the 10th political prisoner to die in prison during Maduro's dictatorship.  He fell out of favor in 2007 when he opposed Chávez' efforts to change the constitution. He was convicted of graft charges in 2009,  and days before he was scheduled to finish his sentence in March, 2017, he was charged by Venezuelan military intelligence of holding clandestine meetings to stockpile weapons and conspiring against Maduro's government.

Nov 28, 2021

After 55 years of independence from the Brits, Barbados is completing the divorce and becoming a Republic. Of course, last year they had obligatory removal of a statue. This time it was of the statue of British Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson which stood in National Heroes Square for two centuries. However, Prime Minister Mottley invited Prince Charles to be the guest of honor this week, and to award him the Order of Freedom of Barbados, the highest national honor.

Dec 14, 2021

 Conservative Jose Antonio Kast is narrowing the gap in recent polling on his race to defeat leftist Gabriel Boric in the upcoming election for President in Chile. It looked like Boric was cruising to victory a few weeks ago.

dec 28, 2021

Chile elected the Lefty.

Nicaraguan Dictator Ortega seized the former embassy and diplomatic offices of Taiwan, saying they belong to China. Taiwanese diplomats had attempted to donate the properties to the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Managua. 

 But the Contras, not Ortega, were often shown as the bad guys in the USA media in the 1980s.

Jan 8, 2022

Sgt Victor Isasi, 42, a Paraguayan soldier, died from piercing injuries after he was attacked by a deer in the gardens of the country's presidential palace. The animal is an axis deer from India which is usually kept in a separate area and reacted when Isasi lifted his hand.

June 10, 2022

Venezuela's Opposition lawmaker Sergio Garrido, 54, defeated the ruling party’s candidate Jorge Arreaza, 48, who served as the country’s vice president and foreign minister and was Hugo Chavez’s son-in-law. This was a governor's race in Barinas,  a region ruled byChavez family for over twenty years. I'm sure Maduro will try to undo it.

Jan 29, 2022

No respect for Venezuela! Italy rejected a request by Venezuela for the extradition of Rafael Ramirez, a once powerful oil minister and former head of state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela. Ramirez was tight with Chavez but was ousted as Venezuela's U.N. envoy in 2017 after publicly criticizing Maduro.  Ramirez was probably involved in some embezzlement and bid-rigging for oil contracts, but the Italian courts ain't sending him back because of human rights violations in Venezuela under Maduro and Chavez.

March 8, 2022

So rather than get the USA back to pumping its own oil, Biden is reaching out to Maduro, the commie dictator in Venezuela, for oil in exchange for easing sanctions. This ain't going over well with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.)  who said the White House's efforts to unite the world against Russia's actions "should not be undercut by propping up a dictator under investigation for crimes against humanity in Caracas."

April 5, 2022

Why history matters! Landlocked Bolivia is back at The Hague battling for access to the Silala River in its search for fresh water. Bolivia lost its only coastline to Chile during an 1879-1883 war and has demanded ocean access since that defeat.

April 28, 2022

Do you remember when Ortega was everyone's darling? And the Contras were the devil in Nicaragua in the 1980s?

The real estate that occupied the offices of the OAS in Nicaragua has been declared a public utility and will be passed on to the State of Nicaragua according to Vice President Rosario Murillo, wife of Dictator Daniel Ortega.

jan 8, 2022

Watching a documentary on BBC select on the Alan Addis missing case. Tony Blake, David clark pop up. #falklands