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June 11, 2008

Justin Delacour kicks the Dissociated Press's ass

'Bout time someone did! And who better than a Latin America scholar, who knows how important it is to work with all the facts, the accurate facts, and not just whatever bullshit is convenient to the State Dept., Big Bidness, Big Oil, etc.?

Unfortunately, the AP's bad reporting isn't limited to its Caracas bureau; I've seen it hit Nicaragua, Bolivia and Ecuador with the Stoopid Stick, too. Surely that's not a coincidence, since all three of them are friendly with Chavecito's Venezuela. Why they haven't also beaten up on Chile, Brazil and Argentina, I don't know; all three of their leaders have lent support to Chavecito, too, though they're a bit shy about signing on to the ALBA. (Hmmm, maybe that last is why--it gives the Usual Suspects the false impression that they might still be amenable to neoliberalism, like Colombia and Peru, but have only been playing coy so far.)

I'd write a letter too, and maybe someday I will, but right now I'll just stick to grousing on this blog. And to the AP, I'll let Johnny Cash's finger do the talking:

Johnny Cash lets us know how he really feels

May 23, 2008

Festive Left Friday Blogging: Some summit that was in Peru

And for some reason, I found a lot of funny pix from it...and for some reason even stranger, most of the funniest ones had Evo in them. In some funny context or other.

Like this one, in which he's chatting with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel:

Angela Merkel pulls a face at the summit

What do you suppose is going through her mind? My educated guess is it's something like this:

Continue reading "Festive Left Friday Blogging: Some summit that was in Peru" »

May 04, 2008

Santa Cruzin' for a bruisin'

Tweety tawt he taw a coup d'etat. He did! He DID tee a coup d'etat!

You did, Tweety...you DID tee a coup d'etat!

Roto-Reuters UK and the Washington Whore Post are both cheerleading quite blatantly for Evo's opponents, undoubtedly to soften up us gullible anglophones for the "inevitable", undemocratic outcome of a deeply antidemocratic, unilateral (not to mention illegal) "referendum". Gee, where have we seen this before?

Too bad for this cutesy little media offensive that some of us can read Spanish, and one of us has seen fit to translate...this:

Continue reading "Santa Cruzin' for a bruisin'" »

January 26, 2008

John Perkins: Rafael Correa is in danger

From the man who wrote Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, which among other things treats of his own experiences in Ecuador, a warning to the current president of that country: Watch your back! The jackals are circling!

Video in Spanish. Story from Aporrea:

Continue reading "John Perkins: Rafael Correa is in danger" »

December 17, 2007

Uruguay scores a double

Viva Uruguay! First, on the trade front, the Uruguayan congress punched a fat hole through BushCo's plans for the Southern Cone:

The Uruguayan ruling leftist coalition Frente Amplio (FA) reiterated on Sunday its rejection of a free trade agreement with the United States.

[...]

Montevideo explored the possibility of a free trade agreement with Washington, but the idea sank amid reluctance on the part of sectors of the governing coalition and the members of Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, while Venezuela is on the verge of full membership), which does not permit bilateral negotiations with third countries.

Translation mine.

Continue reading "Uruguay scores a double" »

December 12, 2007

Time to give Spain some credit

Okay, their king is an arrogant pissant. But the country as a whole is not the King, and the parliament has just done something long overdue and very decent:

The Spanish parliament has passed a law of "historical memory" which condemns Franco-fascism and rehabilitates the memory of the victims of the Civil War and the dictatorship.

The law, which will come into effect in a few days after its publication in the official gazette, was approved on Monday night by the Senate, which rejected the veto petition of the Popular Party (PP) and the Leftist Republic of Catalonia (ERC).

The PP considers the law to be a "divisive element", while the ERC considers it to be insufficient.

The law will not provide for annulment of the trials of the Francoist tribunals, as requested by the ERC. But the United Left (IU), whose votes made possible the passing of the bill, interpreted it as in effect allowing the reopening of the cases, without impunity.

Continue reading "Time to give Spain some credit" »

December 07, 2007

Like great-grandpa, like great-grandson

Nice to know that in Chile, some things just never change.

A great-grandson of the late dictator Augusto Pinochet was detained along with two other youths as they fled following a robbery at a store in Santiago.

The events occurred during the early morning hours last Sunday when Pinochet's grandson, a minor, and his companions threatened an employee at a store next to a gas station in the Santiago suburb of Huechraba. They escaped with a small haul of beers, soft drinks and candies.

The youngsters were detained by carabineros, who recovered the loot. Its contents are valued at 60,000 pesos (78 euros).

According to the daily La Tercera, the youth, who appeared to be under the influence of drugs, is the grandson of Augusto Pinochet Hiriart, one of the sons of the late dictator, who died last December. His name is not being released by authorities due to his being a minor.

Translation mine.

There is so much on the ill-gotten gains of Dictator Pinochet, it's hard to say where to start. He's received dirty money from England and the US. He got incredibly stinking rich. And he did it all by overthrowing a democratically elected government.

His great-grandson is nowhere near his grandpa's stature yet, but give him time. He's already off to a roaring start, as we can see.

December 01, 2007

Ha ha. Free-traders funny, too!

Well, no...actually, they're more like pathetic, and have been ever since poor, mad old Uncle Miltie kicked the bucket (many years past his due date, if you ask me). So you'll have to pardon me if I smile with a kind of pitying scorn at people who spew drivel like this:

Colombia's diplomatic spat with Hugo Chavez's Venezuela may help President Alvaro Uribe build support in the U.S. Congress for a free-trade accord, Citigroup Inc. economists said.

Colombia could help securing passage of the agreement by casting it as a way to limit Chavez's regional influence, economists Franz Hamann and Luisa Charry wrote in an e-mailed report today.

"The sharper dividing line between the two countries can serve as a warning signal of the potential costs of not supporting economic freedom in the region," Bogota-based Hamman and Charry said.

Continue reading "Ha ha. Free-traders funny, too!" »

November 13, 2007

More truths the king can't shut up...

And these come straight from Chile. Enjoy!

Sen. Alejandro Navarro on Monday demanded an apology from Chile's Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley for criticizing the behavior of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the XVII Iberian-American summit held last weekend in Santiago.

Continue reading "More truths the king can't shut up..." »

November 10, 2007

The King has lost his crown

Some people can't handle the truth. And it would figure that those people are royal-we fossils.

Spain's King Juan Carlos told Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez to "shut up" as the Ibero-American summit drew to a close in Santiago, Chile.

The outburst came after Mr Chavez called former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar a "fascist".

Mr Chavez then interrupted Spanish PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's calls for him to be more diplomatic, prompting the king's outburst.

Continue reading "The King has lost his crown" »

October 31, 2007

Oh those uppity Chilean women!

They dare to defy the Catholic church? And to order pharmacies to fill orders for the Morning-After Pill? What next, a female president?

Oh wait. They have one already. Never mind...

The Chilean government has warned pharmacies refusing to sell the morning-after contraceptive pill that they could face stiff fines or closure.

Major pharmacy chains have not been selling the pill recently, arguing they could not buy stocks locally.

The government responded by importing supplies and said the stores now had no excuse for not selling the pill.

Continue reading "Oh those uppity Chilean women!" »

March 02, 2007

Festive Left Friday Blogging: Seen in Chile

Bush Asesino!

Yeah, I know...not the most festive thing. But I guess it IS worth celebrating that some people, somewhere, are blogging the freeway with signs that aren't so easy to take down.

According to Bartcop.com, this tunnel is on the road to a major Chilean resort town. Meaning, a lot of traffic, and well-heeled traffic at that, is seeing this!

January 06, 2007

And here's why I call it the Chicken Noodle Network...

Quick, what's the biggest thing going on in Chile right now, according to CNN?

If you guessed that a distressed US sailor has been found safe and sound, you're only half right. That's the English version. In Spanish, THIS is the REAL news:

Continue reading "And here's why I call it the Chicken Noodle Network..." »

January 02, 2007

Fidel's wickedness knows no bounds!

I mean, just look at what he once told Evo!

President Evo Morales said Friday that his close ally Fidel Castro once advised him to shun arms for his populist cause and change Bolivia through democratic means.

The Cuban president, who once tried to spread armed revolt throughout South America, "never told me that you have to take up arms, never," Morales said in an interview Friday with Bolivian radio network Fides.

Morales, who was democratically elected in 2005, said Castro urged him three years ago not to follow his own example of rising to power through armed revolution. Instead, Castro urged Morales to pursue a democratic revolution similar to the one Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez claims to be leading.

"At the beginning of 2003, when I was invited to a big conference in Cuba, (Castro) said, 'Don't do what I did; don't have an armed uprising,'" said Morales. "'Lead a democratic revolution, like Chavez's, with a constitutional assembly.'"

Continue reading "Fidel's wickedness knows no bounds!" »

December 26, 2006

A posthumous "fuck you" to Pinochet

From the bottom of Chileans' hearts, or the hearts of their bottoms, comes the following magnificent salute to a dearly departed dictator (translation mine; original in Spanish at Aporrea.org):

Diverse Chilean political sectors today rejected the letter in which the deceased ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet attempted to justify the military coup of 1973 and the human-rights violations commited under his rule.

Leaders of the governing coalition and the rightist opposition showed similar opinions, with nuances, referring to the legacy of the dictatorship in point of human rights. There were more than 3000 victims.

Continue reading "A posthumous "fuck you" to Pinochet" »

December 19, 2006

Oh, fergawdsakes!

Barely is the dictator cold in his grave, and already the would-be hagiographers are calling for a monument (or several) to this sick-ass freak...

A group of right-wing politicians has proposed erecting three monuments to Chile's former military leader, General Augusto Pinochet, who died this month.

The main monument, for which plans have been put to parliament for approval, would be in the capital, Santiago.

BBC correspondents say the government is unlikely to pass the bill. Thousands died during Gen Pinochet's 17-year rule and he was accused of rights abuses.

Continue reading "Oh, fergawdsakes!" »

December 13, 2006

The Washington Post is Pinochet's bitch

Even though the dictator is dead, his Big Lie lives on. And who "better" than the Washington Post Whore to keep that odious Energizer Bunny from Hell drumming and drumming and drumming? For they have written a very slimy apologia for Pinochet, and of the most cowardly kind...the unsigned editorial. Implying that the WaHoPo endorses him even in death, even not denying what he did. This is, of course, entirely in line with the fact that they are NO liberal paper at all, but a "my country, right even when wrong" one.

Continue reading "The Washington Post is Pinochet's bitch" »

December 10, 2006

Ding, dong...

...a son of a bitch is DEAD.

Augusto Pinochet, the former military dictator of Chile who was revered by supporters for leaving behind the most stable country in Latin America but reviled by critics who say he ruled with a complete disregard for human rights, died Sunday. He was 91.

Continue reading "Ding, dong..." »

November 25, 2006

The unthinkable occurs

Well, kinda sorta. Augusto Pinochet admits his guilt, but refuses to admit that he is guilty. You don't follow? Read on.

Chile's former military ruler Augusto Pinochet has said he takes political responsibility for everything that happened during his 18 years in power.

In the statement read by Gen Pinochet's wife on his 91st birthday, he defended his bloody 1973 coup, saying he had acted in Chile's best interests.

Continue reading "The unthinkable occurs" »

October 18, 2006

Nastier than a baboon's butt

Yessirree Bob...that's John Bolton.

John Bolton, the Ass of BushCo at the UN

Continue reading "Nastier than a baboon's butt" »

September 01, 2006

Festive Left Friday Blogging: Awwwwww!

Cute shot of Hugo Chavez and Michelle Bachelet

Just found this today while surfing. Can't imagine how I missed it. Guess it's too darn cute for the "Hugo Chavez is an evil terrorist" bobbleheads of the so-called liberal media, because it never seemed to have made the AP newswires. Gotta stay on message, y'know!

And fer gawdsakes, don't show this to anyone at the US State Department. They're still hoping that Chile won't support Venezuela's bid for a rinky-dink non-permanent security council seat at the UN, and this would just so torpedo their hopes of Guatemala getting it!

June 01, 2006

Michelle's off to a good start

Looks like Chile has indeed turned a decisive corner since the evil Augusto Pinochet was finally ousted from power. See for yourself:

Chilean riot police used water cannon and tear gas for a second day running to scatter secondary school students protesting over education reform.

Officials and student leaders have been talking but the government has rejected a demand to respond by Friday or face a national school strike.

Mass demonstrations on Wednesday saw more than 700 people arrested.

President Michelle Bachelet condemned the police's handling of the unrest and sacked the head of special forces.

Continue reading "Michelle's off to a good start" »

May 12, 2006

Festive Left Friday Blogging: Chile loves Chavecito!

Chavecito in huaso Chavecito in huaso too

Two views of Chavecito in a traditional "huaso" poncho--given to him by a group of Chileans as thanks for sending them to Cuba for sight-saving eye surgery. They went as part of Mission Miracle, a social-welfare project of Venezuela, which brings impoverished Latin Americans to Cuba for specialized medical treatment free of charge.

April 12, 2006

Criminal charges for Colonia Dignidad

The Beeb updates an ongoing story:

A Chilean judge has indicted 18 people linked to a former German colony in southern Chile over human rights abuses committed during military rule.

Among them are two former commanders of the Chilean secret police, as well as Paul Schaefer, the colony's founder.

The judge says the security services used the sprawling property to hide kidnapped dissidents.

Continue reading "Criminal charges for Colonia Dignidad" »

March 11, 2006

Festive Left Friday Blogging, slightly belated

Enter, stage left, wearing a presidential sash:

Michelle Bachelet at her inauguration

Michelle Bachelet, inaugurated today in Valparaiso, Chile.

Continue reading "Festive Left Friday Blogging, slightly belated" »

January 15, 2006

Michelle, ma belle...

Michelle, ma belle,

These are words that go together well:

Ma Michelle...

Michelle, ma belle,

Sont des mots qui vont tres bien ensemble,

Tres bien ensemble...

Continue reading "Michelle, ma belle..." »

January 03, 2006

Colonia Dignidad: The plot thickens...

Looks like more evidence against former Nazi Paul Schaefer, minion of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, is surfacing. From the Beeb:

A Chilean judge is investigating the discovery of an unmarked grave in a German enclave in the south of Chile.

Rights groups say the colony's leaders helped with the repression of left-wing activists during military rule.

It is thought dozens of bodies were buried at the enclave formerly known as Colonia Dignidad, but later moved.

Last year, the state took control of the enclave. Its former head, Paul Schaefer, is in jail charged with child abuse and human rights violations.

Continue reading "Colonia Dignidad: The plot thickens..." »

December 28, 2005

Being German is no fun

If anyone ever wonders what I've got against fascism, why I say it shames all Germans, or why I say it's not dead yet (unfortunately), and why I say fundamentalists have the same mentality as fascists, google this place sometime: Colonia Dignidad.

Continue reading "Being German is no fun" »