Jetliner disappears over Amazon

Just a little bit of breaking news from the Amazon Rainforest...

full article here:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/09/29/brazil.crash.ap/index.html

War of the Pacific Update

Though the War of the Pacific has been over since the 1870's, Bolivia is still sore about the loss of its entire coastline to Chile in that war. Recent efforts by the president of Bolivia to get the land back from Chile through economic incentives is attracting some attention. Check out the whole story: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/world/americas/24bolivia.html

Brazilian Reforestation Efforts

The UN recently calculated that deforestation in Latin America accounts for more 50% world-wide. Brazil has recently come up with a few reform programs to help reforest. For more information go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5361840.stm

Mexican Drug Violence

The drug trade in South America, much of it geared toward U.S. consumers, is cause for violence and other social problems throughout Latin America, in this case Mexico. This relates to the topic of the Colombian drug trade we discussed in class, as well as the article posted earlier on extradition of Mexican drug lords to the United States.

For full article, click here

Debunking the Myth of Immigrant Criminality

Hey, I thought this fit in really well with the myths we have been talking about in class for the past couple of weeks. Read the article and let me know what you all think.

Salvadoran lawmakers pass tough anti-terrorism measure

"El Salvador's congress on Friday approved a law that allows penalties of up to 86 years in jail for convicted terrorists, a measure opposition forces said was an attempt to repress dissent."

More here.

"Mexico OKs giving drug suspects to U.S."

I read this article and thought that it was relevant considering our discussion on the dominance of drugs in Colombia. Although this particular article focuses on Mexico (a country much politically closer to the US than Colombia,) it may foreshadow future collaborations with the Colombian and US governments addressing the drug problem.

Life in Prison for Dirty War Prison Leader

Earlier this week, an Argentine court sentenced Miguel Etchecolatz to life in prison for running secret torture centers that killed some of the 11,000-30,000 people murdered by the Argentine government between 1976 and 1983. Check out the story here.

Millennium Development Goals & the WTC

I just found this, so it may have been commented on before:
The UN has released its 2006 report on the Millennium Development Goals. For anyone interested in development (and I'd have to assume that's a great lot of the people reading/writing this blog), it's very interesting to see what these goals are (if you haven't already been following them) and how far they've come to meeting them. These goals are very ambitious but significant headway has been made on them.
More information can be found on the site linked above and also at the Wikipedia site here.

The other thing I would like to mention is that I am currently serving an internship at the World Trade Center downtown. The organization puts on various functions year-round and has special student (and academic) rates. If anyone wants any more information about the organization, I'd be glad to fill you in (though I just started there and might not have the latest scoop). On Monday we host a delegation of Venezuelan businessmen -- it should be very interesting!

Hope all is well in the LAST world there.
Amber.

High Possibility of Bombings in Colombia

I found this very interesting, especially seeing as I had just researched Colombia for my presentation last week. The US Embassey in Colombia has warned all of its staff to stay away from high-end shopping areas and restaurants within the country, due to the threat of bombings by the left-wing. More information is available here.

Moonshine Kills Nicaraguans

Poisonous moonshine kills twenty-two people in Nicaragua. More at MSN News.

Venezuelan President Chavez Calls President Bush "the Devil"

On Tuesday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called President Bush "the devil" and later criticized the United Nations system, saying that it was "worthless" and outdated. For more information go here.

Former President of Paraguay Cleared of Corruption Charges

Excerpt from article at CNN World:

[Former Paraguayan President] Macchi, who led the poor South American country from 1999 to 2003, was convicted in June in relation to the illicit diversion of funds from two bankrupt private banks taken over by the state.

But the appeals court ruled there was insufficient evidence linking the former president to the embezzlement.

"The only thing that the court should have dealt with was whether there was a link between (the plotters) and Gonzalez Macchi. There was no connection, there is absolutely no evidence," appeals court judge Carmelo Castiglioni told reporters after Monday's ruling.

View the rest of the article here.

Mexican Election

It seems that leftist Lopez Obrador has lost a large portion of his support in his bid to be president as many of his supporters are conceding victory to Calderon. Check out the whole story here.

Raul Castro Insults USA

"When there no longer is a Cold War, the United States spends one billion dollars a year in weapons and soldiers and it squanders a similar amount in commercial publicity. To think that a social and economic order that has proven unsustainable could be maintained by force is simply an absurd idea," said Raul Castro, brother of Fidel.

More here.

Feliz día de la independencia!

Happy Mexican Independence day! Due to fears of disturbances caused by demonstrators, President Vincente Fox moved the celebration away from the capital to Dolores Hidalgo. For more information go here.

Mexico the Beautiful

Here is a link to Slate Magazine's "Pictures of the Day" which today happen to be of Mexico the Beautiful. The pictures are really awesome and depict the diverseness of Mexico.

Hispanic Week on Comedy Central

hey ya'll I saw a commercial last nite and I wanted to let you know that its Hispanic week on comedy central. enjoy!

Andres Cabas

Andres Cabas is one of my favorite Latin American artists. The Columbian pop artist recently released his album "Puro Cabas.” He is most famous for his songs La Cadena de Oro and La Guacamaya. In the song La Cadena de Oro, he uses a gold chain as a metaphor for wealth without love and happiness.

Latin American Internationals

I have noticed that there are quite a few Latin American international students here at Tulane. I have met David from Colombia, and 2 other freshmen from Panama. We went salsa dancing the other night at Veracruz and ran into a couple of them and it was alot of fun to appreciate the Spanish music together! Is there a larger quantity of internationals that come from Latin America compared to the rest of the world?

Child Labor Laws in Peru

WOW! I was rather suprised to learn that Peru has just recently established child labor laws. The list of laws contained a list of 26 activities that children under 18 were banned from becoming involved in, including the sale of alcohol and involvement in the production of pornography. A list of restrictions placed on child workdays was also established. More details may be found here.

Costa Rican Surf

The coasts of many Latin American countries, including Costa Rica host a number of world class surfspots. You can see streaming video of current surf conditions as well as a forecast here.

Mexican Presidential Election

The final result has been announced in the Mexian presidential election. The new official president is Felipe Calderón. His challenger Andres MAnuel Lopez Obrador has threatened to set up an alternate street government. The full article is here.