Chance of Improved ties between the United States and Cuba

I stumbled across this article while reading the news on MSN.com. Despite the extension of the decades old trade embargo by the Obama administration, the Cuban government is holding direct talks with State Department officials about the possibility of opening up direct mail with Cuba again.

Hopefully it won't be too long for the whole trade embargo is lifted so I can get my hands on some authentic Cohiba and Montecristo cigars!

Guatemalan Food Crisis

President Colom of Guatemala has declared a national food crisis and is seeking international aid to buy food for many Guatemalans. Here is a short video from Al Jazeera English Publications that expands on the depth of the crisis.



As we have discussed in class, there are high levels of inequality in Guatemala and the Mayan population (40 percent) is especially marginalized.

Tomorrow, Mexico celebrates its independence day!

The entire country is going to celebrate and participate in the Grito de Independencia.

Here is an article about the celebrations: Independence Festivals Gain Momentum.

Here's a link to a blog that I visited a lot before and during my exchange. It gives a nice glimpse into Brazilian language, culture, and sometimes a little politics. It updates pretty regularly, and it is just filled with a lot of random information.

New presence on Texas-Mexico border

This AP article that I read in the Seattle Times reports Texas governor Rick Perry's announcement that he will send teams of Texas Rangers to the Mexican border. The article didn't mention the scale of it, and his election opponent called it an "empty promise", so it will be interesting to see if this move has any effect on the Mexican gangs that are allegedly causing border violence.

Gang Issues in El Salvador

I thought this article from the NY Times was interesting and pertains to our class's discussion of gang violence and formation in El Salvador. I know it's from a few days ago, but the article shows how far the "epidemic" of gang violence has reached within El Salvadorian society. A French filmmaker, making a documentary on gang violence, was murdered. The website for his film, La Vida Loca gives the viewer a better look at gang life in El Salvador.

Gearing Up Again

The Cuaderno Latinoamericano will be gearing up again in conjunction with a group of new student bloggers. Although it has been dormant for some time, I expect it to become lively in short order.

To kick off the Cuaderno Latinoamericano again, I'd like to point you to a recent CNN piece on the thriving Latino community in New Orleans four years after Hurricane Katrina.

It's a very brief article, but a nice little update. And one of the two principle voices in this piece will be helping some of the student who will be posting here at the Cuaderno Latinoamericano keep their fingers on the pulse of the local Latino community.

Day Laborers in New Orleans

Two posts in a row!!
I was cleaning out my e-mail during Mardi Gras, and came upon this article in the NY Times about day laborers in NOLA that are getting mugged on a regular basis. I think it would be hard to resolve the issue. While reading it I thought that it might help them if they could create some sort of informal banking system so that a person with a car could take the money home for all the workers, although there are obvious trust issues. Or what if they were armed? I personally am against guns, but it would thwart potential muggers I'm sure. Either way it seems like a bleak situation with the economic downturn.

Castro watches Obama inauguration

Castro watched Obama's inauguration and supposedly thinks that he is "a sincere person with good ideas." Obama also released an executive order to close down the base at Guantanamo. So it seems like there will be a much milder policy towards Cuba, at least for the next four years.

CNN link: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/01/21/fidel.castro.inauguration/index.html

Obama and NAFTA: From Free Trade to Fair Trade

One of the issues I've paid some attention to since the Presidential campaign has been the position of the candidates on Free Trade Agreements. In spite of his rhetoric to reassess Free Trade Agreements and renegotiate them, Obama has always been somewhat vague and non-committal when it came down to policy specifics on what such reassessments and renegotiations might look like. And so I've wondered where he would fall out in the end.

Well, I'm still not completely sure of what an Obama trade policy might look like, but it seems like when it comes to NAFTA, Obama seems to be tilting more towards converting this particular Free Trade Agreement into a welcome Fair Trade Agreement.

Laura Carlsen, of the Americas Program of the Center for International Policy, has a great rundown of what Obama's recent meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon means regarding the future of NAFTA. And her take is uplifting to Fair Trade Obama supporters like me, who don't oppose "Free" Trade in principle, as long as there is fairness and equity built into the process and as long as the trade really is "Free" in its larger dimensions, particularly as it relates to trade in labor.

Carlsen concludes her excellent analysis with the following:

The Obama statement from Jan. 12 indicates the president-elect will stand firm on renegotiating NAFTA. It may no longer be a question of "will he or won't he." To confront the crisis and establish mutual well-being in the region, the debate must move quickly now to "how and when."

And that's an encouraging thought.

[Crossposted at The Huck Upchuck]

Cuban film festival

The Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana, or the Festival of New Latin American Cinema of Havana, has taken place every December since 1979.

Since it is very difficult for most Cubans to travel outside their country, the festival provides a means for them to experience an outside perspective and other cultures without leaving La Habana. Part of the mission of the Festival is to enrich and reaffirm Latin American and Caribbean cultural identity.

Wall Street Journal article: "For Most Cubans, Film Is the Only Way to Travel"

The official website

Sabathia to Yankees

Carsten Charels Sabathia of Venezuela signed a a six-year, $140 million contract offer from the New York Yankees, the New York Post reported on its web site Wednesday. This new contract makes Sabathia the highest paid pitcher in the major leagues. he barely passes the $137 million contract acquired by Johan Santana last year with the Mets. Last year sabathia put together an impressive season with a 17-10 record with a 2.70 ERA and 251 strikeouts.

Mexican Woman Shot

Soldiers shot to death a pregnant 35-year-old woman after she reportedly failed to stop at a highway checkpoint in the northern state of Chihuahua, authorities said Friday.
Silvia Arzate died after soldiers opened fire on the sport utility vehicle she was driving near the capital of Chihuahua, which is experiencing a surge of violence as drug gangs battle each other and authorities, said the state prosecutors' spokesman, Eduardo Esparza.
The circumstances surrounding Thursday's shooting remain unclear.
Esparza said Arzate, who died of several gunshot wounds, had been carrying a cousin in her vehicle who had been wounded in an earlier gunbattle. Her mother was also aboard, but was not injured.
It was unclear if the cousin had been a participant in the earlier gunfight. Initial reports suggested Arzate may have been speeding in a bid to escape from another vehicle that was following her.
The Defense Department had no immediate comment on the shooting.
Army checkpoints in Mexico are sometimes poorly marked.
Many have criticized President Felipe Calderon for deploying more than 20,000 soldiers across Mexico to combat the country's violent drug cartels.
The National Human Rights Commission has documented cases of torture, rape and killings of civilians by solders, and called on the government to stop assigning soldiers to police duties.
The government has promised to do that eventually, but has set no timetable for doing so.

Castro Visits Venezuela

Cuban President Raul Castro launched his first international trip on Saturday, visiting with longtime ally Venezuela before heading to a regional integration summit in Brazil. He and president Chavez of Venezuela met and discussed politics between their two countries. Chavez is a long time ally of Raul's brother Fidel and wishes to continue this alliance with Raul.

director fears security in mexico

Guillermo del Toro, directer of "Hellboy" admits his reluctance to filming in Mexico again after his father was kidnapped there ten years ago. Although Del Toro's father was eventually released, the criminals were not all found and Del Toro's family still receives death threats. When he is directing a film, Del Toro's daily life becomes a public matter. He fears for his safety in Mexico, describing his fear as an unfortunate "forced exile" from Mexico. 

The justice is lacking in Mexico, a nation with one of the highest kidnapping rates in the world. It is nearly impossible to find reliable information because people are reluctant to report crimes for fear of police involvement. Therefore while the Mexican government claims that abductions have fallen (18 percent) to about 72 kidnappings a month since August, real kidnapping rates are significantly higher. Citizens' Institute for Crime Studies estimates that the real abduction rate may be 500 kidnappings per month.

-yahoo news.

Sao Paulo: Brazilian police officer may have taken part in the murders of 13 gay men in a lower-class suburb of Sao Paulo. These murders occurred between February 2007 and August 2008 at Paturis Park, which is a relatively well-known meeting point for gay men in the area. 

No one has been arrested in this case, and the department refuses to share too much information for fear of jeapordizing the accuracy of the investigation. If the policeman turns out to be involved in these murders, this would speaks worlds of not only the civil rights in Sao Paulo but also of the political development. 

Yahoo News -> Policemen suspected in Killing of Gays

Gitmo commander predicts prison won't close soon

Despite the debate over the possibility of Guantanamo Bay's closing, Guantanamo's commander believes that this won't actually be a possibility anytime soon. Even with Obama replacing Bush in office, it will be unlikely that the military's offshore prison will close so soon after Obama is sworn into office. 

It will be too difficult to close Guantanamo Bay because it is difficult to come to a quick decision where prisoners will be held. The legal process is also complicated if the military intends to continue any sort of persecution or to reach any resolution in the case of each prisoner.

Some terrorists allegedly confessed their crimes on election day in order to seal their execution by the United States in order to achieve martyrdom. "Many observers at the hearing say the defendants may be rushing toward a death sentence before Obama takes office and shuts down the war-crimes trials". However, this speculation has not been confirmed as it is impossible to be sure of the intentions of the terrorists.

yahoo news -> Gitmo commander predicts....

Rain forest protection in Brazil

Brazil announced on December 1st that they plan to take measures to decrease deforestation. The claim they will halve the rate of destruction by 2018. The rain forest is vital in preventing greenhouse gases and damage to the atmosphere. Check out the story.

Biblioburro

In Colombia, a man named Luis Soriano began a travelling library of a different type. In the US there are often mobile libraries in vans or buses, but in rural Colombia that would not work so well. Instead Soriano uses donkeys to take books to rural villages where people borrow textbooks, encyclopedias, novels, books of all kinds until he returns with more choices for them to exchange from. He originally decided to do this after witnessing the empowering effect reading had on his students when he was a teacher. Check out pictures of his travelling biblioburro.

Picadillo

This Latin American dish was mentioned in my Spanish textbook, but I wanted to investigate it further. Picadillo is a dish which mainly consists of ground beef, but can be mixed with various vegetables, or used as filling for tacos. The dish is most common in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Costa Rica and Mexico. The word picadillo comes from the Spanish word picar, meaning to mince or chop. The Cuban version usually is served with beans and rice, while in the Philippines, potatoes accompany the picadillo.