Recently in Latin America Category
When Sanchez, 36, arrived back in Central America recently, after living a third of his life as an illegal immigrant in suburban Washington, he stepped off the flight from Dulles International Airport into a cultural no man's land. He had been an outlaw migrant in one country; now he was a native-born stranger in the other.For years, Sanchez had worked all the overtime hours he could handle as a supervisor for a granite counter contractor in Springfield. Last year, overtime slipped to part time and then almost no time. After months of looking for work, he started looking at airfares.
An expatriate's longing for his native land is often searing. But Sanchez, like thousands of Latino immigrants forced back across the border in recent months by the sinking economy, is learning sooner than he wanted to that going home again can be even more complicated.
Source: MSN
Sunday, June 14
Hispanics/Blacks need banks; bank less. My friend Megan said "...bank of bustelo..."
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Sunday that Cuba does not fear dialogue with the United States and praised U.S. Senator Richard Lugar for calling for a new U.S. policy of engagement with the communist-led island....Dialogue, Castro said, "is the only way of procuring friendship and peace between peoples."Have we been duped by the press all these years? I tell you one thing...I will travel to Cuba with the first year we open up.
Former member of the Puerto Rican Senate Jorge De Castro Font (former because he was arrested in October by the FBI) pleaded guilty yesterday to 21 charges of fraud and conspiracy. De Castro Font admitted that from Jan. 2, 2005, through August 2008, he “directly and indirectly solicited [...] approximately $525,000 in cash payments and other benefits, such as campaign contributions in excess of the legal limits, lodging, private flights, meals and other things of value, from individuals.”Hattip.
Citgo Petroleum Corp, the U.S. arm of Venezuela's state oil company, has suspended its program to provide free heating oil to hundreds of thousands of low-income U.S. families, the head of the nonprofit organization that distributed the fuel said on Monday.You could see it coming: oil prices are now about 1/3 what they were before everything started going to hell in a handbasket with the economy. Now, I find this oddly amusing.The Andean nation attributed the move to the sharp drop in the price of oil as well as the spreading world economic crisis, said Joseph Kennedy, chairman of Citizens Energy, which had distributed about $100 million worth of Venezuelan oil for each of the past three years.
Citizens Energy said it encouraged U.S. families to write directly to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and ask that Citgo continue to provide the U.S. poor with "much-needed" heating oil aid.Emphasis added. Now, that's a beauty! We've demonized Chavez for the past, what, five, seven, eight years? We've pretty much equated him to Fidel Castro, and Lenin, and the President of Iran. We've pretty much called him "evil incarnate" - in what must have been a constant tag-you're-it game between Chavez and Bush - and now we want his help? For the "U.S. poor" who, in most Latin American countries would pass for middle class?
But it gets better:
Chavez, who considers U.S. President George W. Bush his nemesis, widened the heating oil aid program as prices surged in recent years, while accusing the Bush administration of neglecting the U.S. poor. Chavez has described the program as "humanitarian aid," even though average incomes in the United States are about 10 times those in Venezuela.
Which is shorthand for "lets embarrass Bush."
Kennedy asked why no U.S. oil companies have stepped up to fill the gap.
"What about U.S. oil companies?" asked Kennedy, the nephew of slain U.S. president John F. Kennedy. "How come I can't get one barrel of oil from U.S. oil companies?"
The suspension of the heating oil aid would come as easing oil prices make heating oil more affordable for many U.S. families this year -- though rising unemployment has given them a new economic worry.
Emphasis added. And that is the key question. A guy who has no business helping us, and who helped our poor because he could do it and it made for fabulous PR - as in "public relations," not "Puerto Ricans;" otherwise, "fabulous" would be superfluous - had that opportunity because the oil companies wouldn't do it. (To my "free marketer" friends, yes I know, they don't have to do it, but then, these are the type of ridiculous results you get.)
And even now, when their oil is worth 1/3 of what it was, they're still not stepping up to help.Now, who does this affect?
The program served 180,000 U.S. households, 250 shelters and 37 Native American tribes, in the winter of 2006 into 2007, Citgo said on its Web site. It expanded last winter, when heating oil rose above $3 a gallon. The price fell to $2.33 a gallon as of Dec. 29, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
It actually expanded to benefit as many as 235,000 U.S. families in 23 states.
Not that the Wall Street Journal cares, though. Rather than focusing - or even mentioning - the impacts to persons - you know, human beings? - the WSJ only cares about what this says about Venezuela and Evil Hugo:Chavez started the program after meeting the Reverend Jesse Jackson, a U.S. civil rights leader. The program formed the basis of advertising campaigns still visible at the program’s Web site.
“Thanks to oil donated by the people of Venezuela at Citgo, there’s finally help,” Kennedy said in one of the ads.
The move raises questions about whether Mr. Chavez can afford to continue his oil-fueled largess. Venezuela gives cut-priced fuel to many Latin American nations and sends some 100,000 barrels a day of oil and oil products to Cuba in exchange, in part, for the services of 30,000 Cuban doctors, nurses, dentists, and sports trainers. In 2007, Cuba valued total Venezuelan aid at $7.8 billion. Some analysts say Venezuela is now as big a donor to cash-strapped Cuba as the U.S.S.R. was back in the Cold War.Doesn't it make you feel better? "We're screwed but so is Cuba!!"
And before you go and tell me that the price of oil and heating fuel is much cheaper now, it probably doesn't do you any good if you don't have a job or if you're at risk of losing yours.
With crude reaching $145 a barrel this year, the leftist leader has been able to pour billions into social programs at home and lavish the rest abroad, sending subsidized oil from Nicaragua to New York – including up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day to Cuba, discounted by as much as 40 percent – and making pledges to invest in infrastructure, refineries, and agricultural programs everywhere in between.
Now that lower prices are a new norm, at $71.85 a barrel Friday, the clout such largess has earned him could begin to wane. Commodities prices overall are slipping, generating new concern in a region heavily vested in exports of soy, copper, and crude. But it is Chávez who could stand the most to lose: a new report from Deutsche Bank says that Venezuela needs prices to stay at $95 a barrel in order to balance its budget.
Coupled with production declines, Chávez's days as the ultimate benefactor could be coming to a close.
Emphasis added. Like many American investors, Chavez has found out the hard way that "what the market giveth, the market taketh away."
Three Latin American lenders pledged Monday to supply US$9.3 billion in emergency aid to help countries across the region ease cash-supply problems amid the global credit crisis.
This is not surprising to me. However, this is:
The cash will be available for governments, central banks and other financial institutions, as part of a needed joint effort to combat the crisis, the lenders said.Latin American economies might not necessarily need the aid though, because tighter bank regulations and stricter fiscal policies have left them in a better condition than other nations to weather the financial crisis, the Inter-American Development Bank said.
Most Latin American nations have used soaring income from commodity exports to boost currency reserves, narrow budget surpluses and pay down foreign debts, leading government officials and analysts to insist the region is well-positioned to withstand current turmoil.
Emphasis added. In other words, while we've been spending money we don't have, buying houses and cars we cannot afford, and growing a ridiculous deficit, Latin American countries have done the responsible thing for governments and households alike: match spending to earnings and pay down your debts.
And what made it possible was more regulation, not less. It seems like there's something to be learned from this whole thing.
Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. Psalm 126:5
Today we observe the seventh anniversary of the deadly strikes against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the heroic and tragic efforts of the passengers and crew of flight United 93 who lost their lives trying to save themselves and, in the process, averting an even greater disaster. By any rational measure, we were all victimized by these events.
But let us not forget our Chilean brothers and sisters who today observe an equally life-altering event: the 35th anniversary of the overthrow of the only known democratically-elected communist president, Salvador Allende. That coup resulted in thousands of people killed, tortured, mutilated, raped, and disappeared.
And our hands are stained with their blood.
"No podemos permitir que Chile se vaya a las alcantarillas", dijo Kissinger a Jesse Helms, entonces director de la Agencia Central de Inteligencia (CIA).
"Estoy con usted", le respondió Helms en la conversación telefónica que ocurrió el 12 de septiembre de 1970 pocos días después de que Allende iniciara su Gobierno.
Which translates, roughly to
"We cannot allow that Chile goes down the gutter," said Kissinger to Jesse Helms, then Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
"I'm with you," responded Helms in the telephone conversation of September 12, 1970, a few days after Allende took over his government.
Since that day, the U.S. government did everything in its power to create a climate of crisis in Chile and, as Nixon stated, make Chile's economy scream. While U.S. involvement in the coup is neither confirmed or denied, what is undeniable is that U.S. actions created the environment that facilitated the coup from occurring.
Many people say that in September 11 innocent civilians were killed. I agree. They also say that we didn't deserve to be attacked. To quote Clint Eastwood in "Unforgiven," "deserves has nothing to do with it."
We may choose to be blissfully oblivious to the effects of our nation's foreign and monetary polices on other countries. Or we can pick and choose which facts fit our preferred narrative.
What we don't get to choose is how the other countries - or the people in it - react when they feel they've had enough.
So, today on September 11, 2008, my wish for our American, Chilean, and Muslim brothers is the same:
Paz y reconciliación.
Peace and reconciliation.
These events got me thinking about how far behind the U.S. is when it comes to political gender equality when compared to Latin America.
Do you know when Latin America elected its first female president? In 1990. Do you remember who?
Violeta Chamorro was elected President of Nicaragua, and her UNO coalition defeated the Daniel Ortega's Sandinista government (yes, the same Daniel Ortega who now swears his communist ideations back in the '80s were just a bad dream).
Since then, Panamá's Mireya Moscoso, Chile's Michelle Bachelet, and Argentina's Cristina Kirchner have been elected to their nations' highest post. And while "American," though not "Latin," Janet Jagan was elected President of Guyana.
Isn't it ironic that the nation that incessantly boasts about its freedom, justice, and equality has yet to nominate a woman for the top post of its country while Latin American nations ravaged by decades of repressive regimes are having no problem finding and electing capable females?
What's even more interesting, in many Latin American nations, the rise in female political activism and access has been tied to "affirmative action."
Since 1991, 12 Latin American countries have enacted quota laws that in some cases have doubled the number of female congressional representatives. While in the United States women make up just 15 percent of the House of Representatives and 14 percent of the Senate, in Argentina and Costa Rica, women comprise fully one-third of the national congresses.[BRIEF ASIDE: No, I don't consider "affirmative action" to be "quotas," but some people somewhere do. It's a joke.]
Which countries? These ones:
Quotas or not, it is clear that Latin American countries are more receptive to the idea of a female leader than the U.S.Latin American Countries With Legislative Gender Quotas
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, and Peru. Venezuela recently rescinded its law. In Colombia, there is a legal requirement that women occupy 30 percent of appointed positions in the executive branch.
Go figure.
Since finally succeeding his ailing 81-year-old brother, Fidel, in February, Mr. Castro, 76, who appeared before hundreds of thousands of Cubans at a May Day rally on Thursday here in the capital, has been busy with a flurry of changes. In the last eight weeks he has also opened access to cellphones, lifted the ban on Cubans using tourist hotels and granted farmers the right to manage unused land for profit.
Let me tell you, the human mind amazes me, it puts pieces of the 'puzzle' together in ways you just can't understand: I was watching the old boob tube today after a nice dinner, and for some reason I stopped at channel 66, The US Senate. Bush and Fox were clipped talking about how great NAFTA has been for trade between the
Okay, piece one.
I am subscribed to a financial email newsletter, and today I happened to read it instead of deleting it. What caught my eye was this" "The New American Currency." Fired up Google and this is what I get:
And your really, REALLY need to read this. Canadians are upset; WAKE UP AMERICANS, the dollar is going down the tubes!CNBC Interview with Stephen Previs about the Amero.
This video highlights a very serious concern which none of our media is looking into. The Amero is being looked at as the defacto currency of the North American Community (or Union).
Steve Previs: One thing the people who are dollar-based need to focus on is the Amero. That’s the one thing nobody’s talking about that’s going to have a big impact on everybody’s life in Canada, the US and Mexico. If you google it you can find out all about it. The Amero is the proposed new currency for the north American community which is being developed right now between Canada the US and Mexico to make a borderless community much like the EU and the dollar, Canadian dollar, us dollar and the Mexican peso being replaced by the Amero.
Interviewer: You really think that will get any leeway?
Source.
Steve Previs: You may want to visit a couple of web sites to see how far along it is. The Canadians are pretty upset about it whereas the Americans apart from the Texans are the only people who know anything about it the rest of the public is really with their heads in the sand on this one. Click here for more.
This is the reason I don't give too much energy into racism, immigration, and the border - they are all side notes and distractions to this bigger back room deal.
Immigration is good for the financial health of Social Security because more workers mean more tax revenue. Illegal immigration, it turns out, is even better than legal immigration. In the fine print of the 2008 annual report on Social Security, released last week, the program’s trustees noted that growing numbers of “other than legal” workers are expected to bolster the program over the coming decades.Emphasis added. The report can be accessed here.
One reason is that many undocumented workers pay taxes during their work lives but don’t collect benefits later. Another is that undocumented workers are entering the United States at ever younger ages and are expected to have more children while they’re here than if they arrived at later ages. The result is a substantial increase in the number of working-age people paying taxes, but a relatively smaller increase in the number of retirees who receive benefits — a double boon to Social Security’s bottom line.
We’re not talking chump change. According to the report, the taxes paid by other-than-legal immigrants will close 15 percent of the system’s projected long-term deficit. That’s equivalent to raising the payroll tax by 0.3 percentage points, starting today.
That is not to suggest that illegal immigration is a legitimate fix to Social Security’s problems. It is another reminder, however, of the nation’s complex relationship with undocumented workers. Would the people who want to deport all undocumented workers be willing to make up the difference and pay the taxes that the undocumented are currently paying?
On the one hand, unless you're a recalcitrant anti-immigration (or anti-illegal-immigration) advocate, this shouldn't surprise you since it's common sense. The whole point of the no-match letters that are now being used in some towns, counties, cities, or states to establish whether a person is an illegal immigrant is to inform the person that because there is no match, he or she would not be entitled to benefits - or would receive reduced benefits -if he or she did not correct the error.
On the other hand, you really have to wonder about an editorial that pretty much sings the virtues of a system based on the permanent disenfranchisement of an entire group of workers. "They" are such a good thing for "us." While the article raises the issue of whether Americans would be willing to pay higher taxes to make up the difference in revenues, it doesn't discuss the implications of providing a path to citizenship for these workers. What would the picture look like if these workers could receive Social Security benefits when the time comes?
So, for the NY Times, it seems it's OK to exploit "them" as long as it benefits "us."
