Mary Anastasia O'Grady, winner of this week's coveted award

And before you say anything, it's not the politics, either. Yeah, sure we all know Mary Anastasia O'Grady is right wing and we know her employer is right wing. Look...ok....fine...she's going to try and win one for Dubya and Gipper and although not a personal taste, it's not STFU material. What we're talking about here is a serial ignorance of Latin American affairs that has no excuse possible amongst sentient beings.

• When she writes about Honduras, people who really know about Honduras (eg Rhodes' scholars living and working there) spot the glaring factual errors in nanoseconds.

• When she writes about Bolivia, people who really know about Bolivia (as well as a whole bunch of eggheads) blow away her false statements and blather without even pausing for breath.

• When she writes about El Salvador, her deceptions and lies even manage to evoke the ire of a Lutherian minister who is a leading authority on the country (e.g. invited election observer, many years in country, trusted by all the political spectrum etc etc).

• When she writes about Ecuador, her blatantly false accusations piss off the country's President so much that he slaps a lawsuit on her paper's tush.

And you'll note (to spare us all some pain) I haven't even mentioned Venezuela on that list. So please, Mary Anastasia O'Grady, for once in your life do a bit of fact checking and pretend that your readership are not morons just waiting to get their brains washed, rinsed and repeated.

Either that or just

The beating heart of Peru's economic miracle revealed by The Wall Street Journal

Here's how Peru's top three export products for 2009 look like stacking up.

That cocaine number comes from this report in the WSJ with this as the moneyline...

"...the estimated $20 billion annually that Peruvian cocaine fetches abroad."

..that is also making the headlines in Peru today.

No wonder the Sanchez-Paredes family votes APRA, eh?

The WSJ, Micheletti and a girl with a machete

Fake usurper person Micheletti got himself on the op-ed pages of the WSJ this morning, making his case as to why it was legal to pull all the illegal stunts he pulled on his elected president.

I was going to do a rundown of just how silly his argument is but have been busy with non-internetwebpipes things today and didn't get round to it. But now there's no need for this humble corner of cyberspace to lift nary a finger, as Machetera has chopped the arrogance into a thousand tiny pieces and pulled back the curtain to reveal the true truth of it all. Far better than anything this blog could ever have done, here's the Machetera link so go see for yourself this object lesson in demolishing an argument with pzazz, charm and wit.

Ecuador, ATPDEA and "US business groups"

Here's a funny one. A certain amount of chagrin in The Wall Street Journal today about the decision to keep Ecuador inside the ATPDEA trade program. Here's the moneyline

U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday that Ecuador would continue to enjoy trade preferences, while extending Bolivia's suspension from the program........While the decision on Bolivia was expected, U.S. business groups had hoped that Ecuador would also be taken off the program due to what they consider an unfavorable investment climate in the country.

Those "U.S. Business groups" include, of course The Wall Street Journal itself, as Correa is about to sue the newspaper's ass for defamation about Mary Nasty O'Grady's recent bullshit lies on Correa and his country. "We're going to file suit against that newspaper because we're fed up of its lies", said Correa.

Hey....the WSJ can still have a gloat about Bolivia, can't it..

Snippets and rumours and different countries and things

Think about it

The silly lamenting over the imminent demise of Venezuela's economy (pointed out this morning by your humble correspondent) has become so obvious that even a numbers zero such as borev has noticed a pattern. Luckily he's better at writing and things than Otto, so it's well worth clicking this link.

Meanwhile, guess what The USA's greatest friend and regional ally Alvaro Uribe said about Hugo's victory? Ready for a diatribe of criticism and fears for the future of Venezuela? Here's English language daily Colombia Reports with the quote: "I will respond positively with a feeling of brotherhood with the Venezuelan people and I want to publicly congratulate President Chávez for the democratic victory and the Venezuelan people for participating in a referendum." Explain that to Andres Oppenheimer, confusedgringoperson.

Now, what would a tiny, smelly (and recurring) little piece of horrid rumour about Kinross (KGC) and Russia heard by yours truly last week have to do with this note by Mish today? Something to do with the country running out of money? I dunno how all this fits together.........

I like it when someone tells the Wall St. Journal to go kiss their collective asses. It's even better when the teller can point out the factual errors made by the WSJ on its front page. Alex Dalmady has had a productive day one as a blogger, glad to say.

Chile's copper export revenues dropped 58% (fifty-eight percent!) YoY in January, which is a main ingredient in Chilean suits saying the country will grow by just 1.4% in FY09. But this drop in copper prices apparently won't affect world's number two producer Peru, as President Twobreakfasts today said it would grow 5.5% GDP in 2009. Peru's December growth was 4.9%. Nuff said.