deja vu all over again

I first saw this a few months ago....

(click to enlarge)

...and at the time it was just funny. Not so funny anymore.

USA denies Chávez assassination plot

If you're a media dude in the LatAm of today and you want to create your own personal false polemic that grabs a corner of the limelight, here's a rough guide. Follow the bouncing ball, people:

1) Start some wild rumour that attacks the Venezuela of Hugo Chávez, or just pick up on the latest BS being chattered around the ruling class bars and restaurants in Caracas/Maracaibo.

2) Collar some government lackey as they leave office at the end of the day, or at a cocktail reception or in the local McDonalds or wherever.

3) Ask him/her if there is any truth in the rumour that yada yada...

4) Diligently note the response

5) Bingo! You got yourself a headline.

And also note that, far from being jealous, other media dudes will be happy to feed off your BS and run stories such as "According to a report in the Daily Blabber, Venezuela rejected all yada yada blah blah.....". So imagine for a second if that kind of trash journalism was allowed to happen in "the serious countries". You'd quickly get headlines such as "USA Denies Chávez Assassination Plot" or "The UK Denies Insurgency Campaign in Bolivia" or "Sarkozy Insider Denies Presidential Cocaine Habit" or whatever.

This note was brought to you by the following sponsors:

"International Herald Tribune", "Venezuela Denies Iran-Syria Missile Report"

"El Universal", "Venezuela Denies Prescence of FARC Bosses In Country"

"Reuters", "Venezuela Denies Mulls Changes To Forex Rate System"

"Associated Press", "Venezuela Denies Report That Chávez Invited Russia To Open Military Base In Venezuela"

There are another 10,000 or so of these; just Google "Venezuela denies" and see what happens for yourself.

Bolivia, cocaine, the USA, trade deals and dem pesky russkies

Last week President Dubya made a special point of emphasizing just how naughty Bolivia was because it wasn't cooperating with the USA's idea of cocaine eradication (y'know, the one that has thrown over U$6.7 Billion at Colombia in the last seven years with the net result of 50% more cocaine production in that country). Luckily, this has nothing to do with Colombia being special friends or Bolivia being horrid yankee-haters and we certainly know this because Condi Rice told us today. In her presser on the subject she said "The United States does not set ideological examinations", so we can all rest easy on that score, folks. I mean....since when did this admin ever lie to us?

But Condi's speech today was marked by a distinct softening of tone towards Bolivia. Instead of taking her boss's No Soup For You attitude, Condi said things like "it would be unfortunate to have to separate Bolivia from the preferential trade agreement" and that "we remain willing to work with the Bolivian government", which is a far, far cry from Dubya's " Sadly, I have proposed to suspend Bolivia's trade preferences until it fulfills its obligations" of just one week ago.

Why the apparent change in protocol-tongue, people? Well Otto thinks it has a lot...I mean a LOT to do with this report filed by ABI today. Here's the full Ottotranslation in English:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

La Paz 23 Oct (ABI).- The Russian ambassador in Bolivia, Leonid Golulev, this Thursday offered the support of his country to collaborate in the fight against nacrotrafficking being undertaken by the government of Evo Morales.

"We are going to cooperate with what Bolivia requires in the fight against narcotrafficking because equal with Bolivia, Russia is a victim of this evil" he told the press at the gates of the Presidential Palace after meeting with the head of state.

He also stated that a delegation led by the Vice-Minister of Social Defence, Felipe Cáceres, will travel to Russia to finalize the bilateral agreement in the fight against narcotrafficking.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Interesting stuff, no? To round off, Bolivia also announced today that its own coca eradication program was going very well and that its goverment had rid Bolivia of 4,613 hectares of its 2008 target of 5,000 hectares; nicely on course, in other words. What? Didn't your gov't tell you about Bolivia's own initiatives? How forgetful of them.............

This year's APEC meeting might get pretty explosive

Via Reuters and not one but three people writing in (thanks to you all), here's a very interesting story that hit the wires today. It seems as though the left-wing terrorist group Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) are making a bit of a comeback unfortunately, as on Monday this week 50 of the band took over a outcamp of Peru mining and smelting company Doe Run in the Andean foothills East of Lima. After giving them a long lecture of the ills of the world and how they're right about everything, Sendero stole a bunch of stuff including antibiotics, a radio and, spookily, a whole shitload of dynamite.

Why is this spooky? Well, as Reuters rightly points out, dynamite was one of the weapon of choice amongst SL members back in the 1980s and 90s. And then there's the little matter of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit coming to Peru this year and starting on November 20th. This is a big, big protocol event, and at least 20 heads of state are due to visit Peru including those of Russia, Japan, Australia and all the Americas (including a dude called Bush who'll be making his final trip as prez).

Expect....how can I say this?...tight security. Like "tight" as in "a sparrow farts within 500 paces and it gets arrested".

Keep on rockin' da free world, people.