Denial: Not a river in Africa

This could be the funniest lead-in paragraph I've read this year. From this report in Mercopress (with h/t to borev):

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said that whether he is re-elected for a third running mandate is “in God’s hands”, but he does not want future generations to think that he was attached to power, reported Bogotá’s newspaper El Espectador.

Waddya say, owl?

Ok, the God thing is always shuffled to the top of the deck by politicos of all shades and flavours...but not attached to power? I laughed and laughed. And then laughed some more. The guy has forced through not one but two freakin' constitutional amendments to hang on to his job!

For sure the same thing can be said of Hugo next door, but that doesn't change the power-madness shown by Uribe over the years. You gotta wonder about the dude's psychological stability when he comes out with balderdash like this.

Honduras update: The hypocrisy shows through

Isn't it amazing that the pieces of shit who illegally threw out President Zelaya to "protect the constitution" have suddenly become so desperate to cling on to power that they suspend the very same constitution?

This from top English language site Honduras Coup 2009, first paragraph:

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

No More Constitution

The Micheletti regime, about 4 am this morning, violently dislodged the protesters outside the Brazilian embassy with tear gas, pepper spray and water canons. Radio Globo reports THEY SUSPENDED THE CONSTITUTION and declared a state of emergency. Among the rights suspended are the right of free circulation and assembly.

Continues here

UPDATE: Quotha has been doing some great updating work on the fast-breaking story. Find the site here.

Constitution Mining (CMIN.ob); You were told

I know you were told cos it was me what did the telling just two days ago with the stock up there at the sillytop. Market cap of $110m, no assets and a stretch of water in Peru with tiny amounts of gold in the sands underneath. No cash, no enviro permit to dredge, an 18 month drill program...gotta love you investor-type people.

BUT FEAR YE NOT! There's still plenty of time to clean up on this thing, cos if you still fancy this as a short you're not too late. Please insert SFX of that specialcracking splintering sound a tree makes just before lumberjack yells 'timber' cos this dog is going back to whence it came.

UPDATE: Listen, people...listen carefully. I'm now getting mails and comments from people called "anonymous" who are just spewing out company promo spiel in their own words and calling me stupid and stuff and nonsense. If you're one of those people then believe it or not I'm actually trying to help you here. If you are trying to justify your investment mistake to me then you're wasting your time, but the worst thing about it is that you're trying to justify it to yourself. Believe me here, you're wrong about this company. I'm looking at you straight in the eye and I'm telling you with my best serious face that you are wrong. It's worth a tenth of its present market cap at best. You need to stop wading in to TheNextBigThing™ investment in junior mining on the word of some bullshit promoter on a chatroom board and a slick company-made PR campaign and read the SEC filings on companies instead. I was talking about a different stock to a e-mail pal a couple of days ago and I remarked that I still find it astonishing that people will buy into companies, especially junior mining companies, without reading the regulatory filings first. So please, do yourself a favour and 1) don't waste your time writing to me with your arrogant and misinformed nonsense about this stock (or any other scam mining stock for that matter) and 2) learn to be a better investor...not for me, cos I don't care. Swallow some of that foolish pride and start being serious about junior miners, cos there will always be a bunch of scamster sharks waiting for you and your money. Always have been and always will be.

Honduras: Congress suspends constitutional rights

This is Honduras (photo taken today)

The new blog out of Honduras is called "Honduras Frente Al Golpe De Estado" (Honduras Confronts the Coup D'Etat...more or less). Make it part of your RSS feed as there are already 13 posts and a lot of information and photos available at the site For example this post entitled "Individual Guarantees (rights) Suspended".

The following is spine-chilling for anyone who knows their LatAm history. I wrote when all this started on Sunday "welcome to the 1980's"...well forget that, we're now in the 1970's of dictatorship, Dirty War Argentina. Remember that this usurper Micheletti has illegally seized power by claiming some sort of technical infringement of the constitution on the part of Zelaya. But as soon as he has control he simply suspends six fundamental articles of the very same constitution that pertain to public freedom. This is nothing short of outrageous. This is the direct road to secret police, disappeared people and every other Latin American nightmare of the last century. Do you support what you're about to read "in the name of freedom and democracy?" Shame on anyone with a word to defend this scum. Shame on you.

The following constitutional rights have been suspended by the Honduran congress under the de facto command of Roberto Micheletti between the hours of 9pm and 5am Also, congress has given the right to hold a person without arrest or allowing contact with the outside world for 24 hours (renewable, of course, which means they can be held indefinitely without trial or disclosure). My translation.

SUSPENDED, Article 71: No person can be detained for more than 24 hours without being presented to the orders of the competent authority for judgment. Judicial inquiry detention cannot exceed six days from the moment of detention.

SUSPENDED, Article 78: Freedom of association and reunion is guaranteed as long as it does not contravene public order and good custom.

SUSPENDED, Article 81: All persons have the right of free passage, to leave enter and stay in national territory. No person can be forced to move from their domicile or residence, except in special circumstances and when the requisits of law allow.

SUSPENDED, Article 84: No person can be arrest or detained without the virtue of a written mandate of the competent authority, expidited with legal formalities and for a motive previously established by law. However, in-fragranti criminals may be apprehended by any person in order to deliver them to authorities. The arrested or detained must be informed in the act and with total clarity of their rights and the reasons for the arrest; also, the authority must communicate theri detention to a family member of choice.

SUSPENDED, Article 88: No class of violence or coercion may be exercised on persons to force or make them declare. In a penal, disciplinary or police issue, nobody can be made to declare against themself, against a spouse or living companion, or against family members inside fourth grade of bloodline or second of affinity. Only in front of a competent judge make statements be taken. Any decalration obtained by infringement of these dispositions is null and void.

SUSPENDED, Article 99: The domicile cannot be violated. No entry or register can take place without the consent of the person who resides in the domicile or without a resolution from acompentent authority. However, the domicile may be searched in the case of emergency to impede the commission or the impunity of a crime or to avoid serious harm to person or property.

Thank you Gran Combo Club for reminding me: The magnificent mural "Gloriosa Victoria" by Diego Rivera, 1954. A celebration of the Guatemala coup backed by the United Fruit Company

Honduras: Internal dissent and legal moves inside the country to stop Micheletti

By cartoonist "Bonil"

Looks like there are some brave judges and legal beagles standing up to the usurper Micheletti inside Honduras. This from Prensa Latina (lefty bias newswire, but ok when sticking to facts)

Teguigalpa, 30 (PL). Judges and independent lawyers in Honduras today presented a demand against the de facto President, Roberto Micheletti, the military coup high command and congress for violation of the constitution and law.

The president of the association of Judges For Democracy, Guillermo López, confirmed to Prensa Latina that a blocking order (amparo) in favour of the constitutional President, Manuel Zelaya, had been delivered to the Supreme Court.

López said that articles 81 and 102 of the constitution establish that no Honduran can be deported or forced out of the country, as occurred last Sunday with the head of state after his kidnapping by masked soldiers.

The blocking order (amparo) demands that this guarantee is returned to President Zelaya and that he is repatriated immediately, explained the judge. CONTINUES HERE

Colombia: Unless your media is two-faced up there...

Puppet jokes, anyone?

.........you'll be hearing howls of anti-democratic, thug, dictator etc thrown at Alvaro Uribe (da dude dat got da medal from da Bush last year) as he re-writes Colombia's constitution and lets himself run for a third time as Prez (Spanish language link).

So get ready for the cacophony of boos, hisses and general shouts of "oh you nasty man" from Fox, the WSJ, WaPo, all the McClatchy tribe (headed up by the Miami Herald).

Or maybe not.

Mojitos served.

UPDATE: Borev got the story, too. He's even found a link to an English language report that I can't be bothered to link here, so go find it over there.

Evo Morales gets to have breakfast

"Oh crap, my cornflakes have gone mouldy and green! Look everybody!"

1. The Bolivian congress last night approved the 75 or 83 (depending on which way you count) necessary items and details of the constitution.

2. Evo now eating a large bowl of breakfast. ¡Buen provecho, doctor!

3. He'll probably turn up at the Summit of the Americas now.

4. The end.

Chart of the day is....

...how Venezuela voted yesterday.

A very simple chart as that's all you need to know. The whining and handwringing by the defeated opposition has started, of course. We hear how this is terrible for the economy....sorry guys, change the recording, that was the same crap you told us in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. What's your point here? That the US economy is in great shape compared to Venezuela?

An economic "sad but true": If it weren't a 'Bolivarian Revolution' in power in Venezuela, the country would still in deep in the economic caca going forward. Venezuela has proved time and time again that it makes hay while the oil sun shines and goes through a slump when oil drops. Name me a single Venezuelan government (since oil has had its place has a geopolitical bargaining chip) that hasn't been economically irresponsible by your own definition?

(crickets)

(sound of breeze through empty streets)

(tumbleweed passes)

Or in other words, if the only finger left to point is at the 2009 economy, you still haven't learned a thing. Which is why you continue losing to Chávez. Nuff said.


UPDATE 6pm EST: We need to tweak those numbers a little, as Venezuela's CNE electoral body has just updated the result. It's now

YES 54.85%
NO 45.14%

That's with 99.57% of the votes counted. So a 9.7% gap between the two sides. That's a win, folks. Participation at 70% was pretty high.

Venezuela: Gov't claiming victory

Ali Rodriguez (for it is he)

For your information, here below is this Spanish language report from Spain's "El Economista" as put through the Ottotrans™. Seems very early to me to call victory......

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The "YES" option in Venezuela re-election the referendum has an "irreversible advantage" according to exit polls cited by the Minister of Finance and director of the government PSUV party, Alí Rodríguez.

"Today is certainly a day for celebration" said Rodríguez at a PSUV press conference, one hour and thirty minutes before the close of voting, stipulated at 22:20GMT.

"From what the exit polls are saying the tendency is irreversible and the answer that the people has given is irreversible" said Rodríguez, who called on the opposition not to forment acts of violence and recognize the result.

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Meanwhile, El Chigüire brings us this exclusive photo of Chávez voting today:


UPDATE, 8:10pm EST
It sure looks like Chávez has his win and by a relatively comfortable margin, too. Exit polls just released have the "YES" winning by a minimum of 53% and a maximum of 60.9%. Here are the four exit polls released up to now:

PLM Group: YES 60.9%, NO 39.4%
CGC: YES 56%, NO 44%
IVAD: YES 54%, NO 46%
Consul 3011: YES 53%, NO 47%

But the really good news is that Da Boorev is on the case, in the house and at the keyboard, so follow all the fun as he updates and updates on the unfolding results until he get drunk and starts calling us all his best pals. Here's the link.

Venezuela vote things

1. The election is proceeding calmly, which is good. There is one seemingly isolated incident so far, where eleven people in the Tachíra area were detained temporarily following the failed attempt to mess with a voting machine and the destruction of some vote receipts. Apart from that, both pro-gov't and opposition people agree that the vote is being carried out in a free and fair way.

2. El Chigüire is still the best blog to follow (Spanish language). Check this out...just wonderful.

3. Bloomberg has a timeline post up today that shows major moments in the political life of Hugo Chávez. You can argue with the small comments if you like, I suppose, but there's hardly anything too inflammatory there. A useful source to get a basic handle on things.

Venezuelan Election: your best source for information.....

....is definitely not IncaKolaNews.

IKN could direct you to the Venezuelan media sites, but they're all BS.

IKN could direct you to the Venezuelan politicoblogs, but they're all rabid. I for one am fed up to the back teeth of the word "fraud" in context of Venezuelan elections and it's used on both sides of the equation.

But happily, there is one website that offers a sharp view of all things referendum and it's one that your humble correspondent can recommend completely. It has the correct attitude and understands just how serious all this is. So please click this link and make your way to Frustracion 2009 over at El Chiguire Bipolar. The future of Venezuela depends on your visit to the rodent.

Impressive advertising from Venezuela

Just as a bit of background, when I lived in Buenos Aires I used to hang out with people that worked at one of the large advertising agencies (the country branch of one of the multinational concerns). I remember well the day they told me one of the keys to any advertising campaign in South America:

"Speak to them as you speak to a five year old"*

So anyway, that memory flooded back when I saw this advert that's part of the Venezuelan government's "YES" campaign for Sunday's vote. Here's the original (and you gotta love the facial expressions on display here).....

....and here's an Ottotrans™ version I've just put together for your delectation.

Y'see, it's not just Fox News that talks to you like this.

*Translated, and with the swear words extracted

Cui bono indeed

From the days when reporters made sense

In Venezuela tonight, the HQ building of opposition party 'Accion Democratica' was attacked by a grenade with some material damage reported. You'd never believe there was a key national referendum vote just a few days away, would you?

Meanwhile, 11 of the people that attacked a synagogue in Caracas last week and handily left a video of themselves on site have been arrested. The merry troupe includes seven police officers. By the way, after reading that Reuters note linked that finishes off on this flourish.....

"...Despite the government's assurances, some Chavez supporters are openly anti-Semitic and graffiti has become a common sight on Caracas' streets since the Israel's offensive in Gaza, which killed nearly 1,300 people."

.....this post from Borev today is well worth a visit. In it, we get our memory jogged about how the USA managed to use lapdog media to promote BS about anti-semitism in 1980's Central America....y'know, just before all the invasions and Contra and death squads and related pleasantries. A big bone goes as reward to Reuters' Frank Jack Daniel. Sit, boy!

Cui bono indeed, bina.

News roundup

Oooh, I love a parade. Click on the photo for
a big image of yesterday's Evo-party

Bolivia has its new constitution. Evo signed on the dotted line yesterday in front of about half a million people and the whole thing is now official. He called it "the end of neoliberalism" (in Bolivia, I presume) and gave thanks to historical characters such as Tupac Katari. Rain and sleet in El Alto, La Paz didn't spoil the parade. Evo rocks.

xxxxx

Ecuador: Thanks to the dozen or so people that have mailed me with the "Correa Expels US Diplomat" story. It is a case of 'you can't fire me cos I quit' cos the dude in question. Armando Astorga, had already been retired from Ecuador on what the US Embassy called 'a normal rotation of staff'. Smell the BS? Yeah, me too.

Anyway, Studmuffin sure likes to make a scene (he announced it as part of Radio MUFN), but he's well within his rights here; this was a classic case of foreign diplo meddling in national affairs. In the end it's no biggie, but as reader MG said in his mail last night, "I just like how the embassy/state dept hasn't lost it's talent for playing dumb post-Bush". Quite right, MG.

xxxxx

Peru: Isn't it strange how the mining companies that treat their workers as slaves are nearly always the ones that suffer accidents? Following on from the five dead in La Escondida, Peru last month, another five are trapped (and the worst is currently presumed) by a rockfall in one of the tunnels of the Casapalca mine, East of Lima. This is the same mine featured in this recent note that includes:

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Casapalca is run by the Peruvian Gubbins family, and has a long history of treating its workforce like slaves. In June last year this report highlighted how the workforce was made to work seven days a week for a basic monthly salary of 675 Soles. However even that low number is whittled down through various deductions and becomes 343 Soles (about U$110) in take home pay. To add insult to injury, the company then charges each of its workers between 100 and 150 soles per month for living quarters (and by that I mean 100 soles for a 2m X 2m shoebox just big enough for a bed).

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Nuff said.

xxxxx

In Argentina, things are beginning to heat up in the run to the congressional elections at the end of the year. Now that the summer break season is drawing to a close there, lines are beginning to be drawn and the atmosphere is already getting bitter. The main line of interest is the "Kirchner versus Duhalde" fight, with the ex-presidents battling for the hearts and minds of the Peronist party. There's a lot to unfold from here so watch this space as 2009 progresses.

A few people who'll probably be voting "NO" on February 15th

In Caracas today, opposition to Chávez's February 15th constitutional referendum vote that will let him (and all other politicos) run again for office put on an impressive and peaceful march. The route was 10.2km long and the turnout was put at 600,000 by the organizers. That numbers sounds overexaggerated to lil ol' me, but on the other hand the gov't is bullshitting when it says the turnout was low. What with one thing and another, you can bank on there being 300,000 people in the merry parade, a very tidy number. Here's the Reuters version of the proceedings and here's how Bloomie covered the march today.

As for the opinion polls, recent ones from the more respected firms (e.g. datanalisis, which although not perfect isn't bad) put the balance in favour of the "YES" vote that Hugo wants by 51.5% to 48%, more or less, with the momentum in the YES favour. Let's see if today's march can turn the tide in any way. Friends of Otto in Venezuela witha more-or-less neutral political view say that the whole caboodle will depend on the turnout on polling day, with the more people voting the better it is for Hugo.

So the stage is set for the last week before the vote. Make no mistake, this is a big moment for Chávez and Venezuela and will set the tone for years to come. Personally it's a tough one to call, so i'll limit myself to hoping that the peaceful attitude of both Chávez supporters and opposition shown so far (with a few Molotov-esque exceptions) is extended all the way through.

Change we can believe in, you know

Yeah look, Bolivia is...you know... mentioned in today's White House press briefing. The spooky thing is that it was...you know... an almost positive aspect, too. That's probably because they caught....you know... acting spokesperson Robert Wood on the hop. You know? Yeah?

Here's the most vitalest piece of the transcript. Like in the end who cares about Gaza and Guantanamo and stuff? Cos look......they're not LatAm........ you know.

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MR. WOOD: Yeah. Look, we congratulate the Bolivian people on the referendum. And you know, I don’t think the results are final at this point, but we look forward to working with the Bolivian Government in ways we can to further democracy and, you know, prosperity in the hemisphere.

QUESTION: Did this – and do you have an opinion on whether this referendum furthered democracy in Bolivia?

MR. WOOD: Well, a free, fair, you know, democratic process certainly does contribute positively. What I said was that I wanted to wait until we can see, you know, the final results. But we certainly congratulate the Bolivian people on that referendum.

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The final results will be announced February 4th, by the way.

Evo vs Jesus Christ: Evo still wins

Via The Mex Files, your asleep-at-the-wheel Otto finally gets to see what Jim Schultz at Blog From Bolivia (excellent blog, btw) has been watching on his TV in Cochabamba, Bolivia. You guys up North that complain about negative political adverts have a lot to learn.

Jim Schultz’ “Blog from Bolivia” reports on the political ad campaign:

One ad, seeking a No vote, touts a bloody fetus and declares that the new constitution would legalize abortion. It doesn’t, nor does it come close to doing so. Another ad shows two men kissing, beckons voters to “not be a part of the sin” and urges a No vote. The new constitution includes vague language about discriminatation based on sexual orientation. The best ad of the bunch features side-by-side images of President Evo Morales, the constitution’s main promoter, with Jesus Christ (who to my knowledge has remained neutral so far). Declaring that the new constitution eliminates religious rights (another, ‘it doesn’t') the ad asks voters, “Whose side are you on?”

Jesus, who has not run for public office in Bolivia, is a popular figure here.

Bolivia goes to the polls tomorrow

In a couple of pretty classless moves to try and affect the vote tomorrow, foreign press are getting in on the Whack-An-Evo game. Firstly CNN, which tried its very hardest to lay out the non-existent terrorist trail between Bolivia and Iran. CNN also wheeled out the usual biased, uninformed bullshit about the narcotrafficking in Bolivia. His Evoness himself said that "everyone knows what CNN's orientation is."

Secondly, El Pais interviewed racist leader the Santa Cruz thugs, Branko Marinkovic. Not one difficult question about his UJC hit-squad or a mention of how they terrorize and beat up indigenous locals. Nothing about the attempted coup or how he's refused to answer court orders to explain his role in last year's insurrection. All El Pais threw to the shit were softballs, but even then he couldn't help but show his non-democracy. At the end, Branko signs off with, "The government must understand that it can't govern against the will of half the country."

Now even if that "half the country" thing were true it would be a call to ignore a democratically elected administration, but this illusion of a country torn in half has long since been proven false. As seen in this post at the time of the recall referendum, the only place in the whole country with significant opposition majority is Santa Cruz, and then it's not even the region but the city we're talking about. It's like supposing a political spat between New York and the USA means "A Country Torn in Half".

But never, mind, because media can bleat all they like; tomorrow Evo wins by legal, decent, honest and truthful democratic one-person-one-vote means. So screw the racist scumbags and the lapdog media they ride in on.

Evo gets an anniversary gift

Evo pays tribute to Aretha Franklin

Happy anniversary Meester President, as Doctor Evo Morales celebrates three years in charge of Bolivia today. And suck as it must for the rabid fascist opposition to even consider admitting it, the country has done very well under Evo for the past three years, attempted coup d'etats by the asshole racist scum notwithstanding.

So by way of a anniversary gift, Evo gets his own State run newspaper as of today. Called "Cambio" (Change) it's an attempt to combat the obvious media bias the government runs against. Here's Reuters with a nicely done report on the new daily paper.

Evo checks out the photos of the nekkid girls on page 3

And remember, we're now just four days away from Sunday's big constitutional referendum vote where Evo is bound to whip all tushes. I'm marking down my forecast for Sunday at 68% "yes". Anyone want to play the $10 for charity betting game this time?

Bolivia: Evo gets his law through Congress

The scene in Plaza Murillo last night

Evo Morales stayed in La Paz's main square, Plaza Murillo, last night with a few of his followers. "I'm staying here with the people. Without the law (passed), nobody goes home" was his exact quote. In fact he stayed with his few followers for 18 hours overnight in the Plaza until, just recently, Congress passed the law which states the constitution goes to Referendum on January 25th 2009, and then Presidential elections are held in December 2009. Evo can run in those elections but if he wins his mandate definitively ends in 2014 (part of the deal cut with opposition members of congress).

You have to admire Evo's style; however much the racist fascist crap known as the medialuna rebels would like to paint him as an ignorant country bumpkin, he's proven time after time that he's a highly intelligent, consummate politician that cares deeply about Bolivia, its people and its future. The last two days are pretty emblematic in fact; he joined the big march at 6am, yesterday, walked at the head of the column for nine hours and then camped out amongst his people for another 18 hours until the law was finally passed. The mutual respect between Morales and his supporters is impressive to say the very least, and many, many modern politicians of any or all political leanings would do well to study Morales' way. Total kudos from Otto to Evo.

Oh....I mentioned "a few followers stayed the night"; that "few" has been reliably counted at no less than 300,000 people who marched on La Paz yesterday and stuck around with Evo. That works out as 3% of the entire population of Bolivia camped out in Plaza Murillo last night, and if you need some concept of that imagine nine million US citizens turning up to march on Washington DC in support of their President. If that doesn't impress you, nothing will.

You still think Evo is in a position of weakness and Bolivia is "on the brink" as so many English news media services would like you to believe? Think again, and stop swallowing their BS propaganda wholesale.