hypertense Lula

Brazilian Prez Lula da Silva (aka Yoda) was about to board his plane to go see the other jetsetters in Davos yesterday when he succumbed to an attack of hypertension (likely brought on by overwork and job stress, say the docs). He didn't make that flight and was instead taken to a local hospital where I'm glad to say he's recovering well. Here's the photo from early this morning to prove it.

So the award of 'global statesman' that the suits at Davos were going to pin on his chest will have to wait for another day, as Lula is looking happy enough being pampered by pretty nurses.

Lenin Moreno, Ecuador's Vice President, hospitalized for blood loss in Lima, Peru

A strange story just hitting the airwaves. Lenin Moreno, Ecuador's Veep and number two politico behind Correa, was hospitalized in Lima, Peru today due to blood loss. Details of how the blood was lost are not known as yet, but apparently it started while he was at his hotel in Lima this morning. Moreno has been confined to a wheelchair since 1998 after being shot during an attempted robbery.

He was admitted as an emergency case but right now is out of danger, according to the sketchy reports at least. He is still under observation in the Lima Armed Forces hospital.

The scorpion is unwell: Spare a thought for René Higuita

News through from Colombia today is that René Higuita, the famous Colombian goalkeeper who was capped 68 times for his country in the 90s (and still has plans to get back as Colombia's goalie), has gone into hospital suffering from debilitating migraines and that nobody really understands the cause.

The news today took me back 14 years to a moment at Wembley Stadium when England played Colombia. Higuita has always pulled off wild stunts while playing (who remembers his dribbles to the halfway line?) but in the 22nd minute of the Eng/Col game saw Higuita pull off what was voted by fans last year as the best ever single moment in footballing history; The Scorpion.

Here's the youtube video of the moment. If you know it, you'll remember it like yesterday. If you don't know it, have a look at what you simply cannot possibly do while playing for your country...unless you're one of the most talented and craziest goalkeepers ever, of course. Unforgettable.

Get well soon, René, one of the people that makes South America the wonderful place that it is. Mystery head problems are no fun at all. Best wishes from a fan.

Peru: The Twobreakfasts GDP growth obsession bears its bitter fruit

Twobreakfasts "inaugurates" a sham in Santa Anita

On February 6th, Alan Garcia inaugurated a new S/25m geriatrics hospital in Santa Anita, in the Lima conurbation. There for the cameras were plenty of beds with plenty of occupants and a President Twobreakfasts that assured the thronging throng that Peru would inaugurate "a hospital per month" over the next 16 months.

It was a total sham. As soon as the cameras had gone the hundred or so human props, aka pensioners that deserve respect and treatment and simply get ignored and ridiculed by their government were shipped out of the "newly opened" centre. Up to last Thursday when Peruvian TV's 'Canal N' produced a special report on the hospital, there were no patients in situ. As soon as the cameras showed up authorities found three pensioners to lie amongst the builder's rubble and unconnected electricity cables, but even then the cameras captured near farcical scenes of ambulances arriving with old age pensioners and failing to find an unlocked door to get the poor souls inside.

This is the world of Twobreakfasts in microcosm. Screw the people, just give them a media show and dazzle with statistics. Yes, that S/25m was invested and added to Peru's infamous GDP growth figure. But the amount of true benefit that this S/25m has brought to the people that matter (Peruvians, not foreign bondholders) is precisely zero soles.

So when will this hospital eventually open properly? Nobody seems to know. The head of the EsSalud health service yesterday said that they planned to have a third of the 178 beds filled "in March", but there must be doubts that the building will be ever be equipped and staffed properly, something true for the other 15 hospitals on this "one a month" program. The government recently showed just how empty the coffers really are when it admitted that it didn't have the U$25m needed to finish the much delayed Fawcatt bypass that should have connected Callao to Lima many months back. There's always money for Alan's friends in the homebuilding business (his connections are deep, long-lasting and have been very profitable over the years), but when it comes to wasting money on social care and throwing it down the black hole of public services, things suddenly grind to a halt

The new hospitals program totals U$320m (over a billions Soles) in investments that, please note, is already added to the artificially created growth calculations for 2009 and beyond. It matters not to this charlatan of a President and his corrupt-to-the-core government lackeys that no benefit comes from his obsession with GDP growth. It's clear to those that watch Peru that Twobreakfasts doesn't care about anything but the money. Alan Garcia is Latin America's least popular President and this is not some statistical fluke. Ask Peruvians about him, not the English-language media.