personal shopper dot com branches out

I was going to write a line or two about the 10 US citizens nabbed at the border in Haiti who were trying to illegally smuggle 33 post-earthquake orphans out of the country, but there's not much point any more. Machetera has nailed it already in a far better post than I could ever manage. Here's an excerpt, read the rest here:

One of the most interesting things about the few news articles that have trickled out so far about the US Americans from Idaho who are currently under arrest in Port au Prince for trying to kidnap 33 Haitian children is that none of them mention the terrible irony in the occupation of the leader of the bunch, Laura Silsby. Silsby, according to her own website, is the “founder and CEO of [Boise, Idaho based] PersonalShopper.com, a leader in the evolution of personalizing the e-commerce experience for women.”

continues here

Honduras Oye

If it's good enough for Machetera, it's good enough for me.

First go over to Machetera to review what she calls the best blog on Honduras affairs. Machetegirl dixit:

"Of all of the blogs that came to life, either newly created, or revived, as a result of the June 28 coup d’etat in Honduras, one stands out, particularly for English language readers..."

Then make your way over to Honduras Oye and keep up to date with what's happening inside the country in the best way possible. End of reco. Now use it*.



*Are you still here? Go on, go now.

Bolivia: Possibly up to 70 deaths in the Pando Massacre

Four of many bodies in Pando

The Blog Machetera does a fine job in translating hot-off-the-press news from Bolivia. Go visit for the full story, but here are two snippets:

According to constituent Veimar Becerra, the figure could be higher. “According to my calculations, I who am familiar with the place, there are around 70 dead,”

“It’s not a movie, it’s the truth: there were children, women, we don’t know how many were killed, the attack, the ambush began at 10 and went on until 5 in the afternoon. I got away because I hid in the bushes,” a survivor of the Porvenir massacre told the Erbol Network.

Two other bodies.

Locals say that paramilitaries attached to the Prefecture of autonomist rebel prefect Leopoldo Fernández were responsible for the attack using sub-machine guns. A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Fernández. Otto reminds viewers at this point that Pando actually voted in favour of Evo Morales in the August 10th recall election vote. All the numbers available here.

UPDATE: Machetera deserves kudos for the fine work she's doing tonight. The site now translates another Bolivia media report of 106 people missing after the Pando massacre. Linked here.