Your tax dollars at work

Chris Bendsen (for it is he)

In the wee small hours of Tuesday (04:10 to be exact), the US Consul General in Chile, a certain Chris Bendsen, managed to fall asleep at the wheel of his car and do this to the front end after a rapid stop against a wall in a posh corner of downtown Santiago.


He admitted to officers that arrived at the scene that he'd "had a little to drink" but then played the diplomatic immunity card and refused the mandatory alcohol breath test. He was then taken along to the local police station where he claimed full diplomatic immunity and was released under no charges a couple of hours later....out of a side door....to avoid the press corps that had gathered by then.

Good to know that the US reputation in Latin America is being held to its normal standards, no?

UPDATE: Sadly, I've been informed that the following photo is of the Bendsen's ride..not nearly as bad as he deserves.

You just know Peru is a serious country

Really, I'm lost for words. This from Reuters today.

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Peru's top court says drunk workers cannot be fired

LIMA (Reuters) - Peru's top court has ruled that workers cannot be fired for being drunk on the job, a decision the government criticized on Wednesday for setting a dangerous precedent.

The Constitutional Tribunal ordered that Pablo Cayo Mendoza be given his job back as a janitor for the municipality of Chorrillos, which fired him for being intoxicated at work.

The firing was excessive because even though Cayo was drunk, he could still speak and write, and he did not hurt anybody, justice Fernando Calle, one of the justices, said on Wednesday.

Calle said the court would not revise its decision, despite complaints from the labor ministry.

"It's not a good idea to relax rules at workplaces," said Labor Minister Jorge Villasante.

Celso Becerra, the administrative chief of Chorrillos, a suburb of Lima, denounced the ruling.

"We've fired four workers for showing up drunk, and two of them were drivers," he said. "How can we allow a drunk to work who might run somebody over?"

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