18:48 5th Mar 2013

Notes: 2

Tags: hugo chavez news

Hugo Chavez Died

21:47 1st Jan 2013

Notes: 9

Tags: latin america news bolivia mcdonalds health nutrition fast food

Bolivia will become the first McDonald’s-free Latin American nation

Go Bolivia!!!

04:51 7th Aug 2012

Notes: 5

Tags: olympics politics usa war news

image: Download

10:26 15th Apr 2012

Notes: 8

Reblogged from crisisgroup

Tags: latin america news politics drug policies otto perez guatemala

image: Download

crisisgroup:

The Washington Post: Latin America’s new strategy in the war on drugs

Mary Speck is a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group’s Latin America and the Caribbean program.

The retired general who won Guatemala’s presidency in November seems an unlikely advocate of a kinder approach toward counternarcotics policy. Otto Pérez — whose party’s symbol is a clenched fist — campaigned on the promise that his government would crack down on the crime ravaging parts of the country. A former member of the special forces known as Kaibiles, he also served as director of military intelligence.

But his reluctance to join a stalemated war against drugs is understandable. As a military man and a pragmatic politician, Pérez wants to fight battles he has a chance of winning. The two Latin American presidents joining Pérez’s call for a debate on legalization also campaigned on the issues of crime and public safety:Colombia’s Juan Manuel Santos, a former minister of defense, andCosta Rica’s Laura Chinchilla, a former minister of public security.

Pérez,Santosand Chinchilla suffer from the counternarcotics fatigue spreading among Latin American politicians and pundits who see the “war on drugs” as a debilitating waste of blood and treasure. They are looking for an honorable withdrawal from a seemingly unwinnable fight. They want to put their resources and energy into more politically profitable pursuits — strengthening public education, eliminating hunger or combating street crime.

The issue is likely to dominate this weekend’sSummitof theAmericas, whichSantosis hosting inCartagena. Pérez has promised to push his proposals for global drug regulations, arguing that the consumption, production and trafficking of drugs can be better controlled if brought into the legal economy.

Pérez faces opposition from his counterparts in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panamaand, crucially, the United States. While visiting Mexicolast month, Vice President Biden insisted that there was “no possibility” theUnited States would consider the option and cited the impact of drug addiction on health, mortality and economic productivity.

But the current policies aren’t alleviating the harm caused by drug addiction. The Justice Department’s 2011 National Drug Threat Assessment says that “the overall availability of illicit drugs in theUnited States is increasing.” Seizures of chemical precursors and illegal laboratories inGuatemala suggest that traffickers have responded to reductions in Colombian cocaine production by diversifying into synthetic drugs.

Meanwhile, fragile democracies such as Guatemala’s, still struggling to bolster the rule of law after decades of military rule and internal conflict, are further undermined as drug money, especially in transit or border regions, permeates politics and neutralizes law enforcement.

Washingtonhas failed to convince many Latin Americans that they have an equal stake in the battle against narco-trafficking. Although Pérez’s proposal to regulate the drug trade is the most radical from a sitting president, he is hardly alone in voicing doubts about U.S.-supported anti-drug strategies. His frustration with these policies is echoed by leaders who have been key allies inWashington’s counternarcotics crusade.

Although he avoided fighting words such as “legalization” or “decriminalization,” Mexican President Felipe Calderón told the U.N. General Assembly in September that, if consumer nations can not reduce demand for illegal drugs, they should “look for other ways, including market alternatives, that prevent narco-traffickers from continuing to be the origin of violence and death.”

Colombia’s Santosurged world leaders in January to break the “taboo” on discussing alternatives: “Taking the profits away from organized crime and letting the state use those profits to launch propaganda campaigns against consumption; those are practical solutions, which I believe could be effective if taken worldwide.” A blue-ribbon commission whose members included former Latin American presidents voiced similar arguments three years ago.

Calderón andSantosspeak with the moral authority of leaders who think their countries have paid an unacceptable price, with the loss of tens of thousands of lives, in their efforts to stem the flood of drugs to theUnited States. Now Pérez, the leader of a much smaller country with a far weaker state, has joined the chorus of skeptics.

These leaders have yet to grapple publicly with the impact that legalization might have in their countries. Would decriminalization reduce drug-related killings, or would traffickers simply move into other, equally violent rackets? Would historically weak states have the capacity to regulate the sale and transport of narcotics, or would black-market dealers continue to traffic drugs and corrupt state institutions? Would consumption increase in production or transit countries? If so, could cash-strapped governments handle the consequences to public health?

Latin American leaders are desperate to end the corruption and carnage wrought by today’s drug policies. Rather than dismiss demands for a new approach, theUnited Statesshould join the debate on legalization and its potential costs.

Washington Post

Photo: Surizar/Wikimedia Commons

15:35 12th Mar 2012

Notes: 1

Tags: violence kony kony 2012 war news

GOOD interview with Invisible Children

Invisible Children talking about using violence to stop Kony from using violence…

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“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary, the evil it does is permanent.” Gandhi

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GOOD: Invisible Children supports the Ugandan army, the UPDF, in their pursuit of Kony. But it’s been shown that the UPDF has committed its own atrocities in the past, including rapes. Why are you supporting them?

JENKINS: That’s a great question. Yes, it’s true that the Ugandan military has committed crimes in the past. We do not deny those crimes. But in terms of the pursuit of the LRA in the last six years, they’ve made a marked change and are attempting to be spotless.

We were involved in five years of peace talks with Kony. We want peace. But the truth is that Kony abused the peace process, used it to regain strength, and then went to wreak havoc. At that point, if someone’s busting into your house with a gun and robbing you, you can only talk for so long before you start using force. Force is an absolute last resort, and our campaign is trying to get him to surrender. We don’t want a bloodbath. A peaceful end to this is the dream.

GOOD: Assuming it does come down to conflict, why continue supporting the Ugandan army since most reports say Kony has fled Uganda?

JENKINS: Great question. That’s because the UPDF is the only force able to go after Kony. Congo is a failed state, Central African Republic has no military, South Sudan just became a country and has no military. There’s nobody else there to stop him. The only people there are U.N. peacekeepers, and they have a “do no harm” policy, meaning they can take no offensive action. The only thing they can do is protect their own base. The UPDF is all that’s there. And they have received permission from regional governments to operate in their nations to attack the LRA.

11:40 27th Jan 2012

Notes: 1

Tags: United nation news

U.N. Sees an Unexpected Arrival: Bags of Drugs

If you are a United Nations diplomat missing 30 pounds of cocaine, it is now in the hands of the New York Police Department.

10:08 18th Oct 2011

Notes: 14

Tags: 9/11 news controversy twin towers

The meaning of 9/11's most controversial photo

10:22 16th Oct 2011

Notes: 35

Reblogged from courteneyfaye

Tags: quote mark twain news this is so true

If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed.

— Mark Twain (via courteneyfaye)

17:18 15th Oct 2011

Notes: 14

Tags: funny video turkey news haha

I actually almost died of laughter.

“The camera is shaking because I’m shaking. And I’m shaking because I’m SCARED OF THAT TURKEY.”—Duffy Kelly, Sacramento, CA television news producer, who was terrorized by a turkey.

07:52

Notes: 14

Tags: dog cute puppy rescue news chile

Hero dog saves another after it was hit in the highway.

07:22 8th Sep 2011

Notes: 9

Tags: death politics death penalty nytimes news

What's your opinion on the death penalty?

Mr. Perry defended his record of overseeing the execution of 234 inmates in Texas. When asked by one of the moderators, Brian Williams of NBC News, if he had lost sleep over the decision, Mr. Perry replied, “No, sir, I’ve never struggled with that at all.”

The invited audience, made up of supporters of the candidates and patrons of the library, broke out into applause when Mr. Williams noted again that 234 people had been executed.

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I don’t understand cheering at the thought of someones death - applauding for that is really disgusting.

21:43 14th Aug 2011

Notes: 16

Reblogged from nettra

Tags: energy poverty dadaab kenya somalia water cleanwater news refugee africa

One morning, I was talking to a family of ten. I poured a full glass of water from a pitcher and passed it to a child. He took a sip, and passed it on to his brother and so on. The last one returned it to me with enough left for the last gulp. Even in the camp, they take only what they need to survive and share the rest.

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Brendan Bannon on the Dadaab refugee camp - The Big Picture - Boston.com

A humbling story, helps to put things in perspective.

(via nettra)

09:55 24th Jul 2011

Notes: 92

Reblogged from csmonitor

Tags: somalia Africa Famine News OpEd

The Christian Science Monitor: What Moves You to Take Action?

csmonitor:

In an OpEd today, Joy Portella from Mercy Corps explains how sudden events such as tsunamis and flooding are easy triggers for donations from Americans, while other disasters with a slower building period, such as the growing drought in Africa, leave others in the dust. Literally.

Americans…

13:52 10th Jul 2011

Notes: 14

Tags: U.S.Debt Politics News obama congress

Our Pathetic Debt Debate

“works well with others” - doesn’t really apply to Congress…

12:31 30th Jun 2011

Notes: 2

Tags: TV Cheating Chris Hanse To Catch a Predator Irony News Hidden Camera

Oh, the irony ... Chris Hansen, 'To Catch a Predator' Host, Caught Cheating by Hidden Cameras

It’s been reported that Chris Hansen, host of ‘To Catch a Predator,’ the controversial ‘Dateline’ show that uses hidden cameras to trap would-be perverts in sting operations, has been caught cheating on his wife … in a sting operation using hidden cameras.