Fidel Castro Dead or Alive
Cuban dictator Fidel Castro is dead. Unless he's not. Val Prieto had a flurry of updates yesterday reporting Castro's death, with imminent announcements expected. Half the political blogosphere linked the post and his server couldn't handle the strain. In a Communist plot, no announcement was forthcoming. Meanwhile, celebrity blogger Perez Hilton got into the act with ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 25, 2007 06:16
Duncan Hunter: Fear Iran, Venezuela
Duncan Hunter is warning about the threats posed by Iran and Venezuela, according to two separate UPI reports. "As a regional neighbor of the United States, Venezuela is increasingly threatening stability in the Western Hemisphere. The country's leadership is determined to move the country away from democracy and toward socialism; maintains close relations with Cuba and Iran and continues to ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 11, 2007 13:38
Mexican Immigration Problem Will Solve Itself
GWU economics professor Robert Dunn argues that the flood of illegal immigration from Mexico will stop of its own accord because a sharp decline in the birth rate is cutting the supply of out-of-work Mexican teenagers. More interesting still is his explanation for the trend: Better education and improved job opportunities for women mean that it has become quite expensive ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 28, 2007 10:24
Failed States Index 2007
Foreign Policy has published the latest edition of The Failed States Index 2007. It is not a cause for celebration: Few encouraging signs emerged in 2006 to suggest the world is on a path to greater peace and stability. The year began with violent protests that erupted from Indonesia to Nigeria over the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 18, 2007 15:00
Shocker! Coca Production Up
Cross-posted from La Política Colombiana: Shockingly, the AP reports that the number of hectares of coca under cultivation has risen, despite the increased eradication effort: Colombia's president says White House survey shows 8 percent rise in coca Despite record drug eradication efforts, a White House survey found production of coca in Colombia rose for the third consecutive year in 2006, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 6, 2007 15:21
Chávez and his Anti-Democracy Moves
Cross-posted from PoliBlog: Reuters has an interesting piece on Hugo Chávez and the recent political confrontation over Venezuelan TV: Unpopular TV closure consolidates Chavez's power. Some key passages that get to the heart of the problem in terms of the threat to free speech in Venezuela:dependent on the government for advertising revenue, major private stations have changed their editorial line to ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 6, 2007 13:10
Colombia Releases FARC Prisoners–Inlcuding a Key FARC Leader
Cross-posted from La Política Colombiana: Via the BBC: Colombia releases top Farc rebel The Colombian government has released a jailed guerrilla leader in the hope he will encourage the rebels to release the 56 hostages they hold. Rodrigo Granda, known as the Farc rebel group's "foreign minister", was freed as the authorities prepare to release up to 200 guerrillas from ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 5, 2007 13:46
“Democratizing Television and Radio” in Venezuela
Cross-posted from PoliBlog: Via the BBC: Chavez supporters back TV closureTens of thousands of supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have marched to show they back his decision to close an opposition TV network. Radio Caracas TV openly called for Mr Chavez to be removed from power during a failed coup attempt in 2002. Mr Chavez told his supporters to be vigilant ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 3, 2007 12:49
New Video of Castro Released
Via the BBC: Cuba shows new images of CastroCuban TV has shown brief video images of President Fidel Castro meeting the head of the Vietnamese Communist Party, Nong Duc Manh. [...] These were the first video images for four months. He is shown in a tracksuit, standing, and appearing less frail than in previous official images - and fit enough to give ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 3, 2007 12:08
The Continuing Turmoil in Venezuela
Cross-posted from PoliBlog: WaPo has a piece on the political fallout from the move by Hugo Chávez to take broadcast rights away from RCTV: Protests in Venezuela Reinvigorate Opposition. The piece notes a number of groups and governments which have protested the move:Spain's Socialist government, in a joint declaration with the United States, called Friday for Chávez to renew ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 2, 2007 12:27
Castro Update
Cross-posted from PoliBlog: Via the BBC: Castro almost 'fully recovered'Cuban President Fidel Castro has almost completely recovered from the stomach surgery he had last year, says the head of the country's national assembly. Speaking in a US TV interview Ricardo Alarcon gave no indication of when the Cuban leader might return to power. But he said Mr Castro was over the worst ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 2, 2007 11:52
Lying Lou
Lou Dobbs that is. Daniel Drezner points to New York Times op-ed that looks at some of Lou Dobbs claims, and the results aren't pretty. The [60 Minutes] segment was a profile of Mr. Dobbs, and while doing background research for it, a “60 Minutes” producer came across a 2005 news report from Mr. Dobbs’s CNN program on contagious diseases. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 1, 2007 13:35
Chávez Attacks Globovision in National Address
Cross-posted from PoliBlog: Via the BBC: Venezuela head in new TV warningIn a national address shown by all TV stations, Mr Chavez defended his decision to close RCTV as a public service, denouncing the 53-year-old station - Venezuela's most popular - as a "permanent attack on public morals". He also called news network Globovision an enemy of the state, attacking its ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 30, 2007 10:24
More TV Politics in Venezuela
Cross-posted from PoliBlog: Via the BBC: Second Venezuela TV is under fireVenezuela's government has accused a TV station of inciting a murder attempt on President Hugo Chavez, hours after taking another network off the air. It said footage shown on Globovision implicitly called for Mr Chavez to be killed. The station denies the claim. It would appear that the government is watching ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 29, 2007 13:42
Chavez Completes His Journey to the Dark Side
Well it seems that Hugo Chavez has decided to show his true colors: A dictator and thug. CARACAS (AFP) - President Hugo Chavez's clampdown on opposition television stations widened Monday as police used rubber bullets and tear gas on demonstrators protesting what they called an attack on free speech. [...] On Monday several people were injured as police in Caracas fired ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 29, 2007 13:15
