News from Around the Hemisphere, Jan 15, 2014 (reposted from original location)

article from January 15, 2014
By Jamie Douglas

First off, an apology to my readers: I have not been writing as often as I would like, as I am not well... but not ill enough to refrain from occasionally spouting my opinions and pointing out interesting facts.

Mexico’s continuing problems

Poor Mexico! After the recent elections, there was hope that the violence would subside somewhat, but it is only getting worse in the states that have been flashpoints in the unfortunate war on drugs, which has cost over 100,000 lives over the past few years – one of which is the state of Michoacán, where I used to reside until I went to buy the newspaper for my morning coffee at Pátzcuaro restaurant where expats, artists and criminals alike would mingle.

Since that morning eight years ago, when I was shocked to see photos of 22 mutilated corpses on the back pages of La Voz de Michoacán, things have gotten progressively worse. In a recent article in Proceso [spanish], it is revealed that the Knights Templar, successors to the Zeta crime syndicate, have now entered politics on behalf of the PRI, the hyper-corrupt Mexican political party that bled the country dry for generations. After a brief respite, the PRI is back in power, with a little help from their usual election fraud along with the Knights Templar, who have become an economic force to contend with, as they have made hundreds of millions of dollars running the port of Lázaro Cárdenas and illegally mining iron ore.

As a result of long-standing collusion between the local, state and federal government and the cartels, Michoacán has come close to being an ungovernable failed state, and the neighboring states up and down the Pacific coast may follow.

When will the powers that be realize that the unfortunate war on drugs had the same results as the prohibition in the United States did? It enabled criminal elements to take over the country with diluted and dangerous unregulated alcohol, corrupting most major police forces by flooding them with money.

Panama and Nicaragua race for a wider canal across the isthmus

In 2006, Panama’s then-president Martin Torrijos announced a plan to expand the Panama Canal so it could accommodate today’s VLCCs. He boldly stated that this project would turn Panama into a first-world country. Perhaps he did not anticipate all of the corruption that would inevitably follow this proposal. Perhaps he underestimated the larceny of the Martinelli administration. But one thing is glaringly obvious: The conglomerate that bid on the work grossly underestimated the cost and time for building this ambitious project – and therein lies the current problem. The Panama Canal Authority is refusing to pay for the cost overruns and has threatened to take over the project by force mejeure.

Regardless of what will happen in this chapter of Panama Canal history, Panama will not be a first-world nation until it rids itself of all the scams that are at home there, including the banking and real estate sectors, much of which is run by American and Canadian expats, con men and women and convicted criminals trying to sell anything they can think of.

Meanwhile, a Chinese investor has put together a consortium of wealthy business people from China to build a canal clear across the isthmus in Nicaragua. This project is slated to begin in December of this year; and if successfully completed, it will be quite a thorn in the side of the Panama Canal Authority. But with the enormous nature of the project, one should not hold their breath. China may be riding high at the moment, but nothing lasts forever. The Chinese economy is already feeling the pain of the costs of their armed forces and high-speed rail networks.

I wonder why Mexico has not pursued the logical choice of building a trans-isthmus canal from Tehuantepec to the Caribbean. Perhaps the cost and logistics are too prohibitive, along with the opposition of the indigenous people.

Venezuela and crime

Venezuela’s sweetheart, actress and former Miss Universe Monica Spear, and her husband, Thomas Berry, were brutally murdered a few days ago when their car broke down. Their little 5-year-old daughter was also shot but survived.

Venezuela is a spectacular nation, blessed with abundant natural resources and stunning beauty. From Angel Falls to the Caribbean islands, nature has blessed this nation with abundant and fertile lands, not to mention the crude oil reserves in Lake Maracaibo and the gold in the ground.

Unfortunately, the riches of the nation have been distributed unequally to the point of forcing many into a life of serious crime. The homicide rate is near the top of world statistics, and the prisons are overflowing. The staggering amount and wide distribution of serious crimes is affecting everyone from the very poor to the very rich. Ironically, Monica Spear and her family moved to Miami out of fear for their safety. Nearing the end of a holiday vacation, fate caught up with them.

If there is one good thing that can be said about it, it is the fact that thousands of people came to her funeral and thousands more protested the senseless violence the Bolivarian nation is confronting.

And now the weather

After an early spring followed by another cold front, the Southern Cone countries of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina have been hit with several waves of severe weather, which included some of the most intense lightning and thunder this observer has ever witnessed.

Torrential rains in Brazil took their toll in human lives, and Uruguay also had several casualties, including a police officer who was killed in downtown Montevideo when hit by a swinging door he was trying to secure during one of the storms, which packed winds of up to 100 km/h.

Argentina also suffered one of the worst heat waves in their recorded history that was compounded by the failure of the electric grid in Buenos Aires, causing brownouts, blackouts and several heat-related casualties. The worst incident happened in the small beach town of Villa Gesell, where four youngsters were killed on the beach by lightning and another 22 injured. The tragedy happened so quickly that the victims never had a chance to escape.

I will not opine on the cause of all this severe weather, from the polar vortex to the unseasonably severe cold in Antarctica that caused an Australian tour boat to get stuck in the pack ice, forcing other important scientific programs to be interrupted when several additional ships had to be sent to their rescue. The Australian organizer of the trip defended his expedition as having valid scientific value by explaining that the lay observers on the ship were qualified to make observations of the current conditions in the region.

Antarctica, being the last frontier on this planet, has been exploited for high-end tourism for several years, and this latest problem is no different from any other for-profit organized tour.

Jamie Douglas

At large in Uruguay

I encourage you to write me at cruzansailor [at] gmail [dot] com with any questions or suggestions you may have. Disclaimer: I am not in any travel-related business. My advice is based on my own experiences and is free of charge (Donations welcome). It is always my pleasure to act as a beneficial counselor to those who are seekers of the next adventure.

Summary of the Sixth Summit of the Americas

article from April 17, 2012

By Jamie Douglas

Cartagena, Colombia, the "Pearl of the Caribbean,"  had, in spite of minor rumblings about the Falkland Islands and the highly visible absence of Cuba, Ecuador, Venezuela and Nicaragua, the promise to bring together all the he heads of state of the hemisphere.

Lacking were Hugo Chávez who, it must be assumed, is spending his last days as a guest of another no-show, this one a no-show by denial, Raúl Castro, the younger (almost 81-year-old) brother of Comandante Fidel, as well the voluntarily missing Rafael Correa, the president of Ecuador, and the newly re-reelected president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega.

With Correa, it is a double-edged sword. On one hand, he was grandstanding for the inclusion of Cuba, while on the other, he was fearful of leaving the country and losing power.

While the motto of the summit held great promise: “Connecting the Americas: Partners for Prosperity,” the outcome was rather embarrassing to the USA, what with the prostitute scandal (What do you mean I have to pay you? You should pay me, I am American!), which overshadowed everything else. It was this very attitude that was to be avoided. US President Barack Obama did his best to make good on some of his early promises to get closer with his southern neighbors, listening to hours of diatribes and well-meaning speeches from the leaders of the Americas.

The exclusion of Cuba – sorry, that should be the Marxist Communist Republic of Cuber, once the promising 49th state to the US of A – took up such a huge amount of time that it reminded me of the annual square dance that used to take place at the United Nations, where the whole world wanted a nation of a billion Chinese souls to become members of the world body while the US vetoed it, insisting that the shoe and bicycle factory named Taiwan represented the whole of China. And so it goes today with US-Cuba relations.

The summit unfortunately lasted for only two days, and most of that time was taken up with bickering about Cuba. Is the United States so nearsighted that it does not see what a potential giant lies dormant at their doorstep? And I don’t mean a doormat! I can see why Canada supports the embargo. Their citizens have had the island to share only with European and South American citizens. It is so nice not to have that whale of a human on the beach hollering at the waitress, ¡Otro!

As it stands now, the delegates could have stayed home and bought some prostitutes wholesale for their details. That would have saved a whole lot of money and frustration for the many non-Canadian or US delegates.

For such a huge hemispherical organization to come together only every three years is a bit embarrassing, as well. I would suspect that yearly meetings might be more in order. However, the ALBA nations – Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and many of the smaller Caribbean nations, have already stated firmly that they would not attend another summit without Cuba’s presence. And of course, the nearsightedness about Cuba is also causing the United States to miss out on the fact that China is taking over as the major trading partner throughout Latin America. Ouch.

So the other big drama, besides the sex scandal, was Argentina’s President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who singlehandedly is trying to turn back the clock of progress in her country, storming out of the summit before it was over, calling it a waste of her time. She went to Cartagena all full of expectations that she would be able to bring her favorite non-issue to the table, the Falkland Islands. But no such thing happened. All the nations, big and small, failed to even mention her menstrual problem, so she came home, called for an emergency meeting with the press and her cabinet, and proudly announced that the federal government would steal 51% of the Spanish oil exploration firm YPF-Repsol, giving the remaining 49% to the provinces. Way to go Cristina! It shouldn’t come as a surprise, though, as state larceny has been institutionalized in Argentina for over 200 years, now. The faces change, but the tactic and practices remain the same.

Jamie Douglas

San Rafael, Mendoza

Where my U.S. Dollar gets stronger every day

I encourage you to write me at cruzansailor [at] gmail [dot] com with any questions or suggestions you may have. Disclaimer: I am not in any travel-related business. My advice is based on my own experiences and is free of charge (Donations welcome). It is always my pleasure to act as a beneficial counselor to those who are seekers of the next adventure.

Central America News Roundup Dec 15, 2011: Costa Rica Rains and Trade Relations, Panama Expat Murderers

article from December 15, 2011

By Jamie Douglas

Costa Rica: Rains and trade relations

Good news for our Tico friends: While you may get the impression that it’s raining all over the world, it is not raining here in Argentina; and regardless of your present dilemma, the rains will stop soon. But it is true that this last rainy season has eaten well into your current verano. If things go as they have in the rest of the world, you can expect a very dry, dry season. Keep your rubber boots and umbrellas handy for the time being, especially if you live over on the Caribbean side.

Even in regard Costa Rica, the United States is losing its hold on trade. With the US having treated the region like a giant backyard banana plantation for years without giving any respect to the area’s inhabitants, China has entered the Latin American market with gusto. After establishing itself successfully in the developing nations of Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Brazil and Argentina, China is now courting smaller countries like Costa Rica with massive loans on favorable terms to improve their infrastructure. The Asian Giant has just concluded negotiations to assist the small Central American nation with an upgrade of the Recope refinery in the Caribbean Port of Moín, offering US$900 million to finance the upgrade from a capacity of 20,000-25,000 barrels per day to 60,000 barrels. And as an additional insult to the gringos who built the original facility, the construction work is to be carried out by an Australian company. Total expenditures are estimated to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.25 billion.

If it were not so tragic for American workers, it would be ironic. The Chinese are going all over the world, spending all the US dollars they acquired in trade with the US, looking like the benefactors of the developing world, when in fact they are just the latest reincarnation of economic assassins as they get these nations into incredible debt, for which China will receive valuable licenses to extract minerals as well as creating huge plots of monoculture soy plantations, all for export to feed their hungry masses.

Maybe these countries should look instead at the USA to grant some of their generous aid, perhaps transferring some of their transfer-acquired technology north to the land of the unemployed and starving masses. You know, the richest nation in the world, where one in seven residents is receiving what used to be food stamps. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the politicians who are responsible for this mess, and I mean all of them.

Panama: Expat murderers

Some of you living in Panama may have heard about that nice steroid-pumped neighbor in Bocas del Toro, a certain William Holbert, aka “Wild Bill,” and his gangster moll, Laura Reese. The couple admitted to murdering five expats in that small community without anyone there getting particularly curious about what happened to their neighbors. They were apprehended while migrating north to Nicaragua, where they planned on settling in San Juan del Sur.

Now, it turns out that there is another victim to their reign of terror, a US business owner by the name of Jeffrey Klein who, according to the prosecutor general in Chiriquí Province in Panama, was also murdered by the infamous criminals.

I have written about the dangers new expats face from established crooks who prey on newcomers, but this is a reverse situation where it was the established nice expats who were murdered by a professional criminal. Watch out for each other.

Jamie Douglas

San Rafael, Mendoza

I encourage you to write me at cruzansailor [at] gmail [dot] com with any questions or suggestions you may have. Disclaimer: I am not in any travel-related business. My advice is based on my own experiences and is free of charge (Donations welcome). It is always my pleasure to act as a beneficial counselor to those who are seekers of the next adventure.

Four More Years for Kirchner

article from October 24, 2011

By Jamie Douglas

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, by no surprise, is the winner of Sunday’s Argentinean presidential elections. With over 95% of the votes counted, she garnered a landslide 55% of the vote, giving her four more years to ru(i)n the country. As is customary, the sitting officeholder had the purse strings of the nation to disburse money for flat screen TVs for the elderly and tons of meat for the rest of the population.

Her popularity is so overwhelming that the opposition candidate did not really run. She is expected to try that old trick of having the constitution changed to allow her to run a few more times – after all, she is a relatively young 58 years old. I just hope that she will step down before the grim reaper harvests her in office so she can enjoy the hundreds of millions of dollars she and her deceased husband Néstor “rightfully” earned by their “hard labor.”

At the same time, Cristina’s supports voted for her party to gain control of both houses, making the changing of the constitution unlikely to be contested. Her popularity has been boosted by the booming economy, coupled with the denial of inflation, which currently hovers between 25% and 29%, this according to private consultants who use accurate econometrics, such as the actual prices of a basket of consumer goods, energy costs and other monthly expenses for a family of four. The governments figures are less than half that, but this is Argentina. Don’t cry for Argentina; it is merely business as usual.

Now, with La Presidenta firmly established, being her own woman, not just Néstor’s placeholder in the Casa Rosada, we can expect to see closer ties between Argentina and Brazil, where President Dilma Rousseff has been widely viewed as being the placeholder for Lula da Silva, the wildly popular former president of Brazil. Lula, as he is affectionately known to his fellow Brazilians, recently announced to his compatriots that Dilma was his choice to run for a second term, and that he would stand down.

He would be 72 years old by the time Mrs. Rousseff’s second term expires, and being a sensible man, he will probably enjoy his role as elder statesman more than he would enjoy being president until he is 80, battling a corrupt cabinet, like Mrs. Rousseff is having to do right now.

This closer relationship between the two giants of Mercosur, of course, may lead to the marginalization of the two minor players, Uruguay and Paraguay, both of which have been used and abused by their giant neighbors for a while now. In addition, there is also the unknown of Venezuela’s pending membership, which is only awaiting Paraguayan ratification.

Both Brazil and Argentina currently are heavily dependent on China as their most important trading partners. China however is only buying natural resources, from minerals to agricultural goods, and hardly any manufactured goods are being exported to them. At the same time, Argentina’s protectionism of their native industries has severely limited imports, including inexpensive Chinese products, by enforcing punitive duties. This topic is sure to come up in future trade negotiations with the Chinese.

Jamie Douglas

San Rafael, Mendoza

Where we have to live without cheap Chinese imports!

[Image of Argentinean President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner via Wikipedia]

I encourage you to write me at cruzansailor [at] gmail [dot] com with any questions or suggestions you may have. Disclaimer: I am not in any travel-related business. My advice is based on my own experiences and is free of charge (Donations welcome). It is always my pleasure to act as a beneficial counselor to those who are seekers of the next adventure.

China’s Importance As a Trading Partner For Latin America

article from October 3, 2011

By Jamie Douglas

October 1, 2011, Chinese National Day, was respectfully observed by Latin American nations that have become dependent on China’s resource-hungry economy gobbling up thousands of tons of their exported foodstuff, minerals and energy resources.

From Mexico to Argentina, high officials of the region’s governments visited the Chinese diplomatic envoys in their countries to pay respect to the nation that has made them less dependent on the whims and winds of their northern neighbor, the USA.

Colombia offered up a “Discover China” event, intending to showcase the benefits brought by the ever-increasing trade between these two nations. With the Colombia-USA Free-Trade Agreement still in limbo because the US Congress, with its incredible inability to come to a consensus about anything, has not yet held a vote on this bilateral agreement, Colombia is smart to cultivate other options. Many see Colombia’s vote in the Security Council against Palestinian statehood as the result of strong-arming by US threats to continue to delay the ratification of this treaty, which will bring at least a billion-dollar windfall of US exports. But the benefits to Colombia’s economy are yet to be assessed.

Cuba, having been the first nation to officially recognize China 51 years ago, celebrated their bilateral bonds with exuberant newspaper and television propaganda from the Cuban government.

Uruguayan President José Mujica stated that China’s explosive growth over the last few years has been a blessing for the region, with China having made substantial investments in the small Eastern Republic of Uruguay, and there are more projects on the horizon.

The Dominican Republic, meanwhile, has expressed its gratitude for China’s generous donation of various forms of aid for reconstruction efforts, after several recent hurricanes have put great strains on this Caribbean nation’s ability to take care of its poorest citizens. Chinese workers are on the ground helping with very important efforts such as rebuilding water and electrical grids as well as aiding with reestablishing the all-important tourism sector.

Argentina’s Luis Susman, a spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, has stated that both nations have been engaged in important efforts to increase trade between them. Recently, China’s state-owned agribusiness company, Beidahuang, signed an agreement to purchase almost 800,000 acres of land in Rio Negro, a deal that was initially kept secret from the people of the province, as there were sure to have been some serious favors passed to the officials making possible this dirty deal, which includes water and port rights. Juan Accantino, Rio Negro’s deputy secretary for agriculture, has repeatedly touted the benefits of this arrangement: “It makes great economic sense. We can foresee global shortages of land, water and energy, and our province can offer all three.” And once again the good people of Argentina got screwed by their corrupt leadership leaving off the end of the sentence, “...to the Chinese.”

Chile and Peru are also very grateful for the Chinese having become major investors in their countries’ mining industries. The recent 23% drop in value of copper will have severe impacts on the economies of both nations, with Chile’s currency already having suffered the worst loss in value since the Lehman Brothers collapse. The Chilean peso fell 11% during September and will probably fall more, since copper makes up more than half the country’s exports.

The huge buildup of trade between Latin America and China is evidenced in the fact that, between 2007 and 2010, the figure went from US$100 billion to $183 billion, with 2011 expected to exceed $200 billion.

Jamie Douglas

San Rafael, Mendoza

Where that Fine Malbec Wine is staring to grow!

I encourage you to write me at cruzansailor [at] gmail [dot] com with any questions or suggestions you may have. Disclaimer: I am not in any travel-related business. My advice is based on my own experiences and is free of charge (Donations welcome). It is always my pleasure to act as a beneficial counselor to those who are seekers of the next adventure.