Latin America Sucks*

[AL the Inconspicuous]

From Times Online -- Latin America backs Argentina as Britain begins Falklands oil quest --

Argentina cemented a Latin American front over the Falklands yesterday as a British oil rig began drilling in the disputed seas around the islands.

Regional leaders at the Rio Group summit in Mexico were expected to sign up for a resolution backing Argentina in its escalating row with Britain after Brazil and Chile pledged their support.

Venezuela's vociferous President, Hugo Chávez, set the tone of the summit, offering military support.  Characterizing Britain as an imperialist relic, Mr Chávez demanded the return of "Las Malvinas", as they are known to Argentinians.

"The English are still threatening Argentina.  Things have changed.  We are no longer in 1982", he warned.  "If conflict breaks out, be sure Argentina will not be alone like it was back then."

British control of the archipelago was "anti-historic and irrational", the former paratrooper continued, asking "why the English speak of democracy but still have a Queen".

Unlike 1982, when some Latin American nations, notably President Pinochet's Chile, backed Britain's campaign to repel Argentina's brief invasion of the islands, the continent now enjoys strong ties between ideologically aligned governments and could mount a powerful resistance to British oil operations.

Mr Chávez was joined by President Ortega of Nicaragua, who predicted that the Rio Group would throw its weight behind Argentina's claim.  "We will back a resolution demanding that England return Las Malvinas to its rightful owner, that it return the islands to Argentina", he said.

Brazil, the biggest regional power and traditionally Argentina's main rival, was similarly supportive. "Las Malvinas must be reintegrated into Argentine sovereignty", Marco Aurelio García, foreign policy adviser to President Lula da Silva, said, adding:  "Unlike in the past, today there is a consensus in Latin America behind Argentina's claims".

Almost three decades on from the confict, the defeat of Argentina still stings the national consciousness as an historic injury which must be redressed.  President Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina has made the issue a central plank of her presidency, whipping up long-simmering resentments that have only been compounded by the prospect of a black gold bonanza in the isolated, windswept archipelago.

The British Geological Survey estimates that up to 60 billion barrels of oil could be beneath Falklands waters, although Desire Petroleum, the company carrying out the drilling, says that the commericially viable reserves are much smaller.

Desire said that test drilling at the Liz 14/19-A exploration site off the Falklands began at 1415 GMT yesterday.  "Drilling operations are expected to take approximately 30 days and a further announcement will be made once drilling is completed."

Tensions between the former adversaries rose last week to their highest level since the war, as Argentina attempted to block ships supplying what it says are "illegal" British activities and Britain hit back with a warning that the islands were much better defended than on the eve of the Argentine invasion in 1982.

It's Latin Americans that are being imperialist in this situation, contrary to the wishes of the people who live and own property on the said islands, who almost unanimously choose Britain over Argentina.

The only reason why I even clicked the link to that article was because I was wondering about Chile, the capitalist success story of Latin America, which currently ranks 5th on the "Economic Freedom of the World" index.  I was very disappointed to see that Chile is on board with Argentina, which ranks #105 out of 141 nations on that list.  UK ranks 10th.

There's a reason to be optimistic about Chile, however.  Its current policy might be a reflection of the current "Socialist" government that has already been defeated in the recent election and is due to be replaced by a centre-right National Renewal party, which is due to take power on March 11th.  That's why I've put an asterisk in the thread title - the possibility of Chile breaking away from its sucky Latin American neighbors and doing the right thing.

[Sam Gunn (since nobody got Admiral Naismith)]

The issue is the Socialist Hugo Chavez who has been trying to build a communist alliance in South America since the day he first took power.  He's been a major thorn in Colombia's side and funds terrorist activities along its border.  He's been funding other communist movements across SA.  He sucks, and he needs to GTFO.

If it wasn't for Chavez, SA would be doing A LOT better.

[AL the Inconspicuous]

It's not just Chavez...  The aforementioned Economic Freedom rankings of the biggest South American economies are: Brazil (111), Argentina (105), Venezuela (138), and Colombia (121).  We should also include Mexico, since the Rio Group is for Latin America and not just South America, which in spite of all the United State influence ranks a sub-mediocre 68.

Other than our heroic Chile (5), the only other Latin American countries in the top 40 are: Panama (15), Costa Rica (21), El Salvador (28), and Honduras (29) - that's about 38.5 million people in total, less the population of Argentina alone or Colombia alone, and about 1/5th the population of Brazil!

So Latin America sucks in aggregate, and it will suck even more if they all unite behind Argentina's claims over the islands that choose to be British.

[TimeLady Victorious]

Has anyone ever heard/seen Chavez's talk show, "Alo Presidente"? I've heard it on shortwave and even with what little Spanish I know, it's absolutely fucking nuts.

[Sam Gunn (since nobody got Admiral Naismith)]

It's not just Chavez... 

...

So Latin America sucks in aggregate, and it will suck even more if they all unite behind Argentina's claims over the islands that choose to be British.

I'm gonna say that Chavez is a major perpetuator of modern communism in SA.  He's the main problem down there TODAY.

BUT, the reason Latin America is not great throughout its whole is because of the culture of corruption in Latin society, and I'm going to blame that one on Spain.  I have family from Ecuador and Colombia, and while the ones who have not moved to the States or to London have all moved to Colombia, they are not completely happy with life down there.  However, from what they have told me, life can be pretty good in Bogota and Cali.  From their descriptions I don't think I can agree that Colombia should rank 121 on the world economic freedom list, indeed in many ways they have more economic freedom there than we have in the US.  Their major problem is Venezuelan funded terrorists who take hostages in banks for ransom. 

Politics is somewhat strange down there.  They have a very corrupt pro-USA/pro-capitalist government that is officially anti-drug (yet whose officials are mostly all paid off by the cartels), the Drug Cartels who are pro-capitalist yet anti-government yet in bed with the government, capitalist/nationalist paramilitary groups, socialist/communist Venezuelan funded guerilla groups, and the "Indian Rights" groups, and the non-drug farmers.  All these conflicting groups lead to a fucked up situation, yet also mean that people can get away with doing a lot of shit that may be explicitly illegal with zero fear of punishment.

At least foreigners can legally own property without fear of seizure by the government in Colombia, that isn't the case in Mexico or Venezuela.

[AL the Inconspicuous]

Oh shi-

GREAT QUAKE 8.8 MAG CHILE




MASSIVE...

Tsunami threatens Pacific...

Watches/Warnings...

Sirens Sound in Hawaii for First Time in 16 Years...

[TimeLady Victorious]

Why do I get the feeling that we're not gonna hear a lot about aid for Chile like aid for Haiti, because Chile is nowhere near the shithole Haiti is?

[AL the Inconspicuous]

Ain't that depressing...  The one country in Latin America that sucks the least, and it's the most earthquake-prone place on Earth - makes Japan look like an unshakable monolith in comparison!  (Although Japan has more quake-related deaths due to much higher population density, current and especially historic.)

The strongest earthquake ever recorded was the 1960 Valdivia earthquake in Chile at 9.5 on the logarithmic scale!  Today's quake ranks as #7, and #16 was also in Chile a long time ago.

Well...  Good thing it happened after the election, because the outgoing "socialist" president is obviously getting a major boost from all this...   And the eco-nuts will inevitably find a way to spin that tragedy for political gain as well... 

[Sam Gunn (since nobody got Admiral Naismith)]

No response to my commentary on Colombia?

[AL the Inconspicuous]

Nope, none.  Why even think about Colombia when there are at least 3-4 Latin American countries (Chile, Panama, Costa Rica, etc) that outrank it by every measure?  Not that I spend much time thinking about Latin America in general - New Hampshire is clearly the best place to be.  And I like the climate a lot more too.  Heat + elevation = blah!

[Sam Gunn (since nobody got Admiral Naismith)]

Nope, none.  Why even think about Colombia when there are at least 3-4 Latin American countries (Chile, Panama, Costa Rica, etc) that outrank it by every measure?  Not that I spend much time thinking about Latin America in general - New Hampshire is clearly the best place to be.  And I like the climate a lot more too.  Heat + elevation = blah!

Which ones?

Only other one I can think of wanting to live in would be Costa Rica.

[AL the Inconspicuous]

You've made some silly points in defense of Colombia (can anyone own property anywhere without fear of the government taking it away?), and you've made excuses for why Colombia sucks - that isn't going to entice anyone to pack up and move there.  People want the #1 solution, not the #2 or #1002, even if the latter has some charms as well.

[Sam Gunn (since nobody got Admiral Naismith)]

You've made some silly points in defense of Colombia (can anyone own property anywhere without fear of the government taking it away?), and you've made excuses for why Colombia sucks - that isn't going to entice anyone to pack up and move there.  People want the #1 solution, not the #2 or #1002, even if the latter has some charms as well.

I'm not suggesting anyone move there. There's a reason all of my Ecuadorian and Colombian family have moved to the US or Colombia.  I'm saying that out of all the Latin American countries Colombia is one of the best to live in.  The US is still the best place to live in the world as far as I'm concerned.

[Alex Libman]

They've even been sucking at soccer lately - the one thing they're supposed to be good at...

Far more importantly, from Socialistdot -- Chile First To Approve Net Neutrality Law --

Chile has become the first country in the world to approve, by 100 votes in favor and one abstention, a law guaranteeing net neutrality (Google translation; Spanish original).

The law states [submitter's translation]:  "No [ISP] can block, interfere with, discriminate, hinder, nor restrict the right of any Internet user of using, send, receive or offer any content, application, or legitimate service through the Internet, as well as any activity or legitimate use conducted through the Internet."  The law also has articles that force ISP to provide parental control tools, clarify contracts, guarantee users' privacy and safety when surfing, and forbids them to restrict any liberty whatsoever.  This is a major advance in the legislation of the country regarding the Web, when until last year almost anything that was performed online was considered illegal.

[YixilTesiphon]

The Falklands thing is amazing. The residents of the islands are British, want to be British, don't know a word of any goddamn Spanish, and yet Argentina claims it's imperialist aggression for them to be British? It would be like the Netherlands claiming that New York City is their territory. Sure, you settled it first, but nobody who lives there wants it to be Dutch, and their rights are more important than what happened 300 years ago.