JUAN CARLOS CHAVEZ

La posibilidad de que los gobiernos de Cuba y Brasil alcancen un acuerdo que abriría las puertas al envío de 6,000 médicos cubanos a ciertas áreas del territorio brasileño que carecen de atención generó una fuerte polémica en ese país sudamericano y cuestionamientos sobre el nivel de preparación de los profesionales que se gradúan en la isla.

“Brasil quiere traer escoria”, dijo Florentino Cardoso, presidente de la Asociación Médica Brasileña. “Desafío a cualquiera a demostrar la excelencia de la medicina cubana. Médicos que se graduaron allí y estudiaron cuatro años , tienen que estudiar otros dos años más pero con el fin de ejercer la profesión en su propio país”.

El tema fue abordado en una audiencia entre miembros de la Comisión de Relaciones Exteriores de la Cámara de Diputados y representantes de gremios y sindicatos médicos de Brasil.

La discusión tomó fuerza dos semanas después de que el canciller brasileño, ... Read More

PAULA MOURA and LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO

Brazil’s borders are so vast, and the terrain so inhospitable, that attempting to secure them has seemed a virtually impossible task.

But Brazil’s rapidly expanding economy has made the country a magnet for illegal immigration, drug smuggling and other illicit activities, and now the country has announced its own border protection program.

Called the Sistema Integrado de Monitoramento de Fronteiras and known by its Portuguese acronym, Sisfron, it is intended to act as a virtual border shield along a frontier that stretches more than 10,000 miles and is shared with 10 other countries.

The sheer size of the terrain that will be covered makes this one of the most ambitious defense programs ever put in place in Brazil. Brazil is now picking supplies for the vast project, which is expected to take up to 10 years to finish, according to UPI. Dozens of companies are involved in getting the project up and running; ... Read More

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Hundreds of miners, teachers and other workers have marched in Bolivia’s capital on the 11th day of protests called by the country’s largest union to demand higher old-age pensions.

Miners exploded dynamite and protesters tried to occupy the plaza where Bolivia’s seats of government are located. Police forced protesters back with tear gas.

The protests called by the Bolivian Workers Central began May 5. There were no immediate reports of injuries or arrests Thursday, but protests last week left 33 people injured and more than 100 detained.

Protesters are demanding that President Evo Morales’ government double pensions, which currently range from $21 to $28 a month. The government is offering an 81% hike.

Morales said Thursday’s protest involved “about 500 or 1,000 miners, and 1,000 teachers, perhaps more.”

Click here for original ... Read More

By KEJAL VYAS and SARA SCHAEFER MUÑOZ

CARACAS, Venezuela—New President Nicolás Maduro, trying to shore up Venezuela’s economy amid growing shortages of everything from corn flour to toilet paper, has extended an olive branch to the country’s private sector, in particular the country’s largest food maker.

It is a surprising turnaround given the antics of his predecessor, the late populist Hugo Chávez, who regularly threatened to nationalize the food maker, Empresas Polar SA, and accused it of hoarding products in order to sabotage his self-styled revolution.

This week, Mr. Maduro met with Polar’s top executive Lorenzo Mendoza—Mr. Chávez’s bête noire—to work together to resolve food issues. Mr. Mendoza discussed the same topic with Vice President Jorge Arreaza, Mr. Chávez’s son-in-law.

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After those meetings and others with the business sector, Mr. Maduro’s government raised by 20% state-controlled prices on key items of food like chicken, beef and dairy—a tacit acknowledgment that controls aimed at stemming inflation have ... Read More

JUAN NAGEL

Venezuela remains mired in a political and economic crisis that shows no signs of letting up. But while street protests, soaring inflation, scarcity, and skyrocketing crime are massive headaches, the government can count on still-high oil prices to soothe the pain a bit.

The question that begs asking is: How will Venezuela maintain stability if oil prices drop?

A recent report by the International Energy Agency underscores the challenges the country faces in the short term. The United States has made huge progress in oil extraction thanks to fracking technology. It is set to become the world’s largest oil producer by the year 2020, and the global spread of fracking is bound to significantly increase international recoverable oil reserves in the near future. The agency crows that fracking is creating a “supply shock that is sending ripples around the world.”

This obviously matters to Venezuela, a country that exports large amounts of oil and ... Read More

ELIAS GROLL

Hugo Chávez’s Bolivarian Revolution was supposed to offer ordinary Venezuelans political power and social services. On some of these counts, it has at least partially succeeded. On others — such as the provision of toilet paper — not so much.

On Tuesday, Alejandro Fleming, the country’s commerce minister, announced that the government would make the equivalent of a frantic grocery store run to pick up some rolls. “The revolution will bring the country the equivalent of 50 million rolls of toilet paper,” he told the state news agency AVN. “We are going to saturate the market so that our people calm down.” (Not that long ago, the “revolution” was promising to provide housing and health care but hey, Marx said something about the importance of toilet paper, right?)

“This is the last straw,” Manuel Fagundes, a shopper trying to track down some toilet paper in Caracas, told the Associated Press. “I’m 71 years old and ... Read More

Primero comenzaron a escasear la leche, la manteca, el café y la harina de maíz. Últimamente tampoco se encuentra otro producto que satisface necesidades básicas: el papel higiénico.

El gobierno lo atribuye a la oposición política y dijo que importará 50 millones de rollos de papel.

Pero eso es escaso consuelo para Manuel Fagundes. ”Tengo 71 años y primera vez en la vida que veo esto”, comentó molesto el hombre el miércoles a la salida de un supermercado en el oeste de Caracas.

“Es el colmo que hasta en este país tengamos que importar el papel toilette, y me imagino que esas son las comisiones que se están ganando para que aquí en Venezuela ya ni se produzca papel toilette”, agregó el anciano.

El gobierno anunció esta semana que realizará importaciones masivas de 760,000 toneladas de alimentos y de papel higiénico para hacer frente a los problemas de escasez y combatir lo que han denominado la “guerra económica” que estarían ocasionando los ... Read More

Caracas – El presidente de la Asamblea Nacional venezolana, el oficialista Diosdado Cabello, dijo el martes que no se pagará el salario a los diputados opositores porque no asistieron a las reuniones de las comisiones legislativas.

“Hoy trabajaron todas la comisiones en la Asamblea y no fueron (los opositores) trabajaron las comisiones con los diputados revolucionarios (…) ¿cómo les pago? yo no les puedo pagar (…) sería una irresponsabilidad de mi parte si le pago a quien no trabaje”, dijo Cabello durante un acto en el Parlamento.

Aunque las comisiones legislativas se mantienen activas, el pleno de la Asamblea Nacional no se reúne desde el 30 de abril pasado, cuando los diputados de ambos bandos se fueron a las manos y 14 de ellos resultaron con heridas.

La trifulca ocurrió cuando la minoritaria bancada opositora reclamaba su derecho de palabra, que Cabello les retiró el 16 de abril pasado porque no reconocían a Nicolás ... Read More

The death from cancer on 5 March of President Hugo Chávez triggered a snap presidential election just 40 days later that his anointed successor, Nicolás Maduro, won by a margin of less than 1.5 per cent over Henrique Capriles of the Democratic Unity (MUD) alliance. But the tight result and legal challenges to the validity of the vote cast a shadow over the sustainability of the new administration. A country already deeply polarised is now clearly divided into two almost equal halves that appear irreconcilable. The validity of the election result remains to be clarified and the full independence of the electoral authorities, judiciary, and other key institutions restored. But to address the governance crisis and allow Venezuela to tackle its serious economic and social problems, national dialogue must prevail over confrontation and consensus over partisan violence.

With institutions weakened by the Chávez government’s long-term policy of presidential co-optation, the MUD ... Read More

Chilean finance minister Felipe Larraín has called it “the most exciting thing going on today in Latin America.” Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos believes it is “perhaps the most significant and profound integration process in the history of Latin America.” A recent headline said it has created “a new Latin American superpower.” It has also been hailed as a “bridge to Asia” and “a promising yardstick of Latin America’s prosperity.”

“It” is the so-called Pacific Alliance, a free-trade bloc that was first outlined in the April 2011 Lima Declaration and was officially established in June 2012. Its four members are Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru — four countries with a long record of supporting free markets and open commerce. Over the past year, these countries have abolished tariffs on 90 percent of all goods they trade with each other, and have also taken many other steps (such as eliminating visa requirements, merging stock exchanges, and launching a scholarship program) to integrate their economies. ... Read More

CHARLES ROTH

“Argentina’s courts, in a welcome moment of sanity, have overruled attempts by Argentina’s government to prevent anyone who isn’t the government from publishing a figure for inflation that isn’t what the government says it is.”

That’s how a post from Quartz put the Monday ruling to overturn heavy fines that the government of President Cristina Kirchner had slapped on economists who published their own inflation data, which the government criticized as “inaccurate.”

Never mind that official inflation data was widely viewed as badly understating the real level of inflation. Even the International Monetary Fund has censured Argentina for dubious inflation and growth statistics, and set a Sept. 29 deadline to fix the “inaccuracy” of its data, or face sanctions.

Until then, Argentines will no doubt continue to operate assuming that annual real inflation by all private accounts is running around 25%, more than double the official rate.

The government’s statistics agency reported Wednesday that annual inflation  last month amounted to 10.5%.

That’s been ... Read More

(Reuters) – Peru’s foreign minister has resigned, the government said on Wednesday, days after he was criticised for contributing to a diplomatic spat with Venezuela.

Rafael Roncagliolo, 68, resigned “strictly because of health reasons,” the office of President Ollanta Humala said in a statement.

Justice Minister Eda Rivas will be Peru’s new foreign minister, the government said. Daniel Figallo, a deputy minister of human rights, will replace Rivas as justice minister.

“He has done an impeccable job with the foreign relations of our country,” the statement said of Roncagliolo.

Roncagliolo, appointed by Humala in 2011, faced increasing criticism from the left and right in recent weeks over his handling of diplomatic tussles.

In early May, Roncagliolo called for “tolerance” in Venezuela and urged the South American bloc Unasur to mediate political tensions in Caracas after a disputed election there won by President Nicolas Maduro.

Maduro complained that Roncagliolo was giving voice to opposition leaders.

“You may be Peru’s foreign minister, ... Read More

ANTHONY B. KIM

May 15th marks the one-year anniversary of the implementation of the U.S.–Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Over the past 12 months, a growing number of businesses in both countries have taken action to capitalize on the expanded opportunities for the free flow of products, services, and ideas created by the trade pact.

Although it is still early for a comprehensive assessment of the evolving impact of the U.S.–Colombia FTA, one point is clear: The pact has been yielding positive outcomes in terms of actual trade and investment activities. Proving that big labor was big-time wrong on free trade with Colombia, the trade pact has generated “net economic gains for both economies.”

Beyond that, and more importantly, the pact has contributed to ensuring Colombia’s stride toward greater economic freedom. As documented in The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom, Colombia has achieved five consecutive years of advancing economic freedom.

Turning the global economic crisis into an opportunity to upgrade ... Read More

BY JULIAN SHER OF THE TORONTO STAR AND JUAN O. TAMAYO

Speaking over a scratchy telephone line from inside a Cuban prison, Sarkis Yacoubian’s voice goes suddenly silent. He’s crying.

“I was so depressed at times, I wanted to commit suicide,” says the 53-year-old entrepreneur.

In exclusive interviews from the La Condesa prison, Yacoubian provides an insider’s view of a sweeping anti-corruption campaign by the government of Raúl Castro that has seen several foreign businessmen — including himself and another Toronto-area businessman — jailed.

A joint investigation by The Toronto Star and El Nuevo Herald has found that in a corruption-plagued country described in secret U.S. government cables as “a state on the take,” the two jailed Canadians are embroiled in a high-stakes diplomatic and legal stand-off between Havana and Ottawa, potentially jeopardizing millions in taxpayer dollars that underwrite Canada’s trade with Cuba.

Arrested in July 2011 and detained for nearly two years without charges, ... Read More

First milk, butter, coffee and cornmeal ran short. Now Venezuela is running out of the most basic of necessities – toilet paper.

Blaming political opponents for the shortfall, as it does for other shortages, the government says it will import 50m rolls to boost supplies.

That was little comfort to consumers struggling to find toilet paper on Wednesday.

“This is the last straw,” said Manuel Fagundes, a shopper hunting for tissue in Caracas. “I’m 71 years old and this is the first time I’ve seen this.”

One supermarket visited by the Associated Press in the capital on Wednesday was out of toilet paper. Another had just received a fresh batch, and it quickly filled up with shoppers as the word spread.

“I’ve been looking for it for two weeks,” said Cristina Ramos. “I was told that they had some here and now I’m in line.”

Economists say Venezuela’s shortages stem from price controls meant to make basic goods ... Read More

By John Paul Rathbone

One sign of how Brazilian foreign policy has changed subtly under Dilma Rousseff – and become less aggravating to the US – can be seen in the Brazilian president’s response to the death of Hugo Chávez.

Ms Rousseff declared three days of mourning following the death on March 5 of Venezuela’s president and led a minute’s silence live on national television.

“We recognise a great leader, an irreparable loss and above all a friend of Brazil,” she said of the socialist leader, adding carefully that “on many occasions, the Brazilian government did not agree” with his policies.

Since assuming office in 2011, Ms Rousseff, a technocratic manager, has taken a more restrained approach to foreign policy than her predecessor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the charismatic former trade unionist who often publicly embraced Mr Chávez.

While Mr Lula da Silva liked to travel the world and make front-page news, Ms Rousseff has focused more ... Read More

NIKOLAS KOZLOFF

Now that Venezuela’s larger-than-life Hugo Chávez has vanished from the political landscape, what does the future hold for South America? Though Venezuela is only a medium-sized country, Chávez was able to skillfully realign geopolitical fault lines through shrewd use of oil largesse and petro populism. It is unlikely, though, that uncharismatic Chávez successor Nicolás Maduro, who only won his country’s recent presidential election by the slightest of margins, will be as successful as his mentor in maintaining Venezuela’s carefully crafted system of regional alliances. As Venezuela fades, Brazil will naturally assume a greater leadership role, thus paving the path for a somewhat unusual three-way contest between the two South American countries and the United States. Just what form, precisely, is such competition likely to take and where are new geopolitical rivalries going to be most acutely felt? For answers, look to Brazil “buffer state” Uruguay, a country rife with ... Read More

JORDI MIRO

CARACAS — Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles, narrowly defeated at the polls by the late Hugo Chavez’s successor, said the Supreme Court will decide very soon whether a new presidential vote should be held.

In an interview Wednesday with AFP, Capriles warned that if the answer was no, he would bring his fight to “international bodies.” He insists the election was stolen from him.

“Within hours, we are going to have a decision on whether (the Supreme Court) accepts” the opposition’s bid to hold new elections, he said.

The Miranda state governor, who has not conceded the race, which the National Electoral Board says Nicolas Maduro won by 1.49 points, said that if the high court takes on the legal case, it should last about three or four months but the country’s court system is not known for its swiftness.

Capriles has filed two complaints: one over the electoral process in general and ... Read More

By Scott Stewart Vice President of Analysis

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s approach to combating Mexican drug cartels has been a much-discussed topic since well before he was elected. Indeed, in June 2011 — more than a year before the July 2012 Mexican presidential election — I wrote an analysis discussing rumors that, if elected, Pena Nieto was going to attempt to reach some sort of accommodation with Mexico’s drug cartels in order to bring down the level of violence.

Such rumors were certainly understandable, given the arrangement that had existed for many years between some senior members of Pena Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party and some powerful cartel figures during the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s long reign in Mexico prior to the election of Vicente Fox of the National Action Party in 2000. However, as we argued in 2011 and repeated in March 2013, much has changed in Mexico since 2000, and the new reality in Mexico means ... Read More

BY DIEGO ORE

CARACAS – Socialist leader Nicolas Maduro and the billionaire boss of Venezuela’s biggest private company have buried the hatchet after a war of words over food shortages and other economic problems in the South American nation.

Perpetuating the hard-line rhetoric of his predecessor Hugo Chavez, newly-elected Maduro turned on Empresas Polar president Lorenzo Mendoza in recent days, accusing him of hoarding products as part of an “economic war” on the state by private business.

Mendoza, whose company is Venezuela’s biggest beer- and flour-maker, denied that and pointedly challenged the government to sell production plants nationalized under Chavez back to the private sector to boost efficiency.

On Tuesday night, the pair met to discuss their differences in a spat seen by Venezuelans as a bellwether for state-business relations going forward under Maduro’s government.

Both sides came out of the meeting sounding reconciliatory and pledging to work together to overcome food shortages that have ... Read More