Tag Archives: Fausta’s blog

Cuban regime orchestrating Venezuelan transition

by on Friday, January 4, 2013 at 5:21 PM | Comment

The power struggles in Venezuela are on, and Raul Castro and his cronies are stepping in:

Today’s Nuevo Herald reports that Cuba’s Communist regime is behind Venezuela’s transition. Under their plan, National Assembly president Diosdado Cabello would be interim president until a new election is called, with Nicolas Maduro, the current VP, as presidential candidate. Cabello will continue as National Assembly president, but with additional powers and influence. (You can read the whole thing here [in Spanish]. La Patilla has more.)

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Post-Chavez Venezuela: Corruption and chaos

by on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 1:22 PM | Comment

Andres Oppenheimer writes about the most corrupt countries in our hemisphere (emphasis added):

Among the world’s 20 least corrupt countries in the world are Germany (13th), Barbados (15th), the United Kingdom (17th) and the United States (19th), followed by Chile and Uruguay (tied in the 20th place). Bahamas is tied with France in the 22nd place.

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Uninvite Psy!

by on Saturday, December 8, 2012 at 10:43 AM | Comment

Korean rapper Psy, he of Gangnam Style, is scheduled to perform at the White House tomorrow.

It turns out that Psy had some unkind things to say to the USA back in 2004

According to reports, in October of that year, Psy took part in a concert in which he joined several other prominent artists onstage for a version of Korean rock group NEXT’s song “Dear American,” and after seizing the microphone, rapped a verse that stated “F—ing Yankees” and their families, should be killed “slowly and painfully.”

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Assuming Assad asks asylum…

by on Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at 2:12 PM | Comment

…will he go to Cuba, Venezuela, or Ecuador?

The embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is considering the possibility to claim political asylum for himself, his family and his close circle in Latin America if he has to cede power, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

“Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister held meetings in Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador over the past week, and brought with him classified personal letters from Assad to local leaders,” the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, reported.

Hmmm…Let’s think that one through:
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Cuba: US won't swap 5 spies for Alan Gross

by on Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 5:19 PM | Comment

Alan Gross, the American prisoner held in Cuba, won’t be released soon; he was arrested on December 3, 2009, and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
US official rejects Cuba’s offer to swap contractor Alan Gross for 5 Cuban spies

Cuba’s offer to swap U.S. government subcontractor Alan Gross for five Cuban spies convicted in Miami is not at all acceptable to Washington, a senior State Department official affirmed Monday on the third anniversary of Gross’ arrest.

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The crisis of American self-government

by on Sunday, December 2, 2012 at 11:25 AM | Comment

Famed political scientist Harvey Mansfield is the WSJ’s weekend interview,
The Crisis of American Self-Government
Harvey Mansfield, Harvard’s ‘pet dissenter,’ on the 2012 election, the real cost of entitlements, and why he sees reason for hope.

‘We have now an American political party and a European one. Not all Americans who vote for the European party want to become Europeans. But it doesn’t matter because that’s what they’re voting for. They’re voting for dependency, for lack of ambition, and for insolvency.”

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Venezuelan immigration to the USA quadrupled over the past 15 years

by on Friday, November 23, 2012 at 2:31 PM | Comment

Venezuelan journalist Carlos Subero researched immigration patterns from Venezuela to the US since 1997 and found that it has surged from 2,500 to 10,000 per year. This reverses the trend of the 1950s, when Venezuela received immigrants from Spain, Italy and Portugal.

Subero, who blogs at Carlossubero’s blog, also found that every forty minutes a Venezuelan obtains a US resident visa, and that the majority of Venezuelan immigrants to the US are middle class or upper-middle class. One in every six is in the traditional professions, a real “brain drain” for Venezuela.

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Mexico: No Iran or Hezbollah here

by on Tuesday, November 20, 2012 at 11:19 AM | 1 Comment

Last week the US House of Representatives Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Management issued a report updating its 2006 A Line in the Sand findings.

The new report (pdf file), A LINE IN THE SAND: COUNTERING CRIME,
VIOLENCE AND TERROR AT THE SOUTHWEST BORDER found (emphasis added):

 Although the United States tightened security at airports and land ports of entry in thewake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the U.S.-Mexico border remains an obvious weak link in the chain.
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