MANAGUA - A report by an 80-person European Union electoral observation group on Nicaragua's November 6, 2011 elections condemns the country's electoral body as a tool of left-wing president Daniel Ortega and his political party, rather than an independent electoral body.
The report confirms what international observers have claimed since November, that the November elections were not free and not fair, and that Ortega had politicized the electoral body for his and his party's political advantage.
Aside from the politicization of the electoral oversight body, Ortega had also breached Nicaragua's own constitution to run for another term as president, by stacking the country's Supreme Court with supporters that enabled his candidacy by fiat, which prompted Vilma Nunez, the head of the Nicaraguan Center for the Defense of Human Rights, to state, "This is the only country in the world where the court has declared the constitution unconstitutional."
BOGOTA - Fifty three Colombian newspapers, all members of the Colombian Association of Newspaper Editors and Media (Andiarios), will publish simultaneously on Thursday the opinion column written by journalist Emilio Palacio, 'No to lies', which Ecuador presdient Rafael Correa used to unjustly persecute Palacio and three directors of El Universo.
This was confirmed by the director of the organization, Nohora Sanin, who accepted the request of the director of the newspaper El Tiempo in Bogota, Roberto Pombo."We found a very important initiative and put it to the attention of all the papers of the Association. It was fitting that we unite as an act of protest. "
Sanin also said they want to "call attention to the plight against the excesses of power that are aimed at silencing the press and opinion." In an interview with WRadio of Colombia, Sanin said the media will print the facts and then simultaneously re-publish Palacio's article tomorrow.
FARC terrorist leader "Timochenko" reads a declaration from the Marxist terrorist group's high command.
BOGOTA - The National Police force of Colombia busted a kidnapping ring operated by the terrorist group FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionaria de Colombia), officials announced on Thursday.
The takedown of the kidnappers was the result of simultaneous raids in Bogota, Giron, Neiva and Santander.
Left-wing political activist and actor Sean Penn (left) with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
BUENOS AIRES - Award-winning actor and far-left political activist Sean Penn is siding with left-wing president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina over the British-owned Falkland Islands, saying that Britain should enter into UN-sponsored talks over the island's sovereignty.
On Monday, Penn met with Kirchner to discuss the issue, and even called the islands "the Malvinas Islands of Argentina," a name that the military junta of Argentina used in 1982 when it launched a military attack in a failed attempt to capture the islands.
On Friday, Ambassador Otto Reich spoke at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on a panel entitled “From Fidel to Chavez: How Do We Stop the Resurgence of Socialism in Latin America.”
The topic has garnered greater attention lately, as the alliance between Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has grown to the point of allowing the Iranian regime to subvert sanctions designed to slow its ability to develop nuclear weapons and to utilize its proxy forces outside its borders.
Comrade Artemio pictured with several Shining Path terrorist subordinates.
LIMA - Peru's Minister of Defense, Alberto Otarola, announced to reporters Friday that the fugitive terrorist leader "Comrade Artemio" of the Shining Path terrorist group may have been mortally wounded in combat.
The Shining Path came very close to toppling Peru's democratically elected government in the 1980s and early 1990s, and was one of the most brutal and bloody of the left-wing terrorist groups in Latin America, until it was finally routed by the Peruvian military after terrorism laws were strengthened to allow security officials to more aggressively pursue them. The 50 year old Comrade Artemio, whose real name is Florindo "Jose" Flores, commands a force of about 150 terrorist guerrillas. The United States has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
The three opposition primary candidates Enrique Caprilees (left), Maria Corina Machado (center) and Pablo Perez (right).
CARACAS - Turnout for Sunday's opposition primary election could be severely depressed due to threats against state employees that choose to cast a ballot, according to Teresa Albanes, president of the Electoral Committee of the Unified Democratic Panel, known by its Spanish acronym MUD.
On Wednesday, Albanes told Efe news agency that many threats against public servants that intended to vote had been widely reported. "If you plan to vote, you will be dumped, things like that," she explained. Albanes gave no details about the identity of the senders or recipients of the messages, for their personal security.
All Venezuelans have been encouraged by the MUD to show up on Sunday to vote in the opposition primaries to select the challenger to President Hugo Chávez, said Albanes, though many may fear repercussions. The presidential election between Sunday's winner and incumbent president Hugo Chavez is scheduled to take place on October 7th.
HAVANA - Fidel Castro, appearing on Cuban state-controlled TV for the first time since handing power to his younger brother Raul in April of 2011, said that those candidates competing in a primary to run against Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez will never beat him.
Castro, who has been both a mentor and a dependent to Chavez, who sends subsidized oil to Cuba to help keep the 50 year old Castro dictatorship afloat, called the opposition primary "a conspiracy supported by the Yankees (Americans)." The ailing dictator also added that "no one ever did more for the Venezuelan people than the Bolivarian Movement."
Castro, who for 50 years gave televised speeches on a daily basis that would last for hours, has stayed away from television since handing over the reigns of the dictatorship to Raul. But he has since dedicated his time to managing the politics of the "ALBA" countries, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, whose presidents all defer to the aging despot as a more experienced mentor in statecraft and subversion.
During the TV appearance, Castro also opined on the nuclear ambitions of Iran, and other events of the Arab Spring: "What will happen in Iran? ... What is going to happen in Syria? It is not going to be the same thing as in Libya", he said.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez (left) and opposition candidate Pablo Medina (right).
CARACAS - Venezuelan opposition candidate Pablo Medina delivered an affidavit to the Organization of American States (OAS) on Monday warning of the possibility that Hugo Chavez may execute what is known in Latin America as a "self-coup." A self-coup is when the sitting president dissolves the current congress and usually the supreme court, suspends elections, and basically declares an emergency situation in order to avoid being voted out of office.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez (left), with his fellow ALBA leader Raul Castro (right), Cuba's current dictator who succeeded his older brother, Fidel.
CARACAS - The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, better known by its acronym "ALBA," strongly condemned the current violence in Syria on Sunday. But the ALBA group wasn't condemning the slaughter of civilians by the Assad dictatorship, but violence that it said was being committed by "irregular groups supported by foreign powers."
The ALBA group, which consists of Latin America's far-left led countries Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua and a handful of Caribbean countries dependent on Venezuelan oil, made the pronouncement at its eleventh summit held in Caracas, Venezuela.
The statement said, "the member countries of ALBA condemn the violence armed rebel groups supported by foreign powers have unleashed against the Syrian people," and also expressed the desire for a "return to calm" and "an atmosphere of peace."
A Caracas consumer shops in vain for household staples, while the Venezuelan government proposes more price controls.
CARACAS - Polling analysis from a range of firms has consistently shown that neither policy positions nor even a candidate's personal charisma carries the most weight with Venezuelan voters. The most impactful element of electoral campaigns has consistently been monetary and "in-kind" handouts.
Foreigners often ask Venezuelans how Hugo Chavez remains popular after driving foreign investment away, ruining the economy, and making Venezuela a laughing stock within the hemisphere. Polling data shows that the answer is nothing more than money - money from State oil coffers delivered into the hands of favored constituencies of Chavez.
Every election year, Chavez has increased his "missions," projects for the poor, and has brought in container loads of Chinese household appliances that he sells in Chavista neighborhoods at subsidized prices.
When a Chavista candidate was defeated by an opponent's slogan, "Go get your free microwave, then vote for me!", the tactic appeared to be on the verge of backfiring. To compensate, Chavez has had to become more stealthy in his vote-buying methodology.
CARACAS - Venezuela's attorney general Carlos Escarrá, a close ally of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, has died of a heart attack in Venezuela.
Known as the "Lawyer of the Revolution," Escarrá was appointed by Hugo Chavez in 2011 as Venezuela's attorney general, and was a member of Venezuela's United Socialist Party of Venezuela.
Escarrá was a committed leftist, stating in a 2010 TV interview with Globovision that the word "communism" originated from early Christians, and added that, "If someone says that communism is evil, then Christ was wrong, the apostles were bad."
Escarrá claimed to be fully supportive of Hugo Chavez's "21st Century Socialism," and stated that "socialism is a stage of transition to communism."
He explained that within the PSUV Party, all substantive discussions on the country's issues were made collectively, and added that, "Once a decision is made, we support it collectively (...) I am part of a political project."
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez's health condition may be far more grave than his government is reporting.
CARACAS - Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has between nine and twelve months to live if he continues to refuse the necessary treatment for his cancer, according to a confidential medical report obtained by Spain's ABC news agency.
The confidential report states that Chavez has so far refused to accept more intense cancer treatment, because it would force him to temporarily leave his presidential duties, according to the latest medical examination by specialists who are treating him.
From the medical tests that were administered December 30th, doctors concluded that "his health seems to be deteriorating at a faster pace, clearly there has been metastases into the bones and spinal cord."
Venezuelan operative Livia Acosta gives a solidarity fist pump to the Bolivarian Revolution.
CARACAS - The Miami consulate that serves as a governmental affairs liaison to thousands of Venezuelan expats living in the Southern United States will be shut down, according to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez in an announcement on Friday. After Venezuelan diplomat Livia Acosta was recently expelled after a Univsion documentary played a recording of her conspiring with susected terrorists and radicals from Iran, Cuba and Mexico, that were allegedly plotting cyberattacks on U.S. installations, Chavez announced that he would not expel a U.S. diplomat in return, but would shut down the consulate "while we assess the situation."
A subsequent report revealed documentation that showed that Acosta was also a member of Chavez's secret police, and that her rise to a diplomatic post came in just eight years after starting out as a leader of Chavez's violent and illegal Bolivarian Circles, then subsequently receiving intelligence training in Cuba, before moving up the ranks to become a diplomat in the United States.
NORTE DE SANTANDER - The Colombian terrorist group FARC is suspected of setting off a car bomb in a terrorist attack that killed a 12-year-old child and a 21-year-old girl, as well as a female bystander that was near the blast.
Colombian authorities place the blame on the FARC's 33rd Front, which has been active in the area with a number of attacks on civilians.
The Argentine assassin Che Guevara, whose image is running a close race with Mao Tse Tung as the most capitalized of any anti-capitalist in history, has enjoyed a posthumous popularity that is inversely proportional to his competence in life. Guevara's "foco theory" of guerrilla warfare lasted about as long as he and his "peasant" revolutionary regiment lasted in the jungles of Bolivia.
Today, the eponymous "Che" as he is modernly known, graces the walls of reluctant terrorists and dime store revolutionaries throughout the world, from Obama campaign volunteers to Palestinian terror apologists like Hatem Abudayyeh, a Chicago radical whose office was shown to be adorned with a Che poster in what was otherwise an innocuous 2004 PBS documentary on immigrants in America.
GUATEMALA CITY - Former first lady of Guatemala Sandra Torres de Colom has been ordered not to leave the country pending an investigation into the misuse of funds for a government anti-poverty program.
Former Guatemalan president Alvaro Colom, a left-wing politician who leaves office tomorrow, had tried to maintain power by actually divorcing his wife so that she could run for president as a placeholder until he could run again after sitting out a term. But the courts in Guatemala ruled against her eligibility to run for office, as family members are barred from running in successive terms. Even before she was disqualified, polls showed that president-elect Otto Perez Molina would have trounced her after her husband's ineffective administration had left Guatemala a haven for narcotrafficking and gang violence.
Now comes word that the ex-First Lady is being investigated for misuse of funds for a scheme to redistribute money to the poor, which was misappropriated and used for either personal enrichment or vote buying.
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