LA Quick Hits: Pinochet (Again), Getting Tense - Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Columbia, Border Crossing 21st Cent. Style and Much More

• Reconciliation within reach after Pinochet's passing.
• The Bolivian opposition, Podemos, is pissed at Venezuela. Julion Montes, Chavez's man in La Paz, speculated that if Evo would need help Caracas could send troops. Opposition leaders are asking for Montes to head on back from whence he came.
• Tensions are rising between Ecuador and Colombia (en esp.) over the latter country's spraying of border areas. Correa has asked the UN to intervene. (en esp.)
  
• CSM explores the free trade fight in Ecuador - even though they benefit from US trade exemptions public opinion is divided. Flower growers are soon going to get slammed by Correa's no free trade plan.
• A group of docs from San Antonio are headed to Oaxaca to help the poor.
• The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is bugging Calderon to do something about crime along the border. Seriously give the man a breather or just do something about it yourself. He really doesn't need a group media hungry no-names to pester him about problems he knows he already has.
• The makers of Corona, Grupo Modelo, are looking to build the biggest brewery
  in the world at Piedras Negras in northern Mexico.
• Crossing the border just got a whole lot more commercial - if going to El Paso Mexicans will be going through a shopping mall - that is due to open in late 2007.
• Reporters Without Borders "Cyber Dissident Award" - I guess there is an award for anything - went to Cuban independent journalist Guillermo Farinas. By the way the Herald sucks. If you read the posted link you won't find Farinas' first name. Only his last name is printed. In addition the death Mario Llerena which was reported by the NYT yesterday didn't hit the obits in the local paper today...and they published the NYT piece.
• Guatemala and the UN agreed to set up a commission to investigate Human Rights abuses.
• Incidentally the Inter-American system of human rights, led by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, is a tad shaky to say the least.
• Oliver Stone has been fined by the Treasury Dept. for his hagiographic take on Fidel. He should have been fined for making a really crappy documentary.
• Sao Paulo is banning billboards and other forms of messy, distracting and annoying advertising - many people are none too happy.