LA (Not So) Quick Hits: Hugo's Shocker, Mexican Mess, A Grounded Prez, Bachelet Gets Love, Correa Gets Hate & More

• Another shocker from Venezuela as Finance Minister Nelson Merentes announced he was stepping down. He will be replaced by another Hugo sychophant. Merentes was a mainstay in Hugo's cabinet and had been spared in previous shuffles. In his Foreign Policy cover story Javier Corrales explained the importance of Merentes (sub. required):

  One of Chávez’s most influential electoral whizzes is the quiet minister of finance, Nelson Merentes, who spends more time worrying about elections than fiscal solvency. Merentes’s job description is straightforward: extract the highest possible number of seats from mediocre electoral results. This task requires a deep understanding of the intricacies of electoral systems, effective manipulation of electoral districting, mobilization of new voters, detailed knowledge about the political proclivities of different districts, and, of course, a dash of chicanery. A good head for numbers is a prerequisite for the job. Merentes, no surprise, is a trained mathematician.

  The results are apparent. Renewing a passport in Venezuela can take several months, but more than 2.7 million new voters have been registered in less than two years (almost 3,700 new voters per day), according to a recent report in El Universal, a pro-opposition Caracas daily. For the recall referendum, the government added names to the registry list up to 30 days prior to the vote, making it impossible to check for irregularities. More than 530,000 foreigners were expeditiously naturalized and registered in fewer than 20 months, and more than 3.3 million transferred to new voting districts.

• The Ecuadoran Congress met and four anti-Correa parties have formed a coalition to frustrate his intention of creating a constitutional assembly (en esp.) a la Hugo. The coalition holds the majority.
• Tijuana police have walked off the job after being told to turn in their firearms - the federales wanted to investigate the use of these weapons in crimes.
• A state legislator in Acapulco was gunned down.
• In the "You've Got to Be F'in Kidding Me" Dept., two Mexican states are thinking of providing migrants with GPS locators ostensibly to show them how hard it is to cross the border. Obviously these guys are bigger liars than Nick Saban, the locators will be distributed to facilitate crossings.
• Meanwhile GPS deprived gunmen attacked a Border Patrol site manned by National Guardsmen before retreating back over the border. One report says that the site was overrun by the gunmen.
  
• Mexican laws are weird - in order for the Prez to travel out of the country he needs permission to leave from the Mexican Congress. The previous Congress rejected Fox twice and Jorge Castaneda insists that Fox did not come to the US after 9/11 out of fear of rejection.
• El Salvador is having its own "surge" in Iraq.
• The OAS is looking into Ecuador's crying (en esp.) about Colombian spraying.
• A fund for those that want to invest in Cuba before they can invest in Cuba.
• In case you were wondering Bachelet is popular in Chile.
• Zapatero says that he won't be intimidated by ETA the same way he was intimidated by Osama...actually I added that last part.