LA Quick Hits: Cochabamba Clash, MAS Scrap, Correa/Uribe Talk, Peron Lives, Hugo Helps Danny, Human Rights Watch Wakes Up & More

• Violence broke out again in Cochabamba yesterday leaving two dead.
  
• Evo's MAS (Movement Towards Socialism) is threatening to scrap the Constitutional Assembly. Evo had previously threatened to impose his reforms by edict if this happened.
  
• Correa is touting the successful dialogue that he had with Uribe (en esp.) concerning the spraying on the border.
  
• Isabel Peron, the former president and the strongman's widow, has an arrest order for her from an Argentine judge. This stems from accusations made about her role of the disappearance of a leftist during the "Dirty War." Peron lives in Spain.
• Nicaragua has signed a couple of pacts with Venezuela to take advantage of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA). (en esp.) This is Hugo's version of what we call the FTAA but that our Spanish speaking neighbors refer to as ALCA. Danny's deal gets him a refinery and housing.
• FT has an incredibly tepid op-ed on Hugo's "Left Turn."
• Oppo leader Manuel Rosales said that Hugo wants to perpetuate his reign - I'm glad he told me because I never would have guessed. (en esp.)
• Human Rights Watch rips Hugo for stacking courts and destroying the independent judiciary.
• Human Rights Watch also expressed disappointment over the new and improved UN Commission on Human Rights. I can't believe that it took them this long to realize that the reformed commission is barely an improvement over its previous incarnation. The whole thing should be scrapped - obviously the UN is beyond being an effective defender of Human Rights.
• Cubans paid homage to deceased dissident Miguel Valdes Tamayo. Tamayo died at 50 of a heart attack.
• Posada Carriles has been indicted for lying...that's like saying he has been indicted for breathing. I've said before and I'll say it again - if Posada would have kept his mouth shut and laid low no one would have bothered him. Unfortunately ego, delusions of his supporters and the cloistered hardline Cuban exile community allowed the genius to stage a grand press conference drawing attention to him and his cronies. The US gov't had to act then. The man got what he deserved.
• The UN is looking to help Monterrey Mex with its drug war.
  

LA Quick Hits: The Hugo Effect, Evo Destruction, Insulted Insulza, The AMLO Show, Babalu Bash & More

• The markets respond to Hugo's nationalization plans with a freefall. The Carcas exchanged dropped almost 19% and the street value of the bolivar plumetted to almost half its previous value. The Hugo effect also nailed other LA markets with Argentina, Mexico and Brazil registering almost 2% losses or more. I would imagine Mexico will bounce back relatively quickly with Argentina and Brazil trailing but recovering too. It is unlikely that any of them will follow Hugo. I'm sure that investors in the Hugo alliance (Ecuador, Bolivia and maybe Nicaragua) will think twice before fronting more money. If nationalization goes through the US is expecting compensation but as far as I'm concerned they don't deserve it. I am incredulous at investors who are shocked that this is happening quicker than they thought. Does that mean that they expected it to happen anyway and were hoping he just took his time. These companies deserve what they got.
• CSM has an overview of what is going down in Venezuela.
• Evo lovers are making a mess in Cochabomba - they are hoping to oust the anti-Evo gov. Blog from Bolivia thinks this is unlikely and unproductive.
• The Cuban dissident in Bolivia has been deported to Colombia. Sure the US helped, via the UN, (en esp.) but why wouldn't we take him?
• Ecuador cried to the OAS yesterday (en esp.) about Colombia's border spraying.
• OAS members backed Insulza (en esp.) after Hugo's tirade.
• The AMLO show had it's premiere - the paid infomercial ripped Calderon's anti-crime initiative and proposed a law to break up "monpolies." God idea! Let's start with PEMEX!
• I can't defend Oscar Corral this time...he trots out the old boring story that we've heard a thousand times - that travel restrictions and the embargo divide the Cuban exile community. I can recite that crap in my sleep. This piece will get ripped on Babalu before sun up.
  
• This is a shock - Mexico extradited a murder suspect back to the US. I doubt we waived the possibility of the death penalty.
• There are now "only" 333 dissidents in jail in Cuba. Newsflash - the entire friggin' island is a jail.
• More Cuban doctor stuff. How can you beat propoganda like that? Perhaps by doing some of it yourself. It's certainly cheaper than funding crop eradication and it makes someone happy.
• In case anyone was wondering ETA confirmed that they bombed Madrid...oh and by the way the ceasefire is still on. Go ahead Zapatero - take the bait.