Lo Que Serra, Serra

Council of the Americas has an update on the upcoming Brazilian elections. Jose Serra of the Social Democratic Party of Brazil (PDSB) once had a 20 point lead but Lula's girl Dilma Roussef of the Worker's Party (PT) leads in one poll and is only down by one in another. All this can be attributed to Lula's popularity. The PDSB, despite its name, is essentially a center party comparatively speaking. The third place candidate is the Green Party candidate and doesn't have a prayer.

LA Quick Hits: Evo is Loved, Hugo Beats China, Ecuador Kicks US Out, Lula's Package, Calderon Fights and Fights, Harleys in Havana & More

• One year in and Evo is still popular but divisive. What helps is the increased revenue from his nationalization program and that the economy is still growing. Evo marked the anniversary with a Fidel-esque 4 1/2 hour speech.
  
• The biggest customer in the arms market since 2005? Would you believe Hugo? Venezuela chipped in $4.3 billion to buy weapons and other military hardware (en esp.) while the China Reds ponied up $3.4 billion.
• Ecuador made clear that it is booting the US from the base in Manta (en esp.) in 2009, when the pact with US expires. Ecuador also looks to get into the LA arms race. (en esp.)
• CSM's excellent series on Calderon continues. Now the discussion focuses on his economic policy particularly the difficulty of dealing with monopolies. Ironically FT has a story on Calderon's planned assault on monopolies.
• Lula unveiled his growth package and it was bigger than expected.
• Calderon unveiled an 8-point plan to fight the drug war. He plans to rely more on local police in the future.
• Speaking of the police in Mex another cop was killed in Monterrey and...
• ...police in Tijuana are using slingshots, while they wait for their guns back.
• Miami (and Hugo) has given us a new pressure group Independent Venezuelan-America Citizens. They seem to be following the CANF model except that they will try to reach out to middle America by speaking English.
• Danny sliced his salary and those of his cabinet. (en esp.)
• Having a Harley in Cuba isn't easy.