LA Quick Hits: Calderon's Challenge(s), Mexican Mess, Manny To Go Free (Kind of), Hugo is Nice, Paper War Continues, Evo & ETA & More

• CSM closes out its excellent series on the troubles facing Calderon. The last piece focuses on the income gap in Mex.
• Speaking of Mex income Calderon said no gov't official should make more than him. Is that before or after bribes?
• Mexican tourism officials are freaked out over the new passport requirements that took affect Tuesday. They should be.
• A PRD official from Oaxaca was gunned down.
• W mentioned Cuba in the State of the Union last night, Ros-Lehtinen was predictably ecstatic. Somehow Fidel's nephews did provide a quote to the Herald. Meanwhile some lawmakers want to make life easier for Fidel and his posse.
  
• Manuel Noriega will be set "free" Sept. 9 although it appears that he will be extradited to France or Panama where he is wanted for crimes. The Panamanians want him but France is more likely to get him.
• US wants good relations with Correa - I doubt he does.
• I have no idea what Marcela Sanchez means when she calls Chavez' s 21st century socialism polite but she comes across like a fellow travelling apologist.
  
• A once prominent Chavista turns critic - too little too late.
• A pretty decent profile of Chavez's Venezuela in today's NYT. It features the best definition of Chavismo that I've seen thus far "It is a series of arbitrary improvisations from a fellow obeyed by everyone in his circle."
• ChiTrib has its own Chavez profile but it hits familiar points.
• Only the geniuses at Vigilia Mambisa could make a puny group of Chavez apologists look rational.
• World Court says Argentines can block bridges into Uruguay - Uruguay is steamed and Kirchner says that Uruguay has no choice but to talk to them now.
• Evo denies ties to ETA - liar!
  

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.
  

LA Quick Hits: Peace in Spain, Calderon Strikes Again, Hugo a Dictator?, Hugo Blows off Cardinal, Santero Silliness & Bit More

• We're starting off with a quick hit from special guest, Spain. The gov't has called for an end to the peace process with ETA. This after the ultimate EUnuch, PM Zapatero, had called for a wimpy suspension after the Basque separatist group set off a car bomb in Madrid. The clueless Socialists are a bit slow on this since ETA seems to have already called it off by ending their "permanent" cease-fire. Incidentally "permanent" in Spanish translates to 281 days.
• Calderon is now sending 3,000 troops to Tijuana to go after the drug gangs. Quelling the violence there is not going to be easy.
• In an interview in el Nuevo Herald Chavez dissident Manuel Rosales said that Venezuela is on the road to totalitarianism. (en esp.)
  
• Eager to prove Rosales' point Chavez is blowing off Cardinal Urosa Savino's plea that Venezuela not refuse RCTV's broadcast license renewal request. RCTV has not been nice to Chavez in the past.
• The Santeros in Cuba have made their annual predictions. Apparently there will be a funeral and we need to take care of the youth. That these predictions are so closely watched every year is annoying.
• Prison riots take place in the Bolivarian Paradise too. 16 dead in a riot there.
• Calderon says that there will be no end to his efforts to create equal opportunity for all in Mexico. (en esp.)