LA Quick Hits: Cholera Kills in Haiti, Juarez (Again), Hugo and Santos, Bolivia - Not So Gassy, Peru Talks Security, PRD Drops Godoy & More

• Cholera outbreak in Haiti kills 150 thus far; not in Port-au-Prince but earthquake to blame. WaPost and LAT also follow story.
• 15 youths dead in Juarez.
• Santos and Hugo to meet in Caracas on October 29.
• Bolivia gas reserves a lot lower than previously believed.
• Colombia, Brazil and Peru talk security (notice the source link and how they play down Chavez nuke plans).
• Peru says FARC is hanging out there.
• Peru talks narcos with Bolivia.
• PRD dumps Godoy. Why did they accept him in the first place. Godoy has ties to organized crime and still sits in Chamber of Deputies. He is immune from prosecution while in office.
• PAN's preemptive strike against AMLO fails - they should just ignore him. They are turning him into a martyr...again.
• Colombia has more fauna under threat than any country in world, save Mex.
• Susana Villaran still has a 14K vote lead in Lima mayoral race with over 88% of votes counted.

LA Quick Hits: Mex Drug Cartels Go South, Don Diego Lives!, Correa the Commie, Begging Bolivia & More

• Colombia is not backing down on its FARC accusations and tells Hugo where to stick his "Plan de Paz."
• Great piece in WaPost on Mex Drug Cartel Violence going to Central America. Did you know that homicides per capita in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras far outstrip Mexico's?
• Kidnappers of Don Diego release photo and letter. Depressing and awful.
• Correa starts to set the stage to nationalize petrol companies.
• Ortega talks up US Sec of Labor Solis, kind of nauseating actually. She is visiting the Nicas.
• Alvaro Vargas Llosa is cautiously optimistic about the release of political prisoners in Cuba. Even then, he is too optimistic. The Church got a role in all of this because Ortega is a tool and can be manipulated not because it brings anything to the table.
• US Charges d' Affaires in Bolivia whines and begs Evo to cooperate in fight against narcos. Seriously, why should he? So the US can help the way they help Mex? The way they helped sink Colombia to the brink of collapse? Why should they lift bring more killing, corruption and crime just to raise the price of cocaine by $1 a kilo? Evo should give him the middle finger and say - "We don't snort or smoke, you deal with it."
• Maradona is out - the vote was unanimous.
• Peru's State of the Union/4th of July is tomorrow - one legislator's plea..."Don't lie."

LA Quick Hits: FARC in Venezuela, Hugo Gets Pissed, Santos Invites Neighbors, Car Bomb in Mex, Killing Labor, Bolivar is Dead, Peru "Slows" & More

• FARC and ELN leaders are chilling out in Venezuela. Colombians have pictures and film to prove it - the evidence goes back to 2002 and...
• Venezuela is SHOCKED by the allegations...Hugo pulls his ambassador from Colombia. That Ambassador must have some pretty awesome frequent flier miles.
• You're invited! Santos invites Hugo and Correa to his inauguration...good luck with that.
• First car bomb in Mexico's drug war goes off in Ciudad Juarez - four dead.
• Mexican drug cartels have US made grenades.
• Argentina oks same-sex unions - Cristina takes a swipe at the US, of course.
• Hugo's unions take on the old unions and 75 union leaders have died. How come we only hear about Colombia?
• Cuban Commie spy is sentenced for life. His wife gets off easy with only six and three quarter years.
• Not a parody - Hugo exhumes Simon Bolivar, speaks to the remains and relates it all to a national audience. The crazy thing is that if he ran tomorrow, Hugo would probably still get re-elected.
• Cardinal Ortega visited US in June - met someone, but Obama Admin is not confirming who.
• Peruvian economy continues to sizzle, growing 9.2% in May
• Happy Birthday Plan Colombia! $8 billion, 84% reduction in terrorist attacks, 88% reduction in kidnappings, 58% in coca production and 45% reduction in homicides.
• Correa gears up for war against crime.
• Ten candidates for Prez of Brazil, only Dilma and Serra matter.
• Twelve Candidates for Mayor of Lima, right and center right candidates leading.

Correa Knew About Reyes Being In Ecuador

I know it may come as a shock but according to a report Correa knew of Raul Reyes being in Ecuador back in June 2007. Actually they even mentioned the precise location where he was offed last week. Boz is all over this. Boz mentions that Ecuador arrested five FARC "militants" and is hopeful that this is a sign of something. I am more inclined to believe these are tokens offered up for appearances and that each one of these individuals is inconsequential.

Hugo the FARC Lover

Hugo is making some noises and Correa is following his lead. Myles Frechette, a former ambassodor to Colombia, made the rounds in the papers. I don't want to read too much into it but it appears to me that the Frechette tailored his message to his audience. For the Herald Frechotte cited Hugo's motivation for his actions:

"You'll see a lot of [diplomatic] movement in the next few days,'' Frechette said, adding, "Chávez is playing to the cheap seats in Venezuela. His ratings are down. The economy is suffering, and the people know it. He's using this as a smoke screen. Note that Chávez has carefully not said he'll attack Colombia"

In the WaPost piece Frechette goes out of his way to say that Uribe is the one in dire straights:

"Uribe has got to go down there, meet with Correa, calm him down, and he's going to have Chávez fuming at the border," Frechette said. Uribe is "in a pickle, in the sense that diplomatically he's got to get himself out of this corner that he's got himself in."

Every piece even the one at NYTimes notes Chavez is gets along fine with the FARC. NYTimes article defined Chavez/FARC relations as warm and noted, just like WaPost, that Reyes and Hugo had met three times.

FARC Leader F***ed

Sort of intellectually lazy to resort to profanities but how else to characterize the elimination of Raul Reyes by Colombian forces? I have to give a hat-tip to Boz where I first happened upon the good news. He also has some good analysis and links - so good that anything on my part would be superfluous.

The only new news Boz has not put up is Venezuela's reaction which is to man up along the border to protect FARC guerillas residing in his country...Oh gosh...did I say that out loud? I meant that Chavez put troops along the border to protect the sovereignty of Venezuela. Chavez is also shutting down the embassy in Bogota. Since the Colombians did not touch Venezuelan territory this strikes me as a tad hysterical, assuming that he is not associated with the FARC. Chavez is doing his saber-rattling routine to see if he can boost popularity at home - it worked for Fidel so why not him? At least that seems to be his thinking.

LA Quick Hits: Hugo Talks (and Talks and Talks), Nutty Correa, Lula's Plan, Evo is Stuck, Monterrey, Cuba Libre! and More

• Hugo's babfest, Alo Presidente, was back on the air. Hugo told US to "go to hell," spoke of Brazilian babes in string bikinis, the hanging of Saddam, a plan to jack up taxes, raise the famously low price of Venezuelan gasoline and his plan to not pay market value for the nationalization of CANTV (en esp.) - the telecom company.
• FT has a round up of LA. Among the issues explored: Hugo's power grab and insane fiscal policy, Correa's even nuttier fiscal plans and the promising start of Calderon.
• Lula is set to unveil a growth package for Brazil. Among the features of Lula's plan: tax breaks, increased public spending on infrastructure along with other cuts in spending.
  
• Mercosur tabled plans of expansion, despite Hugo's enthusiasm for it.
• CSM begins a very promising series on Calderon's crackdown.
• Calderon's people insisted that they will carry on with the drug war and the AG insisted that extradition of drug traffickers had nothing to do with pressure from US.
  
• Bolivia's constitutional assembly is stuck in the mud and the politics of that country are a mess. Divisions abound and Evo has had to adjust.
• 5 killed by FARC bomb.
  
• 11 Iraqis bound for US were arrested in Mexico.
• Residents of Monterrey are accused of being cheap by fellow Mex. Is it an accident that Monterrey is the most business friendly and entrepreneurial major city in Mex?
  
• Monterrey is finishing off its own "River Walk."
• Who wants a free Cuba? No one but US.