Photo by Alfredo Velarde. Used following a Creative Commons license. Taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/velardemariscal/4316299488/in/set-72157623188793247/

A persistent idea in the Cusco blogosphere is the lack of prevention [es] from the local and regional governments for this type of disaster that seems to happen every year. Frida Ibáñez from Crónicas desde el centro Cusco explained the geography and characteristics of the city, and questioned why there is no planning nor prevention from the authorities [es]:

Ha llovido por cuatro días consecutivos con breves descansos, el cielo parecía no contenerse y caía agua de forma estrepitosa. Los ríos en las calles crecían cada vez más. No recuerdo una lluvia así de fuerte desde mi infancia … El Cusco es una hoyada. No es por gusto que la llaman ombligo… su geografía es particular. … Es en época de secas, entre mayo a setiembre que deberían hacerse la limpieza de los ríos, tal como lo hacían los Incas. Podríamos prevenir las pérdidas ante una eventualidad climática como la última. Nos preguntamos: ¿qué hacen las autoridades con el dinero que Cusco recibe del canon minero? recordemos que hace unos años se devolvió dinero de la Región Cusco a Lima porque no hubo capacidad de gasto y gestión.

Frida also wrote about helping those affected by the rain [es]. CafeHenry from the blog El Placard "H" also commented on the reaction from the government [es] .

Photo by Alfredo Velarde. Used following a Creative Commons license. Taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/velardemariscal/4315585687/in/set-72157623188793247/

Alfredo Velarde was visiting the town of Aguas Calientes, on the foothill of Machu Picchu, when it all started. On his blog, he offered a first-hand testimony of the disaster [es] and impressive photos on his Flickr account:

casi 3000 personas procedentes de Camino Inca y de la ciudad de Cusco, quedamos varadas en este pueblo, con escáso alimento, una pésima organización contra desastres naturales, autoridades corruptas y el desconcierto persistente, para el martes el caos se apodero del pueblo, debido a la poca ayuda del gobierno y las terribles desigualdades entre los residentes, turistas extranjeros y peruanos que las mismas autoridades genéran. … hoy por la tarde recién pude salir del lugar evacuado en un helicóptero de la Fuerza Aérea Peruana … pero preocupadísimo por los cientos de peruanos que por discriminación están siendo dejados de lado por la autoridades policiales, militares y por los grupos de extranejeros al mando de las actividades de organización para la evacuación.

Citizen media has gathered important information about the impact of the disaster. One of the most comprehensive coverages is the one of Marco Moscoso from El Caminerito, who we addressed in a previous post. He reported through his blog and Twitter account about emergency brigades, donation centers and any related irregularities, and even created a map with information of the affected areas.

Another important example is Prensa Contacto, a project started by two young communicators from Cusco who inform about what happens on their grounds. In a recent post [es] they reported that, until February 4th, in the Cusco Region there were 35,818 affected families and 13,210 dwellings damaged, following the last report from the regional president.

On his personal blog, Luis Figueroa made a virtual tour on Valle Sagrado with information about food and goods [es] in case of disaster. He also narrated and illustrated a mass and a procession to stop the rain [es]:

Desde 1986 el Taytacha no salía a las calles del Cusco fuera de su día principal -Lunes santo-, hoy, sin embargo, se realizó un servicio religioso a las 10:00 horas en el atrio de La Catedral con la intención de elevarle preces para aplacar las fuertes lluvias que caen sobre la región … Sin embargo, luego de concluida la misa, el sacerdote anunció que “para cuidar la imagen” la bendición sería impartida sólo en el atrio, a lo que el pueblo replicó “¡Que haya procesión!”. Minutos después, el Taytacha de los Temblores daba una vuelta por la Plaza de Armas para satisfacción de los fieles.

On the subject of help and solidarity, the Proyect of La Casa de Mayten reported both in text and photos [es] the current actions to help those affected in the town of Huacarpay on the blog Cambiando el Mundo:

Mi meta principal del viaje hoy fue levantar/recopilar informacion sobre la situacion global actual en Huacarpay, identificar sus necesidades urgentes, ver su estado de salud, y identificar los puntos de contacto a traves de los cuales coordinar esfuerzos organizados. … pudimos rapidamente conocer a, y hablar con, los 10 representates de los 10 sectores formados en el cerro en el que se refugian desde el domingo pasado, 315 familias (aprox 1,575 personas) incluyendo al sr. alcalde y a la teniente gobernadora.

Photo by Alfredo Velarde. Used following a Creative Commons license. Taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/velardemariscal/4316294672/in/set-72157623188793247/

More coverage on this situation can be found on the blogs El Caminerito, Urquillos [es], Radio Voz Populi Urubamba [es], Apurímac, Christian David Peña [es], El Trotamundo Tartamudo [es] and Chikuchape [es].

In this podcast he explains why transparency and accountability projects tend to focus on federal rather than state and local governments and points us to one innovative project in Brazil in which bloggers ‘adopt' local politicians.

Las elecciones se celebraron en un ambiente de fiesta, como lo marca la tradición en esta nación centroamericana en los últimos 50 años y que es considerada una de las democracias más sólidas y antiguas de América Latina.

The elections were held in a festive atmosphere, as is tradition in this Central American nation during the past 50 years and is considered to be one of the oldest and most solid democracies in Latin America.

The reactions of bloggers about Chinchilla’s victory did not wait. Some offered their analysis of the facts, others their opinions. An example analysis is provided by Cristian Cambronero in his blog Fusil de Chispas [es], who writes that Chinchilla's party also won the highest number of seats in the Assembly:

Según la proyecciones hasta la media noche del domingo, la próxima Asamblea, compuesta por 57 diputados, quería conformada por PLN 24 diputados del oficialista PLN (centro-derecha), 10 del opositor PAC (centro-izquierda), 10 del derechista Movimiento Libertario, 6 del PUSC (derecha), 4 del PASE, 1 del Frente Amplio (Izquierda), y 2 diputados de partidos de fuerte raíz religiosa-conservadora: 1 de Restauración Nacional y 1 de Renovación Costarricense.

According to the projections up to midnight Sunday, the next Assembly, composed of 57 deputies, would be composed of 24 deputies of the ruling PLN (center right), 10 from the opposition PAC (center left), 10 of the right Libertarian Movement, PUSC 6 (right), 4 of PASE, 1 of the Broad Front (Left) and 2 members of religious parties strong conservative roots: 1 of National Restoration and 1 of Costa Rican Renovation.

Video by YouTube user manrikecr with scenes from around San Carlos, Costa Rica:

Returning to the election of the president, views are mixed. For some bloggers, the idea of political continuity of National Liberation Party (PLN) is not encouraging, as expressed in the blog Conoche San Jose de Noche [es], who writes:

En mi humilde criterio se vienen cuatro años más de lo mismo de los últimos 25 años, donde el pobre se hace cada vez más pobre y el rico continua llenando sus bolsillos a costa del sudor de sus “colaboradores”, además claro el pueblo con su voto dio permiso a que los diputados sigan paseando en avioneta y escribiendo memorándums de terror para el pueblo.

In my humble view, four more years of the same is on its way and which have been happening over the past 25 years, where the poor are becoming poorer and the rich continue to fill their pockets at the expense of the sweat of his “friends,” of course the people with their vote gave the deputies permission to continue riding in airplane and writing terror memos for the people.

The victory of the PLN is seen as a blow to the leftist supporters, as described by the author of the blog El Mae del Bajo [es] who writes:

Ha llegado la hora para que la izquierda se una, esta elección ha manifestado la necesidad de una gran coalición de partidos de izquierda, solo así se formara un gran frente de lucha en contra de los neoliberales, pero si los mezquinos dirigente de estos partidos se niegan a unirse el único camino que les queda es la disolución, abran los ojos ante esta realidad…

The time has come for the left to unite, this election has shown the necessity of a broad coalition of leftist parties, and only in that manner will a broad front be created to fight against neo-liberals, but if the petty leaders of these parties refuse to join, the only path that remains is to dissolve, they need to open up their eyes to this reality…

Although there are abundant feelings of disappointment over the election in the blogosphere, such as from Julia Ardón, who writes about Chinchilla's victory [es]:

No me siento representada por ella. Es raro. Lloré cuando Michelle llegó a la presidencia en Chile. Pero ahorita, cuando ella dió su discurso de aceptación la escuché con atención y no sentí nada. No sé si eran los jingles que la interrumpían, no sé si era la redacción de su discurso. No sé si es que me siento muy lejos de sus ideas y de quienes la colocaron como candidata. No sé. Pero no me conecté con su corazón. No pude.

However, there are other bloggers calling for respect of the choice of the majority, which is what the blogger known as Wolverine wrote:

Ya es nuestra presidente, démosle oportunidad de demostrar su independencia y probar que ella es bastante capaz como mujer de llevar a cabo y ejercer satisfactoriamente su cargo como Presidenta de Costa Rica y superar las expectativas del pueblo, al fin y al cabo Costa Rica somos todos los ticos, no solo el Presidente y su comitiva

She is now our president, give her a chance to demonstrate her independence and prove that she is quite capable as a woman to go forward and to exercise in a satisfactory manner the office as President of Costa Rica and exceed the expectations of the people, after all, in Costa Rica we are all “ticos” (Costa Ricans), not only the President and her party.

On January 9, hospital staff told Brito’s daughter, who was visiting him, that he was being taken for therapy. She says that they sedated him before taking him away. His family was not allowed to visit him the following days. Two days later, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights called on the Venezuelan government to allow him visits as well as access and treatment from a doctor of his choice [es], or one provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross. That request was not granted by Venezuelan government. A similar request from the Caracas Psychology Bar was also ignored [es].

(Watch video of the press conference conducted by relatives of Brito and human rights organizations calling for his release from the military custody / Spanish )

Brito began his protest in 2006 against a decision by the Insituto Nacional de Tierras (National Land Institute), a national government office, which said that his lands were unproductive, a charge that Brito denied. The Institute ordered the confiscation of his lands. Some believe that the decision was a reprisal for corruption allegations he made against the Mayor of the nearby city of Sucre. His protests since then have included several hunger strikes. Even though the central government eventually returned ownership of the disputed lands and offered him compensation, the authorities failed to evict a group of people who have been occupying his land, leading Brito to begin his most recent hunger strike.

Brito's hunger strike has been a topic of discussion Twitter, under the hashtag #FranklinBrito. An orthodontist, Eloy Bustamante @eloybc, who examined Brito in the military hospital on January 19 tweeted:

Odontológicamente muy comprometido. Sistemicamente esta un poco mejor. Es un señor con mucha entereza. No tiene rastros de enfermedad mental

The Twitter user @radardebarrios also wrote about and took a photograph of the protests outside the hospital where Brito was being attended to:

Hace minutos. Dirigentes d barrios de Caracas protestan frente al Hospital Militar en solidaridad con Franklin Brito! http://tweetphoto.com/9214426

On January 16, Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action for Brito urging the authorities to reveal his whereabouts and to guarantees his safety, as well as to respect his wishes to be attended to by a doctor his choice.

Since then, Brito's wife Elena started her own hunger striker and took part in a demonstration on January 23, while seated in a wheelchair.

Photo of Elena Brito at demonstration courtesy of Brito and Habla Venezuela.

Documents about Brito's case can be found on the blog Prohibido Olvidar [es] (Forbidden to Forget).

In another twist to the story, the Public Prosecutor's Office stated that Brito was mentally ill and unable to make his own decisions. The case is regarded as an application of a popular doctrine among some government supporters, who label those who are strongly critical of the administration of Hugo Chavez, as psychotic (”disociados”) [es].

The matter is openly stated in Colofon [es], a blog written by Rodolfo, a journalist and human rights activist:

Rondaba por allí de vez en cuando cuando algunos inistían en llamarlos disociados pero con el caso de Franklin Brito que fue capturado de su huelga de hambre y trasladado a un hospital militar para luego ser llevado al área de siquiatría la tendencia se ha confirmado. Ahora el gobierno al que proteste, al que se le oponga lo considera un enfermo mental.