Global Voices Online

Iria Puyosa presents [ES] Polis Venezuela [ES], a customized Google Co-Op search engine which searches through 25 Venezuelan weblogs that discuss politics.

With the bold assertion that “the history of Brazil is the history of the persistence of slavery,” The Wolf Report dishes out some statistics about the Portuguese slave trade.

Hugo Chavez announced that Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel will be replaced by former President of the Electoral Board, Jorge Rodriguez. Miguel Octavio says the decision is “another sign that the revolution is about to deepen and will be more radical.” Alex Beech is astonished by the appointment, adding that “Minister of Interior and (Justice?) Minister Jesse Chacon will be replaced by one of the most colorful characters in Venezuela: Pedro Carreno. (As some of you know, I like to remind Venezuelans that Carreno once warned “el colectivo” that Direct TV was spying on us through those little boxes it places on our TV sets.” For those who would like to see the video of Rodriguez's appointment for themselves, El Espacio de Lubrio has it [ES]. Finally, Oil Wars pauses to give brief approval of the change.

Creative Commons Peru announced to readers that the [ES] polyphonic chorus of La Inmaculada college in Chiclayo, Perú has released its album with an attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives Creative Commons license.

Alejandro's recent visit to Lima coincided with the annual Ricardo Palma Book Fair. He ended up buying over 30 books, some of which he reviews here.

Tim Muth takes a look at some of the results from the recent annual Latinobarometro poll and concludes that “the significant lack of satisfaction with government in El Salvador makes the ARENA government susceptible to defeat at the polls in 2009. Yet there is no evidence at all that a significant portion of Salvadorans see the FMLN as offering an alternative that they want to follow, beyond the hard core 30% support which the FMLN has in virtually every poll.”

Robert Wright takes a look at some of the clever ad campaigns of Gancia, “a local brand of vermouth that gets mixed with everything fruity.”

The horrifying case of the murder of children in a place called Nithari has the media bursting with stories. Don't Trust the Indian Media! says “But honestly, the media and political circus around Nithari is becoming a bit sickening. Mikes, cameras and dictaphones being shoved into peoples faces. And as usual, one important point is being missed. I learnt this the difficult way in Gurgaon and in Mumbai.”

Kafila on the politics of oppression and media representation. “The dearth of Dalit journalists in the Indian media is worrying, particularly in the context of increasingly activist role adopted by the media. “