Latest posts by David Sasaki from December, 2005
Honduras: Last Month's Presidential Election
Teresa Cavanagh has an eye-opening first hand account of last month's election in Honduras.
Guatemala: Giving to the Neediest
The bloggers behind Guate360 did a great service to their country by collecting online donations (ES) in order to buy discounted Christmas gifts for rural children around the country. You can still make a donation via Amazon. One commenter notes that the first gifts were handed out on Wednesday in...
Costa Rica: Coyol Wine in Nicoya
The traditional Coyol Wine of Santa Cruz and Nicoya is now in season. Costa Rica Blogs advises that you can “hoose from the strong, bitter wine that is milked from the tree at 6 am, or from the sweet wine that comes out when the tree is milked at noon...
Bolivia: Evo Morales Update
Both Alvaro Ruiz-Navajas and Eduardo Avila have updates on President-Elect Evo Morales. Speaking of a recent Wall Street Journal article on the Bolivian Election, Jim Shultz says, “This just proves how utterly wrong writers can be when they try to paint themselves as experts about places they have never been.”
Argentina: Remembering Cromañon
Toutatis remembers the first anniversary of the Cromañón tragedy, when 194 concertgoers died in a blaze at the República Cromañón concert venue. Toutatis remarks that the tragedy “has changed the way nightclubs, rockclubs and bars in the city are controlled and granted permits” as well as influenced the impeachment trial...
Cuba: Blessings from Bamboleo
Farandulera has a video clip of Bamboleo's lead singer, Tanya Pantoja blessing the audience during a show in Havana this past summer.
Brazil: New Year's Superstition
As the clock turns 12 this New Year's Eve, you should be jumping up and down on your right foot. For more Brazilian New Year's superstition, check out “New Year's (The Brazilian Way)” at Made in Brazil.
Latin America: Day of the “Innocents”
Mariano Amartino has a summary of blogs “celebrating” El Dia de los Inocentes – the Spanish speaking world's version of April Fool's Day. As such, Definitely Maybe announced that Google bought Yahoo.
Mexico: Mexican Community Medicine
Enrico, a medical student in Guadalajara who grew up in Texas, has an excellent four part series (1, 2, 3, 4) on Mexican community medicine and how it compares to the U.S. medical system.
Haiti: Jean-Juste Has Cancer
Commenting on a Miami Herald article which revealed that imprisoned Haitian priest, Gerard Jean-Juste has leukemia, Boz opines that “the Haitian government should allow Jean-Juste to travel to the US for treatment.”
Panama: Christmas in Panama
Don Ray is a big fan of Christmas in Panama. Check out that table of food and you might find yourself there next year.
Mexico: The Zapatista Podcast
Anarchogeek notes that “everybody's favorite revolutionary social movement,” the Zapatistas of Southern Mexico, now have their own podcast. Also noted: “It's a good radio program to learn from because the speakers don't rush through their words like most latino commercial radio, but speak slowly, deliberately, focusing on their words because...
Venezuela: Media Cover Up?
Following up on Alex Beech's post on anti-Semitism in Venzuela, Miguel Octavio wonders why he had such a difficult time finding the quote from Chavez. Checking Google's cache, he finally dug it up in a page from El Nacional, which had been deleted.
Latin America: Pan-American Literary Blog
El Boomeran(g) (ES) is a new group blog by eight critics and writers spread across Latin America and Spain. Sponsored by media conglomerate Grupo PRISA (owners of Spain's largest daily El Pais), the site is divided by: 1.) novels in progress 2.) criticism 3.) the “chronicle” and 4.) a forum.
Argentina: Novelist Manuel Puig
Jeff Barry celebrates what would have been Argentinean novelist, Manuel Puig's 73rd birthday by picking up his most well-known novel, The Kiss of the Spider Woman. Barry also notes that Puig‘s translator, Suzanne Jill Levine is one of the best and that Puig himself wrote a novel in English which...
Venezuela: Treatment of Jews
Responding to Alex Beech's post on governmental aggressions against Venezuela's Jewish community, former Ambassador of Venezuela to Israel, Milos Alcalay writes a letter noting the recent shift in stance taken by the Chavez administration.
Cuba: Tolerance of Homosexuality
Leftside says a new exhibit in Cuba by photographer Robert Mapplethorpe signals an attitude shift in Cuban society regarding tolerance of homosexuality.
Colombia: New Destructive Environmental Law
Adam Isacson dissects a new, controversial forestry law, which was passed through the Colombian Congress “without the congressmen who attended the session having seen the text they were to approve.”
Costa Rica: Cell Phone Insurance a Hit
Costa Rica Blogs calls cell phone insurance a big success. JD Clark has the latest numbers from five major polls regarding the upcoming presidential elections. Former president, Oscar Arias looks poised for a major victory.
Brazil: Things that grow in Brazil
Karl, currently based in Teresina gives readers a photojournalistic sampling of exotic fruits from Brazil.
Puerto Rico: Statehood Status
While Ramaris Albert reports for the AP that “Puerto Rico Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá rejected a Bush administration report saying that Washington has the final word in defining the U.S. territory's status,” Gil Schmidt argues that the bottom-line significance is that Puerto Rico is not wanted as a 51st state....
