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Jose Daniel Ortega Saavedra is the current and 83rd president of Nicaragua; the poorest country in Central America. Ortega ran as the candidate for the Sandinista National Liberation Front party and was elected on November of 2006 with 37.99% of the votes. Ortega also previously served as president of the country back from January 10, 1985 until April 25, 1990 as the 79th president. Like the United States Constitution the Nicaraguan Constitution only permits a president to serve two terms. The Nicaraguan Constitution also bans a president from serving consecutive terms. To amend the constitution a majority vote would be required from congress. However, with President Ortega having control over parties in the courts, the electoral tribunal, and the police he was able to surpass these obstacles. On October 19, 2009 six judges of the Supreme Court of the Sandinista party secretly met and unanimously banned the constitution requirements and petitioned that they did not apply to President Daniel Ortega according to In Nicaragua, Opposition Sees an End Run according to the New Your Times. The controversy also spans from the fact that the ruling was brought together when no opposition judges were available or able to preside and possibly argue the ruling. The actions are considered illegal and unconstitutional by many. Many Nicaraguans including former Sandinista followers and various opposing party’s attempting to oust Ortega, it is unpredictable what the elections will be like when they take place on November 6, 2011.
President Ortega has a history of controversy and opposition. Seventeen years prior to running for his first term Ortega was imprisoned for robbing one of the largest banks in Nicaragua. He was later exiled to Cuba where Ortega was provided with guerilla training. He secretly returned to Nicaragua shortly after. Although his first run for elections were said to be fair according to several government delegations and associations; the Latin American Studies Associations claimed the party did “take advantage more….than parties everywhere routinely do”. Controversy was held at the end of Ortega’s service when a legislative actsknown as “The Piñata” was passed. “The Piñata” permitted the Sandinista party to illegally seize billions in private property for the use of Sandinista officials including Ortega. The fore mentioned actions made it difficult for Ortega to successfully win presidency through his next several attempts for reelections. His second run for election was also a controversial from the beginning. Unlike the first election many agree the election was not held fairly and changes were made to electoral law prior to the election to ensure Ortega’s success. In previous elections a runoff of 45% of the votes was required. If the 45% was not met a second election would be held with the two most successful parties according to percentages. However the electoral law was changed to 35% ensuring Ortega’s presidential run with 37.99% of the votes according to Sandinista Fervor Turns Sour for Former Comrades of Nicaragua\'s President written by Marc Lacey.
Ortega and the Sandinistas strategies have ensured Ortega’s power and the possibility the president will serve a third five year term for the country. Ortega having close ties with Venezuela president Hugo Chavez adds to the controversy. Chavez has provided Ortega with billions helping to ensure the presidents reelection through both investments and power. The funds help Ortega by expanding his power over a network of companies and ultimately political power. With Ortega’s numerous ties opposing parties are finding difficulty in coordinating any opposition against the President. Some even fear speaking against the President due to Ortega supporters taking delinquent and violent actions to anyone who publicly criticizes the President. One example is American ambassador Robert Callahan who was attacked after giving a public speech that disapproved of Ortega’s methods.
Many, including Nicaraguan Vice President Jaime Morales Carazo, fear Ortega’s reelection will inevitably lead to a dictatorship. The Vice President has informed the public of his wishes to step down from office if Ortega is reelected. However, this may also cause more controversy setting a slot for one more Ortega supporter to move in. With little support from other countries except for Venezuela and Cuba the fight is left to the Nicaraguan people. As Fabio Gadea a former presidential candidate stated “The ones who must defend democracy are us, the Nicaraguans”, however the country may be at a loss as Supreme Court Magistrate Sergio Cuarezma desperately stated “The Sandinistas control everything. What can I do?”. To get updated information on the November 2011 elections please visit La Prensa online media newspaper.

Mexican Drug War

Although many years agoMexicowas a great power, nowadays Mexicans face the worst recession in over a half century. The worst devaluation of the Mexican currency, the Peso, in the 1990’s threwMexicointo economic turmoil. As a result, many Mexicans don’t have access to healthcare and the unemployment rates remain high. Additionally, there is one more problem that makes the socio-economic status ofMexicoworse, the increasingly high crime rates, which in its majority is the result of the illegal Mexican drug traffic. However, in order to understand the importance of the United States’ intervention in this affair, people should know how critical the Mexican drug traffic is, and the power drug cartels have and their connection to other terrorism organizations.

In order for drug traffic to be possible, Mexican drug smugglers have created highly organized criminal organizations usually known as “Drug cartels.” Among the most famous Mexican Cartels are La Familia or The Family cartel, El cartel de Juarez or Juarez Cartel and El Grupo de los Zetas or The Zetas’ Cartel. These well-financed drug cartels don’t just traffic with drugs, but also with people in order to increase the amount of members in their cartels. One way to achieve it is recruiting illegal immigrants trying to cross the U.S-Mexico border. Victims have told the Mexican authorities that the recruiters give the illegal immigrants two options: becoming a member of the cartel or die. A lose-lose situation.

For example, on Tuesday 24^th, 2010 the Mexican Secretary of the Navy reported that 72 bodies, 58 men and 14 women, were found in a ranch in Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to The New York Times (2010), all of the victims were illegal immigrants from South and Central America on their way to theUnited States. The Mexican Navy troops were alerted to the area after a wounded man, the only survivor in the shooting, arrived at the naval checkpoint asking for medical support after being kidnapped, tortured and almost killed by members of the Zetas. This massacre caught media’s attention around the world which demanded an explanation from authorities about what they have accomplished in abolishing drug cartels. 

Presently, Mexican authorities fear that besides drug traffic and killings such as the Tamaulipas’ massacre, drug cartels are also uniting forces with Al Qaeda, which can make the situation even worse. According to CBS News (2010), on July, 2010, for the first time, drug smugglers used a car bomb as a weapon. “The use of car bomb clearly represents a tactical escalation. We’ve seen the first car bombing, there probably will be more,” said Brian Jenkins with the Rand Corp. Furthermore, CBS News also reported that President Calderon blamed theU.S.forMexico’s troubles. President Calderon states “[t]he origin of our violence problems begins with the fact thatMexicois located next to the country that has the highest levels of drug consumption in the world.”

Aljazeera (2010) reported that the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, promised to increaseU.S.efforts to prevent gun traffic from theU.S.toMexico, which is also another reason why the Mexican drug war has been unsuccessful. Although theU.S.has supported the Mexican Government with hundreds of millions of dollars destined to the suppression of drug traffic, all efforts have failed. Therefore, the Mexican government is demanding more support especially more involvement in strategies and planning in order to win the war against drug trafficking. With more support from the U.S., Mexico could become a safe place to live and visit.

The mapuches of Southern Chile are among many indigenous peoples in Latin America who have become increasingly mobilized over the last 20 years. One demonstration of their militancy is the rude reception they give to the whole idea of celebrating Christopher Columbus.

One protester explained: “It signifies the arrival of the Spanish usurpers and all they brought with them, colonialism and imperialism.” This is Mapuche leader Manuel Diaz.

The mapuche have also been active in trying to reclaim lands from the Chilean government, for which many have been jailed.

What is deforestation?

It is the clearing of forests on a massive scale. The trees that are cut down typically are not replaced with the natural growth of new trees or the manual replanting of new trees.

Why does this happen?

Forests are cleared out for various reasons. Local economy, agriculture and the need to feed one’s family
are a few of the biggest reasons for deforestation. However, deforestation can occur unintentionally. For example, through the natural occurrence of wildfires and overgrazing which prevent the growth of trees.

How does deforestation affect the environment?

It affects the environment in many negative ways. First of all, seventy percent of the Earth’s animals and plants live in forests. Therefore, without their natural habitat most of these organisms cannot survive
outside of it. Deforestation is connected with climate change. The top of a forest is called a canopy. When part of the canopy is missing, the heat that would normally be stored beneath it escapes leading to extremes in temperature. Also, if part of the canopy is missing, the sun will dry up the normally moist dirt creating a dry desert. Forests hold significant amounts of carbon dioxide and again when the trees are cut down, this gas escapes into the atmosphere causing climate changes.

How can we manage this problem?

Since we cannot simply just stop cutting down trees altogether, there a couple alternatives that would make a difference. First, when trees are cut down they ought to be replaced with equal numbers of new ones. Currently, this ratio very unbalanced. Second, eliminate clear-cutting which is the method of logging that removes all trees from a certain area of a forest.

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation-overview/

Pantanal Deforestation

Photograph by
Nicole Duplaix

Token trees dot
Brazil’s Pantanal wetland where dense forest used to stand. Considered the
world’s largest wetland, the Pantanal is an ecological paradise that covers
54,000 square miles (140,000 square kilometers) in Brazil, Bolivia, and
Paraguay, and supports thousands of animal species.

Photo source: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/photos/rainforest-deforestation/

Why is deforestation an important topic regarding Latin America?

When we talk about deforestation and Latin America it is in reference to tropical rain forests versus the forests of the whole world. In this context, Brazil holds the largest area of continuous rain forest in the world, about one third. Consequently, this rain forest is extremely rich in biodiversity. This is one reason preserving this rain forest is one of the most important environmental issues today. (http://rainforests.mongabay.com/20brazil.htm)
Another reason can be attributed to the aforementioned consequences of carbon dioxide that is released in the atmosphere when deforestation occurs. On a larger scale, 49 percent of Latin America and the Caribbean’s land is covered by forest according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations “State of the World’s Forests” 2011 issue. (http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i2000e/i2000e01.pdf, p.17-21) The point to remember is that Latin America holds a significant amount of the world’s forests. Therefore, it becomes a global issue affecting all people when forests are being eliminated because we all suffer the consequences whether we are five miles or five thousand miles away.

As of right now, Ecuador is said to be in the state of chaos.  Last year Quito,also one of the cities with the highest violence rate, was on lockdown for the absurd amount of violent events that took place. During the police protest their President Rafael Correa was hospitalized from being hit by bottles. Along with that event there were many reports on fires loots and your general violence.

From all of this, Ecuador had stated that they would be cutting benefits for the state workers nationwide, this including police officers and troops. During the time, before he was hospitalized by the bottles being thrown at him, of the protest it was said that President Rafael Correa tried to talk with the protestors but instead of listening they “shouted him down.”  It is said that Ecuador police officers have many outstanding responsibilities, one of them being public safety. If it was one of their “outstanding responsibilities” why are they protesting making the violence rate increase and why are the homicide rates increasing? According to b10.com.ec , “The homicide rate in Ecuador has doubled in the last 20 years. In 1990 it was 10.3 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, in 2009 it was 18.7 and up to date the estimate suggests an increase to 20.”

I have found many articles on recent homicides, wondering where the special forces are and what they country is going to do about this issue. I have read that a women was shot at a stoplight, a merchant was killed right on the street, an assault of an assembly women and how a man was murdered all in the time span of about a week and a half. Now you must be thinking that well we live in America and those type of events unfortunately happen all the time, but Ecuador is ten times smaller than us and are apparently a bit more corrupt. When the incident at Quito accured, Iran had to come in and help because how else would Ecuador stay safe.

This country, along with many other countries, have issues they need to resolve. Their people are angry with the way things, as in economy and such, are being dealt with. With all of this chaos, it is interesting to see how or what other countries are doing to prevent violence. The United Nations is urging Ecuador to stop all of this violence. Ecuador needs to become one nation and solve this issue, otherwise it will go down hill.

Here is a video clip of “Repudiating Violence in Ecuador”:

Repudiating Violence in Ecuador

        Latin America Music has a way to get everyone’s  attention you can say you like the  sound and beat. Or  a good song comes on so you begin to dance chances are that it has also been to Latin America. Their music is a lot more diverse then Americas you can hear anything from evanescence to some band that I have not heard of.   The one event that brings all of those together is Rock in Rio.

              There are four stages their and it goes for a week with around 100 bands coming there each year as you look around the site you will notice on the top left corner are  the 3 languages that page has to translate to for people to read it. It has Spanish Portuguese and English.  This shows use that it is diverse and that what we have been talking in class is right.  If you look on the chart you will see that some of the groups you may know with others being a group or band that you have not even heard of that just makes the diversity even greater and their culture more knowledgeable then Americas overall. The two biggest music industries in Brazil are Som Livre.   The industry started 1969 by Rede Globo.   It was originally brought up to commercialize the soap opera industry but later it changed to more of a music industry in general.  The feel and look at Rock in Rio is like no other to get you the total feel of it This is Metallica playing at this year’s Rock in Rio.  I suggest starting at 5 minutes because you get to see the stage more and get more of a feel on how it actually is there.  If you don’t want to watch it all at 24 minutes going to 25 gives a big overview of it from above. Som Livre has bought bands such as Lulu Santos her stage name was Luiz Maurício Pragana dos Santos. She is considered one of the greatest singers and guitarists in Brazilian rock. In 1986 she came up with the song “A Cura” in 1986 wish eventually became the most played song in FM radio of the year.  The next company that is big in Brazil is Sony which is also big in the U.S.A.  They have given you artist such as Beyoncé and Foo Fighters. Sony started their company in1929 and has eventually grown to have offices in 42 countries. My friend Erika Prochet said the biggest difference between their music and Americas is that probably the beats our music has a special way to dance and most of the time, the lyric make sense.   If you go on the links and go around the sites you can see many differences between there music and ours not just the culture but there diversity compared to ours is. The main difference was the diversity they would know a lot of the bands in the U.S.A compared to use not knowing any of theirs. This overall blog post was to get the users informed more about music and get a better diversity of it not just what they hear in America. To also get them aware of what   kind of music concerts are out there if you ever visit Brazil you may want to go there and watch it to get more of a feel of what their music is all about.    Their music such a bigger diversity just like if you go there you will not just meet people who speak   I hope you like this blog and I hope it has   drawn you to going out and listening to their music and maybe even catching a concert in Brazil to see how it is different compared to ours. Thank you for reading adios, Adeus.

U.S. and Cuban Relations

            The current relations between Cuba and the United States of America still have lingering doubt about trusting the each other.  The U.S. is a democracy where people vote for their leaders and have many rights.  Cuba was run by a tyrant named Fidel Castro, who has ruled his country with an iron fist and destroyed all ties with the U.S. The two countries have been at odds for almost half a century dating back to when John F. Kennedy was President.  Cuba is pressing for improved relations with the U.S.  Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, is one who is trying for Cuba to work with the U.S. saying, “It will be the beginning of a dialogue aimed at solving bilateral problems like the smuggling of drugs and humans.”

            Several incidents in the past have led the relations between Cuba and The U.S. to be stressed with constant distrust.  Fidel Castro and the Communist party took control in 1959, after a Cuban revolution ending with the execution of 15,000 people.  Three months after John F. Kennedy was elected into office, the Bay of Pigs, an attempt to overthrow the Cuban Government with U.S. trained Cuban exiles, had failed. Another incident that hurt relations between the U.S. and Cuba was the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.  Cuba was going to let the Soviet Union station nuclear missiles there.  Nuclear weapons close enough to destroy many U.S. cities if a nuclear war was to break out with the Soviet Union.  In the same year an agreement was made between the Soviet to dismantle their weapons from Cuba and ship them back.  Recently, Fidel Castro has ridiculed President Barack Obama’s ideas, and has made little attempt to improve relations.   In 2008, Fidel Castro resigned his duties as the Cuban President to his brother the vice president Raul Castro.  Fidel had grown sick from what some believed was a stomach disease that was not terminal.

Below is a picture of President Fidel Castro (left) with his brother vice President Raul Castro (right) in 2001.

U.S. Cuban relations are important for Latin America because much trading is done around the two.  Since the two countries are only now slowly normalizing their relations with each other, trading and other legal services are not up to speed.  Latin America can benefit, because if Cuba and the U.S. are satisfied with each other, then many more opportunities including tourism, trading, and alliances can be possible.  Countries will not have to pick any sides, or be judged by the two countries for their decisions.    There are still problems with the two countries, but with hard fighting officials to become civil and stay calm with each other, peace and prosperity can be one day achieved.

People generally don’t fully understand and appreciate what they have until it’s gone, and that is now becoming the case with forests in Latin America and the rest of the world. Before even getting into what deforestation is, what it’s doing to Latin America, and where it’s going, it’s important to go over what we get out of the forests (especially the Amazon Rain Forest) in Latin America and why it’s crucial to preserve and protect them. The forests of Latin America provide an extremely long list of products that are used in everyday life or are luxuries that people are drawn to. Some of these products include fruits / berries, nuts, gums, maple syrup, pulp (used in sponges especially), fibers, wood (for building materials or cooking), bark, dyes, tanning compounds / waxes, and so many other products that humans depend on. I personally have a major addiction to chewing gum and losing more and more of the gums found in forests would limit the supply of gum which would lead to price hikes for the limited supply which makes for one unhappy consumer, me. Ecosystem services provided are another crucial element of the forests. The biological diversity (especially in the Amazon Rain Forest) out there has so much potential to provide humans with new medicines and crop varieties that can only make us stronger and better. Forests help to maintain the local climates, have strong impacts on the amount of carbon dioxide and oxygen, and forests protect the topsoil and some of the essential nutrients. That’s a pretty broad overview of some of the important things and features that come out of the Latin American forests, now it’s important to understand the deforestation that is threatening all of this.

Deforestation is basically the long-term or permanent loss of forest due to human destruction (generally done on purpose). Many things are going on that are leading to this deforestation but the one doing a large chunk of the damage is human greed. As humans, we always want more resources, more land, and more money and all three of these can be found in a Latin American forest. Agriculture is expanding as is industry, logging, mining, cattle pastures and many more all for economic development, which really doesn’t sound all that bad on paper (especially with how poor the economy is in so many places in the world today). The problem is that people aren’t looking far enough into the consequences of their actions, which are losses in the products and services that were addressed and play an important role in humans’ lives. Chemicals are being used in the Amazon Rain Forest (the most biodiverse tropical rainforest) for plantation, and what these different pesticides and methods of irrigation are doing is harming the land where animals live (killing the animals), hampering the water balance, destroying other plants / trees, and leading to human life loss. The whole situation is ironic because you hear so many people stating that these forests are vitally important and yet these forests are still being exploited to an excessive amount in order for many people to get rich. When a lot of these people are rich (or get rich) they push the poor off their land and these peasants are forced to relocate to treed forest areas in which they must remove trees for their farming (it’s their only way of attaining food and some money). Here are a few alarming statistics that may make the average Joe comprehend the damage being done in Latin America: less than 10% of the original tropical rain forest in Mexico is left; Brazil has lost 90-95% of its Mata Atlantica forest; and deforestation of the Amazon Rain Forest is now moving twice as fast as scientists previously believed just a few years ago. There was also a prediction I stumbled across saying that by the year 2050 (if things continue at the rate they are going) there will be major reductions in water resources, new and current diseases will spread all across the world, pest and crop disease will rise, and plant and animal species will decrease dramatically. None of those things sound pleasant for humans forty years from now so it’s urgent that people are aware of the deforestation occurring in Latin America and the rest of the world. It’s easy to say “that’s awful what’s going” and then move on and keeping doing what your doing while the world loses vital resources. If Latin Americans can push their different countries governments into stricter policies / rules about deforestation then it may indeed be the key starting point needed to slow down and prevent the increasing deforestation that is slowing but surely destroying out world. It’s effort that will need to be made by many and not just a handful of avid supporters.

Sources:

• http://visitlatinamerica.com/articles/the-deforestation-in-latin-america-1.html
• http://blogs.worldwatch.org/revolt/struggles-of-deforestation-in-latin-america-does-protecting-your-forest-mean-remaining-poor/
• http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/deforest/deforest.html
• http://www.mapsofworld.com/south-america/information/deforestation-in-south-america.html
• http://library.thinkquest.org/26026/World_Outlook/latin_america_and_the_caribbea3.html

Carlos Estevez, a Cuban artist showing his work Sept. 16-Oct. 14 at the LatinoArts gallery in Milwaukee, will lead a discussion on the restrictions and inspirations that face any artist from that island. Estevez will also speak about the changes since he has moved to the U.S. The discussion will take place Sept. 26 at 6 p.m. at the gallery and auditorium, located 1028 S. 9th Street, near the National Ave. exit from I-94.

The quartet Molotov, the biggest hiphop act in Mexico for many years, is bringing its brash and political show to Milwaukee’s Rave this month.

An example of their clenched-fist political work is the hit “frijolero”, which uses a florid version of both English and Spanish. Notice the mocking “gringo” accent.