The Latin America thread (VE, BR, AR, CU, MX...)

Mexico dissolves their Federal Investigation Agency (AFI).

Not that the AFI has been particularly strong the past few years, granted, but my Inner Cynic suspects the reorganization is at least in part PRI weeding out people actually interested in addressing corruption and slipping its own people into authority positions.

Oil refinery blast kills 24 in Venezuela.

Part of me can't help but wonder if this is a demonstration of the result of the "mañana" attitude in refinery maintenance, or just a random accident that could happen no matter how diligently maintenance is performed.

Since this is a general discussion thread, I want to ask: Anyone here from Cuba and willing to give me cultural input for an Alternate History novel I'm writing? I've got some extracts posted in Writer's Block and am really in need of some cultural input. ^note  Santeria (the Regla de Ocha rite) is part of the story, as is human cloning (of Che Guevara!)

Cuba Libre

edited 26th Aug '12 2:27:52 AM by MorwenEdhelwen

Did I kill this thread?

edited 25th Aug '12 5:17:33 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

Murderer.

Deboss ha ha ha. Where did you get that avatar? I love it.

edited 25th Aug '12 8:22:59 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

Got a link on my page.

Edit: linky

edited 25th Aug '12 8:32:18 PM by Deboss

Cubalibre al por mayor!

@The Handle: Explain? I'm talking about my story, not rum and Coca-Cola.

edited 26th Aug '12 3:07:59 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

Sorry, this is OTC and I really shouldn't do that. It's just that there was a story I loved from my youth, where the heroes were stuck posing as members of a strange sect, and, when they had to dance and chant with everyone, they'd secretly distort the chance for their own fun. When everyone shouted "Somos libres en su amor", they said "Cuba libre al por mayor". It was one of the best Funny Moments of my young life, and I had never heard of a Cubalibre before. I'd only get to find out years later, when I left my teetotaler country. I also heard from Popcultural Osmosis that Cuba was some sort of heroic beacon of sovereignty and social welfare in the face of sweatshop-building, plantation-growing, drug-buying, dictator-installing, weapon-selling, war-instigating Great Powers and Superpowers, but, again, I'd only get something that's not The Theme Park Version much, much later.

I should have shut up. But, since you asked me to explain, here it is.

Though, well, isn't it horribly sarcastic to call a drink of Rum and Coca-cola "Cuba Libre"?

By the way, here's a poem by Pablo Neruda that is totally on-topic:

edited 27th Aug '12 2:20:38 AM by TheHandle

@The Handle: Ohhh. Where are you from? Not Cuba, obviously. Are you Latin American, btw? BTW, I chose "Cuba Libre" as the title because it means "Free Cuba." And I'm still in need of a cultural beta.

edited 27th Aug '12 3:05:54 AM by MorwenEdhelwen

I'm not from Cuba, I'm from another continent entirely. So I can't really help you with that part. This is a book you may want to read, especially the bits where the Che was Minister.

@The Handle: So where are you from? Do you mean "country"?

edited 27th Aug '12 3:16:20 AM by MorwenEdhelwen

If I wanted to share that kind of detail, it would be on top of all my posts along with my handle. Hint hint nudge nudge.

Oh... but you meant "country" right? Or did you actually mean "continent?"

No no, continent, continent, like, I've never been in the New World, ever.

oh.

But do try to get this book It'll help ya. Also, this is not about Cuba but I'm sure it'll interest you:

@The Handle: Thanks. I'll look at that.

Everyone's favorite Latino mellonhead is at it again: Venezuela seizes US-flagged ship on suspicion of arms trafficking.

The weapons? Three AR-15s (civilian M-16) kept aboard to protect against pirate hijacking.

/facepalm

What are the most violent/crime-ridden cities in Latin America? I got a few names from Mexico on WretchedHive.Real Life, but I'm curious if there are cities outside Mexico that are in similarly bad states as well.

edited 10th Feb '14 9:49:35 AM by MarqFJA

The first 20 places on wikipedia's "list of cities by murder rate" are Latin American. We don't get north of the Texas Border until #21 (New Orleans, since you ask).

San Pedro Sula, in Honduras, leads the way. Non-Mexican cities in the top 20 include Maceio (Brazil), Tegucigalpa (Honduras), Caracas (Venezuela), Belem (Brazil), Cali (Colombia), Guatemala City (duh), Medellin (Colombia), Vitoria (Brazil), Ciudad Guyana (Venezuela), and San Salavador (El Salvador).

EDIT: In fact, the only non-Latin American cities are New Orleans, Detroit, Cape Town, St Louis, Durban, and Johannesburg (maybe San Juan in Puerto Rico, if you count PR as Latin America). Note that Middle Eastern cities and war zones are excluded.

edited 10th Feb '14 10:02:47 AM by Achaemenid

Nice list. Gives me lots of choices.

What about paramilitary groups, like the Colombia's FARC? (Speaking of which, should we count Mexico's drug cartels as paramilitary groups?)

There's plenty of left-wing wannabe-revolutionaries down there. The Peruvian Shining Path, FARC (as you mentioned), the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (nothing to do with the other one), the Bloque Meta, the Paraguayan People's Army, and many many others; hell, you could probably invent one.

There's also the rather non-nasty but still paramilitary Zapatistas in Mexico.

So I just read this Polandball.

"Mandatory miscegenation until population homogenizes"

._.

Well, that's original, I'll give them that.

edited 9th Jul '15 2:39:06 PM by TheHandle