Defringing Latin America

Argentina vs Britain Rematch: Falklands/Malvinas War 2.0?

2012-01-21T07:59:00.000-08:00

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Population (Sheep): 600,000 Population (Human): 2,478 (in 2006)

Thirty years ago, Argentina and the United Kingdom fought a war over possession of a few small islands in the South Atlantic. The United Kingdom won and continued its claim to the islands they call the Falkland Islands (in Argentina, they're known as Las Malvinas). Increased rhetoric on both sides now is raising the specter of conflict once more. (And, incidentally, the war was begun by Argentina's military junta and the failure of the war was instrumental in weakening the government and bringing in democracy.)

Argentina has never renounced its claim to Las Malvinas (which is based on proximity and a time of occupation in the early 19th century). The United Kingdom's claim to the Falkland Islands is based on earlier and later occupation of the islands and the fact that the islanders themselves reject Argentine rule and want to be an overseas United Kingdom territory. The isolated islands are strategic in a number of ways: they sit atop oil and natural gas reserves in the South Atlantic.

Tensions subsided for the decades following the war as Argentina transitioned to democracy, but as the anniversary approaches, there's been a flare-up. At the Mercosur Summit this past December, members of the Southern Cone Common Market approved a proposal to close all ports to ships "flying under the illegal flag" of the Falkland Islands. Mercosur comprises Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, meaning that ports on the Atlantic from the top of Brazil to the tip of Argentina are off limits.

The United Kingdom has, as expected, responded by expressing concern, affirming the right of self-determination of the islands. (Argentina counters that since these are not indigenous inhabitants of the islands, they were placed on the island by the British in order to establish their claim and therefore the argument of "self-determination" is invalid). Prince William's "provocative" anticipated visit (as part of his service in the Royal Air Force) in February and March will likely result in increased security on the island. Yesterday, Prime Minister David Cameron said "[W]e support the Falkland Islanders' right to self-determination. And what the Argentinians have been saying recently, I would argue, is actually far more like colonialism because these people want to remain British and the Argentinians want them to do something else."

The "colonialism" comment led to protests in Buenos Aires and British flag burning and demands from Argentina's left that Argentine President Cristina Kirchner break diplomatic ties with the United Kingdom. And in an interesting counter-balance, United Kingdom Foreign Minister William Hague has just visited Brazil, pushing for deeper ties between the two countries.

Flag burning at yesterday's Buenos Aires protest ("English out of Malvinas!")

[UPDATED] Unfolding Crisis over Venezuela: Regional Integration or the Sovereignty of States?

2011-12-20T05:28:00.001-08:00

Disagreement over Venezuela's membership in Mercosur is pitting the sovereignty of Paraguay against the political authority of the larger region.

In brief: the majority in Paraguay's congress oppose a proposal to make Venezuela a full member of Mercosur. The other three member countries (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay) have supported Venezuela's entrance, as does the current president of Paraguay (Fernando Lugo). Rumors are spreading that Mercosur will force Venezuela's full entry through some sort of declaration that effectively circumvents the authority of Paraguay's congress and, by extension, the will of the Paraguayan people.

Within Paraguay, this is seen as a violation of Paraguay's sovereignty. Uruguay is hosting a Mercosur summit today, which will be attended by all four presidents, foreign ministers, and the heads of the central banks. Other agenda items have been overshadowed by the question of whether Venezuela's membership will be imposed upon Paraguay.

The Common Market of the Southern Cone (Mercosur) was created in 1991 by the Treaty of Asunción, signed by the four initial member countries: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. According to the Treaty (Article 20), new members must be approved by unanimous consent of current members. Treaties (unlike "Agreements") require the approval by national parliamentary bodies--this is why they have so much more weight than just agreements signed by presidents. The former presidents of the four countries approved Venezuela's full membership in 2006, which was later ratified by the congresses of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. Only Paraguay held out.

In Paraguay and Uruguay, Mercosur is often depicted as yet another way for the two large countries to impose their will on their smaller neighbors. While there has been a "leftward turn" in Latin America (all four countries are governed by left-of-center presidents), Hugo Chavez is not popular in Paraguay. Although the previous Paraguayan president (a Colorado Party conservative) approved Venezuela's full membership, there is a perception that leftist former Bishop Fernando Lugo is forcing Paraguay into a Bolivarian revolution. Moreover, this is framed within Paraguay (and now Uruguay) as a recapitulation of the War of the Triple Alliance (1865-1870), where the combined forces of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay demolished Paraguay.

But what this ultimately may be about is a classic power struggle within Paraguay between the executive and legislative branches, not between "right" and "left."

UPDATED:
Venezuela and Ecuador are in the process of becoming full member countries of Mercosur. Presidents Hugo Chavez and Rafael Correa were present at the meeting today in Mercosur, arguing for the full admission of their countries. Correa has urged a greater closeness between Mercosur and CAN (the Andean Community-- Venezuela used to be a full member until 2006, when it withdrew from the agreement and sought to enter Mercosur).

As expected, some kind of solution that would work around the stalemate in Paraguay's congress was offered: a Special Commission has been created to determine the terms by which Venezuela and Ecuador will enter Mercosur. The commission will be directly appointed by the presidents of the full member countries (read: not depend on congress).

And though tomorrow I'll discuss the "energy integration" components of today's summit, I want to end with the terrible tragedy that shook the meeting: Iván Heyn was found hanged in his hotel room this afternoon, an apparent suicide. Mr Heyn, Argentine, 34 years old, was Cristina Kirchner's newly appointed Undersecretary of Foreign Trade and was participating in the meetings in Montevideo.

Deal of the Day: Gorgeous Waterfalls "Privatized" in Paraguay for $220/month

2011-11-29T05:02:00.000-08:00

For Rent: $220 a month

Monday Falls (Saltos del Monday) are located in eastern Paraguay, close to the majestic Iguazú Falls and the Saltos del Guairá, a region of spectacular natural beauty. (Guairá Falls were drowned to build Itaipú dam.)

As part of a plan to build tourism and protect Paraguay's natural beauty, the Paraguayan government has undertaken an investment of $6.5 million USD to construct a look-out on Monday Falls, to develop the proper road work that can hold the kind of traffic they'd like to see, etc. Government planners took Iguazú Falls as their inspiration--a major tourist attraction not just for Argentina and Brazil, but for the entire world. The hope was to bring in millions of revenue to the government which could then be re-invested in social development.

Instead, the government will get $220 USD a month.

For the next twenty years, Acqua Paraná Tour, SA will pay the municipality of Presidente Franco a paltry $220 a month for the right to run the national park, to charge admission, to sell food and souvenirs. Within Paraguay, this smacks of an illicit deal where government funds were used to build massive infrastructure and then the financial benefits were problematically transferred to private hands. The local mayor is claiming this is a great deal for the municipality.

A difficult calculus: How much to charge Rio Tinto Alcan for Itaipú energy

2011-11-26T08:26:00.001-08:00

(Image: seven of Paraguay's ten turbines in Itaipú Binacional.)

The political side of electricity.

Following the passage of the Joint Declaration's Itaipú energy provisions, Paraguay's government has embarked on a more aggressive strategy for Itaipú Binational hydroelectric dam. Paraguay owns 50% of the electricity produced by the world's largest dam (in 2010, Itaipú produced 87,970 GWh), but most of this is consumed within Brazil because Paraguay lacks the demand for its energy. Since 2008, the new government in Paraguay has sought to use its hydroelectric resources in a targeted way, to fund social and economic development. One part of this strategy includes increasing consumption and demand within Paraguay by attracting foreign investment.

Rio Tinto Alcan, the aluminum giant, is in talks with the Paraguayan government to open a smelting plant in Paraguay, but among the chief sticking points is just how much Paraguay's public utility company, ANDE, will charge Rio Tinto Alcan for electricity. Figuring out this number isn't just difficult because of various technical and financial factors that have to be considered. It's difficult because there are political hopes and promises and expectations that are attached to Itaipú energy for Paraguay. And these aren't minor hurdles, but significant competing priorities that drive the actions of decision-makers within Paraguay. The dam is an arena for major political battles within Paraguay--promises to change the way Itaipú dam's energy and financial resources were spent within the country was a key campaign pledge in the new government. And because of historical tensions between Paraguay and Brazil, the dam gets interpreted through a patriotic frame of reference.

That is to say, charging too little for energy from Itaipú is a matter of patriotism and treason.

And so, while the base cost of electricity from Itaipú is about $43.80/MWh, one of Paraguay's most influential engineers/members of Fernando Lugo's leftist government insists that $60/MWh is the minimum that should be charged. This contradicts CRU Strategies' (a UK consulting firm focused on mining, metals, and fertilizer) recommendation that the price be set somewhere between smelting industry standard: $35-$38/MWh. For a sense of perspective, recently in the U.S., a representative from Rio Tinto Alcan complained that the amount they were paying for electricity in Kentucky--$43.50/MWh--was 65% greater than the average cost for aluminum smelting worldwide--$26/MWh. And, to further complicate matters, it seems that smelting electricity costs in China run between $49 to $55/MWh.

The likely resolution will fall somewhere between the extremes ($26 and $60/MWh), but the process will be troubled by the intangibility of these numbers. What I mean is this: in Paraguay, electricity price seems to have nothing to do with the product delivered. There are regular black-outs (some caused by apparent error within the Paraguayan half of Itaipú itself), people often have illegal electricity connections, and the degree of financial mismanagement within the electricity sector (often described as "corruption") means that there's no trust that a price reflects value. Price instead reflects social power. You pay a set price not because that's what something is worth, but because that's what someone more powerful than you has said you should pay for it.

And so, one of the hidden factors in the price of electricity that Rio Tinto Alcan and the Paraguayan government are debating is that of trust. How much do Paraguayans trust that their government is demanding a fair price for the nation's natural resources? If the answer is "not much," then that means that no matter what the final number, it'll be perceived as "not enough." And this is the pressure that's being placed on Paraguay's negotiators.

AAA Presentation in Montreal: Managing Expectations: Spectacles of Corruption, Rituals of Patronage

2011-11-10T06:28:00.000-08:00

I'll be presenting at the Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, in Montreal, as part of a panel entitled "Managers Of Things, Or What Do Managers Imagine Themselves To Be Managing?" on Friday, November 18, from 8-9:45am.

Managing Expectations: Spectacles of Corruption, Rituals of Patronage

Because of its symbolic and economic weight within Paraguay, Itaipú hydroelectric dam--the world's largest--has come to embody what its planners hoped: the physical manifestation of an all powerful state. With the recent presidential election of leftist former Bishop Fernando Lugo, a new group of technocrats and politicians appointed to the helm did not merely manage the energy potential of the dam, but through it distilled the "promise" of the Paraguayan nation--promise in the sense of commitment and of hope for the future. As the engine of the Paraguayan state apparatus, the dam stood at the nexus of an intricate patronage system that grew concomitantly with the energy production. How and what favors were asked and answered by technocrats appointed to manage electricity production--a public secret--unmasks more than just the balancing act performed by high level employees as they juggled partisan obligations, political aspirations, and social pressure to portray generosity as a hallmark of power. Rather, this gets to the heart of how the fractured and tentative "state" is constituted in Paraguay--protecting privilege through the management of resources and relationships. Campaign promises to end patronage and administer the dam's wealth to bring development clashed with entrenched models of state-to-nation obligations and the personal ambitions of a new class of political elites. This paper explores how the top managers at the dam straddled informal expectations of patronage with formal responsibilities of energy production in the midst of a push towards "transparency" thwarted and abetted by mediatic "corruption" scandals. Based on eighteen months of fieldwork among Paraguay's political elite, this paper analyzes rituals of approach and request, how Itaipú managers configured multiple vectors of obligation, and how a hydroelectric dam embodied fantasies of prosperity. Itaipú's managers explicitly described this process as a way not just to remake the dam, but as a way to remake the Paraguayan state itself.

Important Paraguayan Archive (1810s-1860s) Online: Curiosities and Gems

2011-10-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

"Supreme Dictator" Gaspar de Francia rails against John Parish Robertson
for the "height of the most barbaric and brutal piracy" in 1815.

Dr. Richard Alan White, Senior Research Fellow at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs in Washington D.C. and noted historian of Paraguay found himself in a curious, frustrating dilemma when he gave copies of very important archival documents back to Paraguay last spring. To resolve it, rather than just up the ante, he went all in.

When White was doing his dissertation research on Paraguay, he came across a valuable collection of documents housed at the University of California--the Bareiro Collection. Someone has transcribed the entire collection and pdf-ed them. In celebration of Paraguay's bicentennial earlier this year, he gave the National Archive in Asunción copies of all 5000 documents as part of an attempt to increase the Archive's resources. Almost immediately, people got ahold of the documents and bound them and sold them for up to $170. (This is more than the average monthly salary in Paraguay.)

To circumvent this, White has uploaded the entire collection to a mediafire site. This can be accessed by anyone, anywhere in the world, and reflects a commitment to putting history in the grasp of ordinary Paraguayans.

I've only begun to look through the Bareiro Collection and have already found several documents that are germane to my not-not-not-my dissertation topic (the Robertson brothers' years in Paraguay, their business dealings, their banishment by Gaspar de Francia, and their writings on the whole experience decades later). The transcriptions of hand-written entries in official record books preserves archaic [mis]spellings ("Yndios" instead of "Indios,""Gefe" instead of "Jefe") and orthographic curiosities (like the practice of writing abbreviations in a vertical manner) and even the 1814 order by which the governing body endowed "the Citizen José Gaspar de Francia with the title Supreme Dictator of the Republic...for five years" (a title which he held onto until his death in 1840).

Thank you, Governor Scott: Is Anthropology Practical? (Academia's Image Problem)

2011-10-13T06:10:00.000-07:00

"Do you want to use your tax money to educate more people who can't get jobs in anthropology? I don't."

Governor Scott, at the Northwest Business Association in Tallahassee.

Edited to Add: My favorite rebuttal to Governor Scott so far.

A group of students at the University of South Florida responded by creating a beautiful interactive presentation, showing how anthropologists are at work in Florida. Take a look at This is Anthropology.

Earlier this week, Florida Governor Rick Scott made repeated comments about anthropology and public funding for universities. The debate has made the rounds (I learned about it from Gawker's Florida's Governor Declares War on Useless Degree) as academics and anthropologists have tried to defend anthropology, the "study of humans."

Governor Scott is only saying what many others also believe.

To be clear, I think Governor Scott is wrong (and I suspect that targeting "anthropology" is a political move on his part), but I also think he has raised several important questions. Others have done an excellent job explaining that anthropologists are employed in the tech and science fields Governor Scott says are useful. Others have pointed out that, in fact, studying the way people relate is actually quite important for people who care about politics, economics, war, religion, TV shows.

But I want to get to two uncomfortable questions raised by Governor Scott's comments:

1. Why is a "liberal arts" education useful?

2. Why have we (anthropologists, others in liberal arts) not communicated the usefulness of liberal arts?

A "liberal arts" education is useful and practical because it teaches people how to analyze arguments and how to write convincingly. The ability to write a two-page memo that is coherent, persuasive, and grammatically correct is one of the most critical skills someone can learn in college. This gets people hired (cover letters). It convinces companies to expand sales into a new market (business plans). These skills are useful in all areas of business, engineering, IT, marketing, construction, industry, commercial agriculture, pharmaceuticals.

The ability to understand and analyze arguments (to notice the underlying assumptions, to infer conclusions) is the key to be able to determine whether a business plan is solid, whether a proposal for a high-speed train in Central Florida will work, and whether we're being sold on an emotional or partisan appeal, rather than an honest and rational one. Arguments (a.k.a. sensible ideas) aren't just for lawyers. They're for everyone.

We should take seriously the fact that Governor Scott is only saying what many others also believe. I think we, in academia, have a branding and marketing problem. (Incidentally, this is just the kind of thing anthropologists--who study how people behave--are quite good at.) We have not done a good job communicating to our constituency. It's not obvious why "liberal arts" is a good thing (and the phrase itself is confusing) and the whole idea of "going to college to discover yourself" assumes a lot of privilege already (many people cannot afford the luxury of "discovering themselves"--they need to be able to support aging parents, themselves, their children). And so, I think it's important to explain to students just exactly why it's practical that they learn to argue and write.

Governor Scott's comments only make it clearer that we need more people who are trying to address touchy and timely issues through blogs or through their classrooms.

On the trail of 19th century Cuban revolutionaries: Researching in Harlem's Schomburg Collection

2011-09-10T15:39:00.000-07:00

A research tip for NY-based grad students who are interested in the Caribbean and Latin America: check out the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at Lenox Avenue and 135th Street. The center houses some incredibly important collections that are relevant for Caribbeanists. Arturo Alfonso Schomburg (a Puerto Rican), after whom the center is named, amassed a collection of rare books, slave testimonies, art, etc having to do with Black history, which included (of course) the Caribbean.

Here's a gem in the collection that seems like fecund ground for a NY-based research project: the meeting minutes and bylaws of Las Dos Antillas Political Club. This was an organization that Schomburg himself helped begin in the last decade of the 1800s. It worked to raise money, medicine, and munitions for the independence movements in two of the Antilles ("Antillas" in Spanish)--as the islands of the Caribbean were known. The two Antilles were Puerto Rico and Cuba and it'd be fascinating to unravel a bit of how those revolutionary movements were supplied and shaped from the exterior. Las Dos Antillas Political Club was dissolved in 1898 (which coincided with the Spanish-American War, fought, in part, over control of these two islands).

Where did this club meet? What's become of those meeting places? I suspect a lot of the Cuban membership in the club lived in New Jersey, even at the end of the 19th century. Is that the case?

Great Things Happening in Harlem

2011-09-10T14:08:00.000-07:00

I live in and love Harlem. (Yes, it's the front line of gentrification and affords a complicated vantage point on social and economic issues in New York and the U.S.) There are so many wonderful things to try and do north of 110th Street, but people who might not live in the neighborhood might not know where and when these wonderful things happen. (An excellent source for more information beyond just this post is Harlem Bespoke.)

Daytime Suggested Itinerary of Awesomeness:
1. Saturday brunch at any of the excellent restaurants mentioned below;
2. Followed by a stroll past the original Red Rooster location, for a sense of Harlem lore (138th and Adam Clayton Powell aka 7th Avenue, See here.);
3. Then, a stop at the north end of Marcus Garvey/Mount Morris Park for fresh fruit at the farmer's market (Saturdays until November, ends at 3:30pm). Fun Fact: the park's name was changed in the 70s to Marcus Garvey Park by a politician looking to curry favor in the district; it didn't take and the locals still insist upon calling it by its older name, Mount Morris Park;
4. And, finally, sitting at one of the benches in the park to listen to the drumming circle that gathers every Saturday and plays for hours.

Nighttime Suggested Itinerary of Awesomeness:
(aka A few of the many excellent restaurants in the neighborhood):

Chez Lucienne on Lenox Avenue (aka 6th Avenue), just north of 125th Street.
This French bistro is run by Burkinabés (people from Burkina Faso) and has interesting dinner or drink themes every night. Saturdays feature live African bands. Expect good French wines, mussels, French fries, steak au poivre, etc. They have sidewalk dining when the weather is nice (as it is these days), which is great people watching.

Mobay on 125th, a few steeps east of Lenox Avenue (aka 6th Avenue).
Caribbean fusion food and drink, festively decorated with hanging lanterns and lights both in and outside. Live music many nights. Jerk chicken, coconut encrusted shrimp, signature rum punch cocktails. The food is amazing.

Native on Lenox Avenue, just north of 118th.
Creative reinterpretations of "traditional" dishes from across the world with addictive sangría. Moroccan fried chicken served with collard greens, beef short ribs braised in red wine. They also have sidewalk seating during warm nights. And did I mention the sangría?

Red Rooster on Lenox Avenue (aka 6th Avenue) just north of 125th.
Marcus Samuelsson's Harlem spot is in the spotlight as New York's latest haute cuisine. Its fame is deserved. They have a happy hour before 7pm on Mondays through Thursdays, which is an excellent way to sample the signature cocktails (note the infused bourbons that line the back of the bar). My favorite is the Earl of Harlem. Reservations are hard to get, so why not just walk up, put your name down for the evening and be flexible about where they seat you? Communal tables at the bar, al fresco dining, and live music some nights.

Malika Zarra at Between the Seas--Liquid Roads and Flowing Melodies

2011-09-07T13:49:00.000-07:00

Moroccan artist Malika Zarra and her band that's as worldly as she performed at the New York festival "Between the Seas" on Friday. She sang in at least four languages--Berber, Arabic, French, and English--songs that ranged from traditional Berber ballades to poetry she herself wrote. And they took the time to introduce the audience to musical styles associated with various Sufi "brotherhoods" in Morocco. This video does not do the evening justice; it's just to tempt you to go to her website (above).

Between the Seas is a new "Mediterranean world" art festival in New York City. It was begun by Aktina Stathaki, Ph.D. (a Greek dancer) with the sensibility that the Mediterranean Sea is itself a region of shared cultural resonances. So, instead of thinking "North Africa" or "Southern Europe" or "the Levant," the festival hearkens back to the conception of water and not landmasses as being the defining cultural or regional (or political) unit. Though now we think of social units in terms of land ("Europe," "North America"), for most of recorded history, people thought in terms of the rivers and seas that linked them. And so we had the Nile, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic. It's cool to see art and cultural expression once more being interpreted in this older vein.

Brilliant Idea for Paraguay's Electricity: Use it for Internet Data Centers

2011-09-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

A few computer geeks in Paraguay have come up with a brilliant idea: to use Paraguay's vast renewable electricity surplus to support internet data centers (IDCs) for companies like Google.

The situation is this: Paraguay has a huge surplus of electricity. It consumes something like 6,000,000 MWh a year, but produces about 50,000,000 MWh a year via its two binational hydroelectric dams Itaipú and Yacyretá. Right now, this excess energy is sold to its neighbors, the co-owners of the two dams (Brazil and Argentina, respectively). This excess, however, could be used to power data centers and, even were Paraguay's domestic consumption to double or treble in the next ten years (an unprecedented growth rate), there'd still be plenty. Itaipú electricity costs about $44 per MWh--a bargain compared to what the average cost is for industry in the U.S., $67.2 per MWh in 2011.

Paraguay is a developing country and this would bring in not only revenue, but improved infrastructure. It's geologically stable (landlocked--no hurricanes or tsunamis; not on a fault line--no volcanoes or earthquakes). And it's physically close to the growing South American giant: Brazil, whose internet and data consumption is continuing to skyrocket.

The place to develop this kind of data park would be in the eastern "department" ("state") of Alto Paraná, probably actually on the site of Acaray (a small hydroelectric dam) or the Paraguayan side of Itaipú, where there's already engineering capacity, security, and the beginning of necessary infrastructure.

The entire proposal, written in Spanish, is here: Uso de energía excedente en Paraguay para alimentar centros de cómputo.

In Memoriam: Fernando Coronil loses his "dance" with cancer.

2011-08-24T12:31:00.000-07:00

Fernando Coronil, the inimitable scholar of state formation in Latin America, succumbed to cancer last week. His work on energy and the Venezuelan state shaped my intellectual trajectory from the first time I read The Magical State in 2005. It was Fernando who urged me to read Augusto Roa Bastos' masterwork Yo, El Supremo while I was on the field in Paraguay--one of the finest pieces of advice I've ever received (and taken). I firmly concur with Fernando's insistence on turning to art in order to express, clarify, and complicate our understanding of the world around us, especially when conducting anthropological fieldwork.

His colleague, Gary Wilder, has written a moving In Memoriam that contrapuntally weaves a discussion of Fernando's intellectual work, scholarship, teaching, love of art, and love of the people in his life. It's lengthy, as it should be, and a satisfying read and actually a bit of an invitation to dialogue.

The Sound and Fury and Twisted Logic of the EPP, the Paraguayan People's Army

2011-07-28T06:23:00.001-07:00

The EPP, Ejercito del Pueblo Paraguayo, is an armed fringe leftist guerrilla (rebel army) in Paraguay who are good at making their presence felt through high-profile kidnappings (and executions). Though some of the leadership is imprisoned, members live on the run, hiding in the forests and countryside.*

Kidnappings serve a dual purpose for the EPP. They provide income (supplementing what the EPP likely gets from Colombia's FARC and Venezuela's government and maybe Bolivia) and allow the marginal EPP to influence the political agenda in the country. Paraguay has a long history of terror (much of it coming directly from the rightwing government of the 50s to the 80s) and the politics of fear play a huge role still. And so, when María Edith Bordon de Debernardi was kidnapped in 2001 and found alive but still clearly bearing the psychological trauma of her experience, when Cecilia Cubas was kidnapped in 2004 and later found dead in a hole in the ground (after her family had paid a ransom), and when Fidel Zavala was taken in 2009, the sense that no one is safe and unseen assailants are watching, plotting has a powerful effect.

But the EPP is not popular in Paraguay. The average Paraguayan is more politically conservative than their counterparts in other Latin American countries and much of the left has repudiated any politically-motivated violence (including people like Ananías Maidana--the president of the Communist Party of Paraguay--who was incarcerated for 20 years and tortured during the Stroessner dictatorship, a man with the moral high ground who unequivocally denounced all political violence).

The ironic (or perhaps intended) outcome of the EPP's actions is that campesino (peasant-farmer) communities who are not involved suffer reprisals, since they are suspected of having leftist sympathies. The twisted logic appears to go like this: since Paraguayans are not sympathetic towards Marxist uprisings, the way to make them sympathetic is to provoke the government into repressing campesinos (much of Paraguay is rural), and a good way to do that is to kidnap and threaten the elites.

Most recently, the EPP has been in the news because its jailed leader, Alcides Oviedo, just published a book explaining the group's ideology. Some sought to ban the book, censorship was decried, and the NYTimes covered the story--all in all, an effective strategy for the EPP, since, at $13 a copy (50 mil guaranies), the book is too expensive for the poorest of Paraguayans (supposedly their intended audience) to purchase. $13 represents more than a week's worth of income for 1/3 of Paraguayans who live on less than $2 a day.

My take on this is that the EPP's strategy won't work--they've been blinded by trauma and anger, but terror doesn't win hearts and minds.

*(Paraguay offers good hiding, as Nazi war criminal and naturalized Paraguayan citizen Josef "Angel of Death" Mengele was pleased to find.)

MEVES: the chilling virtual museum of "Memory and Truth about Stronismo"

2011-07-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

A torture device (la picaña--the cattle prod, used to deliver electric shock to the victim's genitalia).

"Satire of Stronismo"-- Alfredo Stroessner as an octopus with tentacles reaching into every part of the state and of person life.

MEVES, the online museum of Memoria y Verdad sobre el Stronismo, has just launched a brilliant website that is well worth visiting. General Alfredo Stroessner orchestrated a coup (golpe) in 1954 that brought him to power in Paraguay. He ruled for the next 35 years, renewing a 90-day "state of siege" every three months (although he'd lift it for one day--election day--so that he could be re-elected president every five years) until the late 80s.

"Stronismo" is the philosophy and style of government of Stroessner and featured heavy persecution of all kinds of opposition under the guise of anti-communism. Not only was communism made illegal (punishable by 20 years incarceration), but anyone opposed to Stroessner's regime was labeled a communist, including members of Stroessner's own Colorado Party who disagreed with him. 90% of all political prisoners were tortured.

Key to all of this was a sophisticated Intelligence Service run out of the Ministry of the Interior, which spied on, detained, tortured, executed, and disappeared tens of thousands of Paraguayans (and not a few foreigners) from 1954-1989. This period is referred to as the "terror" and is documented in great detail by that very regime in its police/investigation/military archives known as the "Archive of Terror" (Archivo del Terror, which was unearthed in 1992). In addition to forced confessions, psychiatric evaluations of prisoners, and confiscated mail, it also contains thousands of reports from secret informants and even (unheeded) requests from the BDR to help locate Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele.

MEVES chronicles the deterioration of human rights during the Stroessner regime.

Liveblogging Copa America: Paraguay vs Venezuela

2011-07-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

So, I'll be liveblogging the game this afternoon. You can watch it here on Univisión for free (with me, too). As always, I'm not a soccer/futbol expert, but it's great fun to watch.

And we're off!

3:25 Roque Santa Cruz takes a shot at the goal, but it goes too high. This is the same line-up that tied Brazil.

5:25 and Venezuela gets a Goal. 1:0 Paraguay needs to either tie this or win it in order to advance to the next round.

32:00 Paraguay GOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

39:59 Haedo starts warming up.

41:35 Haedo (18) replaces Santa Cruz (9), who apparently has some sort of pain problem.

And it's the half.
1:1

Paraguay's Megapancho: Guinness record for world's longest hotdog.

2011-07-07T07:37:00.000-07:00

As part Expo 2011 (a.k.a. Paraguay's annual Disney-like tribute to cattle-ranching and cellphone companies), organizers and sausage company Ochsi are attempting to break the world record for longest hotdog (a record currently held by Spain) by cooking one that's 200 meters long.

Here they are testing the equipment. (h/t: ABC Color)

Sex-Trafficking and Prostitution: Paraguayan exports to Spain

2011-06-27T11:36:00.000-07:00

Spanish TV channel Canal 4 takes the trip to Ciudad del Este to explore the massive sex-trafficking that goes between Paraguay and Spain, where many women think they're going to Europe to get jobs as waitresses or domestic workers and then discover what they're asked to do.

This is only a preview. Once I locate the whole special, I'll post a link.

"Songs About Books" by Carey Wallace... a cd that celebrates literature

2011-06-17T14:28:00.000-07:00

CAREY WALLACE | songs about books from Zeke Anders on Vimeo.

As part of a celebration of the launch of the paperback edition of The Blind Contessa's New Machine.

What to listen to: Gioel Martín & amigos playing Palo Bonito

2011-06-11T09:07:00.000-07:00

Gioel Martín & amigos - Palo Bonito from ACvideo on Vimeo.

Guitar, percussion, and spontaneity in the Dominican Republic.

Searching Paraguay's "Archive of Terror" or Center for the Documentation and Archive for the Defense of Human Rights

2011-06-10T08:35:00.000-07:00

The CDyA or Centro de Documentación y Archivo para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, an unprecedented collection of files from the Stroessner dictatorship (and of the Operation Condor agreement between the Southern Cone countries of the 1970s) is a key site for any researcher on Paraguay. The website, however, looks as if it could use some upkeep and some of the most useful links are now dead.

Here is the best online search of its database (hosted by the Washington Research Library Consortium).

Brazil’s Senate Approves Itaipú Binacional Energy Deal: What Paraguay Should Do

2011-05-16T09:18:00.000-07:00

Quick Review: Itaipú Binacional is the world’s largest hydroelectric dam. It sits across the Paraná river border between and is co-owned by Brazil and Paraguay. With an “installed capacity” of 14,000 megawatts, it churns out enough electricity to meet 19% of Brazil’s needs and 95% of Paraguay’s… or, almost enough electricity to power two New York Cities.

The Controversy: Though Itaipú’s equally owned by Brazil’s and Paraguay’s public electricity companies, the energy isn’t split evenly because Paraguay’s market isn’t big enough. So, as part of the original treaty (1973) between the two countries, Paraguay sells the vast majority of its electricity (80% of its half) to Brazil. For this energy, Eletrobrás (the Brazilian energy company) pays Paraguay about $2.80 per megawatt hour and then has marked it up anywhere between $20 and $80 on its own market, pocketing the difference.* Three years ago, the unthinkable happened in Paraguay: the ruling party lost the presidential election for the first time in living memory. Former Bishop Fernando Lugo (and a lefty, to boot) won the 2008 election, campaigning on a promise to renegotiate this financial arrangement and to then use the money to invest in social development.

The Resolution: High-level negotiations began between Paraguay and Brazil, resulting in a dramatic agreement between Brazilian President Lula da Silva and Paraguayan President Lugo in July 2009, which called for (among other things):

1) a three-fold increase in what Eletrobrás pays Paraguay for Paraguay’s half of the energy—an annual increase from ~$120million to ~$360million (that’ll end in 2023)

2) Paraguay’s electricity company to gradually begin commercializing its energy directly on the Brazilian market—worth about $1.5billion.

Oh, did I mention that in 2010, Paraguay’s GDP was $16billion? These are game-changing amounts.

What Just Happened: The last hurdle to these changes was cleared this past Wednesday, when Brazil’s Senate voted to approve the agreement (though not without some opposition).

And Now: Paraguay should start getting three times as much for its energy starting this month and EVERYONE wants a piece of the easy money $360million pie (interestingly, no one is talking about the even heftier $1.5billion). The question is how to spend this money in a country that regularly sits at the top of “most corrupt” Latin American countries from Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index. Will $360million go to finance the supporters of the new government? Will it [continue to] go to local governments to cover recurring costs, even though it’s just a temporary windfall? Will it get absorbed into the annual budget of the government (which was more than $8billion in 2010… half of GDP!) where it’s likely to be siphoned off in endemic patronage?

Or will it be invested in developing the educational and infrastructural capacity of Paraguay so that it can develop?

* note that these numbers don’t include the base cost of production, which is paid to the dam for the energy.

Upcoming Presentation at AAG: Journeys of Empire: the Robertson brothers' Letters on Paraguay

2011-01-21T15:10:00.000-08:00

I have the privilege of being on a fascinating panel entitled: "Truth, Authorship and Credibility in Travellers' Narratives" at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Friday, April 15, 2011 in Seattle at 10am.

I've called my paper:
Journeys of Empire: the Robertson brothers' Letters on Paraguay

If you just happen to be in town, please do stop by. Here's the abstract:

This paper traces the two voyages of the Robertson brothers: their early 19th century foray into Paraguay and the journey of their Letters on Paraguay, published two decades later. It does more than just render an eyewitness account by the first British visitors to the republic; it allows us to explore how knowledge of the periphery is received at the center of empire. I demonstrate how Letters, and the evocatively named third volume, Francia's Reign of Terror, shaped how Paraguay was perceived in the English-speaking world.

John arrived in 1806 as revolution engulfed the Iberian colonies and was later joined by William, making, losing, and regaining their fortune through trade. The Letters recounting these experiences read as more than ethnography—they describe the wealth of Paraguay and the rise of its first ruler, Gaspar de Francia. The Letters framed Paraguay as a tropical dictatorship in need of liberation and as a fabled land of plenty awaiting investment, leading to justifications for the (British-funded) War of the Triple Alliance (1865-1870) and the ensuing sell-off of Paraguayan property. This paper is based on a close reading of the Letters, English-language newspapers and trade journals, and other contemporary secondary literature against a backdrop of archival and ethnographic work in Paraguay. The Letters and their reception speak to questions of how depictions of tyranny, imaginaries of exotic riches, and geographical knowledge intersect.

For more on John and William Parish Robertson, check out their books on google books: here and here and here.

NYPL Public Lecture: Stakes of a Triple Frontier City: the Untold History of Ciudad del Este 1/21 @ 1:15

2011-01-06T10:57:00.000-08:00

I will be presenting some research as part of the New York Public Library's lectures on History on January 21 @ 1:15pm.

Here are the details:

Please join us as seven authors from the Library's Research Study Rooms
present in the South Court Auditorium a wide-ranging series of
free public lunch-time (1:15 pm) lectures on

History

Stakes of a Triple Frontier City: the Untold History of Ciudad del Este

Friday, January 21, 2011

Ciudad del Este is the stuff Hollywood dreams are made of. Paraguay’s second largest city is the subject of action movies, spy dramas, and airport mystery novels. In the heart of Latin America, the story goes, sits a triad of border cities where shoppers weave between rickety stands to enter gleaming shopping galleries owned by Taiwanese or Arab merchants. A panoply of organized crime supposedly takes advantage of low tariffs and even lower customs enforcement to smuggle billions in contraband to neighboring Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil or Puerto Iguazu, Argentina (and then beyond). Rather than this spectacular and yet shallow depiction of the city, come hear a different account of Ciudad del Este. Instead, we will look at the founding of the city in 1957 and its trajectory over the next three decades to see how a city planned to be the emblem of a modern Paraguay has developed into what it is today, the hopes and disillusionments of globalization.

Christine Folch is completing a dissertation in the Anthropology Department of the CUNY Graduate Center on the national and international politics of hydroelectricity, based on years of fieldwork in Paraguay.

Elevator access is at 42nd Street.
All programs are subject to last minute change or cancellation.

Update: Lugo better; After misdiagnosis, Paraguay's medical care under scrutiny.

2010-10-04T12:16:00.000-07:00

Fernando Lugo is still in Brazil, recovering from treatment for thrombosis (some kind of a blood clot) after having been misdiagnosed with an infection by a team of Paraguayan physicians (presumably the best in the country). The Brazilian physicians who took care of Paraguay's president had strong, negative words about the quality of medical care in Paraguay and this whole experience is putting the system in the spotlight.

Paraguay's President Lugo provisionally cedes power to vice-president Franco

2010-10-02T12:50:00.000-07:00

Lugo earlier this week, from Ultima Hora.

Fernando Lugo has been in a public battle with cancer for two months and the situation is looking dire. Today he formally ceded the power of the presidency to his vice-president Federico Franco. Franco is now "acting president"--a provisional and possibly temporary position. But, Lugo is being rushed from Paraguay to São Paulo for emergency diagnostics. Word is that Lugo has an infection near his heart and lungs.

If this is the end of Lugo's dramatic presidency which ended one party rule in Paraguay for the first time in six decades, expect uncertainty. Franco is a Liberal (PLRA) and at odds with many of the policies and perspectives of other members of Lugo's lefty government. The midterm elections are just around the corner, a kind of check-in on how the presidency of "change" is doing. Will the Colorado (ANR) Party (that had controlled the presidency for 60+ years) succeed in consolidating itself internally after the surprise defeat in 2008? What will a Liberal president mean for policy? What's going to happen to the negotiations over Itaipú? What of the promised agrarian reform? What of judicial reform?

Acting President Federico Franco speaks to the press today. Image via ABC Color.

Paraguay's President Fernando Lugo Has Cancer.

2010-08-07T03:55:00.000-07:00

Fernando Lugo, earlier this week. Photo: Ultima Hora

Fernando Lugo, the leftist ex-Bishop whose election unseated the Colorado Party for the first time in six decades, has non-Hodkin's lymphoma. Paraguay's Minister of Health held a press conference yesterday to make the announcement following a biopsy conducted this past Wednesday. Lugo will travel to São Paulo on Tuesday to conduct tests and develop a course of action.

So, that's the news. Now, the repercussions:

* If I know anything about Paraguayan politics, I'd wager that someone somewhere is saying "This is a fake... Lugo has made up this story in order to get sympathy votes. Want proof? He's going to Brazil for treatment, not here, where Paraguayans can see whether or not he's ill. Be on the look out for photos of Lugo frolicking on Ipanema with supermodels!"

* Vice President Federico Franco, from the Liberal Party, will return to Paraguay earlier than he'd planned--he's in Colombia to attend the inauguration of Juan Manuel Santos.

* Speaking of rumors, I bet someone is saying, "The Liberales gave him cancer so that Federico would become president!"

* So far, no word of sympathy or "get well soon!" from the other parties.

* In fact, people in politics are already talking about how to decide Lugo's successor, if he needs to resign. Like sharks who smell blood in the water, the curious silence from political sectors around the country doesn't make me think that people are "meh" about this, but questioning what this means and how to turn this to advantage.

* Is the lack of even a token of sympathy because the municipal elections are coming up and opposition parties don't want to give the government any ground or sympathy votes?

* By the way, the Paraguayan Constitution already says who should be Lugo's successor--the Vice President. The tricky thing is that a) the Colorado Party really doesn't want a Liberal in the presidency... it'll accept a lefty ex-Bishop any day over a Liberal; b) it's constitutionally unclear who should be appointed Vice President in the event that Federico has to step in for Lugo-- most likely a popular election will be held. The likely winner of an election is the Colorado Party... but what Colorado politician who can win a national election will want to waste his efforts on just becoming the Vice President of a Liberal? But! If a lesser Colorado does win, then he becomes a major contender for the 2013 presidential elections and thus a threat to the obvious Colorado candidate Luis Castiglioni.

World Cup Football: Paraguay vs Slovakia

2010-06-20T04:29:00.000-07:00

Holy Smokes, the definition on this Univision stream is really great.

7:34am and they're off.

3:05 corner kick for Paraguay. let's do it guys.

5:57 both Univision announcers are Argentine. "paraguashos"

13:22 I know that Roque Santa Cruz is supposed to be awesome and he's paid a lot, but I haven't seen him do anything really special or useful yet except look like an Argentine football model and fall on the ground.

16:56 A Slovakian player takes off and adjusts his boot, slowly... Strategically placed viral Nike marketing if you ask me.

19:43 I like that the announcer knows to call Paraguay's coach "Tata" Martino. (Fire in Guaraní)

26:59 GOLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Erique Vera (number 13) makes it. Okay, guys. Let's keep it like this.

32:08 loves that Univision just took a little moment to slo-mo all the headers of Paraguay in this half, eyes fluttering, hair bouncing around.

36:26 corner kick for Slovakia... whew! It's way over the goal box.

41:07 the camera/mic is so close to the action that you can hear the ball hit the shin guards as the
Paraguayan player kicks the ball against his opponents.
yellow card for #16 in Slovakia!!!

42:36 the announcers keep saying "watch out, this looks dangerous. We've got Roque Santa Cruz in the penalty box." But, really?

44:46 yellow card for Enrique Vera, arguably the most useful player on Py's side today.

Half Time!

1:45 yellow card for #9 in Slovakia and the Py player roles around on the ground. I'm, in general, unconvinced by falling.

9:05 shirtless Pyan fan, jumping up and down. The pace of the game has changed drastically. Py isn't pushing as much for a goal as it had been in the first half.

20:22 Roque Santa Cruz, again on the ground?

36:24 Oscar "Tacuara" Cardozo comes in and Barrios is on the bench now. Tacuara means bamboo and I guess the dude is tall and skinny. This is another dude who gets a lot of praise but I don't know/see why.

Yellow card on #7 in Slovakia, the pushy fouly dude.

39:45 Now Tacuara is complaining about a hurt head? Why?

GOL!!!!!!!!!!!! (#16) Riveros did it!!!!

42:22 #13 Enrique Vera is off, replaced by #12 Barreta comes in. More Pyos take off their shirts (in the stands) as they're celebrating the favorable game.

44:20 Slovakia looks grumpy.
Four additional minutes.

Compared to the recent US games and those Australia games, especially, the refereeing has been pretty solid.

FINAL PARAGUAY GANA!!!!!!!!!! 2-0

Eating Where the Cooks Eat: Critiquing Food Writing in New York

2010-06-17T19:21:00.000-07:00

"Do you have to be white to be a food critic?"-- question I wish I had asked.
"What's the relationship food critics have to producing food? Do they cook, too?"-- question I actually asked.

The most excellent gentlemen of Gelf magazine hosted a Media Circus on Food Writers, with three of New York's (employed) food writers presenting their thoughts on a range of issues from food blogging ("Print is dead!" cried one) to food porn ("I love it!") to anonymity ("If you're made, pretend anyway!"). The man in the audience wearing a devil mask (and wig), who initially creeped me out, turned out to be the quite charming, and determinedly anonymous, Village Voice food critic Robert Sietsema, who was joined by Time Out New York's Gabriella Gershenson and NBC's Alex Vallis.

It was fun, but raised the question of "the new foodism"-- our attitudes about food and what food critique is. Sietsema is, apparently, unusual in the field because he reviews what one of the other critics called "authentic, fresh-off-the-boat, ethnic food." Though it's easy to criticize that unfortunate characterization, I want to make a stronger argument about why those kinds of restaurants are very much worth reviewing and eating at. The stronger argument is not about politics, it's about the practical. The people who eat there are the people who are cooking the food at the fancier restaurants being reviewed.

The people who are making the fine dining, culinary fashion-forward cuisine of New York City, the restaurants that are being reviewed and noticed by taste-making critics are not the celebrity chefs. The people who are actually doing the cooking, pulling together the recipes in the kitchens, the ones who are crafting the food of New York are the working class immigrants who eat at these local unassuming ethnic restaurants. They are bringing their sense of spices and flavorings, of how to prepare dishes. And so, to understand what's happening in the upscale restaurants that lead the way in food in the US, we need to sit at the tables of the people who cook it.

And so, my part in this endeavor will be unveiled in the near future.

World Cup Football: Paraguay vs Italy

2010-06-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

(Note, Puma City, where I was, didn't have free wireless, so I used Word and have later uploaded this.

Summary: Paraguay has a great defense. Puma City could be better executed, not where I'll be watching future games.)

2:30
National anthem… pajaro campana shows his true colors. Annoying subtitles on the screen.

2:32
Barrios is playing… the new Pyan is playing instead of Roque Santa Cruz

2:34
game starts

some Italian has fallen for no reason. Boo hoo. Oh, okay. There were cleats involved.

2:44
another Italian falls,

2:46
the Italians are putting a lot of pressure, even on Villar… this is a beautiful game and, yes, I’m scared.

2:50
These Italians are floppy. They’re almost Portuguese. Offsides.

2:56
this looks dangerous. But it’s okay… Maybe?

Best subtitle mistake: "...for the parg wantans."

3:05
At Red in Puma City… the beer is small and the service a little confused by the situation, I think. I.e., we want to watch the game and drink beer. The beer is overpriced for not very much, but they’ve at last turned off the annoying subtitles.

3:10
I miss Cabañas

Number 21 SCORREEESSS!!!!!!! GOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

3:20
Paraguay is ahead 1 point!!! There are, like, 2 or 3 people in this bar complex who are in Py gear. Including me. But lots of non-Italyans cheered at the goal.

“To take nothing away from Paraguay. They’re very lucky to be playing Italy in the first game. Italy always loses the first game,” says my pro-Italy friend. “Check the history. How many times has Italy won their first game in the world cup? And how many times have they won the world cup? They’ve gotten this thing down to a bad science.”

Second Half, Christine is scared.
3:35.

3:43
yikes!!!!.. but the grass is slippery and whew.

3:51
Victor Caceres yellow card.

Alert. Red has a $10 minimum, but it doesn’t say it anywhere in writing.

Italy scores. 1:1.

Final. Sigh

Post-Game
Lots of people ask me about the tereré I'm carrying.

Poli Sci textbooks ignore US Latinos?

2010-05-14T04:30:00.000-07:00

Continuing the theme of the previous post about Latinos in the US and political participation, InsideHigherEd covers research published in PS:Political Science & Politics, a flagship academic journal of political science, that examined textbooks and found Latinos absent. The entire article is here, but the central point is that, while Latinos make up 15% of the US, content regarding this group is disproportionately low (the highest was 3.49% in one book). Latino contribution to US politics, per these books, centers on immigration issues--and illegal immigration, at that.

Contributions in the Latino civil rights movement, writes InsideHigherEd, are ignored. And I wonder, if the focus is on immigration, whether complexities like Puerto Rican statehood/citizenship or Cubans polling as Republicans in a swing state are also ignored.

Arizona's New Law: Leading the way in campaign issues.

2010-05-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

The always excellent FiveThirtyEight, in between its projections and analysis of the recent UK elections, has turned its attention to the US-based immigration debate crystallized in Arizona's new law. Although the entry is worth a read in its entirety, here are some interesting gems:

GOP candidates running in the Deep South, particularly Alabama, South Carolina, and Georgia are running on platforms that call for similarly tough immigration laws.

The "Hispanic" population of Georgia is 7.4%, of Virginia is 6.8%. However, the percentage of eligible voters who are Hispanic in Georgia is 2.3%, in Virginia is 2.8%.

Ed Kilgore, who writes the post, hypothesizes that the low voting potential (as opposed to percentage of overall population) of hispanics has coupled with the need GOP candidates see to distinguish themselves in a flushed primary season. Thus, the attraction of a wedge issue.

There are concerns that a virulently anti-immigrant rhetoric will hurt the GOP at election time.

After the Oscars, Triple Frontier movie big news in Paraguay

2010-03-09T04:17:00.000-08:00

2003 satellite image of the triple frontier, urbanization predominates on the Paraguayan side

Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, newly minted with well-deserved Oscars, now turn their attention to their next project, a movie about the triple frontera, the tri-border area between Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina that's a node of movement between the three countries. While popular imagination sets Ciudad del Este, Paraguay's city at this border, as the weak and corrupt link, the reality is much more interconnected, with much of the movement across the border (and certainly the compraturistas who cross the Friendship Bridge for day shopping trips) performed by Brazilians themselves (and the vast majority do not live in Foz do Iguaçu, the Brazilian city across the river).

The Friendship Bridge, which connects Paraguay to Brazil, under construction (in the 60s)

Miami Vice also filmed in Ciudad del Este... their legacy lives on in a wooden ramshackle car repair shop (taller) named after them, on Carlos Antonio Lopez (but no one in CdE knows the names of the streets).

Now the Paraguayan press has caught wind of the new movie project, Triple Frontier (Guerra al terror). Already sadly familiar with serving as a setting for international dramas (the fame of the border arises from more than just the smuggling that goes on there, but from the presence of Lebanese and Taiwanese communities, which have been accused of links to organized crime and terror--a charge they vigorously repudiate), Paraguayans seem to be responding with a "meh" or "I wish someone would make a movie about the War of the Triple Alliance (1865-70) instead."

That war saw the death of 9/10 Paraguayan males and the loss of about 1/3 of its territory as Paraguay lost to the combined forces of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay.

The region in 1973... all the growth you see above is on the Paraguayan side.

Tri-Border Area comes to TV: "Triple Crossing"

2010-03-04T19:20:00.000-08:00

The Sundance channel has announced its line-up for the next year and it looks like the Triple Frontera--the border zone between Ciudad del Este, Foz do Iguaçu, and Puerto Iguazu (Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina, respectively) where I've lived and researched--is becoming an increasingly popular go-to setting for exotic baddies.

Here's the heart of the announcement:

• TRIPLE CROSSING – a geopolitical crime drama set in a lawless South American city that borders Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. Produced by John Malkovich’s Mr. Mudd (Juno, The Dancer Upstairs).

As for realism and knowledge of the site... I'll wait until I actually see it to figure out whether they just used their imagination or actually sent someone to scout out the border zone for verisimilitude. One interesting give-away: the cities at this border use four currencies for common exchange, interchangeably--Guaraníes, Reais, Pesos, and Dollars.

Murder, Silver, 17th Century Peru: Novelist Annamaria Alfieri visits Wellesley

2010-03-03T14:29:00.000-08:00

Annamaria Alfieri will be available for book signing and wonderful conversation at the Main Library in Wellesley, MA tomorrow. Her new book, City of Silver, is about a murder at Potosí and is already garnering praise. I had the good fortune to meet her today at the New York Public Library--she's already working on her next novel... one about Paraguay.

Thursday, March 4
7:00 pm
Wakelin Room
Main Library, Wellesley Free Library
530 Washington Street

Post-fieldwork: How to process what just happened.

2010-01-17T06:12:00.000-08:00

I'm back in New York. Aside from readjusting to being in the city and the temperature difference (Asunción is the hottest capital in the western hemisphere), there is the matter of how to make sense of one's data when returning from the field. Though I know what it is that I have studied (the Paraguayan state through two of its most important twentieth century projects: Itaipú Binacional and Ciudad del Este), I'm still looking for the distillation of what my dissertation is about.

To help in this, I have started an exercise Kim Fortun, associate professor at Rensselaer in the the department of Science & Technology Studies, describes in her chapter in the new edited volume Fieldwork Is Not What It Used To Be: Learning Anthropology's Method in a Time of Transition. Every day in a journal, I write the answers to the following questions:

1) The aim of this study is...
2) Data collected through participant-observation, interviews, archives, multi-media sources were analyzed to understand continuities and changes in the ways people conceive of...
3) Preliminary findings are...
4) Theoretical and political/practical implications of these findings are...

At some point, I'll compile all of these and see how the answers have changed and developed.

"Lugo runs risk of never having more children after operation" -- newspaper headline, perfect example of Paraguayan sarcasm

2010-01-09T02:46:00.000-08:00

Image from Ultima Hora.

It took me more than a few years to realize that the Paraguayan sense of humor, in addition to the grating Sábado Gigante-esque variety, is incredibly sarcastic because it plays on being very serious and very deadpan.

A classic example is this article in today's Ultima Hora:

Lugo corre riesgo de no tener más hijos tras la operación

La intervención de la próstata estuvo a cargo de 12 profesionales médicos. Guardará reposo y en las próximas cuatro semanas ya estará con posibilidades de mantener relación sexual, dijo Cayo Estigarribia.

The prostate surgery was conducted by 12 medical professionals. He is in recovery and within the next four weeks will be able to resume sexual relations, said Cayo Estigarribia.

Paraguay's president Fernando Lugo is a former Bishop (only "former" because he had to step down from his position to run for president) who is still under the clerical vow of celibacy. But he has been plagued by (accurate) accusations of having fathered children while a priest. He has acknowledged a couple of them, but has legal actions (asking for legal recognition of paternity and, presumably, child support) by half a dozen women and, well, rumors abound that there are plenty more in the background. Lugo underwent minor prostate surgery on Friday, which was successful.

Needless to say, Paraguayans of all political stripes are disappointed with the dalliances and vow-breaking and this has taken a toll on the perception of "seriousness" of the current regime.

CSSH Article on Yerba Mate

2009-12-29T07:41:00.000-08:00

"Stimulating Consumption: Yerba Mate Myths, Markets, and Meanings from Conquest to Present" is now in print and available online as part of Comparative Studies in Society and History's newest issue. Below is the editorial forward. I'm incredibly grateful for the support from editor Andrew Shyrock and managing editor David Akin in this process.

Christine Folch explores the market history of yerba mate, a caffeinated drink akin to coffee and tea. Long popular in the southern countries of Latin America, yerba mate is largely unknown in other parts of the world. As a global commodity, its largest external market is in Syria and Lebanon, where it is drunk by Druze and other Levantine populations with ties to Arab immigrant communities in South America. Folch traces the movement of yerba mate from its origins as a commodity monopolized by the Spanish Crown and cultivated on Jesuit-owned plantations, to its current status as a novelty drink sold in North American organic and natural food stores, where it is marketed as an exotic, healthier alternative to coffee and tea. Diverse factors have prevented (and now aid) the global spread of yerba mate. The character of the tree itself, which could not be easily transplanted, the aesthetics of yerba mate consumption, which uses a communally shared filter/straw, and explicit anti-yerba campaigns run by coffee and tea merchants backed by colonial interests at odds with Spain, confined yerba mate to South American markets. Its reputation as a local beverage associated with Amerindian cultures and the Southern Cone is now the basis, Folch argues, for yerba mate's success as a global commodity that is defined, almost everywhere, by its strong associations with regional identities, distinct ethnonational communities, and medicinal and psychotropic alternatives to the worldwide hegemony of coffee and tea.

Paraguay's new consul to NYC? An undocumented immigrant with someone else's passport.

2009-12-15T00:30:00.000-08:00

After his diplomatic visa was denied for having lived illegally in the US for something like 16 years, Augusto Noguera decided to re-enter the US across the Mexican border into Arizona, using someone else's passport. He was arrested. I'm usually quite sympathetic to the plight of undocumented immigrants, but this is just too emblematic of what's wrong with the Paraguayan government,

Paraguay's idiosyncrasy identified: Cows + Ministry of Justice

2009-12-02T11:35:00.001-08:00

Long after the workday ended (it ends at 1pm), four well-fed, healthy, unroped cows wandered onto the plaza in front of the Ministry of Justice (the Palacio de Justicia) in Asunción.

Research in Paraguay: Newspaper archives.

2009-12-02T02:26:00.001-08:00

The second largest newspaper in the country, Ultima Hora, apparently doesn't hold archives for old issues.

The largest newspaper, ABC Color, does and is in the process of organizing its collection.

For the largest collection of papers dating to the early part of the 20th century, go to the Biblioteca Nacional. It's on de la Residenta, almost at the corner of Peru.

Tips for Asunción Living: Look Up

2009-12-02T02:10:00.001-08:00

No one ever tells you this: the skies are beautiful in Paraguay.

Paraguayan Senator formally charges Deputy with being ugly.

2009-11-24T15:11:00.000-08:00

formal denuncia from ABC Color

In a story ripped-from-the-headlines of The Onion, Paraguay's Liberal Party Senator Alfredo Luís Jaeggli has charged Deputy (a member of the lower house in Paraguay's congress) Aida Robles with "polución visual y sonora." Um, look here for some images of the accuser (he's the bald dude).

Tableware from the Ferro-Carril Central de Paraguay (the Paraguayan railroad)

2009-11-24T04:23:00.000-08:00

From before the War. The porcelain is made in England.

A Night of Vigilante Justice in Paraguay

2009-11-20T09:41:00.000-08:00

Last night, in two separate incidents (on opposites sides of the country), two different women were attacked by two robbers each. Both times, one of the robbers lost his life and his partner was critically wounded as locals noticed what was happening and used their guns.

In Ciudad del Este, two teenagers broke into the despensa (shop) where the owner and her 14 year old daughter were threatened with rape and then robbed. The neighbors realized what was going on, barged into the store, and fired at the perpetrators, killing one instantly and tying up the other to await the arrival of the police. The dead robber, 16, is the younger brother of the survivor, aged 17.

In Asunción, a woman was mugged of her cellphone by two men. An unidentified driver noticed what was happening, shot twice -- killing one mugger and severely wounding the other -- before driving away.

The response in the online comments sections for both is the same:
(Asu)
bien por este señor por su acto de heroismo y caballerosidad ... good for this man for his act of heroism and chivalry

1 menos... vamos todavia ... one less, we're on our way

Excelente al que le ayudo a la joven, no podemos permitir que los asaltantes ganen las calles, excelente, yo estimado te paso la mano, muy bien, excelente, esa chica puede ser tu hermana, tu prima, vecina, la mama de alguien, tu hija, etc, bien por tu decisiòn. ... Excellent to the one who helped the girl, we cannot allow that criminals (literally "attackers") win the streets, excellent, I shake your hand, well down, excellent, this girl could be your sister, your cousin, your neighbor, somebodies mother, your daughter, etc, good for your decision.

(CdE)
BIEN HECHO. Well Done.

es lo mejor que escuchado en mi vida ya era hora que estos mal vivientes sean penados por la gente ya que la justicia en nuestro pais no existe .... this is the best thing I've heard in my life it was about time that these lowlifes be judged by the people as justice does not exist in our country

enfrente de mi casa ya se asalto 5 (CINCO) veces en tres meses la despensa de una sra. humilde, que da de comer con lo que gana a su familia y la hace estudiar, es el colmo como estos buenos para nada, hacen sus patranhas despojando a los trabajadores de lo poco que tienen, a esta actitud se le va la nota 10 ++, ya que si en unas de esas eran capturados por la policia coimera paraguaya, la justicia se encargaria de soltarlos .... in front of my house in the past three months five times they've assaulted the despensa of a poor woman that feeds her family from what she earns and makes them study, this is the limit of how these good-for-nothings do their misdeeds robbing workers of the little they have, to this [the neighborly vigilantes] attitude I give an A++, if one of these had been captured by the bribe-loving [literally "briby"] Paraguayan police, the justice system would be sure to let them go free

Phone recovered. Mugger caught. Christine grieved.

2009-11-18T11:23:00.000-08:00

recovered cellphone

For this trifle, a 17 year old kid has lost his freedom and is now at the mercy of the "justice" system of one of the worst governments on the planet. Note that this past week, Transparency International ranked Paraguay the third worst in terms of corruption in Latin America (Haiti and Venezuela were numbers 1 and 2)-- Zimbabwe and Russia did better than Paraguay on this evaluation.

No methods training in graduate school was sufficient to prepare for the heart-breaking and self-doubt-inducing experience of watching my mugger get caught and incarcerated.

Jopara Text Messages: Crime Edition

2009-11-14T04:12:00.000-08:00

Presumably from my mugger's friend (or fence) at 961 270 122.

Received:
1:23:11 on November 14

Nd cm vmas aser xl celular kp

(my translation: "What is it that we will do about the cellphone?")

Received:
8:55:15 on November 14

Ha upei dupla

(my translation: "And then the other one?")
UPDATE: better translation: "What's happening, partner?"

Unfortunate Asunción Living Tip: Your (My!) Mugger May Be a Cop

2009-11-14T03:12:00.000-08:00

In news guaranteed to bring anguish to any (and especially my) mother, I was mugged at gunpoint in Asunción at 10pm a few nights ago. The downside: I had to purchase my fifth cellphone in Paraguay in a little over a year (I lose these sorts of things all the time). The upside: this is great data, as I study the Paraguayan state.

We were only a few blocks from our building on a well-lit street that had cars on it (we were at Cerro Cora, at the corner of Caballero) and, at 10pm, might still have bus service on it. The mugger dude approached us on a really nice motorcycle (I took him first to be yet another really annoying Paraguayan male offering sex in the most unappealing way)-- more on the bike later-- and pulled out a revolver which, um, he fired to emphasize his demands. I reached slowly into my purse to get my wallet--and as I did so, removed my debit card from it--handed it to the dude and then followed with my cellphone. Yes, I almost asked him if I could take out the SIM card, but thought better of it. My friend also lost her cellphone and then mister dude took off into the night.

A few lessons from the incident: For women travelers, two women walking down the street is as safe as one woman walking down the street. Take the same precautions you would if you were alone. I.e., I would have taken a taxi were I alone, I was, instead, lulled into a sense of some security because there were two of us. Wrong! The other wrong thing we did was to speak in English as we walked. Yes, yes, I know. This is the most obvious error. Well, now we've tested it and proven empirically that it's a bad idea. We then called the police, the US embassy (021 213 715), and I had my parents assist me in canceling the one credit card I was not able to remove surreptitiously.

And now, for lowered expectations: the US embassy reception is supposed to report the incident to security personnel (particularly since there was the use of a firearm)--this didn't happen, but we got in touch with really helpful (and upset about the whole incident) folk a few days later. And, as for the Paraguayan police. Well, as we gave our statement at the comisaria, the interviewer repeatedly and persistently changed the data he wrote down as he took our statement: first, the date of the incident was wrong. Next, the description of the subject was pointedly different (they changed his age and the color of his clothing). And when challenged on this latter bit, they intransigently refused to accept our description of the perpetrator.

We finally found the spitting image of the red motorbike used by the mugger dude: parked among the other police bikes outside the comisaria.

Incidentally, I wonder what percentage of anthropologists are mugged on the field...

Itaipú Blackout, Trouble for Paraguay’s International Agenda with Brazil.

2009-11-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

Image of Itaipú with the spillway open

Last night, the hydroelectric dam Itaipú shut down completely, leaving millions without electricity in Brazil and Paraguay. Here in Asunción, we shrugged and continued drinking wine (this is par for the course in the country which produces the highest amount of electricity per capita) but in Brazil, it caused grave concern as Saõ Paulo and Rio de Janeiro came to a standstill.

Itaipú, famous as the world’s largest energy producing dam (and, slightly less well-known as the topic of my dissertation research here in Paraguay) is legally co-owned by Brazil and Paraguay and has been the issue of massive popular mobilization and international diplomacy in the past few years because of Paraguayan dissatisfaction with the uneven distribution of the dam’s energy and financial resources. The key issue is that Paraguay wants to have “full access” to its half of the energy of the dam and sell it for a “just price”—right now, all its unused energy from the dam is sold to Brazil. For this electricity, Paraguay received about $2.81 per megawatt hour, which Brazil then went and sold for anywhere between $20 and $80 per megawatt hour.

In July of this past year, there were serious advances made in the negotiations between Paraguay and Brazil as Presidents Fernando Lugo (P) and Lula da Silva (B) signed an agreement increasing the amount Paraguay will receive per megawatt hour and eventually be able to sell its energy to third parties, among other things.

But, in Brazil there was and has been resistance to this, with claims that Lula has prioritized other countries over Brazil and with claims that Paraguay is asking something for nothing (since only Brazil secured the capital necessary to build the binational dam). And with a tangible experience of what Brazil is like without Itaipú—blackouts in the major cities, subway trains stalled underneath the city—the issue of “energy security” may be all the more controversial and make it difficult for the Brazilian parliament to approve the signed agreement.

Whether this was caused by a short somewhere in the Brazilian system or from “atmospheric conditions,” the truth remains that, in violation of the 1973 Itaipú Treaty, only one substation to process the electricity was built—the one on the Brazilian side. A substation was supposed to have been built on the Paraguayan side, but never was.

Itaipú supplied about 19.3% of Brazil’s electricity and 87.3% of Paraguay’s electricity in 2008. It has an installed capacity of 14,000 megawatts (20 turbines at 700 megawatts each—10 belonging to each country). Paraguay uses about 10% of the electricity produced by Itaipú, Brazil 90%. At any given moment, two turbines (one for each country) are turned off for maintenance and upkeep, but, nevertheless, Paraguay uses the electricity from two of its turbines, the rest go to Brazil.

EDITED to add:
The infighting in Brazil begins today. Also, the word for "blackout" in Spanish is "apagón" and in Portuguese is "blecaute."

Tips for Asunción Living

2009-10-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

Exchange your traveler's checks at the Banco de la Nación Argentina, which is in front of the Panteon de los Heroes. Exchange houses take a higher percentage out of your checks and the American Express office in Asunción does not do exchanges.

Bolsi Restaurant does delivery for a fee of about 6mil Guaranies... that's a little more than a dollar. (021) 491 841. Open on Sunday! No menu online, so just order the Ensalada Bolsi (chico) and add Pollo Grillé for a measly 46mil Guaranies (a little more than $9, including delivery), which is enough for two people.

Freddo's (the Argentine ice cream chain) also does delivery for the pittance of about 6mil Guaranies. One kilo of ice-cream will run you a total of 61mil Guaranies (about $12, including delivery). (021) 616 0800. Open on Sunday!

How To: Visit the Jesuit Missions in Paraguay

2009-10-10T09:47:00.000-07:00

a little bit of Trinidad

So, you've spent a little time in Asunción or perhaps you've visited Ciudad del Este and now you're feeling that you'd like to check out the Jesuit missions since you've heard (rightly) that Paraguay's are exceptionally beautiful. How do you do this?

Option 1: Hire a private tour for $200USD a person.

Option 2: Decide that that's a bit steep and set forth on a slightly longer and much cheaper adventure.

So, from the terminal de omnibus in Asunción or CdE, take a bus to Encarnación. This runs between 45 and 60mil Guaraní ($9-$12) and the ride is usually about 6hrs. When you arrive at the bus terminal, you'll be offered taxis. If it's night, take one. If the sun's up, why not walk 10min to a hotel where you can leave your luggage and freshen up? Ask where "calle Estigarribia" is or ask someone where the "plaza" is. They'll point you towards Estigarribia, where after about 4 blocks in the direction of the plaza, you'll see Hotel Cristal. It's inexpensive (about $15-$20USD a person) and clean. No, I don't know the phone number and don't be surprised if they don't have a website. If you arrive in Encarnación in the late afternoon, why not tool around the city for dinner? I've heard that Trinidad has night visits, but I'm not sure of the details.

To get to the two best restored misiones, Trinidad and Jesus, go to the terminal de omnibus in Encarnación. Before you buy a ticket or even look at a bus, buy water. A good idea is to purchase a termo for tereré (the leather bound ones run about 150mil-- $30USD-- and come with bombilla and guampa), ask them to wash it for you and fill it with water (which you've purchased) and ice (which they have). Then pick up a little pack of yerba, fill up your guampa, and you're good to go.

You'll be walking or standing in the sun for hours. There will be no water. You should buy water. Go buy water now.

At the terminal, loaded with your water, find a bus to Ciudad del Este (i.e. a bus that goes up Ruta 6)--they leave about every half hour. A company like Yacyreta or Itapua Poty will work just fine. Don't go to the ticket window, where they'll charge you for the whole trip. Instead, go up to the bus or one of the guys yelling "Ciudad del Este" and say "si, para Trinidad." Or, just get on the bus directly without paying yet. These slightly cheaper buses will stop for half an hour on their way out of the city picking up passengers on almost every block.

At last! You're on the road. The ticket guy comes up to you and asks you "donde?" and you say "Trinidad" and he says "5mil" (which translates to $1 USD). Don't try paying with a 50mil or 100mil-- take out the ratty small bills and use those. About 40minutes after you've left the city, you'll get to Trinidad (remind the driver after you clear the city). This is what you'll see:

this sign looks like an ordinary billboard, but it signals the path to wonders

my brave parents stand firm on the empedrado

Follow that winding rock paved road up the hill for about half a mile and you'll see Trinidad. Admission right now is 5mil a person (yes, $1 USD) but they're planning on raising it to a whopping 25mil for foreigners (that'd be a mere $5 USD). Wander at your desire or hire a tour guide (you pay what you want... 30mil an hour seems about fine).

me in the arch of one of casas de los indios at Trinidad

Once you leave Trinidad and you're craving lunch, walk back down the empedrado (stone paved road) to Ruta 6. Across the street, you'll find a perfectly acceptable copetin where you can eat for 10mil ($2).

Getting to Jesus is a bit trickier. Walk down Ruta 6 to the gas station (about 200 meters). At that corner, ask for a taxi to Jesus. The banged up cars that double as taxis might not be there. Try the gas station, asking for a taxi or the colectivo (local bus) to Jesus. You may have to wait a bit. We payed a dude 50mil (10 USD) to take us up to Jesus, wait there for 30 minutes while we walked around, and then drive us back down. Had the colectivos been running (the road was being asphalted that day and so the buses weren't going up the hill), we would've done that and spent more time at Jesus and spent about 5mil per person for the ride.

door to the main church at Jesus

This is not a walkable distance, from Ruta 6 to Jesus is a 12km (7.456 miles) walk up a hill on asphalt in the hot sun with you carrying your water.

To get back to Encarnación, wait in front of the taxi stand on Ruta 6 with the crowd of locals that's also gathered to catch whatever bus comes by. Again, price for standing on a crowded bus for 30 minutes is 5mil.

more Jesus

How To: Visit Iguazu Falls/Foz do Iguaçu while in Paraguay

2009-10-10T09:15:00.000-07:00

So, let's say, for example, that you're a tourist visiting Paraguay. How do you get to see this?

all photos of Iguazu by me

A way to rephrase the question is: what's the simplest way to cross from Ciudad del Este into Brazil? The first thing to note is that the locals, because they're in Mercosur, which has a common id card (cedula) that allows entry into all member countries, think it's just as simple as walking across the bridge that connects Paraguay to Brazil. This would be incorrect.

Public transportation is the way to go: Either in the form of the buses lined up on the Ruta Internacional (the road leading up to the bridge (Puente de la Amistad) on the Paraguayan side that charge about 8mil Guaraní or 2 reais (a little more than a dollar))-- look for it on the double lane part of the highway in front of Monalisa or via taxis (this option is a Very Distant Second and charges considerably more-- be prepared to pay at least 40mil Guaraní). Remember that Brazil is one hour ahead of Paraguay and so at night, by 7pm Brazil time, the buses between the cities stop running and the best way across back into Paraguay is taxis (be prepared to pay 35 reais--$19 USD-- to get your from the urban bus terminal in Foz back across the bridge into Paraguay). Take a moto taxi only if you have a death wish. Just sit tight on the bus as you pass through Paraguay's and Brazil's migraciones and aduanas complex, comply with the request--should a customs officer come on board in Brazil--to open your purse as they want to see if you've purchased anything in Paraguay, tinker with your cellphone, don't gab loudly in English (this is rude behavior in general), and consider resisting the urge to take out your camera and photograph whatever it is that is catching your eye as you cross that bridge.

You want to go to the "terminal de omnibus"-- the urban bus terminal, which the bus running between Foz and CdE stops at. There, go to the entrance (where the turn stiles are) and pay your fare for the urban buses (right now it's 2 reais 20 centavos) and ask for "parque nacional" or "cataratas." They'll point out where to stand (on the platform on your left after you pass through the turn stiles).

Get in the back of the bus that pulls up-- this is usually the exit, but since you've paid your fare already, you go through here. The last stop on the bus (perhaps a 30minute ride) is the entrance to Iguazu. Citizens of the United States pay a 20 reais entrance fee. Realize you'll get wet-- wear appropriate shoes.

Tango Contempo: your thursday night plans in Buenos Aires

2009-09-25T05:57:00.000-07:00

Tango Contempo is a series of intimate performances begun by a group of tangueros (tango musicians) who were looking for a way to play classic pieces and their own compositions in a setting that's not as commercial or kitschy as the overblown showpieces found in tango shows. The result: small concerts every Thursday night at 9:30pm at Buenos Aires cafe venues.

Last night's show was at Café Vinilo on Gorriti (but check the "agenda" on the website to confirm details) and featured two sets: the first included piano, bass, bandoneón, and vibraphone performing original compositions. The second was [2004 Grammy nominee] Pablo Maimetti and Cesar Angeleri on bandoneón and guitar. Both were world class and lovely.

My favorite thing from the evening was the way Pablo (the bandoneón player) would use his body for percussion-- not only would he tap his feet or shake the body of the bandoneón, but in dramatic moments, he'd slide his right foot with a stamp and a long slip to the right.

UPDATE: Just to give a sense of the quality of the musicians we heard for 25pesos, here's one quotation about Pablo Mainetti:

"the most talented composer of Argentina's new Tango generation"

Prize-worthy ad: Personal plays on Paraguay's win over Argentina, loss of the War of the Triple Alliance

2009-09-14T15:08:00.000-07:00

Print image from brilliant Personal ad. Source ABC Color

Paraguay has a reputation for being remote and so when I try to convey, particularly to scholars of Latin America, what Paraguay is like, I settle on two points: the use of Guaraní and the War of the Triple Alliance. Paraguay is really a bilingual country where the usage of Guaraní pervades all daily interactions--more people speak only Guaraní than only Spanish. And the majority of that indigenous language's speakers are not themselves Native Americans.

Next, the War of the Triple Alliance (1865-1870) is ever-present in Paraguayan memory. This was lost by Paraguay to the combined forces of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay-- Paraguay lost nearly half its territory, 90% of its male population, and around 50% of its entire population. This war is mentioned every day in the newspapers, any time when people discuss social ills (poverty, inequality, land issues)-- the important national holiday "Día del niño" (where you give kids easter-like baskets and toys) on Aug 16 commemorates the slaughter of pre-adolescent Paraguayan boys by Argentine troops in a battle towards the end of the war. This is Paraguay's holocaust, ever-present.

And so when Paraguay beat Argentina last week at soccer, it was seen in the context of that War. Need proof? Look at this ad for Personal, a Paraguayan cellphone company, featuring Salvador Cabañas (who we call gordinho, in all affection), the dude who set up Nelson Haedo's goal, and quite possibly the most likeable dude on the team. As he rallies his troops to victory in South Africa, the iconography is all about the War of the Triple Alliance and Mariscal Solano López who led his country into war and "murió con su patria" (died with his fatherland). All the right notes are hit--this ad should win a prize for cultural contextual excellence.

Even the title of the ad--Heroes--invokes the common term for the participants of that war.

Where to eat: Man House, Ciudad del Este's best Korean spot.

2009-09-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

One of the benefits of living in Mos Eisley is the diversity of the cuisine. Though there are several Korean restaurants in this Paraguayan city of 300,000 (I'm more inclined to think the real population of CdE is closer to 125,000), Man House rises above them.

Not to be missed: the bulgogi is good, the pork ribs are even better, and the spicy seafood (marisco) soup (I think it's number 10 on the first page of the menu) is stellar. They serve the meat with sesame leaves for rolling (not just lettuce). Prices (which are reasonable are in dollars, but they accept guaranies, reales, and pesos--even all at once.

Open for lunch and dinner during the week. On Abay between Adriana Jara and Pai Perez.

Note: I'm trying to show the exact location via Google maps, but it has the streets either unfinished or mislabeled for this city-- in fact, they label the city Puerto Presidente Stroessner (!!!) a name not used since 1989. Wow. Bad job on this.

I give up. No Google Maps link to CdE is accurate enough.

Paraguay vs Argentina: World Cup qualifer at Defensores del Chaco (Asunción)

2009-09-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

FINAL: Paraguay 1, Argentina 0.

the field at Defensores del Chaco in late afternoon (Ultima Hora)

Game starts at 7:00pm-ish EST. I'll be live-blogging the game from the comfort of a living room and not in the sure-to-be crazy stadium in Asunción. If Paraguay wins this game, it's got an assured spot in South Africa. If it loses, it still has a chance.

You watch the game online here. Or maybe here. Or here? I dunno, here? Or try here.

6:40pm braising chorizo in beer

6:56pm looks like Uruguay won against Colombia. They needed this to have a chance to qualify still. The two teams (Argentina and Paraguay) are on the field.

7:00pm this is a really important game... emotions are high in Py... nat'l anthem sung with a lot of heart.

minute 0:23 now they're running around with a lot of energy... Maradona's team needs this win.

1:46 Fernando Lugo predicted a 2 - o win for Paraguay... but this won't be easy. Both teams are battling with all their hearts.

19:00 Yellow card for some Argentine who kicked a Paraguayan (16) in his man parts.

27:38 GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Paraguay 1, Argentina 0.
By number 18, Haedo. This is enough to put Paraguay in South Africa.

46:50 First Half Done.

2nd half
1:57 Yellow card against Paraguay.

7:45 Yellow card against that Argentine #18... uh oh... that's a second one, would be a Red. He's not happy, but he was a meanie in the game.

9:51 Free kick for Argentina. Nothin'

17:54 Yellow card against Paraguayan dude for pushing #10 Messi

38:39 Yellow card against another Paraguayan dude.

45:00 four more minutes of play...

PARAGUAY WINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Classifies for WORLD CUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fireworks (maybe canons?) explode all over CdE.

"What gets between Latinas and education?" CNN's enfuriating article

2009-09-07T07:42:00.000-07:00

I find myself at a loss for how to even begin processing CNN’s new article “What gets between Latinas and education.” All the tropes are hit: high dropout rates and even higher teen fertility rates, familial expectations of Latinas as “submissive underachievers and caretakers.” I suppose I should feel grateful that someone is bringing attention to this, but somehow, as a Latina with the goal of teaching at the university level, my reaction is mixed, ambivalent, mysterious to me. Yes, I am the only Cubana-Dominicana I know getting a Ph.D.*, but this is not unusual. As I grew up, I was the only Latina in my honors classes. I’m used to being the only one. But my chief problem is its assumption that the cultural definitions of latinadad—family loyalty and commitment—are causally associated with “submissive underarchievement.” Of course, no one mentions the counterexample stereotype of hardworking and over-achieving Asian-Americans who are incredibly committed to their families. And it chafes because family is exactly why I’ve achieved all I have and what spurs me on to dream bigger. It assigns blame to that part of being Latina that I find most compelling and most satisfying: relationship with family.

*My brother is the only Cuban-Dominican I know with a Ph.D.

Paraguay vs Bolivia: World Cup Qualifiers in Defensores del Chaco

2009-09-05T15:21:00.000-07:00

FINAL Paraguay 1, Bolivia 0.

6:29pm Waiting for the game to start, watching from CdE, eating popcorn, and drinking cold beer. Probably I won't get my cellphone stolen this time. National anthems. Do they know the words?

minute
1:01 yeah, they're kicking the ball a lot now. no fights so far.

27:34 still no fights, still no goals.

41:06 the Bolivian goalie is earning his pay... he's stopped something like 6 serious attempts on their goal by Paraguay. still 0 0.

45:10 GOAL!!!!!!!!!! for Paraguay.

45:38 Gordinho, number 10, put one in on a penalty kick.

halftime.

1:31 more running around

36:38 this is such a balanced game. the referee is keeping the game in check re: fouls... not one yellow card ahora.

45:00 Paraguay WINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where to eat: Trapiche, Seafood restaurant extraordinaire in Foz do Iguaçu

2009-09-04T15:03:00.000-07:00

Carly prepares to dive in.

Yes, you are looking at shrimp, octopus, squid, bacalao.

Satisfy your cravings for excellent seafood in Foz do Iguaçu at Trapiche. The name of the restaurant means "sugar cane mill" or "olive press," but in this border town in Brazil, it translates to "damn fine food." The shellfish fresh, the sushi quite respectable, and the caldeira of Moquequa (a stew made from coconut milk, palm oil, cilantro, onions, and seafood--a traditional dish of Bahia) was enough for at least three people (though, being a good cubinicana, I ate a share for at least two) and served with rice and pirão (yuca/mandioca/cassava farina made with the broth from the moquequa). It runs about $69 reales ($34 USD). Open for lunch Wednesday-Sunday, dinner every night of the week, and a rodizio of shellfish on weekends. Located on Deodoro across from Hotel Rafain.

Pirão

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Cerro Porteño vs Olimpia SuperClásico Live-blogging Football/Soccer

2009-08-30T12:14:00.000-07:00

Final Score: Cerro Porteño 1, Olimpia 0.

(Game starts a few minutes after 3pm... henceforth the numbers given are minutes into the game... Note, this is live-blogging from a person who knows little about soccer... But I do know the off-sides rule, which in Paraguay is called "Sigh!" when fans sees that it's violated.)

4:00 Gameplay stops because something happens and the overweight and underdressed tecnicos are on the field yelling at the ref. I think it helps that the ref is taller than anyone else and thus intimidating.

9:04 The police are on the field trying to deal with the scuffle between the two teams. I thought the Paraguay vs Chile world cup qualifier was a dicey game (I did sit in the cheap side and had my phone stolen), but the added security already seen to be needed on the field at Defensores del Chaco puts things in perspective.

10:45 Bad haircut CP dude is being moved from the field

11:10 They're playing again

12:29 Carly decides we need beer stat. I have chipa from yesterday morning. We're ready.

19:29 Here are the odds for the game, should you decide to wager.

20:25 "How is the goalie wearing long-sleeves and long pants? It's ["really," original phrase redacted] hot outside," says Carly.

22:25 Cerro seems to be much more up in the ref's business. I wonder if they feel victimized or if they're just feistier

22:58 Ugly haircuts abound!

23:36 Olimpia Corner shot! Goalie blocks it. "Arquero" in Spanish.

24:50 GOAL!!!!! Cerro put one in. The stadium erupts.

25:49 Fireworks in CdE. Also, looks like an Olimpia player accidentally aided in heading it in. Cerro 1, Olimpia 0.

28:27 FIFA writes about the old rivalry between Cerro Porteño (founded 1912) and Olimpia (founded 1902).

The club took its name from a battle fought in 1811 between the Paraguayan army and Los Porteñas (the forces of Buenos Aires) in the area around Cerro Mbae (Mbae Hill).

The first scheduled match between the two sides was cancelled when Olimpia failed to turn up, and there are various accounts of what happened when they finally did meet. According to some sources Cerro won 3-1, while others claim the game ended in a 2-2 draw. Whatever the result of that inaugural match was, the fact is that over the next six seasons Cerro won the league three times and Olimpia twice, marking the start of a fierce rivalry.

32:41 Coca-Cola is a sponsor of both teams.

41:58 Fight Fight Fight on the field! Olimpia dude went down. CP yelled at him. The national police again run on the field.

43:55 Yellow card... for someone, I don't even know who.

44:17 Red card ejection for someone on Olimpia. Correction, two dudes walk off the field.

46:07 Olimpia still arguing with ref, who writes on his yellow card

49:27 Red card... Apparently Olimpia loses another player and they're down to 8 players. Number 4 walks off the field.

HalfTime: Fireworks again go off in CdE. I feel a bit sorry for Olimpia.

Consummately Pyan ad for Taiga. Excellent production quality and touches all the right notes for what it's like to live in Paraguay.

Oh, it appears sometime last half Cerro Porteño also got a red card... they're down to 10 players (compared to Olimpia's 8).

1:54 No fights so far.

8:10 Yellow card for another Olimpian (a dude who was sitting on the bench approached the head ref and complained about a call and got a yellow card... didn't know this was possible).

9:26 Olimpia is playing better with 8 than with 11. Um, weird.

17:25 Really, whoever they removed from Olimpia and whoever they substituted in has made them noticeably better. The announcer says "Olimpia está complicando..." (they're making things difficult). Still Cerro Porteño 1 Olimpia 0.

19:07 Olimpia arquero stops a shot.

23:15 Olimpia arquero saves one again.

31:51 There's so much garbage on the field and the riot police, with metal shields, are on the corners of the field raising their shields to block debris as a Cerro Porteño player takes a corner shot.

39:13 More of the same: running across the field, falling down and crying at anything, not scoring. But, here's a screenshot of Ultima Hora's story about the first half.

Criminal aggression from Cerro's fans against Dario Caballero (wherein a Cerro Porteño fan launched a projectile against the Olimpia player and drew blood. Stay classy.)

43:03 Olimpia's goalie continues to earn his keep. But his team continues not to score.

45:00 3 extra minutes on the clock (unlike what happened in the first half when something like 11 minutes were added).

Final: Cerro Porteño 1, Olimpia 0.

Fireworks in CdE. They could also be gunshots, who knows.

National police take to the field in Asunción, along with the riot police.

The teams don't even shake hands as they exit the field.

CP leap in rhythm with their fans.

Olimpia team gestures to their hearts and proudly point to their team seal.

Shirtless Olimpia fan shows off a tattoo over his heart: the Olimpia seal.

Oh, that Mr. Guinness would have listened to the Robertson brothers.

2009-08-29T09:37:00.000-07:00

Here John and William Parish Robertson reminisce on their days (1815-ish) in the Southern Cone. I think these guys are brilliant writers, witty, entertaining, informative...

Speaking of Argentina:

It would scarcely be believed in this country [i.e. the UK], where, although contraband is so much encouraged by our legislature, it is so terribly persecuted by our courts of law, and where court favor is so imploringly, so abjectly sought, yet so dearly paid for, what a handsome amount of the customhouse revenue, and how large a portion of diplomatic influence, Don Agustin Saenz, captain of the polacca Florentina, could purchase for half a dozen barrels of London bottled stout....The captain's double brown stout was omnipotent; and if Mr. Guinness (unknown in our Corrientes days) would establish a porter brewery there, like the one he has in Dublin, I have no doubt he might buy up a large portion of the country, and turn it into a hop-garden for the supply of the world.

Yes, even those two lines have it all: coimas (bribes), contraband, a meandering British legal system, and the sad state of beer in this part of the world.

Drying corn in my backyard.

2009-08-28T12:43:00.000-07:00

A hero rises in the east to battle road wear.

2009-08-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

"Bachongo, the Superhero in the East in the War Against Potholes"
(real translation of real article!, photo credit Ultima Hora)

Note: this is what the streets of Ciudad del Este look like... in fact, the gaping wound allows us to look back in time at the empedrado before the asfalto. "Bache" is the Spanish for "pothole."

Red Letter Day for "Triple Frontier" movie writers: Ciudad del Este lives up to its reputation.

2009-08-17T17:23:00.000-07:00

With wide-eyed amazement, people ask me "are you okay?" when they hear that I'm living in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. They've heard and read descriptions that make it sound like Mos Eisley. My answer is usually a shrug and a comment about how all the restaurants are closed by 2pm and there isn't a single movie theatre in the city that supposedly brings in about 40% of Paraguay's GDP (read: not terribly exciting... also, how am I supposed to watch District 9???).

But today was a perfect maelstrom of the malevolent in Ciudad del Este, almost as if orchestrated for an action/adventure movie:

1) Lebanese merchant ("comerciante") Ali Zaioun (Zaium?) narrowly avoided being assassinated in a clear hit job as he and his lawyer left the Palacio de Justicia this morning. As he approached his BMW, two men with helmets on a motor cycle approached and opened fire. Fortunately, Zaioun's guard pulled his gun and was joined by some cops. Zaioun was untouched. His car riddled with bullets. The assailant who died during the battle was also a police officer--badge and handcuffs in a pocket. The one who lived is wounded, in the hospital, and still to be questioned...

2) Meanwhile, today a Paraguayan immigration officer was arrested for issuing a false passport and national id card to a Colombian woman. Colombian lady was supposed to fly into Spain on her fake Paraguayan passport. She, the immigration officer, and two Paraguayan women have been detained. We'll see what happens.

3) Two drug mules arrested in Brazil yesterday with 137 kilos of marijuana explained today that they acquired their cargo in the middle of Ciudad del Este and were headed to the capital of Paraná state, Curitiba. Wholesale value on the street? Some $300,000.

4) The son of a Brazilian couple (all living in Paraguay) is still missing after being kidnapped Friday by cops (or perhaps a couple of men pretending to be cops).

Really? Does it have to be like this? This is also the only city in Paraguay where I know you can get bubble tea and the Korean food is excellent.

Another movie about the Triple Frontera: "Triple Frontier"

2009-08-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

As an increasingly popular go-to site for adventure, organized crime, and a bit of the exotic, the border zone where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet (and where I live, doing my dissertation research) will once more be an earth-bound Mos Eisley.

Here's the full article from the New York Times, but the most pertinent part is:

Variety reported that Ms. Bigelow, the director of action films like “The Hurt Locker” and “Point Break,” had struck a deal with Paramount Pictures to direct a new adventure movie for the studio called “Triple Frontier.” Few plot details about the new movie were given, except that it is set at a border zone shared by Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil where organized crime is rampant.

Moral Quandary: Tamiflu in CdE

2009-08-05T17:45:00.000-07:00

photo of my window sill by me

Swine flu has followed the footsteps of winter. After killing plenty of people in the Northern hemisphere, it's made its way down south, to spread here (and being especially nasty in Argentina). Reports in Paraguay have the number of deaths at 22, but my trust of health care and health statistics in this country is non-existent and I'd rather take my luck with traditional healers than step through the doors of anything resembling a hospital or clinic. So, given that most of the flu in this country is H1N1, my guess is that more than 22 have died. And I've basically taken to carrying disinfectant hand gel and taking zinc vitamins to stay healthy.

And then the news came last week: Brazilians have been coming in droves to buy Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate) without a prescription in the pharmacies of Ciudad del Este. Supplies of the anti-retroviral drug are basically out in Brazil (Argentina didn't even have hand sanitizer when I was there two weeks ago, so I don't even know what to think of its medical supply) and so thousands cross the border in search of the real thing or generic imitations--called Laporcina, Oselta, and Biosid.

Sure, this is something that should only be administered under doctor's orders. And there's enough contraband and pirating in Ciudad del Este that anything could be faked. But, there's no telling when Paraguay's stocks will run out and I have an unwavering mistrust of medical advice down here...

photo of my window sill and the top of my dresser by me

Lugo and Lula Sign Historic Itaipú Power Agreement

2009-07-26T18:36:00.001-07:00

Image of Brazil's Lula da Silva and Paraguay's Fernando Lugo, signing the Itaipú agreement on Saturday from the official website of Paraguay's presidency.

Eleven months after assuming the presidency of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo signed an agreement accepting Brazil's offer regarding Itaipú Binacional, the world's largest hydroelectric dam, shared by the two neighboring countries. Celebration erupted. Comments sections in internet newspapers complained that Paraguay did not get enough. The official website of the Paraguayan presidency hailed, "After 10 months in office, President Lugo achieved what in 30 years other governments could not." And even the BBC wrote about it.

What does it all mean?

In Sum: though Brazil didn't pony up the $1billion that Paraguay asked it to pay for the Paraguayan electricity it uses, it has agreed to pay (starting next year, I presume) more than $360million instead of $100million. And it's agreed to let Paraguay sell that electricity directly to the Brazilian market on a slightly longer time scale. This means that as Paraguay itself sells to the Brazilian market, the amount Brazil's government pays (the newly agreed $300million) will eventually decrease-- Paraguay will assume the risk and, presumably, the profit, from selling directly to the market. This is a badly needed political victory for Lugo, who's had a difficult time governing Paraguay.

More Detail: Itaipú is owned equally by Paraguay and Brazil, built and administered to this day under treaties negotiated by two military governments in 1973. The issue of access to the energy and earnings from this has been at the center of international negotiations and massive agitation within Paraguay. Look here for more detail on what Paraguay wants, but the biggest complaint is that, per treaty, Brazil uses Paraguay's unused electricity, pays $2.80 per megawatt hour and then sells it in its own market for anywhere between $20 and $70 per megawatt hour, pocketing the difference. Paraguay wants the right to sell its own energy to whatever market it wishes and keep the profit.

Here's a complete version of the joint declaration signed Saturday, but, for some highlights: First, if you read the declaration, you'll realize that there's a lot that's not about Itaipú and instead talks about regional integration, development, inequality, and fascinating economic changes that are about to take place at the Triple Frontera (the tri-border area where Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina meet... a place with a dicey reputation).

Next, here are the points (of 31) that I found particularly striking:
(note that I'm summarizing from the Spanish into English)

#5 In Plain English: The amount Paraguay receives from Brazil for its excess electricity will go up from about $107million to more than $360million a year. Brazil de facto and de jure accepts the validity of the Six Points as points of negotiation.

#6 In Plain English: As soon as possible, Paraguay will sell its electricity directly to the Brazilian market, thus pocketing the profits. And, maybe after 2023, will be allowed to sell to other countries too.

#8 In Plain English: Hey! Paraguay has electricity from non-Itaipú hydroelectric dams. Maybe they can sell that to Brazil, too.

#15 In Plain English: Paraguay's Comptroller is doing an audit of the controversial construction debt from Itaipú, which is about $60billion. Also, since Paraguay's GDP is about $14billion, that's a lot of money.

#16 In Plain English: Brazil is totally up for creating a fund for regional development.

#25 In Plain English: So, though this isn't at all about Itaipú, there are a bunch of Brazilians living in Paraguay.

The document seems to be filled with many Brazilian carrots offered to pacify Paraguay. Point 25 reminds Paraguay that the Brasiguayos, the hundreds of thousands of Brazilians living in Paraguay, are a priority for Brazil and that violence against that community will be taken seriously.

Vulcan or Costa Rican President?

2009-07-22T19:32:00.000-07:00

Screen grab of Silek of Vulcan--um, I mean Oscar Arias of Costa Rica--via ABC Color

In a blog posting that probably reveals more about me than should ever be known, upon seeing the news that Oscar Arias, the president of Costa Rica, who has acted as mediator in the Honduras coup crisis, has proposed that Manuel Zelaya be returned to the post from which he was ejected through military force, the first thing I felt was a thorough chill and the conviction that mine eyes were gazing upon one of the 10,000 Vulcans that escaped the genocidal judgment meted upon them by Nero.

Why even anti-Chavez types in Latin America oppose the coup (golpe) in Honduras

2009-06-30T05:15:00.000-07:00

(Images from El País)

Sunday's coup that removed President Manuel Zelaya from office in Honduras has been roundly denounced by leaders in Latin America and, most recently, by US President Barack Obama. The justification given by the military for detaining Zelaya and then forcing him into exile in Costa Rica was that Zelaya had insisted on calling for a nationwide popular vote to convene a national assembly which would then discuss the possibility of changing the Honduran constitution to allow him to run for office a second time. The act of calling for a national referendum to discuss this was deemed unconstitutional by the Honduran high court and by its congress.

On the day in which the national referendum was slated to occur, the military took Zelaya prisoner and the head of congress assumed the presidency. Supporters of the military and supporters of Zelaya have since that point called each other "undemocratic."

Zelaya's critics in Honduras say that his support internationally comes from pro-Chavez sympathy. This is not the case. Even a glance at newspapers in Paraguay (arguably one of the most conservative countries in Latin America), which are staunchly and virulently anti-Chavez, shows that the critique against the move in Honduras is not about Chavez but about using force instead of law to remove a president. The precedent this sets, the idea that coups are still a viable option, undercuts decades of work and compromise and while many in Latin America are not excited about the Chavez-like Left, they are more concerned about a regional return to military (and guerrilla) violence.

For Latin America, these events are sadly familiar: pictures of people confronting tanks, stories of "disappearances," meddling from leftist leaders in other countries, enforced curfews, and violence on all sides in the name of "democracy." What's new is the across-the-board rejection of the actions in Honduras internationally and the insistence that Zelaya, as a democratically elected president, cannot be removed by such means.

USA vs Brazil

2009-06-28T12:10:00.001-07:00

Good news so far: USA 2, Brazil 0 at the first half.

This comes after the delightful USA victory over Spain, a stunner that's being talked about everywhere else in the world, but in the USA, not so much.

UPDATE: Brazil scores 2 in the second half. We're at minute 30 and USA 2, Brazil 2. Ack.

UPDATE: Brazil again. USA 2, Brazil 3. They're playing well.

SUCKS: Brazil 3, USA 2.

Coup d'etat ("Golpe de estado") in Honduras: a bad precedent

2009-06-28T08:10:00.000-07:00

(Image from El País)

(image from La Nación... military might rolled out in the streets of Honduran capital Tegucigalpa after arresting and removing the president)

So, today the news broke that the Honduran military physically detained President Manuel Zelaya at 6am. They moved him to a military base and now word is that he has been taken to Costa Rica. The head of Honduras' congress, Roberto Michelletti, is now the interim president.

The Organization of American States is holding an emergency session this afternoon to discuss the alarming developments and how to strengthen democracy in Honduras. The EU and various regional presidents have denounced the move by the military.

However, it's important to note the rationale given by the military for this move: Zelaya is holding a constitutional referendum to vote to change the constitution in order to allow for his re-election. Holding more than one term as president is currently prohibited in the Honduran constitution and his move to change it has been declared illegal by Honduras' legislative and judiciary branches, as well as the military.

In any case, Honduras' democracy is fragile (both Zelaya and the congress/judiciary/military seem to be making power moves to consolidate their own control) and this bodes poorly for Latin America because, well, it'd be nice if coups were not the solution to disagreement over policy. For a place like Paraguay, where the new government is still unable to, well, govern, the example of a military take-over is a bad one.

UPDATE: CNN reports.

UPDATE: Citizen response seems to be mixed. On the one hand, there are pictures of people in the streets burning tires and standing in front of the tanks that are moving in. On the other, the comment posts on news articles include statements like:

"Es una lastima que Mel Zelaya nos haya obligado a llegar a este extremo, pero era necesario."
(It's a shame that [President] Mel Zelaya made it come to this extreme, but it was necessary. Presumably in reference to the attempt to change the constitution and allow his re-election.)

"Como hondureños aca en Miami. estamos mas que felices de saber que tenemos militares valientes que saben defender la soberania de nuestro pais."
(As hondurans here in Miami, we are more than happy to know that we have brave military men who know how to defend the sovereignty of our country.)

"Sr. Chávez,Fidel Castro,evo Morales,Correa y Daniel Ortega. Dejen al pueblo Hondureño en paz,dediquense a solucionar sus problemas en sus paises y,dejen que el pueblo Hondureño solucione sus propios problemas internos."
(Mr. Chavez, Fidel Castro, Evo Morales, Correa, and Daniel Ortega, leave the Honduran people in peace. Dedicate yourselves to solving the problems in your countries and let the Honduran people solve their own internal problems. Zelaya was seen as allied and sympathetic to the more extreme Leftish presidents in Latin America and Chavez particularly. This was, of course, very controversial within Honduras.)

UPDATE: People avoid voting today on the referendum to change the constitution of Honduras that would permit the re-election of President Manuel Zelaya. A mayor gets arrested for supporting the referendum. President Zelaya's attempt to change the constitution was decried as illegal by the legislative and judiciary branches as well as the military.

UPDATE: La Prensa, a Honduran daily, has a great PhotoGallery with images like this:

Oh, and from Costa Rica, ousted President Manuel Zelaya now asks Obama if he was "behind it."

UPDATE: Manuel Zelaya makes a funny, when he insists in a press conference in Costa Rica that he is still "el presidente de los hondureños y solo el pueblo lo puede quitar, no un grupo de gorilas." Or, he is "still the president of the Hondurans and only the people can remove that, not a group of gorillas." Which plays on its homophone "guerrilla" (though the ll and l are different in Spanish, it's close enough to be a pun in Spanish).

And Hugo Chavez threatens "military action" if Venezuela's embassy or ambassador in Honduras are attacked.

UPDATE: Honduras' Congress has read and accepted Manuel Zelaya's resignation ("renuncia"), which he signed before being taken to Costa Rica this morning.

The Wine List: Wine-tasting at Cousiño-Macul in Santiago, Chile

2009-06-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

Old storage barrels, Cousiño-Macul in the Maipo Valley of Chile
All photos by me

If ever you’re in Santiago, taking the wine tour at Cousiño-Macul is really something you should do. I did, and ended up buying a case, which I do not regret one whit. First, some basics. Though Chile has a burgeoning wine industry, finding out about wine tours is surprisingly challenging. There are some bus tours that I find quite expensive and therefore, did not do. Unlike California, you have to pay the winery for a tour and you need to schedule it beforehand. These things run about $10-$20 and will include a guide that walks you around a bit and usually tasting two wines (though, if you’re friendly and eager, they might open up other bottles just for fun!). Getting to Cousiño-Macul is super easy if you don’t have a car or a designated driver: take the subway to the Quilin station and then hail a cab (or walk for half an hour) to Avenida Quilin 7100, the winery.

Unlike many of the other large wineries founded in the 19th century, CM is still owned by the family that started it and not by a mass of anonymous shareholders (read: Concha y Toro, which we also visited and which was a smooth well-oiled machine producing dependable wines… a big superstore rather than craftsmanship. Meh.) This means the owners have a personal (not just financial) investment in the history of the winery. And it means you get to see a lot more of the actual process, a real education not in wine-tasting snobbery, but in the art of making it.

Carlos, actually making wine

In this room, tons and tons of grapes are sorted and eventually moved into these steel vats before being transferred to French barrels for aging.

From the “Export Room,” the original 19th century machines used to transfer wine to bottles, cork them, and then the stencils with the names of the destinations. Apparently, it was exported for free to Alaska in exchange for barrels.

Cousiño-Macul “Gris” Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, Maipo Valley, Santiago de Chile: Martin, the guide and aspiring sommelier, presents “Gris”… This is not a rosé… it’s color is a bit more amber and the flavor less fruity. Passion fruit on the nose and always worth picking up. The story goes that, following the French tradition, each winery should have its own personal, distinctive wine that they do. This is CM’s.

During a particularly bad earthquake years ago, the barrels in this cellar were ruptured and it became a sea of wine, into which workers dived, drank, and, well became drunk. That harvest was lost (of course!) but you can still see the “water”-level on the walls.

Cousiño-Macul Antiguas Reservas Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, Maipo Valley, Santiago de Chile: The second wine we tasted was an excellent cabernet, strong, peppery, well-balanced and mature (even only after two years!). I bought plenty of this as well.

Oh, okay, a couple of photos from Concha y Toro (including the fabled “Casillero del Diablo”… which I personally believe is a marketing story made up for visitors).

Monument to Corruption? Yacyreta & Itaipú in the Post-Lugo Transition, Interpellating the General Directors

2009-05-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

Carlos Menem, former president of Argentina, and no paragon of transparent, corruption-free government, once described Yacyreta as "a monument to corruption."

Paraguay is co-owner of two of the world's largest hydrolectric dams: Yacyreta (shared with Argentina) and Itaipú (shared with Brazil). At first blush, they may appear very similar. But they are starkly different. What I find frustrating is that, in the Paraguayan public sphere, there is no distinction being made between the situation in Itaipú and the one in Yacyreta.

I have already blogged about why they are at the center of a crisis in Paraguay's foreign policy. These large construction projects, because of the systematic and organized corruption within the Paraguayan government, have been a source of misdirected hundreds of millions of dollars (probably billions) for the past 30 years.

Because of his moral stature as a priest, Fernando Lugo's election represented a chance for change in the Paraguayan government. (The subsequent revelation that he has fathered at least one child while bishop has seriously damaged his credibility and demoralized people in this country.) As of this morning, both of his appointed General Directors to the dams have been formally summoned ("interpellated") before Congress to answer regarding their administration of the dams.

I have already written my thoughts about the interpellation of Itaipú's GD Carlos Mateo Balmelli. In short, the accusations of poor administration appear factually baseless and are contradicted by both a large paper trail and expert opinion. A brief example: Mateo Balmelli was accused of irresponsibly contracting a private plane for trips from Asunción to the dam while Itaipú already owned a plane. It turns out that the Itaipú plane is unflyable and that the annual budget for the contracted plane is less than 1/10 of the annual budget for the Itaipú plane.

Yacyreta's situation is a bit worse. First of all, the dam is still incomplete, with no termination point in sight though construction began in 1983 (and planning in 1925). As a quick contrast: Itaipú planning started in 1966, construction in 1974, and completion in 1991. Its current director, Carlos Cardozo, was discovered to have used Yacyreta money to fund an international Young Leftists conference that took over military barracks two weeks ago. While it was only about $20,000 (USD), it caused a huge scandal because of the political nature of the event, causing Cardozo to return the money to Yacyreta. Given the history of using public funds from the dams to finance political parties and given the controversy of physically occupying a military compound (most of Paraguay's population is not hardcore lefty), this was troubling. Cardozo has just admitted to budgeting $1 million (USD) of Yacyreta money to fund the president's public relations and communitions secretariat. This, again, raises suspicions that Yacyreta is being used to finance the propaganda of a political party.

It seems to me that the severity of charges being levelled against Mateo Balmelli and Cardozo are quite different. What remains doubtful is whether Congress, the media, and the Paraguayan public will act accordingly.

UPDATE: Congress was not pleased with Cardozo's responses after more than 4 hours of questioning about misdirected monies (turns out that the Roman Catholic diocese of Misiones, the department where Yacyreta is located, also received money from the dam to distribute as it wished).

Paraguay's Congress Interpellates ITAIPÚ's General Director Carlos Mateo Balmelli

2009-05-08T06:29:00.000-07:00

photo of Mateo Balmelli (speaking) from Ultima Hora

Paraguay's House of Deputies interpellated Carlos Mateo Balmelli, the Paraguayan General Director of ITAIPÚ Binacional. Itaipú, the world's largest hydroelectric dam which is co-owned by Paraguay and Brazil (a public company), has been at the center of controversy since before its construction (see: my dissertation when I write it for more details). These days, the controversy centers on two issues: first, the relationship between Paraguay and Brazil, where Brazil sells Paraguay's excess energy for the market price, but only pays Paraguay a fraction of that price. Second, fiscal malfeasance and corruption within Itaipú Paraguay where hundreds of millions of dollars have been misdirected into private pockets, nonexistant shadow companies providing services that don't exist, the campaign costs of the Colorado party.

Following President Fernando Lugo's inauguration in August 2008, Itaipú has been at the top of his agenda in renegotiating the relationship with Brazil and "cleaning up" corruption in a state company whose valorization is four times the GDP of Paraguay. Part of this included appointing as General Director (the equivalent of CEO/COO) a non-Colorado for the first time in the history of the dam. Carlos Mateo Balmelli, a member of the Liberal party, has been at the helm since August 2008 and has attempted to address both issues (increasing Paraguay's control of its energy vis-à-vis Brazil, trying to eliminate nepotism and corruption within the Paraguayan half of the company).

Since I'm in the middle of my research on the various conflicts, controversies, and negotiations regarding Itaipú and since Itaipú is such a lively issue in Paraguay (everyone in this country has an opinion about the dam, about Paraguay's relationship with Brazil, and about the administration of the dam-- an analysis which falls along party lines) and since it actually is a highly sensitive subject on an international scale, I'm not sure how to voice my opinions about what's going on.

Yesterday's three hour interpellation (formal interrogation) of Mateo Balmelli was called for by members of the House mainly from two parties: Patria Querida and Tekojoja. After many hours of questioning about how money has been administered since August 2008 (something which never occurred during the administration of previous director Victor Bernal, whose corruption was so flagrant that the country punished his political party by voting it out of office for the first time in six decades), the early analysis fell according to political parties: PQ thought he evaded the questions. I think they're wrong and it seems, at best, incredibly partisan-motivated and, at worst, appears to punish the actions taken under an administration that is attempting to stop mafia-like corruption.

Let me give one example of the "bad administration" of which Mateo Balmelli is accused: the House asked why, instead of using the airplane owned by Itaipú as transportation from Asunción to the dam in bi-monthly meetings, Mateo Balmelli decided to rent a plane from a private firm. The accusation is basically, "why spend money outside when there's already a plane." Mateo Balmelli's reasoning was thus: no flight book was kept for the old plane and so it was an unsafe plane (had been in two accidents whose repairs were not noted) and had been judged "No Fly" by engineers; renting a plane would be the cheapest alternative to repairing a plane thirty years old whose use had been unregistered (this is against international flight rules and a plane in this situation wouldn't be allowed to fly in the United States, for example) and to buying a new plane. And then, the coup de grâce: under the previous directorship of Itaipú, the annual expenses for the "old" plane were $2 million; under Mateo Balmelli's directorship, annual expenses for the rented plane are $150 thousand. That is to say, the cost is less than 10 per cent of previous expenses.

The money that's been saved by this is now being used for agrarian relief and water relief in drought-ridden areas. It's unclear what those $2 million were doing in the past, where it went, if it was used actually for the plane, or if it went to private pockets that nowadays are railing against the loss of misdirected funds.

You can listen to the whole thing here. My personal opinion, as mentioned before, is that the new directorship of Itaipú Paraguay has gained ground in the negotiations with Brazil and seriously challenged the internal corruption and thus is receiving massive opposition.

UPDATE: "IED" actually just a pack of batteries.

2009-05-06T03:53:00.000-07:00

The bomb scare that wasn't ends in a bit of comedy. It was just a battery pack.

This is exactly what reporters had heard by noon yesterday, but the news it out at last.

Suspicious Package in Asunción

2009-05-05T10:22:00.000-07:00

Rafael Filizzola, Minister of the Interior, gives a press conference about today's bomb scare
(all photos by me)

school kids gleefully leave early as class is canceled due to bomb scare

sand poured from a truck to minimize any potential explosion, the blue building is Saba

some military dude answers questions before the device is removed

Last week, a homemade ("casera") bomb was found in the Palacio de Justicia--in a woman's bathroom--and after it was removed from the building, it exploded, harming no one. Apparently, the small explosive was designed to give a good scare and nothing more. The result was that much better security has been set up in the building--I actually passed through metal detectors for the first time yesterday. Since that time, people have been trying to figure out who put it there and why, with the chief explanation being: to scare people and perhaps destabilize the government.

This morning, a suspicious package was found in Saba, a clothing/fabric store near Plaza Uruguaya in the centro of Asunción. Police were called to the scene and dozens of reporters followed suit and soon there were rumors of bomb threats in other government buildings (later found to be baseless). It's been a bit difficult to get a sense of how serious the threats are, so I decided to head to Saba to see how things developed. The most exciting thing that happened was that a couple of military police took down my name and passport number after asking me who I was and as this happened, a couple of photographers took my picture and then later asked me why I had been questioned. "Because they didn't know me," I responded.

Military police line up across Plaza Uruguaya

Though it's not showing up yet in online articles, it seems that the package was merely a collection of eight batteries and perhaps not even an explosive device at all. At best, it was a badly constructed improvised explosive device (IED) that wouldn't have caused any real damage (this, according to the explosives expert at the press conference after the device was removed). But, again, the concern voiced by Minister of the Interior Rafael Filizzola was about psychological effects coming from an organized attempt to raise fear in the public and destabilize the government.

One, likely unintended, consequence of today's events will probably be that Plaza Uruguaya, a site of protest by indigenous groups who occupy the public space in the city's colonial center to voice their grievances about loss of land rights, will be cleared and further occupations prohibited.

Old train station, site of press conference

Filizzola arrives

Plaza Uruguaya

"Without us, don't talk about cultures"

Stevia, Paraguay's Natural Sweetener, Makes it Big in USA

2009-04-15T04:16:00.000-07:00

At last! Stevia, a plant whose leaves are sweet and which is native to Paraguay, has gotten approval from the FDA for use as a non-calorie sweetener and is being marketed in the USA under the names Truvia and PureVia.

The sad part of the story, of course, is that no Paraguayan company could get its act together enough to patent, develop, and market this for an external market. A couple of big multinationals had to do it. And so, no one will know that this is a plant indigenous to Paraguay, grown here, processed here, used here for years as a non-calorie sweetener that doesn't have those nasty aftertastes that Saccharin/Aspartame/Sucralose. And, of course, the financial benefits do not mostly go to this country.

Fernando Lugo Admits the Baby is His

2009-04-13T07:18:00.000-07:00

In a press conference this morning, Lugo says "Asumo la paternidad" which basically means that he's assuming paternal responsibility for the 2 year old boy whose mother placed a court "demand" against Paraguay's president to formally recognize paternity.

The mood here is "meh"... "Very catholic country" and "puritanical" are actually not the same thing. There are no calls for his resignation a la Spitzer in New York and most people I've spoken to say the same things: 1) so what, he's human 2) he's been responsible in paying child support and didn't leave the mother hanging 3) this is an attempt to get more money 4) Lugo's enemies have chosen now to create yet another mess for the guy.

Fernando Lugo Flies Away After Baby Scandal Breaks

2009-04-08T09:24:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's Holy Week and the gifts keep coming. Now, the embattled Paraguayan president has gone who-knows-where in an airplane.

El presidente de la Repúublica voló con rumbo desconocido.
("The President of the Republic Flew to an Unknown Destination" from Ultima Hora)

Lugo viajó con rumbo desconocido.
("Lugo traveled to an unknown destination" from ABC Color)

Baby Scandal, Discrediting Fernando Lugo: A demand that the former bishop recognize his son.

2009-04-08T07:21:00.000-07:00

The lady (and priest) in question. Image from ABC Color.

It's both possible and the most obvious tactic by which to undercut the credibility of Paraguay's new president. A report has come out today that a young woman has presented a case before the court in Encarnación (a Paraguayan border city close to Posadas, Argentina) requesting that Fernando Lugo recognize her two year old son as his own, legally. Um, as an oath-taking cleric, he's not really supposed to have been having babies and so, while he wouldn't be the first politician or priest to have broken a vow of chastity, it is a highly convenient attack, coming at a time when the Lugo government is at its weakest (credible rumors of subterfuge on the part of his vice president, a Liberal, and the previous president, a Colorado, and a failed-presidential candidate/failed-coup leader abound; plus, Lugo's had a hard time pushing through legislation in an opposition-controlled parliament and there've been cabinet-level resignations recently in protest of the president's agricultural policies).

To read more about the destabilizing claim that Paraguay's first non-Colorado president in six decades, the first former bishop in the world to rule a country, and a democratically elected left-of-center (supposedly) leader has a child on the side:

Demandan a Lugo que reconozca a su hijo (Parte 1)
("They demand that Lugo recognize his son" from ABC Color)

UPDATED. Uh oh. There's more:

Demandan al presidente Lugo por supuesto hijo no reconocido
("Lugo charged to recognize his alleged son" from Ultima Hora)

Presidente Fernando Lugo es demandado por filiación en Encarnación
("President Fernando Lugo is charged for paternity in Encarnación" from La Nación)

UPDATED again.

Demandan por filiación a Lugo (Parte 2): la supuesta relación secreta
("Demand for filiation to Lugo: The supposed secret relationship" from ABC Color)

To Pierce or Not To Pierce: Indexed (unintentionally) raises question of cultural beauty

2009-04-07T15:22:00.000-07:00

I really enjoy Jessica Hagy's Indexed blog: it combines social commentary and snarky "math" in the form of hand-drawn graphs. But today's entry, a Venn diagram of Poverty, Materialism, and the Desire for Status where the union of all three was "Babies with Pierced Ears" touched on questions of ethnicity and race. Unintentionally, I believe.

Image from Indexed blog.

Take a look at the discussion in the comments section... And then take a look at the rest of her blog, it's terrific!

Campesino and Landless Paraguayan & Brazilian Groups Occupy "Friendship Bridge" Calling for Itaipu & Agrarian Reform

2009-03-29T12:23:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of the 2000+ person manifestación that blocked the bridge between Ciudad del Este and Foz do Iguaçu for an hour and a half on Thursday. It promptly ended 10 minutes past 10 and I followed the Paraguayan groups (much thinned out) to the Plaza de la Paz where campesino movement leaders (almost exclusively male) spoke heavy Guaraní (as opposed to the Spanish which dominated the speeches on the bridge) to the crowd, calling for reforma agraria integral and renegotiation of the Itaipú treaty.

The Wine List: Trivento Tasting at MaQuiaVeLo

2009-03-19T18:08:00.000-07:00

Argentine winemaker Trivento hosted a five wine flight at MaQuiaVeLo, a wine bar in Asunción. The Mendoza wines ranged from bubbly to reds and all are definitely worth a try.

Wine 1: Trivento Brut Nature
McIntosh apples on the nose (i.e. the way it smelled). Taste of pear and mature apples, but not fruity. I like my sparkling wine rather dry and have in general been disappointed by what I've had that's made down here. I think the use of Pinot Noir in this (in addition to the Chardonnay that goes into sparkling wine) makes a pleasant difference. One of my two favorites from the night.

Wine 2: Trivento Tribu Chardonnay 2008
Fruit on the nose (lychee in syrup) and with breathing it opens up really nicely. The taste was lots of fruit and surprisingly minerally; it didn't linger long. Chardonnay isn't my favorite white wine grape, but I liked this.

Wine 3: Trivento Tribu Malbec 2008
Duck tallow on the nose (not a bad thing!) and something a bit smokey like molasses. The taste was not aggressive and a fine enough Malbec to be an acceptable enough wine to be an introduction to the grape. But it tasted young and unremarkable.

Wine 4: Trivento Reserve Malbec 2007
Peppery, acidy, spicy on the nose. A well-rounded, mature wine with a little bit of acid and wood-- a robust Malbec. This was my other favorite from the night.

Wine 5: Trivento Dulce Natural Malbec
This is a sweet red wine served cold. The nose was copper (blood! again, not a bad thing) and pomegranate. The taste? Pure pomegranate. People in the room compared it to sangría (fittingly, I suppose)-- I liked it and would definitely bring it to parties.

Incidentally, I liked that the two representatives from Trivento (who I got to chatting with after the tour and who welcome all to visit the vineyard in Mendoza) took their time walking the crowd of people through how to "taste" wine and how they insisted that the best wine is the one you want to return to. I have a strongly held aversion to the elite snobbery that too frequently goes along with drinking wine. This is the stuff peasants have been making in their farm houses for milennia--common and comfort food, not the exclusive scary thing it has become thanks to jargon--a sentiment my good friend Robin Goldstein (who is committed to demystifying and unmasking a lot of the, er, mystification that swirls around wine-drinking) has written about in his book, The Wine Trials.

(blurry shots of MaQuiaVeLo by me, alas)

Where to get good espresso: Cafe Literario in Asunción

2009-02-27T04:02:00.000-08:00

It's nearly impossible to get a good espresso in Asunción (this is, after all, the native country of yerba mate and this is to be had in copious amounts and in creative ways). I haven't been able to buy coffee beans at any price (which is why I brought in several bags of coffee as well as a cappuccino machine in my luggage when I moved here-- it raised a few eyebrows at customs).

Nevertheless, Cafe Literario, in the microcentro of Asunción serves a compelling brew. It's located on Estigarribia (aka Palma) between Caballero and México just next to the Plaza Uruguaya and is open daily from 4pm-ish until past midnight. Outdoors there's great people watching. Indoors is a cozy two-level room crammed with books and tables around which you can crowd and talk anthropology or sit quietly at your computer trying your best at a dissertation chapter.

One exposed-brick wall is a photo tribute to Paraguay's literary greats. This is the only cafe of its like/caliber I've been able to find in Asunción that isn't an imported franchise. And it's excellent.

No internet, unfortunately. The food and desserts and drinks are fine. The chocolate mousse cake is particularly worth a try. As is the "cafe literario"-- sweetened-condensed milk and espresso.

The Wine List: Caballero de la Cepa Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

2009-02-23T09:17:00.000-08:00

Finca Flichman, Mendoza, Argentina.

Balanced, oaky, blackberries? Worth repeating.

Brief Video: Fernando Lugo arrives at Panteon Nacional

2009-02-21T10:25:00.000-08:00

This is from the 20th anniversary of Stroessner's fall memorial early February, and an incredibly close shot that I got by sheer luck. Rather, I was too timid to stand where all the journalists and photographers were huddled up in the steps of the Panteon and instead stood at the edge of the sidewalk and got to see this.

Uroš Dojčinović, Serbian classical guitarist, performs in Paraguay.

2009-02-18T04:00:00.000-08:00

Uroš Dojčinović is the first Serbian guitarist to ever perform in Paraguay. Last night, his concert of compositions and folk melody arrangements from around the world was to a packed audience at the Centro Cultural de España Juan de Salazar. The program included pieces by Agustín Barrios Mangoré (the Paraguayan composer/guitarist whose work Dojčinović recorded for the first time in Serbia), Villa Lobos, Tárrega, Cottin, Lebedew, Dojčinović himself, as well as works from Malta, Egypt, China.

It was amazing how one instrument, tuned a bit differently for different pieces, could effectively capture such different musical styles. (Yes, I used the word "different" three times in that sentence. Oh, well.) Also cool were variations on strumming, sliding, plucking, playing with the left hand on the neck, tapping and knocking on the wood.

The video I've taken is of three pieces: the first by Mangoré, the latter two by Dojčinović.

Where to eat: Michael Bock, German bakery in Asunción

2009-02-15T17:22:00.000-08:00

On Pte Manuel Franco between Ayolas and Montevideo (micro-center), Asunción, Paraguay. Here you can get excellent breads (including many whole-grain varieties), desserts, a middling cup of coffee (par for the course in Paraguay), baked breakfast goods, and sandwiches. Open during the day (and not on weekends).

Notice the empty shelves? It's 9 in the morning and they are already selling out of delicious breads. Mostly German recipes (quarkbrot), but their ciabatta sells briskly. But fear not, through a large window you can see more being prepared. And while you sit, sipping coffee and nibling on your palma, read the local German newspaper. Note: no air-conditioning (this is a bakery, after all).

(Images by me.)

Paraguay's Jesuit Missions: Santa Trinidad & Jesus

2009-02-15T17:03:00.001-08:00

This is what Paraguay's Jesuit reducciones look like. (All images by me.) Go here for details of how to visit them.

Bad Manners: Roa Bastos' opened mail, found in a secret police file.

2009-02-12T11:00:00.000-08:00

photo by me

Whatever was in this envelope, sent to Augusto Roa Bastos from Costa Rica sometime in the 1970s, probably never made it to the recipient since the Paraguayan police intercepted and opened and read and then filed it away in a secret archive that was discovered in 1992. It's been separated from the envelope; I couldn't find it this morning. The envelope was nestled in-between personal letters belonging to people whose names I wouldn't recognize, all confiscated and read and filed away by the military government in its attempt to surveille the whole population. The letters are a bit "disappointing"--sentimental accounts of daily life and declarations of affection. Nothing politically seamy.

Iguazu

2009-02-06T16:16:00.000-08:00

Just to give you a sense of what four different parts of Iguazu are like -- yes, those are birds (pay special attention to the scene where I clean the lens!).

Again. I love the falls. And I only seem to go there when it's raining (as you can see from the first photograph, where the flash captures some of the water droplets... the next image is exactly the same, except without flash).

Brazenness 101: Paraguayan judge plagiarizes 31 authors for her book "Judicial Ethics"

2009-02-04T04:12:00.000-08:00

Ha ha. The book, Etica Judicial, was her doctoral dissertation, which was suspended last year due to the plagiarism.

Now she's up for appointment to the Supreme Court of Paraguay.

20 Years After Stroessner's Fall

2009-02-02T13:31:00.000-08:00

Blurry picture of wreath inside the Panteon de los Heroes. (all photos by me!)

The archbishop intones something. (I heard The Godfather in my head.)

Fernando Lugo speaks and remembers those who struggled against the dictatorship.

Two decades to the day after a military coup lead by "Carlos"'s and "Victor"'s, Paraguay has officially celebrated its first commemoration of the fall of the three decade dictatorship. In this morning's wreath-laying ceremony at the Panteon de los Heroes attended by the current administration (including President Fernando Lugo and Vice President Federico Franco), members of human rights organizations, and members of Paraguay's armed forces, the coup leaders were notedly absent. They supposedly were not invited, but it's difficult to ferret out the dynamic between the current government and "Carlos # 3," Lino Oviedo, who's been accused of conspiring against Lugo.

Federico Franco and Fernando Lugo listen to Paraguay's Amnesty International Representative

Possible the most dramatic moment was unscripted: Just before Lugo took the podium to give a speech on human rights, Ananías Maidana bolted from his seat and shoved his way to the from to demand the right to speak out in memory of the tortured and the disappeared (600 of which are still unaccounted for). Maidana, a political prisoner for 24 years before his exile, was a Colorado incarcerated and tortured for "communist sympathies," without knowing what the word "communist" meant, for protesting the corrupt nepotism of the Stroessner regime. The great irony, of course, is that now he leads the Paraguayan Communist Party.

Maidana pushes past a guard.

And, of course there are many who think Stroessner times weren't so bad--including his grandchildren who don't think of him of as a dictator at all.

The Paraguayan National Anthem, played after Lugo's arrival. (Warning, these are soldiers, not musicians.)

Asunción Heights: A Photo Series

2009-02-01T15:18:00.000-08:00

Ha. That's just a super pretentious (and, hence, dumb) title for these photos by me.

The Bahía de Asunción burns. With this year's great drought the water has dried up (all the brown grass should be underwater).

The ferrocarril station. Note: there are no trains in Paraguay anymore.

Ha ha. A note in an elevator. Check out the corrections on the badly-written Spanish.

These are taxis. But you probably know that.

Anthrosource unaware that "Search" always spelled with a "c"

2009-01-29T15:03:00.000-08:00

Key offending term: "conduct a search by entering a key term in the Searh Engine"

Gah. This is a screenshot of the "improved" Anthrosource website. This is the journal aggregator for my discipline in the United States and the design value is quite low: the visuals are horrendous, links don't work, the search engine is incredibly limited. It seems like it was designed by and for people who don't use the internet.

And it seems that the feedback of internet savvy anthropologists has had zero effect on them. As has the feedback of dictionary or spelling savvy anthropologists (like me!) who know that the word "search" as in "Search Engine" always always always has a "c."

I sent them word about this 11 days ago and, aside from some response from Wiley (the academic journal publishers who run the site), nothing has happened. Academic journals that don't spellcheck text before publishing it?

Decisions on design and functionality should be left to people who had email accounts before entering college.

UPDATE: This has been corrected, which is good. If only the rest of the site could undergo a makeover and reconstructive surgery.

Renegotiating Itaipú Binacional: Paraguay's 6 Points, Brazil's Response

2009-01-27T07:17:00.000-08:00

Fernando Lugo's presidential campaign included a pledge to renegotiate Itaipú Binacional with Brazil. Itaipú is the world's largest hydroelectric dam, producing 19% of Brazil's and 95% of Paraguay's electricity needs. Though owned equally by the two countries, Paraguay cedes its unused energy to Brazil and receives about 1/25 of the market price for that electricity. Popular outrage at this relationship has made the issue and the 1973 Itaipú Treaty now a "national cause." Brazil obviously benefits enormously from this situation and has shown itself quite opposed to altering it.

A team of negotiators was appointed by Lugo even before his inauguration as president on August 15, 2008, in order to clarify Paraguay's aims in its negotiations with Brazil. Brazil's president Lula agreed to discuss Paraguay's claims and thus began a series of formal meetings between representatives of the two governments that continues to the present. The Paraguayan negotiating team (Mesa Negociadora) presented Brazil with a list of 6 issues (6 puntos) it seeks to redress.

The 6 Points:
1. Libre Disponibilidad. The freedom for Paraguay to dispose of its half of the energy as it wishes. That means the ability to sell to whatever market it chooses at the price it chooses. Right now, Paraguay may only cede its unused energy to Brazil.

2. Precio Justo. A fair price for the energy. Currently, Brazil compensates Paraguay a little more than $2/mWh for electricity, a price that is anywhere between $40-$50/mWh below the Brazilian market price.

3. Revision de la deuda. Re-examining the debt incurred during construction of the dam. Electrobras, the Brazilian state electricity company, was responsible for financing the construction costs of the dam which are to be shared equally between both countries.

4. Cogestión. Equal administration of the dam, alternation of top positions. Itaipú is run by a team of directors, equal in number from both Paraguay and Brazil. The most powerful positions (technical and finance) have only been Brazilian.

5. Contraloría. Allowing the Paraguayan Comptroller access to audit the books of Itaipú. There has been no auditing ever done on how Paraguay administers its $300 million (annually) half of the agency.

6. Obras faltantes. Completion of pending projects that were stipulated during the negotiations of the 60s and 70s, such as the construction of an electricity substation.

To date, Brazil has agreed to points 4 - 6 and has flatly refused to budge on 1 - 3.

Paraguay Not Left Out: Microinversiones Amambay, its Ponzi scheme.

2009-01-26T03:12:00.000-08:00

(word of the day: estafa, which means "scam"... also, you can use it as a verb, estafar)

Lest it seem that, in the global turmoil of international Ponzi schemes collapsing, Paraguay should alone have nothing of Madoff or quesitos mágicos, here we are with the estafa of today: Microinversiones Amambay, a home-grown, Paraguayan style Ponzi scheme.

Microinversiones Amambay

View more presentations or upload your own. (tags: inversiones multinivel)

As the helpful slide presentation shows, you just put in 55,000 Guaranies ($11 USD) and then invite four of your friends to a presentation (for which they pay 7,000 G admission... $1.20 USD) on how to market the business you're starting with 55mil (mil = thousand) and if they also bring their friends, then, thanks to investing and the market and marketing and magic fairy dust, you get $800 USD back in 6 months.

Wait. You don't understand what it is that turns an investment of 11 bucks into 800? That's because you don't understand the useful economic principles of the market that are guaranteed to work and solve any economic quandary, which you can get for $1.20 and which, obviously, all the world's greatest economists don't know, otherwise the world economy wouldn't be in the horrid state it is.

Incidentally, I have figured out the fail-proof formula for figuring out if someone is trying to Ponzi you. One, the opportunity to invest is by invitation only. Two, the business recruitment material [mis]uses the [mis]quote from J. Paul Getty (or Paul J. Getty, as it is in some of the literature) "I would rather have 1% from the efforts of 100 men than 100% of the efforts of 1 individual" or, as it is translated into Spanish: "Prefiero ganar el 1% del esfuerzo de 100 personas en vez del 100% de mi propio esfuerzo."

Slim saves the Gray Lady. Wait. Who is he again?

2009-01-20T03:52:00.000-08:00

Zapatistas eating at Sanborns in Mexico, DF.

Carlos Slim, the Mexican magnate, has propped up the New York Times with a loan of $250 million that can/will be exchanged for actions in the company. I think we've gotten a little numbed by all the billions that are being tossed about in bailouts and scams and so the price tag of that little loan (which Mr. Slim can easily afford) seems ... meh.

Speaking of which, have you heard about DMG ("Diós Mío Gracias")? That's a pyramid scheme in Colombia that has fallen apart in the past few months. Unlike Madoff and the other new Madoff-alike in Florida, these cats scammed the poor. And, of course, there are many who are stubbornly unwilling to believe that they've been had and instead think the founder, David Murcia Guzman, is now incarcerated wrongly. Here's a tragic example:

Por : david te amamos y creemos en ti 2008-12-28 01:50:58

dios mio gracias por poner en mi camino a un ser tan extraordinario como david murcia guzman dios mio gracias por mostrarme que en colombia no todo es corrupcion y maldad dios mio gracias por presentarme al ser mas humano,bueno y generoso te amo dios por esta oportunidad que me das de ver un ser limpio como david dios mio gracias por ese privilegio que me das de pertenecer a la familia dmg

But, back to Mr. Slim. Here's a little of what Grupo Carso (named by Mr. Slim as an amalgamation of his and his wife's first names, "Carlos" and "Soumaya") owns:

Telmex: the Mexican telecommunications giant that has stretched from the United States to Argentina.

America Movil: they do cellphones in nearly all of the hemisphere (including Paraguay!).

Grupo Financiero Inbursa: a financial services group that does banking and all kinds of financial products.

Swecomex: manufactures petroleum processing equipment, including drilling platforms.

Cigatam: a cigarette manufacturing partnership with Philip Morris.

IDEAL (Impulsora del Desarrollo y Empleo de América Latina): which focuses on infrastructure projects, building things like highways and hydropower dams.

Grupo Sanborn: including the department store chain Sanborns as well as Sears. Even Zapata's troops used to meet up at Sanborns as a rendezvous point!

Santander's exposure, Madoff's dealings in Latin America

2009-01-13T06:41:00.000-08:00

Spanish bank Santander, Europe's second largest, is the biggest loser (among banks) in the Bernard Madoff fraud. And apparently the bulk of those losses are actually in Latin America. The Wall Street Journal writes:

About two-thirds of losses incurred by Santander clients were borne by investors in Latin America, said a person familiar with the matter....

Santander clients in Mexico took the largest hit, losing close to $400 million. Argentine clients lost around $350 million, and Brazilian clients lost some $300 million, the person said, adding that all told as many as 3,000 Latin American clients lost money.

And a bit of hubris/comeuppance:

Santander has largely skirted damage from the global financial crisis. Mr. Botín talked proudly last year about how the bank had avoided troubles experienced by other institutions by sticking to commercial banking and shunning exotic financial instruments. The bank had become a rare corner of stability, buying up more distressed banks whose value had plummeted.

Finanzas Forex: Panama-based Ponzi Scheme gets in on the action

2009-01-12T16:24:00.000-08:00

Screen grab from their English-language site with tag: "Now everyone can enjoy to be involved in a great business."

For your investment dollars, Finanzas Forex has promised a minimum of 10% returns (monthly), up to 50% returns (monthly), depending on what risk-investment package you select. Though it smacks of Ponzi, some investors knowingly invested because Ponzi schemes work out for early adopters.

Click here (and here) and look through the comments as writers at first enthusiastically praise FFX and then lament their inability to withdraw their funds. Note that FFX pulls a Madoff-esque hard-to-get play by saying that it won't accept investments from EU citizens. And look at the shoddy web design (surely a giveaway).

And another dead giveaway for its suspect behavior? The terrible English translation. Here's a charming rationalization for this:

The reason Finanzas Forex does not have a strong US presence might have to do with the terrible english version of its website. Even when you are logged on to the english version, there are parts of the website that show up in spanish. Europeans might be more used to working with multiple languages, and will feel more comfortable with something that isn't written well in their native tongue.

And these people (and these) are still quite hopeful it'll work out. It's actually a bit frightening to see how unshakeable their conviction is. I was speaking about this with some friends last month when I was in New York for the holidays and the news about Bernard Madoff came to light. One person mentioned that, since people are frequently hearing stories about businessmen (women, too) making it big, almost overnight, often we come to believe that there really must be an easy way to get wealthy and the only problem is that we simply don't know the easy, failsafe secret to it. So that, when we come across something that seems to be hard to get into (Finanzas Forex is by invitation) and has stunning returns explained by hard-to-understand financespeak (which is what much of the technical side of the Wall Street Journal or Financial Times sounds like to many of us), we believe that we've found it.

Here's their convincing video:

NOTE: Comments with links to scams and money schemes will get deleted. Don't post them.

So, Bernie got himself into a bit of trouble...why Madoff's Latin American clients are staying silent.

2008-12-29T06:32:00.000-08:00

From the Wall Street Journal:

Wealthy Latin Americans appear to be among the big losers in the $50 billion Ponzi scheme orchestrated by financier Bernard Madoff, although many in the region are reluctant to step forward due to the private nature of Latin American fortunes, worries about security, and concerns about tipping off local tax authorities.

I'm a bit torn about what I think about this. On the one hand, in a world region where kidnapping is a form of income and often go so badly, sure, the wealthy don't want their names in papers... a who's who list of who to kidnap (although, post-Madoff, ransom dough might be scarcer). On the other, since when do Latin America's wealthy keep a low profile? Keep in mind that this is the region in the world with the largest disparity between rich and poor. These are people who ride around in luxury cars and get their photographs taken in the society papers.

My guess is that the strange silence (not one single Brazilian investor has come forward--this in Latin America's most robust economy) comes from not wanting local governments to look too closely at shady finance maneuvers (underreporting wealth to avoid paying taxes) and, possibly, the even shadier origins of some of these fortunes in the first place... akin to reporting the theft of a car that you've stolen.

Continue reading "Latins Quiet About Madoff Losses."