Argentina // Current

Former Argentinean Player in Critical Condition at the Hospital

Fernando Cáceres is shot on his right eye after attempted robbery. As of November 1st... more

Padilla1526
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3 days ago
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Loopin' & Groovin' in Buenos Aires: Juana Molina's story behind her delectable music.

'A B-Sides + Rarities Show' takes a look Argentine musician Juana Molina. Originally... more

hechoencine
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18 days ago
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A green tale from Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ostriches on the terrace / avestruces en la terraza

Fictional story written for Blog Action Day 2009 (in English and Spanish) ... Some... more

99
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23 days ago
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Wild Wind: The Eternally Holy Curse of Rabid Possum Hair

“Wild Wind” is a funny 2-min. short flash movie directed by 21-year-old Leonardo... more

disembedded
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28 days ago
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Is this the world's most amazing header?

A goal by Argentina striker Martin Palermo is on the cards to be included in the... more

richjm
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1 month ago
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Good-bye to the "cantora popular"

On October 4, Mercedes Sosa is dead. Her songs were a musical symbol of the fight... more

bibabiba
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Argentine singer Mercedes Sosa, 'voice of Latin America,' dies at 74

(CNN) -- Argentine singer Mercedes Sosa, known as "the voice of Latin America" for her... more

tcmfan08
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Nearly 70 percent of Argentine forests lost in a century

Argentina has lost nearly 70 percent of its forests in a century, the Environmental... more

spacemikey
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Ayatollahs cast growing shadow in Latin America | ajc.com

The Obama administration must take note. Ahmadinejad’s regime promises to have strategic repercussions in America’s neighborhood. The expansion of Iranian influence in the Western Hemisphere — diplomatic, economic, military and terrorist infrastructure — has been rapid.

In little more than two years, the number of Iranian diplomatic representatives in the region has increased from six to 11 and the number of diplomatic personnel has grown proportionately. This multiplication of Iran’s ties with Latin America has been the result of a strategic convergence.

Tehran sees its penetration in the region as essential to its efforts to weaken Washington international influence. The radical leftist governments of Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua view Iran as a partner with whom they share common ground: hostility towards the U.S. The result is an anti-American alliance in the heart of the Western Hemisphere.

The growth of political ties has been followed by an expansion of economic interests. Iran has invested in a huge array of industries in Venezuela, ranging from car factories to cement production plants. The Islamic Republic has agreed to build a refinery and a petrochemical plant in Ecuador. Tehran is also making efforts to increase its commercial and cooperation ties with Mexico and Brazil.

Furthermore, Iran is seeking to develop military ties with Venezuela. In 2007, Tehran signed an agreement to collaborate on defense matters, which has already resulted in the provision of a dozen Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). At the same time Tehran has become a key partner in the development of the space program and the nuclear projects of Caracas and announced plans to build a munitions factory in the Venezuelan state of Carabobo.

The most worrisome Iranian activity in Latin America, however, is the establishment of terrorist infrastructures linked to Iran. Tehran employs a combination of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — Vahidi was the head of IRGC’s Quds Force — and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah in its covert operations. The presence of both organizations in Latin America has substantially increased in recent years.

For example, the IRGC is cooperating closely with Venezuelan intelligence agencies. Tehran sent observers to military exercises organized by Caracas in 2008. Hezbollah has built a network of relations with Venezuelan citizens, making Caracas Hezbollah’s gateway into Latin America. As the U.S. Treasury Department denounced, one Venezuelan diplomat accredited in Beirut, Ghazi Nasr al Din, provided support to Hezbollah, including help with setting up its fund-raising apparatus in Latin America.The Obama administration must take note. Ahmadinejad’s regime promises to have... more

dbe928
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Plight of Penguins Predicts Coming Plight for Humans

According to an article that was published in the journal BioScience, penguin... more

GrrlScientist
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2 months ago
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Fourth World War

The Fourth World War is "a daring, courageous, heart-pounding intervention against... more

animalia_libero
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2 months ago
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The soy republic of Argentina

EXTRACT: As with colonial countries ravaged by imperial powers, once profits from soy dries up due to a collapse on the global market, Argentina will be left with only the devastating impact of monoculture – displaced rural populations, nutrient depleted soil, loss of biodiversity, and poisoned communities.
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The Soy Republic of Argentina
Marie Trigona
Toward Freedom, 3 September 2009
http://towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/1664/1/

The increasing export of genetically modified crops is part of a regional trend with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay now adopting a soy-based economic model. Argentina has made a radical shift toward soy, which has displaced cultivation of many grains and vegetables and even its beef production, the nation’s diet staple and renowned around the world. Once a highly industrialized nation and agriculturally diverse, Argentina now uses more than half of its total arable land for monoculture soy. The majority of soy production is controlled by "growing pools" or financial speculators that buy or lease land from small farmers who can’t afford soy’s high production costs. In all, some 47 million tons of soy was produced in 2008.

Argentina's farmers have recently resumed a nation-wide strike in protest over the government’s agricultural policies. This protest is the latest episode in a long standing dispute between the agricultural sector and President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner over tax exports on soy. The fertile South American nation is now the world's third largest producer of soy, trailing behind the United States and Brazil. The boom in soy production in Argentina has reaped record profits for soy farmers and multi-nationals marketing bio-technology for the mono-culture crop in recent years, but it has taken its toll on food production, traditional farmers and the environment.

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have increasingly played a key role in the economy and in the planet’s food supply. Nearly 95% of soy grown in Argentina is genetically modified, adopting the Roundup Ready technology marketed by Monsanto. The majority of the soy grown is for export to China and the EU which use soybean grain for feed and poultry lots.

Unlike the Banana Republics still intact in many parts of Central America, which exude violence to keep governments, workers and the population at large in line with big business interest, the soy model or "soy republic" adopted in many countries in South America operates by sheer market force and consolidation. Agribusiness giants Monsanto, Dow and Cargill have developed mechanisms to make dictatorships an unnecessary luxury. What Argentina and other South American nations do have in common with Banana Republics is the colonial development model, or better put anti-development model, where the nation reverts to relying on exporting a single cash crop to First World nations. However, dictatorships that used terror, torture and censorship in the 1970’s and early 1980’s are responsible for laying the ground work for privatization, liberalization of trade barriers, deregulation of environmental standards and land concentration which ripened the region for the GMO invasion.

The soy republic model has led to economic dependency on transnational investments, food sovereignty risks, displacement of rural populations, degradation of soil and water systems, severe health threats from the use of pesticides and herbicides and a long list of social problems such as increased inequality and unemployment.EXTRACT: As with colonial countries ravaged by imperial powers, once profits from soy... more

JanforGore
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2 months ago
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Argentina Decriminalizes Marijuana

Just days after the Mexican Congress decriminalized marijuana, Argentina's judiciary has followed suit. In a case involving five youths in possession of some "marijuana cigarettes," the Argentine Supreme Court declared, unanimously, "the unconstitutionality of prison for private consumption."

The justices' logic smacks of horse sense:

Supreme Court Justice Carlos Fayt, who at one time supported laws that make personal use of marijuana illegal, told the state-run Telam news agency that "reality" changed his mind.

"Each individual adult is responsible for making decisions freely about their desired lifestyle without state interference," their ruling said. "Private conduct is allowed unless it constitutes a real danger or causes damage to property or the rights of others."

This Latin embrace of decriminalization is anything but unexpected. Back in February of this year, former presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico very publicly urged Obama to decriminalize marijuana.

“It makes no sense to continue a policy on moral grounds without getting the desired results,” said Gaviria [former president of Colombia] “Obama, being a pragmatist, should recognize these failures.”

That recognition has yet to come, but wonks and sober-minded activists are speaking up, working to create political space that an Obama, or any other future president, might occupy.

"It seems quite clear that drug policy based primarily on interdiction and enforcement has failed," said Robert Pastor, a Latin America national security adviser for President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s. "Therefore, it's natural for people to stand back and ask, 'Is there a better way?' "

These efforts are still timid, and largely at the fringes, if not in the shadows, of the national spotlight. But as more and more nations in our hemisphere decriminalize - and I believe that we will see this ripple throughout South America in the next couple years - positive results will make the "better way" apparent to anyone willing to look south.Just days after the Mexican Congress decriminalized marijuana, Argentina's judiciary... more