Cancer Forces Chavez Back to Cuba

Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chavez, has been forced to Cuba for medical attention for the third time due to concerns of a cancer recurrence. Rafael Correa, president of Ecuador, has confirmed that Chavez was under going an operation for the cancer. Early in his administration, Chavez initiated an agreement with Cuba in which Venezuela agreed to…

GDP of Brazil

Brazil produced a GDP of $2.4767 in 2011 (in current U.S. dollars) according to statistics from the World Bank. Globally, Brazil ranks sixth in the world in terms of GDP, after France, Germany, Japan, China, and the United States respectively. Regionally, this places the country first in Latin America, with a GDP nearly $1 trillion…

Cuba to Begin Taxing Profits

If one were to attempt a word association exercise starting with “Cuba,” it is very unlikely that “profits” would often follow, yet the island nation is counting on that unexpected connection to raise tax revenues. In short, Cuba needs more revenues to fund its socialist programs. To tax profits, of course, it is first necessary…

Google Adds Street Views of Chile

Launched on May 25, 2007 with images of select cities in the United States, Google began adding interactive 360° street views to its online map service. On September 25, 2012, Google finally added high quality street level images of Chile to their map service. So far, street view images can be seen of Valparaíso, Viña…

Citgo as a Proxy for Venezuelan Oil in the United States

While Citgo traces it’s origins to Oklahoma in 1910, by the 1990s the company was fully acquired by Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) which is Venezuela’s state-owned oil and natural gas company. Many have criticized the way PDSVA has been used as a political tool for Hugo Chavez’s socialist government. In 2007, for example, PDVSA expropriated assets…

Twitter Captures Massive Protests in Argentina

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s unpopular administration if facing an increasingly vocal population. Her Peronist policies have predictably driven the economy into the ground, after irresponsible debt defaults, runaway inflation, and fascist private sector takeovers. Argentina was one of the richest in the world a century ago until it deteriorated due the successful implementation of “progressive” policies…

Santa Rosa de Osos Massacre and the Drug War in Colombia

Colombian authorities have launched a manhunt for the drug traffickers who were responsible for massacre of 10 peasants in Santa Rosa de Osos, Colombia this week. It is believed they were murdered for failing to pay extortion tribute to the drug trafficking gang believed responsible. The massacre is particularly shocking and troubling for the public…

Argentina Lowers Voting Age to Sixteen

In what is being viewed as a way to shore up votes for next October’s elections in which half of Argentina’s House of Representatives, and one third of the Senate will be up for grabs, Argentina has added approximately one million citizens (2% of the entire population) to voter rolls. According to local press, the…