On Friday 15th of May, the Brazilian Congress launched an investigation into the giant state-run oil company Petrobras. The initiative was started by government leaders of the opposition PSDB party. They set up what Brazilians call a Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI is the abbreviation in Portuguese) to scrutinize supposed irregularities in the company. Meanwhile, on […]
Illegal Wiretapping Scandal Rocks Colombia
Last week, the illegal wire tapping scandal uncovered by Semana news magazine was the main headline in most news outlets and the talk of the day on some blogs in Colombia. On Tuesday, February 26, President Álvaro Uribe announced that the Administrative Security Department (DAS, for its initials in Spanish) was no longer allowed to […]
Si la forma es el fondo, ¿entonces el relato es la historia?
La disciplina de la historia ha pasado por varias crisis desde el siglo XIX. (Como dirían los Mythbusters: ¡Precaución, contenido científico!, jejeje). Sigamos: la historia ha sido usada de varias formas desde hace miles de años; los relatos épicos sirvieron para darle identidad a esos grupos sociales que con el paso del tiempo se convirtieron […]
Recuerda recuerda, el 12 de julio…
La frase de la película V for Vendetta, Remember remember, the fifth of november me sirve para comentar algo que hoy dijo el Semanario de la Arquidiócesis de México, Desde la Fe: "La presencia del Presidente de la República sacó a relucir la furia desmesurada de los ‘talibanes del laicismo’, aquellos primitivos defensores no del […]
Conflict Continues Between Uribe and Supreme Court
Over the past year, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez and the Supreme Court have been engaged in a fight because of the so-called Parapolitics scandal, where more than 30 lawmakers from the ruling coalition have been jailed, and dozens of politicians are being investigated, because of their alleged links with right-wing paramilitary squads, including Mario Uribe Escobar, the president’s cousin, […]
Peru: President Says Country Closer to Overcoming Poverty
President Alan Garcia has claimed that Peru is a step away from overcoming poverty and soon will no longer be a developing nation. Garcia said that by the year 2015, less than 10% of Peruvians would be living in poverty. Bloggers throughout the country sized up on the president’s words: Roberto Bustamante, writing in El […]