Paxety Pages

Ziva at Blog for Cuba writes about how The Carter Center is once again warming up to Chávez and remembers how Jimmy Carter's election monitors ensured El Mico Putamayo's stay in office. (In the interests of full disclosure I should say that I had eight opportunities to vote against Jimmy Carter in his political career and took advantage of each.)

Killcastro has news about Lech Walesa's talk with Cuban dissidents, and how he says fidel is on his last legs.

Songuacassal at Cuban American Pundits has more on fidel's threats to close the American Interests Section over the "I have a dream" ticker.

Orlando at El Confeti discusses how Canadian and European investment has failed to change Cuba's violation of human rights.

Tocororo at Spanglish a lo cubano has photographic proof of the pain of Cuban mothers.

Marc Masferrer at Uncommon Sense has more on the story of jailed journalist Normando Hernandez and his declining health. He also links to Reporters Without Borders' petition drive to have Hernandez and other prisoners released.

Proyecto Colombia writes about exploration for oil in that country. Finding oil there may be very important for our future.

And in a post that will shock a lot of Americans, Aleksander Boyd writes how Latin American politicians are using racism to advance their totalitarian aims.

That peoples make mistakes at the ballots is a certainty. That elected officials, product of such mistakes, once in office are, in most cases, to turn against those who voted them in is recurrent. Venezuelans know a thing or two about that. And it seems that 53% of Bolivians decided to enrol the country in a crash course on how to take an already broken nation into the league of pariah states. Mario Vargas Llosa has recently penned a brilliant piece entitled "Race, Boots and Nationalism" in which he expounds into how "barbarian caudillos" exploit the race and nationalist cards to advance their agendas that, need be stressed, are a far cry from what would be the enterprise of true patriots.

Vargas Llosa also contends that racism, when originating from those perceived to have been oppresed, has become not only politically correct, but fashionable among first world 'erudites.' Hence it is correct that a black person refers to his brethren as "nigger," however the same is considered insulting, regardless of friendship, should a white person called thusly a black. This is an advanced societies disease. The terms of endearment used in Venezuela, and much of Latin America, would cause much alarm in London, Madrid, NY or Berlin. Hugo Chavez knows this, and so does Evo Morales. So they set out to milk the race card for all it's worth, adjusting their public presentations depending on the political affinities of the audiences of the countries they happen to visit.

But Vargas Llosa's article felt short upon the overt racism that has come to rule the dynamics by which the aforementioned pundits treat us, individuals from the developing world. Thus Vargas Llosa's criticism is a sign of a servile and pusillanimous attitude towards the giant to the north, which also goes in detriment of his own countrymen.

Read the whole thing.