Last week, I went to a talk by the Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the UK. It was entertaining and interesting.
In particular, I discovered a new fact about myself. I must be colourblind. There was a lot of talk about how the Chávez government was a government of the people, of the [...]

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has proposed an Organisation of Latin American States on his visit to Mexico, El País reports.
The idea is old, very old. Ever since their independence, Latin American states have tried to associate themselves into integration projects of all varieties. The result of it is a veritable spaghetti bowl of partially [...]

No, I haven’t given up writing this blog. I’m just really busy right now, writing papers, doing funding applications, and all other sorts of stuff. I’ll be back in due course. Anyway, here are some things that I would comment on if I had more time and energy:

The recent NATO summit and its implications (especially [...]

Or: High Politics according to Hugo, Rafa and Álvaro
Now that the diplomatic crisis in the Andes is over, it’s time for some analysis: what did it all mean? Well, many things. Let’s start from the beginning.

Why did Ecuador get ticked off? - Last weekend, Colombian military forces entered Ecuadorian territory in order to kill a [...]

Speedy Sarko and Super Lula
Interesting developments on the Colombia/Venezuela argument front: internationally hyperactive French presidentNicolas Sarkozy and Brazil’s president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva are buddying up to resolve the issues, El País reports. They are meeting today on the border between Brazil and French Guyana to discuss how the two countries could be persuaded [...]

When Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez took on the new role of mediator with the Colombian FARC rebels over hostages, it was already clear that before long, things would go pear-shaped. And, alas: in late November 2007, Colombia’s President Álvaro Uribe lost his patience and halted the mediation “effort”.
Ever since then, Hugo has been peeved with [...]

So Venezuela has voted “No” to Hugo Chávez’s plans to change the Venezuelan Constitution. While not entirely unexpected, this is the first time Hugo has really been defeated since he came to power in 1999. At least, as he puts it, “for now”. That’s also what he said after the 1992 Venezuelan coup, which was [...]

Such or similar appears to be the logic of Brazil’s president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva in favouring an entry of Venezuela into MERCOSUR. Yesterday, the Constitutional and Justice Commission of the Brazilian Parliament gave the first go-ahead for the accession with a vote of 44 in favour to 17 against.
In spite of MERCOSUR’s rules, [...]

Sort of late, but I can’t resist: This weekend, at the Ibero-American Summit, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez launched another one of his famous attacks on those of a different mindset. This time, it didn’t hit his archenemy George W. Bush but former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar. So far, nothing new.
Hugo called Aznar a [...]

Still giggling, I’m having difficulties writing this - an excerpt from a Spanish TV programme called Noche Hache, showing (in turn) excerpts from an announcement by our beloved Hugo. He’s talking about why Venezuela is moving the time forward by half an hour (we’ve already had this), so that school children don’t have to get [...]