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Confidencial - Ortega: “Tenemos estrecha cooperación con Washington”

noreply@blogger.com (dunelark) — Thu, 10 May 2012 02:18:00 +0000

Confidencial - Ortega: “Tenemos estrecha cooperación con Washington”

Glenn Garvin: Death of a tyrant

noreply@blogger.com (dunelark) — Thu, 10 May 2012 02:15:00 +0000

By GLENN GARVIN — McClatchy Newspapers

When the Marxist Sandinista party he had helped found was driven from power in Nicaragua, it understandably took Tomas Borge some time to adjust to the new realities. Accustomed to local journalists gravely listening to his addlebrained theories on economics as if their lives and liberty depended on it - which, of course they literally did - he was quite unprepared when a reporter broke in with a rascally question during a radio interview.

"Comandante, what everyone really wants to know is if the rumors all these years are true," the reporter asked. "Do you just have one (testicle)?"

"What are you talking about?" Borge spluttered. "My wife just had twins. Here, you want to see them?" From the reporter's flustered squawks that followed, it was apparent that Borge wasn't talking about the babies.

Borge's death from a respiratory ailment last week, a few months short of his 82nd birthday, was even more revealing - though in a much different way. The outpouring of praise for this torturer, thief and assassin from Latin America's left-wing pseudo-democracies showed that while they may outwardly embrace the ballot box, their hearts still long for AK-47s and barbed wire.

Borge's bloody term of office as Nicaragua's interior minister from 1979 to 1990 was an unrelieved reign of terror. Thousands of political opponents disappeared into his gulag of prisons (human-rights groups counted 800 in just the first 18 months), never to be seen again. Those who did reappear often did so as corpses, hideously disfigured by torture.

The vast majority were listed as "shot while trying to escape" - almost inevitably in the middle of the night, from a military vehicle in the middle of nowhere - but Borge didn't blush when his handiwork was exposed to the world. When the body of one political opponent was found in neighboring Honduras with his arms broken, his ears and genitalia cut off and much of his skin peeled away, Borge boasted that "the enemies of our people will fall one by one."

Borge's candor did not always find favor with Sandinista officials who had more refined senses of public relations. When Borge's security forces gunned down a popular coffee-grower named Jorge Salazar who was organizing a rival political party, the Managua newspaper La Prensa reported statements from eyewitnesses who said Salazar was unarmed. Borge promptly called in La Prensa's editor to warn him not to run any more stories on the subject. "Whether we killed him or not," Borge said, "your article infuriated the government."

Borge, on the rare occasions when foreign reporters pressed him about this stuff, inevitably replied that a few excesses were inevitable when battling an enemy as wily and relentless as capitalism. But actually Borge was a capitalist, amassing a fortune through businesses like his ironically named Panamanian company, Heroes and Martyrs Corp., which had a monopoly on importing TVs and other luxury goods. When the Sandinistas were ousted in 1990 elections, Borge emerged from the revolution with a massive portfolio of property including a hotel, as well as the ultimate corporate badge of honor - a young trophy wife.

That was the corrupt, murderous legacy that Latin America's bully-boy leftists were so proud to claim at Borge's funeral last week. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa called him "a symbol of unwavering struggle in search of justice, equality and solidarity in all Latin America" and said his own Citizen's Revolution - a thinly disguised form of mob rule - was drawn from Borge's thinking. "Comrade Borge was a man who dedicated his life to struggle against imperialism and in favor of the emancipation of the people," added Bolivia's Evo Morales. "A paradigm of revolutionary militancy and the love of life," chimed in Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.

That's one way to look at it. Another is that of Joe Frazier, who covered Central America for the Associated Press in the 1980s. Frazier's wife Linda, who was also a reporter, died after her legs were blown off by a bomb planted at a press conference by one of Borge's hit teams, trying to kill one of his many enemies. (They missed; Linda and two other journalists were just revolutionary collateral damage.) "The fires of hell are not hot enough," observed Joe on Facebook last week. "I personally will write a check for more coal, tar and sulphur."

ABOUT THE WRITER
Glenn Garvin is a columnist for the Miami Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla. 33132. Readers may write to him via email at ggarvin@miamiherald.com.

Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/05/09/1933872/glenn-garvin-death-of-a-tyrant.html#storylink=cpy

What I do for a living...

noreply@blogger.com (dunelark) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 23:08:00 +0000

Happy Holidays!

noreply@blogger.com (dunelark) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 03:18:00 +0000

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Washington Post: Why Nicaragua matters to the United States

noreply@blogger.com (dunelark) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 03:48:00 +0000

Opinions

Why Nicaragua matters to the United States

By Robert J. Callahan, Published: November 3

On Sunday, Nicaraguans will go to the polls to vote for president. If the surveys are to be believed, they will choose the incumbent, Daniel Ortega. Despite a constitutional prohibition against serving consecutive terms, he is the candidate of the Sandinista Party and the beneficiary of a ludicrous decision by his country’s highest court that ruled the prohibition was a violation of Ortega’s human rights and, at least on this count, the Constitution was unconstitutional.

Ortega is flush with money from another anti-American political boss, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and he faces a fragmented and poorly funded opposition. He has also manipulated the voter rolls, enjoyed a near-monopoly on media advertising, spent lavishly on small gifts to potential voters, and put off until late August inviting international observers, ensuring that their presence is more cosmetic than productive.

But why care? Nicaragua is, after Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Its gross domestic product of $6.5 billion is less than ExxonMobil’s quarterly profits. Militarily weak and with a history of chaotic politics, the country is of scant economic or geopolitical importance to the United States, or to anyone else. It threatens no one.

More...

Nicaragua Dispatch: Will Democracy Survive Elections?

noreply@blogger.com (dunelark) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 01:46:00 +0000

By Tim Rogers/ Nicaragua Dispatch

MANAGUA—If the storyline for Nicaragua’s Nov. 6 presidential elections had been invented by a Hollywood script writer, it would read like an exaggerated and comic tale of democracy run amuck in some fictional tropical republic.

But the events and characters in this story are real.

(click here to read more)

Signs of Protest: graffiti reading "don't count on me for this farce" is appearing on city walls throughout the country, urging citizens to use their ballots to protest the general elections. (photo/ Tim Rogers)

Jan Burns retiring from Open Space program after 18 years

noreply@blogger.com (dunelark) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 02:33:00 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 21, 2011

Boulder County, Colo. – Jan Burns, Real Estate Division Manager for Boulder County Parks and Open Space, is retiring after 18 years with the department. Her last day is Friday.

Since starting in 1993 as a temporary employee working out of her home in Boulder, Burns helped build and supervise a team of real estate professionals who collectively expanded the amount of county land preserved as open space or conservation easements from 15,000 to 98,000 acres. This includes more than 12,000 acres of land jointly purchased with local municipalities.

“The properties acquired during Jan’s tenure and through her efforts really define the quality of life that Boulder County is known for,” Parks and Open Space Director Ron Stewart said. “She has a wonderful ability to develop trusting bonds with property owners and sellers and her work has produced many long lasting friendships.”

Burns furthered the department’s philosophy of finding innovative ways to ensure the county’s long-term protection of the land, working closely with sellers to find common ground and structuring flexible agreements that benefit all parties while conserving public funds.

She has also overseen the development of a database that tracks all aspects of the county’s real estate deals and water rights, and the monitoring and tracking of the county’s nearly 35,000 acres of conservation easements that protect private properties from further development.

“Jan has been dedicated to public service and has become a fixture of this department that, frankly, we cannot replace,” Stewart said. “We wish her congratulations and nothing but the best in retirement.”

-BoulderCounty.org-

Birding in Tierra del Fuego

noreply@blogger.com (dunelark) — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 02:07:00 +0000

On Wednesday evening, June 15, Rob's friend Alec Earnshaw gave a presentation to members of Aves Argentinas on his birding trips to Tierra del Fuego. Click below to watch the full presentation (the slide show starts at approx. minute 12:00).

Watch live streaming video from avesarg1 at livestream.com

Norma Eyvonne Webster Tomlinson (1933-2011)

noreply@blogger.com (dunelark) — Fri, 27 May 2011 04:24:00 +0000

Click to view photo album

Qaddafi’s Man in Managua | The Weekly Standard

noreply@blogger.com (dunelark) — Wed, 11 May 2011 01:19:00 +0000

Qaddafi’s Man in Managua The Weekly Standard

Rob in the Nicaraguan News

noreply@blogger.com (dunelark) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:57:00 +0000

On April 26, Rob gave an interview to journalists from three Nicaraguan newspapers on a recent email scam related to the U.S. "green card" lottery program, which has targeted a number of Nicaraguans over the past several months. The interview resulted in the following stories in today's press:

Conexiones: Cónsul de Estados Unidos denuncia estafa con Lotería de visas

Denuncian estafa con visas de residencia EU

Advierten fraude con lotería de visas

A Really Rare Bird!

noreply@blogger.com (dunelark) — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 23:55:00 +0000

Rob and a friend recently photographed and recorded a bird that hadn't been seen in Nicaragua for more than 100 years! Check out the details on Rob's NicaBirds website:

NicaBirds: Ocellated Poorwill at Refugio Bartola: "During an eight-day visit to Refugio Bartola and the Reserva Biológica Indio-Maiz along the Rio San Juan in southeast Nicaragua, Klemens Ste..."

Boulder County weighs $30 million open-space buy near Longmont

noreply@blogger.com (dunelark) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 19:20:00 +0000

Here's what Rob's mom (Jan Burns) has been up to lately...

Boulder County weighs $30 million open-space buy near Longmont - Boulder Daily Camera