
Vuvuzuelas blare in Santiago
Chile: Students are going to protest the Pinera education policies again today, the sixth massive demonstration in the past few weeks. It could get nasty, because the government did not grant authorization for the march to La Moneda. High school students will demonstrate in the morning, university students in the afternoon.
Student leaders, professors, and academics held a 2 1/2 hour meeting with Interior Minister Hinzpeter at the La Moneda but the talks fell through and the students said they would go ahead with the march today. The fact that the meeting was held in La Moneda gives an indication of how serious the Pinera government considers the protests.
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Guatemala: Nobel Peace Prize honoree (1992) and indigenous leader Rigoberta Menchú is officially a candidate for the presidency. She will run under the banner of a leftist coalition called the Frente Amplio (Broad Front) in the elections on Sept. 11. Should she win, Guatemala would be ruled by an indigenous woman (which would be very cool.
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Argentina: Cristina today announced a 16.82 percent raise for retired elders. So far this year retirees have gotten a 37.06 percent raise in their pensions, to the equivalent of U$S 340. (This will certainly do no harm to Cristina's re-election aspirations.)
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Colombia: In Bogota, alvarito's boys, Tom and Jerry, were once again accused of having links to parapoliticans. The accusation was made by Ivan Cepeda, leader of the lower chamber of Congress. The same accusation was made last year, but the case slipped under attention of the public. uribito tweeted an angry response, saying that Cepeda was a "moral hitman."
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Venezuela: "Yul" Chavez. (Is it my imagination, but does he resemble Harry S Truman?)