Some folks are alleging that Tehran and Caracas have inked a deal that will establish a joint ballistic missile base in Venezuela, where Iranian missiles, potentially capable of reaching the United States, would be stationed. (more)
Rich countries should reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% and set up a court to punish climate crimes, according to an international conference of grassroots climate groups and social movements in Bolivia. (more)
In a basement in La Paz used as an improvised warehouse, millions and millions of coca leaves – cocaine’s raw material – are stockpiled in white, grey and blue bags. (more)
Any self-respecting Coke addict knows that the sugary soft drink once contained trace amounts of cocaine. Now Bolivia is putting coca leaves in a suspiciously similar-sounding fizzy drink: Coca-Colla. That’s not a typo, the drink is named after the Colla people of Bolivia’s highlands. A batch of half-liter 12,000 bottles was recently sold for $1.50 a pop in La Paz, Santa Cruz, and Cochabamba, according to the UK Guardian. (more)
Over the course of good years and bad, the countries of Latin America have recently been taking diverging paths to very different futures. (more)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela plans to start using a new virtual currency this week to facilitate trade with a bloc of allies in Latin America and the Caribbean that President Hugo Chavez has assembled to counter U.S. influence in the region. (more)
TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Federal troops stormed a seaside vacation home and captured one of the country’s most brutal drug lords Tuesday, the second time in less than a month that Mexico has taken down one of its most powerful traffickers. (more)
A prankster sent what he said was footage retrieved from doomed Air France Flight 447 to a Bolivian news show. Without even bothering to check the authenticity of the once-in-a-lifetime find, the producers decided to air the footage — which turned out to be clips from the first season of ABC’s nonsensical hit show Lost. (more)
