Free Republic

HyperinflationOver the years, we have repeatedly poked fun at the transformation of Venezuela into a "socialist utopia" - an economy in a state of terminal collapse, where the destruction of the currency (one black market Bolivar is now worth 107 times less than the official currency's exchange rate) and the resulting hyperinflation is only matched be barren wasteland that local stores have transformed into now that conventional supply chains are irreparably broken. Just this past Wednesday we showed a clip of what is currently taking place inside Venezuela supermarkets, noting that "the hyperinflationary collapse in Venezuela is reaching its terminal...

Colombian patriot and brave national hero Alvaro Uribe has now retired from the presidential office he first took in 2002... when Colombia was nothing short of a failed state. How did he do? Besides the fact that he all but defeated the FARC rebels and numerous drug cartels over his eight years, Uribe's presidential approval rating has hovered between 60-70%... as recently as 2008 hitting an astounding 91%... George W Bush honored his accomplishment, principles, and valor with a Presidential Medal of Freedom... while today's radical Democrats refuse to support Colombia's great strides with even a free-trade pact. But as...

Friday, 6/11/10 NOTE: The recent deaths of two Mexican citizens, one at the San Ysidro, CA, Port of Entry, the other between El Paso, TX, and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, have resulted in ongoing investigations and ample coverage by the media on both sides of the border. The M3 Report will not repeat the fast moving and abundant claims and counter claims, and obviously biased and critical articles and opinion columns. A Mexican congressman, Ricardo Lopez Pescador, is now demanding that the “homicidal agents of the Border Patrol” must be extradited to Mexico and put in the hands of Mexican judges....

President Obama took the unusual step Wednesday afternoon of issuing a special denunciation of Cuba's human rights policies, after a year of advocating improved relations after nearly a half-century of political estrangement with the island neighbor. "Instead of embracing an opportunity to enter a new era," Obama said (full text below), "Cuban authorities continue to respond to the aspirations of the Cuban people with a clenched fist." As recently as last summer at a Caribbean summit, Obama and Raul Castro talked separately of opening discussions on a wide range of issues including human rights. The country's semi-retired revolutionary leader, brother...

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela's President Hugo mocked U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday as a "blond" version of her predecessor, and said a row with Spain over alleged links with rebel groups was over. Visiting Latin America this week, Clinton said the Obama administration's policies towards the region were helping blunt the criticism of the United States by leftist leaders like Chavez. "To me, she's like Condoleezza Rice ... a blond Condoleezza," said the Venezuelan, referring to former U.S. president George W. Bush's secretary of state, with whom he exchanged frequent harsh words at long-distance. Citing comments by...

Argentina was celebrating a diplomatic coup yesterday in its attempt to force Britain to accept talks on the future of the Falkland Islands, after a two-hour meeting in Buenos Aires between Hillary Clinton and President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Responding to a request from Mrs Kirchner for “friendly mediation” between Britain and Argentina, Mrs Clinton, the US Secretary of State, said she agreed that talks were a sensible way forward and offered “to encourage both countries to sit down”. Her intervention defied Britain’s longstanding position that there should be no negotiations unless the islands’ 3,000 inhabitants asked for them. It...

What little is left of Venezuela's democracy has taken a literal beating from President Hugo Chávez's uniformed goon squads -- again. Police used a variety of weapons, from water cannons to plastic bullets, last week to disperse hundreds of student protesters who refuse to knuckle under to an increasingly desperate and unpopular president determined to remain in power at all costs...the students were protesting the deterioration of their country...the frustration level inside the country is rising as Venezuela's political and economic situation goes from bad to worse. Rolling blackouts, currency devaluation and price inflation (the worst in Latin America), water...

You read that headline correctly. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration is financing oil exploration off Brazil. The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil's Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil's planning minister confirmed that White House National Security Adviser James Jones met this month with Brazilian officials to talk about the loan. The U.S. Export-Import Bank tells us it has issued a "preliminary commitment" letter to Petrobras in the amount of $2 billion and has discussed with Brazil...

Sebastián Piñera, a billionaire businessman, has defeated Chile’s ruling leftist coalition to return the right to power for the first time since the return of democracy after General Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in 1990.

Conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera won Chile's presidential election Sunday, ending two decades of center-left rule in Latin America's most stable economy. With ballots counted at 60.3 percent of polling stations, Pinera had 51.87 percent of the vote and his leftist rival, former President Eduardo Frei, quickly conceded defeat. The victory by Pinera, a Harvard-educated airline magnate, marks a shift to the right in South America, a region dominated by leftist rulers from Venezuela to Argentina, although no major changes to economic policy are expected. Many Chileans were disenchanted with the ruling center-left "Concertacion" coalition that has governed the world's top...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has announced plans for the deployment of new Russian-made tanks and combat helicopters on the border with Colombia, RIA Novosti reported. Ties between Venezuela and Colombia deteriorated last August after Washington signed a deal with Bogota allowing U.S. forces to run anti-drug operations from Colombian bases. Chavez has criticized the deal and called for the Venezuelan people and army to prepare for a war.

President Hugo Chávez said he ordered two F-16 jets to intercept a U.S. military plane that twice violated Venezuelan airspace on Friday in what he called the latest provocation in the South American nation's skies. Brandishing a photo of the plane, which he described as a P-3, Mr. Chávez said the overflight was the latest incursion in Venezuelan skies by the U.S. military from its bases on the Netherlands' Caribbean islands and from neighboring Colombia. There was no immediate response from the U.S. Defense Department or the White House... Mr. Chávez said the F-16s escorted the U.S. plane away after...

Speaking during his weekly television and radio program, Mr Chavez said the aircraft overflew a Venezuelan military base in the western state of Zulia after taking off from neighbouring Columbia. He did not elaborate, but suggested the plane was being used for espionage. "These are the Yankees. They are entering Venezuela," he said. "I've ordered them to be shot down," Mr Chavez said of the aircraft. "We cannot permit this."

CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez said Monday that Venezuela has received thousands of Russian-made missiles and rocket launchers as part of his government's military preparations for a possible armed conflict with neighboring Colombia. "They are preparing a war against us," Chavez said during a televised address, repeating a charge he has been making for months. "Preparing is one of the best ways to neutralize it." Both Colombia and Washington deny having any plans to attack Venezuela, but Chavez argues they are plotting together a military offensive against Venezuela. Chavez says his government is acquiring more weapons as a precaution....

What can you say? How often does the United States stake out a clear, unequivocal position on a major foreign policy event and then, over the course of a few months, slowly walkback from their original position to come around and embrace exactly the opposite point of view? This is the Obama administration in all its amateurish glory. When Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was invited to leave back in June, the administration took the same side as the thugs and dictators of the world, calling it a "military coup" even though the Honduran Supreme Court had ruled the action legal...

The results from today's elections in Honduras are beginning to roll in and it looks as if Porfirio Lobo,from Honduran opposition National Party, is leading in the election at least according to the local media. According to preliminary data, the 61-year-old opposition leader received around 56% of the vote. His main rival, 46-year-old businessman Elvin Santos representing the ruling Liberal Party, came second in the presidential race, with about 38% of the vote. Even if the trend continues the Liberal party will not be the big loser today, Hugo Chavez, whose imperialist goals were thwarted when President Zelaya was ousted...

Even a broken clock is correct two times a day. Ever since Honduras deposed President Zelaya in June, the United States has been on the wrong side of the issue, supporting Zelaya and his buddy Hugo Chavez, against the people of Honduras, their democracy and the country's constitution. ....The Election is next Sunday Nov.29th, former President Zelaya is still holed up in the Brazilian embassy after sneaking back into the country in September, and surprisingly the United States is indicating that it will support the results of the election.

The threat of a war between Venezuela and Colombia increased over the weekend after both countries deployed more troops along their border and President Hugo Chavez branded his Colombian counterpart a "mafioso". Tensions between the countries reached a new high after the Colombian military arrested four Venezuelan soldiers, just days after Mr Chavez told his army to "prepare for war" with Colombia. The Venezuelan ambassador to Bogota, Gustavo Marquez, said that the seriousness of the situation could not be overstated and that "there is a pre-war situation in the entire region". Diplomatic relations between the South American neighbours are frozen...

Honduras’ deposed would-be “strongman,” Manuel Zelaya called on US President Obama to send troops to help him regain control of the Honduran government. Zelaya was president of Honduras until he was removed from office earlier this year by joint action of the country’s supreme court and legislature. “Micheletti has pissed on the agreement we made to restore my power,” Zelaya angrily alleged. “He is going ahead with the scheduled elections without my approval. He has refused to include my proposed constitutional amendment to extend my term of office. A new government will be formed without my consent.” Acting President Roberto...