Around Latin America - Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Honduras, Colombia, and Panama

-A high-ranking official in the Argentine government is saying that the country does not plan to invade the Malvinas/Falklands islands or go to war with England, but that it does want to negotiate with Great Britain over the issue of oil drilling (part of the islands' new economic boom) in the ocean near the islands.

-Bolivia has opened up its military archives from its dictatorship period of 1960-1980. This is a major gain for historians and scholars interested in the Bolivian dictatorship, and scholars of dictatorships in the Americas more generally, as the Bolivian dictatorship has remained relatively understudied. Access to archives should lead to a new boom in research and new insights into one of the "forgotten" dictatorships in South America.

-Justice in Peru's Amazonian basin continues to be lopsided, as two indigenous peoples cleared of the killing of police in 2009 remain behind bars even while police officers involved in the murder of 10 indigenous protesters remain free.

-Speaking of the Amazonian basin, this article does a great job of demonstrating the vulgar and violent abuse of power that politicians and elites use in getting land in northern Brazil, as well as some of the ways that the poor and small-landholders are fighting back against elites' land-grabs. Another article does an interesting job in suggesting the ways in which the Landless Movement (MST) in Brazil has been disappointed by Lula's policies, and the uphill battles the MST is facing. Meanwhile, Brazil's agricultural production is looking at a boom year for soybean farming in the wake of beneficial rainfall. Of course, accompanying that rainfall is an increase in the mosquito population, with the result that five states in Brazil already have had dengue outbreaks this year.

-Although most in the world associate Carnaval with partying and scantily-clad women, this article does a great job detailing the complicated and conflicting meanings behind Carnaval for women and homosexuals. The article comments on how the relatively free attitudes towards sexuality, women, and homosexuals during Carnaval highlights the often-repressive social context these groups are forced to endure during the majority of the year, an argument that James Green has demonstrated has a strong historical precedent.

-A report in Pravda is saying that Colombian paramilitaries killed 30,000 people between the early-1980s and 2003. Though I'd like to see more research into the numbers, there's no doubt paramilitary groups are responsible for a large number of the total deaths in Colombia's civil war.

-RNS has a great preview of a few of the members of the Honduran Truth Commission, and what their appointments mean for the process of chronicling the abuses of the coupist government last year. Among other things, RNS suggests that "human rights abuses might actually be on the agenda after all."

-As Venezuela's economy faces the possibility of recession, as well as electrical shortages, Colombia is turning to look for trade partners elsewhere, and has begun exploring the possibility of a free-trade agreement with Panama.

-Finally, I'm not terribly convinced by this article suggesting that slums offer insights into how to better plan cities and help "save the planet." Among other things, it really glosses over the economic and socio-political issues that many slum residents have to deal with, focusing on global slums more as planning models than as the result of very real inequalities and suffering.

The Next Phase of the Malvinas/Falklands War - Battle in the Courts?

Certainly, tensions between Argentina and England (especially on the former's account) are never low when talking about the Malvinas/Falklands Islands. Still, this past week, the already-tense language has ratcheted up a few notches. England had decided to begin oil exploration in the sea around the islands, leading to a rush of British companies getting in line to work on the exploratory drilling. Argentina has responded by threatening legal action (perhaps concerned that England would drink Argentina's milkshake?), while Falklanders themselves defended the drilling by saying it will help their economy. Neither the English nor the Argentines seem like they're willing to back down or negotiate on this, so tensions are already running high.

If this were a typical case, it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect that the two countries involved would come to some sort of agreement, but Argentine-English relations are far from typical, especially when it comes to the islands. Certainly, the islands are in England's control, and it should have sovereignty, but Argentina makes a strong case with regards to the U.N.'s ruling on the "sovereignty dispute." War still seems unlikely, but editorials in England are already reminding readers (perhaps in a pre-emptive cautionary jingoism?) that Argentina's original attack on the islands in 1982 also started off somewhat innocuously, and as the article points out, Great Britain's armed forces are rather thinly spread right now, perhaps making this the best time since the 1980s to attack the islands.

And the fact that Gordon Brown is already trying to "save his skin" and could perhaps use military maneuvers to his advantage a la Margaret Thatcher in 1982 is only half the story. If Gordon Brown thinks he's the only unpopular leader involved, he'd better think again. Her battle with the Argentine Central Bank, questions over her husband's (and ex-president's) financial actions, and unpopular struggles with striking farmers have all led to Cristina Kirchner being unpopular and embattled throughout her administration. An attack on the islands could divert the Argentine citizenry's focus on her policies towards its own nationalism means a war could benefit more than just Gordon Brown (though given the effects of the loss on the Argentine dictatorship in 1983, it is certainly a much riskier move for Kirchner). That's not to say either Kirchner nor Brown wants another war, but both would probably benefit (at least in the short-term) in the face of flagging popularity.

Again, I really don't think this will come to a war. I suspect this will remain a diplomatic war-of-words, perhaps involving courts (though I don't know how that would function), the U.N., or other international arbitration matters. Still, relations between the two countries haven't been this volatile in awhile, and it will be worth seeing what the outcome is in the coming weeks.

RIP - Raul Alfonsin

From Boz, I learn that Raul Alfonsin, Argentina's first civilian president after the military dictatorship, has died at 82.

Words do not describe what a difficult task Alfonsin faced during his administration. While the broader narrative of the history of Argentina's "Dirty War" paints their removal from politics as inevitable in the wake of the Falklands/Malvinas disaster, in 1983, it was anything but inevitable. While the military was indeed disgraced, it also continued to hover over politics, feeling civilians just wouldn't be able to handle things. Alfonsin not only managed to resist military pressures, he ended up being one of the best post-dictatorship leaders in Latin America in terms of pursuing human rights violators, putting on trial many of the leaders of the military junta, with five convictions resulting, including of two former presidents, Jorge Videla and Leopoldo Galtieri. Certainly, Alfonsin's actions in this arena would have been much more powerful if the Carlos Menem had not issued the unforgiveable general pardon of military criminals upon his election in 1990.

Certainly, Alfonsin was not a perfect president, and Argentina witnessed severe economic troubles during his term (including an annual inflation rate above 3000%), though the economic troubles brought on by Carlos Menem's neoliberalism and the collapse in 2001 made it clear that Alfonsin was not solely responsible for the economic decline in Argentina, either. But economics have taken second-stage in the narrative of Alfonsin's presidency and its importance, and rightfully so - he masterfully negotiated a return to democracy that continues today in a country that saw military intervention intermittently from the 1900s to 1983, and he did so while trying to pursue human rights to the best of his abilities. It is a sad day for Argentina.

One "Mis-Named" Set of Islands, 30,000 Destroyed Books

I've made clear before how stupid I think the Falklands/Malvinas War was, and it's clear through monuments and such that the war and the islands themselves continue to play an important part to at least some sectors of the identities of Argentines.

That said, I find the trashing of over 30,000 school textbooks simply because they said "Falklands" rather than "las Islas Malvinas" ridiculous. Whether Argentina likes it or not, the British state administers the islands, not Argentina, and "claims" on the islands don't undo that fact (though the spokesman for the Islands still comes off as arrogant, too). Wasting paper, funds, and resources to destroy and replace 30,000 books over one name that you don't really like is definitely one of the more ridiculous things to do. Chalk another one up to misplaced nationalism.