Latin American Politics

Fake Hugo Chavez Photo Actually Shows Mexican Man With Gigantism

How badly do some people want Hugo Chávez to die?  Badly enough to splash a phony photo purportedly portraying the Venezuelan president's last moments on newspapers and websites around the world.The fake photo was quickly debunked. But who was the poor bastard whose intubation was met with gle ... More >>

Hugo Chavez Names Successor Before He Undergoes Fourth Cancer Surgery

When Hugo Chavez made his first mysterious trip to Cuba for cancer surgery last year, many predicted the Venezuelan president's health would give out before last October's elections. The dictator seemed to have made a surprising recovery and won reelection, but it seems his health problems are far f ... More >>

Luke's Gospel: Cubans Go Liberal; Bye, Marco Rubio

Cubans Are Now Liberals. Good-bye Marco Rubio.

Now we know why Mitt Romney released a last minute campaign ad in South Florida trying to link Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro to Barack Obama. It was a desperation.Romney knew he had to to stave off the biggest surprise of the presidential election in Florida: Nearly half of Miami-Dade's Cuban America ... More >>

Voter Suppression: Is Mayor Carlos Gimenez Like Fidel Castro?

In this Election, Rick Scott and Carlos Gimenez Are Acting Like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez

Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke assesses the election debacle in Florida.On the last Saturday of early voting, my wife and I stood in a line that went around the ... More >>

Obama "Bayonets" Romney In Boca Raton, But America Is Real Victim After Miserable Debate

Last night's debate was what political experts call a "turd sandwich." Barack Obama and Mitt Romney provided 90 minutes of crap, and moderator Bob Schieffer happily mashed it all together between the blandest, stalest, white-bread questions he could find.Obama supporters will say their man won the d ... More >>

Fidel Castro Reportedly Made Public Appearance at Havana's Hotel National

Wow, what opportune timing.After weeks of the rumor mill churning out reports of Fidel Castro's ailing health, the retired Cuban dictator has reportedly made an appearance at Havana's famed National Hotel and talked to hotel workers for about half an hour.

Florida Man Would Like His Lock Of Simon Bolivar's Hair Back, Sues Venezuela

In Miami's federal courthouse downtown, thousands of lawsuits are filed every day over every conceivable kind of property: houses, boats, cars, drug money, jewelry, fine art. It's a fair bet, though, that a suit filed two weeks ago is a first: A demand that the Venezuelan government give a lock of S ... More >>

Cuba Lifts Exit Visa Requirements, Raising Possibility of Exodus to Latin America

This morning, the Cuban government made its biggest immigration policy change in five decades by scrapping its longstanding rule requiring exit visa for Cubans traveling abroad. Now, Cubans with passports can travel anywhere in the world -- including the U.S., apparently -- as long as the country of ... More >>

Fidel Castro Just Reads and Exercises All Day, According to His Son

This week saw the latest rumors circulating about the health of Fidel Castro, and the Cuban government remained suspiciously quiet. Though, now Fidel's son Alex Castro has broken the silence and says that his father is doing "well."

Miami Venezuelans Chartering Planes and Buses to Exercise Their Right to Vote Against Hugo Chavez

When Venezuela closed its consulate in Miami, it left the country's largest group of foreign-based voters without a convenient polling place. In order to vote in the upcoming October 7 election, those that live in Miami would have to travel to another consulate. Which isn't easy, considering the nea ... More >>

We Can't Trust Carlos Gimenez And Katherine Fernandez Rundle To Stop Absentee Ballot Fraud

Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke wants the feds to investigate the latest election fraud scandal in Miami-Dade.President Barack Obama needs to send the Justice De ... More >>

Obama Says Hugo Chavez Doesn't Present Serious National Security Concern; Rubio and Republicans Jump to Attack

América TeVe, the little Spanish-language, Hialeah Gardens-based scored a big interview with President Barack Obama, and it's causing a major controversy.Obama told reporter Oscar Haza that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has not posed a "serious national security impact" to America in the past fe ... More >>

Report: Hugo Chavez Near Death, Not Expected to Live More Than a Few Months

According to Dan Rather, of all reporters, a source close to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez says his cancer has reached its final stages and the dictator is not expected to live for more than a few more months. Reports of Chavez's failing health first emerged when he mysteriously flew to Havana in ... More >>

Documenting Murder

Newt Gingrich Calls for New Cold War With Cuba, Ron Paul Says One Was Enough

15 years out of government and Newt's still crazy​The 3 a.m. phone call has struck again. In tonight's GOP primary debate, NBC anchor Bryan Williams asked the candidates what they would do if told that Fidel Castro had finally died and "half a million Cubans" were on their way to the United States ... More >>

Hugo Chavez Says He's Closing Venezuela's Consulate in Miami

​Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez says his country will close its consulate in Miami. The news comes after a Venezuelan diplomat headquartered in Miami was expelled by the state department earlier this week for her alleged role in a cyber-terrorism plot against the United States.

Castro Death Meter: Fidel More Dead Than Kim Jong Il's Dead Body, Say Medical Experts

​Pobre Fidelito. Being a dying dictator was his idea. But now Hugo Chavez has fat cancer, and Kim Jong Il went to ride his giant rabbits in the sky. Nobody's paying attention to the totally dead antics of Fidel Castro. He's like the fourth-grade girl who wore Silly Bandz before it was kewl. ... More >>

Eligio Cedeño: A banker battles Hugo Chavez

Fidel Castro's Birthday Present: A Big Transsexual Wedding

​Fidel Castro turned 85 this past Saturday, and the celebrations were mostly typical. Supporters held a giant concert featuring dozens of musical acts, but Castro himself spent the day in seclusion, which prompted rumors he might have been too feeble for a public appearance. Miami exiles, meanwhil ... More >>

Cuba gets high-speed Internet

Hugo Chávez Calls Cuban Reforms 'Refreshing'

walksydneystreets.netRefreshing! Like Cuba's economic reforms​Over the past decade, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez has become the Cuban government's number one supporter. His oil subsidies help keep the embargoed island afloat and, in return, he welcomes Cuban doctors to Caracas's poor, inner-c ... More >>

Bay of Pigs 50 Years Later: Miami Mourns, Cuban Gov Celebrates - But for How Long?

via Wikimedia CommonsBay of Pigs Memorial in Little Havana.​They landed silently in the pre-dawn darkness: small groups of armed men seeking to overthrow Fidel Castro and his young government. Then everything went wrong. Two days later, the mission was in flames.This Sunday marks the 50th annivers ... More >>

Mitt Romney is the GOP Front-Runner in Florida, Maybe

Mittens in guayabera. ​Back in 2008, Mitt Romney came in second place to John McCain in Florida's GOP primary, a loss that signaled the beginning of the end for his campaign. Perhaps though the Sunshine State could prove warmer to Romney's presidential hopes a second time around. A new poll from M ... More >>

After battling Castro, James Cason takes on Coral Gables

Hugo Chavez Emerges as Voice of Reason in Fight Over Carlos Andres Perez's Remains

Hugo Chavez: Voice of reason?​We have taken our fair share of shots at Hugo Chavez over the years. But in the tug-of-war over the remains of former Venezuelan president Carlos Andres Perez, Chavez has somehow come across as a veritable voice of reason.Yesterday Chavez pleaded for a quick resolutio ... More >>

What would immigration reform look like if the Feds got off their duffs?

Latin American Round-Up: Hugo Chávez Gets Decree Powers, Raúl Castro Gets Depressed

Cheer up buddy. I've got decree powers!​Hugo Chávez won't be making any Obama-like compromises in 2011. The Venezuelan National Assembly is expected to pass a ley habilitante today that would allow the bombastic president -- best known for his twitter histrionics -- to pass laws by decree for 12 ... More >>

Former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner Dead

​Nestor Kirchner, the former president of Argentina and husband of current president Cristina Kirchner, has died this morning due to heart failure at the age of 60. The leftist-Peronist politician was widely expected to mount another presidential campaign in 2011.

Only a fraction of Mexicans get U.S. asylum

Phoenix, Arizona: America's kidnapping capital is brutal

J.J. Rendon is Latin America's Karl Rove

Cuban punk rockers Gorki and Gil used music to take on Castro

Cuban Dissident Leaders call for Lifting Travel Ban

Hardliners opposed to lifting the travel ban to Cuba have been among the staunchest champions of the Communist island's increasingly vocal dissident movement. But a letter released Thursday by 74 of the Cuba's most prominent dissenters undermines some of the key arguments made by leaders of Miami's ... More >>

Badlands: From ground zero of the immigration crisis along the Mexican border

No Green Party, Twitter-Driven Miracle In Colombia as Santos Wins Big

Millions of Colombians turned out to the polls yesterday to elect a new president, and the environment, Facebook, and free-thinking lost out to security, money and familiarity.via Antanas Mockus' facebookMockus' Green Party captured just 21 percent of the vote in Colombia on Sunday.That's oversimpli ... More >>

Human Rights Watch: Cuba More Repressive Than Ever

Cuba has been on a repressive kick since the beginning of a year. After well-known critic Zapata Tamayo died in February, other Cubans took to the streets in protest. ​Another one, Guillermo Farinas, is said to be at death's door. The government, in turn, responded by beating some them -- the Lad ... More >>

Cuban spy Juan Pablo Roque's jilted ex-wife won $27 million for his deception

Thousands Attend Puerto Rican Band Calle 13's Habana Concert

Who knew Cubans even liked Puerto Ricans? On Tuesday, boricua reggaetoneros Calle 13 threw a concert in Habana and 200,000 Cubans showed up.from diplo's twitter​ It was the second major concert by an international star in Cuba in the last year, following August's Juanes show. Singer René Pérez J ... More >>

Miami has dozens of Fidel Castros

If you thought Cuba's National Mule Census is dumb, think again

Augusto Pinochet Painted as True Hero of Chilean Earthquake by Wall Street Journal

​As far as Latin American dictators go, Augusto Pinochet doesn't get nearly enough hate in these parts. I mean, this is what Miami does: hate Latin American dictators. Philly has cheese steaks, Orlando has theme parks, Miami has its undying hate for Latin American dictators.Oh, that's right! Pinoc ... More >>

Cuban Commies give Avatar the thumbs-down

From Bolivia: Massacre victims get no justice

Rio de Politico

Black October

Victims of a Bolivian massacre seek justice in Miami.

War on Hugo Chávez

An outlaw and former spook takes on the Venezuelan dictator

Notes from the Underground

Impoverished and imperiled, Cuba's independent journalists stubbornly cling to the notion of a free press

From Moscow to Miami

When Cuba's top students were sent to the Soviet Union, no one could have guessed they would change from revolutionaries to refugees.