Latin America today and tomorrow

El Insomnio de Bolìvar, Jorge Volpi / Debate

I already talked about Jorge Volpi. The questions he answered in a chat with the readers of El Pais were quite promising on the quality of his latest essay on Latin America, El insomnio de Bolivar (just in Spanish for the moment). This book has been awarded with the Prize of Debate Casa de América. I got it and was not disappointed. In a very clear way, the Mexican writer raises the question of Latin American identity nowadays.

“The uncertainty of who we are”

Luis Sepulveda / Daniel Mordzinski

In his latest book, Chilean author Luis Sepulveda stages three old men who try to revive their revolutionary past with an ultimate blow. I had the opportunity to interview him and I must confess it was a great moment for me.

Thriller president

Imagine Barack Obama, Silvio Berlusconi or Nicolas Sarkozy dancing on Thriller… Well, no big deal, we can imagine it quite easily nowadays ! So it’s just another example of a political show, and a good one : the new president of Chile, the center-right wing candidate and businessman Sebastian Piñera danced in a TV show during his campaign, in a tribute to Michael Jackson. He seems comfortable with the cameras (but not with the dance !) but it is not surprising. He is the owner of several TV channels…

Our own responsibility

Media talk about the huge wave of solidarity toward Haiti around the world. It is probably true but I am afraid to say it is not so simple. All the governments, for example, do not seem to have realized the immensity of Haitian drama. When Brazil will send a 15 million dollar aid and Australia 9 million dollars, others like France  have not announced yet any financial aid.