The singer, the president and a “H1J0D3PU7A”

Here is another proof of how Twitter has changed the way people communicate, especially celebrities. And so on, as the story has many dimensions. Colombian singer Juanes worsened the diplomatic crisis between Colombia and Venezuela. The reason: a message he left on his Twitter account. The man who sang “La Camisa negra” made a joke. “They just gave me the PIN code of Hugo Chavez’s cellphone. Do you want it? It is H1J0D3PU7A”. Well, not so funny, it makes me better think about the jokes children make with their calculator. But the fact is that the relationship between Colombia and Venezuela were particularly tight.

And if the Venezuelan crisis was deeper?

Bad days for Hugo Chavez and even more for the whole Venezuela. Since the beginning of the year, the economical crisis which had been latent for months, erupted. And now it threatens to become a political crisis as the parliamentary elections are coming (September 2010).

Secretive friends

As Iranian President Ahmadinejad began a South American tour and arrived in Caracas today, the Spanish newspaper El Pais wondered what the flight between Caracas, Damascus and Tehran is. At least a weird strategy from the Venezuelan state company Conviasa, which confessed it was an economical nonsense. The airline only serves seven international destinations including neighbors Port of Spain, Saint Vincent, Grenada or Dominica.

Spy stories

Mayor of Buenos Aires Mauricio Macri / Beatrice Murch, Flickr.com

What happens right now in South America ? It seems that all the continent has been taken by a wave of spy stories. First of all, Venezuela had accused Colombia from having sent some spied in their territory. Several people have been arrested and the case almost led both countries to a conflict as Chavez mobilized his army to the border.

Swine flu threatens Amazonian tribes

The Yanomani / Survival

Which population is the most exposed to swine flu? Pregnant women? Babies? Ill people? Medicals? No, it seems that the most exposed are also thought to be the most isolated. Seven Yanomani Indians died from an outbreak of swine flu. Another 1,000 Yanomami are reported to have caught the strain.

Fatal tension

Very few other places in the world face such a potential tension as Colombia and Venezuela. An old border conflict, two completely different political regimes, stories of rebels and paramilitaries, drug traffic… It is even a miracle if the situation has not degenerated more. Another case has inflamed the tensions. Eight Colombians (and also one Peruvian and one Venezuelan) have been killed in Venezuela. Nobody knows who they are, who killed them and how they have been killed.

“Sucre”: the financial future for Latin America ?

It is a recurrent issue, an old dream that is coming back in the news in an unexpected form. The Bolivarian revolution Hugo Chavez has made his banner for several years could take an important step in the coming months … creating a single currency. The economic crisis, a weak dollar, the political context that brought left wing majorities to power… All this has given a big boost to the “sucre” project.