Andrew Clem home
Andrew Clem banner

Blog post


Monthly archives
(all categories)


May 31, 2006 [LINK]

Student protest in Chile

Perhaps it is an indication of Chile's economic success, rising above Third World status, that half a million students boycotted classes to back up their demands for a new curriculum, free bus rides, and no fees to take exams. Or perhaps it reflects the left-liberal permissiveness encouraged by the Socialist government. In any case, over 600 of them were arrested in protests during the last two days, and 14 were injured by police who used water cannons to keep the kids under control. President Michelle Bachelet denounced the police and expressed sympathy for the students. See BBC.

Venezuela-Russia arms deal

During a visit to Ecuador, Hugo Chavez announced that Venezuela had reached an agreement with Russia whereby Kalashnikov rifles will be manufactured under license in Venezuela "So we can defend every street, every hill, every corner." See BBC. Whether or not he actually believes such paranoid fantasies, some people are bound to do so, and this will needlessly escalate tensions and have a destabilizing effect on security in the region. Chavez began purchases of weapons from Russia in February 2005, and then as now, the main goal seems to be his desire to arm rebel forces in Colombia and other countries that resist his "Bolivarian revolution."

Uruguay update

The Uruguay background information page has been updated with data on political parties and a (rather scant) news chronology.

Posted (or last updated or commented upon): 31 May 2006, 10: 50 PM

(unformatted URL)
      .



This post is over a week old, so comments are closed.


© Andrew G. Clem. All rights reserved. Your use of this material signifies your acceptance of the Terms of use.


Hits on this page (single blog post) since July 2, 2007:

Category archives:
(all years)



This (or that) year's
blog highlights

Blog highlights have been compiled for the years 2010-2012 thus far, and eventually will be compiled for earlier years, back to 2002.


Explanation

The "home made" blog organization system that I created was instituted on November 1, 2004, followed by several functional enhancements in subsequent years. I make no more than one blog post per day on any one category, so some posts may cover multiple news items or issues. Blog posts appear in the following (reverse alphabetical) order, which may differ from the chronological order in which the posts were originally made:

  1. Wild birds (LAST)
  2. War
  3. Science & Technology
  4. Politics
  5. Latin America
  6. Culture & Travel
  7. Canaries ("Home birds")
  8. Baseball (FIRST)