For these soldiers from mostly poor countries like Ecuador and Bolivia, the advantages are clear: a steady monthly salary of $1,300, which is not that bad by Spanish standards and rises significantly with overseas assignments, and the possibility of obtaining Spanish citizenship.

"Who would have thought I would end up taking part in missions with the Spanish army? It is odd, different. But it has opened up a lot of doors for me," said Dalton Rafael Jimenez, a 22-year-old Ecuadorean who has been in the Spanish army for nearly three years.

The question I have about all these rich Western countries hiring Latin@s to run their military is: What effect does training whole generations of Latin@s in the ways of the military have on the women in their lives? Especially seeing as those people who suffer from PTSD are much more inclined to be abusive and violent towards partners?

Holder is defense lawyer for Chiquita Brands international in a case in which Colombian plaintiffs seek damages for the murders carried out by the AUC paramilitaries - a designated terrorist organization. Chiquita has already admitted in a criminal case that it paid the AUC around $1.7 million in a 7-year period and that it further provided the AUC with a cache of machine guns as well.

"A group of Dominicans armed with pistols, machetes and knives came to take revenge on us. I broke my leg trying to escape from my house, which was on fire. It's not fair that all Haitians should have to pay for the crime of one," Elena Piti, a Haitian mother of seven who lives in the Dominican Republic, told IPS.

"I'm thinking of going back to Haiti, because I'm afraid that something might happen to me. Besides, I have nothing left here. I lost everything: my house, my money and my job," said Franklin Jean, who IPS found hiding out in a precarious shelter in the surrounding fields.

No one feels the effects of what happens in the U.S. as much as Mexico. It's as if the fault line we share were a conductor of not just seismic energy but also shared grief. And when things get bad in the U.S., they get worse in Mexico. Issues such as border control, the economy -- which affects jobs done by Mexicans and subsequently remesas sent back home (one of Mexico's top economic drivers) -- and trade have Mexican analysts, politicians and journalists waiting with baited breath. The cover of today's El Universal (Mexico City) newspaper could easily be mistaken for a U.S. newspaper. Under the masthead, prime page space is 100% occupied by poll information, predictions, photographs of the candidates.

And the ripple effect of the continues even further south. Buenos Aires' Clarin proclaims, jubilantly, "Obama- McCain: an election that puts an end to the Bush era." In the ranking of most popular news stories according to readers, a story about the death of Barack Obama's grandmother is second only to news about soccer legend Diego Maradona.

And the same story in papers throughout the region and the world. Expectations are high in Latin America, perhaps as high as they are in the U.S., and the disappointment of 4 more years of failed Bush policy will be the same should McCain surprise us all with a victory tonight.

If you know a shaman, give him a call.

Here's an excerpt of the letter from some members of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA):

There are many other challenges, too. Colombia, the main focus of the
Bush Administration's policy, is currently the scene of the second
largest humanitarian crisis in the world, with four million internally
displaced people. Its government, which criminalizes even peaceful
protest, seeks an extension of the free trade policies that much of the
hemisphere is already reacting against. Cuba has begun a process of
transition that should be supported in positive ways, such as through
the dialogue you advocate. Mexicans and Central Americans migrate by
the tens of thousands to seek work in the United States, where their
labor power is much needed but their presence is denigrated by a public
that has, since the development of opinion polling in the 1930s, always
opposed immigration from anywhere. The way to manage immigration is not
by building a giant wall, but rather, the United States should support
more equitable economic development in Mexico and Central America and,
indeed, throughout the region. In addition, the U.S. must reconsider
drug control policies that have simply not worked and have been part of
the problem of political violence, especially in Mexico, Colombia and
Peru. And the U.S. must renew its active support for human rights
throughout the region. Unfortunately, in the eyes of many Latin
Americans, the United States has come to stand for the support of
inequitable regimes.

Read the entire letter and it's signatories after the jump.

In spite of the repressive government attendance, it still sounds like there were some interesting ideas being passed around at the event:

GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is also at the UN General Assembly and yet she's only meeting one Latin American leader. Can you guess which one?

More than 11,700 Mexican children and teenagers tried to cross the US border alone and were sent back to their native country in the first seven months of this year, Mexican migration officials said Wednesday.

Meanwhile ICE raids continue, people are dead, and John McCain and Barack Obama are pointing fingers.

Originally Hispanics only got a week pero since we're always late anyway, they decided to extend it to a month so that as soon Hispanics realized that they were being celebrated (seriously why else would the company cafeteria suddenly offer quesadillas) the party would be halfway done.

Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 to October 15. The celebration began as National Hispanic Heritage Week, which was authorized and requested by Congress in 1968 (Public Law 90-498). It was officially proclaimed as such by President Ford in 1974, calling “upon the people of the United States, especially the education community and those organizations concerned with the protection of human rights, to observe that week with appropriate ceremonies and activities.” In 1988 a joint resolution of the Senate and House of Representatives authorized the change to National Hispanic Heritage Month (Public Law 100-402). President Ronald Reagan proclaimed the change official that same year.

The line given to us living in the United States is that it's for our protection, our safety, our order, so that we can go one with our lives, meaning swallowing whole the lies fed to us via the primetime coverage. But who is included in this Our?

Pitinyanqui is a Venezuelanism meant to qualify those who look up to the United States too much or imitates Americans. Chávez is making the term his own to call out sell-outs and what he considers "a new enemy for Venezuela": "vendepatria", "arrastrado", "oligarca" "lleno de amargura", sinvergüenza y anti-revolucionario.

"The pitiyanquis should give thanks to God because this revolution is peaceful. Because there are many of us and if it was violent there wouldn't be even one trace of pitiyanqui in this country," the Venezuelan leader recently said.

Pitiyanqui, a word that should be pronounced with disgust to be believable, has become a recurring theme in the pre-campaign for the regional elections in November, in which Chávez risks more than just a handful of states.

Via / AFP

It was in Mexico City that the Mexican Supreme Court ruled last week that abortion was in fact, constitutional. A harsh blow to the Catholic church who, with this move (and others such as same-sex civil unions) seems to have lost control of largest city in the Latin world.

While other social causes are being advanced all over the region, it seems that the issue of abortion hasn’t moved an inch. To me it’s unbelievable that in countries like Argentina or Colombia abortion is still criminalized, and the only procedures that are legally carried out are the ones that aren’t decided on by the woman but by the state -- the ones deemed justifiable such as in cases of imminent death of the mother or the fetus or in cases of rape. According to Mexico’s La Jornada, Paraguay has an even stranger way of defining justifiable circumstances: “para salvar el honor de la esposa, madre, hija o hermana”. And even in that case the punishment is only cut in half, not eliminated. Even worse, in some countries such as Honduras and Peru abortion is ALWAYS illegal. No matter what.

How can Latin American leaders who call themselves progressive – the Hugo Chavezes, the Lulas and company – allow their countries to live with such antiquated and machista legislation on a topic so vital to human rights? Chile tried to make abortion legal a couple of years back and it didn’t fly. Brazil, too, but the pressure from the Church in the region's largest Catholic population is just too much to bear.

Women have risen to the post of President in some Latin American countries, yet women's rights remain just as frozen as before these strides were made. In the end, no matter who's at the helm, it's still a boys club and the Catholic Church an omnipresent social force to be reckoned with.

Via / La Jornada

A new website attempts to fill in the holes and give voice to AfroLatinos.

The government will initiate in September a program to grant formal refugee status to some 50,000 Colombians living in the border zone, nearly three times the number currently registered, announced Chancellor María Isabel Salvador on Wednesday.

The "Colombian refugees registered are currently 18,000 but we will extend refugee status to at least 50,000 more."

Via / El Universal

Both Matos and his trainer, Leudis González, have been banned from ever participating in the Olympics again as a result of the attack. According to Spain's El País, González insists that Kazakhstan "bought" the judges, bribing them into ruling in favor of their team.

Via / El País

Image via Reuters/El Pais