more from the blog

• Impressive Map of Guatemala's Natural Resources

  Jul 25, 2009

  Someday I'd like to make a map like this for Colombia. This map shows key natural resource extraction sites in Guatemala and allows viewers to manipulate the information included on the map. One pretty interesting conclusion shown by the map is the close correlation between road construction and extractive projects.

• U.S. Escalates Military Presence in Colombia

  Jul 22, 2009

  A just-published article by my friend and colleague John Lindsay-Poland raises alarming questions about the revamping of U.S. militarization in Colombia. He calls current plans in the works "the worst thing to happen to U.S. policy in the Andes since Plan Colombia began a decade ago."

• Fugitive 'Narco-Hippo' Slain

  Jul 11, 2009

  Colombian authorities have finally caught up with a hippopotamus who had been on the run for two years. The hippo had escaped, along with his mate, from the narco-estate of slain drug don Pablo Escobar. The hippos had produced an offspring in the wild of the Magdalena River valley, and the two remaining hippos are still unaccounted for.

• Argentina's World Domination

  Jul 02, 2009

  Argentines are known throughout Latin America for their oversized egos. They might joke that it's only a matter of time before their countrymen take over the world. It turns out that the very ground your standing on, whether in San Francisco or in Tokyo, deep down is owned by an Argentine… an Argentine ant

• Panama's 'Red Devils'

  Jun 18, 2009

  Ask a cab driver in Panama City, Panama about their main complaint, and they won't tell you about being mugged at gunpoint or about the capital city's monstrous traffic jams. No, they'll most likely answer with three words: Los Diablo Rojos. The Red Devils.