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McDowell posted:Sectarian/Xenophobic culture issues are a barrier. Already Spanish dialectal variation isn't much of an issue. Written Spanish is nearly identical across various Hispanophone countries, particularly if you aren't including Spain. Spoken dialects vary a bit more, with Rioplatense, Chilean, and Caribbean dialects the most divergent, but still I can't see 'which Spanish' ever being an obstacle. Dialect chauvinism is a nonissue today. Native speakers consider Iberian to be effete, and Mexican slang to be excessively vulgar, but there's little problem with intelligibility.
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Nov 27, 2014 20:51
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computer parts posted:I heard Costa Rica was also pretty nice, or are you just counting South America? Costa Rica is really good at PR. Their standard of living is well below that of Chile or Panama. El Salvador and Mexico have more diversified and wealthier economies too. Costa Rica is all about tourism, which they do well. It's kind of Latin America Lite - mostly white population, no military, little violent crime (although rampant property crime). Ticos have the reputation for being the laziest, smuggest people in Central America.
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Nov 28, 2014 14:50
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Gough Suppressant posted:Could some people from the countries in the region post what are considered the more reputable online news sources? Having never lived in latin america it can sometimes be hard to tell what the equivalent of Fox or the like is without context. You're opening a can even wormier than the one about bias in the US media. El Universal of Mexico City has good reporting, but this might be a fascist/communist/zapatista/poopypanted opinion. http://m.eluniversal.com.mx/home.html
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Nov 30, 2014 14:51
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Forgall posted:Anybody from Uruguay here? It seems to be getting pretty good rep, is it justified or just good PR? I did a semester of school in Montevideo. It's the bright spot of South America - super progressive politics (legal marijuana, gay marriage), stable, affluent. Uruguay is also very friendly to foreign investment and foreign residents. I'm seriously toying with the idea of buying a place in Montevideo or Colonia. Population is like Argentina's, but WAY more laid back. Montevideo is like a smaller, less pretentious Buenos Aires.
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Nov 30, 2014 15:05
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Crowsbeak posted:So is there any good place I can find information about Honduras. I really want to know what are the chances of the place ever turning itself around from the self inflicted wounds it has made on itself. Slim to none. Weak state, systematic corruption, massive gang problem initially formed by deportees from the US, Honduras is hosed. I go at least once a year, usually with a night or two in San Pedro Sula, which is genuinely the most menacing place I've been. Wounds there aren't really self-inflicted. Probably no place in the Americas has been as consistently and thoroughly worked over by the US, and especially US fruit companies. For much of its history, Honduras was mostly owned by foreign fruit companies. Sorry, don't have a specific publication on Honduras that isn't focused on US immigration. TheImmigrant fucked around with this message at 14:39 on Dec 1, 2014 |
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Dec 1, 2014 14:36
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Younger Cuban-Americans are not hardline anti-Castro.
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Dec 17, 2014 16:08
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Volkerball posted:South America is probably my least understood region, but now I need to know stuff about Argentina. Where can I learn a little bit about the current situation there? Something quick to build a base I can work out from. Good documentaries, recent detailed articles, effort posts, that kind of thing. "Argentina: a country of Italians who speak Spanish and think themselves British." It's probably the only country that's gone from First World (it sent material and financial aid to Europe after WWII) to arguably Third World.
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Dec 31, 2014 16:39
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Ratoslov posted:
Halachically, it's unclear whether human meat is kosher or trayf. Authorities are split in the issue. In regards to Argentina, there are lots of Jews (close to a quarter million) in BsAs. To listen to certain Peronistas, they are indeed werewolves.
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Jan 1, 2015 19:09
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bagual posted:Has anyone read Galeano in here? I've been reading my girlfriend's copy of Days and nights of love and war, it's a loving bombshell, I really should get on reading his work, any reccomendations? (except open veins of latin america, which is the next up on the list) Open Veins of Latin America is outstanding. Interestingly, Galeano now claims that he wasn't qualified to write such a book at the time, that as a work it is too naive. http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/05/24/books/eduardo-galeano-disavows-his-book-the-open-veins.html?referrer=&_r=0
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Jan 3, 2015 16:24
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Ardennes posted:If I wanted to get into Galeano, where would I start (I assume I would be force to read in English)? "Open Veins of Latin America." It's widely available in English. The buffoon Hugo Chávez famously gave President Obama a copy a few years back. TheIneff posted:That's an incredibly depressing way to poo poo all over the entirety of a legacy considering that that book is literally the only reason why people know he exists outside of Latin America. Why is an author's evolving opinion depressing? It's far more depressing and frustrating to see an intellectual's thoughts and outlook calcify while still young.
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Jan 5, 2015 16:57
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TheLovablePlutonis posted:"Not white". Argentina (and Uruguay) are the most white-bread countries in the Western Hemisphere. Most sources I read say that Argentina's population is 97% white - mostly of Italian, Spanish, and German descent.
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Jan 9, 2015 16:37
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Wouldn't it be easier to pick off the rest of Paraguay? Uruguay has a nice thing going. I studied there for a semester, and would love to go back to pick up a little house and drink mate all day.
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Jan 28, 2015 17:58
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Polidoro posted:Why would a non-rich person voluntarily live in Uruguay? Because Uruguay is cool. It's a pleasant, small and stable haven down south. Boring food, but pretty people and stoner culture, if that's your thing. I'm a (relatively) rich person, and I love Uruguay. Smoke a joint, drink mate, surf up north. It's probably my favorite place in the world - Cabo Polonio. Uruguayos aren't resentniks, unless you're porteño.
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Mar 25, 2015 04:56
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Polidoro posted:Well I'm a relatively poor Uruguayan and I think it sucks. Compared to what? Yeah, being poor, relative or absolute, sucks anywhere. Still, poor in Uruguay is preferable to being average in Honduras or Cuba. I don't remember rent being unreasonable, even in Pocitos. My issue with Uruguay is monotony of the food. I'm happy drinking mate or terere all day, but spare me yet another loving milanesa. TheImmigrant fucked around with this message at 13:50 on Mar 25, 2015 |
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Mar 25, 2015 13:48
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How do you Brazilians feel about being classified as Latin Americans?
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Apr 3, 2015 21:01
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Future Days posted:Portuguese is a Romance language, though, so vOv. Then French-Canadians are Latin American too.
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Apr 3, 2015 21:23
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bagual posted:Doesn't count, they are a subjugated peoples under the anglo empire of tyranny I was asking because I know a few Brazilians who bristle at being called Latin American or Hispanic. quote:This remembers me of a funny linguistic quirk in brazilian-hispanic mutual understanding, apparently it's way harder for spanish-speakers to learn portuguese than the other way around because while all spanish syllables and sounds exist within the portuguese language there are a lot of intonations and language structures specific to portuguese (and brazilian portuguese). This results in a lot of brazilian tourists who never formally learned spanish to go around latin america speaking a weird portuñol and getting by just fine, while brazilian hotels and businesses in touristic cities generally keep spanish-fluent staff. That's been my experience, both in South America and Iberia. Brazilians and Portuguese have a much easier time with Spanish than vice versa. As a non-native speaker of both Spanish and Portuguese, I can say that Portuguese is much more difficult and irregular, in terms of both spelling and grammar, than Spanish. Before learning Portuguese, I got by without problems speaking Spanish and then Portunhol in Brazil (even though some Brazilians seemed to resent being addressed in Spanish). (On a tangent, I've heard a gaucho from Porto Alegre tell me that Rioplatense voseo is due to the influence of Brazilian Portuguese.)
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Apr 3, 2015 22:26
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Badger of Basra posted:"Latin American" and "Hispanic" mean different things. Thank you for your Valuable Contribution.
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Apr 3, 2015 22:50
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Dias posted:Reminder that the Brazilian elite thinks Miami, of all places, is paradise on Earth. Compared to Sampa, it is.
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Apr 4, 2015 01:20
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Ghost of Mussolini posted:Would there be any interest in making a "proper" catch-all Latin America (South America maybe? Mexico has its own thread and I've not seen much about Central America being posted) thread? This thread shows that there are people who would engage, but the OP (really the first few pages) is awful and don't inform anyone about anything other than the fact that Pinochet is not particularly well regarded. There's quite a few things going on at the continental level this year that may solicit further attention. The OP could have small effortposts about each country or something. Where is the Mexico thread?
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Apr 8, 2015 17:39
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Badger of Basra posted:Can any of the Brazil posters explain to me what "terceirização" is, in terms of whatever this law the Congress wants to pass? I've read a couple articles about it and I'm still sort of confused. Outsourcing.
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Apr 8, 2015 18:05
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Honduras is hosed. I had to meet clients in San Pedro Sula just over a year ago, and spent a couple of nights there. Scary place. Maras and death squads who'll shoot you for having tattoos.
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Apr 26, 2015 00:52
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nerdz posted:I don't live in either state, but this guy posting on a secessionist São Paulo page sure knows who's better: Doesn't São Paulo state have like 25% of the population of Brazil?
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Aug 1, 2015 17:47
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punk rebel ecks posted:Probably the best article on Cuba that I've read. I've been to Cuba a couple of times (2002 and 2006). Cubans are proud of accomplishments like education and health care and maintaining independence from the US, but surprisingly nuanced and vocal about the wrong turns the Revolution has taken. They know that Cuba is not a 'normal' country, and seem to yearn for the day when it is and they have access to consumer goods. Cubans may be more open with foreign visitors than other Cubans, as the government maintains CDR snitches on just about every block, especially in Havana. I was surprised by the readiness people had for political conversations. No one believes the heavy-handed Granma propaganda garbage that all of Cuba's problems are due to the US, but they do strongly resent the US embargo of the island.
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May 27, 2016 18:48
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joepinetree posted:I agree with this. I was in Cuba 2 months ago. The average Cuban that I talked to has political views that are much more nuanced, and I would say pragmatic, than pretty much anyone outside of Cuba. Their education system, health care and safety net (I traveled half the country and didn't see Brazilian style abject poverty anywhere, though there was certainly a lot of poverty) are all remarkable and a source of pride, while they also yearn for better access to resources, freer communications, etc. One thing that surprised me was that while most people had mixed to negative views of the Castro brothers, everyone I talked to absolutely loved Che. Good observation about the poverty. Everywhere else I've been in Latin America there is visible abject poverty. I'm talking things like widespread begging and glue-addicted orphans living in the streets. Cuba has a more low-level and equal poverty. No one starves or lives on the street, although the food (even if you're carrying hard currency) is uniformly terrible, there's little available for purchase, and accommodations pretty grim. You get the impression that everyone is just waiting, playing dominoes and drinking rum at card tables set up in side streets, playing music, or doing anything else that's free to kill time. I didn't see any beggars or street kids in Cuba, although the incessant attention from jineteras was pretty annoying. It was relentless in Havana. The first time I went was with my girlfriend. We were drinking one evening in a hard-currency hotel bar on Paseo Martí in Habana Vieja. She got up to use the toilet, and not a minute passed before there were two jineteras dripping from my arms and asking me if I wanted company. It's a strange feeling walking around a place and knowing that your purchasing power is hundreds or even thousands of times that of just about everyone you'll meet. Everyone knows it too. Despite that, I never felt threatened by any Cubans. Also agree about opinion of the Castro brothers and Guevara. The latter died while he was still handsome and young - at the right time to have a legacy like he has - even though he was a disaster as economic minister and responsible for some of the worst excesses of the barbudos after they took Havana. On the other hand, Cubans didn't have much love to express for the Castros, who are seen as dinosaurs. TheImmigrant fucked around with this message at 19:29 on May 27, 2016 |
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May 27, 2016 19:25
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Bartolomé de las Casas, the namesake for San Cristóbal (de las Casas) in Chiapas wrote a lot on the Mexican natives, to whom he was very sympathetic, in the 16th century.Squalid posted:http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/review/080705500X/R2FELO9PCR45H/ref=cm_cr_dp_mb_rvw_1?ie=UTF8&cursor=1 I read that the Spaniards used the fat rendered from Indian bodies as pitch for the boats they built to invade Tenochtitlán. TheImmigrant fucked around with this message at 19:55 on May 27, 2016 |
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May 27, 2016 19:52
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Ardennes posted:It would seem the solution predictably enough would be a mixed economy that hopefully could be fed by increased trade with the US and more flexible price controls, but largely avoids shock therapy that hit the former Soviet Union. There should be a problem with allowing more small and medium sized businesses to a point, but there doesn't seem to be a strong reason to break up the Rum/Tobacco monopolies or public services. The trick is going to be finding a comfortable spot somewhere between complete estrangement from the US and total domination by it. It's been either one or the other since 1898 for Cuba.
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May 27, 2016 20:02
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punk rebel ecks posted:The Cuba talk is very interesting. So no one likes the Castro brothers? What do Cubans think of democracy? Opinions I heard from Cubans* have ranged from neutral to negative. There's a small nomenklatura class in Cuba that doubtless think differently of the Castros. As for democracy, Cubans vote, but don't have true choices. I think they're more concerned with liberalization of the economy, at least regarding small- and medium-sized firms and concerns. *Mind, my contacts are mostly Cubans seeking to leave (I'm a US immigration lawyer), or people in contact with the tourist economy in Cuba.
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May 29, 2016 00:37
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I read this thread while probated the past few weeks. I find it utterly fascinating that there are Anglophone internauts who support FARC. It no longer surprises me, but it makes for great reading. Because AmeriKKKa and the Native Americans and Kaputalism, FARC are heroes of global revolution. The last time I was in Colombia, FARC were effectively neutered as a fighting force. Still capable of skirmishes and slaughter of villagers for, like, leftism! in remote places like Chocó and Putumayo, but not a national threat. They keep popping up like weeds because no one has managed to turn off their funding spigot. At a national level, they have little bargaining power, other than being a nuisance these days. loving animals.
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Oct 28, 2016 18:46
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Grouchio posted:Fidel Castro is dead. Too late.
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Nov 26, 2016 07:28
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The Jeep carrying the ashes of Fidel Castro broke down during the funeral procession in Havana on Saturday. Beautifully symbolic.
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Dec 7, 2016 05:50
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