Oliver Balch in India
Indo-Pakistan Cricket Spat
Everyone can recall the torture of being picked last for teams at school. The stock response is to blush profusely, shuffle along in the wake of the captain that doesn’t want you and never turn up to gym class again.In...
Kirchners On the Ropes
I waited and waited and waited last night for Argentine strong-man Nestor Kirchner to speak. Just after midnight, I joined the general flow of people towards the door. All was quiet at campaign HQ. That boded ill for the country’s...
Indigenous get day in court
Clashes in the Amazon jungle. Indians armed with wooden spears. Bodies found with their throats slit. It sounds like a chapter from the blood-soaked chronicles of Pedro Pizarro, the sixteenth-century conquistador. But this is modern day Peru. Protests in the...
Venezuelan media on alert
Venezuelan premier Hugo Chavéz has launched a vociferous attack against the opposition media, accusing radio and TV channels of conspiracy.“Enough is enough”, the former paratrooper warned during his regular Sunday television broadcast (in Spanish). “They’ve gone to far.”Chavéz, who recently...
Paraguay's Lugo proves no messiah
Whiter-than-white politicians surely can’t sleep well. Only saints have no skeletons in their cupboard. For the rest of us mortals, rattle hard enough and something, sometime, will eventually appear. In the case of Fernando Lugo, president of Paraguay, it took...
¡Bienvenido, Barack!
Latin America is on tenterhooks. Obama is visiting the USA's backyard. Well, Trinidad and Tobago at least. Date for the diary: 17-19 April. Every year, the 34 presidents of the America’s get together for a high level chinwag. Speeches are...
Chávez's cheque book diplomacy
Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s president and media phenomenon, is well known for his antics at home. For those out of touch with his singular leadership style, check out YouTube for his Sunday show Aló Presidente. Now attention is being drawn to...
Royal carpet in Sth America?
South Americans don’t quite know what to make of the British royal family. I suspect most are mildly suspicious. Monarchs are bad in the books of most independent Republics. But I think there’s also a soft spot for Queen Liz...
Oliver Balch in India:
Oliver Balch is a UK freelancer based in India, with particular interests in issues related to enterprise and the environment....