[RD] News Thread of the Americas

[Birdjaguar]

In Argentina, fans camped out for six months to see Taylor Swift​

Swift took all her Argentine fans to the summit​

By Anita Pouchard Serra and David Feliba
November 14, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. EST

BUENOS AIRES — It’s a chilly November evening, and outside River Plate Stadium, Priscila Juárez, 23, is crafting friendship bracelets. It will be a long night camping alongside one of the city’s main avenues. She and her friends are about to order food delivery, weighing their options as they prepare for another night on the pavement. The way they see it, the waiting is an investment.

“It’s really about the effort you put into it,” explains Juárez. “Six months of dedication will put you at the front of the line on show day.”

Nestled between an equestrian center and a bike lane, a group of nearly 200 20-somethings have transformed this urban corner of Buenos Aires into their second home. As soon as they secured tickets half a year in advance for their idol Taylor Swift’s show, they set up tents right outside the venue, taking turns sleeping there each night with the goal of securing pole position the day of the show. Over the weekend, Swift, the 33-year-old singer-songwriter, captivated Argentine fans with three sold-out shows marking the beginning of the international leg of her Eras Tour before heading to Brazil. Swift’s Eras Tour is positioned to be the most lucrative one in American history, and because her fandom knows no borders, its successful start in South America is also substantially boosting local economies here.

But for some of her most ardent Argentine fans, the spectacle began long ago.

Spoiler :

“The show doesn’t start when the artist steps on the stage, nor does it end when they get off,” says Matías Manteiga, 22, who teaches English classes in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. For six months, he has taken turns with the rest of “Tent 3.” Tonight is special for him. With his 12-hour shift extending until 8 a.m. the next day, he will reach the 140-hour minimum quota to guarantee a premium spot on the concert day. To determine fair access on concert day, the group decided that whoever spends the most hours camping out will be at the front of the line.

Manteiga collects his dinner while listening to songs from “1989 (Taylor's Version).”
As he settles in with his notebook and study materials, he sends a picture to the group to document what time he got in, and he will send another one by the time he leaves. “It is almost like a company. The tent manager keeps the records straight,” he says, laughing. “No, really. To the decimals.”

Manteiga was committed to spending more than 140 hours in the tent to secure a premium spot in line for the concert. He made it.
It is not his first time under the tent canvas. Many of these people know each other from previous concert camp-outs. But few stays have been as lengthy as this one. They’ve elevated camping to a mission, fine-tuning a system for success. Each tent accommodates two or three people working in shifts, out of a group of 30 to 40 individuals assigned to a tent, seamlessly organized through WhatsApp. The manager meticulously logs hours on a spreadsheet and ensures the tent is never unguarded.
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There’s no WiFi. There’s no heat. Stormy nights have taken a toll on the tents, which are already in bad condition. The nearest restroom is at a filling station half a mile away. The day before the show, the organizers clear the tents, and fans spend the night on the pavement, armed with sleeping bags.

“It’s stressful and sometimes really annoying,” acknowledges Manteiga, who is studying to become a music producer. “But I grew up with Taylor and started playing guitar because of her. It’s about making the most of the ticket. It was crazy but worth it.”

“This is my second job, my second home and my second family,” says Selena Herrera, 21, who works at a jewelry shop. At a recent show in the same venue by Canadian artist the Weeknd, she casually observed the precise spots where organizers would line up the crowds. Now Herrera has just returned from a two-hour guard at one of these strategic spots so that no one took her place. What she likes most about Taylor Swift are her lyrics. “I do not even know her, but it feels like she already taught me so much about life.”

Selena Herrera inside Tent 3.

The Taylor Swift frenzy took hold of Buenos Aires the moment she arrived, with fans tracking her whereabouts and shows dominating national news for days. Social media was full of videos of Swifties flying in droves from neighboring countries. The Buenos Aires city council declared her a guest of honor, and the local tourism entity told The Washington Post it expected hotel occupation to rise to nearly 90 percent as a result.

On the upper floor of a McDonald’s the day of the show, just a few steps from the stadium, the scene resembles a beauty parlor more than a fast-food joint. Hamburgers and fries blend with shiny sparkles, silver dresses and bracelets as groups of 20-somethings indulge in pre-show beauty rituals. Swift’s tunes are played in the background. Rain ponchos in all shades and colors are in fashion. Outside, a deluge is in progress, and hundreds of fans have been standing in the rain for hours, waiting for doors to open. Ultimately, the show was rescheduled for Sunday night because of the weather.

Fans braved all kinds of weather, right up until the last minute.

“Taylor has a song for every mood,” says Ana Luiselli, 27, who came from Formosa province by bus. She runs an English institute in northern Argentina, using Swift’s songs to teach the language. “I learned English with her myself. Her songs convey feelings exceptionally well; she has a way of putting everyday emotions into words that makes you connect deeply with her themes. That’s why I love her.”

The burst of Swiftie spending is a boost to the economy as the country endures one of its worst financial crises in decades. Demand for Swift’s tickets soared, with more than 1 million users in virtual line the day of the show hoping to get a last-minute seat. The country is struggling with inflation well over triple digits, and the local currency is losing value by the day. Tickets for the Eras Tour ranged from nearly $40 to $400, while a worker on minimum wage in the country earns around $150 a month.

“We didn’t care about going bankrupt,” says Antonella Santa Cruz, who leads an official Taylor Swift fan club in Argentina and came to Buenos Aires from Rosario, the country’s third-largest city. “We would pay whatever it took and attend as many shows as possible. There was simply no other way for me.”

Swift’s shows take center stage just as the nation braces for a pivotal presidential runoff on Sunday. The showdown features a tight race between the current finance minister and a far-right libertarian and vocal admirer of Donald Trump. This charged political backdrop has ignited fervent discussions among some of Swift’s Argentine fans, sparking debates as they describe parallels between Swift’s stance against conservatives in the United States and the unfolding political drama in their own backyard.

Lucia Porporato, 23, drove from San Nicolas, which is about 150 miles from Buenos Aires. Porporato was ready to give friendship bracelets to fellow Swifties.

Florencia Romeo shows her new tattoo.

“[Javier] Milei is Trump,” a group of Swift admirers posted on social media, partly inspired by the artist’s firm opinion on U.S. politics. To be sure, they represent a tiny fraction of all Argentine fans. On the day of the concert, media reported pink posters on the street reading, “Swiftie doesn’t vote for Milei.”

For camper Herrera, however, politics takes a back seat. As she holds her friendship bracelets — a quintessential Swiftie accessory — she reflects on the past six months of camping. “The best part is the people I’ve met,” she says. “The worst was when my phone ran out of battery. Oh, and the bathroom situation.”

this link may work too. Says no paywall.

https://wapo.st/47stOf7

 

[Takhisis]

Oh yeah, there was a campaign based on trying to get people to say they backed the misgovernment and then trying to portray anybody who shared any characteristic with them as totally being in on it™.

Swift-mania was just the latest instalment, in this era of desperation, of any musical group coming and taking the country by storm for a few days or a week.

 

[Takhisis]

I'm leaving a political flowchart for the uninitiated here:

 

[innonimatu]

Isn't bringing in a libertarian extremist going to make this kind of international corruption worse generally?

It is. And the outgoing government was in the crap already because Macri previously had put Argentina again into the IMF's trap. To serve the local oligarchs wanting to expatriate their money as dollars.

Milei is asylum-grade crazy. Most of his ideas won't go anywhere. But he can and imo will do two tremendously bad things to Argentina: hand over to its oligarchs the last remaining "profitable" things under public control: health care, education, and some of the energy. And destroy the national currency - without actually abolishing it.

 

[Takhisis]

Wow. innonimatu keeps to the Kirchners' party line that the utter devastation of this country is the fault of people who've never been in office rather than the people who, uhm, have.

 

[Takhisis]

So today, a few minutes ago, the assembled houses of congress, in a double session, officially proclaimed the Libertarian™ ticket's victory.
The transition, meanwhile, is going nowhere.

• The president of Argentina, convicted of criminal offences while in office, remains president until Sunday after next but other than giving interviews he's not doing anything.
• The vice-president of Argentina, also convicted of criminal offences while in office, remains vice-president and is doing nothing except trying to manipulate judicial appointments.
• The cabinet chief of Argentina, the recently-defeated candidate for vice-president, is… is… ????
• The Economy minister of Argentina, self-styled as ‘super-minister’ and recently-defeated presidential candidate, already said the day after the election that nothing that happens now is his fault (even though he remains minister) but that of the incoming government (who have no legal powers to do anything until the 10th of December to begin with anyway) and he himself is nowhere to be seen. Presumably he's staying on to collect one more monthly cheque for a minister's salary. We do know that he's about to take charge as advisor to some vulture funds which buy Argentina's defaulted debt at firesale prices on the quiet and then sue Argentina for the full value of the bonds.
• Popular quasi-militias formed out of the most desperate sectors of society whose only job in life is to live off the dole and sell themselves out as an urban army for the powerful are already preparing to strike, while some of these powerful, including the Kirchners' minority option, i.e. Juan Grabois, a landholder with command of some of these quasi-militias himself, has already proclaimed it a political objective to topple the government by force before the midterm elections scheduled for 2025.

 

[Kyriakos]

Lords of the Pampa

 

[Takhisis]

The world continueth outside Argentina and its endless, pointless squabbling.

Lula’s bid to style himself climate leader at Cop28 undermined by Opec move​

Brazilian president’s plans to approve new fossil fuel projects sit awkwardly with pledge to meet 1.5C target

The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has roared into Cop28 with a mega-delegation of more than 2,000 people and grand ambitions to address inequality and protect the world’s tropical forests.

Spoiler :

Lula, as he is known, said his country was leading by example: “We have adjusted our climate goals, which are now more ambitious than those of many developed countries. We have drastically reduced deforestation in the Amazon and will bring it to zero by 2030,” he said.

But any pretensions he might have had to broader climate leadership on cutting fossil fuels were weakened on Thursday when his energy minister, Alexandre Silveira, chose the opening of the planet’s biggest environmental conference as the moment to announce that Brazil plans to align itself more closely with the world’s biggest oil cartel, Opec.

Brazilian climate campaigners said the timing and symbolism were horrendous and a sign of the divisions within a country that has made huge strides to reduce deforestation of the Amazon, even as it has ploughed ahead with oil exploration in ecologically sensitive areas.

“This statement is a scandal. Celebrating entry into the oil club in the middle of a climate conference is as if the minister of mines and energy were disavowing President Lula’s own environmental speech,” said Marcio Astrini, the executive secretary of the Brazilian Climate Observatory. “With ministers like this, the president doesn’t need enemies.”

At the end of the world’s hottest year on record, scientists, activists and politicians in many affected countries have called on delegates at the UN climate summit to set a goal of phasing out fossil fuels.

They had hoped that Brazil, which will host Cop30 in two years’ time, might be an ally. Since taking power in January, Lula - a veteran of the Workers party - has repeatedly declared the climate crisis is a priority and supported measures taken by his environment minister, Marina Silva, to reverse the ecological devastation of the previous administration of his rightwing predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.

This has given Lula strong cards to play at the summit. Deforestation, which accounts for about half of Brazil’s carbon discharges, has fallen to the lowest level in five years. His government has strengthened emission-cutting targets, pledging a 53% fall by 2030 compared with 2005, and net zero by mid-century.
Ani Toni, the government’s climate change secretary, told reporters that Brazil had already saved 250m tonnes of carbon this year, equivalent to the total for Argentina. “Brazil arrives at Cop28 with its head held high,” she said.

As well as setting a positive example, Brazil organised a conference of Amazon nations earlier this year and tried to build an alliance with other ecological superpowers, such as Indonesia and Congo.

At Cop28, it is calling for the establishment of a forest fund that would reward nations for reducing deforestation and provide incentives for forest residents to avoid destructive practices such as logging, ranching and mining. It is hoped that the fund, which would be managed by the World Bank or another multilateral organisation, would start at the relatively low level of $100m and steadily increase to the billions needed to stabilise and recover the world’s great terrestrial carbon sinks, rainfall regulators and homes of biodiversity.

A separate loss and damage fund has already been agreed to support the nations and communities most vulnerable to extreme weather, and Brazil is expected to demonstrate leadership among developing nations by pushing for wealthy nations, who bear most responsibility for the climate crisis, to make sizeable contributions.

Foreign ministry officials say Brazil will also act as a defender of the world’s most ambitious climate goal, to limit global heating to 1.5C (2.7F) above pre-industrial levels, despite growing scientific evidence that this target may be breached sooner than expected. For there to be even a remote chance of preventing this, emissions have to start declining, and rapidly, which will require a rapid phase-out of fossil fuels.

This is where Brazil – like the US, UK, UAE, Norway and a host of other countries – is on shakier ground, because all these countries are planning to approve new oil projects that are incompatible with the 1.5C target. The day after Cop28, Brazil will stage an auction for hundreds of oil drilling blocks, many of them in ecologically sensitive areas such as near the mouth of the Amazon river, according to Carol Pasquali of Greenpeace.

“Brazil is caught in contradictions,” she said. “On one hand, it is looking forward and walking in the right direction on forests. But on the other, it carries the weight from the past when it comes to exploring for oil. Brazil needs to be more consistent if it wants to assume a role as a climate leader ahead of Cop30.”

Challenges within the government do not help. To get elected, Lula had to call on a broad front of politicians ranging from leftwing climate justice campaigners to rightwing agribusiness advocates.

Brazil’s indigenous communities have a stronger voice than before thanks to Lula’s appointment of the country’s first minister of indigenous peoples, Sonia Guajajara. She is one of 15 ministers in Brazil’s delegation, which is more than three times the size of any the country has sent before and reportedly the biggest in the history of UN climate summits. A broad church, it includes civil society activists, businesspeople, academics and Indigenous representatives.

“This Cop needs to make Indigenous people feel that they are truly heard and have their rights guaranteed, especially when it comes to demarcation of territory,” said delegate Neidinha Cristóvão Kanindé.

 

[Takhisis]

As if things weren't bad enough, the Venezuelan misgovernment has finally made good on its threat to hold a referendum on the Esequibo affair. Basically, the Esequipo region is on Guyana's side of the border with Venezuela (there's an arbitration from 1899), so the latter is trying to revive old claims to it in order to distract everybody and hopefully seize the oil wells discovered in 2015.

In the referendum, the autocracy reports results as being 95.93% in favour of action over the dispute.
Of course, only 10.5 out of a registered 20.7 million showed up to vote in the first place (assuming that the official statistics are even believable)

Brazil has reacted by Lula saying during the lead-up to the referendum that he hoped reason would prevail and now that the referendum has happened they've pointedly said that it's an internal matter of Venezuela's.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Essequibo: Venezuela moves to claim Guyana-controlled region​

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is plunging ahead with its plans to take over Essequibo, the oil-rich region controlled by neighbouring Guyana.

He has ordered the state oil company to issue extraction licences there and proposed the National Assembly pass a bill making the area part of Venezuela.

Guyana has put its defence forces on full alert in response.

Venezuelan voters on Sunday approved a referendum claiming rights over Essequibo, ratcheting up tensions.

In a Facebook address slamming Mr Maduro's "missteps", Guyana's President Irfaan Ali said he had already spoken to the UN secretary general and is asking the UN Security Council to consider intervening.

"This is a direct threat to Guyana's territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence," he said. "Guyana views this as an imminent threat... and will intensify precautionary measures to safeguard its territory."

He also sought to reassure the country's investors - mainly oil companies - that their money is safe.

On Sunday, more than 95% of voters in Venezuela's referendum approved establishing a new Venezuelan state in the region. While only two million people voted - making up roughly 10% of eligible voters - Venezuela's claim to Essequibo enjoys broad support in the country.

The country has long maintained that an 1899 decision to award the 159,500-sq-km (61,600-sq-mile) region to the UK was unfair.

The matter is currently before the International Court of Justice, although Venezuela says the court does not have authority to rule on it. The court has warned Venezuela not to take any action that may alter the status quo in Essequibo.

Essequibo has been under the authority of Guyana - and before it British Guiana - for more than a century, but Venezuela has long sought to control it.

The discovery of oil in waters off Essequibo's coast in 2015 helped fire up the current dispute. Tensions increased further in September this year, when Guyana held an auction for exploration licences in those waters.

Guyana's wealth is mostly based on oil production and exports, which has made its economy one of the fastest growing in the world in recent years.

Venezuela, meanwhile, is trying to pull out of a multi-year economic crisis, which has been exacerbated by US sanctions imposed on its oil sales over the 2018 election of Mr Maduro. The country has the largest proven oil reserves in the world.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-67635646

 

[Takhisis]

It turns out that Maduro's, uhm, ‘people’ consisted of two million people showing up to vote (out of 20,000,000) and, since there were five ‘questions’ in the referendum they reported ‘ten million answers’. (facepalm)

Meanwhile they've arrested another 13 opposition leaders, probably to stop them from running for office next year.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Guatemala: Challenge to Bernardo Arévalo election seen as coup attempt​

A legal challenge against Guatemala's election of an anti-corruption leader has been called an "attempted coup" by international organisations.

Bernardo Arévalo is due to take office as president in January - but on Friday, the country's prosecutor's office declared the result void.

The European Union and the Organization of American States condemned the move and called for a transition of power.

Mr Arévalo also described the prosecutor's actions as a coup attempt.

His victory in August was widely seen as a repudiation of Guatemala's political elite, which has been dogged by corruption allegations over many years.

The 65-year-old, who leads the party Movimiento Semilla (Seed Movement), won more than 60% of the vote, picking up mass support with his pledge to clean up governance in the Central American country.

But the election result has repeatedly been challenged by his political opponents, who have accused Mr Arévalo's party of vote-rigging and improperly registering its organisation with election authorities.

The allegations have been rejected by Mr Arévalo, international observers and his supporters - who in turn accuse prosecutors of being politically motivated.

Pro-democracy protesters have taken to the streets in recent months to support Mr Arévalo, and call for the attorney general and other officials to step down.

On Friday, prosecutor Leonor Morales said the August election result should be voided because the wrong voting forms were used during the first round of the presidential election in June.

Blanca Alfaro, the head of the Guatemalan electoral commission, responded by calling the result "unalterable" and insisted Mr Arévalo would be sworn in next month as planned.

Friday's intervention from the prosecutor's office comes after previous attempts to suspend the president-elect's party, a move widely seen as an attempt to stop him being sworn in.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called the election fraud allegations "spurious" and said Friday's announcement was "an attempt at a coup d'etat, spearheaded by politically motivated prosecutors".

He called for a democratic transition of power and announced "targeted restrictive measures against those responsible for these actions".

The Organization of American States said the prosecutor's intervention was "typical of dictatorships and not democracies".
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-67667041

 

[amadeus]

I think this is the most telling paragraph. We do not get a proper definition of better, but he we can see it defined. A system that allows rich people to avoid a 2-5 year waiting list and results in poor people having a seriously degraded quality and length of life for $4,000 is considered incontrovertibly better. That does define their priorities.

I’ve looked into this some years back, and this was what I came up with: kidney donation is less dangerous with regard to health risks than some occupations like coal mining. What we need to ultimately measure by “better” is considering all possibilities rather than the single point of how poorer people may be more inclined to sell—at what price, and to the benefit of whom? If someone could theoretically comfortably retire on the proceeds from a donation, is that a bad thing? If it gets them out of poverty, is it still bad? Lots of unknowns out there.

 

[Takhisis]

So we can also legalise cocaine, right? Just stop persecuting the poor, misunderstood cartels.

 

[r16]

ı concur . The poor guys are forced to live in inhumane conditions while submarining drugs to Europe and America .

 

[amadeus]

So we can also legalise cocaine, right? Just stop persecuting the poor, misunderstood cartels.

As bad as I think drugs are personally, I’m not sure their prohibition has done anything more than guarantee its production to be illegal and thus more profitable for any gangs.

Why do they sell cocaine and not hams?

 

[r16]

some country legalized marijuana and we really do not read enough in Turkey how there have been like thousands of deaths because of opiates or opioids or whatever the hell they are called . The moments drugs are legalized major countries will be invading minors to forcibly start drug consumption . Like Afghanistan and the evils of drug trade . Finely achieved and profits for Anglosaxon banks streamlined for higher yields and faster returns . Imagine the fine economic masterpieces ı could have written if ı knew more of the words .

 

[Takhisis]

Well, today was the transfer of power, swearing in new officials, etc.

Cristina Kirchner gave us yet another pearl of wisdom by showing her middle finger to the public as she entered the Congress building prior to the ceremony (video).

)

 

[danjuno]

As bad as I think drugs are personally, I’m not sure their prohibition has done anything more than guarantee its production to be illegal and thus more profitable for any gangs.

Why do they sell cocaine and not hams?

Why not cocaine hams?

 

[Edmund Ironside]

Why not cocaine hams?

Why not rum hams?