Beyond the hotties, the sites, and the cuisine, here's some public opinion stuff some of you might find interesing:
(Dated 10/14/04) from http://www.zonaeuropa.com/02015.htm
"You may have already heard that the 18-country Latinobarómetro poll shows that the number of Latin Americans with a negative image of the United States has grown in recent years. Now, the new figures show that -- with few exceptions, such as in Colombia, Chile and Paraguay -- Latin Americans also perceive growing strains in their governments' relations with Washington D.C."
"Consider:
• In Venezuela, the number of people who consider their country's ties with the United States to be ''very good'' or ''good'' dropped from 81 percent in 1997 to 28 percent in 2004, a whopping 53 percentage point fall.
• In Bolivia, the percentage has fallen from 77 percent in 1997 to 43 percent in 2004, a 34 percentage point drop.
• In Argentina, the figure fell from 76 percent to 45 percent over the same period.
• In Peru, the figure fell from 79 percent to 70 percent.
• In Brazil, it fell from 71 percent to 64 percent, and in Mexico, from 68 percent to 57 percent."
"In Colombia, where you [U.S. President, George Bush] have supported President Alvaro Uribe's war on narco-terrorists with $700 million a year in U.S. aid, there is a 35 percent increase in the number of people who believe that bilateral relations with the United States have improved since 1997. And the same goes for much of Central America, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador."
"But such positive outlooks are largely a response to your administration's foreign aid packages or free trade agreements, rather than approval of your foreign policies."
"Even in Colombia, only 15 percent of the people approve of U.S. actions in Iraq, according to the new figures (and the percentage drops to 10 percent in Brazil, 4 percent in Mexico and 3 percent in Argentina.)"
I just rented a movie that's received a lot of praise, "Maria Full of Grace," (I'm sure some of you've seen it already) about a girl from Colombia who smuggles drugs into the U.S. Rottentomatoes.com gave it a 97% reviewer rating; and in the production notes portion of the review are some interesting stats:
"Given the illicit nature of drug trafficking, data regarding mules is necessarily incomplete. The statistics cited below are intended only to provide background context for the story told in Maria Full of Grace.
o Average amount of heroin or cocaine contained in an individual pellet swallowed by a drug mule: 10 grams (approximately 0.4 ounces)
o Number of pellets an average swallower can ingest: 80-125 (800 grams - 1.25 kilograms)
o Potential earnings for a single drug-mule run (in US dollars): $5000 - $8,000
o Average annual income in Colombia 2002 (in US dollars): $1,830
o A kilogram of heroin refined from $4,000 worth of opium gum can fetch from $75,000-$100,000 on arrival in New York. The kilo delivered by the courier is immediately taken to a drug "mill" where it is cut with a diluting substance and repackaged in about 35,000 glassine envelopes for sale at $10 - a dime bag - netting a total of $350,000 on the street.
o Estimated amount spent by Americans on cocaine and heroin annually:
$46 billion
o Estimated number of Americans considered "chronic" or occasional users of cocaine and heroin: 6 million
o South American heroin predominates in the northeast market and many cities in the South (Baltimore, Atlanta, Miami, Washington DC) and the Midwest (Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit)
o Percentage of rural Colombians living in poverty, 2001: 80%
o Recorded unemployment rate in Columbia, 2002: 15.65%
o Number of internal drug mules (swallowed and inserted) intercepted at JFK for Fiscal year 2003 (10/1/2002-9/30/2003): 145
Breakdown by sex: 38 female (26% of total), 107 male (74% of total)
Youngest: 17 years of age
Oldest: 65 years of age
o Number of internal drug mules (swallowed and inserted) intercepted at JFK for fiscal year 2004 to date (10/1/2003 through 4/30/2004, not counting seizures currently in process: 5713
Breakdown by sex: 23 female (40% of total), 34 male (60% of total)
Youngest: 16 years of age
Oldest: 72 years of age"
Peace out!
