South America

I am a Venezuelan-born Australian who’s been living in this great country for almost eight years. In my time here I have very much embraced our great lifestyle and laid-back attitude. 

As many other Venezuelans here I find myself living the ‘Australian dream’ and have become so Australian that sometimes I even have the odd ‘whinge’ about things here like an imperfect public transport and even government taxation, even though some of these would seem quite pedestrian when compared with what’s going on back in my country of birth. 

But this month I have what could be my last chance to make Venezuela a place of only petty problems, much like Australia may seem.

Continue reading "How Aussies are fighting to topple an el loco despot" »

You won’t believe this. Seriously, you simply will not believe this. Or as they say on the mean streets of Quito and Guayaquil, Ecuador, “no creerlo”.

Back in 1925, as Ecuador basked in a Liberal regime allowing unprecedented press and religious freedom, a military revolution known as the “Julian Revolution” swept all that autonomy away. I shit you not. It was actually called the Julian Revolution.

This, you’d have to say, doesn’t bode well for Julian Assange, who still hopes to seek asylum in Ecuador. Indeed, press freedoms aren’t much better there today. The small South American republic sits in 104th spot in the press freedom index, and there have been recent government-enforced shutdowns in the broadcast media.

Continue reading "A guide to Ecuador, home of the “Julian Revolution”" »