Gabriel García Márquez

Columbian author Gabriel García Márquez is suffering from dementia and can no longer write, his younger brother has revealed.

Argentina, the world press tells us, intends to rename its top soccer league the “Cruiser General Belgrano First Division”, in honour of the Argentine ship sunk by the Royal Navy during the 1982 Falklands War. Far be it from any outsider to prescribe how a country honours its war dead, but honour is not what the move is about: it’s part of a continuing, exhausting barrage of Falklands agitprop from Argentina’s Kirchner government. Kirchner is scrambling to keep Argentine economic growth rolling, barracking businesses and workers in the classic caudillo manner as inflation outpaces the dubious official statistics. She has tried, with some success, to close off Southern Hemisphere ports to boats flying the maritime flag of the Falklands and to weld traditionally UK-friendly neighbours into a regional bloc against “colonialism”. Tensions are high and the Falkland Islanders are feeling besieged.

Retro theatres, vintage cars, and a total lack of American paparazzi — it’s long way from the over-hyped Hollywood film festivals you’re used to seeing in the rest of the world. The Havana Film Festival enticed only one major film star (Gael García Bernal), but still had plenty of charm as it celebrated its 29th year.