Debian Day, also known as D Day is here (August 16) and many cities around the world are organizing events to celebrate it. The annual Debian Conference, or debconf, is happening right now in Mar del Plata, Argentina. You can follow the conference by video stream.

The good news is that the one of the proposals for the location of debconf10 is Margarita Island, Venezuela. The other two options are Boston or New York, both in the USA. Knowing the issues people from the south have when trying to get a visa to come to the USA and also the risk of laptop seizure every time Latin Americans enter the US (not to mention the currency exchange) - for someone from the south to go to USA or Europe, it’s much more expensive and risky than for someone from those areas to go to any country in Latin America. It would be a wise choice if they pick Venezuela, especially because of the very active FOSS community this country has and all the great support the government has put into free software/free knowledge projects. If you want to check out the conference for next year, it will be at Junta de Extremadura in Spain.

If you are in Argentina, you should also check out the Jornadas Regionales de Software Libre, happening on August 20, 21 and 22 in Buenos Aires. The event is one of the major free software events in Latin America and this year’s edition will feature presentations by Jon ‘maddog’ Hall and Mark Shuttleworth.