The Wall Street Journal and LA Times this morning both have top stories about Cuba and Fidel Castro’s apparent rebuke of his younger brother’s words of reconciliation last week. Six days ago, President Raúl Castro said he was ready to discuss “human rights, freedom of expression, political prisoners: everything, everything, everything”—words that set off speculation that the U.S. and Cuba might quickly settle their differences. But, as the WSJ writes, Fidel’s latest message has two parts: “Despite Raúl Castro having assumed Cuba's presidency last year, it’s the elder Castro who continues to be in charge, especially on relations with the U.S. And the U.S. shouldn't expect Cuba to reciprocate any conciliatory actions taken by Washington.” Appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday, Sec. of State Hillary Clinton addressed the former Cuban leader’s latest comments saying, “I think that the president's actions did draw a response from Raúl Castro -- which was then contradicted today by Fidel Castro.” Columnist Andres Oppenheimer also writes that “There are two different Castros on the island, but the one in charge is the one we've seen lately looking at the camera with wide eyes and wearing the Adidas tracksuit. And he's not likely to change course this late in the game.” The LAT writes that while Fidel is rarely seen in public, he has not been silent since going into retirement in 2006—a move ratified in 2008 by the Cuban parliament. The paper notes that he “blogs with the frequency and energy he once devoted to his exhaustive and exhausting speeches. His Reflections by Comrade Fidel is translated into seven languages, and remains a fascination for Cuba watchers trying to measure the island's political mood.”
Meanwhile, the Washington Post and New York Times report on Mexico drug violence, writing about the murder of two military officers in the Sierra Madre north of Durango. Nearby, a note was found reading: “You'll never get El Chapo -- not the priests, not the government.” The words appear to be a reference to last week’s statement by Héctor González Martínez, the Roman Catholic archbishop in the state of Durango, who announced that “everyone knows” where the country's most wanted drug lord, Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, lives, “except the authorities.” The WaPo says that in a poll published on the front page of the Mexican paper Reforma, 69 percent surveyed said the archbishop’s claims should be investigated while an equal percentage thought that his life was now in danger. The AP report in the NYT adds that on Wednesday the army decided to step up patrols in the remote, mountainous drug triangle of northern Mexico where the two officials were murdered.
And the Miami Herald reports that a Venezuelan court has issued an international arrest order for Manuel Rosales, the Chávez opponent wanted on apparent corruption charges who surfaced Tuesday in Peru. Venezuelan authorities said they want Interpol to move to arrest Rosales. In a statement from an undisclosed location in Lima on Wednesday, Rosales reiterated his rejection of the charges on Venezuela's Globovisión television station, arguing that Chávez is trying to silence him with exaggerated allegations. The former mayor added that the Venezuelan government should prosecute a former Chávez vice president and pursue a case involving the purchase of drill rigs by the state oil company instead of seeking his arrest.
In other news, both the MH and WaPo write that yet another woman has claimed that Paraguayan priest-turned-President, Fernando Lugo, is the father of her child. The allegation is the third in the last two weeks. Lugo acknowledged that the first claim was true but has yet to respond public to the second and third women who have said he is also the father of their young children. The scandal is, however, beginning to interfere with Mr. Lugo’s work. He was forced to cancel a one-day trip to Washington on Wednesday. And, according to the WaPo, his credibility on other matters is now in jeopardy. In a column in the newspaper La Nación, Claudio Paolillo, an editor, wrote that “from now on, it's legitimate that Paraguayans ask if when the president speaks he is telling the truth.”
And lastly, three opinions. In the WaPo, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend writes on U.S. Cuba policy and the remaining travel ban for U.S. visits to the island, saying her father, former Attorney General, Robert Kennedy Jr., argued in 1963 that “the present travel restrictions [for Americans to Cuba] are inconsistent with traditional American liberties.” She maintains the Obama administration should come to the same conclusion and end travel restrictions for all Americans wanting to go to Cuba. In the WSJ, Daniel Henninger is critical of the now famous Obama-Chávez photo op at last weekend’s Summit, writing “Merely being seen or photographed in the presence of civilized society -- at summits, negotiations, in state visits -- empowers the autocrat [Chávez] and discourages his opposition.” And in a NYT editorial, the paper argues that President Obama’s ban on lobbyists is overly rigid. The paper maintains that the White House should nominate Tom Malinowski, the Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, to be the administration’s global human rights chief even though he is a registered lobbyist for the human rights organization.
Photo: Sven Creutzmann / Mambo Photography-Getty Images
No comments:
Post a Comment