Central America. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that gunmen shot and killed Honduran radio journalist Rafael Munguía Ortiz Tuesday night in the northern city of San Pedro Sula. Munguía Ortiz had recently reported on violence, organized crime, and official corruption.
Roger Burbach of the Center for the Study of the Americas writes at NACLA how Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has betrayed the values of the revolution he once stood for through clientelistic and sectarian social spending and a general dismantling of oversight and accountability.
And Samuel Logan at the Security in Latin America blog reports on how the Guatemala-Mexico border continues to be an open border for illicit activity.
Bolivia. Prensa Latina reports that authorities from Bolivia and Paraguay signed an agreement to strengthen cooperation against drug trafficking on their common border. The agreement follows similar ones that Bolivia signed with Argentina and Brazil.
Also from Prensa Latina, a brief on the announcement that Bolivia will open three universities particularly for indigenous Bolivians. The schools will teach in native Aymara, Quechua and Guarani languages and “recover their people's knowledge, culture and organization.”
And Mercopress writes that Bolivia joined Argentina, Paraguay, and Ecuador in signing an agreement Monday on security cooperation. The accord also calls the newly formed South American Defense Council a “strong contributor to the sub regional integration.”
Brazil. On the effects of the global recession in Brazil, Mercopress reports on a new study of major metropolitan areas in Brazil which shows that over a half million Brazilians fell from their lower middle class status into poverty during the first months of 2009.
Chile. CNN writes that former Chilean President Eduardo Frei has captured the center-left Concertación coalition’s nomination. Frei will face Chilean billionaire Sebastian Pinera in the December general election.
Colombia. At the Center for International Policy’s Plan Colombia and Beyond, a piece on the new backseat position of the U.S.-Colombia bilateral relationship under President Obama. And a video clip of “Colombian President Álvaro Uribe’s more heated attacks on journalists and peace activists in Colombia.”
At Foreign Policy’s Shadow Government blog a piece similar to Scott Wilson’s outlook piece in the Washington Post earlier this week, says “it is worth highlighting the remarkable progress that Colombia has made in combating its long-running narco-terrorist insurgency.”
In the Miami Herald, a piece on the creation of 'barrier'' villages being built by the Colombian government in a pact between President Alvaro Uribe and the joint governing council of the four different indigenous tribes. The story says that, once completed, 10 villages will effectively form a new buffer zone between indigenous lands and private property owners in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains.
In Colombia Reports, a brief report says Colombia's Prosecutor General Mario Iguarán has revealed that his office is investigating 22,000 cases of people who disappeared during Colombia's ongoing violent conflict.
And at Upside Down World, a story on a dispute over the Inter-American Development Bank’s role in promoting water privatization and a broad coalition of social movements who are pushing for an official referendum on the human right to water.
Cuba. At Havana Note, analysis of new House and Senate legislation that would end the U.S. travel ban to Cuba, support statements, and links to the host of organizations supporting the legislation.
In the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, an opinion piece by the former head of the U.S. Cuban Interests Section, Wayne Smith, says “President Obama has the authority immediately to rescind the various executive orders signed by Bush in 2004 on which the restrictions on academic and educational travel” and “can support bills now before the House and Senate to allow all Americans to travel freely to Cuba.”
Meanwhile, the Havana Note also reports on the Congressional Black Caucus trip to Cuba this week, arguing the U.S. should not seek full normalization of relations with Cuba before beginning diplomatic talks, as some CBC members have advocated.
And, at the Huffington Post, award-winning Cuban blogger, Yoani Sanchez writes that “for the third time, in just a year, I've been denied permission to leave Cuba to travel abroad” for her critical blog reports.
Ecuador. On Ecuador, Real Clear World talks about a Bloomberg report which cites Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa saying he would jail those spreading rumors about the introduction of a new currency instead of the U.S. Dollar. According to Correa, rumors of a new currency threaten to destabilize the economy.
Haiti. The AP reports that a House Judiciary Committee delegation led by Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) has wrapped up its visit to Haiti. The group of U.S. lawmakers reviewed operations of agencies involved in drug interdiction efforts, legal immigration, and humanitarian and development issues. They also met with President René Preval.
In The Guardian, development specialist Paul Collier has an opinion piece on the solutions for preventing Haiti from becoming a failed state. He says if the “international community moves beyond gestures to a co-ordinated use of a range of policies” on security, trade, governance and aid, Haiti can be helped.
Mexico. The weekly round-up of stories from Mexico this week:
· On a wrap-up of drug-related arrests, murders, attacks, and more murders the Dallas Morning News has various briefs.
· On an expected increase in U.S. anti-drug funding, the Financial Times reports that Washington is set to more than reverse a recent reduction in the scope of the Merida Initiative, intended to provide $1.4bn to Mexico, by boosting the funds available and extending the program over time.
· On the military justice system, Inter Press Service writes that the Mexican government and legislators have called for a review of a system accused of letting human rights violators off the hook, but since 2006, it has been the human rights group, PRODH who has led a strategy of challenging Mexico’s military justice system at an international level, particularly at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
· On the U.S. border fence, Politico has an opinion piece saying the barrier fails because it has created a “false sense of security for immigration hard-liners while adding to the fears of law-abiding residents along the border.”
· On the cancelled cross-border trucking program, the Dallas Morning News reports that House Speak Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has cast doubt on the possibility that Congress would revive the program.
· On a U.S. military-funded mapping project in Oaxaca, Z Magazine has an investigative report about what use the military may have for geographers in designing “human terrain” counter-insurgency programs.
· On arms sales to Mexico, Narco News says only three inquiries by the State Department targeting firearms exports have been conducted since 2007.
· On the U.S.’s newfound concern with Mexico, the New America Foundation’s Andrés Martínez writes in Foreign Policy that the new media obsession with Mexico (which this weekly “Mexico round-up” perpetuates) stems from a nativist backlash against all things foreign and a nostalgia for a story about bad guys that “are truly nasty” and “not driven by religion or ideology.”
· On “terrorism” and free speech, the LA Times La Plaza blog reports that French singer Manu Chao is under investigation by Mexican authorities for saying the police’s reaction to an uprising in Atenco constituted “state terrorism.” Article 33 of the Mexican Constitution apparently states that “foreigners may not in any way participate in the political affairs of the country.”
· And on Mexican drug lords, Global Post profiles “four key kingpins who stand out for their power and notoriety.”
Peru. More on the Fujimori trial and conviction, as the National Security Archive posts the declassified U.S. documents it provided to the Peruvian court in the case against Mr. Fujimori. And archive senior analyst, Peter Kornbluh, also writes about the trial and the human rights work of APRODEH in Peru for The Nation.
Venezuela. Finally, Trinidad and Tobago Express writes that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez will host an alternative summit on April 14-15 "to discuss and bring common positions" to the Fifth Summit of the Americas two days later. The meeting will reportedly include Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, Bolivian President Evo Morales, Dominican Prime Minster Roosevelt Skerritt, a representative from the Cuban government, and Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo.
Upside Down World publishes an investigative piece on Canadian democracy promotion efforts in Venezuela. The piece by independent journalist Anthony Fenton is critical of Canadian organizations like the Canadian Foundation for the Americas (FOCAL), which the writer alleges has undertaken democracy promotion work in Venezuela, similar to that of the National Endowment for Democracy, with Canadian government money.
According to an EFE brief, Venezuelan authorities have seized 11,237 kilograms (24,751 pounds) of illegal drugs so far this year, 3,000 kilos more than the same period in 2008.
And, when most news from Venezuela is political, a pleasant Time report on the famous Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, which is playing three sold-out concerts in the U.S. this week.
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