In a lead Americas story in the Washington Post this morning, the paper writes from an Ecuador-Colombia border town which Colombian officials claim is a central hub for Colombian rebels and their drug smuggling activities. Puerto Nuevo, Ecuador, says the Colombian military, is now home to the 48th Front, an elite unit of the FARC which includes Oliver Solarte, an important figure in the FARC’s drug trafficking business who has forged ties with Colombian and Mexican cartels. Details of the cocaine-running operations of the FARC go deeper into Ecuadorian territory, according to top Colombian military officials who claim Solarte and the 48th Front now operate cocaine labs in Ecuador as well. According to Sergio Jaramillo, Colombia's vice minister for defense, drug trading outposts along the Ecuadorian, Venezuelan, and Panamanian borders “have become the cash cows of the FARC.” For its part, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa has denied the charges leveled by Colombian officials, saying it has deployed as many as 11,000 soldiers to the border and built new military posts. Further, Ecuador's security forces destroyed 78 FARC camps last year, up from 48 the previous year, according Miguel Carvajal, Ecuador’s minister for internal and external security. But according to the WaPo, although relationships to the FARC may not reach the upper echelons of the Ecuadorian government, soft support for the FARC likely exists along the border, fueled by corruption. “To say that Correa supports the guerrillas, well, it is under the table,” says one former FARC commander. “To say the military supports the FARC -- no, not all of them, but some do.”
In the New York Times a report on how Venezuela is coping with the global downturn and a drop in oil prices. The paper writes that “more than a dozen big projects intended to broaden his nation’s reach are in limbo — including a gas pipeline across the continent and at least eight refineries, from Jamaica to Uruguay — as Venezuela grapples with falling revenues and other troubles in its national oil company.” Venezuela has also cut back on financial aid to its neighbors, planning to spend just $6 billion abroad this year, down from $79 billion in 2008. This has led neighbors to look elsewhere. Argentina, for one, locked in a $10 billion deal with China to help it buy Chinese imports while Cuba has attempted to deepen ties with Brazil, says the paper. “Chávez’s influence is starting to reach its natural limits, after years of pushing a regional integration process where Venezuela was the hub and others are the spokes,” says Daniel Erikson of the Inter-American Dialogue.
From the Wall Street Journal a story from Mexico on claims that drug cartels are increasingly capable of infiltrating the political system. Such fears are rising after Mexican daily Reforma reported Monday that army troops had confiscated 14.5 tons of marijuana at a warehouse belonging to the brother of Mexican Senator Ricardo Monreal in January. Mr. Monreal’s brother, also running for governor of Zacatecas, claims the drugs were planted by his political rivals. When asked how tons of marijuana could be covertly “planted” inside his warehouse, David Monreal remarked “I think in trucks. I don't know what they used, but it's very simple for those who are in power and for delinquents to do that kind of thing.” While no charges have yet been filed, investigations continue amidst an election campaign which, according to the WSJ, is increasingly about the drug trade. President Felipe Calderon’s PAN has run campaign advertisements accusing the former ruling PRI of having been in bed with drug cartels over the seven decades it ruled Mexico. But the PAN has not been immune for some charges either. Federal investigators recently detained the former top security official in Morelos, controlled by the PAN, as well as the ex-police chief of the state’s capital, Cuernavaca, to question them about ties to drug gangs.
Meanwhile, the LA Times also reports on the drug trade in Mexico. The paper provides more news on the arrest of top cartel “lieutenant” Rodolfo Lopez Ibarra, arrested as he arrived in Monterrey to take over drug smuggling operations there. Thirteen others were arrested along with Lopez as they waited at the airport for his arrival. Mexican officials say Lopez is the latest of several heirs and second-tier traffickers appointed to take charge of significant segments of the narcotrafficking business in Mexico.
And, in the Miami Herald, news that Haiti has been alerted of what could be dangerous flooding after former President Bill Clinton was named U.N. special envoy to the country. Clogged drainage canals and mud remaining from last summer's hurricanes and tropical storms have made it almost impossible for some vehicles to pass in the city of Gonaives, one of the cities hit hardest in last year’s storms. Praising the choice of Bill Clinton as special envoy, OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza said “'President Clinton represents, more than anyone else, a certain trend that stresses development. This new trend explores alternatives to make Haiti viable, addressing the real problems of that country.”
In other news, the NYT reports that charter flight companies operating to Cuba are thriving (although prices remain very high) since President Obama revoked travel restrictions for Cuban Americans over one month ago. John Cabanas, owner of a powerful charter flight operator, says “We used to send 15,000, 16,000 people a year,” but “Now I’ll probably handle 40,000 or 50,000.”
Also in the NYT, an AP report says the Colombian Senate has approved a proposal to allow a referendum on giving Alvaro Uribe a third-term as president. The measure passed 62-5 following a heated session during which 26 opposition senators walked out in protest. And both the NYT and WaPo post give the official report that Senate Democrats have denied President Obama’s request for $80 million to close down the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Lawmakers are demanding that the President first lay out a more detailed road map for closing the Guantánamo prison and give reassurance that detainees would not end up in the U.S.
Finally, two opinions. In the WSJ, an editorial asks why the U.S. is joining Cuba and others on the U.N. Human Rights Council. Very critical of the U.S. decision, the paper says U.N. ambassador Susan Rice’s statement that “we have not been perfect ourselves” is “the kind of moral equivalence that has helped make the Human Rights Council what it is.” And in the MH, an opinion by Alex Sutton of the International Republic Institute says the U.S. should be paying more attention to how Cuba continues to restrict freedom of expression. As one example, Sutton cites the Cuban government’s new regulations that prohibit Cubans from connecting to the Internet from local hotels, a place that the writer argues has been “an access point that many activists, students and younger people rely upon to e-mail and post messages.”
Photo: Abc.net
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