In the Miami Herald this morning, the AP reports that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that Cuba should not be allowed to rejoin the Organization of American States until it makes political reforms and respects human rights. In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ms. Clinton argued the charter of the OAS requires countries to be in line with democratic standards which the Cuban government has yet to adhere to. “If Cuba is not willing to abide by [the charter's] terms then I cannot foresee how Cuba can be a part of the OAS and I certainly would not be supporting in any way such an effort to admit it,'” said Clinton. The Secretary of State will be attending the OAS’s annual general assembly on June 2 in Honduras, after a stopover in El Salvador for the inauguration of Mauricio Funes. Sources say that a vote is expected to be called at the meeting on returning Cuba to the OAS as some countries want the inter-American body to annul a 1962 resolution that suspended Cuba's membership.
From the Washington Post, the paper writes that the number of arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border has fallen 27% this year, putting detentions at the lowest level since the early 1970s. Analysts believe the combination of an economic recession in the U.S. and increased security along the border has contributed to the decline. Interestingly, the paper does note that arrest figures do not fully measure illegal immigration, or attempts at such immigration, because authorities do not know how many immigrants evade capture and because one person can be arrested multiple times. However, the WaPo does say that “the trend is corroborated by declining rates of remittances sent by immigrants to their native countries and by Mexican census data.” The U.S. Border Patrol reports 354,959 arrests from October 2008 to May, down from 486,735 over that same period one year ago. Spending on U.S. Customs and Border Protection, has risen 82 percent since 2004, from approx. $6 billion to nearly $11 billion in the five year period.
Around a similar point, the Wall Street Journal writes that Mexico became the latest country to report a huge plunge in its Gross Domestic Output. On Wednesday the country said that its GDP had fallen at an annualized rate of 21.5% in the first quarter of this year. According to the WSJ, that is the worst performance since the 1995 peso crisis which led the International Monetary Fund and U.S. Treasury stepping in to help rescue the Mexican economy. However, the paper notes that this time Mexico has taken some precautionary measures by arranging a $47 billion IMF credit line in advance. Mexico, along with Germany and Japan who also reported steep declines on Wednesday, is very dependent on the U.S. for trade, particularly since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Because of falling U.S. demand, the WSJ says Mexican auto production in the first quarter fell 41% from the year before.
Also from Mexico, more on a brewing drugs and politics scandal in the LA Times. Senator Ricardo Monreal of Zacatecas has temporarily stepped down, reports the paper, after his family was implicated in a major drug bust in which tons of marijuana was seized. Around 14.5 tons of marijuana was recently discovered in warehouse owned by the Senator’s brother, David (the mayor of Fresnillo, Mexico) who claims the drugs were planted by political enemies. “I cannot remain quiet, nor permit that the men and women of Mexico think all of us politicians are alike,” Monreal remarked. “That we all hide behind constitutional protection to avail ourselves of impunity and corruption. I will not form part of that mafia.” Interestingly, this is not the first time the Monreal family has gotten caught up in allegations of drug activity. In the late 1990s, rumors that Ricardo Monreal’s brothers were mixed up with drug cartels cost him the PRI’s candidacy for the Zacatecas governorship. He soon after left the party and joined the PRD.
And, in the New York Times, a brief from Argentina where a District Attorney has filed an arrest order for a Colombian national suspected of being involved in the 1994 bombing of Jewish organizations in Buenos Aires. The suspect, Samuel Salman El Reda, is believed to have some role in the July 1994 bombing that killed 85 people and left about 300 wounded. It was the country’s deadliest terrorist attack.
In other stories of interest this morning, the LAT says that President Obama, at times a critic of free trade proposals, is throwing his support behind such an agreement with Panama. The administration is expected to make its case before a Senate Finance Committee hearing, and sources say that Obama hopes the deal will go through before July 1. The free trade agreement has been held up because of U.S. lawmakers' concerns about poor enforcement of labor rights in Panama and its reputation as a haven for offshore tax evasion.
From the AP in the MH, a report from Bolivia on Asst. Secretary of State Tom Shannon’s visit. “We need to improve our cooperation in a way that benefits both countries, and we're here with goodwill,” Shannon said at a news conference along with Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca. Shannon meets with Evo Morales today.
Also, an AP piece on Venezuela this morning examines how repression targets not just Chávez opponents but also “disloyal” Chavistas, in the words of the paper. The article focuses particularly on the failings of the Venezuelan judicial system which has shown signs of corruption and politicization.
Finally, a few opinions. Marifeli Perez-Stable writes in the MH that while Fidel Castro remains active in the debate about the direction of Cuba through his many opinion articles, Raúl Castro has quietly “stepped away from his brother” by putting reemphasizing the place of political institutions. She notes that a party congress will be held later this year in Cuba after a 12-year hiatus. And both the MH and LAT have editorials on the issue of Guantanamo, both criticizing the President and Democrats for second-guessing the closure of the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
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