The New York Times and others feature a report this morning on a major anti-drug operation in Mexico that led to the arrest of at least 10 mayors and nearly two dozen other government officials on Tuesday. The NYT writes that police and Mexican soldiers dramatically raided the state attorney general’s office in Morelia, Michoacán, a major marijuana producing region, as well as government offices in several small municipalities of the same state. Also detained in the raids were the director of Michoacán’s state police academy and one of the governor’s own public security advisers. With the issue of cartels infiltrating the state becoming a major political issue ahead of July legislative elections, Gov. Leonel Godoy, himself of the PRD, noted that the Tuesday arrests crossed many political parties and thus would likely not be seen as politically motivated. Reports indicate those arrested have ties to the violent La Familia cartel.
The LA Times adds to the reporting on the most recent drug violence in Mexico with an AP piece about the murder of a well-known crime reporter in the state of Durango. The body of Eliseo Barron was found in an irrigation ditch, the AP writes, just hours after being abducted from his home in the town of Gomez Palacio. Barron worked for over a decade at the paper La Opinion de Torreon, and his latest published article investigated corruption in the area’s police force. The city where Barron works recently purged 300 officers because of corruption suspicions. “A democracy like Mexico cannot tolerate that a reporter serving the public good by covering crime and corruption is bundled out of his home by hooded gunmen and driven to his death,” remarked Carlos Lauria of the NY-based Committee to Protect Journalists while demanding a thorough investigation.
The AP also has a report from Brazil this morning in the Washington Post. The story reports on the detention of an Arab man who ran an anti-American website forum and was suspected of having ties with Al-Qaeda. The arrest actually came in late April when Brazilian authorities were tipped off by the FBI, but the man was shortly thereafter released. On Tuesday, however, a columnist for the “Folha de S. Paulo” newspaper reported that the once-detained man was suspected of being an Al-Qaeda affiliate. Brazilian officials responded to the allegations saying that their investigation of the man’s computers turned up no evidence of this being true. Brazil is home to one of the largest Arab populations anywhere outside of the Middle East., with Foz do Iguacu in the “tri-border” region long considered a hotbed for smuggling.
In the Wall Street Journal a report on Chile and its capacity to thrive economically amidst the global downturn. The WSJ says that during a boom period for commodity prices, Chilean Finance Minister Andrés Velasco successfully stored away a bonanza from copper profits into a rainy-day fund, fending off protests by many who said the money should be spent on social projects. As the paper writes, Velasco said at the time that Latin American history was full of “booms that had been mismanaged and ended badly,” and today “he looks like a prophet.” Since the beginning of the global contraction, copper prices have fallen by 50%, but “Mr. Velasco's preemptive moves have kept Chile's government from having to spend a single peso on bank bailouts.” In fact, the WSJ writes, Chile is now a net creditor nation, and it is putting its reserves into a massive stimulus plan which includes job-creating public-works projects, tax breaks for business, and investments to keep mines operating—“one of the largest stimulus packages in the world,” relative to the size of its national economy.
And, in the Miami Herald a report from Colombia says the FARC insurgency, in the face of military offensives, is now attempting to “reinvent” itself. In what the FARC call “Plan Rebirth,” the rebels are “working to reduce large-scale desertions, and have also sought to cut down on combat by increasing the use of mines and snipers,” says the piece. The rebel group is believed to be lacking command and control at the top of its organizational structure, say Colombian military officials, with just three of seven ruling secretariat members believed to be permanently in Colombia. And, reports the MH, those who have deserted frequently cite the government offers of judicial leniency, financial aid and vocational training as reasons for giving up the fight. About 2,940 FARC fighters deserted in 2008. And 544 had deserted between the beginning of 2009 and the end of April. The FARC is believed to have just 9,000 fighters today, compared with around 18,000 at its peak in 2002.
In other news, the AP reports in the NYT that Evo Morales and Hugo Chávez have rejected an Israeli Foreign Ministry report that cites intelligence estimates linking both countries to supplying Iran’s nuclear program with uranium. Bolivia said it did not produce uranium, calling the report “nonsense” while Chávez said the accusations were simply one more way to tarnish the reputation of his government.
The AP also reports from Venezuela that a suspected narcotrafficker, accused of smuggling cocaine through Venezuela, was deported Tuesday back to Colombia. Wilmer Ignacio Guerrero Ibanez faces drug trafficking and homicide charges in Colombia and boarded a military plane in Caracas with two other Colombians who were also deported. A statement from Colombia's foreign ministry thanked Venezuelan authorities for deporting Guerrero Ibanez. U.S. officials in recent years have accused President Hugo Chavez’s government of ineffectively rooting out drug traffickers.
Also, in the MH, the AP highlights the newest Supreme Court nominee’s Latina roots. Sonia Sotamayor, the daughter of Puerto Rican parents, will be the first Hispanic to serve on the high court, if confirmed. Those close to Sotamayor say she returns to Puerto Rico once or twice a year to visit relatives there. “She always has kept in touch with Puerto Rico regardless of the job she has had,” says one cousin, a lawyer in Mayaguez.
Finally, an opinion from the MH on relaxing trade and travel restrictions with Cuba. Bob Stallman of the American Farm Bureau Association says U.S. agricultural sales to Cuba have averaged $400 million annually since 2000 when special exceptions to the trade embargo were made. Stallman says that if the embargo was lifted, that number would rise to $1 billion per year.
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