The top story in the Washington Post and New York Times this morning is from Mexico where Mexico City reopened yesterday, even as new cases of swine flu continued. That is how the WaPo leads into its report of the situation in the Mexican capital city, writing that sit-down restaurants were open for business yesterday (at 50% capacity) for the first time in 12 days. High schools and universities reopen their doors today. However, public health officials cautioned that Mexico was not out of the woods yet. There were 1,112 confirmed swine flu cases in Mexico as of yesterday with 42 confirmed deaths related to the virus. The NYT points out that seasonal flu causes 250,000 to 500,000 deaths annually around the world, but the vast majority are amongst the elderly, infants and people with other pre-existing health problems. What has made swine flu unique, according to the paper, is that the average age of hospitalization has been 15 years old, “something that’s raising concern,” in the words of acting CDC director Dr. Richard Besser.
Meanwhile, the Miami Herald has two lead stories that indicate Mexico will likely struggle to rebuild its image before its global neighbors. In an AP story in the MH, the paper says that dozens of Mexican nationals quarantined in China despite having no swine flu symptoms arrived back to their home country Wednesday on a government-chartered jet, but some complained of “humiliation and discrimination” by the Chinese. And the struggling country of Haiti rejected a Mexican aid ship carrying 77 tons of much-needed food aid yesterday because of swine flu fears. Mexico’s ambassador said the fears were “unfounded,” adding, “we did not want to turn back the ship, but we also did not want our crew to be mistreated.”
The LA Times writes on Cuba this morning with a story about the strong support for weakening the trade embargo that is emerging in the U.S. South, place where businesses see the Caribbean island as a “rare growth market” rather than a Cold War antagonist. In Alabama, James Lyons, the director of the Alabama State Port Authority says, “They [Cuba] are one of our closest neighbors, and a historical trading partner, and we've drifted too far apart.” Alabama regularly sends cotton, corn, soybeans, railroad ties and utility poles to Cuba under an agricultural exemption to the trade embargo approved in 2000. Americans shipped $718 million in goods to Cuba in 2008 alone due to exemption, but there appear to be more profits to be had. Ron Sparks, the state commissioner of agriculture and industry in Alabama, hopes a new U.S. policy toward Cuba will allow Cubans to “replace their famously jury-rigged jalopies with shiny new Hyundais” -- specifically, the Sonata sedans and Santa Fe SUVs built in Hyundai’s $1.4 billion Alabama factory.
And, outside of the major papers, China’s Xinhua news agency reported this week that China has now surpassed the U.S. as Brazil’s biggest trade partner. According to new figures released by Brazil’s Ministry of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade, the sum of Brazil's exports and imports with China reached 3.2 billion U.S. dollars in April compared to 2.8 billion dollars in trade with the U.S. Trade Minister Welber Barral said the change was "historic," as the U.S. has been Brazil's biggest trading partner since the 1930s. However, the Brazilian government says it is still trying to diversify its exports to China, which currently consist of products like soya, cellulose, and fuel.
In other news today, the AP in the NYT reports from Haiti that some of the country’s most powerful lawmakers are calling for the results of last month's parliamentary elections to be thrown out because of allegations of voter fraud and political manipulation. Sen. Youri Latortue, the head of the chamber's justice and security committee, along with at least three other senators, said this week that they would try to block the winners of next month's run-offs from taking office to protest the results. The report notes that “disputed elections have been the precursor to violence and upheaval in recent years.” The AP adds that the “long-delayed election to fill 12 vacant spots in the 30-seat Senate was hailed as an important step in Haiti's development as a democracy. But the April 19 first-round voting was marred by low turnout, officially 11 percent.” The provisional electoral council is currently investigating 18 formal complaints from six administrative regions alleging ballot-box stuffing, voter intimidation and other irregularities.
From Venezuela, an AP report in the MH says new corruption charges were filed against a former leader in that country—although this time the individual under investigation is a supporter of the Chávez government. Former Caracas mayor Juan Barreto is accused of embezzlement, collusion with a contractor and misappropriation of government funds by skirting the bidding process. Barreto responded to the allegations saying, “Generic misappropriation - that doesn't make me corrupt.” Prosecutors said they opened the investigation in late 2007 against the one-time Chavista congressman-turned mayor while Barreto was still in office, due to suspected irregularities in an ill-fated aerial surveillance system that was to have included blimps for anti-crime monitoring.
And two opinions. In the LAT, an editorial on the reelection of Rafael Correa in Ecuador says the “recent reelection of Rafael Correa is a notable step toward a more mature democracy” as the country has gone through 8 presidents in just 13 years. “Whether he will turn out to be a permanent president like Venezuela's Hugo Chavez or a leader who can lay the foundations for a sustainable democracy remains to be seen,” writes the paper, adding “What's clear is that Washington must resist the urge to define the charismatic young president in overly simplistic terms.” And in the MH, Marifeli Perez-Stable writes on Cuba: “In March 1975, a State Department memorandum stated: ‘If there is benefit to us in an end to the state of ‘perpetual antagonism,’ it lies in getting Cuba off the domestic and inter-American agendas, in extracting the symbolism from an intrinsically trivial issue.’” She adds “these words are as true today as then.”
Photo: Daily Star
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