A UN conference exploring ways of reforming the global financial system is set to begin today in New York, bringing together leaders from a number of developing countries. Notably absent, however, will be the participation of prominent leaders from the world’s economic powers and top officials from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, Reuters reports. Nevertheless, both president Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Evo Morales of Bolivia are expected to speak during the 3-day conference. As the report writes, “the run-up to the conference has highlighted differences between radicals who want to give the 192-nation General Assembly much more say in tackling the financial crisis and major powers intent on keeping control in their own hands.” Many Western leaders have been particularly frustrated with the leadership of Nicaragua’s Father Miguel D’Escoto, the current president of the General Assembly. According to reports, the participants of the U.N. conference are close to reaching an agreement on a set of global economic proposals they hope delegates will accept during the meetings. Among the complaints of the smaller, developing active in the General Assembly meetings has been their exclusion from discussions about how restructure the global financial system—talks held thus far exclusively among nations of the so-called G-20. While Western diplomats who saw the draft proposal before its public release said the document had been improved over the last few weeks, some, says Reuters, are still worried about the documents recommendations, including one which calls for the General Assembly to create a “council of economic experts” to provide advice to member states on dealing with the economic crisis.
In other global economic news, the Wall Street Journal reports this morning on new economic forecasts by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for a pair of Latin American powers. The economic body said it expects Chile’s economy to contract by 1.6% this year due to the global recession and, in particular, a sharp fall in the price of copper. “Despite the authorities’ strong reaction and sound macroeconomic fundamentals, Chile will not escape the global recession,” the OECD noted in its latest report. The prediction is slightly more pessimistic than one made by Chile’s Central Bank which forecasted a 1% contraction of the economy a short time again. In addition, Latin America’s largest economy, Brazil, could shrink by 0.8% this year but will likely bounce back and experience growth once again in 2010, says the OECD. The international organization notes that “while unemployment appears to be stabilizing, and consumer confidence and retail sales are holding up, export growth remains weak due to the slowdown in Brazil’s main trading partners.”
From Mexico, another story in the Washington Post’s on-going series on the Mexican drug war reports on underground tunnels linking the U.S. and Mexico—a major thoroughfare for smugglers. In particular, the story looks at how a special team of U.S. Border Patrol agents, known as “Tunnel Rats,” have been discovering such subterranean passageways. The paper writes that over just past nine months, the Border Patrol has discovered 16 new tunnels dug by smugglers in Nogales, Arizona to move drugs, migrants, cash and weapons between the two countries. Indeed, the construction of a maze of underground tunnels in Nogales has become so widespread that the southbound traffic lane through the international port of entry collapsed, as did a parking lot at the customs office itself. Agents say it is no longer uncommon to see a manhole cover open up in the middle of the day and then to witness men suddenly pop out. Interestingly, underground tunneling around Nogales has been a popular means of smuggling since the Prohibition era of the 1920s, officials say. While the activity does appear to now be increasing, it seems that the city’s labyrinth of storm water drains have made it easier for new tunnels to be constructed by traffickers.
At the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, hosted by Mexico this week, the Mexican government took new bold steps toward offering global leadership on climate change issues. As the AP in the Miami Herald reports, “Mexican President Felipe Calderon made a push Monday for his proposal for a $10 billion ‘green fund’ as a more efficient way to fight climate change than carbon credits.” The so-called ‘green fund’ would be administered by the World Bank or another multilateral agency, said Calderon, and would be both funded by contributions from all nations and open to finance projects from all nations, in contrast to the largely private-sector carbon credit market that some countries have advocated. In the words of Calderon, “it will have a framework of greater multilateral participation, which will result in a more equitable and efficient distribution of funds.”
And an editorial in the LA Times which I did not have a chance to mention a few days ago comes out hard against Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and his current spat with the private media company, Globovision. The editorial says the recent words of Andres Izarra, head of state television network Telesur, are “nothing but paranoia-induced hyperbole.” Izarra, speaking in front of the Organization of American States a few weeks ago, compared Globovision’s broadcasting to the Rwandan radio stations that encouraged genocide during the 1990s. The paper goes on to argue that “In Venezuela, there are no newspapers with a national reach, and if a free press is essential to a vibrant democracy, then the country's political outlook is increasingly grim.”
In two other stories worth mentioning this morning, the AP says new personal accusations are coming out against Paraguayan priest-turned-president, Fernando Lugo. A woman who claims Lugo is the father of one of her children has now added that Lugo raped her during the first sexual encounter the two had. Lugo has declined to address the allegation specifically, but such accusations will inevitably hurt the already tainted personal reputation of the Paraguayan president. And on the global reach of organized crime, the AP also reports that Venezuelan authorities will deport a European drug trafficker and Italian mafia boss back to Italy. Salvatore Miceli was caught at a Caracas hotel on Saturday in a joint operation organized by Venezuelan and Italian officials. Miceli was one of Europe's top five drug traffickers and allegedly served as a link between South American and European organized crime syndicates.
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