The Washington Post and LA Times offer reporting and opinions on the inauguration of new Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes Monday. Attending the ceremonies in San Salvador was U.S. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, who the WaPo notes was dressed in bright red, the colors of the left wing FMLN guerillas the U.S. fought against just two decades ago. For her part, Ms. Clinton said she expects “a positive relationship” with Mr. Funes, considered by most to be a moderate. Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, however, seemed to indicate U.S. support for the Funes presidency was simply a means of keeping Funes in the political center. “The secretary wants to engage Funes, because we don't want him moving all the way to the left,” said Engel, who also attended the inauguration. Funes showed his admiration for President Barack Obama, along with President Lula da Silva during his inauguration speech, saying both men were “proof that progressive leaders, instead of being a threat, represent a new and secure road for their countries.” According to Cynthia Aronson of the Woodrow Wilson Center, “The FMLN has been part of the architecture of representative democracy in El Salvador. El Salvador's resemblance to other countries in Latin America governed by the populist left are quite minimal.” To be sure, President Funes faces a difficult road ahead. As the LAT notes, an economic crisis and runaway street crime that has resulted in one of the world's highest homicide rates, along with a right-wing opposition that controls Congress, will be among his challenges. But as an LAT editorial adds, “his cabinet has more economic pragmatists than ex-guerrillas, and he promised economic austerity along with a fight against corruption, drug trafficking and organized crime -- all issues of interest to the United States.”
The Miami Herald adds to the analysis of the FMLN’s rise to power in El Salvador from a regional perspective, saying left and right in Central America are increasingly difficult to differentiate from one another. “'It is tempting to say that Central America has moved to the left, but that is a mostly superficial view of what is happening,” says Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue. The region's two newest presidents in El Salvador and Panama are said to occupy opposite ends of the political spectrum, says the MH, but, according to Shifter, they have “more similarities than differences” as they both ran as outsiders challenging the status quo. “It would not be surprising to find that, as presidents, Funes and Martinelli govern in similar ways,” Shifter adds. U.S. intellectual and frequent commentator on Central America, Noam Chomsky, agrees that the terms “right” and “left” have lost much of their practical meaning in the sub-region, saying they have become “hopelessly corrupted by propaganda.” And even Colombia’s right-of-center President, Alvaro Uribe, argued recently that right and left distinctions are mostly symbolic. “Throughout the continent, we are all committed to the rule of democracy, so the old divisions become obsolete, polarizing and of little practical sense,” Uribe said during a recent speech to business leaders in Panama City.
From the New York Times, the paper reports that remittances sent back to Mexico from the U.S. plunged by almost one-fifth compared to the same period one year ago. The drop is the largest decline since the authorities began keeping track of such transfers. Migrants sent $1.8 billion in April, 18.7% less than in April 2008. Philip Martin, a migration expert at the University of California, Davis, said it’s too early to determine if the drop will continue through May. “It’s going to be down in 2009,” says Martin, “but the question is how much.” Much of drop is due to rising unemployment in the construction sector, and, according to Prof. Martin, some illegal immigrants might have paid taxes in April in the hope of an eventual amnesty.
And, also on Mexico, the Wall Street Journal reports this morning that a Mexican trade association representing more than 4,500 trucking companies is seeking $6 billion in damages from the U.S. government for not allowing Mexican trucks to bring cargo on to U.S. roadways. The group, Canacar, sought arbitration under the North American Free Trade Agreement over one month ago but did not publicize the action until this week. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Ron Kirk, says the dispute between the two countries, arising out a spending bill provision that ended a cross-border pilot trucking program, is being addressed. In the U.S. many industries are now facing import duties of 10% to 20% of a product's value and are also actively urging the administration to resolve the international dispute. For Canacar’s part, the trade group says members have lost money and missed business opportunities. “We want reciprocity,” said Pedro Ojeda, a lawyer for Canacar. “The U.S. has notoriously not kept its commitments.”
In other news, the AP writes in the NYT about another Mexico-related story, saying at least 25 police officers were arrested in northern Mexico on Monday, accused of having ties to drug traffickers. The arrests come on top of last week’s raids in which federal officials arrested 10 mayors and 20 other officials in Michoacán on suspicion of protecting the La Familia cartel. On Sunday, in Ciudad Juarez, gunmen shot and killed five people at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. The killings may be related to threats that administrators had received demanding that the clinic be shut down, say authorities. At least 30 individuals were murdered over the weekend in drug-related killings, writes the AP.
Also, the NYT has a briefing on a new Human Rights Watch report which says violence against transgender persons in Honduras is almost never investigated. HRW called on the police to seriously investigate such crimes and punish those who committed them, including, in some cases, police officers.
In the MH, a piece from Peru says that the country is maintaining economic growth and weathering the economic downturn better than its fellow Latin American countries. Speaking in Miami, the Peruvian ambassador to the U.S. said Peru is expecting economic growth of 4 percent in 2009. Ambassdor Luis Valdivieso, himself an economist, said his country has strong international reserves, is sharply reducing international debt, exercising control over government spending and driving down inflation, all of which have helped put the economy in a strong position.
And the LAT writes that an increasing number of U.S. young people, and the not-so-young, are signing up for the Peace Corps. Peace Corps reports a 16% increase in completed applications submitted in 2008, with 7% of them are coming from people 50 or older, up from the typical 4%.
Finally, two opinions. Writing in the MH yesterday, Sec. of State Clinton said the inauguration of Mauricio Funes in El Salvador was “a testament to the strength and durability of democracy” in the Americas. However, she warns that this is a “critical moment” for the region to maintain such advances in the face of economic recession. Citing economic, educational, and energy partnerships, among others, Clinton argues that “differences of opinion and perspective are no excuse for failing to strengthen our partnerships in areas of common concern so that we can build a future of shared prosperity and progress.” Also, in his Tuesday column, Andres Oppenheimer addresses a rise in commodity prices over the last month, arguing that export-dependent economies like Ecuador and Venezuela will “receive respite” but will in the long-run “not have access to foreign loans to reactivate their economies once the world economy starts recovering.”
No comments:
Post a Comment