The Wall Street Journal writes this morning from Mexico saying authorities are cracking down on local police forces suspected of being corrupted by ties with narco traffickers. The paper writes that dozens of federal and local police squared off for several hours Monday in a major Monterrey intersection, “aiming at each other with semiautomatic assault weapons and threatening to kill one another.” When the standoff finished, no one was reported to have been injured, but the images were shocking to many in the country, says the WSJ. In just nine days, 78 police officers, including a local police chief, have been detained on suspicions of links to cartels—arrests which have angered other local law enforcement officials, who staged the Monterrey protest by using their patrol cars to blockade busy city avenues. Suspecting that the protests were really ordered by drug cartels, Nuevo Leon state public security chief, Aldo Fasci said Monday “if some people definitely were ordered to do this by organized crime, then that's very different from responding to a call for help, and that's why several people have been arrested.”
In the New York Times, a report this morning examines the separatist movement growing along the Mosquito Coast in Nicaragua. The NYT says the indigenous Miskito people who live in the area have a growing list of grievances with the Nicaraguan government, including restrictions placed on the consumption of sea turtle which is a longtime traditional dish of the Miskito group. In addition, the paper writes that the federal government has allowed outside companies to exploit the raw materials in the Miskito’s jungle territory with everything from lobster to lumber to gold being extracted and little benefit returned to the people of the area. In late April, the Miskitos seized the ruling party headquarters on the Coast and declared a local religious leader as their head, but over the weekend the headquarters was reclaimed by Nicaragua’s ruling party. Interestingly, the NYT adds that the “budding independence movement is giving the Nicaraguan government headaches and rekindling some of the ire from the contra war that tore through this country in the 1980s.” In fact many separatist leaders joined the American-backed contras during the contra war, and thus deep mistrust exists between the Miskito people and the Sandinista government of Daniel Ortega.
The Miami Herald writes on the potential effect of the latest U.S.-Cuba spy case on possible future talks between the two countries. The paper says the case “could crimp the Obama administration's efforts to renew talks with the government in Havana,” adding that the story came just as the Cuban government agreed to resume long-suspended discussions on migration and direct mail. Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) expressed his worries about the case, saying “This is a government that very aggressively goes after intelligence information in our country and I think it affects our broader relationship with Cuba.” He also recommended that the U.S. postpone any direct talks with the Cubans. Wayne Smith, former head of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana remarked that the case “should not have an impact on the talks, but it will… this case will cause interruptions, cause heartburn and cause Washington to move slowly.”
Outside the major U.S. papers, the Inter Press Service has excellent reporting from Peru on the aftermath of violence between indigenous groups and state security forces that has killed dozens. Indigenous leaders are now saying at least 40 indigenous people, including three children, were killed and that the authorities are covering up the massacre by throwing bodies in the river. In addition, there are reports from foreign observers in the area report who say “police opened fire early in the morning on the unarmed protesters, some of whom were still sleeping, and deliberately mowed them down as they held up their arms or attempted to flee.” For his part, President Alan Garcia has said there is “a conspiracy afoot to try to keep us from making use of our natural wealth.” State television is also broadcasting publicity spots showing images of dead policemen, along with messages like: “This is how extremism is acting against Peru;” “extremists encouraged from abroad want to block progress in Peru;” and “we must unite against crime, to keep the fatherland from backsliding from the progress made.” But, says IPS, decrees passed by the government under special powers received from Congress to facilitate implementation of Peru’s free trade agreement with the United States are considered unconstitutional by the indigenous protesters. Wilfredo Ardito, lawyer for the Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos (APRODEH) human rights association, says international bodies should intervene, because of “a climate of total distrust and fear that evidence of the massacre will be hidden.”
And from the Financial Times, the International Trade Union Confederation maintained Wednesday that Colombia remains the most dangerous country to be a trade unionist. ITUC reports that 49 trade union activists were killed in Colombia last year, an increase of 10 over 2007. Around the world, the number of recorded assassinations of trade unionists fell to 76 last year from 91 in 2007. For its part, the Colombian government claimed this week that killings of union members had fallen by more than 80 per cent in the past seven years, but the ITUC says much more must be done as 96% of cases still go unpunished. In addition to the ITUC report, Philip Alston, the UN human rights envoy on extrajudicial executions, began this week a 10-day mission to Colombia where his body will investigate alleged unlawful killings, including those of labor activists, and the extent of impunity in the country.
In other news, the NYT in a short briefing says Alberto Pizango, the indigenous leader sought by the Peruvian government for “sedition,” has been granted asylum by Nicaragua. Pizango was considered the leader of the indigenous protests in the Peruvian Amazon.
The WSJ writes, in a very interesting piece, that immigrants are increasingly becoming hostages along border states where the immigrant-smuggling business is burgeoning. The paper writes that drug dealers “snatch rivals to demand ransom or settle debts,” and more and more such cases involve undocumented migrants. Interestingly, the WSJ writes the following: “A couple of decades ago, workers commonly traveled back and forth across the U.S.-Mexico border, going to the same American farm or construction job each year. To make the passages they often would use the same smuggler, called a “coyote,” each time. Now, organized gangs own the people-smuggling trade. According to U.S. and Mexican police, this is partly an unintended consequence of a border crackdown. Making crossings more difficult drove up their cost, attracting brutal Mexican crime rings that forced the small operators out of business.”
Also in the WSJ, news that Brazil plans to lower its interest rates for the fourth time this year. Interest rates have long been a sensitive subject in Brazil, says the paper, as inflation ravaged the economy during the 1990s, leading to an acceptance of high rates.
And, in the MH, and AP report says a federal judge in Argentina has ordered the international arrest of a Colombian national suspected of involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Argentina that killed 85 people. Samuel Salman, 43, is believed to be living in Lebanon. Salman had lived in Argentina since 1987 but left the country a week after the attack to live in Lebanon. Argentine officials have long claimed that Iran orchestrated the attack and that the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group carried it out.
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