Central America. An EFE report says about 500 women protested outside the Nicaraguan Supreme Court last week, demanding that therapeutic abortion be once again allowed. A 2006 law banned the practice completely, even when three doctors say the woman’s life was in jeopardy.
From Guatemala, AFP reports that President Alvaro Colom denied rumors earlier this week that there was a coup fomenting within the ranks of the Guatemalan military.
And WOLA recently released a white paper three-year study of DR-CAFTA and labor rights, concluding the funds invested were insufficient in resolving the long-standing labor problems and the impunity of the employers and systemic labor abuses continue. For the full report, click here.
Argentina. The Center for International Policy’s Americas Program writes about the struggle of community media and their struggle for new media laws that will allow freer access to operate legally.
EFE reports that ex-President and current deputy candidate Nestor Kirchner leads in legislative election polling less than one month from midterm elections, up about 10 points on his nearest competitor.
And the AP writes that 42 “disappeared” individuals from the dirty wars of the 1970s and early 1980s were identified this week by the Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense in Buenos Aires.
Bolivia. Kathryn Ledebur of the Andean Information Network writes on AIN’s site this week about Evo Morales’s consideration of military trials for those suspected of plotting against the president. She calls this option the wrong message to send during a time of crisis, writing “Much like U.S. tribunals, Bolivian military court proceedings lack transparency, the selection process of judges depends on the military high command, and does not require that all officials have legal training.”
Chile. The Guardian writes of charges this week brought against a former Pinochet army conscript for the murder of famous Chilean musician, Victor Jara, over 30 years ago. Jara was shot 44 times in 1973.
Colombia. Adam Isacson has an excellent preliminary analysis of Colombia’s “Integrated Action” doctrine and programs at Plan Colombia and Beyond. The reporting and initial thoughts on the program come ahead of a report CIP intends to have out on Colombia’s new counter-narcotics strategy by September.
And in The Nation, Teo Ballvé also has a very good story about counter-narcotics in Colombia, looking at how alternative development money often is paying agribusiness ventures with ties to “narco-paramilitaries, violent crimes, and illegal land seizures.”
Also check out Adam Isacson’s round-up of Colombia stories at Plan Colombia and Beyond.
El Tiempo reports on Sec. of State Clinton’s meeting this week with Alvaro Uribe. The two talked for one and a half hours, predominantly about the FTA with Colombia and Plan Colombia, reports say.
Inter-Press Service reports that Liberal Party head Cesar Gaviria denounced attempts to pass a political reform law that would “allow paramilitary chiefs to run for popularly elected posts, to enter into contracts with the state, and to become public employees.” The article of the law was eventually dropped but is not the first time that parapoliticians have figured into Colombian legislating, as a recent report by prominent human rights defenders Iván Cepeda and Jorge Rojas shows.
CIP’s America’s Program looks at the Pentagon’s May 7 budget which includes $46 million for development of a new U.S. military base in Palanquero, Colombia. The analysis concludes that a “base would feed a failed drug policy, support an abusive army, and reinforce a tragic history of U.S. military intervention in the region” and should be scrapped.
And at Upside Down World, writer James Brittain condemns the extradition of a Colombian sociologist, teaching in Mexico, to Colombia under suspicion that he was a FARC supporter, The writer calls the move “an attack on academic freedom.”
Cuba. BREAKING NEWS, BBC is just now reporting that the OAS has voted to allow Cuba back into the OAS. It is not clear if the ministers attached conditions to their decision. The group's foreign ministers and ambassadors are still meeting in Honduras and are expected to clarify the terms of their agreement in the coming hours.
The Latin Americanist writes on the $1 billion judgment awarded to a Cuban American Miami man. The court’s decision blames Fidel Castro and Che Guevara for the suicide of the man’s father, but it seems it will be quite difficult to get either man to pay up.
And the New America Foundation’s Patrick Doherty writes that Cuba has become Latin America’s Palestine. Foreign Policy writes about the analogy saying Cuba is the new litmus test for dealing with the region as a whole. “Don't think we are going to help you move your regional agenda forward until you help us out on getting a Palestinian peace deal done.”
Ecuador. NACLA writes that the re-election of Rafael Correa poses challenges to Ecuador’s mostly indigenous social movements who are skeptical about deep social changes promised by the country’s new constitution. In particular, the two sides have butt heads over legislation which “offered mining companies unprecedented large-scale open pit mining concessions throughout the country, including on indigenous lands and environmentally sensitive areas.”
And Forbes Magazine reports that Correa has indicated that Ecuador will leave an international arbitration body (the Washington-based International Center for Investment Disputes) considering complaints by several oil companies. Ecuador argues that the process infringes on the country's sovereignty.
Haiti. The BBC reports that the World Bank has approved $121 million in a new lending plan to help Haiti recover from last year’s devastating storms.
Mexico. Writer Gabriela Arana writes of overblown fear-mongering about border violence, saying “according to crime statistics for American cities along the US-Mexico border and major US metro areas along drug routes, violent crimes, including robberies, have either decreased in the first part of 2009 or remained relatively stable.”
Still, the LA Times La Plaza blog writes that the Rory Peck Trust and Article 19, two Mexican NGOS, recently got together and ran a survival course for 18 journalists living and working in the country. During the five-day course, journalists from all over the country “went through a simulated kidnapping, dodged tear gas, learned first aid, and received psychological training on dealing with emergencies.”
At NACLA, a report on military aid to Mexico says “military aid Washington is sending across the border is facilitating a militarization of Mexican society that will likely cause greater suppression of political dissent,” arguing Oaxaca is emblematic of this situation.
At Narco News and on a similar matter, Laura Carlsen of CIP writes that a “little-known measure buried in the U.S. 2009 Supplemental Bill would provide millions of dollars to corrupt Mexican security forces engaged in an unwinnable drug war.” Of the extra $470 million appropriated in the House version of the supplemental to Mexican security forces, $310 million goes directly to the Mexican armed forces writes Carlsen.
Has the crackdown on drug cartels in Mexico, pushed violent gangs north, all the way to Mexico? An Economist piece says the surge in shootings [in British Columbia] is “directly related” to a crackdown on gangs in Mexico and the United States, says Pat Fogarty, a senior officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who is quoted in the Economist this week.
The Washington Times had a front-page story this week saying cartels are increasingly using children and fake tamale stands as a means to “gather intelligence about enhanced U.S. border security and exploit weaknesses to send in people and drugs.” Cartels already have used hang gliders and other ultralight aircraft to move narcotics into the U.S. says the story.
And speaking of children, the CS Monitor reports that Mexico is considering a ban on street children. I am not sure quite how this would work, but allegedly “state and municipal authorities would be required to round up kids living or working on the streets and place them in the care of social service agencies. Authorities who fail to do so would face fines.”
Peru. Bloggings by Boz writes that the Peruvian government seized the Panamericana television station this week, saying it had right to seize the station over an unpaid tax dispute. As Boz writes, the “dispute is incredibly suspicious as it happened just as a judge ordered an ownership change in the station over an unrelated issue.”
Adding to ex-President Fujimori’s legal troubles, IPS reports that the Peruvian justice system has confessions of 3 convicted former Fujumori ministers, supporting corruption charges against the President. At the trial, which will begin this month, prosecutor Avelino Guillén will seek an additional eight-year sentence for the former president.
Uruguay. Two interviews this past week with Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano (in the U.S. on a book tour) can be seen here, one with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now and a second on Grit TV with Laura Flanders.
Venezuela. The anti-Chávez Caracas Chronicles blog writes of rising discontent on the Eastern shore of Lake Maracaibo where nearly 8,000 workers who should've been put on the state oil giant's payroll after oil service contracting companies were seized remain without new contracts. The blog writes that fewer than 300 have apparently been processed so far.
El País reports on the suspension of Chavez’s “Alo Presidente” marathon over the weekend due to “technical problems.”
Open Democracy writes on how Venezuela’s participatory democracy experiment must figure out how to meet rising challenges regarding crime and violence. “In Venezuela, with poverty halved since 2003, the stand out cause of homicides must be considered the impunity with which they are carried out,” writes George Gabriel. He adds that a “culture of brutality” exists and cites Venezuelan NGO Red de Apoyo por la Justicia y la Paz (RAJ) who found 113 cases of torture, and 985 of cruel, degrading or inhuman punishment in 2004.
And FP’s Passport blog writes on the opening of a new restaurant in Beirut, Lebanon: Hugo, a schawarma joint named after, yes, you guessed it, Hugo Chávez.
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