August 18 stories

Appointment updates:

Maria Otero was sworn in on August 10, 2009 as the Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs. She oversees and coordinates the work of the Bureaus of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor; Oceans, Environment and Science; and Population, Refugees and Migration; and the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Kenneth Merten, and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual were sworn in at the State Department Monday by Secretary Clinton. Today Clinton is due to swear in Assistant Secretary of State for Refugees, Population and Migration Eric Schwartz.

FARC releases videos of two hostages

Both Reuter’s News and Associated Press reported that FARC guerrillas in Colombia released videos yesterday showing that a soldier and a police officer, who have been held hostage since 2007 and 2008, are still alive. The video expressed emotional messages that they might be freed along with the 22 other victims held in secret jungle camps. The FARC have held some of these 24 victims hostage for over a decade, and wish to free them in exchange for imprisoned guerrillas. However, President Uribe has rejected any such exchange and has demanded the rebels release their captives. Police officer Maj. Guillermo Solorzano Julio, one of the hostages in the video, asked the public, ''Please don't forget us. Help us.” Colombian Sen. Piedad Cordoba, who has worked to win freedom for the hostages, was the one to hand the videos over to the hostages’ families, although she failed to describe how she received them. Cordoba hopes to receive other proof that the other hostages are alive soon.

An interview with Micheletti, worries of biased opinions

Associated Press published an article last night reporting that Micheletti’s de facto government believes it will be judged unfairly by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights that arrived yesterday to investigate the allegations of human rights abuses after 24 Zelaya supporters were charged with sedition. The Micheletti government anticipates a biased assessment since the Inter-American Commission is a branch of the Organization of American States, which has condemned the coup and demanded Zelaya’s return to power. The Commisssion met with members of the Supreme Court yesterday and will spend the rest of the week meeting with other officials and civic organizations. The OAS also plans to send a delegation of foreign ministers to Honduras later this week in attempts to revive negotiations to end the crisis. Aside from charging the 24 protesters with sedition and damaging public property, the Micheletti government arrested over 100 other Pro-Zelaya supporters. Pro-Zelaya television and radio stations have made reports that they were yanked off the air after the coup, and several foreign journalists were also arrested immediately after the coup, including four from The Associated Press, all of which will be discussed by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights.

The Miami Herald ran a story revealing that in an exclusive 40-minute interview, de facto President Micheletti claimed he would not allow ousted President Zelaya back into his own country unless he faces charges. Micheletti stated, “The only way President Zelaya can return is if he submits himself to the justice system,” announcing that he cannot be trusted. Also in the interview, Micheletti accused the U.S. ambassador in Honduras, Hugo Llorens, of favoring Zelaya during the crisis, rejected accusations that his government has abused human rights in stopping protests, and said he doesn't predict President Obama to slap tough economic sanctions on Honduras. Micheletti’s comments confirmed his position to prevent President Zelaya’s return by not cooperating with proposed negotiations. Rather, he plans to ride out possible economic sanctions and a refusal by foreign governments to recognize the winners of the elections planned for Nov. 29. During the interview, Micheletti refused to answer the question whether it was illegal for the military to spirit Zelaya out of the country instead of simply arresting him, as the country's Supreme Court had ordered.

On another note, Reuter’s reports that after over a week of the H1N1 swine flu virus, Costa Rican President Arias has fully recovered and is expected to return to work today. President Arias was the first head of state known to be infected with the H1N1 virus, which has spread around the world since April and global health authorities predict it to eventually affect 2 billion people. Last month, Arias led talks to try to negotiate the political crisis in Honduras, but these negotiations broke down three weeks ago over whether the interim leadership would let Zelaya return to power.

In her opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, Mary Anastasia O’Grady criticizes the role of the United States by questioning why the Obama administration is trying to help President Chavez throughout the Honduras crisis. She begins by describing Chavez’s rant at the UNASUR meeting against the U.S. military in Colombia, causing her to wonder why the U.S. is pressuring Honduras to reinstate President Zelaya, since he was removed from office by the Honduran Congress after violating the country's constitution. Mr. Zelaya has become one of Chavez’s top allies, as he attempted to follow Venezuela’s lead by “undermining Honduras's institutional checks and balances.” O’Grady claims that it is a huge step if President Zelaya were to neutralize Chavez, since Chavez’s policies have influenced several South American countries and have resulted in “quashed political pluralism, free speech and minority rights in those countries.” However, in demanding President Zelaya’s return to power, the Obama administration is being criticized for taking too hard of a leftist stance and not standing up enough to Venezuelan aggression, especially after Chavez warned that "The winds of war are starting to blow" with increased U.S. military presence in Colombia. O’Grady claims Obama to be “Playing footsie under the table with Mr. Chávez on Honduras while the Venezuelan is threatening the peace isn't going to fly in a hemisphere that prefers liberty over tyranny.” Lastly, O’Grady claims the U.S.’s War on Drugs has failed, but the Obama administration has taken controversial stances by refusing to support the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement and now by backing Mr. Chávez's Honduran pawn.

Brazilian takes steps towards nationalizing its oil reserves

The New York Times leads with after over a decade of close collaboration with foreign companies, the Brazilian government is seeking to nationalize the country’s oil reserves and more directly control the extraction itself so it can receive more benefits from “its natural resources and cement its position as a global power.” However, this decision is predicted to slow the development of the oil fields, which is risky at a time when the world is looking for new sources. Especially with Brazil’s recent discovery of the deep-sea fields in 2007, which could hold tens of billions of barrels of recoverable oil and is the world’s biggest oil reserve being developed today, the country wants its national oil company, Petrobras to control all future development. This would make Petrobras the operator for the 62% of the area, ending foreign companies as the financial investors, and allowing for Petrobas to “generate jobs and award lucrative contracts.” Analysts believe that the stakes for Brazil are high, as many see the oil as “a magic bullet for tackling the country’s biggest social challenges,” allowing President Lula da Silva to funnel more revenue from the undeveloped fields to government coffers and set up funds to improve education and health care. However, unlike the nationalistic fervor that Mexico experienced in the late 1930s, and that Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador are practicing today, President Lula da Silva does not want to exclude foreigners from energy projects altogether, or even that they be prevented the chance to win majority stakes in some cases. Rather, this decision is a debate over the “speed of the development, who will get the largest share of the income stream and who will benefit from the related technology and knowledge.”

Storms destroying Haiti prevent adequate aid

The Miami Herald reported that the poorest and least developed country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti, is “barely hanging on” as it gets hits with Hurricane Ana, the first of a predicted series of hurricanes this season. The country is plagued with malnutrition, as almost 2 million Haitians, or 1/3 of its population, do not get enough food every day. Aid groups have increased emergency relief, but the conditions that put much of Haiti at risk remain unchanged. Heavy rains that deforest mountains, destroy homes, infrastructure, and fields isolate Haiti from receiving the help that it needs, as aid workers find it extremely difficult to be able to reach the most vulnerable villages. Last year, four storms killed almost 800 people and caused $1 billion worth of damage in Haiti. It took about two months for aid groups to realize that 26 children had starved to death or died of malnutrition here. In advance of this year's storms, aid groups have stockpiled enough food to feed up to 1 million people for a month and a half, WFP spokesman Jim Farrell said. But aid workers say emergency measures can only do so much, and more systemic changes that would help Haiti sustain itself remain distant.

Opinion Piece: The Solution to Corruption among Mexican military

One of the topics discussed at the “Three Amigos” Summit last week between leaders of Canada, the U.S., and Mexico was the drug war in Mexico. Although policy makers agonize over complicated solutions, Kelly M. Phillips, the wife of a Mexican officer Juan Castillo, proposes the problems is simply that the officials are underequipped, unsupported, and underpaid. Previously serving in the California Army National Guard, Phillips married and moved to Mexico, where she was rudely awakened to the differences between the two countries’ services. Phillips’ article reveals the insides and out of the lives of Mexican military officials, including anything from cockroach- and mold-infested houses on base, a lack of housing allowance, unpaid utilities, unreliable health care, poor equipment, extremely low salaries, a lack of personal safety. Calderon’s actions have only worsened these conditions, causing Phillips and her husband to move back to the United States. She proposes that in order to increase safety, Mexico needs to provide higher salaries and better weapons for the military. Phillips claims, “After all, the cartels already have money and weapons, which they use against those who stand in their way — to buy the ones who can be corrupted and brutally murder the rest.”

-- Maddie Thomson