The passage of a new law in Mexico has decriminalized the possession of small amounts of drugs in that country, but as the New York Times’ Marc Lacey reports this morning, many have reacted to the legislation with ambivalence as other problems, including drug violence, still loom large. According to one skeptical addict in the border town of Tijuana, “It’s an awful life. You do anything to satisfy your urge. You sell your body. It ruins you. I hope this won’t make more people live like this.” Under the law, individuals possessing small amounts of drugs, including heroin, marijuana, and cocaine, will not be prosecuted if caught by law enforcement officials. Rather, they will be referred to “free treatment programs” as “patients,” not criminals. The NYT says the legislation would likely never have been put on the table if it were not for Mexico’s bloody drug wars, and the same might be said for another even more controversial law now being considered by some Mexican lawmakers: the legalization of capital punishment which has not occurred in Mexico in 50 years. Both libertarians and progressives who work on drug policy in the U.S. say the new Mexican drug law is an important one. Juan Carlos Hidalgo of the Cato Institute calls it “a step in the right direction after decades of failed policy,” and Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance says it reflects thinking that “contrasts sharply with the United States.” However, Mexican officials were clear that the legislation was not legalization, with the attorney general’s office telling the AP that it amounted to “regulating the issue (of drug possession).” And strong opponents of the measure do exist in Mexico, writes the LA Times, among them the powerful Catholic Church and many social workers who work on addiction and youth issues.
Also, on Mexico, new numbers on violence may slowly be painting a different picture of the country, portrayed as one of the world’s most violent over the past years. The LA Times says that while 11,000 have been killed in Mexico since the end of 2006, the situation may be improving, depending on how you read new figures being used by Mexico’s attorney general’s office. Mexico’s top law enforcement official, Eduardo Medina Mora, is now saying overall violence in his country, at 11 homicides per 100,000 last year, is down from 15 years ago when it was 16 per 100,000. Indeed, Medina Mora added that the country’s overall per capita murder rate was lower than Guatemala and El Salvador, and, yes, even lower than the city of Washington, D.C. Opponents of the Calderon government and many activists and analysts say this is simply the government’s latest spin job, but, according the LAT, anyway you read it, “his comments reflect the anxieties of a government that has struggled to convince residents that it is winning its 2 1/2 -year-old war against drug gangs and making headway against crime and impunity in general.” Also, this morning, on violence and guns, the story of a young Texas woman sentenced earlier this year to 10 months in prison for her involvement in an international gun running ring. Interestingly, USA Today writes that the young woman “represents one in a steady stream of women — grandmothers, single moms and expectant mothers — who cartels are regularly recruiting to keep weapons flowing from the U.S. to support their violent operations in Mexico.”
The top story out of Honduras this weekend is a Supreme Court decision that rejects the Oscar Arias “San José Accord” plan to bring ousted President Mel Zelaya back to power. Specifically, the Court stood by its previous position, ordering the arrest of Zelaya if he returns to the country. The BBC writes that the crimes which the coup government says Zelaya faces include “crimes against the government, treason, and abuse of power,” and, once again, the high court says that de facto president Roberto Micheletti assumed the presidency through “constitutional succession.” For the actual decision, see “Honduras Coup 2009,” which also adds the following analysis: “Press coverage has emphasized that the court reiterated that President Zelaya would have to stand trial. But what they actually said is that there is an existing legal case against him, which has to be finalized following the penal processual code.” Also, a mission of OAS foreign ministers is expected to arrive in Honduras today in yet another attempt to broker some sort of deal that would reinstall Zelaya to power; the de facto government, after breaking relations with Argentina last week for that country’s expulsion of the Honduran ambassador in Buenos Aires, had three of its diplomats “removed” from Spain and Nicaragua by those country’s governments for supporting the Micheletti regime; and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has presented a preliminary report on human rights violations in Honduras highlighting the use of force against peaceful demonstrators and inhuman detention conditions for those arrested. Amnesty International also released a comprehensive human rights report last week on Honduras while many Latin American scholars are calling on Human Rights Watch to do the same after weeks of silence on the deteriorating human rights situation there.
From Colombia, the Washington Post’s Juan Forero filed a report late last week, writing that, to the surprise of some, the Colombian Senate approved a bill that would allow for the re-election of President Alvaro Uribe. Many commentators believed such a possibility was all but dead one month ago but the bill passed on a 56-2 vote, with many opponents of the measure abstaining. However, the deal is not yet a completed one. As the paper writes, Uribe’s re-election bid “still faces obstacles to extending his presidency. A vote on the referendum bill is expected next week in the House, where it will be tougher for the government to muster the necessary 84 votes.” Also, the AP reports that Brazil’s Lula da Silva chatted with President Obama by phone last week, telling the U.S. President he must meet with South American nations to give justification for the U.S.’s new plans to expand military presence in Colombia.
Finally today, a quick wrap-up on a series of on-going stories and opinions from Venezuela. First, Al Jazeera reports on dueling protests over a new education law approved by the Chavez-backing National Assembly last week. Opponents say the legislation would impose a form of classroom indoctrination while Chávez says the measure is necessary to end the country’s “bourgeois” educational system. At the same time, Fidel Castro, in new photos which show the ailing Cuban leader looking quite fit, met with Venezuelan students in Cuba over the weekend (as well as with Ecuador’s Rafael Correa). Among his challenges to the students: tackling the global threat of climate change. The AP reports on a former Chavez ally now facing corruption charges which he says are politically motivated. Didalco Bolivar split with Chavez in 2007 and now seeks asylum in what is quickly becoming a haven for anti-Chavez leaders: Peru. And in the Washington Post, both the paper’s editorial board and columnist Edward Schumacher-Matos, criticize Hugo Chavez, albeit with differing strategies. The Post criticizes South American leaders for ignoring controversial moves by the Chavez government to confer about what it calls “an unremarkable U.S.-Colombian agreement for American forces to use a few Colombian military bases for counternarcotics and counterterrorism surveillance operations.” The paper argues that “the controversy reflects another successful effort by Mr. Chávez to deflect attention from his own behavior while putting the Obama administration on the defensive.” Meanwhile, Schumacher-Matos takes a different stand, saying journalists and congressmen are right to blast the Venezuelan president but Obama is correct in staying quiet. He argues that the popularity of Chavez and his allies have suffered enough because of their own policies, writing “Chávez is a nuisance but not a threat to the United States, and he has to be treated with the hemisphere in mind. So far, Obama and Clinton are doing just fine.” Finally, an opinion in the Miami Herald writes about the increasingly precarious situation of Venezuelan Jews, many of whom are now leaving for Miami.
NOTE: I’m back from a couple weeks out of town. Many, many thanks to Maddie Thomson from WOLA and David Holiday of OSI for their help while I was gone! -Jfs
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