The Miami Herald reported that an estimated 10,000 pro-Zelaya supporters confronted a police force of 3,000 with increasingly violent measures as they continued their mass demonstrations for a second day, though Micheletti’s de facto government proved unwilling to back down. Citizens emitted their messages by throwing rocks at the police, while the police retaliated with riot shields and tear gas. No deaths or injuries have been reported, but the police arrested at least 43 people. After violent demonstrations on Tuesday, in which protestors ransacked a Dunkin Donuts and burned a Popeye’s franchise, Honduran authorities declared a nighttime curfew. Meanwhile, President Zelaya visited Brazil yesterday – and was given full state honors – in an attempt to gain support from other leaders to push for his return.
U.S. clarifies its position in Colombia
An article in the Miami Herald today revealed that the details of the original agreement to increase U.S. military presence in Colombia were vague, and despite other South American countries’ fears, the U.S. claims that they never had plans to maintain military bases in Colombia. The U.S. claims it only had plans to utilize existing bases. The agreement allows the U.S. military to use the bases to carry out their counter-narcotics and counter-guerrilla initiatives. The use of the bases will make up for the closure of the U.S. operation in Manta, Ecuador last month, which was one of three U.S. “Forward Operating Locations” (FOLs) – the others being in El Salvador and Aruba-Curaçao – to obtain data to the counter-drug Joint Interagency Task Force based in Key West. The Miami Herald article notes: "U.S. officials are adamant that the Colombia FOLs will not be 'bases' -- no U.S. flags, no U.S. sovereignty, no U.S. controls over base security, no lethal equipment, no use of force.” The U.S. and Colombia both acknowledge that they mishandled the public relations regarding the bases, although little clarity remains of how the bases will operate.
Addition flaws found within Mexico’s criminal justice system…but the country is promoting human rights
Today, both the New York Times and the LA Times reported that Mexico’s Supreme Court released a number of indigenous people in the case investigating the murder of 45 people in the Acetal massacre in Chiapas in 1997. Whereas the New York Times reported that 22 people were released, the LA times reported that it was 20, and new trials were issued for 6 more men. Regardless of the exact number, the Supreme Court found that prosecutors used “forged evidence and false testimony” to imprison those convicted. The massacre of 1997 drew so much international outrage that Mexico’s president at the time, Ernesto Zedillo, decided to investigate the crime. However, throughout the trial, several irregularities, such as not providing the suspects, violated the human rights of the accused, in order for the prosecutors to seek justice as quickly as possible. The Acetal case demonstrates the deficiencies of Mexico’s criminal justice system, even though the events of the massacre itself were confusing from the beginning. As one of the court judges, Juan Silva Meza says, this case “is a good opportunity for the court to reiterate a clear message to the authorities in charge of pursuing crimes — your actions ought to always respect, scrupulously, the Constitution and human rights.”
An article in the LA Times revealed that the end of this week will mark the opening of Mexico’s second annual human rights film festival, which is to include a series of documentaries, fiction features and short films from 23 countries. This year, the festival added competitions for best Mexican documentary and best Mexican short film. Themes for this year’s festival include migration, global warming, freedom of expression, child prostitution, and the slayings of the women in Ciudad Juarez and will be portrayed in movies such as “Los Que Se Quedan,” “Voces Silenciadas,” and “Sin Nombre.” Although last year’s festival only attracted 4,000 visitors in a city of over 20 million, the festival now costs 20 pesos per ticket and is hoped to encourage more people to attend.
Chavez: “Golf is a bourgeois sport.”
The New York Times ran a story yesterday afternoon claiming that Chavez’s political movement is now targeting the sport of golf, attempting to close two of Venezuela’s most notorious golf courses in Maracay and Caraballeda. Chavez publicly announced his belief that “golf is a bourgeois sport” in his Sunday television program, mocking the sport’s lazy nature. Chavez’s move to close the golf courses demonstrates how his plans to nationalize the country extend beyond the oil industry, and now include coffee roasters, cattle ranches, and tomato-processing plants. The article reported that Chavez’s motive behind closing the golf courses are based on his oil suspicion on the golf courses since they were initially built for Americans working in the industry, as well as building low-income homes to solve Venezuela’s current housing shortage. Critics of Chavez’s plan iterate that Cuba, Venezuela’s top ally, is going in the opposite direction by building new golf courses to attract tourism.
Five Charged in El Paso for Capital Murder
Associated Press reported that 3 teenagers – 18-year old U.S. soldier Michael Apodaca, 17-year old Christopher Duran, and 16-year old anonymous – are being charged for killing Jose Daniel Gonzalez Galeana, a Mexican drug cartel lieutenant who was cooperating with U.S. authorities. Apodaca admitted he took “money from mid-level cartel official Ruben Rodrigueza Dorado to be the triggerman,” Duran admitted he was paid to be the getaway driver, and the 16-year old was paid to provide surveillance. Dorado is also in prison facing murder charges. A fifth person, cartel lieutenant Jesus Aguayo Salas, who is said to have ordered and financed the killing, is also charged with capital murder. Rodriguez, Apodaca, and Duran remain imprisoned with a $1-million bail each, and it is currently being decided whether the 16-year old will be charged as an adult.
Editorial
Former U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Thomas McNamara’s editorial in the New York Times today reminded us that Mexico’s violent situation should not be a surprise, since we have seen it before. Colombia in the late 1980s and early 1990s is one example, when violence escalated due to battles between drug lords and police officers/politicians/judges/businessmen/any opposition at all, killing innocent citizens caught in the crossfire. McNamara points out that the similarities between Mexico and Colombia “go down even to the hiring of poor, uneducated hit men” – also known as “sicarios,” to kill the opposition. The role of the U.S. is also a similarity in both countries, since Americans are the number one drug consumer, arms suppliers, and money launderers. Just like Colombian president Barco’s fight against drug lord Pablo Escobar, President Calderon’s actions against the drug smugglers is having the same violent effects and reducing government legitimacy and control within its own borders. Despite these similarities, the editorial argues that government and society must give the mafias free reign in order to reduce the violence. If Mexico does successfully break up the drug cartels like Colombia eventually did, the traffickers will find another place to continue their businesses. In order for Mexico to avoid suffering from the aftershocks of violence like Colombia did in the 1990s, it must realize that drug trafficking will continue so long as demand allows it to. The U.S. must first address its “insatiable demand for drugs, its illegal arms exports, and its ineffective financial controls.”
-- Maddie Thomson
(NOTE: The next news summary will come out Monday, August 17)
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