The U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa will stop issuing “most visas” to Hondurans seeking entrance to the United States, both the New York Times and Al Jazeera report. The new U.S. measures come on the heels of an OAS sponsored visit to the Central American country which included seven foreign ministers from around the hemisphere. The international mission ended yesterday after failing to move the intransigent Michelleti regime any closer to a negotiated resolution to the two month old crisis in Honduras. Al Jazeera provides more details on the new U.S. visa policy, saying that only “potential immigrants and emergency cases” will be considered for visas to the U.S. in Tegucigalpa. In a statement Tuesday, State Dept. spokesman Ian Kelly said “we are suspending non-emergency, non-immigrant visa services in the consular section of our embassy in Honduras, effective August 26…We firmly believe a negotiated solution [to the political crisis in Honduras] is the appropriate way forward and the San Jose Accord is the best solution.” Additionally, following a letter by over 90 Latin American scholars urging Human Rights Watch to increase its criticism of rights abuses under the coup regime, the NY-based human rights organization said Tuesday that the U.S. must impose new sanctions if no resolution is agreed upon this week. “If the OAS delegation is unable this week to persuade Honduras' de facto government to allow Zelaya's return to the presidency, the only option left will be for the international community to ratchet up the pressure," Jose Miguel Vivanco, the HRW director for the Americas, said. Vivcano added that the U.S. could cancel all travel visas for members of the de facto government and could block their access to U.S. banks. Meanwhile, on the ground in Honduras, Telesur reports that popular resistance groups in the country are preparing an international day of protest against the current regime, scheduled to occur on August 28. Interestingly, such protests appear to be taking on a new anti-American flavor as organizers are calling for protests in front of U.S. Embassies around the world. The protest organizers are demanding the unconditional return of President Mel Zelaya to Honduras and the prosecution of those who have violated human rights over the last two months.
In Argentina, the Wall Street Journal and New York Times both report on the decriminalization of private marijuana use. The Argentine Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that it was unconstitutional to punish an adult for consuming the drug in cases when others were put in no danger. The ruling was a unanimous one, the WSJ’s Matt Moffett writes, and overturns a 1989 law that set up to two year prison sentences for personal marijuana possession. The new Argentine policy is part of a growing Latin American trend. Last week Mexico decriminalized small time drug possession and Brazil and Ecuador have also “eased small-scale possession” in recent years. Again, an interesting quote by a top Argentine official brings the debate back to the U.S. The government’s cabinet chief, Anibal Fernandez, said the court’s decision ends “the repressive policy that the Nixon administration invented.” As in Mexico, the Catholic Church has been most vocal in opposing the notion of decriminalization.
An AFP report from Colombia says a heated debate over presidential term limits took place Tuesday among legislators in that country while in neighboring Venezuela President Hugo Chavez reiterated his willingness to break off diplomatic relations with Colombia over the issue of a new U.S. military presence there. “It’s going to happen. Let’s get ready,” Mr. Chavez said Tuesday, referring to a potential breaking off of relations with his neighbor. He later shouted “You can establish 70,000 Yankee bases surrounding Venezuela, but you aren't going to beat the Bolivarian Revolution!”
Also this morning, the AP reports on New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s trade mission to Cuba this week. The Governor met with Ricardo Alarcón, head of the Cuban Assembly, as well as members of Cuba’s chamber of commerce. He presented a plan to officials by which New Mexico would export potatoes, apples, wheat and beef to Cuba. Richardson called the talks “productive” in a released statement.
And, in the LA Times Ken Ellingwood writes that cash remittances from the U.S. to Mexico continued to fall over the last quarter. Compared to last year’s second quarter, the total amount of remittances fell by 17.9%, says the paper. “The latest report was no surprise, but it spelled more gloomy news for Mexico's limping economy, which has been hammered by declining oil earnings, a sharp drop in exports and a flu crisis during the spring that put a big dent in tourism.”
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