The Beginning of the End for the OAS?

Leaders from across Latin America and the Caribbean agreed Tuesday to the formation of a new region-wide organization which, writes the New York Times, brings “Cuba into the fold but excludes Canada and the United States.” “We will strengthen our voice in the concert of nations through this new mechanism, to become protagonists and no longer mere spectators of what happens in the world,” Mexican President and summit host Felipe Calderon told the 32 heads of state who gathered near Cancun this week. The new bloc “must as a priority push for regional integration ... and promote the regional agenda in global meetings,” Calderon went on to remark. Some—the Times highlights Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez—say the new body should replace the “pan-Americanist” OAS. But for now, Calderon and other Latin American leaders say they will continue to participate in the inter-American body formed in 1948 while at once working to consolidate this new Latin American initiative which seeks to “streamline the work of a patchwork of regional groups, particularly on issues like poverty and economic development.” The specific function of the new organization has not yet been outlined, nor has an official name been chosen [although IPS is calling the new body the “Community of Latin American and Caribbean States” for now]. Leaders say such decisions will be decided at the next Rio Group meeting, scheduled for Caracas next year. Answering questions about whether or not the summit’s announcement signified the beginning of the end for the OAS, US Ass’t. Sec. of State Arturo Valenzuela said it would not. “This should not be an effort that would replace the OAS,” Valenzuela remarked Tuesday. Chile’s incoming president Sebastian Pinera agreed, telling reporters “The OAS is a permanent organization that has its own functions.”

The announcement of the new body came after tensions between Colombia and Venezuela flared up on Monday. Multiple reports indicate that after a verbal fight broke out over lunch, Chavez accused Uribe of planning his assassination. After Chavez then tried to exit the debate, Uribe went on the attack telling the Venezuelan president to “Be a Man,” not leave like a “coward.” To that Chavez replied “Go to hell!” [Tempers apparently cooled enough for Uribe to ratify his commitment to work with Ecuador’s Rafael Correa for the reestablishment of full diplomatic relations, however].

And finally, not making it on to the Cancun agenda: a formal discussion about bringing Honduras back into the regional fold. According to Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom regional leaders made a “tacit agreement” not to formally discuss the return of Honduras to the Organization of American States (OAS) at the summit. Nevertheless, Honduras did announce this week that it has reestablished diplomatic ties on its own with 29 nations around the world.

In other stories this morning:

· The Washington Post reports that the US plans to “embed intelligence agents” with Mexican law enforcement units that are fighting drug traffickers in Ciudad Juarez. The increasingly close partnership between the two countries would see “U.S. agents and analysts in a Mexican command center in [the] border city to share drug intelligence gathered from informants and intercepted communications,” the paper writes. The U.S. in the past has been hesitant to take part in such operations, fearing “corruption” and “incompetence” within the Mexican security forces. That attitude, however, appears to be shifting. The Post goes on: “Under the new arrangement, U.S. law enforcement officers, most likely from an agency such as the Drug Enforcement Administration, would work alongside recent graduates of the new Mexican federal police academy who were trained by FBI and DEA advisers as part of the U.S. aid package.” This news comes as US and Mexican officials hold a three-day conference in Washington DC on bi-national best practices to reduce drug demand. According to a DOS statement on the conference, “The meeting reflects the continuing commitment of the United States and Mexico to work together to reduce the demand for drugs and significant public health and safety consequences associated with illicit drug use.” It also comes just days after Mexican police nabbed notorious drug trafficker Jose Vasquez Villagrana in the state of Sonora. Vasquez—of the Sinaloa cartel—is accused of smuggling Colombian cocaine through Panama and other Central American countries to his ranch in northern Mexican where it is then sent on to the United States.

· Also on drugs this week, the UN International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) released its annual report which, according to a joint Transnational Institute-WOLA statement, “criticizes Argentina, Brazil and Mexico for moving to decriminalize the possession of drugs for personal consumption, cautioning that such moves may ‘send the wrong message.’” The TNI-WOLA Drugs and Democracy working group contends that “the criticisms leveled clearly overstep the INCB's mandate and constitute unwarranted intrusions into these countries' sovereign decision-making.” “There are too many consumers and small-time drug offenders overcrowding Latin American jails. This is not only inhumane, it also means justice systems are diverting their scarce resources and attention away from big traffickers,” says Pien Metaal, TNI Drugs and Democracy Program Researcher. WOLA’s John Walsh goes on: “Not only does the INCB lack the mandate to raise such issues, the INCB misreads the 1988 Convention itself, asserting an absolute obligation to criminalize drug possession when the Convention explicitly affords some flexibility on this matter.” Meanwhile, the INCB also says in its report that Peru may soon overtake Colombia as the world’s largest producer of cocaine. Cocaine production in Colombia fell over the last year while Peru’s production is on the rise.

· In the US Congress, a new bill was presented Tuesday to broaden travel and trade with Cuba. The bill, presented by the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Minnesota Democrat Collin Peterson, has 30 co-sponsors, including Republicans Jerry Moran of Kansas, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri. And, if passed, it would “eliminate the current need to resort to banks in third countries to make agricultural sales to Cuba” while also ending “the requirement for Havana to pay for purchases before the ship carrying them leaves a U.S. port.” Also part of the proposed legislation: an end to the Cuba travel ban.

· For more on Cuba, the Lexington Institute’s Phil Peters has a new piece up at Foreign Policy. He takes up the case of USAID contractor, Alan Gross, still imprisoned on the island and argues the Obama administration should “slash or scrap USAID's Cuba program in an act of fiscal prudence” while also going further to allow the “free travel by Americans as a source of greater U.S. influence in Cuba.” Also on Cuba, news that dissident political prisoner, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, died in a prison clinic Tuesday after going on a hunger strike weeks ago.

· On Haiti this morning, the Wall Street Journal highlights the exodus of emergency doctors from the country. The LA Times, meanwhile, looks at the struggles of Haitians who’ve been displaced to the countryside where food and aid are in very short supply.

· From Bolivia, news that the armed forces will be turning over military archives from the early 1980s dictatorial era to the country’s attorney general. However, the documents will not yet be made public, say military officials.

· Finally, a handful of opinions. In the Miami Herald, Brazilian President Lula da Silva pens an opinion, committing his country to “the long haul” in Haiti. Lula visits Haiti tomorrow and says “total funding allocated by Brazil in emergency assistance to Haiti has now reached $210 million.” He goes on: “We are also ramping up our presence, sending an additional 1,300 soldiers to strengthen MINUSTAH and assist in reconstruction.” On that reconstruction process, the Brazilian president says “we should avoid the proliferation of disconnected stand-alone projects that would fragment the country.” Rather, “long-term responses that will enable Haiti to implement, with sovereign control, programs that are truly in its national interest,” will be needed. In the Globe and Mail, Jeffrey Simpson offers his take on Brazil’s rise to the world stage. He writes:

“With so much heading in the right direction, it's little wonder that, in 2006, the Gallup survey of world happiness found that Brazilians believed they would be happier than any country in the world in 2011. Maybe the result reflected Brazilians' innate optimism. Or maybe a sense that, finally, the country of the future really is arriving.”