Less than 8 weeks after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated much of Haiti, a second quake—registered at 8.8—struck Latin America’s Southern Cone on Saturday. The epicenter of the quake was near the Chilean city of Concepción where the New York Times reports this morning that President Michelle Bachelet has ordered troops into the streets to “keep order and speed the distribution of aid.” The death toll from the quake, one of the largest ever recorded (and some 500 times stronger than the one which struck Port-au-Prince!), has already reached 708 and will no doubt grow in the coming days. Additionally, reports indicate that two million Chileans have been displaced by the disaster.
As expected, many are comparing Saturday’s earthquake to that which rocked Haiti on Jan. 12. The Times writes that “because of better building standards and because the epicenter was farther from populated areas, the scale of the damage from Chile’s significantly more powerful earthquake was nowhere near that suffered in Haiti.” The Washington Post explains the relative difference between the two countries in a similar fashion: “deaths [in Haiti] were mostly because of widespread building collapses, which Chilean cities did not experience.” According to Paul Caruso, a geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado, “We would have expected that an 8.8 earthquake would have done a lot more damage. The people in Chile have experience with earthquakes that saved hundreds if not thousands of lives.” And the LA Times says the Chilean quake occurred at a much deeper level than that in Haiti, limiting its impact.
With some bits of analysis, the Council on Foreign Relations Julia Sweig adds: “The Haiti and Chilean experiences dramatize the enormous differences between what we sloppily think of as one region. In Chile, you have an investment over decades in creating functioning institutions with a reliable tax base that produces a revenue stream with accountability of elected leaders. You have a functioning state and solid governance” that will make its response significantly better. On that point, Time highlights the fact that Chilean President Michelle Bachelet hit the streets immediately after Saturday’s quake, reassuring citizens of her government’s commitment to a quick response. Rene Preval, on the other hand, has been “seemingly AWOL for weeks,” the magazine writes. According to Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue, “The Chilean example will encourage donors to make the case that this is an opportunity to do things differently in Haiti.”
To other stories:
· The Chilean quake came just three days before Sec. of State Hillary Clinton was expected to visit the country on a tour through the region. The visit will go on as scheduled with Ms. Clinton arriving in Santiago Tuesday. But first, the secretary is in Montevideo, Uruguay today for the inauguration of that country’s new president, Jose Mujica. The AP says that Clinton will likely encourage the one-time Tupamaro guerrilla to continue Uruguay’s strong support of UN peacekeeping efforts around the world. The two meet this morning in a one-on-one meeting which will precede the day’s inaugural festivities. [For more on Mujica’s inauguration and his initial plans for government, see BBC Mundo which highlights the fact that Mujica has emphasized that “austerity” will be a core tenant of his government by donating 87% of his $12,500 USD salary to social programs and continuing to travel around the country in his party’s Chevrolet Corsa. Mujica has encouraged his ministers to also travel in modest cars manufactured in the region.) Later in the day, Ms. Clinton will also meet with Argentine President Cristina Kirchner in Montevideo. Her other stopovers include Brazil on Wednesday before flying on to Costa Rica Thursday (where Clinton will address the 3rd annual “Pathways to Prosperity” meeting), and then Guatemala to finish the week.
· The New York Times writes that Clinton is “expected to face growing disappointment with what [Latin American leaders] see as the Obama administration’s lack of resolve and initiative on a variety of issues, including climate change, trade, relations with Cuba and last year’s coup in Honduras.” The CS Monitor is calling the whole trip the “we haven’t forgotten you” tour. The paper goes on, saying Iran’s nuclear program will be on the top of Ms. Clinton’s talks with Brazil as she “reminds the Brazilians that (in the US view) if they want to be a world power, they need to think and act like one.”
· Breaking news came out of Colombia late last week where the constitutional court ruled against the possibility of a third term for current President Alvaro Uribe. In a surprising 7-2 decision, the court ruled against Mr. Uribe’s referendum bid, the AP reports. The decision is not appealable and Uribe has said he will respect the ruling. The Economist adds that the decision “demonstrated the court’s independence” in Colombia. But Uribe did leave open his future in Colombian politics. “I have one wish: The wish to be able to serve Colombia from whatever trench, under whatever circumstance, until the last day of my life.” For now, however, campaigning ahead of May’s presidential election kicks into high gear, without Uribe. The president’s former Defense Minister, Juan Manuel Santos, has thrown his hat in the ring, will have Uribe’s backing, and is the early favorite. Also running are the left-leaning, anti-Uribe Senator Gustavo Petro, former Medellin Mayor Sergio Fajardo, and former Senator German Vargas Lleras.
· From Haiti, the Washington Post reports this weekend on President Rene Preval who, during a visit from the US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, complained he was being unfairly portrayed as corrupt by the media. “There is no corruption here,” Preval declared before reporters. “We have a high sense of morality.” The Post narrates the bizarre event: “Préval's ire was apparently prompted by a news article he said he had read recently by a U.S. journalist he referred to as ‘Michelle Porte.’ Turning away from the official delegation seated around a table with him, Préval spoke directly to the two journalists behind him [a WaPo reporter and an AP reporter], asking if they knew the offending reporter and how she could have accused him of malfeasance.” Pentagon officials later escorted reporters out of the meeting so, in the Post’s words, “the meeting could continue without the sideshow.” But Preval insisted on returning to the subject of ‘Michelle Porte’ again as he left the meeting.
· Also, an interesting IPS report investigates private military contractors who, the news agency writes, “are positioning themselves at the centre of an emerging ‘shock doctrine’ for earthquake-ravaged Haiti.” The piece highlights next month’s International Peace Operations Association (IPOA) Haiti summit where many private contracts for reconstruction will be divvied up. Also, via Haiti Relief and Reconstruction Watch, a recent Reuters report is very critical of the slow UN Minustah response to the Haiti quake, focusing on the UN’s overemphasis on “insecurity” rather than relief work in the quake’s aftermath.
· On Honduras, a new statement from the Washington Office on Latin America condemns still-escalating human rights violations in the country. WOLA writes that “immediately following the inauguration of Porfirio Lobo on January 27, there has been a notable increase in attacks against people opposed to the June 28 coup d’état and their family members.” “If President Lobo wants international recognition and aid reinstated after his country was shunned by governments following last year’s coup, then he needs to get the military back in the barracks and end these violations,” says WOLA’s Vicki Gass. For more, a new IPS report highlights ongoing violence and unrest since Jan. 27, including a Thursday march of “thousands” of Popular Resistance Front (FNRP) supporters, demanding once again the beginning of a constitutional reform process. On violence, here’s COFADEH’s Mery Agurcia: “We are seeing two kinds of killings: shooting deaths, with a modus operandi typical of state security agents, and slayings in which there is no trace of any murder weapon, which are even more alarming, and where we cannot identify the perpetrators.” She goes on, saying, since Jan. 27, there have been three murders [of Resistance members], at least 53 illegal detentions, two cases of sexual attacks, eight cases of torture and 14 raids of homes or offices, as well as police harassment and ‘profiling’ of people in 23 working-class neighbourhoods in Tegucigalpa with high levels of activity in the Popular Resistance Front.”
· In Ecuador, indigenous groups have called for an “uprising” to protest the Ecuadorean government’s development policies and to press for a “pluri-national state.” In a press conference Friday, Marlon Santi, leader of Conaie, announced the “beginning of a permanent mobilization against the government.” Rafael Correa called the announcement “regrettable” but said he would respect the group’s right to demonstrate, so long as protests remain peaceful.
· Finally, some opinions. An LA Times editorial focuses on the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, as do Mary Anastasia O’Grady’s column in the Wall Street Journal and Andres Oppenheimer’s at the Miami Herald. The Washington Post, meanwhile, goes on the attack against the OAS and its Sec. General, yet again on the issue of Venezuela. This time the paper says the body has been “shamed by one of its own branch organizations,” referring to the IACHR’s Venezuela report issued last week.
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