After last week’s earthquake in Chile, the military has become the center of political attention after two decades of “keeping a low profile.” This according to the Wall Street Journal this morning which says troops “virtually occupy” the country’s second largest city of Concepción, at the epicenter of the disaster. The report goes on to say that tensions have flared up between some civilian and military leaders. The navy, for example, has come under heat from many politicians for giving mixed information about the possibility of a tsunami following Saturday’s earthquake while others criticize the Air Force for moving too slowly to help government officials assess the extent of the damage. Others criticize President Michelle Bachelet herself for moving too slowly to call up the military, showing the still deep divisions that exist between right and left over the use of the armed forces in the domestic sphere.
The New York Times continues the story from there, maintaining that citizens in quake-affected areas have in large part supported the presence of the Chilean military. “…Five days since Chile was shaken by a magnitude 8.8 earthquake, one of the worst natural disasters in its history, the military’s relationship with the country’s people was turning a new page,” the Times’ Alexei Barrionuevo writes. According to the report, the military is still enforcing an 18 hour curfew in Concepción, leaving only the hours of 12pm to 6pm open for residents to be out on the streets legally. Also from the NYT, the Chilean government announced Wednesday that it had significantly over-estimated the death toll from Saturday’s disaster. Emergency management officials now say just 279 individuals have been confirmed dead, down from earlier figures of just over 800. However, that announcement was overshadowed by a powerful aftershock yesterday, registered at a magnitude of 6.3 and just miles from the epicenter of last week’s quake. And finally, from the LA Times, a report looks at how president-elect Sebastian Pinera is “already operating like a man in charge.” Pinera will assume the presidency next week, but, the paper writes, he is already in the public eye, “directing relief efforts, touring disaster sites, appointing Cabinet members -- and gently criticizing the way his soon-to-be predecessor has handled the disaster.”
In other stories:
· Sec. of State Hillary Clinton wraps up her Latin American tour today in Central America. The Washington Office on Latin America has a great backgrounder on the major issues that are atop Sec. Clinton’s agenda as she meets with regional leaders. Among those issues are citizen security throughout the sub-region, cooperation with the Guatemalan military, attacks on human rights defenders, and the situation in Honduras. On that last point, WOLA says “Secretary Clinton should make it clear to President Lobo that human rights violations must stop immediately and that there needs to be a functioning Truth Commission in order for U.S. aid to be fully restored to Honduras.” However, arriving in Costa Rica Thursday Clinton announced the U.S. will restore bilateral aid to Honduras and urged other Latin American nations to restore ties as well. “We think Honduras has made important and necessary steps that deserve recognition and normalization of relations,” said Ms. Clinton. She added that a letter had been sent to the US Congress announcing the change in policy. Addressing those countries who continue to resist recognizing the Lobo government, Clinton said “I am not sure what they are waiting for, but it’s their right to wait.” Clinton will be in Guatemala today, meeting with President Alvaro Colom as well as Pepe Lobo, Mauricio Funes, and Leonel Fernandez of the DR. For his part, Mel Zelaya began his own regional tour Thursday also, arriving first in Caracas to meet with Hugo Chavez.
· Venezuela and Hugo Chavez were targeted by Clinton while she finished her stopover in Brasilia Wednesday. There Clinton said the US was “very worried about the behavior of Venezuela,” specifically highlighting what she called the slow but consistent limiting of freedoms in the country. This, said Sec. Clinton, includes issues of democracy, freedom of press, and private property rights. Hugo Chavez responded to Clinton’s words, saying it was an attempt by the US to divide the region. Chavez has also spoken out in recent days against a Spanish probe investigating connections between government officials, ETA, and the FARC. Meanwhile, the constitutional council of the Venezuelan Supreme Court also decided Thursday to re-instate the mayor of Sucre in the state of Zulia. Elected in 2008, the mayor had been removed last week by the court for failing to pay $292 in local taxes. And interesting statistics recently released by the Observatorio Venezolano de la Violencia (OVV) indicate that impunity surrounds some 91% of homicides committed in the country over the last three years. According to the OVV, in 1998 for every 100 homicides, 110 suspects were arrested. Between 2007 and 2009, that number has fallen to an amazing 9 arrests per 100 homicides! Just last year, police arrested only 1,497 individuals after beginning a total of 16,047 homicide investigations.
· On Haiti, the Miami Herald reports this morning on what it calls a “lack of available land” for those displaced again by temporary camps threatened now by flooding. Also, acting UN mission chief in Haiti, Edmond Mulet, tells the AP that he feels Haiti must proceed with its presidential elections, scheduled for later this year. President Rene Preval has said he plans to step down when his term expires next February. The constitution prevents him from seeking another term and, says Mulet, “I can assure you he doesn't want to stay” in office beyond the end of his term.
· In Colombia’s Semana, an exclusive interview with OAS Sec. General José Miguel Insulza who responds to his critics, particularly a growing list of detractors in Washington. Responding to the criticisms of the Washington Post in particular, Insulza indicates his frustration: “Excuse me, but this [the OAS] is a collective organization, an organization of states. I am its Secretary General and not the President of the Americas!”
· From WOLA again, a new report, “Arms-R-Us: South America Goes Shopping,” on new military purchases being made by various Latin American countries,
· And with opinions this morning: with new polls indicating Uribe-ally Juan Manuel Santos has an early lead ahead of May’s presidential vote in Colombia, Adam Isacson of the Center for International Policy writes on the ruling against Uribe’s re-election bid at Foreign Policy. He cites the recent poll numbers which put Santos in the lead, followed by left-leaning anti-uribista, Gustavo Petro. But, says Isacson, the most interesting candidate to watch is Sergio Fajardo, the center-left former mayor of Medellín,” seen by many as both charismatic and responsible for a drop in that city’s crime rate under his watch. “As the on-the-ground reality continues to evolve rapidly, the candidate who promises to mimic Álvaro Uribe most closely may not be Colombia's best choice, or the United States' best ally,” Isacson argues. In the Guardian, CEPR’s Mark Weisbrot this week writes critically of Sec. Clinton’s Latin America tour, particularly the secretary’s words about the Honduran crisis having been resolved successfully. Paul Krugman at the New York Times’ blog joins his voice against those who claim Milton Friedman and the Chicago Boys are to credit for the lack of destruction Saturday’s quake caused in Chile. At the Huffington Post, a piece by Juan Méndez on Brazil’s prison system and a new International Bar Association report that “highlights the failures of the country's criminal justice system to provide fair and timely trials and access to lawyers for the thousands of people sitting in pre-trial detention.” Anya Landau French of the New America Foundation responds to the Washington Post’s editorial on US Cuba policy after the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, writing that the paper “overlooked many Cuban dissidents' views that U.S. sanctions harm the people, not the government, of Cuba.” Another Cuba-related opinion by Mauricio Claver-Carone of the US-Cuba Democracy PAC at the Miami Herald, against ending the travel ban. And Council on Foreign Relations’ visiting fellow, Matias Spektor, with more on Hillary Clinton’s visit to Brazil and specifically some thoughts on what Brazil’s positioning on Iran signifies. Among his points, Spektor writes:
“…Brazil's attitude shouldn't be seen as a bout of anti-Americanism either. As a major beneficiary of collective security as we know it since 1945, Brazil is not a challenger of the American worldview. But as an emerging country with a long history of frailty and dependence, it seeks protection and hedging against great-power use of international norms to impose their will on weaker nations.”
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