Earthquake and aftershocks

Earthquakes continue to dominate the news on Latin America today, first in Haiti, then in Chile. In Haiti, there are both positive and negative readings of the current challenges. For the negative, the New York Times editorializes today saying that "the failures of the relief effort are heartbreaking." Noting that "ultimately, it is the United Nations that must take responsibility to lead and coordinate the relief efforts," the most severe criticism seems to be leveled at the government:

President Préval and Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive have not been able to resume strong or even visible leadership. The government has not made decisions or has made confusing ones. It has, for instance, refused to allow undamaged or lightly damaged schools to reopen with a full curriculum until all schools can reopen — letting children languish. Mr. Préval was visible at the White House on Wednesday, but in Haiti the question “Where is Préval?” draws a shake of the head.

Elsewhere, a story in the Los Angeles Times carries the headline, "Haiti quake response largely a success." This piece notes that "the ability to relatively quickly disburse large amounts of food and water and provide medical treatment" provided some semblance of order and prevented widespread panic and violence. However, "progress has been considerably slower on shelter and sanitation issues, aid officials acknowledged, raising fears among experts of a second crisis when the region's torrential seasonal rains arrive in coming weeks." The Miami Herald reports that
disaster experts will be delivering an assessment of the country's post disaster needs to the Haitian prime minister today, that will feed into an international donors meeting in New York later this month. Most urgently:

...aid agencies report that they remain in a race against a self-imposed April 1 deadline to ensure that all of the more than 1.2 million people left homeless have waterproof shelter. So far, only 56 percent of them have adequate temporary homes in the form of tents or tarps, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Thursday.

The New York Times also carries stories looking at the plight of orphans and the elderly in the wake of Haiti's earthquake.

In Chile, everyone reports on the strong aftershocks -- up to a magnitude of 6.9 -- just minutes before Sebastián Piñera was sworn in as president. The New York Times notes that "refused to acknowledge the tremors during the ceremonies, continuing to smile and shake hands with world leaders even as the National Congress building in Valparaíso shook and television light stands swayed," After the ceremony, however, the building was evacuated and Mr. Piñera shortly thereafter flew by helicopter to Rancagua, near the epicenter of the aftershocks. There were no reports of fatalities or tsunamis.

The Wall Street Journal also reports that "TV cameras caught [Piñera] joking about the aftershocks at the expense of Ms. Bachelet's Concertación coalition. While greeting some visiting foreign dignitaries, Mr. Piñera said: 'This is a ploy by Concertación to shift the ground from under my feet.' On a more serious note, the new president also called on everyone to "dry their tears and put their hands to work, to rebuild our country better than we had before." Although criticized by some for failing to respond quickly enough to the earthquake -- perhaps one of the largest ever with a potential damage of $15 billion -- outgoing president Michelle Bachelet nevertheless leaves office with a 84 percent approval rating, and $11.3 billion in savings and the region's highest Standard and Poor's rating, an A+.

Testimony this week in Congress has yielded a few interesting details about US policy. First, the New York Times reports that in testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, FBI and Homeland Security officials note that they're having a hard time vetting the swelling ranks of new officials, not to mention monitoring current employees. The enormity of the challenge may be best illustrated by this fact: of the 15% of new applicants that took a polygraph test last year, "60 percent of candidates failed the test and were turned away, including some who officials believed had ties to criminal organizations."

Next, Assistant Secretary of State Arturo Valenzuela also gave testimony on Wednesday in the House, but initially one could only find reporting on this in the Spanish-language press. However, one particular issue -- that of the Venezuelan government's alleged support to the FARC and ETA -- reemerged Thursday when General Douglas Fraser, head of the US Southern Command, downplayed the issue. According to an AFP report, Fraser said that

"We have not seen any connections specifically that I can verify that there has been a direct government-to-terrorist connection... We have continued to watch very closely for any connections between illicit and terrorist organization activity within the region... We are concerned about it. I'm skeptical. I continue to watch for it."

Arturo Valenzuela, the assistant secretary of state responsible for Latin American affairs, told another congressional panel Wednesday there had been some evidence of some kind of Venezuelan assistance to the FARC. Fraser, however, said he was aware only of "old evidence" of assistance.

Eventually the full transcript of the Valenzuela hearing will be up, but meanwhile you can watch it online here.

Finally, it's worth noting that during the same hearing with Valenzuela, Peter Hakim, outgoing president of the Inter-American Dialogue, gave a swan song of sorts as he assessed the first year of the Obama administration's policy toward Latin America and offered recommendations for the future. The Dialogue has links to remarks from Congressmen Engel, Meeks and Mack thanking Hakim for his longstanding contributions to the work of the House Western Hemisphere Subcommittee.

In other news:

• The European Parliament, in a 509-30 vote, approved a resolution Thursday strongly critical of Cuba. As reported in the Miami Herald, the resolution

"energetically condemns the avoidable and cruel death'' of Zapata, calls for the "immediate and unconditional release of political prisoners'' and says that Cuban dissidents are jailed "for their ideals and peaceful political activity.'' It also urges EU agencies and officials to begin a "structured dialogue'' with Cuban civil society and "provide unconditional support, and encourage without reservations, the start of a peaceful process of political transition toward multi-party democracy.''

• A law passed last December in Mexico City legalizing same-sex marriages, and characterized as the most far-reaching gay rights law in Latin America, has now resulted the first set of marriages, which were performed yesterday in the Mexico City municipality, the LA Times reports. The law is currently being challenged in the Supreme Court at the initiative of President Calderon, a conservative Catholic.
• Josh mentioned yesterday that Carlos Slim of Mexico was now the wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes. It's also worth taking a look at Forbes' top 10 richest Latin Americans. Note that there are four Mexicans, four Brazilians, and toward the bottom, two Colombians on the list. (Some may be curious to note that George Soros is #35 in the world on the world-wide list, with an estimated wealth of $14 billion.)
• Finally, foreignpolicy.com has a story about Trinidad and Tobago as the latest narcostate, noting that it has become a major transshipment point for cocaine, marijuana and arms heading north from South America.

-- David Holiday