Lula Influences the World, says TIME

Arguably the most popular leader in Latin America, Brazilian President Lula da Silva was named to Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world this week. He is the only Latin American to be among the list of the 25 most influential “world leaders.” [The other sub-categories of the top 100 include “thinkers,” “artists,” and “heroes”]. Interestingly, the filmmaker Michael Moore writes the article which accompanies the honor bestowed on Brazil’s outgoing president, calling Lula a “genuine son of Latin America’s working class.” Moore tells the story of how Lula apparently entered politics, writing that his political awakening occurred “when, at age 25, he watched his wife Maria die during the eighth month of her pregnancy, along with their child, because they couldn't afford decent medical care.” And Moore says the lesson Lula has to teach the world is that you can “propel” a country into the First World with “government social programs like Fome Zero (Zero Starvation), designed to end hunger, and with plans to improve the education available to members of Brazil's working class.” [BBC Mundo highlights Lula’s successful economic policies in the face of the world economic crisis as well].

More on Brazil’s booming economy from the Economist which discusses the recent decision to hike interest rates in an attempt to hold back economic “overheating” and inflation. Tying back to some points raised here yesterday, the magazine writes that while the Brazilian economy has experienced stellar growth in recent years, “growth in productive capacity,” a key to long term economic health, remains limited. “Brazil’s investment rate has increased in recent years, but at its pre-crisis peak, it was still just 19% of GDP, less than half the corresponding figure in parts of Asia.”

And, from Al-Jazeera, a report on an interesting alternative indicator of Brazil’s growing role in the world economy: increases in international connections via Sao Paulo. “Sao Paulo’s international airport has quietly become in recent years the undisputed airport hub of South America – connecting the region with much of the rest of the world,” says Al-Jazeera. Some of the most recent additions include direct flights to Middle East destinations like Doha, Qatar and Tel Aviv. “For every new airline carrier that flies into Sao Paulo, it means more opportunities for Brazil – and South America, for that matter – to become more interconnected with what is increasingly becoming a smaller planet Earth.”

To other stories:

· With one more Brazil story this morning, Infolatam writes that the Federal Supreme Court ruled in favor of a 1979 amnesty law’s constitutionality yesterday. The law has protected both military leaders and opposition/rebel groups from prosecution for human rights crimes committed during the country’s cold war dictatorship. The president of the Amnesty Commission within the Ministry of Justice called yesterday “a sad day for human rights in Brazil,” adding that the ruling “goes against the recent history” in other Latin American countries. Those who ruled in favor of the law’s constitutionality (which included 7 of the 9 justices) argued that amnesty law successfully helped to “pacify” the country and restore “social peace.”

· A recent letter from Costa Rican president Oscar Arias asking Uruguay’s Pepe Mujica to disband the Uruguayan military has sparked some interesting commentary in the blogosphere. CIP’s Abigail Poe gives the letter some context while Two Weeks Notice and Bloggings by Boz offer two distinct arguments about whether or not Pepe Mujica would be wise to follow Arias’s advice.

· In a new statement yesterday, Amnesty International calls on Colombia’s presidential candidates to make human rights a more central priority ahead of a May 30 vote. “It is shocking that, in a country where human rights are routinely abused by those participating in the 45-year-old internal armed conflict, the issue has not been given the priority it deserves,” says Susan Lee, director of Amnesty International's Americas program. Those words come as ex-senator, Antonio Valencia Duque, and former House member, Luis Carlos Restrepo Orozco, were arrested Thursday for apparent links to AUC paramilitaries. The arrests come out of ongoing investigations into the so-called “para-política” scandals. Also, according to BBC Mundo, AUC head, Salvatore Mancuso, told the Colombian Supreme Court yesterday (from his prison cell in the US) that the AUC was a formal supporter of Alvaro Uribe’s first presidential campaign. In his Thursday statement, Mancuso also said the AUC was asked by Venezuelan military generals to help with a coup d’etat against Hugo Chavez – a request the paramilitaries turned down. [On a separate note, yesterday Venezuelan authorities arrested a man allegedly plotting to assassinate Hugo Chavez.]

· With more on the electoral campaign in Colombia, the Economist examines the Green Revolution that is captivating the attention of Colombians and Colombian-watchers alike. Scandal and corruption within the Uribe government, along with Antanas Mockus’s self-proclaimed “centrism,” the magazine writes, have been critical in paving the way for the Green Party’s surge. “Whereas Colombians are grateful to Mr. Uribe for making the country safer (though still not wholly safe), many of them dislike the whiff of scandal that has surrounded his government.” Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue, meanwhile, offers a view of the elections “from Washington” to El Colombiano.

· The conflict between the Argentine government and Clarín continues to brew with government officials recently accusing the owners of the media empire of adopting two babies stolen by the Argentine military during the 1976-1983 dictatorship. Meanwhile, according to an AP report today, a “people’s trial” against some of the country’s most well-known journalists was held by government-backers yesterday in Buenos Aires. Kirchnerista Hebe de Bonafini of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, led the proceedings in front of the Casa Rosada, says the news service. According to Bonafini, the “trial” sought to, in the AP’s words, “expose a younger generation to misdeeds by some journalists during the 1976-1983 dictatorship and to vindicate those members of the media who risked their lives to report about human rights abuses.”

· In Mexico, the AP says 25 police officers were charged yesterday for illicit dealings related to drugs, organized crime, and illegal weapons possession in Guerrero state.

· IPS has more on the paramilitary attack on human rights defenders in Oaxaca earlier in the week. Two were killed in that attack. The incident also provoked a response from the UN High Commission on Human Rights which condemned the murders.

· Another IPS report looks at questions of transparency regarding new military purchases in Peru.

· Guyana’s ambassador to Venezuela comments on an upcoming special summit of UNASUR in Buenos Aires (May 3-4) at which former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner is expected to be named the organization’s first official Secretary General.

· The LA Times has a feature report on Haiti and growing tensions in the country’s tent cities – playing out most acutely in and around recently re-opened schools.

· The State Dept. says Arturo Valenzuela will be traveling to the Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Panama, beginning May 2.

· Yesterday the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on US-Cuba trade/travel policy. Participants included WOLA’s Geoff Thale, HRW’s José Miguel Vivanco, and CIP’s Wayne Smith. Statements and live webcast are available here.

· And finally, with an opinion in the Miami Herald, Christopher Walker of Freedom House writes about restrictions on press freedoms in Venezuela. But, Walker argues, the case of Venezuela should be considered in a broader world context. “Even more disturbing … is that Venezuela represents just one part of a broader pattern of systematic media repression exerted by a group of influential, regionally diverse authoritarian regimes. These governments -- including in Russia, Iran and China -- have played a central role in the global setback for freedom of expression.” Walker highlights censorship on the internet in particular: “The authoritarians' deft adaptation of censorship has especially serious implications for Internet freedom. By using their wealth and technical acumen to subvert the free flow of information online, governments in these countries are serving as incubators for new media suppression.”

Oil, Energy, and Changing Economic Models

Energy-rich Venezuela remains gripped by economic crisis, which, according to the Washington Post’s Juan Forero, “has no easy or fast solution, even if sluggish oil production were ramped up and profligate state spending were cut.” The situation is “unbelievable,” says Jose Guerra, a former Central Bank economist and head of the Central University’s economics department, particularly because [Venezuela] has “one of the biggest reserves of oil in the world, thermal-electrical and hydroelectric sources.”

According to the Post’s portrayal of the Venezuelan economy, the country’s performance stands in contrast to the rest of the region, “where some central banks worry about overheating economies in 2010.” The paper goes on to maintain that the root of the problem lies in Venezuela’s refusal to “embrace globalization.” The IMF recently noted that in Peru, Chile and Brazil, “all of which embrace globalization,” growth could indeed go well beyond 4 percent this year. Among the negative indicators of Venezuela’s economic activity is an oil sector which is “saddled with debt” and is today “pumping 20 percent less crude” than in the 1990s. In addition, there are worries that the country's inflation rate could rise to 35 percent this year.

President Hugo Chavez has acknowledged some elements of his country’s economic struggle but continues to insist that the global economic crisis is “an opportunity to push a new model.” But, say economic critics of the president, a lack of investment in important infrastructure improvements may impede the president’s desires. “If you do not develop your infrastructure -- your hydroelectric generation, your electrical generation -- you're going to have a collapse,” says professor of energy policy, Nelson Hernández.

Hugo Chavez was in Brasilia yesterday, meeting with President Lula da Silva, and declaring the special relationship between the two countries “irreversible,” even as Lula prepares to step down at the end of the year The AP reports that the two pledged to intensify bilateral relations in the coming years – including in the area of state oil cooperation. That issue of deepening relations between state oil companies brings light to another issue, highlighted in a recent Foreign Policy piece: the changing nature of oil exploration in Latin America and beyond. According to FP, “Brazil, generally one of Latin America's most investment-friendly countries, is now boosting the state's role in developing its vast new oil reserves. And it's doing so with help from China, which has recently provided Petrobas with a massive loan, making the old titans of Big Oil [i.e. Western oil companies] increasingly superfluous.” The article argues that the collaboration between state-run oil companies is “completely reshaping the industry” under a “new regulatory model.” The return of a new state-led developmentalism in Latin America? Perhaps.

Finally, on the issue of hydrocarbons, a new brief from the US Institute of Peace examines how oil and gas development in the Peruvian Amazon has contributed to the country’s economic growth, as well as growing opposition by indigenous groups.

To other stories:

· Staying in the realm of economics for a moment, the Inter-American Dialogue has two new pieces up on Bolivia and Venezuela. First, a report that the US and Venezuela held their first cabinet level meeting on energy cooperation since 2004 last week. The two countries pledged to “restart the exchange of technical information that was suspended during the administration of former President George W. Bush” when Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez met with US Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Venezuela’s contribution to the recovery effort in Haiti was also on discussed.

· On Bolivia, a piece looking at Bolivia’s search for new investment to develop its lithium deposits. According to Finance Minister, Luis Arce, the Bolivian government will reward the lithium concession to the company that offers it the best deal for “comprehensive industrialization.” “Private investment is welcome” in Bolivia, Arce has said in the past, “but under new rules of the game.” “We want you exploit lithium but to add value, to industrialize it. We don't want [companies] to come and take out our natural resources; that model is over for Bolivia.” Minister Arce was in Washington last week where he spoke publicly at George Washington University. His talk was impressive, and like some elements of Brazil’s development strategy, harkened back to the old development playbook of the 1950s/1960s CEPAL of Raul Prebisch. This time macroeconomic stability and controlling inflation rank high on the list of developmentalist priorities. For more on the Bolivian economic success story, a recent CEPR report has the numbers.

· A series of reports look at Southcom head, Gen. Douglas Fraser’s, recent comments about rising “threats” in Latin America. First, Stars and Stripes reports that Southcom’s biggest concern across the region is “increasing extremist views,” broadly understood. Fraser offered few specifics about what exactly that means [“I don’t know where it’s going. I just know that if we look at it in other parts of the world it has not been a trend that’s been helpful to the United States”] but one can speculate that Venezuela was on the general’s mind. While downplaying earlier Pentagon reports of new Venezuela-Iranian Revolutionary Guard ties, Fraser turned to other concerns. “I don’t see any arms or any indication of arms coming from Iran [to Venezuela],” Fraser said. “Our concern is their connection to Hezbollah and Hamas.” The Army Times, meanwhile, has a different take. It reports that General Fraser sees the trafficking of “drugs, people and small arms as the greatest threat to the U.S. and its allies” from Latin America. Boz has a bit more analysis on the matter.

· In Mexico, two human rights activists were killed when their aid convoy – delivering food and water to a “blockaded indigenous community” – was attacked by paramilitaries in Oaxaca. According to Al-Jazeera, the attack was on members of the human rights group, VOCAL, who say the violence is “a product of the conditions of institutional violence and impunity that paramilitary groups enjoy in this region.” The community in question, San Juan Copala, is home to members of the Trique indigenous tribe which declared itself autonomous from the Oaxaca state government in 2007 in protest to a policy of discrimination and harassment. The paramilitary group being held responsible for the attack is called Ubisort, which, says the report, “warned earlier this week that it would prevent the convoy from reaching its destination.”

· Also on Mexico, the AP says the Mexican government responded to Amnesty International’s report on migrants with a statement yesterday acknowledging abuses being carried out by organized crime syndicates against Central American northbound travelers. According to the Interior Ministry, “the government has taken some steps to combat abuses and Mexico's legislature is working to repeal Article 67 ‘so that no one can deny or restrict foreigners' access to justice and human rights, whatever their migratory status.’” The AP also looks at the city of Cuernavaca, the unlikely site of recent drug violence. Time examines how Arizona’s new immigration legislation has united Mexicans in opposition. However, some say President Calderón has not gone far enough, requesting that punitive trade measures be slapped on Arizona by the Mexican government. The new Arizona law is also the topic of a new New York Times piece on Mexican and Central American immigration to the US. Finally, more from Mexico’s El Universal on the reform of the country’s National Security Law.

· News today that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has passed legislation to “strengthen the Organization of American States” by “refocusing the OAS on key mission areas through reform and greater transparency in budgeting, accounting, and hiring.” The bill now goes before the full Senate.

· AQ has a new piece looking at the near-universal praise of the UN’s CICIG work in Guatemala. “The verdict at last week's press conference [in New York] was clear” says AQ: “CICIG should stay on, and its mandate should be broadened so that it has the power to fight organized crime and corruption.”

· Finally, a few opinions. First, Cynthia Arnson of the Wilson Center suggests an agenda for the next Colombian president at Infolatam. “For the first time,” writes Arnson, “a continuation of uribisimo is not in the cards … and recent trends in Colombian public opinion show serious vulnerabilities for the governing coalition.” Among those vulnerabilities, she argues, are rising worries of unemployment, inequality, and corruption. Peter Hakim in América Economía says the US needs regional help if it is to construct a new Cuba policy. He singles out Brazil in particular, writing “if Minister [Celso] Amorim [of Brazil] wants the U.S. to revamp its policy toward Cuba, he should be advising his own and other Latin American governments also to change their approach to Cuba.” And in the Guardian, an interesting look at the social and cultural battles over same-sex marriage and abortion which are being waged behind Mexico’s drug war.

Lobo Visits Miami, Talks with Obama for First Time

Honduran President Pepe Lobo traveled to Miami Tuesday where he spoke at his alma mater, the University of Miami, which hosted its fifth annual Latin America conference. The trip was Lobo’s first to the United States since he assumed the presidency in January. And, according to the Miami Herald, the visit came as Lobo continues to seek international recognition for his government while at once attempting to hold back a rising crime wave and keep Honduran economy afloat. All three, however, remain difficult challenges for the president, even while the US and other international financial organizations have successfully lobbied for an end to economic sanctions. Here’s what the Herald reports on the former issue of recognition:

[Lobo] still is not recognized by the majority of Latin American countries, and Honduras has not been readmitted to either the Organization of American States, a hemispheric body, or even SICA, the regional Central America organization. Brazil, a major power bloc in the region, is snubbing him, even as Lobo fielded his first call from President Barack Obama on Monday.

Politico has the inside scoop President Obama’s first phone conversation with President Lobo. The White House said Mr. Obama “expressed his concern” to Lobo about the killings of journalists and activists in Honduras, and he also “commended President Lobo for his leadership in his first months in office in promoting national reconciliation.” In its full statement on the phone call, the White House also added that “The President took particular note of the Truth Commission agreed to as part of the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord and championed by President Lobo that is set to begin its work in the coming days.” However, others have reported in recent days, the truth commission process has found very little support within Honduras. Lobo insisted Tuesday that the process would continue to go forward: “We will get everybody who was fighting in 2009 to hug. They will. It's important for them to reconcile … It's important in Honduras for everything to be known.”

In other news:

· Amnesty International released a new statement yesterday, demanding that Mexican authorities halt rights abuses being committed against “tens of thousands of Central American irregular migrants that every year attempt to reach the US by crossing Mexico.” According to Rupert Knox, contributor to Amnesty’s report “Invisible Victims,” “migrants in Mexico are facing a major human rights crisis leaving them with virtually no access to justice, fearing reprisals and deportation if they complain of abuses.” Knox goes on to call the journey through Mexico “one of the best dangerous in the world” for Central Americans. In just six months of 2009, kidnappings surged to 10,000. An astounding six out of ten migrant women and girls are also victims of sexual violence while traveling north, says Amnesty. Among the organization’s recommendations: 1. Legislative reforms to ensure access to justice 2. The creation of a federal task force to coordinate and implement new measures and 3. The publication of data on abuses against migrants and the steps taken to bring those responsible to account, including public officials.

· The BBC links the Amnesty migrant report to Mexico’s own denunciation of rights violations under Arizona’s new immigration law. That condemnation grew ever stronger Tuesday when the Mexican government issued a travel alert for nationals traveling to the US border state. The LA Times reports that President Calderon said Monday that the legislation “criminalizes” the largely social and economic phenomenon of migration. On Tuesday, the government-affiliated Institute for Mexicans Abroad called for a Mexican boycott of Arizona-based US Airways. And Sonora governor Guillermo Padres Elias said he would be cancelling an upcoming summit his state has hosted with Arizona twice-a-year for over a generation. Also, according to AQ, the governments of Guatemala and El Salvador added their own voices of condemnation against the Arizona law Tuesday with Guatemala’s Alvaro Colom saying it was in total contradiction to President Obama’s goal of “humanizing” US immigration law.

· Also on Mexico, the AP reports on a new study from the British and Canadian International Centre for Science in Drug Policy which shows that “when police crack down on drug users and dealers, the result is almost always an increase in violence.” “Law enforcement is the biggest single expenditure on drugs, yet has rarely been evaluated. This work indicates an urgent need to shift resources from counterproductive law enforcement to a health-based public health approach,” says Gerry Stimson, executive director of the International Harm Reduction Association which is holding a conference in Liverpool this week. When asked about the new report, former US drug czar John Walters, provided a different interpretation. Walters argues that spikes of attacks and killings after law enforcement crackdowns are almost entirely between criminals, and, thus, in a warped way, it may represent a success.

· And, from the AP, the Mexican Senate passed a bill Tuesday which would make soldiers accountable to civilian courts for abuses involving civilians. The legislation now goes to the lower house for a vote.

· With daily drug-related violence reports from Mexico, news that the leader of the Labor Party in Guerrero was gunned down over the weekend. An organized crime syndicate is suspected of carrying out the murder. And, at Global Post, more on Mexico’s new “national cell phone registry,” an attempt to prevent “virtual kidnappings.”

· On the international front, Brazilian foreign minister Celso Amorim is in Iran this week, once again stating his country’s opposition to a new round of UN sanctions against the country while also asking the Iranians to “be more flexible” around the issue of nuclear fuel exchanges. Amorim’s visit paves the way for President Lula da Silva’s own trip to Tehran set for May 15 and 16.

· Also on Iran and Latin America, Reuters reports that Southcom head, Gen. Douglas Fraser, told a group of defense reporters Tuesday that, contrary to a Pentagon report on a new Iranian Revolutionary Guard presence in Venezuela, there is no new evidence on the matter. “We see a growing Iranian interest and engagement with Venezuela. ... It's a diplomatic, it's a commercial presence. I haven't seen evidence of a military presence,” said Fraser. But Fraser seemed more confused than anything else about last week’s report. “I see an increasing presence of Iran in Latin America. ... I don't have all the details of what that means,” he said.

· This news on Venezuela comes as nearly everyone reports that the moment has finally arrived: Hugo Chavez is on Twitter. The AP has the best lead: “Hugo Chavez is starting to use Twitter to counter his opponents online, forcing a president who often talks for hours to sum up each thought in 140 characters or less.” Chavez can be followed online as “chavezcandanga.” His first tweet apparently occurred at 12:14am last night. The AP again does the translating of the president’s first message: “Hey how's it going? I appeared like I said I would: at midnight. I'm off to Brazil. And very happy to work for Venezuela. We will be victorious!!” Chavez already has 23,000 “followers” after one day. [For some perspective, Barack Obama has 3.8 million followers while Benjamin Netanyahu has just 3,547].

· In Peru, the Shining Path ambushed and killed a police officer and two civilians taking part in coca eradication around Aucayacu – one of two remaining rebel strongholds, according to the BBC. The attack was the first by the Shining Path in 2010.

· MercoPress reports that Brazil seeks to enlarge the size of its military from 300,000 to 500,000 over the next twenty years.

· Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, meanwhile, penned a note to Uruguay’s Pepe Mujica this week, asking that Uruguay follow Costa Rica’s lead in disbanding its military. The full text of the letter is here. The first paragraph is an interesting start:

“I do not write today to Don Jose Alberto Mujica Cordano, but to “Pepe” the revolutionary, that man who in the midst of the mud of horror, always kept intact the flower of justice, that dreamer who never turned off the light of utopia, not even in the darkest corner of his overlooked cell, that idealist who championed, despite insults and threats, an abiding faith in a better future for Uruguay and Latin America. I write to “Pepe” to say that there is still, in the backpack of time, a final utopia: the abolition of the Uruguayan army.”

· In Argentina, the Supreme Court has overturned pardons formerly granted to dictator Jorge Videla and his economy minister, José Martínez de Hoz. The move paves the way for a new trial against both.

· Haitian President Rene Preval called for international aid Monday to help organize elections by the end of the year. The words came after meeting with Brazil’s Lula da Silva at a meeting of Caribbean nations.

· And finally, in an interview with Spain’s El País, José Manuel Martínez, Latin American representative to the UNODC discusses how Central America has become the “crossroads” of drug trafficking and organized crime. According to Martínez, only improved coordination among Central American countries will halt organized crime syndicates most active in the sub region.

ICRC: Forced Displacement Continues in Colombia

Thousands of rural Colombians continue to be displaced from their homes by murder, rape, and general violence. And, says a new release from the International Committee of the Red Cross, the issue has been overlooked, in large part due to a presidential campaign that is now in full swing. As with other reports on the serious issue of displacement in Colombia, the South and Pacific Coast are the areas most affected. In the last year alone, the ICRC says they have documented some 800 violations of international humanitarian law, including 28 cases of homicide, 61 direct attacks against civilians, and 84 instances of people disappearing in connection with the ongoing armed conflict. In total, some 3.3 million individuals have been displaced by violence in the country – one of the highest figures anywhere in the world.

As Reuters reports, presidential favorite and former defense minister Juan Manuel Santos, has promised to continue the security policies of his former boss, Alvaro Uribe, which while successful in lowering urban violence, have shifted the conflict to the country’s rural hinterlands where state presence and basic services remain almost non-existent.

A piece in Colombia’s Semana is worth a look for more information on Santos’s surging challenger, Antanas Mockus who, according to a recent poll, is now in a statistical dead heat with the former defense minister. Specifically, the piece looks at the possibility of an alliance between Mockus’s Partido Verde and the more left-leaning, anti-Uribista Polo Democrático. Gustavo Petro, presidential candidate for the Polo, has in the past accused Mockus of being a “neoliberal” for his support of free market policies and position on certain labor issues. For his part, Mockus has thus far successfully portrayed himself as neither uribista nor anti-uribista, focusing instead on ideals like transparency and legality. In a potential second round, however, Mockus may be forced to choose sides – a choice which could alienate those in the center who have supported his candidacy thus far or those on the left whose backing he may need to defeat Santos and form an effective government.

Finally out of Colombia, El Espectador reports that the first 1400 victims of paramilitary violence will, 60 months after the demobilization of the Autodefensas, begin receiving reparations under the Peace and Justice Law.

To other stories this morning:

· Mexican President Felipe Calderon joined other top Mexican officials in condemning the controversial Arizona immigration law passed last week which makes being an illegal immigrant a crime. According to Calderon, the law “opens the door to intolerance, hate, discrimination and abuse in law enforcement.” The Washington Post quotes Calderon also calling the law a “violation of human rights.” OAS Sec. General José Miguel Insulza also denounced the legislation yesterday. “We consider the bill clearly discriminatory against immigrants, and especially against immigrants from Latin America,” Insulza commented from El Salvador. And some say trade ties and border cooperation could be threatened by the measure at a moment when the US and Mexico have sought closer ties in the cross-border struggle against drug cartels.

· Two more OAS-related notes. First, in Nicaragua, Infolatam reports the country’s Vice Chancellor, Manuel Coronel Kautz said Monday “there is no reason” to have the OAS act as a mediator in the current crisis which pits the ruling FSLN against opposition lawmakers. Last week Sec. General Insulza expressed his worries about the situation in Nicaragua – a statement which led to the government issuing a communiqué to Insulza asking that he not involve himself in the internal affairs of the country. And, second, in Honduras, Sec. General Insulza said he was in favor of bringing Honduras back into the OAS. He also announced an Inter-American Human Rights Commission delegation would be dispatched to the country in May to help in the investigation of journalist murders. Specifically, the OAS seeks to determine whether or not the killings are politically motivated or related to the journalists' work.

· Also on Honduras, Honduras Culture and Politics has an early press release on Honduran opinions of democracy and government institutions from the Vanderbilt-based Latin American Public Opinion Project. The LAPOP will be producing a full report later this year.

· In Peru, the AP reports on criticism which has erupted over the naming of a police chief – currently facing homicide charges in relation to last year’s Bagua massacre – to the Interior Ministry’s human rights commission. Police General Luis Muguruza is the individual in question. And according to human rights lawyer, Gloria Cano, should Muguruza’s appointment to the commission go through, he would be “leading his own defense in court.”

· Infolatam also previews upcoming Peruvian elections. Municipal elections are set for October 3 while a presidential vote is scheduled for 2011. And, says Infolatam, the two “old ghosts”—corruption and fujimorismo—are finding their way back on to the political stage.

· Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega has been extradited to France from the United States where he will stand trial on money laundering charges. More from the Miami Herald which says the extradition effectively ends the drug trafficking case against Mr. Noriega.

· The Wall Street Journal says there are new worries that Brazil’s economy may be “overheating.” The country’s stellar recovery amidst the global financial crisis now has the central bank contemplating a series of interest-rate increases, according to financial analysts, in an effort to hold inflation at bay. The paper writes: “Brazil's predicament underscores how the fortunes of emerging and developed markets are diverging. The International Monetary Fund forecasts that "advanced economies" will expand by 2.25% in 2010 and by 2.5% in 2011, after a decline of more than 3% last year. Growth in emerging markets and developing countries is projected to be above 6.25% a year in the same period, following more modest growth of 2.5% last year.”

· A handful of reports today on Venezuela focus on recent statements by President Hugo Chavez. 1. Chavez calls a US Defense Dept. report on Iranian Qods Forces being present in Venezuela a “disgrace” and “totally false.” 2. Chavez accuses US of “electronic warfare” via Colombia after Venezuelan intelligence allegedly detected the presence of a plane in Venezuelan airspace. 3. Chavez announces a 40% increase in the annual salary of Venezuelan soldiers.

· The Christian Science Monitor looks at the issue of Iran, China, and Russia increasing their presence in Latin America.

· BBC Mundo reports that an Ecuadorian court has issued an arrest warrant against Colombian presidential candidate, Juan Manuel Santos. Santos ordered the raid of a FARC camp in Ecuadorian territory in 2008. Last week, in a televised debate, he said he was proud of having authorized the military strike and would have no problem doing it again.

· Finally today, check out a new podcast at Just the Facts recapping last week’s major stories from Nicaragua, Colombia, Mexico and more.

Incompetence, Impunity, and the Mexican Justice System

The Mexican justice system remains hobbled by incompetence, impunity, and a lack of political will on the part of the Calderon government to rebuild the police and judiciary – what the Washington Post’s William Booth calls a “central challenge” facing Mexico in its fight against drug cartels. The paper begins with the story of 10 mayors arrested last year for suspected ties to the drug gang, La Familia. On Friday, the ninth of those mayors was released in the state of Michoacan after spending 11 months in prison. As with many other such cases, there was neither a trial nor much explanation for the release. According to Miguel Sarre, lawyer and professor at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM), the pattern of arrests and releases indicates one of two things: “either the government was not capable of thorough investigation and making a strong case, or the arrests were politically motivated.” Indeed the arrests of the ten mayors last year was carried out on the eve of midterm elections, raising many suspicions. [Interestingly, however, several of those arrested hailed from President Calderon’s own party, the PAN].

“The fact that [the Mexican courts] couldn't build a case against the mayors, it looks bad,” says David Shirk of the Trans-Border Institute in San Diego. It really shows the challenges Mexico faces, and how law enforcement has to become much better at what it does.” Others second that opinion, with the Post describing a system where interrogation methods are abused and evidence is scant. “The government is abusing its use of secrecy,” maintains Arturo Hernández, the attorney for Antonio González, the mayor of Uruapan who was held for eight months without being officially charged. “This is a time in which we're seeing an excessive use of force by the authorities. There is an exaggerated psychological pressure on detainees: People are not allowed to speak to their families or attorneys. They pressure you to admit to the charges against you.”

Meanwhile, also in Mexico over the weekend, former US president Bill Clinton was in Mexico City for a lecture at the Universidad del Valle de Mexico. Clinton said he would like to see the creation of a “Plan Mexico” for the country – similar to “Plan Colombia.” Clinton added, however, that the use of the military in internal security must be limited. In Michoacan, four were killed and ten wounded when armed gunmen attacked a convoy carrying top security official, Public Safety Secretary Minerva Bautista. Bautista was uninjured but two of her bodyguards were among those killed. And, reports the New York Times, seven police officers were killed in Ciudad Juarez Friday. According to investigators, the attacks were likely in retaliation to a counternarcotics raid carried out one day prior.

In other news:

· Mexican officials are also speaking out against the new and draconian Arizona immigration law (the “broadest and strictest immigration measure in generations,” in the New York Times words). Quoted in an Al-Jazeera report, Mexican foreign minister, Patricia Espinosa criticized the legislation, saying “Criminalization is not the path to solving the phenomenon of illegal migration. The existence of trans-border labor markets requires comprehensive and long-term solutions. Responsibility, trust and mutual respect should be the base for addressing shared challenges in North America.”

· In Colombia, new poll numbers from a Centro Nacional de Consultoria survey released late last week show Uribista Juan Manuel Santos and his challenger Antanas Mockus in a statistical tie just one month before round-one presidential voting. Further, in a potential second round, the latest poll shows Mockus winning the presidency against Santos, 50% to 44%. More detailed results here in Spanish. And also a report in the Wall Street Journal with some analysis. “It's hard to remember such a remarkable surge. It's a phenomenon,” said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue. “Colombians are a paradox right now: In this case, they want continuity and change at the same time. They like Uribe's policies but are tired of his confrontational style of politics.”

· The Washington Post reported Saturday on the on-going violence being perpetrated against journalists working in Honduras. The report comes after Alberto Orellana was shot and killed while leaving the television station at which he worked last Tuesday. Orellana was the seventh reporter killed this year – and, according to the Post, the tie that connects most of the victims has been their reporting on organized crime and extractive industries. Carlos Lauria of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists calls the perpetrators of the Honduran murders “very professional hit men.” José Miguel Vivanco of Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, hints at possible connections between the June 2009 coup against former president Manuel Zelaya and abuses being committed against grassroots activists, journalists, and unionists who continue to denounce the coup.

· Also on Honduras, Daniel Altschuler writes at AQ’s Blog on the truth commission process underway in the country – and the “controversy that has ensnared it.” According to Altschuler: “Coup supporters have already said that they have no faith in the process, arguing that it is nothing more than a show for the international community. As has been true since last year’s coup, the Honduran Right continues to call for ‘national unity’ and ‘consensus,’ which in this case appears to mean a Truth Commission that does not rock the boat.” On the other side, “opponents of the coup fear that the Commission will not go far enough” and appear distrustful of the “international additions to the Commission” who hail from countries who supported last November’s controversial election of Pepe Lobo. The report also interrogates the questions raised by Eduardo Stein’s recent comments about certain sensitive information being withheld from the public for 10 years.

“The problem … is not that information will be withheld, but what information will be withheld. To remain credible, the Commission needs to be clear about the nature of these protections and the scope of the ‘sensitive information’ to which Stein referred. Vague statements suggest arbitrary decisions and will only undermine the Commission. The Commission also needs to demonstrate that these restrictions will not jeopardize its final report’s objectivity and completeness.”

· More from the AP on the suspension of civil liberties in Paraguay as President Fernando Lugo intensifies his fight against left wing guerrillas in the country's north.

· The Washington Post’s Juan Forero has another report on the case of Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni in Venezuela. Afiuni was arrested in December after issuing the release of banker Eligio Cerdeno, accused of evading currency controls. “More than any other case,” says the paper, “Afiuni's arrest has alarmed independent justices and those who track Venezuela's judiciary.”

· Also in Venezuela, the opposition Table for Democratic Unity (MUD) held its primary election process this weekend, nominating 22 candidates for next September’s legislative vote. At Caracas Chronicles, there seems to be little excitement about the candidates who’ve been nominated. “Too many MUD candidates just smell like puntofijismo - and that's going to create serious problems for an opposition that needs to portray itself as different not just from the government but also different to its own worst incarnation of recent years,” the blog writes.

· In Cuba, municipal elections were held Sunday but no surprises were expected (i.e. huge turnout and no opposition), according to the Miami Herald. Reuters reports on government supporters harassing the now famous “Ladies in White” who attempted to stage a protest against the Cuban government during the vote.

· The Open Society Institute has up at its website an hour and a half long audio recording of Carlos Castresana’s talk in New York last week. The Spanish prosecutor currently leads the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), “an unprecedented entity that seeks to assist Guatemalan institutions in investigating and ultimately dismantling domestic illegal security apparatuses and clandestine security organizations.” Other speakers at the event included human rights activist, Rigoberta Menchú; Roberto Alejos, President of the Guatemalan Congress; and Areyeh Neier, President of OSI.

· Is the controversy over Evo Morales’s talk about chickens and hormones due to a poor Spanish-to-English translation? Time investigates that question and more substantive issues following last week’s climate summit. Naomi Klein also reports and offers opinion from Cochabamba at The Nation. She calls the Bolivia summit a “revolt against helplessness” and “an attempt to build a base of power behind the right to survive.” She also highlights the four big ideas that came out of Cochabamba:

“that nature should be granted rights that protect ecosystems from annihilation (a ‘Universal Declaration of Mother Earth Rights’); that those who violate those rights and other international environmental agreements should face legal consequences (a ‘Climate Justice Tribunal’); that poor countries should receive various forms of compensation for a crisis they are facing but had little role in creating (‘Climate Debt’); and that there should be a mechanism for people around the world to express their views on these topics (‘World People's Referendum on Climate Change’).”

· Finally, some opinions. Otto Reich calls “21^st Century Socialism” the biggest threat to US interests in Latin America at the National Review. “The main threat to the peace, freedom, prosperity, and security of the U.S. and the Western Hemisphere comes not from military coups, but from a form of creeping totalitarianism that calls itself 21st Century Socialism; it is allied with some of the most virulent forms of tyranny and anti-Western ideology in the world,” argues the Republican. Mary Anastasia O’Grady in the Wall Street Journal sees “shades of Honduras” [and, of course, Hugo Chavez] in Nicaragua. Michael Moran at Global Post writes on what might soon be “another false dawn” in US-Cuba relations. And the Miami Herald has an editorial on small signs of progress in Haiti, as well as looming challenges.

Lawmakers Re-enter Nicaraguan Parliament

With the latest in Nicaragua this morning, AFP reports that parliamentarians reentered the National Assembly Thursday, “surrounded by pro-government demonstrators” and following “a 3-month opposition boycott.” The return of lawmakers came after the president of the parliament, the Sandinista René Nunez, called for legislators to be allowed back into their place of work. And, says the AFP, the legislative session of some two hours, “went off without incidents,” even as protestors continued their demonstrations outside.

Two pieces of legislation (Confidencial says three) were approved during Thursday’s deliberation: one, a law authorizing the withdrawal of Nicaraguan troops from Venezuela’s bicentennial celebrations; and two, a pair of economic loans from the Inter-American Development Bank and the Central American Economic Integration Bank.

The FSLN proclaimed the events of Thursday a major success (a “victory for el pueblo”) as the party has long been critical of opposition groups who they say were paralyzing legislative activities. There have been no immediate reports about whether or not the opposition has the votes necessary to override Ortega’s controversial presidential decree which extended the mandates of two pro-FSLN judges on the Supreme Court. As Time’s Tim Rogers reports from Managua, it was that event which sparked the latest round of tensions this week. But, Rogers continues, “At the heart of the crisis is Ortega's effort to remain in power, even if it means sacrificing the budding democracy that the Sandinista Revolution helped plant 20 years ago.” Time retells how divisions have grown between the ruling FSLN and the opposition, starting with 2008 municipal elections in which the Sandinista party was accused of carrying out voter fraud. And, the magazine concludes: “Regardless of how it ends, the latest crisis has shown that Nicaragua's rickety democracy, 20 years in the making, could come down like a Jenga tower.”

For a counter to the argument that Nicaragua is on the verge of collapse, Chuck Kaufman of the Nicaragua Network/Alliance for Global Justice has a response. He argues that Ortega’s decision to extend the terms of office Supreme Court justices and other officials was “a last ditch effort to maintain a functioning national government.” And while some say the Ortega government could fall the way of Honduras (of June 2009), Kaufman says the Nicaraguan military has maintained “absolute neutrality” since 1990, making an undemocratic ouster of the Ortega government highly unlikely.

In other news this Friday morning:

· The LA Times’ Chris Kraul interviews Colombia’s spy chief, Felipe Munoz, who is trying to reform the country’s “scandal-ridden” DAS intelligence agency. “[DAS] officials have been accused of placing illegal wiretaps, conducting smear campaigns and even conspiring to commit murder,” writes Kraul.

“Two of the last four DAS directors have been sent to jail. Names of DAS operatives surfaced recently in connection with the assassinations of presidential candidates two decades ago. U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield said last week that U.S. assistance to DAS was being suspended indefinitely.”

But Munoz, a lifelong technocrat, seems intent on restructuring the agency by breaking down parts of DAS and “re-branding” it with a new name. See the full, short interview here.

· In Paraguay, President Fernando Lugo asked his Congress to declare a “state of emergency” in five northern departments of the country, effectively imposing military rule in the area where the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP)—a left wing guerrilla group – is increasingly active. The Senate rejected Lugo’s initial request but, says BBC Mundo, it approved a very similar bill late Thursday which will begin a 30 day period of military presence in northern Paraguay. [The last time a “state of emergency” was declared in Paraguay was 2002]. On Wednesday, the EPP killed a police officer and three workers while attacking a farm to steal animals.

· A few notes from US reporting on Venezuela this morning. First, Reuters writes that eight drug labs near the Colombian border were raided by Venezuelan counter-narcotics forces Thursday. Some 4.5 tons of cocaine were seized the process. “This is one of the most important and biggest operations against illegal trafficking gangs in our nation,” said Interior Minister Tareck El-Aissami. A former Venezuelan general denounced the Chavez government Thursday, saying Cuban troops are increasingly active in the training and intelligence activities of the Venezuelan military. A new Pentagon report sent to Congress this week apparently claims the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is present in Venezuela. This according to AFP, which got access to declassified sections of a report on US military strategy regarding Iran.

· The New York Times profiles financier Roger Altman, a former assistant Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, who has made multiple trips to Haiti delivering some $140,000 worth of medical supplies to the country.

· The US State Dept. says Michael Posner, Ass’t. Sec. for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor is finishing a trip to Colombia and Mexico today.

· In Guatemala, Reuters reports that the government has handed over military documents containing important evidence related to the genocidal massacre of Guatemalan peasants under the dictatorship of Efraín Rios Montt in 1982 and 1983. “These documents paint a picture of command responsibility,” says Andrew Hudson of the Washington-based group Human Rights First. “When put together they show Rios Montt and the top commanders were aware of and were directing a policy which the United Nations says constituted genocide.”

· In Uruguay, former foreign minister, Juan Carlos Blanco, was sentenced to 20 years in prison this week for the role he played in the forced disappearance and murder of schoolteacher Elena Quinteros in 1976.

· This week’s Economist highlights the brewing dispute over a massive hydroelectric project in the Brazilian Amazon. According to the magazine, the project illustrates the difficulty the Brazilian government is having balancing environmental demands with the desire for growth.

· Infolatam has an interesting piece about the “dilemmas of the Latin American Left.” The piece looks at the ideologically diverse coalitions of Mauricio Funes’s FMLN in El Salvador and José Mujica’s Frente Amplio in Uruguay, specifically. Funes has had to govern with frequent support from the Right as the FMLN has “voted against him in various occasions” while Mujica has differed with the Frente Amplio coalition he represents over whether or not to aggressively seek the annulment of a 1980s amnesty law.

· Finally, a few opinions. Evo Morales pens a piece in the LA Times about the people’s climate summit which concluded yesterday in Bolivia. One of the most notable outcomes of the summit, says Morales: an agreement to begin collectively drafting a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, which “will establish a legal framework for protecting our increasingly threatened natural environment and raising the global consciousness about Mother Earth.” In the Miami Herald, Marifeli Stable-Perez says Brazil is key to curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Comparing Brazil and Venzuela’s relations with Iran, she argues: “Venezuela and Brazil represent two different approaches to Iran: one ideological, the other pragmatic. Tehran is courting both in an all-out diplomatic initiative against the isolation that the United States in particular seeks.” She concludes,

“Since 2000, Russia, China, India and Brazil have emerged as international players. The United States should see Brazil more like it does the other three emerging powers. But it's harder: Brazil is in the Americas. Let's hope that the United States and Brazil do better this time than they did in the 1990s with the Free Trade of the Americas.”

Finally, at FP’s Shadow Government, new contributor Michael Magan writes on Hugo Chavez and the recent ALBA meeting in Caracas. In short, Magan argues, ALBA is only as good as the Venezuelan economy and high world oil prices. He too compares and contrasts Brazil’s economic decisions with those of Venezuela.