Brazil and US to Sign New Security Agreement Monday

The United States and Brazil will sign a defense cooperation agreement next Monday, the first such accord between the two countries since 1977. This according to BBC Mundo’s reporting yesterday, which adds that Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim plans to be in Washington, alongside his counterpart US Sec. of Defense Robert Gates, for the official signing. The exact text of the agreement is still being worked out, as I’ve reported here before, but the BBC says it will involve cooperation in the areas of “training, equipment and technology development in the area of defense.”

It’s also interesting to note that apparently this is an agreement which has been in the works since the days of George W. Bush. Only in the last few months, however, has the accord really taken form. The BBC says differences between the two countries over various issues, including a US base agreement with Colombia, obstructed the deal from happening last year. It’s that deal which analysts are comparing the new Brazil agreement with already, although there appear to be some important differences. Namely, unlike the new Colombia accord now being implemented, the US-Brazil document will not include (in the BBC’s words, my translation) “installations,” any sort of special access to Brazilian territory [by US troops], nor immunity provisions for such troops. It’s also said to include clauses regarding “guarantees to UNASUR” which reaffirm the notions of state sovereignty and non-intervention in internal affairs.

The AP takes the story from there this morning with a bit more. Defense Minister Nelson Jobim elusively acknowledged the new accord Wednesday, says the news service, noting that the accord would make “defense-related business viable.” An anonymous US official also seconds reports that this security deal is distinct from the one with Colombia. “It deals with military exchanges, everything from comparing military equipment to the exchange of students and instructors at military academies,” the official tells the AP. “There will be provisions for U.S. Navy ship visits and sharing lessons in peacekeeping.” But apparently the US would have to ask the Brazil for specific permission to send its troops to Brazil for any period of time, “even if just for joint peacekeeping exercises.”

To other stories:

· At Just the Facts, a good wrap-up of stops 1 and 2 on Arturo Valenzuela’s trip to the Andean region. He spent yesterday in Colombia where, among other things, the former professor lectured some 300 students at the Universidad de los Andes about US-Colombian relations. Valenzuela also talked trade with outgoing President Alvaro Uribe yesterday afternoon, and, reports Just the Facts, the Colombian President’s office released a statement saying Valenzuela proposed “the creation of a center for the prevention of terrorism with five central themes concentrating on nuclear terrorism, terrorism and narcotrafficking, terrorism and illegal groups, and the empowerment of victims on the subject of preventing terrorism.” Today Valenzuela is expected in Cartagena for an important regional economic forum.

· One day after President Alan García said he would not negotiate with striking artisanal miners in Chala, Peru, Peruvian PM Javier Velásquez Quesquén announced that miners had suspended their strike as union leaders and government officials prepare for a round of dialogue. The goal of the talks will be the formalization of the informal mining sector “in a reasonable time period,” says BBC Mundo. The central issue under protest has been a decree issued by the García government last March which sought to end the informal work of artisanal mining. Such work is one of the principal sources of livelihood for many in the department of Madre de Dios. In fact, says the BBC, some 60% of all gold which is exported from Peru annually comes from such mining groups. A Reuters report from Peru looks at growing opposition to the García government after this latest confrontation which has left at least 6 civilians dead. Opposition figure, Ollanta Humala, called the president “morally incapable” and presented a motion in the Peruvian Congress Wednesday to force García out of office before his official term ends. The move is unlikely to succeed but does represent a ratcheting up of attacks on the government ahead of 2011 elections.

· A USA Today article yesterday examined growing ties between the US and Mexican militaries, reporting that experience fighting insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq is now being brought to the fight against Mexican drug cartels. The report quotes Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, head of Northern Command: “We've learned and grown a great deal as we've conducted operations against networks of terrorists and insurgent fighters. Many of the skills that you use to go after a network like those apply ... to drug-trafficking organizations.” Correctly or incorrectly, the article also compares the transformation of the US military since 9/11 into a half-counter-insurgency, half nation building force to what is being attempted today with the Mexican military. The paper writes: “U.S. forces are also training Mexico's military in the rule of law and human rights, skills needed to help transform Mexico's army from a conventional force designed to counter external threats to a military waging an irregular war where the enemy lives among civilians.”

· Mexican journalist Julio Scherer is coming under intense criticism from some in Mexico for conducting a clandestine interview (and photo op!) with top drug capo, Ismael Zambada, for the weekly Proceso.

· The BBC has a fascinating report on growing violence against trade unionists in Venezuela. According to labor expert, Lorenzo Labrique, of the Venezuelan human rights group Provea, Venezuela has become the 2^nd most dangerous place in the world to be a trade unionist, behind Colombia. “The difference with Colombia,” says Labrique, “is that while unionists there tend to be murdered by right-wing paramilitaries to stop them from operating, in Venezuela most union members are killed as a result of quarrels within the union itself or because of bad blood between rival unions.” Official figures, report that the number of unions in Venezuela has increased exponentially in recent years from 1,200 in 1998 to more than 6,000 in 2009. The construction sector, in particular, has seen huge increases in unions, with 736 different new unions created in the last decade. This has led to significant advances in the area of labor rights and labor entitlements, many argue. But, according to Provea, it has also bred violent struggles between unions seeking control of lucrative building projects.

· The AP has an exclusive piece on how Chile is becoming a model for nuclear non-proliferation by recently conducting a secret transfer of highly enriched uranium to the United States where it will be converted to safer nuclear fuel and resold to nuclear power plants. This news comes before a major nuclear nonproliferation summit to be held in DC beginning Monday.

· The LA Times reports on how microorganisms and insects are devastating Colombia’s African palm trees—once heralded as an alternative crop for coca growers. The palm oil, in turn, was supposed to help in the creation of a biofuel industry in the country.

· Colombian pop star and political activist Juanes announced his support for the presidential ticket of Mockus-Fajardo on Twitter this week.

· Argentina is now seeking to replicate neighboring Uruguay’s successful “One Laptop per Child” program, beginning in secondary schools this year. According to MercoPress, the program, Conectarigualdad.com.ar, “contemplates delivering in the next three years, three million laptops for students from 4.800 government high schools as well as fitting the schools with quick access to internet and wide band.”

· Via Adrienne Pine’s Quotha blog, a new in-depth report from the Real News looks at ongoing right violence and assassinations, specifically targeting members of the resistance, in Honduras.

· Via WOLA, an NPR interview with WOLA program director Geoff Thale about the legacy of Archbishop Oscar Romero.

· Finally, a couple of opinions. In English, both Andres Oppenheimer and Alvaro Vargas Llosa write about dissident hunger strikers in Cuba. [Oppenheimer’s comes from a recent interview with Guillermo Farinas]. And in Spanish, an interesting piece by Salomón Kalmanovitz in Colombia’s El Espectador about how land reform should become a central component of the fight against narcotrafficking in the country.