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 “21st 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.
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