Guatemalan Resignations

From AFP this morning, a report from Guatemala on what the wire service calls a “crisis in the Guatemalan government.” Amidst an attempt to find financing to help rebuild after tropical storm Agatha and following the failed passage of an important fiscal reform bill, AFP says the Wednesday resignation of Finance Minister Juan Alberto Fuentes – along with economy adviser Rubén Morales and the head of energy and mines, Carlos Meany – were “swift blows” to the government of Alvaro Colom. In a country where tax revenue is barely 10% of GDP, Colom cited the failed fiscal reform as the principal reason behind his finance minister’s resignation. [Somewhat interestingly, Fuentes is apparently leaving his post for a position at the CEPAL, which has tax issues at the center of its current research agenda]. Bloomberg now reports that Colom will appoint Guatemala’s current representative to the Central American Integration Bank, Edgar Balsells, as Fuentes’s replacement.

Meanwhile, the resignation of Carlos Meany, the country’s head of energy and mines, came amidst human rights questions. The Inter-American Human Rights Commission recently requested that mining operations at one of Canadian mining giant, Goldcorp’s Guatemalan mines be suspended – a decision which the Guatemalan government has decided to comply with. Meany, a major proponent of mining in the country, according to AFP, was likely displeased with that decision, hastening his departure.

And finally, in the US Senate Wednesday, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) addressed the recent resignation of another high profile figure in Guatemala: Carlos Castresana from the UN backed CICIG. Leahy says Colom’s decision to appoint Conrado Reyes as attorney general concerned him greatly. [The Supreme Court has since annulled that appointment]. And, says Leahy:

“Implementation of many of the CICIG's recommendations has been repeatedly delayed. The entire Guatemalan Government - the executive, legislature and the courts - must act decisively to demonstrate that it can implement urgent anti-impunity reforms, strengthen and professionalize its law enforcement and judicial institutions, and prove that it can be a partner in the fight against organized crime. Reforming the National Police, which is widely perceived as corrupt, ineffective and unaccountable, and whose officers are under-paid, under-trained, and under-equipped, is a critical priority. I hope there is convincing progress in these areas soon.”

In other stories:

n In neighboring El Salvador, the Washington Post reports today that the US and El Salvador have agreed to a new accord by which the two countries will share criminal information on individuals deported from the US to El Salvador. According to the Post, the new accord is “designed to combat transnational crime, including crimes committed by Salvadoran gang members who come to the United States.” Meanwhile, El Faro has a piece which is critical of President Mauricio Funes’s new public security plans. The Funes government is “recycling” the strategy of the ARENA to fight organized crime by making it a crime to belong to a criminal gang, says the paper. When asked by a reporter how one identifies a gang member, the Salvadoran Vice Minister of Security responded with somewhat vague and troubling words: “by tattoos and other types of evidence.” A similar law enacted by ARENA was declared unconstitutional by the Salvadoran Supreme Court in 2004.

n The Miami Herald’s Tim Rogers has a report from Nicaragua, which says Daniel Ortega may be dipping into “Venezuela-funded coffers to bribe, buy, and scatter the weakened opposition.” This, at least, is the claim of some lawmakers and analysts in the country. The charges of bribery come amidst Ortega’s alleged attempt to reach the 56 National Assembly votes needed to reverse a ban on consecutive reelection. According to one Liberal Constitutional Party lawmaker, Jose Pallais, the FSLN offered money, cabinet posts, and judgeships in exchange for his vote. FSLN legislators have thus far rejected the accusations of bribery.

n Moving to Honduras, Pepe Lobo has announced he will be creating a presidential commission for human rights. He’s asking for Spain’s collaboration in the venture, to be headed by Ana Pineda. Lobo added that his plan would be similar to that of Guatemala. More on the truth commission process and its alternative atHonduras Culture and Politics this morning as well.

n In Ecuador, ALBA is holding its summit this week, discussing the issue of “plurinationality” with various indigenous and afro-descendant groups. According to AFP this is the first time ALBA has held its annual meetings together with indigenous and afro-descendant leaders and activists.

n Meanwhile, in Canada, the G-20, which includes Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil, is also holding meetings. Infolatam has a good breakdown of what’s on the Latin American agenda.

n In the last of those three countries, Brazil, Lula da Silva has put the issue of foreign landownership on his national political agenda, saying new regulations must be imposed on how much land non-Brazilians can own. “It’s a matter of sovereignty,” the Brazilian leader said this week. Currently non-Brazilians cannot own more than 25% of the lands in any given province.

n And finally today, this week’s Economist has an interesting piece on the drug wars. It looks at the arrest of Christopher Coke in Jamaica on the same day the UNODC released new numbers on coca production -- which hs fallen across the region as a whole, according to the UNODC. The magazine highlights the dark side, however, of what at first sight appear as positive developments:

“Yet it is precisely such achievements that produce the most scepticism about counter-narcotics. The surrender or capture of 27 Jamaican gang leaders in the past month has created a power vacuum that may be filled by bloodshed. As long as political parties depend on the mobs at elections and the police cannot provide security, citizens will still suffer.”