In Mexico, this week’s mass marijuana seizure -- initially reported at 105 tons but in fact weighing at just over 134 tons – was trucked to a Mexican military base near Tijuana Wednesday. There, as the New York Times writes, reporters were flown in by the Mexican government, and “after a military band played, after speeches by Army and police commanders, after a laborer sprayed fuel on the verdant, pungent bales, after college students and dignitaries and a throng of journalists took aim with their cameras,” all the weed was set ablaze. The Times in poetic form:
“And so up in smoke went the equivalent of a few hundred million joints in what Mexican authorities called the largest seizure of the drug in the country’s history, a dash of hype befitting the elaborate ceremony to both get rid of it and highlight a success, any success, in a bloody, lingering drug war.”
The show continues into today. According to the Times, it’s expected to take two full days for all the marijuana to be consumed by the fire. But did the bust really matter? The CS Monitor tries to move beyond the Mexican government’s politics of the spectacular, contending that, in the grand scheme of things, “probably not.”
“Weapons, cash, and drug seizures, as well as top arrests of drug traffickers, are always touted by the government as signs of success. While they are no doubt good news – and definitely give the government, normally battered by the ongoing violence in Mexico, a PR boost – they do little to impact the overall structure of criminal organizations, experts say.”
Some other Mexico reports today: More on the new 20-year-old chief of police in Praxedis Guadalupe Guerrero, from the Guardian and others. The AP reports on multiple gunfights yesterday between Mexican soldiers and armed gunmen around Nuevo Laredo. From the Washington Post, more on this week’s Calderon government proposal that would make certain categories of military rights abuses subject to civilian trial. And from WOLA, word from human rights groups in Mexico who are also criticizing the Calderon proposal as only a “half-measure.” According to 13 well-respected Mexican human rights organizations:
“It is absurd that the President has presented this bill as a sign of commitment to human rights and the government's international treaty obligations. This is a cosmetic gesture meant to give the appearance of reforming what, in practice, will continue to remain the same, especially considering that the tendency for the military to commit human rights crimes continues unabated.”
To other stories:
· The Colombian rights group CODHES says that, as a result of violence, 6.65 million hectares of productive lands were been abandoned in Colombia between 1980 and July 2010. That information comes from the Third National Survey on the Verification of the Rights of the Displaced in Colombia. The full report can be found here.
· At the Daily Beast, an interview with former Medellin mayor, Sergio Fajardo. Fajardo discusses issues of inequality and organized crime while also throwing his support behind the legalization movement. Citing the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy report, Fajardo advocates a “global discussion” about legalization, but adds that legalization is “not something Latin American countries can do unilaterally” nor should it mean “we are easing up the fight against organized crime.” Fajardo: “The criminals who run the drug trade must be fought. But a simplistic military approach will never solve any problems.”
· Related to organized crime, US Assistant Secretary of State David Johnson is finishing up a trip to Guatemala and Honduras where DOS is looking at on-going regional efforts against “crime and violence.” In Honduras today, DOS says Johnson will “emphasize law enforcement initiatives for corrections and efforts to dismantle and prosecute criminal organizations.” EFE has more on the trip, although no indication the US has any plans to devote additional police aid to Central America at the present moment.
· In fact, US security assistance to Honduras is the object of debate in Washington this week as a group of 30 US members of Congress petitioned the State Dept. to suspend all US police and military aid to the government of Pepe Lobo until it “distances itself from individuals involved in the June 28, 2009 military coup d’etat and adequately addresses the ongoing human and political rights violations.” According to the letter, the request comes after recent meetings with the Honduran rights group, COFADEH, which continues to report on assassinations, arbitrary arrests, beatings, and threats against anti-coup activists. The letter also asks the Obama administration to refrain from “supporting the immediate re-entry of Honduras to the OAS.”
· On Venezuela’s new nuclear energy deal with Russia, President Obama says he respects Venezuela’s “rights to peacefully develop nuclear power.” “We have no incentive nor interest in increasing friction between Venezuela and the US,” the president told Spanish media Tuesday. “But,” Obama added, “we do think Venezuela needs to act responsibly.”
· Also speaking with Spanish-language media, President Obama laid out his latest prerequisite for any further changes to US Cuba policy. I am not sure how one measures this, but Obama insisted this week he still needs to be shown the Cuban government is “serious” about reform. Obama:
“Any release of political prisoners, any economic liberalization that takes place in Cuba is positive, positive for Cuban people, but we’ve not yet seen the full results of these promises.”
· BBC with a report on how Brazil and Indian are among the global leaders in incorporating environmental concerns into national policy decisions.
· Jeffrey Sachs with a glowing opinion in the International Herald Tribune about Chile and its “politics of moderation.”
· BBC Mundo on Peru’s historic decision to grant Bolivia access to the Pacific – access that was taken away from the Andean country in 1879.
· In an editorial which ran Wednesday, the Washington Post has some scathing words of criticism for the Organization of American System and its position vis a vis Nicaragua. “Led by its leftists,” the Post contends, “the Organization of American States rushed to denounce the ‘coup’ and expel Honduras.” (Yes, the paper continues to use quotes around the word “coup” when talking about June 2009 in Honduras). Meanwhile, in neighboring Nicaragua, “President Daniel Ortega…has used blatantly illegal decrees, the manipulation of court rulings and mob violence by his supporters to clear the way for his reelection,” and the OAS has reacted with “utter silence.” The paper commends the Obama administration for condemning President Ortega’s controversial move to stack the country’s Supreme Court with his supporters – a move which recently led the Court to defer to Mr. Ortega in his attempt at re-election 2011. But the Post ends by turning its eyes back on the rest of Latin America, questioning the motivations behind the region’s isolation of Honduras.
· Lastly, on journalism in the region. Reporters without Borders has released its 2010 press freedom index. Guatemala, Brazil, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Chile, the Dominican Republic, and, somewhat surprisingly, Cuba all improved in the rankings, while Nicaragua, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela, Honduras, Colombia, Panama and Uruguay fell. Finally, the AP reports on four female journalists who were honored this week by the International Women's Media Foundation. Among the honorees, two Latin Americans: Alma Guillermoprieto, granted a lifetime achievement award for her coverage of one of the “worst massacres in modern Latin American history: the killing of 800 Salvadoran women, men and children by U.S.-trained soldiers” during Central America’s dirty wars. And Colombian journalist Claudia Julieta Duque for her reporting on the murder of journalist Jaime Garzon, in the face of constant threats against her life and her family. Quoted in the AP, Duque had the following powerful words against ex-Colombian president Alvaro Uribe:
“As a victim, I will fight until the last day of my life for real justice, which only will be possible when former President Alvaro Uribe .... is convicted for the illegal persecution he led against more than 300 people in Colombia.”
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