How to Make a Peruvian PT

Peruvian presidential contenders Ollanta Humala and Keiko Fujimori have begun the task of pact-making, courting the support of both their now former rivals and, according to the BBC, the elusive Peruvian “moderate.” For Humala that apparently means talking more about Brazil. Interviewed on Peruvian radio yesterday, Humala says he “recognizes there is a successful process underway in Brazil” – one which has combined economic growth, social inclusion and a “macroeconomic equilibrium.”

Humala apparently doesn’t have to look far for Brazil talking points. Spain’s El País reports this morning that Humala has, since January, been counseled on campaign strategy by two Brazilian PT strategists, Luis Favre and Valdemir Garreta. Both men ran Lula’s 2002 campaign in 2002, successfully softening the image of the longtime trade union leader. In fact, Jacqueline Fowks of IDL-Reporteros has noted that Humala’s “Carta Compromiso con el Pueblo Peruano,” presented to assuage the worries of Peru’s business elites, is “identical” to Lula’s “Carta ao Povo Brasileiro” used to accomplish the same goal in Brazil back in 2002.

Like Lula before him, Humala has also sought to bring into his inner circle a number of so-called moderates. El País highlights Harvard-trained lawyer Beatriz Merino, considered by some to be the frontrunner for prime minister in a future Humala government. Merino held that same position under Alejandro Toledo and has more recently acted as Peru’s omsbudman under Alan García.

Connecting the political dots and there appears Mario Vargas Llosa – an apparently close friend of Merino. Interestingly, Vargas Lllosa seems to be walking back his provocative talk last week of cancer versus AIDS, a reference to a then hypothetical runoff between Humala and Fujmori. Speaking in Chile Tuesday, Vargas Llosa, a supporter of Alejandro Toledo in round-one, suggested he could actually vote for Ollanta Humala. Calling the presidency of Alberto Fujimori “one of the most atrocious dictatorships we have ever read,” MVL ruled out the possibility of ever voting for the incarcerated ex-president’s daughter, but says, should Humala succeed in making some Lula-like alliances, he could be brought on board.

Voting is obligatory in Peru for those between the ages of 18 and 70. MVL just turned 75 so, in theory, he wouldn’t be forced to vote for anyone.

La República has a longer report today on the possibility of a Toledo-Humala pact. Again, much of the internal debate within Toledo’s Peru Posible party seems to be about whether or not Humala is capable of shoring up the sort of coalition Lula put together under the PT in Brazil.

Humala also met with former Lima mayor Luis Castaneda yesterday evening, although a pact there – at least at the moment – seems a bit more distant. A similar story with Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.

Thus far, the only new movement I’ve seen in favor of Keiko Fujimori are some unconfirmed statements about investors and members of country’s economic upper crust siding with Keiko Fujimori -- that and the views of some in the rabidly anti-chavista blogosphere (here and here). It’s far too early to say anything with certainty, but the next month and a half should prove to be interesting.

Today’s bullet points:

· After twelve hours of intense debate Tuesday, Uruguay’s Senate, in a 16-15 vote, passed legislation that would overturn that country’s 1986 “Ley de Caducidad” which has provided a form of amnesty to numerous human rights violators from the country’s twelve year dictatorship (1973-1985). The bill will now go to the house where it is expected to be approved with only minor changes. But Tuesday’s passage did not come without its share of contestation. After voters rejected overturning the law twice in the last two decades (most recently in 2009), the governing Frente Amplio coalition’s decision to push for annulment has created some notable fault lines within the coalition itself – the most visible being the unexpected resignation yesterday of longtime FA Senator Eleuterio Fernández Huidobro from the upper chamber. Huidobro, one of the most recognizable leaders of the Tupamaro guerrilla movement during the 1960s and early 1970s, voted with his party, but said he would express his disapproval of the party’s decision reverse the popular will by giving up his Senate seat.

· Speaking on Spanish television during his visit to Madrid this week, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said neighboring Venezuela is no longer harboring FARC rebels. He added that the government of Hugo Chavez has delivered on its promise to prevent the guerrilla group from crossing back and forth across the Colombia-Venezuela border. BBC reports on the new statements, adding that, President Alvaro Uribe used Twitter to subtly disagree with the statements made by Mr. Santos Tuesday. More from Semana.

· Also on Venezuela and Colombia, Colombian ambassador to the US, Gabriel Silva responds to Jackson Diehl’s recent column on the Walid Makled case, in a letter to the editor at the Washington Post.

· The Wall Street Journal highlights the various commercial accords signed between China and Brazil Tuesday. Perhaps the most notable agreement: a $1.5 billion deal that will send Brazilian Embraer aircrafts to China. After worries that Brazil’s exports to China were commodity-heavy, the new deal Tuesday is pretty significant breakthrough. It also includes plans to build a China-Brazil joint venture facility in China for the production of Embraer jets. On the issue of Brazil’s bid for a seat on the UN Security Council, the Chinese position is a bit difficult to read. Via Brazil’s Estadao: a joint communiqué released Tuesday reads China “understands and supports Brazil’s aspiration to play a more prominent role in the UN.” According to the paper the Chinese government has, in past occasions, voiced more support for Brazil’s bid for a permanent UNSC seat and the unclear language here may be attributable to China-Japan relations. More on arrival of fellow BRICS – Russia, India, and now South Africa – to this week’s China meetings, at the Wall Street Journal

· Mercopress says recent OECD addition, Chile, has some of the worst social indicators among the world’s so-called “rich nations.” Most notably, Chile continues to struggle with high income inequality – the highest, in fact, of all 34 OECD countries.

· In Mexico, 32 more bodies were discovered in the mass graves of Tamaulipas yesterday, bringing the total up to 120, according to Mexico’s El Universal. Forensic experts say that number could continue to rise. Meanwhile, the Mexican government, in its first statements about who the perpetrators of the massacre might have been, has pointed the finger at the Zetas. Apparently 17 individuals have been detained already in connection to the killings.

· CS Monitor reports on recent statements by top US military officials who now say the so-called “Northern Triangle” of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador is “the deadliest zone in the world outside of active war zones.”

· McClatchy reports on the new 2010 State Department human rights report on Honduras, which, among other things, highlights rising reports of hate crimes targeting the LGBT community – and the impunity with which such crimes have been met. McClatchy: “Homicides roiling the gay, lesbian and transgender community have earned Honduras comparisons to Uganda, the African nation that recently debated a proposed law that would make homosexuality subject to the death penalty in some instances.”

· The LA Times and Bloomberg report on the collapse of the short-lived PAN-PRD alliance, at least in Mexico state.

· Officials from Costa Rica and Nicaragua were able to put an on-going border dispute aside, meeting yesterday to discuss the possibility of new counternarcotics and security cooperation. No breakthroughs, apparently, although the two countries agreed to hold another set of meetings about such matters in early May. La Nación reports.

· The AP says a government panel is looking into the possibility of decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana in Jamaica.

· And finally, from the Washington Post over the weekend, a great report about the return of anti-communism on Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s House Foreign Affairs Committee. There are a lot of great quotes, but of interest to Latin Americanists may be this one from an individual the paper identifies as “a former staffer who like other aides interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals.” About the congresswoman’s Cuba policy, he/she says: “A government that has said one nice thing about the Cuba regime, they are [seen as] an enemy. There’s no nuance, no subtlety. None.”

Elections in the Time of Cholera

Amidst still unmoved rubble, cholera, and waves of anti-MINUSTAH protests, the New York Times writes that this Sunday does not look like “the best time to choose a president” in Haiti. Nevertheless, the vote will go on, despite requests from some candidates that the elections be delayed:

“[T]he election on Sunday may be Haiti’s most important in decades. Not only are competing crises demanding attention, but with the country poised to receive billions of dollars in international reconstruction money, the new president will have a historic ability to reshape the country, from its economy to its justice system to deciding where and how to house more than a million earthquake refugees.”

And yet the question for which few have an answer is who will even turn out for this week’s apparently historic elections. OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza called voter turnout the “big problem” last week. And the reasons seem quite obvious. Insulza:

“There are a lot of people who left town because of the earthquake. There are people afraid of the cholera. There are people angry at the government. There are so many obstacles to getting people to vote.”

Others no have lost their national identification cards, a requirement to vote in the country – although the government body that issues the ID cards has said it registered “30,000 more than the 400,000 it anticipated in the last quarter.” [It’s likely, according to the Times, that this was largely due to new banking rules]. And yet, according to El País, both an OAS electoral mission and a Caricom observer mission insisted late last week that Haiti continues on a “good path” toward elections. The head of the UN MINUSTAH mission, Edmond Mulet, echoed those statements telling Al-Jazeera that “Cholera is not a reason not to have elections.” Mulet: “I think that elections are important for the political stability, for the social stability of the country, for the reconstruction of the country.”

For its part, the US will provide some $14 million in election-aid while “several dozens of international observers will be monitoring the balloting,” the Times says. The report, like a piece in the Miami Herald this morning, adds that, while poll numbers are far from reliable, local media has selected three candidates as the frontrunners: former first lady Marlinde Manigat; Jude Celestin, Mr. Préval’s endorsed successor; and Michel Martelly, “a kompa singer formerly known as Sweet Micky who draws large crowds and is banking on votes that might have gone to Wyclef Jean.”

Meanwhile, on the cholera epidemic, the New York Times also ran a piece this weekend criticizing those who have blamed Nepalese MINUSTAH forces for likely bringing cholera to the country. Those who care about accountability will probably disagree – an issue the AP’s Jonathan Katz looks at in a long report on cholera in Haiti from last Friday.

Editor’s Note: Tomorrow will be my last post here for the next week. No posting at Hemispheric Brief from Wednesday, Nov. 24 until Tuesday Nov. 30 as I will be in Port-au-Prince for the aforementioned Haitian elections. Updates to follow. JFS

To other stories:

· In Colombia, at least seven former high-ranking intelligence officers, currently under investigation for their roles in the country’s domestic spying scandal, are seeking asylum outside of Colombia (or have already done so). That information came from Interior Minister German Vargas Lleras after Panama granted asylum to DAS’s former director, Maria del Pilar Hurtado on Friday. Vargas Lleras criticized the Panamanian government saying the charges Ms. Hurtado would have faced – for illegal communications intercepts and criminal conspiracy – are “not political crimes” and thus should not have been grounds for an asylum request. For its part, the Panamanian Foreign Ministry said the decision was an attempt to “contribute to political and social stability in the region.” As the BBC reports, Ms. Hurtado has already left the country and was not challenged by DAS-controlled immigration officers as she left. On what this means for investigations into illegal spying, the BBC adds:

“As head of the DAS from 2007-2008, Ms Hurtado was one of the few people who could possibly directly implicate former president, Alvaro Uribe, in the illegal wiretapping of his political opponents and the judges who were seeking to block his actions and re-election prospects.”

· Also on Colombia, the Latin American Herald Tribune and Colombia Reports both report on further developments in anti-drug cooperation between Colombia and Venezuela. After a six hour meeting in Cartagena this weekend, Colombian Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera and Venezuelan Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami “signed a preliminary agreement that will now be studied by the respective presidents of the two countries,” says the LAHT.

“The agreement outlines several lines of action in the anti-drug battle, including coordinated and simultaneous operations, creation of a comprehensive intelligence platform, intelligence-sharing on drug-trafficking routes and exchange of experiences in that area. It also calls for training programs and greater control over the trafficking of chemical precursors used to manufacture illegal drugs.”

In Jamaica, meanwhile, President Juan Manuel Santos also signed a new bilateral anti-drug accord with Jamaican PM Bruce Golding this weekend. And in Colombia, senior officials believe they killed another senior FARC commander in a military strike Saturday. Fabian Ramirez, second in command of the southern block of FARC, was targeted in the attack.

· In Mexico, the AP says former governor of Colima, Silverio Cavazos Ceballos, was shot and killed as he left his office Sunday. CNN on the beginning of extradition proceedings for US-born trafficker Edgar Valdez Villarreal, aka La Barbie. The Washington Post, from last Friday, on the precarious position of Mexican medical workers in the country’s drug wars. More on the abandonment of Ciudad Mier in a long report from the Wall Street Journal. And, from Reuters, a report suggesting that a divided Mexican Congress is unlikely to pass President Felipe Calderon’s recently proposed measures to reform the country’s police forces and create a “unified police command.” [The proposals would also fight money laundering.] PAN Senator Alejandro Gonzalez, who heads the Senate's justice committee, tells Reuters, “There is no consensus among lawmakers, not even within the PAN. There is a lot of opposition to the proposal for a unified police command.” The unified police command would bring municipal police forces under the control of state governors, effectively ending what Reuters calls a “dysfunctional system of 2,200 different jurisdictions across the country.”

· ABC News foreign correspondent Jim Sciutto writes at the New Republic about disappointing half-steps taken by the Obama administration on Cuba. And now, Sciutto contends, with “Republican control of Congress [in particular, the ascension of pro-embargo, Cuban-American Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen to chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee], any Congressional effort to ease trade or travel restrictions will “effectively be killed.” Sciutto also highlights on-going reforms in Cuba – embodied, perhaps, in ongoing releases of political prisoners, the most recent of whom, Adrian Alvarez, Arencibia, spoke to BBC Mundo in Spain this weekend.

· New demands from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that legal actions against Globovisión magnate Guillermo Zuloaga go forward. Chavez also accused Zuloaga of being behind “$100 million plot” to assassinate him.

· A fascinating piece from IPS on Brazil-Venezuela economic relations – specifically how Brazilian-based construction and engineering companies are building much of Venezuela’s new infrastructure, and without fears of expropriation. “The Brazilian construction companies work comfortably with the Venezuelan government, because behind them is the Brazilian government with its integration policy, with the understanding between both countries and Brazil's BNDES (National Development Bank),” says the director of the Venezuelan-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Fernando Portela.

· Richard Javad Heydarian at Foreign Policy in Focus on Iran’s diplomatic and economic push into Latin America, with a focus on Venezuela and Brazil.

· Finally, opinions. In the Miami Herald, Janet Redman of the Institute for Policy Studies on upcoming Cancun climate talks. Andres Oppenheimer on the fears of some that the line between civilian and military affairs is fraying in Latin America. And in the Wall Street Journal, Mary Anastasia O’Grady on Haiti and what she sees as ongoing problems of corruption and bureaucratic inefficiency in the country.

Christopher Coke Detained in Jamaica

Jamaican drug don Christopher “Dudus” Coke was arrested Tuesday as he attempted to pass through a checkpoint on the outskirts of the country’s capital, Kingston. According to the Wall Street Journal, the 41-year-old Coke was handed over to authorities by Rev. Al Miller, who was apparently driving him to the US Embassy. There, the AP says, Coke planned to turn himself over to US marshals, following the advice of the evangelical minister. [The AP says Coke had even made arrangements with the Embassy officials before-hand, in order to negotiate his surrender]. However, early reports indicate that Coke was apprehended by Jamaican authorities before being able to do so.

In the United States, officials seeking Coke’s extradition on charges of drug and arms trafficking are watching the case closely. A U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York (where those charges had been filed) said Tuesday that “We look forward to working closely with the Jamaican authorities to bring Coke to justice.”

Meanwhile, on the island, Jamaica’s police commissioner is urging supporters of Mr. Coke to remain peaceful. A militarized attempt to arrest Coke led to the deaths of 76 persons one month ago. More from the Miami Herald here.

Behind the headline:

· In Mexico, the AP says at least three police officers were killed Tuesday when armed gunmen opened fire on the municipal hall of Los Herreras, a small town in the northern state of Nuevo Leon. A vehicle near the scene of the crime hints at Zeta participation in the attack. Meanwhile, EFE reports on the Mexican army’s announcement that it will set up a special unit to handle human rights complaints from civilians. To be called Univic (Citizens Liason Unit), the Mexican Defense Secretariat said Tuesday the body “will allow the strengthening of the communication links between civil society and [the] Secretariat, with full transparency in resolving conflicts related to human rights, stemming from actions by the Mexican army and air force against organized crime and originating in the military presence on the streets.” Interestingly, that announcement comes following a new report from Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission, which says “altering crime scenes” and the rampant use of drugs and alcohol are part of the Mexican army’s “systematic conduct.” La Crónica de Hoy has the full story.

· Also, in other Mexico-related news, the BBC has one of multiple reports this morning on the country’s legal challenge against Arizona’s draconian immigration law. In US federal court, the Mexican government has filed a “friend of the court” brief (or amicus curiae) in support of a case brought by various US rights groups against the law. In the brief, Mexico argues that the Arizona law is both unconstitutional and detrimental to US-Mexico bilateral relations because it illegally discriminates against Mexican citizens. The law is set to go into force on July 29.

· The Washington Post’s Juan Forero follows up on a controversial story he wrote a few weeks back, implicating the brother of outgoing President Alvaro Uribe in the country’s paramilitary scandal. Today’s story focuses on the retired police major who made those accusations against Santiago Uribe. Juan Carlos Meneses was “deposed” by a prosecutor from the Colombian attorney general’s office while in Buenos Aires. [Meneses currently lives in exile in Argentina]. Officials will now determine whether or not the police chief’s statements warrant the re-opening of the case against Santiago Uribe.

· In a report issued Tuesday, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime says Peru will soon be surpassing Colombia as the world’s top producer of coca. The amount of land under cultivation has risen 6.8% in Peru from 2008 to 2009, says the UNODC. [In Colombia, coca cultivation fell by 16% over that same period.] However, in the summary of its report, the UNODC does not wager a guess on how much of that coca is currently being converted into cocaine – at least in Bolivia and Peru. “Due to the ongoing review of conversion factors from coca leaves to pure cocaine, [UNODC] is not putting an estimate on the level of cocaine production in Bolivia and Peru this year,” the UN says.

· On drugs and Brazil, EFE says one ton of cocaine bound for Spain was intercepted by custom officials at the port city of Santos, near Sao Paulo. Apparently Argentine customs officials tipped the Brazilians off to the stash stored away in two shipping containers.

· Also on Brazil and drugs, at OSI’s blog Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch and Karolina Walecik write on the crack epidemic in Rio’s shantytowns – focusing on the harm-reduction work OSI grantee Viva Rio is currently undertaking to turn the tide.

· Al-Jazeera has a video report on the removal of Nicaragua’s last land mines left behind from the civil war between the FSLN and the US-supported Contras. “More than 180,000 mines from more than 1,000 minefields are believed to have been cleared – a success applauded by the international community,” says Al-Jazeera.

· ALBA member states will meet this week in Ecuador, says Infolatam. Their goal: to outline common policies to consolidate a new “plurinational” and “intercultural” state model. Also, those taking part in the meetings (Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and likely Nicaragua and Cuba) will discuss ALBA’s “Tratado de Comercio de los Pueblos” (TCP).

· Might Alvaro Uribe run for mayor of Bogotá after stepping down from the presidency in August? In a recent radio interview, the president says he has not ruled the idea out.

· In a bizarre story in Paraguay, BBC Mundo says the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP) has put a bounty on the head of its own president, Fernando Lugo, as well as other high ranking government officials. The EPP’s offer currently stands at 1000 US dollars (or 5 million guaranís).

· Recent poll numbers show Uruguay’s Pepe Mujica among the region’s most popular national leaders. After completing his first 100 days 74% of Uruguayan’s approve of the former guerrilla-turned-president. Similar numbers in El Salvador, where one-year in Mauricio Funes remains popular despite on-going struggles with crime and violence. A LPG Datos poll shows 65% of Salvadorans approve of Funes. [Those numbers are down slightly from last November when Funes peaked at 78% approval].

· On Funes and his first year in office, the Center for Democracy in the Americas is releasing a new report on the matter today. Entitled “Expectations for Change and the Challenges of Governance: The First Year of President Mauricio Funes,” the report includes an introduction from Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) and includes analysis of the economy, security, social inclusion, human rights, foreign policy, and governance under the FMLN.

· Finally, some opinions. In the Miami Herald, Mark Schneider of the International Crisis Group on Guatemala. The ICG has a new report as well (“Guatemala: Squeezed between Crime and Impunity”), which, in Schneider’s words, “found that CICIG had given Guatemala renewed hope that combating organized crime, drug trafficking and state corruption is possible.” The picture, however, remains largely troubling. He writes:

“Yet Guatemala still faces serious challenges, which make naming an equally tough new CICIG director even more urgent. Its murder rate is among the highest in the world, Mexican cartels have made Guatemala the frontline of their battle for control of the cocaine corridor, and youth gangs and organized crime have undermined citizen security.”

The LA Times gets its editorial out today on the Santos victory in Colombia. The paper calls on the president-elect to transform himself from a military man into a “chief executive.” Laura Carlsen, of the CIP’s Americas Program writes in her Foreign Policy in Focus column on the recent killing of a Mexican boy by US border patrol. And Oliver Stone and Tariq Ali chat with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now about Stone’s take on the Latin American Left, featured in his new movie, South of the Border. The film opens in New York this weekend.

Haiti to Int'l Community: It's Time to Follow Through

Officials representing more than 55 countries and 35 international organizations gathered in the Dominican Republic Wednesday to discuss international reconstruction efforts in Haiti following last January’s devastating earthquake. The meetings, dubbed the World Summit for the Future of Haiti, sought to not only address the short-term needs of the country but also outline a plan for Haiti’s “long-term economic growth,” according to summit organizers.

Haitian president René Preval urged those gathered in the DR to follow through with their respective aid promises made at the international donor’s conference in New York last March. He also called on the international community to support Haitian democracy. “Haiti needs a systematic anti-seismic defense. It's called democracy,'” Préval said Wednesday. “Without political stability, without democracy, our project is doomed to fail.”

Of the 5 billion that was pledged to Haitian reconstruction efforts over the next two years in New York, very little has actually reached Haiti. Interestingly, according to both Al-Jazeera and the Miami Herald, only Brazil has followed through with its entire aid pledge thus far, having delivered $55 million to the country. Aid experts say that the country will need at least $11.5 billion in aid over the next ten years to meet recovery goals.

UN Special Envoy Bill Clinton, meanwhile, said the unanimous support for Haiti’s reconstruction that exists within the international community must translate into real actions. The goal, said Clinton, is a “self-sustaining” Haiti. In a line a number of reports are highlighting today, Clinton also added that Haiti is possibly the only subject on which the US, Venezuela, and Cuba are in complete agreement.

Below the headline today:

· A new study co-conducted by several US and Mexican government agencies says more than half of the money smuggled back into Mexico by drug cartels each year is cash which never passes through any bank account. As such, it’s “nearly invisible to law enforcement,” according to the AP. “Drug moguls can buy real estate, cars, airline tickets and just about everything else in cash, allowing their powerful businesses to easily launder the estimated $19 billion to $29 billion they earn each year selling cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana in the U.S.” Nearly 75 percent of transactions are done in cash in Mexico. That’s in contrast to just 20% in the US. And according to the study, a key element in disrupting cartel activity must be the “targeting” of cartel treasurers in Mexico who “supervise the movement of the cash as it's carried from street dealers in U.S. cities to safe houses in Mexico.”

· That study accompanies results from a new Economic Commission for Latin America report on regional inequality published last week – and reported on in Mexico’s Crónica (h/t Two Weeks Notice). According to ECLA, the amount of money collected each year in taxes has steadily declined over the last two decades in Mexico, countering regional trends. As a percent of its GDP, Mexico collected just 9.4% in taxes in 2008, down from 11.4% in 1990. Those numbers put the country in last place in the region, on par with Haiti which collected 9.5% of its GDP in taxes in 2008. [As a point of comparison, Latin America as a region averaged a tax collection rate of 18.4% of GDP in 2008, with the two largest economies in the region, Brazil and Argentina, collecting 35.5% and 30.6% of GDP in taxes, respectively].

· And finally on Mexico, the AP writes this morning that the US-Mexico border may not be as dangerous some would have us believe – at least on the US side. Using government data, the AP says the four major cities with the lowest crime rates in the country –San Diego, Phoenix, El Paso, and Austin – are all near the US-Mexico border. Further, an in-house Customs and Border Protection report indicates that Border Patrol agents “face far less danger than street cops in most U.S. cities.” According to immigrant advocate Isabel Garcia of the Tucson-based Derechos Humanos, “The warnings about violence are just an excuse to crack down on migrants who want to work and be with their families.”

· On Jamaica, the New York Times reports this morning on accusations of extrajudicial killings committed by Jamaican security forces at the peak of last week’s violence in the Tivoli Gardens neighborhood of West Kingston. On the matter, the Times writes the following:

“Several of the accusations emerging from Tivoli Gardens center on the conduct of officers in the Jamaica Constabulary Force, which has faced criticism in the past by human rights groups like Amnesty International for the relatively high number of people killed by police officers every year. In recent years, Amnesty found, 12 percent of killings were committed by police officers.”

· In Bolivia, US Assistant Secretary of State Arturo Valenzuela spent time Tuesday meeting with Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca. According to a summary of the meetings at Just the Facts, the trip sought to restart discussions regarding a “bilateral framework agreement” that could lead to the re-establishment of full diplomatic ties between the two countries in the coming months. Such ties were cut in September 2008 after Bolivia expelled then-US ambassador Philip Goldberg. But speaking after the meeting, Valenzuela was decidedly optimistic, telling reporters he was “excited to say that we have advanced more than 99 percent toward signing this new framework agreement of mutual respect.” More from Bolivia’s La Razón.

· EFE reports today that eradication of coca has declined in Bolivia since Evo Morales took office in 2006. But seizures of cocaine have doubled in that same time period.

· Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) is in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru this week, along with Sen. Chris Dodd. The focus of their trip: learning about the region’s efforts to curb the drug trade, renewable energy, and trade.

· Meanwhile, in Washington, Venezuela was once again placed on the State Department’s list of nations who are “uncooperative” with anti-terrorist efforts. The blacklisting means the sale of defense materials, as well as the issuance of licenses for the export of weapons and technology” to Venezuela will continue to be banned.

· BBC Mundo reports on Ecuador’s efforts to sign an alternative trade deal with the European Union, distinct from the sort of free trade agreements the EU has recently signed with Colombia and Peru. President Correa, who hopes to begin negotiations with the EU this month, is calling his framework, which seeks to protect Ecuadorean producers, a “trade agreement for development.”

· More on Latin America’s call for increased South-South cooperation at the Economic Commission for Latin America’s annual meetings in Brasilia, from IPS. Also this week, Mexico assumed the rotating presidency of a very busy UN Security Council.

· El Faro has a good piece looking at Mauricio Funes’s first year in office in El Salvador.

· Finally, some opinions. Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue and Andres Oppenheimer, both in the Miami Herald, on Colombian elections. An editorial in the Washington Post rails against US cotton subsidies – a point of major friction between the US and Brazil. The US recently agreed to pay Brazil $147.3 million per year to settle the trade dispute. In the Post’s opinion, the case “laid bare” the fact that cotton subsidies are not only a “wasteful sop to special interests,” but “also an obstacle to free and fair trade that needlessly complicates U.S. relations with the rest of the world.” And in an LTE, Colombia’s ambassador to the US, Carolina Barco, criticizes the Post for publishing Juan Forero’s piece on Alvaro Uribe’s brother and his potential paramilitary ties.

Latin America and Africa: Closer than Once Thought

Nine men were charged by US prosecutors Tuesday for their alleged role in a West African drug smuggling ring that stretches across three (sometimes four) continents. This according to a Wall Street Journal report this morning which highlights the international character of those detained (a Nigerian, a Russian, a Colombian, two Ghanaians). The DEA report on the anti-drug operation (called “Operation Relentless”) which brought the drug ring down in Liberia says the following about the transnational nature of the inter-continental smuggling networks which connect the Americas, Africa, and Europe:

“During the last decade, drug trafficking organizations based in South America have increasingly used countries along or near the West African coast as trans-shipment hubs for importing massive quantities of cocaine to be later distributed in Europe or elsewhere within Africa. Through a combination of privately owned aircraft and maritime vessels, these organizations, predominantly based in Colombia and Venezuela, have transported hundreds of tons of cocaine, worth billions of dollars, to places such as Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone, Togo, Mali, Ghana, Nigeria, and Liberia. In so doing, representatives of these drug trafficking organizations have often sought to bribe high-level public officials with large cash payments and narcotics in order to ensure the safe passage, storage, and distribution of their cocaine shipments.”

The report, along with the Journal’s coverage, also notes that those involved in the smuggling network say cocaine shipments were to be supplied by members of the Colombian rebel group, the FARC. A CS Monitor piece [note: on second glance, this piece is not so new (2009) but was for some reason up again at the Miami Herald's site earlier in the week] also looks at South America-Africa drug connections, asking whether Colombian cartels may have been behind the assassinations of Guinea-Bissau’s president and Army chief. Here’s what that piece said about the presence of Colombian cartels in Guinea-Bissau:

“In recent years, Colombian drug cartels have begun flying small planes across the Atlantic, landing on tiny islands dotting the Guinean coastline. Since Guinea-Bissau has no navy to patrol its waters, the cartels were free to unload tons of cocaine destined for Europe. The drugs were then distributed to impoverished African migrants, who would carry the drugs north by boat to the shores of France, Italy, and Spain.”

According to David Zounmenou, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Tshwane, “This recent set of killings can be explained [as] the action of the drug traffickers, who would not allow anything to get in the way or to obstruct their links with Europe.” Zounmenou continues: “Drug trafficking is not a domestic matter anymore. It affects the stability of many countries, it affects systems of governance, and it allows groups to acquire weapons.”

Interestingly, these reports on Africa-Americas trafficking links come alongside other stories in recent days which hint at deepening relations, of a very different kind, between the two continents. Brazil recently announced the creation of an international television station for Africa. At the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean’s (ECLAC/CEPAL) annual meetings, held this week in Brasilia, President Lula da Silva said that when he leaves his post on January 1, 2011, he plans to “work on behalf of” Latin America, the Caribbean, and interestingly enough, Africa. “The two continents,” he said, “must become continents of dignity and respect.” [He also highlighted Latin America’s newfound political independence, slammed the Washington Consensus, and praised the various economic alternatives provided by the CEPAL, with its focus on a strong state that promotes development and social equality.] African nations, meanwhile, were meeting in France this week for the 25^th Africa-France Summit. Among the demands of the continent’s leaders was a Brazilian favorite: comprehensive reform of the UN Security Council and the G-20 so that the developing world is better represented on issues of global governance.

Below the headline this morning:

· The Cuban government began moving political prisoners to jails closer to their respective homes Tuesday. The moves are part of a deal struck between the Cuban government and the Catholic Church which has been negotiating for the past two weeks with Raúl Castro. Reuters calls the deal a “modest humanitarian gesture” while family members say they hope the transfers are a “first step towards freedom for some of the island's 190 imprisoned dissidents.” A statement from the Church says six men arrested in a 2003 crackdown will be among the first to be transferred. Raúl Castro, the Church says, has also pledged that “ailing prisoners” would be moved to hospitals. [According to human rights groups, at least 26 prisoners are currently in poor health, but it’s not yet known how many prisoners will be moved in total.] And, says the BBC, the government has also promised to “stop harassing the prisoner’s wives’ group, the Ladies in White, who would be allowed to continue their weekly protest march” under the new agreement.

· Cuban musician Silvio Rodríguez arrived in New York this week to prepare for a show he plays this weekend at Carnegie Hall. He spoke to the press Tuesday. The Cuban Colada blog has bullet points on what he said, including his belief that the sentences against most political prisoners held on the island are too harsh. According to Rodríguez, a longtime supporter of the Revolution, “I think that by now a good many of them, if not all of them, should be out in the street.”

· In Washington, D.C., President Obama welcomed Peruvian President Alan García to the White House Tuesday. Trade, immigration, and “bi-lateral matters” [among them, narco-trafficking – although Reuters says “Peru’s cocaine problem” was “little mentioned”] were on the agenda, according to the AP. Obama also praised Peru as an “economic success story.” Sec. of State Hillary Clinton will be in Peru next week for the annual meeting of the OAS. She travels on to Ecuador, Colombia, and Barbados.

· With more on the Colombian elections this morning, the OAS said in a post-election communiqué that Sunday’s vote was “the most peaceful in four decades.” Compared with 2002, the Centro Integrado de Inteligencia Electoral says there was a 78% drop in “acts of violence” on election-day. AQ reports on post-round-one alliance-making. Juan Manuel Santos is seeking the backing of Conservatives and Radical Change voters while Antanas Mockus is hoping to secure the votes of the left-leaning Democratic Pole and perhaps some Liberals as well (the Liberal Party, however, has already announced it will not endorse either Mockus or Santos). And at the PBS Newshour on-line, Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue offers his analysis of Sunday’s vote and Santos’s surprising margin of victory.

· As the last 314 US troops departed Haiti, UN envoy Bill Clinton returned to the country Tuesday. His new mission, says the AP, is to “invigorate recovery from January's devastating earthquake and help millions end lives of poverty and danger.” [Tuesday’s trip was Clinton’s first since officially becoming co-chair of the committee that oversees the disbursement of $5.3 billion in international aid]. The AP says a lack of shelter remains Haiti’s most pressing need – particularly as hurricane season approaches. [On that issue, worries rose this week after experts announced this year’s hurricane season could be particularly intense because of warm Atlantic waters and a “waning the El Nino effect.”] Jacqueline Charles at the Miami Herald has more on Clinton’s visit while the Washington Post runs an editorial on Haiti, saying the US must not forget the country now that the US military is gone. “Now that the full-time presence of American boots on the ground is ending, it's critical that the administration not repeat this nation's long, sad history of on-again, off-again attention to Haiti's suffering.”

· After narrowly surviving a no-confidence vote (30-28), Jamaican PM Bruce Golding said Tuesday he plans to launch what the AP calls a “sustained assault on [drug] gangs.” No time frame for the beginning of such operations was provided, however. Addressing the parliament, here’s Golding in his own words:

“Gunmen who no longer flee when the security forces approach but engage them with vicious firepower must be confronted with the full force of the law. The time for equivocation is over.”

· In Brazil, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Gulnara Shahinian, says slavery continues in parts of the country – practiced by large landowners, businesses (the textile industry, in particular), and private contractors.

· Brazilian foreign minister Celso Amorim said his country will continue to oppose new UN sanctions on Iran – but would be forced to respect such sanctions should the Security Council as a whole approve them. Infolatam, meanwhile, has a very good recap of growing tensions/differences of opinion in the US-Brazil relationship.

· According to a new study from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Brazil was first among Latin American countries for its military spending in 2009. Venezuela, often criticized for its military purchases, was the country who most reduced its military expenditures in 2009, spending 25% less than one year prior, and coming in fifth in the region in terms of overall military spending (behind Brazil, Colombia, Chile, and Mexico).

· Finally, the New York Times has coverage of the devastation in Guatemala after Tropical Storm Agatha took the lives of at least 153 in the country over the weekend. El Salvador and Honduras were also significantly affected by the storm. You may also be trying to figure out how and why the now famous 330-foot-deep sink hole formed in the middle of Guatemala City. CS Monitor has the brief science behind the phenomenon.

Round One: Advantage Santos

Juan Manuel Santos cruised to a round-one victory in Colombia’s presidential elections Sunday. However, the former defense minister and heir to current president Alvaro Uribe did not reach the 50% mark needed to prevent a run-off vote against second-place finisher, Antanas Mockus. The two men now prepare to square off once again on June 20^th. [In a distant third place was Germán Vargas and in fourth, Gustavo Petro. Noemí Sanin finished in fifth place].

The latest vote tally reported in the New York Times says Santos secured just over 46% of Sunday’s vote against Mockus’s 21.5%. In fact, Santos swept every state in the country, save one and the capital of Bogotá, both of which fell into the Mockus column. Those numbers came as a major surprise to observers and analysts after numerous pre-election polls showed the two men running neck-in-neck going into Sunday. [There appear to be no major reports of electoral fraud].

Analyzing the results, Cynthia Arnson of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington says the vote signals the co-existence of two demands: stability, on the one hand and clean government, on the other. [More pre-election analysis from Cynthia Arnson at CFR]. But it’s the former which seems to have won out over the weekend. Speaking to supporters late Sunday, Santos declared his first-round victory a victory for President Uribe. “Mr. Uribe, this is your triumph and of all those who want to defend your legacy,” he said. “Colombia has voted to defend your achievements and proposals.” More on the Uribe legacy in Mary Anastasia O’Grady’s weekend column in the Wall Street Journal, based on an interview with the outgoing Colombian president.

Below the headline:

· In Jamaica, security forces have yet to detain drug don Christopher “Dudus” Coke, although violence seems to have decreased over the weekend. The New York Times’ Kareem Fahim examines how the Jamaican state is attempting to replace the void left by arrested Jamaican drug lords in various parts of Kingston where drug lords had become the principal providers of social services and security. More good reporting on Jamaica from the Financial Times this weekend while Orlando Patterson, professor of sociology at Harvard, had an opinion worth reading in the New York Times on the matter. Patterson says the situation in Jamaica brings to the forefront questions about the co-existence of democracy and violence. He writes:

“Jamaica, to its credit, has by global standards achieved a robust democracy. However great the violence during elections, voting is fair and governments change at the national level regularly and fairly smoothly. The judiciary, if overburdened, is nonetheless independent and relatively uncorrupt. There is a vigorous free press, and a lively civil society. Freedom House has continuously categorized the island as a ‘free’ country.”

He concludes that the presence of both democracy and violence is hardly an anomaly in the region. Rather, it is becoming the norm – and one which must be considered trans-nationally:

“Jamaica, though an extreme case, is more in line with other democracies of the hemisphere, including Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico and even Brazil, where the treacherous joint transition to democratic maturity and economic security has been accompanied by horrendous levels of crime… The problem of Jamaica might not seem so insoluble if Americans were to have a more sympathetic understanding of the transitional plight of this little country, brought on in large part by its unwavering struggle toward a more mature and equitable democracy.”

· In Mexico, the BBC says between 20 and 25 bodies were found in an abandoned mine in the state of Guerrero, Mexico over the weekend. Investigators say the bodies were thrown into the mine over several months and are likely the work of drug gangs. In Northern Mexico, meanwhile, the Washington Post reports on the new presence of pirates on Falcon Lake, a massive reservoir on the US-Mexico border, popular with sportsmen. “The pirates claim to be ‘federales,’ or police, but instead are brigands -- with the letter ‘Z’ tattooed on their necks and arms -- from the notorious drug cartel Los Zetas,” says the paper’s William Booth.

· Bolivian President Evo Morales spoke of increased narco-infiltration within the Bolivian state. Among the institutions being co-opted by traffickers, Morales singled out the police, judiciary, and the fiscalía, says BBC Mundo. The president also placed blame squarely upon the US for the increased presence of drug traffickers [ditto from Fidel Castro in a column in Granma this weekend]. Ass’t. Sec. of State Arturo Valenzuela will be in Bolivia today, but little is known about Valenzuela’s official agenda. The Andean Information Network suggests that the assistant secretary “jumpstart efforts to reach and sign a new bilateral framework agreement between Bolivia and the U.S.”

· Also in Bolivia, news that the famous Spanish jurist, Baltasar Garzón, currently suspended from practicing law in Spain, will be advising the Bolivian government in its judicial reform process.

· The Washington Post last Friday reported on an April 20^th letter from the US to Brazil and Turkey, regarding Iran negotiations. Brazil claims the letter signaled one-time US support for the negotiations. The US has a slightly different take. As El País reports, Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, speaking at the Brookings Institution Thursday, said Iran was using Brazil to “buy time” and allowing Iran to buy time “makes the world more dangerous.”

· In Haiti, the Wall Street Journal says the majority of US troops stationed in the country are on their way home today, “leaving United Nations forces and civilian groups to help the country rebuild its devastated capital in the wake of January's deadly earthquake.” The exit is in accordance with an agreement between the Haitian and US governments, reached several months ago. According to State Dept. spokesman, PJ Crowley, “The military played an essential short-term role, but now this is getting back to where the focus is on development, and that expertise rests in the civilian sector.”

· Argentina’s La Nación publishes an interesting interview with Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa. Correa has some interesting points about what he sees as the principal similarities and differences between himself and Hugo Chavez (Chavez has a clear geostrategic plan while Correa’s focus is Ecuador’s national economy, for example) and the pleasant surprise of new Chilean president Sebastian Pinera who he says shares his own “Latin Americanist” vision of regional integration.

· In Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega last week hinted that he would not be opposed to dissolving the National Congress in order to overcome the confrontation between the opposition and the FSLN.

· Over 100 have been killed by a deadly tropical storm that struck Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador over the weekend.

· And in the New York Times, a fascinating Saturday profile of young Dutch FARC militant Tanja Nijmeijer who, the paper says, may have risen to the top of the guerrilla group’s inner circle as the personal assistant to top commander, Mono Jojoy. The 32-year-old Nijmeijer (nom de guerre: Alexandra) joined the FARC in 2002 while teaching English in Bogotá.

· Finally, a few opinions. Roger Noriega in AEI’s journal, The American, supports adding Venezuela to the state sponsor of terrorism list. In the Miami Herald, Andres Oppenheimer writes of “new political winds” passing over the region. “After a decade of radical leftist populism,” he argues, “we are entering a new era of centrist pragmatism.” A similar opinion is offered from Infolatam which looks at similarities between Mockus and Chile’s Marco Enriquez-Onminami – both of whom represent a “new politics” (heavy on youth participation and social networking), according to the news service.

"Securing" the Caribbean Basin

After a five-day showdown in West Kingston between Jamaican security forces and supporters of accused drug lord Christopher “Dudus” Coke, at least 70 have been killed, 560 have been detained, and reports of “indiscriminate force” continue to rise. Jamaican police have yet to find their suspect, Dudus Coke, however. And on Thursday the police issued a public plea, asking that Mr. Coke and his brother turn themselves in peacefully. This according to the New York Times this morning. [More good Jamaica analysis at Foreign Policy, the BBC, and the Kojo Nnamdi Show with Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance and Johanna Mendelsohn-Forman of CSIS].

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., officials from the 15 CARICOM member nations, the Dominican Republic, and several non-Caribbean partner nations gathered Thursday for the pre-planned launching of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI). In AFP’s words, the CBSI is “aimed at boosting regional security by fighting drug-traffickers and other transnational criminal gangs” in the Caribbean. [Notably excluded from the invitation, as the Center for Democracy in the Americas points out, was Cuba]. The SBSI is intended to complement the Mérida Initiative, launched in 2008, and according to Ass’t. Sec. of State, Arturo Valenzuela, the convener of Thursday’s meetings, the US has pledged $45 million to the new security plan.

“Beyond narrow police and military responses, we must find ways to incorporate the whole range of local, national and regional institutions, multilateral organizations and civil society into our efforts to combat rising crime rates,” Valenzuela said.

The State Dept. also released a new “fact sheet” on its commitment to “citizen safety” in the Western Hemisphere this week. DOS claims that the CBSI, the Mérida Initiative, the Central America Regional Security initiative, and the Colombian Strategic Development initiative all embody an approach to citizen safety that focuses on “making advances at the neighborhood level while simultaneously countering emerging transnational threats.” As a new post at Just the Facts adds, “by covering several different regions of Latin America, the Obama administration believes it will ‘mitigate any balloon effect - criminal spillover resulting from successful reductions in drug trafficking and transnational crime elsewhere in the region.’”

But coming back to Jamaica, it appears that may be easier said than done. As the Economist suggests, as long as “outsiders’ demand for drugs” continues, there exist serious risks that progress may be short lived.

Below the headline today:

· Colombians head to the polls Sunday for what will likely be the first round of two to elect a new president [if no candidate wins over 50%, a second round will be held in mid-June]. I’ll have coverage of the results Tuesday, after the Memorial Day weekend, but for now the latest on where things stand going into the vote – still a statistical dead heat according to the most recent polls. The Wall Street Journal says the country “ponders two futures” with Sunday’s vote. Here’s how the paper frames it:

“They can pick a macho-style candidate who promises to finish what Mr. Uribe started. Or they can pick a philosopher who vows to clean up Colombia's politics, focuses on issues like education and cries in public.”

The AP poses its own binary. “The brainy outsider vs. the Uribe torchbearer,” is how the wire service sees it. Interestingly, the AP writes the following which I have not read in coverage of the Colombian election thus far:

“Mockus recently told an interviewer he thought Colombia should follow the Costa Rican model and dissolve its military. Backtracking later, he said he wasn't actually proposing dismantling Colombia's armed forces, still locked in a war with the FARC, which issued a communique Thursday calling on Colombians to boycott the vote.”

In an interview with Spain’s El País, Juan Manuel Santos tries to differentiate himself from his former boss, Mr. Uribe. “You have to take into account that I am not Uribe,” he tells the paper. “If Colombians are tired of a certain style of government [represented by [Uribe], they can remain calm, because I will bring my own [governing style].” At Global Post, Mauricio Cárdenas of the Brookings Institution argues that no matter Sunday’s results, the electoral campaign indicates that Colombians desire some sort of “change.” Interestingly, he is quite skeptical of Mockus winning a second-round vote. And with a Left perspective of the elections, Forrest Hylton, professor of political science at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, sees many similarities between the Mockus campaign and that of Barack Obama in the US. Besides the dichotomy of Santos/Uribe-style “democratic security” and Mockus’s “democratic legality,” Hylton writes that the vote will help answer the following question: “Is Colombia a democracy, in which citizens-voters decide the outcomes of elections, or is it what Barrington Moore, Jr., called a ‘semi-authoritarian parliamentary formation,’ in which overlapping networks of businesspeople, professional politicians, and regionally-rooted mafias determine said outcomes?”

· In Peru, the BBC reports that indigenous leader Alberto Pizango was released, one day after being arrested upon his return from 11 months of political asylum in Nicaragua. However, a Peruvian judge said Pizango still faces charges of conspiracy and sedition at an upcoming trial. The government holds Pizango responsible for leading protests in Bagua last year against extractive industries in the Amazon region of Northern Peru. The Peruvian alternative media outlet Prensa Alternativa has more on the press conference Pizango gave following his release yesterday. Pizango was joined by his lawyer, Dr. Marcos Barreto, AIDESEP vice-president Daisy Zapata who was recently in New York and Washington D.C. to talk about indigenous struggles against extractive industries in the Amazon, and the actress Qorianka Kilcher.

· US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced she’ll be heading to Ecuador from June 6 to 8, meeting with President Rafael Correa. Ecuador’s El Universo says both bi-lateral relations and regional relations [with UNASUR] will be on the agenda – relations which Ecuadorean foreign minister Ricardo Patino says must be “de-narcotized.” The trip will come after the OAS’s annual meetings in Peru and follows Ass’t. Sec. of State Arturo Valenzuela’s visit with Correa last April.

· At the Huffington Post, journalist Jeremy Kryt files a recent piece on Honduras, which looks at on-going debates over a writing a new constitution. The issue was used by the coup-backers as justification for the June 28, 2009 coup against Manuel Zelaya, but as Kryt writes: “thousands of Honduran citizens are signing their names to petitions demanding a Constitutional Assembly - and a series of massive, nation-wide demonstrations are planned for June 28, [2010] including a peaceful march on the national Congress building in the capital of Tegucigalpa, to present the petitions and demand a national referendum on the issue.”

· The Economist examines how Mexico’s economic recovery is being hampered by the rising influence of organized crime in its manufacturing corridor. “Now that the American economy has stirred back to life, Mexico’s factories are whirring into action as well,” the magazine reports. “The country’s GDP grew by 4.3% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2010, beating forecasts. Industrial production rose by 7.6% in the year to March—the largest annual increase in nearly four years … But those businesses have a new hurdle to surmount: the country’s raging drug ‘war,’” which appears to be scaring away new foreign investment.

· At NACLA, a good piece by Prof. Kevin Gallagher from the most recent Report on the Americas looks at deepening Chinese-Latin American economic relations.

· Gunmen shot and killed a police chief in Northern Brazil this week, as he did a radio interview about the threat of drug trafficking in the region, from his car. “Clayton Leao Chaves, police chief in Camacari, was just finishing his interview with journalists on Bahia state's Lider FM station when the hosts and thousands of listeners heard the sound of gunshots and his wife's cries,” says one report on the shooting.

· The Obama administration unveiled its first “National Security Strategy” Thursday. Among the few Latin America mentions, the administration says it is working to build “deeper and more effective partnerships with other key centers of influence” like Brazil –a country whose “leadership” the US claims to “welcome.” The US, however, says it wants to take that relationship “beyond dated North-South divisions to pursue progress on bilateral, hemispheric, and global issues.” That may be more of a challenge in practice than in theory, as differences over Iran, for example, demonstrate. As Mercopress reports, Lula da Silva called on Southern allies Mexico and UNASUR this week to support the Iran enrichment agreement he and the Turks struck in Tehran almost two weeks ago.

· Finally, opinions for the weekend. Author Chris Salewicz writes in the Wall Street Journal on the “drug rebellion” in Tivoli Gardens. Andres Oppenheimer talked with Antanas Mockus recently and the charge of some critics who say Mockus’s policy prescriptions may be better suited and more realistic for Finland than Colombia. Like Mauricio Cárdenas, Oppenheimer is not very convinced Mockus can win a likely second-round vote either. Arturo Valenzuela, also in the Miami Herald, has more on the CBSI launch yesterday – what he calls “an important step forward for the prosperity, security and liberty of the region.” In the Washington Post, Jennifer Bernal-Garcia of the Center for a New American Security, says sending more National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border “smells of mission creep” if a broader US strategy for countering the instability created by drug violence and organized crime is not articulated first. And the New York Times editorial board also weighs in on the Mexico border “troop surge” arguing that “[A]dding a thousand or so border troops won’t stop the cartels or repeal the law of supply and demand. It won’t lessen American addicts’ hunger for drugs or Mexican traffickers’ appetite for sold-in-America guns.”