27 US Reps to Clinton: Honduras Rights Violations Continue

Excuse the double post today. But hot off the presses, there's a new letter just out to Sec. of State Hillary Clinton on human rights violations in Honduras. It comes from 27 US congressmen who, contrary to the Secretary's statements in Lima earlier this month, maintain that "political violence continues to wrack Honduras" one year after the June 28, 2009 coup. According to the legislators, they write to:

"...express our continuing concern regarding the grievous violations of human rights and the democratic order which commenced with the coup and continue to this day."

Their call is for US Asst. Sec. of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Michael Posner, to visit Honduras and "make a prompt assessment of what is occurring there with regards to human and political rights."

And perhaps most significantly, the signers say that

"without an early and accurate report [from Mr. Posner], we would be reluctant to see US support for Honduras continue without significant restrictions."

Among others, the signers include Reps. Jim McGovern (D-MA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Mike Honda (D-CA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Bill Delahunt (D-MA), John Conyers (D-MI), Barbara Lee (D-CA), and George Miller (D-CA).

Again the whole letter is here.

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.”

UNODC and Andean Coca

The annual reports on coca cultivation and cocaine production from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) are atop the agenda this morning. Just the Facts has a great breakdown on all the new data, writing that the headline of this year’s reports is “Peru's significant increase and Colombia's decrease in coca cultivation in 2009.” In fact, Peru is on its way to becoming the world’s top producer of coca (retaking that distinction from Colombia) according to the UNODC – a charge Peruvian President Alan García vehemently rejected Wednesday. [García did, however, maintain that his country has been the victim of “the Plan Colombia effect” – a reference to the idea that a decline in coca production in neighboring Colombia has done little more than push the crop across the border.]

By the numbers, it’s interesting to note that total Andean coca production decreased by 5.2% in 2009, with Colombia seeing the most significant reductions (down 16% from 2008). Again, Just the Facts has the analysis, writing that the 2009 numbers are “the lowest figure UNODC has detected in Colombia since it began measurements in the late 1990s.” And perhaps even more interestingly, the decline came in a year “in which coca eradication - both aerial and manual - fell sharply.” This would seem to counter the argument that there is any sort of correlation between forced eradication programs and reductions in coca cultivation.

In Bolivia, production of the plant barely changed between 2008 and 2009. The Andean Information Network has ten initial observations on the new Bolivia statistics, highlighting significant differences between the UNODC numbers and those reported in the 2010 U.S. International Narcotics Control Strategy. The UNODC cited just a 1% increase in coca production over the last year while the INCSR concluded there was a “9.38 percent increase” (from 32,000 to 35,000 hectares in 2009) – “inexplicably rounded up to ten percent” by DOS. But there’s more, says AIN:

“International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Chief David Johnson further misrepresented U.S. estimates in the INCSR press briefing on March 1, 2010, stating that ‘Peru had a modest increase and Bolivia has a continuing trend of a step up per year in the neighborhood of 10 to 15 percent that’s taken place over the course of the last several years.’ In fact, since the election of Morales in 2005, U.S. statistics have never reflected an increase in Bolivian coca cultivation that reached ten percent, and for most years increases in cultivation in Peru have been significantly higher.”

Behind that headline:

· I mentioned yesterday the fact that Mauricio Funes is still enjoying high approval numbers in El Salvador, one year after taking office. The LA Times this morning paints a different picture, however. The paper says that a year after promising change and the “reinvention” of the country, “Funes faces an avalanche of criticism, from opponents and supporters alike, over broken promises, corrupt management and a failure to halt rising violence that threatens to turn the nation into ‘a criminal state.’” The popular online magazine, El Faro, wrote in a recent editorial that “Salvadorans are not better off than they were a year ago,” adding that “in the middle of the worst public security crisis in a decade, the national police force remains without resources and has been infiltrated by organized crime.” In turn, the Salvadoran economy has struggled, says the Times, and the working-class base of the FMLN has been the most severely hit.

“Funes' failures have hit the poor and working class especially hard. After two decades of one-party right-wing rule, they greeted the rise of the left with great hope. Today they are deeply disillusioned.”

The story comes out as President Funes decided to put soldiers in charge of policing various prisons in the country this week. According to the AP, the Mara Salvatrucha and other gangs are believed to be increasingly running criminal operations from jail.

· In Mexico, the Washington Post’s William Booth covers the recent uncovering of what has become Mexico’s largest mass grave connected to the drug wars. A mine shaft near the popular tourist city of Taxco, the “grave” been out of operation for three years due to a mine workers’ strike. Here’s the pretty horrific picture Booth paints:

“State investigators rappelled down the 15-foot-wide shaft through darkness to reach the bottom, 50 stories down, where they found a cold, dripping-wet cavern filled with noxious gases. As they panned their headlamps around the cave, they found a subterranean killing field. Initially, they thought there were 25 dead, then 55. But as they struggle to reassemble the bodies at the morgue in the capital city, they think they have found the remains of 64 people.”

The story gets more graphic. The recovery of mummified and headless bodies has made identification sometimes impossible, Booth writes. Others appear to have been thrown into the shaft alive, say investigators – all part of Mexico’s “headlines that continue to numb,” to use the paper’s words.

· A different sort of mine-related violence is reported on at Upside Down World where Nancy Davies has a piece on the increasingly violent measures being taken against anti-mining activists in Oaxaca. And, from EFE, a piece today highlights a new report on homicides from the consulting firm Grupo Multisistemas de Seguridad Industrial. Some 19,000 homicides “of all types” occurred in the country in 2009, the group says. That would make the country the sixth most deadly in the world, in terms of per capita homicides. However, in Latin America, Colombia, Guatemala, and Paraguay still rank ahead of Mexico, the report says.

· On Venezuela, a report from VenEconomy looks at the NGO Transperencia Venezuela which recently held its 2010 forum on public administration, focusing on problems of governmental transparency in the country, specifically. At OSI’s blog, program officer Vonda Brown also highlights the work of Transparencia Venezuela, writing that the group has not been allowed to publish “shadow reports” regarding the Venezuelan government’s implementation of anti-corruption measures. However, there’s hope that the words not added to a recent OAS resolution on civil society participation may be help to change that situation. The full story at OSI’s blog.

· The AP reports on the shake-up of Hugo Chavez’s cabinet this week.

· At NACLA, a new piece looks at the Honduran business community a year after Manuel Zelaya’s ouster. According to rights activist Dr. Juan Almendares, it’s the country’s economic elites who instigated and continue to support repression in the country – a difference when comparing today’s violence with that of the 1980s. “It’s important to understand that in the eighties the direct confrontation was more the political sector working together with army,” Almendares says. “But today, the struggle is precisely about the neoliberal economic model, imperial globalization, and this whole campaign by financial capital to gain power over our lands, to take our resources.” The pervasiveness of Honduran business elite power extends even to the anti-coup Radio Globo apparently. As Adrienne Pine highlights, last week Globo journalists were sent a memo instructing them to not insult the company’s sponsors: among them golpista business magnate, Miguel Facussé. And in other Honduras news, Roberto Micheletti received a hero’s welcome in San Salvador where the city’s right wing mayor, Norman Quijano, called Micheletti a “distinguished guest” and a “paladín de la democracia.”

· In Cuba, the AP reports on the case of dissident Darsi Ferrer, found guilty Tuesday of purchasing cement on the black market. However, Ferrer was released from prison after the conviction since he had already served one year behind bars. He’ll serve four remaining months under house arrest.

· A few new poll numbers to highlight. After 100 days, Sebastian Pinera enjoys 54% national approval in Chile. And in Brazil, the PT’s Dilma Rouseff widened her lead over José Serra. Latest numbers have Rouseff up 40% to 35%, with 9% opting for the Green Party’s Marina Silva.

· Finally, some opinions. Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue has a long analytical piece about a new US policy to replace Plan Colombia. While he praises the security gains of the last decade, Shifter argues the program has done little on the drug issue. He cites the recent high commission report on Drugs and Democracy as the basis for an alternative approach. Alvaro Vargas Llosa writes on Venezuela and the Zuloaga case. Andres Oppenheimer has glowing words about Juan Manuel Santos. And we end back in Bolivia. Following Evo Morales recent statement that he wouldn’t hesitate in expelling USAID from Bolivia, Alex Main at CEPR analyzes the state of US-Bolivia relations. He says Morales’s words are consistent with his position since 2006 on the matter of USAID transparency, but:

“Unfortunately, rather than seeking to assuage the Bolivian government's concerns by lifting the veil on USAID's activities, the U.S. government has systematically refused to reveal all of the programs and groups that are currently receiving funding from the aid agency. As the Andean Information Network has noted, the US government's position violates international norms on cooperation calling for effective joint collaboration between the governments of donor and recipient countries on all cooperation programs.”

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.

Regional Reactions to Juan Manuel Santos

A day after the election of Uribe heir Juan Manuel Santos in Colombia, two of the most anticipated reactions were those from Colombia’s two neighbors, Venezuela and Ecuador – the country's on-again, off-again sparring partners. According to the AP, Santos indicated before Sunday’s election that he would send an inaugural invitation to Hugo Chavez, should he be elected. And on Monday, Chavez responded to the Santos victory with conciliatory words, saying he wished the new Colombian president success and hoped for “sincerity and respect” as Santos assumes office. The foreign ministry of Venezuela also published a five paragraph communiqué on the Santos victory, congratulating the Colombian people on Sunday’s vote. This according to BBC Mundo. However, the BBC says the Venezuelan statement added that it would be “very attentive to not only the words of the new government and its spokespeople but also to its actions…” And many analysts remain doubtful that any we’ll see any significant change in the tenuous Venezuela-Colombia relationship.

In Ecuador, meanwhile, Rafael Correa called Santos personally to offer his congratulations following Sunday’s vote. The country’s foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, said his country now waits “with caution” to see what the new Colombian government does with respect to investigations of the 2008 cross-border attack on a FARC camp in Ecuador. Ecuador has demanded Colombia hand over all of its information related to the attack before the two country’s severed relations are re-established.

Finally, in the US, Juan Manuel Santos had no trouble winning over three of the major US papers which regularly cover the region. A Washington Post editorial contrasts Santos with both Brazil’s Lula and Hugo Chavez. “Juan Manuel Santos has demonstrated that pro-American, pro-free-market politicians still have life in Latin America. Mr. Santos … has no interest in courting Iran, unlike Brazil's Luiz Ignácio Lula da Silva. He has rejected the authoritarian socialism of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez,” the paper claims. The Post’s call is on the US to return the favor with a free trade agreement. Ditto from the Wall Street Journal. The paper also praises Alvaro Uribe, citing a “drop in murders of labor union members” under his watch as one of the outgoing president’s major successes [“It is now statistically safer to belong to a union than to be a member of the general population,” the paper claims]. Those words come just days after two DAS agents were arrested in connection with the murder of trade union leader five years ago. And, the Miami Herald’s editorial board also has words of praise for Santos. But unlike the others, the paper says human rights must become the president’s priority. In contrast to the Journal’s take, the Herald writes:

“Although the picture is somewhat improved, Colombia is regarded as the most dangerous Western country for trade unionists. Colombia's military has been accused of murdering young men and later claiming falsely that they were guerrillas. The president's security agency has been involved in a scandal over illicit surveillance of human rights activists and other perceived enemies.”

Behind the headline:

· On violence in Mexico, the Dallas Morning News reports that Mexico’s Western state of Nayarit has become the latest area to be transformed into a drug war battleground. “Best known for the sleepy beach towns that dot its coastline,” the DMN writes, the state is “now facing the kind of brutal drug violence that has plagued the Texas-Mexico border for years.” Over 100 have been killed just this year in Nayarit – 30 in the last week alone. That’s more than the last four years combined, says the paper. And according to organized crime expert, Phil Williams, “The violence remains part of the ongoing realignment” which has continued since the crackdown of the Beltrán Leyva cartel six months ago. Those changes are raising new concerns within the Mexican Catholic Church, as well. The Archdiocese of Mexico, in an editorial this weekend, expressed its concern that organized crime syndicates might “impose candidates” in upcoming July 4 elections.

· With the latest murder tally, the DMN puts the total number killed in Mexico over the last week at 300. That includes the recent murders of two Mexican mayors (one from the northern city of Guadalupe and another in the southern town of San José del Progreso). Meanwhile, a new report from Mexico’s El Universal says 95% of those killed in the country’s drug wars are going uninvestigated.

· New violence connected to organized crime and drug traffickers also struck El Salvador late Sunday. The LA Times has the report about the attacks on two passenger buses in San Salvador’s Mejicanos neighborhood which killed 16 [El Faro says 14]. Here’s how the paper analyzes the incident in Central America’s murder capital.

“The attacks represented a dramatic surge in ongoing street violence attributed largely to gangs but exacerbated lately by a growing presence of drug traffickers, authorities say. Police say gangs have been demanding protection money from bus companies, and major criminal forces, including drug cartels, are believed to be recruiting gang members to do their dirty work.”

More from El Faro, which says today that eight individuals have been arrested in connection with those attacks. More arrests are expected in the coming days, according to the National Police.

· From the AP, a piece on a new US Senate report on Haiti. This time it’s Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, John Kerry, who says Haiti has made little reconstruction progress in the five months since the January quake. It blames an “absence of leadership, disagreements among donors and general disorganization” for the delays. The report comes as legislators consider the authorization of $2 billion of reconstruction aid to the country. On the performance of the government of President Rene Preval and PM Jean-Max Bellerive, Kerry’s report says it has “not done an effective job of communicating to Haitians that it is in charge and ready to lead the rebuilding effort.” More on the report from Jacqueline Charles at the Miami Herald.

· In Chile, former presidential candidate Marco Enríquez-Ominami, is saying that the Concertación no longer exists “como tal” and he’s preparing for the launch of a new party, the Partido Progresista, to “re-found” the Chilean Left.

· In Argentina, the country’s current ambassador to the US, Hector Timerman, was named the country’s new foreign minister last Friday. This after the resignation of Jorge Taiana. Timerman, son of the late writer Jacobo Timerman, is well-known in the human rights community. As the AP reports, Hector Timerman was imprisoned for seven years during Argentina's military dictatorship, co-founded Americas Watch, and coordinated a Latin American peace and justice center after the return of democracy in 1983.

· Foreign Policy has released its annual list of what it calls the “world’s worst dictators.” FP puts two Latin Americans – Hugo Chavez and Raul Castro – on their list of 23, as the Miami Herald reports today. And perhaps even more notable than the simple fact that Chavez made the FP list is the fact that he is placed “above” Raul Castro. [Chavez at #17 and Castro at #23].

· Which leads into the last point today: a response from CEPR’s Mark Weisbrot (also, co-writer of Oliver Stone’s new movie South of the Border) in the Guardian to what he calls a “misleading and one-sided picture of Venezuela” offered by the BBC’s Stephen Sackur during his recent interview with Hugo Chavez. Weisbrot’s claim: “Most of the western world thinks that Venezuela is some kind of dictatorship where Chávez has made people poorer. They have no idea why he has been re-elected twice, each time by a larger majority.”

Santos Victorious

Colombians elected former defense minister and Uribe ally Juan Manuel Santos to be their next president Sunday. As in round-one, it was not so much Santos’s win which was surprising but rather his margin of victory. With nearly all votes tallied, Santos took 69% of Sunday’s vote, compared to just 28% for his rival, Antanas Mockus. As the AP reports it, those numbers point to “the largest margin of victory in a presidential vote in modern Colombian history.” [Three percent of ballots were nullified, in a show of protest against both candidates].

According to the New York Times, other headlines behind Sunday’s poll were the remarkably high levels of abstention and multiple clashes between security forces and guerrilla groups which took the lives of at least 10 over the weekend [AFP puts the number killed at 17]. On the former, Al-Jazeera’s Lucia Newman, reporting from Bogotá says the heavy rains and the World Cup kept many voters indoors. Others say Colombians believed the results were well-known in advance and thus stayed home Sunday.

On the issue of violence, the Northern province of Norte de Santander, on the Venezuelan border, was the site of Sunday’s most deadly clashes. There six police officers were killed by rebel explosives.

While most credit the security policies of the Uribe government for Santos’s victory, Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue, says “the social and economic agenda has to be a top priority” upon assuming office. “Nearly half the population lives in poverty,” Shifter tells the Times, “and Colombia has the region’s highest unemployment level. His overwhelming support in rural strongholds can be interpreted as a demand for more jobs and better social welfare policies.” Colombian political analyst Jorge Restrepo echoes those sentiments, saying “Santos is seen as someone who can be trusted with the economy.”

But Santos’s early months in office will also surely be marred by the dark side of Uribe’s popular security policies – namely, the murders of innocent Colombians in the country’s “false positives” scandal. According to Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), “[T]his whole issue is not going to go away.” The Huffington Post, meanwhile, throws doubt on the independence of Sunday’s vote, reporting on what it calls Santos’s “previously undisclosed role as a corporate officer of the company hired to run the nation's elections over the last decade.”

Behind the headline from a busy weekend:

· An important piece in the Sunday New York Times examines the plight of human rights defenders in Mexico. Marc Lacey reports, writing that “With a drug war raging around them and an unreliable judicial system in place, Mexico’s human rights activists have their hands full as they grapple with a growing new class of victims: themselves.” Rights groups are spending ever greater energy defending their fellow activists, the paper says. Meanwhile, as reports from international groups like Amnesty International show, threats and abuses continue to un-investigated by the country’s judicial system. “Although there are no precise tallies, human rights groups say that the number of activists who have been improperly singled out by the police, soldiers and government officials is in the dozens.”

· Besides human rights activists, the report also makes mention of the threats facing Mexican journalists, “silenced by shadowy gunmen.” In a recent NACLA interview, independent journalist Laura Castellanos, author of México Armado, discussed the threats she and others face for exposing drug war security abuses. And last week the issue of violence against journalists in Mexico (as well as in Honduras) made its way to Rep. Elliot Engel’s Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the House Foreign Relations Committee. Alfredo Corchado at the Dallas Morning News has a good report on the hearing, which apparently moved quickly from issues of violence against Honduran and Mexican reporters to questions of censorship in Cuba, Venezuela, and Ecuador. [In fact, reading José Cárdenas at FP’s Shadow Government blog makes you think that press censorship in Venezuela was the only reason last week’s hearing was called. More on that later].

· Continuing with Mexico news though, the New York Times has another piece in its Sunday edition which says a new FBI report shows border violence on the US side of the US-Mexico border (as well as illegal immigration) actually on the decline. “While thousands have been killed in Mexico’s drug wars … F.B.I. statistics show that Arizona is relatively safe,” the paper writes. That’s unfortunately not the case in much of Mexico, however. Near Cancún, the latest “mass grave” was discovered over the weekend, containing at least 12 bodies. The Zetas are suspected of carrying out those murders. And finally, a new Time report (like an in-depth New Yorker piece from a couple of weeks ago) examines La Familia Michoacana, the messianic drug gang in the Tierra Caliente region of western Michoacan state which dominates the meth trade.

· Back on Colombia, Michael Reed-Hurtado head of the Colombia office at the International Center for Transitional Justice, discusses how the US extradition of Colombian drug lords is actually holding back justice. On the US extradition of Diego Fernando Murillo in 2008, Reed-Hurtado writes the following:

“As the United States poached these top criminals, it deprived Colombia's legal system of the chance to prosecute local crimes, robbed victims of the possibility for any resolution, sacrificed vital evidence that could be used in stopping further offenses, and might have pushed the country further away from building a lasting peace with its violent and virulent armed groups.”

Interestingly, Colombians now make up the second-largest group of non-US nationals in US prisons (at 57,000). [Mexican nationals are number one]. And while extradition was “once widely supported as a means of bypassing Colombia's massive legislative and judicial corruption,” Reed-Hurtado says “today it is so controversial that it has become the subject of a standoff between the [Colombian] presidency (Uribe has continued to support the policy) and the Supreme Court (which has tried to stay various extraditions).”

· US-Cuba migration talks restarted last Friday, reports AQ. The US is likely to use the forum to press the Cubans on the release of US contractor Alan Gross, analysts say. Doubts remain that “significant progress” will be made through the talks, however.

· On the island itself things are slightly more hopeful as Raúl Castro, dressed in a suit rather than his military fatigues, met with the Vatican’s foreign minister Sunday. Cuban state news said the two spoke of “an international agenda” during their meeting, which the Vatican’s foreign minister called “very positive.” Human rights groups are hopeful that a new round of prisoner releases may be forthcoming.

· IPS has a new report on “severe setbacks” in rights abuses cases in Peru, involving that country’s military. IPS: “Since early 2009, the Sala Penal Nacional, the highest-level court dealing with the human rights cases against armed forces and police personnel, has acquitted 65 members of the security forces and convicted only 15, according to human rights organisations that defend victims of the 1980-2000 civil war.” Of those 15 sentenced, 10 belong to the army, four to the police, and one to the navy. And, say many human rights groups in the country, the aim of a concerted military campaign against prosecution is ultimately to get former President Alberto Fujimori out of prison.

· The Financial Times says Brazil is pulling out of its attempt to broker the much discussed nuclear deal with Iran. More criticism of those efforts from the Economist this week as well.

· And finally, opinions. On Cuba, Carlos Saladrigas of the Cuba Study Group writes in the Miami Herald on the letter from 74 Cuban dissidents supporting an end to the US Cuba travel ban – and the reaction of anti-Castro hardliners. Here’s Saladrigas:

“At the core of this letter [from the 74] is the fact that, for the first time, a large number of notable figures ofCuba's internal opposition have come together to express their personal opinions on an important current debate about U.S. policy toward Cuba. They recognize in their letter that while U.S. policy is not their competence, they are clearly disproportionally affected by it. While the exile community has always played a key role in promoting U.S. policy toward Cuba, the signers are reminding us that there is no parity in the consequences and impact of those policies. They bear the brunt of the impact.”

A Scripps News editorial, meanwhile, also calls for the passage of Peterson bill, which would end the travel ban while also “allowing direct transfers between U.S. and Cuban banks. A New York Times editorial says the US and the international community must focus on keeping women and children safe in Haiti while also pushing for election planning. And back to press censorship with Andres Oppenheimer who focuses on the Zuloaga case in Venezuela but expands his argument to include other forms of “indirect censorship” which he believes are popping up around the region. “It's time for the OAS and nongovernment watchdog groups to expand their definition of censorship, going beyond the necessary investigations into the murder or legal actions against critical journalists,” argues Oppenheimer.

"Brutal Passage" for Central American Migrants

In the Washington Post this morning, William Booth looks at the “brutal passage” Central American migrants facing traveling through their northern neighbor, Mexico. The piece cites human rights groups who, in the Post’s words, report that migrants are “routinely robbed, raped and kidnapped by criminal gangs that often work alongside corrupt police” and display an overt xenophobia toward their neighbors to the South. According to Mexico’s National Migration Institute, some 64,000 undocumented migrants were detained and deported in 2009. That number is down from over 200,000 just a few years ago – a change which the Post attributes to a combination of factors, including “tougher enforcement on the U.S. border, the global economic slowdown and … the [risk of] robbery and assaults migrants face in Mexico.” Approximately 20,000 more Central American migrants are suspected of being kidnapped annually as well, says Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission – many at the hands of drug gangs operating together with corrupt officials.

Here’s one such migrant, interviewed by the Post, who’s experienced first-hand the horrors of being kidnapped by a drug gang (the Zetas):

“They put a plastic bag over your head and you can't breathe. They tell you if you don't give them the phone numbers" [of family members the kidnappers can call to demand payment for a migrant's release] … next time we'll just let you die.”

The United Nations, meanwhile, has described the kidnapping of migrants in Mexico as “an epidemic.” Women, in particular, have faced the most troubling sort of violence. Six out of every ten migrants traveling through Mexico are believed to be sexually assaulted during their trip. And for its part, Amnesty International, which published a report on the matter in late April, says some hypocrisy is embedded within Mexico’s response to draconian immigration laws in Arizona. “We have a government in Mexico that emphatically criticizes the new immigration law -- which is perfectly valid, to criticize a law with widespread consequences -- but at the same time doesn't have the desire to address the same problem within its own borders,” says Alberto Herrera, executive director of Amnesty International in Mexico.

Behind the headline:

· The Economist this week has a piece on the resignation of Carlos Castresana from the UN-backed CICIG in Guatemala. The magazine writes that the decision came as a “shock” after a “string of [CICIG] successes” which included the arrest of former president Alfonso Portillo, the apparent resolution of the Rosenberg case, and the forced removal of over 2,000 corrupt police officers, ten prosecutors, and an attorney general. On the prospects for the future, the Economist writes:

“As Mexico and Colombia crack down on them, drug gangs are finding refuge in Guatemala. In the jungle state of Petén, the Zetas, a Mexican drug-trafficking group, have hung up signs recruiting soldiers. A report from America’s state department says that “entire regions of Guatemala are now essentially under [their] control.” The country’s lawlessness exposes it to the appeal of a strongman. Otto Pérez Molina, a former general who promises an ‘iron fist’ against crime, leads the opinion polls for the next presidential election in September 2011. Much-needed change is unlikely to come from the left: the candidate most likely to run for Mr Colom’s party is Sandra Torres, his wife.”

· Also on the impact of organized crime, globally, UN Sec. General Ban Ki Moon spoke yesterday on the matter, at a meeting organized by Mexico and Italy. The Sec. General insisted on more “severe” legal instruments to fight global organized crime.

· In Nicaragua, the AP reported Thursday on the arrival of Colombian Ruben Dario Granada to Managua where he was granted political asylum. Granada is the brother of the FARC’s “foreign minister.” Infolatam also has a piece on Daniel Ortega and still simmering “institutional crisis” in the country he governs. One of the interesting points the piece highlights: the possibility that Ortega could anoint his wife, Rosario Murillo as his successor, should he be unable to find a vehicle for re-election. A new trend in Latin America?

· AQ reports that OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza has put together the “high level commission” that will study the possibility of Honduras’s re-integration into the organization. The group will apparently include “two members from South America, two from Central America and one each from the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean” (although no names have yet been released). The commission is expected to meet separately with both representatives of the ousted Zelaya government and the current government of Pepe Lobo Sosa.

· Meanwhile, on the still deteriorating human rights situation there, Adrienne Pine posts the translation of a recent interview (by Sirel) with COFADEH national coordinator, Bertha Oliva. On the general state of human rights under Lobo Sosa, Oliva says:

“What we have managed to piece together over the past four months under Porfirio Lobo's government is terrifying. It is another testimony to the fact that human rights in Honduras continue to be systematically and selectively violated and this is in line with the state's subtle and silent policy which is very dangerous and worrying.”

“Before the coup d'état there was repression, but it was mainly through the abuse of authority. Now the majority of human rights abuses are politically motivated and the perpetrators have perfected their methods. It is getting more and more difficult for human rights organizations to work in such a violent atmosphere. The tactics of the perpetrators are far more systematic and they are more vigilant about covering up their tracks.”

· In the Inter-American Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor, a discussion with four analysts about last week’s OAS meetings in Lima – at which the issue of Honduras was center stage.

· In an interview with the Financial Times, Ecuador’s Rafael Correa warned he would respond militarily to another Colombia cross-border raid of any suspected FARC camp in his country’s national territory.

· IPS has an update on US-Bolivia relations, which appeared to be on the road to recovery. However, the report says that may have changed. “At the inauguration of a congress of coca farmers in the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba Jun. 5, [Evo] Morales complained that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is financing non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and foundations that actively oppose the government.” The president has threatened to expel USAID.

· There’s optimism in Cuba where the Catholic Church is holding a major conference and where the Vatican’s foreign minister, Dominique Mamberti, sat down for talks with his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez , this week. Blogger Yoani Sánchez offers her thoughts on developments, by way of the Huffington Post.

· WOLA, the Latin America Working Group, the US Office on Colombia, and CIP have just released a new report on the DAS spy scandal in Colombia. Entitled “Far Worse than Watergate,” a short release accompanying the report says “Research…indicates that operations did not target alleged terrorists, but rather people carrying out legitimate, democratic activities, including: Supreme Court and Constitutional Court judges, presidential candidates, journalists, publishers, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations and human rights defenders in Colombia, the United States and Europe.”

· Lastly, an opinion today from Mark Weisbrot at the Guardian on electioneering in Brazil. The piece looks at the Brazilian opposition’s attempt to make the country’s Lula’s foreign policy an election issue. PSDB candidate José Serra recently remarked that “eighty to ninety percent of the cocaine [here] comes from Bolivia” and accused the Bolivian government of “being complicit in the drug trade.” There have also been new attacks on Mercosur, Lula’s Iran talks, and the country’s relations with Venezuela. Weisbrot see’s Lula’s economic success as the reason behind the opposition’s electoral strategy:

“José Serra is not a rightwing politician by nature; as health minister he stood up to powerful foreign pharmaceutical companies backed by the US in order to secure lower prices for generic essential medicines. So why would he, and his party, promote such a rightwing foreign policy?

The answer is most likely that the economy has done much better during Lula's eight years than during the previous eight years of the PSDB, including its growth. With major real increases in the minimum wage, an expansion of the bolsa familia programme for the poor and a mortgage credit for home buyers of modest means, it won't be that easy to campaign against Dilma and the Workers' party on economic issues.”