tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6390946716031884052011-12-07T10:16:31.114-05:00A Pan-Latin America Politics and Policy BriefJ.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.comBlogger5131100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-92220124593387042922011-08-18T13:02:00.009-04:002011-08-18T13:22:54.796-04:00

<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-79294352792268975832011-06-03T09:20:00.002-04:002011-06-03T09:23:58.412-04:00

Dear Readers: Today’s posting will be my last for the summer as I head south to Chile for the next few months. Starting next week, Geoffrey Ramsey will be taking over the reins of the Hemispheric Briefings Mailing List. Geoff has been writing for indispensable site Insightcrime.org since its launch late last year and will no doubt do an excellent job covering all the important happenings in

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-80658603751966205742011-06-03T09:07:00.002-04:002011-06-03T09:09:10.787-04:00

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff officially launched a new anti-poverty program Thursday aimed at eradicating extreme poverty in Brazil over the next three years. The “Brazil without Poverty” initiative will expand health, education, job training, and cash-transfer programs to the over 16 million Brazilians still living in conditions of so-called “misery.” The plan also seeks to help small

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-80051695280541810842011-06-02T09:19:00.002-04:002011-06-02T09:22:41.506-04:00

A group of former world leaders says current global anti-drug policies have “clearly failed” in their objective to curtail both supply and consumption of illegal drugs. In a 24-page report, available here and set to be officially unveiled later today in New York, the Global Commission on Drug Policy recommends new steps be taken toward the legalization of certain drugs while also demanding an

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-47527973923544410432011-06-01T09:11:00.007-04:002011-06-01T09:20:48.596-04:00

In private meetings with the US Embassy shortly after the June 2009 ouster of Mel Zelaya, the chief justice of the Honduran Supreme Court, Jorge Alberto Rivera Avilés, and the country’s attorney general, Luis Alberto Rubí, claim they never issued a “request for an arrest warrant” nor an actual “arrest warrant” for the then democratically-elected Honduran president. According to diplomatic cables

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-64573813201333677942011-05-31T13:00:00.001-04:002011-05-31T13:02:02.845-04:00

<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]>

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-18873042809098251502011-05-20T08:05:00.004-04:002011-05-21T09:43:42.910-04:00

I’ll be off next week on vacation so no posting. Back after Memorial Day. Thanks for reading. JFS After 15 hours of debate, Uruguayan lawmakers voted at 5:30am this morning to keep the so-called “Ley de Caducidad” on the books. Uruguay’s El País has the first coverage of this morning’s vote against the nullification of the 1986 impunity law, reporting that 99 members of the lower house

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-11468457688414449492011-05-19T08:51:00.008-04:002011-05-19T09:20:59.161-04:00

Dominique Strauss-Kahn officially resigned as managing director of the International Monetary Fund late Wednesday. The decision opens a bit of new space for the always interesting debate about who the next IMF chief should be. According to the New York Times, the early frontrunner to take over the position, traditionally given to a European (the World Bank’s head is historically from the US) is

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-33046877606963636852011-05-18T08:32:00.002-04:002011-05-18T08:55:12.956-04:00

Mexican authorities in the state of Chiapas discovered 513 migrants from Central and South America, as well as Asia, crammed inside two trailers traveling north on Tuesday. The AP says the trucks were headed for the Mexican city of Puebla when an X-ray scanner at a highway checkpoint near Tuxla Gutierrez revealed the truck’s contents. In Puebla, some migrants say they were told they would be

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-53363530581448381382011-05-17T08:46:00.006-04:002011-05-17T08:55:52.791-04:00

As details emerge, various reports this morning finger the Zetas as responsible for the late Saturday/early Sunday massacre of over two dozen rural laborers on a ranch in the Guatemalan province of Petén. In a nationally broadcast address Monday Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom suggested a drug cartel was behind the killings and said a state of siege would be declared in the province to root

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-22849604368484606172011-05-16T07:45:00.002-04:002011-05-16T07:48:35.498-04:00

Officials now say at least 29 individuals were killed on a coconut ranch in the Northern Guatemalan province of Peten, their bound, decapitated, and tortured bodies discovered early Sunday. AP calls the mass killings “one of the worst massacres” since the country’s nearly four-decade long civil war came to an end in 1996. Similar comments from police spokesman Donald Gonzalez who referred to

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-29726818256759038192011-05-13T16:26:00.001-04:002011-05-13T16:28:04.736-04:00

Just days after a group of recently rescued Central American migrants identified six Mexican immigration officers as the perpetrators of their kidnappings and their eventual hand-off to criminal gangs in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, Mexico’s National Immigration Institute (INM) announced Thursday it has fired seven top migration officials. The individuals include the director of

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-77359825466538624822011-05-12T08:38:00.000-04:002011-05-13T16:29:39.061-04:00

An aide to Mel Zelaya says the exiled former Honduran president plans to return home sometime within the next month. Confidant Rasel Tomé said in an interview with the AP Wednesday that Zelaya has “the will and desire to return to his homeland” after a Honduran appeals court dropped all remaining corruption charges against the former president last week. The deputy coordinator of the National

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-19215977976136469422011-05-11T08:30:00.003-04:002011-05-11T08:52:52.012-04:00

On Monday, former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo was acquitted of embezzlement charges in a 2-1 decision by a three-person panel of Guatemalan judges. The New York Times describes the decision this morning as a major “setback” for the country’s UN-backed anti-impunity commission, CICIG, which had helped carry out the investigation of the former president, extradited back to Guatemala in

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-12935606843072384002011-05-10T08:48:00.003-04:002011-05-10T09:18:07.678-04:00

Colombian authorities handed over Walid Makled (aka “el Turk”) to Venezuela early Monday morning, ending months of speculation about whether the accused drug kingpin would be sent to the US or back to his native Venezuela. The reasons for the extradition to Venezuela are many, among them the fact that Makled faces murder charges there, in addition to charges of money laundering and drug

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-90823053002301257992011-05-09T09:22:00.003-04:002011-05-09T09:25:35.081-04:00

Tens of thousands amassed in Mexico City’s Zócalo Sunday, the capstone to a four-day anti-drug war march that began in the city of Cuernavaca on Thursday. Much of the reporting over the weekend has focused on the man responsible for organizing the Mexico City march, Javier Sicilia. Sicilia’s son was killed in Cuernavaca less than two months ago – one of nearly 40,000 killed since late 2006 –

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-88139181114412282742011-04-28T08:20:00.003-04:002011-04-28T08:30:44.700-04:00

Note to Readers: I’ll be off from tomorrow April 29 through the end of next week. There may or may not be some intermittent posting from others during that time. I'll see you back on Monday May 9. JFS AP reports this morning that the Mexican Senate has approved a constitutional reform measure that would both allow federal legislators to seek re-election and allow candidates at any level to

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-74687978045865148442011-04-27T08:59:00.008-04:002011-04-27T16:34:14.861-04:00

Regional diplomats met in Venezuela yesterday for the first full day of a five-part series of regional meetings intended to lay the groundwork for the new Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). The organization is expected to be formalized during a summit in Caracas on July 5 and 6. AP’s English language coverage of the conference leaves much to be desired, particularly its

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-4479782861388831952011-04-26T09:39:00.008-04:002011-04-26T18:31:46.775-04:00

Both Brazilian foreign minister Antonio Patriota and presidential foreign policy adviser Marco Aurelio Garcia say there is no conflict between strengthening UNASUR, on the one hand, and allowing Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico to create their own, more liberal trade bloc, on the other. The four countries plan to sign an agreement next week making a new Pacific economic bloc official. Analysts

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-64149280965604854502011-04-25T08:43:00.004-04:002011-04-25T08:49:16.876-04:00

As thirty-two more bodies were recovered from what are now a total 34 mass graves near the town of San Fernando, both the Washington Post and LA Times have disturbing reports this morning about the on-going Tamaulipas investigations. The Post says many of the individuals whose corpses have been examined thus far died from powerful blows to the head. The LA Times cites witnesses to some of the

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-56542925578933967312011-04-22T08:17:00.004-04:002011-04-22T08:20:43.696-04:00

Fifty-two year-old Argentine rights activist Victor Oscar Martinez re-appeared late Wednesday after disappearing three days prior. After leaving his home in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo on Monday, Martinez’s lawyer said Thursday that her client was abducted, heavily sedated, and held in an unidentified location. Martinez says his captors threatened him and his family, saying he

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-75017596400864254422011-04-21T08:28:00.003-04:002011-04-21T08:46:47.189-04:00

Former Haitian pop singer Michel Martelly was announced as the official winner of Haiti’s presidential elections Wednesday, bringing an electoral season that feels like it has lasted an eternity to its final conclusion. With just under 68% of the vote, Martelly was proclaimed the victor against contender and former first lady, Mirlande Manigat. The Provisional Electoral Council also announced

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-85294450803121107052011-04-20T08:27:00.006-04:002011-04-20T08:50:31.849-04:00

The Cuban Communist Party opted for political “experience” over rejuvenation, announcing Tuesday that 80-year-old histórico and former Sierra Maestra rebel, José Ramón Machado, was selected as the Party’s new second-in-command. Machado takes over the position from 79-year-old Cuban President Raúl Castro, who, as expected, officially replaced his brother, Fidel, as the Party’s first secretary. (

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-49247924453290749382011-04-19T08:21:00.006-04:002011-04-19T08:29:55.954-04:00

News about some of the reforms approved at Cuba’s Sixth Party Congress in Havana has begun to trickle out. Most notably, BBC says the PCC has approved a new measure that would allow Cubans to buy and sell their homes for the first time in 50 years. Also allegedly approved Monday: a measure announced by Raúl Castro over the weekend that will, for the first time, set term limits for high

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-32655936197350545402011-04-18T09:48:00.007-04:002011-04-18T09:56:59.879-04:00

Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega censured the world’s so-called rich nations during international financial meetings in Washington, D.C. this weekend, arguing the United States and others in the Global North are trying to “export their way out of the difficult economic situations” by printing new money and keeping interest rates low. According to Mantega, such policies are driving up the

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-91218138339819934882011-04-15T08:45:00.003-04:002011-04-15T08:48:33.766-04:00

The Cuban Communist Party (PCC) is expected to begin its sixth party congress tomorrow – its first in 14 years and an event at which the nature and scope of proposed economic reforms are expected to be unveiled. IPS has a good look at some of the issues at play during the four-day congress. The news service says a 32-page document – the so-called “Draft Guidelines for Economic and Social

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-86394700200191883972011-04-14T08:35:00.011-04:002011-04-14T08:46:15.530-04:00

The body count in a series of mass graves in Tamaulipas town of San Fernando rose again Wednesday. The discovery of more bodies brings the total death toll to 122, Tamaulipas Interior Secretary Morelos Canseco said Wednesday. Apparently a new grave was discovered late Tuesday, and investigations there are likely to continue in the coming days in what has become a most horrific story. In its

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-38213396539780847942011-04-13T08:59:00.003-04:002011-04-13T13:59:34.052-04:00

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” –

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-44647028533768582812011-04-12T08:42:00.003-04:002011-04-12T08:46:06.698-04:00

The Uruguayan Senate is expected to vote today to overturn a 1986 amnesty law which continues to shelter a number of state security officials from prosecution for human rights crimes committed during the country’s 1973-1985 military dictatorship. According to AP, human rights activists and members of the governing Frente Amplio coalition hope the annulment of will be made official by May 20, the

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-2797758371813546942011-04-11T09:19:00.008-04:002011-04-11T13:12:20.534-04:00

With two-thirds of the ballots counted, Ollanta Humala looks like he will take round one in Peru. Reuters reports this morning that the official tally has Humala currently at 28.06% while Keiko Fujimori and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski battle it out for second with 22.49% and 22.29%, respectively. The two individuals who were frontrunners for much of the campaign, Alejandro Toledo and Luis Castaneda,

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-39063672267867478542011-04-08T08:38:00.001-04:002011-04-08T09:01:48.200-04:00

Mexican investigators suspect a connection between the 59 bodies they’ve removed from a collection of mass graves in the state of Tamaulipas and the dozens of individuals, mostly young Mexican men, who, in recent weeks, have been pulled off long-distance commercial buses traveling between Matamoros and the state capital of Ciudad Victoria. Although the details remain rather opaque, the AP paints

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-80492364111892144212011-04-07T08:18:00.007-04:002011-04-07T13:33:20.138-04:00

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos will be passing through Washington DC today to join President Barack Obama in formally announcing White House support for a US-Colombia free trade agreement. The creation of a so-called “Action Plan” in which Colombia promises to expand protections of trade unionists, enforce its labor laws with greater vigor, and hire as many as 480 new labor inspectors

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-91059192625145707892011-04-06T09:05:00.003-04:002011-04-06T12:49:37.269-04:00

US ambassador to Ecuador Heather Hodges was declared “persona non grata” by the Ecuadorean government Tuesday over comments she made in a 2009 diplomatic cable released by the whistleblower website Wikileaks and published by the Spanish newspaper El País. The decision was announced at a Tuesday afternoon press conference where Ecuador’s foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, said he had requested

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-84990112677648906682011-04-05T08:33:00.003-04:002011-04-05T08:56:04.303-04:00

Haitian entertainer Michel Martelly appears to have won big in the country’s second-round presidential vote, held three weeks ago. According to preliminary results released by Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) Monday, Martelly took nearly 68% of the votes cast on March 20. His competitor, former first lady Mirlande Manigat, won less than half that number, at just 32%. According to

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-86930905554717779552011-04-04T09:29:00.001-04:002011-04-04T09:32:39.951-04:00

Just one week before April 10 national elections in Peru, nationalist candidate Ollanta Humala now appears to be the undisputed frontrunner in a five-person race. In a new Catholic University poll released Friday Humala gained nearly 10 points (24.3%), now five percentage points ahead of his nearest rival, Alejandro Toledo (18.8%). Keiko Fujimori runs in a close third at 18.4% with Pedro Pablo

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-60705969221124308852011-04-01T09:24:00.004-04:002011-04-02T08:53:41.283-04:00

AFP this morning looks at a new report from the Brazil-China Business Council demonstrating, once again, just how significant China’s economic relations with Brazil have become. The Business Council points out that China has surpassed the US as both Brazil’s largest investor and trade partner. The magnitude of those changes over the last decade is worth highlighting: Brazilian exports to

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-29009401590146463992011-03-31T08:52:00.007-04:002011-03-31T08:58:01.657-04:00

Former President Jimmy Carter’s three-day visit to Havana came to an end Wednesday with a rather historic news conference. The BBC reports, highlighting former President Carter’s unequivocal denunciation of both the US travel ban on Cuba and the US trade embargo on the island. The latter, Carter said, should be “immediately ended.” He also attacked the US government’s decision to keep the

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-70369470249397675892011-03-30T08:39:00.004-04:002011-03-30T08:43:08.318-04:00

On day two of his visit to Havana, former US President Jimmy Carter met with Cuban President Raul Castro Tuesday. Although there are few details yet about the specifics of those talks, Cuban state television, according to Reuters, reported yesterday that Castro repeated an offer both he and his brother, Fidel, have made on numerous past occasions: that Cuba was willing to hold talks with the

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-31658761163927946562011-03-29T08:49:00.007-04:002011-03-29T08:54:57.038-04:00

Teacher protests continued in Honduras Monday, despite a threat from President Pepe Lobo that his government would begin suspending, without pay, those who did not return to their classrooms this week. AP reports that Honduran police used tear gas and water cannons to break up a demonstration on one of Tegucigalpa’s principal avenues yesterday. Teachers were joined by both students and members

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-9905067665342834572011-03-28T09:17:00.005-04:002011-03-28T21:35:12.818-04:00

Two weeks before an April 10 first-round vote in Peru, Ollanta Humala has risen to the top of a five-person race according to a two new polls released Sunday. Humala, a former military officer often described as a “left-leaning nationalist,” has the support the 21.2% of Peruvians, according to a new CPI poll sponsored by RPP radio and conducted between March 21 and 24. That’s up from nearly six

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-10739435638019412412011-03-25T08:56:00.003-04:002011-03-25T09:01:27.675-04:00

In a 10-point accord released Thursday, some of Mexico’s most powerful media executives, representing over 40 media groups, say they will begin limiting their publication of violent drug war images and stop printing “propaganda” that might glorify cartel activities. The Washington Post reports on the announcement, saying the “guidelines” are non-binding and will still allow for the publication

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-91632334180657360652011-03-24T08:44:00.004-04:002011-03-24T08:47:32.755-04:00

A final postmortem this morning on Obama and Latin America. The Wall Street Journal’s parting thoughts seem to gauge the general sentiment: while offering “attention and respect” to Latin America, Obama returned home yesterday with little in terms of real “accomplishments.” Ditto from the Washington insiders at Politico who talk about a “big trip” that was “short on progress.” The Miami

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-58555570497522451402011-03-23T08:48:00.006-04:002011-03-24T13:31:05.854-04:00

The third and final stop of Obama’s five-day tour through Latin America came to end in the Central American country of El Salvador Tuesday. The New York Times kicks of its coverage this morning by focusing on immigration. According to the paper President Obama said he remains committed to a comprehensive reform of US immigration law Tuesday, but both he and his Salvadoran counterpart Mauricio

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-36558784474099281032011-03-22T09:00:00.010-04:002011-03-22T11:55:26.579-04:00

Stop two of Obama in Latin America: A one-day visit to the Chilean capital of Santiago Monday. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Chile’s La Tercera all begin their coverage of the Santiago visit by talking history. As all three write, despite emphasizing Latin America’s need to look forward, not back, Obama’s “regional speech” Monday drew heavily on recent Latin American history –

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-2923797859732006132011-03-21T09:39:00.007-04:002011-03-21T09:50:23.323-04:00

The Sunday headline in Rio’s “O Globo” sums up stop-one of President Obama’s three-country tour through Latin America: “In Brazil, Obama Orders Attack on Libya.” As the AP reports it, Obama practiced “split-screen leadership” in South America’s largest country over the weekend– what it calls a model of “awkward, if not incongruous contrasts” which Obama is unlikely to escape as he travels on to

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-30625402936362492522011-03-18T09:10:00.004-04:002011-03-18T09:51:41.774-04:00

Crowds are expected to gather at Port-au-Prince’s Touissant Louverture International Airport, awaiting the arrival of a charter plane carrying former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, his wife, and two daughters. According to the Miami Herald, the plane, which left Johannesburg, South Africa yesterday evening and made a stopover in Dakar, Senegal to refuel, is expected to touch down in

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-45282317249960795772011-03-17T08:43:00.005-04:002011-03-17T13:04:12.439-04:00

President Obama looks set to embark on his three-country tour through Latin America, beginning in Brazil, before moving on to Chile and finally El Salvador. Today some of the latest specifics on the Obama agenda: First in Brazil. As the Miami Herald suggested earlier in the week, business and the economy are expected to take center-stage. US Commerce Secretary, Gary Locke, US Trade

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-52485153226161602812011-03-16T08:57:00.002-04:002011-03-16T09:01:02.333-04:00

After seven years in exile, today may be the last day Jean-Bertrand Aristide spends outside his native Haiti. A source close to the former president tells AFP Tuesday evening that plans are being made for Aristide’s return to Port-au-Prince on Thursday – just three days before a scheduled national election is set to take place. If it occurs, the return would defy an appeal made by the US Monday

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-21594873367033160342011-03-15T09:41:00.006-04:002011-03-15T10:02:51.594-04:00

“With the arrival of the Zetas [to Guatemala], everything changed,” a 35-year-old ex-Colombian “free agent” narco tells journalist Oscar Martinez. El Faro’s fantastic reporting on the Zetas in Guatemala this week suggests he may be right. The story of drug trafficking in Guatemala began in the 1960s and 70s, former Guatemalan intelligence chief, Edgar Gutierrez, tells El Faro. It was then

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-57751791056778659532011-03-14T08:41:00.003-04:002011-03-14T08:46:13.267-04:00

Alan Gross, the American contractor arrested in Cuba in 2009 for delivering communication equipment to religious groups on the island, was sentenced to 15 years in prison Saturday. The AP begins its reporting on the Gross sentence with US government reactions. PJ Crowley – the now former State Dept. spokesperson -- said the US “deplored” the ruling while US National Security Council spokesman

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-74597788001958290862011-03-11T08:55:00.005-05:002011-03-11T16:43:13.400-05:00

The AP and LA Times report this morning that Julian Leyzaola – the retired Mexican military officer-turned-Tijuana security chief – has been officially appointed to a similar position in Ciudad Juarez. Juarez mayor Hector Murguia made the announcement Thursday, remarking that Lt. Col. Leyzaola’s “experience, honesty and capacity” made him the appropriate choice to take over as director of public

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-26529767928738838782011-03-10T08:45:00.004-05:002011-03-10T08:49:18.192-05:00

In Haiti Wednesday, presidential hopefuls Mirlande Manigat and Michel Martelly faced off in what the Miami Herald describes as a rare televised debate ahead of a vote now just 10 days away. According to the paper, there were few surprises. The latter, Mr. Martelly, continued his attempt to portray himself as a “political outsider” while the former, Madame Manigat, is said to have “resisted [

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-1807606198553099182011-03-09T09:01:00.005-05:002011-03-09T09:06:42.255-05:00

A Mexican appeals court has overturned a ban on screenings of “Presunto Culpable” (“Presumed Guilty”), the recently released documentary which depicts some of the most serious failings of Mexico’s criminal system. According to the AP, the court which heard the appeal said suspending viewing of the film violated freedom of information rights. The decision, says the wire service, came just one

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-1650718351588711752011-03-08T09:35:00.006-05:002011-03-08T10:57:08.326-05:00

Just how much has US policy toward South America in recent years been dictated by worries about populism, in general, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, in particular? And how have such concerns helped shape US views about South American regional integration? A new wave of Wikileaks cable releases from the Southern Cone offer a few provisional answers. Argentina’s Pagina 12

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-87964878135756329952011-03-07T09:29:00.003-05:002011-03-07T09:32:00.870-05:00

Members of the Bolivarian alliance, ALBA, gathered in Caracas, Venezuela last Friday, agreeing to what the Washington Post labels a “vague peace mission” aimed at “ending violence in Libya.” In a letter sent to the ALBA meeting, the Gadaffi government said it would consider some sort of still undefined outside diplomatic mission to resolve what looks increasingly like a civil war between

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-12753190101804635092011-03-04T08:34:00.003-05:002011-03-04T09:01:36.344-05:00

The headlines this morning from Felipe Calderon’s visit Thursday with President Barack Obama show a bilateral relationship on the mend. The New York Times and LA Times highlight the announcement, made at Thursday’s joint news conference, of a “breakthrough” on a longstanding trade dispute that has prevented Mexican semi-trucks from carrying goods across the US border. According to the Times,

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-7222851522915174882011-03-03T08:37:00.001-05:002011-03-03T08:39:28.862-05:00

Human rights groups are condemning a Venezuelan court ruling this week which ordered trade union leader Ruben Gonzalez to seven-and-a-half years in prison for organizing a two-week, 2009 strike at a state-run iron-ore company in Ciudad Guyana. The BBC reported Monday that the crimes for which Mr. Gonzalez was convicted include “unlawful assembly, incitement, and violation of a government

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-89752305422322665252011-03-02T09:16:00.003-05:002011-03-02T09:21:16.811-05:00

As Washington awaits Felipe Calderon’s much anticipated visit tomorrow, the web has various reports about what the trip will mean for both the US and its southern neighbor. Tomorrow’s meeting will be the fifth between the President Calderon and President Barack Obama, and while the Mexican government has been trying to downplay the importance of the meeting, rising concerns about drug violence,

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-90225964191499482182011-03-01T08:41:00.003-05:002011-03-01T09:09:40.862-05:00

Thousands of Hondurans, many dressed in white, demonstrated on the streets of Honduras’s second-city, San Pedro Sula, over the weekend, demanding the government do more to improve citizen security. According to one of the leaders of the protest, Jorge Ortega of the Alianza Demócratica Nacional, one of the principal demands is that the Honduran police be purged of corrupt elements. Ortega, in La

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-19808094610888081632011-02-28T08:44:00.003-05:002011-02-28T09:10:25.224-05:00

Police in the Mexican state of Chihuahua uncovered the bodies of three missing human rights defenders Friday. All three were mentioned in a Human Rights Watch statement last week, calling on Mexican authorities to protect various activists who have been threatened or attacked in recent weeks. The victims – Maria Magdalena Reyes, 45; Elias Reyes, 56; and his wife, Luisa Ornelas, 54 – went

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-38743344090247411122011-02-25T08:58:00.007-05:002011-02-25T09:11:21.259-05:00

Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota held a short public press conference with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington Thursday, offering a few insights about an the two countries’ evolving hemispheric relationship ahead of President Barack Obama’s scheduled visit to Brazil in March. The full transcript of the press conference is available here. And there’s a short blog

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-36735121689867181612011-02-24T08:32:00.002-05:002011-02-24T08:34:43.245-05:00

A recent uptick in violence against human rights defenders in the state of Chihuahua continues to be met with impunity and silence by the Mexican government. According to BBC Mundo, several activists have had their homes burned and seen their close relatives disappeared in recent weeks. In a statement released Tuesday, Human Rights Watch says the most recent such attacks include house burnings

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-58292890264629038332011-02-23T09:29:00.004-05:002011-02-23T09:34:52.273-05:00

To follow-up on the brief discussion of South-South relations yesterday, Reuters has a long report out this morning about Brazil’s entry into other parts of Africa – the report’s suggestion being that Brazil’s Africa development strategy could represent an alternative to a more exploitative Chinese model of resource extraction on the continent. The argument for Brazilian difference is

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-76970494216510091742011-02-22T09:10:00.003-05:002011-02-22T12:22:12.841-05:00

The Miami Herald reported this weekend on growing ties between South America and the Middle East – what it called a “hemispheric marriage” that, before events in Egypt, was to be “consummated” at an Arab-South America summit in Peru. The summit has since been postponed, putting any new plans to increase commercial relations between the two regions on indefinite hold. However, even with the

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-14261242446901571802011-02-21T08:21:00.002-05:002011-02-21T08:27:22.073-05:00

The Cuban government announced the release of seven more prisoners Saturday – six of whom had been serving time for what the AP calls “crimes against Cuban security forces” and will go into exile in Spain. The seventh – dissident journalist Ivan Hernandez – will be allowed to stay in Cuba after refusing to go into exile. Hernandez is the latest member of the “Group of 75” to be freed, and,

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-82805696504111666692011-02-18T08:22:00.003-05:002011-02-18T08:28:33.914-05:00

On a day of somewhat slower news, a run-down of some interesting economic opinions and developments from the last week: At Americas Quarterly, Carlos Ignacio Rojas and Alejandro Vera look at the plan to the merge stock exchanges of Colombia, Peru, and Chile – a proposal agreed to in 2009 and, according to AQ, set to become functional this year. Rojas and Vera – like Andres Oppenheimer in the

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-58632459524127232392011-02-17T08:33:00.006-05:002011-02-17T20:28:58.236-05:00

“Mexicans knew they shot US agents,” is the headline this morning at the New York Times regarding Tuesday’s roadside attack on two Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in San Luis Potosí. Alonzo Pena, ICE’s representative in Mexico until 2009, tells the Times that law enforcement officials have told him the two US agents, Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila, were taking equipment to

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-48110716166140040992011-02-16T08:53:00.003-05:002011-02-16T08:57:36.533-05:00

Two American law enforcement agents, both employed by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), were ambushed in a roadside attack in Mexico midday Tuesday – what the Washington Post describes as a “lethal escalation” in the country’s on-going drug wars. The two men are reported to have been traveling alone by car between the customs agency’s attaché office at the American Embassy in Mexico

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-7844761246374935882011-02-15T08:54:00.004-05:002011-02-15T08:57:56.732-05:00

A little over one week ago Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman took a shot at US security policy in the region, criticizing the Buenos Aires municipal government for sending a group of Argentine police officers to a training course at the US-run International Law Enforcement Academy in El Salvador. Timerman suggested the ILEA to be a low-rent School of the Americas. His question: why did

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-19656126924324283222011-02-14T09:05:00.008-05:002011-02-14T13:02:06.871-05:00

The Cuban government released three more prominent dissidents this weekend. As the Miami Herald reports, Hector Maseda and Angel Moya – part of the “Group of 75” who were arrested during the 2003 “Black Spring” crackdown – were both freed Saturday. Another "Group of 75" dissident, Eduardo Diaz Fleitas, was released one day prior, according to Archdiocese of Havana. Four other prisoners, not

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-31534980774954011652011-02-11T08:35:00.002-05:002011-02-11T08:37:24.029-05:00

Two notes this morning on freedom to information in the region. First, as mentioned the last couple of days, interesting news from Cuba this week where, in an unannounced move, the government unblocked island access to more than 40 internet sites critical of the current government – among them Yoani Sanchez’s “Generación Y” blog. “If they opened the door, it’s not the time to just stay on the

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-19038089576479533102011-02-10T08:34:00.003-05:002011-02-12T08:30:07.262-05:00

The LA Times and Reuters with reports this morning on the first of five FARC hostage releases that are expected this week. On Wednesday, city councilman Marcos Baquero, kidnapped in June 2009, was released at what the LA Times describes as an “undisclosed location in the nation's eastern jungle region.” Shortly thereafter he was flown to his home town of Villavicencio, to be reunited with his

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-13046044624589144152011-02-09T08:20:00.005-05:002011-02-09T21:52:02.620-05:00

I wasn’t planning to get too far ahead of yesterday’s news suggesting that a more unified, US-backed regional security plan for Central America may be in the works. But Honduran Security Minister Oscar Alvarez seems to have opened the door. Minister Alvarez, speaking to reporters yesterday about the arrival in Honduras of US Assistant Secretary of State for Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL)

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-88894221799833840992011-02-08T09:08:00.007-05:002011-02-08T09:16:36.730-05:00

US Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) William R. Brownfield is in El Salvador today, the second stop on a four-country tour through Mesoamerica. Brownfield arrives in San Salvador from Guatemala where he met yesterday with top officials there – among them President Alvaro Colom. He travels next to Honduras and then Colombia, a country in

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-18488037003822016052011-02-07T08:26:00.003-05:002011-02-07T08:55:28.436-05:00

A Cuban government statement published in Granma Friday says prosecutors have decided to seek a 20 year prison sentence for USAID contractor Alan Gross. His alleged crime, according to the statement: “Acts Against the Independence and Territorial Integrity of the State.” Responding to the news, the Obama administration said Friday that “instead of releasing Mr. Gross so he can come home to his

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-92215580057795859692011-02-04T08:55:00.007-05:002011-02-04T09:02:13.809-05:00

Comments by Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman have set off what the Wall Street Journal describes as “a new bump” in US-Argentine relations, as well as in relations between the Kirchner government and the municipal government of Buenos Aires. On Wednesday, by way of Twitter, Timerman publicly criticized Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri’s decision to send capital police officers to the

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-42676431444247028322011-02-03T08:13:00.004-05:002011-02-03T21:51:26.898-05:00

More English-language reports this morning about what appears to have been the first wave of significant violence in Mexico’s second-city, Guadalajara, since President Calderon began his offensive against drug cartels in 2006. The AP says a series of seven coordinated attacks around the city late Tuesday included grenade explosions, the burning of vehicles, and road blocks. No reports of

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-36385426375285648732011-02-02T08:23:00.003-05:002011-02-02T08:45:05.365-05:00

Reporting from an increasingly violence-plagued Acapulco, Randal Archibold at the New York Times writes today on the competing realities of Mexico’s drug wars. On the one hand, a still growing list of gruesome murders – like the 15 dismembered bodies which turned up at an upscale Acapulco shopping center early last month. On the other, a growing list of capo arrests and deaths. According to

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-60049299132997640262011-02-01T08:54:00.002-05:002011-02-01T09:00:00.439-05:00

Haitian officials now appear willing to issue former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide a diplomatic passport, setting the stage for a potential return of the popular leader after seven years in exile. In a letter apparently sent Monday to Haiti’s Foreign Affairs and Interior Ministries – as well as to reporters – Mr. Aristide’s lawyer in the US, Ira Kurzban, requested that the Haitian government

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-87131851228172507642011-01-31T08:33:00.003-05:002011-01-31T08:38:38.251-05:00

While signs of a political revolution in Egypt have seized the attention of US policymakers, Sec. of State Hillary Clinton found time for a short visit to Haiti Sunday where another political crisis remains unresolved. The Washington Post says Ms. Clinton was there to continue to push the Haitian government toward accepting a set of OAS recommendations that would drop the Preval government’s

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-12018520227584976592011-01-28T08:52:00.003-05:002011-01-28T15:11:26.258-05:00

More details this morning about President Obama’s March visit to Brazil, Chile, and El Salvador. According to Bloomberg, trade and energy will top the president’s agenda -- some analysts say in response to the growing economic presence of China in much of the region. The Inter-American Dialogue’s Michael Shifter tells the news agency “there’s a very keen awareness in Washington that China is a

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-29630481375111706892011-01-27T08:09:00.003-05:002011-01-27T08:30:38.076-05:00

Bolivians gathered at various sites around the country Wednesday, staging demonstrations in support of their government’s push for an amendment to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. But many of the protests were not exactly traditional. As the AFP reports, in many parts of the country Bolivians sat peacefully, chewing coca leaves in a symbolic act of defiance to US-led opposition to

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-73031453807975988192011-01-26T09:00:00.007-05:002011-01-26T09:06:11.280-05:00

A group of distinguished figures – among them three former Latin American presidents who in 2009 co-authored a high commission report aimed at rethinking global drug policy – launched a new initiative to end the “war on drugs” paradigm Tuesday. “There is a growing perception that the ‘war on drugs’ approach has failed,” the new Global Commission on Drug Policies said in its first statement,

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-82759767246693112832011-01-25T09:04:00.007-05:002011-01-25T09:40:08.705-05:00

The United States has pledged its continued support to Mexico, urging it to, in the AP’s words, “stay the course” in its ongoing fight against drug trafficking organizations. That war, according to the Mexican government’s own statistics, has taken the lives of at least 34,600 people since current President Felipe Calderon entered office in 2006. 2010 proved to be the deadliest of Calderon’s

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-3356691393918155462011-01-24T09:08:00.005-05:002011-01-24T09:27:44.729-05:00

The Washington Post this weekend reports on what it calls the training of thousands of Mexican policemen, soldiers, and court officers by Colombia. Both American and Colombian officials indicate that the majority of such training has occurred in Mexico, but, according to Post correspondent Juan Forero, “in a sign of how serious the threat posed by the Mexican cartels has become,” a growing

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-48189185076990983092011-01-21T08:26:00.007-05:002011-01-21T12:54:40.686-05:00

Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier evaded journalists, slipping out at a backdoor at the Hotel Karibe Thursday and heading to a private residence in the hills above Port-au-Prince. In so doing, the AP reports, JCD and his advisers missed their originally scheduled flight out of Haiti. With his passport allegedly confiscated and court investigations into financial crimes as well as recently filed

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-24197807677102634592011-01-20T08:12:00.005-05:002011-01-20T08:36:41.283-05:00

An international showdown between the US and Bolivia has officially begun. The matter under dispute: whether or not an international ban on coca-leaf chewing should be pulled from the 1961 United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. In a letter which has now been filed with the United Nations, the United States has made official its opposition to the Bolivia-backed proposal that would

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-26254180043382990542011-01-19T09:17:00.007-05:002011-01-19T19:40:44.057-05:00

After escorting Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier to court in the capital of Port-au-Prince, Haitian police returned the former dictator to his hotel in nearby Petionville late Tuesday. Haitian authorities say they have opened up a corruption and embezzlement case against Duvalier following hours of closed-door questioning. His lawyer, Gervais Charles, tells the AP that Haitian officials also

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-50150650905527246892011-01-18T08:40:00.005-05:002011-01-18T09:30:00.530-05:00

Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier remained quietly hunkered down with advisers and close confidants Monday, one day after his unexpected return to the country after 25 years of exile in France. Those close to Duvalier had initially indicated that Baby Doc would hold a press conference Monday at the chic Hotel Karibe in Port-au-Prince – the site of many major political

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-34649923362940762982011-01-17T09:07:00.006-05:002011-01-18T09:32:52.239-05:00

Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier has returned to Haiti, arriving in the capital of Port-au-Prince Sunday after nearly 25 years in exile. As the AP reports, Duvalier’s return was “as mysterious as it was unexpected” coming as the Caribbean country remains stuck in a political crisis following Nov. 28 elections whose results still hang in the balance. Indeed, Baby Doc’s

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-32470050896144708712011-01-14T08:50:00.005-05:002011-01-16T10:25:31.105-05:00

The AP today with the first English-language report on the Honduran Congress’s decision to approve constitutional reform measures that would allow for popular referendums on issues including what it calls “once-taboo” subjects like re-election and term limits – currently non-amendable, or “petrified,” issues according to the Honduran constitution (Art. 374). The AP on the irony of the reforms,

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-72587129153557125722011-01-13T08:49:00.002-05:002011-01-13T08:52:29.136-05:00

A new set of official, Mexican government drug war statistics released Wednesday say 34,612 people have been killed in drug war-related killings since President Felipe Calderon ratcheted up military efforts against cartels some four years ago. The new numbers highlight a significant spike in violence in 2010: the bloodiest year on record. According to security spokesman Alejandro Poire, 15,273

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-76340737663682644782011-01-12T08:46:00.006-05:002011-01-12T11:13:09.404-05:00

In the New York Times this morning, Randal Archibold reports on the high toll Mexico’s drug wars are taking on numerous small, often forgotten towns in the country’s north. The violence and suffering, he says, is embodied in a place like Guadalupe Distrito Bravos, a cotton farming town near the Texas border that was once home to some 9000 residents. Today nearly have the population has fled

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-19602503668033877622011-01-11T08:25:00.004-05:002011-01-11T08:57:48.296-05:00

In its highly anticipated report on Haiti’s electoral crisis, the Organization of American States will recommend that the country’s electoral officials prevent government-backed candidate, Jude Celestin, from moving on to a second round run-off vote. Although the report has yet to be made public, the Associated Press – which obtained an advanced copy – says the OAS is suggesting the contentious

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-6528770321207267122011-01-10T08:35:00.003-05:002011-01-10T08:40:21.377-05:00

In less than 24 hours, a score of brutal murders around the increasingly violent Mexican resort city of Acaculpo this weekend left more than 30 individuals dead, including – says the AP – at least 14 men (the New York Times says 15, the Wall Street Journal now says 16) whose headless bodies were found near an Acapulco shopping center. Most of the killings occurred in the “non-tourist” section of

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-73612035009142304112011-01-07T07:03:00.002-05:002011-01-07T07:05:54.823-05:00

The AP reported yesterday afternoon that the US decided this week not to renew a $215 million Millennium Challenge Corporation aid program for Honduras. According to the AP, the program trained 17,000 farmers, created 31,396 rural jobs and improved a key highway and 500 kilometers (310 miles) of rural roads in Honduras. The US Embassy in Tegucigalpa offered no explanation for the non-renewal

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-48022745878658602122011-01-06T08:32:00.002-05:002011-01-06T08:34:35.045-05:00

Earlier in the week General José Elito de Carvalho Siqueira, Chief Minister of Brazil’s Institutional Security Cabinet, caused a stir in Brazil, declaring the country had “no reason to be ashamed of the fact that it had political desaparecidos” during its nearly two decades of military dictatorship. The general’s words were immediately met with rebuke from new president Dilma Rousseff, herself a

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-51499038222159111892011-01-05T08:52:00.002-05:002011-01-21T21:25:07.389-05:00

Latin America has often been described a region persistently plagued by two characteristics: high levels of violent crime and persistently high levels of inequality. If there’s evidence to suggest that the challenge of the former has grown in recent years, the struggle against the latter might just be one of the region’s most important success stories. On a national level, Tina Rosenberg, in

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-92051001269288027022011-01-04T09:10:00.004-05:002011-01-04T09:38:30.181-05:00

In a piece over the holiday break, AFP noted murders rose in both number and viciousness across Latin America in 2010. The primary perpetrators, according to the report: narcotraffickers and gangs who have made insecurity the “principal worry” in the region. Benjamin Cuéllar, director of the Human Rights Institute at the Universidad Centroamericana in El Salvador tells AFP that the region has

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-639094671603188405.post-44263369036751593432011-01-03T08:33:00.003-05:002011-01-03T08:54:38.109-05:00

On Saturday, Dilma Rousseff assumed the presidency of Brazil becoming the first female to be inaugurated in Latin America’s largest country. The New York Times says her principal challenge lies in “balancing an ambitious domestic agenda” while at once “securing Brazil’s global position.” Thus far, continuity has been the most defining feature of the transition. The Inter-American Dialogue’s

J.F. Stringhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15132099040884949683noreply@blogger.com0