Weekly Roundup: Biden's LatAm tour, a Sino-Argentine Cash Swap, and Brazil's G20 Presence

Biden Warms Up for Obama in Latin America

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden left for Chile and Costa Rica on March 27, a trip that comes two weeks before President Barack Obama’s April visit to Mexico and for the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. Before heading out, Biden penned an op-ed that appeared in 11 major Latin American newspapers. Titled “A New Day for Partnership in the Americas,” the article touched on a number of hemispheric concerns, ranging from “[r]ekindling the U.S. economy” to combating transnational crime to addressing climate change.

The vice president first attended the Progressive Governance Conference in Chile, where he was hosted by President Michelle Bachelet and met Latin American heads of state from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. The conference, which also counted European prime ministers among its attendees, served as a prologue to the G20 conference in London. Biden cautioned against too much regulation in financial reforms designed to tackle the global financial crisis. The Swamp reports that he also voiced support for scaling back restrictions on Cuban-American family travel and remittances to the Caribbean island, but said the U.S. embargo should remain in place until Cuba undertakes democratic reforms.

Biden went on to Costa Rica and met with Central American presidents, who urged the United States to include Guatemalans in a temporary visa program already extended to Salvadorans, Hondurans, and Nicaraguans. They also asked for Washington to scale back deportations, which hit record rates last year. The vice president warned that the ailing U.S. economy forms a roadblock to immigration reform. He also said the United States will increase support for Central American anti-drug efforts from $65 million to $100 million.

In the AQ blog, Americas Quarterly Editor-in-Chief Christopher Sabatini covers the fact that El Salvador’s President-Elect Mauricio Funes traveled to Costa Rica with Biden. “The decision to travel goes beyond symbolism (though no small matter itself), but demonstrates [Funes’] commitment to the moderate, economic, and political union of Central America in partnership with the U.S.”

Argentine “Father of Democracy” Dead at 82

Credited with restoring democracy to Argentina, former President Raúl Alfonsín passed away on March 31. Previously a human rights attorney, Alfonsín won the 1983 presidential election, the first after the fall of a military junta that ruled during a “dirty war” in which some 11,000 people died or disappeared. While he earned praise for his dedication to human rights and courage to criticize dictatorships during the 1970s and bring them to justuce after he became president. However, he was criticized for the country's economic troubles during his presidency. He held office until 1989. Clarin offers multimedia coverage of the viewing and tributes to Alfonsín in the Salón Azul of Argentina’s Senate. La Nación covers his life with an interactive timeline.

Currency Swap between China and Argentina

Beijing and Buenos Aires inked a currency deal on March 29 at the Inter-American Development Bank summit in Medellin, Colombia in which Argentina agreed to receive RMB70 billion ($10.25 billion) in renminbi instead of receiving dollars to pay for Chinese imports. Argentina is the first country in the region to accept such a currency swap with the Asian giant, but the fifth to do so worldwide. “The deals underscore China’s loss of faith in the U.S. currency amid the fallout from the financial crisis,” reports the Financial Times.

Early Legislative Elections Approved in Buenos Aires

President of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner pushed a change through her country’s Congress to set an earlier date for legislative elections. The vote will now be held on June 28 instead of October 25. Fernández de Kirchner warned that a long electoral process could bring negative effects to the already battered economy, reports the Economist Intelligence Unit’s ViewsWire.

Chile’s Concertación Poised for Return to Frei

Justin Volger, who teaches political science at Valparaiso University, writes for openDemocracy that Chile’s political landscape remains dominated by old political figures. In the prelude to presidential elections in December 2009, former President Eduardo Frei seems poised to be nominated by Concertación, Chile’s dominant coalition party since the end of the Pinochet era. The party’s primaries begin April 4.

Arab-Latin American Summit Held in Doha

Eight Latin American leaders attended the second Arab-Latin American conference in Qatar this week. The meeting stressed the importance of closer commercial relations between the two regions to offset the present financial downturn. “We feel there are a lot of similarities between South America and the Arab world. Both of us also hope for a better future for our populations and we face many of the same challenges,” says Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the emir of Qatar.

The forum also called for more liquidity and credit for small businesses and double efforts to increase trade and investments. Attendees penned a communiqué proposing a new Arab-South American university with closer ties among educational institutions in both regions, Gulf Times reports.

Dinero magazine covers a recent visit by an Arab business delegation from Abu Dhabi to Colombia looking for attractive investment opportunities. Colombian Finance Minister Luis Guillermo Plata hailed the visit as an important first step for bilateral relations with the wealthy emirate.

Brazil to Seek Greater World Stage Presence at G20

The BBC examines Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva goal of seeking a more active role for his country and for emerging economic powers such as fellow BRIC partners China, India, and Russia. Lula heads to the G20 summit in London at a time when he enjoys healthy approval ratings at home and increasing influence abroad. He has spearheaded a campaign against protectionism and intends to promote reforms for global financial regulations.

Read an AS/COA analysis of what Lula and other Latin American leaders bring to the G20 table.

In a new post for the AQ blog, AS/COA's Mateo Samper writes about the G20 summit: "G-20 leaders in London will embrace free trade and commit themselves to avoiding protectionist measures, just as they did four months ago in Washington. Their efforts will likely fail."

Lula Voices Amazon Commitment

In an op-ed for the Guardian, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva details the ways in which Brazil plans to slow deforestation and safeguard the Amazon rainforest. He also asked for a shared commitment from neighbors to work out a sustainable solution for its inhabitants. “The incentive to act is clear, given that poorer countries already stand to suffer more harshly from the climatic disruptions largely caused by unsustainable patterns of production and consumption in richer countries,” writes the Brazilian leader.

Mexico Considers IMF Credit
 
With the goal of shoring up its coffers, Mexico could access as much as $47 billion of an International Monetary Fund credit line. Finance Minister Agustín Cartens explained that accessing the credit line could bring interest rates down and give the Mexican peso a boost against the U.S. dollar.

Murder Count Ebbs in Ciudad Juarez

Thanks to federal intervention, the murder rate in Ciudad Juarez has slowed down in the last month. A sweeping attack against corruption led by the Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz has reduced the municipal police force to half its size. Backed by 5,000 army troops and 2,000 federal police, Reyes hopes to restore order after the city he governs sustained more than 1,600 drug-related violent murders in 2008.

GlobalPost offers a guide to the six major drug cartels operating in Mexico.

An El Paso Hearing on Border Violence, Arms Smuggling

The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations took a March 30 field trip to El Paso, Texas to hold a hearing on the possibility of drug-violence spilling over the border. Law enforcement officials told the panel that U.S. troops do not need to be sent to the border but that more funds were needed to support Mexico’s fight against drug cartels. Experts refuted claims that Mexico could become a failed state, arguing that cartels fight for power mostly between each other, Los Angeles Times reports. Senators also debated reinstating an assault weapons ban. The guns have been making their way into Mexico, where smugglers deliver them to cartels.

Bringing the DREAM Act Back

On March 26, U.S. lawmakers from both sides of the aisle reintroduced the controversial Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, more commonly known as the DREAM Act. The measure would provide a path to permanent residency to immigrant children who arrived in the United States under the age of 15. The act was first proposed in U.S. Congress in 2001 and the Senate blocked a vote on it in October 2007.

“Virtual Fence” to Evaluate U.S.-Canada Border

Mimicking efforts to secure the southwestern border, American officials announced on April 1 that they will test a “virtual fence,” setting up several camera towers at 16 different sites in Michigan and New York border crossings, reports the Wall Street Journal. The Department of Homeland Security set aside $30 million for the pilot program and will assess its utility, given that there more than $8 billion is available for virtual fence technology from the federal government. The head of the program Mark Borkowski talked about human and drug smuggling threats at the northern border, saying, “We don't think there's a flood, but there may be a trickle.”

Peru’s Stock Market Bounces Back

Thanks to higher commodity prices, Peruvian stocks are recovering after ranking as Latin America’s worst performer in 2008. Thanks to a rebound in raw-material prices, Lima General Index rose 38 percent in March, the best monthly advance in 16 years, Bloomberg reports.

Expats Who Embrace Chávez’s Mandate

Slate profiles a handful of European and U.S. citizens living in Venezuela and dedicated to help build President Hugo Chávez’s socialist revolution. “I had come to Venezuela to cover the Feb. 15 referendum, but I became obsessed by these people,” writes Alexander Cuadros. “Who were they?” After visiting the country, each Chávez supporter decided to set shop there and become active supporters of the government, in some cases appearing on state-run television campaigning for an end to term limits approved by a February referendum.

Massive Cocaine Lab Seized in Bolivia

Bolivian anti-narcotics forces made a major bust of a laboratory for producing cocaine last week. The lab was discovered in the eastern province of Santa Cruz, close to the Brazilian border. “This is the hardest blow against drug trafficking not only in the three years of the Evo Morales administration, but at the very least in the last decade,” said the Interior Minister Alfredo Rada. Bolivia is considered the third largest cocaine producer in the world, behind Colombia and Peru.

OAS Chief Urges Reconsidering Cuba’s Membership

In a recent interview, Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary-General José Miguel Insulza said that the 1962 resolution banning Cuba’s membership based on its Soviet Union alliance is outdated. “One of the countries has disappeared and the other is buying a lot of U.S. treasuries,” he told Bloomberg at the Inter-American Development Bank’s annual meeting in Medellin, Colombia. “Please, if they’re going to be excluded, let’s come up with some better criteria.”

Lessons from LatAm during Global Credit Crunch

A new book published by the Inter-American Development Bank takes a look at credit crunches faced by eight Latin American countries in 1990s and suggests lessons for current international supply shocks, say authors Eduardo Cavallo and Alejandro Izquierdo in an analysis for RGE’s Latin America EconoMonitor. “Perhaps the clearest lesson from the research is that countries that were able to conduct countercyclical policies were able to withstand crisis better,” write Cavallo and Izquierdo.

Latin America’s Potential Aging Crisis

The Center for Strategic and International Studies released a report about the aging test facing Latin America. By 2050, some of the region’s largest economies—Brazil, Chile, and Mexico—may have older populations than the United States. The report argues that this phenomenon requires sustainable and sound retirement policies to avoid social hardships and a “humanitarian aging crisis.”