Weekly Roundup: Brazil or Mexico to Head WTO, Venezuela's Vote Audit, Dilma's Argentina Trip

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Venezuela’s Vote Audit in Limbo

Henrique Capriles, the opposition candidate narrowly defeated by President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela’s April election, called on the National Electoral Council (CNE) on Wednesday to begin a second vote audit. The CNE promised last week to begin the process, but it has not yet started. Capriles said the government had “robbed the elections” and that the CNE needed to perform the audit to reveal alleged acts of fraud. On Thursday—when the audit still had not begun—Capriles said he would challenge the election results in the Supreme Court, and could ultimately turn to an international court.

Protection of Journalists Gets Legal Boost from Mexican Congress
 
The Mexican Chamber of Deputies approved legislation expanding the ability of federal authorities to prosecute crimes against the press, as well as increasing penalties for violations against journalists and media outlets. The law, sent April 26 to the president for signature, won 451 votes in favor against one abstention. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that more reporters have gone missing in Mexico than in any other country in the world and that more than 50 journalists have been killed or disappeared over the past six years.

Latin America to Head WTO: Brazilian and Mexican Named Director General Finalists

This week, Mexico's Herminio Blanco and Brazil's Roberto Azevêdo made it to the final round to take the helm of the World Trade Organization (WTO), reported Reuters, meaning a Latin American will head the agency for the first time. Three other candidates from Indonesia, New Zealand, and South Korea failed to gain enough support to advance to the last phase of the process. Speaking about the EU’s support for the two candidates, U.K. Business Secretary Vince Cable told Dow Jones that "Latin America acts as a bridge to the developing world." He added that having a Latin American director general could help move stalled talks ahead. A final decision will be announced at the end of May.

Dilma Talks Trade in Buenos Aires Visit

On April 25, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff traveled to Argentina to discuss bilateral trade with Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. They also spoke about the agenda for next month’s Southern Common Market (Mercosur) summit, and the possibility of Paraguay regaining membership to the bloc. Ongoing negotiations on agreements to expand bilateral trade will continue, reports Agencia Estado. Last year, Brazilian exports to Argentina fell 20 percent.

Wikipedia’s Brazil Connection

Foreign Affairs explains how a programming language from Brazil become part of the templates for Wikipedia, one of the world’s most visited websites. Lua, a programming language developed at Rio de Janeiro’s Pontifical Catholic University, was chosen over the popular and better-known JavaScript. Unlike the complex and widely used JavaScript, Lua underwent various major changes and developers were able to focus on “elegance and usability.” The article also notes that few Rio engineers express interest in local solutions, but that “Lua had to succeed abroad to gain acceptance at home.”

EPN, Humala, and Martinelli Discuss Social Inclusion in Lima

Peru hosted the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Latin America this week, with Mexico’s Enrique Peña Nieto, Panama’s Ricardo Martinelli, and Peru’s Ollanta Humala in attendance. The leaders addressed participants on April 24, speaking about economic development in the region and social inclusion efforts. “For the vision of my administration…the most important mechanism to combat poverty is by ensuring economic growth,” said Peña Nieto. Ministers of finance of the Pacific Alliance (Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru) also met to discuss strengthening financial integration and capital markets among member countries.

Interactive: Invisible Armies Insurgency Tracker

A Council on Foreign Relations interactive uses data from Max Boot’s Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present, to map global insurgent movements from 1775 to 2012 by country, region, date, and outcome. The map includes insurgent movements in 17 Latin American countries, ranging from armies formed during the fight for independence from Spain to modern guerrillas, such as the FARC in Colombia.

Bolivia Takes Chile Territorial Dispute to The Hague

In the latest move in a territory dispute that’s over a century old, Bolivian President Evo Morales brought his country’s maritime lawsuit against Chile to The Hague’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) on April 24, claiming rights to an area on Chile’s coastline. Chilean President Sebastián Piñera promised to defend Chilean land “with all the strength in world.” Piñera said the lawsuit lacked a legal basis since both countries signed a peace treaty in 1904. Bolivia’s eight-page Hague claim asks for sovereignty over land connecting Bolivia to the Pacific Ocean. The ICJ will now decide whether to take on the lawsuit as a case.

Report: Colombia’s Growing Female Labor Force

In Colombia, there are 22.2 percent fewer women in the workforce than men, Colombia Reports wrote this week. But it also noted that the World Bank’s 2012 Gender Equality and Development report found Colombia had the largest increase in women’s labor force participation in Latin America. The publication shows Colombian women tend to have more access than their Latin American counterparts to high-level positions. Businesswomen in Colombia are “well represented in managerial positions and in finance—the glass ceilings notoriously hard to break through even in many rich countries” says the report.

Gay Marriage in Colombia: Defeated in Congress, but not in Court

After several delays, on Wednesday Colombia’s Senate voted 51-17 against a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. Senator Armando Benedetti, who wrote the bill, accused the legislators of being “cavemen.” However, a 2011 Constitutional Court decision on the issue read that should Congress fail to pass gay marriage legislation by June 21, 2013, legal same-sex marriage would go into effect on that date. Conservative Party Senator José Darío Salazar said some members of the Court violated the Constitution with that decision.

First-Ever Haiti ACS Summit Attracts LatAm Leaders

For the first time, Haiti hosted a meeting of heads of state from the Association of Caribbean States, a regional trade bloc. Numerous Latin American presidents arrived in Port-au-Prince on April 26 for the summit, including Chilean President Sebastián Piñera, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Leaders will discuss trade, tourism, and disaster-risk reduction.

Immigration: More Cubans Entering the United States?

Since Cuba adopted a new migratory policy in January, United States government officials say there has been a rise in Cubans applying for U.S. tourist visas, reports The Miami Herald. Though no specific numbers have been reported, the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana has approved more visitor visas and tripled the number of interviews for immigrant visa applications. Initial figures from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) indicate almost 7,000 Cubans entered the United States through the Mexican border since October 1. The CBP calculates that if this pace continues through the end of the fiscal year in September, the number of Cubans entering through this route will reach the highest level since 2005.

U.S. Spy for Cuba: “One of the Most Damaging in History”

The Washington Post tells the story of Ana Belen Montes, a former U.S. intelligence analyst turned spy for the Cuban government. Coming from a family of government employees, she worked her way up to become an analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency. Montes was arrested on espionage charges on September 21, 2001 after a long FBI investigation and is now serving a 25-year jail sentence. A congressional hearing to review the damage caused by Montes’ spying determined that she is “one of the most damaging spies in U.S. history.” Now, reports The Los Angeles Times, the U.S. government wants to extradite another U.S. woman—living in Sweden—who allegedly recruited Montes to become a spy.

Uruguayan Scientists Create Glow-in-the-Dark Sheep

This week, Uruguayan scientists announced the creation of Latin America’s first genetically modified sheep, opening the door for further discoveries in biomedicine and infectious diseases. The scientists used a gene from jellyfish to breed the sheep, giving them the ability to glow when under a UV light.