Weekly Roundup: Correa Pardons Press, FARC Renounces Kidnapping, Haitian PM Resigns

Correa’s Pardons: No Victory for Free Speech?

On February 28, Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa pardoned a columnist and three editors of local newspaper El Universo from prison and multi-million-dollar fines in a controversial libel case. The president also pardoned two authors he had sued for publishing the book Big Brother, which covered his brother’s government contracts.  But Carlos Lauria, the senior Americas program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), warned that the pardon was not necessarily a victory. "These cases are part of an alarming pattern in which the president and other Ecuadoran officials have subjected critical journalists to long and debilitating legal reprisals,” wrote Lauria for the CPJ website. “Correa's statement—that he is forgiving but not forgetting—is a thinly veiled warning to all journalists who might report critically on his administration." José Miguel Vivanco, Latin America director at Human Rights Watch, worried the El Universo case will continue to “contribute to an environment of self-censorship.”

Read an AS/COA Online News Analysis about Correa’s case against El Universo.

FARC: No More Kidnappings

The Colombian guerrilla group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) announced on Sunday that it will release 10 police and soldier hostages, and will stop kidnapping for ransom. Responding via Twitter, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said the FARC’s announcement is “an important and necessary step forward, but not sufficient.” The government insists the FARC renounce violence before peace talks can begin.

Eurozone Crisis Hot Topic at G20 Summit in Mexico

G20 Finance Ministers met in Mexico City over the weekend to discuss financial policy ahead of the G20 summit in June.  Ministers stated the need for a stronger “financial firewall” to shield the world from the ongoing crisis in the eurozone, and delayed a decision on funding for the International Monetary Fund until European officials agreed on the size of such a firewall. Luis Téllez, head of Mexico’s stock exchange said in an interview on the sidelines of the conference that Europe could learn from Mexico’s 1994-1995 Tequila Crisis. Téllez, who was presidential chief of staff at the time, said: “While Europe took years to make decisions, we made decisions with the U.S. and the International Monetary Fund in two months.”

Read a blog post from AS/COA’s Mexico 2012 blog about the ministerial meeting.

Learn more about our March 13 conference in Mexico City, including live webcast details.

Despite Reserves, Mexico Slow to Exploit Shale Gas

Reuters reports on Mexico’s lack of interest in exploiting its shale gas reserves, despite U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that Mexico has the world’s fourth-largest shale gas reserves. While Mexico plans to drill 175 shale gas wells by 2015, 2,828 drilling permits were issued in Texas in 2011 alone. The limited interest owes itself to the difficulty involved in extraction, restrictions of the state oil company, and the relatively low price of natural gas imports.

Napolitano Indicates It’s a Matter of Time until El Chapo’s Capture

In a visit to Mexico on February 27, U.S. Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano signed an anti-drug trafficking agreement that will tighten customs security at border crossings and airports, reports Infolatam. Napolitano also addressed a question regarding Mexico’s most wanted drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, who escaped from prison in 2001. “It took us 10 years to find Osama bin Laden,” she responded. “I’m not suggesting the same thing would happen with Guzmán but I’m suggesting that we are persistent when it comes to wrongdoers and those who do harm, in both of our countries.” Her February 27 to 29 trip also brought her to Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador and Panama.
 
Romney & Santorum Tie among Latinos in AZ and MI

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney won Tuesday’s Republican primaries in Arizona and Michigan, though he tied with Rick Santorum on winning around one-third of Latino votes, reports the Associated Press. Although Latino voters only accounted for 10 percent of yesterday’s voters, TIME’s Michael Scherer believes the Latino electorate in southwestern states could be decisive in the 2012 presidential election. “If Obama is able to win heavily-Latino Western states like Nevada, Colorado and Arizona, he could still win in the electoral college even if he loses historically key states in the industrial Midwest like Ohio and Wisconsin.”  He argues the GOP should back away from the strong anti-immigrant rhetoric, which a LatinoDecisions poll finds is strongly opposed by Latinos. “They have little to gain from Republicans by pivoting to softer rhetoric, but they have much to gain in the general election,” Scherer argues.

U.S. Clears Way for Deportation of Salvadoran General Accused of War Crimes

JURIST’s Paper Chase blog reports on the decision by a U.S. federal immigration judge to deport Salvadaron General Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova back to his home country to be tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Unit of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security charged Vides Casanova in April 2011 for human rights violations committed during El Salvador’s 12-year civil war. The charges involved the murder of four Americans, and torture of two Salvadorans. Vides Casanova has lived in Florida since 1988.

UN Drug Report: “Alarming” Levels of Violence in CentAm

In the Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 2011 released on Tuesday, researchers described escalating levels of violence in Central America as Mexican cartels move south. "The countries of the so-called 'Northern Triangle' (El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras), together with Jamaica, now have the world's highest homicide rates," says the report. Meanwhile, as cocaine seizures in Mexico fell by 81 percent from 2007 to 2011, Central American cocaine seizures rose. The report also estimated that around 70,000 gang members are active in Central America.
 
Drug-related Crimes on the Rise in Eastern Caribbean

Due to law enforcement crackdowns on drug trafficking in Central America and Mexico, more traffickers are turning to the Caribbean to move drugs to Europe and the United States. Traffickers target islands close to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands since shipments leaving those two countries do not undergo inspections before entering the United States. St. Kitts and Nevis became one of these transshipment points, causing a spike in the homicide rate last year to 64 per 100,000 inhabitants. Aside from Barbados and Suriname, Caribbean murder rates increased over the past 12 years.

Read an AS/COA News Analysis about drug trafficking issues in the Dominican Republic.

Haiti’s PM Resigns amid Disagreements with President

Under pressure from Haitian President Michel Martelly, Prime Minister Garry Conille resigned on February 24 after only four months in office. Conille and Martelly sparred over a number of issues, including contracts and leadership of government ministers after the 2010 earthquake. Robert Fatton, a Haiti expert at the University of Virginia, told The Miami Herald: “Martelly is maintaining the tradition that only one figure, the president, can be the ultimate and indeed sole ‘decider.’ Sharing power is simply not yet in the DNA of Haitian governance in spite of the constitution.”

Cuba’s Catholic Church Survives on Long-term Bets

In light of next month’s papal visit to Cuba, ForeignAffairs.com looks at the current role of the Catholic Church in Cuba. With Cuba officially atheist from 1959 to 1992, the Church has since enjoyed a rebirth in the past 20 years, the article argues. The Church survives by hedging its bets on the “post-Castro economic boom times;” in the meantime, the Church studiously avoids confrontation with the government, acts as a negotiator between the state and dissident groups, and helps support the government’s economic reforms. “[I]n taking the long view, the Vatican is laying the groundwork so that it helps facilitate a nonviolent post-Castro transition,” writes Victor Gaetan of the National Catholic Register.

Chávez’s Cancer Recurrence Raises Questions

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez underwent surgery in Cuba on February 28 to remove a tumor. Chávez announced a possible cancer recurrence last week, raising questions for the future of Venezuelan leadership in an election year. TIME’s Global Spin blog questions what route Chávez’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) might take if Chávez’s condition worsens, pointing to a lack of a possible replacement for Chávez. Venezuela’s El Universal discusses the government’s lack of transparency regarding Chávez’s condition, saying people do not know what type of cancer the president has, and had no information on when the operation would occur. Meanwhile, the Associated Press looks at what might happen in Cuba and Nicaragua—both heavily dependent on Venezuelan largesse—should Chávez leave power.

In Peru, Conga Mine Controversy Continues

The conflict over Peru’s largest mining project in the Cajamarca region continues, with the government calling in three international environmental experts to assess the Conga mine’s environmental impact study. Locals fear that the mine will contaminate the water supply and say that the environmental study is flawed. The experts arrived in Cajamarca on February 28 and have 40 days to issue an assessment. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Oscar Valdés denied rumors that he would resign due to the ongoing conflict over the Conga mine.

Read an AS/COA News Analysis about the Conga mine conflict.

Chile’s Parties Mark Quake Anniversary with War of Words

As Chile marked the second anniversary of the magnitude 8.8 earthquake that shook the country on February 27, 2010, the government and opposition criticized each other’s response to the disaster. Last week, members of the ruling conservative coalition disparaged the previous administration’s immediate response, with one high profile member saying “the incompetence and inefficiency was atrocious.” In turn, the opposition condemned the present government’s reconstruction efforts, stating that despite government claims of reconstructing 47 percent of destroyed housing, the real figure is only 11 percent. 

Interpol Arrests Anonymous Suspects Following Chile and Colombia Cyberattacks

On February 28, Interpol announced the arrests of 25 members of Anonymous, the hacking group responsible for cyberattacks across the world. After Anonymous hacked government and corporate websites in Chile and Colombia, the international policy agency tracked down suspects in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Spain, seizing computer equipment and cash.
 
Argentine Government Assumes Control of Train Company

After last week’s train accident in Buenos Aires that killed 51 and injured hundreds, Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced on February 28 that the government will assume control of the company responsible, Trenes de Buenos Aires. “The public interest is at stake, and we must guarantee the safety of passengers,” said Planning Minister Julio De Vido. The announcement comes a day after the president assured the government would take no action until an investigation was complete. The government will run the company for 15 days, or until a criminal investigation can be completed. 

Drought in Paraguay Reaches Critical Levels

With rainfall at only 10 percent of normal seasonal levels, the drought in Paraguay is wreaking havoc on the agriculture-dependent economy. Up to 60 percent of crops nationwide may have been lost and soy production will likely be cut in half this year. "We definitely need some rain now, or we won't have anything to eat," a Paraguayan farmer told the BBC. 

Brazil Invests in Ethanol after Slow Production Year

The Brazilian government announced a plan to increase flagging ethanol production by investing $38 billion in subsidized credit over the next four years. Mills and growers with older cane fields and lower production rates will receive credits to replant crops and expand ethanol supplies. The goal is to expand planted areas to 12.8 million acres and to meet rising demand, though some observers question whether these investments will have a lasting effect on the industry.
 
Read an AS/COA Online News Analysis on the struggling ethanol industry in Brazil.

U.S. Air Force Cancels Jet Contract with Brazil’s Embraer

After reported documentation problems with the contract, the United States scuttled a deal to buy 20 Super Tucano light attack planes from Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. The contract came under scrutiny after Embraer’s U.S.-based rival Hawker Beechcraft complained it had been “unfairly eliminated” from the bidding process, and began a lawsuit against the U.S. Air Force. Worth $355 million, the contract would have been Embraer’s largest with the U.S. military.
 
Is Brazil’s Foreign Policy the Future of International Relations?

Foreign Policy’s David Rothkopf evaluates the work of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Foreign Minister Antonia Patriota, as well as Brazil’s growing role in international relations. The author believes Brazil’s more active global position and its focus on multilateral cooperation spells the future of international affairs. However, he warns that Brazil “must come to recognize that in this new world… [it is] also going to have to make hard choices and not simply shrug off the complex issues as someone else's problem.”

Brazilian Blog Promotes Culture of Transparency

The Knight Center’s Journalism in the Americas blog reports on the February 27 launch of a new blog—Públicos—published by Brazilian daily Estado de São Paulo. The blog encourages readers to take advantage of the new Access to Public Information Law by requesting information from government offices and officials in order to hold them accountable. The authors hope getting readers more involved in the government process will promote a culture of transparency in Brazil.

Read an AS/COA Online News Analysis about Brazil’s freedom of information law.

Study: Latin America Ranked World’s Happiest Region

An Ipsos study on self-reported levels of happiness found that Latin America has the highest number of happy people. Mexico and Brazil were among the top five happiest countries, considered “very happy.” John Wright, senior vice president of Ipsos Global, explained that higher income does not necessarily correlate with happiness. "Relationships remain the number one reason around the world where people say they have invested happiness and maybe in those cultures family has a much greater degree of impact.” 

Photos Capture Life on the U.S.-Mexico Border

Accompanying Paul Theroux’s piece on Mexico, The New York Times published a photo gallery of scenes from Nogales, eponymous cities in Arizona and Mexico separated by the border fence. While Mexico’s Nogales attracts Americans seeking cheaper dental care and prescription medications, it’s also home to shelters from migrants deported from the United States.