Weekly Roundup: Sarkozy in Mexico, El Salvador's Elections, and "White Lobster"

National Public Radio covers El Salvador’s March 15 presidential election with a focus on how economic woes may steer which way voters go.

Read an AS/COA analysis about the face-off between the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front party and the conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance.

Sarkozy’s Stop in Mexico

During his trip to Mexico to meet with that country’s President Felipe Calderón, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his commitment to support Mexico in its fight against drug cartels as well as in the struggle against transnational crime. The two heads of state also discussed investment in Eurocopter, a subsidiary of Europe’s EADS, which will install a helicopter plant in Mexico for distribution to the Latin American market, reports Infolatam. Sarkozy’s visit marks the first visit by a French president to Mexico in a decade.

Coverage of the meeting focused on the case of a French expatriate charged with kidnapping in Mexico. Florence Cassez, convicted in 2006 for her involvement with a kidnapping gang called the Zodiacs, faces a 60-year sentence in Mexico, reports the Washington Post. Sarkozy secured an agreement that a commission of legal experts will review the possibility of allowing her to serve her sentence in France. El Universal reports that she would face a 20-year sentence in her home country.

Mexico Fortifies Ciudad Juarez

Last week the Mexican government sent another 1,000 federal police officers to the border in its effort to crack down on surging drug violence in Ciudad Juarez. The country’s efforts to stop the bloodshed drew praise from a senior U.S. commander, Michael Mullen, who met with military leaders in Mexico to discuss security concerns. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reports on a “new class of refugees” fleeing violence in Mexico, where the drug war has caused over 1,000 deaths already this year.

Colombian Lessons for Mexico’s Drug War

A new paper published by the Brookings Institution and written by Vanda Felbab-Brown takes a look at counternarcotics policy in Mexico. The report offers a set of recommendations for curbing the violent market, from police and judicial reform to multilateral assistance. It also looks at lessons learned from Colombia’s experience in the 1990s, but warns of differences in the way violent actors are organized, as well as the fact that Mexico’s challenge is drug trafficking more than cultivation.

ISN Security Watch documents how Los Zetas, the Mexican criminal faction that is an offshoot of the Gulf Cartel, “has grown into an organization in its own right.”

Paramilitary Baron Extradited by Colombia
 
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced that Colombia extradited Miguel Angel Mejía-Munera, better known as “El Mellizo,” on March 5. Mejía, along with his late brother Victor, was the head of powerful paramilitary organization financed with money from drug trafficking. Verdadabierta.com, a project of Fundación Ideas para la Paz y Semana magazine, offers a thorough backgrounder about Mejía’s case and crimes.

Spain Sponsors Colombians’ Return Home
 
El Tiempo reports that around 15,000 Colombians living in Spain purchased one-way tickets in the last three months of 2008, according to data released by Avianca Airlines. The Spanish government enacted a program that helps legal workers to return home by paying their airfares and allowing them to collect unemployment benefits.

Senate Confirmation Expected for Obama Trade Rep Choice

The Senate Finance Committee will likely approve the nomination of former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk to become the U.S. trade representative. The committee’s approval of Kirk would allow for a full Senate vote on his confirmation, which is expected despite mistakes made on his past tax returns. Reuters reports that, in committee hearings, Kirk indicated that a bilateral trade agreement with Panama appears to be the closest, out of current pending pacts, to gaining approval. On the Foreign Policy website, Carnegie Endowment’s David Rothkopf offers his assessment of what the approval of Kirk’s nomination would mean for U.S. trade policy. In a Washington Post op-ed, former U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky recommends that the Oval Office and U.S. Congress “move forward on a robust trade agenda.”

In a new article for Poder, COA’s Eric Farnsworth suggests revitalizing the trade agenda to boost economies across the Americas.

White House May Weaken Bill’s Cuba Provisions

U.S. Congress approved a spending bill including provisions that would end some remittance and travel restrictions to Cuba. But the Miami Herald reports that the Obama administration pledged that the changes “will have no teeth” to certain lawmakers who threatened to derail the $410 billion bill.

South American Defense Council Inaugurated in Santiago

Defense ministers from the 12 member countries of the Union of South American Nations came together in Chile this week to cement the creation of the South American Defense Council. Although the group will not function like a military alliance such as NATO, it will work to standardize measuring military balance in member countries, coordinate humanitarian missions, and boost regional defense industries.

Lula Looks Past Crisis

In an opinion article published by the Financial Times, President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva writes about his country’s successes during his administration and predicts that Brazil will be protected from the most dire aspects of the financial crisis. In looking to the future, he writes of his “hope for a world free of the economic dogmas that invaded the thinking of many and were presented as absolute truths.”

Brazilian President to Bridge U.S.-Venezuela Divide?

Agencia Brasil reports that President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva could serve as a bridge between Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez and the Obama administration. Chávez suggested that Lula intervene on his behalf during his visit to Washington next week.

On March 13, AS/COA hosts a panel discussion about Lula’s trip to New York and Washington.

The Proliferation of Pro-Chávez Media

GlobalPost’s Charlie Devereux writes that “it looks like [Venezuelan President Hugo] Chávez is winning the battle for control of the airwaves.” The article describes how state-funded media projects have flourished during Venezuela’s presidency.

Home of Bolivia’s Ex-VP Attacked

On March 7, a mob attacked the home of former Vice President Victor Hugo Cardenas. Attackers, who said they intended to claim the territory for a retirement home, assaulted Cardenas’ wife and children. The attack drew condemnation from UN and Bolivian officials. But the Democracy Center reports that criticisms of the attack from President Evo Morales and Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera also included comments implying fault on the part of the Cardenas family. Since the attack, the former vice president, considered a prominent Aymara intellectual, announced his intentions to face Morales in December’s presidential election.

Hispanics Face Job Growth Vulnerability

A new article in Poder magazine offers good and bad news: While Hispanics experienced higher rates of job growth from 2001 through 2007, they also faced relatively high poverty rates. The reason, say the article’s authors, is that Latinos saw their job growth occur in low-paying sectors. Moreover, while their homeownership rates increased, 28.6 percent of loans offered to Hispanics in 2007 were of the subprime variety.

The Best Methods for Teaching Young Immigrants

New York Times’ current “Room for Debate” features an online discussion about how to best help immigrant students at a time of rising academic standards. Early education experts (and readers in the comments section) offer their views.

Ortega May Join Club on Changing Term Limits

In an Al Jazeera interview, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega voiced support for a constitutional law change that would allow consecutive presidential terms. He indicated that he would also approve of a switch to a parliamentary system. “Now that [our party is] back in government, if those conditions permit, yes, I would run again for president. And if those conditions were not present, then yes, I would be fine serving as prime minister, and then running against for president,” he said in the interview.

Nicaraguan Town Profits from “White Lobster”—Dumped Cocaine

The San Francisco Chronicle reports about Bluefields, a coastal town in Nicaragua’s South Atlantic Autonomous Region, where sacks of cocaine regularly wash ashore. When smugglers carrying cocaine from Colombia to United States find themselves pursued by U.S. interdiction authorities, they dump their cargo. The sacks often float to Bluefield, which suffers from an 85 percent unemployment rate, but where the “cocaine business is reshaping the face of these Indian communities.”

Black Market Coffee: Smuggling from Honduras to Guatemala

Latin American Thought blog analyzes the reasons behind coffee smuggling from Honduras to Guatemala, where it’s packaged as Guatemalan coffee. Honduran coffee growers avoid the cost and bureaucracy of paying fideicomisos while taking advantage of the higher price tag associated with coffee from the neighboring country. Blogger Elliot Brockner recommends Tegucigalpa not only improve the process for selling coffee to authorities, but also work develop “brand Honduras.”

UN’s Ban, U.S. Prez Clinton Shine Light on Haiti

Former President Bill Clinton and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon made a trip to Haiti this week in hopes of bringing attention to the plight of a country hurt by hurricanes and political chaos.

Top Ten Tales of Travels in Latin America

Writing for the Guardian, The White Rock author Hugh Thompson offers up a top ten list of Latin American adventures.