The Lower Chamber of Mexico’s Congress voted to reform the country’s General Health Law on Tuesday, eliminating the sale of junk food in schools and requiring 30 minutes of daily exercise for students.  The law passed with 372 votes in favor and one abstention.

Congressman Rodrigo Reina Liceaga, of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional said legal reforms were only the first step toward confronting obesity, as child nutrition will only improve if families and parents cooperate.  Secretary of Health José Ángel Córdova pointed out a challenge for implementing the exercise requirement: 77 percent of Mexico’s public schools do not have patios or courts where children can exercise.

The measure passed just before the arrival in Mexico City of U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, who has campaigned for better children’s health with her “Let’s Move” initiative. Obama and Mexico’s first lady Margarita Zavala de Calderón first spoke of the shared challenges faced by their countries, child obesity among them, at the White House in February. 

In 2002, a study by the municipal government in Mexico City revealed that 30 percent of elementary school children and 45 percent of adolescents were overweight or obese, a problem that had barely existed 20 years before.

In late March, U.S. Ambassador to Colombia William Brownfield said the U.S. is close to signing bilateral military accords with two unspecified countries in Latin America. Brownfield did not specify whether military collaboration meant having troops on the ground or the provision of equipment and/or advisory services.

But this is an important difference.

In October 2009, following a failed attempt to keep the details secret, the U.S. and Colombia hastily announced a deal to expand the U.S. presence in Colombia in six bases for anti-narcotics purposes. This came one month prior to the closing of the base in Manta, Ecuador. The deal came to light when the now defunct Cambio magazine leaked details, forcing both countries to react quickly to the news. This announcement provoked varying degrees of anger and worry among regional neighbors.

Fearing a similar fate, the two unspecified countries have asked to keep their identity a secret, according to an interview with Brownfield published in El Espectador.

Laura Chinchilla, president-elect of Costa Rica, urged a quick return to the Organization of American States for Honduras, which was expelled following the June 2009 military ouster of Manuel Zelaya.  Chinchilla, who takes office on May 8, met with Honduran President Porfirio Lobo in Tegucigalpa on Monday during a three-day tour of Central America. 

The first woman to be elected president of Costa Rica also urged her fellow Central American leaders to support Honduras during a stop in San Salvador, El Salvador—hours before she arrived in in Tegucigalpa. She said it is especially important that the Inter-American Development Bank extends credit to Honduras.   

Lobo met with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who has yet to recognize Lobo's presidency, in Managua last Friday, to discuss reopening the stalled process of Central American integration.   A meeting in Guatemala City between Ortega and the presidents of Guatemala and El Salvador to discuss reincorporating Honduras into the Sistema de Integración Centroamericano, however, was postponed on Sunday because the leaders could not agree on the agenda.   

Chinchilla’s three-day Central America tour concludes today in Nicaragua. 

In preparation for today’s Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared it unacceptable that “some countries are allowed to be armed to the teeth while other are left unarmed.” The president also said in an interview with El País that he planned to ask tough questions about the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty signed by the U.S. and Russia.  Lula said he wanted to be clear on what exactly is being dismantled, stating that it makes no sense to deactivate weapons that may already be outdated.
 
Lula defended broader talks with Iran, a country not invited to the summit, stating it is crucial that “the Iranians know they can enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.” He said it is “understandable” that Iran would want to develop atomic weapons because it feels threatened by Pakistan and Israel.
 
Brazil is currently a member of the U.N. Security Council and opposes the imposition of sanctions on Iran.  Lula plans to make an official visit to Iran in May.

President Sebastián Piñera’s recent appointment of Chilean scholar Leonidas Montes as the chairman on Televisión Nacional (the national TV network) generated strong criticism due to a possible conflict of interests. President Piñera is the owner of Chilevisión (Chile’s second-largest TV network) and has been reluctant to sell despite complaints coming from the opposition.

Several opposition congressmen, headed by  Ramón Farías from Partido por la Democracia,  argue that the president should comply with Chile’s law 22.285 of probity and transparency, which states that “every public officer must make a declaration of interests including all companies they participate in.” Among other actions, they have asked the general comptroller to review the case and are preparing either an acusación constitucional (an attribution of congress to investigate and remove government officials) or an investigative commission. The opposition also claims that the nomination of the National Television Council will raise these same issues.

The nomination was made public during President Piñera’s is first international trip. From Argentina the president responded "only ghosts and saints lack conflicts of interest.”  Government’s  spokeswoman Ena Von Baer also declared that the opposition is “following the wrong track and the government hopes that moderate voices prevail over extreme views in the opposition.”

When it comes to Latin America, the Obama administration's change in tone from the early days of the last administration has been tremendously important. The emphasis on multilateralism has helped to salve long-standing wounds. The emphasis on broader social goals and the willingness to listen has echoed the growing demand to be listened to south of the border. And President Barack Obama's State of the Union shout out for free trade with Panama and Colombia has demonstrated that this administration will not jettison the best initiatives of President George W. Bush in the name of partisanship. All this is very welcome.

But still there's been a troubling sense of anachronism in this administration's rhetoric toward Latin America. Part of this reflects the understandable tendency to define things in regional generalities; but doing so tends to boil them down to retrograde platitudes. It obscures policymakers' sophisticated understanding of differences in the region--and the changes that have occurred in the last 10 years.

If the first 5 years of the Bush administration seemed like a replay of 1980s, with the Manichean obsession with our enemies, unabashed support for specific candidates and a loss of sense of scale--with an inordinate amount of attention devoted to Cuba, Nicaragua and El Salvador--today it's beginning to feel like we're partying like it's 1999. We're running out of retro.

Renowned Mexican journalist and writer Alma Guillermoprieto warned that the paper editions of Latin American newspapers may soon disappear if they don’t adapt to new multimedia tools.  Guillermoprieto, who is headlining a journalism workshop in Guadalajara, Mexico, this week, predicted that newspapers will continue but “supported by platforms that right now we don't even imagine will exist." The region’s newspapers face a “grave risk” and are in worse shape than North American or European ones partly due to their lack of credibility in the eyes of the general public, according to Guillermoprieto.

Her comments come at a time of increased concern about the future of newspapers. Last year was the industry’s worst, with advertising revenues falling $10 billion, or 27.2 percent, when compared with 2008. Some are now seeing new devices such as the iPad as possible saviors for the newspaper industry. Rupert Murdoch, owner of The Wall Street Journal commented yesterday that more iPad-like devices and less paper edition newspapers might be the way to save the industry.

For more on Alma Guillermoprieto, read her forthcoming article, “Poverty of Opportunity: Crime's Breeding Ground,” in the forthcoming Spring 2010 issue of Americas Quarterly. Guillermoprieto writes about the disconnect between Latin America's economic advances in the past two decades and the prospects and opportunities available for the region's youth. Her article will be published on May.

From the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. AS/COA Online's news brief examines the major—as well as some of the overlooked—events and stories occurring across the Americas. Check back every Wednesday for the weekly roundup.

Sign up to receive the Weekly Roundup via email.

Top U.S. Envoy Announces U.S.-Brazil Security Negotiations

During a stop in Ecuador as part of his tour of the Andes this week, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela confirmed that negotiations were taking place between the United States and Brazil on their first major bilateral security agreement since 1977. According to Brazilian press, the agreement would establish a joint anti-narcotics facility in Rio de Janeiro to monitor drug-trafficking and smuggling, and would be under Brazilian command.

Floods Claim over 100 Lives in Rio de Janeiro

Mudslides and flooding caused by heavy rains in Rio de Janeiro this week claimed at least 102 lives, according to Brazilian authorities. On April 6, 11 inches of rain flooded the streets of Rio and left nearly 1,200 people homeless and stranded. According to Rio’s Mayor Eduardo Paes, the rainfall was the heaviest in Rio in such a short period and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said it was “the greatest flooding in the history of Rio de Janeiro.” Experts say that a mixture of geographic and structural factors, including poor drainage, is responsible for the destruction. View an MSNBC slideshow of the flood.

President of Uruguay José Mujica met Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in the presidential palace this morning during his first official visit to Caracas. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro received Mujica on Tuesday afternoon. Luis Almagro, foreign minister of Uruguay, and Roberto Kreimerman, minister of industry, accompanied Mujica. 

Almagro said the two leaders planned to discuss the sale of crude petroleum to Uruguay as well as cooperation between the state Administración Nacional de Combustibles, Alcohol y Portland (Ancap) and Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa).  Raúl Sendic, future president of ANCAP, said the leaders would discuss the possibility of Venezuelan investment in a gasoline storage facility in the Nueva Palmira region. 

Mujica also sought to secure more business for Uruguayan exports during the trip.  Last year, Venezuela purchased $186 million of Uruguayan goods, mostly agricultural products, while Uruguay bought $520 million of Venezuelan oil. 

It took the deaths of two American citizens and the husband of a diplomatic employee—all tied to the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez—for the Obama administration to apparently take notice of Mexico’s drug problem. Still, it seems that even the rhetoric from Washington will limit itself as much as it can to address this crisis as long as the bloodshed continues to hit outside of U.S. national borders.

On March 14all the headlines focused on the targeting of U.S. Consulate employees in the border town of Ciudad Juarez, which has become one of the main stages for drug-related violence in the recent years. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was quick to respond to these attacks in an unusual address on a topic that had been left off the agenda until recently.

It seems that as long as the victims of drug-related violence did not carry U.S. passports, the Obama administration only cared enough to issue petty warnings to American tourists not to visit our country. Yet when Enriquez, Redelffs and Salcido were gunned down President Barack Obama told the world he was outraged and promised a quick response to the issue. Clinton said that “this is a responsibility we must shoulder together" and subsequently made an official visit to Mexico 10 days later. There, she met with key officials in Calderón’s administration to work on a joint solution to the problem.

Brazil’s government delayed the implementation of retaliatory tariffs on 102 U.S. goods until at least April 22, pending a revision of U.S. subsidies for cotton producers, the country’s foreign minister said Monday. The trade dispute started in 2002 when Brazil filed a complaint to the World Trade Organization claiming the subsidies gave U.S. producers an unfair advantage in world markets. 

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the two countries had reached a preliminary agreement in a statement released on April 6, the day before the sanctions would have gone into effect. 

The WTO first ruled that the U.S. subsidies were discriminatory in 2005 and again in 2008, and approved Brazil’s retaliatory measures in March. Brazil planned to adopt $591 million in annual penalties against the U.S. and withhold payment on intellectual property rights in retaliation. 

Carlos Cosendey, head of the Foreign Ministry’s economic department, said Brazil would suspend the implementation of the sanctions for another 60 days on April 22 if the U.S. changed the credit guarantee program for U.S. cotton exports, eased requirements for meat imports and committed $147 million a year to an assistance fund for Brazil’s cotton industry. 

Bolivian President Evo Morales’ Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) party secured modest victories in yesterday’s regional elections and won control of at least five of Bolivia’s nine departments, according to exit polls. Although official results will not be released for nearly three weeks, candidates from the MAS party have reportedly won clear statistical majorities in the traditional stronghold highland provinces of La Paz, Cochabamba, Oruro, and Potosí. The opposition, however, appears also to have maintained majorities in several key provinces. This means that the elections are unlikely to alter Bolivia’s political landscape.

Morales acknowledged some disappointments and challenged his opponents in resource-rich Eastern provinces like Santa Cruz to collaborate with the government, saying “the opposition should understand that this process of change is unstoppable.” Incumbent Santa Cruz Governor Ruben Costas framed his re-election win in starker terms, announcing that “the forces of democracy have defeated tyranny.”

Experts on Bolivian politics say yesterday’s results clearly prove that support for the Bolivian president’s policies remains high. However, the lack of any serious political opposition at the federal level poses its own challenges to Morales: “the real question now is whether the MAS will fragment—and whether Bolivia's politics will see battles within an all-powerful party that faces no clear or united opposition,” says the BBC’s Bolivia correspondent, Andres Schipani.

As international dignitaries gathered in New York last week to announce their nation’s pledges to relief efforts in Haiti, this outpouring of support could not alleviate concerns that donors might be growing tired of giving to Haiti.

With January’s earthquake now almost three months back in the rear-view mirror, an inevitable onset of donor fatigue seems to be emerging. Events such as the recent Health Care Reform debates have pushed Haiti off the front pages and off the all important top-ten trending topics list on twitter. As with recent natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, waning media interest usually translates to dwindling funding interest.

This issue was addressed in a post on the Haiti by Hand blog in February. Haiti by Hand, an artisan group of Haitian women founded by Rebecca Sower shortly before January’s earthquake, offers an interesting case study for the complex nature of donor mobilization as it pertains to Haiti. In addition to this Haitian women’s artisan collective, Haiti by Hand also organizes an etsy-group “to sell items donated by artists and crafters who want to help this group of Haitians rebuild and establish themselves after the devastation of the earthquakes.” So Haiti by Hand is at once an economic development project and a conduit through which people can offer aid, a dual-purpose underscored by the urgency of Sower’s appeal to the blog’s readers: “We cannot let [these women] down now just because the words "Haiti" and "help" are making us yawn.”

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is expected to arrive today for the first time to Caracas, where he has scheduled meetings with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Bolivian President Evo Morales. The agenda will focus on furthering their cooperation on energy, finance and defense, among other areas.

According to Venezuelan Vice President Elías Jaua the new agreements will “take integration with Russia to a whole new level.” Putin’s visit just days after the terrorist bombings appears to be a clear signal of the importance Moscow has assigned to its relations with Venezuela.

Venezuela recently became Russia’s main arms purchaser in Latin America, signing contracts for more than $4.4 billion worth of equipment since 2005. Reports indicate that  Chávez will announce the launch of a new joint venture between Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and a Russia energy consortium comprised of Rosneft, Lukoil, TNK-BP, Gazprom and Surgutneftegas.

Putin’s visit also comes less than two weeks after President Álvaro Colom became the first Guatemalan president to visit Russia.

Juan Aguiñaga, Ecuador’s under secretary for foreign affairs until last week, and two notaries were arrested yesterday afternoon on charges of operating a network to provide Cuban citizens with fraudulent Ecuadorian citizenship documents. According to an investigation carried out by Ecuador’s Transparency Council, at least 120 Cubans were close to obtaining the illegal documents.

Mr. Aguiñaga is accused of failing to verify both the two-year residency requirement and the Cubans’ relationships to the Ecuadorian citizens who sponsored their residency applications. Later investigations found that many Cuban citizens arrived only two months prior to filing for nationalization documents, which has prompted the prosecuting attorney to file charges of falsifying public documents.

According to the National Immigration agency, the arrival of Cubans to Ecuador has sharply increased in recent years. In 2009, the number of arrivals increased 147 percent to 27,114 people.

Brian Nichols, Ministro Consejero de la embajada de Estados Unidos en Colombia, habla en esta entrevista sobre lo que se espera de la relación entre la administración de Barack Obama y el mandatario de Colombia en la era post-Uribe. Continuación en las políticas de extradición y antidrogas. TLC, aún en vilo. (Esta entrevista fue originalmente publicada en el website de Votebien.com.)

En materia de política exterior, uno de los asuntos más importantes para Colombia es su relación con Estados Unidos. Durante los últimos ocho años, con el Presidente Álvaro Uribe como un claro aliado del gobierno de George Bush en la región, la política antidrogas se mantuvo a través del Plan Colombia, al igual que las extradiciones y hasta la cooperación judicial.

La entrada del gobierno de Barack Obama no dio un giro sustancial en esta relación bilateral pero sí aumentó la presión de los grupos demócratas para no firmar el TLC, en razón a las violaciones a derechos humanos y asesinatos de sindicalistas que suceden en el país.

¿Cambiarán estas relaciones con un nuevo gobierno en la era posturibe?, ¿Qué políticas le interesa a la administración de Barack Obama mantener? Votebien entrevistó sobre estos temas a Brian Nichols, quien desde 2007 es el Ministro Consejero de la embajada de Estados Unidos en Bogotá y el segundo al mando después del embajador William Brownfield.

La Corte Constitucional declaró inexequible el referendo que permitiría una segunda reelección del presidente Álvaro Uribe.  ¿Cómo recibió el Gobierno de Estados Unidos este fallo?

Brian Nichols: Para nosotros es una muestra muy clara de la fortaleza de las instituciones colombianas, y creo que la respuesta por parte del presidente Uribe de acatarse al fallo, significa que Colombia es un país maduro con instituciones maduras. El presidente Uribe demostró que él es un estadista que respeta la democracia y el Estado de Derecho.

From the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. AS/COA Online's news brief examines the major—as well as some of the overlooked—events and stories occurring across the Americas. Check back every Wednesday for the weekly roundup.

Sign up to receive the Weekly Roundup via email.

UN Hosts Donors Conference for Haiti

The United Nations plays host to an international donors conference at its headquarters in New York on March 31. UN Dispatch reports that reconstruction will cost the international community $11.5 billion and that the Oval office has requested $2.8 billion from U.S. Congress to support Haiti’s rebuilding efforts. More than a dozen countries are participating in the summit and are expected to raise $4.8 billion. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the UN’s envoy to Haiti, will co-chair a rebuilding commission along with Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is announcing a $1.15 billion pledge to Haiti to be disbursed over the next two years.

A new report by the International Crisis Group makes a series of recommendations with the goal of assuring Haiti’s political stability, particularly given that legislative elections were postponed in light of the January 12 disaster.

COA Vice President Eric Farnsworth writes in the March 2010 issue of Poder: “There is a significant opportunity in the wake of the earthquake to build Haiti into a modern, economically stable, environmentally sound nation.”

President Evo Morales signed a controversial law on Wednesday that seeks to hold former presidents and officials accountable for past acts of corruption. On Monday evening the Senate, now controlled by the Movimiento Al Socialismo, approved the measure, which allows for the retroactive prosecution of former government officials.  An opposition-controlled congress blocked a similar measure in 2006.

A number of former officials have left Bolivia since Morales took office in 2006. Guillermo Fortún, the former Acción Democrática Nacionalista candidate for mayor of La Paz, was the latest.  Fortún fled Bolivia to Santiago, Chile, on March 18. The current government seeks his testimony regarding the disappearance of $2.5 million during the second presidency of Hugo Banzer (1997-2000).

Three former presidents Carlos Mesa, Jorge Quiroga and Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé, who Morales accuses of illegally signing contracts with foreign energy companies while in office, have denounced the anti-corruption law, claiming it violates Bolivia’s constitution as well as international human rights treaties.

Americas Quarterly hosted its first online chat earlier today.  Focusing on Brazil, the conversation addressed the underlying conditions of and possible solutions to the digital divide—the exclusion of disadvantaged and minority populations from the opportunities brought by technology.  Paolo Rogério, author of The Digital Integrator in the Winter issue of AQ and founder of Brazil’s Instituto Mídia Étnica, and Evan Hansen, editor-in-chief of Wired.com, were featured panelists in the discussion.

The conversation yielded several conclusions.  Participants agreed on the importance of government regulation to encourage access to technology.  Pontos de Cultura, a government project that promotes access to technology in rural communities, for example, is considered a great success.  But LANhouses—private, informal arrangements that often function outside of legal and regulatory boundaries—provide many people with Internet access, and several groups are advocating for friendlier environments for such informal providers.  Hansen proposed a study examining the growth of LANhouses as related to national GDP.  Another conclusion reached was the need for education to accompany access to technology. The full discussion thread is available online.

AQ encourages readers to continue this conversation by posting comments below.

British company Desire Petroleum announced yesterday that the oil found in the British-controlled Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) 300 miles off the coast of Argentina, may be unviable. Shares in the company fell by nearly half when it released a statement saying that oil found in the Liz 14/19-1 well “…may be present in thin intervals but that reservoir quality is poor.”

The company started drilling last month, after estimating that there was potential for as much as 3.5 billion barrels of oil to be extracted. Exploration has fueled tensions between Argentina and Great Britain, which went to war over the islands in 1982. In February the Argentine government announced that it would require permits of all ships sailing between its shores and the Falkands.

Desire petroleum has said that it will release a full statement this week when exploration operations are complete.

Responding to a growing sense that the military-led fight against drug trafficking organizations has failed to curb violence across our southern border, the United States and Mexico formally announced a shift in their counter-narcotics strategy last week. The “new stage” in bilateral cooperation will aim to strengthen civilian law enforcement institutions and rebuild communities crippled by poverty and crime.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to Mexico City last Tuesday with a delegation that included the top U.S. military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, and top officials from the DEA, Justice Department, border security, and other agencies. Their visit marked the second high-level consultation meeting under the auspices of the Merida Initiative. (The meeting had been planned for months, but it took on greater urgency in the aftermath of the killing of three people—including two U.S. citizens—with ties to the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez.)

The meeting laid the foundations for the second phase of the Merida Initiative. The first phase, launched in 2008, was designed to spend $1.12 billion to battle organized crime in Mexico through the provision of military hardware and training for police officers, judges, prosecutors and public defenders. However, as turf war violence escalated across a string of border cities, the 45,000 troops deployed onto Mexico’s streets increasingly became the visible face of Calderón’s strategy—and frontloaded Merida with military assistance.

The Nicaraguan town of León has declared the U.S. Ambassador Robert Callahan persona non-grata, The Nica Times has reported.

The snub comes amid a tit-for-tat dispute between the U.S. Embassy and León, a colonial city in the northwestern part of the country. Nica Times editor Tim Rogers writes that earlier this week, the embassy failed to invite León Mayor Manuel Calderón to the unveiling of the newly constructed León-Ponoloya Highway, an important project that was funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

That's the same MCC that had cut aid projects in Nicaragua over suspected irregularities in the Central American country's November 2008 municipal elections. Questions about rigging the vote in favor of the Sandinistas, which sparked months of street violence and intimidation, have been at the heart of a nationwide scandal that prompted international aid donors to freeze much needed assistance to the country.

Brazilian President Lula da Silva today announced a $550 billion long-term infrastructure investment plan called the PAC II, which is the second installment of the government’s accelerated growth program. When combined with the $504 billion in budget allocations outlined by PAC I in 2007, Brazil’s targeted infrastructural investments should eventually total more than $1 trillion over a 10-year period.

The timing of today’s announcement was likely intended to coincide with the resignation of Dilma Rousseff—chief minister to President Lula da Silva and his chosen successor to the presidency—so that she can begin preparations to kick off her presidential campaign in July. Ms. Rousseff is expected to tout the PAC II investments as evidence that Lula's center-left government is rapidly improving Brazil’s dilapidated infrastructure and promoting robust economic growth.

The most probable centrist opposition candidate in Brazil’s October presidential elections, former health minister José Serra, who has been leading in local opinion polls, dismisses the program as government propaganda and points to widespread delays during the first phase of the program as evidence of its shortcomings.

A group of Chilean opposition senators headed by former secretary of state Andrés Zaldivar announced yesterday that they intend to launch an investigation into possible tax misconduct by newly elected President Piñera during his recent sale of LAN airlines. Critics allege that President Piñera avoided paying around $50 million in taxes by finding a buyer for his holding company Axxion (the owner of LAN) rather than selling his shares directly.

Those backing the investigation also question the impartiality of Julio Pereira, head of Chile’s national tax collection agency on the grounds that he was recently appointed by the same person he must now investigate.

These new allegations, coupled with other recent setbacks in appointing his cabinet members indicate that President Piñera post-election honeymoon may be exceptionally short-lived.

March 31: Join a live online discussion with one of Brazil’s leading civic experts, AQ author Paulo Rogério, and technology experts including Editor-in-Chief of Wired.com Evan Hansen on how to extend digital inclusion to minorities across the hemisphere. Find out more.

Varios hechos vergonzosos marcaron la jornada electoral del pasado 14 de marzo: Compra de votos en al menos ocho departamentos según denuncias de la Misión de Observación Electoral de la OEA; 28 senadores y 21 representantes a la Cámara elegidos pese a sus vínculos filiales o políticos con condenados por parapolítica e incluso muchos de ellos mismos con investigaciones en curso por diversos delitos; retardos en la entrega de resultados que significan que sólo hasta el 19 de julio sabremos como estará conformado oficialmente el Congreso (sí, un día antes de su posesión); cinco días en ascuas para conocer el candidato presidencial por el Partido Conservador que finalmente será Noemí Sanín; investigaciones abiertas a la firma UNE encargada del conteo de votos y hasta al mismo Registrador Carlos Ariel Sánchez por haber supuestamente ingerido licor el día de elecciones …

En Colombia hace rato que el término fiesta democrática se ha convertido en un eufemismo para significar que sin duda muchos hacen ‘fiesta’ el día de elecciones, pero entre los celebrantes no está ni el votante, ni mucho menos la democracia. Que un partido desconocido como el PIN (Partido de Integración Nacional) haya obtenido casi un millón de votos, colocando ocho senadores e igualando a fuerzas tradicionales como Cambio Radical y el Polo Democrático, que más allá de simpatías partidistas de izquierda o derecha, llevan años de trabajo parlamentario en el país, dice mucho de nuestras libertades electorales.

The 2010 World Cup may be just months away (June 11 kick-off), but futbol fanatics in Latin America can hardly wait.  Impatience is understandable. In Latin America, soccer is more than a sport; it is the sport. 

The World Cup generates a nationalist soccer fervor that brews for four years and culminates in a month-long frenzy. Infused with a sense of national pride and collective culture, people rally around their country’s flag, setting aside differences to support their team.  It is hard to believe a sports tournament could be a respite from some of the deep political and cultural rifts in Latin America, yet the World Cup always manages to unite people in a phenomenal way. 

Unfortunately, not every Latin American country can watch their team participate; the qualification round eliminated all but seven nations from the competition.  The seven qualified teams represent a broad spectrum of talent; Brazil, the region’s best team, ranks second in the world, while the weakest of the seven, Honduras, is number 34. 

How do the Latin American teams as a whole stack up against the other 25 teams, and what are the chances that one of them will hoist the golden trophy? 

Nine people were killed and 50 others wounded yesterday in a massive explosion in the port city of Buenaventura, 200 miles south of Bogota. The incident took place in front of the city’s municipal offices and that of the local district attorney. No group has yet officially taken credit for the attack, but government officials are blaming the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), an urban militia called Manuel Cepeda, and local drug bosses.

The apparent terrorist act came two days after FARC rebels allegedly burned seven trucks on the highway between Buenaventura and nearby Buga, effectively blocking the route for hours. These incidents have raised concerns among local authorities, who fear the attacks are part of a FARC strategy to raise its profile ahead of May’s presidential elections.

The bombing is the biggest in recent years in Colombia and can complicate ongoing negotiations between the government and the FARC to free two long-captive army officers.

From the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. AS/COA Online's news brief examines the major—as well as some of the overlooked—events and stories occurring across the Americas. Check back every Wednesday for the weekly roundup.

Sign up to receive the Weekly Roundup via email.

Shift on Drug War Strategy Stems from Clinton's Mexico Trip

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led a cabinet-level delegation to Mexico this week as part of bilateral efforts to make progress in the ongoing drug war that plagues the Mexican border region and Ciudad Juarez in particular. After the meeting, Clinton described a new approach that would fall under the umbrella of the $1.4-billion security pact known as the Merida Initiative and incorporates strengthening institutions and communities. “We are expanding the Merida Initiative beyond what it was traditionally considered to be, because it is not just about security,” said Clinton. “Yes, that is paramount, but it is also about institution building. It is about reaching out to and including communities and civil society, and working together to spur social and economic development.” The talks also resulted in renewed focus to target arms trafficking and money laundering.

Top U.S. Envoy to the Western Hemisphere: Engaging the Americas

In an exclusive blog post for Americas Quarterly, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela writes about new ways for Washington to engage the Western Hemisphere. The post covers regional security, strengthening democratic institutions, environmental protection, and bridging the inequality gap.

Mexican Senator María de los Ángeles Moreno of Mexico’s Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) party proposed on Tuesday the establishment of Mexico City as a “Federal City,” replacing the position of head of government with that of a mayor and 17 elected city council members. 

The constitutional modifications would give residents of the Federal District more voting power and increase the city’s autonomy, though its name and status as the nation’s capital would not change.  The City Legislative Assembly, for example, would approve Mexico City’s debt, rather than the National Congress.  Ángeles Moreno said the new mayor would be a more visible, authoritative position than the current head of government, similar to the mayors of New York, Madrid or Washington.  Her proposal would also divide the city into 20 municipal territories, rather than the current 16. The proposal is now being reviewed by the upper house’s Commission on Mexico City. 

While the legislature considered structural reforms for the city, several senior members of the Barack Obama administration, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, were also in the Mexican capital on Tuesday to unveil a $331 million plan focused on civilian police training as part of a new approach to U.S.-Mexican counter-narcotics strategy.

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner arrived at the Presidential Palace in Lima on Monday, becoming the first Argentine leader to visit Peru in 16 years.  The visit was meant to restore ties that were damaged during Peru’s five-week war with Ecuador in 1995, when Argentina sold arms to Ecuador despite being a mediator in the countries’ border dispute.

The president called her visit with Peruvian President Alan García, “a visit of institutional apology and historic reparation,” and the two leaders signed a Strategic Association bilateral agreement.  Fernández was scheduled to visit the Peruvian National Congress and meet with Lima Mayor Óscar Luis Castañeda Lossio on Tuesday.  

The Argentine president was accompanied on her trip by 140 representatives of Argentine businesses, who worked with their Peruvian counterparts to establish a bi-national business council with the goal of expanding economic cooperation between the two countries.  The Peruvian chapter will be led by Leslie Pierce Diez Canseco, general manager of Alicorp, with Franco Macri, president of the Macri group, heading the Argentine chapter.

(A fuller version of this article will appear in the forthcoming SIPA News magazine.)

The occasional explosion of violence between native born-French and Northern African immigrants or the recent riots between African immigrants and Italian citizens in Calabria, Italy remind us that immigration is not just a U.S. phenomenon.  (The violence also reminds us that for all the ugliness of U.S. public opinion or U.S. policy toward immigrants, the U.S.’s anti-immigrant backlash is relatively tame in comparison.)   The pull of labor markets and the desire to seek a better life remains strong across the world.

The problem is that the pull for jobs and the policy to facilitate immigration and integration do not always match.  Perhaps more problematic is that the principal engine for workers to cross borders (the businesses that employ them) remain largely unwilling confront the contradiction between need for and receptiveness to immigrants.  While they may attract them and admit they benefit from them, businesses are too often unwilling to defend immigrants and immigration.

Who Wants Immigrants?  Turns out most of us do.

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Global Migration Barometer¹, of the top ten countries ranked by their attractiveness and accessibility for migrants all but two are in English speaking (Australia, Canada, U.S., the UK, and New Zealand) or in Northern Europe (Sweden, Norway, Belgium.)  The outliers are Singapore and Hong Kong, both small economies that have actively sought to bolster their shallow workforce with the skills of immigrant workers.

President Álvaro Colom arrived in Moscow yesterday for a “historic” visit to the Russian capital that includes meetings with Russian President Dmitry Medvédev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Colom is the first Guatemalan president to visit Russia, and upon arrival, he declared that the visit demonstrates “an evolution in relations not only of Guatemala but of Central America” with their Russian counterparts.

Prior to meeting with the Russian president, Colom announced his intention to sign a declaration of cooperation with Russia. According to Guatemala’s ambassador, Arturo Duarte, the agreement will include plans to convene a meeting between the countries’ diplomacy schools and the creation of a bilateral commission to identify possible areas of economic cooperation in the energy and transportation sectors, as well as possible Russian investment in roads, ports and airports.

Russia has been working to build stronger relations with a number of Latin American countries in recent years and has become an increasingly important trading partner—particularly in military equipment—for the region.

The first months of 2010 have shown, in multiple and unexpected ways, the courage, resilience, and solidarity of the citizens of the Americas.  Faced first with a devastating earthquake in Haiti on January 12, the countries and people of the region rallied around a neighbor that had suffered a terrible tragedy.  The outpouring of support and feeling was as broad and spontaneous as if any other of our nations had been directly hit by the earthquake.  Then, on February 27, Chile was struck with an earthquake of historic proportions just two weeks before Chilean citizens inaugurated a new President.  When the Secretary met with then-President Bachelet, and then-President-elect Piñera on March 2, she spoke for our entire country when she expressed profound sorrow at the tragedy and the tremendous respect and admiration for the way the Chilean nation responded.

In my blog on March 13, I wrote about Secretary Clinton’s six country trip to the region.  It was a great honor to accompany the Secretary.  With each leader and citizen we met, our deep and personal engagement with our neighbors in the region was apparent.  Given how much is at stake in the western hemisphere right now, I was pleased to have the opportunity to  testify before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere on March 10—and share  with Members  of Congress my perspectives on our relationships with countries of the region and what we want to accomplish together.

I talked about efforts by the United States and the international community to build back Haiti, including the Haiti donors’ conference coming up on at the end of this month at the United Nations.  This includes the ministerial-level International Donors’ Conference that the United States, in cooperation with the Haitian government, will co-host on March 31, 2010 in New York at UN headquarters.  The conference “Towards a New Future for Haiti” has been in the works essentially since the hours after the earthquake hit.  We all knew that building back Haiti better would require enormous and sustained support from partners around the world.  Over the last eight weeks since the quake struck Port-au-Prince, international relief efforts on the ground have been incredible.  In spite of this, it’s clear that we still have a long way to go to provide the Haitian people with the living conditions, economic, and educational opportunities they deserve.  The March 31 conference is just one step in mobilizing the broad international support that the government and people of Haiti must have in order to realize their vision of a stronger, vibrant Haiti emerging from this tragedy.

Growing tensions between President Ortega and Nicaraguan opposition parties have effectively shut down the legislature. Today, for a second day in a row, the minimum number of lawmakers required to conduct business failed to show up at the national assembly.

The dispute arose following an executive decree, issued on January 9, which allows certain government officials to remain in office beyond their legally mandated terms.

The opposition contends that the Ortega’s decree is unconstitutional and will allow ten magistrates of the electoral council, four Supreme Court justices and five auditing officials, among others, to stay in office beyond the current fiscal year.

The president’s ruling Sandanista party and numerous opposition groups are blaming each other for this week’s setbacks and neither party is willing to assume responsibility for the shutdown. A recent spate of political disputes has continually jeopardized the work of Nicaragua’s legislature. So far this year, only four ordinary sessions have been held and only one law, four decrees and a single resolution have passed.

Chile’s lower house of Congress unanimously approved the bono marzo yesterday , an $80 unconditional cash transfer targeted at the four million low-income Chileans who represent the poorest 40 percent of the country. Passage of this measure was timed to coincide with the beginning of the school year. The bono marzo, which was one of President Piñera’s key campaign pledges, was expected to pass smoothly through the legislature, but has been closely watched for indications of how the new president will manage relations with lawmakers and his approach to governance.

Members of Piñera’s cabinet, who were present during the final vote, applauded the measure’s passage alongside Chile’s 116 congressional representatives. This image, however, contrasts sharply with unexpected high tensions that arose during debate on the bill, including an unexpected obstacle regarding leadership distribution in the legislature that jeopardized the bill’s passage until the final hour.

According to news reports, a dispute arose on Tuesday when the president’s ruling coalition—which now has a majority in the chamber—established a pact to quickly distribute congressional leadership positions for a number of commissions. The move agitated Concertación members, who argued for their right to participate in the process. Alianza (the ruling coalition), defended their decision in the name of efficiency. At one point, Concertación members walked out of the building and threatened to censure the head of the chamber for preventing their participation in the discussion.

The bill will now move to the Senate, where it is also expected to pass.