Weekly Roundup from Across the Americas

March 3, 2010

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.

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Leaders from Across Americas Reach out to Chile

In the days since an 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile claimed roughly 800 lives and devastated infrastructure, leaders from across the Western Hemisphere have rallied to show their support for relief efforts. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton each traveled to Chile in the wake of the disaster to pledge assistance. Peruvian President Alan García, who has not traveled to Chile in a year due to a maritime-boundary dispute, also visited to pledge humanitarian aid, saying: “We need to strengthen our fraternity, our closeness, and in these moments of need, work toward a true union of peoples.” Bolivian President Evo Morales announced that he will donate half his salary to Chilean and Haitian earthquake relief efforts. Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and Peru are among the countries sending crucial supplies, such as satellite phones, field hospitals, medical equipment, and blankets.

Access an AS/COA Online resource guide to the Chilean earthquake, with links to maps, images, and additional sources of information.

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Triunfó el estado de derecho con la no reelección de Uribe

March 2, 2010

La noticia más esperada del último año en Colombia, se conoció por fin el pasado viernes: Una abrumadora mayoría, 7 de los 9 magistrados de la Corte Constitucional, hundió el referendo que hubiera permitido al presidente Álvaro Uribe aspirar a una segunda reelección. Pese a que en los últimos días, algunas fuentes del alto tribunal habían filtrado información según la cual, triunfaría la ponencia negativa que frente al tema había expuesto el magistrado Humberto Sierra Porto, todas las cábalas eran impredecibles hasta el pronunciamiento oficial. Es más, el viernes en la mañana se vio al secretario jurídico de la Presidencia, Edmundo del Castillo, en los pasillos de la Sala Plena, un hecho que se interpretó como una jugada para intentar cambiar algunos votos de los magistrados. Pero finalmente el estado de derecho triunfó sobre el estado de opinión del que hiciera eco Uribe, para significar que eran las mayorías quienes aclamaban de él un tercer mandato y por eso era inevitable aprobar el proyecto.

No obstante, la Corte encontró como insalvables algunos vicios que sucedieron durante el trámite para convocarlo: La financiación de la recolección de firmas para la consulta, la discusión del tema en el legislativo sin contar con el aval de la Registraduría para el trámite; el cambio de la pregunta durante las plenarias, pues a la gente se le pidió en la calle apoyo para la reelección de Uribe en 2014; el transfuguismo de cinco congresistas de Cambio Radical que se fueron a la U para votar la conciliación del referendo; y la forma como se convocaron las sesiones extras en el legislativo en diciembre de 2008.

Una ponencia de 437 páginas dio fin a los sueños reeleccionistas de un presidente que movió toda la maquinaria para quedarse en el poder y que, resignado, se reunió el mismo sábado con dos candidatos que no sólo pretenden encarnar su legado de la seguridad democrática y la confianza inversionista, sino que en una segunda vuelta harían una coalición para que éste no se pierda: Andrés Felipe Arias y Juan Manuel Santos.

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Four Months Until Colombia’s Election: Is President Uribe Already Running?

January 21, 2010

It’s hard to believe that President Uribe won’t run for a third term after more than two years of keeping the country in political limbo. In yet another sign that he wants to be re-elected for a third term, he is now stopping the TV transmission of his weekly communal council meetings in towns across Colombia. This may yet be another signal that he does not want to have an unfair advantage over other candidates. Could his “soul” no longer be at the crossroads?

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Army Detains FARC Member Accused of Governor’s Murder

January 7, 2010

Colombian authorities announced yesterday the capture of Henry López Sarmiento, the accused mastermind behind the December 21, 2009, kidnapping and murder of Caquetá Governor Luis Francisco Cuéllar. Sarmiento, a member of the Teófilo Forero front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), was arrested while visiting family in Medellín.

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Desde Bogotá. Los alcances de la revolución bolivariana en Colombia

October 5, 2009

Intervencionismo o mediación. Según el espejo con que se mire, el papel del Presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez en la política doméstica colombiana, tiene tantos detractores y seguidores como en su propio país.

Su cercanía con las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC)—que según los computadores del extinto Raúl Reyes y miembros de la inteligencia colombiana incluye financiamiento y tráfico de armas para la guerrilla—ha causado que mientras Estados Unidos lo considera una figura desestabilizadora para la región, el gobierno colombiano de Álvaro Uribe haya tenido que aceptar a regañadientes sus buenos oficios para dialogar con el grupo insurgente y así lograr liberaciones de secuestrados.

No obstante, la necesidad de mantener relaciones diplomáticas con un vecino con el que se comercian más de 7.000 millones de dólares anuales y con el que se comparten 2.219 kilómetros (1,379 millas) de frontera—límites ,en donde dicho sea de paso, es innegable la presencia de grupos armados ilegales, contrabandistas, narcotraficantes y miles de refugiados expulsados por el conflicto—se ha dejado de priorizar recientemente por las atrevidas declaraciones de Chávez en lo que a la política nacional se refiere.

Luego de llamar a los colombianos “traidores” e invitarlos a sumarse a la “doctrina bolivariana”, Chávez fue denunciado ante la Organización de los Estados Americanos (OEA) por su “intervencionismo” e “injerencia” en asuntos internos. Sus declaraciones motivadas por el convenio firmado entre Estados Unidos y Colombia para la instalación de siete bases militares en el país, impulsaron a cuatro ciudadanos a convocar por las redes sociales Facebook y Twitter a una marcha contra el mandatario que finalmente se desarrolló en más de 100 ciudades del mundo con miles de participantes vestidos de blanco que gritaban al unísono "Chávez, Colombia no te teme" y "¿Por qué no te callas?".

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Colombia's Internally Displaced: Out of Tercer Milenio Park, Problems Remain

October 1, 2009

A giant park in the center of Colombia’s capital city has come to symbolize the ongoing struggles of the nation’s internally displaced people.  For more than four months, Bogotá’s Tercer Milenio Park was the de facto squatting grounds for over 1,000 families who left their homes because of internal violence, land seizures and overall insecurity throughout Colombia. 

On September 9, the Bogotá Institute of Sport and Recreation (IDRD) announced a $200 million plan to restore the park, hoping to transform what resembled a refugee camp into a space that could be enjoyed by the public. The IDRD plan is the final chapter of a back-and-forth saga between the government and representatives of the displaced people in Tercer Milenio Park, under the mediation of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

After rounds of negotiations in late July and early August, representatives from the government and leaders of the displaced communities in the park agreed that 1,250 families would move in exchange for humanitarian aid, $493 per family (COL$ 945,000 pesos), sustainable work, safety, the right to dignified living, and relocation to the countryside should they wish to return.

By late August,  when the government hadn’t lived up to its end of the bargain, the same communities threatened to re-occupy the park. Tensions eventually cooled, and according to UNHCR, the government should be ready to dispense funds and provide aid by the end of this month. 

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Desde Bogotá. Una nueva generación política irrumpe en Colombia

August 27, 2009

La estrategia parece calcada de hace cuatro años. El presidente Álvaro Uribe mueve toda la maquinaria de los partidos uribistas para que propongan la reelección sin que la iniciativa parezca suya, permanece callado, deja caldear el ambiente político y luego aparece para dar la estocada final, ahora con un nuevo término: el estado de opinión.

Uribe confirmó este mes que se lanzaría por tercera vez a ocupar el sillón presidencial si el legislativo aprueba un referendo que permite reformar de nuevo la Constitución y que, como iniciativa popular, contó con el respaldo de cinco millones de firmas ciudadanas. El estado de opinión sería en las palabras del mandatario, “la fase superior del Estado de Derecho” en la que los gobernantes se deben someter al escrutinio de la opinión pública.

Con un 60 por ciento de futuros votantes que lo reelegirían (menos que la anterior reelección pero suficientes para ganar en primera vuelta), el presidente se respalda en una aceptación de su política de seguridad democrática, cuya continuidad solo se garantizaría en su persona. No pocos concuerdan con la idea de que el fortalecimiento de las Fuerzas Armadas y el pulso firme contra la guerrilla que eligió esta administración, es el camino indicado para sacar al país del conflicto, al contrario de los frustrantes procesos de paz del pasado. Pero aún con los éxitos que Uribe ha mostrado en la lucha contra las las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia—FARC (tres miembros del secretariado muertos, la liberación de 15 rehenes entre ellos Ingrid Betancourt y la reducción en el secuestro en un 88%), analistas estiman que la perpetuación en el poder es dañina como lo fue en su momento el intento de Alberto Fujimori por un tercer mandato en Perú, y como lo es en Venezuela la insistencia de Hugo Chávez de regir los destinos de su país, por ahora hasta 2013. El mismo Uribe dijo en un foro organizado por la revista The Economist que veía inconveniente la reelección “por perpetuar al Presidente” y “porque el país tiene muchos buenos líderes".

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U.S.-Colombia Military Deal Causes Controversy… Still

August 17, 2009

Even now that Bogotá and Washington concluded their talks over the U.S.-Colombian military deal on Friday, questions linger over how and why it sparked so much controversy.  The general consensus—even by the Pentagon’s own admission—is that Bogotá and Washington mangled the public message. 

Now that more details are coming out about the deal, it’s clear that it didn’t need to be such a lightening rod. And even if it did, why did the U.S. allow Colombian President Álvaro Uribe to twist in the wind?

The core of the deal is to grant the U.S. access to seven of Colombia’s military bases (five air and two naval) to help build up Colombia’s current assets and capability (particularly on surveillance and intelligence gathering). The deal seeks to “provide to the Colombians that what they need in order to continue to prosecute their efforts against the internal threats that they have,” as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine General James E. Cartwright said at a Pentagon briefing on August 13, 2009.

This is NOT about increasing the ceiling for U.S. personnel in Colombia, or in South America. 

Under current law, the U.S. cannot have more than 800 military and 600 contract personnel in Colombia. Last year, there were only 71 military personnel and some 400 contractors in Colombia.  More importantly, the U.S. Congress has little appetite to increase the number of U.S. troops stationed there. 

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Uribe on Regional Tour to Explain Military Pact

August 5, 2009

On Tuesday, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe began a tour of seven Latin American countries to talk to leaders uneasy about a new U.S.-Colombia military pact that grants the United States access to seven military bases and is expected to increase the number of U.S. troops on Colombian soil. His meetings come ahead of an August 10 gathering in Ecuador of the Union of South American Nations, which Uribe will not attend.

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Vargas Launches his Bid for Colombia's Presidency

July 3, 2009

A new hopeful has joined the presidential race in Colombia. Germán Vargas, 47, the former leader of the center-right Radical Change party last week officially launched his long expected bid to become Colombia’s next president in 2010.

A lawyer, veteran political mover and shaker and former senator, Vargas has stood faithfully by President Álvaro Uribe over the years. He led a successful coalition that helped bring Uribe first to power in 2002, and then backed his reelection. But this time around, Vargas won’t be supporting a possible third Uribe reelection.

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Latin America Comes Calling - Uribe and Bachelet Visit Washington

June 29, 2009

President Álvaro Uribe of Colombia comes back to Washington today—his 13th time here since being elected in 2002—to meet with President Obama following their face-to-face meeting at the April Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. It’s an opportunity to set an agenda looking ahead across the broad range of issues confronting both nations. The pending trade agreement will be discussed, but with Uribe already planning a return trip to Washington in September specifically to lobby, the agenda for the meeting today will be broader, including, no doubt, a joint statement on Honduras.

That’s important, because Colombia has been willfully misrepresented by trade opponents and their allies in Washington as a human rights wasteland. On top of that, for the past several years U.S. policy has been characterized as one dimensional and as supporting a president who his opponents claim is a quasi-autocrat with caudillo, or strong-armed, tendencies, and who, for good measure, was too close to an unpopular U.S. president. The meeting today, together with their discussions in April, will show again that the Colombian president is a serious, thoughtful leader. It will also emphasize that the bilateral agenda with Colombia goes well beyond passage of one agreement, as important as that is, and that the U.S.-Colombia relationship is strong and enduring. 

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To Run or Not to Run – Is that Even a Question with Uribe?

May 26, 2009

Here in Washington discussion about Colombia generally revolves around the free-trade agreement (FTA). Will Obama really push Democrats in Congress to approve it?

And now that the Colombian Senate this week approved a referendum on whether to change the constitution to eliminate a ban on a third presidential term, the topic du jour has shifted: Will President Álvaro Uribe run?  And what does that mean for the FTA?

Wait. Haven’t we recently heard this story before from another Andean country? 

Oh right. We have, but now we’re talking about Colombia—one of the United States’ best allies in South America—and about its popular president, now in the middle of his second, charmed term. And, he only got that second term through a constitutional amendment in 2006.

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