Hispanic Candidate Challenges Legislator Behind SB1070

September 1, 2010

The race for the seat of Arizona state senate Republican Russell Pearce, a key sponsor of the controversial immigration law SB1070, is heating up.  His newest opponent, Andrea Garcia, is a Latino woman running on the Libertarian Party ticket who is basing her campaign to unseat Pearce on his support of the controversial law. “My goal is to get Pearce out of the legislature. I believe the approval of state law SB1070 shows the damage his ideas can cause our communities,” says Garcia.

Support for and opposition to SB1070 has become a major issue in this year’s state-wide elections in Arizona and has proven a polarizing topic pitting mostly Republican supporters of the law against all opponents, especially Democrats. However, by many indications, support for the law has helped candidates around the state including Governor Jan Brewer, who won the Republican primary with nearly 82 percent of votes cast. She now faces Democratic challenger Terry Goddard over whom she holds a significant lead.

Garcia faces a formidable incumbent opponent with substantial financial backing and appears to understand that victory is a long shot. She says, however, “I hope that when [voters] realize that SB1070 has really done nothing to prevent undocumented immigration and that, on the contrary, it is hurting our communities, these people will change their minds.”

State-led immigration enforcement has also been an important campaign topic in state elections in Minnesota, California, Florida, and elsewhere.

0 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

Brother of Slain Mexican Gubernatorial Candidate to Run in his Place

June 30, 2010

Following the assassination of Rodolfo Torre Cantú, the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) candidate for governor of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas on Monday morning, the PRI national committee chose his brother, Egidio Torre Cantú, today as his replacement on the ballot for this Sunday’s elections.  His selection was approved by the PRI committee based on “his honesty and social acceptance, ideological convictions and the work he has done on behalf of the party.” 

Egidio Torre Cantú is a civil engineer and previously held public office from September 2000 to December 2001 as mayor of Ciudad Victoria.  However, his candidacy has also raised some controversy as he is also the owner of a company which has received public contracts valued at 166.5 million pesos (US$13 million) since 2005. Those contracts were awarded by the current governor, Eugenio Hernández, also a member of the PRI, raising allegations of favoritism in Egidio’s selection as substitute candidate.  The current administration claims no wrongdoing or favoritism in awarding Mr. Cantú’s company, Servicios de Ingeniería Tohesa, the contracts, which were awarded through both non-competitive and competitive bids.  Further debate will decide whether Mr. Cantú’s election might violate laws governing public servants and their private enterprises. 

At the time of his assassination, Rodolfo Torre Cantú was expected to win this Sunday’s elections.  The assassination, blamed on hitmen affiliated with the drug cartels of the border state, follows the murder of the mayor of Guadalupe, Jesús Manuel Lara Rodríguez, just over a week ago, also attributed to narco-traffickers.

0 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

Uribe Wins High Approval Ratings, Presidential Race Tightens

May 20, 2010

According to a poll released today in Bogotá, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe boasts higher favorability ratings than any of the candidates competing for votes in the May 30 presidential elections. Although Mr. Uribe’s 73.7 percent approval rating is a historic high for a sitting president in Colombia, a February Supreme Court decision barred him from seeking a third term in office.

The presidential contenders also earned favorable reviews: 68 percent of poll respondents gave a favorable opinion of Antanas Mockus, who is the Green Party candidate and a former mayor of Bogotá. Partida de la U candidate Juan Manuel Santos earned a 59.4 percent favorability rating, followed by Conservative Party candidate Noemí Sanín with 58.2 percent.

A second poll released today, commissioned by 14 Colombian newspapers, shows a tight race between Mockus and Santos. Santos’s two percent lead is an improvement since late April, when polls showed Mockus surging ahead. If neither candidate receives 50 percent of the vote on May 30, the two biggest vote-getters will face each other in a runoff election on June 20.

0 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

Weekly Roundup from Across the Americas

April 7, 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.

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.

Read More

0 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

Weekly Roundup from Across the Americas

December 16, 2009

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.

Immigration Reform Debate Revived with New House Bill

Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) introduced, with the backing of nearly two-dozen lawmakers, a new comprehensive immigration reform bill on December 15. The proposed legislation represents the first immigration bill submitted since 2007 reform attempts fell apart. “We have waited patiently for a workable solution to our immigration crisis to be taken up by this Congress and our president,” said Gutierrez in a press release. “The time for waiting is over.”

In a new AQ blog post, AS/COA Director of Policy Jason Marczak reports on the new bill and looks ahead to an anticipated Senate version expected early in the new year. “[W]hile [Gutierrez’s] legislation is unlikely to be the bill that ultimately passes, it puts pressure on Congress and the Obama administration to step up their efforts at finding a workable solution to one of the United States’ most challenging domestic issues,” writes Marczak.

Read More

0 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

Las elecciones presidenciales en Uruguay este fin de semana: El país después de Tabaré Vázquez

October 22, 2009

Desde Buenos Aires estamos viviendo con mucha intensidad los procesos electorales de nuestros vecinos. Hace un tiempo, escribí sobre algo de lo que está pasando en Chile. Ahora es el turno de Uruguay, aunque debo confesar que no me produce el mismo grado de entusiasmo. A diferencia de lo que ocurre en Chile, donde los personajes de siempre se enfrentan a opciones más novedosas, en Uruguay encontramos viejos conocidos como principales candidatos.

Este domingo (25 de octubre), Uruguay tendrá sus elecciones para definir quién reemplazará al Presidente Tabaré Vázquez. La coalición de gobierno, el Frente Amplio, lleva como candidato al viejo dirigente tupamaro José Mujica, quien seguramente recibirá la mayor cantidad de votos. El candidato del Partido Nacional, el ex-Presidente Luís Lacalle, muy crítico del gobierno del Presidente Vázquez, será el que ocupe el segundo lugar. En un tercer lugar, probablemente sin chances, llegará el candidato del Partido Colorado, Pedro Bordaberry.

El Presidente Vázquez fue un gobernante exitoso que supo administrar y liderar una coalición compleja. El ha despertado entusiasmo dentro y fuera de Uruguay porque fue un presidente moderno, que aprovechó la coyuntura local e internacional con pragmatismo y prudencia. Su figura representó el cambio y su gobierno será recordado incluso por acciones innovadoras que son ejemplos para el mundo como el Plan Ceibal. ¿Pero qué pasará después?

Read More

0 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

Laura Chinchilla with Wide Margin Six Months Ahead of Costa Rica's Elections

September 2, 2009

If Costa Rica were to go to the polls today voters would elect the country’s first female to the government’s highest office, says the latest CID-Gallup poll.

Laura Chinchilla, the ruling Partido Liberación Nacional's (PLN) candidate who stepped down from her post as vice president last fall to begin a race to the February 2010 presidential election, enjoys 43 percent of voter support. That’s 17 percentage points over her closest rival, Ottón Solís, who became known for his opposition to the free-trade agreement with the U.S. (DR-CAFTA) that Chinchilla’s boss, President Oscar Arias, fought to push forward. The founder of the Partido de Acción Ciudadana party, Solís lost by a hair to Arias in the 2006 vote.

Read More

0 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

Political Upheaval in Honduras: Elections will Help, but Not Cure the Problem

July 23, 2009

Authors: Daniel Altschuler and Javier Corrales

Despite the recent military coup against Manuel Zelaya, Hondurans will most likely elect their next president by the end of 2009. This might end the crisis that led to the coup. But elections will not fix all of Honduras’ political ills. Honduras must also address the decline in the quality of democracy that predates the current crisis, or else it will remain dangerously susceptible to more breakdowns.

On the surface, Honduras prior to this crisis appeared to have moved steadily toward strengthening democracy. From 1982 to 2008, Honduras held seven consecutive civilian elections followed by uninterrupted presidential terms. Honduras also seemed to have tamed its military by the mid-1990s, as civilian leaders had reined in military spending and the military’s political veto power.

The current crisis in Honduras is a stark reminder that democracy entails more than free and fair elections and a military that answers to civilian authority—crucial as these may be. Democracies must also expand the rule of law, citizens’ access to the justice system, state guarantees of civil and political rights, and protections for political minorities. These added aspects of democracy help democracy deliver positive development outcomes and ensure citizens’ political satisfaction. In Honduras, these added aspects were faltering prior to the recent constitutional crisis.

The immediate cause of the June coup was clearly the inability of democratic institutions to rein in a president who was violating the law. The military compounded the problem by expelling the president. But the longer-term problem was a decline in the quality of democracy, which was hampering the political system’s ability to protect citizens and spread prosperity. Poverty remains rampant, corruption pervasive, and crime has gotten worse. In addition, inequality in this vastly unequal society increased during several years in the last decade. And in surveys we have conducted in rural areas, people often report feeling abandoned by an incapable or absent state.

Read More

2 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas

July 15, 2009

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.

Mediated Talks on Honduras to Resume; Zelaya Calls for Insurrection

Talks between the deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and the interim government ended in Costa Rica with little progress on July 10. Since then, Costa Rican President Óscar Arias announced talks would resume later this week and Zelaya said that, should he not gain reinstatement this weekend, he would consider the dialogue a failure. He also called on Hondurans to engage in an insurrection.

The Christian Science Monitor interviewed COA's Eric Farnsworth, who described the call for an uprising as "a colossal mistake." Moreover, in a debate on a National Jounal Experts blog, Farnsworth writes: “The real story is not the overthrow of Zelaya in Honduras…[but] where the hemisphere itself has been as nation after nation has elected leaders who then use the institutions of democracy to attempt to perpetuate themselves in power.”

The Wall Street Journal puts the Honduran crisis in context in a multimedia look at the history of caudillos. Considering both sides of the coup, the main article states: “In the eyes of the international community Roberto Micheletti took charge through an old-fashioned coup,” but “In Mr. Micheletti’s take on the events, it was his government who avoided another, slow-motion coup by Mr. Zelaya himself.”

Read More

0 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

Mexico's PRI party Wins Big in Mid-Term Elections – What this Means for President Calderón

July 6, 2009

Yesterday’s mid-term legislative elections in Mexico—where 500 federal deputies, six governors and city mayors in a number of municipalities were up for grabs—had one clear result: President Felipe Calderón and his party (National Action Party – PAN) lost influence. This was welcome news for the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s (PRI) old and new guard.

Preliminary results show that the PRI, along with their allies for nine years, the Green Party, will have an absolute majority. Together, they will likely hold around 252 of the 500 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Calderón’s party is expected to keep around 146 seats, and the rest will be divided among the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) and smaller parties.

Governor races confirm this trend. At least three of the six states will go to the PRI.

Read More

1 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

Keiko Fujimori Leads among Peru's Presidential Hopefuls

June 23, 2009

Peru’s 2011 presidential election seems far off, but polling has already begun and Keiko Fujimori sits atop the leader board. Former President Alberto Fujimori’s daughter, a congresswoman in the Alliance for the Future Party, is the favorite likely candidate with the support of 22 percent of Peruvian voters. The poll was released yesterday by Ipsos APOYO, and is the result of 1,000 interviews conducted in 16 cities. Ollanta Humala, a 2006 presidential candidate, trails Ms. Fujimori by seven percentage points, and former President Alejandro Toledo (2001 to 2006) trails by ten points.

Ms. Fujimori’s ascension to national politics has sparked considerable controversy among opponents of her father, who is currently serving a 25-year sentence for human rights-related crimes committed during his tenure (1990 to 2000).  In the past, Congresswoman Fujimori has stated that she would pardon her father if she wins the presidency, though she now appears less fully committed, saying she would not currently make a final decision about it. Also problematic for her presidential race are reports of financial ties to reviled spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos.

0 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

Nicaraguans Lose $62 Million in Assistance as Ortega Stands Firm in Defending Flawed Elections

June 18, 2009

Eight months later, the consequences of last November’s municipal elections continue to reverberate throughout Nicaragua. Now the latest victim is not the legitimacy of the democratic process but Nicaraguan citizens. And the government of Nicaragua is to blame.

Last week, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)—a U.S. government entity established in 2004 that ties aid to good governance, economic freedom and investments in people—announced that it would cut $62 million in aid to Nicaragua. This money, suspended a few weeks after the municipal elections, was part of a five-year, $175 million agreement (or compact) that was signed with the Nicaraguan government in July 2005.

The reason? MCC assistance only goes to “governments who are governing justly,” and according to MCC Acting Chief Executive Officer Rodney Bent, Nicaragua has not shown “meaningful reforms or progress” in this area. The MCC had been looking for the government of President Daniel Ortega to address the voting irregularities that helped his Sandinista candidates win the mayorship of Managua, and the country’s second city, León. In Managua, Alexis Arguello defeated Eduardo Montealegre (Ortega’s challenger in the 2006 presidential election) amid accusations of voter identity fraud and suspicious polling station tallies. For the first time in 20 years, independent observers were barred from monitoring the election.

Read More

3 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas

June 3, 2009

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.

OAS on Overturning 1962 Rule Suspending Cuba

Ecuador’s Minister of Foreign Relations Fander Falconí told journalists Wednesday that the ministers at the OAS General Assembly have agreed to overturn a 1962 decision that expelled Cuba from the organization. Falconi said that Cuba’s suspension will be lifted as a result of a new proposal that eliminates conditions for Cuba to rejoin. This came after the first day of the assembly ended with no consensus about allowing Cuba to rejoin the organization. U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton insisted that Cuba must show clear steps towards addressing human rights and political freedom before the island can be allowed to rejoin.

Despite the United States opposing proposals to allow the readmission of Cuba without the country meeting certain democratic standards, signs of a U.S.-Cuba thaw continue. On May 30, the head of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington Jorge Bolaños officially accepted on behalf of Havana the U.S. proposal to resume high-level talks on legal immigration. Talks will also cover bilateral cooperation on drug trafficking, terrorism, disaster readiness, and resuming regular mail services.

Financial Times takes a look at how some members of the U.S. Senate hope to block easing of restrictions in U.S.-Cuba relations. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) suggested at COA’s Washington Conference that the United States should reexamine its funding for the OAS if the agency allows Cuba to rejoin.

Read More

0 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas

May 6, 2009

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.

H1N1 Scare Shows Signs of Ebbing

More than a week after a global swine flu scare, some are sounding notes of cautious optimism. Speaking on Sunday’s Meet the Press, the Center for Disease Control’s Acting Director Dr. Richard Besser spoke of “encouraging signs.” He suggested that deaths related to the disease in Mexico may be related to the widespread nature of the disease there. Still, the optimism has also been tempered with caution. As The Economist notes, the World Health Organization’s Margaret Chan warned that, even though H1N1 could subside in the near future, the world must be prepared in the case that it returns.

Stratfor offers an analysis of how and why panic spread about H1N1.

Read More

0 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

Panama’s Election this Weekend Opens the Door for Free Trade

April 30, 2009

Panamanians go to the polls on Sunday to elect their next president.  Knowledgeable observers including Jaime Daremblum predict that supermarket magnet Ricardo Martinelli will win the election, his primary opposition, Housing Minister Balbina Herrera, being far behind in the polls.

Martinelli is well versed in politics as well as in business, having served as Minister of Canal Affairs and as board chairman of the authority that oversees management of the Canal.  His tenure was notable for its lack of drama.  When the Canal officially reverted to Panama in 1999 under the terms of the Panama Canal Treaties signed with the United States, numerous observers predicted that the Panamanians would either run their most important asset into the ground within a matter of months, or they would turn it over to the Chinese.

Well, neither prediction came to pass over the past 10 years, nor has the prediction that Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez would be able to underwrite the Herrera campaign and exercise undue influence over the incoming government as he has long sought to do elsewhere in Central America.  Panama is not Nicaragua, nor is it Bolivia.  Nor is it Colombia or Costa Rica, for that matter.  In fact, since the country’s founding in 1903, Panamanians have repeatedly shown a knack for independent actions that have routinely confounded their critics.

Read More

1 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas

April 29, 2009

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.

Swine Flu Strikes

An outbreak of Type A/H1N1 influenza in Mexico has rung alarm bells around the world over the possibility of a swine flu pandemic. More than 150 people have died in Mexico, there has been one fatality in the United States, and cases have been confirmed in seven other countries. BBC offers multimedia coverage of the outbreak, including maps and country-by-country updates on cases and precautionary measures taken. The World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention are seeking out answers about the disease and the “rapidly evolving situation.” Much remains unknown, with arguably the most nagging question being why death rates have been so high in Mexico while cases appear to be milder in other countries.

Read More

7 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

From Quito: Reactions to Rafael Correa's Re-Election

April 29, 2009

I was a little taken aback last week when I told a high-minded Peruvian journalist I would be traveling to Quito to cover the presidential elections. Correa! she said, eyes alight, eyebrows waggling, her elbow giving me a knowing dig in the ribs.

I might have written this off as a case of sensory deprivation brought on by years of covering the none-too-pretty underbelly of Limeño politics, were it not for the groupies at Rafael Correa’s final Quito campaign rally this week. Starry-eyed, perfectly coiffed, with heavy eyeliner—and I think in one case, false eyelashes—they jostled for position at the barricades demanding to know when El Presidente would be there. Granted this was a political rally, and flag-waving, chanting and fist-waving are par for the course. But there is no denying the man has charisma.

And for now, it seems, he has the trust of the people. Correa’s closest rival, Lucio Gutiérrez, the former president ousted in 2005, outpaced expectations. But even so he raised the possibility of fraud. Exit polls, though, still show the president with a convincing margin of victory.

Read More

0 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

Daily Focus: Despite Corruption Charges, Former-President Calderon Announces Candidacy in Costa Rica

April 29, 2009

Former Costa Rican President Rafael Calderón (90-94) has formally announced his candidacy in the 2010 presidential elections. He will represent Costa Rica’s Unidad Social Cristiana.

His announcement was met with little surprise; rumors that Calderón was seeking his former office were numerous. Complicating his bid, however, are corruption charges from 2004, which landed him briefly in jail, and his ongoing trial—which has dragged on for years.

0 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

Daily Focus: Uribe 2010

April 23, 2009

Colombia's President Álvaro Uribe can't seem to decide if he's going to run for a third term.  His most recent pronouncement, following a conversation with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, is that he is "convincing his soul" not to run for re-election and that he considers the issue a "personal dillema."

In January, it was reported that the president would not run again. But by March, he began clearing the way for a constitutional reform. Earlier this month, he took those moves further.  But now, he appears to be wavering again.  For Uribe to run again, he would have to push for yet another amendment that would require approval from the Senate, the Constitutional Court and the Colombian people. Let's see which way the winds will blow come May.

1 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

Weekly News Roundup from Across the Americas

April 22, 2009

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 get the Weekly Roundup in your email box each Wednesday.

After the Summit

The Summit of the Americas took place over the weekend, featuring high-profile handshakes, star treatment of U.S. President Barack Obama, and much discussion of an absent Cuba. The summit concluded without unanimity on the declaration, but ended with “hope,” said Barbados’ Caribbean360. Voice of America reports that the summit gave Washington a “fresh start” with the 33 other countries in attendance. The Miami Herald asks readers to consider “the genuine progress that was achieved in healing the breach between the United States and its neighbors.”

Read More

0 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

Presidential Term Limits: Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega Seeking Constitutional Changes

April 21, 2009

Whether term limits are essential for democracy is a matter of opinion. Whether certain Latin American politicians are pushing that debate front and center is not a matter of debate.

Recent constitutional assemblies in Ecuador and Bolivia have limited presidential re-election to two terms. In Venezuela, voters cast ballots in a February 15 referendum promoted by President Hugo Chávez to allow unlimited re-election for all elected offices (it was approved), and in Colombia, President Álvaro Uribe continues to keep people guessing as to whether he’ll seek constitutional changes to allow a potential third term.

The latest to follow suit is Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who announced in February his intentions for constitutional reform. Nefarious motives have been attributed by publications such as The Economist, which interpreted the move as a power grab between Ortega and his partner in crime, former President Arnoldo Alemán.

Read More

0 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

El Salvadoran President-Elect Mauricio Funes to Travel with VP Biden to Costa Rica (Or why this isn't El Salvador Retro 1980s)

March 25, 2009

On both the left and the right a lot has been made of Mauricio Funes’ victory in the March 15 presidential elections in El Salvador. Those on the left say this is yet another vindication of the failure of the neo-liberal model—another in a string of left-leaning leaders that have come to power through the ballot box. On the right, observers see this as a sign that the 1980s sky is falling—the nemesis of the Reagan administration now occupies the presidential palace.

Truth is, quite frankly, it’s neither. This isn’t the outsider politics of recent memory. First, let’s take a close look at who the candidate is and the evidence of the FMLN’s evolution. First, Funes. The man, an outsider to his party, is hardly a firebrand revolutionary. The former TV journalist is not the camouflage-wearing, bush-trained guerrilla of the FMLN past. Nor for that matter does he fit the pattern of the other outsider candidates that some want to equate him with. He’s not a former military officer (either official or out of the bush) like President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela; he’s not a political newbie, academic like Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa; he’s not a full-time provocateur/protester like Bolivian President Evo Morales; and he’s not a career, unrepentant revolutionary (and accused child molester) like Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. (And full disclosure, I don’t believe necessarily that Correa or Morales are as radical as the others. While their career trajectory has been unorthodox, they represent the dysfunctionality of the party systems that preceded them, more than a hard ideological turn one way or the other.)

Funes on the other hand is a professional; a polished politician who preaches moderation. Immediately after the election he called for moderation and reconciliation. His slogan. “a safe change,” is positively Obama-esque.

Read More

1 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink

How Did Immigrant-Related Ballot Measures Fare on Tuesday?

November 6, 2008

The 2008 election results gave a decisive victory to the Democrats. At last count, President-elect Obama had 364 electoral votes to Sen. John McCain’s 163 and won by the popular vote by 7 percent. The Democrats also picked up six Senate seats (Alaska, Georgia and Minnesota have yet to be called) and at least 18 House seats. But what about those ever-famous ballot initiatives?

Back in the 2006 election, anti-immigrant ballot initiatives were the cause du jour in the West. Conservatives hoped they would help get out the base. Arizona and Colorado were the center of the storm. Four measures (Propositions 100, 102, 103, and 300) passed in Arizona, each with over 70 percent of the vote, and the two Colorado proposals (Referendums H and K) squeaked through with just over 50 percent supporting each. The roots for these initiatives can be traced back to California’s landmark Proposition 187, which in 1994 was the first public backlash against undocumented immigrants at the ballot box. Yes, it passed, but the courts did thankfully rule it unconstitutional.

This year, Missouri and Oregon joined Arizona in proposing initiatives that would affect immigrants. The results were mixed. Oregon’s Ballot Measure 58 would  have limited the use of foreign-language instruction in public schools. It was not endorsed by any major state newspaper, and 63 percent of citizens joined together in striking it down. Schools can now breathe a sigh of relief and continue to teach English as needed.

Read More

0 comments Login or register to post comments Permalink