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Syrian President Begins Latin American Tour
June 25, 2010
by AQ OnlinePresident Bashar al-Assad of Syria begins a tour of several Latin American countries today with the goal of extending its diplomatic reach and attracting investment in Syria. Assad is scheduled to arrive in Caracas, Venezuela, on Friday and will visit then Brazil and Venezuela—countries with significant Syrian expat communities. Syrian media also reports that he will be visiting Cuba. The visit reciprocates previous official visits to Damascus by Fidel Castro in 2001, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2003 and Hugo Chávez in 2006.
The president’s trip, his first to the region since taking power in 2001, comes as Damascus seeks to continue opening diplomatic channels with the West. This follows their involvement in brokering a deal with Iran to send low-enriched uranium abroad for reactor fuel, in cooperation with Brazil and Turkey. Damascus is also seeking over $40 billion in investments over the next five years, nearly 80 percent of Syria’s annual GDP, to repair and replace Syria’s ageing infrastructure.
The majority of the millions of Syrian-origin émigrés in Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela are businessmen, engineers, doctors, and politicians including former Argentinean president Carlos Menem. President Assad also plans to meet with members of the Arab communities during his visit.
“Bilateral relations and developments in the Middle East and Latin America” will dominate discussions during the trip, according to the official SANA news agency. Brazil plans to sign trade and technology cooperation protocols with Syria, and Argentina is anticipated to sign nine transportation, tourism and cultural agreements.
Tags: Argentina, Brazil, Castro, Chavez, Cuba, Lula, Menem, Syria, Venezuela
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Colombia-Venezuela: ¿Vientos de guerra fría en la Frontera?
November 9, 2009
by Jenny ManriqueLo único que le faltaba al clima de guerra fría que se desató entre Colombia y Venezuela por una reciente serie de asesinatos, deportaciones y capturas de ciudadanos de ambos países—señalados algunos de ser espías y paramilitares—era la propuesta del presidente Hugo Chávez de levantar un muro en la frontera que une a los dos países. Mientras el mundo se prepara para conmemorar hoy los 20 años de la caída del muro de Berlín, en Latinoamérica los ánimos belicistas desatados por la ampliación de personal militar estadounidense en siete bases colombianas—documento que por cierto fue suscrito el pasado 30 de octubre aquí en Bogotá—vuelven a poner en el centro de la polémica, un cierre de fronteras en pleno siglo XXI.
Hay que ver a los ciudadanos que trabajan en Cúcuta y Villa del Rosario (Colombia) y San Antonio y Ureña (Venezuela) cruzando por el río Tachira y por trochas antes solo conocidas por los pimpineros (vendedores informales de gasolina) para llegar a sus destinos. El bloqueo de los puentes internacionales Simón Bolívar y Francisco de Paula Santander por parte de la Guardia Venezolana como respuesta al asesinato de dos de sus efectivos, les está generando a los comerciantes de la zona pérdidas diarias cercanas a unos US$4 millones, según cifras de la Federación de Cámaras Empresariales de Venezuela (Fedecámaras).
Muchas de las amenazas incumplidas de Chávez, como la de ampliar en número los 515 efectivos de la policía castrense que resguardan la zona tachirense, o desplazar tropas militares hasta allí, parecen tener más asiento esta vez. Aunque en los últimos 10 años no se ha suscrito ningún convenio de cooperación militar fronteriza entre Colombia y Venezuela, este viernes en la mañana comenzó el desplazamiento de los primeros efectivos de la Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana (FANB) de un total de 15.000 movilizados, que llevarán a cabo la "Operación Centinela" en los estados de Amazonas, Apure, Bolívar, Barinas y Táchira.
Tags: Chavez, Colombia-Venezuela relations, DAS Colombia, Guerra fronteriza, Masacre de Chururu, Operacion Centinela, Uribe
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The Honduran Coup is Still a Coup: But Where Was Everybody Before?
June 29, 2009
by Christopher SabatiniLet me say upfront, unequivocally: what occurred on June 28, 2009, in Honduras was a coup and should be condemned for the violation of constitutional, democratic rule that it is. And unlike the street coups that removed Presidents Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada (Bolivia) or Lucio Gutiérrez (Ecuador), this one was positively 1970s-style retrograde: the marching of military officers into President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales’ residence, his forced removal (or kidnapping as he called it) at gun point, his being placed by military brass on a plane to be flown out of the country, and the swearing in of a new president, Roberto Micheletti—the speaker of the Honduran Congress. But let’s be clear. This event has been brewing for some time and regional governments and multilateral institutions have sat on the sidelines. Their reaction now—while correct—underscores their passiveness earlier, and turns a President who had been bent on steamrolling the checks and balances of power to secure re-election into an unnecessary victim.
Despite the Honduran Congress and Supreme Court’s superficial efforts to give this a constitutional fig leaf, the sacking of President Zelaya represents a genuine threat to the shared democratic vision and system of governance that most of the region has enjoyed for over two decades and violates the body of regional law and precedent defending democratic governments from the “interruption of the constitutional order.” In short order, as they should have done, the governments of the region have denounced President Zelaya’s removal and called for the restoration of democratic government.
Tags: Chavez, Coup in Honduras, OAS, President Zelaya, Threat to democracy
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Versus the Human Right of Private Property
May 18, 2009
by Christopher SabatiniYou wouldn’t know it the way the media and most human rights groups have covered Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s recent seizure of land on May 11, but the right to private property is protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). Most have treated President Chávez’s most recent policy move as a rich person’s problem. In reality, most journalists and human rights activists are loath to appear that they’re coming to the defense of rich, pampered Venezuelan landowners.
But in not defending this internationally recognized right they are weakening human rights in the hemisphere—something they would be equally loath to do if it were judicial due process or freedom from torture.
Now, I’m not one to defend the egregious excess and avarice of
Tags: Chavez, Human Rights, Venezuela
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Daily Focus: Venezuelan Drug Bust
May 13, 2009
by AQ OnlineVenezuelan authorities seized 4,370 pounds of cocaine and arrested three suspects in central Miranda state on Saturday. In a separate case, 1,830 pounds of marijuana were seized in the western state of
Back in April, President Hugo Chávez dispatched federal agents and security forces to take over major seaports and airstrips in four Venezuelan states. Experts offered disparate interpretations for the move; some saw it as an effort to crack down on opposition leaders in three of those states, others as an attempt to placate critics in the US, Russia and Iran.
Tags: Chavez, Narcotics, Obama, US, Venezuela
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All Quiet on the Latin American Front? Not Quite.
April 30, 2009
by Liz HarperThe Summit of the Americas brought a ton of Latin American coverage in the U.S. media. Finally. But, now that the Summit is over, press attention to the hemisphere is waning. That is except for the swine flu spreading from Mexico.
There were a few news nuggets that came out of the Summit, but judging from post-Summit news coverage, you’d think that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Cuba were the only stories. Of course, those are the two boilerplate favorites for covering Latin America. There have, in fact, been a number of positive developments—some of them coming out of the Summit. Unfortunately, none of them makes the U.S. news.
Tags: Chavez, Cuba, Nicaragua, Ortega, Summit of the Americas, Venezuela
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How the Media Misinterpreted the Summit of the Americas
April 28, 2009
by Christopher SabatiniI swore I wouldn’t write another blog on the Summit. In fact, I had even urged the AQ staff to move on—that it wasn’t that important. And yet here I am with an insatiable desire to slake my thirst for just one more blog post.
Tags: Chavez, Obama, Summit of the Americas, Uribe
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Daily Focus: Venezuela's Rosales Seeks Asylum
April 22, 2009
by AQ OnlineFacing corruption charges in
He has called the charges politically motivated, and expressed concern over his ability to receive a fair trial. Last month, after authorities called for his arrest, Rosales told thousands of anti-government protestors that “there is no justice in Venezuela.”
It has been almost five years since the initial criminal complaint was filed by an ally of President Hugo Chávez. The complaint cited $68,553 in assets that “Rosales could not satisfactorily explain.” Despite the charges, he ran as the opposition candidate in
Tags: Chavez, Daily Update, Peru, Venezuela
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Post-Summit: Where Do We Go From Here?
April 20, 2009
by Eric FarnsworthAs the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago recedes, several impressions dominate. The first is that most of the hemisphere remains enthralled by Obama-mania and his message to the hemisphere of inclusion, social justice and the more humble exercise of U.S. power and influence. There is a real electricity there, and on balance, much of the hemisphere is ready to put paid to the paralysis of past meetings and engage constructively with the new Administration. I’ve participated in a number of Summits previously, the only one with a similar positive spirit was the first, in Miami in 1994.
Some of the hemisphere remains skeptical, including the leaders of Argentina, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and others, but their pronouncements at the Summit were notable for the backing they did not receive from other leaders and simply came off as being tone deaf. Because really, even as global economic recovery continues to be of primary concern, which hemispheric leader wanted to use valuable time at the Summit to hear a diatribe from Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega—who gamed Nicaragua’s election and now works hard to subvert Nicaraguan democracy through the institutions of democracy—about the previous alleged sins of the United States? Or to hear Bolivian President Evo Morales prattle on about goofy assassination plots he claims were cooked up in Washington. Talk about magical realism…
Tags: Chavez, Cuba, Obama, Summit of the Americas, US
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Obama at the Summit of the Americas: What to Do with Venezuela?
April 9, 2009
by Christopher SabatiniOn April 17-19, President Barack Obama will travel to Trinidad and Tobago for the fifth Summit of the Americas that will convene all 34 democratically elected heads of state from the hemisphere. To see a U.S. president focus so much attention on the region so early in his administration (in only his third international forum) is historic—and positive.
But beyond symbolism and a president’s rare attention it’s unclear what he can concretely achieve. One thing he can do is reject the Venezuelan government’s blatant attempt to throw into question the human rights system in the Americas that for 50 years has protected and defended the rights of citizens, journalists and activists against disappearances, murder and censorship in places like Argentina, Chile and Peru.
Tags: Chavez, Human Rights, Summit of the Americas, Venezuela
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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
by Christopher SabatiniOn 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.
Tags: Biden, Chavez, El Salvador, Elections, FMLN, Funes, Obama
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Does the U.S. Embargo on Cuba Protect Human Rights?
February 25, 2009
by Christopher SabatiniFrankly, the Cuban embargo has always been a difficult issue for me. Publicly I’ve avoided the issue largely because I’ve always believed it’s been a huge distraction for what is the main issue concerning Cuba: the almost incomprehensible level of repression and control that the Castro regime exercises over its population. So, in my often-failed objective to avoid discussing the embargo, I want now (in the heightened debate over President Barack Obama’s Cuba policy) to try to weigh the pros and cons as I view them in my own humble opinion. Fortunately, as a very thoughtful and balanced recent staff trip report by the Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations demonstrates, a number of groups are trying to bridge the divide that has traditionally hamstrung policy toward Cuba.
Cuba defies modern explanation, especially in this hemisphere: constitutional and legal restrictions on the rights of citizens to congregate, denial of citizens to express political views, sham elections in which only one party is allowed to compete, the regular detention and harassment of human rights activists by the police or state-controlled neighborhood committees, and jailing of dissidents through kangaroo courts on trumped up charges of treason and violence. In a 1997 report, Human Rights Watch described it best in the title of its study, Cuba’s Repressive Machinery.
This level of institutional, legal and political control is incomprehensible for many in a hemisphere that experienced (in all but country—Cuba) the third wave of democracy starting in 1978. In part, I think, Cuba's hemispheric anomaly explains the lame and sometimes pathetic response of many regional human rights groups to the abuses on the island. Many quite simply can’t fathom that level of control, having grown up under more bloody but less subtle forms of authoritarianism.
Tags: Castro, Chavez, Cuba, Obama, US
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