Argentine Vice President
Amado Boudou has come under scrutiny from judicial officials for allegations of
influence peddling and money laundering over the past year, but so far managed
to stave off his critics and hold on to
his office. Yesterday however, a federal prosecutor asked a judge to open an
investigation into illegal enrichment accusations against Boudou, triggering
renewed calls for his resignation.
As the Associated
Press reports, prosecutors have named as his accomplices Boudou's
girlfriend Agustina Kampfer, his friend and business partner Jose Maria Nunez
Carmona, and another businessman, Alejandro Vandenbroele, who reportedly served
as a proxy for the vice president in a series of shady business deals. Although
Boudou denies any connection to Vandenbroele, previous investigations have
revealed phone records linking the two, suggesting a potential cover-up.
Boudou, for his part,
claims that he is the victim of a character attack by a media “mafia,” led by
opposition newspaper Clarin, and has had
pressured court officials to replace the main prosecutors in the influence peddling
case.
When President Cristina
Fernandez de Kirchner chose Boudou as her running mate ahead of last October’s
elections, his popularity amongst Argentine youth (the AP referred to him as a
“hoodie-wearing,
Harley-riding rock ‘n roll guitarist”) was seen by many as a sign that he
could be a potential heir to the president once her second term ends in 2015.
Considering the blowback from this scandal, however, she will likely distance
herself from him, perhaps courting Argentine youth instead by moving closer to popular
economist Axel Kicillof, a
rising star in her administration.
·
Last Thursday a federal judge ruled against the
National Security Archive’s attempts to declassify the fifth and last volume in
a CIA history of the Bay of Pigs invasion, reports the Miami
Herald. The court found that, because the volume was allegedly a draft and
had not been approved by official CIA historians, it was exempt from
declassification. The National Security Archive calls this ruling "a regrettable blow to the
right-to-know" and has vowed to pressure the Obama administration to
back up its stated commitment to transparency by releasing the documents.
·
Yet another journalist has been killed in
Mexico. El Universal
reports that police have found the dead body of Rene Orta Salgado, who was missing
since Saturday, in the trunk of his car in the central state of Cuernavaca, the
capital of Morelos. Spanish news agency EFE
claims that the country’s national human rights commission has received a total
of 580 complaints of violence against journalists since 2005.
·
Meanwhile, in southern Mexico, a Catholic priest
who runs a shelter for migrants and has spoken out against abuse and kidnapping
has gone
into hiding after receiving death threats. According to El Universal, he has
left the country.
·
A new poll conducted by the Dallas Morning News’s
Spanish language partner Al Dia and El Universal suggests that concerns about
insecurity in Mexico have taken a toll on the country’s traditional wariness
towards US intervention. More than half of Mexicans –52 percent– said they
favored an
expanded US role in fighting crime in their country. 28 percent even called
for deploying US troops in Mexican soil.
·
Prensa
Libre and AP
report that Guatemalan officials claim that the United States government is
refusing to return a toddler adopted in 2008 to her biological parents in the
Central American country. The latter claim that their daughter was abducted in
2006, and because this was before an international treaty on abduction came
into effect in January 2008, the US argues it is not bound to return the girl.
The child left the country in December 2008, however, casting doubt on these
claims.
·
The Brazilian Real has fallen to its lowest
point relative to the US dollar in nearly three years, dropping to 1.99
reais to the dollar. The Brazilian Finance Minister has said this will be a
boost to
Brazilian manufacturers and exporters.
·
The Venezuelan foreign minister has demanded the
return of fugitive ex-Supreme Court judge Eladio Aponte, saying that the US is legally
mandated to hand him over. In the past month that he has been in the United
States, Aponte has made accusations of widespread corruption in Venezuela.
·
Seven members of the FARC have turned themselves
in along the Colombia-Ecuador border. According to El
Pais, the men handed over 1.2 tons of explosives to military officials.
·
The Miami Herald looks at the US-Colombia
FTA, which officially went into effect today at 1 a.m.
· Honduras Culture and
Politics with a critical look at recent attempts to promote “charter cities”
in Honduras. The blog argues that these efforts amount to attacks on Honduran sovereignty,
laden with overtones of cultural imperialism.
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