Haiti Police Convicted of Prison Massacre in Rare Victory for Justice

In a development which highlighted the impact of a 2010 investigation published by the New York Times, a Haitian judge found eight policemen guilty of using excessive force to quell a prison riot.

The verdict was described as a historical step forward for rule of law in Haiti, where the criminal justice system has little capacity to prosecute and convict offenders, especially if they are members of the security forces. The decision should rightfully be treated as a small victory for Haiti's dysfunctional justice system. But the real test is whether the courts will uphold the verdict or whether the convictions will later be overturned, as typically happens with cases involving high-profile defendants.>

The guilty police officers only came under public scrutiny after the New York Times published an in-depth report on a prison massacre that took place in Les Cayes city. Just days after the January 2010 earthquake, inmates rioted in an overcrowded penitentiary, after wardens refused them the right to sleep in the more spacious prison courtyard. A group of inmates then tried to escape and during the ensuing chaos, police shot at least 12 detainees and wounded dozens more.

The Times investigative piece later prompted the creation of a joint United Nations commission, which found the police had indiscriminately fired upon the inmates. After a court in Les Cayes began processing charges against 13 police officers involved in the massacre, the case became a symbol for the many problems riddling Haiti’s criminal justice system.

Thursday’s verdict was unusual just for being issued at all. During the three-month trial, the judge trying the case received threats, while at least 21 police officers implicated in the massacre fled the country, reports the AP. Even after the ruling was issued, the lead prosecutor in the case described the decision as “not satisfying,” a view echoed by other human rights activists. Haiti’s ombudsman told the Times that had the eight defendants been civilians instead of police officers, “they would have gotten life.”

For the Les Cayes case to significantly bolster public confidence in the judicial system, the eight guilty police officers may actually have to complete their sentences. As the AP points out, during the last case involving high-profile defendants, in which paramilitaries were tried for massacring civilians in 2001, the verdicts were issued and later overturned.

The other case which would really test Haiti’s capacity for rule of law is the investigation and prosecution of former dictator Jean Claude Duvalier. Compared to the Les Cayes case, a Duvalier trial would be a particularly drawn-out and polarizing affair. But it would provide the landmark case needed to truly prove that no public official, not even “Baby Doc,” may avoid the rule of law. Still, such advances in the justice system looks years and years away, and the Les Cayes ruling is but a hiccup in the right direction.


News Briefs

• Andrew Selee at the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute lays out the top five questions for Mexico and US-Mexico relations in 2012, from the outcome of the presidential elections (both north and south of the border) to Mexico’s slow recovery from the global recession. Elsewhere, the Economist critiques the few accomplishments of Mexico’s Congress during President Felipe Calderon’s term.

• Colombian think-tank Nuevo Arco Iris has an insightful report on an area described as the second most-conflicted war zone in Colombia: Catatumbo, Northern Santander. Only the southwest department of Cauca, where FARC commander alias “Alfonso Cano” was killed last November, registered more violent attacks than Catatumbo in 2011, according to Nuevo Arco Iris’ count. As detailed by Verdad Abierta, Catatumbo saw eight violent incidents in the past two weeks alone, most consisting of attacks against the police. Nuevo Arco Iris argues that because Cano’s heir, alias “Timochenko,” has traditionally been based in departments like Northern Santander which border Venezuela, this means the FARC are more likely to replicate in Catatumbo the same war strategies so successfully deployed in Cauca. These include constant hit-and-run attacks and usage of IEDs against government forces, in order to protect the FARC security rings charged with sheltering the top command, in this case, Timochenko. Verdad Abierta notes that because large plots of coca are still found in Catatumbo, this could entice criminal bands like the Urabeños to try to enter this region, traditionally controlled by the guerrillas, and thus incite more violence.

• From San Antonio News, an article gives a rare detailed description of the training grounds used by Mexican cartel the Zetas, based on court testimony by a former hitman. In these training camps, Zeta recruits were forced to prove their dedication by killing people, those who could not do so were assigned to work as lookouts, know colloquially as “halcones.”

• The Nation has a long piece worth reading, vividly arguing that the influx of US investment and trade in Mexico spurred the displacement of thousands; these undocumented migrants then allowed US companies to reap even greater profits by working for low wages and no union rights on US soil. The article focuses on meat-packing company Smithfield, whose North Carolina factories relied heavily on migrant labor until the migrants tried to mobilize with the local union. South of the border, Smithfield’s subsidiary Granjas Carrol also employed thousands of farmers left out of work because of NAFTA policies. The two meat-packing firms are classic examples for how companies took advantage of US economic and immigration policy, spurring up migration rates and only cracking down on unlicensed workers once they were faced with popular resistance, according to the Nation.

• Chile has withdrawn a law which would have allowed police to use media images as potential evidence to lead to convictions. Critics said such legislation would basically turn photographers and video journalists into walking targets, if their work could be forcefully turned over to police without a court order. The AP reports that Chilean legislators backed off from pushing through the reform even as other countries, like Ecuador and Argentina, have recently pursued policies described as threatening to press freedoms. The proposed measure is part of a wider package of reforms currently floating in Chilean Congress, all intended to make it harder for protesters to occupy public spaces and easier for authorities to prosecute those who promote “public disorder.”

• Caracas Chronicles has an entertaining opinion piece endorsing Venezuela presidential contender Henrique Capriles. The post lays out five reasons why Capriles is Venezuela’s strongest opposition candidate, and also provides some helpful background on Capriles’ political experience and his campaign strategy so far.

• The Guardian’s Comment is Free section debates whether Ecuador is “the most radical and exciting place on earth.”

• The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control blacklisted a major lottery company in Guatemala, the AP reports. According to El Periodico, the lottery company’s Facebook page boasts of creating more than 2,700 jobs, and distributing $2 million in lottery winnings in the past three years.

• The AP reports on the findings by a Venezuelan prison watchdog group, which counted 560 killings in penitentiaries last year. Another 1,457 inmates were injured in riots, the group reported. This may be the most only available count of prison deaths in Venezuela, as the government does not release its own statistics.

• The Independent has an interesting post looking at a proposal in Honduras which would dictate the creation of new charter cities, but would prevent them from democratically electing city councils up to a certain point. The blog post calls this an “undemocratic approach to development” and compares the approach with other tactics seen in Greece and Italy.

• Development blog Triple Crisis has a detailed report on the controversial Goldcorp mining project in Guatemala, deeply unpopular with the resident indigenous communities. The Canadian mining giant has sparked indigenous movement protests for years, even though the company argues that it has brought benefits like jobs, schools and a clinic to the area. Triple Crisis examines the data and concludes “there is little evidence of any lasting development benefits.” Another case of mining and development is discussed in NACLA, concerning the Conga mine project in Cajamarca, Peru. Anti-mining protests in this region prompted President Ollanta Humala to declare a state of emergency last year and reshuffle many posts in his cabinet.

• The Miami Herald reports on the closure of an oil refinery in the Virgin Islands, a top customer of Venezuela’s state oil company. This blocks Venezuela from refining hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil, and could prompt a shortage of the fuel supply inside the country, according to the Herald.

Mexico City No Longer Spared Ravages of Drug Violence

The New York Times has a report on the expansion of Mexico’s drug war to parts of the country previously considered safe, including areas to the interior and south, far from the US border.

Despite the headline-grabbing ferocity of drug violence in Mexico, the country as a whole has in recent years seen murder rates considerably lower than many others in Latin America. Many media reports use the narrative that the worst battles of the drug war have now shifted from Colombia to Mexico, Colombia having cleaned up its act in the 2000s. However, the murder rate in Colombia remains significantly higher, at around 30 per 100,000 in 2011, compared to under 20 in Mexico.

Part of the reason for this is that Mexico has isolated pockets where violence is extremely high -- border city Juarez has famously been one of the world’s most dangerous cities for several years, with murder rates topping 200 per 100,000. Meanwhile other areas have lower murder rates, famously, than many US cities.

The murder rate in Mexico City, for example, has hovered for the last few years around 8 per 100,000, and the capital has long been considered to be relatively exempt from cartel wars. The NYT notes that this may be changing, with the recent discovery of two severed heads near an upscale shopping mall, and reports on a 30 percent rise in homicide rates in Mexico State, which borders the capital. The NYT compares this to outbreaks of violence in Guadalajara and Veracruz, “two other cities considered safe just six months ago,” and in the Pacific beach resort city of Acapulco.

CNN also has a report which asks if Mexico City could be the “next target” of the cartel war. It quotes Ana Maria Salazar, a former Pentagon counternarcotics official, who says "Mexico City, for whatever reason, has not been a battleground … It could very easily become that." Another analyst who spoke to the network mentioned one factor that contributes to the lower violence rates:

the capital has a strong police force that is easier to control and harder to corrupt than local forces in Mexico's 31 states, where notoriously low salaries and unclear command structures have allowed drug cartels to make significant inroads.

CNN notes that the federal forces would simply not tolerate high rates of violence in the nation’s capital, while, as InSight Crime has reported “There is a great deal of anecdotal evidence to suggest the existence of a tacit understanding among the most powerful drug lords to treat the capital as a neutral territory, free to all.”

This could be coming to an end, with the encroachment into Mexico City and State of a group known as the Mano con Ojos (Hand with Eyes), which is thought to be responsible for the severed heads recently found in the city. The growing insecurity could have a negative impact on the presidential chances of Enrique Peña Nieto, frontrunner for the July elections, who has made the relative safety of Mexico State, where he was governor until September, a feature of his campaign.

Meanwhile, as formerly safe zones become more turbulent, murder rates have fallen in some parts of the border region, where the violence has in the last few years been most intense. Juarez finally saw something of a turnaround in 2011, dropping to the position of second most dangerous city in the world, with homicides below 150 per 100,000. However, as the NYT points out;

Mexican officials say the decrease is proof that they are making headway, but analysts say it may have more to do with one rival group’s defeat of another, reducing competition and the bloodshed that comes with it.

According to the NYT’s analysis, the broadening of violence into previously calm areas reflects “a widening turf war between two of the biggest criminal organizations in the country” -- the Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel. The Zetas, according to recent reports, are expanding their presence to more than 70 percent of the country, bringing them into conflict with the criminal groups that previously held those areas.

However, it can be difficult to ascribe meaning or explanations to the shifts in killings. As the NYT puts it:

Discerning patterns of violence in the drug war can be perilous; it is often like a tornado skipping across terrain, devastating one area while leaving another untouched.

A new report by Southern Pulse, "Beyond 2012," fits with this analysis, predicting that the conflict will grow ever more fragmented, with street gangs taking a larger rolerelative to old, monolithic players like the Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel.


News Briefs

• The Wall Street Journal has a piece on the case of Alan Gross, a US contractor who has been in prison in Cuba for more than two years accused of aiding dissidents. It notes that his case “is helping to ensure Washington's relationship with Havana stays frozen in Cold War ice,” with Republican politicians using the case to argue against President Obama’s steps towards rolling back sanctions against the regime. The Associated Press reports on the emergence of new details of the case against Gross, with the leak of a document purporting to be a court filing, which says the authorities had been tracking him since 2004. The accused’s lawyer responded that “The trial evidence cited in the document confirms that Alan’s actions were intended to improve the Internet and Intranet connectivity of Cuba’s small, peaceful, non-dissident, Jewish community,” not to undermine the Cuban government. As one analyst told the WSJ: “"Ironically, if [Gross] had worked for the CIA, the levers to get him out would almost certainly have been pulled by now."

• The Miami Herald has an opinion piece on the economic boom in Panama, arguing that dissatisfaction with President Ricardo Martinelli and his moves to concentrate power are putting a dampener on outlooks on the country’s growing prosperity. Andres Oppenheimer reports that, despite the fact that the country is predicted to be the biggest growing economy in Latin America in 2011, with a 6.8 percent expansion, there is “growing political turmoil over Martinelli’s strong-armed ruling style, which many fear will lead to an autocratic state with no checks and balances, more corruption, capital flight and economic decline.”

• The New York Times has an engaging feature on the homes of Mexican drug traffickers, with Damien Cave visiting many houses vacated by (alleged) capos. One interesting point he makes is that some of these residences are not as flashy as the stereotype narco-home; “as conflicts have increased among the cartels, and as the Mexican and American governments have tried harder to crack down on trafficking, drug lords have been keeping a lower profile, buying existing houses rather than building obvious, ostentatious houses from scratch.”

• With more on the country’s conflict, InSight Crime has a piece on decoding the murder rituals of the Mexican drug trafficker, which looks at the case of a policeman burnt alive in Juarez in December. It says that while the killing is due in part to the new equilibrium being struck between battling drug gangs in the city, the hideous nature of its execution tells us something; “this violence always has a point, and generates pleasure. Narco-horror is becoming a type of narco-snuff, because the criminals enjoy killing and putting the results on display in public places where the other war is fought -- the media war.”

• The Latin American Herald Tribune reports that the US is planning to impose tougher penalties on people attempting to cross the Mexican border, including transferring them hundreds of miles to other parts of the border, in an effort to break their links with guides who helped them cross. This policy could put attempted migrants in far greater danger, if they are deposited in an area where they have no connections and are at the mercy of Mexican drug gangs.

• The LA Times reports on the plight of Mexico’s Tarahumara indigenous community, who are facing a food crisis, as noted in yesterday’s post. The newspaper says that it took false reports that 50 members of the group had committed mass suicide over the famine, before the crisis got publicity and aid began to flow.

• Puerto Ricans are set to vote in a referendum on getting rid of dozens of lawmakers who have been accused of corruption and drug use. The Associated Press says the US territory is likely to approve the measures, that would reduce the size of Congress by almost 30 percent.

• UK Prime Minister David Cameron has accused Argentina’s government of “colonialism” for its attempts to claim sovereignty over the Falklands Islands, or the Malvinas. The Kirchner government has shot back, pointing out that the UK itself is "synonymous with colonialism".

• Teachers in northern Colombia are being targeted by criminal groups, who have killed 20 in Cordoba province in less than three years. A report in the UK’s Times Educational Supplement says that some 4,000 children in the province may be unable to finish the school year, due to the lack of teachers. Many have been forced to flee by the violence, which is linked to extortion and to the teachers’ ties to unions.

• Colombian football authorities are under investigation after apparently paying a shaman $2,000 to perform magic rituals to stop rain blighting the closing ceremony of last year’s Fifa U-20 World Cup. “A dark joke doing the rounds in the capital, Bogota, asks why the shaman was not also hired to minimise the impact of the last rainy season, which killed 477 people and affected some 2.6 million Colombians,” reports the BBC.

Peruvian Vice President Steps Down in Response to Corruption Charges

In the latest in a series of changes to Peruvian President Ollanta Humala’s cabinet, his second vice president, Congressman Omar Chehade, resigned yesterday. Chehade stepped down from his largely ceremonial position as a backup to the first vice president in the wake of a corruption scandal. He allegedly  asked a police commander to evict protesting workers outside of a food processing plant without a court order as a favor to his brother, who has ties with a company that wants to take it over. 

As the Wall Street Journal notes, these accusations were a major annoyance to Humala, who campaigned on a platform of reducing corruption. The president, who does not have the authority to dismiss either of his vice presidents, first called on Chehade to resign in a public announcement in November. Since then, he has clung to office, insisting upon his innocence.

La Republica reports that Chehade, who is a congressman with Humala’s Gana Peru party, will return to his seat after a temporary ban on holding public office ends in late May.

As mentioned in the December 12^th post, Humala reshuffled his cabinet late last year, replacing his prime minister with ex-army officer Oscar Valdes. This, paired with Humala’s decision to declare a state of emergency in Cajamarcas in response to anti-mining protests there, sparked fears that his government was becoming more “militarized.”

However, it seems that the move has been popular amongst the general population. Reuters cites a new Ipsos Apoyo poll, Humala’s approval rating has shot up seven points since the shakeup. According to the news agency, the pollster also claims that the “decision to declare a state of emergency in Cajamarca for several days, giving the police and army special powers to quash an environmental protest against the project was broadly backed by Peruvians.”

News Briefs

·         After Colombia’s El Tiempo and Semana leaked emails found on the “Raul Reyes” seized computer which detail connections between current FARC leader “Timochenko” and Venezuela’s newly-appointed military chief Henry Rangel Silva, Hugo Chavez has spoken in defense of his choice. According to him, the allegations are nothing more than a smear campaign, intended to undermine the "independence, stability, development and greatness of the republic." As reported in the January 10^th Post, Rangel was s added to the Treasury’s list of international drug dealers, known as the “kingpin list,” in 2008.

·         The Associated Press has an analysis of the recent decision by the United States to pull its Peace Corps volunteers from Honduras. Apparently the decision was made after a female volunteer was shot in the leg on December 3^rd during an armed robbery on board a bus in San Pedro Sula. The AP says the withdrawal of the volunteers amounts to “the latest blow to a nation still battered by a coup and recently labeled the world's most deadly country.”

·         The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas reports that Ecuador’s national assembly has approved changes to its laws which would limit reporting on election campaigns, at the request of President Rafael Correa. According to El Diario, the changes will prohibit news media from broadcasting favorable or harmful messages about candidates.

·         The daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro, who is a well-known gay rights activist in the country, has said that lawmakers will consider legalizing same sex civil unions this year. In an interview with Cubadebate, Mariela Castro said  that the proposal to change the “Family Code” is on the legislative agenda for the year. She also claims that the state has paid for fifteen sexual reassignment surgeries.

·         The BBC reports on the Mexican government’s response to a food crisis among the indigenous Tarahumara. The group, which has historically farmed in the north of Chihuahua state, has witnessed an extended drought followed by freezing temperatures, causing a massive famine.

·         The Mexican Navy has seized 195 tons of precursor chemicals in the western port of Lazaro Cardenas. According to El Universal, the chemicals were intended to be make methamphetamine and process cocaine.

·         Reuters explores the attitudes of Nicaraguans in response to the foreign policy of President Daniel Ortega. Despite the president’s ties to Iran and Venezuela, the people of Nicaragua maintain largely positive views of the U.S.

·         The Washington Post takes a look at Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier’s current luxurious lifestyle in Haiti, one year after returning from exile. Though he is charged with crimes against humanity and is technically inder house arrest, he enjoys significant public support and regularly attends events with a police escort.

·         The AP reports on suspicions about the death of poet Pablo Neruda, who died while seeking cancer treatment just 12 days after Augusto Pinochet took power. Neruda’s former driver has come forward and accused the Pinochet regime of having him poisoned in order to rid itself of a powerful critic. The Chilean Communist Party is currently fighting in court to have his body exhumed and tested, and a ruling on the request is expected to come soon.

El Salvador Peace Anniversary Offers Chance to Critique Blanket Amnesty Law

In a speech commemorating the 1992 signing of the El Salvador peace accords, President Mauricio Funes voiced a strong critique of the current amnesty laws which protect perpetrators of war crimes.

As the AP reports, the focus of Funes’ speech was an apology for El Salvador’s most well-publicized war massacre, the 1981 El Mozote killings, in which 936 civilians were killed by the military. Funes spoke at the site of the massacre before thousands of people, asking for “forgiveness from the people of El Salvador, who suffered an atrocious and unacceptable violence.”

While Funes praised the military’s transformation into what he described as a more democratic institution, he issued sharper words as well. He condemned the army’s refusal to accept legal responsibility for crimes such as El Mozote. The Third Infantry Brigade, for example, still bears the name of the commanding officer who ordered the 1981 massacre, reports La Prensa Grafica.

El Faro notes that Funes’ most significant criticism was directed against the laws which still protect the authors behind war crimes like El Mozote. El Salvador’s general amnesty law is unique in the region because it essentially blocks all investigation into cases involving human rights violations committed during the 1980s civil war. The United Nations Truth Commission, created alongside the 1992 peace accords, eventually detailed thousands of cases of massacres, disappearance and displacement in El Salvador. But thanks to a series of amnesty laws passed in the early 1990s in quick succession by Congress, then controlled by the conservative ARENA party, El Salvador basically made it impossible to prosecute war criminals.

Funes, the first presidential candidate to end ARENA’s 20-year reign of power, previously assumed a more passive position towards the general amnesty law. On other occasions, Funes apologized for the state’s war crimes and even said those responsible for the most serious violations should not be protected under law. But he also argued that the executive branch lacked the power to overturn legislation passed by Congress, implying that he was not going to fight the issue.

But during Monday’s speech, Funes went so far to state that El Salvador’s reconciliation law was essentially ineffective because it used amnesty as an excuse to grant impunity for those guilty of war crimes. El Faro argues that this is a significant break from the rhetoric of Funes’ predecessors. It may also indicate Funes’ support for the Inter-American Human Rights Court, currently processing the El Mozote case because no Salvadoran court will do so.

Funes has announced other concrete measures to accompany the 20th anniversary of the peace agreement, including a health care and pension system for some 25,000 former members of guerrilla group the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), now a political party, El Faro reports.

The anniversary has also provoked more general reflections over how far El Salvador has come since 1992, and the serious challenges which remain. Project Syndicate has an interesting comparison of how El Salvador managed to maintain peace for two decades and reduce its dependency on foreign aid, in contrast to other conflict-ridden countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. IPS provides background on the signing of the peace accords, while a guest post at Central American Politics summarizes some of the problems still lingering in the country. For an even broader look at what 20 years of peace means for El Salvador, Al Jazeera has a brief video report.

La Pagina highlights the most important passages (in Spanish) from Funes’ speech.

News Briefs

• Monday, Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry said that they are officially closing the Venezuelan Consulate in Miami after the office’s personnel received threats, reports the Latin American Herald Tribune. President Hugo Chavez first threatened to shut down the Miami consulate last Friday, after the US expelled Venezuelan Consul General Livia Acosta Noguera. She was declared persona non grata after Spanish news channel Univision aired recordings of Noguera in a documentary discussing cyber attacks in the US, which then prompted an FBI investigation into her alleged misconduct. The consulate’s closing may have some small effect during the 2012 elections, as the Venezuelan diaspora living in Miami would have no place to register their overseas vote, and much of this population is hostile towards the Chavez administration, says the New York Times. In another sign of heated rhetoric from Venezuela, Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said the US was “weak” for expelling Acosta Noguera.

• Simultaneously, Venezuela announced plans to leave a World Bank arbitration body, reports the AP. Within this forum, Venezuela is facing at least 17 complaints from multinationals like Exxon Mobile for failing to follow through on investment deals. Blogger Setty has a more detailed look at the list of complaints and the companies involved.

• BBC Mundo provides background on the Counter-Narcoterrorism Technology Program Office (CNTPO), basically the US government body charged with assigning security contracts related to anti-narcotics work. According the article, all the usual suspects have been awarded lucrative contracts for the office: Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and a subsidiary of the company formerly known as Blackwater. The article notes that because the “drug war” is an unpopular political issue, the Department of Defense has all the more reason to cut costs by outsourcing some anti-nartoctics work to the private sector. But the practice remains shrouded in mystery, and the article sheds little light on what kind of services these US contractors specifically provide, and where, especially in a country so sensitive to issues of national sovereignty like Mexico.

• Guatemala President Otto Perez was sworn into office Saturday, one day after the first apparent political killing of the year, when a congressman was killed in Guatemala City. The congressman represented Guatemala’s Alta Verapaz region, where Mexican cartel the Zetas hold significant influence. EFE notes that all but one of Guatemala’s 333 mayor-elects were sworn in without controversy; save for one district where locals revolted against a mayor accused of voting fraud. Elsewhere, Plaza Publica has a critical look at the political legacy of exiting president Alvaro Colom.

• The Washington Post judges that Mexico’s 2012 elections are especially vulnerable to influence by drug traffickers. The AP has another look at the military rather than political strength of the drug gangs, reporting that criminal groups have fired upon military and government helicopters nearly 30 times since 2006.

• The New York Times has a feature on students living in Mexico and who attend school in the US, crossing the southwestern border nearly every weekday.

• 158 Peace Corps volunteers have withdrawn from Honduras in light of increased security concerns, reports the AP. An opinion piece in the LA Times argues against the new policy.

• Reuters examines why Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa still enjoys high approval ratings after five years in office, citing his spending on social and infrastructure projects.

• The Miami Herald reports on Argentine migrants who left their native country for Florida during the 2001 economic crisis, when Argentines could enter the US without a visa. Now, many are in immigration limbo, unable to apply for permanent residence yet unable to leave.

• Reuters on statements by Mexican leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who promised to “break up” internet, TV, and oil monopolies as part of his campaign.

• Mercopress has a note on a “landless peasants” movement in Uruguay, where 80 families have reportedly occupied 400 hectares of property in order to demand land reform

• The Guardian asks whether Western Union, vital for many families in Latin America in order to transfer remittances, is doing more harm than good in Haiti.

• In a reverse case of a Latin American court investigating a human rights crime committed in Europe, Argentina is trying a case concerning violations in Franco-era Spain, reports Global Post.

• Milenio Semanal reflects on how “narco terror” in Tamaulipas is silencing local journalism; Upside Down World has an English translation.

Putting Iran's Influence into Perspective

The coverage of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Latin America has largely been viewed in the context of two things: fears over a potential Iran-linked Hezbollah terrorist network in the region and the deepening political ties between Iran and Latin America governments. However, the evidence for either trend is scarce.

As I detail for InSight Crime, there is little reason to believe claims that Hezbollah is developing ties to organized crime groups in the region. While U.S. authorities have charged a number of individuals in Latin America with using drug and money laundering profits to fund the group, nothing suggests that Hezbollah is actively directing major criminal enterprises in the region. This funding largely comes in the form of donations from individuals who are sympathetic to the cause of spreading Islamic revolution, many of whom are among the Lebanese migrant communities in the region.

As for Iran’s influence in the country, there is evidence to suggest that it is actually decreasing. This week’s issue of the Economist notes that “[Ahmadinejad’s] hosts this time are confined to members of Mr Chávez’s anti-American ALBA alliance. In 2009 Mr Ahmadinejad also visited Brazil. But Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s new president, has been far more critical of Iran than her predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.”

With tension heating up between Iran and the U.S. over the Middle Eastern country’s recent announcement that it would shut down the Strait of Hormuz in response to increased U.S. sanctions, many analysts are starting to seriously consider the prospects of a conflict breaking out between the two.

In the unlikely event of a U.S.-Iran war, however, it is even less likely that a Latin American country would risk international isolation by siding with Iran, even amongst the members of the ALBA bloc.

News Briefs:

·         In the fourth stop of his Latin American tour, Ahmadinejad reiterated claims that the country will continue its atomic energy program, despite mounting international pressure for it to cease. AFP reports that the Iranian president, called the issue “a political excuse,” "saying Iran is not so foolish as to spend money on something it would not use.” Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa endorsed this claim, saying he believed Iran was developing nuclear technology for civilian purposes only.

·         Sandra Avila Beltran, who gained fame in Mexico as the “Queen of the Pacific,” has foiled attempts by Mexican prosecutors to extradite her to the U.S. for a second time. According to El Universal, a judge ruled that the alleged drug trafficker would be facing the exact same charges in the U.S. on which she was acquitted in Mexico.

·         The LA Times profiles popular Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, who is making waves in the country for writing a bizarre open letter to drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in which she expresses sympathy for him and calls on him to start “trafficking for the good.”

·         James Bosworth of Bloggings by Boz offers a useful rundown of the 2011 homicide rates in the most violent countries in Latin America. Honduras, El Salvador and Venezuela top the list, and are also the three most violent countries worldwide.

·         Prensa Libre reports that a judge has barred the ex-first lady of Guatemala, Sandra Torres, from leaving the country due to an ongoing investigation into allegations that she misused government funds intended for a federal anti-poverty program. As the AP notes, the court order comes just two days before her ex-husband Alvaro Colom leaves office and Otto Perez becomes president.

·         AP reports that El Salvador has received a request from Spain for the extradition of 13 former military officers who are accused of killing six Jesuit priests and two others in 1989. Last year the apprehension of the 13 men was blocked in the Supreme Court because the country hadn’t received an extradition request yet.

·         After the Venezuelan police agency CICPC released its homicide figures for 2011 which indicated that 18,850 had been murdered, the leaders of the Venezuelan Catholic Church have called on the Chavez administration to do more to crack down on organized crime.

·         Elizabeth Dickenson has written an interesting analysis in The Washington Monthly of the U.S.’s attempts to export the “Colombian model” used by Alvaro Uribe to Mexico and other countries which are threatened by organized criminal and armed groups. According to her, “Uribe’s ideas and tactics have spread to every corner of the globe marred by the drug trade and nearly every institution that is fighting organized crime. Which means that if those ideas are misguided—or, perhaps more dangerously, misunderstood— then so too is nearly every fight in the drug war.”

·         Yesterday was the second anniversary of the earthquake which devastated much of Haiti in 2010. The New York Times takes a look at how the incident is being honored on a national holiday.

·         As mentioned above, the latest issue of the Economist explores Iran’s influence in Latin America. The magazine also takes a look at the trade relationship between Brazil and China, which has been growing more tense. Additionally, it includes articles on the new Metro system in Lima, Peru and organized crime in Colombia.

Questioning Mexico’s Tally of Drug-Related Killings

Mexico’s Attorney General Office released an official count for how many people were killed in drug-related violence in 2011, a tally reaching into the tens of thousands. The question now is how much these numbers reflect the reality on the ground.

According to government figures, Mexico registered nearly 13,000 drug-related killings, an 11 percent increase from the same period in 2010. According to the New York Times, this brings the total number of people killed in drug-related episodes to 47,515 since President Felipe Calderon assumed office in 2006. The AP notes that this rise in killings follows an increase of nearly 70 percent between 2009 and 2010, in which the government recorded 9,616 and 15, 273 murders, respectively.

The Times reports that this number may be unreliable, as the national homicide count is based, in part, on data collected from state prosecutors’ office. At the state level, methods used to track and record those homicides defined as related to organized crime can vary widely.

The other issue is how the Mexican government categorizes which homicides are related to organized crime. As Molly Molloy points out on the Frontera listserve, less than 2 percent of crimes are investigated or solved. Molloy finds that based on data from INEGI, the statistical bureau, and the National Public Security Secretariat, the actual homicide count since 2007 may be closer to 84,000.

Other independent counts have come up with different numbers. Mexican publication Zeta magazine estimates that over 60,000 have died in the past five years.

Besides releasing a count for drug-related murders, the Mexican government has used other categories to break down these homicides, including classified as “execution-style” killings versus “shootouts between gangs” versus “attacks on authorities.” But because these categories are defined so nebulously, the government has been criticized for its lack of transparency in monitoring the violence.

As InSight Crime points out, the 2011 crime-linked homicide count very nearly went unreleased, which earned the government further criticism this year. The picture painted by the data -- that of drug-related deaths continuing to escalate with no end in sight -- is one potential explanation for the delay.

El Universal has a breakdown of drug-related homicides by state. According to the government data, over 70 percent of homicides are concentrated in just eight states, the majority of them near the US-Mexico border.

Coverage from the Wall Street Journal examines what this rise in murders could mean for Calderon’s party, the PAN, in the 2012 elections.

More analysis on the murder count from the LA Times and Bloggings on Boz.

News Briefs

• Venezuelan police agency the CICPC released a national homicide tally that paints another grim picture, counting 18,850 murders in 2011, up from 16,094 in 2010. Human rights NGOs Provea and the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence (OVV), two groups which have kept independent tallies of homicides in the past, have not yet released their findings. But according to El Universal, the government homicide tally is in line with an estimate previously released by the OVV, which predicted that Venezuela would end 2011 with 18,000 to 19,000 homicides. In the past, the government has also kept separate counts for murders classified as “unresolved deaths” or those killed in clashes with police. This has led groups like Provea to argue that the government is undercounting murders.

• The AP reports on efforts by Guatemalan President Otto Perez to lobby for military aid from the US. Due to human rights violations conducted by the army during the decades-long civil war , US Congress restricted military aid to Guatemala in 1990. In 2007, these restrictions were relaxed somewhat, enabling Guatemala to buy military equipment intended to be used to fight drug trafficking. Since then, authorities in Guatemala have continued to lobby that the US relax these regulations even further, arguing that more military aid is needed because of the worsening drug conflict. Perez’s campaign to pressure the US into more military cooperation may ensure that Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz, widely seen as an effective and incorruptible figure, may keep her job for now. During his political campaign, Perez indicated that he may remove Paz y Paz. This was interpreted as an attempt to limit the Attorney General’s Office ability to investigate war-era crimes. But if Perez is intent on requesting more US military aid, his government will have to prove willing to shine a light on the military crimes, which would make the firing of Paz y Paz quite unpopular with US human rights observers.

• The AFP reports that Ecuador discovered another semi-submersible, build by drug traffickers, capable of carrying up to eight tons of material. Ecuador discovered its first semi-submersible in May 2010; two months later, authorities found the first ever fully submersible “narco sub.” Such finds point to the continued popularity of this smuggling tactic, as well as Ecuador’s importance as a transit country for cocaine.

• An Op-Ed in the Miami Herald argues that Republican presidential candidate Mick Romney will have a tough time winning over the US Hispanic population, citing a Univison poll that finds Romney earning only 24 percent of the vote. There has been some talk that Romney could improve his chances by picking Florida Senator and Cuban American Marco Rubio as his vice presidential candidate. But such discussions ignore the fact that the Hispanic vote is hardly a homogeneous bloc; the Cuban voters whom Rubio won over in Florida generally vote along more conservative lines than voters of Central American or Mexico descent. The AP notes that because Romney’s father was born in Mexico, the presidential hopeful could theoretically apply for citizenship. Foreign Policy makes a similar argument.

• An editorial in the Washington Post criticizes Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa’s “ruthless assault on free media,” as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits the Andean nation.

• The AP reports that eight people, half of them children, were killed in Honduras’ Aguan region, where peasant groups are fighting large landowners over property rights. These killings follow the ambush reported last Friday, when a military and police patrol was allegedly attacked by “guerrillas.” Elsewhere, Upside Down World has an on-the-ground report from the region.

• The AP on the ouster of Venezuelan diplomat Livia Acosta Noguera, who was dismissed after participating in a Univision documentary on cyber attacks.

• Amnesty International reports on a Mexican raid on a Guatemalan refuge camp in southern Mexico, in which 71 people were detained.

• Blogger Julia Michaels at Rio Real reflects on the controversial death of a Rio de Janeiro street dancer, killed in suspicious circumstances that point to brutality by local security guards.

• The Center for Strategic and International Studies argues that Iranian President Ahmadinejad has found, in its “Bolivarian” allies in Latin America, a way to bypass international financial sanctions. Another look at Ahmadinejad’s visit from Nikloas Kozloff.

• The Washington Post reports from Haiti two years after the island’s devastating earthquake, finding some signs of recovery, including a popular free education program. Only half of the $4.5 billion in aid promised by donor nations has actually been delivered, according to the Post, meaning reconstruction may continue to move slowly. Meanwhile, the Miami Herald reports on the many informal memorial walls built by the Haitian diaspora in Florida.

• IPS on the rise of the construction industry in Brazil and fears of a real estate bubble.

• The Wall Street Journal reports that Brazilian growers used an unapproved fungicide on orange tree plantations, affecting juice products sold by Coca Cola Co. in US stores.

Brazil Plans to Legalize 4,000 Haitian Migrants, But Close Door Behind Them

Brazil has announced that it is legalizing the situation of some 4,000 Haitians who moved to the country since Haiti's 2010 earthquake, but will not allow more undocumented workers from that country to cross its borders.

The Associated Press reports that Brazil’s Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo said some 2,400 Haitian nationals will receive work visas, while another 1,600 in the country have already been given them. However, he emphasized that this was a one-off, and that the country would step up border patrols and turn away future arrivals who do not have visas;

The government will not be indifferent to the Haitians' vulnerable economic situation. But those who don't have a visas will not be allowed into Brazil

As noted in Monday’s post, thousands of Haitian citizens headed for Brazil in the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake, often making a long and grueling trip across Colombia, Bolivia, and/or Peru, and then through Brazil’s Amazon region. TheNYT detailed the journey of one couple who flew to Ecuador, where the woman gave birth to a son, before traveling by bus to Peru and then on foot to Bolivia, where they were robbed of their life savings, then on to the Amazon.

The NYT reported that the number of migrants had surged over recent days with hundreds pouring over the borders, worried that the government might soon act to stem the flow. This proved to be the case with Tuesday’s announcement, which aimed to deter more Haitians from pitching up in Amazon border towns like Tabatinga, where authorities have been finding it hard to cope with all the new arrivals. The government proposed that would-be migrants should instead apply for visas in Port-au-Prince, which would allow up to 100 to legally migrate to Brazil each month.

However, it seems likely that more Haitian migrants will keep arriving over Brazil’s massive and often unguarded borders, as long as the situation in their home country remains chaotic and there is ample construction work to be found in Brazil. Both these circumstances look set to continue, with Haiti making slow progress on reconstruction and Brazil forging ahead economically, preparing to host the Olympic Games and soccer World Cup. The NYT paints a picture of Brazil as a rapidly expanding economy short on cheap labor, where many businesses welcome the new arrivals:

Companies like Fibratec, a swimming pool manufacturer in southern Santa Catarina State, have even sent managers all the way [to the Amazon] to hire dozens of Haitians.

There may be bigger forces are at work than can be contained by Brazil increasing border patrols or turning away migrants. A piece published by the Americas Society / Council of the Americas sees signs of shifting influence in the hemisphere, as Haitians seeking opportunities are drawn to Brazil rather than to the US. It also points to ties formed between the two nations when Brazil sent peace-keeping troops as part of the UN force after the earthquake, and points out that President Dilma Rousseff is set to visit the island in February, and to propose increased economic cooperation.

Some in Brazil are sympathetic to the new arrivals. The Jornal do Brasil published an opinion piece in favor of the migrants, arguing that it would be “inconceivable to deny the Haitians the chance to live among us,” and that “it is our duty to provide the best welcome possible.” The newspaper expressed the attitude that Brazil was in a position to accommodate newcomers; “We still have, thank God, enough space and resources to receive those forced out by the situation of poverty.”

News Briefs

• Peru has replaced its top anti-drug official after only five months in the job, following a major cabinet reshuffle in December. The departure of Minister Ricardo Soberon could signal a turn to the right for the government, away from the more progressive policies espoused by the minister, who had links with coca-growing groups and had pledged to rethink the country’s coca eradication policies. Forced eradication is deeply resented by farmers who make their livelihood from the product, and there is evidence that it often fails to make an impact on cocaine production. The Associated Press reports that Soberon’s resignation is thought to be a product of his opinion clashes with newly appointed Prime Minister Oscar Valdes. Drug policy expert Jaime Antezana told the AP that "Soberon's exit was a matter of time … There was no chance that Oscar Valdes would keep him in the job." Peruvian media have published criticisms hinting that Soberon was forced out due to failures in his management, arguing that he had increased the department’s budget 30 percent in his time in office.

• Clashes left six inmates dead in a jail in Tachira, southwest Venezuela. Nine police were taken hostage, all of whom were released by Tuesday night. The riots were reportedly caused by inmates who demanded to be transferred to other facilities, most to a prison in Merida state. El Universal reported that this was due to the fact that there is a gang based in that prison known as the Toyoteros. The hostage-takers also put humanitarian demands on the table, some relating to the treatment of sick prisoners. Five of the police were liberated earlier in the talks as a sign of goodwill. Some 12 prisoners are now set to be transferred to Merida. This kind of event is by no means unusual in Venezuela, where 25 died in the course of a month-long standoff at another prison last year.

• Daniel Ortega was sworn in for a third term as president of Nicaragua on Tuesday, at a ceremony boycotted by the main opposition party in protest against what they claimed was a fraudulent election. Iranian PresidentMahmoud Ahmadinejad, however, was in attendance, and said that Ortega was a “brother president” to him, as the AP reports. In return, the newly inaugurated leader said that there was a “conspiracy” against Iran, and suggested Israel should disarm its nuclear weapons.

• Meanwhile the Global Post looks at why Ahmadinejad did not make a stop in Brazil on his Latin America tour, despite his friendly relationship with former President Lula da Silva. According to analysts, current President Rousseff has cooled relations between the countries, which may be inspired in part by human rights considerations, given that she publicly criticized the sentence of a woman condemned to be stoned to death for adultery in that country. According to the paper, Rousseff did not invites the Iranian leader to visit, and he did not suggest coming.

• The NYT reports on efforts by business leaders in the north Mexican city of Monterrey to help the authorities fight crime:  “Their companies helped design the advertising image and campaign for the new state police force, and they are staffing recruiting booths and a call center.” The city has been hit hard by drug violence in recent months, despite long holding a reputation as one of the country’s most peaceful and prosperous areas.

• The Associated Press notes claims from Cuban human rights campaigner Elizardo Sanchez that short-term arrests of dissidents doubled during 2011, with over 4,000 in the course of the year. The paper notes the sneaky tactics he says are used by the government to discredit his numbers: “A state-run website reported last year that several names on his list were Bolivian and Peruvian athletes and an 18th-century painter. [Sanchez] acknowledged the mistakes but said his people had been tricked by security agents pretending to be dissidents.”

• Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon has warned the Mexican government not to get involved in a “dirty war” in its fight against organized crime. He also commented that it was unlikely that the ICC would follow up with legal action a complaint made against President Felipe Calderon for alleged human rights abuses carried out by state forces.

• Mary Anastasia O’Grady at the Wall Street Journal looks at the phenomenon of “capital flight” out of Argentina, claiming that guard dogs are being employed at borders to stop people trying to smuggle cash out of the country. She argues that President Kirchner cannot stop the capital flight, but that "her overt attempt to intimidate the population with guard dogs signals an important shift in the government's attitude toward civil liberty.”

• Peru has decided to place visa requirements on Mexican citizens visiting the country, arguing that this could help stop organized criminal groups entering the country, reports InSightCrime, noting that some 98 Mexicans have been investigated for links to organized crime in the last two years.

• The Pew Center says there were 11.7 million Mexicans living in the US in 2010, making them the largest group of foreigners in the country.