What To Do About Mexico’s Villager Vigilantes?

With more and more rural Mexicans taking defense against organized crime into their own hands, the emerging movement has sparked a national debate on their legitimacy.

While unofficial “community police forces” have existed in Mexico’s rural interior for decades, the recent spike in violence has seen a rise in the formation of new groups across the country. According to Animal Politico, media reports suggest that self-defense groups have emerged in some of Mexico’s most violent states, including Michoacan, Veracruz, Guerrero, Mexico State and Jalisco.

Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has been critical of the groups, pointing out that their possession of unregistered arms and frequent detention of individuals suspected of drug links is unconstitutional. Last week CNDH president Raul Plascencia Villanueva released a statement stressing that the vigilante movement represents a threat to the rule of law, and is symptomatic of a lack of adequate state presence.

The conservative National Action Party (PAN) has also strongly opposed the trend. On Sunday the party’s leadership urged the government to crack down on the self-defense organizations, calling for an investigation into the sources of their funding and weapons.

The left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), on the other hand, has been more open towards engaging with the movement. Yesterday, PRD members of the Senate introduced a bill which would allow the government to officially recognize community self-defense groups. El Universal reports that if passed, the bill would incorporate them into the Mexican security apparatus and allow them access to federal funding.

As unconventional as the idea is, the vigilante movement has already demonstrated the potential to cooperate with formal law enforcement.  According to Milenio, the armed self-defense group in the town of Ayutla, Mexico -- which gained fame for holding more than 50 people accused of drug ties captive since January -- turned over 20 of its prisoners to Guerrero state police and released the rest yesterday.

It is unclear how many of these will face charges, however. Excelsior reports that authorities only had warrants out for 11 of the suspects held in Ayutla.


News Briefs

• The Guatemalan Supreme Court has ruled that pre-trial hearings can move forward against eight of the thirteen judges identified as corrupt by the Public Ministry and the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). Prensa LIbre reports that the Court has not yet revoked their legal amnesty from prosecution, however, and will do so only if clear evidence of wrongdoing is found.

• In a new article for Foreign Affairs, The Council on Foreign Relations’ Shannon K. O'Neil describes a different Mexico than the one most commonly found in international headlines. Despite widespread violence in the country, O’Neil claims that Mexico has made underestimated progress on the social, political, and economic development fronts in recent years.

• The Christian Science Monitor takes a look at growing public skepticism towards peace talks in Colombia. A survey released on Monday by Datexco suggests only 20 percent of Colombians polled are optimistic that the government’s ongoing dialogue with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas will result in an eventual peace accord. By comparison, opinion polls taken when the talks were first announced in September showed that 57 percent of the public believed the negotiations would result in a lasting peace.

• A little over a year after Colombia’s historic Victims’ Law went into effect, La Opinion and the AP report that President Juan Manuel Santos gave an overview of the law’s implementation yesterday in a speech aimed at encouraging businesses to help fund victim reparation efforts. According to Santos, more than 158,000 victims of Colombia’s armed conflict have received payments from the government since the law went into effect in January 2012, costing the state some $518 million so far.

• El Salvador’s El Faro looks at the potential for prosecutors to re-open the case of the 1981 massacre of over 1,000 people in the town of El Mozote. While investigators are blocked from prosecuting the killings by a 1993 amnesty law, the fact that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found the law to be invalid in a December ruling has increased pressure on the government to punish those responsible for the massacre.

• In response to President Hugo Chavez’s surprise return to Caracas, El Nacional reports that the Venezuelan opposition is once more calling for the leader to be officially sworn in, or, if he is unable to serve in office, for new elections to be called. Chavez is currently being treated in a military hospital in the capital, and has yet to make a public appearance.   

• Venezuelan authorities announced on Saturday that prosecutors will bring corruption charges against opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez, claiming he accepted campaign donations from state oil company PDVSA in 1998 when his mother worked there as head of public relations. Officials say the donation, which allegedly went to finance his Justice First party, was a violation of Venezuelan campaign finance law, but Lopez claims he is the victim of political persecution.

• Foreign Policy’s Phil Gunson looks at the uneasy transition ahead of Venezuela in Chavez’s absence. Gunson argues that if the ruling PSUV party wins elections, inevitable economic decline and internal divisions will be difficult for the party to overcome.

• Bolivian President Evo Morales traveled to Caracas yesterday, and while he expressed a desire to meet with Chavez he was unable to, according to La Opinion. Morales made the stop on his way north to New York, where he is scheduled to kick off a United Nations-backed campaign to promote quinoa cultivation.

• On Monday the Bolivian government sent a letter to the United Nations formally charging Chile of violating international law (specifically the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations) by arresting three Bolivian soldiers on January 25. The soldiers were detained by authorities after crossing the border into Chile, allegedly in pursuit of a smuggler.  

• Grenada held general elections yesterday, and the government of Prime Minister Tillman Thomas of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was dealt a major blow by the opposition New National Party (NNP). According to the Jamaica Observer, the NNP won all 15 of the contested seats in Parliament, ensuring a return to power for the NNP’s Keith Mitchell, who led the country from 1995 to 2008. The BBC reports that the island country’s lagging economy was one the main issue at stake in the election, and Mitchell has promised to lower Grenada's 30 percent unemployment rate.

Under Fire, Inter-American Commission Releases Draft Reforms

Facing an overhaul of its responsibilities by members of the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has unveiled a counter-proposal in an effort to preserve its independence and strength as a regional human rights watchdog.

Last Friday, the IACHR released a series of draft reforms aimed at clarifying and improving its function. The proposals come in response to strong condemnation of the Commission from some countries in the region (namely the ALBA bloc nations of Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and Cuba) for allegedly serving as a foreign policy tool of the United States.

At a June 2012 meeting of the OAS General Assembly in Cochabamba, Bolivia, these countries gained regional support for reforming the IACHR’s mandate. The Permanent Council, made up of ambassadors from OAS member states, was tasked with drafting an overhaul of the IACHR, and the General Assembly is slated to vote on the Council’s recommendations in an upcoming March 22 meeting.

This was widely seen as an attempt to limit the independence of the IACHR and place it under more control of member states. Civil society groups throughout the region have voiced opposition to reforms, warning that if passed they could hamstring the Commission. Even United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has expressed concern over changes to the IACHR. In a visit to the OAS last week, he urged the General Assembly to “preserve the valuable legacy and accomplishments” of the Inter-American human rights system.

The IACHR’s suggestions appear to be a counter-proposal to the Permanent Council’s overhaul. EFE reports that Commission President Jose de Jesus Orozco presented the recommendations with the hope of having them approved by OAS members and civil society by March 11 or 12, ahead of the scheduled General Assembly vote.

All of the proposals are listed on the IACHR’s website, and the body is currently holding a period of public consultation on the changes. The Commission will be accepting comments on the reforms from stakeholders until March 1.

Among the proposed changes is an extension of the time states are given to comply with the Commission’s recommendations before the issue is passed on to the Inter-American Court (from two months to four). The Commission has also suggested changes to the format of its annual reports on human rights in the hemisphere, broadening it to include the human rights situation throughout the region as opposed to focusing on a handful of “problem countries,” as it does now.  This practice was strongly opposed by the ALBA nations, which found themselves frequently singled out in recent years. In another nod to the ALBA bloc, the IACHR has included language in its draft mandate that prioritize social and economic rights.

OAS Secretary General Jose Insulza hailed the IACHR’s proposals as “an enormous step,” saying they take into account 80 percent of the concerns raised by the ALBA bloc in Cochabamba.

Despite these concessions, the Commission has retained the right to hear allegations of human rights abuses presented by individuals and groups in the without obtaining government permission.


News Briefs

• Ecuador’s El Comercio reports that with more than 40 percent of ballots counted, President Rafael Correa’s Alianza Pais party appears to have gained a two-thirds majority in the country’s National Assembly. If this holds, it would give Correa the absolute majority he needs to pass legislation over the objections of the opposition. According to the National Election Council, the complete results of legislative elections will not be available until tomorrow.

• The New York Times reports that a rash of violence in Mexico has overshadowed President Enrique Peña Nieto’s announcement of a new crime-prevention program last week, raising questions over whether he can successfully combat crime without resorting to the controversial military-heavy approach of his predecessor, Felipe Calderon.

• InSight Crime has a helpful analysis of the recent violence by Mexican analyst Alejandro Hope, who argues that it is still too early to judge the Peña Nieto administration’s progress on security. The Mexican public seems to think otherwise, however. Reuters reports that a new poll shows the president has a lower approval rating than Calderon did at the start of his term in 2006.

• Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s return to Venezuela* early Monday morning has been almost universally interpreted as a bad sign for his recovery. The NYT and L.A. Times both note that Chavez’s death looks increasingly likely, with the only uncertainty being whether he will step down before dying, thus automatically triggering elections.  The Washington Post quotes Eric Farnsworth of the Washington DC-based Council of the Americas as saying that he believes Chavez’s return is part of an attempt to disprove the opposition’s claim that he is incapable of governing. According to him, the next few months will most likely see “an effort by the government to muddle through, working to buy time for Chavez’s eventual recovery, if indeed he does recover.”

• Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe may return to politics once again. After launching a new political movement called the Pure Democratic Center last month, Uribe announced yesterday that he is considering running for a Senate seat “if the circumstances demand it,” El Colombiano reports.

• A seven-member delegation of U.S. congressmen arrived in Havana, Cuba yesterday to meet with imprisoned US contractor Alan Gross as well as high level Cuban officials and discuss Gross’ in the context of improving bilateral relations. The delegation, which includes three senators and two members of the House of Representatives, is slated to meet with Cuban parliament president Ricardo Alarcon, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and potentially Raul Castro.

• It appears that the international speaking tour of Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez is off to a rough start. BBC Mundo and the Miami Herald report that Sanchez was forced to cancel a speaking event in Feira de Santana, Brazil after it was disrupted by a group of pro-Castro demonstrators.

• Bolivian President Evo Morales ordered the nationalization of Spanish-owned airport operations company SABSA yesterday, saying it had failed to make promised investments in the country. SABSA is the third Spanish company that Morales has nationalized in the past ten months, prompting the Spanish government to “re-consider” its diplomatic relations with Bolivia, according to El Pais.

• The Associated Press takes a look at U.S. anti-drug assistance to Costa Rica. Although it is the most peaceful country in Central America, a spike in its crime rate has many Costa Rican officials concerned about creeping influence of drug trafficking networks and organized crime. Others, however, see the country’s support for U.S.-backed counter-narcotics operations as an affront to its proud democratic history and reputation as “the Switzerland of Central America.”

*Note: yesterday’s post included a link to Telesur footage of Hugo Chavez’s December 7, 2012 arrival in Venezuela after receiving hyperbaric oxygen treatment in Havana, not of his latest return to Caracas as was initially claimed.

Correa Wins Third Term, Dedicates Victory to Chavez

With more than 74 percent of ballots counted, Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa has declared victory in the country’s presidential elections. In his second re-election since taking office in 2007, Correa won some 56 percent of the vote, compared to 22 percent for his closest rival, Guillermo Lasso.

Because Correa’s victory in yesterday’s elections was never really in doubt, he dedicated much of his campaign to building support for candidates of his Alianza Pais party in the National Assembly. While the party currently controls 42 percent of the legislature, Correa is hoping to gain an absolute majority. El Comercio reports that Alianza Pais appears poised to pick up seats, though it is still too early to tell.

In his victory speech last night, Correa dedicated his win to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, his friend and ally. "Let us take the opportunity to dedicate this victory to that great Latin American leader who changed Venezuela, and wish him a speedy recovery and the best future for his country," Correa said in a news conference.

The comment seems almost designed to fuel comparisons between Correa and the ailing Venezuelan leader, which the international press has made with increasing regularity lately. A Reuters report last week suggested that Correa’s victory could see him replacing Chavez as “the region's agent provocateur,” and the AP notes that Correa could become the “next standard-bearer of Latin America’s left.” But while he has been a vocal critic of U.S. interests in Latin America, the Ecuadoran president has explicitly denied having any interest in being a regional leader.

Domestically, Correa has vowed to deepen his “citizens’ revolution,” aimed at improving access to social welfare programs in the country which have already lifted tens of thousands out of poverty. The president has also proposed reforming the distribution of land ownership.

While some accuse his economic policies of being unsustainable, the Center for Economic Policy’s Mark Weisbrot writes a convincing defense of Correa in The Guardian, arguing that the country’s economic indicators suggest Correa has been more pragmatic  than his critics claim.


News Briefs

• Speaking of Chavez, the Venezuelan leader finally returned to Caracas early this morning after more than two months of medical treatment in Cuba. The president announced his arrival via his personal Twitter account, saying "we will continue our treatment here." Chavez’s return is surprising given that the Venezuelan government has seemingly adopted a less optimistic tone when speaking about his recovery. The government released the first photos of him after his operation on Friday, which showed the ailing leader confined to a hospital bed.

• The Washington Post published an analysis of Cuba’s “outsized role” in Venezuela on Sunday, highlighting concern among some sectors in the South American country that the Cuban government is becoming too influential there. While the article may have lost some relevance in light of Chavez’s return, it provides a helpful overview of the military and political ties that have grown between Cuba and Venezuela in recent years.

• After the Brazilian Senate voted earlier this month to appoint Renan Calheiros as president of the legislative body, public indignation broke out in the country because the appointment was seen as a sign of lingering corruption in the legislative branch. An online petition calling for his impeachment has gathered 1.5 million signatures (more than one percent of the electorate) in the last ten days. The groundswell of criticism has forced Calheiros, who stepped down as leader of the Senate in 2007 amid corruption allegations, to respond. In a statement to the press yesterday, the senator downplayed support for the petition, saying “the number of signatures is not as important as its message,” and promising to make Congress more responsive to the public.

• The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) successfully released the last of their captured security force prisoners to the Colombian government over the weekend. Despite logistical hiccups last Thursday, two police were turned over on Friday, and a soldier was released on Saturday, El Tiempo reports. All three operations were overseen by the International Community of the Red Cross and former Senator Piedad Cordoba.

• The captives’ release comes just in time for the beginning of the next round of peace talks between Colombian rebels and the government in Havana. In the last round, which came to a close on February 10, the government negotiating team showed growing impatience with the FARC, accusing the guerrillas of adding items to dialogue that were not previously agreed upon.

• InSight Crime’s Steven Dudley looks at the December murder of a Guatemalan businessman and several government officials, arguing that the incident points to the substantial links between organized crime and the country’s economic and political elites.

• El Salvador’s El Faro reports that the country’s Legislative Assembly passed a controversial bill on Friday which allows politicians to receive multi-million dollar campaign donations without disclosing their source. Fortunately, President Mauricio Funes has decided to veto the bill.

• Mexico’s Deputy Interior Minister Roberto Campa told reporters last week that his country will ask the U.S. to set aside more of the $1.9 billion Merida Initiative specifically for social programs, the AP reports. According to Campa only about 2 percent of the funds go to programs aimed at outreach and violence prevention.  

• While the five commissioners of Mexico’s public transparency agency, the Institute of Access to Information and Protection of Data (IFAI), were scheduled to testify before the Mexican Senate today over allegations of mismanagement, their hearing has been postponed until February 25, OEM reports. This comes as the country’s Chamber of Deputies is considering a bill which would dismiss and replace the commissioners, a process that some believe would damage the IFAI’s impartiality.

• After residents of the the Cañaris district in Peru’s northern Lambayeque region voted to suspend protests against a proposed copper mining project in the area until after an upcoming meeting with government and company officials on March 2, La Republica reports that locals are organizing an indefinite  series of demonstrations to begin on March 25.

• One month ahead of the March 17 referendum of Lima Mayor Susana Villaran, the latest survey by Ipsos Apoyo suggests that the mayor will not face a recall election, finding that 58 percent of Lima residents support Villaran compared to 42 who believe she should be ousted.

• Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez, who was granted a passport under Cuba’s new travel rules last month, has begun the first leg of an international three-month speaking tour. Sanchez left Cuba yesterday for Brazil, where she is expected to appear at the screening of a documentary on press freedom, the AP reports. Sanchez is also slated to visit New York and Washington DC next month, according to the Miami Herald. 

• Pagina12 reports on the Uruguayan Supreme Court’s recent decision to move a judge off of several dictatorship-era human rights cases. While the Court maintains that the decision was simply legal protocol, many suspect it was made in response to political pressure from the military.

CPJ Blasts Ecuador and Brazil in New Report on Press Freedom

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released its yearly assessment of press freedom around the world yesterday, reserving special criticism for Ecuador and Brazil. In “Attacks on the Press in 2012,” the CPJ slams the two countries for using coercive measures to silence dissent.

The New York-based NGO also placed the two on its Risk List -- alongside Syria, Somalia, Iran, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Turkey, Pakistan, and Russia -- which identifies the 10 countries around the world where press freedom was most under fire in 2012. In compiling the list, CPJ staff examined six factors: journalist deaths, imprisonments, restrictive legislation, censorship, failure to investigate and punish attacks on journalists, and having driven journalists into exile.

According to the CPJ, four journalists were killed in Brazil last year, making it the fourth most dangerous country for journalists in 2012. Despite this, the organization says the government has failed to pursue serious investigations of the murders. It also accuses Brazilian courts of restricting press freedom through extensive libel laws.

In Ecuador, the CPJ criticized President Rafael Correa for his decision to pursue a multi-million dollar libel suit against two of his critics in the press. Although he later pardoned them, the CPJ alleges that it served to intimidate the Ecuadoran media, and has made journalists there less willing to criticize him in the press.

The CPJ also blasted Correa for his role in leading a region-wide campaign to limit the role of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, proposing changes which would minimize its ability to monitor freedom of expression and place it under greater control of member states. The campaign has gained preliminary support in the Organization of American States, and will be addressed by the General Assembly next month.


News Briefs

• As President Correa cruises towards an easy victory in Sunday’s elections in Ecuador, BBC Mundo profiles the seven other candidates running for president in the country. The list includes ex-president Lucio Gutierrez, who, despite being removed from office by Congress in 2005 after months of escalating protests against him, promises “not to make the same mistakes.”

• Speculation that Chavez’s recovery has deteriorated went into overdrive after Venezuelan Foreign Minster Elias Jaua canceled a Friday meeting with Peruvian President Ollanta Humala at the last minute in order to attend an emergency meeting in Havana. This morning, however, the government released the first photos of post-operation Chavez in Havana, in which he can be seen smiling with his daughters and holding up a copy of yesterday's Granma.

• The Miami Herald reports that Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez, who was granted a passport under Cuba’s new travel rules, will begin an international speaking tour next month. Sanchez will travel to Puebla, Mexico on March 9, where she will take part in an Inter-American Press Association-sponsored forum on censorship in Cuba, and from there will travel to the U.S., where she is expected to speak at a number of press conferences and academic seminars in New York and Washington DC.

• Prensa Libre and the Associated Press report that prominent Guatemalan lawyer Lea Marie de Leon was gunned down in Guatemala City yesterday. De Leon had worked on a number of high-profile criminal cases in the country in recent years, and was the wife of Prensa Libre editor Edin Hernandez.

• The criminal trial against 10 farmworkers accused of killing six police officers in a land dispute that triggered the ouster of former Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo last year has been indefinitely put on hold after the defendants accused the judge of being impartial. The judge had previously ruled against the farmworkers in 2009, finding that a local politician could annex the land in question.

• The planned release of two Colombian police officers held captive by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) yesterday was canceled at the last minute, apparently because the rescue operation turned into a media circus. International Community of the Red Cross (ICRC) spokesman Jordi Raich said that a “cloud of journalists” had descended on the humanitarian mission, which made it impossible to conduct safely. It appears that another attempt will be made today, as El Tiempo reports that the government has extended its freeze on military operations in the area until midnight tonight. It is unclear whether the planned release of a third FARC prisoner, a soldier, will proceed as scheduled on Saturday.

• Meanwhile, the ICRC has confirmed that it is working with Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) to coordinate the handover of six civilian hostages held since January 18, although a date for their release has not yet been set.

• The government of Bolivian President Evo Morales is expected to deliver a report today on the heavy flooding that has hit parts country of the country in recent weeks, and the AP reports that the president is considering declaring a state of emergency due to flooding.

• Residents of the Cañaris district in Peru’s northern Lambayeque region have suspended their protests against a proposed copper mining project in the area, which had been raging since January 20. According to Peru21, locals said they would postpone demonstrations until after an upcoming meeting with government and company officials on March 2.

• The New York Times’ Simon Romero looks at the Catholic Church in Brazil and its efforts at retaining followers as evangelical Christianity becomes increasingly popular in the country. With Brazilian Catholic priests experimenting with new kinds of services and messaging, Romero describes the country as a “laboratory of sorts for the church’s strategies for luring followers back into the fold.”

• The Washington Post reports that the so-called “currency wars” are heating up in the hemisphere, as policymakers in Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru are increasingly joining Brazil in criticizing competitive currency devaluations in the U.S. and other major world economies.

• The Chicago Crime Commission announced on Thursday that it has designated Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin " Chapo" Guzman as Chicago’s new “Public Enemy Number One,” a term the watchdog group hasn’t used since it was created for Al Capone in 1930. The commission’s executive vice president, Art Bilek, said the designation was made because Guzman’s Sinaloa cartel supplies most of the narcotics sold in the city.

• Mexico’s Zapatista movement has presented a new “subcomandante” in a new communique, La Jornada reports. Unlike the well-known Subcomandante Marcos, Subcomandante “Moises” is believed to be an indigenous Mayan. The fact that Moises is the only other living person that the movement has identified as a subcomandante suggests he is a potential successor to Marcos, who is rumored to be dying of lung cancer.

• Writing for The Guardian’s global development blog, Annie Kelly looks at recent progress made in the fight to decriminalize abortion in Latin America, while noting that the region remains a “bastion of draconian anti-abortion laws.”

• The Congressional Research Service has released a new report (.pdf) outlining the key issues regarding U.S. policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean.

Argentine Court: Church Complicit in 'Dirty War' Crimes

In a historic ruling, an Argentine court has found that the country’s Catholic Church was complicit in the human rights abuses committed by the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983.

As Argentina's InfoNews reports, the ruling was issued by a four-judge tribunal in the western province of La Rioja, which was presiding over the murder trials of Carlos de Dios Murias and Gabriel Longueville, two priests who had been killed in 1976. Both were active members of the Movement of Priests for the Third World, an association of progressive clergymen. After being detained by officials, their mutilated bodies were found dumped near train tracks in La Rioja.

In addition to sentencing three military officials to life imprisonment for the crime, the tribunal found that the Catholic Church shared responsibility for the murders. The judges ruled that Church hierarchy in the country not only turned a blind eye to the torture, disappearances and extrajudicial killings committed by the military regime, but had in many cases colluded with authorities in order to target progressive priests. According to the tribunal’s decision (available here):

"This was not about isolated events taken out of context, committed by particular individuals. On the contrary, clearly, the murder of Murias and Longueville can be interpreted and understood precisely in the context of a systematic plan for the elimination of political opponents (...) Murias and Longueville were part of a church faction considered to be 'enemies' and 'targets.’”

The judges also criticized the present-day Church for being unwilling to investigate crimes committed by its members under the military regime.


News Briefs

• The Colombian army clashed with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas in the southern province of Caqueta yesterday after the rebels attempted to take control of the town of Milan. According to Caracol Radio, six soldiers died in the attack and five others were wounded, making it the army’s deadliest confrontation with guerrillas so far this year. Meanwhile, El Tiempo reports that the government has temporarily halted all military operations along the border between the southwestern Cauca and Valle del Cauca provinces ahead of the first phase of the FARC’s planned release of three captured members of the security forces. The first handover is slated for an unspecified time today, and will be facilitated by former Senator Piedad Cordoba and the Red Cross. RCN reports that another release operation is planned for Saturday.

• While Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) claimed to have released six civilian hostages held captive since January 18, officials denied having any indication of their whereabouts, and yesterday Defense Minister Juan Carlos called on the ELN to “stop releasing communiques and free all their hostages.” El Colombiano reports this morning that the army has acknowledged that the ELN will release the hostages to the Red Cross on Friday. The rebels have said they will continue to hold on to two German citizens until they are given proof that they are not spies.

• La Silla Vacia examines the legislative challenges to Colombia’s peace process. While the government has set a November deadline for the talks to result in a final accord, it is unlikely that the Colombian Congress would be able ratify it early next year because lawmakers will be busy campaigning for March 2014 elections, and may be unwilling to risk political capital on the issue.

• The government of Uruguay has released more details on its proposal to legalize marijuana sales in the country via distribution centers to licensed individuals, which lawmakers will debate next month. The head of the country’s National Drug Council, Julio Calzada, said that if the initiative passes it would be paired with a public health campaign similar to those associated with alcohol and cigarettes, which would warn about the risks of marijuana consumption. El Pais also reports that Calzada said the government is considering a measure which would provide marijuana free of charge to people who have registered as addicts in order to cut down on thefts motivated by a desire to purchase the drug.

• After weeks of releasing optimistic updates on Hugo Chavez’s health, the Venezuelan government switched gears yesterday, with Vice President Nicolas Maduro announcing that Chavez is undergoing "complex and difficult” alternative treatments in Cuba.

• Clarin reports that the Argentine Congress is moving closer to authorizing the creation of a commission to work with Iran in order to investigate the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, despite concern over the move among the opposition and Jewish community. This concern was fueled yesterday after Iran appeared to step back from its promise to allow Argentine investigators to question its Defense Minister about the bombing.

• Officials in Mexico’s Guerrero state are walking back their previous announcement that “several” people had been detained in connection with the assault and rape of six Spanish tourists in Acapulco. Guerrero Governor Angel Aguirre Rivero admitted to the press yesterday that no suspects in that case had actually been arrested, Animal Politico reports.

• InSight Crime has released a special report on Ciudad Juarez (.pdf here), looking at the causes behind the notable drop in violence that the border city has seen in the past two years. The report focuses on the main criminal actors in the city (the Sinaloa cartel, Juarez cartel and street gangs) as well as the role of law enforcement and local government institutions in order to assess the sustainability of the current calm.

• The Bolivian government has announced that it will present a new bill to Congress this week intended to crack down on domestic abuse and femicide. La Razon reports that Vice President Alvaro Garcia said the bill would impose stricter penalties for domestic and sexual abuse, and would be presented to both legislative houses next week. The announcement came one day after the high-profile murder of journalist Hanali Huaycho, apparently at the hands of an ex-boyfriend.

• Bloomberg has a report on water conflicts in Latin America, which are growing increasingly common as governments in the region find themselves forced to choose between short-term economic growth and long-term access to potable water.

• The movement to recall Lima Mayor Susan Villaran, which will be decided via a referendum on March 17, is heating up. Peru’s El Comercio reports that the anti-Villaran camp has filed an official complaint with the prosecutor’s office against the mayor, accusing her of abusing her authority by ordering street cleaners to tear down posters calling for her removal and leave up those which support her. 

• The Economist’s Intelligence Unit looks over the potential for fraud in Sunday’s presidential elections in Ecuador, concluding that while the potential exists, it is not likely to affect the outcome considering President Rafael Correa’s massive lead in opinion polls.

Guatemala’s Corrupt Judges in the Crosshairs

In the latest sign that tolerance for corruption in Guatemala’s notoriously shady judicial system has reached a tipping point, the Guatemalan Public Ministry is moving forward with corruption investigations against 13 high-level judges on the recommendation of the United Nations-backed anti-impunity commission in the country.

According to elPeriodico, Guatemala’s Public Ministry has opened pre-trial investigations against 13 out of 18 judges that the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) accuses of making corrupt deals. The Commission has been named as an assistant prosecutor in nine of these cases.

In November, the CICIG released a 95-page report entitled "The Judges of Impunity," (.pdf), which accused the 18 judges of “creating spaces of impunity" for organized crime and corrupt officials, and laid out the evidence against each one. The allegations range from shielding suspected drug and human trafficking rings from prosecution to making questionable rulings in favor of disgraced ex-president Alfonso Portillo, who is currently awaiting extradition to the United States on money laundering and embezzlement charges.

The fact that the Public Ministry has backed the CICIG’s calls for investigation sends a powerful message to corrupt judicial officials in the country, signaling that the era of rampant impunity in the justice system is coming to an end. It is also a reaffirmation of the Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz’s commitment to strengthening Guatemala’s courts. Since assuming control of the Public Ministry in 2010, Paz y Paz has been widely praised as a dedicated champion against corruption, and is credited with revolutionizing the attorney general’s office in the Central American country.

But while the investigation of the 13 judges is a symbolic victory against impunity, the real test for prosecutors will be achieving convictions. The Supreme Court is still evaluating the Public Ministry’s petition to strip the accused of their legal immunity, and may yet decide against it. Even if the cases go to trial, the long-standing culture of corruption in the judiciary could be a major obstacle as well. Assuming that the judges hearing these cases are clean and impartial, they will likely face immense pressure to be lenient with their colleagues.


News Briefs

• In recognition of the urgency that President Obama placed on immigration reform during his state of the union address last night, the Americas Society/Council of the Americas offers a fact sheet (.pdf) with helpful figures on immigration and its contribution to the U.S. economy. WOLA’s Border Fact Check blog takes on the oft-cited claim that undocumented immigration to the U.S. has “risen steadily since the 1980s,” noting that migrant apprehension statistics suggest that illegal border crossings have dropped to their lowest level since 1972. Meanwhile, analyst James Bosworth contends that “there was a lot about President Obama's speech that was positive for the US agenda in the hemisphere.”

• Colombia’s second-largest guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), claims that it has released five civilian hostages -- - three Colombians and two Peruvians -- that had been held captive since January 18. El Pais reports that the government has yet to confirm the claim, and it appears that the guerrillas are still holding on to two Germans citizens in their custody, who they accuse of being spies.

• A New York Times investigation looks at the success of a cash-for-guns program in Mexico City. While experts say there is no proven link between gun exchange programs and reducing gun violence, so far locals have turned in more than 3,500 weapons. The Times also offers a photo gallery depicting some of those who have participated in the program along with their weapons.

• In an op-ed for elPeriodico, journalist Gustavo Berganza points out that Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina’s 70 percent approval rating is not so unusual considering he is a former general, and the military is persistently ranked as the most trustworthy government institution in the country by the Guatemalan public. Still, not everyone is happy with the Perez’s first year in office. Central American Politics highlights a recent statement released by a coalition of Guatemalan indigenous rights groups which criticizes the president for militarizing rural communities and ignoring the demands of indigenous social movements in the country.

• Writing for El Faro, veteran Guatemalan human rights advocate Helen Mack shares her perspective of the trial against former dictator Rios Montt.

• The U.S. government has imposed sanctions on a Venezuelan state-owned weapons company, Bloomberg reports. While the U.S. State Department has not specified the sanctions or the reason behind them, a press release on its website states that the decision was made because of “credible information indicating they had transferred to, or acquired from, Iran, North Korea, or Syria, equipment and technology.”

• Reuters reports that while Cuban media quoted Fidel Castro as being optimistic about Hugo Chavez’s health last week, the official newspaper Granma has released a revised, toned-down version of his remarks. This has inevitably fueled speculation that Chavez’s health has taken a turn for the worse, though Venezuelan government officials maintain that he is making a slow recovery.

• The Jamaica Gleaner reports that Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has announced a plan for the country’s second debts swap in three years, in order to meet the terms of an International Monetary Fund loan. According to the BBC, the government is already paying some 55 percent of its budget on paying the debt and 25 on wages, leaving little for social security or education programs.

• The Associated Press reports that cash-strapped Caribbean countries are increasingly looking to draw foreign investment by selling citizenship to those willing to pay hefty fees.  The success that Dominica and St. Kitts & Nevis have had with their programs has caused Antigua & Barbuda and Grenada to consider starting similar initiatives, despite concern that the programs represent a security risk or could facilitate criminal activity.

• A Chilean court has ordered the exhumation of the remains of poet Pablo Neruda, who died just twelve days after the 1973 military coup that placed Augusto Pinochet in power. While the leftist Nobel laureate is believed to have died of prostate cancer, his driver has claimed that he was poisoned by agents of the Pinochet regime.

• In an op-ed for the L.A. Times, UC Santa Cruz history professor Dana Frank calls on the newly-appointed Secretary of State John Kerry to halt U.S. support for security initiatives in Honduras, arguing that it only ties the Obama administration closer to corruption and alleged abuses committed by the Lobo government.

Indigenous Villagers in Venezuela Release 43 Soldiers Held Captive Over the Weekend

On Sunday, members of Venezuela’s indigenous Pemon tribe released 43 soldiers who had been disarmed and held captive since Thursday in the remote southeastern Gran Sabana region.  Pemon spokesman Levi Gonzalez told reporters that the soldiers were taken by Pemones in the village of Uriman in response to recent abuses, as well as in protest against military operations aimed at taking apart small-scale mining projects there.  "Mining has always been part of our way of life. We are not getting rich, just surviving," Gonzalez said.

Globovision reports that the locals also complain that soldiers in the area are extorting them, demanding kickbacks from their mining profits. Zoraida de Galletti, the wife of local Pemon leader Jose Luis Galletti, said the soldiers were detained because locals were tired of mistreatment at the hands of officials, and that they would be held “until they take us into account.”

La Patilla has striking photos of the incident, which show soldiers being surrounded and tied up by dozens of villagers of varying ages.

According to El Nacional, the soldiers were released after government negotiators reached an accord with the community ensuring that all restrictions on their mining would cease, promising that the abuses would be investigated and none of those who took the soldiers hostage would be prosecuted.

The AP reported yesterday that no military or government officials had yet  commented on the incident. Considering the number of military personnel who were disarmed and held captive by apparently unarmed villagers, this might be due more to embarrassment than protocol.


News Briefs

• As mentioned in yesterday’s post, amid news that Pope Benedict XVI will step down this month, the region is holding its breath for a Latin American pope. Spain’s El Pais has a rundown of the top ten cardinals likely being considered to replace Benedict, with three Latin Americans among them. According to the paper this includes Brazil’s João Braz de Avis, whose open support for liberation theology would make him an unusual successor to Benedict, who famously called liberation theology a “singular heresy” in 1984. The top Latin American contender is another Brazilian, Odilo Scherer, and O Globo notes that he is conservative by Brazilian standards, but still more moderate than Benedict.

• Rebecca Hanson and David Smilde of Venezuela Politics and Analysis have posted the third in a series of posts (see the first and second posts here) analyzing the Chavez government’s efforts at improving citizen security in recent years. The latest piece highlights the tension in the country’s police force between the traditional, more militarized conception of police work there and a newer, more “humanist” notion of the use of force as a secondary tactic. While the National Bolivarian Police (PNB) is attempting to institute the latter, policy inertia and a lack of funding are major obstacles to reform.

• Chile’s investigative police, the PDI, have former president Michelle Bachelet of wrongdoing after an investigation into her government’s response to the February 2010 earthquake and subsequent tsunami, which killed more than 300 people in the country. Bachelet, whose term in office ended just days after the earthquake, had been accused of not ordering evacuations of coastal areas hit by the tsunami until it was too late. La Tercera reports that while PDI investigators found that Bachelet was responsible for the “political command” over disaster relief efforts, they faulted her interior minister, Edmundo Perez Yoma, for the delayed response. The investigation has political undertones, however, as it was ordered by current president Sebastian Piñera in a likely attempt to damage Bachelet’s prospects in 2014 presidential elections, in which she is expected to be a top contender.

• Peru’s IDL-Reporteros has more on the ongoing investigation into the Peruvian military, which is accused of having corrupt dealings with an Israeli contractor in 2009. The current leadership of Peru’s armed forces has links to the scandal, as well as a number of high-level figures in the Defense Ministry.

• The International Crisis Group has released a report on the Guatemalan army’s killing of six indigenous protestors in the central province of Totonicapan in October, finding that the shooting was a direct result of involving the military in law enforcement duties. The ICG calls on Guatemala to recognize the political demands of impoverished indigenous communities, as well as to expedite police reform in the country, “establishing clear benchmarks for the military’s withdrawal from law enforcement.”

• After Uruguayan President Jose Mujica called on lawmakers in his party to slow the push for marijuana decriminalization in the country last December, the president has confirmed in an interview with La Tercera that the Uruguayan Congress will resume the debate when it returns from recess next month.

• The latest round of talks between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government ended yesterday, and the negotiating teams will once again take a week-long break before returning to the table. In contrast to previous rounds, the latest series of talks seems to have made little progress. Semana magazine reports that on Monday, top government negotiator Humberto De la Calle accused the FARC of presenting new proposals outside of the initially agreed-upon themes, and said the government would not broaden the agenda beyond these parameters. “Some of the proposals from the guerrillas, like for example, the mining theme or the idea of halting the construction of major projects for electric power generation, are simply not part of the talks,” De la Calle said.

• Although Colombia’s official homicide rate dropped by 7 percent in 2012, the country’s official forensics agency (Institute of Legal Medicine - IML) released an official report on Monday which found that 7,500 Colombians were reported missing in 2012, a 76 percent increase from the year before, when the IML registered 4,278 disappearances. Colombia Reports’ Adriaan Alselma offers some analysis of the figure, as well as a map showing the provinces where most disappearances took place.

• Ahead of his likely victory in Sunday’s election, Reuters offers an in-depth profile of Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa. In addition to providing an overview of his rise to power, the news agency suggests he may replace the ailing Hugo Chavez as “the region's agent provocateur,” noting his repeated clashes with the U.S. in recent years.

• Following the controversy generated by Mexico’s Federal Elections Commission(IFE) deciding to investigate the leftist PRD party for alleged campaign finance irregularities in the last election, the head of the PRD in Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies, Silvano Aureoles, has proposed a change in the way the members of IFE’s General Council are appointed. El Universal reports that instead of being elected by two-thirds majority in the lower house, Aureoles argued that they should be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, like Supreme Court judges.

• While Mexican authorities have detained six people suspected of assaulting and raping a group of Spanish tourists earlier this month in Acapulco, El Pais reports that their relatives say they were falsely accused and are being used as scapegoats by the government.

• Writing for the Washington Post’s Wonk Blog, Suzy Khimm profiles Carlos Gutierrez, the Cuban-American business magnate behind the Republicans for Immigration Reform super PAC. Gutierrez is the vice chairman at Citigroup, and is described as “Bush’s right-hand man in the immigration fight” in 2007. His new super PAC, which is aimed at raising funds for GOP candidates who support overhauling immigration, is yet another sign of a growing consensus in Washington that the issue needs to be addressed.