Calderón further politicises Mexico’s Informe

Mexico’s interior minister, José Francisco Blake Mora, delivered the document containing President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa’s IV Informe (state of the union) to congress on 1 September. Calderón has yet to deliver an Informe in person: the closest he has come was in 2007 when he came to congress, which was boycotted by the left-wing opposition, before delivering the traditional Informe speech before an invited audience and to the TV cameras a day later from the national palace. Ever since then, the annual Informe has become more of a publicity vehicle for the presidency than a symbol, as it is in the US, of the executive and legislature working together for the common good.

An ominous month for Calderón

President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa opens this September, traditionally one of the most difficult months of the year for any president, in a fast weakening position. The opinion polls disguise this slippage: his support, at 55% (well above the 36% of the voters who backed him in the 2006 elections) is still considerably higher than his disapproval rating of 37%. Nevertheless, his support is the lowest since he took office.

Mexico’s Calderón politicises Informe

On 1 September, President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa delivered the document containing his IV Informe (state of the union address) to congress. Calderón has yet to deliver the annual Informe in person. Yet since he took office on 1 December 2006 the Informe has become increasingly politicised. The most egregious example of this in the latest Informe was the emphasis on the capture on 30 August of a violent drug trafficker, ‘La Barbie’. However, there was no mention of the cold-blooded massacre of 72 undocumented migrants in Tamaulipas, discovered on 24 August.

The 2011 race for the Peruvian presidency heats up

The elections for mayor in Lima and for the presidencies of the country’s 25 regions on 3 October signal the start of the final lap in the race to become Peru’s next president. The presidential and congressional elections are in April 2011. As usual, the race for the presidency has plenty of runners and no clear favourite. Almost certainly, the race will involve a run-off between the two top-placed candidates.

Haiti readies itself for presidential elections in November

It seemed inconceivable seven months ago that Haiti would be in a position to stage presidential elections in November. The country was completely crippled by an earthquake in January that decimated much of Port-au-Prince and its environs, claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, and left still more homeless. Among the myriad buildings razed to the ground were scores of polling stations and the headquarters of the provisional electoral council (CEP), charged with organising the elections, which has since been operating out of a gym. Holding elections was neither a priority nor a logistical possibility. And yet, elections will be held as planned on 28 November. Some 34 presidential candidates registered to run for the top job in early August.

Chile’s Piñera rules out military pardons

On 25 July President Sebastián Piñera announced that he would not issue a general pardon to retired members of the military convicted for violating human rights during the dictatorship led by Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). That decision again demonstrated that Piñera is in no way a prisoner of the Right. Subsequent decisions (to restore diplomatic relations with Honduras and then to allow Ecuador to impose new terms on local oil concessions operated by Chile’s state-owned Enap) mark Piñera as a pragmatist with principles.

A Divided Island

It is over six months since the worst earthquake to hit Haiti in 200 years killed some 230,000 people, left more than 1.5 million homeless, and destroyed many parts of the capital Port-au-Prince. In this special report, we will be looking at Haiti’s struggle to recover from this disaster, and the effects on its political, economic and cultural life, as well as the efforts of the international community to provide not just emergency aid but help in rebuilding the stricken nation. The Dominican Republic, Haiti’s neighbour on the island of Hispaniola, was quick to offer help and financial support in the wake of the earthquake. President Leonel Fernández’s status as an international statesman has been greatly enhanced by his willingness to support his Haitian counterpart René Préval, and his country could benefit economically from the reconstruction of Haiti, yet there are dangers that the Dominican Republic’s relatively favourable position could lead to a renewal of the tensions between the two nations.