Mujica fights his corner over marijuana scheme President José Mujica has come out in robust defence of his government’s proposal to legalise marijuana. Mujica recently called for the proposal, which was submitted to congress last August, to be held up because of a lack of public support. But, far from giving up, Mujica clearly hopes to sway the population to his way of thinking. President Mujica said the initiative was designed primarily to combat drug-trafficking, “the worst scourge of Latin America”. He said the emphasis of state policy needed to be switched away from repression and onto the treatment of…

The political opposition has gone on the offensive after President José Mujica played a starring role in the ‘inauguration’ of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez in Caracas on 10 January. The opposition accused Mujica of essentially attending a “political rally” as President Chávez was unable to leave his hospital bed in Havana to attend his inauguration. It has summoned the foreign minister, Luis Almagro, to appear before the permanent commission of congress to explain Mujica’s actions. Senior politicians in the ruling Frente Amplio (FA) batted away the opposition’s criticism, arguing that Mujica was expressing solidarity with the Venezuelan people, while Almagro…

The final line-up of candidates for the 21 April general election is now complete after the last round of primaries passed off normally in mid January. All the political parties are now hoping that the main event will be just as orderly (and with a clear-cut result), so that Paraguay can return to the regional fold almost a year after it was suspended from the main regional bodies over the lightening congressional impeachment of the former president, Fernando Lugo (2008-2012). There were no surprises in the primary process, which began on 9 December with the Asociación Nacional Republicana-Partido Colorado (ANR-PC,…

Dressed in a floppy camouflage hat, the president of Argentina emerged from a leaf-strewn tunnel hidden beneath the forest floor in the most striking photo call of her tour of the Middle East and Asia. Visiting the Cu Cu tunnel complex in Vietnam, built by the Vietcong during the French occupation and expanded during the American invasion, Cristina Fernández expressed her admiration for the “wonderful struggle of the Vietnamese people in search of their independence”. A wistfulness for an old-fashioned imperialist struggle infused her remarks, as she continues to scour horizons both domestic and foreign in search of an enemy…