Washington Watch - 24 June 2010
HAITI: On 17 June the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (IHRC), set up to oversee the US$5bn in post-quake aid pledged to Haiti by the international community, held its first working session. Chaired by Haiti's Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and former US president and UN Special Envoy Bill Clinton, the IHRC's inaugural session took place amid growing frustration over the lack of progress since the devastating earthquake of 12 January. Only a fraction of the money pledged has been delivered. The spending projects confirmed at this meeting were: a US$20m investment fund to help create jobs by supporting small- and medium-sized Haitian businesses; US$1m from the Clinton Foundation for buildings that can be used as storm shelters in the quake-ravaged towns of Leogane and Jacmel; and US$45m from Brazil and Norway to be allocated in direct funding for the Haitian government.
CUBA: On 18 June the third round of migration talks took place between officials from the US and Cuba. The US delegation was led by the deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Craig Kelly, and was also attended by representatives of US government agencies involved in managing migration issues. Kelly said that the meeting "reaffirmed the US commitment to promote safe, legal and orderly migration". In a press conference the state department spokesman, Philip Crowley, said that the meeting had tackled efforts aimed at "ensuring that the US interests section in Havana is able to monitor the welfare of repatriated migrants and gaining Cuban government acceptance for the repatriation of Cuban nationals who are subject to removal from the US on criminal grounds". A point of difficulty for both sides has been the case of Alan Gross. Gross worked for a non-government organization contracted by the state department to supply computer and communications material to civil society groups on the island when he was arrested in Cuba and accused of spying. The Barack Obama administration called for his immediate release. The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said ahead of last week's meeting US officials would tell their Cuban counterparts that Cuba's detention of Gross was "harming" ties between the two countries.
ECUADOR: On 17 June the US Treasury targeted the Ecuadorean support networks of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc's) 48th Front by blacklisting six Ecuadoreans. The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) "designated the 48th Front's finance chief Olidem Romel Solarte Ceron and key leaders of the Jefferson Ostaiza Amay drug trafficking organization as specially designated narcotics traffickers of acting for or on behalf of the Farc. Adam Szubin, the OFAC's director, said that the publication of the names would "build on [the] Treasury's longstanding campaign against the Farc by exposing their key support networks in Ecuador and Costa Rica." This is part of the on-going US drive to counter terrorism. The list cites three Ostaiza bothers as alleged narco-traffickers.
MEXICO: The US embassy in Mexico denied allegations that the US Border Patrol's refusal to allow four Mexicans who had swum across the Rio Bravo (Rio Grande to the US) to rest led to them drowning in the river. The four Mexicans drowned on 20 June after being part of a large group which set off from the Mexican side of the river on 19 June. The US embassy put out a strongly worded statement that the US Border Patrol had not forced the Mexicans to swim back to Mexico. The statement said the US officials found five Mexicans who had crossed the border illegally and that four of them had no right to be in the US, so they returned voluntarily to Mexico. The fifth Mexican did have papers, but they were not in order, so he was arrested and deported.