Washington Watch - 29 April 2010
Honduras: On April 26 US President Barack Obama telephoned President Porfirio Lobo of Honduras. It was the first time the two have spoke directly. According to a White House communiqué, President Obama commended Lobo for his “leadership in his first months in office promoting national reconciliation and restoring democratic and constitutional order in Honduras". Obama noted the new Truth Commission that from 4 May will investigate the June 2009 coup d'etat against the former president Manuel Zelaya (2006-2009) and pledged support for the estimated 70,000 Honduran migrants in the US that have recently benefitted from the extension of the Temporary Protection Status (TPS) assigned to vulnerable migrant groups. The two also discussed the reinsertion of Honduras into the Organization of American States (OAS), which suspended the country after the coup. Notably, Obama also expressed concern over human rights issues in Honduras following a recent spate of killings of journalists and political activists. Six journalists have been murdered to date in 2010, five alone in the month of March, prompting several high-profile statements of concern by international organizations, including the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Local opposition and civic grassroots groups claim that political violence, which worsened after the coup, has been allowed to fester under the Lobo administration. Police say there is no firm evidence that the violence is politically motivated, but Lobo is under growing pressure to deal with the situation.
Cuba: On 26 April the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA), based in Washington, condemned the 22 April arrest of a Cuban blogger, Dania Virgen García and the arrest of another journalist, Yosvani Anzardo Hernández, the editor of a small independent newspaper “Candonga", last week. There are now 26 journalists under arrest in Cuba. García is the first female journalist jailed to date, according to the IAPA. It called for the immediate release of all imprisoned journalists and an end to media repression by the government. The IAPA president Alejandro Aguirre declared, “We continue seeing the same story of restriction of freedom of expression in Cuba," adding that [_.] women and men are being persecuted by a government that threatens, restricts, censors, tries and convicts offhandedly."
Mexico: On 25 April Fernando Gómez Mont, Mexico's interior minister, came out strongly against a proposal floated by the former US president Bill Clinton (1993-2001), in a talk to the Universidad del Valle de México, that the US and Mexico should model their anti-drugs strategy on the US 'Plan Colombia'. Gómez Mont not only rejected Clinton's suggestion but also said some harsh things about the US appetite for drugs and its inability to stop Mexican gangs exploiting US gun laws to arm themselves. He said that the US should be “ashamed" of both facts. He was very clear that Mexico should decide its own security policy and the US should support it. Clinton gave a separate interview to “Univisión" on 25 April in which he emphasised that Mexico was not a failed state. In his earlier talk at the university, he argued that a Plan Colombia for Mexico was the right way forward. As president, Clinton drew up the Plan Colombia with Andrés Pastrana (1998-2002). This plan increased US military aid and advice to Colombia and helped President Alvaro Uribe to combat the country's guerrilla groups. Clinton tried to head-off accusations that he was interfering in Mexican affairs by arguing that any 'Plan México' must come from the Mexican side. “The US must not allow any Mexican citizen to think that we're intervening in their affairs or that we're trying to determine the future of their country." Clinton added that he believed that any 'Plan México' should not be confined just to achieving a military victory but should be part of a broader aid programme.
Mexico: The Mexican government led by President Felipe Calderón has made clear its unhappiness at the decision by the (Republican) governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, to approve a law making it a criminal offence for migrants not to carry papers proving that they are in the US legally. Although the federal administration has criticised the law, which will not come into effect until August (or later, pending legal challenges), Brewer's decision suggests that there is no immediate chance of the US approving reforms to improve the status of migrants. On 26 April President Calderón, speaking at the Institute for Mexicans Abroad in Mexico City, condemned the new Arizona law as discriminatory and warned that relations with the US border state will suffer as a result. The measure "opens the door to intolerance, hate, discrimination and abuse in law enforcement," he said. He added that he would raise the issue with President Barack Obama at their scheduled 19-20 May meeting in Washington. The secretary general of the Organization of American States, José Miguel Insulza, also criticized the new legislation."We consider the bill clearly discriminatory against immigrants, and especially against immigrants from Latin America," he stated.