Washington Watch

20 December 2007

20 December 2007 Hits: 206

Argentina: On 12 December the US Federal Bureau of Investigations declared that Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, a Venezuelan arrested while trying to smuggle US$790,000 into Buenos Aires, intended the money as a campaign contribution for Argentina's new president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. The US government sought to downplay the accusation, with the US State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, emphasising that the case is a US legal matter rather than a foreign affairs issue. However Fernández dismissed the charges as a "trashing operation", with Argentine cabinet chief Alberto Fernández more explicit in his anti-US stance. He accused the US of exploiting the Antonini Wilson case to jeopardise the "good relations between Latin American countries".

Paraguay: The US ambassador to Paraguay, James Cason, met the deputy minister of foreign affairs Antonio Rivas to discuss a dispute between Cason and legislator for the ruling Partido Colorado, Juan Carlos Galavarna. In response to Cason's comments that the politicians should use their campaigns to outline proposals to benefit the people rather than criticise the press, Galavarna had reportedly called Cason a "fourth rate ambassador" and said that he should keep out of Paraguay's domestic politics.

Peru: Peruvian President Alan Garcia asked the US on 14 December to authorise Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Peruvians living illegally in the US due to the earthquake that struck Peru mid August. The US grants the TPS to countries that have suffered natural disasters or civil wars. If the TPS were granted, it would benefit approximately 500,000 Peruvians illegally living in the US.

Colombia: Senior Democratic legislators, namely Jim McGovern, Gregory Meeks and Bill Delahunt, told Colombia's vice president Francisco Santos on 12 December that the Colombian government should do what it takes to secure a prisoner swap with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) and focus on achieving their release. Santos was in Washington to lobby Congress to approve the bilateral free-trade agreement as well as explain his government's attitude to the prisoner swap. The Colombian government's line is that the international community should blame the Farc rather than the Colombian government for the fact that the guerrilla group won't give up its hostages. The congressmen also said that they would continue to support Colombian senator Piedad Córdoba's attempt to secure a prisoner swap even though the Colombian government has sacked Córdoba from her role as mediator.

Panama: Panama's former dictator, Manuel Noriega, will get a new hearing in Miami to try to avoid extradition to France from the US, where he had been tried in absentia and given a 10-year sentence for money laundering. Noriega completed a US drug racketeering sentence in September but remains in federal custody pending the outcome of France's request. Most recently he had an appeal rejected by a US judge that sought to block his extradition on the grounds that France would not grant him the protection of prisoner-of-war status. US District Judge Paul Huck said he would limit the hearing to the question of whether the French government has provided sufficient guarantees that Noriega will continue to be treated as a prisoner of war protected by the Geneva Conventions and did not immediately set a date for a new hearing but indicated that it would occur later this month.

3 January 2008

04 January 2008 Hits: 271

Argentina: "Suitcase-gate"

The Argentine embassy in Washington presented a new request early this week for the extradition of Guido Antonini Wilson, the US-Venezuelan businessman at the centre of the so-called "suitcase-gate" affair. The request was also sent to the US state department, which has not yet made any statement on whether it will comply with the request. The US and Argentina have an extradition agreement since 1997. Wilson was caught by Argentine customs officers in August with some US$800,000 undeclared. He travelled to Argentina on board a private jet in the company of officials from the Argentine and Venezuelan state energy companies. In December, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) claimed that the money was going to be used to finance the campaign of Argentine President Cristina Fernández, after it arrested four of Wilson's associates in Miami. The Argentine government denied this and accused the US of mounting an operation to undermine Argentina's image due to its government's links with Venezuela. The US state department's line is that this is a police investigation and does not involve the US government.

Immigration: Arizona tightens rules

Immigration experts say that Arizona's Law HB2779 is the most anti-immigrant of the 250 state laws approved in the US in the last couple of years aimed at deterring undocumented migration. It came into force on 1 January 2008. Businessmen say that the law will paralyse their activities: the courts can order a business to close for 10 days if it hires an illegal migrant. What frightens businessmen is that the 10 day closure is the penalty for a first offence. A second offence can lead to a complete shutdown.

Jorge Bustamente, a specialist in immigration issues at the United Nations, writing in Reforma, a Mexican national newspaper, said that Arizona is now the US state with the largest number of laws and draft laws aimed at penalising illegal immigrants. Bustamente claims that the swoops by police on immigrant communities to catch undocumented migrants are most common in Arizona. He also argues that these swoops often lead to the arrest of illegal migrants' US born children and their deportation. This specifically contravenes the US constitution. Bustamente estimates that there are around 3m US born children of undocumented migrants.

Bustamente points out that an Arizona district attorney, Andrew Thomas, has developed the idea that undocumented migrants should be accused of trafficking themselves into the US, which is a criminal offence (felony), rather than the mere misdemeanour of illegally entering the US from a foreign country. The misdemeanour carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison; the felony has a 20 year maximum sentence.

Mexico's ambassador under pressure

Arturo Sarukhán, Mexico's ambassador to the US , was criticised in the press on 2 January for his bizarre claim that he has put immigration on to the backburner of key bilateral issues. This is not what President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, who is due in the US next month, wants. Indeed, immigration, along with the state of the economy and the war in Iraq, is one of the key issues in the current presidential primaries in the US. Immigration is also a huge political issue in Mexico, where most families, even President Calderón's, have family embers working in the US.

Bolivia: complicated relations

Philip Goldberg, the US ambassador to Bolivia , admitted on 27 December that US-Bolivian relations were "complicated". He said, however, that US support for the Bolivian government's anti-drug trafficking policies would continue.

He was speaking at the handover of 40 US vehicles to the national police for use in anti-drug operations. The US government is particularly unhappy at President Evo Morales's plan to increase the acreage given over to legal plantations of coca. Morales wants to increase the acreage from 12,000 hectares to 20,000.

10 January 2008

10 January 2008 Hits: 195

Bolivia: US ambassador in Bolivia, Philip Goldberg said that the accusation by President Evo Morales regarding supposed US interference in national electoral court (CNE) decisions "complicated" relations between both countries. Morales had blamed the US for influencing the CNE in its decision not to recognise his political party when he sought to register for the elections. Goldberg denied any US influence.

Mexico: The US consulate in the Mexican city of Monterrey will authorise 9,000 H2 permits in January for Mexicans to work in the US, 50% more than the same month the previous year. H2 visas are intended for unskilled or skilled labourers (not professional or graduates) to work in the US on a temporary or seasonal basis. The consulate spokesperson said that the majority of Mexican workers granted permits seek work in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Arkansas, Florida and North Carolina. These types of permits could total some 100,000 in 2008.

Mexico: On 7 January, Mexico's foreign minister Patricia Espinosa Cantellano accused US presidential candidates of worsening an already "adverse climate" for Mexican migrants and vowed to intensify efforts to protect the rights of Mexican citizens living and working in the US. At the opening ceremony of a conference for Mexican diplomats in Mexico City, Espinosa declared that "being effective in the defence and support of the migrants implies treating them the same way whether they are in Mexico or outside of the country." She did not specify what steps would be taken.

Mexico: On 4 January, the Mexican foreign ministry criticised the new labour regulation approved in Arizona, which came into force on 1 January 2008. Under the new legislation - which is aimed at deterring undocumented immigration - the courts can order a business to close for 10 days if it hires an illegal immigrant. In a press statement, Mexican government officials stated that such measures do not "contribute to resolving the issue of labour migration between both countries and fails to recognise the contributions of immigrants to the US economy and society". Illegal immigrants work mainly in agriculture, construction, gardening, the textile and hospitality industries.

Argentina/Venezuela: Two Venezuelans, Carlos Kauffmann and Moisés Maionica, pleaded not guilty before a Miami court to a US charge of acting as unregistered foreign agents in a scheme to cover up an attempt at smuggling US$800,000 in cash into Argentina. In December, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) claimed that the money was going to be used to finance the campaign of Argentine President Cristina Fernández. Three other men were also indicted in December of which one, Antonio José Canchica Gómez, remains at large. The other two, Uruguayan Rodolfo Edgardo Wanseele Paciello and Venezuelan Franklin Durán, pleaded not guilty in late December.

17 January 2008

17 January 2008 Hits: 185

Region: Immigration topped the list of voters' priorities in the Iowa caucus on 3 January, but dropped down the list to second or third in the New Hampshire and Michigan primaries. The state of the US economy appears to have jumped up voters' list of concerns. The two issues are linked, however. In the 1992 election - the last time the US held a presidential election in an economic downturn - the populist anti-immigration candidate, Ross Perot, won just enough votes to tip the election away from the rightwing candidate, George H Bush.

In Michigan, the only liberal Republican on immigration, John McCain, was much more easily defeated than the opinion polls had suggested. The two other Republican frontrunners, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, have emphasised their anti-immigration stance. As governor of Arkansas, Huckabee had been much more liberal.

Argentina: Tom Shannon, the assistant secretary of state for the western hemisphere, said on 14 January that the Argentine government's response to the US investigation into the Guido Antonini Wilson case had been disappointing. He was speaking in an interview with the rightwing Argentine newspaper, Clarín. Shannon said that Argentina had misunderstood the Justice Department's investigation in Southern Florida and had claimed that it was targeted against Argentina. This is wrong, Shannon said. Antonini Wilson was found with a suitcase containing almost US$800,000 in cash when he arrived in Buenos Aires from Caracas on an executive jet owned by the Venezuelan government in August 2007. Shannon conceded that the Argentine prime minister, Alberto Fernández, had recently accepted that the US criminal investigation had nothing to do with the US government. The US investigation has produced witnesses who claim that the US$800,000 were destined for the presidential campaign of Cristina Fernández, who won the elections in October. The witnesses say that the money came from the Venezuelan government, headed by President Hugo Chávez . The Argentine government notes that there is no independent evidence to corroborate this theory, and has asked for Antonini Wilson - who holds joint US-Venezuelan citizenship - to be extradited to Argentina.

Region: Admiral James Stavridis, the head of US Southern Command, delivered a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on 16 January in which he issued a warning about Latin American narco-traffickers going into partnership with Islamic radicals. "What I worry about in this region [Latin America] with outside actors coming into it, is the potential for those streams to cross, if you will, for the fuel of narco-terrorism to become engaged in Islamic radicalism here in the Americas, here in our home."

Admiral Stavridis cited the growing links between Iran and Latin America as evidence of this trend. He said that Iran now has 10 embassies in the region and plans to have one in every country. "I fear greatly that the connectivity between narco-terrorism and Islamic radical terrorism could be disastrous in this region," he said.

Nicaragua: On 11 January, the US embassy in Nicaragua denied accusations by President Daniel Ortega that senior police officials and agents are on the pay-roll of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Ortega had made the allegations during his annual speech in congress, attended by police chief Aminta Granera and US ambassador in Managua Paul Trivelli, and warned that the DEA was extremely dangerous and corrupt.

Dominican Republic: The Ministry for the Armed Forces announced on 12 January that in March, officials from the US and 19 Caribbean nations will participate in the US Southern Command-led "TradeWinds 2008" - a military exercise aimed at improving security in the region. Training covers disaster management, humanitarian assistance, riot control, and internal security among other things. The government official added that as well as strengthening regional links, the exercise will improve co-operation between the military, the police and civil organisations of each country represented.

Colombia: During a visit to Colombia, three US Democrat legislators, William Delahunt, George Miller and James McGovern, reiterated their desire on 14 January to meet the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc), to discuss the release of the guerrilla group's hostages. Delahunt, who led the delegation, also praised the success of Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez in securing the release last week of two Colombian politicians held hostage by the Farc some six years. Several governments criticised Chávez after he demanded that the international community stop treating the Farc as terrorists, but Delahunt focused on the 'major step forward' that Chávez achieved in securing the release. On the same day, the US State Department roundly rejected any changes to the way it regards the Farc. The delegation was visiting primarily to discuss the Democrats' opposition to the free-trade agreement between the US and Colombia.

24 January 2008

25 January 2008 Hits: 195

Clinton woos the Hispanic vote
Hilary Clinton, a candidate for the Democratic party's presidential nomination, promised to improve US relations with Latin America if she wins the US presidential elections. During a rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 18 January, Clinton tried to woo the Latin vote in the state of Nevada. She won the primary on 19 January. The state has a 23% of Latin population and ranks fourth in US in terms of Hispanic voters, after New Mexico (43%), California (35%) and Arizona (28%). In her speech, Clinton talked about collaborating with local governments in order to generate employment in Latin America. Clinton also reiterated her support for Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and criticised the insufficient efforts of the Colombian government in stopping violence against union leaders. Concerning Cuba, Hilary said that no general changes should be made respect to US-Cuba diplomatic relations at the moment, but that everything would depend on developments in Cuba.

Border patrol officer killed by Mexicans
A US Border Patrol agent was murdered while trying to stop a suspected drug smuggler along the California-Mexico border on 19 January. The agent, whose name has not yet been released, was struck and killed by the suspect's car about 20 miles west of Yuma, Arizona.
The Mexican government condemned the incident and local authorities are collaborating with the FBI and officials from the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who are carrying out the investigation. This is the first death for the Border Patrol in 2008. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff claims that the tougher security measures at the US-Mexico border are leading to an increasingly violent response from criminal groups.

Honduras hit by tariffs
In mid-January, the US government announced a new tariff of 13.5% on cotton socks imported from Honduras in order to protect national production. The measure, which could affect about 12,000 employers from several factories in Honduras, comes in response to protests by US socks manufacturers, and the recent lay-offs in some southern states of the US.
Honduran cotton sock exports increased by about 99% in one year, according to government figures. This growth has been helped by the Central America Free Trade Agreement (Cafta), established in 2005, which removed existing tariffs. Since then, US domestic production has fallen by about 20% and 30 sock mills have closed. The new tariff, if ratified, could apply for the next three years.

El Salvadoreans in Iraq
The chairman of US joint chiefs of staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, visited the 280 soldiers in Salvador who will be sent to Iraq in February to support the US. This is the tenth Salvadorean contingent sent out since 2003, and will replace the current group placed in the town of Kut, southwest of Baghdad. El Salvador is the only Latin American country which retains military forces in Iraq, and the National Assembly recently approved the extension of their military support until December 2008, after a plea by President Antonio Saca. Five Salvadorean soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq and more than 50 have been wounded, mostly by explosive devices.

Cuba to buy more from California
California is looking to increase its agricultural exports in Cuba. A delegation of 20 businessmen from California headed by the Secretary of Agriculture, Arthur Kawamura, visited Cuba on 21 January to promote products such as fruits, nuts, vegetables and wine. Currently California exports about US$700,000 of food a year to Cuba. However, California hopes to sell as much as US$180m in agricultural products to the island in the future. The trade embargo on Cuba, has excluded since 2001 all agricultural goods if these are paid for directly with cash. Since 2003, the US has been the top food source for Cuba, which imported about US$3bn of US agricultural products over the past seven years.

US makes renewed overtures to Venezuela
On 22 January the US Assistant Secretary of State, Thomas A. Shannon, invited Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to talk about their bilateral relations particularly cooperation in anti-drug policies. Chavez has rejected this kind of invitation in the past and has discontinued DEA programmes in Venezuela. Shannon reiterated that the US still considers Venezuela is being used as a springboard for cocaine traffic from Colombia to Europe, reiterating the comments recently made by the US anti-drug czar, John Walters.

31 January 2008

31 January 2008 Hits: 194

Bolivia: On 28 January the US embassy denied accusations by Bolivia's interior minister, Alfredo Rada, that the US had supported an "irregular" police intelligence structure operating in the country. The US embassy assured him that its "long tradition of supporting the Bolivian police" had always been undertaken with the full knowledge and under the control of the country's governments.

Colombia: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice concluded a two-day visit to Medellín, Colombia, on 25 January. The trip did not achieve its primary objective, which was to persuade the nine Democratic congressmen in the delegation to support the US-Colombia free-trade agreement. Upon arriving back in the US, the Democrats maintained that they had not made up their mind about whether to support the agreement (whose progress through Congress has stalled due to opposition from their party), but several of their aides suggested that they are unlikely to change their vote. Rice also refused to get drawn into the spat between Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez and President Álvaro Uribe of Colombia: "We leave Colombia's relations with Venezuela to Colombia," she said.

Ecuador: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates praised Ecuador's anti-drugs effort during a visit by the Ecuadorean defence minister Wellington Sandoval to Washington on 25 January. Sandoval attributed Ecuador's success to the fact that it neither refines nor grows drugs, highlighting that in the past couple of years, Ecuador has seized 35t of drugs. During his visit, Sandoval also discussed with Gates and Christy McCampbell, the assistant secretary in the international narcotics department at the State Department, the way Ecuador is policing its border with Colombia. Sandoval called this 'Plan Ecuador' and implied that, rather than military force, it depended on "soft force", such as cross-border partnerships and economic development, to achieve its objectives. Meanwhile, the Ecuadorean government's decision to publicise the praise given to it from the US demonstrates that President Rafael Correa is determined to keep his distance from President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and his Alternativa Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América (Alba) initiative.

Mexico: On 24 January a senior official at the US State Department, David T Johnson, denied that US military aid to Mexico depended on Mexico continuing to extradite gangsters to the US. This statement effectively reversed what he had said the previous day and what many political commentators suspect is the truth - that US$1.4bn in anti-drug aid is contingent on extraditions. What made his original statement so controversial is that the current government of President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa has stepped up the pace of extraditions to the US. Under his government, which started on 1 December 2006, 102 people have been extradited, 98 of them to the US. Mexico still refuses to extradite people who could face the death penalty. In his clarification, Johnson said that what he meant was that the US$1.4bn package would increase US-Mexican cooperation and extraditions.

Panama: The US donated four rapid boats, communication systems and radars worth US$7.5m as part of the "Enduring Friendship" initiative against drug trafficking. The US Southern Command-led initiative is aimed at assisting partner nations with strengthening their maritime domain awareness and operational capabilities to better anticipate and respond to drug trafficking and other threats. Jamaica, the Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic also receive similar assistance.

Region: On 28 January the US presidential spokesperson confirmed that President George W Bush would not seek to reform immigration laws during the remainder of his mandate. As immigration, along with the economy, has become a key issue in the presidential primaries, the government could not hope to achieve the bipartisan support to get a reform through congress. Bush said that immigration, along with social security reform, were the two most important challenges facing the US government. "America needs to secure [its] borders," he said. "And with [congress's] help, my administration is taking steps to do so. We're increasing worksite enforcement, deploying fences and advanced technologies to stop illegal crossings. We've effectively ended the policy of "catch and release" at the border, and by the end of this year, we will have doubled the number of border patrol agents. "Yet we also need to acknowledge that we will never fully secure our border until we create a lawful way for foreign workers to come here and support our economy. This will take pressure off the border and allow law enforcement to concentrate on those who mean us harm. We must also find a sensible and humane way to deal with people here illegally. Illegal immigration is complicated, but it can be resolved. And it must be resolved in a way that upholds both our laws and our highest ideals."

7 February 2008

07 February 2008 Hits: 244

Argentina: Argentina's President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner met the US ambassador to Argentina, Earl Wayne on 31 January. The Argentine government hailed the meeting a success because Wayne said that the prosecutors investigating the suitcase scandal in Miami are not targeting Argentina but Venezuelan spies operating illegally in the US. According to cabinet chief Alberto Fernández, the meeting has paved the way for the US assistant secretary for western hemispheric affairs, Tom Shannon to visit Argentina in the near future. Separately, a journalist Héctor Timerman, a son of a prominent dissident journalist, Jacobo, was appointed as Argentina's new ambassador to the US.

Bolivia: Bolivian government and business sectors said on 3 February that they were optimistic that the US would renew the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (Atpdea) which provides no- or low-tariff access to the US and is set to expire at the end of February. The American Chamber of Commerce in Bolivia reckons that 12,670 workers will be affected if the Atpdea is not renewed. The main industries to benefit from Atpdea provisions are: jewellery, textiles and leather. Around 55% of Bolivia's manufactured exports go to the US. On 5 February the US government announced that it would be sending a bill to congress within two weeks regarding an extension of the agreement.

Colombia: On 5 February, US Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell issued a report in which he claimed that Colombia has "significantly reduced" the strength of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc). He also described Colombia as the US's most loyal ally in Latin America. The assessment pre-empts two key decisions on Colombia yet to be taken by US congress - the vote over the bilateral free-trade agreement and the composition of US aid to Colombia in 2009. If the administration can persuade congress that US assistance to Colombia is bearing fruit, it is possible that the Democrats, who control congress, will support the free trade agreement. President George W Bush unveiled its budget for 2009 which included US$545m for Colombia - almost exactly the same amount as the US$542m assigned for 2008.

Nicaragua: After a meeting between Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega and a delegation from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on 4 February, Ortega agreed to increase collaboration with the US to combat narco-trafficking. This represents a change by Ortega after his allegations last month that senior police officials and agents were on the pay-roll of the DEA - accusations that both US officials and Nicaragua's police chief denied.

Venezuela: US Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell said in his latest report that Venezuela was serving as an increasingly frequent transit zone for drug traffickers to ship Colombian cocaine and undermining counter-narcotics efforts in neighbouring countries. Venezuela's top drug enforcement official, Néstor Reverol, had said on 22 January that the US criticism of the country's efforts to curb trafficking was politically motivated and aimed at discrediting President Hugo Chávez . During his speech McConnell also accused Venezuela and Cuba of inspiring and supporting the leaders of Bolivia, Nicaragua and, to a lesser extent, Ecuador in "pursuing agendas that undercut checks and balances on presidential terms_and emphasise economic nationalism at the expense of market-based approaches." In terms of Cuba, Washington's traditional enemy, US intelligence expects the political situation to remain stable at least in the initial months following Fidel Castro's death. McConnell argued that the ruling elite would remain intact because many people at the top of the communist party and armed forces had been picked by the interim leader, Raúl Castro.

14 February 2008

14 February 2008 Hits: 199

Washington Watch

Bolivia: On 13 February, the Bolivian government confirmed that a US official, Vincent Cooper, accused of asking a Fulbright scholar and Peace Corps volunteers to spy on Cubans and Venezuelans in Bolivia would not return to Bolivia. The announcement followed a meeting between US ambassador to Bolivia, Philip Goldberg and Bolivia's interior minister, Alfredo Rada. Investigations by Bolivia and the US into the incident are continuing. According to US embassy officials, Cooper mistakenly briefed a group of newly-arrived scholars and aid workers, asking them to report "suspicious activities". The US state department has said that any such request would be "an error" and against US policy.

Guatemala: According to Guatemala's central bank, remittances from the US reached US$314.6m in January, 9.5% more than the same month the previous year. Although 23,000 Guatemalans were deported from the US in 2007, remittances reached a record US$4bn in 2007, compared with US$3.6bn the previous year. The International Organisation for Migration (OIM) estimates that remittances could increase by between 5% and 8% in 2008.

Mexico: On 10 February Mexico's president, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, began his first trip to the US since taking office. By the end of the visit, on 14 February, he had visited New York, Boston, Chicago, Sacramento and Los Angeles. As well as gaining a first-hand impression of the state of the US economy, Calderón's objective was also to find out more about the two Democrat contenders for the presidency. He visited states and cities where the Democrats are particularly strong. While John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, is a liberal on immigration and free trade (the two key Mexican issues with the US), the problem for Mexico with the two Democrat candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, is that neither of them is as clear on the type of immigration reform they would like the US to adopt. Furthermore, both the Democrats are far from unequivocal in their support of free trade. Protectionism would hit Mexico hard, since 85% of its exports go to the US. Calderón also took the opportunity during his trip to express his concern about the "highly prejudiced" and "anti-immigrant" atmosphere in the US and hopes that the new president would have "a broader, more positive and more rational vision on the issue of immigration." Although President Bush advocated a liberal immigration reform, he also deployed the National Guard in border areas and started construction on a series of barriers, both high-tech and low-tech, along the border. On 31 January, Michael Chertoff, the US Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), said that the government would ask congress for a 19% increase in the budget for border security for the next fiscal year, which starts in October 2009.

Region: According to the US-based Pew Research Centre, Hispanics will account for 29% of the US population by 2050. This more than double the 14% they comprised in 2005. Despite the current social tensions over immigration, the report's co-author, D'Vera Cohn, noted that even if their projections are accurate, the social implications may be different by 2050. "Given the high rate of intermarriage between Hispanics and members of other ethnic groups, many descendants of today's Latinos may not even identify themselves as Hispanics," Cohn says.

Venezuela: On 10 February Venezuela's President, Hugo Chávez , threatened to cut oil supplies to the US because of a dispute with ExxonMobil. His threat follows recent court rulings freezing overseas assets of Venezuela's state oil company (Pdvsa) - after a petition from ExxonMobil. In his weekly broadcast Aló Presidente on 10 February, Chávez justified the threat by accusing Washington of perpetrating an "economic war" against Venezuela through US private companies such as ExxonMobil. He said that the company is one of the "arrows of US imperialism". Chávez went on to say that "if you do freeze assets and harm us we will also hurt you. And do you know how? We will simply not ship any more oil to the US". Despite political tensions, Venezuela's main oil market is still the US. Venezuela is also one of the three main suppliers of oil to the US. Washington has tried to maintain distance from ExxonMobil's case against Pdvsa - which follows Chávez 's "nationalisation" of operations the Orinoco tarbelt. Indeed, it seems that Washington's pressure led ExxonMobil to give up freezing Pdvsa's assets in the US.

21 February 2008

21 February 2008 Hits: 205

Bolivia: A US congressional delegation met Bolivia's President Evo Morales on 19 February and said that while its members were in favour of extending the Andean Trade Preference Drug Eradication Act (Atpdea), they were "concerned" about Bolivia's growing ties to Iran. This followed Morales' announcement of plans to launch a new TV channel with funding from Iran. Jerry Weller, a Republican from Illinois, said that there was "a very high level of concern regarding the activities of Iran in Latin America" and that if this concern continues to increase in congress "it will become more difficult to extend these preferences in the future".

Cuba: Following Cuban President Fidel Castro's announcement that he planned to retire, the Bush administration is ruling out any changes in its Cuba policy. John Negroponte, number two in the State Department, said the US would continue with the embargo imposed on Cuba in 1962. This tone was repeated by the three main candidates to succeed Bush. Republican nominee John McCain, who was recently rebuked by Fidel after claiming that Cuba was involved in torturing of US troops in Vietnam, and Democrat hopeful Hilary Clinton made no mentions on easing the embargo. The other Democrat hopeful, Barrack Obama, however, said that the Fidel's retirement was an "essential first step", adding that "if the Cuban leadership begins opening Cuba to meaningful democratic change, the US must be prepared to begin taking steps to normalise relations and ease the embargo".

Ecuador: Ecuadorean foreign minister María Isabel Salvador said on 18 February that Ecuador was awaiting a response from the US to begin bilateral trade negotiations. Salvador said that 10 days earlier, Ecuador had sent a "counter-proposal" to Washington in response to a US request for trade negotiations, sent some eight months ago. Ecuador has so far refused to adopt the free trade agreement model favoured by the US, as the government considers it damaging to the country. Nevertheless, Salvador reiterated the importance of a bilateral trade agreement with the US given that it is Ecuador's main trading partner.

Region: On 14 February the US House of Representatives Ways & Means committee recommended extending the Andean Trade Preference Drug Eradication Act (Atpdea) until the end of 2008. The Atpdea is due to expire at the end of the month. The main beneficiaries of the move, Bolivia and Ecuador, both argued that it was justified by their anti-drugs efforts. Both countries, which have been distancing themselves from the US, want a long-term trade agreement with the US. The big fear in Bolivia is that when both houses of congress come to vote on the decision, probably at the end of February, they will trim the extension back to only three months, a move backed by influential leader of the minority Republicans, Senator Grassley. Some Senators are unhappy that Bolivia has withdrawn from the World Bank's ICSID (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes) and has "nationalised" various industries.

Venezuela: On 17 February Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez backed down over his threat to cut oil supply to the US. Having claimed that a court case filed by the US company ExxonMobil against Venezuela's state energy company, Pdvsa was part of an economic war waged by Washington against Venezuela, he then said that Venezuela had "no plans to stop shipping oil to the US", despite having threatened to do so. In recent weeks ExxonMobil won international court orders freezing as much as US$12bn of Pdvsa's assets held abroad - in effect leaving the Venezuelan company cash-strapped and unable to fulfil all of its investment pledges. Chávez knows that Pdvsa's situation would become unsustainable if he carried out his threat: The US buys three-quarters of Venezuela's oil production and oil is the source of 90% of Venezuela's exports. At the same time, half of the government's budget is funded with Pdvsa's revenues.

28 February 2008

28 February 2008 Hits: 277

Bolivia: President Evo Morales accused US ambassador to Bolivia, Philip Goldberg, of leading a conspiracy against his government and its new constitution. Morales accused Goldberg of acting as a politician, rather than as a "diplomat". He said that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had provided finance and support to the local political opposition. Morales claimed that the US is promoting a "campaign" against his government because the new constitution does not allow any country to establish a military base in Bolivia, least of all the US. Morales' accusations against Goldberg follow his decision to cancel his trip to the US, where he was due to meet ex US President Jimmy Carter and give various talks. He called off the trip in order to lead efforts to deal with flood crisis, which has left 61 people dead and 73,000 families homeless.

Cuba: A spokesperson for the US State Department Tom Casey said on 25 February that the US believes that the handover of power from Fidel Castro to his brother Raúl does not represent a significant political transition. Meanwhile in a televised debate last week, the Democrat candidate Barrack Obama reiterated his willingness to hold talks with Cuban leaders without preconditions if elected president. "I do think that it's important for the United States not just to talk to its friends but also to talk to its enemies,'' he said. "That's where diplomacy makes the biggest difference.'' He added that the US agenda for such a session would however include the issue of human rights. Hillary Clinton meanwhile has been more cautious, floating the possibility of improved relations with Havana but only if the regime first proves its commitment to democratic reform. Both she and John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, criticise the Obama proposals as rash.

Ecuador: The Coordinadora Continental Bolivariana (CCB), which comprises various left wing organisations in the region, announced on 26 February that it was planning a protest against US migration policy. CCB representative Nicolás Isa Conde said that the protest was to protest the "shameful wall" constructed on the US-Mexican border as well as the military sites that the US has in various Latin American countries.

Mexico: John P Walters, the US drugs czar also talked about Mexico on 26 February and and issued a grim warning that the narco-violence in Mexico is likely to get worse before it gets better. Walters's strong statement also admitted that US drug consumption of illegal drugs was providing the money for the Mexican gangsters to wage the war on the Mexican government. Walters said: "We all need to come to grips that American consumers are funding this violence. We share responsibility, and we need to do more to help." This is the most explicit acceptance so far by the US government of the Mexican view that the drug and violence problems Mexico faces are also the responsibility of the US government.Walters, formally, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) at the White House, said that government of President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa had, for the first time, reduced the supply of drugs from Mexico to the US and that the gangsters were responding with ever increasing violence to the threat the Mexican administration posed to them. "We have seen this in other countries, such as Colombia. The drug gangs retaliate because they are desperate and feel threatened for the first time. This is the first time that the government in Mexico is delivering results." Walters said that US drug users are paying Mexican gangsters about US$14bn a year for their fixes. Walters argued that the most lucrative trade for the Mexican gangs is marijuana, rather than heroin, cocaine or methamphetamines. Walters said that of the US$13.8bn that North Americans spent on drugs shipped by Mexican gangsters in 2004/05, almost two-thirds, (US$8.6bn) went on marijuana.

The 2004/05 figures are the only ones available, because this was the first year in which the ONDCP carried out a market analysis. The figure for cocaine was US$3.9bn and the figure for methamphetamines was US$1bn.

Mexico: In televised debate on 26 February that was dominated by health and trade issues, the two Democrat contenders for the party's presidential nomination threatened to pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta). Ending Nafta is easy: each of the three member countries just has to give six months' notice that it is withdrawing. The consequences for Mexico if the US pulled out of Nafta would be devastating and probably counter-productive for the US. There would be a wave of disinvestment from Mexico, whose industry has become increasingly integrated with the US supply chain. This would lead, almost inevitably, to increased illegal migration from Mexico to the US as displaced Mexican workers sought jobs. Both Democrat contenders, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, strongly criticised Nafta and said that they wanted it changed. They both warned that if Nafta was not renegotiated, the US should pull out. Clinton specifically warned both Mexico and Canada that unless they allowed a renegotiation the US would "opt out". Obama took an almost identical line, arguing that the US should use the threat of pulling out to force changes to Nafta. He wanted to see tougher labour and environmental rules for Mexico and Canada. The Democrats' increasingly protectionist rhetoric is designed to appeal to voters in Ohio, an industrial state which has been badly hit by companies moving production to Mexico. Ohio and Texas hold what is likely to be the decisive Democrat primary next Tuesday, 4 March. The TV debate on 26 February, the 20th of the Democrats' primaries, was held in Ohio where Nafta is hugely unpopular, even though Ohio ranks fourth among the states exporting to Mexico and Canada. It is also worth noting that US exports, as a percentage of GDP, are currently at record levels, largely as a result of trade with Canada and Mexico.

Region: A survey published by Texas A&M showed that 62% of Hispanic voters in Texas would vote for Hillary Clinton in the 4 November elections compared to 22% who would vote for Barack Obama while 13% were undecided. The survey was designed by an academic Sylvia Manzano and has a 4.3% margin of error. According to Manzano the results reflected the ties established by both Clinton and her husband which date back to his first presidential campaign in 1991. The survey also showed that in the November elections the likely Republican nominee John McCain would only obtain 20% of the Hispanic vote compared to 60% for Clinton if she was chosen as candidate. This compares to 46% who would vote for Obama and 25% for McCain if Obama was selected. For the Hispanic voters in Texas the most pressing issues are the economy and employment, health care and immigration.

Region: On 27 February the US house of representatives approved a 10-month extension of the Andean Trade Preference Drug Eradication Act (Atpdea) which was due to expire at the end of the month, The news was gratefully received by the four beneficiaries of the act - Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

Washington Watch

06 March 2008 Hits: 218

Brazil: The US-Brazil Biofuels Steering Group and Advisory Board met on 3 March in Washington to advance cooperation of the US-Brazil Memorandum of Understanding on Biofuels Cooperation. The goal of the partnership is to promote the use of biofuels in the region and beyond. US and Brazilian officials were joined by ministerial delegations from the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, and St. Kitts and Nevis: the four initial target countries where the US and Brazil are promoting the development of biofuels for domestic consumption. Also participating were the Advisory Board, comprised of US and Brazilian industry leaders and partner institutions. Working with funding partners, the US-Brazil partnership has committed funds to eight initial projects with a view to fund as many projects as possible.

Colombia: On 4 March US President George W Bush criticized "provocative manoeuvres" towards Colombia by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez , declaring support for the US's ally, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe. "America fully supports Colombia's democracy," Bush said. "We firmly oppose any acts of aggression that could destabilize the region." He added that a key way that Washington can help Uribe is for Congress to approve the free-trade agreement with Colombia. "If we fail to approve this agreement, we will let down our close ally, we will damage our credibility in the region, and we will embolden the demagogues in our hemisphere," he said. "(Uribe) told me that the people across the region are watching to see what the United States will do. So Republicans and Democrats in Congress need to come together and approve this agreement."

Nicaragua: A US government delegation arrived in Nicaragua on 3 March to evaluate Nicaragua's proposal to destroy the SAM-7 anti-aircraft missiles in exchange for hospital equipment. The US government has long pressured Nicaragua to destroy the missiles as part of a global effort to eliminate weapons that could fall into the hands of terrorists and, having already destroyed about half its original stockpile of 2,000 missiles, it is offering to destroy 651 of the remaining 1,051 SAMs in exchange for "modern medical equipment and medications." While Nicaragua's ambassador in Washington, Arturo Cruz Sequeira, told a local TV station that the final 400 missiles also could be destroyed, but only as part of a regional arms reduction effort "to bring the region's armed forces into parity," Ortega told the same station on 3 March that Nicaragua would keep the 400 missiles, partly because Colombia "is becoming a factor of destabilization and insecurity for Latin Americans." That was an apparent reference to Colombia's attack on a guerrilla camp across its border in Ecuador on Saturday.

Region: US Democrat and Republican representatives called upon the Organization of American States (OAS) to send "a high-level" delegation to the Andean region with a mission to help solve the diplomatic crisis between Ecuador and Colombia.

On March 4 Eliot Engel, chair of the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, and other House representatives forwarded a letter to OAS General Secretary José Miguel Insulza. They asked the regional body to establish the best channels for communications between Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela.

"We want to make sure this does not get out of control. This is a very serious crisis and we want it to be solved through diplomatic mechanisms," Engel told Efe. "There is an issue involving border security in the area. From the Colombian standpoint, you cannot shelter terrorists," he stressed.

Region: On 29 February in its annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report for Congress, the US highlighted Venezuela (along with Burma) as being the worst failures in upholding international commitments to block illegal narcotics. At the same time the report praised the efforts of Colombia - which is the source of 90% of the cocaine entering the US and Mexico - to which the US will give US$1,500m over three years to address narco-trafficking. The document provides the basis for the government to decide if it will suspend economic aid to the nations on its "black list", which in 2007 included Venezuela.

13 March 2008

13 March 2008 Hits: 185

Colombia: The US administration is examining the contents of a laptop computer allegedly found at the site in Ecuador where Raúl Reyes, the second-in-command of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc), was killed. The US is playing up the evidence, found on the computer, that Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez had pledged to donate oil worth US$300m to the Farc this year. Interpol announced on 10 March that it had dispatched a five-man team to Bogotá to investigate the computer and its alleged contents.

Mexico: Between 12 and 14 March the International Federation for Human rights (FIDH) is submitting evidence at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights about human rights abuses suffered by undocumented migrants on their way to the US. The FIDH report criticises both Mexico and the US for enforcing incoherent national migration policies which ignore their obligations under national and international law, including the right to life. The report draws attention to estimates suggesting that over 4,000 migrants have died crossing the Mexican-US border in the last 12 years, and makes the point that this figure is 15 times more than the number of people who died crossing the Berlin Wall during the 28 years that barrier existed.

Panama: The controversial congress leader Pedro Miguel González announced that he would not seek re-election for the next legislative period, which begins on 1 September 2008. His election irked the US which wants him prosecuted for his (alleged) part in the murder of a US sergeant, Zak Hernández and has proved a major obstacle in relations between both countries, delaying a free-trade agreement. González meanwhile was elected third under-secretary of the national executive committee (CEN) of the ruling Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD) in recent party elections.

Region: The US State Department issued its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on 12 March. The State Department's report for human rights in Latin American countries followed a predictable pattern. It praised improvements in Colombia but lambasted a deterioration of human rights in Cuba and Venezuela. The report also criticised the Argentine government, including its "aggressive and confrontational" attitude towards the press.

Region: According to a report published on 11 March by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Latin American migrants in the US and around the world sent US$66.5bn in remittances to their home countries in 2007. This was only 7% more than for 2006 and the first year, since the IDB started tracking remittances in 2000, that the growth rate has been in a single digit. Remittances grew at a rate of 16% and 25% in 2006 and 2005 respectively. An IDB official, Don Terry explained that lower flows to the region's top recipients Mexico and Brazil are the reason for the sluggish growth. Mexico (where remittances grew barely 1% in 2007 to US$24bn), blames tightening of US immigration laws and the weakness of the US economy for the slowdown while in the case of Brazil (where remittances declined 4% to some US$7.1bn), the local economic boom, and the weakness of the dollar against the real is encouraging Brazilians to stay at home.

Mexico: The local press in Mexico is outraged that a US sheriff has only been suspended, and not sacked, for forgetting about a Mexican woman, Adriana Torres Flores, he had locked up in his jail in Arkansas for four days. She was left without food and water and access to the lavatory. On 12 March the local police chief said that the sheriff, Jarrod Hankins, had made an honest mistake.

Torres is an illegal immigrant. She had been arrested, on 6 March, for selling allegedly pirated CDs and although she had pleaded not guilty when charged a judge had ordered her to be kept in custody. Heavy snow in Arkansas meant that the courts did not function again until 10 March which meant that Torres had been left on her own in the two metres by three metre cell for four days. She was released on 10 March.

3 April 2008

03 April 2008 Hits: 184

COLOMBIA: On 30 March Colombia's interior minister, Carlos Holguín Sardi, dismissed allegations made in the US newspaper The Washington Post that in recent years the army has increasingly been killing poor farmers and passing them off as rebels slain in combat. He blamed NGOs for spreading these ideas and singled out recent deaths in the Córdoba province, underlining that these victims were the result of clashes between drug dealers.

COLOMBIA: Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, confirmed on 1 April that he is cooperating with the Colombian government to secure the release of hostages held by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc). Richardson travelled to Colombia with the blessing of the State Department last week, whereupon he met President Alvaro Uribe, Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos, and the government's peace commissioner, Luis Carlos Restrepo. It is not clear what role Richardson will play and whether he is interested solely in securing the release of three US defence contractors currently being held hostage by the Farc.

However, the governor did say that he wants to meet Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez , some time this month. Richardson's involvement is likely to be welcomed by the Colombian government, as not only does Richardson have experience in hostage negotiations elsewhere, but he is also a senior Democrat with close ties to Barack Obama, who is leading the race to represent the party at this year's presidential election. Previously, the Democrats have shown scant desire to cooperate with the Colombian government, which they have accused of human rights abuses.

COSTA RICA: According to the US embassy in Costa Rica, 1,348 US passports were stolen between 2006 and 2007 in Costa Rica, with 556 US passports so far reported stolen this year. Along with Rome, Mexico and Paris, Costa Rica is one of the destinations where the theft of US passports is most commonly reported. The main victims are tourists, but US residents in the country have also been affected. According to the Costa Rican authorities, a passport can reach US$7,000 on the black market.

MEXICO: The US government moved to bypass more than 30 laws and regulations in its effort to complete a 670-mile fence along the border with Mexico by the end of the year. The legal waivers would set aside laws in California, Texas and Arizona that might slow work to build fencing and towers that will hold cameras and sensors to detect immigrants illegally crossing into the US. One waiver will allow the construction of fencing and vehicle barriers as well as towers and sensors along 470 miles from California to Texas.

The Department of Homeland Security said that the second waiver affects a 22-mile area in Hidalgo County, Texas. Property owners and developers have launched numerous lawsuits to deny the government access to their lands, arguing that their property rights would be violated or that the market value of their homes would suffer. Officials admitted in February that the first 100-mile stretch of the virtual fence would not be completed until the end of 2011, instead of its original deadline of the end of this year.

PANAMA: On 28 March US Democrat Senator Ron Wydon met Panama's President Martín Torrijos and Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis Navarro to discuss bilateral issues, including the free trade agreement between the two countries. Torrijos defended the "sovereign election" of Panama's congress leader Pedro Miguel González, despite US pressures that he be dismissed for his alleged part in the murder of a US sergeant, Zak Hernández. González has said that in any case he will stand down and will not stand for re-election as congress leader for the next period (beginning on 1 September). He added, however, that he would not step down before his term expires on 31 August.

PERU: Peru's defence minister Antero Flores-Araóz acknowledged that "authorised" US troops have entered Peru this year, an admission which paves the way for further cooperation between Peru and the US armed forces. Flores-Araóz's statement responded to a claim made by leftist opposition leader Ollanta Humala in an interview with news agency Efe, that unauthorised US troops were operating on Peru's border with Colombia.

The defence minister had initially denied outright the presence of US forces, "There is a constant relationship with the DEA to fight drug trafficking but there are no troops at this time," he told Efe. In his revised statement, Flores-Araóz was careful to make clear that the presence of US troops in the Peruvian jungle was "authorised" and that they had entered the county "unarmed" to carry out training exercises and social missions in collaboration with the Peruvian armed forces. He added, however, that two resolutions passed by Congress would allow armed US navy troops to return to Salaverry (a northern port) and Iquitos in March and July.

Alan García's administration, which ratified a free trade agreement with the US in June 2006, is jostling with President Alvaro Uribe's Colombia to be the US's principal ally in the region. Significantly, the lease on the US air base at Manta in Ecuador will expire in 2009, and President Rafael Correa's government has made it clear that it will not be renewed. The US uses the Ecuadorean base for much of its anti drug-trafficking operations in the region, including surveillance of southern Colombia, and it is likely that it will seek to work increasingly closely with Peru as the Manta lease nears expiry.

10 April 2008

10 April 2008 Hits: 187

Washington Watch

BOLIVIA: On 6 April Bolivia's interior minister, Alfredo Rada, accused US ambassador to Bolivia, Philip Goldberg, of applying "what he learnt in the Balkans" about how to "break apart" countries to the Bolivian situation. Goldberg was previously US chief of mission in Kosovo (which declared its independence from Serbia last month) and has come under criticism from the Bolivian government before, not least for alleged - and unsubstantiated - links with autonomy extremists in the east of the country.

COLOMBIA: On 7 April US President George W Bush sent his free-trade agreement (FTA) with Colombia to Congress, using his fast-track authority to force a vote within 90 legislative days. The move was widely denounced by Democrats, labour unions and human rights groups who contend that Colombia has not done enough to halt violence, protect labour activists and demobilize paramilitary organizations.

Bush's action came only a day after Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton's chief strategist Mark J. Penn was demoted following the revelation that his lobbying firm was pushing the Colombia-US FTA. Both Clinton and her rival for the Democratic candidacy, Barack Obama, staunchly oppose the deal. Free trade is unpopular with voters concerned over the slumping economy and could prove a winning issue for the Democrats in the general election in a number of Republican red states.

Bush, who signed the agreement with his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe in February 2006, said that failure to approve the deal with Colombia would encourage the anti-US regime of Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez and damage the position of the US in Latin America: "If Congress fails to approve this agreement, it would not only abandon a brave ally; it would send a signal throughout the region that [the US] cannot be counted on to support its friends."

CUBA: At a round-table discussion in Miami on 7 April, representatives from the US, Central America and Eastern Europe concluded that international backing for Cuban dissidents is the best way to catalyse democratic change on the island. The meeting, which was attended by US secretary of commerce, Carlos Gutiérrez, prioritised stepping up collaboration between foreign countries with a presence in Cuba and members of the island's internal opposition.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: On 6 April President of the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernández, concluded an eight day pre-election tour of the US with a visit to New York. The Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (PLD) candidate, who is favourite to win the presidential elections in May, wooed US-based Dominicans with promises of new jobs and better healthcare on the island and grants to allow young Dominicans to study abroad. Fernández compared New York's subway to the new metro under construction in Santo Domingo - one of the president's most controversial projects - and predicted a "crushing" victory in the first round of the elections in May.

NICARAGUA: On 6 April the US asked Nicaragua's authorities to investigate the decision by the supreme electoral court (CSE) to postpone regional elections in three municipalities in the north of the country until April 2009. A statement by the US embassy in Managua urged the authorities to "take into account" Nicaragua's "legal and constitutional framework", adding: "Voting permits citizens to express their political choice. The formula is a simple one: without fair, transparent elections there is no democracy." The US government also announced it would donate military equipment worth US$1.7m to the country. Nicaraguan general Omar Halleslevens said that the donation was a sign of strengthening ties between the two countries. The general also announced that US Southern Command-led exercises in peacekeeping operations would take place in Nicaragua in June.

Washington Watch

24 April 2008 Hits: 219

Chile: Representatives from the US and Chile met in Santiago on 19 April to discuss cooperation efforts in environmental protection issues, in the framework of the free trade agreement between both countries. The Chilean delegation featured representatives from the foreign ministry, the international economic relations directorate (Direcon) and the national environmental commission (Conama) while US representatives included officials from the US state department, the environmental protection agency (EPA) and office of the the US trade representative.

Colombia: On 17 April, US ambassador to Colombia, William Brownfield urged the Colombian government to take seriously a letter sent to President Alvaro Uribe by 63 US Congressmen complaining about violence against human-rights organizations. The US Congressmen wrote to raise their concerns about a recent spate of attacks against "human-rights defenders and leaders of grassroots organizations", listing the murders of four trade unionists and one activist between late February and mid March. The letter said that the victims of this violence had taken part in the 6 March anti-paramilitary demonstration and heavily criticised the repeated assertion by Uribe's top advisor, José Obdulio Gaviria both before and after the protest that the organisers of that march were linked to the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc). Uribe had previously ignored the letter, insisting that it was up to Gaviria to respond to the accusations. However, Brownfield has made it clear that Uribe himself needs to intervene.

Haiti: So far this month, 247 Haitian immigrants have been arrested by the US Coast Guard, suggesting that the worsening security situation in Haiti and the recent sharp increases in the price of staple foods is prompting more emigration from the country. The US clearly fears this and has offered US$30m in aid to try and help it deal with the current situation, in the hope of forestalling more Haitians from illegally entering the US. Human trafficking between Haiti and the US is a serious problem; last year 60 Haitians died when the vessel they were travelling on, which was carrying 150 illegal immigrants, capsized near the Turks and Caicos islands, north of Haiti.

Peru: On 21 April, US Admiral James Stavridis said that the US had no plans to set up a military base in Peru, a statement which, coupled with the separate warning from a senior Peruvian official that the US might clip US$25m from its 2009 budget (set at US$100m) to support Peru's anti-drugs policies, will disappoint the Peruvian government. Peru has been keen to present itself as an alternative for US Southern Command when the US's 10 year lease on its airbase in Manta, Ecuador, expires in 2009. Stavridis said that US will replace Manta, if the lease is not renewed (and President Rafael Correa of Ecuador has said repeatedly that it will not be) by running drug-surveillance flights out of existing bases in El Salvador, Curacao, and Key West. US anti-drug surveillance flights from Manta are responsible for about 60% of drug seizures in the eastern Pacific. The fear that the US may cut its budget for helping Peru combat drug trafficking was expressed by Rómulo Pizarro, the executive president of Devida, the national commission for development and life without drugs. Pizarro said that US aid for anti-drugs programmes in Peru and also Colombia would be affected by two developments. One is the new Plan Mérida which is designed to boost US anti-drugs aid to Mexico. The other is the growing perception that cocaine produced in Peru does not go to the US but to Europe.

Mexico: US President George W. Bush and his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calderón heralded the reopening of the Mexican consulate in New Orleans as a sign of close ties between the neighbouring nations. The two men were in New Orleans on 22 April for a meeting of the Alianza Para la Seguridad y la Prosperidad de América del Norte. The Mexican government closed the consulate as a cost-saving measure in 2002. Immigrants from Mexico and across Latin America have worked to rebuild the city in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and tens of thousands now live in the New Orleans area. According to the Mexican authorities, there has been a 55% increase in the number of Mexican immigrants since 2005.

Washington Watch

01 May 2008 Hits: 300

Chile: The US Army's Chief of staff, General George W. Casey Jr., arrived in Santiago on 28 April for an official visit to meet Chile's defence minister José Goñi, and army chief, General Oscar Izurieta. As well as receiving the "Victoria Cross", the highest honour awarded by the Chilean army to foreign military authorities, the US official also met the chief of operations to learn about the modernisation of the Chilean army.

Guatemala: The American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) recently filed a petition with the US labour department alleging that Guatemala has violated labour provisions under the terms of the US-Central American Free Trade Agreement (Cafta-DR) by failing to investigate murders and other violence directed at labour organisers. The complaint is the first of its kind under the Cafta-DR labour provisions, which the AFL-CIO labour federation bitterly opposed when it was approved by Congress in 2005. Cafta-DR requires countries to enforce their domestic labour laws or face a possible fine of up to US$15m. The AFL-CIO said in its complaint that "the level of physical violence against trade unionists increased markedly since the agreement entered into force in July 2006_[…] since January, four union leaders or their family members have been murdered in Guatemala, and there have been attempts on others' lives and numerous death threats". According to the US trade representatives' office, the first step in resolving a labour dispute under Cafta-DR is government-to-government consultations. After 90 days, a panel of labour specialists and other experts could be formed to examine the dispute. The panel is supposed to reach a decision within 180 days

Nicaragua: Robert Callahan, who is designated to replace Paul Trivelli as US ambassador in Managua, said that Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega should be more prudent in his use of language and measured in his criticisms. Callahan made these comments during his appearance before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week. Callahan also said that closely observing Ortega's relationship with the government of Iran will be "a priority" for him during his time as US ambassador.

Venezuela: On 26 April, Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, met President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. The meeting went well largely because Richardson, a prominent Democrat and supporter of Barack Obama, has taken the trouble to build a good personal relationship with Chávez . However, while Richardson gets on very well with Chávez on a personal level, the main policy objective of the meeting, obtaining Chávez 's support for the release of three US hostages held by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc), looks forlorn. Chávez said that he no longer had a line of communication into the Farc, but he would do his best to get the hostages released. Richardson stressed that he was not visiting Chávez as a representative of either the US government or the Organization of American States. He said that he was in Caracas simply as representative of the families of the three US hostages who have been held by the Farc since 2003.

Washington Watch

08 May 2008 Hits: 325

Panama: On 6 May US President George W Bush met his Panamanian counterpart Martín Torrijos in Washington and said he would do his best to get Congress to approve the pending free trade agreement with Panama. As well as discussing the trade pact, Bush and Torrijos also covered matters related to expanding the Panama Canal, security and the regional fight against drug trafficking and organized crime. Bush also took advantage of the meeting with Torrijos to urge the US Congress to approve the Mérida Initiative, a US$1.4bn proposal aimed at helping Mexico and Central America combat the drug trade and organised crime.

Bolivia: In response to the 4 May autonomy referendum in Bolivia's richest region, Santa Cruz, the US State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey urged "the government of Bolivia and opposition to return to their dialogue and resolve their outstanding differences of concern to all Bolivians in a peaceful and lasting fashion." Casey said that Washington "supports the efforts being made by the Organization of American States and the Catholic church and other countries to facilitate this dialogue," adding it hoped the dialogue would make progress. Santa Cruz was celebrating its "autonomy", even though Bolivian President Evo Morales has dismissed the result as illegal and a failure.

Guatemala: On 1 May New York federal prosecutors announced that Jorge Mario Paredes, the alleged leader of a drug-trafficking syndicate that smuggled tons of cocaine in the US from Central America had been arrested in Honduras. Paredes, a Guatemalan national who had been under indictment in New York since 2003, has already been brought to the US and had his first court appearance before a federal judge in Miami. The arrest was announced in a written statement by the Drug Enforcement Administration's top agent in New York City, John Gilbride, and the US Attorney in Manhattan, Michael J. Garcia. Federal prosecutors said the case was cracked by drug enforcement agents and police in New York, with help from a number of DEA agents in Mexico, Central America and Columbia.

Guatemala: On 5 May Guatemalan authorities announced they had suspended the adoption of some 2,300 children by foreigners for at least a month to check for irregularities. According to Attorney General Baudilio Portillo, the decision followed requests by legislators that his office review adoptions on a case-by-case basis. Elizabeth de Larios, head of the adoptions' council, says additional DNA testing could be required to ensure some babies are in fact being given up by their birthmothers. The council was created in January to overhaul an adoption system plagued by fraud and corruption. Guatemala is second only to China as the source of babies adopted by US parents. Last year, more than 4,700 Guatemalan children were adopted by US citizens.

Region: A US Defense Department statement at the end of April revealed US Navy plans to re-establish its Fourth Fleet, disbanded in 1950, to oversee ships, aircraft and submarines operating in the Caribbean and Central and South America. Admiral Gary Roughead, the chief of naval operations, said the decision to establish a separate fleet for the region "recognises the immense importance of maritime security in the southern part of the Western Hemisphere." The navy said they will conduct contingency operations, counter "narco-terrorism" operations, and military-to-military interactions and training with countries in the region. Rear Admiral Joseph Kernan, who currently commands the navy's special warfare units, will command the fleet, effective 1 July. The fleet will be based in Mayport, Florida, coordinating efforts with the US Naval Forces Southern Command, which also is based there. The move comes as countries such as Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil and Ecuador are all increasing their military spending.

US: Fabián Núñez, the president of the Californian state assembly, and a Democrat, said that the Hispanic vote, and particularly the Mexican component, was likely to be decisive in the US presidential election this November. He noted that both the Republicans and the Democrats were spending unprecedented amounts of money on Spanish-language campaigning. Núñez's view was endorsed by a Republican state senator in California, Abel Maldonaldo, who said that in his view the Hispanic vote would decide the presidential election.

Washington Watch

15 May 2008 Hits: 255

Colombia: US Department of Justice said on 13 May that 14 Colombian paramilitaries recently extradited to the US will be tried on drug and terrorism charges. They face charges including conspiracy to import cocaine, providing material support to a designated terrorist organization, and money laundering, the department said in a statement. The paramilitaries include: Salvatore Mancuso, the former military chief and a founder of the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC, the paramilitary umbrella group); Rodrigo Tovar Pupo (alias Jorge 40); Diego Fernando Murillo (alias Don Berna); and Francisco Zuluaga-Lindo (alias Gordolindo). They join Carlos Mario Jiménez, alias Macaco, who was extradited to the US on 7 May. According to the Justice Department, the defendants will be tried in federal courts in the District of Columbia; central and southern Florida; New York; and Texas.

Ecuador & Colombia: On 12 May the New York Times reported opposition from Ecuador's President Rafael Correa to the renewal of the US lease on Manta, a military air base on the coast of Ecuador which, the US argues, serves as a critical platform in the fight against narcotics smuggling. The newspaper reported that the base has about 180 military personnel who carry out around 100 flights a month searching for boats carrying drugs from Colombia to the US. Colombia supplies about 90% of the cocaine brought into the US. Correa reportedly said that the base undermines Ecuador's national sovereignty. Meanwhile, US ambassador to Colombia William Brownfield said in an interview with Colombian daily El Espectador that the US was mooting the possibility of moving the military base to the northeastern region of La Guajira in Colombia, near the border with Venezuela.

Mexico: The governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, said last week that he had seen an improvement in security along the US-Mexico border. Ex-UN ambassador and former Democratic presidential candidate, Richardson told reporters in the Mexican border state of Chihuahua, across from New Mexico, that "in my opinion, there has been a dramatic improvement in the last two months." Richardson said he would ask US Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza to re-evaluate a travel alert, issued by the US State Department in April, that warned US citizens of rising violence in northern Mexico but stopped short of suggesting that Americans avoid travelling in the region. The alert reflected an increase in drug-related homicides, shoot-outs, kidnappings and car thefts near the border, particularly in the cities of Tijuana, Chihuahua and Ciudad Juárez.

Region: A study entitled "Measuring Assimilation in the US" published on 13 May by the free-market oriented think tank, Manhattan Institute, showed that Mexicans - by far the most numerous nationality - lag significantly behind other major immigrant groups in terms of economic and civic assimilation. According to the report “the slow rates of economic and civic assimilation set Mexicans apart from other immigrants, and may reflect the fact that the large numbers of Mexican immigrants residing in the United States illegally have few opportunities to advance themselves along these dimensions".

The study's figures show that between 1980 and 2006, the number of Mexican-born residents of the US more than sextupled, to nearly 11 million, representing an annual growth rate of over 6%, which was more than five times the growth rate of the US population over the same time period. This growth rate accelerated after 1990. The report also showed that, in contrast, Cuban immigrants enjoyed some of the highest rates of assimilation, along with those from Vietnam and the Philippines, although these groups assimilate more rapidly in some respects than others. For example, they are far more assimilated economically than they are culturally.

Venezuela: On 11 May President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela accused “North American forces" of attacking the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) camp in Ecuador on 1 March. Chávez and his supporters are trying to focus public attention on what happened at the camp on 1 March, where 26 people were killed, while Colombia and the US want to focus public attention on the intelligence they say they recovered from the camp in the form of laptops and data allegedly belonging to the Farc. Today (15 May) Interpol is due to give its opinion on whether this data is genuine or has been tampered with. The Colombian government alleges the data shows that Venezuela has supported the Farc and has even - according to a leak to the Wall Street Journal last week - helped the Farc acquire ground-to-air missiles.

Chávez 's claim, in a seven-hour edition of his weekly TV and radio show Aló, Presidente, that the US carried out the 1 March attack, builds on hints Ecuador had dropped previously. Ecuador alleged, in its evidence to the Organization of American States, that the Colombian airforce did not have the technology to carry out the air raid, but stopped well short of accusing the US of involvement. In its final report, the OAS simply reported what the Ecuadoreans and Colombians told it about the raid and did not attempt to reconcile the conflicting versions.

The Ecuadoreans went a step further last week. On 8 May, the Ecuadorean defence minister, Javier Ponce, said that “the attack on 1 March could have involved a government from outside the region." On 9 May, the US ambassador in Colombia, William Brownfield, responding to this statement, said that the US played no part at all in the raid.

Washington Watch

22 May 2008 Hits: 286

Bolivia: On 20 May Bolivia's foreign minister, David Choquehuanca, said that the government would “evaluate" its relation with the US. He acknowledged that US-Bolivia ties were tense, in part caused by allegations by the government that the US was promoting a political campaign in Bolivia against the government of President Evo Morales. He did not rule out the possibility of demanding the withdrawal of US Agency for International Development (USAID) from Bolivia.

Cuba: On 15 May a US newspaper, the Miami Herald, reported that the mission chief of the United States Interests Section in Havana (USINT), Michael Parmly, would leave his post this summer after his three year term expires. He will be replaced by Jonathan D Farrar, a senior official at US State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour. Four days later the Cuban authorities alleged that Parmly had received letters and money transfers for dissidents in Cuba supposedly sent from an organisation in the US directed by Santiago Álvarez, who is accused of terrorism in Cuba. The accusations are based on emails reportedly sent by a prominent Cuban opposition member, Martha Beatriz Roque, which referred to “letters" passed on by Parmly, which the Cuban authorities interpreted as money transfers. Cuba has long accused American officials in Cuba of supporting the island's dissidents, but the most recent allegation marked the first time it accused US diplomats of passing private funds directly to opposition leaders.

Mexico: On 15 May the US House of Representatives voted for US$461.5m in aid to Mexico and Central America for the first year of the Iniciativa Mérida. The budget is less than the White House wanted but demonstrates how Mexico has jumped up the foreign policy agenda in Washington. Whether Mexico will actually get all this money is doubtful, as the House rejected the bulk of the supplemental budget of US$163bn, which is needed to pay for US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. President George W. Bush may veto the spending under the Iniciativa Mérida, which is part of the supplemental budget, rather than accept the changes to his strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan the House imposed. In the vote, 224 Democrats and 32 Republicans voted to approve the Iniciativa Mérida measure; seven Democrats and 159 Republicans voted against. The bill now has to be approved by the Senate. Confusingly, there are two different bills before the senate: both, however, would give Mexico less than the House proposed.

Of the US$461.5m approved by the House, US$400m would go to Mexico. The rest of the budget will be spread across Central America, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The money will be spent on equipment, training and advice. The administration had wanted congress to approve US$1.4bn over three years for the Iniciativa Mérida.

Venezuela & Colombia: On 18 May, John Walters, director of the US Office of National Drug Control Policy, said that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez “has a lot to explain" about his links to the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc). His comments followed the confirmation by Interpol on 15 May of the integrity of the computer data found at the camp of Raúl Reyes, the second-in-command of the Farc who was killed on 1 March. The implication is that all the documents so far leaked by the Colombian authorities to domestic and international media - many of which have been sensational - are genuine Farc documents. The documents so far leaked claim that Chávez received money from the Farc when he was in prison following his failed coup in 1992, that he had recently agreed to donate US$300m to the guerrilla group and that he helped the Farc acquire surface-to-air missiles. Chávez has predicted for some time that Interpol would authenticate the documents, and he has repeatedly dismissed the significance of such a finding. In response to Interpol's verdict, the Venezuelan president described the report as “ridiculous" and its publication as a “clown show".

Neither the US nor Colombia is likely to take any action against Venezuela, however. There is considerable doubt that the evidence from the computer files could withstand a forensic cross-examination. More importantly the US does not want to make a 'martyr' out of Chávez by adding him to the list of state sponsors of terrorism. Neither can it really afford to impose economic sanctions on a country that provides about 10% of US oil imports.

Washington Watch

29 May 2008 Hits: 1770

Cuba: On 23 May US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, speaking before an influential Cuban-American group in Miami, called for lifting restrictions on travel to Cuba and remittances and reiterated his willingness to meet with Cuban officials. However he vowed to maintain, with modifications, the 46-year-old US trade embargo against the island and said Cuba deprived its people of civil liberties and free elections. In a column published three days later, former Cuban President Fidel Castro said that Obama's speech could translate into a “formula of hunger" for the nation (Cuba), the remittances like alms and the visits to Cuba as propaganda for consumerism. However he added that Obama was "the most-advanced candidate in the presidential race."

Cuba: A trade delegation from Texas led by Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples arrived in Havana on 27 May to discuss the possibility of exporting Texan products such as rice, cotton, soya, wheat, beans and livestock. Since January trade delegations from the states of California and New Mexico have visited Cuba. According to Cuban food import agency, Alimport, Cuban imports from US companies totalled over US$600 m in 2007. The US government exempted agricultural products from the US embargo on Cuba in 2001.

Colombia: On 21 May President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia said that he would support the US if it decided that it wanted a base in Colombia. Simultaneously, Uribe said that although Colombia will join the Unión de Naciones Suramericanas (Unasur) it will not subscribe to Unasur's defence initiative, which is due to be signed into existence on 23 May in Brasilia. The defence initiative is one of Brazilian President Lula da Silva's proposals and is designed to make Latin America more self-sufficient in defence equipment; training and in conducting joint exercises. Uribe said that Colombia believed that the OAS already handled these issues: the big difference between the OAS and Unasur is that the US is a member of the OAS but not of Unasur. Uribe also said on 21 May that Colombia would do all it could to strengthen aid from the US so that drug trafficking and terrorism could be defeated. He said that although he had not discussed with the US whether the US wanted to set up a military base in Colombia, if the US decided that it did, he would support the idea. Last week the US ambassador in Colombia, William Brownfield suggested that the US was interested in a base on the Guajira peninsular close to the Venezuelan border. President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela came out strongly against that idea.

Mexico: On 22 May Robert Mueller, the director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation said that he was concerned about the rate of gang killings in Mexico. Mueller's comments follow some strong words by the US ambassador to Mexico, Tony Garza, who has called for more US assistance for Mexico in its war against organised crime. Since President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa took office on 1 December 2006, at least 4,044 people have been killed in the war on violent criminal and drug-running gangs. Recently, much of the violence has been due to inter-gang feuding. Mueller said that he did not expect the wave of killings to spill across the border. This has been another theme from US officials. Several US officials in El Paso, Texas, where Mueller was speaking, have drawn a sharp distinction between the violence in Mexico and the peace of the US. The worry for the Mexican government and the US authorities is that the pace of killing appears to be increasing. So far 180 people have been killed by gang members in May.

Peru: Peru's congress agreed to allow US troops to operate in Ayacucho, where remnants of the Maoist guerrilla movement, the Sendero Luminoso, now work for drug gangs. Peru will allow 111 US troops to be deployed in rotations of 15-20 in the area. The US troops will build clinics, dig wells and focus on providing services to low income groups. The projects are all part of the Nuevos Horizontes 2008 initiative. Congress also gave approval for the US troops to bring their own side arms, though the Policia Nacional de Perú will be responsible for their safety. Peru's government has long been interested in persuading the US to establish a military base in the country.

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