Week in Review Share This /

This post was co-written by Sarah Kinosian and CIP intern Benjamin Fagan.

The following is a round-up of some of the top articles and news highlights from around the region over the past week.

US Policy

• According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, the amount of cocaine passing through the Caribbean has risen considerably in the past year. The Miami Herald reported that in the first half of 2013, 14% of all U.S.-bound cocaine passed through the Caribbean, double the amount that was recorded over the same time period last year.
• The San Diego Union-Tribune highlighted a youth scouting program in Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez and Monterrey funded by the United States government. The program is meant to strengthen local communities and prevent youth gang involvement. It is a part of the Mérida Initiative, the United States’ main security package to Mexico.
• On Monday, Venezuela expelled three U.S. envoys for allegedly colluding with “extreme right” opposition groups in order to destabilize the government. The United States reciprocated the move the next day, expelling three Venezuelan diplomats. Venezuelan state TV released a video showing diplomats meeting with “far right” organizations and politicians. The video, set to the ominous theme music from the popular American movie Requiem for a Dream, can be found here. For links to more stories, see the Just the Facts Venezuelan news section.
• Paraguay has begun talks with the United States about receiving help in the fight against the EPP rebel group, ABC Color reported. While few details have been given, the Paraguayan Defense Minister noted more resources will be needed to continue military operations in the north of the country.
• USAID officially ceased activities in Bolivia this week. The government of La Paz also voted to seize the building formerly occupied by the U.S. development organization, ending any presence of it the Andean country. On May 1 of this year, President Evo Morales expelled USAID for acting with political intent “against the Bolivian people.”

Colombia

• This week, FARC negotiators committed to “advancing toward a Colombia without coca” and told press that the negotiating teams have made ”modest progress”. FARC negotiators Ivan Marquez and Pablo Catatumbo gave their first-ever interview to a Colombian news network this week. Colombian magazine Semana reported that Marquez criticized former President Uribe, who opposes the talks, for “being incapable of winning the war and now not wanting to make peace.” See WOLA’s ColombiaPeace.org website for an updated and detailed timeline of the talks.
• La Silla Vacia published an interesting article on five reasons why fumigation efforts to eradicate coca are a failure. The reasons were:
  • There is only a small statistical advantage to using fumigation in coca eradication
  • Coca derivative prices have remained stable
  • The social and health care costs of fumigation outweigh the benefits
  • Glyphosate is harmful to humans and can cause skin and respiratory problems
  • Fumigated communities lose trust in the State
• This week Colombia’s Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pizón traveled to Central America to discuss security issues related to narcotrafficking with leaders of the region. The Minister made a variety of agreements including a bolstering of security along the shared border with Panama, proposed naval exercises and army training with Guatemala, and commitments to increase anti-narcotrafficking cooperation with Honduras and the Dominican Republic.

Guatemala

After Guatemala’s President Otto Perez Molina call for a global shift in drug policy at the UN General Assembly, it appears action is being taken to realize this goal on a national level. This week Prensa Libre reported that a new commission would convene in 2014 to discuss legislative reforms of the national drug policy. Changes could include the reduction or elimination of penalties for personal use possession.

El Salvador

On Monday, El Salvador’s Archdiocese announced the closure of the church’s human rights office, Tutela Legal. As the Salvadoran daily El Mundo noted, the office “is an institution that has 80 percent of the documentation of serious human rights abuses that occurred during the civil war.” The decision drew much criticism from local and international human rights as well as current President Funes, who criticized the closure, saying it sent a negative message to the victims of human rights abuses.

As the Pan-American Post highlighted, the closure interestingly enough comes as the Constitutional Court will hear a challenge to the country’s 1993 Amnesty law. Should the law be overturned, the archives housed by Tutela Legal detailing abuses from the Civil War could prove invaluable. The Salvadoran government is taking steps to ensure the records are guarded, according to La Prensa Grafica. More from Tim’s El Salvador Blog, the Los Angeles Times and El Faro, the Salvadoran outlet that broke the story.

Dominican Republic and Haiti

Haiti recalled its ambassador from the Dominican Republic in response to a recent court ruling thats jeopardizes the citizenship of thousands of Haitian immigrants, including stripping their children of legal status. The Open Society Justice Initiative published a fact sheet on the situation and a press release urging the Dominican government to overturn the “legally flawed” ruling.

Peru

Labor rights group Verité published a report that places Peru as the top producer and exporter of illegally mined gold in the world. The illegal gold exports are more profitable than narcotrafficking activities in the country, which was recently named the number one producer of coca in the world, and is likely the top cocaine producer.

Honduras

The Honduran government says there have been 2,629 murders in the first six months of 2013. The independent Observatoria de Violencia reported there have been 3,547 murders in that time. This week Honduras Culture and Politics blog has a post explaining the difference in the numbers and stating that Security and Defense Minister Arturo Corrales is “prepare to change the way he counts homicides so that it looks like the Lobo Sosa government is being much more effective against crime than it really is.”

Honduras’ new military police will begin patrolling the streets in the capital of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula in the 2nd half of the month, just before presidential elections in November. According to El Tiempo, 500 officials will be deployed to Tegucigalpa.

Recent polling in the presidential election of Honduras shows a slight lead by Xiomara Castro, the wife of deposed leader Manuel Zelaya. While Castro does command a lead, Analyst James Bosworth writes that Castro and the other front runner, Juan Orlando Hernandez of the ruling Nacional Party, have about equal chances of winning the election.

Brazil

Ten police officers were arrested for the torture and killing of Amarildo de Souza, a bricklayer from Rio de Janeiro’s largest favela, Rochinha. The case has become a symbol for growing anger over extrajudicial police killings in the country. Brazil's human rights minister, Maria del Rosario said, "What this investigation reveals is the necessity of changes so that the police are more focused, more accountable to citizens and not oriented towards criminal disregard for human rights," the Guardian reported. More from the Pan-American Post.