Week in Review

07/19/13
Ashley Badesch
Latin America and the Caribbean
U.S. Policy, Politics and Security

This post was written by CIP intern Ashley Badesch

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

Mexico

  • Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, leader of the notoriously violent Zetas drug gang in Mexico, was captured by Mexican armed forces early Monday near the border town of Nuevo Laredo. Treviño Morales, also known as “El Z-40,” was wanted on both sides of the border for ordering the kidnapping and killing of 265 migrants, along with numerous other charges of torture, murder, money laundering, and other crimes. His arrest is the highest-profile arrest in the fight against organized crime since Enrique Pena Nieto took the presidency. More from Dalla Morning News, BBC, Vice, Insight Crime and CNN.
  • Many analysts have said that Treviño’s arrest may result in more violence in areas where Zetas wield control. In addition to sparking retribution from the vindictive Zeta organization, the Zetas weakening will spur rivals like the Sinaloa Cartel to make a play for control of Zetas-dominated trafficking routes. CNN Mexico reported that security measures were strengthened in Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Veracruz, and Durango for fear of a resurgence of violence in response to the capture. While most observers agree that Z-40’s arrest was a positive step towards slowing the type of hyper-violent crimes the Zetas and Treviño himself have perpetuated, it will have little effect on the drug war as a whole or do much to reduce the flow of drugs.

    Cuba

  • On Wednesday, the United States and Cuba resumed immigration talks in Washington after a two-year hiatus. In addition to discussing aviation safety, visa processing, and other cooperation on migration, the U.S. Department of State reiterated its call for the release of jailed American contractor Alan Gross.
  • The Washington Post reported that diplomats who have previously faced strict limitations on their travel within the United States and Cuba recently have been increasingly, and more easily, moving about each country. The Post points to the travel as a part of a larger, slow-moving thaw of relations between the two countries, evidenced by Wednesday’s migration talks and last month’s talks on resuming direct mail, among other events.
  • Cuba confirmed that a North Korean cargo ship seized in Panama was carrying “obsolete” missiles and other armaments, including two Mig-21 jets and parts for a SA-2 anti-aircraft system from the 1960s) to be repaired in North Korea and then returned. The weaponry was found among a load of 10,000 tons of sugar, the Guardian reported. The 35 North Koreans on the boat were arrested after resisting police efforts to intercept the ship, and the captain reportedly tried to commit suicide during the operation.

    The U.S. government has agreed to lend equipment and personnel to help inspect the ship, following a request from the Panamanian government. Meanwhile the UN’s sanctions committee will assess the case to determine if it violated arms sanctions against North Korea. Some analysts have suggested the incident shows the weakness and “dire straights” of the Cuban military. More from BBC,Reuters and NBC.

    Colombia

  • On Tuesday, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced that he did not think the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), was needed in the country. During an address given in Bogota, he stated “Colombia has advanced enough to say: We don’t need a U.N. human rights office in our country anymore.”

    The next day the government announced it would renew the UN mandate, extending it until October 31, 2014. The UN High Commissioner on this issue, Navi Pillay,said the office's work was still needed in the country, as its main objective is "to see Colombia united and all Colombians enjoying human rights." According to IPS news, Pillay travelled to the embattled Cauca department in southern Colombia to "meet for several hours with leaders of black, indigenous and rural communities who had plenty to say about the need for multilateral bodies to continue monitoring human rights in this country." Colombia's Foreign Minister María Ángela Holguín echoed President Santos' remarks that the country's human rights situation had improved and did not necessarily need the office present to continue to make progress.

  • Next Monday, July 22, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will meet on the border to carry out a “complete revision of the bilateral relations” between the two countries. Relations, which Colombia’s Foreign Affairs Minister categorized as “a little cold” this week, have been especially strained since President Santos met with Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles in May.

Honduras

  • Honduran President Porfirio Lobo Sosa congratulated his administration for going nine (non-consecutive) days so far this year without a single murder in Tegucigalpa, Honduran Culture and Politics reports. “Before we were always talking about 2 digits; the were more than 30 (daily) murders... but yes its getting better, and it is because of the police cleanup and the participation of the armed forces. However, the Observatory of Violence of the National Autonomous University contends that despite a few murder-free days the situation is not really improving; according to its director, Migdonia Ayestas, there have been an average of 20 murders per day through May 31 of this year.

El Salvador

  • InSight Crime featured an article that looked at homicide distribution since the onset of the Salvadoran gang truce. Using police data, the article found that while it is undeniable that the truce resulted in a significant drop (nearly 50 percent) in homicides, that there was not a decrease in all municipalities and that the number of municipalities in which homicides are increasing has risen. More from Tim’s El Salvador Blog.

Brazil

  • On Wednesday, President Rousseff reiterated her proposal for a plebiscite to address Brazilians concerns about corruption and public spending. Congress rejected her first proposal on June 24, however a Datafolha poll shows that 68 percent of Brazilians favor holding a plebiscite.
  • While there is variance among the numbers, all polls have President Rousseff’s approval dropping significantly in the wake of the protests, with a MDA pesquisa poll showing a drop to 33 percent, down from 54 percent in June, while CNT/MDA pollhas her rating plunging 24.4 points from 73 percent in June to 49 percent this month.
  • Reuters reported that Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff vowed that her Worker’s Party government will not spend beyond its means, “rejecting the temptation of increasing outlays to improve public services in the wake of an outburst of national discontent last month.” In a speech to an advisory group of ministers and business leaders on Wednesday, she stated, "Our pact for fiscal stability and inflation control limits any temptation for fiscal populism."
  • The Wall Street Journal reported that in Sao Paulo police killed one suspect for every 229 arrested in 2012, according to government statistics, while in 2011 in the United States, that number was one per 31,575. According to the article, "The problem is acknowledged by government officials, including São Paulo's governor, who has replaced his hard-line security chief with a mild-mannered lawyer vowing to take steps to reduce unjustified police shootings."

Chile

  • Pablo Longueira, the conservative coalition’s candidate in the Chilean presidential campaign, has dropped out of the race, further weakening the conservative’s chances of beating former President Michelle Bacelet of the Socialist party, the Associated Press reported. At a news conference on Wednesday, Longuiera’s son revealed that his father’s surprise resignation was due to a medically diagnosed bout of depression. According to Guillermo Holzmann, a political science professor at the Universidad de Valparaiso, the resignation “wasn’t considered under any political scenario because the campaign is on its final stretch. This is a crisis for the right-wing coalition.”

United States Policy

Puerto Rico

  • The United States Department of Homeland Security is sending 30 agents to Puerto Rico as part of a Operation Caribbean Resilience, which was launched last year to fight drug trafficking.

Bolivia

  • The government of Bolivia stated that restoration of diplomatic relations with the United States is “far off,” according to Terra, an Argentine news agency. Bolivia and the United States have not had diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level since September of 2008, when President Evo Morales expelled Washington’s representative, Philip Goldberg, and the American government applied a reciprocity measurement with the representative of La Paz in Washington, Gustavo Guzmán.

Brazil

  • Brazil’s foreign minister said Monday that Washington had not sufficiently responded to Brazil’s request for an explanation of the alleged US electronic spying disclosed by whistle-blower Edward Snowden, according to the Global Post.

Mexico

  • The U.S. State Department’s updated travel warning puts Mexican states Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas as the “least secured states” in the country. The travel warning highlights kidnapping and murder rates that have been increasing. In general, just 12 out of 31 Mexican states (plus DF) are categorized as safe enough without travel warnings.
  • Mexican secretaries of national defense, Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, and Marina Vidal Sanz Francisco Soberon, began a tour of the United States and Canada to meet with senior military in those countries and to promote military and naval cooperation between Mexico and its counterparts, Milenio reported.

Venezuela

  • Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro demanded that the United States apologize on Thursday for Washington’s U.N. ambassador-designate’s remarks criticizing Venezuela’s human rights record. During her Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Samantha Power vowed to stand up against “repressive regimes” and contest “the crackdown on civil society being carried out in countries like Cuba, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela.” Maduro replied with a demand for “immediate correction by the U.S. government” for what he called “despicable” criticism, Reuters reported.

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