Here are two top Defense Department officials’ recent statements on Iran’s influence in Latin America.
Gen. Douglas Fraser, commander, U.S. Southern Command, testifying in the House Armed Services Committee, March 6, 2012:
Primarily I see diplomatic as well as commercial interests,
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Alexander Quintero campaigned for justice for the victims of Colombia's 2001 Naya River massacre, committed by paramilitary forces. "He brought us all together, indigenous, Afro-Colombian and mestizo communities," said a colleague. "It could have been any of us," a sobbing defender said, as she told me about Alexander's May 2010 assassination.
Nahúm Palacios Arteaga was the anchor for a TV station in Tocoa, Honduras. He was reporting on land conflicts in...
In Human Rights and Rule of Law News, the big announcement is that the race is on. Today is the official opening day of the Mexican presidential campaigns. The three major candidates, Enrique Peña Nieto (PRI), Josefina Vázquez Mota and Andrés Manuel López Obrador are holding major rallies to launch their campaigns and seeking to reach supporters and the large block of voters who still poll "undecided". Mexican government officials are taking measures to protect the...
Drug War News this week saw mixed messages in the drug policy debate. On one side Commander of US Northern Command, General Charles Jacoby, admitted that capturing and killing Mexico's most wanted drug traffickers has had "no appreciable effect" on levels of violence in Mexico and the British Parliament sent an open letter to Latin American leaders...
Drug War News this week saw a series of important and game-changing developments. Mexican Presidential Candidate Andres Lopez Manuel Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) announced that if he were to win July's elections, he would halt the US-backed war on drugs, saying that the current model simply "doesn't produce results." AMLO (which is the candidate's popular nickname) said that his administration would instead focus on creating jobs for those without...
Drug war news this week from Mexico was dominated by the one-day visit of U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden to Mexico City, where he met both with current President Calderón and the three main candidates in the presidential election to be held in July. Each of the three, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) of PRD,...