The News Roundup is a regular feature of the blog where we select news articles from various sources around the web, with the goal of providing an overview of the weekly conversation about the countries where MCC works in the region. Quotes in italics are drawn directly from sources and do not necessarily reflect the position of MCC
The phrase ‘economic development’ has bad associations in Latin America
The concept of “living well” is not synonymous with the models of economic growth and consumerism that economic development brings about; it is becoming ever clearer that these are not true indicators of wellbeing. Economic development in its current model has not only brought more negative consequences than benefits to Latin America, it has also put the planet at risk – with the impacts of accelerating climate change particularly evident in the region, especially in Bolivia. The time has come to seek alternative ways of organising our lives that don’t reproduce colonial relations of power, inequality, submission and exploitation, and don’t assume the abuse of the marginalised and the destruction of our ecosystems as part of the natural order of things.
Here’s What Latin Americans Want to Tell the Next U.S. President
We asked Latin Americans: If you could tell the next president of the United States anything, what would it be? Those are just a few of the responses we’re publishing in the new issue of Americas Quarterly, entitled “Memos to the Next President.” The authors include a president, an attorney general, an indigenous activist, CEOs, experts on the region, and everyday readers like you. You can find links to these 15 fascinating, brief, to-the-point memos below. Taken together, the memos provide a snapshot of a diverse and rapidly changing region of 540 million people – and how the United States can better relate to it not as a threat, but as a partner and a place of opportunity. Indeed, the “real” Latin America has little to do with the stereotypes and myths being thrown around in this U.S. campaign cycle. We hope that by highlighting issues such as cybersecurity, corruption, protecting the Amazon and even the region’s potential as a retirement haven for Baby Boomers, we can contribute something new to the debate.
Stop Enabling Latin America’s Gun Addiction
Given the ready supply of firearms and ammunition the U.S. continues to provide as part of major security packages to Mexico, Central and South America, you have a special obligation to ensure the responsible export of arms and ammunition to the region. One way to accomplish this is by mandating greater accountability on the part of the brokers and end-users involved in the trade. This could be greatly aided if Congress, under your leadership, were to ratify the Arms Trade Treaty, which the U.S. signed in 2013, as well as expand support for end-use monitoring programs such as Blue Lantern and Golden Sentry, which have spurred thousands of checks into license requests and suspicious transfers. Ramping up bilateral support for military and police stockpile and inventory management and surplus destruction will help prevent lawful guns from being diverted into private — and eventually criminal — hands.
Three Amigos Must Speak On Mexican Human Rights
The three “amigos” should be able to have a frank discussion. It is time for action. At a minimum, such action should include implementation of the recommendations made by UN and inter-American human rights experts who called for prompt and independent investigations of human rights violations to bring perpetrators to justice, as well as the strengthening of the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists so that it provides effective and timely protection for people at risk. There is also strong consensus around the withdrawal of the military from public security operations. What is vital, above all, is that the dimensions of the human rights crisis in Mexico be acknowledged, rather than downplayed or ignored. Canada’s assistance and diplomatic pressure is crucial. Mexico is facing a serious crisis of violence and impunity. Canada, as a real friend and neighbour, must speak up.
US investigating allegations Honduran military had hitlist of activists to target
Rumours of a hitlist first emerged in Honduras after the 2009 military-backed coup as the murder of opposition and environmental activists began to surge, according to the campesino leader Vitalino Alvarez. “The more leaders that died, the more obvious it became that this was a national strategy which required military intelligence to be implemented,” he said. The Guardian has not seen the alleged hitlist but was told by Cruz of names that he said he had seen on it. Those individuals have been informed by the Guardian that their lives might be in danger. One of them was Alvarez. “Now Berta has been murdered I am apparently at the top of the list. Of course I am worried. No one from the US or Honduran authorities has approached me or tried to speak with me,” he said.
None of these units (Xatruch, FUSINA, PMOP) appears in a recent State Department list of recipient units in Central America’s Northern Triangle region. A scouring of our records about U.S. cooperation with Honduras’s security forces found no mention of the Xatruch task force, which mainly operates along the Caribbean coast and in the troubled Bajo Aguán region, where attacks on human rights defenders are frequent. It’s clear, though, that at least the U.S. military maintains a close cooperative relationship with some FUSINA components, despite concerns about FUSINA’s human rights record. In a June 14 monograph from the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute, author Evan Ellis states, “With U.S. assistance, FUSINA and the Honduran government dismantled the leadership of the nation’s two principal family-based drug smuggling organizations.”
Death But No Taxes: A Response from CACIF, FUNDESA
As the author describes, the Attorney General’s Office and the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG for its initials in Spanish) uncovered a “massive fraud ring within the country’s customs office,” a network known as “La Línea” (The Line). Former President Otto Pérez Molina, former Vice-President Roxana Baldetti, the leadership of the Tax Authority (better known as SAT, for its initials in Spanish), among others, are facing trial on corruption-related charges. Even though this is a big step in our search for justice, the tax collection figures on imports have not budged, leading us to think that other “Lineas” exist. Another case, “Caso Redes” (Networks Case) illustrates how tax authorities were more interested in charging fees for themselves than in performing the role that was entrusted to them.
EL SALVADOR’S 1993 AMNESTY LAW OVERTURNED
Yesterday El Salvador’s Constitutional Court ruled 4-1 that the 1993 Amnesty Law that prevented prosecution of crimes committed during the civil war was unconstitutional, and in violation of international law. The court found that amnesty could not be extended in cases of crimes against humanity. In practice, this means that major human rights abuses from the era of El Salvador’s civil war — such as the Jesuit case, the El Mozote massacre, and others — can be investigated and prosecuted. This will be a politically controversial decision in El Salvador, but it is a major victory for human rights. The burden will now be on the attorney general of El Salvador and the country’s judicial system to investigate and prosecute these major cases.
US Withdraws Funding for Haiti Elections
Dismayed by the decision to rerun controversial and fraud-plagued presidential elections, the US State Department announced on Thursday a suspension of electoral assistance to Haiti. State Department spokesperson John Kirby said the decision was communicated to Haitian authorities last week, noting that the US “has provided over $30 million in assistance” for elections and that the move would allow the US “to maintain priority assistance” for ongoing projects. Kirby added that “I don’t have a dollar figure in terms of this because it wasn’t funded, it wasn’t budgeted.” However multiple sources have confirmed that the U.S has withdrawn nearly $2 million already in a United Nations controlled fund for elections. Donor governments, as well as the Haitian state, had contributed to the fund. Prior to the US move, $8.2 million remained for elections.
Poligrow Colombia Ltda., Ordered to Suspend Operations due to Presumed Environmental Infractions
Colombian environmental authority, CORMACARENA (Corporación para el Desarrollo Sostenible del Área de Manejo Especial la Macarena), has ordered oil palm company Poligrow Colombia Ltda (Poligrow) to suspend operations due to alleged environmental infractions, and has initiated a sanctioning process against it. Operating out of Mapiripán, Meta Colombia, Poligrow is expected to suspend specific activities including: dumping industrial waste waters into local forests and natural palm groves (morichales), impeding natural water flow by means of a cement dike without permit, disposing oil palm crop stalks directly onto the soil, using water from Macondo Spout for industrial use, and dumping leachates from the company’s compost area. The suspension is for six months or until the violations are resolved.
Migrants stranded in Colombia as route to US closed
Running short of food and camped in warehouses in Turbo, hundreds of Cubans risked deportation when they took to the streets of the port town this week to protest about their situation. They held banners calling on US President Barack Obama to help and demanding that Colombia airlift them to Mexico. In May, Panama struck a deal that allowed around 4,000 Cubans inside its borders fly directly to Mexico. The Colombian government is refusing to help the migrants, saying doing so would encourage more to travel to the area and play into the hands of human traffickers. “Giving them food would turn into a bigger problem, increasing the number of people coming to Turbo and staying here,” Emelides Munoz, Turbo government secretary, told Al Jazeera. The migrants say they only want to continue their journey, and with more people arriving in Turbo every day, they believe it will be difficult for Colombia to avoid finding a solution as the situation deteriorates.