Congress Unanimously Approves Legislation Requiring That Civilian Courts Try Criminal Complaints Against Military Personnel

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Article from SourceMex, May 7

The Senate and Chamber of Deputies each unanimously approved changes to Mexico’s military code that would allow civilian courts to try members of the armed forces when a crime is committed against civilians. Under the new guidelines, approved in April in both legislative chambers, military prosecutors are obligated to turn cases over to civilian courts when where a member of the armed forces has committed a violation that should be heard outside the jurisdiction of a military court. The change is seen as an important step in addressing what had been considered a major deficiency in the protection of human rights in Mexico. While the military has been implicated in the violation of civilian rights in Mexico through the years, the situation worsened during the administration of ex-President Felipe Calderón, who made extensive use of the military in drug-interdiction efforts. Soldiers and marines not only went after drug traffickers during those years but also committed acts of violence and torture against civilians. Carlos Navarro Read More

Protests Continue in Brazil; Mexico Cancels Refinery Project; El Salvador Deals with Deaths of Sea Turtles

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Articles in SourceMex, NotiCen and NotiSur for November 6-8

Venezuela Opens Way for Paraguay to Return to MERCOSUR

After a 16-month rupture in diplomatic relations with Paraguay, the Venezuelan government has reopened binational dialogue. In mid-October Foreign Minister Elías Jaua traveled to Asunción to resolve the reopening of respective embassies and the naming of new ambassadors. In other gestures of rapprochement, on Oct. 30, Jaua invited the Paraguayan government to participate in a ministerial summit of the Southern Cone Common Market (MERCOSUR), and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro called Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes "to give him an embrace by phone." Maduro also urged other members of the trade alliance to "urgently bring the fellow nation of Paraguay back to the fold. -Andrés Gaudín   Read More

Rio Teachers Strike Sharpens Brazilian Protest Scene

Four months after the June protests in Brazil brought hundreds of thousands to the streets in a national airing of grievances, such mass demonstrations persist albeit on a smaller, more-focused scale. At the same time, marches continue to conclude with violent clashes between police and protesters. This trend is a result of both a tougher line by authorities as well as a proportionally larger use of black-bloc tactics, whereby masked protesters wearing black pursue direct action to destroy symbolic physical property such as banks, media vehicles, and police cars. The outcome has been widespread destruction of public and private property, mass arrests of civilians, injuries to protesters, and chaotic scenes on the streets of Brazil’s major cities, principally Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Brasília. -Gregory Scruggs Read More

President Enrique Peña Nieto’s Government Launches Major Operation against Caballeros Templarios Cartel in Michoacán State

In early November, the Secretaría de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA) and the federal police assumed control of the port of Lázaro Cárdenas in Michoacán state, in an effort to root out massive corruption and cripple the operations of the Caballeros Templarios (Knights Templar) drug cartel at one of Mexico’s largest seaports. The federal operation at Lázaro Cárdenas came just days after assailants—presumably members of the Knights Templar--damaged several electrical power plants owned by the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), triggering blackouts in at least nine cities. The destruction of the CFE plants was followed by attacks on several gasoline stations. Analysts said the attacks might have been intended as a show of power by the cartels to citizen groups, which have risen in resistance to the cartel, and to the government. -Carlos Navarro Read More

Scores Of Endangered Sea Turtles Wash Up Dead Along Salvadoran Beaches

Conservationists and government authorities are pointing their fingers in very different directions following a recent die-off of sea turtles, hundreds of which have washed up on El Salvador’s shoreline in recent weeks. In mid October, fishers operating along the Pacific beach of El Pimental, in the department of La Paz, reported finding some 100 dead turtles in a single day. Partially decomposed corpses have also littered the beaches of San Diego, El Amatal, and Toluca in the nearby department of La Libertad. Officially, more than 200 turtles died during a troubling three-week span that began in late September, the Ministerio de Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (MARN) reported late last month. Environmental groups suspect the real number of turtle deaths is higher still. Most of the dead animals were olive ridley and green turtles, according to MARN. Two other sea turtle species, leatherbacks and hawksbills, are also present in El Salvador. -Benjamin Witte-Lebhar  Read More

President Enrique Peña Nieto’s Administration Apparently Cancels Construction of New Refinery in Hidalgo State

Without much fanfare, President Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration appears to have put the brakes on an ambitious project to construct the Bicentenario refinery in Tula, Hidalgo state. The facility--one of the largest investment projects launched during former President Felipe Calderón’s administration—was to be constructed next to an existing refinery in Tula. The project was intended to boost Mexico’s capacity to refine crude oil and reduce reliance on imports of gasoline and other fuels. Mexico at present imports about 50% of the gasoline consumed domestically, even though the country is a major producer of crude oil. The fate of the project became apparent with the release of the 2014-2018 business plan for the state-run oil company PEMEX, which left out the facility. -Carlos Navarro Read More

Still Wounded by 2009 Coup, Honduras Heads for Elections that End Historic Bipartisanship

Honduras is headed for its first elections since the much-questioned vote four years ago, within the framework of widespread repression under the de facto regime set up through the bloody 2009 coup that shook this poverty-stricken country to its very foundations and caused deep, unhealed wounds. The vote was held five months after the illegal political-military action that on June 28, 2009, brought to an abrupt end to President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya’s populist government, constitutionally scheduled to finish the following January. Zelaya's wife, Xiomara Castro, is the only woman in the eight-candidate presidential race, which includes the coup’s military leader, former head of the Fuerzas Armadas of Honduras and retired Gen. Romeo Vásquez of the rightist Alianza Patrótica (AP). -George Rodríguez   Read More

Murder of Journalist in Honduras; Controversy over Community Police in Mexico; Courts and Human Rights in Uruguay

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Articles in SourceMex, NotiCen and NotiSur for August 21-23

Federal Government, Indigenous Communities in Two States Disagree On Legality of Community Police Forces

A handful of rural indigenous communities in Michoacán and Guerrero have formed community police forces or militias, partly to counteract the influence of drug-trafficking cartels within their borders. The informal police units, known as autodefensas, have put the communities at odds with the federal government, which considers the organizations vigilante groups outside the law. The conflict between the federal government and the autodefensas came to the forefront after federal authorities arrested several-dozen members of the local militia formed by the community of Aquila in Michoacán in mid-August. -Carlos Navarro   Read More

Protests Could Affect Re-election Chances for Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff

For almost a month beginning on June 10, Brazil was a powder keg. A slight increase in the fare for public-transportation--bad and expensive--acted as a detonator. First in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and then in most cities in the country, throngs of people took to the streets calling for a reversal of the fare hike and also demanding improvements in health and education. In this environment, the country was overrun with polls. During the protests, voter intention for Rousseff fell from 52.8% to 33.4%. The president would not win in the first round but would prevail in a runoff, in which she would compete against environmentalist Marina Silva (20.7%), who moved into second place ahead of the most entrenched leaders of the right . -Andrés Gaudín   Read More

Honduran Human Rights Advocate Sees Effort to Justify Militarization in Journalist's Killing

On the morning of July 9, a gruesome finding shocked this country, however used to violence it may be. The dismembered body of Honduran television journalist and university professor Aníbal Barrow was found more than two weeks after the victim was kidnapped. The murder prompted an outcry from two international journalists' organizations and the Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras (COFADEH). Barrow’s homicide fits in a trend of selective killings, aimed not only at journalists but at lawyers and teachers as well, COFADEH directo Bertha Oliva said. -George Rodríguez    Read More

Uruguay's Supreme Court Ignores International Human Rights Norms

While Uruguayans marked the 40th anniversary of the June 27, 1973, civilian-military coup, and all cities in the country paid tribute to victims of the dictatorship, the Suprema Corte de Justicia (SCJ) received a new condemnation from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), various UN agencies, and world-renowned jurists such as Spain's Baltasar Garzón. On on the day before the 40th anniversary of the bloodiest coup in the country's history and on June 27 itself, the SCJ announced two decisions that make clear the real political and ideological position of four of the five SCJ justices. First, the court closed two cases in which high-ranking Army and Air Force officers were on trial for torture, forced disappearance, and murder. Second, it exonerated two soldiers responsible for the 1981 hanging death of a political prisoner. -Andrés Gaudín     Read More

Femicide Numbers Down But Problems Persist For Salvadoran Women

El Salvador’s female homicide figures have fallen sharply during the past year and a half, thanks in large part to a tenuous government-backed gang truce that has cut overall murders by more than half. An encouraging sign for the country as a whole, the decrease is a particularly welcome development for the administration of President Mauricio Funes, which has made women’s rights a policy priority with initiatives such the Ley Especial Integral para una Vida Libre de Violencia para las Mujeres (LEIV), a femicide law that went into effect early last year, and Ciudad Mujer, a network of female-focused resource centers.   -Benjamin Witte-Lebhar     Read More

U.S. Deportations of Undocumented Mexicans Continue at Steady Pace in 2012

The US continued deporting undocumented immigrants from Mexico at a steady pace during 2012, surpassing the record set in 2011. Statistics from Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM) indicate that the US deported about 400,000 Mexican citizens during calendar year 2012, which would surpass the record of slightly more than 397,000 set in 2011. In the midst of the widespread deportations, strong criticisms have emerged about the practices employed by the US government, including deporting immigrants at night, when they have no support services.  -Carlos Navarro  Read More

Haiti Senate Election Remains in Limbo; Mexico Court Releases Killer of DEA Agent; Bolivia Striking Miners Return to Work

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Articles in SourceMex, NotiCen and NotiSur for August14-16

Mystery Chinese Firm To Tackle Nicaragua’s "Great Canal" Project

Sticking to his grandiose promise of building an ocean-to-ocean canal through Nicaragua, President Daniel Ortega has decided to place his faith--and a huge swath of national territory--in the hands of an untested Chinese firm whose mysterious owner, telecom tycoon Wang Jing, promises nothing less than to "change the world." This past June--much to the chagrin of opposition leaders, environmental groups, and other government critics--Ortega used his vast support in the Asamblea Nacional (AN) to quickly approve a concession deal that gives Wang’s HKND Group exclusive rights to "design, develop, engineer, finance, construct, possess, operate, maintain, and administer" the proposed canal. HKND, which is based in Hong Kong but registered in the Cayman Islands, has no major infrastructure-construction experience. -Benjamin Witte-Lebhar   Read More

Mexican Court Orders Release of Notorious Drug Trafficker Convicted of Killing U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Agent in 1995

Just weeks after the Mexican government arrested notorious drug kingpin Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales, the top leader of the Zetas cartel, another infamous Mexican drug trafficker has been set free. On Aug. 9, a panel of judges from a federal court (Primer Tribunal Colegiado en Materia Penal) in Guadalajara ordered the early release of Rafael Caro Quintero, one of the founders of the Guadalajara cartel, on a technicality. Caro Quintero, who had already served 28 years of a 40-year sentence, was charged in the kidnapping, torture, and murder of US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agent Enrique Camarena in Guadalajara in 1985. -Carlos Navarro Read More

Ecuadoran Government Seeks to Control Civil-Society Organizations

As if managing to take political control of all state institutions were not enough, the Ecuadoran government is now attempting to control all organizations created at the initiative of civil society. To do so, it has implemented a series of legal, political, and financial controls requiring each organization to submit periodic reports that allow the government to know its activities and, if it considers them detrimental to the government, to close it down on the grounds that it has violated a regulation. On June 4, President Rafael Correa signed an executive order (Decreto Ejecutivo 16), creating the Sistema Unificado de Información de Organizaciones Sociales (SUIOS), under the direction of the Secretaría Nacional de Gestión de la Política, which, in turn, is under the Ministerio Coordinador de la Política. -Luis Ángel Saavedra   Read More

Haitian President Michel Martelly Says He Wants Senatorial Election; Opposition and Civil-Society Leaders Doubt It

One-third of the seats in Haiti’s 30-member Senate expired on May 8, 2012, and those legislators’ replacements had to be elected no later than five months before. The country’s legislature consists of a 30-member Sénat and a 99-strong Chambre des Députés, respectively elected for six-year and four-year terms. In the Senate, one-third of its members are elected every two years, the reason for the vote that has been delayed for some nineteen months. Government-opposition clashes, presidential dismissal of several Conseil Electoral Permanent (CEP) members, and difficulties in appointing a provisional authority--Collège Transitopire de Gestion--to run the CEP are among the factors of an election crisis that has kept the vote on hold. -George Rodríguez  Read More

Bolivia's Striking Miners, COB Return to Work

During the first three weeks of May, the administration of Bolivian President Evo Morales had to confront a difficult situation when the labor federation Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) and workers--especially miners, the country's key labor sector--declared an indefinite strike. The country was paralyzed and a spiral of violence began. In their daily demonstrations, the miners resorted to the sector's long-standing practice of setting off dynamite sticks in the streets of the cities. The strike had one demand, something still not achieved by workers in any country in the world: when they retire, salaried employees would receive a pension equal to 100% of their pre-retirement salary -Andrés Gaudín    Read More

Popocatépetl Volcano Creates Constant Anxiety, Economic Opportunity for Nearby Residents

Every three or four months, dozens of communities in Puebla, Tlaxcala, and México states receive alerts from the federal disaster center Centro Nacional de Prevención de Desastres (CENAPRED) to watch for possible eruptions from the Popocatépetl volcano, also known as Popo. These alerts, which apply to about 60,000 residents in 42 communities bordering the volcano, are issued every time the volcano starts to rumble and/or exhale smoke. The volcano, which has kept area residents on edge for generations, is now also a source of economic development. Area researchers have discovered that ash from Popo is a good source of material to treat the denim cloth used for blue jeans, which could provide a new source of income for residents of nearby communities. -Carlos Navarro  Read More