Multilatinas in Mexico and South America

When we think about multinational corportations, our thoughts center on European, US, Canadian, or Japanese business enterprises conducting business and investing across borders. A number of Latin America-based companies are also prominent among the businesses that have a presence beyond their home country.  These Latin American mulinationals are often known as multilatinas.  In this week's issue of NotiSur, Andrés Gaudín examines the rapid growth of multilatinas,  based in South America's two largest economies. These include  Brazilian companies Vale, Petrobras, Weg, and Embraer and Argentine companies Tenaris/Ternium, Impsa, and Bagó.  Embraer (ERJ) has become the world's leader in regional jets (fewer than 120 seats). Today, virtually every major U.S. network carrier now includes Embraer jets in its fleet.  In addition to Argentina and Brazil, multilatinas are based in Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, and other countries.  Here is a list of some of the leading multilatinas, courtesy of América Economía.

Cemex plant, Cheshire, England (Wikimedia Commons)

CEMEX (Mexico) – Drawing in around US$15 billion annually, CEMEX is ranked as number one on América Economía’s 100 Latin American Multinationals of 2014. CEMEX is a giant in the building and construction materials industry its home country of Mexico and in three other continents. During Presdent Hugo Chávez's administration, Until his death last year, the company was led by Lorenzo Zambrano, whose grandfather founded his cement business in the early 20th century, profiting from the reconstruction of Monterrey after the Mexican Revolution.

LATAM AIRLINES (Chile) – LATAM Airlines Group is airline holding company with subsidiaries throughout South America. The air carrier was formed in 2010 following the merger of Chile’s LAN and Brazil’s TAM. Annual revenues are over US$13 billion, more than triple that of the next largest airline holding consortium in Latin America, Colombia’s Avianca-TACA group.

AVIANCA-TACA (Colombia) – Avianca-TACA AirHoldings was also formed in 2010, following the merger of Colombia’s Avianca and El Salvador’s TACA.Avianca-TACA is a subsidiary of Synergy Group, a conglomerate founded and owned by Avianca’s founder, Germán Efromovich, a Bolivian-born son of Polish Jewish immigrants who holds citizenships in Brazil, Colombia, and Poland.

TELMEX (Mexico) – Mexico’s telecommunications giant has had tight control over the Mexican telecommunications market for years, but its monopoly is coming to an end. Company chairman Carlos Slim Helu, a Mexican of Lebanese descent, and his family has frequently made the Forbes Magazine list of the world's wealthiest individuals.

GRUPO BIMBO (Mexico) – Mexico’s largest baking company also has a broad presence in global markets.  The company, which owns Thomas' English Muffins and Entenmann's cakes, is evolving into a dominant player in the US bakery market with its planned acquisition of Sara Lee's North American bakery business for US$959 million.

BRIGHTSTAR (Bolivia) – Bolivia’s only multinational to make an appearance on América Economía's power rankings, this telecomm growing giant was founded by the current CEO of Sprint, Marcelo Claure, in 1997. With headquarters in South Florida, the La Paz native grew Brightstar into a multibillion dollar multinational by focusing on developing markets in Bolivia, Paraguay and the Caribbean during the late 1990s. The company then struck a deal with Motorola Latin America in 2000, which opened up markets in the rest of the region.

Citgo Station, Tankstelle, Germany (Wikimedia Commons)

PDVSA (Venezuela) – Petroleos de Venezuela is Venezuela’s state-owned oil and natural gas company. PDVSA’s activities include resource extraction, exploration, refining and international exportation. Founded in 1976 following the nationalization of Venezuela’s oil industry, PDVSA purchased 50% of USA’s Citgo in 1986, and the remainder in 1990.

SUDAMERICA DE VAPORES (Chile) – Compañia Sudamerica de Vapores (CSAV),  founded in 1872, is the largest shipping company in Latin America and one of the oldest multinationals in the region. CSAV, which has the world’s 20th largest shipping fleet, expanded rapidly after the 1914 opening of the Panama Canal, making large gains on the coastal routes from western South American to Panama. After a century of unprecendented growth, CSAV entered into a merger agreement with German shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd, another shipping firm that earned its stripes during the global trade during World War I.

Wikimedia Commons

AJEGROUP (Peru) – Ranked number 10 on América Economía's power rankings, this company is of two Peruvian multinationals to appear on the list, Ajegroup is dedicated to the production and distribution of alcoholic and soft drink beverages. The company's Agua Cielo brand of bottled water is sold widely throughout Latin America and its Big Cola soft drink is a popular product in India.

GRUMA (Mexico) – The world’s largest producer of corn and flour tortillas is headquartered in San Pedro Garza García, just outside of Monterrey. Gruma owns a variety of brand names that sell well in US, China, England, Central America, and Venezuela. The Mexican multilatina has drawn wide attention in global stock markets, as Gruma's shares gain value in accordance with the worldwide increase in tortilla consumption.

-Jake Sandler

Also in LADB on March 4-6 

• Right’s "Pink Party" Experiment Unlikely To Unseat FA In Montevideo
• Fired Honduran Judges Question Effect of Negative Human Rights Court Ruling on Government
• Guatemalan Government Blames Gangs for Latest Spate of Violence
• Construction of Natural Gas Pipeline in Chihuahua Encounters Resistance From Some Raramuri Communities
• Low-Key Election of Supreme Court President Overshadowed by Nominations for Open Seat

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A Virtual Museum About Corruption in Paraguay

Their names are Ana Calvo, Dave Mac Cruz, Manuel Rolón, Sara Torres, Edgar Brando Almada,Pau Benabarre. Their task is to use illustrated satire to fight corruption in Paraguay. A more accurate description of what they do is to record instances of corruption in the South American country through their illustrations, which are housed at the non-profit Museo de la Corrupción. 

Given Paraguay's colorful (for lack of a better word) history of corruption, it seems natural that such an innovative and creative method of retaining collective memory of public corruption cases would emerge from alumni of the Guapa School of Creativity in Asunción. (Read more about reent cases of corruption in Paraguay in this week's edition of NotiSur). Founded in 2013, the school draws artists and students from various sectors of the community, including students at the Bellas Artes de Asunción, urban graffiti artists as well as professionals in graphic design firms.

For their own reasons, the six current artists that comprise the work of el Museo de la Corrupción came to create work for this not-for-profit collective because it offered them the capacity to work toward social and political change in a collaborative atmosphere, where artists from all walks of life come together to create a project with a singular theme. When you look at their body of work, what you see is as much about the actual history of corruption in their country as it is about themselves: born in the 80s and early 90s, tired of hearing the same old stories without seeing any change, and willing to bring their unique, contemporary styles to the table to pursue their collective dreams of seeing a corruption-free Paraguay.

After a turbulent first half of the 20th century in which Paraguay often found itself on the losing end of conflicts, with Bolivia and amongst its own parties, the struggling nation fell into the hands of a dictator, Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled from 1954 to 1989. Although the 70s and 80s were decades of expansion, just like in Chile, Argentina and Brazil, it was also a time of brutal dictatorial violence in which human rights were routinely and grossly violated in the same of national security and suppression of subversives. This environment of post-dictatorial corruption amongst political leaders projecting a supposedly renovated, civilian elected state, which was in plain reality marred by constant episodes of electoral fraud and corruption at the highest levels.

In the first seven hours of existence, the digital museum was visited 38,000 times as online media platforms began spreading the word. El Museo de la Corrupcion was launched in conjunction with the 2013 International Anti-Corruption Day observed each 9th of December.

The site is conceived and designed in line with the movement of social and political movements on social media. The interface is clean, minimalist and very easy to navigate, while the opening images are strikingly colorful, complete with captions that are concise and poignant.

The end effect is a feeling very similar to being in an actual museum, spacious, with the white walls and the room silent contemplation. They expect to have a physical site for the museum up soon, and have launched an app to access the museum and its exhibitions on mobile devices.

David Mac Cruz, one of the Museum’s illustrators, told El Mundo in October of last year that “although some of the crimes brought to life in these works can seem surreal or ironic, the intention of the Museum is not to create humor, as corruption is serious,” but rather to expose how the reality of these crimes are such that an informative portrayal of what has happened can seem exaggerated and abstract.

-Jake Sandler

Also in LADB on Feb. 11-13

• Guatemalan Court Sentences Former Police Chief for Assault on Spanish Embassy
• Reform Bills, "Pentagate" Scandal Spell Double Trouble For Chile’s Reeling Right
• Gubernatorial Elections in June include Troubled States of Guerrero and Michoacán
• Monarch Butterfly Populations Recover Modestly from 2014
• Coffee Between Costa Rica's Attorney General and a Vice Minister Turns into Political Storm

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Zones for Economic Development and Honduras’ Sovereignty for Sale

The Zones for Economic Development (ZEDEs), commonly promoted by the Honduran government as "model cities," are set to become a reality in the near future, as domestic and international investors and developers plan to break ground in coming months. The project is supported by a two-year feasibility study, which South Korean investors completed in November of last year on the first planned ZEDE. That "model city" would be located on the Pacific coast near the border of Honduras with El Salvador and Nicaragua, in a community called Zacate Grande – an island connected to the mainland by a highway. For more on the South Korean study, as well as the threats of human rights violations due to government land seizures and other aspects of ZEDE law, see  last week’s edition of NotiCen.



Even though residents of Zacate Grande have fended off attempts by domestic and international investors and their own national government to seize their land in the interest of future development, the threats posed by ZEDEs are unlike any in the past. As international human rights expert Erika Piquero writes in the Latin Correspondent, ZEDE law presents investors and corporations with the unique ability to work within a separate legislative system, with its own laws, courts, infrastructure, tax law and equipped with an ability to evict inhabitants of land slated for development.

Opponents, proponents offer their views
The opposition points out that the creation of ZEDEs is akin to selling off the country’s sovereignty bit by bit, and terribly violating the human rights of the nation’s most oppressed and marginalized peoples.

The government and the project’s neoliberal supporters stand by the project’s main objective: ZEDEs will spur an unprecedented amount of development and economic growth, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and lifting the nation out of its perpetual state of poverty and underdevelopment.

Opposition leaders, critics, human rights activists and community counter tha this this “development” will only benefit the already wealthy investors; in much the same way as similar schemes have in the past.

A predominantly indigenous, Afro-indigenous community

Photo: Rick Wunderman, Wikimedia Commons

To put the dispute in perspective, it is useful to review the history of the area. Zacate Grande, a predominantly indigenous and Afro-indigenous community, was uninhabited until the 1920s when its current inhabitants were displaced from the mainland. A highway was constructed in the 1970s with plans to develop the beautiful coastline in sight. Some of the nation’s most wealthy individuals have had their hand on local land titles for decades, and now the opening of the ZEDEs is presenting an unprecedented opportunity.

Even though Honduras has signed most major international accords on human rights and the rights of indigenous peoples, the ZEDEs would suspend basic rights like habeas corpus and other internationally recognized rights. Mixed with Honduras’ checkered past in respecting human rights law, many critics are hoping this plan more model cities and economic development does not plunge the communities within these zones into a state of lawlessness, where the whims of investors and corporations literally run the courthouse.

With many human rights activists and academics linking the creation of ZEDEs more to patterns of Honduran militarization than to actual neoliberal plans for development, we may begin to see a situation where military and security forces are literally and legally acting as a strong arm force for the interests of investment, maintaining ‘order’ in these fantastical economic zones, and perhaps physically removing people from their land.

-Jake Sandler

Also in LADB on Jan. 14-16 

• Veracruz Continues to Live Up to Reputation as Dangerous State for Journalists
• Insecurity Takes Back Seat to Immigration at Recent Summit Between Presidents Enrique Peña Nieto and Barack Obama
• Transparency Concerns Regarding Election of  Guatemala's Comptroller General
• Peru’s New Youth Employment Law Sparks Protests, Calls For Repeal
• Venezuelans United Against U.S. Sanctions

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Center for Justice and Accuntability Seeks Truth, Justice, Redress for Victims of Torture, Human Rights Violations

"The administration of Salvador Sanchez Ceren has the obligation and opportunity to make a difference, to improve the lives of the people of El Salvador – the people th ey fought for – and ensure that they see justice."  Center for Justice and Accountability

Several thousand people participated in a candlelit procession through the campus of the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA), the scene, 25 years ago, of one of the most infamous episodes in El Salvador’s dozen-year civil war (1980-1992): the predawn murder of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and and the housekeeper's daughter.  This week's issue of NotiCen examines some of the issues surrounding the anniversary, including efforts to overturn a blanket amnesty approved in El Salvador in 1993, which allows the perpetrators to remain unpunished.

 

Photo: Center for Justice and Accountablity

Among those participating in the procession in San Salvador on Nov. 18 was Almudena Bernabeu, an attorney and rights advocate at the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) in San Francisco, California. The CJA has played a leading role in recent years in efforts to prosecute the authors of the UCA massacre

The CJA is an international human rights organization dedicated to deterring torture and other severe human rights abuses around the world. The organization also advances the rights of survivors to seek truth, justice and redress, which applies directly to its work in El Salvador. 

CJA uses litigation to hold perpetrators individually accountable for human rights abuses, develop human rights law, and advance the rule of law in countries transitioning from periods of abuse.
The case of the murdered Jesuits is just one of seven active cases in El Salvador.  The center is  involved in human-rights-related litigation in seven countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.  In addition to El Salvador, the CJA is involved in cases in Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and Peru (as well as the United States).  The other five countries where the CJA is involved in human-rights-related cases are Bosnia, Cambodia, China, Somalia, and Timor-Leste.

The CJA was founded in 1998 with support from Amnesty International and the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture to represent torture survivors in their pursuit of justice. The center is part of the movement for global justice for those who have been tortured or have suffered other severe human rights abuses.

"CJA is one of the few international human rights NGOs with a base of clients who speak out publicly against mass atrocities from a survivor's perspective," said the organization.  "At the heart of CJA’s mission is the belief that survivors themselves are the most effective spokespeople against torture, genocide and other abuses. CJA devotes resources to supporting clients who, as a result of participating in our litigation, are galvanized to dedicate more time and energy to anti-impunity efforts within their communities."

-Carlos Navarro 

Also in LADB on Dec. 10-12 

• Mexican Supreme Court to Elect New President, Welcome New Justice in 2015
• Tabaré Vázquez Back as Uruguay’s President, Reflecting Region’s Progressive Trend
• In Push To Spur Investment, Peru Weakens Environmental Protection
• Guatemalan Government Mired in Financial Problems
• Mexico Welcomes US President Barack Obama’s Executive Order on Immigration

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Argentine Forensic Team Working in Guerrero

Photo: Via Creative Commons on Flickr

A team of Argentine forensic experts arrived in Iguala in Guerrero state in Mexico on Oct. 7 to help federal and state authorities identify the remains of bodies found in a clandestine, mass graves. It is unclear how many of the bodies uncovered in the mass grave are connected to the disappearance of 43 students following protests in Iguala on Sept. 26.This week’s issue of SourceMex lays out the array of unclear reports regarding what actually transpired on Sept 26, when students at a teacher’s college organized a protest against plans to cut funding to their university.

The Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (Equipo Argentino de Antropologia Forense, or EAAF), was founded in the mid-1980s when a team was formed to investigate the remains of disappeared families in Argentina. Since that project, EAAF has expanded its work to over 30 countries and helped form the Association of Latin American Association of Forensic Anthropology (ALAF). The two organizations have worked jointly in Guatemala, Bolivia, Spain, Colombia , Mexico and other countries. The joint work of EAAF and ALAF in Mexico dates back to the early 2000s, when the EAAF was asled tp participate in an international seminar titled "Truth Commissions: Torture, Reparations, and Prevention." Recently, EAAF was asked to assist a new Special Prosecutor investigating cases of people disappeared for political reasons during the 1960's and 1970's. Over the past several years, EAAF members worked in the state of Chihuahua on a project to exhume, analyze, and attempt to identify the remains of over a hundred individuals associated with the investigation of murdered and disappeared women in Ciudad Juárez.

The EAAF's mission statement explicitly states that the objectives of the team are to cater to the wishes of relatives of victims and their communities, and that  "the team's track record in international tribunals displays a deep and sincere dedication to truth and “the historical reconstruction of the recent past, often distorted or hidden by the parties or government institutions which are themselves implicated in the crimes under investigation."

Even though  President Enrique Peña Nieto's administration requested the intervention of the EAAF,  family members of the victims are relying on the Argentine experts for truth and justice because of  deep distrust of police and government authorities. Melitón Ortega, a relative of one of the missing students, has publicly expressed his distrust of state involvement in the investigation, representing a general attitude among his community members that the police and the government are the last people they want in charge of investigating this site.

So will the Argentine team succeed in helping relatives of  the students arrive at the truth? The task might be difficult. A slew of reports in the last week have revealed that the Argentine forensic team has had difficulty accessing the grave site, where state and federal authorities are tightly securing the area.

-Jake Sandler

Also in LADB This Week...
Unpredictable Brazilian Election Turns Predictable as Traditional Parties Duel
Brazilians headed to the polls on Oct. 5 to decide the fate of incumbent President Dilma Rousseff, conservative challenger Aécio Neves, and insurgent Marina Silva. In the end, voters endorsed Rousseff, but not by enough to avoid a runoff against Neves that will take place on Oct. 26. It was an unpredictable election season that saw polling numbers for the candidates fluctuate wildly. In one of the campaign’s most surprising and tragic turns,  Read More

Colombia’s Peace Negotiators Agree on Three Points, Urge Continued Progress
On the eve of the second anniversary of the beginning of Colombian peace talks, government and guerrilla representatives broke a self-imposed silence on Sept. 24 by reporting key details of agreements reached so far. President Juan Manuel Santos and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) were obliged to give a progress report to counteract false versions spread by warmongers seeking to discredit the negotiations and dismantle talks that began in November 2012 in Havana, Cuba.  Read More

Former Salvadoran President Francisco Flores Jailed Pending Corruption Trial
After months on the lam, former Salvadoran President Francisco Flores (1999-2004) is now behind bars pending trial on charges that he misappropriated roughly US$15 million donated during his presidency by the government in Taiwan. Flores, who hails from the hard-right Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA), El Salvador’s leading opposition party, disappeared from public view in late January. And, in May, when a judge in San Salvador issued a warrant for his arrest, he officially became a fugitive from justice.  Read More

Murder of Guatemalan Civil Servant Reveals Lack of Compliance with Private-Security Law
On July 3, well-known Guatemalan civil servant and feminist activist Patricia Samayoa Méndez was shot dead in a pharmacy by the establishment’s private security guard, who later barricaded himself in the pharmacy and attempted to shoot the police officers who were trying to arrest him. This case has highlighted that a new law imposing tougher sanctions on private security companies is not being properly enforced. Samayoa’s murder has called into question whether a law imposing more stringent regulations on private security companies that came into force in October 2013 is really being enacted.  Read More

Chinese-Mexican Consortium Submits Only Bid to Construct High-Speed Rail in Mexico
President Enrique Peña Nieto has set the process in motion to develop a high-speed train to connect Mexico City with the industrial hub of Querétaro, about 210 km northwest of the Mexican capital. On Oct. 15, the administration closed the bidding process for consortia to participate in constructing the rail line. Only one consortium submitted a bid, a partnership led by China Railway Construction Corp. (CRCC) that included Mexican companies GIA and Prodemex.  Read More

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Colombian Peace Process Feels Different

Photo from Caguan Peace Talks,  Wikimedia Commons

"Members of the security forces and their families have been given equal footing alongside members of the guerrilla and their families [in cases where] both groups suffered harm or had their rights substantially impaired as a consequence of gross human rights violations." - Committee that selected victims to testify at Havana Peace Talks

The Colombian government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) appear closer than ever to a peace agreement after 50 years of conflict. The ongoing talks, which have taken place in Havana, could lead to substantive change. According to the British non-governmental organization Justice for Colombia, several earlier attempts to achieve peace have failed, including the Caguan Peace Talks in 1998-2002. 

What is difference this time around? The Colombian government has made a concerted effort to enter this round of talks, the first after many violent years, with a tone of mutual respect, rather than one of superiority. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos is demonstrating that respect in several ways, through the location of the meeting in Havana, through the composition of the panel, and most importantly, through the inclusion of and focus on testimonials of war victims from both sides of the half-century of conflict.

Although the Santos government does maintain positive relations with Cuba, Havana has an even tighter connection with the FARC, which has maintained a firm alliance with Marxist-Leninist philosophy since its beginnings during agrarian movements of the early 1960s .With a more or less neutral ground established, Santos sent his highest ranking military official, General Javier Florez, to meet face to face with the FARC leaders, a message that the Colombian administration respects the legitimacy of the group. This gesture also opens the door for FARC guerillas to lay down their weapons and reenter society without fear of being exterminated.

Finally, the inclusion of victims’ testimonials have taken center stage, stirring up heavy emotions on both sides. The presence of victims at the peace talks represent an acknowledgement that grave injustices have been committed by both sides, not just by the FARC guerillas. A great deal of tension surrounds the failure of the government’s right-wing factions to accept responsibility for the alleged crimes and human rights violations. However, Santos’ negotiating team has emphasized that a goal for these talks is to “satisfy the victims’ rights to truth, remembrance, justice and the admission of responsibilities. Andrés Gaudín addresses the role of the testimonials in the Havana peace talks in this week’s issue of NotiSur.  See additional coverage of the talks in Granma,the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba.

 -Jake Sandler

Also in LADB this week.... 
Guatemala’s Plan to Privatize Tax-collection System:  President Otto Pérez has proposed a plan to privatize the country’s tax-collection system to try increase tax revenues, which have fallen below target. Louisa Reynolds tells us about opposition to the plan and related questions of corruption in the latest issue of NotiCen..

Costa Rica: The Report before the Report: Before making public his account of the first 100 days of his administration, Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís repeatedly said he was going to tell Costa Ricans the state in which he found the country and what his government’s roadmap would be. The opposition prevented Solís from presenting his findings to Congress, so he released the report before an audience of close to 1,000 members of civil-society sectors. Read more from George Rodríguez in NotiCen.

Cartel of Cartels in Mexico: Four of the most notorious and ruthless drug cartels in Mexico have apparently proposed joining forces rather than fighting each other in turf battles. Intelligence reports from the US and Mexican governments indicate that leaders from the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), the Carrillo Fuentes organization (also known as the Juárez cartel), the Beltrán Leyva cartel, and the Zetas held a meeting in the city of Piedras Negras in Coahuila to discuss the possibility of forming some sort of alliance. The latest issue of SourceMex provides more details.

Mexican Court Upholds Ban on GMO Corn. A Mexican federal court handed multinational seed companies another setback with a ruling against the Swiss-based seed company Syngenta, which had appealed a ban on the use of genetically modified (GM) corn in Mexico. Carlos Navarro expands on this development in the latest edition of SourceMex.

Brazilian Elections. The untimely death of Partido Socialista Brasileiro (PSB) candidate Eduardo Campos has added a new dynamic to the Brazilian elections. Campos' replacement Marina Silva could actually prove to be a more formidable opponent to President Dilma Rousseff (Partido de Trabalhadores, PT), and conservative challenger Aécio Neves (Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira, PSDB). Silva has a broad base of support thanks to her politics and biography. Her sustainability credentials appeal to urban leftist intellectuals and progressive youth. Gregory Scruggs tells us more about the upcoming Brazilian elections in the latest edition of NotiSur.

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Excuse Me, Dear Sinaloa Congress...You are Suppressing Freedom of the Press

"After weighing the arguments against the new law, we determined that a change was needed.,"said  state legislative leader Jesús Enrique Hernández Chávez. 'We saw the real possibility that the work of the professional news media could be negatively affected." Hernández Chávez acknowledged that the legislature did not look at the Ley Mordaza closely on the day it was approved because it was one of many pieces of legislation that came before the legislature before recess, and legislators did not have time to "notice those kinds of details."

Did Gov. Mario López Valdez manage to slip a piece of legislation by the Sinaloa Congress that would  prohibit  news organizations from recording videos or taking photographs at the scene of a crime or interviewing anyone directly associated with an incident? The legislature claims it was too busy passing several bills before recess to notice that the restrictive measure had been slipped into the legislative agenda. Did Gov. López Valdez and the legislators think that the media in Sinaloa would not react to the directive? There was a loud outcry from a coalition led by the Asociación de Periodistas de Sinaloa, A.C. and other organizations that promote freedom of expression, including the Mexican affiliate of Article 19. The controversy  forced the legislature to review its actions and then promise to rescind the measure during an upcoming special session.

And Gov. López Valdez? He claimed he made a mistake in pushing the initiative, and that it was not his intention to suppress free speech.  Read more about this issue in this week's edition of SourceMex.

Also in LADB This Week....

Energy Policy
Energy Policy was very much in the minds of  decision-makers in Mexico and Costa Rica. A key consideration in both countries was how to reduce the cost of electrical power, which could help promote economic growth. In Mexico, the Congress approved the secondary laws to implement energy reforms, which could bring greater investment into development of gas extraction and transportation.  A greater domestic supply of natural gas could reduce the cost of operation for power plants.  The Secretaría de Energía created a handy section on its Web site with specifics of the Energy Reform.

In Costa Rica, a member of the center-left  Frente Amplio (FA) is proposing that the Costa Rican government renew efforts to join the Petrocaribe initiative, which could provide the Central American country with lower-cost fuels via Venezuela.  Read more from George Rodríguez in NotiCen.  Here is the official Petrocaribe Web site..

Illegal Trafficking of Weapons
A photograph delivered to the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung’s newsroom showing a Colombian policeman pointing a "made in Germany" pistol recently sparked an investigative-journalism project. The investigation is now beginning to show that both Germany and the US are involved in the weapons trade. Germany’s laws explicitly prohibit exporting any weapons to countries 1) experiencing internal armed conflicts, 2) with security forces accused of "excessive" use of force in applying repressive measures (being trigger-happy or allowing extrajudicial executions), or 3) where recurrent human rights violations have been proven. Colombia has ranked first in all three criteria for more than 50 years.  So how are weapons from Germany making their way into Colombia?  Read more from Andrés Gaudín in NotiSur.

Staying Power
Many leaders come to office with high expectations, but at some point during their tenure in office their popularity is eroded because they have failed to meet expectations and/or/campaign promises. Sometimes the problem is that the unity that brought them to office has given way to inflighting within their coalitions. This is what is happening in Chile to President Michelle Bachelet, who took office in March 2014.  Read more from Benjamin Witte-Lebhar in NotiSur.

In Guatemala, President Otto Pérez Molina would like to extend his mandate beyond the end of his term in 2016.  The Guatemalan president has called for a constitutional reform that would allow him to stay in office an additional two years until 2018. The problem is that the the Guatemalan Constitution contains a number of articles that cannot be changed, known as artículos pétreos,which include those establishing a four-year period in office.  Read more from Louisa Reynolds in NotiCen.


-Carlos Navarro

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Economic Development, Energy Needs Clash with Environmental Protection, Right of Communities to Control Natural Resources

Photo: Carlos Navarro

In March 1977, the United Nations Water Conference recognized water as a right for the first time declaring that “All peoples, whatever their stage of development and social and economic conditions, have the right to have access to drinking water in quan tities and of a quality equal to their basic needs”.

The right to protect water and natural resources has become a source of conflict in many countries in Latin America.  Four countries--Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Panama--have had to struggle or are struggling with a decision regarding this precious natural resource. Environmental advocates and indigenous communities are among hose opposing the privatization of water or the development of huge water-related projects.  The government and the business sector are on the other side. They see the large-scale projects as a means to promote development/and or create sources of energy for the country. The results have been mixed.

Let's examine each of the conflicts.

Chile. In June, the government’s Comité de Ministros—the top of the bureaucratic totem pole for decisions regarding development projects—voted unanimously to reject the polemical HidroAysén power project, a multibillion-dollar hydroelectric complex planned for a mostly untouched area of Chile's far-southern Región de Aysén.  The ruling ended years of on-again, off-again legal limbo regarding the costly venture, which its corporate backers—Endesa (51%), a Spanish-Italian energy giant, and Colbún (49%), a privately owned Chilean utility—first unveiled in 2007.  Read More in Read More  from Benjamin Witte-Lebhar in NotiSur, July 11, 2014

Ecuador: A march staged by Ecuador’s indigenous movement—the second during President Rafael Correa’s time in office—was so small that, instead of influencing the government, it showed the indigenous movement to be weak and fragmented. A water law, as this set of regulations for the use and administration of a natural resource that the Ecuadoran Constitution classifies as a human right is known, was approved by 103 of the Asamblea Nacional’s 137 members despite ongoing debate since the bill was proposed in 2009. Read More  from Luis Ángel Saavedra in NotiSur, July 18, 2014

Panama: Panama’s newly elected President Juan Carlos Varela, who took office on July 1, comes to power amid a drought-sparked energy crisis that has highlighted the perils of depending heavily on hydroelectric power at a time when rain patterns have become increasingly erratic as a result of climate change. Panama’s new government has stated that it wishes to review the contract awarded by the former administration to Brazilian company Norberto Odebrecht for construction of the Chan II hydroelectric dam on the Río Changuinola, in the northern province of Bocas del Toro. Representatives of the Ngöbe indigenous group have reiterated their opposition to the project and have complained that Varela has not met with them to discuss his plans for Chan II. Read More from Louisa Reynolds in NotiCen, July 24, 2014

Peru: The  Congress on July 11 passed a packet of laws to promote investment and reactivate the economy despite numerous national and international criticisms that labeled the proposal a blow to the country’s environmental structure, control, and management. The new regulations basically relax sanctions for environmental violations. Iván Lanegra, former intercultural vice minister, told the newspaper La República, "Clearly, reducing fines implies less environmental protection and, worse yet, dismantling environmental protection is done with a law called "Investment Promotion," which increases the risk that it could be interpreted to mean environmental policy is being used to attract investment, which is precisely what should not be done."  Read more from Elsa Chanduví Jaña in NotiSur, July 25, 2014

Also in LADB the Past Two Weeks...
In Mexico, a federal court granted bankruptcy protection to PEMEX contractor Oceanografía,, the federal government reduced estimates for the number of disappeared, President Enrique Peña Nieto created an office to manage immigration policies along the southern border, and several states  have approved a ban on the use of animals in circus performances, thanks to the efforts of the Partido Verde Ecologista de México (PVEM)

In Central America, Salvadoran President Salvador Sánchez Cerén made a pair of early overtures to human rights victims, raising hopes that his presidency, which began just last month, might usher in an era of greater accountability regarding the many abuses and atrocities committed during the country’s dozen-year civil war (1980-1992)...Guatemala's Congress approved a nonbinding resolution that denies that genocide was committed during the country’s 36-year civil war and calls for "national reconciliation."And President Daniel Ortega added a new item to his already bulging portfolio of powers: direct command of the Policía Nacional (PN), Nicaragua’s 12,000-strong national police force.

In South America,.the Paraguayan government and business leaders moved to encourage more investments from already economically dominant Brazil, and political infighting fueled a standoff between the Venezuelan government and the oposition
 
-Carlos Navarro

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Escaping Crime and Gang Violence

 "More often than not, their neighborhood has become so dangerous or they have been so seriously threatened, that to stay is to wait for their own death or great harm to their family. Their neighborhoods are full of gangs. Their schools are full of gangs. They do not want to join for moral and political reasons and thus see no future,  -Elizabeth Kennedy, author of a study on Central American minors emigrating to the U.S.

Casa de Belen Posada del Migrante, Saltillo, Coahila (Photo by Chuy Mendez Garza via Wilkimedia Commons

Immigration (or emigration) is an important theme in three of the articles in our newsletters this week. The airwaves, the front pages of daily newspapers, and popular Internet sites in the United States and elsewhere have been filled with images of minors who have been caught after crossing into Texas. According to the White House, a record number of unaccompanied minors (more than 52,000 in the first five months of the year) were detained in U.S. border communities.

There are many factors prompting the young people to make the long and treacherous journey from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala through Mexico to seek a better life in the U.S. Economics and a desire to reunite with relatives (many times parents) certainly play a significant role in that "better life," but the children and teens are also seeking to escape out-of-control violence and crime that has ravaged their communities. Elizabeth Kennedy, a researcher at San Diego State University and University of California Santa Barbara, tells us more in a study entitled "Refugees from Central American gangs."

We covered the topic in SourceMex, weaving in the point of view of Mexican authorities and non-governmental organizations,  We also discussed a summit on the crisis in Guatemala City that included Presidents Otto Pérez Molina of Guatemala and Salvador Sánchez Cerén of El Salvador, US Vice President Joe Biden, Mexican Interior Secretary Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, and Honduran Government Coordinator Jorge Ramón Hernández Alcerro. Read More

A second article in SourceMex reported on an increase in remittances sent by Mexican expatriates to relatives back home during the first quarter of 2014. This is despite adverse economic conditions during that period in the country where most expatriates reside: the US. 

Map of Hatian migrants in Dominican Republic (Wikimedia Commons)

In NotiCen, we covered the new plan by the Dominican Republic to regularize the migratory status of "illegal aliens." The plan will benefit between 500,000 and 700,000 people, most of whom have ties to neighboring Haiti. While a percentage of those affected are recent immigrants, many others have lived their entire lives in the Dominican Republic, even though parents or grandparents came from Haiti.  Read more

Also in LADB this week
NotiCen also covered the case of former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo, who was sentenced by a US court to five years and 10 months in jail for accepting US$2.5 million from the Taiwanese government and attempting to launder the illegal money through US banks.

In NotiSur, our two articles dealt with land issues and indigenous rights. One article tells us how citizens of Ecuador adversely affected by Chevron's operations in the South American country managed to organize a protest at multinational company's annual shareholders' meeting.  This is despite Chevron's decision to move the meeting from the San Francisco Bay area to a more isolated location in Texas in order to avoid the protestors.  The second article looks at the five-year anniversary of the Bagua massacre in Peru, and how nine legislative decrees by ex-President Alan Garcia led to violent conflict. The decrees, related to energy projects, infringed on the ancestral right of indigenous communities to their land. Several trials related to the conflict are proceed slowly.
 
 -Carlos Navarro

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Judicial Independence Under Attack in Guatemala

"This jeopardizes judicial independence and the rule of law. It means that anyone can, without grounds, accuse a judge to avoid being prosecuted. This opens the door to impunity and corruption. … Judicial independence is a guarantee, more than for the judge, it is a guarantee for Guatemalans to be able to depend on honorable and dignified judges."  -Guatemalan Judge Yassmín Barrios

Photo by Nerun (Wikimedia Commons)

Judge Yassmín Barrios has presided over some of Guatemala’s most sensitive cases, such as the trial of the Army officers accused of murdering Bishop Juan Gerardi in 2001, the Dos Erres massacre case and a number of high-profile cases involving gangs and drug cartels.

One of her most recent cases involved the trial of former dictator Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt (1982-1983), who faced charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Although Ríos Montt was found guilty in 2013, the Corte de Constitucionalidad (CC), under pressure from Guatemala’s conservative business establishment, controversially overturned the verdict.

 Local and international human rights organizations strongly condemned the reversal and have argued that it runs contrary to the principle of judicial independence.

And the concept of judicial independence also came under attack with an action directed against Barrios herself. In April of this year, the Tribunal de Honor of the Colegio de Abogados y Notarios de Guatemala (CANG) temporarily suspended the judge from practicing law for one year and ordered her to pay a US$650 fine. The tribunal's decision was based on a complaint filed by attorney Moisés Galindo, defense counsel for José Mauricio Rodríguez, director of intelligence under the Ríos Montt regime and his co-accused in the genocide trial.

Barrios appealed the suspension, and a few weeks later, the Asamblea de los Presidentes de los Colegios Profesionalesr uled that Judge Barrios had acted wrongly by ordering Galindo to represent Ríos Montt but that the alleged misdemeanor was not serious enough to require her suspension and resolved that both the fine and the suspension should be revoked. Read more from Louisa Reynolds in this week's issue of NotiCen.

NGOs Weigh In
Is the legal system in Guatemala (and elsewhere in Central America) too politicized?  At a hearing held by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on the politicization of judicial branches in Central America, the petitioner from Guatemala argued that the upper level courts in the regions are influenced by political party interests as a result of the political commitments judges assume when appointed because the legislature appoints upper level judges in most countries. The criteria that the legislature uses are not based on a judge’s judicial record but on their political allegiance.

Some organizations like Impunity Watch (IW) suggest that problems with the judicial system in Guatemala are compounded by systemic flaws. It is well known that the design of the justice system in Guatemala has flaws that favour impunity. Some initiatives for reforming justice in stitutions have been promoted by national and international, state and non-state act ors. Initiatives for constitutional reform have focused on two major areas: improving the Guat emalan justice institutions and improving the domestic legal provisions by correcting loopholes, as well as changing troublesome laws.  Read IW's full brief posted in March 2013.

Other articles in the Latin America Data Base newsletters for May 28-30 address two livestock-related issues.  In Cuba, the livestock industry is in disarray, and in Mexico, a deadly virus has been detected among hog herds in 17 states. Poverty is a theme in three other articles. In Mexico, the Catholic Church is challenging President Enrique Peña Nieto's administration to ensure reforms benefit the poorest segments of the population.  In Peru, expatriates are helping support the economy with remittances. Elsewhere in South America, the countries of the Southern Cone have done a good job in reducing hunger and poverty, according to experts from several multilateral institutions.

 -Carlos Navarro
 


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Guatemalan Former President Alfonso Portillo Admits He Accepted Bribes from Taiwan

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Article from NotiCen, April 24

Taiwan's policies toward Central America are under intense scrutiny, particularly recent allegations that the Asian country bribed Guatemalan and Salvadoran leaders. On March 18, former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo (2000-2004) told a Federal District Court in Manhattan that he accepted US$1.5 million in bribes from the Taiwanese government in exchange for his country’s continued diplomatic recognition of the island in its long-standing dispute with China. As Portillo’s trial in the US unfolds, former Salvadoran President Francisco Flores (2000-2004) faces a congressional inquiry in his country for allegedly misusing millions of dollars in funds from Taiwan. Flores has admitted receiving checks worth US$10 million from Taiwan during the last two years of his administration but insists they were not for his personal use. Louisa Reynolds Read More

Money and Democracy: the Dangers of Unregulated Campaign Finance

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Article from NotiCen, April 17

Money was no object for Manuel de Jesús Castillo, a former congressman who ran for mayor in Guatemala’s department of Jutiapa in 2007. Manolito wooed voters by raffling cars, houses, horses, and cell phones, donating ambulances to the local health clinic, and throwing lavish parties where alcohol flowed and copious amounts of free food were distributed. The Manolito case highlighted one of the greatest perils associated with unregulated political finance in Latin America: an increase in campaigns funded by organized crime and a rising tide of violence as mafias use their muscle to secure the victory of their candidates. The study "Funding of Political Parties in Latin America," published by the Organization of American States (OAS) in 2011, also cites the election campaigns of former Presidents Jaime Paz Zamora in Bolivia, Ernesto Samper in Colombia, and Ernesto Pérez Balladares in Panama in the 1990s as some of the clearest examples of the penetration of drug cartels in election campaigns, a risk that is particularly acute in a context in which most Latin American countries have decentralized the voting process and local politics plays an increasingly important role. Louisa Reynolds Read More

South America Gears Up for Busy Election Year, Tension Mounts in Colombia During Electoral Campaign, Mexico Legislators Introduce Initiatives to Ease Marijuana Restrictions

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Articles in SourceMex, NotiCen and NotiSur for March 5-7

Statements Abroad Allege US Military Base in Costa Rica, Question Nation’s Sovereignty, Comment on Elections

On its foreign policy front, Costa Rica has recently been the subject of statements from a Venezuelan-based television network and Bolivia's President Evo Morales that have ruffled local diplomatic feathers and led this Central American nation to react, denying the allegations and demanding apologies. The comments coming from the South American countries appear to be an effort to sway the Costan Rican presidential and congressional elections. The first round of voting occurred on Feb. 2, and the presidential vote will be finalized next month in a runoff. George Rodríguez Read More

Tension Mounts in Colombia During Electoral Campaign, Peace Talks
Colombians, including President Juan Manuel Santos, live in a climate of tension, moving from one shock to the next. Between Feb. 4 and Feb. 23, disturbing allegations have been revealed about political destabilization and various cases of violence that include spying, military corruption, threats to political and social leaders, and attacks against progressive candidates participating in both upcoming elections. This tense situation unfolds in the context of 15 months of conversations between the government and guerrillas aimed at putting an end to the internal war that has gripped the country for more than half a century. Andrés Gaudín Read More

Center-Left Legislators Introduce Initiatives in Mexico City Legislature, Congress to Further Ease Restrictions on Marijuana
The latest attempt to bring greater legal legitimacy to marijuana in Mexico appears to have run out of steam before full debate could take place. A faction from the center-left Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) introduced legislation in the Mexico City legislature (Asamblea Legislativa del Distrito Federal, ALDF) and in the federal Congress in mid-February to further liberalize Mexico’s marijuana laws. The initiative proposed to create marijuana dispensaries in Mexico City and increase the amount of the drug people across the country could carry for personal use. While the effort gained a lot of attention in the press, the measure appears to be going nowhere in the three legislative bodies. Carlos Navarro Read More

Constitutional Court Rules Guatemala’s Attorney General Must Step Down
Even though, under the leadership of Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz, the Ministerio Público (MP) has achieved unprecedented results in tackling homicide, rape, and kidnapping in a country with high levels of impunity, Guatemala’s highest court, the Corte de Constitucionalidad (CC), ruled, on Feb. 5, that she must step down seven months before the end of her term in office. The ruling was based on a constitutional challenge put forward by wealthy businessman Ricardo Sagastume, who argued that, since Paz y Paz took office early to complete the term of her predecessor, Conrado Reyes, who was removed from office , her four-year term should end in May 2014. Local and international human rights organizations say Guatemala’s conservative establishment seeks to punish Paz y Paz for her efforts to bring human rights violators to trial. Louisa Reynolds Read More

South America Gears Up for Busy Election Year
Presidential elections are set to take place in four South American countries this year, starting with Colombia, where the right is expected to keep its hold on government. At the other end of the political spectrum are the governments of Bolivia, Brazil, and Uruguay, where progressives are also looking to retain power. All three face challenges from conservative forces, which are doing everything they can to push for leadership change. Convincing voters in those countries will not be easy, however, given the success the governments have had incorporating previously marginalized groups into the social, economic, and political fold. Andrés Gaudín Read More

Femicide: Alarming Problem Despite Vanguard Law
Despite a law approved by Congress in 2007 to confront femicide in Mexico, the killing of women and girls because of their gender--remains an alarming epidemic throughout the country. The 2007 law includes a unique mechanism to prevent femicide called the Declaración de Alerta de Violencia de Género, or gender-violence alert. Organizations have asked for gender-violence alert declarations eight times. But each time--from Oaxaca and Chiapas in the south to Nuevo León in the north and Hidalgo, Guanajuato, and México state in the center--the government commission charged with enacting the alerts has rejected the requests. The Observatorio Ciudadano Nacional de Feminicidio (OCNF) says an average of six femicides per day occur in Mexico. Lindajoy Fenley Read More

Femicide Rooted in Patriarchal Culture
The roots of femicide emerge from an extreme version of patriarchal culture, say Mexican activists. Despite the laws, ingrained cultural factors make it difficult to ensure women the freedom from violence. Yuriria Rodríguez, a lawyer with the Observatorio Ciudadano Nacional de Feminicidio, cites an example of the view she said arose in the wake of a gender-violence alert rejection. "An attorney general said, 'We’ve found the causes explaining why women are being killed. Women are being killed because they are transgressing the roles society assigns them. Every time you turn around there are more female workers, more female taxi drivers. Since they are transgressing cultural roles, men get mad and kill them.' Lindajoy Fenley Read More