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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Controversial Aqueduct in Sonora; Colombia Coca Farmers Seek Protection; Bad Reviews for Guatemala President Otto Pérez

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Articles in SourceMex, NotiCen and NotiSur for July 31, August 1-2

Colombian Guerrillas Offer Campesino Protesters Support

Colombia's strategic northeastern region of Catatumbo, on the border with Venezuela, has become a volcano, which, after years of lying dormant, now seems close to erupting. Since June 10, campesinos have been peacefully protesting against a government policy that threatens their only source of sustenance--coca fields--and they are specifically demanding that their lands be declared a Zona de Reserva Campesina (ZRC). ZRCs are a legal concept established in 1994 to promote agricultural development through work cooperatives, which receive state subsidies until they are able to successfully operate on their own. The Colombian government has refused the request, and in fact, has cracked down on local protests, sparking violent and fatal conflicts in the area. -Andrés Gaudín    Read More

Yaqui Indians Claim Aqueduct in Sonora State Infringes on Tribal Water Rights

The scarcity of water in northwestern Mexico has created a conflict between the Yaqui Indians in Sonora and the federal and state governments regarding control of the scarce water that flows on the Río Yaqui. The controversy concerns an aqueduct constructed by the administration of Sonora Gov. Guillermo Padrés Elías, which captures 634 gallons of water per second from the Río Yaqui and diverts it through 130 km of pipeline between Presa El Novillo and the state capital of Hermosillo. The Yaquis, which have opposed the project from its inception, argue that the Sonora government has usurped their water rights and violated the law by ignoring court orders to halt construction and then to stop operations of the aqueduct. -Carlos Navarro    Read More

President Enrique Peña Nieto to Present Energy-Reform Plan in August

After months of promising to overhaul Mexico’s energy sector, President Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration might finally be ready to send an initiative to the legislature. Leaders from the governing Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) said they expect energy-reform legislation to arrive in Congress during the first week of August. The energy debate—which is expected to center on the future of the state-run oil company PEMEX—comes as Mexico’s crude-oil reserves are falling rapidly and interest from private investors in exploration and extraction is low because of a lack of incentives.  -Carlos Navarro    Read More

Administration of Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina Scores Badly in Recent Poll

A year and a half after President Otto Pérez Molina came to office , a poll carried out by Vox Latina shows that the popularity of the ruling Partido Patriota (PP) is at an all-time low. In the poll, carried out by the government as part of a confidential report that was leaked to Guatemalan newspaper El Periódico, most respondents said they believed that Pérez Molina "lacks enough character to make decisions" and regard the economy as the country’s greatest problem, followed by crime and violence. A report published by the Universidad Rafael Landívar in January also concludes that the Pérez Molina administration has failed to meet voters’ expectations, has not met its campaign promises, and has not adequately solved social conflicts.  -Louisa Reynolds   Read More

Paraguay's Efforts to End Child Labor Face Uncertain Future

Two weeks before businessman President-elect Horacio Cartes' Aug. 15 inauguration, no one yet knows what his policy regarding children and child labor will be, even though, since his electoral win in April, national and international children's advocacy agencies have urged him to make some commitment to the most powerless and neglected sector of society. Cartes had promised before the election to address the issue. But he has since remained silent. And in the days leading to his inauguration, the president-elect said his priiority is to transfer state assets to the private sector, which means the issue of eradicating child labor could receive less attention. -Andrés Gaudín   Read More

Political Parties Choose Presidential and Congressional Candidates for Costa Rica’s 2014 Elections

Costa Rica’s political parties are getting their act together for next year’s presidential and congressional elections. For their top tickets, some parties have gone through primary elections, while others have had only one nomination each, thus not needing to hold primaries and just having their respective assemblies ratify their nominee. So far, adding traditional, medium-size, and small political parties, the presidential offer in this Central American nation of just over 4.6 million people consists of 15 hopefuls.    -George Rodríguez    Read More

Guatemala's New President Otto Pérez Molina Promises to End Violence and Hunger

ISSN: 1089-1560
LADB Article ID: 78487
Category/Department: Guatemala
Date: 2012-02-02
By: Louisa Reynolds

As retired Gen. Otto Pérez Molina was sworn in for a four-year period (2012-2016) on Jan. 14, he delivered a 47-minute speech in which he promised to rid Guatemala of violence and hunger and proposed "a fiscal pact to bring about economic development."

A tough stance on crime was Pérez Molina's number-one campaign promise, and he strove to portray his predecessor former President Álvaro Colom (2008-2012) as weak and ineffective in tackling urban gangs and organized crime.

When the national anthem was played, Pérez Molina clenched his fist as he placed his outstretched arm across his chest rather than placing an open hand on his heart in line with tradition. The clenched fist is the symbol of his rightist Partido Patriota (PP), and the gesture was meant to symbolize the new times of firm action against crime that his government is supposed to usher in.

The day before the ceremony, Congressman Óscar Valentín Leal Caal was gunned down along with his brother and bodyguard within blocks of the Legislative Assembly where the new parliament took office, a stark reminder of the huge challenges that lie ahead for Pérez Molina in reducing the country’s spiraling crime rate, which will require a lot more than hardline rhetoric.

Days before he was murdered, Leal had defected from the opposition Libertad Democrática Renovada (LIDER) party to Pérez Molina’s PP and had reported death threats. The PP won 58 seats in the 158-member unicameral Congress, enough to form the largest bloc but insufficient to gain the two-thirds majority needed to ensure the swift approval of the new government’s policies.

Under the Colom administration, the PP (then the main opposition party) used its muscle in Congress to block practically every single proposal put forward by the social-democrat Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE), including a much needed fiscal-reform package.

Now Pérez Molina has put forward his own fiscal-reform proposal, which is almost identical to his predecessor's, and the opposition—which comprises UNE, LIDER, and an array of minor political forces—are now bent on revenge and have already started to block the PP’s proposals. Well aware of the dangers that lie ahead, Pérez Molina has tried to lure opposition congressmen to his party.

The new Cabinet
Political parties in Guatemala tend to lack a coherent ideology and are usually a vehicle designed to take a leader or caudillo to power. The PP, the party created with the purpose of bringing Pérez Molina to power, is no exception. It is therefore hardly surprising that the new government contains a heterogeneous mix of retired army commanders, business people, and former presidential candidates who competed against Pérez Molina during the first round of elections but joined his "national crusade" when he ran against Manuel Baldizón, a populist businessman from the LIDER party, during the second round (NotiCen, Sept. 22, 2011, and Dec. 1, 2011).

Former Lt. Col. Mauricio López Bonilla, the PP’s campaign strategist and one of the president’s closest collaborators, has been appointed interior minister, and retired Gen. Ricardo Bustamante, who worked side by side with Pérez Molina during the early 1990s when the now president served as director of the G2 intelligence service, has been appointed director of the Consejo Nacional de Seguridad (CNS).

The CNS is supposedly in charge of setting out security policies and strategies and includes the president, vice president, interior, defense, and foreign ministers as well as the attorney general and director of intelligence. It was created in 2008 with the approval of the Ley Marco del Sistema Nacional de Seguridad as a means of improving coordination between the different government bureaus that deal with security and defense issues.

However, in practice, it has never delivered any results because the new structures created by the law were never given the financial resources needed. One of the PP’s campaign pledges was to rescue the CNS from oblivion and use effective intelligence to fight organized crime.

Another military figure in the new Cabinet is Ulises Noé Anzueto Girón, former director of the Adolfo V. Hall army school in Chiquimula, who has been appointed defense minister.

Former opposition candidates appointed to the new Cabinet include Harold Caballeros, former leader of the El Shaddai neopentecostal church and founder of the Visión con Valores (VIVA) party (NotiCen, Sept. 1, 2011), who now serves as foreign minister, Efraín Medina, former director of the government funded Universidad de San Carlos, VIVA’s vice presidential candidate, who now serves as minister of agriculture, and Adela de Torrebiarte, former leader of the minuscule Acción de Desarrollo Nacional (ADN) party, who now serves as commissioner for police reform.

Although the poorly funded ADN party, a newcomer during the 2011 elections (NotiCen, Aug. 18, 2011), carried little or no political weight, De Torrebiarte played an instrumental role in thwarting the presidential aspirations of former first lady Sandra Torres, Colom’s successor as leader of the UNE party, by lodging a string of appeals against her candidacy. With Torres out of the race, Pérez Molina sailed to victory.

De Torrebiarte also served briefly as interior minister in the administration of former President Óscar Berger (2004-2008), after Carlos Vielmann was forced to resign after he was accused of ordering the extrajudicial execution of suspected criminals.

The Police Reform Commission was set up under the Colom administration for the purpose of purging the police of corrupt officers and improving training and standards. Under the previous government, it was led by renowned human rights activist Helen Mack, who stated that for Guatemala to have an effective police force, the new administration must double its budget from Q2.5 billion to Q5 billion (US$322 million to US$644 million).

Pérez Molina’s Cabinet includes several women, which is unusual in a male-dominated society, rife with misogynist prejudice, where women have to overcome huge obstacles to follow a career in politics.

Roxana Baldetti, a former congresswoman and one of the founders of the PP, has become Guatemala’s first female vice president. One of Pérez Molina’s closest aides, she is one of the most influential figures in the new government.

Other female appointments include Minister of Education Cynthia del Águila, Minister for the Environment Roxana Sobenes, and Luz Lainfiesta, who will continue the social welfare programs created by Sandra Torres under a newly created Ministry for Social Development.