Weekly Roundup: The Honduran Election, Maduro's Decree Powers, Peru's Poverty Gains

Colombia’s President Announces Reelection Bid

This week, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said he would run for reelection during the May 2014 elections. In his national address, he repeated several times that Colombia “must finish the job” to complete the country’s peace talks. Political scientist Laura Gil told Semana that the election will be “a referendum on peace.” Óscar Iván Zuluaga, the candidate running on the Uribe Democratic Center ticket, opposes the peace talks and represents Santos’ main contender.

Santos Nominates Women for Key Posts

On November 18, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos named Nigeria Rentería as the first female government negotiator to the country’s peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Rentería, who worked as a presidential advisor on women’s issues, will replace Luis Carlos Villegas, who was named ambassador to the United States. Also this week, Santos nominated former Foreign Minister María Emma Mejía as ambassador to the United Nations.

Delays in  Election Results Expected as Honduras Prepares to Vote

On Sunday, Hondurans head to the polls to elect a new president, members of Congress, and mayors. After a coup in 2009, this election “has less to do with the individual who may end up being elected than with the legitimacy of the election itself and how the new president, once in office, chooses to govern,” writes COA Vice President Eric Farnsworth for World Politics Review. The Honduras Culture and Politics blog explains the “fragile” system for how votes will be counted. The electoral court said it won’t announce the results the night of the election, and some 500 voting centers without electricity or internet won’t count votes until a week after November 24.

Gun Control Not up for Debate among Honduran Candidates

The New Republic examines one issue that Honduran presidential candidates won’t touch: gun control. Though Honduran gun ownership ranges from between six and 10 firearms per 100 people and guns are responsible for over 80 percent of homicides, laws to ban guns are off the table. The main gun control law in the country allows citizens to own up to five firearms, and a 2007 law made it illegal to carry guns in public. Assault weapons have been banned since 2003. But few arms restrictions are enforced, and they don’t apply to the police.

Venezuelan National Assembly Grants Maduro Decree Powers

On November 19, Venezuela’s National Assembly passed the Enabling Law, granting President Nicolás Maduro special degree powers for 12 months. The measure—which Maduro said he would use to combat economic woes and corruption—was approved in a second vote with the necessary 99 votes after an opposition legislator was expelled from the Assembly and replaced with a substitute.

With the legislation in place, Maduro passed two laws on November 21 to limit private profit margins to between 15 and 30 percent and to establish a government agency to oversee allocations of dollars at the official rate. Opposition leader Henrique Capriles called for a march on November 23 to protest the government’s response to the country’s economic problems.

Peru Gets Fifth Interior Minister in Less than Three Years

This week, Peruvian President Ollanta Humala named his fifth interior minister since taking office. Walter Albán Peralta took over on November 21 for Wilfredo Pedraza, who resigned last week. Pedraza stepped down following revelations that he wrongfully offered police protection to businessman Oscar Lopez Meneses—who has ties to Vladimiro Montesinos, former President Alberto Fujimori’s spy chief. Lopez Meneses is currently under house arrest after being convicted of embezzlement, wiretapping, and illegal possession of weapons in 2012. Meanwhile, Juan Jiménez Mayor will fill Albán’s shoes as the country’s permanent representative to the Organization of American States.

WTO: Peru’s Economic Performance “Exceptional”

A trade policy review released by the World Trade Organization this week found that Peru doubled foreign trade between 2007 and 2012, and increased inflows of foreign direct investment by nearly four-fold since 2000. The report found Peru’s economic performance “exceptional” in the face of the 2008 financial crisis, with an average GDP growth of almost 7 percent. Nevertheless, the report recommended greater investment in human capital, infrastructure, and innovation to continue growth.

Peru Government: Half a Million Peruvians Rose from Poverty Last Year

Over 500,000 Peruvians left poverty in 2012, Minister of Development and Social Inclusion Mónica Rubio revealed on November 21. From 2005 to 2012, poverty rates in the Andean country were slashed in half, falling from 56 to 26 percent. She also noted that since 2010, access to potable water rose from 77 to 83 percent, and child malnutrition fell from by 5 percentage points.

Brazil’s Human Rights Commission Approves Bills on Same-Sex Marriage

On November 20, the Human Rights Commission in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies approved two bills: one that would create a national referendum on gay marriage, and another that would annul the National Justice Council’s May 2013 decision to legalize same-sex unions. The proposal for a referendum on same-sex marriage was first introduced in 2011; now the bill must be approved by two more commissions before it is considered by the full Chamber. The annulment bill only needs one more commission approval before being sent to the floor of the legislature.

A Year with EPN: Marking the Mexican President’s Anniversary

CNN Expansión offers a special online report assessing President Enrique Peña Nieto’s economic accomplishments during his first year in office, which will be marked on December 1. The site contends that his government maintained macroeconomic stability but lags when it comes to areas such as job creation and boosting GDP growth. On Thursday, the finance secretariat lowered Mexico’s GDP growth expectations for 2013 from 1.7 percent to 1.3 percent.

ADN Politico’s “promise meter” measures completion of Peña Nieto’s campaign promises: Fifty-one of 375 (or 13.64 percent) have been fulfilled while 263 are in progress.

OECD: Chile and Mexico Highest Out-of-Pocket Spenders for Health Expenses

Chileans and Mexicans spend more out-of-pocket for health care than most high-income economies, a new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows. On average, Chilean households spend 4.6 percent of their income to pay for expenses not covered by their health insurance plans. In Mexico, total health care spending accounts for 6.2 percent of GDP, the third lowest share among OECD countries. Chile and Mexico are the only two OECD countries from the Latin America and Caribbean region.

LatAm Oil Exports to the U.S. Slow as Imports Rise

Over the past five years, 12 of Latin America’s top fuel importers doubled their energy imports from the United States, reports Reuters. Meanwhile, some of the region’s largest producers—Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela—saw an 18.6 percent decrease in crude oil exports to the United States from 2008 to 2012. “The uptick was primarily caused by booming demand for fuel —from new electrical generation plants that burn diesel to new car sales in some countries that grew at double-digit annual clips,” the article explains.

In Panama, Biden Talks Security, Trade, and Travel

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited Panama on November 19, touring the Panama Canal expansion and discussing regional security issues with President Ricardo Martinelli. The vice president praised the Panamanian government for intercepting a North Korean ship in July with Cuban weapons aboard, and announced that Panama was accepted into the U.S. Global Entry Program, allowing for expedited travel to the United States.

Kerry Addresses Washington's Latin America Policy

On November 18, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gave an address at the Organization of American States (OAS) on U.S. policy in Latin America. Rather than the United States acting as “protector of the region,” the U.S.-Latin America relationship should focus on “countries viewing one another as equals, sharing responsibilities, cooperating on security issues, adhering…to decisions that we make as partners,” said Kerry. The secretary also touched on the upcoming Honduran election and the OAS observers, saying: “All of us here have an opportunity to help assure that this election is transparent, inclusive, peaceful, and fair.” Though he noted Cuba remained the exception to democracy in the hemisphere, he commented on President Barack Obama’s Cuba travel policy, saying: “We are committed to this human interchange, and in the United States we believe that our people are actually our best ambassadors.”

Latin America to Invest $145 Billion in Infrastructure over Next 18 Months

Over the next 18 months, Latin American countries will invest $145 billion in infrastructure, reports AméricaEconomia, based on a report from the Inter-American Federation of the Construction Industry. Almost half of the 100 planned construction projects will be in Brazil and Mexico, accounting for $91 billion in investments.

United States to Send Economic Advisory Team to Puerto Rico

A delegation of U.S. federal officials will head to Puerto Rico in December to advise the island’s government on managing its economic crisis, the Associated Press reports. The team will consult on how the island can maximize the use of federal funds as Puerto Rico struggles with $69 billion in public debt and nearly 14 percent unemployment rate.

Report: Except for Mexico, Remittances to Latin America Recovering

With the exception of Mexico, remittances to Spanish-speaking Latin American countries have recovered since the beginning of the 2008 recession, according to a new report from Pew Research Center. In Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, for example, remittances surpassed peak recession levels in 2013. Mexico, however, received around $22 billion in 2013—about 29 percent below 2006 levels. Even so, Mexico accounts for the most remittances in Latin America this year, followed by Guatemala and Colombia.

What’s the Connection between a Mexico City “Twist Party” and the JFK Assassination?

In an article for Slate, journalist Ron Rosenbaum takes a closer look at a section of New York Times reporter Philip Shenon’s new book on the Warren Commission that makes a connection between a party in Mexico City and the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. During a weeklong trip to Mexico’s capital in September 1963, assassin Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly voiced a desire to kill the president while at the Cuban Embassy. He also went to a “twist party” attended by Cuban diplomats and spies, as well as Mexican supporters of the Castro regime, where guests suggested a JFK assassination would help protect the Cuban revolution, given U.S. plots to kill Fidel Castro. “If it was in [Oswald’s] head already, it seems to have been reinforced by those who got close to him in Mexico City,” writes Rosenbaum.