Weekly Roundup: AIDS Conference in Mexico, Chavez's New Decrees, and Bolivia's Recall Vote

 

In a new op-ed for El Diario, AS/COA Senior Director of Policy Christopher Sabatini writes that, with attentions focused on major issues such as the Iraq Qar and the faltering economy, the presumptive Republican and Democratic nominees in the U.S. presidential election have paid limited attention to the Americas. Sabatini highlights the candidates’ positions on trade, Cuba, and immigration, noting similarities positions held by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Barack Obama (D-IL).

Texas Executes Mexican Citizen Amid Controversy

Despite calls from President George Bush, several members of U.S. Congress, the International Court of Justice, and the International Court of Justice, on August 5 the state of Texas executed Mexican national José Medellín, convicted of participating in the 1994 rape and murder of two Houston teenagers. As a Houston Chronicle report explains, Medellín’s case had been appealed on the basis that he had not been allowed to contact the Mexican consulate following his arrest; his lawyers argued this violated the 1963 Vienna Convention signed by 165 countries. In 2003, Mexico filed a suit with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on behalf of Medellín, which in turn ordered the United States to hold a hearing, an order the Bush administration sought to comply with on the basis of preserving the safeguard of “consular notification” for U.S. citizens abroad. Critics say the decision to go ahead with the execution opens the other door for other countries to violate the Vienna Convention and weakens the ICJ. As George Washington University law Professor Ed Swaine told the Wall Street Journal’s law blog, ““It will diminish the ICJ’s credibility and lessen the incentive for countries to bring cases to the ICJ in the first place.”

Read more about the case at SCOTUS blog.

 

Bolivia Readies for Recall Vote

The San Francisco Chronicle summarizes the events leading to the August 10 referendum in which the Bolivian public will determine whether the president, vice president, and most departmental prefects will remain in office. In an interview by El Espectador, Bolivia’s Constitutional Court only seated magistrate Silvia Salame underlines the illegality of the vote regardless of the outcome. She warns that all her fellow magistrates resigned under governmental pressures but says it is her duty to keep her Court functioning.

In an AS/COA Online interview, Florida International University Latin American Studies Director and Bolivia expert Eduardo Gamarra discusses the complexity of several referendums held in Bolivia in recent months and explains why Morales is “[B]asically running a riskless election.”

 

Read AS/COA’s analysis on Bolivia’s recent autonomy votes.

Chávez’s New Decrees

In a race against the clock before his 18-month decree powers expire, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez approved 26 new laws, many of which appear similar to laws included in December’s constitutional referendum voted down by the Venezuelan public, reports the New York Times. A number of the laws would increase Chávez’s powers, including one that would allow him to offset victories by opposition candidates in municipal elections by allowing the president to name regional political leaders.

In an article for Chile’s Revista Capital, lawyer and Visiting Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute Roger Noriega writes about Chávez’s possible links to Colombia’s FARC and says that “Chávez has had to resort to technicalities to prevent popular opposition figures from competing in upcoming regional and local elections.”

 

Venezuela Nationalizes Bank

Caracas announced the nationalization of Banco de Venezuela, owned by the Spanish firm Banco Santander. Spain’s government announced that they will not oppose the deal, halting fears of more rifts between the two nations. Chavez visited Spain’s King Juan Carlos and Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero last week to alleviate tensions.

Kirchner Defends Policies in Press Conference

Facing sinking approval ratings, Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner voiced support for her administration’s farm and inflations policies in the country’s first press conference since 2003. The president ruled out further cabinet changes and defended official consumer price indexes—which place inflation rates around 9 percent while other sources say the figure may be higher than 20 percent.

Putin Suggests Renewed Ties with Cuba

A recent feud between the United States and Russia over a proposed NATO missile shield system in Eastern Europe has prompted former Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to announce new efforts to boost ties between Russia and Cuba.

ISN Security Watch draws insight on how Russia is using its muscle in Eastern and Central Europe to pressure its neighbors against the missile shield deal, and how Moscow believes stronger relations with Cuba will open a new front against American influence worldwide.

 

Boosting the Competitiveness of Mexico’s Pemex

Columbia University’s Thomas Trebat writes for RGE’s Latin America EconoMonitor on the pending energy reform for Mexico’s Pemex. He analyzes its decreasing oil production, the debated proposals, and suggests that the Mexican government should look at the Petrobras model as a good place to start when looking for way to keep Pemex competitive.

Read AS/COA’s coverage of Pemex's uncertain future.

 

Harvard International Review’s blog examines a recent scandal in Mexico that involved local governments channeling public funds to local soccer teams. The analysis counts “the failure to build credible institutional constraints on the government” as the biggest challenge to the country’s democracy.

 

 

As the only country in Central America that considers genetically modified crops legal, Honduras gains a leg up to cash in on the recent global demand for corn. NPR’s Dan Charles reports on the Honduran experience as part of a global scramble for solutions to the ongoing food crisis.

 

Read AS/COA’s analysis of the food crisis and its regional implications.

 

In an op-ed for the Miami Herald, Brookings Institute Senior Fellow Kevin Casas-Zamora writes that, rather than “iron fist” policies to stamp out the high violent crime rates faced in many Latin American countries, governments in the region need to reform corrupt police forces, make use of new technology, and boost funding in education, public health, housing, and youth programs. Casas-Zamora cites Colombian cities such as Bogota and Medellin, where murder rates decreased dramatically, as examples of where successful policies have been implemented.

In a comparison of the world economy between 1978 and 2008, former Central Bank of Brazil President Antonio Carlos Lemgruber predicts that we face a period of stagflation following a golden period, just as from 1978 to 1984. But he notes that the depth of the problem depends on policy decisions made in the next few months. He also points out the differences between then and now; the United States has a negative real interest rate and Brazil has one of the highest rates in the world, while the opposite was true in the early 1980s.