Weekly Roundup: FARC\'s Regional Links, the Pemex Battle, and Latin American Entrepreneurship

Although leaders of Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela have made peace after a standoff earlier this month, investigatio of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) links across the region continues. The Security in Latin America blog takes a look at possible ties between the FARC and Mexican drug cartels and insurgent groups. The Miami Herald reports that Costa Rican authorities discovered $500,000 possibly belonging to the FARC in the home of a San Jose-based professor. Information about the funds was discovered in FARC-owned laptops recovered during Colombia’s March 1 raid on Ecuadorian soil. In a Tuesday speech, President George W. Bush said captured computer files “suggest even closer ties between Venezuela's regime and FARC terrorists than we previously knew.” Peruvian national police detained two FARC members in Peru’s jungle on March 19.

A Los Angeles Times editorial calls for deeper involvement by the UN and OAS in Colombia’s struggle against the FARC.

Read more AS/COA coverage on the Andean border standoff and the tenuous truce.

Cuba released statistics (PDF) showing a decrease in population caused by rising emigration and low birth rates. Adding to the population drop, seven members of a Cuban soccer team defected while in Florida for an Olympics qualifying game last week. 

Read AS/COA Senior Policy Director Christopher Sabatini’s congressional testimony to U.S. Congress in which he discusses Fidel Castro’s stepping aside and its implications for Cuba and the Western Hemisphere.

The Dallas Morning News commends Mexican lawmakers for recognizing “the severe shortcomings in their judicial system” by approving a draft constitutional amendment addressing judicial reform. The draft, which guarantees defendants presumption of innocence and ends indefinite detentions, needs to be ratified by 17 of the 31 Mexican states to become law.

Read Rule of Law, Economic Growth and Prosperity, an AS/COA working group report.

The Christian Science Monitor highlights the drop in arrests made west of El Paso, Texas since a new program called “No Pass” was implemented last month. Supporters say the threat of prosecution and conviction combined with bike patrols and barriers have proven effective; detractors say the policy will place migrants at the mercy of human smugglers.

A new AS/COA analysis looks at the slowdown in migrant funds sent from the United States to Mexico.

Washington Times columnist Suzanne Fields reports on a ruling which denies Dominican citizenship to babies born to Haitian temporary workers in the Dominican Republic, arguing that “[t]he racial divisions in this small country are palpable.”

An analysis in the Financial Times takes a look at international expansion by Latin American corporations, including Vale and Cemex. The report, which dubs these companies “multilatinas,” notes that “many observers argue that the new Latin American heavyweights are here to stay.”

Chilean entrepreneurs Hernán Herrera and Daniel Brown, co-authors of the Re-invent Yourself and creators of Emprenden.com, talk with the University of Pennsylvania’s Universaria-Knowledge@Wharton about Latin American entrepreneurship, including the ways in which Brazil, Chile, and Mexico promote business start-ups. Read the interview in English, Spanish, or Portuguese.

El Tiempo comments on renewed efforts to secure funds  for a metro system in Colombia’s capital Bogota. Mayor Samuel Moreno, the World Bank, and government officials agreed on updating old blueprints and learning from strengths and weaknesses of transportation plans in cities like Santo Domingo or Santiago.

In an article for Latin Business Chronicle, Walter Molano from BCP Securities questions whether Brazil can be considered a creditor nation. Brazil's international reserves topped the country’s level of foreign debt in 2007.

AS/COA Miami recently hosted an event examining Brazil’s 2008 economic and political outlook. Read a summary of the program. 

The Brazilian Ministry of Tourism seized the opportunity of U.S. Secretary of State Condolezza Rice’s visit to Salvador to announce a $16 million marketing campaign targeting American tourists, hoping to attract up to $8 billion in revenue. In an interview with William Waack of Globo TV, Rice discussed continued U.S. support for Colombia and called Brazil “a leader in this region.”

In an effort to crack down on crime, Chilean authorities arrested 844 people across the country with pending detention orders. In a Radio Cooperativa broadcast Chilean police official René Castellón assured that these types of measures will help boost security.

Chilean environmental groups issued a letter to President Michelle Bachelet outlining the environmental damage that could be caused by the construction of large hydroelectric dams. Meanwhile, the nation faces a drought caused by  the "la niña" weather phenomenon and may soon have to ration electricity.

A British judge reversed an injunction freezing assets belonging to Petroleos de Venezuela SA in its dispute with Exxon, freeing some $12 billion in assets. Richard Francis, a Standard & Poor’s analyst, told Bloomberg the ruling gives the Venezuelan government “some breathing room” amid foot shortages and in advance of state and municipal elections. 

A new AS/COA update looks at South American energy challenges, with a focus on how Bolivia’s slowed natural gas production affects Brazil and Argentina. 

Bolivian President Evo Morales and Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona faced off in a La Paz football match to raise funds for victims of recent flooding in Bolivia. The game also aimed to pressure FIFA to lift the ban against World Cup eliminatory games in stadiums located 9,000 feet above sea level. The president scored a goal but Maradona scored three; Argentina won the match 7-4.