By Chris KraulLeftist rebel Reinel Usuga surrendered this month because he was afraid of dying in battle and being buried in an unmarked grave even as rebel leaders negotiate a possible peace agreement that would make such a death pointless — perhaps even absurd.

But Usuga, 30, a squad commander with the 57th Front Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, said in an interview days after his surrender that another issue irked him: The apparent “comfort” of rebel leaders negotiating in Cuba was an irritating juxtaposition to the everyday risks he and his comrades were facing in the jungle.

“We all realize they are living in better conditions than those of us in the line of fire,” said Usuga, a 10-year veteran of FARC, Colombia’s largest and apparently dwindling rebel group. “There are no safe zones left in the 57th Front. Just when it seems quiet, something happens, a bombardment or ground attack. The armed ... Read More

Colombia’s left-wing Farc rebels have rejected criticism that efforts to end almost fifty years of conflict are moving too slowly.

Farc lead negotiator Ivan Marquez said achieving lasting peace in Colombia would take “more time”.

He spoke as the rebels and the Colombian government marked six months since peace talks began.

President Juan Manuel Santos has said he hopes a deal can be reached within months rather than years.

Peace negotiations began in Cuba in November.

Mr Marquez told reporters in the capital, Havana, on Sunday that he did not understand why the pace of talks was being described as slow.

“You have been watching the Giro d’Italia (cycle race). Some people want us to go at this pace, but if we go at this pace, we will fail.”

“We have to approach these issues with serenity, with depth if we really want to form the solid basis to build a stable and long-lasting peace,” he ... Read More

Chilean finance minister Felipe Larraín has called it “the most exciting thing going on today in Latin America.” Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos believes it is “perhaps the most significant and profound integration process in the history of Latin America.” A recent headline said it has created “a new Latin American superpower.” It has also been hailed as a “bridge to Asia” and “a promising yardstick of Latin America’s prosperity.”

“It” is the so-called Pacific Alliance, a free-trade bloc that was first outlined in the April 2011 Lima Declaration and was officially established in June 2012. Its four members are Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru — four countries with a long record of supporting free markets and open commerce. Over the past year, these countries have abolished tariffs on 90 percent of all goods they trade with each other, and have also taken many other steps (such as eliminating visa requirements, merging stock exchanges, and launching a scholarship program) to integrate their economies. ... Read More

ANTHONY B. KIM

May 15th marks the one-year anniversary of the implementation of the U.S.–Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Over the past 12 months, a growing number of businesses in both countries have taken action to capitalize on the expanded opportunities for the free flow of products, services, and ideas created by the trade pact.

Although it is still early for a comprehensive assessment of the evolving impact of the U.S.–Colombia FTA, one point is clear: The pact has been yielding positive outcomes in terms of actual trade and investment activities. Proving that big labor was big-time wrong on free trade with Colombia, the trade pact has generated “net economic gains for both economies.”

Beyond that, and more importantly, the pact has contributed to ensuring Colombia’s stride toward greater economic freedom. As documented in The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom, Colombia has achieved five consecutive years of advancing economic freedom.

Turning the global economic crisis into an opportunity to upgrade ... Read More

BY CARLOS ALBERTO MONTANER

How’s your wife? It depends — compared to whom?

That’s a frequent dialogue among witty Spaniards. I imagine that women could respond the same way. We husbands fare badly when compared with Brad Pitt, much better if contrasted with Eduardo Gómez, the super-ugly doorman’s father in the comedy series Nobody Can Live Here on Spanish TV.

The same happens with countries and regions. To understand where we stand, we have to know where the others are and at what pace we move.

All this becomes relevant apropos the recent report on the most successful countries in Latin America. According to the news, the three wealthiest economies in Latin America are Chile, Panama (which has been growing at the rate of 8 percent for almost a decade) and Uruguay.

Argentina is relegated to fourth place, a fact perhaps explained by its lack of transparency. The government of Cristina Kirchner adulterates the rate of inflation ... Read More

BY HELEN MURPHY

BOGOTA – Colombia’s government warned on Tuesday of a plot by a criminal group to kill several high-profile journalists just weeks after the attempted assassination of an investigative reporter boosted concerns over threats to a free press in the violence-plagued Andean nation.

President Juan Manuel Santos also announced that 90 journalists are being given protection by the government. He urged Attorney General Eduardo Montealegre to investigate attacks against journalists.

“In this government, we’re totally committed to get to the very bottom of the problems that undermine this fundamental right to be well-informed that all Colombians have,” Santos said at an event to promote media rights.

Journalists and investigators have long been the target of attacks and threats in Colombia, allegedly carried out by corrupt politicians, drug lords, Marxist rebels and right-wing paramilitary leaders to silence coverage that may damage their interests.

A hit man has entered the Colombian capital to kill columnist ... Read More

BY PAUL MERRION

The expiration of trade incentives for Ecuador this summer could wilt a new flower distribution center at O’Hare International Airport just as it’s about to get off the ground.

The joint venture developing the nearly $2 million refrigerated processing center expects to have it ready by July, and a rose exporter from Ecuador has been lined up to start bringing two flights a week into Chicago.

But on July 31, the cost of importing cut roses from Ecuador will jump 7 percent when duty-free treatment under the Andean Trade Preference Act expires, reinstating the U.S. tariff in that amount.

Ecuador has expressed great interest in the O’Hare center, and “their support on the project is very crucial,” said Shlomo Danieli, a flower grower in Wilmette and one of three partners in the O’Hare flower distribution center. “If we have to pay a tax, it will put a burden on the project, but it ... Read More

Commerce: Big Labor worked hard to halt the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement, claiming it threatened our economy and our workers. But a year since its passage, the pact has surpassed all expectations. Where’s the mea culpa?

If there was ever a reason to declare Big Labor’s credibility at zero on matters economic, the best example would be in its long, pathetic tocsins over free trade with Colombia.

Today, exactly a year since the pact went into effect, U.S. exports to Colombia have risen 13% while Colombia’s to the U.S. are up 3.4% — for a total of $28.5 billion in no-tariff trade. Net gains for both economies, in other words, but with the U.S. showing four times as many.

This lopsided result may well be because most Colombian goods already entered the U.S. tariff-free as part of preferences given in exchange for that country’s war on drugs. The Colombian peso has also strengthened along ... Read More

WITH a narrow and disputed election victory last month and an accelerating economic crisis, the man who succeeded Hugo Chávez as Venezuela’s president got off to an inauspicious start. Now Nicolás Maduro’s efforts to establish authority are making matters worse at home, and setting alarm bells ringing abroad.

After appearing to promise a full audit of the election results, as demanded by Henrique Capriles, the candidate of the Democratic Unity (MUD) coalition, the government backtracked. Human-rights groups say that more than 200 protesters, including teenagers, were detained by the military and many beaten up. Antonio Rivero, a retired general and leading opposition member, was arrested. He is on hunger strike, charged with “inciting hatred” and “criminal association”. Mr Capriles, who has asked the supreme court to annul the election, is threatened with jail.

There was violence even in the National Assembly. The MUD’s 67 legislators were barred from speaking and had their ... Read More

BY ANDRES OPPENHEIMER

I’ve read with great attention President Barack Obama’s article in The Miami Herald earlier this week on how to improve U.S. relations with Latin America. It was pretty disappointing.

The article, headlined “Improving our Partnership” and published after Obama’s return from a trip to Mexico and Costa Rica, says that “this is a moment of great promise for our hemisphere” and is full of feel-good talk about the future of the Americas.

But, sadly, it showed the absence of any U.S. plans to drastically expand trade ties with Latin America — like the Obama administration has done with Asia and Europe — or any sign that, in his second term, Obama will pay greater attention to this hemisphere.

Before we get into what Obama should do, let’s take a quick look at the facts. In his article, Obama stated that about 40 percent of U.S. exports are currently going to Latin ... Read More

WASHINGTON — Keeping a keen eye south of the border, the Obama administration is intensifying its engagement with Latin America, hosting leaders from a pair of presidents at the White House and sending Vice President Joe Biden to visit two others.

Peru’s President Ollanta Humala and Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera will travel to Washington in June to meet with President Barack Obama, the White House said Wednesday. And next week, Biden will make stops in Brazil and Colombia, plus the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago.

Dovetailing on Obama’s trip last week to Mexico and Costa Rica, the visits reflect the administration’s desire to show the U.S. relationship with its neighbors to the south is about much more than drugs, crime and illegal immigration. The need for closer economic ties topped Obama’s agenda during the three-day trip.

“All told, we will have the most active stretch of high-level engagement on Latin America in ... Read More

BY HELEN MURPHY

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Monday refused to be drawn into a war of words between his predecessor – and harshest critic – and Venezuela’s new president, Nicholas Maduro.

Maduro, elected last month to replace the late Hugo Chavez, said on Friday he had evidence that Alvaro Uribe, president of Colombia from 2002 until mid 2010, was conspiring with the Venezuelan opposition to kill him.

Santos was reprimanded on social media and by another former president for not responding to Maduro’s explosive comments, which also included an allegation that Uribe could have been involved in the death of a Venezuelan journalist.

Santos said he would not comment publicly on the dispute – a veiled poke at Uribe, who has used his Twitter account to defend himself against Maduro’s attacks that he is a “Mafioso” and “murderer.”

“The dignity of former presidents is defended better – not with shouts or public insults ... Read More

The recent capture of one of Italy’s top mafia bosses in the Colombian city of Medellín highlights the growing ties between Latin America’s drug cartels and Italy’s notorious crime families.

After a three-year manhunt, 39-year old Domenico Trimboli was arrested in Medellín’s upscale Laureles neighborhood, where he had purportedly lived for three years with his partner and two children. Born in Argentina, Trimboli was the head of the ‘Ndrangheta –Italy’s richest and most powerful criminal organization– and was one of Europe’s 20 most wanted criminals.

If convicted on drug trafficking charges, Trimboli faces up to 12 years in prison once extradited back to Italy.

The ‘Ndrangheta capo “had a lot of money and this facilitated his peaceful stay in Colombia,” said Nicola Gratteri, an Italian prosecutor in the Calabria region where the ‘Ndrangheta maintains its base of operations.

The ‘Nhdrangheta is an organized crime family similar to the Sicilian mafia and it is estimated that  it ... Read More

BY ANDREA JARAMILLO

Colombia’s foreign debt rating was raised to the second-lowest investment grade by Standard & Poor’s as economic growth increased tax revenue and peace talks with rebels boosted investor confidence.

Yields on benchmark local bonds fell to a record low as S&P lifted Colombia one step to BBB with a stable outlook. The rating is in line with Brazil, Mexico and Peru. Colombia’s peso appreciated 0.1 percent to 1,836.60 per U.S. dollar at the close of trading in Bogota.

“A stronger fiscal profile, growing domestic capital markets, and favorable long-term prospects for GDP growth have strengthened Colombia’s creditworthiness,” S&P credit analyst Joydeep Mukherji wrote in a statement today. “Negotiations between the government and the country’s main guerrilla group could lead to a significant reduction in violence.”

Colombia was given an investment-grade credit rating in 2011 for the first time in a decade as improved security bolstered economic growth and attracted record foreign investment. Congress passed legislation that year known as the ... Read More

BY JAY WEAVER

Sandra Avila Beltran, the dark-haired Mexican beauty dubbed the “Queen of the Pacific,” has pleaded guilty to a drug-trafficking charge in Miami, closing the curtain on the once celebrity-like role of the reputed cocaine smuggler.

Avila, 52, admitted Tuesday in federal court that she helped her former boyfriend, a one-time Colombian cartel boss, evade prosecution for cocaine importation and distribution charges in the United States. She pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to his conspiracy crimes, for which the ex-boyfriend, Juan Diego Espinosa Ramirez, was ultimately convicted.

Avila, who stood out in a narco-trafficking world dominated by macho men, avoided a potential life sentence if convicted on the same conspiracy offenses at trial next month. With her plea, she now faces up to 15 years in prison at her sentencing before U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore. But she is expected to receive a much lesser sentence, ... Read More

BY JAY SOLOMON

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration charged Hezbollah with operating like an international drug cartel and blacklisted two Lebanese money-exchange houses for allegedly moving tens of millions of dollars of drug profit through the U.S. financial system on behalf of the militant group.

The Treasury Department’s action Tuesday marked the latest salvo in a two-year U.S. government campaign against Hezbollah’s alleged drug-trafficking activities.

U.S. officials alleged that Hezbollah is using proceeds from this narcotics trade to fund international terrorist activities and to bolster the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in their fight against a widening political rebellion.

U.S. officials also said Hezbollah is increasingly reverting to illicit trade to offset diminished funding coming from Iran, the organization’s closest ally.

“Hezbollah is operating like a major drug cartel,” said Derek Maltz, a special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration, who is overseeing the U.S. probe into Hezbollah. “These proceeds are funding violence against Americans.”

Bulgaria’s Interior ... Read More

BY JEFF FRANKS

HAVANA - Colombia and the Marxist FARC rebels launched their latest round of peace talks on Tuesday in Havana after a month-long break in a process aimed at ending half a century of bloody conflict in the South American nation.

At the end of their last round on March 21, both sides cited progress toward an accord on the key issue of agrarian reform, which lead government negotiator Humberto de la Calle said needs to be settled soon so they can move on to other issues.

“We arrive in Havana today with the objective of making decisions,” he said in a statement to reporters before entering Havana’s main convention center where the talks are being held.

“We want results,” he said. “This is a process that cannot be prolonged indefinitely.”

The rebels’ top negotiator, Ivan Marquez, said his team was beginning the latest round “with hope beating in our warrior chests of being able to find, at last, a ... Read More

BY HELEN MURPHY & LUIS JAIME ACOSTA

* FARC has long denied taking part in drug trafficking

* Gov’t, FARC in talks after nearly 50 years of conflict

BOGOTA – Colombia’s FARC rebels control more than 60 percent of the Andean nation’s drug trade, including cocaine trafficking overseas, an activity the armed group has denied during peace talks in Cuba, Colombia’s police chief said on Monday.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia earns as much as $1 billion a year from the production and sale of cocaine in Colombia and “undoubtedly” is involved in trafficking of the narcotic to international markets, General Jose Roberto Leon, head of the national police force, told Reuters.

“We have information found on computers after operations that have captured or killed FARC leaders, and it’s involvement in drug trafficking is evident,” Leon, 52, said in an interview at his Bogota office.

The FARC, as the group is known, has acknowledged funding its war against the government with the cultivation of coca - the raw ... Read More

After an ill-advised overture to Hugo Chávez’s government last November, the Obama administration has regained its footing with a strong, principled stance on Venezuela’s contested election. Based on the razor-thin margin and opposition protests of irregularities, the administration has yet to recognize as the winner Vice President Nicolas Maduro, Chávez’s anointed successor, and has instead supported a review of the vote count.

In appearances before both the House and Senate in recent days, Secretary of State John Kerry re-affirmed that position “so that the people of Venezuela who participated in such a closely divided and important election can have the confidence that they have the legitimacy that is necessary in the government going forward.”

He said, “I don’t know whether it’s going to happen. … [But] obviously, if there are huge irregularities, we are going to have serious questions about the viability of that government.”

Kerry’s statements brought the predictable howls of protest from Venezuela. “It’s ... Read More

BY RICHARD VALDMANIS

DAKAR – The U.S. Department of Justice has accused Guinea-Bissau’s top military official of plotting to traffic cocaine to the United States and sell weapons to Colombian rebels, according to court documents seen by Reuters on Thursday.

The accusation against General Antonio Indjai - widely seen as the coup-prone West African nation’s most powerful man – is the first official signal that criminality may go straight to the top in what has for years been labeled a ‘narco-state’.

Guinea Bissau authorities repeatedly have denied any involvement in drug trafficking and Indjai is believed to be in the country.

The indictment filed in New York’s Southern District Court and seen by a Reuters reporter, charges Indjai on four counts: “narco-terrorism conspiracy”, conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, cocaine importation conspiracy and conspiracy to acquire and transfer anti-aircraft missiles.

The charges said Indjai planned to store FARC-owned cocaine in Guinea Bissau and sell ... Read More