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 MARCO CACERES

It’s hard to nail down the exact figure, but there are somewhere between 12,000 and 14,500 police officers in Honduras, and their monthly salary is somewhere between US $150 and US $400. The Lobo administration wants to eventually have a police force of 20,000 men and women. It’s also difficult to find an authoritative figure for the number of soldiers in the country, but it is somewhere between 12,000 and 20,000, depending on actual soldiers or total military personnel. Most Honduran soldiers receive the minimum wage, which is about US $350 per month.

At least, that is what they’re supposed to get. Let’s assume we’re talking about a total of 34,500 police officers and military personnel. If we assume that they’re receiving an average monthly wage of US $350, then the Honduran government has to come up with slightly over US $12 million a month to pay these people.

That’s nearly ... Read More

BY RAUL LOTITTO

CARACAS – With the death of Hugo Chávez, Chávismo has lost its supremacy in Venezuela. It does not matter that so-called Chávistas still control Venezuela’s parliament, 17 of 23 provincial governments, and all key state institutions, including the judiciary. Nor does it matter that Chávez’s handpicked successor, Nicolás Maduro, has already assumed the presidency. All of the signs point to the decline of Chávismo and to the end of Venezuela’s role as Latin America’s populist core.

Between last October’s presidential election and the one held last month, Chávismo lost almost 700,000 votes to Henrique Capriles’ Democratic Unity Roundtable – a shift that many, including Chávistas, attribute to “Maduro not being Chávez.” This was the first presidential election in Venezuela that resulted in an almost even split among voters (and the outcome itself remains hotly contested). If Venezuela continues along this path, Chávismo could not only lose its majority; it could collapse altogether.

... Read More

BY KATHLEEN HENNESSEY & TRACY WILKINSON

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — President Obama capped a three-day visit to Latin America on Saturday by urging the region’s leaders to fight the drug war not with more guns or military aid but with greater investment in infrastructure, education and energy.

Communicating that message, delivered Friday night to a group of Central American leaders and again Saturday at a development conference in San Jose, was the chief aim of Obama’s brief visit south, which also included a stop in Mexico City. As he zipped through the two capitals, Obama sought to change stereotypes about a troubled region by touting the possibilities in trade, energy development and democratic reforms.

“We shouldn’t lose sight of the critical importance of trade, commerce, business for Costa Rica, the United States and the entire hemisphere,” Obama said Saturday.

The message was a shift from years of tough talk on U.S. plans to help governments crack down on ... Read More

US President Barack Obama vowed Friday to work with Central America to improve the drug fight as he met with regional leaders, conceding that US addiction was partly fueling violence roiling their nations.

Arriving in Costa Rica after visiting Mexico, Obama sought to turn the spotlight on trade ties but the drug war was at the center of his talks with the seven leaders of Central America, plus the Dominican Republic.

“The important thing that I have tried to emphasize throughout is that this is a common problem, this is one where we will only solve it when we are working together. It has adverse effects in all our countries,” he told a news conference alongside Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla.

“But … I think its’ very important to make sure that our bilateral relationship and the United States relationship with the region as a whole is not solely defined by this problem, because when it is we’re missing all the ... Read More

BY TIM ROGERS

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA

Latin America’s least popular president finally has something to cheer about. Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla, whose approval ratings barely register in double digits, could receive an “Obama bounce” in the polls after the US president traveled to the capital city of San José and heralded her country as an exemplary leader for Central America.

In just his second visit to Central America and his first trip to Costa Rica, President Barack Obama this weekend called for new partnerships and increased integration with the region – especially in the areas of trade, innovation, and energy. Mr. Obama, who arrived in San José Friday afternoon to a rock star’s welcome of people lining the streets to cheer his motorcade, lauded Costa Rica for its historic commitments to democracy, peace, human rights, education and socio-economic development.

Costa Rican government officials and local pundits are proudly interpreting Obama’s visit as first-world recognition of their country’s new standing as an international ... Read More

BY ERIC FARNSWORTH

Bolivia is the poorest nation in South America. Along with Haiti and Nicaragua, it is one of the poorest in all of the western hemisphere. So what’s President Evo Morales’ latest strategy to improve social indicators? Expel USAID, the US government aid agency that spent some $28m last year promoting healthcare among poor Bolivians and working to protect the environment.

In the alternative universe of the Morales government, USAID is a tool of “political interference” stemming from a “mentality of domination and submission”. That’ll be news to Bolivia’s rural communities and aid recipients, including municipalities, which have relied on capacity building and technical training assistance. Since 1964, US taxpayers have willingly and generously offered the Bolivian people nearly $2bn in development assistance, much of it going to supplement Bolivia’s own health and education services and to work in coordination with Bolivia’s government to preserve sensitive environmental lands.

The expulsion of USAID ... Read More

A proposal by Central American businessmen to build a natural gas pipeline from Mexico to Panama will be presented during a weekend meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Central American presidents.

Nicaraguan businessman Jose Aguerri says the project would lower energy costs in the region and make its economies more competitive.

Aguerri said Tuesday that the idea was first proposed by Nicaraguan businessmen and has since gained support across Central America’s private sector.

He says he hopes Obama will back the idea because the pipeline would make the region more self-sufficient.

After a two-day visit to Mexico, Obama will meet with Central American presidents in Costa Rica on Saturday.

Click here for ... Read More

Latin American countries have finally rallied and rejected a bid by leftist regimes to silence the region’s human rights watchdog. Now regional democracies must restore the organization’s credibility after years of yielding to Chavistas.

In what might be remembered as the end of the line for Chavismo as a regional political force, last week key Latin American countries soundly rejected a bid by leftist regimes to silence the region’s human rights watchdog. Those democratic nations – along with the United States – must now retake some of the momentum that they ceded to Venezuelan caudillo Hugo Chávez’s destructive agenda.

Left-wing leaders – principally Chávez and Ecuador’s Rafael Correa – spent much of the last decade waging a bitter feud with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) because it dared to criticize brazen and systematic rights abuses in countries governed by authoritarian populists.

Chávez hurled personal insults at the commission’s members and staff, and even engineered the ... Read More

WILLIAM J. BURNS

When Maria da Penha’s husband shot her in the back, leaving her paraplegic, it was the culmination of years of domestic abuse. In her battle for justice, she was fortunate to have an ally in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), a respected independent body, established in 1959 to protect the rights of all individuals throughout the Americas.

Following the commission’s inquiry into her case, the Brazilian government took decisive steps — Maria’s ex-husband went to jail, and in 2006 Brazil adopted landmark legislation on violence against women.

Today, it is the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights itself that is under assault and must be defended. Over the past year, a determined minority of governments has tried to undermine the autonomy and integrity of this institution.

Their motivations vary, but they add up to a significant threat to human rights and dignity. In some countries, populist leaders impatient with or ... Read More

WILLIAM J. BURNS

Cuando el esposo de Maria da Penha le disparó en la espalda, dejándola parapléjica, ese fue el momento culminante de años de violencia doméstica. En su lucha por encontrar justicia, Maria tuvo la suerte de encontrar un aliado en la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH), un respetado organismo independiente fundado en 1959 para proteger los derechos de las personas en todas las Américas. Luego de las averiguaciones de la Comisión sobre el caso, el gobierno de Brasil tomó medidas decisivas: el ex esposo de Maria fue a la cárcel y, en el año 2006, Brasil promulgó una ley ejemplar sobre la violencia contra la mujer. Se la nombró la Ley Maria da Penha.

Hoy es la propia Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos la que está bajo ataque y debe ser defendida. A lo largo del año transcurrido, una determinada minoría de gobiernos ha intentado socavar la autonomía e ... Read More

BY JACKSON DIEHL

How are liberal institutions destroyed? These days, no military coup is necessary. Instead, cynical and determined rulers aim to corrupt rather than abolish independent courts, legislatures and media — and their defenders are too divided, too weak or too distracted to respond effectively.

Latest case in point: the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a half-century-old multilateral body that has played a major role in the promotion of freedom in the Western hemisphere — and is in imminent danger of being gutted. At a meeting in Washington this month, foreign ministers of the Organization of American States (OAS) will consider a series of “reforms” to the commission and its office on freedom of expression that would have the effect of defunding or blocking what has been the OAS’s most visible and effective work, from the defense of indigenous groups to the protection of journalists.

Behind the assault — no surprise — are the leftist populist rulers of ... Read More

BY RAY WALSER

If cancer revokes President Hugo Chavez’s mandate for indefinite rule in Venezuela, it will leave leadership of the radical-left, anti-liberty Bolivarian Alliance (ALBA) in Latin America up for grabs. New faces will inevitably emerge.

Chavez’s vice president, the uncharismatic Nicolas Maduro, will most likely runVenezuela in the near future, backed by the legacy of Chavez’s Bolivarian Revolution and oil bonanza.

Another contender is Ecuador’s Rafael Correa. The 49-year-old Correa scored an electoral knockout punch on February 17, winning another four-year term in office with big gains for the Alianza Pais party in the legislature. He did so, notes The Washington Post, with abundant electoral spending—Ecuador has oil, too—and by muzzling the free press.

From closing the U.S.-operated anti-drug air base, the Manta Forward Operating Location, to conniving with Colombian narco-terrorists to unceremoniously expelling a U.S. ambassador in 2011 to boycotting the April 2012 Summit of the Americas in order to protest the absence of Cuba to offering political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Correa has reveled in ... Read More

BY BENNI AVNI

Nearly two decades after a car bomb destroyed a Buenos Aires Jewish community center, killing 85, Argentina is forming a “truth commission” with Iran to investigate the case.

Yeah, and OJ is still looking for the real killers, too.

The commission is to “investigate” terrorism that Argentina long ago determined had been ordered by top officials in Tehran. It’s yet another success for Iran in breaking out of international “isolation” by tightening its relations with anti-American Latin regimes.

The deal with Iran “is a step toward unblocking a case that has been paralyzed for 19 years,” Argentine President Cristina Kirchner said last week. “Dialogue is part of Argentina’s foreign policy.”

Dialogue about this case? Really?

Back in 1999 (after years of foot-dragging), Argentine officials gathered compelling evidence on the 1994 bombing of the Argentine-Israelites Mutual Association — evidence that led to the culprit: Hezbollah and its Iranian masters.

The Argentine courts handed the evidence over to ... Read More

BY DANTE CAPUTO

BUENOS AIRES – A controversial agreement between Iran and Argentina to investigate jointly a terrorist attack against a Jewish organization in Buenos Aires in 1994, which killed 85 people, has opened an intense debate about Iranian influence in Latin America. This is unusual, because Latin American leaders often ignore events that fuel global tensions, regardless of their repercussions on the continent’s politics.

For decades, Cuban and Soviet support for guerrilla movements – and backing by the United States for Latin America’s anticommunist military regimes – was rarely part of regional explanations for the insurgent violence and state terrorism that plagued the continent even after the Cold War’s end. Today, the growing strength of the region’s democracies is helping to heal the wounds of that violence, but the difficulty of incorporating global factors into national political analysis continues. Links with Iran – and their costs – are no exception.

... Read More

POR ROGER F. NORIEGA Y JOSE R. CARDENAS

Mientras el congreso estadounidense lucha para superar la crisis económica y hacer frente a amenazas contra la seguridad de los Estados Unidos, Latinoamérica se está transformando de manera significativa y resulta imperante fortalecer la cooperación económica y en materia de seguridad con nuestros aliados en la región. Países como México y Brasil se están convirtiendo en actores globales que merecen nuestra atención y cooperación bipartidista para promover una agenda regional que fomente el crecimiento del libre mercado, iniciativas practicas – no retoricas – que animen a países y vecinos a unirse a un esfuerzo colectivo de mutuo beneficio.

Los puntos clave de esta Perspectiva:

Tanto la crisis económica estadounidense como las amenazas a su seguridad han socavado su papel tradicional como líder mundial, debilitando sus vínculos con las naciones de América Latina que siguen modernizando sus economías. Estados Unidos debe recuperar su credibilidad regional adoptando iniciativas audaces ... Read More

BY IAN JAMES

CARACAS, Venezuela — While Venezuela’s sick president recuperates from surgery behind closed doors in Cuba, at home he is more visible than ever.

Iconic images of his eyes look out from murals lining the streets of Caracas, his portrait appears on T-shirts sported by followers, and on television he can be heard booming “I am a nation!”

Though still alive, Chavez is being inducted into a pantheon of deified legends such as Evita Peron and Ernesto “Che” Guevara.

The cult of personality that Chavez long nurtured has been flourishing with even greater force in his absence as he confronts an increasingly difficult struggle against the mysterious cancer that afflicts him.

One woman at a pro-government demonstration on Wednesday held a portrait photo of Chavez next to an image of Jesus. New murals showing only the president’s eyes have appeared on city walls along with a new slogan, “I am Chavez.”

The eyes-only design ... Read More

BY DOUGLAS FARAH

The challenges presented by the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas—having been led by President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, and including Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua as active leaders1—are significant and often underestimated. Nor does Chávez’s departure from the scene resolve the problem. The criminal corruption within these governments, their shared hostility toward the United States, the close links with Iran, their embrace of concepts of asymmetrical warfare against the United States, and the systematic assaults on the independent media, judiciaries, and other democratic institutions all continue to bode ill.

Over the past decade, there has been little sustained U.S. interest in the Bolivarian revolution, the significant inroads made in shaping the hemispheric agenda and organizations, the systematic undermining of U.S. objectives, and the creation of multiple regional and hemispheric bodies designed to specifically isolate or minimize U.S. influence. As a result, ... Read More

BY JOHN MULHOLLAND

In any war there are innocent victims. In the 40-year war on drugs, the central American state of Guatemala can lay claim to being just such an innocent casualty. It has been caught in the crossfire between the nations to the south (principally Peru, Colombia and Bolivia) that produce illegal narcotics and the country to the north (America) that has the largest appetite to consume them. Guatemala does little of either.

The problem is that the drugs – principally cocaine – have to be transported from the producing countries to the US, from the south to the north. Unfortunately for Guatemala, it’s in the way.

But Guatemala’s location at the tip of Central America did not always present a problem. As recently as 2008 the US National Drug Intelligence Centre estimated that less than 1% of the estimated 700 tonnes of cocaine that left South America passed through Central America. But that ... Read More

Mexico – La Fiscalía de México denunció el martes que no ha obtenido respuesta a sus cinco solicitudes de colaboración a las autoridades de Nicaragua en el caso de los 18 mexicanos que se hicieron pasar por periodistas de Televisa, declarados culpables de narcotráfico en el país centroamericano.

El Gobierno mexicano “ha formulado desde el 29 de agosto del 2012 a la fecha cinco solicitudes de colaboración a las autoridades del Gobierno de Nicaragua, de las cuales no se ha obtenido respuesta ni pronunciamiento alguno”, apuntó la Procuraduría General de la República (PGR, Fiscalía) en un comunicado.

Los mexicanos, encabezados por Raquel Alatorre Correa, considerada la cabecilla del grupo, fueron declarados culpables de los delitos de narcotráfico, lavado de dinero y crimen organizado el pasado 20 de diciembre por un juez de Managua y conocerán su sentencia el 18 de enero próximo.

Al momento de su detención el 20 de agosto en Nicaragua transportaban ... Read More