Malena Marchan Contributor of Bloggers of The Americas

A year ago, President Barack Obama said he would close the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba, which has been used to lock up all those involved in terrorists acts after 9/11. We now know some of the prisoners detained there had nothing to do with terrorist groups or acts like Murat Kurnaz. In the case of Moazzam Begg, who according to information had trained in Al Qaeda camps, nothing was ever proved to convict him. Nevertheless, others incarcerated did commit horrendous atrocities. One of them is Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 2001 attacks.

 I visited Guantánamo Bay in 2007, during one of its most controversial years. A few months before my visit, a couple of detainees had committed suicide, others had tried to kill themselves and where under 24 hour watch and a group of inmates had attacked soldiers. Human rights organizations where denouncing systematic abuses on the prisoners as well as the most unimaginable torture techniques, to force them to talk.

Detainees Cell in Guantanamo

I was part of a group of 7 foreign correspondents that were allowed to visit the jail after months of waiting and sending all of our personal information for background checks. Our chaperones, and I say chaperones because we couldn´t leave our rooms without their permission, less walk around by ourselves, where really great with us, but they were careful with their words and on guard, every minute. They escorted us everywhere and even knew who we had said hello to, or had exchanged a couple of words with.  We weren´t allowed to talk to anyone who was not an official spokes person. As a journalist you want to get a scope of what’s happening from all the sources possible, not just the ones assigned to us, but it was impossible, so we all found it extremely difficult to write a balanced and objective story when we only had access to one side of the truth.

 As soon as you get to the detention camp, you can feel something is not quite right. There is a dense atmosphere and you can feel tension. Soldiers would not talk; instead they would communicate just by looking at each other so we couldn’t tell what they were thinking or going to do. The answer to our questions sounded as if they where scripted and when we asked something that might compromise them, they would just reply, “I am not at liberty to discuss that”, or “I am not aware of that information”. So everything was left to our imagination or to speculation.

Detainees Cell in Guantanamo

 In Guantánamo they show you what they want to show you and, although none of us agreed with that policy, we had to  accept that some of the limitations we had, had to do with national security concerns, and also because they had something to hide from the press. I was upset that they had permitted us to come and that at the end of the day; they chose what we saw and who we could talk to. They denied torture and any other mistreatments while foreign governments, human rights organizations and even the Red Cross, said the opposite. As a journalist you have to search for the truth but in Guantánamo you didn´t have access to it. They should you there truth.

 Our trip was meant to be a way of doing public relations with the press after all the bad publicity the jail had gotten. But we didn´t buy all the attention and nice treatment.

 After what I saw and what I talked to with lawyers representing some detainees, I think Guantánamo has to be closed.

 It has not made the US a safer country; we are still under constant threat of terrorist acts.

Corridors inside the Detention Facility in Guantanamo

Remember,  Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in December of 2009? Then a couple of months after 9/11 we had the shoe bomb incident and in 2006 a man was accused of organizing plot against to bomb the NYC train tunnels. A year later German authorities dismantled a terrorist cell trying to plot against US military installations in that country. Most important, let’s not forget that the alleged terrorists imprisoned in Guantánamo have not given us the information needed to capture Osama Bin Laden and terminate Al Qaeda. On the contrary there has been resurgence in armed groups that support Al Qaeda, not only in the Middle East but also parts of Northern Africa. There was a very good piece on this on the cover of  The New York Times not long ago.

 I could not agree better with Former Secretary of State, Collin Powell, words: I think Guantanamo has cost us a lot over the years in terms of our standing in the world and the way in which despots have hidden behind what we have at Guantanamo to justify their own positions.

 This is the point of view of a 4 star army general, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,  a soldier that was in charge of the Gulf War and served under the Bush administration which created the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

 Guantánamo has severely damaged the image of the United States abroad. I think we ought to remove this incentive that exists in the presence of Guantanamo to encourage people and to give radicals an opportunity to say, ‘You see? This is what America is all about. They’re all about torture and detention centers, says Powell.

 Everywhere I go, people criticize the United States because of Guantánamo. Nobody has anything good to say about. If it has resolved anything or been of any use, please tell me. I want to know!. On the contrary, men that were detained there and later set free obviously because they had no evidence to prove them terrorists, have now taken arms against the United States! So Guantánamo hasn’t gotten rid of terrorists, it’s been a pretext to take arms against the United States.

Khalid Sheik Mohammed should not  be tried in Manhattan, because of security concerns. I also agree with Powell that his trial should be done in a military base under tight security measures.

High Value Detainees- Maximum Security Cells

 The United States as well as many other countries will be haunted by terrorism for many years to come. During the Cold War the constant threat was another world war, today its terrorism and it will be a constant threat no matter who’s in power or what they do. What we have to do is adopt measures that do not give radical groups a pretext to act against the West and Guantánamo has been an incentive for this.

 Obama, what happened? You said you were going to close Gitmo. Do it now! Please don´t “run for the hills”.

President of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo. Photo, Reuters.

Paraguay and the United States have good relations, cooperating extensively on counternarcotics and counterterrorism efforts. The United States strongly supports the consolidation of Paraguay’s democracy and continued economic reforms. Following the April 2008 election, then-U.S. Ambassador to Paraguay James Cason congratulated Lugo and the APC on their victory and expressed a commitment to work with them to strengthen bilateral relations. U.S. imports from Paraguay totaled $78.4 million in 2008 while the value of U.S. exports to Paraguay was over $1.6 billion.44 Machinery and electrical machinery account for the lion’s share of U.S. exports to Paraguay.

The protection of intellectual property rights (IPR, e.g., fighting piracy, counterfeiting, and contraband) has been a U.S. concern. The Duarte government made significant efforts to improve IPR protection, but the United States Trade Representative maintains that the country continues to have problems due to its porous border and ineffective prosecutions. In 2003, U.S. and Paraguayan officials signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen legal protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in Paraguay. In December 2007, the MOU was revised and extended through 2009, and in November 2009 the agreement was extended again through 2011.45

U.S. Assistance

The United States provided about $13.1 million in foreign assistance to Paraguay in FY2008 and an estimated $26.1 million in FY2009.46 The increase in FY2009 was due to a one-time addition of $10 million for health and economic growth assistance resulting from the October 2008 meeting between President Lugo and former President Bush.

Under the Obama Administration’s FY2010 request, Paraguay would receive $13.9 million in assistance, with $2.1 million to support Global Health and Child Survival, $5.8 million in Development Assistance, $425,000 in International Military Education and Training, $750,000 for Foreign Military Financing, $500,000 in International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement assistance, and $4.3 million for the continuation of a Peace Corps program in the country, with approximately 200 volunteers.

In 2009, the Department of Defense also provided Paraguay one-time security and stabilization assistance authorized under Section 1207 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). In FY2009, Paraguay received a total of $6.69 million in “Section 1207” funding divided between counternarcotics and development accounts to support democratic consolidation and reduce violence in eastern Paraguay during the country’s transition from one-party rule to multi-party democracy.47

In addition to regular foreign assistance funding, Paraguay signed a $34.65 million Threshold Program agreement with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in May 2006. Those funds, which are administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), are targeted to strengthen the rule of law and build a transparent business environment.48 The program has been credited with reducing the time it takes to start a business in Paraguay by half, among other accomplishments. In May 2009, the USAID-administered program was renewed with the signing of a second two-year MCC Threshold program for $30.3 million.49 The program supports anti-corruption efforts by Paraguay’s government in law enforcement, customs, health care, and judicial sectors. The MCC program also aims to increase public support for anti-corruption efforts.50 Paraguay also signed an agreement with the United States in 2006 under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act that provided Paraguay with $7.4 million in debt relief in exchange for the Paraguayan government’s commitment to conserve and restore tropical forests in the southeastern region.

Counternarcotics Cooperation

Paraguay is a major transit country for illegal drugs destined primarily for neighboring South American states and Europe. It produces over half of the marijuana grown in South America. The Chaco region in the northwestern part of the country adjacent to Bolivia is a major transshipment point for illegal drugs, along with the tri-border area (TBA) with neighboring Argentina and Brazil. A 1987 U.S.-Paraguay bilateral counternarcotics agreement was extended in 2006.

U.S. counternarcotics efforts in Paraguay have focused on providing training, equipment and technical assistance to strengthen the country’s National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD), and to combat money laundering and corruption. The United States assisted in the completion of a helicopter pad and support facilities for SENAD. According to the State Department’s February 2009 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, SENAD continued to make progress against illegal narcotics trafficking in 2008 with record seizures of marijuana, although cocaine seizures were markedly down. The report notes that President Lugo has said he wants to reverse Paraguay’s status as a “major drug transit country.” Currently, SENAD agents are civil servants and they are not issued weapons. The Paraguayan Senate rejected a bill that would have made the SENAD an autonomous institution with the power to regulate its agents as law enforcement agents who can carry and use weapons. The bill had passed the Chamber of Deputies. This defeat is considered by some to be a major setback. Finally, INCSR notes that SENAD’s work is limited by budget constraints, weak laws and pervasive corruption. After President Evo Morales of Bolivia kicked out the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in late 2008, 10 of the 56 agents working in that country were redeployed to Paraguay in early 2009.51

In April 2009, bills entitled the “U.S.-Paraguay Partnership Act of 2009” were introduced in the House (H.R. 1837) and Senate (S. 780). On September 14, 2009, the ATPDEA Expansion and Extension Act of 2009 (S. 1665) was introduced in the Senate.52 Each of these bills would amend the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (Title XXXI of the Trade Act of 2002, P.L. 107-210) to extend trade preferences to Paraguay. Currently, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru benefit from the ATPDEA in exchange for cooperation under anti-narcotics agreements.53 Bolivia lost its eligibility for the program in 2008 when the Bush Administration determined that Bolivia no longer met the anti-narcotics cooperation requirements.

Tri-Border Area and Terrorism

The United States is particularly concerned about illicit activities in the tri-border area (TBA) of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil, where money laundering, drug trafficking, arms smuggling, and trade in counterfeit and contraband goods are prevalent. The tri-border region is loosely controlled due to porous borders, a lack of surveillance, weak law enforcement and pervasive local corruption, especially in the Paraguayan border city of Ciudad del Este. The United States has worked closely with the governments of the TBA countries on counterterrorism issues through the “3+1” regional cooperation mechanism, which serves as a forum for discussions, and the United States has provided anti-terrorism and anti-money-laundering support to Paraguay.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sent a team of specialists to the tri-border region to investigate trade-based money laundering in 2006, and has assisted the Paraguayan government in developing a Trade Transparency Unit to examine discrepancies in trade data in order to detect customs fraud, trade-based money laundering or the financing of terrorism.54

U.S. Treasury officials have held workshops in the region to encourage more banking sector involvement in efforts against money laundering. The U.S. embassy’s legal adviser in Asunción held training courses for local investigators and prosecutors to combat possible terrorism links.55

The United States has been concerned for a number of years that the radical Lebanon-based Hezbollah and the Sunni Muslim Palestinian group Hamas have used the TBA to raise funds from the region’s sizable Muslim communities by participating in illicit activities and soliciting donations. Nevertheless, according to the State Department’s annual terrorism report for 2008 (issued in April 2009), there is no corroborated information that these or other Islamic extremist groups have an operational presence in the TBA.

The State Department’s 2008 terrorism report stated although Paraguay was generally cooperative on counterterrorism efforts, its judicial system is weak and politicized, the police force is widely viewed as ineffective and corrupt, and the country lacks strong anti-money laundering and terrorist financing legislation. In June 2008, Paraguay’s Congress improved money laundering legislation as part of a major overhaul of the penal code. However, according to the terrorism report, a bill to enact important criminal procedure reform to prosecute money laundering and terrorism was delayed for a year by the Congress’s Legal Reform Commission. Effective terrorist financing legislation will be critical to keep Paraguay current with its international obligations.

The terrorism report also maintained that Paraguay did not exercise effective immigration or customs control on its borders. Efforts to address illicit activity in the TBA were uneven because of a lack of resources, and corruption within customs, police, and the judiciary. With U.S. support, the government’s Secretariat for the Prevention of Money Laundering reportedly made progress against money laundering, including December 2008 raids on illegal exchange houses.

Under the MCC Threshold Program, the United States provided assistance with the training of judges, prosecutors and police in investigation techniques critical to money laundering and terrorist cases.

Paraguay made some progress on counterterrorism legislation in 2009. The Paraguayan Congress passed a measure in July 2009 that modifies the anti-money laundering law. The passed bill empowers the Secretariat for the Prevention of Money Laundering (SEPRELAD) in several ways. It elevates the agency to the level of a ministry that reports directly to the President, it broadens its capacity to require Suspicious Transaction Reports from a wider group of financial institutions, and it increases SEPRELAD’s power to audit financial institutions to ensure their procedures are adequate to prevent money laundering. In addition, the Executive has initiated legislation that would criminalize the offences of terrorism, terrorist association and terrorist financing. Attempts to gain the approval of Congress on such legislation were made in 2007, November 2009, and December 2009. In December 2009, President Lugo withdrew the counterterrorism legislation that would modify some aspects of the criminal code over objections raised by human rights organizations who argued that the new legislation threatened the international protection of human rights and may undermine freedom of assembly and freedom of speech. Paraguayan authorities, however, remain optimistic that a modified initiative may pass later in 2010.56

June S. Beittel is analyst in Latin American Affairs (UNACE) for CRS. Parts of this report were contributed by Mark P. Sullivan, Specialist in Latin American Affairs. This report was published by the Congressional Research Service under the title “Paraguay: Political and Economic Conditions and U.S. Relations,”

READ THE WHOLE REPORTE HERE.-

Ivan Gerardo Cruz - Author/Contributor of Bloggers of The Americas

Clearly, during the last eight years Colombia has done it quite well. With the arrival to power of President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, the country changed course and the State was no longer kneeling before the terrorism of the FARC and drug trafficking.Obviously the greatest success of his eight year administration was to recover the governance and public security in the cities as well as in the rural areas. And the key to it was none other than declaring war to the leftist guerrilla , without truce or negotiations. Today this war is very close to being won and open the key step to extradite to the United States thousands of criminals , guerrillas, drug traffickers and paramilitaries. However, a few days ago, the Colombians received the news that the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the voter referendum that would allow Uribe to run for a third term of four years. “Oh, sad news”, I thought at that time.According to the judges of the Supreme Court, the decision is based in several defects of form and substance, from the signature collection process to its passage through Congress, which were against the Constitution and against the separation of powers, and also that even the will of the electorate – the people – was powerful enough to keep Uribe in power four more years.  

This decision is a big mistake, and I hope the Judges that voted against the re-election will never  repent of their decision, for the good of Colombia.
And when I say that I hope that they will not repent is because the future of the nation is at stake. You can not throw  away eight years of hard work  and give back the development of the country and the high public security levels already achieved, just  to return to co-govern with the terrorism of the FARC. 

Colombia should continue on the path to finally defeat the guerrilla groups, which will allow to double or even triple the foreign investment that will eventually revive the economy having the agriculture as the center of this development and that will allow farmers to return to their land, planting and harvesting their crops. This depends entirely on the high level of public security , fairly consolidated in many areas of the country. 

Colombia's former Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos gestures during an interview with Reuters in Bogota February 10, 2010. REUTERS/John Vizcaino

Personally I was convinced, and yet still do, that Álvaro Uribe was the best solution for Colombia, specially  if you look very closely to the other candidates to succeed him. However, I had a long talk with a senior Colombian military made me fall in mind that it was important not to burn the architect of the great work done in Colombia and that from his point of view it had been a grave error to put Uribe –his good  image and credibility – in the hands of the Supreme Court of Justice, running the risk of being disavowed.  Finally, this situation occurred on Friday 26 of February.
But both the officer and I think the process should continue with or without Uribe.  The “Uribism” should govern in Colombia over the next four years and perhaps four more, until there is not a single guerrilla or paramilitary armed and even when subjected the drug traffickers and eliminated their ability to corrupt. And in order to achieve these goals, the best candidate to succeed Uribe is the former Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos, a man who knows well the issues of national security and public order and also has very good image abroad.
I personally met President Uribe when he was governor of Antioquia and he was already fighting  the guerrillas in Uraba and the entire department. I can say that Colombia momentarily will lose a great man, a tireless worker, a connoisseur  -as none other-  of the Colombian countryside and its  problems and a strong supporter of Colombia’s interests abroad.
And when I say that we lose him momentarily it is because I am convinced that in four years Uribe could return to the presidency of Colombia, if the situation requires it

 
I’m unequivocally sure that during Uribe’s predecessors – Pastrana, Gaviria, Samper –  Colombia did not harvest-in those 12 years, the results that the Uribe administration can show today. That will be more than obvious when the time of comparing administrations arrives. 

 
But his critics, including politicians and journalists, the only thing they do  is to impute him the responsibility for everything bad that happens during his time.  It is obvious that Uribe could assume personal  responsibility as head of state,  but in Colombia it has never been so because then a new president should be chosen each month, as the number of corruption scandals and errors that occur in our country always been very high. This is an issue with which the Western democracies live together for decades, but political opportunists who trot out every time on election day.
I’m not saying you should hide anything bad that happened during the Uribe Administration, on the contrary. It is very good for democracy to have a constructive and reflective opposition,  and btw is also important and even healthy for democracy that this-the opposition-  act as a supervisory body together with the enforcement agencies such as the Attorney General , in order to punish corruption and all the scandals that occur, as foe example the “false positives” (falsos positivos) of the Army, the illegal phone tapping of journalists and judges by the DAS (security agency), because no public official in Colombia is to earn points through dishonest criminal actions . And also because we should govern Colombia with full transparency. Mind you, the end does not justify the means.

 
Colombians should not submit to international shame by returning to governments like the Pastrana and Samper Administration. We are the third country in South America and one of the most advanced in many subjects, including an example for other countries. So why return back to the ancient system as is happening with Bogota, the capital of my country?
The last two mayors of Bogotá have been destroying the city and the progress made during the administrations of Antanas Mockus and Enrique Peñaloza. We do not want the same for Colombia or whether? Then I  will support the presidential candidate of the uribism until the very end, because the process must continue and Colombia must continue its path towards progress, our way to  the first world, with strong fundamentals, with guarantees, security, transparency and absolute respect for human rights.

 If Santos become the next President of Colombia he should not allow the slightest scandal in his government or even a millimeter of impunity and punish with the full weight of the law those who are responsible. His entourage must be people morally irreproachable and highly trained consultants and chosen very carefully, and of course forgetting to pay favors to friends. That is the way I want a new chapter of the uribism for Colombia. 

Colombian Election starts, Santos favored. READ MORE HERE.
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Victor Bjorgan - Publisher of Bloggers of The Americas

It’s good for democracy: former Uruguayan dictator Bordaberry sentenced for assaulting the Constitution.
On June 27^th 1973, I was seventeen years old. In that fateful day  and with the full support of the Armed Forces of my country, the then Uruguayan President Juan María Bordaberry decided to demolish the Uruguayan Constitution and give a coup. He ordered to shut down the  Parliament  by military force, suspended all civil liberties of our people and prosecute the Uruguayan Democrats in such a bloody way, so that many were killed, many others were tortured and imprisoned, and others went into exile, among other atrocities.

It was also a cover operation from the Brazilian military dictatorship, with the active “understanding” of the Nixon-Kissinger administration.

The coup destroyed our lives. The evil had won the good. Violence and authoritarianism replaced democracy.

Former Dictator Bordaberry sentenced for assaulting the Constitution.

As I woke up at that morning,  I saw my mother who had come into my bedroom. With gentle ways, she asked me to calm down. She was going  to tell me that something had happened.  When I saw her face,  I realized this was a very serious matter.  I wondered if anyone had died in my family ..
“Victor, they had just given a coup d´etat,”  and as I did not react, she told me ” Bordaberry is now a dictator with the support of the military, military music is played on radio and television, and we heard some coup press releases.”

My first reaction was not talking, but mourn.  Then I almost collapsed, I could  not believe what she just told me.  Mine was a short cry, but strongly felt, as someone who just lost a loved one. Then we were all day listening to radio and TV.  Ours is a family characterized by a strong political tradition , all were linked to the National Party from the very beginning of the Republic in the first half of the nineteenth century.

In my early seventeen, I occupied the vice presidency of a major youth movement  (“Juventud del Movimiento Nacional de Rocha”) within my party. So it was not uncommon for us that the same night of the coup, the restant leaders of our youth came to our home,  to assess what happened and determine what to do in the near future.  I wanted to fight, to stand out. Some did support my point of view, but another group of my colleagues then advised not to make anything at the moment. We experienced such a sense of powerlessness.What could be civilians do against thousands of well armed military. What could we do to confront  the totalitarian barbarity..

Brazilian Dictator E. Garrastazu Medici and former U.S. President R. Nixon, sponsors of Bordaberry´s coup d´etat

The next day, with some friends we hid a small mimeograph machine in the home of the Berro family. Using an old typewriter Underwood,  we typed a text calling people to defend the Constitution. We then print a few thousand leaflets with such desperate appeal  to resist the dictatorship.  Along with some nationalist friends like Martin Ospitaleche, Jorge Derrogatis, the young Murdoch brothers and other colleagues we decided to distribute the leaflets in different neighborhoods of Montevideo.  At certain times, almost every hour, we released the flyers in different places, and then we rapidly disappear to regroup in other places of the city.  Montevideo was under siege.

The first nights we painted legends in the city walls. It was quiet risky at that time, with the military patrols over all the town, some of them shooting to kill.

In a demonstration of civilian bravery, strong population sectors of the country resisted the coup, doing what they could, as occupying factories, colleges, universities and workplaces. My sister and her husband  , were among the thousands of occupants.  We did not know where they were, and if they were alive. These were very difficult days.

Then my people told me that I had to leave town and hide in the underground for a few days since Bordaberry and his military were arresting people and taken many prisoner among the political leaders.

So I ended up sleeping for a while at a small farm outside the rural town of  Ombúes de  Lavalle, located in the Uruguayan province of Colonia.

After a few days in July, I decided to return.  When we arrived in Montevideo, with little fuel in the car as it was rationed since the workers of our only refinery (ANCAP) also resisted, we enter in Montevideo and saw scenes worthy of Dante.  When our car passed through the intersection of the streets Paysandú and Agraciada,  I saw several Sherman military tanks that took up the entire street. The tanks were surrounded by armed soldiers  with gun machines.  That day was the infamous day of the “5th at 5″  when a large opposition rally occurred . The rally intended to occupy the center of the city , but the defenseless crowd  was brutally repressed by the military coup of Bordaberry.

Many wounded and dead tainted with blood the streets of Montevideo´s  main street, Avenida 18 de Julio.

Days passed, and the dictatorship was pressing the opposition and eventually failed to control the situation. It was only in late July, which Bordaberry able to break the neck of Uruguayan democracy. And the dictatorship lasted eleven long years.
The Brazilian dictatorship and  Juan María Bordaberry were the main responsible of this dictatorship, together with a group of army officers.

Until today, most part of the military responsible for the coup have passed away, and only a few have paid their debt with society with jail, accused of crimes and torture.

But only one of them has been sentenced to prison for assaulting the Constitution, the former dictator Juan María Bordaberry. That achievement, that a free Justice as the Uruguayan can imprison  a dictator for assaulting the Constitution,  is a major achievement. An achievement of historical proportions.  Unique in the Americas.

This is a good example for “wannabes” dictators. The dictator can´t live in a democratic society without Justice punishing him for his main crime: that of “assaulting the Constitution.” And that was finally achieved in Uruguay.
I am very satisfied with the punishment  of Bordaberry.  It took decades but it finally came. Justice has been done. From now on,  other “Bordaberry”  prospects must think it carefully before they decide to violate the Constitution and turn down Democracy. Finally, and among other actors who made this possible, our public thanks go primarily to Judge Mariana Mota and attorneys Hebe Martínez Burlé and Walter De León.

Next task for humanity is to fulfill the International Criminal Court order to detain and put into trial Sudan´s “President” Omar Hassan al-Bashir, accused of five counts of crimes against humanity,  with three hundred thousand  Sudanese killed in Darfur.

Iván Gerardo Cruz - Author/Contributor of Bloggers of The Americas

Among all countries in The Americas , Mexico and Colombia are two of the american nations with greater Hispanic historical, literary, visual arts and cultural heritage. They also enjoy the good reputation of giving birth to the most beautiful women on the continent, comparable only, to be fair, with the Venezuelan and Puerto Rican.

Their cuisines are envied in many places. And when partying or going to a musical concert to there is no better way than going to see Shakira, Juanes and Vives, or why not with Paulina Rubio, Maná, Julieta Venegas and Luis Miguel. But unfortunately not everything is rosy for these two beautiful countries. They also share the greatest scourge that a state and society can have : drug trafficking.
Drug traffickers in both countries have historically been partners in the more lucrative and dangerous “business” in the world. For over 30 years, thousands of tons of cocaine have been sent from Colombia to Mexico, via different routes. Theses cocaine shipments  later end up in Europe and the U.S., where the largest number of consumers are.

From 1985 to 1995, Colombia lived a decade of terror that killed over  twenty thousand people due to the great crusade of the Colombian state security forces battling against drug trafficking. Then, the Colombian  Cartels were fighting using  all its devastating force to prevent the signing of an extradition treaty with the United States.

During that time and for over five years, Colombians live with all types of terrorist attacks, especially car bombs. Politicians, judges, magistrates, prosecutors, military, police, lawyers, human rights defenders, and even athletes were victims of the drug cartels and its cruel bombs and murderous bullets.

Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, alias El Ajedrecista

They were also thousands of victims who died in the war between the same drug Cartels: in Cali, the Valle del Norte, Medellin and the Atlantic Coast. Their own families, in many cases, paid with great pain for the betrayal, theft and showdowns.
Today, Mexico reminds me of those years in Colombia, when terrorist attacks were the daily bread, when police chiefs were shot every week, when the massacres did not longer astonished the people , not even the most naive and innocent of the Colombian peasants.

Death of Pablo Escobar

In those days no one could feel safe being in any public market or mall. At any moment a car bomb could explode , in any place, it could be outside the mall or a bomb in an elevator, within the same site. Every week, whole families appeared killed , caused by Colombian Mafia vendettas, ordered by murderous drug lords like Pablo Escobar and Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha.

Tragic own goal of Andrés, lately assasinated in Medellín.

In Mexico, cases like the player of the soccer team América, Salvador Cabañas, who although has not been linked to Mexican drug, can now show us the degradation and insecurity prevailing in Mexico City caused largely by the power of drug traffickers who make and unmake according to their will. Those images immediately took me back to Medellin and I do remember the absurd death of Andrés Escobar, footballer of the Atlético Nacional and player of the Colombian national soccer team. He was just 24 years old, and was killed by gunmen at the service of drug traffickers, assassinated only because he accidentally scored one goal against his own team during  the World Football Championship of U.S. 94.  When I think of this heinous crime, I still can not believe it really happened.

Those years were extremely difficult for the good guys in Colombia. In cities like Cali and Medellin was very dangerous to go out to a disco with your partner without encountering a defiant and brutish drug lord , full of bodyguards, dressed outlandishly, who wanted to dance with your girlfriend or wife, or in worst cases, taking her with him. It was the price millions of Colombians had to pay for a little over ten years to get rid of     the terrorism and barbarism of the narcos.

President of Mexico Felipe Calderon and President of Colombia Alvaro Uribe, face the same challenge.

Only through a tenacious warfare determined and conducted by the Colombian state, and with the cooperation of other governments and the use of high technology,  Colombia started gradually with the process of defeating the wild bunch of drug lords who managed to kneel the country, by bribing the Justice and the politicians and by intimidating the colombian society.

 However, and unfortunately, the drug has not been totally defeated in Colombia. Many insist that today Colombia exports more tons of cocaine than 20 years ago. Fortunately and somewhat to mitigate the sad feeling for failing to exterminate  all of these criminals, the new drug dealers also understood in a way that an open struggle against the Colombian state was what least suited them and that sooner or later they were going to lose, like Pablo Escobar Gaviria missed.
So now these criminals work in another way: quietly. They do not show their wealth and they do operate using a low profile, even many are lawyers or business managers and they managed to publicly appear as such. As a comfort to many, at least now Colombia does not live in the midst of death and the terrorist attacks of that time.
I personally have the feeling that governments can do more to tackle drug traffickers in a more strongly way, but unfortunately it is even stronger the corrupting power of drug money, able to turn almost anybody, from senior generals of the republic , to a minister of justice, or judge, even the most ’straight’ from the police corporals.

You don´t need to be a soothsayer  to realize that the Mexican society and institutions are going through the same thing : hard times on account of the struggle that President Felipe Calderón declared against the narco.
Nor is it a secret that the outcome of this battle during the last three years in Mexico are not what everyone expected or else just ask former Foreign Secretary Castañeda,  and that the efforts of the Mexican Armed Forces and the Police apparently are too weak  to successfully confront  the Mexican drug cartels and its power  both militarily and economic , of corruption and intimidation of Mexicans, by using barbaric methods far more vicious and cruel that they met and still practiced in Colombia.
Colombian experts in the anti-narcotics fight,  as well as Colombian police and military, frequently travel to Mexico City and other Mexican cities in order to give theoretical  lectures and dictate practical courses, workshops, seminars and in schools, on matters about how best to prepare for and counter the violent methods used by the Mexican cartels.

Castañeda argues that Mexico shouldn´t  have declared war on narco.

Jorge Castañeda, Mexico's foreign minister under Fox, had spied for Cuba, according to declassified report published by El Universal, February 4th, 2008 and by PoliticalWarfare.org

Now what really strikes me is that the former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda,  just a few days ago,  said in his column in the newspaper El Pais in Spain, that President  Calderón was wrong when he decided to openly declare war on Mexican drug traffickers.

Obviously Castañeda is the wrong one, although his arguments does have enough weight to be exposed in the way he did, and maybe many will think that his thesis could be right. That’s why his words should be analyzed in depth.
The fact that they are not great results in the fight against the Mexican cartels, despite several sharp blows of the state, including the capture of drug lords and a number of extraditions to the United States, does not justify Castañeda´s  hasty statements on the issue and can´t dismiss the performance of the Mexican security agencies.
Castaneda goes further and compares Irak with Mexico. He says that the war in Iraq and the war against drug trafficking in Mexico were choices made by the governments, both wars difficult to win and they should not have taken. In regard to the Mexican case, his argument is based in large part,  in the increasing of  the homicide rate,  overflowed after the crusade against cartels. He said that before the war declaration, it was only 10 homicides per 100 thousand inhabitants in Mexico, behind countries like Brazil (25 ), Colombia (37) and Venezuela (48).
Now , what Mr. Castaneda forgot to mention in his controversial column is the analysis of  the levels of corruption to which Mexican officials came before Calderon, thanks to the ability of penetration and infiltration of drug traffickers in the institutions of justice, government and the armed forces of the state,  to break the will of much of the country and to act at ease before the blind eyes of the Vicente Fox administration.
It was therefore necessary to change in Mexico, to change attitudes, government, president, and to recuperate the moral values. That is why  the whole country applauded Calderon’s decision to declare war on drugs in Mexico, and to face a very serious problem that threatened to turn Mexico into a narco-state as it came to be under the governments in  Colombia of the former presidents Cesar Gaviria, Ernesto Samper and Andres Pastrana, being the Colombian President Gaviria –also former secretary of the OAS- the one in charge of waging the war that ended with the death of Pablo Escobar and the apparent weakening of the Cartel´s of that time in Colombia .

In this way the Mexicans have begun in recent years to restore the morale of its public officials, its police, its armed forces, governors and their society. It is clear that the Mexican war on drugs is just in the starting phase and it also for sure that they can not win by themselves, they need the assistance of other countries, and it is also unfortunately clear  the war will last for at least another decade, remaining optimistic.

They will need strong support from the U.S. and its technology, they will also need the help of Colombia and its experience in this field.  But more than that, they are going to need the goodwill and continuity of the next governments to come in Mexico.  They will need another Calderón,  or perhaps Calderón himself, just to finish the hard work.
Castañeda may not be that wrong.  Maybe he is right when he says that the way to defeat drug traffickers is not the armed confrontation with the drug lords and Cartel´s  and maybe his view is as valid as that of former Presidents Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico and Cesar Gaviria of Colombia, that is to decriminalize the minimum personal consumption of illegal narcotics as the most feasible alternative to end the great scourge in Colombia, Mexico, United States and around the world.
But  the former minister  was wrong to say that Calderón´s decision was a failure, or that the president´s act was crazy, insane.  Without a clear legal framework to combat drug trafficking in Mexico, the only way to defeat them was by declaring war and starting a armed struggle. And now  Calderon and Mexico are on the right track, in spite of the growing number of victims, which often are part of the conflict and are not as innocent as people think through the news.
If Calderon had not acted in time in Mexico, the drug mafia  would be far more powerful today, the country would be completely penetrated by the tentacles of the drug mob and the mexican society would be adrift amid a dark landscape dominated by dirty money and  criminality.
The hardest time is to come. Mexico still does not reach its “ Proceso 8,000 ” – this was a chapter of the Colombian war on drugs in which the fragile Colombian justice put into trial dozens of politicians, businessmen, journalists, and members of the same justice system, who were bribed by drug money in exchange for favors.

The fight against drug trafficking in Mexico should continue, strongly and decisively.  Hitting the big “capos”  with strength , weakening the structure of the cartel´s, boosting the morale of the armed forces and especially of the Mexican justice, and to prevent corruption of officials are the main tasks. Not easy to achieve but not impossible. So Mexico reminds me of what Colombia experienced.

Iván Gerardo Cruz - Author/Contributor of Bloggers of The Americas

Never before the traditional presidential speech “State of the Union” –that was addressed  before a full United States Congress-  did generate as many expectations as the one of President Barack Obama….. READ THE BLOG  HERE…

Malena Marchan Contributor of Bloggers of The Americas

United States: “Adios” to immigration reform, once again. READ THE BLOG HERE.

Victor Bjorgan - The Publisher of Bloggers of The Americas

READ THE BLOG HERE..

Suspected Mexican drug trafficker Vicente Carrillo Leyva is presented to the media in Mexico City April 2, 2009. Carrillo is the son of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, the founder of the Juarez cartel

By Colleen W. Cook – Analyst in Latin American Affairs

According to the Mexican government there are seven drug cartels operating in Mexico. The Mexican government reports that the major cartels – Gulf, Sinaloa, and Juárez — are present in much of Mexico.   READ THE ARTICLE HERE…

Malena Marchan Contributor of Bloggers of The Americas

In the 1970’s the United States organized coup d’états and moved and removed Latin-American presidents from power. In the eighties it was the big multinationals eating away the regions natural resources while Washington armed right winged paramilitary groups. 10 years later the drug war went into full speed and the Drug Enforcement Administration sent undercover agents to monitor operations in the region.

For all of this and more, many Guatemalans, Ecuadorians, Chileans, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans as well as people from other countries, the United States has been criticized and hated for what its enemies have referred to as meddling in other countries affairs.

And to make matters worse, one of the many things that annoyes many Latin–American people is that the U.S has become owner of the word America. It uses it to refer to everything, like its people as well as its values; American values, American sentiment, American honor etc., etc. They don’t realize Central Americans, North Americans and South Americans are Americans too since they all come from the American continent.

 The funny thing is that Washington has also been criticized for not doing anything like the case of Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted from power last June.

United States USAID is helping in Haiti

No matter all the bad things people can say about the Americans; that they are arrogant, show offs, know it all and that they have no real culture but McDonalds and Sears,  there is no country as helpful and solidary  as the United States of America.

It has been the first to send aid to Haiti where news reports say there could be more than 3 million people affected directly by the massive quake and thousands of deaths.

President Barack Obama sent ships to the island with provisions, special rescue teams with dogs as well as tons of rescue equipment. Some of the navy vessels sent are equipped with state of the art medical facilities and possibly equipment Haitians hospitals don’t have or are short of.

 The earthquake was last Tuesday and I’ve already received emails from different organizations and friends asking for donations. I know that small Latin American countries have also pledged support and aid, but it’s the United States that everyone judges.

Strangely when it’s a natural disaster, there is silence and nobody says anything because they know the one of the first ones there will be are the gringos.  Nobody thanks them. I have never seen the front of a newspaper write in bold letters, “The United States send millions to help the victims”, or “U.S the first to arrive at the scene”.

Aid in Haiti

I don’t remember of any recent disaster in which the United States or its people have just stood and watched. On the contrary, this country led the reconstruction efforts after the Tsunami in Thailand in 2004, probably one of the worst disasters of this decade. The then President George Bush gave more than 300 million dollars in aid.

Today, in the case of Haiti, a mobile phone operator company said it would donate 5 million dollars for relief efforts, while 2 shipping and delivery companies are also contributing with similar amounts to help the Red Cross. Banks, manufacturing companies as well as mayor retailers are also giving their share.

Meanwhile, the Florida Panthers hockey team said that it would collect donations in its next two home games.

From that latest news reports I read, emergency teams in Haiti don’t have enough body bags or the capacity to tend to the victims. To make matter worst,  there’s hundreds of people unaccounted for and the photos and videos aired on television portray a horrible and chaotic situation.

In Facebook, I wrote an email to a Haitian friend asking for her family. It looks like everyone is fine but she’s devastated and very preoccupied. She asked me to pray for a better tomorrow for her country. Haiti was destroyed by a hurricane a year ago and has managed to gain stability after months of political turmoil and violence in 2004. Now this…

I was once heard a journalist friend say that the poorest country he had been to was Haiti. “If you want to see poverty and misery, go to Haiti. It’s shit!” those where his exact words. I cannot imagine how difficult the situation must be now.

And once again, it’s the United States sending aid and thousands of “Americanos” showing us that despite their McDonalds culture, they are the first to help the needy.  Then when they suffer terrorist attacks, they don’t understand why.

According to the 2000 Census, there are more that 400.000 native born Haitians in the United States. Florida and New York have the highest number.

I would be naïve not to think that Washington has an agenda just like all the other companies donating money and relief. But you know what? I prefer someone that is being proactive, no matter what their agenda is, than someone that says they have no personal interests and does nothing at all.  Yanquis, don’t go home. We need you.

Homeless and hopeless haitians waiting for aid.

Today is January 13th. As you all know, shortly before 5 o’clock yesterday, an earthquake struck outside of Port-au-Prince and outside of the island of Haiti, and then there were multiple aftershocks that had an impact on the island as well. According to our initial information, it appears that most of the damage has been within Port-au-Prince, and that the outlying areas have sustained less damage or very limited damage. Many casualties, thousands are dead, wounded or missing.

Let me just first start out by stating, and echoing the sentiments of all of our contributors/authors, that our thoughts and prayers are with the Haitian people and with the vast international community that is present in Haiti.

The Haitians are going through what is going to undoubtedly be a very challenging and difficult time in their history. We are looking forward to see all possible efforts being done in order to provide all the support that the world can bring to bear to try and ameliorate the impact of this terrible situation on Haiti.

As many have already seen on the media, there are numerous structures that have sustained substantial damage, and the situation is very severe, including the UN peacekeeping force

PORT-AU-PRINCE IN RUINS

 headquarters also sustained considerable damage. We encourage all of the countries of our hemisphere to lend their assistance to Haiti, and find out asap how The Americas and the rest of the world can provide the appropriate support to be able to provide the most important thing, right now, that is search-and-rescue support in Haiti.

 The Americas must support their brothers in need! Please Dear God, help the people of Haiti!

The Publisher.-

Fidel Castro and his brother Raul listen carefully to Hugo Chavez, in a meeting in Havana.

Not even Fidel Castro said that, but Hugo Chavez did it again. In a statement to The Miami Herald, Mr. Nelson Castilian, former consul of Venezuela in Paris, believes that the Jackal is the most protected prisoner abroad of Venezuela and most influential within the Chavez government. The Jackal is in prison in France for the assassination of three French people, two of them policemen. The well known terrorist killed about 100 people around the world in many terrorist attacks during the 70s and 80s, acting of behalf of the intelligence services of many former communist countries as well as the Palestinian group Black September.

Castilian first met with Ilich Ramirez in 1991 when he was kidnapped by The Jackal, and during his diplomatic mission in Paris when Castillan was in charge of  Ilich Ramirez case.

Photo of the terrorist Carlos Ilich Ramirez Sanchez alias The Jackal, protected friend of venezuelan Hugo Chavez.

“The Venezuelan government’s attention to Carlos is not necessarily a humanitarian gesture, but Chavez owes him favours“ said Castilian, who found the explanation for  this gesture as a commitment of Chavez, whom they say was funded by the Ramirez Sanchez clan.

Castilian says the gesture is meant also as a commitment of former Venezuelan minister Luis Miquilena, who admitted his close friendship with the father of the Jackal, Jose Altagracia Ramirez, and went on to say that the personality and career of the Jackal deserve him ” the greatest respect. “

Recent photo of the terrorist Carlos a The Jackal, in prison in France.

The former consul is sure also that the end of his diplomatic career was prompted by the Jackal´s  pressure to the Chavez government from the terrorist government of Hugo Chávez.

“I still find hard to understand that a man as Ilich Ramirez, who in 1998 announced in a letter from his cell that his heir would be Osama Bin Laden, have so much power in a government that presume of being democratic, and that President Chavez writes letters to Carlos The Jackal addressing the terrorist as Distinguished Citizen of Venezuela” said Castilian.

Indeed, in late November, the Foreign Ministry of France, where Carlos The Jackal is detained , had to clarify that the inmate “will never be anything but a terrorist.” The claim arises from statements by Hugo Chávez, who claimed the figure of the prisoner just days before.

“` Carlos what was in truth is a revolutionary fighter. I shall claim, do I care what they say tomorrow in Europe! ” said the president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez in a recent event to some 150 delegates from leftist parties from 40 countries.

Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper

“As we celebrate Canada’s 20 years of membership in the Organization of American States, our commitment…

READ THE BLOG HERE.-

Ivan Gerardo Cruz - Author/Contributor of Bloggers of The Americas

Surely 2010 will bring many political surprises in the continent. One of these, almost certainly, is the return of Chile to the right and a slightly more contingent and unpredictable is the possibility that Brazil also turn right following the departure of President Lula da Silva in September.

In this hypothetical scenario, with Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru on the right and increasingly open to trade and relations with the United States, the ideological balance of South America would be much more balanced and the expansionist intentions of Hugo Chávez would receive a lethal injection to the heart of his ridiculous socialist revolution, fortunately for all of us who love democracy.  

President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe

If we add the weak role played by Paraguay and Uruguay in the continental decisions, Chavez would be leaving only with the ‘backup’ of Argentina and his two well known partners  Evo Morales and Rafael Correa.

However it is also clear that its partnership with Ecuador depends on many internal factors and expressed interests of the government of Correa with other countries which do not allow Correa to completely align with the Bolivarian revolution.

And if we add the coming arrival of the U.S. military to the famous Colombian military bases, the situation for Chávez in 2010 will not be easy, either in its diplomatic relations, much less in a fictional war scenario. That is good!

Russian Sukhoi Jet Fighter

And speaking of war scenarios, which in my view are not so fictitious any longer, for the first time in its history Colombia has reinforced some strategic points of its long border with Venezuela, this is the Colombian response to the relentless warmongering rhetoric of Chavez that ended with the Venezuelan purchase of the  Russian  24 Sukhoi fighter jets. These  aircraft considered the best in the world are able to bomb colombian strategic points and return to Caracas in just 30 minutes.

As if that were not enough Chavez also strengthened the Venezuelan military cavalry by  purchasing 92 Russian tanks T72 and he would recruit and train tens of thousands of militia men to give to each one of them an AK-47 – the same as used by the FARC.

Russian T-72 Tank

I think Hugo Chávez really believe that he will be attacked from Colombia by the US military. What a paranoia!
The fact that the Colombian army has created two aviation battalions, one located in the northern Guajira peninsula and one in the region of Arauca , – the objective is to mobilize its fleet of helicopters and planes more easily – speaks of the seriousness with which Colombia has begun to prepare for a possible attack by the aircraft or tanks of Chavez.
Besides these two new combat units, Colombia is re-powering the Marandúa airbase, located on the border of the Vichada region in southeastern Colombia. It should be clear that this is solely due to the constant threats from Caracas and not to any warmongering interest of Bogota. Simple defense mechanisms.  
But I remain optimistic that the madness of Hugo Chávez will not come too much. It would be unreasonable on his part to attack Colombia knowing the presence of U.S. troops in several Colombian military bases. It would be a declaration of war against the ”empire’ ‘as he calls the U.S..

Soldiers using AK 47

But if war has not yet begun, at least the climate of tension on the border is clear and all kind of incidents have happened in the last three months, I guess these incidents were orchestrated from the Miraflores Palace, to feel how far can Colombia react.
 From massacres and absurd public demonstrations of force against Colombian citizens living in the Venezuelan side of the border, to deportations, allegations of espionage and blasting of pedestrian bridges have tried to ignite the powder keg,  waiting, I suppose, of a military reaction from Colombia allowing Chavez to a larger attack. Colombia always responded by diplomatic means denouncing the Chavez provocations before international bodies like the UN and OAS.
But if his madness prevailed , I think the conflict would last no more than a week if the U.S. were to intervene militarily to support Colombia. It would be like fighting a tiger with a donkey tied.
 And even without American intervention,  the Colombian armed forces  are ready to neutralize any military attack since they have the qualifications and experience necessary to wage war on land and air. More than 40 years, day after day, fighting the various guerrilla groups are a cover letter that deserves respect.

President of Venezuela, Cnel. Hugo Chávez

I’m sure that Chavez has it himself very clear, and I think that this is his old and already well known strategy to divert attention from the serious social problems that have engulfed the Venezuelan people in the worst living conditions in Venezuelan history.
The new year is just beginning, and surely the destiny has prepared great things for the Venezuelan people, I am optimistic, because of this we asked the Three Kings (the Three Wise Men) for  a new president to Venezuela. That would be a nice gift!  Happy New Year … 

Dr. Richard Feinberg

by Richard Feinberg

READ THE ARTICLE HERE.-

Victor R. Bjorgan - The Publisher of Bloggers of The Americas

We, administrators, authors and contributors of Bloggers of The Americas, wish you and all of our readers a Happy New Year 2010!  We are finishing a very exciting year 2009, which was the year of the creation of our site Bloggers of The Americas. We are very happy with what we have accomplished, so far.  Many thousands of  views, many comments to our posts, and also many plans for the near future. In 2010 we will be working in order to start a new website: TheAmericasPost.com.  Make no mistakes, in the next years our future site, TheAmericasPost.com will be the axis of the interamerican spirit. We hope you will be part of this new development. Well, last but not least, we send you and your family our warmest wishes for a Happy New Year 2010!