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August has been a troubled month for freedom of the press in the Americas. Here are a few examples.

• Unidentified gunmen shot and killed veteran radio broadcaster Israel Zelaya Díaz in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Zelaya is at least the eighth Honduran reporter killed so far this year amid an atmosphere that has become far more dangerous since the June 2009 coup that deposed elected President Manuel Zelaya. “The unsolved murders suggest a deeper breakdown of law and order and undermine Honduras’ desire to put last year’s political violence behind it,” read an August 27 Miami Herald editorial. “As disturbing as the journalists’ deaths has been the Honduran government’s swift dismissal of the possibility that the victims were killed because of their line of work,” charged an August 8 Houston Chronicle editorial. “After minimizing the crimes, Honduran authorities are slow and negligent in pursuing the killers,” charges a hard-hitting July 27 report by the Committee to Protect Journalists. The Honduran government’s minister of human rights, a newly created post, wrote the New York Times to defend its actions: “The investigations have not concluded in the rest of the cases and continue at a standard pace. Therefore, one should not talk about killing with ‘impunity’ in any of these cases, as the [CPJ] report does.”

• The government of Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has feuded constantly with two of the country’s principal daily newspapers, La Nación and Clarín. The latter is part of the country’s largest media company. In the latest episode last week, President Fernández proposed to regulate the production of newsprint paper as a “public interest.” In other words, the Argentine government would control the supply of newsprint. The president justifies the move by alleging that the country’s main newsprint supplier, Papel Prensa, was sold to Clarín and La Nación under pressure from the military government that ran Argentina at the time. Fernández accuses the papers of benefiting from “crimes against humanity”; Argentina’s opposition issued a joint statement charging, “Like the dictators, they believe they can build an official history by censuring the press, controlling their materials and, with this new power, form an extraordinary state communication apparatus so that society only hears their side of the story.” Said U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner, “We have concerns about journalistic freedom all over the world and certainly, there’s a strong domestic debate occurring right now in Argentina. We’re paying close attention to developments and it’s a part of our bilateral conversation.”

• The Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and National Public Radio have all recently covered Mexico’s troubling phenomenon of “narco-censorship,” in which media outlets fail to report about drug cartel violence out of fear for reporters’ lives. Notes the L.A. Times, “When convoys of narco hit men brazenly turned their guns on army garrisons in Reynosa, trapping soldiers inside, it was front-page news in the Los Angeles Times in April. It went unreported in Reynosa.” Affiliates of Televisa, the country’s largest television network, were hit by small bomb attacks in Monterrey and Matamoros on August 15. Associated Press reports about a heavily anonymized blog, “Blog del Narco,” that has quickly won a huge readership in Mexico because it reports on the cartel violence that major media outlets ignore. With nine journalists killed so far this year, journalists’ associations in northern Mexico now recommend that reporters wear helmets and bulletproof vests.

• In Venezuela, reporting on violence carries risks from another direction: the government. A court declared a one-month ban on publishing pictures of crime and violence after one of the country’s main dailies, the opposition-aligned El Nacional, ran a gruesome photo of crime victims’ bodies strewn across a clearly overwhelmed morgue. Opponents of President Hugo Chávez’s government allege that the crime-images ban, imposed with a month to go before highly contested September 26 legislative elections, is designed to reduce voters’ outrage at the country’s very high crime rates. The government at first sought to sanction El Nacional for running the photo and thus threatening “the rights to health, physical, psychological and moral integrity of children and adolescents”; the charge was later dropped.

On July 19 and 20, vice-ministers of defense and similar defense officials from all over the hemisphere traveled to Santa Cruz, Bolivia, for a Preparatory Meeting of the IX Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas (CDMA). In November, all of the hemisphere’s ministers of defense – likely including U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates – will attend the CDMA in Santa Cruz. Participants in the Preparatory Meeting meet to define and agree on the conference’s agenda and to prepare the summit’s final declaration. Minutes from the meeting are available at the CDMA’s website.

The meeting’s highlights were as follows:

The CDMA’s agenda will consist of three points:

1. Consolidation of Peace, Trust, Security and Cooperation in the Americas: Defense Ministers will discuss mechanisms to strengthen peace, cooperation and security in the region, as well as transparency mechanisms in defense budgets, expenditures and arms purchases.
2. Democracy, Armed Forces, Security and Society: this point aims to discuss women’s participation and gender equality in the armed forces and defense institutions; as well as modernization, interculturality, defense education and democracy within defense systems.
3. Regional Security and Natural Disasters - Strengthening Hemispheric Cooperation: the goal is to exchange lessons from Haiti and Chile’s experience in prevention, preparation, response and reconstruction of natural disasters. Also, this item will debate regional capacity to respond to natural disasters.

The Draft Declaration includes a few points worth highlighting:

- It commits to preserve the “Spirit of Williamsburg” (the first CDMA, held in 1994 in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States, known for its declaration’s institutionalist and democratic tone), to strengthen democracy, peace, security, solidarity, and cooperation among the nations of the hemisphere.

- It promotes a gender perspective as a crosscutting issue in all defense environments.

- It stresses confidence-building measures as an instrument of cooperation and peace in the hemisphere. It acknowledges the set of confidence and security building measures recently approved by the South American Defense Council, which establish mechanisms for information-sharing on defense budgets, defense expenditures and arms purchases, among others.

- It celebrates Nicaragua’s declaration to be a country free of antipersonnel landmines, following a long cleanup effort from the country’s 1980s civil war, making Central America the first region free of landmines in the world.

- It mentions the need to achieve full implementation of the Inter-American Convention on Transparency in Conventional Weapons.

- In light of Haiti’s and Chile’s natural disasters, it supports the need to strengthen crisis management systems, hemispherically and internationally.

- It highlights the need to consolidate the training of civilians in defense issues, promoting the inclusion of civilian training programs in bilateral and multilateral assistance.

- It rejects the presence of illegal armed groups in the hemisphere.

- It commits to inviting Honduras, which was not invited to this year’s conference, to the next CDMA, which will take place in Uruguay.

- Finally, and perhaps most surprisingly, it also commits to inviting Cuba for the X CDMA as an “Observer State.”

This month, three new U.S. ambassadors to Latin American countries were confirmed. On August 5th, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Rose Likins to be Ambassador to Peru and Peter Michael McKinley to be Ambassador to Colombia. On August 19th, President Obama announced four recess appointments to key administrations posts, including Maria del Carmen Aponte, Obama's nominee to be Ambassador to El Salvador. Aponte's confirmation had been on hold for almost one year after Republican Senators Jim DeMint (South Carolina) and Jim Risch (Idaho) blocked her nomination because of a past relationship with a Cuban-American who allegedly had contact with the interests section in Washington, according to the Los Angeles Times. "At a time when our nation faces so many pressing challenges, I urge members of the Senate to stop playing politics with our highly qualified nominees, and fulfill their responsibilities of advice and consent," President Obama said upon announcing the recess appointments. "Until they do, I reserve the right to act within my authority to do what is best for the American people."

Larry Palmer, nominated by President Obama to be Ambassador to Venezuela, however, must wait to be confirmed until after the U.S. Senate returns from recess on September 7th. Even if the Senate confirms his appointment, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez may not allow him in the country. On August 8th, President Chávez said it was "impossible" to endorse Palmer, due to his responses to a questionnaire from the Committee on Foreign Relations in which Palmer claimed that the FARC maintain camps in Venezuela and that he is concerned about "Cuba's influence within the Venezuelan military."

The United States does not plan to withdraw Palmer's nomination. "We believe that Larry Palmer, if confirmed by the Senate, will in fact be an effective ambassador and an effective interlocutor between our government and Venezuela," said U.S. State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley at the press briefing yesterday. He also noted that Venezuela had not withdrawn their prior agreement to accept his nomination.

Below are brief biographies of the four ambassadors recently confirmed, or awaiting confirmation, to take up posts in Latin America.

Michael McKinley - Colombia

On August 5th, the U.S. Senate confirmed career Foreign Service Officer Michael McKinley to serve as Ambassador to Colombia. McKinley served as Ambassador to Peru from 2007 to 2010.

McKinley joined the Foreign Service in 1982 and has held various international posts throughout his career. According to his biography on the State Department website, Ambassador McKinley

served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels between 2004 and 2007. From 2001-2004, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Department of State's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. Between 1994 and 2001, Ambassador McKinley was Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge d'Affaires at U.S. Embassies in Mozambique, Uganda, and Belgium. Earlier assignments include U.S. Embassy London (1990-94), three tours in Washington (1985-90), and Bolivia (1983-85).

Ambassador McKinley was born in Venezuela and grew up in Brazil, Mexico, Spain, and the United States. He did his undergraduate and graduate studies in the United Kingdom, and has a doctorate from Oxford University.

McKinley is considered to be an expert on Venezuela. His history of colonial Venezuela was published by Cambridge University Press as part of its Latin America series, and has also appeared in a Spanish edition.

Rose Likins - Peru

Rose Likins' appointment to take Michael McKinley's place as U.S. Ambassador to Peru was also confirmed by the Senate on August 5th. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Likins was deputy director of the Foreign Service Institute prior to taking over McKinley's post. According to the White House press release announcing her nomination, Ambassador Likins

was previously Dean of the Foreign Service Institute's School of Professional and Area Studies. She also served as the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador. Washington assignments include Honduras Desk Officer, Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State, Executive Assistant to the Under Secretary for Global Affairs, Director of the Department's Operations Center, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Department and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs. Overseas posts include Consular Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Monterrey, Mexico, Chief of the political section at the U.S. Embassy in Asuncion, Paraguay and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria. She received a BA in Spanish and International Affairs from Mary Washington College.

As Ambassador to El Salvador under the George W. Bush administration, Likins was said to have interfered in the 2004 presidential elections in El Salvador by stating that the U.S. would "re-analyze" relations with the country if the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), who during El Salvador's 12 year civil war fought against the U.S. backed government, won the presidency.

Maria del Carmen Aponte - El Salvador

Maria del Carmen Aponte was nominated by President Obama to be Ambassador to El Salvador in late 2009. Aponte is an attorney, former board member of the National Council of La Raza and former president of the Hispanic National Bar Association. As noted above, her confirmation was put on hold in late December, by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) and other Republicans, over her past relationship with a Cuban-American with an alleged link to the Cuban interests section. Last week, President Obama used a congressional recess appointment to bypass the Senate confirmation process and ended the eight-month long hold on Aponte.

Here is the White House's official bio for Maria del Carmen Aponte:

Maria del Carmen Aponte is currently an attorney and independent consultant with Aponte Consulting and serves on the Board of Directors of Oriental Financial Group. From 2001-2004, Ms. Aponte was the Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Federal Affairs Administration (PRFAA). Prior to that, she practiced law for nearly twenty years with Washington D.C. based law firms. Ms. Aponte also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Council of La Raza, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the University of the District of Columbia. She is also a member of the Board of Rosemont College. She served as president of the Hispanic National Bar Association; the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia; and as a member of the District of Columbia Judicial Nominations Commission. In 1979, as a White House Fellow, Ms. Aponte was Special Assistant to United States Housing and Urban Development Secretary Moon Landrieu. Ms. Aponte has a B.A. in Political Science from Rosemont College, an M.A. in Theatre from Villanova University, and a J.D. from Temple University.

Larry Palmer - Venezuela

Larry Palmer, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and former U.S. Ambassador to Honduras, is awaiting confirmation from the Senate to be Ambassador to Venezuela. As described above, his recent remarks on Venezuela angered Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who said on television that "he can't come here, he has disqualified himself by breaking all the rules of diplomacy, by prejudging all of us, even our armed forces." The United States government, however, does not plan to choose a new nominee for the post, stating that Palmer "is still the best candidate for the job."

According to the White House, Palmer

is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. He is currently serving as President and CEO of the Inter-American Foundation. Prior to that he served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Honduras and as Charge D'Affaires in Quito, Ecuador. He also served as President of the 41st Senior Seminar and as Assistant to the President of the University of Texas at El Paso. Overseas posts include the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Paraguay, Korea, and Sierra Leone. Born in Augusta, Georgia, Palmer received a B.A from Emory University, an M.Ed. from Texas Southern University and a Doctorate (Ed.D) in Higher Education Administration and African Studies from Indiana University, Bloomington. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Palmer served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia.

While there continues to be conflict-related violence throughout Colombia, much of the recent violence seems to be concentrated in the country's urban centers, most notably in Bogotá and Medellín. In both of these urban centers murder rates and gun violence attributed to emerging criminal groups, the apparent successors to the disbanded AUC paramilitary structure, have continued to surge.

According to a report released Thursday, August 18th by the Bogotá mayor's office, there were 938 recorded murders in the Colombian capital between January and July -- 33 more than in the same seven-month span last year. The Ciudad Bolívar district in southern Bogotá had the highest murder rate out of the city's 20 districts, citing 157 murders so far this year, 141 men and 16 women.

On August 13th, less than a week after the inauguration of Colombia's new president Juan Manuel Santos, Bogotá suffered a car bombing on a principal street, near the Caracol Radio network. The attack took place at 5:30 a.m. and injured 36, while damaging 424 homes and offices. Juan Manuel Santos has offered 500 million Colombian pesos (about $250,000) for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the bombing and the government in Cundinamarca, the department around Bogotá, has offered another 30 million pesos. Authorities have arrested three people implicated in the attack, however police are still unsure who is responsible; both right-wing paramilitary groups and the left-wing guerrilla group the FARC are being considered. The Colombian newsweekly Semana has a short overview of the case's conflicting evidence.

Medellín, Colombia's second-largest city, has also experienced an increase in violence. This year there have been 1,322 murders, 12 percent more than the same period in 2009. Comuna 13, located in the central western part of the city with a population of 134,000, continues to be the city's most violent area, registering 12.4 percent of the city’s total death toll. According to Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, there are more than 140 gangs currently operating in the city- about a dozen or so in Comuna 13 alone- fighting for territorial control and command of drug, gambling, and prostitution rings. There has also been an increase in illegal arms sales throughout the city, which authorities believe indicates the sponsorship of smaller groups by organizations like the "Office of Envigado" headed by Erick Vargas, alias "Sebastian" and Maximiliano Bonilla, alias "Valenciano", and "Los Urabenos" and "Los Rastrojos."

In an effort to thwart the escalating violence, Medellín Mayor Alonso Salazar, police commander General Oscar Naranjo and Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera held a Security Council meeting last weekend after Salazar asked the National Government for additional help in combating the violence. After the meeting, Naranjo announced several new security measures that local authorities would be taking, including the installation of video cameras in particularly violent areas and security checkpoints at the entry points to Comuna 13. He also announced the creation of an "Integrated Intervention Center," the purpose of which will be to study the violence and devise new "preventative" plans to control it, as well as the deployment of 800 extra police to Comuna 13.

On Wednesday August 18th, 14 members of the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group were killed in an aerial attack on an encampment in Tarazá in the Bajo Cauca region of the Antioquia department, about 100 miles northeast of Medellín. In the attack, known as "Operation Alliance," the military leader of the group's "Darío de Jesús Ramírez" front, alias "Éver," was killed. "Ever" had been with the group for 18 years and was allegedly responsible for laying more than 43 landmine fields in the past year. The ELN units affected had also allegedly been coordinating narcoproduction and trafficking operations with FARC fronts in the region.

Over the weekend in Tame, a rural region in Arauca department, FARC leader Jhon Javier Gil, alias "Milton Díaz," was killed along with two other members of the guerrilla group in a clash with the armed forces. "Milton Díaz" was allegedly second in command of the "Alfonso Castellanos" unit of the FARC and responsible for the oversight of several attacks in the region within the past three years. Soldier Abigail Tariffa Cardenas also died in the operation. Also in Arauca over the weekend, in Saravena, soldiers found an escaped Eln member, a four-month-pregnant fourteen year old.

In response to escalating levels of gang-related violence, the Ministry of Defense held a Security Council meeting this past weekend in Montelíbano, in Córdoba department. Since January of this year there have been more than 400 murders in the region, the majority related to the narcotrafficking operations of emerging criminal groups, which have continued to grow, four years after the AUC's official demobilization. According to the People's Defense Council, Cordoba's San Jorge municipality is among the most high-risk zones in the region, as the Troncal roadway, which runs through the area, has become the territorial dividing line between three criminal groups: "Los Urabenos," "Los Paisas" and "Las Aguilas." The situation in Monteria, Córdoba's capital, is equally precarious, as at least 60 people have been killed in the past eight months due to narcotrafficking and gang-related violence.

The council announced several measures to be implemented in the coming months as a "total offensive" against the criminal groups, including an antinarcotics post in Necoclí in Antioquia department, 14 squadrons of border police, and six intelligence bases that will be established in various municipalities throughout Córdoba, as well as in Urabá and Bajo Cauca in Antioquia department.

On Sunday August 15th in Puerto Asís, Putumayo department, two teenage boys were killed, followed by another this past Friday, August 20th. The names of the three boys had appeared on a "death threat" list of 69 names posted on Facebook three weeks earlier and circulated on fliers throughout the town. The flier asked residents to evacuate the town in three days and threatened to continue committing acts like "those on August 15th" should they not comply.

Initially authorities believed the incidents to be a joke, however following a town Security Council meeting on Friday, the town's Defense Council attributed the murders and threats to "Los Rastrojos," a criminal group with a strong presence in several neighborhoods in Puerto Asis. The gang has been linked to various other violent threats, attacks, and intimidation tactics.

On Monday August 23, the Anncol website, which frequently posts FARC communications, posted a letter from the guerrilla group requesting that UNASUR mediate peace talks with the government. In the open statement the FARC Secretariat indicated, "When you deem it opportune, we are ready to explain during a UNASUR assembly our vision of the Colombian conflict." This is following an announcement by President Santos last Tuesday that "military results every day, on different fronts" was how the country is "going to finally achieve peace." He continued, "until we see clear irrefutable proof that the conditions we have given are adhered to, there is no possibility for dialogue." This is the group's second statement mentioning peace talks since President Santos was elected; the first came from leader Alfonso Cano in a video released on July 30th.

This blog post was written by CIP intern Sarah Kinosian

A "narco-blockade" in Monterrey (image source).

• “Save Monterrey” reads the lead editorial in Wednesday’s edition of the Mexican daily El Universal. Mexico’s wealthiest city, less than 100 miles from the U.S. border, has rapidly plunged from relative tranquility to narco-related violence. In the past week, cartels shut down the city by blockading main roads, exploded a device outside the Televisa TV affiliate, and murdered the mayor of the nearby town of Santiago.

• Mexican authorities say they have seized 180,000 weapons in the past 3 ½ years, and that 191 members of the military (not police) were killed by narcotraffickers in the same period. In all, AFP reports, 694 members of Mexico’s armed forces have been killed on anti-drug operations since 1976, when they first took on the counternarcotics role.

• According to The Economist, Venezuela’s Interior Ministry reported 12,257 homicides during the first 11 months of 2009. A study carried out by the country’s National Statistics Institute at the request of the Vice President’s Office found 19,133 murders in 2009. This is an extremely high figure for a country of 28 million people; Colombia, with 45 million people, reported 15,817 or 17,717 homicides in 2009, depending on the source.

• In Bogotá, meanwhile, the coroner’s office recorded 938 murders during the first seven months of 2010, up from 905 during the same period in 2009. Due to population growth, however, the city’s overall murder rate declined by 0.9 percent.

• A few weeks ago, polls for Brazil’s October 3 presidential elections were showing a dead heat between Dilma Rousseff of the ruling Workers’ Party and José Serra of the opposition Social Democracy Party. Now, with a month and a half to go, Rousseff has opened up a 43% to 32% lead.

• Brazil was the destination of a visit from Ecuador’s foreign minister this week, seeking to patch things up after Ecuador’s 2008 expulsion of a Brazilian construction company. Brazil, at the beginning of September, will also be the locale of Juan Manuel Santos’s first foreign trip as president of Colombia.

• Colombia’s new foreign minister, María Ángela Holguín, hinted that the U.S.-Colombia defense cooperation agreement might be revised to take neighboring countries’ concerns into account. (Colombia’s Constitutional Court struck down the October 2009 agreement on Tuesday, ruling that Colombia’s Congress must first ratify it.) “Not only Venezuela, but UNASUR in general, has asked that some paragraphs be introduced to assure them that absolutely nothing would happen with the Colombia bases,” Holguín said. “We’re certainly going to look at that in our study of the agreement.”

• “The United States should now consider the benefits of supporting a peace process to try to end a conflict that has raged for more than four decades,” writes Milburn Line of the University of San Diego’s Joan Kroc Institute, in a strong piece about Colombia published in the International Herald Tribune.

• Claudia López, the Colombian researcher who played a key role in breaking the “para-politics” scandal, has released a new book about “how mafiosi and politicians reconfigured the Colombian state. “There is no proof so far linking him [former president Álvaro Uribe] directly with illegal structures. But it is clear that all illegal actors on the right wing inserted themselves into his political program and he did nothing to avoid it. Eight of every ten para-politicians were from his coalition,” López tells “La Silla Vacía” in a wide-ranging interview.

• In a piece published Thursday to the OpenDemocracy.net website, I point out that Juan Manuel Santos – if he continues to follow some of the policies that have marked his few days in office – may find himself on a nasty but necessary collision course with the mafiosi and para-politicians in the coalition he inherited from Uribe.

• The WOLA/TNI “Drug Law Reform in Latin America” project unearths a 1998 letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan signed by, among others, Juan Manuel Santos. It calls for “a frank and honest evaluation of global drug control efforts” because “we believe that the global war on drugs is now causing more harm than drug abuse itself.”

• El Tiempo interviews a former FARC guerrilla, a recent deserter, who was present at the site where hostages were being kept when the Colombian military rescued them in July 2008. He says that he and many others were at first accused of being traitors to the guerrilla group: “They chained my hands and feet, they took me someplace over there [where FARC leader alias “Mono Jojoy” was headquartered] and I spent a month and thirteen days detained with security all around.”

• Chile’s defense minister traveled to Lima to meet with his Peruvian counterpart, where they agreed to do more to coordinate their defense expenditures. Meanwhile the head of Bolivia’s army traveled to Santiago to meet with his Chilean counterpart.

• 85 percent of Latin Americans oppose going the Costa Rica/Panama/Haiti route and abolishing their armed forces. However, at least 1 in 5 Guatemalans, Paraguayans and Uruguayans would be in favor of it. This is one of many interesting findings in a new FLACSO region-wide poll about governance and democracy, whose entire contents are viewable here.

• The Obama administration appears to be close to restoring Clinton-era “people-to-people” contacts with Cuba, the Washington Post revealed Wednesday. This would mean licensing several currently prohibited types of U.S. citizen travel to the island.

• Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernández named a new armed-forces chief and a new police chief this week. Both said that fighting crime and narcotrafficking would be their main priority.

Yesterday, six non-governmental organizations sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking her to ensure that, with the beginning of Juan Manuel Santos' presidency in Colombia, U.S. policy focuses strongly on the human rights issues facing the nation. "It is a moment to increase – rather than ease – pressure on the Colombian government to make substantial improvements in the protection and promotion of human rights," write the six Latin America and human rights organizations.

The organizations urge Secretary Clinton not to certify that Colombia's human rights performance is improving, as required by law to free up 30 percent of military aid in the foreign aid budget.

The letter points to five key areas on which U.S. policy should focus and press the Colombian government to achieve. They include:

• Ending and effectively prosecuting extrajudicial executions by the army;
• Ending and effectively prosecuting intelligence service abuses;
• Ensuring a safe climate for those working at risk for the rule of law, including human rights defenders, union leaders, judges, prosecutors, journalists and Afro-COlombian and indigenous community leaders;
• Dismantling paramilitary and new illegal armed networks; and
• Protecting the rights of and returning land to internally displace persons and refugees.

The six NGOs that signed the letter are: the Center for International Policy, Latin America Working Group, Washington Office on Latin America, U.S. Office on Colombia, Human Rights First and Lutheran World Relief.

The four-page letter includes a summary of concerns and recommendations in the five areas listed above. You can download the full text here.

This Monday marked the beginning of the annual Fuerzas Aliadas PANAMAX 2010 training exercise. Co-sponsored by the U.S. Southern Command and the Panamanian government, the 12-day exercise brings together land, air and sea forces from 18 nations in a joint, combined operation focused on ensuring the defense of the Panama Canal.

This year, the exercise will run from August 16-27 and will carry out live and simulated training scenarios in the vicinity of the Panama Canal, Colombia and various U.S. locations (Norfolk, Virginia and Miami and Mayport, Florida). According to the U.S. Department of Defense, PANAMAX is "one of the largest multinational training exercises in the world," involving more than 30 vessels, a dozen aircraft, and 4,500 personnel.

The first PANAMAX was held in 2003 and included only Chile, Panama and the United States. Over the past seven years, the exercise has expanded to include 20 nations at its peak last year. This year, 18 nations are participating, including Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the United States, and Uruguay. Costa Rica, the Netherlands and France participated in PANAMAX 2009, but did not return this year, and Honduras is participating again after withdrawing last year due to controversy surrounding the military's involvement with the coup d'etat, which ousted President Manuel Zelaya in August 2009.

Here are some more details about this year's Fuerzas Aliadas PANAMAX exercise:

Purpose
The purpose of PANAMAX 2010 is "to enhance regional cooperation and exercise participating nations' ground, naval, air and special operators' ability to respond to threats to the Panama Canal and plan for a major humanitarian assistance and disaster relief event in the region."

This year's exercise simulates the following scenario: A terrorist organization attacks the Panama Canal. In response to a request from Panama, the United Nations Security Council instructs the United States to lead a multinational force to protect the Canal and ensure shipping traffic and free maritime access.

According to Panamanian coordinator for PANAMAX 2010 Jesus Rodriguez, the increase in drug cartel activity in the region and along the Panamanian coastline is "closely connected to terrorism and the weapons trade. Drugs have become synonymous of terrorism."

Skills practiced:
Southcom's factsheet on PANAMAX 2010 explains that the training involved will address the spectrum of maritime operations, including: visit, board, search and seizure; entry control point training; riverine patrols; and open water diving operations.

The factsheet also points out that PANAMAX provides training to "ensure civil, naval, air, and ground security forces can operate as an effective team, coordinating assets and sharing information to respond quickly to crises and protect the security of the region."

In a provocative article published yesterday in the Argentine newspaper La Nación, Carlos Pagni analyzes political and power interests behind diplomatic relations in South America. The article highlights the “new” role Argentina is playing in the Western Hemisphere’s political scene.

Argentina has been criticized, since Nestor Kirchner’s administration and continuing through Cristina Kirchner’s government as well, for not having a coherent foreign policy. However, events from the past week provide evidence of the contrary. The role played by Nestor Kirchner as UNASUR’s Secretary General during the conflict between Colombia and Venezuela and last week’s joint press conference by Secretary Clinton and Argentina’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Hector Timerman, reveal that Argentina is playing a more active role in hemispheric politics. Drawing on these two episodes, the Argentine journalist reveals a network of relationships and motives underlying the mere fact of Argentina’s desire to have a more predominant role.

Argentina, Brazil, U.S. and Iran

The meeting between Clinton and Timerman and the subsequent press conference have deeper political implications than just strengthening ties between the United States and Argentina.

The origins of the Clinton-Timerman meeting go back to the Global Nuclear Summit in Washington, in May of 2010. Back then, Timerman, then Argentine Ambassador to the United States, was negotiating to get a photo opportunity for President Cristina Kirchner with President Obama.

General James Jones, Obama’s national security advisor, explained to Timerman the importance to the United States of restricting Iran’s illicit enrichment of uranium. Argentina’s support against Iran was not difficult to obtain. Argentina holds an international dispute with Iran over a 1994 terrorist attack against a Jewish Society building in Buenos Aires. In 2007, the Argentine government issued a request for the arrest of a group of Iranians, among which was the current defense minister of Iran. Timerman therefore suggested to Jones that it would be good for Obama to mention this to Cristina Kirchner at the Summit. This made Cristina and Obama’s picture finally possible.

In light of this, Timerman’s recent meeting with Secretary Clinton seems to confirm the tie between these two countries and the Argentine support for U.S. demands against Iran. This goes against Brazil’s posture on the issue, even though Argentina and Brazil are regional allies. However, in retrospect, Argentina’s and Brazil’s history of disputes and competition over regional leadership could indicate that Argentina has something to gain also from aligning with the United States in opposition to Brazil’s softer position toward Iran. In this sense, Argentina could regain some leverage over its ally and also more influence over regional issues.

The United States knows that Argentina’s support could also work as leverage over Brazil’s relationship with Iran. Brazil’s tie with Iran, sealed this year with the Brazil-Iran-Turkey negotiation agreement, was viewed with skepticism and mistrust by the Obama administration.

From Brazil’s perspective, its relationship with Iran is part of a bigger plan. Brazil wants to be a global player and a rule maker. To achieve this, Brazil knows that it has to get a permanent seat at the UN Security Council. This has been a longstanding objective of Itamaraty, Brazil’s Foreign Affairs Ministry. In addition, Brazil’s traditional stance in foreign policy has been one of neutrality and independence: Brazil will never be to the US either the type of ally that Colombia is or the type of opponent Venezuela currently is. Brazil’s link with Iran has to be viewed in light of this.

Lula’s political game with Iran puts Brazil at the center of international attention. Lula received Ahmadinejad in Brasilia in November 2009, and in May 2010 Brazil allied with Turkey to propose the suspension of sanctions against Iran in exchange for a nuclear fuel swap deal in Turkish territory. This strategic maneuvering, in which Brazil advocated against sanctions against Iran, placed it in an independent position and in a defiant role against the United States. But it also allowed Brazil to be seen as a mediator trying to bring Iran to improve relations with the western world by suggesting a solution to the problem, something the UN had tried before without success. In addition, Brazil has other motives in supporting Iran’s nuclear program: Brazil has one of the largest uranium deposits in the world and seeks to exploit this resource. In the end, the Security Council issued sanctions against Iran because the Brazil-Turkey-Iran agreement did not include an Iranian commitment to suspend its nuclear program.

Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela

Nestor Kirchner’s role in the agreement between President Santos and President Chavez was based on a series of off-the-record negotiations initiated from Buenos Aires to enhance relations, specifically with Colombia. On June 24, Alvaro García Jiménez, Colombia’s Ambassador to Argentina, invited Nestor Kirchner to a lunch with ambassadors from other Latin American countries. It was an intelligent move, according to the Argentine journalist, since it would not make the outgoing government of Uribe uncomfortable about getting together with a close friend of Chavez.

After Santos’ triumph in the presidential elections, the designation of María Angela Holguín, who until then had been Representative for the Andean Development Corporation in Argentina, was another step forward. The Kirchners sympathized with her, in part due to her friendship to one of Nestor Kirchner’s advisors, Juan Manuel Abal Medina.

Holguín and García Jiménez convinced Santos to include Buenos Aires in his tour around the region after his election. Santos and Kirchner met on July 26 at the Colombian ambassador’s residency, together with Kirchner’s advisors in UNASUR, Abal Medina y Rafael Follonier. They discussed Uribe’s accusation against Venezuela at the OAS.

Kirchner understood Uribe’s accusations, as many others did, to be a message sent to incoming President Santos of what future Colombian foreign policy should be. However, Venezuela chose to await Uribe’s exit to ease the tension between Venezuela and Colombia and avoid armed conflict. Carlos Pagni writes that Kirchner had several telephone conversations with Chavez in which he confirmed these concerns. Kirchner later traveled to Caracas and from there to Bogotá, where he met both presidents, during a five day tour. The August 10 Santa Marta meeting between Santos and Chávez, at which Colombia and Venezuela agreed to improve their relationship, followed shortly afterward. As a gesture, Santos named José Fernando Bautista, one of his main advisors during his campaign, as Ambassador to Venezuela. Chavez demanded that the FARC abandon their fight, when only six months before he had asked to grant them belligerent status.