President Barack Obama was re-elected Tuesday night, winning over 300 electoral votes and the popular vote by 2.6 million over Republican candidate Mitt Romney. Romney led the popular vote for most of the night, until western states like California closed their polls and counted their ballots. In the end, Obama handily took the electoral college with 303 vote to Romney's 206 and the popular vote with a narrow margin of victory, winning 50% of the vote to Romney's 48%.

Tuesday's election was historic in the United States for several reasons -- marijuana was legalized in two U.S. states, same-sex marriage was passed in another three -- but also of particular note was the increase in the Hispanic electorate's importance. President Obama won just over 70% of the Latino vote, compared to Romney's 27%, ensuring his slight victory in a number of battleground states like Colorado, Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Nevada.

Leading up to the election, many analysts, politicians and voters were disillusioned that Latin America was noticeably absent from both candidates campaigns, especially in relation to issues such as the Mexican drug war that has claimed some 60,000 lives since 2006, the re-election of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, the Cuban embargo and Brazil's growing economic presence.

Before the election took place, regional analysts and leaders, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, El Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes and OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza, said they expected few changes with regards to U.S. policy in the region, regardless of the outcome.

Reactions to President Obama's victory throughout the region held a similar tone. There was a general consensus that Obama was the preferred victor of the two candidates, but that the region expected more attention and cooperation from his administration in the next four years.

Aside from the usual congratulatory messages, many leaders took the opportunity to voice their concerns over a domestic problem that reverberates throughout the region -- immigration reform -- reminding Obama that he owed a large part of his victory to Latinos.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos congratulated President Obama saying his re-election was "good news for Colombia," and noting that now the two countries can "continue to work in cooperation, with the same proposals and objectives and getting results."

Colombian Vice President Angelino Garzón also applauded Obama's re-election as something "positive for the United States and Colombia," but said President Obama had to fulfill his obligation to the international community and the region as a whole, which "expected more" from him. Garzón highlighted the contentious immigrant situation in the U.S., saying "It's good to point out that Colombian immigrant workers have rights that must be respected, human rights, including the right to have American citizenship and residence."

Ecuador's deputy foreign minister, Marco Albuja, echoed these sentiments on Twitter, asking Obama to "always remember the transcendental latino vote." He added that he hoped the new administration would pass immigration reform to "find a definitive solution to the more than 10 million people in [the US] without a defined migrant status."

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, who showed his support for President Obama during the campaign, extended his congratulations, calling Obama "an extraordinary person," but also commenting that he expected little change because "the foreign policy of the United States is inertial and they will need many years to change it.... Everything will practically be the same in Latin America."

Paraguay also weighed in on the immigration issue with Foreign Minister José Félix Fernández Estigarribia pressing Obama to recognize that "part of his win he owes to our Latin American compatriots," and he hoped "President Obama contributes to improving relations with [the rest of] Latin America and to solving the latino immigration problem."

For Honduras, President Porfirio Lobo's government, which enjoyed strong support by Obama in its 2011 election following a contentious 2009 coup, said it did not expect "much change in general relations with the United States," but secretary of planning, Julio Raudales, did comment that "Obama's reelection is good news." Former Honduran President Ricardo Maduro told local television he hoped Obama would focus his attention "towards the south."

Bolivian President Evo Morales had a more critical response to Obama's re-election. After condemning the U.S. electoral process, he suggested Obama settle the score with Latino voters by doing away with the Cuban embargo. He also took a jab at Obama's refusal to extradite Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, a former president accused of corruption and genocide in Bolivia.

"He was reelected thanks to latinos and the best thing he could do to recognize their vote is end the embargo in Cuba," Morales said. "If he wants to dignify his government, it would be important to stop protecting delinquents that escape from many countries, Bolivia included."

With respect to the country's economy, the Bolivian leader gave little clout to the U.S. election, saying "who wins in the United States does not affect the Bolivian people... We should export but [the US] market cannot define our political economy."

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has not commented since the election, but during the campaign he said that if he were an American, he would vote for Obama, although he later said he did not expect much change in U.S. foreign policy.

Cuban President Raul Castro has also yet to publicly respond, however Cuban state-run news website CubaSi reiterated the general feeling of indifference, saying "The news of Barack Obama's triumph in yesterday's general elections in the United States was received with some relief and without great optimism."

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner congratulated President Obama with a letter and also via Twitter, adding that it is "his turn" to "take his place in the history of his people and the world," and assume his "role as global leader to overcome this political and economic crisis."

In this election the Republican Party, as it is wont to do, adopted a more aggressive stance towards the region, particularly with regards to leftist governments, that signaled a possible unwelcome return to the diplomacy of Bush's presidency. Across the board, there was more a sense of relief that Romney lost than excitement that Obama won.

While in practice the policy differences might have been marginal, a Romney presidency would likely have included bellicose rhetoric towards Venezuela and Cuba and potentially cause greater political polarization in the hemisphere, as Inter-American Dialogue president Michael Shifter noted most recently in Foreign Policy magazine.

As Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas points out in the Miami Herald, there are several pending situations could force a change in the region's political and economic landscape, pulling more attention to it, such as the death of Hugo Chavez, the death of Fidel Castro or his brother Raúl, the possible success of peace talks in Colombia, and China's financial growing financial involvement.

Although the issues that shifted the rhetoric away from Latin America during the campaign are still front and center-- Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, jobs, etc-- there is hope that going forward Obama will prioritize the region, and at the very least immigrants looking for a home in the United States, in his second term.

Adam discusses challenges facing newly inaugurated President Ollanta Humala in Peru; Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa's lawsuit against a newspaper; cuts in U.S. aid to Mexico and other ways that the U.S. Congress is affecting Latin America policy.

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Adam discusses Assistant Secretary of State Arturo Valenzuela's resignation, Ecuador's referendum results, and the anti-violence march in Mexico.

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Ecuadorians are voting tomorrow on a list of ten questions, proposed by left-of-center President Rafael Correa, having to do with possible legal and constitutional reforms. Polls indicate that while awareness of the questions is low, all of them will be approved.

Some, particularly those having to do with judicial independence and press freedom, are very controversial. Here is the English text of the ten questions.

1. Do you agree with amending Article 77, number 9 of the Constitution, incorporating a clause to prevent the expiration of preventive detentions when this expiration has been caused by the person on trial, and to punish unreasonable obstacles to justice placed by judges, prosecutors, experts or auxiliary judicial officials?

(If approved, this measure could keep criminals from being released prematurely. But it could also allow preventive detentions to drag on indefinitely for those “innocent until proven guilty.”)

2. Do you agree that alternatives to deprivation of liberty [imprisonment] should apply?

(If approved, this measure could regulate judges’ practice of giving condemned criminals alternative penalties like house arrest or probation.)

3. Do you agree with prohibiting private financial-system institutions, as well as private national media companies, their directors and principal shareholders, from owning or holding shares outside the financial or communication sectors, respectively?

(This is one of the more controversial questions. If approved, it would prevent the formation of large private media/entertainment conglomerates like Time-Warner or News Corporation in the United States. On the other hand, it would represent an important infringement on property rights. Critics of this question view it as a symptom of President Rafael Correa’s very poor relations with Ecuador’s major private media outlets.)

4. Do you agree with substituting the current Judiciary Council with a Transitional Judiciary Council, comprised of three members, one designated by the executive branch, one by the legislative branch and one by the transparency and social-control branch, so that within the time limit of 18 months, it may exercise the powers of the Judicial Council and restructure the judiciary?

(This is one of the more controversial questions. If approved, it would speed judicial reforms called for by the country’s new constitution. However, it would notably weaken checks and balances, as President Correa’s supporters would dominate the proposed Transitional Judiciary Council.)

5. Do you agree with modifying the composition of the Judiciary Council, amending the Constitution and reforming the Organic Code of the judicial branch? (Numerous changes are spelled out in a long annex to this question.)

(Supporters of this controversial question say that it will streamline judicial processes. Opponents argue that it will give President Correa effective control over the judicial branch, as judges and other officials will no longer be chosen by an independent commission, but by a commission including representatives of some branches of government dominated by Correa supporters.)

6. Do you agree that the National Assembly, without delay, within the period specified in the Organic Law of the legislative branch, after the publication of this plebiscite’s results, make “unjustified private enrichment” a crime within the penal code?

(This is a controversial question. Supporters claim it will give the government new tools to fight corruption. Opponents cite the vagueness of the “unjustified” term, which is not further defined but is clearly different from “illegal,” and worry that the President and his supporters may use it to pressure and silence political opponents.)

7. Do you agree that businesses dedicated to gambling, such as casinos and gaming rooms, should be prohibited in the country?

(This question has the support of many conservative Ecuadorians who do not otherwise back President Correa. However, banning gambling could eliminate several thousand jobs.)

8. Do you agree that spectacles that end with the killing of an animal [such as bullfights] should be banned in your county?

(It is still not clear whether this applies just to bullfights or to cockfights as well.)

9. Do you agree that the National Assembly, without delay, within the period specified in the Organic Law of the legislative branch, should issue a Communications Law creating a Regulation Council, which would regulate the diffusion of content on television, on the radio and in the written press that contain violent, sexually explicit or discriminatory messages, and that would establish criteria to hold communicators or broadcasters responsible?

(This is a very controversial question, again related to President Correa’s poor relations with Ecuador’s major private media outlets. The idea of a state body to regulate media content has alarmed press-freedom groups. Similar statutes to punish content considered violent, discriminatory, or otherwise harmful have been very controversial in Venezuela and Bolivia.)

10. Do you agree that the National Assembly, without delay, within the period specified in the Organic Law of the legislative branch, should after the publication of this plebiscite’s results, should make it a criminal offense not to include employees in the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute?

(As many as a million workers, in a country of 14 million people, are currently outside the social security system. Many are maids and childcare providers.)

• This week there were multiple reports in the press about the spreading influence of Mexico's drug cartels:
  • Guy Lawson writes in Rolling Stone about the new ways Mexican drug cartels are operating inside the United States.
  • Reporting from South Carolina, the Los Angeles Times documents Mexican cartels' inroads in the United States.
  • Revista Proceso writes about the impact of Mexican cartels' in Costa Rica.
  • McClatchy's Tim Johnson writes about the growing presence of cartels in Central America.
  • The Economist reports on the spread of Mexico's organized crime in "The drug war hits Central America."
• Carnegie's Moises Naim and LAWG's Lisa Haugaard both have good pieces about Mexico in The Huffington Post this week. Also, CIP's Laura Carlsen wrote about Mexico and the United States' failed "Operation Fast and Furious" in Foreign Policy in Focus.
• As Mexican forces continue to find more bodies in mass graves in the Taumalipas state (now totaling 177), The Washington Post published an article and video on "Mexico's Highway of Death." According to William Booth and Nick Miroff, "The highway is so forbidding that even the news these past few weeks of the largest mass grave found in Mexico’s four-year drug war cannot lure TV trucks or journalists onto the road."
• Victor Oscar Martínez, a key witness against a former Argentine military officer in the death of Bishop Carlos Horacio Ponce de Leon, who tried to intervene on behalf of victims of the dictatorship, disappeared on Monday. After President Cristina Fernandez ordered all federal forces to search for Martínez, he was freed and found early Thursday, though he was warned by his kidnappers to back down from testifying in the trial. Argetina's Pagina 12 published the first interview with Martínez after his abduction here.
• On Tuesday, Haiti's electoral commission officially declared Michel Martelly as the country's president-elect. This announcement came on the same day that Martelly met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as part of a three-day visit to Washington. "The people of Haiti may have a long road ahead of them, but as they walk it, the United States will be with you all the way," Secretary Clinton told Martelly. The two held a press conference after their meeting, the transcript of which can be found here.

  Prior to President-elect Martelly's meeting with Secretary Clinton, 53 members of Congress sent a a letter (PDF) to Clinton calling on the U.S. to "dedicate significant attention to the critical and urgent task of improving the appalling conditions in IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps."

  The International Crisis Group's Bernice Robertson and Kimberly Abbott list five tasks for Haiti's new president in this Christian Science Monitor article. The list includes: ensure economic stability; rebuild communities; find Haitians jobs; restore law and order; and put the country before politics.

• The Center for International Policy released a new report last week. "Stabilization and Development: Lessons of Colombia's 'Consolidation' Model" summarizes the discussion that took place at CIP's December 2010 conference and outlines the past successes and future challenges of Colombia's Consolidation, of "Integrated Action," program. The report is available in HTML, as a PDF in English, and a PDF in Spanish.
• According to Nacha Cattan and Taylor Barnes, in the Christian Science Monitor, at least nine Latin American nations are developing drone programs as a way to tackle drugs, gang vilence, and activities such as illegal logging throughout the region. This increase in use of drones has led to calls for a code of conduct that will assuage concerns over potential misuse.
• A new ECLAC review finds that Latin America is rapidly becoming a middle-class continent. According to the report, Brazil experienced the greatest expansion of the middle class, with 38 million people climbing above the poverty line in the last ten years. Argentina and Colombia, however, were the two countries in the region that experienced a decline in their middle class populations.
• The latest issue of ReVista, the Harvard Review on Latin America, focuses on media and press freedom in the region.
• The Air Force Times published an article about the Inter-American Air Forces Academy, the Air Force's version of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (previously the School of the Americas). According to the article, the IAAFA graduated 42,000 officers and enlisted service members from 22 Central and South American countries in the last 68 years.
• Bolivia's Vice Minister of Social Defense, Felipe Cáceres, announced that the United States and Brazil will contribute to Bolivia's efforts to combat narcotrafficking. Apparently, Washington will contribute $250,000 for the purchase of GPS systems to help modernize the monitoring system currently in place. Brazil will contribute $100,000 to provide courses for Bolivian technicians who specialize in collecting data on the number of coca plantations in cultivation and the number eradicated.
• On Tuesday, Brazilian police swept through Rio de Janeiro's Rocinha favela, hoping to capture one of the city's most wanted drug kingpins. Instead, they only came away with 11 suspected foot soldiers for the "Amigos dos Amigos" drug gang, 3 tons of marijuana and 60 stolen cars. According to the Associated Press, questions of whether word of the raid had been leaked were raised after officers met no resistance from gang members.
• Last week, Ecuador named U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador Heather Hodges persona non grata, prompting the United States to retaliate and name Ecuador's Ambassador to the United States, Luis Gallegos, the same. This week, Ecuador's Minister of Exterior Relations announced that he would call Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela, to ask if the United States is interested in naming a new Ambassador. It is unlikely that the U.S. will take Ecuador up on this offer so soon after Ambassador Hodges' expulsion. During a hearing on Wednesday, Assistant Secretary Valenzuela called Hodges' expulsion "scandalous" and "counterproductive."
• This week's Southcom update:
  • A new, high-tech countertrafficking command center that serves Joint Interagency Task Force South opened in Key West, Florida.
  • Three U.S. Navy ships and one U.S. Coast Guard Cutter arrived in Salvador, Brazil late last week for the start of UNITAS Atlantic phase 52. The three-week long exercise includes navies from Brazil, the United States, Argentina and Mexico. According to Southcom, "the partner countries will operate and train together in scenario-based environments, which include theater security operations, anti-terrorism and anti-narcotic operations, live-fire exercises, humanitarian assistance and disaster response."
  • Continuing Promise 2011 is currently in Jamaica, and has set up two locations with "60 pallets of medical, dental and other supplies, which several practitioners will use to examine, diagnose and treat hundreds of patients."
• On Monday, a bipartisan group of six members of Congress traveled to Colombia to discuss the pending U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement with President Juan Manuel Santos, his Cabinet, and labor leaders and employers. Upon their return, Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) and Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) issued statements on their fact-finding mission to Colombia, which can be read here.
• The White House announced that Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli and President Obama will meet for the first time in Washington on April 28th. The pending free trade agreement is likely to be high on their list of things to talk about.
• The second-in-command of Colombia's armed forces, General Gustavo Matamoros, resigned this week. According to El Colombiano, there are two versions that explain this abrupt departure: 1) General Matamoros himself decided to resign, or 2) Admiral Edgar Cely, first-in-command of the armed forces, requested the departure to President Juan Manual Santos. General Matamoros' resignation comes in the middle of rumors that there exists a division within the armed forces between members of the Army and the Navy - a rumor which Admiral Cely denies.

• UNASUR, the Union of South American Nations, was formally launched today at a meeting of Foreign Affairs ministers in Quito, Ecuador. Before the group could become effective, the charter requested that nine members subscribe to the treaty. Of UNASUR's members, Brazil and Paraguay still have to comply with the approval of treaty.

  Next on the agenda for UNASUR is to agree on a new Secretary General, a post which has been vacant since the death of Nestor Kirchner. Currently, the two main candidates are Venezuela's Electricity minister Ari Rodriguez, an energy expert, and Maria Emma Mejia, a former Colombian Deputy Foreign Affairs minister. UNASUR will convene again at a presidential summit in Venezuela in April, where some speculate the next Secretary General will be chosen.

• On Tuesday, the International Court of Justice ordered Costa Rica and Nicaragua to withdraw all troops, police and security personnel from the 1.2 square-mile contested border region. This ruling allowed both sides to claim victory for the moment. Costa Rica's President Laura Chinchilla called the decision an "overwhelming victory" for her country in using law to repel aggressors, while Nicaragua's representative before The Hague was satisfied with the ruling since it blocks Costa Rica's "offensive" against Nicaraguan sovereignty. The decision does not bring the two countries any closer to a solution for their tense standoff, however, and the legal process could take another four years to reach a final verdict.
• The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' (ATF) "Operation Fast and Furious" made it into multiple news stories this week, as more details about the operation are exposed. The Operation was meant to investigate gunrunning by cartels, and allowed 1,765 guns purchased in the United States to be smuggled into Mexico over a 15-month period--of which only 797 were recovered. According to a ranking Mexican legislator, at least 150 Mexicans have been killed or wounded by guns trafficked by smugglers being tracked by U.S. ATF agents. Investigators are now trying to determine if the gun that killed ICE agent Jaime Zapata in February was one of those missing guns. Yesterday, the Mexican Senate called a hearing on Operation Fast and Furious and voted to summon U.S. Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan to discuss the issue, though a date has not been set.
• Last week, the New York Times reported that Marisol Valles García, the 21 year old police chief of Praxedis G. Guerrero, a small town 60 miles southeast of Ciudad Juárez, had not been to work for three days. She had been granted a leave of absence to take her baby son, who was ill, to the United States, but failed to return as agreed. By Monday, Valles had been fired by the town's mayor for abandoning her post. It turns out, as the El Paso Times reported, that Valles fled to the United States last week to seek asylum after receiving death threats. According to the Chihuahua Human Rights Commission, Valles is staying in the United States, and keeping a low profile, until her case is heard by an immigration judge.
• Other news from Mexico this week included the appointment of Julian Leyzaola, former Tijuana police chief and lieutenant colonel, to the post of public safety secretary of Ciudad Juárez, more arrests of suspected gang members linked to the death of ICE agent Jaime Zapata, and an in-depth piece in the Washington Post on the effects of drug violence on Monterrey. CIP Intern Erin Shea's blog on recent violence in Mexico provides more details about these news stories and more. Read it here.
• Haiti is starting to prepare for its March 20th presidential and legislative runoff election. On Wednesday, the two presidential candidates, Michel Martelly and Mirlande Manigat, faced off in a televised debate, trying to distinguish their policies from the other, despite their similar platforms: education, national production and the reestablishment of a Haitian military.

  According to the Los Angeles Times, personality, not politics, is the true divide between the two candidates: "With not much in the way of politics dividing the two right-of-center candidates, voters may be left to weigh backgrounds and styles, which are as different as those of a lampshade-wearing uncle and tsk-tsking grandmother."

  The Miami Herald lists several fixes that are being made to prevent the fraud and disorganization that "marred November's first round of balloting." These changes include increased education requirements for poll workers and supervisors, cleaning up the list of voters, and using color tally sheets to help deter fraud.

• The Guardian's Rory Carroll wrote a long piece on gang violence in Caracas, Venezuela. In the article, "Drugs, murder and redemption: the gangs of Caracas" Carroll notes that gang violence played a large role in the fact that in 2010 14,000 people were murdered in Venezuela, three times more than in Iraq.
• The largest cocaine processing lab ever, capable of producing about a ton of cocaine a month, was found in Honduras. Some say it is another sign Mexican drug trafficking organizations are spreading into Honduran territory. Steven Dudley, of InSight, called this discovery a "game changer." Dudley writes, "the presence of an HCl lab means the calculus region wide may be changing. The assumption is that so much pressure is on the traffickers in Colombia and neighboring states that they are moving their raw material north." Boz also wrote about this discovery today, and closes his blog by asking: "How many more labs are there? If this lab was found, and it's a significant lab, it's probably not the only one."
• InSight also provides an overview of the evolution of the drug submarine.
• Guatemala's first lady Sandra Torres announced her candidacy for president to succeed her husband, Alvaro Colom, in the presidential elections in September. Her announcement came despite a constitutional ban prohibiting close relatives of a president from standing to replace him or her. Guatemala's constitutional court will have the final decision on whether or not Torres will be able to run.
• The Christian Science Monitor published an interview with Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, in which Correa told interviewer Abraham Lowenthal that "I have personal respect for President Obama and for the positive changes he seeks to introduce, but the U.S. system and the power of vested interests have prevented significant changes." In the interview, Correa and Lowenthal also talk about political and social change in Ecuador and the possibilities for Peru under a new leadership.

Government-sponsored forum to denounce "media terrorism," Caracas, 2009.

The Press Emblem Campaign, a Swiss-based NGO, declared Latin America to have been the most dangerous region in the world for journalists in 2010. Last year, the NGO counted 37 journalists killed in Latin America, a third of the world’s total (14 in Mexico, 10 in Honduras, 4 in Colombia and Brazil, 2 in Venezuela, and one each in 3 other countries).

Throughout the region, though, reporters’ work is also complicated by states pursuing non-violent, legal means. A recent trend has been the proposal or passage of laws that prohibit or punish certain types of reporting. Nearly all of these laws have a noble stated purpose, but suffer from a vagueness of language that can open the door to abuse. In particular, these laws appear to enable leaders to silence critical or investigative journalism.

The most recent example is in Ecuador, where citizens will vote this year on a referendum to change the Constitution and introduction of new laws. One question on the ballot asks whether voters would favor “a Communications Law that would create a Regulation Council to regulate broadcast and print media that contains violent, sexually explicit or discriminatory messages, and establishes criteria to hold the broadcasters or media outlets responsible.”

The ballot measure could pass, since most citizens naturally oppose messages of violence, discrimination or other offensive content. However, critics of the proposed law note that it may empower the Ecuadorian government to review and approve all news reporting before its publication or broadcast. “Its objective,” said Vicente Ordoñez of Ecuador’s National Journalists’ Union, “is to establish prior censorship of journalists’ work.” This would be a large step backward for freedom of expression in Ecuador.

The Ecuadorian proposal follows a measure sent to Nicaragua’s pro-government-majority National Assembly in February that, as part of a law to punish violence against women, would have created the crime of “media violence” (violencia mediática). This provision was later withdrawn.

In January, Panama’s National Assembly considered a law, encouraged by President Ricardo Martinelli, that would have made it a crime of up to four years’ imprisonment to “offend, insult, publicly vilify” the president or other public officials. This bill was also withdrawn.

In December, the National Assembly of Venezuela approved changes to the country’s Organic Telecommunications Law and Social Responsibility on Radio and Television Law. “The social responsibility law,” CNN explained at the time, “explicitly states that no broadcaster or internet provider can broadcast things that incite hatred, cause ‘anxiety or unrest among the public order’ or promote the assassination of leaders.” With such vague terms as “anxiety or unrest,” “alteration of public order,” “motivating intolerance” or “ignoring authority,” the law is written in such a sweeping way that it could conceivably be applied to all opposition media.

In November, Bolivia approved legislation with another laudable goal – combating racism – that included another troubling provision. The country’s new Law Against Racism would impose fines on, or even suspend the licenses of, media that are publishing or broadcasting racist or discriminatory messages. The trouble is that the government gets to decide whether an article or broadcast meets the standard that would trigger a fine or clusure – and the criteria it uses could be politicized. Much depends on the regulations that the government will develop to implement the law. During a November visit to Bolivia, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay warned, “Prohibiting the dissemination of racist ideas, if not adequately regulated, could affect the right to freedom of expression. … [I]nternational law requires that limitations be stipulated by law, that they be defined in a clear and precise manner, and that they be implemented by an independent body.”

• One of this week's top stories was the return of dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier to Haiti. Speculation is still flying about why "Baby Doc" returned, including the theory that he intended to act as some sort of pressure on the current political situation with the country's stalled elections. A more plausible theory emerged recently, however, that has to do with $4.6 million currently frozen in a Swiss bank account. Joshua Frens-String explains:

  The story begins in Switzerland where that country's top court, in a ruling made just hours before last January's devastating earthquake, decided that at least $4.6 million under Mr. Duvalier's name and still frozen in a Swiss bank account could be released back to Mr. Duvalier. In a response to the high court's decision, Swiss officials promptly passed new legislation, calling it the “Duvalier Law,” which would allow the Swiss government "greater discretion" in deciding to whom it should return frozen assets that lingered in its world-famous bank accounts. That law will go into effect on Feb. 1. But, says the paper, under until Feb. 1, states making claims to money in Switzerland "must show that they have begun a criminal investigation against the suspected offender before any funds can be returned."

  As the New York Times put it: "[If] Mr. Duvalier had been able to slip into the country and then quietly leave without incident, as he was originally scheduled to do on Thursday, he may have been able to argue that Haiti was no longer interested in prosecuting him — and that the money should be his." However, since his return, court investigations into corruption and embezzlement have been opened and formal complaints for human rights abuses during his 15-year rule have been filed. As "Baby Doc's" lawyer puts it, he now "must have mixed feelings about" his decision to return.

• The return of former dictator "Baby Doc" Duvalier to Haiti prompted questions about whether former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, exiled in 2004, would also try to return. Aristide wrote a letter to the governments of Haiti and South Africa, where he currently lives, in which he expresses his desire to return to Haiti quickly. He writes: "So, to all those asking me to return home, I reiterate my willingness to leave today, tomorrow, at any time."
• "Baby Doc's" return and the potential for Aristide's return diverted attention from the problems surrounding Haiti's stalled elections. The United States began to increase pressure on Haiti to resolve the disputed president election this week. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, called on Haiti to "outline a very clear way forward that will lead promptly to the inauguration of a legitimate and democratically elected government." Rice continued, "Sustained support from the international community, including the United States, will require a credible process that represents the will of the Haitian people, as expressed by their votes."

  While a statement released on Tuesday by Haiti's provisional electoral council signaled that they are not bound by the Organization of American States' "recommendations to drop the ruling party's candidate from [the] disputed presidential race," as reported by the New York Times, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told the Miami Herald that the country is following the OAS recommendations "exactly."

• The United States filed its formal objection to Bolivia's bid to amend the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs to end an international prohibition on coca-leaf chewing. Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca is currently traveling through Europe in an attempt to garner support for Bolivia's proposal, and has already visited Spain, France and Belgium. You can learn more about what is happening on this podcast and in this Foreign Policy in Focus article by WOLA's Coletta Youngers.
• White House Office of National Drug Policy Director (or "Drug Czar") Gil Kerlikowske visited Colombia this week, where he met with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to discuss "the United States' valued relationship with Colombia, ongoing counternarcotics cooperation between the two nations and support for hemispheric drug prevention, treatment and alternative development programs." During his visit, Kerlikowske hailed a sharp drop in cocaine production in the Andes. However, on this blog, Adam Isacson points to a problem with the U.S. government's estimates:
  

  If 690 tons [of cocaine] were produced and 495 were interdicted in these countries, it would leave only 195 tons to satisfy global demand. And these 495 tons don’t include any U.S. seizures on international waters, seizures on U.S. soil by state or municipal police, or seizures in Europe, Asia or elsewhere – which would reduce supplies still further.

• The Center for International Policy's Global Financial Integrity program released a new report this week that estimates the quantity and patterns of illicit financial flows coming out of developing countries. The report, "Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries, 2000-2009," (PDF) places both Mexico and Venezuela in the top ten countries with the highest measured cumulative illicit financial outflows between 2000 and 2008. According to the new report, from 2000 to 2008 $416 billion in illicit money flowed out of Mexico, placing Mexico third on the list, just behind China ($2.18 trillion) and Russia ($427 billion). Venezuela falls eighth on the list, with $157 billion in illicit financial outflows between 2000 and 2008. Read more here.
• Colombian Vice President Angelino Garzón will be in Washington next week. According to the Vice-Presidency's press release, Garzón's visit has two objectives: To request that the United States extends Colombia's ATPDEA preferences for two years, and to push for the approval of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. VP Garzón's agenda is available for download as a PDF.
• Colombia also announced that Minister of Defense Rodrigo Rivera will travel to Washington in February to meet with U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. This week Defense Minister Rivera party blamed reduced U.S. aid for budget cuts that will prevent Colombia from creating eight new battalions.
• Peruvian President Alan García and Chilean President Sebastián Piñera met on Wednesday, where they said they would leave behind hard feelings between the two countries based on a border dispute currently before The Hague and strengthen commercial ties between the two countries.
• Bolivia's Air Force announced it will receive six Chinese K-8 interceptor planes in April that will be used to combat narcotrafficking. The planes cost US$57.8 million.
• Four months after the September 30th police uprising in Ecuador, the Government of Ecuador assumed direct administrative control of the police. This decision implies that the Ministry of the Interior will assume "legal, judicial and extrajudicial" representation of the 40,000 member entity and will take on all economic obligations, including credits, income, daily expenses and investments.
• Former Mexican President Vicente Fox reiterated his calls for the legalization of the production, transit and sale of prohibited drugs, especially marijuana. Fox:
  

  Prohibition didn't work in the Garden of Eden. Adam ate the apple.... "We have to take all the production chain out of the hands of criminals and into the hands of producers — so there are farmers that produce marijuana and manufacturers that process it and distributors that distribute it and shops that sell it ... I don't want to say that legalizing means that drugs are good. They are not good but bad for your health, and you shouldn't take them. But ultimately, this responsibility is with citizens.

• Colombian Army Major César Maldonado, imprisoned for his role in a 2000 assassination attempt against union leader (now congressman) Wilson Borja, escaped for the second time from the military stockade where he has been held in lieu of a regular prison. Though he was quickly recaptured, Maldonado's escape from the Tolemaida army base raised questions about the lenient conditions under which military human-rights violators are imprisoned at military bases. These conditions apparently even include weekend leave time, as witnesses have reported seeing Maldonado at large in the nearby resort town of Melgar.
• The Washington Post, The Economist, and IPS all had articles this week on the spread of both gang and cartel violence in Central America.