Adam talks with Maureen Meyer, the Washington Office on Latin America's Associate for Mexico and Central America, about the worsening wave of violence in Mexico, and the U.S. and Mexican government's security and justice reforms.
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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 Heraldeditorial. “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 Chronicleeditorial. “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.
“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 Tiempointerviews 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.
A car bomb went off in central Bogotá at 5:30 Thursday morning, injuring 9 people. It is believed that the target was the nearby headquarters of the Caracol radio network. President Juan Manuel Santos did not immediately blame it on the FARC guerrillas. A pro-FARC website claims the attack was carried out not by guerrillas but by “mafias,” though the methods resemble those used in the 2003 bombing of the El Nogal social club a few blocks away, a crime the FARC also denied but was later revealed to have committed. The “La Silla Vacía” website lays out the cases for why the bombing might be, or might not be, the work of the FARC: “Some believe that it was evidently the FARC, since the attack fit within its modus operandi and its motives. Others, on the contrary, believe that it is a message from the extreme right that Juan Manuel Santos must not move away from the uribista hard line, and that Santos must not open a space for negotiations with the guerrillas.”
Venezuela and Colombia re-established diplomatic relations this week after a meeting between Presidents Chávez and Santos. It remains unclear how the two countries will deal with the issue that has detonated several past crises between the two countries: the presence of FARC guerrillas in Venezuelan territory. Asked by El Tiempo whether there will be “verification of the guerrilla presence in Venezuela,” Colombian Foreign Minister María Ángela Holguín replied, “No. Verification, no. We are looking forward.”
Asked a series of “questions for the record” by Sen. Richard Lugar, U.S. Ambassador-Designate to Venezuela Larry Palmer answered very frankly, using language stronger than the State Department has in the past. (“The Venezuelan government has been unwilling to prevent Colombian guerillas [sic.] from entering and establishing camps in Venezuelan territory. … [Military] morale is reported to be considerably low, particularly due to politically-oriented appointments. … As Cuba and Venezuela increase their military-to-military ties, I am concerned that Cuba’s influence within the Venezuelan military will grow.”) As a result, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has announced that Palmer is not welcome in Caracas. The Washington Post editorial page contends that it would be better for the United States not to have an ambassador at all.
On Tuesday, Colombia’s Constitutional Court will decide whether the country’s new defense agreement with the United States, signed last October, is truly constitutional. The court may require Colombia’s Congress to vote to approve it. Sources tell “La Silla Vacía” that a majority of justices are likely to rule against the agreement.
Starting next month, former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe will be a Distinguished Scholar in the Practice of Global Leadership at Georgetown University.
The new head of Colombia’s armed forces is a Navy admiral for only the second time ever. “La Silla Vacía” (linked for a third time in today’s post) has profiles of President Santos’ new high command. “These men,” reporter Dora Montero writes, “don’t follow the same line as the former high command – led by Gen. Freddy Padilla – that accompanied President Álvaro Uribe for years, and was seen by the rest of the military as more ‘political’ than ‘military.’ … The troops perceive this group of generals as closer to them.” Part of this “closeness,” Montero explains, is a likely willingness to defend the force more fiercely against accusations of human rights abuse.
The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress [PDF] of a possible $162 million sale of nine Blackhawk helicopters to Colombia’s Army, Police and Air Force. Already, “Colombia operates the world’s third-largest BLACK HAWK helicopter fleet,” according to the aircraft’s manufacturer, Connecticut-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation.
Three and a half years after adopting a hard-line approach to drug-related violence, Mexican President Felipe Calderón “finally accepted that the strategy had failed to rein in the cartels,” as The Guardianput it. “I know that the strategy has been questioned, and my administration is more than willing to revise, strengthen or change it if needed,” he said in a meeting with opposition leaders this week. Security Secretary Genaro García Luna blamed Mexico’s severe public security setbacks on “at least 30 years of structural abandonment of the country’s police forces.” The Associated Press obtained data indicating a badly broken judicial system: “only about 15 percent of drug suspects detained between December 2006 and September 2009 have been convicted or acquitted.” The Washington Postcovered one strategic change currently underway: a $270 million program of new social spending in Ciudad Juárez, the most violent city in the hemisphere. On his blog, meanwhile, former President Vicente Fox called for the legalization of drugs.
Ecuador’s El Universowrites about the cocaine trade along the country’s Pacific border with Colombia: “Here, an arroba [about 25 pounds] of coca seeds is sold for US$100, according to the campesinos. 40 arrobas can plant a hectare. The crops begin to produce within three months, and every arroba of coca leaf sells for US$15; a hectare produces 70 arrobas. After processing, the growers make basic cocaine paste. 40 arrobas of leaves make a kilo of paste, which in this zone sells for US$1,100.” Elsewhere on the border, in Ecuador’s north-central province of Carchi, El Universocontends that greater government presence has reduced the threat posed by guerrillas and other Colombian armed groups.
Suriname’s former dictator Desi Bouterse, wanted in the Netherlands for narcotrafficking and on trial at home for a 1982 mass murder, was inaugurated as the country’s President on Thursday. A week earlier, reports the U.S. Southern Command, “Six U.S. Army medical personnel traveled to Paramaribo, Suriname, to exchange medical procedures with 45-medical personnel from the Suriname Armed Forces.”
Sixteen U.S. military officers, including seven generals, paid a visit to Managua “to strengthen relations with the Nicaraguan army,” reportsLa Prensa. Meanwhile, McClatchy reports, “entities controlled by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega have received at least $1 billion in no-strings-attached donations through an oil deal brokered by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.”
The costs of earthquake rebuilding will force Chile to cut its defense budget next year, President Sebastián Piñera explained to the high command.
Argentina’s foreign minister, Héctor Timerman, visited Washington and met with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela will be in China next week for “the fourth round of U.S - China sub-dialogues on Latin America.”
As Brazil’s October 3 elections draw nearer, The Economist reports that Dilma Rouseff, the candidate of President Lula da Silva’s Workers’ Party, is polling at 41 percent, nearly 10 points ahead of opponent José Serra. Earlier in the week, Serra angered Bolivia’s government by claiming that President Evo Morales’s administration has been “lazy with regard to controlling cocaine.” Serra said in May that 80 or 90 percent of cocaine that arrives in Brazil comes from Bolivia; Brazil’s police offer a figure of 59 percent.
A recent poll places Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa’s approval rating at 37 percent. Though Ecuador and Colombia still have not re-established diplomatic relations after a 2008 crisis, Correa attended the August 7 inauguration of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, and urged Santos to visit Quito “quickly.”
A corruption scandal forced the resignation of the chief of Uruguay’s navy, Adm. Oscar Debali.
A recent article in the Boston Globe argues that Mexico is a case of creeping military rule, abetted by the United States. Adam explores that concern, as well as recent efforts to limit the Mexican armed forces' power.
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This morning I was pleased to have an opportunity to testify before the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives' Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The occasion was a 3-panel hearing entitled, "International Counternarcotics Policies: Do They Reduce Domestic Consumption or Advance Other Foreign Policy Goals?"
My testimony (PDF) focused on the frustrating experience of cocaine supply reduction efforts in Colombia and Mexico. From that experience, I draw the lesson that reducing drug supplies depends on a much larger civilian governance and justice effort -- a big commitment that resembles "nation-building" far more than it resembles a "war on drugs."
Testimonies from all panelists, including "Drug Czar" Gil Kerlikowske and the senior counternarcotics officials at the State and Defense departments, are on the committee's website.
On May 18, 2010, Senator Richard Lugar (R-Indiana), the Republican minority-party leader of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released a detailed report evaluating U.S. aid to Mexico since the 2007 launch of the Mérida Initiative (download the PDF). This report included a very detailed table of aid that has been delivered, or is pending delivery, through the State Department's International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (INCLE) program.
We have added the information in these tables to the Just the Facts database (see equipment details for 2009 here and training details for 2009 and 2010 here). Below is a summary of some of the information provided in the report's tables.
Top Ten Most Expensive Equipment to be Delivered to Mexico between 2009 and 2014
$150,000,000 for 3 CASA Aircraft to assist the Mexican Navy in maritime interdiction efforts (due to be delivered in Summer 2012)
$110,000,000 for 3 UH-60 Helicopters to assist the Mexican Navy in coastal operations (due to be delivered in 2014)
$76,500,000 for 3 UH-60 Helicopters for the Secretariat of Public Security (SSP) - Federal Police (due to be delivered in 2010)
$66,000,000 for 5 Bell 412 Helicopters for the Mexican Army (delivered in 2009)
$50,000,000 for 1 CASA Aircraft to assist the Mexican Navy in maritime interdiction efforts (due to be delivered in Winter 2011)
$39,000,000 for 2 Bell 412 Helicopters for Mexican Army troop movement in support of counternarcotics operations (due to be delivered in 2010, estimated date of signed contract is August 2010)
$28,000,000 for Constanza Software for the Procuraduría General de Justicia (delivered in 2010)
$20,000,000 for Mobile Gamma Radiation Trucks. 18 are for the Secretariat of Public Security - Federal Police and 1 for the Mexican Army (due to be delivered in 2010)
$15,500,000 ISR Aircraft for the Secretariat of Public Security - Federal Police (due to be delivered in 2011)
$10,400,000 for 3 installed X-ray Portal Units for the Customs Agency
Total Dollar Amounts of Pending and Delivered Equipment as of May 2010
Equipment
Total dollar amount of equipment pending delivery in 2010: $230,985,322
Total dollar amount of equipment due to be delivered from 2011-2014: $330,500,000
This table appears in the Committee's report
Total Equipment Pending and Delivered, by Recipient Unit:
$261,200,000 - Mexican Navy
$129,044,396 - Secretariat of Public Security - Federal Police
$106,575,711 - Mexican Army
$39,600,000 - National Migration Institute
$36,140,271 - Procuraduría General de Justicia
$26,101,277 - Customs Agency
$16,100,000 - National Security and Investigations Center
$6,238,744 - Secretariat of Communications
U.S. Narcotics Affairs Section Capacity Building Events - Top recipient units, 2009 and 2010 combined
Secretariat of Public Security - Federal Police: 4,957 trainees (corrections, investigations, and policy & procedure courses)
State officials: 75 trainees (anti-kidnapping courses)
Adam and Abigail review the week of July 3-9, focusing on massacres in Colombia, state elections in Mexico, Brazil's presidential race, a clandestine submarine in Ecuador, and recent U.S. naval exercises.
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This post was written by CIP's Cuba program intern Meghan Vail
On May 27th, two House of Representatives committees held a joint hearing on U.S.-Mexico security cooperation. The Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism of the Committee on Homeland Security and the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere of the Committee on Foreign Affairs were specifically interested in the next steps for the Mérida Initiative, the $1.4 billion U.S. counternarcotics and security program for Mexico.
While members of the committees voiced their individual concerns regarding current implementation of the Mérida Initiative and the funds committed to this program, several common concerns emerged in the course of the hearing, which occurred within weeks of the passage of the Arizona state immigration law (SB 1070) and within days of President Obama’s authorization of 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to assist border patrol and local law enforcement. Accordingly, many of the questions addressed to the panel dealt not only with the delayed utilization of obligated Mérida funds, but also the significance of the National Guard deployment, the specified roles of governmental and non-governmental agencies in border protection and security, and the suitability of Arizona as a national model for securing the border.
Below is a summary of House members’ opening remarks and the testimonies and Q&A period of the first panel. You can watch the entire hearing here.
Opening Remarks
The hearing began with opening statements from House members Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Candice Miller (R-MI), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Connie Mack (R-FL) and Bennie Thompson (D-MS).
Chairman Cuellar expressed the committees’ desire to see an increase in the pace at which the funds obligated for the Mérida Initiative since 2007 are put to use. He expressed interest in the panelists’ perspectives on previous and future implementation of Mérida, as well as the significance of the Obama Administration’s deployment of the National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border earlier this week.
Rep. Miller expressed her desire to see an even greater presence of the National Guard at the U.S.-Mexico border than has currently been ordered. She claimed that Mexican gangs are the greatest threat to U.S. security. Despite the bipartisan support for the Mérida Initiative, implementation has been inexplicably delayed. From her perspective, Congressional legislation is necessary to confirm that U.S. agencies are carrying out their responsibilities regarding Mérida. Rep. Miller cautioned that the actions taken by the Mexican government to stem the violence must also be recognized.
Chairman Engel posed several questions about the nature and length of the National Guard deployment. How long will the troops be deployed there? Are measures being taken to ensure that the National Guard will not undermine existing security efforts? He said that while he respects President Obama’s decision to send the troops and felt that President Obama had to do it, he warns that the National Guard is not police or law enforcement and is “temporary at best.” He argued that the Guard deployment cannot be seen as a campaign against immigrants.
According to Chairman Engel, a plan to strengthen key U.S. agencies and their Mexican counterparts is necessary. It is the relationship with government that will make Mérida successful, and the behavior of all agencies must be transparent. There are three things with regard to the Mérida Initiative that Rep. Engel would like to see:
Expedited assistance - only 2% of obligated funds had been spent by September 2009.
Acceptance of the Senate’s proposal of $175 million in funding for the new judicial system to be created by 2016.
President Obama’s reinstatement of the existing ban on military weapons, a decision that would require no legislation. Security systems are not enough, he argues, when Americans are the consumers and the providers of arms for cartels.
Rep. Mack began his opening statement by identifying what in his perspective was a “red flag” – Mexican President Calderon’s proposal that the U.S. create new guns laws. He argued that the existing laws should be enforced and that the situation of violence at the border should not be used to enforce a ban agenda. He was similarly troubled by the fact that less than 2% of the obligated funds had been implemented, and argued that taxpayers couldn’t be told that security was being provided under these circumstances. He asked, why is there no time sensitive, targeted assistance?
Rep. Mack argued that the Mérida parties need to create a comprehensive regional drug strategy and promote strong commercial ties. On these grounds, he advocates for passage of the free-trade agreements with Colombia and Panama. As for implementation of the Mérida Initiative in the past, his perspective is that little implementation appears comprehensive in nature. He argued that the existing security resources should be improved and that the Arizona law is not a solution.
Rep. Thompson concluded the opening statements by remarking that efficiency in implementation must be accompanied by accountability. As for future implementation, he argues strongly in favor of seeking feedback and involvement from people at the border, cautioning that their perspective is much better than the D.C. perspective.
First Panel
The first panel of witnesses at the hearing was comprised of Obama administration officials from various departments: Roberta Jacobson of the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs; Mariko Silver, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Office of International Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security; Alonzo Peña of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security; and Allen Gina of Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security.
After all panelists had spoken, Roberta Jacobson responded to the first question addressed to the panelists from Chairman Cuellar, who inquired if the State Department had established a plan to expedite the allocation of funds obligated to implement the Mérida Initiative. Jacobson responded that the Department had improved its processes given that it had a lot of structures to put in place. She spoke of a 275% “increased presence in Mexico” and the establishment of a bilateral implementation working group that meets monthly. She estimated an implementation of approximately $600 million of Mérida-allocated funds by the end of this fiscal year.
Chairman Engel indicated that the Committees sought assurances that the pace of implementation of funds would be increased, noting that funding may be cut if the funds were not put to use. He inquired about the use of performance measures and argued that the government could not ignore the flow of weapons across the border. He questioned the panel as to why President Obama was not moving more “forcefully” on this issue.
Chairman Cuellar questioned the federal government’s overall strategy to secure the border and the specific collaborative roles of the federal, state, and local governments. He argued that each governmental agency’s role should be established in writing.
As to where the agencies were in the process of securing the border, Mr. Peña responded that he didn’t know if there was an overall strategy for federal, state and local governments. He commented that the implementation of a plan had begun in Arizona and was being expanded to incorporate Texas. Chairman Cuellar responded that Mr. Peña’s comments indicated that no model was in fact in place. Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) asserted that if Arizona was to become the national model for a secure border, Arizona’s input must be considered.
In response to a question from a committee member regarding whether or not a directive had been issued that immigrants picked up under Arizona’s law would be processed and deported, Mr. Peña responded that no such directive existed. He commented that resource priorities are criminal aliens who affect national security and that officers have to exercise prosecutorial discretion.
The panel was also questioned as to what the National Guard was accomplishing at the border that agencies could not, and Ms. Silver and Mr. Peña responded that the Guard was providing counterintelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Chairman Engel questioned if U.S. citizens were now being targeted at the border, and Ms. Silver responded that an investigation into Chairman Engel’s question was forthcoming. The results of this investigation would be produced to the subcommittees.
Rep. Mack further stressed the issue of delayed Mérida implementation, to which Ms. Silver responded that the border at present is staffed better than at any other point in history. She asserted that the measures taken at the border are not merely a reaction to the Arizona law and that some existing measures were already in place.
Rep. Thompson commented on the President’s proposal for more representation from Customs and Border Protection at the border, not Immigration and Customs Enforcement. After questioning the purpose of the surge of troops, Congressman Thompson pointed out that agencies had not formerly requested more personnel from Congress.
Representative Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) commented that Congress was working hard to combat the violence at the border by approving the increase in border patrol officers from 4,000 to 20,000 nationwide.
Congresswoman Giffords sought to clarify the statement of what it means to place troops on the border and advocated for a placement of troops directly on the border. She insisted that the placement of troops was critical to stemming the violence. If the border patrol is deployed far away, she argued, the border is not, in fact, being watched. Consequently, apprehension is difficult.
She proceeded to ask about the placement of the National Guard and whether or not they have the knowledge and skills to protect and defend themselves. She questioned if they were aware of the rules of engagement. Ms. Silver responded that the Guard would be staffed and protected as needed, but that their placement was intended to free up personnel to be on the border. Chairman Cuellar replied that the National Guard should not be freeing up the Customs and Border Patrol to do their jobs. If the CBP needs assistance, he argued, clerks or assistants should be hired.
Three articles in today's news provided interesting statistics about security and narcotrafficking in Latin America:
Bolivia's chief of the FELCN (the U.S.-aided Police Special Forces for Counternarcotics), Félix Molina, provided the following statistics about FELCN operations in 2010:
6,237 counternarcotics operations have been carried out so far this year;
14.8 tons of cocaine and more than 922 tons of marijuana have been seized;
2,713 hectares of coca have been eradicated
1,777 people linked to the narcotrafficking have been detained, 127 of whom are foreigners;
Of the 127 foreigners, 72 were Colombians, 55 Peruvians, 19 Brazilians, and 7 Chileans. Other countries listed include Argentinians, Spanish, French, Mexicans and more (We know this adds up to more than 127, but these are the numbers as they appear in the El Deber article).
The ACAN-EFE wire service published numbers announced at a conference by an official of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which reveal Central America as a region with one of the world's highest murder rates. According to the article, the vice-president of the IACHR, Paulo Sérgio Pinherio, argued that the policies used to combat insecurity in the region "are insufficient" and are "suicide in that they do not strengthen the rule of law and democracy."
The murder-rates for 2008 for the Central American countries included in the article are as follows:
El Salvador: 71 murders/100,000 inhabitants;
Honduras: 58 murders/100,000 inhabitants;
Guatemala: 48 murders/100,000 inhabitants;
Costa Rica: 11 murders/100,000 inhabitants.
And finally, as Mexico is experiencing its "bloodiest days yet," today's Wall Street Journal includes an article about a New Mexico State University librarian, Molly Molloy, who has been keeping a tally of drug-cartel-related killings in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. According to Ms. Molloy's count, in 2009 alone, Ciudad Juárez experienced 2,633 drug-related homicides. This outnumbers all murders in the top eight U.S. cities combined. Below is the Wall Street Journal's graphic representing this finding.
August has been a troubled month for freedom of the press in the Americas. Here are a few examples.
