Brazil tries to fight cocaine trafficking at huge, porous borders

Brazil — The cocaine that anti-drug officials say is flooding into Brazil these days comes from neighboring Bolivia, in small planes that make 20-minute flights, in luggage ferried into river ports and in small dugout canoes that make clandestine trips in the middle of the night.

But in hamlets such as this one, Brazilian federal police officers try to stem the flow by urging villagers to report the suspicious activity on the 2,126-mile frontier with Bolivia, one longer than the U.S.-Mexico border. And in a speedboat, others patrol the Mamore River separating the two countries, guessing which of the countless motorized boats are carrying drugs bound for Brazil’s big cities. Here, the problem is grave, with lots of drugs crossing constantly,” said Alexandre Barbosa, one of 35 federal police officers assigned to this sector in Rondonia state in far western Brazil. “You see this region, where the frontier is separated by a river. So there are many ports. Every 100 meters, or sometimes less, you see a port. So you can move from one port to the other very fast.”

The tide is not favoring Brazil, which is facing the newest big trend in the transnational drug trade in South America.

Argentina and Iran create 'truth commission'

Argentina and Iran have reached a breakthrough in the investigation of a Jewish centre bombing that killed 85 people in Buenos Aires 19 years ago, agreeing to establish an independent international "truth commission" led by a jurist "with high moral standing and legal prestige" to examine Argentina's worst terrorist attack.

The commissioners will examine the evidence and recommend how to proceed "based on the laws and regulations of both countries".

Then, commissioners and Argentine investigators will travel to Tehran to question the suspects.

Cristina Fernandez Kirchner, Argentina's President, described the agreement signed on Sunday in Africa by foreign ministers Hector Timerman and Ali Akbar Salehi as "historic".

A van loaded with fertiliser and fuel oil was exploded on July 18, 1994, levelling the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) building.

Spanish newspaper withdraws 'fake photo' of Hugo Chávez

Spain's influential El País newspaper has withdrawn what it says was a false photo of Hugo Chávez that it published in its online and print editions on Thursday.

The grainy photo that El País originally splashed on its front page, billed as a global exclusive, portrayed the head of a man lying down with a breathing tube in his mouth.

The Venezuelan president has cancer and has been undergoing medical treatment in Cuba, where he had surgery in December. He has not been seen publicly for six weeks.

El País, one of the biggest Spanish-language publications in the world and an institution both in Spain and in Latin America, said in a brief online statement that it had withdrawn the photo after ascertaining that the image was not of Chávez.

Venezuelan political opposition leaders have criticised government secrecy over Chávez's condition while his supporters have accused foreign media of being in league with the opposition to spread rumours that the president's medical condition is worse than it is.

Cancer-Stricken Chavez ‘Enters New Phase of Treatment’

Venezuela’s cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez is entering a new phase of treatment after finishing post-operative care, Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro said Sunday.

“The president’s condition and the functioning of all vital organs stabilize, he is conscious. He has more vital forces to enter the next phase of treatment, which will be officially announced,” Maduro told Venezuelan media.

After visiting Chavez in Havana on January 14, Maduro said the Venezuelan leader “is recovering from surgery” and "the entire infection phase has been controlled," referring to Chavez’s respiratory problem.

Univision channel said on Friday Chavez was transferred from the intensive care unit to a secret underground bunker-hospital in Havana, which was designed for emergency medical assistance to Fidel Castro.

Hundreds of security agents and physicians took part in the operation. This was made to avoid leakage of information about Chavez’s health and possibly start preparation for sending him to Caracas.

Top diplomats of Colombia, Venezuela meet for talks focused on ties, Colombian peace talks

Venezuelan's newly appointed foreign minister is meeting with the top diplomat of neighboring Colombia in talks that are expected to touch on peace negotiations between the Colombian government and leftist rebels.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua has said he hopes to deepen relations with Colombia's government during Friday's meeting with Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin.

Jaua also told the Colombian radio station Blu Radio on Thursday that Venezuela will continue to support the peace talks between Colombia's government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The talks have resumed in Havana this week after a holiday break.

Got sugar? Venezuela faces shortages of staple foods

The increased difficulty in finding basic consumer goods in Venezuela is raising concerns about the viability of Chávez's socialist economic policies at a time when the country is already on edge due to his prolonged absence.While President Hugo Chávez convalesces in Cuba following his fourth cancer operation, Venezuelans face a struggle of a different kind in the midst of shortages of basic food products. Consumers are having to scour markets for staples such as sugar, milk, chicken, and harina pan, a corn flour used to make arepas – corncakes that predominate the Venezuelan diet.

"We're replacing one product with another," says Rosa Garcia, a real estate agent who was on a three-day hunt for meat across various Caracas neighborhoods. "First there was no beef, now no chicken. Last night I made eggs for my family's dinner." Grocery shopping in Venezuela is rarely an easy task, with consumers often forced to deal with long lines and sporadic shortages at their local markets. But the increased difficulty in finding basic consumer goods in recent weeks is raising concerns about the viability of Mr. Chávez's socialist economic policies at a time when the country is already on edge due to his prolonged absence and the uncertainty of Venezuela's political future. Chávez has not been seen or heard from since early December.

Venezuela military to play central power broker

In a country riven by political strife, Venezuela's military often has served as the arbiter of power. It has launched coups and frustrated them and dispatched soldiers to guarantee stability, distributing food, fighting crime and securing oil fields.

Now with President Hugo Chavez battling for his life, the stance of the 134,000-strong armed forces again will be crucial.

Divisions within the military have clouded attempts to determine who it might support among Chavez loyalists or if it would side with the opposition. While the military's leadership is packed with Chavez supporters, the officer corps may not be so loyal. Much will depend on what Chavez's political heirs do in the coming weeks.

Experts and former military officers agree that the governing duo of Vice President Nicolas Maduro and National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello has been unable to fill the leadership vacuum created by Chavez's five-week absence and silence. Without a commander in chief, there is no one to ensure unity or guarantee continued loyalty through promotions and retirements.

Retired army Gen. Antonio Rivero was one of the first to sound the alarm about the leadership gap when he told the Venezuelan news website Noticias24 that if Chavez didn't return from Cuba for his Jan. 10 swearing-in, the armed forces from that point on would "not have a commander in chief." He's since gone into hiding after state intelligence agents came to his house looking for him. He said in an interview that he had sparked government ire by accusing it of letting Cubans influence the military.

Colombian president opens door to popular vote on FARC peace deal

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Wednesday opened the door to a popular vote on any peace accord negotiated and signed with FARC rebels, but rejected a guerrilla demand to change the constitution if a deal is clinched.

Talks to bring an end to Latin America's longest-running insurgency began in Cuba in November, when the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, sat down for the first round of a five-point peace agenda.

Ivan Marquez, head of the Marxist FARC negotiating team, has called for a national assembly to change Colombia's constitution and ensure any agreements would be set in stone.

The drug-funded group, which has fought successive governments since 1964 and killed tens of thousands, reiterated their demand on Tuesday. But Santos rejected the idea.

"It's very possible that we could find a way to seek popular approval for any accord," Santos said during an address in the Norte de Santander province. "That's still to be discussed. But I want it to be very clear that we will not end these agreements with a national assembly."

Where does Haiti stand three years after its 7.0 earthquake?

On Jan. 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit already deeply impoverished Haiti, killing more than 200,000 and leaving another 1.5 million in makeshift camps. It was one of the worst humanitarian disasters in years, and though the response was rapid and generous, three years and billions of dollars in aid later, hundreds of thousands are still without homes. How has aid money been spent and can Haiti 'build back better?'

1. Where did the aid money go?

As horrific images and stories emerged from the rubble-filled Haitian streets, governments, residents, and private groups around the world began to write checks.

Governments and international agencies pledged $12.6 billion to be used to from 2010 to 2020. As of Sept. 2012, donors had disbursed roughly $6 billion (48 percent), according to the United Nations Office of the Special Envoy for Haiti. Pledges, however, are non-binding, and disbursed does not mean spent. Private organizations, mainly non-governmental organizations (NGOs), received $3 billion more in pledges.

At least $2.4 billion of the public aid was spent on providing food and water, handing out tarps, and other emergency aid. But that money is drying up. In 2012, aid agencies received just $63 million of the $151 million needed to carry out such work. They need $144 million more this year. Billions are needed for long-term reconstruction and to eradicate a cholera outbreak that has killed nearly 8,000.

Guatemala shock as two murdered girls found on street

Guatemalan police are investigating the murder of two girls aged six and 12 whose bodies were found dumped on a street in the capital, Guatemala City.

The girls, who were wearing pyjamas, appeared to have been strangled, officials said.

Police are trying to establish whether their deaths are linked to the murders of two women found with gunshot wounds in the same district.

Some 700 women were killed in Guatemala in 2011, according to official figures.

The bodies of the two girls were found in the early hours of Wednesday on a street in Zona 11, a southern district of Guatemala City.

Two murdered women, thought to be aged between 20 and 35, were discovered in the same neighbourhood. One had been shot in the face.

It is not clear whether they were victims of domestic violence or murdered by criminal gangs.

"Guatemala awoke in mourning," women's rights group Survivors' Foundation said in a statement. "We demand these crimes be solved."

Venezuela publishes decree with Chavez signature

 Venezuela's government has published a decree signed by President Hugo Chavez, while his vice president said Wednesday that the ailing leader also sent a message of gratitude to the military for its loyalty.

It was the first time the president's signature has appeared in the Official Gazette since his latest cancer surgery in Cuba more than five weeks ago. The decree issued Tuesday and published in the government newspaper on Wednesday names former vice president Elias Jaua as Venezuela's new foreign minister. The signature is printed along with the presidential stamp.
Current Vice President Nicolas Maduro, who has been in charge of the country during Chavez's recovery, announced Jaua's appointment at a National Assembly session on Tuesday.
Chavez has not made any public comments since his operation last month, his fourth in 18 months. He has been fighting an unspecified type of pelvic cancer, and his silence has fed speculation about his medical condition.
Before the decree was published, the opposition had questioned the legality of the new foreign minister's appointment, citing a lack of publicly released documents with Chavez's signature.
The opposition has also been demanding more information about the president's condition.
"If the president of the republic can sign decrees, I call on him to appear, speak to Venezuela and talk about everything that's happening in that government," top opposition leader Henrique Capriles said Wednesday.
In a televised speech to soldiers, Maduro recalled meeting with Chavez in Havana earlier this week, saying the president was pleased with how his allies have been working together.
"We were with the commander in chief 48 hours ago, and yesterday we spoke with Minister Jorge Arreaza (Chavez's son-in-law), and he really feels great happiness to see, when we described how we've been interacting, the work we're doing constantly," Maduro said.

Mexican generals linked to drug gangs lose appeal

A Mexican court said on Wednesday that two army generals, one retired and one still serving, should remain in jail and face trial in one of the highest-profile cases linking the military to organized crime.

Retired General Tomas Angeles and General Roberto Dawe were arrested in May of last year and turned over to the country's organized crime unit for investigation.

The court rejected an appeal by the generals, who were senior figures in the government's crackdown against drug cartels under former Mexican President Felipe Calderon, whose term in office ended at the start of December.

Angeles was No. 2 in the armed forces when Calderon, a conservative, sent in the army against the cartels shortly after taking office in late 2006. Angeles retired in 2008.

Dawe, still an active general, led an elite army unit in the western state of Colima.

If the generals were convicted of drug trafficking, it would be the most serious case of military corruption in Calderon's administration, which was dominated by the fight on drug gangs.

Argentina’s inflation in 2012 climbed to 25.6% according to private agencies

The 2012 twelve-month inflation in Argentina climbed to 25.6%, two times the figures registered by the official data from stats office Indec, according to the index presented by opposition lawmakers based in the analysis of nine private agencies.The latest release for the month of December shows inflation reached 2.1% in December, triggered by the New Year's eve consumption and the beginning of the southern hemisphere summer holidays.
According to Argentina’s Indec national statistics bureau, the inflation had accumulated 9.7% between January and November, which could add up to 11% with the volume registered in December, more than a half of the figures released by the private agencies.
The announcement was made during a Monday press conference headed by Patricia Bullrich (Unión por Todos), Carlos Brown (Peronist Front), Cornelia Schmidt-Liermann (PRO)and Patricia De Ferrari (Radical Party), all belonging to the Freedom of Speech Lower House Committee.
Regarding the results, Brown assured that “the index is the highest in the region, including Venezuela, leading to a drop of the activity levels”.

Meeting in Cuba Angers Venezuelan Opposition

 With the president absent and ailing, the country on edge and the government eager to portray a sturdy sense of continuity, there might be nothing unusual about the most powerful officials in Venezuela meeting over the weekend, except for the location they chose for the sit-down: Havana.


    Venezuela Warns Opposition Against Vocal Dissent (January 13, 2013)
    Caracas Journal: A Celebration That Accentuated an Absence (January 11, 2013)

It has been five weeks since President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela went to Cuba for his fourth cancer-related operation, and the normally garrulous leader has not been seen or heard from in public since — a closely guarded silence that underscores the extremely tight relationship between the two countries.

Venezuelan officials have worn a path between the two nations with frequent trips to Mr. Chávez’s bedside. But for opponents of Venezuela’s government, who have long warned of the extent of Cuba’s influence, the weekend meeting was simply too much.

The Cuban newspaper Granma reported that the officials met with Fidel and Raúl Castro to discuss “aspects of the strategic alliance between both countries.”

“The capital of Venezuela has moved to Havana,” said Leopoldo López, the leader of an opposition party, Popular Will.

Cuba has everything to lose from a change of leadership in Venezuela, a possibility if Mr. Chávez dies or is too sick to continue as president. For years, Venezuela has propped up Cuba’s limping economy with oil shipments on generous terms. Government opponents have long resented that arrangement, and now they fear that Cuba is seeking to influence events in Venezuela to keep the oil flowing.

Depending on the price of oil, Cuba sends goods or services to Venezuela as barter for 40 percent to 50 percent of the market value of the roughly 100,000 barrels of oil it receives a day, said Jorge R. Piñon, an expert at the University of Texas at Austin. Over the years that has included thousands of doctors and nurses, sports trainers and advisers to the armed forces and security services. The remainder, 50 percent to 60 percent of the shipments’ value, is treated as a loan, to be paid back over 25 years at 1 percent interest.

If that arrangement ended, Cuba would be forced to buy its oil on the open market, costing about $4 billion a year at current prices and probably pushing it into a recession, Mr. Piñon said. “The political impact for Cuba losing its Venezuelan support will be catastrophic,” he said. “The economic impact will be substantial.”

Venezuelan officials defend the oil shipments to Cuba and the closeness of the relationship by saying that the two countries have much in common, including a revolutionary ideology and an attitude of defiance toward the United States.

The most visible Cuban presence here is in the doctors who staff hundreds of small neighborhood clinics established by Mr. Chávez. But the Cuban barter comes in many forms, ranging from the reported training of intelligence officers, which was discussed in an American State Department cable made public by WikiLeaks, to the building of an ice cream factory.

On Tuesday, after returning from Havana, Vice President Nicolás Maduro shot back at critics of the relationship with Cuba.

“There are those who say that we are a colony of Cuba,” Mr. Maduro said during a televised government meeting. “Really, it’s an offense against Cuba and against Venezuela.” He said the two countries shared “the most profound brotherhood.”

He added that he had visited Mr. Chávez, who he said was “advancing” in his recovery. He said that they had discussed government issues and that Mr. Chávez had asked questions of his subordinates.

But opponents cite the presence of Cuban advisers in the military and other aspects of government as evidence of the Castros’ not-so-hidden hand.

Mr. Maduro, whom Mr. Chávez has picked as his successor if he cannot continue as president, is seen in particular as being very close to the Cubans. He leads a faction within Mr. Chávez’s movement that is deeply committed to Cuban-style revolution and establishing socialism in Venezuela, and he received political training in Cuba as a young man. The man seen as his main rival, Diosdado Cabello, president of the National Assembly, is believed to be less friendly to Cuba.

Demonstrators in Caracas focused on Cuba at a rally over the weekend that was called to protest a Supreme Court ruling allowing last Thursday’s scheduled swearing in of Mr. Chávez to be postponed indefinitely, letting him continue as president despite his prolonged absence. People in the crowd of a few hundred held signs denouncing Cuba and chanted, “Cubans, go away!”

“Never in 200 years of our history as a republic has the future of Venezuela been decided outside Venezuela,” María Corina Machado, an opposition legislator, told the crowd. “How can they talk today about independence? What independence? What independence? When in Venezuela we know that our security and intelligence agencies, our notaries and registries are totally infiltrated by people, officials and functionaries of the Cuban government.”