by the El Reportero’s news services
Alvaro Colom
President Alvaro Colom summoned the army on Sept. 4 to take charge of the presidential palace after spying devices were discoveredin his offices and home. Colom’s decision to call in the military, albeit in a temporary manner, is curious and hugely symbolic given Guatemala’s history of civil war.
It is also a complete reversal of his earlier assurances that the army would cease to play a role in civilian security matters. The move also puts Colom’s announcement that he plans to expand the army in a new light.
Lula acts against Brazil’s intelligence agency as bugging scandal deepens President
Lula da Silva was forced to order the leadership of Brazil’s intelligence agency, Abin, to step down temporarily, after the local press published a transcript of a telephone conversation between the supreme court’s president and an opposition senator, which had been illegally tapped.
The affair put Lula under pressure from the supreme court and opposition parties, which even threatened to initiate impeachment proceedings against him, since the Abin is directly answerable to the presidency.
The new-look Informe
As usual the high season for Mexican politics opened, on 1 September, with the traditional annual Informe (State of the Nation) address. The Informe signals the start of the main congressional session of the year. What was unusual about this year’s was that the president did not attempt to deliver it: the interior minister Juan Camilo Mouriño traveled to congress to deliver the speech.
‘New Cold War’ talk amid stories of Russian bombers & warships bound for the Caribbean
Cuba and Venezuela have suddenly become pawns in Russia’s game of geopolitical chicken with the US. Vladimir Putin has started talking about ‘re-establishing positions with Cuba, and there have been Russian media reports about plans to use the island as a refuelling stop for longrange Russian bombers.
Hugo Chávez has announced that Russia intends to send a fl eet to visit the Caribbean, and that he would welcome this. Inevitably, this has dovetailed with events in Georgia and provoked a wave of warnings about the prospect of a ‘new Cold War’. For now, though, this has remained limited to posturing.
Iran and the left in Latin America
Bolivian President Evo Morales is in Tehran this week, ushering in a new chapter in his country’s economic and strategic cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has promised a hefty investment in Bolivia’s energy sector and other joint ventures, some involving other Latin and Central American countries, such as Venezuela and Nicaragua, not to overlook Cuba.
In a joint communique, Morales and President Mahmud Ahmadinejad have signed off on the need for “concrete political steps against every type of imperialism”, while also condemning the intervention of the United Nations Security Council in Iran’s nuclear program as “lacking any legal or technical justification”.
Bolivia may be a poor country, but it is strategically located and represents an important ally for Iran that can act as a catalyst in enhancing Iran’s growing cooperation with other Latin nations, especially those considered leftist or populist.
(Asia Times and Latin News contributed to this report)
