by the El Reportero’s news services
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Iran has mounted a concerted and successful diplomatic outreach towards Latin America designed to counter U.S. interests and offset the pressure it is facing over its alleged nuclear enrichment ambitions. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a controversial figure both at home and abroad, has found a welcome in capitals from La Paz to Caracas that he cannot be sure of anywhere else.
The promise of Iranian investment has helped to bolster its political initiatives, yet there remains a large gap between the hype surrounding its promise of broad anti-imperialist cooperation and the reality of funds left unspent and projects unimplemented. Tehran’s major challenge is to effect a coherent long-term strategy towards Latin America that goes beyond the opportunism of its recent contacts. The close personal relationship between Venezeula’s President Hugo Chávez and Ahmadinejad has made Caracas the most important port of call for Iran. Yet it is Brazil’s biggame diplomacy that may, in the long-term, offer Tehran the best opportunities to leverage its political and economic clout.
Rebels kidnap Colombian governor
On 21 December the governor of the southern province of Caquetá was kidnapped from his home by gunmen dressed in military uniforms, in an attack the authorities believe was carried out by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrilla group.
This would be the Farc’s fi rst major stunt since early 2009 and arguably its most high profile kidnapping since 2002. The stunt is a bold show of strength intended to demonstrate that the rebel group is not a spent force ahead of important congressional and presidential elections in March and May next year. The attack, in the context of increased activity by the group in the latter part of 2009, appears to indicate that it has come out of a strategic withdrawal following its disastrous year in 2008.
Venezuela: Campaign to Revoke Obama´s Nobel
The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) shapes from Tuesday a world campaign to claim the revocation of the Nobel Peace Prize that was bestowed upon Barack Obama because he is considered to be a warmonger.
was founded in 1901 andAccording to the party, which has more that seven million members, the first African American Head of the White House is far from deserving the prize that has been bestowed upon 95 people and 20 organizations.
We believe there should be a review of the acknowledgement. It is a duty of the progressive countries to request it, assured leader of the PSUV Jacqueline Faria when she announced the initiative.
According to Faria, the Commission of Foreign Affairs of the bloc has the mission to promote the crusade.
The justification of the war in Afghanistan, the sending of new occupying troops to that Central Asian nation and the installation of military stations in Colombia and Panama constitute arguments to demand the annulment of the Nobel Prize.
Obama´s stance at the Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen, where he acted as a strategist but a war one, should be added to that.
Faria recalled the North American plan of imposing an exclusive pact in the meeting that was meant to save the planet, which was a proposal with a lack of concrete actions to move forward in the mitigation of the release of pollutant gases to the atmosphere that are responsible for the increase of global temperature.
Obama has broken his promises of peace and change, she said.
Among the guests that are different from Obama are the indigenous Guatemalan Rigoberta Menchu (1992), Kenyan environmentalist and politician Wangari Maathai (2004), former President of the United States James Carter (2002) and former US Vice President Al Gore (2007).
(Latin News and Prensa Latina contributed to this report).
