by the El Reportero news services
Juan Manuel Santos of the ruling Partido de la U (PU) and Antanas Mockus of the Partido Verde (PV) closed their presidential campaigns on June13, ahead of the June 20 second round runoff amidst news that the army had successfully raided a Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) camp and liberated three so-called ‘exchangeable’ hostages.
The success of ‘Operación Camaleón’ was immediately seized upon by Santos, who pitched himself as the obvious successor to maintain President Alvaro Uribe’s Democratic Security Policy (DSP).
OAS debates Honduras and “the limits of multilateralism”
Delegates from the 33 active members of the Organization of American States (OAS) met in Lima between 6-8 June for an annual general assembly to discuss military spending and related security concerns.
The agenda of the last annual meeting in Hon-duras, also about regional security, was hijacked by a debate over lifting the suspension of Cuba’s membership of the OAS. In a neat irony, the agenda this time around was overshadowed by the issue of Honduras’ membership of the OAS.
Then, the U.S. cut a lonely figure in opposing Cuba’s re-admittance to the OAS; now it is in the minority of countries calling for Honduras to be allowed to rejoin. But, in a visit to Ecuador after the summit, the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, sought to move beyond Honduras and re-engage the region.
Mercosur under fire in Brazil
The Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosur/Mercosul), the imperfect customs union comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay (with Venezuelan membership pending), has lately taken centre stage in the 2010 presidential contest in Brazil, after the main opposition candidate, José Serra, dismissed it as a “farce”, “cumbersome” and a “barrier” to Brazil’s international trade ambitions.
He hinted Brazil might be better off without it. It’s not the first time such suggestions have surfaced. Leading voices in Brazil’s private sector,tired of dealing with what they consider a self-interested and disruptive Argentina, argue that Brazil would be better off signing bilateral free trade agreements with key trade partners like the European Union (E.U.) and the US (this is not permissible under Mercosur rules).
In contrast, President Lula da Silva has always vociferously defended Mercosur as key to regional economic and political integration, even in the face of mounting domestic opposition.
Unexpected US opposition overshadows Lula’s successful Iran nuclear dealBrazil’s President Lula da Silva has, together with Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, persuaded Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to drop many of his objections to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) proposals and enter a fuel swap agreement.This deal, which was hailed by the Brazilians and Turks as a means of defusing the confrontation over Iran’s nuclear programme has been strongly criticised by the US, to the disappointment of Brazilian officials who believed they were acting in line with US demands.
Crowded agenda for Clinton in Latin America
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton travels to Latin America and the Caribbean with a crowded agenda awaiting: lingering tensions over last year’s coup in Honduras, U.S. immigration policy, security issues and concerns over Iran and the Middle East. Clinton was to depart Sunday on her seventh trip to the region as the top U.S. diplomat
