by the El Reportero’s staff
This time last year, LatinNews flagged up the simmering coup in Honduras against the-then president Manuel Zelaya, which resulted in his removal at military gunpoint early on June 29, 2009. One year on, the new president, Porfirio Lobo, has also alleged that sections of the country’s entrenched rightwing political and business elite, which still hold sway over key state institutions, in particular the judiciary that moved against Zelaya, are now plotting against him.
Six months after taking office, Lobo appears unable to assert his authority over the myriad of conflicting lobbies in Honduras. The U.S., which fully supported Lobo’s November 2009 election as the best way out of the institutional mess created by the coup, appears concerned, but its efforts to prod things along internally have recently led to a backlash.
Juan Manuel Santos to lead Colombia
On June 20, Juan Manuel Santos of the ruling Partido de la U (PU) won the second round of the presidential election with a solid 69.05 percent of the vote, defeating the Partido Verde (PV)’s Antanas Mockus, who took 27.5 percent.
With over 9m votes cast in his favour, Santos was elected president with the highest number of votes in Colombia’s recent history, surpassing the previous record held by President Alvaro Uribe by more than 1.5m votes. This is no small feat considering it is the first time he has been elected to public office.
The record level of support at the polls in conjunction with Santos’ cross-party backing in congress mean that the president-elect has been given the strongest mandate of recent times and will enter the Palace of Nariño with greater freedom to shape future policies.
Mexican economic future in Brookings event
The Mexican economy was one of the most severely affected by the global crisis and the Brookings Institution will hold today a meeting to assess the Mexican economic future.
Mexico’s GDP shrank by 6.5 percent in 2009‚ the most serious contraction since the 1995 peso crisis. Even prior to the collapse, says a Brookings press release, Mexico grew at relatively low rates, even under highly favorable global economic conditions.
According to organizers, this suggests there are structural problems that must be addressed if Mexico is to bolster its development.
This Friday, the Latin American Initiative at Brookings and the Inter American Development Bank sponsor this conference with leading Mexican and international experts to discuss the future of the North American Free Trade Treaty nation.
The conference will diagnose Mexico’s development strategy and highlight key aspects of an economic agenda to take Mexico beyond the global economic crisis. (Latin News and Prensa Latina contributed to this article.)
