by the El Reportero’s news services
Alfonso Portillo
The UN-backed international commission against impunity in Guatemala, (Cicig) made clear its opinion that two successive court sentences in major trials exemplified the entrenched impunity that it had been set up to eradicate. One sentence absolved former president Alfonso Portillo (2000-2004) and two of his ministers, accused of having appropriated large sums of public monies. The other acquitted former presidential candidate Alejandro Giammattei, accused of having been a key figure, back when he was head of the prison service under the administration of President Oscar Berger (2004-2008) , in a network devoted to extrajudicial executions.
L o b o g a i n s m o s t as Zelaya returns and OAS readmits Honduras
Honduras is once again ensconced in the Organization of American States (OAS) and ousted former president Manuel Zelaya is now safely back in the country after returning amid slightly muted fanfare on 28 May. The big winner of a historically signifi cant week, however, is neither Zelaya nor Honduras. It is President Porfi rio Lobo. For the best part of 18 months Lobo has been trying to win international recognition for his government.
Now he has it, Honduras is likely to drift beneath the regional radar. What next?
Lobo has a golden opportunity to convene a constituent assembly to implement structural changes to the Honduran political and socioeconomic system. There is a strong suspicion that he will in fact try to stack such an assembly to pursue a far narrower agenda, with re-election top of the bill.
Mexico in denial
On 1 June Alejandro Poir�, the official spokesperson for national security, denied that the government�s security policies are increasing the level of violence in the country. Poir� was responding to criticism of Mexico in a report entitled, �War on Drugs�, produced by the high-profile Global Commission on Drug Policy.
Poir�s argument is that the drug-gang violence was present in Mexico long before President Felipe Calder�n Hinojosa declared �war� on the drug gangs upon taking office in December 2006. The problem for the government is that independent statistics do not bear out his case and moreover anecdotal evidence, especially from the private sector, also indicates that violence has worsened since 2006.
C a l d e r ó n a t b a y
President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa has reached that uncomfortable point in every Mexican presidencywhen power begins to drain from the president and the focus shifts to see who will succeed him. What makes Calderón’s decline different is that he is being treated with near contempt by his fellow politicians, let alone impartial political commentators.
M e x i c o C o n c e r n o v e r A r m s S m u ggling from the USA
Mexico City, Jun 3 (Prensa Latina) Mexican customs authorities say people in passenger vehicles could be smuggling weapons into the country in small amounts, because passenger transport is less controlled than freight transport. Rodolfo Castañeda, president of the Confederation of Customs Officers’ Associations, said 740,000 vehicles cross the Mexican-U.S. border daily, and they are inspected every other day by Tax Service agents. Arsenals belonging to organized crime and gangs are frequently discovered,including high-precision heavy and light weapons and explosives, all of them from the United States, according to offi cial reports. Latin News and Prensa Latina contributed to this report.
