by the El Reportero’s news services
Cuahutémoc Cárdenas
The Mexican state is responsible for defending oil from foreign interests, Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, founder of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), said while paying tribute on the 73rd anniversary of the Mexican Oil Expropriation. Cardenas, former mayor of the Federal District, visited the monument to the Revolution, where his father Lazaro Cardenas is buried.
He was accompanied by the PRD leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives, Carlos Navarrete and Alejandro Encinas. Cardenas told reporters after the ceremony that the preservation of national oil wealth is a topic that neither the party nor any progressive sectors of the country can ignore.
He called on PRD legislators in both houses to defend the national oil company Pemex, noting that recent National Action Party (PAN) governments have tried to sell control to foreign interests. Cárdenas also attended another event at the National Polytechnic Institute in this capital, where he thanked the rector, Yoloxchitl Bustamante, for a tribute to his father.
The left-wing politician said the creation of the National Polytechnic Institute and the nationalization ofthe oil industry were two of the greatest achievements of the Mexican Revolution.
B r a z i l s e e k i n g parity with the U.S.
The White House insisted today (March 18) that President Barack Obama’s trip to Brazil, Chile and El Salvador remains on, despite the humanitarian and nuclear crisis in Japan and the imminent threat of international military action in Libya. Brazil demonstrated its growing international strength and confi dence in itself last night by abstaining from the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council vote to approve the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya.
Ten of the 15 council members voted in favour and fi ve abstained: Brazil, China, Germany, India, and Russia. Brazil’s foreign minister, Antonio Patriota, declared yesterday that U.S. recognition of Brazil “as an equal partner” is paramount, noting that that recognition is more important to Brazil than any direct declaration by President Obama of U.S. support for Brazil’s bid for a seat on a reformed U.N. security council (which he gave to India on his trip there in October 2010).
Santos helps Colombia become a swan
“A few months ago we were the ugly duckling in Unasur, now we are the president.” These words from Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos encapsulated the scale of a remarkable foreign policy transformation presided over by his government since the departure last August of former president Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010): from regional isolation to leadership of the fl edgling Union of South American Nations (Unasur) in seven months. From April a former Colombian foreign minister, María Emma Mejía, will be the new secretary general of Unasur, fi lling the vacancy left by the former president of Argentina, Néstor Kirchner, who died last October.
Mexico riled as its violence is again labeled an ‘insurgency’
Once again, a prominent US offi cial has raised hackles in Mexico by
comparing the drug-cartel violence there with an insurgency and, to boot, by hinting that the US might have to send troops across the border. There have been half-apologies for political and diplomatic reasons, but what is clear is that U.S. offi cialdom is very alarmed at the prospect of the violence spreading into their own territory, and even President Felipe Calderón has gone on the record about the political dimension of drug-cartel violence. (Prensa Latin and Latin News contribu t e d t o t h i s re p o r t . )
