by the El Reportero’s news services
Daniel Ortega
“Defense of national sovereignty”. This was Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s justification for three defense and security bills which the oppositionled congress passed earlier this week and which significantly tighten his grip on security and enhance the powers of the armed forces.
The approval of the laws, which critics claim have the sole domestic aim of incorporating the military (Nicaragua’s most trusted institution) into Ortega’s political project ahead of the November 2011 elections, suggests the success (and possible objective) of his decision to revive longstanding border tensions over the San Juan River with Costa Rica.
What does the Euro crisis mean for Latin America?
The crisis in the Eurozone has generated a certain amount of schadenfreude in South America. Only 20 years ago, European governments and the IMF were preaching to Latin-American governments
about the need to limit fiscal deficits and reform their banking sectors.
Is Peru’s stability at risk?
Peru’s long-term political stability is at risk as social and political pressures mount in the run up to the general election on 11 April 2011.
Macro-economically speaking, Peru goes from strength to strength: real annual GDP growth is set for around 8.6 percent in 2010.
However, the political hijacking of social conflict and protests, which often erupts into violence, may increase in the run-up to the elections.
It is not just the elections that act as a catalyst for political instability. The recently published findings of the Latin American Opinion Project (Lapop)’s regional citizens’ survey paint a grim (and worrying) picture for Peru.
One in which disillusionment and dissatisfaction with democracy, the current political system and its institutions are bubbling away below the surface ready to erupt at any time. Similar conclusions can be drawn from the latest Latinobarómetro survey published on 3 December.
Peruvian FM for Strengthened Links with Bolivia, Chile
Lima, Dec 28 (Prensa Latina) Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde refused to discuss an alleged Chilean formula for a Bolivian outlet to the sea without sovereignty, and defended the development of trinational pro-integration poles.
Asked about the likely corridor through the northern tip of Chile, over which Peru has rights and requires its consent for a transfer, he said that if the proposal is made, Peru will examine it and he refused to make any comment until then.
On the version that Chile would offer a sea outlet to Bolivia through a corridor without sovereignty in the northern tip of Chile, Garcia said that in such a proposal was made it would be considered.
“They can be terms of rights, as those Peru has in Arica, but this will be discussed at the right moment.
I think that Chile is interested in a good relation with Bolivia and Peru is interested in that, too,” he said.
He also highlighted the need to strengthen relations among Peru, Bolivia and Chile in order to develop trinational pro-integration poles.
47 World Figures to Attend Rousseff Inauguration
A total of 47 world figures have confirmed their attendance at the inauguration of Brazilian President-elect Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s first woman president.
More than 12 heads of state have announced their attendance at the investiture on Saturday, including the presidents of Venezuela, Bolivia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Paraguay, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said.
(Latin News and Prensa Latina contributed to this report.)
