Daily Headlines: May 1, 2015

* Cuba: “We will only advance toward the normalization of bilateral relations (with the U.S.) on a basis of respect for the sovereignty…which includes the lifting of the blockade,” declared the lone speaker at Cuba’s annual May Day parade today.

* Venezuela: Ex-Brazilian President Henrique Cardoso, former Mexican leader Felipe Calderon and 24 other heads of state signed an open letter to the Venezuelan government urging the release of imprisoned opposition activists.

* Nicaragua: Lawmakers in Nicaragua approved a proposal that would allow Russia to build satellite bases on the Central American country.

* Brazil: Police in Curitiba have clashed twice with teachers protesting a planned reform to the pension and retirement system of public employees.

YouTube Source – teleSUR (Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro joined Cuban leader Raul Castro and thousands of other attendees at the annual May Day parade in Havana on Friday.)
 
Online Sources – Bernama, Yahoo! News, BBC News, Fox News Latino

Daily Headlines: March 31, 2015

* Argentina: Small British energy firms are reportedly still interested in offshore oil exploration near the Falklands despite the plummeting price of crude and heightened diplomatic tensions with Argentina.

* Venezuela: Ex-Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and ex-Spanish Prime Minister Felipe González are the latest former Ibero-American leaders to support imprisoned Venezuelan opposition activists.

* U.S.: Could Marco Rubio soon become the second Latino senator to launch a bid for the U.S. presidency?

* Bolivia: President Evo Morales blamed corruption scandals for his political party suffering losses in this month’s local elections.

YouTube Source – Financial Times (Video uploaded in 2012).
 
Online Sources – MercoPress, The Guardian, Politico, ABC News

Editorial by ex-presidents criticizes “war on drugs”

A trio of Latin American ex-presidents called for a revaluation of the “war on drugs” in an editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal.

"The war on drugs has failed," said the opinion piece by former presidents Fernando Enrique Cardoso (Brazil), Ernesto Zedillo (Mexico) and César Gaviria (Colombia). They suggested that U.S.-led counternarcotics efforts change their focus towards a more humane and efficient approach:

(…)Cardoso, Gaviria and Zedillo defend in their article the importance of creating informative campaigns about drug use among the public in order to attack the problem at its roots, as was done with tobacco.

The ex-presidents believe that the policy of repression and criminalization of consumption practiced in recent decades has failed both in eradicating the habit and in combating the trafficking rings.

"The alarming power of the drug cartels is leading to a criminalization of politics and a politicization of crime. And the corruption of the judicial and political system is undermining the foundations of democracy in several Latin American countries," the three men wrote in the Journal.

The editorial mentioned the conclusions of a report presented earlier this month by the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy on the “war on drugs”. (Cardoso, Zedillo, and Gaviria are part of that group.)

The editorial coincides with a rift between Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and his attorney general over resuming penalties for the personal use of illicit drugs.

Image- javno.hr (Farmer tending to coca leaves)
Online Sources- LAHT, Bloomberg, The Latin Americanist, El Espectador

Ex-presidents call for changing drug policy

A group of intellectuals and Latin American ex-presidents have called for the revaluation of counternarcotics policy.

The group called the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy emitted their report after meeting in Rio de Janeiro. Their report blasted the “war on drugs” and called for making drastic changes:

“The prohibitionist policies based on repressing production, intercepting trafficking and distribution, and criminalizing its consumption have not produced expected results…The goal of eradicating drugs has been farther than ever”…

“(Drug use) has transformed into a taboo that has prevented pubic debate…and confines drug consumers to a closed circle where they become more vulnerable to organized criminal activities.”

The commission also called for the legalization of marijuana for personal use as part of “changing (the) paradigms” of counternarcotics efforts.

Members of the group include former presidents Fernando Enrique Cardoso (Brazil), Ernesto Zedillo (Mexico) and César Gaviria (Colombia) as well as Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa and Foreign Policy magazine chief Moises Naim.

Image- telecinco.com (Ex-presidents Fernando Enrique Cardoso and César Gaviria at the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy conference)
Online Sources- Univision.com, El Tiempo, globo.com