Daily Headlines: June 29, 2016

* Cuba: A U.S. federal judge ruled that a group of Cuban migrants who climbed a lighthouse off the Florida Keys must be returned to their homeland as part of the “wet foot, dry foot” policy.

* U.S.: Non-citizen Latinos may be barred from voting in federal elections but a new report found that they are a politically active group and could play an important role in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

* Peru: President-elect Pedro Pablo Kuczynski claimed a “social revolution” is needed to reduce inequality, particularly for the most impoverished regions of Peru.

* Mexico: Canada and Mexico reached key immigration and trade agreements prior to the start of the “Three Amigos” summit today of the leaders of both nations plus the U.S..

YouTube Source – Associated Press (From June 2015: “The US-Cuba relationship is changing, but the U.S. Coast Guard continues to interdict thousands of Cuban migrants risking their lives to take advantage of the controversial 'wet foot dry foot' policy.”)

Online Sources – NBC NEWS, CNN, The Atlantic, Xinhua

Daily Headlines: January 26, 2016

* Cuba: The U.S. government announced today new measures to relax regulations against Cuba that include facilitating exports and expanding opportunities to travel to the island.

* Puerto Rico: More Puerto Ricans are reportedly opting to migrate to the Dominican Republic than vice versa in order to flee from the commonwealth’s dire economic state.

* Colombia: In a rare unanimous vote, the U.N. Security Council approved creating a mission of observers to monitor a peace deal between the Colombian government and FARC that may be reached by March 23rd.

* El Salvador: Should El Salvador relax its complete ban on abortion in light of the spreading Zika virus affecting pregnant women and newborn babies?

YouTube Source – Boom Bust

Online Sources – Salon, Bloomberg, CBS News, GlobalPost, CNN

Daily Headlines: June 11, 2015

* Brazil: Family of Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian national shot and killed in 2005 by London police officers searching for suspected suicide bombers, have taken their legal challenge to the European Court of Human Rights.

* Paraguay: The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights recommended the Paraguayan government take the necessary steps to protect the life of a ten-year-old pregnant and sexually abused girl barred from undergoing an abortion.

* Nicaragua: Scientists reviewing early drafts of the environmental assessment report to Nicaragua’s planned interoceanic canal deemed the study as “insufficient given the magnitude of the proposed projects associated with...construction.”

* Latin America: The five member states of Latin America’s Mercosur alliance are divided over whether the bloc should push for a trade pact with the European Union.

YouTube Source – Andy Smart

Online Sources – The Globe and Mail, The Latin Americanist, International Business Times, MercoPress, The Guardian

Daily Headlines: May 28, 2015

* Latin America: The presidents of Brazil and Mexico signed a series of trade and investment agreements in order to strengthen Latin America's two biggest economies.

* Argentina: An Argentine judge issued arrest warrants for the apprehension of three sports marketing execs named yesterday in a U.S. Department of Justice soccer corruption probe.

* Chile: Spanish investigators found no conclusive evidence indicating that renowned Chilean poet Pablo Neruda was poisoned to death in 1973.

* Venezuela: Rosneft, Russia’s top oil producer, will spend $14 billion as part of its increased investment in the Venezuelan energy sector.

YouTube Source – AFP

Online Sources – Buenos Aires Herald, RTT News, The Latin Americanist, Reuters, euronews

Daily Headlines: May 20, 2015

 
* Uruguay: Four former Guantanamo detainees relocated to Uruguay agreed to end their almost month-long protest in front of the U.S. Embassy in Montevideo.

* Brazil: Visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff signed numerous deals worth tens of billions of dollars.

* Mexico: U.S. lawmakers introduced a bill they claimed will help prevent a “continental trade war” against Canada and Mexico.

* Chile: A Chilean court ordered reopening the investigation into the mysterious death of Eduardo Frei Montalva, an ex-president and staunch critic of strongman Augusto Pinochet, in 1982.

YouTube Source – AFP

Online Sources – ABC News, CTV, Reuters, news.com.au

Daily Headlines: April 8, 2013

* Brazil: A Brazilian federal prosecutor will look into allegations that former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was involved in a vote-buying scheme known locally as the mensalao scandal.

* Chile: The body of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda is scheduled to be exhumed today and will be examined to determine if he died due to cancer or if he was murdered.

* Panama: Expansion of the Panama Canal has neared the halfway point though the major construction project is running eight months behind schedule.

* Argentina: Argentina advanced to the Davis Cup semifinals where they will face defending champion Czech Republic.

Video Source – YouTube via euronews

Online Sources- Miami Herald, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera English, SI.com

Daily Headlines: December 10, 2012

* Mexico: Acclaimed Mexican-American singer and songwriter Jenni Rivera is presumed dead after authorities located the remains of the crashed plane she was traveling in.

* Puerto Rico: Outgoing Governor Luis Fortuno will hold an extraordinary session to push for approval of a resolution urging the U.S. government to honor the results of a recent referendum on statehood for the island.

* Argentina: The U.S. and E.U. increased the pressure against supposedly unfair trade practices by Argentina. 

* U.S.: It took four tries but Mexican boxer Juan Manuel Márquez finally beat Philippine pugilist Manny Pacquiao.

Daily Headlines: November 9, 2012

* Argentina: Hundreds of thousands of Argentines participated in nationwide protests critical of President Cristina Fernandez and her policies.
 
* Dominican Republic: A medical student was killed during demonstrations opposed to major reforms at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo.

* Mexico: Fourteen federal police officers were charged today with attempted murder in the attack on a pair of CIA agents last August.

* Brazil: The Brazilian ambassador to India claimed that trade between the two members of the BRICS group of emerging economic states grew by 34% last year.

Video Source – YouTube via AFP
 
Online Sources- New York Daily News, Huffington Post, New York Times, Reuters

Daily Headlines: September 26, 2012

* Mexico: Trade unions and the #YoSoy132 student movement are among the groups protesting against a labor reform proposal backed by President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto.

* Haiti: According to the U.N. a little more than half of the approximately $5.33 billion pledged at a donors' conference after Haiti's 2010 earthquake has been disbursed.

* Ecuador: Several U.S. business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers called on the White House to cut trade benefits to Ecuador.

* Peru: The Inter-American Court of Human Rights urged Peruvian officials to overturn a Supreme Court ruling that could’ve led to an early release of jailed ex-President Alberto Fujimori.

Video Source – YouTube via Milenio

Online Sources- MSNBC, Washington Post, Reuters, Mercopress

Daily Headlines: July 18, 2012

* Mexico: The head of Mexico's banking and securities commission defended the regulator amid claims that HSBC ignored warnings of money laundering by drug gangs.

* Cuba: The Cuban government announced an increase in import taxes days after the island received its first cargo shipment from the U.S. in fifty years.

* Colombia: Tensions continue in the war-torn Cauca province where the indigenous community has sought the removal of the military and FARC guerillas.

* Chile: A court charged two ex-military men with torturing and killing the father of former president Michelle Bachelet in 1974.

Video Source– YouTube via Al Jazeera English

Online Sources- Reuters, euronews, Huffington Post, CNN, BBC News

LatAm Alphabet Soup

There's UNASUR and MERCOSUR, obviously NAFTA and CAFTA-DR.

ALBA, CAN (Andean Community of Nations), ACS (Association of Caribbean States), OECS (Organization of Eastern Caribbean States) ALADI (The Latin American Integration Association which is Mexico plus most of South America but not Central America), and SICA (Central American Integration System).

And of course the US Congress is still evaluating passage of free trade agreements with Colombia and Panama, with Canada working towards one with the Caribbean (CARICOM).

Whew.

For good measure, this year some new ones are being inaugurated: AIP (Área de Integración Profunda) - a new body made up of Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico. And Chile, Colombia and Peru are consolidating their stock markets.

As an aside, since every rising market needs a good name (BRICs, PIIGS, Civets), I'm going to go ahead and dub these the "Andean Jaguars." Can't wait for that to take off.

Ok, you get the idea. But aside from the myriad of summits that led Felipe Calderon to compare Latin American diplomacy to a mountain range, what is the tangible impact of all these agreements?

Despite the seemingly excessive, frequently overlapping agreements and integration systems, the recent rise of "Multi-latinas," a new class of competitive cross-border Latin American firms is one of the most positive developments of all these agreements.

The Multi-latinas are companies that operate across Latin America, primarily with Latin American capital, and that take advantage of their local expertise to find niches and beat international competitors. América Móvil is a perfect example.

Some are true multinationals - Vale, CEMEX, Bimbo, Embraer. Many more operate exclusively within the region. They are big drivers of growth in the region and could turn into what multinationals in Latin America emulate in order to succeed, rather than the other way around.

A provision of establishing the common stock market was that Peru lower its capital gains tax to 5% (previously it had ranged from 5-30%). By comparison, the US capital gains tax is 15% after the "Great Tax Compromise." Granted, it's difficult to actually incorporate a business in Peru. But 5% is attractive nonetheless.

Image Source: AmericaEconomia

Online Sources: Financial Times TILT Blog, Bloomberg, Colombia Reports, Wikipedia, The Economist, La Republica, Americas Society/Council of the Americas, BusinessWeek, Boston Consulting Group

What the Pending Republican Sweep Means for Latin America

It's becoming more and more likely that the Republicans will take over the US House of Representatives, and may even grab the Senate. Domestic economic issues are the primary reason Republicans are poised to make big gains, and hence will take up most of the time and focus when the newbies arrive on Capitol Hill.

But lots of important work still gets done outside the glaring eye of cable news. Foreign Policy has highlighted some of these changes, and there are indeed some important potential shakeups with regard to US policy towards Latin America.

Cuba:
One of the Obama administration's most prominent diversions from Bush-era policy has come on Cuba. Though any further thawing is made very difficult by Cuba's continued detention of USAID contractor Alan Gross, the Obama admin has reversed the Bush administration's tightened restrictions on travel to the island by Cuban-Americans as well as cultural and educational groups. Despite international and elite public opinion against the sustained isolation of Cuba, the US' Cuba policy is driven by a large by a critical political constituency in a swing state: Cuban-Americans in Miami/Dade County, Florida.

So it's very interesting that Cuban-born Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is poised to take over the House Foreign Affairs Committee should the Republicans re-take the house. Ros-Lehtinen is a prominent advocate of the hard-line Cuban exiles and is unlikely to budge an inch towards any gestures made by anyone in Cuba with the Castro surname.

Trade:
On the trade issue, the US still has pending free trade agreements with Panama and Colombia. The Colombia deal has been subject to more Congressional scrutiny, with many union-backed Democrats pushing for deeper environmental or labor rights protections before signing off. Especially given the current economic climate, there will likely be a push by pro-trade conservatives to get the treaties through on the grounds of boosting the economy. Trade may be one of the areas the Obama admin can tout bi-partisan success with the new Republican majority.

Drugs:
Colombia has received heaps of money over the years to support its fight against drug production and trafficking. The Plan Colombia era is definitely drawing to a close, as concerns about drugs and violence in Mexico take center stage in most Americans' minds. Expect a shift of resources and attention, as well as finger-pointing, towards Mexico and to a lesser extent Central America.

Venezuela:
Sen. Jim DeMint, staunch opponent of the Obama admin's reaction to the Honduras coup last year, is poised to become significantly more important as Congress' resident Tea Party leader (assuming he can beat out Alvin Greene). DeMint doesn't like Chavez and has used his position in the minority to block confirmation of nominations to key Latin American-related posts in the admin. With Venezuela increasingly cozying up to Iran, expect some fun hearings and zingers, at the very least.

Immigration:
Lastly, though a domestic policy issue, immigration reform will also be significantly affected. Whether the new Republicans can or will make any more progress than the last time their colleagues took up immigration will be a huge issue (that will not escape the eye of cable news) remains to be seen.

Image: Washington Post ("Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) holds a copy of the constitution of Honduras during a press conference with interim President Roberto Micheletti at the presidential house in Tegucigalpa.")

Online Sources: Christian Science Monitor, New York Times, Foreign Policy, The Hill, Real Clear Politics, NOLA.com, Just the Facts

Daily Headlines: March 10, 2010

* Brazil: Rumors of a “trade war” between Brazil and the U.S. have emerged after Brazil raised tariffs in response to high U.S. taxes on cotton exports.

* Puerto Rico: Unemployment on the island reached a staggering 15.8% in January and is expected to grow with the layoffs of thousands of public employees.

* Mexico: Is Mexico’s weakened economy slowly bouncing back?

* Argentina: One of the Iranians charged in the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish center denied that he was involved in the attack.

Image – BBC News (In 2008, the WTO ruled as discriminatory U.S. tariffs on Brazilian cotton exports).
Online Sources- AFP, AP, LAHT, Bloomberg

House extends Andean trade program

The U.S. House of Representatives voted yesterday to extend trade benefits for several South American states.

The program under the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) for Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru and had been set to expire at the end of this month. Yet the one year extension by the House will continue a plan enacted in 1991 that “provides duty-free treatment” to the aforementioned countries.

Bolivia was under the ATPA program yet the White House removed that country from the list in part due to “"explicit acceptance and encouragement of coca production.” Ecuador avoided a similar fate though not without some conditions:

The extension requires the U.S. Trade Representative's Office to report by June 30 on whether the three remaining Andean countries are complying with program criteria.

That language is aimed primarily at Ecuador, which is accused by some in the United States of having a corrupt government and biased judiciary and of failing to honor contracts.

U.S. oil company, Chevron Corp (CVX.N), has accused Ecuador of breaching a bilateral investment treaty with the United States by not forcing an Ecuadorean court to dismiss a $27 billion environmental lawsuit against the company.

Image- Living In Peru (The Peruvian port of Callao).
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, Forbes.com, AP, Reuters

Daily Headlines: November 25, 2009

* U.S.: Albert Pujols won his third career National League M.V.P. award after having lead the majors in home runs, runs and slugging percentage.

* Cuba: The Obama administration’s plans to close the Guantanamo prison took another blow when the official in charge of shutting the jail down abruptly resigned.

* Paraguay: Improving trade ties was the main topic of discussion between U.S. and Paraguayan representatives over the weekend.

* Mexico: Mexico’s economy may be rebounding as the unemployment rate slowly improves.

Image – CBC
Online Sources- AFP, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Reuters

Row could hurt Colombia, Venezuelan economies

The diplomatic spat between neighboring Colombia and Venezuela may end up hurting political relations between both countries. More crucially, however, is the economic damage that the crisis could cause.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez was peeved over plans by the U.S. to expand its military presence in Colombia and even more displeased over the alleged selling of arms from Sweden to Colombian rebels via Venezuela. Thus, he ordered on Tuesday the withdrawal of his diplomatic team stationed in Bogota and warned that he might “freeze (economic) relations with Colombia".

As to be anticipated, the financial response in Colombia on Wednesday was not good. The peso fell by over 3% as Colombian investors worry over what will happen to business with their second-biggest trade partner. Exporters have plenty to lose if the spat worsens should there be a cut in trade. Colombia's Trade Minister said that finding suitable alternative export markets is difficult and it could take years to replace a partner as major as Venezuela.

Venezuelan Vice President Ramon Carrizalez said that the government has yet to order a shutdown of trade with Colombia. Perhaps it might be since a possible trade embargo on Colombia would also be very damaging to Venezuela:

Venezuela is Colombia's second-largest market for exports, after the U.S. But a rupture in trade flows would likely be far more problematic for Venezuela - which imports manufactured goods and about two-thirds of the food that it consumes - than for Colombia…

Venezuela depends on Colombia for basic goods such as dairy, meat, clothing and, more strategically, imports 300 million cubic feet of natural gas a day, twice as much as originally agreed upon.

Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state-owned oil firm, needs natural gas for its oil reservoirs to increase pressure and boost production, and as raw material for its petrochemical industry.

Image- Christian Science Monitor (“Trucks loaded with Colombian merchandise wait at customs for permission to enter Venezuela near the border city of La Raya, Venezuela.”)
Online Sources- Colombia Reports, NASDAQ, The Latin Americanist, CNNMoney.com, Bloomberg, BBC News

Daily Headlines: July 2, 2009

* Puerto Rico: The bullet-ridden house where Puerto Rican nationalist leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios was killed in 2005 may become a museum in his name.

* Mexico: Remittances to Mexico plummeted by a whopping 19.9% in May as the country falls deeper into a recession.

* Brazil: Investigators believe that Air France Flight 447 broke up in mid-air before crashing off the Brazilian coast.

* Bolivia: Bolivian president Evo Morales lashed out against the Obama administration’s decision to cut APTA trade benefits and accused him of breaking his promises made during the Summit of the Americas.

Image- New York Times (“A mural of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, who became an independence icon after being killed in a gun battle with F.B.I. agents.”)
Online Sources- Guardian UK, BBC News, BusinessWeek, The Latin Americanist, New York Times

Trade benefits cut to Bolivia, extended to Ecuador

Ecuador and Bolivia will face different outcomes regarding vital trade benefits from the U.S.

The U.S. Trade Representative's Office (USTR) announced yesterday that it will continue to sever tariff exemptions for Bolivia under the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA). According to the USTR the Bolivian government has engaged in an “"explicit acceptance and encouragement of coca production” and has hurt counternarcotics efforts by booting out DEA agents last year.

The White House’s move continues the decision by the Bush administration in late 2008 to remove Bolivia from APTA benefits. Thus, Bolivian president and ex-coca-growers' union leader Evo Morales was reluctant to blame the current U.S. regime:

"Let's hope that it isn't long before the president of the United States immediately repairs the damage done by former President (George W.) Bush, and not only the economic but the political damage," he said during a speech in La Paz on Tuesday night.

On the other hand, the White house decided to extend APTA benefits to Ecuador. The decision was seen unfavorably by several business interests including Chevron who’s facing a multibillion dollar environmental damage lawsuit in Ecuador.

Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia will all receive APTA help until the end of the year though the benefits are expected to be renewed.

Image- daylife.com (“A Bolivian woman chews coca leaves and places some on her face during a protest against the U.N. coca report, in La Paz March 10, 2008.”)
Online Sources- Guardian UK, Reuters, MarketWatch, ABC News

China becomes Brazil’s top trade partner

In yesterday’s post on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s postponed tour of Latin America we mentioned how U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was not pleased over “disturbing” inroads made by Iran and China into the region. Surely she won’t be happy with the news that China has surpassed the U.S. as Brazil’s leading trade partner:

According to the trade balance released by (Brazil's Ministry of Development, Industry and Exterior Trade), the sum of Brazil's exports and imports with China reached 3.2 billion U.S. dollars in April, over the 2.8 billion dollars in its trade with the U.S.

Trade Minister Welber Barral said the change was "historic," as the U.S. has been Brazil's biggest trading partner since the 1930s.

The change may be sustainable since China’s economy continues to grow while that of the U.S. is in recession according to one Brazilian official. This should permit a diversification of exports to China and boost Brazil’s trade surplus added Barral.

Could China make such strong economic inroads in other Latin American nations? Stay tuned…

Image- Mercopress (Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping met with Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva last February)
Online Sources- Xinhua, The Latin Americanist, Reuters, LAHT

Fidel Castro pushes Obama to drop embargo

Cuban ex-President Fidel Castro blasted the U.S. trade embargo in reponse to the White House’s decision yesterday to ease travel and remittance limits.

In an article written in the Cuban press, Castro seemed to be pleased that President Barack Obama scrapped "several hateful restrictions" enacted by the previous presidential administration. Castro briefly struck a conciliatory tone when he wrote that the Cuban government would be willing to normalize relations with the U.S. Yet he also blasted the forty-year long blockade which he labeled as a "truly genocidal measure". “The conditions are there for Obama to use his talent for a constructive policy to put an end to what has failed for almost half a century,” mentioned the ailing former leader.

Yesterday’s move to removing limits on travel and money transfers by Cuban-Americans to the island was seen with mixed eyes by different members of the Cuban community in the U.S.:

"So many people have been calling," said Ofelia Gutierrez, a Cuban immigrant and the manager of Costamar Travel in Union City, N.J. "They are really excited about it, asking 'Is it true we can go?'"

Gutierrez does worry the Cuban government will skim off any increased money sent home to family members…

"We hope that the administration will reserve (dropping the trade embargo) for future steps when conditions on the part of the Cuban government have changed and political prisoners have been freed," said Francisco Hernandez, director of the Cuban American National Foundation in Miami…

“President Obama has committed a serious mistake by unilaterally increasing Cuban-American travel and remittance dollars for the Cuban dictatorship," (U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart) said in a statement.

Image- BBC News
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, UPI, AP, Bloomberg