Cancun, Mexico is always regarded as a conference and summit hotspot, but this week it was overtaken by 32 representatives of Latin American and Caribbean countries - 24 of which were heads of state. The Rio Group Summit, the Latin American and Caribbean Summit on Integration and Development, and the Mexico-Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Summit were all held in Cancun over the past few days, and they all convened at the Latin American-Caribbean Unity Summit to discuss the creation of a new regional alliance, among other things.

Topics that were covered at the Summit included an aid strategy for reconstruction and development in Haiti, the current dispute between Argentina and Great Britain over the Falkland Islands, the creation of a new Latin American and Caribbean unity organization that would rival the Organization of American States, and more. Though not initially planned, other topics such as the spat between Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez were thrown into the mix, after the two presidents exchanged harsh words during lunch yesterday.

New Latin America-Caribbean Alliance

As the two-day summit came to a close yesterday, Mexican President Felipe Calderón announced that the 32 nations have agreed to create a new regional alliance that will "push for regional integration" and "promote the regional agenda in global meetings." This new alliance is intended to serve as an alternative to the Organization of American States with a slightly different membership - the United States and Canada will not be members, while Cuba will be.

According to the AFP, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela said that the United States does not see the new group as a problem, and that "This should not be an effort that would replace the OAS." And, during yesterday's State Department press briefing, Assistant Secretary Philip J. Crowley commented on the new alliance.

We think it's a good thing when countries in the region come together to talk about how they can cooperate more effectively, and this can take place in many regional fora. And virtually all of the countries attending the summit are strong partners of the United States and we are working together with them on a broad range of initiatives. So – and we consider the meeting in Mexico as consistent with our goals for the hemisphere.

Though this new alliance is being referred to as the Latin American and Caribbean Community, its name, status, and organizational structure will be decided on next year at a meeting in Caracas, Venezuela.

Argentina:

Over the past few weeks, tensions have sparked between Great Britain and Argentina over oil drilling rights in the waters surrounding the Falkland Islands (known as Las Malvinas in Argentina). The longstanding sovereignty dispute over the islands intensified earlier this month upon announcement that a British oil rig was arriving to drill offshore for oil.

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner says London has violated UN resolutions calling on the parties to take no actions that could aggravate their dispute and instituted a decree last week requiring vessels traveling through territorial waters to obtain permission from Buenos Aires. Britain has mostly dismissed the move as sabre-rattling, and the British oil company announced on Monday that it has begun drilling for oil in the territorial waters of the Falkland Islands.

The Unity Summit of 32 countries backed Argentina's claim that Britain is flouting international law by permitting drilling. According to the Associated Press: "Argentina presented a statement quoting Mexican President Felipe Calderón as saying that 'the heads of state represented here reaffirm their support for the legitimate rights of the republic of Argentina in the sovereignty dispute with Great Britain.'"

Colombia-Ecuador relations

Outside of the various summits, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa and Colombian President Álvaro Uribe held their first official meeting since the two countries cut diplomatic relations in March 2008 (after Colombia bombed a Farc encampment on Ecuadorian territory, resulting in the death of Farc leader Raul Reyes). Official from both countries have been working to restore diplomatic relations, but yesterday's meeting marks an important step forward in the process.

Prior to the meeting, both governments made statements saying that diplomatic relations would not be restored immediately, as each side still has concerns that need to be addressed. However the meeting between the two presidents demonstrated their will to move the process forward. "Without looking at the past to not repeat it, but looking toward the future and what is best for our countries, the political will to normalize relations between the two countries as soon as possible has been ratified," President Correa said.

As Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermúdez noted at a press conference yesterday, the next step toward normalizing relations is the implementation of a "commission of reasonable affairs that will cover topics of interest and the concerns of each side."

Colombia-Venezuela relations

The face-to-face encounter between President Uribe and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was not as diplomatic as the meeting between Presidents Uribe and Correa. During lunch on Monday, the two presidents held a heated exchange, in which Uribe told Chávez to "be a man," while Chávez responded with "go to hell," according to various media outlets. The media was not in attendance at the lunch, but reports emerged detailing what was called a "shouting match" between the two presidents. As reported by the BBC, the exchange was as follows:

"Uribe: Be a man! These issues are meant to be discussed in these forums. You're brave speaking at a distance, but a coward when it comes to talking face to face.

Chavez: Go to hell!"

Cuban President Raúl Castro stepped in to stop the verbal spat, noting the irony of the fight at a "unity" summit: "'How is it possible that we're fighting at a summit intended to unite Latin American and Caribbean countries?,'" he asked.

Later in the day, both President Uribe and President Chávez agreed to an intervention by "friendly" countries to help resolve the diplomatic crisis that has emerged between the two countries. The commission formed to help the two countries includes Argentina, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Brazil.

Semana reported that President Chávez noted that "we have the capacity to not throw rocks at each other, because there are factors that alway play to this, to impede unity. It is an old history, the divide and conquer." President Uribe, on the other hand, asked his government's officials, especially Minister of Defense Gabriel Silva, to refrain from making any declarations about Venezuela without first consulting him.

Over the past three weeks, the debate surrounding the strategy to fight the "war on drugs" in Mexico has resurfaced, leading President Felipe Calderón to admit that the current militarized approach used by his administration must be coupled with social initiatives to be successful. This change in attitude came after 16 teenagers were killed by a group of masked gunman in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico's most violent city located on the U.S.-Mexico border. According to witness' reports, seven SUVs carrying masked gunmen drove up to the house where the teens were celebrating their friend's birthday and stormed the house without warning, shooting at everyone they encountered.

This change of attitude also coincided with news that the conservative National Action Party (PAN) of President Calderón was considering an alliance with the leftist Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) in an attempt to defeat the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in this summer's upcoming gubernatorial races. Therefore, the decision to implement new social initiatives in the fight against narcotrafficking could be interpreted as the PAN's attempt to extend an olive branch to the more left-leaning PRI.

The recent attack hit a sore spot for many Mexicans, especially residents of Ciudad Juárez. Since President Calderon deployed the army throughout Mexico to combat narcotrafficking in late 2006, more than 17,000 people have been killed by drug-related violence. The Mexican government often explains the high murder and crime rates in cities such as Ciudad Juárez as the result of gang-on-gang violence, resulting in the criminalization of the victims of the fight against drugs in Mexico. The teens killed on January 31st have not been linked to organized crime or the drug trade, resulting in a highly publicized event that demonstrates the impact of the city's violence on innocent citizens and the failure of the militarized approach to organized crime and drug violence.

After the shooting, the families of the slain teens immediately demanded justice and blamed President Calderón for failing to prevent the mass murder. Mexico's Congress, dominated by the PRI opposition party, echoed their demands and the country's senators called for government officials in charge of security policy to both explain how this multiple murder could take place with over 5,500 soldiers deployed to the city and rewrite Mexico's counternarcotics strategy. Ciudad Juárez's mayor, José Reyes Ferriz, joined residents in a call for a social initiatives targeting the root of the problem, described by the mayor as "social decomposition" caused by "broken homes" which leaves teens "vulnerable to a gang's plea for membership."

In the face of increasing criticism, President Calderón admitted that "the deployment and presence of the Army and Federal Police is not enough" to stop the violence in Ciudad Juárez, and he promised to launch new social initiatives aimed to lower crime through "an integral strategy of social recomposition, prevention and treatment for addictions, a search for opportunities for employment and recreation and education for youth."

Last Thursday, President Calderón visited Ciudad Juárez to meet with some of the slain teens' families and face the criticisms that have resulted from the recent events. In the presence of angry protesters holding signs demanding his resignation, Calderón again admitted that the strategy must change, again promised new social initiatives for the city, and recognized a need for better coordination between the different levels and institutions of the government. "If those deaths... mean anything it is that we need to change after that absurd sacrifice," Calderón told Ciudad Juárez residents.

The new social initiatives, however, will not replace the military strategy. President Calderón insisted that "The violence (in Ciudad Juarez) is not due to the presence of federal forces.... The presence of the federal forces is due to the violence that was and still is there."

Over the weekend, 2,000 federal police were deployed to Ciudad Juárez to strengthen the soldiers already in the city and 500 additional agents will soon be deployed to focus on improving intelligence and dismantling the financial structures used by the cartels.

The social part of the new initiative, revealed yesterday with the name "Todos Somos Juárez, Reconstruyamos Nuestra Ciudad" ("We are all Juárez, We will rebuild our city"), includes an initial investment of $600 million pesos (about $46.5 million U.S. dollars) intended to "restore the social fabric" of the city. According to Mexico's El Universal, plans include allocating around $280 million pesos ($21.7 million USD) to education programs and the construction of new parks and schools, and around $360 million pesos ($28.9 million USD) for the renovation of hospitals and the construction of drug rehabilitation centers, anti-drug centers aimed at youth, and psychological help centers for residents experiencing trauma as a result of the violence in the city.

Some analysts claim the new plan is too little too late, comparing the announced initiatives to a doctor telling a lung cancer patient that he should stop smoking. Others say the social initiatives are misguided: that Ciudad Juárez does not need health and education programs, but instead needs to tackle deeper social problems such as hunger, victims of violence, and the city's growing population of orphans.

January 2010 has already been cited as one of Mexico's most violent months in recent years, with 933 organized crime-related deaths. When the United States implemented the Mérida Initiative in 2008 to help Mexico fight organized crime and narcotrafficking, groups including CIP, Amnesty International, LAWG and WOLA, warned that a militarized approach would not solve Mexico's problems, nor would it stop drugs from entering the United States. Instead, strengthening Mexico's police force and judicial system, addressing the military's human rights violations, and focusing on social initiatives were offered as viable programs.

The Calderón administration appears finally to be admitting that the militarized approach on its own has not worked. The recent events in Mexico can be viewed as an opportunity to reevaluate the war on drugs not only in Mexico, but throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

Entire Region

• Delegations from the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) member countries met in Quito, Ecuador on Tuesday to develop a collaborative approach for helping Haiti rebuild after last month's devastating earthquake. The UNASUR member countries reached an agreement to provide $300 million in aid to Haiti - creating a $100 million fund for recovery and reconstruction and offering $200 million in credit through the Inter-American Development Bank.

  Haitian President Rene Preval also attended the meeting in Quito. He thanked the countries for their support, but also advised that Haiti really needs immediate emergency assistance to help the thousands of Haitians who are still sleeping without a roof (or tent) over their head.

• In 2009 Russia became the primary exporter of weapons to Latin America, surpassing the United States. This increase is mainly attributed to the large purchases made by Venezuela. However, Russia also signed military contracts with Peru, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, with sales totaling over $5.4 billion.

Bolivia

• The BBC reports on the role of women in President Evo Morales' government, writing that "Today women are involved in running the country as never before." Not only is Morales' new cabinet made up of 10 men and 10 women, but women now occupy 30% of the seats in Bolivia's new legislative branch.

Costa Rica

• Over the weekend, Costa Rica elected Laura Chinchilla to be the country's first female president with 47% of the vote. Read news coverage on her victory, and her platform, here.

Colombia

• While in Washington earlier this week, Defense Minister Gabriel Silva said that a high ranking State Department official assured him that the decrease in U.S. aid to Colombia reflected in Obama's FY2011 request was merely part of the across-the-board belt tightening of the president's new budget. Later in the week, however, President Uribe noted he was worried about the reduction in aid and said it was fortunate that Colombia had signed the Defense Cooperation Agreement with the United States this year, since it "guarantees the prolongation of the same actions of Plan Colombia."
• In the latest news on President Uribe's potential bid for a third term, a new poll was released in Colombia in which 54% of respondents said they were against the potential third term. Though not speaking directly about reelection, Uribe told the press that "eight years is little time [to govern] a country that in 200 years has only had 47 years of peace."

Colombia, Panama

• In an interview with Bloomberg BusinessWeek, President Obama said he would press for the passage of pending free trade agreements with Panama and Colombia in 2010. Though he did say that "different glitches" must be negotiated with each country first. Senator Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut) told Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva this week, however, that "this is a complex electoral year with a very heavy domestic agenda," according to Defense Minister Silva, so it could still be hard to pass the controversial agreements, despite the President's agenda.

Ecuador

• A large protest against Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa was held in the port city of Guayaquil yesterday. The city's mayor, Jaime Nebot, spoke to the protesters, calling President Correa's government "a dictatorship" and "a repulsive copy of that failed scheme that Chávez has imposed for the misfortune of Venezuelans."

Honduras

• On Wednesday, the World Bank announced it is restoring development aid to Honduras that had been frozen after the coup d'etat in June. In addition to restoring a planned loan of $270 million, the World Bank said it will add $120 million in new credit to the country, which recently announced it only had $50 million left in government coffers.
• Former Guatemalan Vice President Eduardo Stein announced that the truth commission to investigate the events that led to the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya will be officially formed on February 25th. The findings of the truth commission will then be released sometime this summer - the Associated Press says June and Honduras' Tiempo says no later than August.

Mexico

• President Felipe Calderón appears to have spent the week trying to assuage anger that surfaced after 15 teens were killed at a birthday party in the violent border city of Ciudad Juárez. Though he said he would not pull the army and federal police out of Ciudad Juarez, President Calderón did say it was time to launch an overdue expansion of the drug war to include efforts aimed at tackling social issues. This new initiative would include sports centers for youths, more schools and day care centers and financial aid for 25,000 families living in poverty in Ciudad Juárez. Many people, including family members of the teens killed last week, protested Calderón's visit to Ciudad Juárez yesterday, calling for both his apology for linking the dead youth to organized crime and his resignation.

Venezuela

• Earlier this week, Venezuelan President Chávez announced his new radio show, "Suddenly Chávez." The name is appropriate for the new show, as it will not have a scheduled time slot, and can come on air anytime, day or night. As President Chávez put it, " When you hear the pluck of a harp on the radio, maybe Chávez is coming. It's suddenly, at any time, maybe midnight, maybe early morning."
• On the first airing of "Suddenly Chávez", the president declared an electricity emergency in Venezuela. The new declaration included the announcement of penalties for over-consumption of electricity and incentives for those that cut consumption. The recent electricity emergency also forced Chávez to cancel his plan to attend the UNASUR meeting in Quito, thereby losing the opportunity for a face-to-face between the two dueling presidents - Chávez and Colombia's Uribe.

This is cross-posted from the Latin America Working Group's blog, the LAWG Blog. It was written by Lisa Haugaard.

We charitably termed the Obama Administration’s first year of Latin America policy a “false start.”  After the year was kicked off with a promising beginning with a rousing speech at the Summit of the Americas, a promise to close Guantanamo, the lifting of the ban on travel to Cuba for Cuban Americans, and some principled words on human rights to Colombian President Uribe, we had some hope for a new, less ideological, more people-centered approach to the region. As the year progressed, those hopes were dashed. But now we dare to hope again.

We hoped for the United States to stand up for human rights and democratic principles, but in a fair-minded way, not based on whether or not a government was considered a close ally. We hoped for our country to uphold the same human rights standards we asked of others. We hoped for a reshaping of U.S. aid to focus generously on human needs, like health care and small-scale development for the poorest communities and humanitarian aid for those displaced by war and natural disaster—rather than military aid. We presented these ideas to the administration in letters, petitions, reports and meetings (and we give this administration credit for its open door for meetings). But our hopes were dashed by the administration’s failure to take a strong enough stance towards the coup in Honduras, the roll out of a major base agreement with Colombia, an aid budget that mirrored the Bush Administration’s, and the decision to give a free pass to Mexico and Colombia on the human rights requirements attached to military aid.

Now we are looking for signs that the Obama Administration—with its top officials finally in place for Latin America and human rights—is ready for a fresh start to the region.

The administration’s response to the Haitian earthquake and, to a lesser extent, its fiscal year 2011 budget may be signs of steps in the right direction. 

Haiti. The U.S. government responded in a committed fashion to the Haitian tragedy, mobilizing emergency aid, extending Temporary Protected Status to Haitians currently in the United States, and announcing that the U.S. Treasury will work to encourage cancellation of all of Haiti’s multilateral debts. There are and will be problems, but the effort so far has been swift and generous. Now the question is what next. We are calling for at least $3 billion in U.S. relief and reconstruction aid, for a Haitian-led recovery. The White House has not yet announced how much it will ask Congress to commit to Haitian reconstruction, and since it is not included in the budget, will have to ask for a “supplemental” bill to be approved. We expect the White House will do this soon.

Budget. In the FY2011 foreign operations budget the White House unveiled, we’re beginning to see the faint outline of the administration’s own stamp on a U.S. approach to the region. (The foreign operations budget funds most foreign aid, both military and economic, though increasing amounts of military aid now are included in the defense budget.) We’re not seeing a real departure, but there are certain glimmers of hope.

Glimmers of hope:

• U.S. military aid to the region declines. The administration has requested $742 million in military aid to the region in the foreign operations budget, compared to $1.1 billion the previous year. Watch out, though: We don’t yet know what’s in the defense budget for Latin America. We need to see if that increases.
• U.S. aid to Mexico no longer includes helicopters and planes for the army. Military aid to Mexico has declined as the big-ticket items promised as a part of the Merida Initiative have already been appropriated—the main reason for the overall decline in military spending for the region. Aid for the justice sector and police reform and oversight continues. Watch out, though: We need to know what’s in the defense budget, we need to be sure there’s not more helicopters in a supplemental bill, and we need to know how the $8 million in foreign military financing for Mexico included in the budget will be spent.
• There’s a sizeable cut for hard-side counternarcotics assistance to Colombia. The budget cuts this by $44 million, saying it’s time for Colombia to finance these programs by itself. We hope what is being cut is the controversial, inhumane, ineffective and environmentally damaging aerial spraying program.
• Economic assistance stays level and will increase with Haiti. The budget slightly increases economic aid for the region by $20 million, from $1.415 billion in the 2010 request to $1.435 billion in 2011. However, this total will go way up if a supplemental bill for Haiti is passed, changing dramatically, in numbers, the overall balance of military vs. economic aid to the region. We will need to see the more detailed documents that are released weeks after the sketchy overall budget to know more about how this is spent, but some positive developments in U.S. aid worldwide are a greater focus on programs for food security and climate change, and continued high priority for global health programs. Watch out, though:  We need to make sure that the already limited U.S. development and humanitarian aid for Latin America is not cut to make room for aid to Haiti.
  

Reasons not to be cheerful:

• Militarization of economic assistance, the Pentagon as the face of the United States in Latin America. The cuts in military aid mentioned above are not enough to change these trends. We’re also worried about the movement towards military-led economic assistance, most notably in Colombia (and a factor to watch in Haiti, though there is an appropriate role for the military in the immediate aftermath of a major disaster).
• Military aid to Colombia remains high despite human rights abuses. We were disappointed to see that the administration cut military aid to Colombia by only 3.5 million, to a still-massive $51.5 million in the foreign operations budget alone.
• The defense budget contains more military aid. We can’t judge the overall trends until we get more information about what’s in the defense budget, not just the foreign operations budget. And military aid in the defense budget is always far too untransparent and unaccountable to the public.
• The migration and refugee spending for Latin America declined. Why, oh why, did the Obama Administration do this? Spending for the refugee crisis from the Colombian conflict is never anywhere near adequate, and the administration has inexplicably cut the Western Hemisphere budget from $48.5 million to $37 million. Congress must fix this.
  

Check out Adam Isacson’s slideshow on the budget & Latin America on the joint CIP/LAWGEF/WOLA “Just the Facts” website which monitors trends on U.S. military aid & policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean. See also his blog noting that the main change in the budget is Mexico and Colombia. “We need not lament that the tempo of helicopter-buying for Mexico and Colombia has slowed, and we note that economic and social assistance is holding remarkably steady despite the Millennium Challenge program’s decline in the region,” he concludes.

Let’s hope that these glimmers of change in the budget and the immediate, generous response to Haitian relief mean that we will see some real movement towards a more caring, just, and people-centered approach towards our neighbors. We are waiting!

ENTIRE REGION

• The Obama administration released its 2011 budget request to Congress this week, which includes its request for next year's foreign assistance. The new aid numbers for 2011 have been added to the "Just the Facts" database, and so far it looks like there will be a sharp decrease in military and police assistance to the region, especially for Mexico and Colombia, the region's two largest aid recipients. The FY2011 request also reflects the official launch of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, a new counternarcotics and citizen security program focusing on the fifteen countries of the Caribbean Basin.

ARGENTINA

• President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner formally dismissed Central Bank president Martin Perez Redrado this week, after he resigned last Friday. Mercedes Marcó del Pont was named to replace Redrado as the new head of the Central Bank.

COLOMBIA

• Constitutional Court Judge Humberto Sierra has recommended that the country's highest court reject a proposal to allow President Alvaro Uribe to seek re-election due to legal irregularities.
• Human Rights Watch released its new report on Colombia this week, "Paramilitaries' Heirs: The New Face of Violence in Colombia." The report documents the rise of "emerging" paramilitary groups throughout the country and is critical of the Colombian government's "weak and ineffective" response to this increasing phenomenon.
• More details on the mass grave in the town of La Macarena were released this week. Initial reports indicated that the gravesite contains as many as 2,000 bodies, though the mayor of La Macarena says the cemetery contains 1,000 human remains, of which 346 are unidentified combat dead buried since 2004. The Center for International Policy's Plan Colombia and Beyond blog has more details.

COSTA RICA

• Presidential elections will be held on Sunday in Costa Rica. A recent poll by Demoscopía places Laura Chinchilla, of the governing Liberal National Party, as the frontrunner, with 45.1%. Otto Guevara, of the Libertarian Movement, follows with 30.1% of the vote. If none of the candidates win more than 40% of the vote on Sunday, a run-off election will be held.

ECUADOR

• Ecuador's growing importance as a hub for narcotrafficking and organized crime operations made several news stories this week, after a Washington think tank, the International Assessment and Strategy Center, released a new report titled "Ecuador at Risk: Drugs, Thugs, Guerrillas and the Citizens Revolution". The country seized 63 tons of cocaine last year, twice as much as in 2008, though some experts estimate that as much as 200 tons of cocaine may be transiting through Ecuador, "four times the estimated percentage a decade ago."

HAITI

• Once again, this week's news on Haiti focused on bottlenecks affecting the distribution of aid. A new food distribution system that focuses on distributing food to women has proven successful, though Reuters reports that bags of rice from the United States are already appearing on the black market.
• Ten American missionaries who tried to take 33 Haitian children out of the country last week have been charged with child abduction and criminal conspiracy by the Haitian government.

HONDURAS

• A representative from the Organization of American States arrived in Honduras on Wednesday to help set up a truth commission. This is the final step from the Tegucigalpa-San José Accord that must be completed before the OAS will consider the country's reinsertion into the international organization. Principal deputy assistant secretary of state Craig Kelly noted that the "country has taken steps to move ahead, and that is gratifying." However, former President Manuel Zelaya said, from his place of exile in the Dominican Republic, that President Lobo has done nothing to remove those who carried out the coup and an In These Times article reports that the human rights crisis is deepening under Lobo. "Despite Lobo's rhetoric, there seems to be little peace or freedom in Honduras these days."

MEXICO

• Sixteen teenagers were killed at a birthday party earlier this week in the country's most violent city, Ciudad Juárez. In response to public outcry, Mexican President Felipe Calderón admitted that the deployment of the army and federal police to Ciudad Juárez has not been sufficient in stopping crime and violence. President Calderón promised to put in place new social initiatives that will help prevent crime and decrease violence.
• Miguel Angel Caro Quintero, who led the Sonora Cartel in Mexico for over a decade, has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for trafficking drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border by a U.S. court.

PERU

• South Korea announced it will donate eight A-37 light attack planes to Peru that will be used to conduct counternarcotics and counterterrorism operations.
• The Christian Science Monitor reports on a story about some Peruvian farmers' decision to replace their coca crops with cacao.

VENEZUELA

• On his eleventh anniversary as President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez suggested that he hopes to lead the country for at least 11 more years: "I am 55 years old and have been president for 11 years. In the next 11 years, I promise to take care of myself a little more and if you all want it, within 11 years I will be 66 years, God willing, and have been president for 22."
• On Tuesday, the U.S. National Director of Intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair, presented the Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community (PDF) before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The title of the report's Latin America section is "Latin America Stable, but Challenged by Crime and Populism," and a large chunk of this section is dedicated to Venezuela. The report classifies President Chávez as an "anti-U.S. leader," notes that Chávez continues "his covert support to the terrorist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)," and states that he continues to "impose an authoritarian populist political model in Venezuela that undermines democratic institutions."

  The Venezuelan government responded to the United States, denouncing that again the country "attempts to criminalize our government and encourage sectors of the Venezuelan opposition who look for antidemocratic ways to take control."

The Obama administration's Fiscal Year 2011 foreign aid request, submitted to Congress earlier this week, includes a new counternarcotics and security initiative: the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI).

Here is what we know about the CBSI so far:

• It is a "multiyear, multifaceted effort by the U.S. Government and Caribbean partners to develop a joint regional citizen safety strategy to tackle the full range of security and criminal threats to the Caribbean Basin," according to the Obama administration's FY2011 foreign aid request. The International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (INL) Program and Budget Guide for FY2010 says the initiative will be a 5-year program. (Download the Program and Budget Guide here)
• Developing the CBSI "became a priority as the Mérida Initiative began yielding positive results in Mexico and Central America, making the Caribbean an increasingly attractive transit zone for transnational organized criminals, terrorists and illicit traffickers."
• The CBSI was first announced by President Obama at the Summit of the Americas in April 2009.
• Fifteen countries of the Caribbean Basin are included in the CBSI: Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
• Funding for the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative will come out of the Development Assistance, Economic Support Fund, International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement, and Foreign Military Financing accounts. So far, the CBSI budget for FY2010 and FY2011 looks like this:
• In the FY2010 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, Congress appropriated "not less than $37 million" for the initiative "to provide equipment and training to combat drug trafficking and related violence and organized crime, and for judicial reform, institution building, education, anti-corruption, rule of law activities, and maritime security." Congress specifies that at least $21.1 million of that amount should be used for social justice and education programs.
• For FY2010, the INL Program and Budget Guide allocates $6,365,000 for the initiative, which comes from the International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement accounts. The FY2010 allocation is described as "an investment" in anticipation of the program's official launch in FY2011. This INL funding is broken down into $715,000 for "Caribbean Training and Logistical Team Support," $2,325,000 for combating money laundering, and $3,325,000 for legislative function and process programs. (More details about the program from the Program and Budget Guide can be found here.)
• The Obama administration's FY2011 foreign aid request allocates just under $73 million in both military and economic aid to the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative: $37,463,000 for INL, $18,160,000 for Foreign Military Financing, and $17,000,000 for the Economic Support Fund.
• The FY2010 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill requires the Secretary of State to submit a spending plan for the initiative to the Committees on Appropriations by January 29, 2010. The report includes a "detailed plan for funds appropriated or otherwise made available for the countries of the Caribbean Basin by this Act, with concrete goals, actions to be taken, budget proposals, and anticipated results."
• The CBSI will eventually include a U.S. vessel, with an international crew, deployed to the region. The INL Program and Budget Guide reads:
  

  Caribbean Training and Logistical Support Teams will provide a platform for leading U.S. engagement and support for maritime interdiction in the Caribbean. Teams will deploy to the region to provide training, logistical and maintenance support. The primary goal for these teams is to provide onsite support until a U.S. vessel, with an international crew, can be deployed to provide those services. That vessel will foster international cooperation by offering the opportunity for a diverse, international and joint/interagency crew to work together and support all of the cooperating countries in the Caribbean. The Caribbean support vessel will deliver a total support package including a mobile professional training program and maintenance team with potential for shops, tools, technicians, and limited onboard classroom/berthing/messing for students. Additionally, it may provide a centralized supply source for standard spare parts, turn-in items, etc., and will have the capability to deliver cargo.

• The U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing on the CBSI in early December 2009. The transcript of the hearing can be downloaded as a PDF here. Written testimonies by each of the witnesses and a webcast are also available online.

  During his opening remarks, Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY) said:

  I also believe that we need to take a holistic view of the entire region when we begin implementing CBSI. I am very concerned that if we do not act quickly to bolster our friends in the Caribbean, the positive impact of the Merida Initiative in Mexico and Central America will push the drug trade further into the Caribbean and increase the already alarming rates of violence.
  ...
  CBSI was announced at the Summit last April, there have been three meetings held on this initiative. Initial U.S.-Caribbean meetings were held in Suriname, Barbados, and the Dominican Republic in 2009, and a ministerial meeting is expected to take place in Washington in early 2010 at which a political declaration, action plan, and framework for the CBSI will be adopted.

COLOMBIA

• President Álvaro Uribe proposed to fight gang violence in Medellín by paying the city's students to serve as informants passing intelligence to the authorities.
• Three U.S. senators on committees with jurisdiction over U.S. aid to Colombia sent a letter (PDF) to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The letter calls for the United States to "reevaluate U.S. assistance to Colombia."
• A mass grave containing an estimated 2,000 bodies was recently discovered outside of La Macarena, about 200 miles south of Bogotá. According to the Center for International Policy's Plan Colombia and Beyond blog, "Residents say that after it entered the strongly guerrilla-controlled zone in the mid-2000s, Colombia's Army began dumping unidentified bodies in a mass grave near a local cemetery."
• In President Obama's State of the Union address on Wednesday, strengthening trade relations with both Colombia and Panama was mentioned as a goal. However, last week U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield warned that trade agreements never win approval in legislative election years. Colombian Ambassador to the United States Carolina Barco told El Tiempo that Obama's mention of Colombia "is very positive.... We are optimistic that this backing will help us continue on the road to approval of the FTA. However, we must be patient."

HAITI

• A USA Today/Gallup poll finds 63% of Americans favoring a longer-term U.S. military presence in Haiti, going beyond the emergency phase until "basic services are restored." Meanwhile the Pentagon estimates that most U.S. troops will pull out of Haiti within three to six months.

HONDURAS

• Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya left the Brazilian Embassy on Wednesday, where he had been holed up since sneaking back into Honduras in September. Zelaya flew to the Dominican Republic as Pepe Lobo was sworn in as the country's new president. The inauguration ceremony was attended by a U.S. delegation led by Assistant Secretary of State Arturo Valenzuela.
• On Thursday, the new administration announced that the nation is bankrupt and has only about $50 million in government coffers after months of isolation and cutoffs of international aid. U.S. assistance to Honduras, frozen after the coup d'etat in June, will not start flowing until all of the points in the Tegucigalpa-San José Accord are met, including the formation of a national unity government and a truth commission. Honduras' return to the Organization of American States is also contingent on compliance with the Tegucigalpa-San José Accord. According to Assistant Secretary Valenzuela, Lobo "has put together a broad Cabinet, including even candidates who ran against him. What is pending is the last step, which is the truth commission."

COLOMBIA-VENEZUELA

• The Colombian government has accused a Venezuelan military helicopter of violating their airspace for 20 minutes, as it flew over a Colombian army base on Wednesday. The Venezuelan government denies this charge, and has accused the Colombian government of lying. According to Venezuelan Minister of Defense Nicolás Maduro, the accusation is part of a "dirty, brutal and hateful campaign against the Venezuelan people and the President to incite disdainful feelings against our country, framed in a policy that attempts to start events to justify violent acts, to make our peaceful border more violent."

VENEZUELA

• Last weekend, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez removed the television station RCTV from cable television. The government said that RCTV was not abiding by government regulations that require broadcasters to televise the President Chávez's speeches in their entirety. Critics, including the Washington Office on Latin America, claim the "suspension of RCTV-International in particular gives every appearance of being the result of a deliberate strategy on the part of the government to use the regulatory system to stifle an especially outspoken critic."

ENTIRE REGION

• "Bloggings by Boz" excerpts all references to Latin America in the draft Quadrennial Defense Review that leaked this week.
• New America Media reports on the increasing use of unmanned drone aircraft in drug surveillance missions over Latin America.

This is cross-posted from the Latin America Working Group's blog, the LAWG Blog. It was written by Lisa Haugaard.

As National Party leader Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo is inaugurated president of Honduras, we can’t just pretend the June 28th coup and its bitter aftermath never occurred.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights just released a devastating 147-page catalogue of the violations of human rights and civil liberties that have occurred since the coup in Honduras.

The Commission writes, “Along with the loss of institutional legitimacy brought about by the coup d’état, during its visit the Commission confirmed that serious human rights violations had been committed, including killings, an arbitrary declaration of a state of emergency, disproportionate use of force against public demonstrations, criminalization of public protest, arbitrary detention of thousands of persons, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, poor detention conditions, militarization of Honduran territory, an increase in incidents of racial discrimination, violations of women’s rights, severe and arbitrary restrictions on the right to freedom of expression, and serious violations of political rights.  The Commission also established that judicial remedies were ineffective in protecting human rights.”

As the new government takes office, we should look back at these extensive series of abuses to get a feel for the ground that must be covered by the new administration in restoring human rights and civil liberties and repairing and improving the institutions of democracy, including judicial agencies and law enforcement, that so notably failed in their mission to protect the citizens’ rights.  Joe Eldridge and Vicki Gass spell out in the Huffington Post some of the steps that are needed to rebuild democracy in Honduras.

And the U.S. government, which condemned the coup but failed in the end to strongly defend democracy and human rights, has an absolute obligation to press the new government to fully restore the democratic rights that have been so severely eroded.  This includes restoring human rights protections and civil liberties, establishing a truth commission, investigating and prosecuting the abuses that occurred, and launching a meaningful national dialogue involving broad sectors of Honduran society.

On January 21, three U.S. senators on committees with jurisdiction over U.S. aid to Colombia sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The letter calls for the United States to "reevaluate U.S. assistance to Colombia," and notes that despite allocating nearly $7 billion in aid to Colombia from fiscal year 2000 to 2009, "the amount of cocaine entering the United States ... has not changed appreciably... Moreover, progress in other priority areas - human rights and the strengthening of democratic institutions - is lacking."

Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) chairs the Senate Appropriations/Foreign Operations Subcommittee.

The letter expresses concern over various trends in Colombia, including:

• The "false positives" scandal, "in which Colombian soldiers killed hundreds of civilians and dressed them in guerrilla clothing in order to inflate body counts;"
• Colombian military leaders' continued denial of "the scope of the executions" and opposition to "civilian court jurisdiction in many cases involving abuses of human rights;" and
• The "particularly troubling" abuses of the presidential intelligence agency, the Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS), in which the "DAS was systematically conducting illegal surveillance of human rights groups, journalists, opposition politicians, Supreme Court judges, trade unionists, and international human rights organizations."

Senators Feingold, Dodd, and Leahy add that "a possible third term for the current president threatens to further erode the checks and balances that help protect Colombia's fragile democracy."

The three senators call for President Obama's fiscal year 2011 budget request to Congress to reflect new priorities and a new approach toward Colombia. This new approach would include:

• Reducing coca cultivation and cocaine production through "greater emphasis on farmer-led programs with voluntary eradication coupled with effective alternative development programs;"
• Strengthening judicial and law enforcement programs "to dismantle criminal networks, combat the money laundering that enables the narcotics trade, and reduce impunity for corruption and human rights abuses;"
• Reducing "military aid while continuing judicial and law enforcement, development and humanitarian assistance; and
• "Explor[ing] more vigorously the possibilities for peace in Colombia."

The 3-page letter can be downloaded here as a PDF file.