The Americas Blog seeks to present a more accurate perspective on economic and political developments in the Western Hemisphere than is often presented in the United States. It will provide information that is often ignored, buried, and sometimes misreported in the major U.S. media.
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President Obama won reelection largely because of an economic populist appeal, especially to crucial white working-class voters in battleground states, as I described here. The message got through: an MSNBC exit poll showed that 53 percent of voters thought that Romney favored the rich (as opposed to the middle class or poor) and only 10 percent thought that of Obama.
U.S. politics are getting a bit more like South America’s in other ways, as the right-wing media creates and maintains a bubble world for Republicans. A big difference though is that the “bubble media” in South America, in most countries, is much bigger and more influential in countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, and even Brazil. Paul Krugman and others have commented on the expansion of right-wing bubble influence here, e.g. how the right-wing media questioned the aggregation of polling data (e.g. by Nate Silver), which turned out to be extremely accurate; and also attacked the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for its September unemployment report.
But the economic populism of Obama’s successful campaign was really the big story that most of the pundits seem to have missed (other than right-wingers accusing him of class warfare). Most pundits didn’t notice how unprecedented this is for the U.S. : no prior presidential nominee in at least the past half-century had anywhere near as much an economic populist campaign as Obama’s. It was also vastly different from his own general election campaign in 2008. Part of this is because the country has changed in recent years: the long-term failure of our own neoliberalism finally provoked a turning point in the 2006 and 2008 elections. This is another similarity to South America, which moved left after its longest period of economic failure in more than a century (1980 – 2003). Our economic failure was different, in that it was not so much a collapse of economic growth as in South America, but a massive upward redistribution of income. But it was a colossal setback for the majority of Americans, who joined their counterparts from the South in a revolt at the ballot box. And then the Occupy movement put the issue of income and wealth inequality on the political agenda as it has not been since the Great Depression.
Another difference: South Americans (in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Uruguay) got more changes for their votes than we have so far. That will take a bit longer.
President Obama won reelection largely because of an economic populist appeal, especially to crucial white working-class voters in battleground states, as I described here. The message got through: an MSNBC exit poll showed that 53 percent of voters thought that Romney favored the rich (as opposed to the middle class or poor) and only 10 percent thought that of Obama.
U.S. politics are getting a bit more like South America’s in other ways, as the right-wing media creates and maintains a bubble world for Republicans. A big difference though is that the “bubble media” in South America, in most countries, is much bigger and more influential in countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, and even Brazil. Paul Krugman and others have commented on the expansion of right-wing bubble influence here, e.g. how the right-wing media questioned the aggregation of polling data (e.g. by Nate Silver), which turned out to be extremely accurate; and also attacked the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for its September unemployment report.
But the economic populism of Obama’s successful campaign was really the big story that most of the pundits seem to have missed (other than right-wingers accusing him of class warfare). Most pundits didn’t notice how unprecedented this is for the U.S. : no prior presidential nominee in at least the past half-century had anywhere near as much an economic populist campaign as Obama’s. It was also vastly different from his own general election campaign in 2008. Part of this is because the country has changed in recent years: the long-term failure of our own neoliberalism finally provoked a turning point in the 2006 and 2008 elections. This is another similarity to South America, which moved left after its longest period of economic failure in more than a century (1980 – 2003). Our economic failure was different, in that it was not so much a collapse of economic growth as in South America, but a massive upward redistribution of income. But it was a colossal setback for the majority of Americans, who joined their counterparts from the South in a revolt at the ballot box. And then the Occupy movement put the issue of income and wealth inequality on the political agenda as it has not been since the Great Depression.
Another difference: South Americans (in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Uruguay) got more changes for their votes than we have so far. That will take a bit longer.
Like 80s-style heavy metal, the U.S. “war on drugs” and intervention in Central America just never goes out of fashion. Or does it? Two new reports from journalist Kaelyn Forde for The Real News examine how Operation Anvil, so recently described in New York Times feature articles and CNN puff pieces as an important new offensive in the U.S.’ spreading “war on drugs,” has become highly controversial and – for now, at least – suspended. The reasons, of course, are the May 11 shooting deaths of four local villagers under circumstances that remain cloudy, and the downing of two planes by Honduran forces. Both of these led to outrage from members of the U.S. Congress [PDF] and the suspension of both radar support to the Honduran government and of Operation Anvil. (See our investigative report, co-authored with Rights Action, on the May 11 incident, and our related previous blog posts here, here, and here.)
But while Operation Anvil may be on hold for the time being, Forde’s interviews with experts such as American University professor David Vine, COFADEH’s Berta Oliva and Rights Action’s Annie Bird describe a growing, more permanent U.S. presence in Honduras:
HONDURAN ARMY COLONEL RONALD RIVERA (SUBTITLED TRANSL.): Here we have the Caratasca Naval Base, and they are working in an almost permanent way with the North American navy, engaging in operations and exercises.
FORDE: It’s one of three forward operating bases the U.S. has constructed in la Moskitia since the 2009 military coup.
DAVID VINE, AUTHOR AND PROFESSOR: They have been constructed in a number of places, especially on the Northern coast, especially in la Moskitia, in areas that have become the center of growing conflict, growing drug trafficking and growing interest from business interests as well.
Vine goes on to describe how:
The 2009 Wikileaks cable from the U.S. embassy in Tegucigalpa talked about a large scale project, an unprecedented project, for la Moskitia. A public-private partnership that the United States military was really leading, but in coalition with a range of other U.S. government agencies for la Moskitia, to bring together public–meaning U.S. government and Honduran government–and private entities, mostly for profit companies. Like General Electric, and a large real estate development firm.
(The cable to which Vine refers is available here.)
Forde, it is worth noting, is one of the only journalists to file investigative video reports from the Moskitia region since a joint DEA-Honduran Tactical Response Team operation killed four people, injured several others, and terrorized a village. (See Kaelyn’s earlier report on that incident here.)
President Obama, the 80s called. They want their drug policy back.
Like 80s-style heavy metal, the U.S. “war on drugs” and intervention in Central America just never goes out of fashion. Or does it? Two new reports from journalist Kaelyn Forde for The Real News examine how Operation Anvil, so recently described in New York Times feature articles and CNN puff pieces as an important new offensive in the U.S.’ spreading “war on drugs,” has become highly controversial and – for now, at least – suspended. The reasons, of course, are the May 11 shooting deaths of four local villagers under circumstances that remain cloudy, and the downing of two planes by Honduran forces. Both of these led to outrage from members of the U.S. Congress [PDF] and the suspension of both radar support to the Honduran government and of Operation Anvil. (See our investigative report, co-authored with Rights Action, on the May 11 incident, and our related previous blog posts here, here, and here.)
But while Operation Anvil may be on hold for the time being, Forde’s interviews with experts such as American University professor David Vine, COFADEH’s Berta Oliva and Rights Action’s Annie Bird describe a growing, more permanent U.S. presence in Honduras:
HONDURAN ARMY COLONEL RONALD RIVERA (SUBTITLED TRANSL.): Here we have the Caratasca Naval Base, and they are working in an almost permanent way with the North American navy, engaging in operations and exercises.
FORDE: It’s one of three forward operating bases the U.S. has constructed in la Moskitia since the 2009 military coup.
DAVID VINE, AUTHOR AND PROFESSOR: They have been constructed in a number of places, especially on the Northern coast, especially in la Moskitia, in areas that have become the center of growing conflict, growing drug trafficking and growing interest from business interests as well.
Vine goes on to describe how:
The 2009 Wikileaks cable from the U.S. embassy in Tegucigalpa talked about a large scale project, an unprecedented project, for la Moskitia. A public-private partnership that the United States military was really leading, but in coalition with a range of other U.S. government agencies for la Moskitia, to bring together public–meaning U.S. government and Honduran government–and private entities, mostly for profit companies. Like General Electric, and a large real estate development firm.
(The cable to which Vine refers is available here.)
Forde, it is worth noting, is one of the only journalists to file investigative video reports from the Moskitia region since a joint DEA-Honduran Tactical Response Team operation killed four people, injured several others, and terrorized a village. (See Kaelyn’s earlier report on that incident here.)
President Obama, the 80s called. They want their drug policy back.
The Associated Press takes a look at Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa’s plan to tax banks to pay for an increased subsidy to poor families and for other “wealth redistribution activities.” The measure, which would increase taxes on bank’s assets abroad among other changes, is estimated to raise $200-$300 million per year. The AP notes that Correa has doubled social spending and that “Ecuador now devotes a greater share of its economy, 10 percent of gross domestic product, to public investment in infrastructure, education and other purposes than any other nation in Latin America and the Caribbean.” Speaking over the weekend at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Correa said “This is the challenge the world over: beating poverty, which for the first time in history is not the result of scarce resources or natural factors, but of perverse and exclusive systems. For this to happen, changes are required in power relations and political processes”.
A U.S. free trade agreement with Panama, negotiated during the Bush administration, went into effect yesterday reports Reuters. The agreement, the third along with Colombia and South Korea, to be finalized in the past year, was praised by business groups and senior lawmakers. Yet others, such as Lori Wallach of Public Citizen, criticized the deal. Wallach told The Hill, “The presidential candidates are sparring over who would best crack down on offshore tax evasion and reduce our budget deficit, so it’s a sorry statement about the power of corporate campaign money that both candidates support a pact with the hemisphere’s leading tax haven.” Wallach has previously pointed out that since the FTAs with South Korea and Colombia, imports from those countries have outpaced exports, implying an estimated loss of 15,000 jobs.
Ecuadorean plaintiffs, who have waged a long legal battle with Chevron over pollution in the Amazon, will sue the company in Argentina and Colombia to try and enforce a $19 billion court ruling, reports Dow Jones. Pablo Fajardo, an Ecuadorean attorney representing the plaintiffs said, “We’re going after Chevron wherever in the world it has assets.” The suits in Colombia and Argentina follow similar moves in Brazil and Canada. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked Chevron’s attempt to prevent the plaintiffs from enforcing the judgment. Luis Yanza, another representative of the Amazonian groups suing Chevron, told Dow Jones that the pollution has directly affected 30,000 people, raising cancer rates and causing other problems. “For us, what Texaco [later acquired by Chevron] did is a crime against nature and against humanity,” Yanza said.
Honduras’ second-ever openly gay man to run for national political office, Erick Vidal Martinez, was in San Francisco last week as part of a ten-day California tour, reports the San Francisco Reporter. Martinez has worked for the past three years for a Honduran human rights group, recording human rights violations against members of the LGBT community. After the coup in June 2009, violence against the LGBT community has increased. The Reporter notes, “During the first six months of the coup, nine gay men and 12 transsexual women were murdered. Since then five lesbians, 42 gay men, 28 transsexual women, and an unknown number of bisexuals have been murdered.” Martinez is running on the Libre ticket, a political movement borne out of the resistance to the 2009 coup. Martinez was originally on the ticket as a substitute candidate for Erick Martinez Avila, but Avila was killed just two weeks after accepting his nomination.
The Associated Press takes a look at Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa’s plan to tax banks to pay for an increased subsidy to poor families and for other “wealth redistribution activities.” The measure, which would increase taxes on bank’s assets abroad among other changes, is estimated to raise $200-$300 million per year. The AP notes that Correa has doubled social spending and that “Ecuador now devotes a greater share of its economy, 10 percent of gross domestic product, to public investment in infrastructure, education and other purposes than any other nation in Latin America and the Caribbean.” Speaking over the weekend at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Correa said “This is the challenge the world over: beating poverty, which for the first time in history is not the result of scarce resources or natural factors, but of perverse and exclusive systems. For this to happen, changes are required in power relations and political processes”.
A U.S. free trade agreement with Panama, negotiated during the Bush administration, went into effect yesterday reports Reuters. The agreement, the third along with Colombia and South Korea, to be finalized in the past year, was praised by business groups and senior lawmakers. Yet others, such as Lori Wallach of Public Citizen, criticized the deal. Wallach told The Hill, “The presidential candidates are sparring over who would best crack down on offshore tax evasion and reduce our budget deficit, so it’s a sorry statement about the power of corporate campaign money that both candidates support a pact with the hemisphere’s leading tax haven.” Wallach has previously pointed out that since the FTAs with South Korea and Colombia, imports from those countries have outpaced exports, implying an estimated loss of 15,000 jobs.
Ecuadorean plaintiffs, who have waged a long legal battle with Chevron over pollution in the Amazon, will sue the company in Argentina and Colombia to try and enforce a $19 billion court ruling, reports Dow Jones. Pablo Fajardo, an Ecuadorean attorney representing the plaintiffs said, “We’re going after Chevron wherever in the world it has assets.” The suits in Colombia and Argentina follow similar moves in Brazil and Canada. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked Chevron’s attempt to prevent the plaintiffs from enforcing the judgment. Luis Yanza, another representative of the Amazonian groups suing Chevron, told Dow Jones that the pollution has directly affected 30,000 people, raising cancer rates and causing other problems. “For us, what Texaco [later acquired by Chevron] did is a crime against nature and against humanity,” Yanza said.
Honduras’ second-ever openly gay man to run for national political office, Erick Vidal Martinez, was in San Francisco last week as part of a ten-day California tour, reports the San Francisco Reporter. Martinez has worked for the past three years for a Honduran human rights group, recording human rights violations against members of the LGBT community. After the coup in June 2009, violence against the LGBT community has increased. The Reporter notes, “During the first six months of the coup, nine gay men and 12 transsexual women were murdered. Since then five lesbians, 42 gay men, 28 transsexual women, and an unknown number of bisexuals have been murdered.” Martinez is running on the Libre ticket, a political movement borne out of the resistance to the 2009 coup. Martinez was originally on the ticket as a substitute candidate for Erick Martinez Avila, but Avila was killed just two weeks after accepting his nomination.
As Hurricane Sandy approaches the northeastern shore of the United States, Caribbean countries began cleaning up after the storm left over 60 dead throughout the region. The AP reports that 51 of the 65 deaths reported were in Haiti, where the nation’s Prime Minister declared, “This is a disaster of major proportions.” The Southern region was the worst hit, with large scale flooding causing damage to homes as well as crops. Haiti, which has been grappling with a cholera epidemic for two years, could see increased cases over the next few weeks as the rising water levels facilitate the disease’s spread. For more information on cholera in Haiti, see CEPR’s Haiti Relief and Reconstruction Watch blog. Cuba, Jamaica, the Bahamas and Puerto Rico all reported deaths as well.
The governing coalition led by President Sebastian Pinera took a hit at the polls this weekend in Chile, reports the AP. Parties from the left took roughly 43 percent of seats as compared to 37 percent for the governing right-wing alliance. The left’s largest victory was in central Santiago where Carolina Tohá, who has supported student protests for education reform, defeated the incumbent, “ultra-conservative” Pablo Zalaquett. Former president Salvador Allende’s daughter also won her first major political race, whereas Pinochet’s former intelligence director lost his 16-year hold on the mayor’s office in the upper-class district Providencia. As the BBC notes, the election was marked by low turnout. It was the first election where voting was not mandatory, and abstention was over 60 percent. For more analysis, see the Pan-American Post.
A U.S. appeals court ruled against Argentina in a long running dispute with hold-out bondholders, reports Bloomberg. Argentina appealed a lower court ruling that it must repay the vulture funds before making payments to those bondholders who accepted a restructuring. The ruling comes as a huge victory to NML Capital, a unit of billionaire Paul Singer’s Elliot Management Corp, which has spent millions lobbying against Argentina through the American Task Force Argentina. It was a surprise to many as the United States government had come down on Argentina’s side, having argued to the lower court that their ruling “could enable a single creditor to thwart the implementation of an internationally supported restructuring plan, and thereby undermine the decades of effort the United States has expended to encourage a system of cooperative resolution of sovereign debt crises.” Felix Salmon, writing on the ruling, states, “I’ve been writing about holdouts, or vultures, or whatever you want to call them, for a good dozen years now, and although they’ve had victories here and there, there’s been nothing remotely as big or precedent-setting as this.”
Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa is pushing a bill that would increase the taxes charged to banks to pay for increased social welfare programs, reports Reuters. The bill, which was submitted to Congress last week, will introduce a 3 percent charge on banks’ income and scrap the exception lowering income taxes for banks to 15 percent, compared to 25 percent for others. The extra revenue would help raise the monthly payments under the government’s Human Development payment from $35 to $50 a month. As Reuters notes, Correa has pushed for significant financial reforms over the last few years, preventing banks from investing in other sectors of the economy, banning some service charges on credit cards, and allowing borrowers to default on loans by giving back the houses or cars to the banks that lent them the money. The government has also mandated that banks repatriate assets that are held abroad so that they can be more productively invested in Ecuador. Correa, who is widely expected to win another term as President in February when elections are held, has greatly increased social spending during his time in office. For more on changes to the Ecuadorian economy and the government’s social policy, see this recent paper by CEPR researchers Rebecca Ray and Sara Kozameh.
To get all of the day’s headlines straight to your inbox, sign up for the Latin America News Round-up here. You can also view the archives of past round-ups here.
As Hurricane Sandy approaches the northeastern shore of the United States, Caribbean countries began cleaning up after the storm left over 60 dead throughout the region. The AP reports that 51 of the 65 deaths reported were in Haiti, where the nation’s Prime Minister declared, “This is a disaster of major proportions.” The Southern region was the worst hit, with large scale flooding causing damage to homes as well as crops. Haiti, which has been grappling with a cholera epidemic for two years, could see increased cases over the next few weeks as the rising water levels facilitate the disease’s spread. For more information on cholera in Haiti, see CEPR’s Haiti Relief and Reconstruction Watch blog. Cuba, Jamaica, the Bahamas and Puerto Rico all reported deaths as well.
The governing coalition led by President Sebastian Pinera took a hit at the polls this weekend in Chile, reports the AP. Parties from the left took roughly 43 percent of seats as compared to 37 percent for the governing right-wing alliance. The left’s largest victory was in central Santiago where Carolina Tohá, who has supported student protests for education reform, defeated the incumbent, “ultra-conservative” Pablo Zalaquett. Former president Salvador Allende’s daughter also won her first major political race, whereas Pinochet’s former intelligence director lost his 16-year hold on the mayor’s office in the upper-class district Providencia. As the BBC notes, the election was marked by low turnout. It was the first election where voting was not mandatory, and abstention was over 60 percent. For more analysis, see the Pan-American Post.
A U.S. appeals court ruled against Argentina in a long running dispute with hold-out bondholders, reports Bloomberg. Argentina appealed a lower court ruling that it must repay the vulture funds before making payments to those bondholders who accepted a restructuring. The ruling comes as a huge victory to NML Capital, a unit of billionaire Paul Singer’s Elliot Management Corp, which has spent millions lobbying against Argentina through the American Task Force Argentina. It was a surprise to many as the United States government had come down on Argentina’s side, having argued to the lower court that their ruling “could enable a single creditor to thwart the implementation of an internationally supported restructuring plan, and thereby undermine the decades of effort the United States has expended to encourage a system of cooperative resolution of sovereign debt crises.” Felix Salmon, writing on the ruling, states, “I’ve been writing about holdouts, or vultures, or whatever you want to call them, for a good dozen years now, and although they’ve had victories here and there, there’s been nothing remotely as big or precedent-setting as this.”
Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa is pushing a bill that would increase the taxes charged to banks to pay for increased social welfare programs, reports Reuters. The bill, which was submitted to Congress last week, will introduce a 3 percent charge on banks’ income and scrap the exception lowering income taxes for banks to 15 percent, compared to 25 percent for others. The extra revenue would help raise the monthly payments under the government’s Human Development payment from $35 to $50 a month. As Reuters notes, Correa has pushed for significant financial reforms over the last few years, preventing banks from investing in other sectors of the economy, banning some service charges on credit cards, and allowing borrowers to default on loans by giving back the houses or cars to the banks that lent them the money. The government has also mandated that banks repatriate assets that are held abroad so that they can be more productively invested in Ecuador. Correa, who is widely expected to win another term as President in February when elections are held, has greatly increased social spending during his time in office. For more on changes to the Ecuadorian economy and the government’s social policy, see this recent paper by CEPR researchers Rebecca Ray and Sara Kozameh.
To get all of the day’s headlines straight to your inbox, sign up for the Latin America News Round-up here. You can also view the archives of past round-ups here.
Following a week of protests which resulted in the deaths of three people, President Martinelli of Panama said he is willing to cancel plans to sell land in the duty-free zone in Colon. The protests were in response to the passing of a law last Friday which would allow the selling of land to companies which are currently leasing land in Latin America’s largest duty-free zone. Protestors contend that the millions of dollars in leasing fees go to the capital and don’t help provide needed services in Colon. Political Analyst Joe Blandon told the Associated Press, “In Colon, there is an economic system that clearly shows its injustice…On one side is the canal, the duty-free zone, and on the other is the city where half of the population lives in poverty.”
Bolivia is breaking the mold in the “war on drugs” in their efforts to contain the cultivation of coca, reports Deutsche Welle. The coca leaf has been used for centuries in Bolivia as a mild stimulant and Bolivia withdrew from a UN convention that labels the coca leaf in its natural state as a narcotic substance. That move, together with expelling the DEA in 2008 angered Washington, which has included Bolivia on a list of countries “failing demonstrably” in the war on drugs. Nevertheless, while previous efforts at crop replacement were failures, a new “social control” policy is proving effective. The program, which began in 2008 with financial support from the European Union, aims to work with the powerful coca growers unions to limit each registered grower to a small plot of coca. Coca planted outside permitted zones is still targeted for destruction, but the unions now support those efforts. These new programs seem to be effective as the UN recently found that coca cultivation in Bolivia fell 12 percent in 2011.
Venezuelan finance minister Jorge Giordani presented the 2013 budget to national assembly this week, reports Reuters. The budget forecasts economic growth of 6 percent in 2013 with inflation falling to a range between 14-16 percent. While many financial analysts have predicted a sharp slowdown in Venezuelan growth after increased spending in the year before the election falls off, CEPR research has shown that Venezuela’s growth is sustainable. Venezuelanalysis, looks at the budget in terms of social spending, noting that it will make up over 37 percent of the budget. Education receives over 11 percent of the budget, while social security and health are set to receive 10 percent and 8 percent, respectively. As Venezuelanalysis notes, the regular budget doesn’t include all social spending as PDVSA and Fonden also contribute to social investment.
The crew from Argentina’s naval vessel returned from Ghana today, as the ship remains detained by the vulture fund NML Capital, reports the AP. Many members of the crew expressed frustration and dismay at returning to Argentina without the flagship vessel. Nevertheless, President Kirchner has refused to negotiate with the vulture fund, “As long as I am president, they can keep the frigate, but no one will take the liberty, sovereignty and dignity of this country – not a vulture fund, not anyone.” Meanwhile, another Argentine vessel, which was forced to dock in South Africa for repairs, is being targeted by NML capital, reports Mercopress. The Argentine embassy is ready to respond should legal efforts to detain the ship go forward, however the news report notes some key differences with the situation in Ghana. For one, Elliot Capital, the parent company of NML, tried buying South African company bonds for cents on the dollar and suing for full value plus interest but has yet to win a court case in South Africa. For more on NML and the other vulture funds lobbying against Argentina, see here and here.
To get all of the day’s headlines straight to your inbox, sign up for the Latin America News Round-up here. You can also view the archives of past round-ups here.
Following a week of protests which resulted in the deaths of three people, President Martinelli of Panama said he is willing to cancel plans to sell land in the duty-free zone in Colon. The protests were in response to the passing of a law last Friday which would allow the selling of land to companies which are currently leasing land in Latin America’s largest duty-free zone. Protestors contend that the millions of dollars in leasing fees go to the capital and don’t help provide needed services in Colon. Political Analyst Joe Blandon told the Associated Press, “In Colon, there is an economic system that clearly shows its injustice…On one side is the canal, the duty-free zone, and on the other is the city where half of the population lives in poverty.”
Bolivia is breaking the mold in the “war on drugs” in their efforts to contain the cultivation of coca, reports Deutsche Welle. The coca leaf has been used for centuries in Bolivia as a mild stimulant and Bolivia withdrew from a UN convention that labels the coca leaf in its natural state as a narcotic substance. That move, together with expelling the DEA in 2008 angered Washington, which has included Bolivia on a list of countries “failing demonstrably” in the war on drugs. Nevertheless, while previous efforts at crop replacement were failures, a new “social control” policy is proving effective. The program, which began in 2008 with financial support from the European Union, aims to work with the powerful coca growers unions to limit each registered grower to a small plot of coca. Coca planted outside permitted zones is still targeted for destruction, but the unions now support those efforts. These new programs seem to be effective as the UN recently found that coca cultivation in Bolivia fell 12 percent in 2011.
Venezuelan finance minister Jorge Giordani presented the 2013 budget to national assembly this week, reports Reuters. The budget forecasts economic growth of 6 percent in 2013 with inflation falling to a range between 14-16 percent. While many financial analysts have predicted a sharp slowdown in Venezuelan growth after increased spending in the year before the election falls off, CEPR research has shown that Venezuela’s growth is sustainable. Venezuelanalysis, looks at the budget in terms of social spending, noting that it will make up over 37 percent of the budget. Education receives over 11 percent of the budget, while social security and health are set to receive 10 percent and 8 percent, respectively. As Venezuelanalysis notes, the regular budget doesn’t include all social spending as PDVSA and Fonden also contribute to social investment.
The crew from Argentina’s naval vessel returned from Ghana today, as the ship remains detained by the vulture fund NML Capital, reports the AP. Many members of the crew expressed frustration and dismay at returning to Argentina without the flagship vessel. Nevertheless, President Kirchner has refused to negotiate with the vulture fund, “As long as I am president, they can keep the frigate, but no one will take the liberty, sovereignty and dignity of this country – not a vulture fund, not anyone.” Meanwhile, another Argentine vessel, which was forced to dock in South Africa for repairs, is being targeted by NML capital, reports Mercopress. The Argentine embassy is ready to respond should legal efforts to detain the ship go forward, however the news report notes some key differences with the situation in Ghana. For one, Elliot Capital, the parent company of NML, tried buying South African company bonds for cents on the dollar and suing for full value plus interest but has yet to win a court case in South Africa. For more on NML and the other vulture funds lobbying against Argentina, see here and here.
To get all of the day’s headlines straight to your inbox, sign up for the Latin America News Round-up here. You can also view the archives of past round-ups here.
