Columbia and the FARC: Talking About Talks

A SECRET known for months to a small group of political insiders first became a cocktail-party rumour and then, this week, a nationwide bombshell. In a brief televised message on August 27th Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, confirmed reports that a small team of officials has been talking to leaders of the FARC guerrillas to lay the groundwork for formal peace negotiations. These could start as soon as October 5th in Norway. They will doubtless be long and hard. But their prospect raises the hopes of Colombians that half a century of internal armed conflict may at last be drawing to a close.

According to well-placed sources, exploratory talks have been held at regular intervals in Havana since January. The two sides have now reached a framework agreement. Its core is an agenda for formal negotiations which covers legal guarantees for the guerrillas and their future participation in democratic politics, as well as land restitution and the issue of FARC involvement in drug-trafficking. Formal talks would start in Norway but would mainly be held in Cuba. A second guerrilla group, the ELN, this week said it wanted to join in.

From Darkness, Dawn

THE APOCALYPSE WAS on its way, and it would begin in Mexico. Where else? When archaeologists dug up Mayan calendars that ominously seemed to run out in the final days of 2012, some doomsayers predicted the end of the world. To many Mexicans it seemed like just another example of their country’s unending run of bad luck. The steepest recession on the American mainland, a plague of H1N1 swine flu and a deepening war against organised crime had made the preceding few years fairly grim. In 2009 the Pentagon had given warning that Mexico could become a “failed state”. Armageddon would be the icing on the cake.

A rum do: The new president faces a tax revolt

THE Dominican Republic has seen healthy economic growth in recent years. But it is one of the few Latin American countries where income distribution has become more unequal over the past decade. That is partly because the state does little to help the poor: the tax take, at 12.8% of GDP, is the region’s third-lowest. To make matters worse for the new president, Danilo Medina, who took office in August, he discovered that this year’s budget deficit would be 8% of GDP, rather than 5% as the previous government claimed.

BRASILIA | Sat Nov 24, 2012 2:57pm EST

By Anthony Boadle

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, moving quickly to nip a new scandal in the bud, ordered the dismissal on Saturday of government officials allegedly involved in a bribery ring, including the country's deputy attorney general.

Federal police raided government offices in Brasilia and Sao Paulo on Friday and arrested six people for running an influence peddling ring that sold government approvals to businessmen in return for bribes.

Colombia did not request FARC leader's repatriation: Ambassador

Colombia has not requested the U.S. government to repatriate convicted FARC leader "Simon Trinidad" who the rebels want present at peace talks in Cuba, the U.S. told local media.Newspaper El Espectador reported Saturday that the US and Colombia were in “very advanced” in talks to allow Trinidad to join the negotiation process.However various Colombian media reported Thursday that the U.S. ambassador to Colombia, Michael McKinley, insisted that no request has been sent by Colombia for Trinidad’s reparation.

Trinidad is currently serving a 60-year prison sentence in a maximum security US prison for kidnapping three Americans in Colombia.
The FARC have long demanded that he, along with fellow guerrilla "Sonia," be repatriated.
The U.S. has previously allowed extradited leaders of paramilitary organization AUC to take part in Colombian court cases through video conference, but has never allowed to repatriation of a top rebel or paramilitary leader.
Posted By;Brionna Scott

Venezuelan officials close prison, seize guns

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan prison officials have shut down a prison and seized dozens of weapons after moving inmates to other lockups.

Officials found a total of 56 guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition and 12 grenades at the prison in Coro in western Falcon state, Penitentiary Service Minister Iris Varela said on Monday at a news conference. Officials displayed the weapons on a table at the prison, where state television showed officials walking down grimy hallways.

President Hugo Chavez has pledged to improve the prison system following repeated deadly clashes in the country's overcrowded penitentiaries.

Varela has said officials began moving about 600 inmates out of the prison on Oct. 14 as part of a larger government effort transfer prisoners to better facilities. She said on Friday that violence broke out at the prison last week, with two reported killed and 13 injured.

Inmates in Venezuelan prisons often obtain weapons and drugs with the help of corrupt guards. Varela said on Monday that two prison officials were detained and under investigation.

Stella Lugo, the governor of Falcon state, said on state television that the Coro prison is to be demolished starting Tuesday.

Government officials have pledged to build new prisons to improve conditions and ease crowding. 

Posted By: Eunice

Argentina in diplomatic offensive at U.N. over seized ship

UNITED NATIONS/ACCRA (Reuters) - Argentina's foreign minister launched a diplomatic offensive in New York on Monday, urging top U.N. officials to pressure Ghana to release an Argentine naval training vessel seized after creditors won a court order to keep the ship in port.Foreign Minister Hector Timerman's appearance at U.N. headquarters came as sailors from the detained ship prepared to leave Ghana after spending weeks in dockside limbo, a government official said in Accra.The ARA Libertad, a tall sailing ship with a crew of more than 300, has been detained in Ghana's port of Tema since October 2 on a court order obtained by NML Capital Ltd, which claims Argentina owes it $300 million from defaulted bonds.Timerman has been in New York since last week, when Argentina was elected for a two-year term on the 15-nation U.N. Security Council that begins on January 1, 2013.He met on Monday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, General Assembly president Vuk Jeremic and the president of the Security Council, Guatemalan Ambassador Gert Rosenthal. Jeremic's office issued a statement after he met Timerman.Timerman "expressed his grave concern about the situation and reiterated his call to the government of Ghana to desist from its conduct and respect its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," and other international laws, Jeremic's office said."The president (Jeremic) underlined the need for all member states to fully comply with their obligations under international law and conveyed his disposition to assist both parties to reach a solution on the issue," the statement added.Ban's office also issued a statement, saying the U.N. chief "expressed the hope that both governments will find a way to address the matter on a bilateral basis."