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American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Colombia: Santos campaign chief resigns

Today’s top news in Latin America:
J.J. Rendón, who has managed some of the most successful political campaigns in Latin America (and the failed campaign for Henrique Capriles in Venezuela, which he did pro-bono), has resigned as campaign manager for Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos on allegations that Rendón had negotiated with drug traffickers an offer to surrender in 2011 and shut down their operations.

Who is J.J. Rendón?

Rendón is THE topmost campaign advisor in Latin America. He plays to win, and plays hardball. Here’s his talk on neo-totalitarianism:

Who is the accuser?
The man making the accusations, Javier Antonio Calle, was one of Colombia’s most hunted drug traffickers. He turned himself in to the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2012 and is now in jail in the U.S.

The firestorm:
Since Colombia is holding a presidential election on May 25, this has generated a political firestorm.

Adding to the fire, there’s also the 18-month old FARC negotiations in Havana, Rendón’s opposition to Chavismo (he’s Venezuelan), and speculation as to what role international players may have had in the release of this news. One may also have to consider Calle’s motivations, too.

The Espectador story:
Last Sunday El Espectador newspaper published an article claiming that Rendón was given $12 million for submitting a proposal to end 90% the country’s lucrative drug trade

According to El Espectador, the former drug lord, Javier Antonio Calle, alias “Comba,” has told prosecutors that several of the country’s drug traffickers made ​​a deal in 2011 with Rendon in order to submit the proposal to the government.

The proposal outlined a route to shutting down 90% of Colombia’s drug trade, with the surrender of top capos and their henchmen. Among those who participated in the proposal were some of Colombia’s top drug lords, such as Luis Enrique Calle, alias “Comba,” alias “Cuchillo,” Diego Rastrojo, and Loco Barrera.

The 2011 document called ”Agenda for solving the problem of drug trafficking and the violence it generates,” allegedly shows that Rendon officiated as a general strategist for the proposal, which was facilitated by former ELN guerrillas Francisco Galan and Jorge Castañeda. Other sources consulted by El Espectador confirmed that Rendon was actively involved in creating the plan.

Rendon subsequently told El Espectador that there was no exchange of money, that he “acted as a simple messenger”. He insists that he only recently learned the details of the proposal, adding that he will take legal action in response to the allegations.

In the dossier held by El Espectador, Rendon is described as the “general strategist” charged with “damage control, crisis management and facilitator of the negotiations.”

When asked by the journalist Daniel Coronell of Semana Magazine if money had been involved, Rendon replied that, “if there was money involved it must have been in the hands of those who put him in touch with representatives of the narcos: the then senior presidential advisor for political affairs German Chica.”

Rendón has tweeted seven points in response, which I translate (Rendón’s tweets posted below the fold)

1. I received from F[rancisco] Galán a request to communicate to the Government the illegal groups’ proposal to submit to justice.

2. I communicated to Mr. President @JuanManSantos in the presence of prosecutor @Viviane_Morales and General Naranjo their intention.

3. Mr. President @JuanManSantos requested that I channel to the Prosecutor’s Office the documents of that intention to submit to justice.

4. So I did: transparently and officially. With the document # 2011-100-001832-3 dated 7/5/2011 at the General Prosecutor’s Office (Despacho de la Fiscal General).

5. The document was on the hands of the competent authority, for study and follow-up. That was the extent of my part in that matter.

6. I firmly insist that I have not received any money, stipend or benefit, and I dare anyone who says I have to prove it.

7. I am fully willing to collaborate with the competent authorities to clarify anything they may consider relevant, as always!

Uribe’s tweets:
Former president Álvaro Uribe, who is staunchly opposed to negotiations with the narcoterrorists, in turn tweeted,

“Pres. Santos has been carrying a long dialogue with ELN in spite of that terrorist organization’s continuous crime, adding it to the FARC’s impunity.”

and,

“Pres. Santos announces reform to Prosecutor’s [Office] on the day they ordered to investigate him.”

My question:
Never mind Santos; Who gains the most by taking down Rendón?

[Read more…]

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Nuclear Latin America: Today’s 15 Minutes on Latin America

While we were looking elsewhere:

There are four countries in Latin America with nuclear power plants: Cuba, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, but here’s what’s in the news regarding recent nuclear agreements in Latin America:

Wednesday last week, the Guardian reported, Russia to build nuclear reactor for Chávez
• Deal after surge of activity by Moscow in region
• New foreign policy challenge for Obama

Russia’s deepening strategic partnership with Venezuela took a dramatic step forward yesterday when it emerged that Moscow has agreed to build Venezuela’s first ever nuclear reactor.

President Dmitry Medvedev is expected to sign a nuclear cooperation agreement with his Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chávez, during a visit to Latin America next week, part of a determined Russian push into the region.

The reactor is to be named after Humberto Fernandez Moran, a late Venezuelan research scientist and former science minister, Chávez has announced. It is one of many accords he hopes to sign while hosting Medvedev in Caracas next week.

The prospect of a nuclear deal between Moscow and Caracas, following a surge in Russian economic, military, political and intelligence activity in Latin America, is likely to alarm the US and present an early challenge to the Obama administration.

“Hugo Chávez joins the nuclear club,” Russian’s Vedomosti newspaper trumpeted yesterday.

This should not come as a surprise to Latin America watchers, since Chavez has been hinting for quite a while, and France and Venezuela have been working on a nuclear energy deal, too.

Cuba’s nuclear plants may present a threat to the US, but for a different reason: Cuba’s crumbling infrastructure: As this 1992 Heritage Foundation report explains, the two Soviet-designed VVER-440 nuclear reactors in Juragua, near Cienfuegos, just 250 miles from Miami, are mired in faulty design, shipshod construction, and the support structure of the plants contains numerous faulty seals and structural defects.

Meanwhile, Argentina’s president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner signed a nuclear energy agreement with Algeria last week, and one with Libya on Friday

A Libyan official says Argentina’s visiting president has offered her country’s help in developing nuclear energy in the North African nation.

Libyan Cabinet official Mohammed al-Mesmari says the Argentine leader also signed agreements in trade, agriculture and science during her meeting with Moammar Gadhafi.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez’s six-day tour of North Africa also included stops in Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria. The trip was meant in part to help ensure developing countries aren’t forgotten in efforts to solve the financial crisis.

Argentina has also helped build atomic reactors in Algeria and Egypt.

Argentina has three power stations: two in Atucha and one in Embalse, and back in 2006 pledged more funds to catch up with Brazil’s nuclear program.

Brazil and Argentina have had, at times, their own nuclear weapons race. According to this Global Security.org report,

Brazil pursued a covert nuclear weapons program in response to Argentina’s program. It developed a modest nuclear power program, enrichment facilities (including a large ultracentrifuge enrichment plant and several laboratory-scale facilities), a limited reprocessing capability, a missile program, a uranium mining and processing industry, and fuel fabrication facilities. Brazil was supplied with nuclear materials and equipment by West Germany (which supplied reactors, enrichment and reprocessing facilities), France, and the US. The country has a dependable raw material base for developing atomic power engineering, highly skilled scientific cadres have been trained, technologies for enriching uranium have been obtained, and there are several nuclear research centers.

Brazil’s nuclear capabilities are the most advanced in Latin America; only Argentina has provided serious competition. Brazil has two nuclear power plants in operation (Angra I and Angra II) and one under construction (Angra III). Its fissile material production program was multifaceted, with the military services involved in separate projects: the navy, centrifuge enrichment; the air force, laser enrichment; and the army, gas graphite reactor for plutonium production.

According to the report, Brazil claims to not want to develop a nuclear weapons program at present. Blogger Jason Poblete questions Brazil’s lack of transparency in their claims: Elhefnawy: The Next Wave of Nuclear Proliferation, Regional Considerations

Latin America has already had a mini-nuclear technological race fueled by Brazil and Argentina. Argentina has generally come clean on this matter, yet crucial questions remain regarding Brazil’s commitment on weaponization. As I wrote in October, “[t]he U.S. and regional powers need to ensure that the South American nuclear genie stays in the bottle.”

As Elhefnawy reminds readers, “long-established research strongly indicates that the motivation to build nuclear weapons is more of a factor than simply achieving the technological capacity … [t]he relative ease with which the weapons might be built is proof of this; a program to develop a minimal capability from scratch could cost as little as $500 million, less than the price of a modern warship.”

Among friends and allies, it is not impolite to raise tough issues. Brazil has obligations as a growing economic power in the region that go beyond traditional hemispheric issues such as expanding free trade, rule of law, and combating the illegal drug trade or terrorism. With vast uranium reserves, an advanced propulsion program, as well as a military-run and managed civilian nuclear program, Brazil needs to come clean on its nuclear ambitions.
…
The Bush Administration has done a good job in laying a foundation for the incoming Administration. Despite ideological differences between the two leaders, President Bush and President DaSilva have reached agreements in various areas of importance to both countries including in such areas as biofuels, regional security, and combatting terrorism. While non-proliferation has been discussed, Brazil’s needs to do better. Brazil’s support of the Iranian nuclear program should, and facilitating Iran’s entry in the Americas, should also be on the table.

I’ll be talking about this topic in today’s podcast at 10AM Eastern. Chat’s open by 9:45AM and the call-in number is 646 652-2639.

You can listen to the podcast here

Listen to Faustas blog on internet talk radio

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Sarko pushes for French naval base in Abu Dhabi, sells nuclear power

Sarko’s been trying hard to re-establish France as a power in the Middle East, and has plans for a French naval base in Abu Dhabi.

First, there are the nuclear deals with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Libya, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco:
Sarkozy Pushes Nuclear Energy in Mideast

Currently the world’s most aggressive salesman for nuclear power, Sarkozy has visited multiple Muslim states in the last six weeks — including the globe’s biggest oil producers — to peddle French nuclear technology or make multibillion-dollar deals.

“Why should Arab countries be deprived of the energy of the future?”

Why indeed, when they have the mullahs breathing down their necks? Especially if companies that develop and build the nuclear power plants are owned primarily by the French government?

Sarko’s nuclear proliferation plans don’t stop with a vision of a Mediterranean cooperation council (whatever that may mean),

Argentina, Chile, Vietnam and Indonesia also are reportedly discussing the possibility of buying French-designed reactors.

May I indulge in a little speculation? Let’s say that Hugo persuades the FARC to release French-Colombian citizen Ingrid Betancourt. Woudln’t Venezuela be included in this group?

But I digress.

As part of Sarko’s Middle East vision, he’s signed a deal with Abu Dhabi for a permanent French naval base:

This projects France into the complex politics of the Gulf, identifying it even more closely with Gulf Arab countries which have expressed concern about the future policies of Iran.

President Sarkozy appears willing to accept that this exposes France to the risks involved in such a sensitive area, highlighted by the confrontation between Iranian speedboats and US naval ships recently. There is also a dispute between Abu Dhabi and Iran over three small islands in the Strait of Hormuz. The president said the base was agreed at the request of the Emirates.

That’s in addition to the two nuclear power reactors that the French will build in Abu Dhabi.

Nuclear proliferation, and military expansion, a la francaise.

Never mind a mild whiff of realpolitik

The French base agreement coincides with a major visit to the region by President Bush, during which he has criticised Iran.

France might be seen as aligning itself more openly with the US, which maintains its own large base in Bahrain for the Fifth Fleet and which has also been selling arms to Gulf countries.

Speculation welcome in the comments section.
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