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American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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The live Chilean miners Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean VIDEO

LatinAmerWelcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean.

This week’s big story is that all 33 Chilean miners trapped by a cave-in 18 days ago are alive.

Chile’s trapped miners could be stuck until Christmas
Thirty-three miners trapped underground in Chile for the past 17 days are alive, but rescue workers may not be able to reach them before Christmas, officials said

Chile secures lifeline to trapped miners

Rescuing 33 miners trapped in Chile ‘to take months’

I’ll be talking about this in this morning’s podcast at 11AM Eastern.

You can watch another video report at the end of this post – below the fold since it starts automotically.

Another big story:
Police Held in Mexico Mayor’s Death
Authorities Say Officers Confessed; Vow Reforms of Law Enforcement

Seven police officers were arrested Friday for allegedly helping assassinate a Mexican mayor.

The arrests came a day after Edelmiro Cavazos, 38, the mayor of Santiago, was buried. His body—gagged, blindfolded, and showing signs of torture—had been found on the side of the road after he was kidnapped.

“They have confessed,” Alejandro Garza y Garza, the attorney general of Nuevo Leon state, said at a news conference.

Six of the arrested police officers, including Mr. Cavazos’s bodyguard, were displayed to reporters. A seventh police officer was detained later Friday.

Mr. Garza y Garza said other arrests were imminent as well.

An eyewitness said a group of at least 15 gunmen, dressed in the uniforms of a defunct Mexican police force, drove up to Mr. Cavazos’ Santiago home in a convoy of SUVs.

Adrian de la Garza, head of the Nuevo Leon State Investigations Agency, said four of the arrested officers had guarded the highway while a group of kidnappers including one of the arrested officers grabbed Mr. Cavazos.

The mayor’s bodyguard, Jose Alberto Rodriguez, who was also arrested, was allegedly grabbed with Mr. Cavazos by the kidnappers, but released unharmed shortly afterward.

During the news conference, Mr. Rodriguez said he was innocent.

The alleged involvement of so many local police in the kidnapping and killing of Mr. Cavazos goes to the heart of Mexico’s security problem, analysts say.

Corruption is deeply entrenched among Mexico’s more than 2,000 municipal and state police forces, as well as in its relatively small federal police force.

Perhaps Felipe Calderon ought to work on that, instead of coming to the USA to criticize us.

About the only good news on this is that at least the policemen were arrested.

ARGENTINA
Argentina’s economy
Happy-go-lucky Cristina
Who cares about austerity? That may come, but not until the day after tomorrow

Argentina orders shutdown of ISP owned by Clarín

BRAZIL
Rio Luxury Hotel Invaded By Gunmen, Hostages Taken

Brazil’s Rocket Envy Aside, Iran Ally Nets $50,000,000 Worth of Sensitive U.S. Technology

Brazil getting extreme makeover in preparation for Olympics
As Brazil prepares to host the 2016 Olympics and the 2014 World Cup, the country expects nothing short of an urban renaissance.

CHILE
Carta destacada de la semana: “Túnel bajo Andrés Bello”

COLOMBIA
Trading Growth for Instability?
Colombia Drifts Backwards as Democrats Dawdle

Will Captured Illegal Arms Dealer Victor Bout, the “Merchant of Death” Link Democrats to the FARC Terror Group?

CUBA
“Smart Policy” Change in Cuba Policy Will Not Advance U.S. Interests

Injured Urbanity

Ramadan in Cuba


Mexico, the Victim of Castro’s New Role

Dissidents assail Church over mediation; Church defends its efforts to free prisoners

***BREAKING NEWS***
Reina Luisa Tamayo is allowed to attend church today

ECUADOR
Residents Mourn the Death of Chelito the Giraffe

GUATEMALA
El incólume Ideario de la Universidad Francisco Marroquín

HAITI
Wyclef Jean Blocked From Haitian Presidential Bid

Keep the Faith

It’s no wonder the Haitians wanted Wyclef Jean
The star’s brief candidacy gave hope to people deeply in need

Give Back Stolen Cash? Not So Easy

HONDURAS
La Gringa’s Mocha Gelato

Tráfico “Gris”

MEXICO
When is the Obama administration going to get serious about Mexico?

Mexico: If it walks like an insurgency and quacks like an insurgency, is it an insurgency?

PANAMA
$13 billion budget, utopia or reality?

PERU
American Ordered to Return to Prison in Peru

Peru police seizes US $58,300 in almost perfect counterfeits

High in the Andes, Keeping an Incan Mystery Alive

URUGUAY
Luis Polakof trafico de influencias

VENEZUELA
Via Bill, Venezuela, More Deadly Than Iraq, Wonders Why

Via Dick, And all that without the suicide bombings…

Venezuela Court Revokes Ban On Violent Photos In Newspapers

Iran’s secret pipeline into the U.S.

Hugo Chavez and his despotic friends

Drink good coffee, support your FARC guerrillas

Another of Chávez’s Prisoners, Alejandro Peña Esclusa

Crime in Venezuela
Shooting gallery
The government blames the media for crime

Graphic photos NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK at this post (in Spanish) LA INSEGURIDAD NO TERMINA CON LA MUERTE EN LOS BARRIOS DE LA VENEZUELA MILLONARIA


Chavez plan to lower crime rate

Rotten Town from El Flying Monkey on Vimeo.

Interesting post from 2008: From FARC to Venezuela to…

IMMIGRATION
Via Jim,


Justice Dept. threatens to sue Ariz. sheriff Arpaio in civil rights inquiry

The week’s posts and podcasts:
Colombia captures Venezuelan drug lord VIDEO
And now for a post in Spanish: No hay “chévere”
In today’s podcast: Venezuela and Mexico
Venezuela: Censorship comes out of the closet
Easing travel restrictions to Cuba?

More on the Chilean miners:
(more…)

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Gaming the border: VIDEO

Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter Jerry Kammer reports on Cochise County, AZ, via The Corner,

He talks with a local rancher, a Border Patrol agent, an illegal who snuck through there, and others. Kammer concludes that “the fence isn’t much of an obstacle, especially when the Border Patrol is not around.” He also reports that Border Patrol checkpoints (which I’ve blogged on here) aren’t as effective as they should be because the Border Patrol doesn’t patrol its flanks, so smugglers just drop off the illegals short of the checkpoint, and pick them up on the other side after they’ve hiked around them.

None of this suggests that fences or checkpoints are bad ideas, just that there’s a lot more to enforcing America’s sovereignty than investing in static infrastructure — you need people to take advantage of these tools. And the Border Patrol, even with the Democrats’ election-year funding measure (which the House has just passed), is still smaller than the NYPD and, even if every agent were stationed on the Mexican border, there would still be an average of only about two agents per mile per shift.

Note to Secretary Napolitano: Keep insisting the border is really secure and people who disagree are simply deluded. Maybe someone will eventually believe you!

Make no mistake: anyone who believes that the Mexican drug cartels are not behind the human smuggling is fooling him/herself.

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Mexican cartel puts a price on Arizona Sheriff Arpaio

Mexican Drug Cartel Allegedly Puts a Price on Arizona Sheriff’s Head
$1M offered for Arpaio, $1K to join cartel

On the day parts of Arizona’s immigration law, SB 1070, went into effect, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is in the news for another reason: there’s a price on his head – allegedly offered by a Mexican drug cartel.

The audio message in Spanish is a bit garbled, but the text is clear.

“It’s offering a million dollars for Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s head and offering a thousand dollars for anyone who wants to join the Mexican cartel.”

Here’s a video report,

We have an emerging (ehem) narcostate at our border.

And what is the federal government doing?

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The cartels kidnap 4 who reported on the jail hitmen

Nearly 23,000 people have died in drug-related violence since 2006, according to the government, with northern border states experiencing the worst of the violence.

The topic of today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern,
Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that

Four reporters, including two from Televisa, Mexico’s most powerful television network, have apparently been held since Monday by drug traffickers unhappy with coverage of last week’s arrest of a prison director who allegedly armed prisoners, provided them with cars and then allowed them to leave the penitentiary to commit mass murders.

Background article:
Mexico prisoners ‘freed for killings’ in Durango state
Gunmen who killed 17 people at a party in northern Mexico earlier this month were let out of prison to carry out the attack, state prosecutors say.

The WSJ article also has a timetable of events:

Turmoil in Torreón

Spate of ‘Revenge Killings’ Rattles a City in Northern Mexico

  • Feb. 1, 2010:Ten killed during an armed attack inside ‘Ferrie,’ a bar in the industrial city of Torreón, in northern Mexico.
  • May 15:Eight killed in an attack at ‘Las Juanas,’ another bar in Torreón.
  • July 18:At least 17 people massacred at 1:30 in the morning during a party in a tented patio atthe Italia Inn a hall in Torreón. A partial list of the dead put the victims’ ages between 20 and 38 years.
  • July 25:Authorities say they believe prisoners incarcerated in a Torreón facility were responsible for carrying out all three assaults, with the assistance of prison guards. According to news reports, the prison director dispatched the inmates in official vehicles to carry out the ‘revenge killings.’
  • July 26: Four reporters kidnapped while visiting the prison in nearby Gómez Palacio. Media organizations in Mexico observe a news blackout on the kidnappings during negotiations with captors.
  • July 28:Mexican daily newspaper Milenio breaks the unofficial silence, publishing an article that describes the kidnappings. Negotiations continue.

I’ll also talk about the Mexican cartels expansion into the Northern Triangle of Central America — Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

Meanwhile, in Arizona, Judge Bolton issues a temporary injunction against SB 1070

Most notably, she blocked a requirement that police check the immigration status of people stopped for such routine infractions as traffic violations, if police suspect they are in the U.S. illegally. She also blocked a section that required law enforcement to detain individuals until their legal status was clarified.
…
She also blocked a section that required foreigners to carry documents proving they had permission to be in the U.S., and another provision that banned illegal immigrants from seeking work in Arizona.

The judge said the sections of the law, known as SB1070, should not go into effect until the court addresses issues surrounding them. She didn’t set a court date for new arguments.

because enforcing immigration law

will constitute an unacceptable “intrusion of police presence into the lives of legally-present aliens,” she maintains, and runs counter to the 1941 Supreme Court decision in Hines v. Davidowitz, which held that Congress wanted to protect legal aliens from “inquisitorial practices and police surveillance.”

The next step on Bolton’s decision: a hearing. I expect the ensuing suits will go all the way to the Supreme Court.

Arizona is the busiest human- and drug-smuggling corridor in the U.S., and home to 460,000 illegal immigrants, according to DHS.

Related:
Surviving the Obama Assault on the Rule of Law

The Obama administration’s case against Arizona sought to preemptively stop enforcement of Arizona’s new immigration law. The legal term for this is a “facial challenge,” and federal precedent is clear that facial challenges “must be careful not to go beyond the statute’s facial requirements and speculate about ‘hypothetical’ or imaginary cases.” But that is exactly what Judge Bolton did. First, she ignored Section 2(B) of the law as written and completely ignored the section’s first sentence that required an officer to have “reasonable suspicion” that a person was in the country illegally before their immigration status should be checked. Then, she invented a completely hypothetical case about a Chilean dog walker detained by a completely fictional Sheriff Smith. Finally, despite the fact that 8 U.S.C. §1373 clearly requires the federal government to “respond to an inquiry by a…State, or local government agency, seeking to verify or ascertain the citizenship or immigration status of any individual,” Judge Bolton concluded that the Obama administration’s decision not to enforce this provision was as good as rewriting the law itself.

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Federal judge blocks sections of Arizona law

Judge Blocks Key Parts of Immigration Law in Arizona (emphasis added)

In a ruling on a law that has rocked politics coast to coast and thrown a spotlight on the border state’s fierce debate over immigration, United States District Court Judge Susan Bolton in Phoenix said some aspects of the law can go into effect as scheduled on Thursday.

But Judge Bolton took aim at the parts of the law that have generated the most controversy, issuing a preliminary injunction against sections that called for officers to check a person’s immigration status while enforcing other laws and that required immigrants to carry their papers at all times.

Judge Bolton put those sections on hold while she continues to hear the larger issues in the challenges to the law.

Federal immigration law requires immigrants to carry their papers at all times.

William Jacobson analyzes the ruling:

The decision has to be viewed as a near complete victory for opponents of the law, as it restricts the state from routine and compulsory checks of immigration status as a matter of legislative mandate.

The decision would not, as I read it, prevent police from checking immigration status in a particular case, but would prevent a statewide system to do so.

The result of the decision will be to have a chilling effect on law enforcement officers who, in the absense of the law, would have checked immigration status based on reasonable suspicion anyway. Enforcement of immigration laws in Arizona, as a result of the decision, will be even more difficult than prior to S.B. 1070.

The U.S. v. Arizona – Order on Motion for Preliminary Injunction below the fold:

(more…)

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I’m not the only Latina supporting the Arizona SB 1070

Hispanic GOP Group to Announce Support for Arizona Immigration Law

The Arizona Latino Republican Association will become the first Hispanic organization in the country to actively oppose the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against the state of Arizona’s new immigration law.

Larry Klayman, founder of Freedom Watch, Inc., said he will be joined by ALRA Chairman Jesse Hernandez and members of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association at an announcement Thursday morning in Phoenix.

ALRA will become the first group of Latino Americans to “put a foot forward legally” in support of S.B. 1070 by filing a motion to intervene against the Justice Department’s lawsuit challenging Arizona’s immigration policy, Klayman said.

“This is a way to tell the country that, ‘Hey, we’re Americans too and we believe in the rule of law,” Klayman told Foxnews.com. “It’s a way to say, ‘We got here legally and we contributed a great deal. We want the rest of the country to recognize that we’re with you’ [in the national immigration debate].”

By filing the motion, Klayman said ALRA will be “in effect, a defendant” in the DOJ lawsuit, which names the state of Arizona as well as Gov. Jan Brewer as defendants. The Justice Department claims the federal government has “preeminent authority” on immigration enforcement and that the Arizona law “disrupts” that balance.

Hat tip: Don Surber’s Latinos for SB 1070

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Feds suing Arizona, Eric Holder fall guy?

As the Obama administration goes ahead with the lawsuit (see the full text of the US vs Arizona complaint here) this bit of news from the Washington Post (emphasis added):Obama faces political challenge on Arizona case

The White House has said the decision to challenge Arizona’s immigration law was out of its hands, left completely up to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and the lawyers at the Justice Department.

Hmmmm…

The buck stops at Eric’s desk?

But the implications of the suit filed Tuesday are potentially huge for President Obama and the Democratic Party as the election season begins in earnest later this summer.

Yup.

Obama will be called upon frequently in the next several months to make the government’s case that the Arizona measure unlawfully preempts federal law. As he campaigns for Democrats at town hall meetings around the country, it will be Obama — not Holder — who will be at the center of the intense discussion.

A senior Democratic strategist said Obama will probably seek to avoid directly defending the government’s suit, or attacking the Arizona law, which remains popular in most polls.

The Arizona law remains a heck of a lot more popular than Obama, too:

You can’t be seen with Obama if you’re a Democrat who wants to win in 2010: “PPP has polled on the impact of a Barack Obama endorsement in 5 key Senate races over the last month, and it’s looking more and more clear that there’s just about nowhere Democratic candidates would benefit from having the President come to campaign with them.”

Back to the Washington post,

Americans largely see the law as an effort to do something about illegal immigration in the wake of federal inaction.

It also has a lot to do with national security, but I digress.

Makes you wonder, will Obama stay at the golf course and avoided going on the campaign trail? If he does, how will he answer this question,

“The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State.”

Where do you suppose Madison would come down on the debate over Arizona’s decision to secure its borders and enforce the law?

Because, you can be sure, that very question will be asked over and over again.

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Mexican gangs’ lookouts in Arizona

Securing the border is a matter of national security:
Adam Housley reports: Mexican Gangs Maintain Permanent Lookout Bases in Hills of Arizona

Mexican drug cartels have set up shop on American soil, maintaining lookout bases in strategic locations in the hills of southern Arizona from which their scouts can monitor every move made by law enforcement officials, federal agents tell Fox News.

The scouts are supplied by drivers who bring them food, water, batteries for radios — all the items they need to stay in the wilderness for a long time.

“To say that this area is out of control is an understatement,” said an agent who patrols the area and asked not to be named. “We (federal border agents), as well as the Pima County Sheriff Office and the Bureau of Land Management, can attest to that.”

Much of the drug traffic originates in the Menagers Dam area, the Vekol Valley, Stanfield and around the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation. It even follows a natural gas pipeline that runs from Mexico into Arizona.

In these areas, which are south and west of Tucson, sources said there are “cartel scouts galore” watching the movements of federal, state and local law enforcement, from the border all the way up to Interstate 8.

The federal government is not doing its job:

The agents blame part of their plight on new policies from Washington, claiming it has put a majority of the U.S. agents on the border itself. One agent compared it to a short-yardage defense in football, explaining that once the smugglers and drug-runners break through the front line, they’re home free.

“We are unable to work any traffic, because they have us forward deployed,” the agent said. “We are unable to work the traffic coming out of the mountains. That traffic usually carries weapons and dope, too, again always using stolen vehicles.”

Now Mexico backs case against Arizona immigration law

Again, this is a national security issue.

UPDATE
Is that in pesos?
John McCormack links to an NBC report quoting the Mexican government’s statement that,

“Each day, approximately 65,000 Mexicans are admitted into Arizona; and each day they spend an average of $7.35 million in its stores, restaurants, and other businesses,” says a friend-of-court brief filed by Mexico. But if the new law takes effect, “Mexican citizens will be afraid to visit Arizona for work or pleasure out of concern that they will be subject to unlawful police scrutiny and detention,” the brief says.

So the Mexican government is arguing that Arizona endanger its residents because “every day” Mexicans spend $113 in Arizona?

Doug Ross has Four Border Stories Guaranteed to Make Your Blood Boil, including this: Nogales police officers receive threat from Mexican cartel. Gateway Pundit posted the other day that It Begins… Obama Gives Major Swath of Arizona Back to Mexico (Video)

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu: Quite frankly I’m telling you as a sheriff that we don’t control that part of the county. My county is larger than the state of Connecticut and we need support from the federal government. It’s their job to secure the border and they haven’t done it. In fact President Obama suspended the construction of the fence.

FOX News reporter: Would you like to see some of the president’s outrage about the oil spill and some of the butt-kicking that he’s talked about doing applied there on the border as well?

Sheriff Paul Babeu: Even with that, you say one thing and then you’re out at a fundraiser in California and you don’t go to the funeral of the people who died in the explosion. You know its one thing to say something slick on television in a ten second soundbite but we need action. And, it’s shameful that we as the most powerful nation on earth can win wars and liberate countries throughout history yet we can’t even secure our own border.

Arizona Democrats urge Obama not to sue over controversial immigration law

Arizona Democrats facing tough reelection races are distancing themselves from the Obama administration as it prepares to file a lawsuit against the state over its controversial immigration law.

Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-Ariz.) on Monday sent a sharply worded letter to President Barack Obama urging him not to sue.

“I believe your administration’s time, efforts and resources would be much better spent securing the border and fixing our broken immigration system,” the two-term congressman wrote in the letter. “Arizonans are tired of the grandstanding, and tired of waiting for help from Washington. … [A] lawsuit won’t solve the problem. It won’t secure the border, and it won’t fix our broken immigration system.”

I’ll talk about this in today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern.

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