Briefings & Intelligence
Colombian peace process enters uncharted waters
Big gestures on either side have advanced the peace process between the Colombian government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrilla group further than any previous effort in the history of the 50-year armed conflict. The government negotiating team in Cuba struck a deal with Farc counterparts on 7 March to work together to clear anti-personnel landmines and other improvised explosives placed by the guerrillas. In return for what he described as “a hugely important step”, unprecedented indeed, President Juan Manuel Santos responded days later with three of his own gestures: he ordered the military to halt aerial bombing of Farc camps, the prelude to a bilateral ceasefire; he cancelled the extradition to the US of a guerrilla and a paramilitary; and he instructed the military to intensify attacks on other ‘illegal armed groups’.
Briefings & Intelligence
Politics trumps economics in Brazil
Briefings & Intelligence
Caracas mayor arrested, protester killed as Maduro’s conspiracy claims grow
Venezuela: the arrest of the opposition mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, as an alleged party to a plot to stage a coup, and the death in the westernmost state of Táchira of a young protester at the hands of a police officer, against the backdrop of more claims by President Nicolás Maduro about a continually expanding conspiracy against his government.
Briefings & Intelligence
‘March of silence’ and other Nisman-related events have major political implications
Two events in the past week have marked a watershed in the repercussions of the still unsolved death of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who had drawn up criminal charges against President Cristina Fernández, foreign relations minister Héctor Timerman and others. On one side is the strictly legal arena, where two separate developments are taking place: the furtherance of Nisman’s charges and the investigation of Nisman’s death. On the other side is the laterally connected political arena, where the survival of kirchnerismo will be played out in the run-up to the October presidential elections.
Briefings & Intelligence
Economic storm clouds gather in Brazil
Briefings & Intelligence
Peru’s Humala responds to “political noise”
Peru’s President Ollanta Humala took drastic action this week to prop up his ailing government. After dismissing as “political noise” the various setbacks faced by his administration, the questioning of its integrity in relation to an illegal spying scandal, and allegations of financial irregulari- ties directed against First Lady Nadine Heredia, Humala responded by inviting political parties to talks with his government. In the past these have borne little fruit. This time they resulted in a concrete development: the temporary suspension of the national intelligence agency (Dini) pending a radical revamp. This is a big gesture. Whether it is sufficient to dampen down the noise is a moot point.
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