Central America

The immediate reaction to Obama’s Executive Order of 17 December 2014 – re-establishing diplomatic relations, easing travel, swapping prisoners – was a sense of relief: finally correcting a more than 50-year old stupidity. But why now? Later. First, back to June 1960. We drove from New York to Key West, then a ferry – the captain was Norwegian – to La Habana; we wanted to drive all over, talk with everybody to understand. And the social picture was very clear: black, woman, low class overwhelmingly in favor of the revolution; white, man, middle-upper class ended up in Miami. Why gender? US imperialism was obvious but in addition Cuba was one big brothel for “puritan” US men. And one of the first acts of the revolution was to stop that, liberate the dirt poor girls, organize vocational training – give them dignity.

Toluca, Estado De México; Workshop on Drug Traffic and Violence Background 300.000 kg of cocaine to USA via Mexico annually; 60% of marijuana producers had lived in misery, US$ 2/day; the drug traffic profit in Mexico was US$ 59 billion, 5% of GNP; 80% was spent on corruption; 125,000 were arrested since 2006; with an impunity of 98%. Background 2,000 weapons from USA to Mexico daily; 5.5 million legal and 20 million illegal arms in Mexico; 100,000 have died in the “war on drugs” from 2006; 30,000 disappeared; 42+ journalists killed (more than in Afghanistan); 50,000 military troops involved by 2006, 130,000 by 2009, 50,000 in 2012, 32,000 in 2013; US$ 16.6 billion spent on insecurity and violence, 1.34% of GNP. Conclusion Due process of law and violence did not reduce drug traffic and violence; a drug-arms-violence-police-military complex had evolved. No general prevention, maybe not even individual prevention. A discourse-change...

LONDON – There is no crop in the world more political than sugar. And no moment in the tenure of the Bush Administration when passing a trade deal through Congress has been more important. Tragically, the political power of the American sugar lobby may well be sufficient to torpedo the ratification of the Central American Free Trade Agreement, in many ways the most important American trade arrangement of recent years. There is no free market in sugar- everybody has a deal. For decades the Cuban economy leant heavily on the over-the-market prices paid by the Soviet Union.The Caribbean and African countries depend on special favors granted by the European Community. For long enough a number of Caribbean and Central American countries have relied on preferential access to the U.S.. Nevertheless, the sugar producers- both southern cane growers and temperate zone beet farmers – that the EU, the U.S. and Japan...

A new formula and breaking with protocols The electoral triumph of Vicente Fox is perhaps the greatest sign of Mexico’s healthy transition towards democracy. It is also a breakthrough in the political tradition that has governed the modern era of the country after the Mexican Revolution. Vicente Fox started his political career with the PAN – Party of National Action – but he won the presidential election also representing a wing of opposition parties that joined efforts in the historical struggle to defeat the PRI – Institutional Revolutionary Party. Mexico not only has a new President, but a President born from new formulas. Breaking with protocols might be part of Vicente Fox’s political marketing strategy. The first unmarried President, divorced with four adopted children, wearing rancher boots and owner of a body language quite different from the “Chicago boy style” of technocrat political elites. As former president of Coca-Cola Company...