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Three Mexican mayors freed
while others face indictments
Mexico City, 2 July 2009: Three of the ten Mexican mayors arrested in May during a raid of suspected members of a drug cartel were released this week. The mayors from the towns of Coahuayana, Buenavista and Aquila were let go after spending more than a month in prison. A police spokesman declined to give any reasons for their release nor would he comment on whether the investigation against the three men would continue. He did, however, say that the seven other mayors still in custody would be charged with protecting members of the notorious La Familia drug cartel.

The accused mayors are from Apatzingan, Tepalcatepec, Arteaga, Uruapan, Ciudad Hidalgo, Tumbiscatio and Zitacuaro, all in the western Mexican state of Michoacan.

Meanwhile, police arrested three more officials suspected of links to drug cartels. The detained include Mariano Ortega, mayor of the port city of Lazaro Cardenas, as well as a former mayor and a former federal police officer.

Mexico’s state attorney to go after
every mayor linked to drug cartels
Mexico City, 28 May 2009: Over a 48-hour period Mexican police arrested 10 mayors and other high-ranking officials in the President Calderón’s home state Michoacan. City Mayors was told that more arrests are to be expected. “No mayor with links to organised drug trafficking is safe.”

The arrested include the mayors of Apatzingan, Tepalcatepec, Arteaga, Uruapan, Coahuayana, Zitacuaro, Aquila, Buenavista, Ciudad Hidalgo and Tumbiscatio, all of them connected to Mexican opposition parties. A spokesman for the attorney general said the mayors had been under investigation for the past six months. They are accused of leaking information and providing protection to a small but exceptionally violent cartel called La Familia de Michoacan, which announced its presence in 2006 by throwing five severed heads onto the floor of a nightclub.

Also arrested were the director of the Michoacan police-training institute, two municipal police chiefs and Ramon Ponce Ponce, who worked in the state attorney general’s office, as wells as municipal judge Jaime Liera Alvarez.

The simultaneous detention of the mayors represents a bold move by the government of President Felipe Calderón in his war against drug cartels. The mayors were taken to Mexico City to be interrogated. Some were taken from their homes, others from their offices. In some cases, the mayors were surrounded by 200 federal agents, supported by masked Mexican soldiers.

In private comments, officials from the US embassy in Mexico City described the action as bold and unprecedented. “The government of President Calderón may be the most honest Mexican government in history and public officials are starting to see the consequences of corruption,” they said.

Mayors play an important part in Mexico society. Their influence on law enforcement or otherwise can be enormous. “The rule of payoffs has been disastrous for the people of Mexico. Corruption is theft from the citizens as a whole,” journalists were told.

Sources close to Mexico’s attorney general’s office said more arrests are to be expected. “We need to go after every corrupt local government and police officer and rid the country of mayors with direct or family connections to narcotic cartels.”

Peru grants asylum
to Venezuelan mayor
Lima, 29 April 2009: A diplomatic row has broken out between Peru and Venezuela following the decision by Peru to award political asylum to the indicted mayor of Venezuela’s second city Maracaibo. Venezuela has recalled its ambassador to Peru over the row, which began when the mayor went into hiding ahead of a corruption trial. Rosales, the opposition candidate against president Hugo Chavez in 2006, denies any wrongdoing over the charges, which stem from his time as governor of Zulia state.
 
Venezuela’s foreign ministry denounced the Peruvian move as a “mockery of international law”, having demanded that Rosales be extradited when he surfaced in the country following his failure to appear before the courts. Rosales, elected as Maracaibo mayor last November, went into hiding three weeks ago when charges were filed.
 
Rosales was previously mayor of Maracaibo between 1996 and 2000, before being elected as Zulia state governor for two terms. Socialist legislators allege that Rosales has some $11m held in the US illegally acquired from public funds while state governor. As well as his opposition candidature in the 2006 elections, Rosales has long been a target for pro-Chavez forces owing to his apparent support for the organisers of the unsuccessful 2002 coup attempt against Chavez. Rosales has since claimed his declaration of support for the junta was made amid the confusion, which followed the president’s short-lived captivity.

Venezuela’s opposition mayors
battle against hostile government
Caracas, 22 April 2009: The mayor of Venezuela’s second city Maracaibo, Manuel Rosales, has sought asylum in an undisclosed country ahead of a corruption trial, his supporters claim. Rosales, who was Hugo Chavez’ main opponent in the 2006 presidential election, went into hiding three weeks ago. Un Nuevo Tempo (A New Era) leader Omar Barboza claimed that the trial, due to begin today, was being used as “political persecution” by Chavez and his United Socialist Party (PSUV) machine.

Earlier this year the newly-elected mayor of Caracas and Chavez opponent Antonio Ledezma was intimidated into hiding by PSUV activists, he claims. Observers inside and outside the country claim that the Chavez government is able to use judicial allies to silence any opposition to the ruling PSUV. In 2008 the New Era mayor of the Chacao district in the capital, Leopoldo Lopez, was prevented from running for the Caracas mayoralty on the basis of outstanding ‘administrative’ charges of political corruption.

‘City of God’ to be
connected to the net
Rio de Janeiro, 11 April 2009: Rio de Janeiro City is to provide wireless internet access to one of its best known favelas. The ‘City of God’ (Cidade de Deus), made famous through the film of the same name is home to some 50,000 people. Already children have access to the new service and by May the entire favela will be able to access the internet in the same way as Dona Marta, a shanty town south of Rio. The government is also providing lessons on how to use the internet.

A city government spokesman said the broadband internet service was to be distributed via 16 antennas. He added that security in Rio’s favelas has improved greatly since the eviction of drug gangs in November 2008. “Today, security has improved and the streets are cleaner and better lit. The government has allocated 115 million dollars for Rio’s free wireless project, launching the favela’s more than 300,000 residents straight into the digital world,” he explained.

In the meantime, while Rio’s City Hall is keen to connect the favelas to the world, state authorities are trying to prevent them from expanding into neighbouring forest areas. Many of the shanty towns will be enclosed by 3.5 metre high concrete walls. Icaro Moreno, president of the Rio de Janeiro’s public works department said each year the state was losing large areas of Atlantic rain forest. “Now, we're setting limits on where these communities can expand,” he explained. The state government is planning to build walls around some 40 slum areas by the end of 2010.

However, some rights groups have suggested the walls were being constructed to segregate the slums from the richer areas of Rio de Janeiro.

Mexican mayor killed
100 meters from home
Mexico City, 26 February 2009: On Tuesday afternoon, 24 February, hired assassins killed the mayor of Vista Hermosa, Michoacán, (Central Mexico), 100 meters from his home. There are indications that Mayor Octavio Manuel Carrillo may have been murdered by two former municipal policemen, The two men, who were fired by the mayor after they beat up and imprisoned a relative of his, are thought to be on the run from the authorities. However, police have not ruled out the possibility that the mayor had become a victim of drug traffickers. Several drug routes to the Mexican-US border run through Michoacán, a state most hit by violent crime.

The attack against Mayor Carrillo, happened only two days after an assault on bodyguards of Chihuahua State Governor, José Reyes Baeza, during which one of them was killed guarding the governor. However, Reyes has ruled out a murder attempt against him.

Mexican police chief quits
to save lives of his officers
Ciudad Juárez, 21 February 2009: Ciudad Juárez police chief, Roberto Orduña Cruz, stepped down after drug gangs carried out a threat to kill police officers every 48 hours to force his resignation. Yesterday, the killers shot dead a police officer and a prison guard, leaving notes on their bodies warning that more officials would be shot unless the head of police resigned. The two killings bring the total number of security personnel killed in the city in one week to five.

While Juárez Mayor José Reyes insisted that the authorities would not give in to threats, the head of police said he decided to quit in order not to endanger anymore lives. "We can't allow men who work defending our citizens to continue to lose their lives," he explained.

Mayors from across northern Mexico have told City Mayors that violence in their cities was out of control. “Since the beginning of 2008, more than 2,000 people have been killed in Ciudad Juárez alone, as drug cartels fight the authorities and each other.”

Meanwhile across the border, US authorities are worried that the violence would also affect cities like El Paso, with their large Mexican populations. US marshals have already reported an increase in killings and kidnappings in areas bordering Mexico. The US Department of Homeland Security say it is ready to bring in the military if there are signs of growing violence.

Venezuela votes
to end term limits
Caracas, 16 February 2009: A referendum to remove term limits for Venezuelan elected officials, from mayors up to the president, has been approved by a majority of voters.  The country's National Electoral Council confirmed that 54 per cent of voters had approved the measure on a 67 per cent turnout.  While international observers declared the ballot "free and fair", the opposition camp accepted the result with regret.

A broader constitutional revision was narrowly rejected by voters in a December 2007 referendum, which was viewed as a setback by President Chavez for his Bolivarian project. However, on this occasion, voters were presented with the simple question on removing term limits for public officials such as mayors, governors and the presidency, rather than any economic or social measures.  The vote follows last November's municipal races, which saw Chavez' supporters defeated in a number of key races, not least in Caracas.

The country's student led opposition said that it accepted the result but warned that Venezuela could become a 'dictatorship' as a result of this check on presidential power being removed.  Former Chacao mayor Leopoldo Lopez claimed the campaign was not fought on a level playing field as Chavez and his supporters had used "the entire state and all the power it can wield".  However, ahead of the vote President Lula of neighbouring Brazil asked why no one criticises Colombia's presidency for proposing a similar measure.  The vote follows similar measures passed in Bolivia and Ecuador recently, both countries being led Bolivarian allies of Chavez.

Mayor barred from
Caracas City Hall
Caracas, 2 February 2009: Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma has been barred from City Hall by supporters of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez. The opposition mayor, who was elected in November last year, now works from a secret private address, while his official office remains locked and guarded by police. A spokesman for the mayor said the takeover of Caracas City Hall began two weeks ago when Chavez supporters stormed the building demanding that city employees, who lost their jobs after the Ledezma victory, should be re-instated.

Shortly after being elected, the new mayor refused to renew the contract of some 500 council organisers, saying that the city’s resources were too limited. His staff also maintained that the role of the organisers, who were appointed by the previous mayor, an ally of Chavez, was politically in nature.

In a telephone interview Mayor Ledezma is reported to have told reporters that the lock-out all part of a government strategy aimed at sabotaging his administration. "Chavez doesn't want opposition mayors and governors to be successful and he's using these violent groups to undermine our efforts," he said.

Last year the government brought the city police force under federal control, a move, opposition politicians say, to derive Caracas City Hall of some of its powers. Meanwhile, federal police have so far refused to remove government protesters from the mayor’s offices. Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami said police posted outside City Hall are protecting the building.

Bolivian cities to gain
under new constitution
La Paz, 27 January 2009: A referendum on a new constitution for Bolivia has backed the decentralisation of power to the country's municipalities following an affirmative vote. Despite alarmist rhetoric by conservative opponents of the measure, the new Bolivarian constitution was backed by around 60 per cent of voters. The document promises to decentralise power from both the centre and the country's nine departments to its 320 municipalities. Bolivian President Evo Morales hailed the vote by addressing crowds in La Paz: "The colonial state ends here."

Morales was elected on behalf of the Movement for Socialism in December 2005 as the country's first indigenous president. The Morales government replaced a series of ill-fated administrations, which culminated in the 2005 'Gas War' against foreign ownership of national resources. However, his leftist administration has been fiercely opposed by the country's resource-rich departments, which saw an attempted coup in autumn 2008 orchestrated by rightists and allegedly the US ambassador. Morales follows Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and Ecuadorean Rafael Correa in amending his country's constitution to loosen the control of elites. Opponents however accuse him of trying to introduce a totalitarian state.

Among the measures included in the new constitution are the removal of term limits, the altering of the composition of congress (to decrease the size of the lower house and increase the size of the senate) and provisions to affirm state ownership of natural resources under a mixed economy. The document suggests the location of the national capital be open to interpretation, leaving in place the current compromise between La Paz and Sucre. It also promises to increase municipal autonomy in order to act as a check on the powerful regional tier of government.

El Salvador left loses control of
capital despite national gains
San Salvador, 21 January 2009: In elections held alongside national polls, the opposition left party of El Salvador has lost the capital's mayoralty amid gains in legislative races and in other municipalities. With 68 per cent of the votes counted in San Salvador, incumbent mayor Violeta Menjivar conceded to her right-wing opponent Norman Quijano but accused his ARENA party of flooding the capital with extra voters. Observers from the Organisation of American States claim the elections were free and fair.

Despite the loss of the capital, the leftist FMLN, a former guerilla organization, is projected to make major gains in the legislative elections held the same day. Rising fuel and food costs in the Central American state have hit the popularity of the ruling Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) and the opposition leader Mauricio Funes, a popular TV presenter, is regarded as a strong contender for presidential elections in March. If elected he would be the first FMLN president since the end of the bloody civil war in 1992.  Current president Tony Saca was a key ally of US President Bush in the region and committed the small state's army to supporting US efforts in Iraq.

US demands enquiry into
Nicaragua local elections
Managua, 19 December 2008: The US has warned Nicaragua that it would lose millions in aid unless it clears up concerns over its 9 November local elections. A 175-million aid programme, run by the Millennium challenge Corporation, was suspended after Nicaragua’s ruling left-wing Sandinista party of President Daniel Ortega won the vast majority of mayoral ballots amid allegations of election fraud. The US ambassador to Nicaragua, Robert Callahan, told reporters that the US would withhold aid until the fraud allegations had been independently investigated.

The ambassador also hinted at possible sanctions and reminded its audience that Nicaragua had received some $1.4 billion in US aid over the past 18 years. He warned that Nicaraguan exports to the US could also be hit by sanctions.

Nicaragua President Ortega replied by warning both the US and the European Union (EU) not to interfere in his country’s domestic affairs. "Since when are we slaves of the Europeans? We broke off our chains some time ago," he said. On a visit to Brazil, the President added that a Latin American nation was under attack by the decision of the US and EU governments to suspend financing for Nicaragua.

In November’s elections, the Sandinista party won 105 out of 146 local ballots, an outcome that has been queried by observers from the UN, US and EU as well as from several NGOs.

Chavez opponent
wins in Caracas
Caracas, 24 November 2008: Venezuela President Hugo Chavez's allies won a majority in Sunday's local and regional elections, but the opposition made important gains, including winning the mayoralty in Caracas. The country’s electoral agency said Chavez's socialist party hds won 17 of the country's 22 states. Authorities also said the opposition party had won three states, including Venezuela's two most populous - Miranada and Zulia. Two states have not been decided.

The opposition also won mayoral elections in Caracas - formerly held by Juan Barreto, a Chavez supporter. The post is regarded as the second most important job in the country. The new mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, said he wanted the government to work with him to rescue Caracas from problems such as rising crime and ageing infrastructure.

Mr Chavez's Socialist Party also made gains. They held onto the state of Sucre, the central Caracas district of Libertador and the president's home state, Barinas, where his brother was elected governor.

In the last regional vote four years ago, Mr. Chavez's allies won all but two of the 22 states. But analysts had predicted a margin of victory that wide this year as not likely, considering voters' main concerns are high crime rates, inflation and government corruption.

Voter turnout was heavy Sunday. Lines snaked around some polling places hours after closing time. Last year, Mr. Chavez lost a referendum that would have allowed him to seek re-election indefinitely.

As he campaigned for his fellow United Socialist Party of Venezuela members, he said Sunday's vote could decide the future of socialism as well as the future of Hugo Chavez. (Report by VoA News and local reporters)

Nicaragua’s Sandinistas
claim local election victory
Managua, 21 November 2008: Despite allegations of election fraud, Nicaragua’s election council announced that the left-wing governing Sandinistas had won the large majority of municipal races, including the capital Managua. According to official results, the Sandinistas won 105 of 146 races in nationwide local elections held on 9 November, while the opposition Liberal Constitutional Party won 37. Smaller parties took the remaining four. Members of the opposition charged that the vote was fraudulent and complained that international monitors were not permitted to observe the elections.

The US representative to the Organization of American States (OAS) Hector Morales asked for an audit of the results of Nicaraguan municipal elections, saying that he had reports of potential fraud. „If the Nicaraguan government has nothing to hide, then they should turn over the voting results for an outside audit,'' Morales said. He also accused Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega of illegally disbandaning two rival parties to favour his Sandinista candidates.

Meanwhile, the London-based Guardian reported that Nicaragua was braced for fresh clashes after the election results triggered a week of violence. “Supporters of the Sandinista government patrolled the capital, Managua, with rocks and clubs to deter opposition groups from mobilising,” the paper’s correspondent writes.

In the country’s capital Managua, the Sandinista candidate and former world boxing champ Alexis Arguello, was declared the winner. The electoral council, which is controlled by the government, announced that Arguello had won 51 per cent of the vote for mayor, while the opposition Constitutionalist Liberal Party candidate Eduardo Montealegre had collected 46 per cent. Montealegre is a former finance minister who lost the presidential election to Ortega in 2006.

Mexico City to provide
Viagra to elderly men
Mexico City, 15 November 2008: Elderly men in Mexico City can look forward to a more rewarding sex life thanks to a health programme launched by Mayor Marcelo Ebrard. According to research by the city’s health department, some 70 per cent of over men above 70 years of age suffer from some form of erectile dysfunction. In addition to helping men with their sex lives, the programme, with an estimated cost of US$3.8 million, , includes the treatment of hormonal conditions such as menopause and andropause as well as prostate cancer.

Mexico City Health Secretary Armando Ahued Ortega told reporters that of the 430,000 elderly men and women cared for by institutes of health and social services in the capital, 112,000 could benefit from this programme. “Potential beneficiaries would first have a medical exam and if they were found to need treatment they would be given a maximum of four pills against erectile dysfunction,” he detailed. Viagra pills cost between 130 and 150 pesos ($10-$11.50) each on the local market.

Mayor Ebrard added that older men had the right to full health and a good sex life for their happiness and a better quality of life.

Chilean centre-right opposition
makes gains in local elections
Santiago, 28 October 2008: President Michelle Bachelet and her governing centre-left Concertación coalition experienced defeat in local elections held on 26 October – the coalition’s first in 19 years following the end of the military regime that General Augusto Pinochet presided over between 1973 and 1989. The Concertación lost 56 mayors while its centre-right rivals, the Alianza alliance, gained 36 more. In metropolitan Santiago, where a third of Chile’s population lives, the Concertación elected 15 mayors to the Alianza’s 16. This represented a fall of five and an increase of two respectively since the last set of local elections, in 2004.

The Alianza’s victory is seen as a success for businessman Sebastian Piñera, of the market-oriented Renovación Nacional (RN), which gained the largest number of votes. The Alianza’s success – and that of the RN’s 71 mayors – makes Piñera the frontrunner for the centre-right ahead of next year’s presidential election.

The Concertación defeat may be attributable to several factors. First, there has been the ongoing debacle of the public transport system, Transantiago, which has plagued the government since its introduction in 2006. Second, the coalition lost votes to the newly formed Partido Regionalista de los Independientes (PRI). The party, formed by senator Adolfo Zaldívar, after his expulsion from the Christian Democrats last year, won 7.7% in alliance with the Ecologist Party and other assorted independents. Zaldívar’s achievement is seen as a blow for another Christian Democrat senator, Soledad Alvear, who led the campaign for his expulsion and who is expected to be a contender for the Concertación’s presidential candidate in 2009.

Yet there was a small silver lining for the Concertación, with the electoral system working to its advantage. In terms of council seats, it secured 45.11% of councillors, against 36.25% for the Alianza. This success was despite the greater number of votes for the Alianza won, beating the Concertación by 45.78% or 7.6 million to 40.17%, or 6.7 million.

According to Piñera, the public wants change. However, such change is noticeably modest in tone. The RN was followed in the vote stakes by that of the more socially conservative Union Democrata Independiente (UDI). Meanwhile, within the Concertación the more centrist Christian Democrats (which lost 300,000 votes from 2004) and Socialists outperformed the coalition’s more progressive partners, the Party por la Democracia (PPD) and the Partido Radical Social Demórata (PRSD), by 10%. Further to the left, the Juntos Podemos alliance, which includes the Communist Party, gained 9.07% of the vote, which was slightly down from its 9.17% share in 2004. (Report by Guy Burton, South America Correspondent)

Incumbent mayor
wins in Sao Paulo
Belo Horizonte, 27 October 2008: Candidates from Brazil’s ruling left-wing Workers Party (PT) lost second-round elections in Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre. However, in Rio de Janeiro the mayoral candidate supported by President Lula won a wafer-thin majority. Run-off ballots became necessary in some 30 cities after first-round elections two weeks ago failed to produce clear winners. Sao Paulo's incumbent mayor, Gilberto Kassab, a member of the conservative Democrat Party, defeated the Workers' Party candidate, Marta Suplicy. Kassab won 61 per cent of the vote, according to provisional results. Marty Suplicy was mayor or Sao Paulo from 2001 to 2004.

In Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes was elected mayor with 51 per cent of the votes. He defeated Fernando Gabeira, a Green Party congressman who helped kidnap a US ambassador nearly four decades ago, by less than two percentage points.