This Week in the Americas

Mexican Government Deepens Latin America Split in Davos
By Laura Carlsen

Mexican president Felipe Calderon strode off to the World Economic Forum with a bold agenda. At the forum and in meetings with European business leaders and heads of state, he presented Mexico as the guarantor of economic orthodoxy and explicitly criticized Latin American nations that have deviated from the path laid out by the international financial institutions and the U.S. government.

Calderón went to Davos to pick a fight. As a strategy to appeal to foreign investors, he painted a divided Latin America—with Mexico standing as a regional leader of those countries adhering to the rules set forth by the United States and the international finance organizations, and standing up to other countries that seek alternatives and modifications to the neoliberal model.

Laura Carlsen is director of the IRC Americas Program in Mexico City, where she has worked as a writer and political analyst for the past two decades. The Americas Program is online at http://americas.irc-online.org/.

New from the IRC Americas Program:

Evo Morales’ First Year
By Raul Zibechi

If the first year government is enough time to assess the course of an administration, the one-year anniversary of Evo Morales (who took office on the January 22, 2006) finds him in the midst of a path between change and continuity.

Evo's first year has both bright spots and dim ones. The latter are more serious than we could have predicted at the end of 2005. As a newly formed government, Evo should proceed with caution. Much depends on the actions of the movements, and the non-elite sectors that have taken decisive action in Bolivia.

Raúl Zibechi, a member of the editorial board of the weekly Brecha de Montevideo, is a professor and researcher on social movements at the Multiversidad Franciscana de America Latina and adviser to several grassroots organizations. He is a monthly contributor to the IRC Americas Program (www.americaspolicy.org).

28 Journalists Killed in 8 Latin American Countries in 2006
By Hernán Uribe

Twenty-eight journalists were murdered, while five others disappeared, last year in eight Latin American countries, according to an overview of 2006 prepared by the Commission to Investigate Attacks against Journalists (Comisión Investigadora de Atentados a Periodistas, CIAP), affiliated with the Latin American Federation of Journalists (Federación Latinoamericana de Periodistas, FELAP). With ten deaths, Mexico continues to boast the dubious distinction of being the most dangerous nation for journalists to ply their trade.

Although figures on journalists victimized by violence vary, the most credible numbers appear to be those provided by the World Association of Newspapers, which says that 105 journalists were killed worldwide last year. Forty-eight of these deaths occurred in Iraq, a country racked by a bloody war resulting from the United States’ illegal armed occupation.

Chilean journalist Hernán Uribe is president of FELAP’s Commission to Investigate Attacks against Journalists (CIAP).

How to Balance Economic Development with Environmental Protection
By Talli Nauman

Throughout the Gulf of California Region, multi-million-dollar infrastructure projects and developments recently initiated by federal and state governments, together with large private investments, make front-page news and motivate presidential visits. Among the plans, Fonatur’s (National Fund to Promote Tourism) Nautical Stairway, or Mar de Cortés, mega project stands out, with its 27 docks proposed for operation by the Singlar Co. Other new roads and airports contribute to the economic feasibility of building skyscrapers and condominiums, such as Mayan Palace and Sandy Beach Resorts in Puerto Peñasco’s environs. Liberty Cove realtors propose a tourist residential development three times the size of Manhattan.

Knowledge and information sharing among all sectors, including foreign buyers and consumers, are vital for avoiding disappointment and for securing mechanisms that protect the many resources that still exist in the Gulf of California.

Talli Nauman is an environmental analyst for the Americas Program (www.americaspolicy.org). She is a founder and co-director of the independent international media project Journalism to Raise Environmental Awareness, initiated in 1994 with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

If you would like to reproduce our articles for free, please cite the source, and let us know at americas@ciponline.org. We also welcome comments about our materials.

If you would like to unsubscribe, click on the link below that says "Update Profile/Unsubscribe". If you would like to subscribe for the first time to our multitude of topical lists, please go to http://app.streamsend.com/public/iKs8/Mr1/subscribe.

The Americas Policy Program is a fiscally sponsored program of the
Center for International Policy
http://www.ciponline.org/
Email: americas@ciponline.org
Tel. in Mexico: (52 55) 5324-1201, U.S. phone: (202) 536-2649

Donations can be mailed to: (please specify Americas Program)

Center for International Policy
1717 Massachussets NW, Suite 801
Washington, DC 20036

Or by visiting the site: https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/CenterforInternationalPolic/OnlineGiving.html