By Fox News Latino

Secretary of State John Kerry departs this week for Guatemala in his first trip to Latin America since taking office, where he will attend the annual gathering of a 35-nation organization he once disparaged as ineffective and nearly irrelevant.

Kerry will attend the Organization of American States’ annual general assembly. Counternarcotics and counterterrorism strategy, as well as human rights throughout the Western Hemisphere, are expected to be main topics of discussion.

Click HERE or on the picture to read the full story.

[Photo by United States Government Work]

Por Maria Lourdes Pallais, IDL-Reporteros

Delgada, de corta estatura, entra sonriente, discreta, casi desapercibida. En minutos, la intensidad del tono de su voz, el brillo que despiden sus ojos inteligentes y su presencia pequeña pero dinámica domina la entrevista. Habla rápido, enfatizando con los ojos y las manos. Solo a veces pausa y se toma más tiempo para reflexionar. Dispara dardos verbales con decisión, especialmente cuando se refiere a las autoridades mexicanas, que incluyen la Procuraduría General de la República (fiscalía federal), la Secretaría de Gobernación (Interior) y la Policía Federal, dependencias que para ella han destacado por su ineficiencia y “cinismo” en lo relativo a la protección de los derechos humanos e integridad física de los periodistas.

Es Anabel Hernández, reconocida periodista de investigación y autora de “Los Señores del Narco” (2010), donde expone los nexos de la clase política, policiaca y empresarial mexicana con el narcotráfico, particularmente con el Cartel de Sinaloa y su líder Joaquín Guzmán Loera “El Chapo”, a quien la DEA considera el narcotraficante más poderoso de todos los tiempos; y “México en llamas” (2013), que narra quiénes fueron los cómplices del ex presidente Felipe Calderón; la farsa de su guerra contra las drogas; las cartas de los secuestradores que cortaban orejas, manos, dedos, y los sobornos a Genaro García Luna cuando era jefe de la Policía Federal en 1998 y 1999. Hasta 2011, Hernández (Premio Pluma de Oro de la Libertad) fue la reportera estrella del diario digital Reporte Índigo, donde destacaban sus polémicas portadas sobre los atropellos e ilícitos de García Luna; sobre el “Palacio de los Excesos” del gobierno federal; sobre la asesoría del ex presidente Vicente Fox a la campaña de Enrique Peña Nieto, entonces aspirante del PRI a la presidencia, entre otras.

Hoy, la periodista “más valiente” de México, “chiquitita de estatura pero de gran corazón”, como dice el corrido que lleva su nombre, está enojada y no lo esconde.

Le quitan los escoltas

“Son absolutamente cómplices de los homicidios de los periodistas porque son igual de responsables el que tira el gatillo y el que, siendo autoridad, permite que eso suceda”, afirma, contundente, a IDL-Reporteros.

Habla de quienes tienen el deber de proteger su vida, luego de que una fuente le revelara un plan de García Luna para matarla haciéndolo pasar por accidente, robo o secuestro.

El “odio” de quien fuera el funcionario engreído de Calderón hacia ella, dice, nació cuando se enfocó en documentar actos de corrupción y de complicidad con la delincuencia organizada de él y otros altos funcionarios.

Tras denunciar al ahora ex ministro ante la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos (CNDH), el entonces fiscal de la Ciudad de México y ahora alcalde Miguel Ángel Mancera, le ofreció escoltas 24 horas al día.

Todo así hasta hace unas semanas, cuando le anunciaron que la “medida cautelar” concluiría en junio. La razón: al gobierno de la Ciudad de México no le “competía” esa responsabilidad.

Fue entonces que la Junta de Gobierno del llamado “Mecanismo para la Protección de Personas Defensoras de Derechos Humanos y Periodistas”, que incluye a Gobernación, fiscalía federal, CNDH, legisladores y otras autoridades, decidió estudiar su caso. En una primera reunión el pasado dos de mayo, la Junta decidió reevaluar el plan de protección “previo a la conclusión de dicho periodo” en junio. Analizará ofrecerle protección de una agencia federal, en la que Hernández no confía porque sospecha que está coludida con García Luna. Aunque en el escrito, la Junta asegura que también revisará la propuesta del Gobierno de la Ciudad de México de “prestar una escolta permanente”, Anabel desconfía:

“Ésta es una clara muestra de porqué siguen matando impunemente periodistas en México. Y entiendo que puede ser una respuesta a mis fuertes críticas planteadas a la Junta el 26 de abril pasado en la audiencia que tuve ante ustedes para plantear mi caso”, les escribe por email. Se refiere a su ponencia ante esa Junta donde “fui a reclamarles su incompetencia por todos los periodistas asesinados, como los compañeros torturados y descuartizados en Veracruz; como el [caso] de Regina Martínez, asfixiada por estrangulamiento hace un año en Veracruz”.

Desconfianza no gratuita

México ocupa un infame octavo lugar en el mundo en casos de impunidad en crímenes y agresiones contra periodistas, según el Comité para la Protección de los Periodistas (CPJ).

Entre diciembre de 2006 y diciembre de 2012, al menos 14 periodistas fueron asesinados en represalia directa por su labor, dice el CPJ. Hace unas semanas, la oficina en México de Artículo 19, una organización internacional que defiende y promueve la libertad de expresión, también recibió una carta con amenazas. Y son las mujeres periodistas las más vulnerables, según Orfe Castillo, coordinadora de Solidaridad y Acción Urgente en Mesoamérica.

No sorprende entonces la desconfianza de Hernández. “No les estoy pidiendo lo que no me pueden dar. Solo pido que el gobierno del DF no me retire los escoltas que me concedió (la fiscalía capitalina) hace cinco años”.

“Si fracaso y me convierto en una víctima más, no va a ser mi fracaso. Va a ser el fracaso de todos los que están aquí sentados”, les dijo.

Una vida fragmentada

Hablar del efecto que ha tenido todo esto en su vida personal no es tema fácil para Anabel, madre soltera de dos hijos, de 16 y de tres. Pero lo enfrenta. Confiesa haberse quedado encerrada en su casa por temor. Confiesa también haber perdido productividad. “Ha sido un desgaste emocional, anímico, de productividad muy alto…”.

¿Has tenido miedo?

Si yo no hubiera tenido que perder tanto tiempo quedándome encerrada en mi casa, en tener miedo, en no buscar más fuentes de información para no ponerlas en peligro, hubiera sido más prolífica.

¿Cómo ha afectado todo esto a tus hijos?

La enfermera me decía ‘si no te concentras en tu bebé, lo vas a perder’, y mi hijo nació bien pero prematuro. Ahora de tres años, me queda claro que está profundamente afectado y me preocupa cómo se va a reflejar más tarde. Mi hija parecía que podía aguantar la presión pero está en plena adolescencia, quiere ir a fiestas, al cine y no puede… ¿Quién me devuelve eso? ¿Cuántos años tendrían que pagar estos corruptos para repararlo?

¿Cómo vive esto tu madre, tu familia?

Mi madre tiene 74 años y padece de diabetes. Me ha pedido que ya no (investigue) más… Mis hermanos me reclaman porque estoy involucrando a mi familia. Yo me tomo largos tiempos, dos o tres meses, con mi familia sola, para tener algo de cordura, algo de paz; caminar en las calles de algún país del mundo, tranquilamente, vivir libre…

¿Cómo te ha cambiado esta experiencia?

Me volví más incisiva. Entre más me presionaban, más aguerrida. Esta cacería que emprendieron contra mí lo que me arrojó es que estaba en la ruta correcta, que debía seguir investigando. Y no voy a parar…

¿Considerarías vivir fuera de México?

El nunca no existe pero si algún día (sucede) es porque a mí se me dio la gana, no porque nadie me quiera correr de mi país; ni los delincuentes ni el gobierno… Si algún día me voy es porque a mí me conviene…

¿Tienes momentos de desencanto, de basta ya?

Eso me lo reservo pero algún día espero escribir al respecto -hace un pausa, reflexiona y contesta- No es que seamos fuertes sino que tenemos tanto miedo de perderlo todo que no nos queda más que luchar.

¿Ser mujer ha influido en tu caso?

Siempre pensé que la persecución de García Luna y de sus policías corruptos tenía que ver con lo que estaba publicando pero ahora sé que no solo me odia por mis reportajes sino también por ser mujer.

¿Cómo lo sabes?

Por la manera en que se expresaba sobre mí por ser mujer; sus comentarios soeces, lo que iba a hacerme por ser mujer.

García Luna será el más visible, sobre quien ella tiene evidencias de que se quiere vengar de su trabajo, pero no es el único. El objetivo de su pluma es la corrupción, ese fenómeno tan común no solo en México, sino también en América Latina, que pocos periodistas enfrentan con tanta valentía. Su trabajo en la adversidad, que busca una cultura de honestidad y transparencia, estorba a los poderosos. Y cuando se tiene éxito (“Los Señores del Narco” fue uno de los títulos más vendidos en México en 2010), peor aún.

Ya lo dijo Roberto Saviano, el periodista italiano que vive bajo protección policial tras haber investigado a la Camorra napolitana en “Gomorra”, “puedes investigar, pero cuando te haces demasiado popular arriesgas tu vida“♦

[Foto por Maria Lourdes Pallais]

La autora y periodista Maria Lourdes Pallas radica en la Ciudad de Mexico.

By Stratfor

When U.S. President Barack Obama travels to Mexico on May 2, he will arrive amid a period of sweeping transformation in the country. Embroiled in myriad political battles and seeking to implement an extensive slate of national reforms, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s administration has been focused almost solely on internal affairs. Meanwhile, after years of delay, the U.S. Congress has been debating gun control and immigration reform — two issues of serious interest to the Mexican government.

U.S.-Mexican relations are strategically important to both countries, and Mexico’s period of transition has created opportunities for each to reshape the partnership. And although U.S. media attention has focused primarily on bilateral security issues ahead of Obama’s visit — namely cooperation in Mexico’s drug war – the Pena Nieto administration is working with Washington to re-orient the cross-border conversation to one centered primarily on mutual economic possibility.

Analysis

As the first member of Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party to win the presidency this century, Pena Nieto has set about reconsolidating the party’s control over the government while attempting to turn attention away from the country’s entrenched security issues and toward its economic opportunities. The pace of reform and political cooperation since the new government was elected July 1 has been unusually high for Mexico.

Labor and education overhauls passed through the legislature relatively easily, and banking reforms intended to broadly increase access to credit are set to be proposed once the legislature reconvenes in September. The administration still has an aggressive to-do list remaining, with planned overhauls ranging from the telecommunications and energy sectors to issues such as taxation. The majority of the reforms has been structural in nature and driven by economic imperatives, representing a notable shift in tempo and character from the previous government, which saw its legislative efforts largely stall for years prior to the 2012 election.

Domestic political factors will determine the success of the pending overhauls. But the labor reform could improve bilateral commerce and investment with the United States, as would a successful liberalization of the country’s energy sector in the coming years. Mexico is already the United States’ third-largest trading partner, and economic coordination between the two countries has become a routine matter at the ministerial level, but there is still a need to ease bureaucratic trade and investment barriers.

Security Cooperation and Centralization

Pena Nieto’s predecessor, the National Action Party’s Felipe Calderon, focused heavily on Mexico’s security challenges and oversaw the sustained military offensive against criminal organizations throughout the country. Pena Nieto has yet to elaborate much on his plans to address the security issues, but he has emphasized the need to combat street violence and kidnappings, while playing down the importance of combating drug trafficking — a U.S. priority.

But ahead of Obama’s visit, certain details have emerged indicating that the Pena Nieto administration intends to change the nature of intelligence cooperation between the United States and Mexico. Until now, the two countries’ various law enforcement and intelligence agencies have been able to interact directly, but Mexico’s interior ministry will begin overseeing all intelligence collaboration.

This centralization effort has not been isolated to cooperation with the United States. The Mexican Interior Ministry has also taken charge of the federal police, and Pena Nieto intends to eventually create a national gendarmarie under the interior secretariat in order to fill the role in the drug wars currently played by the Mexican military with a security body better equipped with law enforcement training.

Thus, the extent and manner to which this centralization will affect security cooperation with the United States is unclear. But the changes are primarily designed to give Mexico greater control over the intelligence process involved in combating the country’s violent gangs. The intention is not to block U.S. collaboration and assistance, but rather to reform existing structures.

Domestic Issues, Bilateral Implications

While Mexico reorients its internal focus to structural changes that its leaders hope will lay foundations for economic development, the country could also be affected by domestic issues under debate in the United States. For years, Mexico has been pressing the United States to enact stricter gun laws. Though a prominent gun control bill failed in the U.S. Senate on April 17, the issue will likely re-emerge later in 2013, and at least some gun control measures currently enjoy broad popular support. Meanwhile, demographic changes in the United States are driving a debate about immigration reform that, if implemented, would require collaboration with Mexico, many of whose citizens would seek to legalize their residential status in the United States.

Though the passage of these reforms will similarly be determined solely by U.S. domestic political factors, their success would be a significant boon for bilateral relations with Mexico. Indeed, for Obama and Pena Nieto, the effects each feel of the other’s policy decisions will be magnified by the unique demographic, geographic and economic ties binding their countries. Yet, the domestic environment and political calculations in each country will ultimately shape the effects of this period of political change.

The U.S. political decision-making process is largely isolated from international influence, and the Pena Nieto administration likewise appears to be consolidating key policy areas under Mexican control at the expense of U.S. influence. Still, Mexico’s steady emergence as an economic power in North America sets the stage for a bilateral relationship much more heavily focused on opportunities for economic cooperation.

Evolving U.S.-Mexico Relations and Obama Visit is republished with permission of Stratfor.

[photo by nirvfan81]

By Fox News Latino

Just days before President Barack Obama’s visit south of the border, the Mexican government announced it will end the widespread access it has given U.S. security agencies to combat the drug war.

It could signal a potential dramatic shift in relations between the neighboring countries.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto is seeking to change his administration’s focus from violence to the country’s emerging economy, which is due to take over Brazil as the strongest in Latin America.

Click on the picture to read the full story.

[Photo courtesy Fox News Latino]

By Mary Jo McConahay, New America Media

GUATEMALA CITY – When the judge called his name, 70-year-old Tiburcio Utuy, wearing a yellow nylon jacket and looking determined, entered through tall wooden doors to face former Guatemala strongman Gen. José Efraín Rios Montt, charged with genocide. On a global scale the process is historic, the first time a former head of state stands trial for the flagrant crime in the national courts where events took place, not an international tribunal. On the scale of the life of Tiburcio Utuy, Maya corn farmer, the day was a reckoning so long in coming he talked non-stop for an hour.

“Who says there was no genocide?” asked Utuy of the tribunal. He was referring to the often cited assessment of the Rios Montt years by Pres. Otto Perez, who served as a base commander at the time in the mountainous area known as the Ixil Triangle, home to indigenous Maya where prosecutors say the genocide took place. Still hours by road from the capital, the region was considered home of an “internal enemy” according to one military planning paper, Maya supporting leftist guerrillas.

“The shoes, the belts were piled two meters high and wide, you could see the traces of people who had been killed there,” Utuy said, describing a room alongside the Catholic church in the town of Sacapulas, appropriated by soldiers for a torture chamber and body dump, where Utuy said he was held in 1982. “They tied me up and left me sitting in blood.”

After four weeks of testimony, on April 18 a judge in a separate court granted the request of the defense to annul the trial in a judgement based on a technicality. An appeal is expected. “You are mocking the witnesses,” said a prosecution attorney in a small, crowded meeting room amid a crush of press and the under the eyes of silent Maya, some elderly.

“The victims are the accused,” said the defense.

The decision muddies the immediate prosecution of the genocide crime, but there is no taking back the information that has flooded the country.  A dozen forensic anthropologists have reported on exhumations indicating violent deaths of children, mass beheadings. A geographer testified to the unraveling of Maya Ixil culture among thousands who fled from the army into wildlands, who ate grass and watched their elderly starve, or straggled into refugee camps in Mexico. Expert witnesses testified on military plans, the history of racism in Guatemala, the statistical analysis used to arrive at numbers of dead.

It has been the testimony of witnesses like Tiburcio Utuy, however, that has reverberated through every other hour of the trial. Prosecutors must prove Rios intended to eliminate people because of their membership in a particular group, Ixil Maya, in order to bring in a guilty verdict. However, refrain of suffering and brutality created by more than a hundred voices is likely to resound in the public memory no matter what the decision on the genocide charge against the general and his co-defendant, intelligence chief Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez.

“They caught up to the woman and they struck her in the head with a machete and dragged her like a dog,” said Utuy of a scene he said he saw while hiding from soldiers. Experts have testified that racism toward the majority indigenous was key to slaughter in Maya villages, which occurred in the context of counterinsurgency against leftist rebels relatively small in number. Many recalled experience in terms referring to animals. “”Just as chicks run from hawks, that’s what they did to us. Why? If we are human beings?” said witness Maria Cedillo.

Ten women who testified to sexual violence were allowed to drape their heads, partially obscuring their identity. They used traditional woven stoles to hide faces, recalling biblical images of lepers.
Some two hundred thousand persons died in Guatemala’s thirty-six years of conflict that ended in 1996, mostly civilians at government hands according to a U.N.-sponsored Truth Commission. The United States government supported Rios Montt with military aid and the personal approbation of Pres. Ronald Reagan, who publicly admired Rios’ declared anti-Communism and visited Guatemala City to declare the general was getting “a bum rap.”

“I tell you judges, I’m not lying,” Utuy said. “What guilt did the baby have still in the womb of the mother?” Witnesses testified that soldiers attacked pregnant women. “I saw this,” Utuy said. Soldiers regularly burned houses, an apparent attempt to erase standing patterns of settlement. When a clay house in his village resisted destruction by fire, Utuy said, soldiers killed those inside, piling clothes, bags and blankets on the dead and set the heap alight.

At one moment in the generally somber proceedings, Utuy surprised onlookers by rising to his feet. ‘I’m not lying, look, here are my scars,” he said, lifting his shirt and lowering his belt.

Judges, two women and a man, stared down from the dias. Soldiers had tied Utuy’s feet and head together to expose his stomach, he said, during torture.

“’Ay, what pain!’ I said. What suffering I felt at that moment when my intestines fell to the floor,” he said. He replaced them with his hands, he said.

Some witnesses have been unable to relate their experience without faltering voices, others respond briefly. Tiburcio Utuy was not exuberant, but he would not let his day in court slip by with less than fulsome expression.

“What I experienced, the suffering I felt, what the military did to me, I am telling this to the whole world,” he said.

This article was first published in New America Media.

Mary Jo McConahay has reported from Central America for numerous publications. She is the author of “Maya Roads, One Woman’s Journey Among the People of the Rainforest.”

[Photo courtesy New America Media]

By Latino Rebels

The National Catholic Reporter published a story saying that “a Vatican official responsible for the sainthood cause of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador announced Sunday that the cause has been ‘unblocked’ by Pope Francis,” which suggests “that beatification of the assassinated prelate could come swiftly.”

According to the article, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia said in a homily on Sunday in Italy that “the cause of the beatification of Monsignor Romero has been unblocked.” The story also said that Paglia had seen Pope Francis over the weekend, and that such news would not have been publicly shared if the Pope had not authorized it.

The article continues:

Romero was shot to death while saying Mass in El Salvador on March 24, 1980. While he is seen as a hero to many because of his solidarity with the poor and his opposition to human rights abuses, his cause has also been viewed with suspicion in some quarters, partly because of Romero’s links to the controversial liberation theology movement.

Although both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have said publicly that Romero was a martyr for the faith, there’s also been some question as to whether his death meets the classic test for martyrdom of being killed in odium fidei, meaning “in hatred of the faith,” or whether the motives were more social and political.

If Romero is judged a martyr, he could be beatified without having a miracle attributed to his intercession.

The report include a March 26 quote from Bishop Gregorio Rosa Chavez, Auxiliary Bishop of San Salvador, who said the following: “…I know [Pope Francis] is absolutely convinced that Romero is a saint and a martyr. Everything points to his beatification being on the cards, although we follow God’s time frame which is not the same as ours.”

This article was first published in Latino Rebels.

The Latino Rebels are a collective of social media influentials, bloggers, marketers, journalists, poets, writers, producers, photographers, and marketers. We use humor, commentary, opinions, independent stories, cross-links to others blogs, and our social media platforms to share our universe. 

[Photo courtesy Latino Rebels]

By John Benson, Saludify

Solving healthcare issues on both sides of the border is the theme of the recently released report Strengthening Health Systems in North and Central America: What role for migration?

Migration Policy Institute Policy Analyst Eleanor Sohnen tells Saludify the study, which is co-authored by New York University College of Nursing’s Allison Squires, PhD, RN and Hiram Beltrán-Sánchez of the Population Studies Center at Harvard University, reveals two main findings.

“Although current registered nurse production in the U.S. is seen as sufficient to fulfill needs in the short- to medium-term, there are needs for under-served populations, specifically Spanish-speaking populations,” Sohnen said. “A very small percentage of these nurses speak Spanish, even those with Hispanic heritage. Another lesson is for Mexico and Central America, some of these countries have a critical lack of health services professionals, specifically nurses.”

The latter point stems from a difference of nursing school curricula. Not only are Central and Latin American nurses not utilized in the same fashion as their counterparts in the United States, but they often are viewed as being in a subservient position. This is compared to nurses in the U.S., who have more autonomy. The report concludes that improving the training of Latin American nurses is a necessity.

“That’s not a surprise. There are a number of challenges facing people in the profession [in Latin America],” Sohnen said. “So increasingly aligning curricula to U.S. standards cannot only serve the people in the region and their healthcare needs but also provide opportunities for highly-skilled health professionals to come to the U.S. where their skills are also needed.”

Sohnen stressed that the goal isn’t to have Latin American nurses trained solely for the purpose of immigrating to the United States, which would cause a brain-drain in their respective countries. Instead, the idea is Latin American nurses already coming to the States can bring their skills with them.

“Also, health professionals in Mexico will be able to receive higher salaries,” Sohnen said. “Presumably also there would be snowball effect throughout this sort of healthcare workforce production system as a result of those improved standards. Also the report lists a company involved in an initiative to train Mexican nurses to U.S. standards and provide them with career-specific language training. There are lessons to be learned from that kind of a program.”

One lesson that unfortunately has been somewhat negative regarding the issue has to do with the North American Free Trade Agreement [NAFTA]. Sohnen said under the agreement there’s no limit on the number of Mexican nurses that can come to the U.S.

“The problem is the way the agreement is structured it requires nurses to have bachelor’s degrees,” Sohnen said. “Now most nurses in Mexico don’t have bachelor’s degrees. So despite the fact that there is this opportunity for Mexican nurses to come here and serve critical populations that need Spanish-speaking nurses, they can’t.”

There is indeed a growing need for Spanish-speaking and culturally knowledgeable nurses. Sohnen said a recent Migration Policy Institute Policy study revealed only 3 percent of U.S. registered nurses speak Spanish.

“What we want people to take away from the study is that there are a significant number of trained healthcare professionals here in the U.S. that are not able to use their education and there are ways to address that challenge,” Sohnen said. “At the same time, there is an opportunity for countries like Mexico to build up their healthcare training systems in order to both meet needs at home and potentially the needs abroad.

“It’s a challenging situation but there are a number of opportunities it could lead to that would be good for both healthcare professionals and for potential patients.”

This article was first published in Saludify.

John Benson is employed as a fulltime freelance writer writing for local/national outlets. When he’s not covering news, music or entertainment, he can be found coaching his boys (basketball, football and baseball) or spending time with his wife, Maria.

[Photo by Dave Q]

By Amanda Maxwell, La Onda Verde de NRDC

Chile

Thousands of dead shrimp and small fish have emerged from a duct of the Bocamina II plant, an Endesa-owned thermoelectric power generation plant located near Coronel in southern Chile. This incident comes just days after a mass die-off of shrimp, crabs, and other marine life was discovered along a beach in the same area. Several fisherman and international environmentalists have blamed pollution from local power plants for the incidents. Endesa and Colbún, two of the country’s electricity generators and owners of three area power plants, have countered these claims, stating that the die-off likely had natural causes. The Environmental Crime Investigation Unit expects to release a full report on the incident within a month. (BioBioChile 3/26/2013; The Santiago Times 3/22/2013) 

Chile’s National Forest Corporation (Conaf) is pursuing strategies to protect Darwin’s fox—a critically endangered fox species found in Nahuelbuta National Park and Chiloé Island. Facing threats such as habitat loss and diseases transmitted by area dogs, the fox population has dwindled to approximately 500 animals. Aiming to address these issues, Conaf has initiated a vaccination campaign for local canines and installed 15 cameras to help scientists investigate the state of the current fox population and its habitat. (La Tercera 3/24/2013)

Persistent air pollution in Chillán and Chillán Viejo has earned the municipalities a “saturated zone” declaration, a label given to areas that exceed ambient standards for air pollutants such as particulates, ozone, and carbon monoxide. The designation will allow the cities to develop a formal Decontamination Plan, focusing on areas such as transportation, firewood use, building energy efficiency and industrial emissions. (Nación 3/25/2013)

Costa Rica

Residents of Puerto Jimenez, Golfito have filed an appeal in Costa Rica’s Constitutional Court against the region’s regulatory plan, which paved the way for the approval of a new marina development in the Golfo Dulce. The plan is being challenged on the grounds that it was never fully publicized, lacks a technical analysis of the area’s biodiversity, and was elaborated and paid for by a private company that would personally benefit from new development projects. (El País 3/28/2013)

Costa Rica’s CRUSA Foundation has granted over 1.4 million dollars to help protect the country’s vulnerable watersheds. The grant will help finance seven projects, including a “water fund”, which aims to create an investment portfolio for water and watershed-related projects. Other initiatives include the strengthening of 60 rural aqueducts in Costa Rica’s northern and central regions and integrated management of the Purires River micro-watershed in Cartago. (El Financiero 3/22/2013)

Costa Rica will aim to become carbon-neutral by 2021, claimed René Castro, the country’s Minister of Energy and the Environment during a recent trip to China. Castro indicated that part of his trip was geared toward learning about China’s strategy to increase production while decreasing its energy consumption. Costa Rica, which is currently projected to increase its energy consumption by 7% by 2016, will need to invest at least 1% of GDP to help neutralize emissions. (El Financiero 3/26/2013)

Mexico

Helping to mark World Water Day, the Mexican government has declared water to be an issue of national priority and security, paving the way for the elaboration of new and improved policies to govern water use. The government will seek to guarantee supply, reduce waste, and prohibit the drilling of wells without prior authorization from the National Water Commission. Currently, 35 million Mexicans live without adequate water access. (AméricaEconomía 3/23/2013)

This article was first published in NRDC Switchboard.

Amanda Maxwell is a born and bred Jersey girl, but has lived for varying amounts of time in Michigan, Vermont, Rhode Island, New York, and the Czech Republic before moving to Washington, DC. Prior to joining NRDC she received my Masters degree in International Politics and Economics with a focus in Renewable Energy policy from Charles University in Prague. While there, she gained an appreciation for night running, train travel (especially of the high speed variety), and the local pivo. She received a Bachelors degree in history and Spanish from Middlebury College, and also studied in Buenos Aires.

[Photo by Wonderlane]

By Amanda Maxwell, La Onda Verde de NRDC

Chile

HidroAysén, the company intending to build a 2,750 megawatt dam project on two rivers in Patagonia, announced that it would not present the environmental impact study for its transmission line until the end of 2014, in the most optimistic of scenarios. The company has not shown clarity about how it would move forward since parent company Colbún announced in May 2012 that it recommended halting work on the project. Among the reasons given for the delayed timeline, HidroAysén cited the need to re-evaluate the baselines and other technical studies needed for the transmission line’s environmental impact assessment. At the same time, Chile’s government announced that the Committee of Ministers, which is supposed to rule on the 58 appeals filed against HidroAysén’s dams’ approval, will likely not make a decision this year. Filed in the middle of 2011 and originally set for 2012, the appeals case is viewed as too politically unpopular for the government to take a stance. (Economía y Negocios 3/19/2013, 3/21/2013)

The first stone was laid in the Pampa Elvira Solar project in Antofagasta, a $26 million investment by the Chilean-Danish consortium Energía Llaima-Sunmark. The complex will produce 51,800 MWht annually, allowing the Gaby Mine to replace 85 percent of its diesel fuel and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 15,000 tons of CO2 each year. Officials expect Pampa Elvira Solar to be operational during the second semester of 2013. (La Segunda 3/15/2013)

Executive Director of the Chilean Renewable Energy Association (ACERA), Carlos Finat, spoke to the Energy and Mining Commission in the Chamber of Deputies of ACERA’s support for the proposed “20-20 law”, which would mandate that 20 percent of Chile’s energy generation come from renewable sources b 2020. He argued against the executive branch’s recent statements that the law would be too difficult to achieve, saying it is both technically feasible and economically beneficial. He further said that the “20 by 2020” goal would allow renewables to compete in upcoming distribution tenders. (Cámara de Diputados de Chile 3/21/2013)

Community members in Puchuncaví and La Greda fear that the opening of the new coal-fired power plant in AES Gener’s Ventanas will create even higher levels of industrial pollution in the already-saturated area. The addition of the new 270 MW plant will make AES Gener’s Ventanas complex the largest coal power plant in Chile, at 885 MW. (El Mercurio de Valparaiso via Terram.cl 3/20/2013)

High energy costs and low water levels are pushing Chilean winemakers to invest in innovative ways to run their wineries. The Morandé winery has installed solar panels at its Añade vineyard, and is assessing the feasibility of using solar energy at other vineyards, too. The De Martino winery says it has already achieved savings by using energy more efficiently, and is looking to optimize insulation and natural light uses. The Montes winery also reports considerable savings after employing various energy efficiency strategies. (Diario Financiero 3/15/2013)

Mexico

The city of Cancun will be host to the 2013 Solar World Congress during November 3-17th this year, making it the first time the congress will be held in a Latin American nation. The 50 year-old Congress will be attended by over 110 countries and organizations, such as the International Agency of Energy and the International Agency of Renewable Energy. At this year’s event, the congress will encourage energy reforms among member countries, pushing governments to make the transition to renewable energies as soon as possible. (Tiempo en Linea 3/20/13)

The Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA), the Marine Turtle Specialist Group (MTSG) as well as international experts have contacted President Enrique Peña Nieto about the already high and growing mortality rate of sea turtles off the coast of Baja California Sur. According to CEMDA, more than 2,000 turtles died in 2012 – a 600 percent increase from the mortality rates in the past few years – placing it among the highest turtle mortality rates in the world. Many of these deaths can be associated with high levels of accidental kills associated with small-scale fishing in the Gulf of Ulloa. (Hispanically Speaking New 3/13/13)

At the Fourth High Level Dialogue between Mexico and the European Union (EU), Marie-Anne Coninsx, the head of the EU’s delegation, recognized President Peña Nieto for the country’s new environmental policies. Among the advances highlighted in the meeting was Mexico’s recent adoption of the Climate Change Law. At the meeting, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources also announced a new forest program which would plant 180 million trees to increase the awareness among Mexicans of the need to manage forest resources sustainably and rationally. (El Economista 3/19/13).

Regional

Mountainous communities in the Andes have been experiencing climate change’s impacts on glaciers first hand, as melting glaciers are increasingly causing dramatic flooding events that can threaten communities. The Risk Management Office in the Peruvian municipality of Huaraz recently warned that water levels in the glacial Palcacocha Lake are again at record highs, indicating that the lake’s walls –formed by loose rocks and debris—could rupture and cause a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF). If it were to happen, the equivalent of 240,000 Olympic swimming pools (approximately 17 million cubic meters of water) would rush down the valley and to the city of Huaraz, home to over 110,000 people. The threat of the GLOF has citizens calling on the government to take preemptive action. (E&E News, Climatewire 3/14/2013)

This article was first published in NRDC Switchboard.

Amanda Maxwell is a born and bred Jersey girl, but has lived for varying amounts of time in Michigan, Vermont, Rhode Island, New York, and the Czech Republic before moving to Washington, DC. Prior to joining NRDC she received my Masters degree in International Politics and Economics with a focus in Renewable Energy policy from Charles University in Prague. While there, she gained an appreciation for night running, train travel (especially of the high speed variety), and the local pivo. She received a Bachelors degree in history and Spanish from Middlebury College, and also studied in Buenos Aires.

[Photos: Mexican Sea Turtle by Quiltsalad; Palcacocha Lake courtesy University of Oregon; Puchuncavi La Greda Chile courtesy Prensa.cl]

By Amanda Maxwell, La Onda Verde de NRDC

Chile

The Chilean Solar Energy Research Center—a newly formed organization comprising researchers from several of the country’s universities—will begin a multidisciplinary study of the solar energy potential in the Norte Grande. The project will identify key barriers to the development of cost-effective and sustainable solar energy technology, helping to build a scientific evidence base on the topic, inform the public and policymakers, and promote technology transfer programs. (Diario Financiero 3/13/2013; Universidad de Antofagasta 3/13/2013)

Drinking water delivered to several northern cities has exceeded the allowed toxin content limit for the past ten months, according to monthly water quality reports published by the Chilean Superintendence of Sanitation Services. The water, which was found to have elevated levels of sulfates, nitrates, and arsenic, supplies more than 500 thousand people in Copiapó, Caldera, Tierra Amarilla, Chañaral, Alto Hospicio and Arica, among other towns and cities. (Cooperativa 3/11/2013)

Environmental groups in Chile sent a letter to Congress on March 14 –International Day against Large Dams—calling on members of both houses to reject two major energy bills that are currently being debated. The advocates argue that both bills, one proposing a government-built transmission line and one proposing to fast-track electricity concessions, are designed to benefit the HidroAysén mega-dam proposal and other similar projects. (Terram 3/15/2013)

Costa Rica

Costa Rica’s National Bank is planning to offset its 2011-2012 carbon footprint by purchasing $90,000 of carbon credits from small national farmers and ranchers. The compensation received by each producer will equal the CO2 emissions offset through green operational practices such as biodigester technology, use of hedgerows, and greater water efficiency. The 10-month initiative is aiming to benefit 300 small producers. (El Financiero 3/14/2013)

Zoo Ave, a Costa Rican animal rescue center, has reported the first birth in captivity of the King Vulture—an endangered species of the New World family of vultures that inhabits tropical lowland forests between Mexico and northern Argentina. This marks the first captive birth of the bird in Latin America and one of the few reported worldwide. (La Nación 3/13/2013)

Mexico

Gray whales have found a mating refuge off of the coast of Baja California Sur, where ongoing preservation programs are attempting to help increase the population of these endangered cetaceans. The efforts appear to be working—researchers have identified 1,321 whales in the area this calving season (729 adults and 592 calves), up from just 62 adults in 2009 and 20 in 2010. (El País 3/11/2013)

An aquatic robot will begin to measure the effects of climate change on Mexican reefs, reports the Center for Research and Advanced Studies. The robot, named Mexibot, will be deployed off of the Costa Maya and will capture images of the area’s flora and fauna. The initiative aims to shed light on the diversity and predation process of the country’s Caribbean reefs. (El País 3/1//2013)

A change.org petition is calling on Juan José Guerra Abud, head of Mexico’s Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, to halt a mining project launched by the Mexican-Canadian firm Esperanza Silver de México. The gold mining initiative is located approximately half a kilometer from the Xochicalco archeological (and UNESCO World Heritage) site in state of Morelos. The petition, which has close to 800 signatures, is also directed at the state’s governor, given that Morelos has been severely impacted by the destruction of its natural ecosystems. (SDP Noticias 3/12/2013)

This article was first published in NRDC Switchboard.

Amanda Maxwell is a born and bred Jersey girl, but has lived for varying amounts of time in Michigan, Vermont, Rhode Island, New York, and the Czech Republic before moving to Washington, DC. Prior to joining NRDC she received my Masters degree in International Politics and Economics with a focus in Renewable Energy policy from Charles University in Prague. While there, she gained an appreciation for night running, train travel (especially of the high speed variety), and the local pivo. She received a Bachelors degree in history and Spanish from Middlebury College, and also studied in Buenos Aires.

[Photo by belgianchocolate]