The foreign ministers of Ecuador and Palestine, Ricardo Patiño left and Riad Al Malki right, shake hands after signing an agreement on new diplomatic relations. (Photo: Fernanda Lemarie)

On Saturday, 25th May, the governments of Ecuador and Palestine signed two agreements that will begin the process of establishing bilateral diplomatic relations.

Ecuadorian Foreign Affairs Minister Ricardo Patiño met with Palestinian Chancellor Riad al-Maliki in Quito, where they ratified a Memorandum of Understanding and a Reversal Note that give way to a new chapter of diplomatic affairs between the two states.

In a public statement released yesterday, Al-Makiki thanked the Ecuadorian government for engaging in discussions and deciding to move forward with bilateral relations. He said: “We feel the need to be here and say thank you to President Rafael Correa, to the Ecuadorian people, and to you, Chancellor [Patiño] for the support, friendship, and sincere and frank solidarity with the cause of the Palestinian people.”

The establishment of diplomatic relations comes two years after Ecuador announced its recognition of the state of Palestine. In 2011 President Correa said: “We recognise the acceptance [of Palestine], the historical fight of the Palestinian people, and its right to become a part of the United Nations.”

Most Latin American countries acknowledge Palestine as a legitimate state, taking in to account its status as a “non-member observer state” of the United Nations decided by the General Assembly in November of last year.

Now that the Ecuadorian government is set to begin political interactions with Palestine, Panama remains virtually the only country in the region that has failed to establish diplomatic ties with the Middle Eastern nation.

UN’s World Food Programme

In the study by the World Food Programme, 25.5% of the Paraguayan population is undernourished, while the figure rises to 30.4% in Guatemala and 44.5% in Haiti.

Nearly two million people worldwide are suffering because of malnutrition according to the WFP’s “Hunger Map“. Only US$0.25 per day is needed to feed a hungry child and “change his or her life forever,” the study states.

In the conclusion of the report the researchers wrote: “Economic growth is necessary, but it is not enough to fight hunger and malnutrition.” During the last decade, the GDP per capita increased in developing regions, but in many countries this growth did not result in a significant reduction of hunger. And this growth “should be reflected in additional government revenue used to fund education and development of public nutrition and health programmes,” states the UN document.

The report calls for increase of employment in all sectors in countries with the highest risk of malnutrition and therefore as well for opportunities that would generate income.

Bolivia, Ecuador, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua recorded a high-regular risk. Brazil, Perú, Surinam, Guyana, Colombia, Panamá, Honduras and Costa Rica were listed between the countries with a moderate malnutrition rate. On the other hand, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Cuba, Uruguay and Mexico are considered countries with a very low rate of malnutrition.

Latin America’s economic prospects are generally looking up. (Map courtesy of Wikimedia)

The areas of Latin America and the Caribbean are projected to experience an economic growth of 3.5% in 2013, according to a report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL). While still a projected improvement, the number, based on statistics provided by the United Nations, is a slight decrease from the estimate of 3.8% growth given last December.

Panama heads the charge, with a projected Gross Domestic Product increase of 8.0%. Peru and Haiti follow with projections of 6.0%. The report predicted economic improvements, compared to 2012, in the currently struggling nations of Argentina and Brazil. However, it also stated that the drop from the previous prediction was due in part to “the somewhat less dynamic recuperation than predicted in Argentina and Brazil.”

Furthermore, the report details the numbers for the end of the previous year, citing a 3.0% GDP increase in the areas of Latin America and the Caribbean. South America specifically increased by 2.5%, while Central America and Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic grew at a rate of 4.3%. These compare to the initial GDP predictions of 2.7% and 4.2%, respectively. The 2012 increase was thanks in part to the increase of internal demand for goods produced in these areas.

Inflation also decreased to 5.6% in the region, compared to 6.8% in 2011. However, Argentina and Venezuela continue to suffer from high rates of inflation.

Michelle Bachelet (photo: Agência Brasil)

Bachelet became president of Chile in 2006 and had a record popularity rating of 84% when her term ended in 2010. She said she is “committed to her country and that’s the reason she has returned.”

When asked if she will run for reelection throughout the past year, she has said “We’ll talk in March.” Now the time has come for her to announce her decision, and many think that her resignation from the UN Women’s group after two years is confirmation that she will run.

The primaries for presidential election are on 30th June, and the Socialist politician will compete against Christian Democrat Claudio Orrego, Senator José Antonio Gomez of the Social Democratic Radical Party, and independent former Finance Minister Andrés Velasco.

The Concert of Parties for Democracy (La Concertación), a coalition of leftist parties, sees Bachelet as the best hope to win the presidential election on 17th November.

“We don’t have a plan B. I’m serious. In the opposition we’re just not prepared for a negative response from Bachelet,” Jaime Quintana, president of the Liberal Party for Democracy, told AP.

If elected, Bachelet will face several ongoing issues from her last time in office, including criticism over her failure to issue a warning to coastal cities in a 2010 Tsunami as well as ongoing student protests. Polls also show Chileans are frustrated with the quality of public education and the amount of crime in recent years.

Bachelet is expected to officially announce her bid for president sometime this week.

Argentina’s Foreign Affairs Minister was unequivocal in his declination of this morning’s invitation to a trilateral meeting with the Falkland/Malvinas Islands government and the United Kingdom during next week’s visit to London. “It is a pity that you have declined a bilateral meeting,” he wrote to his counterpart Foreign Secretary William Hague.

The letter, in which United Nations General Secreatry Ban Ki-Moon is copied, goes on to explain, “I have shown my interest in holding a bilateral meeting with you during my upcoming visit to London, in which it was understood that you are responsible for the United Kingdom’s foreign policy. I regret your letter in which you indicated that you cannot meet without the supervision of the settlers of the Malvinas.”

The rejection appears to be final. “It is not necessary for you to continue trying to arrange meetings” during his visit to London, Timerman wrote, but extended an invitation to Hague to “hold a bilateral meeting” in Argentina.

Hague has stated that he considers the permission of the Falkland/Malvinas Island government essential before beginning any negotiations on the matter with Argentina. “There could never be any negotiations over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands unless and until the Falkland Islander so wish.”

Timerman’s letter came with a warning of the foreign policy fallout of this morning’s invitation. “Your decision surely jeopardises Argentina’s interest in working with the United Kingdom in the G20, the UN Security Council, and matters of nuclear proliferation, human trafficking, drugs, money-laundering, investments, business, human rights, and others in which both countries are active members of the international community,” Timerman cautioned.

The sovereignty of the Atlantic archipelago has been under dispute for decades, but especially of late after President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner published an open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron in The Guardian on the 180^th anniversary of the British landing on the islands. The letter petitioned the United Kingdom for dialogue according to the UN’s diplomatic guidelines and to “put an end to colonialism”.

Bolivia won readmission to the United Nations Convention on Narcotic Drugs yesterday when the organisation voted to recognise the chewing of coca leaves as a legal, cultural practice in the Andean country.

President Evo Morales, himself head of the country’s largest coca-producing union, pulled Bolivia out of the organisation in June 2011 in protest against their 50-year classification of the plant as an illegal drug. He then asked for readmission six months later, under the condition that the chewing of coca leaves be recognised as legal within his country.

Bolivia’s constitution, sanctioned in 2009, protects the practice of chewing coca leaves, a mild stimulant which is used sometimes in religious ceremonies among Andean indigenous communities.

Bolivia’s readmission would have needed the veto of one third, or 62 of the organisation’s 184 member countries, to be blocked. Only 15 countries voted against the measure, among them the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Canada, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Israel, Japan, and Mexico.

“This is the first time that a country has done this [left and been readmitted]”, said British ambassador to Bolivia Ross Denny. “It was successful for Bolivia because they will return under new conditions, which may ultimately weaken the 1961 convention and international conventions.”

Coca leaves were declared an illegal substance in the 1961 United Nations convention.

“This is a victory for our culture, our indigenous people and social movements”, said Bolivian Vice minister of Coca and Development Dionisio Núñez. “It corrects an historic error after nearly 50 years. Coca in its natural state isn’t a drug”.

The Bolivian government allows for 12,000 hectares of land to be used for the cultivation of coca leaves for chewing, infusion, and religious rituals. According to the 2011 report of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, however, as many as 27,200 hectares may be put towards coca production in Bolivia, much of which is destined for neighbouring countries Brazil and Argentina in the form of cocaine or “pasta básica”, more commonly known as “paco”.

Morales expelled U.S. antinarcotics agents from Bolivia shortly after assuming the presidency in 2006.

“The chewing of coca forms part of our identity, our culture, because it is not just producers who chew it, but truck drivers, students, and various sectors of society”, Morales said.

The Bolivian government announced celebratory gatherings of “acullicu”, or chewing, in La Paz and Cochabamba this Monday.

A team of Argentine officials sat down with their Iranian counterparts today at the UN European Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, to begin to analyse the causes of the AMIA attack. The meeting is the first since the Argentine justice accused eight Iranian officials of masterminding the 1994 bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people and wounded 300.

The meeting will be “a work session about the AMIA case” within “the agreed-upon terms”, said the Argentine Foreign Affairs Ministry in a press statement. National Treasury attorney (head of all state attorneys), Angelina Abbona heads the Argentine delegation, along with vice-minister of foreign affairs Eduardo Zuain and diplomat Susana Ruíz Cerruti.

Sources from the Ministry told La Nación that the delegation would attend the meetings with “caution and ‘a state of alert’ to evaluate the situation and Iran’s true interest”.

The terrorist attack on the AMIA is the largest ever on Argentine soil. In July of 1994, the Jewish community centre in Once was bombed. In 2006, the Argentine justice claimed that eight Iranian officials were responsible for masterminding the plot and ordered their capture. Among them are Ahmad Vahidi, current Iranian Minister of Defence, Moshen Rabbani, former cultural attaché at the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires, and Hadi Soleimanpour, former ambassador and current African Affairs Foreign Relations vice-minister. There have been no convictions thus far.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims that his country “does not have any type of intervention” in the attacks. Of the meetings, he explained to US broadcasting company CNN, “We want to clarify the truth behind this accusation.”

During last month’s UN General Assembly Summit in New York, Argentine Foreign Affairs Minister Héctor Timerman and Iranian External Affairs Minister Ali Akbar Salehi agreed upon a dialogue to establish a “judicial framework” by which those allegedly responsible for the attack could be tried. Timerman stated that the dialogue was intended to “explore a legal mechanism that would not contradict the legal systems” of either country. He says he plans to continue with negotiations “until a mutually agreed-upon solution is found for all the issues, between both governments, about the AMIA case,” according to the Ministry.

Israel and other sectors of the international Jewish community have sharply criticised Argentina’s decision to work with Iran on reconciling the AMIA issue.

On Tuesday, Bolivian officials broached the possibility of resorting to international arbitration in their dispute with Chile over coastal territory. The comments advance a verbal spar between Chilean president Sebastian Piñera and Bolivian president Evo Morales that has stormed since last week.

“Now that Chile is incapable of sitting down to a dialogue with Bolivia, we will surely have to sit down in front of an international court,” said Bolivian Vice Minister of the Exterior Juan Carlos Alurralde to Bolivian media group Compañera.

The recent quarrel ignited on 26th September, when Morales asserted in front of the United Nations General Assembly, “the intangibility of treaties isn’t dogma” and “like every manmade creation, they can be modified.” The remark alludes to the bilateral Treaty of 1904 that demarcated borders between the two countries after the War of the Pacific, leaving Bolivia landlocked.

Piñera responded the next day, insisting, “Treaties are signed to be followed” and vowed to defend Chile’s land, sea, and air sovereignty “with all the force in the world.”

On Tuesday, Morales revisited the issue, calling Chile a “danger” not only to Bolivia, but also to Perú and the entire region. The same day, Vice Chancellor Alurralde expressed his hope that international courts would offer a forum for favourable resolution.

Today, Piñera responded, “When countries think they can fail to recognize treaties they have signed they are committing a grave error and putting the peace and stability of our continent at risk.”

Aside from a brief period during the 1970s, Chile and Bolivia have not had diplomatic relations since 1962, when negotiations regarding the establishment of sovereign Bolivian coastal territory fell through.

Paraguayan president Federico Franco explained Paraguay’s recent leadership shift and aired foreign affairs concerns to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Sunday afternoon. Franco is currently attending the 67^th United Nations General Assembly in New York City.

“The Secretary General was well aware of events in Paraguay. He asked about the killings at Curuguaty which triggered the impeachment, and we gave him an extensive report on the Senate debate and the political consequences,” recounted Franco.

“I was impressed by how well-informed Ban Ki-Moon was about the situation in Paraguay. The information he used was correct,” reflected Minister of External Relations José Félix Fernández in a conversation with 780 AM.

Franco also voiced dissatisfaction with Paraguay’s suspension from Mercosur last June and the acceptance of Venezuela last August, made possible by Paraguay’s absence. “Paraguay is not going to accept the interference of Venezuela, and this is also of concern for the other neighbouring countries,” said Franco.

Paraguay’s suspension came as a reaction to the ousting of former president Fernando Lugo and current President Franco’s ascension last June. The suspension has meant sanctions from member nations until Paraguay’s next scheduled election in April of 2013.

For his part, Secretary Ban asked President Franco to continue to contribute Paraguayan troops to UN peace missions in countries such as Haiti, Syria, and Cyprus and praised the Franco government for their promotion of women’s rights.

Secretary Ban has not made an official statement regarding the meeting.

Franco arrived in the United States with his wife yesterday. The trip is his first representing Paraguay to the United Nations, as well as his first abroad as head of state.

Franco will attend a dinner hosted by US president Barack Obama this evening and is also scheduled to meet with president of the Inter American Development Bank, Luis Alberto Moreno, economist Jeffrey Sachs, and Duncan Neiderauer of the New York Stock Exchange.

A group of experts from the United Nations met on Monday in Chile to analyse the country’s handling of those that were ‘disappeared’ during the Augusto Pinochet regime.

The visit from the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances will last from 13^th to 21^st August and will take a close at the Chile’s development with investigations and court proceedings for those missing, as well as reparations to the families. The group will visit memorial sites and meet with state officials as well as academics and various representatives of other UN agencies.

“This report will also serve for advice and recommendations to the state on how it should be advancing,” stated a representative of the UN’s South American Commission of Human Rights to the Santiago Times.

The group is five experts from around the world, including: Mr. Olivier de Frouville (France), Mr. Ariel Dulitzky (Argentina), Ms. Jasminka Dzumhur (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Mr. Osman El-Haije (Lebanon) and Mr. Jeremy Sarkin (South Africa).

Amnesty International Chile reported that during the 17 year dictatorship, there were 3,216 cases of executions or forced disappearances and 38,254 cases of political imprisonment and torture.