Later today, the heads of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), will meet at as part of an extraordinary presidential summit in Lima, Peru, to discuss the events and developments in Venezuela following last Sunday’s elections.

Heads of state set to attend include: Cristina Fernández de Kircher (Argentina), Dilma Rousseff (Brasil), José Mujica (Uruguay), Sebastián Piñera (Chile), Juan Manuel Santos (Colombia), Evo Morales (Bolivia), and Ollanta Humala (Peru).

Peru’s foreign minister, Rafael Roncagliolo, stated: “It is important for us to analyse the situation together, as we have analysed other situations in the past; it is an open forum so we can have the opportunity to engage in dialogue together.”

Closing Ceremony of World Economic forum on Latin America 2012 by World Economic Forum, on Flickr

At present, more than 30 nations (mostly Latin American ones) have sanctioned the election results, including Argentina, Ecuador, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay and Peru to name only a few. Palestine, Haiti, Russia, and China have also recognised Maduro as president.

Despite the support shown for Maduro in much of the Southern Hemisphere, the hotly contested elections have caused some nations, most noticeably the US, to question its legitimacy.

Yesterday, John Kerry, the US secretary of State, established the country’s position on the matter alleging that there had been “irregularities” in the electoral proceedings and that the legitimacy of the new government would be “uncertain”.

He went on to add today, “our position is that an audit is the first step necessary to bring about confidence to all those countries interested in this outcome”.

In a hostile rebuttal, Maduro responded: “John Kerry, take your eyes off of Venezuela, get out of here, and be done with interventionism.”

Nicolás Maduro’s two-point victory has resulted in what is being described as an institutional crisis. Maduro’s refusal to allow a recount of the votes has strengthened criticisms that the electoral system is lacking in transparency. In addition, the National Electoral Council (CNE) remains off limits to foreign entities, making it harder to validate the results.

The official reason being given is that this measure aims to protect the system from hackers, although it has had the effect of shrouding the controversial results in even more secrecy.

Despite criticisms, the electoral system used in Venezuela is frequently hailed as one of the most transparent, and hardest to corrupt, in the world.

Gripe A (Photo by Adrian Royo Caldiz)

She had contracted the virus while visiting the United States and subsequently received intensive treatment.

Before her death, Gordillo had been in critical condition for several weeks, first receiving medical care at the Carmen de Areco hospital. At the end of January she was transferred to the Rossi de La Plata facility after the hospital where she worked was closed to swine flu patients to avoid contagion.

Gordillo was one of 11 patients who have recently been treated for the illness in the Rossi de La Plata hospital, four of whom were also nurses who had been in contact with her. Though the National Ministry of Health has stated that as of now the virus is not circulating in Argentina, Minister Juan Luis Manzur acknowledged that a minor circulation had occurred within the intensive care unit in the Carmen de Areco hospital.

Dr. Luis Crovetto, director of the Primary Care Health Centre of the province of Buenos Aires, noted that there were other factors that caused Gordillo’s death, including a history of smoking, which could have worsened the recovery process.

Flu vaccines usually arrive in Argentina every March but are often in short supply during the preceding months, which might explain why Gordillo was infected. Dr. Carla Vizzoti, head of the National Programme for Disease Control announced a few days ago that new flu vaccines should be readily available at the end of this month. The vaccines have been modified to match the newly appearing versions of the swine flu. She added that Gordillo had not received such a vaccine and that this case, “is an example in which healthcare personnel are exposed to the virus and need to protect themselves, so as to not spread the virus to their patients.”

The swine flu virus has spread aggressively this winter in the United States, at an even higher magnitude than last year. The state of New York alone reported 20.000 cases of the modified swine flu virus in the first half of January. Dr. Crovetto has urged all tourists to the United States to get a flu vaccine before travelling.

Tonight’s the first debate between Romney and Obama in Denver and for those who want to vote from abroad the deadline is getting closer.

The elections will be held on 6th November, meaning we are just a few days from the four-week period before which it is recommended to request your absentee ballot. Here is a quick guide on how to it.

To be able to vote, you must first fill in a Voting Registration/ Absentee Ballot Request. The form is available in pdf format at www.fvap.gov.

However we recommend using the excellent Overseas Vote Foundation, which provides a step by step guide to filling the form and at the end delivers a completed pdf document you just have to date and sign before sending to your local official in your home state in the US. To complete the form you will need to enter your personal information, including your last valid address in the United States so it’s best to have it handy.

Most states offer the possibility to scan and send the form via e-mail, which at this point is the most efficient way of requesting your ballot. If this option is available it will say so on the mailing details provided in the document you have generated.

If you have not received your absentee ballot 30 days before the election date, (ie. 7th October) you will have to fill in another form, the Federal Write In Absentee Ballot (FWAB) that specifies who you want to vote for.

You can also do this on Overseas Vote Foundation, especially useful as it provides exact names for all the candidates (President, Senators and Representatives).

Note that you must have first completed and submitted the Absentee Ballot Request before filling in the Federal Write In Absentee Ballot.

The US Embassy in Buenos Aires is organising a “Absentee Vote Day” tomorrow 4th October from 9am to noon. More info here.

Mexican regulators have imposed the biggest fine ever, US$27.5m, on banking company HSBC for its failure to comply with money laundering regulations.

The fine imposed by the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) came after a US Senate report on Tuesday slammed the giant banking corporation for allowing clients to shift funds from “dangerous and secretive” foreign countries.

HSBC Mexico issued a statement saying it had failed to report 39 suspicious transactions and had been late in reporting 1,729 others.

“HSBC Mexico recognises it failed to strictly comply with banking regulations, and with the standards that regulators and clients expect of our institution,” it said, according to the BBC.

The US Senate panel alleged that HSBC acted as a financier for clients routing funds from the world’s most dangerous places, including Mexico, Iran and Syria. The panel said these countries are normally tied to drug cartels, terrorist funding and tax cheating and that HSBC had been a conduit for “drug kingpins and rogue nations.”

HSBC’s head of compliance David Bagley resigned at the meeting.

The bank apologised for its misconduct and said that Mexico remains a priority market. HSBC is one of Mexico’s top four banks with more than 1,400 branches and six million customers. It has operated in the country since the 1970s and increased its presence after buying Republic National Bank in 2000 and a controlling stake in Grupo Financiero Bital in 2002.

Along with the fine from the CNBV, the banking corporation will also be forced to pay fines from a US Justice Department investigation. Analysts have estimated the settlement could run as high as $US1bn, based on the $619-million fine that ING agreed in June to pay in order to settle similar claims.

The US$27.5m fine constitutes 51.5% of the 2011 annual profit of HSBC’s Mexican subsidiary.

In less than a week three very sophisticated drug tunnels with lighting, ventilation, and even one with a railcar system, have been found between the Mexican and US border.

Yesterday the Mexican army discovered the latest tunnel in a warehouse in the border city, Tijuana. The passage, which was equipped with a railcar system, was found along with 40 tonnes of marijuana at the entry, four moving trucks full of marijuana, a trailer full of dirt, pickaxes, wheelbarrows, drills and other excavation equipment.

It extended nearly 400 yards (365m), including more than 100 yards (91m) into the United States.

The Mexican army said three people were detained upon the discovery.

In an interview with The Associated Press Douglas Coleman, special agent in charge of the Phoenix division of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said the tunnel wasn’t designed by your average miner.

“You would need someone with some engineering expertise to put something together like this,” he said.

The first tunnel was discovered by the Mexican army on Wednesday and was still unfinished. It started underneath a bathroom sink in a warehouse also in Tijuana. It was estimated to be 150 yards long, beginning inside a building that advertised as a recycling plant.

The second tunnel led from an ice plant in the Mexican town of San Luis Rio Colorado to a storage room in a vacant strip mall storefront in the southwestern Arizona city of San Luis.

Arizona state police found the tunnel when they pulled over a man with 18kg of methamphetamine in his vehicle and he mentioned the strip mall. The passageway was underneath a water tank and was reinforced with four-by-six beams and plywood.

Although it is still uncertain Coleman said investigators suspect involvement from the local drug cartel Sinaloa. The cartel controls the smuggling routes into Arizona where the estimated US$1.5mn tunnel was found.

“Another cartel wasn’t going to roll into that area and put down that kind of money in Sinaloa territory,” he said.

Investigators also believe the tunnel wasn’t in operation for very long because of the minimal wear on its floor and the fact that the excavated dirt had yet to be removed from the property.

With the discovery of all the tunnels, however, comes the realisation that drug traffickers are turning more and more to the ground for transportation. As the popularity of using tunnels to smuggle drugs into the US increases, so too does the sophistication of the passageways.

MEXICO – Anel Violeta Noriega Rios, 27, the alleged operative of a Mexican criminal cartel is now in custody in Mexico after being arrested in California last week.

Known by her alias “La Bonita” or “The Pretty One”, she was the subject of a five million-peso reward by Mexican authorities. She has been at large since a 64-page criminal warrant was issued in January 2010 in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

Rios is an alleged member of La Familia cartel based in the Mexican state of Michoacan but she operated from the U.S.

Mexican authorities have reported that Noriega Rios helped oversee the cartel’s methamphetamine distribution activities in California and Washington state.

The cartel also is allegedly engaged in cocaine and marijuana trafficking, kidnapping, extortion, and producing methamphetamine for export to the United States.

Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) officers and U.S. marshals arrested Noriega Rios last week at her El Monte, California residence.

Noriega Rios was arrested on “administrative immigration violations.” Two days later she was turned over to Mexican authorities at the border crossing in San Ysidro, California where she will face charges listed in her 64-page warrant.

Last month, coordination between US and Mexican officials led to the indictment of 14 in connection to a horse racing scheme in New Mexico, which was being used to launder drug money.

Records from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security show that Noriega Rios had been arrested and repatriated to Mexico five times between 2004 and 2005. However, according to ICE officials, she had no U.S. criminal convictions.

US officials announced today the arrest of seven in connection with a major money-laundering ring used by drug gang, Zetas, to funnel drug proceeds through American horse racing.

US authorities have cited the case as an example of the penetration of Mexican gangs into legitimate US businesses.  A total of 14 have been indicted in connection to the case.

Authorities arrested suspects in connection with the horseracing scheme across the US in California, Texas, and the Ruidoso Downs racetrack in New Mexico.

Miguel Angel Trevino, known by the street moniker “Z40” is believed to be the ringleader of the cross-border horse racing scheme.

Prosecutors announced that Zetas members used drug money to buy American quarter horses, which race over short distances.

Brazenly giving the horses names carrying obvious crime and drug references such as “Corona Cartel” and “Number One Cartel” the success of the horses allowed the gang members to purchase top trainers and Jockeys.

Horses connected to the crime syndicate won major prizes such as the All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs where horse, Mr. Piloto, captured US$ 1 mill on Labor Day, 2010 in New Mexico.

The cartel used a company named Tremor Enterprises, as well as many others, fronts.

Since 2008, Trevino and brother Oscar Omar Trevino Morales directed millions of dollars in drug money to brother Jose and his wife for buying, breeding, training, and racing the horses across the US.

According to authorities, cartel leader Miguel Angel Trevino and his brother are still at large and are believed to be somewhere in Mexico.

Arguably one of the most important announcements to come out of the recent Summit of the Americas, next week on 15^th May the United States and Colombia will officially enter into a free trade agreement.

Colombian politicians have named the move a “win-win situation” and a “unique opportunity” for the country. The new agreement aims to bring economic prosperity to Colombia, getting national products into the international market and increasing foreign investment, as well as producing an estimated 500,000 new jobs.

The agreement between the countries has generated controversy, however. At the centre of the debate lies the complaint that union violence, which is rife in Colombia and which was supposed to be eradicated before the agreement came into place, has not yet been dealt with.

How do Argentines feel about free trade with countries like the US? What are the pros and cons of free trade in the Latin American region? Should Argentina relax its own import restrictions and follow Colombia’s footsteps? The Argentina Independent hit the streets of Buenos Aires to find out.

Photos by Natasha Ali

Marcelo Cerdi, 44, Teacher, San Isidro

Simply put, I’m in favour of the economic policy that we have in place currently here in Argentina. I think it’s good that we have more restrictions on goods that we import, and with a bigger emphasis on national products. I pretty much agree with what they’re doing in that respect. I think that the methods they are using suit the country that we’re living in. This is a country that has a lot of pending issues. More than anything, I believe in politics that integrate the whole of Latin America; by that I mean that certain countries should complement each other economically. I think this is the direction we should be going in. The development of this country has been stunted because of economic and political policies that weren’t necessarily the most favourable option for growth and I think that’s the direction in which our policies should be heading.

Maria del Carmen Diambrosis, 52, Teacher, Vicente Lopez

It seems to me that every country in the whole of Latin America needs to be more unified economically; there should be one Latin American economy and trade. We need to now be more careful about what enters the country in terms of imports, because after the Menem years in the 90s, we saw that the economic policies essentially closed up industries. Nowadays, we have been left with normal jobs, teaching, driving taxis, and we can’t compete with big economies like China and what comes in to our country from those countries. There needs to be a common Latin American market, with all the Latin American countries working together, and not with the US. If there was a common market, it would generate competition. It seems to me that it would mean that we could compete economically with the big players, the imperialists.

Jose Bengler, 37, Artisan Worker, Palermo

I’m not an expert on this, but there are some things that I can see anyway. I know that, for example, Argentina and the Argentine state have produced certain restrictions on products that are imported. For me, it seems like a good idea that governments are regulating the economy, that not everything is free or open in the market. It seems like a good idea, a good decision, to have some amount of restriction. In terms of something like Colombia agreeing to free trade, it seems to me, while they can open their doors to trade without restrictions with other countries, there should still be some measures to protect the country’s own products, to protect the work that is done by the people. To me that’s very important.

Vincent Nilesi, 42, Engineer, Palermo

I don’t know a whole load about the issue of free trade but I’m aware that certain agreements like this one between the US and Colombia exist. I work in [the production] industry, so I’m aware of difficulties caused by the economic policies this country has adopted. I am faced with certain problems that exist because of tighter restrictions in terms of trade, with material that we import, and use to make products for example. These tougher import restrictions generate a lot of problems. Because of this, I think we should be much more open in terms of trade between countries. Being more open to the idea of free trade is a good idea: these harsh restrictions are nationalist, not in the way we may know it, but it’s a nationalism that affects local companies through its taxes.

Yanet Capalbo, 19, Cadet, Villa Lugano

I don’t know much about the subject specifically in terms of the trade agreement between Colombia and the US. Free trade is almost like neo-liberalism, it’s a really liberal economic idea. But apart from what it could do economically for any country, for me the concept of free trade doesn’t seem like a good idea because of what it can do to the people, how it could affect them. I feel that free trade is especially bad for workers. In the context of big companies and free trade, workers are always left with less.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has described Brazil as a “responsible player” in world affairs and stated that the US has a “special obligation” to defend their common democratic values.

“We face complex challenges in our region and beyond,” said the chief US diplomat in the Chamber of Commerce in Washington. “We want to be partners, equal partners, to promote sustainable, diversified growth.”

Antonio Patriota, her Brazilian counterpart, was also present at the meeting as part of the activities surrounding Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s two-day visit to the US.

Patriota remarked on the “strong affinities” between Brazil and the US, whilst stating that the “two countries have to overcome differences in a mature way.”

“The US continues to be a global power. But Brazil also has its strengths. It is the world’s sixth economy a global power in agriculture and energy, a country with an abundance of natural resources and an increasingly sophisticated labour force.”

“Perhaps Brazil’s unique comparative advantage in this emerging world order is that we would like to be a constructive, peaceful link between and among different nations,” Patriota added.

Despite praises from top officials on Brazil’s successful economy and vibrant democracy, Brazil’s appeal to the US to become full members of the UN Security Council was conspicuously absent from the discussion.

Clinton’s speech remained elusive. She defined the bilateral relationship as a “21st century partnership,” adding that the “world faces complex challenges and we need Brazil to solve them.”

Patriota stated that while Brazil counts the US as a “privileged associate” and continues to invest heavily in the US markets, nothing has been resolved in terms of “sold commodities and imported industrial goods.”

“This is something we need to address seriously, and we plan to do so. Brazil’s largest trade deficit is with the US.”

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has criticised U.S. president Barack Obama’s decision to temporarily suspend trade with Argentina.

Speaking at the Government House, the Argentine president took the opportunity to point out that the export of beef is restricted and that “not even one of our lemons can enter their market”. Neither of these commodities come under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), a programme which waives U.S. import duties on goods from developing countries.

“We have to be attentive to these little trade wars and guerrillas,” said Fernández de Kirchner, in tangential reference to the policy adopted by the U.S. “We will try to address this in the most civilised and legal way possible.”

The president also confirmed that the objective of her economic model is “socially inclusive growth,”clarifying that this “is not any kind of growth”.

“Just any kind of growth is not beneficial for us and, therefore, we continue to seek support from all sectors,” she said. “We have achieved an important synergy and we will maintain it with work and a bit of intelligence; it’s about not giving up even in hard times.”

The president’s statement comes on the same day as Obama’s administration suspended trade benefits with Argentina due to its failure to comply with rulings from the World Bank’s International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) that protects two U.S. corporations.