Inter-American Watch
Wednesday 27th, 2021
(Casto Ocando, Editor)
Peru
Peru’s Castillo urges Congress to draft bill to nationalize gas sector
Peru’s socialist president, Pedro Castillo, urged Congress on Monday to draft a bill for the “nationalization” of Peru’s natural gas sector, undoing previous statements in which he said he would not seek to nationalize parts of the economy. In remarks broadcast on government-owned TV Peru, Castillo said he wanted “to draft a joint bill with Congress regarding the nationalization of (the natural gas sector).”
(Reuters/Yahoo Finance: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/perus-castillo-urges-congress-draft-233013573.html)
Russia’s state arms seller to feature over 300 weapon systems at Peru defense show
Russia’s state arms seller Rosoboronexport (part of the state tech corporation Rostec) will demonstrate about 300 weapon systems at the SITDEF international defense show that will run in Lima (Peru) on October 28-31, the company’s press office announced on Wednesday.
“Rosoboronexport’s display stand will feature about 300 items of armament and military hardware. The company will demonstrate mock-ups of a Yak-130 combat training plane, a Mi-28NE gunship, a Pantsyr-S1 surface-to-air missile/gun system and a BTR-82A armored personnel carrier that have high potential in Latin America,” the press office said in a statement.
The Russian state arms exporter will also provide data on Su-35, Su-30SME and MiG-35 fighters, Mi-35M, Mi-171Sh and Ansat helicopters and advanced air-launched weapons. Visitors of the defense show in Peru will also be able to view on the company’s display stand a broad range of air defense and electronic warfare weapons of different ranges, including S-400 ‘Triumf’ and Antey-4000 anti-aircraft missile systems, Viking, Buk-M2 and Tor-M2KM surface-to-air missile launchers and also man-portable Igla-S and Verba air defense systems, the statement says.
(Tass: https://tass.com/defense/1354571)
Castillo’s followers in rural Peru want to dissolve Congress
On Tuesday Castillo’s Conare-Movadef supporters mobilized in favor of the dissolution of Parliament in the streets of Arequipa and Huancayo (in the Junín province). A little earlier, Castillo had taken the direct lead of the campaign to close Congress. From Jaén, Cajamarca, standing on a small platform, he snapped: “I call vacancy laziness, because that’s what only the lazy people think, that year after year they have had to live for the State. Today they miss the “mamadera” (living from State easy money), that’s why they lie and deceive the people.” The demonstrations in Arequipa and Huancayo to demand the closure of Congress followed the radical and extreme line of thought of the left, in which the current president is a militant and seeks a one-party regime.
(Peru21, in Spanish: https://peru21.pe/politica/ojo-castillo-quiere-cerrar-el-congreso-noticia/)
Peru’s Coca crops set historical record with 61,777 hectares
Crops of coca leaf, raw material for the manufacture of cocaine, experienced in Peru the largest annual growth in history with 7,122 new hectares, reaching a total coca growing area of 61,777 hectares, which is close to the maximum peak recorded in the past ten years. According to data from the annual report on coca leaf crops for 2020, anticipated this Sunday by the National Commission for Development and Life without Drugs (Devida), Peru’s coca growing area grew by 13.03% compared to 2019, when it registered 54,655 hectares.
(El Diario de España, in Spanish: https://www.eldiario.es/politica/cultivos-coca-peru-rozan-record-historico-61-777-hectareas_1_8426682.html)
Copper mine protests spread in Perú
Peru’s Antamina copper and zinc mine, which is part-owned by Glencore and BHP Billiton , said on Tuesday that protesters had blocked a road it uses, demanding that the company honor its commitments to the local area.
The demonstration is the latest in a string of protests against mining companies that have broken out since President Pedro Castillo took office in July.
(Reuters/Yahoo Finance: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/copper-mine-protests-spread-peru-214721923.html)
Congressman from Peru Libre, president Castillo’s party, presents new Bill to regulate coca production
Congressman Wilson Rusbel Quispe Mamani, of Peru Libre, presented a legislative initiative to regulate the cultivation, production, commercialization and industrialization of the coca leaf for human consumption and research for professional use. Through Bill N 538/2021- CR, Quispe proposed to consider the coca leaf bush as a nation’s cultural heritage, by including this plant into the law that declares crops, native breeding and wild species used as natural patrimony of the nation (Law 28477). Likewise, according to the Bill, implementation of this law will be done in accordance with regulation 28477 regarding the agreements that the State has signed to combat illicit drug trafficking.
(Caretas, in Spanish: https://caretas.pe/politica/congresista-de-peru-libre-wilson-quispe-presenta-iniciativa-para-regular-el-cultivo-comercializacion-e-industrializacion-de-la-hoja-de-coca/)
Argentina
Biden’s nominee for US ambassador to Buenos Aires criticizes Argentina’s policy on Venezuela and Cuba
President Joe Biden’s nominee for ambassador to Argentina criticised President Alberto Fernández’s government during a Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, saying the country must do more to tackle human rights abuses in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. Marc Stanley, the Texas lawyer chosen to be Washington’s next envoy in Buenos Aires, also said that Argentina’s leaders are responsible for any financing deal with the International Monetary Fund, as he called for a full “macroeconomic policy framework” from the Peronist administration to put the nation on “the road to financial sustainability” in a hearing outlining his likely approach to bilateral relations.
(Buenos Aires Times: https://batimes.com.ar/news/argentina/nominee-for-us-envoy-criticises-argentinas-policy-on-venezuela-and-cuba.phtml)
Cubana de Aviación to return to Argentina nex month but domestic air services stay grounded
Cuba’s flag carrier Cubana de Aviación has announced it would resume flight between Havana and Buenos Aires starting Nov. 20. The airline will also offer a weekly service to Cayo Coco as of Dec. 27.
These flamboyant international plans came a week after the company had to admit it could not longer serve most of its domestic routes as most of its aircraft were grounded due to lack of funding for their maintenance.
Argentine tourists have long chosen Cuba for their holidays and the Cuban community in the South American country has increased over the years, making the air link vital to both ends of the route, it was reported.
Cayo Coco has had a direct link with Argentina for three decades. In 2019, Cubana de Aviación transported 13,560 passengers between Buenos Aires and Cuba, of whom 8,530 ended up in Cayo Coco and the rest flew on to Havana (HAV).
(Mercopress: https://en.mercopress.com/2021/10/25/cubana-de-aviacion-to-return-to-argentina-next-month-but-domestic-air-services-stay-grounded)
Russia makes new proposal to offer MiG-35 fighters to Argentina
In addition to the 12 fighter planes for the Air Force, UAC would have included a maintenance and training unit in the South American country, according to reports. Although it has the Sino-Pakistan fighter JF-17 as its virtual favorite, the purchase of 12 combat aircraft by the Argentine Air Force (FAA) has gained a new chapter, according to sources on the Zona Militar website. United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), the company responsible for Mapo-MiG, would have improved its offering of MiG-35 supersonic jets in order to beat the competition.
According to Zona Militar, Russia would commit to building a maintenance unit and a training center in Argentina at no extra cost. The inclusion of these items in the proposal would have been requested by the FAA and reveals a common concern with military equipment originating in Russia, which usually has issues such as low availability and lack of spare parts.
(Air Data News: https://www.airway1.com/russia-makes-new-proposal-to-offer-mig-35-fighters-to-argentina/)
Ecuador
Dozens arrested as Indigenous people lead mass Ecuador protests
As dawn broke in the early hours of October 26, Ecuador’s Indigenous communities had already started the most recent “paro nacional”, or national shutdown in English, by bringing main transit arteries to a halt in the countryside to mark the beginning of a day of protest against a hike in fuel prices.
The demonstrators wanted to peacefully enter the heavily-fortified presidential palace, but metal fences and riot police blocked the streets leading to the building.
In a press briefing after demonstrations in Quito had ended, Interior Minister Alexandra Vela said the majority of demonstrations nationwide were peaceful on Tuesday, but identified a group believed to have been aggressive against riot police resulting in agents firing tear gas in Santo Domingo Plaza to disperse the crowds.
Vela said 37 people were detained by police throughout the day.
(Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/26/indigenous-lead-protest-against-ecuador-economic-policies)
Ecuador to investigate links between Alex Saab, former Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba and Rafael Correa
Following Alex Saab’s extradition to the United States, the Oversight Commission of the National Assembly of Ecuador announced the initiation of investigations related to Saab business that would involve members of the government of the then president Rafael Correa and that also involve Mercy Cordoba.
Fernando Villavicencio, the deputy who heads the Commission, revealed an email in which Piedad Córdoba was communicating with the authorities of the Venezuelan Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) pointing out that they were not paying the partners on time and that they were presumably the Colombians Alex Saab and Álvaro Pulido.
“Compatriot, I am very sorry to bother, but it is becoming a serious problem for me about the entrepreneurs that we send you the listings. The Colombian Minister of Commerce has informed you one by one who will they pay and nothing “, says part of the email revealed by Villavicencio.
“They ask me why they are paying those who are against the process first and they even support the paracos (…) They tell me that tomorrow they are about to leave 230 million other companies, Please help me, what do I do, I send a letter to the President, I go personally? I do whatever it takes but this is life and death”Concludes the email.
(Today-in-24: https://today.in-24.com/News/511435.html)
Bolivia
The Prosecutor’s Office indicts former military officers for participating in the ‘illegal investiture’ of Jeanine Áñez
The Office of the Prosecutor charged the former members of the High Command of the Armed Forces of 2019 in the coup II case, because without their “participation and cooperation the unlawful act” of the seizure of power by Jeanine Áñez as part of a “Premeditated plan” and an “illegal realization of the inauguration and imposition of national symbols on the alleged president.”
“They did not allow the legitimate continuity in the holder of the executive power, perpetrating criminal acts in clear usurpation of popular sovereignty, of the legitimately constituted powers and the violation of democratic principles to consolidate an anomalous presidential succession, violating the legitimacy of the State institutions and constitutional succession, acts of the authors who proceed jointly with JEANINE AÑEZ CHAVEZ and without whose participation and cooperation the unlawful act would not have been possible,” establishes part of the accusation revealed by the Erbol portal.
(La Razon, in Spanish: https://www.la-razon.com/nacional/2021/10/26/la-fiscalia-imputa-a-exmandos-militares-por-participar-y-cooperar-en-la-ilegal-investidura-de-anez/)
Other News
Hezbollah operatives given refuge in Venezuela, hackers reveal
Operation, carried out in cooperation with former state intelligence officials, reveals Hezbollah operatives engaged in arms trafficking, illegal drug trade, money laundering and have direct ties to country’s petroleum minister.
(Israel Hayom: https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/10/26/hezbollah-operatives-given-refuge-in-venezuela-hackers-reveal/)
