The Americas Post - Innocent bus riders were caught in the blast that rocked Bogota

A bomb aimed at a hardline former interior minister killed two of his bodyguards and injured at least 31 people in Bogotá’s uptown commercial district Tuesday, in the kind of attack not been seen in the capital for years.

Former official Fernando Londoño suffered minor shrapnel wounds and was out of danger, authorities said. Video footage showed a stunned Londoño, his face bruised, being led from the wreckage in a dark suit and red tie.

Bogotá Mayor Gustavo Petro said a pedestrian attached an explosive to a door of Londoño’s armored SUV and set it off remotely. He said authorities had video of the attack.

The attacker “walked away disguised” and a wig of long black hair and a hat were found in the area, Petro told reporters.

It was the first fatal bombing in the capital in nearly a decade of an apparently political nature. While officials didn’t ascribe blame, some analysts suspected the country’s main leftist rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.  The attack marked the very first day that the new Free Trade Pact between Colombia and the United States went into effect.

“We don’t know what’s behind it,” said President Juan Manuel Santos. “But rest assured that the government isn’t going to be knocked off track by terrorist acts.”

A morning radio host who is an archconservative and a stringent critic of the FARC, the 68-year-old Londoño was interior and justice minister in 2002-2003 under former President Alvaro Uribe.

He hosts a daily radio show called “The Hour of Truth” and firmly opposes peace talks with the FARC, calling the rebels “terrorists” and “murderers.” He has also been critical of Santos for allegedly being soft on the rebels, who have stepped up attacks in recent months.

Under Uribe, Colombia’s U.S.-backed military dealt major setbacks to the FARC, diminishing its numbers by roughly half to about 9,000 currently. Colombia’s capital became progressively safer, the conflict increasingly limited to less populated hinterlands.

The last major bombing in Bogotá was in 2003, when the FARC bombed the exclusive El Nogal social club, killing 36 people. The cocaine trade-funded FARC was also blamed for a pre-dawn bombing outside an office building housing Caracol radio in August 2010, but that blast only injured nine people.

Londoño’s driver and a police bodyguard were killed in the attack shortly before midday on Calle 74 a half block from Caracas Avenue. The district is packed with office buildings, stores, restaurants and banks.

Catalina Ballesteros, a 24-year-old student, was in a bus that was badly damaged by the blast. She said she was surprised at the concentrated force.

“After the explosion it was chaos,” said Ballesteros, who suffered only cuts. She said she saw one man on the street who had fainted.

Londono was being treated at the Clinica del Country hospital for minor shrapnel wounds in his face and was out of danger, said the hospital’s director, Jorge Ospina.

An additional 24 people were treated for injuries at the clinic, eight of whom were released, Ospina said. Six others were treated at a different hospital, El Marly, said police Gen. Rodolfo Palomino.

Ospina said the only person seriously injured in the blast was a 38-year-old passer-by who needed surgery and was in danger of losing his right arm.

Earlier Tuesday, police said they had deactivated a car bomb in the center of the city and said they presumed it was from the FARC. Police said they arrested the person who was driving the car.

It was not known if the incident was related to the apparent attack on Londoño. Santos convened Petro, Colombia’s chief prosecutor and its military and police brass for an afternoon security session.

Santos considers himself a progressive and, in addition to a military hard line against the FARC, has sought to return stolen land to peasants and pay reparations to victims of Colombia’s long-running civil conflict.

The FARC was blamed by authorities for two bombings in February in provincial Colombia that killed at least 16 people, and military analyst Alfredo Rangel said he suspected it Tuesday’s bombing because of Londoño’s hard line against the rebels.

Leftist congressman and human rights activist Ivan Cepeda said he feared the attack could trigger others attack, including those targeting the left.

“I see a clear intent to destabilize,” Cepeda said, blaming “sectors who don’t want peace.”

Political scientist Vicente Torrijos of the Universidad del Rosario, supported the theory that the FARC was to blame as it “seeks to show itself to the world as an organization sufficiently strong militarily and not only a weak organization that is only looking to negotiate with the government.”

The FARC has been seeking peace talks and last month released what it said were its last “political prisoners,” 10 police and soldiers held for as many as 14 years.

The Americas Post - Hank Crumpton says the United States is infested by foreign espionage

A higher number of foreign spies are active on U.S. soil today than there were during the Cold War, according to a former top CIA officer.

Hank Crumpton, former deputy director of the CIA’s Counter-Terrorism Center who led the U.S. response to 9/11, told the CBS news documentary program “60 Minutes” that China is the largest source of espionage agents operating in the US.

“If you look at the threat that is imposed upon our nation every day, some of the major nation states — China in particular — [have] very sophisticated intelligence operations, very aggressive operations against the U.S.,” Crumpton said.

“I would hazard to guess there are more foreign intelligence officers inside the U.S. working against U.S. interests now than even at the height of the Cold War,” he said. “It’s a critical issue.”

In the  interview that aired Sunday, Crumpton, 55, discussed on his 24 years in the CIA, including the time spent hunting Osama bin Laden before and after 9/11 and the CIA-led mission to topple the Taliban in Afghanistan.

During his time in Afghanistan and North Korea, Crumpton said he discovered America’s enemies had at least one thing in common: They loved pornography.

“I never met a North Korean that did not like pornography,” Crumpton said, adding that it was common for CIA spooks to exchange X-rated material for intelligence on Kim Jong Il’s regime.

“Supplying porn to a North Korean official to entice them to spy for America, along with money or whatever else it might take. Well, for me the answer was yes, I was willing to do that.”

In late summer 1999, the team had the former Al Qaeda leader in its sights — but President Bill Clinton missed the opportunity to take him out.

Describing an early Predator spy drone mission, Crumpton said, “We saw a security detail, a convoy, and we saw bin Laden exit the vehicle, clearly.”

“We immediately alerted the White House, and the Clinton administration’s response was, ‘Well, it will take several hours for [the cruise missiles\] launched from submarines, to reach that objective. So, you need to tell us where bin Laden will be five or six hours from now,’” he said.

“The frustration was enormous,” he added.

Though Navy SEALs took bin Laden out a year ago this month, Crumpton said he was still worried about the danger posed by Al Qaeda’s affiliates in North Africa.

“I’m particularly concerned about al Qaeda in Yemen, which is fractured as a nation state,” he said. “The Sahel [region\], if you look at al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb, they pose a threat, and in Somalia. Those are the places I’d be concerned [about].”

The Americas Post - Mexico is starting to look the way it did when the Aztecs were in charge

Mexican police recovered 18 decapitated and dismembered bodies  near  Guadalajara Wednesday, in what appeared to be the latest atrocity by the country’s most brutal drug cartel.

Believed to be the work of the Zetas cartel, it was one of the biggest mass beheadings in the recent history of Mexico, where decapitations have become a daily occurrence.

The bodies and heads were packed into two vehicles left on the side of a highway in the small town of Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos, according to the chief prosecutor for the state of Jalisco, Tomas Coronado.

Some of the bodies had been refrigerated before they were dumped, Coronado reported.  A policeman at the scene said some victims were so badly mutilated that officers could not determine whether they were male or female.

The officer said a note by the bodies was signed by the Zetas gang, a criminal militia led by former Mexican soldiers and blamed for some of the worst atrocities in Mexico’s drug war.

Guadalajara, known for high-tech industry, mariachi and tequila, has been a center of operations for drug traffickers since the 1980s.  But violence has now exploded in the once-tranquil city as the Zetas moved in to challenge the turf of other gangs in western Mexico.  Soldiers arrested a high-ranking member of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel in the city in March, causing his supporters to block streets with 25 burning cars and trucks.

Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos lies 18 miles south of the center of Guadalajara on the road to Lake Chapala, a site popular with foreign tourists and American retirees.

Attacks between the Zetas and their rivals have flared up across Mexico since the beginning of the year.  On Friday, nine corpses were hanged from a bridge in the border city of Nuevo Laredo just hours before 14 bodies were dismembered and shoved into garbage bags and ice boxes.  Three more journalists were murdered as well.  Five days of intense battles in western Sinaloa state last week also left 34 dead, adding to the body count in Mexico’s drug war, which has killed over 50,000 people in the past five years.

The Americas Post - This semi-submergible drug boat was sunk by US and Honduran forces in March

As recently reported in the New York Times, Honduras is the newest front in America’s drug war.  Recent anti-narcotics operations in Mexico have forced over 90 percent of US-bound cocaine from Colombia and Venezuela through Central America. Over 30% of it passes through Honduras, which as a result now has one of the highest homicide rates on the planet.

The latest offensive illustrates the new US emphasis on discrete missions with small numbers of troops, partnerships with foreign military and police forces, and limited goals, whether targeting insurgents, terrorists or criminal groups opposed to American interests.

Using lessons learned in Afghanistan and Iraq, the mission here has been adapted to rules of engagement barring American combat in Central America.  In past operations, helicopters ferrying Honduran and American antinarcotics squads were based in the capital, Tegucigalpa.  New forward outposts patterned on those in Iraq and Afghanistan now allow for much faster response times to interdict drug runs.

American troops here cannot fire except in self-defense, and are forbidden to respond with force even if Honduran or Drug Enforcement Administration agents are in danger. Within these limits, the military provides personnel, aircraft and logistical support that Honduras, the State Department and D.E.A. cannot.

American ambassador Lisa Kubiske, who is responsible for coordinating the complex blend of interagency programs, also oversees compliance with human rights legislation. She describes the Honduran armed forces as “eager and capable partners in this joint effort.”

The Americas Post - Faces of crime victims hover like ghosts over the Ecatepec slums in Mexico City

Mexico’s congress approved a law Monday to recognize and protect the rights of crime victims, a longstanding demand in a country where more than 47,500 people have died in 5½ years of drug-related violence, and thousands more have disappeared.

The law covers the dead, wounded, kidnapped or missing whether they are ordinary civilians or are members of drug cartels and other crime gangs. It also would cover victims of other crimes, like extortion.

The measure has now been passed by both houses of congress and remains to be signed into law by the president, who supports the move.

The law will establish a national registry of victims and set aside funds to compensate them, financed in part by assets seized from organized crime groups. The compensation payments could reach as high as one million pesos ($77,000) apiece.

The law requires authorities to make efforts to identify crime victims’ remains or locate those who might still be alive.

Relatives of people who have gone missing during the drug violence often claim authorities are slow or reluctant to help find missing people.

Hundreds of bodies have been recovered from mass graves, and thousands more have been hacked to pieces, dissolved or dumped in vacant lots. Those victims, often believed to be drug gang members killed by rivals, frequently go unidentified.

The Americas Post - Courageous Mexicans publicly protest the murder of journalist Regina Martinez

Police in Mexico are investigating the death of a journalist in the eastern state of Veracruz.

Regina Martinez was found in her home in Xalapa on Saturday, apparently beaten and strangled to death.  She was a correspondent for the weekly news magazine Proceso.

Industry groups say Mexico is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist, with more than 40 journalists killed or disappeared since President Felipe Calderon took office.

Police had found Ms Martinez’s body in the bathroom of her house after being alerted by neighbours who had noticed the main entrance door had been left open all day.

State prosecutors said her body showed signs of heavy “blows to her face and body”.  A spokeswoman for the Veracruz government said all lines of investigation would be exhausted, and that “the fact that she was a journalist is one of them”.

Ms Martinez had been working for investigative news magazine Proceso for 10 years.  Before that, she had worked for local newspapers in the Veracruz region.  Veracruz Governor Javier Duarte has ordered an exhaustive investigation into Ms Martinez’s death.

The state has seen a rise in killings in recent months.  Much of the violence has been blamed on a battle for control of drug-trafficking routes between two of Mexico’s most powerful drugs gangs – the Zetas and the Gulf Cartel.

Dozens of journalists have been killed in Mexico over the past decade, but there are conflicting data on how many of them were killed as a direct result of their profession.

Professional media organizations generally agree that whatever the exact figures, Mexico has become one of the most dangerous countries for journalists in the world.

The Americas Post - US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is looking for some neighborly support

During his trip to Colombia, Brazil and Chile this week, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta emphasized the role of those three neighbor countries as military partners in a region where U.S. influence is being challenged by China. And as the military relationships grow, defense officials say it can only help U.S. economic and political ties across the continent.

Panetta’s meetings with defense officials from the three nations also focused on how the US can support their military efforts, including those directed at the expanding threat of cyberattacks, according to several senior officials.

U.S. officials left the region hoping that South Americans may help train Afghan forces after NATO troops leave at the end of 2014. Officials provided no details on which nations might eventually be willing to take on some of the training mission, which will be in need of advisers as other NATO nations pull their troops out.

With the U.S. shifting away from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon’s new strategy places more importance on the Asia Pacific region, where North Korea is a continued threat and China is growing in political and economic influence.

The Pentagon is prepared to move more forces to the Pacific region, including Australia. The U.S. has long provided training, equipment, assistance and a security umbrella for many of the Asia Pacific nations. With coming budget cuts that will reduce the size of the military, the U.S. is looking to South American countries to be more active global partners.

“The United States, just like other countries, are facing budget constrictions — which are going to affect the future,” Panetta said to reporters at a news conference in Brazil. “And what we believe is that the best way to approach the future is to develop partnerships, alliances, to develop relationships with other countries, share information, share assistance, share capabilities, and in that way we can provide greater security for the future.”

Panetta would also like to see the South American countries use their greater military capability to train some of the Central American countries that are not as advanced.

All three defense chiefs — Juan Carlos Pinzon of Colombia, Celso Amorim of Brazil and Andres Allamand of Chile — mentioned cyber threats as a major concern for their countries, including incidents of hacker attacks and data thefts, said U.S. defense officials flying home from Chile, their final stop on the trip.

The three countries, said one of the officials, are requesting help from the U.S. to harden computer networks against hackers and improve their technological skills. The official said there is a recognition of how vulnerable they are, and they want to learn more about the nature of the threat and how to combat it.

That threat, however, is also likely to involve China, which is steadily gaining as a top trading partner and economic developer in South America.  The Asian powerhouse now surpasses the U.S. in trade with Brazil, Chile and Peru, and runs a close second in Argentina and Colombia.

For the first time, U.S. intelligence officials publicly named China late last year as a significant cyber threat. While they did not directly tie attacks to the Beijing government, they said the Chinese systematically steal American high-tech data for their own profit. The unusually forceful public statement seemed to signal a new, more vocal U.S. government campaign against the cyberattacks, which could also involve helping other nations combat similar threats.

The US National Security Agency is an acknowledged world leader in cyber technologies. And U.S. officials have been struggling to work out ways for the government to help other nations as well as the private sector in the United States shore up critical networks.

So far, however, countries around the world have failed to achieve detailed agreements on how to work together. Cyber issues are fraught with legal and political challenges, including conflicting laws and the lack of broadly accepted international guidelines for Internet oversight.

Panetta made it clear as he traveled across the continent that cybersecurity was “a whole new arena” that all the nations are concerned about. He also encouraged the South American nations to expand their security efforts to other regions, including Africa.

“The United States must remain a global power,” Panetta said during a speech in Brazil. “But … more and more nations are making and must make an important contribution to global security. We welcome and encourage this new reality because frankly it makes the world safer and all of our nations stronger.”

The Americas Post - Some Mexican authorities may not be happy about Walmart bribery exposure

Mexico will proceed to investigate allegations that the Mexican unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc bribed officials to expand its business there.

The Mexican federal comptroller’s office said it had begun checking the federal paperwork and permits that Wal-Mart de Mexico, known as Walmex, obtained to open and operate its stores in Mexico.

The comptroller’s office added that it would ask US authorities for information on the case, in order to carry out its investigation and that the federal government would take action if wrongdoing by public officials was detected.

Wal-Mart already faces a criminal probe by the US Department of Justice over potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), a US law that forbids bribing foreign officials.

A spokesman for Walmex said the company had not been informed of any investigation in Mexico.

Mexican politicians had been calling for a probe into Wal-Mart, even though the economy ministry had initially said the allegations were not a federal matter.

Guillermo Tamborrel, a senator for President Felipe Calderon’s conservative National Action Party (PAN), said the scandal had tarnished Mexico’s reputation.

“We cannot let an international company come and corrupt our authorities,” Tamborrel said.

The newspaper said that senior Wal-Mart officials blocked an internal investigation into the alleged bribery, which involved suspect payments worth US$24 million.

Wal-Mart said that Tom Gean, a lawyer who has worked for the retailer for eight years, was placed in charge earlier this year of overseeing its compliance with FCPA.

Gean is a former US attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.

Wal-Mart also outlined the high-profile lawyers and accountants helping with its ongoing internal investigation into the matter, as well as its worldwide review of compliance.

Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart has long been aware of the ramifications of the FCPA law.

Back in 2007, then-Chief Executive Officer Lee Scott made the connection between FCPA and the risk that can come with expanding into other countries.

At an analyst meeting, Scott was asked about whether Wal-Mart would look at entering Russia.

“We, as a company, are committed to ethical and responsible methods of running our business,” Scott said, according to a transcript of the meeting. “We will not position ourselves in a market in which we would jeopardise that. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is the only act that requires the incarceration of the CEO. And we are not going to do that.”

Scott is one of the top executives whom the Times said stymied an investigation into alleged bribery in Mexico earlier in the decade.

Also this week, a shareholder sued Wal-Mart’s board and several officers, seeking to recover damage to the company’s reputation as well as costs of investigating the claims.

Wal-Mart shares ended down 0.7% at $57.36 and Walmex shares gained 3.7% to close at 37.55 pesos on Wednesday.

The Americas Post - With over a quarter million assault rifle rounds you can do a lot of damage

Mexican customs agents have seized 268,000 rounds of assault rifle ammunition that an American transported in a semi-trailer across the border into Ciudad Juarez.

Spokesman Angel Torres of the Attorney General’s Office in Ciudad Juarez, , said that the 37 year-old driver, a native of Dallas, was arrested on suspicion of trying to bring in the munitions from the city of El Paso. The driver is in custody while charges are being considered.

Torres said the agents discovered the trailer cargo when it was subjected to a gamma ray search that revealed metal boxes full of bullets hidden under wooden pallets.  The ammunition is suitable for AR -15 and AK-47 assault rifles, commonly used by drug cartels.  Prosecutors said the seizure of ammunition is the largest recorded in the border city of Ciudad Juarez in recent years.

Denis Mekenye, operations manager at Demco Arlington freight company in suburban Dallas, said today that driver Jabin Bogan made ​​”an honest mistake” when he made ​​a wrong turn that ultimately led him to Mexico.

Mekenye claimed the shipment was destined for Tennessee Ammunition in Phoenix.

The Americas Post - Tempers are flaring over Argentina's recent move to nationalize YPF

Spanish oil company Repsol-YPF announced it will demand over nine billion dollars from Argentina for nationalizing 51 percent of its YPF division, a price tag that has already been rejected by authorities in Buenos Aires.

The Argentine government’s decision to take control of the company has sparked a diplomatic crisis between Argentina and Spain, while provoking a flood of international criticism against the South American country for the abrupt action.

Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez on Monday spoke of the country’s largest oil company, which generates half of Repsol-YPF’s revenue, and sent her Congress a bill to expropriate 51 percent of its shares after months of  pressure and blame for reduced oil production in the country.

After years of spending millions on imports that undermine its trade surplus, Argentina wants to regain energy independence.  Many analysts however, doubt that nation’s ability to compensate Repsol-YPF and also find the money for the necessary investments.

“We’re going to request a total valuation of 18 billion dollars,” said Repsol chairman Antonio Brufau, in a two-hour press conference.

Repsol, which held 57.43 percent of YPF, called the decision illegal, but Argentina disputes the amount demanded by the Spanish.

“We will not pay what they say, as Mr. Brufau, 10 billion dollars,” said Deputy Economy Minister Axel Kicillof, speaking before the Senate.  “The valuation of YPF will be based on objective data rather than stock market speculation,” he said.

YPF’s market capitalization is currently about 10.4 billion dollars, but the company has lost nearly a third of its value already in 2012 due to pressure from Argentina and fears of expropriation.

Kicillof said he is reviewing “secret” information to determine the company’s market value.

“The numbers the directors or former directors were talking about in a very careless way about the value of the company will be reviewed as we learn the intricacies of secret information that the company handled,” he told senators.

An Argentine Senate committee began Tuesday to discuss the proposed expropriation, in a meeting attended by Kicilliof and the current auditor of YPF, Planning Minister Julio De Vido.  During the meeting there were harsh exchanges between legislators and officials.

Kicillof suggested that in recent years Repsol funded its international expansion by “squeezing” YPF for the dividends that the company distributed.

According to local law, Argentina should negotiate with Repsol-YPF for compensation. In case of disagreement, a court will decide based on an appraisal yet to be agreed on.

“The range of defensive measures that could be taken is broad and may include individual or class actions in the various countries involved, including  civil or commercial claims for compensation for damages, ” said Brufau.

Argentina already owes hundreds of millions of dollars outstanding in antigovernment decisions in international court.

Argentina’s decision sparked a wave of criticism in the international community, from Madrid to the EU and Mexico.  The Government of Spain confirmed that the case will be discussed on Friday in cabinet.  Speaking at an event in Mexico, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy expressed “deep distress”.

“The company has been seized without any justification or economic reason, and they have to explain what happened”, he said.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Tuesday he expects Argentina to respect international agreements on protection for business with Spain.

“I am seriously disappointed by the announcement yesterday. I hope that the Argentine authorities respect their international agreements and obligations, particularly those resulting from a bilateral agreement on investment protection in Spain,” said Barroso.