The Americas Post - Looks like Venezuela is no longer so safe for Colombian fugitives like Martin Llanos

A fugitive Colombian paramilitary leader accused of dozens of crimes and drug trafficking has been captured in Venezuela according to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, in a fresh sign of cooperation from Caracas.

The capture of Hector Buitrago Germain, alias “Martín Llanos”, and his brother Orlando Nelson, aka “Horse”, took place this weekend in the state of Anzoategui, days before a meeting of defense ministers of the two countries.

Since Santos took office in August 2010 and restored diplomatic relations with Venezuela, the government of President Hugo Chavez has captured members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN), as well major drug traffickers.

The cooperation ended a period of tense relations, in which former President Alvaro Uribe accused Venezuela of providing refuge to guerrilla leaders.

“I want to congratulate the Police on striking a major blow. And thank the Venezuelan authorities for the close collaboration that gives a very sought after result, because we were looking for this guy a long time,” said Santos.

Buitrago, 44, led the Peasant Self-Defense Forces of Casanare, a paramilitary group with a presence in a wide area of ​​eastern Colombia, considered strategic for the production and trafficking of cocaine.

That illegal armed group, which initially fought the leftist guerrillas, faced off years later with another paramilitary faction for control of the region in a confrontation that left thousands dead.

Buitrago and his brother walked away from controversial peace talks with Uribe, which led other some 30,000 other right-wing paramilitary combatants to lay down their arms.

“Martín Llanos has 11 arrest warrants and in fact already has a sentence of 40 years in prison,” said Santos.

“He starred in one of the bloodiest wars of the Eastern Plains and left hundreds, I would say thousands, of victims, made pacts with the FARC to share the drug business, which in recent years spread to several countries of the continent, from Venezuela to Bolivia, ” he said.

The Buitrago brothers will be delivered to Colombia on Thursday, according to Venezuela’s Interior Minister Tarek El Aissami.  The capture took place just four days before a meeting between defense ministers of both countries to discuss cooperation in combating drug trafficking and illegal armed groups.

Venezuela is a key route for drugs coming from Colombia to the U.S. and Europe, according to security sources.

The Americas Post - If this keeps up, Brazil may just need a new slogan for their flag.

Brazilian soldiers on Monday laid siege to hundreds of striking military police  in Salvador, trying to quell a protest that has triggered violence in a World Cup 2014 venue and damaged the country’s international image.

Bahia State authorities accused the striking police of being behind some of the 94 homicides recorded since the start of the protest on January 31, more than double the usual rate.

More than 3,200 soldiers were sent to Bahia to patrol the streets and stem the tide of violence, one of the largest militarizations in living memory in Brazil.

Army soldiers and armored vehicles surrounded the legislature building in Salvador de Bahia, where about 300 military police and some of their relatives are entrenched.

“We have two negotiating fronts, one in relation to unemployment of the assembly and the other in relation to the movement (strike),” Bahia communications secretary Robinson Almeida said.  “We hope the negotiations today bring positive results.”

The crisis exposed the risks of security in this nation with a booming economy  but serious social challenges.

Salvador, whose colonial center of cobbled streets and colorful facades is a UNESCO world heritage site, is one of the main tourist destinations in Brazil. Its carnival should attract thousands of visitors later this month.  The city of about 5 million will also be a venue of World Cup 2014.

The U.S. Consulate in Rio de Janeiro issued a warning over the weekend, asking tourists not to travel to Bahia until safety conditions improve.  But tour operators say it is too early to estimate the economic impact of the strike.

“In the tourist spots things are normal, but we are concerned about the impact going forward,” said Maria Angela Ballalai de Carvalho, vice president of the Brazilian Association of Travel Agencies.

“If this lasts we may have cancellations and less tourists coming to the carnival (…) this can affect the country’s image,” she said.

The policemen on strike are demanding a wage increase of 30 percent. The government of Bahia offered an increase of 6.5 percent.

The governor of Bahia, Jaques Wagner, said he suspected that crimes were fueled by the strikers. “Their strategy is to create panic,” he told the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.

Authorities issued arrest warrants for about 12 officers who lead the protest.

The Americas Post - The alleged Chilean spy is the one wearing the Jack Daniels t-shirt

Peru’s government said Wednesday it is investigating an alleged Chilean spy arrested in the vicinity of a military airbase in the north, in a case that could cast a shadow over relations between Lima and Santiago.

Defense Minister Alberto Otárola, said when Luis Maximiliano Seraín was arrested he had in his possession a CD,  a USB memory stick and “some writings” that are being investigated by the local public prosecutor.

“From what we know he is a Chilean citizen who was arrested near the barracks of El Pato military base in Talara.  I can not provide or confirm more details because I repeat is in full investigation,” Otárola told journalists.

In 2009, Peru and Chile engaged in a diplomatic row after the arrest of a Peruvian Air Force officer, who was accused of sending classified information to Chile.  After a year of research, a military court in Peru convicted the officer, formerly employed in the Peruvian Embassy in Santiago, to 25 years in prison.

This new espionage case involving Chile, a major investor in Peru, comes at a time when both South American countries are in international court disputing differences in their maritime boundaries.

Chilean government spokesman Andrew Chadwick said in Santiago they are fully confident that the person arrested in Peru has no link with Chilean state activities.

“We are absolutely clear on the country’s foreign policy in relation to our neighbors.  We never want to risk any type of situation that could harm our relations,” he said.

“As a government we deal with these situations calmly and wisely,” he added.

Relations between Peru and Chile, both major mineral exporters, have gone through ups and downs since they fought a war in the late nineteenth century.  Despite the friction, trade links and business between the two countries have grown rapidly in recent years.

The Americas Post - A demonstrator's poster shows how many years each hostage has been held by FARC guerrillas. Photo Credit: AFP

FARC guerrillas on Wednesday postponed releasing six Colombian soldiers held for over a decade, claiming that the area where the prisoners were to be freed has been occupied by government troops.

“The area we had chosen for the release of prisoners of war captured in battle has been unfairly militarized by the Government of Colombia, which forces us to defer the operation,” the rebel group said in a statement released on the internet.

The FARC, weakened by a military offensive supported by the U.S. but still able to execute high-impact attacks, announced in December the release of six of the 11 Armed Forces personnel held for more ten years, but the delivery has not yet been finalized.  Late last year other hostages were killed by rebels during combat with the Army,  which had discovered FARC encampments in the jungle.

President Juan Manuel Santos questioned the position of the FARC, considered by U.S. and European Union as a terrorist organization and said the government did not know the hostages were in that area.

“By God, no more tricks and deceit.  We do not even know where the hostage are. They have not given coordinates. Release them now,” Santos said through his Twitter account.

However, the Armed Forces admitted operating throughout the country in fulfilling the mission of pursuing the illegal armed groups.

Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón, accused the rebel group of playing with the hostages and their families as part of a strategy to gain political prominence nationally and internationally and clean up its criminal image.

“These people once again demonstrates the lies they tell and how deeply and permanently they play with the Colombian people,” said the official.

The guerrilla organization have held up to 60 hostages at times, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans, who they sought to exchange for imprisoned guerrillas.

But many were rescued by the Armed Forces and others escaped or died in the jungle. Some have been released by the FARC in phases during recent years.

“As soon as the insanity that has gripped Nariño Palace (the Presidency) abates, we will make a new attempt for you to receive those who will be released,” added the FARC.

The Americas Post - Just think of Chavez' show "Alo Presidente" as the ultimate in reality TV

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez threatened on Sunday to nationalize any private bank that fails to comply with local legislation setting standards for agricultural finance and other projects in the country.

The leftist leader, who since 2008 has increased state involvement in the financial sector, has criticized banks repeatedly for their lack of support with  agriculture and housing.

“The private banks, if they don’t comply with the Constitution and the law, well I have no problem, I repeat, to nationalize them.  We have to enforce the Constitution and laws of this Republic,”  Chavez said in his weekly TV show.

The new ruling, to promote financing for agriculture in the oil-producing country, says a bond issue will provide banking resources for the agricultural  sector.  But Chavez provided no details,  requesting a meeting with executives of banks Banesco and commercial premises, and the Spanish Banco Provincial.

The Provincial Bank, a subsidiary of Spanish bank BBVA is one of the largest in the country.

“(Vice President) Elijah (Jaua), this week you call the presidents of the largest banks, namely Bank Banesco, the Provincial and Commercial, call them to the vice presidency and talk to them but do not fall for flattery, “Chavez said in the third edition of his program.

The retired army officer, who claims to be cured of his cancer diagnosed in mid-2011, passed a law enabling private banking fund transfers to portfolios directed at agricultural financing.

“I am ready, if they do not comply, to nationalize the banks.  I have no problem, I repeat,” said Chavez, who said he is willing to work on “coordination and cooperation with private banks “.

The program also announced that Vice President shall resume the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Lands.  Since taking office in 1999, Chavez, seeking reelection in the presidential election of 2012, has nationalized large sectors of the Venezuelan economy. In July 2009 he completed the nationalization of Spanish financial group Santander.

The Americas Post - This was the last face ever seen by a minimum of 75 murder victims

Police in northern Mexico have captured a suspected member of the Zetas drug cartel, who confessed to killing at least 75 people, authorities announced Monday.

Elizondo was captured Jan. 20 in the town of Salinas Victoria, but authorities postponed announcing his arrest in order to verify details of his confession, state Attorney General Adrian de la Garza said.

Domene said the 35-year-old suspect told investigators he had worked in the region over three years and that his duty was killing members of the rival Gulf drug cartel en route to the towns of Cerralvo and General Trevino.

Elizondo and other gunmen last January started pulling passengers off buses as they arrived at Cerralvo’s bus station, Domene said. They were among at least 92 bus passengers the Zetas are accused of killing in three attacks in January and March 2011.

Elizondo was famous “for torturing, maiming and then killing his victims,” Domene added.

Last year, authorities in the neighboring state of Tamaulipas exhumed 193 bodies from unmarked graves in the town of San Fernando. Security forces were led to the site by Zetas who confessed to kidnapping and killing bus passengers in the area.

The exact motive for the bus abductions is undetermined. Prosecutors  suggested the gang may be recruiting at gunpoint or killing suspected rivals aboard the buses.

Northeastern Mexico has been inflamed by a turf war between the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas since their 2010 division.  Over 47,000 people have been killed nationwide since President Felipe Calderon launched his December 2006 crackdown against drug traffickers.

The Center for International Policy, a Washington think tank,  reported Monday that $872 billion in proceeds from crime flowed out of Mexico between 1970 and 2010.

The Americas Post - Yes, U.S. Marine Generals carry their own rifles. Photo Credit: USMC

President Barack Obama has chosen a Marine to run U.S. military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean out of the Southern Command in Miami.

The new Southcom leader is Marine Corps Lt. Gen. John F. Kelly, who enlisted in 1970 and was followed by both sons to the Corps as well.  The youngest, 1st Lt. Robert Michael Kelly, was killed on patrol in Afghanistan in 2010.

The Pentagon announced Kelly’s promotion in a brief statement Friday afternoon.  Pending the required Senate confirmation, there was no immediate word on when he would succeed Air Force Gen. Douglas Fraser, the current commander.

Over six feet tall and in his 60s, Kelly is currently senior military advisor to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, served multiple deployments in Iraq and worked as a Defense Department representative on Capitol Hill.   He commanded troops in Fallujah, Iraq, and at one time  had tens of thousands of Americans and Iraqi soldiers under his command.  A 1976 graduate of the University of Massachusetts, he joined the Marines before going to the university, served for two years as an enlisted infantryman out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., and left as a sergeant.

Sources were unable to confirm whether Kelly previously served in the Caribbean and Latin America.  More than 1,000 Defense and other government employees work out of Southcom headquarters in Doral, which he has been chosen to run, on a range of Defense projects from humanitarian relief operations to the detention center at Guantánamo.  Southcom also runs regional training exercises that team up U.S. forces with foreign armies and navies, which senior Pentagon officials have pointed to as the future of a  downsized U.S. military force across the globe.

The Americas Post - Anonymous doesn't like the flavor of the Mexican SOPA. Photo Credit: YouTube

Members of the international hacker group Anonymous said on Friday they had attacked Mexican government websites  in protest of a bill seeking official controls over release of information on the internet.

Beginning in the morning, disabled websites included the Ministry of Interior (www.segob.gob.mx), Senate (www.senado.gob.mx), and Chamber of Deputies (www.diputados.gob.mx).  Hours later, the sites were restored.

The reform initiative launched in December by Senator Federico Doring, of the ruling National Action Party (PAN), makes it a crime to share copies of works, music, videos and books protected by copyright on the internet, without authorization of the owners.

“We demand that the Mexican government discontinue this law because it takes away freedom of expression and file sharing,” the group said in a video posted on YouTube to explain the cyberattack.

Anonymous compared the reform proposed by Doring with the U.S. online anti-piracy bill known as SOPA, which was frozen by the Congress last week after major Internet firms protested against the measure.

The government said that Ministry of Interior databases were not at risk during the interruption.

“At no time was the site compromised; integrity of the information was assured,” said Interior Secretary Alejandro Poire, in a press conference in the city of Merida.

“We will check security protocols of the Secretariat website to ensure data integrity and avoid such attacks in the future,” he said.

In September, Anonymous successfully blocked the National Defense Secretariat (SEDENA) website, as well as Congressional web pages for Nayarit state and state government of San Luis Potosi.

That attack was carried out to protest insecurity in Mexico, amid drug-related violence that has killed more than 47,500 people since President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006.

The Americas Post - Chevron managers could end up in Brazilian prison

Brazilian prosecutors are planning to file criminal charges against Chevron Corp within the next several weeks, adding the possibility of prison time to an $11 billion civil lawsuit for a November oil spill offshore.

The federal court filing in Campos, Brazil, will probably include a criminal indictment of Chevron Brazil CEO George Buck and other staff, Brazilian government officials have revealed.

Transocean Ltd, whose rig was used in the operation, and some employees in Brazil will also be charged, according to the officials.  A judge will then decide whether to accept the charges and move ahead with indictments.

Buck and Chevron acted in a “careless and irresponsible way,” said one official who investigated the 2,400-barrel spill.  He admitted it is unlikely that people facing charges will be arrested soon or be prohibited from leaving Brazil. As the case advances however, those measures could be applied.

The charges would come more than a month after a Federal Police investigator submitted a report saying Chevron and Transocean took “unacceptable” risks in the Frade oil field off Brazil’s southern coast, and recommended that 17 individuals be indicted.

Police and prosecutors alleged that Chevron knew it was drilling in a high pressure area and that rock structures above the reservoir were fragile, factors that should have prompted more caution.

“This well could not and should not have been drilled,” the Federal Police said in a December 20 report.

Chevron denies taking undue risks and says Brazilian authorities approved drilling plans.  Oil from the leak did not reach shore and was less than 0.1 percent of BP’s 4.9 million barrel Gulf of Mexico spill in 2010. The Frade leak was also much smaller than several previous spills in Brazil by Petrobras.

The Americas Post - This bridge is covered, but what about the other 1,600 kilometers?

Colombia and Peru have agreed upon a plan to combat criminal organizations on their common border, the defense ministers of the two countries announced to the press after a Wednesday meeting in Bogota.

“Colombia and Peru have decided to aggressively confront organized crime which respects no borders, such as drug trafficking and illegal logging and mining,” said Peruvian Defense Minister Alberto Otalora.  He spoke at a press conference accompanied by his Colombian host and counterpart, Juan Carlos Pinzón.

“Organized criminals on our borders are hereby notified that Colombia and Peru, as of this moment, will increase joint activities not only to combat organized crime, but to achieve concrete results in the shortest time possible,”  Otálora said.

In addition, Peru agreed to lead the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) on the issue of combating transnational crime.  For Peru, “crime has no boundaries” and therefore is seeking cooperation with “brother countries”, said Otalora.

The Peruvian Minister announced “a new era of defense relations between our countries”, while stressing the traditional “good relationship” between the two nations.

Pinzon said, for his part, that “the relationship of Colombia and Peru is not only friendly and formal, but means a permanent presence of Peruvian officers working with Colombian officials, and the presence of Colombian officers working with the Armed Forces of Peru” .

The ministers agreed to take joint action against criminal groups in the border area ”in the coming months”.

Security operations will be accompanied by social initiatives for the people on both sides of the 1,600 km long border,  the Colombian minister stressed.

To assess the situation, the two ministers agreed to meet again in March at the border, and hope that this meeting will also be attended by Minister of Defence of Brazil, Celso Amorim.

Industrial cooperation in defense matters was another issue discussed.

“Colombia has been experiencing major developments in its military industry, and is fully prepared to offer it to friendly countries, like our Peruvian brothers,” said Pinzon.  He mentioned that Lima has already made “small” purchases from Colombia, but gave no more details.