The hegemon's tendrils continue to grow into Latin America

i've been following with great concern u.s. efforts to re-gain its influence and re-assert its domination over latin american politics and i've made posts about it on several different occasions (here and here)...

yet another story emerges from the 7th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Tuxtla Mechanism for Dialogue and Coordination and the 26th assembly of the Central American Integration System (SICA) that both took place in tegucigalpa, honduras last week... a special focus of discussion for both meetings was on efforts to combat the region's ”maras” or youth gangs... ngo's and costa rica (known as the "switzerland of the americas") were not happy with some of the proposals being circulated...

Civil society organisations fear that supranational agreements could be signed at the meeting that will lead to violations of young people's rights and an escalation of extreme and repressive measures.

Honduran Foreign Minister Leonidas Rosa Bautista announced that the participating authorities would analyse the creation of a supranational rapid response force to combat drug trafficking and terrorism, regional-level arrest warrants and a single passport and visa for all of Central America, among other initiatives.

For his part, Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco stated at a press conference Tuesday that he would not sign any agreement aimed at creating a supranational body led by the subregion's armed forces, in part because his country does not have an army, but also because he does not support such measures.

but the u.s., eager to sweep everything under the umbrella of the "war on terror," thus providing a blanket justification for possible future intervention, was, once again, the camel with its nose under the tent...

Some authorities in Central America maintain that the maras are linked to drug trafficking and international terrorism, and should therefore be countered with international support.

The United States recently demonstrated its interest in providing such support when agents from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) met with security officials from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to discuss a strategy to fight organised crime.

Salvadoran police authorities insist that the problem of the maras should be encompassed within the international ”war on terrorism” headed up by Washington, and have already accused a number of alleged gang members of involvement in terrorist activities, sparking controversy in the legal community, because many jurists believe these charges to be unfounded.

remember, all of this is taking place under the radar of u.s. media... stay tuned... there WILL be more, you can be sure...

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