December's "Enabling Law" - which grants President Hugo Chávez far-reaching decree powers for 18 months - constitutes an illegitimate infringement on the new National Assembly's authority, subverting the will of the electorate. President Chávez's recent offer to limit the term of the law to five months is a positive step. But the underlying problems with the law remain, whether it is in force for 18 months, five months, or one day. The "Law for the Defense of...

When I was in Buenos Aires in June, my friend Harry (the one and only Harry made famous by Dereck Foster, the Herald’s illustrious food and wine critic) gave me a book titled Los llaman “jovenes idealistas” (They Were Called “Young Idealists”). The author is Victoria Villarruel. An introductory paragraph to the book describes her as the founder of the Centro de Estudios Legales sobre el Terrorismo y sus Víctimas, identified, somewhat awkwardly by the...

Thousands suffered in the leftist rampage that precipitated the 1976 military coup. Those who control the past, control the future: who controls the present controls the past. -Big Brother's party slogan, "1984," by George Orwell Justice is not easily secured anywhere in the world. But in Argentina today it is off limits to even mention in public the victims of the country's left-wing terrorism in the 1970s, let alone make an effort to win them or their surviving kin a day in...

Inertia is deceptive. While the Israeli-Palestinian peace proces is stalled, thanks to Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas refusing to return to direct talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on parallel tracks P.A. leaders are lining up countries publicly supporting a Palestinian state before it is actually created. The P.A. is focused on Latin America, which it is determined to add to the guaranteed Arab and Muslim state votes that ensure a U.N. General Assembly majority....

Pakistan became the most deadly country for journalists in 2010, with eight colleagues killed during the year in connection with their work. In a year when 42 journalists were killed worldwide, Honduras, Mexico and Iraq also ranked high, the Committee to Protect Journalists says in a year-end analysis. See more world news coverage of CPJ’s report. In Mexico, where crime, violence, and corruption have devastated the country’s journalism, CPJ has confirmed that three journalists...

The conference that drew Latin American leaders from all walks of life to a college campus in California was billed as a celebration of 200 years of independence for the region. However, the focus at the Institute of the Americas was not on past triumphs, but on the difficulties that many countries face today in strengthening democracy and the rule of law. As Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez said, “The transition to democracy has been a success story for all of Latin...

Iran is planning to place medium-range missiles on Venezuelan soil, based on western information sources, according to an article in the German daily, Die Welt, of November 25, 2010. According to the article, an agreement between the two countries was signed during the last visit o Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Tehran on October19, 2010. The previously undisclosed contract provides for the establishment of a jointly operated military base in Venezuela, and the joint development of...

Uncertainty was high as the police closed in, but instead of pursuing a criminal, they had surrounded a democratically elected president, aiming to overthrow him. Another coup attempt was underway in Latin America. On Sept. 30th, 2010, a group of police officers led a protest over benefit cuts, in Ecuador’s capital, Quito. After President Rafael Correa spoke to the group of revolting officers, he was attacked with tear gas and was rushed to a hospital. He later declared he was being...

“Democracy is the worst form of government save all those other forms" - Winston Churchill. The sudden, although foretold death of Néstor Kirchner, the former president who was also the nominal head of the Peronist movement, plunged me back into the past. I remember vividly the day when the death of Juan Perón was finally announced. A deputation of workers from the plant where the Buenos Aires Herald was printed came to see me. Any sadness that they felt at the loss...

After four years of silence induced by grave physical illness, punctuated only by occasional newspaper commentaries, Fidel Castro has regained his voice. To the surprise of many, he is using it to make some startling comments on the escalating conflict between Iran and the western world. In one of his most recent statements on the subject, expressed in an exclusive interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic magazine, Castro surprised friends and foes alike by excoriating Iran’s...