Rule of Law Wins - For Once

Guatemalan Pres. Otto Pérez in court.

Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina, an ex-military officer allegedly linked to atrocities during the country's vicious civil war, tolerated protests against him after evidence appeared tieing him to a corruption scandal. And, when the public and political pressure against him became overwhelming, Pérez Molina resigned and went to jail, where he will be tried like a common criminal.

Guatemala's remarkable turn of events is a victory for civil society and its power to hold leaders accountable. And so is the investigation into a huge kickback scheme in Brazil's Petrobras state oil company, which now has that nation's president on the ropes.

Nevertheless, across Latin America, consolidation of power by many presidents is endangering systems of checks and balances, making leaders invulnerable to accusations of corruption and giving them authoritarian powers.

The most glaring example is Venezuela, whose pseudosocialist government just carried out a show

Imprisoned Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez.

trial which sentenced opposition leader Leopold Lopez to almost 14 years in prison, even tho human rights defenders say prosecutors offered no real evidence.

'The sentence of 13 years and 9 months in prison against a Venezuelan opposition leader with no credible evidence against him shows the complete lack of judicial independence and impartiality in Venezuela,' wrote Amnesty International.

Reeling from a shrinking economy, the world's highest inflation rate and soaring crime, while facing parliamentary elections in December, Venezuelan Pres. Nicolas Maduro is trying to muzzle the press and imprison opponents.

Maduro has also tried to scapegoat Colombian immigrants as the cause of his nation's profound problems, deporting hundreds of Colombians in brutal conditions.

Meanwhile, other, more competent Latin leaders have used their success to consolidate power. Ecuadorian Pres. Rafael Correa has used economic pressure, lawsuits and anti-free speech laws to intimidate and close critical media.

In Bolivia, Pres. Evo Morales controls more than two-thirds of Congress and plans to use this power to pass a bill enabling him to run for a fourth-consecutive term.

And in Nicaragua the Supreme Court ruled that Pres. Daniel Ortega, a one-time leftist guerrilla leader, could run for a third consecutive term even tho the Constitution clearly states that neither the sitting president nor someone who has held that office for two terms can run again.

Sadly, it's inconceivable that in any of these nations, the president would be prosecuted for corruption, no matter how shameless. And, most likely, the media would not even report such corruption.

Ernesto Samper survided
a huge scandal.

And how about Colombia? The history isn't encouraging.

President Ernesto Samper's (1994-8), was the last presidency threatened by scandal. Despite
overwhelming evidence of drug cartel money in his campaign, he pleaded ignorance and survived a political trial in Congress and finished out his term. (The U.S. appeared to consider him guilty and took away his visa.)  Samper now heads the leftist Unasur organization of Latin American nations.

Scandal couldn't touch Alvaro Uribe.

The 2002-8 terms of right-wing Pres. Alvaro Uribe were marked by military success against Colombia's guerrillas, but also horrendous human rights violations, including massacres of peasants by paramilitaries and the False Positives killings. Uribe's government also employed the DAS, Colombia's FBI, to spy on opponents, including journalists and even Supreme Court justices. Some called the scandal worse than Watergate. Uribe has been repeatedly accused of links to paramilitary death squads, but evidence has never stuck, and he is now in Congress, where he leads the opposition to Pres. Santos. (On the other hand, several high-ranking members of his administration are on trial or in prison for corruption and other crimes.)

Colombia will be better off it never has to test whether its legal system is strong enough to take down a president.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Tobacco's Tricks

Young people smoke on La Plaza del Chorro in La Candelaria.

 If this post looks familiar, don't blame me. Blame the authorities for a situation which doesn't change - or gets worse.

A cigarette 'display case', about a meter wide
in a La Candelaria Internet cafe/phoning place frequented
by young people. 

Today is world 'No-Tobacco Day', altho that's a real misnomer in Colombia.

Colombia has supposedly implemented World Health Organization anti-smoking policies. The failing, as usual, is enforcement.

The law prohibits the selling of cigarettes by the stick, known as loosies. But stores and street vendors continuing selling loosies openly and with no apparent fear of punishment. All the police need to do is hire some kid to try to buy loosies. Whereever he or she succeeds, take away the seller's cigarettes. On the second offense, close their business for a day. The loosie sellers are obvious, anyway, since they keep their cigarette boxes wide open.

Packs from contraband cigarettes. Notice that they
don't carry the Colombian health warnings.

Colombia's anti-tobacco law also prohibited tobacco advertising. But, 'where there's a law, there's a way around it,' goes the Colombian saying. The law apparently permits cigarette 'display cases.' Well, a 'display case' might be a meter wide and boast about 'Mentholated Mustangs with a capsule.'

A street vendor's box offering candies and cigarettes
by the stick. Why else would the boxes be opened?

To its credit, Colombia did require graphic warnings on cigarette boxes, and those have been enforced on smokes sold legally here. However, contraband cigarettes - which make half of those sold in some coastal regions - don't carry the required warnings. The flood of contraband smokes has received news coverage, particularly because many are manufactured by Tabacalero del Este, a Paraguayan company owned by Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes.

A young woman lights up a loosie on the Plaza del Chorro.
Notice the police in the background.

Most of the news coverage has concentrated on the huge loss of tax income because of these smuggled cigarettes - which, in addition, are allegedly used to launder drug money - but they also have big health impacts by making super-cheap smokes available, especially for kids. (For many years, multinationals Philip Morris and British American Tobacco similarly promoted tobacco smuggling into Colombia.)

In fact, according to El Tiempo, more than 27% of Colombian young people smoke, compared to only 17% of Colombian adults.

The results of all this aren't minor. El Tiempo reports that a every five seconds a Colombia dies from smoking - more than 26,000 people per year. This means a huge cost for the country's health care system and lots of lost economic productivity.

A vendor's cart on La Plaza del Chorro. The cigarette boxes have been opened, but reclosed, perhaps because there are cops nearby - or because it's no-tobacco day.

A man walks away from the cart smoking a just-purchased loosie cigarette.

Boys stand smoking outside the internet cafe with the Mustang ad. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

What's Your Smoke Say About Your Brakes?

What do your emissions say about your brake pads?

I happened to be behind, and beside, this 'rolling chimney' on Ave. Septima today.

Believe it or not, Bogotá does have pollution laws, and vehicles are supposed to have passed a test and carry a certificate saying they meet pollution regulations.

This particular bus obviously: Either didn't take the test, bribed the certificate issuer, cheated at the test, or used some other stratagem to keep polluting.

That's bad enough, as is the authorities' deliberate ignorance of polluters (this bus was on it way to pass by the Ministry of the Environment's HQ on Ave. Septima), which contributes to thousands of premature deaths each year from dirty air.

But there's an even bigger issue here. If this bus was able to ignore pollution laws, then what about its mechanical condition? Its steering? Its brakes? Is its driver licensed?

Days ago near Bucaramanga a bus carrying kids from church burst into flames, killing 23 children and severely injuring many others. The bus did not have its mechanical revision certificates up to date, its driver had no license and it was overloaded, amongst other violations.

How many of Bogotá's old buses and other vehicles are potential death traps because their owners and operators have ignored the laws and authorities haven't bothered to enforce them?

How's your transmission today? How many of Bogotá's old buses comply with the law?

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours