VOXXI: Attempted robbery caught on camera in Argentina

"Attempted Robbery Caught on Camera in Argentina"
W. Alejandro Sanchez
VOXXI
September 26, 2014
Originally published: http://voxxi.com/2014/09/26/robbery-caught-camera-argentina/

A tourist was almost robbed at gunpoint while he was riding a bicycle throughout Buenos Aires. Little did the thief know that his victim was recording his ride with a GoPro helmet camera. The tape has been uploaded to YouTube and has since gone viral, accumulating more than six million views in less than a week.

While thankfully no one was injured and the local police have arrested the perpetrator, the incident highlights how internal security remains a problem in Argentina.  In the final year of her presidency, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner must focus more resources to quell the crime wave that is sweeping the country.

Crime and punishment

Alexander Hennessy, a Canadian citizen, is part of the show “Global Degree,” in which a group of young people are trying to visit 195 countries in 60 months. The group has already travelled throughout various Latin American states, like Honduras, Nicaragua and Peru. Upon arriving to Argentina, Hennessy and group mates went for a bike ride throughout Buenos Aires, with Hennessy placing a GoPro camera on his helmet.

While biking through a neighborhood known as La Boca, a man in a motorcycle rode up to Hennessy and, in broad daylight, pulled out a gun. The tape shows the robber demanding in Spanish that Hennessy give him his backpack, but the Canadian does not understand. At one point, Hennessy leaves the bicycle, thinking that that is what the robber wants; however the criminal got off his motorcycle and began chasing Hennessy, demanding the backpack.  Eventually the thief realized that they were attracting too much attention and left.

The final moments of the tape shows Hennessy and his group of fellow travelers biking to find a police officer. The Argentine media has reported that the criminal, identified as Gaston Aguirre, has been arrested.

The video quickly went viral and now has over six million views while the Facebook page of “Global Degree” received various posts from Argentine citizens apologizing to Hennessy for his ordeal. Meanwhile, Aguirre’s wife said that her husband “regrets” what he did.

A drop in a sea of crime?

The incident has become a springboard for Argentine citizens to critique the country’s level of insecurity. Apart from critiquing President Kirchner, other targets are Sergio Berni, the Secretary of Security, andMauricio Macri, the mayor of Buenos Aires.

Given the lack of confidence in both the government and law enforcement agencies, there has been a rise of vigilante justice. In one extreme case, this past March David Moreira, 18, was beaten to death by a group of people after he allegedly stole a purse from a woman.

Two cities where the situation is particularly problematic are Buenos Aires, a city of eight million people which has several underdeveloped neighborhoods, known as “villas miserias” (“misery villages” or “chabolas”).  The other city in trouble is Rosario, known as “the capital of crime” in Argentina.

To be fair, the Argentine government has tried to improve the situation. This past April, Daniel Scioli, the governor of Buenos Aires province, decreed a “public security emergency” in Buenos Aires in order to carry out a plan to improve the security environment. The plan entails using funds to beef up the ranks of law enforcement agencies and acquire new equipment. Meanwhile, Secretary of Security Berni presented 350 new vehicles to the media this past Friday, September 19, which the federal police will have at its disposal beginning this December.

Additionally, President Kirchner has critiqued vigilantism. In a recent speech she declared, “violence always creates more violence.” The Argentine head of state’s term will end in 2015 and she does not want her legacy to be that she left the country in a security mess. Unsurprisingly, the country’s security woes are being exploited for political objectives. Sergio Massa, an opposition congressman and a presidential hopeful, has declared that the country needs “a government that will uphold the law.”

As a corollary to this analysis, it is worth highlighting that Hennessy’s video shows the criminal, Aguirre, holding a gun and waving it at the Canadian. In March, Buenos Aires Governor Scioli declared “for a long time I’ve said that we need to establish a system to control weapons […] if there are no weapons, there are no dead people. Getting rid of weapons and drugs, we reduce the problem.” It will be interesting to see if the Hennessy incident does anything to increase the likelihood for some kind of gun control policy in Buenos Aires.

As for Hennessy, he and his “Global Degree” fellows have pledged to continue their global tour. Hopefully the incident in Buenos Aires will be the only time that their safety is in jeopardy, yet this is unlikely considering that several Latin American states, not just Argentina, face internal security crises.

Blouin Beat: Politics - Why Honduras’s drug problem is going to get worse

Why Honduras's drug problem is going to get worse
W. Alejandro Sanchez
Blouin Beat: Politics
April 10, 2014
Originally published: http://blogs.blouinnews.com/blouinbeatpolitics/2014/04/10/why-hondurass-drug-problem-is-going-to-get-worse/

 
Honduras’s efforts to combat drug trafficking suffered a blow this month when the U.S. announced it would nolonger share radar data with the Central American country. This is due to a controversial decision passed by the Honduran government to shoot down aircraft that are suspected of transporting drugs over Honduran airspace.

Without a doubt, President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who assumed the Honduran presidency this past January, will have a difficult road ahead as he fights to crack down on criminality, from street crimes to large-scale drug trafficking. Witness a statement from the the Nicaraguan Army late last week declaring that Mexican criminal networks have established bases along neighboring Honduras’ Caribbean coast. This accusation comes as no surprise: Honduras has long been regarded as a stopover point for drugs, primarily cocaine transported from South America to the U.S. via Mexico. Drug trafficking has become a major problem in Honduras where political instability (I have discussed elsewhere whether Honduras should be labeled as a semi-failed state) has resulted in looser security.

So far this year, Honduran security forces have destroyed at least 75 clandestine landing strips. According toGeneral Freddy Diaz, chief of staff of the Honduran armed forces, the plan is to take out between three to five landing strips per week. The Honduran armed forces are using a reactive strategy: searching out and destroying landing strips rather than preventing their construction in the first place.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control, part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, has described the links between the powerful Sinaloa Cartel of Mexico and Honduran gangs such as Los Cachiros. Sinaloa’s leader, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, was arrested in February (with U.S. intelligence aid) and it is unclear what the future of this criminal entity will be (whether it will remain united or factionalized), including its proxy criminal entities outside of Mexico

Exactly how much cocaine coming from South America to Mexico and the U.S. passes through Central American states like Honduras is unclear. According to a January 2014 report in Costa Rica’s La Nacion, 80% of South American cocaine passes through Mexico; a March 2014 in Mexico’s El Economista argues that 90% of Colombian cocaine passes through Central America to Mexico. Either way, it’s a hugely significant figure.

As for Hernandez, he faces a difficult four years. When he was inaugurated, he promised a “mano dura,” (a hard hand) and “zero tolerance” against crime in the country (though he seemed to be focused on combating the country’shomicide rate and street crimes like extortion, rather than combatting drug trafficking). The cornerstone of his security strategy will be the Military Police, a security entity created in 2013 that is expected to have around 5,000 personnel. The goal of this agency is to patrol the streets of major cities, providing support to the country’s police force. In addition, the Honduran Navy has received new military hardware, which will allow it to better patrol the country’s coasts. This past March, the navy received a patrol boat from Damen Shipyards, a shipbuilding company based out of The Netherlands. Honduras has acquired two patrol boats (Damen Stan Patrol 4207) and six speedboats (Damen Interceptor DI-1102) from the Dutch company.

Unsurprisingly, the U.S. has a strong interest in seeing Honduras succeed at combating drug trafficking. The U.S. military, through its Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), has maintained its support of Honduran security forces. A September 2013 report in the Honduran daily La Prensa interviewed several SOUTHCOM personnel who explained that U.S.-Honduras cooperation includes training and logistical support, but it does not permit training with weapons and lethal equipment. Besides military cooperation and training, the U.S. has a military base in Honduras: the Joint Task Force-Bravo, located in the Soto Cano air base (in Comayagua). How much SOUTHCOM will be able to help Honduras in the coming years is debatable. The new U.S. defense budget will be a hurdle: it includes deep cuts and prioritizes other regions of the world.

Which means that President Hernandez will have to rely on limited intelligence and armed forces bereft of a credible “big stick” threat – i.e. U.S. man- and firepower – to brandish.

Blouin Beat: World: Brazil, Italy to butt heads over Pizzolato?

Brazil, Italy to butt heads over Pizzolato?
W. Alejandro Sanchez
Blouin News: World
November 19, 2013
Originally published: http://blogs.blouinnews.com/blouinbeatworld/2013/11/19/brazil-italy-to-butt-heads-over-pizzolato/

The phrase “the shoe is now on the other foot”, clichéd though it is, accurately summarizes the current state of Brazilian-Italian relations. On Monday, the Brazilian government looked into its options in the case of Henrique Pizzolato, a banker with dual Brazilian and Italian citizenship, who fled to Italy in order to avoid a prison sentence in the South American nation. Amazingly the Brazilian media has reported that Pizzolato may have fled to Italy over 45 days ago (according to statements by the banker’s relatives), but Brazilian authorities only realized that he had absconded when the police went to his home to arrest him over the weekend.

The case that resulted Pizzolato’s sentencing is known as the “mensalão” (big monthly allowance) scandal and has been a black eye for the Brazilian left: it has embroiled senior members of the Lula da Silva administration. As the BBC explains, the case involved the usage of public funds to pay coalition parties for political support between 2003 and 2005 — the first two years of the lengthy Lula presidency. Individuals convicted so far include Delubio Soares, the former treasurer of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Lula’s party), and Jose Dirceu, who was Lula’s chief-of-staff during those two years.

Pizzolato was sentenced to a prison term of 12 years and seven months on money laundering, corruption and embezzlement charges after he authorized a US$ 31.8 million transfer from Banco do Brasil as part of the mensalão scheme, according to Brazilian daily Folha de Sao Paulo. The convicted banker justified his escape in a letter written before he fled, arguing that he was leaving Brazil so he could receive a “fair and media-free trial.” News agency Jornal Nacional reports that the Brazilian Federal Police consider Pizzolato a fugitive and that his name has been added to INTERPOL’s wanted list. But it is highly unlikely that the disgraced banker will be extradited: the Italian government does not extradite people with Italian citizenship.

As for that shoe-transfer mentioned above: Brazil will find itself in a hard-to-defend position if it follows up on its extradition demands. Why? Cesare Battisti. Battisti was a member of the Armed Proletarians for Communism, an Italian terrorist movement which was particularly active between the 1960s and 1980s; he was sentenced to life in prison by an Italian court for four homicides, but he managed to flee the country and make it to Brazil in 2007 and was arrested by the police in Rio de Janeiro on March 18 of that year for illegally entering the country and spent four years behind bars. On December 31st, 2010, the last day of Lula’s presidency, the PT member decided to grant Battisti asylum instead of deporting him back to Italy.  Battisti has been living a free man in Brazil ever since. The Italian has not denied being a member of the PAC, but he maintains his innocence regarding the four assassinations. He has argued that “in my case, there was a sort of artificial operation that created, from one day to another, the monster Cesare Battisti.”

The Italian government has had little leverage on this issue. Trade and diplomatic relations between the two nations are fairly strong, as well as security relations. In July 2012, then-Italian Defense Minister Giampaolo Di Paola met with his Brazilian counterpart, Celso Amorim. Di Paola expressed his country’s interest in embarking on joint ventures with the Brazilian navy to construct warships in the South American nation. And Italy is not a commercial partner with Brazil comparable to the U.S. or China, so imposing economic sanctions would probably hurt the struggling Italian economy more than the relatively robust Brazilian one. But the Pizzolato affair creates a new paradigm: now each country has a fugitive that the other country desires. The contingencies here are many and complex, and they make it unlikely that we will see a simple one-for-one swap, Battisti for Pizzolato. At the time of this writing, there have been no media reports about a meeting between Italy’s Ambassador to Brazil, Raffaele Trombetta, with either Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff or Foreign Affairs Minister Antonio Patriota, to discuss the Pizzolato affair. Likewise, the Brazilian ambassador to Italy has not been recalled (in 2011 Italy recalled its ambassador to the South American state when the extradition talks for Battisti failed). Pizzolato will not be able to leave Italy: INTERPOL’s website has published a warrant for his arrest among its 190 member countries. But given Italy’s unsuccessful extradition attempt against Battisti, look for Brasilia’s future attempts to discuss Pizzolato’s fate to go nowhere, fast.