This week’s likely top stories: Candidate Óscar Iván Zuluaga is implicated in a Colombian hacking scandal; Gustavo Madero wins the PAN’s internal elections in Mexico; the Colombian government and FARC reach an agreement on drugs; the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights will visit Guatemala; Argentine Vice President Amado Bodou may be called to testify in a criminal investigation.
Colombian Hacking Scandal Deepens with Release of New Video: A video released this week has implicated Colombian presidential candidate Óscar Iván Zuluaga in a hacking scandal just a week ahead of the country’s presidential election on May 25. The video was published by Colombian news magazine Semana and shows Zuluaga discussing illegal interceptions of military intelligence with his advisor, Andrés Sepulveda, who was arrested and charged with hacking and espionage early this month. Last week, Zuluaga took a narrow lead in the polls over current President Juan Manuel Santos, who is running for re-election. Former Bogotá Mayor Enrique Peñalosa, also a candidate in Sunday’s elections, has called on Zuluaga to quit the race.
PAN Leader Re-elected in Mexico, Improving Chances of Reforms: The leader of the Partido Acción Nacional (National Action Party—PAN), Gustavo Madero, easily won re-election on Sunday in the party’s internal election process, increasing chances that oil and telecom reforms in Mexico will pass. Madero has been working with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to pass the reforms, although his party has been divided by its cooperation with Peña Nieto’s Partido Revolucionario Institucional (Institutional Revolutionary Party—PRI). Madero won 57 percent of the votes cast by 155,984 PAN party members, easily defeating his rival, Ernesto Cordero, who won 43 percent of the vote and said that the PAN should be “responsible and firm” in its opposition to the PRI.
Colombia and FARC Reach Agreement on Drugs: The Colombian government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—FARC) reached an agreement on Friday to stem the country’s illegal drug trade, the third point of their six-point peace agenda. The government and rebels had already reached agreements on land reform and political participation last year. Humberto de la Calle, the government’s chief negotiator in Havana, said that the FARC has agreed to sever any ties to drug trafficking and that both sides have agreed to clear rural areas of land mines. FARC negotiator Iván Márquez said the government will address the health consequences of spraying toxic chemicals on coca fields by paying reparations to those affected.
UN Deputy High Commissioner on Human Rights to Visit Guatemala: United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Flavia Pansieri will pay an official visit to Guatemala on May 25 in order to conclude the office’s technical assistance to the country, according to a press release from the high commissioner’s office. Pansieri is expected to meet with Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina, as well as with several government ministers, members of congress, and the president of the Comisión Presidencial de Derechos Humanos (Presidential Commission of Human Rights—COPREDEH). She will also travel to Izabel to meet with Indigenous women who were victims of sexual violence during Guatemala’s armed conflict and will speak with human rights activists. Pansieri will conclude her visit on May 29.
Argentine Vice President Bodou May Testify in Criminal Investigation: An Argentine appeals court on Friday rejected a request by Argentine Vice President Amado Bodou to be removed from an ongoing tax evasion and influence-peddling investigation. The case focuses on a family-run printing firm, formerly known as Ciccone Calcográfica S.A., which was saved from bankruptcy in 2010 after receiving an injection of capital from a firm run by an acquaintance of Boudou’s close friend, and eventually passed into state hands. Bodou didn’t become involved in the investigation until 2012, after a police raid on an apartment he owned turned up evidence that he may have been involved. Boudou has maintained that he was not involved in any criminal wrongdoing, and has declined to take a leave of absence from office. The court may call on him to testify in the case.
