Hemisphere Highlights, Volume IX Issue 2 - February 2010

A new regional organization has been created by all of the countries of the region except the United States and Canada. The new United States budget proposal features significant cuts for aid to Latin America. Canada has announced new aid efforts to help rebuild Haiti. Mexico is considering a new package of anti-kidnapping legislation. A judge in Mexico expressed concern about narco-financing of farmers. Indigenous leaders have called for an uprising against President Correa in Ecuador. The electoral scene in Colombia has changed dramatically with the Constitutional Court’s rejection of President Uribe’s reelection referendum. The energy crisis in Venezuela has the government considering buying energy from Colombia. The arrival of British oil companies to explore for oil in the waters near the Falkland Islands has reignited tensions with Argentina.