From February 25-29, Central American and European Union negotiators will meet in Brussels, Belgium, for the second round of Association Agreement negotiations. This is to be a "normative round", where little substance will be discussed in depth. It will largely consist of the isthmus submitting counter-proposals to what the EU put forward in the first round. In Belgium, and over the following weeks, Central American negotiators will maneuver for allowing maximum access of isthmus goods entering the European markets, and for the minimum access of subsidized European goods entering domestic markets. Analysts say that though the EU will likely give in to isthmus resistance on issues like human rights, it will be immovable on the issues of tariffs and subsidies. This is yet more evidence that, whatever the EU's claims about seeking "cooperation" and "political dialogue," the Association Agreement is in its essence about free trade.

According to a recent U.S. intelligence report, Venezuela's Hugo Chávez administration plans to “generously finance” the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) in its bid for the March 2009 presidential election. In a section of a report entitled "Continued Regional Activism of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela", Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell associated the FMLN with a list of other "radical populist governments" throughout Latin America that the Venezuelan leader hopes to forge alliances with in the coming years.

By Marta Nocete Aguilar

Translated by Dan Gordon

Six months before last year's elections, former president Óscar Berger said that we wanted to go down in history as "the president of infrastructure". Highways, large hydroelectric dams and a newly refurbished international airport were all part of the Berger government's ambitious plan to modernize Guatemala. But allegations that President Berger and former Communications Minister Eduardo Castillo profited from the refurbishment of La Aurora International Airport have eclipsed the purported benefits of the project. When Berger came to office in 2004 he unleashed a witch hunt against his predecessor, Alfonso Portillo and the media gleefully jumped on the bandwagon branding the Portillo administration "the most corrupt government in history". However, the media is now conspicuously silent over the most recent corruption allegations surrounding the Berger administration.

The Attorney General's Office (PGR) recently stated that Costa Rica must ratify its approval of CAFTA before the Organization of American States (OAS) before February 29. As of that date, the country will have 90 days to approve the "implementation agenda", a set of changes to Costa Rican law that will ensure compliance with CAFTA. The PGR also warned that if Costa Rica fails to meet this 90 day deadline, national legislation would be at odds with the terms of CAFTA and the country could face sanctions. The government now faces a race against time as it must negotiate an extension with other CAFTA-member countries and ensure the swift approval of the implementation laws.

President Torrijos came to power promising to tackle crime and as part of his Integral Security Plan (PROSI), the government recently announced that the police force and the Attorney General's Office would undergo major surgery. The Judicial Technical Police (PTJ), a branch of the Attorney General's Office dedicated to crime scene investigation, has been phased out. In its place, the government has created two new departments: the Judicial Investigation Department (DIJ), part of the National Police, and the Criminal Law Services (SEC), part of the Attorney General's office. Although Panama has far lower crime rates than other isthmus countries such as El Salvador and Guatemala, a number of high profile cases publicized by the media have led to calls for greater security. However, the Torrijos administration's security police has caused controversy as some analysts argue that the government is exploiting people's fear of crime to bring back the repressive measures of the Noriega dictatorship.