(Melissa Sanchez, posting from Managua, Nicaragua)
Last year's return of Daniel Ortega here in Managua, Nicaragua re-energized at least some ex-Contras in Miami, who are now lobbying support from the U.S. government, and are working with former colleagues involved in anti-Ortega movements in Nicaragua.
According to this Associated Press story, a few even "warn darkly" that armed resistance is again a possibility. They say they're worried about the Citizens Power Councils, which I've written about earlier and have largely disappeared from local news after some typical political circus antics here.
The increasing crackdown on undocumented immigrants in the United States is resulting in waves of deportees flooding back to their "home" countries like Mexico and Nicaragua. Many of these deportees grew up in the States and, lacking connections in their countries, are at a bit of a loss for finding work, etc., when they return. (Months ago, I wrote about one such case in Granada.

" 'Some of these people are arriving in Mexico's border cities with nothing but the clothes they have on. Many have no family links, no knowledge of the country. They are very vulnerable.' said Rolando Garcia, an immigration official working on the new program. 'What we want to do, quite simply, is give them a human reception.' "

Mexican President Felipe Calderón announced a repatriation program to help reintegrate the deportees into society, according to a recent Time Magazine article. The program will organize refuge centers in border cities, transport to hometowns and jobs for the deportees, immigration officials say. Critics however say the program doesn't have much substance (there's nothing for it in the budget) and that Calderón should focus on defending immigrants' rights in the U.S.
Despite earlier optimism, deforestation continues in the Brazilian Amazon. So it's back to the drawing board for officials "to figure out what went wrong and how to tackle monumental problems like endemic lawlessness and land disputes, which have long stymied governments," according to a McClatchy News Service story.
Finally, Andres Oppenheimer writes about Republican presidential hopeful John McCain's allies in Miami's Cuban exile community, and his views on issues like undocumented immigration and farm subsidies.
***Melissa Sanchez is a U.S. journalist working out of Managua, Nicaragua. She is interested in Latin American media and politcs, music and running.
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