Guatemala

I spent the past week in Guatemala, courtesy of the Interamerican Development Bank's Annual Meeting. The conference itself was interesting, not only because of the presence of many heads of state from Latin America (among them Michelle Bachelet, the new president of Chile), but because of what I learned.
It appears that Latin America is undergoing an economic resurgence. Most macro economic indicators are positive and poverty is decreasing. Since I arrived just a few dys after president Bush's visit, I was able to feel the region's drifting away from the United States. The Washington Consensus is roundly rejected. Hugo Chavez is even contemplating a "South American Bank", that would be radically different from the current Washington dominated IFIs.
Guatemala is a beautiful country, with active volcanoes, colorful villages and colonial cities. There was a lot of talk of Regional Integration in Central America, one of the poorest area of the hemisphere.
Mean while, in Washington, the Democrats do not seem to be any closer to bringing US troops home from Iraq. Over 300 troops have already died over there since they won botyh houses of Congress in November...
The Justice department scandal is only the tip of the iceberg in the attempt by the Executive to reach "unified power", in other words, to run roughshod over the other two branches under the guise of "war powers". The firing of the DAs, the wiretap affair, the tobacco verdicts, and many other scandals show how fragile the rule of law is in its most stout defender, the US.
Foreign TV news marvel at this spectacle in what they call the "so-called land of Liberty". This is bad publicity for the US. Only thorough hearings, under oath, can show the rest of the world that nobody is above the law.