The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Mexico releases drug lord behind 1985 DEA agent killing
- Obama describes Putin as 'like a bored kid'
- Obama pledges greater transparency in surveillance programs
| Mexico releases drug lord behind 1985 DEA agent killing Posted: MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Notorious Mexican drug kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero, convicted of ordering the torture and murder of a U.S. anti-drugs agent in 1985, was freed from prison on Friday in a move that angered the U.S. government. Caro Quintero had served 28 years of a 40-year sentence for the brutal death of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena and was released after a Mexican court ruled he should have been tried at a state level rather than on federal charges. The DEA said it was "deeply troubled" by his early release and that it would push for him to be tried in a U.S. court. "We are reminded every day of the ultimate sacrifice paid by Special Agent Camarena and DEA will vigorously continue its efforts to ensure Caro Quintero faces charges in the United States for the crimes he committed," it said in a statement. Caro Quintero, who is believed to be 60, holds a special place in Mexican drug lore. He was one of the leaders of the Guadalajara cartel, a forerunner of the Sinaloa cartel which is currently led by Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, the country's most-wanted drug lord. Caro Quintero was freed from the Puente Grande prison in the western Mexican state of Jalisco on Friday morning, according to the state attorney general's office. "There are various factors, and among them the fact that he already served his time for drug trafficking," a court official said in explaining the release. Camarena was kidnapped, tortured and murdered in retaliation for his involvement in a number of successful drug busts. At the time, the United States was furious at a perceived lacklustre effort to catch Camarena's killer and the episode marked a low point in U.S.-Mexico relations. Caro Quintero was caught in Costa Rica in 1985. His release raises the possibility of a renewed tussle between the two countries over the possible extradition of the aging drug lord. U.S. Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said the government was "extremely disappointed" by the decision to free Caro Quintero and that it "has continued to make clear to Mexican authorities the continued interest of the United States in securing Caro Quintero's extradition so that he might face justice in the United States." A source from the Mexican attorney general's office said Caro Quintero cannot be extradited to the United States because a decision by Mexico's Supreme Court bars extradition of Mexicans to countries that may impose the death penalty or life imprisonment - punishments excluded by Mexican law. In June, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 18 people linked to Caro Quintero, including six family members, freezing their U.S. assets. More than 70,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since 2007 when the government launched a militarized attack on the warring cartels. President Enrique Pena Nieto, who took office in December, has shifted the focus away from going after cartel bosses to tackling violent crimes such as extortion and kidnapping. The shift has raised concerns that Mexico may cooperate less with U.S. security forces in the fight against the cartels. (Additional reporting by Tim Gaynor in Phoenix and David Ingram in Washington; Writing and additional reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Simon Gardner and Mohammad Zargham) |
| Obama describes Putin as 'like a bored kid' Posted: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Friday denied he has poor relations with Vladimir Putin after cancelling their Moscow talks, but said the Russian president can sometimes appear "like a bored kid in the back of the classroom." U.S.-Russian relations plunged to one of their lowest points since the Cold War this week after Russia granted temporary asylum to fugitive former U.S. spy contractor Edward Snowden. Obama retaliated by abruptly cancelling a Moscow summit with Putin planned for early next month. At a White House news conference on Friday, Obama insisted that he does not have bad personal relations with Putin. The two men had a testy meeting in June in Northern Ireland and from the photos of them at the time, it looked as if they would both rather have been somewhere else. "I know the press likes to focus on body language, and he's got that kind of slouch, looking like the bored kid in the back of the classroom. But the truth is that when we're in conversations together, oftentimes it's very productive," Obama said. Putin's sending of a telegram wishing former President George W. Bush well after a heart procedure this week was viewed by some Kremlin watchers as a sign that Putin was sending an implicit message to Obama. The White House says Obama pulled out of the Moscow summit not just because of the Russian decision to grant asylum to Snowden, who is wanted in the United States to face espionage charges. U.S. differences with Russia have piled up recently over Moscow's support for the Syrian government in that country's civil war, as well as human rights concerns and other grievances. There was no immediate response from Moscow to Obama's description of the Russian president. But at a news conference in Washington after talks on Friday between the Russian and U.S. foreign policy and defence chiefs, the Russians emphasized how positive the meeting had been. They even invited the Americans to participate in a tank competition later this year. "We don't have any Cold War. Instead we have close relations," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. "Edward Snowden did not overshadow our discussions." U.S. TO 'TAKE A PAUSE' Obama said the United States will "take a pause, reassess where it is that Russia is going" and calibrate the relationship to take into account the areas where they can agree and acknowledge that they have differences. "Frankly, on a whole range of issues where we think we can make some progress, Russia has not moved," Obama said. "I think there's always been some tension in the U.S.-Russian relationship after the fall of the Soviet Union," he said. Obama did resolve one issue that has been debated in the United States. He said American athletes will in fact compete in the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, in spite of Russia's anti-gay propaganda law. "I do not think it's appropriate to boycott the Olympics," Obama said. He said the best way to combat the law is for gay and lesbian athletes to do well in the Sochi Games. "One of the things I'm really looking forward to is maybe some gay and lesbian athletes bringing home the gold or silver or bronze, which would, I think, go a long way in rejecting the kind of attitudes that we're seeing there," he said. "And if Russia doesn't have gay or lesbian athletes, then, it'll probably make their team weaker." U.S. and Russian senior officials sought to maintain a working relationship despite the tensions when they met in Washington on Friday. The two countries agreed on the need to convene a Syrian peace conference in Geneva as soon as possible at the meeting between Secretary of State John Kerry, Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. (Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by David Brunnstrom and Sandra Maler) |
| Obama pledges greater transparency in surveillance programs Posted: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama announced plans on Friday to limit sweeping U.S. government surveillance programs that have come under criticism since leaks by a former spy agency contractor, saying the United States "can and must be more transparent." "Given the history of abuse by governments, it's right to ask questions about surveillance, particularly as technology is reshaping every aspect of our lives," Obama told a news conference at the White House. Saying that it was important to strike the right balance between security and civil liberties, Obama vowed to improve oversight of surveillance and restore public trust in the government's programs. "It's not enough for me as president to have confidence in these programs. The American people need to have confidence in them, as well," Obama said, adding that he was confident the programs were not being abused. Obama's announcement - made just before Obama heads for summer vacation on Martha's Vineyard - may be greeted as a partial victory for supporters of ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden who is now in Russia, where he was granted asylum last week. The Obama administration has vigorously pursued Snowden to bring him back to the United States to face espionage charges for leaking details of the surveillance programs to the media. "I don't think Mr. Snowden was a patriot," Obama said at the news conference, brushing off the suggestion that Friday's announcement showed Snowden had done the right thing in revealing the extent of the government's program. The president said he had ordered a review of the surveillance programs before Snowden provided secret documents to The Guardian and The Washington Post, but he added that there was no doubt those leaks triggered a "much more rapid, passionate response" to the issue. FOUR STEPS Obama said he had decided on four specific measures. Firstly, he said, he plans to work with Congress to pursue "appropriate reforms" of Section 215 of the anti-terrorism Patriot Act that governs the collection of so-called "metadata" such as phone records. He insisted that the government had no interest in spying on ordinary Americans. Obama did not specifically lay out how the program will be reined in, however. Instead, he pledged greater oversight, greater transparency, and constraints. Civil liberties advocates wanted more details. "He said he would recommend 215 reform, but he said 'appropriate' reform and we don't know what that means," said Electronic Frontier Foundation digital rights analyst Trevor Timm. "There were no concrete changes to the actual surveillance programs." Outlining his second measure, Obama said he would pursue with Congress a reform of the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which considers requests from law enforcement authorities to target an individual for intelligence gathering. Obama said he wants to let a civil liberties representative weigh in on the court's deliberations to ensure an adversarial voice is heard. The court, authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, has been criticized for essentially rubber stamping the U.S. government's requests to search through Americans' electronic records. Currently, the FISA court makes its decisions on government surveillance requests without hearing from anyone but U.S. Justice Department lawyers in its closed-doors proceedings. Appointing a civil liberties advocate to argue before the surveillance court may have little value, said Carrie Cordero, director of national security studies at Georgetown University Law Centre and a former Justice Department lawyer. "I will be interested to hear how this would work in practice, but as an initial reaction, I do have concerns about additional layers of bureaucracy slowing down the speed and agility of conducting counterterrorism activities," Cordero said in an email. Thirdly, Obama said he wants to provide more details about the NSA programs to try to restore any public trust damaged by the Snowden disclosures. The fourth measure was the creation of a high-level group of outside experts to review the U.S. surveillance effort. Gigi Sohn, head of public interest group Public Knowledge, said Obama's plans were a good start, but added: "It's going to depend a lot on Congress." The American Civil Liberties Union called the proposals "a necessary and welcome first step." Executive Director Anthony Romero said the ACLU favours revamping all U.S. surveillance programs to adhere to constitutional protections. PRIVACY VS NATIONAL SECURITY The NSA declined to comment on Obama's proposals. It is not clear if Congress will take up the initiatives. A number of influential lawmakers have vigorously defended the spying programs as critical tools needed to detect terrorist threats. U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that her panel will hold a series of hearings to study the surveillance programs. Brendan Buck, spokesman for House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, said Republicans expect the White House to ensure that reforms do not compromise programs that protect against terrorism. Republican Representative Peter King issued a statement stridently defending the surveillance programs and calling Obama's reform plan "a monumental failure in presidential wartime leadership and responsibility." The Patriot Act, launched by then-President George W. Bush after the September 11, 2001, attacks, was initiated as a terrorism-fighting tool to prevent a similar attack from happening again. But frequent questions have been raised about the scope of the law and whether its sweeping tactics allows unwarranted intelligence gathering on innocent Americans. The Snowden disclosures generated concerns about whether people were being forced to sacrifice their constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties in the open-ended search for terrorism links. The NSA has long monitored communications abroad but the documents released by Snowden indicated the email and phone data of Americans is being routinely monitored on a vast scale, with the cooperation of major U.S. technology firms. Obama met with the CEOs of technology and telecoms companies such Apple Inc and AT&T Inc on Thursday to discuss government surveillance. A Google Inc computer scientist and transparency advocates also participated. The search for Snowden has upset U.S. relations with some Latin American countries, China and, above all, Russia. Obama this week cancelled a planned summit in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin. Obama said the United States has always had tension with Russia and it was an appropriate juncture to reassess where the two nations stand. (Additional reporting by David Ingram, Joseph Menn, and Alina Selyukh; Editing by Karey Van Hall, Claudia Parsons and Xavier Briand) |
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