Sunday, December 27, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Americas Headlines: Miami Herald December 20
People who travel to Cuba under U.S.-funded programs to promote democracy risk landing in jail.
Ginette Sejour will tell you scouring through other people's garbage is a dirty, smelly way to make a living.
But six days a week, this mother of seven and dozens of others trek through a slum once controlled by gangs, and arrive at a garbage processing plant where they spend the day sorting glass from metal, and plastic from paper.
A longtime ban on the reelection of public officials would be relaxed under a new plan by Mexican leader Felipe Calderón.
LATEST NEWS
Saturday, December 19, 2009
News about the Americas from The Economist Dec 17 Issue
Here are links to News about the Americas from the most recent issue of The Economist. (Subscription required.) The article about mobile phones and the roles they play in helping deter kidnappings. Here is an excerpt followed by links to a story about the Chilean elections and the criminal justice system in Canada.
Colombia suffered a surge in kidnappings, peaking first in the early 1990s and then at a higher level at the end of the decade. Illegal armed groups—left-wing guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries—were responsible for most of them. But in recent years the number of kidnaps has fallen dramatically (see chart). The obvious explanation is a big security build-up under Álvaro Uribe, who was elected president in 2002. Over the next five years the security forces expanded from 307,000 members to 405,000, and police were deployed in 160 municipalities that lacked them.
But the fall in kidnappings began two years before Mr Uribe took office. Additional factors seem to be at work. Messrs Montenegro and Pedraza argue that the huge rise in kidnappings triggered its own response, with people seeking to protect themselves and demanding that the government do the same.
They find that data for different Colombian regions reveal an intriguing statistical correlation between mobile-phone coverage and falling kidnaps. For a given rise in police numbers, kidnappings fell in line with the expansion of mobile coverage in each area. Mobiles enable kidnap victims and witnesses to inform the police swiftly. Since speed is of the essence in foiling kidnaps, this made police more effective and kidnapping riskier for its perpetrators.
Chile's presidential election
But the fall in kidnappings began two years before Mr Uribe took office. Additional factors seem to be at work. Messrs Montenegro and Pedraza argue that the huge rise in kidnappings triggered its own response, with people seeking to protect themselves and demanding that the government do the same.
They find that data for different Colombian regions reveal an intriguing statistical correlation between mobile-phone coverage and falling kidnaps. For a given rise in police numbers, kidnappings fell in line with the expansion of mobile coverage in each area. Mobiles enable kidnap victims and witnesses to inform the police swiftly. Since speed is of the essence in foiling kidnaps, this made police more effective and kidnapping riskier for its perpetrators.
Chile's presidential election
Piñera flies the flag
Sebastián Piñera, an airline tycoon, is well placed to break his country's political mouldDec 17th 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Brand Sentry: Anti-Counterfeiting
Sheer and Associates has a sister company, Brand Sentry, dedicated to anti-counterfeiting and intellectual property protection. To get a full description of the company and its capabilities, visit the Brand Sentry website. The following is a quick overview.
To protect your brand against counterfeiters, you need to fight the battle on many fronts. Today, more and more companies are turning to technology to help their anti-counterfeiting efforts, but technology alone is only part of the solution. Product verification is essential, but unless you employ a sustained program of enforcement throughout the supply chain and in the marketplace, your efforts will fall short.
We incorporate innovative technology in our custom solutions. While virtually every other anti-counterfeiting technology can be reproduced and is thereby vulnerable itself to counterfeiting, Brand Sentry uses innovative PUF (Physical Unclonable Function) Technology that cannot be copied or duplicated. Tiny chips, each more unique even than an individual strand of DNA, can be easily read at the item level by Brand Sentry Readers and securely & immediately authenticated.
Our investigators, led by Sheer and Associates Founder and President Thomas Sheer are veteran FBI, DEA, and Customs agents with unmatched experience in anti-counterfeiting, criminal investigations, forensics, and crime scene analysis. All of Brand Sentry's operatives have extensive experience managing large-scale assignments.
Programs are custom designed by Brand Sentry to meet the unique needs and challenges facing today's manufacturers and merchants. We can work independently or as an extension of your security team.
Monday, December 14, 2009
The Netherlands Antilles and Aruba
Sheer and Associates has performed background checks in the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba for gaming industry suppliers seeking to do business there.
The Netherlands Antilles is a federation of five islands within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Curaçao and Bonaire are in the southern reaches of the Antilles chain of islands; Sint Maarten, Saba, and Sint Eustatius are in the northern part of the Antilles. Aruba was part of this federation until 1986 when it gained status apart within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Sint Maarten shares its island with the French Overseas Collectivity of Saint Martin. The closest Netherlands Antilles island to the United States is Sint Maarten; it is about 186 miles from Puerto Rico.
Here’s how the US State Department describes the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba:
Netherlands Antilles
Area: 960 sq. km. (597 sq. mi.); more than five times the size of Washington, DC; five islands divided geographically into the Windward Islands (northern) group (Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten) and the Leeward Islands (southern) group (Bonaire and Curaçao).
Cities: Capital--Willemstad (metropolitan).
Islands: Curaçao (pop. 137,094) Sint Maarten (38,959), Bonaire (11,537), Sint Eustatius (2,699), Saba (1,491).
Terrain: Generally hilly, volcanic interiors.
Climate: Tropical; ameliorated by northeast trade winds.
Aruba
Area: 180 sq. km. (112 sq. mi.).
Cities: Capital--Oranjestad.
Terrain: Flat with a few hills; scant vegetation.
Climate: Subtropical.
This is the State Department’s description of the islands’ political structure:
Netherlands Antilles
Aruba
The political structures of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba present certain challenges for Americans seeking to do business there. Sheer and Associates’ senior consultants for the Caribbean have years of experience there and are well situated to help our clients navigate the channels of government regulations there.
The Principal US officials in the federation are Consul General Timothy Dunn and Vice Consul James Hogan. The US Consulate for Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles is located at J.B. Gorsiraweg #1, Willemstad, Curaçao; tel. 599-9-461-3066, fax: 599-9-461-6489. It is open Monday-Friday, 8:00 am-5:00 pm. The email address is: acscuracao@state.gov
The State Department has issued no Travel Advisories or Warnings for Aruba or the Netherlands Antilles, but does warn about street crime, saying it could be a cause for concern for tourists.
For more on Aruba check http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/22491.htm and for the Netherlands Antilles check http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/22528.htm.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Americas Headlines: Miami Herald December 13
News about the Americas from The Economist Dec 12 Issue
Here are this week's political news blurbs about the America's from The Economist. (Website requires subscription.) In this week's issue you will also find stories about Paraguay's president, a very interesting poll on how Latin Americans view government, and a story about Amerindians in Canada.
Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, appeared to win a second term by a landslide, with exit polls giving him 61% of the vote and his Movement to Socialism party a two-thirds majority in Congress. The result will allow him to implement a new constitution granting new rights to indigenous peoples and to strengthen state control over the economy. See article
Venezuela’s government closed seven small banks and accused several of their owners of fraud. Some of those involved had close ties to leading figures in President Hugo Chávez’s regime. See article
Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderón, designated his finance minister, Agustín Carstens, as the next governor of the Bank of Mexico, the central bank. Ernesto Cordero, the social-development minister and a former aide to Mr Carstens, will be the new finance minister.
A court in Chile charged three people connected to the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet with poisoning Eduardo Frei Montalva, a former president, in 1982. Frei led the moderate opposition to the dictatorship. His son, the presidential candidate of the ruling Concertación coalition, faces a difficult election on December 13th.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
News about the Americas from Sunday, December 6 Miami Herald
Led by hoteliers, Haiti's private sector is fueling a wave of investment in a country long saddled with a bad rap for business.
CUBA Claim of Cuban racism rejected
Afro-Cubans responded to a letter from prominent African-Americans calling for an end to racism in Cuba.
HONDURAS U.S. 'disappointed' by vote against Zelaya
U.S. officials said they were 'disappointed' with the Honduran congress' vote against returning former President Manuel Zelaya to office.
LATEST NEWS
Saturday, December 5, 2009
News about the Americas from this week's Economist
Split decision
Porfirio Lobo of the opposition centre-right National Party won Honduras’scontroversial presidential election with 55% of the vote on a turnout of around 60%. The United States and four Latin American countries said they would recognise the result. Brazil and others said they would not because it legitimised a June coup which ousted Manuel Zelaya from the presidency. See article
In Uruguay’s presidential election, José Mujica, a former guerrilla of the centre-left Broad Front, defeated Luis Alberto Lacalle of the conservative National Party by 53% to 43%. Mr Mujica indicated that he would follow the generally moderate policies adopted by the outgoing Broad Front president, Tabaré Vázquez.
For more, visit The Economist. Subscription required.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Airport Security
Patrick Smith, a pilot who writes about airline and airport issues on Salon, reports on what appears to be some good news:
Erroll Southers, a former FBI agent, has been appointed by President Obama to lead the Transportation Security Administration. He replaces Kip Hawley, whose tenure fostered and entrenched some of the agency's worst policies. Southers' appointment has been welcomed by both industry and passenger groups, and he is widely seen as a likely advocate for sensible reform. TSA's screening rules are such a basket case of waste and folly that it's tough to be optimistic, but let's hope those observers are right.
Sheer and Associates founder and president, Tom Sheer, a former Assistant Director of the FBI himself, agrees with Smith's assessment and says that this appointment is a great step in the right direction. (Here's more on Southers.)
We at Sheer and Associates frequently fly back and forth between our two offices in Palm Beach, Florida and New York City and to various islands in the Caribbean, and, we are always surprised at what people are willing to put up with when going through security check points. Airport security is definitely in need of reform. It's not the fault of the TSA employees. As Smith writes, the problems stem from direction at the top. Many of the security reforms instituted since 9/11 are wasteful and ineffective. For example, some experts say the restrictions on carry-on liquids are basically useless, observing that the type of explosive that the would-be bombers in Britain plotted to make, need to be made in very stable, controlled conditions, conditions not to be found in an airliner's rest room. Many countries around the world see no need to restrict liquids and European countries are already planning on lifting the restrictions. Check Patrick Smith's website and security expert Bruce Schneier's website for more on airport security measures.
Sheer and Associates' Operations Director, Sean Sheer, recently received his Masters Degree in Protection Management at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. One of the topics he studied there was airport security. He says security at Ben Gurion airport in Israel is often cited as a model for the US to follow. We here at Sheer and Associates are not entirely sure that all of the protocols followed there would necessarily work in the US, but it is definitely worth learning more about what they do in Israel. Here's a traveler's take on his experience at Ben Gurion, here's an article from the Boston Globe about what the US can learn from Israeli efforts, and here's an article about behavior pattern recognition (not to be confused with racial profiling), a technique that is central to Ben Gurion airport's security measures.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Regional News Digests from this week's Economist magazine
Below you’ll find news digests about the Americas from this week’s The Economist (online access requires a subscription.) Also in this edition: longer articles about Ahmadinejad’s visit to South America and Venezuela’s attempts to mass produce cars.
“President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran visited South America. In Brazil he was hugged by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who called on Western nations to drop their threats of punishment over Iran’s nuclear programme but urged Iran to negotiate a ‘just and balanced’ solution that met the West’s concerns. In both Brazil and Venezuela, where he met Hugo Chávez, there were protests against his visit. See article
Canada’s government rejected allegations by one of its diplomats that detainees handed over to Afghan authorities by Canadian forces in 2006-07 were probably all tortured, and that the government may have tried to cover this up. See article
Argentina’s Congress passed a law approving the forced extraction of DNA from people suspected of having been stolen as babies from female prisoners of the 1976-83 military dictatorship, and given to army and police families.
Police in Peru claimed, to some scepticism, to have arrested members of a gang that murdered dozens of people to drain their body fat and sell it for use in cosmetics.”
Monday, November 30, 2009
The Bahamas
Sheer and Associates has been doing a considerable amount of work in The Bahamas in 2009. Since the beginning of the year we’ve worked on a number of projects there with Senior Consultant Jerry Forrester. Jerry, a former FBI Special Agent, served for more than twenty years as Supervisor of the Bureau's Caribbean Liaison Office. Since retiring from the FBI, he has spent more than a decade in private security and risk management, operating out of The Bahamas and Miami. Jerry has developed a unique understanding of how different Caribbean governments operate, especially concerning judiciaries and law enforcement. We look forward to doing more work with Jerry in the region. Please contact us if you have any investigative, security or government relations consulting needs in The Bahamas or the Caribbean Basin at large.
According to the State Department: “The Bahamas is a developed, English-speaking Caribbean nation composed of hundreds of islands covering a territory approximately the size of California. Tourism and financial services comprise the two largest sectors of the economy. Independent from the United Kingdom since 1973, The Bahamas is a Commonwealth nation with more than a century-old democratic tradition. The capital, Nassau, is located on New Providence Island.”
The Bahamas is very close, geographically, to the US. The distance from Fort Lauderdale, FL to Nassau is a little more than 180 miles. However there are many islands that lie much closer to the US. For example, the Bahamian island of Bimini is only 61 miles from Fort Lauderdale.
The State Department has issued no recent travel advisories or travel warnings for The Bahamas. Though the department does caution visitors about the nation’s high crime rate. Jerry Forrester agrees with the State Department’s assessment, saying that street crime in The Bahamas is at an all time high.
For more information about The Bahamas visit the US Embassy website. The State Department Inspector General conducted a limited scope audit of the Embassy in 2007 and published its report in 2008.
Finally, The Bahamas’ tourism site also has a good deal of useful information for anyone planning on visiting.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Miami Herald's Coverage of the Americas
The Miami Herald, not surprisingly, has good coverage of the Americas, although it’s a little heavy, understandably, on Cuba and Haiti. This Sunday most of the news however is about Honduras and its elections. Here are some highlights of what you’ll find in the Herald's Americas section on November 29:
LATEST NEWS
Monday, November 23, 2009
Political Coverage in The Economist
One thing we're struck by here at Sheer and Associates is how difficult it is to find good coverage of politics in the Americas here in the US. The Economist does a very good job of keeping us up-to-date on what's going on in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America. Each week, we'll post their political news digests. The Economist's website, www.economist.com, is accessible by subscription only.
Here are the items from the November 21st edition:
Here are the items from the November 21st edition:
Repositioning
The two sides in the political stand-off in Honduras moved further apart. Manuel Zelaya, the ousted president, said he would not accept any deal to restore him to office if this happened after an election due on November 29th. But the head of the country’s Congress said it would not vote on whether or not to reinstate Mr Zelaya until December.
Peru’s president, Alan García, cancelled a meeting with his Chilean counterpart, Michelle Bachelet, after his government said it had arrested one of its own air force subalterns on suspicion of spying for Chile. The two countries are at odds over their maritime boundary.
Brazil’s Supreme Court found that Cesare Battisti, a former member of a far-left group, could be extradited to Italy where he was convicted of murder. But the court said the final decision lay with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who last year granted him refugee status.
Friday, November 20, 2009
The Dominican Republic
One of the things Sheer and Associates is going to use this blog for is to take a look at the some of the areas of the world where we offer services.
We’re going to start with the Dominican Republic. We’ve done a fair amount of work there over the last few years, most of it due diligence for Las Vegas-based gaming concerns that want to do business there. Sheer and Associates has an investigator based in the capital, Santo Domingo. Thomas Sheer is well acquainted with the country, having spearheaded a number of charitable projects there during his years with the Knights of Malta.
The Dominican Republic (DR) covers the eastern two-thirds of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. It shares the island with Haiti; Hispaniola lies roughly 70 miles west of Puerto Rico. The Dominican Republic is the second-largest Caribbean country after Cuba by population and area. Santo Domingo is located on the south coast of the island. The DR is a popular tourist destination and facilities there vary according to price and location. Spanish is the official language. Though English is widely spoken in major cities and tourist areas, it is much less common outside these areas. There is a large Dominican population in the United States; in the last census 1.6 million people identified themselves as Dominican. Most immigrants from the DR to the US settle in the Northeast, with half of those living in New York City.
The State Department has issued no travel warnings for the Dominican Republic. Click: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1103.html for the latest on Department Travel Warnings.
The State Department does however warn about street crime there, saying it is especially a problem for tourists. For more on crime in the DR click: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1103.html#crime . The State Department also cautions visitors to the Dominican Republic against overland travel to neighboring Haiti.
For more information on the Dominican Republic, please visit the US Embassy website: http://santodomingo.usembassy.gov/. For an interesting look at the inner workings of the embassy read the State Department’s Inspector General’s report: http://oig.state.gov/lbry/reporthighlights/54105.htm. For tourism information visit the official Dominican tourism website: http://www.godominicanrepublic.com/.
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