While a vast swath of Latin America exists in the grip of extreme poverty, former President Bill Clinton seems to have had no problem rustling up nearly $2 million in speaking fees in the region since he left office — paid out by various organizations representing the elite business classes of nations such as Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia.

And a good share of the money awarded to former President Clinton for espousing his pecuniary vision of the world on the Latin American stage was doled out by organizations that benefited from policies he pursued while president of the USA.

The proof is in the trail of money.

And to follow that trail, we examined Hillary Clinton’s Senate Financial Disclosure reports for the period of 2001-2007. Those reports include a listing of speaking engagements her husband accepted over that timeframe.

Hillary Clinton's lack of a positive track record on human rights, particularly as it relates to Latin America, might not be her only problem if she gets the Secretary of State appointment.

President-elect Barack Obama, by going that route, as mainstream media reports seem to indicate is under consideration, might very well be writing off any credibility he hopes to establish in addressing the mounting violence of the drug war, given the baggage the Clintons, including Hillary specifically, carry on that front.

You would have to wonder who in Latin America would take any Obama effort to address narco-trafficking seriously should Hillary be the point person, as head of State, in carrying out such an initiative.

Larry Summers has emerged within the media speculation machine as one of the leading candidates for the post of Secretary of Treasury. If he assumes that position under the Barack Obama presidency, he will undoubtedly play a key role in helping to manage the nation out of its current economic crisis.

Summers, no doubt, has the background in economics to deal with that mission, but it is worth noting that while he served in a leadership role in the Treasury Department under the Clinton administration, the agency chalked up a less-than-stellar record on civil rights issues, particularly with respect to Hispanic employees of the U.S. Customs Service then under the department’s umbrella.

Celerino “Cele” Castillo III, a former DEA agent who played a key role in exposing the U.S. government’s role in narco-trafficking as part of the Iran/Contra scandal, is now a discredited man.

At least that is what the office of U.S. Attorney Johnny “House of Death” Sutton in San Antonio, Texas, who is a “dear friend” of President George W. Bush, would like us to believe. The black mark now affixed to Castillo’s reputation courtesy of Sutton’s office, however, is a thin conceit on the eve of a presidential election that is expected to usher in a sea change in American politics that might well lead to a re-examination of Castillo’s revelations — which also were supported and advanced by legendary investigative journalist Gary Webb and a host of congressional inquiries in subsequent years.

“United States Attorney Johnny Sutton announced that in San Antonio yesterday [Oct. 22], 58-year-old former Drug Enforcement Administration agent Celerino “Cele” Castillo, III, of McAllen, Texas, was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison for his role in dealing firearms without a license,” states a press release issued recently by Sutton’s office.

A review of expenditures by the John McCain presidential campaign reveals several odd expenses that raise important questions about the candidate's efforts to bill himself as a populist and reformer - and point to possible Federal Election Campaign Act violations.

In July, the very month in which the odd expenses show up on McCain's financial disclosure report to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), McCain rolled out a new campaign slogan: "Reform - Prosperity - Peace."

This is a bit off track for me, posting blog style. But I couldn’t resist weighing in on the latest flap in the pres race, when it turned to home ownership.

You see, I admit to being a homeowner — family and all. And my property taxes are, well, a pain in the posterior of my existence. But I pay them willingly (or they would take my house) in the belief, naively so, maybe, that the schools, city and county services they help to fund are important to fostering a better community.

Two things that tick me off on that front are fraud, waste and abuse on the part of the government entities collecting the taxes; and folks who find ways to skimp or otherwise cheat out paying their fair share. I don’t think I’m alone in that inclination.

See Part I of this story here:

The connection between former Kyrgyzstan president Askar Akayev and John McCain may seem oblique by the shallow, personality-driven reporting standards that dominate coverage of a presidential election. But dig a bit deeper, and that connection proves far from superficial.

The Friends of the Border Patrol (FOBP), a nonprofit law-enforcement advocacy group, has filed a complaint with a Congressional committee calling for an ethics investigation into the activities of U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas.

The source of information for Narco News coverage of the FARC hostage rescue carried out on July 2 provided a few more details today about the operation that help to explain the images in the video released in Colombia over the weekend.

In that video, a large number of armed FARC rebels are seen in the background as the hostages line up to be handcuffed with plastic ties. The handcuffing of the hostages was reported to Narco News by the source prior to the release of the video, adding credence to the source's claims to date.

Congressman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, found himself in hot water recently after his office prompted a federal law enforcement agency, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), to assist in the rescue of his kidnapped relative — a Mexican citizen abducted in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.