Guatemalan migration authorities permitted an international corruption investigator to reenter the country yesterday, after a tense 26 hour standoff in defiance of Guatemala's highest court. Colombian national Yilen Osorio, an investigator with the U.N. backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) was detained on Saturday by migration authorities in the international airport. They were acting in response to a government directive from December, that prohibited the reentry of 11 CICIG investigators for reasons of national security. But a Constitutional Court decision immediately invalidated that decision, meaning Osorio should have been allowed into Guatemala.
The standoff was resolved yesterday when the Constitutional Court ordered Osorio's release within the hour, threatening the migration director with immediate termination otherwise. The CC did not mention Foreign Minister Sandra Jovel nor Government Minister Enrique Degenhart, who have led the moves against the CICIG.
It's the latest in a series of escalating attacks by the Morales government against the CICIG, which has been shielded by the Constitutional Court. Yesterday attorney general Consuelo Porras sent more than 30 representatives and security personnel to the airport to protect Osorio and ordered the detention of two immigration officials who denied his entry. It's her first strong move in favor of the CICIG since assuming office last year .
Nómada calls the Morales administration's ongoing onslaught part of a "slow motion" coup as Guatemala heads into an electoral year and the president and close associates face accusations of corruption. Sixty-three organizations of civil society voiced concern over the situation yesterday, including Helen Mack and Rigoberta Menchu.
Civic groups protested his detention outside the airport yesterday. Anti-CICIG demonstrators also gathered during the day.
Morales appointee Judge Dina Ochoa dissented from yesterday's CC decision. There are rumors that the Supreme Court will be maneuvering against CC judges in retaliation for their decisions against Morales.
Jovel travelled last night to New York, where she is scheduled to meet with U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres later today. La Hora reports that the Guatemalan government plans to denounce the pact creating the CICIG.
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Battle lines ahead of Maduro's second inauguration in Venezuela
Pressure in Venezuela is intensifying ahead of President Nicolás Maduro's second swearing-in later this week. His reelection last May was considered illegitimate by the opposition and much of the international community.
On Friday the Lima Group, a coalition of mostly conservative governments from the region and Canada, urged Maduro to refrain from a second term and instead hand over power to the opposition controlled National Assembly as a first step to holding new, fairer elections, reports the Associated Press. The thirteen countries said they would not recognize Maduro's legitimacy in his second term. Though the U.S. is not part of the Lima Group, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo participated in Friday's meeting by video conference, reports the New York Times. Mexico abstained from the Lima Group declaration for the first time, a sign the López Obrador administration intends stick to a policy of non-intervention, and seeks a negotiated transition for Venezuela. (Miami Herald and El País)
The National Assembly started a new year of legislative sessions on Saturday. Opposition lawmakers chose 35-year-old Juan Guaidó of the Voluntad Popular party to lead the only state body considered independent from the executive power. About 20 foreign diplomats from the United States, Canada, Japan, Italy and Germany attended the assembly’s inaugural session in a show of solidarity, reports the Associated Press.
Guaidó said Maduro's second on Jan. 10 will mark a rupture of the constitutional order, and promised to create a "Transition Commission" to recover democracy in Venezuela. (Efecto Cocuyo)
The promise is vague, but could be a first step towards a democratic opposition group with the authority to negotiate an actual transition with Venezuela's power holders, write David Smilde and Abraham Lowenthal in The Hill. They note -- again -- that military intervention would be disastrous, though the option keeps coming up in discussions about Venezuela.
Maduro called for "civil-military union" ahead of Thursday's inauguration, and said yesterday that he is responding to a popular mandate. (Efecto Cocuyo)
The OAS called an extraordinary session of its permanent council to address the Venezuela situation on Thursday, and voiced support for Guaidó. (Efecto Cocuyo)
More from Venezuela
- A Supreme Court judge magistrate fled Venezuela ahead of the inauguration, saying he would not ratify Maduro's second term. Christian Zerpa had been a crucial Maduro ally in the court which has backed all of the government's controversial decisions in recent years. The Supreme Court said Zerpa had been accused of sexual harassment in November and referred to him as a "former magistrate." (Reuters and Efecto Cocuyo)
- Speaking from the U.S., Zerpa said Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores, is in control of the Venezuelan judiciary. He said the decision makers in Venezuela are Nicolás Maduro, Cilia Flores, Tareck El Aissami, Diosdado Cabello, Jorge Rodríguez and Delcy Rodríguez. (Efecto Cocuyo)
- Efecto Cocuyo notes that two lawmakers from the PSUV party attended Saturday's inaugural session, contrary to the ruling party line that holds the National Assembly in contempt.
- Without even soap, Venezuela's health care system is heading for total collapse warn experts. (Guardian)
News Briefs
Brazil
- It's going to take a couple of posts to catch up Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's first days in office -- more on that tomorrow. For now: Bolsonaro said he'd be open to hosting a U.S. military base to counter supposed Venezuelan influence in the region, reports the Associated Press. Brazil's armed forces were taken by surprise by the offer, and are not thrilled by the idea, according to Reuters.
- Attacks in Brazil's northern Ceará state have continued since Wednesday, despite the deployment of at least 300 members of the elite National Public Security Force. Officials believe the attacks on banks, public buildings and vehicles were ordered by powerful prison gangs in retaliation for new tighter rules for inmates. (Guardian)
- Rio de Janeiro governor Wilson Witzel will implement a shoot-to-kill security policy, and said the state needs a Guantánamo Bay style prison camp. Human rights activists warn the moves will likely worsen an already grave security situation. (Guardian)
- Two weeks after the U.S. announced a drastic change in immigration policy -- that asylum seekers will be kept in Mexico while awaiting adjudication -- Mexican officials remain in the dark over how the plan will be implemented, reports the Guardian. (See Dec. 21's post.)
Mexico
- Central American migrants hoping to reach the U.S. are settling into Mexico for the medium term. As they await asylum appointments in the U.S. 2,200 have applied for humanitarian visas in Mexico, reports the New York Times.
- Testimony at the New York trial of Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán seems to indicate points of contact between Mexico's underworld and U.S. law enforcement agencies, reports the New York Times. Former Sinaloa heir apparent Vicente Zambada Niebla also alleged that a senior military officer in the Mexican defense ministry and a member of former president Vicente Fox’s security team – were accomplices of the Sinaloa cartel, reports the Guardian.
Cuba
- The more that is known about Havana Syndrome, the more mysterious it gets. The latest? The sounds that U.S. and Canadian diplomats posted in Cuba heard before suffering a variety of severe physical symptoms were recordings of crickets. (New York Times and Guardian)
Juntas nos defendemos
- A campaign pushing back against sexual abuse in Argentina demonstrates the power of collective action against machista culture, and the growing muscle of Argentina's feminist groups. In a New York Times Español op-ed I argue that they are demonstrating intertwined nature of the -- apparently diverse -- issues of femicide, abortion, sexual harassment, and gender equality. They are all part of a struggle to control female bodies, a battle that intensifies as women successfully demand and obtain more liberties.
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