Mexico's women to strike (Feb. 27, 2020)

Mexican activists are gearing up for a massive women's strike on March 9. Tensions have been simmering for months, and a recent spate of gruesome femicides -- and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's infelicitous reaction -- have fueled an appetite for a high impact action. (See Feb. 19's post.) 

Though women's strikes have taken place in recent years in the region -- sometimes in response to gender violence as well -- this call aims to have women disappear from the public scene. March 8 is international women's day, and protests are expected in Mexico as well as around the world. And on March 9, women's rights activists are calling on women to simply stay home, reports the New York Times. 

Many business associations and companies are on board, and have promised not to penalize female employees who participate, as has Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum. This week the Supreme Court said women in the judicial system would be permitted to join, and the state governments of Jalisco, Oaxaca, Estado de México, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Michoacán, Colima, Estado de México, Nayarit, Querétaro, Durango and Aguascalientes are also on board. The education ministry has said teachers may join. Several political parties, the PRI, PRD, and Movimiento Ciudadano have also said they will join. Carmen Aristegui, a prominent journalist, and television presenters Pati Chapoy and Andrea Legarreta have promised to strike on March 9. (Infobae, Milenio, Infobae, Expansión, Reporte Indigo, Infobae) 

AMLO himself has said there will be no reprisals for federal government employees who join, but he has also continued his tone deaf response to women's rights activists by suggesting the strike might be politically motivated. He said that the "black hand" of conservatives is influential in the strike's organization. His wife, Beatriz Gutiérrez controversially said she would join and then later flipped her position and called for women to refrain from striking. (Jornada, Debate, Informador)

News Briefs

Dominican Republic

• Many Dominicans will celebrate their country's 176 independence day at demonstrations demanding greater monitoring and transparency for upcoming municipal and presidential elections. Protesters have taken to the streets with pots and pans since authorities cancelled a Feb. 16 municipal election due to glitches with electronic voting. Now citizens say they want the Dominican Republic's electoral board to resign, international and local monitoring of upcoming elections, and greater transparency from officials. (New York Times)

• Last Sunday a dozen opposition parties united in protest, in defense of democracy. (El País)

• Dominican President Danilo Medina will give his state of the union speech today, closing his second and final term as head of state. Presidential elections will take place in May. (Dominican Today)

Human Rights

• "Inequality, corruption, violence, environmental degradation, impunity and the weakening of institutions continued to be a common reality across the Americas, resulting in daily human rights violations for millions of people," according to the new Amnesty International annual report on Human Rights in the Americas. (Full Report)

• The persistence of high rates of violence, homicides and femicides, as well as discrimination, profound inequality, environmental degradation and exploitation, together with institutional weakening, corruption and impunity, show that Latin American governments are not capable of meeting their citizen's needs and demands, writes Amnesty International's Americas Director, Erika Guevara-Rosas in the Post Opinión.

Brazil

• The first known case of Corona virus in Latin America was confirmed yesterday: São Paulo man who returned recently from a business trip to Italy. Brazilian officials were scrambling to identify the other passengers on his flight, reports the New York Times.

• Far-right demonstrators are planning massive protests in Brazil on March 15 -- and some are even proposing a return to military rule. President Jair Bolsonaro has provoked critics by sharing a video promoting the protests on his personal Whatsapp account. (Guardian)

• Damares Alves heads the Brazilian ministry for women and family. Alves has promoted abstinence to combat teen pregnancies and has pushed for a full abortion ban. She is reviled by progressives, but has grown widely popular among poorer voters -- a sign of Brazil's cultural shift to the right, reports the Wall Street Journal.

• Accelerating deforestation under the Bolsonaro administration has sparked violence in the Amazon, where indigenous communities are conservation's strongest advocates, reports the Conversation.

• A group of Brazilian lawyers, Projeto Liberdade, have teamed up to defend victims of grave human rights violations, including emblematic cases of security force violence like the Massacre de Paraisópolis, last year. (Ponte)

Guyana

• The World Bank is under fire for a $55 million loan to aid fossil fuel extraction in Guyana, at the same time that it has pledged to stop direct funding of oil and gas production, reports the Guardian.

Bolivia

• Human trafficking is largely unchecked in Bolivia, according to a new report by the country's Ombudsman’s Office. (InSight Crime)

El Salvador

• Inhumane conditions and overcrowding in Salvadoran prisons -- Washington Post photo-essay by Thiago Dezan.

Cuba

• Cuba's government has gone from prohibiting internet to profiting -- economically and politically -- from it in just a few short years, writes El Estornudo director Abraham Jiménez Enoa in the Post Opinión.

Colombia

• Pushed by adverse climate change effects, some Colombian farmers are learning to work with nature, reports Reuters.

Paraguay

• Brazilian journalist Lourenço “Leo” Veras was killed by armed men last week in Paraguay, apparently in retaliation for coverage of organized crime in the two countries' border region. Journalist assassinations are rare in Paraguay, but far from negligible, and Reporters without Borders has raised concerns about a “worrying lack of progress” in ensuring the protection of journalists operating in the country. (InSight Crime)

• The long-lasting impact of the War of the Triple alliance on Paraguay is mind-boggling. The country lost two-thirds of its population and much of its territory 150 years ago, and has never really recovered, reports the Guardian.

Did I miss something, get something wrong, or do you have a different take? Let me know ...   Latin America Daily Briefing

Latin America Daily Briefing