Pro-Bukele protest small (Feb. 17, 2020)

A few hundred protesters gathered, briefly, outside of El Salvador's National Assembly yesterday, to pressure lawmakers into accepting a loan to finance a security program. President Nayib Bukele occupied the National Assembly last week, accompanied by armed military troops, and suggested that he would call on citizens to pressure lawmakers yesterday. But Bukele was not publicly involved in yesterday's protest, which El Diario de Hoy characterized the protest as "ephemeral."

Instead the gathering was lead by Bukele supporter Walter Araujo, who assured El Faro that there were 7,000 people present. Araujo gave lawmakers a new 14-day "deadline" to approve the loan, promising renewed pressure if there are no advances.

Ahead of the protest, the U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, Ronald Johnson, called for institutional respect, and warned that calls to violence or destruction of property by protesters would be damaging to the country. (El Faro, El Diario de Hoy)

 

More from El Salvador

• International response has been insufficient, according to Human Rights Watch Americas Director José Miguel Vivanco. "It has been disappointing to see only mumbled remonstrance from foreign powers and international institutions that could curb Mr. Bukele’s authoritarian plunge," he wrote in a New York Times op-ed from last Friday. "The O.A.S. should call for an urgent meeting under the Democratic Charter, which aims to protect the separation of powers, to deal with this blatant attempt to undermine the rule of law. O.A.S. member states should react consistently to this type of outburst, regardless of the political ideology or popular support of our leaders. Their silence could be interpreted as tacit support. They should not normalize President Bukele’s brazen attacks on democratic institutions. There should be no room for double standards."

• The issue is not separation of powers, writes Bukele in response to a Washington Post editorial from last week. "Let me be clear: I respect the separation of powers, and anyone who suggested I was using our security forces for anything other than to protect the safety and integrity of the National Assembly is misreporting the truth."

• The scenes last week in El Salvador were particularly shocking in a country where the memories of the 1979-1992 civil war between US-backed military dictatorships and leftist guerrillas are still vivid, according to the Guardian's analysis.

News Briefs

Haiti

• At least 17 Haitian children died in a fire that burned through an orphanage in a Port-au-Prince suburb. Babies and toddlers were among the dead along with children around the ages of 10 or 11. About another 60 children made it out of the home, according to UNICEF. Authorities believe the flames could have been started by a burning candle, in the midst of particularly severe power outages. The institution was run by a U.S. Christian group that lost accreditation years ago. The case has raised questions about the proliferation of non-registered institutions -- there are 754 orphanages running in the country, only 35 are accredited by the government. Firefighters took 90 minutes to arrive, and rescue workers arrived at the scene on motorcycles and did not have bottled oxygen or the ambulances needed to transport the children to the hospital. (Guardian, New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, Reuters)

Dominican Republic

• Municipal elections in the Dominican Republic were suspended four hours after voting began, yesterday, due to a problem with the electronic voting system. More than 7.4 million voters were due to vote to elect 3,849 positions in 158 municipalities across the country. The failure of the system is likely to raise concerns ahead of the May 17 presidential elections. Electoral officials said they would meet with political party leaders in the coming days to set a new date for elections.  (BBC, Associated Press, Reuters)

Costa Rica

• An indigenous tribe leader in Costa Rica was wounded in a gun attack. Mainor Ortiz Delgado, who was shot for the third time in 14 months, has been at the fore of efforts to reclaim his community's ancestral lands. Bribri people attempting to recoup lost land have been subject to dozens of violent attacks, racist harassment and trumped-up retaliatory lawsuits with almost total impunity, reports the Guardian.

Venezuela

• The harassment faced by Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó last week upon returning to the country (see last Wednesday's post) "are similar to the “spontaneous” actos de repudio that the Cuban government has used against dissidents for decades," wrote David Smilde and Dimitris Pantoulas the most recent Venezuela Weekly. "They are at a low enough level to avoid strong international condemnation, but have been remarkably effective at keeping activists isolated and off balance."

• The Bolivarian Armed Forces finished military exercises this weekend. Strategic Operational Commander Remigio Ceballos said the military remains on alert to incursions on Venezuelan territory, reports Efecto Cocuyo.

• Venezuelan vice president Delcy Rodríguez called Guaidó a traitor to the homeland, in an interview with José Vicente Ranguel. (Efecto Cocuyo)

• The Guardian's Tom Phillips talks about his journey through the crisis-hit country and how the worst effects are being felt by children, in this podcast. Hospitals are falling into disrepair, schools are being repeatedly looted and some parents have fled the country, leaving their children behind.

• In a written piece in the Guardian, he writes about on the dire straights of Venezuela's school system, within the generalized national economic crisis.

Mexico

• Dozens of women's rights activists splashed Mexico's presidential palace with red paint in a heated Valentines day protest against government inaction regarding femicides, reports the Guardian. The assassination of a 25-year-old woman last week, Ingrid Escamilla, who stabbed to death, cut up and partially skinned, was the trigger for the latest protest. Though violence against women is disturbingly common in Mexico, the gruesome death was illustrated with lurid tabloid photographs, generating pushback from activists, reports the Washington Post.

• Cancer medication shortages are an unintended consequence of Mexico's efforts to revamp the country’s public health system, crack down on waste and theft in the government’s annual $5 billion in drug purchases, and challenge entrenched monopolies in the domestic pharmaceutical industry, reports the Wall Street Journal. 

Brazil

• Brazilian journalist Leo Veras was assassinated last week, in the border town of Ponta Porã near Paraguay. He was likely targeted for his work writing about the drug trade, reports the Washington Post.

• Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro appointed an army general to take over as chief of staff tomorrow, the latest in a string of military cabinet members, reports the Wall Street Journal.

• Bolsonaro has also named Sergio Camargo to head the government institute in charge promoting and preserving the cultural, historic, social and economic values of black society in Brazil. The appointment is controversial as Camargo, a journalist, denies the existence of a real racism problem in Brazil, reports the BBC.

• Murders in Rio de Janeiro have dropped, but killings by police are at the highest levels since the 1990s -- an average of five people a day are killed by officers, reports Al Jazeera.

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

Latin America Daily Briefing