"Remain in Mexico" sustained pending Supreme Court (March 5, 2020)

News Briefs

Migration

• A U.S. federal court granted the U.S. Trump administration’s request to keep the “Remain in Mexico” restrictions in effect until March 11, for review by the Supreme Court. However, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed its decision last week that the policy violates both United States and international law, stating that the policy is causing "extreme and irreversible harm," reports the New York Times. (See Monday's briefs.) If the Supreme Court does not grant the government’s request to take up its appeal of the Ninth Circuit’s injunction, the appeals court’s original decision will take effect on March 12.

• A few years into the Venezuela migration crisis, the case of Roraima in Brazil has had mixed results. The state has actually had some economic growth in the midst of the influx of migrants, but also increases in poverty. In fact, "the research suggests that the state’s increase in tax revenues is on a par with the additional costs of these and other services provided to the Venezuelans," writes João Jarochinski Silva at the AULA blog. However Roraima state will need new resources to accommodate greater influx of migrants, he warns.

Venezuela

• Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro bizarrely urged women to have six children as a response to the country's crushing socio-economic crisis. Food and medical shortages are widespread -- and Unicef estimated child malnutrition at 13 percent. Women's rights groups took the suggestion poorly, reports the Guardian.
  
• "The ever more brazen attacks on opposition concentrations and marches would seem to be aimed at undermining Guaidó’s ability to re-mobilize the population," according to the Venezuela Weekly. The opposition leader has called for a new opposition march to the Legislative Palace on March 10.

• The Maduro government insists that there are no people detained for political reasons in the country --  Venezuela Weekly. 

Honduras

• Allegations by U.S. prosecutors that Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández took a $25,000 bribe years ago from an alleged cocaine trafficker now in federal custody could complicate the relationship between the two countries, reports the Washington Post. (See yesterday's post.)

Brazil

• Government spending cuts and an investment slowdown in Brazil accompanied the country's slowest economic expansion in three years in 2019, reports the Wall Street Journal.

• Twitter is testing tweets that disappear after 24 hours -- fleets -- in Brazil, reports the Associated Press.

• Anti-democracy demonstrations planned for later this month in Brazil has triggered a counter-call for a boycott against companies or businesses whose owners support President Jair Bolsonaro -- Guardian.

Feminismos

• Mexican feminists are outraged at President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's failure to tackle the country's "femicide emergency," reports the Guardian.

• Argentine feminists are expectant that Congress could legalize abortion this year -- which would be an achievement of decades of activism that in recent years have shifted public discourse in the country. But the stakes are high for the entire region -- one of the most dangerous in the world for women, writes Estefanía Pozzo in a New York Times Español op-ed.

Easter Island

• A pickup truck crashed into one of Easter Island's famous stone statues, known as moai -- Guardian.

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

Latin America Daily Briefing