Amazon fires on track to surpass last year's (July 20, 2020)

Amazon fires may be worse than last year's, and deforestation in Brazil is set to far outpace that of 2019. Nearly 3,000 square miles of tree coverage were lost in the 11 months ended June 30, according to preliminary numbers from Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research. That is a 64% increase from the same period a year earlier, when 1,772 square miles of forest were destroyed, reports the Wall Street Journal. Brazil saw more fires in the Amazon this June than in any year since 2007. 

The Bolsonaro administration has systematically dismantled environmental regulations, but the government -- under pressure from the international community and the private sector -- has promised to crack down on fires this year. Nonetheless, official data shows the Brazilian government’s efforts so far this year have failed to bring results, reports the Guardian.

News Briefs

More Brazil

• Health workers sent by Brazil's government may have infected the country's remote Amazon indigenous communities with Covid-19, reports the New York Times. More than 15,500 Indigenous Brazilians have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, including at least 10,889 living in protected territories, and the health workers, who lacked access to tests and protective equipment, may have been the vectors of the disease. 

• Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said that lockdown measures used to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus “kill” and have “suffocated” the country’s economy, reports Reuters.

• The case of five-year-old Miguel, a black child who died last month under the care of his mother's white employer, has become a rallying point for debates about race in Brazil and activists pushing for improved domestic work regulation. The two issues are completely intertwined, reports TIME magazine: “There are so many elements of our past in this case, in the structures that [underpin] it,” journalist Bianca Santana told the magazine “If you time-traveled to Brazil today from the 19th century, the race relations would look very similar.”

• The pandemic may provide a unique opportunity to push through ambitious economic reforms, according to the Financial Times.

• Former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said the U.S. is pushing Brazil into warlike conflict with Venezuela, reports Telesur, and objected to Bolsonaro's subservient stance towards the U.S. administration. (See last Tuesday's briefs.)

Venezuela

• Venezuelan migrants returning home in the midst of coronavirus lockdowns in the region have been characterized as a "biological weapon" by President Nicolás Maduro. The government's strategy is potentially heightening the problem by containing returnees in quarantine centers where the coronavirus is actually spreading, reports the Washington Post.

• Fuel remains scarce in Venezuela, despite an Iranian oil shipment last month, reports AFP.

Nicaragua

• High profile Covid-19 deaths in Nicaragua point to a devastating coronavirus reality that the government is not publicly acknowledging, reports the New York Times. Public officials of the governing Sandinista party have been particularly hard hit due to President Daniel Ortega’s haphazard and politicized response to the pandemic, according to some specialists.

• Though the government has consistently downplayed the coronavirus threat, Ortega and vice president Rosario Murillo, his wife, wore face masks at celebrations yesterday marking the 41st anniversary of the Sandinista revolution. The event at the Plaza de la Revolucion was limited to a small group of supporters, all young, and was not announced in advance, reports AFP. "We are celebrating this anniversary with some measures to protect life from an epidemic that has surprised" all countries, said Ortega.

• The U.S. imposed sanctions on Juan Carlos Ortega, the son of Nicaragua's president and vice president, on Friday. The Ortegas and two of their sons are already on the U.S. Treasury Department blacklist, reports the AFP.

Honduras

• Honduran journalist David Romero, known as a strong critic of President Juan Orlando Hernandez, died Saturday at a hospital of COVID-19 that he apparently contracted while in prison on a defamation sentence, reports the Associated Press. (See briefs for March 29, 2019 on Romero's arrest.) Defamation has since been decriminalized under a new law in Honduras that took effect in June, and Romero could have been eligible for release.

• Honduras' Covid-19 health efforts have been hampered by significant corruption in the country's health sector, reports InSight Crime. A government audit of the country's emergency supply procurement found that tens of millions of dollars were wasted -- a particularly egregious case was uncovered by the Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa (ASJ) which found that a $47 million purchase of seven mobile hospitals came at an excess cost of $12.3 million.

El Salvador

• Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said he would postpone the second phase of the country’s economic reopening, slated to begin Tuesday, reports Reuters.

Guatemala

• The battle over Guatemala's Supreme Court is "a colorful illustration of how systemic corruption is baked into the system and cripples efforts to strengthen the rule of law, ensure accountability in government, and fight corruption," writes Eric Olson in an article that looks at how corruption perpetuates itself in Central America -- Univisión. (See Friday's briefs, among others.)

Regional Relations

• OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro's second term will likely maintain his previous focus on driving political change in leftist countries that coincide with policy priorities of the United States and right-leaning governments in the hemisphere," writes Fulton Armstrong at the Aula Blog. While leftist governments in the region will likely resent the "tilt toward interventionism under Almagro ... fatigue and more compelling issues, such as the pandemic, probably will blunt challenges to his approach."

• Guyanese President David Granger said his administration rejected a U.S. request to use Guyana's medium wave radio frequencies to broadcast Voice of America programs to Venezuela, reports Demerara Waves. Granger said Guyana turned down the request because of security, health and political risks that Guyana could expose itself to with Venezuela which is claiming the Essequibo Region that makes up about two-thirds of this former British colony.

• A U.S. effort to stop Cuba's medical missions program -- in order to cut-off a major source of income for the island's government -- has the potential to strain U.S. relations with Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, writes Wazim Mowla at Global Americans.

Cuba

• Cuba for the first time in 130 days on Sunday said there were no new domestic cases of Covid-19, reports Reuters.

• Cuba will open foreign currency stores, where the U.S. dollar will be accepted, and will eliminate a ten percent tax on purchases in dollars -- part of an effort to battle the country's increasing economic crisis, reports the Miami Herald.

Suriname

• The election of a new president in Suriname is an important step to move past the tainted and violent legacy of longtime leader Desi Bouterse. Newly inaugurated President Chan Santokhi has a reputation for fighting crime, but there are real doubts over how much space he will have to maneuver in a country where the criminal infrastructure left behind by Bouterse is tightly woven through the country’s political and business elites, reports InSight Crime.

Bolivia

• Cochabamba residents are desperate to obtain chlorine dioxide, a toxic bleaching agent that has been falsely touted as a cure for Covid-19. In fact, the Bolivian health ministry warned that at least five people have died from ingesting the disinfectant, which Bolivia’s opposition-controlled congress is promoting, reports the Associated Press.

Haiti

• Haiti's judicial system must ensure justice for victims of the Raboteau massacre, warned U.S. officials after reports that Haitian former paramilitary leader Emmanuel “Toto” Constant could be released from jail, reports the Miami Herald. (See last Monday's briefs.)

Peru

• Peru passed 13,000 coronavirus deaths, the health ministry said yesterday. The country's hospitals are close to collapse as the number of patients continues to climb, but the country continues to loosen lockdown restrictions, reports AFP.

Argentina

• Fears of an outbreak of social unrest of the kind that Argentina suffered during the 2001 economic meltdown are misguided, Argentine President Alberto Fernández told the Financial Times in an interview. He insists that Argentina's latest offer to international creditors is the absolute most the country can offer. The Argentine president insisted that even if the bulk of creditors reject his proposal worth 53 cents on the dollar, “there is not going to be another offer”.

• Argentina announced a gradual loosening of the coronavirus lockdown that has affected parts of the country since March 20. Though infection rates are at record highs, the government is under pressure to lift tight restrictions, reports Reuters.

• The Wall Street Journal reports on a program that taps into know-how from logistics and auditing companies and local charities to feed Buenos Aires communities devastated by lockdowns.

• A former naval officer, charged with human rights crimes during Argentina’s bloody 1976-83 dictatorship, has been discovered living in Berlin, reports the Guardian.

Ecuador

• Ecuador's National Electoral council decided Sunday to suspend four political organizations, including the Fuerza Compromiso Social party of former president Rafael Correa, reports AFP.

• Investor groups are negotiating changes in Ecuador's newly announced debt restructuring deal, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Mexico

• Mexican authorities say they are investigating a video showing dozens of combat-uniformed gunmen posing with military-grade weapons and armored pickup trucks, some painted with the initials of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). The video appears to be a show of power for the increasingly powerful criminal group (see last Tuesday's post), but national security chief Alfonso Durazo cast doubt on the images' veracity, reports the Associated Press.

• A cannabis collective has cultivated a marijuana plantation with about 350 plants in the vicinity of Mexico's Senate, part of a demonstration in favor of marijuana consumer rights, reports EFE. Most were intentionally planted, but some sprouted after protesters threw cannabis seeds in park planters last year.

¡Feliz día del amigo!

Latin America Daily Briefing