Haiti's crisis deepens (Feb. 9, 2021)

 Haiti's constitutional crisis deepened yesterday, as opposition parties declared Supreme Court Judge Joseph Mécène Jean-Louis as interim president. The move came just a day after President Jovenel Moïse said he foiled a coup plot and detained 23 people, including another Supreme Court judge, Yvcikel Dabresil. (See yesterday's post.)

Neither side agrees when Moïse's legal term in office ends -- critics say it ended on Sunday, while Moïse maintains his mandate lasts another year. The dispute has added to a long-term political crisis. Moïse dissolved parliament in January 2020 and has been ruling by decree ever since. Critics accuse Moïse of amassing more power in recent months, reports the Associated Press. There has been periodic social unrest against the government, particularly in relation to corruption. And this year there is increasing anger about a spate of kidnappings and gang violence that human rights groups link to the government. 

Haiti’s executive branch, consisting of the president, prime minister and ministers, published a decree announcing three Supreme Court judges who were approached by the opposition to replace Moïse as president are to be retired. Haiti’s military on Monday said it was concerned about political events but appeared to back Moïse, reports Reuters.

The current crisis is an early foreign policy test for U.S. President Joe Biden, reports the Washington Post. The State Department under Biden, the United Nations and the Organization of American States have backed Moïse’s view of his departure date. But a group of U.S. lawmakers, meanwhile, has joined the opposition in demanding Moïse step down.

Jean-Louis said he had been picked by the opposition to be interim president in a short video released early Monday morning. He has not been recognized by Moïse or the international community, however.

Opposition leader Andre Michel told CNN that Jean-Louis was picked "after a broad consultation between the plural opposition and the militant civil society." He said a transitional government would be responsible for forming a sovereign national conference with the participation of civilians and for investigating numerous massacres that have taken place in Haiti.

News Briefs

Migration

• Colombian President Iván Duque announced yesterday that Venezuelan migrants who fled an economic collapse at home, an estimated 1.7 million in Colombia, can legally stay in the country for 10 years if they register with the authorities. The decision was hailed by the head of the U.N. Refugee Agency, Filippo Grandi, as “historic” and “the most important humanitarian gesture” in the region in decades. (New York Times)

• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) deported at least 72 people to Haiti yesterday. The group included a two-month-old baby and 21 other children, in an apparent flagrant breach of the U.S. Biden administration’s orders only to remove suspected terrorists and potentially dangerous convicted felons, reports the Guardian. 

• Ice is facing a rising chorus of denunciation as a “rogue agency” for its apparent refusal to abide by the new guidelines laid down by Biden and his homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, reports the Guardian. (See yesterday's briefs.)

• Biden is ending the so-called “safe third country” agreements signed by his predecessor that allowed the U.S. to send some asylum-seekers to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The agreement with Guatemala was implemented, while those with Honduras and El Salvador weren't. Their cancellation is an important step in Biden’s effort to undo much of the Trump administration’s immigration policy, reports the Wall Street Journal. (Also see Reuters.)

• Not a single one of the 945 asylum-seekers deported to Guatemala under the agreement with the U.S. received formal refuge there, according to a recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee report. (Washington Post)

Ecuador

• Ecuador's electoral council will take a few days to determine the second-place winner of Sunday's presidential elections, who will face off against first-place candidate Andrés Arauz in an April 11 runoff vote. (El Comercio)

El Salvador

• The U.S. Biden administration turned down a meeting request with El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, who was on an unannounced trip to Washington last week. Bukele's trip came after a senior White House official warned in an interview with El Faro that the Biden administration expected to have “differences” with him, reports the Associated Press. In rejecting Bukele’s request, the Biden officials wanted to ensure Bukele didn’t try to tout any meeting as a show of support before legislative elections later this month where he’s seeking to expand his power base, according to AP sources.

• Washington lobbyist Robert Stryk continued working for El Salvador’s government even after Bukele claimed he had annulled a $450,000 contract, reports the Associated Press.

• A year after Bukele led a brief military takeover of El Salvador's National Assembly building, Revista Factum and El Diario de Hoy take a deep look at the episode in a miniseries.

• Expectations were low for an international anti-corruption commission created by Bukele in 2019. But the International Commission against Corruption and Impunity in El Salvador (CICIES), with its strong team of national and international judges, investigators and auditors, has shown it has teeth, write Noah Bullock and Charles Call in Americas Quarterly. A coalition of civil society organizations presented a bill that would give CICIES greater autonomy and expanded capacity. "El Salvador now stands at a crossroads. If the proposed legislation is not passed and the Commission’s dependence on the executive is not resolved, it may well become a politicized tool for undermining the rule of law."

Venezuela

• U.S. sanctions have likely contributed to Venezuela's economic deterioration and have caused obstacles for humanitarian workers, according to an assessment by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, requested by Democratic lawmakers. But the report did not quantify a figure and noted that there were plenty of other factors behind Venezuela's economic collapse, including mismanagement by the government. (AFP)

• "The Maduro government is consolidating its control over Venezuelan society. This does not sound like a promising context for negotiation, and indeed face-to-face negotiations between the opposition and the regime seem unlikely," WOLA Senior Fellow David Smilde told the Latin America Advisor. "However, there is an opportunity for the United States to engage the Maduro government directly and negotiate sanctions for democratic openings."

Honduras

• U.S. prosecutors are investigating Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, according to a new court filing. Federal prosecutors accused Hernández, who has been president since 2014, of using Honduran law enforcement and military officials to protect drug traffickers as part of a plan “to use drug trafficking to help assert power and control in Honduras,” reports Reuters.

Brazil

• Ten Yanomami children died from Covid-19 in January, fueling fears over the disproportionate impact the coronavirus is having on vulnerable indigenous communities in the Brazilian Amazon, reports the Guardian.

• Brazil is preparing a fresh round of emergency cash transfers to millions of poor and vulnerable people, President Jair Bolsonaro said yesterday. (Reuters)

• OECD’s environmental policy committee canceled a planned discussion this week about upgrading Brazil’s status in the group, after committee members received a letter from Human Rights Watch with questions about Bolsonaro’s environmental policies, according to Folha de S. Paulo.

• Rather than help eradicate corruption, Brazil's famed "Operation Car Wash" contributed to the country's current chaos, argues Gaspard Estrada in a New York Times Español op-ed. (The investigative unit was formally disbanded last week, see last Thursday's briefs.)

• Three trans officials in São Paulo have recently been targeted with violent threats, indicating a dangerous backlash in response to elections last year in Brazil, in which 48 LGBT+ city councillors were elected. Specifically, 25 trans politicians were elected, an increase of 212 per cent compared to the previous local elections in 2016, reports Pink News.

• An association of private clinics is angling to close a deal to bring 5 million shots for private sale in Brazil, sparking backlash from some public health experts and igniting debate on social media, editorial pages and talk shows, reports the Associated Press.
  

Bolivia

• A fierce second wave of the coronavirus has overwhelmed Bolivian funeral homes and cemeteries, reports Reuters.
  

Regional

• The pandemic created greater food insecurity. Now an increase in global food prices adds to the pressures Latin American government's face, according to the Latin America Risk Report.

• Access to fresh water has become a regular flashpoint throughout Latin America, particularly in its largest cities, and threatens to trigger tensions and even war. Sixteen of the region’s 20 largest cities are experiencing water-related “stress,” and three of its largest – Sao Paulo, Lima, and Mexico City – are in danger of running out of water completely in the near future, writes Robert Albro at the AULA blog.

• The pandemic has raised the stakes of the U.S. and China's geopolitical battle for influence in Latin America, reports Time Magazine.

• Guyana abruptly terminated an agreement with Taiwan to open an office in the South American country, hours after China urged Georgetown to “correct their mistake," reports Reuters.

• The International Monetary Fund risks having to renegotiate its second multi-billion dollar loan in Latin America in as many years following Ecuador’s presidential election -- both the front-runner candidates criticized the tax increases and spending cuts required as part of a $6.5 billion loan signed with the lender last year. (Bloomberg)

• IMF officials said Argentina’s goal to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a new program by May 2021 is ambitious, reports Bloomberg. Argentina is negotiating a new program with the IMF to push out payments on $45 billion the country owes the institution from a previous deal.

• Latin America's economic recovery will remain uneven and at risk unless governments take control of the pandemic and COVID-19 cases decrease, warned the IMF yesterday. (Al Jazeera)

• The Biden administration is closely following developments in Brazil with regard to human rights and the environment, but aims to keep strengthening U.S. economic ties and trade with the South American country, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said yesterday. (Reuters)
  

Bottoms up

• If you're thinking about a Brazilian Butt Lift, please keep in mind that it's the world's most dangerous cosmetic surgery -- Guardian Long Read.

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