Afghanistan seen from LatAm (Aug. 20, 2021)

Regional Relations

• "To many in Latin America’s diplomatic and foreign-policy communities, the dark events in Afghanistan confirmed the importance of the principle of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs," writes Catherine Osbourne in today's Latin America Brief. "Many Latin Americans stressed that methods other than military interventions should be used to work toward human rights, even as they acknowledged how challenging it can be to make progress."

• Several countries in the region signed a joint declaration with the European Union and the United States, calling on “those who occupy positions of power and authority throughout Afghanistan to guarantee” the protection of women and girls.

• Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico volunteered to accept some Afghan refugees, with priority for women, girls and human rights activists, reports Deutsche Welle.

• And James Bosworth analyzes the U.S. role in Afghanistan and asks "whether the tolerance for corrupt oligarchs in Latin America and the Caribbean simply allows them to profit off a mirage of governance that could tumble if given the right push," and analyzes whether Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández is the equivalent of Afghanistan's deposed President Ghani. (Latin America Risk Report) 

• For Jonathan Katz, Afghanistan and Haiti share a root cause of crisis: decades of direct U.S. control. "The longest continuous U.S. military occupation, until the record was surpassed in Afghanistan last year, had been in Haiti, which unlike other places the U.S. invaded and held for longer, was never formally colonized," he writes in The New Republic.

Haiti

• Many small Haitian communities affected by last weekend's earthquake have given up hope that the government will come to their assistance, reports the Miami Herald. "Many people in the isolated villages say it’s as if they’ve been forgotten." (See yesterday's post.)

• The crisis in Haiti has invited a lot of reflexion on how international aid fails to achieve its goals. (See yesterday's post.) Vox reports on how Haiti's current political crisis will make recovery from last weekend's earthquake more difficult. "Successful rebuilding requires a strong rule of law. Without it, there is nothing to hold both Haitian officials and nongovernmental organizations accountable."

Mexico

• Radio journalist Jacinto Romero Flores was shot and killed in Mexico's Veracruz state yesterday. (Associated Press)
  

Migration

• Hundreds of migrants, including children and babies, from Central America have been expelled further south by U.S. and Mexican officials, first by plane and then onward in buses towards El Ceibo. Many are not told where they are going, reports Reuters.
  

Cuba

• Aviva Chomsky pushes back against a slew of denunciations against "Leftist" tolerance in response to Cuba's repressed protests. "While we oppose the Cuban government’s crackdown on the protesters, we also believe that the Cuban government’s paranoia that sees the malevolent hand of the United States in every challenge to its policies is not really that far-fetched." (The Nation)

• Delta is ravaging Cuba, overwhelming its lauded health system, as well as the country's mortuaries and crematories, reports the New York Times.

Venezuela

• Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro named Felix Pasencia to head the country's foreign ministry, while the outgoing minister, Jorge Arreaza, will take over the industry and production ministry, in a cabinet shake-up that comes amid negotiations with the opposition meant to ease the country’s political deadlock, reports Al Jazeera.

Argentina

• Argentine President Alberto Fernández expanded his complaint about the illegal shipment of war material to Bolivia's interim government in 2019, after the ouster of then president Evo Morales, by former president Mauricio Macri. (Telesur)

• Argentina’s economy expanded more than expected in June as the government relaxed lockdown measures and ended an export dispute with beef producers, reports Bloomberg.
  

Caribbean

• A lack of coordinated policy and over-reliance on a one-size-fits-all trade structure have long hindered the development of the maritime transport infrastructure that Caribbean small island developing states need. The region’s current infrastructure, which carries more than 90 percent of its goods, is vulnerable to disruptions and inefficiencies, writes Ryan Sullivan at the Aula Blog.
  

Transnational Crime

• "Seizures of coltan in Colombia have shown the complex networks used by armed groups to smuggle the valuable mineral from illegal mines across the border in Venezuela," reports InSight Crime.

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