Moïse refuses to step down (Nov. 22, 2018)

Haitian President Jovenel Moïse refused to resign after four days of protests and a strike that have paralyzed the nation, telling demonstrators calling for his ouster that they will have to wait until the next election. The Miami Herald notes his combative rather than conciliatory tone in the pre-recorded speech. 

The opposition has rejected offers to share power with the administration. Moïse also backed down from a plan that would cede many of his responsibilities to recently appointed Prime Minister Jean Henry Céant.

Yesterday a Haitian government car crashed into a group of people, reportedly killing at least six and further inflaming unrest in Port-au-Prince. (Al Jazeera and Associated Press)

(See Tuesday's post.)

News Briefs

Mexico

• Mexican president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador wants to continue a process of citizen consultation, and will ask Mexicans to weigh in on a series of questions ranging from whether he should have a council of advisors from the business community, whether former presidents should be investigated for corruption, and the creation of a National Guard, reports Animal Político. (See yesterday's post on the National Guard internal security plan, and Oct. 30's post on AMLO's controversial airport consultation.)

• The incoming government's modus operandi is challenging long-standing investor assumptions about the country, pushing uncertainty and volatility, writes Carlos Petersen at Americas Quarterly.

• Tough on crime measures have not been effective in Mexico, but the incoming government's moves to legalize cannabis and pardon thousands of non-violent offenders incarcerated for simple possession of marijuana are promising, write Aram Barra and Zara Snapp for Open Society Foundations' Voices. (See yesterday's post.)

Guatemala

• In many ways, it seems as if Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales is succeeding in undercutting the CICIG. But though Morales has stopped CICIG head Iván Velásquez from reentering the country, his victory is far from complete, writes Ricardo Barrientos at the AULA blog. Morales and key ministers run the risk of being charged with disobeying the Constitutional Court over the case, and the CICIG has continued its anti-impunity work since Velásquez's banning. They key to the dispute lies with Guatemalan voters, who head to the polls next year, argues Barrientos.

Venezuela

• Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro officially starts a new term in January, in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. Yet change seems out of grasp, writes Felix Seijas Rodríguez at Americas Quarterly.

• More than 40 countries are considering cutting diplomatic relations or reducing their ties with Venezuela when Maduro assumes his next term, but Andres Oppenheimer wonders whether the diplomatic move will have any practical effect. (Miami Herald)

• Venezuelans head to the polls on Dec. 9 to choose municipal councillors. But a call by several opposition parties could further decrease already low participation rates and hinder the potential to challenge the ruling PSUV party at the ballot box, reports Efecto Cocuyo.

• Pro-government criminal groups have expanded and strengthened their presence in Venezuela's Bolivar state mining region, reports InSight Crime.

• The Inter-American Court of Human Rights found Venezuela responsible for failing to prevent, investigate or punish extreme violence against Linda Loaiza Lopez Soto, who was kidnaped, raped and tortured in 2001, reports Al Jazeera. The case could set precedent for state responsibility in gender violence, which the court classified as torture in this case.

Brazil

• Brazilian president-elect Jair Bolsonaro's appointment of a pro-Trump foreign minister represents just one of several clashing factions in the incoming government, explains Oliver Stuenkel in Americas Quarterly. Others include the military faction and neoliberal economists.
• U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton will meet with Bolsonaro next week to discuss a regional strategy in confronting Cuba and Venezuela, reports the Miami Herald.

Bolivia

• Women's political participation is growing rapidly in Bolivia -- but the radical increase has pitted them against harassment and political violence, particularly at the local level, reports NACLA.

Migrants

• Tijuana authorities are attempting to manage overflowing migrant shelters with little help from Mexican federal authorities and with a long-term potential: caravan members might have to wait up to six months for appointments with U.S. border patrol. (New York Times)

• An Arizona jury has acquitted a U.S. border patrol agent of manslaughter in the shooting of a 16-year old Mexican boy through the border fence in 2012. (Guardian)

Argentina

• Argentines are gearing up for next week's G-20 meeting, which will have parts of Buenos Aires in a virtual state of siege, reports La Nación. Argentine authorities are wary of potential protests, and said they'd crack down on potential disruptions, reports Reuters.

• A bombing attempt against a controversial Argentine judge, Claudio Bonadío, was traced to an anarchist group in retaliation for detentions of violent protesters in December of last year. (La Nación)

Cuba

• Is Cuba using same-sex marriage to pink-wash repressive political policies? (The Conversation)

Chile

• Chile is actively working to strengthen ties with Asia, a critical factor in the country's economic resilience, said Wilson Center Public Policy Fellow Jorge Heine in Americas Quarterly's Deep South podcast.

Poverty

• Half of Latin America and the Caribbean's rural population is poor, according to a new U.N. FAO report. (Efecto Cocuyo)

Organized crime

• A Brazilian criminal boss incarcerated in Paraguay killed a young woman in his jail cell in an apparent bid to avoid extradition to Brazil. Marcelo “Piloto” Pinheiro was captured in a joint operation by Brazilian, Paraguayan, and U.S. authorities last year, and had admitted to reporters that he'd prefer to stay in Paraguay's notoriously corrupt prison system rather than be returned to his home country to face justice. Facing imminent extradition, he killed an 18-year old woman who visited his jail cell this Saturday -- stabbing her 16 times with a dessert knife. Paraguay’s president, Mario Abdo Benítez, instead ordered Pinheiro’s extradition to Brazil, where he is now being held in solitary confinement in a maximum-security federal prison. (Guardian)

Architecture

• The winner of this year's Royal Institute of British Architects prize is the dormitory for a remote rural school in Brazil, designed by two young Brazilian architects. (Guardian)

¡Happy Thanksgiving!

Latin America Daily Briefing

AMLO's National Guard plan (Nov. 21, 2018)

Mexican president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador's Morena party presented a plan to create a national guard. In line with AMLO's national security proposal last week, the bill would create a new 50,000-strong force with members of the military and the federal police.

AMLO campaigned against the ongoing use of the military for public security, coming after a decade of failed "war on drugs" policies. But last week he presented the National Guard plan, citing the extreme lack of professionalism and integrity that afflicts the country's police forces. (See last Thursday's post.)

"More than 90 percent of crimes end up going unpunished, and the country is still seriously suffering from not having a professional police force,” said Morena congresswoman Maria Alvarado yesterday presenting the bill.

But critics say the proposal merely continues questionable military intervention in internal security that has come at a high human rights cost. Just last week the Mexican Supreme Court struck down a law passed last year that also sought to regulate the military's role in public security. (See Friday's post.)

The new bill does seek to address some of these issues, notes Reuters. It contemplates constitutional changes that would mean that national guard members receive human rights training, are tried by civil courts and will not be able to move detainees to military institutions.

The bill takes into account the recent Supreme Court ruling, and would modify a constitutional ban limiting soldiers from intervening in non-national security actions during peace time. The proposal grants the military new powers formerly reserved for civilian authorities, explains Animal Político. The bill would also gradually eliminate the federal police.

Surveys show that Mexico’s armed forces are the country’s most trusted institution, despite frequent allegations of human rights violations and extrajudicial killings, reports the Guardian.

New data shows this year is well on track to be the bloodiest on record: so far there have been 28,500 homicides in 2018 -- that's an average of 95 per day, four per hour. The uptick in murders has been particularly pronounced over the past three years. (Animal Político)

Animal Político analyzes AMLO's change of heart regarding the military.

News Briefs

More from Mexico

• Another measure AMLO has proposed to reduce violence is legalization of cannabis. Advocates of the legalization bill presented recently in Congress (see Nov. 13's briefs) say it will help reduce cartel violence and free law enforcement up for more serious crimes. Some government officials also point to a potential tourism bonanza. But public opinion and the Catholic Church remain opposed to the plan, reports the Los Angeles Times.

• A new report shows that about a third of Mexico's incarcerated teens are recidivists -- many recruited by criminal groups in their neighborhoods at young ages. (Animal Político)

• El Chapo's U.S. trial continues to showcase allegations of corruption in Mexico's government. (See Monday's briefs.) Former Sinaloa cartel operations chief Jesús Zambada García said he personally delivered at least $6 million in cash to one of the country's top law enforcement officials in 2005 and 2006, reports the New York Times. The former secretary of public security Genaro García Luna denied the allegations, reports Animal Político.

• Uber is collaborating with the Mexican government in an innovative new automatic tax payment program aimed at reducing evasion, reports Bloomberg.

• International Crisis Group Senior Analyst Falko Ernst profiles a low level Mexican sicario, Grillo. "Child soldiers like him are recruited into a system whose roots are sunk deep in Mexico’s inequalities. Then they are often trained to become ruthless killers, going from victims to victimisers. Grillo taught me about why, amid the cycles of revenge, it’s so hard to get out. "

Diplomacy

• Brazilian foreign policy will likely change drastically under the incoming government. President-elect Jair Bolsonaro's affinity for U.S. President Donald Trump will likely become a major factor in Itamaraty's new direction, reports the New York Times. And the realignment will impact the rest of the region's alliances. Top on the Bolsonaro foreign policy agenda will likely be the issue of Venezuelan refugees.

Venezuela

• The Trump administration is preparing to add Venezuela to the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. It would represent a "dramatic escalation" against Venezuela's Maduro government reports the Washington Post, noting that only Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria are currently on the list.

• Former Venezuelan treasurer Alejandro Andrade  said he took bribes of over $1 billion from businessmen to allow them to make foreign-currency transactions at favorable rates. Andrade, a former body guard to the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, pleaded guilty to money laundering in a U.S. federal court last year. Andrade received properties, platinum and gold Rolex watches and Mercedes Benz vehicles according to court documents unsealed this week. Venezuelan TV mogul Raúl Gorrín was also charged in the case. (Miami Herald, Wall Street Journal and Reuters)

Brazil

• A Brazilian judge blocked TV Globo from reporting on investigative documents about the killing of black rights activist Marielle Franco earlier this year. Brazil's Association of Investigative Journalists (ABRAJI) condemned what it termed "censorship." (AFP)

Amazon

• An international alliance of Amazon communities proposed creating a 200 million-hectare sanctuary for people, wildlife and climate stability. The plan to create a "sacred corridor of life and culture" encompasses land from several countries, though the indigenous alliance does not recognise national boundaries. The proposal, which would create the world's largest protected area, was presented at the the UN Conference on Biodiversity today. (Guardian)

Chile

• The killing of a young Mapuche man in southern Chile by police last week has triggered widespread protests and could undermine support for President Sebastian Piñera's plan to for the Araucania region. (Bloomberg)

El Salvador

• Salvadoran lawmakers will pick a new attorney general in December. The initial list of 33 candidates includes four with open cases against them pending, potentially jeopardizing the strength of the institution, reports InSight Crime. In addition, four out of seven Congress members in charge of selecting El Salvador’s top prosecutor have themselves been accused of alleged illicit enrichment, obstruction of justice, misuse of public funds and war crimes, notes InSight.

Migration

• Most of the Central American migrants heading to the U.S. are spurred in part by violence in their home countries, but LGBTI people are particularly exposed to violence in the Northern Triangle countries, according to a new Amnesty International report. ABC News reports on the LGBTI members of the migrant caravans gathering in Tijuana. (See last Wednesday's briefs.) 

• The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is gathering intelligence from paid undercover informants inside the caravan and also monitoring migrants' Whatsapp group messages, reports NBC News.

• Using thousands of military troops to help secure the U.S. southwest border will cost an estimated $210 million, according to a Pentagon report seen by the Associated Press.

• "The migrant caravan is a literal and massive example of how mass undocumented migration is a form of civil disobedience against a global order," writes Amelia Frank-Vitale in Nacla.

• Colombia's first camp for refugees, in Bogotá, houses about 300 Venezuelans in difficult conditions, reports the Guardian.

Colombia

• Colombia's government asked the national regulator to ban Odebrecht from state contracts for 20 years in light of the Brazilian construction giant's admission that it paid bribes in the country. According to the attorney general’s office, Odebrecht’s bribes in Colombia totaled about $30 million. (Reuters)

• Colombian authorities asked asked Cuba to capture ELN rebel commander Nicolas Rodriguez, reports Reuters.

• Victims of sexual violence during Colombia's civil war hope for justice under the special tribunal established by the FARC peace deal. In August, some 2000 documented cases of sexual violence were brought before the JEP, reports the Guardian.

Curiosities

• Massive termite mounds in Brazil's remote North East -- about 200 million of them, visible from space and up to 3,820 years old. (New York Times)

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

Latin America Daily Briefing

Six dead in violent Haiti protests (Nov. 20, 2018)

At least six people were killed in demonstrations across Haiti on Sunday -- though some estimates put the death toll at 11. Anti-corruption marches around the country protested allegations of embezzlement from a Venezuelan aid program, reports the Associated Press. But the Petrocaribe protests also turned into a referendum on President Jovenel Moïse and his failure to lead Haiti out of its current political and economic crisis, according to the Miami Herald.

Protesters called for Moïse's resignation and a probe into of $3.8 billion Haiti received as part of the regional Petrocaribe program, through which Venezuela provided subsidized oil to be used for development programs. A Haitian Senate investigation has alleged embezzlement by at least 14 former officials - all members of the current ruling party - but no legal proceedings have followed.

Some of the gun deaths from Sunday may be unrelated to protests, according to some accounts, reports AFP. Armed gangs exchanged gunfire with police in some parts of the capital, reports the Miami Herald.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trump's asylum regulations blocked by judge

A U.S. federal judge temporarily blocked a Trump administration rule requiring asylum seekers to enter the U.S. through a legal port of entry. Judge Jon Tigar's decision orders the government to resume accepting asylum claims from migrants no matter where or how they entered the United States, reports the New York Times. 

Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced new rules, couched in national security concerns, that permit the government to deny asylum to virtually all seekers who cross the border illegally. (See Nov. 9's post.) The new regulations were immediately challenged by advocates, including the Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU, who called it a virtual asylum ban. The order suspends the Trump administration rule until the case is decided by court. 

Tigar said legislation clearly permits any foreigner arriving in the U.S. to apply for asylum, regardless of point of entry. He also said the administration misused its authority to issue emergency regulations and waive a 30-day waiting period to consider comments on the policy change, reports the Guardian.

The Justice Department argued yesterday that there is a “crushing strain” of migrants attempting to cross the border illegally and asking for asylum as a way to stay indefinitely, reports the Washington Post. Experts say the case could reach the Supreme Court.

Official border crossings often have long waiting periods, forcing would-be asylum seekers to wait in shelters or outdoor camps on the Mexican side of the border.

The administration issued the new rule as Central American migrants increasingly group in caravans to trek to the U.S. border -- though many of those are gathering in Tijuana and are requesting asylum interviews at the legal crossing there. About 3,000 are already on a waiting list, and 10,000 are expected in total, reports the Guardian.  (See yesterday's briefs.)

The US temporarily closed the San Ysidro border crossing yesterday to boost security. (BBC)

And Politico reports that the 5,800 troops deployed to the border to save the U.S. from migrants ahead of this month's mid-term elections will be home by Christmas.

News Briefs

Brazil

• Brazilian people don't know what it is to truly suffer dictatorship, said Brazil's military government admiring president-elect Jair Bolsonaro. "The Brazilian people still do not know what dictatorship is, do not know what it is to suffer at the hands of these people," he said after a phone conversation with Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban. Hungary "is a country that has suffered a lot with communism in the past, a people that knows what dictatorship is," Bolsonaro said. (Guardian)

More migration

• More than 40,000 Venezuelans have fled to Trinidad and Tobago. More than 7,000 have applied for asylum or refugee status, but that still leaves them vulnerable to deportation, reports the Miami Herald.

• About 150 Salvadorans set out in a new migrant caravan to the U.S. (Reuters)

Venezuela

• OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro called on the ICC to investigate Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a Washington Post opinion piece.

• Efecto Cocuyo's Luz Mely Reyes discusses freedom of the press, digital media, and politics in Venezuela in a chat with WOLA.

Femicides

• El Salvador has the highest rate of femicides in Latin America and the Caribbean for last year, with more than 10 killings for every 100,000 women -- 468 in total. Brazil had a higher absolute number of femicides, with 1,133 in 2017, according to the latest ECLAC statistics. (TeleSUR)

• 180 women were killed the Mexican locality of Ecatepec in this first eight months of the year. Sixty-four of the homicides were classified as femicides. The effect has been a generalized anxiety, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Diplomacy

• The latest Ibero-American Summit concluded in Guatemala last week with 20 agreements covering migration, climate change and transparency. Prensa Libre reports sparring between Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Though corruption was a theme, the CICIG issue was notably absent. Nicaraguan foreign minister Denis Moncada said his country is one of the safest in the region.

Peru

• Former Peruvian president Alan García has requested asylum at the Uruguayan embassy after after a judge retained his passport as part of a corruption investigation. (BBC and Associated Press)

Cuba

• Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel visited Russia, North Korea, China, Vietnam and Laos in a recent foreign tour, but returned home without immediate economic aid, reports the Miami Herald.

• Canadian diplomats posted in Havana complain of abandonment by their government after suffering mysterious health symptoms, ascribed to a "sonic attack" by some, including U.S. authorities. (Guardian)

Chile

• Two senior Chilean police officers resigned after the discovery that they destroyed a video showing the shooting of a young Mapuche man. Thousands of people attended Saturday’s funeral of 24-year-old Camilo Catrillanca, who was killed last week. (Associated Press)

Argentina

• Argentina's uncritical embrace of the "West" in foreign relations has proved unsuccessful at relaunching the country's economy and is based on an antiquated world vision. Rather President Mauricio Macri should seek a savvier approach between Washington and China, seeking regional allies and using the giants' trade war to Latin American advantage, argues José Natanson in a New York Times Español op-ed.

Uruguay

• Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has been hired as a security advisor for Uruguay. (Mercopress)

Aruba

• Aruban Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes is the country's first female leader -- but many women also hold important positions in the government, reports the New York Times.

Guatemala

• Almost 4,000 people have been evacuated from the slopes of the Fuego volcano in Guatemala, five months after another eruption killed almost 200 people. (BBC)

Obits

• Mexican novelist Fernando del Paso, winner of the Miguel de Cervantes Prize, died this week at 83. (New York Times)

• Aldyr Schlee, who designed the Brazilian football team’s iconic jersey, died this week. (New York Times)

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

Latin America Daily Briefing

Migrants flow into Tijuana (Nov. 19, 2018)

News Briefs

Migrants

• Central American migrants are pouring into Tijuana, but may have to wait up to two months for asylum interviews with U.S. authorities. In the meantime, Tijuana authorities are concerned the city will be overwhelmed by as many as 10,000 migrants who travelled in several caravans walking across Mexico, reports the New York Times.

• Already the migrants have provoked anger among some locals, who gathered to protest yesterday in Tijuana, calling the Central Americans invaders, report the Associated Press and Animal Político. (See Friday's briefs on backlash.)

• An estimated 3 million Venezuelan's have fled their country's crushing crisis -- leading many in neighboring countries concerned over how to absorb significant refugee flows. But history shows that host countries are culturally benefited by welcoming exiles and migrants, writes María Gabriela Méndez in a New York Times Español op-ed.

• Colombia opened its first refugee camp for Venezuelans in Bogotá last week. (Al Jazeera)

• A U.S. navy ship off the coast of Colombia has started giving free medical care to Venezuelan refugees. The move will likely antagonize Venezuela's government, which denies the country is going through a humanitarian crisis, reports the Guardian. (See last Thursday's briefs on a new Human Rights Watch report detailing the extent of the health crisis, see also below briefs.)

• Thousands of Venezuelan children in Caribbean islands might be left out of school by rules excluding people without legal permission to be in the country. (Miami Herald)

Brazil

• Conservationists at the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity this weekend were concerned the incoming Brazilian administration will prove harmful to environmental protection efforts. (Guardian)

• Scientists have found the first evidence of plastic contamination in freshwater fish in the Amazon, reports the Guardian.

Cuba

• The end of Brazil's "Mais Medicos" program will be a significant economic blow for Cuba, reports the Miami Herald. (See last Thursday's post.)

• Cuban lawmakers are set to address a new constitution proposal, after a three month period of local consultation. (AFP)

Guatemala

• Guatemalan security forces raided four Indigenous community radio stations and arrested two journalists accused of robbery, reports TeleSUR.

Haiti

• Cervical cancer rates are high in Haiti, but a grassroots program is using innovative access and low tech treatments to tackle the problem. (Miami Herald and Miami Herald)

Venezuela

• Venezuela is pushing up rates of malaria deaths in the region, reports the World Health Organization. (Efecto Cocuyo)

• Efecto Cocuyo reports on the breakup of Venezuela's parliamentary opposition.

• Venezuela’s central bank is preparing to hand over comprehensive economic statistics to the International Monetary Fund in order to avoid sanctions, reports Bloomberg.

Colombia

• A group of British Labour MP's and trade union officials voiced concern over the ongoing detention of FARC leader Jesús Santrich in Colombia, and the faltering implementation of the 2016 peace accord. (Guardian)

Mexico

• Mexican president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador populist approach to democracy poses a potential threat to the country's political institutions, argues Alberto Barrera Tyszka in a New York Times Español op-ed.

• AMLO's plan to create a military based National Guard for internal security is based on a correct assessment of police failure, but has disappointed supporters who point to the military's public safety failures in recent years, reports Americas Quarterly. (See Thursday's post.)

• Allegations of high level government corruption are likely to become a recurring theme in the New York trial of Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, reports InSight Crime. (See last Thursday's briefs.)

• U.S. prosecutors in the case will likely prove Guzmán is guilty of heinous crimes. "But they’re also likely to inadvertently highlight the decades of failure to stop either the flow of drugs or the bloodshed, as well as particular D.E.A. tactics and the aid to Mexican security forces that suffer from corruption. As the world watches, it will be difficult not to wonder whether Mr. Guzmán ’s case is actually putting the war on drugs on trial," writes Ioan Grillo in a New York Times op-ed.

• Héctor Beltrán Leyva, alias "El H," died of a heart attack in a hospital. He was detained by authorities in 2014, the last of the four Beltrán Leyva brothers heading the eponymous cartel. (Animal Político) 

• A U.S. teacher missing in Mexico was apparently killed by a member of the Sinaloa cartel, according to Chihuahua authorities. (New York Times)

• A verdict is expected soon in the trial against a U.S. border patrol agent who killed a teen the steel fence dividing Nogales, Mexico, from Arizona in 2012. (Guardian)

El Salvador

• The case of Imelda Cortez, on trial for an alleged abortion attempt after giving birth to a baby girl in a latrine, highlights the tragic absurdities of El Salvador's total ban on terminating pregnancies and the persecution of women for obstetric complications. (Washington Post)

• InSight Crime profiles a cooperating witness in an El Salvador gang extortion case that highlights the perils of attempting to cooperate with justice in the country. 

Costa Rica

• Same sex couples will have the right to marry in Costa Rica by mid 2020 ruled the country's constitutional court. (Reuters)

Argentina

• The remains of an Argentine navy submarine were finally detected, a year after it disappeared with a crew of 44 people. Relatives of the lost sailors have had a conflictive relationship with the government, which they accuse of not doing enough. Now they are demanding the remains of their loved ones be returned to land, a technically difficult feat. (Associated Press, Washington Post,  New York Times and New York Times) 

• Argentine authorities are on high alert ahead of a G-20 meeting that will take place in Buenos Aires at the end of the month. Twelve suspected anarchists were detained last week in connection with two bomb incidents. (Deutsche Welle)

• Buenos Aires province has created a database of police officers dismissed since 1966, including the reasons, in an effort to keep former police officers with criminal records from working with private security firms. (InSight Crime)

Victor Jara

• The New York Times Retro Report looks at the case of legendary Chilean folk singer Victor Jara, killed in the early bloody days of the Pinochet dictatorship.

Organized Crime

• While clearly a major problem in Latin America, defining organized crime is no easy task. Experts at InSight Crime's “The Evolution of Transnational Organized Crime in the Americas" conference weighed in.

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

Latin America Daily Briefing

Mexico's Supreme Court strikes down internal security law (Nov. 16, 2018)

Mexico's Supreme Court struck down a controversial internal security law passed last year by Congress. The "Ley de Seguridad Interior" ratified the military's role in public security, and was strongly criticized by local and international rights groups. (See Wednesday's post.) Nine of the court's 11 justices voted that the law was unconstitutional, saying lawmakers had overstepped their authority and that internal security cannot be considered a branch of national security.

Several justices objected to the fact that the law normalized using soldiers as police officers. But their decision comes just a day after president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced a security plan that will also depend heavily on the military. AMLO said federal police are ill prepared to take on Mexico's significant public security challenges, and will create a National Guard within three years. (See yesterday's post.)

(Aristegui Noticias, Infobae, Animal Político, Televisa)

More from Mexico

• Mexico City mayor-elect Claudia Sheinbaum said her security strategy will focus on disarming the city. (Aristegui Noticias)

News Briefs

Migration

• Migrant caravans are provoking a small but growing backlash in Mexico, where social media groups call for their deportation or worst, reports Buzzfeed. In Tijuana, where migrants are gathering to try to cross to the U.S., some locals have protested using racist phrases, and authorities are worried the city might not be able to cope with the influx of people, reports the Guardian. About 5,000 people are expected to arrive over the next few days, reports the New York Times.

• The pushback isn't homogenous. A recent poll shows that 51 percent of Mexicans support the caravan. Thirty-three percent of respondents, many of them affluent members of Mexico’s urban middle class, want the migrants to go back to Central America, writes Luis Gómez Romero in the Conversation.

• The caravan sought safety in numbers, but the plan isn't bulletproof -- earlier this month two trucks containing about 65 migrants disappeared in Veracruz, and one person who escaped said the people were sold by the drivers. (Conversation)

• Aristegui Noticias reports that 900 migrant children were left by the side of the road in Jalisco.

• Migrants from the caravan have started the process to obtain asylum application appointments with U.S. officials, reports the New York Times.

• Central American migrants attempting to enter the U.S. are increasingly coming with their families, part of a concrete strategy, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Nicaragua

• Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado called for a multinational effort targeting Nicaragua's political crisis. (AFP)

• Last week's meeting of Nicaraguan opposition leaders in Washington DC helped set goals and strategies for fighting the Ortega administration, but black and indigenous rights campaigners say they are struggling to be recognized by the movement. (UPI)

Colombia

• A dramatic recording appears to show Nestor Martínez, Colombia's chief prosecutor, attempting to cover up Odebrecht bribery payments. The audio from 2015 has a dialogue between Martínez, then legal council to a major banking group -- Grupo Aval -- and an internal auditor who reported finding likely bribe payments in a $2 billion highway project. The audio was released this week after the auditor, Jorge Enrique Pizano died. Though forensics initially said the cause was a heart attack, his son died three days later after drinking cyanide poisoned water from a bottle on his father's desk, raising questions about foul play. (Associated Press and Economist)

• Several lawmakers have responded to the scandal asking for Martínez's resignation. (El Espectador)

• Colombian President Iván Duque is walking a fine line with the FARC peace accord negotiated by his predecessor: he is not tearing up the agreement, but nor will he pursue the transformations it sought for Colombian politics and rural areas, according to La Silla Vacía.

Venezuela

• Venezuela's controversial new smart-card ID is needed by citizens to access vital government subsidies. Critics believe it can be used by the government to monitor the population and allocate scarce resources to loyalists. A report by Reuters details how Chinese telecom giant ZTE was hired to develop the "Fatherland Card" database and create a mobile payment system for use with the card. In the Venezuelan Weekly, David Smilde notes that government officials often state (falsely) that they know how people voted, an assertion that is undermining faith in secrecy of the vote.

• The most recent Venezuela Weekly also highlights a slew of other articles detailing varied threats to freedom of information in Venezuela.

El Salvador

• El Salvador is in the midst of a grave water crisis,  more than 600,000 people have no access to drinking water, and hundreds of thousands more experience limited or intermittent access, reports National Geographic. More than 90 percent of surface water sources in the country are contaminated.

• Tim Muth comments on a potential water law stuck in El Salvador's legislature and criticized as privatization by organizations of civil society. (El Salvador Perspectives)

Honduras

• The trial against Berta Cáceres' alleged killers is riddled with irregularities, and represents a lost opportunity for justice in Honduras, reports NACLA.

Costa Rica

• Latin American governments must not only reduce costs, they must also improve how public money is spent, argues the Economist, focusing on Costa Rica's attempts at fiscal reform.

Brazil

• Octogenarian celebrity media mogul Silvio Santos set of a firestorm when he made inappropriate sexual remarks to one of Brazil's most famous singers on his live television show. Santos told Claudia Leitte her appearance was arousing, visibly discomfiting her. Reactions have been strong, and Leitte herself posted on social media that its an example of the machismo harassment many Brazilian women face every day. President-elect Bolsonaro has not commented on the incident, but later phoned into the telethon, telling Santos he was a fan. (Guardian)

• Bolsonaro appointed Ernesto Araújo -- a die-hard Trump supporter -- to head the incoming government's foreign policy. (Buzzfeed) Some experts fear the Itamaraty appointment could lead to potential tensions with China, reports El País.

• Brazil's incoming foreign minister believes climate change is part of a "cultural marxist" plot "used to justify increasing the regulatory power of states over the economy and the power of international institutions on the nation states and their populations, as well as to stifle economic growth in democratic capitalist countries and to promote the growth of China." Araújo's appointment likely bodes ill for Brazil's leadership on the issue. (Guardian)

Environment

• Saragassum has swept onto Caribbean beaches in larger quantities than ever. The foul-smelling seaweed has significantly affected tourism, and the problem is only likely to get worst with climate change, warn environmentalists. (Guardian)

• Grand Cayman is overrun by green iguanas, an invasive species -- the Economist reports on culling and potential economic opportunity.

Paraguay

• Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez is navigating a complicated domestic political situation with regards to crime and corruption. With regards to international relations, the country has historic ties to Washington, but is being wooed by China, Russia and several Middle Eastern countries, writes Evan Ellis in an extensive analysis at Global Americans.

Argentina

• Argentina's Senate passed an austerity budget this week, despite strong union opposition, and in accordance with IMF loan conditions, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Ecuador

• Over 1,500 indigenous protesters asked Ecuador's government to stop mining projects on or near their Amazon territories. (Al Jazeera)

Chile

• Victims of Chile's dictatorship protested that a general involved in covering up "Caravan of Death" murders received a sentence of three years probation. (EFE)

• Rafael Gumucio explores Chile's complicated attempts at justice for dictatorship human rights violations in a New York Times Español op-ed.

• Chilean President Sebastian Piñera participated in the leaders’ summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Singapore. (EFE)

• A delegation of Rapa Nui islanders are traveling to London to ask the British Museum to return a moai, the giant statues the indigenous tribe considers to be living incarnations of their ancestors. (Guardian)

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

Latin America Daily Briefing