CICIG shuts down in Guatemala (Aug. 22, 2019)

The United Nations backed international anti-impunity commission in Guatemala -- the CICIG -- presented a final report yesterday. The body helped bring 120 cases resulting in charges against 1,540 people in 12 years of work that marked a paradigm shift in corruption investigations in the country and the region. Over 70 highly complex criminal structures were identified and investigated.

Head commissioner Iván Velásquez -- who has been prohibited from entering the country -- spoke vía video of the commission's investigations, which accused three former presidents and a vice president of significant wrongdoing. "In these 12 years, the CICIG has helped expose the networks and perpetrators of impunity in Guatemala," he said. He also spoke of the counteroffensive against the CICIG under current President Jimmy Morales, who refused to extend the commission's mandate, which ends Sept. 3. (Associated Press, Soy 502)

 Judges and experts said ongoing investigations and future cases will be significantly complicated without the support of the expert commission that worked with the public ministry. (El País)

Judges involved with corruption cases in Guatemala said they are concerned about their safety once the CICIG leaves the country. Already attacks and threats have increased, and Guatemalan judicial authorities have not responded adequately, they said. (El Periódico)

The attack on the CICIG by Morales is part of a general anti-democratic project of the government, according to Plaza Pública. The current administration has pushed back advances in the fight against corruption, and the incoming government of president-elect Alejandro Giammattei is likely to do the same, argues the piece.

More on CICIG's achievements at Nómada, Prensa Libre.

More Guatemala

• A sign of how corruption cases will go from now on? Nómada looks at how Morales' relatives were let off the hook this week in a corruption investigation. (See yesterday's briefs.)

• Corruption will likely worsen under Giammattei. Together with his threats of iron-fist security policies and links to organized crime, the incoming administration is likely to increase rather than decrease outward migration rates, write Anita Isaacs and Álvaro Montenegro in a New York Times Español op-ed.

• The U.S. Trump administration could triple the number of temporary farmworker visas available to Guatemalans in an attempt to salvage the safe third country migration agreement, reports The Hill.

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Bolsonaro accuses environmental groups of Amazon fires

Fires are raging in Brazil's Amazon rainforest at an elevated rate. The Brazilian space agency, which monitors the Amazon using satellite images, said detected a 77 to 84 percent increase in blazes so far this year. Most of the fires are set by farmers clearing land. The spread of fires themselves is also a sign of the rainforest's degradation, according to experts.

Smoke has spread to other parts of the country, causing alarm and drawing attention to the issue. Sao Paulo skies darkened this week, and a viral campaign #PrayfortheAmazon hit social media. (New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, Guardian video)

The blazes occur as Amazon deforestation is in headlines and part of a battle between President Jair Bolsonaro's administration and conservation-minded international donors and activists. Bolsonaro recently fired the head of the space research institute, after it released data about increased deforestation since the president assumed office in January. (See Aug. 8's briefs.) Activists say the Bolsonaro administration's lax attitude towards environmental regulations has emboldened illicit clearing. Bolsonaro says the data is aimed at undermining his government. Norway and Germany recently suspended over $72 million in donations to the Brazilian government's Amazon Fund, due to the polemic. (See Aug. 16's briefs.)

Yesterday Bolsonaro accused environmental groups of setting the Amazon on fire in order to embarrass his government. Asked whether he had evidence, or whether he could name the NGOs involved, Bolsonaro said there were no written records and it was just his feeling, reports the Guardian.

Bolsonaro has argued that the Amazon's natural resources should be exploited for developmental purposes, but indigenous groups fear a lethal blow to their way of life, reports the Washington Post.

News Briefs

Venezuela

• There have been several (sometimes conflicting) stories about backchannel negotiations involving Venezuela this week -- the Venezuela Weekly sorts through the latest updates and provides context. "It is important to remember that backchannel meetings have been occurring throughout this crisis ... The fact that they have been made public in the current context should be read as continuing attempts by the U.S. to generated a collapse of Maduro’s coalition by sowing divisions, given their skepticism regarding the Norwegian-mediated negotiations," write David Smilde and Dimitris Pantoulas.

Honduras

• A Honduran court convicted the wife of former President Porfirio Lobo on graft charges, including skimming funds from public programs aimed at poor children, reports Reuters.

Mexico

• At least 10 journalists have been killed in Mexico so far in 2019. Though the government grants protection to most reporters who request it, too often these bodyguards are insufficient to protect them from lethal threats, reports InSight Crime.

Brazil

• Brazil’s Senate on Wednesday approved measures aimed at streamlining business regulations, reports the Wall Street Journal. Critics fear reduced labor and environmental regulations.

Argentina

• Panicky Argentina observers shouldn't believe that presidential front-runner Alberto Fernández will mean a return to Kirchner-style populist policies, argues Marcelo García in a New York Times Español op-ed.

U.S. seeks safe third country agreement with Panama (Aug. 21, 2019)

News Briefs

Migration

• The U.S. is seeking a safe third country agreement with Panama that would force migrants who arrive in South America before heading north into Panama to apply for asylum there rather than in the U.S. The agreement would largely affect the relatively small but growing numbers of “extracontinental” asylum seekers from Africa and Asia, reports the Washington Post. The U.S. recently signed an agreement with Guatemala that would largely affect asylum seekers from Central America, and administration officials envision a network of agreements that forces migrants to seek protection outside of the U.S.

Venezuela

• U.S. President Donald Trump and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro confirmed high level meetings between representatives of the two governments, after news reports said that a powerful Venezuelan official was in secret meetings with Washington. Neither leader specified who was involved in the conversations nor what was on the agenda. Maduro framed the talks as an attempt to bridge the antagonism that divides the two countries, while the news reports over the weekend said that the meetings aimed to cause a schism within Maduro's inner circle. (Guardian, Al Jazeera, see yesterday's briefs.)

• But U.S. national security adviser John Bolton today insisted that meetings with Venezuelan officials are occurring behind Maduro's back, reports EFE. (See yesterday's briefs.)

• U.S. sanctions are worsening Venezuela's agony, argues the Financial Times editorial board in a call for "a much broader diplomatic effort" that includes Russia, China and Cuba.

• China National Petroleum Corp, a leading buyer of Venezuelan oil, has halted August loadings following the latest U.S. sanctions, reports Reuters.

• Parts of Caracas and at least one Venezuelan state endured hours of power outage yesterday. Opposition leader Juan Guaidó said the outage affected at least 11 of Venezuela’s 24 states. (Associated Press)

• The U.S. Navy is prepared to take action if needed in Venezuela, according to the U.S. Southern Command head. (Fox News)

• Chile will allow Venezuelan migrants into the country without documents for family reunification. (Efecto Cocuyo)

Colombia

• Colombia's army chief suggested narrative guidelines for army commanders to use in testimony to a Truth Commission and Colombia's transitional justice court. El País reports on a classified document from March that instructs members of the army to hew to an institutional vision, complete with counter-arguments that troops could use in response to interrogation.

Guatemala

• Elevated rates of migration from Guatemala indicate -- counterintuitively -- improvements in the country's public-health conditions, argues Charles Lane in a Washington Post opinion piece. Demographic trends in Guatemala -- and the rest of the Northern Triangle -- suggest the outflow will eventually peak, as it did with Mexico, he writes.

• Governability is a real concern in Guatemala after Alejandro Giammattei was elected earlier this month, mostly by voters rejecting his opposing candidate. Like current President Jimmy Morales, there is a high likelihood that Giammattei will be more interested in protecting allies linked to organized crime, corruption and drug trafficking than prosecuting them, writes Mike Allison in the Globe Post. 

• A Guatemalan court acquitted one of Morales' sons and his brother yesterday. Samuel “Sammy” Morales, the president’s older brother and political adviser, had been on trial on suspicion of fraud and money laundering, while Jose Manuel Morales, the president’s eldest son, was facing fraud charges, reports Reuters.

Brazil

• Vast fires are decimating the Amazon rainforest at an increasing rate. Some were intentional and some accidental, but all are of human origin. Yesterday, smoke cloaked São Paulo in darkness hours before nightfall. The number of forest fires in Brazil, mainly across the Amazon, has soared 84% this year compared with the same period last year, reports the Wall Street Journal. The news comes as activists question the Brazilian government's permissive attitude regarding deforestation, and in the wake of statistics showing that the rainforest is being destroyed at an increasing rate under the current administration, reports the Washington Post.

• The deforestation issue is threatening to undermine a long-negotiated free trade agreement between the Mercosur trade bloc and the European Union, reports the Washington Post separately.

• Operation Car Wash prosecutors circumvented legal limits to obtain sensitive tax personal data, report The Intercept and Folha de S. Paulo. Private messages leaked to the media show how prosecutors collaborated with a tax auditor to verify their hypothesis.

• Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro may back down from appointing his son ambassador to the U.S., after Congress threatened to block the move amid fierce backlash. (Guardian)

• Brazilian security forces shot and killed a bus hijacker in Rio de Janeiro who took 37 commuters hostage this morning. (Reuters)

• Former presidential candidate Fernando Haddad was convicted of mismanaging campaign accounts when he ran for mayor of  São Paulo six years earlier -- the judge determined he had a slush fund of  $650,000 given by an engineering construction firm. (Reuters, Rio Times, Folha)

Mexico

• Lynchings have become increasingly common throughout Latin America, but in Mexico -- where murder rates are at a record high and impunity is rampant -- the phenomenon is particularly acute. Experts say police failures, organized crime, and an ineffective justice system push citizens towards vigilantism, reports the Guardian.

• Mexican tomato growers reached a last-minute deal with the U.S. Commerce Department. The agreement will suspend an antidumping investigation and remove duties on U.S. imports of Mexican tomatoes in exchange for Mexico raising prices and submitting to inspections, reports the Wall Street Journal.

• Mexican authorities are preparing to file more criminal charges against the former head of state oil company Petróleos Mexicanos Emilio Lozoya, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Argentina

• Young voters are particularly against Argentine President Mauricio Macri -- Reuters.

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Latin America Daily Briefing

Salvadoran rape victim acquitted of homicide charges (Aug. 20, 2019)

A Salvadoran judge acquitted a young woman accused of homicide after giving birth to a stillborn baby. The decision was hailed as a victory for women's rights in a country known for draconian anti-abortion laws where women often serve long prison sentences after suffering obstetric complications. 

Yesterday's case was a retrial. The defendant, Evelyn Beatriz Hernández, now 21, was raped by a gang member when she was 18, and did not know she was pregnant. At 32 weeks she gave birth in a latrine and passed out. She had served 33 months of a 30-year prison sentence when her conviction was overturned in February for lack of evidence. 

Abortion is completely prohibited in El Salvador and carries an eight-year prison penalty. But prosecutors often accuse women of homicide or manslaughter in cases where they have suffered obstetric complications. Advocates say impoverished women with poor access to health care are particularly affected by the cruel interpretation of the law. About 20 such women remain in jail. In recent months five women have been released from jail, though Hernández is the first to be declared innocent. In March the government questioned the severity of the laws, but a push to loosen the blanket prohibition failed to pass Congress.

(New York Times, Guardian, Associated Press, El Faro)

News Briefs

Venezuela

• The Associated Press and Axios reported that U.S. officials are in communication with the Venezuelan government's second most powerful official, Diosdado Cabello who is accused of drug trafficking. The outlets say that Cabello would be open to betraying President Nicolás Maduro. On Monday Cabello said he was open to meeting with anybody, but only with Maduro's approval, reports Efecto Cocuyo.

• Some analysts cast doubt on the account of a plot between Cabello and the U.S. If true, some experts said that the talks were either a sign of U.S. naïveté or lack of options in the fight against Maduro. Including Cabello in a post-Maduro scenario would be controversial given the extent of crimes he is accused of, and several analysts cast doubt on his utility as a negotiation counter-part. (Miami Herald and Guardian)

• Maduro had expressed willingness to hold early presidential elections in exchange for the U.S. lifting  of economic sanctions, in Norway-mediated talks with the opposition, reports Reuters. (See yesterday's briefs.)

• Opposition leader Juan Guaidó confirmed that members of his negotiation team are in the U.S., but did not give details about their agenda. (Efecto Cocuyo)

• Over a hundred NGOs said the U.N. humanitarian response plan for Venezuela was "weak," and vastly underestimates the level of need in the country, reports Efecto Cocuyo.

Brazil

• Eight months into Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right tenure, there is growing discomfort over the president’s inability – or refusal – to mind his mouth, and the impact this is having on Brazil’s place in the world, according to the Guardian.

• Lethal police force accounts for 38 percent of homicides in Rio de Janeiro. Most of these deaths occur during major police operations in favelas, which use armored vehicles, helicopters and snipers. Often the victims are unarmed civilians, writes Maurício Santoro in a New York Times Español op-ed. The tragedy is the result of misguided public policies that seek to stop violence with violence he writes.

More from El Salvador

• Military and police use of lethal force increased dramatically in recent years in El Salvador. In 2011 less than one percent of homicides were caused by security forces, by 2017 use of lethal force by security agents increased to 10.27 percent of the country's homicides. (La Prensa Gráfica)

Migration

• There are currently 40,000 migrants waiting in Mexico for their turn to apply for asylum in the U.S. (Miami Herald)

• Decades of U.S. foreign policy have contributed significantly to the political instability, entrenched corruption, and violence that are pushing Central Americans to migrate out of the region, writes Rebecca Gordon in The Nation.

Colombia

• Several Colombian ministries, including defense, along with the National Police say the government needs to do more to protect social leaders before upcoming elections, reports Telesur.

Journalism

• The newly launched Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP) seeks to use collaborative techniques to explain phenomena that cross borders in the region such as large-scale corruption and illegal or abusive practices. It was founded by five journalists from the region with impressive track-records:  Marina Walker Guevara, deputy director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ); Emiliana García, director of La Voz de Guanacaste in Costa Rica; María Teresa Ronderos, former director of the Open Society Foundation’s Program on Independent Journalism; Giannina Segnini, director of the Master of Science Data Journalism Program at Columbia University; and Natalia Viana, director of Brazil’s Agência Pública. (Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas)

The Faith Transnationals

• A CLIP investigation, with 15 investigative outlets from the region, looks at how a group of U.S. fundamentalist evangelical leaders with ties to the Trump administration have promoted Christian fundamentalist policies and legislation in the highest circles of political power in Latin America.

• A Nómada piece that forms part of the same investigation documents how Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales leveraged his country's support for Israel and Trump (moving its Israel embassy to Jerusalem) in order to undermine the CICIG.

Guatemala

• Guatemalan president-elect Alejandro Giammattei will likely be a continuation of current President Jimmy Morales' trajectory, with grim implications for the country's struggle against entrenched corruption, reports El Faro. Critics are calling him "Jimmyttei." The president-elect has promised to maintain one of the Morales administration's most controversial cabinet members -- Enrique Degenhart -- and will appoint key Morales allies to positions of power.

Argentina

• Argentine President Mauricio Macri has sought to portray market turbulence as a reaction to the possible return of his predecessor in government, former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. But voters blame the incumbent for ruinous economic policies, writes Mark Weisbrot in a New York Times op-ed.

• Markets are concerned about front-runner Alberto Fernández, who was virtually unknown outside of political circles a few months ago. Fernández has sought to portray a moderate profile, and promised not to repeat mistakes of the past, reports the Wall Street Journal.

• Soothing markets will be primordial to forestall greater economic calamity in Argentina. And Fernández would do well to look at the historical precedent of how then-president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sought to assuage investor panic ahead of the 2002 election, writes Arturo Porzecanski in Americas Quarterly. Lula assured voters and markets of his commitment to sound fiscal and monetary policies and the rule of law. After his election, he put a market-friendly and popular mayor in charge of his transition team and had him reassure lenders and investors, both in Brazil and abroad.

• One of the biggest surprises in Argentina's fairly earth-shattering primaries earlier this month was the landslide victory of Axel Kicillof, now a favorite to win governorship of the Buenos Aires province. The province concentrates nearly 38 percent of the country's population, and also a fair share of its knottier social problems, writes José Natanson in a New York Times Español op-ed. The economist has spent three years criss-crossing the province in a car with several aides, an unparalleled grassroots campaign. Kicillof, a youthful former member of Cristina Fernández de Kichner's cabinet, has become the face of a renewed progressive Peronism, argues Natanson.

Peru

• Hundreds of Peruvian women marched against gender violence in Lima on Saturday, a demonstration organized by the Ni Una Menos collective. (Deutsche Welle)

Environment

• Dogs are quickly becoming Brazil's most destructive predator. The problem is not just national, but global -- dogs are wreaking environmental havoc and attacking vulnerable species. (Washington Post)

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

Latin America Daily Briefing

Trump seeks to further slash foreign aid funding (Aug. 19, 2019)

The U.S. Trump administration is moving forward with a plan to cancel up to $4 billion in foreign aid funding -- despite bipartisan opposition to the measure, reported CNN on Saturday. The cuts would reportedly encompass $2.3 billion from USAID and $2 billion from the State Department through a process called rescission, reported Politico last week. 

The timing of the move appears to aim at limiting Congress's ability to void the plan, reports Foreign Policy. Experts say the aid cuts could further harm the U.S.'s already chaotic foreign policy.

The rescission reportedly includes money to the United Nations -- including some peacekeeping funds -- funding for the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, and cultural programs.

Advocacy groups warned the cuts would have "devastating" consequences for millions of people around the world. (Common Dreams)

News Briefs

Migration

• Gender violence against women is a significant, though under-reported, factor in the Central American migration crisis, reports the New York Times. New U.S. rules seek to prevent victims of domestic violence from claiming asylum, despite evidence that femicides are a systemic phenomenon.

• Guatemala's asylum system is woefully underprepared for the potential influx of migrants who would apply for protection under a new agreement with the U.S. In the past year, Guatemala has received 226 asylum claims. Of those, not a single one has been processed, reports the Washington Post.

• Venezuelan outward migration could double within the next year, according to opposition leader Juan Guaidó -- he estimates there could be 8 million exiled Venezuelans next year, a quarter of the country's population. Such figures could cause economic and political earthquakes for neighbors in the region, warns Andrés Oppenheimer in the Miami Herald. 

Venezuela

• Early elections are on the table in Norway-mediated negotiations between Venezuela's legitimacy challenged Maduro government and the political opposition, reports the Washington Post. The opposition is pushing for a vote to be held within the next six to nine months, though guaranteeing free and fair elections in the context of Venezuela's crisis will be challenging. Venezuelan officials are seeking lifting of U.S. sanctions and to keep President Nicolás Maduro in office until the vote is held -- both conditions rejected by the U.S. Instead the opposition is pushing amnesty and protection from prosecution for former officials. Washington has sought to offer Maduro security guarantees should he agree to a new vote and go into exile. (See Friday's post.)

• In an interview with CNN, Guaidó said elections with Maduro in power would not be "really free." (Efecto Cocuyo)

• In the meantime, the Maduro administration is ratcheting up pressure on the opposition with the threat of early parliamentary elections, which would threaten the last remaining branch of government not under Maduro's control, reports AFP. (See last Monday's briefs.)

Haiti

• A group of Haitian opposition lawmakers formally requested a set of documents that prove President Jovenel Moïse routinely violated the constitution, reports Voice of America. They say the documents contain evidence of illegal contracts, misuse of government funds and the appointment of ineligible and corrupt officials. 

Mexico

• Most of Mexico's gun violence is fueled by illicitly imported U.S. arms -- Newsweek.

• Mexican indigenous communities are resisting international gas pipeline projects that were approved without local consultation, reports The Nation.

Bolivia

• Bolivia's government will double spending on preventing violence against women and will give control of the funds to local authorities, reports TeleSur.

Argentina

• Argentina finds itself in a tricky transition period -- the general election is still two months away, but President Mauricio Macri's eventual loss is considered almost certain. Front-runner Alberto Fernández (considered a "virtual president" by many analysts) gave a long interview to Clarín, in which he spoke of leaving behind the country's intense political polarization and how the intense economic crisis impacted the vote. 

• Macri has the explicit goal of being the first democratically elected non-peronist president since 1928 to finish out his full term. That objective has now been adopted by the opposition and his likely successor as well, both sides seeking to stabilize the economy enough to avoid an acute crisis during the transition.

• The recent primary results demonstrate former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's strategic vision -- she stepped aside in favor of Fernández in May, a conciliatory candidate who created a broad alliance against Macri, reports the Guardian.

Chile

• Chile’s army allegedly ordered a surveillance operation against the investigative journalist Mauricio Weibel Barahona in 2016, when he was researching claims of misconduct in the armed forces -- the Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concern.

Ecuador

• Ecuador's government is eager to boost the country's underdeveloped mining sector, but faces significant opposition from local environmentalists and indigenous communities, who fear that mining will cause irreversible environmental damage to vital waterways and agricultural lands, reports World Politics Review.

Honduras

• Four people died in a battle between fans of rival Honduran soccer teams Saturday evening, reports the Associated Press.

Dengue

• The Pan American Health Organization is warning against a deadly spike in dengue fever in Latin America and the Caribbean, reports the Miami Herald.

Brazil

• WhatsApp and YouTube formed a powerful feedback loop of extremism and misinformation in Brazil, reports the New York Times. Together the platforms spread conspiracy theories, campaign material and political propaganda throughout Brazil.

• A proposed 4,970-mile trans-Brazil hiking trail would provide a continuous coastal corridor from the country's southern border with Uruguay to its northern frontier with French Guiana -- a Guardian photo-essay.

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

Latin America Daily Briefing

Venezuela gov't seeks to restart Norway-mediated talks (Aug. 16, 2019)

Venezuela's government said it would meet with Norwegian mediators in an effort to restart talks with the opposition aimed at resolving the country's political crisis. Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza told reporters that the government was seeking changes to the talks mechanism before it would return to the negotiating table. (AFP)

President Nicolás Maduro suspended the talks in Barbados last week in response to new U.S. sanctions. (See Aug. 8's post.) But experts said a return to dialogue eventually was likely, and yesterday Arreaza insisted that Maduro had merely "implemented a pause" in the talks.

Earlier this week a Norwegian delegation travelled to Caracas to  speak separately with the opposition and the government to restart the proceedings, reports Reuters.

News Briefs

More Venezuela

• Maduro and the political opposition led by Juan Guaidó are tussling for control of U.S. based Citgo refineries, Venezuela's most valuable foreign asset. Yesterday Maduro's government nullified the new Citgo board named by the opposition-led National Assembly earlier this year, reports the Associated Press. The move bans the board members from leaving the country and their Venezuelan bank accounts have been frozen, but it's not clear how many of them are actually in Venezuela. And U.S. courts have deferred to the U.S. recognition of Guaidó as Venezuela's interim leader.

• Venezuela's opposition lawmakers are considering an oil reform bill that would open up the sector to private investment, but is less ambitious than a previous proposal, reports Al Jazeera.

• The Panama Canal will continue authorizing vessels coming from Venezuela provided they present the necessary paperwork, reports Reuters.

• While the concrete impact of new U.S. sanctions remains to be seen, the threat to freeze the U.S. assets of any third party seen to be helping sanctioned Venezuelan officials will likely have substantial impacts, reports NACLA.

Guatemala

• Guatemalan president-elect Alejandro Giammattei faces an unenviable set of challenges when he takes office, including high levels of malnutrition and stunting in the countryside; unemployment; widespread distrust of a corruption rife government; and organized crime group violence. But the most immediate problem he faces is what to do with the migration deal with the U.S. he will inherit from his predecessor, according to the Economist.

Migration

• More than 500 migrants have lost their lives in the Americas so far this year, about a 33% increase from a year ago, said the International Organization for Migration today. (Associated Press)

• An unusual surge in Haitian migrants aiming for Turks and Caicos in recent days -- 236 -- has alarmed the archipelago's authorities, who are threatening to shut down legal migration between the two countries. Turks and Caicos is one of the few islands in the Caribbean that offers legal migration from Haiti through a work-permit process. Increasingly the British Overseas Territory has become a popular stepping stone for Haitians fleeing their country's economic and political turmoil, reports the Miami Herald.

Haiti

• Haitian President Jovenel Moïse presided over a ceremony to restore the Haitian army with the graduation of 15 officers and 248 soldiers trained by Mexico, reports the Haitian Sentinel. The new soldiers will participate in disaster relief operations and defense of the national territory. Moïse announced the controversial return of the country's army two years ago. (Reuters)

Brazil

• Norway suspended donations to the Brazilian government's Amazon Fund, following Germany's lead after data demonstrated a surge of deforestation in the Brazilian rainforest this year. The two countries are withholding expected payments totaling over $72 million. The fund has been central to international efforts to curb deforestation, reports the Guardian. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has said Amazon management is a question of sovereignty, said Europeans were in no position to lecture Brazil on environmental issues. "Isn’t Norway that country that kills whales up there in the north pole?"

• Brazilian authorities discovered eight corpses in what appears to be a clandestine graveyard in a Rio de Janeiro suburb, used for victims of paramilitary groups operating in the area, reports the Associated Press.

Colombia

• Funding ends for reintegration camps for former FARC fighters in Colombia at the end of this month. The camps provide a safe space for former guerrillas, and their dissolution will leave ex-combatants without army protection and at the mercy of civilians seeking revenge, right-wing paramilitary groups, and criminal organizations seeking to recruit fighters, reports The Nation.

• Colombia's electoral authority began a preliminary investigation into whether former president Juan Manuel Santos obtained illegal campaign financing from Odebrecht in 2014. (Deutsche Welle)

Corruption

• Is it time to abolish legal immunity for Latin American elected officials? The mechanisms were designed to protect officials from political persecution, but have become a guarantee of impunity for a host of crimes, including corruption. Nonetheless, simply eliminating immunity could eventually prove disastrous and won't guarantee justice either, argues Roberto Simon in Americas Quarterly.

Argentina

• Most analysts agree it will be difficult for President Mauricio Macri to bounce back from a dismal showing in last weekend's primary elections. Voters reacted poorly to economic hardship under his government, but markets reacted with panic to the prospect of his loss in October's general election. Even if fears of a debt default aren't met, the falling peso value means a restructuring is almost inevitable, reports the Economist.

• A huge sell off of Argentine assets shows that investors fear an Alberto Fernández presidency will mean a return to Kirchner era heterodox economic policies. But experts warn that, if he wins, Fernández is unlikely to be a mere figurehead to his vice president, former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. He is known for his critical stance to his former boss, and has a long history of forging political alliances between disparate groups, reports the New York Times.

Paraguay

• Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez has a 69 percent disapproval rating after just a year in office, according to a new opinion poll. (Reuters)

• The Itaipú dam scandal played a major role in decimating Abdo Benítez's popularity. Laurence Blair explains why in Americas Quarterly.

Mexico

• Andrés Rozental on how far AMLO has delivered on his campaign promises, and how Mexico's relations with its western hemisphere neighbours are developing. (Chatham House)

• Mexico City authorities suspended six police officers in relation to the alleged rape of two teenage girls in separate incidents earlier this month. Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announced the measure after a protest of about 300 people drew attention to the case with pink glitter, spray paint and a pig's head. (BBC)

Thoughtful Friday

• Mexico City's main arts institution may be sinking, but the city’s influence on artists and thinkers from Carrington to Trotsky cannot be so easily erased. The Guardian's illustrated city series.
• Brazilian-American filmmaker Alexandre Moratto's first feature, "Socrates," focuses on a gay Brazilian teenager who navigates poverty and isolation on the Streets of São Paulo. (New York Times)

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

Latin America Daily Briefing

Venezuela gov't pressures troops in order to maintain control (Aug. 14, 2019)

News Briefs

Venezuela

• Venezuela's Maduro administration is increasingly using brutal repression against its own armed forces in a bid to retain control of the military and the country, reports the New York Times. The case of navy captain Rafael Acosta Arévalo, who died in custody after being tortured, is emblematic. There are now 217 active and retired officers being held in Venezuelan jails, including 12 generals. The Coalition for Human Rights and Democracy has documented 250 cases of torture committed by Venezuelan security forces.

• A Venezuelan military tribunal sentenced a union leader to five years in prison on charges of attacking a National Guard officer attempting to detain him. He was judged by the military, despite being a civilian. (Efecto Cocuyo, Aporrea, Runrun.es)

Migration

• The Migrant Protection Protocols -- the U.S. policy that forces asylum seekers to wait out court proceedings in Mexico -- has "subjected asylum seekers, including those with legitimate claims for humanitarian protection in the United States, to appalling risks and inhumane conditions," writes the Washington Post in an editorial.

• A new U.S. policy would punish immigrants who legally use public benefits -- such as Medicaid, food stamps or housing assistance -- by making it harder for them to obtain green cards, a key step on the path to citizenship.The change, part of new criteria favoring wealthy, highly educated immigrants, could dramatically affect family-based legal immigration to the United States, particularly from Latin America and Africa. It also could lead to an increase in deportations, warns the Washington Post.

• Julián Castro, a U.S. Democratic presidential candidate, accused U.S. President Donald Trump of inflaming racist hatred that fueled the El Paso shooter who killed 22 people. In a campaign ad addressed directly to Trump, he said: "As we saw in El Paso, Americans were killed because you stoked the fire of racists." (Associated Press)

• Americans are slightly more likely now (57%) than in December of last year (51%) to support allowing refugees from Central America into the U.S. (Gallup)

• There are indications that Mexico's crackdown on migration is deterring would be immigrants from making the journey to the U.S., reports the Los Angeles Times.

Guatemala

• Guatemala is too poor to carry out a recently signed immigration deal with the U.S. that would require the Central American country to process asylum requests from migrants traveling through on their way to the U.S., argued Guatemala's president-elect Alejandro Giammattei yesterday. "If we do not have the capacity for our own people, just imagine other people." Giammattei also noted that the "safe third country" deal would have to be ratified by lawmakers in both countries before going into effect. (Associated Press)

• Giammattei has spoken of creating an "economic wall" against migration, and yesterday expressed interest in cooperating with Mexico on development projects along their shared border. (El País)

• But rule of law -- or lack thereof -- is a major push factor for migration out of Guatemala, and Giammattei is likely to worsen the situation, argues a Washington Post editorial.

Mexico

• Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is supposedly a champion of poverty reduction, but in reality his policies have cancelled some of the country's most effective social programs, and he has a conflictive relationship with the CONEVAL, an autonomous government agency tasked with interpreting poverty data and evaluating social policy, reports Americas Quarterly.

Guyana

• Guyana is unprepared for the "tsunami" of oil windfall on its horizon, reports Bloomberg. Five years after a major oil discovery launched a new era for the country, Guyana still lacks relevant laws and a regulatory body to oversee exploration and production. 

Honduras

• Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández visited Washington, where he said he faces no criminal charges in the U.S. Recently revealed accusations by federal prosecutors linking him to criminal organizations are merely the result of revenge attempts by drug traffickers, he said. (Associated Press)

• Honduran protesters have been demanding Hernández's ouster for months, but his resignation would not solve the country's underlying problems, according to the Foreign Policy.

El Salvador

• A rape victim who had a stillborn child as a teen in El Salvador is facing retrial on accusations that she induced an abortion. Evelyn Beatríz Hernández Cruz served 33 months of a 30 year prison sentence in the same case, but obtained a new trial after a judge determined that the evidence did not proof intent to harm the fetus. El Salvador is known for its draconian anti-abortion laws, but this is the first high profile case since President Nayib Bukele assumed office, reports the Guardian.

• U.S. lawmaker Jim McGovern met with Bukele and lauded his moves to combat crime and corruption. (InformaTVX)

Brazil

• Children from Rio de Janeiro's Maré favela sent 1,500 letters and drawings to Rio judges asking them to implement monitoring of police operations in the violence besieged neighborhood. (Globo)

• Thousands of Brazilian indigenous women protested President Jair Bolsonaro's "genocidal policies," in reference to his weakening of environmental regulations and increased deforestation under his watch. (AFP, Folha de S. Paulo)

• Pension reform is the tip of the economic reform iceberg for Brazil, according to Albert Fishlow who advocates changes to the tax code in Americas Quarterly.

Belize

• Belize's approach to ocean protection has successfully reduced illegal fishing and helping to protect the tiny country's waters from stock depletion, reports the Guardian.

Cuba

• History likely won't absolve Fidel Castro, writes Enrique Krauze in a New York Times Español op-ed.

Chile

• Chilean President Sebastian Piñera deployed troops in an attempt to stop illicit drugs entering through the country's northern border -- but the use of armed forces ignores dangerous regional precedents, according to InSight Crime.

Argentina

• Argentina's markets calmed down a bit yesterday, but prolonged financial instability seems likely after Sunday's primaries indicate a likely return to Peronist government, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Journalism

• The Lava Jato case transformed how investigative journalists in Latin America work together. (Global Investigative Journalism Network)

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Latin America Daily Briefing

CICIES on the horizon? (Aug. 13, 2019)

Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele promised to launch an independent international anti-impunity commission by next month. During his campaign he promised to create the International Commission Against Impunity in El Salvador (CICIES), modeled on the Guatemalan U.N. backed commission that will be dissolved in September (see below). Last week Bukele -- as usual, via Twitter -- vowed to carry out the plan within his first 100 days in office, but gave few other details. 

Vice President Felix Ulloa, appointed to lead the project, has said the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) would be a “strategic ally,” without providing further details. Ulloa also met with CICIG head Iván Vásquez last month. (Reuters, La Prensa Libre, La Hora) In a social media video, Ulloa said the CICIES will form part of the government's strategy to fight corruption that saps funding from security and social policies.

Today attorney general Raúl Melara said he had not been consulted regarding the project, but said the fight against corruption is a primordial task for his office. (La Prensa Gráfica) Experts in El Salvador emphasized that the proposed commission would need to be autonomous from the executive power in order to function, reports El Diario de Hoy.

News Briefs

Graft wins Guatemala's election

• Alejandro Giammattei, Guatemala's new president elect, has no plan to pursue Guatemala's endemic corruption, with grave consequences for the country's rule of law, writes Due Process of Law Foundation board president Naomi Roht-Arriaza in the Conversation. (See yesterday's post.)

• Giammattei won more due to voter apathy than popularity, and has never held an elected post. He was director of the national penitentiary system, where his tenure was tainted by an extrajudicial execution scandal, though he was eventually acquitted. (Washington Post)

Venezuela cracks down on opposition

• Venezuela's controversial supra-congressional national constituent assembly stripped four opposition lawmakers of immunity.  That makes a total of 18 opposition politicians vulnerable to criminal prosecution so far this year, reports the Associated Press. (See also Efecto Cocuyo.) Many have sought refuge in foreign embassies or fled the country, fearing for their safety. Edgar Zambrano, vice president of the National Assembly, remains jailed in relation to a failed April 30 attempt to oust President Nicolás Maduro. 

• Though pro-Maduro National Constituent Assembly did not move to dissolve the opposition-led congress, yesterday, it did start discussions on moving up legislative elections. Such a move could allow the government to regain control of the only opposition-dominated branch of government. (Efecto Cocuyo, Reuters, see yesterday's briefs.)

• Abroad: Exiled Venezuelan prosecutor Pedro Lupera is keeping up his fight against corruption from abroad, where he is collaborating with U.S. agencies and sharing information he found about illicit payments by Brazilian engineering giant Odebrecht S.A. and the Venezuelan state oil company known as PDVSA. (Miami Herald)

Argentina reeling

• Markets panicked after voters resoundingly backed a leftist opposition coalition headed by Alberto Fernández and former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Argentina's peso dropped 30 percent against the dollar yesterday and stocks suffered their steepest fall in decades. The meltdown will make it difficult for incumbent Mauricio Macri to improve the economy ahead of October's general election, making a comeback difficult say analysts. However, he might be successful in convincing voters that this panic is a taste of things to come if they elect Fernández. (Guardian, Wall Street Journal) (See yesterday's post.)

• Argentina's primary election served to show just how unpopular President Mauricio Macri has gotten in the midst of a deep recession and soaring inflation, reports the New York Times. 

Drought and migration

• The World Food Program says it’s planning to nearly quadruple the number of people that the U.N. agency helps in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The agency aims to provide food assistance to 700,000 people in these Central American countries affected by drought, which is pushing people in the region to migrate. (Associated Press)

Inside a U.S. migrant processing center

• The Washington Post visits the U.S. Border Patrol’s largest holding facility, in Texas, where about 1,300 migrants await their next step: release, transfer or deportation.

U.S. grades foreign drug policies

• U.S. President Donald Trump certified Colombia's anti-drug efforts, and called on the government to resume controversial aerial coca fumigation efforts. Bolivia and Venezuela were decertified and Mexico was urged to intensify its efforts against narcotics, reports El País.

Colombian drugs

• New strains of "creepy" marijuana in Colombia contain extraordinarily high concentrations of THC and are fueling a boom in the Cauca region, where they are being grown in vast quantities by farmers, sold by local gangs, and trafficked by powerful criminal groups, reports InSight Crime.

Duque Y2

• Colombian President Iván Duque starts the second year of his mandate on shaky ground -- he's struggled to fulfill campaign promises, in part due to a difficult relationship with lawmakers that his hindered by his Centro Democrático party, and in part because his cabinet of outsiders is committing too many mistakes, write Sandra Borda and Álvaro Gómez in Americas Quarterly. 

Fact-checking in Bolivia

• A new data verification project in Bolivia, Bolivia Verifica, is tackling fake news ahead of the October 20 presidential election. Trained by Argentina's Chequeado staff, Bolivia Verifica is working with a group of journalism students from the country's universities, reports the Knight Center.

Brazil

• Terrorism: Brazil promised to cooperate with U.S. authorities seeking to interrogate a suspected Al Qaeda operative who arrived in the country last year. (New York Times)

• Nepotism: Brazilian federal prosecutors filed a court injunction yesterday seeking to bar the appointment of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo as ambassador to the United States due to his lack of experience as a diplomat, reports Reuters.

Mexico extortion

• Mexican public transport workers and their passengers are on the frontlines of extortion-related violence in the country, reports InSight Crime.

Youth against Climate Change

• Delegates at the International Congress of Youth Voices share their fight against climate change. (Guardian)

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Latin America Daily Briefing