Dilma impeached by House of Deputies (April 18, 2016)

After three days of impassioned debate, the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff yesterday evening. The final vote was 367 for impeachment, and 137 against. (See Friday's post.)

El País has full coverage of the debate.

The Senate will now vote, by simple majority, whether to take on the case against the president, that charges that she illegally concealed a budget deficit using state-owned bank loans, reports the New York Times. That vote is expected for next month, and if it is positive, Rousseff will temporarily step down while legislators determine her fate.

The Guardian has a step by step of how the impeachment proceedings will continue: by mid May the Senate must decide whether to accept the case, at which point Vice President Temer would assume the presidency on an interim basis. If the Senate takes the case, a full plenary of the chamber would have to vote two-thirds to impeach her, which is uncertain. Though some politicians are calling for an early election, such a move would require new legislation and possibly a constitutional amendment.

However the budget accusations were barely mentioned in the heated debate that led to the vote yesterday, reports El País, which also notes several important "betrayals" from legislators who were expected to stay loyal to the government.

"The fight is now in the courts, the street and the senate," said Jose Guimarães the leader of the Workers' Party in the lower house, reports the Guardian.
The numbers represent a "humiliating loss" and mean she will likely be forced to step down in coming months, reports Reuters.

The Wall Street Journal heralds the "historic and emphatic repudiation" of Rousseff.

Analysts say the wider than expected margin in favor of impeachment in the lower house indicates a likelihood that the Senate will remove Rousseff from her post, according to the NYT.

"Politicians know how to read society pretty well, and they can sense that the people want her out," Paulo Sotero, the director of the Woodrow Wilson's Brazil Institute told the NYT.

Yesterday's vote turned into a stunning repudiation of the 13 years of Worker's Party government, according to the Washington Post.

But many experts also voiced concern that the impeachment movement could harm Brazil's relatively young democracy. They note that the budgetary juggling is a relatively common trick, though not at such a scale.

Legal scholars are split as to whether the charges are sufficient grounds for her removal, reports the WSJ.

"It's putting a very large bullet in Brazilian democracy," Lincoln Secco, a professor of history at the University of São Paulo told the NYT. "This will set a very dangerous precedent for democracy in Brazil, because from now on, any moment that we have a highly unpopular president, there will be pressure to start an impeachment process."

It is the second impeachment since Brazil reestablished democracy 31 years ago, but Rousseff's case is different from that of Fernando Collor de Mello who resigned in 1992 just before a Senate vote to remove him from office.


Rousseff has not been accused of illicit personal enrichment, unlike a significant portion of those who voted against her yesterday. House Speaker Eduardo Cunha, a driving force behind her impeachment and second in line of succession has been accused of using a Swiss bank account to conceal $40 million in bribes, for example.

Congresso em Foco, a prominent watchdog group in Brasilia, said more than 300 of the legislators who voted - well over half the chamber - are under investigation for corruption, fraud or electoral crimes, reports Reuters.
But the fact of Rousseff's honesty was unable to overcome the issue of her inefficacy as president, according to El País' analysis.

The Guardian emphasizes a particularly low point in yesterday's debate, when Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right deputy from Rio de Janeiro, dedicated his vote in favor of impeachment to Carlos Brilhante Ustra, the colonel who headed the Doi-Codi torture unit during the dictatorship era. Rousseff, a former guerrilla, was among those tortured.

The vote was orchestrated by Rousseff's enemies who never accepted her 2014 reelection, presidential chief of staff Jaques Wagner in a statement today, reports Reuters.

El País columnist María Martín wittyly notes that most legislators ignored the actual charges against her, and instead invoked family members by name and god as justifications for their vote in favor of impeachment. (Xuxa fans will enjoy the reference in the piece.)

The vote ushers in a period of political limbo in Brazil, notes France 24. There is considerable uncertainty over how the political crisis will continue to unfold. While Rousseff may be a clear loser, the benefits for her opponents could prove fleeting.

While Rousseff is unpopular, only 61 percent of Brazilians support her ouster. And Vice President Michel Temer, who would step in if the Senate suspends the President, is also very unpopular and could face impeachment motions for the same fiscal crimes as Rousseff. (See April 6's briefs.)

In fact, rejection of Temer is one of the few factors that unites both the pro and anti impeachment camps, reports Folha de S. Paulo. There are considerable doubts as to whether he could forge a united government, however, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Nonetheless he's the big winner of yesterday's vote, according to El País, which profiles the sneaky VP who is seen as wanting the top job a little too much. The BBC describes him as a politician who "seems always to be hovering around the center of everything important, yet never in the spotlight." (Comparisons to House of Cards have become trite in recent months.)

Temer will avoid public statements until the Senate vote, but is quietly putting together a government team and a raft of policy measures, reports Folha de S. Paulo. His focus will be strengthening the economy and disproving rumors that he would dismantle the Workers' Party social policies.

Cunha himself is also reportedly angling for benefits after orchestrating the vote against Rousseff. He's seeking protection from his own ouster, which would open him up to investigation as part of the wide-ranging probe into corruption at Petrobras, according to El País.

But he's being lynched in public opinion: both pro and anti impeachment protesters said they'd favor his ouster by a wide margin, according to a Datafolha poll from this weekend. And several deputies denounced Cunha and warned that he would be the next to fall during voting, reports the WSJ.

Business lobbies have thrown their weight behind the ouster movement, notes Reuters separately. Investors hope Temer will institute more business friendly policies after 13 years of Workers' Party government in Brazil. Brazil's stocks and currency have been among the world's best-performing assets so far this year, as Rousseff's ouster has grown increasingly likely. The buzz might not last, however, according to FT's analysis.


In the meantime, the political fight is taking a toll on the country's social fabric, as supporters of both sides find themselves in an increasingly heated battle. Political rallies have devolved into shouting matches, and even one brawl last month. Social media is filled with invective that is tearing friends and families apart, reports the New York Times.

It's an ideological battle for the country's political soul, according to the Washington Post, which points to a division on what citizens want for the future and how to read the legacy of the past 13 years of government.

Divisions are deeper than at any other time since then end of military dictatorship in 1985, according to Reuters.

The economic and political crisis in Brazil has chipped away at Rousseff's support among her Workers' Party stalwarts, reports the New York Times separately.Rousseff’s approval among the poorest Brazilians has dropped to 16 percent, down from 50 percent in December 2014, according to a recent Datafolha poll.

Is this the final nail in the coffin of the pink tide?

"Brazilians are now part of a regional backlash against the leftist ideas of the Foro de São Paulo, a Latin American conference founded in 1990 by former President Lula da Silva," writes Mary Anastasia O'Grady in the Wall Street Journal. "Lula and Dilma are great admirers of Fidel Castro and they have used the Brazilian state to promote the Cuban model throughout the hemisphere. But at home, as these impeachment proceedings demonstrate, Brazilians are having none of it."

News Briefs

• At least 272 people were killed and over 2,500 injured in a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Ecuador's central coast on Saturday. President Rafael Correa cut short a Europe trip and the episode has left the country in shock, reports the New York Times. The Spanish Red Cross says as many as 100,000 people may need assistance, reports the Associated Press. The quake could also alter political dynamics ahead of next year's presidential election, reports Reuters.

• Cuban President Raúl Castro inaugurated a four day Communist Party congress with criticisms of his government's slow pace in implementing economic reform. He said only 21% of the 313 economic guidelines adopted five years ago had been fully implemented. He also advised wariness towards the United States, despite the recent diplomatic detente between the two countries, reports the Wall Street Journal. He pointed to U.S. support of the island's small private sector as an attempt to undermine the system, reports the New York Times. Analysts say his speech aimed at defending economic reforms from internal party criticism that they undermine the spirit of the revolution, according to the WSJ. Future Communist Party leaders should retire at 70 in order to make way for young blood, said Castro in his speech, reports Reuters. He suggested the elderly continue as party activists and spend more time with their grandchildren.

• The New York Times has an in-depth report on files showing how high-level Honduran police officers carried out the assassination of anti-drug officials in collusion with drug traffickers. (This was reported on earlier this month by El Heraldo, see April 6's post.) Though police have long been suspected of involvement in the murders, which took place in 2009 and 2011, case files show that police investigators rapidly found the culprits, but kept the results secret.

• At least nine people were injured at an environmentalist protest in Honduras on Friday, reports EFE.

• Theme of the week: the United Nations General Assembly special session on drugs: Despite an ample lead up debate, in which activists pushed for a paradigm shift of global drug policy away from prohibitionism, a substantial change is unlikely, notes Nueva Sociedad. (See Friday's briefs.)

• Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has an op-ed in the Guardian arguing for a change in the global prohibitionist paradigm. The country has been on the front-lines of the war on drugs for the past 30 years, reports the Guardian separately, and is uniquely positioned to show its failures.

• After a lot of criticism, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto will be attending the session after all, reports VICE.

• And Uruguay will soon be testing the country's first batch of legal marijuana, reports the Guardian.

• A graphic video showing two soldiers and a federal police officer torturing a woman spurred an official apology from the Mexican Defense Minister, reports the Associated Press. The video of a young woman having a rifle muzzle pressed to her head by a female military police officer and having a plastic bag placed over her head by a female federal police officer has stirred outrage in a country which has long been criticized for use of torture by security forces seeking confessions or extracting information from suspects.

• The Wall Street Journal has an interview with the Argentine Finance Minister, Alfonso Prat Gay, in which he assures that the new government's ambitious overhaul will be financed by the country's return to world capital markets.

• New U.S. State Departmetn travel guidelines now place most of Mexico's Guerrero state, including Acapulco, off limits for U.S. government employees, reports the Wall Street Journal.

• Argentina will resume annual fiscal checkups with the IMF after a ten year hiatus, reports AFP.

• New accusations against former Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina and his VP Roxana Baldetti: the CICIG and the Public Ministry have accused them of leading a criminal organization that collected millions of dollars in bribes to award a contract to build a port terminal, reports the Wall Street Journal. They are accused of taking at least $25m in bribes from a Spanish port company, reports the BBC.

• After U.S. President Obama's call for reflection on his country's complicity with Argentina's bloody dictatorship, it's time for the U.S. to revisit it's far more active role in El Salvador's "dirty war," argues Raymond Bonner in The Nation. The piece reviews the history of atrocities in El Salvador and their connection with the U.S. "In El Salvador, more than 75,000 [civilians] lost their lives during the civil war, which lasted from 1980 until the 1992 peace agreement. The guerrillas committed atrocities, but the United Nations Truth Commission, established as part of the accord, found that more than 85 percent of the killings, kidnappings, and torture had been the work of government forces, which included paramilitaries, death squads, and army units trained by the United States."

• U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Haitian politicians that patience is wearing thin in regards to the oft delayed presidential elections, reports the Miami Herald.

Rousseff's impeachment this weekend looking likely (April 15, 2016)

Brazil's Supreme Court voted early this morning to reject a motion to block an impeachment vote against President Dilma Rousseff in Congress, paving the path for the lower chamber to decide the issue this weekend, reports the Associated Press.

The government asked to delay the impeachment process because the special congressional panel which recommended impeachment debated topics other than the main accusations against her, reports the Wall Street Journal. Justices said it wasn't their role to get involved at this stage of the process.

The Chamber of Deputies opened up three days of debate this morning, on whether to impeach Rousseff on charges of budget manipulation. (Follow the proceedings live at El País.)

She is widely expected to lose the vote on Sunday, according to Reuters. A local site, Atlas Político, put her chances of getting impeached by the lower chamber at 97 percent, after coalition partners jumped ship earlier this week, reports El País.

Confused over the what she is accused of? El País analyzes the charges. (See Tuesday's post.)

A vote tracker at Folha de S. Paulo shows that the pro-impeachment camp has 338 votes, of the 342 it would need to pass the motion. The pro-Dilma camp has 123 and 44 legislators said they were undecided or would not share their vote.

Both sides are reportedly courting votes with promises of cabinet posts -- either in the current administration, or in a post-Rousseff government, reports the WSJ.

Yet, while Rousseff herself has not been accused of illicit enrichment, the legislators who will potentially oust her are themselves besieged by graft scandals, notes the New York Times. (There have been several pieces in other newspapers recently along these lines.) 

The Washington Post has a piece on how the "darling of the developing world" has fallen so far in just a few years. "The plunge that Rousseff and the country have taken has laid bare the frailty of Brazil’s commodity-driven growth. Big parts of the Brazil model, it turns out, were glued together with kickbacks, dirty money and lies."

News Briefs

• The newly appointed head of Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council said the country will not meet the April 24 deadline to hold presidential elections, but did not say when a new date for the vote would be, reports Reuters.

• The U.S. has announced plans to ship 500 metric tons of surplus peanuts to Haiti, to help feed 140,000 malnourished schoolchildren. But the project has set off debate over whether food aid does more harm than good. Farmers argue that surplus dumping harms their ability to produce, but aid organizations say it's necessary in the face of "unprecedented food insecurity," reports Associated Press.

• The Miami Herald has a feature on a bill that would recognize over 40 community radios in Haiti. They currently operate out-of-law, and are an important lifeline for Haiti's isolated rural population.

• The U.N. General Assembly meets up next week for a a special session to discuss global drug policy. It's a unique chance to change the tone of debate around drug policy, though it likely won't be as radical as that hoped for by civil society groups, which are lobbying for future drug reform, reports InSight Crime. The piece reviews what arguments several Latin American countries will take to the sessions.

• An InSight Crime piece explains the background of the Michoacán upheaval reported in yesterday's briefs. Citizens in several municipalities have been protesting the intervention of federal forces, who are installing a base in the area. They say law enforcement officials violated human rights when detaining people accused of gun law violation, some of whom are allegedly associated with Los Viagras, a criminal organization operating in the area.

• A witness to the disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa students in 2014 suggests that federal police witnessed their abduction by local officers and may have actively participated, reports the Guardian.

• Colombian authorities announced the first two cases of Zika-related microcephaly, reports the New York Times. But health officials said they did not expect the level of birth defects to reach that of Brazil, which has more than 1,000 cases. The announcement comes a day after the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the mosquito-borne virus is a cause of microcephaly, reports the Wall Street Journal.

• Colombia's defense minister says the criminal groups known as BACRIM will not get a formal demilitarization process, nor will they obtain a special legal framework to surrender arms, reports InSight Crime.

• A four day Communist Party congress in Cuba starts tomorrow, and is is in charge of setting the nation’s economic path until 2030, reports the Wall Street Journal. Observers will be watching to see whether the party signals further market reforms, or slows down the pace. (See yesterday's briefs.)

• A Panamanian official defended his country, arguing it is not responsible for the scourge of offshore tax evasion. Speaking at the Wilson Center, he said the founding partner of the law firm at the head of the "Panama Papers" scandal will face the law like any other citizen, despite having served as a close adviser to President Juan Carlos Varela, reports the Guardian.

Mexico's prisons are dangerously overcrowded, and often run by inmates (April 14, 2016)

Mexico's poor human rights report cards keep piling up.

The country's human rights commission found that half of the national penitentiaries it analyzed are run by inmates, who control their jail-mates using violence, reports El País. The piece compares the situation to that of a black hole about to collapse, and notes that repeated promises to reform the system, which houses 250,000 inmates, have stalled for years. Last year there were 2,110 violent incidents recorded. Earlier this year, 49 inmates were killed in a prison riot in Topo Chico. (See Feb. 12's post.)

The institutions are also dangerously overcrowded, with as many as 30 inmates found in cells designed for four, reports the Associated Press. Of the 130 state prisons inspected, 95 lack adequate guards and staff and 104 fail to adequately separate convicted inmates from people facing trial.

The report said only one of Mexico’s 31 states had acceptable conditions at its prisons.

And a new U.S. State Department report, the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015, denounces ongoing impunity for human rights abuses across the country, with extremely low conviction rates, reports Animal Político.

Last month, a Human Rights Watch report denounced that Mexico is not complying with its own laws of how to treat unaccompanied child migrants. "By law, Mexico offers protection to those who face risks to their lives or safety if returned to their countries of origin. But less than 1 percent of children who are apprehended by Mexican immigration authorities are recognized as refugees, according to Mexican government data." The report notes that the amount of children apprehended by Mexican authorities is on the rise: more than 35,000 children were detained in 2015, nearly 55 percent more than in 2014, and 270 percent more than in 2013. (See March 31's briefs.)

And now the Mexican government is saying it does not want to renew the mandate of the Inter American Commission on Human Rights Commission group of independent experts investigating the Ayotzinapa disappearances, reports El País. The IACHR however has reminded the government that it is they who decide on the GIEI's mandate, reports El País. The group's mandate ends April 30.

The GIEI will present findings publicly on April 24, it's not yet clear if they will share them before that with the Mexican government, reports Animal Político.

Mexico is also going through a sexual harassment crisis: 44 percent of women have suffered aggression in their relationship, 60 percent on public transportation and 30 percent in school, report El Daily Post and Animal Político. There are approximately 68 sexual crimes committed every hour in Mexico. A march scheduled for April 24 aims to bring the issue of harassment and other forms of violence against women into the light.

El Daily Post columnist Alejandro Hope analyzes what slow justice in a Veracruz rape case, perpetrated by sons of the social and political elite, dubbed "Los Porkys" says about the country's justice system.

News Briefs

• A Michoacán criminal gang, called Los Viagras, has torched vehicles and used them to block roads in at least 16 municipalities across the state over the past three days. The days of rage show the power of irregular armed groups in the area, which might not call themselves autodefensas anymore, but are still openly challenging the government, argues Alejandro Hope in El Daily Post.

• Cuban farmers are angered by unfulfilled promises of market reform, reports the Reuters. Only a fifth of the reforms promised in the 2011 Communist Party congress, which included plans to allow farmers to buy pesticides, fertilizers and other supplies at wholesale markets instead of waiting for the government to assign them products, have been implemented. A congress this weekend has been hotly anticipated with an unusual level of publicly aired internal dissent. (See March 30's briefs.)

• Panamanian prosecutors wrapped up a 27 hour search of law firm Mossack Fonseca's offices yesterday. They seized more than 100 computer servers as part of their search for evidence of illegal activity at the company, based on the "Panama Papers" leak, reports the Associated Press. Other groups of investigators also searched subsidiaries of the firm in Panama and a Panamanian telephone company's data support center, reports the New York Times. (See yesterday's post.)

• Costa Rican authorities say some 1,200 migrants forced their way into the country at the border with Panama, after a group attacked a border immigration office, reports the Associated Press. There is a growing crisis of migrants from Cuba and other countries who are attempting to cross Costa Rica on their way to the United States (see yesterday's briefs). Panama says 2,329 more Cubans are in shelters near its border with Costa Rica.

• Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff pledged to form a government of national unity, as a string of defections from her coalition make her impeachment in the lower house of congress more likely, reports Reuters. Yesterday another member of her governing coalition, the Social Democratic Party, or PSD, decided to recommend its members vote in favor of impeachment, reports the Wall Street Journal. (See Tuesday's post and yesterday's briefs.)

• As legislators gear up for Sunday's vote on Rousseff's fate, the streets are filling up with demonstrators for and agains the government. Their makeup shows underlying social fissures, reports the Wall Street Journal.

• The markets rally at every sign that Rousseff could be ousted -- and may well get their wish this Sunday -- but prospects for economic growth will remain dim, warns the Wall Street Journal.

• Sports fans, fear not. The Rio Olympics will go on as scheduled, no matter what turns the political soap opera takes, reports the Wall Street Journal.

• Known to rivals as "el gringo," Peruvian presidential hopeful Pedro Pablo Kuczynski must overcome perceptions that he is too foreign if he is to beat front-runner Keiko Fujimori in June run-off elections, reports the Wall Street Journal. But his main selling point will have to be representing the anti-Fujimori vote, say analysts who point to his difficulties in connecting with poor, rural voters. (See Monday's post.)

• A Marketplace piece quotes WOLA's David Smilde on Chávez's continued popularity in Venezuela. "Smilde said outside of Venezuela, Chávez supporters are often mis-portrayed by the international media and cast in 'instrumental terms' suggesting they only supported Chávez because he bought them off with welfare benefits. Another misperception, he said, is that devotees have an 'irrational' love for a leader they consider a messianic savior. Chávez pledged to represent this group that had long been ignored by elites, and improve their lives. 'And lo and behold, that’s what he did,' Smilde said." (Longer interview excerpt on Venezuelan Politics and Human Rights.)

• Human Rights Watch's Americas Directo José Miguel Vivanco has an op-ed in El País arguing that the Venezuelan Supreme Court's rejection of a political amnesty bill is absurd. (See Tuesday's briefs.)

• It was expected to be an ignominious return for former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who returned to Buenos Aires this week in order to testify in an investigation into alleged misconduct at the Central Bank during the last months of her administration. But she turned expectations upside down, and used the public eye to claim political persecution and reignited a debate about judicial independence, reports the New York Times. "Every time a popular political movement leaves office or is thrown out of power, the authorities that succeed it systematically discredit its leaders, accusing them of grave crimes that are always linked to corruption, abuse of power and ill-obtained assets," she said in written testimony presented yesterday. She delivered her first public address since leaving office in December to thousands of impassioned supporters who gathered outside the courthouse yesterday, reports the Wall Street Journal. (See yesterday's briefs.) 

• The Guardian has an interesting piece on Latin America's geothermal power potential.

Investigators pursuing Panama Papers leads (April 13, 2016)

Panamanian raided the offices of Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the heart of leaked documents showing how wealthy international clients use shell firms to avoid taxes.

A half dozen police officers set up a perimeter around the offices while prosecutors searched inside for documents, reports the Associated Press. They were under the command of the prosecutor Javier Caravallo, who specializes in organized crime and money laundering, reports the Guardian.

The Panamanian government has promised to investigate illicit activities linked to the news reports dubbed "Panama Papers." (See April 5's post.)

The move comes as senior officials from the world's tax authorities meet today in Paris in order to develop a strategy to use the 11.5 leaked documents as part of new global strategy to crack down on offenders, reports the Guardian. The aggressive new approach is being led by the Joint International Tax Shelter Information and Collaboration (Jitsic) network.

In Venezuela, which is reportedly mentioned in 241,000 of the 11.5 million leaked documents, the chief prosecutor has ordered banks to freeze the accounts of people that the government is investigating in connection to the information, reports the Associated Press.

Last week there were several reports about how the leaks came just as Panama was trying to shed its reputation as an international haven for corrupt money. The Guardian has a piece on how Panama became a tax haven, at the behest of U.S. banking groups at the turn of the twentieth century.

And Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa took to Twitter Monday, challenging journalists involved in the massive leak to release all the related documents, implying political bias in the reporting of the information, reports TeleSur.


News Briefs

• Venezuela's opposition National Assembly swept into power at the beginning of this year with a slew of promises for change, including freeing jailed politicians, giving property titles for public housing and ousting President Nicolás Maduro. But their efforts have been stymied by government loyal courts (see yesterday's briefs, for example) leading some to question whether the Congress will be able to do much of anything, report the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Even uncontroversial measures, like food subsidies for the elderly, have been blocked by the government, notes the WSJ. This week's clash over an amnesty bill freeing jailed opposition leaders is telling of an increasingly polarized conflict between the National Assembly and the government, according to the NYT. Should the Assembly continue to see its powers limited by court, it could strengthen the hand of opposition hardliners who seek to oust Maduro outside of the legal system, Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue told the NYT. The polarization leads many in Venezuela to question whether democratic change is possible, according to the WSJ.

• Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff lashed out at Vice President Michel Temer and House Speaker Eduardo Cunha, who she accused of plotting to overthrow her, reports the Associated Press. (See yesterday's post.) In an interview yesterday Temer denied plotting against Rousseff and said he did not plan to resign if the lower house voted against impeachment, reports Reuters. Her political future is increasingly grim, celebrates El País.

• Rousseff was hit against politically yesterday when her second coalition partner, the Progressive Party, voted to part ways with her, reports the Wall Street Journal. The parties 47 deputies will be allowed to vote as they see fit on impeachment proceedings against Rousseff. (See yesterday's post.)

• Increasing gang attacks on police in El Salvador signal a conflict that is spiraling out of control and threatening to explode into open warfare, reports the Associated Press.

• A wave of extraordinary measures to combat gang violence (see March 31's post) could include arming civilian organizations, reports La Prensa Gráfica.

• Salvadoran journalist Oscar Martínez's new book traces how a war-torn country became a gang-torn one, writes Sarah Maslin in The New Republic. "Martínez dives into the underworld of his subjects, navigating barrios that police won’t enter, spending days and nights with gang members. His methods resemble war reporting and his prose is cinematic."

• The poor in El Salvador pay disproportionately more in taxes, reports El Faro. A new study by the Inter-American Development Bank and the Instituto Centroamericano de Estudios Fiscales found that poor Salvadorans pay 30 percent of their income in taxes, while the rich fork over only 11 percent.

• Nicaragua's congress rejected a bill backed by 28,000 Nicaraguans seeking to block a mega interoceanic-canal project. The legislators say they don't have the authority to stop the project, reports the AFP. (The issue could of course be a moot point if rumors about its Chinese backer's financial ruin are true, see April 4's briefs.)

• The Cuban government announced a loosening of some restrictions on restaurant cooperatives on the island, just a few days before a Communist Party congress is expected to review market-oriented reforms begun five years ago, reports Reuters.

• Former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner will be in court today to face questions over her alleged role in the authorization of the sale of US dollars futures contracts at below-market rates. But supporters turned the occasion into a party at the Buenos Aires airport on Monday. Uki Goñi at the Guardian reviews the somewhat complicated cases of corruption against Fernández as well as her successor, the current President Mauricio Macri.

Legislative commission approves Rousseff impeachment by large margin (April 12, 2016)

Efforts to impeach Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff cleared an important hurdle yesterday when legislators on a special commission of the Chamber of Deputies recommended the lower house approve the measure. The vote on the Congressional panel yesterday was heated, legislators screamed at each other on national television during the debate that preceded the 38-27 vote in favor of Rousseff's ouster, reports the New York Times.

The decision was expected, and no matter what the result was yesterday, the issue would have still gone to a full vote in the lower house, reports the Associated Press. But the margin in favor of impeachment was big, constituting a blow against Rousseff, notes El País. The vote bodes ill for Rousseff, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

Rousseff supporters are scrambling to avoid the two-thirds vote that would be needed in the Chamber of Deputies to send the president to trial in the Senate. Her opponents would need to muster 342 votes in order to pass the motion, and voting is expected on Sunday, reports Reuters. If the impeachment proceedings pass to the Senate, that body would then have to vote whether to put the president on trial, a vote that would be expected in early May.

The lower chamber's vote is expected for Sunday, reports Folha de S. Paulo.

About 50 undecided legislators are the focus of political machinations on both sides, reports El País. As of yesterday 298 legislators came out publicly in favor of impeachment, while the anti-impeachment camp has 121 declared votes, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Rousseff is rare among Brazilian politicians, she is not accused of illicit personal enrichment, notes the New York Times. Instead, the impeachment move is based on accusations of budgetary manipulation  involving the use of funds from state banks to cover budget gaps. Her supporters argue that this is not a serious crime, and that impeachment for it amounts to a coup. (See yesterday's briefs and March 25's post.)

Rousseff's opponents say that impeachment proceedings are in line with the wishes of the majority of Brazilian's, explains the Associated Press. Though a Datafolha poll this month showed the percentage of Brazilians who support impeachment is slipping (down seven points from last month to 61 percent), reports Reuters.

Her opponents say the impeachment for budgetary manipulation is further backed by the president's unpopularity, the widespread corruption scheme uncovered at Petrobras and the economic crisis besieging the country, explains El País.

The plot never stops thickening: a recording by Vice President Temer (whose loyalty has been repeatedly called into question this year) released to members of his PMDB party, triumphantly calls for a government of "national salvation." The 15-minute speech was apparently intended as an address to Brazilians if impeachment proceedings are approved this weekend, and Rousseff supporters describe it as an attempt to destabilize the government.

In the address, Temer speaks as if he had already assumed the top job, saying, "Many people sought me out so that I would give at least preliminary remarks to the Brazilian nation, which I am doing with modesty, caution and moderation," reports the Associated Press. (El País has the full text and audio.) According to the Wall Street Journal it reinforces "the sense that time is running out for" Rousseff.

The "accidental" release of the draft definitively blew up any possibility of reconciliation between Rousseff and Temer, reports El País, which reviews Temer's moves against the government he forms a part of. It could also backfire against Temer, mobilizing opposition to the impeachment.

At one of many rallies in support of Rousseff yesterday, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said the recording showed the VP's desire to oust the president. He spoke of an opposition to Rousseff that hasn't permitted her to govern in the year and four months of her second term, and rejected protests by people who don't like to see "poor people in shopping malls or airplanes," reports El País.

Last week a Supreme Court justice ruled that an impeachment motion against Temer himself, for the same crimes Rousseff is accused of, should proceed. More than half of the population also supports his impeachment, according to the same Datafolha poll.

Should the VP be suspended, House Speaker Eduardo Cunha would be next in line to succeed, though he is facing money laundering and other charges stemming from allegations that he received kickbacks in the sprawling corruption scandal at the state-run Petrobras oil company, reports the Associated Press.

In a sign of how the issue is polarizing Brazilians, a wall is being erected across the Esplanada dos Ministérios to keep for and against protesters from meeting, reports Folha de S. Paulo. Authorities say it's important to guarantee the safety of demonstrators, but legislators have called it a "wall of shame."

"The Republic of Curitiba:" El País has a feature on the city of Curitiba, where citizens wholeheartedly back impeachment and idolize Judge Sérgio Moro, who is leading the investigation into the Petrobras corruption scheme.

In the latest phase of the investigation, former senator Gim Argello was arrested yesterday for allegedly taking bribes, reports the Wall Street Journal.

In the meantime, there are rumors that legislators in Brazil might try to limit the powers of the ever broadening Operação Lava Jato, reports El País.

News Briefs

• Among the many political initiatives in Brazil held hostage to Brasilia's ongoing political stalemate is the country's commitment to reduce carbon emissions. Brazil played a key role in shaping the Paris climate agreement last year, and set a target to cut its carbon emissions 37 percent from 2005 levels by 2025, and has indicated an "intended reduction" of 43 percent by 2030, reports Reuters. But economic and political woes threaten to undermine the commitment, warn advocates.

• Venezuela's highest court scrapped a recently passed amnesty law for so-called political prisoners, reports El País. The court justified rejecting the law, saying it would foment impunity and amnestied crimes that were not eligible. It would violate the rights of the victims of the 2014 antigovernment street protests, according to the court. The law would potentially free about 80 prisoners, reports the Wall Street Journal. The court's impartiality has been questioned by the political opposition and international observers after party loyalists were placed as judges last year. (See post for Dec. 23, 2015.) Yesterday a U.N. human rights spokeswoman said the international organ lamented the move yesterday, saying the amnesty law could have been a step towards reconciliation between Venezuela's polarized political factions, reports Reuters.(See Feb. 17's and Feb. 29's posts.)

• Second-place winner in Peru's presidential elections, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, has a secret weapon heading into June's run-off: high disapproval of first-place winner Keiko Fujimori, reports the Wall Street Journal. Though he has just over half the votes she does, he could leverage fear of her father's authoritarian tactics into a win of the presidency. "He clearly represents the kind of more pragmatic, technocratic politics that we are seeing" in Latin America, Michael Shifter, president of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue think tank told the WSJ. "Latin America has entered a more difficult, complicated period of governance, and voters are just hoping that they can have more pragmatic, effective leaders who can deliver results."

• Either way investors are celebrating a run-off between two right wing candidates, reports the Associated Press.

• A piece in the New Yorker reviews the highly questionable investigation into the murder of Honduran environmental activist Berta Cáceres. Government investigators are repeatedly thwarting her family's requests and skirting demands for an international, independent investigation.

• Costa Rica is warning would be Cuban migrants that its doors are closed to them, as a new wave of undocumented migrants hoping to reach the U.S. gears up, reports the Miami Herald. (See yesterday's briefs.)

• Panamanian prosecutors visited the offices of Mossack Fonseca yesterday, to investigate the law firm's allegations that a computer hacker obtained the 11.5 million documents at the heart of the international leaks scandal known as the Panama Papers, reports the Associated Press.

• Chilean legislators approved two bills to regulate party financing and restore some voter confidence as election season approaches, reports Bloomberg.

Fujimori to face off against Kyczynski (April 11, 2016)

Keiko Fujimori will face off against Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in the second round of voting to pick Peru's next president. The daughter and former first lady of the disgraced former President Alberto Fujimori obtained nearly 40 percent of the vote in yesterday's election, according to preliminary results from last night, reports La República.

Reports throughout the day had the second place tied between former prime minister Kucynski (PPK) and leftist Veronika Morales. Results from yesterday show PPK with 24.25 percent and Morales with nearly 17 percent.
La Mula reports predicted final results of 39 percent for Fujimori, 21 for PPK and 18 percent for Mendoza.

Final results are expected later today, reports the Associated Press. The face-off between Fujimori and PPK means Peru will likely maintain pro-business policies.
In Congress the Fujimorista "Fuerza Popular" party took the most seats, obtaining nearly a majority. Should Fujimori win the presidency, she would govern with legislative accompaniment, a situation that led to parliamentary weakness when her father ruled in the 1990's, warns La República.

Together with PPK's seats that would mean a Congress with a clear right-wing majority, according to La República. (All of the Congress' 130 seats were up for grabs, reports the Los Angeles Times, and it looks like Fuerza Popular and PPK could have over 80 of them.)

Critics fear that a Fujimori win could mean a return to the authoritarian legacy of her father, which has become a central campaign topic, reports the New York Times. (See last Thursday's briefs.) While he is credited for dismantling the Shining Path guerrilla group and setting Peru's economy on a path of steady growth, he is serving a 25-year sentence for corruption and human rights abuses that include running death squads that carried out extrajudicial executions. He shut down Congress during his tenure as president and suspended the Constitution.

The NYTimes piece quotes WOLA's Jo-Marie Burt, who notes that the Fujimori legacy is a double-edged sword for his daughter. "It brings her a steady stream of votes, but it brings her a steady rejection. There are people who will never vote for her."

Fujimori will face a tough second-round election, and could lose if opposition to her consolidates support for her rival. Half of Peruvians surveyed recently said they would never vote for her, and thousands took to the streets last week to protest her on the anniversary of her father's coup 24 years ago, reports the Associated Press. (See last Wednesday's briefs.)

An Ipsos poll after last week's anti-Fujimori protests predicted An Ipsos opinion poll afterward showed she would probably lose to Kuczynski by seven points if they faced each other in a run-off, reports Reuters.

The Shining Path rebels carried out the worst attack in years on Saturday, killing eight soldiers and two civilians who were traveling in a caravan to a remote village to provide security during the vote, reports the Associated Press.

Fujimori told supporters late Sunday that the vote highlighted how Peruvians want reconciliation more than 15 years after her father fled office and his government collapsed, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Fujimori portrays herself as the only tough-on-crime candidate, reports Reuters.
Fujimori dominated in the country's north, jungle areas and parts of the center, reports La República. PPK only took one district, Arequipa, reports La Mula.

Though Mendoza failed to reach the second round (see last Monday's post), she demonstrated a rebirth of the left and seems to have obtained a decent parliamentary representation, according to La República's analysis.

The AP notes that the rightward electoral swing in Peru mirrors that taking place across the region, with voters rejecting leftist options.

Losers of the day included former presidents Alan García and Alejandro Toledo with paltry results near the bottom of the slate of candidates.

The heated campaign was affected by the elimination of two leading candidates last month, which led the OAS to warn that yesterday's polls were "semi-democratic," notes Reuters. (See March 16's post.)

News Briefs

• The Mission to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH) of the Organization of American States (OAS) will assist with investigations into the murders of environmentalist Berta Cáceres in March, and anti-drug official Julian Aristides Gónzalez in 2009, reports the Latin American Herald Tribune. (See last Wednesday's post and Thursday's briefs.)

• Lab results found no trace of Mexico's missing 43 students in an analysis of remains from a trash dump authorities say their bodies were burned in 2014, reports the Guardian. The results further discredit the government's questioned version of events regarding the missing Ayotzinapa students.

• Brazil's lower chamber is scheduled to vote on the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff next week. But in the meantime a new poll shows that most of the Brazilian public favors another option, new presidential elections, reports the Wall Street Journal. Based on the same Datafolha poll, Reuters notes that a smaller majority of Brazilians now favor impeachment compared to last month. And now, more than half want her VP and potential successor to be impeached too.

• A senior construction executive testified that the Belo Monte dam in Brazil was used to generate $41.4m in donations to the ruling coalition, reports the Guardian.

• Glen Greenwald at the Intercept has an interview with former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Among other things, the politician explains why the Workers' Party portrays the impeachment proceedings as a coup: "It is a coup because while the Brazilian Constitution allows for an impeachment it is necessary for the person to have committed what we call high crimes and misdemeanors. And President Dilma did not commit a high crime or a misdemeanor. Therefore what is happening is an attempt by some to take power by disrespecting the popular vote." (See March 25's post.)

• Brazil's political process is under threat from a “perniciously” partisan press, according to some leading journalists, reports the Independent.

• A sliver of good news out of Brazil (how very unusual!), a record soybean crop is expected this year and a close to record corn one, reports the Wall Street Journal. Coffee and sugar cane crops are also expected to be good and cattle, chicken and hog exports will be excellent. Agriculture was the only sector of Brazil's economy which expanded last year.

• The fragile Costa Rica-Panama border is again the site of a migration crisis, reports the Miami Herald. Whereas the previous one late last year focused on the plight of stranded Cuban migrants headed to the U.S., the majority of Cuban migrants are now joined by undocumented African and Asian migrants coming from Brazil and seeking to enter the United States. Thousands of Cubans in Panama are attempting to cross over to Costa Rica to continue their journey north. (See post for Nov. 25, 2015, for example.)

• Argentina is embroiled in corruption scandals as revelations of current President Mauricio Macri's offshore accounts in the Panama Papers (see last Monday's briefs) are compounded by further transfers from his holdings to one of his father's Panamanian companies, reports Página 12. But the media seems more taken by a parallel investigation into former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who was accused by a financier last week of involvement in money laundering of funds siphoned off of government contracts, reports the New York Times. This weekend a prosecutor she be investigated as part of the probe into the case, reports the Wall Street Journal. Her supporters are crying foul, saying the latter scandal is being pumped up to distract from the first. Página 12 columnist Eduardo Aliverti on that viewpoint.

• The Centro de Estudios Legales y y Sociales (CELS) of Argentina presented in the InterAmerican Human Rights Commission (IAHRC) on Friday, as part of a case against a reform to Argentina's media law carried out by the current government. CELS president Horacio Verbitsky said the new regulations replace a "multisectorial, participative scheme with on of purely state regulation and management, which excludes civil society from the application authorities and federal councils, whose members were removed without following the appropriate legal proceedings." He also criticized that the reform "sustains that everybody can compete in the market, overlooking the differences of scale that without state regulation, derive in the law of the strongest." (More detail in his Página 12 Sunday column.)

• Verifying votes in Haiti's much maligned elections from last year is key to avoiding a deeper political crisis, according to he Antiguan diplomat who led an Organization of American States’ special mission to the country, reports the Miami Herald.

• Puerto Rico released a proposal today, seeking to restructure part of its $70 billion debt, reports the Associated Press.

• An Associated Press feature profiles the Haitian collective of scrap sculptors Atis Rezistans who use recycled junk to "give a raw, physical shape to the spiritual world of Voodoo, or Vodou as the religion is known by Haitians, and weigh in on the country's chronic political and economic troubles."