Honduran police purification commission removes 106 officers in two months (June 10, 2016)

The Special Commission for the Re-Structuring and Transformation of the National Police in Honduras has removed 106 police officials since it began work April 12, El Tiempo reports. The dismissed officers, who represent 40% of 272 individuals evaluated, include five generals, 27 commissioners, 36 sub-commissionars, and 38 inspectors, according to the Asociación para Una Sociedad Más Justa.

The commission was appointed by President Juan Orlando Hernandez in early April in response to a release of documents by Honduran newspaper El Heraldo and later the New York Times, documents that suggested high-level police officers were behind the 2009 assassinations of two top anti-drug officials. According to the recently-formed commission, between 2012 and 2015 at least 222 million lempiras ($9.8 million) was designated for same purpose -- purifying the police force -- but the money disappeared and no serious effort was made to clean up the police, El Heraldo reports.

The United States Embassy has expressed its support for the new effort, providing a list of police officers being investigated by the U.S. for organized crime and narco-trafficking, reports El Heraldo in a separate article. Last week the commission announced the removal of thirty-some sub-commissioners; it is currently evaluating another 158 officers of the same rank. On Monday the commission launched a digital platform called "Honduras Denuncia," where citizens can anonymously denounce members of the police, La Tribuna reports. Commission member Omar Rivera stressed that all police officers can be denounced, including those who recently passed the purification process and were "re-ratified" as officers.  

While the commission has received messages of support from human rights groups and civil society, its members have also faced threats since beginning work two months ago, according to El Proceso.The Alianza por la Paz y la Justicia. Transparencia Internacional, the US Embassy, and the European Union have denounced the threats reported by members of the commission, according to Asociación para una Sociedad Mas Justa.  

News Briefs

• The World Health Organization has released new guidelines on Zika, recommending that people living in areas where the virus is circulating should consider delaying pregnancy, the New York Times reports. The advice is in line with recommendations from health officials in Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Jamaica and El Salvador, who earlier this year asked women in their countries to avoid getting pregnant, though these recommendations have been sharply criticized by reproductive rights groups, who point out that abortion is illegal in many of these countries and it's tough for women to get birth control. However, the WHO's new guidelines acknowledge that with no vaccine currently available and mosquito eradication efforts failing to stem the spread of infection, delaying pregnancy may be the best way that women in affected areas can avoid having children with birth defects.

• Brazil's suspended president Dilma Rousseff is joining calls for a national referendum on whether to hold early elections if she survives impeachment, Reuters reports. Analysts say Rousseff is seeking to convince undecided senators not to vote for her ouster. At a time in which politicians across the spectrum have lost legitimacy, the proposal for early elections could be a way out of Brazil's political crisis, the article reports.

• A new report by UNICEF and the United Nations-backed CICIG provides details on Guatemala's sophisticated sex-trafficking industry, InSight Crime reports. The joint report looks at the diverse set of actors involved in sex-trafficking operations in Guatemala, and the different points at which organized crime (MS-13, the Zetas, other groups) and sexual exploitation intersect. The study estimates that nearly 60 percent of the 50,000 victims of sex trafficking in Guatemala are children, and the industry is worth $1.6 billion a year, Reuters reports. 

• The Center for Political Studies at Caracas-based Andrés Bello Catholic University published a detailed report analyzing efforts to spur a referendum to recall Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and responses from the National Electoral Council. The report criticizes the Council for creating unnecessary and unlawful regulations, slowing down the process, and generally failing to "honor the principles provided for in the Constitution and facilitate the political participation of the people."       

• Brazil plans to deploy 85,000 soldiers and police to guard the Olympics, reports the Washington Post in a feature describing a worrisome crime wave in Rio state in recent years. In 2008, Rio launched a controversial "pacification" program in which police bases were set up in metal shipping containers in favelas -- confrontations between police and residents mounted, along with complaints of human rights abuses. While officials attribute a major reduction in violent crime to the pacification project, data for 2013-2015 shows crime rates rising again, casting doubt on the efficacy of the iron fist tactics. 

• Former Economist Americas editor Michael Reid -- who currently writes the Bello column -- analyzes the prospects of the apparent victor in Peru's presidential election, liberal economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. The new president plans to stimulate the economy with tax cuts and public investment, running a fiscal deficit of up to 3% of GDP, a plan some think will be easily financed, while others think is risky. He will need to strike a deal with opponent Keiko Fujimori's party, which has a strong majority in Congress; to sweeten collaboration, he might seek to pardon Fujimori's father, who ruled as an autocrat from 1990-2000, and is in prison for corruption and complicity in human rights abuses. Meanwhile, the Atlantic Council has a piece on what Kucynski should focus on during his first 100 days in office. 

• I wrote a short piece in this week's Economist about the latest CICIG arrests (see June 5 briefing), which reached top echelons of Guatemalan society and proved that corruption is even more widespread than previously thought. CICIG and newly-emboldened Guatemalan prosecutors are ushering in a era of hope and trust in the Guatemalan justice system; however, as the article states, while "foreigners have proven indispensable in bringing corrupt politicians to book...only Guatemalans can find some honest ones to replace them."

• An investigation by El Nuevo Herald found that the Cuban government used the Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca to create a string of companies in offshore financial havens that allowed it to sidestep the U.S. embargo in its commercial dealings. The newspaper identified at least 25 companies linked to Cuba in the Panama Papers, including one tied to family members of Raul Castro. According to the investigation, companies like Lebanon-based BB Energy used offshore companies in Panama to do business with Cuba and avoid jeopardizing their ability to forge simultaneous deals in the U.S. 

• Pablo Escobar's lead hit man from 1985-1992 is remaking himself as a YouTube star, New York Magazine reports. John Jairo Velásquez personally killed "at least 250 people, maybe 300," and ordered thousands more murdered, but he walked away from the cartel when he turned 30, served time in prison, and set up a Youtube channel after he was released in 2014. It grew to 100,000 subscribers in nine months. Velásquez's alias was "Popeye" when he worked as a sicario; on YouTube, where he makes videos meant to discourage violence, he goes by "Popeye Arrepentido."

• The Wall Street Journal has a hilarious feature on the Brazilian ice hockey team, formed in 2014 without sponsors, a home rink, or any ice-skating experience. The novices are nonetheless competing in the Pan-American Hockey Tournament in Mexico City. "They all really struggle," said their American coach. "Turning left, turning right. And stopping is obviously the biggest thing." 

Nicaragua's Supreme Court splinters opposition in threat to democracy (June 9, 2016)

The Supreme Court in Nicaragua released a ruling Wednesday that splintered the ranks of the main opposition party, Prensa Latina reports. The ruling resolved a dispute between four factions of the Independent Liberal Party (PLI) that arose after internal elections in 2011 and has continued in the courts ever since. The Supreme Court's ruling effectively returned power to the faction that won in 2011, now headed by Pedro Reyes Vallejos, and unseated the PLI's current leader, Eduardo Montealegre, Yahoo News Reports.

Nicaraguans go to the polls in presidential elections in November, when President Daniel Ortega will seek a third consecutive presidential term, after passing a law in 2014 that scrapped a previous two-term limit. Many have interpreted yesterday's Supreme Court ruling as an attempt by Ortega and his Sandinista party allies to hurt the opposition before the elections, according to El Confidencial. Montealegre has said he will still run for president, despite being stripped of PLI party leadership.

Leading businessmen came out in criticism of the ruling, reports La Prensa, which they said represented a threat to democracy. They also criticized the recent decision of Ortega's government not to permit international observers to monitor the upcoming election. In a June 4 speech before the National Sandinista Congress, Ortega said, "Observation is over. [The international monitors] can go back and observe how to bring order to their own countries," according to El Confidencial.

News Briefs

• With 99.5% of votes counted, Peruvian presidential candidate Pedro Pablo Kuczynski leads Keiko Fujimori by a thin margin of 50.1% to 49.9%, reports the Associated Press. Most experts say it's mathematically impossible for Fujimori to make up the roughly 40,000-vote difference between her and her competitor, but she has not yet conceded victory. 

• Chile's cabinet chief resigned yesterday after a series of policy disputes with other government officials, reports Reuters. The disagreements apparently had to do with labor policy and crime-fighting strategies, and they came as Chilean president Michelle Bachelet's popularity dropped to an all-time low of 24 percent in May, reflecting public anger over a stagnant economy and over a series of financial scandals.

• The remains of Chilean president Eduardo Frei Montalva have been exhumed for a second time, the Latin American Herald Tribune reports. The exhumation is part of a renewed investigation into Montalva's death 34 years ago at a clinic in Santiago, ostensibly from an infection. However, many suspected he was poisoned for being part of the opposition to the regime of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. Samples from Montalva's remains will be turned over to a Spanish pathologist, and tested with technology that didn't exist in 2004, when the ex-president was first exhumed to investigate the circumstances of his death.

• Growing numbers of struggling Venezuelans are searching the trash for food, reports an Associated Press feature. A study by three leading Caracas universities found that 76 percent of Venezuelans are now under the poverty line, compared with 52 percent in 2014. In other news, the country's National Electoral Board has accepted 1.3 million signatures calling for the recall of President Nicolas Maduro, Al Jazeera reports. This is just the first step: Maduro's opponents must now verify the identity of at least 200,000 signatories and collect 4 million signatures to trigger a recall vote.

• El Salvador's Supreme Court has drafted a resolution denying the extradition to Spain of four military officers implicated in the massacre of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter in 1989, El Faro reports. Salvadoran authorities arrested the officers in February after a tribunal in Spain requested their extradition (five of the priests were Spanish citizens). According to the El Faro article, the 15-member Supreme Court court is divided, though it is likely a majority will deny extradition.

• Fifty-four Honduran human rights organizations released a report Monday alleging that a U.S.-backed 2009 coup resulted in government policies that have systematically violated the economic, cultural and social rights of Indigenous people, women, and farmers, while leaving activists like the murdered Berta Cáceres vulnerable to violence, TeleSur reports. The report was presented as an alternative to the official government report submitted to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which began its 58th session in Geneva on Monday, reports CommonDreams.

• Reuters has a feature on the challenges Colombian FARC rebels face as they attempt to transition to politics after a peace deal. Polls show more than 90 percent of Colombians have a negative view of the FARC, though relations with civilians are shifting in some places, as FARC members seek quiet partnerships with human rights groups and local politicians. "They've gone from aggressive to somewhat tolerant, they've lowered their intensity," said the mayor of Toribio. "They talk about a future now.

• Meanwhile, 51 U.S. Congressmen sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry urging support for talks between the Colombian government and the ELN, the second-largest rebel group, according to Colombia Reports. While President Juan Manuel Santos announced talks with the ELN in June 2014, he has not yet formalized the talks, demanding that the ELN end kidnapping practices they've used to run their organization for decades. The Congressmen, led by House Representatives Sam Farr, Jim McGovern, and Ruben Gallego, also called on the ELN to cease kidnappings and free detained and abducted prisoners.

• El País has an interesting feature on evangelicals in Brazil, who make up 22% of the population but who don't always fit the stereotype when it comes to their social views -- as right-wing politicians are finding out. 

• In a long and informative article, The Nation tackles the question, "Who is Responsible for Puerto Rico's Debt?" The article analyzes the contrasting positions taken by Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, and looks at the various competing actors on the ground in Puerto Rico as the country awaits the July 1 deadline, when it is expected to default on the payment of $800 million in general-obligation bonds. 

Scandals in new Brazil government offer Rousseff hope of survival (June 8, 2016)

A series of blunders in Brazilian interim president Michel Temer's three-week-old administration could be Dilma Rousseff's saving grace, Reuters reports. According to surveys by Brazilian media, up to a dozen of the 55 senators who voted last month to put Rousseff on trial are now undecided. Just a couple flip-flops could cause Temer's camp to lose the 54 votes it needs to convict Rousseff. In theory, she'd then be able to serve out her term until 2018; however, a poll this week showed that a majority of Brazilians want new elections this year. 

The poll showed that more than a quarter of Brazilians view Temer's government negatively. Three of his cabinet ministers have been caught in audio recordings apparently scheming to oust Rousseff in order to thwart the investigation into the Petrobras graft scandal, according to Reuters.

On Monday, Brazilian news organizations reported that the country's top prosecutor is seeking to arrest several leading figures in Mr. Temer's party, including the head of the Senate, a former president, and the former speaker of the lower house. Leaked recordings suggest they, too, sought to interfere with the Petrobras investigation, reports the Associated Press.

The New York Times has a thoughtful profile of Rousseff, Brazil's first female president, as she faces her impeachment trial. Rousseff has repeatedly argued that she is innocent and that the push to remove her is a coup intended to back down on the Petrobras investigation, which she refused to do while in office, according to AP. 

The Times criticizes Temer's worrisome gaffes in a editorial that suggests the new president "would be wise to call for a law ending immunity for lawmakers and ministers in corruption cases." This seems unlikely, considering the number of Temer's allies and friends who might fall on their swords with such a measure. 

News Briefs

• Eight former members of Guatemala's military will go on trial on charges of forced disappearances and crimes against humanity, the Associated Press reports. The ex-soldiers are being prosecuted in connection with massacres committed in western Guatemala during the 1960-1996 conflict. The International Justice Monitor has a helpful piece explaining the background of the case. 

• A spokesman for Salvadoran president Salvador Sánchez Cerén criticized the Supreme Court's ruling that prison conditions are unconstitutional, La Página reports (see yesterday's brief). "Next the Constitutional Chamber will probably rule on overcrowding in the bus system, or it will want to eliminate sadness, or declare poverty unconstitutional," spokesman Eugenio Chicas said. He added that the government was taking all necessary steps to mitigate the prison problem.

• Meanwhile, the Mexican government released a statement in response to Open Society's report alleging crimes against humanity in the war against drug cartels. The statement lists various efforts Mexico has made to combat human rights abuses, and claims that "the vast majority of violent crimes have been committed by criminal organizations." 

• Guatemalan drug lords are razing massive tracts of forests to create clandestine runways for planes carrying US-bound cocaine shipments, AFP reports. The government has declared a state of emergency over the fires in the Peten region, where an area twice the size of Manhattan has been illegally cleared this year, according to officials.

• International leaders have reluctantly given the green light to Haiti's plans for an election overhaul in October, reports the Miami Herald. However, the U.S. Special Coordinator for Haiti expressed concern about instability and potential negative "financial consequences" as Haiti waits another six months for a presidential election. 

• The Intercept has an interesting multimedia story about a U.S. State Department official's different treatment of Brazil and Venezuela when asked to comment on their respective crises. While the official gave "long and loquacious" criticism of Venezuela's administration, he repeatedly declined to comment on the political dimensions of what's happening currently in Brazil. 

• A $940 million project at a gold mine in Ecuador is ready to go ahead, Bloomberg reports. The launch of the project reflects rising gold prices, up 19% in New York markets from a five-year low, and Ecuadorean President Rafael Corea's efforts to diversify Ecuador's economy away from oil. The mine, Fruta del Norte, will be the first big gold mine in Ecuador. 

El Salvador's Supreme Court rules prison conditions unconstitutional (June 7, 2016)

The Constitutional Chamber of El Salvador's Supreme Court ruled on Friday that overcrowding in jails is unconstitutional, reports La Pagina. The resolution dealt mainly with prisoners being kept in holding cells while awaiting trial, of which there are more than 5,000 throughout the country, many at three times capacity. According to La Prensa Gráfica, the Constitutional Chamber's investigation was spurred by complaints by prisoners in three regional police jails where overcrowding is so serious that a single prisoner has as little as 34 square centimeters of space. The Court declared that such conditions, accompanied by a lack of food, water, and medical care, constituted human rights abuses. 

Minister of Justice and Security Mauricio Ramírez Landaverde responded in an interview that the "modernization" of the penitentiary system is a government priority, so that the prisoners detained in holding cells can be transferred to proper prisons, reports Diario CoLatino. The plan includes the construction of three new facilities for around 10,000 low-risk prisoners, which in theory will clear space throughout the system. Catholic archbishop Jose Luis Escobar Alas applauded the Supreme Court's resolution, but said the government's proposed measures proposed aren't enough to solve the "inhumane" conditions in the prisons, according to El Dario de Hoy.  

El Salvador's prisons are particularly reviled because they're known to be the center of gang extortion operations. Last week Attorney General Douglas Meléndez announced he would investigate the origins of $11 million spent in prison stores over the past 14 months, suggesting the money seemed like "too much" and could have come from extortion, La Prensa Gráfica reports. However, as columnist Paolo Luers points out, when you divide this sum by 14 months and 30,000 prisoners, it comes out to just 87 cents per prisoner per day.

News Briefs

• In other news in El Salvador, former prisons director Nelson Rauda was captured after more than a month in hiding, as part of the government's case against leaders of a controversial 2012 gang truce, Reuters reports. (See May 6's  briefing for background.) Also, Salvadorans are angry after a La Prensa Gráfica investigation revealed that the national customs agency spent $230,000 in taxpayer money at a disco-club in San Salvador.  

• The latest results for Peru's election this past Sunday show Pedro Pablo Kuczynski beating Keiko Fujimori 50.15 percent to 49.85 percent, with 96.67 of votes counted, according to La República. Analysts said PPK's win is "irreversible." But will he be able to govern, wonders The Guardian? 

• A leader in Honduras' LGBT community was kidnapped and murdered last week in San Pedro Sula, reports the Associated Press. The National Forum on AIDS called René Martínez, 39, "one of the main defenders of lesbians, gays, transsexuals, and intransexuals in the country." He was also a rising political leader, according to PinkNews. The U.S. embassy in Honduras condemned the killing and offered to help with the investigations; meanwhile, House Representative Eliot Engel, from New York, released a statementexpressing "outrage" and demanding "a full evaluation of steps being taken to protect the LGBT communities" in Northern Triangle countries where the State Department is considering offering economic aid.   

• Chile is taking Bolivia to the U.N.'s highest court at the Hague over a dispute about access to the Silala River, reports Reuters. The dispute is not new, but recent indications that Bolivia plans to divert access to the river spurred Chile to seek outside intervention, according to El Pais, in an article that gives a thorough history of the fractious relations between the two countries.

• The chief negotiator for the Colombian government in peace talks with the FARC urges continued support for the process in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. Humberto de la Calle addresses criticisms of the proposed peace agreement, assuring readers that the guerrillas will give up their arms; victims will receive economic reparations; and "there will be no amnesties" for serious crimes committed by the FARC or paramilitary groups. 

• Six months after Colombia announced it discovered one of the world's richest shipwrecks a few miles off its coast, a U.S. company revealed plans to launch an expedition to the site and begin hauling away some of the treasure, reports The Miami Herald. According to Sea Search Armada's director, the Washington-based company found the wreck -- from a British ship sunk in 1708, potentially carrying between $4 and $17 billion worth of gold, silver, and jewels -- back in the 1980s. But Colombia's president has been adamant that the riches are "the patrimony of all Colombians." Prepare for, in the words of the Miami Herald, "a high-seas, high-stakes showdown." 

• Bloomberg has an interesting feature on sewage problems in Rio de Janeiro, which have come under scrutiny in preparation for this summer's Olympics. Interim president Michel Temer has moved to privatize the sewage system, which has been interpreted as a sign that he will continue selling state assets to help alleviate Brazil's massive debt. 

• The new governor of Mexico's Veracruz state, Miguel Ángel Yunes, condemned his predecessor Javier Duarte for corruption and a "dirty campaign" against him, reports El País in a telephone interview with the right-wing National Action Party (PAN) politician. "I'm absolutely certain that Duarte will end up in prison," Yunes said. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal examines the unexpected resurgence of the PAN party, which now governs 11 states and has positioned itself as a serious contender for the 2018 presidential election, after coming in third in 2012. 

• A bill under discussion in Argentina could penalize journalists for reporting the identities of tax evaders, TeleSur reports. President Mauricio Macri has proposed an amnesty for Argentines who have evaded taxes in the past by stashing their earnings abroad -- if they report the money now and pay 10 or 15% as a penalty to the government, they can avoid prosecution. However, an "anti-leak policy" included in the bill could allow authorities to imprison or fine judges, tax employees, and third parties "revealing or publishing documents" that expose those participating in the amnesty. 

• In a Miami Herald op-ed that's sure to be controversial, Andres Oppenheimer urges Mexican-Americans to put down their flags "unless they want a racist to become the next U.S. president." Displaying Mexican flags at anti-Trump rallies adds gas to the flame, he argues: "It bolsters Trump's narrative that the United States is supposedly being taken over by 'illegals'...Latino leaders and Spanish-language TV networks and radio stations should urge demonstrators to carry American flags to anti-Trump rallies."

Kuczynski leads Fujimori 50.3% to 49.7%, with 92.6% of votes counted (June 6, 2016)

With 92.6% of the votes counted by Peru's official election agency, former finance minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski leads Keiko Fujimori 50.3% to 49.7%, the Wall Street Journal reports. This picture began to emerge yesterday afternoon, when flash polls by Ipsos and GFK showed a razor-thin lead by the center-right Kuczynski, though both candidates have pledged to wait for final results, reports BBC Mundo. Fujimori appeared hopeful in a speech yesterday evening, saying she was counting on rural voters and ballots from abroad to deliver a victory, according to AP. 

This would be a stunning turnaround for Kuczynski, who in April's first round captured only 22% of the vote, compared to Fujimori's 40%, and even as recently as last week was trailing the daughter of Peru's imprisoned former leader by 5 to 7 points, reports El Pais, in an article that also describes the mood at various polling stations. In a separate piece, El Pais looks at the regions where Kuczynski made major gains in the final stretch of the election, attributing his possible comeback to several factors: the revelation that Fujimori's top advisor is being investigated for money laundering by the DEA; Kuczynski's recent endorsement by left-wing candidate Veronika Mendoza; and his recent appeal to voters not to elect a candidate who could demonstrate the same authoritarian tactics as her disgraced father. 

If Kuczynski does prevail, he will need to work with "Fujimorismo" -- the party won 73 of 130 seats in the unicameral congress in April, the largest legislative majority in two decades. "Keiko Fujimori has already reshaped Peru's political landscape," notes AP. Kuczynski recognized this in a speech last night: "We're going to have a government built on consensus. No more low blows or fights," he said, according to BBC. Both candidates are market friendly and have promised investment in employment and infrastructure, Bloomberg reports. Both also promised election reform.

Whether or not the next president keeps his or her word on that promise will largely determine Peru's future as a democracy, argues Asociación Civil Transparencia in a blog post on Open Society's website. This election, though legal, was marred by irregularities and vague rules, which resulted in lax campaign finance oversight and the tossing out of two candidates back in April, possibly for political reasons. The NGO, which launched a platform for Peruvians to examine candidates' expenditures, warns that the legitimacy of elections could be called into question if tighter and clearer rules aren't devised. 

No major complaints of fraud or violence emerged over the course of yesterday's voting, but with such a slim margin of victory, controversy is to be expected. Another twist to keep an eye on: Keiko's younger brother, Kenji Fujimori, apparently didn't vote for his sister yesterday, and has said he will run for president (against her?) in 2021, reports El Pais. 

News Briefs

• Results of Mexico's gubernatorial elections are not yet final, but preliminary polls suggest defeat for the ruling Partido Revolucionario Institucional in at least three of its historic strongholds (Veracruz, Quintana Roo and Tamaulipas), El Pais reports. Ex-president Vicente Fox's conservative party, Partido Acción Nacional, appears to be on the rise again, while the new left-wing Morena party, led by two-time presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador, claimed victory in legislative elections in Mexico City. Election-related violence was reported in several states, according to The Guardian. Stay tuned for final results, but note one takeaway: the 2018 presidential election has the potential to shake things up; yesterday's events show that a PRI victory is by no means guaranteed. 

• A groundbreaking report by the Open Society Justice Initiative accuses the Mexican government of crimes against humanity in its war against drug cartels, reports the New York Times. The Justice Initiative, which has been working in Mexico for more than a decade, alleges that cases like that of 43 students disappeared in Iguala in 2014 are not "regrettable accidents" (in the words of the NYT) but rather "point to a pattern of indiscriminate force and impunity that is an integral part of the state's policy." President Enrique Peña Nieto's administration rejected the report's conclusions. The full text of the report, which incorporates more than three years of research by the Justice Initiative and five independent Mexican human rights organizations, is available here.

• Follow-up on Friday's post on Venezuela: Fighting continues within the Organization of American States, with secretary general Luis Almagro accusing Argentina's ambassador of blocking the call to a general assembly for political reasons, The Guardian reports. Almagro's complaint echoes reports that Argentina's president, Mauricio Macri, is trying to win favor with the Venezuelan government so that the latter supports the appointment of Argentina's foreign minister, Susan Malcorra, as the next United Nations secretary general. 

• Chiquita banana executives face follow-up lawsuits from victims after pleading guilty in 2007 to making payments to Colombian paramilitary groups that tortured and killed thousands of Colombians, reports Bloomberg. "This support was given in order to reduce the company's operating costs in the production of bananas, knowing that violent deaths of thousands of civilians in banana-growing regions of Colombia would at be at least a collateral by-product of its support, if not an intended result," wrote a federal judge in a ruling last week that allows relatives of victims to pursue new claims under the Torture Victim Protection Act. 

• One thing the safest Latin American cities have in common is evidence-based approaches to crime prevention, according to a joint study by The Inter-American Development bank, Instituto Igarapé, and the World Economic Forum. Though Latin America is home to 47 of the 50 most violent cities in the world (with San Salvador leading the list), it also has cities where violence has dropped dramatically in recent years (like Medellín and Ciudad Juárez). The study looks at these cities and extrapolates lessons for reducing crime and violence. 

• One thing the most violent cities have in common: guns. Lots of guns. In an article for Foreign Affairs, Robert Muggah examines where these guns are coming from and what should be done about "Latin America's fatal gun addiction." He traces the guns back to the "hot wars" of the '70s, '80s and '90s --when the United States and the Soviet Union sent hundreds of thousands of weapons -- along with recent legal and illegal gun sales: the U.S. shipped more than $1.5 billion worth of small arms, light weapons, and ammunition between 2000 and 2014. Gun control is weak on both sending and receiving ends, and should be improved. Especially because in Latin America, roughly 75 percent of all homicides are the result of gunshot injuries -- a proportion that rises to 90 percent in Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. 

• For an up-close look at one episode of gun violence, see Foreign Policy and ProPublica's narrative take on a 2012 gunfight in Guatemala, which targeted former immigration chief Enrique Degenhart. The investigative account -- accompanied by an animated depiction of the gun battle -- is based on a series of interviews with officials and experts, including Degenhart himself, and a review of law enforcement files and government documents.  

• An Economist article analyzes the clash between Argentine president Mauricio Macri and Tupac Amaru, a social movement in the northern province of Jujuy that for nearly two decades has provided housing and social services to tens of thousands of poor, mostly indigenous citizens. Tensions soared after Macri took office in December and arrested the movement's leader, Milagro Sala, accusing her of creating fake housing projects and stealing millions of dollars from taxpayers. International human rights groups leapt to Sala's defense, but some poor Jujuy residents interviewed in the article said they'd recently lost faith in the leader because of the scandal, and because many of her projects have fallen into disrepair.

CICIG exposes Guatemala's Partido Patriota as a "criminal mafia structure" (June 5, 2016)

Note: This post was prepared by Sarah Esther Maslin, a freelance reporter and researcher based in San Salvador. She'll be doing the Daily Briefing through June 15. Please send links and comments to smaslin27@gmail.com.

Guatemala's attorney general and CICIG commissioner accused ex-president Otto Pérez Molina and more than 50 high-level businessmen and former government officials of being part of a massive money-laundering and illegal campaign financing scheme, reports Reuters. According to CICIG commissioner Iván Velásquez, Molina and former vice-president Roxana Baldetti led a "criminal mafia structure that had co-opted power through the ballot box," reports Plaza Pública. The investigation -- which took months according to Thursday's press conference -- produced evidence of a criminal structure that's even more intricate and tentacled than previously thought, explains InsightCrime. 

Nómada has a helpful step-by-step guide to how the various money-laundering gags worked. Essentially, after Pérez Molina lost his 2007 presidential bid, he and Baldetti created a network of front companies to launder illicit campaign payments, the investigation alleges. The businesses and individuals who provided the illegal campaign funds were rewarded after Pérez Molina won the 2011 election: the investigation linked at least 450 state contracts to the crime ring, involving at least 500 million quetzals, or $65.5 million, in taxpayer money. Among the personal benefits pocketed by Baldetti and Pérez Molina: vacation homes, vehicles, yachts, helicopters, designer clothing, etc.

Plaza Pública sums it up thus: "The Partido Patriota wasn't a political party. In reality it was a criminal band whose objective was to seize power in order to assault the State in every possible way."

Authorities arrested 23 people on Thursday and sent seven international orders for capture, including for Alba Lorenzana, the wife and business partner of Mexican media magnate Angel González. Others accused in the case are already in jail for corruption-related crimes, including Pérez Molina and Baldetti, who are accused of orchestrating a network of bribes and tax avoidance. President Jimmy Morales attended the press conference, Plaza Pública reports.

Several banks and media conglomerates accused of being part of the crime ring denied wrongdoing on Friday, Soy502 reports. G&T Continental and Banrural, Guatemala's second and third-largest banks, released statements saying they'd acted in accordance with national financial regulations. Banrural president Fernando Peña told Nómada in a text message that he was abroad but would return to face justice. A statement from television channels 3 and 7 -- accused of secretly financing Molina's campaign in exchange for millions of dollars in state TV contracts after Molina became president -- said the programming was obtained legally, in compliance with the State Purchases and Contracts law. The statement did not mention payments received by the media conglomerate from fake cardboard companies run by Baldetti and Pérez Molina. 

On social media and in comments sections, Guatemalans have expressed disgust at the former ruling party and support for CICIG and the Public Ministry. An El Periódico editorial warns that explosive judicial cases like this one won't spark long-lasting change without accompanying legislative and constitutional reform. CICIG commissioner Iván Velásquez suggested that proposed constitutional changes be put to a citizens' referendum, El Periódico reports. The National Assembly will discuss possible reforms later this month; it will ultimately need approval from 2/3 of members. If this majority is achieved -- which will be tough in a fractious Congress -- then the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the President, or Congress itself could convoke a national referendum to seek public approval of the new laws. 

News Briefs

• In other news in Guatemala, an appeals court suspended the genocide trial against former head of state General José Efraín Ríos Montt and his former chief of intelligence General Mauricio Rodriguez Sánchez, reports the International Justice Monitor. The civil parties to the case, the Center for Human Rights Legal Action and the Justice and Reconciliation Association, had argued that prosecuting the two cases together was illegal and would've resulted in a mistrial or suspension of the proceedings. Friday's decision means two new tribunals must be formed to hear the two separate genocide cases, and 30 victims must testify a third and fourth time, Plaza Pública reports. 

• Today's presidential elections in Peru are expected to be close, though Pedro Pablo Kuczynski held a slight lead (50.4 percent) over Keiko Fujimori (49.6), in a poll yesterday by Ipsos The poll, however, had a 1.8 percentage point margin of error, so the two remain statistically tied. The Guardian published a piece on how Fujimori's father's dictatorial legacy worries many Peruvians, while The Economist analyzed how a Fujimori presidency could change the balance of power in Peru. The Washington Post has a helpful explainer about where the two candidates have found support, and how this might affect election results. 

• The New York Times has a colorful feature on dirty politics leading up to today's gubernatorial elections in Mexico. Stay tuned for results. 

• Haiti's electoral officials will accept the recommendations of an international verification commission and hold new presidential elections in October, according to the Miami Herald. The vote will be limited to the 54 candidates who participated in the first round of last year's elections -- later concluded to be fraudulent -- and if no candidate secures a majority, a run-off will be held in January 2017. The fate of parliamentary elections called into question has not yet been determined. 

• A Boston Consulting Group study found low brand awareness among Cubans, the Miami Herald reports. The exception? Adidas, which 55 percent of Cubans polled recognized, "thanks largely to Fidel Castro's preference for the company's tracksuits," according to BCG. Meanwhile, a Miami judge decided he needed more time to decide whether the wet-foot/dry-foot policy applies to 24 Cubans captured by the Coast Guard from a light-house 7 miles offshore, the Miami Herald reports. The migrants apparently scrambled from their raft to the lighthouse when they saw a Coast Guard cutter approaching two weeks ago, and have been in custody aboard the Coast Guard boat ever since. "It comes down to whether this was a reasonable interpretation of an unclear policy," the judge said. 

• Tens of thousands of people marched in Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires on Friday, in parallel (though coincidental) protests against the region's culture of sexual violence, The Guardian reports. Página 12 has a narrative account of Friday's march in Buenos Aires, which attracted up to 150,000 demonstrators.

• A short post by Jon Lee Anderson on NewYorker.com sums up Brazilians' worries about their new interim president, Michael Temer, after his series of "appalling choices" for government ministers: an all-white, all-male Cabinet; a Minister of Justice accused of taking part in death squads; and several officials implicated in corruption scandals. "For Brazilians to restore their democracy to full health, elected public office must no longer be allowed to be a sanctuary for scoundrels," Anderson writes. 

• The Wall Street Journal profiles Venezuela's largest food conglomerate, Empresas Polar, which has been vilified by Nicolas Maduro's government and threatened with expropriation, despite wide public's support for its efforts to provide in the face of scarcity. "To Venezuelans, Polar is Nestlé, General Mills, and Anheuser-Busch InBev wrapped in one: It brews 80% of Venezuela's beers, produces 18% of the government-set nutritional basics and up to 14% of processed foods," the article explains. 

• Colombian police and heavily-armed military raided the notorious "Bronx" slum in Bogotá last weekend, removing more than 2,000 people and shuttering brothels, crack-houses, weapons stashes, and "casas de pique," chop houses where people may have been tortured and dismembered. Mayor Enrique Peñalosa applauded the crackdown and said the city had provided aid to 2,500 Bronx dwellers; however, some have resisted leaving their homes, and their longterm fate is now up in the air, reports the Miami Herald. Many critics saw the raid as counterproductive: iron-fist tactics intended to grab headlines, but with no long-term plan to solve the structural problems creating such slums.