TPS eliminated for Salvadorans (Jan. 9, 2018)

The U.S. government confirmed the elimination of a program granting Salvadoran migrants provisional residency in the U.S. The decision to end  Temporary Protection Status for migrants from El Salvador affects approximately 200,000 people, who have been living in the country since at least 2001, reports the Washington Post. (See yesterday's briefs.) 

The Intercept phrases it more strongly: "Once implemented, the cancellation could see waves of people who have lived in the U.S. for generations deposited in one of the most dangerous places on Earth." Deportees will be returning to a country with one of the highest murder rates in the world. Salvadoran officials have appealed to the U.S., saying that the decision will wreak havoc on the country's economy. El Salvador  receives billions of dollars in remittances from the U.S. Returnees will also destabilize the job market there, potentially displacing other people who will in turn be forced to seek alternatives such as migration to the U.S.

In fact,Trump's elimination of TPS for Salvadorans runs counter to the U.S. goal of improving stability and prosperity in Central America, and will likely worsen the factors pushing people to immigrate to the U.S. in the first place, argues Ishaan Tharoor in the Washington Post's Monkey Cage. "... Under Trump, the tacit understandings that governed federal policy on immigration and foreign policy are being shaken. His politics are built on an image of the United States as a passive victim of foreign menace, exploited, hoodwinked and infiltrated by all sorts of dangerous outside actors. "America first" demands that he ignore the pleas of Salvadoran officials ... As was the case with Trump's series of attempted bans on arrivals from certain Muslim-majority countries, the move here seems anchored less in any substantive policy than mere mean-spirited ideology."

But though the potential impact of the policy change is grave Salvadoran officials say the 18 month grace period accorded to TPS recipients is an opportunity to find a permanent protection against deportation, according to the WP.

El Salvador is the fourth country in four months to lose protection under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program, which since 1990 has offered deportation relief to people from regions experiencing armed conflict and natural disasters, notes the Guardian.

A report last year found 51 percent of Salvadorans with TPS have lived in the US for more than 20 years and 34 percent have homes with mortgages. They live mostly in California, Texas, New York and Washington DC.

News Briefs

• A cease-fire between Colombia's ELN guerrillas and the government ends today, even as the two sides aim to continue peace negotiations. Yesterday they launched their fifth round of talks in Ecuador, reports DPA. Human rights organizations have called for an extension to the ceasefire, though critics say the ELN has used the respite to recruit and train fighters, reports Deutsche Welle. Negotiations with the ELN have been ongoing for nearly a year, but are proceeding with difficulty, reports the Guardian. In the meantime, FARC demobilization has given the smaller guerrilla group opportunity for expansion, along with paramilitary and criminal organizations.

• Mexico's Chihuahua state governor Javier Corrales accused the Peña Nieto administration of withholding funding in order to quash an investigation against illegal campaign financing by the ruling PRI party, reports the Guardian. State prosecutors in Chihuahua are examining the alleged embezzlement of more than $10 million in public funds used to finance the campaigns of candidates from President Enrique Peña Nieto's political party, reports the New York Times. In a news conference yesterday, Corrales said the finance minister said Chihuahua would not receive funding aimed at covering a budget short fall unless state officials told the minister more about the investigation. 

• A reader commented that yesterday's post on U.S. National Security Adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster's allegations of potential Russian intervention in Mexico's election merits a more skeptical read and should be backed with evidence. Nor is potential Russian intervention the only threat to free and fair elections in Mexico. It's worth noting the impact of media bias in previous elections against front-runner Andrés Manuel López Obrador.  A study from the University of Texas found that biased coverage against AMLO significantly impacted voters -- enough to swing a close election. Indeed, AMLO lost the 2006 election by a tiny margin, and there were numerous allegations of irregularities in the election, explained Mark Weisbrot in the Guardian several years ago. And AMLO could indeed be perceived as a problem for the U.S.: "We are not going to fight with the U.S government. What we will do is demand our sovereignty – sovereignty with respect," he said at a Wilson Center event last year.

• Omar Barboza was elected the new National Assembly president in Venezuela, replacing Julio Borges. On Friday he pushed the opposition-dominated Congress to reach a deal with the government, reports the Associated Press. He also told legislators that ensuring a fair presidential election this year should be a top priority. Barboza acknowledged the opposition had made mistakes since winning a majority in congress in 2015 while also accusing the government of purposely trying to create mistrust among Maduro’s foes.
• Inflation last year in Venezuela was 2,616 percent, according to the National Assembly. Their estimates put December's inflation rate at 85 percent, well past the 50 percent that determines hyperinflation, reports Reuters.

• Some in Venezuela's political opposition are now calling for military intervention in their efforts to oust President Nicolás Maduro -- following a year of intense street protests and electoral campaigns that nonetheless failed to end the government. But a mutually beneficial alliance between the government and the military makes a coup unlikely, reports the Guardian."Amid the country’s worst economic crisis in modern history and polls showing that the vast majority of Venezuelans want the president to go, they say the armed forces have helped keep Maduro in office in exchange for a growing list of economic perks."

• The criminal profile of Brazil's Congress only grows: A man sentenced for sexual exploitation of underaged girls will take a seat as a lawmaker, provoking anger among many in the country, reports the Guardian.

• It's time for a stronger #MeToo (#YoTambién) campaign in the region, argues Ilan Stavens in a New York Times Español op-ed. "We must put machismo on the defendants bench. And confront the elite combating the impunity that protects the powerful. It will not be easy because the crimes of the upper classes tend to remain unpunished; not to try would be a form of complicity."

• Women's rights groups in Chile are concerned about what the upcoming presidency of conservative Sebastián Piñera could mean for newly earned abortion rights. (See post for Aug. 22, 2017.) A new law legalized abortion in exceptional circumstances last year, but rights groups are concerned that the newly elected president, who has opposed abortion rights in the past, will not fully implement the new regulations or add onerous requirements, reports Al Jazeera.

• Pope Francis has promised to declassify Vatican documents pertaining to Uruguay's military dictatorship, reports TeleSUR.

• Argentine President Mauricio Macri was elected two years ago on a platform promising to upend a culture of political corruption. A recent spate of detentions of former officials and private sector allies would appear to back his promises: except for the fact that only his political opponents have been targeted, notes the New York Times. Critics say the government is using the judiciary to neutralize its political opposition, and even supporters question the timing of detentions. The situation has many in Argentina calling for a wholesale overhaul of the penal code and the judiciary, a proposal that faces stiff opposition from many judges themselves. (On that subject, see an interesting New York Times Español op-ed by José Natanson from December, discussing why the executive branch is loathe to challenge the entrenched interests of the judicial sector.)

• In a New York Times Español op-ed, Argentine investigative journalist Hugo Alconada Mon calls for better legal tools to assist judicial cases against corruption. He points to the successes of Operation Car Wash in Brazil, particularly prosecutor's use of plea bargains -- though he concludes that nothing will work without magistrate commitment to the cause.

• Netflix is promoting a boom in Latin American stand-up comedy, an unusual genre in the region, writes Hanna' Tameez in Americas Quarterly. 

U.S. accuses Russia of meddling in Mexico's elections (Jan. 8, 2018)

U.S. National Security Adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster said the U.S. had already seen initial signs of Russian "subversion and disinformation and propaganda" in Mexico's presidential campaign, reports  by Reforma. Elections will be held in July. "With Russia we are concerned, increasingly concerned, with these sophisticated campaigns of subversion and disinformation and propaganda, the use of cyber tools to do that," McMaster reportedly said in previously unreported comments at a December event at at the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, DC. "As you've seen this is a really sophisticated effort to polarize democratic societies and pit communities within those societies against each other and create crises of confidence ... " 

In November Mexican foreign minister Luis Videgaray said the country had no evidence of Russian interference. But the Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE) voiced concern over the existence of misinformation campaigns on social networks about the electoral process, notes Reforma.

Interfering in Mexico's election is a good opportunity for Russia to complicate the U.S., argued Shannon O'Neill, senior fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, in a November Bloomberg piece. 

Speculation is that Russia would back leftist outsider candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a front runner for this year's elections, according to Business Insider. Russian media has been supportive of AMLO, as he is called, and he has promised to demand more respect from the U.S., reports Reuters. On a broader level, Russia and China are increasingly showing interest in Latin America as the U.S. takes on an economically protectionist stance. (See below on Nafta renegotiations.)

O'Neill also notes that the elections will not just be presidential, but will also renew the entirety of the Congress, several governors and local posts. More than 3,000 positions in all. "Mexico remains extremely vulnerable to the Russian interference that occurred in the 2016 U.S. election. Facebook, Twitter and Google are important sources of information for many Mexicans. And local papers and TV stations have long run flattering or condemnatory stories in exchange for ad buys or money," she writes. 

(The New York Times recently reported on how Mexico's national, state and local governments use funding to influence press coverage, see last Tuesday's briefs. Also, see last Wednesday's briefs on how journalists are self-censoring in the face of cartel violence, and Thursday's briefs on the difficulties of carrying out reporting from Mexico.)

For what its worth, Russian media has been dismissive of the reports of meddling. Sputnik accuses U.S. officials of grasping at straws: "unable to come up with any coherent evidence proving Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential vote, Washington now seems set on implicating Moscow in interfering in Mexico's upcoming general elections." And RT ran a piece in late December in which Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov rejected accusations of interference.

And last year Videgaray warned the U.S. to stay out of its elections, reported Business Insider in April.

More broadly, "fake news" is a topic in the Mexican election. AMLO has accused the mainstream media of shielding ruling party candidate José Antonio Meade, but he cited a malicious video of Meade edited to make it seem as if he had said the street is for criminals and jail for citizens, reports Animal Político. 

News Briefs

• The Trump administration will cancel Temporary Protection Status (TPS) for Salvadorans. The decision would affect the provisional residency of 200,000 people who have lived in the U.S. since at least 2001, reports the Washington Post. A Department of Homeland Security announcement sent to lawmakers today said conditions in El Salvador have improved significantly since a series of earthquakes prompted the granting of TPS in 2001. Salvadorans will have until Sept. 9, 2019 to leave the United States or find a new way to obtain legal residency. The 200,000 are the parents of an estimated 190,000 U.S.-born children. The decision was not, however, surprising. In recent months the administration terminated TPS for 60,000 Haitians who arrived after a 2010 earthquake, and for 2,500 Nicaraguan migrants protected after Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Some 57,000 Hondurans were granted a reprieve by then-Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke, but the administration was angered by the move. (See post for Nov. 7, 2017.) Immigration advocates say El Salvador in unprepared for such a large influx of returnees. El Salvador has extremely high rates of homicide and violence, as well as housing and job shortages, reports the Washington Post separately.

• The Trump administration asked Congress for $18 billion over the next ten years in order to build a polemic wall along the country's border with Mexico. Nonetheless, the U.S. president insisted that Mexico will pay for the wall, reports the Guardian. "I have a very good relationship with Mexico. But yes, in some form, Mexico will pay for the wall." (Mexican officials have repeatedly and emphatically emphasized that they will do no such thing.)

• White House Chief of Staff John Kelly's perspectives on Latin America were forged during the three years he spent as head of U.S. Southern Command (Southcom), reports the Washington Post. Though some immigrant groups initially hoped for a favorable perspective from a leader with on-the-ground experience on conditions in the region, his time in Latin America hardened his views on border security. "Kelly’s years in Latin America left him with a view of U.S. border threats similar to Trump’s, and not only illegal immigration and drugs. Kelly repeatedly told lawmakers that terrorist organizations could be plotting to sneak into the United States with the help of Mexican criminal groups..." He also tended to forge direct links with national leaders, and strayed from the Obama administration's foreign policy when he defended Honduras' militarized internal security strategy. But other sources speak of his willingness to meet with human rights organizations and efforts to understand the region's fraught history with its militaries.

• The New York Times profiles a dispute over who can truck Mexican goods into the U.S. heartland as an example of the multifaceted difficulties of the NAFTA renegotiation. Though the 1993 free trade agreement theoretically allowed for Mexican truckers to take their cargo anywhere in the U.S., in practise American truckers lobbied to allow only U.S. nationals to carry that transport. The Trump administration is pushing for Mexico to accept a provision that could block its drivers from delivering within the U.S. Mexico has rejected the proposal. "The dispute offers a window into the stakes involved in rewriting, or blowing up, an agreement that has become highly contentious but also extremely lucrative for all sides. It also hints at the impact that market forces — more than rules agreed to on paper — may have on the ways two nations exchange wares."

• The New York Times' Interpreter column explores how three Mexican localities that have effectively seceded from the country in a bid to control rampant violence and endemic corruption in security forces. "Each is a haven of relative safety amid violence, suggesting that their diagnosis of the problem was correct. But their gains are fragile and have come at significant cost. They are exceptions that prove the rule: Mexico’s crisis manifests as violence, but it is rooted in the corruption and weakness of the state."

• Thousands of protesters gathered in San Pedro Sula to protest the results of recent Honduran elections, which officials say granted incumbent Juan Orlando Hernández a second term. The march was led by opposition leader Salvador Nasralla, though he has officially conceded to Hernández, he maintains the election was fraudulent, reports the Associated Press. At least 30 people were killed in the protests that followed the Nov. 26 vote, most at the hands of the Honduran Military Police. But victims have little hope for justice, reports the Miami Herald. More than 90 percent of violent crimes in Honduras go unprosecuted, according to the Committee for the Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH).

• A three week police strike in Brazil's Rio Grande do Norte state has prompted a spike in violence and a state of emergency, reports the Los Angeles Times. Civil and military police walked off the job Dec. 19 to demand back pay and better working conditions. Officers haven’t been paid in full since November.

• Brazilian police have requested that President Michel Temer answers 50 questions as part of an investigation into alleged corruption in port regulation, reports Reuters. Police are investigating whether Temer took bribes in exchange for shaping a decree in a way that would benefit a logistics firm.

• On Friday Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced a temporary shutdown of air and maritime traffic with Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. He accused the Caribbean islands of running smuggling operations with Venezuelan goods -- from food to coltan, reports the New York Times. It was not clear what prompted the timing of the 72-hour crackdown, though all the islands are in fact known for black markets for Venezuelan contraband, as well as destinations for refugees from Venezuela's economic disaster.

• Mobs gathered outside of supermarkets this weekend after a government order for price reductions. The Maduro ordered more than 200 supermarkets to cut prices back to last month’s levels, a significant change in a country with hyperinflation, reports Reuters.

• Also on Friday, Maduro announced Venezuela would issue 100 million units of its new oil-backed cryptocurrency in coming days, reports Reuters.

• The U.S. announced sanctions on four acting or retired Venezuelan generals for rights abuses and corruption. That brings the total up to 44 Venezuelan officials have been sanctioned to date including President Nicolás Maduro, reports the BBC.

• Former Peruvian strongman Alberto Fujimori said he "Longs for a Peru without grudges, with everybody working for a superior objective." The remarks were made on Twitter, just after he was released from the hospital after obtaining a polemic medical pardon for a human rights violations prison sentence. It's not clear whether the comments auger a more active return to Peruvian politics, where Fujimori is a deeply divisive figure, reports the New York Times. Some lawyers say there is no legal obstacle preventing Fujimori from seeking public office now that he has been released from jail. But other experts say that a medical pardon should not permit him to resume a political career, reports the BBC. 

• A photo shared on social media shows Fujimori in a garden surrounded by his four adult children – a sign of unity that fueled speculation he would end a political rivalry between siblings Keiko and Kenji, reports the Guardian.

• In an op-ed in El Comercio, Prime Minister Mercedes Aráoz defended the decision to pardon Fujimori, saying it aims at reconciliation in Peruvian society as well as humanitarian concern over the former leader's ill-health. But to many observers, the decision seems to demonstrate that President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski's embattled administration is now beholden to Fujimori's Fuerza Popular party, according to the Economist. 

• In Nacla, Jo-Marie Burt calls the pardon Faustian and explores the new legal battle to have it revoked. "Defenders of the pardon insist that the president has the absolute right to pardon whomever he sees fit, but human rights lawyers say that in Peru, this is not true. Pardons must be clearly and logically reasoned, and must abide by the constitution and by Peru’s international obligations. Aside from the political nature of the pardon, human rights lawyers have identified a series of legal problems with the pardon and a clear strategy to revoke it."

• María Alejandra Vicuña was sworn in as Ecuador's new vice president, reports EFE. (See last Thursday's briefs.)

• Guaraní is widely spoken in Paraguay, but is generally relegated to homes. Now officials and intellectuals are working to promote the language, reports the New York Times. Speakers were the target of persecution under dictator Alberto Stroessner, and Paraguayans still consider it "second-class."

• Five severed heads were found atop a taxi in Mexico's Veracruz state. The torsos of the victims were found in plastic bags inside the car, reports the BBC. Graffiti on the vehicle linked the crime to the Jalisco New Generation cartel.

Latin America Daily Briefing

Referendum showdown in Ecuador (Jan. 5, 2018)

Campaigning started in Ecuador this week, ahead of a referendum next month that will ask citizens to roll back recent reforms. Voters will be asked about seven proposals, including the elimination of indefinite reelection for political posts (presidency), restructuring of mechanism to name the electoral council, and restrictions on mining. 

 The vote, called by current President Lenín Moreno, is largely aimed at preventing former President Rafael Correa from running for reelection in 2021. But it is also aimed a wresting political power from his former party ally, reports the AFP. Moreno served as Correa's vice president, and campaigned as his successor last year. But since taking office the two have increasingly feuded.

Correa was scheduled to arrive in Ecuador today -- from Belgium where he has resided since leaving the presidency last year. He will campaign for a "no" vote in several of the proposals, reports El Comercio.

Forty organizations have been approved to campaign, 36 of which will be pushing the "yes" vote, reports Andes. Other proposals include forbidding people convicted of corruption from ever holding political posts again, a law aimed at limiting land speculation, reducing areas open to oil extraction,  and enlarging the Yasuní national park. (TeleSUR analyzes those most questioned by Correa supporters.)

Correa supporters argue that some of the proposals are unconstitutional, and that some represent a rollback of social rights. They argue that the reelection question is aimed exclusively at preventing him from returning to office, and that the vote itself is an unnecessary exercise aimed at strengthening Moreno, reports El Comercio.

Moreno supporters, in turn, argue that the referendum is aimed at dismantling Correa's later excesses and returning to the "spirit" of the 2008 Montecristi Constitution. Popular referendums became more common under Correa, who held four throughout his presidency.

Moreno has a high approval rating of 71 percent, and will be backed by opposition parties in the vote.

The national electoral council has invited international organizations and specialized groups -- Unasur, the OAS, Uniore, and A-web -- to monitor the Feb. 4 elections, reports Efe. About 13 million voters are eligible to vote in the referendum, and participation is obligatory in Ecuador.

News Briefs

• Brazil's government surprised observers by announcing a potential retreat from new mega-dam construction. The country's hydropower policy is criticized by environmental and indigenous activists, reports the Guardian. Though officials cited public concerns, critics say the drying up of construction company bribes in the wake of the Operation Car Wash investigation is a more likely reason. Climate change has also raised the costs of hydropower, and a slow economy has decreased demand. "The decline in political influence of Brazil’s gigantic construction companies caused by the Lava Jato (Car Wash) corruption investigation is likely a major cause of the change in policy," according to Mongobay. "So is the current depressed state of Brazil’s economy, which makes it unlikely that Brazil’s huge development bank (BNDES) will invest in such multi-billion dollar projects."

• Peruvian defense minister Diego Nieto resigned on Wednesday, the second cabinet member to step down since President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski polemically pardoned former leader Alberto Fujimori, convicted of human rights violations, reports AFP.

• Fujimori was released from the hospital yesterday, and went to his Lima home, reports the New York Times.

• Children of Cubans living abroad will be permitted to apply for citizenship under new rules. But the government will be able to use political criteria -- including their parents having committed "counterrevolutionary" acts -- in evaluating applications, reports the Miami Herald.

• Food shortages in Venezuela are making groceries more attractive than cash -- the Miami Herald reports that gangs are using food baskets to lure young recruits, and that "hunger crime" is on the increase.

• Venezuela failed to make a $35 million payment this week, according to S&P Global Ratings, ratcheting up fears that the country will not be able to pay the $9 billion in bonds due in 2018, reports the Wall Street Journal.

• Paraguayan attorney general Javier Díaz Verón is under investigation by his own office for illicit enrichment, reports TeleSUR.

• A virtual reality installation by Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu -- Carne y arena -- gives participants a six minute experience based on undocumented migrant's crossing into the U.S. But while it's stirring and terrifying, Martín Caparrós is critical in a New York Times Español op-ed about the overall utility in raising consciousness about the dangers faced by migrants.

• A photograph from New Year's Eve celebrations in Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach has stirred up passionate debate in Brazil about race, class, and inequality, reports the Washington Post. The shot by Lucas Landau for Reuters portrays a 9-year-old boy staring up at fireworks alone in the water, as crowds celebrate behind him. For some, he represents inequality in the country, while others question the narrative that "black" means "poor." 

​

Latin America Daily Briefing

Honduran opposition calls for more protests over election (Jan. 4, 2018)

Honduras' opposition called for a month of protests ahead of President Juan Orlando Hernández's swearing in for a second term. They have denounced November's presidential election as rigged, reports the AFP. Though opposition candidate Salvador Nasralla conceded in December after weeks of violent protests, he is now accompanying the Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship to demand the election results be annulled.

International observers noted serious irregularities and the OAS recommended holding a new election. (See post for Dec. 18, 2017.)

The Society of Jesus has denounced threats against an Honduran Jesuit priest who has been outspoken regarding irregularities in the election, reports the Catholic News Service. A statement released last week said that the social media hostilities against Fr. Ismael Moreno Coto — better known as "Padre Melo" — were "reminiscent of the death threats which circulated in El Salvador before the murder of Jesuit Fr. Rutilio Grande," a Salvadoran Jesuit murdered in 1977.

"All of the accusations are lies aimed at counteracting the grass-roots organizing and the peaceful and democratic resistance which the accused, along with the people of Honduras, are carrying out at a moment when the popular vote has been disrespected by John Orlando Hernandez and his allies," said the statement.

And civil conflict, in the face of the ongoing electoral dispute, is a possibility, CEPR's Alex Main told the Daily Beast. "The possibility of a civil war is real given the level of outrage over the blatant electoral shenanigans that have taken place," he said.

News Briefs

• Honduras' government announced a significant reduction in homicides in 2017. The murder rate fell by more than a quarter to 42.8 killings per 100,000 people, reports Reuters.

• El Salvador's murder rate has also dropped, for the second consecutive year. But at 60.8 murders per 100,000 residents, the country is still among the world's most deadly, reports the Associated Press.

• The case of a Mexican journalist shot down while attending his son's school Christmas party in December highlights the difficulties of reporting in the country, one of the most dangerous in the world for the profession last year. Prosecutors allege Gumaro Perez was a drug cartel operative, who was killed by a rival cartel. Supporters say he was killed for his coverage of bloody crimes in Veracruz. "Either way, the brazen daylight killing underscored the blurred-lines nature of how journalism is practiced in much of Mexico, especially in the countryside and in areas where organized crime gangs hold sway over corrupt authorities, terrorize local populations and are largely free to harass and murder reporters with impunity," reports the Associated Press. "Reporting in such places often entails writing or uploading photographs to a rudimentary website or Facebook page, or working part-time for a small local media outlet whose meager salaries don’t cover expenses. Holding down a second job is essential. Some moonlight as cabbies or run small businesses. Others may work for a local government. And some, it’s widely believed — though it is said to be a small minority — go on the payroll of a cartel or a corrupt government."

• Brazilian authorities warn that prison officials should brace for more violence in penitentiaries, after a New Years riot in Goiás state resulted in nine deaths, reports the Guardian.

• Petrobras, Brazil's state owned-oil company, said it had agreed to pay $2.95 billion to settle a shareholder lawsuit in the United States over a high-level corruption scandal, reports the New York Times. The class action suit was brought by investors who said their holdings were damaged by a corruption scandal facing the firm, reports the BBC. A long-running investigation dubbed Operation Carwash has revealed a scheme involving top-level officials and politicians for kickbacks in exchange for public works contracts. The company said on Monday that it was a victim of the bribery scheme and had already recovered 1.475 billion Brazilian reais, or about $449 million, in restitution. Petrobras said it would "continue to pursue all available legal remedies from culpable companies and individuals."

• Ecuador's VP automatically lost his title yesterday, after an absence from his post for more than three months. Jorge Glas was detained in pre-trial detention earlier this year, and in December received a six year sentence in relation to corruption. Ecuador's Supreme Court found him guilty of receiving $13.5 million in Odebrecht kickbacks. He is the highest-ranking Latin American politician convicted in the massive Carwash scandal reports AFP.

• Ecuador launched a campaign for a popular referendum to be held next month, in which citizens will be asked to weigh in on reforms passed by former President Rafael Correa. Most social organizations favor an affirmative vote in the questions posed by President Lenín Moreno, reports EFE.

• The past year in the region was one of mediocre economies, political intensity and social complexity, writes IDEA Internacional's regional director Daniel Zovatto in Estrategia y Negocios. It was "characterized by a growing wave of demands and unsatisfied expectations of vast sectors of middle class, corruption scandals, fraud denunciations and conflictive reelections. This combination of factors provoked strong social tensions and political turbulence that complicated governability and eroded citizen support and the legitimacy of numerous presidents in the region."

• A Peruvian community leader was tortured and killed by a criminal gang, in retaliation for his opposition to land traffickers encroaching on an ecological reserve. José Napoleón Tarrillo Astonitas was attacked in his home, witnessed by his wife and local villagers in El Mirador, reports the Guardian.

• Bolivia's Lake Poopó is disappearing rapidly, and experts fear the indigenous Urus-Muratos whose communities depended on the ecosystem for survival will also disappear, reports the Guardian.

• Peace in Colombia has encouraged deforestation in the country's Amazon, as areas previously controlled by guerrillas who needed the trees for cover are liberated, reports the Guardian. Deforestation soared by 44 percent in 2016 with a rush of land-grabbing to plant coca and clear land for cattle ranches. Advocates are making efforts to provide incentives for reforestation and community environmental protection.

• Critics say Brazil's government has weakened critical environmental protection commitments. They largely blame President Michel Temer, who has traded favors with the powerful farming interest lobby in Congress as part of his bid to stay in power in the face of corruption accusations, reports the New York Times. The piece focuses on degradation in the Pantanal region, which straddles the Brazilian, Paraguayan and Bolivian border.

• At the other end of the country, on the far north-eastern corner of the Amazon, a recently discovered coral reef is threatened by oil company plans to drill in the ocean, reports the Guardian. "While some countries are backing away from fossil fuels, Brazil is heading in the opposite direction. Its business-friendly government encourages international oil companies to invest here and advocates development in protected Amazon areas."

• Guardian columnist George Monbiot tells how an adventurous investigation into land seizures in 1989 helped peasants near Manaus regain stolen land.

• Peru's government banned buses from a notorious stretch of highway known as Devil's Curve, where an accident Tuesday claimed 51 lives. The road along a cliffside is very foggy, full of curves and lacks a safety rail in many sections, notes the New York Times. Popular anger is mounting that no alternative route has been created over the years, despite numerous accidents. Fifty bodies have already been recovered from the wreck, reports the BBC.

• Trump's use of Salvadoran street gang MS-13 as an excuse for a crackdown on Latino immigrants is misguided and based on lies. But "there are some truths tangled in the midst of the Trump administration’s statements," writes Héctor Silva Ávalos at InSight Crime. "There’s no question that the MS13 is violent and dangerous. But separating political rhetoric from the reality of the gang is a much tricker subject."

• The situation in Venezuela is dire, but Professor Ricardo Hausmann’s proposal for military intervention in the country is misguided, argue Sean Burges and Fabrício Chagas Bastos in Americas Quarterly. A regime-change oriented invasion would necessarily depend on U.S. efforts, which have a negative track record in the region, they note. "At the end of the day, Hausmann’s idea would only create more internal turmoil in a country already plagued with a long-standing political and economic crisis. But these are not the reasons why Hausmann’s appeal for armed intervention will likely fall on deaf ears. Sovereignty is a sacrosanct principle in Latin American diplomacy, and consensual political accommodation its prayer. Inter-American affairs are consistently marked by the blocking of precedents that might allow any kind of future foreign intervention in domestic affairs."

• Cash-strapped Venezuela offered foreign pharmaceutical companies precious metals and diamonds in exchange for desperately needed medical supplies. It's not clear whether they accepted the alternative compensation, but its indicative of Venezuela's slide to a barter society, according to the Wall Street Journal.

• Russia and Venezuela are hoping to create state-sponsored cryptocurrencies to sidestep U.S. sanctions. "The Russian and Venezuelan plans may sound outlandish, even in the financial Wild West of Bitcoin and its online competitors. But they underscore how the rise of virtual currencies is pushing governments around the world to rethink the most basic elements of their own currencies and financial infrastructure," explains the New York Times.

• The international Financial Action Task Force (FATF) criticized Mexico's efforts to fight money laundering, reports Reuters. Money laundering "is not investigated and prosecuted in a proactive and systematic fashion.... Consequently, the number of prosecutions and convictions for money laundering are very low. Significant shortcomings were found in the way in which money-laundering cases are investigated," according to a report released yesterday.

• China is making increasing inroads in Latin America, assisted by the Trump administration's negative stance towards Latin immigrants and apparent diplomatic lack of interest, writes Antonio C. Hsiang in the Diplomat.

• Nonetheless, the U.S. administration is pushing back against Chinese economic influence in the Inter-American Development Bank, reports Bloomberg. The U.S. Treasury Department has raised questions about Beijing's influence in the lender and in the region's economies generally.

• Half of Puerto Rico's residents still don't have power, more than three months after Hurricane Maria destroyed swathes of the territory's infrastructure, reports the New York Times.

• Mexico City mayoral hopeful Salomon Chertorivski told Reuters he believes city residents should be permitted to grow marijuana for personal consumption.

• In the Guardian, Bogotá education secretary María Victoria Angulo details how transparency helped reveal cartelization among suppliers of fruit for schoolchildren's meals.

• A central problem in Latin American politics this year, and which impacted in 2017, is that of meddling former presidents, argues Javier Corrales in Americas Quarterly. "Latin America has a serious problem with ex-presidents. Too many of them refuse to retire from politics. While some leave office in opprobrium (e.g., Carlos Salinas de Gortari in Mexico), many others linger with renewed vigor, doing all they can to influence the status quo, and worse, plotting a comeback. ... Lingering ex-presidents prevent the nation from moving on. Thus, liberating countries from their influence is a collective good because it helps with leadership renewal. So I for one welcome the politics of Prexit. But Prexit, like all purges, can be carried out ineptly, and in the process produce more harm than good."

Latin America Daily Briefing

U.S. disinterest hinders LatAm corruption fight - InSight Crime

News Briefs

• Years of political upheaval due to corruption and criminal investigations against politicians in the region were countered in 2017, when "some of the more corrupt regimes struck back, undermining investigations against them and even democracy itself, solidifying their grip on power," write Steven Dudley and Jeremy McDermott at InSight Crime. "Throughout the region, the criminal landscape fragmented further. Even the largest criminal groups now work more as federations than vertically integrated structures. Amidst it all, the US government moved from bold backer of anti-corruption and anti-crime efforts to a disinterested, disengaged party, often enabling reactionary and corrupt forces." Regional enthusiasm to take on corrupt relations between elites and organized crime are critically hindered by U.S. disinterest, they argue. "The Trump administration has gutted the State Department and has given little direction to those who are left. It also illustrated a disregard for the judicial institutions and the rule of law at home, which seems to be having a spillover effect on leaders such as Jimmy Morales in Guatemala."

• Last year was the deadliest on record for Mexico, according to newly published government statistics. A total of 23,101 murder investigations were opened in the first 11 months of this year, surpassing the 22,409 registered in the whole of 2011, reports the Guardian. Reynosa, near the U.S. border, is one of the areas most affected by the surge in violence in recent years. Crime is so frequent -- and journalist self-censorship so frequent -- that most of it never makes the news. Instead, residents increasingly rely on social media to fill the information void, reports the Guardian in an in-depth piece.

• At least five Mexican politicians were killed over the past week, a bloody inauguration to a heated electoral year. The violence is an example of the dangers inherent in politics in the country -- especially at the local level, where drug gangs vie to control officials, reports the Washington Post. Four of the five politicians killed were affiliated with the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). The deaths have politicians from across the spectrum calling for improved security and justice.

• Civil society efforts to control corruption in Mexico have been insufficient to contain abuses of power and staunch illicit flows of public funds. The question is whether any of the candidates in this year's presidential race will be willing to elevate the fight against corruption as a serious campaign promise, writes Luis Pérez de Acha in a New York Times Español op-ed. Pérez forms part of the citizen participation committee of the country's new Sistema Nacional Anticorrupción de México (SNA), and details why the vaunted reform has failed to meet high expectations. Key posts, such as the anti-corruption prosecutor, and 18 anti-corruption magistrates have not been named. Local anti-corruption systems that form part of the SNA are delayed and lack funding. Though the citizen participation committee is meant to work with anti-corruption officials, in practise, they are adversaries, according to Pérez.

• Before the holidays, the Cuban government announced that President Raúl Castro would postpone his retirement, originally planned for February. Officials said Hurricane Irma damage delayed the single-party election process, reports CNN. The naming of Castro's successor is now scheduled for April of this year, though it's not yet certain, most analysts believe the post will be given to first Vice President Miguel-Diaz Canel. The Miami Herald notes that the delay will also give Castro time to close a deal with Russia's state-owned Rosneft oil company to take over Venezuela's stake in the Cuban-Venezuelan refinery in Cienfuegos. "Venezuela's political and economic crisis, plus Cuba's need for foreign investment, have opened the door to a stronger Russian presence in Latin America, a shift that has become part of a geopolitical game reminiscent of the Cold War."

• An InSight Crime field research points to record highs in Colombian coca production, and potentially inflated forced eradication figures. "More importantly, there is little evidence that destroying coca fields will lead to a long-lasting reduction in cocaine levels. Many if not most farmers recultivate crops after they have been destroyed, and if no alternative income is available, they have little choice."

• The apparent quid-pro-quo Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski engaged in over the holidays -- releasing former authoritarian leader Alberto Fujimori from a jail sentence for human rights violations, just days after Fujimori's son helped save him from an impeachment vote in Congress -- "has inflicted great damage on democracy in Peru and in the region," argues Sonia Goldenberg in a New York Times op-ed. "He has abandoned the moral high ground that would have enabled him to lead the fight against the biggest graft scandal in the history of Latin America. And more important, he has rehabilitated a man who has yet to apologize to relatives of the victims murdered during his 10-year rule."

• Miguel Etchecolatz, an 88-year-old former police officer serving a life sentence for crimes against humanity committed during Argentina's dictatorship was transferred to house arrest in a beach resort. The decision was criticized by human rights groups, reports the Associated Press. During his time as chief of police investigations, Etchecolatz ran 21 clandestine detention centres where inmates where tortured and forcibly disappeared or killed, reports the BBC. In a book he wrote after the dictatorship he defends his actions during the infamous  "Night of the Pencils", when 10 students were abducted by security forces in the city of La Plata near Buenos Aires in September 1976. Six of the 10 were forcibly disappeared, their fate is still unknown. The four survivors said they were horribly tortured. "I never had, or thought to have, or was haunted by, any sense of blame. For having killed? I was the executor of a law made by man. I was the keeper of divine precepts. And I would do it again," he wrote.

• Venezuela's humanitarian crisis disproportionately affects women, according to a new report by Asociación Venezolana de Sexualidad Alternativa, Asociación Civil Mujeres en Linea, the Centro de Justicia y Paz, and the Centro Hispanoamericano para la Mujer FREYA. Though of course both genders are affected, women are more likely to go without food and bear the burden of obtaining it for their families. And the scarcity of contraceptives affects them more as well, notes David Smilde in a review at Venezuelan Politics and Human Rights. Maternal mortality has skyrocketed, and women are subject to sexual abuse when they are detained in the context of protests.

• Former Venezuelan oil minister and U.N. ambassador Rafael Ramírez lambasted President Nicolás Maduro in a newspaper column, accusing him of devastating the country's economy. Ramírez, who was ousted last month and fled to an undisclosed location, is a longtime political rival of Maduro within Chavismo. He accused Maduro of "killing the revolution," reports Reuters.

• A prison riot in Goias state on Monday left nine dead and 14 injured, reports the Associated Press. It's the latest example of the difficulties Brazilian authorities are having in controlling the country's penitentiaries, according to Reuters.

• Tens of thousands of indigenous farmers in Guatemala were forced into so-called model villages during Guatemala's civil war between 1960 and 1994, according to the Associated Press. The goal was to isolate them from guerrillas, and they were promised health care and services. But instead hundreds were left to die of malnutrition and treatable diseases, according to new reports from historic memory groups.

• Revista Factum has a report on how Barrio 18, a Salvadoran street gang, is forcing women to serve as surrogate mothers to gang members' children. "Since 2000, the role of women in El Salvador’s gangs has been dwindling. Very few “clicas” or “canchas,” as the MS13 and Barrio 18 gangs call their small local cells, are initiating women anymore. Women’s current roles are mainly as “jainas” or girlfriends, collaborators and sexual slaves. However, a new phenomenon of “nannies” is emerging. These are women who have been chosen by the gang to be mothers. They have been subjected to a new form of slavery: to raise the children of gang members while under threat and without any legal recourse." (InSight Crime has the piece in English.)

• The task of protecting Honduran coral reefs has largely fallen to local community groups supported by international non-profits, reports the Guardian. But the work can provoke backlash, say conservationists on the front lines.

• At least 46 people died after a bus plunged off a cliff headed to Lima in Peru, reports the Associated Press.
• Argentine economic officials significantly eased inflation targets for next year last week, sending the peso plunging just before the new year. The decision reflects the government's failure to meet this year's inflation target of 12-17 percent and reflects debate within the administration over how to lift the economy out of recession, reports Bloomberg.

• The Macri administration's push for cheap airlines -- but not too cheap -- shows the difficulties of navigating between economic ideology and political reality, reports the Wall Street Journal.

• The U.S. military still hasn't resolved what to do with three Marines involved in a Bogotá pub-crawl last year that involved prostitutes, drugs and the theft of government property, reports the Miami Herald. 

• La Isla de la Juventud is an eccentric world apart, even by Cuban standards, according to a New York Times travel piece.

• A newly published archive of Gabriel García Márquez's papers show his obsessive self-editing process, writes Álvaro Santana-Acuña in a New York Times Español op-ed. "As a born perfectionist, he did not doubt in crossing out complete paragraphs and pages, and even polishing the text word for word. ... Among the many great merits of the archive is the confirmation that to become one of the most successful writers of the past century was arduous work."

Latin America Daily Briefing

Christmas Pardons (Jan. 2, 2018)

Surprise pardon for Fujimori's causes storm in Peru

Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (PPK) caused a firestorm with a Christmas Eve pardon for former authoritarian leader Alberto Fujimori. The 79-year-old was serving a prison sentence for human rights violations, but requested a humanitarian pardon for medical ailments including arrhythmia and tongue cancer.

Kuczynski said the choice to pardon was difficult, but necessary for national reconciliation, reports the Wall Street Journal. "I’m convinced that those of us who believe ourselves to be democrats should not allow Alberto Fujimori to die in prison," he said. "Justice is not revenge."

The timing was highly questionable, coming just days after Kuczynski survived an impeachment vote in Congress thanks to the strategic abstention from a faction of lawmakers following Fujimori's son, Kenji. (See post for Dec. 22, 2017.) Critics say the pardon appears to be a political reward.

"The transactional nature of this pardon is so evident," José Miguel Vivanco, director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas division, told the Washington Post. "The message is that if you have political influence, you can get special treatment before the law. It goes against the tide of progress against impunity in Latin America."

The U.N.'s human rights commission criticized the pardon, saying it was granted "on politically motivated grounds" and "undermines the work of the Peruvian judiciary and the international community to achieve justice." International experts said they were "“appalled by this decision. It is a slap in the face for the victims and witnesses whose tireless commitment brought him to justice."

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, criticized the pardon saying that it didn’t comply with due process and that the inclusion of Fujimori’s personal physician on a panel that recommended he be released from prison violated the council’s independence.

Jo-Marie Burt, senior fellow with the Washington Office on Latin America, PPK, had "bartered his political survival for the dictator’s freedom." She told the Guardian the timing of the pardon was "an incredible show of disrespect to the victims of Fujimorismo."

Fuerza Popular, which led the impeachment proceedings, is headed by Keiko Fujimori, the former president's eldest daughter. But there is a division within the party, and Kenji leads a faction more intent on obtaining a pardon for Fujimori elder, explained the New York Times. And his mutiny in the impeachment vote is likely to deepen the schism, according to the Post.

The backlash has left PPK politically isolated. Several members of Congress and senior civil servants resigned in the wake of the pardon, including interior minister Carlos Basombrío. The hashtag #PPKtraitor trended on Twitter, and even the president's lawyer, who days before mounted his defense in Congress, said he was surprised and rejected the pardon.

Last week thousands of protesters marched in Lima, and were dispersed with tear gas when they tried to march to PPK's house, reports the New York Times. In the midst of what was already a political crisis, the pardon could set the stage for even more confrontation within the country's politics, according to the Guardian.

Human rights advocates promised to fight the decision in Peruvian and international courts. Rights lawyers say pardons and sentence reductions are not permitted for people tried for rights violations under the rules of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which tried two of the cases against Fujimori. The NYT reports that the Institute for Legal Defense (IDL) asked the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to intervene -- though experts say there is little precedent when it comes to pardons.

Last week Fujimori appealed directly to Peruvians from his hospital bed. Though the video posted to Facebook did little to mollify anger, it was, nonetheless, "an exceptional moment for Peru," according to another New York Times piece. "I am aware that the results during my government on one side were well received," Fujimori said in the video. "On the other hand, I recognize that I have also disappointed other fellow Peruvians. I ask them to forgive me with all my heart."

Insulto Natalino in Brazil

Meanwhile, in Brazil, President Michel Temer set of his own Christmas pardon scandal -- that angry prosecutors dubbed "insulto natalino." Temer approved a Christmas decree that relaxed eligibility rules for nonviolent criminals seeking pardon, including extending presidential pardon powers to people convicted of corruption. 

Key provisions of the decree, including one that would reduce the amount of a sentence that must be served before applying for pardon, were immediately suspended by the head of the Supreme Court. She ruled largely in favor of arguments by Attorney General Raquel Dodge that the decree is unconstitutional, reports Reuters. She also argued the measure would significantly hinder the massive Lava Jato corruption investigation by making plea deals less attractive to criminal, reports the New York Times, which notes the decree could potentially save Temer and allies from several years in jail.

Before the end of the year several politicians and businessmen under investigation for corruption were released from jail, increasing the perception that the strong anti-corruption efforts of recent years are being undermined, notes the Financial Times.

Venezuela pardons dozens of political prisoners

Eighty political opponents of Venezuela's government were released from prison on Christmas Eve, part of a broader prisoner release. Their jail terms were replaced with alternative sentences like community service. The best-known among the released prisoners were former provincial mayor Alfredo Ramos, opposition electoral adviser Roberto Picón and a dozen police officers who worked for the opposition-run Chacao district of Caracas, reports Reuters.

News Briefs

• 2018 will be an electoral super year in Latin America. Some 350 million voters are due to head to the polls in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Costa Rica and Paraguay to elect new presidents, reports the Guardian. Though the region has been characterized by a right-ward shift in recent years, the key in many of these elections will be corruption and anti-establishment positions.

• Hundreds of poor Venezuelans protested in Caracas last week over pork shortages. The so-called pernil protesters took to the streets when the holiday dish staple was not included in subsidized food supplies as promised by the government, which in turn blamed Portugal for delaying the shipment, reports Reuters. Pork leg may be a prosaic source of discontent, but "these protests show that support or tolerance of the Maduro government among the poorest and most dependent Venezuelans is indeed contingent on the government delivering the goods," writes David Smilde at Venezuelan Politics and Human Rights. "With Venezuela steadily sliding into default and an economic situation that will only get worse, will the government be as effective at putting down food protests as it has been with middle class democracy protests?" Separately, looting was reporting in Bolivar State, and 28 people were arrested. A Venezuelan soldier who shot dead a pregnant woman on Christmas Eve in the midst of the pernil protests has been arrested, reports the BBC.

• Beyond the pernil troubles, some Venezuelans were already calling the season “Infeliz Navidad” — Unhappy Christmas — due to the difficulties caused by hyperinflation, reported the Washington Post recently. Though the government does not release inflation data, private estimates say the country slipped into hyperinflation — and hit an annualized rate of nearly 2,000 percent this year. President Maduro appeared on television to declare: "good news!" Venezuela is set to raise its minimum wage by 40 percent, a move that will likely further increase inflation, reports the BBC.

• Deepening troubles in Venezuela's state-run oil company further threaten the country's crisis wracked economy, even as increased prices are boosting other oil producing countries, reports the New York Times. Facilities around the country are in such disrepair that the country has not been able to increase production to take advantage of better prices. Production has fallen to its lowest level in three decades.

• This weekend, Venezuela's government downgraded diplomatic relations with Canada and Brazil, declaring their ambassadors personae non grata. And Constituent National Assembly president Delcy Rodriguez, former foreign minister, chided the new U.S. ambassador for starting off on the wrong foot. Todd Robinson, former U.S. ambassador to Guatemala and career foreign service officer, posted a video online in which he promised to "look for opportunities to help bring back democracy and prosperity" to Venezuela. In the midst of increased criticism from regional leaders, as voters in Latin America have swung to the right, Venezuela is becoming more dependent on Russia and China, reports the New York Times.

• Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto's government has spent an unprecedented fortune on advertising, permitting it to dominate media and suppress negative coverage, reports the New York Times. Transparency group Fundar said the government has spent $2 billion on advertising over the past five years. And state and municipal governments also exchange advertising funding for positive coverage. "The result is a media landscape across Mexico in which federal and state officials routinely dictate the news, telling outlets what they should — and should not — report, according to dozens of interviews with executives, editors and reporters. Hard-hitting stories are often softened, squashed or put off indefinitely, if they get reported at all. Two-thirds of Mexican journalists admit to censoring themselves." Though it is a problem common in countries around the world, what is occurring in Mexico is more marked, according to experts. The piece cites Animal Político, which has struggled to support itself without official funding. A recent letter of complaint from 39 news organizations about violence against journalists was not signed by Animal Político because it did not include a reference to the damage that official publicity does to free speech.

• Central America angling for Trump's goodwill: Last week Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales announced the country would move its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem, following the U.S.'s polemic lead, reports the New York Times. The week before the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning Mr. Trump’s decision by a vote of 128 to 9, with 35 countries abstaining and 21 countries absent. Guatemala was one of the countries that joined the U.S. and Israel in voting against the resolution, along with Honduras. Trump had threatened to cut off aid to countries that did not take the side of the United States. But it also goes beyond aid, according to the Washington Post: "Guatemala and Honduras have a lot to lose by upsetting the Trump administration, as the crackdown on illegal immigration has raised the prospect of more deportations, and regional trade and foreign aid have been called into question. But analysts see their actions last week as more than just attempts to curry favor with Washington. Both countries have long-standing ties to Israel and are facing domestic challenges that are helped by aligning with conservatives in the United States and Israel."

• The day after the U.N. vote, the U.S. government recognized President Juan Orlando Hernández as the winner in November's questioned presidential election, reports the New York Times. Opposition candidate Salvador Nasralla conceded, saying the U.S. decision put him out of the game, according to the Wall Street Journal. "Those who govern Honduras are criminals who depend on the United States," he said. In a statement that day, OAS secretary general warned that ignoring a negative report by the organization's electoral observer mission would set a "dangerous precedent" ahead of elections scheduled across the region in 2018. (See post for Dec. 18, 2017.)

• Relatives of the 30 peoplekilled in post-electoral violence in Honduras fear there will be no justice, reports the Guardian. Amnesty International has accused the government of deploying “dangerous and illegal tactics to silence any dissenting voices”, while the United Nations and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have denounced torture of detainees in military installations and said they were “alarmed by the illegal and excessive use of force to disperse protests." But Honduran officials have rejected an OAS request to send a special delegation to investigate the abuses. Since 2009, the United States has provided at least $114m in security assistance to Honduras, according to Security Assistance Monitor.

• Residents of the Caribbean island of Barbuda fear Hurricane Irma devastation could give the government a pretext to change a centuries-old system of communal land rights, reports the Guardian. The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda has been pushing for reform since most of the island's structures were destroyed by a storm last year, arguing that freehold tenure is the only way to finance Barbuda’s reconstruction. In the meantime the destruction is causing a rift between the two islands. Barbudans say the government should be doing more to rebuild, while Antiguans say that's not a fair use of resources, reports the Los Angeles Times.

• Brazilian police say 77 inmates are on the run after escaping amid a riot at a jail in the central state of Goias, reports the BBC.

• Brazil’s government issued a decree backtracking on plans to weaken the definition of slave labor in response to criticism and a court suspension of the original edict, reports Reuters.

• The death of a Mexican television exec in November in the crossfire between assailants and his own bodyguards is drawing attention to the shadowy work of private security contractors in the country, reports the Wall Street Journal. Though bodyguards are ubiquitous in certain areas, they have a poor reputation and authorities are seeking to better control them.

• An LGBT soccer league in Brazil is challenging the culture of machismo that surrounds the sport in the country, reports the Washington Post.