Brazil's Supreme Court's fake news investigation questioned (April 22, 2019)

Brazilian police raided homes and seized documents and computers of several social media users who accused the Supreme Court of corruption and other crimes, last week. The Supreme Court ordered the raids, part of a campaign against "fake news" and offensive social media posts that has raised free speech advocates' hackles.

Last week, Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes, ordered independent online magazine Crusoé and website O Antagonista to remove an article that he said wrongly linked the court’s current president, José Antonio Dias Toffoli, to Operation Car Wash plea deal testimony, reports the Wall Street Journal. De Moraes said the article was based on a non-existent court document, but later reversed the decision and allowed the piece to run. (See last Wednesday's briefs.) Crusoé and O Antagonista removed the report from their sites, but it was reproduced in its entirety on site of The Intercept Brazil, reports the Knight Center. Crusoé later republished the piece on its own site.

The decision caused considerable backlash against the Supreme Court, notes El País. Critics included other Supreme Court justices and President Jair Bolsonaro, reports El País separately. Perhaps the most unexpected side effect was that it unified a large swathe of opponents that included Bolsonaro, lawmakers, the attorney general, the Brazilian bar association, and the military, according tot he BBC.

De Moraes originally asked the federal police to question the report's authors within 72 hours, a request that was rejected by the attorney general Raquel Dodge. The attorney general's office attempted unsuccessfully to suspend the investigation, arguing that the Supreme Court could not be the victim, investigator and judge of the same case. The Committee to Protect Journalists criticized the Supreme Court move, as did Reporters without Borders and Transparency International. (EFE)

In a separate case, a Brazilian comedian known for aggressive attacks on leftist politicians, was sentenced to six months in jail for a 2017 clip targeting Rio Grande do Sul congresswoman Maria do Rosário. Critics say Brazil's judiciary is overstepping constitutional boundaries -- and lower court judges have increasingly sided with people who accuse their critics of libel, reports the WSJ.

In the midst of the backlash over the Toffeli case, the Supreme Court also granted former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva permission to give interviews from jail, reversing an earlier prohibition, reports El País.

News Briefs

More Brazil

• The negative narrative about Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro as a tropical Trump -- propelled by his outrageous discourse -- is too bad, according to the Financial Times, "because the Bolsonaro administration also has a more positive story to tell the outside world."

• Brazilian Justice and Public Security minister, Sérgio Moro, presented a wide-ranging crime bill in Congress. It would lengthen prison sentences for particular crimes, allow plea bargains as a prosecutorial tool, and tighten laws against money laundering, reports Americas Quarterly. But it might not be enough to combat the country's dominant criminal group, the Primeiro Comando da Capital, argue Ryan Berg and Andrés Martínez-Fernandez.

• Bolsonaro promised new legislation to make it easier to carry guns in public and expand protections for people who kill in defense of themselves or their property. (Associated Press)

• The Amazon Kayapó tribe is standing up for their land rights access, against the Bolsonaro government's attempts to weaken protections for indigenous communities, reports Ozy.

Regional Relations

• U.S. President Donald Trump is working hard to alienate countries in Latin America -- and Russia and China are eager to step into the gap and consolidate influence, military potential, and economic alliances in the region. The Pentagon in particular is scrambling to react, reports the Washington Post.

• Chilean President Sebastian Piñera will visit China later this month and will attend the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, reports EFE.

• China's ambitious plan to build a high-speed rail line in Chile is stalled in a regulatory web, reports Bloomberg.

Peru

• Peruvian prosecutors allege that former president Alan García -- who killed himself last week to avoid arrest -- led a criminal group that received millions of dollars in bribes from Odebrecht SA. García had denied wrongdoing. The attorney general's office said a ring of corrupt officials led by García, received payments ranging from $10,000 to $860,000 and expensive TV sets in exchange for lucrative public-works contracts, reports the Wall Street Journal. (See Wednesday's briefs and Friday's.)

Haiti

• A Haitian investigating judge cleared President Jovenel Moïse of money laundering allegations, reports the Caribbean Media Corporation.

Nicaragua

• Nicaraguans turned Good Friday marches into an opportunity for anti-government protests. Alongside the traditional Stations of the Cross procession, demonstrators shouted for “justice” and carried wooden crosses bearing the names of those who died during the past year of protests. They waved the blue-and-white Nicaraguan flag, which has become a symbol of the opposition, reports the Associated Press. Riot police broke up protests outside the Managua cathedral, and some demonstrators took shelter inside.

• Despite a commitment to strengthen rights and citizen guarantees, anti-government activists report ongoing harassment from authorities, reports Confidencial. At least one recently released political prisoner was temporarily redetained this weekend. 

Venezuela

• Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido called for a massive march against President Nicolás Maduro for May 1. (Reuters)

• Indian oil refinery company Reliance Industries denied involvement in any arrangements that lead to cash payments for oil supplies to Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA via third parties, reports Reuters.

• U.S. sanctions on Venezuela have led the New York Federal Reserve to crack down on Puerto Rico’s $50 billion offshore banking industry, reports Reuters.

Ecuador

• Human rights activists and digital security advocates are increasingly critical of Ecuador's arrest of a Swedish cybersecurity expert. Ola Bini was detained two weeks ago, accused of attacking computer systems in the country. But advocates there is no evidence and he's "guilty by association," due to contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, reports the New York Times. Both Amnesty International and Article 19 have raised concerns over the detention. (See last Monday's briefs.)

Guatemala

• Migration is taking a toll on Guatemala's rural communities -- villages in the country's western mountains are increasingly depleted, worsening chronic poverty. (Wall Street Journal)

• Sally O’Neill, a prominent human rights worker from Ireland died in a car crash in Guatemala. (New York Times)

Argentina

• Poverty has jumped up alarmingly in Argentina, raising questions about an IMF austerity program that specifically sought to protect "society's most vulnerable," reports the Financial Times.

Mexico

• Gunmen killed 13 people in a bar in Mexico's Veracruz state, one of the worst slayings since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador assumed office last Dec. (Reuters)

• Violence in Mexico is topping previous highs -- homicides increased 10 percent in the first quarter of this year, over the same period in 2018. (Al Jazeera)

• Migration is turning many residents of Mexico's southern Chiapas state against AMLO, reports the New York Times.

Colombia

• At least 17 people have been killed by a landslide in Colombia's Cauca region yesterday. (BBC)

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Latin America Daily Briefing

García's suicide puts pre-trial detention in spotlight (April 19, 2019)

News Briefs

Peru

• Former Peruvian president Alan García's suicide this week as he was being detained as part of a corruption probe has raised questions over whether Odebrecht investigators in the country have been too aggressive, report the Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press. Prosecutors have made use of preventive detention for three former presidents, an attempt to keep influential suspects from interfering or fleeing. And the corruption investigations are popular among Peruvians. But now critics say the mechanism, which allows suspects to be jailed for up to three years without charges, has been abused. (See yesterday's briefs, and Wednesday's.)

Venezuela

• The Inter-American Development Bank is secretly circulating a four-year plan to open the country’s economy to foreign corporations through privatization, reports The Intercept. The analysis predicts an infusion of up to $48 billion of capital into the Venezuelan economy should President Nicolás Maduro be removed from office.

• Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó is considered the country's legitimate leader by dozens of foreign countries, but, three months into the country's legitimacy crisis, he's still on the sidelines of actual governance. As a result, he's carrying out an extensive electoral-style campaign in a country with no elections in sight, reports the Washington Post.

• Maduro is funneling proceeds from Venezuelan oil sales through Russian state energy giant Rosneft, in an attempt to evade U.S. sanctions, reports Reuters.

• Russia's Caracas ambassador pushed back against U.S. invocation of the Monroe doctrine to justify intervention in Latin America, reports the Associated Press.

• A Venezuelan journalist was detained and later freed by police yesterday while covering Red Cross aid distribution, reports Efecto Cocuyo. Union representatives said Venepress journalist Frank Thomas was forced to erase material documenting complaints over aid.

Regional Relations

• The new U.S. Trump administration sanctions against Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua are ideological, but also electorally motivated. Florida has at least a half-million voters who were born in Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia or Nicaragua — and more with ancestral roots in those countries — and could prove pivotal in November 2020, reports Politico. (See yesterday's post.)

• The European Union will consider options to protect its interests after the U.S. gave citizens permission to file lawsuits against foreign companies operating in Cuba, reports Reuters. (See yesterday's post.)

• A group of 12 Bolivian lawmakers asked U.S. President Donald Trump to intervene in their country's upcoming presidential elections, to somehow block President Evo Morales from running for a fourth term. Though Washington has been active in the region, it appears unlikely to respond to this particular plea, reports Newsweek. 

• A U.S. government report concluded that the re-negotiated NAFTA deal -- known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement -- offers only modest benefits to to the U.S. economy. (New York Times)

Migration

• A surge in Central American migrants, and U.S. pressure, has forced Mexico's government to backpedal on promises of more human treatment for migrants, reports Reuters. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's administration has stopped its liberal humanitarian visa policy and increased detentions of migrants heading north. Hundreds have been stranded in unsanitary camps near Mexico's southern border.

Mexico

• AMLO declared an end to the country's drug war in February -- but for communities living in fear of criminal cartels, it remains to be seen what policy changes are implemented and how they work, reports The Nation. Experts say the government must take a harm reduction approach rather than criminalizing narcotics.

• AMLO has touted his administration as Mexico's Fourth Transformation -- that should be understood as an attempt to solve the problems that the Mexican Revolution —the Third Transformation—left unresolved, reports NACLA.

Jamaica

• Jamaican authorities seek to cash in on cannabis without angering the U.S. -- the risk of miscalculation is high, according to the Economist.

Colombia

• Jhon Jader Cayapu, a community leader from the Cauca province, was found dead on Monday -- the third indigenous leader killed in a week since a failed meeting with President Iván Duque, according to Colombia Reports. (See April 10's briefs.)

• A Colombian lawmaker believes his U.S. tourist visa was revoked in retaliation for leaked information regarding a meeting between Colombian politicians and the U.S. ambassador to Colombia, reports El Espectador. (See Tuesday's briefs.)

• Colombian same-sex couples staged a kiss-a-thon in a Bogota shopping mall after two gay men were harassed in the shopping center. (Associated Press)

Ecuador

• An Ecuadorean judge ordered former foreign minister Ricardo Patiño be held in pre-trial detention on a so-called instigation charge. Patiño's whereabouts are currently unknown, he left the country by road on Wednesday. The attorney general's office accused him of "giving a speech in which he instigated people to take over public institutions and close roads." Prosecutors said Patiño is also under investigation for having supposed ties to alleged Swedish hacker Ola Bini, who was arrested last week. (Reuters)

Amazon

• Amazon the retailer is fighting with South American countries over the domain name .amazon. (New York Times)

• Funding is being cut from scientific research programs on a large scale in Brazil, which is putting natural wonders like the Amazon at risk, reports National Geographic.

Argentina

• Argentina's government is desperately trying to shore up the economy ahead of presidential elections this year. With IMF endorsement, it is using loan dollars to stabilize the peso, a very poor choice according to former IMF official Hector Torres. (Project Syndicate)

• "In practice, this unprecedented arrangement is an invitation to speculators to test the bank’s resolve," write economists Miguel Kiguel and Eduardo Levy Yeyati in the Financial Times.

• Price controls announced this week are another misguided policy -- which has worked poorly in the past to contain inflation, according to the Economist.

Photography

• Argentina's gauchos -- a Guardian photo-essay.

• Colombian photographer Andres Cardona confronts his family's tragic past as part of Colombia's war. (New York Times)

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Latin America Daily Briefing

New U.S. sanctions against "troika of tyranny" (April 18, 2019)

The U.S. imposed new restrictions on travel to Cuba, limits on remittances that can be sent there, and will permit exiles to sue for property seized by the revolutionary government. Such lawsuits against foreign companies that use properties nationalized by the Castro government after 1959 were technically permitted by the Title III of the 1995 Helms Burton act, but have been waived by every president since. The Trump administration's move is expected to unleash a slew of complicated suits worth tens of billions of dollars. Canada and European Union representatives lobbied against permitting them in recent weeks, and said the shift was "regrettable." Companies from those countries have significant investments in hotels, distilleries, tobacco factories and other properties on the island.

The shift announced yesterday is a decisive end to the Obama administration's detente policy. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused the previous government of playing  a "game of footsy with the Castros’ junta." The moves limiting tourism and remittances will significantly affect the Cuban economy and efforts to increase foreign investment.

The changes are part of a broader set of sanctions that also target the Venezuelan and Nicaraguan governments. U.S. national security advisor John Bolton announced new sanctions on the Central Bank of Venezuela and Nicaragua’s Bancorp, as well as Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's son Laureano.

“The ‘troika of tyranny’ — Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua — is beginning to crumble,” said Bolton in a speech yesterday. “The United States looks forward to watching each corner of this sordid triangle of terror fall.”

The new sanctions against Venezuela's Central Bank cut off its access to United States currency and limiting its ability to conduct international financial transactions. All Central Bank assets in the United States will be frozen, and U.S. residents and citizens are barred from doing business with the organization and one of its directors, Iliana Josefa Ruzza Terán. The sanctions target the payment process Venezuela's trade, investment, and banking industries need -- and close off a few remaining critical paths for financing for the Venezuelan government. However, Treasury said it is making exceptions so that regular debit and credit card transactions can take effect, and personal remittances and humanitarian assistance can continue.

(New York Times, New York Times, Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Miami Herald)

News Briefs

Nicaragua

• Nicaraguan security forces prevented large-scale demonstrations against the government yesterday -- the one year anniversary of a brutally repressed protest movement against President Daniel Ortega. About 200 protesters were blocked by police in riot gear in Managua, reports Reuters. Deployments filled the main avenue and side streets where the march was to take place, as well as a nearby mall and businesses. Officers prevented smaller groups of protesters from merging, reports the Associated Press. Police beat and harassed citizens who attempted smaller scale demonstrations yesterday -- in many cases taking away their cell phones, reports Confidencial. The opposition Unidad Nacional coalition said at least 60 people were detained illegally, but by evening believed that most had been released. Artículo 66 journalist Abixael Mogollón was among the citizens beat by police and illicitly detained temporarily. (See yesterday's post.)

• More than 200 political detainees remain in jail in Nicaragua, reports Al Jazeera.

Venezuela

• The Red Cross faces significant challenges in distributing humanitarian aid in Venezuela's violent and politically polarized situation, reports the New York Times. While the organization, along with other international aid groups, have emphasized the need to keep assistance neutral, both Nicolás Maduro and Juan Guaidó claimed the arrival of 24 tons of supplies as a victory this week. The piece quotes Human Rights Watch's Tamara Taraciuk, who notes the man-made nature of the crisis. "This is a pretty unique situation with no precedent in modern Latin American history," she said.

• Colombian criminal groups are now major employers along the Venezuelan border. Guerrilla groups like the ELN, the EPL, FBL and FARC dissidents have jointly recruited more than 15,000 Venezuelans to help further criminal economies at the Colombia-Venezuela border, according to a new report by Fundación Redes. (InSight Crime)

Regional Relations

• Latin America unity remains an unachieved dream -- "The continent has seen a seemingly endless series of regional groups, some dismantled, others still in existence, that read like an alphabet soup of dreams, ideologies and geopolitical side effects," writes Frida Ghitis in World Politics Review. Though the latest attempt, Prosur, bills itself as anti-political, its largely born of rejection of the pink-tide governments and Venezuela in particular. 

• The Miami Herald's Andrés Oppenheimer regrets that Bolivia isn't included in the U.S. troika of tyranny -- though he admits "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

El Salvador

• Sexual violence rates rose last year in El Salvador -- teenage girls have been particularly affected. Experts say many sexual attacks -- which have increased by 31 percent since 2017 -- are gang related, reports the Guardian.

Mexico

• Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's promise to allocate unlimited resources for the search of approximately 40,000 disappeared people raises questions over how the program will be implemented, reports InSight Crime.

• AMLO's consistent criticism of journalists is worrisome in a country that is one of the world's deadliest for reporters, writes Jorge Ramos in a New York Times op-ed.

Peru

• Former Peruvian president Alan García committed suicide as security officials attempted to detain him on corruption charges -- a tacit admission of guilt for many, and a sign abuse for his supporters, writes Renato Cisneros in a New York Times Español op-ed. (See yesterday's briefs.)

Brazil

• Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's government is divided into warring factions, with vice president Hamilton Mourão playing an unexpected opposition figure to the controversial leader. (Americas Quarterly)

Ecuador

• Critics of Ecuador's decision to rescind WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's asylum say he was traded in for debt relief. But, ultimately, shielding Assange "was politically costly and brought no benefits to a government that’s too weak to waste political capital on an international troublemaker," argues John Polga-Hecimovich at the Aula blog.

• In a New York Times Español op-ed, María Sol Borja takes a different view, and argus that a harsh U.S. sentence against Assange could potentially backfire against Moreno.  

Argentina

• Argentina's government announced a slew of price controls, in the midst of accelerating inflation, poor economic indicators, and -- of course -- a heated electoral year. It's a sign of significant concern coming from a government that has shown commitment to free market policies, say experts. (Wall Street Journal)

• The murder of a drug trafficker and the arrest of a high level cop in Argentina's strategically located Cordoba province shows the evolution of criminal groups in the country, reports InSight Crime.

• A unique school in Buenos Aires offers the trans-community the opportunity to obtain high school degrees. Argentina has some of the most progressive gender identity policies in the world, but trans people still face prejudice and violence. (Guardian)

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Latin America Daily Briefing

Nicaragua -- a year of repression (April 17, 2019)

Nicaragua's government released 636 prisoners yesterday -- ahead of the one-year anniversary of violently repressed protests against President Daniel Ortega. The government framed it as a gesture of goodwill and said the number included 36 people arrested during demonstrations. But the opposition Alianza Cívica said only 18 of those released were political detainees. The release of hundreds of political prisoners is among the primary opposition demands, along with early elections. Advocates said the government has been tricky, and that several prisoners that figure as freed remain incarcerated. (Confidencial, Reuters)

The opposition planned a march for today, which the government deemed illegal and could become the latest flashpoint in Nicaragua's political conflict. Organizers were determined to continue anyway. "Today more than ever we call on the people to mobilize and express their desire for freedom in the most civic and peaceful way," said the opposition Unidad Nacional coalition.

Yesterday U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called on the government to abstain from violent repression of protesters and reiterated criticisms regarding the "criminalization, harassment, and attacks on student leaders, human rights defenders, journalists, and other critics."

Both the UN Human Rights Office and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) have expressed concern over the deterioration of the situation in Nicaragua since April 2018, reporting serious human rights violations against those who participated in anti-government protests and those who helped them. (UNHCR)

A year into the conflict, Nicaragua's national symbols -- the flag and the national anthem -- are considered subversive by the government which retaliates against citizens dressed in blue and white, reports Confidencial. Though Ortega is internationally isolated, and has made gestures towards negotiations, he remains firmly in power. 

In the face of ongoing government repression, opposition activists have developed guerrilla protests tactics: suddenly releasing blue and white balloons or confetti on the streets; or honking horns in rush hour traffic. The Guardian reports on flash-mob style protests.

Several recaps of the past year, including these from Confidencial, AFP, Amnesty International, Al Jazeera, and the Conversation.

Over the past year, more than 700 people have been imprisoned in relation to political protests, 325 killed and nearly 2,000 injured, according to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. Students have been expelled from universities and teachers, doctors and others were fired from jobs in retaliation.

About 62,000 Nicaraguans have been forced from their homes in the Central American nation, of which 55,500 have sought safety in Costa Rica, according to the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR). (Reuters) Opponents were skeptical of a newly announced government plan to guarantee a safe return for exiles.

News Briefs

Peru

• Former Peruvian president Alan García died after shooting himself when authorities tried to arrest him in connection to Odebrecht corruption charges. (New York Times) The attempt to arrest García came just days after an investigation revealed his personal secretary, Luis Nava, had allegedly received $4m from Odebrecht’s bribery department. García emphatically denied accusations against him. (Guardian)

• Former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who was detained last week in relation to Odebrecht corruption, was hospitalized last night with high blood pressure. (Associated Press)

Venezuela

• The Venezuelan government allowed the Red Cross to send in 24 tons of medical equipment yesterday -- a significant about-face for Nicolás Maduro who has consistently denied the country's humanitarian crisis. The Red Cross asked the aid to remain politics free, and said materials would be distributed in a neutral fashion. The agency estimates its Venezuelan campaign could become its biggest relief effort since the beginning of civil war in Syria, reports the New York Times. (More on how the aid is being disputed by political factions: Efecto Cocuyo and Efecto Cocuyo.)

• The power struggle between Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who is recognized as president by over 50 countries, has created some bizarre diplomatic situations around the world, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Regional Relations

• The U.S. will announce additional sanctions on Venezuela, as well as Cuba and Nicaragua today, reports Voice of America.

• European Union officials objected to U.S. plans to allow citizens to lodge claims against foreign companies that do business in Cuba. They warned last week that the U.S. decision to end a two-decade-old waiver on part of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act could lead the bloc to sue the U.S. at the World Trade Organization, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Mexico

• Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ordered the country's intelligence services to liberate about 12 million files (which will first be redacted for sensitive personal information). The files show a long history of spying on figures ranging from presidents, to Gabriel García Marquez, to Frida Kahlo, reports AFP.

• AMLO said he will freeze the previous government's education overhaul and seek a consensus reform, reports Reuters.

• AMLO said 269,143 jobs were created in the first quarter of this year. (EFE)

Brazil

• Brazilian Supreme Court Chief Justice Jose Antonio Dias Toffoli opened a secret criminal investigation against critics, and ordered a news site to remove a story alleging links between Toffoli and players in a corruption scandal. Critics, including attorney general Raquel Dodge, criticized the move. (Reuters)

• Brazil's government announced a series of financial packages aimed at averting a truckers strike, reports the Associated Press.

Ecuador

• Ecuadorean President Lenín Moreno accused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of hosting and coordinating numerous hackers at the country's London embassy. (Associated Press)

Chile

• A new Chilean law targets street sexual harassment -- but the challenge will be getting victims to speak up, reports Reuters.

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

Latin America Daily Briefing

Flash-mob protests in Nicaragua (April 16, 2019)

News Briefs

Nicaragua

• It's been nearly a year since popular protests against Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega began to clash with security forces and paramilitary groups. So far negotiations remain stalled, and protests have been met with repression. The opposition Blue and White National Unity coalition is now focusing on "flash-mob" style protests,  where protesters dispersed around the city block traffic, demonstrate and then disappear before police arrive, reports the Guardian.

Regional Relations

• Canada has been pressuring Nicaragua's Sandinista government, in response to human rights abuses. But unlike its diplomacy with Venezuela, the country has chosen to keep its actions quiet in this case, reports CBA.


• The U.S. Pentagon is developing military options aimed at deterring Russian, Cuban and Chinese influence in Venezuela -- but without actual use of military force, reports CNN.

• China vehemently rejected U.S. accusations that the country is "spreading chaos" in Latin America by bankrolling Venezuela's government. (Guardian and Associated Press)

• The U.S .must stop trying to bring about regime change in Venezuela, at risk of creating another "Syria," argues Michael Lüders in International Politics and Society.

• The U.S. move to cut off aid to Central America's Northern Triangle is a ruinous policy, for all the countries involved, argues the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Mark Schneider in the Washington Times.

Migration

• Experts increasingly point to the role of climate change in pushing migration from Central America to the U.S., reports the Washington Post. (See yesterday's briefs and April 8's post.)

• Most migrants in Mexico hoping to get to the U.S. are Central American -- but the country is also a transit point for migrants from African countries, reports the Washington Post.

• U.S. President Donald Trump's latest migration proposal could involve sending asylum applicants to U.S. sanctuary cities. (NYU IR Insider)

Colombia

• Last week Colombian lawmakers resounding rejected President Iván Duque's proposals to modify the transitional justice system established by the 2016 FARC peace accord. (See last Tuesday's briefs.) Most of the international community voiced concern over the attempt, which experts say would undermine the peace process. But U.S. ambassador Kevin Whitaker was a notable exception. El Espectador reports that he lobbied Colombian lawmakers and said U.S. aid was in play. (Adam Isacson has analysis and translation.)

• Colombia is again debating whether to use glyphosate in combatting illicit coca cultivation. There is considerable political and international pressure -- from the U.S. -- to resume aerial use of the cancer-linked herbicide, but it would nonetheless be a mistake, argues Jorge Eduardo Espinosa in a New York Times Español op-ed.

Haiti

• A dispute between Haiti and a U.S. energy company is causing blackout and fuel shortages, increasing anger at President Jovel Moïse's government, reports Reuters.

• The Real News Network takes a closer look at the Port-au-Prince La Saline massacre last year that killed at least 77 people.

Mexico

• Police will escort paramedics in Mexico's Guanajuato state, after an episode this weekend in which armed men threatened Red Cross volunteers and pulled a wounded person from an ambulance. The region has become one of the country's most violent, due to conflict between criminal groups, reports the Guardian.

• Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is betting on austerity rather than fiscal reform -- a paradoxical stance given his campaign promises to overturn neoliberal economic policies, writes Juan Carlos Moreno-Brid at the Aula Blog. "... What Mexico really needs is a profound fiscal reform – strengthening public revenues, modernizing public investment strategies, and strengthening its development banks – to foster growth and equality with long-term debt sustainability and greater countercyclical capacity."

• AMLO proposed a "Robin Hood" institute to return confiscated goods to the public, reports Reuters.

• Investigators found the remains of at least 39 people in 20 clandestine graves in two Mexican states over the weekend, reports EFE.

Ecuador

• Two British foreign secretaries gave Ecuadorean President Lenín Moreno written assurance that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cannot be extradited if he could potentially face the death penalty in the requesting country, reports the Guardian. (See yesterday's briefs.)

Brazil

• Brazilian men have a more positive take on feminism than women, according to a new Datafolha poll.

• New York's Museum of Natural History scrapped a privately organized black-tie gala honoring Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro after a public outcry, reports the Guardian. (See yesterday's briefs.)

• Bolsonaro hasn't yet outlined a full public security policy, but what he's discussed so far is likely to increase rather than reduce violence, said researcher Yanilda Maria González in an interview with UOL.

Peru

• A new project aims to take neonatal jaundice treatment to rural Peru. (Guardian)

Argentina

• Newly declassified U.S. intelligence documents show that European governments sought advice from the Southern Cone's bloody military dictatorships' Plan Condor in the 1970s, over how to combat leftwing "subversions," reports the Guardian. 

Literature and History

• The Guardian does a deep-dive into Guyana's Scottish history, and how it's been hidden.

• Eighty year's after General Francisco Franco's dictatorship started in Spain, his literary legacy of censorship remains -- many texts in Spanish are still missing parts, an undiscussed effect that impacts readers throughout the Spanish-speaking world, writes Jordi Cornellà-Detrell in the Conversation.

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

Latin America Daily Briefing

Former Venezuela spy chief arrested in Spain (April 15, 2019)

Former Venezuelan spy-chief and lawmaker, Hugo Carvajal, was detained in Spain on a U.S. extradition request. Carvajal broke with the Maduro government in February, and urged the military to turn against the administration. Carvajal told the New York Times he had witnessed numerous government officials engaged in drug trafficking. He is wanted by the U.S. for similar crimes. 

U.S. officials believe he will be a source of extensive information about the Maduro government, reports Reuters. Indeed, Carvajal said the charges are trumped up and aim at obtaining information from him, reports Efecto Cocuyo.

The U.S. unsealed the indictment against Carvajal on Friday, part of an attempt to push European allies to raise pressure on Venezuela's Maduro administration, reports the Wall Street Journal. Nonetheless, Carvajal's arrest could undermine hopes of a broad military defection from Maduro's ranks. "It’s logical to fear that now if you break from the regime, you’ll end up in a prison cell in Miami," WOLA's Geoff Ramsey told the WSJ. "Rather than incentivizing a break, instead they only provide incentives for people to stay and go down with the ship." (See briefs below.)

News Briefs

More from Venezuela

• The Lima Group meets today in Chile, and plans to focus on concrete, non-violent measures to reestablish democracy in Venezuela, reports EFE.

• Politically motivated arrests are on the rise in Venezuela. More than 900 political detainees are being held around the country, according to Foro Penal -- and they are being held longer, under worst conditions, and under increasingly flimsy pretenses. (Washington Post)

• In the midst of Venezuela's collapse -- and the ongoing political stalemate -- people are increasingly turning to religion for comfort. Traditionally one of the region's least religious country's, experts are watching to see if growing sectors of faithful become a political force, reports the Washington Post.

• Venezuela's military remains largely Maduro loyal, and months into the political stalemate over who is the country's legitimate leader, the trickle of defectors to Colombia has largely stopped, reports the Washington Post.

• Canada imposed sanctions on 43 more individuals affiliated with the Maduro goverment, reports Efecto Cocuyo.

• Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez accused the U.S., Brazil and Colombia of planning military aggression against Venezuela, reports Efecto Cocuyo.

Elections

• There are five national elections coming up in the region -- Panama next month, Guatemala in June, and Bolivia, Argentina and Uruguay in October. Americas Quarterly profiles each of the leading candidates -- along with a graph plotting where they fall on the ideological spectrum (left-right, and nationalist-globalist).

Brazil

• Five Brazilian political parties, including President Jair Bolsonaro's, are under investigation for enlisting obscure female candidates in last year's election, in order to use public funds earmarked to increase women's political participation. Party leaders are accused of then asking the women to kickback the money which was funneled into male candidates' campaigns, reports the New York Times.

• Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has had a rocky start, and used up much of his political capital in his first hundred days in office, reports the New York Times. He has the lowest popularity rating of any president at this point in his tenure since the return of democracy. His latest gaffe: saying Holocaust crimes can be forgiven, reports the New York Times separately.

• Brazilian Vice President  Hamilton Mourão and Finance Minister Paulo Guedes are attempting to temper Bolsonaro's firebrand style -- no easy task, notes the Washington Post.

• In the meantime, advances in the Operation Car Wash investigation against corruption might hinder Bolsonaro's attempt to reform the national pension system, reports the Wall Street Journal.

• In New York the Museum of Natural History is trying to wiggle out of a privately booked gala dinner honoring Bolsonaro, who is criticized by environmentalists for weakening rainforest protections, reports the New York Times. (See last Friday's briefs)

• Last week Bolsonaro said the country could open a vast reserve in the Amazon rainforest to mining, reports Reuters.

• At least six people have been killed in Amazon land conflicts since Bolsonaro took office, raising fears of rising violence, reports Al Jazeera.

• The Associated Press reports that the Bolsonaro government plans to auction seven offshore oil fields in the northeast, contrary to advice from the country's environmental body. 

Migration

• Scientific experts, farmers, and government officials in Honduras have all noted the increasing role climate change plays in pushing people to emigrate from the country. Changing weather conditions are affecting crops in Central America, and adding to the woes that make people take the perilous journey to try to get into the U.S., reports the New York Times. (See last Monday's post.)

• U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lauded Peru's welcome of Venezuelan refugees, and was irritated when a reporter asked if that contradicted USPresident Donald Trump’s harsh immigration policy at home, reports AFP.

Haiti

• The U.N. voted to renew its peace-keeping mission in Haiti for a final six months. After October the U.N. will only have a special political mission in the country. The Dominican Republic expressed concern over the withdrawal and called it premature, reports the Miami Herald.

Regional Relations

• U.S. and Mexican business leaders urged Trump to drop steel tariffs that are hindering trade between the two countries. (Reuters)

Colombia

• The U.N. envoy to Colombia warned the government against reopening the 2016 peace treaty with the FARC, reports the AFP.

Ecuador

• WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange tried to use Ecuador's London embassy as a spying center, and repeatedly violated his asylum conditions, said Ecuadorean President Lenín Moreno in an interview with the Guardian. Moreno also said he had been given written undertakings from Britain that Assange’s fundamental rights would be respected and that he wouldn't be sent anywhere to face the death penalty. (Guardian)

• In Ecuador, a Swedish software developer -- believed to be close to Assange -- was jailed and charged with attempting to destabilize the government through hacking. (Guardian, see last Friday's briefs)

Peru

• Copper transports to Peru's Las Bambas mine resumed Saturday, after a prolonged blockade by indigenous communities sought payment for transit through their farmland, reports Reuters. 

Environment

• Leatherback sea turtles haven't nested this year in Nicaragua's Río Escalante Chacocente wildlife reserve, part of a worrisome decline trend say experts. (Guardian)

Argentina

• Newly declassified U.S. government documents shed new light on the repressive tactics South America's military regimes and of U.S. awareness of their actions. The U.S. formally delivered 7,500 records to the Argentine government on Friday, one  of the largest transfers of declassified documents from one government to another, and part of a deal struck by the Obama administration, reports the New York Times. The documents reveal information about a previously unknown special assassination squad created by the region's military dictatorships to kill dissidents abroad, known as Teseo, reports McClatchy.

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

Latin America Daily Briefing

Mexico's National Guard will have military commander (April 12, 2019)

Mexico's new National Guard force will be formed by 40,000 military and naval police who will not be subject to the same "trust controls" as their civilian counterparts, reports Animal Político. Though the law creating the new security force requires these tests -- which include polygraph and drug analysis -- Security Secretary Alfonzo Durazo said the equivalent controls carried out by the armed forces on their troops are sufficient.

This week the government sent bills regulating the National Guard to the Senate. They permit active military troops to transfer to the new force with arms, munition, equipment, and maintaining pay and military rank. 

Yesterday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador tapped General Luis Rodríguez Bucio to head the new force, along with several retired military officials. (See yesterday's briefs.) Another general and a retired navy admiral will form the National Guard's operational coordinating body along with a federal police commissioner. Bucio will take command immediately, and is in the process of retiring from the army. (Associated Press)

Military dominance in the new force is contrary to the compromises reached by lawmakers last month when they approved the project specifying civilian command over the force, according to El País. Having active military commanders creates parallel chains of command -- though the officers are supposed to answer to Durazo, they will also be answering to army superiors, Alejandro Hope explained to the AP. Animal Político analyzes the legal ins and outs in depth.

Bucio's defenders note his "unconventional" military trajectory, which includes training in Germany and a role advising the OAS. The government also noted that Bucio's retirement will be effective in August, when the National Guard is expected to to become fully active. (BBC)

Earlier this week Mexico signed an agreement with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to assist in the force’s training. (Associated Press and El País)

The new regulations also contemplate severe sanctions for disciplinary failures and acts of corruption, an attempt to avoid abuses by existing security forces, reports Animal Político.

News Briefs

More from Mexico

• Mexico's chamber of deputies passed a landmark labor reform bill yesterday that would empower workers unions and clear obstacles to ratifying the renegotiated Nafta treaty with the U.S. and Canada. The overhaul, which now goes to the senate, is meant to comply with labor requirements laid out in last year's U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, reports the Wall Street Journal. The reform gives workers direct power to choose labor leaders, and eliminates government discretion in registering unions, reports Animal Político.

• The Mexican government has freed six activists who fought to protect the Tlanixco community’s water supply. Officials acknowledged that their rights were “seriously violated” during more than a dozen years in jail. The government is reviewing 538 cases in which people, mostly activists, may have been unfairly imprisoned, reports the Associated Press.

• Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is starting to dismantle the previous government's landmark energy privatization, reports the New York Times. Though he's not changing energy laws, he is shutting the door to private investment and naming loyalists to regulator positions and the Pemex board. 

• AMLO lashed out against Reforma newspaper, asking it to reveal the source that leaked a letter the president wrote to the Spanish government. (AFP)

• The letter demanded a formal apology for the rights violations carried out by Spanish conquistadores in Mexico -- a reminder of the pertinence of historical debates, writes Jorge Castañeda in a New York Times Español op-ed.

Migration

• A second U.S. federal judge blocked President Donald Trump's move to terminate a temporary protection program for Haitian migrants. A new nationwide injunction blocks the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from forcing tens of thousands of Haitians to return to Haiti by ending their temporary legal protection and accuses the administration of political motivation in seeking to end their Temporary Protected Status (TPS), reports the Miami Herald.

Venezuela

• The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it has reached agreement with the Venezuelan government to expand aid operations, supporting hospitals and health centers in providing vital medical care, reports Reuters. (See Wednesday's post.) The Red Cross will triple aid, increasing its budget to $24 million, in the face of mounting calls for the UN to recognize the scale of Venezuela's humanitarian crisis, reports the Guardian, citing last week's Human Rights Watch report on the issue.

• Venezuela has positioned 17 military bases along its border with Colombia -- but InSight Crime questions whether Nicolás Maduro's governmetn will fight Colombian paramilitary group incursions 

Regional Relations

• U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo embarked on a three-day visit to Chile, Paraguay and Peru today. He started off by defending sanctions against Venezuela, saying citizens affected by shortages would understand that the U.S. is not responsible. He also said Maduro was controlled by Cuba and should form part of transition negotiations. (Reuters)

Ecuador

• Relations with the U.S. -- and potential improvement of economic ties -- were a central factor in Ecuador's decision to rescind WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's asylum at the country's London embassy yesterday, report the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. It also reflects a growing rejection of the Assange asylum among Ecuadorean citizens, who viewed him as ungrateful. Ecuadorean officials also accused Assange and WikiLeaks of working with Russian hackers to undermine President Lenín Moreno's government. (See yesterday's post.)

• Poor behavior inside the embassy, where Assange stayed for seven years, may have contributed to frayed relations with Ecuador, reports the Washington Post. Officials once accused Assange of smearing feces on the wall and failing to take care of his pet cat.

• Ecuadorean officials detained a Swedish software developer with alleged ties to Assange yesterday. (Agencies)

• Moreno's predecessor and mentor, former president Rafael Correa, qualified the arrest as a personal attack and betrayal, reports the BBC.

Chile

• Mapuche indigenous communities accused Argentina and Chile of acts of genocide and crimes against humanity. Representatives made the case before the International Criminal Court, and asked it to take action against the countries' governments, reports the Guardian.

Brazil

• A Brazilian comedian known for aggressive attacks on leftist politicians, was sentenced to six months in jail for a 2017 clip targeting Rio Grande do Sul congresswoman Maria do Rosário. In the video he ripped up a notice he had been sent by the Brazilian congress asking him to remove offensive tweets about do Rosário, stuffed it into his underpants and directed obscenities at her, reports the Guardian. This is the same woman President Jair Bolsonaro famously said did not "deserve" to be raped. Bolsonaro was criticized this week for expressing solidarity with the comedian. But some critics voiced concern about the precedent in terms of freedom of expression.

• A storm flooded parts of Rio de Janeiro this week, killing at ten people around the city. The trail of destruction raised questions about the city's ability to deal with recurring extreme weather, reports the Associated Press.

• In the paramilitary group controlled Favela do Rola, the water freed alligators that were seen swimming through the neighborhood. But authorities declined to pursue them, reportedly citing insecurity, according to the New York Times.

• The Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce will honor Bolsonaro at a black-tie gala at New York's Museum of Natural History. It's ironic, notes the Gothamist, "that a man intent on destroying one of the world's most prized natural resources would be anointed Person of the Year inside a space dedicated to the celebration of the natural world." The museum was unaware of the guest of honor when the event was booked, and is "considering its options," reports AFP.

• Bolsonaro announced an expansion of the PT-era Bolsa Familia program - backtracking on a campaign promise. (AFP)

Peru

• The New York Times Magazine reports on how Peruvian activists are suing a German energy company over climate change.

Bolivia

• Bolivian producers of "royal" quinoa seek to register the grain's denomination of origin registered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). (EFE)

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

Latin America Daily Briefing