Adam Isacson

John Moore / Getty Images photo at Buzzfeed. Caption: “A US Border Patrol agent chases an undocumented immigrant in thick brush near the US–Mexico border on Jan. 3, 2017, near Mission, Texas.”

(Even more here)

January 11, 2018

Colombia

• Laura Soto, “El Tiempo Corre en Contra de Naranjo en Tumaco” (La Silla Vacia (Colombia), January 11, 2018).

Este lunes comenzó en firme la Operación Atlas lanzada por el gobierno en octubre para contrarrestar la violencia en Tumaco con la llegada de dos mil uniformados del Ejército, la Armada, la Policía y la Fuerza Aérea

• “Antonio Guterres, Jefe de la Onu, Visitara Colombia para Apoyar Esfuerzos de Paz” (Agence France Presse, El Universo (Ecuador), January 11, 2018).

El jefe de la ONU viajará a Colombia este fin de semana para apoyar los esfuerzos de paz, que vacilan tras ataques del ELN esta madrugada y atrasos en la reintegración de exguerrilleros de las FARC a la vida civil. Antonio Guterres se reunirá con el presidente Juan Manuel Santos y con líderes de la exguerrilla de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) y representantes de la Iglesia católica en Bogotá, anunció el miércoles un portavoz de la ONU

• Nicholas Casey, “A Colombian Rebel Group Resumes Attacks After Cease-Fire Ends” (The New York Times, January 11, 2018).

Colombia’s fragile peace was shaken on Wednesday as the National Liberation Army, a guerrilla group known as the ELN, attacked a military base and an oil pipeline

El Salvador

• “How Will el Salvador Cope With Deportees From America?” (The Economist (Uk), January 11, 2018).

El Salvador is in shock. If all the Salvadoreans in the TPS programme were to come back, which is highly unlikely, the country’s population would swell by 3%

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico

• Caitlin Dickerson, “‘Trump Effect’ Wears Off as Migrants Resume Their Northward Push” (The New York Times, January 11, 2018).

Volunteers and lawyers along the border say that migrants and smugglers have stopped lying low, deciding that trying to get a foothold in a well-off and safe country was no riskier than in the past

Haiti

• Jake Johnston, “A u.n.-Backed Police Force Carried Out a Massacre in Haiti. The Killings Have Been Almost Entirely Ignored.” (The Intercept, January 11, 2018).

A U.N.-backed Haitian police raid in November ended in the summary execution of civilians. The U.N.’s version of events conflicts with eyewitness testimony

Mexico

• Alberto Nájar, “¿Que Busca Mexico Con la Primera Compra de Misiles y Torpedos a Estados Unidos?” (Animal Politico (Mexico), January 11, 2018).

La operación “incrementa la confianza militar entre la Marina mexicana y el Pentágono”

• Gregory Krieg, “What Kind of Border Wall Does Trump Want? It Depends on Who’s Asking.” (CNN, January 11, 2018).

“Roger Stone and I came up with the idea of ‘the Wall,’ and we talked to Steve [Bannon] about it,” on-again-off-again aide Sam Nunberg told Green. “It was to make sure he talked about immigration”

• Gabriel H. Sanchez, “These Shocking Pictures Show the Reality of Illegal Immigration” (BuzzFeed, January 11, 2018).

This spring, a new book by powerHouse Books called Undocumented: Immigration and the Militarization of the US–Mexico Border brings together a collection of Moore’s most eye-opening and emotional photographs

• David Agren, “Us ‘Do Not Travel’ Advisory Puts Five Mexican States on Same Level as Syria” (The Guardian (Uk), January 11, 2018).

Government warns citizens to avoid Tamaulipas, Sinaloa, Colima, Michoacán and Guerrero amid high levels of crime and cartel violence

Venezuela

• Alvaro Algarra, Nicole Kolster, “Talks to Ease Venezuela’s Crisis Set to Resume” (Voice of America, January 11, 2018).

Previous rounds of negotiations have left deep fissures in Venezuela’s opposition

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Phil Mattingly, “Daca State of Play: ‘Mess’ With a Major Twist” (CNN, January 11, 2018).

There is an out everyone has eyed for weeks — appropriate the President’s $1.6 billion budget request, move it through a mechanism that Democrats can say is for fencing and the President can say it’s a wall, and then have Twitter fights over semantics

• Ed o’keefe, Erica Werner, “White House: No Deal Yet on Immigration” (The Washington Post, January 11, 2018).

Six senators working on immigration issues “have an agreement in principle. We’re shopping it to our colleagues,” Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) told reporters

• Jonathan Blitzer, “The Teens Trapped Between a Gang and the Law” (The New Yorker, January 1, 2018).
  Profiles unaccompanied minors who fled from Central America to Long Island, only to find themselves alongside local branches of the MS-13 gang they were running away from. U.S. authorities are aggressively deporting minors on the mere suspicion of gang membership.
• Roberto Valencia, “Cuatro Claves Que Ayudan a Dimensionar la Violencia Homicida de 2017 en el Salvador” (El Faro (El Salvador), January 5, 2018).
  Violence declined in El Salvador last year, but homicides remain above a horrific 60 per 100,000 residents. The much-cited analyst highlights trends here. One notable number: The population of San Salvador has declined by 37 percent since 2005.
• Alejandra S. Inzunza, Jose Luis Pardo, “A Year of Violent Tragedy Through Human Stories: 2017 in Complexo Do Alemao” (Agência Pública, RioOnWatch (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), January 3, 2018).
  The authors talk not to cops, politicians, and criminals, but to a large number of residents and activists in Rio’s giant, violence-plagued Complexo do Alemão favela. “They tell a story of violence and of a promised peace that turned into a daily conflict.”
• “CJNG Avanza en 22 Estados” (Revista Zeta (Tijuana, Mexico), January 2, 2018).
  A thorough overview of Mexico’s brutal Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which appears to be supplanting Sinaloa’s dominion over criminality in much of the country—a main reason for last year’s alarming spike in violence.
• Juanita León, “‘Sólo me atrevo a decir quién no será el nuevo presidente’: Coronell” (La Silla Vacía (Colombia), January 4, 2018).
  The Univision reporter and popular Colombian columnist gives a frank overview of Colombia’s political situation on the eve of hotly contested March legislative and May presidential elections. He is a master of turns of phrase. One admired presidential candidate is “running a marathon with an anvil tied to his ankle.” A leftist is “the ghost of Castro-Chavismo with feet.” On a politician who has made deals with political bosses: “It’s impossible to be a ‘pure’ Ali Baba if you’re surrounded by 40 thieves.” Another who is reluctant to take strong positions “gets into the shower but won’t get wet.”

Luka Gonzales/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images photo at The New York Times. Caption: “The former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori leaving a hospital in Lima, the capital, on Thursday. Mr. Fujimori received a Christmas Eve pardon from the current president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.”

(Even more here)

January 5, 2018

Colombia

• “Las Diferencias Entre Gobierno y Farc a un Ano de la Implementacion” (Semana (Colombia), January 5, 2018).

La reincorporación social y la arquitectura de la justicia distanciaron a las partes en Cartagena

• “‘Sin Cese Con el Eln Es Dificil Que la Sociedad Crea en los Dialogos’” (El Tiempo (Colombia), January 5, 2018).

Presidente de Indepaz y otros 200 académicos enviaron carta para que se prorrogue cese del fuego

Costa Rica

• Amanda Trejos, “Why Getting Rid of Costa Rica’s Army 70 Years Ago Has Been Such a Success” (USA Today, January 5, 2018).

It has used the savings from defense spending to improve education, health care and a durable social safety net

Cuba

• Alex Harris, “How Paying for a Cuban Sandwich With Venmo Could Get Your Account Frozen” (The Miami Herald, January 5, 2018).

Flagged users have their transaction frozen and get an email from the company asking for “a complete and detailed explanation” of what was paid for

El Salvador

• Maria Sacchetti, Nick Miroff, “200,000 Salvadorans Could Lose U.S. Residency and Face Expulsion” (The Washington Post, January 5, 2018).

A senior DHS official said Thursday that Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has yet to make a determination but that the agency would have an announcement before Monday’s deadline

• Roberto Valencia, “Cuatro Claves Que Ayudan a Dimensionar la Violencia Homicida de 2017 en el Salvador” (El Faro (El Salvador), January 5, 2018).

La capital tenía 363,000 habitantes en 2005 y tiene 229,000 en 2018. Cada año pierde, según la Digestyc, unos 10,000 vecinos

Mexico

• Laura Meckler, “Trump Administration Seeks $18 Billion Over Decade to Expand Border Wall” (The Wall Street Journal, January 5, 2018).

In total, the administration details about $33 billion in desired new border security spending, including funding for technology, personnel and roads

• Nathan Lambrecht, “Patrolling Rio Grande by Boat Provides Unseen Challenges to Border Patrol” (The Brownsville Herald, January 5, 2018).

Near Brownsville last week, an agent assigned to the Riverine Unit, which patrols the river by boat, suffered a grazing wound to the back of his head after being shot from Mexico

• “Mexican Forces Disarm Police in Capital of Guerrero State” (Associated Press, The Washington Post, January 5, 2018).

Guerrero state security coordinator spokesman Roberto Alvarez says that state and federal forces have secured the Chilpancingo police force and begun reviewing personnel, weapons, vehicles and radios

• Lizbeth Diaz, “Mexico Presidential Favorite Puts Himself at Heart of Security Plan” (Reuters **, January 5, 2018).

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador presented a team of security advisers that drew both on previous governments and the private sector

Peru

• Marcelo Rochabrun, “Perua??S Fujimori Is Released From Hospital, After Outcry Over Pardon” (The New York Times, January 5, 2018).

“He faces no limitations, he has regained all of his rights”

Venezuela

• Jim Wyss, “U.S. Hits Four More Venezuelan Officials With Sanctions” (The Miami Herald, January 5, 2018).

The Trump administration on Friday slapped sanctions on four current and former high-ranking military officials in Venezuela