Adam Isacson

(Even more here)

June 16, 2020

Western Hemisphere Regional

• “Cuales Son los Paises de America Latina en los Que la Policia Mas Mata” (BBC News Mundo, El Comercio (Peru), June 16, 2020).

En números absolutos la policía que más mata en la región -y en el mundo- es la de Brasil: 6.220 víctimas fatales en 2018, por las 998 de EE.UU. Pero, en términos proporcionales, el título es para la de Venezuela

• Kate Morrissey, “Otay Mesa Detention Center Blocks Detainees’ Calls to a Group of Activists” (The San Diego Union-Tribune, June 16, 2020).

Detainees inside Otay Mesa Detention Center can no longer call a group of activists that helps them with money for food and phone calls and listens to their concerns about conditions inside

Brazil

• Fabio Teixeira, “In Brazil’s Overcrowded Jails, Covid-19 Breeds Fear and Calls for Change” (Reuters, National Post (Canada), June 16, 2020).

As COVID-19 deaths rise in Brazil’s violent and overcrowded jails, activists have called for tens of thousands of prisoners to be released to stop the disease taking a heavy toll on inmates, most of whom are young black men

Colombia

• Sebastian Forero Rueda, “La Realidad de las Nuevas Areas de Reincorporacion de Excombatientes de las Farc” (El Espectador (Colombia), June 16, 2020).

Le siguen apostando a la paz y a sus proyectos productivos, pero se concentran en 93 áreas que denominan “NAR”. El Gobierno no los reconoce oficialmente, porque no están previstos en el Acuerdo

• “Farc Denuncia Que 200 Excombatientes Han Sido Asesinados” (El Espectador (Colombia), June 16, 2020).

Mario Téllez fue asesinado este domingo por hombres desconocidos en zona rural de Tibú (Norte de Santander)

• “Coronel (R) Borja Anoto Cada Uno de Sus Mas de 50 ‘Falsos Positivos’” (El Tiempo (Colombia), June 16, 2020).

Luis Fernando Borja Aristizábal, el primer oficial de alto grado del Ejército en aceptar su responsabilidad en ejecuciones extrajudiciales y que ya tiene condenas en su contra

• Joshua Collins, “Colombia to Resume Fumigating Its Coca Fields With Glyphosate” (Sierra Club, June 16, 2020).

Reactivating the eradication program, environmentalists say, will wreak devastating health and ecological havoc on the vulnerable communities it targets, and on delicate ecosystems across the country

• “El Expediente de la Sala “Codigo Negro” de la Policia” (El Espectador (Colombia), June 16, 2020).

El Espectador tiene en su poder documentos y testimonios de una presunta red de corrupción en la Dirección Antinarcóticos de la Policía

• Tania Tapia Jauregui, “13 Preguntas para Entender la Llegada de las Tropas Gringas a Colombia” (070 (Universidad de los Andes Colombia), June 16, 2020).

Adam Isacson, experto en estrategias militares de EEUU, habla del impacto de las tropas gringas en Colombia y por qué esta llegada causó tanto revuelo

Dominican Republic

• Michael Deibert, “Dominican Republic: George Floyd Protests Spark Reckoning With Race as Elections Loom” (The Guardian, June 16, 2020).

The country has long grappled with anti-Haitian discrimination. July’s presidential vote could alter the landscape

El Salvador

• “Virus Lockdown Ends in el Salvador Amid Clash of Authorities” (Associated Press, Associated Press, June 16, 2020).

The Central American nation’s Supreme Court ruled that the strict measures decreed by President Nayib Bukele were unconstitutional and Bukele said Saturday night that he is going to veto the alternative restrictions passed Friday by the National Assembly

• Lorena Baires, “Us Boosts Salvadoran Response Capacity in the Fight Against Covid-19” (Dialogo (U.S. Southern Command), June 16, 2020).

U.S. assistance also strengthens institutions such as the Salvadoran Armed Forces (FAES, in Spanish), which tends to the needs of the country’s most remote communities

Honduras

• Jeff Ernsty David C Adams, “New Arrests in Honduras Case Implicating President Juan Orlando Hernandez” (Univision, June 16, 2020).

The cousins, Otto and Ronald Salguero, are linked to the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman and were indicted as co-conspirators of former Honduran congressman, Juan Antonio ‘Tony’ Hernandez

Mexico

• Jorge Alejandro Medellin, “La Marina y el Ejercito Mexicanos Concluyen su Primer Radar de Vigilancia Aerea” (Defensa.com (Spain), June 16, 2020).

Entregado el radar Tzinacan diseñado por Marina y Ejército de México para labores de vigilancia aérea en seguridad fronteriza

• Arturo Angel, “Griselda y Adan Desaparecieron en Chapala, Jalisco, Igual Que 25 Personas de las Que No se Sabe Nada” (Animal Politico (Mexico), June 16, 2020).

Griselda y Adán desaparecieron la noche del martes 9 de junio, cuando personas armadas los bajaron de la camioneta que conducían en un camino de la comunidad de Santa Cruz de la Soledad, en el municipio de Chapala, Jalisco

• Ignacio Rodriguez Reyna, “Operacion Hermes: Asi Descongelaron las Cuentas al Cartel de Sinaloa y a Otros Grupos del Narco” (Aristegui Noticias, June 16, 2020).

Menos de un mes antes de que la catástrofe electoral sacara nuevamente al PRI del poder, al menos 722 cuentas bancarias fueron descongeladas por instrucciones del titular de la Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera de la SHCP

• Eduardo Guerrero GutiÉrrez, “Violencia Autosostenible” (El Financiero (Mexico), June 16, 2020).

La estrategia de cacería indiscriminada de capos, que lanzó el gobierno de Calderón, fue el principal factor que detonó la crisis de violencia criminal que vivimos a partir de 2008

• “Increpan a Amlo Madres de Desaparecidos: ‘¡a la Mama del Chapo Si, a Nosotras No!’” (Riodoce (Sinaloa Mexico), June 16, 2020).

Con una lluvia de protestas y reclamos, el presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador concluyó su conferencia mañanera en Veracruz, donde decenas de familiares de desaparecidos pedían ser escuchados y al no lograr que se bajara de la camioneta

• Arturo Angel, “Por Recortes y Burocracia, Ley de Amnistia No se Aplica y No Ha Beneficiado a Ninguna Persona Presa” (Animal Politico (Mexico), June 16, 2020).

La Ley de Amnistía aprobada de forma urgente desde el 20 de abril para ayudar a despresurizar los penales del país ante la pandemia del coronavirus no se aplica hasta la fecha

Nicaragua

• Mario de Franco, Laura B. De Franco, “El Covid-19, la Dictadura de Ortega, y la Abolicion del Ejercito” (Confidencial (Nicaragua), June 16, 2020).

Si el Ejército de Nicaragua hubiera estado al lado del pueblo cuando surgieron las protestas iniciales en abril del 2018, en vez de apoyar a la dictadura a través de la creación de turbas paramilitares, se hubiera podido desmontar a Ortega y su cúpula del poder en ese momento

U.S.-Mexico Border

• Alisa Reznick, “For Now, No Border Wall for Arizona Tribe’s Colorado River Stretch” (Arizona Public Media, KUNC, June 16, 2020).

Arizona Congressman Raúl Grijalva said the real reason for the change is about tribal sovereignty

Venezuela

• Michael R. Pompeo, “The United States Condemns Maduro’s Latest Step to Rig the Next Venezuelan Election” (U.S. Department of State, June 16, 2020).

The regime has selected a CNE that will rubber-stamp its decisions and ignore the conditions required for free elections

I should be reachable much of the day. (How to contact me)

I do indeed have to go in for surgery on my broken wrist Thursday, so my work week effectively ends tomorrow. I’ve steered meetings away from today so that I might get some writing done and otherwise get as caught up as possible before that happens. I’ll be reachable today, though replies might be delayed; the arm is very sore and I’m not running on full power.

(Even more here)

June 15, 2020

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Gabriel Gaspar, “Crisis Politicas, Pandemia y ff.aa.: Desafios en Sudamerica” (El Mostrador (Chile), June 15, 2020).

Las Fuerzas Armadas se transforman en un poderoso órgano de maniobra estatal, dada su capacidad de movilización, comunicaciones y experiencia logística. Asimismo, contribuyen a reforzar a las policías

• Michael Stott, Andres Schipani, “Poverty and Populism Put Latin America at the Centre of Pandemic” (The Financial Times (UK), June 15, 2020).

With infections rising despite lockdowns, leaders fear another lost decade and a new debt crisis

Brazil

• “Bolsonaro: “Las Fuerzas Armadas de Brasil No Cumplen Ordenes Absurdas”” (Pagina12 (Argentina), June 15, 2020).

El presidente de Brasil dijo que no van a aceptar el resultado de un eventual juicio político para destituirlo. Los rumores sobre un posible auto golpe en Brasil se dieron en medio del avance letal del coronavirus

Colombia, Venezuela

• Daniel Coronell, “El Millonario del Hambre” (Los Danieles (Colombia), June 15, 2020).

El multimillonario Alex Saab, capturado este viernes en Cabo Verde, África, construyó gran parte de su enorme fortuna a costa de la miseria del pueblo venezolano. Su eventual extradición tiene temblando a varios personajes porque puede poner al descubierto una operación de corrupción, sobornos y lavado de dinero

Colombia

• “More Hostages Freed as Colombia Rebels Urge Talks” (BBC (UK), June 15, 2020).

President Iván Duque says the release of all hostages and the end of kidnappings and attacks are pre-conditions for talks. The group is believed to be holding at least 10 more hostages, according to the government

• ““Estoy Bien”: Eln Revela Prueba de Vida de Cabo Secuestrada” (Semana (Colombia), June 15, 2020).

La suboficial del Ejército Nubia Alejandra López Correa apareció en un video difundido por esa organización guerrillera

• Sebastian Forero, “El Excombatiente Que Pide al Estado Que Lo Proteja de Integrantes del Ejercito” (El Espectador (Colombia), June 15, 2020).

Armando Rodríguez o “Daniel Reyes” lleva casi cinco meses esperando medidas de protección de distintas entidades luego de denunciar que militares vestidos de civil atentaron contra su vida

• “Editorial: No los Olvidemos” (El Espectador (Colombia), June 15, 2020).

Volvemos y volvemos y volvemos al tema de los líderes sociales asesinados porque allí se encuentra la tragedia de un país que no ha terminado de inventarse

• Marcela Osorio, “Estos Son los Lideres Asesinados Desde la Firma del Acuerdo de Paz” (El Espectador (Colombia), June 15, 2020).

Esta es la lista de 442 personas que lideraban procesos comunitarios o defendían los derechos humanos, que fueron asesinadas después del 24 de noviembre de 2016

Colombia, Venezuela

• Diego Zambrano Benavides, “Volviendo a Casa: El Camino Desandado por los Migrantes Venezolanos” (El Colombiano (Medellin Colombia), June 15, 2020).

Reportaje sobre la situación de los venezolanos que llegan a la frontera, donde Migración Colombia calcula que hay 15.000 personas represadas que esperan su ingreso al vecino país

Mexico

• Erubiel Tirado, “Guardia Nacional: Simulacion, Trampas y Cinismo” (Proceso (Mexico), June 15, 2020).

La decisión ilegal del presidente de reforzar su poder liberando al Ejército en las calles (DOF, 11 de mayo), es una vuelta de tuerca militarista a las previsiones problemáticas de una legitimidad que denota ya un comportamiento de desgaste

• Ruben Mosso, “Secuestran a General Brigadier en Puebla” (Milenio (Mexico), June 15, 2020).

En los primeros cuatro meses del presente año, en Puebla se registraron cuatro casos de secuestro extorsivo

Nicaragua

• Melba Castillo A, “Protests in the United States vs. Protests in Nicaragua” (Confidencial (Nicaragua), June 15, 2020).

As citizens we didn’t know how to protect ourselves from the arbitrariness that was brewing little by little and we listened as siren calls to the warning voices that came to us from different trenches

Peru

• Ryan Dube, “Coronavirus Hits Peru Hard Despite Strict Lockdown” (The Wall Street Journal, June 15, 2020).

The country is now fighting one of the worst outbreaks in Latin America outside of Brazil

U.S.-Mexico Border, Venezuela

• David C Adams, “Legal Battle Over Venezuela’s Looted Billions Heats Up” (Univision, June 15, 2020).

US officials have other plans. The Treasury Department diverted $601 million last year from its forfeiture fund to help build President Trump’s border wall

I’ll be hard to reach today. (How to contact me)

My broken wrist is definitely healing, it’s sore but not hugely painful, as long as I don’t twist it or try to carry anything heavier than a coffee cup. This week, they’re going to make sure it’s healing straight—lots of moving parts in a wrist—and if not, I’ll go to surgery, probably on Thursday.

That means posts to this site will continue to be infrequent. And with doctor visits added to my meeting schedule—I have a long one this afternoon—I’ll be harder to contact, and slower to respond. If I need to be operated on, I won’t post any updates at all on Thursday or Friday.

Though I’m moving slower, work continues. Yesterday I finished and shared with colleagues a draft of a new commentary/report on what the present moment of plague and protest should mean for militaries and police forces in Latin America and the United States. I’m going to move ahead on another one this week, about coca and U.S. policy in southern Colombia.

A year ago, the U.S. Border Patrol and its parent agency, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), came under fire amid revelations of miserable and unsanitary conditions in holding cells overcrowded with apprehended children and families.

At the time, the U.S. Congress was considering legislation to provide more resources to deal with an influx of asylum-seeking migrants. Legislators included about $112 million for “consumables and medical care” to improve conditions for migrants being held for processing. Over opposition from progressive Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) agreed to approve a bill diminished by the Republican-majority Senate “in order to get resources to the children fastest.”

We’ve now learned that much of these resources didn’t reach the children at all.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a June 11 decision finding that instead of medicines, food, diapers, blankets, and other humanitarian needs, CBP diverted this “consumables and medical care” money into:

• detention guard services;
• boats;
• all-terrain vehicles (ATVs); 
• motorcycles;
• dirt bikes; 
• small utility vehicles;
• passenger vans for moving detainees;
• printers;
• security camera systems;
• speakers;
• HVAC upgrades for CBP facilities;
• sewer system upgrades for CBP facilities;
• janitorial services;
• canine supplies and services like dog food;
• computer network upgrades “to analyze factual information in support of CBP’s border operations;”
• the CBP-wide vaccine program for CBP personnel; and
• “tactical gear and law enforcement equipment, such as riot helmets, and temporary portable structures.”

This is a stunning example of an agency defying the will of the legislative branch and its constitutional powers. The “consumables and medical care” outlay resulted from a long process of negotiation within Congress, and between Congress and the administration—but CBP just ignored it anyway. 

That it even sought, in the first place, to portray the items in the list above as meeting humanitarian needs indicates an agency that either doesn’t know, or doesn’t care, what “humanitarian” means. That’s a huge problem, because much of CBP’s duties over the past several years have been humanitarian. Most of the undocumented migrants its agents have encountered have been children or families seeking refuge in the United States. These spending decisions evidence a lack of basic human empathy that call into question CBP’s management, training, and organizational culture. 

GAO reports that “CBP plans to adjust its account for several of these obligations.” It should do so for all of them, or its management should be held in violation of the Antideficiency Act for so nakedly defying the will of the American people’s representatives in the U.S. Congress. 

“Bloodstream” by Soccer Mommy (2020).

I’ll be reachable in the mid to late afternoon. (How to contact me)

I’ve got an appointment with a specialist this morning to evaluate my broken wrist. Then an internal strategy meeting and a border coalition meeting. After that I’ll be writing (or whatever this is with a cast on) here at home.

“Luminous Spaces” by Jon Hopkins & Kelly Lee Owens (2019).

You can barely see it in the picture, but I’ve slightly broken my wrist in two places while being an idiot in the park on Sunday, trying to jump from a tree stump to a high branch.

I’m not in horrible pain, which is why it took me three days to even schedule a doctor visit. But now I’ve got a fiberglass cast immobilizing my wrist and much of my right hand (I’m right-handed).

My output on this website is likely to slow down for a few weeks, because I can’t type anywhere nearly as fast as I’m used to typing. Bummer!

Guatemala is selecting new supreme court justices. The stakes are very high: fighting the corruption that drives so much migration will be much harder if the country gets this wrong. Here, my colleague Adriana Beltran and I talk to three people who are leading the fight from civil society.

Listen above, or download the .mp3 file here. Here’s the text from WOLA’s podcast landing page:

Last year at the US-Mexico border, authorities apprehended more undocumented migrants from Guatemala than from any other country. That’s mostly because of a combination of poverty and violence. That in turn is exacerbated by corruption, which drains national wealth and benefits networks of political and economic power that, too often, are above the law.

People in Guatemala are trying to change that. They’re the ones who made important justice improvements alongside the CICIG, the international commission against impunity in Guatemala, which was ejected from the country last year. They’re still fighting, and this podcast talks to three of them. They are:

• Helen Mack, the president of the Myrna Mack Foundation. A longtime leader in Guatemala’s fight for human rights, Helen founded her organization in 1993, three years after the army killed her sister, anthropologist Myrna Mack. Helen is one of Guatemala’s principal experts on judicial and police reform.
• Harald Waxenecker is a sociologist who investigates networks of power and criminality in Guatemala and El Salvador, which is dangerous but necessary work.
• Claudia Escobar is a former magistrate of Guatemala’s court of appeals who played a central role in some of the country’s most high-profile corruption investigations during the mid-2010s.

They’re together with Adriana Beltran, the principal host of this podcast episode. Beltran is WOLA’s director for citizen security, has worked for many years in Guatemala, and played an instrumental role in building international support for the CICIG.

Guatemala has hit a key turning point for the fight against impunity the Congress is selecting a new slate of supreme court justices. There’s a real danger that some of the country’s most corrupt elements might choose those who will judge them for the next five years. Much is in the balance here: further erosion of the rule of law will mean more misery in Guatemala, and more migration away from Guatemala.

Listen to WOLA’s Latin America Today podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you subscribe to podcasts. The main feed is here.

“Forever Half Mast” by Lucy Dacus (2019).

(Even more here. Until July 4, see that database for New York Times coverage. Here’s why.)

June 9, 2020

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Gloria Leticia DÍaz, “Familiares de Desaparecidos Exigen Reunion Con Amlo y la Destitucion de Titular de la Ceav” (Proceso (Mexico), June 9, 2020).

Familiares de desaparecidos exigieron una reunión con el presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador y la destitución de la presidenta de la Comisión Ejecutiva de Atención a Víctimas (CEAV), Mara Gómez Pérez, a quien acusan de insensible e incompetente

Argentina

• “China Dona Equipamiento a las Fuerzas Armadas Argentinas” (Defensa.com (Spain), June 9, 2020).

Cascos inteligentes con lectura térmica que detectan la fiebre en tiempo real, además de barbijos y trajes de bioseguridad han sido donados por el gobierno chino a las Fuerzas Armadas Argentinas

Bolivia

• “El Encapsulamiento del Chapare Comienza Con Huelga y Bloqueos” (Pagina Siete (Bolivia), June 9, 2020).

Una huelga de hambre de alcaldes y concejales de 33 de los 48 municipios de Cochabamba marcó el inicio del encapsulamiento que el Gobierno ordenó para frenar el avance del coronavirus en el Chapare

Brazil

• Dom Phillips, “‘Enormous Disparities’: Coronavirus Death Rates Expose Brazil’s Deep Racial Inequalities” (The Guardian, June 9, 2020).

Covid-19 first hit Brazil’s white upper classes, who brought it back from abroad. Now the virus is scything through the country’s poorer suburbs, favelas and low-income towns

Colombia

• “Las Deudas del Estado Con las Comunidades Negras e Indigenas” (Comunidad de Juristas Akubadaura, El Espectador (Colombia), June 9, 2020).

El asesinato de líderes indígenas, campesinos y afro, la violación de sus derechos fundamentales y el bajo cumplimiento de los acuerdos firmados por varios gobiernos son las materias pendientes

• Sara Lopera, “El Covid No Paro la Guerra en Bajo Cauca y Sur de Cordoba, Pero Si la Sustitucion” (La Silla Vacia (Colombia), June 9, 2020).

Todo eso tiene minada la confianza de los campesinos que cada vez ven más lejos el reemplazo de sus cultivos de coca por proyectos productivos lícitos y que desde ya aseguran que el programa fracasó

• Ricardo l.cruz, “Zonas Futuro: ¿Territorios Donde Podrian Incrementarse las Violaciones de Derechos Humanos?” (Verdad Abierta (Colombia), June 9, 2020).

Lo que se sabe hasta ahora es que a dichas zonas arribarán militares estadounidenses para asesorar a sus pares militares colombianos en la lucha contra el narcotráfico

El Salvador

• J. J. Galvez, “En Busca de Justicia 30 Anos Despues: Comienza la Vista en la Audiencia Nacional por la Matanza de Jesuitas en el Salvador” (El Pais (Spain), June 9, 2020).

Tras una batalla de más de 30 años, este lunes se sentarán finalmente en el banquillo de la Audiencia Nacional el excoronel Inocente Orlando Montano, exviceministro de Seguridad Pública de El Salvador, y uno de sus subordinados

Guatemala

• Michael R. Pompeo, “Public Designation of Gustavo Adolfo Alejos Cambara of Guatemala Due to Involvement in Significant Corruption” (U.S. Department of State, June 9, 2020).

In his official capacity as the Chief of Staff to former President of the Republic of Guatemala Álvaro Colom, Alejos was involved in corrupt acts that undermined rule of law and the Guatemalan public’s faith in their government’s democratic institutions, officials, and public processes

Honduras

• Alex Papadovassilakis, Hector Silva Avalos, “Airspace Law Further Exposes Contradictory Us-Honduras Drug Partnership” (InsightCrime, June 9, 2020).

The approval of a new law targeting drug planes will afford the Honduras government improved access to US counternarcotics intelligence at a time when US prosecutors have repeatedly alleged the Honduran president has links to the drug trade

Mexico

• “Cndh Pide un Debido Proceso Contra Activista Detenida en el Edomex” (Animal Politico (Mexico), June 9, 2020).

Kenia Hernández fue detenida junto a dos menores de edad la noche del pasado sábado en la autopista Toluca-Valle de Bravo

• Analy Nuno, David Agren, “‘We’ll Disappear You’: Mexican Protesters Recount Terror of Police Abduction” (The Guardian, June 9, 2020).

Five friends were seized en route to a rally against police brutality, which followed the death of a man arrested for not wearing a face mask

• Alfredo Pena, “Weekend of Violence Lashes Mexico, Sparks Dispute” (Associated Press, The Washington Post, June 9, 2020).

Mexico’s president cited it Monday as an example of “neoliberal polices that have been a resounding failure”

• Jessica Rosales, “Coahuila, Nuevo Leon y Tamaulipas Unen Esfuerzos Contra Delincuencia” (Milenio (Mexico), June 9, 2020).

Se contempla la inclusión de la Guardia Nacional en los despliegues en los tres estados, así como fortalecer los grupos de reacción y fuerzas de reacción especiales

• Beth Warren, Karol Suarez, “Mexican Cartels Stockpile Drugs and Money Amid Covid-19 Pandemic” (Louisville Courier Journal, USA Today, June 9, 2020).

Travel restrictions at U.S.-Mexican border crossings and abroad have made it harder for cartels to move drugs and drug profits without detection, according to agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

• Leon Krauze, “Could Two Mexican Presidents Make the Same Historic Mistake of Meeting With Trump?” (The Washington Post, June 9, 2020).

Why would López Obrador, who was so critical of Peña Nieto’s decision to prop up Trump during a contentious election, risk international opprobrium and condemnation at home over the exact same mistake?

Nicaragua

• Wilfredo Aburto Miranda, “Sandinista Leaders Fall Victim to Coronavirus Outbreak They Downplayed” (The Guardian, June 9, 2020).

Nicaragua’s government denies community spread in the country but an independent tally says deaths are 20 times the official figure

Suriname

• Harmen Boerboom, “Suriname Finally Issues Vote Results Showing Opposition Win” (Associated Press, ABC News, June 9, 2020).

Four opposition parties have formed a coalition to elect the next president in August, though they remain one vote short of the 34 needed for a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, which is required to elect the president

U.S.-Mexico Border

• Rafael Carranza, “Trump Administration Wants Input on Private Border Wall Construction” (The Arizona Republic, June 9, 2020).

CBP also signaled its openness to let private companies take a lead in the multi-billion dollar effort to fulfill one of Trump’s signature campaign promises

Venezuela

• “Informe Anual 2019 | Violaciones a la Libertad Personal Aumentaron 147% Con 2744 Presuntas Victimas” (PROVEA (Venezuela), June 9, 2020).

Al menos el 89% de estas detenciones, unas 2.451 víctimas, están vinculadas con manifestaciones de carácter político, reclamos por servicios públicos y exigencias salariales

• Stephen Gibbs, “Venezuela’s Two Presidents” (Prospect (UK), June 9, 2020).

Outside Venezuela, Guaidó might be fêted as a head of state, but at home he is subject to the whims of a regime that is convinced that the contest over who rules Venezuela is over

I’m mostly around, but trying to get some writing done. (How to contact me)

I’ve only got a couple of internal meetings on the calendar today, plus a talk to give via video in Colombia at the end of the day. This is the day of this week when I have the most unscheduled time, so I hope to pump out a podcast and an article by the end of the day. I will only be checking email and messages intermittently.

“Mwana” by Sampa the Great (2019).