(Even more here)

Western Hemisphere Regional

Murder rates had gone down in most of Latin America from 2019 to 2020, but they rose in 2021 almost everywhere.

Brazil

One suspects that Bolsonaro calculates he can make the Biden administration put up with more of his nonsense if he occasionally flirts with Moscow or Beijing.

Colombia

Good overview of the running inter-guerrilla confrontation that has made longtime social leaders extremely vulnerable in Arauca, Colombia, while the government does little more than stigmatize them.

Panama, Venezuela

Now that Mexico (at US urging) is demanding visas of Venezuelan migrants, making it very hard to arrive by air, more are opting for a very dangerous land route: Panama’s Darién Gap.

U.S.-Mexico Border

Another update on the dumpster fire that is Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) thrown-together National Guard deployment at the Texas-Mexico border, by two reporters who’ve covered it most closely.