(Even more here)

Western Hemisphere Regional

We all wrote bits of this analysis of what’s gone well (a little) and what really concerns us (a lot) about the Biden administration’s approach to Latin America during its first year.

Colombia, Venezuela

An ex-FARC dissident deserter says 2 foreign mercenaries—possibly American—were among a 26-man team that killed two top rearmed FARC leaders in Venezuela last month. Is he telling the truth? ¯_(ツ)_/¯

El Salvador, Guatemala

“Despite recent attacks on judicial independence in both countries and intense political polarization surrounding the landmark agreements, the courts granted new openings for two watershed civil war-era cases”: El Salvador’s 1989 Jesuit massacre and the genocide in Guatemala’s Ixil Triangle region.

U.S.-Mexico Border

The first of two articles today about military activity—not Border Patrol activity—at the U.S.-Mexico border. Soldiers assigned to a National Guard deployment opened fire against civilians on U.S. soil: “The driver ‘put the vehicle in reverse and then into drive’ before gunning the vehicle in an apparent attempt to ram the first soldier, the incident report read.”

The second of two articles today about military activity—not Border Patrol activity—at the U.S.-Mexico border. “The Pentagon’s approval to support six Border Patrol-owned aerostats was eligible to begin in January, with the additional Defense Department aerostats available starting in April.”

The New Yorker visits the miserable migrant camp, populated mostly by victims of the “Title 42” expulsions policy, in the dangerous border city of Reynosa, Mexico.