(Even more here)

Brazil

• Oliver Stuenkel, “All Eyes on Brazil’s Military as Election Approaches” (Americas Quarterly, January 6, 2022).

“There are numerous signs that the commitment of Brazil’s armed forces and the military police to democracy is ambiguous at best.” Not great as Brazil heads into elections that may turn out badly for Bolsonaro, many officers’ preferred candidate.

Colombia

• “Asi Va la Investigacion por Muerte de 27 Personas a Manos del Eln en Arauca” (El Tiempo (Colombia), January 6, 2022).

More details and rumors emerge about the ELN-FARC dissident violence over the weekend that produced a rising death toll in Colombia’s far northeast. Judicial investigators are finding victims killed at close, pointblank range, which contrasts with the Defense Ministry’s portrayal of combat.

Mexico

• Marcos Nucamendi, “Entre Cuestionamientos, la Gn se Encarga de Base Genetica para Identificar Desaparecidos” (Elefante Blanco (Mexico), January 6, 2022).

In Mexico, where more than 95,000 people have gone missing and disappeared, many victims’ relatives are not pleased that president López Obrador is putting the militarized National Guard in charge of DNA databases.

• Miguel Angel Vega, “El Mapa de la Criminalidad en Mexico” (Riodoce (Sinaloa Mexico), January 6, 2022).

A useful snapshot of Mexico’s largest current organized crime groups, their origins, and their territories.

U.S.-Mexico Border

• Kate Morrissey, “First Two Asylum Seekers Returned to Tijuana in ‘Remain in Mexico’ Are Colombian” (The San Diego Union-Tribune, January 6, 2022).

The zombified, court-ordered Remain in Mexico 2.0 is now operating at two ports of entry: El Paso and San Diego.