- “Declaration of the Oas General Secretariat Regarding the Presidential Elections in Honduras” (Organization of American States, December 7, 2017).
A commendably tough statement from the OAS on the Honduran election crisis, even raising “the possibility of recommending a new call for elections.” It’s a huge shame that the U.S. government hasn’t taken a similarly strong stance.
- “Observaciones Preliminares de la ONU-DH al Proyecto de Decreto por el que se expide la Ley de Seguridad Interior” (UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mexico Field Office, December 4, 2017).
In laying out the risks associated with the public security law moving through Mexico’s Congress—which would give the military a permanent policing role—the UN office eviscerates arguments in the bill’s favor.
- Aura Maria Duran, Genica Mazzoldi Diaz, Irina Cuesta, “Mujeres y la Economia Cocalera en el Putumayo” (Fundacion Ideas por la Paz (Colombia), December 5, 2017).
A well-done exploration of “the particular meaning” that coca has for woman-headed coca-growing households in Putumayo, “which is related to their experiences as women and to their link with the territory.”
- Jon Lee Anderson, “Nicolas Maduro’s Accelerating Revolution” (The New Yorker, December 4, 2017).
Anderson gets an interview with Venezuela’s authoritarian leader. “As Maduro’s government loses its capacity to provide handouts, its popularity wanes, but it has developed few realistic options.”
- Jonathan Blitzer, “‘My Only Friend Is My Conscience’: Face to Face With el Salvador’s Cold Killer” (The New York Review of Books, December 8, 2017).
A profile of Sigifredo Ochoa, a former military commander who—for now—remains unaccountable for past human rights violations.