Western Hemisphere Regional

• David Nakamura, “Trump Administration Moving Quickly to Build Up Nationwide Deportation Force” (The Washington Post, April 13, 2017).

The Post scores a copy of an internal Department of Homeland Security memo promising several alarming border security and anti-immigration measures.

Colombia

• “La Encrucijada de los Cultivos de Uso Ilicito en Colombia” (Verdad Abierta (Colombia), April 11, 2017).

Colombia is under intense international (especially U.S.) pressure to reduce its coca crop. It has an alternative plan, as laid out in the peace accords, but initial efforts to carry it out have been lackluster.

Honduras

• “Eight Years After a Coup, a Heated Election in Honduras” (The Economist (Uk), April 13, 2017).

Great explainer of Honduras’s recent politics, and the current climate as the country approaches a new presidential election in November.

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico

• Nick Schifrin, “On the Road in Mexico, Central American Migrants Face an Uncertain Future” (Newshour, PBS, April 14, 2017).
• Nick Schifrin, “Deported to Mexico, These Men Feel Lost in a Country They No Longer Know” (PBS, April 12, 2017).

A PBS Newshour series visits locations in Mexico and talks to migrants affected in both directions by the Trump administration’s policies: northbound Central Americans and Mexican citizens recently deported by U.S. authorities.

Venezuela

• Victor Amaya, “Brutalidad Policial Tiene Sello Militar” (Tal Cual (Venezuela), April 10, 2017).

A look at the increasingly repressive tactics Venezuela’s security forces are using against participants in the country’s growing street protests.