• “DOJ OIG and State OIG Release Joint Report on Responses by DEA and State Department to Three Deadly Force Incidents in Honduras” (Department of Justice and Department of State Inspectors-General, May 24, 2017).

A devastating 400-page report details how DEA and State Department officials lied to or obstructed superiors and investigators, including the U.S. ambassador and Congress, about controversial use-of-deadly-force incidents during 2012 counter-drug operations in Honduras.

• Stephanie Nolen, Elisangela Mendonca, “In Brazil’s Crooked Political Game, Is Anybody Playing Fair? A Search for an Honest Political Player” (The Globe and Mail (Toronto Canada), May 24, 2017).

After eliminating Brazilian legislators accused of corruption, then those “who don’t show up for debates, don’t vote or don’t sponsor legislation,” The Globe and Mail “wound up with just a dozen names” and interviewed five of them for their opinions about what it would take to fix Brazil’s endemic corruption.

• “New Ain Report: Lessons From Bolivia” (Andean Information Network (Bolivia), May 26, 2017).

The Cochabamba-based NGO brought to Bolivia a group of Colombian coca-growers involved in their country’s post-peace accord effort to negotiate voluntary crop eradication. This report looks at some lessons the group could take from Bolivia’s experience, including “how bringing community members to the fore of policy formulation
and eliminating eradication as a requirement for aid can improve conditions in coca growing areas.”

• David Smilde, “Pics and Comments on a Mega-March” (Washington Office on Latin America, May 22, 2017).

David attends a large opposition march in Caracas and finds an encouraging degree of unity. He is concerned, though, by a lack of poorer participants and at least a tacit acceptance of violent tactics.

• Stefan Labbe, Cherise Seucharan, Alexander Villegas, “Disarmed and Dangerous: Can Former Farc Guerrillas Adjust to Civilian Life?” (The Guardian (UK), May 25, 2017).

This is a shamefully mistitled article–the former guerrillas profiled here are working for peace in Cali’s crime-ridden slums, and are “endangered,” not “dangerous.” The article and videos themselves, though, offer a good glimpse into the challenges of ex-combatants’ reintegration, and of securing communities of displaced people, like Cali’s vast Aguablanca neighborhood.