(Even more here)

December 30, 2022

Brazil

 Ana Ionova, “In Brazil’s Amazon, Land Grabbers Scramble to Claim Disputed Indigenous Reserve” (Mongabay*, December 30, 2022).

The Apyterewa Indigenous Territory, on the banks of the Xingu river in Pará, suffered accelerated illegal deforestation during the Bolsonaro government

* Fabiano Maisonnave, “Brazil’s Lula Picks Amazon Defender for Environment Minister” (Associated Press, *Associated Press*, December 30, 2022).

Marina Silva’s naming is a good sign for Amazon protection during Lula’s government

Colombia

 “Las Noticias de la Paz y la Guerra en Colombia Que Marcaron el 2022” (El Espectador (Colombia)*, December 30, 2022).

A rundown of top peace and conflict stories in 2022, a very busy year for such stories in Colombia

Ecuador

 “El 2022 Dejo un Record de Asesinatos en Ecuador: 4.450 Casos; Solo 308 Fueron Resueltos” (El Universo (Ecuador)*, December 30, 2022).

Homicides in Ecuador came close to doubling from 2021 to 2022

Honduras

 Jorge Burgos, Viena Hernandez, “Desplazamiento Forzado, la Amenaza Que Mantiene en Vilo a los Hondurenos y Hondurenas” (Criterio (Honduras)*, December 30, 2022).

VIolence has internally displaced at least a quarter million Hondurans

Peru

* ““No Habra Impunidad”: Presidenta Boluarte Promete Investigar Muertes en Protestas” (Reuters, *La Tercera (Chile)*, December 30, 2022).

Peru’s new president says that prosecutors will investigate security-force members who killed protesters amid the country’s political crisis

U.S.-Mexico Border

 Martha Pskowski, “Texas National Guard Lines Section of Rio Grande in el Paso With Shipping Containers” (The El Paso Times*, December 30, 2022).

Texas’s state government laid 10 shipping containers along the river in El Paso, just as it has done in Eagle Pass. The barrier does not block asylum seekers from the riverbank

Venezuela

 “Maduro en la Salutacion a la Fanb: «Hay 4.5 Millones de Milicianos en el Pais»” (Asociación Civil Control Ciudadano (Venezuela)*, December 30, 2022).

Maduro claims that about one-sixth of Venezuela’s population are members of a citizen militia

 Catherine Osborn, “Will the World Ditch Its Punitive Approach to Venezuela in 2023?” (Foreign Policy*, December 30, 2022).

Broad sanctions didn’t work in Cuba, and they’re not working in Venezuela, where Maduro is approaching 10 years in power

 “En 2022 10.737 Personas Murieron por Causas Violentas en Venezuela, Dice Informe Anual del Ovv” (Efecto Cocuyo (Venezuela)*, December 30, 2022).

The Venezuelan Violence Observatory’s 2022 homicide estimate points to a homicide rate over 40 per 100,000 residents