(Even more here)

January 18, 2023

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Jana Winter, “Countries Along Migrant Route to U.S. Experiencing ‘Enforcement Fatigue,’ Dhs Documents Show” (Yahoo!, January 18, 2023).

“Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama are facing limitations on capacity at migrant shelters, with some countries having to shutter shelters due to lack of funding,” states a non-public CBP report

Colombia

• “Gobierno y Eln Emprenderan Caravana Humanitaria por el Valle del Cauca y Choco” (El Espectador (Colombia), January 18, 2023).

Representatives of the ELN peace negotiations will participate in a 100-person delegation setting the stage for a possible humanitarian accord in parts of Colombia’s violent Pacific coast region

• Manuela Galvis, Maria Jose Restrepo, Sophia Cortes P., “Balance de Asesinatos a Lideres en 2022, el Mas Violento en Seis Anos” (La Silla Vacia (Colombia), January 18, 2023).

2022 was the worst year for murders of social leaders since the 2016 peace accord was signed

Colombia, Guatemala

• Juan Pablo Vasquez, “¿Como Termino Ivan Velasquez Acusado de Corrupcion en Guatemala?” (Revista Cambio (Colombia), January 18, 2023).

The Guatemalan prosecutor’s investigation of Colombia’s defense minister looks like a political vendetta

Honduras

• “Narcotrafico, Terror y Violencia Predomina en Municipios de Olancho” (El Heraldo (Honduras), January 18, 2023).

Amid a lack of state presence, organized crime and related violence are worsening in Honduras’s eastern department of Olancho

Mexico

• “Gopes Desaparece; Crean Fuerzas Especiales” (Elefante Blanco (Mexico), January 18, 2023).

The Tamaulipas state police’s “elite,” U.S.-trained unit, under a cloud of human rights and corruption allegations, gets a name change and loses about a quarter of its members

• Keegan Hamilton, “Chapo 2.0: Expect Bombshells From the Next Big Cartel Trial in the Us” (VICE, January 18, 2023).

The Garcia Luna trial could tell us a lot about how the U.S. government has carried out the drug war, including its blind spots about “allies”

Peru

• Julie Turkewitz, “With 50 Dead in Peru, a Referendum on Democracy” (The New York Times, January 18, 2023).

It’s really not clear how Peru’s democracy will recover from this crisis and the social divisions it has aggravated

U.S.-Mexico Border

• Fernie Ortiz, “Access to Friendship Park Included in Project to Replace Deteriorated Border Barriers, Cbp Says” (Border Report, January 18, 2023).

CBP’s plan to restore fencing near the Pacific Ocean apparently includes a plan to reopen “Friendship Park”

• Anna Giaritelli, “El Paso Gets Reprieve From Border Crisis With Mexican Cartels Busy Infighting” (The Washington Examiner, January 18, 2023).

Migrant encounters in El Paso have dropped by two-thirds since December. Title 42 expansion could be a reason, though a former Border Patrol chief blames infighting between organized crime groups across the border in Ciudad Juarez

• “Biden Administration Plan to Resurrect Asylum Ban Advances Trump Agenda, Would Condemn Refugees to Return to Harm, Family Separation, and Permanent Limbo” (Human Rights First, January 18, 2023).

A HRF report condemns the Biden administration’s proposed asylum “transit ban”