(Even more here)

September 15, 2017

Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela

• Anthony Boadle, “Trump to Meet Latin American Leaders With Eye on Venezuela” (Reuters **, September 15, 2017).

The dinner will take place on the eve of the opening of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto, who will leave office after elections next year, has decided not to attend

Colombia

• “‘Con Menos Recursos Incautamos Mas Droga Que Ee. Uu.’” (El Tiempo (Colombia), September 15, 2017).

Les sugiere a las autoridades de ese país que “cuiden mejor” la frontera con México y no se concentren “solo en los inmigrantes”, sino en el paso de cocaína

• “Amenaza de Trump de Descertificar a Colombia Es ‘un Irrespeto’” (El Tiempo (Colombia), September 15, 2017).

Adam Isacson, experto de WOLA, calificó la declaración como ‘una bofetada a un país aliado’

Cuba

• Josh Lederman, Matthew Lee , Michael Weissenstein, “Cuba Mystery Grows: New Details on What Befell Us Diplomats” (Associated Press **, September 15, 2017).

At least some of the incidents were confined to specific rooms or even parts of rooms with laser-like specificity, baffling U.S. officials who say the facts and the physics don’t add up

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras

• Marcelo Rochabrun, “The Trump Administration Plans to End a Refugee Program for Children” (ProPublica, September 15, 2017).

The decision to end the Central American Minors program, which began in 2014 and is the only refugee program aimed at helping people from that region, could put hundreds of families split between two countries in a delicate situation

Guatemala

• Steven Dudley, “#Blackwednesday: Guatemala Takes Another Step to Institutionalize Corruption” (InsightCrime, September 15, 2017).

In effect, congress and the president have institutionalized corruption in the political process. The CICIG had declared this type of systematized graft as its top target, but it is now virtually helpless to stop it

• Irene de Leon, Manuel Hernandez Mayen, “Cc Suspende Reformas de los Diputados a Favor de la Corrupcion” (Prensa Libre (Guatemala), September 15, 2017).

La resolució de la CC fue unánime y su argumento es que las reformas aprobadas por los diputados “constituyen una seria amenaza que en caso de cobrar vigencia podrían ocasionar daños irreparables al sistema de justicia”

• Carolina Gamazo, “El Dia Que el Ejercito de Guatemala No Pudo Izar la Bandera” (Revista Factum (El Salvador), September 15, 2017).

El pueblo de Guatemala volvió a salir a las calles. Esta vez de forma masiva. Las reformas aprobadas por el Congreso, que protegían a Jimmy Morales, y que garantizaban la impunidad de cientos de delitos, fueron la chispa

Mexico

• Mike Memoli, “Despite Trump Promises, Still No Plans for a Mexico Border Wall” (NBC News, September 15, 2017).

Construction firms have stayed away amid the prospect of political retaliation. And new NBC News polling suggests only lukewarm support for a wall the president today said would happen

• Glenn Thrush, Maggie Haberman, “Why Did Trump Work Again With Democrats? ‘He Likes Us,’ Schumer Says” (The New York Times, September 15, 2017).

[Kelly] likened Mexico, one of the United States’ most important trading and law enforcement partners, to Venezuela under the regime of Hugo Chávez, the former leader, suggesting it was on the verge of a collapse that would have repercussions in the United States

• Greg Moran, “Preparations Beginning for Border Wall Prototypes” (The San Diego Union-Tribune, September 15, 2017).

It’s a spot on the border where a secondary fence made of steel mesh stops, though the primary fence close to the border made of surplus military landing mats continues running east

• Helene Cooper, “Mattis Heads to Mexico Amid Strain Over Disaster Condolences and Aid” (The New York Times, September 15, 2017).

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will resume his role as the reassurer for American allies this week when he heads to Mexico, where he will try to mend relations

• Amanda Holpuch, David Agren, “Trump Blames Delayed Message to Mexican Quake Victims on Bad Phone Reception” (The Guardian (Uk), September 15, 2017).

It is customary for the US to send messages of condolences to countries hit by natural disasters, and the White House’s silence did not go unnoticed – especially because Mexico had just offered the US aid

Venezuela

• Emma Graham-Harrison, “Downward Spiral: How Venezuela’s Symbol of Progress Became Political Prisoners’ Hell” (The Guardian (Uk), September 15, 2017).

The dizzying spiral structure in central Caracas was conceived in the 1950s as a monument to a nation’s confidence – but now its crumbling shell houses a notorious political prison. Is El Helicoide a metaphor for modern Venezuela?

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Brian Epstein, John Carlos Frey, “Complaints: Border Officers Engaged in Pattern of ‘Egregious’ Abuse Against Minors” (ABC News, September 15, 2017).

As the number of unaccompanied minors arriving from Mexico and Central America has increased, minors have lodged hundreds of formal complaints containing detailed claims of mistreatment by border agents