(Even more here)

January 12, 2018

Chile

• Felipe Lagos, “U.S. and Chilean Special Forces Poised for Regional Challenges” (Revista Dialogo (U.S. Southern Command), January 12, 2018).

The exercise—second to happen on U.S. soil—took place from October 18th–November 3rd, 2017, in several training camps

• Pascale Bonnefoy, “Pope Faces Turmoil in Chile Over Indigenous Group and Sex Abuse” (The New York Times, January 12, 2018).

Pamphlets left at the sites of the first three bombings alluded to several issues, including the plight of the Mapuche, an indigenous people who have been battling loggers and farmers

Colombia

• Eduardo Alvarez Vanegas, Tatiana Prada Collazos, “Suarez, Cauca: La Punta del Iceberg” (Fundación Ideas para la Paz (Colombia), El Espectador (Colombia), January 12, 2018).

Una de las grandes preocupaciones es la incertidumbre que hay sobre la presencia de supuestos nuevos grupos armados, cuya identidad es aún muy difícil de establecer por su constante recambio interno

• “Gobierno Insiste en el Cese para Negociar Con Eln” (El Colombiano (Medellin Colombia), January 12, 2018).

Los papeles se invirtieron: ahora es el Gobierno el que condiciona la mesa de negociaciones a que haya un cese el fuego bilateral, solicitud que ha sido durante años una premisa de las guerrillas

• Sebastian Rodriguez, “Monitor del Cese el Fuego Bilateral y Temporal Con el Eln – Reporte Final” (CERAC (Colombia), January 12, 2018).

El más positivo resultado del Cese ha sido la cesación completa de combates entre el grupo guerrillero y la fuerza pública desde su inicio y la suspensión de acciones ofensivas por parte del ELN en contra de la infraestructura

• Luis Jaime Acosta, “Colombia Launches Military Task Force to Combat Crime Gangs” (**, January 12, 2018).

The so-called Hercules task force, the largest military unit activated in two decades, will have 9,000 troops with the mission of regaining control of a broad region bordering the Pacific Ocean and Ecuador

• Hugo Acero, “Las Cifras de Homicidios No Cuadran, Pero…” (La Silla Vacia (Colombia), January 12, 2018).

Con cifras confiables, transparentes y públicas es más fácil solucionar los graves problemas de violencia y delincuencia que tiene el país. Para esto se impone un trabajo conjunto

El Salvador

• Cora Currier, Natalie Keyssar, “El Salvador’s Youth Are Trapped Between Gang Violence and Police Abuse” (The Intercept, January 12, 2018).

Poor youth are rounded up on suspicion of being gang members, hassled, imprisoned, and, in some cases, killed

• Tim Rogers, “If Donald Trump Hates the Ms-13 So Much, Why’s He Recruiting for Them?” (Fusion, January 12, 2018).

Revoking the legal status of some 200,000 law-abiding Salvadorans will likely push a massive group of Salvadorans into the shadows of undocumented America, where gangs are king

• Carlos Dada, “El Salvador Sacudido por un Terremoto Llamado Trump” (The New York Times, January 12, 2018).

Para cada uno de esos 200.000 salvadoreños, ha comenzado una tragedia personal

El Salvador, Honduras

• Daniella Burgi-Palomino, “No Rights, No Dignity: Risks Facing Deported Migrants in Honduras and el Salvador” (Latin America Working Group Education Fund, January 12, 2018).

We unpack the ongoing risks and deterioration of conditions that deported migrants face upon their return to El Salvador and Honduras

Guatemala

• Mike Lasusa, Tristan Clavel, “Manipulacion Politica Puede Empanar Eleccion de Fiscal General en Guatemala” (InsightCrime, January 12, 2018).

Las élites en el poder ya han estado moviendo los hilos para manipular la conformación de la comisión y sus recomendaciones en un intento de obstaculizar una iniciativa anticorrupción

Guatemala, Mexico

• Julieta Pelcastre, “Guatemala and Mexico Update Border Security Strategy” (Revista Dialogo (U.S. Southern Command), January 12, 2018).

“Border commanders from the Guatemalan and Mexican armies, navies, and air forces planned a strategy for land, air, and sea patrols that both countries will roll out in the coming months”

Haiti

• Evens Sanon, “Haiti ‘Shocked and Outraged’ Over Reported Trump Remarks” (Associated Press **, January 12, 2018).

“The Haitian government condemns in the strongest terms these abhorrent and obnoxious remarks which, if proven, reflect a totally erroneous and racist view of the Haitian community and its contribution to the United States”

Mexico

• Amanda Taub, Max Fisher, “When Corporate Elites Won Partial Control of a Mexican City — and Then Lost It” (The New York Times, January 12, 2018).

No one much minded business people acting like politicians because, he said, the real problem was politicians acting like business people

• Gloria Leticia DÍaz, “La Onu-Dh Condena Falta de Esclarecimiento de Operativo Policiaco y Agresiones a Periodistas en Acapulco” (Proceso (Mexico), January 12, 2018).

Lamentó que el gobierno de Héctor Astudillo expuso “una narrativa de los hechos violatoria de la presunción de inocencia de las personas detenidas y no aporta ninguna garantía de que una investigación independiente e imparcial esté siendo llevada a cabo”

Panama

• “Us Ambassador to Panama Quits and Says He Cannot Serve Under Trump” (Reuters, The Guardian (Uk), January 12, 2018).

“My instructors made clear that if I believed I could not do that, I would be honor bound to resign. That time has come,” Feeley said

Venezuela

• Antonio MarÍa Delgado, “Maduro May Allow Food Aid Into Venezuela if Opposition Recognizes Assembly as Legitimate” (The Miami Herald, January 12, 2018).

Maduro also wants to control the distribution of the food donations — so far denied entry by the government despite growing food shortages and looting

• Antonio MarÍa Delgado, “Ola de Saqueos Estremece a Venezuela, Van 107 Casos en Once Dias” (El Nuevo Herald, January 12, 2018).

Los saqueos están siendo acompañados por un elevado número de protestas emprendidas por ciudadanos desesperados por el hambre. Entre el primero y el 11 de enero, éstas han sumando 386

• Francisco Rodriguez, “Why More Sanctions Won’t Help Venezuela” (Foreign Policy, January 12, 2018).

Rather than encouraging the pipe dreams of military invasions and coups, the overriding priority of Venezuela’s opposition should be to convince voters that it would do a better job of leading the country