(Even more here)

March 26, 2018

Brazil

• Anthony Faiola, Marina Lopes, “Stop and Search? This Poor Community in Rio Says Yes, Please.” (The Washington Post, March 26, 2018).

The response here illustrates a national reality: Brazilians want security — and are backing heavy-handed tactics to get it

• Dom Phillips, Julio Carvalho, “Police Operation in Rio Favela Leaves at Least Eight People Dead” (The Guardian (Uk), March 26, 2018).

Allegations that some of the victims were innocent residents executed in a revenge mission after a police officer was killed there

Colombia

• Juanita Velez, “Las Alarmas del Empantanado Posconflicto” (La Silla Vacia (Colombia), March 26, 2018).

A cuatro meses de que se acabe el gobierno Santos y con el candidato uribista Iván Duque punteando en las encuestas, la implementación del Acuerdo está empantanada y estas son las alarmas que lo muestran

• “La Nueva Guerra Que se Desato en el Catatumbo” (Verdad Abierta (Colombia), March 26, 2018).

Desde el pasado 14 de marzo desacuerdos entre el Eln y el Epl desembocaron en un enfrentamiento armado sin precedentes en la historia de ambas organizaciones

• Yolima Dussan, “Admiral Tidd Renews U.S. Commitment to Colombia” (Revista Dialogo (U.S. Southern Command), March 26, 2018).

Combined operations between U.S., Colombian, and Mexican forces are conducted in and around Tumaco and in the waters of the Pacific

• Edinson Arley Bolanos, “Cuerpo Elite: Tras los Asesinatos de los Lideres Sociales” (El Espectador (Colombia), March 26, 2018).

Hay doce modalidades de asesinato de líderes sociales establecidas por el Cuerpo Élite. Investigan posibles hechos sistemáticos en Urabá relacionados con la reclamación y restitución de tierras

• Susan Crabtree, “Sen. Lee Officially Blocks Trump’s Choice for Colombia Ambassador” (The Washington Free Beacon, March 26, 2018).

Trump’s Thursday decision to oust national security adviser H.R. McMaster and bring in John Bolton increases the probability that Trump will dump Macmanus

Ecuador

• “Ecuador: Judicial Harassment of Amazonian Defenders” (Human Rights Watch, March 26, 2018).

The government of former President Rafael Correa abused the criminal justice system to target indigenous leaders and environmentalists who protested mining and oil exploration in the Amazon

• “Altos Oficiales del Comando Sur se ReaºNen Con el Gobierno y Militares Ecuatorianos en Quito” (El Universo (Ecuador), March 26, 2018).

Durante el gobierno de Rafael Correa, la cooperación con Estados Unidos se vio seriamente disminuida

Mexico

• Azam Ahmed, “Where Fear and Hope Collide: Images From Mexican Border, and Beyond” (The New York Times, March 26, 2018).

Traversing the border area, the photographer John Moore covered the story of immigration from all sides. Here are 17 striking photographs

• Jose Olivares, “Mexicans Fear Abuses as New Law Empowers Military — but U.S. Security Aid Keeps Coming” (The Intercept, March 26, 2018).

The Trump administration has remained quiet on the Internal Security Law and has continued with plans to support Mexico’s security forces

• Scott Squires, “Disappearances at Us-Mexico Border Highlight Persistent Insecurity” (InsightCrime, March 26, 2018).

The highest rates of disappearances are concentrated in the border states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo León and Sonora, according to the study

• “Mexican Navy Says It Didn’t Shoot Civilians in Border City” (Associated Press, The Washington Post, March 26, 2018).

Mexico’s navy said in a statement that the gunmen had fake marine uniforms and markings on their vehicles

• “Emboscadas a Elementos de la Semar en Tamaulipas, Dejan un Marino Muerto, 12 Mas Heridos y 4 Sicarios Abatidos” (SinEmbargo (Mexico), March 26, 2018).

Desde la primera hora de hoy, en tres diferentes acciones, personal naval fue agredido con armas de fuego en distintos puntos de Nuevo Laredo

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Sanho Tree, “The War on Drugs Breeds Crafty Traffickers” (The New York Times, March 26, 2018).

Executing a few individual smugglers will do little to stop others because there is no high command of the international drug trade to target

• Elizabeth Keating, “Outlook Grim in Latin America for Relations Under Trump” (Gallup, March 26, 2018).

The image of U.S. leadership took a hit worldwide during Donald Trump’s first year in office, but nowhere more so than in Latin America, where the median approval rating dropped from 49% in 2016 to 24% in 2017