(Even more here)

April 24, 2018

Central America Regional, Mexico

• “Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen Statement on Central American ‘Caravan’” (Department of Homeland Security, April 24, 2018).

For those seeking asylum, all individuals may be detained while their claims are adjudicated efficiently and expeditiously, and those found not to have a claim will be promptly removed

Colombia

• Gloria Castrillon, Juan David Moreno Barreto, ““los Militares Le Pondremos la Cara y el Pecho a la Jep”: General Mejia” (El Espectador (Colombia), April 24, 2018).

El general Alberto José Mejía, comandante de las Fuerzas Militares, asegura que la Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz será una oportunidad para resolver los procesos penales en contra de los miembros de la fuerza pública

• “En la Farc Preocupa Que Marquez de Mensaje Distinto al de Timochenko” (El Tiempo (Colombia), April 24, 2018).

Henry Acosta, quien facilitó los diálogos de paz, afirma que en la Farc hay dos bloques: Márquez- Santrich-Joaquín Gómez, y Timochenko- Alape- Lozada y Catatumbo

Honduras

• Amrit Cheng, “Ice Separates 18-Month-Old From Mother for Months” (American Civil Liberties Union, April 24, 2018).

Mirian, a 29-year-old mother from Honduras, is currently detained in T. Don Hutto detention center in Taylor, Texas, while her toddler is kept in a facility in San Antonio, some 120 miles away

Mexico

• “Kbi Stands With the Elena Rodriguez Family” (KINO BORDER INITIATIVE, April 24, 2018).

At the Kino Border Initiative, we have stood with his family in their grief and their persistent fight for justice. As such, we accompany them in their sorrow today given the jury’s decision to declare Lonnie Swartz not guilty of second-degree murder

• “Mistrial Declared for Border Agent Charged With Killing Teen by Shooting Through Fence Into Mexico” (Associated Press, The Los Angeles Times, April 24, 2018).

The decision by U.S. District Judge Raner Collins means prosecutors could seek another trial for Agent Lonnie Swartz on the manslaughter charges in the 2012 death of Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez

• Gloria Leticia DÍaz, “La Coidh Analizara la Estrategia de Seguridad Militarizada y el Encubrimiento de Militares en Mexico” (Proceso (Mexico), April 24, 2018).

Ello, como parte del litigio contra el Estado mexicano por la desaparición forzada –el 29 de diciembre de 2009– de Nitza Paola Alvarado Espinoza, Rocío Irene Alvarado Reyes y José Ángel Alvarado Herrera en el municipio de Buenaventura, Chihuahua

• Edgard Garrido, “Migrant ‘Caravan’ That Angers Trump Nears U.S.-Mexico Border” (Reuters **, April 24, 2018).

About 600 men, women and children from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras had been waiting on Monday in Hermosillo, Sonora to board a train or take buses for the remaining 432 miles

• “Confirma Feadle Detencion de el ‘Koala’, Presunto Asesino de Javier Valdez” (Riodoce (Sinaloa Mexico), April 24, 2018).

El Fiscal Especial para la Atención de Delitos cometidos contra la Libertad de Expresión? (FEADLE), Ricardo Sánchez Pérez del Pozo, confirmó la detención de Heriberto “N”, alias el Koala

Nicaragua

• Tim Rogers, “A Look Inside Defiant Nicaraguan Students’ Stronghold” (Univision, April 24, 2018).

The student leaders stress that their cause is much bigger than the infamous social security reform that sparked the massive street protests last week

Paraguay

• Laurence Blair, “Five Takeaways From Paraguay’s Presidential Election” (Americas Quarterly, April 24, 2018).

Many older Paraguayans remember Stroessner fondly, and the 60 percent of the population born since 1989 barely remembers him at all

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Debbie Nathan, “How the Border Patrol Faked Statistics Showing a 73 Percent Rise in Assaults Against Agents” (The Intercept, April 24, 2018).

According to conventional law enforcement accounting, this single incident should have been tallied as seven agents assaulted — not seven agents times six perpetrators times three projectiles

• Mia Steinle, “13 Cbp Employees Arrested for Corruption This Administration” (Project on Government Oversight, April 24, 2018).

As the records POGO obtained show, drug-related charges are some of the most common reasons CBP employees are arrested

• Nick Fortugno, Sisi Wei, “The Waiting Game” (Playmatics, WNYC, ProPublica, April 24, 2018).

The U.S. is supposed to be a safe haven for people fleeing persecution. But asylum-seekers face years of uncertainty when they arrive