(Even more here)

May 10, 2018

Colombia

• Simon West, “Will Colombia’s Presidential Elections Derail the Country’s Historic Peace Process?” (NBC News, May 10, 2018).

Experts warn that tampering with the agreement could end up reigniting hostilities

• “Buscan a Lideresa de Putumayo Cuyo Nombre Aparecia en Panfletos Amenazantes” (El Espectador (Colombia), May 10, 2018).

Lo que más temen los familiares de Deyanira es que su nombre, hace unos cinco meses, apareció en unos panfletos amenazantes firmados, al parecer, por las denominadas Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia

Ecuador

• “Editorial: Comandante del Ejercito” (El Universo (Ecuador), May 10, 2018).

Los cambios deberán implicarse en la reformulación de la política de seguridad en la frontera norte

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras

• “The Threat to Central America’s Prosecutors” (The Economist (Uk), May 10, 2018).

In the northern triangle, a golden age of judicial independence may be ending

El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras

• Andres Oppenheimer, “Deporting 300,000 Tps Recipients Will Devastate Haiti and Central American Countries” (The Miami Herald, May 10, 2018).

El Salvador and Honduras together create jobs for only about 10 percent of the 120,000 youths who join the labor force every year

Honduras

• James D. Nealon, John D. Feeley, “The Trump Administration Shoves Honduran Immigrants Back Into Danger” (The Washington Post, May 10, 2018).

The pathologies underlying the hurricane’s aftermath — extreme violence, lack of economic opportunity and poor governance — are the same factors that today drive irregular migration such as the caravan to the United States

Mexico

• “Mexican Caravan Migrants Protest Lack of Visas in Mexico” (Associated Press, The Washington Post, May 10, 2018).

The migrants have said that “if the promises are not kept, about 100 people will reconsider (staying in Mexico) and go to Tijuana to request asylum” in the U.S.

• Ioan Grillo, “Inside the Trial of el Chapo, the World’s Most Infamous Drug Baron” (Time, May 10, 2018).

The huge effort to capture Guzmán and put him on trial has failed to stop the Sinaloa Cartel from recruiting a new generation

• Joshua Partlow, “In Mexico, Frustration With Trump Grows as Relations Reach a ‘Defining Moment’” (The Washington Post, May 10, 2018).

In one sign of its mounting frustration, the Mexican government over the past month has canceled meetings with American counterparts, including a cross-border coordination session to fight drug trafficking and an annual military exchange

Venezuela

• Deisy Buitrago, Vivian Sequera, “Rival Venezuela Opposition Candidates Vow to Stay in Race, Splitting Vote” (Reuters **, May 10, 2018).

Many opposition supporters distrust the two candidates and plan to abstain from voting, but having two rival opposition candidates will split the votes of those who do go to the polls

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Michael D. Shear, Nicole Perlroth, “Homeland Security Secretary Was Close to Resigning After Trump Berated Her” (The New York Times, May 10, 2018).

One persistent issue has been Mr. Trump’s belief that Ms. Nielsen and other officials in the department were resisting his direction that parents should be separated from their children when families cross illegally into the United States, several officials said

• Carson Frame, “National Guard Ground Operations Ramp Up Along U.S.-Mexico Border” (National Public Radio, May 10, 2018).

National Guard troops have been distributed between five Texas border sectors, including 200 in the Rio Grande Valley, 120 in Laredo, approximately 90 in Del Rio, approximately 70 in Big Bend, and around 110 in El Paso

• Liam Brennan, “Sessions Is Criminalizing Immigration Violations. That Upends Centuries of History.” (The Washington Post, May 10, 2018).

Prosecuting each one of the more than 660,000 migrants apprehended at the border would increase the federal criminal caseload by more than 350 percent

• Griselda Zetino, “Federal Judge in Arizona Says Courts Not Equipped for More Border Cases” (KTAR (Tucson Arizona), May 10, 2018).

Collins said federal prosecutors in Arizona are struggling to keep up with the case load. They’re getting about 75 cases involving unauthorized U.S.-Mexico border crossings per day