(Even more here)

May 18, 2018

Brazil

• Cristina Maza, “Did Isis Reach Brazil? 11 People Are Charged With Trying to Set Up a Jihadi Cell” (Newsweek, May 18, 2018).

The individuals did not know one another but allegedly were using the messaging app WhatsApp to discuss plans to conduct a terrorist attack

Cuba

• Nora Gamez Torres, “State Department Postpones Event on Cuba After Sen. Rubio Protests” (The Miami Herald, May 18, 2018).

Anti-Castro activists complained that the seminar, titled “Cuba under [Miguel] Díaz-Canel” and organized by the department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, was to hear only from experts who support the friendlier policies on Cuba

El Salvador

• Parker Asmann, “Former el Salvador President to Stand Trial for Money Laundering” (InsightCrime, May 18, 2018).

Elías Antonio Saca, who was president of El Salvador from 2004 to 2009, and six other members of his administration, will stand trial for allegedly embezzling $300 million from state coffers into personal accounts

Guatemala

• Alicia Alvarez, “Consuelo Porras Pide “Confianza” en su Primer Dia al Frente del Mp” (Plaza Publica (Guatemala), May 18, 2018).

El primer día de María Consuelo Porras Argueta como Fiscal General y jefa del Ministerio Público (MP), fue ajetreado; como una premonición de lo que serán sus días durante los próximos cuatro años

Mexico

• “Mexico’s Next President Must Fully Implement Anti-Corruption Reforms” (Washington Office on Latin America, May 18, 2018).

Fully implementing the landmark anti-corruption reforms that Mexico approved in 2016 should be a major priority for whoever wins the country’s presidency on July 1

• Molly Hennessy-Fiske, “New ‘Zero Tolerance’ Immigration Crackdown Fills Border Courts” (The Los Angeles Times, May 18, 2018).

“We have never seen this before and it is affecting everyone,” he said

• Kirk Semple, “U.S. Pushes Plan to Make Mexico Handle Asylum Seekers” (The New York Times, May 18, 2018).

Asked about the possibility of a safe third country agreement in a television interview on Thursday morning, Luis Videgaray, Mexico’s foreign secretary, said, “There aren’t conditions to speak about new cooperation mechanisms in this matter.”

Venezuela

• Fabiola Sanchez , “Empty Stomachs Drive Venezuela Soldiers to Desert in Droves” (Associated Press **, May 18, 2018).

Even the rations served in military mess halls have dramatically diminished in size and quality. To compensate, soldiers are often given leave several hours during the day to hunt for meals off base

• John Otis, Juan Forero, “‘Pressure Cooker’: Discontent Rises in Venezuela Military as Economy Dives” (The Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2018).

Shortages of food, evaporating salaries and desertions have turned the armed forces into a cauldron of conspiracies against Mr. Maduro

• Rafael Uzcategui, Tamara Taraciuk Broner, “Venezuela’s Hostages of Hunger” (Human Rights Watch, Provea, The New York Times, May 18, 2018).

Many Venezuelans will go to the polls on Sunday hungry. And some may be voting in the presidential election only because they fear what will happen to them if they stay home

• Anthony Faiola, Nick Miroff, “As Trump Tightens Asylum Rules, Thousands of Venezuelans Find a Warm Welcome in Miami” (The Washington Post, May 18, 2018).

They are, in general, wealthier and more likely to have legal representation, an advantage that significantly boosts their chances of being allowed to stay

• Ian Talley, “U.S. Sanctions Top Venezuelan Official Diosdado Cabello Rondon” (The Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2018).

The latest salvo—targeting the man who is widely perceived as the most powerful man in the country behind the president—hits Mr. Maduro’s inner circle closer than any other previous sanctions