(Even more here)

August 21, 2018

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Maya Srikrishnan, “California National Guard Troops Have Helped Border Patrol Arrest Immigrants” (Voice of San Diego, August 21, 2018).

California Gov. Jerry Brown said in an April letter authorizing the troops that they would not help detain immigrants or enforce immigration laws

• “Iachr Grants Precautionary Measure to Protect Separated Migrant Children in the United States” (Inter-American Human Rights Commission, Organization of American States, August 21, 2018).

The Commission concluded that the rights to family life and personal integrity as well as the right to identity of the children proposed as beneficiaries, are, in principle, at risk

• Tal Kopan, “White House Reviewing Plan to End Court Settlement on Immigrant Child Detention” (CNN, August 21, 2018).

The action to finalize regulations on the topic, revealed in a government database, comes after repeated attempts to change the Flores Settlement Agreement have been resoundingly rejected by a federal judge

Argentina, Venezuela

• Aislinn Laing, Maximilian Heath, “Argentina’s Macri to Report Venezuela to Icc Over Human Rights” (Reuters **, August 21, 2018).

Macri said he would seek to refer socialist President Nicolas Maduro’s government “in the coming weeks”, and that he had the backing of the presidents of Colombia, Chile and Paraguay

Brazil

• Paulo Trevisani, Samantha Pearson, “Ex-Army Captain Upends Brazil’s Election With Law-and-Order Campaign” (The Wall Street Journal, August 21, 2018).

Mr. Bolsonaro, who is running for the tiny PSL party, has the largest social media following of any candidate and is leading the polls ahead of the October vote with about 20% support

• Beatrice Christofaro, “Shootouts Leave 13 Dead, Including 2 Soldiers, in Rio” (Associated Press, The Washington Post, August 21, 2018).

Human rights groups have criticized the intervention, saying it’s disproportionately impacting people, particularly blacks, in poor neighborhoods

Colombia

• Sebastian Forero Rueda, “Sustitucion Voluntaria de Cultivos de Uso Ilicito, en Veremos” (El Espectador (Colombia), August 21, 2018).

El anuncio del ministro de Defensa, Guillermo Botero, sobre la inminente aplicación de una estrategia de erradicación forzada ocasionó incertidumbre entre las comunidades

• “Liberacion de Secuestrados en Poder del Eln No se Negociara en la Habana: Mindefensa” (Semana (Colombia), August 21, 2018).

El ministerio de Defensa confirmó que, aunque avanza en un acuerdo con el ELN para iniciar un proceso de entrega de las personas secuestradas, la operación humanitaria se realizará en Colombia y no hará parte del los diálogos

• “Gobierno Presentara Nuevas Acciones para Proteger a Lideres Sociales” (El Espectador (Colombia), August 21, 2018).

“El próximo 23 de agosto vamos a presentar al país una acción coordinada entre todos para prevenir esos hechos, buscar a los autores materiales de los crímenes y llevarlos a la justicia”

Mexico

• Rafael Croda, “Lo Que Implica el Aval de Lopez Obrador al Giei para el Caso Ayotzinapa” (Proceso (Mexico), August 21, 2018).

La decisión de López Obrador de avalar las indagatorias del GIEI constituye también una reivindicación para el minucioso trabajo realizado en México por el grupo de expertos

• Patricio R. Estevez-Soto, “Mexico’s New President Has Plans to Make His Country Safer – but Will They Work?” (The Conversation, August 21, 2018).

Mexico is simply too vast and too diverse for centralised control of security policy to work

Nicaragua

• Rafael Rojas, “La Division de la Izquierda Latinoamericana Frente a Nicaragua” (The New York Times, August 21, 2018).

No se trata de una denuncia sectaria sino razonada, que retoma valores clásicos de la izquierda latinoamericana —como la soberanía y la justicia— y los entrelaza con las premisas pluralistas de la democracia

• Wilfredo Miranda Aburto, “Cidh: “La Represion No Ha Cesado, No Hay Normalidad”” (Confidencial (Nicaragua), August 21, 2018).

“La circulación en el país se retomó pero no se puede decir que haya cesado la represión contra las personas que se han manifestado y expresado su opinión”, explicó María Claudia Pulido, secretaria ejecutiva adjunta

Peru

• Ricardo León, “Vraem: La Guerra en Circulos” (El Comercio (Peru), August 21, 2018).

La reciente muerte de un suboficial de la FAP en el Vraem revela la intensa disputa territorial entre las Fuerzas Armadas y Sendero Luminoso. Cabecilla terrorista ‘Antonio’ busca posicionarse en zonas de producción de droga

Venezuela

• “The Exodus From Venezuela Threatens to Descend Into Chaos” (The Economist (Uk), August 21, 2018).

Forced migration from the country might surpass the Syrian crisis

• “Editorial: All Venezuelans Can Do Is Flee. We Must Help Them.” (The Washington Post, August 21, 2018).

While the United States cannot easily force a political change in Caracas, it can at least do much more to help refu­gee Venezuelans and the nations hosting them