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Oliver de Ros/AP photo at The Guardian (UK). Caption: “Soldiers stand guard near Guatemala’s congress building.”
September 14, 2018
Western Hemisphere Regional
- Maria Sacchetti, “Ice Says It Needs a $1 Billion Funding Boost to Meet Trump’s Aggressive Deportation Goals” (The Washington Post, September 14, 2018).
The deal would keep the government open using a series of spending bills, including a “continuing resolution” that would fund federal agencies through Dec. 7. ICE asked Congress to include the $1 billion increase in the continuing resolution
Colombia
- Javier Alexander Macias, “Victimas Exigieron la Verdad a Montoya” (El Colombiano (Medellin Colombia), September 14, 2018).
El general (r) Mario Montoya acudió a la JEP donde se le recordaron los compromisos que adquiere al someterse a esta justicia especial. El magistrado aplazó la audiencia hasta nueva fecha
- Alejandro Gaviria U., “El Fin del Glifosato: Una Historia Personal” (Universo Centro (Colombia), September 14, 2018).
Un jardinero, por ejemplo, puede, mediante normas conocidas de seguridad laboral, disminuir ostensiblemente el riesgo asociado a la exposición. Un campesino no, el glifosato cae del cielo
- “Colombia’s New President Calls Off Talks With a Leftist Insurgent Group” (The Economist (Uk), September 14, 2018).
The ELN is smaller than the FARC were, but may prove harder to defeat
- ““Grupos Armados Financian la Protesta Social”: Por Esta Frase, Mindefensa Citado por el Senado” (Semana (Colombia), September 14, 2018).
La Defensoría del Pueblo y algunos congresistas condenaron su afirmación. Botero será citado a la Comisión Segunda para que sustente sus afirmaciones
El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras
- James D. Nealon, John Feeley, “How Good Foreign Policy Unravels: Central America and Immigration” (Univision, September 14, 2018).
What is behind the postponing of a high-level Central American ‘Conference on Security and Prosperity,’ which was scheduled for next week? Muddled policy and a lack of U.S. leadership
Guatemala
- Iduvina Hernandez, “Un Presidente a la Fuerza” (Plaza Publica (Guatemala), September 14, 2018).
El miércoles 12, el presidente necesitó rodearse una vez más del Ejército. Esta vez, soldados de la Guardia Presidencial con boinas kaibiles y fusiles de asalto rodearon el palacio legislativo
- “Guatemala’s Government Races to Scrap an Anti-Corruption Commission” (The Economist (Uk), September 14, 2018).
The best hope for CICIG’s survival lies in the presidential election next June. In one recent poll, 70% of respondents said they wanted the commission to stay
- Nina Lakhani, “Guatemala on Knife-Edge After President Moves to End Anti-Corruption Body” (The Guardian (Uk), September 14, 2018).
A handful of former military officers celebrated outside the compound, screaming “Good riddance to the foreign communists” as the TV cameras rolled
Honduras
- Tristan Clavel, “Honduras Top Cop Killed for Cachiros: Us Prosecutor” (InsightCrime, September 14, 2018).
Valladares —who was a regional commander of the special criminal investigations unit (Dirección Nacional de Investigación Criminal – DNIC) in San Pedro Sula— committed murder for the once powerful Cachiros drug trafficking organization
Mexico
- Chris Jones, “The Marine Corps Is Quietly Monitoring Sections of the Us-Mexico Border to Stop Migrants and Drug Traffickers” (Business Insider, Marine Corps Times, September 14, 2018).
The partnership between US Marines and US Border Patrol is part of a long standing effort by Joint Task Force-North, a DoD task force based in Fort Bliss, Texas
- J. Jesus Esquivel, “Por Presion del Equipo de Amlo, Gobierno de Pena Rechaza 20 Mdd de Eu para Filtro Migratorio” (Proceso (Mexico), September 14, 2018).
“El gobierno mexicano no aceptó los 20 millones de dólares, están ahí en el fondo de la Iniciativa Mérida, pero no se aceptaron para realizar repatriaciones”
- Arturo RodrÍguez GarcÍa, “Lopez Obrador Reitera Amnistia a Politicos, Empresarios y “Famosos”” (Proceso (Mexico), September 14, 2018).
“No vamos a perseguir a nadie. No es mi fuerte la venganza. No vamos a la política de siempre de, por razones de espectacularidad, meter a la cárcel a algún famoso de la política o el sector empresarial o del mundo, incluso del espectáculo. Nada de eso”
Peru
- Simeon Tegel, “In Peru, an Accidental President Moves Against Corruption” (Americas Quarterly, September 14, 2018).
In the first of those recordings, Supreme Court Judge César Hinostroza can be heard apparently negotiating a bribe from a convicted child molester
Venezuela
- “China to Lend Venezuela $5 Billion as Maduro Visits Beijing” (Bloomberg, September 14, 2018).
Minister Simon Zerpa told Bloomberg News that Venezuela would pay back the loan with either cash or oil
- Alexandra Ulmer, Ben Blanchard, “Venezuela Hands China More Oil Presence, but No Mention of New Funds” (Reuters **, September 14, 2018).
It was unclear what China, which has ploughed more than $50 billion into Venezuela through oil-for-loan agreements, was giving in return