(Even more here)

September 28, 2018

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Damian Paletta, “Trump Signs Bill That Averts Government Shutdown, Sets Up Fight Over Border Wall” (The Washington Post, September 28, 2018).

The measure requires lawmakers to revisit other contentious measures in just two months, including whether to devote billions of dollars toward the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border

• Paul Ingram, “More Than 260 Migrants Found in Arizona Desert by Border Patrol” (The Tucson Sentinel (Tucson Arizona), September 28, 2018).

More than 1,200 people in “similar group sizes” have been apprehended in the past three months “all within the same general area”

Brazil

• Rodrigo Zeidan, “The Looming Military Coup in Brazil?” (Americas Quarterly, September 28, 2018).

Bolsonaro seems to be paving the way, directly or indirectly, for a coup d’état or an authoritarian regime backed by the military. He enjoys ample support among the military’s rank and file

• Gabriel Stargardter, “Violence Spurs Support for a Radical in Once-Calm Southern Brazil” (Reuters **, September 28, 2018).

While polls vary, support for Bolsonaro in Porto Alegre and across Brazil’s south remains higher than anywhere else in the country

Colombia

• Luis Jaime Acosta, “Colombia May Purchase New Anti-Aircraft Missiles: Sources” (Reuters **, September 28, 2018).

Three armed forces sources told Reuters that manufacturers from the United States, France and Israel were in the running to provide the system

• Javier AlexÁnder MacÍas, “Fiscalia No Tiene Audios Ni Videos Que Involucran a Santrich Con Coca” (El Colombiano (Medellin Colombia), September 28, 2018).

El fiscal general de la Nación, Néstor Humberto Martínez, aseguró en una misiva que estas evidencias no están en poder del ente investigador sino de las autoridades de EE. UU.

• Lally Weymouth, “Colombia’s President on a Wobbly Peace With the Farc” (The Washington Post, September 28, 2018).

Actually, the ones who might be letting this fall apart are the FARC kingpins, who have not given up all their weapons or assets and are simply returning to criminal activities

• “‘Sonia’ Quedara Libre en Dias por Estar Acreditada en Proceso de Paz” (El Tiempo (Colombia), September 28, 2018).

Todos estos delitos fueron cometidos cuando era guerrillera de las Farc, y como ninguno es atroz ni de lesa humanidad y ella se acogió al proceso de paz, tiene derecho a su libertad

• “‘A Protective Shield’ Cali, Colombia Program Steers Youth Away From Gang Violence” (Reuters, NBC News, September 28, 2018).

It draws on the belief that communities themselves have the ability to regulate and moderate delinquent behavior, while reinforcing positive behavior

Colombia, Venezuela

• Ricardo Monsalve Gaviria, “Venezuela No Puede Ser Garante en el Proceso de Paz Con el Eln: Duque” (El Colombiano (Medellin Colombia), September 28, 2018).

“Un país que ha auspiciado al Eln en su territorio, que lo ha protegido, que ha permitido que desde su territorio se fragüen actos criminales contra el pueblo colombiano, pues está lejos de ser garante”

• Nelson Bocanegra, “Venezuelan Migrant Influx Costs Colombia 0.5 Percent of Gdp: President” (Reuters **, September 28, 2018).

The World Bank will release a report on the fiscal and social impact of the crisis on Colombia in the coming weeks

Cuba, Venezuela

• Nora Gamez Torres, “Cuba and Venezuela Leaders Address Supporters in Nyc — After Journalists Are Kicked Out” (The Miami Herald, September 28, 2018).

One event official later read from a list, drafted by organizers, of journalists who could return inside

Guatemala

• Jo-Marie Burt, Paulo Estrada, “Court Finds Guatemalan Army Committed Genocide, but Acquits Military Intelligence Chief” (International Justice Monitor, Open Society Foundations, September 28, 2018).

“This sentence will be studied 20 or 30 years from now as a decisive moment in Guatemalan history”

Mexico

• Mariluz Roldan, “?Estos Son los Acuerdos de Amlo en el Caso Ayotzinapa” (El Universal (Mexico), September 28, 2018).

López Obrador afirmó que el 1 de diciembre, cuando asuma el cargo, emitirá un decreto para crear la Comisión para la Verdad

• Michael J. Mooney, “How a Cartel-Linked Murder Rocked a Wealthy Dallas Suburb” (Texas Monthly, September 28, 2018).

How prosecutors tied a brazen murder in an upscale Dallas suburb to one of Mexico’s most violent criminal organizations

Nicaragua

• “Foreign Relations Committee Passes Menendez Sanctions Bill on Nicaragua” (U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, September 28, 2018).

The amended version of the Nicaragua Human Rights and Anticorruption Act of 2018 (S. 3233) includes restrictions on lending to the Ortega government by international financial institutions, as proposed in the Nicaragua Investment Conditionality Act (NICA Act, H.R. 1918)