(Even more here)

October 12, 2018

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Erica Werner, Josh Dawsey, “Republicans Promise Post-Midterm Fight to Fund Trump’s Border Wall” (The Washington Post, October 12, 2018).
  

  GOP leaders now face the possibility of emerging empty-handed from the fight they postponed. They don’t have enough votes in the Senate to push through a big wall-funding increase, and the midterm elections could weaken their position even further

• Nancy Montoya, “Fbi May Help Identify Migrant Remains Found Along Us-Mexico Border” (Arizona Public Media, October 12, 2018).
  

  After six years of nonprofits asking the FBI to work with the Forensic Border Commission to share CODIS with those looking for missing migrants – it was a face to face between two mothers, that may lead to progress

• Sarah Stillman, “The Five-Year-Old Who Was Detained at the Border and Persuaded to Sign Away Her Rights” (The New Yorker, October 12, 2018).
  

  On Helen’s form, which was filled out with assistance from officials, there is a checked box next to a line that says, “I withdraw my previous request for a Flores bond hearing.” Beneath that line, the five-year-old signed her name in wobbly letters

Brazil

• Vincent Bevins, “Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s Would-Be Dictator” (The New York Review of Books, October 12, 2018).
  

  Bolsonaro’s ideology is best understood as Operation Condor plus the Internet

• Dom Phillips, “‘Flowering of Hate’: Bitter Election Brings Wave of Political Violence to Brazil” (The Guardian (Uk), October 12, 2018).
  

  Bolsonaro shrugged off the attacks. “A guy with my T-shirt goes too far. What has that got to do with me?” he told reporters on Wednesday

Central America Regional

• “Usa Immigration Policies Resulted in More Family Separations Than Disclosed” (Amnesty International, October 12, 2018).
  

  The US government has deliberately adopted immigration policies and practices that caused catastrophic harm to thousands of people seeking safety in the United States, including the separation of over 6,000 family units in a four-month period

Colombia

• Edinson Arley Bolanos, “Aspira a Dirigir el Centro de Memoria Pese a Que Dijo Que Estaba Infiltrado por las Farc” (El Espectador (Colombia), October 12, 2018).
  

  El 3 de octubre publicó en su portal mariojavierpacheco.com una columna de opinión en la que desdeñó del Centro de Memoria como una “estructura infiltrada por la guerrilla”

• , Javier AlexÁnder MacÍas, “Colombia Destina Mucho Dinero para la Guerra” (El Colombiano (Medellin Colombia), October 12, 2018).
  

  El presupuesto estimado para el 2019 en el sector Defensa y Policía es de 33,5 billones de pesos

• Nicolas Sanchez A., ““los Desplazamientos Masivos en 2018 Superaron los del 2017”: Unidad para las Victimas” (El Espectador (Colombia), October 12, 2018).
  

  El director encargado de la Unidad para las Víctimas, Ramón Rodríguez, habla sobre las fallas de atención a los desplazados en Norte de Santander. Afirma que en 2021, cuando se acabe la ley, no van a alcanzar a indemnizar a todos los afectados

• Julia Symmes Cobb, Nelson Bocanegra, “Court Says Colombia Votes Cannot Block Mining, Oil Projects -Local Media” (Reuters **, October 12, 2018).
  

  The country’s subsoil is national property and cannot be restricted by local authorities, local media quoted the court ruling as saying

Cuba

• Andrea Rodriguez, “Cuban Constitutional Reform Spawns Unusual Public Debate” (Associated Press **, October 12, 2018).
  

  Cubans repeatedly called for direct election of the president and other officials. And many objected to a constitutional amendment that would allow gays and lesbians to marry

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico

• “Remarks at the Conference on Prosperity and Security in Central America” (U.S. Department of State, October 12, 2018).
  

  You should know, in all seriousness, the United States stands with our Central American friends during these challenging and difficult times

Guatemala

• Jody Garcia, “Jimmy, Baldizon y Estos Mega-Empresarios Organizaron el Lobby Contra Todd y la Cicig (Parte 1)” (Nomada (Guatemala), October 12, 2018).
  

  Nómada presenta documentos —públicos y confidenciales— que revelan quiénes organizaron y financiaron el lobby de 2017 contra el embajador estadounidense Todd Robinson y contra Iván Velásquez

Mexico

• Teo Armus, “U.S. Officials Have Been Keeping Migrants From Crossing Bridges. Now, Mexico Is Doing the Same.” (The Texas Tribune, October 12, 2018).
  

  Others argue Mexican immigration authorities are under the thumb of cartels, which want to force migrants into costly smuggling rings

• “Building Peace in Mexico: Dilemmas Facing the Lopez Obrador Government” (International Crisis Group, October 12, 2018).
  

  To make good on his campaign promises, his team should pursue justice in killings by state personnel, reform the civilian police and give robust mandates to truth commissions with victim participation