(Even more here)

January 15, 2019

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Mihir Zaveri, “Pentagon Extends Troop Deployment at Mexican Border Through September” (The New York Times, January 15, 2019).

It’s not clear exactly how many troops are currently at the border or how the number is expected to change — a Pentagon official said in November that the number was expected to dip below the 5,900 initially deployed

• Jose A. Del Real, Manny Fernandez, “As Government Pulls Back, Charities Step in to Help Released Migrants” (The New York Times, January 15, 2019).

An ever larger number of families are being released with nowhere to stay, no money, no food and no means of getting to friends and relatives who may be hundreds or thousands of miles away

Brazil

• Anthony Boadle, Jake Spring, “Brazil to Fight Invasions by Landless Workers: Official” (Reuters, Reuters, January 15, 2019).

Brazil’s right-wing government under President Jair Bolsonaro will seek to classify invasions of farmland by landless workers movements as akin to terrorism, with harsher penalties for perpetrators

• Jo Griffin, “‘Climate of Panic’: Bombings in Brazil Reveal Growing Power of Gangs” (The Guardian (Uk), January 15, 2019).

It is seen not just as a direct challenge to the new president, Jair Bolsonaro, but also as stark evidence that Brazil urgently needs penal reform and alternatives to the tough-on-crime policies he is promising

Colombia

• Alejandra Bonilla Mora, “Violencia Sexual: Un Debate Que Apenas Comienza en la Jep” (El Espectador (Colombia), January 15, 2019).

¿Cuándo un hecho de estos está relacionado con el conflicto? ¿Cuándo, entonces, podrán los implicados recibir beneficios penales?

• Juanita Velez, “Sobre Marquez, Archila Habla Como Abogado Pero Deja Es un Mensaje Politico” (La Silla Vacia (Colombia), January 15, 2019).

Ayer en la tarde el Alto Consejero para el Posconflicto, Emilio Archila, dijo que “están dadas las condiciones” para que la Jurisdicción Especial de Paz, JEP, le abra un incidente de incumplimiento a Iván Márquez

• Ricardo Monsalve Gaviria, “Amenazas, el Diario para los Personeros” (El Colombiano (Medellin Colombia), January 15, 2019).

La situación de Ever Payares la viven otros 111 personeros del país, lo que significa que cerca del 10% del total de los representantes del ministerio público se encuentran amenazados

Colombia, Venezuela

• ““No Abriremos Otro Campamento Humanitario”: Secretaria de Integracion Social de Bogota” (Semana (Colombia), January 15, 2019).

Cristina Vélez habló con SEMANA un día antes de que el Distrito cierre el campamento humanitario transitorio que se creó hace dos meses para dar fin a la invasión del espacio público que generaron más de 500 venezolanos

Colombia

• “Tras 5 Anos a la Baja, Homicidios Subieron en el 2018” (El Tiempo (Colombia), January 15, 2019).

Hubo un incremento de 3,25 por ciento en ese delito. En el 2018 se registraron 12.458 homicidios, mientras que en el 2017 fueron 12.066

Ecuador, South America Regional

• Joshua Goodman, “South America Bloc’s Woes Leave Architectural Gem Forlorn” (Associated Press, January 15, 2019).

The headquarters of the Union of South American Nations outside Ecuador’s capital seems as moribund as the group itself

Guatemala

• Sandra Cuffe, “Thousands of Guatemalans Protest in Support of Anti-Corruption Commission” (The Los Angeles Times, January 15, 2019).

Morales ignored a ruling by the nation’s highest court that reversed that decision, and appears to support an effort underway by his allies in Congress to impeach the Constitutional Court judges who have opposed his efforts

• “Cicig: Ivan Velasquez Desmiente Acusaciones de Jimmy Morales” (Nomada (Guatemala), January 15, 2019).

Por primera vez —y ante la ONU— Iván Velásquez responde a las acusaciones hechas por Jimmy Morales sobre la CICIG. Estos son los detalles de la carta

• Alberto Pradilla, “El Poli Bueno, el Poli Malo y Lo Que Morales No Dijo Desde su Bunker” (Plaza Publica (Guatemala), January 15, 2019).

Mientras Arzú Escobar y Morales hablaban, cientos de personas secundaban, tanto en la capital como en los departamentos, protestas contra la corrupción y la expulsión de la Cicig

Haiti

• Michael Weissenstein, “Witnesses: Men in Police Garb Massacred Civilians in Haiti” (Associated Press, January 15, 2019).

Some residents and local rights groups say the killers were gang members working with corrupt police to seize territory in the La Saline gang war. But others accuse Haitian government officials of orchestrating the massacre to head off anti-corruption protests

Mexico

• Ana Adlerstein, Charles Davis, Ed Pilkington, Edwin Delgado, “What Is Life Really Like in Border Country, Where Trump Wants His Wall?” (The Guardian (Uk), January 15, 2019).

The Guardian travelled to five border locations to discover how Trump’s rhetoric jars with the reality on the ground

Venezuela

• Kejal Vyas, “U.S. Considers Harshest Venezuela Sanctions Yet, on Oil” (The Wall Street Journal, January 15, 2019).

“Now it’s a new dynamic. We are no longer going to be tinkering along the edges. Nowadays, everything will be put on the table”

• Tamara Taraciuk Broner, “Military Intelligence Agencies Torture Dissidents’ Relatives in Venezuela” (Human Rights Watch, January 15, 2019).

In a context in which those responsible for these human rights abuses are more likely to be rewarded than brought to justice in Venezuela, it is critical to explore avenues to hold them accountable abroad

• Anthony Faiola, “Venezuela’s Opposition Is Gambling It All on a Young and Untested Activist Named Juan Guaido” (The Washington Post, January 15, 2019).

Guaidó inherited the top post at the Popular Will party, partly because most of its leadership has been jailed or fled the country. On Jan. 5, he was named the head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly