(Even more here)

January 31, 2019

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Nancy A. Youssef, “Pentagon Sending More Than 3,500 Additional Troops to Mexico Border” (The Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2019).

More than 3,500 active-duty troops will be sent to the border, according to a letter written by Rep. Adam Smith (D., Wash.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, in which he slammed Department of Defense officials for not disclosing the figure during a hearing

• Rep. Adam Smith (D-Washington), “Smith Letter to Shanahan Regarding Transparency With Congress” (U.S. House of Representatives, January 31, 2019).

The Members of the Committee would have been extremely interested in discussing what the 3,500 troops going to the border in response to DHS’s latest request will be doing there. This is a violation of the executive branch’s obligation to be transparent with Congress

• “Detailed Summary of House Democrats’ Opening Offer in Conference Negotiations” (The Washington Post, January 31, 2019).

PDF document

• Garance Burke, Martha Mendoza, “Ice Force-Feeding Detainees on Hunger Strike” (Associated Press, Associated Press, January 31, 2019).

The men with nasal tubes are having persistent nose bleeds, and are vomiting several times a day

Colombia

• “El General Leonardo Barrero Ya No Es el Director del Plan para Proteger a Lideres Sociales” (El Espectador (Colombia), January 31, 2019).

El gobierno defendió al oficial y lo mantuvo como un enlace de dicho plan con la fuerza pública

• “Gobierno No Negociara Liberaciones de Secuestrados: Comisionado de Paz al Eln” (El Espectador (Colombia), January 31, 2019).

El comisionado de Paz, Miguel Ceballos, quien en este diálogo con El Espectador reafirma la posición del Estado colombiano; entrega detalles sobre hasta qué punto llegaron sus contactos con Pablo Beltrán, dice que las llaves para una nueva negociación no se han tirado al mar

• ““Son Estructuras de la Ultraderecha”: Congresistas y Aspirantes Amenazados por las Aguilas Negras” (Semana (Colombia), January 31, 2019).

“Ni el gobierno ni la Fiscalía nos ha explicado en qué consiste, no sabemos quiénes son los comandantes, cuál es su estructura (de las Águilas Negras), en donde operan. No sabemos si en realidad es una organización”

Colombia, Venezuela

• “Embajador en Washington Dice Que Estados Unidos Va por Maduro” (El Tiempo (Colombia), January 31, 2019).

Santos, quien se encuentra en Bogotá, le dijo a La W Radio que Estados Unidos podría realizar una acción parecida a la que ejecutó en diciembre de 1989 para deponer al dictador Panameño Manuel Antonio Noriega

Colombia

• “Duque se Reunio Con Matthew Whitaker, Fiscal (e) de Estados Unidos” (El Tiempo (Colombia), January 31, 2019).

El fortalecimiento de la cooperación judicial y la lucha para que Venezuela vuelva a la democracia fueron los temas principales de la reunión entre el presidente Iván Duque y Matthew Whitaker

Colombia, Cuba

• Julia Symmes Cobb, “Colombia’s Eln Rebel Leaders Say They Will Not Leave Cuba” (Reuters, Reuters, January 31, 2019).

“(The government) has declined to participate in the creation of a return plan for the ELN delegation and because of that it will not be possible to return within the expected time,” a statement from the 10 negotiators said

El Salvador

• “A Charismatic Populist Aims for el Salvador’s Presidency” (The Economist (Uk), January 31, 2019).

The rise of Mr Bukele has been unorthodox. Rallies and interviews are rare but tweets are plentiful from the 37-year-old former businessman, in a campaign relying heavily on social media

Guatemala

• Jo-Marie Burt, “¿Quienes se Benefician Con la Amnistia?” (Plaza Publica (Guatemala), January 31, 2019).

Según las modificaciones de la propuesta de ley, todos los exoficiales, comisionados, patrulleros e incluso guerrilleros serían liberados dentro de las 24 horas de su promulgación

Guatemala, Mexico

• Cole Kazdin, “Guatemala’s ‘Slow-Motion Coup’ Is Causing Migrants to Flee to the Us” (VICE, January 31, 2019).

The underlying problem of migrants fleeing instability and violence in countries like Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador—some of which has been stoked by US foreign policy—isn’t going away

Mexico

• Elvia Diaz, “Historic Fentanyl Bust Undermines Trump’s Border Wall” (The Arizona Republic, January 31, 2019).

Guess where federal officials carried out this huge fentanyl bust? At the Nogales border-crossing in Arizona. Yes, a port of entry, not somewhere over a border fence in the barren desert

• Adam Taylor, “Trump’s Tweets on Mexico’s Rising Murder Rate Conflict With His New Asylum Policy” (The Washington Post, January 31, 2019).

In McAllen, the Texas city that lies just across the border crossing from Reynosa, there were no homicides in 2018, and crime is at its lowest rate in 34 years

• “Report on U.S. Cbp’s Use of Chemical Agents on Migrants at the Us-Mexico Border January 2019” (American Friends Service Committee, January 31, 2019).

This report provides an account from the perspective of migrants that were present and affected by the events that unfolded on the evening of December 31, 2018 and the early morning hours of January 1, 2019 at the Tijuana-San Diego border, near Playas de Tijuana, where Border Patrol Agents fired chemical agents at migrants

• Marcela Turati, “Laboratorio Contra el Olvido” (Proceso (Mexico), January 31, 2019).

Cada dos días en el país se localiza en promedio una fosa clandestina con restos humanos. Aunque lenta por su complejidad, esta labor va dando resultados que brinda algo de alivio a los familiares de personas desaparecidas

• Andrea Guerrero, “Asylum Seekers Are Being Set Up to Fail — and the Consequences Could Be Deadly” (Alliance San Diego, January 31, 2019).

Under the protocol, asylum seekers have to meet this burden alone, upon entry, without the benefit of legal counsel, and without the due process protections that come with court proceedings

• Kate Linthicum, “Meth and Murder: A New Kind of Drug War Has Made Tijuana One of the Deadliest Cities on Earth” (The Los Angeles Times, January 31, 2019).

In the past, the body count was driven by powerful drug cartels battling over lucrative trafficking routes to the United States. Now the main cause is competition in a growing local drug trade, with low-level dealers sometimes dying over the right to sell drugs on a single street corner

Venezuela

• “Venezuela’s Failed Revolution May Itself Be Overthrown” (The Economist (Uk), January 31, 2019).

As Venezuelans turned against him, his power came to depend on a patronage network of enchufados, or “plugged-in people”, especially in the security forces. He has appointed over 2,000 officers to the rank of general or equivalent

• Amanda Taub, Max Fisher, “Venezuela’s ‘Legitimacy’ Dispute Hides a Deeper Conflict” (The New York Times, January 31, 2019).

The protesters who filled the streets of Caracas last week, and Mr. Guaidó, are portraying Mr. Maduro as illegitimate. But for now, Mr. Guaidó has not convinced enough of the power brokers that he is a credible alternative

• “Ue Anuncia un Grupo de Contacto Con America Latina para la Crisis Venezuela” (EFE, El Nuevo Herald, January 31, 2019).

“El grupo ayudará a construir confianza y crear las condiciones necesarias para un proceso creíble en línea de la Constitución de Venezuela, con el objetivo de que los venezolanos determinen su propio futuro con nuevas elecciones, con todas las garantías”