(Even more here)

February 5, 2019

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Jim Norman, “Solid Majority Still Opposes New Construction on Border Wall” (Gallup, February 5, 2019).

Since Trump’s election, the proportion of Americans wanting to increase immigration levels has grown — from 21% in June 2016 to a record-high 30% now

• Karoun Demirjian, “Congress Braces for Trump Diverting Military Construction Money to Build the Wall” (The Washington Post, February 5, 2019).

A number of Republican lawmakers are wary about that approach for various reasons, including the precedent that would be set for a future Democratic president and the possibility that they might have to vote on a disapproval resolution

• Charles Mcfarland, “Declaring a National Emergency to Fund Trump’s Border Wall May Be What Finally Kills the Project” (Owners’ Counsel of America, NBC News, February 5, 2019).

By proceeding under an emergency order, the president opens the door to public use and necessity challenges that would probably not be otherwise available to landowners

• Nick Phillips, “Despite Complaints, Soldiers Add More Wire to Nogales Border Fence” (Nogales International, February 5, 2019).

Amid calls from local officials to remove the existing concertina wire attached to the border fence, U.S. Army troops on Saturday installed new rows of wire

• Emily Cochrane, Glenn Thrush, “Trump’s Options for Wall Shrink as Republicans Balk at National Emergency Declaration” (The New York Times, February 5, 2019).

Mr. McConnell told Mr. Trump that he would have no choice but to schedule a floor vote on the measure within 15 days, and Republican aides have estimated that between three and 10 Republicans would side with the chamber’s Democrats against Mr. Trump

• Rafael Carranza, Rick Jervis, “Trump’s Immigration Policies Are Benefiting Smugglers and Violent Crime Groups in Mexico” (USA Today, February 5, 2019).

But in recent months, Trump administration policies have slowed the flow of asylum-seekers into the U.S., leaving many migrants stranded far from home, vulnerable to violence in dangerous border cities and unable to request asylum

• Philip Bump, “Trump Claims a Wall Is Needed to Stop Human Trafficking. Data Don’t Support His Claim.” (The Washington Post, February 5, 2019).

Some may have been, for example, friends or neighbors who were asked by families to bring children with them on the journey north to protect them from violence

• Jenna Krajeski, “The Hypocrisy of Trump’s Anti-Trafficking Argument for a Border Wall” (The New Yorker, February 5, 2019).

This mischaracterization is part of a cynical strategy that uses trafficking to bolster arguments for harsh immigration policies and also makes it more difficult for non-citizen victims to remain safely in the U.S.

• Elliot Spagat, “Us Sees Limitations on Reuniting Migrant Families” (Associated Press, February 5, 2019).

“The Trump administration’s response is a shocking concession that it can’t easily find thousands of children it ripped from parents, and doesn’t even think it’s worth the time to locate each of them”

Brazil

• “Iachr Expresses Deep Concern Over Alarming Prevalence of Gender-Based Killings of Women in Brazil” (Inter-American Human Rights Commission, Organization of American States, February 5, 2019).

According to publicly available information, 126 gender-based murders of women and 67 attempts have been reported so far in 2019

Colombia

• “Tras la Muerte de Cadete y Guacho, Asi Va la Guerra Contra las Disidencias de las Farc” (Semana (Colombia), February 5, 2019).

Ya son al menos cinco los disidentes caídos de la plana mayor. Hay tres a la espera de la extradición y aún están activos Gentil Duarte, el máximo jefe, y Jhon 40, el del poder financiero

• “Jep Da 20 Dias de Prorroga para Que ee.uu. Envie Pruebas Contra Jesus Santrich” (Semana (Colombia), February 5, 2019).

Cinco días después del escándalo que estalló por cuenta del entorpecedor proceso que llevó a cabo el gobierno para entregar la solicitud al Departamento de Justicia en Washington, la Sección de Revisión, con cuatro votos a favor y uno en contra, acordó ampliar el plazo

Colombia, Venezuela

• “Canciller Colombiano se Reune Con Cupula de Ee. Uu.” (El Tiempo (Colombia), February 5, 2019).

También estará sobre la mesa la agenda de la visita del presidente Iván Duque a Washington la semana del 13 de febrero para hablar con su par estadounidense, Donald Trump, sobre la situación de Venezuela

Mexico

• “Instalan en Tijuana un Operativo Policiaco-Militar” (La Jornada (Mexico), February 5, 2019).

Militares y agentes municipales colocaron retenes en diferentes puntos de la ciudad para hacer revisiones aleatorias en automóviles. También hicieron rondines en las zonas más conflictivas

Mexico, Western Hemisphere Regional

• Don Winslow, “The Dirty Secret of el Chapo’s Downfall” (Vanity Fair, February 5, 2019).

The “revelations” that these witnesses have brought forward aren’t revelatory—they merely confirm what we’ve always known. I’ve been writing about the Mexican drug world for two decades, and I’ve heard credible accounts of these bribes and payoffs continually from day one

Mexico

• Lizbeth Diaz, “Mexico to Try New Tactics in Search for Those Missing in Drug War” (Reuters, Reuters, February 5, 2019).

The government estimates more than 40,000 people have gone missing in Mexico, and there are about 26,000 unidentified bodies in the forensic system

• Alejandra Guillen, Diego Petersen, “El Regreso del Infierno Mexicano: Los Desaparecidos Que Estan Vivos” (El Pais (Spain), February 5, 2019).

El cartel les ofreció un trabajo con engaños, pero los esclavizó y los retiene a la fuerza. Hoy forman parte de los ejércitos del crimen organizado. Están vivos, pero están desaparecidos

• Nidia Bautista, “Surviving One of Mexico’s Deadliest Places for Women” (Latino USA, NACLA, National Public Radio, February 5, 2019).

At one point in Ecatepec, a city of two million people, ten times more women had been murdered than in Ciudad Juárez, the city in northern Mexico once considered the deadliest city in the world

• Christina Maxouris, “2,000 Migrants Expected to Arrive in Mexican Border Town Neighboring Eagle Pass, Texas” (CNN, February 5, 2019).

The migrants — of whom about 1,300 are from Honduras, 200 are from Guatemala and 400-500 are from El Salvador — were being transported by state authorities from Saltillo, Mexico to Piedras Negras

Venezuela

• “Venezuela’s Guaido Wants China to See Maduro Is Bad for Business” (Bloomberg, February 5, 2019).

Beijing has invested more than $62 billion in Venezuela, mostly through loans, since 2007. Last year, it imported 3.6 percent of its oil supply from the country, down from just over 5 percent in 2017

• “Incorporar Milicianos a la Gnb Busca Incrementar Personal para Reprimir, Dice San Miguel” (Efecto Cocuyo (Venezuela), February 5, 2019).

“En enero circuló una disposición de la GNB que señalaba a 3 mil personas sujetas a deserción. Es revelador que están perdiendo pie de fuerza para la represión, y desesperadamente está inventando y llamando a la Milicia”

• “Exigencias del Grupo de Lima Dan Ganas de “Vomitar” y “Reir”: Maduro” (Agence France Presse, El Colombiano (Medellin Colombia), February 5, 2019).

En una declaración suscrita por 11 de sus 14 integrantes, el Grupo de Lima abogó por un cambio de gobierno en Venezuela, “sin uso de la fuerza”, y llamó a los militares a desconocer a Maduro y reconocer a Guaidó

• Bradley Olson, Kejal Vyas, “Venezuela Struggles to Pump, Ship Oil After U.S. Sanctions” (The Wall Street Journal, February 5, 2019).

“This is an absolute disaster,” said Luis Hernández, an oil union leader. “There’s almost no way to move the oil”