(Even more here)

September 25, 2019

Western Hemisphere Regional

• “Homeland Security Subcommittee Approves fy2020 Appropriations Bill” (U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, September 25, 2019).

The FY2020 Homeland Security appropriations bill fully funds the President’s request for the border wall while also providing Immigration and Customs Enforcement with the detention capacity needed to enforce immigration laws

• Richard Gonzales, “Trump Administration to End ‘Catch and Release’ Immigration Policy, Says Dhs Chief” (National Public Radio, September 25, 2019).

“If they do claim fear, they will generally be returned to Mexico under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP)”

• “Acting Secretary Mcaleenan’s Prepared Remarks to the Council of Foreign Relations” (Department of Homeland Security, September 25, 2019).

With some humanitarian and medical exceptions, DHS will no longer be releasing family units from Border Patrol Stations into the interior

Brazil

• Edmund Ruge, “Rio Mourns Death of 8-Year-Old Agatha, Protests State’s Bloody Security Policy” (RioOnWatch (Rio de Janeiro Brazil), September 25, 2019).

According to the van’s driver and multiple witnesses, a police officer fired at a passing motorcycle, piercing the van’s exterior and striking Felix in the back

• Jon Lee Anderson, “At the u.n., Jair Bolsonaro Presents a Surreal Defense of His Amazon Policies” (The New Yorker, September 25, 2019).

Bolsonaro asserted that the forests were “practically untouched,” and blamed a “lying and sensationalist media” for propagating fake news about their destruction

Colombia

• “Excombatientes de Auc y Farc y un Militar (R) Reconocen Hechos de Desaparicion Ante la Comision” (Comision de la Verdad (Colombia), September 25, 2019).

Las personas que realizaron este reconocimiento a la Comisión son el mayor del Ejército Gustavo Enrique Soto; José Éver Veloza, excomandante de las AUC; y José Benito Ramírez, quien en la guerra fue conocido ‘Fabián Ramírez’

Colombia, Venezuela

• Anthony Faiola, “Ex-Intelligence Chief Says He Told Maduro of Colombian Guerrilla Camps in Venezuela” (The Washington Post, September 25, 2019).

The classified report — a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post — offers new allegations about the scope of Maduro’s personal knowledge of the guerrillas’ presence and activities

• Olga Patricia Rendon M., Javier AlexÁnder MacÍas, “Esta Es la Relacion Entre Maduro, Eln y las Disidencias de las Farc” (El Colombiano (Medellin Colombia), September 25, 2019).

Una vez más el Gobierno colombiano aportará pruebas en contra del régimen chavista que mantiene una relación de beneficio mutuo con el Eln y las disidencias de las Farc

• Javier AlexÁnder MacÍas, “Grannobles Trabaja Ahora Con Marquez y Santrich” (El Colombiano (Medellin Colombia), September 25, 2019).

Según el documento, el objetivo de la reunión habría sido discutir “la propuesta de crear un bloque político de la izquierda Latinoamericana, y el apoyo de movimiento de tropas y entrenamiento a milicias (Eln y Gao-re)”

• Tim Padgett, “South American Saber-Rattling: Why a ‘Skeleton’ Venezuela Is Threatening Colombia” (WLRN, September 25, 2019).

Are Venezuela and Colombia headed for war? Believe it or not, that’s the big worry in South America right now

El Salvador

• Kirk Semple, “Migration Likely to Top Agenda When Trump Meets el Salvador’s Bukele” (The New York Times, September 25, 2019).

The underpinnings of the bilateral relationship — including trade and cooperation in the fight against transnational crime — have not significantly changed

Guatemala

• Daniel Gonzalez, “A Dangerous Red Flower Is Driving Record Numbers of Migrants to Flee Guatemala” (USA Today, September 25, 2019).

Poor Guatemalan farmers turned to heroin poppies. When the military destroyed their crops, many had only one other choice: Flee to the U.S.

Mexico

• Maureen Meyer, Gina Hinojosa, “Five Years on, Still No Justice for Mexico’s 43 Disappeared Ayotzinapa Students” (Washington Office on Latin America, September 25, 2019).

As the one-year anniversary of López Obrador’s presidency approaches, expectations are high that his government will do what his predecessors have not: provide answers to the tens of thousands of families of the disappeared

Central America Regional, Mexico

• Rick Jervis, Daniel Borunda, Vicky Camarillo, Rafael Carranza, Daniel Connolly, Hannah Gaber, Diana Garcia, Julia Gavarrete, Alan Gomez, Daniel Gonzalez, Jack Gruber, Harrison Hill, Sandy Hooper, Bart Jansen, Mark Lambie, Pamela Ren Larson, Sean Logan, Aaron Montes, Omar Ornelas, Nick Oza, Rebecca Plevin, Annie Rice, Joe Rondone, Courtney Sacco, Matt Sobocinski, Lauren Villagran, Jared Weber, “One Deadly Week Reveals Where the Immigration Crisis Begins — and Where It Ends” (USA Today, September 25, 2019).

In one week, thousands of migrants overwhelm the U.S. border. We reveal their dangerous journeys and the broken immigration system that awaits them

Venezuela

• “Why Environmental Security Is Paramount to Venezuela’s Future” (Venezuelan Politics and Human Rights, Washington Office on Latin America, September 25, 2019).

Resource conflicts and the management and protection of Venezuela’s natural heritage are not only important from a conservation angle—they are the key to achieving a sustainable political solution and unlocking Venezuela’s future

• “Putin Reconoce a «Todas las Autoridades Legitimas» Incluyendo la An” (Efecto Cocuyo (Venezuela), September 25, 2019).

El presidente de Rusia, Vladímir Putin, reiteró junto al gobernante venezolano Nicolás Maduro, su apoyo a «todas las autoridades legítimas» del país y expresó su respaldo al diálogo entre el chavismo y 5 partidos minoritarios

• Megan Janetsky, “More Vulnerable Wave of Migrants Flees Venezuela Amid Sanctions, While Trump Pledges U.S. Support at u.n.” (USA Today, September 25, 2019).

O’Brien’s appointment may be an indicator that the administration is trying to not “rock the boat” as it enters an election year and instead tout the sanctions and previous saber-rattling

• Joshua Goodman, “Trump Administration to Triple Democracy Aid to Venezuela” (Associated Press, Associated Press, September 25, 2019).

The funding was mostly repurposed from aid originally earmarked for Honduras and Guatemala that President Donald Trump cut last year