(Even more here)

October 15, 2019

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Catherine E. Shoichet, “Why One Area Along the Us-Mexico Border Saw Drownings Triple and Water Rescues Skyrocket More Than 1000%” (CNN, October 15, 2019).

Water-related deaths tripled in the Border Patrol’s Del Rio sector from fiscal year 2018 to fiscal year 2019, according to data CNN obtained from US Customs and Border Protection

Bolivia

• Ben Raderstorf, Michael J. Camilleri, “How Evo Morales Running Again — and Again — Undermines Bolivia’s Democracy” (Inter-American Dialogue, The Washington Post, October 15, 2019).

For Bolivians, the stakes go far beyond control of the presidency. Morales has shown a growing willingness to use state institutions and resources to secure his hold in power

Colombia

• Juanita Velez, Jineth Prieto, Laura Soto, “Duque Tendra Gobernadores en Contra de Fumigar Donde Hay Mas Coca” (La Silla Vacia (Colombia), October 15, 2019).

En Nariño, Norte de Santander y Putumayo, que a diciembre pasado sumaban el 61 por ciento de las hectáreas (según cifras de la Unodc), todos los candidatos a gobernaciones están en contra de la fumigación

• “Homicidios de Ex-Farc de Este Ano Podrian Superar los del 2018: Onu” (El Tiempo (Colombia), October 15, 2019).

Así quedó en evidencia en el informe trimestral presentado la semana pasada ante el Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU

Ecuador

• Kejal Vyas, Daniela Blandon Ramirez, “Ecuador Begins Cleanup After Nearly Two Weeks of Deadly Protests” (The Wall Street Journal, October 15, 2019).

A veneer of normality returned to this small Andean nation a day after the government reversed economic austerity measures that unleashed nearly two weeks of deadly protests

• Jose Maria Leon Cabrera, Clifford Krauss, “Deal Struck in Ecuador to Cancel Austerity Package and End Protests” (The New York Times, October 15, 2019).

He was forced to balance demands of the Indigenous protesters, whose opposition has contributed to the downfall of three modern presidents, and those imposed by the International Monetary Fund as a condition for a $4.2 billion loan

Guatemala

• Emily Green, “Guatemala Shut Down Its Anti-Corruption Commission. Now Its People Worry About Impunity.” (The World, Public Radio International, October 15, 2019).

Corruption is the backdrop of a high-stakes drama that has been unfolding over the last year in Guatemala

Mexico

• Alberto Pradilla, “Migracion Detiene y Encierra a Solicitantes de Refugio Pese a Tener Papeles” (Animal Politico (Mexico), October 15, 2019).

Durante el operativo del sábado en Chiapas contra la caravana de africanos, caribeños y centroamericanos, agentes del INM arrestaron a peticionarios de asilo que niegan estar presentes en la marcha

• Patrick J. Mcdonnell, “Buses to Nowhere: Mexico Transports Migrants With U.S. Court Dates to Its Far South” (The Los Angeles Times, October 15, 2019).

The bus riders had made a long and perilous overland trek north to the Rio Grande only to be dispatched back south to Mexico’s border with Central America

• Elisabeth Malkin, “14 Police Officers Killed in an Ambush in Mexico” (The New York Times, October 15, 2019).

The attack, in a part of the state of Michoacán that drug gangs have battled over for decades, bore the hallmarks of the hyper-violent New Generation Jalisco Cartel