(Even more here)

January 8, 2020

Bolivia

• Joshua Goodman, “Trump Sending Aid Mission to Bolivia Ahead of Election” (Associated Press, Associated Press, January 8, 2020).

The Trump administration is sending an assessment team to Bolivia this week to discuss possible resumption of foreign aid to the Andean nation following the ouster of leftist leader Evo Morales

Colombia

• Vanda Felbab-Brown, “Detoxifying Colombia’s Drug Policy” (The Brookings Institution, January 8, 2020).

A long-term comprehensive effort to promote alternative livelihoods for coca growers — integrated into rural development and supported by well-designed interdiction efforts, with eradication delayed until these alternative livelihoods are generating sustainable income — has the best prospects

• Mariano Aguirre, “In Colombia the State Is Always Late” (OpenDemocracy (UK), January 8, 2020).

Violence, corruption and connivance in Colombia do not resemble the layers of an onion; instead, they are intricate mechanisms that bear more resemblance to a human brain

• Ricardo Monsalve Gaviria, “Bojaya Tambien Requiere Limpieza de Explosivos” (El Colombiano (Medellin Colombia), January 8, 2020).

70 soldados llegaron a reforzar los centros poblados del municipio de Bojayá

• “‘Ha Habido una Intervencion Seria del Gobierno en Bojaya’” (El Tiempo (Colombia), January 8, 2020).

El comisionado de Paz, Miguel Ceballos, habla de la situación del municipio chocoano

Mexico

• Sandra Dibble, “Already a Crisis in the U.S., Fentanyl Is Now Seeping Into Tijuana’s Drug Supply” (The Los Angeles Times, January 8, 2020).

The effort to document fentanyl use in Tijuana came after researchers began noting a spike in overdoses among intravenous drug users on Mexico’s northern border

• Julio-Cesar Chavez, “Mexican Migrants Removed From Border Camp After Family Separation Threat” (Reuters, Reuters, January 8, 2020).

“Tomorrow, we’ll be here and if you don’t obey, you’ll be arrested and your children will be taken to family services”

Guatemala, Mexico

• Julio-Cesar Chavez, Lizbeth Diaz, “‘Into the Lion’s Den’: Mexican Asylum Seekers Fear Deportation to Guatemala” (Reuters, Reuters, January 8, 2020).

Mexicans seeking refuge in the United States to escape violence and lawlessness in their homeland fear worse dangers if they are sent to Guatemala under a new Trump administration scheme

Venezuela

• Roison Figuera, “Maduro Uso a los Colectivos para Tratar de Frenar a Guaido en la An” (Tal Cual (Venezuela), January 8, 2020).

Los periodistas que lograron egresar del Palacio sufrían el asedio, las amenazas y la persecución de grupos oficialistas. Sí, la Guardia Nacional estaba ahí, en piquetes y con sus escudos pero no hicieron nada

• “Seizure of Parliament Plunges Venezuela Into Deeper Turmoil” (International Crisis Group, January 8, 2020).

An already long, damaging conflict could drag on if outside powers cannot persuade the government to reverse course

• Luz Mely Reyes, “El Caos en Venezuela Reclama una Ruta Consensuada de la Oposicion” (Efecto Cocuyo, The Washington Post, January 8, 2020).

Con suerte, los miembros del liderazgo opositor se darán cuenta de lo fácil que es despojarlos del último reducto de democracia que queda en Venezuela cuando están divididos, y puedan hacer un último esfuerzo para buscar una ruta consensuada