(Even more here)

January 24, 2020

Western Hemisphere Regional

• “Cpi 2019: Americas” (Transparency International, January 24, 2020).

With an average score of 43 for the fourth consecutive year on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), the Americas region fails to make significant progress in the fight against corruption

• Michael Shifter, “The Rebellion Against the Elites in Latin America” (The New York Times, January 24, 2020).

Latin America is the second most unequal region in the world. The failure to address these problems — and to fulfill promises made — has caused governments to lose legitimacy in the eyes of their people

Colombia

• Sebastian Forero Rueda, ““Lideres de Sustitucion de Cultivos No Han Sido Asesinados”: Director del Programa de Sustitucion” (El Espectador (Colombia), January 24, 2020).

A pesar de que organizaciones campesinas han documentado el asesinato de 59 líderes cocaleros, el funcionario sostiene que no tienen registrado ningún caso

• “Tribunal de Bogota Ordena Medidas Especiales para Proteger a Lideres Sociales en Todo el Pais” (El Espectador (Colombia), January 24, 2020).

Los defensores de derechos humanos anunciaron que apelarán para que la Corte Suprema les dé soluciones de fondo

• Megan Janetsky, “Yesterday, He Sang for Guerrillas. Today, He’s One Town’s Mayor.” (The Christian Science Monitor, January 24, 2020).

Can the mayoral election of an ex-guerrilla combatant offer an example of how to move ahead with peace, when Colombia’s decades of conflict are still so unresolved?

Guatemala, Mexico

• Jeff Abbott, “‘No Human Rights’: Mexico Blocks Migrant Caravan Headed North” (Al Jazeera, January 24, 2020).

Many cried as immigration officials and National Guard troops dragged them towards buses, which officials said were used to take the migrants and asylum seekers to an immigration detention centre

• Peter Orsi, “Mexican Guardsmen Break Up Migrant Caravan Along Highway” (Associated Press, Associated Press, January 24, 2020).

Mexico has cracked down on the large caravans seen previously following intense pressure from Washington last year

• Alberto Pradilla, “Guardia Nacional Disuelve Caravana Con Antimotines y Gas” (Animal Politico (Mexico), January 24, 2020).

Los agentes y elementos antimotines rodearon a los migrantes que transitaban por una carretera en Chiapas

Guatemala

• Sofia Menchu, “New Guatemalan Government Won’t Cancel U.S. Asylum Deal” (Reuters, Reuters, January 24, 2020).

Brolo said his government was in the process of determining if other nationalities will be included in the U.S. asylum deal

Honduras

• Melissa Vida, “The Real Reasons People Are Fleeing Honduras” (Global Voices, January 24, 2020).

Hondurans live in a narco-state whose leadership is supported by the United States and which suffers from widespread corruption, gender violence, gang control, land-grabs, and the effects of climate change

Mexico

• Kevin Sieff, “He Told Me of His Battle to Save the Monarch Butterfly From Illegal Loggers. Now He’s Missing.” (The Washington Post, January 24, 2020).

Investigators have not suggested any theories about what might have happened to him, but many in Rosario suspect that loggers kidnapped him

• “Libran Orden de Aprehension Contra el ‘Minilic’ por Asesinato de Javier Valdez” (Riodoce (Sinaloa Mexico), January 24, 2020).

Un Juez libró orden de aprehensión contra Dámaso López Serrano, el Minilic, como presunto autor intelectual del asesinato del periodista Javier Valdez Cárdenas

• Kate Linthicum, “Children as Young as 6 Are Taking Up Arms in Mexico” (The Los Angeles Times, January 24, 2020).

Images published by local journalists of the initiation ceremony — in which uniformed, rifle-wielding boys performed military-style maneuvers — drew outrage across Mexico

Peru

• Simeon Tegel, “Voters in Peru Have a Rare Opportunity to Replace a Corrupt Congress With Reformers. Will They?” (The Washington Post, January 24, 2020).

In a country where voting is compulsory, the most popular option by far is spoiling the ballot — defacing it, or leaving it blank — the preference of roughly 40 percent of votersÓ