(Even more here)

February 12, 2020

Brazil

• Robert Muggah, Pedro Augusto Pereira, “Brazil’s Risky Bet on Tech to Fight Crime” (Igarape Institute, Americas Quarterly, February 12, 2020).

From drones to facial recognition, police across the region are adopting digital tools. But some worry about abuse

Colombia

• Olga Patricia Rendon M., “Ninos Siguen Llegando a las Filas de los Ilegales” (El Colombiano (Medellin Colombia), February 12, 2020).

De acuerdo con el Observatorio de Niñez y Conflicto Armado (ONCA), en el primer semestre de 2019 se registraron 33 eventos de reclutamiento de niños y adolescentes por grupos posdesmovilización

• “General (R) Mario Montoya Rinde Version Ante la Jep-Mario-Montoya-rinde-versi%C3%B3n-ante-la-JEP.aspx)” (Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz (Colombia), February 12, 2020).

La versión, que se llevará acabo entre el 12 y el 14 de febrero, será reservada y contará con la participación y presencia de 41 víctimas y 15 representantes judiciales

• Nelson Ricardo Matta Colorado, “Agamenon: Deudas y Aciertos en Lucha Contra el “Clan”” (El Colombiano (Medellin Colombia), February 12, 2020).

EL COLOMBIANO analiza los cinco logros y los cinco asuntos pendientes de la Operación Agamenón, el esfuerzo institucional más grande contra el crimen organizado en los últimos tiempos

• The Costs of Restarting Aerial Coca Spraying in Colombia, “The Costs of Restarting Aerial Coca Spraying in Colombia” (Adam Isacson, Washington Office on Latin America, February 12, 2020).

Instead of aerial spraying, a better mix of policies would rely on building state presence, promoting equitable economic development that allows small farmers to develop other sources of income, and putting more effort into drug interdiction and curbing illicit financial flows

El Salvador, Western Hemisphere Regional

• Anna-Catherine Brigida, Mary Beth Sheridan, “Showdown in el Salvador Illustrates Growing Role of Military in Latin American Democracies” (The Washington Post, February 12, 2020).

In a region that long suffered from military dictatorships, the assertiveness by the armed forces is raising fears that democracy is taking a step backward

El Salvador

• Roberto Valencia, “Las Consecuencias del Falso Golpe de Estado en el Salvador” (The Washington Post, February 12, 2020).

Tanto la Fuerza Armada como la Policía Nacional Civil (PNC) —ambas instituciones claves en un país que apenas en 1992 estaba en guerra civil— se prestaron a seguir el juego al presidente de turno, sentando un peligroso precedente

• “El Salvador Parliament Denounces ‘Attempted Coup’” (BBC (UK), February 12, 2020).

Mr Bukele has dismissed the criticism saying that “if I was a dictator, I would have taken control of everything”

• Gerson Chavez, “Director de la Pnc a Diputado: “Necesitamos la Llave del Salon Azul, de Lo Contrario Vamos a Tumbar las Puertas”” (El Mundo (El Salvador), February 12, 2020).

Además de diputado y directivo de la Asamblea Legislativa, Reynaldo López Cardoza es el encargado de seguridad del recinto que ocupa este poder del Estado. En esta entrevista revela cómo perdió el control de la seguridad durante siete horas

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico

• “No Way Out: Msf Report Shows Damaging Health Impacts of Us-Mexico Migration Policies” (Doctors Without Borders, February 12, 2020).

The high levels of violence in the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA) is comparable to that in war zones where MSF has been working for decades—and is a major factor fueling migration north to Mexico and the US

Mexico

• Ed Vulliamy, “‘Why Did She Have to Die?’ Mexico’s War on Women Claims Young Artist” (The Guardian (Uk), February 12, 2020).

“In a machista city, she was occupying the streets with art, she was riding her bicycle home alone at night, she was subversive of patriarchal culture. She joined us to fight patriarchal violence in our own ways, her own way”

• “Enfrentamiento Entre Policias y Manifestantes en Veracruz Deja 2 Oficiales Heridos y 12 Detenidos” (SinEmbargo (Mexico), February 12, 2020).

Alrededor de 200 habitantes de diversos municipios veracruzanos realizaron una protesta frente a cuarteles de la Guardia Civil, Policía Federal y la Guardia Nacional en reclamo por presuntos abusos de autoridad cometidos por uniformados

• Keegan Hamilton, “El Chapo’s Conviction Changed Everything and Nothing About the War on Drugs” (VICE, February 12, 2020).

Ray Donovan, who oversaw the hunt for Chapo as the former chief of the DEA’s Special Operations Division, told me the botched Ovidio arrest is “indicative of the fact that the Sinaloa cartel is still there

Venezuela

• Ryan Dube, Kejal Vyas, “Opposition Leader Juan Guaido Returns to Venezuela” (The Wall Street Journal, February 12, 2020).

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó returned to Caracas Tuesday after he slipped out of the country last month in defiance of a travel ban

• Manuel Rueda, “Venezuelan Military Defectors Struggle to Get by While Maduro Holds Onto Power” (The World, Public Radio International, February 12, 2020).

Among those affected are an estimated 1,400 soldiers who defected from Venezuela’s military last year. Most now stay in Colombia, where they struggle to make a living