(Even more here)

May 5, 2017

Argentina

• Uki Goñi, “Fury in Argentina Over Ruling That Could See Human Rights Abusers Walk Free” (The Guardian (Uk), May 5, 2017).

Carlotto, perhaps Argentina’s most-respected human rights activist, called the supreme court’s decision “abominable”

Brazil

• Andrea Barretto, “Brazilian Army Increases Presence on Amazon Borders” (Revista Dialogo (U.S. Southern Command), May 5, 2017).

With 984 service members spread over nearly 1,920 kilometers of Brazil’s border with Venezuela and Guyana, Operation Curaretinga keeps track of a series of actions taken by the Amazon Military Command

• Ana Carolina Torres, Ricardo Rigel, “Operacao Do Bope No Complexo Do Alemao Deixa Pelo Menos Cinco Mortos” (O Globo (Brazil), May 5, 2017).

Pelo menos cinco pessoas morreram durante a operação do Batalhão de Operações Especiais (Bope) no Complexo do Alemão, na Zona Norte do Rio, que começou no início da manhã desta quinta-feira

Colombia

• David Gagne, “Dissident Farc Guerrillas Kidnap un Official in Colombia” (InsightCrime, May 5, 2017).

the recent kidnapping indicates that at least some breakaway FARC factions, the 1st Front chief among them, are intent on maintaining the guerrillas’ Marxist ideology and armed struggle

• Alba Tobella, “Rebel Kidnapping Mars un Security Council Visit to Colombia” (Associated Press, The Washington Post, May 5, 2017).

Rodrigo Pardo, the president’s top aide for post-conflict planning, said the captors are a unit of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia who refused to lay down their weapons

• “Presidente Trump Anuncia Visita del Presidente Santos a la Casa Blanca” (Presidencia de Colombia, May 5, 2017).

El primer encuentro del Presidente Santos con su homólogo estadounidense, que tomó posesión el pasado 20 de enero, será el próximo día 18

Cuba, Venezuela

• Marc Frank, “Russia Resumes Oil Shipments to Cuba, Helps Fill Venezuelan Breach” (Reuters **, May 5, 2017).

Russia has begun shipping large quantities of oil to Cuba for the first time this century, sources said, as supplies to the island from crisis-wracked Venezuela have dwindled

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras

• “Northern Triangle Security and Economic Opportunity Task Force” (Atlantic Council, May 5, 2017).

The Atlantic Council’s Northern Triangle Security and Economic Opportunity Task Force has studied the issue closely and is presenting this blueprint for Congress

Mexico

• Duncan Tucker, “Inside the Game of Thrones-Style War to Replace el Chapo in the Sinaloa Cartel” (VICE, May 5, 2017).

Defense Secretary Salvador Cienfuegos struck a more cautious tone, warning that rising violence in Sinaloa state “could be sustained by the power struggle” to come

• Mark Stevenson, “10 Dead in Clash Between Mexico Troops, Alleged Fuel Thieves” (Associated Press, The Washington Post, May 5, 2017).

Some townspeople in Puebla and other states have largely based their local economy on fuel stolen from the pipelines, sometimes collecting gasoline and diesel in buckets when a tap leaks and gets out of control

• Jorge Carrillo Olea, “La Guerra Que Nos Desborda” (La Jornada (Mexico), May 5, 2017).

Cada día más y más el carácter del enfrentamiento al crimen se asemeja a una guerra como la de Somalia

• Jeremy Raff, “The Border Patrol’s Corruption Problem” (The Atlantic, May 5, 2017).

More than 140 Customs and Border Protection agents were arrested or convicted of corruption in recent years—and President Trump’s promise to hire 5,500 new agents could make the problem worse

• Manny Fernandez, “A Path to America, Marked by More and More Bodies” (The New York Times, May 5, 2017).

More than 200 other migrants just like him died, their names unknown. Their bodies are part of a border-crossers’ morgue at a university lab

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico

• Gabriel Stargardter, “U.S. Coaxes Mexico Into Trump Plan to Overhaul Central America” (Reuters **, May 5, 2017).

Kelly aims to retool the Obama-era alliance without a large increase in American funding by pressing Mexico to shoulder more responsibility for governance and security in Central America

Venezuela

• Alexandra Ulmer, Diego Ore, “Venezuela Protests Rage, Jailed Lopez Supporters Stage Vigil” (Reuters **, May 5, 2017).

Lopez’s wife Lilian Tintori, who says she has not been allowed to see him in over a month, rejected the video as “false” and spent the night outside the jail

• “The Armed Forces Will Decide the Fate of Venezuela’s Regime” (The Economist (Uk), May 5, 2017).

His future will be decided by the armed forces, not directly by the people. If they withdraw support from his beleaguered regime, change will come soon

• “Latin American Nations Denounce Venezuela Crackdown” (Al Jazzeera, May 5, 2017).

“We condemn the excessive use of force by Venezuelan authorities against civilians who are protesting government measures that affect democratic stability and cause the loss of human life,” the countries said