(Even more here)

March 13, 2020

Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru

• “Investing in Amazon Crude” (Amazon Watch, March 13, 2020).

This report outlines in detail the ways that five of the world’s most powerful financial institutions are actively contributing to climate change by providing debt and equity financing for crude oil extraction projects in the Amazon

Brazil

• Gabriel Stargardter, “Brazil’s Gangs Emerge as Major Cocaine Exporters, Flooding Europe With White Powder” (Reuters, Reuters, March 13, 2020).

Local syndicates have infiltrated Brazil’s ports, authorities said, sending record amounts of coke on container ships bound for Europe

Central America Regional

• Jeff Ernst, ““En Centroamerica, Cuando al Mundo Le Va Mal, a Nosotros Nos Va Peor”: Coronavirus y Recesion Amenazan la Region” (Univision, March 13, 2020).

La región está mal preparada para luchar contra una epidemia de salud y una recesión económica al mismo tiempo

Chile

• Ariel Dorfman, “Chile: Notes From a Revolt” (The New York Review of Books, March 13, 2020).

Behind these critiques of the status quo something more fundamental was brewing: the need to question and replace the neoliberal economic paradigm

Colombia

• Juan Pablo Perez B, Juanita León, “El Desorden del Ejercito se Cuenta en Escandalos” (La Silla Vacia (Colombia), March 13, 2020).

En lo que va del 2020 este desorden interno se ha manifestado en estos siete nuevos escándalos

• Juanita Velez, “Mientras Uribe Quiere Tumbar la Jep, la Farc Redobla Compromisos Con el Acuerdo” (La Silla Vacia (Colombia), March 13, 2020).

Los miembros del antiguo Secretariado que está compareciendo ante la JEP tomaron la decisión de hacer pública su versión colectiva completa sobre el secuestro contemplado en el caso de “retenciones ilegales”

El Salvador

• Nelson Rauda Zablah, “The U.S. Will Continue Sending Deportees to el Salvador Despite the Country’s Coronavirus Quarantine” (El Faro (El Salvador), March 13, 2020).

The Trump administration is also awaiting, “literally any day,” for El Salvador to begin receiving asylum seekers who the United States turns away, and has determined that the country is ready

Guatemala

• Jo-Marie Burt, Paulo Estrada, “Genocide Evidentiary Hearings Commence, Prosecution Outlines Charges Against Senior Military Officials” (International Justice Monitor, Open Society Foundations, March 13, 2020).

Judge Miguel Ángel Gálvez has rejected a defense motion seeking his removal from the Maya Ixil genocide case

• Brent Mcdonald, Ora Dekornfeld, Rodrigo Hernandez, “What Happens When the U.S. Outsources Asylum?” (The New York Times, March 13, 2020).

Instead of a court hearing, the Trump administration is giving Central Americans a chance to seek asylum — in Guatemala

Honduras

• Jennifer Ávila, “Honduras: Un Estado Democratico de Proteccion Criminal” (Contra Corriente, March 13, 2020).

El tráfico de drogas se estabilizó y el gobernante superó la crisis. La democracia, en cambio, no garantiza que los hondureños se queden en el país

• Jeff Ernst, “Us Migrant Deportations Risk Spreading Coronavirus to Central America” (The Guardian, March 13, 2020).

Concerns are growing that the deportation of migrants from the US and Mexico could accelerate the spread of coronavirus in Central America, after authorities in Honduras suspended repatriation flights and confirmed the first two cases

Mexico

• Raul Benitez Manaut, “El Militarismo Mexicano en el Contexto Latinoamericano: ¿Es el Crimen Organizado el Responsable?” (Justicia Transicional MX, Animal Politico (Mexico), March 13, 2020).

La GN, al provenir sus efectivos de las fuerzas armadas en su gran mayoría, además del equipo y el presupuesto para salarios, crea en realidad una dualidad de mando, que favorece a los militares

• Viridiana Rios, “Mexico Reduce su Corrupcion, por las Razones Equivocadas” (El Pais (Spain), March 13, 2020).

El país redujo sus índices de corrupción por una variable que ha pasado desapercibida: la implementación de una feroz política de austeridad

• Ricardo Ravelo, “Nemesio Oseguera, “el Chapo” de la 4t” (SinEmbargo (Mexico), March 13, 2020).

De acuerdo con la radiografía de la DEA, el Cártel de Jalisco maneja en México grandes laboratorios para elaborar drogas de diseño

U.S.-Mexico Border

• Lizbeth Diaz, “Mexicans Wonder if Trump’s Wall Could Stop Coronavirus Spreading South” (Reuters, Reuters, March 13, 2020).

In California alone 50 cases and four deaths have been confirmed. In Tijuana’s state of Baja California, no cases have been confirmed

• Alexandra Mendoza, “Six Lanes to Remain Closed at San Ysidro Port of Entry Until Further Notice” (The San Diego Union-Tribune, March 13, 2020).

The closures are not related to the coronavirus pandemic, a CBP spokesperson confirmed, but part of heightened security measures related to possible court-ordered changes to the “Remain in Mexico” program

• Nick Miroff, “Pregnant Woman Dies After Falling From Border Wall, a Sign of Migrants’ Desperation” (The Washington Post, March 13, 2020).

A year ago, during the height of the family migration surge, the couple probably would have tried to turn themselves in to seek asylum

Venezuela

• Fabiola Zerpa, Peter Millard, “Oil Price Plunge Plus Coronavirus Take Massive Toll on Venezuela” (Bloomberg, Yahoo, March 13, 2020).

Venezuelan oil has fallen from $48 to $24.25 a barrel, a victim of Russia’s battle with Saudi Arabia for oil dominance despite Moscow’s alliance with Caracas

• Joshua Goodman, Gisela Salomon, “Fleeing Maduro, Venezuelans Find Nightmare in Trump’s Jails” (Associated Press, Associated Press, March 13, 2020).

Most of them have been jailed for extended periods or sent back to Mexico to languish in dangerous border towns while awaiting their immigration cases in the U.S., despite proclamations from the Trump administration that it supports people escaping brutal conditions