(Even more here)

March 25, 2020

Western Hemisphere Regional

• “Americas at a Crossroad: Human Rights Response to Covid-19” (Amnesty International, March 25, 2020).

Amnesty International believes that authorities must show leadership by prioritizing human rights and by refraining from abusing their power in the middle of this emergency. Here is a preliminary list of “Do’s” and “Don’ts”

Argentina

• Lucia Cholakian Herrera, “Decades After Argentina’s Dictatorship, the Abuelas Continue Reuniting Families” (NACLA, March 25, 2020).

The struggle to hold the military to account for crimes against humanity are a part of Argentinian identity. A group of grandmothers leads the story of that struggle

Brazil

• Lola Ferreira, “‘We’re Excluded’: Coronavirus Prevention Tips ‘Forget’ Favelas Lacking Basic Sanitation” (RioOnWatch (Rio de Janeiro Brazil), March 25, 2020).

Santiago says that he does whatever he can to prevent infection, but his family is exposed to vectors every day, and because they don’t have the necessary access to water, he is very afraid

• Tom Phillips, “Quarantined Brazilians Protest Against Bolsonaro From Windows and Balconies: ‘Get Out!’” (The Guardian, March 25, 2020).

The immediate trigger for the so-called panelaço protests has been Bolsonaro’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, which he has repeatedly dismissed as hysteria, fantasy and, a media “trick”

• Robson Bonin, “Em Video, Comandante Do Exercito Implode Discurso Negligente de Bolsonaro” (Veja (Brazil), March 25, 2020).

Guerra ao coronavírus é ‘a missão mais importante de nossa geração’, diz Pujol; fala foi às redes minutos antes da fala de Bolsonaro

Colombia

• Taran Volckhausen, “National Parks Pay the Price as Land Conflicts Intensify in Colombia” (Mongabay, March 25, 2020).

Conservationists and scientists are concerned that Macarena’s exceptional biodiversity may fall victim to economic interests

• Sergio Gomez Maseri, “Canciller Pide a Pacho Santos Permanecer en Embajada de Ee. Uu.” (El Tiempo (Colombia), March 25, 2020).

Santos había renunciado a su puesto el pasado 17 de enero

• Kyle Rempfer, “Colombians Helped This Us Task Force Get Home After Global Pandemic Nixed Air Travel” (Military Times, March 25, 2020).

A joint team of U.S. service members providing medical aid and training in the remote La Guajira region of Colombia found their options to leave the country dwindle in mid-March

El Salvador

• Roberto Valencia, “La ‘Estrategia Bukele’ Contra el Coronavirus en el Salvador: Zanahorias, Palos y Terror” (The Washington Post, March 25, 2020).

El presidente de El Salvador ha tenido una estrategia que parece eficaz, aunque criticada, ante la pandemia

El Salvador, Honduras

• Christine Murray, “Central Americans Forced Out of Homes by Urban Gangs” (Reuters, March 25, 2020).

Although gangs operate in rural areas, the violence is worst in marginalized, urban areas that have been poorly planned

Mexico

• “Mexico Suspends Refugee Requests as Coronavirus Cases Climb to 405” (Reuters, The New York Times, March 25, 2020).

Migration authorities will resume processing applications on April 20, Mexico’s refugee agency COMAR said

• Hernan Gomez Bruera, “The Politics of Amlo’s Coronavirus Approach” (Americas Quarterly, March 25, 2020).

Despite criticism that he is responding to the crisis too slowly, the president has targeted his response to the millions of Mexicans who live day-by-day, many in informal or precarious working conditions

• David Agren, “Coronavirus Advice From Mexico’s President: ‘Live Life as Usual’” (The Guardian, March 25, 2020).

López Obrador, who most know as Amlo, has responded to the coronavirus crisis with nonchalance – never missing an opportunity to contradict the advice of public health officials or paint the pandemic as a plot

• Kate Linthicum, “Mexico’s Coronavirus Fight Has Just Begun. Doctors Say They’re Already Running Out of Masks” (The Los Angeles Times, March 25, 2020).

Medical staff held strikes and walkouts across the country this week, warning that a lack of resources increases the risk

U.S.-Mexico Border

• Molly o’toole, “Us Troops Are Still at the Southern Border, Despite Waning Migration and Covid-19 Restrictions” (Los Angeles Times, Task & Purpose, March 25, 2020).

US troops are still at the southern border, despite waning migration and COVID-19 restrictions

• Ryan Abman, Hisham Foad, “Border Walls and Crime: Evidence From the Secure Fence Act” (The Cato Institute, March 25, 2020).

These findings indicate no systematic relationship between border wall construction and crime rates

• Wendy Fry, “In San Diego, More Than 1,000 U.S. Children Separated From Asylum-Seeking Parents Since 2014” (The San Diego Union-Tribune, March 25, 2020).

The children who have been separated include newborns who’ve been taken from their migrant mothers shortly after being born in U.S. hospitals

• Geneva Sands, “Illegal Border Crossings and Lawful Travel Drop Amid Coronavirus Restrictions” (CNN, March 25, 2020).

The “vast majority” — 70 to 80% — of migrants apprehended by US Border Patrol are being “immediately returned” to Mexico, said the DHS official

• Adam Isacson, Maureen Meyer, Elyssa Pachico, “Key Questions About How the U.S.-Mexico Border Shutdown Will Impact Vulnerable Asylum Seekers and Migrants” (Washington Office on Latin America, March 25, 2020).

Those requesting protection at official ports of entry (including those who, due to policies like “metering,” have been waiting for months) will be turned away

Venezuela

• Tim Padgett, “In Crises Like Covid-19, Should U.S. Ease Sanctions on Countries Like Venezuela?” (WLRN, March 25, 2020).

“I want to see Maduro go, I think that Maduro is a dictator. But that doesn’t mean that the only solution is to starve Venezuelans to death”“