(Even more here)

March 26, 2020

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Kevin Sieff, “Soldiers Around the World Get a New Mission: Enforcing Coronavirus Lockdowns” (The Washington Post, March 26, 2020).

In every region, under all kinds of political systems, governments are turning to increasingly stringent measures — and deploying their armed forces to back them up

Brazil

• Caio Barretto Briso, Tom Phillips, “Brazil Gangs Impose Strict Curfews to Slow Coronavirus Spread” (The Guardian, March 26, 2020).

A video apparently recorded in the City of God circulated on social media this week showing a loudspeaker broadcasting the alert: “Anyone found messing or walking around outside will be punished”

• Terrence Mccoy, Heloisa Traiano, “Brazila??S Bolsonaro, Channeling Trump, Dismisses Coronavirus Measures a?? Ita??S Just a??a Little Colda?? Brazil’s Bolsonaro, Channeling Trump, Dismisses Coronavirus Measures — It’s Just ‘a Little Cold’” (The Washington Post, March 26, 2020).

The leader of Latin Americaâ??s largest country wants people out of their homes and back to work

Brazil, Mexico

• Ernesto Londono, Manuela Andreoni, Leticia Casado, Azam Ahmed, “As Latin America Shuts Down to Fight Virus, Brazil and Mexico Are Holdouts” (The New York Times, March 26, 2020).

The leaders of the region’s two largest nations — Mexico and Brazil — have largely dismissed the dangers and have resisted calls for a lockdown

Brazil

• Ryan C. Berg, “Breaking Out: Brazil’s First Capital Command and the Emerging Prison-Based Threat” (American Enterprise Institute, March 26, 2020).

Law-and-order strategies that “stuff” Brazil’s crowded prisons with new inmates may actually exacerbate the problem, given that the PCC has effectively converted the country’s prisons into logistical hubs and training centers of illicit activity

Colombia

• “Gobierno Mantendra Pago a Familias Que Sustituyen Coca” (El Tiempo (Colombia), March 26, 2020).

El consejero para la Estabilización, Emilio Archila, resaltó la importancia del trabajo de los campesinos que han dado el paso a la legalidad y a través del Programa han sustituido 41 mil 370 hectáreas

Colombia, Venezuela

• “Colombia Militariza Paso Fronterizo Con Venezuela para Controlar las Trochas” (Efecto Cocuyo (Venezuela), March 26, 2020).

Con el operativo militar, que fue concertado con el Gobierno nacional, el alcalde espera enfrentar dos grandes crisis que vive el municipio: la situación sanitaria por el COVID-19 y el aumento de la migración venezolana

Ecuador

• Kimberley Brown, “Indigenous Race Into Ecuador’s Amazon to Escape Coronavirus” (Al Jazeera, March 26, 2020).

Vargas says communities are rightfully nervous, and recalls past illnesses like yellow fever, cholera and the H1N1 virus that caused similar alarm

El Salvador

• “Editorial: El Virus del Miedo” (El Faro (El Salvador), March 26, 2020).

El poder extraordinario que la Asamblea ha dado al Ejecutivo mediante los decretos de emergencia y excepción no son cheques en blanco, sino auxilios contemplados en la Constitución

Honduras

• “Joh: Busco Ponerme en Sus Zapatos… Es una Crisis Sin Precedentes” (El Heraldo (Honduras), March 26, 2020).

Pidió al general de las Fuerzas Armadas, Tito Livio Moreno, que la entrega de los sacos solidarios sea sin ningún tipo de distinción

Mexico

• “Mexican Rights Groups Denounce Crackdown on Migrants Protesting Over Coronavirus Fears” (Reuters, The New York Times, March 26, 2020).

“People expressed fear of contracting the COVID-19 virus and announced their intention to start a hunger strike if they were not released,” the rights groups said. National Guard and INM officers deployed poles, water hoses, pepper spray and Tasers

• Ezequiel Flores Contreras, “La Guardia Nacional y el Ejercito Vigilaran Comercios para Evitar Saqueos” (Proceso (Mexico), March 26, 2020).

Por redes sociales o a través de mensajes por WhatsApp, diversos grupos en el Estado de México, Oaxaca y Puebla han hecho llamados para realizar saqueos en tiendas departamentales por las noches o en la madrugada

• Ezequiel Flores Contreras, “Desplazados en Guerrero: “Aqui el Virus Que Esta Matando a la Gente Es la Violencia”” (Proceso (Mexico), March 26, 2020).

La banda delictiva de Tlacotepec que dirige Onésimo Marquina Chapa, alias El Necho, irrumpió en las comunidades de Tepozonalco y El Naranjo para desplazar al grupo denominado Cártel del Sur, que encabeza Isaac Navarrete Celis, El Señor de la I

Mexico, U.S.-Mexico Border

• Rafael Carranza, “Protesters in Mexico Block Lanes at Arizona Border Crossing to Demand Stricter Coronavirus Screenings” (USA Today, March 26, 2020).

The protesters demanded greater controls and screenings on southbound traffic at the U.S.-Mexico border out of concern that travelers from the U.S. could import new cases of the coronavirus into Mexico

• Dianne Solis, Alfredo Corchado, “In Mexico, Coronavirus ‘Will Go From the Rich to the Poor and the Poor Will Pay’” (The Dallas Morning News, March 26, 2020).

Volunteers and aid groups are especially worried about Juarez shelters and the sprawling Matamoros migrant camp

Nicaragua

• Leonor Álvarez, Lidia Lopez, “Ejercito de Nicaragua Cierra Puntos Ciegos de la Frontera Con Costa Rica por Pandemia” (La Prensa (Nicaragua), March 26, 2020).

Los militares no permitirán la entrada ni salida de nadie por estos puntos ciegos, en el territorio fronterizo terrestre y navales

U.S.-Mexico Border

• “Tamaulipas Braces for New Us-Mexico Turnback Policy” (KRGV (McAllen Texas), March 26, 2020).

Keeping Mexican nationals out of processing centers was a request made by the Mexican government and agreed to by the U.S. government

• Anna Giaritelli, “Border Patrol Not Disclosing That Agents Are Testing Positive for Coronavirus” (The Washington Examiner, March 26, 2020).

In a lengthy message Tuesday, the leader of operations in Tucson, Arizona, alerted the region’s 3,700 agents that two agents tested positive for the virus

Venezuela

• Corina Pons, Mayela Armas, “Venezuela in Talks With China Over Support Amid Pandemic, Oil Price Drop” (Reuters, March 26, 2020).

The government of President Nicolas Maduro is hoping to renegotiate oil-for-loan deals agreed nearly 15 years ago under late socialist leader Hugo Chavez

• “Dgcim Detiene a Periodista Javier Vivas Santana: Aun se Desconocen los Motivos” (Tal Cual (Venezuela), March 26, 2020).

Vivas Santana, escritor de una columna en el portal web aporrea, es el tercer periodista agredido por los cuerpos de seguridad del régimen en menos de una semana

• Angus Berwick, Sarah Kinosian, Maria Ramirez, “As Coronavirus Hits Venezuela, Maduro Further Quashes Dissent” (Reuters, Reuters, March 26, 2020).

The threat against Avila, who is now in hiding but spoke with Reuters by telephone, is one of at least seven recent episodes in which Venezuelan authorities have sought to arrest critics of the government’s preparedness for the coronavirus

• “The U.S. Should Encourage a Humanitarian Agreement, Offer Sanctions Relief in Venezuela” (Washington Office on Latin America, March 26, 2020).

International assistance will require a basic agreement between the de facto Maduro government and the National Assembly

• Mike Allen, “Jonathan Karl’s New Book Details How John Kelly Shot Down Trump’s War Plan for Venezuela” (Axios, March 26, 2020).

Karl writes that one of the options Trump “had in mind was a naval blockade of Venezuela, which didn’t make sense for a lot of reasons, including the fact that Venezuela is not an island.”

Venezuela, Western Hemisphere Regional

• David Axe, “The Surprisingly Deliberate Reason There’s No U.S. Aircraft Carrier That Can Fight Venezuela” (The National Interest, March 26, 2020).

The United States’ legacy in Latin America is much older than Trump and Graham are. It’s a legacy that weighs heavily on the Pentagon’s reluctance to sail major warships through Latin American waters