(Even more here)

April 10, 2020

Brazil

• “After Brief Peace in Quarantine, Violent Policing Returns to Rio Favelas” (RioOnWatch (Rio de Janeiro Brazil), April 10, 2020).

Police Violence is Hampering Organizers’ Efforts to Contain the Spread of Covid-19

• Sara Miller Llana, “Democracy Around the World Is Down but Not Out. Test Case: Brazil.” (The Christian Science Monitor, April 10, 2020).

Brazil has quickly veered away from democracy, by some measures – part of a global wave of “autocratization.” But the trend isn’t inevitable Brazil is a key test case for why so many people are questioning old norms – but also, why autocracy’s gains are far from assured

• “Covid-19 Unmasks the Privilege of Isolation in Rio de Janeiro and All Brazil” (RioOnWatch (Rio de Janeiro Brazil), April 10, 2020).

As hunger begins to set in, the federal government is running out of time to implement physical protection and financial support for the nation’s most vulnerable populations and most crucial workers

Colombia

• Nelson Bocanegra, “Despite Some Aid, Poor Colombians Fall Through Cracks During Coronavirus Lockdown” (Reuters, The New York Times, April 10, 2020).

Some people in the working-class satellite city of Soacha on the outskirts of Bogota have taken to hanging red cloth in their windows as a signal they need food and other necessities

• “Los Rostros y Luchas de los Lideres Sociales Asesinados en Lo Corrido del 2020” (El Espectador (Colombia), April 10, 2020).

Según cifras de la organización Somos Defensores, en este primer trimestre del año han sido asesinados 36 líderes y defensores de derechos humanos. No obstante, la directora del programa advierte que esa cifra podría aumentar a 60

• Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli, “Covid-19 and Human Rights in Colombia” (Washington Office on Latin America, April 10, 2020).

Despite the national quarantine in Colombia, killings and attacks on social leaders and armed confrontations continue and have become more targeted

• “Capturan a Presunto Responsable de la Caravana de la Muerte en Putumayo” (Semana (Colombia), April 10, 2020).

El hombre es señalado de pertenecer a una estructrura disidente de las Farc que se disputa el control del narcotráfico en el suroccidente del país

• Julie Turkewitz, “Indigenous Groups Isolated by Coronavirus Face Another Threat: Hunger” (The New York Times, April 10, 2020).

Many Native communities are unprepared for months of economic paralysis. And in the worst cases, isolation measures are already causing emergencies

• Shauna N Gillooly, “Colombia Hopes for ‘Humanitarian’ Ceasefire During Coronavirus as Violence Resurges” (The Conversation, April 10, 2020).

One result of renewed violence in Colombia is that humanitarian aid groups are less able to reach conflict-affected communities that have long depended on their services

• “¿Que Hay Detras de los Asesinatos de los Excombatientes de las Farc?” (Semana (Colombia), April 10, 2020).

El pulso por el control territorial que libran decenas de estructuras en zonas como Ituango, Tumaco y Argelia está estrechamente asociado con los altos niveles de violencia contra excombatientes

Colombia, Mexico

• “Carteles Mexicanos, la Ley del Monte en Colombia” (Semana (Colombia), April 10, 2020).

Estas transnacionales del crimen están en al menos diez departamentos. A la par que negocian con los eslabones más débiles del narcotráfico, patrocinan guerras entre los grandes grupos delincuenciales

• Daniel M. Rico, “La Revolucion Mexicana… de la Coca” (Semana (Colombia), April 10, 2020).

Los carteles mexicanos (lo son porque controlan precios y cantidades de la oferta) han simplificado el ecosistema criminal que conocíamos, reduciendo la cadena de intermediarios, generando incentivos para mejorar la calidad y estabilizando los ciclos de producción

El Salvador

• “Corte Suprema Anula Orden de Bukele de Detener a los Que Violen Cuarentena” (DW (Germany), April 10, 2020).

El presidente Nayib Bukele llamó el lunes a la policía y al ejército a detener a los ciudadanos y decomisar sus vehículos cuando sin motivo alguno circulen por las calles

Honduras, Mexico

• Fernando Maldonado, “Covid-19 Causa Zozobra Entre Migrantes Hondurenos Varados en Mexico” (El Heraldo (Honduras), April 10, 2020).

Miles de migrantes atrapados en las fronteras norte y sur de México, hacinados en campamentos o mendigando en las calles, contemplan ‘aterrorizados’ la propagación del Covid-19

Mexico, U.S.-Mexico Border

• Alfredo Corchado, Valeria Olivares, “Drug Crime Is Thriving in Mexico, and Many Fear Coronavirus Will Make It Worse” (The Dallas Morning News, April 10, 2020).

The coronavirus pandemic hit Mexico with a triple whammy: Remittances, tourism and oil are all on the downslide, or have come to a screeching halt

Nicaragua, Central America Regional

• Gabriela Selser, “Nicaragua Inaction on Virus Raises Fears of Regional Spread” (Associated Press, Associated Press, April 10, 2020).

International health officials are warning that the Nicaraguan government’s perplexing weekslong refusal to take measures to control the spread of the new coronavirus is heightening the risk of an epidemic in Central America

U.S.-Mexico Border

• “Engel, Thompson, Nadler Statement on Trump Administration’s Suspension of Asylum Processing” (U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Democratic Office, April 10, 2020).

After weeks of requests, Administration lawyers haven’t been able to offer any legal justification for suspending the right to seek asylum

• Stephanie Leutert, Savitri Arvey, Ellie Ezzell, Marianne Richardson, “Metering & Covid-19” (University of Texas Strauss Center, UCSD Center for US-Mexican Studies, April 10, 2020).

By early April 2020, there were 14,400 asylum seekers on waitlists in 11 Mexican border cities

• Jose De Cordoba, Michelle Hackman, “Coronavirus Pandemic Slows Illegal Migration to U.S.” (The Wall Street Journal, April 10, 2020).

In Guatemala, one of the largest sources of illegal immigration to the U.S., human smugglers say they have suspended operations

• Nick Miroff, “Trump Administration Has Expelled 10,000 Migrants at the Border During Coronavirus Outbreak, Leaving Less Than 100 in Cbp Custody” (The Washington Post, April 10, 2020).

Since the implementation of the rapid expulsions, migration levels have fallen to near their lowest point in decades, with unlawful border crossings down 56 percent, said acting CBP commissioner Mark Morgan

• “Border Security: U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Management of a Temporary Facility in Texas Raised Concerns About Resources Used” (U.S. Government Accountability Office, April 10, 2020).

While open, the facility held no more than 68 detainees on any given day. CBP spent $5.3 million on unnecessary food, and used significant personnel resources (contractors, CBP staff, and personnel from other agencies) in the facility

Venezuela

• Feliciano Reyna, Temir Porras, Veronica Zubillaga, “Venezuela Can’t Confront Covid-19 Without a Political Truce. Will Washington Help?” (Inter-American Dialogue, April 10, 2020).

Perhaps hundreds of thousands of lives—inside Venezuela and across its borders—now depend on whether our leaders can put aside their battle for control, engage politically in good faith, and momentarily put the wellbeing of citizens first

• “Casa Blanca: Oferta de ee.uu. A Nicolas Maduro “Es Demasiado Generosa”” (Voz de América, La Prensa (Nicaragua), April 10, 2020).

El director de la oficina de Asuntos del Hemisferio Occidental del Consejo de Seguridad Nacional de la Casa Blanca, Mauricio Claver-Carone, encomendó al presidente en disputa de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, estudiar con seriedad el plan