(Even more here)

May 1, 2020

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Alma Guillermoprieto, “El Coronavirus en America Latina” (El Pais (Spain), May 1, 2020).

Un pueblo sitiado por la carencia y sin los mínimos niveles de educación no está para elegir a señores aburridos (o señoras) a sueldo que vayan a la oficina todas las mañanas a consultar con su equipo cómo resolver los problemas de su país de la manera más sensata posible

• Jack Herrera, “In Ice Detention, Forced to Pay for Soap” (The Nation, May 1, 2020).

In an effort to cut costs, for-profit detention centers ration out goods—like soap—with the expectation that detained people will buy more with money from their commissary accounts if they run out

Brazil

• Ishaan Tharoor, “Brazil’s Bolsonaro Sits on a Ticking Coronavirus Time Bomb” (The Washington Post, May 1, 2020).

Brazil has about 80,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, but experts say the real number is much higher, potentially above 1 million. Bodies are piling up in major cities

• Tom Phillips, “Bolsonaro Faces Calls to Change Tack on Covid-19 as Rio Heads for ‘Great Hardship’” (The Guardian, May 1, 2020).

Edmar Santos, the health secretary of Rio, Brazil’s third most populous state, said an intensification of containment measures – perhaps including some form of China-style lockdown – was the only way to avoid a dramatic surge in fatalities

Colombia

• Christine Armario, “Bullets, Virus: Fears Multiply for Colombia’s Ex-Rebels” (Associated Press, Associated Press, May 1, 2020).

“In rural areas, it feels much more dangerous,” said Manuel Antonio González, an ex-combatant whose rebel son was killed before the pandemic. “People aren’t moving, but these groups can move however they want”

• “Este Conflicto Armado Hay Que Superarlo” (Numerous organizations, Fundación Paz y Reconciliación (Colombia), May 1, 2020).

Lamentamos la reciente decisión del ELN de dar por terminada la tregua que comenzó a inicios de abril.

• “Cese al Fuego del Eln ¿Que Paso y Que Sigue?” (Fundacion Ideas por la Paz (Colombia), Instituto Catalán Internacional para Paz (Spain), May 1, 2020).

Entre el 1 y 29 de abril, la Base de Acciones del Conflicto de la FIP reportó 10 acciones en las que se vio envuelto el ELN

• “Los Armados Ahora Tambien Juegan a Autoridad Sanitaria” (La Silla Vacia (Colombia), May 1, 2020).

Grupos armados de todos los colores, desde disidencias de las Farc, hasta ELN, EPL y autodefensas gaitanistas, han comenzado a presionar a las comunidades para que cumplan la cuarentena

• “La Historia de los Colombianos Deportados de ee.uu. Que Resultaron Con Covid-19” (El Espectador (Colombia), May 1, 2020).

Al llegar a El Dorado, cuenta Jaime, las autoridades colombianas no tenían claro qué hacer con el grupo

Colombia, Venezuela

• “Mas de 14 Mil Ciudadanos Venezolanos Han Retornado Voluntariamente a su Pais” (Semana (Colombia), May 1, 2020).

“Diariamente, solo pueden cruzar la frontera 300 personas ”, indicó el director de Migración

El Salvador

• Oscar Martinez Carlos Martinez, “Pandemia Con Pandillas en el Salvador” (El Pais (Spain), May 1, 2020).

El castigo se ejerce, entre otras armas, con bates de béisbol. Así vigilan las maras el cumplimiento de la cuarentena

• Hector Silva Avalos, Seth Robbins, “Eruption of Gang Violence Belies Bukele’s Security Wins in el Salvador” (InsightCrime, May 1, 2020).

The recent tranquility that El Salvador had enjoyed and that Bukele touted — with homicides reaching a low of 2.5 per day — has clearly been shattered

Guatemala

• Sonia Perez D., “Guatemala Says Us Testing Deportees for Virus Before Sending” (Associated Press, May 1, 2020).

The major change in how the U.S. handles its deportation flights to Guatemala comes after two weeks in which Guatemala refused to accept more flights

• Adolfo Flores, “Guatemalan Immigrants Are Caught Between Ice Detention or Deportation. Either Way, They Fear Getting Covid-19.” (BuzzFeed, May 1, 2020).

Guatemalans facing deportation from the US are looking at two potentially dire fates: Either wait in Immigration and Customs Enforcement jails and risk exposure to the coronavirus, or be deported back to their country where they are quarantined inside a makeshift hospital

Honduras

• Claudia Mendoza, Mary Beth Sheridan, “Another U.S. Court Filing Ties the Honduran President, a Trump Ally, to Narco-Trafficking” (The Washington Post, May 1, 2020).

The Honduran president was not charged. But the indictment alleged that former national police chief Juan Carlos Bonilla oversaw the shipment of tons of cocaine on behalf of Hernández and his brother Tony

• David C Adams, “Former Honduran Police Chief Charged With Trafficking Drugs for President and His Brother” (Univision, May 1, 2020).

U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, A Democrat who is an influential voice on foreign policy, told Univision, “For years, I and others warned U.S. administrations that General Bonilla was not to be trusted, based on reports implicating him in drug trafficking and other crimes, including murder.”

• “Us Can Soon Start Sending People Seeking Asylum to Honduras” (Associated Press, The New York Times, May 1, 2020).

The text of the agreement was released Thursday, a day before it is published in the Federal Register and takes effect

Mexico

• Ricardo Ravelo, “Amlo: La Enfermiza Obsesion de Tener Mas Poder” (SinEmbargo (Mexico), May 1, 2020).

De aprobarse la iniciativa, López Obrador podrá hacer uso discrecional del presupuesto sin la necesidad de solicitarle al Congreso que lo haga ante una circunstancia emergente

• Cecilia Farfan Mendez, “Las Piezas Olvidadas del Rompecabezas: Deconstruyendo Hipotesis Sobre la Alta Tasa de Homicidios en Mexico” (Animal Politico (Mexico), May 1, 2020).

En el momento que aceptamos pasivamente que las muertes no importaban por ser de supuestos criminales también enterramos la empatía, la rabia e indignación que deberíamos sentir por todas nuestras personas muertas, desaparecidas, y nuestras fosas comunes

• “El Ejercito Abate a Siete Miembros de “la Tropa del Infierno” en Nuevo Laredo” (Proceso (Mexico), May 1, 2020).

Siete presuntos miembros de la Tropa del Infierno, el brazo armado del Cartel de Noreste (CDN), murieron al intentar agredir a efectivos del Ejército y, en respuesta por los fallecidos, presuntos integrantes del CDN atacaron un cuartel de los militares

• Natalie Kitroeff, “As Workers Fall Ill, U.S. Presses Mexico to Keep American-Owned Plants Open” (The New York Times, May 1, 2020).

The United States is urging Mexico to allow exemptions for workers whose services are essential — not to Mexico, but to the United States

Nicaragua

• Wilfredo Miranda, “Temor al Gobierno de Nicaragua” (El Pais (Spain), May 1, 2020).

Los médicos denuncian la falta de acción gubernamental y se organizan para cuando llegue lo peor

U.S.-Mexico Border

• Elliot Spagat, “‘Remain in Mexico’ Asylum Hearings Suspended Through June 1” (Associated Press, WHIO, May 1, 2020).

With an order suspending hearings through Friday set to expire, the Homeland Security and Justice departments said that asylum-seekers with hearings through June 1 should appear at a border crossing when instructed to get new dates

Venezuela

• Veronica Zubillaga, “Por la Desmilitarizacion de la Gestion de la Pandemia y de Venezuela” (ProDaVinci (Venezuela), May 1, 2020).

Reconstituir el tejido social tomará tiempo. La tentación militar ronda y se expande en América Latina

• Patricia Laya, Ben Bartenstein, “Venezuela Is Raiding Its Gold Vaults and Handing Tons of Bars to Its Long-Time Ally Iran” (Bloomberg, May 1, 2020).

Government officials piled some 9 tons of gold — an amount equal to about $500 million — on Tehran-bound jets this month as payment for Iran’s assistance in reviving Venezuela’s crippled gasoline refineries

• Joe Clark, Lloyd Axworthy, Ricardo Luna, Keith Mines, Thomas R. Pickering, “Opinion: Only the United Nations Can Prevent Venezuela’s Collapse” (The Globe and Mail (Toronto Canada), May 1, 2020).

The fundamental impediment to a UN-supervised election is a Security Council veto by Russia or China. Both states gain nothing through continuing conflict; they have an opening to enhance their position in Latin America and elsewhere by supporting the UN in this critical role

• Gabriela Mesones Rojo, “Rafael Uzcategui: ‘This Is a Level of Control Chavismo Had Only Dreamed Of’” (Provea, Caracas Chronicles, May 1, 2020).

The general coordinator of human rights NGO Provea describes the methods used by the regime to use the COVID-19 pandemic to its advantage

• Ronny Rodriguez Rosas, “Informe 2019 Espacio Publico: Ano Pasado, el Segundo Con Mas Violaciones a Libertad de Expresion” (Efecto Cocuyo (Venezuela), May 1, 2020).

Desde el año 2002, cuando comenzaron el monitoreo, 2019 fue el segundo año con más violaciones para un total de 1.049 denuncias y 468 casos