(Even more here)

May 21, 2020

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Roger Ernesto la o Munoz, “Opinion: Ice Detainee Pleads for Release to Help Battle Coronavirus” (The Houston Chronicle, May 21, 2020).

One evening, ICE officials came to my dorm and tried to pressure me into signing documents stating that they have taken sufficient preventative measures. When I refused, one official got on top of me, yelled at me, and tried again to coerce me into signing the papers

Colombia

• “Estos Son los Nombres de los 13 Militares Que Iran a Juicio por “Carpetas Secretas”” (El Espectador (Colombia), May 21, 2020).

Un coronel, un mayor y un teniente aparecen mencionados en el expediente de “chuzadas” de la Corte Suprema

• ““se Ha Reducido el Numero de Muertes de Lideres Sociales”” (El Nuevo Siglo (Colombia), May 21, 2020).

Así lo manifestó la ministra del Interior, Alicia Arango, quien, en su función de secretaria técnica del Plan de Acción Oportuna (PAO), entregó cifras del primer trimestre de la atención del Gobierno a esta población

• Julia Zulver, Megan Janetsky, “Lockdown Turns Colombian Activists Into ‘Sitting Ducks’” (BBC (UK), May 21, 2020).

Community activists from different parts of Colombia have told the BBC that restrictions on movement imposed to curb the spread of virus mean that they have become even easier targets

• Joe Parkin Daniels, “Colombia: Outrage as Warlord’s Son Picked to Lead Victim Support Project” (The Guardian, May 21, 2020).

The son of a notorious death squad leader has been appointed to run the Colombian government’s programmes for victims of the country’s long civil war, prompting fury among survivors

• ““Siempre Van a Ser unos Miserables”: Miembros del Gobierno Insultan a Indigenas” (Semana (Colombia), May 21, 2020).

Miembros del Consejo Regional Indígena del Cauca (Cric) denunciaron que funcionarios del Ministerio del Interior olvidaron apagar sus micrófonos y lanzaron fuertes improperios en su contra: “Solo quieren plata y siempre van a ser unos miserables y brutos”

• Sebastian Forero Rueda, “La Resistencia del Pueblo Negro de la Larga y Tumarado Contra el Despojo” (El Espectador (Colombia), May 21, 2020).

Aunque el consejo comunitario, ubicado en Riosucio (Chocó), tiene un título colectivo por 107.064 hectáreas, en la práctica la tierra productiva está en manos de empresarios que la compraron en medio de la arremetida paramilitar

Colombia, Cuba

• “‘Noruega Cree en Solucion Diplomatica en Caso Eln’” (El Tiempo (Colombia), May 21, 2020).

John Petter Opdahl, embajador noruego en Colombia, revela posición de su país sobre Cuba

Colombia, Panama, Western Hemisphere Regional

• Cecilia Anesi, Giulio Rubino, Nathan Jaccard, Antonio Baquero, Lilia Saul Rodriguez, Aubrey Belford, “What Lockdown? World’s Cocaine Traffickers Sniff at Movement Restrictions” (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, May 21, 2020).

What is clear is that cocaine continues to flow from South America to Europe and North America. Closed trafficking routes have been replaced with new ones, and street deals have been substituted with door-to-door deliveries

Colombia, Venezuela

• Edith M. Lederer, “Un Urges Venezuela’s Rival Political Leaders to Resume Talks” (Associated Press, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, May 21, 2020).

The United Nations called on Venezuela’s feuding political leaders Wednesday to urgently resume serious negotiations, while Russia and its Caracas government ally traded barbs with the United States and Colombia

El Salvador

• Nelson Renteria, “Bukele Decreta Nueva Cuarentena por Coronavirus, Ahonda Choque Con Congreso y Corte” (Reuters, Reuters, May 21, 2020).

Los legisladores salvadoreños habían aprobado el lunes una ley para reabrir la economía garantizando la salud de la población que Bukele amenazó con vetar. Ese día, el alto tribunal suspendió provisionalmente otro decreto de emergencia

Mexico

• Patricia Mayorga, “La Covid-19 Complica las Condiciones de Migrantes en Mexico; Se Enfrentan al Hacinamiento” (SinEmbargo (Mexico), May 21, 2020).

Actualmente hay cerca de 4 mil 800 personas solicitantes de asilo que viven en 89 albergues, por lo que cerrarlos por la pandemia de COVID-19 es inviable

• Anthony Esposito, Dave Graham, “Murders in Mexico Reach Record Levels in First Four Months of 2020” (Reuters, Reuters, May 21, 2020).

In the first four months of this year, 11,535 murders were registered, up from 11,266 homicide in same period last year

Peru

• Dan Collyns, “Peru’s Coronavirus Response Was ‘Right on Time’ – So Why Isn’t It Working?” (The Guardian, May 21, 2020).

Peru was one of the first Latin America countries to go into lockdown – but the jump in new cases is undeniable, and experts say it’s due to people’s behaviour

U.S.-Mexico Border

• Ruthie Epstein, Shaw Drake, “How to Co-Opt a Pandemic to Ban Asylum” (American Civil Liberties Union, May 21, 2020).

The impact of the CDC order is devastating. The agency is not only placing adults and families in immediate harm, either in Mexico or in the very country from which they fled, but is doing the same thing to hundreds of unaccompanied children

Venezuela

• “Venezuela’s Military to Escort Iranian Oil Tankers” (BBC (UK), May 21, 2020).

The five Iranian tankers – Fortune, Forest, Petunia, Faxon and Clavel – are carrying about 1.5m barrels of fuel and passed through the Suez Canal earlier this month

• David Smilde, Geoff Ramsey, “International Peacemaking in Venezuela’s Intractable Conflict” (European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, May 21, 2020).

While it is clear that the Maduro government uses dialogue processes as a delay tactic through which it can divide and demobilize the opposition, clear progress has been made in the mediators’ ability to generate concrete articulation and discussion of the conflicting parties’ demands

• “Rusia y Eeuu Salieron a«Tablasa» Otra Vez del Consejo de Seguridad Sobre Venezuela” (Tal Cual (Venezuela), May 21, 2020).

EEUU y Rusia, que presentan discrepancias y tienen veto en el Consejo de Seguridad, hace que no haya decisión concreta sobre Venezuela

• “Venezuela Armed Forces to Escort Iranian Tankers Bringing Needed Fuel” (Associated Press, Navy Times, May 21, 2020).

Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López said Venezuela’s navy and air force will welcome the five Iranian tankers, seeing them through the nation’s maritime territory and into port