Photo from defensa.com (Spain).

(Even more here)

May 27, 2020

Western Hemisphere Regional

Under the pretext of the coronavirus and embedded in measures to protect public health, authoritarian tendencies are spreading from the Rio Grande to Tierra del Fuego. Three trends are emerging

Latin America has passed Europe and the United States in daily infections

From Argentina to Panama, a number of officials have been forced to resign as reports of fraudulent purchases of ventilators, masks and other medical supplies pile up

Bolivia

Hay malestar en filas militares contra el Alto Mando porque no incluyó en la lista de ascensos a los que cumplen los requisitos. El Ejecutivo remitió la nómina al Senado subsanando las observaciones

Bolivia, Peru

As trafficking routes shrink, in parts of Peru and Bolivia, the price of coca leaf has slumped to one third, or even one sixth, of its previous levels

Brazil

Unlike drier areas in Australia or California, the rainforest can’t catch on fire unless humans cut trees down. The Amazon is being devastated on an industrial scale, and for what?

Brazil has lost two health ministers in the past six weeks – one was fired, the other resigned – after they disagreed publicly with Bolsonaro over how best to combat the virus

Colombia

Se trata del coronel en retiro Martín Arrauth. Este oficial fue, según fuentes dentro de las instituciones, hombre de confianza del ex comandante de las fuerzas militares, general Alberto José Mejía

Diego Martínez, peticionario en representación de ese partido ante la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH), dijo que se acude a esa instancia tras haber intentado por todas las vías garantizar la vida de los excombatientes

Esta fue una de las inquietudes que el colectivo de abogados José Alvear Restrepo y la Federación Internacional de Derechos Humanos le manifestaron, a través de una conferencia virtual, a la Corte Penal Internacional

Now, with Colombians focused on the coronavirus emergency, a new window has opened for the government and the Democratic Center to pursue old and new ways to attack peace

Este departamento vive un preocupante recrudecimiento de la violencia. SEMANA cuenta detalles de cómo y por qué llegaron estos niveles de barbarie, que el año pasado dejaron una cifra cercana a los 1.000 muertos. Disidencias, ELN, Clan del Golfo y carteles mexicanos operan allí

Costa Rica

When Indigenous communities attempt to recover land that legally belongs to them in the Térraba territory, they are often met with violence

Mexico

We visit Tapachula, a Mexican city on the border with Guatemala that has become a frontier for this trend and is overwhelmed by desperate migrants arriving from across the globe

The López Obrador administration has only deepened the militarized nature of public security in Mexico and made civilian policing at the federal level nearly obsolete

Lockdowns and an easy supply of weapons have been a fatal combination for Mexican women

El ejercicio multinacional se realizará a finales de agosto en aguas de los Estados Unidos (costas de Hawaii y California) y en el participarán alrededor de 25 países, entre los cuales México estaba invitado

If both governments cooperated on taking down real transnational criminal organizations as enthusiastically as they have worked in suppressing migrant caravans made up of thousands of impoverished and terrified potential refugees, cartels would be in real trouble

U.S.-Mexico Border

Since March, the government has filed 24 federal cases against South Texas landowners for the border wall, more than the previous eight months combined

Of the 170 miles of primary wall that have been built, three miles are in places where no barrier existed before

Folks in black “No Border Wall” T-shirts marched in the streets earlier this year. They share their movement with sedate bankers in starched, white shirts and gray suits who are just as passionate

https://www.strausscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/MigrantDeathsSouth_Texas.pdf

Venezuela

First lady Cilia Flores has a long record as a power broker in Venezuela. Now, with the help of a jailed former bodyguard, U.S. prosecutors are preparing to charge her with crimes that could include drug trafficking and corruption

As of May 25, 2020, Venezuela had 1,121 confirmed cases of Covid-19, and 10 deaths. The real number is almost certainly much higher