(Even more here)

May 28, 2020

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Maria Teresa Ronderos, “Migrants From Another World” (Centro Latinoamericano de Investigación Periodística, Animal Politico (Mexico), May 28, 2020).

Every year thousands of people expelled from Asia and Africa cross Latin America looking for the north like swallows disoriented by an altered climate. Along the way, the already painful journey of these extraordinary human beings is made unnecessarily difficult by almost all governments

Argentina

• Uki Goñi, “Argentina Cordons Off Virus-Hit Slum as Critics Decry ‘Ghettoes for Poor People’” (The Guardian, May 28, 2020).

Drastic measures are being taken to contain the coronavirus in the Villa Azul area of Buenos Aires which has emerged as a hotspot

Brazil

• “Brazil’s Losing Battle Against Covid-19” (The Economist (Uk), May 28, 2020).

Mr Bolsonaro’s attitude causes more damage, however. Brazil’s federal system is more president-centred than America’s. To work well in a crisis, all levels of government must co-operate

• Omar G. Encarnacion, “Brazil Is Suffering. Bolsonaro Isn’t.” (Foreign Policy, May 28, 2020).

The Brazilian president is proving that right-wing populism has ways of overcoming self-inflicted disasters

Colombia

• Beatriz Valdes Correa, “Con Desaparicion Forzada Despojaron a los Sucrenos de Sus Tierras” (El Espectador (Colombia), May 28, 2020).

En el informe “Exhumando Justicia y Verdad”, el Movice detalla cómo las alianzas del Bloque Héroes de los Montes de María de las Auc con políticos, empresarios y Fuerza Pública posibilitaron la desaparición de personas que pueden hallarse en 15 fincas y 18 cementerios

• “La ‘Ceguera’ Prevalece Ante la Violencia Que Sufren Lideres Sociales” (Verdad Abierta (Colombia), May 28, 2020).

En su más reciente informe, Somos Defensores señala que los asesinatos contra líderes sociales disminuyeron en 2019, pero no en la cantidad que afirma el gobierno nacional, y advierte que se incrementaron otras agresiones que no son tenidas en cuenta por las autoridades

• Juan Masullo, Julia Zulver, “In War-Torn Colombia, One Community Stands Up to Outsiders” (Political Violence at a Glance, May 28, 2020).

Pacelli provides an example of how strong community organization can quickly be repurposed to face the challenges of COVID-19

• Corey Dickstein, “Army’s 1st Sfab Is Headed to Colombia to Boost Anti-Drug Fight” (Stars and Stripes, May 28, 2020).

About 45 soldiers from one of the brigade’s advisory teams based at Fort Benning, Ga., will travel Monday to the South American country

• “Sfab Mission Arrives in Colombia” (U.S. Embassy in Colombia, May 28, 2020).

Its mission in Colombia will begin in early June and will last several months, during which it will focus its efforts primarily on the “Zonas Futuro” defined by the National Government

• “General Navarro Dice Que Militares de Ee. Uu. Vendran por 4 Meses” (El Tiempo (Colombia), May 28, 2020).

Navarro afirmó que todos los miembros de la brigada de asistencia extranjera que vengan al país cumplirán todos los protocolos de distanciamiento por la pandemia de coronavirus

• “Asi Funcionara la Mision Militar de Ee. Uu. Que Apoyara la Lucha Contra el Narcotrafico” (El Espectador (Colombia), May 28, 2020).

“Este personal asesorará dentro de las unidades militares a los Estados Mayores de las Fuerzas de Tarea Conjunta Hércules, Vulcano, Omega y de la Brigada contra el Narcotráfico”

Colombia, Venezuela

• Santiago Serna Duque, “El Covid-19 Golpea a los Migrantes y Exige Despolitizar la Frontera Entre Colombia y Venezuela” (El Espectador (Colombia), May 28, 2020).

El secretario de Frontera y Cooperación Internacional para Norte de Santander, Víctor Bautista, advirtió que de no establecerse un manejo conjunto en la frontera colombo-venezolana, la crisis del COVID-19 “nos puede explotar en las manos”

Mexico

• “Gunmen Attack Daughter of Murdered Mexican Reporter Maria Elena Ferral in Veracruz” (Committee to Protect Journalists, May 28, 2020).

De Luna Ferral is the editor of El Quinto Poder, a local news website based in Papantla, a town in northern Veracruz. She continued editing the website’s Facebook page after her mother was murdered

• Juan Montes, David Luhnow, “Mexico’s Leader Has Answer for All His Needs: The Army” (The Wall Street Journal, May 28, 2020).

President López Obrador has boosted the military’s roles in public works, fighting coronavirus and confronting drug cartels, a tack some see as risky

• Parker Asmann, “As Officer Murders Soar, Identity Crisis Plagues Mexico’s Local Police” (InsightCrime, May 28, 2020).

So far this year, at least 215 police officers have been killed across the country, or more than one a day

• “Decomisan Arsenal y Taller de Blindaje del Cartel del Golfo en Tamaulipas” (Proceso (Mexico), May 28, 2020).

Las armas y vehículos decomisados estaban destinados al capo Evaristo Cruz, alias “el Vaquero”, jefe de plaza del Cártel del Golfo en la ciudad fronteriza de Matamoros

U.S.-Mexico Border

• Lomi Kriel, “House Democrats Demand Trump Administration Stop Rushing Through Deportations of Migrant Children” (Texas Tribune, Propublica, The Texas Tribune, May 28, 2020).

The letter signed by five key House leaders overseeing immigration cited a May 18 ProPublica/Texas Tribune story that found the U.S. government has aggressively begun to rush the deportations of unaccompanied children in its care to countries where they have been raped, beaten or had a parent killed

Venezuela

• Javier Ignacio Mayorca, “Desapariciones” (Tal Cual (Venezuela), May 28, 2020).

En los cuatro meses de 2020, las cifras de personas desaparecidas en Venezuela se han disparado de forma inexplicable ¿Gente que se va sin decir adiós o policías fuera de control?

• Benoit Faucon, Ian Talley, “U.S. Threatens Sanctions to Deter Tankers Carrying Fuel to Venezuela” (The Wall Street Journal, May 28, 2020).

The two were expected to arrive in Venezuela in the wake of three Iranian tankers carrying gasoline that have reached the country