(Even more here)

July 9, 2020

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Julia Ainsley, Jacob Soboroff, “Nearly 130 Staff at Arizona Ice Facility Tested Positive for Covid-19” (NBC News, July 9, 2020).

CoreCivic, the company contracted to run the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona, said 127 of about 300 total CoreCivic employees at Eloy have tested positive since the start of the pandemic, although some have recovered

Brazil

• Anakwa Dwamena, “How Jair Bolsonaro and the Coronavirus Put Brazil’s Systemic Racism on Display” (The New Yorker, July 9, 2020).

As infection rates have risen in Brazil, a clearer picture has emerged of which lives the President apparently deems disposable

• Lisandra Paraguassu, “Brazil’s Bolsonaro Vetoes Plans to Offer Covid-19 Support to Indigenous People” (Reuters, Reuters, July 9, 2020).

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday vetoed provisions of a law that obligated the federal government to provide drinking water, disinfectants and a guarantee of hospital beds to indigenous communities

Colombia

• “Los Espacios de Reincorporacion de las Farc Con Mas Amenazas” (El Espectador (Colombia), July 9, 2020).

Buenos Aires (Cauca), Puerto Asís (Putumayo), Ituango (Antioquia) y Mesetas (Meta) son las cuatro zonas donde la Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz evaluará si debe emitir una medida cautelar

• “Gobierno Establece Nueva Ruta para Sometimiento de Grupos Ilegales” (Semana (Colombia), July 9, 2020).

El Gobierno expidió un decreto que establece la nueva ruta para el sometimiento de miembros de los Grupos Armados Organizados (GAO), quienes en caso de dejar las armas y reincorporarse a la sociedad civil podrían recibir beneficios jurídicos y económicos

• “Mafias Pagan 5 Millones de Pesos por Hectarea Deforestada en el Meta” (Semana (Colombia), July 9, 2020).

El gobernador, Juan Guillermo Zuluaga, denunció que las disidencias impusieron a cada campesino tumbar dos hectáreas de bosque para sembrar coca y a los presidentes de las juntas comunales, cobrar vacunas

El Salvador

• “Miracle or Mirage? Gangs and Plunging Violence in el Salvador” (International Crisis Group, July 9, 2020).

The murder rate in El Salvador, once the world’s highest, is falling fast. President Nayib Bukele attributes the good news to his harsh anti-gang crackdown, but other factors are likely also salient. The government should explore policing and socio-economic reforms

Guatemala

• Office of Rep. Albio Sires (D-New Jersey), “Chairman Sires, Ranking Member Rooney Call for Transparent Selection of Judges in Guatemala” (U.S. House of Representatives, July 9, 2020).

The Guatemalan Congress’ ability to select an independent judiciary is a measure of its commitment to democracy, respect for the rule of law, and standing in the country’s fight against corruption

Mexico

• Christine Murray, “Mexican Authorities Misreport Migrant Trafficking Numbers” (Reuters, Reuters, July 9, 2020).

The National Migration Institute (INM) said in January that it had supported 601 trafficking and smuggling victims between December 2018 and November 2019. Yet data obtained by the Thomson Reuters Foundation revealed the true figure was 167

• Juan Montes, Jose De Cordoba, “Brutal Gang Rises as Mexico’s Top Security Threat” (The Wall Street Journal, July 9, 2020).

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel has become Mexico’s most powerful criminal organization, dominating the trade in fentanyl and methamphetamines and protecting its business by attacking Mexican security forces and public servants directly

• Alejandro Hope, “¿Como Explicar Guanajuato?” (El Universal (Mexico), July 9, 2020).

Guanajuato no está en una zona de producción de cultivos ilícitos ni en una ruta tradicional de trasiego de drogas. Es, además, un estado que ha experimentado un acelerado crecimiento industrial desde hace 25 años

• Leon Krauze, “Lopez Obrador’s Diplomacy of Subservience at the White House” (The Washington Post, July 9, 2020).

López Obrador leaves Washington empty-handed, having praised the most actively anti-Mexican U.S. president in recent memory

• “Remarks by President Trump and President Lopez Obrador of the United Mexican States in Signing of a Joint Declaration” (The White House, July 9, 2020).

You have not tried to treat us as a colony; on the contrary, you have honored our condition as an independent nation. That’s why I’m here to express to the people of the United States that their President has behaved with us with kindness and respect

• Alberto Pradilla, “De Equipararlo Con Hitler a Callar Ante el Muro: Asi Cambio el Discurso de Amlo Hacia Trump” (Animal Politico (Mexico), July 9, 2020).

Cuando López Obrador era candidato a la presidencia fue muy crítico con su actual socio en Washington, promovió demandas ante la ONU y la CIDH en su contra, e incluso escribió un libro, “Oye Trump”

U.S.-Mexico Border

• Michelle Hackman, “Trump Administration Proposes Denying Asylum to People Who Travel From Countries Where Contagious Disease Is Widespread” (The Wall Street Journal, July 9, 2020).

The new rules, posted by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security on Wednesday, would make migrants ineligible for asylum if they come from or pass through a country where a widespread infectious disease, such as Covid-19, is present

Venezuela

• Thiany Rodriguez, “La Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana Derriba un Hawker 800 Con Matricula de Eeuu” (Defensa.com (Spain), July 9, 2020).

El Raytheon Hawker 800 habría realizado un vuelo el martes en la tarde sobre la península de Yucatán, entre Ciudad del Carmen y Comuzel. Autoridades venezolanas aseguraron que es una ruta habitual del narcotráfico con destino a Estados Unidos

• Manuel Tomillo C., “Padrino Lopez Ministro de Defensa Con Mas Tiempo en el Cargo” (Efecto Cocuyo (Venezuela), July 9, 2020).

El anuncio lo hizo durante el acto de graduación conjunta de Oficiales Comando y Técnicos egresados de la Universidad Militar Bolivariana y pase a Reserva Activa de la promoción de 1987, misma promoción en la que se graduó Diosdado Cabello, gran ausente en este acto

• “Options Narrowing for Venezuela’s Opposition” (Associated Press, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, July 9, 2020).

A string of recent court rulings dismantling three influential opposition parties along with growing citizen disillusionment — not to mention the coronavirus pandemic — have thrown a new wrench in the opposition’s efforts to oust Maduro

• “Voces de la Sociedad Civil Respaldan Que los Acuerdos Politicos Son Indispensables” (Observatorio Electoral Venezolano, July 9, 2020).

Más de 250 voces, que incluye 105 organizaciones de la sociedad civil y de defensa de Derechos Humanos además de 152 ciudadanos, respaldaron a través de un comunicado conjunto la necesidad de un acuerdo nacional que garantice, entre otros, atender la situación política, económica y social