(Even more here)

July 14, 2020

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Ignacio Fariza, Francesco Manetto, “El Bid Entra en Zona de Convulsion Con un Fiel a Trump Cerca de la Presidencia” (El Pais (Spain), July 14, 2020).

El candidato de Estados Unidos, Mauricio Claver-Carone, levanta ampollas en la institución, donde se le ve como ganador tras el apoyo de la mitad de los Gobiernos americanos

• Mica Rosenberg, “Nearly 1,000 U.S. Immigration Detention Center Employees Test Positive for Coronavirus” (Reuters, Reuters, July 14, 2020).

More than 930 employees of private contractors running U.S. immigration detention centers have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to congressional testimony given by company executives

Brazil

• Rodrigo Perez Maldonado, “Video de Policia Agrediendo a Mujer Negra Genera Indignacion en Brasil” (La Nacion (Chile), July 14, 2020).

Se puede ver a uno de los policías apoyando su pie izquierdo sobre el cuello de la mujer, de 51 años, tendida boca abajo en el suelo, que había entrado en escena para defender a un amigo que estaba siendo atacado por los agentes

Chile

• Ana Piquer, “La Represion Policial en Chile No Sabe de Cuarentenas” (Amnistía Internacional Chile, The Washington Post, July 14, 2020).

El abuso se concentra contra personas de menos recursos económicos, que participan en protestas o manifestaciones, e integrantes del pueblo mapuche

Colombia

• Andrés Bermúdez Liévano, “How Covid-19 Can Derail Reparations in Colombia’s Amazon” (Justiceinfo.net, July 14, 2020).

The Covid-19 pandemic is devastating the entire Amazon basin, just as one of Colombia’s most ambitious redress programs for indigenous victims in this remote rainforest region is poised to kick off

• Jessica Benton Cooney, “3 Stories of Inspiring Human Rights Advocates in Colombia” (USAID, Medium, July 14, 2020).

During COVID-19 these leaders continue to empower women and defend their rights

• Luis Jaime Acosta, “Colombia to Restart Aerial Fumigation of Coca Crops, Defense Minister Says” (Reuters, Reuters, July 14, 2020).

“We are advancing, we have taken all the steps demanded by the Constitutional Court and we are meeting the requirements of the authorities,” Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo said

• “¿Que? Ha Pasado en la Jep Durante la Cuarentena?” (Fundacion Ideas por la Paz (Colombia), July 14, 2020).

Se ha mantenido en el centro del debate pu?blico, entre otras cosas por las decisiones sobre las solicitudes de Salvatore Mancuso y Samuel Moreno, asi? como por los debates en el Congreso sobre posibles modificaciones a esta jurisdiccio?n

Colombia, Venezuela

• Stefano Pozzebon, “Covid-19 Forced Venezuelans to Head Home. But Crossing the Border Isn’t Easy” (CNN, July 14, 2020).

His government has limited the number of Venezuelans allowed entry into their own country to approximately 1,000 per week

Ecuador

• “Defensa Aclara Que Resguardo a Empresa Publica Que Fabrica Explosivos Es por ‘Seguridad’ y No por Limitar Protesta Laboral” (El Universo (Ecuador), July 14, 2020).

Trabajadores de esta fábrica de explosivos, que está bajo la admistración del Ministerio de Defensa, denunciaron que al iniciar una convocatoria a una huelga, personal militar resguarda los alrededores

El Salvador

• Jane Esberg, “All the President’s Trolls: Real and Fake Twitter Fights in el Salvador” (International Crisis Group, July 14, 2020).

Crisis Group has documented a concerted effort from both Bukele’s supporters and his opponents to shape the online narrative around his more controversial policies, in part through artificial means

Mexico

• Eduardo Guerrero GutiÉrrez, “Drm: Corrupcion de Principiantes en Sedena” (El Financiero (Mexico), July 14, 2020).

Lo preocupante del caso DRM no es el monto de lo robado, sino la actitud permisiva del gobierno

• Patricia Davila, “Caso Ayotzinapa: Revelan Video de Tomas Zeron Interrogando a “el Cepillo” (Proceso (Mexico), July 14, 2020).

Tú dinos cómo quieres que vayamos avanzando. Tú no vas a ser la excepción, tú no te la pongas difícil –dice Tomás Zerón al interrogado

• Eoin Wilson, “Murders, Megaprojects and a ‘New Panama Canal’ in Mexico” (Al Jazeera, July 14, 2020).

Activists suspect murders of 15 Indigenous community members are linked to their opposition to a proposed megaproject

• Will Grant, “Could This Become Mexico’s Bloodiest Year on Record?” (BBC (UK), July 14, 2020).

Rather than the numbers, though, it is the sheer brazenness of these attacks which stands out

• Mary Beth Sheridan, “Disappearances in Mexico Rose During Lopez Obrador’s First Year, Now Top 73,000” (The Washington Post, July 14, 2020).

Last year, the first under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, saw the second-most disappearances on record

• Arturo Angel, “Gobierno Oculta Informe Que Revela Manipulacion a Cifras Delictivas” (Animal Politico (Mexico), July 14, 2020).

Los resultados preliminares de una auditoría oficial que encontró inconsistencias graves y manipulación de las estadísticas delictivas en varios estados del país, con el fin de aparentar una reducción de algunos delitos, fueron clasificados

Suriname

• Anatoly Kurmanaev, Harmen Boerboom, “Suriname Elects a New President, Ending Bouterse’s Long Rule” (The New York Times, July 14, 2020).

Once a dictator, he returned as a populist, but fell in the face of the pandemic and an economic crisis

U.S.-Mexico Border

• Joe Gould, “Appropriators to Deny Dod Budget Flexibility in Border Wall Spat” (DefenseNews, July 14, 2020).

In a sign of fraying relations between the Department of Defense and Capitol Hill, the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee ? chaired by Indiana Democratic Rep. Pete Visclosky ? “condemned” the Pentagon’s past approvals of nearly $10 billion over two years toward the border wall

• Perla Trevizo, Jeremy Schwartz, “Trump Says He “Disagreed” With Privately Funded Border Wall, So Why Did His Administration Award the Builder $1.7 Billion in Contracts to Erect More Walls?” (ProPublica, July 14, 2020).

The Army Corps of Engineers has said Fisher won the federal contract to build a segment of the border fence in Arizona because it was the lowest bid

• Sabrina Rodriguez, Daniel Lippman, “U.S. Plans to Restrict Mexico, Canada Border Crossings Until Late August” (Politico, July 14, 2020).

The U.S., in separate agreements with Mexico and Canada, will make a formal announcement before July 21 that non-essential travel will be restricted for at least another 30 days

• Kate Morrissey, “Border Officials Send Newborn Us Citizen Back to Mexico With Mother” (The San Diego Union-Tribune, July 14, 2020).

The baby’s father and 9-year-old brother had been sent back to Mexico days earlier without knowing where the mother was

Venezuela

• “Hace Cinco Anos el “Operativo de Liberacion del Pueblo” Abrio el Camino para la Represion Total en Venezuela” (PROVEA (Venezuela), July 14, 2020).

Se cumplen cinco años del lanzamiento oficial del “Operativo de Liberación del Pueblo” (OLP), una operación policial-militar anunciada como el plan gubernamental N° 23 para combatir la inseguridad, que rápidamente se convirtió en una carta en blanco