(Even more here)

October 5, 2020

Brazil

• Christian Paz, “What Bolsonaro’s Covid-19 Case Tells Us About Trump’s” (The Atlantic, October 5, 2020).

Donald Trump’s political cousin in Brazil has followed the populist playbook to a T. It’s worked wonders for him

Chile

• Daniel AlarcÓn, “Chile at the Barricades” (Radio Ambulante, The New Yorker, October 5, 2020).

The pandemic did not end the revolution unleashed by el estallido, but it did quite abruptly change the subject

• “Anger in Chile After Boy Is Shown Falling From Bridge During Police Clashes” (Reuters, The New York Times, October 5, 2020).

Video of the teenager’s fall into a shallow river went viral in Chile, which was convulsed by unrest a year ago

Colombia

• Luis Carlos Velez, ““el Acuerdo No Soluciona Todos los Problemas de Colombia”: Bernard Aronson” (Semana (Colombia), October 5, 2020).

Al cumplir cuatro años de su firma, el exdelegado de Estados Unidos para apoyar el proceso de paz con las Farc sostiene que el Estado cometió su peor pecado al no haber podido llenar los vacíos que dejó la guerrilla en el territorio

• Valeria Arias Suarez, “Doble Resistencia: Ser Mujer y Lideresa Social” (El Espectador (Colombia), October 5, 2020).

Por lo menos 65 lideresas sociales y defensoras de derechos humanos fueron asesinadas entre 2019 y junio de 2020

• Hector Riveros, “La Responsabilidad Politica” (La Silla Vacia (Colombia), October 5, 2020).

El Ministro de Defensa lleva casi un año en el cargo sin adoptar correctivos para evitar violaciones a derechos humanos, abusos policiales, casos de corrupción, asesinatos de líderes y ex combatientes. Por esa omisión debería responder

• “La Cordillera de la Muerte: Lo Que Hay Detras de las Masacres en Cauca y Narino” (Semana (Colombia), October 5, 2020).

La mayoría de las masacres en Cauca y Nariño han ocurrido en las faldas de la cordillera Occidental, principal ruta de los grupos armados para sacar droga al océano Pacífico. La subregión del Naya vuelve a sufrir

• Juan Esteban Lewin, “Tras 25 Anos, las Farc Confiesan Que Mataron a Alvaro Gomez. El Uribismo Ya Lo Habia Dicho” (La Silla Vacia (Colombia), October 5, 2020).

Aunque el presidente Iván Duque y de la familia Gómez rechazaron el anuncio, desde las mismas entrañas del uribismo vienen evidencias que respaldarían la confesión de las Farc

• “Los 6 Homicidios en los Que Farc Asume Responsabilidad Ante Jep” (El Espectador (Colombia), October 5, 2020).

Aquí le explicamos esos seis casos

El Salvador

• Steven Dudley, “The el Salvador President’s Informal Pact With Gangs” (InsightCrime, October 5, 2020).

Nuevas Ideas would have exclusive access to campaign in gang-controlled areas in the run-up to legislative and municipal elections in February 2021

Guatemala, Honduras

• Ricardo Marroquin, “Guatemala, el Nuevo Muro Antimigrantes” (Plaza Publica (Guatemala), October 5, 2020).

Según la Policía Nacional Civil 2,159 personas de las 4,000 que ingresaron el jueves pasado fueron remitidas a las autoridades de migración de Honduras o bien retornaron de manera voluntaria

Honduras

• Kay Valle, “Honduras’ Fnamp Captures More Than 1,000 Gang Members in 2 Years” (Dialogo (U.S. Southern Command), October 5, 2020).

In the two years since its creation, the Honduran National Anti-Gang Force (FNAMP, in Spanish) has achieved significant results, including the arrest of more than 1,680 gang members

Mexico

• IsaÍn Mandujano, “Mexico y Guatemala Declaran Desarticulada la Caravana Migrante en Chiapas” (Proceso (Mexico), October 5, 2020).

Garduño dijo que de este lado de México sólo se han detenido a 235 migrantes en los días recientes

• “Editorial: Lopez Obrador Becomes Latin America’s New Strongman” (The Financial Times (UK), October 5, 2020).

The supreme court has become the latest institution in Mexico to bow to the will of populist president Andrés Manuel López Obrador

U.S.-Mexico Border

• Laura Gottesdiener, “Strange Bedfellows: Laredo’s Millionaires, Nuns and Muralists Battle Border Wall” (Reuters, Reuters, October 5, 2020).

Less than a month before the U.S. presidential election, resistance to the wall, a centerpiece of Trump’s 2016 campaign, is flaring across parts of the approximately 2,000-mile border

• Nomaan Merchant, “Appeals Court Upholds Ban on Holding Migrant Kids in Hotels” (Associated Press, The Washington Post, October 5, 2020).

Three judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals left in place a lower court’s order that requires the U.S. to stop using hotels in most situations to detain children unaccompanied by a parent

• Jason Dearen, Garance Burke, “Pence Ordered Borders Closed After Cdc Experts Refused” (Associated Press, Associated Press, October 5, 2020).

Vice President Mike Pence in March directed the nation’s top disease control agency to use its emergency powers to effectively seal the U.S. borders, overruling the agency’s scientists who said there was no evidence the action would slow the coronavirus

Venezuela

• Christopher Woody, “Venezuela and Iran’s Ties Grow as Warnings Are Raised About Trump Pulling an ‘October Surprise’ on Tehran” (Business Insider, October 5, 2020).

Iranian officials have in the past said there would be “trouble” it the US interferes with its tankers, but in Tehran, the appetite for escalation is likely “very, very low”