(Even more here)

June 9, 2017

Brazil

• “Indigenous and Environmental Rights Under Attack in Brazil, un and Inter-American Experts Warn” (UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, June 9, 2017).

Over the last 15 years, Brazil has seen the highest number of killings of environmental and land defenders of any country

Brazil, Western Hemisphere Regional

• Michael Smith, sabrina Valle, blake Schmidt, “No One Has Ever Made a Corruption Machine Like This One” (Bloomberg, June 9, 2017).

Structured Operations doled out some $788 million in bribes in Brazil and 11 other countries, securing more than 100 contracts that generated $3.3 billion of profit

Colombia

• Luis Jaime Acosta, Julia Symmes Cobb, “Colombia’s Farc Rebels Have Handed Over 30 Percent of Weapons” (Reuters **, June 9, 2017).

Another 30 percent of weaponry will be handed in on June 14 and the remaining 40 percent on June 20

• Hector Silva Avalos, , “Narino, Colombia: Ground Zero of the Cocaine Trade” (InsightCrime, June 9, 2017).

Perhaps nowhere else in the country are the challenges of a post-conflict Colombia more evident, and perhaps no other part of the world is more indicative of how an economy can be fueled by the production and trafficking of cocaine

• Myriam Ortega, “Colombia Openly Fighting Drug Trafficking” (Revista Dialogo (U.S. Southern Command), June 9, 2017).

In terms of the effectiveness of the methods used, the minister clarified that “aerial spraying is 33 percent effective”

• “General Va a Asesorar la Mesa Con el Eln” (El Tiempo (Colombia), June 9, 2017).

Se trata del general del Ejército Luis Felipe Montoya, quien se viene capacitando en el tema de negociación con países aliados de este proceso de paz

• “Asesinan a Lider Afro en su Casa en Malambo, Atlantico” (El Espectador (Colombia), June 9, 2017).

Pese a la insistencia de Afrodes sobre la necesidad de reforzar los esquemas de seguridad de sus dirigentes, las solicitudes fueron atendidas a medias

Cuba

• Fabiola Santiago, “Did Rubio Trade the Integrity of U.S. for a Cuba-Policy Shift From Trump?” (The Miami Herald, June 9, 2017).

Trading the integrity of this country for a political shift on Cuba policy is disgraceful

Mexico

• Kate Linthicum, “Leaders of Mexico and Germany to Meet in ‘Solidarity’ Against Trump” (The Los Angeles Times, June 9, 2017).

High on the agenda during her two-day state visit to Mexico will be their mutual political dilemma: President Trump

• Daniela Barragan, Linaloe R. Flores, “El Voto para el Pri se Desplomo 64% en 8 Municipios de Edomex Donde la Violencia Reina” (SinEmbargo (Mexico), June 9, 2017).

En los ocho ganó Morena y el PRI tuvo una caída de 64 por ciento con respecto a 2011

Guatemala, Mexico

• “Hundreds Stranded at Mexico-Guatemala Border” (Amnesty International, June 9, 2017).

Approximately 400 people from rural Guatemala are stranded at the Mexico-Guatemala border in temporary shelters and tents, without adequate access to water, food, or medical supplies, after a Guatemalan court order was executed to evict them

Venezuela

• Fabiola Sanchez , Christine Armario, “Prosecutor Urges Venezuelans to Reject Constitution Rewrite” (Associated Press **, June 9, 2017).

Ortega Diaz’s remarks were her strongest repudiation yet of Maduro’s effort to rewrite the nation’s constitution, an act she said would destroy the legacy of the late President Hugo Chavez

• Hannah Dreier, “All Eyes on Venezuelan Military as Country Teeters” (Associated Press **, June 9, 2017).

Soldiers’ families suffers along with protesters who skip meals while watching their money become worthless. Some are unsure whether to blame the government or the opposition for the crisis, and what soldiers decide in the coming months could decide the country’s fate