October 30, 2020
Western Hemisphere Regional
- Manuel Alcantara, “La Paulatina Militarizacion de la Politica Latinoamericana” (Latinoamérica21, La Tercera (Chile), October 30, 2020).
Han abierto un espacio a los militares que gozan de mayor confianza de presidentes con vocación caudillista
- Kendall Taggart, Hamed Aleaziz, Jason Leopold, “Here Are Thousands of Documents About Immigrants Who Have Died in Ice Custody” (BuzzFeed, October 30, 2020).
Since January 2017, at least four dozen people have died while being held in detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Bolivia
- Julie Turkewitz, “From Bolivia, Lessons for a Successful Election” (The New York Times, October 30, 2020).
In the last year, Bolivia’s democracy suffered as partisan clashes filled its streets and mistrust in government grew. And yet it pulled off a calm, uncontested election
Colombia
- “Por Caso Uraba, Jep Cita al General (R) Rito Alejo del Rio para Version Voluntaria” (El Espectador (Colombia), October 30, 2020).
Urabá, el Caso 04, es probablemente el más complejo de esos tres. La JEP espera que el alto oficial (r) pueda aportar en la construcción de verdad de este episodio de la guerra
- Lara Loaiza, “Demobilized Fighters in Colombia’s Meta Targeted by Ex-Farc Mafia” (InsightCrime, October 30, 2020).
Reintegration process leaders who oppose such recruitment efforts by the ex-FARC become targets
- “Asesinan a Juana Perea, Lideresa de Nuqui” (Semana Rural (Colombia), October 30, 2020).
Perea era lideresa comunitaria de la zona y dirigía un hotel ecoturistico en Termales, corregimiento de Nuqui
- Jose David Escobar Moreno, Felipe Morales Sierra, “La Pugna de Poder de los Pachenca por el Narcotrafico en el Caribe” (El Espectador (Colombia), October 30, 2020).
La aparición en video esta semana de la organización criminal llamándose a sí misma grupo de autodefensa no es gratuita
- Miguel Salazar, “Could Colombian Politicians Help Trump Win Florida?” (The Nation, October 30, 2020).
The Trump campaign is using disinformation and red-baiting tactics exported from Colombia to sway Florida’s Latinx vote
- “Editorial: Intromision en las Elecciones de Estados Unidos” (El Espectador (Colombia), October 30, 2020).
Tanto la Cancillería como el embajador Santos han explicado que era una actividad no partidista y es parte de su actividad diplomática. Sin embargo, sería conveniente saber si el embajador ha asistido a eventos similares con políticos demócratas
Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela
- Circles Robinson, “Biden Tells Ortega & Maduro Not to Get Their Hopes Up” (Confidencial (Nicaragua), October 30, 2020).
Biden – like Trump – would like to see big changes in Cuba. The difference between the two candidates lies in their choice of strategies
Mexico
- “Guardia Nacional se Extralimito en Funciones y Si Agredio a Migrantes: Cndh” (Animal Politico (Mexico), October 30, 2020).
Cuando ocurrieron los hechos, el gobierno de México defendió la actuación de la Guardia Nacional para impedir el paso de la caravana, descartó algún incidente
- Madeleine Wattenbarger, “Inside Mexico’s Feminist Occupation” (Al Jazeera, October 30, 2020).
Within days of the takeover, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador accused the women of being “conservatives” – a common accusation that the centre-left president levels against social movements that he suggests are motivated primarily by undermining his government
- Ted Galen Carpenter, “Nation Building Overseas? America’s Own Neighborhood Is Becoming More Violent” (Cato Institute, The American Conservative, October 30, 2020).
Mexico is descending even further into carnage and dysfunction. So why are we so focused on the Middle East?
- Mary Beth Sheridan, “Violent Criminal Groups Areeroding Mexico’s Authority and Claiming More Territory” (The Washington Post, October 30, 2020).
A dizzying range of armed groups — perhaps more than 200 — have diversified into a broadening array of activities
U.S.-Mexico Border
- Maya L. Kapoor, Ariana Brocious, “In Arizona, Building a Wall — and Destroying a Canyon” (High Country News, October 30, 2020).
In a mountain range too steep to cross, DHS is spending millions of dollars on five miles of border wall
- Ned Norris, Jr. , “Stop the Destruction of Tohono o’odham Lands” (Tohono O’odham Nation, High Country News, October 30, 2020).
Our sacred sites and burial grounds — which hold the deepest significance to our people — have been run over and blown up with a seemingly proud indifference by federal contractors as they rush to build President Donald Trump’s border wall
- Adolfo Flores, “Us Border Officials Told Asylum-Seekers They Didn’t Have Space, Regardless of Whether They Actually Did” (BuzzFeed, October 30, 2020).
The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General report focused on the agency’s practice of regulating how many immigrants border agents could allow to enter the US to seek asylum
- Caitlin Dickerson, “Migrant Children From Other Countries Are Being Expelled Into Mexico” (The New York Times, October 30, 2020).
The expulsions, which appear to number more than 200 over the past eight months, reflect the haphazard nature with which many of the administration’s most aggressive immigration policies have been introduced
- “Do My Rights Matter: The Mistreatment of Unaccompanied Children in Cbp Custody” (Americans for Immigrant Justice, October 30, 2020).
Children described being held in frigid rooms, sleeping on concrete floors, being fed frozen food, with little or no access to medical care. Too often, they were subjected to emotional, verbal, and physical abuse by CBP officers
- Camilo Montoya-Galvez, “Texas Detention Facility Becomes Staging Ground for Expulsions of Migrant Families With Children” (CBS News, October 30, 2020).
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) family detention center in Karnes City, Texas, is being used exclusively to hold migrant parents and children processed under an emergency pandemic-era policy
Venezuela
- Lucia Newman, “What Would a Joe Biden Presidency Mean for Venezuela?” (Al Jazeera, October 30, 2020).
Would anything change if Biden wins? Probably not very much, at least during the first year
- Steven Grattan, “Venezuelan Migrants Are Trapped Between Covid and a Hostile Homeland” (VICE, October 30, 2020).
Several Caribbean island nations and the United States have come under fire from humanitarian groups and U.S. politicians for deporting Venezuelan migrants and refugees home amid the coronavirus pandemic