(Even more here)

December 2, 2020

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-New York), “Engel Releases Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission Report” (U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, December 2, 2020).

The Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission’s report is a breath of fresh air, and I hope it will serve as a bluepriÓnt for the Biden-Harris Administration and the next Congress

Brazil

• Mauricio Savarese, “Activists See Threat to Territory for Isolated Indigenous” (Associated Press, Associated Press, December 2, 2020).

It’s been at least 35 years — when military rule ended — since any designated Indigenous territory in Brazil has been eliminated or reduced in size

• “Masked Brazilian Bank Robbers Attack Another City, Kill 1” (Associated Press, NBC News, December 2, 2020).

A large gang of heavily armed bank robbers invaded the Brazilian city of Cameta just one day after a similar force struck another mid-sized city on the opposite side of the country

Colombia

• “Coronel Pedro Javier Rojas Dice Que el General Zapateiro Ordeno Eliminar la Doctrina Damasco” (El Espectador (Colombia), December 2, 2020).

La renuncia del director del Centro de Doctrina del Ejército Nacional, coronel Pedro Javier Rojas, puso en evidencia las diferencias que existen entre los altos mandos de la institución

• Martin Elias Pacheco, “¿Cual Es la Percepcion de los Colombianos Sobre la Paz?” (El Espectador (Colombia), December 2, 2020).

Asesinato de líderes y lideresas sociales, de excombatientes de las Farc y masacres son algunos de los problemas que permean la idea de la paz en nuestro imaginario

• Juan Pablo Perez B., “Salvo por un Punado de Temas, la Implementacion Esta en el Limbo” (La Silla Vacia (Colombia), December 2, 2020).

Acá les contamos en qué van, después de cuatro años, los principales temas de cada uno de los puntos del Acuerdo

• Elizabeth Dickinson, “A Refuge From Violence in a Forgotten Corner of Colombia” (International Crisis Group, December 2, 2020).

The future for leaders like Luz Mary seems bleak, but it is harder still to imagine a future without them

• Valentina Parada Lugo, “Ejercito Niega en un Informe Que Haya Tenido Relacion Con el Paramilitarismo” (El Espectador (Colombia), December 2, 2020).

Las Fuerzas Militares se pronunciaron sobre las condenas que tiene el Estado en casos de violación a los DD. HH. y aseguraron no tener responsabilidad sobre los delitos cometidos por las Auc

• Laura Soto, “Disidencias Matan a Indigenas Que No las Reconocen Como Farc” (La Silla Vacia (Colombia), December 2, 2020).

Los indígenas están recibiendo presiones de las dos disidencias más grandes del Cauca que dominan el territorio, aliadas del disidente Gentil Duarte, para reunirse y lograr ese reconocimiento

• “Statement of the United States Embassy on U.S.-Colombian Law Enforcement Cooperation and the Peace Process” (U.S. Embassy in Colombia, December 2, 2020).

DEA and other agencies follow procedures on case development and investigative methods that comply with laws in the U.S. and Colombia. Any assertions to the contrary are without foundation and only undermine our joint effort to fight transnational crime

Cuba

• Carmen Sesin, Orlando Matos, “After Historic Meeting, Cuba Slams Protesters, Dashes Hopes for Dialogue” (NBC News, December 2, 2020).

The communist-run government brought on a barrage of attacks Sunday on state-run television, digital sites and social media

Guatemala

• Mac Margolis, “Guatemala’s Legislators Lit the Fire That Burned Down Their House” (Bloomberg, December 2, 2020).

If Guatemala launched Central America’s prosecutorial counteroffensive against dirty politics, it runs the risk of being remembered as a cautionary tale about the limits of reform in entitled societies run by captured institutions

Honduras

• Leonardo Aguilar, “Un Muerto Durante un Desalojo Reabre Heridas en los Bordos de un Rio en San Pedro Sula” (Contra Corriente, December 2, 2020).

Los habitantes de esta zona, a orilla de carretera y en el bordo de un río han logrado sobrevivir a la furia de dos huracanes, tormentas tropicales y a la pandemia de COVID-19

Mexico

• “El Inedito Rol Que Amlo Les Esta Dando al Ejercito y la Marina de Mexico (Mas Alla de la Seguridad Publica)” (BBC News Mundo, El Comercio (Peru), December 2, 2020).

Estos han tomado el mando de grandes proyectos que en el pasado eran manejados en la esfera civil en México

• Alberto Pradilla, “Cndh Senala al Inm por la Muerte de un Migrante Durante un Motin” (Animal Politico (Mexico), December 2, 2020).

“Todos corrimos hacia las puertas pero el guardia del INM no abrió las puertas, yo fui a buscar a mis familiares al área de mujeres, los elementos del INM no hacían nada, solo se reían”

• Yessica Morales, “Se Pronuncian Contra la Militarizacion del Inm” (Chiapas Paralelo (Chiapas), December 2, 2020).

Se han nombrado personas con perfil militar para conducir representaciones u oficinas de dicho Instituto

• Manu Ureste, Alberto Pradilla, “Migracion No Reporta Casos Covid, Pero Documentos Revelan 52 Contagios” (Animal Politico (Mexico), December 2, 2020).

México deportó a miles de personas desde el inicio de la pandemia sin hacerles PCR, el INM reconoce que solo realizó 78 pruebas

• Alberto Nájar, “Cinco Claves para Entender los Dos Anos de Gobierno de Lopez Obrador” (Pie de Pagina (Mexico), December 2, 2020).

En el balance de los 730 días hay varias definiciones: polémica, debate, crisis, violencia… Y un respaldo inédito, a pesar de la controversia, al presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador

• Leon Krauze, “Biden Is the Partner Mexico Has Been Waiting For. If Only the Mexican President Realized It.” (The Washington Post, December 2, 2020).

For López Obrador in particular, Biden’s immigration agenda and his plans for regional development could accomplish the sort of partnership Mexico’s president has long pursued

Mexico, U.S.-Mexico Border

• Kevin Sieff, Nick Miroff, “Migrant Caravans Could Be Early Test for Biden and Post-Trump Relations With Mexico” (The Washington Post, December 2, 2020).

Some of the things Biden’s supporters want — an expanded capacity to process asylum applications and humanitarian claims at the border, for example — are unlikely to win funding from a divided Congress

Peru

• Carlos Neyra, “Siguen las Renuncias en el Ministerio del Interior” (El Comercio (Peru), December 2, 2020).

“Ni el ministro del Interior ni Cervantes tienen ninguna legitimidad. Tampoco tienen la legalidad, por eso es que todos están protestando”

• Rodrigo Perez Maldonado, “Detienen a 72 Supuestos Miembros del Brazo Politico de Sendero Luminoso en Peru” (Agence France Presse, La Nacion (Chile), December 2, 2020).

Los sujetos fueron capturados en Lima durante la madrugada y han sido imputados por el delito de terrorismo en el marco de una operación planificada desde 2015

• “Policia Capturo a Mas de 70 Personas Que Estarian Vinculadas a Sendero Luminoso y Movadef Esta Madrugada” (El Comercio (Peru), December 2, 2020).

El Ministerio del Interior (Mininter) informó que agentes de la Policía Nacional del Perú (PNP) y del Ministerio Público capturaron esta madrugada a 71 personas que estarían vinculadas a Sendero Luminoso y el Movimiento por la Amnistía y Derechos Fundamentales

U.S.-Mexico Border

• Russell Contreras, “11 Border Cities Have a Combined Violent Crime Rate Below the National Average” (Axios, December 2, 2020).

The latest crime data collected by the FBI from 2019 contradicts the narrative by President Trump and others that the U.S.-Mexico border is a “lawless” region suffering from violence and mayhem

• Samuel Gilbert, “Trump’s Border Wall Construction Threatens Survival of Jaguars in the Us” (The Guardian, December 2, 2020).

Wall is going up in four sections in Arizona’s mountain ranges spanning the US-Mexico border where the cats had reappeared

• Scott Nicol, “The Obama-Biden Administration Would Oversee Construction of an Additional 128 Miles of Border Wall” (Southern Border Communities Coalition, December 2, 2020).

The Obama-Biden Administration would oversee construction of an additional 128 miles of border wall

• Nick Miroff, “Trump’s Unfinished Border Wall Faces Uncertain Future After Biden Pledge to Freeze Construction” (The Washington Post, December 2, 2020).

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials and military planners at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have had urgent meetings in recent days to prepare for Biden’s likely stop-work order

• John C Moritz, “Biden Said ‘Not Another Foot’ of Border Wall; Texas Democrats Will Hold Him to the Promise” (The Corpus Christi Caller Times, December 2, 2020).

The Texas Democratic Party will consider action demanding Joe Biden make good on his pledge to put the brakes on Trump’s efforts to build the wall

• Arelis R. Hernandez, Kevin Sieff, “Unwinding Trump’s Asylum Policy Will Be Major Challenge for Biden” (The Washington Post, December 2, 2020).

It probably will mean recalibrating a federal apparatus that has been used during the past four years to try to stop the majority of immigrants from coming

• Maria Sacchetti, “Biden Sees Obama’s Mass Deportations as a ‘Big Mistake,’ Plans to Pause Expulsions” (The Washington Post, December 2, 2020).

“The cartels are already gearing up,” said Thomas Homan, a retired ICE director and a Trump supporter. “And the reason they’re way up is because of the Biden effect”

• Nick Miroff, Maria Sacchetti, “Biden Plans to Spurn Trump Immigration Restrictions, but Risk of New Border Crisis Looms” (The Washington Post, December 2, 2020).

The emergency policies Trump has used at the border to contain migration pressures are among the measures Biden has pledged to rescind, leaving Homeland Security officials and analysts warning of the potential for a new crisis

Venezuela

• Sebastiana Barraez, “La Expulsion de 1.473 Miembros de la Guardia Nacional Bolivariana Revela los Alarmantes Niveles de Desercion de Militares en Venezuela” (Infobae, December 2, 2020).

La medida, tomada sin realizar el procedimiento legal requerido, acelera la destrucción de la institución tras los miles de ceses ocurridos en 2019

• “Liberan a 40 Militares Venezolanos Presos por Distintas Causas, Segun una Ong” (EFE, El Comercio (Peru), December 2, 2020).

Estos perdones se suman a los 110 que Maduro dio a finales de agosto

• Ruby Mellen, “The Hague Should Formally Investigate Venezuelan ‘Crimes Against Humanity,’ Oas Says” (The Washington Post, December 2, 2020).

The Organization of American States on Wednesday called on the International Criminal Court to formally investigate human rights abuses in Venezuela, alleging The Hague’s failure to make progress