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December 16, 2020
Western Hemisphere Regional
- John Walsh, “Can Biden-Harris ‘Just Say No’ to the Endless War on Drugs?” (Washington Office on Latin America, Responsible Statecraft (Quincy Institute), December 16, 2020).
Even if immediate reforms are modest compared to the enormity of the problem, Biden can make a lasting contribution by simply being honest about the limits and costs of overseas supply control
Bolivia
- “Policia Guarda Silencio por Caso Sacaba y Mesa Habla Con el Giei” (El Deber (Bolivia), December 16, 2020).
El coronel Jaime Zurita llegó a la Fiscalía de Sacaba y se abstuvo de emitir sus declaraciones. El expresidente se reunió con misión de la CIDH por hechos de 2019
Brazil
- Ishaan Tharoor, “Brazil Has the World’s Second-Highest Coronavirus Death Toll. But Bolsonaro Is as Popular as Ever.” (The Washington Post, December 16, 2020).
“The benefit reached many people long before the disease did”
Brazil, Mexico
- Tom Phillips, David Agren, “Brazil and Mexico Presidents Recognize Biden’s Victory After Facing Criticism” (The Guardian, December 16, 2020).
Writing to Trump after his own election in 2018, Amlo presented himself as a fellow populist – and signed off with abrazos (hugs) as opposed to the more formal un saludo (regards) he directed at Biden
- Mark Stevenson, “Brazil, Mexico Presidents Among Last to Congratulate Biden” (Associated Press, Associated Press, December 16, 2020).
More surprising was the tardy and somewhat chilly letter López Obrador said he sent to Biden late Monday
Colombia
- Isabel Pereira Arana, Luis Felipe Cruz Olivera, “De Regalo de Navidad, Duque Insiste Con el Glifosato” (DeJusticia, La Silla Vacia (Colombia), December 16, 2020).
El próximo sábado 19 de diciembre se llevará a cabo la Audiencia pública ambiental sobre el trámite de licencia para el Programa de Erradicación de Cultivos Ilícitos con Glifosato (Pecig)
- “Un Documents 375 Killings in Colombia in 2020, Urges Government Action” (United Nations, December 16, 2020).
The United Nations has recorded the deaths of 255 people in 66 massacres in Colombia this year, as well as the killing of 120 human rights defenders, the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Tuesday
- Juan Gomez, Silvia Corredor Rodriguez, Valeria Arias Suarez, Carlos Mayorga, “Antioquia Silenciada: El Mapa de Riesgos de los Liderazgos Sociales” (La Paz en el Terreno, El Espectador (Colombia), December 16, 2020).
El control ilegal sobre una nutrida lista de ‘botines’ de guerra que van más allá de la coca, la poca presencia del Estado y conflictos con grandes empresas mineroenergéticas tendrían silenciados a los líderes y las lideresas sociales antioqueños
- Cecilia Orozco Tascón, “Tres Conspiraciones (¿Criminales?) Contra la Jep” (El Espectador (Colombia), December 16, 2020).
Varios elementos tienen en común los tres operativos: uno, agentes de la DEA que intervinieron en el primero también lo hicieron en el segundo y en el tercero
- “Bachelet Insta a Colombia a Aumentar la Proteccion de la Poblacion Debido al Aumento de la Violencia en Zonas Rurales” (UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Colombia Field Office, December 16, 2020).
La Alta Comisionada de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos, Michelle Bachelet, condenó el martes el incremento de la violencia ejercida por parte de grupos armados no estatales, grupos criminales y otros elementos armados en Colombia
Colombia, Venezuela
- “Seguridad y Migracion en la Frontera Colombia-Venezuela” (Fundación Paz y Reconciliación (Colombia), December 16, 2020).
En los veinticuatro (24) municipios fronterizos de Colombia ubicados en estas regiones , durante el 2020, han sido asesinadas 472 personas; 63 de nacionalidad venezolana; 24 han sido masacradas; 1.365 personas han sido desplazadas forzosamente y 13 han sido secuestradas
Cuba
- Ben Bartenstein, “Biden Plots Cuba Reset in Rebuke of Trump’s Sanctions” (Bloomberg, December 16, 2020).
The prospect of a détente between Washington and Havana rekindles memories of the thaw that Biden helped champion during the Obama administration
- Peter Kornbluh, William Leogrande, “Mexico: New Security Law Strips Diplomatic Immunity From Dea Agents” (The Guardian, December 16, 2020).
Despite Trump’s repeated falsehoods about Obama’s “one-sided deal” with Cuba, during its short duration, the policy of positive engagement achieved remarkable results
El Salvador
- Hamed Aleaziz, “The Trump Administration Has Finalized an Agreement to Send Asylum-Seekers to el Salvador to Seek Protection” (BuzzFeed, December 16, 2020).
Earlier this year, the Biden–Sanders task force, organized after the president-elect won the Democratic nomination, recommended an end to the agreements signed with the Central American countries
- Nick Miroff, “El Salvador Ready to Accept Asylum Seekers Sent From U.S. Border, Dhs Says” (The Washington Post, December 16, 2020).
Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris has criticized the agreements with Central American countries. President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment
Mexico
- Diego Enrique Osorno, “Otros Danos Colaterales” (Milenio (Mexico), December 16, 2020).
No se refiere a los civiles que han muerto a manos de militares por pasarse un retén o en otro evento castrense, sino a soldados que acabaron siendo procesados por esto
- Luis Fernando Najera, “Choix, el Punto Rojo del Norte” (Riodoce (Sinaloa Mexico), December 16, 2020).
Se repite la historia: queman casas y asesinan a pobladores; no pasa nada, dice el alcalde
- Jose De Cordoba, Santiago Perez, “Mexico Passes Law Curbing Operations of Foreign Security Agents” (The Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2020).
The new law is likely to make U.S. agencies reluctant to share information with Mexican institutions they consider to be corrupt, and Mexican officials won’t meet with their U.S. counterparts because of the requirement they disclose the meetings
- Oscar Lopez, “Mexico, in Rebuke to U.S., Adopts Measure Restricting Foreign Agents” (The New York Times, December 16, 2020).
A senior U.S. law enforcement officer who has spent much of his career working on cases involving Mexico said Tuesday that the legislation may all but cripple American investigations in Mexico
Peru
- Alejo Marchessini, “Asi Sera el Programa de Entrenamiento de las Fuerzas Armadas de Peru Con las Fuerzas Armadas de Estados Unidos” (Defensa.com (Spain), December 16, 2020).
Tendrán en promedio una duración de 365 días y se realizarán en los Departamentos de Apurímac, Arequipa, Ayacucho, Cerro de Pasco, Huánuco, Huancavelica, Junín, Lima, Loreto, San Martin y Ucayali
U.S.-Mexico Border
- Jessica Suriano, “The Border Patrol Is Cracking Down on Humanitarian Aid” (The Nation, December 16, 2020).
Agents have targeted Arizona’s No More Deaths after the group went public with evidence of abuses of power in immigration enforcement
- Madison Lee Beal, “Rapid Migrant Expulsions Strain Mexican Border Community” (The Tucson Sentinel (Tucson Arizona), December 16, 2020).
“What really gets me so angry is that they don’t get an opportunity to see a judge or to get a lawyer”