
January 18, 2021
Western Hemisphere Regional
- Laura Barron-Lopez, Sabrina Rodriguez, “Democrats Ready Immigration Push for Biden’s Early Days” (Politico, January 18, 2021).
Key Democratic lawmakers and congressional staff have been in “constant communication” with Biden’s transition team and policy writers about the immigration plan
Brazil
- Nonato Viegas, “As Razoes Da Alta Popularidade de Bolsonaro Entre Policiais e Militares” (Veja (Brazil), January 18, 2021).
Aliado fiel de Donald Trump, Bolsonaro afirmou, após a invasão do Capitólio, que, se não tivermos voto imprenso em 2022, “nós vamos ter problemas piores do que os Estados Unidos”
Colombia
- Paula Doria, Manuela Galvis, “Arrancan Procesos por Brutalidad Policial del 9s, Pero No Como Quieren las Victimas” (La Silla Vacia (Colombia), January 18, 2021).
La Fiscalía está llevando cada caso por separado y por eso no esté construyendo una visión judicial unificada de lo que pasó el 9S
El Salvador
- “Editorial: Prohibido Olvidar” (El Faro (El Salvador), January 18, 2021).
Las historias que hemos leído en #ProhibidoOlvidarSV dan cuenta de un país en el que conviven aún el dolor de aquellos años y la determinación por sostener aquellos acuerdos como un logro mayúsculo
Guatemala, Honduras
- Kirk Semple, Nic Wirtz, “Migrant Caravan, Now in Guatemala, Tests Regional Resolve to Control Migration” (The New York Times, January 18, 2021).
Guatemalan migration officials estimated on Sunday that about 6,000 migrants were corralled between Chiquimula and the border with Honduras, most of them Honduran
- Sandra Sebastián, “Guatemala Forces Stall Migrant Caravan With Tear Gas, Batons” (Associated Press, Associated Press, January 18, 2021).
The roadblock was strategically placed at a chokepoint on the two-lane highway to Chiquimula in an area known as Vado Hondo. It’s flanked by a tall mountainside and a wall leaving the migrants with few options
- Sandra Cuffe, “Hondurans Remain Hopeful as Guatemala Cracks Down on Caravan” (Al Jazeera, January 18, 2021).
Hundreds of migrants managed to push through military and police lines on Saturday, but when others unsuccessfully attempted to do so on Sunday morning, soldiers responded with batons and tear gas
Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico
- “Caravana Migrante 2021 Es Detenida en Guatemala; Mexico Vigila Puntos de Llegada” (Chiapas Paralelo (Chiapas), January 18, 2021).
La persecución e intento por frenar la primera caravana de migrantes del 2021, ha provocado que miles de uniformados de México, Guatemala, El Salvador y Honduras hayan tenido que movilizarse en los pasos fronterizos
Guatemala, Honduras, U.S.-Mexico Border
- Julia Ainsley, “Incoming Biden Administration to Migrant Caravan: Don’t Come, You Won’t Get in Immediately” (NBC News, January 18, 2021).
People in the caravan “will not find when they get to the U.S. border that from Tuesday to Wednesday, things have changed overnight and ports are all open and they can come into the United States”
Mexico
- Selene Flores, Adyr Corral, “Vigilancia Disminuye en Frontera Con Guatemala” (Milenio (Mexico), January 18, 2021).
La presencia de elementos de seguridad mexicanos en la frontera sur disminuyó este domingo, luego de que la caravana de migrantes proveniente de Honduras fuera detenida y obligada a retroceder por la fuerza policiaca y militares de Guatemala
- Francisco Abundis, “El Juicio Publico del Caso Cienfuegos” (Milenio (Mexico), January 18, 2021).
El nivel de confianza en las fuerzas armadas de nuestro país en general, y en particular del Ejercito, tiene altos niveles de confianza (alrededor del 70%)
- Armando Solis, “In Mexico, Women Take the Front Lines as Vigilantes” (Associated Press, Associated Press, January 18, 2021).
The vigilantes bitterly deny allegations they’re part of a criminal gang, though they clearly see the Jalisco cartel as their foe. They say they would be more than happy for police and soldiers to come in and do their jobs
- Natalie Kitroeff, Alan Feuer, Oscar Lopez, “In Blow to U.S. Alliance, Mexico Clears General Accused of Drug Trafficking” (The New York Times, January 18, 2021).
“It’s evident that the Mexican government is more afraid of its own army than the U.S. government, to which it has been servile”
- Jacobo Garcia, “Mexico Militariza la Frontera Sur Ante la Llegada de la Primera Caravana de la Era Biden” (El Pais (Spain), January 18, 2021).
La incógnita ahora es el comportamiento de México y su mensaje a la Administración de Joe Biden, que toma posesión el miércoles
- Vanda Felbab-Brown, “Us-Mexico Security Relationship in 2021” (Brookings Institution, Mexico Today, January 18, 2021).
The United States can take only one message from all of this: the López Obrador administration at its highest levels is not a trustworthy U.S. security partner
U.S.-Mexico Border
- Nick Phillips, “Border Wall Construction in Early Phases Near Patagonia Mountains” (Nogales International, January 18, 2021).
Contractors have been working day and sometimes night, effectively racing against the clock to build the border wall in the waning days of President Donald Trump’s term
- Samuel Gilbert, “‘My Neighbourhood Is Being Destroyed to Pacify His Supporters’: The Race to Complete Trump’s Wall” (The Guardian, January 18, 2021).
A week after inauguration day, a coalition of groups across the borderlands will begin a monitoring project in order to assess the damage, and to see what needs to be done. Some hope certain sections can be removed
- Julia Wallace, “As Trump Exits, Laredo Could Elude Border Wall” (The Laredo Morning Times (Laredo Texas), January 18, 2021).
The 14 -mile span from the rail road bridge north to El Pico Water Plant is 90% complete in its design phase. Surveys are still ongoing, along with engineering, environmental and flood plain studies
Venezuela
- “Claves Sobre la Detencion de los Trabajadores Humanitarios en la Ong Azul Positivo” (Efecto Cocuyo (Venezuela), January 18, 2021).
Organizaciones nacionales e internacionales defensoras de los derechos humanos exigen la liberación de los detenidos, así como un pronunciamiento por parte del coordinador Residente del Sistema de las Naciones Unidas
- Scott Smith, Joshua Goodman, “Maduro Ally Presses for Dialogue With Biden” (Associated Press, Associated Press, January 18, 2021).
Rodriguez, extending an olive branch to the incoming U.S. president, said the ruling socialist party is eager for a new start after four years of endless attacks by the Trump administration