(Even more here)

January 29, 2021

Central America Regional

• James D. Nealon, Eric L. Olson, Kurt Alan Ver Beek, “Biden’s Immigration Policy Needs Anti-Corruption Focus in Central America” (Univision, January 29, 2021).

Biden needs to follow through on a proposed Central American regional anti-corruption commission. Otherwise, U.S. aid will not stop thousands of desperate people from fleeing

Colombia

• “Las Dos Caras de la Moneda en la Adjudicacion y Formalizacion de Tierras a Campesinos” (El Espectador (Colombia), January 29, 2021).

Mientras unos pidieron paciencia y reconocimiento hacia los logros alcanzados, otros reclamaron que los puntos altos son pocos y que en los territorios siguen marginados y desterrados

• Armando Neira, “Un Viaje al Infierno: Cuando las Farc se Suicidaron Politicamente” (El Tiempo (Colombia), January 29, 2021).

En efecto, la guerrilla se deshumanizó por completo con este delito

• Juan Forero, “Colombia Court Accuses Former Rebel Chiefs of War Atrocities” (The Wall Street Journal, January 29, 2021).

Conflict researchers, victims and former peace negotiators said the accusations are a signal to critics, who assert that rebels benefited from the peace process without fear of punishment, that the justice system set up by the accord is functioning

• “‘Mandos Medios y Ejecutores de las Farc Tambien Seran Acusados de Secuestro Este Ano’: Jep” (El Espectador (Colombia), January 29, 2021).

Se expedirán otros documentos en los que se individualizará la responsabilidad por Bloques de exmandos medios y ejecutores de las Farc en todos los territorios donde se cometió este delito de lesa humanidad

• Gloria Castrillon Pulido, Carolina Avila Cortes, Beatriz Valdes Correa, Laura Dulce Romero, Valerie Cortes Villalba, Valentina Parada Lugo, “Las Mujeres Que Buscan a los Desaparecidos en Colombia” (El Espectador (Colombia), January 29, 2021).

Miles de mujeres en Colombia luchan todos los días y desde hace décadas por sacar del olvido a sus seres queridos desaparecidos

Colombia, Cuba, Haiti

• “Covid Strands 1,000 Cuban, Haitian Migrants in Colombia” (Agence France Presse, France 24 (France), January 29, 2021).

Now in makeshift tents on the beach of Necocli, these migrants hope to sneak into Panama en route to the US by crossing the dangerous Gulf of Uraba to the Colombian border town of Acandi

Cuba

• William M. Leogrande, “Biden Should Act Fast on Cuba” (The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, January 29, 2021).

China and Iran are intrinsically more important than Cuba, which poses no real threat to the United States. Nevertheless, there are good reasons for the president to move quickly to re-engage with Cuba

• “Cuba Has Refused Deportation Flights, but Ice Isn’t Letting Most Cubans Out of Detention” (Mother Jones, January 29, 2021).

The eight men argue that their ongoing detention violates a Supreme Court decision that generally blocks ICE from detaining people that it is unable to deport for more than six months, and who don’t pose a threat to public safety

Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela

• “Ecuador Tambien Aumenta Presencia Militar en Frontera Con Peru para Frenar Migracion” (EFE, Efecto Cocuyo (Venezuela), January 29, 2021).

Ecuador reforzará los destacamentos militares e incorporará una veintena de vehículos tácticos Hammer para ampliar la movilidad de sus patrullas en la frontera con Perú, con el fin de vigilar el ingreso de migrantes

El Salvador

• Nathaniel Janowitz, Bryan Avelar, “El Salvador’s President Jokes That He’s a Dictator. But Maybe He Is?” (VICE, January 29, 2021).

El Salvador’s 39-year-old President Nayib Bukele sent local Twitter into a tailspin when he briefly changed his profile picture to an image of Sacha Baron Cohen from the movie The Dictator

Mexico

• Falko Ernst, “Virus-Proof: covid19, Crime, and Lethal Conflict in Mexico” (International Crisis Group, El Faro (El Salvador), January 29, 2021).

A better approach with a realistic chance of proving effective would be to focus on a select number of regions producing the bulk of lethal conflict, such as Guanajuato, Guerrero, and Michoacán

• Max Radwin, “Migrants Killed in Mexico Took Treacherous Path” (InsightCrime, January 29, 2021).

In this case, it seems strange that the coyote was able to walk free and even alert the families in Guatemala that their relatives had been killed

Mexico, U.S.-Mexico Border, Western Hemisphere Regional

• Kirk Semple, “Biden’s Promise of Immigration Reform Raises Hopes in Latin America” (The New York Times, January 29, 2021).

The impatience is a reflection of the soaring demand for relief among migrants amid an economically crippling pandemic and after four years of efforts by the Trump administration to choke off both legal and illegal immigration

Nicaragua

• Katie Jones, “Decades of Deforestation, Illegal Mining and Impunity in Nicaragua” (InsightCrime, January 29, 2021).

The Fundación del Río (River Foundation), a conservation organization focused on Southeast Nicaragua, has been systematically reporting on the gradual environmental destruction of the Indio Maíz

U.S.-Mexico Border

• Nina Lakhani, “Biden Faces Call to Heal Environmental and Cultural Scars of Trump Border Wall” (The Guardian, January 29, 2021).

Community leaders and experts consulted by the Guardian warned that urgent action is needed to stop the damage to fragile biodiverse landscapes and scarce water sources getting worse

• “Dhs Has Not Effectively Implemented the Prompt Asylum Pilot Programs” (Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, January 29, 2021).

In October 2019, DHS began pilots of the Prompt Asylum Claim Review (PACR) and Humanitarian Asylum Review Process (HARP) programs to quickly process migrants with claims of credible fear. We conducted this review to evaluate DHS’ effectiveness to date in implementing the programs

• Steve Holland, Alexandra Alper, “Biden to Sign Order to Modernize the U.S. Immigration System on Tuesday” (Reuters, Reuters, January 29, 2021).

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also said that nominee Alejandro Mayorkas would head up a task force that seeks to reunite migrant families

• Priscilla Alvarez, “‘It’s Frustrating’: Thousands of Migrants Sit in Mexico Desperate for Answers From the Biden Administration” (CNN, January 29, 2021).

“These Trump policies are alive and well on the border … it’s frustrating”

• Several Bishops, Several Clergy, “Border Faith Leaders: Letter to President Biden to Reform and Re-Imagine Immigration Policy” (Hope Border Initiative, January 29, 2021).

the critical work of rebuilding must also begin at the border, where our national bonds of solidarity and the rule of law have both been distorted and undermined

• Numerous Medical Experts, “Letter to Acting Hhs Secretary Cochran and Cdc Director Walensky” (Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, January 29, 2021).

We write to urge the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to rescind – and not extend or re-adopt – xenophobic, cruel, and unlawful policies implemented by the Trump administration under the pretext of public health

Venezuela

• Alejandra Arredondo, Gustavo Ocando Alex, “Temen Escasez de Diesel en Venezuela: ¿Podria Revertirlo el Gobierno de Biden?” (Voice of America, January 29, 2021).

Varios analistas consultados por la Voz de América consideran que revocar la restricción no levantaría la presión a Maduro, y en cambio, evitaría que el país se quede sin diésel, esencial para el transporte de alimentos