(Even more here)

February 8, 2021

Chile

• Pascale Bonnefoy, Mike Ives, “Public Buildings Set Ablaze in Chile After Police Shoot Street Juggler” (The New York Times, February 8, 2021).

Protesters in Panguipulli, Chile, outraged by the killing there of a popular street performer, set several public offices ablaze on Friday night. Anger over police misconduct has led to growing calls for reform

Chile, Ecuador, Peru

• “Superdomingo Electoral: Chile, Peru y Ecuador Van a las Urnas el 11 de Abril” (EFE, El Comercio (Peru), February 8, 2021).

La segunda vuelta electoral en Ecuador del 11 de abril se une a las elecciones presidenciales y legislativas en el Perú, mientras que Chile irá a las urnas para elegir a los miembros que redactarán la nueva Constitución y a los responsables de la administración local

Colombia

• Rodrigo Uprimny, “¿a Maquillar las Cifras de la Muerte?” (DeJusticia, El Espectador (Colombia), February 8, 2021).

Esta propuesta es tan mala que suscita una inevitable sospecha: que el Gobierno y sus aliados en esas instituciones maquillen estas cifras para disculpar un hecho contundente: que ni el Gobierno ni la Fiscalía han podido enfrentar estos crímenes

• “El Estado Le Pide a la Corte Idh Que el Caso Up se Remita a 219 Victimas” (El Espectador (Colombia), February 8, 2021).

“El Estado insiste que sin una descripción de los hechos en el informe de fondo, los datos del listado resultan insuficientes para el análisis que debe analizar la Corte sobre atribución de responsabilidad del Estado”

• Yohir Akerman, “Relaciones Que Matan” (El Espectador (Colombia), February 8, 2021).

Narváez Martínez, fuera de ser parte de la entraña de los paramilitares, era parte del núcleo íntimo del expresidente Álvaro Uribe Vélez

• Juan Manuel Torres, “#Sosbuenaventura: Una Lucha Juvenil en Medio de las Balas” (Fundación Paz y Reconciliación (Colombia), February 8, 2021).

Hay sectores confinados y dejados a la suerte del negacionismo de las autoridades, la imagen de los desplazamientos intraurbanos ha sido recurrente y también está ocurriendo un desplazamiento silencioso de líderes y lideresas sociales

• “Jep Indaga Sobre Presuntas Presiones para Que Militares Cambien Sus Testimonios” (El Espectador (Colombia), February 8, 2021).

Un uniformado señala que esas presiones vendrían del Fondo de Defensa Técnica Especializada de los Miembros de la Fuerza Pública (Fondectec)

• Diana Durán Núñez, “Exjefe Paramilitar “Cuco” Vanoy Ruega en ee.uu. Que Lo Dejen Libre “por Compasion”” (El Espectador (Colombia), February 8, 2021).

Los fiscales de ese país se oponen a toda costa a su solicitud y dejaron al descubierto que Vanoy habría mentido bajo juramento

Colombia, Venezuela

• “Seis Muertos Tras Supuesto Enfrentamiento Entre el Ejercito y las Farc en Amazonas” (Tal Cual (Venezuela), February 8, 2021).

«se presume que las bajas son de la Fuerza Armada Nacional (FAN), pues en la retirada un soldado abandonó una ametralladora AFAG»

Cuba

• “Cuba Opens Up Its Economy to Private Businesses” (BBC (UK), February 8, 2021).

Labour Minister Marta Elena Feito said the list of authorised activities had expanded from 127 to more than 2,000

Ecuador

• Jose Maria Leon Cabrera, Anatoly Kurmanaev, Natalie Kitroeff, “Ecuador’s Presidential Vote Heads to a Runoff” (The New York Times, February 8, 2021).

The principal difference between the leading candidates was their stance on Rafael Correa

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras

• Antony J. Blinken, “Suspending and Terminating the Asylum Cooperative Agreements With the Governments el Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras” (U.S. Department of State, February 8, 2021).

The United States has suspended and initiated the process to terminate the Asylum Cooperative Agreements with the Governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras as the first concrete steps on the path to greater partnership and collaboration

Guatemala, Mexico

• “Nearly All Victims of Mexican Massacre Confirmed as Guatemalans” (Reuters, Reuters, February 8, 2021).

So far 16 of the victims have been identified, including two Mexican nationals and 14 Guatemalans

Haiti

• Harold Isaac, Andre Paultre, Maria Abi-Habib, “Haiti Braces for Unrest as a Defiant President Refuses to Step Down” (The New York Times, February 8, 2021).

The political uncertainty has sowed feelings of dread, with fears that street demonstrations in coming days will turn violent and plunge the country into a long period of unrest

Honduras

• Julia Aikman Cifuentes, Adriana Beltran, “A Year of Setbacks to Honduras’ Anti-Corruption Efforts” (Washington Office on Latin America, February 8, 2021).

The need for widespread support of an anti-corruption agenda—in order to address the institutional rot that is driving migration—is unequivocal

Mexico

• Jorge Monroy, “Eu Capacito en Materia de Derechos Humanos a Tres Agentes de Tamaulipas Detenidos por el Caso Camargo” (El Economista (Mexico), February 8, 2021).

La Embajada de Estados Unidos informó que la capacitación a dichos agentes se dio antes de que ingresaran al Grupo de Operaciones Especiales de Tamaulipas (Gopes)

U.S.-Mexico Border

• Silvia Foster-Frau, Arelis R. Hernandez, Kevin Sieff, Nick Miroff, “Biden Faces Border Challenge as Migrant Families Arrive in Greater Numbers and Large Groups” (The Washington Post, February 8, 2021).

fter barely a week of Biden’s presidency, Mexico has started refusing the return of some families, citing a new law that went into effect last month requiring children to go to family-appropriate shelters

• “Editorial: It’s Biden’s Border Wall Now. Here’s How He Should Handle It” (The Los Angeles Times, February 8, 2021).

The nation needs a balanced assessment of where barriers serve a practical purpose and where they don’t, where they are environmentally safe and where they are not, and whether compensation is due to people damaged by Trump’s foolishness

• Julian Resendiz, “Mexico: It’s Not the Right Time for Migrant Families to Approach Us Border” (Border Report, February 8, 2021).

“I must say that at no time has this flow stopped. People are still being returned (to Mexico) under Title 42,” he said

• Adolfo Flores, Hamed Aleaziz, “Border Agents in Texas Have Started Releasing Some Immigrant Families After Mexico Refused to Take Them Back” (BuzzFeed, February 8, 2021).

Chad Wolf, the former acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, tweeted that the change marked the return of “catch and release” and warned that it will lead to a “full blown crisis” at the border

• “Immigrants in Texas Worry Biden Administration Won’t End Trump Barriers” (CBS Dallas-Fort Worth, February 8, 2021).

There is likely to be more overlap between the Biden and Trump immigration policies than many of the activists who backed the Democrat’s successful presidential campaign had hoped