(Even more here)

March 23, 2021

Bolivia

• Jose Miguel Vivanco, Cesar Munoz, “Bolivia Should End Revenge Justice” (Human Rights Watch, March 23, 2021).

The more than 1,500 pages in the case file against Morales, which we reviewed, contained zero evidence he had committed acts that would appropriately be considered terrorism. Similarly, the terrorism charges against Áñez are grossly disproportionate

Brazil

• “Bolsonaro Uses Brazil’s Dictatorship-Era Law as Protesters Depict Him as a Nazi” (Associated Press, The Guardian, March 23, 2021).

The national security law, which dates from 1983, near the end of the country’s military dictatorship, states it is a crime to harm the heads of the three branches of government or expose them to danger. That vague definition has recently been used

Central America Regional

• Jose Luis Sanz, “Biden Encarga Centroamerica al Hombre Que Negocio la Reapertura Con Cuba” (El Faro (El Salvador), March 23, 2021).

Estados Unidos ha nombrado enviado especial para el Triángulo Norte al hombre que en 2014 negoció la reapertura de relaciones con Cuba y diseñó la estrategia de ayuda a Centroamérica con que Obama respondió a la crisis de los niños migrantes

Colombia

• “Morir Bajo Custodia de la Policia: Cuatro Denuncias de Homicidios en Estaciones” (El Espectador (Colombia), March 23, 2021).

En los últimos cuatro años, se han registrado 375 homicidios que habrían sido cometidos por agentes. Por lo menos ocho tuvieron lugar en estaciones de Policía. Presentamos cuatro de esas historias

• Tatiana Duque, “Duque Repotencia la Seguridad Con Mas de Lo Mismo, en un Empaque para el 2022” (La Silla Vacia (Colombia), March 23, 2021).

Duque le jugará más a las presiones políticas internas por lograr resultados a corto plazo del Centro Democrático, que a una estrategia de largo plazo, como la que vienen pidiendo algunos Demócratas en Washington

Colombia, Honduras, Panama

• Leanne Thomas, “Army South, 1st Sfab Conclude Week-Long Operation Alamo Shield Mission Prep” (Dialogo (U.S. Southern Command), March 23, 2021).

U.S. Army South hosted a pre-deployment training seminar, Operation Alamo Shield Mission Prep, at their headquarters February 23-25, to prepare teams assigned to the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade (1st SFAB) for future training and advising missions in Colombia, Honduras, and Panama

Colombia, Venezuela

• “Mas de 600 Personas Desplazadas por Operativo Militar en Venezuela” (El Colombiano (Medellin Colombia), March 23, 2021).

El Gobierno de Nicolás Maduro en Venezuela confirmó que durante este domingo las fuerzas militares de ese país desarrollaron una operación en el estado venezolano de Apure, limítrofe con el departamento de Arauca, en el que murieron dos militares

• “Causas de la Profundizacion de la Violencia en los Estados Fronterizos Con Colombia” (Asociación Civil Control Ciudadano (Venezuela), March 23, 2021).

Se calcula, que unas 2000 personas, es decir, casi un 30 % esta en Venezuela, en datos bien conservadores

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico

• Ned Price, “Announcement of Ricardo Zuniga as Special Envoy for the Northern Triangle” (U.S. Department of State, March 23, 2021).

The Special Envoy will engage with regional governments, including but not limited to Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, on a range of issues in order to seek to improve conditions in Central America

Honduras

• Carlos Dada, “Honduras, un Gran Dolor de Cabeza para Biden” (El Faro, The New York Times, March 23, 2021).

El presidente Biden necesita cambiar la estrategia hacia Honduras pero primero debe combatir las inercias de la política exterior estadounidense

• “Honduran National Convicted on Drug Trafficking and Weapons Charges” (U.S. Department of Justice, March 23, 2021).

In or about 2013, FUENTES RAMIREZ paid a bribe of at least approximately $25,000 to Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández Alvarado (“JOH”), who was at the time the president of the Honduran National Congress, and allowed JOH to access millions of dollars’ worth of cocaine

Mexico

• Arturo Contreras Camero, “Con Militares Confesos, una Ejecucion Extrajudicial Suma 8 Meses Impune” (Pie de Página, Chiapas Paralelo (Chiapas), March 23, 2021).

Damián Genovés Tercero murió a manos de elementos del Ejército Mexicano, en una ejecución extrajudicial, según se mira en un video que un oficial del propio Ejército entregó al padre de la víctima; a pesar de que los autores confesaron el delito, la justicia no llega

• Javier Santos, Myriam Navarro, “Tras Balacera en Guayabitos, se Reportan Heridos y Detenciones” (La Jornada (Mexico), March 23, 2021).

Luego del enfrentamiento fue detenido Erick Joel Del Toro López, alias “El M-3” y presunto jefe regional del Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación

Nicaragua

• “En 2018 Fueron Asesinatos, Desde 2019 Matan Nuestros Derechos: La Estrategia Ortega-Murillo al Descubierto” (Federación Internacional por los Derechos Humanos, March 23, 2021).

FIDH – Federación Internacional por los Derechos Humanos y el Centro Nicaragüense de Derechos Humanos (CENIDH) publican un informe de más de 70 páginas sobre esta ola de represión y terror

• Carlos Fernando Chamorro, “Nicaragua, Sin Garantias Electorales para la Oposicion” (El Faro (El Salvador), March 23, 2021).

Vivimos bajo un estado policial que ha conculcado por las vías de hecho las libertades de reunión, asociación y movilización, y las libertades de prensa y de expresión

U.S.-Mexico Border

• Nick Miroff, Maria Sacchetti, “Migrant Teens and Children Have Challenged Three Administrations, but Biden Faces Rush With No Precedent” (The Washington Post, March 23, 2021).

Border officials are on pace to take in more than 17,000 minors this month, which would be an all-time high

• Elliot Spagat, “Amid Border Surge, Confusion Reigns Over Biden Policies” (Associated Press, Associated Press, March 23, 2021).

Badly misinformed, the migrants harbor false hope that President Joe Biden will open entry to the United States briefly and without notice

• Camilo Montoya-Galvez, “Refugee Agency to Fast-Track Release of Some Migrant Children With Parents in the U.S.” (CBS News, March 23, 2021).

The new process allows caseworkers to partially fill out applications necessary for the release of children during interviews with their parents or legal guardians, instead of having the prospective sponsors complete the forms

• Kate Morrissey, “Asylum Seekers at San Diego Border Ask Biden for Answers Amid Inconsistent Policies” (The San Diego Union-Tribune, March 23, 2021).

While President Biden has taken some steps to change Trump’s asylum policies, many are still in effect to keep asylum seekers out of the country they hope will protect them. Those policies are not being applied evenly

• Molly Hennessy-Fiske, “Overwhelmed, Border Patrol Releases Migrants Without Court Paperwork, Stirring Confusion” (The Los Angeles Times, March 23, 2021).

Some of the migrants mistakenly believed they had 90 days to apply for permission to remain in the U.S.; that they already had permission, or that their paperwork contained a phone number for them to contact immigration officials

• Adriana Gomez Licon, “Mysterious New System at Border Keeps Migrants Guessing” (Associated Press, Associated Press, March 23, 2021).

The criteria to be allowed into the U.S. are a closely held secret. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has referred only to “acute vulnerabilities” that qualify families for release in the United States to pursue asylum instead of immediate expulsion

• Julia Ainsley, Dasha Burns, Jody Hammond, “Amid Surge, Border Agents in Rio Grande Valley Are Releasing Migrants Without Court Dates” (NBC News, March 23, 2021).

According to data obtained by NBC News, Border Patrol apprehended 1,807 migrants who were traveling as parts of families on Friday, and only 179 of them were expelled back into Mexico

• Stef W. Kight, “Inside a Crowded Border Patrol Tent for Migrants in Texas” (Axios, March 23, 2021).

As of Saturday, there were 10,000 migrants in CBP custody overall. Nearly half were unaccompanied minors — thousands of whom had been waiting for more than 3 days

• Molly Hennessy-Fiske, “Hundreds of Migrants Cross the Rio Grande Nightly: ‘We All Came With Dreams’” (The Los Angeles Times, March 23, 2021).

They also shed the plastic bracelets they had been issued by smugglers to signify they had paid for their passage. The brush around them was littered with scores of the bracelets

• Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona), “Sinema, Cornyn Urge Biden to Use ‘Full Authorities’ at Border” (U.S. Senate, March 23, 2021).

The Senators wrote, “We write to urge you to use your full authorities to effectively respond to and successfully manage the ongoing crisis at our Southwest Border”