March 26, 2021
Central America Regional
- Bill Chappell, “‘Predatory Elite’ Also Bear the Blame for Migrant Crisis, Nsc’s Juan Gonzalez Says” (National Public Radio, March 26, 2021).
“You have, frankly, a predatory elite that benefits from the status quo, which is to not pay any taxes or invest in social programs,” said Gonzalez, the National Security Council’s senior director for the Western Hemisphere
Colombia
- “El General (R) Rito Alejo del Rao Nega³ Sus Nexos Con los Paramilitares en la Jep” (El Espectador (Colombia), March 26, 2021).
La primera audiencia del general (r) Rito Alejo del Río no fue como las víctimas esperaban
- Sebastian Forero Rueda, “Entre 2016 y 2020, 75 Lideres de Sustitucion de Coca Fueron Asesinados” (El Espectador (Colombia), March 26, 2021).
El programa Somos Defensores, la Corporación Viso Mutop y la Asociación Minga presentan hoy un documento sobre las agresiones a esta población desde la firma de la paz
- “Informe Especial «la Sustitucion Voluntaria Siembra Paz»” (Viso Mutop, Minga, Somos Defensores, Viso Mutop (Colombia), March 26, 2021).
Agresiones a personas defensoras de derechos humanos y población campesinas vinculadas a cultivos de uso ilícito
- “Explosion de Bomba en la Alcaldia de Corinto (Cauca) Deja 17 Heridos” (El Espectador (Colombia), March 26, 2021).
De acuerdo con la administración municipal once de los heridos son funcionarios de la Alcaldía
Colombia, Venezuela
- Sofia Nederr, “Foro Runrunes: «la Guerrilla Tiene Mas de 10 Anos Actuando en la Zona de Apure»” (Tal Cual (Venezuela), March 26, 2021).
Kyle Johnson, cofundador e investigador de la fundación Conflict Responses, aseguró que hay intentos de reclutamientos de migrantes venezolanos dentro de Colombia
- Marko Alvarez, Astrid Suarez, “Ngos: Venezuela Military, Colombia Rebels Continue Fighting” (Associated Press, The Washington Post, March 26, 2021).
Colombian officials said more than 3,900 people have now moved from Venezuela to northeast Colombia, about 800 more than Wednesday
Guatemala, Mexico
- Maria Verza, “Despite News Efforts, Thousands Cross Mexico’s Southern Border” (Associated Press, The Chicago Tribune, March 26, 2021).
The reality is it’s business as usual, with entire communities making a living off the passing migrants
Honduras
- Julian Borger, “The Us Has Been Silent on Honduras’s Drug Problem, but That Might Be About to Change” (The Guardian, March 26, 2021).
“In many foreign policy circles we have a tendency to look at the world, and in Latin America in particular, in terms of left and right, with the left as bad guys and the right as the good guys.”
Mexico
- Asuncion Cabrera, Alondra Resendiz, Fernanda Vega, Xareni Marquez, Metztli Molina, Javier Sanchez Alpizar, Juan Gomez, Becarixs; Dulce Soto, Violeta Santiago, Paris Martínez, “NGOs: Venezuela military, Colombia rebels continue fighting” (The Washington Post, March 26, 2021).
International monitoring groups say clashes that began over the weekend between Venezuelaâ??s military and a Colombian armed group in a community along the nationsâ?? shared border have continued
- IsaÍn Mandujano, “Mujeres Migrantes Amenazan Con Huelga de Hambre Tras Sufrir Hacinamiento en Albergue” (Chiapas Paralelo (Chiapas), March 26, 2021).
Un grupo de mujeres migrantes centroamericanas y sus hijos se amotinaron este viernes en el albergue conocido como La Mosca en el municipio de Chiapa de Corzo
- “Frontera Sur: “¡No Vengan, Esta Muy Duro!” las Fuerza Federales Tienden un Cerco Con Guatemala” (EFE, SinEmbargo (Mexico), March 26, 2021).
Las fuerzas federales mexicanas se han desplegado por las peligrosas rutas migratorias entre el estado de Tabasco (sureste de México) y la frontera con Guatemala, hoy cerrada a toda actividad no esencial, lo que obliga a los migrantes a buscar nuevos caminos
- Ricardo Ravelo, “Edomex-Narco: La Radiografia Perturbadora” (SinEmbargo (Mexico), March 26, 2021).
El Gobernador Alfredo del Mazo ha sido incapaz de frenar al crimen organizado en el territorio que gobierna; tampoco ha puesto orden en las filas policiacas, consideradas una de las más corruptas del país
- Aranza Flores, Asuncion Cabrera, Kenia Sotelo, Sandra Ramirez, Xareni Marquez, Becarias; Paris Martinez, Violeta Santiago, “La Busqueda de Desaparecidos en Mexico No la Detiene Ni el Covid-19” (Animal Politico (Mexico), March 26, 2021).
“Te enfrentas a una serie de obstáculos que coartan tu trabajo y la posibilidad de seguir avanzando, de seguir acompañando, de seguir señalando”, dice Anaís al recordar. Luego sentencia: “Tienes al aparato estatal soplándote en la nuca”
Nicaragua
- “Senadores de ee.uu. Introducen Ley para Sancionar a Regimen de Daniel Ortega” (Expediente Publico (Honduras), March 26, 2021).
La Reinforcing Nicaragua’s Adherence to Conditions for Electoral Reform (RENACER Act) también busca reforzar los informes de inteligencia sobre las actividades de espionaje de Rusia en Nicaragua
- Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), “Murphy, Menendez, Rubio, Kaine, Durbin, Cardin Introduce Legislation to Advance Democratic Elections in Nicaragua” (U.S. Senate, March 26, 2021).
Entitled the Reinforcing Nicaragua’s Adherence to Conditions for Electoral Reform (RENACER) Act, the legislation proposes new initiatives to address corruption by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s government and family, as well as human rights abuses
Peru
- “In Peru’s Presidential Race There Is No Clear Front Runner” (The Economist (Uk), March 26, 2021).
Add up the “don’t knows” and those who tell pollsters they will cast blank or spoilt ballots and they come to around 30%
- Sebastian Castaneda, “Encuentro Con el ‘Camarada Gabriel’” (El Comercio (Peru), March 26, 2021).
También dijo que los bombardeos de los helicópteros eran “como caca de gaviota” para ellos
U.S.-Mexico Border
- Ryan Devereaux, “The Border Patrol Is Dropping Migrant Families in Arizona Desert Towns With Little Capacity to Receive Them” (The Intercept, March 26, 2021).
“It’s 30 miles to the next type of town — and that’s 30 miles of open desert,” Mayor Chris Riggs said on Tuesday. “Come July and August, we’re going to be finding bodies”
- Adam Serwer, “The Real Border Crisis” (The Atlantic, March 26, 2021).
To the extent that the United States has a border crisis, it is an enduring one: the mistreatment of human beings in American custody
- Alicia A. Caldwell, Michelle Hackman, “Border Crossings by Migrant Children to Rise Sharply, U.S. Estimates Show” (The Wall Street Journal, March 26, 2021).
The Biden administration estimates that between 18,600 to about 22,000 children could cross the U.S. southern border in April. For May, officials are guessing the figure could rise to between 21,800 and nearly 25,000
- Miriam Jordan, “9-Year-Old Migrant Girl Dies Trying to Cross Rio Grande Into U.S.” (The New York Times, March 26, 2021).
Desperate migrants brave perilous river, ocean and desert crossings to reach the United States. Many have died of heat stroke after getting lost in the remote, rugged arid lands of Arizona
- “Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) Lead a Tour of the Carrizo Springs Detention Facility for Unaccompanied Migrant Children, as the Number of Kids in Us Custody Continues to Rise” (Mother Jones, March 26, 2021).
What they reported was not exactly great, but it was perhaps somewhat encouraging, particularly in light of other dire images of migrant families held at the border
- Suzanne Gamboa, Rebecca Shabad, Dareh Gregorian, “Democrats, Republicans Hold Dueling Border Trips. Their Takeaways Couldn’t Be More Different.” (NBC News, March 26, 2021).
Congressional Republicans and Democrats were about 245 miles away from each other in Texas Friday for firsthand observation of the children and families coming into the United States from Mexico — and worlds apart on how to handle the increase
- Rebecca Morin, Savannah Behrmann, “‘Heartbreaking’: Republicans Slam Biden for Migrant Influx, While Democrats Call on Biden to Quickly Move Children to Sponsors” (USA Today, March 26, 2021).
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who fled civil war-torn Somalia with her family when she was 8 and spent four years in a refugee camp before moving to the U.S., said she saw herself in the children she talked to at the facility