(Even more here)

April 22, 2021

Central America Regional

• Priscilla Alvarez, “White House Considers Broad Range of Migration Plans Ahead of Harris Visit to Central America” (CNN, April 22, 2021).

The Biden administration is considering pressing Guatemala to address governance issues in the country, ranging from investment to corruption

Colombia

• Maria del Pilar Barbosa, Martha Maya, “Los Pdet Tienen Enorme Potencial, Pero Necesitan a Todo el Estado” (Instituto para las Transiciones Integrales, El Espectador (Colombia), April 22, 2021).

Ejemplos puntuales de logros y aciertos de los programas de desarrollo con enfoque territorial demuestran todo lo que podría lograrse, pero también todo el apoyo que se requiere

• “Historico: Congreso Aprobo en Primer Debate Proyecto para Regular Hoja de Coca, Pero Con Cambios” (El Espectador (Colombia), April 22, 2021).

Después de una dura discusión, la Comisión Primera del Senado votó 12 a favor y cero en contra. El Centro Democrático no votó

• Agnes Walton, Ramon Campos Iriarte, Sayre Quevedo, Ashley Cleek, “3 Union Leaders Were Shot Dead and Colombia Says an American Company Financed Their Killers” (VICE, April 22, 2021).

The murders, which happened 20 years ago, were committed by paramilitaries who Colombian investigators say were financed by an Alabama coal company

• Ernesto Guzman Jr., Irene Escudero, “Colombia Violence Continues With Murder of Indigenous Leader” (EFE, La Prensa Latina, April 22, 2021).

Sandra Liliana Peña, the Nasa people’s governor and an environmental leader for the La Laguna Siberia nature preserve, was traveling on a motorcycle on Tuesday when four armed men shot her and her driver to death

• ““Disidencias Deben Considerarse un Incumplimiento de las Farc”: Canciller a la Onu” (El Espectador (Colombia), April 22, 2021).

La canciller colombiana, Claudia Blum, afirmó que la existencia de disidencias debía considerarse “como un incumplimiento de la antigua guerrilla convertida ahora en partido Político”

Colombia, Ecuador

• “Lasso Promete Recuperar el Espacio Cedido a los Grupos Irregulares” (El Tiempo (Colombia), April 22, 2021).

Nueve días después de ser elegido presidente de Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso llegó ayer a Colombia para sostener un diálogo con el presidente Iván Duque

El Salvador

• “Report: Soaring Disappearances in el Salvador Linked to Gang Pacts” (InsightCrime, April 22, 2021).

Disappearances have been used as an “efficient practice” by gangs to guarantee impunity while still invoking terror among local communities

Honduras

• “Schakowsky, Johnson, Castro, Garcia, Kaptur, and Omar Introduce Legislation to Combat Rampant Corruption and Human Rights Abuses in Honduras” (Office of Rep. Janice Schakowsky, U.S. House of Representatives, April 22, 2021).

This critical legislation, which is identical to the Senate version, lays out a comprehensive framework for combating corruption, impunity, and human rights violations in Honduras

Mexico

• “Mexico Instalara Refugios para Albergar a Ninos Migrantes en la Frontera Sur” (Agence France Presse, La-Lista (Mexico), April 22, 2021).

Se prevé instalar 17 refugios en la zona sur de México, según declaraciones del jefe del Instituto Nacional de Migración, Francisco Garduño

• Abraham Reza, “Mala Alimentacion y Peligros, Asi Es el Viaje de Ninos Migrantes Hacia Eu” (Milenio (Mexico), April 22, 2021).

Padres con niños para evitar ser detenidos y menores no acompañados rodean las vías del tren en Ciudad Sahagún, Hidalgo. Su objetivo es llegar a Estados Unidos

• “Lanzamiento de la Campana por la Vida: Mar de Agravios, Montana de Quebrantos” (Tlachinollan (Guerrero), April 22, 2021).

Desde que empezó la pandemia, hemos documentado 20 casos de feminicidios, 20 de violencia sexual, 80 de violencia física y 85 de violencia económica en la región

U.S.-Mexico Border

• Jean Guerrero, “Biden’s Shift on the Border Wall Is a Deadly Mistake” (The Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2021).

Biden’s obliviousness or indifference will backfire in the 2022 midterms unless he forges a new and true vision of what immigrants offer: hope of survival, of growth

• Tierney Sneed, “Revealed: How Trump’s Dhs Cozied Up to the Allegedly Fraudulent We Build the Wall Gambit” (Talking Points Memo, April 22, 2021).

Kobach and his associates were sent on their way with several pages of instructions on how to submit such a “donation” proposal and with a promise that CBP would be back in touch in a few weeks

• Vicki B. Gaubeca, “What’s Really Going on in the Southern Border Region?” (Southern Border Communities Coalition, April 22, 2021).

The term “border governance” (sometimes referred to as “border management”) and the policies that embody that approach represent a break from the enforcement-only approach and the prevention through deterrence border policies of the past

• “Nearly 4,000 Mpp Cases Transferred Out of Mpp Courts Under Biden, but Most Cases Still Remain in Mexico” (TRAC Immigration, April 22, 2021).

TRAC found that the immigration cases of nearly 3,911 people out of 26,432 pending cases enrolled in MPP at the end of January were transferred out of MPP hearing locations so far during the Biden administration

• Alexander Bolton, “Bipartisan Group of Senators Holds Immigration Talks Amid Border Surge” (The Hill, April 22, 2021).

The starting points include the Republican demand that the asylum process at the southern border be streamlined so fewer migrant children are released into the United States to await the processing of immigration courts and the Democratic demand that immigrants who were brought into the country illegally at a young age, “Dreamers,” be given a path to citizenship