(Even more here)

July 14, 2017

Brazil

• Lucia Guimaraes, “Lula’s Sentencing Should Be a Sober Moment for All Brazilians” (Americas Quarterly, July 14, 2017).

The Workers’ Party and Lula have a lot to answer to those they claim to represent. But Lula’s ruin is not, as some couch revelers suggest, an invitation to an out-of-season carnival

• Ernesto LondoÑo, Shannon Sims, “In Brazil, Political Rivals Face a Common Threat: A Rising Judiciary” (The New York Times, July 14, 2017).

The theme of unfair judicial interference has given staunch political rivals common ground

• Alex Cuadros, “The Most Important Criminal Conviction in Brazil’s History” (The New Yorker, July 14, 2017).

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva lived up to an old Brazilian saying, “rouba mas faz”—“he steals, but he gets things done”

Colombia

• “Asesinan al Sexto Miembro de las Farc Despues del Acuerdo de la Habana” (El Tiempo (Colombia), July 14, 2017).

Frente al asesinato de Amaya, Mauricio Jaramillo, uno de los jefes de las Farc, insistió en que se trata de una “arremetida paramilitar”

• James Bargent, Mat Charles, “Inside Colombia’s Bacrim” (InsightCrime, July 14, 2017).

InSide Colombia’s BACRIM features video interviews with five current or former members of the Bajo Cauca BACRIM

• “Ya Van 52 Lideres Sociales Asesinados Este Ano” (El Espectador (Colombia), July 14, 2017).

La cifra fue entregada por el defensor del Pueblo, Carlos Alfonso Negret, quien señaló, que la cifra de muertos, desde enero de 2016, asciende a 186

• “Temor en Antioquia Ante Amenaza de Paro de Paramilitares de las Agc” (Contagio Radio (Colombia), July 14, 2017).

Los municipios mencionados en el panfleto son Dabeiba, Buriticá, Anzá y Armenia Mantequilla, a quienes les ordenan cesar sus actividades económicas, laborales y académicas

Mexico

• Arturo Angel, “El Ejercito Es Honorable: El Argumento Con el Que un Juez Trato de Exonerar a un Sargento” (Animal Politico (Mexico), July 14, 2017).

De acuerdo con el juez, el soldado tenía derecho a disparar, pues se encontraba emocionalmente alterado y en un “escenario de guerra”, además de que, señaló, los policías son “incapaces y corruptos”

• David Lauter, Melissa Etehad, “No Need for a Full Border Wall, Trump Says” (The Los Angeles Times, July 14, 2017).

“You have mountains. You have some rivers that are violent and vicious. You have some areas that are so far away that you don’t really have people crossing. So you don’t need that”

Venezuela

• Ryan Dube, “Opposition Rises to Venezuelan Leader’s Plan to Cement Power” (The Wall Street Journal, July 14, 2017).

Opposition leaders are betting that a mass repudiation of Mr. Maduro’s plan will undermine its legitimacy