Federico Parra/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images photo at The Wall Street Journal. Caption: “People queue at polling stations Sunday at Carabobo Square in Caracas during an opposition-organized referendum on President Nicolás Maduro’s plan to rewrite the constitution.”

(Even more here)

July 17, 2017

Argentina

El jueves, ante Aguad, Macri admitió que Defensa está “en etapa de vacas flacas”

Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Venezuela, Western Hemisphere Regional

A strong chain of justice, which would include specialized police officers and sufficient independent judges to deal with the volume of cases, would be the first steps

Colombia

Los cultivos de coca en Colombia sufrieron un fuerte incremento al pasar de 96.000 ha en 2015 a 146.000 ha en 2016. Esto representa un incremento del 52%

“Se podría analizar el impacto del glifosato en el pasado. ¿Realmente sirvió de algo y dio los resultados deseados? Yo creo que no. A mediano plazo siempre hubo resiembra en estas zonas”

El acuerdo de paz no es garantía de una reducción de la violencia y la criminalidad en el país. Sin embargo, las primeras evidencias demuestran que ha sido una estrategia efectiva para salvar vidas

Para el embajador Whitaker, el logro de la paz es algo que todo el mundo debe celebrar, comenzando por los propios colombianos

El director de la Agencia Central de Inteligencia de Estados Unidos, CIA, estuvo en Urabá conociendo detalles de la operación Agamenón 2, que busca desarticular la banda “Clan del Golfo”

Mexico

De acuerdo con los castrenses “esto”, la violencia, la gente descuartizada, los pueblos abandonados… se genera por la forma de actuar de los defensores de los derechos humanos, y de los funcionarios públicos

En Veracruz hay una deuda de verdad y justicia que reclaman miles de familiares de desaparecidos

The extradition of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, Mexico’s long-dominant drug lord, has led to an explosion of violence in his home state of Sinaloa, the birthplace of the country’s narcotics industry

People who are trying to enter the U.S. illegally across the Mexican border often hide in the cane. It’s not a hospitable environment—the cane scratches and is difficult to walk through—but it is effective cover

The American perambulators enjoying their walk beside the wall would need only peek through it to see drug dealers loading up a medieval siege weapon, allowing them to hastily run for cover

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico

Harsh migration enforcement tactics continue to violate the rights of not only migrants but also of Mexican border communities

Venezuela

As Venezuela falls further into turmoil, more of its citizens are leaving a country that once served as a haven

Between January and March, 8,301 Venezuelans requested asylum in the United States, nearly double the number in the same period of 2016

Opposition tactics may include lengthy road blockades and sit-ins, a national strike, or possibly even a march on the Miraflores presidential palace, similar to events before a short-lived coup against Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez

Of the nearly 6.5 million who voted inside of Venezuela on Sunday, 98% rejected the government’s proposal

Whatever the actual numbers say, the optics of a large turnout, especially in longtime Chavista areas in the Western part of Caracas will perhaps be more important

Western Hemisphere Regional

My research on police reform in Latin America shows that such reforms are highly vulnerable to political reversals