(Even more here)

August 9, 2017

Brazil

• Antonio Werneck, “Comandante Do Exercito Cobra Apoio Juridico a Militares Que Atuam No Rio” (O Globo (Brazil), August 9, 2017).

De acordo com a proposta, crimes dolosos contra civis praticados por militares do Exército, da Marinha e da Aeronáutica na vigência da Operação de Garantia da Lei e da Ordem devem ser apreciados e julgados apenas pela Justiça Militar

• Julia Michaels, “Active Silence” (Rio Real (Brazil), August 9, 2017).

People might not be jumping off bridges, as Raull mentioned, but they’re throwing in the towel

Brazil, Venezuela

• David Biller, “Forced Into the City After 9,000 Years in the Jungle” (Bloomberg, August 9, 2017).

Fleeing Venezuela’s economic collapse, the Warao people seek survival in the teeming Brazilian city of Manaus

Colombia

• “Asesinan a Lider Social en Zona Rural de Narino” (El Espectador (Colombia), August 9, 2017).

Mientras la población presenciaba el hecho, los hombres armados amenazaron con “matar a todos los que vienen a hablar de sustitución y a todos los campesinos que estén de acuerdo con eso de la sustitución”

• Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli, “July Update: Dangerous Trends Continue to Affect Human Rights Defenders and Social Leaders” (Washington Office on Latin America, August 9, 2017).

This month, we would like to highlight the situation in the Pacific coast, where an increase presence of the Gaitanista Self Denfese Forces (AGC) continues to affect communities

• Leonardo Botero Fernandez, ““las Victimas No Estan Siendo el Centro de la Preocupacion de la Jep”” (El Espectador (Colombia), August 9, 2017).

El Espectador habló con el abogado Jorge Eliécer Molano, que está en la defensa de varios de los casos de falsos positivos

Mexico

• Juan Alberto Cedillo, “Biosfera el Cielo, la “Narcococina” Mas Grande de Mexico” (Proceso (Mexico), August 9, 2017).

Reynosa, Ciudad Victoria o Nuevo Laredo parecerían un jardín de niños comparado con lo que ha ocurrido en esa zona del estado donde se han cometido crímenes masivos que ya alcanzaron la categoría de exterminio

• Christopher Woody, “Mexico’s Deadly Narco Violence Is Creeping Into Its Most Popular Tourist Areas” (Business Insider, August 9, 2017).

In Quintana Roo, a state in Mexico’s southeast home to the resort areas of Cancun and Playa del Carmen, the 134 homicides registered so far this year are nearly equal to the 165 seen all last year

Venezuela

• Brian Fonseca, Tim Padgett, “Fiu Expert: Venezuelan Military Likely to Keep Fracturing Under Dictatorship” (WLRN, August 9, 2017).

I think once you end up having those soldiers killing or repressing civilians from their own barrios, from their own communities, I think that’s when you’re going to start to see fractures occur

• Foreign Ministers of 12 Countries, “Declaracion Conjunta 007 – 17” (Ministry of Foreign Relations of Peru, August 9, 2017).

Su decisión de no reconocer a la Asamblea Nacional Constituyente, ni los actos que emanen de ella, por su carácter ilegítimo

• Andrew Rosati, Fabiola Zerpa, “Venezuela Assembly’s ‘Truth Commission’ Is Ready to Hound Opponents” (Bloomberg, August 9, 2017).

“We’re asking of the Justice and Truth Commission that anyone who has acted against the fatherland be stripped of public duties”

• Fabiola Sanchez , Joshua Goodman, “Venezuela’s New Assembly Declares Itself All-Powerful” (Associated Press, ABC News, August 9, 2017).

Only a few dozen demonstrators heeded the opposition’s call to set up traffic-snarling roadblocks in Caracas on Tuesday to show opposition to the new assembly, underlining the fear and resignation

Western Hemisphere Regional

• Lee Fang, “Sphere of Influence: How American Libertarians Are Remaking Latin American Politics” (The Intercept, August 9, 2017).

The Atlas Network seems ever-present, a common thread nudging political developments along