Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images photo at The Guardian (UK). Caption: “Graffiti in Caracas reads ‘we are hungry’. The country’s dire economic situation has caused shortages of food and medicine.”

(Even more here)

August 10, 2017

Brazil

Maybe Rio is doomed to take one step forward and one step back for the rest of its life. Call it a kind of pennance for their political class that squandered opportunity when the city was drowning in oil money

Brazil, Western Hemisphere Regional

InSight Crime takes a deep dive into the nature of Odebrecht’s corrupt activities in Latin America, the extent of its illicit practices, the state of the various ongoing investigations into the company and its projects, and the web of corruption

Colombia

Colleagues said she was equally adept and comfortable addressing peasant farmers in a barnyard, with chickens scurrying around her feet, and in a business suit talking to government officials

OCHA advierte que entre el 1 de enero y el 30 de junio de 2017 se desplazaron forzosamente 7.682 personas en eventos masivos, que a su vez corresponde al 70 por ciento del total

Cuba

After months of investigation, U.S. officials concluded that the diplomats had been exposed to an advanced device that operated outside the range of audible sound and had been deployed either inside or outside their residences

Honduras

Las acciones se ejecutaron en los 18 departamentos del país y van encaminadas al combate frontal contra la corrupción en varias alcaldías

Mexico

It’s unlikely that the White House will find eight Democratic senators to go along, even if means more money for domestic programs

Failure to respond to the Commission could result in a default judgment for the complainants, and would break with the United States’ decades-long history of active and robust engagement with the IACHR

Barrack, a gregarious billionaire, is the front-runner for the position but has expressed some concerns about taking it

Venezuela

The governments of Uruguay, Jamaica, Grenada, Guyana, and St. Lucia all refrained from signing the document

At least five options exist for new US sanctions—scaled from least to most severe

Many refineries would likely turn to Saudi Arabia but the higher costs associated with such a shift “could significantly impact fuel costs for U.S. consumers,” according to the letter

Cuatro víctimas relatan el trato cruel y los abusos de las fuerzas de seguridad mientras estaban detenidos por protestar

The penalties, imposed most notably on the brother of the late President Hugo Chávez, are still far short of the broad economic sanctions President Donald Trump threatened

Thomas Shannon, the undersecretary for political affairs and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s right-hand man at the department, has pushed back against the most aggressive sanctions

The most important requirement of U.S. policy toward Venezuela, however, is that it be multilateral

Venezuela, Western Hemisphere Regional

The steady erosion of human rights has left Latin American leftists – once broadly united behind its charismatic late leader Hugo Chávez – in disarray

Western Hemisphere Regional

An estimated 120,000 people are deported to Mexico from the U.S. each year without at least some of their most vital belongings, including cash, identification, and cell phones