(Even more here)

May 20, 2021

Colombia

• Olga Behar, “Colombia: El Retorno de la Aspersion Con Glifosato Evidencia Otra Vez la Indiferencia de Duque Hacia los Mas Vulnerables” (The Washington Post, May 20, 2021).

Desde la década de 1990, diversos informes han adjudicado casos de cáncer linfoma no Hodgkin y de neurotoxicidad como producto del contacto con el glifosato

Colombia

• Sarah Cahlan, Drea Cornejo, Anthony Faiola, Elyse Samuels, Steven Grattan, “Killed by Police in Colombia” (The Washington Post, May 20, 2021).

An analysis of video evidence in four cases of protester deaths shows the extent to which police appear to have overstepped their rules of engagement

• Genevieve Glatsky, “In Colombia, Violence Against Protesters Is Exploding” (Foreign Policy, May 20, 2021).

While the issue of the Leahy Law specifically is not an issue for Colombians to decide, many are looking with desperation toward foreign actors to pressure their government in a way that the people have been unable to

• “The U.S. Must Stop Providing Weapons to Repress Colombia’s Protests” (Amnesty International, May 20, 2021).

The human rights organization is calling on Secretary of State Blinken to immediately cease the direct or indirect supply, sale, or transfer of equipment used for repression

Colombia, Haiti

• Sarah Marsh, “Colombia’s Police Advises Haiti on Tackling Kidnapping Crisis” (Reuters, Reuters, May 20, 2021).

Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Eduardo Tellez Betancourt told Reuters his team of four specialists had delivered its report on Haiti’s kidnapping crisis on Tuesday after three months of on- the-ground research

Colombia, Venezuela

• Francisco Toro, “The Underground War Brewing on the Colombia-Venezuela Border” (The Washington Post, May 20, 2021).

Who’s fighting whom, exactly? And why? It’s complicated. But here’s what we know

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras

• Kevin Sieff, “U.S. Accuses Senior Officials and Politicians in el Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras of Corruption” (The Washington Post, May 20, 2021).

U.S. lawmakers and analysts said the lists appeared to exclude a number of officials who have faced corruption allegations in recent years, including Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández

U.S.-Mexico Border

• Adolfo Flores, Hamed Aleaziz, “They Missed Their Us Asylum Hearings Fearing the Cartel Would Kill Them. Now They’re Stuck in Mexico.” (BuzzFeed, May 20, 2021).

In recent weeks, Homeland Security officials have agreed that those ordered deported in absentia should have their cases reopened

May 19, 2021

Chile

• Carlos Reyes P., Monica Garrido, “Realizan Interpelacion en la Camara de Diputados al Ministro de Defensa por Actuar de las ff.aa.” (La Tercera (Chile), May 19, 2021).

“Estamos advirtiendo de un camino sin vuelta atrás, en el cual el Gobierno está utilizando a las FFAA para asuntos de orden interno y de seguridad pública, cuestiones que no les competen”, aseguró

Colombia

• Erika Moreno, “Colombia’s Protesters Want Human Rights Reforms. The Country’s Human Rights Agency May Not Be Much Help.” (The Washington Post, May 19, 2021).

Its design, as well as past fights with the executive branch, have forced the agency to find ways to be minimally intrusive

• Ariel Dorfman, “Progressives Won Chile’s Election. And They Won Big.” (The New York Times, May 19, 2021).

All signs indicate that the foundational document they will draft will enshrine principles of civic participation, justice, gender equality and Indigenous rights

• Joe Parkin Daniels, “Colombia’s Class War Turns Hot on the Streets of Cali” (The Guardian, May 19, 2021).

“A large part of the Colombian establishment doesn’t understand that these calls for change are coming from the people in the streets of cities, and not from an armed guerrilla group in the countryside”

• Julie Turkewitz, “Why Are Colombians Protesting?” (The New York Times, May 19, 2021).

The outpouring quickly morphed into a widespread expression of anger over poverty and inequality — which have risen as the virus has spread — and over the violence with which the police have confronted the movement

• “Desaparicion Transitoria y Torturas: Acciones de la Policia Contra Manifestantes” (Verdad Abierta (Colombia), May 19, 2021).

Las historias de vulneración de derechos se repiten en aquellas ciudades donde las expresiones callejeras de inconformidad con el actual gobierno nacional trascurren de manera pacífica y en las que acaban en batallas campales

• Joshua Collins, “A Teen Accused the Colombian Police of Rape. Two Days Later She Took Her Own Life.” (VICE, May 19, 2021).

“Rape has been used during these protests as a weapon of war, as well as a weapon of torture to punish those marching”

• David Cruz, Nataly Macana, “La Militarizacion de la Vigilancia y Custodia de los Detenidos: ¿un Paso en Falso?” (El Espectador (Colombia), May 19, 2021).

La Corte Constitucional ha respaldado la transferencia de esas funciones a la Policía por el desbordamiento del Estado en materia carcelaria

• Amanda Taub, “From Colombia to U.S., Police Violence Pushes Protests Into Mass Movements” (The New York Times, May 19, 2021).

In Colombia, and many other countries, security forces’ attacks on protesters have led to nationwide reckonings with injustice

• “La Cordillera Sur, la Historia del Grupo Criminal Que Atemoriza a Narino” (El Espectador (Colombia), May 19, 2021).

Aunque la Fiscalía dice que es aliada del Clan del Golfo de alias Otoniel, la Policía dice que es hace poco forjó un pacto mafioso con la Segunda Marquetalia de “Iván Márquez”

• Steve Roman, “Executing the Us Colombia Action Plan Safely in the Covid-19 Environment” (Dialogo (U.S. Southern Command), May 19, 2021).

The U.S.-Colombia Action Plan (USCAP) will resume training in May 2021. USCAP training halted when the stakeholder nations’ implemented COVID-19 mitigation strategies to protect their populations

Colombia, Venezuela

• Julie Turkewitz, Anatoly Kurmanaev, “Colombia Rebel Commander ‘Jesus Santrich’ Killed, Venezuelan Officials Say” (The New York Times, May 19, 2021).

Just before the death of Mr. Hernández, the Colombian Supreme Court had indicated it was in favor of extraditing him to the United States to answer to drug charges

• Ana Leon, “Una Disidencia de las Farc Pierde a Santrich, Otra Le Va Ganando la Guerra a Maduro” (La Silla Vacia (Colombia), May 19, 2021).

Aunque la muerte de Santrich resuene en Colombia como una derrota para las disidencias en general, lo cierto es que en Arauca el frente Décimo está ganando la guerra. No solo a la Segunda Marquetalia, también al régimen venezolano

Guatemala

• Luisa Paredes, “Giammattei Dice Que Destinaran Mas Recursos para Armamento para el Ejercito” (ElPeriodico (Guatemala), May 19, 2021).

Declaró que desde que el país regresó a un sistema democrático “el Ejército ha sido el principal baluarte de que la estabilidad política del país se mantenga”

Honduras

• “La Bestia, una Celda en Tamara Disenada para Quebrar la Voluntad de los Reos” (El Heraldo (Honduras), May 19, 2021).

Al carecer de servicios sanitarios y sin agua, los reos castigados tenían que hacer sus necesidades fisiológicas en pedazos de papel, bolsas y botes, volviendo el sitio insano

Mexico

• Cesar Martinez, “Sube Gasto Militar; Baja el de Seguridad Publica” (Reforma (Mexico), May 19, 2021).

“El gasto en las Fuerzas Armadas es actualmente de 140 mil millones de pesos, el nivel más alto registrado, los mayores niveles de gasto coinciden con el mayor uso del ejército para combatir los crímenes de la delincuencia organizada”

• Guillermo Guevara, “Tres Hipotesis Sobre la Militarizacion en Mexico” (Nexos (Mexico), May 19, 2021).

Mientras que el Ejército está entrenado bajo una lógica de combate al enemigo y protección del territorio, las policías son quienes, desde una lógica eminentemente local, regulan y controlan las interacciones cotidianas de la ciudadanía

Nicaragua

• Junior Flores, “Ortega Acusa a Sullivan de Imponer Candidato a Opositores” (Nicaragua Investiga, May 19, 2021).

Daniel Ortega acusó al embajador de Estados Unidos, Kevin Sullivan, de elegir los «candidatos» para los partidos políticos de oposición que correrán en las próximas elecciones de noviembre

U.S.-Mexico Border

• Sarah Cammarata, “National Guard Chief Says Troops Have Been Requested to Stay at Us-Mexico Border Beyond September” (Stars and Stripes, May 19, 2021).

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine., said during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on National Guard and Reserve forces that the Defense Department received a request from Homeland Security to continue the Guard’s border deployment into the 2022 fiscal year

• “Metering Update May 2021” (University of Texas Strauss Center, May 19, 2021).

This report provides an update on metering lists, asylum seekers, and migrant shelters along the U.S.-Mexico border amid CBP’s asylum processing suspension. It documents approximately 18,700 asylum seekers on waitlists in 8 Mexican border cities

• Adolfo Flores, Hamed Aleaziz, “A 19-Year-Old Asylum-Seeker Forced to Wait in Mexico Was Killed Days Before He Was Scheduled to Enter the Us” (BuzzFeed, May 19, 2021).

A Cuban asylum-seeker who was forced to wait in Mexico under a Trump-era policy was fatally shot Monday night in Ciudad Juárez a few days before he was to be allowed into the US

Venezuela

• “Regimen Traslada a Presos Politicos en Sedes de las Faes «Sin Paradero Conocido»” (Tal Cual (Venezuela), May 19, 2021).

Unos 11 presos políticos que se encontraban en la sede de las FAES en La Quebradita que serían trasladados presuntamente a cárceles comunes