In this week’s WOLA Border Update:
- The spring migration increase is underway
- Boats stop, then resume, at the entrance to the Darién Gap
- Drug seizure data through January shows drop in fentanyl
In this week’s WOLA Border Update:
I enjoy giving “101-level” explanatory presentations with lots of graphics. I especially enjoy it when the time limit is not too tight.
I gave a talk about the border and migration to an audience last week and will do so again this week. In between, I recorded this screencast for practice, and I’m happy to share it.
This is an in-depth, graphical overview of what’s happening at the U.S.-Mexico border right now. Questions addressed include:
Download the graphics shown here as a single PDF at bit.ly/border-101-march-2024.
For even more of WOLA’s border and migration work, see:
In this week’s WOLA U.S.-Mexico Border Update:
In this week’s WOLA U.S.-Mexico Border Update:
In this week’s WOLA U.S.-Mexico Border Update:
I don’t get to work on Venezuela very often, but I did get to record a conversation in 2010 with activist and civil-military relations expert Rocío San Miguel. Here’s an excerpt where we discussed the military’s politicization.
Rocío was arrested last Friday in Caracas. Authorities are accusing her of terrorism and treason, which is as horrifying as it is absurd.
I haven’t done one of these since October.
It’s a 43-second video, but it takes nearly two and a half hours to script, make graphics, film, edit, add subtitles, and export 16:9 and 9:16 versions.
I’m still not convinced these are the best use of my time, but as with the infographics and the podcasts, I think it’s important to experiment with formats other than text. (Even though my 1980s-90s liberal arts education barely equips me for it.)
Here (en español) is a panel discussion, recorded Friday, on Voice of America. I joined Salvadoran analyst Napoleón Campos to talk about the implications of authoritarian-trending leader Nayib Bukele’s likely blowout re-election victory in today’s election in El Salvador.
Many thanks to New York-based Network 20/20, an organization “that bridges the gap between the private sector and foreign policy worlds,” for inviting me to participate in a virtual panel last Thursday. With Elizabeth Oglesby of the University of Arizona and Diego de Sola of Glasswing International, we talked about the causes of migration away from Central America, and the good and bad of U.S. policies, past and present.
WOLA videographer Sergio Ortiz Borbolla was with us in northwestern Colombia at the end of October, and produced this brilliant 1:47 video depicting what we saw and heard. This is what Necoclí, and the gateway to the Darién Gap, looked and felt like.
In English, with my voiceover:
En español, narrado por Laura Dib, directora del programa de Venezuela de WOLA:
This was a really useful discussion, and I’m glad it’s in the record. My testimony starts at 19:05 here:
Tune in tomorrow morning (or on YouTube later) for what will be a really interesting discussion of how governments can protect their citizens and their institutions from organized crime, without violating human rights.
It’s unusual to have two people from one organization in these hearings. I’m a substitute for someone who just had to cancel. I’ll be talking mainly about Colombia.
OK, time to work on my testimony.
I was enjoying Young Fathers’ latest album. Then last night, I watched this and immediately got on my phone and bought tickets for when they come through Washington in April.
This was a great panel on November 7, with speakers in four countries (the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia). We talked about challenges for dignified migration at a time of hardening borders and more military and police involvement in migration control throughout the region.
Many thanks to Hispanics in Philanthropy and Open Society Foundations for organizing it and inviting me to participate.
Here’s an 1,100-word statement recalling and highlighting some of the basic principles underlying our border and migration work. Backed up with lots of numbers and data, of course.
The main points:
Read it here. It comes with an embedded video: