News Summaries in March 2023

 "Bolsonaro Ends Exile and Returns to Brazil," New York Times, March 30, 2023

 

The former right-wing president of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro returned home after a three-month self-imposed exile in the United States. Defeated for re-election last year, Bolsonaro faces over a dozen investigations by Brazil’s electoral body, writes Times reporter André Spigariol. He’s accused among other things of spreading misinformation that the election was stolen by the left through fraudulent means. “If convicted in any of those cases, he would be ineligible for office for eight years,” says Spigariol.

 

 

"Mexico Treats Border Deaths as Homicides," New York Times, March 30, 2023

 

Government workers and private security employees did not permit refugees trapped in a migrant detention center to escape a fire at the facility, leading to their deaths, according to Mexican authorities. They are reportedly bringing homicide charges against those blocking the exit of the migrants.

 

At least 39 people died in the fire in Ciudad Juarez along the U.S. – Mexico border. The blaze occurred amid a “relentless” buildup of migrants in Mexico near the U.S. border whose growing presence is inflaming resentment among residents of Ciudad Juarez.

 

Those migrants are hoping that the May 11 expiration of a pandemic era rule their restricting their entry into the U.S. will permit them to cross the border. But with some 12,000 migrants now in the city, shelters are overwhelmed and “migrants now sleep in churches, hotels and sometimes on the street.” Many are desperately short of money and local authorities have begun rounding them up in an intimidating manner. 

 

On March 12, hundreds rushed the border to try to get into the U.S.  “We just want to pass!” shouted one woman. “Please help us. Enough is enough, we are tired of being here in Juarez! Migration does not leave us alone! It takes away what little we have! Help us!”

 

"A Brazilian Student in D.C. Was Really a Russian Spy, U.S. Says," Washington Post, March 30, 2023

 

The Justice Department has indicted a Russian man as a spy who gained entry to a prestigious international relations program in the United States posing as a student from Brazil. The man, Sergey Cherkasov, won admission to the Johns Hopkins University graduate program in Washington, D.C. Russia aimed to position him “to forge connections in every corner of the American security establishment, from the State Department to the CIA. After graduating he came close to landing a position at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. But Dutch authorities put him on a plane back to Brazil, where he was arrested and now is serving a 15-year sentence for document fraud related to his fake identity, the Post reported.

 

 

"Drug Violence Invades Costa Rica, the Laid-Back Land of ‘Pura Vida,'" Washington Post, March 29, 2023

 

Costa Rica is grappling with a jump in violence amid a growing problem of drug abuse in a country that was once only a way station for heroin supply routes. Rising drug sales contributed to a 12 percent increase in homicides in 2021, which totaled 656. “The problem has come home to roost,” former Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla told the Post. “Our own people are using drugs and making it possible for these crime groups to exist.” 

 

Local criminals have provided logistical support such as gasoline and motorboats for big drug cartels moving cocaine from Columbia to Europe and the U.S. At a certain point the cartels began paying these criminals in drugs. They in turn began selling it locally. Feuds between drug dealers account for most homicides in Puntarenas, a province of Costa Rica. “The problem is focused in the barrios,” said Randall Picado, a top police official in the region. “Not in the tourist zones.” 

 

But Costa Ricans in general are nervous. Chinchilla warns that growing violence could push the country toward the ruthless anti-gang tactics of Nayub Bukele, president of El Salvador. That would be in harsh contrast to the country’s heritage as a progressive, laid-back country that has no military and a reputation for tranquility and enjoyment of life.  Costa Rica is still less violent than other nearby countries. Its homicide rate in 2022 was 12.6 per 100,000 people, compared to 25 in Mexico, 36 in Honduras, and 7 in the U.S.

 

"Knife-Wielding Attacker Kills 2 Women at Muslim Center in Portugal Before Police Arrest Him," New York Times, 3-29-23

 

Two women were stabbed to death and a few other people wounded at a Muslim Center in Lisbon. The attacker was shot, wounded, and taken into custody, Portuguese police said. The motive for the attack was not clear. The two women killed were doing work at the center. Portuguese media said the attacker was an Afghan citizen but that report was not confirmed. 

 

Members of the Portuguese Ismaili Muslim community frequent the center. More than 40 Ismaili Muslims were shot to death in Karachi, Pakistan in 2015. A Taliban splinter group said it carried out the attack. Portuguese officials said the attack appeared to be an isolated event.

 

"Now Battlng for the Cuba National Team: Openness," March; 29, 2023, By Abraham Jiménez Enoa

 

Determined to keep up the public’s spirit in difficult times, the government of Cuban President Miguel Días-Canel  allowed Cuban baseball players playing in the United States to play for Cuba’s national team in the World Baseball Classic. Cuba is in turmoil, with record numbers of people fleeing the island, wages stagnating, food costs rising, and unemployment high. Although only a few Cuban stars from Major League Baseball took up the offer, the Cuban national team made it to the semifinals of the world championship, farther than it had advanced since 2006. 

 

Cuban exiles in Miami, where the game was played, seized on this year’s semifinal against the United States as a chance to protest against the Cuban government. 

 

“Three times during the game, Cuban exiles stormed the field carrying signs protesting the regime,” wrote Enoa. Some exiles cheered for the United States to win, but others cheered for the team from their native country and wore its colors, he said.  “There  was a palpable desire among many Cubans to recover a common sense of unity that had long been out of reach.” Enoa concluded that “the episode is ultimately a hopeful one.” 

 

"Illegal Gold Rush Poisons Indigenous People in Amazon Haven," New York Times, March 27, 2023

 

Illegal mining in the Amazon that uses mercury to separate gold from mud is causing birth defects and neurological damage among Brazil’s Yanomami tribe. Recent analysis “show that Yanomami rivers contain mercury levels 8,600 percent as high as what is considered safe.” One in 10 Yanomami infants die compared with one in 100 in the rest of Brazil. 

 

The country’s new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has declared a state of emergency in order to save the tribe. The government is destroying active gold mines and airlifting severely malnourished people out of villages.

The poisoning of the Yanomami region has led to a state of affairs in which 80 percent of the children are below average height and half are underweight. “The mining clears trees, disrupts waterways and transforms the landscape, scaring away prey and hurting crops,” the Times reported.  Mines’ “standing water breeds mosquitoes , which help spread malaria that the miners bring in from the cities.”

 

Illegal gold mining exploded under the prior president, Jair Bolsonaro, who cut funding and staffing for agencies charged with protecting the Amazon. The area illegally mined quadrupled during his administration.  Thousands of prospectors have swarmed into the region, which means that the new government faces a difficult challenge ending gold fever.

 

"Honduras Ends Taiwan Ties in Favor of China, in a Blow to U.S. Efforts," The New York Times, March 27, 2023

 

Rebuffing both the United States and Taiwan, the government of Honduras has decided to establish ties with mainland China. The development is more evidence of the increasing influence China has in Central and South America. Honduras is struggling with underinvestment and debt and regards China as the better bet to assist it in alleviating those problems. 

 

China is seeking to isolate Taiwan from other countries and its win in Honduras is another setback for the small island nation. The Times reported that Taiwan’s “diplomatic partners are now so few that any abandonment is a serious setback.”  The United States has been trying to keep Latin American nations from dropping recognition of Taiwan but is fighting an uphill battle. China is financing a hydroelectric dam in Honduras “and exploring rail and port projects.” 

 

“We can expect to see more of this in the coming years,” said Mitch Hayes, director of Veracity Worldwide, a New York City-based consulting firm. He was referring to small countries dropping recognition of Taiwan in order to establish ties with mainland China.

 

"Bolsonaro’s Return Poses Risk for the Former President – and Brazil," The Washington Post, March 26, 2023

 

Jair Bolsonaro, loser of Brazil’s last presidential election who afterward left his country for the United States, says he is planning to return. His opponents, led by newly elected president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, are eying that development warily after a period of calm in the badly divided country. “The presence of Bolsonaro is terrible for our democracy,” Jairo Pimentel, a political scientist, told the Post. “He treats his adversaries as enemies rather than adversaries.” 

 

Bolsonaro is described by an aide as “reclusive, very sad and shaken.” He fears the possibility of being imprisoned but senior Brazilian judicial officials have said there is insufficient evidence to do so. Some former supporters say they’ve lost faith in his leadership after he left Brazil for Florida before his term ended. But Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party is making plans for his return, scheduling him to lead motorcycle rallies in northeastern Brazil before 2024 municipal elections.

 

 

"Lethal Force in Peru Protests," New York Times, March 24, 2023

 

A New York Times investigation has found that gunfire from Peru’s security forces accounted for the deaths of most of the people who died in antigovernment protests that began in December following the arrest of President Pedro Castillo. His ouster followed his attempt to dissolve Congress and rule by decree. Forty-nine civilians have been killed and more than 470 injured, according to New York Times reporters. 

 

Peruvian President  Dina Boluarte, who came to power as a leftist and an ally of the rural poor, has since taken a hard line against the protestors. “The key factor is that the police are not using lethal force in a proportional manner,” said Joel Hernández of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. 

 

Protestors have hurled rocks and improvised explosives against the police. At least 363 officers have been injured according to the Peruvian Health Ministry. Authorities attributed the deaths of 11 people to actions by the protestors. “One police officer died when an angry mob burned his vehicle,” according to the story. 

 

Protestors have been calling for a new constitution to address issues such as poverty and inequality. When protestors throw rocks and other blunt objects, Peruvian police protocols call for officers to use rubber bullets aimed at the lower extremities and to not fire them at close range, but the investigation found multiple instances of regular bullets fired at the upper torso.

"Trudeau Reluctant to Send His Military to Calm the Chaos in Haiti," New York Times, March 24, 2023

 

It now appears unlikely that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will offer to head a multinational military intervention in Haiti in his current talks with President Biden. Trudeau has said he does not think foreign troops in Haiti will create the stability the country is so sorely lacking. Haiti, says Trudeau, is instead getting help from Canada meant to shore up its police and other institutions. Canada’s top military commander Wayne Eyre has cited Canadian commitments to NATO in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia along with its support for Ukraine as limiting its capacity to take on other commitments, according to Times reporter Ian Austen. 

 

"Besieged Police Cede Most of Haiti’s Capital to Gangs," New York Times, March 23, 2023

 

Almost no one is safe anymore in Haiti following the collapse of the government and disintegration of the nation’s police force. Officials have now told residents that they must take their defense into their own hands as gangs have taken control of up to 90 percent of the capital of Port-Au-Prince. “The police are completely absent, the authorities are completely absent, the government is completely absent,” said Pierre Esperance, executive director of the  Haitian National Human Rights Defense Network.

 

“When you tell me to exercise self-defense, you tell me to engage myself in a civil war with the gangs,” a Haitian opposition leader told the New York Times. “Despair reaches such a level that the daughters and sons of the country only consider their future elsewhere,” said the country’s acting prime minister, Ariel Henry. He appealed in October for outside military intervention to counter the gang violence. 

 

The Biden Administration is pushing for a multinational armed force to go to Haiti but no country including the United States has committed to leading it. A spokesman for Henry said a recent meeting with a top State Department official focused on holding national elections and building international support for the police.

 

"In Venezuela, Economy’s Up, But Not for All," New York Times, March 22, 2023

 

Beset in recent years by malnutrition and a huge outflow of refugees, Venezuela of late has shown signs of economic revival, but the benefits are restricted to the country’s upper strata. Everyday products are now more easily available and luxury goods have popped up in the nation’s capital of Caracas, write Isayen Herrera and Frances Robles.  But the nation remains overwhelmingly poor. 

 

A government easing of the use of dollars and American approval of some oil production have brought more money into the economy. Half of the nation now lives in poverty, compared to 65 percent in 2021. But access to dollars is often limited to people with ties to the government or to those involved in illegal businesses such as smuggling food, diesel and gas. And one in three children were suffering from malnutrition in 2022. 

 

The government of authoritarian Nicholas Maduro appears less unstable with the American easing of oil production and the rise of leftist governments in increasingly friendly nearby nations such as Columbia and Brazil. Splintered opposition to Maduro also has allowed him to retain power despite his unpopularity in Venezuela. 

 

"Old Car Batteries from U.S. Are Making Mexican Workers Sick," New York Times, March 21, 2023

 

Car batteries shipped to Mexico from the United States are causing unsafe levels of lead at recycling centers in Monterey, the largest source of car batteries from the U.S. Milwaukee-based Clarios, the largest maker of car batteries in the world, bought two battery recycling plants in Monterey in 2019 and closed its last such facility in the U.S. in 2021 to save money, wrote Times reporter Steve Fisher. A new report says lead levels outside the Monterey facilities are far above levels that are safe. 

 

According to the EPA, the number of car batteries shipped from the U.S. to  Mexico has increased by  nearly 20 percent over the past ten years. In 2021 more than 75 percent of all used car batteries in the U.S. were shipped to Mexico, which has weaker and poorly enforced safety standards. “At recycling plants, lead is removed from batteries, ground up, melted and turned into ingots that are used to make new batteries,” wrote Fisher. High lead levels cause neurological and gastrointestinal damage as well as heart damage. 

 

“Workers in these plants are being poisoned day in and day out, and often without even their knowledge of that,” the Times quoted Perry Gottesfield as saying. He is executive director of Occupational Knowledge International, a San Francisco-based public health non profit that produced the new report.

 

 

"Dominican Republic Forces Out Haitian Migrants," Washington Post, March 19, 2023

 

The Dominican Republic is deporting huge numbers of Haitian immigrants as record numbers of refugees flee the chaos and violence troubling that adjoining country. Though the Dominican Republic is drawing criticism for the brutal crackdown, other nations including the Bahamas and the United States also have been closing the door on fleeing Haitians. 

 

“Some Dominicans accuse critics of meddling in the country’s internal affairs and, in nativist tones, rail against the ‘Haitianization” of their country,” write reporters Widlore Merancourt and Amanda Coletta. “They say it’s unfair to single out the country that has borne the brunt of the Haitian exodus for criticism when other countries have been similarly unwelcoming.” Critics chide the international community for failing to ease Haiti’s crises.

 

Spreading gang violence, worsening hunger, and cholera are forcing many Haitians to flee. The Dominican Republic, one of Latin America’s economic success stories, has more than 500,000 Haitian inhabitants among its population of 11 million. It deported more than 170,000 people in 2022, most of them Haitians. 

 

"Mexicans Questioning Response to Kidnapping," New York Times, March 9, 2023

 

The speed of rescue attempts following the attack of four Americans in Mexico has sparked anger among Mexicans. Many Mexicans were shocked to see how quickly authorities responded to the attacks because they’ve done little to locate more than 100,000 missing people in the country. “The vast majority of crimes go unpunished” in Mexico, the Times reported. Two of the four Americans were killed by gang violence in what is believed to be a case of mistaken identity. The two who survived were quickly located and returned to U.S. soil.

 

Some Republicans in Congress have seized on the case as evidence the U.S. is not doing enough to confront cartel violence across the border. A former U.S. Customs official said there is no timely exchange of information between police in Mexico and the U.S. and blamed that state of affairs on Mexican President López Obrador.  The Biden Administration has been reluctant to criticize him out of fear he would retaliate by lessening his cooperation in lessening the flow of migrants to the U.S. border. 

 

"Bolsonaro May Be Gone but Brazil is Still Under Threat,” New York Times opinion piece, March 9, 2023, by Vanessa Barbara.

 

Brazil’s large military remains a continuing threat to democracy in the country, always lurking in the background since the end of its dictatorship in 1985 after 21 years in power. The presidency of former Army Captain Jair Bolsonaro brought the military back to the heart of government but with his recent defeat fear has not subsided about what role it might play in the future. 

 

“During the dictatorship, the regime killed hundreds and tortured 20,00 people” writes Barbara. “The Brazilian military never apologized for its crimes. On the contrary, it still celebrates what it calls the 1964 revolution.” Brazil has the fifteenth largest standing army in the world with 351,000 active military personnel and 234,000 pensioners. The government  spends more on the military than it does on education. 

 

Under Bolsonaro, at one time 11 of the 26 ministers in his government were current or former officers. The number of military officers working for the government doubled. The new president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been trying to slowly remove military personnel from government positions. But Barbara quotes political scientist Adam Przeworski as saying overweening militaries are “like menacing shadows, ready to fall upon anyone who goes too far in undermining their values and their interests.”