News Summaries in August 2023

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“Guatemala Suspends President-Elect's Party,” Wall Street Journal, August 29, 2023

 

Guatemala’s electoral court has ratified Bernardo Arévalo as president-elect but suspended his Semilla party, a step that could prevent its legislators from taking their seats in Congress. Arévalo, who campaigned on an anti-corruption platform, was a surprise landslide winner of the recent presidential election but may find his center-left government weakened by the suspension, wrote  Journal reporters Santiago Pérez and Juan Carlos Rivera. “We knew that it was going to be complicated because this system of corruption clings and we threaten it,” said Samuel Pérez, a leader of the Semilla party. He and other members of the party filed an appeal with Guatemala’s top electoral court of the suspension decision by a lower electoral court. “We know that we are receiving a state that is semi-destroyed by decades of corruption,” said Arévalo. 

“A Deadly Tick-Borne Disease is Raging,” Washington Post, August 29, 2023

 

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is rising at epidemic levels in northern Mexico. More than 2,000 cases causing hundreds of deaths have been reported in the past five years. “The disease, spread through the bite of an infected tick that lives primarily on dogs, is rare, but its incidence is rising,” writes Post reporter Lena H. Sun.  Among the problems is that the dog population boomed after spaying stopped during the Covid pandemic. Also, climate change lengthens the time ticks feed on humans and dogs. And the brown dog tick becomes more aggressive toward humans as the weather gets hotter and drier. Dogs are plentiful in the towns of northern Mexico, roaming freely and often mingling with children who can die within days of becoming infected.  Untreated Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever kills 4 out of every 10 infected people in Baja. Deaths can be prevented within days if infected people get the right antibiotic, but diagnosis can be delayed because symptoms overlap with conditions like the flu. People like to keep dogs as protection against burglars, and dogs getting regular care from a vet are less likely to perpetuate the disease.  One of the most important preventive measures is keeping dogs inside the house. Long-acting flea collars are also an effective form of prevention but often are too costly for low income people. 

“Mexico’s Leader Seeks Recount of the Number of Missing,” Washington Post, August 27, 2023

 

Mexico’s president is on a mission to prove that the number of people who have disappeared in his country is considerably lower than the 100,000 mark it reached last year. Andrés Manuel López Obrador has launched what he calls a “new census” in which officials check with families of the disappeared to see if they have returned to their families. But even as the new registry purges people who have been found alive or dead, the overall number has hardly changed as new cases are added, according to Post reporters Mary Beth Sheridan and Oscar Lopez. Advocates for the missing “fear that he is trying to lower the numbers artificially before an election year,” they wrote. In 2019 the official registry listed around 40,000 names, less than half what it is now. That list was considered spotty and poorly organized. López Obrador counters that he is the one who has hired more people and spent more money on efforts to locate the disappeared. But it appears that a record number of cases will be added to the database by the time he leaves office in 2024. The head of the commission that keeps the count abruptly resigned and sent the entire database of missing persons to an outside organization for safekeeping. She is said to have feared that the government was going to make her change the data. The number of disappeared has spiked since the government launched a crackdown on the drug cartels in 2006. Other factors believed to be driving up the total include military repression of dissidents. But the registry also includes migrants who have disappeared crossing deserts, among others. 

“Hochul Presses Biden for Help With Migrants,” New York Times, August 25, 2023

 

After a period of avoiding direct criticism of the administration, New York Governor Kathy Hochul  reversed course August 23 and publicly blamed her fellow Democrat President Biden for failing to respond to the massive influx into New York of migrants crossing the southern border of the U.S. “We’ve managed thus far without substantive support from Washington,” she said. The administration has failed to authorize work permits for migrants, she said, a step advocates say must be taken to begin moving migrants out of overcrowded shelters and into places of their own while awaiting decisions on asylum requests. At the same time, Hochul said more federal properties should be converted into emergency shelters. More than 100,000 migrants have traveled to New York City from the U.S. southern border during the past year. More than half are staying in the city’s shelters. Hochul also announced a program to match asylum seekers with the many unfilled jobs in the farming, hotel, and restaurant sectors once they get work permits. Biden also drew fire this month from the Democratic governor of Massachusetts, Maura Healey, who called for expedited work permits and decried a “crisis of federal inaction.” The mayors of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and four other cities in Pennsylvania wrote to Biden August 24 calling for work authorizations and improved protections for migrants. The White House said in a statement that it is coordinating closely with New York state and New York City. It said “only Congress can fix the broken immigration system.”

“A Late Summer Heat Wave Is Baking Parts of Italy, France and Spain,” New York Times, August 25, 2023

 

Spain is now enduring its fourth heat wave of the summer as Italy and France also cope with record high temperatures. In Spain, firefighters are trying to put out fires in central and southern regions of the country. Meanwhile, northern regions along its Atlantic coast aren’t offering vacationers cooler summer temperatures they usually find there. In Bilbao, for example, the temperature reached 110.7 degrees  August 23. Heat waves in Europe “have increased in frequency and intensity more quickly than practically anywhere else on the planet,” the Times reported. “We are beating temperature records every day,” said French environment minister Christophe Béchu. The Health Ministry in Italy issued heat-related red alerts in more than half of the country’s 27 main cities. 

“Gifts Pose Another Peril for Brazil’s Ex-President,” New York Times, August 23, 2023

 

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro may be facing arrest in connection with the alleged sale of embezzled watches at a shopping mall outside of Philadelphia. Brazilian federal police allege a conspiracy by Bolsonaro and his allies to embezzle expensive gifts he got as president from Saudi Arabia and other countries, wrote Times reporter Jack Nicas. Bolsonaro ultimately received some of the $66, 000 from the sale of two watches to a jewelry store at the Willow Grove Park Mall, Brazilian officials said. Bolsonaro’s lawyer said a government panel had ruled that many of the diplomatic gifts were his personal property. Brazilian law lets presidents keep some gifts of a personal nature such as a hat but not a valuable jewel, said Bruno Dantas, who Nicas described as “the head of Brazil’s watchdog court, the effective auditor of the federal government.” Dantas said the government panel was mistaken in ruling that the gifts were Bolsonaro’s personal property. Bolsonaro said “my brand is honesty and always will be. There is nothing concrete against me.” Bolsonaro faces other investigations into alleged fraud and election tampering.

“Anti-corruption Presidential Hopeful Heads for Landslide Win in Guatemala,” Washington Post, August 21, 2023

 

An anti-corruption candidate whose father led the “Guatemalan Spring” decades ago grabbed 59 percent of the vote August 20 in the country’s presidential election. However, whether he’ll rule is uncertain.  Democracy is fragile in Guatemala, a country of 17 million people that is one of the poorest in Latin America. Bernardo Arévalo handily defeated Sandra Torres, who got 36 percent of the vote. She is a former first lady identified with the business and military interests long in control of Guatemala. Corruption erodes an estimated 20 percent of the federal budget, lessening education, health and other services and spurring immigration to the U.S.  The victory for Arévalo’s Semilla [“seed”] party “marked a substantial shift in Guatemala’s political structure – from a series of mostly conservative leaders to a social democrat,” wrote Post reporters Nic Wirtz and Mary Beth Sheridan. But government prosecutors are trying to strip Semilla of its legal status. It’s also under investigation for alleged vote-counting irregularities in an earlier round of presidential voting. The elder Arévalo, Juan José, became president in 1944. His election began a 10-year period of democratic rule that ended when a U.S.-backed coup ousted his successor.

“Vote Count in Ecuador Points to Likely Runoff,” Associated Press, August 21, 2023

Amid fears that democracy in their country is becoming overwhelmed by  the violence of drug cartels, voters in Uruguay went to the polls August 20 to elect a new president. No candidate received enough votes to be declared the outright winner, raising the prospect of a runoff election later this year. With 88 percent of the vote counted, leftist Luisa González was in the lead with 33 percent of the vote followed by former lawmaker Daniel Noboa, the son of a banana tycoon, with about 24 percent. To win, a candidate needs 50 percent, or at least 40 percent with a 10-point lead over the next highest finisher.  González is affiliated with former President Rafael Correa, a popular leftist who in 2020 was convicted on corruption charges and sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison. He’s now living in Belgium. Voters went to the polls fearing more violence following the August 9 assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, whose campaign aimed to break the grip of drug cartels on Uruguayan government.

“Spain Lifts World Cup Trophy, and the Hopes of Girls Back Home,” New York Times, August 21, 2023

 

The women’s World Cup final between England and Spain August 20 reflected growing interest and investment in women’s soccer in the two countries. More girls are joining clubs and leagues, which are growing in size and professionalism.  That’s “a profound change in countries where soccer was long the preserve of all-powerful men’s teams, and one that is likely to accelerate after this year’s World Cup,” wrote Times reporters Constant Méheut and Isabella Kwai. “A girl playing soccer used to be a trauma for the family,” said Dolors Ribalta Alcalde, a women’s sports specialist at Ramon Llull University in Barcelona. Until recently, female players faced insults on the field and the denial of playing equipment. England banned women’s soccer teams in 1921 and kept that ban in place for 50 years. But in 2018 England created a professional women’s league for women and Spain did so three years later. Corporations have begun sponsoring women’s clubs. The number of registered female players in Spain is nearly 90,000 today, more than double the total in 2015. Many observers expect the exposure women’s soccer got this year in the World Cup to inspire more girls to take up the sport and join the talented youth teams that feed national teams. 

“World Cup Victory Is Marred by Intrusion of Machismo,” New York Times, August 21, 2023

 

After years of overbearing treatment by male coaches, the Spanish women’s soccer team won the Word Cup August 20 – and then encountered a reminder of what they had overcome in the joyful celebration that followed. During the awards ceremony, Luis Rubiales, president of the Spanish soccer federation, grabbed Spanish forward Jennifer Hermoso, kissed her on the cheeks, and then fully on the lips. Later, he told players that they would be rewarded with a trip to Ibiza and that it would be an opportunity to celebrate his “wedding” to Hermoso -- an apparent reference to the unwanted kiss, Times reporter Constant Méheut wrote. For 27 years the team had a coach infamous for referring to his players as “chavalitas,” or immature girls. He lost his job in 2015 following player protests. More recently, players accused their current coach, Jorge Vilda, of fostering “an oppressive workplace environment, one in which the players’ every move was monitored by his staff,” the story said. Last fall many players refused to be considered for the national team. El Pais, Spain’s biggest newspaper, editorialized that “the women, the girls of this country, celebrated the fact that our stubbornness has finally defeated machismo. Rubiales’s kiss to Hermoso reminds us that the road ahead is a long one.” 

“Number of Migrant Families Apprehended at Border Nearly Doubled in July,” Washington Post, August 19, 2023

 

The number of migrant families arrested at the U.S. southern border nearly doubled from June to July, according to federal figures released August 18. The monthly tally was the highest since the end of last year. The data show that of the 132,652 migrants apprehended in July, 60,161 were parents and children. The number of parents and children was 31,266 in June, out of a total of 99,539 migrants. The higher inflow has stretched into August, worrying administration officials.  But they stress that the July figures for total apprehensions were well below that of July 2022. Smugglers have been telling migrants in Guatemala and other countries that it’s easier for adults traveling with children to cross the border. They’ve “lied to people saying there won’t be consequences,” said a federal official.  More than 2.2 million migrants were apprehended in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2022. More than 1.6 million migrants have arrived so far this fiscal year. 

“How Ecuador’s Neighbors Unleashed Drug Violence on Its Soil,” New York Times, August 18, 2023

 

Drug cartels from Columbia and other countries have found it easier to operate in Ecuador in recent years. That fact was brutally underscored by the recent assassination of Ecuadoran presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who was campaigning against growing cartel control of the Ecuadoran government. The growing dominance of cartels in Ecuador, sandwiched between the major cocaine exporters of Columbia and Peru, is such that it was no surprise when the busy port of Rotterdam in Holland recently announced that its biggest seizure of narcotics ever had come from Ecuador. How has Ecuador become the top cocaine exporter to Europe? Analysts say it’s easy to launder drug money there because it uses dollars as currency. Its prisons, weakened by spending cuts, are increasingly controlled by gangs operating in the drug trade who recruit inmates.  When Columbia signed a peace deal in 2016 with FARC, Columbia's largest rebel group, some factions in FARC moved to Ecuador. FARC controlled the drug trade in Columbia.  Public pessimism abounds about Ecuador’s ability to regain control. “People no longer want to go out for a walk, or eat in a restaurant, because they kill us,” a cab driver said. Villavicencio’s killing was a message, one analyst said, “that if you talk about these issues or touch on these issues so openly at a public level, this is what can happen.”

“The Panama Canal Has Become a Traffic Jam of the Seas,” Wall Street Journal, August 18, 2023

 

More than 200 ships are waiting to pass through the Panama Canal, a backup caused by drought that reduces  fresh water to float vessels in the passageway between the Pacific and the Atlantic. Ships awaiting passage are backed up for more than 20 days. Bulk and gas carriers booked on short notice face the longest delays, while containerships on fixed schedules that book crossings far in advance face the fewest disruptions. Bulk commodities include coal and iron. The Canal uses three times as much water as New York City each day. It relies on rainwater to replenish it. Ships cross the canal at an average 50 feet of draft but now must make do with a lower water depth of 44 feet. That means big ships must cross with fewer containers. Meanwhile, CNN reported August 26 that Panama, one of the wettest countries in the world, “is having one of its driest seasons on record.” Rainfall this spring and summer has been the lowest since the turn of the century. Increases in maritime choke points “could spell trouble for the global supply chain networks” and affect holiday season merchandise ranging from Christmas decorations to furniture to toys. 

 

“60 Migrants Are Feared Dead as Boat Flips in the Atlantic,” 

New York Times, August 18, 2023

 

A Spanish fisherman found a capsized boat in the Atlantic that was carrying migrants from Senegal, authorities said. More than 60 of the migrants died, while 38 people survived the accident. The boat was found 150 miles north of Sal Island, part of the island nation of Cape Verde, which lies 350 miles west of the West African nation of Senegal. Thousands of migrants, seeking to escape war and poverty at home, “leave ports along the West African coast aiming for Spain’s Canary Islands as a way to reach European territory, often in rickety wooden crafts known as pirogues – even though the route is one of the world’s deadliest,” wrote Times reporter Mike Ives. A Spanish migrant advocacy group said at least 778 migrants died during the first half of the year on the West African route to Spain. At least 16 more migrants were killed in a boat accident in late July off the coast of Dakar, the capital of Senegal, while being chased by Spanish and Senegalese patrol boats. 

“Libertarian’s Surprise Success in Argentine Presidential Primary Rocks Establishment,” Washington Post, August 15, 2023

 

Libertarian economist Javier Milei is now considered the candidate to beat in Argentina’s Oct. 22 presidential election following his surprisingly successful showing in a presidential primary over this past weekend. Who is he? Milei has drawn comparisons to Donald Trump in the United States and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil. He “has garnered a popular following for his right-wing politics, bombastic style, television appearances and history as a rock musician,” wrote Post reporter Sarah Dadouch. The “self-proclaimed anarcho-capitalist draws on anger at corruption, the ruling class and the political elite.” His political positions include abolishing Argentina’s Central Bank and dollarizing its economy. He says climate change is a “socialist lie” even though Argentina is going through a severe three-year drought scientists say probably has been made worse by high temperatures caused by climate change. He says the buying and selling of organs should just be another market. He aims to cut the public payroll by shutting down or privatizing state entities. He opposes abortion, newly legal in Argentina, and says sex education is part of a “post-Marxist agenda” that aims to destroy the family.  

“The Shock of Drought in Uruguay, Long Enriched by Plenty of Water,” New York Times, August 15, 2023

 

The Paso Severino reservoir in Uruguay, which supplies water for more than half of the country’s 3.4 million people, fell to 2.4 percent of capacity in late June. Now officials have added brackish water – a mix of fresh and seawater – from the Rio de la Plata to the water supply. That’s brought sodium and chloride to double the level considered safe in the tap water, so seniors, pregnant women, toddlers, and people with chronic kidney and heart diseases have been instructed to avoid it. Those who can afford it are using bottled water for everything. “We cook pasta, wash lettuce and make coffee with it,” said Uruguayan journalist Guillermo Garat. Climate change hasn’t directly caused the drought, but scientists say global warming was a factor in the extreme heat that made the drought worse. There are few short-term solutions other than to wait for rain. The irony is that Uruguay has long prided itself on an abundant fresh water supply. But that led to complacency. “We were too late to have a vision of strategic planning about water,” said one official. 

 

“Soon, the Oceans Could Feel Like Jacuzzis,” New York Times, August 16, 2023

 

After five attempts, distance swimmer Diana Nyad in 2013 swam 110 miles from Havana to Key West – “but I couldn’t have made that swim last month,” she wrote in a New York Times opinion piece. The ocean temperature off Miami reached 95 degrees a few weeks ago, akin to “stepping in a hot Jacuzzi, the antitheses of refreshing and inspiring.” In water that hot, “the body heat I’d generate from the duress of the effort – a continuous 52 hours and 54 minutes – would quickly lead to overheating and failure. And danger,” she said. The summer of 2023 may be remembered “as the beginning of an era when many of our oceans stopped serving as a glorious place of recreation.”  Florida’s Chambers of Commerce are “no doubt huddled in meetings, contemplating the disaster that will ensue if the uncomfortable water temperatures drive away tourists for good.” From southern Mexico through the Caribbean to the western Indian Ocean, 40 percent of the world’s oceans have fallen victim “to the blunt force trauma of climate change.” Coral reefs in Florida have been dying almost overnight. “Picture the dead fish floating on the ocean, the dead lobsters on the ocean floor.” Nyad said she is “grief-stricken at what we human beings have carelessly and greedily done to our home….”

“Democracy Might Be Doomed in Ecuador,” Washington Post editorial, August 14, 2023

 

Ecuador is verging on political chaos following the August 9 assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.  “Driven by turf wars among the gangs, the country’s murder rate has essentially quintupled in the past half-decade, with victims sometimes blown up by bombs, decapitated or, in some grisly episodes, left hanging from bridges,” the Post editorialized. The crime wave “has sent a surge of Ecuadoran migration to the U.S. southern border.” Democracy in Ecuador, once an oasis of relative prosperity and safety, faces two threats. The country could either become ungovernable because of  the violence  of the gangs or it could impose “a police state to crush them.” That latter approach taken by El Salvador has increasing allure in the region. The Biden administration should consider aiding the Ecuadoran government by helping it to regain control of its prisons, which gangs have taken over and turned into command centers. The U.S. also could increase surveillance of transnational groups originating in Albania that are vying with Mexican cartels for control of Ecuadoran cocaine exports. If Latin American democracies “are to avoid the temptation to respond with autocratic methods, the United States will have to help them show that lawful ones can work.”

"Free U.S. Nurse Expresses Gratitude," Washington Post, August 14, 2023

A U.S. nurse who together with her daughter was freed by kidnappers in Haiti August 9 said a Christian song entitled "See a Victory" helped pull her through the ordeal. "God was so very present in the fire with us and I pray that when I find the words to tell our story, that the mighty name of Jesus may be glorified and that many people will come to know his love,"   Alix Dorsainvil said in a statement August 12 posted on the website of the faith-based organization El Roi Haiti. The group, founded by her husband and which employs her as a nurse, said neither Dorsainvil or her daughter were harmed. They were taken at gunpoint from the campus of a Christian school near Port-au-Prince and spent almost two weeks in captivity. It was unclear whether a ransom was paid. 

"Plane Crash Survivor Allegedly Abused," Washington Post, August 14, 2023

Columbian prosecutors have filed sex abuse charges against the father of two of the four Indigenous children who survived a plane crash in May in the Columbian Amazon. The mother of the two children and two other adults were killed in the crash. Prosecutors said Manuel Ranoque sexually abused his 13-year-old stepdaughter. She was widely credited with ensuring that she and her siblings survived the five weeks after the crash before their rescue. Ranoque was accused of abusing his stepdaughter since she was ten years old. The surviving children, of ages 1 through 13, spent a month in the hospital after their rescue. After that they were placed in the care of Columbia's family welfare institute. Prosecutors claim the alleged abuse was first suspected to have occurred there.  

“Four Nigerians Stow Away on Random Ship and End Up in Brazil,” New York Times, August 11, 2023

 

Four Nigerians who said they were jobless and desperate stowed away above the rudder on the outside of a giant cargo ship leaving Lagos and to their shock found themselves 14 days later on the other side of the Atlantic in Brazil.  Two of the four have applied for refugee status in Brazil and hope to remain there; the other two have asked to be sent back. The two who want to stay received work permits and have started applying for jobs. Brazil as it turns out is a major destination for migrants. Since 2018 it has granted permanent refugee status to almost 100,000 refugees. It has issued about 9,000 humanitarian visas to Afghans since the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan two years ago. “Migrant rights are enshrined in Brazil’s constitution,” the Times reported. “They are entitled to equal treatment and access to government services such as health care, education, and social security programs, even if they arrive without documentation. People from South America are automatically eligible to apply for Brazilian residency.”

“Ecuador Faces a Grim Turning Point After a Candidate’s Assassination,” New York Times, August 11, 2023

 

Observers are drawing parallels between Ecuador and Columbia in the wake of the assassination of Ecuadoran presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio August 9. An impassioned critic of the penetration of drug cartels into the Ecuadoran power structure, Villavicencio was gunned down after giving a speech at a school in Quito in which he spoke out “against the mafias that have subjugated this homeland.” An Ecuadoran official said six suspects arrested in connection with the killing were all Columbian. Ecuador had escaped the drug-related warfare that killed thousands, undermined democracy and turned citizens against in each other in neighboring Columbia. But over the past five years in Ecuador, a nation of 18 million people, “foreign drug mafias have joined forces with local prison and street gangs,” the Times said. “In just a few years, they have transformed entire swaths of the country, extorting business, recruiting young people, infiltrating the government and killing those who investigate them.” The 59-year-old Villavicencio during his career was a journalist, activist, trade union official and legislator. He was polling near the middle of a group of eight presidential candidates. The presidential election, set for August 20, will go on as scheduled. 

 

“Long History as Journalist and Activist,” New York Times, August 11, 2023

 

An investigative journalist for two decades who focused on corruption in the oil industry, slain Ecuadoran presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was not content solely to expose wrongdoing. “He considered it important to take even further action so there wouldn’t be impunity,” said a fellow journalist. The attention Villavicencio called to links between drug cartels and government officials appears to have cost him his life (see above). But he began angering powerful interests long before that. After becoming a prominent union leader in the oil industry, he “played a crucial role in exposing a bribery scandal that eventually led to the conviction of former President Rafael Correa,” the Times reported. Correa was a socialist who led the Ecuadoran government for a decade until 2017.  A lawyer who represented Villavicencio said Correa persecuted him by raiding his home and threatening his family. Villavicencio  was described by university classmates as an ardent leftist and excellent debater. He was running in the current presidential election as an anticorruption candidate and campaigned on such issues as personal safety amid narcoviolence. 

“Amazon Nations Fail to Agree Deforestation Target,” Financial Times, August 9, 2023

 

An agreement by eight nations to work together to protect the Amazon rainforest is missing a critical component – a joint target for ending illegal deforestation. So say activists who were hoping the summit would produce a pledge to end illegal deforestation by 2030. As the world’s largest rainforest, the Amazon region absorbs huge amounts of carbon dioxide, a process crucial to protecting against catastrophic changes in the earth’s climate. But because of the opposition of Bolivia, which is undergoing rapid deforestation, the nations wouldn’t adopt an agreement on  the 2030 target date proposed by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. “Scientists have warned that rising deforestation levels mean the Amazon region is approaching a ‘tipping point’ at which swaths of the forest will turn into dry savannah,” the Financial Times reported. Lula has made the environment his top priority as president. Deforestation in the Brazilan Amazon fell 33 percent in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period last year. The summit did reach agreement on other measures (see story below).

“U.S. Nurse and Her Child Released by Haiti Abductors,” New York Times, August 10, 2023

 

An American nurse named Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter who were kidnapped in Haiti in July have been released. A faith-based group called El Roi Haiti which employs Dorsainvil as a community nurse announced the release. Her husband is the group’s director. The kidnapping underscored the violent lawlessness gripping Haiti. Gangs that resort to murder and kidnapping  have seized control of much of the island and vigilantes have retaliated with gruesome executions to hold them in check. The government is too weak to restore order. Details on the condition of the nurse and her daughter were unavailable. American officials said they’d been working with Haitian counterparts to obtain their release. Gangs stage kidnappings to make money. At least 51 foreigners were kidnapped there between January and July, a human rights group said. An estimated 600 Haitians were abducted in the same period.  Nearly 300 of the kidnappings in the first half of 2023 were of women or children, almost the same number as in all of 2022. Kenya says it will lead a multinational force that includes 1,000 of its police officers to help restore order in Haiti, and the Bahamas is offering another 150 personnel. The White House supports the plan. The UN is considering it. 

“8 Nations Reach Pact to Protect Amazon Rainforest,” New York Times, August 9, 2023

 

Eight countries that are home to the Amazon River Basin agreed in Belém, Brazil August 8 to work together to conserve the world’s largest rainforest. Their Belém Declaration coordinates law enforcement against illegal mining and logging. It aims to pool funds for conservation and sustainable employment and creates a scientific panel focused on climate change related to the Amazon. The Amazon rainforest is key to the fight against climate change “because it pulls huge amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and stores it away,” the Times said.  The countries are Columbia, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Guyana, and Suriname. The Brazilian government has named Amazon protection a top priority after former president Jair Bolsonaro rapidly accelerated deforestation. The gathering in Belém was expected to yield a separate agreement August 9 that included other nations with major rainforests – the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia. 

“At Hotel for Migrants, Checking In on a Contract,” New York Times, August 9, 2023

 

DocGo, a medical services firm hired by New York City under a no-bid contract to move migrants upstate, lied to get them to go in some cases and harassed them, according to New York Times investigative reporter Jay Root. City Hall says the program is voluntary and no one is promised a job, but “that’s not the story I got in Albany, where hundreds of migrants have temporarily resettled,” Root said in an interview with Inside the Times. Most of the migrants said they were told by New York City authorities they would get help with asylum paperwork, obtaining a state ID and a job, Root said. He said that when he checked in to an Albany hotel where DocGo sent the migrants, the firm posted security guards outside his room, tried to listen under the door, followed him around, and told him he couldn’t speak to migrants. About a dozen Venezuelans who defied the no-press rule were warned they would be kicked out of the resettlement program. A guard angry about one talkative Venezuelan said he would put him “to sleep” and said he was going to “beat the [expletive] out of him.” The migrants interviewed said they had been deceived and that the promises of help they’d heard in New York City “had evaporated the minute they stepped off the bus in Albany,” Root said. 

“The Latest in Mexican Politics: Birtherism,” Washington Post, August 5, 2023

 

Who is Mexican -- or more to the point -- who is more Mexican? What about “fifis,” people of European ancestry who live in posh neighborhoods? What about Indigenous peoples, historically powerless and regarded as backward? The issue of national identity is coming to the fore in the upcoming presidential elections, with President Andrés Manuel López identifying his party with the poor and downtrodden and dismissing those who oppose him as fifis, writes Post reporter Mary Beth Sheridan. His National Regeneration Movement party is known by its Spanish acronym as MORENA, which also means brown skinned. Many Mexicans are Mestizos, a racial mixture of Spanish and Indigenous heritage. But more downtrodden than Mestizos are Indigenous Mexicans, and a top opposition candidate, Xóchitil Gálvez, emphasizes her Indigenous roots. Meanwhile, presidential hopeful Claudia Sheinbaum faces false claims she was born in Bulgaria; she boasts she is “more Mexican than mole,” a traditional Mexican sauce. While European roots are perhaps more of a liability than they once were in politics, the fact remains that “to this day many of the elite in Mexican politics, business, academia and media are light-skinned,” says Sheridan.

“In Brazil, Concerns Over Police Violence as Raids Kill at Least 45 in Week,” Washington Post, August 4, 2023

 

Police raids in Brazil that killed 45 people over a week’s time have drawn criticism from lawmakers in the country. Gunfire in a raid against a meeting of gang leaders killed 10 people in Rio de Janeiro on August 2. In the state of Bahia, 19 suspects were killed in late July. Police killed 16 more people in the state of Sao Paulo after a police officer on patrol was shot and killed. Lawmakers in the Rio state legislature called the raid in Rio a massacre and said there is no excuse for police turning life in the favelas – the slums – into hell because of police violence. But a police spokesman said “we went there to arrest them, but they fought back and ended up dead.” There’s a larger political backdrop to the controversy. Jair Bolsonaro, when he was president, urged more violent tactics against lawbreakers; in 2019, he said criminals should “die in the street like cockroaches.” Current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva “has long criticized Bolsonaro’s support of police violence,” wrote Post reporter Lyric Li. Police fatally shot 6,430 people in Brazil in 2022, according to one tracking group. 

“Biden’s Asylum Restrictions Can Stay In Place For Now, Court Rules,” Washington Post, August 4, 2023

 

A federal appeals court ruled 2 to 1 to keep Biden administration asylum restrictions in place at the Southern border, temporarily blocking a lower court decision that would have ended them on August 8. The upper court will consider an administration appeal of the lower court ruling on an expedited basis.  The restrictions have reduced the number of border crossings, but they are creeping back up again. The administration feared that lifting them entirely would let loose a huge surge of migrants across the border. It’s expected that the curbs will remain at least through September.  The dissenting appeals judge complained that the court had not permitted similar Trump administration restrictions to stay in place, in effect accusing colleagues of showing favoritism to Biden.  But Biden administration officials denied that the Trump era restrictions were similar, saying that unlike Trump they were not barring migrants from seeking asylum. An ACLU lawyer praised the ruling for an expedited appeal, saying that “each day the Biden administration prolongs its efforts to preserve its illegal ban, people fleeing grave danger are put in harm’s way.”

“Church Abuse Hangs Over Pope Francis’s Trip to Portugal,” Washington Post, August 2, 2023

 

An effort by Portuguese bishops to demonstrate they are on board with Pope Francis’s call for accountability within the church for sexual abuse is more show than substance, critics say. Portugal is hosting the Pope and hundreds of thousands of young Catholics this week for a celebration of World Youth Day, an event that prompted the bishops to accelerate the country’s lagging response to child sexual abuse by appointing an independent commission to investigate its scope.  But critics charge church officials sought to thwart its work and delayed for months the access of investigators to church archives. The panel released a report in February saying at least 4,815 children in the country had been abused since 1950. But delayed access allegedly reduced that total. The bishop of Porto declared on national TV in October that there was no obligation to report abuse. The cardinal in the Lisbon archdiocese initially refused to suspend predatory priests named in the commission report.  Some dioceses wouldn’t display the commission hotline number on their websites. “Catholic bishops worldwide are still refusing to cooperate with the investigations of clergy sex abuse,” said Anne Barrett Doyle of BishopAccountability.org.

“In Blow to Biden, Arrests at Border Surged in July,” Washington Post, August 2, 2023

 

Illegal crossings into the U.S. along its southern border rose more than 30 percent in July, according to government data obtained by the Washington Post. U.S. agents made more than 130,000 arrests along the U.S. border with Mexico, up from 99,545 in June, according to preliminary figures. The biggest jump occurred in the southern Arizona desert despite daytime temperatures often topping 110 degrees. Biden administration officials have credited restrictions on asylum seekers they imposed in May with producing a sharp drop in border crossers, but that trend now appears to be reversing though the monthly tally is still below that of pre-May crossings. A federal judge has ordered that those restrictions be ended August 8.  Government lawyers filing appeals to block the order say crossings will match or exceed the number that occurred in the days leading up to the May imposition of restrictions. More than 100,000 migrants are in northern Mexico within eight hours of the U.S.-Mexico border and many more are on the way, said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 

"Mexico's Disappeared Deserve the Truth," Washington Post Editorial, August 2, 2023

 

The response by Mexico's president to the disappearance of 43 college students in September 2014 "is a mark of failure by Mr. Lopez Obrador," the Washington Post said in an editorial. It is "a sad comment on Mexico's inability to extricate itself from lawlessness and impunity." An international team trying to determine what happened to the students and why recently departed Mexico in frustration, saying the military wouldn’t cooperate. Lopez Obrador “stood by as security forces bugged the phones of top officials” involved in the inquiry. He increasingly relies on the military, expanding its budget and functions “while brushing aside many allegations of abuses.” Mexico “has long suffered without rule of law, been plagued by drug cartel violence and struggled with forced disappearances – upward of 100,000 of them. The plight of the 43 students has become a symbol of the government’s inability to hold to account those responsible for misdeeds.”

“Mexican Cartels Fight the Drug War With ‘Monster’ Trucks,” New York Times, August 2, 2023

 

Oversized wheels, heavy duty suspension kits, and exhaust spewing pipes are only part of the story – now in Mexico so-called monster trucks feature battering rams, four-inch-thick steel plates, and turrets for machine guns. Criminal groups such as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel use the “monstruos” to fight gun battles with the police. Others such as the Gulf Cartel and the Northeast Cartel use the trucks to fight each other. “The monsters are the way to send the message, ‘I’m in charge,’ and I want everyone to see I’m in charge,’” one expert said. “The progression of the armored trucks has followed the flow of elite soldiers into cartels,” the Times reported. Seizure of the vehicles has shed light on regions where cartels are flourishing such as the states of Michoacán and Jalisco. Cartels and the Mexican military are in an arms race, with some Mexican soldiers carrying shoulder-fired rocket launchers able to destroy armored trucks. 

“U.S. Nurse and Her Child Are Kidnapped as Violence Resurges in Haitian Capital,” New York Times, August 1, 2023

 

Kidnappings are on the rise again in Haiti after a recent decline stemming from a brutal vigilante crackdown on gang violence. Among the latest abductions are that of an American nurse, Alix Dorsainvil, and her daughter. Dorsainvil is a nurse with a faith-based humanitarian organization called El Roi Haiti. A U.S. State Department official said colleagues are working with Haitian counterparts on the matter. The recent sharp decline was believed to be the result of gruesome executions of gang members by a vigilante campaign known as “bwa kale.” The executions involved dousing gang members with gasoline and burning them alive. But local groups say killings and kidnappings have spiked as bwa kale weakens and gangs seek to make up lost income from the earlier decline in abductions. To help address the crisis the government of Kenya said this past weekend that it might lead a multinational force to counter the lawlessness in Haiti. The plan involves deploying about 1,000 police officers to help train and assist Haitian police in restoring order.

“Nowhere to Put Migrants, New York City Major Says,” New York Times, August 1, 2023

 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the city has run out of indoor space to house an influx of 90,000 migrants from the U.S. southern border.  Adams said he now plans to confine people sleeping outdoors to certain parts of the city: “I can assure you that this city is not going to look like other cities where there are tents up and down every street.” Adams’ handling of the influx drew criticism from immigrant advocacy groups. “Denying new arrivals placement and forcing people to languish on local streets is cruel and runs afoul of a range of court orders and local laws,” the groups said. Prior to his comments the Times revealed that the city gave a $432 million no-bid contract to a firm that has bused hundreds of migrants upstate. Some of the migrants said the firm, DocGo, had misled and abandoned them.