News Summaries in July 2023

 “Dreams and Deadly Seas,” Washington Post, July 31, 2023

 

The island nation of the Bahamas has stepped up patrols in response to a record increase in migration to and from its shores. It apprehended 3,605 migrants in 2022, most of them Haitians. That’s more than in the three previous calendar years combined. The upsurge in migration fuels an activity with a long history in the Bahamas -- smuggling. First came gold, then rum, then cocaine, but now smugglers are making big money moving people, many of them desperate Haitians, who are fleeing the violence and chaos in their country in hopes of reaching the United States. But many perish because the treacherous combination of the northward Florida current meeting strong winds coming down from the north creates steep waves that capsize overloaded or unseaworthy boats smugglers use to try to reach the U.S. At least 349 people either died or disappeared in the Caribbean last year, according to the U.N., almost twice as many as the year before. People of means from places like China, Cameroon and Iraq also are entering the Bahamas because of easy visa requirements and using it as a jumping off point for the U.S. “They buy a plane ticket, land on an island, and look for a boat,” the Post reported. 

“President’s Son Charged with Money Laundering,” Washington Post, July 31, 2023

 

The son of Columbian President Gustavo Petro has been arrested on charges of money laundering and illicit enrichment. Nicolás Petro’s former wife, Daysuris Vásquez, also was charged with money laundering, the country’s attorney general announced. Vásquez has accused her former husband Nicolás of using funds donated to his father’s presidential campaign to fund a lavish lifestyle, said Post reporter Andrea Salcedo. The money never got to the campaign, Vásquez said. Controversy already is swirling around Gustavo Petro, whose approval ratings are dropping. Recently leaked audio messages implicated his chief of staff and ambassador to Venezuela in possible campaign finance violations. Petro fired both of them. He has promised not to interfere in the investigation of his son. “We still have no evidence of Petro’s direct involvement,” said Sergio Guzmán of the Columbia Risk Analysis consultancy.  “Right now Petro is in damage control mode trying to isolate the issue around his son. It’s very much a president that doesn’t want this scandal to involve him.” 

“State Dept. Urges Personnel to Leave Haiti Amid Violence,” Washington Post, July 29, 2023

 

The State Department has ordered all Americans out of Haiti because of growing gang violence. The order includes non-emergency U.S. government personnel and the family members of American diplomats. The move follows a week in which “Haitians from the surrounding neighborhood swarmed the area outside the embassy, seeking protection from what the diplomatic mission called ‘heavy gunfire in the vicinity,’” wrote Post reporter Karen DeYoung. Armed gangs have taken control of as much as 90 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince. They have engaged in killings and rape and have burned families out of their homes. Prime Minister Ariel Henry has called for a multinational force to intervene and control the gangs. But no nation has emerged to lead such an effort. An earlier U.N. force was very unpopular among Haitians. It was accused of starting a cholera epidemic and of failing to end anarchy amid gang violence. However, the U.N. is exploring the possibility of a peacekeeping operation. 

“Understanding Factors Behind Dip in Migrants Entering U.

S. Illegally,” New York Times, July 27, 2023

 

Will the number of migrants seeking asylum in the United States surge again after a federal judge threw out Biden administration restrictions that sharply reduced their numbers? The flow of migration rises or falls based on factors such as the weather, war, famine, economic conditions and immigration enforcement in other countries. But U.S. asylum policy has an impact too. Before Biden’s asylum changes took effect in May, about 7,500 migrants per day were trying to cross the border illegally. Now it’s about 3,000 migrants per day. If the judge’s ruling stands, a surge could recur. But the judge noted in his ruling that ending Biden’s policy would restore a regulatory regime in place for decades when the number of migrants trying to cross into the U.S. was far lower. But “further south, migration toward the United States has shown little sign of abating, an indication that many more migrants plan to show up at the border in the coming weeks,” the Times said. For example, people crossing the Darién Gap between Columbia and Panama fell from about 40,000 before Biden’s restrictions to 30,000 after but in  the first 24 days of July almost 42,000 crossed. Most are coming from Venezuela, with large numbers also from Haiti and Ecuador. The fourth largest group are from China, many of them children. 

 

“Texas Border Tactics Test Limits of States’ Power,” New York Times, July 27, 2023

 

Stepped up efforts by Texas Governor Greg Abbott to deter migrants trying to enter his state from Mexico have triggered a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice. Intensifying his already aggressive Lone Star enforcement operation, Abbott ordered the placement of a floating barrier in the middle of the Rio Grande along with prison wire.  Federal officials sued Texas July 24 on grounds the move damaged U.S. foreign policy and “flouted federal law.” Experts said the move may have crossed the line, but Lone Star has been popular among Republicans and some Democrats, at least until now. “Stringing up prison wire along the banks of the Rio Grande is not only blatantly illegal but also appallingly cruel,” said Jeffrey B. Abramson, an emeritus University of Texas law professor. Conservatives claim Lone Star has reduced the influx of migrants into the United States though other analysts credit Biden administration asylum policy for that. Others on the right blame Abbott, however, for not deporting migrants. They say the U.S. Constitution lets states exercise such powers during a foreign invasion.   A risk the Biden administration faces if it goes to court to assert the primacy of federal immigration authority is that the powerful conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court will side with Abbott. 

“Team Ends Investigation into Missing Students in Mexico,” Washington Post, July 26, 2023

 

The unsolved disappearance of 43 students on their way to a demonstration against the Mexican military in 2014 will continue to remain a mystery -- perhaps forever. International investigators ended their probe July 25 involving students from a rural teachers college in the village of Ayotzinapa. They plan to leave Mexico for good next week.  The military has withheld evidence, changed testimony and obstructed justice, investigators said. “They’ve lied to us, they’ve responded with falsehoods,” said Carlos Beristain of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. “We have no more information.” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledged to find out what happened and get justice for the victims and their families when he took office in 2018. “But when push came to shove and he had to choose between pursuing truth and justice for Ayotzinapa or protecting the military, he chose to protect the military,” said Tyler Mattiace of Human Rights Watch. A final Commission report said “the evidence shows that different authorities know what happened, or have important evidence that has not been shared.” 

“Biden’s Asylum Restrictions Are Tossed,” Washington Post, July 26, 2023

 

A federal judge ordered an end to Biden administration restrictions that have sharply reduced the number of migrants seeking asylum at the Mexican border. The administration is moving to appeal the order, which takes effect in 14 days. U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar said the administration cannot declare migrants ineligible for asylum if they crossed the border illegally. Federal law says it does not matter how they entered the U.S. if they are fleeing persecution, he said. Nor can it compel migrants to first seek asylum in countries such as Mexico that are unsafe or lack strong asylum systems. In practice, many undocumented asylum seekers can enter and work in the United States pending a hearing on their asylum cases before an immigration judge, but those cases are backlogged for years. Most seekers lose their cases when they are heard but “are rarely deported because of staffing shortages and policies that discourage the deportation of migrants with deep roots in the United States,” wrote Post reporter Maria Sacchetti. Administration officials said that dropping the restrictions “could lead to a major influx of migrants that could overwhelm the immigration system and cause severe crowding in holding facilities.”

“Election Shows Spain Still Has Little Interest in Reembracing Extreme Right,” Washington Post, July 25, 2023

 

Spain, which has some of the most recent memories in Europe of extreme right-wing repression, “still has little interest in reembracing the radical right,” write Post reporters Anthony Faiola and Beatriz Ríos based on results from the country’s July 23 national elections. Hard-right Vox fell from 15 percent of the vote in November 2019 elections to 12 percent this past Sunday and lost 19 of its 52 seats in parliament. Voter turnout reached 70 percent compared to 66 percent in 2019. Buoyed in recent years by anti-secessionist sentiment, Vox targeted liberal thought widely. In one community it banned L.G.B.T.Q. flags from public buildings. It pledged to change local codes to erase the term “gender-based violence,” saying women are not the only victims of violence and men not the only abusers. Activists feared that could jeopardize funding for safe houses for women facing domestic violence. Prime minister Pedro Sanchez faces difficulty, however, wooing secessionists into a ruling coalition with his socialist party. A secessionist leader said Sanchez may have to hold an independence referendum in Catalonia, but few see him willing to go that far. A referendum may “be the starting point of negotiations, not an end.” 

“Bucking Polls, Spain Rebukes Far-Right Party,” New York Times, July 25, 2023

 

Instead of becoming the first hard-right party to enter the Spanish national government since the Franco dictatorship, Vox lost nearly half its seats in parliament in the country’s national elections July 23. Its unexpectedly poor performance left Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez within reach of retaining his post by forming a coalition with separatist parties. Vox campaigned for a crackdown on immigration, a reversal of L.G.B.T.Q. rights, and promotion of traditional Christian values but that message didn’t fly with the voters. “Instead, the results made clear that the rise of Vox had more to do with the nationalist response to a 2017 explosion of secessionist fervor in Spain’s Catalonia region,” wrote the Times' Jason Horowitz. But concessions Sanchez might make to lure secessionists into a coalition risks refueling a hard-right resurgence. For now, however pro-European politicians take the results as an encouraging sign that other elections in Europe next year will also be won in the center, “dealing a setback to the far-right forces that have made gains in Sweden, Finland, Germany, France and Italy, as well as in the United States.” 

 

“Spain’s Election Reflects Divide,” Washington Post, July 24, 2023

 

Spain’s center-right Popular Party won the most votes in the country’s national elections July 23 but fell short of the seats needed in the parliament to form a widely predicted ruling coalition with Vox.  That far-right party actually lost ground in vote tallies. The unexpected boost for the country’s socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez left him within reach of forming a coalition with Spain’s separatist parties to retain his post. But whether that will happen is unclear. Neither left nor right could claim a clear victory. Popular Party leader Alberto Nuñez Feijóo said that “as the candidate of the most-voted party, I believe it is my duty to open a dialogue to try to govern our country in accordance with the election results….”  Post reporters Anthony Faiola and Beatriz Ríos concluded that “the hung parliament raised the prospect that Spaniards – who have gone to the polls five times in eight years – could simply end up doing it all again in a revote.” 

 

“Spain’s Far Right Vox Party is On the Brink of Sharing Power as a Conservative Kingmaker,” NBC News Website, July 22, 2023

 

Environmental issues could be among the priorities of a potential right-wing ruling coalition emerging from the July 23 national elections in Spain. Far-right Vox, which could form a coalition with the more moderate Popular Party on the right, fears that green measures will destroy the agricultural industry. The two parties “back a controversial plan to legalize and expand water drilling in one of Europe’s most important wetlands, much of which is already arid and lifeless, to fuel the lucrative fruit industry,” writes NBC’s Patrick Smith.  Farmers for decades have been draining the aquifer in the Doñana region of southern Spain to provide water for strawberries, raspberries, cranberries and blueberries. But where open water once provided habitats to 500,000 waterfowl, some parts of Doñana now resemble a desert. The reality of human-made global warming has until now been a settled matter in European politics but Vox rejects it.  It wants much wider access to water for all despite the impact on the degraded environment. 

“Spain is Going to Be Fine,” by Omar G. Encarnación, New York Times Guest Essay, July 20, 2023

 

Spain’s July 23 national elections will determine its political direction in coming years, not bring the end of democracy. Pedro Sanchez, the country’s center-left prime minister, has portrayed the vote as a choice between continuing democracy if he wins or submitting to autocracy if he loses. But his rival, Alberto Nuñez of the conservative Popular Party, is not a Trumpian and has steered his party toward the center. That fact means that a potential ruling coalition that includes the far-right party Vox won’t end democracy and could make Vox less extreme. Vox itself is alarming, with its opposition to feminism, gay rights, and opposition to “any attempt to revisit the human rights atrocities of the Spanish Civil War.” Ominously, it has proposed a national referendum to ban separatist parties.  It also favors erecting walls around Spanish enclaves to keep immigrants out. But the public emergence of Vox does not signal a shift for the Spanish right and politics because the far right has been there all along, though hidden. Despite its short history as a democracy and the extreme polarization of its politics, Spain “is remarkably free of the dreaded political pathology known as democratic backsliding, or the erosion of democratic norms.” Spanish democracy has been “served by steady leadership, social and economic advances and a lively multiparty political culture.” 

 

“The Spanish Exceptions,” by Omar G. Encarnación, The New York Review, July 16, 2023

 

The fierce opposition of two separatist regions in Spain toward the extreme right wing made the country until recently an exception to the European trend toward far-right representation in national parliaments. The opposition by leading separatist parties in the two regions, Catalonia and the Basque Country, could be a big factor in shaping the Spanish government that emerges from national elections July 23.  The right-wing extremist party Vox may be on the cusp of joining a ruling coalition with the more moderate conservative Popular Party depending on how the vote goes. But separatists could join with the current socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez in limiting inroads by Vox. However, as a price for pushing back against the far right, the Sanchez government if it survives may have to hold an official referendum on Catalan independence. Though Sanchez bills the choice before voters as democracy versus autocracy, his Popular Party opponent, Alberto Nuñez Feijóo, is “anything but Trumpian,” Encarnación says, noting that he appears to be working to return the PP to the center-right profile it had in the 1990s. Sanchez felt pressure to call the upcoming elections because of heavy losses  by his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party in local and regional elections in May that have empowered the formation of Vox-Popular Party ruling coalitions in governments below the national level.  

“Spanish Vote Threatens Efforts to Recover Franco’s Victims,” New York Times, July 19, 2023

 

The culture of silence that has prevented the identification and reburial of tens of thousands of Spanish civilians executed by the forces of Francisco Franco and dumped in mass graves more than 80 years ago may again be about to descend on the country.  The families of Franco’s victims fear that the conservative Popular Party will capture control of the Spanish government in elections July 23 and make good on a pledge to repeal a so-called memory law passed last fall to accelerate exhumations. “An estimated 100,000 people were executed by Franco’s supporters during and after the [1936-1939] Civil War, and buried in more than 2,000 mass graves scattered across the country,” noted Times reporter Constant Méheut.  Franco’s dictatorship ended in 1975 but part of Spain’s transition to democracy involved keeping quiet about the mass killings that occurred when Franco overthrew Spain’s democratic government. In recent years however efforts have intensified to identify bodies buried in mass graves. Many families want to find and rebury loved ones because “their dignity was stolen,” said an archaeologist involved in exhumations.  A Popular Party spokesman said exhumations could continue after the elections and that “relatives have the right to claim the bodies of their loved ones.” But anguished families say a previous conservative prime minister stopped the project. Right-wing leaders say it reopens old wounds while the families say it heals them. 

 

“Amid Heat Wave, Canary Islands Fire Forces Thousands to Flee,” New York Times, July 18, 2023

 

A wildfire that could be a preview of weather-related crises in mainland Spain and elsewhere in Europe later this summer forced the evacuation of more than 4,000 residents in Spain’s Canary Islands. The wildfire on La Palma, a small island in the Canaries archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa, “quickly spread because of ‘the wind, the climate conditions and the heat wave that we are living through,’” said Fernando Clavijo, president of the Canary Islands regional government. Like drought-stricken mainland Spain, the region has had relatively little rain in recent years. “Scientists now worry about wildfires breaking out increasingly earlier in the year as summerlike temperatures are now recorded more often in the spring,” says Times reporter Constant Méheut. Temperatures in  Andalusia in southern Spain topped 100 degrees in April. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of Greece, whose country also has been hit by early wildfires, said “this is one of the consequences of the climate crisis with which we are living, with ever greater intensity.” 

 

“Election in Guatemala Is Thrown into Turmoil,” New York Times, July 14, 2023

 

Guatemala’s electoral authority headed off a move by a top prosecutor that would have dealt a severe blow to the country’s already fragile democracy. The authority's action allows a surging anti-corruption candidate, Bernardo Arévalo, to compete against Sandra Torres, a former first lady, in an Aug. 20 presidential run-off election. The prosecutor, Rafael Curruchiche, tried to derail Arévalo’s candidacy by suspending his party after he showed surprising strength in a first round of voting in June. But Guatemala’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal ruled that a party can’t be suspended during an electoral process. The United States has placed Curruchiche on a list of corrupt Central American officials because of his efforts to block anti-corruption investigations. But democracy advocates see many threats. “Several top presidential candidates seen as threatening to the political and economic establishment had already been barred, press freedom has come under attack, and dozens of prosecutors and judges focused on graft have been forced into exile,” the Times reported.  

“As Spain Votes, Far Right Plans Leap Forward,” New York Times, July 10, 2023

 

National elections in Spain on July 23 may oust liberal prime minister Pedro Sanchez of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party. The conservative Popular Party is given a good chance of finishing first, with the hard right Vox party a possible partner in a ruling coalition. If that coalition with more moderate conservatives becomes reality, Vox “would become the first right-wing party since the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to enter the national government,” writes Times reporter Jason Horowitz. Mistrust of globalization, fears of non-white immigrants, and a backlash against gay rights and feminism are among the factors fueling the rise of Vox in Spain and other hard-right parties in other European countries. There are some signs though that Sanchez may rally as well-known artists and liberals throughout Spain focus on the threat to progressive policies posed by the rise of Vox. Spain under Sanchez has kept inflation low [at least until recently], reduced tensions with Catalonia, and increased the economic growth rate as well as pensions and the minimum wage. But his alliances with separatists and far-left forces have alienated many voters. 

“Hispanic Voters are Drifting Toward the GOP,” Washington Post, July 6, 2023

 

In this op-ed piece, Ruy Teixeira writes that Donald Trump won larger shares of the Hispanic vote in 2020 compared to 2016 in Florida, Wisconsin, Texas, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Arizona. He also did so among urban Hispanics in Chicago, New York, and Houston. The shift was largest among Cubans but also included in the following order Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Mexicans. Republicans outpolled Democrats among Hispanics on inflation and their handling of the economy. By a 2 to 1 margin they say President Biden’s policies are hurting not helping them and their families. In the 2022 election Democrats did not lose more ground except in the case of Florida. But slightly more than half of Hispanics think Democrats don’t share their values. Even so, Hispanics are still more likely to identify with the Democratic party and say it is generally better for them. “The challenge for Democrats is this,” Teixeira concludes. “The party can no longer count on simply mobilizing this constituency. The party will have to convince these voters that Democrats share the values” of the Hispanic community. 

“Bolsonaro Barred from Running for Office for Eight Years,” Washington Post, July 1, 2023

 

Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court voted June 30 by a margin of 5 to 2 to bar former President Jair Bolsonaro for running for office for eight years. Bolsonaro, an ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump who aped his tactics, is expected to appeal the ruling to Brazil’s Supreme Court.  The ruling accused Bolsonaro of undermining faith in democracy with repeated false claims that the country’s voting system was fraudulent. “It is not possible to turn a blind eye to the anti-democratic effects of violent speeches and lies that jeopardize the credibility of the electoral system,” wrote presiding judge Benedito Gonçalves. Brazil unlike the U.S. empowers an electoral court to remove politicians from office and prevent them from running again. Judicial authorities reportedly warned Bolsonaro at least 31 times between July 2021 and August 2022 that he could be punished for attacking the electoral system. Bolsonaro said he should not be punished for suggesting improvements to that system. Supporters say his wife Michelle Bolsonaro may succeed him as a right-wing leader.