News Summaries in January 2024

“The Dark Side of El Salvador’s War on Gangs,” Agence France-Presse, Jan. 31, 2024

 

The regime of President Nayeb Bukele has rounded up more than 75,000 suspected gangsters, a move credited with slashing homicide rates in El Salvador. It’s praised for “restoring security and dignity to citizens of what was once one of the world’s most dangerous countries,” writes Agence France-Presse reporter María Isabel Sánchez. But at the same time, innocent people and their families are paying a terrible price under the crackdown, says Sánchez. Sandra Hernandez said her husband, a day laborer, was taken by the police and never returned. She said her husband was falsely accused of gang membership. She was informed by authorities he had died of kidney failure. “But at the funeral home I was told that the body had bruises,” she told Agence France-Presse. Maricela Mendez said she was awakened by police in the middle of the night and taken to prison, and her children, aged 7 and 11, sent to stay with their grandmother. She said she was falsely accused of being a criminal because police had an arrest quota they had to meet. In prison, “we were punished, we were beaten, we were not given water” and were made to sleep on the floor. When her children see a patrol car, “they cry, they are afraid they will take me away again.” Irma Garcia told AFP her 17-year-old son was not a gang member but he was taken away 20 months ago and she has not been able to speak with him. She said she brings food and water to the prison but does not know if he receives it. “I don’t know if he’s okay, if he’s alive.” She said her family has been ostracized by the community and forced to move.  Of the 75,000 detained, “about 7,000 have since been freed for a lack of evidence, but activists say many innocents – including minors – remain behind bars,” Sánchez noted.

“I Can’t Face How Much She Suffered’: Argentina Femicides at Record High as Milei Dilutes Protections,” The Guardian, Jan. 30, 2024

 

Argentina reported 322 femicides in 2023, a term that refers to the misogynist killing of women, or, to quote feminist Diana Russell, “the killing of females by males because they are female.” That’s a record high, and a 33 percent increase over 2022, writes Guardian reporter Harriet Barber. A new report by Argentina’s National Ombudsman’s Office says 61 of the 322 victims had complained about gender violence, while 22 were allegedly raped before being murdered. “The deaths left almost 200 children without a mother, and some witnessed the attacks.” In three out of four cases, the victim had a relationship with the alleged perpetrator. Almost 60 percent of the victims were killed at home or at work.  Argentina recognized femicide as a specific offense in 2012, requiring a life sentence in such cases. They’ve nevertheless been increasing. The ombudsman said entrenched patriarchal culture, the failure to punish perpetrators, and continuing gender stereotypes contribute to the high number of femicides. Rates are high in Latin America. The highest femicide rates per population of 100,000 women are in Honduras (6), and Trinidad and Tobago (5.5). Argentina ranks 16^th out of 32, at one per 100,000 women. In terms of the highest absolute numbers, Brazil is first at 1,437, followed by Mexico at 976 and Honduras at 309. Argentina’s new right-wing president, Javier Milei, has closed down the ministry of women and gender. Current Argentine law requires all levels of government to train officials about violence against women but Milei aims to restrict training only to questions of “family violence.” Amnesty International Argentina says Milei wants to “move away from addressing gender-based violence as a structural problem.” 

“Cuba Struggles to Stay Afloat in Economic Quicksand,” El Pais, Jan. 24, 2024

 

There aren’t any signs things will get better for Cuba’s rural population after belt-tightening measures announced in December raising fuel prices 500 percent and electricity rates by 25 percent. Sixty-two-year-old Lucia Carida Torres wants to rebuild her tobacco-drying barn after a hurricane destroyed it in 2022. But she hasn’t been able to plant or harvest any crops since then and there is no government assistance to help her get access to building materials and fertilizer and fuel. “We need fuel to plant our crops,” she told El País. “We raise pigs and produce our own food, you know?” Torres said “no one really understands what us folks who live off the land have to deal with.” Cuban economist Omar Everleny Pérez Villaneuva says the government’s focus should be on increasing production but instead is on currency circulation. Meanwhile, Cuban households are suffering from a scarcity of milk, bread, and coffee because the government can no longer subsidize them. Pork production has dropped almost 90 percent along with falling production of rice and beans. The sugar harvest covers less than half of domestic demand. Many Cubans are going hungry. “We must acknowledge that the private sector offers great hope for this country,” said Everleny, but the government won’t surrender monopolies in critical industries and markets. Almost 500,000 people have emigrated from Cuba in the past two years. 

“Nearly One Million Salvadorans on the Verge of Starvation,” El Faro, Jan. 19, 2024

 

Almost one-sixth of Salvadorans don’t have the money to buy meat, eggs or dairy products, says El Faro correspondent Julia Gavarette. “For the country’s poorest families, even rice is not an option.” During the past three years 210,456 people have fallen into extreme poverty. That means they rarely if ever eat three meals a day. In total, “some 907,000 Salvadorans suffer severe food insecurity, struggling to survive on the brink of starvation.” About half of the country’s population “suffers moderate to severe food insecurity, meaning they do not eat enough, can go days without eating anything, and do not know whether they will have food in the immediate future.” The main reason is inflation, which reached 7.2 percent in 2022 and in November 2023 totaled 4.7 percent compared to prices a year earlier. Crop failures and a lack of agricultural subsidies also are forcing people to miss meals. But now there’s another factor, the mass imprisonment of 73,800 people, about 1.2 percent of the entire population of El Salvador. “This has left thousands of Salvadoran families with less income, either because a family breadwinner was detained, or because the household must now divide what little they earn between usual expenses and the prison packages they now purchase to provide basic necessities to their incarcerated family members.” Human rights groups say many of the people detained show no evidence of gang ties or having committed any crimes.  [Note to readers: Some stories are not posted in chronological order because I come across them later and want to call attention to them. Regarding El Faro: it was founded in El Salvador by a journalist and a businessman and later brought in other journalists as owners. Most of its funding comes from international foundations.  It's now registered as a nonprofit in Costa Rica. El Faro English is produced by a small team in Guatemala and Washington, D.C. In Spanish, "faro" means lighthouse.]

“Mexico City Residents Protest ‘Unprecedented’ Water Shortages,” Reuters, Jan. 31, 2024

 

Mexico City residents are protesting weeks of water shortages while officials warn of unprecedented low levels of water in a major system that supplies millions of people there. The struggle for water in the metro area of 21 million people reflects years of low levels of rainfall blamed on climate change “as well as chaotic urban growth and outdated infrastructure,” said Reuters reporter Cassandra Garrison. In one community outside of the city protestors broke the windows of an office of Mexico’s National Water Commission and ripped shingles off its roof. Some Mexico City residents are lining up to fill buckets and trashcans with water that’s piped from a truck. One resident, Maribel Gutierrez, said she’s been without water in her home for a month. Neighbors are fighting over limited water supplies, according to residents. “I think they should be empathetic,” Gutierrez said concerning government officials. “We understand there was a serious water problem, but they must understand that water is vital for everyone.” Officials said the Cutzamala System, a network of pumping stations, dams and other infrastructure that supplies six million people is at 40 percent capacity, down from 54 percent a year ago. There appears to be no chance of a rebound any time soon for depleted reservoirs. “In Mexico, you have to wait until May or June until you can really get a significant boost of precipitation to have a chance to recover water in the reservoirs,” one atmospheric scientist said.

“El Niño Said to Intensify Week’s Fires in Colombia,” New York Times, Jan. 31, 2024

 

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has declared a national disaster and is asking for international help fighting climate change-related fires that have been burning for a week in the mountains around Bogotá and elsewhere. Overall, “dozens of other blazes have burned across the country, in what officials say is the hottest January in three decades,” said Times reporters Annie Correal and Genevieve Glatsky. The fires are linked to high temperatures and drought made worse by El Niño. That’s a regularly occurring climate phenomenon, but because of climate change, “these events are more and more intense and more and more extreme,” said Ricardo Lozano, former environment minister of Columbia. Record temperatures have “dried out forests, savannas and normally damp highlands known as paramos, turning parts of the country into a tinderbox,” the Times reported. Rare plants grow in the paramos. The paramos are also critical to the water supply of urban populations. “Fires have also broken out in neighboring Venezuela and Ecuador, including in an ecological preserve.” Smoke from fires around Bogotá grounded dozens of flights and caused the evacuation of some schools and buildings. Petro said countries in the region must get ready to address what could be “a planetary emergency in the Amazonian rainforest.” Huge sections of the rainforest in Brazil have been lost to fire. Petro emphasizes the importance of tackling climate change, but critics say budget cuts to fire departments have hampered Columbia’s ability to put out fires.

“U.S. Threatens to Reimpose Sanctions on Venezuelan Oil Sector,” BBC News, Jan. 30, 2024

 

The United States is threatening to reimpose oil sanctions on Venezuela following a decision by the authoritarian country’s top court to uphold a ban from holding public office on leading opposition candidate María Corina Machado (see next story). Under the so-called Barbados agreements, the U.S. temporarily lifted oil sanctions in return for a promise by Venezuela to hold a legitimate presidential election this year that included opposition candidates including Machado. The temporary easing is scheduled to expire April 18. The U.S. State Department said Jan. 30 that it won’t renew the exemption from sanctions without “political progress” between the Maduro government and the opposition “particularly on allowing all presidential candidates to compete in this year’s election.” But Venezuelan authorities called the U.S. warning “rude and improper blackmail,” wrote BBC reporter Vanessa Buschschlüter. A Venezuelan official said her country would no longer agree to accept flights deporting back to Venezuela Venezuelan migrants in the U.S. illegally if U.S. “economic aggression” intensifies.

“Banned Venezuelan Opposition Candidate Won’t Leave Presidential Race,” DPA German Press Agency, Jan. 29, 2024

 

Although a previous ban on her holding office was confirmed by Venezuela’s Supreme Justice Tribunal Jan. 25, opposition leader María Corina Machado said she will still challenge Venezuelan authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro in presidential elections later this year. She said at a press conference Jan. 29 that she will defeat Maduro. Machado was barred from holding public office last year for a period of 15 years for supposed “administrative irregularities” while she served in Venezuela’s parliament. Maduro has said in recent days that a deal with the United States to hold elections this year that include Machado is “mortally wounded” because of  what he said was an assassination plot against him (see story below). 

“Biden Vows to ‘Shut Down the Border’ if Senate Immigration Bill is Passed,” Reuters, Jan. 27, 2024

 

President Joe Biden said Jan. 26 he’ll shut down the border the day he signs a bill senators are negotiating to curb the influx of migrants at the southern border of the United States. But House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)  said earlier in the day the measure would be dead on arrival in the House if the Senate passes it.  The language under consideration in the Senate contains “the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country,” Biden said. Sources told Reuters that the language would allow migrants who illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border to be quickly returned to Mexico if migrant encounters exceed 4,000 per day. If they topped 5,000 per day, use of the expulsion power would become mandatory. “In December, encounters averaged more than 9,500 per day, according to U.S. government statistics,” Reuters said. At least 1,400 migrants per day would still be able to approach legal crossings  to claim asylum if the expulsion power was in effect. The language aims to decide asylum claims in six months without detention. That process now takes years, leaving claimants free to move about in the U.S. pending a final decision on their cases. “This includes an additional 1,300 border patrol agents, 375 immigration judges, 1,600 asylum officers, and over 100 cutting-edge inspection machines to help detect and stop fentanyl at our southwest border,” Biden said. Former President Donald Trump has warned Republicans against accepting any agreement that fails to give Republicans everything they want. 

“Maduro Announces Military Purge and Declares Barbados Agreements with the Opposition ‘Mortally Wounded,’” El País, Jan. 26, 2024

 

It appears the Venezuelan government is on the verge of reneging on an agreement to hold legitimate presidential elections this year, judging from a Jan. 26 story in the Spanish newspaper El País. Correspondent Alonso Moleiro reported that Venezuela’s autocratic leader, President Nicolás Maduro, is saying the deal with the United States, known as the Barbados agreements, is “mortally wounded” after his government said it uncovered and is dismantling a plan to assassinate him. “I declare them in intensive care,” Maduro said. “Hopefully we can save those agreements, without plans to murder me.” Under the deal the U.S. has lifted sanctions on Venezuelan oil in return for free and fair elections, including the participation of a popular opposition candidate, Maria Corina Machado. Jorge Rodríquez, the president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, said “there is no way that this lady” is going to be a candidate for anything in 2024. “With or without opposition, with or without sanctions and with or without international observers, there will be a presidential elections in Venezuela in 2024,” Rodríguez said. 

“A Dry Panama Canal Shows How Climate Change Will Scramble Globalization,” Washington Post Editorial, Jan. 24, 2024

 

The Panama Canal may be nearing the end of its days as one of the most critical routes of global trade. Drought stemming from climate change has brought the freshwater reservoir that fills the locks “to perilous lows, almost 6 feet below where they were a year ago.” Commerce has been slowed so much there are long lines of container ships waiting at both ends of the canal to pass through. Twenty-four ships pass through per day, down from the pre-drought figure of 36.  The canal’s importance to the U.S. is such that it handles nearly half of the containers shipped from Northeast Asia to the eastern U.S. The critical question: “To what extent can a long-term solution be engineered in the face of inevitable changes to the climate?” The problem is not just Panama’s. Drought in the Amazon rainforest “congested river shipping routes and threatened Brazil’s agricultural economy.” Drought lowered water levels in Germany’s Rhine River forcing ships to sail at 25 percent of capacity. It forced dredging of the Mississippi to keep barges moving. “Threats to global growth will make it harder to address the plight of the most vulnerable,” the Post editorialized. “An impaired world will be hard-pressed to respond to poverty and hunger.” Reengineering the environment including measures such as seeding the clouds could help but “creative engineering is likely to be needed all over the world.” Ultimately the only way to counter looming climate-related threats to the global economy is “by arresting the emission of planet-warming greenhouse gases.” 

“Argentinians Stage Nationwide Strike Against Javier Milei’s Far-Right Agenda,” The Guardian, Jan. 24, 2024

 

In the biggest show of opposition yet to Argentina’s new government, demonstrators Jan. 24 shut down schools and businesses, grounded flights and filled the streets by the tens of thousands in major cities. President Javier Milei has proposed “hundreds of highly controversial innovations including a wave of privatisations, ferocious spending cuts, a major expansion of presidential powers, and a scaling back of workers’ rights and the right to protest,” wrote Guardian reporters Tom Phillips and Facundo Iglesia. He has closed 9 of 18 government ministries and devalued the peso by more than 50 percent against the dollar – all moves Milei says are aimed at pulling Argentina out of “economic hell” created by Peronist party rule. But monthly inflation reached 25 percent in December and annual inflation now totals 211 percent, higher than Venezuela, “a country reeling from a decade-long economic collapse,” the Guardian notes. Benjamin Gedan, head of the Wilson Center’s Latin America program, said the walkout would be the first of many. “This could be beginning of a very tumultuous period in Argentina as the government charges ahead with a radical reform program. The [economic] pain we have seen is extraordinary….” 

“Mexico Says U.S. Army Weapons Being Smuggled Across the Border,” Agence France-Presse, Jan. 23, 2024

 

Mexican authorities said Jan. 21 that military weapons from the United States have been detected entering into Mexico. The weapons are supposed to be used exclusively by the U.S. military. “It’s very urgent that an investigation be carried out,” said Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena. She and other officials discussed the issue during a visit to Washington, D.C. “Mexico has long pointed the finger at the United States and its lax gun laws for the flow of weapons to its cartels, which in turn are often funded by selling drugs to U.S. consumers,” Agence France Presse reported. Reducing the flow of weapons to Mexico is a priority for President Joseph R. Biden, said Ken Salazar, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico. “We know that 70 percent of the weapons that cause violence here in Mexico come from the United States,” he said. Mexican authorities say that more than half a million weapons are brought into Mexico from the U.S. each year. Mexico tightly controls the sale of weapons but the use of firearms in drug-related violence is widespread. “There have been more than 420,000 murders since 2006 when the Mexican government deployed the military to fight drug trafficking, most of them blamed on criminal gangs,” the news agency said. 

“Sticker Shocked Cubans Prepare for ‘Inflation Bomb,’” Reuters, Jan. 23, 2024

 

Price and tax increases and subsidy cuts will fuel a surge in prices in Cuba while slowing a soaring budget deficit that exceeds 18 percent of the gross domestic product, according to Reuters. The austerity measures will set the stage for growth, said Prime Minister Manuel Marrero. “Authorities have already announced gas at the pump will jump nearly five-fold on Feb. 1,” the wire service added. Havana University economist Oscar Fernandez said the new measures are a ticking “inflation bomb.” Price increases in one part of the economy, such as for wholesale fuel and moving freight, and for sales and import taxes, will fuel price increases more broadly. Cuban economist Omar Everleny said “in general they are passed on to consumers. I think they will increase 400% to 500%.” Most economists say “it is also necessary to further open the economy – now dominated by state-owned enterprises – to private business and investment to boost production and the tax base, while also reforming state enterprises,” Reuters said. 

“With Border Deal Near, Parole and Money Take Center Stage in Senate Talks,” New York Times, Jan. 22, 2024

 

A bipartisan group of senators agreed on a compromise to reduce the number of migrants crossing into the U.S. but it’s unclear whether they will reach a final deal because of differences over funding. A key issue is how much authority the federal government should have to allow parole, “a status that allows migrants without visas to live and work in the United States temporarily,” wrote Times reporter Karoun Demirjian. Republicans consider parole a dangerous loophole. Many Democrats see it as a tool that must be preserved, “particularly for vulnerable populations fleeing failing states and war.” For example, parole has been used to allow tens of thousands of refugees from Afghanistan entry after its government collapsed following the withdrawal of U.S. troops. Whether a deal can be reached is likely to depend on whether the two sides can agree on how much federal money to spend to reduce immigration and whether the limits on parole would be effective. The Biden administration has allowed in about a million migrants, including people from Ukraine, Haiti, Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua who have sponsors in the U.S. The compromise would make it harder for migrants to claim asylum and increase the capacity to detain migrants in the U.S. It would speed the expulsion of migrants who have no lawful reasons to remain. It would hire more Border Patrol agents and asylum officers to process migrants through immigration intake and the courts. And it would shut down intake altogether “if the system became overwhelmed, a level that officials put at more than 5,000 daily encounters with people trying to cross the border.” Republicans have said that without a crackdown on migrant entry they won’t agree to added funding for Ukraine to defend against the Russian invasion. 

“Supreme Court Backs Biden in Dispute with Texas Over Border Barrier,” New York Times, Jan. 23, 2024

 

The Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration Jan. 22 in a 5 to 4 ruling affirming the power of federal agents to cut or remove concertina wire erected by the state of Texas to block the entry of migrants into the United States. Justices John G. Roberts, Jr., and Amy Coney Barrett sided with the three liberal members of the court in the ruling issued without a written decision. The state strung the wire along the banks of the Rio Grande to deter crossings by asylum-seeking migrants. A federal appeals court injunction blocking federal border agents from cutting the wire “removes a key form of officer discretion to prevent the development of deadly situations, including by mitigating the serious risks of drowning and death from hypothermia or heat exposure,” Solicitor Elizabeth B. Prelogar argued on behalf of the administration. She said “the injunction prohibits agents from passing through or moving physical obstacles erected by the state that prevent access to the very border they are charged with patrolling and the individuals they are charged with apprehending and inspecting.” New York Times reporter Adam Liptak wrote that “migrants have been injured by the wire, and drownings in the Rio Grande’s swift currents have become more common.” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asserted that it’s in the public interest to “reduce the flow of deadly fentanyl; combat human trafficking; protect Texans from unlawful trespass and violent attacks by criminal cartels” among other things. He said border agents cut the wire at least 20 times “to admit aliens illegally entering Texas.” A spokesman said “this case is ongoing, and Governor [Greg] Abbott will continue fighting to defend Texas’ property and its constitutional authority to secure the border.” 

“Americans Looking for Love are Getting Killed by Gangs in Columbia,” Wall Street Journal, Jan. 20, 2024

 

A growing number of Americans and foreign nationals have been moving to Columbia after the Covid-19 pandemic, some of them taking advantage of new digital nomad visas Columbia began offering to attract start-up businesses. Tou Ger Xiong, a comedian from Minnesota, was one of them. His life in the lively city of Medellín was one of “stock trading by day, fine dining and dance clubs by night,” says Journal reporter Kejal Vyas. But after going on a date Dec 10, he called friends and family to wire him $2,000. He said he’d been kidnapped and was being held for ransom. The next day police found him dead, saying he’d been stabbed a number of times and thrown off a cliff. He was one of at least eight Americans who died in Medellín in November and December, “amid dozens of cases involving male tourists who were held captive and robbed, often after meeting women on dating apps, Medellín officials said.” The deaths led the U.S. Embassy in Columbia to issue an alert in January urging Americans to exercise caution about meeting people through online dating sites. Criminal gangs are targeting foreigners by drugging them  to rob them, said a Medellín official. It’s a stain on the city after decades of effort to clean up its image as a murder capital in the 1990s under drug lord Pablo Escobar. “Homicides are down 97 percent in three decades,” said Vyas. Social media sites woo middle-aged American men “to indulge in the libertine dating scene in Columbia’s major cities, where prostitution is legal.” But Medellín Mayor Federico Gutiérrez said “anyone who thinks they can come here for that sex and drugs tourism, we don’t want any of that here.” 

“Drug Traffickers Have Made the Galápagos Islands Their Gas Station,” Washington Post, Jan. 18, 2024

 

That wonder of nature, the Galápagos Islands, is being “pulled into the booming drug trade consuming much of Latin America,” say Post reporters Samantha Schmidt and Arturo Torres.  Ecuador, 600 miles away, lies between the world’s two largest cocaine producers, Peru and Columbia, and so is a transit point in the drug trade. But Ecuador has stepped up its military patrols and seizures of cocaine, so traffickers are now shipping it north toward Central America by “blazing a more circuitous trail – one that loops just south and west of the Galápagos.” Now local fisherman on the Galápagos are using the gasoline subsidy they get from Ecuador not for fishing but to smuggle gas to drug traffickers using so-called go-fast boats. “I’ve been offered $6,000 to $7,000 for a trip,” one fisherman told the Post. “Lots of people have become millionaires off of this.” But lately the Ecuadoran navy found that it’s not just gas and drugs being smuggled, but rifles and pistols suspected to be on their way to Ecuadoran drug gangs battling for control of drug routes. Along with smuggling, the Galápagos community also is starting to struggle with another consequence of its position along drug trade routes – addiction from rising drug use.   Hilda Moscoso Espinoza, a 58-year-old native of Isabela Island in the Galápagos, said “little by little, drugs are taking over the island. And there is no help.”

“House Republicans are Practicing Political Nihilism,” Washington Post, Jan. 18, 2024

 

Bipartisan Senate negotiators and the White House say they are close to a deal on tough new measures to reduce the big influx of migrants across the southern border of the U.S., writes Post columnist Eugene Robinson in an opinion piece. “It would give Republicans much of what they want regarding the southern border.” This includes tougher security against illegal crossings, rules limiting asylum, provisions for more detentions and expulsions, and maybe limits on the ability of President Biden to let certain immigrant groups into the country under “parole” authority. It also would provide “billions of dollars in military aid for Ukraine.” But House Republicans are balking because former President Donald Trump doesn’t want them to give Biden a legislative accomplishment on border security going into the November presidential election, or assistance to Ukraine. “If House Republicans refuse to fix the border crisis, nobody will be able to deny the obvious: The GOP is more interested in nursing grievances and stoking anger than actually solving problems,” Robinson concludes. “That’s exactly what Donald Trump has trained them to do.” [Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)  warned Jan. 18 that Republicans who think that Trump would get tougher border measures through Congress if he returns to the White House are mistaken because they could never get the 60 votes in the Senate that would be necessary. House Republican Dan Crenshaw of Texas said Jan. 18 he agrees with Graham.  “I’d be crazy not to take that” he said of the offer now of tougher measures, depending on the specifics.] 

“U.S. Bans Entry to Guatemala’s Former President for Corruption,” Wall Street Journal, Jan. 17, 2024

 

The United States won’t permit entry of Alejandro Giammattei, who stepped down Jan. 15 as the president of Guatemala. He is barred from entry because he allegedly accepted bribes. The move was the latest in a series of U.S. moves against corruption in the Guatemalan government. Bernardo Arévalo, an anti-corruption crusader, has succeeded Giammattei in office. “The U.S. has made clear that it stands with Guatemalans who seek accountability for corrupt actors,” the U.S. State Department said. Guatemala’s attorney general, alleging fraud, tried to overturn last August’s landslide election of Arévalo, a maneuver the Organization of American States called an attempted coup.  According to U.S. figures more than 213,000 Guatemalans were detained at the southern border of the United States in fiscal 2023. “Analysts say the pervasive corruption is a principal reason pushing thousands of Guatemalans to leave the poverty-stricken country,” said Journal reporter José de Córdoba. 

“The Panama Canal is Running Dry,” Foreign Policy.com, Jan. 15, 2024

 

Worsening drought is slowing container ships moving through the Panama Canal at the same time Houti attacks threaten seaborne  trade along the Suez Canal. “As climate extremes become more common, shipping companies, analysts, and governments fear the Panama Canal crisis may not be an aberration but the new reality,” says correspondent Mie Hoejris Dahl. While Panama contemplates engineering changes to the canal to address the crisis, other Latin American countries are moving ahead on their own plans to transport goods between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The canal’s water levels have never been so low. That means that Panama can let fewer and fewer ships through. They also can’t carry as much weight. About five percent of the world’s maritime trade passes through the canal, and 40 percent of U.S. container traffic. Companies “question whether the canal will remain a reliable artery of global trade.” They are looking at alternatives. Nicaragua is talking about building a canal, though observers are skeptical. Columbia’s plans “are slightly more realistic.” The government there says it has developed the first phase of plans for an inter-oceanic train on a track 123 miles long. Paraguay has launched the first half of a motorway that depends on Brazil and Argentina building connecting roads. Mexico has begun a $2.8 billion railroad project to carry goods between the Pacific and Atlantic. However, “experts are skeptical that these projects will pose a threat to the Panama Canal any time soon.” Panama “has started to reuse water for different lock chambers and allowed the transit of two ships at a time if vessels are small enough.” Longer-term, it is looking at a plan to dam up a river to feed more water into a lake that helps fill the canal. But that faces opposition from local communities and advocates of biodiversity. In the meantime, Panama is facing a $200 million revenue loss to its economy from the current drought and a threat to its supply of drinking water. 

“Guatemalan Anti-Graft Leader Arévalo Sworn In As President After 9-Hour Delay,” Washington Post, Jan. 15, 2024

 

Guatemala has a new president whose stated mission is lessening corruption in the government he will now lead but he’s facing a tough struggle. The swearing-in of Bernardo Arévalo Jan. 15 marked “a potential turning point in one of the hemisphere’s most notoriously corrupt nations – but only after the inauguration was delayed by nine hours, in a sign of the obstacles he faces,” wrote Post reporters Nic Wirtz and Mary Beth Sheridan. International observers deemed his stunning election victory in August elections as free and fair. But Guatemala’s attorney general launched fraud investigations including the seizure of boxes of tallied votes. Delays in picking the leader of the Guatemalan Congress held up the inauguration, but Arévalo was finally sworn in, to the jubilation of his devoted supporters who danced in the streets; he won “crucial support” from the country’s Indigenous population. Spain’s King Felipe VI and the presidents of Chile, Columbia and other Latin American countries were in attendance, as was U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power.  Guatemala has long been controlled by the so-called Pact of the Corrupt, which the Post described as “an alliance of politicians, narco-traffickers, ex-military officers, and unethical businesspeople.” Its corruption, along with poverty and violence, “have driven millions of Guatemalans to migrate to the United States.” Foreign countries applied great pressure on the predecessor government to allow the inauguration to go through, including a threat by the U.S. to cancel the visas of two-thirds of Guatemalan legislators. But Arévalo’s opponents managed to limit the power his Semilla party has in Congress to only  23 of 160 seats.  

“Nicaragua Expels 19 Imprisoned Catholic Clerics to Vatican,” Wall Street Journal, Jan. 14, 2024

 

Nicaragua Jan. 14 released 19 members of the Catholic clergy from prison, expelling them to the Vatican. Among them is Bishop Rolando Álvarez, “the country’s most prominent political prisoner,” wrote Journal reporter José de Córdoba. Also released was Bishop Isidora Mora, 15 priests and two seminarians. “This is the continuation of the repression of the Catholic Church,” said Juan Sebastián Chamarro, a former presidential candidate who had been jailed and expelled to the U.S. “It’s the pattern. Any priest who talks in favor of democracy will be imprisoned and then exiled.” The Catholic Church took a role in  trying to mediate a political solution to the violence that followed massive demonstrations in 2018. The crackdown by the government of President Daniel Ortega “took the lives of more than 300 people, most of them killed by Nicaragua’s security services. Angered by the church’s role, Ortega accused it of being part of a plan of a plot to topple his government.” Álvarez had been in prison almost a year after being jailed for treason. He had refused to go into exile with 222 other political prisoners ordered to leave the country. Mora “was detained in December after he asked for prayers for Álvarez at a mass.”

“Scores of Hostages Released from Gang-Controlled Prisons, Ecuador Government Claims,” The Guardian, Jan. 14, 2024

 

Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa announced late Jan. 13 that all of the hostages taken by gangs controlling the country’s prisons have been set free. The release of scores of hostages follows a “massive wave of violence” that began almost a week ago, says Guardian reporter Tom Phillips. It began after the escape from prison Jan. 8 of a notorious gang leader known as Fito. The government announced a crackdown on gangs, which “torched buildings, attacked security forces and planted car bombs in what was one of the most extreme outbursts of violence in Ecuador’s recent history.” Last week the government said 158 prison guards and 20 other employees were being held as hostages by gangs. “Social media videos showed terrified prison guards being held and threatened by machete-wielding gang members who had commandeered many of Ecuador’s detention centres.” In the crackdown, the police and army arrested 1,105 people and killed 5 alleged “terrorists.” Two police officers have died. There were reports that security officers were storming large penitentiaries. The Guardian “witnessed heavily armed air force and police special forces teams using battering rams and bolt cutters to smash their way into a number of houses….” Noboa said he is determined to keep Ecuador from becoming a “narco-state” and that a hardline crackdown is necessary. 

“Women, 2 Children Die Crossing Rio Grande as Border Patrol Says Texas Troops Prevented Them From Intervening,” NBC News, Jan. 14, 2024

 

Federal officials said a woman and two children drowned in the Rio Grande the night of Jan. 12 in Eagle Pass, Texas. The drownings occurred after the Texas National Guard, under the direction of Texas Gov. Greg  Abbott (R), prevented U.S. border agents from responding, the officials said. The Mexican government had alerted U.S. border agents to the distress of the migrants. The deaths were highlighted Jan. 13 by Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas. The federal border officials had first tried to contact the Texas Military Department and the Texas National Guard by telephone but were unsuccessful, Cuellar said. The Texas Military Department “disputed that narrative,” said NBC reporter Dennis Romero. The department said it was “made aware of a distress report but  could find no migrants needing help in the river and later were made aware of an incident nearby, on the Mexican side of the river, that did not require their help,” added Romero. A White House spokesperson said “Governor Abbott’s political stunts are cruel, inhumane, and dangerous. U.S. Border Patrol must have access to the border to enforce our laws.” 

 

“Why Today’s Gang Violence in Ecuador Shouldn’t Shock You,” Responsible Statecraft, by Joseph Bouchard, Jan. 11, 2024

 

The world has been shocked in recent weeks as drug gangs turned Ecuador into an apparent narco-state. “Ecuadorans are, for the first time, seeing their country fall under the control of criminal gangs, a fate previously only reserved to some of its other Latin American neighbors,” writes Joseph Bouchard. The country is on the verge of surpassing the homicide rates of all other South American nations. President Daniel Noboa was elected Oct. 15 on a platform of fixing gang violence and quickly suspended civil liberties and due process “in favor of bolder police and military action.” After an eruption of gang prison escapes and gang hostage-taking, Noboa deployed the military in the streets and expanded other government powers. Why the surge in gang violence? Why won’t a war against the cartels work? First and foremost, demand for drugs is always rising in rich countries, and as long as there is demand and it is not addressed, and drugs remain illegal, “there will be gangs willing to provide them.” Second, adds Bouchard, “there is an observable balloon effect. As gangs from Columbia, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, and other neighboring countries were pushed out by dwindling local drug markets, competing gangs, and government actions, a significant portion has ended up in Ecuador, which was, until somewhat recently, very much untouched by major drug cartels.” Noboa’s militaristic response may worsen matters. “Embracing a violent approach will only create more narco gangs, as they encourage drug gangs to split up and engage in direct confrontations with the state and other gangs.” If governments can’t address “the root cause of gang formation, namely socioeconomic conditions and the demand for illegal drugs in wealthier countries, drug gangs will continue to develop.” And as more gangs emerge, “the government will respond with more violence.” Without a change in Noboa’s approach, “the cycle of violence will likely continue, if not escalate.”

“Armed Gangs and Prison Breaks: How Ecuador Was Plunged Into Chaos and Bloodshed,” The Guardian, Jan. 10, 2024

 

Murder and violence linked to gangs and drug trafficking has soared in Ecuador, making the country “one of the most dangerous in Latin America,” writes Guardian reporter Dan Collyns. Ecuador’s new president Daniel Noboa has declared a state of “internal armed conflict” in the country amid surging gang violence. He designated 20 drug trafficking gangs as terrorist organizations and authorized the military to “neutralise” them “within the bounds of international humanitarian law.” Ecuador was plunged into violence and terror after the escape from prison Jan. 7 of notorious drug lord Adolfo Macías, also known as Fito. When Noboa then declared a crackdown, criminals unleashed “a wave of attacks inside and outside prisons which have seen police and prison guards murdered and a TV station invaded by armed gangsters during a live broadcast,” Collyns reports. “Ecuadorans are terrified.” Last year was the most violent  in Ecuador’s history. The rate of violent deaths rose to 46 per 100,000 residents, up from 5 per 100,000 in 2017. Fabricio Colón, the leader of the Los Lobos gang who escaped from prison Jan. 8, has been linked to the assassination last year of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who had promised to break the gangs’ tightening chokehold on government in Ecuador. Colón also has been linked to death threats against attorney general Diana Salazar. A growing number of gangs are competing for control of the drug trade, fueling homicides. Ecuador’s shipments of containers of bananas are “a perfect cover” for shipments of drugs to Europe, which has replaced the U.S. as the leading market for cocaine. Noboa says he’ll follow the homicide-lowering example of El Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele by building big prisons to house gang members (see next story).  But tens of thousands of people are fleeing Ecuador, which is now second only to Venezuela as the source of refugees traveling north to the U.S. through the treacherous Darien Gap linking South and Central America. 

“In Brazil, Lessons from an Averted Coup,” Washington Post, Jan. 9, 2024

 

[Column written by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil. The following is lifted verbatim but some sentences are shortened.] 

 

This Jan. 8 marked one year since the resilience of Brazilian democracy was severely tested. A week after the inauguration of a newly elected government, extremist groups invaded the headquarters of the republic’s three branches of power…They exhibited a disregard for democracy similar to that of the invaders of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021….The Brazilian electoral system, internationally recognized for its integrity, was questioned by those who were elected using the same system…The objective of these false complaints was to disqualify democracy to perpetuate power in an autocratic way. But Brazilian democracy prevailed – and emerged stronger…Government that improves lives is the best answer we have to extremists who attack democracy. Deforestation in the Amazon, which was increasing under the previous government, fell 50 percent in 2023. We resumed anti-poverty policies such as Bolsa Familia, which guarantees income for mothers who keep their children vaccinated and in school. Our economy grew three times more in 2023 than predicted by the International Monetary Fund, and we became the second-largest destination of foreign direct investment in the world… Brazil, with its democratic commitments, returned to the international scene without the climate change denial and neglect for science of the previous administration, which cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Brazilians in the covid-19 pandemic….Global challenges require commitment and cooperation…Societies are taken over by individualism and nations are distancing themselves from each other, making it difficult to promote peace and face complex problems: the climate crisis; food and energy insecurity; geopolitical tensions and wars; the growth of hate speech and xenophobia …These are problems fueled by widespread inequality on a global scale – among nations and within nations…an exclusionary economic development model has concentrated income, fostered frustration, curbed workers’ rights and fueled distrust…Inequality serves as fertile ground for extremism and political polarization…Another Jan. 6 or Jan. 8 can be avoided only by transforming the reality of inequality and precarious work. This concern motivated the partnership to promote decent work that I launched with President Biden in September…Brazil assumed the presidency of the Group of 20 last month, and we have place the fight against inequalities in all their dimensions at the center of our agenda under the motto “Building a Just World and a Sustainable Planet.” I hope political leaders can meet in Brazil throughout this year, seeking collective solutions to these challenges that affect all of humanity.

“Latin America’s War on Crime is Popular. And Doomed. Washington Post, Jan. 9, 2023, Eduardo Porter, Tuesday Opinion.”

 

Latin America is awash in violence. Homicides in Honduras in 2022 numbered 35 for every 100,000 people. The corresponding figures in Jamaica were 53, Ecuador 27, Mexico 26 and Columbia 25. The world average is less than 6. The World Health Organization counts anything greater than 10 as “endemic violence.” But the number in El Salvador has fallen to 7.8, down from 106.8 in 2015. It fell after the government of Nayib Bukele declared a state of emergency and imprisoned anyone who looked like a gang member -- “due process and human rights be damned.” Voters in El Salvador love it, “encouraging Bukele to flout a constitutional ban on reelection and run again for the presidency.” But “Bukele’s attempt to hang on to power underscores the threat to the region’s fragile democratic institutions from populist authoritarians empowered by voter’s revulsion to violent crime.” Civil rights “suspended to fight crime are rarely restored. Human rights abuses become normalized. Security forces come to believe there is no such thing as the illegitimate use of force.” Bukele enjoys a 90 percent approval rating but the 100,000 Salvadorans he has imprisoned – about 1.6 percent of the nation’s population – are mostly young men. How long can they be imprisoned? Research in Mexico suggests that giving young men jobs or simply telling them about the “stratospheric” death rate of gang members could lower the death rate and reduce gang membership. “The challenge is to come up with viable alternatives that do not require giving up civil liberties, accountability and justice to beat violent crime.” 

“Trump’s Talk of Bloodlines Should Make Americans Boil,” Washington Post, Jan. 9, 2023, Marc A. Thiessen, Tuesday Opinion

 

The United States “does not have a singular bloodline to be poisoned” -- contrary to the repeated claim by former President Donald Trump. It can make the audacious claim that it is an exceptional nation “because we are the first in human history not built on blood and soil but on an idea: the idea of human freedom….Our mixed-breed heritage distinguishes us.” As President Ronald Reagan once said, one can go live in Turkey or Germany or Japan, but you cannot become a German, a Turk or Japanese. “But anyone, from any corner of the earth, can come to live in America and become an American.” Thus we need not fear the rise of nationalism because it is based on a creed,  ‘our Constitution and our founding principles,” not on ethnicity. However, “our creedal nationalism is under assault from left and right.” Some on the left say America is systematically racist and isn’t all that great. On the right, some to seek to foist on the American body politic “European-style blood-and-soil nationalism” that is “inimical to our founding principles.” The problem is that so many are trying to come to the U.S. illegally, and “our government lets millions of people enter without screening out criminals” and those who wish to do the country harm. Cartels “take advantage of the porous border to flood our country with deadly fentanyl.” Economic migrants “crowd out actual refugees.” But “we need legal immigrants. There are 8.7 million unfilled jobs in the United States, and there are not enough native-born workers to fill them.” We “urgently need to secure our border. But the moment we start worrying about the purity of our blood, we will abandon what makes us exceptional – and become just another country. And that is no way to make America great again.”

“U.S. Released Over 2.3 Million Migrants at Border Since 2021,” Washington Post, Jan. 7, 2024

 

Border officials have released more than 2.3 million migrants into the U.S. at its southern border during the Biden administration. Migrants traveling in families in particular are able to enter and move freely about the U.S. “In 2023, the percentage of families who were released – and not sent home or returned to Mexico – rose to 81 percent,” according to the Post story by Maria Sacchetti and Nick Miroff. The figures do not include some 365,000 unaccompanied minors who in most cases are assigned to a federal shelter and released to a parent or guardian. The figures show how officials “have been overwhelmed by the volume of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The mass releases have typically been a measure of last resort when agencies don’t have the holding capacity or personnel to process migrants using standard procedures.” The Biden administration says that the people released are put into deportation proceedings but that it takes too long to deport people who are ineligible to stay and that Congress should boost the funding of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.  More than four million border crossers during the Biden administration “have been expelled to Mexico, returned to home countries or otherwise removed from the United States over the past three years.” Of the four million, 2.5 million were expelled using Title 42, which permitted border agents to deny entry on public health grounds without giving migrants a chance to seek asylum. From May to December of this year federal authorities said they deported more migrants than in any other five-month period in the past decade.

“Science is Immortalizing Argentina’s Top Polo Horses,” Washington Post, Jan. 6, 2024

 

Described as the Messi or Maradona of polo horses, the legendary mare Cuartetera died in May but through her clones remains a dominating presence in what is a wildly popular sport in Argentina.  What began about a decade ago as an effort immortalize champions like Cuartetera “has now become a massive, multimillion dollar industry,” according to Post reporter Samantha Schmidt. Argentine President Javier Milei, who has four clones  of his late dog, “recently tapped a prominent cloning expert to head the country’s top  public science agency.” Gabriel Vichera, director of Kheiron Biotech, said his company clones about one hundred horses per year and next year plans to double that figure. Top horses sell for more than $1 million each. At first, about half of cloned horses died or had a deformity but when Vichera switched to stem cells “defects and losses became rare,” says Schmidt. It makes sense that Argentina is a leader in horse cloning – “in addition to its world-famous polo scene, it has permissive regulations, a sophisticated biotechnology sector and extensive farmland.” Using embryo transfers, a single horse can give birth to as many as 10 foals per year. But with cloning, genetic variability decreases. The result in the long run could be inbreeding and fertility problems. But meanwhile Vichera and his colleagues are combining gene editing with cloning to create genetically modified embryos. That means the world’s first genetically designed horse could be born next year – “a horse whose genes have been edited to be stronger and faster, a sort of polo superhorse.” 

“Border Dispute Could Force Partial Government Shutdown,” Washington Post, Jan. 6, 2024

 

Dozens of Republican lawmakers toured the U.S.-Mexico border at Eagle Pass, Texas, Jan. 3 to push for tough measures to limit the entry of migrants. Far-right House Republicans are threatening a partial shutdown of the U.S. government Jan. 19 if the curbs aren’t adopted. Contained in the House-passed measure H.R. 2, the curbs would limit the ability of migrants to claim asylum, restart construction of a border wall, and trim the power of President Biden to grant entry to the U.S. through a process known as humanitarian parole. December saw nearly 250,000 migrants cross into the U.S. along its southern border, the highest-ever such monthly total. Biden is offering concessions to limit migrant entry, but Republicans have hardened their demands and may not agree to changes in order to keep immigration as a campaign issue as a tactic to win control of the House, Senate, and White House. Demands by House Republicans “to link immigration policy to ongoing government funding, instead of to …Ukraine aid, could mean the House won’t pass any assistance for the war in Ukraine,” wrote Post reporter Jacob Bogage. 

 “Biden Administration Says Official Border Crossings Are Reopening This Week,” Axios, Jan. 2, 2024

 

A senior White House official said Jan. 2 that several closed crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border are reopening this week. The closings to curb a flood of migrants coming into the U.S. were blocking trade.  They caused headaches for local residents who normally go back and forth across the border. The closings sparked a backlash against the Biden administration, wrote Axios reporter Astrid Galván. Set to reopen Jan. 4, the crossings are at Lukeville, Arizona; Eagle Pass International Bridge I in Texas; San Ysidro Port of Entry in California, a pedestrian crossing; and Nogales, Arizona. “Officials say there’s been an expected decline in migrant encounters during the holiday season and that a camp at a crossing in Eagle Pass has been cleared,” Galván reported. Mexican authorities have increased enforcement efforts. They started repatriation flights to Mexico last week, according to a senior official. House Speaker Mike Johnson is scheduled to visit Eagle Cross Jan. 3.  [Mexico is the number one trading partner of the U.S.  Despite an apparent willingness by the White House to toughen curbs on crossing the border, Republicans show signs of refusing to negotiate an agreement on the matter and of wanting to save immigration as a campaign issue. Mexican enforcement efforts may be the result of a recent meeting between President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.]