News Summaries in March 2024

“Mr. Maduro Is Crossing Red Lines. The U.S. Must Respond,” Washington Post Editorial, March 30, 2024

 

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro “is brazenly refusing to honor his agreement to allow a free and fair election this year.” As a result, President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken “have no choice but to follow through on their pledge to reimpose sanctions in the event of such behavior by Mr. Maduro.” Maduro has “contemptuously violated” the so-called Barbados agreement last October to allow opposition candidates to freely compete for the presidency by barring his most popular rival, María Corina Machado, from running. Machado’s choice to replace her, Corina Yoris, was also precluded from registering as a candidate.  Machado’s representative in Washington says her life is in danger. Her staff says two of her advisors have been seized and haven’t been heard from. Other advisors have taken refuge in the Argentine embassy. “Usually cautious about criticizing the socialist Maduro, the leftist leaders of Colombia and Brazil have expressed unease about his authoritarian trajectory.” Although it is still possible a new opposition candidate will be named, “the timing will be critical, because the U.S. decision on sanctions has to be made by April 18.” The Biden administration’s gamble – lifting sanctions in a bid to prod democratic progress – has failed abjectly, though it was probably worth trying. “The administration could reimpose the oil sanctions that existed before, in whole or in part, or seek equivalent measures to pressure Mr. Maduro.” The U.S. “needs to be smarter with sanctions and seek more cooperation from Europe and other Latin American nations to help isolate Mr. Maduro’s regime. Otherwise, Mr. Maduro will continue to destroy what was once among the wealthiest and most democratic nations in Latin America.”

 

“’Cataclysmic Situation’ in Haiti Leaves 1,500 Dead in Gang Violence,” New York Times, March 29, 2024

 

So far this year 1,554 people in Haiti have died from gang violence, the United Nations human rights office said March 28. It said the “cataclysmic situation” in the country wrought by gang violence, corruption, impunity and poor governance has brought Haiti’s state institutions “close to collapse,” said New York Times reporter David C. Adams. “Armed gangs have taken control of most of the capital, Port-au-Prince, destroying police stations and government offices, as well as looting banks and hospitals, and killing and kidnapping dozens of people.” The head of the U.N. office, Arnaud Royer, said “there is nobody who is safe now in this city.” Haiti’s prime minister, Ariel Henry, has resigned and is no longer in the country. A transitional council is planned whose mission is to name an acting prime minister and hold new elections and clear the way for the arrival of a U.N.-backed international police force. “But the makeup of the body has been delayed after several names were withdrawn because of personal security fears and ethical issues,” wrote Adams. 

“Biden Is Unlikely to Reimpose Oil Sanctions on Venezuela,” Wall Street Journal, March 29, 2024

 

The Biden administration is likely to continue the current policy easing oil sanctions on Venezuela until July 28, say people familiar with the administration’s thinking. Biden had agreed to the easing in return for a Venezuelan promise to hold a free and fair presidential election this summer.  It’s clear however that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro won’t keep that promise. His government has barred the top opposition candidate, Maria Corina Machado, from running. She is viewed as far more popular than Maduro. Even so, the Biden administration appears more intent on increasing the oil supply and keeping down the price of gas in an election year than on punishing Maduro for breaking his promise. The administration also fears that reimposing the sanctions will create even more economic misery in Venezuela, thereby adding to the mass exodus of impoverished Venezuelans leaving  the country and heading toward the United States. “I don’t see the administration completely scrapping a democracy and human rights agenda,” said Geoff Ramsey of the Atlantic Council in Washington. “The White House has walked a fine line between pursuing U.S. energy and geopolitical interests while also trying to encourage a gradual democratic opening in Caracas,” he said. “Biden administration officials have said they didn’t think that the oil sanctions – leveled against Venezuela in early 2019 in former President Donald Trump’s effort to force Maduro from power – was constructive,” the Journal story said. The current easing creates more of an opening for Venezuela to remain part of the western marketplace, and less likely to gravitate toward China and Iran, said an oil industry adviser. 

 

“’Envoy’ Pushes Trump’s Foreign Policy Goals,” Washington Post, March 29, 2024

 

While the United States and other Western countries labored early this year to ensure that the winner of what observers termed a fair election stepped into the presidency of Guatemala, a former Trump administration official was busy trying to keep him out, the Washington Post reports. That Trump loyalist, Richard Grenell, arrived in Guatemala in January days before the new president, Bernardo Arévalo, was sworn in – “and threw his support behind a right-wing campaign to undermine the election,” wrote Post reporters Beth Reinhard, Jon Swaine and Aaron Schaffer.  Grenell “met with a hard-line group that sued to block the inauguration” of anti-corruption crusader Arévalo. “He defended Guatemalan officials who had seized ballot boxes in an effort to overturn a vote declared ‘free and fair’ by the United States and international observers, and he attacked the U.S. State Department’s sanctions against hundreds of anti-democratic actors.” [Guatemalan corruption has long thwarted efforts to put a democratically elected president in office. The U.S. and other countries applied pressure on Guatemalan officials to ensure Arévalo took office. For example, the U.S. State Department threatened to cancel the U.S. visas of two-thirds of the members of the Guatemalan legislature]. Grenell said of this pressure that “they are trying to intimidate conservatives in Guatemala.” Grenell’s concerted efforts on behalf of Trump in Guatemala and other countries since Trump left office have fueled speculation he would name Grenell Secretary of State. Grenell claimed to have met with more than 45 political and business leaders during his trip to Guatemala. “I think Trump and Grenell would upend American leadership of the free world from Truman on the left to Reagan on the right and replace it with something much darker,” said a former State Department official. Grenell is a former diplomat and intelligence official in the Trump administration.  The Post said that "from Central America to Eastern Europe and beyond, Grenell has been acting as a kind of shadow secretary of state, meeting with far-right leaders and movements, pledging Trump's support and, at times, working against the current administraton's policies." 

“Can Javier Milei Make Argentina Great Again?,” New York Times, April 28, 2024

 

So far, Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, has failed to deliver on his promise to end the country’s sky-high inflation, writes Uki Goñi in an op-ed piece. Goñi, an Argentine journalist and essayist, says inflation has doubled since Milei’s first month in office, though it slowed down recently. Poverty rates have shot up, and retail sales have plummeted. Argentina’s Congress has twice rejected plans he says will make Argentina a world power again. Milei blames progressives for Argentina’s long-term economic woes. As a cure, he has started dismantling Argentina’s welfare programs and taking government out of education and health care. Lawmakers have forced him to withdraw a plan to privatize state companies and deregulate environmental controls and the labor market. Milei lashed out, saying he could close Congress. “Even if Mr. Milei’s policies do eventually tame the price of basic goods, Argentines may not embrace being denied public health policies that generations have enjoyed – or having their elected leader threaten to shut down the legislature.”

“Collapse Underscores the Dangerous Vulnerabilities Migrant Workers Face,” Washington Post, March 28, 2024

 

A year ago, a speeding car barreled through barriers on Interstate 695 – the Baltimore Beltway -- killing six highway workers. On March 25, tragedy again struck I-695 highway workers when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after being struck by a huge container ship. “Six workers, all native to Latin America, were lost in the Patapsco River and presumed dead,” wrote Post reporters Scott Dance and María Luisa Paúl. “The latest deaths underscore a truth that relatives of victims in both tragedies say is too often taken for granted – that immigrants are some of the most vulnerable, least-protected workers in the United States.” The six workers in the bridge collapse came from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Immigrants in the construction industry in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., number some 130,000, accounting for an estimated 39 percent of the workforce, according to the advocacy group Casa.  Latin Americans are one of the fastest-growing groups in the region, increasing by 77 percent in Baltimore during the 2010s. Nationwide, a total of 274 foreign-born Hispanic and Latino workers died in  2021 in the U.S. construction industry.  They made up 7.9 percent of the construction industry’s workers but 26.3 percent of deaths from slips, falls and trips in 2020. Maryland Governor Wes Moore (D) is proposing legislation to improve safety in highway work zones, including driver education, better enforcement of speed limits in work zones and higher fines. “I hope the community does more to take care of the Hispanic community and its workers, so that we can do the hard work, but with more protection and without being more helpless to fate,” said Marita Guzman de Villatoro, an  immigrant from El Salvador whose husband and brother-in-law died in the I-695 crash a year ago.

“Dengue, Declared an Epidemic in Puerto Rico, Sickens 1 in 4 Who Catch It,” Washington Post, March 28, 2024

 

Puerto Rico says it’s had 549 cases of dengue fever between the start of the year and March 10 – a spike that is unusual because transmission of the dengue virus is usually low in drier months. “The fact that it’s happening now is really kind of a heads up, a warning sign for us,” said Albert Ko, an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health. Cases are surging in Brazil and other South American countries. Such increases are likely to occur more often because of factors such as climate change and increased travel that eases disease transmission worldwide. In Puerto Rico, cases are concentrated in cities including San Juan, Bayamon, Guaynabo and Carolina. Of the 549 cases, 341 have resulted in hospitalization and 29 have been severe. 

“Appeals Court Retains Block on Texas Effort to Arrest Migrants,” March 28, 2024, New York Times

 

A federal appeals court ruled March 26 that Texas can’t implement a law it adopted allowing police in the state to arrest and deport migrants. The 2-to-1 ruling by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said the law must remain suspended while courts determine whether it is legal. “For nearly 150 years, the Supreme Court has held that the power to control immigration – the entry, admission and removal of noncitizens --- is exclusively a federal power,” wrote Chief Judge Priscilla Richman, a George W. Bush nominee. “Texas has not shown that it is likely to succeed on the merits.” However, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who championed the law, has said he expects the U.S. Supreme Court will ultimately decide whether the law is constitutional. Abbott says the law has been tailored to be consistent with a dissent by the late Justice Antonin Scalia in a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down an Arizona law as conflicting with federal immigration powers. The changed makeup of the Court since then gives supporters of the Texas law reason to believe it eventually will be upheld. For her part, Richman said the Texas law would impair the exercise of discretion by federal immigration officials, preventing migrants who are arrested from seeking asylum before being ordered by a state court to leave the country. 

“Venezuela’s Rosales Willing to Cede Ballot Place to Opposition Unity Candidate,” Reuters, March 27, 2024

 

Although the leading opposition candidate has been barred from running, as has the woman she picked as a substitute (see stories below), Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro apparently will still face opposition in some form in presidential elections in July. Two opposition groups, including A New Time Party, managed to register candidates for the election. Among them was the party’s Manuel Rosales, governor of the Zulia province in Venezuela. Some in the opposition to Maduro say Rosales has become too close to the country’s rulers. For his part, Rosales said at an event in Maracaibo that he is prepared to hand over his spot to a candidate who could unify the opposition. Maria Corina Machado is by far the opposition’s most popular candidate, and opinion polls show that she has much stronger support among Venezuelans than President Maduro. But the government has prohibited her candidacy. There’s speculation about some form of potential alliance between Machado and Rosales; Machado said this week she’s taking decisions on such an alliance “day by day,” according to the Reuters report by Mariela Nava. She wrote that there’s an April 20 deadline for the opposition “to hold internal negotiations about whether to back one of the registered candidates or name alternates.” The Democratic Unity group has registered Edmundo Gonzalez, a former ambassador, but some say he is a placeholder for a possible substitute. [Despite the talk of an opponent to Maduro in the presidential election, there’s little to indicate that a free and fair election is in the offing.]

“Venezuela,” World Politics Review, March 26, 2024

 

Venezuelan authorities have denied permission to Corina Yoris to run as the opposition candidate to President Nicolás Maduro in the presidential election this July. Yoris, an academic (see story below), was recently picked by Maria Corina Machado to take her place after officials prohibited the extremely popular Machado from running.  “Just five months ago, there was room for cautious optimism…after the Maduro regime signed an agreement that suggested that it would allow for a presidential election with at least a veneer of democratic legitimacy,” observed World Politics Review. “Now, after the opposition’s candidate was banned from running and her substitute – a political unknown -- wasn’t allowed to register, that optimism has all but vanished.” The Biden administration had temporarily eased economic sanctions on Venezuela after the agreement was signed -- but now it has rolled back some of that relief. The question now is to what degree the sanctions, particularly on oil, will be reimposed. World Politics Review noted that the effects of the Maduro regime’s decision will be felt most by the Venezuelan population, “which is already suffering from an economic and humanitarian crisis, exacerbated by Washington’s crippling sanctions. Now, the situation seems like it can only get worse.” [Based in Brooklyn, New York, World Politics Review describes itself as strictly nonpartisan. However, it says it can be “broadly described as liberal internationalist, combining a reality-based approach that recognizes the need for all the tools and instruments of statecraft with a preference for diplomacy and multilateralism in support of a rules-based and norms-based global order.”] 

“Police in Rio Arrest Three In ’18 Killing of Politician,” New York Times, March 25, 2024

 

Brazilian police officers arrested two brothers March 24 on charges they ordered the 2018 killing of Marielle Franco, a Black, gay, feminist councilwoman in Rio De Janeiro who fought corruption and powerful gangs in the city. The brothers, Chiquinho and Domingos Brazão, accused of killing Franco to stop her fight against corruption, also served on the city council. Police also arrested Rivaldo Barbosa, the former Rio chief of police who oversaw the investigation into Franco’s killing. He was accused of intentionally obstructing the investigation. Franco, who was 38, “had been one of Brazil’s rising political stars,” wrote Times reporters Jack Nicas and Flavia Milhorance. “She grew up in a favela – the deeply impoverished neighborhoods in Rio’s hillsides – and rose to become the only Black woman who was elected in 2016 to Rio’s City Council.”  She spoke out against inequality and violent cops and militias in Rio. Finding out who killed her became a rallying cry for activists in Brazil. Banners and T-shirts demanded “Who Killed Marielle Franco?” A former Rio city council member, Marcelo Freixo, said he was not surprised that top officials were blamed. “We’ve long stated that crime, police and politics are inextricably linked in Rio,” he said. 

“As Its Workers Flock to American jobs, Mexico Turns to hiring Guest Farmers,” Washington Post, March 24, 2024

 

Mexico is facing shortages of agricultural labor in its own country. The reasons:  aging farmworkers; demand for Mexican labor on U.S farms; the growth of manufacturing jobs in northern Mexico; and construction openings in southern Mexico created by infrastructure projects launched by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. “Mexico had a seemingly inexhaustible supply of farmhands – tough, hard-working men who did the jobs most Americans didn’t want,” note Post reporters Mary Beth Sheridan and Fred Ramos. Two-thirds of employees on American farms are Mexican-born. But now nearly three-fourths of Mexican farmworkers are over 45. Almost 300,000 a year travel to the U.S. on seasonal agricultural visas, four times the number a decade ago. There may not be enough workers to fill the jobs created in Mexico by soaring U.S. demand for products created south of the border including cars, airline parts, and avocados.  Agricultural exports to the U.S. doubled over the past decade to $45 billion. “We’re talking about Mexico having 1.5 million unfilled job openings,” said Giovanni Lepri, a United Nations official. “People in search of a better life could fill at least a part of that.” The search for workers has increased some wages; those paid to harvesters have grown up to 100 percent over the past few years. Miguel Ángel de Jesús said his after-tax salary for picking berries is roughly $24 a day and his employer pays for his food and lodging. “We come from places where they don’t give us all this.” Mexican officials are launching a program allowing 14,000 foreigners to apply for visas to fill jobs in Mexico, a small total that is expected to grow. The allure of higher-paying U.S. jobs may undermine such efforts. Still, “if it becomes harder to cross the border at some point, Mexico could become an increasingly attractive place to go,” said Andrew Selee of the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. 

“Venezuelan Opposition Leader Names Successor After Two Close Aides Arrested,” The Guardian, March 22, 2024

 

Eighty-year-old Corina Yoris has been named as the opposition leader who will take on President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela’s presidential election in July. Yoris was picked for that role by Maria Corina Machado, by far the most popular opposition candidate, after she was barred by the government from holding public office, a decision upheld by the country’s highest court. Machado made the announcement concerning Yoris after two of Machado’s top aides were arrested and arrest warrants were issued for seven other people. The U.S. has temporarily lifted sanctions on Venezuelan oil in return for a Venezuelan pledge to hold free and fair elections but the Maduro government appears to have broken that promise. “The decision by Maduro and his representatives to detain two members of the leading opposition candidate’s campaign and issue warrants for seven others represents a disturbing escalation of repression,” said U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller. Reuters quoted Machado March 22 as saying of Yoris that “we have found a person who has my complete confidence…who will see this process through with everyone’s support and trust.” Machado added, however, that she hasn’t ended her fight against disqualification. Yoris is an academic with degrees in history, philosophy and literature who has not held political office. [Update: Venezuelan authorities subsequently declared Yoris ineligible to run -- see story above].

 

“Much Appetite for Portugal’s Far Right After Years of Having None,” New York Times, March 22, 2024

 

“The sun-soaked Algarve region on Portugal’s southern coast is a place where guitar-strumming backpackers gather by fragrant orange trees and digital nomads hunt for laid-back vibes,” writes New York Times reporter Emma Bubola. “It is not exactly what comes to mind when one envisions a stronghold of far-right political sentiment.” But it’s where the far-right Chega (“Enough”) Party finished first in national elections earlier this month, attracting 18 percent of the vote nationwide. While the winning center-right coalition won't link up with Chega, analysts predict the result will be an unstable minority government. The hard right also has made recent gains in Spain, Italy and Germany. Chega taps into the bitterness many Portuguese workers feel about bleak economic prospects. “Here we have to work, work, work and we get nothing,” Pedro Bonanca, a tourist boat driver, told the Times. “When I ask old people why they vote the Socialist party, the only thing they can say is that they took us out of dictatorship” but that was a long time ago. An orange grower who fears losing his orchard because of drought said the government prioritizes watering golf courses instead of farms. Huge numbers of young people are leaving Portugal while those remaining work for low pay that lags inflation. A 61-year-old waiter said his 25-year-old son who works at a restaurant in Dublin makes more than three times what he does. “Our young people leave and these guys stay here” he said in reference to low-wage workers arriving from Nepal and India. Chega founder André Ventura buys into the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, saying in 2022 that “the European Union is being demographically replaced by the children of immigrants,” something  “nobody wants.” While Chega’s growth is fed by social and economic discontent, it has promised “a mix of social policies that experts described as unrealistic, including plans to raise the minimum wage and pensions while also cutting taxes,” Bubola observes.  

“Texas Immigration Law Back in Federal Court After Whiplash Rulings,” Washington Post, March 20, 2024

 

A federal appeals court issued a ruling late March 19 preventing a Texas law from taking effect that would allow the state to arrest and deport migrants. Hours before, the U.S. Supreme Court had issued a ruling that briefly permitted the law to take effect. In doing so, it urged the appeals court to decide quickly whether the law would remain in effect while litigation over the controversial law continues. The appeals court did so pending a hearing set for March 20. It was unclear how quickly it would rule after the hearing on allowing the law to actually take effect pending the continuing legal controversy over whether it is unconstitutional. Defenders of the law say it's needed to stop public safety dangers and burdens on local government associated with a massive influx of migrants.  Critics of the law say it would usurp federal authority over immigration enforcement and could lead each state to pass its own version of immigration law, undermining consistent foreign policy. They also say it could block the protection of migrants fleeing persecution; migrants have a federal right to request asylum. Another concern is that it would lead to racial profiling throughout Texas, leading to harassment and arrests of brown-skinned American citizens.  

“’Havana Syndrome’ Probe Finds No Sign of Brain Injuries,” Washington Post, March 19, 2024

 

A National Institutes of Health investigation has found no significant evidence of brain injury in patients suffering from “Havana Syndrome,” a mysterious condition that first afflicted State Department employees in late 2016 who were stationed in or near the U.S. Embassy in Havana. Their research “found few significant differences in a range of cognitive and physical tests among more than 80 patients who had been stationed in Cuba, Austria, China and other locations” said the Post story by Joel Achenbach and Shane Harris. The NIH study “could intensify doubts in the scientific and intelligence communities about the existence of unidentified adversaries targeting government officials with exotic weapons,” they said. They noted, however, that the NIH researchers acknowledged that the officials afflicted do have severe symptoms that can be debilitating.  “We have a third of our cases that either are not working or are struggling to work,” said Leighton Chan, one of the lead researchers. The cases led to speculation that Russia or some other adversary had developed a pulsed energy weapon that caused symptoms such as dizziness, pain, blurry vision, fatigue, nausea and cognitive dysfunction.  American officials also reported attacks in other countries. The reports harmed relations between the U.S. and Cuba. “The Trump administration in 2017 responded by expelling Cuban diplomats and pulling back on what had been a policy of engagement with the communist-run island under the Obama administration.”

“Chicago Begins Evicting Migrants from Shelters,” New York Times, March 18, 2024

 

Of the almost 11,000 migrants living in 23 homeless shelters in Chicago, officials plan to evict 2,000 by the end of April. “There is a lot of fear there will be people in the streets,” Annie Gomberg told New York Times reporter Miriam Jordan. Gomberg’s volunteer  group People’s Shelter Response has been helping migrants in Chicago. Those facing eviction are struggling to make money because they aren’t permitted to apply for work permits until 150 days after they’ve filed an asylum claim in immigration court. Denver began to clear hotels housing migrants in February. The city has received 40,000 migrants. Nonprofits are working to help families find housing. “Hundreds of local families have been hosting migrants, and more are expected to do so in the coming months,” wrote Jordan. New York City has 65,000 migrants in its shelters. The city plans to limit to 30 days the time adult migrants can stay in a shelter. 

“Haiti’s Hospitals  Survived Cholera and Covid, Gangs Are Now Closing Them,” New York Times, March 18, 2024

 

Rampant gang violence in Haiti’s capital has left its already weak health system in terrible condition. “In a country where the United Nations estimates that up to one million people are facing the threat of famine, the unraveling of the medical infrastructure threatens to put thousands more lives at risk,” say Times reporters David C. Adams and Frances Robles. Experts said that more than half of the medical facilities in Port-au-Prince and the rural region of Artibonite are closed or not operating at full capacity. Doctors are predicting a sharp rise in infant and maternal deaths because women will have to give birth at home. Up to 20 percent of the medical professionals have left for the U.S. or Canada, according to United Nations figures. Gang members “have stripped many medical facilities bare, taking most anything of value, including beds and vehicles,” the Times said. Gangs have united to drive Prime Minister Ariel Henry from office. Now in Puerto Rico, he has said he will step down after a provisional government is put in place and names a new leader. 

“When Wildfire Swept Chile’s Coast, the Hydrants Quickly Ran Dry,” New York Times, March 18, 2024

 

Many hydrants had no water pressure or very little or no water during the wildfires last month in Chile that were the worst in the country’s history, New York Times reporters said. The wildfire killed 134 people and destroyed thousands of homes. “Many who perished in the blaze lived in ramshackle settlements along eucalyptus-lined hillsides – places where the water grid does not reach,” the Times said. Persistent drought in Chile exacerbated by climate change made matters worse when the wildfires struck. “Many times water isn’t available for firefighting,” said Miguel Castillo, a professor at the University of Chile. “And now it’s gotten worse.” 

“At Rally, Trump Says Some Immigrants Are ‘Not People,’” Washington Post, March 18, 2024

 

Former President Donald Trump ratcheted up dehumanizing rhetoric against immigrants March 16, saying some of those accused of crimes are “not people,” according to Post reporter Marisa Iati. “I don’t know if you call them people,” he told a rally in Vandalia, Ohio, near Dayton. “In some cases they’re not people in my opinion. But I’m not allowed to say that because the radical left says that’s a terrible thing to say.” Immigration is shaping up to be an explosive campaign issue, Iati noted. During visits to border towns last month President Biden and Trump blasted each other for the recent surge in migrants crossing the border. Trump called it a “Joe Biden invasion.” Biden said Trump killed a $20 billion bipartisan  bill to create more capacity to detain migrants and hire thousands more Border Patrol officers. Last October Trump said immigrants “are poisoning the blood of our country.” He has pledged a massive military operation to deport immigrants that would begin right away if he were elected. 

“Wearing a GPS Monitor and Waiting for Asylum,” New York Times, March 18, 2024

 

The Biden administration has begun testing a program that uses GPS monitors to track the whereabouts of migrant families who have requested asylum and determine whether they are complying with curfews. The Family Expedited Removal Management Program is an alternative to family detention that aims to screen asylum claims promptly and quickly deport those who do not qualify.  Migrants have the right to request asylum if they make it onto U.S. soil; in a number of cases they skip out on immigration hearings and melt into U.S. society as undocumented people. The administration hopes a ramped-up version of the program will keep the backlog of three million pending cases in the immigration courts from swelling. “The program is being used in more than 40 locations with the resources to keep track of thousands of migrants and make swift rulings in a make-or-break step of the asylum process: the credible fear interview,” wrote Times reporter Hamed Aleaziz. If a migrant isn’t deemed to have a credible fear of persecution back home, his or her asylum application is denied. If they fail their screenings they can be deported within weeks. The program has tracked more than 19,000 people since May, more than 1,500 of whom have been deported. Aleaziz said “around 1,000 have absconded by prying off their ankle monitors.” The remainder have either passed their initial screening or have pending cases. Advocates for migrants say the expedited removal program works too quickly, because it doesn’t give them time to find legal representation. 

“Catalan Leader Hail’s ‘New Stage’ in Quest for Independence After Amnesty Vote,” The Guardian, March 15, 2024

 

Following a vote March 14 in which the Spanish parliament voted 178-172 to approve a bill granting amnesty to hundreds of Catalan separatists for their role in an illegal breakaway attempt six years ago, Catalonia’s President Pere Aragonès said a “new stage” has begun in the region’s self-determination efforts.  “That new stage needs to be based on bringing about a jointly agreed referendum “on independence, he told Guardian reporter Sam Jones. “And those best placed to stand up for an agreed referendum are those of us who’ve banked on dialogue and negotiation in an honest way.” Aragónes said the successful vote vindicated the agreement of separatists to give Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez the votes he needed in parliament last year to form a new government (the amnesty bill still must clear added procedural steps before it can become law). “Sánchez, while continuing to firmly rule out any prospect of the jointly agreed referendum sought by Aragonès, has favored a markedly more conciliatory approach to the issue of Catalan independence than the conservative People’s Party did when in government at the time of [the illegal breakaway bid for independence],” Jones wrote. Separately, Aragonès has been unsuccessful in winning support for his proposed budget for Catalonia. On March 13 he called for a snap  election in Catalonia after failing by one vote to get the budget okayed. 

“Officials Shrug as Youths Miss School to Work,” New York Times, March 14, 2024

 

“Of all the manifestations of human misery that the two-year-old migrant crisis has brought to New York City, few trouble the conscience more than the sight of children selling candy on the subway – sometimes during school hours, sometimes accompanied by parents, sometimes not,” writes New York Times reporter Andy Newman. Though children between the ages of 6 and 17 are required to be in school, no city or state agency is stepping up to take responsibility, he says. More than 180,000 migrants have been processed by the city in the last two years, but they are unable to work legally. Selling food is one of their main sources of income. Advocates for migrants say that most of the candy sellers come from Ecuador. Some parents say they haven’t figured out the paperwork needed to place their children in school. Monica Sibri, an Ecuadoran immigrant who advocates for other immigrants, says that she and other advocates are holding training sessions this spring to provide resources to candy sellers and their families to pursue an education. 

“Kenya Hits Pause on Deployment to Haiti,” New York Times, March 12, 2024

 

Kenya says it won’t follow through on a plan to send 1,000 police officers to help restore order in Haiti until that country forms a new government. Embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry agreed March 11 to step down after Haiti forms a new transitional government but it’s unclear how soon that will happen. Kenya Foreign Ministry spokesman Salim Swaleh said “you don’t just deploy police to go on the Port-au-Prince streets without a sitting administration.” Gangs have taken over the Haitian capital, making it impossible for Henry to return; they threatened civil war if he did not resign. His resignation “followed several days of violent attacks on police stations, prisons, the main airport, seaport and other state institutions,” wrote Times reporters Frances Robles and Abdi Latif Dahir. Gang violence reportedly has led to the piling up of corpses on the streets of Haiti where they’ve remained for days because of the lawlessness on the island. The leaders of Caribbean nations are working on a plan to create a transitional council to lead Haiti. They met March 11 in Jamaica to make final a path forward. The Kenyan deployment of police officers is sanctioned by the United Nations and is largely funded by the U.S. government, which said March 11 it will provide more aid. 

“Portugal Suffers Hung Parliament in Elections That See a Surge in Far-right Populist Party Chega,” Portugal Resident, March 11, 2024

 

The dominance of Portuguese politics by the center-right and socialist parties may be coming to an end. Elections March 10 “produced a hung parliament with a far-right protest party picking up over 18 percent of the votes on an anti-corruption and immigration ticket,” wrote Portugal Resident reporter Chris Graeme. The current ruling Democratic Alliance coalition technically won the elections but by too slight a margin to form a majority government. The elections ended the nine-year government of the Partido Socialista. Its caretaker prime minister, António Costa, resigned last November over a corruption and influence peddling scandal. The party only got 28.6 percent of the vote compared to the 47 percent it got in 2022.  Costa blamed two years of unusually steep inflation for the decline. “However, the night clearly belonged to the far-right Chega party led by former football commentator André Ventura,” said Graeme. It got 18 percent of the vote, enough to make it the third political party in the country. Critics label the party, which was strong in deep southern Portugal, as racist and xenophobic.  Analysts say Portugal faces its most fractured parliament since Portugal became a democracy in 1974.  Commentator Luis Marques Mendes predicted new elections in early 2025. 

“Brazil’s Staggering Dengue Fever Crisis is a Warning to the World,” Washington Post, March 10, 2024

 

Cases of dengue fever are soaring in much of South America, the result of rising temperatures from climate change. The changing weather has extended the range of the mosquito that carries dengue and increased its population. Paraguay in the first two months of the year has had almost 100,000 suspected cases, more than five times its typical rate. Peru has declared an emergency in much of the country and cases are exploding in Argentina. Brazil is seeing the worst of the outbreak, with more than one million cases in January and February alone and a total of 4.2 million forecast for all of 2024 – more than last year’s record outbreak across all of the Americas. There’s another unusual factor – all four types of dengue fever are now circulating at once. “I’ve never seen another year when all four are circulating at the same time,” said one Brazilian scientist. The disease could kill thousands of people in Brazil, where families desperately hunt for open hospital beds. “Epidemiologists warn this is probably only the beginning,” write Post reporters Marina Dias and Terrence McCoy. “In the coming years, as climate change broadens the reach of the A. aegypti mosquito, the disease could become increasingly prevalent, even endemic, across much of southern Europe and the southern United States.” 

“Olive Oil Becomes Most Wanted Item for Shoplifters in Spain,” The Guardian, March 9, 2024

 

Organized criminal gangs in Spain are targeting “liquid gold” – olive oil – to resell on the hidden market after extreme weather damaged harvests for a second year. “Spain is the world’s largest producer of olive oil, but Europe has almost run out of local supplies,” writes Guardian reporter Vivian Ho. Supermarkets are taking measures such as chaining together five-litre bottles of olive oil and padlocking them to shelves. Worldwide production of olive oil is expected to drop to 2.4 million tonnes, less than the harvest last year. It’s also short of global demand of about 3 million tonnes. Prices in Spain have more than quadrupled in the past four years. The thefts aren’t driven by hunger but by gangs seeking to make a profit out of scarcity, said Alejandro Alegre, a marketing consultant. Olive growers and companies that squeeze olives into oil also have been targeted. “With shortages happening across the Mediterranean, similar thefts of olive oil are occurring in Greece,” says Ho. 

“Spain’s Conservatives Retain Absolute Majority in Galicia Elections,” The Guardian

 

[Posted out of chronological order to catch up on an earlier story. This was published Feb. 19, 2024] Despite predictions it would lose its long-time control of the region, the conservative People’s Party has retained its absolute majority in Galicia in northwestern Spain. The result of the regional election strengthens Popular Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who unexpectedly broke ranks with his party a week before by letting it slip that he would not be opposed to pardoning Catalan politicians who led a failed separatist push in 2017. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez cobbled together a coalition last year for a new term by agreeing to pursue amnesty for those politicians, infuriating the Popular Party and igniting nationwide demonstrations. “However, it appears voters were more willing to forgive Feijóo than they were Sánchez, whose pact with the Catalans was being blamed for his party’s poor showing in the first significant election since he secured another term as prime minister,” said Guardian reporter Stephen Burgen. Sánchez’s socialists lost five seats, which were picked up by the Galician Nationalist Bloc. There’s a growing trend among such nationalist parties to focus as much on such issues as housing, unemployment, and the emigration of young people as on the issue of sovereignty. 

“Panama Orders MSF to Stop Treating People Who Crossed the Darién Gap” The Guardian, March 8, 2024

 

The medical assistance group Doctors Without Borders is voicing alarm about the well-being of U.S.-bound migrants traveling through the dangerous Darién Gap after Panama ordered it to stop treating people who passed through it. “Panama’s orders mean it must suspend its operations just ahead of an expected surge in migrants crossing to Panama after a string of human trafficking arrests in Columbia created a bottleneck on the migration route last week,” wrote Guardian reporter Luke Taylor. The Gap joins South and Central America, traversing the border between Columbia and Panama. Armed bandits in Panama are robbing and raping those who have survived the ordeal of crossing the Gap, with little interference from Panamanian authorities.  Doctors Without Borders treats migrants for fungal infections, malnutrition, and diarrhea. Recently, it has focused on the care of victims of sexual violence, which has been on the increase. The doctors’ group said it had to suspend operations because Panama hasn’t renewed an agreement for it to treat people. 

 “Haiti’s Weekend of Violence Puts Government Future in Doubt,” The Guardian, March 4, 2024

The mass escape over the weekend of convicted criminals and imprisoned gang leaders in Haiti bodes ill for attempts to restore order to the chaos- and violence-ridden country, including from abroad. Armed gangs “attacked the country’s international airport and freed more than 3,800 prisoners this weekend in what appears to be a coordinated effort to topple the prime minister, Ariel Henry,” wrote The Guardian’s Luke Taylor. “We might be witnessing a turning point right now, as the gangs appear to be joining forces to overthrow the government and send a message of intimidation to the politicians who are away not to return,” said Diego Da Rin, an analyst with the International Crisis Group. Henry, who is out of the country, became Haiti’s interim leader after the assassination in July 2021 of President Jovenel Moïse. “Last week, Henry flew to Nairobi in his latest effort to bring a force of 1,000 Kenyan police officers to retake control of the country from the armed factions who now dominate three-quarters of the capital,” said Taylor. But Da Rin said “the window of opportunity for foreign forces is closing.” [Update: Jimmy Chérizier, the gang lord behind the uprising who is known as “Barbecue”, warned Henry that Haiti could be plunged into civil war unless he steps down, The Guardian reported March 6.  Henry reportedly tried to fly back to Haiti March 5 but his plane was denied permission to land. The Miami Herald said while Henry was in flight toward Haiti, the Biden administration contacted him and asked him to agree to a transitional government and to resign.]