News Summaries in April 2024

“Peter Schey, Tenacious Lawyer Who Defended Migrant Rights, Dies at 77,” New York Times, April 30, 2024

 

Peter Schey, a defender of the human rights of migrants crossing the southern border of the U.S., died April 2 at the age of 77. His death was attributed to complications from lymphoma. He led a legal team that in 1997 negotiated the Flores Settlement Agreement, in which the government agreed to hold unaccompanied child migrants in safe conditions and to release them to a family member, guardian or a licensed care center within 20 days. The Flores deal was broadened in 2014 when a federal judge ruled that the 20 day limit also applied to children accompanied by parents. “Effectively, the government was forced to release adults and their children to await immigration hearings,” wrote Times reporter Trip Gabriel. Schey also won a case in which California’s Proposition 187 was declared unconstitutional. Passed by nearly 60 percent of voters and the centerpiece of the re-election campaign of Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, the proposition barred undocumented immigrants from getting non-emergency health care and other government services. It would have kept 270,000 children out of public schools. A majority of the state’s Latino voters shifted to Democrats at that point – “a lasting swing that is seen as turning California into a reliably blue state,” Gabriel wrote.  

“Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez to Stay in Power After Resignation Drama,” Washington Post, April 30, 2024

 

After five days of “reflection” on whether it was worth it to stay in office, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declared in a national address that he would do so. Sanchez threatened resignation after news broke that an investigating judge in Madrid had opened a case against his wife, Begoña Gomez. The probe appeared to be based on news reports, largely in the conservative press, claiming Gomez took advantage of her position to obtain a bailout for the Spanish airline Air Europa. Spanish press reports said neither Gomez nor the public prosecutor’s office were informed about the investigation. "Pandemic-era corporate bailouts, however, were considered par for the course in Spain," wrote Post reporters Anthony Faiola and Beatriz Ríos. Sanchez’s government also faces an investigation into allegations that an aide to a former transportation minister illegally collected commissions on pandemic-era medical contracts. Sanchez said he was the target of a “harassment” operation that aimed to bring him down politically and personally by attacking his wife. Thousands of people rallied on the streets in support of Sanchez after he announced that he was pondering resignation in response to what he said was a political mudslinging operation. Sanchez in announcing he would stay called attention to bitter polarization between the left and right in other countries as well. He said incivility has corrupted discourse to the point that it is a “perversion of democracy” and asked, “Is this what we want for Spain?” Said Sanchez: “I call on the Spanish society to become an example, an inspiration for a world convulsing and hurt, because the evil we are confronted with is far from exclusive to Spain. It is part of a global reactionary movement that aims to impose its regressive agenda through falsehood and defamation, hatred, fear.” Santiago Abascal, head of the far right Vox party, said Sanchez was involved in a “coarse, indignant” attempt at “victimization,”  Post reporters said. “Spain doesn’t have a leader equal to its citizens,” said Alberto Núñez, head of the center-right People’s Party. 

“Cuba Grabs a Lifeline: Capitalists,” New York Times, April 30, 2024

 

Thousands of small businesses have opened in Cuba in recent years as its desperate government begins moving away even if modestly from communist orthodoxy barring private ownership. Times correspondent David C. Adams writes that “roughly 10,200 new private businesses have opened since 2021, creating a dynamic, if fledgling alternative economy alongside the country’s hobbled socialist model.” Pavel Vidal, a university professor in Colombia, says “never has the private sector been given so much space to operate in Cuba.” But Cuba overall is in terrible economic shape with production of such food staples of pork, rice and beans dropping by more than half between 2019 and 2023. Prices in government stores are unaffordable and half a million Cubans have left the island since 2o22, a huge figure given the country’s population of 11 million. U.S. officials say the growth of private businesses could be a game changer that leads to greater economic and democratic freedom. But Benjamin Ziff, a senior U.S. diplomat in Cuba, says the key question is whether the government will let the private sector “expand fast enough and freely enough to meet the challenges.” 

“Many Americans Support Mass Deportations and Harsh Methods, Polls Find,” Washington Post, April 30, 2024

 

On a surface level, Americans seem more receptive to harsh methods to counter undocumented immigration – to the point that attaching “mass deportation” to the Trump brand may not be an effective Biden campaign tactic, writes Washington Post columnist Aaron Blake. The prolonged crisis at the southern border has hardened attitudes, with Trump’s advocacy of a border wall drawing majority support in recent polling, up from fewer than 4 in 10 Americans during the Trump presidency. A plan to “detain and deport millions of undocumented immigrants” drew the support of 48 percent of Americans in a February CNN poll. In a January poll by USA Today and Suffolk University, 53 percent of Americans backed a plan to “send troops to the southern border and order the mass deportation of illegal immigrants.” Fifty-six percent of Americans supported using troops to arrest and deport people in the U.S. illegally in an Economist-YouGov poll in February. Asked in a January Reuters-Ipsos poll whether undocumented immigrants should be arrested and put in detention camps while awaiting deportation hearings, 42 percent of Americans said yes compared to 41 percent who said no. But it’s unclear how intent Americans are on carrying out such methods. For example, in the CNN poll showing 48 percent of Americans support millions of deportations, people were given the choice between allowing immigrants a path to legal status and deporting all of them and the former was preferred by more than 2 to 1. Blake observes that the Biden administration “could get the messaging right by emphasizing just how many people – people whom large majorities of Americans say should have a shot at legal status – could be caught up in such an effort.” And “pointing to exactly what it would mean to deploy troops and detention camps would also seem fertile political ground, given how ugly those scenes could get.” 

 

“Ecuador Gives President More Powers to Fight Drug Gangs,” Wall Street Journal, April 22, 2024

 

Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa acquired more powers to crack down on powerful drug gangs that have plunged his country into chaos and bloodshed. In a referendum, voters said Noboa’s government should have the power to deploy soldiers along with police, stiffen sentences for criminals convicted of terrorism and drug trafficking, expedite suspects indicted in other countries, and allow law enforcement to use weapons seized from gangs, wrote Wall Street Journal reporter Ryan Dubé. Noboa has declared that his government is in armed conflict with gangs after a 2023 in which the homicide rate was the highest ever in Ecuador’s history. He ordered the army to retake control of prisons run by gang leaders who directed cocaine shipments and ordered killings in the country from behind prison walls. He declared gangs, including those that had launched attacks on shopping centers and hospitals, as terrorist organizations and assumed emergency powers to combat them. The expanded powers were inspired by the example of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, “whose mass arrest of suspected gang members has led to a sharp decline in homicides despite concerns about human rights abuses,” Dubé noted. Noboa’s approval rate has reached 69 percent because of his crackdown but there’s doubt about how well it will work. After an initial decline in homicides, violence is again on the increase, with three mayors murdered in the past month. Ramiro Garcia of Ecuador’s Central University said violence is likely to continue because Noboa’s expanded powers won’t root out corruption in law enforcement or create alternative economic opportunities for young people who have turned to crime. 

“U.S. Says Oil Companies in Venezuela Can Still Operate Despite Regime Oppression,” Wall Street Journal, April 17, 2024

 

After saying it would reimpose sanctions on Venezuelan oil (see story below), the Biden administration has opted for a policy permitting companies to operate only if they receive individual licenses from the U.S. to do so. “The U.S. had to show they were doing something,” said Antero Alverado, an oil consultant in Caracas. Biden had lifted the Trump-era U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil on the condition that the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, permit free and fair presidential elections later this year. But Maduro has blocked popular opponent Maria Cornia Machado from running. The U.S. fell short of fully reimposing sanctions, however. Alvarado said that “in the end, things don’t change all that much, it just adds a lot more bureaucracy.” Wall Street Journal reporter Kejal Vyas wrote that “individual licenses will be granted in accordance with U.S. national security and foreign policy interests,” according to U.S. officials. Alvarado said U.S. officials worried that tougher sanctions would move Venezuela closer to countries such as Russia, Iran and China. Officials also express concern that full sanctions would exert upward pressure on U.S. gasoline prices  and further destabilize the Venezuelan economy and so contribute to the exodus of Venezuelans leaving the country. 

“Venezuelan Leader Maduro Responds to Biden: ‘If You Don’t Want, I Don’t Want,’” The Latin Times, April 16, 2024

 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has responded defiantly to a statement by the Biden administration that it will reimpose oil sanctions on the South American country because it isn’t abiding by a promise to hold free and fair presidential elections later this year. “Here’s the message I want negotiators to convey to President Biden,” Maduro said in a televised address, according to Latin Times reporter Demian Bio. “If you want, I want. If you don’t want, I don’t want.” Maduro added: “We’re not a gringo colony. No one is going to stop us, gringos.” A State Department spokesman said April 15 that the U.S. will reimpose the sanctions April 18 because of a lack of progress implementing last year’s Barbados Agreement between the two countries. The U.S. eased oil sanctions in return for progress toward democracy but since then Venezuelan officials barred the leading opposition candidate, Maria Corina Machado, from running for Maduro’s job. Polls suggests she would easily beat him. Venezuela could lose an estimated $2 billion from oil revenues by the end of 2024 because of renewed sanctions. From October until March, the Maduro government was able to earn an added $740 million in oil sales, according to Bloomberg data. According to one poll, 40 percent of Venezuelans now living in their country would consider leaving if Maduro wins another term. The Wall Street Journal reported March 29 that the Biden administration would likely not reimpose sanctions (see story below). Negotiations between the two countries aren’t over, Maduro said. 

“A Makeshift Camp for Weary Migrants,” The New York Times, April 12, 2024

 

Peter Fink is a 22-year-old American from the Pacific Northwest who learned Spanish on a summer job picking cherries. “Captivated by the immigration crisis in 2020, he spent months in Arizona, walking over the border to volunteer at a Sonora migrant shelter by day, and, by night, earning an international studies degree online,” writes Times reporter Emily Baumgaertner. One night in early March, Fink stumbled across a mountaintop camp near Campo, California. It was up a rocky incline a few hundred yards above a U.S.-Mexico border wall. Fink decided to spend the night there in a tent. “Within hours,” says Baumgaertner, “over 200 migrants came on foot – among them pregnant women, children and elderly people – huddled together in the biting wind.” They were part of the trend toward migrants risking their lives to attempt border crossings in rugged wilderness areas because they can’t get past Mexican soldiers guarding popular crossings. Fink decided to stay on, turning the site into a round-the-clock sanctuary. There, people seeking asylum who cross illegally can wait until they’re picked up by the Border Patrol, which then processes their requests. Fink pitched a series of tents in a line to protect against sometimes unbearable winds. Relying on local donations, he assembled filing cabinets with rations of food and water and laid out tarps and firewood. Sites like the one Fink created have become the source of great tension in San Diego County, says Baumgaertner. But when she asked Fink whether his help was encouraging more migrants to cross illegally, he denied it: “People do not spend their life savings and risk the lives of their children so they can taste these peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” he said. 

One evening, around the time Fink usually tried to get some sleep, he heard labored breathing. A woman appeared who then collapsed in his arms weeping. She’d been left behind by companions who had disappeared into the wilderness and were missing. Fink climbed up onto a ledge and yelled out in Spanish “we have water and food…come this way!”  Says Baumgaertner: “Finally, her two lost companions climbed over the crest from the other side of the plateau, sobbing and wrapping their arms around her.” Fink packed a bag for each one. A short time later, a Border Patrol van took them away. Fink cleaned up the tents and lit glow sticks along a path for migrants to follow who arrived by night. By the time another week passed by, Fink had returned to the Northwest where he had landscaping and construction jobs waiting. He left behind tarps, filing cabinets and firewood, which volunteers periodically restock. Sometime after his departure,  a group of migrants could be heard discussing a “guerito” [blondie] they’d encountered who spoke very good Spanish, an “angel” they found hanging out in a tent who kept them alive. 

“Colombia’s Capital Starts Rationing Water After Reservoirs Hit Historically Low Levels,” Associated Press, April 12, 2024

 

It’s been 40 years since drought forced Bogota to ration tap water, but now in the face of the El Niño climate phenomenon it’s taking that step again. Luis Soler is expecting more business at his restaurant because he thinks people in the neighborhood won’t want to use their own limited water supplies to cook. There’s no water coming out of the pipes at his restaurant, but the same is true at the homes of his neighbors and he’s stored bottled water and tap water to cook and clean for his clientele. Because of the high temperatures and lack of rain in Colombia’s capital, reservoirs have hit historically low levels.   For now, the rationing will be imposed in 24-hour periods three times a month. Officials will reassess that step every 15 days. “Officials have recommended people store only the amount of water they absolutely need, not wash cars and implement water-saving measures at home, even when they shower,” AP reported. “Shower with your partner,” advised Bogota Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán. 

“Elon Musk Vows to Defy Brazil Order to Block Some X Accounts Amid Hate-Speech Clampdown,” Wall Street Journal, April 8, 2024

 

Billionaire Elon Musk is defying an order by Brazil’s Supreme Court to remove several accounts on his X social media platform. At first, X complied with the order, issued “as part of a broader clampdown by Brazil on social media accounts that are deemed to be propagating hate speech and false information,” wrote Journal reporter Samantha Pearson. But Musk said in weekend posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the accounts would be reinstated. He said X would probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to close its office there as a result, “But principles matter more than profit.” He said the order to close the accounts was written by Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. “This judge has brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and people of Brazil,” Musk wrote. “He should resign or be impeached.” The high court said April 8 that de Moraes had opened an investigation into Musk late April 7 over possible obstruction of justice, as well as adding him to an existing inquiry into online disinformation campaigns. Carlos Jordy, a conservative Brazilian congressman, wrote on X that “Musk had more courage than Brazil’s own senators in standing up for democracy.” Gleisi Hoffman, head of the leftist Workers’ Party, charged that Musk is inflaming the far-right in Brazil. Musk has been on friendly terms with former President Jair Bolsonaro. De Moraes has launched a probe into allegations that Bolsonaro planned a military takeover of the government before he lost the 2022 presidential election. De Moraes “has led many efforts to clamp down on disinformation, arguing that it is necessary to safeguard Brazil’s fragile democracy,” Pearson wrote.

"Spain to Scrap 'Golden Visas' for Foreign Real Estate Investors," Reuters, April 8, 2024

Spain is ending its so-called golden visa program giving residency rights to foreigners who buy expensive real estate in the country. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told reporters April 8 that ending the program would help make access to affordable housing "a right instead of a speculative business." People who are not citizens of the European Union have been permitted to live and work in Spain for three years if they invested at least 500,000 euros in Spanish real estate without taking out a mortgage. Sanchez said that almost all the golden visas are linked to real estate in major cities where it's almost impossible for people who already live, work, and pay taxes there to find decent housing. Spain issued almost 5,000 such permits between the start of the program in 2013 and November 2022, according to government figures. "Chinese investors top the list followed by Russians who invested more than 3.4 billion euros," said a Transparency International report. 

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

 

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. [I’m running this story, which was published March 29, 2024, out of chronological order because I missed it earlier.]

“At Fund-Raiser Trump Says He Wants More Immigrants From ‘Nice’ Countries,” New York Times, April 8, 2024

 

Former President Donald J. Trump told wealthy donors at a fundraiser April 6 that it’s a shame more immigrants aren’t coming from “nice” countries like Denmark, Switzerland and Norway. Instead, there are “people coming in from prisons and jails,” he said. “They’re coming in from just unbelievable places and countries, countries that are a disaster,” an attendee said Trump said. People instead are coming from Yemen “where they’re blowing each other up all over the place.” Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Michael Gold wrote that “Trump also lamented the increasing number of migrants, particularly from Latin America, saying that gang members ‘make the Hells Angels look like extremely nice people.” Trump, speaking in the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach, which is overwhelmingly White, said “they’re on that island right there,” gesturing across the water to the more diverse community of West Palm Beach. “But they’ll be here. Eventually, they’ll be here.” Trump went on to disparage President Biden for allowing the influx of migrants and for the decisions he has made from the Resolute Desk in the White House, from which presidents deliver speeches in times of crisis. He said that Biden has soiled the desk “and I mean that literally, which is sad.” Times reporters said the laughing guests interpreted the comment as Trump saying Biden had defecated on the desk. They said he ended his comments in apocalyptic tones, saying “this could very well be the last election this country ever has.”

“U.S., Latin American Governments Criticize Ecuador After Mexican Embassy Raid,” Wall Street Journal, April 7, 2024

 

The government of Ecuador has drawn strong criticism from both the left and the right for removing the country’s former vice president by force from the Mexican embassy where he had sought asylum. The former vice president, Jorge Glas, had been granted political asylum by Mexico after claiming he was persecuted politically, said Journal reporters Anthony Harrup and Ryan Dubé. “A heavily armed police squad forced its way into the embassy,” the Journal story said. Special forces sought out and removed Glas, in doing so subduing Mexico’s chargé d’affaires Roberto Canseco, who said they threw him on the floor and who likened them to criminals.  Glas was transferred to a maximum security prison used to hold violent drug bosses.  The Ecuadoran government said Glas was guilty of corruption and that “no criminal can be considered to be politically persecuted.” But the U.S., along with governments in Europe and Latin America, said Ecuador violated international norms. Mexico cut off diplomatic relations with the country. José Miguel Vivanco, a Chilean lawyer who is a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said “it’s a fundamental  principle that has been breached and deserves strong condemnation from the international community to make sure this isn’t going to become the new normal.” A former U.S. diplomat said Ecuador’s raid will hurt the image of the country’s recently elected president Daniel Noboa as he seeks international support for battling violent drug cartels and seeks to boost trade to help his struggling economy. Noboa is trying to carry out a tough crackdown on cartel violence after it destabilized the country last year and led many Ecuadorans to leave the country to join migrants making their way to the U.S. 

“Judge Orders Swift Housing for Migrant Children at Border,” New York Times, April 5, 2024

 

A federal judge ruled April 3 that migrant children who entered the United States unlawfully can’t be left to stay in open-air encampments. U.S. District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee ruled that federal officials must “expeditiously” house the children. “The court order, which takes effect immediately, is expected to affect thousands of children and potentially many more,” said Times reporter Emily Baumgartner. Aid workers and volunteers say the encampments often lack shelter, food and sanitation. Unaccompanied children and young families who stay in the camps – which are only in California so far – are especially vulnerable because they often arrive in poor health and no longer have access to medication. U.S. Justice Department officials argued that because the children had not yet been formally taken into custody by U.S. Customs officials the federal government was not obligated to provide safe and sanitary housing. But Gee ruled that because children at the encampments were in the  custody of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security they were entitled to certain protections such as safe housing even they though hadn’t been formally processed by customs officials. A senior Customs officials said the ruling did not include added resources to provide the housing. He said the current immigration system lacks the money needed to handle the influx of migrants arriving at the border. 

“’They Do All Kinds of Evil’: Assaults on Migrants Rise in a Jungle,” New York Times, April 5, 2024

 

In the past six months aid groups have documented an extraordinary spike in assaults, robberies and rape in the Daríen Gap, the jungle terrain half a million migrants crossed last year going from Columbia into Panama. Almost all of the attacks occurred on the Panamanian side of the border, said Times reporter Julie Turkewitz. She said “the assaults often involve cases in which dozens of women are violated in a single event.” According to Doctors Without Borders, there were 328 reports of sexual violence in January and February. A total of 676 occurred in all of 2023. Groups including Human Rights Watch say Panama’s border police fail to protect migrants and allow assaults to occur unpunished. A top Panamanian security official said that it’s important to consider the difficulty of providing protection in jungle terrain and that officers were doing all they could to protect migrants. Panama suspended the operations of Doctors Without Borders in early March. It had a staff of 67 serving roughly 5,000 people a month.  This followed the group’s repeated statements about violence against migrants. Daríen crossings in January, February and March were 25 percent higher than in the same months of 2023. The more than 520,000 people that crossed in all of 2023 were more than twice the total for all of 2022. The people crossing are typically heading to the United States. Most came from Venezuela, Ecuador, Haiti and Columbia. 

 “Peru’s President Accused of Amassing $500k in Jewelry on a $50k Salary,” Washington Post, April 2, 2024 

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte is facing a criminal investigation after revelations she amassed a jewelry collection worth half a million dollars on an annual salary of $50,000. “Highlights allegedly include a $50,000 Cartier bracelet and a $19,000 Rolex watch,” wrote Post reporter Simeon Tegel. The revelations came from a news podcast called La Encerrona, which analyzed images of Boluarte on her Flickr account. “The accusations extend Peru’s streak of presidents to come under serious criminal investigation to eight,” Tegel noted. Prosecutors will have to decide if she bought the jewelry or if it was given to her. Critics say that if it’s the former, she violated a requirement that she report assets, and if the latter, she broke anti-corruption rules. The 61-year-old Boluarte has had approval ratings in the single digits throughout most of her 16 months as president. Many blame her for the deaths of nearly 50 people killed by security forces while protesting the ouster of her predecessor. She’s also accused of remaining passive while the right-wing Peruvian Congress weakens democracy. Mirtha Vásquez, a former Peruvian prime minister, said Boluarte “appears not to understand the reality that ordinary citizens are experiencing.” That includes growing hunger and anemia since the coronavirus pandemic, and a record number of dengue fever cases fueled by climate change, she said.