News Summaries in November 2024

“Jose Ramos Is Getting Closer to Leaving Univision; What’s Next for Him?,” Latin Times, Nov. 29, 2024

 

After nearly 40 years, Jose Ramos has announced that he will step down as one of the anchors of the Univision news division at the end of 2024. “Known for his distinctive style and dedication to truth, Ramos has been a cornerstone of Hispanic television, covering major events and interviewing global leaders,” said Latin Times reporter Julimar Herrera. The Mexican journalist has won recognition as one of the 25 most influential Hispanics in the U.S. and appeared on the cover of Time Magazine. Ramos says he’ll continue in journalism after he leaves Univision but hasn’t said what he’ll do. “Networks like Telemundo, CNN en Español, or emerging platforms aiming to enhance their news content could be ideal destinations for the journalist,” said Herrera. Univision came under fire a year ago (see Dec. 13, 2023 story summary) for a deferential interview of Donald Trump. The Univision reporter who conducted the interview said “while my friend and colleague Jorge Ramos champions confrontation as the only way to hold those in power accountable, the downside to that approach became clear in recent years as newsmakers across the political spectrum and beyond the United States refused to engage with Univision, driving the network to the brink of journalistic irrelevance.” [Based in Miami, Ramos has been referred to as the Walter Cronkite of Latin America. A number of other prominent journalists have departed Univision in recent days and the Latin Times says there are rumors that massive layoffs are looming. Univision is the largest provider of Spanish language content in the U.S.] 

“Bolsonaro Is Making a Comeback Bid in Brazil and Betting on Trump’s Help,” Wall Street Journal, Nov. 29, 2024

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, accused by the federal police of  involvement in a planned coup to depose the current president Luiz Inacio Lulu da Silva (see stories below), wants to return to power and says he believes U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will help him. Trump might use sanctions against Lula to do it, he says. Bolsonaro has been banned from running for office until 2030 and is facing criminal charges stemming from the coup allegations. But he sees Trump’s election as a game changer. “Trump is back, and it’s a sign we’ll be back too,” he said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that the newspaper trumpeted as an exclusive. He said he and his son Eduardo have  been in close contact with the incoming administration since the Nov. 5 election. Bolsonaro is ”still wildly popular with swaths of Brazil’s social conservatives, as well as parts of the business community,” said Journal reporter Samantha Pearson. Bolsonaro would narrowly win an election against Lula if it were held today, according to Brazil’s Paraná Pesquisas polling institute.  

“’Everything is Expensive!’ Bolivia Faces a Shocking Economic Collapse,” Associated Press, Nov. 28, 2024

A fuel crisis in Bolivia “has created a sense that the country is coming undone, disrupting economic activity and everyday life for millions of people, hurting commerce and farm production and sending food prices soaring,” write Associated Press reporters Paola Flores and Isabel Debre. With an election coming next year, the pressure is growing on President Luis Arce to ease the suffering of Bolivians, who have taken to the streets to express their growing anger and demand early elections. The fuel shortages keep farmers from getting their products to market, causing sharp price increases for staples. “Without diesel there is no food for 2025,” said Klaus Frerking of the Eastern Agricultural Chamber of Bolivia. In the past month, potato, onion, and milk prices have doubled in the wholesale food market of El Alto, Bolivia’s second-largest city. People are struggling to find affordable food. Bolivia was an economic success story in the 2000s when a commodities boom generated billions of dollars under then-President Evo Morales,  who was Bolivia’s first Indigenous  president. But when the boom ended prices fell and gasoline production plummeted.  Arce keeps promising he’ll end the fuel crisis but his arbitrary deadlines for doing so come and go. Morales is  now aiming to replace Arce as the leading candidate of the ruling party. Supporters of Morales last month staged a 24-day protest that partly targeted Arce’s handling of the economy. The demonstrations “blocked main roads and stranded commercial shipments, costing the government billions of dollars,” the AP reporters wrote. Both Arce and Morales “deny there are problems,” said Gonzalo Chávez, a Bolivian economic analyst. “They blame external contexts and conflicts.” Geanina Garcia, a 31-year-old architect, said “we need change. People don’t live off politics, they live day to day, off of what they produce and what they earn.” 

Heather Cox Richardson, “Letter from An American,” Nov. 27, 2024 [On the impact of Trump tariffs, mass deportation plan]

President-elect Donald Trump is vowing severe measures against Mexico to stop the flow of undocumented migrants and the lethal opioid fentanyl into the U.S., even amid mounting evidence those measures are misplaced or harmful to key domestic industries, writes historian Heather Cox Richardson in her daily newsletter. Trump said on his social media site that he’ll place a 25 percent tariff on imports from Mexico “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” Richardson writes that “in fact, since 2023 there has been a drop of 14.5% in deaths from drug overdose, the first such decrease since the epidemic began, and border patrol apprehensions of people crossing the southern border illegally have fallen to the lowest number since August 2020, in the midst of the pandemic.” Moreover, a study by the libertarian Cato Institute found that from 2019 to 2024 more than 80 percent of the people caught with fentanyl at ports of entry, where most fentanyl is seized, were U.S. citizens. Mexico sends about $19 billion worth of fruits and vegetables to the U.S., she notes, citing Washington Post economics reporter Catherine Rampell. About half of the fresh fruit imported by the U.S. comes from Mexico, including two-thirds of fresh tomatoes in the U.S. and 90 percent of avocadoes. It would be hard to shift that agricultural production to the U.S. because about half of the 2 million agricultural workers in the U.S. are undocumented and Trump says he’ll deport them all. “Rampell points out as well that Project 2025 calls for getting rid of the visa system that gives legal status to agricultural workers.” American farm industry groups have asked Trump to exempt from his mass deportations the agricultural sector, which added about $1.5 trillion to U.S. gross domestic product in 2023. Construction industry officials are pleading with Trump to leave their workers alone, Richardson adds. She quotes a Houston-based construction company CEO as saying deporting the workers “would devastate our industry, we wouldn’t finish our highways, we wouldn’t finish our schools. Housing would disappear. I think they’d lose half their labor.” An estimasted 60 percent of the more than half a million construction workers in Texas were undocumented. Trump defenders say he doesn’t really mean what he says and is using the threats to gain negotiating strength.

“Colombia-led Operation Seizes World Record 225 Tonnes of Cocaine, and Uncovers New Australia Trafficking Route,” The Guardian, Nov. 27, 2024

Colombia along with dozens of other countries has seized 225 tonnes of cocaine over the period of six weeks. That’s “a global record for any single anti-narcotics operation,” says Guardian reporter Luke Taylor. It “marks a significant dent in the operations of Latin America’s cartels given that the UN estimates 2,700 tonnes are produced globally each year.” The seizure “will prevent thousands of deaths from overdoses and $8.5 billion from reaching the cartels which definitely makes a hole in the profits of these criminal organisations.” said a Colombian naval official. A total of 62 countries including Colombia joined  in the effort, called Operation Orion. The countries shared airplanes, frigates and helicopters to intercept the drugs, as well as jointly gathering intelligence. They stopped six vessels dubbed narco-submarines that were loaded with cocaine. The ”majority of the 10-25-meter vessels sit low in the water so they are barely visible as they skim the ocean with up to 10 tonnes of cocaine onboard,” wrote Taylor. Drug smugglers have begun using the vessels instead of cargo ships to bypass anti-narcotics officials in ports. One of the vessels was found 3,000 miles off the Colombian coast headed toward Australia. Demand for cocaine is soaring in Australia, where sky-high prices incentivize smugglers to innovate to carry more of their narcotics across the world. 

“Bombshell Police Report Details Alleged Bolsonaro Plot to Stage Rightwing Coup,” The Guardian, Nov. 27, 2024

Former  Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is a step closer to jail following the release of an 884-page police report accusing him of conspiring to stage a military coup. It said several military leaders agreed to go along with the plan, including the commander of the navy and the army’s ground operations commander. The report said Bolsonaro ultimately backed away after the heads of the army and the air force refused to support it.  Allegedly, the plan called for the arrest or assassination of top leaders including President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, followed by the seizure of TV and radio stations to announce the military takeover, wrote Guardian reporter Tom Phillips. The idea was to prevent Lula from taking office after his election in late 2022. Political commentator Octavio Guedes said he believed pressure from the Biden administration was an important part of why the alleged plot failed, along with the refusal of some military commanders to go along. “Brazil also owes its democracy to Biden,” Guedes said. “History would have been very different if it had been Trump [in power]."  The 69-year-old Bolsonaro could face decades in jail if he is convicted. It’s up to Brazil’s federal prosecutor to decide whether to try him. “The chances of him being arrested have never been higher,” said Celso Rocha de Barros, a political columnist. But he also said an arrest is not inevitable and wouldn’t rule out a Bolsonaro political comeback.

“Mexico Warns Trump Tariffs Would Kill 400,000 U.S. Jobs, Threatens Retaliation,” Nov. 27, 2024 

If U.S. President-elect Donald Trump follows through on a planned 25 percent tariff on goods imported from Mexico, the United States will lose 400,000 jobs, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Nov. 27.  "If there are U.S. tariffs, Mexico would also raise tariffs," Sheinbaum said at a morning press conference. Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard told reporters the tariffs are  “a shot in the foot.” Not only will there be massive job loss, but economic growth will be slower and U.S. companies will pay twice the taxes they pay now. Automakers Ford, General Motors and Stellantis will be hit particularly hard, he said. According to Barclay analysts, the tariffs could effectively wipe out all profits of the three manufacturers.

“Mexico Gets Cold Feet Over New Chinese EV Plant After Trump Win,” Wall Street Journal, Nov. 26, 2024

The Chinese company BYD, which rivals Tesla as the biggest maker of electric vehicles in the world, is finalizing plans for a factory in central or northern Mexico. Although Mexico generally welcomes foreign investment because it means more jobs, it may shy away from what normally would be a prize catch now that Donald Trump is returning to the White House and is threatening to slap a 25 percent tariff on Mexican exports to the U.S. Mexican officials “fear a BYD plant would send the wrong message to Trump and the trade hawks around him by suggesting that Mexico wants to be a backdoor for Chinese companies to sell to Americans,” wrote Wall Street Journal reporters Santiago Pérez and Raffaele Huang.  Mexico says it doesn’t aim to be a conduit for Chinese goods, they add, but it has to persuade the U.S. and Canada of that in talks next year on extending the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement. BYD dreams of selling its vehicles in the U.S. market, following a path trod by Toyota and Hyundai. BYD is North America’s largest maker of electric buses, but that market is less politically sensitive than cars sold to consumers. BYD’s thinking is to build a plant in Mexico to sell to Mexican and other Latin American car buyers. It would then “await a shift in the political winds that would allow exports to the U.S.,” the reporters said. BYD is now China’s top electric vehicle maker and is expanding around the world. It is building its first Latin American plant at an abandoned Ford site in Brazil. 

“Uruguay’s Leftist Opposition Candidate Yamandú Orsi Becomes Country’s New President,” Associated Press, Nov. 26, 2024

Part of a worldwide election trend toward rebuking the incumbent party, leftist opposition candidate Yamandú Orsi won a tight runoff election Nov. 25 that ousted Alvaro Delgado, presidential candidate for Uruguay’s center-right ruling coalition. The 57-year-old Orsi is a working-class former history teacher and a two-time mayor. “A political heir to former President José “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-Marxist guerilla who became a global icon for transforming Uruguay into one of the most liberal and environmentally sustainable nations in the region, Orsi rode to power on promises of safe change and nostalgia for his left-wing party’s redistributive policies,” AP said. Orsi was conciliatory toward the opposition, saying it has different feelings. “These people will also have to help build a better country. We need them too,” he said. AP said the rivals were in “broad consensus” over key issues. This was “emblematic of Uruguay’s strong and stable democracy, free of the anti-establishment fury that has vaulted populist outsiders to power elsewhere, like the United States and neighboring Argentina.” The win was seen as another example of economic malaise following the Covid-19 pandemic in which voters unhappy with the status quo punished ruling parties. But Orsi plans no dramatic changes and largely agrees with his opponent on a need for reducing the childhood poverty rate, a staggering 25 percent. Another area of agreement is combating an upsurge in organized crime, something that has “shaken the nation long considered among Latin America’s safest,” AP said. 

“What Trump’s New Tariff Threats Mean for the U.S. Economy,” Wall Street Journal, November 26, 2024

 

Donald Trump’s plan to slap tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China “could lead to higher prices, just as the country appears to be turning the corner on inflation,” say Wall Street Journal reporters. “Many Americans said they voted for Trump precisely because of brutal price increases they blamed on the Biden administration,” they observe. The Budget Lab at Yale University estimates that higher prices from the  tariffs could mean the loss of one thousand dollars of purchasing power per U.S. household, in  2023 dollars. Tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada could add an average of $3,000 to the price of a car, Wolfe Research estimates. They also could increase the cost of auto parts. U.S. importers will pay 25 percent more for fresh fruits and vegetables from Mexico, including avocadoes, tomatoes, raspberries, strawberries and peppers; and 25 percent more for Mexican beer, tequila and mescal imports. Higher inflation also could lead the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates less in the year ahead. “That would keep rates on credit card balances and other loans higher than they otherwise could have been,” the Journal says. 

"Why Mexico Will Find It Tough to Heed Trump’s Calls to Tame the Cartels,” Wall Street Journal, Nov. 26, 2024

 

Mexican officials worry that relations with the U.S. will suffer because of planned efforts by Donald Trump to go after the  Mexican cartels. To stop the flow of fentanyl and undocumented migrants coming into the  U.S., Trump plans a 25 percent tariff on Mexican goods. Though Mexico has reduced the number of migrants entering the U.S. in the past year, “ending drug smuggling might be an impossible ask, in part because of strong demand in the U.S.,” wrote Journal reporters José de Córdoba and Vera Bergengruen. Trump and other Republicans also have threatened U.S. military action in Mexico against the cartels to stop fentanyl. But fentanyl is cheaply produced and easily smuggled. Mexico has tried violent action against the cartels in the past without success, failing to dent  drug commerce but increasing violent deaths. And if the U.S. acts on its own militarily, that would “plunge relations between the two countries into an unprecedented crisis, imperiling the deep economic and security partnership the once mutually suspicious neighbors have built over the past three decades,” the Journal reporters say. “If we think things are bad in terms of drugs and immigration, now intervene in Mexico and watch what happens,” said a former Trump administration official. “You can launch a hundred,  a thousand drone strikes. And our demand is going to ensure the continued flow of drugs into the country.” Mexican officials hope that recently appointed security minister Omar Garcia Harfuch might be able to lessen the threat of unilateral U.S. action. He has a long history of working with U.S. security agencies and was able to cut Mexico City homicides in half by emphasizing investigation and intelligence collection. 

“Trump Vows Tariffs on Mexico and Canada and Deeper Tariffs on China,” The Guardian, Nov. 26, 2024

 

Donald Trump says he’ll sign an executive order placing a 25 percent tariff on all products arriving in the U.S. from Mexico and Canada when he becomes president. And he’ll impose added tariffs on China. The reason: to restrict the flow of fentanyl and migrants entering the U.S. illegally. Products from China face an added 10 percent tariff because the country hasn’t done enough to stop the flow of precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl. A Chinese Embassy spokesman said it is “completely counter to facts and reality” to say his country knowingly lets precursor chemicals enter the United States. He said China took steps to counter drug trafficking under a deal reached last year with President Joe Biden. The Chinese government warned that “no one will win a trade war.” Countries targeted by tariffs typically retaliate with tariffs on U.S. goods. Mexico and Canada depend heavily on the U.S. market, limiting their ability to walk away from the threat. An estimated 83 percent of Mexican exports last year went to the U.S. and 75 percent of Canadian exports. But the cost of Trump’s tariffs will be paid by U.S. consumers, economists predict. Cars, foods, electronics and groceries all will cost more, said Tahra Jirari of the U.S. trade group Chamber of Progress. “A  tariff is basically a sales tax, raising the price of almost everything you buy,” said former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich. “It’s also regressive – taking a higher percentage out of the paychecks of working people than out of the wealthy.” 

“Immigrants Seeking Safeguards As Threat of Deportation Nears,” New York Times, Nov. 25, 2024

 

Donald Trump says when he returns to the White House he will declare a national emergency and use the military to stage a mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. His top immigration aide Stephen Miller has said “vast holding facilities” will serve as staging centers. The Texas state land commissioner has offered the federal government more than one thousand acres to build detention centers. With that as backdrop, immigrants are rushing to find ways to avoid deportation, says Times reporter Miriam Jordan. “People that should be scared are coming in, and people that should be fine with a green card are rushing in,” said immigration lawyer Inna Simakovsky of the demand for consultations. People with green cards – which allow non-citizens to work and live in the U.S. permanently – want to become citizens as soon as possible. People whose legal status is shaky or who are in the U.S. illegally “are scrambling to file for asylum,” writes Jordan, “because even if the claim is thin, having a pending case would – under current protocols – protect them from deportation.” And people in relationships with U.S. citizens are jumping into marriages, which makes them eligible for a green card. Thomas Homan, named by Trump to be border czar, has said he’ll first go after criminals and people with outstanding deportation orders. But workplace raids also will be used to round up undocumented immigrants, including many who have lived in the U.S. for decades. 

“Venezuela Opens Investigation Against Opposition Leader for Alleged Treason,” CNN, Nov. 22, 2024

Venezuela said it is investigating opposition leader Maria Corina Machado for treason after she expressed support for a bill passed Nov. 18 by the U.S. House of Representatives. The bipartisan measure blocks the U.S. government from doing business with any entity that has commercial ties to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. A Venezuelan official said Machado’s support is a “terrible criminal act against the Venezuelan people.”  Machado also is being investigated for conspiring with foreign countries to commit a crime. The House bill was introduced by Florida representatives Mike Waltz (R) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D). Waltz, who has been asked to serve as Trump’s national security adviser, said Machado “remains a beacon of hope for Venezuelans who rejected Maduro and his socialist authoritarianism.”

“Brazil’s Former President Jair Bolsonaro Charged With Plotting Coup D’État,” The Guardian, Nov. 21, 2024

 

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is among 37 people formally accused Nov. 21 by the Brazilian police of conspiring to end Brazilian democracy through a right-wing coup (see story below). The federal police called it a coordinated attempt to “violently dismantle the constitutional state,” said Guardian reporter Tom Phillips. The police forwarded their report making the accusations to Brazil’s supreme court. It’s now up to the Brazilian public prosecutor’s office to decide which of the 37 will be put on trial. Others accused included Bolsonaro’s former defense ministers, generals,  a former navy commander, and the president of Bolsonaro’s political party. Prominent pro-Bolsonaro politicians criticized the report. Rogério Marino, leader of the opposition in the senate to current president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva,  the target of the alleged coup, said the report was part of the “incessant persecution” of the Brazilian right. Another pro-Bolsonaro lawmaker, Sóstenes Cavalcante, tweeted “the more they persecute Bolsonaro, the stronger he gets.”  The far-right threat to Lula remains after his nearly two years in office, wrote Phillips. “Late Wednesday night, a member of Bolsonaro’s political party was killed after apparently blowing himself up with homemade explosives while attacking the supreme court.” Previously, police arrested five officers and accused them of plotting to kill Lula (see Nov. 19 story below), including by an attempt to poison him. Last week Lula expressed gratitude that the poisoning attempt failed. “I’m alive,” he said. 

“Brazil Police to Formally Accuse Bolsonaro of 2022 Coup Plot, Sources Say,” Reuters, Nov. 21, 2024

Brazil’s Federal Police were expected Nov. 21 to formally accuse former President Jair Bolsonaro of playing a key role in a conspiracy to violently overthrow the government of newly elected President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in 2022. Bolsonaro’s supporters rioted in Brasilia in January 2023, a week after Lula took power. “Many protestors said they wanted to create chaos to justify a military coup,” the Reuters report said. Police say some of the conspirators planned to assassinate Lula before his inauguration, and that investigators found evidence Bolsonaro was aware of the plot. Bolsonaro denied wrongdoing, calling the police report leveling the accusation political persecution. After police present their report to the Brazilian Supreme Court, the office of the prosecutor general will decide whether to press charges against the former president. The accusations would be a new blow to Bolsonaro’s plans to run for the presidency in 2026. Brazilian police arrested five officers Nov. 19 accused of planning the coup (see story below). 

“Milei Supporters Launch ‘Armed Wing’ to Protect President,” The Telegraph, Nov. 19, 2024

Supporters of Argentine President Javier Milei have launched a group called Forces of Heaven they say will act as a “praetorian guard” to defend him and his ultra-libertarian agenda. Daniel Parisini, who supports Milei and has a large social media following, “launched the group over the weekend at a raucous event  in a Buenos Aires hall draped with medieval style banners bearing a crest with a cross and the words ‘property’, ‘liberty’, ‘god,’ ‘family’ and ‘homeland,” said Telegraph reporter Simeon Tegel. No weapons were on display and it’s uncertain whether the group actually intends to use or threaten violence against political opponents. Parisini told the group mainly consisting of young men to defend Milei’s economic changes and his culture war against leftists, feminists and the political establishment, Tegel reported. “We are his most loyal soldiers,” said Parisini. Guillermo Francos, a member of Milei’s cabinet, denied the group had violent intent, describing it as a group of intellectuals, economists and professionals providing research on various political issues. Milei has cut government spending by nearly a third in his 11 months in office. He continues “to push his anti-woke agenda internationally,” the Telegraph said, noting that Argentina was the only one of 184 countries in the U.N. General Assembly last week to vote against a resolution on violence against women and girls. 

“Brazilian Police Arrest 5 Officers in Alleged 2022 Coup Plot to Kill President Lulu, Others,” Associated Press, Nov. 19, 2024

 

Brazilian police arrested five officers Nov. 19 accused of planning a coup to overthrow the government following the 2022 elections and  assassinate then-President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. They also planned to kill his running mate Geraldo Ackmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes,  authorities said. Those arrested included four special operations military personnel, one of them a retired brigadier general, and a federal police officer. Lula narrowly defeated the far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the elections. Bolsonaro’s supporters then staged nationwide protests and camped outside of military installations. That culminated in a Jan. 8, 2023 uprising in which thousands of protestors stormed government buildings in Brasilia in an unsuccessful bid to oust Lula from power a week after his inauguration. Bolsonaro has long railed against de Moraes, who presided over Brazil’s electoral court when it ruled that Bolsonaro is not eligible for until 2030 on grounds that “he had abused his power and cast unfounded doubts on the validity of the 2022 election result,” wrote AP reporter Gabriela Sá Pessoa. Bolsonaro supporters “consider de Moraes their chief enemy,” she added. De Moraes authorized the arrests of the five officers. 

 

“Milei Looks for Trump’s Help to ‘Make Argentina Great Again,’” Wall Street Journal, Nov. 18, 2024

Argentina’s controversial right-wing president Javier Milei hopes his status as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s “favorite president” will pay off with a new loan from the International Monetary Fund, of which the U.S. is the largest shareholder. Milei thinks the loan would “help him complete the fiscal transformation he has launched that includes, as he says, taking a chain saw to rampant state spending and squelching runaway inflation,” says Journal reporter Ryan Dubé. The loan request “comes at a critical moment as Milei’s austerity program hits Argentines hard, with poverty and unemployment on the rise,” adds Dubé. The loan could help the government lift currency controls that discourage business and foreign investment. However, Argentina still owes the IMF about $40 billion from a 2018 bailout, the largest in the IMF’s history.  Under Milei Argentina’s inflation rate has fallen from 25 percent a month in December 2023 to 2.7  percent in October. Argentina has reported its first quarterly fiscal surplus in more than 15 years. Milei’s contempt for left-wing politics and his cuts in government spending to counter runaway inflation have endeared him to Trump and Trump’s government efficiency adviser Elon Musk. But that may not be enough to attract investments by U.S. companies wary of Argentina’s decades of economic turmoil. A “friendship between the Argentine and U.S. presidents is not nearly enough to move the needle on investment decisions,” says Benjamin Gedan of the Wilson Center. Nearly 60 percent of Argentines were living in poverty in May of 2024, up from 44 percent when Milei took power a year ago. Milei says his drastic cuts in spending are needed to restore prosperity to a nation ravaged by the world’s highest rate of inflation. 

“Haitian Immigrants Flee Springfield, Ohio, in Droves After Trump Election Win,” The Guardian, Nov. 17, 2024

 

Members of the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, are leaving in some cases for fear they will be rounded up and deported once Donald Trump returns to the White House in January. Trump has repeatedly said he will end Temporary Protected Status (TPS),   in which many Haitians in Springfield are living there legally, and deport them once he is in office. The manager of a local business that files tax returns for Haitians says several of his customers have left; one went with his family to New Jersey, others to Boston. “I know three families that have gone to Canada,” he said. Springfield has been the target of bomb threats and neo-Nazi marches since Trump falsely accused immigrants in Springfield of eating the pets of other residents. Trump did so despite benefits Haitians brought to the community. Springfield has “experienced a revival in recent years in large part because of Haitians who took jobs in local produce packaging and machining factories that many previously there found undesirable,” wrote Guardian reporter Stephen Starr. TPS includes more than 800,000 immigrants from 16 countries who fled because of conflict or humanitarian emergencies. Some 300,000 Haitians who fled Haiti because of violence there are authorized to remain in the U.S. through February 3, 2026. If forced to return they will go back to a country in chaos because of widespread gang violence. Some analysts say Trump won’t be able to end TPS during the early days of his presidency. Even if TPS is ended current law allows for a court hearing for the individuals affected that could take months or years to occur. Also, immigrants who have filed asylum applications have a right to have them considered. 

“Violence in Haiti Grows Terrifyingly Worse as Gangs Go Berserk,” New York Times, Nov. 15, 2024

 

Gangs in Haiti went berserk in the days following the firing in early November of Prime Minister Garry Conille by the country’s transitional ruling council. They forced the international airport in the capital of Port-au-Prince to close by shooting at U.S. aircraft. A urologist was shot and killed getting into her car in Port-au-Prince and her father, a dentist, was wounded. Doctors Without Borders said its employees were pulled over by the police and then tear-gassed by a vigilante mob. “Wounded patients they were ferrying in an ambulance – suspected gang members – were killed,” wrote Times reporter Frances Robles. “Nearly six months after hundreds of Kenyan police officers arrived in Haiti on a U.S.-sponsored mission to restore order, the crisis has suddenly worsened,” he added. The situation is worse than before the Kenyans came, said a French nun. “More areas have been taken by gangs, more people had to leave and flee their homes and are homeless,” she said. Over the past two days alone, more than 4,500 people have been forced out of their homes. The president of the transitional ruling council, Leslie Voltaire, told the Times that the gangs sensed a power vacuum after Conille’s firing. “They thought there was a void, so they tried to fill the void.” He predicted they would become less aggressive once there was a new prime minister.  (The council has since named a replacement, replacement Alix Didier Fils-Aimé.) He said he plans to work with the Federal Aviation Administration to get the airport reopened and that the government plans a massive retaliation against the gangs. Because of the violence the U.S. Embassy is closed and the American ambassador hasn’t been able to return to Haiti. The  U.S. is the largest funder of the international force brought in to restore order, of which the Kenyan police make up the largest part. But the force is underfunded and understaffed. Its failure to score big victories right off the bat like re-taking gang-controlled neighborhoods gave the gangs confidence to reassert themselves. The violence is seen as a bid by the gangs to strengthen their hand negotiating for power. But even with 600 more police officers on the way to Haiti, worries are growing. People cannot leave Port-au-Prince by land or by air, making it an open-air prison, said the head of a local peace-building group. With no flights scheduled for the foreseeable future and pockets of famine developing amid rampant homelessness, nonprofit groups are worried that the crisis could  “explode into a food and health emergency,” said Robles. The head of the Doctors Without Borders mission in Haiti said “everyone is scared. If all the foreign countries like mine or yours decided to give the proper support, stability can work. This will depend on international policy.” 

“Trump’s Immigration Plans May Rock the Economy,” New York Times, Nov. 15, 2024

 

The wave of migrants who entered the United States during the Biden administration might seem like a disaster to many, but it also offset a labor shortage and put a damper on inflation, writes Times reporter Lydia DePillis. So if Donald Trump as promised carries out the largest deportation of undocumented immigrants in U.S. history, look for prices to rise.  Expect too the emergence of big worker shortages in construction, restaurants, and the nation’s fastest-growing occupation, home health care aides to take care of ailing Baby Boomers. Trump’s newly designated border czar Tom Homan said his first focus will be on immigrants who have committed crimes. But there are nowhere nearly enough of them to amount to a mass deportation. But Vice President-elect JD Vance says all 11 million undocumented immigrants should  “pack your bags, because you’re going home” in six months. Add to that total another 2.7 million if the new administration revokes temporary humanitarian protections, as Trump adviser Stephen Miller said last year that it would. The American Immigration Council estimates that if all 13.3 million people who are undocumented or have revocable temporary status revoked are arrested, detained and deported, it would cost $315 billion. If Trump pulls off anything like that, the “gargantuan shock will cost trillions of dollars in economic growth, eliminating hundreds of thousands of jobs held by U.S. natives,” says George Mason University economics professor Michael Clemens. “It will quickly raise inflation, by reducing the capacity of U.S. firms to supply goods and services faster than it reduces demand.” A slowdown in immigration when Trump was last president, along with a “full hiatus” in immigration created by the pandemic, created a shortfall of workers, which was partly why prices jumped in 2021 and 2022, say officials and analysts. In 2023, “a bounceback in legal immigration as well as a surge in border arrivals – largely driven by economic crises and wars abroad – eased the labor market pressure that had boiled over into inflation, allowing price growth to recede without widespread layoffs,” wrote DePillis. Also, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated “that this period of elevated immigration reduced projected deficits, since the new arrivals pay taxes and are eligible for fewer public benefits.” Vance says deporting immigrants could lead employers to pay higher wages to attract Americans and some data suggests wages for low skill workers would rise. But such wage increases during the pandemic could have been caused by other factors such as Americans not wanting to do physical, in-person work. And some data suggest that increases could be short-lived. Mass deportation also could shrink the supply of child care, allowing fewer women to hold jobs. The economy could be slowed by higher prices. The Peterson Institute has estimated that deporting 8.3 million immigrants would hike prices overall by 9.1 percent by 2028. Deporting 1.3 million would still raise prices by 1.5 percent. The Brookings Institution estimated that deporting 3.4 million people plus new restrictions on legal immigration would cut economic growth by 0.4 percentage points in 2025 alone.  In construction, one in four workers is foreign-born, so the impact could force housing costs even higher. In California, nearly half of in-home care workers are immigrants, many with temporary protected status. A Florida restaurateur says about 16 percent of his 342 workers are not citizens. The election itself may cause unauthorized immigrants to withdraw from the work force and reduce their spending. That’s already happening in Arizona, where voters passed a ballot initiative that lets police arrest and report people who entered the country illegally. 

“Spanish Newspaper La Vanguardia Quits ‘Disinformation Network’ X, Aljazeera, Nov. 14, 2024

The social media platform “X” has become an echo chamber for misinformation and  right-wing conspiracy theories, said the Barcelona-based newspaper La Vanguardia. As a result, it will no longer post its content there. “Hatred of ethnic minorities, misogyny and racism” were among the viral posts “that violate human rights” the newspaper said, according to an Aljazeera wire service report. Since acquiring the platform, then known as Twitter, Elon Musk has eliminated content moderation staff and “restored known conspiracy theorists to the platform,” Aljazeera said. Vanguardia said “the growing presence of bots on X is multiplied to the point of ridicule.” It said a large number of fake accounts have joined the public conversations on the recent floods in Spain that killed more than 200 people. The British news outlet The Guardian said Nov. 13 it will no longer post its content on X, saying the results of the U.S. presidential election underline that X is a toxic media platform and that Musk has been able to use it to shape public discourse. 

“Mexico Reinstates Food Price Controls,” Yahoo Finance, Nov. 13, 2024

 

Mexico’s government has agreed to bring back controls on the price of a basic package of foods for six months. President Claudia Sheinbaum said the government has renewed the so-called Package Against Inflation and High Cost of Loving implemented in 2022. The new agreement fixes the cost of 24 products at a maximum price of 910 pesos, or $44.20. The previous agreement was set at a price of 1,039 pesos. Among the 24 items in the new agreement are whole milk, cornflour, packaged bread, whole chicken, rice, vegetable oil and canned sardines. A total of 19 food and 11 marketing companies have agreed to the deal, including Walmart, Soriana, La Comer and SuperKompras. A Finance Ministry statement said “the private sector is ready to contribute to stabilizing the prices of basic products, which will influence more balanced expectations between producers and consumers.” Inflation in October year on year was 4.76 percent. 

[Posting the next story summary out of chronological order  to call attention to it.]

 

“Mexico Announces Food and Agriculture Plan That Could Take the Country Back to the 1980s,” Associated Press, Oct. 22, 2024

As part of a new emphasis on self-sufficiency, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum aims to return the country to a 1980s style diet that emphasized tortillas, beans, instant coffee and cheap hot chocolate. “Four decades ago, the ingredients for those meals were often bought at government stores that stocked a few basic goods,” AP noted. Now Sheinbaum is pledging “to revive those often shabby, limited government stores and continue efforts to achieve ‘food sovereignty.’” The government’s aim is to increase  bean production by 30 percent in six years while supporting instant coffee and powdered cocoa production. “It’s about producing what we eat,” said Sheinbaum. But Mexicans have been moving away from the foods she’s emphasizing, consuming more fresh ground coffee and eating more bread and fewer tortillas. 

“Airlines Halt Flights to Haiti After Plane Hit by Gunfire,” The Guardian, Nov. 12, 2024

 

Haiti’s international airport shut down Nov. 11 after gangs opened fire on a Spirit Airlines flight headed from Fort Lauderdale to Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. The jet was hundreds of feet from landing when it was struck by bullets, causing minor injuries to a flight attendant. The U.S. Embassy said it was aware of “gang-led efforts to block travel to and from Port-au-Prince which may include armed violence, and disruptions to roads, ports, and airports.” Firefights between gangs and police broke out in other parts of the city. In October, gangs shot at a United Nations helicopter, forcing it to return to the airport. No one was injured. Haiti’s ruling council fired the country’s prime minister in early November  (see next story).

“After 5 Months, Prime Minister is Fired in Haiti,” New York Times, Nov. 11, 2024

 

Haiti’s ruling council has fired Garry Conille as prime minister. It has named as his replacement Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, owner of a chain of dry cleaners and a former candidate for the Haiti Senate. Conille, a former United Nations official, was a favorite of the international community, which is a source of financial support to Haiti and has considerable influence in Haitian affairs. “In a country known for party factions and political infighting, Mr. Conille rankled the council by doing things like traveling to Washington without letting the council know in advance,” said Times reporter Frances Robles. Some analysts question whether the council has legal authority to remove Conille. Other complaints by the council included his refusal to reshuffle his cabinet and his efforts to remove three council members accused of corruption. One council member complained Conille meddled in issues the judiciary must resolve. “The dismissal is another setback for the country because power vacuums and a lack of political stability are often cited as among the key reasons that Haiti has been unable to beat back gangs that have taken control of many neighborhoods,” wrote Robles. Some 700,000 people have fled their homes in Haiti and the U.N. says some regions are reaching famine-like conditions. 

“How Mexican Cartels Manage the Flow of Migrants on Their Way to the U.S. Border,” Associated Press, Oct. 30, 2024

[Posting this out of chronological order  to call attention to it.]

Cartels have a big say in how many migrants traveling north through Mexico from Central and South America  actually reach the U.S. border. The number of migrants crossing into the U.S. reached a four-year low in the days before the November presidential election, a slowdown U.S. officials credit to Mexican authorities. But at a key crossing point for migrants entering Mexico from Guatemala, “organized crime maintains stricter control of who moves here than the handful of [Mexican] federal agents and National Guardsmen standing by the river,” writes Associated Press reporter María Verza. In Ciudad Hidalgo, migrants crossing from Guatemala into Mexico are herded into a large structure dubbed “the chicken coop” and don’t get to leave until they pay the cartel that runs it. A local priest says it’s the cartel that says who passes and who doesn’t. “The numbers of migrants that they take every day are big and they do it in front of the authorities.” If migrants pay their photo is taken and their skin is stamped. Gunmen stop taxis and vans to check for the stamps and send back those that don’t have them. Those who cannot pay are often sexually assaulted, says a local activist. Cartels increasingly interfere with efforts by humanitarian groups to help the migrants. In October, “gunmen killed an outspoken Catholic priest in Chiapas,” said the AP’s Verza. Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, “has said the government is dealing with the violence, but refuses to confront the cartels,” she adds. Mexico cycles migrants nearing the U.S. border back to the south, exposing them to more kidnappings and extortion. 

“Trump Has Made His View of Migrants Clear. Will It Stop Them From Coming?”, The New York Times, Nov. 9, 2024

Many potential migrants are rethinking their plans to head to the U.S. now that Donald Trump has been elected to another term as president. Daniel Garcia, a Venezuelan delivery worker living in Bogota, Colombia, had planned to begin the difficult journey to the U.S. this month. Garcia now doubts that he can make it to the U.S. border before Trump is inaugurated in January. At an estimated cost of $2,500 -- a year’s worth of savings -- he has decided he would rather not risk it. In Mexico, some immigration officials and aid groups are getting ready for a possible rush of migrants to the U.S. border before Trump becomes president.  “The vast majority of those in Mexico are going to try to get to the border,” an official with People Without Borders said. Smugglers intent on drumming up business are telling people there’s still time.  Three migrant caravans are heading north from southern Mexico. But Mexican officials are making the journey harder by sending people back south when they get near the U.S. border. Times reporters say it’s too early to tell whether a migratory surge will materialize. Some people who had considered migrating recently decided against it not based on Trump’s election but a greater understanding of the risks involved. Berky Silva, who lives in a working class neighborhood in Caracas, said two of her relatives left for the U.S. but were kidnapped en route and needed $4,000 for their release. Hostility toward migrants and the status of being illegal if she migrates to the U.S. is not something she wants to experience, she  said. In some cases in Colombia, Venezuelans are celebrating Trump’s victory and plan to stay put because they think he will oust Nicolas Maduro as president of Venezuela, opening the way to their return. But analysts say this is unlikely to happen.

“’A New Start’: Venezuelan Leader Extends Olive Branch to Donald Trump,” The Guardian, Nov. 7, 2024

 

There’s speculation that Donald Trump’s second presidency might see an unlikely thawing of relations with Venezuela’s strongman leader Nicolás Maduro. In a live TV broadcast designed to extend an olive branch to Trump, Maduro said “Trump wasn’t good to us [but] this is a new start.” Maduro, among other things, previously called Trump a mentally ill crook who runs foreign affairs like “a New York Mafia extortionist.” Maduro is now calling for a new era of “win-win relations” in which his slogan is to make Venezuela, Latin America and the Caribbean great again. Christopher Sabatini, a Latin American expert, said a different relationship with the leader of oil-rich Venezuela might be possible because Trump fawns over strongmen and wants to cut gas prices in the U.S. Also, to be able to deport millions of Venezuelans back to Venezuela, Trump will need Maduro’s cooperation. For Maduro, a different relationship with Trump would be a way to lessen his  status as an international pariah after staying in power following an election which many observers say he lost by a landslide. But expatriate Venezuelans in Florida, who have strongly supported Trump, would be furious with him if he warmed up to Maduro. Trump has shown an openness in the past to meeting with Maduro. But Moisés Naím, a Venezuelan writer, told The Guardian’s Tom Phillips that the possibility that a fierce Maduro critic, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, might become the U.S. Secretary of State also suggests a détente is unlikely. Geoff Ramsey of the Atlantic Council said  “I just don’t think Maduro is going to be able to spark the romance he so desperately craves – but he’s certainly trying.” 

“Severe Drought Puts Nearly Half a Million Children at Risk in Amazon – Report,” The Guardian, Nov. 7, 2024

 

Nearly half a million children are facing shortages of water and food or limited access to school because of two years of severe drought in the Amazon rainforest, according to a United Nations report. “Scant heat and rainfall and extreme heat driven by the climate crisis have caused rivers in what is usually the wettest region on Earth to retreat so much that they can no longer be traversed by boats, cutting off communities,” wrote Guardian reporter Luke Taylor. More than 1,700 schools and 760 health centres have become inaccessible, added Taylor, based on the findings of the report. “Children are contracting dengue fever, malaria and other serious dieseases and there is no way they can reach a health centre for treatment,” said Antonio Marro, a U.N. official. In October some of the Amazon River’s largest tributaries reached their lowest levels since recordkeeping began in 1902. With schools closed, more children are vulnerable to being recruited into armed groups. Fish are dying en masse. The Amazon has been a bulwark against the climate crisis. It regulates regional weather patterns and sucks in carbon. But it too is being transformed by warmer temperatures and deforestation. 

“What’s at Stake for Mexico in a Second Trump Presidency?” New York Times, Nov. 6, 2024 

Mexico is facing rising unemployment, a big drop in income from work north of the border, and a big influx of deportees from the United States.  It’s also in the firing line for big new tariffs and strikes by the U.S. military inside Mexico against its cartels. These are some of the consequences the country faces after Donald Trump returns to the White House in January, write Times reporters Simon Romero and Emiliano Rodriguez Mega. Although thanks to Mexican actions the number of migrants entering the U.S. has dropped sharply in recent months, Trump has said he will hire 10,000 new agents to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border. He also plans the deportation of 11 million undocumented migrants, an estimated 4 million of whom are Mexican. If Mexican migrants in the U.S. are deported, much of the $63 billion they sent back to Mexico in 2023 would plummet, depleting Mexico of one of its most important sources of income. Mexico also could face pressure to accept deported Venezuelans, Nicaraguans or Cubans, who sometimes can’t be sent back to their own countries for diplomatic reasons. Taken together, Mexico’s economy could be forced into a sharp recession, analysts say. Trump also has threated to put 25 percent tariffs on all goods coming into the U.S. from Mexico if it doesn’t stop the flow of migrants and drugs into the U.S. Mexico is the largest source of imports into the U.S. The country is heavily dependent on trade with the U.S. with about 80 percent of its exports going to the U.S. market. Trump also has threatened 100 percent or even 200 percent tariffs on vehicles imported from Mexico. Such tariffs also would cause an “inflationary shock” for U.S. consumers, the Times reporters write. Trump also has talked about shooting missiles into Mexico to take out drug labs, without Mexico’s permission. That would shut down all cooperation between Mexico and the U.S., not only on commercial ties but on efforts to control the flow of migrants and fentanyl into the U.S., one expert says. However, Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, will try to replicate the good rapport her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, had with Trump. She predicted good relations with the U.S., noting that her country has sharply reduced the flow of migrants into the U.S., a fact that isn’t well-known. The quid pro quo under AMLO was  that the U.S. does not interfere in Mexico’s domestic affairs.