Five opposition activists in Venezuela, two who work as journalists, have been detained in recent days by the government, accused of “promoting hate” in the context of the presidential campaign, reports El País. Opposition leader María Corina Machado said the Maduro administration’s latest crackdown on opponents shows government nervousness ahead of the July 28 vote.
Machado said a total of 37 opposition activists have been detained so far this year, of which 20 have been directly linked to Plataforma Unitaria candidate Edmundo González’s campaign team, reports EFE.
Six members of Venezuela’s opposition who are sheltered in Argentina’s Caracas embassy are waiting for safe passage to leave the country, reports EFE.
LAC cities dominate homicide ranking
Latin American and Caribbean cities continue to dominate in the Homicide Monitor’s worldwide murder rate ranking, “but notable shifts are underway in the region due to evolving organized crime dynamics and controversial public security interventions,” write Robert Muggah and Katherine Aguirre in Americas Quarterly.
“The city with the highest homicide rate in the world in 2023 was Durán, Ecuador. The explosion of organized violence in Durán and other Ecuadorian cities like Manta, Guayaquil, Machala and Portoviejo is a tragedy foretold. They have borne the brunt of the country’s rapidly escalating drug war between rival Ecuadorian gangs alongside Colombian, Mexican and Albanian criminal groups for control of the cocaine trade.” (Americas Quarterly)
Mexico
Mexican president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum “displayed a series of surveys commissioned by her political party that she said show a wide majority approve of controversial judicial changes,” reports the Associated Press.
The U.S. paused safety inspections for avocados and mangos from Mexico’s Michoacán state due to a security incident. Officially there were no further details about the incident, but Mexican news outlets recently reported that two U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors had been illegally detained at a checkpoint run by community members, reports the New York Times.
“A prolonged suspension to avocado inspections in particular could cause a significant hit to one of Mexico’s top farm exports to the U.S.,” reports Reuters
Migration
U.S. President Joe Biden announced measures to allow undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizens to apply for legal residency, today. Officials say it will be “one of the most expansive immigration programs of his presidency,” on the heels of shutting down the country’s border with Mexico to asylum seekers. (Washington Post)
“Biden’s move comes weeks after the administration adopted a crackdown on asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border that angered the same groups the new measure is designed to please,” notes The Hill.
Brazil
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he would consider running in the next presidential election — he would be over 80-years-old — if necessary to block "a fascist" from office. But he said there are many other potentially good candidates. (AFP)
“Mining giant Brazil has big ambitions to build a rare earths industry as Western economies push to secure the metals needed for magnets used in green energy and defence and break China's dominance of the supply chain,” reports Reuters.
Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands are breaking records for fires in June. Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research has detected 733 fires in the Pantanal biome so far this month, with the previous record for fires in Pantanal for June being 435 registered in 2005, reports CNN.
Slash and burn, made worst by climate change and El Niño, are the suspected causes behind the blazes, reports Reuters.
El Salvador
Eleven people were killed by landslides and flooding caused by heavy rains in El Salvador. (Associated Press)
Colombia
In the shadows of femicides — El País profiles women seeking protection from violent partners in Bogotá, where police receive more than 140 daily reports of gender violence.
Peru
Peru’s president and congress suffer from abysmally low rates of approval, well in the single digits. While this is not new for Peru, “a key difference now compared to previous presidents is that under Boluarte and the current Congress, Peru’s political system has not let that lack of a mandate hold them back. Out of desperation and knowing they are only surviving in office on borrowed time, Peru’s politicians are behaving as if they have a mandate for urgent action,” writes James Bosworth at World Politics Review.
Haiti
Haitians are used to fending for themselves, faced with a history of governments that fail to take public interest into account, writes Monique Clesca in a Washington Post opinion piece. Worst, governments have made use of gangs to protect their power, creating the multifaceted crisis afflicting Haiti now.
Regional
Rapa Nui (Easter Island) off of Chile is inundated with plastics that wash ashore — locals have found creative ways to recycle the international trash, but say they need far more support to cope. And internationally, efforts to reach a global plastics treaty are hostage to pro-plastic delegates, according to activists. (Guardian)