Abuses in El Salvador's prisons
June 8, 2023
Evidence of a state policy of “systematic torture” against alleged gang members detained under El Salvador’s state of exception—including beatings to the point of organ failure, electrical shocks, people’s knees bleeding from forced kneeling on gravel— could one day contribute to legal cases against top officials, Cristosal legal director Zaira Navas told El Faro English. She said there is sufficient evidence to try El Salvador for crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Court. (See May 30’s post.)
Navas, also told El Faro that Cristosal noticed that most of the hundreds of people released from prison after weeks or months of arbitrary detention were not gang members, but rather schoolteachers, bricklayers, or farmers. (See May 30’s post.)
More El Salvador
El Faro reports on the case of one hip-hop artist detained under the state of exception. The U.S. citizen was detained during a visit to El Salvador in January, and has remained in prison for five months despite having no criminal record of any kind. The evidence against him are his YouTube music videos, which mention his neighborhood of birth (which used to be controlled by gangs) and looking “nervous” when police stopped him.
El Salvador’s National Assembly approved cuts to the unicameral congress, from 84 lawmakers to 60. Opposition parties say the reforms will reduce smaller parties' political participation to a minimum. (Reuters)
Regional Relations
China and Cuba have reached a secret agreement for China to establish an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island, reports the Wall Street Journal. Such a facility in Cuba would permit Chinese intelligence services to capture electronic communications throughout the southeastern U.S. and monitor U.S. ship traffic.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with Caribbean leaders in the Bahamas, today. She plans to will renew the U.S. Biden administration’s push for an international force to assist Haiti in its ongoing security crisis, reports the Miami Herald.
Harris will announced, among other things, a new position at the U.S. Department of Justice to help tackle the illicit trafficking of U.S. weapons into the Caribbean, reports the Miami Herald. The Caribbean is a top smuggling destination for illegal U.S. firearms, which are leading to rising homicide rates.
Jamaica will host consultations for stakeholders from Haiti, next week. The meetings, which were endorsed by CARICOM, aim to build consensus and allow for inclusive participation in a neutral environment. (Jamaica Observer)
Colombia
Colombia President Gustavo Petro is due in Havana today, where he will sign an agreement with the ELN guerrilla group, possibly including a ceasefire, reports AFP.
Petro led a demonstration in favor of his reform agenda, and said he faces a “soft coup” against his administration, saying the media is allied with his enemies. (La Silla Vacía)
A group of international leftist leaders warned in a letter that “a soft coup” is underway in Colombia, accusing the country’s opposition of illegally working to remove Petro and key allies from power, reports the Intercept.
Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli, a Colombia human rights advocate at the Washington Office on Latin America, said that many investigations against government officials appeared to be an abuse of power. “The Attorney General is abusing his power to undermine the Petro government’s policies,” she told The Intercept.
Brazil
A proposal to drill for oil in the sea off the mouth of the Amazon river will be an important test for Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s promises to halt environmental destruction. His cabinet is divided on the issue, as are the president’s supporters. (Financial Times)
A Brazilian Supreme Court justice asked for more time to study a case pitting the country's Indigenous people against its powerful farm sector. The landmark case involves a claim by the Xokleng people of southern Santa Catarina state, and could set precedent for hundreds of other land disputes. (Reuters)
Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest fell almost 10% in May from the previous year, according to preliminary government data released yesterday. (Reuters)
Chile
The 50 members of Chile’s new Constitutional Council, dominated by right-wing representatives, took oath yesterday, at a ceremony attended by President Gabriel Boric. ““Those of us who think differently can agree when it is required for the good of the nation. This is what the public expects today, a collaborative process where the different parties are capable of giving in when necessary and finding common ground in search of the best for Chile,” he said. (El País)
The subdued ceremony marked a sharp contrast to the chaos that accompanied the nation’s first attempt to rewrite its magna carta, reports Bloomberg.
Ecuador
Two U.S. lawmakers have called for an investigation into South Florida assets allegedly held by Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso and his brother, Danilo Carrera, arguing that the South American leader has built a “web of corruption” using shell companies, reports the Miami Herald.
Regional
The European Commission said it would be unwise to renegotiate parts of its proposed free trade agreement with Brazil and other countries of the Mercosur bloc, after Lula said he would seek adjustments. (Reuters)
A group of top Latin American economists urged the International Monetary Fund to adopt immediate, central-bank-like reforms to brace for the next emerging market crisis, reports Reuters.
“The focus on the green jobs of the future fails to take into account the issue of informal employment and the structural inequalities that create and sustain the informal sector” in Latin America, writes Christopher Sabatini in World Politics Review.
Developed nations have pledged to funnel a combined total of $100 billion a year to help developing nations reduce emissions and adapt to a warming world. But a Reuters investigation found that a portion of the money is going to esoteric projects — which is legitimate as there is no legal definition for “climate finance”. The problem is compounded by the lack of transparency around these transactions.
The rise in violent crime in the Caribbean — though not homogenous — merits the crisis stance several of the region’s governments have taken, writes Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith in a Global Americans report that analyses recent reports and symposiums on violence in the Caribbean.
Barbados
Barbados faces a “pandemic” of diabetes and high-blood pressure, some argue an effect of food vulnerability and colonial legacies affecting many small island developing states in the Caribbean. (Guardian)
Migration
Sen. Bob Menendez is preventing the Biden administration from implementing a plan to pay Guatemala to deport migrants from Venezuela back to their home country before they reach the U.S., according to Axios. Using foreign assistance to support another country's deportations would be unprecedented.
The U.S. approach to migration has been in flux in recent years “with the Trump administration collaborating with partners across the Americas in an effort to restrict migration and asylum,” writes Jordi Amaral in Global Americans. “In contrast, the Biden administration has sought to employ a dual approach focused on both deterrence and the expansion of legal pathways to the country for both labor and protection.”
Venezuela
Grenades have become common weapons in Venezuela's underworld, where criminal groups regularly deploy them in a wide range of illegal activities, reports InSight Crime.
Trinidad and Tobago
A Venezuelan migrant said she was beaten and raped by Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard personnel while detained at the Heliport Immigration Station in Chaguaramas. She was raped so badly that she began “violently haemorrhaging” to the point where she had to be hospitalised for two days, reports the Trinidad Express. (See yesterday’s Just Caribbean Updates.)
Argentina
BRICS’s New Development Bank President Dilma Rousseff announced that Argentina’s entry into the bank would be approved in August, and is already approved by the institution’s board of directors. (The Road to the Casa Rosada)
Critter Corner
The kelp gulls of Argentina’s Peninsula Valdés mercilessly peck southern right whale’s surfacing to breathe gorging on skin and blubber ripped from the whales’ backs. The problem has escalated in recent decades and is now so severe that it’s causing young southern right whale calves to die prematurely, reports the New York Times.
A virgin birth in a Costa Rica crocodile demonstrates the reptile is capable of parthenogenesis, a discovery that implies that pterosaurs and dinosaurs might also have been capable of such reproductive feats, reports the New York Times.