A six-month Washington Post investigation into carbon credit ventures in the Brazilian Amazon "shows that many of the private projects “have repeatedly and, authorities say, illegally laid claim to publicly protected lands, generating enormous profits from territory they have no legal right to and then failing to share the revenue with those who protected or lived on the land. The use of such lands to sell credits also contributes little to reducing carbon emissions.”
“The Post’s investigation not only exposes failings in the global system for vetting such ventures but also calls into question the value of some projects in addressing global warming. Much of the Brazilian Amazon is safeguarded by a green shield of publicly protected lands: national forests, Indigenous territory, federal and state reserves. But when polluting companies buy credits generated by supposedly preserving land that was already protected, their money contributes next to nothing.”
Regional Relations
Nicaragua’s 2021 decision to shift diplomatic ties from Taiwan to China was aimed at alleviating the Ortega regime’s international isolation — but the move has brought limited tangible benefits, reports Americas Quarterly.
“U.S. Southern Command Chief General Laura Richardson called on leaders in her country to devise some “Marshall Plan” in Latin America … which is highly necessary to neutralize Chinese and Russian influence in the region,” reports MercoPress.
U.S. vice-president and presumptive Democratic Party presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ record on Latin America is checkered. Early on in Biden’s presidency she was tasked with tackling “root causes of migration,” an impossibly complex mission, according to France 24.
Migration
A group of 2,000 migrants from dozens of countries set out on foot yesterday through southern Mexico as they attempt to reach the U.S. Recent attempts to travel by caravan have failed, notes the Associated Press.
Mexico
Thousands of people in Chiapas have been displaced by territorial disputes between armed groups in southern Mexico. “With the increase in mass migration through Chiapas to the U.S.-Mexico border, Tila has become an even more lucrative site for organized crime, with much of the southern area of the state currently contested by the Jalisco and Sinaloa cartels,” reports Nacla.
Mexican activists a new Mexico City law making transfemicide a crime with a prison sentence of up to 70 years as “watershed” moment in one of Latin America’s deadliest countries for trans people, reports the Guardian.
Cuba
Cuban leaders said illegal drug use and violent crime, once rare, are on the rise, in the midst of a crushing economic crisis. Speaking at a National Assembly session last week, President Miguel Díaz-Canel acknowledged that the government is no longer able to provide needed medicines or deliver in a timely manner “the few” food products that Cubans can still obtain through ration cards, reports the Miami Herald. (See yesterday’s briefs.)
As the number of vacant homes in Cuba increases due to emigration, a new profession of caretaking these empty properties has emerged. Despite the growing number of empty houses, the official stance has largely ignored the situation, while many Cubans live in overcrowded conditions, reports 14 y Medio.
Venezuela
As Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro faces his most significant political challenge in years on Sunday, the Washington Post reviews the timeline of his rule since 2013.
Opposition leader María Corina Machado, who was barred from running, “has not only corralled Venezuela’s fractious opposition behind her, but has also captivated a broad swath of the electorate with a promise for sweeping government change,” reports the New York Times.
“For the first time in decades, (Venezuelan) voters say they are willing to turn out to cast their ballots, a dramatic change from years of declining voter trust and participation in elections,” according to a Chatham House report. But “post-election upheaval is near inevitable.”
WOLA emphasizes the post-electoral role of the international community. “Should the Maduro government recognize its defeat, negotiations will need to establish conditions for a transfer of power by January 2025. If the Maduro government claims victory despite evidence of irregularities or otherwise disregards the results, international actors are likely to issue a resounding condemnation of the election.”
Close to 7.8 million Venezuelans — over one-quarter of the population — have left the country. But the government has placed significant barriers to prevent them from voting: Only 69,000 Venezuelans living abroad are registered. (The Conversation)
Sky-high inflation has cooled somewhat in Venezuela, but salaries remain way behind food prices, adding to discontent strengthens the opposition challenge to Maduro’s government in Sunday’s presidential elections, reports Reuters.
Even Hugo Chávez’s hometown has turned against his successor, according to the Financial Times.
Dominican Republic
Dominican activists protested against a new penal code that maintains a total ban on abortion, reduces penalties for marital sexual violence, and excludes protections for sexual orientation, reports the Associated Press.
Argentina
Argentina’s perennial economic woes undergird “the emergence of a unique society that runs on grit, ingenuity and opportunism — perhaps now more than ever as Argentina undergoes its worst economic crisis since its catastrophic foreign-debt default of 2001,” reports the Associated Press.
Regional
“Latin American drug networks are increasingly using unmanned vessels and employing new methods to chemically transform cocaine to move large drug shipments,” reports InSight Crime.
Critter Corner
Wild sharks off the coast of Brazil have tested positive for cocaine — though how they were exposed it remains a mystery, according to new study by Brazilian scientists. (Washington Post)
It is the latest research showing how illegal drug consumption by humans is harming marine life, reports the Guardian. “Previous studies have found cocaine in river, sea and sewage water, and traces of the drug have been found in other sea creatures such as shrimps.”