Colombia deathly for human rights activists, report
May 29, 2024
Nearly half of the 300 human rights defenders murdered globally in 2023 were Colombian, according to the latest Front Line Defenders report. Nearly 80% of the killings registered in the report were perpetrated in the Americas, with Mexico, Brazil and Honduras following behind Colombia. (El País)
Indigenous peoples’ rights defenders were the most targeted group globally in 2023, with a total of 92 killings registered in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru and the Philippines. A total of 64 people who defended environmental and land rights were killed in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Mexico, Peru and the Philippines.
Haiti
Haiti’s presidential transition council unanimously appointed Garry Conille to be the country’s new prime minister. Conille, a longtime international aid official, will take on his new role just as a U.N.-backed security mission led by Kenyan police is scheduled to begin operations, reports the New York Times.
Nicaragua
The de-facto house arrest of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s brother Humberto takes the purge of historic Sandinistas to a new extreme, according to El Faro. Humberto, a key strategist in the 1979 Sandinista Revolution and architect of the current Army who has for years dealt muted critiques of the regime from a delicate familial perch, described his brother’s rule as “dictatorial,” in an op-ed on May 13. Within hours of publication, the National Police surrounded his house, confiscated his devices, interrogated him, and ordered him to report his every movement.
Mexico
Thirty policial candidates have been murdered ahead of Mexico’s general elections on Sunday. Hundreds more have dropped out or asked for protection as organized crime groups compete for government influence, particularly at the municipal level, reports the Guardian.
Venezuela
Venezuela’s government rescinded an invitation to the European Union to observe the upcoming July 28 presidential elections — another sign that Nicolás Maduro is unlikely to cede power, despite overwhelming support in polls for his opponent, reports the New York Times.
More Colombia
A top Colombian court rejected the government’s request to postpone paying back unconstitutional royalty taxes to oil and mining companies, reports Bloomberg.
Colombian insurance company Sura announced that it will withdraw from the nation’s health system because the resources it receives from Colombia’s government are not enough to cover its costs, reports Bloomberg.
Regional
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s iron fist security policies have inspired copycats in the region particularly in Ecuador and Honduras — but the results have been very different, reports Pirate Wire Services.
Tens of millions of people living in coastal areas of the Caribbean and Latin America face “life-threatening” weather events made worse by the climate crisis, according to a new UN Population Fund report. (Al Jazeera)
Regional Relations
The U.S. Biden administration announced new regulations allowing Cuban entrepreneurs on the island to open bank accounts in the United States for the first time and to make remote online transactions — in a major move to support Cuba’s expanding private sector, reports the New York Times.
Cuba plays an outsize role in U.S. electoral politics — but it would be better for realist national interests to guide policy, argues William LeoGrande in Responsible Statescraft. “A Cuba policy that serves the national interests of the United States rather than the parochial interests of conservative Cuban Americans in Miami, or the political fortunes of would-be presidents, would start by acknowledging that the policy of hostility is not going to depose the Cuban government — something that ought to be self-evident after 65 years of trying in vain.”
Almost two months after Ecuador police raided the Mexican embassy in Quito, the Ecuador’s Noboa government wants to reach a diplomatic solution with Mexico. (Associated Press)
Brazil
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s plans to host COP29 in the Amazon faces logistical difficulties, reports Bloomberg.
Former military police officer Ronny Lessa, who confessed to killing Rio councilwoman Marielle Franco in 2019 said he had struck a deal with Domingos and Chiquinho Brazão for $20 million in exchange for the murder, reports Folha de S. Paulo.
“Orange juice makers are considering turning to alternative fruits such as mandarins as wholesale prices have “gone bananas” amid fears of poor harvests in Brazil,” reports the Guardian.
Argentina
Argentine President Javier Milei’s meetings with tech leaders in Silicon Valley this week are part of his “broader campaign to court international influence and allies following his election late last year. Along with holding events at libertarian thinktanks and talks with CEOs, Milei spoke at a rally in Spain earlier this month in support of the country’s far-right, anti-immigrant Vox party,” reports the Guardian.