Colombian children found in Amazon
June 12, 2023
Four Indigenous children were found 40 days after they were lost in a fatal plane crash in the Colombian Amazon jungle. The children’s survival is a testament to the skills they learned from their community — particularly the eldest, Lesly Mukutuy, who helped her younger siblings, including an 11-month old baby, survive.
The children, members of the Huitoto Indigenous community, had been traveling with their mother and an Indigenous leader from the tiny Amazon community of Araracuara, Colombia, to San José del Guaviare, a small city in central Colombia along the Guaviare River.
But the story of the children, who were found though the combined efforts of Colombia’s military and an Indigenous search parties, also exemplifies many contemporary Colombian issues.
The children were returning to their home from a visit with their father, Manuel Ranoque, an Indigenous leader who moved to Araracuara in response to ongoing threats from a an ex-Farc dissident group. Some reports indicate the children hid from search groups because they were scared.
On Sunday, Colombia’s military released images of two colorful drawings produced by the two eldest children from their hospital. “This drawing represents the hope of an entire country,” military officials tweeted.
(Guardian, Guardian, New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Post, Washington Post)
More Colombia
Colombia’s government and the ELN, the country’s largest remaining guerrilla group agreed to a six-month ceasefire at talks in Cuba. The agreement was announced at a ceremony in Havana on Friday attended by Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, top guerrilla commander Antonio García and Cuban officials, reports the Associated Press. The ceasefire takes effect in phases, goes fully into effect in August and then lasts for six months.
Colombia's attorney general's office has launched an investigation into reports of the illegal financing of President Gustavo Petro's election campaign last year. (Reuters)
China already has Spy Base in Cuba
A Chinese spy base or facilities in Cuba that could intercept electronic signals from nearby U.S. military and commercial buildings have been up and running since before 2019, reports the New York Times, following a report last week that the two countries had reached an agreement to construct a spy facility on the island. (See Friday’s post.)
The two countries, as well as a U.S. official, denied the report. But a U.S. official familiar with the intelligence cited in Thursday’s reports insisted that China and Cuba had struck an accord to enhance existing spy capabilities, according to reports this weekend. (Reuters)
Regional Relations
About 30 Haitian politicians and civil society leaders gathered in Jamaica yesterday, for a Caricom-mediated dialogue on the Haitian crisis. Dubbed the “Kingston Talks,” international actors are hoping are hoping that the initiative will yield a “Haitian-led solution” to the ongoing crisis, reports the Miami Herald. The agenda includes security, good governance and elections.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen kicked off a four-nation trip to Latin America today — Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Mexico — aimed at bolstering political and trade ties with a region that has sometimes been "taken for granted, or even neglected.” (Reuters)
Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi departed for Venezuela today, the first stop in a Latin America tour that also includes Nicaragua and Cuba, countries Raisi described as sharing common views with Tehran on major international issues. (EFE)
Honduras opened an embassy in Beijing, yesterday, months after the Central American nation broke off relations with Taiwan to establish diplomatic ties with China. (Associated Press)
Mexico
Mexico’s ruling Morena party will select it its 2024 presidential candidate through a series of five polls to be carried out in August and Sept. Previous internal party polls have been questioned, and this time the party itself will conduct one poll, and each of the four Morena contenders will name private polling firms to carry out four more polls. Each will have equal weight, reports the Associated Press. (See Friday’s post)
All of the four Morena contenders will have to resign their government posts by Friday, including Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, who is considered the frontrunner, in keeping with a demand by Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, another presidential hopeful who said the move will prevent primary candidates from using their posts to gain an unfair advantage. (Associated Press, see Friday’s post.)
Mexico’s presidential election is a year away — and campaign season has already begun, reports Latin America’s Moment.
Mexico’s Defense Department said that 16 soldiers will be tried on military charges related to the killing five men in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo last month. (Associated Press)
Several thousand people protested to in Mexico, last week, to demand an end to recent attacks by paramilitary groups against Zapatista communities in the southern Chiapas state. (EFE)
Brazil
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s approval ratings slipped in a new poll released by IPEC on Friday: the number of Brazilians who rate his government as great or good has dropped to 37% in May from 39% in April and 41% in March. (Reuters)
Venezuela
The International Criminal Court has opened an office in Venezuela, prosecutor Karim Khan said following a meeting with President Nicolas Maduro on Friday. (Reuters)
Ecuador
The political party of Ecuador's ex-President Rafael Correa named former lawmaker Luisa Gonzalez as its candidate for presidential elections in August. (Reuters)
Migration
Civil society organizations across the Americas are calling for improving access to regularization for migrants in the region — Americas Migration Brief
Sandra Álvarez Orozco of Sin Fronteras writes at Animal Politico about the role of climate change and environmental disasters in causing displacement in the Americas. (Via Americas Migration Brief)
Argentina
The IMF is likely to accede to Argentina’s requests for extra funds, though the country has not met many of the targets of its loan program with the lender organization, because the IMF hopes to avoid a collapse that would affect repayment of a $44 billion loan, reports the Financial Times. Argentina’s government hopes to use funding from the IMF and China to stave off a currency collapse in an election year.
Regional
An Economist article drew backlash for a headline that characterized Latin American workers as "useless" and "unproductive." The publication later changed the headline and clarified the piece analyzes “the social and economic costs of low productivity.” (NBC)
Which river is the longest in the world — the Nile or the Amazon? The answer depends on where you went to school. (Washington Post)