G20 joins Lula's anti-hunger alliance
Nov. 19, 2024
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva opened the G20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro with the launch of an alliance to combat hunger, which he described as the “ultimate symbol of our collective tragedy,” reports the Guardian. (See yesterday’s briefs.)
The G20 joint declaration signed yesterday yesterday “succeeded in addressing most topics host Brazil had prioritized addressing: both ongoing major wars, a global pact to fight hunger, taxation of the world’s wealthiest people and changes to global governance,” reports the Associated Press. It was a particularly marked diplomatic achievement given the complexities presented by two major world conflicts and Argentina’s contrarian diplomatic approach.
Lula reiterated Brazil’s proposal to tax billionaires’ incomes by 2% at the start of the leaders’ afternoon session, and the plan made it into the final declaration, despite considerable doubt that it would.
According to French economist Gabriel Zucman, who worked as a consultant for Lula’s administration on the topic, such a measure would affect some 3,000 people around the world, of whom 100 are in Latin América.
The G20 declaration referred to the “catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza and the escalation in Lebanon,” and stressed the urgent need to expand humanitarian assistance and reinforce protection of civilians.
The statement makes mention of Ukraine, but less forcefully — Russia is a member of the G20, notes El País.
Argentine President Javier Milei signed onto the anti hunger alliance as a gesture of goodwill to Brazil. Though the far-right government will oppose parts of today’s declaration, the country decided not stand in the way of it being signed and adopted. (Buenos Aires Times, Bloomberg)
Despite Milei’s reservations, the text includes references to gender equality, a wealth tax on the ultra-wealthy, the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, and the commitment to accelerate efforts to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, notes El País.
More G20
Lula’s faces an increasingly stormy geopolitical context, argues Maurício Santoro in Americas Quarterly.
The G20 summit was Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s first international trip since assuming office. (Animal Político)
Sheinbaum called for the world’s main economies to allocate 1% of their military spending on the “largest reforestation program in history,” reports El País.
Regional Relations
The incoming U.S. government’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is expected to put Latin America at the center of his agenda. In past statements he has lauded the right-wing presidents of Argentina, El Salvador and Ecuador, and is expected to hold firm on his stance on Cuba and Venezuela. El País reviews an archive of his statements on countries in the region.
Rubio’s impact will be outsize “in areas where Trump doesn’t have a defined policy and doesn’t care about the outcome,” argues James Bosworth. “In particular, he will exercise enormous leverage on Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Colombia, where Rubio has strong opinions about issues while Trump and most other cabinet members care far less.” (Latin America Risk Report)
Brazilian leadership on human rights diplomacy — including environmental concerns — will be key in a context of decreased U.S. attention to these issues, argues Human Rights Watch’s César Muñoz in UOL.
Latin American countries are consolidating their leadership in climate diplomacy, argues El País.
“Brazil is moving forward with plans to import natural gas from Argentina’s Vaca Muerta formation in a sign that bilateral business deals can overcome a complicated political relationship,” according to Bloomberg.
Guatemala
A Guatemalan appeals court overturned the order freeing journalist José Rubén Zamora and ordered his return to jail, last week. Zamora, founder of El Periódico newspaper, had spent more than two years in jail awaiting trial before a judge granted him house arrest in October, reports the Associated Press.
Before the court ordered his return to jail, Zamora told the Committee to Protect Journalists: “I’m prepared, knowing they could come to take me back at any moment. And I’m ready here for when they come, to go back again. And I will come out again, and the time will come when they have to let me go free.”
Guatemalan prosecutors asked for 2,860 years of jail for a military commander accused of genocide against the Ixil Indigenous people during the country’s civil conflict. (El País)
Brazil
Brazilian police arrested five security officers (four military and one police) accused over a coup plot that included plans to overthrow the government following the 2022 elections and kill President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, reports the Associated Press. According to the investigation, the coup plotters also planned to kill Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
The Dialogue analyzes contrasting Brazilian security polices: in São Paulo where efforts have focused on community policing and crime prevention, fostering collaboration between law enforcement and local communities; and in Rio de Janeiro has relied on militarized interventions in favelas and high-crime areas, with mixed results and notable human rights concerns.
The Brazilian state of Mato Grosso is considering a bill that would drastically reduce buffer zones meant to limit pesticide exposure — the bill is part of a worrying trend of deregulation of pesticides in Brazil, underscoring the dangerous influence of agribusiness over policymaking, according to Human Rights Watch.
Mexico
Former Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s absence since leaving office “has demonstrated the strength of the apparatus he built,” Alex González Ormerod wrote in Americas Quarterly last week. “López Obrador hasn’t needed to meddle in government because he left everything ironed out. Everyone knows their job, and they are now carrying it out according to plan (his plan).”
Regional
A new U.S. government report confirms Caribbean leaders’ longstanding affirmations that firearms wreaking havoc in their countries are coming from the United States. The Government Accountability Office report “also shows the lack of political will on the parts of some Caribbean governments and shortcomings in the U.S. to tackle the problem,” according to the Miami Herald.
The cost of crime in Latin America is equivalent to 78% of the public budget for education, twice the public budget for social assistance and 12 times the budget for research and development, according to an Inter-American Development Bank report. (Via the Weekly Latin America)
“The expansion of foreign criminal groups into Latin America has taken on a new dimension in the last decade, with European networks directly organizing drug shipments from the region,” reports InSight Crime.
Migration
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the U.S. federal government for information on how authorities carry out deportations — an issue of increasing concern for migration advocates seeking to protect people from the incoming government’s threats of mass deportations, reports the Washington Post.
Uruguay
Uruguayan presidential candidates held their final debate before Sunday’s runoff elections - Mercopress
Argentina
A group of supporters of Argentine President Javier Milei announced the creation of what they termed an armed wing of his libertarian party, described as a “praeotorian guard.” (Reuters)
Josefina Salomon explains how a recent murder in Argentina’s Rosario fits into the broader web of organized crime in the city in Weekly Latin America.
Paraguay
Opposition parties and human rights organizations in Paraguay have criticized a new law that grants the government powers to shut down organizations of civil society that fail to comply with onerous additional audits. “Amnesty International warned that the deeply controversial bill – signed into law by president Santiago Peña late on Friday – violated freedom of expression, and likened it to civil society crackdowns in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Hungary and Russia,” reports the Guardian.