Gallup Global Safety Report
Oct. 2, 2024
Latin America and the Caribbean continue to be the region with the worst citizen perception of security according to the annual Gallup Global Safety Report.
However, “as a whole, regional figures have shown a slow but steady improvement since 2017,” notes InSight Crime.
The report is not comprehensive for the whole region, but shows marked changes in three cases that are relevant, according to InSight Crime.
Citizen perception of safety in El Salvador has transformed: “88% of Salvadorans reported feeling safe walking alone at night, a figure that sets a historical record for the country and positions it as one of the safest in the world in terms of public perception.” The change responds to President Nayib Bukele’s crackdown on gangs, which has come at a high human rights cost.
On the opposite end of the security spectrum, “the situation in Ecuador is alarming. According to the 2024 Gallup Index, only 27% of Ecuadorians feel safe walking at night, the lowest figure recorded in Latin America and below South Africa and Liberia.”
And in Chile, “only 36% of Chileans feel safe walking at night, a figure that has fallen dramatically compared to previous years. … Citizens’ falling perception of security corresponds with the growing influence of organized crime in the country,” reports InSight Crime.
Regional
Largely man-made wildfires have affected huge tracts of South America — blazes are raging from Ecuador’s drought-stricken capital to Paraguay’s Chaco forest to the backlands of the Amazon, reports the Guardian. Experts say the fires have been exacerbated by a historic drought linked to the natural climate phenomenon El Niño and the effects of climate change.
Fires in Brazil's Amazon rainforest region surged to the highest number for September in almost a decade and a half, according to preliminary government data released yesterday. There were similar highs in the past two months, reports Reuters.
Mexico
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum took the oath of office yesterday “in the Chamber of Deputies, where hundreds of people chanted “Presidenta!” — using the feminine form of the title. She received the red, white and green presidential sash from Ifigenia Martinez, 94, the president of the chamber, a revered leftist. Behind the new president stood a row of female soldiers,” reports the Washington Post.
She “will govern with a cabinet that is half female and a Congress evenly divided between men and women. Women head the Supreme Court and central bank and run top federal ministries.” The country is a global gender parity leader “thanks to aggressive laws establishing quotas for women in politics and government,” reports the Washington Post.
“In a firm speech to lawmakers, Latin American presidents and US first lady Jill Biden, Sheinbaum praised López Obrador and pledged to maintain his social policies while emphasising women’s rights, green energy and new passenger railways,” reports the Financial Times.
Sheinbaum started her morning with a press conference, continuing in her predecessor’s tradition, but it was “shorter, less combative and more concise, in keeping with her character as a scientist and academic,” reports the Associated Press.
Regional Relations
International opposition to Mexico’s recent judicial reform is inappropriate and unwarranted, argue Hilary Goodfriend and Alexander Main in The Progressive. “Whatever the drawbacks or merits of the measures, the United States—where an ultra-conservative Supreme Court has been plagued by egregious conflict of interest scandals—has no business interfering in Mexico’s domestic affairs, let alone a democratic and constitutional process of reform. … More troublingly, attacks against Mexico’s judicial reform appeared to have more to do with disciplining the incoming Sheinbaum administration and undermining the progressive elements of her party’s agenda than defending democracy and the rule of law.”
Mexican authorities they have detected and seized 24 drug cartel surveillance cameras fixed to telephone and light posts in the Sonora state city of San Luis Rio Colorado, along the border with the U.S. (Associated Press)
Brazil
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s approval rating went down in September, according to a Quaest poll — the numbers are particularly relevant ahead of local elections on Sunday, in which Brazilians will choose mayors and city councilors in more than 5,500 towns. (Reuters)
A documentary about Brazilian surfer Maya Gabeira’s “record-breaking feats almost accidentally tells a story too about the endemic sexism in sport,” reports the Guardian.
Migration
“Guatemalan security agents arrested 25 mostly active police officers implicated in a human trafficking network that operated along a route used by mostly U.S.-bound migrants,” reports Reuters.
Haiti
Haiti’s school year started yesterday — but the country’s education system is broken: over a hundred thousand children are displaced, schools around the country are occupied by people without homes, 30 percent of Haiti’s teachers have migrated. (Miami Herald)
Argentina
Poorer neighborhoods in Argentina are facing a food emergency in the midst of increasing poverty, with malnutrition on the rise and medics treating children for eye diseases and even scurvy linked to a vitamin-deficient diet, reports Reuters.
Argentine federal prosecutors have charged eight members of Diego Maradona’s medical team with homicide for allegedly failing to do enough to keep Maradona alive. — Washington Post
Venezuela
Christmas season started yesterday in Venezuela — by government decree — but it doesn’t feel very festive, reports the Associated Press.