Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora was arrested in his home on Friday night, announced the Special Prosecutor's Office Against Impunity (FECI) on Twitter, spurring concerns of government censorship and corruption. Zamora, president of the newspaper elPeriódico, was arrested “on charges including possible money laundering, blackmail… according to the Guatemalan attorney general’s office,” reports the New York Times. elPeriódico offices were also raided.
elPeriódico is an investigative newspaper and has exposed various instances of government corruption, and Zamora himself is an outspoken critic of the administration. This has led human rights activists and political analysts to question the true motives behind his arrest (Reuters).
According to the Asociación de Periodistas de Guatemala (APG), 350 attacks and restrictions on the press were registered between January 2020 and June 2022, making Alejandro Giammattei’s government the administration with the highest number of reported media aggressions in the country (APG). Zamora’s arrest follows “a crackdown on prosecutors, judges, human rights activists, journalists, and opposition officials by FECI,” writes Reuters, and many Guatemalans working on anti-corruption efforts have fled the country or were forced to live in exile. This incident “could end up being a breaking point for press freedom in Guatemala,” says Pappier, an Americas analyst at Human Rights Watch (El Pais).
More Guatemala
President Alejandro Giammattei was shot at—but emerged unharmed—while traveling in Huehuetenango on Saturday, reports EFE.
Argentina
“Everyone knows Argentina needs to cut spending and stop printing money to get its financial house in order,” writes James Bosworth for World Politics Review. “But no politician on the left, center, or right wants to be the one to make those unpopular decisions. That’s why another economic bust is on the horizon.”
New Economic Superminister Sergio Massa is considering export “incentives” and additional financing from multilateral institutions to help curb Argentina’s economic crisis, affirms Clarín.
According to Bloomberg, Argentina’s Central Bank raised key interest rates to 60%, its largest hike in three years.
Brazil
On Saturday, Bolsonaro announced that the armed forces would be “at the side” of his supporters during rallies on September 7, Brazil’s independence day, reports Estadão.
“Nearly two decades after Brazil passed a landmark firearms control law, Bolsonaro has used dozens of executive orders to weaken such restrictions, turning the right to bear arms into a symbol of his right-wing movement… Yet previously unreported documents show Brazil's federal police have long opposed the president's vision, issuing stark warnings about two Bolsonaro-backed bills to weaken gun control,” according to Reuters.
Brazilian authorities have approved the paving of highway BR-319, connecting the Amazonian city of Manaus with the rest of the country. The move will help facilitate deforestation and illegal logging and land grabbers, notes The Guardian.
A new study shows that some academics have self-censored and enjoy limited rights to academic freedom due to fear of losing funding under the Bolsonaro administration, reports Globo.
Chile
Copper producers in Chile are pushing back against new tax proposals from the Boric administration, reports Bloomberg.
Chile’s new proposed constitution, to be voted on September 4, “hasn’t achieved the national unity, social cohesion, or popular support envisioned when 78 percent of Chileans voted for the convention in 2020,” according to Carlos Cruz Infante and Miguel Zlosilo at the Aula Blog.
Colombia
Colombia and Venezuela will name ambassadors to each other’s countries once Colombian president-elect Gustavo Petro takes offices, reports Al Jazeera.
El Salvador
Despite human rights abuses, many Salvadorans in the diaspora in the US support Bukele’s security approach, says NBC. However, there are no polls on the issue, and some believe that the trend is more of a perception than reality.
Migration
The Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has expanded their influence across South America through migration, including honing expertise in kidnapping, migrant smuggling, and trafficking of persons for sexual exploitation and extortion, writes InSight Crime.
Senior officials in US President Joe Biden’s National Security Council are reportedly divided on what to do with the Remain in Mexico program instituted by the Trump administration, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Panama
Ricardo Martinelli, president of Panama between 2009 and 2014, has declared that he will run for president in 2024, notes Reuters.
Paraguay
An InSight Crime interview with former interior minister Arnaldo Giuzzio explores the corruption and criminal allegations against former Paraguayan president Horacio Cartes.
Peru
President Pedro Castillo’s incompetence in office has limited democratic backsliding, according to Global Americans.
Regional
Despite often high homicide rates and wide circulation of guns, Latin America does not have the same problems as the US when it comes to mass shootings in large part due to cultural factors such as solidarity, collectiveness, and a lack of individualistic attitudes, writes Paul Hirschfield at Foreign Affairs.
“Unlike today, the last significant leftist shift in Latin America, in the first decade of the millennium, was propelled by a commodities boom that allowed leaders to expand social programs and move an extraordinary number of people into the middle class, raising expectations for millions of families. Now that middle class is sliding backward, and instead of a boom, governments face pandemic-battered budgets, galloping inflation fed by the war in Ukraine, rising migration and increasingly dire economic and social consequences of climate change,” writes The New York Times, arguing that the new wave of leftist leaders in Latin America face shorter honeymoon periods.