Thousands of people blocked highways across Guatemala yesterday, responding to president-elect Bernardo Arévalo’s call to protest judicial efforts to block his electoral victory. Blockades continued today, reports Prensa Libre.
Indigenous groups and rural farm workers stalled traffic on major transportation arteries as Arévalo met with magistrates of Guatemala’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal, yesterday, to urge unity against what they see as a violation of voters’ will. (Associated Press)
Arévalo also met virtually with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who expressed support for Guatemala's peaceful political transition, reports Reuters.
The Public Ministry’s office forcefully seized vote tallies from electoral authorities in a 20 hour raid starting Friday, as part of ongoing investigations into accusations of voting fraud that observers say are politically motivated. “There were harrowing scenes of justices holding tight to boxes, as police tried to wrestle them away as part of raids to investigate spurious claims of voting fraud,” reports the Associated Press.
The raid was the fifth since the Aug. 20 vote, part of a concerted effort by the Public Ministry to undermine the election results. (Bloomberg)
In light of the ongoing judicial harrasment against Arévalo’s Semilla Party, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal is analyzing extending the formal electoral period until Arévalo’s January inauguration, extending a decision that shields the party from suspension. (Prensa Libre)
Security Council approves Haiti mission
The U.N. Security Council approved a Kenyan-led multinational security force to Haiti to help its government combat violent gangs. The vote came a year after the Haitian government first requested an international military intervention, reports the Miami Herald. (See yesterday’s post.)
The U.S.-Ecuador drafted resolution obtained 13 votes in favor, with Russia and China abstaining, reports the Guardian.
Multinational Security Support mission has been authorized for a year, to be reviewed after nine months. It would guard critical infrastructure such as airports, ports, schools, hospitals and key traffic intersections, and carry out “targeted operations” along with the Haitian National Police, reports the New York Times.
The mission is expected to include military troops as well as police, reports the Miami Herald. The resolution authorizes the force to “adopt urgent temporary measures on an exceptional basis” to “prevent the loss of life.” (Washington Post)
The mission will not technically be a U.N. mission, meaning member countries are not obligated to contribute toward its cost. Kenya has pledged at least 1,000 security personnel, and Jamaica, the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda have offered to send officers for the force. The US has offered logistic support and $200m in financing.
“Key details, including the size of the mission, when it will be deployed, rules of engagement and exit strategy, remain to be worked out,” notes the Washington Post.
Haitian NGOs and aid groups have given the vote a tentative welcome, reports the Guardian, but are wary given the negative history of international intervention in Haiti. Experts have voiced concern over the Kenyan police’s checkered human rights record and ability to combat Haiti’s sophisticated criminal gangs.
“It remains to be seen if these police forces will be ordinary police officers or members of special units who are really trained to deal with this very particular kind of security threat,” International Crisis Group expert Diego Da Rin told the Guardian.
Diplomats said that negotiations within the Security Council had been tense with the Russia and China for several weeks, with the text being rewritten multiple times, but that, ultimately, a consensus was reached, reports the New York Times.
“During the discussions after the vote, a number of countries called on Haitian authorities to work harder at reaching a political consensus leading to elections, recognizing that while stabilizing the security mission will bring some relief, it will not resolve all of the issues facing Haiti,” reports the Miami Herald. Haiti hasn’t had national elections since 2016, “and today finds itself in a constitutional crisis with no parliament or elected leaders.”
Brazil
Brazilian authorites have started removing thousands of non-Indigenous people from two native territories in the Amazon rainforest. Brazil’s government said the supreme court and other judges had ordered the operation, reports the Guardian.
Regional Relations
Honduras’ recognition of China earlier this year was the latest in a string of diplomatic victories for Beijing in Central America, and was interpreted as a blow by the U.S., though Honduran officials couched the shift in terms of economic pragmatism. “China’s offers of trade and investment, with few strings attached, have increasingly outweighed traditional ties or ideology in the region,” reports the Washington Post.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador suggested U.S. military aid to Ukraine was "irrational," and urged Washington to devote more resources to helping Latin American countries. (Reuters)
He also slammed U.S. economic sanctions on Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, saying they force people emigrate, reports the Associated Press.
Venezuela
Venezuela's opposition election commission said it will move forward with its late October primary vote to pick its presidential candidate for next year's general election, after the country's national electoral council sought a delay, reports Reuters.
Chile
“A string of legislative defeats, a corruption scandal and the worst crime wave in decades have derailed leftist Chilean president Gabriel Boric’s plans to radically transform the country, forcing an attempt to change course for his remaining two years in office,” reports the Financial Times.
Argentina
Filming for a Netflix series based on El Eternauta recently began in Buenos Aires, part of the growing global reach of the beloved Argentine graphic novelist Héctor Oesterheld. But his legacy has been dragged into the culture wars of a country where the fragile consensus regarding the human rights crimes of the regime is being shattered by a swell of support for the pro-dictatorship, anti-abortion, extreme capitalist agenda of presidential frontrunner Javier Milei, reports the Guardian. (See yesterday’s post.)
Regional
“(Co)Building a Strategic Agenda for the Americas,” a report by El Colegio de México, Universidad de Los Andes, and Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, proposes an a regional roadmap for collective international action around three priority areas of inequality, migration, and climate change. — AULA Blog
Peru
“Peru will do a lot to facilitate mining investment as a way to boost the ailing economy. But it will stop short of pressuring Andean communities to accept two key projects,” reports Bloomberg.
Colombia
Colombia should focus on solving market and government failures rather than revising trade agreements, argues the country’s former planning minister Luis Fernando Mejía in Americas Quarterly.
Letras
Peruvian writer Gabriela Weiner “wants to “decolonize” everything — starting with her body and her family. Her latest book, “Undiscovered,” investigates the 19th-century European explorer that shares her last name.” — New York Times