Haiti’s government declared a 72-hour curfew and a state of emergency yesterday, after armed groups attacked a port and two of the country’s main penitentiaries on Saturday, allowing gang leaders and other inmates to escape the overcrowded facilities. (Miami Herald)
Armed gangs broadened their attacks on critical infrastructure yesterday. At least nine people have been killed in a surge of violence that started last week, while interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry was in Kenya, negotiating a multinational security support mission. (Associated Press)
Experts doubt whether a multinational mission could quell the violence, and say “the recent attacks constitute a clear display of force in the gang-ravaged nation,” reports the New York Times.
“The gangs seem to be sending an intimidation message to the troops that might be deploying soon in Haiti, saying, ‘Well, we are forming a united front and we can strike simultaneously,’” said Diego Da Rin of the International Crisis Group, told NYT.
Yesterday’s attacks included an assault against the police academy. The gangs have already seized control of several police substations and are threatening to take over the presidential palace, reports the Miami Herald.
Last week gang leader Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier said in a video shared online that the goal of the attacks are to “topple” Henry and his government. (See Friday’s post.) Cherizier this week warned locals to keep children from going to school to “avoid collateral damages,” reports Reuters.
More Haiti
Almost all of the estimated 4,000 inmates of Haiti’s National Penitentiary fled during Saturday’s attack — except the 17 former Colombian soldiers recently indicted in the 2021 assassination of Haiti’s president. (Miami Herald, Associated Press)
Regional Relations
Brazil and 23 other countries from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (issued a joint statement calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide” in his speech at the CELAC summit on Friday in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. (MercoPress, Agência Brasil, AFP)
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro called for a diplomatic solution to his government’s claim to Guyana’s oil-rich Essequibo region, following a face-to-face with his counterpart, Irfaan Ali, at the CELAC summit. Ali said his country also desires peace. (AFP, AFP)
A recent standoff between Russia and Ecuador over the sale of old Soviet weaponry to the U.S. (for Ukraine) points to how international powers can use trade leverage for geopolitical purposes in Latin America, argues James Bosworth in World Politics Review.
Brazil
Polarization in Brazil seems to have calcified, writes Oliver Stuenkel in Americas Quarterly. Yet, “a broader analysis reveals that the intensity of polarization in Brazil, in many ways, seems to have declined considerably over the past year.”
Migration
Migration through the Darién Gap resumed Friday, after a roughly five-day pause a Colombian arrest operation against two companies that ferry migrants from Colombia to Panama, reports the New York Times.
“A Mexican government crackdown has left about 800 migrants stranded in a tent encampment along the Suchiate River, at Mexico’s border with Guatemala near Tapachula,” according to the Americas Migration Brief.
Argentina
Argentine President Javier Milei promised to double down on his controversial economic austerity agenda in an aggressively-toned speech to Congress following the failure of a raft of reforms submitted earlier this year. "We won't back down, we're going to keep pushing forward," Milei said. "Whether that's by law, presidential decree or by modifying regulations." (Reuters)
The government rapidly shut down the public news agency Telam this morning, just days after Milei promised to do so. With around 700 employees, Télam is the biggest news agency in Argentina and is widely used, even by large outlets, to provide detail and reporting they cannot produce in-house, reports the Buenos Aires Herald.
Milei’s ultra confrontational politics and his promises to liberalize the country’s economy are in complete conflict, writes Marcelo García in the Buenos Aires Times.
More Regional Relations
Paraguayan President Santiago Peña said the economic model Milei hopes to impose in Argentina is Paraguay’s, reports El País. (via Primera Mañana)
Peña also expressed doubts that the long-delayed Mercosur-EU agreement will be signed this year. (El País)
Mexico
Though Mexico’s government maintains that fentanyl use is limited in the country, aid groups have reported a wave of opioid overdoses in some areas, and some experts say the lack of statistics is because forensic pathologists are not systematically testing dead bodies for fentanyl, reports the New York Times.
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic’s 140 year abortion ban has not prevented a thriving and profitable business in providing abortions, many of which take place in unsafe conditions and can be life threatening. (Guardian)
Culture Corner
In most of the Spanish speaking world the principal ways to say “you” are the casual “tú,” and the formal “usted” — and, of course, the hyper-informal “vos.” But the New York Times reports that “in Colombia there is another ‘you’ — ‘su merced,’ meaning, ‘your mercy,’ ‘your grace’ or even ‘your worship,’ and now contracted to the more economical ‘sumercé.’”