IACHR rules on Brazil police killings
March 15, 2024
Brazil
Brazil is responsible for serious human rights violations by the police, according to two separate rulings by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, yesterday. The decisions on “cases involving police killings in São Paulo and Paraná states, come as São Paulo police are in the midst of ongoing raids in low-income neighborhoods that have left at least 45 people dead in the past month and a half,” reports Human Rights Watch.
Killings by police rose sharply in Brazil’s São Paulo state in the first two months of the year “as authorities continue to rely on repressive tactics to try to curb crime, a strategy that has yet to produce any long-term results,” reports InSight Crime.
Six Brazilian cities will roll out a dengue-fighting strategy that involves releasing bacteria-infected mosquitos, reports the Guardian.
A new documentary, We Are Guardians, tells the story of Indigenous communities in Brazil fighting to protect their land from deforestation. The film shows the antagonism between Indigenous people and loggers, but also the complexity of the relationship in these Amazon regions, where people have few alternatives to illicit economies. (Guardian)
“Brazilian electricity producers have reduced their reliance on the country's mammoth system of hydro dams by sharply increasing output from solar and wind farms since 2018,” reports Reuters.
Amazon
“A record number of fires so far this year in the Amazon has also raised questions about what may be in store for the world’s biggest tropical rainforest when the dry season starts in June in the far larger southern part of the jungle,” reports the New York Times.
Venezuela
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado should emulate Juan Domingo Perón’s strategy to regain Argentina’s presidency in 1973 elections, despite being banned: choose a proxy candidate, argues Javier Corrales in Americas Quarterly. “There is reason to think that Maduro will ban whoever Machado picks. This plan is not without risks, but given the futility of other options, it is a move worth thinking about.” (See Wednesday’s post.)
Regional
The Wilson Center reports on China’s growing education diplomacy in Latin America and the Caribbean: “China’s educational partnerships in the region–including through institutional arrangements, scholarship programs, research support, company initiatives, and other platforms–number in the thousands.”
An Ecuadorean military helicopter was attacked Thursday near the Colombian border, reports the Associated Press.
Colombia
Former outsider Colombian presidential candidate Rodolfo Hernández was convicted of corruption in relation to a public works contract under his tenure as Bucamaranga mayor. A key plank in Hernández’s campaign platform was fighting corruption. (Associated Press)
Migration
The Dominican Republic has been deporting hundreds of Haitians a day, despite the fact that their country is in the midst of an acute humanitarian crisis. “The message the Dominican Republic appears to be sending is no matter how bad things become at home, Haitians should not seek refuge on Dominican territory,” reports the BBC.
Haiti
The U.S. Senate confirmed Biden nominee Dennis Hankins to become ambassador to Haiti, yesterday. “Haiti is viewed as one of the toughest diplomatic postings,” reports Politico.
Haiti’s National Penitentiary — raided by gangs and emptied earlier this month — caught on fire yesterday, apparently by accident, reports the Miami Herald.
Argentina
Argentina’s Senate rejected President Javier Milei’s mega decree from December, which had 600 articles aimed at carrying out sweeping economic reform. The measure must be rejected by the Chamber of Deputies in order to be overturned. (Reuters)
El Salvador
“Despite the millions Bukele has spent to build an image resembling Trump's, Bukele’s relationship with conservatives in the United States is complicated,” because of Bukele’s relationship with China, writes Ricardo Valencia in El Faro.
Jamaica
The Jamaican musician Vybz Kartel’s conviction for the murder of an associate more than a decade ago has been quashed by the London Privy Court, which ruled that attempts to bribe the trial jury meant the conviction was unsafe, reports Reuters.