The first contingent of Kenyan police arrived in Haiti, part of an international mission to support the country’s overwhelmed law enforcement officers face down violent gangs that have caused a humanitarian crisis.
The mission comes over a year and a half after Haiti’s government, then led by interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry, asked for international assistance for security, and nearly a year after Kenya volunteered to lead the mission. (Miami Herald)
The approximately 400 Kenyans are the first to deploy of an expected 2,500-member force that will have officers from seven other countries. The U.S. will not contribute troops, but has been instrumental in organizing and financing the mission. “The U.S. military has flown more than 90 flights into Haiti to prepare for the mission, carrying more than 2,600 tons of supplies,” reports New York Times.
The deployment the fourth major foreign military intervention in Haiti, notes the Associated Press. Many Haitians have mixed feelings, given previous failed missions, like the 2004-2017 United Nations peacekeeping mission, which was marked by allegations of sexual assault and the introduction of cholera.
“Everyone knows that in the international co-operation world, people like to repeat what was done before, no matter how bad it was, because it’s convenient,” Emmanuela Douyon, who runs the Haitian think-tank Policité, told the Financial Times.
The Kenyan deployment coincides with the third day of deadly protests in Nairobi, where police have been accused of using live bullets against demonstrators. At least one person was reportedly killed today.
More Haiti
The leader of a notorious Haitian gang, 400 Mawozo, was sentenced to nearly four decades in U.S. federal prison for his role in a gunrunning conspiracy and laundering ransom payments of kidnapped U.S. hostages, reports the Miami Herald.
Mexico
The Mexican city of Tapachula, near the country’s southern border, is a migration hub a complex criminal landscape that is increasingly a battlefield between the country’s most powerful drug trafficking groups, reports InSight Crime.
Cartels from Mexico’s northern states of Sinaloa and Jalisco are fighting for territory across Mexico — for more than a year they have brought this battle to Chiapas, causing massive displacement in some towns as they fight to control lucrative smuggling routes for drugs, migrants and guns, reports the Associated Press.
The López Obrador administration’s plan for judicial reform — to make judges elected — would weaken judicial oversight of authorities and endanger minority rights, argue Roberto Zedillo Ortega and Melissa Ayala García in El País.
Regional
Latin America’s politics is shifting beyond the left-right divide, argues James Bosworth in World Politics Review: “The ideological battle is shifting away from Cold War stereotypes. Questions of effective governance are key, and the democratic versus authoritarian discussion of the past isn’t matching a left-right divide.”
Venezuela
While polls indicate that most Venezuelan’s do not support President Nicolás Maduro’s latest reelection bid, that does not mean he will bow out after July’s election. Instead many experts believe he will retain power through a number of ploys, including manipulating the election, canceling the vote, or simply fixing the tally numbers, reports the New York Times.
Colombia
The Colombian government and the Segunda Marquetalia armed group — a dissident faction of the FARC — began peace talks yesterday, reports Reuters. The initial round of talks in Venezuela will last through June 29.
Violence against Colombian civilians is increasing, fueled by “several factors, including the criminal actions of armed groups and difficulties in negotiations between the state and armed groups under Total Peace, the flagship policy put forward by President Gustavo Petro in which the government negotiates with different armed groups and criminal gangs in parallel,” reports InSight Crime.
Argentina
Argentine President Javier Milei lambasted the IMF, which in a report last week called for devaluation and lifting of currency controls. Specifically, Milei accused Western Hemisphere Director Rodrigo Valdés of leftist leanings — a charge that requires mental gymnastics, agree most commentators. (La Nación, Cenital, La Política Online)
Argentina’s economy contracted by 5.1 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to official statistics released yesterday. Gross domestic product fell 2.6 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2023. (Buenos Aires Times)
Peru
“Extortionists are targeting upscale private schools in Peru’s third-largest city, underscoring how exclusive educational institutions have emerged as sources of income for organized crime groups,” reports InSight Crime.
Critter Corner
Scientists found evidence that European-African butterflies flew across the Atlantic to French Guiana. (New York Times)