Killings in Haiti spotlight international aid groups
May 27, 2024
Three people, including a young U.S. couple carrying out Christian missionary work in Haiti, were murdered in a gang attack on Thursday. “The attack served as a reminder of the ongoing violence by criminal armed gangs who since Feb. 29 have released thousands of inmates from two prisons, attacked police stations and schools and forced the shuttering of the airport and seaport,” reports the Miami Herald.
While gangs used to hew to a code more or less leaving aid workers alone, that has fallen by the wayside since Haiti’s government collapsed in 2021, reports the New York Times.
The attack has also put a spotlight on the controversial role of foreign aid organizations in Haiti, particularly missionary groups, reports the New York Times.
The killings came just hours after U.S. President Joe Biden voiced optimism that Haiti’s security crisis could soon be solved with the arrival of a 2,500-strong Kenya-led multinational policing force. The force was supposed to be deployed last week, but was delayed. “Some observers suspect the delay could be related to security concerns over giving the heavily armed gangs advance warning of the mission’s arrival – something which might allow criminals to launch surprise attacks on incoming planes,” reports the Guardian.
Regional Relations
Colombian diplomats have drafted a proposal aimed at guaranteeing the results of the July 28 election. In practise, the proposal touted by Colombian President Gustavo Petro with the support of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, would guarantee that the winner of the elections would not persecute the loser, reports El País. Though originally planned as a plebiscite, the short time frame means diplomats are aiming for a political agreement that would be ratified by voters in the presidential election.
“Colombia will not close its border with Panama along the Darien Gap — the dense, dangerous jungle that has become a major route for migration toward the United States said Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo. The comments came as Jose Raul Mulino, elected as Panama’s new president on May 5, promised to shut down the Darien Gap while on the campaign trail,” reports AFP.
Mexico
Outgoing Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s unprecedented deployment of troops against crime “has barely loosened the grip of illegal outfits,” according to a new International Crisis Group report. In the states hardest hit by crime sources “suggest that a modus vivendi between military commanders and illegal outfits has enabled crime groups to profit and expand their hold on communities so long as overt violence is curtailed.”
The International Crisis Group says the incoming president “may be unable to withdraw troops from public security, but she should delineate limits to their role while endeavouring to sever state ties to crime and create the conditions for effective civilian law enforcement.”
Claudia Sheinbaum, the ruling Morena party candidate, is accused by critics of being AMLO’s puppet. Supporters point to differences on key issue such as the environment and energy, security and even corruption, though they expect her to maintain AMLO’s principally state-led economic vision and key welfare programs,” reports Reuters.
A Washington Post profile of Sheinbaum emphasizes her technocratic strengths, which translated to policy successes in her Mexico City leadership tenure, and her political weaknesses, which could be a challenge governing the nation.
More than five million Mexicans have exited poverty under AMLO’s administration — though the overall poverty rate remains high at 36.3%, reports El País.
Ecuador
Ecuadorean President Daniel “Noboa’s use of states of emergency and his broader security policy have been met with mounting criticism. Some analysts have argued that these discretionary powers, which lack adequate oversight, have the potential to result in abuses and risk being normalized with every declaration,” according to CEPR’s Ecuador New Round-Up. “Some also contend that Noboa’s repeated use of emergency measures reflects a lack of holistic, long-term policies to tackle insecurity. And notably, there are concerns about human rights abuses stemming from Noboa’s security strategy.”
Caribbean
The fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States, organized by the United Nations, starts in Antigua and Barbuda today and focuses on international assistance for development goals, reports the Miami Herald.
A cache of documents found in the Lambeth Palace Library detail the direct links between the Church of England and chattel slavery on plantations owned by its missionary arm, reports the Observer.
The Codrington estate in Barbados — formerly a sugar plantation that generated considerable wealth using enslaved people forced to work in horrific circumstances — has become a focal point in a public debate about the Church of England’s links to chattel slavery, in which people were traded as personal property. (Guardian)
Colombia
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe was charged in a long-running witness tampering investigation, last week. (Associated Press)
Brazil
Authorities in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul have confirmed 54 cases of the waterborne leptospirosis disease after the region experienced unprecedented floods over the past month, reports the BBC.
The case of Carlos Edmilson da Silva, who served 12 years of a 170 sentenced, in a series of rape cases he didn’t commit. DNA testing revealed his innocence. His convictions were based on photo recognition, in which victims shown a photo and asked if he was the perpetrator. “There are calls for the technique to be scrapped, amid growing evidence that it perpetuates racial bias and has led to miscarriages of justice,” reports the Guardian.
Peru
A Peruvian government decree aimed at expanding health care access for transgeder people included language classifying transgender identity as a “mental health problem.” The move provoked enormous backlash, but the government said it was a miscommunication issue, reports the New York Times.
Argentina
Hugo Alconada Mon profiles Argentina’s First Sister, Karina Milei, the power behind the presidential throne. According to one person close to the fold: “If something happened to Javier that took him away from power for a few days, things would continue as if nothing had happened; but if something happened to her, the government would fall apart in 48 hours.” (La Nación)
Behind the shocking style of Argentine President Javier Milei is a classic conservative, Peronist politician Máximo Kirchner told El País in a rare interview.