Latin America Daily Briefs
Oct. 15, 2024
Haiti
Haiti’s government ignored pleas from a community threatened by the Gran Grif gang, as well as warning signs of an imminent attack, weeks before the heavily armed group slaughtered at least 115 people in the rural town of Pont-Sondé, according to new report by Fondasyon Je Klere/Eyes Wide Open Foundation. (Miami Herald)
“Haitian human-rights advocates and a group known as the Commission for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Awareness to Save the Artibonite have criticized a government intelligence budget they say isn’t being used to thwart gang activities but to supplement the income of members of Haiti’s nine-member Transitional Presidential Council,” reports the Miami Herald.
About 20 alleged gang members were killed during police operations, starting Saturday, Haitian and Kenyan officers’ first major incursion into Torcel, a gang-controlled territory just outside Port-au-Prince. The dead include the second-in-command of the Kraze Baryè gang, known simply as “Deshommes,” reports the Associated Press.
El Salvador
A new report by international forensic experts commissioned by Human Rights Watch found significant flaws in the hospital care and later investigation into the death in custody of Alejandro Muyshondt, a former top security adviser to the El Salvador government, arrested last year after he accused pro-Bukele officials of corruption and ties to drug trafficking.
Venezuela
Elvis Amoroso, the head of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council has not been seen in public in 10 weeks, since he appeared in front of the Supreme Court to provide undisclosed documents purportedly proving President Nicolás Maduro’s reelection. Rumors on social media range “from his arrest in Argentina and extradition to the U.S. to his detention by regime security forces fearing he had been planning to defect,” reports the Miami Herald.
Dozens of children remain under arrest in the aftermath of post election protests in Venezuela, relatives and rights groups say. (Reuters)
A Venezuelan comedy boom, largely led by exiles, highlights a culture that “has long viewed its comedians as among its most important societal expositors,” reports the New York Times.
Migration
“Ten times as many migrants died in New Mexico near the U.S.-Mexico border in each of the last two years compared with just five years ago” reports the Associated Press. “It’s not clear exactly why more migrants are being found dead in that area, but many experts say smugglers are treating migrants more harshly and bringing them on paths that could be more dangerous in extreme summer temperatures.”
Regional Relations
The growing BRICS bloc evinces global dissatisfaction with structural advantages enjoyed by Western nations. “Reducing those exorbitant privileges, including by creating alternative, parallel institutions, is the fundamental purpose of BRICS+. And yet the very heterogeneity of the expanding coalition—and the desire of important middle powers to retain diplomatic flexibility within the G20 and other multilateral venues—will likely forestall the emergence of rigid blocs reminiscent of the Cold War,” argues Stewart Patrick for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“BRICS holds promise on two fronts. The first is its expansion itself, which speaks to the organization’s dynamism and wide appeal. The second is its attempt at problem-solving—chiefly on development finance and alternative currencies,” writes Sarang Shidore in The Nation.
“The still-democratic countries of the global South cannot afford the luxuries of economically decoupling from autocratic or one-party partners,” writes Marco Nobre, who advocates a dependency theory perspective on international financial structures. “In the current wave of deglobalization, decoupling is an option only for nations that can afford it. Friendshoring, as a trade and national-security policy, is reserved for those who can choose their friends.” (Phenomenal Word, adapted from the Ideas Letter)
Argentine President Javier Milei will attend next month’s G20 Leaders Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where he will finally meet with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. (Buenos Aires Times)
Argentina was the only G20 member country that refused to sign a gender equality and women empowerment statement put forward by Brazil, yesterday, reports the Buenos Aires Herald. The document includes a list of commitments aimed at “ending gender-based violence and misogyny.”
Bolivia
Supporters of Evo Morales blocked two major roads in Bolivia and clashed with police yesterday, ahead of the former president’s possible arrest over allegations that he raped a teenage girl. (AFP)
Argentina
“A cyber crime group in Argentina used social media influencers to legitimize its illegal gambling websites seeking to launder money, an example of the growing variety of crimes committed with the help of common technology,” reports InSight Crime.