Lula and Blinken discuss Israel
Feb. 22, 2024
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sparred over the Brazilian leader’s criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza, in a meeting in Brasilia yesterday. In a "frank exchange" Blinken made it clear to Brazil's leader that the US did not agree with his recent remarks about Israel's war in Gaza, according to Reuters.
Lula’s chief foreign policy advisor, Celso Amorim, said it was a respectful conversation about two different views on the war. “President Lula reiterated his shock and horror at the slaughter there, while also reiterating that he strongly condemned what Hamas had done.” (New York Times)
Lula’s foreign policy has focused on strengthening relations between global south countries and mediation in global conflicts. Foreign Minister Mauricio Viera urged his G-20 colleagues, yesterday, to use the Brazil recipe to resolve differences between countries: more dialogue and promotion of trust, and less use of military force, intimidation, sanctions or espionage, reports El País.
Last week in Egypt Lula noted that the U.N. Security Council there is a lack of pacifist countries and an abundance of belligerents. The Russian and American veto power have neutralized all attempts to stop the wars in Gaza and Ukraine through the UN. (El País)
The debate demonstrates how the Israel-Gaza war “has thrown a shadow on American diplomacy around the world” as “the war’s mounting death toll has spurred more nations to speak out against Israel’s offensive,” reports the New York Times.
Regional Relations
Guyana’s government said it won’t approve oil exploration in waters near Venezuela until the United Nations’ highest court rules on the countries’ borders, reports Bloomberg.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro expressed “great respect” to Guyanese President Mohamed Irfaan Ali, signaling a decrease in tensions between the two, reports Reuters.
A meeting on the margins of the G20 ministerial meeting in Brasilia today seeks to galvanize international support of a multinational security mission in Haiti. So far South American leaders have been reluctant to volunteer police or military personnel for the planned Kenya-led mission, reports the Associated Press.
“Far flung efforts” to diversify U.S. supply chains from China, “badly neglect solutions in the United States’ own backyard: the countries of Latin America,” argues Shannon K. O’Neil in Foreign Affairs.
Regional
Prisons in the region are increasingly controlled by criminal groups, who exert and extort inmates. Jails, increasingly crowded with tough-on-crime detainees, have become forcible recruitment centers for gangs, and “also act as a safe haven of sorts for incarcerated criminal leaders to remotely run their criminal enterprises on the outside,” reports the New York Times, looking at cases in Ecuador, Brazil and Colombia.
Ecuador
One of Ecuador’s most notorious gang leaders, José Adolfo Macías, lived in lavish quarters in the country’s La Regional prison, before his prison break earlier this year which spurred widespread violence and a government militarized crackdown on criminal organizations. (CNN)
Costa Rica
Costa Rican authorities have announced a series of new policies “to address the country’s worsening security crisis, but the reforms do not tackle budget shortfalls and underlying causes of crime,” according to InSight Crime.
Mexico
Though Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador “has long been framed as a leftist, he uses political language that can also appeal to conservative voters, whether by avoiding a stance on abortion or taking a combative approach to the country’s feminist movement. As such, AMLO’s broad-spectrum approach to voters has—at least thus far—left little room for a right-wing upstart to encroach on his Fourth Transformation,” writes Carin Zissis in Americas Quarterly.
Colombia
A series of shootings and holdups in wealthy areas of Bogotá have pushed insecurity to the forefront of concerns in Colombia’s capital, reports El País.
Colombia's Petro administration accused the ELN for delaying peace negotiations, after the guerrilla group froze talks and accused Bogotá of violating ground rules. (AFP)
El Salvador
Electoral results in El Salvador are not trustworthy, but nonetheless evince a gap between overwhelming support for President Nayib Bukele and votes for his Nuevas Ideas party candidates. In response, Bukele and his supporters carried out “blantant fraud,” reports Jacobin, in meticulous detail.
Trinidad and Tobago
“Recent criminal cases involving artists of the “Trinibad” music genre have highlighted the links between the music industry and crime in Trinidad and Tobago,” reports InSight Crime. “Experts believe that musical genres that glorify gang culture play a fundamental role in the increase, or at least the persistence, of violence in Trinidad and Tobago. However, cultural factors are not the only reason for violence in the country.”
Suriname
Suriname’s burgeoning gold mining and logging sectors pose significant threats to its verdant forests, simultaneously undermining the ancestral land rights of its Maroon and Indigenous populations, reports the Guardian. (See today’s Just Caribbean Updates.)
Migration
The U.S. Biden administration is considering using provisions of federal immigration law that would permit a unilateral crackdown at the country’s southern border, after foundered efforts to pass a migration bill in Congress, according to the Associated Press.
Argentina
Strikes are piling up in Argentina as organized labor pushes back against the Milei administration’s austerity measures: a railway stoppage yesterday affected commuters in the country’s capital, and health workers are walking off today. Government employees won’t clock in on February 26 and some smaller teachers’ unions have also announced work stoppages ahead of the start of the school year, reports the Buenos Aires Times.
Argentina’s Economy Minister Luis Caputo and IMF deputy managing director Gita Gopinath, met in Buenos Aires yesterday. She characterized the meeting as “productive,” reports the Buenos Aires Herald.
President Javier Milei’s promises to disband public media outlets in Argentina respond to economic ideologies rather than political ones, but such market dogmatism is concerning for experts, reports the Columbia Journalism Review.
Buenos Aires is plagued by mosquitos — El País