The trial against two former police officers accused of assassinating Rio de Janeiro councillor Marielle Franco and her driver, Andersen Gomes, in March 2018 started today. They have both confessed, and are expected to be convicted in the jury trial, reports the Guardian.
Protesters began gathering early today in front of the courthouse in downtown Rio. “The killing of an elected representative was seen by many as an attack on democracy, in no small part because of Marielle’s humble upbringing and stalwart efforts to improve the lives of ordinary Rio residents,” reports the Associated Press. “Outrage over her killing sparked mass protests, and she has become a symbol of left-wing resistance.”
In March, the alleged masterminds of the crime were arrested: two influential Rio politicians, Domingos and Chiquinho Brazão, and Rivaldo Barbosa, a former head of the police who was in charge of the homicide unit when Franco was killed. That case is before Brazil’s Supreme Court, initial arguments were concluded on Monday, and a date for their trial has yet to be set, reports the Guardian.
COP16
Colombia launched a coalition with 20 other countries seeking to make "peace with nature," yesterday, at the at the U.N. COP16 biodiversity talks taking place in Cali. The coalition includes countries from four continents including Mexico, Sweden, Uganda and Chile.
Member nations agree to a set of principles aimed at changing humanity's relationship with nature, to live in harmony with the environment, reports Reuters.
“Themed "Peace with Nature," the summit has been bogged down in disagreement about modalities of funding, as well as sharing the profits of digitally sequenced plant and animal genetic data – used in medicines and cosmetics – with the communities they come from,” reports AFP.
More COP16
Colombian Martín Van Hildebrand will be the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization’s new secretary general, after negotiations at COP16 overcame diplomatic obstacles. (Silla Vacía)
The organization unites eight Amazon countries, Bolivia, Brasil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Perú, Surinam and Venezuela. (El País)
Indigenous organizations from nine Amazonian countries formed an alliance representing 511 groups dedicated to defending the Amazon rainforest, traditional peoples, biodiversity, and the global climate. Their primary demand is to be recognized as climate authorities, a notion reflected in their coalition’s name, the Indigenous Amazon G9. (Valor)
A new fund backed by the CAF and the governments of Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Panama aims to raise one million dollars to protect the Chocó biogeographic region — an initiative Colombian Vice President Francia Márquez characterized as “advancing an act of ethnic justice” that gives Afrodescendant communities more decision-making power. (El País)
Colombia
Colombian President Gustavo Petro is on a mission to against fossil fuels, reports Time Magazine. “But with two years remaining in his term, the Colombian President’s radical approach faces a difficult reality: to enact his agenda, he needs to work with the market.”
Venezuela
Venezuela “is currently the country with the largest number of political prisoners in the Western Hemisphere, surpassing Cuba’s 1,113 and Nicaragua’s 147 citizens incarcerated for their ideas and beliefs,” writes Rafael Uzcatégui in Americas Quarterly. “Is this a temporary situation resulting directly from the controversy over the July election? Or is it the beginning of a new and unpredictable dark period of repression for Venezuela?”
Cuba
Cuba’s Council of State fired Vice Prime Minister Jorge Luis Perdomo Di-Lella, a close ally of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel. Perdomo Di-Lella is the second senior government official close to Díaz-Canel who has been fired due to alleged questionable links with private business, reports the Miami Herald. (See also La Jornada)
Haiti
The Guardian reports from the frontlines of the latest gang assault on one of the last bastions of safety in Port-au-Prince.
A highly controversial arrest and inquiry by a Haitian investigative judge into an alleged extrajudicial execution in September “has raised questions about how the Haiti National Police, under new command as it tries to stop violent gangs in a fresh wave of attacks, investigates and treats its own officers. It has also raised questions about a possible police cover up, while reigniting concerns about the use of excessive use of force and extrajudicial killings by the Haitian police,” reports the Miami Herald.
Chile
Center right Chile Vamos and the far right Partido Republicano of José Antonio Kast will likely ally for the second round of several municipal elections, reports La Tercera.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric testified in the case against Manuel Monsalve, a government official who resigned earlier this month after being accused of rape by a subaltern. (El País)
Mexico
Mexican organized crime’s extortion of migrants plays a critical role in reducing the number of people who reach the U.S. border, reports the Associated Press.
In 13 years, 22 people who seek the remains of their disappeared relatives, have been killed themselves — La Jornada
Brazil
Brazilian armed forces will be used to reinforce security during the meeting of the Group of 20 leading economies in Rio de Janeiro next month, reports Reuters.
Ecuador
Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa is running for reelection in February — he has maneuvered to avoid ceding power to his vice president, as he is legally required to do to start campaigning formally in January. Noboa “faces declining approval ratings due to the ongoing security and energy crisis,” reports CEPR. “In response, critics say, he has sought to divert attention and deepen polarization ahead of the elections by presenting two controversial constitutional amendments.”
Argentina
A 10-story hotel in Argentina undergoing an illegal renovation process collapsed yesterday, killing at least one person and trapping at least seven more in the debris. (Associated Press, El País, AFP)
Transportation strikes are paralyzing Argentina this week as unions push back against the Milei administration’s austerity policies — Buenos Aires Times
Argentina’s government decided to intervene in the national mint for 180 days, citing serious infrastructure deficiencies, obsolete machinery, and a debt of nearly $400 million — Chinese suppliers will print banknotes instead. (El País)
Young supporters of Argentine President Javier Milei are lionizing former President Carlos Menem, long-reviled for his neoliberal policies, but now a darling of the libertarian government. (El País)
Culture Corner
“In a country beset by gang warfare, the Ecuadorian city of Otavalo stands as a haven of safety, where the Kichwa community thrives with its rich cultural heritage, vibrant traditions, distinctive clothing – and long hair.” - Guardian