Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa won reelection yesterday, a ratification of his militarized response to criminal organizations in the country. As of this morning, Noboa had obtained 55.65% a far larger margin of victory than expected over his runoff opponent, Luisa González, who got 44.35%. (CNE)
In a speech last night Noboa said the results were a “historic victory,” and a resounding show of support. Noboa won the presidency, also beating González, in 2023 by just a few points, and then essentially tied with González in the first round of voting this February. (See Friday’s post.)
The results grant Noboa more time to pursue an iron fist security strategy in a country battling drug gangs have made among the most violent in the region. Though Ecuador has spent must of Noboa’s 17 month presidency in states of emergency, violent deaths surged after an initial lull. February was the deadliest month in recent years, with 736 homicides, 90 percent more than in the same month last year. (Washington Post)
González said, last night, she would seek a recount and suggested fraud. Though international observers haven’t submitted official reports yet, the heads of the European Union and the Organization of American States missions said yesterday’s atmosphere was one of “normality,” reports the Guardian.
The day before the election, “Noboa declared a state of emergency in seven states, most of them González strongholds, raising fears that he was trying to suppress the vote among her supporters,” reports the New York Times.
More Ecuador
Candidates in Ecuador’s presidential race sought to woo Indigenous voters — González was endorsed by the powerful CONAIE, but the Indigenous movement is more divided than in the past, write Anastasia Austin and Douwe den Held in Al Jazeera.
Honduras
Land defender Juan Bautista Silva and his son, Juan Antonio Silva, were murdered in February in Honduras. Their bodies were dismembered with a chainsaw and left at the foot of a cliff, yet another brutal example of the severe violence faced by activists in Honduras, which in 2023 became the country with the highest number of defenders killed per capita in the world, reports the Guardian.
U.S. - El Salvador
The U.S. deported 10 more people that it alleges are gang members to El Salvador, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced yesterday. He said the alliance between U.S. President Donald Trump and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele “has become an example for security and prosperity in our hemisphere.” Bukele will meet with Trump at the White House today. (Guardian)
The deportation collaboration has also given Bukele a new global stage for his hardline security policies, reports the New York Times. Bukele could also seek relief from the 10% tariff recently imposed by Trump, according to the Associated Press.
“Populists who have successfully crafted their images through media, Bukele and Trump hail from different generations but display similar tendencies in how they relate to the press, political opposition and justice systems in their respective countries,” notes the Associated Press.
The Trump administration said yesterday in a court filing that it is not required to engage Bukele’s government in efforts to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego García, a man mistakenly deported to El Salvador. (Washington Post)
“The public recalcitrance on the part of Mr. Trump and his officials highlighted questions about why they have been so reluctant to follow the orders or leverage the president’s relationship with Mr. Bukele to simply ask for Mr. Abrego Garcia to be freed,” reports the New York Times.
U.S. - Mexico
Trump has authorized the U.S. military to take control of land at the countrys’s border with Mexico as part of broader efforts to crack down on undocumented immigration. The authorization came in a memorandum, entitled “Military Mission for Sealing the Southern Border of the United States and Repelling Invasions,” late Friday. (Guardian)
“The decision had been anticipated for weeks, with defense officials examining a plan to have active-duty troops hold migrants they encounter who cross the border illegally until law enforcement authorities arrive,” reports the Washington Post.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said, Friday, that Mexico will make an immediate water delivery to U.S. farmers to help make up its shortfall under a treaty that has strained US relations and prompted new Trumpian tariff threats, reports the Guardian.
U.S. - Panama
Panamanian opposition politicians have accused the U.S. of launching a “camouflaged invasion” of the country, after U.S. Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth said last week that “we’ve moved a lot of troops to Panama.” (Guardian)
Agreements signed last week between the U.S. and Panama included aerial photos of Fort Sherman, Rodman naval base and Howard air force base, with areas outlined for “training”, “humanitarian activities” and the “installation of US property,” though Panama’s government said this does not entail installing U.S. military bases on Panamanian territory. (Guardian)
U.S. - Cuba
The Trump administration has begun to pull the U.S. visas of foreign officials in countries that pay the Cuban government for doctors and nurses, a measure threatens one of Cuba’s main sources of currency, the international medical brigades, reports the New York Times.
U.S.- Argentina
Trump’s embrace of protectionism is directly opposed to Argentine President Javier Milei’s vehement libertarian economic views — but that hasn’t interfered in “one of the Western Hemisphere’s strongest — and most curious — geopolitical bromances,” writes Ishaan Tharoor in the Washington Post.
Argentina
Dozens of women in Argentina have accused Opus Dei, a secretive and ultra-conservative Catholic organisation, of coercing them as children and adolescents into a life of domestic servitude, reports the Guardian.
Culture Corner
Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, one of the leading voices of the literary Latin American Boom and a prominent conservative voice in global politics, has died aged 89. Writing “is a way of living with illusion and joy and a fire throwing out sparks in your head, struggling with intractable words until you master them,” he said in his 2010 Nobel acceptance speech. (Guardian, Washington Post, New York Times)
Max Romeo, the influential Jamaican reggae artist best known for tracks such as Chase the Devil and War Ina Babylon, has died at the age of 80. (Guardian)