The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously today to extend for another year the mandate of the international security mission helping Haiti fight armed gangs. The U.S. and Ecuador drafted resolution dropped earlier language proposing the mission transition into a formal U.N. peacekeeping mission, due to opposition from both China and Russia. (Miami Herald, Security Council Report)
The transition would have solved financing for the Kenya-led mission, which is underfunded, ill-equipped and understaffed, reports the Miami Herald. U.S. government officials said they will work with Haiti to seek a peacekeeping operation, in line with Haitian Transitional Presidential Council leader Edgard Leblanc Fil’s “strong call” last week at the UN General Assembly for a peacekeeping mission.
Haiti's U.N. Ambassador Antonio Rodrigue told the council that transforming the security mission into a U.N. peacekeeping operation "appears not just to be necessary, but a matter of urgency," arguing that it would guarantee stable funding and allow capacities to be expanded "to a level that is reflective of the magnitude of the present challenges in Haiti." (Reuters)
At least 3,661 people have been killed in Haiti in the first half of this year, according to a report from UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released last week. It said the death toll between January and June – which included 100 children – showed that last year’s “high levels of violence” had been maintained. (Al Jazeera)
More Haiti
Prime Minister Garry Conille’s government “recently finalized a “roadmap” that incorporates many of the key recommendations Human Rights Watch and Haitian civil society groups have identified as being essential to effectively address the crisis.”
Mexico
It is Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s last day in office, and critics and supporters tend to agree, it has been a watershed administration, reports the New York Times.
“By putting inequality at the centre of his discourse – and acting on it – Amlo restored large parts of the population to confidence in democracy. By 2023, 61% of Mexicans said they had faith in their national government, compared with 29% when López Obrador took office,” reports the Guardian.
The morning presidential press conference, dubbed la mañanera, has been a staple of López Obrador’s presidency. Analysts are watching to see how incoming President Claudia Sheinbaum adapts the format to her own style, reports Reuters.
A first key test for the new president’s technocratic reputation will be her management of the secondary regulations of the recently approved, and highly controversial, judicial reform passed earlier this month. “Justified enormous concern may ebb somewhat if Morena manages to implement the reform gradually and carefully, particularly in relation to features such as independence, career and selection of judges,” writes Vanessa Rubio in Americas Quarterly.
Residents of Mexico’s Sinaloa state capital, Culiacán, say cartel warfare is like a “narco pandemic” that has residents under lockdown. “They check daily reports of metal spikes set up on roads to puncture tyres, masked civilians grabbing young men off the street and bodies being dumped around the metropolitan area. Shops are shutting early, workers are scared to turn up and public concerts and celebrations are cancelled,” reports the Financial Times.
The Sinaloa Cartel War blew up after the July detention of leaders Joaquín Guzmán López and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. Allegedly the first kidnapped the second and handed him over to U.S. authorities. I spoke to veteran narco reporter Ioan Grillo about the roots of the cartel’s infighting. (Cenital)
Brazil
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Friday added conditions for social media platform X to have its service reestablished in the country, one day after the company said it had complied with all the judge’s demands, including naming a legal representative, reports the Associated Press.
Intense drought in Brazil has brought misery to those who live along Amazon waterways, reports the Guardian.
Venezuela
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro deserves to be arrested for human rights violations, but international efforts to detain him could backfire on the ultimate goal of regime change, writes James Bosworth in World Politics Report. Arrest warrants remind Venezuelan officials “that they must hang on to power at all costs, because the alternative could lead to years in prison. Any diplomatic pressure brought to bear on Maduro is unlikely to convince him to acknowledge he lost the election in July if he cannot be guaranteed a safe exit. Without incentives to leave and reason to trust that promises of amnesty will be kept, it becomes harder to promote a democratic transition.”
Guatemala
“Guatemala’s Congress should ensure a transparent, merit-based selection process for Supreme Court and appellate court judges, Human Rights Watch said today.”
Regional Relations
U.S. sanctions against businesses are framed in moral terms, but often wind up causing collateral damage, reports the Washington Post, looking at how sanctions imposed on Guatemala’s nickel mines in 2022 plunged thousands of workers across an entire region into hardship and “fueling an out-migration that ultimately cost some of them their lives.”
“As anti-Haitianism surges in the lead-up to the U.S. presidential election, confronting the rise in xenophobia and hate requires a hemispheric approach to U.S. imperialism,” write Darlène Dubuisson and Mark Schuller in Nacla.
The old Plan Colombia formula no longer works. Policymakers should embrace a more holistic approach, argues former U.S. diplomat Steven Hendrix in Americas Quarterly.
U.S. Peace Corps volunteers returned to El Salvador for the first time since it left in 2016 because of violence in the country. It was the latest sign of a thaw in U.S. relations with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, reports the Associated Press.
Bukele is scheduled to meet with Argentine President Javier Milei today in Buenos Aires. (Buenos Aires Herald)
Milei campaigned promising not to do business with China for ideological reasons, but has flipped his stance, saying in an interview last week that it’s an interesting partner and promising to travel soon. (Página 12)
Argentina
On Saturday Milei officially launched his political party La Libertad Avanza (he won the presidency as head of a coalition with the same name), with an eye to winning seats in Congress in next year’s mid-term elections. Presidency Secretary Karina Milei — the president’s sister, whom he refers to as “The Boss” in the masculine Spanish form, El Jefe — was appointed as the head of the new party. (Reuters, Buenos Aires Herald)
Migration
A new coalition, the Mayors of the Americas Task Force on Migration, “unites mayors from major cities across the Americas—from Bogotá, Colombia, to San Antonio, U.S.—to implement innovative, city-led migration responses and break through the political gridlock that has slowed national-level responses.” (Via Americas Migration Brief)
Critter Corner
An Argentine town is battling a damaging invasion of parrots, spurred by deforestation. (Reuters)