Venezuela
The magnitude of the President Nicolás Maduro’s electoral defeat in Venezuela caught the government by surprise, according to the New York Times. Vote tallies obtained by the opposition — the government still hasn’t made the official ones public — showed that “the ruling party’s supporters in the public sector and poor neighborhoods had abandoned the country’s leader in droves.”
A power sharing agreement between Maduro and the opposition — while difficult to swallow — might be the best way out of Venezuela’s prolonged crisis, argues Francisco Rodríguez in the New York Times. He cites the example of Poland in 1989.
“The contours of a viable power-sharing agreement in Venezuela would likely include a division of responsibilities within the executive branch,” writes Rodríguez. “The opposition and nonpartisan experts would be best poised to occupy ministries in charge of economic and oil policy. Chavistas … could remain at the helm of the security and interior ministries. The parties would need to agree on a plan of action to address the country’s humanitarian and economic emergency, while the international community could promise to financially support the new government’s effort at economic reconstruction.” (New York Times)
Venezuela’s government has unleashed a storm of misinformation following the election and accusations that it stole the election, reports Runrun.es
Opposition leaders who were cited by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) in Venezuela said they called for the publication of full voting tallies. (Efecto Cocuyo)
Edmundo González, who claims to have won the election, did not attend the court summons, arguing he would be defenseless. González has been in hiding since last week, in the midst of ongoing government threats. (El País, Associated Press)
A state opposition politician allied with González was detained yesterday. (Runrun.es)
Covfefe: A brief in yesterday’s coverage of Venezuela was incomprehensible. It should have read that Globo reports that Lula said he would speak with Maduro, along with his Mexican and and Colombian counterparts. And that he and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed that an instance of recognizing a parallel government in Venezuela, a Guaidó 2, should be avoided.
Brazil, Mexico and Colombia have been leading efforts to get both sides to negotiate — the leaders of the three countries have a virtual meeting scheduled for this afternoon, reports La Silla Vacía.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric has been critical of Maduro and maintains he committed fraud, but supports Brazil, Mexico and Colombia’s efforts, reports El País.
Spain’s foreign minister is in contact with his Brazilian and Colombian counterparts to assist their Venezuela strategy, reports El País.
Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino said he wants to host a summit of 17 Latin American presidents to discuss the political situation in Venezuela. He asked for the U.S. to support the summit in a meeting U.S. Southern Command General Laura Richardson and the U.S. Ambassador to Panama. (Reuters)
The Chavista project has become a burden for Latin American progressivism, which never embraced it, also avoided criticizing it, writs Pablo Stefanoni in El País. “An increase in repression, which seems to be the only way to overcome the crisis… will have a high cost for the left in the region. Not only for the Bolivarian remnants … but also for the critical left, which today faces new radicalized right-wing movements.”
Tech companies set dangerous precedent with app for reporting anti-government protesters, according to Amnesty International.
Colombia
The Colombian government’s newest attempt at peace talks with the Gulf Clan come as the Petro administration’s “talks with other armed groups are in critical condition,” reports InSight Crime. (See yesterday’s post.) The Total Peace policy ”by which the government is seeking demobilization agreements with criminal and armed groups across Colombia, has become a revolving door of groups entering and exiting negotiations.”
Two years into Gustavo Petro’s presidential mandate, “the government's pension reform is the sole major legislation to have been enacted into law, and only after it was diluted by the Congress,” reports Reuters. “Health and labor reforms are stuck and unlikely to pass the legislature in their proposed form.”
DeJusticia’s analysis of Petro’s first two years in power focus on increasing restrictions to public information. (La Silla Vacía)
“After negotiating the approval of a pension reform with center-right opposition legislators, Petro hopes to cut another deal over labor reform,” reports the Latin America Advisor. A watered-down reform bill has already been approved at committee level. It includes measures to strengthen individual workers’ rights, but excludes initiatives designed to strengthen collective labor rights that did not have the backing of the center-right.
Petro “has riled U.S.-Colombian relations, chipping away at nearly a quarter century of steady U.S. bipartisan support” in just two years, writes Cynthia Arnson in Americas Quarterly. “Petro’s rhetoric and positions on issues such as counternarcotics, peace, and security—the centerpieces of collaboration over five U.S. and Colombian administrations—have alienated core constituencies in the U.S. Congress and even among some in the Biden administration.
Haiti
“Kenya, the United States and Haitian authorities have all claimed there have been improvements in Haiti’s security landscape since the first Kenyan police officers arrived to lead the support mission,” reports the Miami Herald. “But while touting the “significant strides,” the mission’s backers have made no mention of its limitations.” In Ganthier, ongoing gang attacks confront security forces without basic means, raising questions about how much the Kenya-led force can actually accomplish.
Mexico
Mexico’s Morena party has agreed on some modifications to the judicial reform it hopes to pass through congress by the end of the month. Following a series of forums on the changes, which include popular election of judges, the party will incorporate eligibility criteria for the Supreme Court, and a gradual implementation of elections for other positions, guaranteeing the rights of people currently working in the judicial power. (Animal Político)
Argentina
Former Argentine President Alberto Fernández has been accused of violent abuse by his wife, Fabiola Yáñez - episodes that allegedly occurred while he was in office. He denies the accusation. She filed charges after a judge investigating corruption allegations uncovered photos of abuse she had sent Fernández’s secretary. The judge has prohibited him from contacting her and from leaving the country. (Página 12, Página 12, Associated Press)