Venezuela released 103 prisoners
Dec. 13, 2024
Venezuelan authorities said they released 103 people this week who had been arrested in relation to anti-government protests after the hotly contested July presidential election. They were released during a 72-hour period, from Tuesday through Thursday, reports Al Jazeera.
Of the individuals released this week, at least 19 are teenagers out of a group of more than 150 people who were arrested during protests on July 29 and 30 across the country, reports El País. Venezuela reached a peak of more than 2,000 arrested protesters after the July 28 presidential elections.
The releases are in addition to “freedom measures” granted to 225 detainees last month, though most of them must appear in court every 30 days, which rights groups say does not constitute full freedom, reports Reuters.
The government's citizen security office announced that this week's prisoner release followed a request by Maduro "to review all the cases concerning acts of violence and crimes committed in the framework of the election.”
The moves come ahead of a new phase in the Venezuela political crisis, ahead of the new presidential mandate which starts on Jan. 10 — President Nicolás Maduro claims to have won the July election, but the opposition says the vote was stolen. The international community has not recognized the results, further challenging Maduro’s legitimacy in a new term.
More Venezuela
A special advisor to International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor resigned in protest over what he sees as Prosecutor Karim Khan’s failure to indict Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government for crimes against humanity, reports the Associated Press. Human rights lawyer Claudio Grossman quit in a harshly worded e-mail last month to Khan, in which he said his ethical standards no longer allow him to stand by silently as Maduro’s government continues to commit abuses without any action from the ICC.
In light of Maduro’s resistance both to the maximum pressure strategy of the first Trump presidency and the democratization efforts of the Biden administration, incoming U.S. government should fine-tune its Venezuela policy, argues José Ignacio Hernández in Americas Quarterly. A new approach respect Venezuelan voters’ will by recognizing Edmundo González as president, put oil payments in escrow, and use sanctions to encourage ruling elites to favor a transition.
Trump names ambassadors to LatAm
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump nominated ambassadors to several Latin American countries, this week. His picks demonstrate a focus on law enforcement and ties to Florida — and ratify a State Department with deep and hawkish ties to Latin America. The Republican party has a majority in the Senate, so the nominees are expected to be ratified.
Trump tapped former Green Beret and CIA veteran Ronald Johnson, as the next United States ambassador to Mexico. Johnson was Trump’s ambassador to El Salvador from 2019 to 2021, where he established a deep and uncritical friendship with President Nayib Bukele. (Reuters, El País)
named Daniel J. Newlin to represent the U.S. in Colombia, emphasizing the former Orlando sheriff’s role in fighting crime. Newlin, a successful lawyer, donated more than $1 million to Trump’s campaign. Trump’s State Department pick, Marco Rubio, has been a strong opponent of Latin America’s leftist leaders, and could potentially clash with Colombian President Gustavo Petro. (The City Paper, La Silla Vacía, El País)
Trump chose Peter Lamelas as ambassador Buenos Aires. The Cuban-born physician met President Javier Milei at a CPAC gala event at Mar-a-Lago last month. (Mercopress, Página 12)
More Regional Relations
Ten years after the U.S. and Cuba reached a historic détente, relations between the two are at a low point and Cuba is facing one of the worst economic crises of its history. The thaw was shortlived, but produced tangible benefits, write William LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh in Foreign Policy. Though a new Trump presidency could mean even greater sanctions, engagement would be a more pragmatic response for the incoming administration on a number of levels, they argue.
A majority of U.S. voters want President Joe Biden to reach out to the Cuban government to re-establish diplomatic ties before he leaves the White House next month, according to a public opinion survey published this week by Data for Progress. (Florida Phoenix)
In an editorial, the Miami Herald calls for the U.S. to take decisive action on Haiti, where people ”are enduring unprecedented levels of brutality. This year alone, criminal gangs have killed at least 5,000 people and carried out horrifying massacres. Women and girls are being raped, children are forced into armed gangs, and elderly citizens are being targeted, shot, decapitated and burned.”
Paraguay reopened its embassy in Jerusalem yesterday. The country had briefly moved its embassy to the contested Israeli city in 2018, under President Horacio Cartes, a decision that was reversed by the following government and has now been reinstated by President Santiago Peña, Cartes’ protégé, reports the Associated Press.
Chile and Colombia signed an agreement to foster a joint feminist diplomatic agenda, reports EFE. (See also Mercopress)
Haiti
Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé held his first press conference yesterday — he was appointed more than a month ago — as the country reels from bloody massacres that build on months of gang violence. After more than 180 people were killed last weekend in Cité Soleil, another massacre was reported on Tuesday night in Petite Rivière with some 20 people killed, including women and children. (Associated Press)
Nicaragua
Nicaragua’s Ortega government announced its own Christmas pardons: at least 38 of 40 people detained in recent weeks in relation to a constitutional reform project that critics say would ratify the country’s authoritarian governance. (El País)
Brazil
Brazil has taken an increasingly hard line against racist speech, and is at the fore of an international trend to criminally prosecute the offense. Between 2020 and 2023, the number of criminal prosecutions was up more than fivefold, according to government crime statistics, rising from 794 to 4,871, reports the Washington Post.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva underwent a second procedure to stop bleeding in his brain, yesterday. He is expected to leave the hospital and return to Brasilia at the beginning of next week when he will be able to slowly resume his activities, reports the Associated Press.
Lula's condition has raised doubts about the president's intention to run for re-election in 2026, but a senior aide said yesterday he will be the ruling Workers Party candidate, reports Reuters.
Mexico
Forbes named Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum the fourth most powerful woman in the world — and cites her inaugural speech, “it’s time for women,” in the article presenting the full list. (See also El País.)
“Millions of faithful gathered to mark Mexico’s Virgin of Guadalupe Day, honoring the country’s patron saint. But calls by the Roman Catholic Church for a truce in Mexico’s ongoing cartel violence apparently went unheeded as more dead bodies were found in the country” yesterday, reports the Associated Press.
Mexico’s Guanajuato state, bordering Michoacán, is undergoing a spate of violence — this week authorities found plastic bags with the remains of at least five people in an abandoned vehicle, reports El País.
Two U.S. citizens were fatally shot by gunmen this week in Michoacán, “a setback to the Mexican government’s efforts to curb the violence gripping several regions in the country,” according to the New York Times.
Argentina
Rio Tinto Group announced plans to invest US$2.5 billion in a new lithium mine in Argentina — a win for President Javier Milei’s efforts to deregulate the country’s economy and lure foreign investment, reports the Buenos Aires Times.
Rather optimistically, Bloomberg claims Milei has made Argentines fall out of love with the dollar.
Regional
“Just as Argentina was a trailblazer for the regional feminist movement, Milei might signal a regionwide backlash against increasing gender equality,” according to the Wilson Center’s Weekly Asado blog. “Traditional conservatives and far-right political figures are gaining support throughout Latin America and progressive leaders … face low approval ratings. In the year since the Argentine election, conservative lawmakers in Bolivia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, andUruguay have introduced legislation that would curtail women’s rights.”
The Inter-American Development Bank announced the launch of a regional security alliance against crime that brings together 18 governments across Latin America and the Caribbean as well as several international finance institutions, reports Reuters.
The Bahamas
U.S. prosecutors accused high ranking security officials in The Bahamas of forming a cocaine trafficking network. The case demonstrates the difficulties the U.S. faces collaborating with foreign law enforcement, “as well as the continuing importance of the island nation as a drug trafficking hub,” according to InSight Crime.
Bolivia
Bolivia’s former anti-narcotics chief was extradited to the United States yesterday to face federal drug trafficking charges in a New York court., reports the Associated Press.
Jamaica
Jamaica’s government presented a bill in parliament to abolish the constitutional monarchy, the first step to removing UK King Charles as head of state and transition the country to a republic. (Guardian)
Ecuador
U.S. Congressman Jim McGovern called on President Joe Biden to pardon Steven Donziger, a well-known human rights lawyer who helped Indigenous and farming communities in Ecuador secure a historic $9.5 billion judgment against the Chevron for decades of environmental destruction. The oil company “retaliated with a vicious legal campaign designed not just to discredit him, but to ruin his life,” he writes in the Guardian.