X v Xandão
Aug. 30, 2024
Brazilian Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes escalated a feud with billionaire Elon Musk yesterday — and Brazil is bracing for a potential shutdown in access to the X social media platform.
The feud started earlier this year, when Moraes ordered X to block certain accounts implicated in probes of so-called digital militias accused of spreading distortion and hate. X’s owner, Musk, denounced the order as censorship and shutdown the social media platform’s Brazil operations. Under Brazilian laws governing the internet, social media platforms are required to have a locally based representative, which is why Moraes is now threatening a shutdown. (Reuters, see Aug. 15’s post)
The deadline expired at 8.07pm local time yesterday. An hour later, Elon Musk’s social network announced it would not comply, reports the Guardian. Yesterday Moraes blocked the local bank accounts for Musk’s satellite and internet provider Starlink — a move criticized by legal experts.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said X should be subject to the same Brazilian laws as everybody else. "Just because a guy has a lot of money doesn't mean he can disrespect (the law)," he said in a radio interview today. Yesterday Musk called Lula as Moraes' "lapdog" in a post on X in which the billionaire also called Moraes a "dictator.”
Moraes’ supporters see him as a critical defender of democracy, but critics say he has overstepped his legal boundaries, reports Reuters.
The escalating fight with Musk and recent reporting accusing Moraes of skirting oficial procedure “have put renewed focus on several questions: Is Moraes censoring the opposition, or guarding Brazilian democracy? What should be the balance between allowing political speech on social media—and fighting back against disinformation and other threats? And finally: Has Moraes’ power outlived its usefulness, placing due process and the rule of law under threat in a different but also harmful way?” asks Nick Burns in Americas Quarterly.
The Associated Press looks at how Brazilian judges have the power to act in such cases, and how X’s refusal to appoint a legal representative would be particularly problematic ahead of Brazil’s October municipal elections, with a churn of fake news expected.
Migration
“Panamanian authorities deported a group of migrants to Ecuador on a second flight financed by the United States, as part of an agreement between the U.S. and Panama to discourage irregular crossings and reduce the flow of mostly U.S.-bound migration,” reports Reuters.
The U.S. will restart a parole program for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, with more robust checks for U.S.-based sponsors. Illegal crossings along the southern border by migrants from those countries have declined sharply since the parole program was launched, reports the Washington Post.
Mass deportations could create a U.S. recession, argues Ernesto Castañeda at the AULA Blog.
El Salvador
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s controversial gang crackdown “has become a kind of rhetorical Rorschach test for politicians and professors” outside of El Salvador, writes Megan K. Stack in the New York Times. But perspectives within the country are far more complex.
Time Magazine has Bukele on the cover, and reports: “For Bukele’s admirers, El Salvador has become a showcase for how populist authoritarianism can succeed. His second term will be a test of what happens to a state when its charismatic young leader has an overwhelming mandate to dismantle its democratic institutions in pursuit of security.”
Regional
“To counter the prevailing narrative in the region that suggests that improving security necessarily comes at the cost of individual rights and democracy, it is essential to work on a democratic security agenda,” according to a new report by The Dialogue that “explores potential guidelines for an alternative public policy that addresses insecurity both democratically and effectively.”
Ecuador
Ecuador’s government says it has started dismantling infrastructure on a controversial oil drilling block in Yasuni National Park, just as today’s court-imposed deadline for completion looms, reports the Associated Press.
Venezuela
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro blamed a massive power outage affecting Caracas and several states on “electrical sabotage.” (Reuters)
The European Union does not recognize Maduro’s "democratic legitimacy" after his self-proclaimed re-election last month, the bloc's top diplomat, Josep Borrell said yesterday. (AFP)
Mexico
Violence against reporters in Mexico ·stems from a climate in which organised crime and local authorities work together in near impunity, and parallels a broader rise in murders since 2008 as drug-trafficking groups have contested territory and expanded into migrant trafficking, oil theft and extortion,” reports the Financial Times.
Honduras
The case of Próspera, a charter city in Honduras developed under legislation the government wants to dissolve, is suing in a World Bank tribunal for an astronomical $10.775 billion. “A win for Próspera could demonstrate sufficient legal stability to attract investors and set the precedent for new cities around the world. If it loses, start-up city founders will need to look for new legal strategies,” reports the New York Times.
The U.S. called on Honduras’ government to reconsider a decision to leave a long-standing extradition treaty, reports Reuters. (See yesterday’s briefs.)
Colombia
There’s a war for blood gold is underway in Buriticá, Colombia and everyone there knows someone whose life it has claimed, writes Joshua Collins at Pirate Wire Services.
Peru
“Peru’s Congress is recklessly dismantling the nation’s crime-fighting institutions to the benefit of the country’s mafias—increasing the risk of instability, outmigration, and manipulation by malign foreign actors,” writes Will Freeman in Americas Quarterly.
Bolivia
Bolivia has recorded the largest number of outbreaks of wildfires in 14 years, with 3 million hectares of land burned already this year and peak fire season still ahead, reports Reuters.
Argentina
Argentine police a former member of Italy’s far-left guerrilla Red Brigades, who has been on the run from Italy’s justice system for more than 40 years. Leonardo Bertulazzi had been living in Argentina for years as a refugee, a status he lost under the current Milei government, reports the Guardian.