INTL Latin America and the Islands: Politics, Economics, Military- - August 2021

[Plain Jane]

New judge tapped in Haiti to oversee Moïse slaying case

LES CAYES, Haiti (AP) — A Haitian justice official has appointed a new judge to oversee the investigation into the killing of President Jovenel Moïse, acting more than a week after his predecessor withdrew from the case and as the country struggles with recovering from the devastating magnitude 7.2.

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New judge tapped in Haiti to oversee Moïse slaying case
Associated Presstoday

Members of the gang led by Jimmy Cherizier, alias Barbecue, a former police officer who heads a gang coalition known as "G9 Family and Allies," carry a photo of slain President Jovenel Moise during a march to demand justice for his murder, in La Saline neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, July 26, 2021. Moise was assassinated on July 7 at his home. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

LES CAYES, Haiti (AP) — A Haitian justice official has appointed a new judge to oversee the investigation into the killing of President Jovenel Moïse, acting more than a week after his predecessor withdrew from the case and as the country struggles with recovering from the devastating magnitude 7.2. earthquake that killed hundreds and injured thousands.

Magistrate Bernard Saint-Vil, dean of the Court of First Instance in Port-au-Prince, confirmed Monday to The Associated Press that he chose judge Garry Orélien to be in charge of the case.

Orélien replaces judge Mathieu Chanlatte, whose resignation from the case was announced Aug. 13. Chanlatte cited personal reasons without giving more information, but he left the post a day after one of his assistants died under unclear circumstances.

Orélien will supervise a case that it doesn’t seem close to be solved. Police have arrested more than 40 suspects, but there is no clarity about who was behind the plot to kill Moïse on July 7. Among the detainees are 18 former Colombian soldiers and 20 Haitian police officers.



Also on Monday, Public Security Minister Rockefeller Vincent requested in a letter to the National Police that the Colombians be held in cells away from other detainees to minimize risks, although he didn’t elaborate.

The earthquake that struck Haiti’s southwestern peninsula July 14 killed more than 2,000 people, according to authorities, and it had distracted national and international attention away from Moïse’s assassination. While Haitians work to recover from the disaster and look for the Moïse investigation to advance, the country also is expected to hold a presidential election Nov. 7.

 

[Plain Jane]

US 'Remain in Mexico' immigration policy ordered to resume – DW – 08/25/2021

The US Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that requires the Biden administration to reinstate the controversial Trump-era immigration policy.

www.dw.com

US 'Remain in Mexico' immigration policy ordered to resume
The US Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that requires the Biden administration to reinstate the controversial Trump-era immigration policy.




The administration must make 'good faith effort' to restart the program under the lower court ruling

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday effectively ruled the Biden administration would have to reinstate a controversial immigration policy that it has sought to suspend.

The ruling upholds a Texas court ruling ordering the Biden administration to make a "good faith effort" to restart the "Remain in Mexico" policy.

What is the immigration policy?
Implemented in 2019, the policy forced Mexican asylum-seekers to wait behind the Mexican border instead of being allowed to enter the US to seek asylum.

The policy, officially known as "Migrant Protection Protocols," broke from the previous US practice of allowing those fleeing violence from Mexico to enter the US and apply for asylum.
Former president Donald Trump implemented the policy in 2019. More than 60,000 asylum seekers have been sent back to Mexico since January 2019.

Joe Biden had campaigned on ending the immigration policy and suspended it on the first day of taking office this January. However, the president left a window for review before shutting it down completely.

It is not clear how many people will be affected by Tuesday's Supreme Court ruling, or if the Biden administration will again try to end the program.


Watch video01:51
US VP Kamala Harris in Mexico to address illegal migration
How have immigration authorities reacted?
The Homeland Security Department reacted quickly to the Supreme Court ruling. It said in a statement that it regrets the Supreme Court decision to reinstate the immigration policy and that it "will continue to vigorously challenge it."

The Biden administration has previously argued that the Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has discretion in deciding whether to return asylum seekers to Mexico, and the president has "clear authority" to determine immigration policy.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has called on the administration to present a fuller rationale for ending the program, which would be able to stand up to legal scrutiny.

"The government must take all steps available to fully end this illegal program, including by re-terminating it with a fuller explanation. What it must not do is use this decision as cover for abandoning its commitment to restore a fair asylum system," said Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU's immigration rights project.

What is the Supreme Court ruling based on?
Earlier this month, US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled that the Biden administration had failed to provide a legally adequate rationale for getting rid of the policy.

He ordered that the policy would have to remain in place until the administration undergoes a lengthy administrative procedure to overturn it.

The Supreme Court's conservative majority agreed that the Biden administration had not done enough to overturn the policy.

US Democrats and immigration advocates have criticized MPP, saying it subjected Central American migrants to unsanitary conditions and violence.
Arrests of migrants caught crossing the US-Mexico border have reached 20-year highs in recent months, a trend Republicans pin on Biden's reversal of MPP.


Watch video15:57
US-Mexico border crisis deepens
rm/wmr (Reuters, AP)

 

[Plain Jane]

12 dead after attacks on Indigenous communities in Nicaragua

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Settlers have again attacked Indigenous communities in Bosawas nature reserve on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast, killing a dozen members of the Miskito and Mayangna people, activists and environmentalist charged Wednesday.

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12 dead after attacks on Indigenous communities in Nicaragua
today


MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Settlers have again attacked Indigenous communities in Bosawas nature reserve on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast, killing a dozen members of the Miskito and Mayangna people, activists and environmentalist charged Wednesday.

The reserve has been hit by illegal mining and logging despite its status as a protected area, and activists have reported several attacks on Indigenous people.

Environmentalist Amaru Ruiz, director of the Del Río Foundation, blamed the latest assault on settlers who have invaded indigenous lands.

“It was a massacre,” Ruiz said. “Residents have so far confirmed the deaths of nine Miskito people and three Mayangnas.”

The Center for Legal Assistance to Indigenous Peoples said in a statement that Indigenous residents were attacked “with machetes and guns, and were tortured. They hung their bodies from a tree.”

The Nicaraguan government had not confirmed the killings. Ruiz said authorities had not been to the remote community where they occurred.

One resident told a local radio station that neither the army nor the police had responded. A request for comment from the army went unanswered.

Indigenous activists say the government of President Daniel Ortega has not done enough to address the problems on the jungle-clad coast, something his administration denied.

Human rights lawyer María Luisa Acosta said the latest attack was the fourth this year on Indigenous communities in the Bosawas area.

The Center for Justice and Human Rights on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua said at least 49 Indigenous people have been killed by settlers since January, and many others were forced to flee.

Activists say many of the settlers moving onto the lands are former soldiers linked to timber and illegal logging interests.

In March, Indigenous groups complained to the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights about land takeovers and killings that have hit the Miskito and Mayangna communities. The commission is part of the Organization of American States.

One of the worst attacks came in January 2020, when settlers burned 16 houses in the Indigenous community of Alal and killed at least four inhabitants. Last March 4, an attack on the Mayangna community of Kimak Was left one person wounded and another missing.

 

[Plain Jane]

Nicaragua orders closure of 15 more NGOs

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Nicaragua’s legislature ordered the closure of 15 more non-governmental organizations Thursday, bringing to 45 the number whose permits to operate in the country have been cancelled in the last month.

apnews.com

Nicaragua orders closure of 15 more NGOs
yesterday


MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Nicaragua’s legislature ordered the closure of 15 more non-governmental organizations Thursday, bringing to 45 the number whose permits to operate in the country have been cancelled in the last month.

The groups affected include the Mejía Godoy Foundation, linked tp popular folk singers Carlos and Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy. The singers have been in exile since mass demonstrations against President Daniel Ortega’s regime in 2018 were brutally repressed.

The country’s legislature is dominated by Ortega’s Sandinista party. Nicaragua is scheduled to hold national elections Nov. 7. and Ortega is seeking a fourth consecutive term.

Over the past three months, Ortega’s government has arrested nearly three dozen opposition figures, including seven potential challengers for the presidency.

The legislature said the order — which cancels the groups’ legal existence in Nicaragua — was motivated by the failure of the NGOs to fully report their activities to the government.
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Ortega’s regime has accused civic groups, opposition leaders and media outlets of everything from treason to money laundering. In 2018, the government closed 10 other NGOs, bringing the total so far to 55.

Among the groups no longer allowed to operate were three women’s advocacy and rights organizations that worked with rural women.

They also included Christian Medical Action, The Nicaraguan Federation of Non-governmental Organizations, and the Nicaraguan Network for Democracy and Local Development.
Several other humanitarian, development and pro-democracy groups will also have to close under the order.

Ortega’s moves to silence the opposition has drawn condemnation from the United States and the European Union, among others.

 

[Plain Jane]

Mexico: Protesters trap President Obrador in car – DW – 08/27/2021

Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador delivered a brief address via video call from his car during a two-hour standoff with protesters.

www.dw.com

Mexico: Protesters block President Obrador from giving a press conference
Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador delivered a brief address via video call from his car during a two-hour standoff with protesters.




Lopez Obrador joined the press conference via video call

A group of protesters on Friday prevented Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador from leading his usual daily news conference.

Lopez Obrador is rarely absent from the daily morning news conferences, which he has held almost every weekday since he took office in 2018.

But on Friday, demonstrators gathered at the entrance of a military barracks in the southern Chiapas state, where Lopez Obrador was set to hold a Cabinet meeting and a press conference.

The standoff lasted for around two hours.

Lopez Obrador did not engage with the protesters, Mexican media reported

What did Lopez Obrador say?
In a video message from inside his vehicle, the president said protesters refused to let him pass to pressure him into answering their demands.

"I cannot allow this because the president cannot be held hostage by anyone," he said.
Lopez Obrador also stressed that he was a non-violent leader who avoided any use of force. He said that although he was stopped in front of a military barracks, he would not call out the army to disperse protesters.

"This is what [Nelson] Mandela did, this is what [Martin] Luther King did, this is what [Mahatma] Gandhi did, non-violence,'' he said.


Watch video01:54
Mexican president asks indigenous for forgiveness
What was the protest about?
According to Mexican media, demonstrators protested against a legal reform by the previous administration that reduces the influence of teachers' unions.

Teachers and health workers shouted anti-government slogans. Some protesters scrawled the initials of the teachers' union, known as CNTE, on the president's vehicle with marker pens.

CNTE has been known for blockading roads, railways and entire cities.
When past governments had cracked down on the teachers' union, Lopez Obrador praised the organization.

But on Friday, the president admitted that CNTE's leadership has was beholden to "special interests" in some states. "I cannot surrender to any special interest group," he added.

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Brazilian President Tells Supporters "Buy A Gun, Damn It" Amid Impending Chaos

BY TYLER DURDEN
SATURDAY, AUG 28, 2021 - 08:00 PM
Why on Earth would Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tell supporters on Friday that "everyone should buy a rifle"? Is the unstable South American emerging economy, suffering from the virus pandemic, rapid food inflation, and out-of-control poverty about to stumble into further socio-economic chaos?
"Everybody has to buy a rifle, damn it! The armed people will never be enslaved. I know it costs a lot. An idiot says: 'Ah, what you have to buy is beans,' if you don't want to, don't buy the rifle, but do not come to disturb whoever wants to buy it," Bolsonaro told reporters.


Latin American Telesur's Nacho Lemus recorded video of the president telling supporters that "in a country with more than half of the population under food insecurity and in the midst of a new increase in the price of food, gasoline, gas, and electricity" now is the time to buy a gun.

Both murders and killings are on the rise in the country, exacerbated by the virus pandemic. A socio-economic economic collapse could be in the making.
Brazilian Real has lost half its value in the past decade. The decline accelerated during the virus pandemic.

While the currency is collapsing, food prices in the country are hyperinflating. Recall what everyone's favorite permabear, SocGen's Albert Edwards said in late 2020 that rising food prices will trigger social chaos in emerging market economies first.


The country's economy is spiraling out of control as Bolsonaro has already threatened to reject the 2022 presidential election's outcome because he claims it will be rigged.
Bolsonaro promised supporters he would ease gun laws and that's what he's done since 2019. The president appears to be preparing supporters for further impending socio-economic chaos or political crisis.

 

[Plain Jane]

Mexican troops disrupt migrants heading north from border

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Several hundred migrants, including many children, headed north from near Mexico's border with Guatemala on Saturday hoping to reach the U.S., but Mexican security forces dispersed the group several hours later.

apnews.com

Mexican troops disrupt migrants heading north from border
yesterday


MEXICO CITY (AP) — Several hundred migrants, including many children, headed north from near Mexico’s border with Guatemala on Saturday hoping to reach the U.S., but Mexican security forces dispersed the group several hours later.

About 300 Haitians, Cubans and Central Americans set out on foot from the town of Tapachula, and a few hundred more migrants joined in as the walk progressed.
After about eight hours, they passed through an immigration checkpoint without problems, but then National Guard troops in riot gear blocked their way as a heavy rain fell. Some of the migrants were arrested while others eluded capture and kept heading north. By Saturday night about 200 had arrived the town of Huixtla, said Rev. Heyman Vazquez, a priest who works with migrants.

Immigration agents also helped break up the group. An Associated Press journalist saw one immigration agent kick a migrant who was already immobilized and on the ground.

The Collective of Monitoring and Documentation of Human Rights of the Southeast, which is a coalition of groups that work with migrants, said some people were injured though it gave no numbers. It said the detained migrants had been loaded on buses and driven away.

The flow of migrants from Central America has increased since the beginning of the year and in recent days despair had grown especially among the Haitian community stranded in Tapachula. This week they began to demonstrate seeking to speed up their immigration procedures and threatened to leave in a caravan if Mexican officials did not pay attention to them.

The group that started out Saturday was the biggest one this year and recalled the caravans that occurred in Mexico before the pandemic and the big formation that tried to leave Honduras in January but that was blocked from crossing Guatemala.

The Mexican government has insisted this week that it will continue with its policy of containing migrants. Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval said Friday that the main goal of the deployment of the army, navy and National Guard is to “stop all migration.” He said more than 14,000 military and National Guard personnel are deployed in Mexico’s south..

 

[Plain Jane]

Explosion at Colombian police station leaves 13 injured

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — At least 13 people were injured following an explosion at a police station near Colombia’s border with Venezuela, officials in the city of Cucuta said on Monday. Police said the explosion was caused by an “improvised explosive device” that was left at the station, which...

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Explosion at Colombian police station leaves 13 injured
yesterday



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A police officer inspects damage at a police station after a bomb exploded in Cucuta, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 30, 2021, near the Venezuelan border. (AP Photo/Ferley Ospina)

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — At least 13 people were injured following an explosion at a police station near Colombia’s border with Venezuela, officials in the city of Cucuta said on Monday.
Police said the explosion was caused by an “improvised explosive device” that was left at the station, which is located in one of Cucuta’s lower income neighborhoods.

So far authorities have refrained from blaming any of the armed groups that operate in the area. In June, a car bomb at a military base in Cucuta injured 44 people, including several U.S. soldiers who were there to train Colombian military personnel. Ten days later, President Ivan Duque’s helicopter was shot at as it approached the city’s airport.

Cucuta is the capital of North Santander province, which straddles the border with Venezuela and is also one of Colombia’s leading cocaine production areas. Several armed groups have been fighting over drug trafficking routes and coca fields in North Santander recently, including the National Liberation Army, a leftist rebel group, as well as a group led by former members of the FARC, the guerrilla group that made peace with Colombia’s government in 2016.