Mexico & Central America News and Discussions

[caltrek]

Center-Left Surprise in Guatemalan Elections
June 26, 2023

Introduction:

(Latino Rebels) Left-of-center opposition legislator Bernardo Arévalo shattered all forecasts, seizing second place in Guatemala‘s presidential elections on Sunday and advancing to an August runoff. Arévalo will face political boss Sandra Torres in a test of whether Guatemalan voters can achieve political change via the ballot despite the profound suspicions of presidential efforts to contaminate the election.

Eighth-Seed Upset

With 98 percent of ballots counted as of 9 a.m. ET on Monday, social-democrat Congressman Bernardo. In an August 20 runoff, he will face former first lady and legislative power broker Sandra Torres of the National Unity of Hope (UNE) party (15.6 percent), who has studiously avoided criticizing the dismantling of democratic institutions in the country.

“We can now say that it’s a definitive trend,” Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) magistrate Gabriel Aguilera announced at 3:20 a.m. “It would be most responsible to make the announcement tomorrow [Monday], but the two who are leading are UNE and Semilla.”

Semilla was founded in 2017 in the spirit of the 2015 mass anti-corruption protests that ended with President Otto Pérez Molina and Vice President Roxana Baldetti’s imprisonment on customs fraud charges. Since its inception, the party has invoked the democratic tradition of the Guatemalan Revolution (1944-1954).

Four years ago, Semilla proposed as a presidential candidate former attorney general and International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala ally Thelma Aldana, who controversially removed from the race while leading the polls and currently in exile. The party has since used its six seats in Congress —the most among the country’s handful of left-of-center parties— to condemn corruption and mismanagement during the pandemic.

Read more here: https://www.latinorebels.com/2023/06/2 ... ections/

[caltrek]

Nicaragua Loses Long-running Ocean Border Dispute With Colombia at UN’s Top Court
by Molly Quell
July 13, 2023

Introduction:

THE HAGUE (Courthouse News) — The International Court of Justice ruled on Thursday that countries cannot make claims on a maritime boundary that encroaches on the territory of another county, dismissing a complaint from Nicaragua over some 30,000 square miles of sea.

The Hague-based court settled a two-decades-long legal dispute between the two Latin American countries fighting over small Caribbean islands and the waters rich in minerals and fish surrounding them.

"Irrespective of any scientific and technical considerations, Nicaragua is not entitled to an extended continental shelf within 200 nautical miles from the baselines of Colombia's mainland coast," President Judge Joan Donoghue said in reading the ruling.

The Colombia delegation hugged one another after the announcement of the decision.

Further extract:

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Carlos Argüello Gómez, Nicaragua’s ambassador to the Netherlands and agent at the court, told journalists his government would study the ruling but said: “Nicaragua has always complied with ICJ sentences and there is not even the slightest doubt that Nicaragua will accept and comply with this sentence.”

Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/nicarag ... op-court/

[caltrek]

Millions of Mexicans Lifted Out of Poverty as a Result of His Policies, Claims López Obrador and Some Analysts
by Cody Copeland
August 11, 2023

Introduction:

MEXICO CITY (Courthouse News) — Mexico has experienced “historic” drops in rates of poverty and inequality, the country’s president said Friday.

“There is less poverty and less inequality in our country,” said President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said during his morning press conference in Mexico City. “This shows that our strategy has worked.”

He cited data analyzed by Mexico’s National Council of Social Development Policy Evaluation (Coneval) that show that the number of Mexican citizens living in poverty fell from 52.2 million in 2016 — two years before he took office — to 46.8 million in 2022.

Extract:

“Without a doubt, poverty has been reduced, but there is a vital component that has escaped other analyses, and that is data on extreme poverty,” said Leonardo Nuñez, head of applied research at the watchdog group Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI).

His group’s analysis of the data showed that 400,000 people have gone into extreme poverty under the current administration. And over half of those currently experiencing extreme poverty are not receiving any benefits from López Obrador’s social programs.

Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/million ... esidency/

[weatheriscool]

Mexico's Supreme Court decriminalizes abortion nationwide
Source: AP

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalized abortion nationwide Wednesday, two years after ruling that abortion was not a crime in one northern state.

That earlier ruling had set off a grinding process of decriminalizing abortion state by state. Last week, the central state of Aguascalientes became the 12th state to decriminalize the procedure.

The court’s sweeping decision Wednesday comes amid a trend in Latin America of loosening restrictions on abortion, even as access has been limited in parts of the United States.

Mexico City was the first Mexican jurisdiction to decriminalize abortion 15 years ago.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/mexico-abort ... 0b3afd15de

[caltrek]

Oaxacan Political Prisoners Released After Nine Years Without a Conviction
by Cody Copeland
September 28, 2023

Introduction:

MEXICO CITY (Courthouse News) — Activists for a group of five men held in prison under Mexico’s mandatory pretrial detention mechanism for almost nine years received bittersweet news Thursday when a judge announced that two of the men were to be released.

Oaxaca state Judge Luis Salvador Cordero ordered that Jaime Betanzos and Herminio Monfil be removed from mandatory pretrial detention during a hearing that lasted more than five hours.

Additional extracts:

The men were arrested in December 2014 after a politically-motivated skirmish in their small Mazatec community in a mountainous area in the north of Oaxaca resulted in the death of a brother of local politician Elisa Zepeda.

She accused the men and dozens others of murdering her brother, which led to the charges that put them in mandatory pretrial detention.

The men remained imprisoned far longer than the constitutionally mandated two-year limit to mandatory pretrial detention, despite over a dozen writs of amparo — similar to habeas corpus in U.S. law — that found no evidence to support Zepeda’s claims.

Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/oaxacan ... iction/

[caltrek]

Don’t Speak at All, and Beware the Stick
by Robert Kahn
October 20, 2023

Introduction:

(Courthouse News) More than 105 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2010, according to Human Rights Watch. The government has secured seven convictions in those cases. Twelve non-journalist human rights defenders were murdered there in 2022 alone. And more than 105,000 people are listed as “missing.”

Science magazine reported in September that drug cartels “collectively ‘employ’ some 175,000 people in Mexico, making them the fifth-largest employer in the country.”

And what is AMLO’s (Andrés Manuel Lỏpez Obrador's) response to this? He slanders and threatens reporters and editors on a daily basis in his weekday press conferences, and doubles down in on them in his weekly “Who’s Who in the Lies of the Week.”

On March 23 this year he called journalism a “criminal underworld.” On Aug. 17 he began his daily press conference by calling reporters “corrupt,” “sold and rented,” infamous and “perverse.” On the campaign trail in 2017 he called reporters “disgusting” and “filthy.”

On Tuesday this week he sent a bill to Mexico’s lower house of Congress that would kill the nationwide news agency Notimex, which would close its 568 news offices and throw some 30,000 employees out of work. Notimex workers have been on strike since 2020, claiming harassment and unjust firings by AMLO’s handpicked head of the agency, Sanjuana Martỉnez, whom he appointed soon after taking office. Negotiations have gone nowhere; the only remaining issue appears to be severance pay.

Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/dont-sp ... he-stick/

caltrek’s comment: Conservatives may have a point about the need to secure U.S. borders. In fact, at this point, I think it is more an argument of how to go about doing that. Linked to all that is the question of immigration policy. Specifically, what to do about all those immigrants that come here for temporary work in the ag industry?

Conservatives simply ignore that aspect of immigration, even as they issue work permits allowing entry by said agricultural workers. This may be satisfactory to ag interests but doesn’t necessarily go over so well with those concerned about the “contamination” of “American” culture. Such “contamination” is an ever-evolving process that started with the arrival of Columbus in the Western hemisphere.

[caltrek]

Latin American Leaders to Discuss Migration at Mexico Summit
by Cody Copeland
October 20, 2023

Introduction:

MEXICO CITY (Courthouse News) — Heads of state and other high-ranking officials from Mexico and 11 Latin American countries will meet in Palenque, Chiapas, on Sunday to discuss migration and responses to its root causes.

Organized by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the summit is titled “For a fraternal neighborhood and well-being.” Attendees “will seek to expand safe, orderly and regular pathways of human mobility with a humanist vision and a focus on development,” according to a press release issued by Mexico’s Foreign Relations Secretariat on Friday.

The heads of state of Colombia, Cuba, Haiti, Honduras and Venezuela had confirmed their attendance as of Friday afternoon. The vice president of El Salvador and vice premier of Belize will attend, as will high-ranking officials from Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala and Panama.

Leaders at the summit “will analyze the causes of human mobility, like poverty, inequality, lack of work opportunities and the negative effects of climate change, as well as external unilateral measures that cause this social phenomenon in vulnerable populations,” the press release said.

“We must deal with the causes, we must go to the heart of the matter,” López Obrador said during a press conference this week. “We have to make sure that people — who out of necessity set out to make a living — can, in their places of origin, if they are cared for, if there are opportunities, stay with their families, in their towns, maintain their customs, their traditions, and not take risks.”

Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/latin- ... o-summit/

[caltrek]

Cuba Scores a Big Victory in the UN General Assembly
by W.T. Whitney
November 9, 2023

Introduction:

(Counterpunch) The United Nations General Assembly on November 2 voted to approve a Cuban resolution that, unchanged over 31 consecutive years, calls for an end to the U.S. economic blockade of Cuba. Approval once more was overwhelming: 187 nations voted in favor and two against, the United States and Israel. Ukraine abstained.

Reacting to the vote, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel proclaimed a “new victory for the Cuban people and their Revolution!” He pointed to “the triumph of dignity and the fearlessness of our people,” and expressed gratitude for “the international community’s recognition of and support for Cuba’s heroism and resistance.”

For over 20 years, the only nations opposing the Cuban resolution, apart from the United States, have been Israel and, formerly, a few U.S.-dependent Pacific island nations. The blockade began in 1962, and now 80% of Cubans have lived under its sway.

Before the vote this year, dozens of delegates representing member states spoke out against the blockade. Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Relations Bruno Rodríguez addressed the General Assembly, insisting that the U.S. blockade interferes with “the right to life, health, progress and welfare of every Cuban family.”

He explained that Cuba’s financial losses from the blockade reflect factors like the high cost of substituting for goods excluded under the blockade with more expensive goods and/or those with higher transportation costs. Losses take the form also of an overall lack of necessary materials, goods, and services. And “barriers Cuba faces in gaining access to advanced technology” lead to monetary loss.

Read more here: https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/11/0 ... ssembly/

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[caltrek]

Guantanamo Bay: 22 Years of Indefinite Detention and Eroded Human Rights
January11, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) BOSTON, MA – January 11, 2024 marks the 22nd anniversary of the opening of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, a facility shrouded in controversy and synonymous with indefinite detention and alleged human rights abuses. Established in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Guantanamo has held hundreds of individuals suspected of terrorism, many without charge or trial, and under conditions widely condemned by international human rights organizations.

A Legacy of Controversy:

• Indefinite Detention: … with 30 still detained today, some for over two decades without ever facing trial…

• Allegations of Torture and Abuse…

• …in Guantanamo Bay…condemned as a form of torture and as “sexual assault masquerading as medical treatment.”

• Erosion of Legal Principles: The creation of a legal framework outside the U.S. justice system and the use of military commissions have been criticized for undermining established legal principles and setting a dangerous precedent for the erosion of human rights protections...

Guantanamo Bay stands as a stark reminder of the dangers of sacrificing human rights in the name of security. As we mark this anniversary, we must not forget the individuals who have been held in this legal limbo for years, nor can we turn a blind eye to the erosion of legal principles that Guantanamo represents. It is time to close this chapter in U.S. history and recommit ourselves to upholding the values of justice and human dignity.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1031091

[caltrek]

Bernardo Arévalo Assumes the Presidency of Guatemala
by Lorena Arroyo
January 13, 2024

Introduction:

(El País) This Sunday an image will be seen in Guatemala that seemed impossible half a year ago. The progressive sociologist Bernardo Arévalo (Montevideo, 65 years old) will be inaugurated as president of the Central American country in a ceremony at the Miguel Ángel Asturias cultural center in the capital. If there are no last-minute surprises, something that few dare to rule out after a long process of transition of power loaded with judicial obstacles and in which the president-elect himself has denounced an attempted coup d' état to prevent him from taking office, at leader of the Semilla Movement will be given the presidential sash in an event attended by a dozen Latin American leaders and the King of Spain.

Arévalo, a diplomat expert in conflict resolution who has also been a deputy, will assume the Presidency with the main promise of fighting corruption in order to later tackle the problems of the most populous country in Central America, with more than 17 million inhabitants, high rates of poverty and inequality and great development needs in education, health or infrastructure. His electoral offer has squarely confronted him with what in Guatemala they call the “corrupt pact,” an informal alliance of politicians and bureaucratic and business elites who protect each other to maintain power. The most recent signs came after Arévalo's unexpected victory in the first round in June and his subsequent triumph in August, when the Public Ministry headed by the attorney general, Consuelo Porras , began a series of attempts to derail the transition of power. through judicial means.

These attempts failed mainly thanks to the firm defense of democracy and the vote of Guatemalans promoted by indigenous movements throughout the country, which have been resisting for more than 100 days with different actions, such as a sit-in in front of the headquarters of the Public Ministry. in Guatemala City. And also due to the constant condemnation of the international community, which has denounced every offensive by the Prosecutor's Office to prevent the inauguration of the elected president and disqualify his party, the Semilla Movement.

Read more here: https://elpais.com/america/2024-01-14/ ... los.html

[caltrek]

Arévalo Sworn In as Guatemala's President
by Jake Johnson
January 15, 2024

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) Anti-corruption activist Bernardo Arévalo was sworn in as Guatemala's president early Monday after months of fierce opposition from the Central American nation's right-wing political establishment, obstruction that progressive campaigners and other leaders in the region decried as a coup attempt.

Arévalo's inauguration was scheduled for Sunday afternoon, but the proceedings were delayed for hours as conservative legislators stonewalled efforts to select new congressional leadership.

The delay, part of a sustained push by right-wing forces to derail the transfer of power, sparked fury in the streets, with Arévalo backers—including Indigenous groups and the country's youth—mobilizing as it appeared that the president-elect's opponents were launching a last-ditch attempt to stop him from taking office.

Leading government officials from other Latin American nations expressed alarm over the delay and said in a joint statement that "the will of the Guatemalan people must be respected."

Reuters reported that Arevalo's inauguration was "thrown into disarray after the Supreme Court allowed opposition lawmakers to maintain their leadership of Congress, and forced members of the president's Semilla party to stand as independents, further diluting its presence."

Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/bern ... sworn-in

[weatheriscool]

Traffic through the Panama Canal is being slashed because of drought, disrupting global trade

Source: AP

Updated 12:48 AM EST, January 18, 2024

PANAMA CITY (AP) — A severe drought that began last year has forced authorities to slash ship crossings by 36% in the Panama Canal, one of the world’s most important trade routes.

The new cuts announced Wednesday by authorities in Panama are set to deal an even greater economic blow than previously expected.

Canal administrators now estimate that dipping water levels could cost them between $500 million and $700 million in 2024, compared to previous estimates of $200 million.

One of the most severe droughts to ever hit the Central American nation has stirred chaos in the 50-mile maritime route, causing a traffic jam of boats, casting doubts on the canal’s reliability for international shipping and raising concerns about its affect on global trade.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/panama-canal ... 46f8fd54a9

[weatheriscool]

Votes being counted in El Salvador, where strongman president's victory is all but assured

CNN — Vote counting is underway after polls closed Sunday in El Salvador, where the strongman president Nayib Bukele is expected to easily win a second term amid a dramatic turnaround in the country’s once-sky high levels of violence.

Bukele, 42, faced little in the way of organized opposition and enjoys one of the highest favorability ratings in the region, regularly polling above 70% in independent surveys.

His supporters trumpet a crackdown on criminal gangs in the country that resulted in a dramatic fall in the murder rate, once the highest in the world.

But the mass arrests – El Salvador now has the world’s highest incarceration rate – have also triggered outcry from human rights groups, who allege Bukele’s government has detained innocent people and subjected prisoners to dehumanizing conditions behind bars, including torture.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/04/americas ... index.html

[caltrek]

Mexico is Suing U.S. Gun-makers for Arming its Gangs − and a U.S. Court Could Award Billions in Damages
by Timothy D Lytton
February 16, 2024

Introduction:

(The Conversation) The government of Mexico is suing U.S. gun-makers for their role in facilitating cross-border gun trafficking that has supercharged violent crime in Mexico.

The lawsuit seeks US$10 billion in damages and a court order to force the companies named in the lawsuit – including Smith & Wesson, Colt, Glock, Beretta and Ruger – to change the way they do business. In January, a federal appeals court in Boston decided that the industry’s immunity shield, which so far has protected gun-makers from civil liability, does not apply to Mexico’s lawsuit.

Additional Extract:

Mexico’s allegations

Mexico claims that U.S. gun-makers engaged in “deliberate efforts to create and maintain an illegal market for their weapons in Mexico.”

According to the lawsuit, the manufacturers intentionally design their weapons to be attractive to criminal organizations in Mexico by including features such as easy conversion to fully automatic fire, compatibility with high-capacity magazines and removable serial numbers.

Mexico also points to industry marketing that promises buyers a tactical military experience for civilians. And Mexico alleges that manufacturers distribute their products to dealers whom they know serve as transit points for illegal gunrunning through illegal straw sales, unlicensed sales at gun shows and online, and off-book sales disguised as inventory theft.

Read more here: https://theconversation.com/mexico-is- ... s-223598

[caltrek]

Along the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua a Regional Election is Being Held
by Wilfredo Miranda
March 3, 2024

Introduction:

(El País) The Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua, both the south and the north, is attending unusual regional elections this Sunday, March 3: since these elections were instituted 36 years ago, for the first time no indigenous political party will appear on the ballot. Instead, what this electorate, composed mostly of indigenous peoples, will find will be national political groups, such as the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) and four other troupe parties of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.

The Yapti Tasba Masraka Nanih Asla Takanka party (Yatama, or Children of Mother Earth, in the Miskito language) has been exterminated by the Sandinista Government. The leader of Yatama, former representative Brooklyn Rivera, was kidnapped by the police on September 29, 2023, and to date is, according to the Legal Defense Unit (UDJ), “in forced disappearance due to concealment of his whereabouts.” Two days later, substitute legislator Nancy Henríquez, president of the indigenous political organization, was arrested.

Ronald, a Miskito indigenous person interviewed by EL PAÍS on condition of anonymity, said that many Caribbean people “don't even know about the existence of an electoral process this Sunday.” “The Government has sold this as 'Victorious Caribbean Elections 2024', but really in the communities there is no desire to go to vote, not only because we do not feel represented, but because this is going to be another electoral circus like the general votes. “Everything remains the same so that Daniel and Rosario maintain their total political control of the country and now of the Coast,” he lamented.

Added to the arrests of Rivera and Henríquez was the cancellation of the legal status of Yatama, “the only organization with the political capacity to dispute votes for the FSLN on the Coast,” according to Miguel González, a political scientist originally from Bluefields, the main city in the Southern Caribbean. In an interview with Confidencial , the professor also said that the other five regional parties that exist do not represent any real competition for Sandinismo and the national parties.

Read more here: https://elpais.com/america/2024-03-03/ ... ejas.html

[caltrek]

Nicaragua: Rights Experts Decry Persecution of Government Opponents
February 29, 2024

Introduction:

(United Nations News) President Daniel Ortega and other high-level officials should be held accountable “as should Nicaragua, as a State that goes after its own people targeting university students, indigenous people, people of African descent, campesinos and members of the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations,” they said in a statement.

The accusation comes in their latest report detailing how the situation in the country has deteriorated over the past year.

Long-term objective

The report found that violations, abuses and crimes have been perpetrated not only to dismantle active opposition efforts, but also to eliminate all critical voices and dissuade any new organization and initiative to mobilize society in the long term.

“Nicaragua is caught in a spiral of violence marked by the persecution of all forms of political opposition, whether real or perceived, both domestically and abroad,” said Jan Simon, the group’s chair.

As the government has moved closer to its goal of total destruction of critical voices in the country, patterns of violations of the right to life and personal security are less prevalent today, the experts noted.

Read more here: https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/02/1147092

[wjfox]

Haiti spirals to collapse as gangs tighten grip

4 hours ago

Haiti is fast descending into anarchy.

Over the weekend, the violence in the capital Port-au-Prince ramped up once again. Heavily armed gangs attacked the National Palace and set part of the Interior Ministry on fire with petrol bombs.

It comes after a sustained attack on the international airport, which remains closed to all flights - including one carrying Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

He tried to fly back to Haiti from the United States last week, but his plane was refused permission to land. He was then turned away from the neighbouring Dominican Republic too.

Mr Henry is now stuck in Puerto Rico, unable to set foot in the nation he ostensibly leads.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-68531759

[Time_Traveller]

Haiti spirals to collapse as gangs tighten grip

4 hours ago

Haiti is fast descending into anarchy.

Over the weekend, the violence in the capital Port-au-Prince ramped up once again. Heavily armed gangs attacked the National Palace and set part of the Interior Ministry on fire with petrol bombs.

It comes after a sustained attack on the international airport, which remains closed to all flights - including one carrying Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

He tried to fly back to Haiti from the United States last week, but his plane was refused permission to land. He was then turned away from the neighbouring Dominican Republic too.

Mr Henry is now stuck in Puerto Rico, unable to set foot in the nation he ostensibly leads.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-68531759

More on this:-

Haiti's unelected Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigns

6 minutes ago

Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry has agreed to resign, the chair of the Caribbean group of countries has said, following weeks of mounting pressure and increasing violence in the country.

It comes after regional leaders met in Jamaica on Monday to discuss a political transition in Haiti.

Mr Henry is currently stranded in Puerto Rico after being prevented by armed gangs from returning home.

He had led the country since the former president's assassination in July 2021.

Speaking following the meeting in Kingston, Caribbean community chair and Guyana President Irfaan Ali said: "We acknowledge his resignation upon the establishment of a transitional presidential council and naming of an interim prime minister."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-68541349

[Time_Traveller]

Plan to install new leaders in Haiti appears to crumble after political parties reject it

March 13, 2024, 5:56 PM

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- A proposal to install new leadership in Haiti appeared to be crumbling Wednesday as some political parties rejected the plan to create a presidential council that would manage the transition.

The panel would be responsible for selecting an interim prime minister and a council of ministers that would attempt to chart a new path for the Caribbean country that has been overrun by gangs. The violence has closed schools and businesses and disrupted daily life across Haiti.

Jean Charles Moïse, an ex-senator and presidential candidate who has teamed up with former rebel leader Guy Philippe, held a news conference Wednesday to announce his rejection of the proposed council backed by the international community.

Moïse insisted that a three-person presidential council he recently created with Philippe and a Haitian judge should be implemented.

“We are not going to negotiate it,” he said in a loud voice as he wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. “We have to make them understand."

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wi ... -108086417