The Latin American Report # 201
Maduro rounds up the opposition
The Venezuelan government continues its crusade of attrition against the opposition leadership, rounding up María Corina Machado as it knocks down one by one people of her inner circle. This Wednesday, the Public Prosecutor's Office announced the arrest of two of Machado's bishops, in charge of the national coordination and the political secretariat of her party Vente Venezuela, respectively, for their alleged participation in a subversive plan against State. USAID is allegedly involved in the development of the operation. The OAS and Washington have immediately charged against this new move by Maduro. "Once again the regime shows that its only electoral weapon is to attack with more repression. We join the demands for the release of the arbitrarily detained leaders of Vente and for an end to the political persecution against its militants," said the controversial regional body. "Maduro's escalating attacks against civil society and political actors are totally inconsistent with the commitments of the Barbados Agreement, but will not stifle the democratic aspirations of the Venezuelan people," said Foggy Bottom's Western Hemisphere chief.
Venezuelan Attorney General past Wednesday (source).Seven other members of Vente Venezuela—including a potential alternative to replace Machado on the ballot—are in the sights of Attorney General Tarek Willian Saab, whose office has reportedly found indications that Machado's aides were seeking to "agglomerate the masses using labor unions and students to encourage a military wing" to attack the State. Maduro tends to generate many denunciations of assassination and destabilization attempts, which have not always been clear. In this case, they have the confession of an asset very close to Machado, who denied the accusations and suggested that the statements were obtained under torture. The UN mission in Venezuela has been very harsh in its assessment of the political management of Caracas in this sense, clashing hard with Chavism. Presidential elections are scheduled for next July, but it remains to be seen how the international community, mainly the United States, will assimilate them. The White House promised to reinstate the sanctions imposed by Donald Trump in case Machado does not finally appear on the ballot, something that in any case—as I have shown on other occasions—was not a concrete commitment of the Miraflores Palace with opposition. Maybe with them?
— María Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) March 20, 2024
Dina Boluarte's Rolex
Peru is a country immersed in an endless and massive shootout in which bullets just contain accusations of corruption. In such a scenario, anyone falls wounded or dead. The latest major controversy in this regard has as its protagonist the very President Dina Boluarte, whose mandate is discussed and rejected by countries such as Mexico. At issue is a Rolex watch that costs three times her monthly salary. Specifically, it is under discussion whether it was included in her declaration of assets, in an ad hoc accountability that emerges from an investigation carried out by the local press, which reviewed some 10,000 official photographs zooming in on the watches used by the president, starting from the period where she served as vice-president of the disgraced former president—for alleged corruption, of course—Pedro Castillo.
Boluarte appears with 14 watches, with a highlight for a very exclusive Rolex one 14,000 dollars worth. It might seem something very trivial in principle to investigate the watches worn by a president, but it is at least questionable that in a country where 70% of the people are vulnerable or poor, the main political figure is so far away from the majority in the reproduction of material life, still without falling into the potential dynamics of corruption. It is a "small detail" that reveals a lot. Boluarte defends that she entered and will leave "with clean hands" because it is not in her DNA to be corrupt. According to an expert consulted by a Spanish-language television station, one of the models used by the head of the House of Pizarro—with diamonds on the dial—is from the last four years, disputing the thesis defended by her that the watches were acquired "long ago". The Public Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation against her for alleged crimes of illicit enrichment and omission to record a declaration in documents.
Boluarte during a recent session of the Council of Ministers (source).Migration and corruption
Two officials of the Mexican immigration authority were found in possession of 15 9-millimeter caliber cartridges and more than 86,000 dollars in Mexican and U.S. bills, allegedly obtained through extortion and kidnapping of migrants trying to cross the border with the United States. The officials—one of them in charge of Tijuana's strategic migratory station—were arrested on February 29 following proceedings carried out by the Attorney General's Office, and notes were also confiscated with the money they charged the vulnerable migrants. What is interesting—or disturbing—is that a judge released them because the detention was somehow "illegal". The migrants' allegations of corruption against the Mexican National Migration Institute (INM in Spanish) are well known. "If you don't pay, you don't pass," Latin Americans say about the INM, which is supposed to control the movement of migrants at border crossings and airports.
Texas vs. migrants
The State of Texas law that grants a controversial authority to its agents to detain and deport illegal immigrants is a dark cloud over the heads of those in Mexico who expect to embark on the uncertain adventure of crossing the U.S. border without proper authorization. The law was in effect for a few hours after the Supreme Court's decision to activate it until the conservative 5th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals ruled on the case. The Department of Justice disputes the constitutionality of the law, based on the legal rationale that immigration decisions are the exclusive province of the federal government. The reports describe as "skeptical" the questioning of the three judges assigned to decide the fate of the law, which was again put on hold. A Colombian woman who crossed the Rio Grande with her 16-year-old daughter and was detained by the Border Patrol is unclear about her future in light of the back and forth in the case.
Migrants weigh their options at the Texas border after the temporary entry into force of SB4 (source).A US appeals court panel seemed divided over whether to continue blocking a Republican-backed Texas law that would empower state authorities to arrest and prosecute migrants and asylum seekers suspected of illegally crossing the US-Mexico border https://t.co/I8tgOsUoIv pic.twitter.com/a6HYwUz1XG
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 21, 2024
The Mexican president refuses to reciprocate with a potential activation of SB4, and has stated that his government will respond through diplomatic channels. EFE reports that more than 100 people were begging for food and water as they were stranded Wednesday between the Rio Grande River—whose flow has also increased due to the transfer of water from two dams located in New Mexico—and the razor and barbed wire fence that Greg Abbott put up to stage a different and twisted way of welcoming them to U.S. soil. "We've had a very hard time, the train, hills, to get through the checkpoints has been very hard. But we want to go through to look for a better life, for our children and everything. Because in our country there is no work, there is nothing," said a Nicaraguan migrant who unfortunately does not seem to know that his case, as it stands, does not qualify to receive the benefit of political asylum.
Efforts by Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott to stem a record number of migrants illegally crossing the US-Mexico border has set off a series of legal battles with the administration of President Joe Biden, a Democrat https://t.co/ypKR2CWKEk
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 20, 2024
Latest developments in Haiti
Negotiations to install a presidential council in Haiti—which would trigger the promised resignation of Ariel Henry, and also guarantee the arrival of 1,000 Kenyan troops to fight organized crime—continued on Wednesday, prolonging the state of insecurity of a local population that is exposed and vulnerable to the scourge of gangs. Last Tuesday all the details were supposed to be finalized, but it came and went on Wednesday without finalizing the council members list, an initiative supported by Caricom and Western powers—which has caused misgivings. "The talks are continuing. I'm sure it will take a little time, but all indications are that they are moving forward," said a Guyanese diplomatic representative. The United States chartered a helicopter yesterday to evacuate 15 of its nationals from Port-au-Prince to the Dominican Republic, whose government evacuated staff from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Union. Recall that 4,000 inmates fled from two prisons in the capital after a planned operation by criminal gangs, and nothing has been heard about them. On Wednesday, new attacks were reported against the wealthy Pétion-Ville neighborhood, home to several embassies, with a preliminary death toll of five. In the face of the chaos, residents of the attacked neighborhoods are beginning to take justice into their own hands, and so it appears that two members of criminal gangs—including a notorious leader—have been confirmed dead at the hands of vigilantes, their bodies burned and mutilated.
SourceOn the perilous streets of Haiti https://t.co/EBCBGlX20W pic.twitter.com/Xc2mEoXfWx
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 19, 2024
And this is all for our report today. I have referenced the sources dynamically in the text, and remember you can learn how and where to follow the LATAM trail news by reading my work here. Have a nice day.
