The Latin American Report # 216

Political crisis erupts between Mexico and Ecuador

In his daily press conference last Wednesday, Andrés Manuel López Obrador made statements that did not sit well in the Carondelet Palace. In truth, I think AMLO was disrespectful according to certain rules of diplomacy, although he is not exactly known for respecting the canons too much in this matter. The Mexican president—enjoying an enviable approval rating at home despite the security crisis—echoed one of the many theses about the shameful assassination last year of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, which at this point has still not been fully clarified. The fatal end of Villavicencio, sworn enemy of Rafael Correa, would have improved the electoral possibilities of current President Daniel Noboa, who went on to dispute the runoff in a somewhat unexpected way.

Lopez Obrador said that the sequence of the events was "strange", as the atmosphere was rarefied for the candidate of Correa's political force, pointed out as being behind the tragedy. As an investigative or journalistic thesis, it is "plausible", as it is to assume that the Revolución Ciudadana tried to silence an uncomfortable rival, but in the mouth of the president it is a complicated issue. Ecuador responded by expelling the Mexican ambassador in Quito, a measure that will not be responded to by AMLO, although his government has just granted political asylum to Correa's persecuted former vice-president, Jorge Glas, who since mid-December was in the Aztec embassy as a "guest". The regional TV station Telesur reported on Friday morning a reinforcement of the police agents that have been guarding the embassy to avoid a potential escape of Glas. The portfolio headed by Alicia Bárcena in Mexico demands the immediate approval "of the corresponding safe conduct" in his favor.

Clan del Golfo profits linked to migration crisis denounced

The renowned and also controversial NGO Human Rights Watch recently exposed that Colombia's main criminal group earned close to $70 million as result of an alleged tax it would charge migrants trying to reach Central America by crossing the inhospitable Darién Gap. In various reports, it has been alleged that the Gulf Clan controls migration logistics on the Colombian side, including the "guarantee" of security—which they really take care to provide protecting the business—and the regulation of who can be into the "value chain" built from the migration crisis, including guides and other service providers. Bogotá calculates that the criminal association receives around $125 for each migrant that enters the jungle, a figure on which the above estimate is based taking into count the more than half a million individuals that passed through in 2023. It is also reported that in some cases the Gulf Clan forces migrants to transport small quantities of drugs.

Some 110,000 people were sighted in Panamá—where extortion is more sexual than economic—after passing through the Gap during the first quarter of the year. HRW was particularly harsh on the management of the governments of Colombia and Panamá, which denied having "abandoned" the migrants. The chancellors from both countries emphasized the "great effort" they are making and the need for the international community to transfer more resources to deal with the crisis. The latter is true somehow, and I also remember the responsibility of sending countries in this affair—Venezuela again is leading the stats this year. Anyway, a few days ago, Donald Trump rejected AMLO's permanent proposal that the United States invest in the development of the region so that Latin Americans find the possibility of a dignified life in their countries.

Milei reaffirms his alliance with Washington

In the last days, taking advantage of a context marked by the anniversaries of the coup d'état that started the dictatorship and the celebration of the Veteran's Day and the Fallen in the Falklands War, the Argentine president has tried to cement a more positive and committed vision concerning the Armed Forces. The idea would be to "reconcile" society with the Army, after the ideological and cultural distortions sown by the left after the military coup d'état of 1976, according to the narrative of the head of the Casa Rosada. So the context has served the Milei administration to heat the debate on the history of the military dictatorship itself, to tighten relations with China—talking about the potential military use of a space base installed when Cristina Fernández was president—, and to strengthen his unconditional alignment with the United States in foreign policy and particularly in the military field. In less than 24 hours, two meetings have been reported between the leader of the Argentine liberals and the head of the U.S. Southern Command, General Laura Richardson.

"Our alliance with the United States, demonstrated throughout these first months in office, is a statement from Argentina to the world," Milei said at an event Richardson attended, where he announced a "new foreign policy doctrine." "Argentina and the United States are nations founded in the heat of the same ideas... this makes us share a common cultural DNA. A tradition that has at its base the ideas of freedom, the defense of life, and private property. To stray from that path cost us a hundred years of failures", the libertarian also said. The US military will transmit to the White House and the Pentagon "the contagious positive spirit" that she has found in an Argentina that, in the context of her visit, has been marked by protests against massive layoffs that the Government of La Libertad Avanza relates in general terms to "ñoquis" workers—that is, who have been hired in the public sector but who do not work, and yet are paid. A powerful union is asking for evidence in this regard. Moreover, the situation of retirees like Mario Cardozo is very precarious. He goes from one soup kitchen to another "collecting food" and testifies that more and more people are looking for it in the garbage. A couple say that they "try to eat well at noon" and at night they have "a cup of tea or milk with bread".

_{She cooks for Cardozo and many other vulnerable people (source).}