The News Roundup is a regular feature of the blog where we select a number of news articles from various sources around the web, with the goal of providing an overview of the weekly conversation about the countries where MCC works in the region. Quotes in italics are drawn directly from sources and do not necessarily reflect the position of MCC.
Zika hysteria is way ahead of research into virus, says expert
But many scientists, including Lobel, say the evidence is not yet conclusive. “It’s not clear that what’s going on in Brazil is linked to the Zika virus. There’s no definitive proof that Zika is causing microcephaly. I believe the hysteria is way ahead of the research or the facts about the pathology surrounding this virus,” he said in a telephone interview. Doubts focus on the uneven spread of the disease and birth abnormalities. Almost all the linked cases are found in the north-east region of Brazil. Elsewhere, the Zika outbreak does not appear to have had the same impact. In neighbouring Colombia, which has more than 31,000 Zika cases, including at least 5,000 pregnant women, there has not been the same sharp rise in foetal deformities. There, the virus is more closely associated with Guillain–Barré syndrome, an immune system failure that can cause paralysis and death.
Juárez factory workers are protesting for their rights with an ‘Occupy-style’ sit-in
Lexmark, a Kentucky-based corporate leader in laser printers, is worth around $2bn and has the support of Mexico’s political establishment and apparently also its media and Catholic hierarchy, notwithstanding Pope Francis’s visit to Juárez on Wednesday. The elites wish to snuff out defiance and stop rebellious contagion spreading across this industrial city, according to those inside the shack. “We’re living on charity, and it’s tough, but we’re still here,” said Susana Prieto Terrazas, a lawyer representing the protesters, as she huddled by a wood-burning stove. “We’re going forward. This is a system of modern slavery and we have to fight.” The fight here is largely without precedent.
Pope Francis ends his Mexico tour praying for migrants at the U.S. border
From the time he stepped onto the red carpet at the Mexico City airport, Francis offered pointed critiques of the failings in Mexico’s government and society, pressing his papal finger on the country’s most sensitive wounds. In front of President Enrique Peña Nieto, whose popularity has plummeted amid conflict-of-interest scandals and atrocities linked to security forces, the popechastised Mexico’s leaders for a culture of corruption. Before the nation’s Catholic bishops, the pope warned against putting faith in the “chariots and horses of today’s pharaohs.” In a vast slum outside the capital, he spoke of the dangers of wealth and greed. In his last stop, he broadened his focus, describing the problems of human trafficking and forced migration as global emergencies.
The Problem With Counting Gang Members in Honduras
Just how do we explain these discrepancies? Part of the problem is that Honduran law does not have a legal definition of what constitutes a “gang member” — not even in the country’s tough anti-gang legislation, which was reformed last year in order to increase penalties against gangs. As a point of comparison, US federal law defines a “gang” as three or more people who use violence as a means towards a criminal end. In Honduras, the lack of a clear legal definition means that under the law, those who have been formally initiated into the gang are technically treated the same as those who are suspected collaborators. These collaborators — often including youthful recruits, young children, women, and sometimes the elderly — perform many key tasks for the gangs, but, as noted, the gangs themselves do not see them as “gang members.”
Arming the Conflict: El Salvador’s Gun Market
In El Salvador, over 80 percent of murders were carried out with guns in 2015. Loose enforcement of existing Salvadoran laws, limited U.S. gun controls, military corruption and lax oversight of large caches of civil war-era arms have made it relatively easy for criminals to access such firepower.There is not one primary source or channel of arms for criminal groups. According to the U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), almost 50 percent of the guns found at crime scenes in El Salvador in 2014 and filed into their e-Trace – ATF’s gun-tracking database – are from the United States. As the Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) explained in a 2014 report, these arms reach criminals in El Salvador through multiple channels: “some weapons make their way from the civilian market into the black market, some are sourced from the stockpiles held by the militaries, others are recovered from civil war-era guerrilla arms caches, and some are imported from outside the country by or on behalf of criminal syndicates.”
Landmark sexual slavery case in Guatemala examines use of rape as weapon of war
Mayra Alarcón, a regional representative for Project Counselling Service, one of the organizations supporting the 11 women, said the prosecution’s historical examination of rape in Guatemala — beyond the actual crimes being tried in court — is strategic. “We don’t just want the perpetrators to be sentenced; We want to show that sexual violence was an institutionalized crime that was far more complex than the act of rape. Sexual slavery was part of a systematic practice and women’s bodies were caught up in the fight for territory,” Alarcón said. The ultimate goal of this “strategic litigation” strategy, used by the prosecution in a number of cases related to wartime human rights violations, is to correct injustices deeply ingrained in Guatemalan society such as racism and sexual violence. “We want a sentence with reparations, [but] not just for the victims. We want to draw attention to these issues so that new investigations can be opened beyond the sentence imposed on these two individuals,” Alarcón said.
Nicaragua Claims UN Aid Money Went to Opposition Parties
The comments came after a UNDP statement rejected Nicaraguan allegations that the development agency had provided US$21 million to opposition political parties. The Nicaraguan government accused the UNDP of allocating unauthorized funds to finance the “excessive salaries” of consultants assigned to development projects. “These consultants are mainly individuals, who hold close ties to opposition movements and political parties,” the statement added. The ministry also expressed its willingness to continue working with the UNDP on the condition that it “refrain from acting with a political aim.”
Haiti Elections News Roundup – February 17
Following Martelly’s departure on February 7, the past week was marked by the search for an eligible candidate for the country’s highest office. This culminated in a marathon session of the National Assembly on February 13, which ended with the election of Jocelerme Privert for the post of Provisional President. An initial vote was inconclusive, with Privert winning 13 to 10 in the Senate but losing 46 to 45 in the Chamber of Deputies to the former OPL senator Edgard Fils Leblanc. A second vote of the entire National Assembly (Senators and Deputies combined), held at 3am, gave Privert the presidency with seventy-seven votes in favour (sixty-four deputies and thirteen senators) versus thirty-three votes for Leblanc (twenty-four deputies and nine senators).
5 Challenges Criminal Economies Pose for Post-Conflict Colombia
The report concludes that: “In operative terms, the state is facing three main problems: lack of coordination, inappropriate interventions and lack of capacity to consolidate its presence in the territories, beyond sporadic operations by authorities. The existence of the armed conflict, the challenge of organized crime, and the situations of violence have generated a confusion in roles, priorities, and functions of the police and the military. This is exacerbated by the lack of a real crime-fighting policy that orients the use of State force, guarantees the effectiveness of punishments, and responds proportionally to the seriousness of crimes. “The spotlight has been more on criminal organizations and less on the territories, which has resulted in repressive action with diminishing success and the consolidation of criminal economies in different areas of the country.”
US Accepts Extradition Request for Former Bolivian President
The U.S. Department of State accepted a request by Bolivian authorities to begin the extradition process for former Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, Senior Prosecutor Jose Manuel Gutierrez stated Monday. The decision to accept the request marks the formal beginning of lengthy process that could see Lozada extradited to Bolivia to face charges over his alleged role in the deaths of Bolivians during a social uprising in October 2003.That social conflict, known as the “Bolivian Gas War,” saw at least 64 people killed and further 400 injured.
Anna, your “Arming the Conflict: El Salvador’s Gun Market” has many key errors, although in general the articles cited are much better than most. For example, see your comment “According to the U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), almost 50 percent of the guns found at crime scenes in El Salvador in 2014 and filed into their e-Trace – ATF’s gun-tracking database – are from the United States.” In truth, the ATF report (ATF Central America CY2014 #152469) cited in the article specifically states “Law enforcement agencies may request firearms traces FOR ANY REASON, and those reasons are not necessarily reported”. Thus ATF did NOT say that the guns came from crime scenes. In follow-up to your miss-quote of the GAO report, it is important to emphasize that the ATF report is “based upon firearms recovered AND SUBMITTED TO ATF for tracing”. Thus the 49.3% of firearms that were submitted to the US for tracing were determined to be, in some form, from the US. We must be quick to clarify that does NOT mean that 49.3% of ALL guns in El Salvador, or 49.3% of all seized guns in El Salvador, come from the US. The 49.3% value simply shows us that half the time the Salvadorans are correct in targeting which guns to run through eTrace.
Your prized source article also claims that the US is “the number one arms supplier on the black market”. Yet the ATF report which you quoted shows that only 11.9% of the US sourced guns were traced to a US retail purchaser. 44.6% were “transferred from a US FFL to a foreign government, law enforcement, dealer or entity.” So, while the US produced many of the guns in El Salvador, they were actually sourced through other countries. Shucks, even the article that Sarah quoted says “There is not a single predominant source of weapons being used in violence in El Salvador.”
I had to laugh when I saw Sarah’s comment on private security guards with “prominent 12-gauge revolvers slung across their chests”. Hoo-wee! 12-gauge revolvers? No wonder Sarah’s scared. It was fun to look at the picture she linked to see what the beast really looked like.
Still, like I said, there was some interesting stuff in there. Although Sarah repeatedly misquoted it, her source article from the Action on Armed Violence 2014 Report “The Devil’s Trade” was a fascinating and believable description of violence and weapons in El Salvador. A great piece, but rarely quoted in the US because it contradicts our gun control rhetoric.
My score is -4 for repeating Sarah’s biased fact-changing, but +5 for leading me to the Devil’s Trade piece. Overall, +1, and a positive score is a great way to start your weekend! Thanks!
Anna, your “Arming the Conflict: El Salvador’s Gun Market” has many key errors, although in general the articles cited are much better than most. For example, see your comment “According to the U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), almost 50 percent of the guns found at crime scenes in El Salvador in 2014 and filed into their e-Trace – ATF’s gun-tracking database – are from the United States.” In truth, the ATF report (ATF Central America CY2014 #152469) cited in the article specifically states “Law enforcement agencies may request firearms traces FOR ANY REASON, and those reasons are not necessarily reported”. Thus ATF did NOT say that the guns came from crime scenes. In follow-up to your miss-quote of the GAO report, it is important to emphasize that the ATF report is “based upon firearms recovered AND SUBMITTED TO ATF for tracing”. Thus the 49.3% of firearms that were submitted to the US for tracing were determined to be, in some form, from the US. We must be quick to clarify that does NOT mean that 49.3% of ALL guns in El Salvador, or 49.3% of all seized guns in El Salvador, come from the US. The 49.3% value simply shows us that half the time the Salvadorans are correct in targeting which guns to run through eTrace.
Your prized source article also claims that the US is “the number one arms supplier on the black market”. Yet the ATF report which you quoted shows that only 11.9% of the US sourced guns were traced to a US retail purchaser. 44.6% were “transferred from a US FFL to a foreign government, law enforcement, dealer or entity.” So, while the US produced many of the guns in El Salvador, they were actually sourced through other countries. Shucks, even the article that Sarah quoted says “There is not a single predominant source of weapons being used in violence in El Salvador.”
I had to laugh when I saw Sarah’s comment on private security guards with “prominent 12-gauge revolvers slung across their chests”. Hoo-wee! 12-gauge revolvers? No wonder Sarah’s scared. It was fun to look at the picture she linked to see what the beast really looked like.
Still, like I said, there was some interesting stuff in there. Although Sarah repeatedly misquoted it, her source article from the Action on Armed Violence 2014 Report “The Devil’s Trade” was a fascinating and believable description of violence and weapons in El Salvador. A great piece, but rarely quoted in the US because it contradicts our gun control rhetoric.
My score is -4 for repeating Sarah’s biased fact-changing, but +5 for leading me to the Devil’s Trade piece. Overall, +1, and a positive score is a great way to start your weekend! Thanks!
WC