Weekly News Roundup: June 17, 2016

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.

How to make Latin America’s most violent cities safer

There are many factors in what makes a city dangerous, but some stand out. At the top of the list is income inequality – Latin America is home to 10 of the 15 most unequal countries on the planet. There is a strong correlation between social and economic inequality and the incidence of lethal violence. Other factors include high rates of youth unemployment, chronically weak security and justice institutions, and high levels of unregulated urbanisation. However, the news is not all bad. There are promising examples from some governments – especially when led by municipal authorities – of efforts to turn things around. The most exciting activities are bubbling up in cities. This is to be expected: mayors often have more intimate contact with constituents, greater discretion to undertake prevention and visible priorities (and repercussions if they don’t meet them).

Migration as Reparations

The roots of this deportation regime must be eradicated and replaced. But this will not occur by asking the federal government to be more “humanitarian” in carrying out its regime of immigrant and territorial exclusion. It will only come about by demanding—and fighting for—a very different world, in which the U.S. government does not undermine the very conditions that make life viable for the majority in migrant-sending countries. This would be a world in which the U.S. state does not block those fleeing the ravages Washington has helped to produce from seeking a better life in U.S. territorial confines—if not for reasons of common humanity, then, at the very least, as compensation for the conditions it created. Until we make this happen, we can be sure that another “surge” will always be on the horizon.

Southern exposure: The costly border plan Mexico won’t discuss

In 2015, Mexican authorities arrested more than 170,000 Central Americans who were trying to traverse the country illegally – more than double the number stopped two years before. That spike in detentions was one outcome of Frontera Sur – the relatively benign one. The second was much darker, and entirely predictable, Mr. Lorente and other advocates for migrants say, leaving them with no patience for the idea that the plan was intended to make migrants safer. “It’s caused the routes to disperse a lot: Before, there were two very clear routes, either here or Tabasco, and now there are many routes, and migrants are much more likely to suffer violence at the hands of authorities and of organized crime,” Mr. Lorente said. He doesn’t dispute that the journey was dangerous before – that migrants were kidnapped, extorted, raped and assaulted. But now there are vastly more opportunities for criminals to prey on migrants, while the travellers are afraid to come far enough into the open to access the slender network of services that exist to support them.

Homegrown Solutions to Central America’s Narco Nightmare

A growing number of governments across the Americas are endorsing drug policies that address both demand and supply. Besides stepping up criminal justice measures that target transnational organized crime through new enforcement and sentencing strategies, they have started doubling down on harm reduction. In Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay, for example, experiments with regulating drugs and with expanding public health approaches to address addiction are underway. Slowly, but unmistakably, the hardline mano dura strategies that have wrought so much havoc are making way for softer — and smarter — approaches. For Central American nations to exploit the shift, however, they will need to undertake a massive overhaul of their justice and health care systems — which in turn will require substantial investment. If U.S. officials genuinely care about significantly reducing the drug trade in Latin America — and in Central America in particular — they would do well to introduce measures to get it under control. Supporting deep reform can produce better results over the long term than a war without end.

“Where are we going to live?” Migration and statelessness in Haiti and the Dominican Republic reveals the reckless way in which the two governments are handling the deportation, expulsion and “spontaneous” return of tens of thousands of people from the Dominican Republic to Haiti following an 18-month long regularization plan for undocumented foreigners living in the Dominican Republic. “Since arbitrarily stripping thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent of their nationality, Dominican authorities created a human rights crisis that is leaving tens of thousands of people in an absolute and desperate legal limbo,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

Report: Red Cross Spent 25 Percent Of Haiti Donations On Internal Expenses

The American Red Cross spent a quarter of the money people donated after the 2010 Haiti earthquake — or almost $125 million — on its own internal expenses, far more than the charity previously had disclosed, according to a report released today by Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley.  The report also says the charity’s top officials stonewalled congressional investigators and released incomplete information about its Haiti program to the public. It concludes “there are substantial and fundamental concerns about [the Red Cross] as an organization.” The report follows a nearly yearlong investigation by the Iowa Republican and his staff, launched after coverage by NPR and ProPublica of the Red Cross’ Haiti response. The venerated charity raised nearly $500 million after the disaster, more than any other nonprofit — but an ambitious plan to build housing resulted in just six permanent homes, NPR and ProPublica found.

Displacement Rising as Colombia’s Conflict Moves into New Phase

While internal displacement in Colombia has long been linked to the country’s civil conflict, organized crime is playing an increasingly important role in the current dynamic. As the report notes, one of the main factors driving displacement is the struggle between armed groups looking to take control of FARC strongholds ahead of a likely peace deal between the guerrillas and the government…The numerous alliances and confrontations taking place across Colombia provide an insight into the potential instability of the country’s underworld following a peace deal with the guerrillas. As the ongoing displacement illustrates, this period of readjustment is likely to bring new violence. While Colombia may be entering the final days of its civil conflict, the country will likely face new, unpredictable and volatile criminal conflicts in the years to come.

Cluck you: Bolivia rejects Bill Gates’ donation of hens

The Bolivian government has rejected a donation of hens offered by the US billionaireBill Gates, as officials said the tech magnate needs to study up on the Andean nation’s thriving poultry sector. “How can he think we are living 500 years ago, in the middle of the jungle not knowing how to produce?” the Bolivian development minister, César Cocarico, told journalists. “Respectfully, he should stop talking about Bolivia.” The Microsoft founder and philanthropist recently said he would donate 100,000 hens to countries with high poverty levels, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa but includingBolivia. Bolivia produces 197m chickens annually and has the capacity to export 36m, the local poultry producing association said.