The News Roundup is a regular section of the blog, featuring 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 fix Latin America’s homicide problem
There’s no single solution for preventing lethal violence. But data-driven interventions, like those pioneered by Colombian mayors two decades ago, are more likely to help Latin Americans than many current approaches, which range from near apathy in Venezuela to repressive policing in Brazil, El Salvador and Mexico. Though different, Medellin and Bogota’s homicide reduction strategies shared key features. Both set hard targets, generated high-quality data for analysis, reformed police and the justice sector, mended social ties in fragmented communities and confiscated illegal weapons. They also benefited from informal pacts with heavily armed factions, not unlike the controversial 2012 gang truce that led to a temporary peace in El Salvador.
Dying for a Story: How Impunity and Violence against Mexican Journalists are Weakening the Country (video)
In 2012, the United States supported the legislative framework that established Mexico’s National Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists. Through USAID, the United States has continued to support the Protection Mechanism and other programs to benefit journalists and defenders in Mexico. Nevertheless, the recent cases demonstrate that these mechanisms have not yet been effective. The Mexican government has expressed concern about the problem and promised justice, but investigations and prosecutions of those responsible have been very few. In the process, freedom of information, freedom of the press, the rule of law, and democratic governance have been weakened. The Wilson Center convened a discussion with experts and courageous Mexican journalists to hear about their work and the difficulties and risks they and their colleagues face. They were joined by Ana Cristina Ruelas, the Director of Article 19’s office for Mexico and Central America, Azam Ahmed, the New York Times’ Bureau Chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, and Jennifer Clement, the President of PEN International, who presented an overview of attacks and aggressions against journalists in Mexico and the Mexican government’s response to this concerning situation.
Climate Change-Induced Migration from Central America
Central America’s governments ultimately hold the responsibility for implementing programs to help the region’s citizens to adapt and build resilience to climate change, and the United States and international community can and should continue to provide support. Yet in the absence of effective programs or policies, the migrants who are forced out of their homes because of droughts or extreme weather conditions don’t have many options. They can’t claim refugee status because changing weather patterns don’t meet the thresholds that international refugee frameworks demand. And other protections, such as the Temporary Protected Status that the United States granted to Hondurans after Hurricane Mitch in 1999, are unlikely to find favor under the current administration.
A hidden cost of corruption: environmental devastation
Oxford University research published in 2014 indicates that most such dams worldwide will not recoup the cost of their construction, let alone improve standards of living for local populations. Such “white elephants” may not even be meant to serve their stated purposes. Rather, in the words of James Robinson and Ragnar Torvik, authors of an earlier studyon large infrastructure projects in developing countries, “it is the very inefficiency of such projects that makes them . . . appealing” as vehicles for channeling money into the hands of a ruling coterie. Honduras’s Patuca III dam is just such a project. According to lawyer and veteran environmental activist Mauricio Torres, the river probably cannot build up sufficient pressure to generate the intended 104 megawatts: The water is too shallow and the topography too flat. A 2008 government-sponsored environmental impact assessment was “so weak,” according to a 2012 letter from the Inter-American Development Bank to the Honduran government, “that we could not even envision starting to study [Tegucigalpa’s request for project funding] seriously.”
Guatemala: Officials and police charged over girls shelter blaze
A judge in Guatemala has charged five more people over the deaths of 41 teenage girls in the fire at a government-run shelter in March. The five include two police officers and three government officials who were arrested earlier this month. They are facing various charges, including manslaughter and negligence. Prosecutors say the fire at the Virgen de la Asunción shelter began when one of the girls set fire to a mattress after a riot. They had been locked in a room after trying to escape and protesting against overcrowding and alleged sexual abuse by staff. Reports say the capacity of the home in San José Pinula is 400. But that many more children were living there at the time.
Micro-extortion by gangs is costing El Salvador millions of dollars a year, $10 at a time
With gangs present in 94% of municipalities in El Salvador, extorting 70% of all businesses, violence ultimately costs the economy $4 billion annually, according to a report from the Central Reserve Bank—some 15% of GDP, $5, $10, and $20 at a time. Between 2013 and 2015, the Salvadoran National Police received a fractional 7,506 reports of extortion and got only 424 convictions. The extortion’s intimacy is inescapable, leaving many victims little choice but to flee, often to the United States, or be killed.
What Trump Doesn’t Understand About MS-13
Except, there’s no data to support such claims. Insight Crime, an organized-crime investigative nonprofit, explained “there is no evidence that the migratory patterns of gang members are different than those of any other group of migrants, or that they are moving in accordance with a grand plan forged by the MS13’s Salvadoran leadership to revitalize the organization.” Quite simply, Insight wrote, “there is no study by federal agencies or academic institutions that proves that there is a significant number of gang members among these minors.” This is backed up by the recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, where Customs and Border Protection Acting Chief Carla Provost said that of the 250,000 unaccompanied minors apprehended since 2011, only 56 were suspected or confirmed of being affiliated with MS-13.
Costa Rica, Nicaragua to face off again at The Hague in new border dispute
Costa Rica and Nicaragua are now set to begin a new chapter in their epic border disputes before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague. Legal teams from both countries will present their allegations regarding Costa Rica’s request to set of maritime borders with Nicaragua. They will also address Costa Rica’s complaint about the presence inside its territory of a Nicaraguan army camp in January. Hearings will take place at the Court between July 3-13. Costa Rica’s Foreign Minister Manuel González Sánz said at a press conference on Wednesday that the government’s primary goal during the hearings “is the absolute defense of our sovereignty over our boundaries.” Costa Rica requested maritime boundaries both in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea after complaining that Nicaragua has been offering oil concessions in maritime blocs inside its territory.
To save lives, Haiti should focus on primary care more than hospitals, report says
While the study found that Haiti has significantly more hospitals than many countries including Burundi and Tanzania, it spends less on healthcare per capita than its closest neighbors. The Dominican Republic spends $180, Cuba $781 and the Latin American and Caribbean region, $336 dollars. Haiti spends just $13. What that means is that the poorest Haitian mothers are still far less likely to deliver in a health facility, and maternal and infant mortality rates are still four or five times higher many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Despite these and other pressing health care needs, Haiti has seen a sharp drop in government health expenditures in the last two decades with a consequent increase in donor-dependency, the report says. “Donor financing is itself decreasing and thus, the government urgently needs to plan for increasing domestic funding for health to avoid a spike in out-of-pocket expenditures,” the report says. It urges the country to remain focused on the poorest people, who frequently bypass the public health system due to lack of trust and cost, relying instead on consultations from traditional healers or medication from unregulated providers.
Half a century of conflict in Colombia comes to close as FARC rebels disarm
Colombians’ distrust of the FARC runs deep, and with Santos’ voter approval ratings at only 30%, he has been unable to generate broad popular support for the peace deal. Former President Alvaro Uribe, now a powerful senator and leading critic, has said he would urge a repeal of some of the accord’s provisions if his party’s candidate wins the presidency in 2018. For his part, Londono said his rebels are concerned about the government’s ability to protect the FARC’s rank and file from attacks by right-wing paramilitary groups, a reference to how hundreds of members of the leftist Patriotic Union party were assassinated in the late 1980s because of its links to the FARC. He noted that several leftist social activists have been slain in recent months. “Colombia will not tolerate another fraud,” Londono said. Lisa Haugaard, executive director of the Washington-based Latin America Working Group, a human rights advocacy group, said the FARC disarming should be seen as a “day of joy” and as a step toward a “more inclusive and peaceful Colombia.”
Bolivia: No Easy Way Forward, With or Without Morales
What they and others lack is a compelling vision of Bolivia after Morales, or a narrative that speaks to both urban and rural voters. Which of the policies introduced by the MAS government should be preserved, what should be changed? Even if one of them could unexpectedly win the presidency, they may not be able to govern. Like Brazil’s former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Morales has been exceptionally good at reaching consensus — even if not always by legal means, as a growing number of corruption scandals attest. This last issue hints at a structural problem that will be hard for the opposition to overcome: Governing requires the distribution of favors, and Bolivian voters actively demand clientelistic measures that benefit them directly. Should the economy take a dive (and there are signs that pragmatists in the Finance Ministry are increasingly being overruled by ideologues), not even Morales would be able to avoid a return to the political instability and weak governments that marked the decades that preceded his election.