Boyaca, Colombia. Anna Vogt.
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.
Anger Management and Gun Control? New Ways to Reduce Violence in Latin America
An extensive new study published by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has shown that among the most effective ways to achieve changes in the behavior of the most violent are programs of (1) cognitive therapy and emotions management, (2) targeted gun control, and (3) drug treatment and drug courts. Providing cognitive therapy to young males in neighborhoods with a high presence of criminal gangs – particularly therapy focused on peaceful conflict resolution and anger management – has proven effective in reducing homicide rates. After-school cognitive therapy classes may well be the cheapest and most successful way to reduce youth violence. The second tool, reducing gun access to people with the highest probability of violence, has also shown positive results.
Many of Sepúlveda’s efforts were unsuccessful, but he has enough wins that he might be able to claim as much influence over the political direction of modern Latin America as anyone in the 21st century. “My job was to do actions of dirty war and psychological operations, black propaganda, rumors—the whole dark side of politics that nobody knows exists but everyone can see,” he says in Spanish, while sitting at a small plastic table in an outdoor courtyard deep within the heavily fortified offices of Colombia’s attorney general’s office. He’s serving 10 years in prison for charges including use of malicious software, conspiracy to commit crime, violation of personal data, and espionage, related to hacking during Colombia’s 2014 presidential election. He has agreed to tell his full story for the first time, hoping to convince the public that he’s rehabilitated—and gather support for a reduced sentence.
In recent years, there has been great progress cracking down on corruption across the Americas. Here, we explore the many forms corruption can take — from corporate bribery to vote buying to tax evasion — and their estimated cost. This is not an exhaustive list, nor do we mean to single out any particular country. Instead, we want to show how corruption is widespread, varied in its forms, and — increasingly — difficult to get away with, based on information we gathered from news sources, research entities and nonprofits. In addition to individual instances of corruption, we look at Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index with our color-coded heat map.
Sarah Harmer and Tantoo Cardinal’s powerful letter to Justin Trudeau
Our voice in Honduras matters. Honduras is a burgeoning market for Canadian investment, which our government has vigorously promoted. After the 2009 coup d’etat, Canada signed a free-trade agreement with Honduras and pushed the Honduran government to adopt a new mining law that would benefit Canadian investors. The law sidesteps the rights of Indigenous communities, so Berta’s death is an important reminder that we have a responsibility to ensure that Canadian investment is not synonymous with human rights abuses…. Canada’s significant economic investments in Honduras and around the world must prioritize lives and justice over profit margins. That starts with ensuring that Canada’s industries uphold the rights of Indigenous people to free, prior and informed consent in accordance with international laws.
RÍOS MONTT GENOCIDE RETRIAL STARTS AMIDST CONTROVERSY
The absence of basic infrastructure, such as roads, electricity and schools, along with high rates of malnutrition and poverty, offer evidence of a lack of government investment in predominantly indigenous areas, according to Alvaro Caballeros, a sociologist at the University of San Carlos. “The departments with the largest indigenous populations – San Marcos, Huehuetenango, Totonicapan, Alta Verapaz, Solola, Quiche, Chimaltenango – are also the ones that expel the most migrants because these departments have been on the margins of state policy,” Caballeros said. While he traces these problems back to Guatemala’s conquest by Spain, he also underlines the contemporary challenges facing these areas. “Over the past few years, Guatemala has decided to focus on extractive industries like mining and hydro-electric dams. This means taking advantage of resources in indigenous territory. So now, these territories are being threatened and affected by these dynamics related to capitalism’s reconfiguration.” Mines and hydroelectric projects have been undertaken without consultation with indigenous communities, whose collective ownership of the land requires such meetings.
Economic growth is stagnant, and millions of Haitians are facing food shortages after a series of droughts in the countryside. With inflation well in the double digits and a local currency that has lost 20 percent of its value in the last six months, many Haitians are scrambling to survive. But, an International Monetary Fund agreement, which could provide funds necessary to stabilize the economy and exchange rate, has stalled. Furthermore, support from the European Union and other donors is contingent upon the IMF agreement, leaving Haiti even worse off. Newly installed provisional president Jocelerme Privert has warned of an “alarming and catastrophic” economic situation, adding that the state has few resources to respond to the many humanitarian crises still plaguing the country. In a radio interview earlier this month, Privert stated that because of the IMF delays, “all non-humanitarian funding is blocked.”
Colombia, ELN Rebels Agree to Formal Peace Talks
Mr. Santos, whose administration is nearing a separate peace agreement with the larger of two rebel groups operating here, said that negotiations with the ELN would bring Colombia closer to peace even as the move fueled criticism from some quarters that the president is selling out to criminal, Marxist groups. The announcement comes as President Santos’s government has been locked in talks since November 2012 with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, with discussions now centered on how that group’s fighters will disarm. “If we reach peace, it will be the end of guerrilla groups in Colombia and in Latin America,” Mr. Santos said in a speech. “We would be able to concentrate on making our country, through democracy, into the free, normal, modern, just and inclusive country that we can and should be.”
Bolivia’s cholitas: female wrestlers put discrimination in a stranglehold
“The government has been one of the most progressive in Latin American in promoting the rights of women and indigenous people,” said Novillo, noting that Morales had passed a raft of laws guaranteeing women’s rights and greater participation in decision-making. “But we still have to change the way people think to guarantee a life between men and women based on equality,” she added. A study published in 2013 by the Pan American Health Organisation foundBolivia had the highest level of violence against women out of 12 Latin American countries; 53% of women surveyed reported being the victim of physical or sexual violence from a partner, and 26% said they had suffered violence from a partner in the past 12 months. The data had been compiled over the previous decade. Mamani says she feels empowered as a wrestler, and also credits the law for helping to change attitudes. “Before, someone would hit a woman and no one would say anything,” she remarks. “Now that person would go to prison. There’s been a great deal of change with Evo Morales’ government.”
ref your “Anger Management and Gun Control? New Ways to Reduce Violence in Latin America” heading, sublimated by “An extensive new study published by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has shown that among the most effective ways to achieve changes in the behavior of the most violent are programs of (1) cognitive therapy and emotions management, (2) targeted gun control, and (3) drug treatment and drug courts.”
If a person actually reads the quoted study, they quickly see this: “We found that a few interventions, such as focused deterrence and cognitive behavioral therapy, exhibited moderate to strong effects on crime and violence and were supported by substantial evidence. A few others, such as scared straight and gun buyback programs, clearly demonstrated no or negative effects. The vast majority of programmatic interventions, however, exhibited weak or modest effects. We identified six “elements of effectiveness” shared by the most impactful interventions, including maintaining a specific focus on those most at risk for violence; proactive efforts to prevent violence before it occurs whenever possible; increasing the perceived and actual legitimacy of strategies and institutions; careful attention to program implementation and fidelity; a well-defined and understood theory of change; and active engagement and partnership with critical stakeholders.”
The research paper clearly indicated that behavioural modification was much more effective than gun control, for a variety of reasons. shucks, I think it’s an excellent analysis for anyone who truly cares about reducing violence in the geographic/demographic areas studied. What if Obama or our church leaders embraced these ideas? It’s so disappointing to see journalists twisting the rhetoric to suit their own interests. Viridiana Rios creates her own interpretation of the research by claiming “the most effective ways to achieve changes in the behavior of the most violent are programs of (1) cognitive therapy and emotions management, (2) targeted gun control, and (3) drug treatment and drug courts.” – which is NOT a quote from the paper. But then in supporting this comment Rios says, correctly, “While strategies such as gun buybacks or anti-gun legislation are mostly ineffective, policies focused on deterring behavior that encourages THE USE OF GUNS are effective. This requires trusted enforcement institutions to send clear messages that are not “stop all crime” or “leave the gang,” but more simply, “stop shooting.””. Hello? This is obviously a behavioural message, not a gun control message. “stop shooting”. How could Rios pervert such a clear statement into saying that gun control was the second-ranked initiative supported by the research paper?
I tell you what though, in spite of Rios’ distortions and your choice to use those distortions as highlights, the paper by Democracy International is a very useful work and I thank you for bringing it to our attention.