The News Roundup is a regular feature of the blog where we select 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
The Trans-Pacific Partnership & Human Rights in Latin America
The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement is concerning for human rights in Latin America due to:
- The history of lax enforcement of labor and environmental provisions in other free trade agreements concerning Latin America;
- The ways in which provisions regarding investor rights undermine labor, environmental and human rights as well as democratic processes;
- The fact that advances in protection of labor rights and human rights are not required before joining –particularly concerning in the case of Mexico; and
- Finally, the problem of rising violence against labor leaders, environmental activists and other human rights defenders, which is generally not considered part of the labor and environmental issues covered in trade agreements.
Costa Rica expects asylum claims to quadruple as refugees head south
Though on its own the PTA will not be bringing Central American refugees to Costa Rica permanently, some experts believe that the agreement and the country’s other refugee-friendly policies could encourage more migrants to try moving south. “It is hard to imagine that the country accepting two hundred people for transfer would change the flow significantly,” Hipsman said, “but the fact that Costa Rica is publicly accepting refugees for processing could signal to would-be refugees or migrants that it might be a more welcoming place.”
After years of decline, Mexico’s murder rate is heading back to peak drug war levels
According to official figures released this week, the number of murders in Mexico during the first half of this year was around 15 percent higher than in the same period of 2015. The 10,301 killed from January through June, an average of 57 per day, is still about 10 percent less than when murders reached a peak during 2011. But the upward trend does indicate the country’s horrific drug wars — that intensified after the launch of a major anti-organized crime offensive by President Felipe Calderón a decade ago — are still far from being brought under control. “It is a very worrying trend,” said prominent Mexican security analyst Alejandro Hope. “We’re fast approaching the levels we experienced during the late months of the Calderón administration.”
The Legacy of Berta Cáceres: What Environmentalists Can Learn From Human Rights Groups
Does anyone doubt that there is a direct link between the work of frontline environmentalists and the campaign to slow global warming? Yet how many climate change activists, let alone the public at large, are aware of the intimidation and violence that has been brought to bear against local environmental activists in recent years? Running a poll or two along these lines would be illuminating and a good place to start. But raising awareness about these slayings and the ongoing threat to environmental and indigenous activists is essential…One way we can honor Cáceres’ legacy is to take the hard but necessary steps needed to bust open our comfortable cocoons and forge alliances between environmentalists, climate change activists, and the donors, foundations, and governments that support them. Only by building a unified international movement will we be able to protect fearless activists like Berta Cáceres who are doing the kind of work that inspires and benefits us all.
Case Against El Salvador’s MS13 Reveals State Role in Gang’s Growth
Operation Check appears to have followed the line of investigation set by Attorney General Meléndez when he took over the case at the beginning of the year: a massive investigation of the gang’s leadership and finances. The court documents map out an extensive network of businesses allegedly run by the MS13. Beyond those revelations, the case illustrates how the gang truce supported at the highest levels of El Salvador’s government helped to financially and organizationally strengthen both the gang’s historic leadership and the parallel Federation. In fact, the prosecutor’s case suggests the Federation was created as a byproduct of the gang truce.
Claudia Paz y Paz, On the Revolution She Started in Guatemala
That did not happen in 2015 with the corruption case, perhaps because it hit close to home for a large portion of the population. The effects of the corruption were felt when they closed hospitals, when there was no gasoline for the police patrols. The weakness of the state due to illicit enrichment by government officials was felt strongly and the enrichment of some of those who are now in custody was very, very evident. There was a huge contrast between people that had yachts, planes, helicopters and mansions while there was no medicine in the hospitals. That is why people took to the streets, to demand the continuation of the CICIG or to demand that the president request that the CICIG continue in Guatemala. They were also demanding that corruption be confronted, that those responsible be brought to justice. Nonetheless, once again there are smear campaigns surrounding the case by those groups who sympathize with the perpetrators.
Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega picks wife as his vice presidential running mate
OAS will observe Haiti’s elections but wants changes ahead of vote
But the OAS Electoral Observation Mission is calling on Haiti to adopt sweeping changes to strengthen its elections process ahead of the upcoming Oct. 9 presidential rerun in order to avoid the kinds of procedural breakdowns and fraud allegations that plunged the country into a full-throttle crisis. In a 15-page document released Tuesday, the mission lists more than a half dozen recommendations aimed at reforming the process, and closing legal loopholes that have triggered disagreement between foreign and Haitian elections observers over what constitutes fraud. Among the immediate changes Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) is being asked to make: tighter controls on political party representatives known as mandataires so their votes can be separated; more training and power for poll workers to help them better identify irregularities; and changing the indelible ink used to identify individuals who already voted.
MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: REPORTS OF SEXUAL ABUSE BY CANADIAN PEACEKEEPERS IN HAITI
In March 2016, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon released his annual Special Measures report on protection from sexual exploitation and abuse. For the first time, the report ‘named and shamed’ countries whose military and police peacekeepers had allegations reported against them. In July 2016, Canadian media reported new details regarding allegations against UN peacekeepers from Quebec allegedly involved in sexual exploitation and abuse in Haiti, dating back to 2013. A selection of media highlights, including interviews with AIDS-Free World co-Director Paula Donovan, is included.
It would appear from the statements made on Sunday that the work of the gender sub commission has contributed to a deeper understanding about the connections between historic patterns of exclusion and discrimination, and violence. Likewise, it has offered solutions that reside in greater respect for differences, greater recognition of and protections for the rights of women and LGBTI individuals, and a recognition that inclusion and a culture of human rights are the requirements for a modern democracy. The key here, as always, is implementation and mechanisms to ensure accountability for the agreements reached. Only if agreements are implemented will they help to advance women’s empowerment and women’s rights, and contribute to furthering the rights of LGBTI populations in Colombia. The process is not yet finished, but the results thus far are promising.
While Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia are all major producers of coca, the base product for cocaine, and of cocaine itself, the Bolivian government has taken a unique approach to manage production of the drug. Long present in the Andes, coca leaf has been brewed in teas and chewed for stimulant effect for centuries. Rather than an outright prohibition and eradication scheme, “To allow this ‘traditional’ use of the leaf, the Bolivian government each year licenses a limited amount of land to be used for coca farming,” Tom Wainwright, the former Mexico City reporter for The Economist, wrote in his recent book, “Narconomics.” Coca is grown on terraces in Bolivia’s mountains, then shipped by truck — each of which has a license noting how much coca it’s carrying and where the coca is from — to one of two places in the country where the leaf can be legally traded.
Brazil opens probe as cases of Zika babies defy predicted patterns
“We know here Zika caused neurological damage – we have no doubt – but the question is how can we explain this situation in the epicentre that was not reproduced in other areas – in Colombia, and in other states in Brazil. A lot of pregnant women were infected and there were few cases of microcephaly or congenital malformation – it must be more than Zika itself,” she said. “We could be wrong of course but it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health to investigate all possibilities.” Beneath all of these theories lies a fundamental problem with data. Until this crisis, Brazil had very weak reporting of microcephaly, with rates in some areas reported as 1,000 times lower than in Europe even though researchers have every reason to believe that it occurred at roughly the same rates.